To Do List, Accounta-Buddy Style

Hello friends!

It’s Sunday afternoon and I am feeling a very strong urge to make this coming week unbelievably productive.

Last week felt like a total loss. With my competition on Sunday, all my usual Sunday activities got pushed to Monday. Plus I drove to Raleigh twice to look at houses. Plus I drove to Virginia Beach on Thursday to attend my dad’s retirement lunch. Plus Leon’s car has been in the shop so I did a lot of chauffeuring him around. Plus I barely worked out and ate like crap. So essentially I spent most of last week living out of my car and not doing work or anything healthy.

Luckily, though, there’s nothing quite like eating lunch with some corporate big wigs to get my ass in gear (professionally speaking). Spending all day Saturday sipping on mimosas and taking dumb selfies also helped with the motivation because after such a completely unproductive day my natural inclination towards balance kicked in and now I want to do everything!

Why is my glass empty...again?

In an attempt to make this week count I’m turning all of you into my accounta-buddies. (That’s a cutesy term that my brother taught me for accountability buddies.) Below you’ll find my To Do list for the week. I’ll report back at the end of the week on how I did. But unlike my brother and his accounta-buddy, if I don’t complete a task I don’t except you to tweet at Nicole Curtis that I failed and make me retweet it.

If you feel compelled to tweet at Michelle Obama about my shortcomings, though, you are more than welcome to. Just remember to use #MakingMoves so Michelle knows that it’s a concerted effort.

Week of February 1

• Make a plan for moving (depending on the outcome of the lease application we put in on Friday)
• Apply for a bunch of jobs
• Finish my Hubspot Inbound Marketing certification
• Workout 5 times, including leading yoga for my Crossfit friends on Thursday
• Job interview on Wednesday, including all the pre-interview research
• Write and post the next post in my SMART Goals series
• Dust all the weird places in my house that I never think to dust, like the baseboard heaters and the fan blades and the tops of picture frames
• Work on my budgeting spreadsheet, including getting Leon’s student loans figured out
• Finalize the tent rentals for my wedding
• Send my sister the plan for her flower girl outfit

So that’s my plan for the week. It is all very much within the realm of possibility as long as I don’t get lazy or distracted.

What’s on your To Do list this week, friends? This is the part where you share so I can be your accounta-buddy, not so that you can put items from your list onto mine.

Cheers, Kara

My First Crossfit Competition - War of the WODs

Happy Monday friends!

This weekend flew by and I have a lot to tell you about, so let’s jump right into it. (Especially since if you had a surprise day off on Friday you probably have a lot to catch up on and few expendable brain cells.)

This weekend was my first Crossfit competition - War of the WODs! Getting there through the unplowed roads (because Greensboro doesn’t start plowing until several hours after the snow and sleet stops) wasn’t easy, but luckily, Leon is from Vermont so he has the necessary skill set to maneuver my Corolla through the roads.

Sunday came bright and early. By the time I got to the competition venue I was beyond nervous.

 The first event for my partner and I was the one we were most nervous about: the lifts! In this event there were four barbells set up with increasing weights: 65 lbs, 85 lbs, 105 lbs, and 125 lbs. Each team had 1 minute to get a total of 3 snatches and 3 clean and jerks. (Those are links to videos of each movement.) Your score is the total amount of weight you lifted and the tiebreaker was the time that each team got to the finish line after completing all the lifts.

Our strategy had us right at our maxes for each lift, which is a scary place to be when you only have a minute and when the warm up area is tiny and crowded and inadequately equipped and it’s your first competition and when you are in your own head so much that you don’t hit the lifts at all in the warm up.

So yeah, the Chicks with Chalk were freaking out.

Luckily, though, by the time we got to our heat all the coffee and pre-workout powder we drank kicked in and the music was good, so I was excitedly dancing at the start line. They counted down 3…2…1…

And before I knew it we were both chest bumping at the finish line because we made all our lifts.

Words cannot describe the excitement I felt after that first event was over. Really and truly, I don’t think I’ve ever felt that good or happy or proud. Adrenaline is one hell of a drug.

The rest of the day was spent cheering on friends and trying to figure out when we were supposed to do our next events.

Our second event was an 8 minute AMRAP (as many reps as possible):

21 over the bar burpees

21 calories on an airdyne

21 thrusters with 65 lbs

Repeat with reps decreasing by 3 until the time is up

The airdyne is a machine straight from hell and my quads were cramping for hours after we finished this one.

