Tag Archives: food

Strength and Savings (or Picking A New Monthly Challenge I Know I Need To Do)

Happy April! I feel like March both flew by and took a long time and it also felt like more than one month with many things happening in my life. It wasn’t the craziest month of my life but the craziest month I feel like I’ve had in a long time.  While it wasn’t all good things, it was nice that a lot of them were positive and reminded me more of what my life used to be like. And I’m proud of myself for not letting a bit of craziness get in the way of my monthly challenge.

I think I really needed the challenge I set for last month, which was to try to make some improvements in my workouts. I know that I have been wanting to do that for a while, but it’s not the easiest thing to do. But wanting to do it and needing to do it finally came together in March and I really think I found a way to try to get this done. I didn’t make all the improvements that I had hoped to, but I found ways to test myself and to try to see what I could do. I didn’t focus as much on improving on the bike, but I think I was able to get more comfortable with my new resistance levels. On the rower, I focused on things other than how fast I could row and I know I saw a lot of improvements doing that, including having faster rowing times. I think I’m going to continue focusing on things that aren’t how long it will take me to row a distance and I should hopefully continue to see results that include faster rows. And on the floor, I didn’t really get to use heavier weights like I wanted to, but I tried. I know that as I continue to try, eventually I’ll be ready for those heavier weights. But it will take me a bit longer than a month to get that accomplished.

Considering that I had a month, I feel pretty good about what I was able to accomplish but even more proud that I have decided to continue with some of the plans I created in March to see more progress moving forward. I know that I might not see the results in the next month or two and it could take longer, but at least I know I’ll be working toward them.

And for my April challenge, I’ve thought of something that combines a few different things that I know I’ve been trying to work on. My challenge this month is to significantly reduce my food waste. When I go to the grocery store, I always have the best intentions with the things I buy. But far too often, I don’t use up what I get or they expire before I use them. I hate when I’m cleaning my fridge and discover things I forgot about or that have spoiled. And it’s frustrating to have to throw out things because I hate wasting money as well as food.

Reducing my food waste will require me to be much more aware when I go grocery shopping. I also think I might need to get back to how I was shopping before the pandemic when I usually went to the store to get things only for the next few days instead of trying to get everything for the week at one time. I might buy something on Sunday thinking I want it but by Friday I really don’t want to have to make it. So if I’m shopping more often, then I can focus on what I want for that day or the next and not what I might want a week away.

I also will need to make sure that I’m eating at home or from things I made more. I’ve been getting much better about this and don’t order in that often anymore, but I also know I can be better. This might mean I need more easy meals as options, so when I went to the store most recently I made sure that I got more frozen meals as options so I could make a quick dinner if I don’t feel like cooking. I also want to get back into using my food saver to freeze things so I can make things on my own and have them as frozen meals, but that’s not something I want to do in bulk and just do it as I have things to save.

There are some things I’m allowing myself to not feel too guilty about with this challenge. There are some things I buy that I just can’t use up fast enough before it expires. For example, I don’t use mayonnaise that often, but I do use it sometimes. So I bought the smallest container of it months ago and I’m only about halfway through the container and it expired last week. I also won’t be forcing myself to eat everything on my plate if I make something and realize I don’t have the ability to finish it. That will mainly be something to worry about if I’m making a frozen meal since something I cook myself will be my own portion sizes and I normally serve myself less than I think I’ll want and get more if I’m still hungry.

I don’t have a goal of being zero waste or eliminating all my food waste, but I also know that there is a lot of improvement I can see in this aspect of my life. And I hope that by the end of this month, I feel like I’m not wasting as much food or money so I can know I’ve made a difference.

A Cheesecake Lunch (or Still Keeping Up With An Annual Tradition)

Going out to the Cheesecake Factory around the new year has been a long-running tradition with my birthday twin. We used to go closer to Christmas or New Year’s, but the last few years have been more about just getting there at some point in January instead of worrying about going during the holidays. It is nice going during the holidays since the outdoor mall we go to has some really nice decorations, but I also like going outside of the holidays since it’s not as crowded. This time, we also decided to go on the weekend for lunch instead of going after work one day. That allowed us to have a bit more flexibility with how long we were there and we didn’t feel tired after having a full workday.

