Why I Workout

workout

Before October of last year, I’d never set foot in a gym. And I was obnoxiously very proud of that fact. The idea of row upon row of shiny, fit people running on treadmills made me smirk knowing that I had never participated in such mindless, rote activities.

What I snob, I was! So judgey! A mindset that 100% came from being intimidated by the idea of a gym.

I knew that working out was a good thing, but the thought of those clanky and complicated looking weight machines and intimidating, sweaty people in spandex made me uncomfortable. So even though I’ve been horribly out of shape for years, I never gave the gym a second thought.

But, like nearly everything in my life, things have changed since learning to live with endometriosis. After my first surgery two years ago, I spent half a year still feeling like my body had to knit itself back together. After that, I did a bit of tentative tai chi and yoga, but was really scared to do anything else.

Being afraid of my body because of both my endo and the subsequent surgeries, is not something I ever thought would happen. It’s strange to feel so uncertain of your body. Cath and I trained for 13 years to be ballet dancers. As a dancer, your body is your instrument and you feel you have absolute control over it — put in enough hours of practice and training and you know exactly how to make your body move how you want it and withstand exacting and punishing positions.

But even with this new fear, endo is actually what also propelled me to the gym. I wanted to feel strong again and in control of my body (as much as possible with a capricious, poorly-understood chronic disease). I’d also learned that working out would help keep my hormones leveled out better (women with endo usually have too much estrogen).

So even though the idea of spending an hour with the whirring treadmills and clanking weights of a gym doesn’t make me jump out of bed in the morning, I feel so lucky to get to do it! Since October I’ve felt so much better (thanks, endorphins, you are the bestest!) and my body has more muscle than its had in nearly a decade. I do get some pain in my pelvis once in a while if I go too hard, but I try to listen to what my body needs and pull back when I need to.

I’m still a newbie at working out (which sounds kind of ridiculous at 31 years old), but I plan to make this part of my life. Working out for me will never be about loosing weight or gaining muscle (thought I’m so glad those both happen), but to stay healthy and hopefully keep kicking the endo monster in the butt as often as possible. Getting stronger is a good motivator, but the thing that motivates me most, and also makes it hard to do, is having endometriosis.

So I spend way more time than I ever thought I would googling new workouts to try and half of my instagram feed is fitness gurus that keep me inspired on those days (most days if I’ve being honest ;)) when I don’t feel like working out.

This is all to let you know that you’ll be hearing more fitness-y related things on this blog. Which is weird because I think one of the many reasons why I never wanted to go to a gym was because I felt like there was a smugness about people who worked out. Again, that’s my judgey-ness coming through. But I don’t want you guys to think I’m ever posting pics of myself in the gym because I feel smug. It’s all to foster a holistic approach to staying healthy, whether you are working through health problems too or just want to be a bit more healthy.

Phew! Sorry for that lengthy babble. I promise to keep my next posts short and sweet! There’s just a lot of baggage I carry around with working out, and I wanted to let you guys know about it before I just started posting about fitness and health-related things.

I’d love to hear what you guys do or if you’ve had gym-ophobia too.

x Lar

Quick Weekend Outfit

It’s going to be way too hot to wear this outfit this weekend – 90 degrees this Sunday! I’m never ready for summer weather. Spring and fall are my favorite seasons. If I could live somewhere that is always jacket weather, I’d be perfectly content.

weekend_outfit

BB Dakota jacket | Urban Outfitters top | Gap jeans (obviously very old) | Boutique Karma necklace | Longchamp bag | Flats, secondhand from Meredith

What’s that you say? Did I get Troy to take an outfit shot of me at our local Kroger? Uh. Yes. Yes, I did. I have no (blogger) shame. I realized my hair was looking decent when we went to the grocery store and whipped out my camera in the, ahem, beverage aisle.

I don’t really have super cute, creative weekend outfits. If I spend money on clothes it’s most likely going to be work appropriate because that’s what I have to wear 80% of my waking life. For the most part, my weekend wardrobe consists of t-shirts and jeans. I like my t-shirts baggy and my jeans slim – and my shoes flat. I’ve come the realization at the ripe old age of 31 heels are not my friend. Don’t get me wrong, I still love the way heels look and will wear them as much as I can, but after years of ballet and heel wearing, it’s time to be a little kinder to my feet.

multitone_flats

A t-shirt with jeans might seem uninspiring, but I like having a uniform for the weekend. I might branch out at some point this summer and get a romper/jumpsuit (what’s the difference?!) to wear on weekends, but only if i can find one on the cheap. Any suggestions? H&M? F21? Let me know what your weekend uniform is.

Stay Golden

Hi luvs!

Thank you to everyone who commented on Lar’s last post. We’re excited to take AsianCajuns in a slightly different direction and I suppose it goes without saying that I’m over the moon that my twin sis/bestie is moving back stateside.

We’ll start making the blog transition over the summer and we hope you like it!
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I wanted to do a quick post on my love for golden jewelry. It’s kind of become a little bit of an obsession. And keep in mind I’m talking about golden jewelry and not jewelry made of gold- I’m not rolling in money, folks!

Last weekend I stopped by the Root City Market pop up in Decatur and bought three more rings to add to my collection from Melting Sun Apparel – 3 for $9!

gold_rings

Rings from left to right: Melting Sun Apparel, Squash Blossom Boutique, Agnes Scott College Ring, Melting Sun Apparel, Top Shop (mentioned here), Melting Sun Apparel. And for those of you who are interested, I’m wearing these on my nails.

I also recently bought this golden necklace (below) from Boutique Karma – a locally owned shop in Decatur, GA – for only $20.

gold_accessories_necklace

 

I know the golden trend is nothing new – it might even be a little passé. What’s next? Rose gold? Silver – even though it feels so 90s/00s now?! Either way, I’m sticking to gold for now. Any other gold/golden jewelry fans out there?

I’m Moving to Seattle!

Seattle border

Hi Lovely Readers

Cath and I apologise for leaving AsianCajuns in the lurch these past few weeks. We’ve been having a think about things because I’ll be moving back to the States. Cath and I will no longer be ‘Twins blogging an ocean apart’!!!

I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to be closer to my twinie — yes, still a hefty plane ride away, but at least on the same land mass with the same network providers. Matt and I will miss Edinburgh and the UK so very much as we feel very much at home here. But Matt has heard the siren call of the Pacific Northwest (i.e. he got a post doc position at the University of Washington), and, apparently, we only move to very rainy cities.

The next few months we’ll be traveling quite a bit as things wrap up here and we try to soak up all this nearby European goodness and see as much of Britain as we can. Change and travel always get my mind whirring and that lead to Cath and I deciding we’d like to change things up here on the blog.

We tend to reassess a lot these days because we know blogging isn’t a popular platform anymore. And over the past four years whilst I’ve been here we’ve really used the blog selfishly — as the way for the two of us to stay connected. It’s been lovely, but we weren’t really sure if it’s that satisfying to anyone else! Also, we’re hoping to see much more of each other when I’m stateside and won’t need AsianCajuns to be our public pen pal letter anymore.

We plan to keep blogging though — and more! But we are going to shift our blog topics slightly and get a bit more focused. I know I’m being very vague, but Cath and I want to sort of see where this takes us and if anyone has any use for it.

So if you have been a long-time reader, thank you very much for sticking with us through these many years (eight years of blogging — I feel ancient in blog years!). We’ve loved getting to know so many of you and we hope you enjoy where AsianCajuns goes next!

Ooodles of XOXOXO,

Lar

(Seattle drawing by moi)