Monthly Archives: August 2014

A Birthday Present For Me And My House (or Thank You Mom And Dad!)

Posted on August 15, 2014 | Comments Off on A Birthday Present For Me And My House (or Thank You Mom And Dad!)

My parents are pretty great at getting me awesome presents. They do ask me what I want, so that always helps.

A few weeks ago, my mom and I were talking about my birthday and I mentioned that I finally wanted to replace my old couch.

I had that couch in my old apartment before I moved into my house (I think I got it 7 years ago). The couch was actually part of a set of 3 pieces: the couch, the loveseat, and the armchair. The couch and armchair moved into my house with me. The loveseat was ruined by my last set of roommates at my apartment (one of the cushions got sliced open somehow), so I made them buy it off me.

I loved my couch, but it was starting to show some wear and tear.

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About 6 months ago, I saw a couch at IKEA that I loved. It was a couch with a lounge on it and it turned into a double bed! I tried it out then and thought it was super comfortable. I remembered it for future reference.

When I mentioned wanting to get a new couch, my mom decided that that would be my birthday present from my parents!

So earlier this week, I went to IKEA to check out the couch again. I went to sit on it, and it didn’t feel right. The back was super low. Turns out, they changed the couch. This one was similar to the old one I saw, but it was a different one with a different name (who remembers the names of IKEA pieces?).

I was pretty upset. I really wanted that couch. I called my mom and she encouraged me to go look at other furniture stores. You never know what else is out there.

I went around to 4 or 5 different stores with no luck. Either the couches were way too big, or they were way too expensive.

As I was driving home, I passed the storefront for Sofa Club. I’ve driven past it a million times, but I had never gone inside. I found some parking, walked inside, and right next to the door was my dream couch!

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It was exactly what I wanted (minus the sofa sleeper part but that’s ok)! The owner of the store gave me a great deal on it because I bought the floor model and Sofa Club is actually a custom furniture store. Then, I asked if she had any discounts for the beginning of the school year, and she said that if I was a teacher, she would give me free delivery and take another $20 off the price. I’ve never been so grateful that I keep my teacher ID card for substitute teaching in my purse.

The couch came a few hours later. The delivery men were nice enough to move my old couch and chair into my garage (a friend is taking the couch from me and I’m still looking for someone to buy my chair).

The couch looks amazing in my house!

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I am thinking of getting the back pillows switched out. The owner said if I wanted pillows without buttons, they would exchange the ones I have for new ones at no cost (they would just have to take a few days to make the new pillows). I’m pretty sure I will get the other pillows. While the buttons look cute, they aren’t the most comfortable to lean against.

My parents will be in town next week to visit me, so they will get to see the present they got me in person soon. I’m so grateful that my parents got me such an incredible gift. It’s the nicest piece of furniture I’ve owned. And it really makes my house look even better than it did before!

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Posted in Celebrations, Family, Fun Stuff, Shopping

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Getting Weighed In (or A New Orangetheory Challenge)

Posted on August 14, 2014 | 4 comments

On Sunday, after recovering from my birthday parties, I went in to Orangetheory. This time, however, I was not there to work out.

I was getting weighed in for the start of the Orangetheory Weight Loss Challenge!

I’m still in my personal 8 week Orangetheory challenge (that goes through next week), but when I found out that there was a 6 week weight loss challenge, I wanted in. And when I found out that the male and female winners get $1000, I was totally in!

Because my weight loss has been slow, I’m trying to be cautious and just lose at my 2 pounds per week usual. The goal that was set for me was 15 pounds in 6 weeks. So that’s a little more than I’ve been losing, but it gives me something to strive for.

There are about 20 other women in the challenge (and only 7 men total), so there is a lot of competition. But I’m going to try my best and hardest and maybe I’ll come out victorious!

The weigh in process on Sunday was pretty simple. I had some paperwork to fill out and then I waited my turn for the scale.

I would have totally taken a picture of the weigh in, but it was done in the bathroom so you would have seen me standing on a scale next to a toilet. Not the prettiest picture.