I was surprised when we got there and we were able to be seated immediately. We are used to having a long wait, but we must have gotten there at exactly the right time because they were able to seat us at a table outside with no issues. And I wanted to sit outside since I’m still a bit hesitant about being somewhere inside without having a mask on. It was cold, but they have a lot of heat lamps on their balcony so it was actually warmer outside under the heat lamps than it was just being inside. Plus, it’s always nicer to sit outside where we can people-watch while we eat.

Because we went on a weekend for lunch, we had brunch as an option for our food. I was seriously considering getting something different that I’ve never had, but I ended up getting the same salad I always do. I was trying to think about what I would enjoy plus trying to have something that is at least somewhat healthy considering how bad the meal could be.

As soon as we placed our order, it was time for our catch-up. We always have a lot to catch up on when we have our meals together. She filled me in on the renovation she had to do to her condo, which had been something happening for the last year. And I told her about my crazy date, which was the day before, and some of the things I want to still do to the condo. I think both of us going through renovations at the same time has made her the perfect friend to bounce ideas off of when I have had moments where I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do something or not. Or to be someone who understands how stressful it can be to have to make so many decisions.

And of course, we got cheesecake. I think we confused our server when we asked if each piece could be cut in half so we each would get half, but he understood and we each got half of the flavors we ordered.

With my new medication, I’m not eating as much as I did before, but I still was able to enjoy this meal. I just had a lot less of my salad than I normally would and I ate probably half of the cheesecake I normally would. I rarely finish the food we get since it’s so much, but it was still interesting to see how much less I wanted to have this time. But that’s not a bad thing so I’m not mad about it.

And since we were there for lunch instead of a later dinner, we had some time to wander around after we were done eating. I think we both needed to walk a bit before getting back into our cars after that meal. We did a little window shopping at a few of the stores while walking around and then we went into Cost Plus since I wanted to see what they still had on sale since I know they normally have things on sale after Christmas. I ended up getting a couple of random things that I didn’t really need but would look nice as decor around my condo. And nothing was very expensive or elaborate. But I am trying to be better about either getting things that are cute that catch my attention or noting them somewhere to buy later. I want to make sure my home has things in it that are nice and make me happy.

After shopping for a bit, we both had to head back to our cars to get to other things we needed to do. But it was a nice change to our tradition to be able to spend more time than just eating a meal and then leaving. Maybe we’ll continue to do lunches for our cheesecake meals so we don’t have to feel as rushed as we have in the past. But even if in a year we are back to doing dinner, it’s still a tradition I look forward to each year and I’m so glad that we fit it in this year!

Getting Back Into Good Routines (or Healthy Eating And Cleaning Up)

I feel like August flew by and was such a short month! I felt like I had more time in August so I was putting off getting some of my birthday freebies like the free products at Sephora. But I guess the month slipped by and I missed getting to do that. Oh well. Some months are just faster than others I guess. And since it’s now September, it’s time to recap my August monthly challenge and plan out my September one.

Last month, I wanted to make sure that I was eating more fruits and vegetables. And as it normally goes with my challenges, I wasn’t perfect but I had some great progress. I know in the past, I was better about eating fruit than I was about eating vegetables, but this time it felt like the opposite. I did get some fruit in my meals, but it didn’t feel as often and it felt much more deliberate when I was doing that. But with vegetables, I was able to make plans for meals that just included them and didn’t have to think about it as much.

I made sure that I always had some frozen vegetables so I could easily microwave them and add them to a meal. I also got a new veggie chopper so I could prepare things easier. I had a similar one before, but I can’t find it. I think I lost a box or two during my move because I keep finding random things that I am missing. But having something to make vegetable prep easier is a nice tool to have. I know I could just cut things with a knife, but I like having things that are about the same size, and using a veggie chopper is the easiest way for me to do that. And if that’s what it takes for me to eat more vegetables, that’s an easy thing for me to do.

