Tag Archives: crossfit

Summe 2013 Bucket List: Recap!

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blog-summer-2013 copyI am so happy I created a bucket list for this summer. Two to three months is my sweet spot for goal planning and making every day count. I think I will keep it going and not try to get back into yearly goals, which never seem to work for me.

This summer was amazing: the weather, what we accomplished, the places and people we were able to visit. I’m sad it’s winding down but I’m thankful I have my PL album to look back on that last few months.

1. Use our ice cream machine to make coconut milk ice cream. Many flavors. // Well, the many flavors didn’t happen, but I did manage to squeeze in vanilla coconut milk ice cream over Labor Day weekend. Greg went au natural, while Becky and I dressed ours up in root beer floats. It was delicious and easy, but I’m glad it requires planning ahead and at least 8 hours to complete. We don’t need ice cream at the ready around here.

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2. Finish the front yard and get it to a point where it’s just maintenance. // We did it! We spent several weekends weeding, trimming, mowing, and laying bark. Then we handed the yard over to our wonderful new gardner who is making it shine.

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3. Stop wasting food (i.e. use all the food I buy & defrost). Keep summer cooking simple. // I definitely improved though there’s still room for more improvement. Food was simple over the summer but I still found myself cleaning out dead vegetables a few times. Work in progress.

4. Try ten new BBQ recipes. // Going into the summer, I thought this would be what I was most excited to work on. Turns out I really like simple BBQ. Meat + seasoning + veggies = awesome dinner. Recipes mean more grocery shopping, prepping, and cooking. We ate some good food, but going forward I’m sticking to the simplest meals possible on the grill. They are our favorite. lili_PC1_photocollage10_6P

5. Get a fun family self picture. // Not everyone (ahem, husband.) is as into this photo as I am, but I LOVE it. We spent our summer walking with the doodle and this captures it so very well.

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6. Make a fire in our front yard fire pit. Potentially make s’mores. // Done and done. Only once, but with friends and it was fun. And tasty.

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7. Walk fifty miles with Alfred (basically, get back in the habit of after work walks). // We did it! By far my favorite bucket list item this summer. We tried new parks, walked with Greg and friends, walked when we were out of town, pretty much walked, walked, walked. The three of us did out fiftieth mile, a lap around “our” park, on Labor Day morning.

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8. Hang art in the office. // We got the map wall and I’m calling that success. Greg’s desk has art hanging above it as well, but I haven’t finished mine yet.

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9. Learn to give myself a decent pedicure. // Nope. Didn’t even think about this after I wrote it on the list.

10. Make pull-up progress. // I did! I moved down a band size (smaller band = less help getting up) for WODs, from purple to black. For volume training, I stopped using a band and started doing negative pull-ups (jumping up, then slowly lowering myself down), which I’ve been told is the last step to *finally* getting that one single pull-up on my own.

Project Life: Weeks 22 & 23

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My second to last week of catching up. Next week I’ll have last week’s and this week’s, and then going forward I’ll just have the previous week to share every week. Did you follow?

Week 22 (May 27 – Jun 2)

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What happened this week: We went to Eastern WA for the first time this summer. It’s one of my favorite things about living up here. We usually have no plans other than to roam the orchard and hang out at the lake. And it’s warm and sunny. Alfred learned to swim this trip on the orchard river, so we’re really excited to take him out to the lake next time. We will be back soon and I can’t wait.

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Photographers: Combo of iPhone and DSLR. Greg took a picture for me during each round of golf he played this week (once with Jon, once with my Dad in CO). A friend took the picture of us gym girls out watching a band.

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Outside the Norm: I used the “I LOVE [      ]” stamp that I got from this blog/store. In case I haven’t mentioned it: I love summer.

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Insert: During the month of May I kept up with the Instagram photo a day group and since this was the last week of May I included the photos as an insert. I used coin pouches from Amazon (I got the idea from a few blogs, I’m no craft genius) and used the remaining squares to write the prompts for the days. It looks nowhere near as cute as I had envisioned, but like everything else Project Life, if it’s not perfect I just move on and let it be.

