Category Archives: Family

Long Layover Visit (or Celebrating With My Mom In Person)

Posted on October 21, 2014 | 8 comments

This past Thursday my parents had a couple of flights. The first flight brought them to LAX where they had about a 10 hour layover. So when my parents knew that this was the situation, they asked me what my plans were for the afternoon. And of course, I immediately cleared my schedule so I could get them and spend some time with them.

The first thing we did at my house was a project (of course). A drawer on my dresser broke and my dad said that he would work on fixing it. We were finally able to create a fix, but we really need to work on it when my dad has the time to go to the hardware store and get some proper things (right now, the drawer is fixed with tape).

Since it was a nice day out, we also took a walk around my neighborhood. My parents haven’t really walked around my neighborhood that much. Usually when they are over at my house, we are working on something and then driving to another activity. But since we had all the free time in the afternoon, we took a very nice walk.

It’s fun to see my parents seeing more about where I live. My mom grew up in LA, but not near where I live. So it’s interesting to see them discovering why I love my area so much.

After walking around, it was time for linner (lunch/dinner). My parents wanted something filling so they wouldn’t be hungry on their next flight, so I took them over to Westside Tavern. I’ve been there plenty of times (it’s right next to one of my favorite movie theaters) but my parents have never been.

And since we were celebrating my mom’s final chemo treatment and her being cancer free, of course she got some champagne.

We had a nice relaxing dinner and then headed back to my place. We spent some time watching tv and I helped both my parents with iPad questions (which is how I “pay” for the house repairs my dad does) and before we knew it, it was time for me to take them back to LAX for their next flight.

Their layover on the flight back isn’t nearly as long as this one was, but I might get to see them again then. But if not, Thanksgiving will be here before you know it and I’ll see them (and Tucker!) for a couple of days then.

I’m just so grateful that I’m in a work situation right now that allowed me to take the afternoon off so I could spend it with my parents. It was a nice treat for me to get to see them and I’m sure that they preferred hanging out at my house over spending 10 hours waiting at LAX for their next flight.

8 Comments

Posted in Celebrations, Family, Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged breast cancer, chemo, flying, parents, visit

Seeing What Other People See (or Losing Weight Without Losing Weight)

Posted on October 20, 2014 | 4 comments

Another week of workouts are done! I had some great challenging workouts and some personal challenges as well.

First of all, the Monday Challenge this week was a mini Dri-Tri. We had a 100 meter row, 20 burpees (without the jumps or pushups), and a .1 mile run. Even before I started I knew I wouldn’t rank in the top 5, but I was still excited to do it. The row wasn’t too bad. I was exhausted from the workout, but I still got it done pretty quickly. The burpees were a killer. It’s so tough to do them and even though I’m finally done with my ear problems, my equilibrium is still off sometimes when I go from sitting or laying down to standing. So those burpees made me so dizzy! And I did the .1 mile walk as fast as I could, but everyone else at the challenge was able to run.

In the end, my time was just over a minute from what the slowest time was on the leaderboard. So not bad.

These challenges are going to be in cycles. I’ve been told that they will do 8 challenges and then repeat them. I’m not sure if that is still the exact plan, but if it is, I’m excited to see what my time will be for this challenge in 8 weeks when we do it again.

On Wednesday, I was all decked out in pink for my workout.

First of all, it was to show my support for breast cancer awareness month. But secondly, this past Wednesday was my mom’s very last day of chemo! So even though I wasn’t celebrating that awesome milestone with her in person that day, I wanted to celebrate it in my own way.

On Friday, it was a crazy challenging workout. It was a run/row day, which I haven’t had in a long time. I personally enjoy the run/rows because it means that I get to spend less time on the treadmill, which I still don’t love. But since it had been so long since doing a run/row, my transitions were slow and tough. I know that I can do better with that if I have run/rows more often, but I just focused on trying to get from the treadmill to the rower and back as fast as I could.

This week also seemed to be the week that I talked with people who have noticed a difference in how I look. First of all it was my parents who I saw on Thursday (more about that in another post). My dad mentioned that I look much smaller than the last time he saw me (which was last month).

