Play Ball!

Our weekend started on Friday evening with a kickball game! What better way to kick off the weekend, right?!

kick off the weekend... with a kickball game... get it??? ha ha ha

I am so funny! ;)
 
Seriously though.. Josh and I are so blessed to have not only great neighbors, but great neighbors who are also great friends! I think it's really awesome that we know nearly everyone on our little street and that we can all get together and hang out! Unfortunately, I think that's somewhat rare these days.
Josh got the first score with a home run kick (are those correct kickball terms???), but that's not surprising with his mad kicking & running skillz.... and I lost count of the score after that. I don't even know which team won! There were 3 teams because we had too many people!









At some point we took a break for noms and Josh ate this:


And we stared at babies:


Then we ate homemade ice cream, played a little more kickball (on full stomachs!), and talked until it got dark! (then the glow sticks came out and the kids were ready to play... and I was ready for bed! ha! But not joking)

So much fun! Can't wait for our next neighborhood get together!!!

"But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine." - Thomas Jefferson

We call this one: Lola has a question.

(or two)

duck & run!

Seriously.... I can't handle the cuteness!

Oh Fran

So the plus side of having friends who own a CrossFit gym + having a photographer boyfriend = that you get pictures of your "graduation" WOD. The down side? That you get pictures of your graduation WOD.

Last night we had to do the 3rd and final Elements class and the benchmark WOD "Fran." Josh decided to tag along and of course brought his camera!!

The camera proved just as I suspected: I make really awesome faces while working out.

I should mention that I have been doing CrossFit with our neighbor Brian (you may remember him from here.) So when I say "we" that's who I'm talking about. I'd been wanting to sign up for CrossFit since they opened in April, but the times they offer classes didn't (don't) really work with my schedule. They're either in the morning before the sun is up (and Lynn doesn't get up before the sun), at lunch time, or at 5:30pm. And my schedule is so sporadic that I'm almost never home by 5:30. So I just haven't gone. Then Brian signed up and I was all like nooooo! you can't CrossFit without me!!!!!!!! so I went to the free intro class with him last Thursday (which happened to be at 6:30pm which would be a PERFECT time for classes if you ask me.) That's when Renee (girlfriend of CF gym owner) told me that if I couldn't make it to the 5:30 classes she'd just do the WOD's with me whenever I could get there. ISN'T THAT AWESOME?!

Because Renee is super awesome. Seriously, she is currently training for IRONMAN (!!!!), runs, swims, bikes, does CrossFit like 8 days a week, teaches kickboxing at the Y, and somehow also has a full time job.


And yet she offered to do the WODs with me! Renee, you just made my CrossFit dreams come true!

So back to Fran.

Fran: 3 rounds (21-15-9 reps) of thrusters and pull ups for time.


It really doesn't sound like much, right? 

I mean, it took me 5 minutes and 50 seconds.

Yeah, I didn't think it sounded too bad either... but when you're constantly moving at such a high intensity with no breaks..... you feel like you're going to die.


So that was fun. Five minutes and fifty seconds of pure evil fun.

I was pretty proud of myself though. I did ALL 3 rounds of thrusters with the 35lb bar (which is what Brian used too, so that's good for me right?!) And we did box pull-ups but don't be fooled, those still suck. My current main goal in life is to be able to do a real pull up. Just one.

....one day.

We are going to do the exact same workout in a month to see how much we improve.

In related news, my shoes came today!! So I broke them in by wearing them around the house. They went great with my dress ;)


They are Innov-8 f-lite 230's for those that asked and they're on sale right now on Zappos!

So that's my CrossFit news thus far. I have graduated Elements and am now permitted to attend REAL classes! Let the fun begin!

Happy Summer Solstice!!! (& hump day!)

"One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do."

-Henry Ford

Father's Day (weekend)

Every night for the past several weeks Josh and I have been coming up with something that we are grateful for from that day before we go to sleep. I think sometimes it's easy to take things for granted and this helps us (me) not to do that quite so much. And on the same note, I think it also helps at the end of a bad day to see that there are still positive things to be thankful for.

On Saturday my thankful thing was easy.
 
My family was all together and it wasn't a holiday, birthday, wedding, or funeral! We had a cookout... just because! (well, we kinda said it was to celebrate mine and Eric's birthdays -- his is July 1st and mine's the 9th -- but that was more so we could justify an ice cream cake, not really the reason for the cookout) Specifically, it was my Dad's side of the family which was fitting for Father's Day weekend :)

There's a lot of things I hate about the dynamics of blended families.... like the fact that my brothers (who are half brothers, for those that don't know.. we have the same dad) grew up over an hour away from me which made regular visits difficult while we were growing up. We didn't have the every other weekend thing going on and pretty much only saw each other on holidays and other rare visits. I always knew I had brothers though, and I always knew they loved me. And I guess at the time I just figured it was normal. It was normal to me that my whole family lived an hour away and we only saw them on holidays.

But now I've realized that while that may have been normal, it wasn't necessarily best. So now I'm old enough to say, "Hey family! Come to my house and we'll all eat, drink, and be merry!" - so I do! And they did! And I think it should happen way more often than once a year... after all, contrary to what I thought when I was 5 years old, an hour really isn't that long of a drive! ;)





Lola LOVED Aunt Kathy!!! Like so much that I thought she was going to sneak home with her!



