Category Archives: Celebrations

First Halloween Party Of The Season (or At Least I Made An Appearance)

Posted on October 24, 2019 | Comments Off

There has been a lot of Halloween party invites lately and so many of them are happening on the same nights. As much as I want to attend everything, I know I can’t and I know if I did that I’d be feeling overwhelmed. So I had to be selective a bit with which parties I would be going to. I didn’t think about how I’d be feeling the days of the parties, and unfortunately for the first Halloween party I attended I was dealing with nausea.

The party was for SAG-AFTRA NextGen Performers. I do love going to NGP events because they are always so fun. Even though I was feeling rotten, I knew I’d find a way to make it. I would have loved to have figured out a costume to wear to the party, but I hadn’t had a chance to figure out what to be. And I also was struggling enough getting dressed and getting out of the house, so even if I had a costume I don’t know if I would have worn it.

I’m glad the party wasn’t too far from my house, so I didn’t have to worry about driving over there and traffic. And the party was only supposed to be about 2 hours long, so I decided I would try to make it for an hour before heading home. I didn’t take any photos while I was there, but it was a really good turnout. There were so many people at the event and lots of amazing costumes. Even if I had figured out a costume and felt good enough to wear it, I wouldn’t have come close to placing in the costume contest.

Right when I arrived, I found several of my friends. The entire time I was at the party was spent socializing and catching up. Even though I just saw most of these people at the convention, we didn’t really get to socialize too much then. If I had been feeling better, I probably would have spent time meeting people who were at their first NGP event and seeing who else was there, but I was feeling like just chatting with my friends. It wasn’t the best thing to do, but I was just proud of myself for pulling things together enough to go out and not just sit on my couch. Some of my friends were in charge of helping to judge the costume contest, so I walked around with them and got to see more of the costumes that people wore. There were a lot of awesome photo opportunities like a step and repeat and a photo booth, but I didn’t do either of those. I did end up being in a few of the photos the photographers took while they walked around, but I haven’t seen them posted online yet so I can’t share them.

Just when I was starting to feel really bad, I realized that I had been there for an hour so I didn’t feel bad that I was going to leave. My goal was an hour and I didn’t feel like I needed to push myself more than that. Plus, I was starting to get more nauseous and when that happens I get sweaty and tend to look sick. So I knew that it wasn’t going to be my best look.

I worked on making my rounds around the room to say goodbye to my friends. I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to everyone, but my friends knew I wasn’t feeling well and knew that I might leave before I saw them again. Driving back home after the party was tough and I was glad when I got home and could lie down on my bed to let the nausea waves end. It was also time for me to take medications again, so I took those and waited for them to kick in.

I know that the first Halloween party I attended was a bit of a bust. I didn’t do much and I didn’t talk to too many people. But for me, when I feel as sick as I did, just leaving my house is a victory. I have bailed on so many plans because of my nausea and I’m trying to push through that as much as I can. It’s not always possible, but I also know that if I don’t take chances than I won’t know how much I can do. And I was proud of myself for taking the chance and finding out that I was able to at least do a little something. And the nausea is getting better now so hopefully I’ll be fine for the other parties I will be going to.

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fun Stuff

Tagged friends, Halloween, party, SAG-AFTRA

Forgot To Share Some Awesome News (or I’m Going To Be An Aunt!)

Posted on October 23, 2019 | Comments Off

A few weeks ago, my brother and sister-in-law announced that they were having a baby! I am so excited for them! I knew that they were trying to get pregnant and I was so happy when they told everyone that they were! The baby is due toward the end of April, but I’m hoping it’s born on April 4th to share a birthday with my mom and it would also be on my aunt and uncle’s anniversary (so many people in my family have birthdays/anniversaries on the same day or consecutive days). But I’m guessing the baby will be born closer to the due date.

I love how confused their cat looks in their announcement photo. He has no clue what is happening and how his life will change when he’s not the only baby in the family. But hopefully, he becomes a good friend to the baby (I never have had a cat so I don’t know too much about how cats do with babies). I’m tempted to get the cat a big brother shirt to wear when the baby is here.

Even though my extended family has kids in that generation (I have cousins on both sides of my family with kids), but this is the first new generation in my immediate family. And this will be the first time I’m an aunt! And I can’t wait to be Aunt Jen to this baby, although it’s still so weird for me to type out “Aunt Jen” still. I’m sure I’ll get used to that name soon.