Then on Friday, I was talking with 2 ladies who were on the treadmills next to me. One of them was pretty new to Orangetheory. That Monday (she was in my class that time as well) was her first class. And she was asking me all about the workouts. Then there was another lady who I have seen a bunch in class who joined in on the conversation. She mentioned that whenever she and I are in the same class, I motivate her to use heavier weights in the strength portion of class because she sees that I’m using heavier weights than she is.

I never realized that I could motivate someone who looks perfectly fit to me to try harder! That was pretty awesome. She also mentioned how I looked like I had lost a lot of weight since she first saw me in class (which I think was right around 4th of July).

Finally this week, I saw my brother and sister-in-law yesterday (again, a story for another post). My sister-in-law commented that I looked like I had lost a lot of weight.

What’s crazy about all of this is that I haven’t lost a lot of weight. I’m not sure why I’m not losing it at the rate I expect to, but I’m just happy that it is going in the right direction. But for example, since the last time my parents or my sister-in-law saw me, I’m maybe only 4 pounds smaller. That’s not a lot. But clearly it must be showing more than I realize.

I stopped doing photos of my progress after my initial 8 week challenge, but I think I need to go back to doing those. It’s really hard for me to see weight changes in my self (I have been diagnosed in the past with some body dysmorphia issues) but sometimes I can see them in photos. I think I’m going to wait until November 1st and then try to do them on the first of every month.

But for now, I have to trust in what other people are seeing and to keep kicking as much butt in my workouts as possible. Because obviously it’s working!

4 Comments

Posted in Celebrations, Family, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health, Weight Loss

Tagged challenge, fitness, Orangetheory, progress, weight loss, workout

Orange Goes Pink (or The Week In Workouts)

Posted on October 13, 2014 | Comments Off

This past week was another killer week of workouts for me. It didn’t help that on Friday my hip decided to pop out as I was getting out of my car and didn’t want to pop back until after the workout was done. But I did my best given the circumstances.

The Monday challenge was a 2 minute row. And it was as simple as it sounds. Row as far as you can in 2 minutes. The top 5 distances for women and for men would be posted.

I was surprised when I did the Monday challenge. Only myself and one other girl decided to do it after my class. I’m not sure why nobody else wanted to.

But that was fine. She and I rowed next to each other and encouraged each other on (she had a goal to beat the distance her mom was able to do).

I did ok. I went farther than I thought I could, but I knew that I wasn’t going to be in the top 5 (there were more than 5 people who had done the challenge in the morning classes with farther distances than mine).

But what I thought was the coolest part of my week in workouts was the support that was going on because of October being breast cancer awareness month.

I think most of you reading this know what breast cancer means to me and my family. I am happy to report that I did get the results of my mammogram back and everything is fine. The only thing that makes me nervous is that the type of breast cancer that my mom had is not really detectable on a mammogram. So even though my doctor is advising me to do annual mammograms now, my mom suggested that I see about doing mammograms and MRIs on alternating years (my mom’s cancer was found on an MRI).

Anyway, back to how OrangeTheory is support breast cancer awareness. This past Saturday there was an event at the gym (sadly I couldn’t make it). For every calorie burned during class for the entire day, they were going to donate a penny to breast cancer causes. So for example, I typically burn about 500 calories in class. They would donate $5 for that. Between the calories burned over the day and some other donations that came in, they were able to give a nice donation to the charity.

They have also decided to make the orange zone on the heart rate monitors pink for the month.

So instead of striving to be in the orange zone for 12-20 minutes in class, you want to be in the pink zone.

Not only is it a nice way to show support, I think it’s pretty fun too.

Beyond that, my workouts have been pretty normal. I’m getting used to the schedule and have been able to maintain my M/W/F workouts. I’m getting a little nervous about Thanksgiving and how I will keep up my workouts then, but I’ve got plenty of time to figure that out.

But I keep thinking to myself that the fact that I’m trying to plan my workouts for something that is a month away is a major step for me. I have never been this dedicated to working out without a goal date (the only other time I was this dedicated was when I was losing as much weight as possible before my hip surgery). While the food plans are still tough on me, now that working out is seeming to be normal and expected, I’m getting better and better.