Our final event was a 9 minute AMRAP:

750m row while the other partner does 30 dumbell ground to overheads with 25 lbs

150 single jump ropes while the other partner does 30 slam balls with 20 lbs

40 knees to ninety degree while the other partner hangs from the bar

30 wall balls with 10 lbs

20 box jumps

With the remaining time, do as many pull ups as possible

We ended up with 22 pull ups, which I am very happy with.

By the end of the day I was completely exhausted. It took everything I had in me to pack up my stuff and walk across the icy parking lot. Luckily, Leon is amazing and picked up Mexican food, so I could take a hot shower and then eat chori-queso in my pajamas.

And today I am sore. Very sore. And I’m trying my hardest to recapture that unbelievably proud feeling I had after our first event, because as much as I hate to admit it, I’m disappointed in how we placed. My goal was to finish in the top half, but we didn’t even come close. And while I can’t pinpoint a single moment at which I could have pushed harder or done more (and I know my partner feels the same), I’m still disappointed.

Unhappily foam rolling my quads.

I am highly competitive by nature. That doesn’t mean I’m used to winning, by any means. I’m definitely no stranger to failing. And like I said, I harbored no delusions of winning this competition. But for some reason this competition is bugging me.

Maybe I’ll harness that disappointment into motivation for another competition.

What do you do when you’re disappointed in yourself, friends?

Cheers, Kara

SMART Goal Setting: The Basics

Hi again friends!

I Secreted last week that my goal is to buy a house in the next 12-18 months. And part of that goal is setting lots of smaller, SMART goals. I started to write a whole post about the goals that I created for myself in the process of buying a house, but then I got an idea.

Going into this move I’ve got a lot of things that I want to accomplish. I always have a lot of things I want to accomplish, but moving to a new city is a really great catalyst for change, so I’m harnessing it. And luckily for all of you wonderful people, I’m taking you along for the ride and turning my goal setting into a series. This is the first installment.

SMART Goal Setting: The Basics

A SMART goal is one that is Specific, Meaningful and Measurable, Action-Oriented, Realistic, and Timely. If you ask me, a wish, a plan, a hope is nothing if it’s not SMART.

So let’s run through how SMART goals work and how they differ from just making a regular goal. For this example, let’s say your goal is to lose weight. (It is January, after all.)

You make the goal of losing weight. You do some things to work towards this goal. You may or may not lose weight. The end.

A SMART version of that goal looks like this:

Specific: You want to lose 10 pounds.

Meaningful: Your doctor says your weight puts you at risk for diabetes and you want to avoid that.

Measurable: Pounds are a unit of measurement, so that’s easy.

Action-oriented: You are going to workout 3/week for one hour. You are going to eat 5 servings of veggies/day.  (Measurable steps!)

Realistic: 10 pounds is not 100 pounds, so it’s not too difficult, but it’s also not 2 pounds, so it is a challenge.

Timely: You want to lose this weight in 10 weeks and you will check in on your progress every other week. That gives you a deadline and set times for progress checks.

 You follow this plan and at the end of the 10 weeks you see how much weight you lost. The end.

At the end of both scenarios, your success is not a given. Success is never a given, no matter how badly you want it, but you know that since you’re still reading. But SMART goals give you a fighting chance, because they give you a few tools. (I refuse to use the phrase “setting yourself up for success” because this is not some bullshit seminar about how to fill out college applications.)

-Planning and forethought. A lot of times we jump into a goal because it’s something we want, but without really examining it. The process of setting up your SMART goal forces you to think through things, identify obstacles before they arise, and really dig deep to see if you are motivated enough to achieve this goal.

-Manageable chunks. Most goals, at least the ones on my list right now, are huge and scary and overwhelming. So rather than sitting here blankly, trying to evaluate every move before I make it to see how it will effect my ultimate goal, I divide these big goals into chunks, each with their own game plan.

-Motivation. Maybe this is a sign of a personality flaw, but I have a hard time with motivating myself when I’m working towards a big or long-range goal. Each step is so small and the goal is so big that it can feel like I’m not moving forward. So having a clearly laid out plan with regular check points, or a bunch of goal chunks, gives me the opportunity for lots of small victories that keep me motivated to reach the next small victory.