I’ve been trying to prepare a big salad once or twice a week so I can just have it in the fridge and ready to eat when I’m having lunch or dinner. This has been so helpful with my goals this month and I know I will be keeping it up. I’m also trying to get back into making smoothies with fruits and vegetables, but that hasn’t become as much of a regular habit for me just yet. But I’m in a much better spot with my eating now than I was at the beginning of August.

After making some great progress in August, I’m hoping I will have the same results this month. And I’m doing a challenge this month that is new to me, but also similar to a past challenge. This month, I want to work on doing a nightly reset of my home before going to bed. In the past, I have made it a challenge to do a quick clean every day, and I’m still doing that and it’s very helpful. But something that I’ve discovered in my new home is that it is much easier for me to leave things dirty or not put away.

For example, in my old house, I couldn’t leave things in my sink or on my counter because I wouldn’t have any space left in my kitchen. This also made it hard to be motivated to cook sometimes since I knew that everything would need to be put away. But now, if I leave something in the sink and not put it in the dishwasher or if I leave some things out on the counter after cooking, I still have space to use my kitchen. I don’t feel the same urgency to put everything away. In a much smaller home, every little bit of clutter was magnified. I’m still a pretty clean person and I think most people walking into my house will say it’s clean, but I know that I’m not as clean and tidy as I would like it to be. So I want to do a bit of a reset every evening.

This will be different from my daily cleaning. This will be more about taking a few minutes in the evening to put away things that I took out. Sometimes it might be things I need to put away in my kitchen and sometimes it might be something I put on my dresser in my room that should be hung back up or put back into a drawer. I know if I just spend a few minutes each day doing this, things won’t pile up like they have the potential to do. And it should continue to help me figure out what other organizational things I need in my home. I know I still need more things like some shelving in my bathroom. But until I really focus on resetting my space every day, I know that I will still be a bit unsure of exactly what I want.

I know that when I started doing these monthly challenges several years ago, it was all about helping me become a better person and improving myself. And I feel like recently I’ve been really embracing that idea again after having some struggles with the challenges and goals I’ve set in the last year or so. But I’m really feeling good about what challenges I’ve been setting and so happy to see the positive results from them each month.

An Almost Free Dinner (or Continuing The Birthday Tradition)

I haven’t done a lot for my birthday this year and I don’t know if I’ll be doing much else. As I said before, I’m ok not celebrating as much as I used to, especially with how busy I’ve been with work and other things. But I do still like to celebrate and continue traditions when I can. And the tradition I look forward to the most is going to Truxton’s with my birthday twin, Joanna. We aren’t exactly sure how long we’ve been doing this, but we know it’s been at least 11 years, which is a pretty long time. And while we rarely can do our dinner on our actual birthday, we get it done within our birthday month.

2 years ago, we ordered take-out and had our dinner as a picnic since that was the safest way for us to have a meal. Last year, we were able to return to the restaurant and eat there. And this year, we continued with having dinner at the restaurant. If either of us felt uneasy about doing that, I know we could have done a picnic again. But I’m glad that eating there was an option for us. And because we went on a random weeknight, there was almost nobody else there so that helped us feel like things were a bit safer.

As we have done since the birthday deal changed to a dollar amount and not just a free entree and free dessert, we knew we’d order an appetizer to split, entrees for each of us, and a dessert to split. In the past, our meals have been completely free. And if we only ordered entrees we could have done that. But it’s ok that it’s not free anymore because we still get a total of $40 off of our bill, which is usually almost the entire thing.

We knew we wanted to have monkey bread to start, so we ordered that and ate it while we looked at the menu to figure out what else we wanted for dinner.

