I'm baaaack!

Why hello there little blogosphere!  It's been a while a little over 3 months!  Whoops.  I sort of fell off the face of the {blog} earth!  Obviously, you all noticed!  I mean how did you survive without me!?

I didn't exactly mean to drop off the {blog} planet, but it just kind of happened.  I was kind of stuck in this rut back in July, if you recall.  I tried to keep on blogging, but the rut won.  Rut - 1, Michelle - 0.

I still don't really know why I backed away so suddenly.  I sort of felt fake this summer in my blogging life.  I don't know why....I've never been fake on this blog or tried to convey a picture that doesn't really exist of my life.

It kind of just felt like I was blogging to put on this pretty show, to keep up with this chore.  Looming over my head...but I had a lot going on and I just didn't want to, to be really honest!  I couldn't keep up with my blog...it felt like work.  So I needed a break.

I wanted to be in my life, be intentional.  And that meant letting go of the blog, and of twitter, and Pinterest for a while.  So I let go!

I kept reading all of your blogs!  I still love keeping up with everyone's lives, but I think I just needed time away to miss my blog.  And, finally, after 3 months....I miss it!  I miss recapping our weekends, funny stories, sharing pictures, & recipes.  All the good ol' boring stuff!  So I'm going to give this another chance & hopefully keep this journal going.

I'm baaaaack!!  And just know that's a very loose term ;)  I may only still post once or twice a week or not a all a week here and there, but, I want to be back!  So here goes....

3 months in a nutshell!

End of July/August

I ran the Electric Run with some friends, we continued to enjoy drinks in our driveway (because we're classy!), worked out (a lot. duh!) at the box, & traveled to the Mitten for B's work summer party - we got to see our cutie nephew Weston oh so briefly, step our feet into chilly Lake Michigan & enjoy a rodeo!

September

We enjoyed double dates with great friends, celebrated Labor Day, threw an awesome Mustache Bash for Brandon & Warren's 30th Birthdays, and celebrated our friends' Greg & Ashley's wedding in the beautiful city of Charleston with good friends :)  It was such a great weekend away!

September/October

We celebrated multiple Oktoberfests, got new tattoos, celebrated lots of October birthdays with sweet family in town, killed some more workouts & got some sweet new Reebok CrossFit gear - it was like Christmas in October!

More October & early November

We bought a gorgeous new chair for our living room (which I feel is finally complete!), drank lots of Cottonwood Pumpkin Ale (our new fav!!!), snuggled our cute Halloween pup, & enjoyed a wonderful weekend away in the Mountains with awesome friends!

It's been a great & busy couple of months!  I'm already feeling so mushy & thankful approaching this Holiday season....busy or not, there's always so much to be thankful for & I love documenting it all here!  I'll try to fill in the gaps here & there on these last months when I can & I'm going to be more intentional about blogging.

So if you're all still out there, still reading, thanks!  It's good to be back!

Officially official...

Welp...it's officially official!  Cat's out of the bag!  

My Ben cat :)

Today I told my school I will not be returning in the fall.

Starting Wednesday, I will be a full time trainer, office manager, marketing {and whatever else needs to be done} gal for CrossFit Pineville!!!  I'm sad and excited and thrilled and a little scared and super pumped and then a little sad again.  Basically, I'm a ball of emotion!

If you've been around here a while, you may remember this post I wrote last fall.  Suddenly, I feel like I'm a flip flopper and going back on everything I wrote in that post.  But I know in my head and my heart that's not true, I'm not flip flopping.

My principal summed it up well today when she said "You're not running from something, you're running to something."  At the end of the day, even with all the mess going on in the educational world - all the politics, low teacher moral, terrible pay, standardized testing, 21st century teaching, yada, yada, yada - I'd still be going back in the fall if CrossFit Pineville hadn't been born.

I was fortunate to work at a great school with great people and great kids!  And I will sincerely miss the people and kids!!!  But will I miss the mess and the stress?  No sir-ee bob! :)

So tomorrow, you may hear me squeal with glee as I leave the school building and I'll be doing my happy dance all the way to the box!  Haha

In non-box/CFP news...

