Posted onNovember 16, 2022|Comments Off on My Travel Experience (or I Hate That This Isn’t Always Easy)
I’m going to write about my trip to Portland in tomorrow’s post, but I wanted to share my travel experience first. I had a few parts to my trip going to and from Portland. The easy part was driving to LAX and parking my car. I use the same parking lot whenever I park there. It’s not the cheapest one, but it feels safe and is easy to get to. So I just use that. I’m a bit annoyed that I realized I lost all my loyalty points because I hadn’t flown in a while because I wanted to use those for my parking. But that was a minor inconvenience to deal with and at least this was a relatively simple part of my trip.
I had been very nervous about flying for a while leading up to my trip. I don’t love flying and have had panic attacks on planes before. I also didn’t like the idea of being in such a small space with a lot of people who might not be wearing masks. I knew I’d wear a mask for the entire flight, but that might not be enough for me. I also knew both my flights were sold out, so it would be a full flight with people all around me. And I also was nervous about just being in a plane seat. Plane seats are tiny for everyone. I’ve never needed to have a seatbelt extender or an extra seat, but it’s still something I’m afraid will happen. I have flown at heavier weights than I am now, so there was no reason why I would need something different this time. But I was still scared something would happen.
My flight to Portland wasn’t too bad. The people seated next to me weren’t wearing masks, but they were sleeping through the entire flight and turned away from me. So at least they weren’t always breathing in my face. And I fit into my seat just fine. I know that’s not something everyone worries about going on to a plane, but until I was seated and had the seatbelt on me, I was scared something would be different and I didn’t want to know what that could mean. I did have some moments when I thought I might have a panic attack, but it never got that bad. I was anxious the entire flight, but that’s normal so I’m not bothered by that.
My flight home was decent as well. It was a newer plane, so the seats were a little nicer. And for this flight, I had a pretty view during takeoff.
For both flights, I just tried to stay distracted the entire time so I didn’t feel too anxious. I spent most of my time reading and that helped to pass the time without me constantly looking at my watch or trying to figure out how much longer I had left. And since I didn’t check bags, I didn’t have any fears about losing my luggage or anything like that.
And I got to and from the Portland airport via light rail. The train that has a stop right outside the airport also had a stop near where I was staying with my family. It saved my parents from having to drive to the airport to get me so they could enjoy more of their time and not have to be in traffic. It was about an hour each way for me, and just like on the plane, I spent most of my time reading. It was interesting to see the different parts of Portland on the train since it did go through a lot of the downtown area. And fortunately, it never was too crowded on the train for either trip. There were a few moments on the ride back to the airport at the end of the trip when there were a few people who were making me nervous and hanging out very close to my suitcase when there were a lot of other open spaces on the train. But everything was fine and I was probably just a bit paranoid.
Considering that this was the first time I had done any sort of traveling other than driving to Santa Barbara since Thanksgiving 2019, I’m pretty happy with how things went. I still have the same fears that I had before the pandemic, and I expected that to be the case. But at least nothing was that much worse than before and I was able to make the traveling experience as smooth as possible for myself. And the travel was just a few hours each way bookending my trip so most of my weekend was spent enjoying myself with my family and not focused on traveling.
Posted onNovember 15, 2022|Comments Off on A Couple Of Beauty Days (or More Prep For My Trip)
As I have written about before, since the pandemic I have really cut back on the regular beauty things I used to do. I know I could have gone back to doing some of the things I used to do, but I just wasn’t that motivated. Either they didn’t seem as important to me as they used to, I still was a bit cautious about Covid, or I didn’t feel like I needed to do them because I really don’t do as much as I used to. The only thing that I really kept up with was getting my hair done. And I think I’m better about getting my hair done regularly now than before.
But since I knew I would be seeing my family for our Fake Thanksgiving, I wanted to make sure I did what I needed to do to feel my best. Most of the beauty things I used to do wouldn’t matter for this trip (like getting a pedicure when I was going to a cold place and nobody would see my toes). But I did time getting my hair done so I would get my hair dyed right before my trip and it would look the best it could. I actually planned ahead before my last appointment so this one would be exactly 6 weeks after the last one. I try to do my hair every 6-8 weeks, so that would work out perfectly!
Since getting my hair done was the one thing I really kept up with, it does feel a bit more like maintenance than beauty. But there is still a difference in how I feel after an appointment. I know that a lot of people have been growing out their gray hair, but I’m just not there yet. I know I have a lot of gray hair, but it’s not really concentrated in one spot so they seem to just stick out. And most people who are my age and have gone gray usually have patches or streaks which makes it seem more like a style choice. One day, I’m sure I’ll just let go of my feeling about gray hair and let it be. But that’s not how I feel now. So getting my hair dyed and not having to see the grays is still something important to me.
But because my last appointment was only 6 weeks ago, the roots weren’t as obvious as they have been before. And my hair wasn’t looking scraggly so I didn’t need a bit cut. Even a trim helps to make things look polished, so I was very happy with how I looked after my appointment. And I knew that my hair was going to look great when I saw my family.
But going to get my hair done wasn’t all I did before the trip. I also got my eyebrows done for the first time since the pandemic! I used to regularly go to get my eyebrows done. I don’t need it as badly as I did before because I think getting them waxed for a few decades has led to some of the hair follicles dying. But I still like to have a professional do them so they look polished. I also know that I can’t always be trusted with tweezers and I don’t want to overpluck them.
