Random Musings on a Rainy Monday

Happy Monday!  It's rainy & cold here & my tolerance of cold weather is running thin.  Very thin!  But that's ok because I PR'd my deadlift in the 14.3 Open workout today, so I can't complain!

I pulled 185# for 10 reps in the WOD today!!  I've never done that before!  :)

And I totaled 100 reps!  I'll take it!

I discovered a few things in my travels to Atlanta over the weekend…

1 - Cruise Control is the bomb dot com!  My corolla never had cruise, so I've never really had the pleasure of crusin' it on road trips.  Consider me changed!  It's a must have for any interstate driving.

2 - I really dislike windshield wipers!!  I already knew this, but it was just reconfirmed on my drive home last night.  Windshield wipers & rain the whole way!  Just something about the repetitiveness gets on my nerves!  I don't like repetitive noises either.  Sends me over the edge.  You can imagine how well that worked in a classroom right!? ;)

3 - Justin Timberlake's new song completely reverts me back to my former middle/high school self! This song comes on the radio, I find myself swooning and suddenly I'm 15 again!

It just has such a 90's/N'Sync vibe to me {ps #teamNSYNC #NSYNC4life} & I can't get enough!

4 - CrossFit Kids is going to be SO much fun!!  I was initially a little nervous about the amount of work it might be, but after this weekend's course, I'm so, so excited!  As a former teacher, there were all these demands - grades, tests, standards to meet, etc.  But with CrossFit kids, it's so relaxed!  The most important thing is for the kids to have FUN {what a concept!} and have fun while moving!  There's no barbells or weights until advanced kids or teens, so you know they're safe, it's all about having fun and teaching proper form.  And really, they have years to get the form down, so there's no pressure! I'm very excited!

Here's to a quick work week…I saw my husband for all of 7.5 waking hours over the weekend, so hurry up Thursday!!

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!!

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!? ;)

Five on Friday

Linking up again today with April, Christina & friends!  Leggo!

1 - We picked up the final season of Dexter last weekend!  We're about 4 episodes in already & I can't wait to watch a few more this weekend!!  I'm so sad it's coming to an end :(  I'll sure miss my favorite serial killer!  I think we want to start Homeland next!

2 - I ordered our Christmas cards this week!  They're no where near professional, but hopefully they turned out pretty cute!  At least the proof looked pretty good.  Here's a sneak peek of an outtake…

I ordered from Vistaprint once again.  I looked at some other places (Tiny Prints, Minted, etc) and they had gorgeous cards...but I just couldn't bring myself to pay those prices!!  Maybe I'm cheap!? Maybe I'll change my mind when we have professional pics or kiddos on there!?  I just couldn't bring myself to pay upwards $130 for a greeting card (that sadly might get thrown away!).

3 - This weekend is my grandmother's 80th birthday!  We're having a surprise party for her (don't worry, she doesn't read my blog, ha) this Saturday & lots of family is coming in town.  I love playing hostess & having my cousins stay with us!  Should be a fun weekend!

4 - My cousin Jon wrote this hilarious post about surviving the 'Christmas Shoes' song.  He's so right, you can't unhear that song, but you want to so, so bad!!  I think I'd be ok if I never heard that song again!

5 - I'm so excited for the 3rd Annual Charlotte Bloggers Ornament Exchange next Wednesday! Should be such a fun night!  I can't wait to catch up with some wonderful girls I haven't seen in a while, meet some new faces & bring home a super cute ornament :)

Happy weekend!!

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!

Midweek Randoms

Sometimes...there's just no rhyme or reason to a post.  Just a brain dump of sorts for this hump day :)

1 - Speaking of hump day....

I had seen this picture floating around Facebook, but never saw the commercial until this morning!  Haha, I 'bout died!  Hilarious.

2 - I'm running in the Electric Run this Friday night up at the Speed Way!  I'll be running with my friend Lisa & some girlfriends from her box.  We're pretty excited, I think it'll be a lot of fun, but right now I'm just annoyed.  I tried to pick up our race packets today at The Running Co. off East Blvd and the line was OUT-rageous!!!  {It was wrapped around the Outback - if you know the area, you know that's really backed up!}  I had dog with me & I can't leave him in the car {obviously!}, so basically I just wasted gas to go all the way out there for nothing!

3 - The CrossFit Games started this week!!  The men's & women's individual events started today & they have a half marathon row later today!  Doesn't that sound fun!?  21,097 meteres.  Ha, not.  You couldn't pay me to row a half marathon!!

But seriously, the games are really fun to watch!  If you've never watched, it's almost like the Olympics, because these are seriously the fittest of the fit in the world!!  And there are 2 women representing the QC! Michelle Crawford from the Ballantyne YMCA CrossFit & Elisabeth Akinwale from MDUSA!

4 - We had a video montage of sorts put together for CFP!  What do you think?!

5 - Tuesdays or Wednesdays are usually the day my SIL & I clean the box.  And I reward myself with Starbucks on those days to have a little pep in my cleaning step.  Totally appropriate right!?  {Just tell me yes}

6 - While everyone else is at the beach this summer....I just lay out in my back yard {or the driveway!}.  Our neighborhood doesn't have a pool, so a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!  You might be able to find me there tomorrow & Friday between classes!  I feel a little red, but not enough to stop :)

Happy hump day!!

