Life, CF, growth... and a cooking class!

Not a whole lot has been going on lately.... other than life. You know how it goes. :)

CrossFit has been going well. The Open WOD's are done, which is a bit disappointing. The best part about those is everyone in CrossFit does them... and it's fun to see how you stack up and compare.

I didn't do one of them, as pushing motions are still on the back burner for me. 150 wall balls? Ain't nobody got time for dat!

However, the rest of them have gone great.

This was 13.4:

95-lb Clean and Jerk's with Toes-to-Bar

Two of my favorite moves! What a blast.

I read this awesome article about what the Open teaches us. It's a sense of accomplishment, a measure of how we compare to ourselves, and what we can prove to ourselves. We can be proud of the accomplishments we have, no matter how humble they seem. Read the article here.

In general, I have multiple goals for CrossFitting, but I keep coming back to these main ones:

1. Have fun
2. Get strong
3. Prove myself by giving it my all and never quitting
4. Encourage others

I've had a lot of victories lately, physically. My injuries from the past have been healing.

Aside from burpees and a few light reps here and there, I hadn't done any pushups or bench-press type motions since last November. They would ignite my upper traps and neck and send me straight to migraine city. But I (weakly) did 84 of them on a 24" elevated box (along with 84 push presses and 84 situps in 15:32). Success! No migraines! Is this any more reason to head over to Valley Spine and Sport? Seriously. Dr. Alex is a genius. I was, however, sore for nearly a week with good ol' DOMS. :) I'm excited to cross off pushing and pressing motions from my list of can't-do's!

My deadlifts are back up where they're supposed to be plus my shoulders are holding up for toes-to-bar, kipping pullups, split jerks, and overhead squats. Hamstrings aren't complaining lately either! *knock on wood*

I've been photographing some different things lately too. I helped Dr. Alex update some images for his website and social media, as well as my good friends at CrossFit Appleton. It's been fun to photograph these Open WOD's and the incredible athletes getting it done. Check out some of the photos here.

Other than that, I've been enjoying time with family and friends.

We hosted supper the other evening and then played some games. I love my in-laws. :)

We also had a couple's weekend a few weeks ago where a bunch of us younger, married, child-less couples got together for games, food, and fun. That was a blast too!

In other news, winter is still. dragging. on. It's still cold, wet, and there's a chance of snow for later this week. Oh well. Summer has to come eventually, right?

Here's one of my Paleo fails from recently.. these are always fun! I saw several times online about mixing avocado with cocoa. Some people added a banana and blended it, which would have helped drastically. I'll admit that this required a LOT more chocolate chips to make it palatable. ;)

Oh, and how could I forget?!

I have been invited to teach a cooking class, for which I am super excited!

It's called "Civilized Cavemen: Gluten Free and Paleo Cooking"

Click here for more details, but this is the description:

"We might not grunt and live in caves, but we can learn a lot from our ancestor's diet of unprocessed whole foods and sustainable meats. Join us and learn how to create gluten-free, Paleo meals that incorporate fresh, local foods. We'll share an overview of the Paleo template, strategies on how to stock your kitchen, time saving tips, tricks and resources for preparing meals. Mariah will demonstrate tasty recipes that even your gluten-eating friends will love - no caves or fires required! Come learn (and taste) how great eating like civilized cavemen can be!"

I will be demonstrating a few recipes, plus doing a little educating and offering plenty of resources to make things easier. This will be fun! :)

Also, tonight I watched the documentary "Forks over Knives" about a whole-foods, plant-based diet, or veganism. I have quite a few reactions to that, and I even took notes during, so expect a post coming soon.

Anyway, I'm off to bed... Can't wait to CrossFit tomorrow morning. :)

Thanksgiving... 2012!

I'm only 4 months late.. ;)

We rented a house in Galena, Illinois, and all met there for Thanksgiving. What a fun time!

I don't care that this is blurry. :)

We all took a walk. It was a bit chilly...

... and windy!

Ticket to Ride... interesting game. :)

Biding their time until Thanksgiving dinner...

... and the women were hard at work. Except me. I was taking pictures.

Downtown Galena was so stinkin' cool.