So now you have the basics of why and how to set SMART goals. I’m working on a few more posts about setting up my goals, so let me know if you have any questions about SMART goals.

Cheers, Kara

All the Baby Puppies (A Single Ladies Parody)

Hiya friends!

It’s a snow day in Greensboro. For those of you that aren’t from around here, when we say “snow” in Greensboro, we really mean a couple hours of snow followed by several hours of sleet and hail. This is my way of defending all the North Carolinians that freak out and buy enough bread and milk to last weeks at the thought of even a couple inches of snow. Because a couple of inches of snow always means a thick crust of ice, too.

As I was lying in bed this morning (after I got back from the gym, because #MakingMoves #MyFirstCompetition) I started mushing my pups’ faces and telling them how cute they were. And then, much to Leon’s chagrin, I started singing. After a few bars of a few different songs I realized that “baby puppies” has a very similar cadence as “single ladies.” So clearly, I knew what I was doing today.

First, I suggest you refresh yourself with the song.

And here’s an instrumental version, so you can sing along with my words. (FYI, start singing at 0:01.)

Baby Puppies (Chew Our Bones)

A parody, by Kara Thomas

All the baby puppies (All the baby puppies)

All the baby puppies (All the baby puppies)

All the baby puppies (All the baby puppies)

All the baby puppies

Now lift your ears up

Up on the couch, we just went out

It’s time to chew our bones

You want us to stop, but we’re not gonna drop

Cause another toy don’t interest

I’ve got my bone, leave us alone

Not paying you any attention

Cause we want to chew, our bones are so new

 Ya can’t be mad at me

Cause we’re gonna chew until our bones are gone

We’re gonna chew until our bones are gone

Don’t be mad once you see the mess we left

Cause we’re gonna chew until our bones are gone

Bow wow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow

Bow wow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow

Cause we’re gonna chew until our bones are gone

We’re gonna chew until our bones are gone

Don’t be mad once you see the mess we left

Cause we’re gonna chew until our bones are gone

I got the taste on my lips, a bone in my grips

Wrap me up in that blanket

Cuddled up, like a cute pup

I could care less what you think

I need no permission, did I mention

Not paying you any attention

Cause you could have trained us

But now you’re gonna fuss

Why do you even try?

Cause we’re gonna chew until our bones are gone

We’re gonna chew until our bones are gone

Don’t be mad once you see the mess we left

Cause we’re gonna chew until our bones are gone

Bow wow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow

Bow wow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow

Don’t try to trick me with those treats

I’m not that kind of dog

My bone is what I prefer, what we deserve

Is a couch that makes us then takes us

And delivers us to our best bones, to infinity and beyond

Put it in my paws

Say you’ll leave us alone

If you don’t, you’ll be fuming

And on your couch we’ll be consuming

All the baby puppies (All the baby puppies)

All the baby puppies (All the baby puppies)

All the baby puppies (All the baby puppies)

All the baby puppies

Now lift your ears up

Bow wow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow

Bow wow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow

Cause we’re gonna chew until our bones are gone

We’re gonna chew until our bones are gone

Don’t be mad once you see the mess we left

Cause we’re gonna chew until our bones are gone

Cause we’re gonna chew until our bones are gone

We’re gonna chew until our bones are gone

Don’t be mad once you see the mess we left

Cause we’re gonna chew until our bones are gone

Bow wow ow

I think that this has been a snow day well spent.

Cheers, Kara

PS- Check back on Monday for the beginning of a new series about SMART goal setting and then come back again on Tuesday for a post about how I did in my first ever Crossfit competition.

Secreting, Sort Of

TGIF friends!

For a lot of you, this is a three-day weekend, which means today is either going to fly by or everything is going to blow up. I really hope it’s the former.

So I’ve got something a little heavy to talk about for a Friday, but if it’s too heavy for you now, come back and read it come Tuesday. (Or come back and re-read it on Tuesday anyway, because I love pageviews.)

I’ve never read The Secret, but I know people who did. I think the gist of it – the big Secret – is that if you put what you want out into the world the power of the universe and the power within yourself will make it happen. I have no clue if this works, but let’s give it a try.

My goal (which Leon is happily joining in on) is to buy a house within the next 12-18 months.

This is a lofty goal. It’s scary and feels very adult. But it’s also a goal that I am thrilled to death about for two big reasons.

