Weekend Recap: Unexpected & Enjoyable

Morning, ladies. Coming at you a bit tired as I landed at midnight Sunday. Can I get an AMEN for falling back? AMMMMMEEEEN! This weekend Le Husband and I were in Austin, Texas for the kickball championship. Cheers to friends, warm weather and fun together.

It was the whirl wind of a trip, which means a whirl wind recap.

Unexpected events of the weekend:

+ Last week ended pretty awfully, as I found out a close friend of the family had passed away. It was a shock and she was such a sweet lady to our family. Every year we would see her when we visited the lake and she was the salt of the earth, fierce lover of a good time and just a wonderful, wonderful human. I was able to get time off for the funeral Friday morning and man was it tough. Grateful I was able to celebrate her life, just not how I expected to get my weekend started.

+ Cloudy and cool temperatures in Austin for kickball day. I LOVED the warmth, seriously, I miss my 80 degree days, but was super thankful for the unexpected cloud cover. Kept me from getting fried.

+ Good play by me during my two games. Practice has been limited recently and I didn't expect to do much, just hold my own. I had two really great at bats and a few stellar catches.

+ Losing in the first round of eliminations. Dagger, sadness. OUCH!

+ Realizing how much I miss this group of people. Yes, I know people think we are crazy trailing around to play a kids game, but the relationships built truly last. I hadn't seen MANY friends in over a year and it was incredibly fun catching up with everyone. We root for each other on the field and in life and I almost teared up thinking this could be the end.

+ Not making it to the bar Saturday night and passing out at 10:00pm. Cheers to sleep.

+ DST making my sleep gllllllooorrrriiious for Sunday morning.

+ A crew time out which changed my connecting flight email that caused me to completely change my flights and leave earlier than planned. Grateful I worked quickly because many people got stuck on the delayed flight which had us landing in TYS at 2:30am, ouch.

Enjoyable moments of the weekend:

+ Having a teammate wait for me at the airport so I didn't have to ride to the house alone.

+ Seeing Le Husband after a week apart.

+ Morning walk for coffee with the housemates. Awesome time catching up.

+ Two great catches.

+ Delicious food at the field to eat while we watched the other teams play for the championship.

+ Amazing dinner at the JW Marriott.

+ Good execution during the women's tournament.

+ A friend lending us his car to get me to the airport for my earlier flight.

+ Using the Admiral club during a long layover in Charlotte.

+ Free WINE!

Soooooo, now I'm here at work and hanging in there. Doing my best to turn the dreary into cheery. There might have been some Christmas music playing this morning to bring out my smile. Wishing you a wonderfully fabulous week!

What I'm Up To {June}

Hello! Today I'm linking up with Shay and friends for What's Up Wednesday. I always think it's fun to look back on the month and look ahead to the next one while reading recaps from other bloggers. Come join in the fun why don't you?

What We're Eating... so much healthier than last month, woohoo. For those of you who are new here I had gallbladder surgery back in May due to many attacks which were extremely painful. Fatty foods were my nemesis so I stopped eating them. So, you can guess what I did once the gallbladder was gone...yeah I ATE ALL THE THINGS resulting in feeling crappy and gaining weight. To combat the bad cravings, Le Husband and I did a mock WHOLE30 at the beginning of the month and we now both feel so much better. I'm still not as lean as I would like but my body is back to craving WHOLE foods and not processed crap. That is a WIN within itself, woohoo!

What I'm reminiscing about... having a job where I could do whatever I wanted when I wanted. We used to be able to galavant at a the drop of a hat and take a long weekend for kickball events. Now I really have to THINK about vacation and when I plan to take time off. I get very few paid days off now and coordinating them with my boss can be tough. I miss the freedom [and the money] but I know this is just a learning season and soon I'll be on to better things.

What I'm Loving... my new haircut. So fresh! So fun! So blonde! SO Summer!

What We've Been Up To... getting the house together some more. Homeownership and remodeling is a never ending process. We are --this-- close to having the bottom floor set and I can't wait until we can take a week or two off and just live. Everything is coming together nicely and I am super excited to show people the before and after once it gets set.

What I'm Dreading... when my family leaves next week and having cameras in the office. YUCK!

What I'm Working On... studying new releases and getting my choreography memorized. Also trying to find lil bits for the house for decor. Where do you find cute, cheap but not cheap looking pieces?

What I'm Excited About... my family is coming into town for the weekend, even the ARIZONA sister. It has been way too long since we were all together and I'm beyond excited for us all to be whole again.

What I'm Watching/Reading... watching videos for LES MILLS, reading choreography and reading my NASM textbook and notes. I need to rock it with my test and lots of textbook reading is in my future.