I was already excited about this future kid, but we also found out about a week ago that they are having a boy so I will be an aunt to a nephew! I knew they were hoping for a boy so I’m so glad that they found that out. I know they would be awesome parents to either a boy or a girl, but I’m excited it’s a boy. Most of my friends have had boys lately, so I’ve got a lot of cute baby boy outfits I am already thinking of getting my nephew. An aunt’s job is to help spoil the kid and be a bit silly, and I am totally ready to take that job on.

The news that they were having a boy happened around the same time as my grandma passing away, so I’m glad there was something happy to celebrate when I was feeling low. And I have a feeling my family feels the same way. I am sad my grandma won’t get to meet their baby, but this baby already has so many family members ready to love him and fuss over him.

I’ve had a few people in my life ask me if I was upset or feeling negative about my brother having a baby, and I’m not feeling that way at all. I know some people might think that because I’m single that I was jealous or felt weird that my younger brother was having a kid before I was married or had a kid. But to me, this wasn’t even a thought. I haven’t met the person I want to marry and have kids with yet, so why should I be upset that my brother has? Everyone has their own timeline, and this is theirs and mine is still to be determined. I know not everyone thinks that way or feels like an older sibling should do things first, but that’s not how my family thinks. And I’m so glad my family isn’t like that and we can all celebrate this awesome news without hesitation.

I will get to see my brother and sister-in-law in about a month when we are all together for Thanksgiving. I don’t know when I’ll see them after that, but hopefully we can figure plans for them to come to LA or me to go to Santa Barbara before they have their baby. And I’m sure I’ll be going to Santa Barbara after they have the baby to meet him. I don’t know the timeline of any of that, but I’m glad they live close to me so things can be flexible and I can easily go up there on a day off when the baby is born.

I’m sure it’s clear from my post about how excited I am for my nephew to be here! This is news that I have been hoping to hear for a while and I’m so glad it’s happening. And it’s going to be amazing to see who this kid is going to be as they grow up and the type of person they are. I’ve loved watching that with my friend’s kids and my cousin’s kids, and now I get to watch that with someone in my immediate family!

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Posted in Celebrations, Family

Tagged baby, family, pregnancy

Another Short Workout Week (or Still Can’t Believe My Milestone)

Posted on October 14, 2019 | Comments Off

This past week was another short workout week for me because of my weird schedule. I had the convention from Thursday to Sunday so I couldn’t work out those days. So I had to do 3 days in a row, which is something I don’t do that often. But it was worth it because I got to end my week with my milestone workout!

Monday’s workout was an endurance day, and it was a really good endurance workout. It was a 2 group class, which I think helps me with building endurance a bit. The class was split in half so 30 minutes was spent on cardio and 30 minutes was spent on the floor. There weren’t a lot of breaks, so I had to be much better about taking breaks when I needed them and trying to have active recoveries as well.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. We had rounds of push paces to base paces. Each base pace that followed a push pace matched. So we had a 90-second push pace, 90-second base pace, 75-second push pace, 75-second base pace, and so on. In the first block, they got shorter by 15 seconds each round and in the second block, they got longer by 15 seconds. So the intervals ranged from 30 seconds to 90 seconds. And each block ended with a 30 second all out. I debated about working with the resistance levels on the bike, but I decided not to. This way, I would focus more on my pedaling speed and it would be easier to get back to my base pace each time. Plus, I thought not adding resistance would help me not need breaks during the base pace time. I did still need some breaks from time to time, but I did much better than I think I would have done if I worked with the resistance levels.

On the floor, we also had 2 blocks. Each block started with a row. The first block we had a 300-meter row and the second block we had a 600-meter row. And all the other exercises involved using the Bosu. The first block had lunges with a goblet weight hold, front raises while kneeling on the Bosu, chest flys while laying on the Bosu, and hip bridges while laying on the Bosu. I did have to modify the lunges to be without the Bosu and I did go lighter with the weights since I was also balancing, but I felt good about those modifications. And the second block had burpees, side crunches, and reverse hyperextensions. I didn’t hold the Bosu while doing the burpees but instead used it to place my hands on, similar to what I do with the bench for burpees. They were a little harder than normal since I was getting closer to the ground, but it was a good challenge for me.

I did an afternoon class on Tuesday, which was a bit odd for me. I used to almost only do afternoon workout after I was done with work. Now, I rarely do them. But it was fine taking a class after work and I think it’s good to mix things up occasionally. The workout was a 2 group class and it was a strength day. I think that some people weren’t too happy about a strength class when the Everest workout is this Friday. I didn’t mind since I will be missing that class.

