There Truly is No Place Like Home

We finally went back to California!!!  After 3 months for me, and 6 months for Josh…we were able to get on a plane and go back to Cali.  Although I do catch myself referring to TN as home, and I finally have a sense of normalcy in TN, California will always be our happy place and will always be considered ‘home’. 

Josh and I flew in around noon on Friday, and we had three full days of family and friends.  We couldn’t have asked for a better time and made some incredible memories with everyone that we’ve missed so much.   I must admit that I was kind of nervous on how things would be for us around all of our friends; if things would be different, if things would pick up where they left off, if there would be awkward moments of silence, etc…BUT everything was perfect. Things felt like Josh and I hadn’t been gone at all. 

I also had a minor freak out moment when I thought Miss Ellie would forget who her Auntie was.  Thank goodness that was not the case because I probably would have never come back to TN.  It is amazing how much she has grown in the few months I’ve been gone, and what a little ham she is.  She has such the personality and goes a million miles a minute.  I don’t know how my sister keeps up with her.

My sister and brother in law threw a ‘Southern Cook-Out BBQ’ for us on Saturday.  We were able to have all of our friends and family in one spot.  eriously have the best friends and family ever.  A day of great food, lots of beer, swimming, and hanging out.  It doesn’t get better than that.  Some pictures to sum up the day/night:

Best moments of the trip:

• Being able to see my family: Even though I still talk to/or text them every day, being able to see them is 1000 times better.  Between a Saturday morning Target run with my sister, or a late night talk with my mom on her bed are the little things big things that I miss about being home. 

• Being able to see my bestie and her hubby: Even though we were hoping that we’d be able to meet Baby Emerson on this trip, I enjoyed being able to have some QT with my bestie, and Josh loved having the same time with AJ.  Just being able to see one another, gossip, and laugh made for an amazing three days.
  

• Summer nights with friends: Both Friday and Saturday night ended with all of us out in my sister and brother in law’s backyard.  We talked, laughed, watched Josh pass out both nights, and enjoyed Ellie writing all over him with chalk.  
  

• Josh’s reaction to seeing James (brother –in-law):  If I didn’t know any better….lol.  Regardless, it was adorable.

• Josh being able to see his parents in Tahoe:  Even though I had to leave a couple of days before Josh, I’m so happy he was able to see his parents and spend time with them.  I know he has missed them, and both of them have been anxious to see him as well.  He was mean nice enough to send me this picture of him at the beach today:
  

Pictures don’t do this trip justice.  I CAN’T FREAKING WAIT until the next one. 

Although the goodbyes were tough, it was much easier this time around.  Thank goodness for that. I’m sure Josh hopes that means less random meltdowns and that I continue to keep myself busy. Hopefully this trip will hold me over for a couple/few months until my next family/friend fix. 

Until then, I’ll continue to keep blogging, working out, working, and everything else in between. 

Wednesday Weigh-In: Why I Hate Running in TN

First off...I haven't broken up with my scale.  YET.  Whatever, it'll happen some day.  And we're also fighting at the moment.  So what if I drank booze all weekend and ate pizza and hot dogs at 3am...apparently the scale keeps track of that stuff.

Second, I laughed when I wrote my blog title because I still tell people I live in TN.  ALL of TN, I never say I live in Knoxville or I hate running in Knoxville...it's the whole state, although I've only visited about 3 cities of it.  And only attempted to run in one city.  Anywho, moving on.

If you are a runner, or a walker, or whatever...you'll either have a preference of running/walking outside, or on the treadmill.  Some people think treadmill running is easier, or visa versa.  I think treadmill running sucks.  Really sucks.  Like I despise it, but I do it.  I love running outside, or at least I thought I did until I moved here.  I should now say that I love running in California..on sidewalks with no hills, in perfect weather. 

Running outside is the reason I 'think' I love running.  You can clear your mind, enjoy the scenery, get a tan, try different routes, plan a route that is the exact distance you want to run that day, and run/walk until you get back home because you HAVE to get back home.  Running on a treadmill in a gym....you are normally staring at someone's butt, I mean back, surrounded by too many people, and end up not going as far as you normally would because you can just press "STOP."  