The place I usually go to get my eyebrows done is inside a beauty store in a mall. I don’t normally go to malls, and I certainly hadn’t been in one since the pandemic. It was weird seeing things that felt normal but also not normal at the same time. I know that everyone has different comfort levels with how things are now, and I’m still very cautious. But I wore a mask and I was glad that I didn’t have to go too many places to get to the eyebrow place.
Most of what I needed to be done was to get them shaped. The esthetician did wax my brows to clean them up, but more time was focused on detail work. I appreciated her attention to detail and how she worked with me on what I preferred. And when they were done, my eyebrows looked so nice! It wasn’t a drastic difference compared to what I’ve been able to do on my own, but there’s just something extra when someone else makes things look as good as possible. And I didn’t realize until after the appointment how much I needed this. It really was something that helped me feel so much like myself and I felt just that much more confident about how I looked.
There were plenty of things that were making me nervous about my trip. I had been having a lot of anxiety the week leading up to it. But getting a few different beauty things done before I left really allowed me to spend some time on positive things that were distractions from the nerves.
Posted onNovember 14, 2022|Comments Off on Most Of My Workout Week (or Some Improvements and Some New Struggles)
I had a longer workout week than normal this past week. But for this post, I’m only going to write about the regular 4 workouts that I did and the last one will be in a different post. I had a few things overall that both helped and hurt my workouts. I did try to drink a bit of the protein milk that I normally have for breakfast before my workout instead of drinking juice. That way, I would get a bit of sugar in my system and I also would have some protein instead of working out on an empty stomach. That actually helped a lot and I’m going to keep doing that. But I also spent the week dealing with the congestion that I’ve had for the past week. I don’t feel sick and I’ve been making sure it’s not Covid, but any time that you feel off, it can make your workouts off. But I did my best for this past week.
For Monday’s workout, we had 3 blocks at each section of the room. And for cardio and rowing, we did the same thing for each block.
For cardio, we started with a 30-second base pace followed by a 30-second push pace. We then had a 30-second all-out and a 30-second recovery before repeating that pattern again for that block. Since everything was short intervals, it kept things from feeling too repetitive, even though the workout was the same in each block.
On the rower, everything was also in 30-second intervals. We had 3 intervals with a medicine ball and 3 intervals on the rower. We had good mornings, squats, and squat presses with the medicine ball. Then we had 30-seconds to get onto the rower before we did the same pattern as cardio for the second half of each block.
On the floor, each block had 2 exercises. The first block had single-arm marches with a shoulder press and rollouts on the straps. The second block had front squats with weights and calf raises. And the last block had clean presses with weights and y-raises on the straps.
Tuesday’s workout felt more like an endurance day even though I know it was still a mix of endurance, strength, and power.
For cardio, we had one long block that started with a 90-second push pace followed by a 90-second base pace. We continued to do push paces followed by 90-second base paces, but the push pace got 30-seconds longer each time. And at the end of the cardio block, we had a 1-minute all-out.
On the rower, we were on our own with the timing between rowing and the exercise we had to do. We started with 3 rounds of a 200-meter row where we tried to improve upon our time each round. Then we had knees to elbows, which I do almost like marching in place but I do try to get my knees as high as I can go. Then we had 3 rounds of a 150-meter row with knees to elbows after completing those rounds. I was working on the 3 rounds of a 100-meter row when the block ended. And for the 150-meter and 100-meter rows, I was able to improve upon each row.
On the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had split squat jumps, which I have to do as lunges, and neutral grip thrusters. And in the second block, we had single-arm hip hinge swings, single-arm chest presses, and lateral hop overs. Sometimes I do try to do the hop overs with lowering the bench, but since I was using the bench for other exercises I decided to do skater lunges instead so I didn’t have to take up too much time lowering and raising the bench.
Wednesday’s workout had an interesting cardio challenge. For people on the treadmills, they were doing power walking for most of the block. And because they were using high inclines, that meant I was using high resistance levels on the bike.
We had 3 cardio blocks that all had the same pattern. We had 3-minutes using inclines, and the inclines went down by 1% every minute. And each block ended with a 1-minute all-out within inclines. Since we would have 9 different high inclines/resistance levels to use, I knew I would have to go really high on the bike. For the first block, I felt like I didn’t move that much for those 3-minutes. But each block did get easier and it was nice to have very little resistance when I did the 1-minute all-out each block.
On the rower, we started with a 600-meter base row. After recovering, we did a 300-meter row followed by squats to standing knee tucks. We repeated the 300-meter row and squats to knee tucks 3 times before doing another 600-meter row. I did fine with the first 600-meter row and the 3 300-meter rows. But during the last 600-meter row, I think my congestion was just affecting me a bit more than I thought it would. I had to take quite a few breaks during that row and I wasn’t able to finish before the rowing block was done.
And on the floor, we had 1 long block with 3 mini-blocks. And we were supposed to do each mini-block twice before moving on to the next one. We had lateral lunges and reciprocating rows, bicep curls and rows on the straps, and plank pull-throughs and seated rotations. I was able to get through doing all of the mini-blocks twice and was working on repeating all the exercises again when the workout was done. I don’t always get through all the exercises like that, so I was pretty proud of myself.
And for Thursday’s workout, we had a specialty workout. This was called Shot Clock and it was designed by the NCAA player of the year to be similar to the workouts they do to train for their games. We had 3 blocks for each section of the room.