The scale measured our weight (obviously), our body fat percentage, and the pounds of lean muscle mass that we have. For me, I want all of those numbers to be lower. I’d like my body fat percentage to be cut in half (the trainers there think that that is a very realistic long-term goal). And I’d like to keep as much lean muscle mass as possible (right now, I have 130 pounds of lean muscle).

After weighing in, there were some before photos taken (fortunately, not in the bathroom) and a quick interview about why I signed up for the challenge.

And that was it!

The rules of the challenge are that you have to work out 3 times a week (which I already am), be a member of Orangetheory (which I will be after next week), and pay a $25 entry fee (which I was fine paying because I don’t pay for classes yet and maybe I’ll get $1000 in return). Not too tough.

While I know that the weight will play a lot into who wins, I do want to see what I can do with my body fat percentage in 6 weeks. I did a little research online and it says that it’s recommended that people lose 1-2% of their body fat in a month. So I’d like to see maybe a 2-3% drop in my body fat percentage this month.

My scale at home only does weight. I used to own a fancy scale, but it died. I wanted something cheap, so I didn’t get one with a body fat measurement on it. I know that the scales with body fat and other measurements aren’t always accurate, but they are accurate against themselves. So maybe after these 6 weeks and getting weighed in on the Orangetheory scale, I’ll look into a nicer scale than the one that I own.

I’m halfway through the first week of this challenge, so I’ve got 5 1/2 weeks left. And in my original challenge, I’m coming up on the end of week 7! Holy moly! Time did really fly by!

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Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health, Tough Stuff, Weight Loss

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How I Spent My Actual Birthday (or Friends, Friends, and More Friends)

Posted on August 13, 2014 | 1 comment

Originally, my plans for my actual birthday were pretty up in the air. I had no idea what I was going to do, and there was a good chance that I would just spend the day hanging around my house reading and watching movies (which would have been awesome).

Instead, I got to spend a lot of time with lots of awesome people!

It started at brunch. My friend Kate and her boyfriend Nick just happened to be in LA that weekend (they had a wedding to go to the evening of my birthday). So Kate and Nick took me out to brunch that morning! They asked me ahead of time where my favorite brunch spot was, so they made reservations at Rush St. Rush St. is just down the street from my house and I’ve always thought that they have had one of the best brunches in LA (and they don’t have crazy lines out the door like some places).

I was trying to be good with my food choices (even though brunch was going to be my main meal of the day), so I got an omelet with tater tots on the side (I have to be able to splurge a little on my birthday!).

It was a nice casual brunch and I got to catch up with Kate and Nick which is always nice. Plus, Kate got me a super awesome birthday card so that made me happy!

After brunch, I just hung around my house for a little while. While hanging out and being lazy at home, I did get an awesome flower delivery from my parents.

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And before I knew it, it was time to head out again.

About 2 weeks before my birthday, my friends Marie and Chris put out an invitation on Facebook about another one of their awesome house parties. At first, I thought that maybe I’d end up making other plans for my birthday evening, but since I already had my outing to Bodega the night before, I figured why not go and hang out with a ton of my friends!

Of course, I wore the sparkly headband again.

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It really was the perfect way to spend my birthday evening. Lots of good friends, good food, and just a good time. There wasn’t anything special, but that’s ok with me.

And when I was heading out to leave at about 11pm (I was trying to leave at a responsible time), Marie and Chris led everyone in singing “Happy Birthday” to me.

That was pretty awesome.

I got home just before midnight and enjoyed the last few minutes of my birthday catching up on all the awesome Facebook messages I got during the day.

Even though it might seem like I didn’t do much for my birthday, honestly it was the perfect way to celebrate for me. Big parties and events stress me out and that’s not what I want to have for my birthday. Casual get-togethers where everyone is having fun is the best option for me.

And I’ve still got a few more birthday celebrations to go. Coming up next (most likely) will be my birthday meal with my birthday twin. And that’s one of my favorite traditions!