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 Week 23 (June 3 – June 9)

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What happened this week: This was a very normal week and Greg was home (which isn’t so normal, but is starting to be more normal – yay!). We spent most of the weekend working on the part of the front yard that is within the gate. We got 90% of the way there. Since my goal for the summer is to get the front yard to a point of maintenance, I think we’re doing pretty good.

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Photographers: They were all me and mostly from my phone.

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Outside the Norm: I took a panorama on my phone at the Sounders game then printed it 4 x 12 to fill two 4×6 slots. I wasn’t able to crop it down to the full panorama (it would have cut too much off the top or bottom), but it is still a fun new way to capture a game photo. I also used the TimerCam app a few times to get shots with me/us in them.

Playing Catch-up

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I’m trying to blog more, but I’m also trying to get more into a routine so mornings are less crazy and so I have an easier time falling asleep at night. Which mostly means I’m not using my computer after work for things like Project Life or blogging. This week I’m trying out an early morning routine for doing my fun computer stuff.

(And before you think Project Life was one of my hair brained ideas that lasted for only the first nine weeks of the year (why would you ever think that?), rest assured I’m still keeping up. I just made a few changes and haven’t had time to…document my documenting?)

So here’s what’s been going on the last few weeks:

Proof that I can clean & jerk 95 pounds.

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I wouldn’t want you to think I’m some sort of CrossFit phenomenon. Please take a look at the results from my box. There are people who didn’t even do all five workouts that rank higher than I do. Ha! This is why I love CrossFit, literally anyone can do it. My goal this year was just to complete all five workouts and I did. Screen Shot 2013-04-09 at 6.07.53 AM

Sometimes you need ice cream on Friday night for a more enjoyable TV watching experience. We shared B&J’s cookies and milk, which tastes incredibly like a glass of milk with cookie crumbles in it.

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Friday nights are my favorite because we usually do nothing besides catch up from work and travel all week. And I get pictures like this of my people that just make me really happy.

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Alfred turned 1 on Saturday, March 30th. I decided that when we should really celebrate is Memorial Day weekend, when we’ve survived one year of puppy. Nonetheless it was a beautiful day so the birthday boy got an extra long trip to Magnuson for swimming in the lake. Mostly it was extra long because I dropped his collar and we had to walk the entire (large) park a second time to find it.

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We had Roberta & Don over on Easter for dinner. I made this salad which I put on cucumber slices for an appetizer. I suggest you make it soon. I think this is the first time I’ve hosted a holiday, so of course it required some table decorating.

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I made a little dog cake for Alfred who ate his and Bailey’s as well. I guess when it’s your birthday you are allowed to eat your guest’s cake. Yes, I made him wear a bow. Only because the grocery store did not have party hats.

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Happy belated Easter from the Martins.family_bday_edited-1I’ll leave the living room painting saga for another post. I’m not ready to relive it quite yet.

Phoenix Recap & 13.4

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I wish I was waking up again in Phoenix this morning! Greg and I flew out late on Thursday night and spent the weekend doing nothing. It was the most boring trip ever, in a really good way. If you ever just need to recharge, I suggest going to a resort in the middle of no where and not renting a car. We were in bed every night by ten and slept for ten or eleven hours, we sat at the pool and read books, and we went out to dinner. We also watched a lot of HGTV as we are known to do since we’re deprived of it during real life.

That’s my whole recap because it really was the most boring trip ever.

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Last night was the 13.4 workout. Since I abandoned my blog for a while I haven’t written about the CrossFit Games. Last year I signed up but only did the first two workouts. So this year my goal is to do all five. I’ve survived the first four, I think I’ll make it.

Last night’s WOD was two parts – a clean & jerk (getting a barbell from the ground to your shoulders then over your head) followed by toes to bar (while hanging from a bar, touching your toes to the bar). I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to get any reps because the clean & jerk was 95 pounds, 25 more than I’ve ever done. But I did the first three! There is photographic evidence, but I don’t have it yet.

Then it was time for 3 T2B. I hung around on the bar trying my best to get my toes to touch. I think I looked a lot like a fish on a hook squirming around. I didn’t succeed but came very close a few times. It was closer then I’ve ever come so I’m going to just be happy with that and take my 3 reps. I’m pretty sure I’ll lose my coveted second to last place in our gym and fall to last after this workout.