The cardio was a run/row, which is something I only get to do in a 2 group class. I modified the run/row a bit to make things easier for me to remember to switch, but I still did it close to what we were supposed to do. What I did was a 1-minute push pace and then a 1-minute all out on the bike. Each time I got back to the bike, I increased the resistance level by 1. But I kept it the same between the push and all out, and focused on pedaling faster during the all out minute. And when I went to the rower, the first row was 100-meters and each time on the rower increased by 50 meters. I kept that the same. I got the resistance on the bike up pretty high, higher than I’m used to doing. But it was a good challenge for me.

On the floor, we had drop sets which means we do the same exercise twice but with different weights. The first block had a drop set for bench presses and then high rows on the straps. The second block had a drop set for shoulder presses and then low rows on the straps. And the last block had a drop set for overhead tricep work with weights and then bicep curls on the straps. It was a lot of upper body work and my arms were done by the end of the workout. I wasn’t going super heavy with the weights because it was getting really hard for me. And I knew I would be working out again the next morning so I didn’t want to overdo it.

Wednesday was my milestone day. Even though I was tired from working out the day before (there were only about 14 hours between my workouts), I was so excited about the milestone so that invigorated me. It was also a power day, which is always a fun class for me.

For cardio, we had 3 blocks and all of them had push to base paces. Every push pace was 30 seconds long and the base paces ranged from 30-90 seconds. Because all the push paces were so short, I decided not to play with the resistance on the bike and just focus on pedaling quickly. I also was still a bit tired from all the high resistance work from the day before so that may have made me decide to not use resistance levels too. But it went really well for me and I was glad that I could still do great work even with it being my 3rd workout in a row.

On the rower, we had decreasing and then increasing rows. We started with a 250-meter row and went down by 50 meters each round until we got to 100 meters. Then we worked our way back up by 50 meters each round. Between the rowing, we were supposed to do jump lunges but I did squats instead.

And on the floor, we had 1 long block that was split into 2 mini-blocks. Each mini-block was supposed to be completed 3 times before moving on. The first mini-block had lunges, squats, and plank in and outs. And the second mini-block had skater lunges, sumo squats with high rows using weights, and plank jacks. I did modify the sumo squat/high row move to be done separately, but besides that I did it what we were supposed to.

And even though I shared this photo already, of course after my class on Wednesday I had to celebrate my 1,000th class!

That was it for my workout week. It was short and felt even shorter since I did 3 days in a row. But I’m back to my normal schedule now and get to start working on my next 1,000 workouts!

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Posted in Celebrations, Fitness, Fun Stuff

Tagged fitness, Orangetheory, workout

A Major Workout Milestone (or Getting To 1000)

Posted on October 10, 2019 | Comments Off

Yesterday, I hit a huge workout milestone. It’s something that I honestly didn’t know that I would get to, and I’m still a little surprised and in shock. Yesterday was my 1,000th Orangetheory class!

Because I track my workouts, I knew that this was coming up. I did only 3 workouts last week to make sure that my 1,000th class was in one of my regular classes (I’ll post more about my weird workout schedule in my recap on Monday). I wanted to have my milestone class be a class where I knew I’d have friends with me. While I’ve had other milestones with Orangetheory, this was one that seemed crazier to me for some reason.

I had been getting excited about this milestone for a while, and the staff at the studio knew what was coming up as well. But it still surprised me when I walked into the lobby and saw a giant sign congratulating me on doing 1,000 classes.

I’m not going to write about the workout much in this post since I’ll be doing that on Monday. But I want to share some of my thoughts after completing 1,000 classes.

I’ve said it before on here, but I had struggled in the past to find a workout that connected with me. There were other workouts that I tried that I just couldn’t do or coaches that treated me differently because of my size or medical conditions. I didn’t know it at the time, but I needed to find a place that treated me like everyone else but also helped me modify things when necessary. And when I walked in Orangetheory for the blogger preview, that’s exactly what I found. While I have been invited to check out other workout studios or classes, I’ve always compared it to Orangetheory and have always wanted to stick with it.

I started about 5 1/2 years ago and have consistently gone at least 3 times a week since I started. I started tracking how many workouts I did after a year or two so I could set goals for each year. But I also was able to track overall milestones. And I knew that getting to 1,000 classes was possible, but for some reason, I never thought too much about it until the beginning of this year when I started to add up how many I had done from every year.

I might not look different on the outside, but I know I am a different person than who I was when I started. I have gained so much confidence and awareness with my body. I feel more in control. I understand what I can push my body to do and what limitations I have. And I do think that I look a little different on the outside too because there is no question that I have gained muscle. Weight loss will hopefully come soon, but eating disorders are tough to beat and that’s a big issue for me with weight loss.