I’m excited for my next 5K (which is less than 4 weeks away). I’m curious how much progress I will have made now that I’m doing treadmill training 3 times a week.

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Posted in Celebrations, Family, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health, Tough Stuff

Tagged breast cancer, mammogram, mom, Orangetheory, support, workout

Getting A Mammogram (or I Guess This Was A Rite Of Passage)

Posted on September 24, 2014 | 2 comments

When my mom tested negative for the breast cancer gene mutation, I figured that I didn’t have to do anything. My only concern was if she tested positive to get myself tested to see if I had the mutation.

But my mom’s geneticist did say that I needed to still be monitored a bit more carefully throughout my life. While my mom’s cancer is most likely a post-menopause cancer, the extra monitoring started this past weekend.

Earlier this month, I had my annual appointment with my gynecologist. She was actually one of my dad’s residents (have I ever mentioned that my dad used to be an OB/GYN and he was in charge of training all the residents in his department?) so she’s known my family for a long time. And when I saw her last year, it was right after my mom’s surgery but before too much else was done. So she knew that I would be coming in to this appointment with a lot more information.

I relayed all the important information to my doctor and then told her how my mom’s geneticist wanted me to get a mammogram this year. Even though my mom’s cancer is post-menopausal, my parents thought (and I kind of agree) that this mammogram was kind of to cover the doctors’ butts and so they could say that they did extra monitoring of me. But my doctor was more than willing to write in the order for the test and I went home that day with the phone number to set up my appointment.

I managed to get an appointment for this past Sunday (who knew they did mammograms 7 days a week?!?), and I was so nervous. I searched the internet for how to prepare for a mammogram and I bugged my mom about how much it was going to hurt. I know that she tried to prepare me the best she could.

When I go to the hospital on Sunday, the first thing I got was my hospital bracelet.

I didn’t understand why I needed a bracelet, but later my mom said that it was because the person who checks you in for the appointment is not in the same area as the technician who does the mammogram. This way, nobody can pretend to be you.

I waited about 10 minutes and tried to read my book, but again, my nerves were getting the best of me. Finally it was my turn to head back to the room and I faced the mammogram machine.

I swear that it looked scarier in person.

I then had to undress from the waist up (note to anyone who hasn’t gone for a mammogram yet: don’t wear a dress to your appointment) and then it was time to get squished.

And I’m not going to lie.

It hurt.

I was warned that because I’m young and have bigger breasts, I have more tissue and not only might it hurt more, I might have to go in for a repeat mammogram another time to make sure they get a clear picture.

The pain was not where I expected it. The squishing part actually wasn’t too horrible. But because of how you have to fit into the machine, the skin near my collarbone hurt so badly that my eyes teared up!

The mammogram was 4 different views (2 on each side). And I had to do 3 of them a second time right then and there because they didn’t get a good picture (I still don’t know if I have to go in for an entirely new appointment yet). But after about 10 minutes I was done.

While getting dressed again I noticed that I was starting to get bruises all over my chest (I bruise pretty easily to begin with). They only got uglier looking throughout the day. I’d put a picture of my bruises on here but I really don’t feel the need to post a topless photo on a public blog. Fortunately, the bruises are all almost gone now.

If I have to go in again for a repeat mammogram, I’m supposed to find out in the next week or so. If everything looks good, I’ll get a letter within a month.

I don’t know if I get the letter saying that everything is good if that means I don’t have to get another mammogram for another 9 years. Nobody really seemed to know the answer to that, but I’ll see what comes up as a health reminder on my profile on the Kaiser website.

If I have to go back next year, I’ll do it. It’s so important to be checked out and to make sure everything is ok (even if you don’t have a family history of breast cancer).

But the next time I go, I’m totally taking a painkiller before I go so it doesn’t hurt so much.