And once we ordered the rest of our meal, it was time for our catch-up chat. We had seen each other a few months ago when she helped me put together my bed. So there wasn’t as much to catch up on as there normally is when we get together for dinner. But we both had updates on our lives and our homes. When she was helping me with the bed, the renovation wasn’t done so I updated her on that. And she’s also going to do a renovation on her place so she updated me on that progress with planning everything and picking out what she wants. And as always, we had some gossip about dating and other random things that have been going on in our lives.

For our dinners, I had a burger and she had nachos. We’ve only had delicious meals at Truxton’s and we both really enjoyed our meals. But since we knew we’d be having dessert, we tried to save some room and not fill up too much.

We do like to give our server a heads up that we are using their birthday club coupons since sometimes they have to do the bill a different way (lately, they split the bill and then apply one coupon to each half to let us use both). So when our dessert was brought out, they put candles on it and sang Happy Birthday to us!

We got a new dessert, and I think we picked the perfect thing! It was a lemon cake with strawberry sorbet on top. It wasn’t too heavy, which we needed after a big meal, and it was so flavorful! I’m glad that’s what we picked because I think some of our favorite desserts would have been just too much for us.

Our meal wasn’t free, but it was pretty much under $10 for each of us so we could leave a really big tip. What we’ve been doing lately is tipping $20 each since that’s what our coupons take off the bill. So we spend the same amount we would have without the coupons, but that also allows us to leave a nice tip for our server and hopefully make their day a bit better. I love that we have always paid it forward because I know sometimes people who get a discounted meal tip on the discounted amount. We like to make up for that.

We were both really full after dinner, but it was worth it. This is one of the best birthday traditions and I think my birthday wouldn’t have felt complete without it. And since I rarely go out for dinner these days, it feels like a real treat.

I’m not sure if Joanna and I will be able to hang out again before our traditional cheesecake outing around the new year, but even if we don’t see each other until then we know we will have another great catch-up when we have our next meal!

Trying To Refocus On Goals (or Doing Another Reset This Month)

It’s August, which means it’s almost my birthday! I am excited about my birthday coming up and even though I don’t know if I’ll be doing much to celebrate, I still have fun with my birthday each month. And since it’s the beginning of a new month, that also means it’s time to switch my monthly challenge.

In July, I wanted to refocus on my goals for 2022. I realized that I had been losing focus on those goals and wanted to see if I could get back on track to successfully end this year. And there were 3 main goals that I think I needed to refocus on. First, I wanted to be more mindful of my time. This one I did do a bit better with because of some changes in my job. Because I don’t have to switch back and forth as much, I was more mindful of my work time and made sure that I was focused on specific things each day. My time outside of work wasn’t as mindful, but I tried. I did make efforts to see about going out and doing things, but that just didn’t happen much in July. That’s not necessarily my fault, but I know there were more people I could reach out to and see if they wanted to go do things. So there is some work to do with that. And as far as restarting my budget, I did make a fresh start in the budgeting app I’ve been using, but I’m really torn about using it. I don’t find it as intuitive as it used to be for me. Things have changed about it and I don’t know if it makes as much sense as it used to. So I’m looking into new apps and systems to use that might be better for me. But I am getting back on track with being aware of my spending and financial situation, which is the biggest goal for me with budgeting.

And for August, I decided to do another challenge that feels like a bit of a refocus for me. My eating habits have been off for too long. I think ever since I started my move in April, things haven’t been great. They haven’t been horrible, but I know I’m not doing everything I should be doing. I especially am not eating as many fruits and vegetables as I should. I have been buying things and then not eating them. I have a burst of feeling motivated and then when things are in my fridge they aren’t what I want to eat. And I know that I’m getting in some fruits and vegetables each day, but it’s not what it should be.

