ETSY // Shameless Self Promotion...

Okay, time for some shameless self-promotion. Hey, it was bound to happen sooner or later! You’ll be happy to know that I plan on promoting other Etsy shops in the weeks to come, promise!

If you are part of the blogging world, than you most definitely have heard of Etsy...and probably have purchased something from a seller there. Even if you aren’t a blogger you’ve probably heard of it...and if not, now you have! Etsy is a fantastic website! It allows small time business owners -just some creative person with an idea- to sell their products. Which in turn creates a shopping paradise of unique gifts for the rest of the world - I. Love. Etsy.

Truth.

Awhile ago, I opened my own shop. I don’t tend to it as often as I should/could, but I only have so much time each day and I have to prioritize. Since I have a full time job and don’t rely on Etsy for my main source of income, I can allow other things to top my priority list. There are of course many sellers for whom Etsy is a main source of income AND I think that is straight up awesome! Anyway, here are some favorite products from my shop! 

 Plus, since you are awesome - use this discount code for 15% off! → BLOGLOVE

(it expires Oct. 6, 2013 - so use it soon!)

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Thanks for visiting!

xo, kass

PHOTO // Keep Running

I had a really fun photoshoot this week with a good friend of mine. Her friend, Mindy, is a yoga instructor living in South Korea who has recently started an online magazine. I had the opportunity of meeting her (and attending an awesome yoga class she led) last month and actually tooks some photos for her then. For the magazine's next issue our mutual friend, Missy, wrote an article on running and she needed some photos to go along with it. So, of course, they thought of me (yay!) and now I get to have my photographs in a South Korean magazine! :D I think it comes out next week sometimes and I have no idea which photos she will end up using, but here are some of my favorites from the shoot!

[Check out all the cool shit Mindy is doing! Kaizen // I Write Light // You.IMPROVED]

So, I ran a 5k...

...on Sunday morning and it went really well! I ran the 5k portion of the Quad City Marathon, there was also a Half Marathon, Marathon and Relay. I had ran one 5k before this, it was a Color Run and if you’ve ever been to one you know that it’s more walkers than runners. Which is totally fine, it was fun, but I was excited to try a more serious race. My boyfriend was kind enough to run with me (with zero training!) and he definitely helped keep my pace up, soooo I ended up with a PR! My time was 33:37, so my pace was 10:51. I was so excited! The fastest I’d ever ran a 5k (in my training) was about 36 minutes, so woot for me!

I’m going to use this great feeling to propel me into the next phase of my training. I friend of my has offered to create a training program for me that will help with my speed, so I’m excited to get started on that. I’ve signed up for a Turkey Trot 5 mile run over Thanksgiving, so that will be a good goal - then I’m going to have to work really hard to stay focused over the winter months. Gah, it’s just so hard once the weather turns to shit...I’m not a huge fan of treadmill work, but oh well.

Are you of you runners out there? Any tips? :)

LISTEN // Walk Off the Earth

Have you heard of this band yet? If not, please google them immediately. Wait, no, stop. Let me make it super easy for you.

CLICK HERE

Don’t worry, that’s nothing bad - just a link to their you tube page! :)

So, this a a crew out of Ontario, Canada and they gained popularity making cover videos for YouTube. Lemme tell ya, their covers are fn amazing. AMAZING. More recently, they have put out an album of originals (and one cover) called R.E.V.O. This is equally amazing and you’ve probably heard the single Red Hands on the radio. I’m guessing you’ve also see their 5 Peeps 1 Guitar video that is a cover of “Somebody That I used to Know” by Goyte. If I’m being honest, I’m not a fan of that original song, but I love it sang by WOTE. The video is badass, so in case you haven’t seen it (and didn’t click the link above) here ya go...

Oh and I did I mention every one of them not only plays instruments, but also sings? Seriously, right? I think that’s one thing that really draws me to them - their album is cohesive, but each song is unique. I like the variety of the difference voices and that they all meld really well together.

Anyway, here are a few more videos of my favorite songs. Enjoy! :)

I LOVE this original song and I LOVE this one. Plus, all these videos are so awesome that you actually want to sit an watch them, not just listen. :)

Just one more original...enjoy!