2 Comments

Posted in Family, Health, Tough Stuff

Tagged breast cancer, doctor, hospital, mammogram, mom, pain

67 Years (or Celebrating An Anniversary With Fondue)

Posted on September 10, 2014 | 1 comment

This past Sunday was my grandparents’ 67th anniversary. I’ve been lucky enough to get to celebrate with my grandparents on their anniversary a couple of times. For their 50th and 60th, we had big events (their 50th was in Africa and their 60th was a family party in Portland). This year, we were doing a low-key dinner in San Diego.

That morning I went to breakfast with my parents and Krystle (and Tucker of course) and then we did some walking around at the seaport. Then Krystle had to get to the airport so she could get back to San Francisco. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to stay for the dinner because there weren’t that many flight options for her.

After saying goodbye to Krystle, my parents and I headed back to the hobbit house where we got all of us stuff together to go out that evening (and I packed my car since I’d be driving home straight from dinner).

We got to my grandparents’ place around 1pm and spent the afternoon talking. We asked my grandparents what their big memories were from their wedding and I asked my grandparents how they met (I had never heard that story before). It was really cool to get to hear them tell it and my mom actually took video of it so we can share it with other family members who couldn’t make it out to San Diego that weekend.

We all got ready to go to dinner and then we drove over to the place where the restaurant was.

We went to The Melting Pot for dinner. I had never been there and had never really had fondue before. My only experience with fondue was a single serving of goat cheese fondue that came with some bread at a restaurant once. But this was nothing like that.

We all decided to get the 4 course dinner (it was actually cheaper than getting 2 courses on our own). Between the 6 of us at dinner, we selected 2 cheese fondues to start with, then we each got our own salad. The main course was interesting. We each got to choose up to 3 meats and then as a table we got to choose 2 different cooking liquids. Then you had to cook your meat in the hot cooking liquids.

While it was fun, it was a little messy and crazy at times. All of us lost at least one piece of meat in the cooking liquid because we had so many fondue forks in the pot at one time. But it was pretty yummy.

After the main course, we were all stuffed. But we still had the dessert course to go. As a table we selected 2 types of chocolate (I don’t really remember what they were but they were both dark chocolate). Then they brought over a selection of cakes and fruit to dip into the chocolate.

The plate that my grandparents got had 2 candles in it for their anniversary.

I tried a little of the dessert fondue, but I was only able to take a few bites since I was so full from the other courses.

Before we knew it, dinner was over. My mom and I left a little early so we could get our cars (we didn’t want my grandparents to have to walk too far to the car and it was parked in a parking garage). When my mom and I got our cars back to the restaurant, everyone else got into my mom’s car so they could all go back together. I said goodbye to everyone and made the 2 hour drive back home (no car breakdowns this time!).

I’m so lucky that I got to spend time with my grandparents on their anniversary. Since I live pretty close it makes it easy enough for me to come down to see them. I don’t think I’ll make it down again before Thanksgiving, but November will be here before we know it!

1 Comment

Posted in Celebrations, Family, Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged anniversary, dinner, grandparents, San Diego

San Diego Weekend (or Spending Time At A Hobbit House)

Posted on September 9, 2014 | Comments Off

This past weekend my grandparents celebrated their 67th anniversary. My parents were going to be in San Diego with them and they invited my sister-in-law and I to come down too (my brother is currently working in Africa so he couldn’t make it).

Everyone else got there on Friday, but I had to work on Saturday morning. So I headed down after my short shift on Saturday morning (fortunately, my drive was much less crazy than my last trip to San Diego). I got down there around 2pm and headed to my grandparents’ place first.

We all visited there for a little bit and then we headed to the dog park nearby so Tucker could get some playtime. I didn’t take any pictures there because I was more concerned about not getting knocked over by the dogs there (there were a lot and they were all running around like crazy). It was very hot but we were able to find some shade so we all sat there and watched all the dogs having fun (my grandparents really seemed to enjoy the dog park too).

Next, we headed to the rental house my parents got for the weekend. My mom warned me ahead of time that it was a little bizarre, but that doesn’t even begin to describe it.

We all referred to it as the hobbit house. Each section of the house was its own pod/hut. When you walked in the front gate, to the left of you was the pod that had the master bedroom and bathroom. To the right was the pod that had the living room, kitchen, and second bathroom. Through the backyard and up some outdoor stairs was the second bedroom where Krystle and I slept. Yes, that meant for us to use the bathroom to get ready for bed, we had to leave our room, walk outside and down some stairs, through the patio area and then into the house.