So I want to set my challenge this month to be about putting the focus on fruits and vegetables in my diet. I want to make sure that I eat what I buy and stop having food waste the way that I’ve had before. I know that I will need to prep the things I get as soon as I get them so they are easy to eat and don’t involve extra work. And if I need to eat something slightly less healthy to go along with fruits and vegetables, that’s ok. I know that eating veggies with a dip that I like is better than not eating veggies at all. And maybe I just need to meal plan a bit with just breakfast or snacks and make those fruit and vegetable heavy and get them in that way. I’m going to see what works for me and go with that since that’s the most important thing for me.

I don’t think adding fruits and vegetables will make me lose weight or change my health immediately, but it’s something that I know I need to do for my long-term health. And I want to get back to eating healthier things and having more food prepared in my home so I don’t make the choice to order food (which is more of a budget concern for me than a health one). And if I do have other results because of eating this way, that will just be an added bonus.

I know I won’t be perfect this month and there will still be days where I don’t do my best, but I’m going to at least try this month and see what happens. That’s all I can do and I’ll report back in a month about how it goes!

Getting One Nice Dinner In With Family (or Finally Bringing My Parents To My Favorite LA Restaurant)

When my parents come to LA to visit me, we don’t usually do fancy meals. We do tend to eat out at restaurants since my old kitchen was so small and tough to cook in (hopefully I can start making more meals for my parents in my nice kitchen!), but we don’t go out to anything super nice. We’ve done a lot of simple meals like ordering salads or going to a cafe or casual restaurant. But it’s rare for us to go out for a nice meal since we are usually busy with other things.

But for my parents’ trip this time, I knew we wouldn’t have a ton of things we had to get done so I decided we should go out for a nicer dinner one night. And I wanted to finally take them to my favorite LA restaurant: Wood & Vine.

I have only gone to Wood & Vine for dinner once that wasn’t a time I was also going to a musical and had a specific time that I had to be out of there. So I knew we’d be able to relax and enjoy our time there. And I also knew that we would probably be spoiled because the manager Wally always sends over things for me to try that either I didn’t order or aren’t on the menu yet.

We went to dinner on Saturday on the earlier side, so we didn’t have too much traffic to deal with. And we lucked out into a parking meter that was just a block away, so we didn’t have to pay too much for parking. And since we made our reservation for when they opened, there weren’t a lot of people there when we arrived and we had the patio to ourselves!

We ended up ordering most of what I got the last time I was there. We had the spinach dip, caesar salad, risotto, and short rib. All of those were amazing and just as delicious as they always are. And my parents agreed that everything was so good!

And we got one off the menu dish sent over for us to try. It was oxtail served over potatoes and had spicy greens on top of it.

I don’t know if I’ve had oxtail before, I don’t remember having it but I might just not remember. But this was delicious (but a bit spicy for me) and I am so glad I got to try it because I don’t know if I would have gotten it if I saw it on the menu.

And even though we didn’t order dessert, we were sent some. We got this incredible dessert plate with ice cream sandwiches, chocolate mousse cake, and ice cream.

We were all so full with everything we ordered, but of course, there is always some extra room for dessert so we tried a little bit of everything on the plate. We all were so full and probably ate too much, but it was worth it! I always love everything I get at Wood & Vine, and this time was no exception. And I’m so happy my parents enjoyed it as much as I did.

I don’t get a lot of chances to share some of my favorite LA things with my family, so I’m glad we got to do this when they were here this past time and have a nice celebratory dinner after doing all the random work we did in my new place.

Getting Spoiled At Dinner (or Another Musical Night)

I’ve been so happy ever since the musical season started up again. It’s been a bit weird to be in big crowds, but I’m getting more used to it and I’m grateful that the theater has some protocols in place to try to keep people safe. And since I don’t really go out a ton right now (which I know I need to change), I do try to make these nights at the show fun nights out.

The rest of the delayed 2020 season is still happening for my tickets and I still have a few more shows to go before the next season. And I’m thinking I might try to get tickets for the next season with a different friend since Dani won’t be in LA for the shows. But I have time to think about that for a bit. For now, I’m just enjoying each show I get to see.