Well running outside hasn't been much of an option for me lately.  

Reasons why I hate running in TN:

1)  I feel like I'm going to die.  Literally, death is calling me.  I can't breathe in the air when I walk to my car after work because of the humidity, and when attempting to run...dunzo. 

2) What sidewalks?  Maybe I haven't ventured out enough to find them, but there aren't many sidewalks in TN unless you live in a housing subdivision, and well I don't.  I feel like it would be creepy if I drove into someone's neighborhood, parked, and ran around their blocks.  No? 

3) It's always raining.  Like 17 inches above normal raining.  And if it's not raining, it's humid or about to rain.  I normally enjoy running in the rain.  I did in CA when our rain was convenient.  Meaning, it sprinkled or rained for about 10 minutes and then stopped.  Rain here is not like that.  I'm clumsy enough; we can't add an inch of water under my feet and expect to get home safely.  

4)  Hills.  Everywhere.  (Gosh I sound like I only run when it's 70 degrees out, flat, and next to the water with Josh Hartnett in front of me [if you don't know who that is...google him]).  I'm used to mini hills, but not hills everywhere.  I hear it'll be great for when I run races since my endurance will be up, but when I've tried running outside here, the hills kick my butt (along with above).  

So, I'm sure...just like with everything around here, I'll get used to.  But as of right now, I'm frustrated.  Frustrated with running on the treadmill...surrounded by stinky, sweaty people who run much faster than me.  

Wednesday Weigh-In turned into Wednesday's Rant, OOPS.

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Weekend Recap-Our First Visitors

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July! And hopefully everyone had a 4 day weekend like me!  Josh and I were lucky enough to have our first California visitors.  We met up with them in Nashville in hopes that they would have so much fun that they'd be DYING to move to TN too.

We picked Jessi and Russ up from the airport, and after letting them get settled...(i.e. hotel hanky panky), we met up for dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery.

If you are obsessed with this dress as much as I am, you need to take a visit to Kiki La Rue. It has the most amazing clothes and, hands down the best online service I've ever received.

Anywho, back to Nashville.  The fireworks were (sounded) incredible.  Between the misty rain and the wind coming our direction...we only saw about the first 10 minutes then a lot of smoke and what sounded like a bazillion fireworks going off.  

After we slipped out of the crowd of too many people, we made our way to Silver Dollar Saloon. Then...to be honest, not really sure we ended up.  But I got my hottie with a body (HWAB) on the dance floor.  He contained himself from doing the splits, THANK GAWD!  I think Jessi and Russ inspired him, although they were actually dancing with moves.  We were...eh,  moving to the beat in Josh's head.  (PS, HWAB also stepped on my toe and broke my toenail in half.  PSS, I'm already missing one whole toe nail from running so I can't spare anymore).

A few shots later, lots of laughs, and maybe someone hacking (NOT IT!), we had an amazing first night.  It also ended with Josh and I having pizza delivered to our hotel room at 3am, and possibly eating a large between the two of us. 

Day two started around 1pm, woo hoo for being able to sleep in!  We went to the Corsair Distillery for a whiskey tasting (the high school bitter beer face made it's debut again).  I realized I hate Whiskey, BUT, it was tons of fun and only $8 ($10 if you wanted a free glass), and that included 8 tastings and a mixed drink at the end. 

Clearly there is a difference in happiness levels between the guys taking a shot and me taking a shot (yes, it was 1/8th of a shot, but my taste buds thought it was 1/8th too many.

We started the night at Hooters for drinks (and a view of someone hacking...Nashville appears to be a mini Vegas with the amount of alcohol consumed and hacking), Jack's BBQ for dinner, and multiple bars to end the evening.  Jessi did some serious Bull Riding at Tequila Cowboy's; pretty sure she practiced before she came.

