Five on Friday

Happy Friday, y'all!  I'm linking up with April & Christia for Five on Friday today, so let's get right down to it :)

1 - I'm headed to CrossFit Atlanta this weekend to get my CrossFit Kids cert…

It should be a fun weekend, although I'll really miss my boys!  I've really enjoyed reading all my material for the weekend, all the research about the benefits of kids being active & I'm excited to learn some new stuff {and fun games}!  We're hoping to launch CrossFit Kids at CFP starting this summer!

2 - Monday & Tuesday of this week I spent my afternoons on our patio.  It was so beautiful out!  I ate my lunch out there, soaked up some Vitamin D, watched Berk dog run around...

And even let Benny out to do a little exploring!  He was getting waaayyy too comfortable…

It was chilly yesterday & not the warmest today, but I have high hopes those temps will be returning sooner rather than later!

3 - I got to spend my Wednesday morning hanging out with this sweet friend…

Ashley (+ baby boy) & me :)

We'd been planning it for about 2 weeks & I was so excited, it was even on my to do list for that day…

We got mani/pedis & lunch at Brixx & just caught up on life!  She's my longest friend & I'm so thankful to have known her all these years & know that our friendship will continue!  We don't talk every day, but we just pick up right where we left off.  I'm sure I'll be calling her with lots of questions whenever we have babes of our own, Ash is a pro now ;)

4 - I saw this in my Instagram feed the other day & pretty much died...

Congrats!  We're all skinny!  Hahaha, I personally work more towards being healthy & strong {so much more freeing than trying to be skinny all the time!}, but still, that's funny!

5 - 27 days until we're back to this magical place…

With a few of these in hand...

Birthday Weekend!

Yesterday, I turned the big 2-7 {if you can even say that with 27?} & I spent most of the weekend celebrating!  I was glad to finally have B home on Friday night!  We ate a quick dinner at home & watched some House of Cards…

Saturday morning classes were a lot of fun at the gym, followed by a little coaches meeting.  B & I picked up some Earthfare meal deal lunches & then I popped over to Blakeney for a little birthday shopping!

I found these cute espadrilles at Target & couldn't pass them up for only $30!  I wore them out Saturday night with some skinnies, the perfect shoe to transition into spring!  :)

Saturday night we started off at Lenny Boy Brewery, a local kombucha brewery here in Charlotte. {Kombucha is a non-alcoholic fermented drink made from tea, sugar, water, & a symbiotic culture of bacteria & yeast.  Some consider it a raw food with probiotics & health benefits!}  We've gotten into drinking kombucha lately since B has been training so hard for the Open & we haven't really been drinking too much alcohol.  We were excited to finally try Lenny Boy out!

Lenny Boy is tucked away in South End, their little tap room is really cute!  We got a flight to sample all of their traditional kombuchas & their wild kombucha ales (containing alcohol)…

Andrea & Karl met us for a drink before we headed over to Peculiar Rabbit in Plaza Midwood!

I took fun selfies in the car on the way to dinner, because it's my birthday, duh!

Warren & Kelly met us there & gifted me with some pretty flowers!  I failed to take a single picture at dinner.  Boo!  Major fail.

Dinner was delish & we were home to my Paleo Brownies, wine & bed by about 930 or so.  If celebrating 27 this way is wrong, I don't want to be right!

Sunday, we woke up slow, laid around & then got ready for the gym!  I started off 27 with a brownie {breakfast of champions} so as to do well on my birthday WOD & dropped this boy off for a haircut {as you can see it was much needed}…

An after picture to come, once I take one!  The weather was gorgeous all day Sunday!  We love to prop the gym doors open & let some warm air in!

Brandon redid the Open workout, getting 354 reps this time, then it was my turn!  I got 248 reps, which was my exact goal!  I got 5 rounds completed & 23 more double unders, so I was very pleased!

Aren't my cupcake earring so fun?

We spent the rest of the afternoon doing a little work, B made my very favorite bacon burgers, we watched more House of Cards {holy crap episode 1 of season 2!!!!!} & I ate a very large red velvet cupcake!!!