Brandon and I finally got to meet our sweet baby nephew, Weston, in Michigan this past week!

He is the cutest little man!!  And feisty!  So glad we could meet him before he was walking and speaking in full sentences!

And our sweet new little niece, Scarlett, was born yesterday!!

Born June 9th at 3:20am, 6 lbs 14 oz, 19.5 in long.  She's a little peanut!

And a doll baby!  I can't wait to get my hands back on her!!

These baby nieces and nephews give me fever....

But then I remember how I like sleeping through the night so we'll wait just a bit longer ;)

Happy day friends!

5 On Friday

Hello Blog World!!  I promise I haven’t fallen off the face of the planet, I’m still alive and kicking!  Remember that time I opened a CrossFit gym while still teaching full time!?  Yeah that was a crazy, busy, fun time!! Oh wait, that’s right now!

So since I’ve been absent from the blogging world for {ahem} over 3 weeks now, let’s just jump back in with a little link up 5 On Friday love, shall we!?

1 – So I’m loving every minute of being at the box – coaching, meeting new members, working out there!!  But, things are just a tad busy so not only have I been absent from blogging, I’ve pretty much fallen off the face of social media! 

Home girl has no time.  I’m talking zero free time.  Between school, sprinting home to grab dog, squeezing in my own work out, coaching 2 evening classes, getting home around 9, making dinner and lunch for the next day, sending any emails or any CFP social media posts, showering and passing out around 11….yeah I’m pooped.  Happy!  But pooped :) 

There is a light though….we’re down to 1 hand.  I have 5 days left!  5!!!  Sweet glory hallelujah amen!

2 – The barista this morning accidentally made my latte a double.  I’m pretty sure that was actually a small Friday morning miracle!  I should have told her I love her.  Let’s be honest, I could pretty much use an IV of caffeine at this point.

3 – Little Scarlett Idalia should be here any day!  We’re all {not so} patiently awaiting the arrival of my newest little niece!!  I know my brother & SIL are ready to meet their baby girl & we’re all excited to add another girl to the brood!  My niece Roen’s excited to have a girl cousin since she’s holding her own with 3 little brothers!

4 – Season 7 of Dexter finally shipped to us last weekend!!  We’re already 4 episodes in and I can’t wait to watch more this weekend.  It’s weird to have a favorite serial killer, but I do!

5 – I may not be having a summer off as I have in the past since we now own a gym and all, but that doesn’t mean my summer to do list isn’t growing!  I have a few house tasks to accomplish and we’re planning to get a new bed for our master bedroom & {finally!} put together a guest bedroom.  I think I’m probably more excited about the guest bedroom than our own new bed, ha!  Of course my summer to do list will get its own post :)  You know I love a good list {or 12!} ;)

That’s all for today friends!  Hi 5 for Friday & Happy Weekend!!!

Weekend Recap

We had a great & super busy weekend over here!!  

Friday we got in a good workout then parked it on the couch for the evening!  We watched some of the Boston bombing manhunt unfold and then I fell asleep.  Shocker!!  I know :)

Saturday was an earlier morning for a workout & then it was baby shower time!

Gale had such a gorgeous baby shower!!!  

Unfortunately I did a craptastic job at taking pictures...fail!  The pictures probably wouldn't have done it justice anyway!

Some of my SIL's family threw the shower & they outdid themselves!!  They incorporated purple and grey which are baby Scarlett's nursery colors & had an amazing brunch spread complete with a waffle bar, quiches, yogurt & granola, heath bar scones {!!!} and fruit.  {Sadly I did not partake in all the yumminess!  Ughh...dang clean eating, sucks the fun out of parties!!  Haha}

  We played a fun little game...they had balloons all over the house with baby pictures of Gale and a question attached to the bottom of the string.  I learned a lot of interesting facts....like babies are born without knee caps & the most teeth a baby ever had at birth was 12.  TWELVE teeth y'all!!!!  WTH!?!

