Monthly Archives: February 2018

A Weekend With My Mom (or An Adventure In Palm Springs)

Posted on February 28, 2018 | 3 comments

I don’t get to take vacations that often. And when I do, more often than not they are for me to go somewhere to Thanksgiving or San Diego for my grandma (now I’ll be visiting her in Northern CA when I get a chance). While those are vacations, they don’t necessarily feel like one because they are usually for a family event or to help with family in some way. I also don’t really have the money to go on vacation, so when I get the chance to take one I jump at it!

My dad and brother were going on a ski trip together and my mom asked me if I wanted to go on a trip with her (she invited my sister-in-law but she ended up having to stay home). Of course I said yes! I’m not sure if everyone is the same, but I love traveling with my mom. Part of this is because she pays for the trip (which allows me to go), but she really is a great travel companion. We have similar taste in traveling and she’s great at planning. And for this trip, she wanted us to go to Palm Springs.

I had been to Palm Springs when I was a kid, but I don’t remember that trip. And the last time I was in Palm Springs was when I was a college freshman and we were actually outside of Palm Springs. So I was happy to get to go back since it’s not that far from LA and I haven’t been in forever.

I drove down after work and a workout on Saturday. I didn’t really think about other people going out-of-town in the afternoon, but I dealt with more traffic than expected. And by the time I got to Palm Springs, it was already dark so I couldn’t see too much. My mom had gotten there a few hours earlier and once I arrived we did a quick run to the grocery store for some stuff for the week and we  spent the night relaxing at the house. Even though I didn’t go outside, I was already loving the house and the pool looked amazing in the dark!

The next morning when I woke up, the pool looked just as amazing in the daytime.

But we had no time to be lazy by the pool in the morning because we had plans to go to The Living Desert. The Living Desert is a zoo and garden that is all about the animals and plants of the deserts in North America and Africa. I had never been there before and I love going to zoos so I was excited to check it out. And fortunately, it was colder than normal in Palm Springs so we weren’t too hot while we walked around. And since it wasn’t too hot, the animals were out too. The giraffes were enjoying their breakfast when we got to their area.

And the warthogs were all spooning together in the sun (although one was spooning the wrong way).

And we were able to be at the cheetahs when they were doing their run demonstration and feeding.

We did a lot of walking around and we managed to cover the entire place. It’s a nice sized zoo that has a lot of offer. But it’s not too big that you can’t see everything in a day, especially on a day that isn’t unbearably hot like we had.

After The Living Desert, my mom and I headed back to the vacation house so we could relax by the pool and be lazy. The rental house also had a small putting area and I discovered that I totally suck at that! I haven’t played mini-golf in forever so I guess I couldn’t expect to be good at it.

The next day, my mom and I started the day with a walk around the neighborhood. We were checking out all the mid-century modern houses and how gorgeous the view of the mountains was.

Then my mom and I headed to the airport because one of my mom’s friends was flying in. My mom was going to be in Palm Springs for a week and I wasn’t going to be there for the last half. So my mom invited a friend to join her for the second half of the trip and we had a little bit of an overlay.

After the airport, we headed to the Palm Springs tram. It had been cold near where we were staying, but we knew it was going to be much colder at the top of the tram. So we bundled up and got on the tram headed up the mountain. I had been on the tram when I was little, but since I didn’t remember that I was excited to check this out. And since the last time I was on the tram (or my mom was on the tram), they had changed up the tram cars and now they are round and rotate while you are going up. So you will get to see all around as you are going up and can enjoy all the views.

Because there hasn’t been a lot of rain or snow, there wasn’t much snow on the top of the mountain. But it did smell like snow (or Tahoe) to me and it was freezing cold! While I was in the sun I felt fine, but in the shade or when the wind kicked up I was wishing I had gloves or hand heat warmers with me.

I didn’t end up doing the hike around (it was a very steep incline and my hips were a bit sore), so I just sat in the sun while my mom and her friend went on a mile and a half adventure that they enjoyed. But I was happy sitting in the sun and just looking at the view.

When they returned, we checked out the various movies and displays inside the mountain top building and then took one more look at the view before heading back down.

And we got to enjoy another lazy afternoon/evening at the rental house which was perfectly fine with me. I love going on adventures on vacation but also having time to relax too. And we did just that.

There’s still one more day of my Palm Springs vacation, but since that was a trip outside of Palm Springs that will come later!

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Posted in Family, Fun Stuff, Travel

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Tax Time Again! (or It’s A Taxes Miracle!)

Posted on February 27, 2018 | Comments Off on Tax Time Again! (or It’s A Taxes Miracle!)

I’ve been getting my taxes done by Daphne at Sloan and Associates for a few years now. First of all, if you are in any creative field or have any type of nontraditional work life, I highly recommend going to Daphne or anyone else at the office for your taxes. The way she understands how to help me organize my taxes is amazing and I have learned so much from watching her work that has made me better at tracking my deductions.

Even though Daphne has been amazing with my taxes each year, I do still get nervous before going in because I never want to owe more than what I saved. And while I am pretty good with keeping track of expenses, somehow in 2017 things didn’t go exactly how I planned. I knew I screwed up a bit with my tracking of medical expenses in the beginning of the year. That’s because I was expecting to have surgery and I figured that I would hit my out-of-pocket maximum and that would be what I deducted on my taxes. But when I didn’t need surgery, I realized I didn’t track all my medical tests and things. Also, somehow I lost several receipts for meals I had that were business related. Even though those don’t add up to a ton, I like to be as perfect as possible.

So when I went to my appointment with Daphne last week, I was a bit scared that these little mistakes would cause me to owe a lot. I still felt confident that I would owe less than I saved, especially since I paid all my estimated taxes, but it’s always nice to have extra money to help with expenses (like my Pantages tickets which I just renewed). I had spent a few days before the appointment getting extra organized and making sure I had all my forms filled out to the best of my ability. Doing that makes Daphne’s job easier and that gives her time to see if there are any things I missed out on that I should be aware of for the next year. I always err on the side of caution, but because so much of doing taxes is being aware of what deductions I’m eligible for and making sure I do things right, I feel like it’s a game.