First, it involves making a big, long-range financial plan with lots of SMART (Specific, Meaningful/Measureable, Action-oriented, Realistic, Timely) goals. I am a little bit of a personal finance nerd, so I’ve excited to put some of my knowledge to work and to learn more.

I’m going to use a lot of the information and resources from one of my favorite blogs, Our Freaking Budget, along with some Suze Orman and Dave Ramsey books to make our plan. The first step is having a very honest (read: scary) conversation about Leon and my financial situations.

Second, it involves making something beautiful, because Leon and I are planning on buying an ugly, old house.

Wood paneling? Oh baby!

Shag carpet? Yes, please! And make it maroon.

Laminate countertops and pastel bathroom tiles? That’s what I’m talking about!

I know a little bit about fixing up a house from growing up in my mom’s house, which we nicknamed “the structural nightmare.” Leon knows a lot more about fixing up a house, because he did that for work for a while. Between the two of us we are capable of doing a good bit of the work ourselves, and I know enough to know when I need to hire someone. (We’ll see if Leon has that self-awareness.)

The idea of taking an ugly, old house that would normally get overlooked and investing our money, time, and energy into turning it into something beautiful that not only looks like us, but that feels like our home is the most amazing thing. I’m not delusional to think that fixing up a house ourselves will be anything like what you see on HGTV. We’re not the Property Brothers or Nicole Curtis. It’ll take a few years and we’ll be living in a construction zone for a good bit of it. It’ll be a huge financial investment not just for this next year, but for a long time after that as we invest in fixing it up and paying off our mortgage.

This goal is scary like a rollercoaster. (I don’t like rollercoasters, but it’s a good simile.) But everything I’m doing right now – moving, trying to find a job, getting married – is scaring the shit out of me. So while I’m already scared, let’s go ahead and add one more thing.

Tell me, friends: am I completely bonkers? If you have any advice, send it my way.

Cheers, Kara

Charleston Wedding

Happy Monday, friends!

Most people don’t like Mondays, but I kind of love them. I love a fresh start and even when a Monday morning workout sucks, I still feel great for having done it.

This weekend Leon and I were in Charleston for our friends’ wedding. The wedding was wonderful and full of pure happiness and totally perfect for the couple. The whole weekend was amazing and we had an absolute blast catching up with all our friends from college.

Even though I drank way too much, ate lots of crappy food, barely slept, and definitely didn’t drink enough water, I came home feeling completely recharged.

Whatever you call them – your tribe, squad, crew, family – everyone has a group of people that give them everything they need. They give you happiness and support and fun and so much love. They make you feel completely at ease and excited to get up in the morning, even if you have a hangover. Those are these people for me.

Leon and I also got to spend a few days without worrying about looking for a house to rent or trying to find a job for myself. We didn’t have to worry about who is driving to Raleigh on what day or who is making dinner. We were able to relax and get wrapped up in the love of our friends and the excitement of the occasion. (We also got very excited for our own wedding!)

My favorite wedding date. 

It was exactly what we needed. And now we’re refreshed and ready to tackle everything this week brings. I’ve already tackled a job interview (cross your fingers for me, please!), and I’m about to tackle grocery shopping and another house showing.

Tell me, what’s your favorite part of a wedding?

Cheers, Kara.

Pretty, Wonderful Things

G’day friends!

I’m constantly amazed by how quickly things can change. Monday and Tuesday were bad days, but a couple of pieces of great news yesterday and suddenly I’m flying high and feeling optimistic about this big move.

I’ll tell you about my great news soon enough, but I don’t want to jinx anything.

I especially don’t want to jinx anything because I’m currently waiting to hear if I have to drop everything and drive to Raleigh. So to keep myself from hitting refresh on my inbox once a minute, I’m going to share pretty, wonderful things to occupy my time.

-This is the view when I’m sitting at my desk. It’s a little scattered, but it all makes me so happy.

Yes, I did clean off my desk before talking this picture.

-This print is fabulous and I really want it for my office.

-I am dreaming about the things I’m going to buy once I get a job. The first thing I’m going to buy myself is a fabulous work bag. I am thinking about buying this one from Michael Kors.

This Kate Spade bag is a close second. Of course, I might also need to buy myself a new personal purse.

