Whole30....Take 2

Remember that crazy 30 days of super clean eating I did in July?

The Whole30 Challenge? 

WELL...I'M DOING IT AGAIN FOLKS!!!!

I felt so awesome after July that I can't think of a better way to start off the year. (Remember THIS blog post? It's only my most read post EVER! Well that sums up WHY I would want to do this again.)

This time I'm leading most of the members of Nomad Fitness and some other friends through it as well!

Misery loves company, right?

This kind of sums up Week 1....

Not like we don't get enough of each other already...all of my friends are already here pretty much every day to workout - and well, now we eat dinner together every night too. 

Some say I've started a CULT....

Hmmm...a cult - I mean we just work out together, live next to each other, celebrate holidays together, see each other every day, and now we are sticking to the same crazy food challenge for 30 days, and eating dinner together every night. 

Awesome...YES!

Cultish? Maybe - I'll let you be the judge. 

But hey - I could think of worse things to build a cult around than CLEAN EATING and WORKING OUT! 

You just wish you were a part of my cult too. Admit it.

In all seriousness though. We did the July Whole30 HORRIBLY WRONG.
We did it all alone, which kind of isolated us from hanging out with friends and being social.

This time though....THIS TIME IS DIFFERENT!

One of my friends suggested we start a Whole30 Supper Club to help us get through the 30 days.

GENIUS.

5 nights a week we go to someone else's house to eat dinner.
1 night a week you host dinner for the group.
1 night a week you're on your own.

One of my biggest complaints about the Whole30 was all of the cooking. Cooking, cooking, cooking...followed by cleaning, cleaning, cleaning...it never ended.

Well, let me tell you - this is SO MUCH EASIER. 5 nights people...5 nights a week I get to walk right down the street, or drive a whole 2 minutes, to a friends house and get treated to a delicious Whole30 approved meal. No prepping, no cooking, no cleaning. AMAZEBALLS.

We are either going to LOVE or HATE each other in 26 more days.

We are 4 days down and I would say we are closer than ever. Especially after last night's episode of someone almost choking to death on a piece of steak.

No joke. That happened.

We are willing to give our LIVES for the Whole30.

So yeah...about that whole cult thing...hmmm, I guess now it's starting to sound suspicious, even to me.

Okay, but for real, I'm sure you want to know what happened. Well, I noticed one of our friends was seriously choking, through everyone else was too busy enjoying their flank steak and chimichurri sauce to notice.

After calling attention to it I told Andrew to give him the Heimlick maneuver. Andrew gave it a few tries...to no avail. It just wasn't working and time was ticking away.

So this is where I REALLY show my absolute confidence in my husband.

I said, "Move over, let Brian do it!"

Brian is one of my strongest best CrossFitters. So of course I was all, GET OUT OF THE WAY YOU WEAKLING...let a CROSSFITTER finish this job and save this man's life!

(I didn't really say that - but I definitely implied that)

(Oh and I'm just kidding Andrew. I think you are strong and sexy as hell - especially when you do things like open the jars I can't open, empty the dishwasher, or get up at 2AM with the baby so I can sleep because I have to coach at 5AM. Sexiest husband EVER)

My husband is a stud.

One of my CrossFitters saw Andrew in his underwear today at 5AM. She was on the porch busting her ass doing the WOD and said, "I just saw Andrew in his underewear."

Nothing breaks your concentration like seeing a real live Sasquatch or Sasq'watts' in his underwear...

I'm pretty sure Andrew was oblivious to all of this....

I said, "Oh yeah...my sexy beast husband? Lucky you."

Her reply, "Well he was making a bottle for Davis...so that's pretty sexy."

Me: "Yes, yes it is"

Taking care of a crying baby so I can work does wonders for Andrew....wonders I tell ya.

Alright enough about my husband.

If you want to join this Whole30 Challenge drop me a note. Day 4 and I'm feeling AWESOME!

If you want to join my "cult"....drop me a line because there aint no other cult as awesome as mine!

and That's 'Watts' She Said....

Can You Handle It?!?

So, yesterday I spent about an hour typing out a post with my THUMBS. Letter by letter. It was painful. 

THEN....

my iPhone died and I lost it all. It was a great post. It was funny. Lots of pictures. AND it's gone. 

Gone. Gone. Gone.

I don't have it in me to retype it yet - but I will - I promise. It was all about Caden and his love for delicious, juicy, Shawarmas. It was good, and someday soon it will live again. Just not now.

SO - until then I have a little gift for you. 

I'm not sure you can handle it....Are you ready? 

HERE. YOU. GO.

BEST. FAMILY. PICTURE. EVER!!!

