DC WEEKEND: let's get started!

hey there and happy wednesday! i hope everyone is doing great. the weather where i am is not so much. it really hasn't been that great for much of the southeastern US for most of this week. so, i hope you all are safe and continue to stay safe through the rest of these nasty storms.
soooo... i wanted to get this post out to you guys much sooner. however, i have been having major issues with my picture formatting app [picasa]. and since i am a perfectionist, not just any picture collage or setup would do. but in this battle of picasa vs. kendra, picasa won. i have only one awesome picture setup for you guys [insert huge sad face]. so that brings me to a very important question: does anyone use a really awesome/user friendly app on their computer to edit and compile pictures? oh, it also has to be free. any help would be much appreciated!

ok...onto the blog!

the vacation. we were so very excited to be on vacation. and in DC. so let's get started!!

after our very minor drama [see previous blog], we arrived to our hotel with relative ease. the washington metro is an absolute breeze to use. we checked-in and met up with the fam and quickly head out for some nourishment. we all were starving. unfortunately, i think everyone else in DC had the same idea. "it's good friday...we have the day off...let's go out day drinking and eat a late lunch/early dinner." we walked into founding farmers and had to wait 45min. during our wait we looked into other places, but the story was the same. so, we stuck it out. and ohmigosh, it was worth it. the food was so, so delicious. it is a farm-to-table restaurant. so everything is locally grown, organic, and natural. my kind of place! i would definitely go back.
after linner [see what i did there], we headed down to the national's ballpark for some baseball. and on our way there we stopped at a local brewery, blue jacket. it was mobbed! but it was really delicious and they had so many beers to choose from. any beer drinker would be able to find something they like there. i wish i had taken more pictures there because it was a neat space - very open and industrial.
now with good food and good beer in our bellies, we were off to the ball game! i do not have much for comparison, but the nationals park was beautiful. it is also the only green ballpark in MLB. the concourses were very open with lots of extra places to sit, eat, and relax. there were plenty of places to view the game. behind center field was pretty much all open. of course, there were plenty of food and beverage choices. and even a few cherry blossom trees! and this is where our night ended. after a long day of travel, we all were very tired. so after the ball game we headed back to the hotel, made plans for the next day, and called it a night.

best picture on the blog.

nationals game.

saturday started off with a quick breakfast at pret a manger, an organic coffee/lunch shop that we fell in love with. and then we were off to the races! we walked, walked, WALKED all the way to the national mall where all the smithsonians are located. on our walk we passed by the white house, the washington monument and other huge buildings that we enjoyed taking pictures of. we decided to split up and go to the museums we each wanted to and then meet up for our lunch reservation at 1:30pm. keith and i chose the national natural science museum. we thought we were going to be able to make it to another museum with the time we had. HAHAHAHA. nice joke.
we could have spent all day there. instead we only spent two hours. it probably felt like all day only because it was packed with every damn tourist that was in DC that day. we were shuttled around the museum like cattle. not being able to move around a museum how you'd like really takes the fun out of it.

by the time we meet up with the crew we were definitely ready to rest for a bit and, of course eat. on our way to oyamel we walked through the structure garden. it was beautiful.

oyamel is a mexican cantina. it is served as small plates so they encourage you to get several plates to share. we order some to share and some to not. it was delicious! and the margaritas were too! all very fresh. a few of us [i won't name names] ate grasshoppers and corn smut as part of our lunch. and there were no complaints.
after enjoying our bugs and fungus, we were off to check out some monuments and memorials. we walked back toward the national mall and over near the tidal basin. we visited the washington monument, the WWII memorial, the lincoln monument and reflecting pool, and the vietnam memorial.
whew. that is a lot of history to soak in.

my "sun in my eyes" face also looks like my "i am really pissed off at you" face.

WWII memorial.

reflecting pool and washington monument.

lincoln memorial.

at this point it was time for either rest or nourishment. keith and i chose nourishment. we walked a very long way over to capital city brewing for some more local brew and some food. the food was excellent. although, at this point in our day, mcdonalds would have been a delicacy. the beer was pretty good, some better than others. the dry stout was one of the better stouts i've ever had. it is full of flavor, yet light. so it doesn't make you full after only one. it's like a session stout [who knew!]. we sat at this place for a very long time. it was nice to sit and relax. i think our legs would have let us spend the night here.
once we finished up at CCB, it was almost 8pm. it was time to rejoin our crew. they wanted to head out for a nightcap and a snack. by the time we met up with them and they found a place it was 9pm or so. we met at a restaurant in dupont circle called circa. it was very cute. and i drank the first pilsner i have ever liked [write that down]. keith and i, of course, ordered more food. 