When I got to my appointment, I was pretty excited to see Daphne. She’s awesome and we always have fun, even when she’s doing my taxes. And I know she likes how organized I am and it always makes her happy that her job is easier. And just like she had the past few times, she showed me the worst-case scenario first before she put in my deductions so I could breathe a little easier knowing things would be ok. Although this year was the first year that the worst-case was actually higher than what I saved! But I knew it would be going down a lot. I had a lot of work expenses like liability insurance that I had to buy and my home office (which is usually a risky deduction, but in my work contracts it states my office is at my home).

While Daphne was entering in all my deductions and income, we also had fun chatting. She recently got a Disney pass so we were talking about how we want to have a Disney day once tax season is over. I know she’ll need some fun after doing everyone’s taxes! She’s also a musical person and I was telling her about the shows coming up. She can’t do season tickets, but she might join us for a show either this season or next.

It seemed like this year it was much quicker for Daphne to enter everything into the system for my taxes. I didn’t know if that was because I had fewer deductions than I did in the past or that things were just easier now. It did make me have a few moments of minor panic that I didn’t do a good enough job. But when she was done, she told me to look at the screen at what she was about to click on.

She was clicking on the button to say how I wanted my refund sent to me! I couldn’t believe I was getting a refund! I thought she was kidding at first and thought it was a joke, but she was totally serious! Between my estimated payments, my deductions, and the money I get back for overpaying my health insurance (my subsidy wasn’t at the right amount for my income level), I actually was getting a small refund! It was unbelievable but also proof that if I listened to what Daphne taught me each time that I could make sure that I don’t owe much (or anything) at tax time. Everyone is fearful of working 1099 jobs because you owe money at tax time, but if you do everything you are supposed to do it doesn’t have to be that way.

After everything for state and federal was done, I do technically owe a little bit. I owe $30 more in my state taxes than I am getting back in my federal refund. But even owing $30 is nothing compared to what I’ve owed in the past or what I was prepared to owe this time. I know a lot of it was because my estimated tax payments were so high, but paying it throughout the year is so much better than paying it all at once. And it saved me from owing a penalty on federal taxes as well! My estimated payments for 2018 are about what I paid in 2017, so I’m hopeful that I should be able to keep my tax bill at tax time next year low again. I don’t know if I’ll get it down so much that I get a refund (I probably won’t get the money back from healthcare as my subsidy was corrected and I shouldn’t have as much in healthcare expenses), but I am more confident in my ability to track the expenses for work so that what I save for tax time doesn’t all have to go to taxes.

I’m so happy that I do have some extra money that I wasn’t planning on. Some of it needs to go to things I have already gotten (like paying back for my Pantages tickets) and I will use some for bills and toward my credit card debt. But I do want to see if there is something else that is small but fun that I want. I’m not going to use a lot of that money, but maybe getting a purse I’ve been wanting that is not cheap or doing a fun spa day could be a nice reward for the hard work. But I might just put it all toward my debt because that is the more responsible thing to do and I want to get that number to 0 sooner rather than later.

But whatever I end up doing with the money that I have leftover from saving for taxes, I am just so glad that my hard work paid off and that I am understanding how to manage my taxes so much better now. I feel in control with taxes and understand so much more than I ever did. I know what I need to track and what expenses to be aware of. And I have Daphne to thank for that because she really took the time to make sure that when I leave each time that I don’t have any questions or confusion about why my taxes were the way they were. I know she was giving credit to me for working hard and doing all the right things last year on my taxes, but I give her the credit because she is the one who taught me how to do that.

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Posted in Fun Stuff, Saving, Work

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Is This A Rut? (or Trying To Not Feel Stuck)

Posted on February 26, 2018 | Comments Off on Is This A Rut? (or Trying To Not Feel Stuck)

For so long, my workout weeks were super exciting to me. I was constantly discovering new amazing exercises and I was surprising myself in what I was able to do. I never knew I could lift as heavy of weights as I did or that I could run. It seemed like each week there was something that seemed spectacular and it was so motivating. But lately, I’ve been struggling a bit to make sure that I don’t feel stuck. So this past week of workouts was another week where I really tried to find where I could improve so I could feel great about things again.

Monday’s workout was a tough morning for me. I had a lot of things working against me including a lack of sleep, having some back pain (I tweaked my back on Saturday), and my medications elevating my heart rate; but I was still in my positive mindset that I would be doing the best that I could and not thinking about what I should be doing better. It was a 3 group workout that morning and it was also a rowing benchmark class. And since I started on the rower that ended up being better than I expected.

The rowing benchmark was done in the first block where we had a 4 minute distance row. I knew what my PR was for it previously and I knew that I would not be hitting that in this class. But I did decide to set a goal to row for the entire 4 minutes without stopping. That’s not the biggest victory for me, but when I was having so many issues I knew it would be a big accomplishment. And I’m so happy that I was able to row those 4 minutes without stopping! Each of our row blocks had a timed distance row and the goal was to get at least half the distance of the previous distance row. And I did manage to do that! I did more than half of my 4 minute row in my 2 minute row and more than half of my 2 minute row in my 1 minute row. While none of these rows were PRs for me, I felt amazing for doing what I was able to do.

The treadmill work was a bit of a struggle and I thought about going onto the bike, but it felt good to walk and stretch my legs a bit after each of the row blocks. I stuck with my normal speed and for the first 2 blocks I did my normal inclines as well. But for the last block, I keep my push and all out pace inclines the same because I was getting tired. Each of the treadmill blocks was a pretty standard pattern and I’m so glad that they were shorter blocks because it did allow me to get through the treadmill time and I wasn’t struggling as much as I would have if it was a long block.