I should have just bought these... I haven't found any I like as well since!

This Paleo pecan pie was my downfall. Completely legal ingredients, sweetened with maple syrup, and an almond meal crust. Wow. It was amazing.

It was a great weekend! One of my aunts and her family plus a cousin couldn't make it, but the rest of the family was there. Fun times!

Ps. I'm tired of the 3-4 spam comments per day that I've been getting.... so I'm going to restrict the comments again and see if that helps. Let me know if it doesn't work for you! :)

Today's thoughts.

Today was a weird day.

A new PR in the gym.. 235-pound deadlift which is up by 5 from two weeks ago. I had 240 in my grasp, but lost the mental control over it. (Plus I've been "sick," does that count for anything? :D)

That was pretty awesome.

But last night/this morning I had one of those very REAL dreams. All of my dreams are more vivid and lifelike since I've been doing the Whole 30 this month. (Wow, I'm almost done!) But this one involved my brother Justin.

I haven't dreamt about him in awhile, and usually when I do, it's some kind of scenario or situation where we only thought he died. This morning was no different. So we planned the funeral, gathered the family, and then he "woke up," gave bear hugs all around (oh, I loved those bear hugs!!), and thought it preposterous that we were planning his funeral! Then I wake up with a lonely feeling in the pit of my stomach. Every time I dream about him, I always get one of those awesome bear hugs. 

Mom also had a dream last night... and she also got a hug from Justin. These hugs are so real!!

Interesting. Not that this is completely out of the blue.

A few days ago, the 23rd, was the 2nd anniversary of his death which I didn't post about that on here. Sometimes I think the deep workings of our heart cannot really be put into words. We can't communicate the complexity of feelings we have so we sit in silence, unable to talk.

Justin and I when we were much, much younger.

At times, it seems like just yesterday we threw a bag together on that bitter cold Sunday morning and rushed out the door to Rochester, Minnesota. I don't think the car thermometer got above -20* the whole way there.

We dropped the dog off at Joel's mom and dad's, and began the journey to say goodbye.

How do you say goodbye when you weren't there? When he had already had one heart attack and was airlifted to Mayo? When you were expecting to be there for his surgery which was planned for the very next day? When he's only 25 for crying out loud?

It was the longest 4 hour drive I think I have ever sat through. And really, that was probably the longest day of my life. Once we said goodbye, we headed back to our homes.

The next few days were a haze. I know I had a wedding consultation which I booked, amazingly enough. I had lunch with some of our ministers, but the worst part is, I can only remember one of them for sure. I'm pretty sure who the other two were, but that's quite unnerving not to be positive.

The reality set in when we went home for about a week surrounding the funeral. The family, friends, and outpouring of love was astounding. I can't imagine getting through any intensely difficult time by yourself. I can only attribute my survival to the grace of God and the prayers of others for me.

Why these thoughts today? Could it be Mom and I's dreams? The Puff Daddy song on the radio this afternoon - I'll be Missing You - that reduced me to tears?

I am thankful though, that with the passing of time, there seems to be more and more sweetness of memories and les and less of the bitterness and pain of loss.

So today was interesting. Some decent success in the gym. Plus I found out I'm famous.. ;) I was featured in my gym's magazine earlier this month, and then that magazine was printed on a poster! Cool.

I also had a lovely texting conversation with one of my good friends who's like a little sister to me. :)

But then a very sobering and introspective afternoon... 

Some days I really miss my brother. I miss his positive prospective on life, his love for music, and the twinkle in his eye. Some days when I hear a really great song, a new album by Collective Soul, or even a really great singing/playing/jam session, I just stop and think how he would have loved to hear that.

I'm so thankful for the family and friends that I do have, and I love them all dearly.

This general thought has been on my mind lately: 

Source: Uploaded by user via Mariah on Pinterest

Anyway, if I am going to nip this cold in the bud, I better head off to bed. These were just a few thoughts on my mind today. Thanks for listening and have a good week. :)

A relaxing Sunday

You know that feeling of dread when you just are not looking forward to something?

And then once you do the said task, it is quite easy and simple really? Or even if it isn't technically easy, building it up in your mind was a lot worse than actually doing it?

