Category Archives: Celebrations

A Chill New Year’s Eve (or Getting To Have A Little Celebration)

Posted on January 7, 2022 | Comments Off on A Chill New Year’s Eve (or Getting To Have A Little Celebration)

Most of the time for New Year’s Eve, I’m at a party with friends. I don’t like to go out to big events, but celebrating with my friends is the perfect way to celebrate with others but also have a low-key evening. There is no pressure to dress up, things are casual, and I always have fun. When the pandemic started, I don’t think any of us thought it would last through the end of the year. But it did, and I spend the end of 2020 home by myself and alone. I didn’t like spending a night that is normally a celebration alone, but that’s what needed to happen so everyone could stay safe and healthy.

By the end of 2021, things were better and worse at the same time. There are vaccines and treatment options to help, but the numbers are very high and people are still getting sick and dying. So being at a big party with friends wouldn’t have been a safe or smart choice. Fortunately, I was invited to a very small gathering with friends for New Year’s Eve and this group was all people who take things seriously. For example, one person invited found out they were in close contact with someone who tested positive the day before. Even though they didn’t test positive, they didn’t come because they didn’t want to risk getting everyone sick. Knowing that we all were taking the pandemic that seriously made me feel better about meeting up with a few people.

It was a very low-key night. We hung out and played some silly card games. And of course just talked and enjoyed being with other people. Most of us are staying pretty isolated or with very limited contact with friends in real life, so it was a nice break from that. There was still a sense of needing to be careful and cautious while we were together, but we did relax a bit more than I normally would around other people. And I needed this after not seeing many friends for so long. While the state of the world and pandemic never left my mind, I didn’t think about it as much as I usually do and that was a nice break for me.

However, I was dealing with a lot of pain and nausea over New Year’s Eve, so I wasn’t sure how long I’d be staying at the gathering. I was hoping I would make it until midnight, but I also knew that if I was feeling horrible that I might have to leave sooner. And I also thought that leaving before midnight would probably be safer when thinking about crazy drivers on the road. So I went to see my friends knowing that I might leave early and that’s exactly what I did. I tried to stay as long as I could, but I really wanted to just lay in bed and try to feel better after a few hours. I left just after 11pm and was home in bed when it was midnight and 2022 officially started.

Somehow, having half of a party night and half of a night at home alone seemed perfect to spend this past New Year’s Eve. We are not back to the old normal, but we are not in the same place we were in 2020. We are somewhere in the middle and that’s what my evening was. It was between what my normal is like and what the last year was like. Maybe by the start of 2023, we will be able to have a party the way we normally do. I want to be hopeful and think that, but I’ve also thought that so many times and have been wrong before. But at least things are slowly progressing toward normal and I didn’t have to spend the entire evening alone again.

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Reviewing My 2021 Goals (or This Really Was A Year Of Unknowns)

Posted on December 31, 2021 | Comments Off on Reviewing My 2021 Goals (or This Really Was A Year Of Unknowns)

Happy New Year’s Eve! I think everyone is a bit shocked this year is coming to an end because mentally it feels like we are still in 2020. I do still feel in a way that I’ve lost 2 years of my life due to not being able to live the life I love and enjoy, but I did still get things done this year. And when I was setting my goals for 2021, I set them based on the idea that I didn’t know if or when life would feel normal again. But even with me planning for the unknown and unexpected, things still had some plot twists that made accomplishing some of my goals not exactly what I planned.

My first goal that I had this year was to do at least 200 workouts. I set this goal with the idea of doing mainly workouts through Orangetheory, either at home or in the studio. I did hit my goal for workouts this year which I expected would happen since it’s not too hard for me to get to 200 workouts a year now (which is still something I’m shocked about). And a majority of my workouts were through Orangetheory since I was able to go back to the studio this past spring. My home workouts weren’t the Orangetheory videos since I switched to mainly doing weightlifting at home, but I think this still counts as a win since I did get to my goal and most of my workouts were Orangetheory studio classes.