It was seriously weird, but I was only staying there for one night so it wasn’t a big deal.

That evening, my mom and dad made a steak dinner for all of us (which included my grandparents and my aunt). We just had a relaxing dinner and caught up on each other’s lives.

Then we moved over to the outdoor patio was and my dad build a fire in the outdoor fireplace.

A little while later, my aunt took my grandparents back to their place and my parents, Krystle, and I all decided it was time to go to bed. Krystle and I chatted a bit at night discussing our next New York trip and how weird this house was.

Overall, it was a great afternoon and evening in San Diego and I was excited to spend the next day with my grandparents as that was their actual anniversary.

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Posted in Family, Fun Stuff, Travel

Tagged anniversary, dinner, rental, San Diego

Minor Remodeling (or Putting My Parents To Work On Their Vacation)

Posted on August 27, 2014 | Comments Off

Whenever my parents (or just my dad by himself) come to visit, there is always a list of things that I’m hoping to get done at my house. A lot of times it’s minor things like help hanging things on the walls (I have weird walls in my house and my dad has a special drill bit that we need to use to put screws in). But this trip, we had bigger things in mind.

It started with my birthday couch. When the plan was to get something from IKEA, I knew that my dad and I would have to put it together. But since I got a different couch that came delivered all put together, that was one thing that we didn’t have to do.

But I knew that my mom would have some ideas about how to reorganize my house to make the couch fit in better. There aren’t a lot of ways to organize furniture in a 400 square foot house, but my mom has a way of figuring it out.

When she got to my house, we moved the lounge part of my couch to the other side right away. Then we looked at moving my TV around. Finally, my dad and I took the doors off of my entertainment center because I never close the doors. After lots of deliberation, I had an entirely new looking living room just by moving some furniture (and getting the new couch).

My living room went from this:

To this:

I know it’s a little tough to tell the difference from the pictures, but trust me, it’s made a huge difference! My living room looks much bigger now and the flow of the furniture makes more sense.

The next project that we thought would be a huge project involved my dining room chairs. My dining room set is from the late 1960’s or early 1970’s (there’s some debate on that). My aunt actually got it for herself and then she gave it to my dad. My parents had it in storage for a while until I got my first apartment in 2003. Then they gave it to me.

I absolutely love my dining room set. It’s simple and classic and it’s so well made that it doesn’t look as old as it is. The only thing that was bugging me was the cover that each chair had. It was made of black vinyl and all the padding that was there (if there ever was any) was gone. One chair had a little tear in it, but besides that they still looked decent. The chair covers were the original covers that they came with when my aunt bought the set. So my parents agreed with me that it was time for an update.

We headed to a fabric store near my house and found a wonderful fabric that matched my house really well. And it was in a clearance section so it was only $5/yard (compared to $38/yard for another fabric we loved). My dad brought his staple gun down so we were planning on figuring out how to cover the chairs ourselves.

While in the store, one of the employees asked my dad if we needed any help so my dad explained what we needed. Turns out, that employee does chair covers on the side! He would take the fabric we purchased, remove the old fabric, add new padding, and cover it all.

That was so much better of a plan than my dad and I winging it! I’m sure we would have done an ok job, but why not leave it up to the professionals!

We dropped the seats off on Saturday and they were done on Monday morning. While I was at the dentist my parents picked them up for me and came over to my house to put the chairs back together. When I returned home, my parents had done all the work!

The chairs look amazing.

The fabric really goes with the style of the chair and they are so much more comfortable now! I have some of the scraps of fabric from the cushions and I really want to do some sort of project with them. There isn’t enough to make a table runner, but I’m thinking maybe figuring out if they could be turned into placemats (anyone know anything about doing that?).

Besides our decorating work, my dad also washed all the outsides of my windows and my screens so my windows are super clean now. We also did some work with the plants in the front of my house (my dad brought me another bark planter and we did some touch up work on the old one).