And, in case you are somehow missing what makes this pictures so awesome. 

I've blown it up for you!

YES - Davis is twirling his mustache. When we saw this we laughed so hard we cried. It was that good, laughing SO hard no noise is coming out anymore kind of laugh. 

Caden rocks the handlebar mustache too. He was in character...that's for sure. He had to try eating and drinking with his 'stache. He loved it. 

What's cuter than a baby with a mustache?!

A baby meme with Davis and his mustache....

Do you have a good caption for this photo?! Send it my way!

Maybe we aren't as funny as we think we are? Maybe, just maybe, it was our moving-in induced exhaustion that made us think this was the most hilarious thing we had ever seen. If so, oh well. 

We love it. 

I mean we aren't THIS family...

NOPE...That's my sister, her awesome husband, and team of superhero sons. 

From oldest to youngest Mason, Reid, Nolan, and Cash. These boys are ALWAYS. IN. CHARACTER. This is a normal thing around their house. 

Seriously - who can top this? They actually dressed like this on Father's Day to go see the new Superman movie. They are that cool. My sister said that people were stopping them and asking to take pictures with them. I mean, can you get any cooler or more beautiful?!

Oh wait...

Yeah...not even close. Brandon was the Homecoming King - Stephanie was the Prom Queen. Andrew and I - WELL...let's just say that I was President of the National Honor Society, and Andrew was President of the Latin Club. 

Not nearly as cool - but hey. We are ROCKIN' the mustache. 

and That's 'Watts' She Said...

OUR VILLA!!! And a sneak peek of rug shopping!!!

Today was an excited day for more reasons than the new car and the new iPhone! We got to visit our Villa and meet our property manager! They have been working on the villa and prepping it for our move in two days! New paint, fixing leaks, cleaning...the usual. 

I brought along my camera and took a few pictures. It's not very big - but it's in the Floating City...so we're paying for

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!!!

I say, "not very big"...that's relative. It's not very big for Bahrain; BUT it's still 3 bedroom 3.5 bath plus the maids quarters (which is really just a large closet with a toilet and shower). That's where we can put our parents when they visit. (Just kidding...kind of...) when I made that joke to the realtor she said almost EVERY woman says that she is going to put her mother-in-law in the maids quarters I laughed so hard I think I peed my pants. 

So...drum roll please....HERE IT IS!!!!

Oh wait...that's just a cute picture of Davis on our new front porch. 

I couldn't help it - he's so cute. Okay, her it is for real!

This isn't a very exciting picture - I can't get far enough away to take a picture of the front (due to the canal). BUT You can tell that we have a decent porch and yard and trees! This is HUGE for Bahrain

The view from our yard! It's much prettier in person. ALSO - here is PROOF for my mom that there is a fence between the yard and the water! 

Caden on our front porch! He looks thrilled - I know. We can't wait to get some outdoor furniture and a grill...a lot of fun times will be had out here. I can feel it!

View from the kitchen into the living area. Andrew is mainly worried about getting that TV off of the wall so he can move our monster of a TV in. No...I think at this point he was doing the math for how big of a rug we needed to buy. Answer: HUGE. 

THE KITCHEN!!!! I'm trying to figure out the storage situation. We have A LOT of kitchen supplies. Clearly the washer and dryer on the left take up a lot of room. Seriously though, we are so lucky to have an American size washer AND dryer...no complaining here. (Plus cute Davis on the counter...) It may seem small- but it's the nicest kitchen of the gazillion places we checked out. We are pretty thrilled. AND my first real concern is where my giant fork is going to go! 

From the living room into the kitchen/entry area

My ALL TIME FAVORITE FEATURE!!! The pull-up bar! 

The last tenant was a CrossFitter and had this installed. I took one step outside, saw it and said, "It's a sign. This is OUR house!" I cannot wait to use it. Caden too - he is going to be the pull up king by the time we leave. You can also kind of see the "side yard" behind Caden. There is a storage shed and tons of room. In the Floating City this is even more rare and makes this place a total gem!

Master Bedroom - not very exciting. Behind me are closets and the bathroom. 

Our balcony. Not bad, bot bad at all! We are planning on a table and some chairs...and we'll have a nice little space here. I'm thinking a lounger for tanning. 

NO KIDS ALLOWED.

AND...Master Caden's room! He is a little excited! Pretty spoiled with his own room and bathroom!

PS: It's a REALLY good thing that we each have our own bathroom. BAHRAIN STINKS! Or rather, WE STINK because this place is hot and gross and sweaty. The other day I was standing in line at the mall and thought, "OMG - someone needs to take a bath, they STINK!" Then I realized the smell was coming from MY OWN CHILD!!!!