We decided to end the late night/early morning with some hot dogs and mixed drinks.  Don't judge us.

Although it rained (poured buckets) the first two days, it was not so bad on day three when we decided to visit the Grand Ole Opry.  Carrie Underwood was playing so we didn't fork out the $500 each for the scalper tickets, but we did get to walk around and see how beautiful it was.  

After a nap by some...

We went to the Stock Yard and had an absolutely delicious (thank god I wore a loose dress) dinner.  Pictures do not do this place justice.

If you can't tell, we had a blast.  It's hard to explain how incredible it is to see such great friends after you've moved away.  And maybe because I know that Josh and I will be coming back to CA in just four short days, it didn't hurt as bad saying goodbye as the last time we parted.  I hope the 'goodbyes' continue to get easier the more we get to visit CA, and visitors from CA come to see us...one can hope.

Until next time...

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-In (let’s be honest…Daily Weigh-In)

 

Most of my daily readings from the ‘Blogging World’ consist of blogs that are focused on fitness and weight loss.  I find it inspiring to read other people’s weight loss journeys, and get tips on recipes and exercises that other ‘real women’ are using.  And the majority of them say that they find that their blog has become their accountability to get up in the morning and work out because they know others are reading it and getting inspired.   

Even though I don’t plan on inspiring anybody with writing about my ‘weekly weigh-ins (going back to the few followers I have so far),’ I do think it’ll be a good motivator to keep me on track.  It’ll also give me a place to vent/rant about my frustrations with exercise, weight gain/loss, and the struggle that I’ve had pretty much my entire life.  And it’ll also let me talk about our second home, the gym.  And about my constant battle with my love of beer and cupcakes and wanting to be in shape.  

I have a horrible addiction to the scale.  I wouldn’t say it’s a problem, but I get on it EVERY MORNING.  Maybe it is a problem..eek!  I use it to gauge how I’m doing, track my progress, and determine if I should put down the cupcake.  (Can you tell I like cupcakes?)

Brief history lesson on my weight:

I have always been up and down with my weight.  Mostly up, but you get the idea.  I never considered myself ‘obese’ but I don’t ever remember a time where I was perfectly content with my weight.  I played sports all through my childhood and continued through high school.  But, I don’t think playing goalie in soccer really sped up my metabolism either.  Then came college, and although I wasn’t the typical college girl who drank her way through college with a side junk food, I also was in a relationship the entire time.  Going to visit every weekend=eating out every weekend.  I made a commitment to lose weight before I graduated college, and started the Atkin’s diet and worked out about 4 times a week (cardio only…on the elliptical).  I quickly lost about 20 lbs, and actually was happy with my college graduation photos (age 20). 

Then normal eating resumed, and like anybody who has ever tried Atkins, the minute you incorporate carbs back into your diet, you gain whatever weight you lost plus 10 back.  Add 5 years and about 10 lbs more, and I was not a happy camper (weight wise).  I stopped and started the Atkins Diet a few of more times, tried South Beach, and any other ‘fad diet’ that looked easy.  Easy being the key word.  I didn’t actually want to work for my weight loss.  

This is around 2009: 

This is about my third 5K (walking):

Well, then 2010/2011 came.  A combination of getting engaged, planning for a wedding, breaking off the wedding, and being single for the first time in 8 years slapped me in my face.  I turned to running.  Running was my escape from life.  It cleared my mind, and I actually enjoyed it.  I started off slow…1 mile turned to 2, and 2 turned to 4, and by March 2011, I had completed my first 10K. This was such a proud moment for me.

I’d love to say that running led me to shedding the lbs, but it didn’t.  It helped, but I was also single for the first time in a long time which meant going out on the weekends and drinking, eating at 2am, and being the emotional eater that everyone has had experience with. 

To give all of you guys a number since I love/hate the scale so much:

Pre 2010: 170ish (highest, 176)

2010:  165

2011:  155-158 

Then I met Josh.  Our conversations sparked with talking in the gym at work, so, of course, I got my butt in there every day hoping to see him.  The gym is his thing.  It’s his escape.  His passion for the gym was actually contagious as silly as that sounds. 

