Category: Personal

Health & Wellness, Sincerely, Karina

Farewell to our first home

 

Our home has officially been put on the market.(Here is the link!) I am having mixed emotions about it. I really enjoyed living so close to Boston and in such a busy city atmosphere, but it just isn’t home anymore. It feels empty without our Freddy and the memories are too strong for us to stay. N and I both agree that we want something safer (away from a busy road & city traffic) and we want a lot of land. We are taking the passing as a sign for us to move on with our lives and start the new chapter. So, I am excited for what’s to come, I mean I HAVE to be, I WANT to be. I have to continue living and not be weak. I have an obligation to someone, to my husband and I need to be strong for him and for our future…

Side note: For some people out there (& trust me, I was 100% like that), losing a pet really seems like something you can get over rather quickly. I honestly did not understand when people were upset about their cat or dog passing away…I mean I knew they were hurt or whatever but it wasn’t a human, so why were they grieving? 

Well, when you incorporate that pet into your every-day life and really make them part of the family, it brings about a very heavy heart when something happens to them, especially if it was tragic and unexpected. We only had 3 years with our little dood,  it couldn’t possibly be this hard if he lived to an old age, I would have found comfort in knowing he lived a full and long life and it was just his time, but at 3, I just can’t wrap my head around it yet.  Freddy’s life ended tragically and too soon, but he did live a very fulfilled life because N and I made sure of it every single day. We spoiled the shit out of him and I am SO proud of us for doing so. He was my certified ESA, my little man, my back seat driver, my co-pilot, my blanket on cold nights, my support when N was traveling or working late hours, my support when I had a bad day, my tear wiper, my walking buddy, my shopping partner, my dinner date, my workout buddy, my beach bum, my travel partner, my snuggle partner, my food tester, my follower, my shadow, my best friend, my son, my baby, my life. 

I would love to share (& plan on it in time) of how I am coping with losing Fred because I think it would help someone else out there. I mean, talk about getting married and being on a high for 5 minutes and then boom, be hit with a huge fuckin tragedy. I still have flashbacks of the scene — one of which is too violent to describe at this time.

Anyways, back to my topic! I promised today on my Instagram post, that I would share some photos of our property. We put in an offer for a house in the burbs and it was accepted BUT with a contingency that we sell our current home in TWO weeks! #nopressure

Feel free to share this post if you know of anyone looking to buy close to Boston, but still far enough from all the congestion that city life can bring (located in Medford, MA). Our favorite thing to do literally every day was drive 3 minutes up the road to the Middlesex Fells Reservation, which is 2,575 acres of walking, hiking and mtn biking trails! I found myself constantly thinking how cool is it that we can be in Boston in 6-8 minutes, yet we can feel like we’re way up in NH somewhere. It really is an awesome location and I will miss it!

Again, Thank you SO much to everyone who has reached out to me and to Nico. It means the world to us, whether we know you or not. We appreciate it!

 

Xo

K

 

Summer Update – the good and the bad

Hello!

Thank you for all your messages lately. I wanted to share that my wedding was more than N and I could have ever expected. It was perfect. A real fairy-tale. I will share some professional photos once I get them, but here is one of my favorites taken by my (now) cousin, Jodi.

As promised, I am working on a segment with all my wedding planning tips, sharing everything from choosing your wedding party (remember I asked my ladies with these DIY bridal party boxes) to the activities you should plan days before the BIG day.

I also have some extremely sad news to share, my baby bear, Freddy_doodle was hit by a car in front of our house one week after we returned from Europe. I honestly cannot talk about that yet. It hurts too much and combined with planning a wedding, it is the reason I have not written for some time. I am however SOOO grateful I did everything in my power to make sure he was a part of our wedding <3 

Thank you for sticking by me and my blog. I have SO much content to start sharing again — I am also collaborating with some great influencers to bring awareness to shelter animals. Combining fashion with an amazing cause is something I am really excited to be able to do. I will continue running @Freddy_doodle with the intention of helping other animals.

Last update, N and I are putting our condo on the market and moving. We planned to do this eventually, in a year or so when we bounced back from the wedding financials, but losing the love of our life was a sign that we need to start the next chapter of our lives and not wait. We call it Our Chapter 3.

I will share how to market your home for selling with tons of pictures and tips (declutter and depersonalize are key!) and am working to collaborate with some interior designers to make the new place (once we find it) our family home.

Stay tuned and thanks for reading and following along. The journey of life is so unpredictable sometimes, but what I have learned is that we all need the love and support from others to make it through the difficult times.

With love,

K

 

 

 

 

If you’re planning on getting a puppy for Christmas…

I have been wanting to write about my experience with Freddy for a while, but it’s one of those things that I’ve kept putting off because I had so much to say. Lately, I’ve had more people asking about our experience with him and about getting a dog in general.  I thought now would be a good time to share what I’ve learned, since I know there are a lot of people thinking about adding to their family this time of year.  I’ll tell you how we ended up with Freddy, and what I’ve learned since.