What I'm Listening To... LES MILLS music and podcasts. Loving The Accused and getting into other true crime podcast recommend by friends and readers. Anyone have a good podcast they think I should listen to now?

What I'm Doing This Weekend... hanging with my family and playing kickball.

What I'm Looking Forward To Next Month... July is bringing family into town, vacation to Michigan for a wedding, a kickball tournament in North Carolina and Le Husband's family coming into town. It is going to be super busy but super duper fun. What have you been up to and what are your plans for July?

Friday Letters

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Many, many blog years ago, there was a fun link up called "Friday Letters". It was one of my favorites and something I'm thinking about bringing back. Would anyone like to join for a Friday Letter linkup?

Dear Friday: Thank you for getting here, I'm so excited to see your face. Dear airplane: Please be nice to me this weekend. Dear body: I'm counting on you to perform, we're two weeks out from surgery, step up the game. Dear kickball family: Excited to see everyone. Dear kickball team: Let's win this one, aye? Dear Le Husband: I've missed you this week. Cheers to a weekend away together playing kickball. Dear warm weather: I'm so glad we are in the warmer months of the year. WELCOME, heat! Dear beautiful blog friends: Thank you for reading and still being here. Y'all are so sweet and your comments on Wednesday's post mean more than you know. Have a wonderful weekend! xx 

A Lean, Mean, 2015 Machine

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Here we are at the end of 2015. Can you believe the year is over? I know everyone says the same thing every year, but honestly I truly feel like yesterday was April. Our summer flew by so fast and suddenly the fall was over in the blink of an eye. While 2015 wasn't nearly as go, go, go as 2014 it was still a keep it moving kind of year. I already recapped my full year however, I find summing up my year in one post really brings everything full circle at the end of the year. I'll try not to get nostalgic as I take a look back to the 365 days that were 2015. #takingalookback #thankyou2015

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2015 became my year of doing and so many amazing opportunities came our way because we were open to trying new things, changing things up and saying yes to challenges. We took a lot of kickball trips with a brand new team and it was a much less frustrating year as a whole. Of course there were ups and downs on the playing field and with teammates, but that's life right? I made great catches, helped my team on offense and really played well all year. I was nervous about joining the team we did, but in the end it the team was a perfect fit and Le Husband, the sissys and I were able to send our kickball careers off with a bang. #timetoretire #thankyouforeverthingkickball #manimold

Speaking of a bang, this year I worked my @$$ off to get a banging body. What started as a 'hey you wanna try this' question to Le Husband turned into a complete lifestyle change and one I wish I had tried out earlier in life. Whole30 finally gave me the body I've wanted for years and the program helped me break away from my previous food mentality. I finally got back down to my wedding weight and was able to really see abs for the first time since college. It wasn't easy, it wasn't always fun but it was 100% worth it. I credit Whole30 with helping me achieve my 2015 fitness goal of running the Spartan Sprint in the elite category and helping me get over the obstacles, mentally and physically.

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My year of yes found me trying something completely out of my comfort zone when I decided to attend Les Mills BODYPUMP training. The weekend was a huge learning experience and receiving my certification in August was such a high after all of my hard work. I've been in front of classes a few times and have been told I'll have two next year which I am so excited about teaching. I never expected to work in the fitness world but this opportunity is one I'm enjoying for the moment so we will see where it takes me. Who knows, maybe I've found my career path.

There were ups and downs like every year, but this year was a bit less dramafied. So many of my dear friends welcomed beautiful babies into the world and I was so thrilled to meet my BOFF's baby Evie. Le Husband and I are still on the same page regarding kids, we want them but not quite yet. We still have a few bucket list items we want to check off before being parents and we are slowly making moves to get them done. I tried out new hairstyles, make up styles and began experimenting a bit more with fashion as well. It's nice feeling more confident in myself and growing older has helped me learn who I am and what I want out of life. #collectmemoriesnotthings #dontletthedramagetyoudown #bewhoyouare

All in all 2015 was a pretty fantastical year. We traveled, learned new recipes, tried new challenges, set new goals and made new friends. There was a lot of growing done and I know we will continue to grow as the years pass. The end of 2015 found us making a big decision and finally putting our plan into action. I'm talking huge, life changing and excitingly scary.

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Our year started off with multiple trips and will be ending with a big trip, too. As you're reading this, I'm getting ready to celebrate NYE on a cruise with my family for Mama B's 60th birthday! YES, a NYE cruise, how fun, right? Mama B is the bestest and we all wanted to celebrate her big milestone in a big way so we put this cruise together earlier this year. I can't wait to tell you all about our Caribbean cruise down to Mexico, Belize and Honduras. I hope you all have a wonderful and safe night celebrating New Year's Eve. Cheers to the ending of a fabulous year and double cheers to the start of a new one.