And the floor work was not my best time this workout. Of course on a day that I was having back pain the floor worked seemed to be very back heavy. The first block had good mornings to tricep presses, pullovers with weights, and knee tucks. This was my best block because I didn’t really feel any pain with any of the moves. I did end up doing sit-ups instead of knee tucks, but that was more due to knee tucks feeling super awkward for me and I just wanted to do something instead of struggling through one exercise. The second block was single arm presses with weights which were tough on my back but with a lower weight it was not too bad and I felt good. But the other move was pop jacks and my back was just not having those. The plank was hurting me and I ended up only doing the arm work that block. And the final block was lateral lunges with the BOSU which was fine but then we also had Y moves on the strap which again was back work that hurt. I ended up doing those by being far from the anchor point of the strap (the further you are the easier the move is) but I think it ended up being more of a stretch type move than an exercise. But since I knew I’d be making modifications to anything that involved my back, I was pretty happy I figured out a solution for the problems I was having.

Wednesday was a strength day and I was a bit worried going into the workout. I knew I wasn’t feeling totally great, but I was hoping a workout would make me feel a bit better. The treadmill was split into 3 blocks and each block had a similar format. When we had push paces, half of the time was a regular push pace and the other half was at an incline. For power walking, that meant that you increased from your push pace incline to one higher. So for each push pace I did the first half as my regular push pace incline and the second half at my all out pace incline. It wasn’t easy because the incline felt so much higher than normal, but I did my best to make it through. When we had the all out paces at the end of each block, I just stuck with my normal all out pace instead of trying to go a bit higher. Even though I had to take several breaks in the middle of each of the treadmill blocks, I felt much closer to normal than I had in a while. My heart rate wasn’t spiking as often and when it did the spikes weren’t as crazy as they have been. It was such a nice change from having crazy heart rate issues.

The floor work was one long block that had both rowing and work with weights. We started with a 500 meter row. Since I was still recovering from the treadmill, I didn’t really focus too much on what my time was for the row. It was probably close to what I normally do, but I’m not too sure. Then it was on to the weight work which was seated shoulder press to stands with weights, skier swings with weights, single arm rows with weights, plank work, and toe touches. Then it was back to the rower. We were decreasing the rows by 100 meters each time, but my coach wanted me to do things a bit differently. She wanted me to set my rower for a minute and 40 seconds to see how far I could get in that. I knew I wouldn’t be able to do 400 meters and told her that. But she wanted me to see what I would do.

I am so glad she set my rower that way because I ended up surprising myself! I was at 395 meters when the timer stopped and I honestly thought it would take me 2 minutes to do 400 meters! Then it was back to the floor and then back to the rower again. My coach had me do a 70 second row instead of 300 meters and this time I was at 298 meters. While it would have been nice to reach my rowing target in that time, I was more proud of myself for getting so close when I thought there was no way I could do that! The goal was to do enough rounds to get down to a 100 meter row, but I was only on the floor work after the 300 meter row when class ended.

After having an easier time on Wednesday, I was hoping that Friday would be the same. But of course nothing is predictable and I ended up having a bit of a rough day. It was a combination of my heart rate issues and some nausea that started right when I got to class. I started on the treadmill but after noticing during the warmup that I wasn’t feeling ok I moved over to the bike. The class was an endurance, strength, and power class and I decided to take the cardio blocks as seriously as I could on the bike.

During the endurance block, I was using the resistance on the bike that I had done the week before and I was paying much more attention to my cadence so I could make sure that I was doing more during the push and all out paces. I was definitely sweating a lot during this block and it wasn’t just because I wasn’t feeling ok. During the strength block I did work on increasing the resistance a bit more to replicate hills, but I wasn’t doing the resistance as high as I had before as I was focused on my speed. And during the power block I just focused on going as quick as I could to replicate doing an all out pace on the treadmill.

The floor work had 2 regular floor blocks and a row block. In the floor blocks we had single arm rows on the straps, upright rows with weights, side plank pendulums, deadlifts, low rows on the straps, and burpees. When we were supposed to be doing the burpees my nausea was kicking in a bit more so I ended up doing squats with calf raises instead. I didn’t love having to do something instead of burpees, but I knew it was necessary with how I was feeling. And for the row block, we were on the same pattern as the treadmill. Essentially it ended up being a 1 minute row, 90 second row, and 2 minute row. The goal was to be able to do at least 100 meters more each time and I was able to do just a bit better than that.

After the difficulty on Friday, I think I was much more mentally prepared for Saturday. I knew I’d be going on the bike again and I was excited to see how I could improve. The class was a power day and we did have some switching around. We only spent about 6 minutes at a time in one section of the room and we did 2 laps around. On the bike, I really was focused on my cadence and making sure I was getting it up higher for the push and all out paces. This class was the first one where I think I was above 100 RPM for all of the all out paces. It was tough, but it felt really great after because it finally gave me the sense of accomplishment that I think I needed. I’m still figuring how what distance I can do on the bike and how to improve on that, but I know that I’ve been getting slightly faster over the past few weeks.

On the rower, we kind of repeated things for the 2 times we were there. We started with a 90 second push pace and a 30 second all out pace on the rower. Then we had sprint distance rows with some rowing recovery in between. I wasn’t rowing as fast I could, but I was under all the times I usually try to be under so that was good. And on the floor, each time we were there we started with 30 second rounds of squats and plank work. Then we had other things like sit ups to squats on the bench, knee tucks, chest flys, and lunges. And by the time I was done with class, I was exhausted but in the best way.

Considering that going into this past week of workouts I was hoping to find some sense of accomplishment again, I think I’m finally getting closer to being there. I know there will still be struggles (although I’m hoping this will be ending sooner rather than later), but knowing that I can hit some new goals is encouraging me.

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Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff

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Finding New Money Issues (or Looking At Doing A Fresh Budget)

Posted on February 23, 2018 | Comments Off on Finding New Money Issues (or Looking At Doing A Fresh Budget)

I’ve written about using YNAB to do my budgeting on here before. And I’ve written about doing a fresh start in the app when I felt like things weren’t moving the way I was hoping they would be. It’s been a while since I did that fresh start and things were getting much better and I was feeling so much more confident about money. My credit card debt was going down, I was saving money for annual expenses so they weren’t as overwhelming, and I felt like I was finally getting on top of things.