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Posted in Celebrations, Food, Fun Stuff

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Celebration Time! (or Ending My Dirty 30 Year)

Posted on August 12, 2014 | 1 comment

I had decided to have my birthday party on the day before my birthday.

This was for a couple of reasons. First of all, at Bodega, they require a minimum tab for parties on Saturdays. I didn’t want to have to deal with that (everyone has to pay on 1 credit card so that’s annoying). Also, there were a few friends who didn’t know if they could make it at all, but if they could it would only be on Friday. Also, I wasn’t quite sure what I really wanted to do on my birthday day, so I wanted to leave that evening open.

My day started with my workout at Orangetheory. After doing that, I knew that I had burned off enough calories to enjoy a few drinks while I was out.

I had a little bit of time at home to get showered and dressed before I headed out to DryBar. I went to the same one I went to last year for my birthday, and it was a better experience than the year before. But I have to say that the DryBar in NYC was still way better!

I decided that I wanted to have curls in my hair for the evening. That seems festive to me and it’s something that I can’t really do on my own. While it was getting done, it looked pretty great and I was happy while I walked out the door.

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Sadly, the curls didn’t last even though the hair stylist used 2 rounds of hairspray (which I later hated because it made my hair impossible to brush). But my hair still looked better than anything that I could do on my own.

Next it was time to head over to Bodega. I was a little worried that not a lot of people would show up, but I went with the mindset that I would have a great time with whoever was there.

And I’m glad I went in with that mindset because only 3 people could make it. Lots of other people wanted to come but had work/traffic/lack of money/lack of time issues.

But the 3 who were there (Rayshell, Rayshell’s boyfriend Paul, and Sarah) were awesome and I had the best time with all of them!

We ordered food and drinks and just chatted about whatever. It was so low key and chill and it was exactly what I wanted. I don’t know if it could have been the same vibe if more people attended.

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Rayshell and Paul had to leave around 10 but Sarah and I stuck around until about 11. It was the perfect hangout with friends.

Before I knew it, it was time for me to drive home. And yes, I did stay up until midnight so I could enjoy the first minutes of my actual birthday.

And there were fun things ahead for me on my birthday and I’ll share that with you all tomorrow!

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Posted in Beauty, Celebrations, Food, Fun Stuff

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My Last 3 Workouts Of Being 30 (Realizing I’m Stronger Than I Thought)

Posted on August 11, 2014 | Comments Off on My Last 3 Workouts Of Being 30 (Realizing I’m Stronger Than I Thought)

This past week was a week of celebrations for me at Orangetheory.

First of all, it marked the end of me being 30 years old! This past year has been one of the healthier years for me, but I know that this next year will be even better!

The second celebration I had at Orangetheory was related to my classes on Monday and Wednesday.

Both of those days were pretty tough workouts. They aren’t getting easier for me because I am continuing to push myself every time I’m there. I’m using heavier weights, trying to get more sets in, and making sure my form is improving every time.

One of the things that I haven’t been pushing myself on is the high-impact activities. Some of them, like jumping jacks, aren’t worth pushing myself on yet. They hurt so bad while I’m doing them and I can feel my hips getting worse as I try to do them. But there are some other higher impact things that I have started to push myself on.

For example, this week on Monday, I was able to properly do mountain climbers. Before this workout, I would step slowly with one leg and then the other while doing the mountain climbers. But on Monday, I pushed myself and realized that I could “run” while doing them. They were hard and I was totally out of breath after doing my set, but I did it!

I was pretty darn proud of myself after that class!

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On Wednesday, I got another chance to push myself again when we had to do plank jumps (or plank hops). Again, I decided to do the move full-out (instead of stepping to do the hops) and I was able to do it! Even JZ, the trainer for Wednesdays class, noticed that I was able to do that and she acknowledged my accomplishment when we chatted quickly after class.

Since I’m running low on ideas for photos after my workouts (only 6 more to go until I’m not required to do them), JZ and I decided to take a silly selfie since all my other photos were pretty normal.