When I got home it was still light out (!) so Alfred and I played in the backyard for a bit. He wasn’t in the mood for a photo shoot and instead wanted to eat the grass we have coming up and one of his many sticks he’s collected on walks.

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February Goals

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1. Clean out the garage. We’re getting there, but it’s nowhere near done. All the recycling from moving and opening wedding gifts is finally gone so that’s a good step, but we still have boxes to unpack, Goodwill runs to make, and shelves to put up and organize.

2. Average eight hours of sleep per night. I actually made a lot of progress with sleep. Now that I have my Lark, I know I need to schedule about nine hours for sleep in order to get eight (it’s so awesome being a crappy sleeper). I’m getting to bed earlier on the weeknights and trying not to schedule any early morning weekend activities so I can sleep in. In general I’m not drinking much these days which is helping me stay asleep throughout the night.

3. Use my pressure cooker. Nope.

4. Buy no new Project Life supplies. I think I bought a few things, but nothing like January. Progress?

5. Get to the gym 15 times. I made it 12, or an average of three times per week. Not too bad, considering we were out of town one weekend and I started the month off with the flu.

I’m liking these monthly goals over yearly resolutions so I think I’ll keep it up. Time to figure out the March goals.

Project Life: Week Eight

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I think this is the latest I’ve gotten my project life for the week before done. Truth be told, I’m using working on the current week by now. I guess this is a good sign – I’ve got more going on than too much computer time.

  • I used the last of my unused kits this week – Olive. I have mixed thoughts on Olive; I love the colors but I’m not a huge fan of the florals and feminineness. I think it would make a really pretty baby book or wedding album though.
  • I stopped trying to cover every day of the week on the Week in Review cards. There are only so many ways I can say “I dropped the dog off, went to work, went to the gym, picked the dog up, puttered around the house”.
  • We went to Denver this weekend so I used a different template than usual for the right page so I could fit more pictures.
  • I crossed out some family news I didn’t want to share publicly and the orange box is where the template is showing through because I hid the picture of my sister trying on wedding dresses for the blog version.
  • I had so many cute pictures of all the littles I finally just gave up and picked my favorite of each to include along the bottom. The picture of Maks at the bottom left about kills me. This kid makes the best faces ever.

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Project Life: Week Six

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I’m tired and have to bake a breakfast casserole, shower, and do some work before I can get to bed so I’ll make this short and sweet.

  • I used  Turquoise this week.
  • The title card says that I love this when in fact I don’t even like it. I bought Turquoise when I went crazy buying kits and it’s not really my thing. Lots of neutrals and dark colors, geometric shapes. But since I bought it I told myself I had to use it at least once if not more. I picked the four colors I like the best from the kit (green, blue, red, white) and made the best of it.
  • I’m trying to include a picture of both Greg and myself each week. It’s been hard to get Greg with his travel. I got two of each of us this week!
  • This is absolute proof your life can be super normal and you can still do a Project Life. I think in a few years when we have kids I will look back with envy that I got to go the gym after work everyday and laugh at how exhausting I thought it was to cart Alfred around to all his social obligations. I am still so happy I stumbled upon this right before the new year.
  • I didn’t have that much fun putting together this week’s spread, I think because I just didn’t love the design.
  • There are no pictures of Alfred in this spread, which was totally unintentional. Maybe I haven’t turned into a weird dog person after all.PL_2013_Week6A PL_2013_Week6B

I’ve never done a link-up before, but it seemed like fun, so I added my post over here.

The Mom Creative

The ABCs of 2013

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I saw this idea on the Carrots ‘N’ Cake blog and thought it would be fun to do as well. It also helps that I can use it to procrastinate from cleaning the house while I wait for Greg to come home with dinner.

A – Alfred growing up. It’s sad that this has to be first, but I’m really excited for Alfred to go from puppy to dog and be just a little bit more calm.

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B – Bar-B-Qs. Our new house has the most entertaining-friendly front yard and I can’t wait to use it once summer comes around.

C – CrossFit. I’m back and more obsessed than last year. The Open starts in March and I can’t wait!

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D – Documenting. I am loving Project Life and trying to keep up with my One Line A Day book. I’m keeping it to a minimum this year.

E – Eastern Washington weekends. Summer can’t come fast enough and I’m excited to spend many weekends visiting Ken and Cathy and soaking up the sun.