This past weekend, the musical was “Tootsie”. I am pretty familiar with the movie and while it is a bit problematic I was curious what they would do for the musical. I asked around to see who wanted to take Dani’s ticket, and my friend Jodi was able to come with me again. And since we had so much fun at Wood & Vine the last time we went, we decided to meet up for dinner before the show again!

I am very lucky that I have gotten to know the manager at Wood & Vine and he tends to spoil me and my friends whenever we are there for dinner. I never assume that will happen, but every time I’m there for dinner there are more things that I want to try than I know I have room for in my stomach.

We decided to order the spinach and artichoke dip, short rib, and vegetable risotto. But we were surprised when we started getting a bunch of food that we didn’t order along with what we did order.

We were sent some things from the upcoming menu to try out before they were available. We tried a fried chicken slider on a charcoal bun, a beet and goat cheese salad, and a summer peach and candied nuts salad. They were all so good! The slider was spicy but not too overpowering. I don’t really like beets, but the dressing on the beet salad was delicious. And honestly, the best thing was the peach salad. It was so fresh and flavorful. I hope it’s on the menu soon because I want to make sure I order it again the next time I’m there! I’ve never had anything bad at Wood & Vine, but I swear they keep getting better and better and I’m loving all the new things I’ve been able to try!

After dinner, we headed over to the show at the Dolby. I do miss the shows being at the Pantages because it’s so much easier just to walk across the street after dinner instead of having to drive to a second location. Normally, it’s not a big deal. But this time, we were just hitting all the lights wrong and there was a line of traffic to get into the parking lot. This ended up being the first time I’ve ever been late for a show. We arrived just as the doors closed and we were able to watch the opening number from the TVs in the lobby so we didn’t completely miss the beginning. But it was frustrating that we missed seeing it from our seats. But as soon as that first number was done, we were able to go to our seats and enjoy the rest of the show from there.

They did make some changes to the show that went into some of the problematic things from the movie. But it still has some things that made me cringe a bit. It’s not a bad show, but it just has a few moments that really took me out of enjoying it because it didn’t sit right with me. But the performances were really good, especially with some of the supporting actors. I loved the actor who played the roommate. He was so funny and did a great job with the lines he had that called out the situation of the show.

I think Jodi and I felt the same about the show. It wasn’t bad, but it felt a bit dated because of some of the themes. But we still both enjoyed it. And going to a show still feels like a treat to me.

I have a few more shows to go for sure, and then I’ll have to decide what to do about the next season. But I think even if I don’t get the full season next time, there are friends who want to see some of the shows and I’m getting better about coordinating things so I don’t miss seeing things I want to go to. And even if I only go to a handful of shows in the next season, I know I will appreciate each one I get to go to because they really are special nights for me.

Another Unexpected Part Of Moving (or I Don’t Know Why I Didn’t Plan Better For This)

As I’ve written several times now, I’m finding a lot of things about moving that aren’t the way I thought they would be or how I remembered them from before. And I know a lot of these things are also related to how I’m doing my move. I’ve been taking my time and slowly getting things from one place to another. I have done a majority of the move within the last week, but it’s still been over multiple days instead of doing everything at once. And maybe this wasn’t the right way to do things even though I thought it would be easier because I keep finding random things that I wasn’t exactly prepared for. And this one is one I found out after I started mainly living at the condo this week.

At my old place, over the last few weeks, I tried to be pretty careful with what I got from the grocery store. I didn’t want to have a lot of food I needed to move over with me, especially if they were frozen items or things that were going to be opened and potentially make a mess. So the last few weeks I have been very conscious about what food I already have and was trying to make more meals from that instead of going out and getting more stuff. I still have some food at the old place I need to move over this weekend, but I got things down to only a handful of things left.

And when I moved my furniture on Sunday to the condo, I wasn’t sure at the time if I would sleep at the condo or at the old house. So I wasn’t really prepared with food at the condo. But I figured that would be easy enough to deal with so I got some takeout food for dinner that night. But because I hadn’t planned, I also didn’t have food for Monday and I wouldn’t be able to get to the store until after work. So I had to order some delivery food (I got a bowl from Chipotle) for lunch that day until I could go get a few groceries to get me through the week.