But I haven’t only made changes through the workouts directly. I have also made amazing friends from going to the same classes from week to week. I have brought friends and family to class with me and that’s been awesome too. I feel like it has helped me be a bit more outgoing being in class and the routine is a good thing for me (even though I did just complain a bit about being too much in a routine). I feel like I have more of a purpose each day and when I don’t get to work out it feels so odd to me.

I still don’t see myself as an athlete all the time because I know I don’t look like one. But after completing 1,000 classes, I think that I need to stop questioning that and believe that I truly am an athlete.

1,000 classes ago, I started a journey that I wasn’t aware was going to happen. So many things have happened for me because of taking that first class and I wouldn’t change it for anything. And next week, I start the journey of the next 1,000 classes and whatever that will bring my way.

Of course, I had to take a picture with some friends after my 1,000th class, and I wanted to compare it to the photo I took after my very first class. I feel like I look the same (which I’m trying not to focus on too much), but I also feel like you can see the difference in my eyes and smile. I have gained so much from these 1,000 classes and there’s no denying that.

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Posted in Celebrations, Fitness, Fun Stuff

Tagged celebration, fitness, milestone, Orangetheory, workout

Belated Birthday Dinner (or We Don’t Mind It’s Not Totally Free Anymore)

Posted on August 28, 2019 | Comments Off

I haven’t done much for my birthday this year. I don’t mind that I haven’t been celebrating like I thought I would because I’ve had other things taking up my time. I am hoping to maybe do some birthday things next month, but I don’t know if I’ll be motivated to do them by the time things calm down. If I don’t really celebrate my birthday, it’s not the worst thing. While I love celebrating my birthday and it’s one of my favorite things, having an off-year is to be expected. And this August has been extremely busy for me and I just couldn’t put my focus on my birthday.

I usually take advantage of several birthday freebies as well. Many of them have to be done on your actual birthday and I have to skip most of those. But the things that are for your birthday week or month are things I usually do. But just like with celebrating, I haven’t really taken advantage of that this year. I haven’t even gone to Sephora for the birthday freebie (which most women would agree is the one birthday thing everyone seems to do). But there is one birthday freebie that I prioritize over all others and that’s going to my birthday dinner at Truxton’s with my birthday twin Joanna!

The birthday dinner deal has changed over the years. It started as a free entree and free dessert for each of us. Then it was $20 free for each of us and they would combine them on one check. Now it’s still $20 free for each of us, but they have to split the checks. Because of that, we no longer can have a completely free birthday meal. But we know that and expect that so it’s ok. We still are having an almost free meal and the best part of the tradition is our hangout anyway.

Because of all the work I have been doing for the election and some family that Joanna had in town, it was tough for us to find a time that worked for both of us. But we were able to find time this past weekend so we didn’t miss getting our dinner in before the deal ended since the requirement is that it just has to be during your birthday month.

We had a pretty routine meal for us. We had the monkey bread like we always do, we both had a burger, and we split the cookie ice cream dessert. It was delicious as always and the perfect birthday meal. And just like always we had lots of fun and random stories to tell each other. We did talk a lot about the election since things have been a bit crazy with that and she has been seeing the stories in the news. And we both had some random dating stories to share. Although I think she might have had a crazier story than mine with a guy that basically through a temper tantrum after he had a medical issue and she was worried about him. I don’t think either of us will ever understand why some guys act out that crazy when they don’t need to act out or react at all.

We also both talked about how neither of us did much for our birthdays this year. We might be able to do something together later as a late birthday celebration, which would be nice since we rarely do a big birthday thing together. But even if we don’t manage to get that organized, I’m so glad we did get our birthday dinner in. It’s one of my favorite birthday traditions and I love how much we both look forward to it. And it’s been one of the main ways I’ve been able to celebrate my birthday this year.

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Posted in Celebrations, Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged birthday, birthday deals, birthday twin, dinner, food, free, friends

Almost Getting My Lazy Birthday (or Staying In And Staying Busy)

Posted on August 13, 2019 | Comments Off

My goal for my birthday was to be able to do nothing and to finally relax a little bit. Life has been stressful (but good stressful for once) and I have been hitting burnout a lot lately. I knew that if I didn’t take a break for myself soon, I was going to hit a really bad breaking point and I didn’t know what would happen if I got there. I don’t know if I would hit a really bad low and it would take a long time to get out of it or if something worse would happen. I just knew that I didn’t want to get there so I had to try to do whatever I could to prevent that.