Ok I digress...

Lots of baby loot!!

Baby Scarlett's nursery...

It's hard to tell in this pic, but the back wall is a gorgeous deep purple and the bedding is purple & grey!

Love that dresser!!  And the bassinet!  Doesn't her nursery look like it's straight off the page of PBK or something!?  So chic!!

And the mama to be with her mom & sisters :)  Stole this one off Facebook :) Remember how horrific I am at taking pics?  Yeah.

After the shower & all day Sunday there was lots and lots of painting!!  Seriously, so. much. painting!  I can't wait to share the full details, maybe this week!?  But in between painting we made time for family dinner Saturday night, a 3 miler Sunday morning {my fastest ever I might add!} & family breakfast :)

Brandon's apparently deep in prayer and I'm definitely not on any kind of technology...what!?

Some how after painting all day yesterday, I still managed to grocery shop & do a little food prep before collapsing on the couch during Game of Thrones!

Today was a Monday.  So.... 'nuff said about that!

How was your weekend friends!?!

Friday Favorites

I just like Friday's.  Friday's my favorite!

 via

For obvious reasons, Friday is one of the best days of the week!!  So to celebrate it's awesomeness, here are my favorite things about {this} Friday....

It brings the weekend!!!  Duh!!  Captain Obvious here ;)

It also brings my husband home & my family to town!!  B was home Monday night in exchange for traveling Thursday night.  Can't win 'em all I guess!  And my SIL is having a baby shower this weekend!!!  Hard to believe baby girl will be here in about 6 weeks!!  Can't wait to meet my new niece!!!

There are officially 7 weeks of school left.  7!  That sounds manageable, yes!?  Let's hope!!

We're having turkey burger's for dinner with some homemade sweet potato fries & fruit!  Yes, I'm already thinking about dinner.  We all know a fat girl lives in me, let's be real!

It's rest day!  Girl needs a day off from the gym!!  No workout today, ya know, besides vacuuming my whole house!

This song on the radio on my way to work this morning!  Oh Phillip Phillips...you've done it again! Love this song...makes me happy and reminds me of my man!!  Have I mentioned he comes home today?!  :)  Happy day!

Happy Friday, happy weekend, happy!!!

Spring Break Lovin'

Oh Spring Break, how I love you!!

I am in full blown spring break mode this week and loving it!!  It's so nice to not have a packed agenda, sleep til 730, be able to run errands, meet friends for lunch and dinner.... oh yes, spring break and I are having a full fledged love affair!

Last weekend, my friend Lisa and I knocked out a 5 mile run on the greenway in prep for our 10K this weekend down in Charleston!  It was then necessary to follow our run with brunch and mimosas at Toast to celebrate Spring Break and all it's glory!!

Mmmmmm!

For Easter, Brandon and I visited a church that meets at the high school right beside us, then changed out of church clothes & into our workout clothes for an Easter workout at the track.  The gym was obviously closed due to the holiday so we made up an outside Easter WOD!

Brandon captured my best side in action...thanks for that!

Monday, my sweet friend Rachel had lots of us bloggy ladies & their baby girls over for lunch! Between the 4 of them, there are 5 baby girls from 3 weeks to 5 months!!  So neat that all their little girls will grow up and all be the same age/in the same grade together!  I was so glad to finally get to meet Faith's girls and Katie's brand new little bebe!  And since Faith has twins, I got to pretend to have a baby too, haha ;)

Katie, Faith, Me, Ashley, & Rachel

I spent a chunk of my Tuesday morning sitting in Toyota's waiting room as they serviced my car for it's 60K mile check up.  Paying that bill was fun.  NOT!  Ughh...money spent on maintaining cars is the worst!!  I could think of so many other things I would rather spend that money on!  But alas, it is wise to take care of what ya got I guess!!  Oh adulthood....sigh.

Last night was much more fun!  A bunch of girls went out to celebrate my friend Lisa's birthday (which is actually tomorrow)!  We met at Vine American Kitchen for dinner and drinks (and cupcakes!  Shhhh) and it was so much fun!  I'm so blessed to know so many wonderful women!!