My next goal I had for 2021 was to work on my budget. I hate that this was another failure since I’ve tried to get my budget back on track so many times. I used to be really good at it, and then so much changed. My excuses in the recent past were about not being stable with work, but things have been much more stable for me lately. There will always be a little bit of unknown with how much I’ll make with some jobs, but most of the money I make each month is a pretty stable and known amount. Even without doing a budget, I was more mindful of my spending and where my money was going. I know I need to get this more under control, but it is nice to see that I haven’t gone completely crazy without a budget. But if I want to work on having more savings and the ability to splurge on fun things without stress, I need to get a budget so I am very aware of my financial situation.

I’m going to combine the next two goals I had for this past year. I wanted to try more, take more risks, and be ok with possible failure and I also wanted to be ok with asking for help and support. When I wrote those goals a year ago, I saw them as very different things. But now, I think they go together. Taking more risks and accepting failure goes along with asking for help and support. When I had failures, I needed support to boost myself back up. I don’t know if I had as many opportunities to try more and take risks as I hoped I would, but I know I did do this more often. I spoke up for myself more and learned how to cope better when things I wanted to have happen didn’t happen. And when I was feeling down about these failures or other things in my life, I had a better group of people I could turn to for advice and support. I still want to take more chances, but I think it will be easier doing that going forward now that I have great friends to help me out if things don’t go the way I hope.

And my last goal for 2021 was to get my house organized and find the best way to use the space I have. Obviously when I wrote my goal, I didn’t know that I would be getting a new place this year. And I did get things much more organized in the first half of the year. But starting in September, I was in the mindset of how I would be hopefully moving in the somewhat near future. So organizing my house took a new turn and became more about going through all my stuff and seeing what I want to move and what I want to toss. And that’s something I’m still going through now. My house is less organized than I would like it, but it’s organized for an upcoming move. And obviously since I’m moving into a place significantly bigger than where I am now, maximizing the space I have stopped being something I worried about. Instead, lately I’ve been planning for my move and how things will work in my new place. And I’m excited to have space to get some new things and really make my new place feel like a home!

Overall, I’m happy with how I did with my goals this year. They weren’t all wins, but I did my best with most of them. And things were an unknown so the ideas I might have had in the beginning of 2021 weren’t exactly how they turned out by the end of 2021. So some of my goals had to adjust with the changes in my life. But I think I was flexible with most of them and made them work. And I’m excited to share my goals for 2022 with you all next week and seeing in a year how I do with them!

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Enjoying A Bit Of A Half Week (or This Week Is Always Odd)

Posted on December 29, 2021 | Comments Off on Enjoying A Bit Of A Half Week (or This Week Is Always Odd)

I think most people agree that the week between Christmas and New Year’s is always weird. It’s almost like a week that doesn’t necessarily happen since many people have odd schedules and routines may not be what they normally are like. And I think this year it’s even more weird than normal. The week is actually a full week and not split up with a weekend in the middle. And we are dealing with all the weirdness with the pandemic and those fears around that. So this week seems far from normal.

Even I don’t have a fully normal schedule this week. I’m working my regular hours at my box office job for most of this week, but those are pretty limited hours so they rarely would be affected by holidays. And at my other customer service job, I’m working half days. And they are half days in the middle of the day (so I’m working 11-3 instead of 9-5). I did keep my workouts early so I have a bit of a time gap between my workouts and starting work, which is nice to have since I usually rush a bit in the mornings. And I have my afternoons free which is nice to get some errands done. Especially for some errands that have to be done during business hours and I struggle to find time to do them in a normal week.

I’m glad I have a bit of a schedule to go by this week so I don’t just waste my time each day. I know how easy it is for me to get into a very lazy routine. I noticed that this past weekend when I had 3 days off. I try to not sleep in too much because it can be tough to be back onto a sleep schedule. But getting up early when I don’t have anything I have to do for several hours does leave me a lot of time to do a lot of nothing. But I am trying to enjoy the freedom I have in my schedule this week since I know things will be crazy again before I know it and I’ll be missing having this extra free time.