Enter the pot roast.

Yeah, you were expecting a life-altering revelation. Admit it. ;)

I had it sitting in the fridge for a few days working up the motivation to just cook it up. There's nothing I love like good beef roast meat and it really is super simple.

So, it took me a total of 5 minutes total to heat up a pan, put in some coconut oil, throw the roast in to brown each side, cut up some onions, lightly brown those too, and throw the whole works in my crock pot. I deglazed the pan with a little apple cider vinegar, which I poured in with some added water. Finally, I threw in some garlic and called it good.

5 minutes.

Then I went about my day with our church meeting, lunch with my lovely in-laws, a 3-hour nap, and finally supper.

What a perfect Sunday.

What? Yeah, it was a 3 hour nap. I take the 'day of rest' pretty seriously. (Which is kind of a lie... usually I'm trying to get caught up a little on the computer while hubby dearest is snoozing away without me.)

Too bad it took me 10 minutes to scrub the darn crock pot. I don't see why everyone thinks they're the greatest thing to use! They take hours to cook your food, are big and bulky, and take forever to extract from your cupboards. Oh, and the scrubbing thing.

They're nice and all; I just wouldn't call it my go-to food cooker. Unless we're making bone broth. And then it's my favorite kitchen appliance. ;)


P.S. How cool is this? Instagram opened up web profiles. It's like Facebook of only images and no annoying posts. Except better.

P.P.S. Apparently the Packers won today too. That usually sets the whole state of Wisconsin in a happy mood. That and...

P.P.P.S. It's rifle season for deer this week. All we need to do is get a chest freezer, and we would love to take some venison off your hands! ;)

Happy Thanksgiving week, everyone!

August, part 3

So, I survived the first week of August with the Aussie photography workshop, traveling, and weddings.

The next weekend we packed up and headed to Iowa to visit my mom and dad. The pressure was definitely on as far as work goes, but I had planned the trip earlier in the summer and there was no way I was backing out now! :)

If you're going to cheat, do it well! When in Rome, right? You can't stop by Le Mars, Iowa, home of Blue Bunny and Ice Cream Capital of the world and NOT get a delectable treat! :)

It was a very nice vacation with forced relaxing.

And then the rest of the month was spent working. Photographing sessions, editing orders, working on images, more of the same...

So between this

Source: seersuckerandmagnolias.tumblr.com via Mariah on Pinterest

and this

Source: nanacompany.typepad.com via Mariah on Pinterest

I made it through.

And now that August is finally caught up, I can move on! :)

September was busy too with a couple weddings and conventions.

Then October came with my last wedding of the season and struggling to catch up.

And now it's November already. Which makes me want to cry. Where did my summer go?!?

Ah well, it's nice to be back to a bit more "normal" of a pace... :)

August, part 2

So after the photography workshop in the first 3 days of the first week in August, the next few days were spent in limbo trying to get to Florida for this super-secret wedding I was going to photograph. ;)

I was set to fly out of Milwaukee around lunch time. I was all ready to go.

I even had a delicious salad. Mm. And then I settled in to a short wait to board the plane from MKE to ATL, and then from ATL to Pensacola (PNS). I was supposed to arrive in Pensacola, Florida, later in the evening. Supposed to.

We boarded, taxied out.. after a slight delay due to MKE having only one operational runway. (I know, I was like whaaat? too. Darn construction.)

And then. At when I can only image was about 10 seconds from taking off, we headed back to the gate. Oh no! My connecting flight through Atlanta ended up being severely delayed due to their thunderstorms. Apparently all incoming flights to ATL were delayed. Yikes.

Then it was a flurry of frantic phone calls, scrambling, going out of security to get a last-minute ticket from Milwaukee to Pensacola while somehow avoiding Atlanta, going back through security, and up to a different gate with a different airline. This time I would be connecting through Dallas.

Phew. All set, right?



Wrong.

Another delay from MKE. Of course, they still hadn't figured out their timing with the whole one runway thing. We finally boarded the plane, phew. Right? Wrong.

Another delay! There had been a mishap with a plane on the airport's one and only operational runway, and it took the better part of 45 minutes to get the wreckage cleaned up.