Isn't my future SIL (less than 2 weeks!!!) so pretty?!




Josh isn't so sure about all of us! haha



You know, sometimes family dynamics aren't ideal. Sometimes circumstances keep things from being ideal. Not enough time, life gets too busy, too much distance, gas is too expensive, etc.. Sometimes situations aren't perfect and sometimes people aren't perfect. But sometimes you just gotta put in a little effort to make things a little more ideal. And if there's anything I've learned in life, it's that life is worth celebrating and not to be taken for granted. It's too short to have regrets and not spend time with the people you love. These people mean the world to me and I'm thankful that they took the time to make the [looooong 1-2 hour] drive down here to spend the afternoon with us!


I am blessed!!




Happy Father's Day to my Daddy! This was the 12th one we've celebrated without him. Miss him so much but so grateful for the time that he was here and that he was my Daddy. I love you, Dad! 

Tonight I'm doing Fran.

I have started doing CrossFit. [again?]

As in, I've gone twice -- once to an "intro" class and then did "Elements" 1 & 2. Elements is where they teach you the right way to do the different exercises. I finally learned the correct way to do a squat. Who would've thought I've been doing it wrong all this time!?

Y'all, CrossFit is intense. The WOD (workout of the day) we did at the intro class was 12 minutes long. 12 minutes! And I sweated more than I do when I go to the gym for 2 hours. And I am more sore from the Elements - where we didn't use any weight!!! it was basically just like practicing squats, lifts, etc - than I am when I do an hour long weight training class. This is crazy! What am I going to feel like when we actually start doing real WOD's??? I've been consistently going to the gym for over 3 years now and while doing CrossFit I feel more out of shape than ever!

Tonight is the 3rd and final Elements class... and apparently we have to do "Fran." I don't know what Fran consists of (I've been too scared to look it up) but apparently it's one of the hardest WOD's. And I'm still SORE from Sunday. So, this should be fun.

I am pretty excited about this CrossFit adventure though! Since I can't run right now (by that I mean I can't train for anything significant) I feel like my workouts lately haven't had much purpose. I've been doing spin, weight training, and occasional short runs or the Shred just to keep par. I'm glad to have something else to focus on now. I'm also excited about gaining actual strength! I have absolutely no arm strength, so I can't wait to start working on that! Pull ups, I am coming for you!!!

The picture above is of my new shoes!!! I found some Innov-8's (which are apparently really good for CrossFit) on sale! I figured new shoes kinda makes it official right?! Plus these are way more bad-@$$ looking than my hot pink running shoes -- which totally stick out like a sore thumb at CrossFit. ;)

I know I'm a little late with this, but did you guys see this?!?! Nik Wallenda walked across Niagara Falls on a tightrope!!! (last Friday I think)


I can't even walk in a straight line on a 2ft. wide line flat on the ground while sober. Let alone on a 2in. wide wire across enormously loud raging waters, through gusting winds and mist for 1/3 of a mile 200 feet in the air.

Have you ever been to Niagara Falls?! Holy cow!

I think what amazed me even more was that they interviewed him while he was walking across and he just carried on a conversation as if he was on a leisurely stroll through the park. I think if that was me (HAHAHAHA) I'd be all like STFU! 


And then I even joked right near the end, "Why isn't he sprinting to the finish?!" because that's what Josh always tells me to do at the end of races... and then HE DID! He literally ran on a freakin' tight rope. Ridiculous and amazing all at once! 

Oh, and the fact that his wife and kids were waiting on the other side???

I'm just saying, if Josh ever had the brilliant idea to walk across Niagara Falls on a tightrope (especially if we had kids!) I'd kill him!!! Although, I guess that'd be counter-productive?

Anyway, Thank GOD he made it! I was so nervous!

The latest edition in the "How Lola Sleeps" series.

Too much to drink?

little things....

...that i am thankful for right now. 

  
• summer!!! (I know it's technically not summer yet but it sure feels like it and summer makes me happy!!)


 • that we live in a neighborhood with awesome neighbors!!! Our neighbors are currently planning a neighborhood kickball game & cookout. How cool, right?! I just know so many people who don't even know their next door neighbors' names, and we're fortunate to know pretty much everyone on our little street -- and they're all great people and friends! Bonus!

• that my grandma came to town  for a couple days and we got to spend a little time together.
 
She's pretty awesome. And totally not grandmotherly. Seriously, she was making jokes about pole dancing and going to the porn store (there's a "Theater X" on the way to our house. It's classy.) She has a hilarious sense of humor that I clearly did not inherit. She should start a blog, it would be awesome. She did just get on Facebook so maybe I can convince her!! ha! Love her.

She also brought Bubby and he wanted a picture with me and the Bostons. So this happened:


 Best picture ever. Thanks, Mom.

• Bear hugs. Y'all know we call Lola "Bear," right? AND that I'm obsessed with hugs?!


So perfect.

Happy Wednesday! :D

so true.

instagram photo dump

i'm thelynnied on instagram if you want to follow along! let's be photo friends!!!! :) 

 linking up with a good life blog.