On my actual birthday, all I had scheduled was my workout and then work. I said I had a plan to try to do nothing but I wasn’t sure if that was going to be able to be accomplished. For the next week and a half, my life isn’t completely mine. I have to work hard for my slate for the union election and I am so proud to get to do that. And I know that when it is done it will be worth it. But that also means that I might start the day with one plan and then an hour later a huge amount of work gets thrown my way and I end up spending the rest of the day working on that.

My birthday wasn’t as crazy as it could have been, but it did get pretty busy. I had several things that I had to work on that were needing to be done quickly. If I could put things off to the next day (or a few days later), I did. But some things had to be done that day or that hour and I had to get them done. When people called me to wish me a happy birthday, I was usually on the phone for only a few minutes before I had to get off the phone and back to work. I felt bad that I couldn’t talk to people longer, but everyone understood how hard I was working and how important this election is for me.

I finally got to relax a bit around 7 pm that night. I spent most of the evening laying in bed just being lazy. I needed to decompress and I didn’t feel like doing much of anything. I read a little bit. I watching some random YouTube videos on my phone. I did some random daydreaming and reflecting on my birthday and my life. There were a few moments where I was feeling a bit lonely since besides my workout I spent my birthday alone. But I also made that choice and I know that if I spent my birthday with other people that it would have been overwhelming. I needed the alone time to recover and do some self-care. It was the best thing for me that day.

It wasn’t the most celebratory birthday day, but it was exactly what I needed to do. I had a lot of work that I had to get done, and I got the relaxing time that I desperately needed. I still want to have some sort of birthday event, but I don’t know when that will happen or if it will happen. I can’t imagine it happening before the election is done, which isn’t until the end of the month. And by then, I might not feel like doing anything too big. I had big plans for what I wanted to do, but I think that motivation got zapped out of me. I’m a little annoyed that I didn’t plan it sooner so I could have done it, but maybe I’ll feel motivated again when I’m not as crazy busy every day.

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Posted in Celebrations

Tagged birthday, busy

Birthday Workout Week (or Continuing My Progress)

Posted on August 12, 2019 | Comments Off

Last week, I wrote about how the week before I increased my base pace for my workouts. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to keep that up, but I figured I would play around with what my base pace would be and at least I knew I could use that as an option. And going into this past week of workouts, I wasn’t sure what I’d be doing with my base pace, but I knew one thing: I was going to have an awesome week of workouts because it was my birthday week! But I managed to do even better than that!

Monday’s workout was a 2 group workout and because it was only a 2 group class we were able to have a run/row! Since most of my classes are 3 groups, run/row classes are rare and they are a fun treat for me. And the numbness issue while rowing has continued to get better so I wasn’t too worried about how I would do while rowing. The run/row had quick hill work for cardio and then decreasing rows after. Each time I was on the bike, I was done in under 3 minutes. And the rowing started at 400 meters and decreased by 50 meters each round. The hill work was supposed to be a push pace with no incline, a base pace at incline, and then a push pace at no incline. I did use my regular push pace and for the incline work, I was keeping the resistance level above my normal all out.

On the floor, we had 3 blocks. The first block had chest presses, lateral flys, and double crunches. The second block had low rows with weights, bench pullovers, and toe reaches, and the last block was a core blast with bicycles, side toe taps, and plank work. I was able to go heavy on the weights, but I was having a few issues with catching my breath and had to take some moments to calm down. I think I was having some nerve issues because I had my doctor appointment after my workout, but once I calmed down I was able to get back to the workout and continue working hard.

Wednesday’s workout was a partner workout and it was called Follow The Leader. The person on the rower always set the pace of the team. It was a tough workout because we were always working hard and unless you were on the rower you weren’t sure when you’d be switching.

On the rower, you started with a 700-meter row. All 3 of us had the 700-meter row before we moved to the 600-meter row round. Once all of us did that round we went down to the 500-meter row round and so on. The person on the treadmill (or bike in my case) always had a run/bike for distance and every time you were back to the treadmill/bike you increased the incline/resistance level. I was able to do all the cardio work starting at my new base pace level and increasing it every round. And on the floor, we had burpees, bench hop overs, chest flys, bicep curls, and single-arm rows. You picked up where you left off on the floor when you returned to it.

My partners and I were a pretty equal team so we seemed to have a consistent pace moving around. And I did have to leave this workout a little early because I had something I had to get to before I had to work. One of the other partners also had to leave early (that’s why we were partnered up), so toward the end of the workout, we did have a bit of a weird pattern. But we made it work and that’s what matters.