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On Friday, I went to the 12:15 class for the first time. I had an appointment to get my hair done at 4pm so I couldn’t make my usual 4:15 class (more on my fun on Friday in another post). This class was taught by Bruce, who I’ve had in classes with me before but I had never taken one of his classes (he’s also made appearances in several of my post-workout photos including the one from this past Monday).

Since this was the workout closest to my birthday, I declared it my birthday class. I wanted to wear a tiara, but no matter how many pins I put in it, I couldn’t get it to stay in my hair. So I settled for a sparkly headband.

Bruce really helped to make the class awesome and special for me. When we were warming up, he pointed me out and let everyone know that I was celebrating my birthday class. He said it again during the cool down. And Bruce was so positive and encouraging during the entire workout.

It was a run/row day so I was sweating like crazy. But I loved that that is how I started my last day of being 30!

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I’ve got 2 more weeks of my initial challenge with Orangetheory. But this week I will be getting my membership paperwork done because I have no plans on stopping my workouts. I’m in such a good place with my 3 workouts a week (and to think that in the beginning I thought I couldn’t do 3 workouts a week) and the 4:15 class time will work for me even when I start my new job in a few weeks (it might affect me working in the box office, but I’m not going to worry about that yet since they won’t need me until maybe September).

I’ve also got some more exciting news about my journey with Orangetheory. Some of you who follow me on social media might have seen something about it. But I’m going to save that information until later this week!

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Posted in Celebrations, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health, Weight Loss

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Birthday Beauty Discounts (or Making My Birthday Last The Entire Month)

Posted on August 8, 2014 | 2 comments

I’ve talked about birthday deals in the past and there are some that I enjoy every single year. And I’m learning to start asking stores that I frequent if they have any birthday deals.

And this year, even though my birthday isn’t until tomorrow, I’ve already enjoyed 2 birthday deals related to beauty!

The only birthday beauty deal I knew about in the past was at Sephora where you get something for free on your birthday (I haven’t gotten my postcard yet so I don’t know what I can get for free this year). I do take advantage of the Sephora deal, but I try not to spend too much on other things while I’m there (and I know that’s the reason for the freebie!).

Something that is a total freebie is at Benefit’s Brow Bars. I go to the one near Santa Monica to get my eyebrows done. It’s more expensive than the cheapie nail salon that I used to go to, but I think they do a way better job at waxing and shaping my brows and you even get a free makeup touch-up when they are done!

Around your birthday (I’m not sure if it has to be your birthday week or month), you get a free brow wax! And since I go there anyway, of course I scheduled a wax over the weekend to take advantage of that!

The brow wax is usually $20 (the cheapie nail salon was $10), so when I get my free wax, I am able to leave a big tip since I’m saving so much! This time, I left a $15 tip (I usually do $5).

Not only did a get a free brow wax, my eyebrows are going to look amazing for my birthday party (which is tonight!).

Another beauty birthday discount is at Queen Bee Salon and Spa. Sorry for my readers who aren’t in LA, but this is a salon that has one location in Culver City and another in Brentwood (I go to the Culver City one). I go here for bikini waxes and have been going for a little over a year now. Bikini waxes are never fun and they aren’t painless, but Queen Bee makes them more bearable. Plus, the waxer I go to, Jenn V., is super awesome and friendly. So we are normally chatting and gossiping while she works and it helps to distract me from the pain (taking a painkiller about an hour before I go helps too).

When I went in for my bikini wax last month I realized that my next wax would be around my birthday. So I asked if they had any birthday deals even though I had never heard of one there before. It turns out, they just created a birthday discount! If you get a service done either 4 days before or 4 days after your birthday you get 10% off!

So I scheduled my wax to be yesterday and I got a nice little discount on something that I would have done anyway!

I am going to DryBar today to get my hair done before my party, but when I looked at their deals, only people with memberships to DryBar get free blowouts on their birthdays. I definitely don’t get enough blowouts to make a membership worth it (nor do I have the money for something like that).