And having this odd week is letting me reflect a bit on how this past year went. I’ll be doing recaps the next few days on how my 2021 went and then also posting my plans and goals for 2022. I know this past year wasn’t what anyone expected, but that is both a good and bad thing. And having time to think about what I was able to do even when it seemed impossible is a nice boost when I’ve been a bit low lately.

Hopefully having this weird week gives me the time to rest and recharge a bit before kicking off the new year and hopefully accomplishing some awesome things. And it lets me remember that I earned a bit of rest right now because I did get quite a bit done this past year even if it doesn’t feel like that at times.

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A Very Low-Key Holiday Weekend (or Enjoying A Real 3 Day Weekend)

Posted on December 28, 2021 | Comments Off on A Very Low-Key Holiday Weekend (or Enjoying A Real 3 Day Weekend)

For me to have a 3 day weekend is extremely rare. Because I work Monday-Saturday between my 2 main jobs, if a holiday is on a weekend I get to have 2 days off. And if a holiday is on a Monday (which so many of them are), then I also get to have 2 days off instead of just 1. But to have 3 days off is something that just doesn’t happen much for me. But for Christmas, that’s what I got!

Both of my jobs had Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as holidays, so I had Friday-Sunday off work. It was a nice break that I really needed after having a crazy few months recently. And for the most part, I didn’t do much over those 3 days. But I think that’s exactly what my body and mind needed.

On Friday I did have my workout in the morning which was fun. And then that afternoon a friend of mine came over to the condo because I wanted to start marking out some of my furniture and planning how I want to set things up. I still have time before I am moving in, but it’s easy to plan out now when there is nothing there and I’m not worried about messing up new floors or walls. And there are a few new things I want to get for the condo, but I needed to figure out how much space I would have. Just taping out my current furniture helped me so much and I’m starting to look more at things I want to get (although I will be waiting until I move in for most new things since I want to see what I really need).

And on Christmas Day, I really did a lot of nothing. I didn’t set an alarm so I was able to sleep in a little bit. I spent a lot of time reading and watching things on Netflix I wanted to catch up on. And I ordered Chinese food since that’s one of my Christmas traditions. I didn’t technically watch a movie that day, but I think binge-watching shows on Netflix should count as a movie in a way.

And on Sunday, it was another somewhat lazy day but I was also getting things ready for my week the way I normally do on Sundays. I did some cleaning, laundry, and planned out my week a bit. I’m working almost every day this week, but I’m working half days so I have a bit more free time than I normally do during the week. But between things with the pandemic getting worse and the bad weather we are having in LA, I’m not sure I’ll be doing a lot this week either.

The week between Christmas and New Year’s is always a bit of an odd one even in normal times. I’ll try to go out and do things when I can, but I also want to spend this week getting myself ready for 2022 and all the good things that I know will be coming my way in the new year!

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Time For A Short Christmas Post (or I Hope You Have A Great Holiday Weekend)

Posted on December 24, 2021 | Comments Off on Time For A Short Christmas Post (or I Hope You Have A Great Holiday Weekend)

Merry Christmas Eve! Just like I do for most holidays, this is going to be a short post. Even though I don’t celebrate Christmas, I do have my own traditions and I try to keep them up each year. This year, because of my work schedule and how the holiday falls on the calendar, I actually have a 3 day weekend. I rarely get those because I typically work Monday-Saturday. But this time things aligned and I get to have Friday-Sunday off!

I don’t have any crazy plans, but I’m excited to have a bit of a break so I can relax and enjoy time off. And I want to start doing some planning for the new year as well.

I hope you all have a great Christmas Eve and Christmas and you get to celebrate the way you want to! I know it’s not easy this year with the new variant, but I think we all learned last year that we can find ways to celebrate even if we can’t be together. And I’m excited to do some 2021 recap posts next week and then write about some plans for 2022 the week after!