He’s not a health nut.  THANK GOD! But he enjoys his fitness.  He enjoys his beer just like I do, and knows that he’ll just have to run a little harder the following day.  And if you don’t like cheesy, stop reading, but he honestly makes me feel like I’m a size 2 super model.  He’s never made me feel like I should lose weight, and thinks I should be washing my car in a sports bra and shorts.  Oh to be that confident…

Even with having a guy who adores the way you look, and feeling ‘heatlhy,’ I still struggle daily with my body.  I mean, it’s my own fault.  I need to break up with my scale.  I need to stop being angry that I gained 3 lbs in one day when it could be a combination of 1000 things that has led to it.  Or a combination of the beer and cupcakes, either way…if I didn’t step on the scale daily, I wouldn’t frustrate/disappoint myself.

So fast forward to July 2013, and here we are.  I have completed my first half marathon, completed my first Tough Mudder, I go to the gym about 5 times a week, and STILL do not feel comfortable in a bikini.   

One of my favorite pictures of us at Tough Mudder: 

My first (hopefully not last) Half Marathon:

Obviously, it’s summer right now so I’m not going to be ‘bikini ready by the summer’ but that is my new goal.  Whether or not the scale goes down shouldn’t (key word: shouldn’t) matter, but it should be about how I feel. 

A little piece of this blog will be my accountability, and my own ‘diary’ for my continued fitness journey.  I need accountability.  Even when it comes to the gym, if Josh isn’t going with me, or I’m not meeting someone there, it’s hard to get myself to go on my own.

So here we go, you are now a part of Casi's fitness journey.  (I should say Casi and Josh's fitness journey, but I'm slowly realizing that Josh is just a random guest star in this blog.....).  

Until next time...

Weekend Recap

Blogging is tough.  Especially when your life isn't as exciting as you thought it was.  I did spend some time thinking that I should attempt to do different types of blog 'postings' and I thought, hey...I can just ask all my readers what they want to read about? 
......
...... <crickets...crickets>

Exactly.
Before I move on to the weekend recap, let's move on to more exciting stuff, like the fact that Josh and I will be going...going...back back..to Cali Cali (gosh, I'm lame) in approximately 11 days!  Even though it is only for a short trip, we are both so excited to see our family and friends (and possibly meeting baby Emerson)!  As of now, we don't have much on the agenda but enjoying everyone's company that we miss so much.  
We can't wait to see all these faces!

 And Josh will be staying a couple of days longer than me to visit his family, and to hopefully get the VW Bus remodel started. This is where it is at now:

I love VW Busses.  And I love even more that Josh's parents owned this when they got married, and Josh has since kept it to rebuild and make his own. 

As for my weekend, Friday night we got to enjoy this lovely view for dinner.  We met a couple of friends for dinner at the Lakeside Tavern and it was delicious.  

Josh worked all weekend (again) so I kept myself busy.  Gym, shopping, and laying out sums up what was on my agenda. This girl finally broke down and bought shorts.  Those who know me have probably never seen me in shorts because I don't own a pair.  I don't even wear shorts running outside when it's 100 degrees out.  I HATE my legs, and shorts seem to make me hate them even more.  But, welcome to Knoxville and 1000% humidity.  Jeans or anything that touches my legs is a sticky, sweaty mess.  We won't even start with my hair, but needless to say..I broke down and bought some. If I ever wear them is a whole other story.  

I also got my tan on this weekend...in my backyard, unfenced, with our neighbors being about an arms length away.  It was a little awkward.
I stayed out there for about an hour until I looked up and saw that there were bees and bugs I've never seen before swarming me.  So this....

 Led to this:

Eh...oh well. I got a nice tan. Another joy of living in TN, bugs EVERYWHERE.

And it's only fitting to end this post with another 'reunited and it feels so good' date night picture of Josh and I.  Sunday Night Brewery Night.  

Until next time. :-)