I’d love to find some more beauty birthday deals while it’s my birthday month! Those are so much better for my weight loss goals than all the food freebies (although I will be going to at least one of my free meals this month).

If anyone knows of a pedicure birthday deal, you would become one of my favorite people ever!

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Posted in Beauty, Celebrations, Fun Stuff, Saving

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Happy Anniversary Mom And Dad (or Celebrating 32 Years Of Awesomeness)

Posted on August 7, 2014 | 1 comment

Today is my parents 32nd anniversary. It’s also my cousin Adam’s 32nd birthday (yes, he was born on my parents’ wedding day). But sorry Adam, the focus on today’s post will be on my parents (but I’ve included you a bit at the end!).

For my entire life and in all my memories, my parents have been happy. Of course, there have been some sad and stressful times, but those have always been from outside circumstances and not from issues between my parents.

The fact that my parents have always been happy is probably why I’m so picky when it comes to dating. I’ve seen what a successful relationship is like and I don’t want to settle for anything less.

So in honor of my parents’ anniversary, I went through the photos I have and found some of my favorite ones. Mom and Dad, I want you to understand the effort it took for me to find photos of just the two of you and not with other people or with a dog (seriously almost every photo I have of you both is with a dog!).

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This picture is obviously from my parents’ wedding. I happen to have this one in my computer because I needed it for an anniversary present I made for my parents on their 25th anniversary (Mom and Dad, this blog post is your present this year. You know all about my lack of funds right now). I will never fit into my mom’s wedding dress (not only do I weigh more, I’m too tall), but my mom and I discussed randomly one time about me using parts of her wedding dress to incorporate into whatever wedding dress I buy when I eventually get married. So maybe one day, that dress will be part of my something old.

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This photo is one that I took when my parents were about to go to the prom that my dad’s hospital throws every year. The background behind them is a fountain at my parents’ house, and I remember insisting on taking a photo of them before they left for the prom. Plus, there are very few times that my dad wears a tux, so I wanted photo evidence of it.

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This photo is from my brother’s college graduation at USC. I used this photo along with their wedding photo in the anniversary present I made years ago. I just think it’s a nice photo of my parents.

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Of the photos I was able to find of my parents by themselves and without a dog, a majority of them came from my brother and sister-in-law’s wedding (and our week in Maui). This photo was taken on our first day in Maui right after we got to our rental house. Of course after traveling, the first thing we wanted to do is relax by the pool.

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This was from one of our neighborhood walks in Maui. I think it was a retaining wall from a house on the same street as our rental house. My parents have a friend who enjoys seeing hearts in nature, so my parents made me take this photo so they could share it with their friend. I also like how my mom is standing on a step so she looks the same height as my dad.

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This might be my absolute favorite photo of my parents. This was from the wedding (and possibly after a few drinks). I don’t remember ever seeing my parents dance before (I don’t know where I would have). And they were being so silly and fun. And considering that this was taken right before my mom had to start chemo, it reminds me that even when things are going to be stormy ahead, there’s no reason not to fully enjoy life every second.

I hope you all enjoyed seeing these photos of my parents.

And just so my cousin Adam isn’t completely left out, this is my favorite photo of Adam with our cousin Stephanie’s son Dalton. This was at Thanksgiving in 2007.

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So happy birthday Adam and happy anniversary Mom and Dad! I hope all of you have awesome and amazing days today!

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Posted in Celebrations, Family, Fun Stuff

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My Hips Ruined Part Of My Weekend (or Maybe I Should Pay Attention To The Weather)

Posted on August 6, 2014 | 1 comment

This past weekend I had a lot of things that I wanted to get done.

On Saturday, I had my friend’s party and right before that I had an audition for a commercial. As I wrote yesterday, the party was awesome. My audition wasn’t great, but I did the best I could.

