We went to LA to see the Cirque De Soleil Iris show.

Ran my fastest 5K time (26 min!) on Fourth of July.

Visited April and Destin in Phoenix.

Flew home to Atlanta for Jamie and Jayson’s wedding weekend…which may have been one of the main highlights of my whole summer!

My sweet friend, Jenny Rexrode, came to visit me.

Traveled to Colorado to visit our cousins Rachel and Nick.

Made many trips to the beach and to SUP with Pirate Coast.

And it only took us 3 years, but we finally made it to the Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach!

Enjoyed time in San Diego with the Hughes family.

Fulfilled a dream and spent a girls day at the spa at the Montage!!

Went home for Jessica’s wedding and was reunited with all of my high school besties!

Spent the most perfect weekend at the Ritz Marina Del Rey with my incredible husband of FIVE years to celebrate our anniversary.

And explored the Venice Canals in LA.

To round out our summer, we are moving this weekend to Laguna Niguel and finally getting that 2nd bedroom we wanted (this means you have no excuse not to visit)! We are so sad to leave our apartment; it feels like a chapter of our CA lives is closing. We are excited to explore our new town though: only a few short miles from the beach!

I am not updating this blog or Twitter much lately, so if you’d like to stay in touch, follow me on Instagram! My username is ehill23.

XOXO!!

We loaded up on our favorite fish tacos and cruised the Newport harbor during sunset.

I was beaming with pride for Sean! Lots of hard work, late nights, group project meetings, study sessions at Starbucks and juggling work/family/friends, but it was all worth it! It is hard to imagine that this program was one of the primary reasons we moved out here and now it is over. Three years seemed to fly by, but it was just long enough for us to completely fall in love with living here.

Even Toby was proud of his daddy.

Then it was graduation party time….

….followed by the post-graduation celebration crash.

The weekend took a bit of a turn on Monday when we decided to visit Sky High Sports (a trampoline “fun center”).

Sean’s dad ended up rupturing his quad and we had a very memorable Father’s Day dinner in the ER waiting room. His surgery is on Monday, so everyone keep him in your prayers for a speedy recovery.

I leave you with a video of one of our family car rides – as you can see, we have a great time together!

Thank you so much to all of our family and friends who made the weekend so special!!

We celebrated with a long weekend on the lake, which is the absolute perfect way to kick off summer. We enjoyed some Southern BBQ, boating, tubing and wake surfing on the lake, playing with little Turner, sand volleyball and even squeezed in a group CrossFit workout!

Now, less than two weeks later, I’m headed back for another week in GA and another lake weekend – this time in TN for Jamie’s bachelorette weekend!

Shanahan family vacations have always been a little different. We wake up at 7:30 a.m. and get ready to head out the door for a full-day of exploring. It is not a vacation to bring your cutest clothes – it only requires hiking shoes and t-shirts. You have to prepare and get in shape for our vacations and you might even lose some weight on them. You are sore and maybe a little exhausted. But, we always manage to visit some of the most breathtaking views our country has! And we don’t just drive up to them – we hike, climb and crawl through the best hikes to really experience it all. I LOVE it!

We were worried we wouldn’t be able to match last year’s Yosemite trip, but Moab did not fail us! It is truly beautiful. We explored Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Dead Horse Point State Park, Fishers Tower, the Colorado River and eclectic downtown Moab. To view our photos, check out my Facebook album here.

Also, I wanted to give props to my mom who spent Mother’s Day hiking and climbing rocks while all of the other mother’s were likely taken to a pleasant brunch. ;) Go Mom!

I have been going to CrossFit for almost a year now. And I’m finally beginning to drink the kool-aid about the Paleo diet. I have to admit I was skeptical at first, but as I began to read more about it, it began to make a lot of sense. I see real results from the diet every day in the people at our gym. I’m not sure I’m ready to dive in and commit to such a big lifestyle change forever, but nothing is stopping me from trying it out for 6 weeks and evaluating how I look, feel and perform.

What is the Paleo diet?

My favorite description of the Paleo approach can be found on the Whole9 site:

I eat “real” food — fresh, natural food like meat, vegetables and fruit. I choose foods that are nutrient dense, with lots of naturally-occurring vitamins and minerals, over foods that have more calories but less nutrition. And food quality is important — I’m careful about where my meat comes from, and buy produce locally and organically as often as possible.

It’s not a low calorie “diet” — I eat as much as I need to maintain strength, energy and a healthy weight. In fact, my diet is probably much higher in fat than you’d imagine. Fat isn’t the enemy — it’s a great energy source when it comes from high quality foods like avocado, coconut and nuts. And I’m not trying to do a “low carb” thing, but since I’m eating vegetables and fruits instead of bread, cereal and pasta, it just happens to work out that way.

Eating like this is good for maintaining a healthy metabolism, and reducing inflammation within the body. It’s been doing great things for my energy levels, body composition and performance in the gym. It also helps to minimize my risk for a whole host of lifestyle diseases and conditions, like diabetes, heart attack and stroke.

But you don’t need to be on a diet:

The paleo diet isn’t necessarily a weight loss diet, it is mainly a “health diet”. It’s primary purpose is to increase general health and wellness, and decrease the incidence of gastro-intestinal disorders and diseases like heart disease and diabetes. However, it is entirely likely that you will lose fat while eating this way.

Is this just another diet and weight loss fad?

The paleo diet is different from other diet “fads” that you may have tried in that it does not focus specifically on how many calories you eat. In its simplest form, the paleo diet is an “elimination” diet. You strive to avoid eating certain types of foods which our bodies are not well adapted to digesting. In fact, if you eat proper food with abundant amounts of protein and fiber in them, controlling the amount of food you eat probably won’t even be an issue!

If you are interested in reading more about the diet and the science/theories behind why you should avoid grains, dairy and legumes go here or here.

Have I gone crazy?

I realize that there are a wide variety of diets that claim to be the healthiest possible way to eat. I’m not claiming Paleo is the only answer to healthy eating and all other foods are some sort of deadly enemy. This is just Sean and me taking one step toward cleaner eating and trying a lifestyle that most of my fellow CrossFitters swear by. The six-week challenge will begin on May 6th (had to start after Sean’s favorite food holiday, Cinco de Mayo!) and I know it is going to be tough. We have a group of friends doing it with us, including Suz, Matt and Jess!

We will need all of the support and encouragement you can give us!!