it was somewhere between CCB and circa that we decided to add another day to our trip. we just didn't think we could see all that we wanted to see if we left on sunday. so after much debate [yes, we went back and forth, back and forth, back and forth], we decided - what the hell, we only live once. LET'S DO IT! so we added an extra night.

excitement ensued [yay! yay! yay!]

goodnight DC, we will see you in the morning!!

stay tuned to hear about the rest of our trip [we still have 2 days left!!!!].

xoxo,

ks

DC WEEKEND: rough start, sort of.

over the easter holiday keith and i went up to DC to meet my aunt, uncle, and cousin for a vacation. this trip had been 6 months in the making. we had been planning it since our last vacation together in september. we all were SOOOO excited and glad that we stuck to our words of "let's meet up somewhere..." and "we should plan a trip together...". we did it!

here is how our travel day [friday] started. 

keith and i travel. A LOT. we go to new places. A LOT. and without fail every time we are arriving to a new place there is a major meltdown of: "oh shit! we are in a new place! now what?!!?!? are we going to be lost forever?!"
ok, crisis over.
and i am not sure why it happens because we have maps and more information than necessary, but it always happens.

the meltdown comes from both of us and typically happens over directions in some fashion. for this trip we had decided to park our car at the ronald reagan national airport [DCA] and take the metro in versus attempting to drive and park in the city. great decision. it was more pricey to park at DCA than at the metro commuter lots, but it was also much closer to the city. and for us, that was worth the cost.
so, back to the freak out. we have made it all the way to arlington, va and are off the highway en route to DCA. i am giving keith directions via my printed google step-by-step list that could never misguide us. i am staying one step ahead. "turn left on blah blah street" "then turn right on who cares blvd". things are going great until...i tell him to turn right onto "airport access road", which there is no sign for. he immediately goes to panic mode "well, is it this road?!" i reply equally as panicked,"no, i don't know...it's the road over there!" as i point to a road up ahead. and of course he can't see where i am pointing because well, he is looking at the road. then and the conversation continues like this:
the car slows down because there is a street on our right...
keith: IS IT THIS ROAD?!?
kendra: I DON'T KNOW! I'VE NEVER BEEN HERE BEFORE!
kendra: I THINK IT'S THE ROAD OVER THERE [points ahead]! OVER THERE! [there is an on-ramp up ahead that seems to be labeled close to where we need to be headed. it says something about an airport].
keith: SHOULD I GO HERE!? [the road that is still on our right]
kendra: I DON'T KNOW!!! sure.

now we quickly realize that this is absolutely wrong. due to our panic mode and yelling neither of us want to be helpful, but we are forced to. we can't stay lost forever...can we?
i get out the iphone and access the google maps app. it's taking forever [of course it is]. *rerouting. rerouting*
we find the road we need to take to get into the airport. realizing that is was right there [*points ahead*]. but of course once we enter an airport, it is as if the flood gates just opened. all the cars are moving at 100mph and they know where the fuck they are going so, GET OUT OF THE WAY.

another panic attack sets in. do we park in lot A daily or lot A hourly? I DON'T KNOW. what about lot C? I FORGOT EVERYTHING I RESEARCHED FOR THIS TRIP. AHHH. should we park here? sure.
thankfully it was the correct lot.

we could breath now.

onto vacation... [detailed blog upcoming. get excited and be on the lookout!]

xoxo,
ks

Healthy LIFE

my fitness journey started almost a year ago. april 8, 2013 to be exact. how am i able to remember the exact date? it was keith's first day of his then new job. prior to us moving out to greenville i had fallen off the fitness wagon. the stress of moving, packing and finding a place to live trumped keeping up with my workout regime. once we moved and got settled in, i figured we had this new life, so it would be a great time to start over with a new me.

laziest, but cutest workout buddy ever ;)

april 8, 2013

i started off with 10 minutes a day. it's all i could find motivation for. i would do pieces of my insanity videos. some strengthening and core. it probably took me two months to make it a routine. two months of light workouts to make it an essential part of my day. but then i realized, "hey i don't have a job. i need to maximize all the free time available to me." i started working out anywhere between 30 minutes to 2 hours a day. during this time my workouts consisted of any combination of cross fit, dailyhiit, and insanity. no wonder i could workout for 2 hours! i decided i would make working out my life...until i found a job.

well, august 2013, i found a job. and guess what? working out is still every bit as much a part of my life. because i had spent 4 months working so hard to get in shape and lose weight, i wasn't going to stop now. there were still goals to reach. i want to be strong and look strong. i want a six pack. i want to feel confident in my body. so, i still workout.