Considering I live in a rental house and I can’t do a ton of work to the inside, my parents have really helped me make the space my own. And after living here for 4 1/2 years, having things freshened up really makes it feel new again.

And I’m so lucky that my parents are both willing to help me fix up my house, each in their own ways. My mom is such a great decorator (so much of the artwork in my house was either originally my mom’s or she got them for me), and my dad is an awesome handyman (who only charges me in beer).

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Posted in Crafts, Family, Fun Stuff

Tagged decorating, home

Saturday Evening With My Parents (or I’m Posting A Little Out Of Order About My Weekend)

Posted on August 26, 2014 | 2 comments

Typically, when I do recaps of things that happen in my life, I put things in order. But to make a bit more sense of what I did with my parents this past weekend, I’m breaking things up a little funny.

On Saturday, I spent the morning/early afternoon with my parents (I’ll talk more about that in tomorrow’s post). Then my parents headed back to their hotel to rest for a bit. And at about 5pm I headed over to their hotel to meet them for our evening plans.

My parents usually stay in Brentwood (there is a dog friendly hotel that they like there), but this time I encouraged them to stay near the Hollywood Bowl. So they found a nice hotel on Highland Ave (although it was quite touristy) and that’s where I headed to meet them.

It was important for them to stay near the Hollywood Bowl because that’s where we were headed on Saturday evening!

My mom saw the Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl when she was younger. She’s not 100% sure she was at the show 50 years ago or the show 48 years ago. But either way, she saw them at the Bowl.

My dad on the other hand, has never seen a show at the Bowl. We went there during the wintertime so he could check out the venue and we toured the museum, but never for a show.

So when this summer’s season was announced, I knew that this would be an awesome event to go to with my parents.

My mom originally wanted me to get us box seats, but those sold out before I even had a chance. The best seats in my opinion are the first row of any section because there is more leg room and you can use the concrete barrier as a table for your snacks. So I found us some pretty close seats in the first row of a section.

Technically, they were partially obstructed seats, but we never really had an issue with that (plus everything was shown on the giant screens).

The show was amazing (check out my Instagram for some videos). The first part was 30 minutes long and it was the playlist from the Beatles concert 50 years ago. It was shocking to think that the Beatles only played for 30 minutes when they were in LA!

After intermission, there were maybe 15 more Beatles songs. They had a bunch of different singers. Some were amazing and some I wished hadn’t had as many songs to sing as they did. But overall, it was an amazing concert!

My parents both had a great time and because their hotel was so close to the Bowl, I parked my car there and we were able to walk to and from the concert. That was much more relaxing than me taking the Bowl bus there and trying to meet up with them!

After I got back to my parents’ hotel, I got my car and headed back home.

I’ll be back at the Bowl this weekend for the John Williams show and I’m hoping to go in September for the Simpsons event. Every time I’m there, I’m reminded how lucky I am to have such an amazing venue so close to where I live!

2 Comments

Posted in Family, Fun Stuff

Tagged anniversary, concert, Hollywood Bowl, parents

The End Of My 8 Week Challenge (or The End Is Really Just The Beginning)

Posted on August 25, 2014 | 3 comments

Last week was the end of my Orangetheory challenge. Well, it’s the end of my first Orangetheory challenge. I’m in the middle of the weight loss challenge they have going right now.

I remember the beginning of my challenge being so scared that I wouldn’t be able to finish or that I would somehow hurt myself. And I’m so happy to say that I did all 24 workouts in my challenge and I didn’t get hurt!

Monday’s workout was tough because there was a lot of lunge work. That’s a tough one for me because my hip flexors don’t always work the way that they are supposed to. Fortunately, the lunges were done while using the TRX straps, so that helps me keep my balance and takes a little pressure off of my hips when things start to hurt a lot.

Wednesday’s workout was another killer. It had to be a killer because somehow my mind has blocked out that day! But I do remember that at the end of class, I was thinking about how much flexibility I’ve gained recently (I lost a lot of flexibility after my hip surgery), so that inspired my picture for that workout.

Friday’s workout was a super awesome day. Not only was it marking the end of a challenge that I thought I’d never be able to do, my parents got into LA that day, so my dad decided to join me for the workout!