For cardio, blocks 1 and 3 were the same. For those blocks, we had a 2 1/2-minute distance challenge. And the extra challenge was to go further in block 3 than you did in block 1. And for block 2, we started with 3 rounds of a 30-second push pace and a 15-second all-out. Doing a 15-second all-out is very rare, so we were supposed to try to push ourselves to go faster. And I did try to do that with how fast I was pedaling. And the second block ended with just a 30-second all-out.
On the rower, just like with cardio we did the same thing for blocks 1 and 3. For those blocks, we did 100-meter rows and tried to improve upon our time each time we did it. I was able to do better each time in the first block, but I wasn’t quite able to do that for the last block. And for block 2, we followed the same pattern as cardio with the pushes and all-outs. But when cardio had their recovery after each all-out, we got off our rowers and did quick feet.
And on the floor, the first block was interesting. It was 2 1/2-minutes long and we had 3 exercises in it. We had quick feet, plank jacks, and lateral hops. But our coach told us what to do and when, so we never knew when we’d be switching to a new exercise or how long we’d be doing it. The second block was timed along with cardio and the rower. We had 30-seconds of a goblet squat, 15-seconds of a squat with a calf raise, and during the cardio recovery, we had either side plank reaches or plank hip dips. I did the hip dips since those are a bit easier for my hips. And the last block for cardio was with a partner. We sat back to back and did torso rotations with the medicine ball and passed the ball between us. And we also had push-ups where we passed the medicine ball between us. It was an interesting and different partner challenge and my partner and I were able to get through the exercises pretty quickly so we got in a few rounds of each.
I’m glad that even though I struggled a bit with feeling a bit off, it didn’t affect too much of my workout. I know it wasn’t the best workout week, but it was far from the worst. And like I said, this was just some of my workout week because I had one more workout to go!
Posted onNovember 11, 2022|Comments Off on Just A Bit More To The Renovation (or Still Working On Standing Up For Myself)
It feels like the renovation of my condo has been going on forever. And that’s probably because the process started about a year ago. It was just under a year ago that we started to interview contractors to do the work. The actual work didn’t start until the end of January, but that’s still almost a year. Most of the work only took 3 months, and since then it’s just been a bunch of random little things that still had to be completed.
I had been warned by my parents and everyone I know who has done a renovation that it will always take much longer than expected. But I think this is even longer than what I had been warned about. Some of the delays have been because of things needing to be worked on that had to be planned out. For example, when my floors had to be redone, they had to work on ordering enough new floors for me and that took time to come in. And once the new floors arrived, they had to work around my schedule and I had to make sure I didn’t have any meetings the day that they were working. I think they also wanted to do some of the things on the punchup list on the same day to not have to be here while I work more than necessary.
And because of the timing of other things in my life, there was a bit of time between the floors being redone and when my parents would be able to be in LA again. And my parents wanted to inspect things before we signed off on all the work being completed, which I totally understood. I think I’m so used to living in rentals that had a lot of little flaws, so the small mistakes aren’t things I noticed. For example, my parents noticed that two of my kitchen cabinets weren’t straight and the gap between them was crooked. I don’t know if I ever would have seen that if it wasn’t pointed out to me. But once they did point it out, I always noticed it. So after they went through the condo again, we created another punchup list to be completed before we signed off.
The work was supposed to be done this week, but it ended up only partially being done. Some of the work is related to the tile in my kitchen and bathroom, and I guess their tile person wasn’t available or there was a miscommunication. But there were other things that could have been done, and most were completed except for one.
There is a fastener for my dryer vent that isn’t secure, so that needs to be fixed. It should be a very simple fix, but they have to move my washer and dryer in order to do it. And because I don’t want my floors to be damaged, I knew I would have to make sure that they protected my floors before they did that work. I noticed when the worker was about to start that there was nothing on my floors. I asked him what he was going to do to protect my floors since they are very aware of my floors having to be redone before. He said he didn’t have anything, and I told him that he couldn’t do that repair today unless he protected the floors first. Since he had nothing with him, that wasn’t completed and they will need to return another time.
I’m so used to not making trouble and just trying to go with the flow, but I was glad that I stood up for myself. I know that asking them to wait until they could protect the floors wasn’t the biggest ask, but it was important for me to do it. I’m used to being in a rental where I didn’t feel pride or ownership over things like floors, but now these are mine and I have every right to ask for people working on my place to keep them nice. It’s similar to how I’m getting used to asking people to take off their shoes in my house since I don’t like shoes to be worn inside (mainly to keep things clean). It’s not easy to ask someone to do something that might inconvenience them a bit, but I have every right to do that since this is my home.
I’ve tried to be better about standing up for myself and asking for what I want in different aspects of my life, and this was just another one. And yes, this means that the fixes that need to be done will be delayed again, but that’s not something I feel at fault for. It would have been delayed anyway since the tile person was not there. But even if everything else had been done, knowing that I won’t need to worry about my floor being scratched up will be worth whatever delay that might happen.
And eventually, all of these last little things will be done and the renovation will finally be done. But it looks like there will still be a bit more to go and I’ll just have to continue to be patient.
Posted onNovember 10, 2022|Comments Off on I Guess Not All Doctor Appointments Can Be Good Ones (or I Don’t Think I’ll See This Doctor Again)
After having a lot of pain in my back and hips that seemed to not end, I knew it would be smart to see an orthopedic surgeon. I’m still sad that my original orthopedic surgeon isn’t with my insurance anymore because I did appreciate how he never talked down to me and really worked with me to make a plan. I’ve had a few appointments with other orthopedic surgeons since then, but I’ve never really worked consistently with another doctor. So I had to get a new referral, which fortunately was a very simple process. And I got everything all set to see this new doctor.