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F – Futbol! The Sounder’s season starts the first weekend of March and we are ready. We have six seats this year and it’s going to be a blast with the Kays and Tupling-Irvines.


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G – Getaway. We didn’t do a winter getaway last year. We learned our lesson. We’re spending a long weekend in Phoenix in March.

H – Happy first anniversary. I think it’s so fun that Greg and I will get to celebrate our first anniversary this year… and hopefully somewhere fun!

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I – Ice cream! Our friends Kevin and Anita gave us an ice cream maker for a wedding gift and I’m looking forward to try out some fun (coconut milk) flavors.

J – Journeying to South America. I have always, always wanted to go to South America and it seems like this might be the year. Not for sure yet, but I hope so!

K – Kitchen time. Besides the ice cream maker, we got many other kitchen gadgets and I’m looking forward to using them all and keeping up with cooking most of our food.

L – Little Smithski. It’s not every day (or even every year or decade) that your BFF has a baby; I’m co-hosting a fun shower in April and then meeting the little guy or gal in July. Yippee!

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M – Martin Family Golf Tournament. I’ve missed it both years and I’m so hoping timing works out this year.

N – New York. Spring in New York visiting friends, a new baby, and my BIL. My life is good.

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O – Offal. I’m going to eat offal this year. Ugh.

P – Pull-up. I’m going to do a pull-up this year. It’s going to happen.

Q – Quiet time. I’m loving that we are following through with ‘relax’ being our word of the year. We’re having lots of fun and have many plans in the works, but we also have low key nights at home that are much needed.

R – Reading. Four books down, how many more can I fit in this year? I hope my love for books never wanes.

S – San Francisco. Almost two years to the day from when I left I’ll be back for the wedding of good friends.

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T – “Tacos”. When I first went Paleo I was obsessed with lettuce tacos. I sort of forgot about them, but now I’m remember how easy and awesome they are.

U – Update the office. The office is our favorite room and where we spend the most time together. It’s going to be the first room we work on in the house.

V – Volunteering. I’m hoping to find an organization to volunteer with, it’s been too long.

W – Weekenders with the Collins. It’s not secret we spend a lot of time and money visiting my family, and I’m very thankful we can. We already have two weekends on the books and I’m sure there will be more.

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X – Xploring Washington. I hope we can get out more this year and see new parts of the state.

Y – Youngsters. Besides the four currently in my family, two new babies are being born to close friends this year. I’m loving getting to be around so many little ones these days!

Z – Zoom zoom. I’m still loving my little Mazda 3 and it’s coming up on it’s first birthday. I still find it totally enjoyable to drive to and from work in it. Maybe I’ll keep this one ten years, too, so my next new car feels as awesome!

Current State

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A few days ago, Holly blogged about the January Whole30 that the pretty people at Whole9 are putting on next month. I had been ignoring it for a wide variety of reasons, some of which include: It’s my birthday month, we’re going to Portland, my parents are coming to visit, etc. But when Holly wrote about it I finally decided to ignore my excuses instead and go for it. Today she noted that 100 people who read her blog are jumping in, too. So I’m not alone in feeling like a holiday failure I suppose. I’m actually kinda sorta looking forward to doing it with all these ladies (who I don’t know and am totally assuming are ladies).

Along with throwing out a little support for those of us who will be joining her, she wrote about her current state of health. I could mostly just steal hers, but she is right that level setting with yourself just why are you taking on this challenge is a smart thing to do. It’s not easy, I’ve done it before. It’s saying no to a lot of yummy food. It’s ordering really strangely at work lunches (or skipping out on them). It’s spending a lot of time in the kitchen. It’s coming up with weird excuses to not meet up with people for a drink. And great, I just thought of this: We’re newlyweds. How many annoying, coy winks am I going to get from people who think I’m pregnant? For the record, I’M NOT PREGNANT, MOM.