Year in Review {May, June, July, August}

Morning and cheers, friends. Can you believe Christmas is this Friday? I sure can't! This is quite possibly the best week of the year because everyone is super excited for the holidays and there is a fun bustle in the air. The magical night is almost here and we are on the cusp of Christmas joy. Today is extra joyous  because I taught my FIRST BODYPUMP CLASS THIS MORNING AND we are doing our FIRST round of wedding dress shopping for Sportyspice.  I CAN'T WAIT to see her beautiful face in all the pretty gowns. EEEK! So much fun in one week!

Be Te Dubs, big THANK YOU to everyone who linked up with us for the Christmas Countdown this month. Katie, Sara and I had a great time hosting and I loved reading all the fun festive posts this month. I appreciate all of the support y'all gave us, y'all ARE the BESTEST!!!!

Anyway, below you'll find the middle part of my year and honestly, part of the quietest part of my year. We were pretty go go go at the beginning but the summer found us a lil more mellow which was nice. I always enjoy the slow, lazy days, they make my heart sing. #quietbeforethestorm #sleepinginisthebest

M A Y
I shared some of the not so pretty parts of my personality.

We celebrated Mama B on Mother's Day.

 

After Whole30 and changing up my fitness routine I finally started seeing real progress in my body.

Our women's kickball team had our first tournament of the year and came out of it back-to-back champs. It was great playing well and winning some extra money too. 

I posted about my feeling of contentment with life and and some of my loves of the year.

We flew to Cincinnati for Memorial weekend to meet our new nephew. Oh my goodness, I love new baby smell and cuddles. It was a great weekend of babies, kiddos, summer fair and the pool. #iloveweekendswithfamily

J U N E

Summer brought lots of sporting events and the Women's World Cup.

Since it was the middle of the year, I rechecked in with my 2015 goals.

We had a lot of fun on the weekends with bike rides and enjoyed lots of soccer on television.

In order to get ready for swim suit season, Le Husband and I did a second round of Whole30 and had great results.  

 

I OWNED it, the good the bad and the ugly.

June brought the DC Kickball tournament and it ended up being a big disappointment both days. Our coed team really stunk it up and then our women's team lost in the finals and I was the last out. It was pretty tough, but luckily a dinner celebrating Father's Day brought the smiles back. #myfamilyrocks #whattrulymatters

 

I went out on a HUGE limb and signed up for BODYPUMP training. It was a long weekend of learning, fitness and stepping outside my comfort zone but I did it and I PASSED!!!! I was so excited and proud of myself.

That same weekend we sent off a favorite family of ours and enjoyed a wet, but fun dinner cruise down the Potomac river. It was a ton of fun but really hard to say goodbye to such wonderful people.

 

We also celebrated Mama B's half birthday with a pool party and it was a BLAST! #shelooksdarngoodforherage

 

J U L Y

We continued cheering on the USWNT in the WWC. It was fun meeting up with soccer friends and the sissys.

Le Husband and I snuck off for a week vacation in Colorado where we celebrated the 4th of July. While in Colorado we watched the USWNT win the World Cup for the first time since 1999 and it was pretty awesome! I had some amazing blog friends guest post for me while we were away. [Thanks pretty girls].

I posted my first Today I post and it was a great concept. Bummer I failed to do anymore this year.

There was no rest for the weary as I spent the next weekend playing in a soccer tournament and hanging with some new soccer friends. It was a long soccer weekend with six games but a ton of fun as WE WON so it was worth it!

 

I gave thanks for small things, shared some of my Nordstrom sale purchases,  had a chill weekend for once and said goodbye to a dear blog friend who lost her battle with heart disease. #rememberingleslie

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A U G U S T
I CONQUERED my fitness goal for 2015 when I ran the Spartan race in the elite category. It was tough, but did it and I wasn't last which made me feel so strong. I worked really hard this year for this goal and was thrilled when all the hard work paid off. #spartansprint #spartanstrong #goalachieved #stickwithitandyoullgetit

We spent an abbreviated week in Tennessee for our yearly family vacation. It might have been a short week, but the fun, sun and memories made weren't short anything. The water was fantastic and it was great being back after missing out last year. Le Husband even learned to one ski which was so awesome to watch. #waytogohoney

 

Continuing the BODYPUMP certification process I taught my first class comprised of my family. They were champs and rocked it out and I did the whole thing in one full take the first time. It was a bit scary putting all my training out there but I was proud of my achievement when it was all over. #BODYPUMP #myfamilyrocks

Just a a week later I found out I PASSED MY ASSESMENT and could apply for a JOB! #HOLLA

Our last August weekend brought on pool time, good food, birthday celebrations and of course kickball!

