So I went back to Crossfit Naptown this morning – a little nervous about tough Saturday workouts. But it was all good and I had a blast. I was actually super impressed by my pull-ups! Rope climbs were on the board but they didn’t have any padding and I was nervous trying it at a new place. I climbed most of the way up once but decided not to risk it — especially since I was wearing shorts and no long songs. Workout was:
My partner and I got through once and then got 60 more burpees. I was sweating like a pig but felt like I got a great work out. I definitely did three strong kipping pull ups in a row (all the way up) and felt awesome about it! I’ve been adding 50 push ups a day randomly to my schedule and I think it’s really helping!
Above you can see a photo of my cousin Alexi (age 17) and my Grandma (age 72) tubing! I am so in love with this photo because of what my grandma represents. I’ve talked about her battles with cancer before, mentioned how it’s more than one literal miracle that she’s alive today.
She’s not only alive so FULL of life and you can see that in this photo. The truth is, we easily could have lost my Grandma 20 years ago but we didn’t and every single person that sees her everyday is blessed because of that.
On Friday morning, I was ready to run. Lindsey is always training for something it seems so she ran the 4 miles to my parents house to grab me. We then ran 6 miles — which was the fastest I’ve run in sometime. Chatting it up with my sister made the miles go by and I ran faster than I normally would have since I was with her.
It felt great and kicked off my day for Smart Girl Summit well. Speaking of which, I headed over to the conference I’m in town for just after.
Mom went to the first day of SGS with me. It was a fun bonding thing for us and I was excited to go see some familiar faces. This is my fourth year in a row attending SGS and I always love meeting up with blogger buddies there. There are usually a lot of inspiring speakers and great camaraderie. Heritage (my workplace) also sponsored the event so it was good to be there representing them.
Being in Indiana brings me two delights of my life — my niece, Giovanna, and my nephew, Marshall. They are as as adorable and innocent as they come. You can’t NOT smile with these two and the fact that I’m related to them makes everything 100x better.
Giovanna talks up a storm, runs all over the place and is basically the cutest little almost-3-year-old you’ve ever seen.
And there’s the little man himself. Marshall just turned 1 and he’s full of adorable mischief. He runs all over the place so you have to watch him like a hawk. He has the world’s best laugh and I love watching him waddle around. The cutest thing — he takes a cloth towel (seen above) and wipes things off like he seems his mom do cleaning all the time.
Here’s my Dad with G and Marshall — one of my favorite things to see. They literally light up our lives — especially my parents. This morning we just sat there and chatted with G about nothing in particular, asking her questions, hearing her 2-year-old revelations about life. There’s nothing like having a serious conversation with a toddler.
Those are just a few things I’ve caught in the past couple of days. Today I’m enjoying SGS and hanging out with family tomorrow before heading back to DC early Monday morning.
Many of you know my love for the Congo — specifically for the children of the CCC Orphanage in Uvira, DRC — where I spent part of last summer. Well, my wonderful teammates have been up to some good stuff and I sincerely hope you will check it out.
Sarah has started a business called Kicheko, which — beautifully — means “laughter” in Swahili. The best thing in the world is a child’s laughter. Here’s a way to fund these children with food, housing, schooling, etc. Here’s a sample of some of the jewelry that’s offered — though there are many more designs available!
You can read a little of my testimony about these kids and why this matters at the bottom of this page.
If you have questions or want to get involved, check this out. Otherwise, I encourage you to order some jewelry and support these wonderful children.