It turned out that this wasn’t a new doctor to me. I had forgotten that I had an appointment with them a few years ago. If I had remembered that, I might not have gone since I now know I didn’t have the best impression of him. But since I didn’t know that until I was in my appointment, I went into this appointment hoping that I would like this surgeon and that maybe they would be the newest member of my medical team. But instead, I left that appointment feeling pretty certain that I will never see this doctor again and knowing I need to submit a complaint about them.
I know that going in for a random check for an ongoing medical condition isn’t the most normal thing, but when I set up this appointment I was still in a lot of pain. I’m glad the pain is gone now, but I would like to know what was causing it since you really can’t get diagnosed post-pain. Because of how it happened and ended, I feel like it must have been a back issue and not a hip issue. And it might have been something as simple as pulling a muscle. I know there isn’t anything wrong with my spine (based on information I got in this appointment) and there’s nothing else that is obvious. So while I started this appointment explaining that’s why I made the appointment, it was really only for a few moments before we moved on.
This doctor asked me what else was going on and I tried to explain my history with my hips. That’s when the doctor said that they had seen me a few years prior. I then moved on to explain that the pain I had worried me and I knew that I still needed a few surgeries for my hips and that I’ve gone longer than my original surgeon expected me to be able to go. As soon as I said that, this doctor said that they didn’t agree with anything my other doctor said and that I might be in a worse situation because of my first surgery. That really didn’t sit right with me. I knew how much pain I was in before and how that surgery helped. To be told that surgery wasn’t a smart thing to do really contradicts my experience.
And things just continued to get worse. Basically, the rest of the appointment was this doctor telling me I need to lose weight. They implied that if I was in pain now, they wouldn’t even recommend doing any diagnostic testing as they would not treat me until I was at a weight they felt was right for me. I know that there is a fat bias in the healthcare field and I have experienced that from time to time. But it’s usually been from doctors who I won’t see again. For example, once at Urgent Care, the doctor I saw asked me about losing weight when I was there for strep throat. Weight has nothing to do with strep. But with my regular doctors, I usually don’t get weight lectures because they understand that my problems don’t necessarily connect to my weight. But this doctor seemed to not want to discuss anything else.
They could see that I am working on my weight and am working with someone in bariatric medicine, but they were almost hounding me and asking over and over again what I am going to do to lose the weight they think I need to lose (which is also 40 pounds more than what any of my other doctors recommend for me). I kept explaining what I was doing and they just wouldn’t listen or understand that I am working on it. I don’t know what answer they wanted me to give them. They asked what I was going to do and I told them and their response was to ask me what I’m doing. It was so frustrating and I really was ready for the appointment to be over because I could tell that this was going nowhere.
Finally, they did review my x-rays with me and said that I do still have some hip dysplasia on one side (which is a birth defect and completely unrelated to weight) and that there is no sign of arthritis or any other issues. But then it got back to them asking me about my weight and what I would do before they felt like it was too late. I was feeling just over this appointment and was so glad when they ended things with me by saying that if I do have any more pain that I would need to be at the low weight they want me at before they would consider helping me.
I have never had a doctor say that they wouldn’t help me if I didn’t meet their weight requirements. I’ve also never had a doctor who could see what steps I was taking toward losing weight and just ignore them or dismiss my previous efforts. I think that was not right of them. What if I had a lot of pain right now and they refused to help me because of my weight but it ended up being something they could have fixed if they had listened to me before? I follow someone on social media who was dismissed by a doctor when they went in to discuss their pain because of their weight and when they got to another doctor who was willing to work with them, it was discovered they had stage 3 colon cancer. Refusing to help patients because of weight isn’t right. I would have understood if this doctor said that they wouldn’t recommend a hip replacement until I was at a different weight or if they discussed why weight can cause issues with that surgery. But to say they wouldn’t do anything for me unless I lost weight was just awful.
I am working on writing up a complaint about this doctor. I know I wasn’t treated fairly and that they wouldn’t have cared what my complaint was because they wouldn’t see me as a worthy patient until I was at their goal weight. And to have a doctor ignore what I’ve been doing and see that I’m working on weight isn’t fair either. They knew what medications I’m on and what doctors I’m seeing, yet they didn’t care because they wanted me to do something other than what my other doctors recommended and what their plan is for me. I have lost some weight since starting my new medication. I’m down about 3% of my body weight, which I think is pretty good for it just being a month so far. But it could have been 50% of my weight and I feel like this doctor would have been just as dismissive of me.
I’m grateful that the pain I was experiencing is gone for now so I don’t have to worry about seeing this doctor again. And I do want to find a different doctor to work with me because I don’t feel comfortable with this doctor at all. Even if I was at the weight they want me to be, I would still know that they wouldn’t want to help me if I gained weight and got out of the range they want me to be in. I don’t need someone helping me who only wants to help if I match specific things. Â Unfortunately, this doctor is the only hip specialist at the hospital I go to. So I would need to find a different medical center to meet someone else. But honestly, I think the drive would be worth it so I’m not treated like this again.