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Some Secret Santa Fun (or More Virtual Social Time)

Posted on December 21, 2021 | Comments Off on Some Secret Santa Fun (or More Virtual Social Time)

As I’ve mentioned on here a few times before, I have a group of friends that I met through a FB group that I watch movies and tv shows with over TeleParty. And from that group, a smaller group of us have become close and have a text group between us. We share a lot of random things in that text group, but we share serious things too. And because we are pretty much always talking over text on a daily basis, we have gotten very close. It’s still crazy how close we have gotten even though none of us have met in person yet, but I think a lot of people have experienced that over the past two years.

We’ve done Secret Santas within the FB group we are in before, but this year we decided to do one just within our group. We used a website to set it all up so it figured out who we would give gifts to and it allowed us to put wish lists on there too. I had a bit of a hard time figuring out what to put on my wish list, but I took my time and thought about some things I would normally buy for myself and some things that I might not get for myself. I don’t normally put practical things on a wish list, but it made sense this time.

Because of delays with the post office, we set this all up in November with the idea that we would have a few weeks to get things shipped to each other. And to open gifts, we set up a Zoom hangout.

We’ve been on Zoom together as a group, but only a handful of times over the past 2 years. And it had been a while since we had been on Zoom together, so it was nice to see each other’s faces and hear everyone’s voices. Texting is good for handling a lot of communication, but hearing and seeing people makes it feel more real.

We ended up being on Zoom together for about 3 hours. Most of that time was us being silly and sharing random stories or updates from our lives. There are 3 of us getting ready to move, so that was a part of the chat. But I think all of us craved this social time since most of us are still pretty isolated. All of us are aware of how the pandemic is having a surge so we are all being careful with how much we go out and do things. So having our time on Zoom was a much-needed break from being alone.

And of course, we had to open our gifts together! For the person I got to give gifts to, I sent them 3 things on their list and 1 random thing that I thought would be funny. And I think most of us had that idea because most of us got some things we put on our lists and one or two little things that we didn’t have on our list.

For me, I got 2 things from my list and 1 extra. I got new workout gloves (which I need and hadn’t had a chance to buy myself) and a ring that I saw online that I liked that is a pretty basic ring. And the person who got me my gifts also painted me a little cute square canvas that I know I will put somewhere in my office space when I move to the condo.

I don’t think any of us expected to be on our Zoom for so long, but I’m so glad we got to have this time together. We’ve been trying to plan a group trip somewhere for almost a year, but we keep having to put it off because of the pandemic. We do still hope that we can have a group trip soon so we can finally meet in real life, but we just have to wait until it’s a bit safer. But at least we got to give each other gifts and spend some virtual time together that wasn’t just texting.

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1 Year In (or I Didn’t Realize I Had A Job Anniversary)

Posted on December 9, 2021 | Comments Off on 1 Year In (or I Didn’t Realize I Had A Job Anniversary)

I’m usually pretty good about remembering important dates in my life or the lives of people I’m close with. I celebrate the anniversary of different medical milestones each year. I remember the anniversary of my blog starting. But for some reason, I don’t think I’ve really celebrated too many anniversaries when it comes to my jobs. I can probably figure out the start date of different jobs I’ve had because I save almost every email I get. But I just haven’t really celebrated these in the past.

I know when I was in my early 20s, I changed jobs a lot and I rarely got to any sort of work anniversary or milestone. But for the jobs I have now, they are mostly things I’ve worked for a while. My box office job has been my job for 7 years (or 6 years if you remove the year things were closed). I’ve been doing my data entry job for almost as long. And it turned out that this week was the 1 year anniversary of being at my customer service job!

I knew it would be around this time since my training was right before the holidays, but I don’t know if it’s clicked with me yet that it’s almost the end of the year. But when I was messaging with one of my managers about some scheduling ideas, she mentioned it being the 1 year anniversary of me working with them and that’s when I realized it had been a year!

And in this past year, there have been a lot of things that have happened. The job I originally was hired for has changed a bit and my responsibilities have grown and shifted as the company grows. And now there’s a discussion about me having a different job within the same department in the future. When I started, I was doing 2 different jobs and that became just one once things became a bit busier and I had more hours added in. And now I’m full-time and I’m working a lot between all of my jobs.