Unfortunately, that feeling has left me lately. I’m at a point right now where I have less in my bank account after paying my rent for next month than I’m used to. I think it’s lower than it’s been since I started using YNAB and that’s not a good feeling. I was trying to tell myself that this could be that I’m getting paid weekly instead of twice a week so I didn’t have a big paycheck recently. And I’m still waiting on a check from one job. Also, one of my day jobs recently cut back my hours by 2/3rds. They are hoping to find some other work that I can do to make up some extra hours, but there is no guarantee that I could do that.

Because I’ve been budgeting for a while now, I’m on a bit of autopilot. That can be a good thing because I don’t have to think about adding transactions to the app anymore. I just do it automatically as I spend the money. But because I’m on autopilot, I don’t think I’ve adjusted to my new income level and I have been spending the way I was when I was still working more hours. It’s a difference of about $800 a month which is a significant amount. I am looking at ways to make up that money, but so far I haven’t found another job to add to my collection.

I could just start adjusting my budget in the app to start reflecting the amounts that I should be spending in each category. I know that I could be better about meal planning so I spend less on groceries and I don’t buy as many frozen or pre-made meals (which are more expensive than just buying ingredients). And I know that I need to go through my monthly recurring charges to find what I can either cut back or eliminate completely. I can’t keep living as if I was making the same as I was before because it will put me into a really horrible financial spot.

But even though I could just be adjusting my current budget, I’m looking at doing another fresh start now too. In some ways, it would be nice to have a clean break from how my spending was before to what my spending should be like now. But on the other hand, it would be good to learn the skills I should have to adjust my budget when necessary. Money fluctuations will probably always be a part of my life and I need to be better about planning when things aren’t stable. You can’t always start over so I should know how to adjust and be flexible.

As I’m writing this, I’m about to have my taxes done (when this goes up, it will be the day after my taxes are figured out). I think that once that is done and I know how much money I will have left from my savings for taxes (hopefully I will owe less than I saved!) I can make a more educated plan on what I want to do with my budget. It may be the perfect time to have a fresh start because then I will know what my money situation will be like with what I have to spend. It is a bit tough to budget when I have one bank account that I can’t really touch except for budgeting for my taxes, so I’m thinking about eliminating that bank account from my budgeting plan. I think maybe it was misleading because I felt like I had more money than I do.

I know that budgeting needs to be a big focus of mine right now. I need to get back on the track that I was on and I can’t just believe that somehow things will work out. That’s how I got into the financial situation that I’m in right now. I was trying to believe that everything would be ok and that I didn’t have to worry about it. I was wrong. I should have worried and I regret not worrying back then. But now I am so much smarter about how I need to be in control of my money and how I am spending it and hopefully I can fix this problem quickly before it takes away the hard work that I have been doing for a while.

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Posted in Saving, Tough Stuff

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Using Podcasts To Better Myself (or Continuing To Be A Podcast Addict)

Posted on February 22, 2018 | 3 comments

I wrote a long time ago about how much I love podcasts. I’ve been listening to podcasts for so many years that I can’t remember when I started. But because I don’t really listen to music, podcasts are my entertainment in my car (and while I’m blogging!). I just looked at my podcast app and I’m currently subscribed to 55 podcasts! There are some of them that don’t have new episodes or rarely have new episodes, but many of them are weekly and I have to work to stay caught up.

I listen to a lot of podcasts about the entertainment industry and about eating disorders/food. Those are great educational podcasts for me and it’s an easy way for me to stay informed. And there are lots of fun interview style podcasts I listen to as pure entertainment and those are great for when I’m just looking for a distraction. Every podcast I listen to is important to me for one reason or another, but I wanted to highlight 3 (technically 4) podcasts that are really changing my life right now.

The first one is one of the newer ones I’ve been listening to. It’s called Forever35.

I found this podcast because one of the hosts is on another podcast I listen to. Since I like what she has to say, I figured I’d listen to her on a second podcast and I am so glad that I did! This podcast is really about self-care. A lot of it is physical self-care like face serums, face masks, and other beauty things. And because self-care and allowing myself to be a bit more selfish was something I’ve been working on recently, this podcast came into my life at the perfect time!

While I’ve always tried to have a regular skin care routine, I’ve been making adjustments to it lately so it feels a bit more luxurious. I’m still doing things cheaply (thankfully Trader Joes has some amazing skin care products!) but it’s nice to add something that feels special into something you do every day. My new routine is still very new, but I do think I see a difference in my skin. It may just be that my skin is feeling pampered and I’m finally taking time to myself so I can work on it, but that still is a result! And I’m so glad that I felt encouraged by this podcast and the amazing Facebook group for fans of the podcast to work on taking care of myself.

The next podcast that has been helping me better myself is Unladylike.

This is another podcast I found out through another podcasts. The hosts of Unladylike used to host Stuff Mom Never Told You and I listened to them on that show. So when they created a new podcast I followed them there (I still listen to the other podcast with the new hosts) and I love this one! This podcast is about feminism and issues that women are concerned about. Topics have included the history of women and bikes, yoga and what is a yoga body, and abortion rights. I’m a feminist and have always been one, but I have been more and more involved in issues lately and I’m glad I’ve found a podcast that is adding to my education about the issues that I may not have thought about before.

And the final podcast is actually more of a podcast network. It’s Crooked Media and the podcasts that I listen to in that network are Pod Save America and Lovett or Leave It.

I learned about Crooked Media from a friend of a friend I met at a party. I think at that time they only had Pod Save America but now there are 8 podcasts in their network (I think that number is correct, but they are always adding more). I’ll admit that I wasn’t the most involved person in politics in the past. Even though as a teenager I was on the city council for the city I grew up in on the youth committee and I’ve always voted, I was only aware of the most superficial issues. I know where I stand on gun control, abortion rights, healthcare, and other issues that I’m connected to and which politicians agree and disagree with me. But when Trump was elected, I knew that I needed to make a change.

The hosts of these podcasts use to work for the Obama administration so they are extremely knowledgable about political issues. But they are in their 30’s so they can relate to how those in my generation are experiencing things. They also know how to make politics more interesting and less like they are lecturing you. Each week they discuss the current issues in politics (although when an episode is released there may already be a new issue as that is the trend in the current administration) and while they are Democrats they are not afraid to call out Democrats when they are wrong.