Anyway, here’s my current state of health and why I’m going to go to Portland for my birthday and not consuming Voodoo donuts or delicious Pinot Noir tastings:

  • Photophobia: What happens when I hit that certain fat stage and am terrified of all pictures taken of me. 
  • Fat Face: The main cause of photophobia.
  • Muffin Top: Umm, so today I found myself pulling my jeans above my muffin top while sitting at my desk.
  • Shitty Sleep: It’s terrible and I’m not nice when I’m tired. I’m so tired lately.
  • Laaaaaaazy: Side effect of shitty sleep. I’m not getting any exercise, which also makes me very short tempered.
  • Spotty arms: Weird red bumps on my arms that go away when I eat better.
  • Tummy Issues: Me and dairy are not a match made in heaven, but I’ve mentioned more than once my eggnog latte obsession this year. Seriously, right now I’m thinking about how amazing one will taste in the morning.

There’s probably more, but that’s enough to get me motivated to make some changes. I’m not starting the Whole30 early (please! I have our NYEE party and a good friends birthday to eat and drink my way through), but I am turning things around a bit. I joined Talia at her hot yoga studio tonight for a yoga sculpt class, I signed up for a January On-Ramp class at a new CrossFit box by our new house, and I made chili for dinner. It’s been a long time since I’ve cooked on a weeknight. And, I’m about to hit publish, go to bed, and try to get some decent sleep. Anyone else feeling like a giant, unmotivated blimp after December? There is hope!

Combating the Winter Blues

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I’m wiling to admit that I was not the most fun person to live with last winter. And frankly, my life wasn’t very fun either. I complained to no end about how much I hated Seattle winter. And, surprise, surprise, I just kept hating it more.

This year I’ve vowed to change my tune. No one (normal) actually likes Seattle winter, but it’s here for six months a year so one just needs to deal if one wants to take advantage of the benefits of life in the PNW. Of which there are many, but right now we’re talking about how I’m going to combat the winter blues.

1. Clothes 

Last year I just sort of adapted my San Francisco clothes as best I could. That doesn’t work. You end up cold and wet, which is scientifically known to double the amount of complaining you do when your husband gets home from work. This year I’ve ditched the big shopping sprees at cheap stores in leu of buying some quality winter gear. You know what? I don’t even notice that I’m wearing the same pieces over and over because I’m comfortable. Funny how that works.

The top four pieces I’ve learned to not live without: Wool boots, rain boots, scarves, and a rain coat.

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2. Moving

I am one of those people who gets a total high from working out. I’m also one of those people that likes to go to bed at 6:30 when it’s dark and cold out. I need to find some middle ground and move more in the winter. Not only will the endorphins hit, maybe I can avoid my pants getting even tighter. Ugh. Topic for another post! I’m calling my plan the 2×3. Not really, but I just made it up and it works. I’m going to run twice a week, practice yoga twice a week, and CrossFit twice a week. Running = endorphins. I actually like running, which I hear (but don’t understand) is weird. Yoga is done in a hot room. Heat makes me happy. Easy. And CrossFit is my bribe to myself. If I do it for two months twice a week on my own, I can join a box again.

3. Self Care

I’ve been *blessed* with a throat that pics up any viral or bacterial infection within a 2 mile radius. Being sick makes me grumpy and will bring down my resolve to fight the winter blues. I’m going to sleep, eat healthy, and take my vitamin D. Last night I went to bed at midnight, I don’t know where my vitamin D bottle is, and I just had ice cream as a side dish to my Rogan Josh. It seems I have some improving to do in this category. Good think I enjoy a challenge.

4. Winter Getaway

We nixed the getaway last year since we had the wedding and honeymoon. Two words: Bad idea. This year we’re going to Phoenix for a long weekend in March. Cheap (free miles, free hotel), easy (two hour flight, no time zone changes), and warm.

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5. STFU

Here’s the deal. I have a loving husband, a family I adore, awesome friends, a warm home (two, even!), a sweet puppy, and pretty much any other thing I want. So maybe I just need to shut the f*** up about winter. Yeah, it’s cold. It’s wet. It’s dark. It’s gray. (I never said this post was a sales pitch for Seattle.) But who cares. I choose to live here. I get to live here. There are literally millions of people in this world who dream about about living here and having maybe 1% of what I’m lucky enough to call mine. So this winter I’m going to vow to just STFU about winter. I have a lot to be thankful for and when the going gets tough, I’m going to do my best to dwell on this instead.

Wish me luck, friends! We’re almost at the first milestone of winter, the solstice. While the next two weeks are exceedingly painful for lack of daylight, it only gets better after the 21st!