Yoga // In the moment

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Earlier this summer, I started attending yoga classes and I haven’t looked back. I absolutely love it. I started with a gentle class and now I’m in an introductory class. The gentle class was a lot of floor work and a lot of stretching. The intro class seems to be more about the building blocks of yoga. We’ve learned the Sun Salutations and she spends some time explaining the positions and how to do them properly, which is helpful. I can look at a picture in a book, but having someone there to help adjust your body is awesome. Once I know how a pose is suppose to feel it’s much easier to get there again. Muscle memory or whatever, right? 

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This past weekend I went to a 2 hour yoga workshop put on by a friend of a friend. The instructor is Mindy and she currently resides in South Korea...so, if you ever find yourself in her area you should check out her studio! Anyway, her workshop was INTENSE.  Like I'm-still-sore intense, haha!  It was a great workout and I did some things I didn't think I was capable of, like some poses involving binding.  I even (sort of) did a pose called the Bird of Paradise - Mindy was there to help me bind and get me upright of course, but it still felt awesome.

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In my regular Monday night class we were told to focus on being in the moment.  It sounds like such a simple thing... to be in the moment, to be present right now.  It's not that simple, not for me anyhow.  Just as my mind was starting to wander to what I had to do when I got home and what I might be doing for the rest of the week, my instructor (Jill, check her out too!) said something along the lines of ...as you feel yourself, your mind, leave to other things, pull it back.  Pull it back here to the studio and focus on your breathing.

I just thought... wow.  I'm a day dreamer by nature, I can't help it  - I just am.  I don't think it's always a bad thing, but I do think it can be detrimental at times.  I'm always thinking about what could have happened or what might happen or how I should have reacted. Or you know, what if I had made this or that decision instead?  Or driving home on auto pilot while making a mental list of things I should/could be doing.  I'm not sure all this "what if" day dreaming is such a good thing.  Why? Because then I miss out on what's happening right in front of me.  I can, and sometimes do, take the things I have for granted and don't always appreciate the people and good fortunate in my life the way I'd like to.  That thought right there, well it makes me sad.  So, instead of just setting an intention for my practice I'm setting an intention for my life, for my being, for my day to day.  I am going to make an effort to be more present, to bring myself back to the moment.

Wish me luck. :)

xo, kassie

Over the (labor day...) Weekend... :D

So, I basically forgot about my blog last week. I didn’t really, but I might as well have. ANYWAY, two weekends ago, over the long weekend, we headed over to the Loess Hills in western Iowa. Other than a couple mishaps (including the Hawkeyes losing, some food poisoning and a weird bug in Theo’s tail), we had a good time! Ha, maybe I shouldn’t mention those other things...but seriously, we had a nice time!

We headed over to the Loess Hills, which are apparently hills created by wind deposits...pretty cool, on Saturday. We got set up in our cabin and then headed to the nearest sports bar to watch the game. It didn’t turn out the way we hoped, but we ate some pub food and had a tequila shot, so I was doing just fine. After the game, we headed back up to our cabin and hiked around a bit. The weather and the views were gorgeous.

Sunday, we got up and did some more hiking over on this cool little trail that ran along the top ridge of some hills. We drove around the park for awhile then had a cute little lunch at our cabin. In the afternoon, we headed south towards Omaha and stopped at the Loess Hills Winery for some tasting. All the wine was fantastic and we ended up buying three bottles! When then spent a little time in Omaha, we did some more tasting at the Upstream Brewery, which was also fantastic and ended up getting a growler to take home. Then we had the most delicious Italian dinner...that unfortunately made us both sick in the middle of the night...ha, oh well. When we got back to our cabin, we got a nice fire going and just chilled outside enjoying the nice weather.

What was so fantastic about this trip is that it was low key AND we were able to take Theo with us. He had so much fun...he loves hiking around and going for car rides. OH! And I used a film camera the entire weekend...so i’m excited to get those developed, but for now my phone photos will suffice. :) All in all, I think our weekend was a success!

Did you do anything fun over the long weekend?