Posted onNovember 9, 2022|Comments Off on Stress Is Hitting Me Hard (or A Lot Of Things Are Coming At Once)
I know that stress will always be a part of my life. I will never be stress-free, but I have gotten used to a certain level of stress as my baseline. And while I do struggle sometimes with that baseline stress level, it’s usually pretty manageable with different tricks and tools that I use. But this week, a lot of stress is hitting me at the same time and it’s really starting to affect me.
The first thing related to stress isn’t one that I can control. We are having some weather that causes me extra pain. This isn’t anything new for me, but it’s always frustrating when it happens. I can manage this with painkillers and other over-the-counter things, and as you are reading this I have already had an appointment with a new orthopedic surgeon so I might have some new information about how my hips are doing. I’m always open to trying different things to make this pain easier to deal with. But it’s also something that just adds to my life that I have to work through.
I’m also stressed about getting on a flight very soon. I haven’t been on a plane in quite some time. I already don’t like to fly and I know that it can cause me anxiety or bring on panic attacks. And flying now, even though the pandemic isn’t as bad as it was before, is still a higher-risk thing to do. I know that masks aren’t required on planes anymore, but I will be wearing a high-quality mask myself to make sure that I am staying as safe as I could. I know that plenty of people have gone on planes, both with and without a mask, and have been fine and didn’t get sick. But with all the precautions I’ve been taking for so long, this is just one more thing that is adding a bit of worry to my week. And because I’ve got my regular anxiety as well, it’s more than I’m used to dealing with for flying.
Traveling is a bit exciting since I haven’t really gone anywhere since 2019 other than places that are within about a 90-minute drive. But it’s also something else that is taking up time that I have to get ready for. I need to pack and see what I still need to get, especially since I don’t have many travel-sized toiletries. I don’t think doing that is too stressful, but it’s still time in my day when I don’t have a lot of free time to begin with. I’m trying to focus more on being excited for my brief escape from LA so it’s more positive stress than negative stress.
And because of all this extra stress this week, I’m dealing with a very minor cold. I have done a few Covid tests already to make sure it’s not Covid, and it might actually be dealing with allergies and not a cold. I don’t necessarily feel sick, just a bit congested and I’m sneezing a bit more than normal. No matter what the reason why I’m feeling this way, I know that having extra stress causes your immune system to be a bit weaker than normal so it’s easier to catch something. I’m going to test again for Covid before I have to fly to double check, but since I’ve already tested negative a few times and I don’t have too many symptoms, I feel pretty certain that it’s something else right now.
I know that usually when I have stressful things happening they do tend to pile up. And that’s exactly what’s going on right now. But all of these new stresses are very temporary and hopefully, within a week or two, I’ll be back to my normal baseline stress levels.
Posted onNovember 8, 2022|Comments Off on Not Exactly A Musical Night (or Continuing To Be Spoiled With Our Pre-Show Dinners)
My friend Jodi and I had our second show this past weekend for the new Pantages season. As I’ve said so many times, I’m glad that I have been able to continue going to shows and that I have a friend who wanted to join me this time. And I’m happy that the shows are back at the Pantages because that means it’s even easier for us to go to dinner at my favorite place, Wood & Vine. I was going there for dinner before the shows at the Dolby, but it was a bit more rushed since we had to drive over to the theater instead of just walking across the street. And honestly, going to Wood & Vine feels like such a part of the plan with going to a show and I miss it if I’m not there for my pre-show dinner.
Jodi and I decided to try a few new things for our dinner. We decided that we wanted to get the crab cakes again because they were so incredible the last time we had them. And we got the popcorn shrimp since that was something I had never had before there. And for our main entree, we got the burger (which came as 2 burgers) because I don’t think I’ve had that before either.
And as always, we got spoiled at dinner. We were sent an order of the ahi tartare, which was another thing that I had never had before there. And I don’t know if I’ve had ahi tartare before in general.
Every single bite was delicious. I’m glad their menu isn’t bigger because I’ve never had something there that I don’t like and it would be hard to decide what to get if they had more options. I have loved everything I’ve had and I always want to get some of my favorites as well as try new things as they change up their menu. And this was a perfect combination of things I had tried before and new things. I especially loved the garlic fries that came with the burger. They were perfectly garlicky!
And again, we were sent dessert even though we didn’t order it. Often, we are sent the butterscotch dessert because that is my favorite. But I think I have a new favorite now. We were sent the bread and butter pudding and I can’t explain how luxurious and delicious it was.
It wasn’t too sweet, which I loved. And it melted in your mouth. Honestly, if I didn’t have to be up early the next morning, I would have debated about us going back to Wood & Vine after the show for a second dessert! It was that good! And I think I will have to have that again the next time we have dinner there.
After being spoiled by so much good food, it was time to walk across the street to go to the show. I usually refer to the season as the musical season, but this was not a musical. I can’t remember another show that was a part of the regular season that wasn’t a musical, so it’s not something that happens regularly. But this season, they decided to make one of the shows a regular play.
Like so many people, I’m familiar with the story of “To Kill A Mockingbird”. I read the book in school and I remember my class watching the movie after we read the book. It’s been years since I’ve read or watched it, but I still knew the main plot points of the story. I had heard that there were a few changes made, but I didn’t think I’d recognize them since it had been so long since I had revisited the story.
I think the play was very well done. The performances were incredible and the plot followed the story that I remembered for the most part. They did some back and forth with the storytelling that I don’t remember seeing before, but it was easy enough to follow when we were moving through the timeline or when we were watching the action take place versus having the characters tell the story. And I liked how they used the set to change from location to location because it was done very simply and kept the focus on the story (sometimes musicals have sets that are super flashy and can be something I focus on a bit too much).