Lovett or Leave It is a game show style political podcast where guests and audience members play games related to current events. The games are fun, but I still learn a lot from them. And because I listen to Pod Save America along with other political podcasts, I’m so excited when I am able to figure out the answers when I am listening to the episode. It proves how much information I’ve been picking up from listening to podcasts and how much more educated I am about issues that affect me and others.

If anyone is interested in more podcast recommendations on what I’m listening to that is educational, fun, or just entertaining; please let me know. I’m such a podcast junkie that I just want to share podcasts with everyone because I love them so much!

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Default ThumbnailLive Podcast Episode (or Another Way You Can Support Me) Default ThumbnailPodcast Nerd (or Celebrating At NPR) Default ThumbnailMore Podcast Time To Relive “Felicity” (or Great Minds Think Alike) Default ThumbnailContinuing To Be Inspired By Podcasts (or Turning A Passion Into A Paycheck) Default ThumbnailContinuing To Find Ways To Be Creative (or Podcasts and Online Shows) Default ThumbnailPodcasts and Twitter (or An Evening Out With Some Actors)

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Posted in Beauty, Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff

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It’s Giveaway Time! (or I Want You To Have An Amazing 2018!)

Posted on February 21, 2018 | 28 comments

If you’re been reading my blog for a while, you know that I love my planner from Ink+Volt! This is the 3rd year I’ve used a Volt Planner and I find it really helps me with my goal setting on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. I have accomplished more in the past few years than I ever had and I know that it’s all because of the planner. I love setting aside time to work on my goals and reflecting on where I succeeded and failed because it allows me to keep working toward what I want and I am able to process it and move on. I don’t necessarily dwell on when I don’t accomplish something because I know there is another week to set that goal and hopefully I will be able to reach it then.

Well, all my posting about the planner got the attention of the team at Ink+Volt and I’m so excited to share with you all that they let me know they found an extra 2018 planner that I get to give to one lucky reader!

I am so excited that one of you will get to use a planner to make your 2018 as incredible as it can be! I have seen the proof of what can be done by following this planner and I’m always looking at more ways that I can maximize what I do with it. For some inspiration, Ink+Volt has some great guides on their website. They also have a blog and one of my favorite posts on it is all about ideas for the monthly challenges. I have that page saved because I know that from time to time I need inspiration on what I want my challenge to be (I’m already working on ideas for my challenges for the rest of the year). I really view the monthly challenges as the bonus challenges for me because they are separate from the goals I set each month and week. So I stretch myself with these challenges and I am always surprising myself in what I am able to do and what habits I can create just from doing one month of a challenge.

And while this planner is dated for 2018, that doesn’t necessarily mean you are missing out. Every week there are prompts to help inspire, encourage, and challenge you. You will have all the weekly prompts for the entire year and you can use them as soon as you win the giveaway! I bet working on one extra prompt a week would be amazing for self-discovery and reflection on the year so far!

There are so many things you can do with this planner. You can use it like a normal planner and use it for your appointments. You can just do the goal setting sections and leave the calendar blank or for drawing random doodles. You can turn the weekly calendar into something unique for yourself (I use mine for my daily gratitude lists). The possibilities are endless and I love that this planner allows you the freedom to decide what the best way for you to use it will be! And I’m always trying new things out and seeing what connects with me at that time. My planner changes throughout the year because my needs and wants change and this accommodates that so nicely!

This giveaway is open to readers in the US only (sorry international readers!). There a lots of entry options, but there are 3 that you are required to do in order to be in the giveaway. You must comment on this post, you must follow me on Instagram, and you must follow Ink+Volt on Instagram. You also have options for extra entries by tweeting about it each day! The giveaway ends on the 28th and I will be using random.org to select a winner from the qualified entries. I will be emailing the winner within 48 hours of the giveaway ending to get your address and I will mail your planner to you.

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I cannot wait for one of you to win this! I’m not exaggerating when I say this planner changed my life! I have become so much better in realizing what I am able to do and I have achieved so much just by making a plan for my goals and taking the steps needed to get there.

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Default ThumbnailMonthly Recap Update (or My New Habits) Default ThumbnailMy First 2017 Monthly Challenge (or Working On My Tumors) Default ThumbnailAlmost Through A Year Of Monthly Challenges (or Picking A Good Challenge For November) Default ThumbnailGetting More Productive (or More Monthly Challenges) Default ThumbnailNot Perfect This Month (or Challenged With The Monthly Challenge) Default Thumbnail“Beyond The Wisdom Of Walt” (or Another Amazing Giveaway!)

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Posted in Fun Stuff

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Doing A Transformation Challenge (or Maybe I Need To Change Things Up)

Posted on February 20, 2018 | 1 comment

I’m currently in the middle of a transformation challenge at Orangetheory. This time, the challenge is 8 weeks long instead of 6 weeks and it is the same as how the weight loss challenges worked. You have to work out a minimum of 3 days a week during the challenge and there are official weigh-ins at the beginning, middle, and end of the challenge. Sometimes the winners are based on fat percentage lost, but I think this challenge is based on weight loss (I’m not 100% sure).

I pretty much always sign up for challenges. Most of the time it’s pretty much what I would be doing normally and there is the potential to win. I was in 2nd place during one challenge. And I love having a goal in mind to work toward and having the support of others. Whenever there is a challenge there is always some camaraderie between those in the challenge and we encourage each other.

But this challenge things seem to be different for me. I still get the camaraderie between people in the challenge and I love to support others who are doing in. But my heart doesn’t seem to be in it this time.

I’m definitely struggling with food and weight loss right now. My new medication dosage is helping a lot, but there are other factors I have to consider now. I do still have binge episodes even though they are less severe and less frequent that before. But I also am not able to work out as hard as I used to because of the medication. Also, while I am adjusting to things I am being a bit easier on myself and indulging from time to time on foods I love. I’m not necessarily going crazy, but I’m not on a strict plan either like I have tried during other challenges.