Lane, Sara, Me, Whitney, Lisa, Courtney, Laurel & Dana

We will be celebrating Lisa's birthday pretty much all weekend long in Charleston!!  :)  The weather was looking dismal for tomorrow so we decided to cut the trip short a bit and not head down til Friday morning.  It will still be lots of fun, though!

I made the mistake of checking my work email today!  Not smart.  It got my mind swirling on all things school!  So I took a nap to sleep it off :)  No more of that til Sunday night when I need to mentally prepare, haha.

B took tomorrow and Friday off so I'm excited for a day to relax together tomorrow before our fun weekend away!

I wish Spring Break and I could make this love affair permanent...I should really look into that ;)  

Hope everyone's having a splendid week, spring break or not!  And if you're working, at least you're already over the hump!!

Welcome to the World

Forgive me, I'm so behind on blogging, but I can't not blog about the two newest angel babies that the end of February brought!

One of my best and dearest friends, Ashley, welcomed a sweet baby girl!!!

Caroline Elizabeth, born on Feb. 20th!

Sweet Caroline, I got to come meet you the Sunday after you were born.  I got to go snuggle and hold you for almost an hour while I watched your big brother play and chatted with your parents!  You are just perfect, so tiny and squishy and you didn't even make a peep - such an angel baby!!

That same Sunday I was holding Caroline, my sister in law, B's sister, was in labor with this sweet boy!

Weston James, born on Feb. 24th!

Weston, you are our 4th nephew, but the first grandchild on the Shuck side of our family!  We are just dying over all the pictures of you and how cute you are!!  Everyone says you look like your Uncle Brandon, I can't wait to see some old baby pics of him and compare :)  We can't wait to meet you and squish those sweet little cheeks of yours!  We're super hopeful that will happen at least before you're walking! ;)

Welcome to the world sweet angel babies!  You are loved by your Aunt Michelle already!!

Counting Down

via pin from Words to Live By by Michelle

So, I know.  I know I need to live for today and enjoy life here and now and not get too hung up on the future.  I know these things....and I feel like I'm doing a pretty good job of that lately!

BUT.  There are a lot of exciting things coming up!!  So here's what I'm looking forward to and making my count down list...

Any day now - A new baby nephew!!  Official due date - Wed. Feb. 27th

1 week - March 2nd - My 26th Birthday!!  Bring it on!

1 month - March 23rd - My first Spartan Sprint!!  Bring it on!?  :/  Haha

5 weeks - March 30th - April 7th - Spring Break '13!  Woop woo!!!

6 weeks - April 6th - Cooper River Bridge Run & a long weekend in Charleston!

14 weeks - A new baby niece!!  Official due date - Fri. May 31st

15 weeks - aka 68 school days until - Summer, Summer, Summer, Summertime!!!

Yes, I'm officially counting down until summer.  Please don't judge me!  :)  But until summer gets here, I'll be sure not to wish away the days in between.  They're of great value, too! 

Hope you're all having a stellar weekend!

2012 in Review & Looking Forward to 2013

2012 was a great year!!

Of course, it had it's ups and down, but thankfully more ups than downs and the ups were pretty great :)

I tried to keep my year in review shorter rather than longer.  But, let's be honest, we all know I'm long winded ;) I have noticed I have a few more followers, though, so hopefully this will be a better way to get to know me, and I'm looking forward to "getting to know" all of y'all through your pages!

In 2012....

I turned a quarter of a century in March!

In April, we went on a cruise...

And then came home & closed on our house!!

In June, I was one of the MOHs in my cousin Erin & Ryan's Wedding!

And July brought lots of beach trips...

July 4th Week in Virginia Beach!

And my family beach trip in Carolina Beach!

Then at the end of July, we brought this cutie home!

It's hard to believe he was ever this small!!

The fall brought fire pits, football, & B's 29th birthday!  My MIL came in town & we took a trip to Biltmore to celebrate that weekend!

October brought Baby Fever!