And because I am really lucky with this company and how well they treat me, they sent me a gift for my work anniversary. I guess it is a bit of an advantage to have one of my bosses as a friend who knows me well because I got an Amazon gift card with a note saying to use it to get some books I’ve been wanting to get for my Kindle. There aren’t any books I’ve been antsy to get, but I always have a book list of things I want so I’ll be picking out some things from my list to use the gift card for!

This is still a job and not necessarily a career, but I do take my work seriously and I do look for ways I can grow and expand my role with the company. I haven’t really had that chance before, and I’m taking advantage of having that now which is why I might be doing a slightly different role with the company soon. And I do intend on staying with this job as long as I can. I am someone who likes stability and long-term situations, and this job is no different.

Being with this job for 1 year is just the start for me with this company. I know that for sure.

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Another Low-Key Thanksgiving (or Doing Some Of My Traditions)

Posted on November 26, 2021 | Comments Off on Another Low-Key Thanksgiving (or Doing Some Of My Traditions)

Since my family celebrated our Thanksgiving early, I didn’t have things to do with my family on actual Thanksgiving Day. I wasn’t sure what I’d do for that day, but I knew I’d have the day off of work so I wanted to make some plans for myself. And even though this wasn’t my traditional Thanksgiving, I think I did a pretty good job for myself.

I allowed myself to sleep in. But since I’m so used to getting up so early every day, sleeping in for me now is closer to what time I used to get up before the pandemic when I had my old schedule. But it was still nice to have extra sleep and I also was able to be lazy in bed for a while instead of rushing to get things done.

Next I went to a workout at Orangetheory. I had my family workout 2 weeks ago, but I didn’t want to miss my Thanksgiving day workout. I’ll write more about this in my workout recap, but it was a nice thing to do that felt like a normal Thanksgiving to me. Last year, I did work out at home, but going to the studio is so different and I’m glad I had the chance to do that this year.

The next thing I did was to go over to my condo to do a bit of work. I am going to be selling some appliances, so I needed to get good photos I could use to list them. And I wanted to try to do a few other tasks around the condo that helps to prep things for the renovations that will be coming up. But since I was going to be at the condo for a while and I knew traffic wouldn’t be too crazy, I asked my friend Robert if he wanted to come check out my new place. I hadn’t had any friends come over to see my condo, so it was exciting to have someone see the place I’ve been talking about! And since his background is in design, he and I were working on some ideas for how to arrange my furniture. I’ve already been excited about my new place, but having a friend come over and be excited too took my excitement to a new level!

And the last part of my day was to cook and have a bit of some Thanksgiving food. I didn’t make as much as I did last year and I didn’t want to go too crazy. So I made green beans with shallots and bacon (one of my favorites). And instead of doing a big turkey breast like last year, I found turkey breast cutlets at the grocery store when I was seeing what options I could make. And while I was at the store, I looked for some recipes and found a simple one that only required a few extra ingredients. So I made that too and had a pretty basic Thanksgiving dinner, but it was still delicious!

And after dinner, I just relaxed and watched tv before going to bed. I didn’t do anything crazy or fancy, but it was still a nice day for me. And since having a full day off of work is rare for me, even just that felt like a luxury and I was happy to have a chance to relax.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving doing whatever you did! And if you cooked, I hope you had success like I did!

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Happy Thanksgiving! (or My Tradition To Have A Short Post)

Posted on November 25, 2021 | Comments Off on Happy Thanksgiving! (or My Tradition To Have A Short Post)

As I usually do on Thanksgiving, this is going to be a pretty short post today.

I really hope that you all are getting to celebrate Thanksgiving the way you want and with the people you want to be around! As I am writing this post, my Thanksgiving Day plans are still a bit undecided, but I know whatever I end up doing I’ll be enjoying my time!

I know so many of us felt like we couldn’t celebrate last year, and I hope you all can celebrate safely this year.

Enjoy great food, awesome laughs, and an overall amazing day today!