I’m also dealing with massive weight fluctuations right now. I’m guessing these have to do with hormones but I had one week were my weight went up almost 20 pounds and then I went pretty much back down to where I was. That is frustrating when I am trying to see if I have made any progress. And when I try to use things that aren’t the scale to see progress, like clothing, I have issues when I am bloating and none of my clothes fit. I wanted to have a breakdown the other day when everything in my closet was too small even though I know it shouldn’t be that way. But then a few days later the bloat went away and everything fit again.

I don’t think it is bad for my mental health to be in this challenge, but it can’t be great that I am currently focused so much on the challenge. If I just tried my best and wasn’t focused on numbers and food, I think I would be a lot happier. And now that I’m halfway done with this challenge, I think that’s exactly what I’m going to try to do. I will still track food like I have in the past because the way I track food isn’t numbers-based. And I’m still going to make my best efforts to do what I know I should be doing.

But at the same time, I’m not going to be tracking my weight anymore. I’m taking a vacation from the scale. This will only be a temporary vacation because I do like having the scale to help keep me accountable, but right now I don’t think it is the best thing for me. If I feel like I need to step on the scale to see what it says, I will do it. But I’m not going to obsess about weighing myself every day and tracking it. Eventually I will be tracking my weight again, but I think I want to start over with a fresh slate on weight tracking so I don’t see the recent fluctuations.

I really doubt this plan will help me win the transformation challenge, but that’s not really a focus of mine. The only time I thought I might win is when I was doing the cleanse at the same time as the challenge. That was awesome and I’m glad I did it, but I can’t put myself into that same obsessive mindset again. There are so many other things I need to focus on right now outside of this challenge and I need the mental freedom to do so. And if I happen to place in this challenge, that would be awesome. But I think I’ll be much happier assuming I won’t place and just seeing what I can do over these last 4 weeks.

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Default ThumbnailWeight Loss Challenge Time (or Not Worrying About Winning) Default ThumbnailIt’s Not Really A Transformation Challenge Fail (or Trying To Be Less Competitive With Myself) Default ThumbnailSkipping A Transformation Challenge (or This Was An Easy Choice For Me) Default ThumbnailStarting The Year With A Lot Of Transformation (or Who Will I Be By Next Year?) Default ThumbnailGetting Weighed In (or A New Orangetheory Challenge) Default ThumbnailEnding My Challenge Early (or I Guess I Made A Mistake)

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

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Settling Into A New Normal (or Seeing This As A New Beginning)

Posted on February 19, 2018 | Comments Off on Settling Into A New Normal (or Seeing This As A New Beginning)

This past week of workouts was pretty standard. I am feeling more and more normal with the restrictions that I’ve been dealing with and they aren’t as frustrating as they have been in the past. I think I’ve gotten myself more into a mindset of this being a new beginning and seeing where I can improve versus trying to get back to where I used to be. For all I know, even when I’m more back to how I was before it still can be very different. Maybe my running endurance will be better or I can run faster. I have no idea what will happen when I’m doing more running and now I am just focusing on getting myself ready to run again in the future.

Monday’s workout was a power day that had a switch format. And since this was a 3 group class that meant I was only at each section of the room for about 4 minutes before switching. I had been debating if I should use the bike instead of the treadmill because my legs were a bit tired from Disneyland, but since this was the format of the class I decided the treadmill would be a good choice. I would work on my walking endurance and see what I’m able to do. And even though I struggled a bit on the treadmill with my heart rate acting up, I think I did pretty great! Each of the 3 times I was on the treadmill was the same plan. We had a 1 minute push pace, a 1 minute base pace, a 1 minute push pace, and a 1 minute all out pace. I ended up treating the last 2 minutes as a 2 minute push pace with keeping my incline at 6%, but I was able to follow the plan pretty close to what we should have been doing.

Each of the 3 times I was on the rower, we had a similar plan. Each of the 4 minute blocks started with a 2 minute row for distance. The goal was to get over 400 meters and the first time I did it I did manage to do that. The second and third time I did it wasn’t as great, but I also know I was tired. After each of the 2 minute rows for distance we had a minute to recover and then we had work with weights for 1 minute. The first time we had overhead presses, the second time we had goblet squats, and the last time we had squats with overhead presses. And each time I used a 15 pound weight. And on the floor we had 2 blocks of body weight work like mountain climbers, plank jacks, and lunges. And we also had a block where we were using weights on the Bosu for pullovers. I was glad that each rotation I was on the floor because it did give me a little bit of a break so that when I went back to the treadmill I was ready to go again. I was really worried that the workout on Monday was going to struggle from being at Disneyland the day before (instead of going to Disneyland after a workout), but I was pretty proud to see that wasn’t the case and I had a pretty decent workout!

Wednesday was Valentine’s Day and there was a special partner workout that day. But it was also a 3 group workout so it was a 3 partner workout (I would have guessed Valentine’s Day would have been 2 partners). I ended up being partnered with 2 of the front desk staff which made me pretty happy. Partner workouts can be competitive a bit and I knew having staff in my group would help make it a bit less competitive and they would be much more understanding if the switches took longer.

The workout was 2 long blocks each with a similar format. Both times whoever was on the treadmill was the pacer and they did .4 miles on the treadmill (since I was walking I did .2 miles). And in both blocks the rower was similar with them rowing 200 meters with a medicine ball move between the rounds of rowing. The first block was power jacks and the second block was squat raises. The first block on the floor had lunges, bench hop overs, and toe reaches. And the second block had chest flys, bicep curls, and tricep extensions.

Even though I was worried about being slow on the treadmill and making our switches take longer, I think all 3 of us were pretty equal on treadmill time. I know I didn’t row as much as my partners did when they were on the rower, but as a team we weren’t too worried about being competitive with how much we rowed during the entire block. And usually with partner workouts I’m extra tired because there isn’t really a break between things. This time, I did take the rowing and floor sections a bit slower and that seemed to help me in not needing as many breaks. Usually I’m trying to rush through things and do the most I can, but it was a nice change to not feel that pressure on myself.

Friday’s workout was one that was designed to test a benchmark. We used to have Peak Performance Week, but that isn’t happening anymore. Instead, we are going to have benchmark workouts a few times a year for each benchmark to see how we improve. This will be nice because it will be spread out a bit more, but I think I might miss the hardcore nature of Peak Performance Week. Friday’s workout was a benchmark workout for the 200 meter row and before class I checked my records for my previous PR to hopefully be able to beat it.