in december, keith and i ran a 5k. it was a fun run. but it was nice to be able to go out for a 3 mile run and feel fucking awesome. plus, it has motivated me to want to run more. just another type of exercise for me to add to my regime.

the long winter months got tough. motivation wore thin. being inside and frigid cold for 3 months made exercise challenging. it was difficult some days to convince myself to change out of warm, cozy clothes into my workout clothes. but i knew if i didn't workout...that would feel worse. so, as hard as winter was...we plowed through it.

and now, april 2014, one year later. my motivation soars. a day without a workout feels awful. i haven't quiet figured out how to have an active rest day. i know my body needs rest and i do my best to listen to it. i don't have a weekly schedule. i just go with what feels right for that day. i try to workout between 4-6 days in a row before taking a day off. some days are more intense than others. some days are long workouts. some days are short. every day i try to give it everything i've got.

in october i posted my measurements before i started the bodyrock.tv 30 day real time challenge [RTC]. i never shared with you my 'after' measurements. i will today. they are for me and for you. i am well beyond the 30 day RTC, but it always great to review your progress. i am not a believer in checking in everyday as i feel that can be discouraging if you don't see results 'fast enough' or 'high enough' or 'large enough'. i think it is more important that you are comfortable in your clothes than what the scale says. i'm not much for sharing before and after photos, so this will have to do ;)

before measurements                         current measurements

bust: 34                                              bust: 33
chest: 29.5                                         chest; 27.5
waist: 28                                            waist: 26
hips: 35.5                                           hips: 36
right thigh: 21                                   right thigh: 19.5
left thigh: 21.5                                   left thigh: 19
left arm: 11.5                                     left arm: 12
right arm: 11.5                                   right arm: 13

i lost about 2 inches almost everywhere [wow! awesome!!]. i fully expected to gain inches in my arms and legs due to gaining muscle. so i am kind of surprised that my thighs lost so much. i should check my measurements again in another 3-4 months to note any additional changes.

it's been a year since i began this journey and i am in the best shape of my life. i am still searching for those 6-pack abs. but i think about it, true peak fitness is difficult to achieve. think of ALL the years of junk food and alcohol and couch surfing i have done [more than i care to discuss]. i have given my body some bad stuff. toxic stuff. we all have. so, to erase all of that, to get rid of fat and build muscle, well that is going to take a long time too. and i am in it for the long haul.

and to have a healthy body isn't just all about exercise. i could workout as hard as i wanted to every single day, but if feed my body crap, all my efforts will be rendered useless. abs are made in the kitchen. your diet has to be as great as your workout plan. ask anyone close to me, and they'll tell you that i am kind of ridiculous about what is in my food. when it comes to your food choices, less is more. lisa, [the bodyrock.tv host that i LOVE], suggested doing a 1-ingredient challenge. so basically you only eat foods that have one ingredient [apples, chicken, lettuce, bananas, rolled oats]. you, of course, can combine 1-ingredient items to other 1-ingredient items [ex: apples, bananas and milk to make a smoothie]. i love this idea. it's tough, but it will tune you into what you really should be eating.

so, by being physically fit and maintaining a healthy diet, it quickly spills over into other aspects of my life. i sleep better. not that i ever had trouble sleeping, but now i feel like i have a deeper, more meaningful sleep. i am less stressed. again, not that ever feel stressed, but by feeling healthy, the little things in life that i might have worried about, don't seem to wrinkle my feathers as much. i am happier. i am, by nature a happy person, so my being healthier has had an exponentially positive effect on my happiness.

when you feel good about yourself, inside and out, it will transfer to the rest of your life. just the same as if you felt poorly about yourself. that is why the saying goes, "love yourself first...". it's so true. there is only one YOU. love it and care for it the best way that you can.

now that i finally feel "in shape", it is sometimes hard to stay motivated. it's like, "ok, now what?" but i constantly remind myself that getting into shape was just the beginning. staying in shape and staying healthy for the rest of my life. but in order to do that i have to keep goals. for now, i have pretty basic goals. eventually i'd like to take my fitness level to a more competitive nature.
my healthy goals for this year?
run 2-3 5ks [and hopefully an 8k]. try to find another sport to get involved in [biking or kayaking...maybe]. find more local foods to eat. continue to make as much food/meals as we can from scratch. 

i can't really put into words how amazing this journey has been. a healthy lifestyle is just that for me...my life. any other choice is now no longer an option.

except for cupcakes. ;)

xoxo,
ks