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Not Quite Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Time (or A Full Family Day)

Posted on November 16, 2021 | Comments Off on Not Quite Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Time (or A Full Family Day)

As I mentioned in my workout recap, this past Saturday my family celebrated Thanksgiving early. Thanksgiving is the main holiday my family celebrates, and last year was the first time we weren’t celebrating together. But since we are all vaccinated, we wanted to get together this year to celebrate. And it was decided that since it is significantly less expensive to celebrate on a weekend other than Thanksgiving weekend, it was decided that this past weekend would be when we would get together.

Things were in Santa Barbara this year, so it was going to be easy for me to get there. But because of how my schedule was, I knew my time with everyone was going to be limited. I had things to do pretty late on Friday, so I was going to drive up on Saturday morning. And the original plan was for me to stay the night and go home on Sunday, but I would be leaving early on Sunday morning so I said I might just drive home Saturday night. But when I got all my stuff together, I did it with the plan that I might spend the night.

I drove up pretty early, but it didn’t feel too early to me since I’m up early anyway most days. And since it was early, there was no traffic and I had a very easy drive up. I got there with a bit of time before we were going to go to our workout, so I hung out with my parents before my dad and I left for Orangetheory (my brother was going to meet us there).

After the workout, I went back to the rental house my parents got and showered and changed before we headed to the club that my brother and sister-in-law belong to. They were there with my niece and nephew (and my cousin was there with her kids) because it was a very hot day and everyone wanted to swim. I just hung out in the shade at a table because I was still dealing with some of the side effects from my vaccine. But that was fine with me because I got to spend a lot of time catching up with my sister-in-law and cousin. Plus I got to hang out with my niece (my nephew is still a bit wary of me, but hopefully he starts to remember me).

It was nice just being outside and enjoying time with family, even if I wasn’t feeling completely ok. And since I hadn’t seen my cousin or her kids in almost 2 years, it was crazy to see how much her kids have grown! Her oldest son is almost taller than me now!

And after swim time, everyone went back to where they were staying and we got ready to celebrate our not really Thanksgiving Thanksgiving dinner. This was also held at the club my brother and sister-in-law belong to, and we had a private dining area so it didn’t feel like we were in a restaurant or around a lot of people. It wasn’t exactly our traditional Thanksgiving celebration, but we were celebrating together as a family and that’s what is most important to us and how we celebrate.

Dinner was a few hours (which I guess is a bit more traditional for us) and then everyone started to say goodbye. Even if I was going to stay the night there, I wouldn’t see my family the next day so I had to say goodbye to everyone. And there is a good chance I won’t see most of them until next Thanksgiving. I’m used to spending a few days with family for Thanksgiving, so only having one day didn’t feel like I got my full fix of family time. But it’s so much better than last year when we had to celebrate over Zoom.

I did end up driving back home that night after dinner since it’s just easier for me to sleep in my own bed. And I forgot a few things I would have needed if I did spend the night in the rental house. But I’m about to have more family time with my parents soon, so missing one overnight isn’t too bad.

Normally, I feel like I have a ton of pictures after Thanksgiving. I’m not sure if it was because I didn’t have as many days with my family or if I was enjoying my family time and not focused on taking photos, but I don’t have a lot of photos from my day with my family. But I did get a cute photo of my nephew, a nice one with my niece (I couldn’t get her to smile), and a silly one of my parents’ dog.

Next year, hopefully we will be together for Thanksgiving (or fake Thanksgiving) again as a family. I missed this tradition so much last year and I’m so grateful we had it back again this year!

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Default ThumbnailFull Thanksgiving Week (or Lots Of Family Time) Default ThumbnailFull Thanksgiving Trip (or Being With My Family In San Diego) Default ThumbnailThe Rest Of Thanksgiving (or Getting In Lots Of Family Time) Default ThumbnailFamily Zoom Time (or Thanksgiving After Thanksgiving) Default ThumbnailMore Family Time (or Seeing All My Immediate Family Last Week) Default ThumbnailThe First Half Of Thanksgiving (or My Pre-Thanksgiving Activities)

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