 

Wow, summer was super fast this year, right? I mean wow, I think I had a pretty awesome one. Check you next week for my last recap [wow that is crazy to write and read]!

Year in Review {Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr}

Morning, ladies! I hope you are doing well. Last year I participated in an "Year in Review" linkup and even though it's not happening this year, I still wanted to recap my year. It is so crazy 2016 is right around the corner and before we start the new I want to give one last look back at the old.

J A N U A R Y

Started the year running with a NYE celebration at home and the a flight to Columbus, OH for a family weeding. It was a great time and I loved my outfit. I also had a blate with two of my faves {hi smashly and rissy}!

 

The weekend after Columbus we were jetsetting again, but this time we were going south to Dallas to see my BOFF and to attend the first National Football Championship game. It was an incredibly fun weekend and the game was an amazing experience. It was so awesome cheering the Buckeyes on to victory and celebrating with some of my favorite people!

 

 

I wrote a post about no longer being AFRAID TO FAIL! I vowed to make 2015 my year of doing and to not care if I failed as long as I gave it my best. I set some big goals and did whatever I could to achieve them. 

We celebrated Le Husband's birthday with a family dinner and our first attempt at homemade pasta. #yum

I treated Mama B and the two sissys to tea at the Ritz and it was a fun, posh jolly good time!

 

Our family put together a fabulous surprise for Grandaddy T-bone and we had a wonderful time celebrating his 89th birthday down in Tennessee.  It was a long weekend of driving but so worth it seeing his happy face.

F E B R U A R Y

I traveled back to Ft. Worth to visit my beautiful BOFF and attend her baby shower.  It was such a fun weekend celebrating her and meeting more of her dearest friends. Lil Evie was spoiled and we spent a fun Valentine's day together, too!

We continued our jet setting and headed down to Ft Lauderdale to kick off the kickball season at SFKO. It was so nice being warm after a brutal winter and Le Husband and I had a great time playing kickball, eating good food and soaking up the sun on the beach. #iloveagoodsunset #gimmethebeachinthewinter

 

In an effort to step up my recipe game I started blogging new recipes. It was fun and something I've continued through the year. Having a nice camera for pretty pictures is a complete game changer.  

[Crockpot Chicken and Mushrooms]

[Homemade Tortillas]

Sportyspice turned the big 2-9 [what] and we had fun celebrating her day of birth. 

M A R C H

We traveled down to the Southern part of VA for the weekend to watch Le Husband's college baseball team play. It was freezing in but still a good time watching the boys. We also bought the team dinner which was a fun little affair. I love seeing Le Husband around his baseball team, it's something I missed since we didn't know each other and the little glimpses make me smile. Plus I got to sport my Kent State gear. #baseballwifefortheweekend

 

We flew to Cincinnati for another family wedding. It was a great time, but since we were still on Whole30 we missed out on the cupcakes and the booze, wah! Oh and we failed to get a picture together #theworst!

Our recipe game continued on strong as we tried out new Whole30 recipes. There are so many delicious recipes out there and many of them were quite easy to make. We found the ones we liked and ate them QUITE often.

[Salmon with avocado and mango salsa]

[Cracklin Chicken]

After starting the program in February, we finished our first attempt of Whole30 and man was it an incredible experience.  I learned a ton about food, my mental strength and my body and had some pretty fabulous results. I can't speak highly enough about this program and think everyone should give it a try at least once.

A P R I L

We celebrated Easter and it was a wonderful weekend with family and the out doors.

I shared my heart and wrote in the raw about the six year anniversary of my grandmother's death. It hurt to type by it was also cathartic. Y'all were so supportive and I was blown away by the kind comments. #thankyou

We did a day hike even though I was sick and we conquered it thankfully. Also, a bunch of my blog besties welcomed beautiful baby girls into the world and it was such a wonderful weekend of texts.

I celebrated my 32nd birthday with a delicious dinner and a fun bowling party. #wowimold

Another weekend another flight to another state. I flew back to Ft. Worth to meet beautiful Evelyn and hang with my new mommy BOFF. It was so much fun cuddle the new bambina and witness one of my best friends as a mother for the first time.

I shared my workout routine and quick abs video.

I also jumped on the 'Show me your states" blog bandwagon and have actually added two since then.

Wow, it sure was a busy first quarter, we really hit 2015 running. Next week I'll bring you the middle of the year.