So far, 27 is looking pretty stellar :)  Thank you all for the sweet birthday love all over social media! You sure know how to make a girl feel loved!!

Lovely Little Weekend

We had a great weekend!  Brandon was actually home for 5 nights in a row last week, Wednesday night through last night!  Crazy!!

The weather was so nice here over the weekend!  We even took the rowers outside…

Friday night we brought home our favorite salads from Dean & Deluca, indulged in some House of Cards {we're addicted by the way!!} & I painted my nails.  Pretty good Friday night :)

Saturday I finally got to wear my new lulu shorts I bought with Christmas money…

It was a little chilly that morning, but I was trying to will spring's arrival with my warm weather clothes! Ha!  B & I had a fun little workout together…

His & Hers :)  Mine's clearly the one with all the weights on it!

My favorite!

We got home & washed my car, took Berkley for a little walk & then enjoyed a nap before dinner :) We went out to Red Rocks with 2 other couple friends!  I meant to take pics, but never got that far. It's so nice to have friends in our same life stage!

Sunday I went to FlyWheel with a girlfriend then headed to the gym for a little weightlifting…

I got those big quads ;)  I've worked hard for those!!

I took today as a rest day & it was really nice, Mondays aren't a normal rest day for me.  I love being home in the middle of the day.  I did some work on the couch while the sun streamed in & Berkley napped, then I even closed my eyes for about 30 minutes…

I've never really thought of myself as an introvert, but the older I get, the more I realize how much I crave & enjoy time to myself.  Don't get me wrong, I still thrive from being around others, helping others & hosting others.  But I so enjoy quiet moments at home, quiet moments at the gym, me time.

In those moments I remember how incredibly blessed I am.  To be where we are so far in life, to own our own business, to truly enjoy this stage of life.  I'm so thankful for that view in the picture above…a beautiful home I share with my husband, a little fur baby who brings us more joy than we thought possible, the sun shining.

I don't even know if all of that made sense, haha.  But it did in my head :)

Life is good, y'all, even when it's hard!  I hope your weekend was spectacular!!

Valentine's Weekend

Happy belated Valentine's Day blogland!!  I hope you got to spend the weekend with the ones you love the most!!

Thanks to all the snow last week…

I had lots of rest & relaxation, which was a nice change of pace!!  We knew Friday evening classes would be light at the gym so I stayed home & made one of my fav meals as my pre-competition dinner!

Saturday I was off to Squad Gauntlet with some friends from our gym…

Team Purple Haze!

Me & Jackie ready to go!

We had 3 WODs to complete that day, a weightlifting WOD, a chipper (you chip away at the task) & then a relay to end!  We all PR'd on our weight lifts so we were happy about that!  We were just a few reps short of finishing the chipper in the 20 min time cap & finished the relay with seconds to spare in the 30 min time cap!

Team Purple Haze, sadly, did not come in 1st place {not that we were expecting to} but we weren't last either!  Overall it was a very fun day!!  Here are some highlights…

PR'ing my Clean & Jerk at 125lbs!  That's just over my body weight, I was pretty pumped!!!

B wore the right shirt ;)

Haha, I didn't even buy him that!

A few kettlebell swings...

Some goblet squats...

Good ol' rowing...

Pushups...

Oh, and my friend, Fran!!!  {If you don't know about Fran, just google her!}  

Thrusters...

and Pullups….

Some fun deadlifts…

And a final sprint to the finish...

That night, B & I went to McCormik & Schmichk's to celebrate Valentine's!!  We had never been before & we were thoroughly impressed!  So, so good!

I totally cheated on our Paleo challenge & ended my meal with some creme brûlée!  So worth it ;)

I squeezed in a mini workout Sunday morning, then attended a friend's baby shower, but sadly, didn't take a single pic!  It was such a great shower though, we can't wait to meet Baby Girl Sly!  We made banana pancakes for dinner (another favorite!) and watched House of Cards.  It was lovely!

The weather is warmer this week, hallelujah, amen!  This girl is so ready for spring!!  Happy day y'all!