It was an interesting change of pace compared to seeing musicals, but I think it was a good addition to the season. And while Jodi and I were at dinner, we realized that our next show isn’t for about 2 months. And then after that, we have a 4-month break between shows! So we are going to try to see if there are any other random shows we want to go to since we are having so much fun getting to hang out on a regular basis and have entertaining nights out! But even if we don’t figure out another show to see before January, I’m so excited about what we have coming up and I know that this season is going to continue to be amazing!
Posted onNovember 7, 2022|Comments Off on A Little More Of Hell Week (or Trying To Push A Bit More)
I only had a little bit of Hell Week left this past week and then I was back to normal workouts. But it was also a week that I was feeling a bit better so I was able to push a bit more and try to have a good workout week. I’ve been having too many weeks where I’m struggling due to various issues, so feeling ok for most of the week and going harder was something I really needed to do.
Monday’s workout was the final day of Hell Week. I had already earned my shirt the week before, and I normally don’t get to do more workouts than required to earn the shirt. But with the way the schedule worked this time, I was able to do 5 Hell Week workouts by just doing my regular schedule.
This workout was called Untitled and it was a partner workout. We hadn’t really done a real partner workout since the pandemic (the workout that was similar to a partner workout at the beginning of Hell Week still had blocks determined by the coach and not by our partners), so it was exciting to have something different. But it also put pressure on the workout to make sure I didn’t slack off and let my partners down.
Before we started the partner section of the workout, we had really short blocks in each section of the room. For cardio and rowing, we had a 30-second base, a 30-second base to push pace, a 30-second push pace, a 30-second push to all-out, and 30-second all-out. And on the floor, we did 30-seconds each for good mornings, squats, skater lunges, in and out steps, and boat holds. Then we go to the partner workout.
For cardio and rowing, whoever was in that part of the room was just going as long as it took to have a switch. We didn’t reset the rower and the goal was to get as many meters as possible during the entire workout. And the person who was on the floor controlled the switch. We had 6 exercises we might have to do on the floor, but we only had to do 3 at a time. We had bicep curls, squat to press, low rows on the straps, chest presses on the straps, sit-ups, and plank reaches. But the Hell Week twist was that at random points during the workout, the 3 exercises the floor person had to do switched. And if you were on the floor when the switch happened, you had to start over and do all of the new exercises. So there were times when someone was on the last exercise and then they switched so they had to start over and the people on cardio and rower had to do double the time. Whenever the person on the floor was done, everyone switched.
I had good partners for this workout and I feel like we all were doing the floor exercises at the same pace so nobody was making the person doing cardio or rowing take longer than necessary (other than when the exercises switched). I really enjoyed this workout and felt like it was the perfect way to end Hell Week.
Tuesday’s workout was the first regular workout after Hell Week. It seemed like a lot of people took the day off, but I was ready to get back to normal workouts. And this workout was one where we could pick and choose some aspects of it, so it worked out well to be a bit of a recovery day.
For cardio, the first two blocks were 4 minutes each and we could decide how we wanted to do those 4 minutes. You could do a progressive push, some all-outs and recovery, or whatever intervals you wanted to do. I decided to do a 3-minute push pace into a 1-minute all-out for both of those blocks. I wasn’t going as fast as I might have done if I wasn’t tired from Hell Week, but I did better than I had done when I was feeling bad. And for the last block, we had rounds of 30-second all-outs and 30-second recoveries.
On the rower, the first block was rounds of a 250-meter row and squats. For the second block, we had rounds of a 250-meter row and lunges. And for the last block, we were matched with cardio with the 30-second intervals of all-outs and recoveries.
And on the floor, the first two blocks were at our own pace and the last block was timed. In the first block, we had sumo deadlifts and plank steps. In the second block, we had squat to bicep curls and single-leg downward dog to leg drives. And in the last block, we had 2 options for what we wanted to do for 30-second intervals. I chose to do the work using the TRX straps so I had tricep extensions and bicep curls and we just switched every 30-seconds which exercise we did. My arms were so tired at the end of that last block!
On Wednesday, I was finally feeling more normal and no longer tired from Hell Week. And it allowed me to push myself a bit more in the workout, which was a good thing since the cardio work was really tough!
We had 2 blocks and in the first cardio block, we had 3 hills to do. For each hill, we started at the highest incline/resistance level and it went down every minute for 3 minutes. Then we had a minute to recover before doing the hills again. I had the resistance levels set to start higher than my all-out level, so it was very tough to pedal. And in the second block, we started at an even higher incline/resistance level and every minute it went down until we were at a flat incline for the all-out at the end. Again, I was spending most of my time at a resistance level higher than my all-out so it was really tough. But it was a good challenge to do and I didn’t focus too much on how fast I was pedaling since I knew I was getting the challenge in another way.
On the rower, both blocks started with a 500-meter row. In the first block, after the row we had 2 rounds of tricep extensions and front presses with a medicine ball before getting on the rower again to row for distance until the block was done. For the second block, we only had to do the exercises once before getting on the rower and the challenge was to try to beat the first distance even though the second block was shorter. I was able to get further in the second block, but I think it helped that I didn’t need to rest between reps with the medicine ball before getting back to rowing.