Friday’s workout was my birthday workout! I never thought I’d be the type of person excited to get to work out on my birthday. And I especially never thought I would be excited about having a workout at 7am on my birthday, but I guess I am that person now!

The workout was a strength-based class, which isn’t my favorite but I was still excited since it was my birthday. And it was a switch class so at least we moved around a bit.

For cardio, the first block had a push pace with no incline, a base pace, a 3-minute hill, a base pace to recover, and an all out. And the second block had the same pattern but all the segments were shorter and the hill wasn’t as high of an incline/resistance level. And the second block was also shorter.

On the rower, we started with a 90-second row and then we were supposed to have lunges with shoulder presses. I changed those to be squats with shoulder presses. Then we decreased the row by 100 meters every round with the squats and shoulder presses between each row. The second block started with a 1-minute row with squats between each row. And each round the row decreased 50 meters.

And on the floor, we had a lot of work with the Bosu. The first block had goblet lunges, back extensions on the Bosu, and sit-ups on the Bosu. And the second block had lateral lunges and weighted crunches on the Bosu.

And of course, I had to get a birthday workout photo (even though it’s a post-workout photo so we are all tired and sweaty).

Saturday’s workout was an endurance day, which was a tough one to do when I was exhausted from working hard during the week. But I was grateful that it was a 3 group class since I knew it would be a bit easier with switching every 15 minutes. But it’s still hard no matter what.

For cardio, we had 4 rounds with 2-minute push paces. After the first push, we had a 90-second base pace. After the other ones, we only had a minute. I was using my new base pace and my normal push pace. After those 4 rounds, we finished cardio with a 90-second distance challenge and I set the bike at the resistance level between my push and all out.

On the rower, we started with a 100-meter row and after that, we had 20 pulsing half squats. We increased our row by 50 meters each round and decreased the squats by 2 each round. And we did that for the entire 15 minutes. That is a long time to row and do squats and it was starting to be a bit hard on my hip. I also started to have a bit of numbness in my feet, but considering this was the first time all week I had that issue I wasn’t too worried about it. But I still had to be careful with my floor work because of how hard the rowing work was for me.

On the floor, we had one long block. We had bicep curls, hip bridges, chest presses, tricep extensions, lunges, and dumbbell swings. The only big modification I had to do was change the tricep extensions to be using the straps instead of using weights. I was feeling a bit off balance and having a weight over my head wasn’t feeling comfortable. But for weight work, I was going heavier than normal which felt like it made up for it.

I didn’t think about it until the end of this past week, but I didn’t even think about going back to my old base pace once during this past week of workouts. It just seemed normal to use the new base pace and I didn’t question it once. Yes, it was challenging from time to time, but not so challenging that I wanted to go back. It was so cool when I was done with the week and I had that realization. I was already excited about the week being my birthday week, but it was extra nice to end the week with something else to be excited about.

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Posted in Celebrations, Fitness, Fun Stuff

Tagged birthday, fitness, Orangetheory, workout

It’s My Birthday! (or This Is 36)

Posted on August 9, 2019 | Comments Off

As the title says, it’s my birthday! I love birthdays and usually try to celebrate mine as much as I can. This year hasn’t really been much of a celebration just yet, but that’s not because I don’t want to. I just will be delaying some birthday fun because of all the other things I have going on in my life. I had a few birthday plans that I thought would have already happened by now, but I think everything is just going to be pushed back a bit. That’s not a problem for me since I’m happy as long as I get to celebrate at some point. Growing up, I didn’t always get to celebrate on my birthday so I’m used to it.

As I’m writing this post, I have no real birthday plans. I have my normal workout and then I have to work. But I have nothing planned after work. I might end up doing something for dinner and I might just do absolutely nothing and sit on my couch and be lazy. Honestly, right now being lazy sounds so perfect to me. I don’t really care too much about what I end up doing today because even though I love birthdays I’m not obsessed about what I do on the actual day.

I’ve said before that my life is not where I expected to be at this point. By 36, I really thought I would be married and have kids. I thought I would be living in a house (although I guess technically I live in a tiny house that I rent) and I would have a dog and I’d be making a living by being an actor. Those things are not true, but that does not mean my life is a failure. My life is amazing and it is amazing in ways I never thought it could be. I never thought I could be involved in my union the way I am now. I have pinch-me moments all the time. Just this week, I spent the morning goofing off with someone who I watched on tv later that day. That’s so insane and amazing! I don’t get to do all the things I want to do with my life, but that gives me things to strive for and to want for.