The entire day I was in a lot of pain. I didn’t realize that it was going to rain over the weekend. I’ve been working a lot of graveyard shifts and I realized this past weekend that by working those hours, I haven’t really seen the news in a while. The evening news is on while I’m at work and the morning news is on while I’m still sleeping (when you get home at 3am, you don’t wake up that early).

I figured that the pain was due to all of my workouts and it was just getting worse because of all the use (and all the rowing I’m doing which really uses my hip flexors).

There’s not much I could have done if I had known it was going to rain except maybe start scheduling my pain meds so that I always have some pain medicine in my system (this is how I had to live prior to my hip surgery).

What frustrates me about this is because of all the pain I was in Saturday evening and then again on Sunday, I didn’t get all the things done on Sunday that I wanted to.

Some things I had to do because I had appointments, but things that were flexible were flaked on.

I hate that the weather and the pain that I feel still affects my life all the time. If I wasn’t hurting, I probably wouldn’t have flaked on any plans I had. And even though I know that knowing it was going to rain wouldn’t change the fact that it did rain, it still made me realize that I need to make more of an effort to stay on top of the news (or at least the weather).

Even though this week has been dry so far, the pain is still pretty bad. I know that I haven’t gotten to the point where I need my first surgery on my left hip, because when that happens a very specific type of pain occurs (I have what feels like little electric shocks going through my body every single step that I take when it gets to that point). But pain stinks no matter what.

I’m trying my hardest to medicate myself so that it’s not affecting me as much, but right now at Orangetheory, I’m struggling a lot with the treadmill. Probably at least 5 or 6 times in the 30 minutes on the treadmill I have to stop and try to pop my hip back to where it feels normal and comfortable. There is also a bike that you can use at Orangetheory during the cardio section, but I want to keep pushing myself.

I need to push myself for 2 very specific reasons. First of all, I need to push myself because I need to be ok with walking more. It’s something that hurts, but the more I do it the more I can do it. And I want to not have to feel like I have to drive everywhere because walking hurts. And second, I do need to keep damaging my left hip. That surgery is going to happen no matter what, and the sooner the damage happens, the sooner it will have a temporary fix. I don’t want to have a surgery, but I remember how much better I felt after my right hip was operated on.

I technically can have my first surgery on my left hip before it gets too bad, and I might do that. My surgeon might be leaving in about a year, and I think I still want him to operate on me. I’m going to make an appointment with him soon to discuss this and to set up meetings with other surgeons. If I find another surgeon that I feel comfortable with, I won’t have my surgery early.

There are a lot of other factors to think about with the next surgery. I do want to lose weight before it happens. That’s very important. Also, I know that recovery takes about 2 months and I want to make sure that I can take the time to do that.

There’s a lot to think about, but every time the weather affects me this way, I realize that I need to start making decisions sooner rather than later.

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Posted in Health, Tough Stuff

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An Elopement Reception (or Enjoying The Sunset And Gluten-Free Vegan Cake)

Posted on August 5, 2014 | Comments Off on An Elopement Reception (or Enjoying The Sunset And Gluten-Free Vegan Cake)

A friend of mine, Sarah, got married last week. She and her now husband decided that they didn’t want a big wedding and eloped. I think the only people in attendance at the wedding were her parents, the officiant, and the photographer.

Even though they didn’t want a big wedding, they did have a small party celebrating their marriage this past weekend. And I was honored that I got an invite to the party!

I had some fun picking out a present for the bride and groom. I got them a photo farm to use for one of their wedding photos (they already opened the gift so I’m not spoiling the surprise). And I do work hard on wrapping gifts as nicely as possible.

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That is all my handiwork. Even the flower which I made from tissue paper. And yes, I’ll do a blog post soon about how to do the flower (I’ve already gotten requests to do that and I just need to get more supplies before doing it).

The party was held in a house in the hills near Silverlake where the bride’s parents were renting a house while on vacation here in LA. Sarah and her husband actually got married in the backyard of the house.

And as soon as I got there, I was blown away by how gorgeous the view was from the backyard.