And on the floor, each block had 3 exercises. The first block had clean to front squats, push-ups, and plank side reaches. And the second block had single-arm neutral thrusters, lunges, and woodchoppers. And as a finisher, at the end of the workout, we had frogger squats. I think I might have made the floor a little easier since the bike work was so tough, but I did try to challenge myself a bit with the weights and allow myself to struggle instead of speeding through the exercises.
Thursday was the day I think I pushed myself the most and also the day that I was feeling the most lightheaded. I did get a chance to talk to my coach after class to try to figure out how to make sure my blood sugar doesn’t keep dropping in class, so I’m hoping that this week might be a bit better for me. I only was dealing with lightheadedness at certain points in the workouts, so I’m glad it wasn’t affecting the entire thing.
For cardio, we mainly had 30-second all-outs for the entire block. We started with 30-second intervals with base and push paces, but only did that twice before starting with the 30-second all-outs. We had a mix of 45-second and 1-minute recoveries between each all-out, which didn’t feel like that much time when we were constantly doing all-outs. I’m much more used to having a base or push pace mixed in there too, so even though we had a lot more recovery time than normal, it wasn’t easy. I mixed things up between using my normal all-out resistance level on the bike and using my base level and just pedaling as fast as possible so I could maximize my efforts on the bike. And I think that was a really good plan for me because I think I was tired but at least the variety helped me not feel too exhausted.
On the rower, we started with a 4-minute row. I had a moment of being lightheaded on the rower, but it passed really quickly so I didn’t have to take a long break. And I focused on just being steady with my rowing and not going too crazy. After the row, we had bicep curls and calf raises with a medicine ball before getting back on the rower for a 2-minute row. We repeated this pattern with cutting the row in half each time and the goal was to beat at least half the distance each time. Because the rows kept getting shorter, I was able to not only do better than half the distance, but my wattage on the rower was going up significantly each time. That was unexpected since I usually am in a very small range with the wattage for all my rows.
And on the floor, we had 3 blocks. In the first block, it was supposed to be all Bosu work, but I had to do them without using the Bosu. We had knee tucks, bicycle crunches, and back extensions. The knee tucks were really hard for me to do, but they always are so I just had to go slowly and rest when I needed to. The second block had step-back low rows and skier swings and the last block had chest presses and lunges. For those last two blocks, the lightheadedness really hit me hard. I just have to sit and let it pass when that happens, so that’s what I did. I didn’t love that it took away from my workout, but I also made up for it by trying to push myself even more when I was doing the exercises. And hopefully, some of the tips I got from my coach will help me moving forward.
I think that this was the perfect way to end Hell Week. I had some really great workouts and I still tried to push myself. And this week, I might be pushing myself a bit more (but I’ll have to share about that when I do my recap) and I’ll be doing my first workout that is not in California! I’m very excited to share about that!
Posted onNovember 4, 2022|Comments Off on A Few Weeks With The New Medication (or I’m Hoping I Continue To See Progress)
It’s almost been a month since I had my appointment with the doctor in bariatric medicine and got put on a new medication. This was a medication I was interested in and one of the main reasons I made the appointment. However, I was nervous about it since I knew it was an injectable and I know how much I hate getting shots. But since it could be something that would help me, I was willing to try. And I’m very glad that when I went to that appointment, the doctor I met with agreed and I started the new medication that day.
Since I started the shots that day and they are once a week, I did my fourth one this past Monday. And the way the medication is set up, you have to work up to what is considered a therapeutic dosage. You start at a very low dose for 4 weeks before increasing to a higher dose. And you don’t get to the therapeutic dosage until 8 or 10 weeks in. So I have only done the lowest dose so far and I will be switching to the next level when I do my shot this Monday. I know that because this medication, or ones that are like it, are being advertised a lot on tv that a lot of people are curious about it. So I thought that I would share my thoughts and feelings on how this has gone for me so far.
I’ve tried many different medications in the past for either weight loss or my eating disorder. I know that none of the things I have taken are a miracle cure and that they have always been tools that can help me with the effort that I’m making on my own. And while I would love to not have to try, I understand that I can’t just rely on medication to do the work for me. Fortunately, I have been doing a lot of the right things already. I didn’t need to worry about adding in exercise since I’m at Orangetheory 4 mornings a week. I know that my eating isn’t great, but it’s much better than it has been in the past. And I have felt for a long time that if other people were doing what I have been doing, they would see results. But I know that my metabolism has been off for a long time and I have wondered if it’s gotten worse over time and that’s why I haven’t seen a lot of change.
And so far, I can say that with this new medication, I do notice some changes. And I’ll start with the positives. I haven’t been as focused on food as I have in the past. I know that other medications were supposed to do the same thing for me, but maybe I have needed the combination of them in order to get that feeling. I do still have moments where the desire to binge eat happens, but it’s less frequent than I can ever remember. I’m also not eating as much at each meal as I did before. I know that this new medication slows down digestion, so you feel full sooner. And I do notice that.