I didn’t get anything too crazy since I knew this week would be hectic and I would want things that would be easy and fast to have. So most of what I got was prepared items, things I could microwave, or shelf-stable items. Not necessarily the healthiest or best options, but I knew this would just be for now and not the way I would continue to eat.

And for the most part, this plan has worked ok for me. I’m having some weird food issues right now and I’m struggling to eat at times, but I do go through those phases occasionally and I think this is also just the stress manifesting itself in my body. But the issue I’m running into now is that my kitchen really isn’t set up for making food if I wanted to right now.

So much of my stuff is still in boxes. I know that I need to work on unpacking more, but I also wanted to plan out a bit where I would want to put things. But I might have to wait on that and just get things unpacked for now and work on the organization later. But also, not everything is here yet. I didn’t think too much about which boxes I was moving on which day since I knew I would eventually get everything over here. But until yesterday, I had no pots and pans. I was missing bowls until Wednesday but had plates. I didn’t think to bring stuff from my spice rack until later in the week. Honestly, I have no clue what parts of my kitchen are still in the old place and what is in boxes here at this point. I really need to work on getting stuff put away or at least where I can figure out what I have so I can start planning normal meals and not just what is easy to grab.

Just like everything else stressing me out with this move, I know this is temporary and I will have all my kitchen things soon and I can start cooking in my new and amazing kitchen! And I’m excited to cook in this kitchen since everything is new and will work properly. Plus, I have so much more space to prep so I won’t feel as cramped as I try to make things that involve more ingredients or steps.

And if I’m having some not-so-great food days for right now, I know it’s going to be ok. I need to allow myself to be a bit off from what I know I should be doing while I’m in the process of settling in. This doesn’t mean I’m going to go crazy, but I’m also not going to stress myself out more if I end up having another day where I need delivery food for lunch because I still don’t have my kitchen together.

A More Normal Cheesecake Outing (or Still Savoring In-Person Hangouts)

It’s been a tradition for a long time for me to go out to dinner with my friend Joanna to Cheesecake Factory around the new year. Some years we are closer to January 1st and other years it can take us a bit of time to plan when we can meet up. But just like our birthday dinner tradition, this is one that we have been able to keep up for quite a while.

But for our cheesecake outing at the beginning of 2021, we knew we couldn’t go in person. It just wasn’t safe for either of us, especially since neither of us were vaccinated at that point. So we decided to each order delivery food and we ate together over Zoom. It wasn’t the same as our normal dinners, but it was a way for us to keep our tradition going.

This year, it’s debatable if things are better or worse. And as I’ve said before, it can be tough to know which risks are acceptable and which ones are just too much to do. So we tried to find a way to make our cheesecake dinner happen but be as safe as possible.

Instead of going to dinner, we went for lunch. We knew it might still be crowded, but we thought lunch would hopefully be better. We also agreed we would only be willing to eat outside. We normally sit outside, but we were going to let the host know when arriving that we would be willing to wait for an outside table instead of being seated inside. And of course, both of us are vaccinated and boosted plus we had our masks for when we weren’t eating. I also had forgotten until we showed up that you also have to now show proof of vaccination in order to eat there, so we know the others there were vaccinated as well.

And I think we made some smart choices. Normally, we do have to wait a bit to be seated when we go, but this time we were able to be seated immediately. And even though it was right as lunchtime started, the patio didn’t have too many people on it. I also think they reduced the seating on the patio so the tables weren’t as close as they normally are. While these are all good things, I also know I was a bit more on edge than I normally am when we’ve gone to get cheesecake. I have rarely gone out to eat in the past 2 years, and it has gotten a bit easier each time. But it’s still something that makes me nervous and I know that feeling will probably last for a while.