And even the negative things in my life have brought good things to me. All the disaster dates I’ve been on have helped me create a book that I have written and re-written what feels like a million times. One day I will finish that book and I am sure I will be proud of it when it’s done. But it will be a work in progress for a while and that’s ok. I’m having fun with my horrible dates because I know they will make good stories. I am writing the stories in my head sometimes while on the bad dates to distract me from how bad the dates are.

I’ve had a lot of milestone birthdays, and I didn’t think of 36 being a milestone for me. But then I realized it’s almost a milestone. I moved to LA when I was 18. It wasn’t exactly on my 18th birthday, but it was only about 2 weeks after. But in my head, I’ve always considered my 18th birthday as the split from when I was growing up in the Bay Area to when I moved to LA. It’s been an easy way to think about it since it marks the change of being a kid to being an adult. So this would mean that now is basically the mark of when I have lived in LA for half my life. I’ll mark this more officially on my LA anniversary, but it’s still a cool thing to think about. I have lived half my life in each place. I don’t feel like that is possible, but it’s true. And in a few weeks, I will have live in LA for the majority of my life!

I jokingly say that I turn old every birthday, but I actually don’t feel like I’m turning old this year. I don’t feel 36. I don’t know what 36 should feel like, but I think it should feel older than what I feel now. I feel like I should be feeling something different than I do now. But I think that also what 36 was like for past generations is different than what it is like now. My mom has said a similar thing when she compares her age to when my grandma was her age, so I think it happens for multiple generations. I don’t think I look 36 (and other people say I don’t look it either) so that helps me believe that I am still younger. I am not delusional and I am aware that there are some things about my age that I have to be aware of, but I also don’t have to live in fear about it either. I can enjoy my life and see what happens.

Here’s to 36! May it be a year filled with awesomeness, possibilities, fun, and things that I could never expect but will make my life incredible!

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Posted in Celebrations

Tagged birthday

A Birthday Month Challenge (or Education And Celebration)

Posted on August 1, 2019 | Comments Off

While every month is exciting for me now because it’s the start of a new monthly challenge for me, this month is extra exciting because it’s the start of my birthday month! I don’t have any grand plans for my birthday this year, but that actually fits with what my monthly challenge is this month. But first, a quick recap of my monthly challenge from last month.

I did a bit of a cheat last month and used the monthly challenge to work on something I had already started but wasn’t focusing on the way I had hoped. I wanted to spend the month working on the Brain Over Binge course and following the schedule the way it was set. While I had been doing all of the lessons, listening to all the different lectures, and filling out the worksheets; I wasn’t doing them throughout the week. I had been doing them in one or two days and just fitting all the lessons back to back. My challenge was to try to spread them out the way they were intended to be done.

Well, that didn’t quite work out for me. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to do that, but my schedule just isn’t in a place right now to let me do that. I think I underestimated how much time my union election work would take and there were plenty of days where I wouldn’t have time to even watch tv to try to decompress a bit. I started to stress myself out a bit that I wasn’t able to follow the schedule and then I realized that doing the lessons in one day isn’t the worst thing. The most important thing is that I’m doing them. And since I am downloading all the work, I can do it again with the spread-out schedule when my time isn’t as crazy.

Since I know this month is going to be just as crazy with union election work, I didn’t want to set myself up for failure with a big monthly challenge. But I still wanted something fun for my birthday month. And when I was listening to a podcast last week, I was inspired by something the hosts were saying about why they didn’t like the idea of having fancy dishes that you never used. Every day should feel like a celebration and you shouldn’t fear using nice things because it doesn’t feel like a special enough day.

So for my birthday month, I want to celebrate every single day. Every day is special and deserves to be recognized. I don’t know exactly how I will celebrate every day, but I will not let myself think that I shouldn’t do something because it is not a special enough day. If someone wants to go out for a fun dinner, I won’t say no because it’s a Tuesday or that I don’t feel fancy. I’ll celebrate that we are going out. I want to be in a celebratory mindset for this month and hopefully for beyond that.

I know this isn’t the biggest challenge and it really doesn’t require much for me to accomplish it, but it seems very fitting for my birthday month and it seems like something that would be a good thing to have as a part of my life. I shouldn’t be putting things on hold or hoping for the right time to do something. If I want to do something and have the ability to do so, I should do it. And that’s what I plan on doing this month.