By this time, I'd been sitting around MKE for the better part of a day, now on the plane and still feeling somewhat hopeful I would make it to PNS yet that night.

My seatmates were incredibly optimistic about the whole situation. The best part of a last minute ticket is sitting in the middle in the back. Oh, wait. Those were outright lies. In fact, the gentleman next to the window was so jittery and anxious I wanted to bonk him over the head just to put him (and me!) out of his misery.

Finally, we were off.

Once we finally pulled up to the gate in DFW, they let those of us with connecting flights leave first, told us where to go, what gates, etc.

I sprinted up to the tram to go to the other side of the airport to get to my connecting flight. Obviously, it couldn't be right next door.

And in my best Olympic form, I sprinted the 100m dash to the gate....

*pause for dramatic effect*

Frantically, I looked around to see... nobody. Absolutely no one was there. I saw the plane still outside and the door was shut.

And promptly burst into tears.

I finally found someone from the airline (I mean, hello, it was like a ghost town by the gate!) who hooked me up with a discounted motel, the shuttle to and from the airport, etc, etc.

It took me awhile to get settled down, so when I set my alarm the next morning for...

... I realized it was going to be my shortest night going into my longest day. See, this was already Friday morning, so I would photograph the wedding once I finally got down to PNS, turn around and fly home through ATL to MKE, then drive the 1.5 hours back home, which would put me back home after midnight.

Don't ask me how I remembered to screen shot my alarm. I myself don't know.

So, bring on the coffee!! Good morning, Ms. Venti.

And when you're traveling and stuck in the airport, it's perfectly fine to eat chocolate for dessert at breakfast. It wasn't until later that I realized I grabbed the regular instead of the mint. It disappointed me.. even though I had enjoyed it immensely. Hah!

Well, I finally made it to Florida...and hit the ground running. Or maybe I should say photographing! I photographed the beautiful, surprise ceremony that was pushed back especially for me.

Many thanks to the help of my second camera-woman! It was nice to have another angle!

During my 7 hours in Florida, we made use of the time! This was a late lunch at the Portofino grill with everyone there. :)

Yes, this is bacon topped sweet potato fries. They were amazing.

Another bun-less burger. I seem to never tire of them, especially when there's bacon present!

Then the time came for us to head back to the airport. When I say us, I mean my namesake who flew home with me. See, she flew down to PNS via MKE and ATL earlier the same day I was supposed to and then we were flying home together. The only difference is, she actually made it with no hiccups. ;)

Here I am sporting her sunglasses. And a failed attempt at... something.

Note to self: using coconut oil for lotion works great.. until you're out in the Florida sun for a few hours and your skin is literally fried. Oops.

Nothing like a little Pinterest browsing at the airport to pass the time.. especially when it hits home!

Yup, changed the wording there to make this G-rated for the blog. ;)

We made it to ATL just fine, then I was nearly late getting to the gate after searching out some coffee.

And then from ATL to MKE, we talked, laughed and no-doubt annoyed the poor guy in the seat next to us. It's always fun trading stories with a nice-looking stranger. ;)

Anyway, I was able to follow her most of the way home, which kept me awake.

I made it home just fine, quickly kissed my hubby hello, backed up my memory cards, charged my camera batteries and finally went to bed... only to wake up a few hours later for another wedding to photograph.

It also was a beautiful wedding which went very well. Despite the week leading up to it. ;)

I was pretty excited to snuggle Turbs after being gone all week. Eye bags? Those aren't eye bags.

But I was even more excited to see him.

See that mega-watt smile Sunday noon? I'm counting down the minutes until my nap at that point. ;)


Then, more exciting news! My car was finally done at the shop after 2 months and 1 day spent in the shop after my accident. Remember that? Ugh. Me too.

Anyway, it was finally done!

And I was quite happy about that!

So, I survived the first week of August. Phew. The workshop, the flying, the weddings...

The next weekend we had planned a trip out to my parents, which I seriously considered cancelling because of all the work I had backlogged at that point. But seeing as though I hadn't been home in over a year, my heart was longing for Iowa. Stay tuned...