Lately

Hello there!  Thought I'd pop in for a random life update since I can't seem to find a consistent groove for blogging these days!  Be warned...it's pretty random!

1 - Life has been ultra busy these past few weeks between school wrapping up, traveling to Michigan, death and new life, our Grand Opening, getting into a new routine... The list goes on! I think I'm finally getting into a new routine though & I'm loving it :)  I'll have to do a day in the life post one of these days!

2 - I'm now also blogging for CrossFit Pineville!  I started up a Wordpress blog for the box this past weekend crossfitpineville.wordpress.com  There's not a whole lot going on over there yet, but you should still check it out!  I think it looks pretty good!  Just sayin' :)

3 - Speaking of Wordpress, I'm thinking of switching over.  Has anyone done this before?  Thoughts? I guess with all this change in my life, I thought maybe a change on the blog could be good, too!

4 - And speaking of change....B & I purchased a new mattress this past weekend!  We bought a super comfy memory foam iComfort mattress.  I'm in heaven.

5 - We bought a new mattress because we bought a new bed!!

This beauty is scheduled to be delivered this Thursday!!!  I could squeal with excitement, in fact I most definitely will when it gets here!!  I'm planning to get new, crisp, white bedding for us, too!

6 - Since we got a new bed, we're moving our bed into the guest bedroom.  I'm probably just as excited, maybe a little more, to get the guest bedroom all set up!!  That seems really grown up to me, to have a guest bedroom.  Haha, I have really cute plans for it though, so I'm excited!!

7 - This guy is pretty much my little side kick...

He comes with me to the gym every day, we even brought his big crate from home (meaning it is out of my kitchen, good glory hallelujah!).

He gets to go on lots of car rides now every day and he loves it!!

Gotta have that wind in my hair!

Then he gets tired & takes naps at the gym...

It's tough being Berkley :)

8 - I finished cleaning out my room at school yesterday, so I'm really, really done now!  It's amazing how much crap stuff you can accumulate in 4 1/2 years of teaching!  I threw away so much, but I kept some good stuff, too.

9 - My parents were still in town over the weekend so I got to see my Dad Saturday and celebrate Father's Day a little bit!  It was also my brother Rob's 1st Father's Day as well as our BIL Casey's!  And the 7th one for my brother Josh.  So Happy Father's Day to all those wonderful men!!  So lucky to know them!

10 - I think I'm out of updates, but I like to end on even numbers :)

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!!!

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!!!

Spartan Race Recap

Weekend before last, we completed the Reebok Spartan Sprint here in Charlotte!!!  

I was waiting on the website to upload their pictures before I recapped, but sadly there were only about 3 that were actually of me and where my eyes are open!  And none of Brandon :(  Oh well, here's the pics we did get!

As you can tell from this picture, it was rainy and just yuck out!  Oh, and cold!!  A lovely 50 degrees with drizzling rain.  Thankfully the rain did stop before our heat began!

Here we are, clean, dry and cold!  My brother Josh was running it, too!  We met up with him shortly after this picture.  This was Brandon's 3rd Spartan Race (recaps 1 and 2), Josh's 2nd and the 1st for Andrea and me!

To be honest, I was basically terrified at this point!  Haha!  I think it was mainly just fear of the unknown.  5 miles through the trails of the White Water Center and obstacles and mud and cold.  The weather was really playing with my head!  Mostly, though, I think I was scared that it would be too hard and I would feel completely defeated.

But I'd already paid to do it, so come hell or high water (or cold weather and rain) I was going to run the race!  

Thankfully, Andrea and I planned to run it together!  Once we got going we warmed up (a bit) and started feeling good!  It was at about mile 2, even after the first few obstacles of scaling walls and traipsing through the (chilly!) Catawba River, that we looked at each other and said "I know we're only at mile 2, and maybe this will get really terrible, but so far....it's really fun!!"

Lots of mud was involved!  Crawling through, wading through, you name it!

Josh and his buddy getting after some burpees!  

If you couldn't complete an obstacle...you had to complete 30 burpees!  I think Andrea and I did about 120 burpees!?  Haha, we couldn't complete the monkey bars, rope climb, javelin throw, and the traverse wall.

Brandon beat us all and his time from last year by 14 minutes!!  He finished just over an hour at 1:02!

How awesome is this picture!?!  Haha, Josh finished before us at an 1:27 and took over 30 minutes off his time from last year!

Andrea and I finished at 1:37!!

B was at the finish line cheering us on!

Let me tell you, friends, finishing that race was such a high!!!  Wow!!  Seriously, best feeling ever!!  It just goes to prove that when you put yourself out there and try something new or hard or scary, it pays off!  I'm so glad I didn't let me fear talk me out of it.  It was completely worth it and I'm already excited about next year!  (Just going to hope for warmer weather!)

Thank goodness for the heated changing tents!  Dry, non muddy clothes felt amazing!

We're Spartan finishers!!!!

B and I celebrated that night with some much deserved drinks and Bad Daddy's!

And, my mud bath must've been good for my skin and hair that day!  Haha ;)

My take away from all of this.....just do it!  That's been the approach I've been taking with my workouts and eating habits lately.  Either you do or you don't.  It's that simple!  So just do it!  Seriously, whatever it is.  Maybe it's not an obstacle race that you're facing, but whatever is staring you square in your face, just do it!!  I bet you'll surprise yourself and come out on top!

So....who's joining our Spartan Race team next year!?!  Any takers!?  :)