I started on the treadmill but our first block was pretty easy because we were just warming up for the rower. When it was my turn to do my row, I really felt like I was rowing faster and harder than I had before. But unfortunately, I was about 2 seconds off of my PR. But in non-PR accomplishments, I did a row so hard that I knocked over my water bottle so hard that when it fell the lid came off and leaked, so that was something.

After that challenge, we got back to more normal workout patterns. On the treadmill it was longer push paces with base paces between. I was having a bad hip day (it’s been a while since I had a bad hip day like this one) so I was walking a bit slower than normal while trying to keep my inclines normal. I did take a ton of breaks on the treadmill and debated about going over to the bike, but whenever I had that feeling the block was about to end and I decided to stick it out.

On the floor, each of the rest of the blocks started with a 200 meter row. We had the opportunity to see if we could beat our first time but I never was able to do so. I know that some of the slowing down was due to being tired but I know that it was also a bit because of my hip and the pain I was feeling while pushing back on the rower. After that row on each block, we had power moves on the floor. Those included single arm snatches, lunge work, pull ups on the straps, plank kick throughs, froggers, and power push ups. I was taking more breaks than normal on the floor, but I made it through each block with the best of my ability.

Saturday’s workout was a bit more successful than Friday’s. I knew going into class that I was going to be on the bike instead of the treadmill. It was a strength workout and I took advantage of being on the bike and using harder gears. Whenever the treadmills had incline work, I bumped up the gears more than I would normally do for a push or all out pace. I ended up being able to do a minute on the 13th gear (normally I don’t go above the 10th gear) and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be! I also focused on my cadence steady during the push and all out paces and keeping it higher than I probably have in the past. Doing those few things made the bike a lot harder than I’m used to, but that made me so happy!

I was on the floor next where we had 2 blocks. The first block had low rows with weights and alternating chest presses with weights. It also had 2 moves with the new fitness bands we have in class. Both of those were moves where the bands were around our wrists which was an interesting twist. In the other classes, we had only used them on our legs. First we had low rows on the straps with the band around our wrists to focus on keeping our arms at shoulder distance (I really felt that on the outsides of my arms!). Then we had plank work using the bands while we walked our hands out and in. I really liked using the bands on my wrists because they didn’t twist as much as they do on my legs. But I also liked just having something different to work on. And the second block on the floor was hammer curls and ab work.

And I ended on the rower where in the first block we started with a 500 meter row followed by 10 ground to press with a medicine ball. I wanted my row to be under 2:15 and I was able to do it in 2:12! Next was a 400 meter row and I did that in 1:47 which was a bit longer than I wanted to do. And in the second block we followed the treadmill pattern so we had a 2 minute row for distance, a 1 minute row for distance, and a 30 second row for distance with breaks between each row. I hit the minimum for each of the rows which is all I can ask for sometimes at the end of a class.

Reflecting back on this past week of workouts and how I just wrote about it, I feel like I’m being so much more positive about my workouts than I have been in the recent weeks. I’m not letting my setbacks really be setbacks any more and I’m really focused on what I have been doing well. I really hope this will be the trend for me while I figure out what I can do and what is still going to take a bit longer before I can try again. It really is more fun when you are happy with your workout than when you are feeling frustrated and disappointed.

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Default ThumbnailFeeling More Back To Normal (or A Good Week Of Hell Week Prep) Default ThumbnailManaging My Setbacks (or Taking My Time With Adjustments) Default ThumbnailFeeling Better About My Progress (or Coming Back From The Dri-Tri) Default ThumbnailThe End Of My 8 Week Challenge (or The End Is Really Just The Beginning) Default ThumbnailGetting Back To Normal Workouts (or Balancing Hard Work And Taking It Easy) Default ThumbnailTransitioning Back To Normal (or Going Slow)

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We Need To Make A Change (or I Just Don’t Have The Words)

Posted on February 16, 2018 | Comments Off on We Need To Make A Change (or I Just Don’t Have The Words)

I’ve started and deleted this post dozens of times. This week there was another school shooting. I’ve written about gun violence on here before, and since that most recent post over 2 years ago we’ve had dozens of school shootings and nothing has changed. Honestly, I don’t know what I could write that hasn’t been said every single time there is a shooting.

It’s nice that politicians want to offer thoughts and prayers, but since they believe in supporting the NRA more than supporting what citizens want as far as gun control I really don’t care about their thoughts and prayers. A majority of Americans believe in universal background checks, not allowing those on the Do Not Fly list to have weapons, banning assault rifles, not allowing people with a history of domestic violence or mental illness to have guns, and to stop the sales of high quantity ammunition. But even though a majority of Americans want those things to happen, certain politicians feel like it would be wrong to prevent anyone (no matter their violent or mental health history) from owning how ever many guns they want.

Since the rights and ideas of the NRA are more important than the rights and ideas of citizens right now, I doubt anything will change. If having children shot in an elementary school couldn’t convince politicians that change needs to happen, I don’t know what will. And I understand that having some gun control regulations won’t stop all mass shootings, but they will stop many of them. The shooter this week had a history of mental illness and even posted on YouTube that he was going to become a school shooter. Yet he was still allowed to get a gun and the FBI did nothing about the warning they got from someone alerting them to the comment.

There are also some politicians who say that we need to respect the victims and survivors and not politicize this tragedy and at a later date mental health and gun violence can be discussed. But the students who survived this shooting are telling people to politicize this because they know change needs to happen. They know that if it doesn’t happen now, it will be forgotten and nothing will be accomplished. That’s what happened after Sandy Hook and Las Vegas. We were called rude and heartless for saying something needs to be changed after those tragedies. The Las Vegas shooting wasn’t even 5 months ago and people have forgotten about it because so many other horrible things have happened.