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It was a pretty casual party, so that was really nice. There was Mexican food brought in from a restaurant (whose name is escaping my memory). It was really yummy food and we all ate in the backyard. There were different decks and seating areas to be in, so I was in a small group sitting in this little covered deck area and we all had fun chatting and goofing off while eating.

Before we knew it, the sun was setting and the view got so much better!

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After dinner, we headed back into the house for some dessert. There was vegan and non-vegan ice cream and a gluten-free vegan cake. I’ve had some bad experiences with gluten-free vegan cakes, but I have to say that this one was actually really good. I might not have known it was gluten-free or vegan if people didn’t tell me.

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I enjoyed a small scoop of non-vegan Oreo ice cream as well!

Before I knew it, it was getting pretty late and I needed to head home (I had some things I had to do early on Sunday morning). Before I left, Sarah made sure I took a favor from the wedding.

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Everyone at the wedding got to take a little pot of flowers home with them. Mine is sitting in my living room until my parents are here to visit me later this month. Since my dad is the one with the green thumb, I’m going to let him tell me what I should do with the flowers.

I’ve been to many different types of wedding over the years, and I have to say that every wedding I’ve attended really fit the people involved so perfectly. While eloping and having a very small reception a few days later might not be for everyone, I think it was so perfect for Sarah and her husband and I had the best time at their party.

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Posted in Celebrations, Food, Fun Stuff

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Checking In With My Progress (or Past The Half Way Mark)

Posted on August 4, 2014 | 3 comments

Last week marked the beginning of the second half of my Orangetheory challenge. I’ve talked about my frustration with my weight loss in the past, and it still bugs me that the weight is coming off slowly (although I know that that is much better than how I did things in the past).

Of course, after being half way done, I had to do a new set of photos to compare them to how I looked when I started.

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The top photos are from when I started and the bottom ones were from the beginning of last week.

I don’t really see a difference, but I know that I am my harshest critic. Several of my friends did tell me that they do see a changes, especially in the middle photo.

I’m trying to focus on the non-scale victories right now, because if I just rely on my scale I will be mad at myself.

As much as I would like to say that I’m in less pain now, but that’s actually the opposite. I’m in a lot of pain every day now. But that might actually be a good thing. My hip surgeon told me that the less I use my body/hips, the longer I will be able to go without needing my next surgery. So by being in more pain now, that is showing that I am working out hard and using my body way more than I used to. All 3 surgeries that I still have ahead will happen no matter what and while I do want to put them off as long as possible, I can’t avoid moving just to put off my surgeries a little longer.

Another non-scale victory comes from the people who work and train at Orangetheory. Last week, I was told how I’m looking more nimble, agile, and how all my movements are getting smoother and look easier. This proves that while my scale might not be changing my body is.

I’m still struggling with the run/row segments because the transitions are tough for me (and the step down from the treadmill is a big step), but it’s getting better. I was able to do more run/row transitions this week than last week.

I’m also getting so much better at rowing, which is something I never did before Orangetheory. I was able to row for 600 meters without stopping several times last week. That’s a lot!

My parents will be in town in a few weeks and I can’t wait to share this workout with my dad (and hopefully my mom will decide to join us too). While I know that my dad will be better at most of the workouts than I am, I still am so happy with my progress.

And being happy with my progress is one of the biggest accomplishments so far. I’m so used to feeling like the weakest and slowest in any workout scenario. And while that might still be true, I don’t care anymore. I’ve made a lot of progress and that is awesome. And while people who are new to class might not see it, there are plenty of people who are at every class with me and they see it and they have told me how awesome it is.

I am slowly no longer comparing myself to others. It still happens, but it’s way less often than even 2 weeks ago.

I’ve got 3 more weeks left in my challenge, but I already know that I will be signing up for a membership the day that my challenge is over. This is something that I’m really loving every time I’m there and I can’t image not having my 3 workouts a week at Orangetheory (maybe I can bump that up to 4 soon).

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Posted in Celebrations, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health, Weight Loss

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