But even though I was a bit nervous, going out to hang out with a friend made me so happy! I know Joanna and I try to see each other more often, but it usually doesn’t happen (even in non-pandemic times). So having our traditions twice a year are really special for us. And I also just enjoy any time I get to see someone in real life instead of on a screen.

We both ordered a lunch special (instead of me getting my usual salad) and then we had a lot of time to catch up on life. Both of us are going through renovation stuff with our places (although hers is due to a leak at her building), so we shared stories of what we’ve both been going through. And this was the first time we had hung out since I bought the condo, so she wanted to know all about it! And because we were seated outside and the Grove had quite a few people there, we also had a great time people watching and noticing all the interesting things happening around us. I never realized how much I could miss something as simple as people watching, but it’s something I haven’t gotten to do much in the last 2 years.

And of course, any outing to Cheesecake Factory has to include cheesecake. Normally we get 2 slices and split them in half so we each get half a slice of both flavors. But we were both full after lunch so we only got one piece to split (which honestly is more than enough).

I know I’ve said this almost any time I’ve seen a friend in real life, but I needed this time. I want to try to be better about seeing my friends, but it’s not easy. It’s not easy in normal times when I’m tired after work, but it’s that much harder when we have to consider how safe certain things may be to do. But I am trying to be better about it and I’m glad Joanna and I were able to schedule our cheesecake outing so we got to have this time together.

My First Challenge of 2022 (or Trying To Get Back To Better Habits)

The past few years I’ve been setting monthly challenges, and I’m going to continue doing that this year. I think it’s good to have daily, weekly, monthly, and annual challenges to help me accomplish quite a bit during a year. And I’ll be going over my goals/challenges for 2022 later this week, but I wanted to start with my January challenge since I think this is something a lot of people are doing.

But first, a quick check about my challenge for December. I challenged myself to speak up more for myself. I knew I needed to do this for so many aspects of my life, and I’m proud to say that I feel so much more confident speaking my mind and not fearing things. I do know there can be consequences for speaking up, but the things I’m speaking up about have consequences that I think are ones I’m willing to accept. Like with dating, speaking up means I might not have a date or a second date because I won’t tolerate specific behavior. And while I am trying to be ok with this idea, I at least can speak up more. I might be sad to not have as many dates because of this, but this is about quality over quantity. I don’t need to put up with someone who says something that is offensive or that doesn’t want similar things to what I want.

Obviously I can’t speak up quite as freely in all aspects of my life, but I am finding ways to make sure my voice is heard even when I have to do it less directly. And it’s reassuring to see positive outcomes when I do speak up so I have less fear each time I have to do it.

My December challenge was a bit more of a mental one, and my challenge for January is a bit more about my physical health (and maybe a bit of my mental health). And it’s also a modification on a challenge I did a few years ago. Several years ago, I challenged myself not to order delivery food for a month. And while I would love to say I won’t order delivery food for a month, with my crazier schedule I know that might not be possible. So I had to add a bit more of a challenge one way to reduce the challenge another way.

So for January, I want to try to limit both my delivery food and take out food as much as possible. This means that I don’t want to do pickup or drive thru options either. Sometimes, if I’m out running errands after work and I see a short line at In-n-Out, it’s just easier to get a hamburger than to go home and see what I can make for myself. But I’m slipping into bad habits again and doing this more often than I would like. I am not doing delivery food too often, but I know I need to cut back on that too.

But I am doing things to make this challenge a bit easier on me. I’m making sure I have easy to make meals at home. Frozen dinners aren’t the best, but they are better (and cheaper) than going out to eat or bringing food home. And this is a way to do a little bit of meal planning without putting too much pressure on this idea.

I do want to work on my eating habits and what types of food I eat, but I know I need to do baby steps because I can revert to old habits easily. And if something doesn’t seem too extreme, it’s a little easier for me to maintain. So that’s why I’m going a bit easier on myself and not saying I have to completely eliminate this from my life. I just want to limit it. And I think that is a good way for me to set myself up for success with this first challenge of 2022.