-Everyone loves temporary tattoos, right? I’m trying to justify buying a ton of Tattly tattoos to have a tattoo bar at my wedding. Leon, my fiancé, thinks no one will like this, but I’m trying to convince him otherwise. Because tattoos are so much fun!

That’s all I’ve got for you today. I’m off to Raleigh to hopefully get even more good news. Wish me luck, friends!

Cheers, Kara.

12 Events of House Hunting

Hello friends.

So here’s what is going on in my head: I love patterns. We all do. I know that I’m not the only person that arranges M&Ms in a pattern by color before eating them, right? Oh, I am? Whatever. You’re lying.

Anyway, an upside to my love of patterns is that patterns make for good blogging. Patterns make things fun to read! And because, after years of writing a daily healthy living blog (now defunct), I still think in terms of blog posts, all I could think yesterday as I drove home from an awful day of house hunting in Raleigh was how I could turn everything that happened to me into a “12 Days of Christmas” themed blog post.

Let’s ignore the fact that it’s January.

So here is my "12 Events of House Hunting" song. I highly suggest you sing this out loud. Highly.

On this Monday of house hunting Raleigh gave to me…

ONE guy peeing on his car at a gas station.

TWO “aggressive breeds” that I have no qualms about lying about to get a house.

THREE house showings scheduled.

FOUR times I cried in my car.

FIVE times I told myself to pull it together.

SIX hours of driving.

SEVEN rooms, including the fenced in back yard, is all I’m looking for.

EIGHT dollars spent on a bottle of wine as soon as I got home.

NINE minutes notice the second real estate agent gave me that pets aren’t allowed, “so do you even want to see the house anymore?”

TEN percent battery to get to the third house and then home.

ELEVEN wrong turns.

TWELVE hundred dollars apparently gets you a two bathroom, one bath condo with no yard and appliances from the last century.

These two "aggressive breeds" are aggressively lazy.

I fully realize that I’m being a drama queen about this whole house-hunting thing and that these lines don’t really match the tune of the song. Hopefully you’ll forgive me these two indiscretions.

On a very related note, can anyone recommend a book I can read or beads I can carry or oils I can smell that will help me with my control issues? It’s getting a little ridiculous.

Cheers, Kara.

The First Move

Helloooooo world!

Welcome to my little space. Hopefully this space will be full of lots of honesty and pretty things and laughs. And I’m quite sure that it will be neater than my spaces in real life. Looking at my car you’d think I was a flighty hoarder with no home. Oh wait…

The amount of crap I can fit into my Corolla is like expert level Tetris.

I am a little flighty, so that will be fun for you. And I am in the process of moving to a new city, so I feel like I don’t have a home.

That brings me to the reason that I’m starting this blog. There are two things that I’m really bad at: not having a routine and making new friends. And it just so happens that those are the two things that my whole life is about right now. So in an effort to hold myself accountable and make the moves that I know I need to do to create a life I’ll love in my new city – like putting myself out there and trying to meet people, instead of reverting back to my homebody ways – I’m blogging.

Being a homebody on a very full couch.

I’m also blogging because I love having a project and because having a living, breathing portfolio of my writing and social media skills will help as I pursue a career in marketing. (This is my not at all subtle way of saying that I’m looking for a job as a marketing coordinator, preferably utilizing digital marketing and social media, in the Raleigh area. If you know of any such positions, please email me at kara_h_thomas @ yahoo.com.)

I hope that you like what you read, that you can relate to some of my social fumblings, and that you think I’m at least a little funny. (Because I think I’m hilarious most of the time.)

And now, for some facts about myself, because I know that you won’t keep coming back if you don’t feel like you have an emotional connection to me.

Don't I look like someone you would be friends with?

My name is Kara. I’m 24 years old and I do the math between the current year and the year I was born when people ask how old I am. I like to workout, cuddle with my pups, and binge watch the same four shows on Netflix over and over (30 Rock, The Office, Parks and Recs, and Gilmore Girls). I’m engaged to a really great guy, Leon, and I’m thrilled to death about that. His promotion is the reason we’re moving to Raleigh. I am constantly trying to eat healthier and read more books. And while I’m not actually a hoarder, I do have a knack for buying flowers and forgetting about them so that at any time I have about three vases of dried/dead flowers around my house. 

That's all I've got for this installment. I hope you come back again soon. 

Cheers, Kara