One skipped bath and it's DISGUST CITY. I think Caden's skin was raw after the bath I gave him tonight. SO. BAD. 

I don't have pictures of the maid quarters, Davis's room, and some other things. I'll post more once we are moved in and it starts looking like a home. 

2 MORE DAYS!!!! I can't even handle it!

...

I WAS going to include the Rug Shopping pictures and fun story here - but it's too much to share all at once. I told you we have had a crazy past few days! 

I'll do it tomorrow - that was such a special experience - it deserves it's own post. 

Here's a sneak peek though:

Rugs...rugs...everywhere!

We took home 5. That's right. 5.

and That's 'Watts' She said!

Sensing a Theme Here...

Maybe it's the start of the summer season aka the dreaded "swimsuit season" that has all of my favorite Facebook groups posting things about self confidence and women's body image - OR - maybe my eyes are really open to truly 'seeing' these things. Either way. These were posted back to back earlier today. I also don't think it's any coincidence that I scrolled past these seconds after making a snarky comment to Andrew about another woman being so competitive with me. Thank you universe for reminding me of my vow. 

This was from: Birth Without Fear - a hippy mama group that I love:

This was from: CrossFit Women = Strong - obviously a FB group all about stong kick ass CrossFitters

I love it.

and That's 'Watts' She Said...

Things I Love Right Now

To shake things up a bit...I would like to share with you all...

THE THINGS I LOVE RIGHT NOW!

I know you are dying to know, because I am SO interesting. Apparently I'm funny too. I've never been told I'm funny before, and really I'm not. But, I guess I can blog funny. Andrew rolls his eyes when I say I'm funny. As he points out,

"Kristina, if you can remember the times you were funny...then you're not funny"

Good point. I think I'm funny, I crack myself up a lot. Usually it's over Laffy Taffy type jokes. But I'll show him...

We had a great funny moment tonight. Tonight was one of those nights were I thought, "I'm rocking this mommy thing!" (I rarely have these moments.) I had worked out, the family had a healthy dinner, I was doing the dishes, Caden was in the bath before 9PM...I was on a roll. THEN Caden asked me to turn on his 'Zoomy Penguin' bath toy. This is where it all went downhill.

Well, I turned it the wrong way and when I dropped it in the bathtub it fell apart and the batteries came out, and it got wet were it isn't supposed to get wet, and I'm pretty sure I ruined it. (Don't tell C)

Caden just looked down at the penguin, shook his head, and solemnly said,

"Geez - you're a mess..."

It was like he was just stating a fact - just resigned to accepting that his mommy is a total mess. 

Thanks for the confidence buddy. He speaks the truth though. I'm a mess. Embrace it. Accept it.

Anywho...here you go...

Things I Love Right Now

1. The Finland Baby Box!!! This is so cool! Did you know that in Finland when a woman becomes pregnant she is given a box full of baby essentials? Not just little things either. Clothes, cloth diapers, a mattress and sheets so that the box itself can double as a baby bed, the list goes on and on. Check out this article. Why can't the US support their pregnant mamas like this? Someday if I ever start a nonprofit, this just might be it!

2. These awesome night lights. We are definitely going to order these for the boys. This totally beats the crappy ones we got at Lowes. You can find them here: www.Kikkerland.com

3. 35 Things Military Spouses NEVER Say!  I laughed so hard I cried. Special shout out to my personal favorites:  #27. "I feel bad because we get paid so much!" #24. "I feel so bad that your husband doesn't get off work until 5:30. Every. Single. Day." 18. "I understand everything my servicemember says." #14. "I think honeymoons should only be taken for your 20th anniversary" (yep...no honeymoon over here yet.) 

4. The PopSugar Must Have Box! Seriously, I am so far removed from pop culture and trends here. I'm not the trendiest mama out there. How can I be when I pretty much stick to workout clothes? A friend of mine posted a picture of her May Must Have Box...and I fell IN LOVE. Basically for $35 monthly subscription you are sent a box from PopSugar with hand selected "Must Have" items for beauty, fashion, home, fitness, and food. Of course, with my luck, they don't ship to APO addresses. So I'm going to get around that little problem by having it sent to my parents house and then having them send it to me. I'm SO excited! Here is what was in the May Must Have Box!

I would post more things I love, but my baby is waking up, and I should probably stop neglecting him to blog. Plus, crap, I just realized we have to be on base in 30 minutes and I'm still in my pajamas and Caden is asleep too. Crap. #imamess (is that how those hashtag things work? - see...I'm so behind)

and That's 'Watts' She Said...