My nephews, baby Abel & Wells :)

Sweet Maggie, my friend Rachel's baby girl!

In November we toasted our 2nd Anniversary!

And I got my first tattoo!!

Looking back, I can't help but be thankful for a year of health and happiness!

Looking forward to 2013, I can only hope for the same!

I set a few goals last year.  We didn't achieve all of them to the level we may have hoped, but that's ok.  I'm not huge into resolutions because I think people don't stick to them.  But a goal, you have to work toward a goal.  So that's what I like to set!

In 2013, I hope to...

1 - Finish the Spartan Race.  My goal is finishing!  Haha, I'd like to finish around the 2 hour mark, but I'm not going to be hung up on the time.  (See B's Spartan Race Recaps here & here.)

2 - Complete the Cooper River Bridge Run around the 56 minute mark!  It's a 10K, 6.2 mi, so I think 56 minutes is totally doable, I just need to continue with my running and work on my speed a bit!

3 - Stick to Paleo as a lifestyle.  Of course, I can't do Paleo 100% all of the time.  I mean, I had to have a piece of cake at the gender reveal this past weekend.  But I do want to make sure I'm eating Paleo at least 85% of the time or more!

These are my main goals.  Brandon and I have a few house goals - furniture for the guest bedroom, maybe an outdoor patio this year?  A few spiritual goals - visiting the church that meets at the high school near our house, continuing our devotional.  Some financial goals including paying off my student loans!!  We have a few professional dreams on the horizon as well, so we'll just have to see where 2013 leads us!

I'm so looking forward to a new nephew & niece this year, hopefully a few vacations, a lots of great new memories!

Here's to 2013!!

Weekend Recap!

Welp, even though it was a 3 day week, I sure was happy to see 4pm on Friday roll around!  Love walking out of work on a Friday...feels good!!

Even though I spent a good portion of Friday night doing school work.  Yuck!!  But a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.  I'd much rather do work on my couch anyways!

That was only after a good workout & then some delish turkey burgers & sweet potato fries cooked by my favorite man.  Yum!  I left the bun off and topped mine with some bacon & avocado to stick to my Paleo ways :)

Saturday was a big day!  We got up early (for a Saturday) and headed to the gym, then it was time to celebrate this cutie's 3rd birthday!

Sadly, we were an hour late to the party because we were REAR ENDED in Brandon's BRAND NEW TRUCK!!!  Unbelievable right!?!?  We'd had it a total of 5 days.  5 days!!  But thankfully, there were only a few scratches on the truck bumper.  Can't say the same for the guy that rear ended us!

We finally made it to the party!  This little guy is always sleeping through the action.  It's tough work being a baby  :)

Roen was there to make sure he didn't need any help!

He got lots of fun new toys, even a remote control Ford Raptor, just like Uncle Brandon's!!  We didn't even get that for him, ha.

They had fun checking out the real thing, too!

We headed home to shower up & head off to the second party of the day - Rob & Gale were having their gender reveal party!!!

They found out the gender Wednesday at lunch after their anatomy scan & had known for 3 whole days!!

It's a....

Girl!!!!

This picture is awesome!!  Rob already knew what was coming out, but by the look on his face you would never know!  Haha, he has said all along he really didn't care, boy or girl, as long as the baby's healthy!  His face is saying "Oh, boy, what are we in for!?" hah!

We're so excited to welcome a new little niece!!  She'll be our 2nd niece out of 6 nieces and nephews, it was about time for another girl!  :)

We picked up some dinner and planted ourselves on the couch for the rest of the evening.  There was nothing on, so B indulged & let me watch Pretty Woman while dog slept in between us.  It was bliss!

We slept in today, boy did we need that!  Then barely finished out a long run.  It was hard today! We ran our normal Sunday errands, I did a little food prep & then more school work.  Womp womp. Now we're relaxing on the couch & watching The Biggest Loser!

via

We love Bob & Jillian (and Dolvett now, too)!  I want to be them!  My dream job :)

Happy Sunday evening friends & happy TV watching!