This is not ok. All shootings are horrible, but school shootings are just heart wrenching. I remember after Columbine (which happened when I was in high school) how scary it was and that was the only school shooting I was aware of. I was scared, but I also believed that it couldn’t happen to me because it was so rare. But now it seems like there are school shootings every week. There are some inflated numbers by how many shootings there have been in 2018, but the low number that even conservative news is using is that this is the 5th school shooting in 2018. There have only been 5 or 6 weeks of school in 2018 so far so that is about 1 school shooting a week. Why do some politicians think this is ok?

So many of my friends with kids have had to bring them to school after a shooting when their kid was terrified that they would be shot at school. I can’t imagine how horrible that would be. I remember after Sandy Hook being at a friend’s house and watching the news while her kids were playing. Watching them play while knowing that kids the same age were killed while at school that day broke my heart. I don’t know how you could have the strength to explain to a kid that they should be safe at school when you have no clue what will happen. Or how terrified you would be if you heard that there was a shooting in your city and you weren’t sure if your kid was ok. I wish no parent had to have that feeling anymore, but sadly I know that won’t be true.

I really don’t know what else I can say about this situation. And while I feel helpless, there are ways to help. The group Everytown has shared ideas of what to do to make sure we have politicians that will honor what the majority of the country wants in terms of gun control.

No matter what your political viewpoint is, hopefully you agree that gun violence is out of control. There are steps that can help reduce it that are not being implemented because the NRA doesn’t want them to happen. We cannot let the NRA determine what is best for everyone when a majority disagrees. And we cannot allow politicians to get away with claiming how gun control is getting rid of all guns. I know responsible gun owners and they agree that gun control is needed. It shouldn’t be easier to get a gun than it is to drive a car. If you are deemed a violent risk to be on an airplane, you shouldn’t be allowed to have a gun to use on the ground. If you have a history of hitting your spouse or partner, you shouldn’t have a gun so the next time you get violent you can kill them.

I agree with Everytown when they said we don’t have to live like this and we don’t have to die like this. We have the power to make a change if we are willing to take it.

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Default ThumbnailWe Are All Tired Of This (or When Will Someone Try To Stop These Shootings) Default ThumbnailAnother Shooting (or Enough Is Enough) Default ThumbnailWhat Is Happening? (or Why I Support Black Lives Matter) Default ThumbnailSandy Hook (or There Are No Words) Default ThumbnailBoston (or Again, I Have No Words) Default ThumbnailMy Love Letter To The Actors’ Network (or Sorry Kevin, I Couldn’t Keep It Under 500 Words)

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More Union Education (or Making Sure Ads Go Union)

Posted on February 15, 2018 | 3 comments

You may have noticed that I am posting more and more about union events. I’ve been saying for a while that I wanted to become more involved in the union and I’m finally taking advantage of that! My schedule is fairly regular so I can make plans to attend different meetings and events and I love how this makes me feel continuously involved in union happenings and not that I’m on the outskirts. And this week was another week where I was at union headquarters for another meeting!

So many of the meetings and events I’ve been going to lately have been about commercials. This is a pretty current issue for a few reasons. First, the union will be negotiating the new commercial contract next year so we are getting prepared for that. But also, commercials have always been both union and non-union, but we are starting to see more non-union than before. Many jobs are still union, but we want to make sure they stay that way and that we get even more union commercials.

SAG-AFTRA has an entire committee dedicated to keeping commercials union and that was what this meeting was about. Members of the committee as well as union staff were there to explain more about the plan to get more commercials to be union work and what things have been happening so far.

While I’ve been at several events regarding union commercials, I learned new things at this meeting. These meetings are a response to the growing problem of non-union work and because of what members say in them the union can know what our specific issues are and how to remedy that.

I’ve been pretty lucky. While I don’t audition for commercials a lot, my agents have never asked me to violate union rules and audition for non-union work. In fact, when a commercial lied about being union and when I found out, my agents told me to leave because they didn’t want me to run into any issues. Not all actors are that lucky and they were discussing how their agents are encouraging them to work non-union even though they are union members.

But even though I’ve been lucky since becoming a union member, I know the issues of non-union commercials from before I joined SAG-AFTRA. When I was non-union, I did a commercial that paid pretty decently. It was super easy work and with what I made I paid my rent and bills for a month! I was so excited! But I didn’t realize that because my contract allowed the ad agency to use the commercial in perpetuity (which is common in non-union work), I had no idea then that I would have something that has been on tv for 11 years! It’s a haircare commercial/informercial and I see it on tv all the time. If this was union, I would be making residuals and still be getting paid. But because it was non-union and I didn’t have the protection of SAG-AFTRA and the contracts we have, I only got that 1 payment that doesn’t seem that much when you think about it being split over 11 years.

Because of my experience with non-union work, I’m passionate about making sure that other actors don’t have the same issue. If they aren’t in SAG-AFTRA and chose to do a non-union work, I want them to know what things to look for in a contract so they are making an educated decision. But I am even more passionate about helping commercials be union so that actors will have the protections that we have in our contracts. And that’s why I love getting to know more about the Ads Go Union campaign in meetings and being able to share what I learn with you all. This time, we got more information on recent things that the campaign has done and promoted to other members.

Even if I don’t book another commercial in my entire career, this issue is going to be an important one for me. I know first-hand how easily actors who don’t know better can get into a contract that they may regret later. And I want to see more union work so that my union brothers and sisters have more opportunities to do what they love. For me, my union dedication is all about education and seeing others succeed. And hopefully I will succeed as well.

I am looking to branch out a bit more and find union events about other issues so I can learn more about other union things I may want to get involved in. But for now, I’m just so happy that I’ve been able to get involved in the commercial recapturing initiative and that I will be able to find ways to help out other actors. I do plan on attending more and more events and I will keep finding ways to be involved and to make sure that all actors are educated on the issues.

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Default ThumbnailMore Union Working (or Influencers And Contracts) Default ThumbnailGetting Informed About A Contract (or A Union Meeting Before A Vote) Default ThumbnailFinal Union Working Meeting For 2017 (or A Commercial Roundtable) Default ThumbnailStaying Educated With Union Things (or A Meeting Of The Minds) Default ThumbnailHanging Out With Unite For Strength (or Talking About The Union) Default ThumbnailAnd Another Union Event (or Education, Fun, and Asking Questions)

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