But feeling full sooner isn’t always a good thing. I’m not great at eating lots of little meals, but I think I need to try to do that or add snacks to my day. I can eat too fast and that makes things very uncomfortable. I haven’t had some of the more severe reactions to eating too quickly or too much, but I have felt pain when I haven’t done the right things. I also know that my blood sugar is probably very low now. This new medication does lower your blood sugar (it was originally for diabetics) and that really affects me throughout the day. It’s a struggle to work out in the morning, and I’m working on finding the best things to have before a workout in order to not feel lightheaded or shaky. I’ve been drinking juice, but I think I might need to eat something more substantial before going to class. I just need to find the balance of what will make me feel ok but not sick when working out. I don’t like to eat before a workout, but I will just have to be flexible with that idea and do what is best for me and allows me to push myself as much as possible in class. And the main side effect that I’ve experienced has been nausea, but I also know that can be due to other things in my life so I’m not sure how much is from this new medication. I know that when I do the shots, I feel worse for a few hours, so I know some of it is from this. But it’s not nearly as bad as what I deal with normally each month.
Even though I’m not on the therapeutic dosage yet, I have seen results. The first week I had a pretty significant weight loss. It was about 5% of the weight I want to lose. That’s a lot, but I also knew that the first week or so of any new medication or eating program can cause a lot of weight loss right away. I haven’t lost a lot of weight since that first week, but I have seen very small changes. I’m trying to not weigh myself too much since there are so many things that can cause fluctuations in my weight, but it is reassuring sometimes that I’m still making progress. Even if it’s not fast, it’s something. And if I lose a pound or so a week, that’s still going to add up to a lot. So I’m hoping that I’ll continue to see this type of progress, especially as I work up toward the therapeutic dosage.
As much as I hate shots, I’m lucky that injecting myself with this new medication hasn’t been as much of a struggle as I feared. It’s still not easy, but it’s tolerable. And I think seeing the results I’ve had so far has been good motivation to keep going. So after 4 weeks of this, I have to say that I’m glad that I am trying this. I think it was the right step for me to take and even with some of the negative side effects I don’t have any regrets yet. And I hope that’s how I continue to feel as I keep going and that it will be the tool that I have been needing to work toward recovery.
Posted onNovember 3, 2022|Comments Off on 1 Year Of Being A Homeowner (or It’s Been A Crazy First Year)
Exactly one year ago, we closed on the sale of my condo. In some ways, it feels like it was just the other day and in other ways, it feels like it’s been longer than a year. I think the fact that I looked at so many condos makes the timeline a bit muddy in my mind. But I know that only looking for a month last year is a lot quicker than most people experience. And I know several people who didn’t get the first or second place they put an offer in on. So to only have to put an offer in on one place was very lucky and I’m still so grateful that this is my home.
Even though I have been a homeowner for a year now, I consider this to be my home for only about 6 months since I didn’t move in here until April this year. I wasn’t expecting to have to stay in my rental as long as I did, but the renovation took longer due to multiple reasons and I knew I didn’t want to live through a renovation when I could be living in a different location. It did make things a bit more expensive for me since I was paying for rent during that overlap plus I had bills at both homes, but it was worth it to me to have peace in my home and not construction noise all day.
Looking back at the photos of the condo from the listing, it doesn’t feel like the same place to me anymore. I was really able to make this my home and fit my style and aesthetic. It’s not finished yet and I still have things I need to get, but it’s much more like my home than my rental or what the condo looked like before the renovation.
Originally, the plan wasn’t to do a huge renovation, but as we got started it made more sense to do everything at once instead of doing some before I moved in and some after I was living here. And we made a few significant changes such as making the passthrough between the kitchen and living room much bigger so it felt like the two rooms were open to each other. That idea was something my parents heard when they were interviewing contractors, and I think that change made such a difference in how the space feels. We also had to get new kitchen cabinets when the original plan was to just refinish the ones that were in there because the original ones were damaged and wouldn’t be able to support me putting dishes in them without risking having them fall off the walls. So obviously that had to be fixed. I don’t think we necessarily went overboard with the renovation, but we did do a lot as we discovered things that needed to be done. And at least now anything else I want to do (which is only my closet and my bathroom) are things that can wait for a few years since the changes are about the appearance and not the function.
I haven’t had to change too much in my life since moving because I’m only a few blocks away from my rental. My life still has the same routines and I still go to the same places I went to before, like the same grocery stores. But I think the quality of my life has improved a lot. Having almost 3 times the space has been a huge and positive change. I didn’t realize how nice it would be to have my office area separate from my living room. I have a kitchen that is really functional and that has appliances that work and don’t make it harder to cook. And I’m very fortunate that my costs haven’t changed too much compared to what I was paying before. Some of my bills are a bit higher, but others are lower. And paying property taxes was a bit of a shock with how much they are, but when you split up the cost over a year, between those and my HOA fees, it’s about the same as I was paying in rent.
But I think the best thing that has happened to me in the past year of being a homeowner is just feeling more settled in my home and really feeling like I have a place that is mine. My rental felt more like my place than any other place I had lived before, but I had no idea how much more I could feel like my place is my home until I moved into the condo. Part of it has to do with the renovation and changes we made to how things look. But there’s just something different knowing that this is my home and my piece of LA. I’m not dependent on a landlord to maintain a space and I don’t have to worry about the rents increasing and pricing me out or having a landlord that wants to tear down the building to modernize things and needing to rush to find a new home (which is what is going to happen to my neighbors at my old place as soon as the landlord can kick people out). I have felt like LA has been my home pretty much as soon as I moved here. Even living in the dorms in college, LA felt like home.
But even though I have felt like LA has been my home for over 20 years, I have spent the past year owning a part of LA and really being able to build a home and not just moving into a space to try to make it feel like mine. And I can’t wait to continue my life in LA in this home and see what the next year and beyond have in store for me!
An Interesting Plane Flight (or A Return Of My Panic Attacks)