Oh blogging...

I have such a love/hate relationship with blogging lately!  I think it's really all in my head, I feel like if I can't blog more than once a week then I just shouldn't blog & then I get months behind & then I haven't blogged since Christmas & now it's February & well, here we are.

Here I am, somehow months behind, but somehow still wanting to come back!  I put so much pressure on myself to blog & then it begins to feel like a chore & I end up just skipping it all together. I do most of the social media work for the gym as well….so maybe there's little left in me to blog after that!?

I should really figure out how to get over all of that, though!  It's all pressure from myself.  So silly, really!  What the heck!?

And I really don't know where to go from here…most likely a few picture dump/catch up posts?? That way I don't feel like I completely skipped Christmas, New Years & January in general?  Haha

Here's a short recap of January & I'll be back later this week to picture dump recap Christmas :)

We celebrated NYE with 2 other couples!  We went to Napa on Providence (very good!) & then to Bradshaw Social House (our neighborhood favorite!)!  Our friend Lauren is preggo so we had a built in DD ;)

Fun dress & NYE nails!

Richy Rich!

My fav!

Happy 2014!!!

 The first weekend in January we hosted Fight for Fitness as part of the Greater Charlotte Health & Fitness Expo!  It was a long, but great day!!  We got to meet lots of CrossFitters from around Charlotte, give back to a local charity & show tons of people that CrossFit can be for anyone!

If you haven't noticed, it's been super chilly this winter!!  At least for most of the country!  We don't use our heat at the gym so there have been many a cold day at the box!  I wear lots & lots of layers, sometimes my ski pants, and more layers.  I'm SO ready for warm weather!  I can't wait to sweat ;)

This view doesn't get old though!

This spunky nephew of mine turned 4!!  4!?!  He was just born, I swear.

We attempted to go to our 1st Panther's game of the season!  I say attempted because we failed miserably at going.  This was the 2nd round of the playoffs & tickets were stupid expensive!  I was very sad about that on the way home, but it turned out we didn't do so hot & B made the most delicious bacon sliders while I snuggled white thing & watched the game from the couch.  Not too shabby after all!

We spruced up our downstairs half bathroom with some floating shelves we got for Christmas!  I just love our little Westie figurine from B's mom!!  I think it's the cutest thing & goes so nicely with the bouquet from my bridal portraits!

We hosted an "After Holiday Party" for all of our CrossFit Pineville peeps that night.  Sadly, I didn't take a single picture!  Too busy enjoying everyone's company outside of the gym & in regular clothes & makeup!  Ha

I've told a couple people lately, and I think it's true with the CrossFit community in general, but there are so many people at our gym that, otherwise, I most likely would have never met in my life.  We're different for different reasons, but CrossFit made our paths cross & I've gotten to know them.  Really, I'm so glad to have met these people because I just love them!  It's such a joy to know them & I truly look forward to seeing these people every day!!

Brandon & I competed in War of the WODs the last weekend in January!  We both competed individually, a first for both of us, B in RX Men & I did Scaled Women.  I was definitely nervous, but it was such a fun day!!  We each did 4 workouts that day & boy was it exhausting!

I finished 18th out of 30!  I was pretty happy with that, as I landed out of the bottom 10, but really I had no expectations & just didn't want to come in last!  Haha!  I did take 7th place in one of the workouts & I PR'd my hang clean at 120 lbs (the top pic)!  That is my body weight so I was excited :)

Brandon finished in 6th place overall out of 40 men!!!  Isn't that awesome!?!  The top 5 went to the final WOD so he just missed it!  I'm so, so proud of him!  He took 2nd & 5th place in 2 of the events that day!

B's been traveling a lot for work, which is a little stressful knowing how much he wants to be at the box!  Right now we're just putting our head down & doing a good work!

This guy is my snuggle bug & I just love him to pieces!!  We snuggled up tight during the snow last week!

Phew, ok, January recapped!  Hopefully I'll have Christmas recapped sometime soon…maybe before Valentine's!? ;)