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Posted in Celebrations

Tagged birthday, challenge, volt planner

A Special Birthday For A Special Friend (or Celebrating A “College” Friend)

Posted on July 30, 2019 | Comments Off

I’ve written about my amazing friend Marie on here so many times. She is the one who hosts the parties I usually go to for the Oscars, Halloween, New Year’s Eve, and the 4th of July. There have also been so many random parties that she has hosted over the years, plus her wedding and bachelorette party! I’ve had so many adventures with Marie over the years, so when she was celebrating her birthday this past weekend, I knew I had to be there.

It wasn’t a huge gathering, but every single person who was there loves Marie as much as I do and we all consider each other family. It’s the most incredible group of people and I am always so grateful to be considered to be a part of them.

I think the reason I feel so grateful to be a part of this group is because of my history with this group and how I became friends with them. I met Marie and most of this group 17 years ago. I just joined an improv group and was taking classes and doing shows. I wasn’t the youngest person in the group, but I was close to the youngest. And I seemed to be the youngest out of the group that I was hanging out with. Most of the people in the group I would hang out with after class or shows were in their late 20s or their 30s, and I was still a teenager. This did occasionally cause issues when we were trying to hang out in a bar at night, but besides that, I was never looked down at or was considered something like the annoying little sibling.

Of course, I looked up to everyone like they were my older siblings. And I looked up to them even more because they treated me like one of their peers. Having that respect really made me feel special and like an adult. I think that was part of the reason I didn’t get along with people at my college too much. I was used to being in an adult world and I wasn’t related to my fellow students as much. In the last 2 years of college, I hung out with my improv friends more than the students in my classes. So I started to joke that these friends were my real college friends even though they all finished school quite a while ago. I even used my improv friends as the actors in different projects I had in class so they felt like a real part of my college experience.

If I had only been friends with everyone while I was in college, that would have been special enough. I was about a decade younger than most of the group and that was unique. But the fact that we’ve maintained this friendship for 17 years is just amazing. In a little over a year, I will have been friends with this group for half of my life. There aren’t that many people that I’ve known for half my life, and this is a big group! Again, it’s so special to me and I appreciate it all the time.

Marie’s birthday party was a very fun and relaxing hangout. It was a potluck and there was a ton of food! Everyone was hanging out and having fun celebrating Marie. It was hot out, but their backyard has shade and there was a bit of a breeze there. I don’t love the heat, but I was managing it the best I could with drinking lots of water and staying out of the sun as much as I could.

And of course, there was a birthday cake. Our friend Mandi, who also made a cake for Chris and Marie’s wedding, made an amazing cake for Marie’s birthday. It had 2 different cakes, a lemon cake and a chocolate peanut butter cake. And it was decorated with things all about Marie and things that we love about her.

After enjoying some cake, I started to get a bit exhausted (a combination of lack of sleep, a long day, and the heat), so I made my way around to say my goodbyes to my friends there. But I took my time talking with Marie because I really wanted her to know how much I love her and appreciate her friendship.

She is the glue that holds this friendship group together. I know that she is the one responsible for making this group as strong as we are and making sure we are as connected as we are. We can all turn to her when we need something and she is always there for us. I only can hope that we do the same for her, but honestly, I don’t know if I do even a fraction. To have a friend like Marie is one of the biggest gifts and I don’t know how to even express how lucky I am (which is one reason why I’m writing this post).

I have so much to be grateful for with this group of friends, and the center of this group is Marie. Everything that I have with this group is because of her and I am so lucky. I think I can speak for the entire group when I say that we feel this way and that every time we get to hang out with Marie we feel more and more grateful for this friendship. I know that every time I see the group I feel like I have a boost in my life that I didn’t know I needed. It’s the best feeling and I only hope that everyone has someone in their life that makes them feel that way.

I love that Marie and I have been friends for almost half my life. That means that almost half my life has been blessed by her friendship and awesomeness. That’s amazing. There’s a bit of time before we will have been friends for half of her life, but hopefully, when we get there I will be able to make her feel as lucky as I feel.

Marie, I know you are reading this, so I just wanted to say again how much I love you and am so grateful for you and everything that you do for the Mammoth Lodge group. We are all so lucky to have you as the center of the group and I don’t know how we could ever repay what you have done for us to you. Happy Birthday and I can’t wait to keep celebrating birthday, holidays, Oscars, and randomness with you!

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Posted in Celebrations, Fun Stuff

Tagged birthday, birthday party, friends, party

Category Archives: Celebrations

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A Birthday Month Challenge (or Education And Celebration)

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