If you’re one of those who’s thinking about getting a puppy for Christmas, you’ll find this post helpful! (more…)

How to dress for a Thanksgiving 5K

Tomorrow, I am running the annual Thanksgiving Day 5K and it’s supposed to be the coldest day we’ve had so far this season. I was planning on only wearing the long sleeve shirt I got when signing up and my Nike Pro warm tights aka leggings, but with the temps hanging around 30°F with a chance of light snow, I will need to think about layers and warmer accessories.

Layers are key. I am going to wear my midi bra (it’s longer so it looks like a crop top) (from Target) and gives you more warmth, an under armour layer, (more…)

What’s in my running fanny pack

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I am not a great runner, but I find myself signing up to run 5K road races all the time — I get sucked in for the cause of the race, and then hate myself when the running part happens telling myself I am never signing up to run again. I figured since I was on the cross-country team in high-school, and that running is as simple as putting one foot in front of the other, I can do it with ease. Wrong.

My neck and shoulders always hurt when I run – I end up just rotating my head from side to side to get the kink out and continue running. I lose my breath so quickly and don’t get it because I eat healthy and exercise on the reg!  Now that I have a very energetic dog and a very active fiancé that take me on trail runs (we have a reservation about 4 minutes from our house, it would be a shame not to utilize all the trails),  I decided I would actually learn how to run. 

Back story: When I was in Poland last month, my uncle (who is a renowned surgeon) came over to me and put his hand on my back telling me to stand up straight. Uh, I thought I was standing up straight? I have tried to be more observant of my posture and constantly find myself adjusting and cracking my back.  

Check back next week for a post about what to be looking for when evaluating your posture.

So to learn how to run properly,  I first focused on 2 things that instantaneously changed how I felt when running: posture & breathing.

Proper Running Posture Tips:

  • Hold your head high, centered between your shoulders, and your back straight. I focus on keeping my chest out and tightening my abs (or sucking in your stomach). This will give your back that straight line.
  • Focus your gaze in front of you. This can be hard when you are running on rocky trails, and want to see where you are stepping. Glance down every so often so you do not run into a rock tree stump (it happens a lot!) but generally speaking focus your gaze about 30 yards in front of you.  Looking down when running could lead to that strain on your neck muscles and spine.
  • Keep your shoulders relaxed and parallel to the ground.  Your shoulders should hang loosely with a slight forward roll for optimal relaxation. Several times during my run, I have noticed my shoulders rising toward my ears or tensing up, so I just drop my arms and loosely shake them out. 

(more…)

The journey before the walk down the isle

68f7491fcd967f4e4f2eda6ef56f7764Being engaged is something new, exciting and ….well a learning process. There is SO much that goes into the whole process of a wedding.

However, I am making a vow before the actual vow that I will not turn into a Bridezilla. What does that mean exactly? Well to me, it means making sure to take things slow, enjoy every step taken until you walk down that isle, in regards to kindly declining anyone who begins to overwhelm you with details, but to respect everyone who does want to help…tricky..yes… and to urban dictionary, a Bridezilla:

noun. Formed from blending of the words bride and Godzilla (Japanese movie monster). Used to describe a woman whose behavior becomes outrageously bad in the course of planning for her wedding.

Joan, normally a pleasant person, became a real bridezilla whenever she spoke to the caterers.
 
A woman who has become so possessed and obsessed with her wedding plans that she has merged into a hybrid events/catering/ambience driven monster. Stopping at nothing to create ‘her perfect day’.

I say this all the time, but I know little to nothing about weddings – mostly because I never cared to- I guess I hoped one day I would just be in love, real love- the love that you can feel within – the love that can be challenging at times, but 110% worth it- the love you cant and don’t want to ever be without… the love I have now. 

I figured the rest would all fall into place, yet I just spent 3 hours of my morning looking for engagement photo inspirations. It is very easy to get swallowed up in the business of having a wedding.  I don’t want that. I want this journey of getting married to be memorable, beautiful and inspirational for everyone involved! I want it to be different- in that I don’t want a high demanding or “traditional” wedding that is in all the bridal stores and magazines- basically and most importantly, I just want it to be US- to feel like us.

We will have the engagement party, engagement photos and the other celebrations – not because someone says “you’re supposed to” but because A) I love photo-shoots and B) this is the fun you want to have  — who doesn’t want an excuse to throw a party anyways? 

In getting in some wedding education this morning, I hope I keep this mental state and make sure this is an enjoyable journey for all the important people we share it with and of course, for us.

My wedding journey PINTEREST ideas

*if you want to see if you or your bride-to-be might be turning into a Bridezilla… Take this quiz!