My dad has joined me for a couple of unique workouts. He came with me a couple of times to work out with Richard Simmons, he tried SoulCycle, and now he’s tried Orangetheory.

My dad works out pretty regularly, but he doesn’t really use a rowing machine. So he had been training on the rowing machine at the gym that he goes to to make sure he was ready for class. Of course, Friday’s class wasn’t a run/row day. There was a little bit of rowing, but not much.

My dad found the class really good and tough. There were several strength moves that he had never done before (including using the TRX straps) so he now has some new ideas for his own workouts.

It was super awesome to have my dad come to class with me. I wanted him to see what I had been doing for the last 8 weeks and I know that he likes checking out new and unique workouts. He’s not necessarily set in his ways with working out, but he is pretty traditional.

And of course, since my dad was in class with me, he had to be in my workout photo!

Now that my first challenge is over, I have an unlimited membership to Orangetheory. I’m planning on still going every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and sticking with my usual 4:15 class unless there is a reason that I can’t be there in the evening (like tonight when I will be live-tweeting the Emmys!).

I’m not planning on adding a 4th Orangetheory class each week yet. But I am going to start using my exercise bike at home again (I was scared to use it before I was comfortable working out so often).

I really do see this as a lifestyle change. And that’s the best thing that could have come out of this challenge.

And if any of you want to come check out Orangetheory with me in LA, let me know. People can still take a free class to check it out!

The top row of photos is 2 months ago. And the bottom is from this morning.

3 Comments

Posted in Celebrations, Family, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health

Tagged challenge, dad, fitness, hip, Orangetheory, workout

A Birthday Present For Me And My House (or Thank You Mom And Dad!)

Posted on August 15, 2014 | Comments Off

My parents are pretty great at getting me awesome presents. They do ask me what I want, so that always helps.

A few weeks ago, my mom and I were talking about my birthday and I mentioned that I finally wanted to replace my old couch.

I had that couch in my old apartment before I moved into my house (I think I got it 7 years ago). The couch was actually part of a set of 3 pieces: the couch, the loveseat, and the armchair. The couch and armchair moved into my house with me. The loveseat was ruined by my last set of roommates at my apartment (one of the cushions got sliced open somehow), so I made them buy it off me.

I loved my couch, but it was starting to show some wear and tear.

About 6 months ago, I saw a couch at IKEA that I loved. It was a couch with a lounge on it and it turned into a double bed! I tried it out then and thought it was super comfortable. I remembered it for future reference.

When I mentioned wanting to get a new couch, my mom decided that that would be my birthday present from my parents!

So earlier this week, I went to IKEA to check out the couch again. I went to sit on it, and it didn’t feel right. The back was super low. Turns out, they changed the couch. This one was similar to the old one I saw, but it was a different one with a different name (who remembers the names of IKEA pieces?).

I was pretty upset. I really wanted that couch. I called my mom and she encouraged me to go look at other furniture stores. You never know what else is out there.

I went around to 4 or 5 different stores with no luck. Either the couches were way too big, or they were way too expensive.

As I was driving home, I passed the storefront for Sofa Club. I’ve driven past it a million times, but I had never gone inside. I found some parking, walked inside, and right next to the door was my dream couch!

It was exactly what I wanted (minus the sofa sleeper part but that’s ok)! The owner of the store gave me a great deal on it because I bought the floor model and Sofa Club is actually a custom furniture store. Then, I asked if she had any discounts for the beginning of the school year, and she said that if I was a teacher, she would give me free delivery and take another $20 off the price. I’ve never been so grateful that I keep my teacher ID card for substitute teaching in my purse.

The couch came a few hours later. The delivery men were nice enough to move my old couch and chair into my garage (a friend is taking the couch from me and I’m still looking for someone to buy my chair).

The couch looks amazing in my house!

I am thinking of getting the back pillows switched out. The owner said if I wanted pillows without buttons, they would exchange the ones I have for new ones at no cost (they would just have to take a few days to make the new pillows). I’m pretty sure I will get the other pillows. While the buttons look cute, they aren’t the most comfortable to lean against.

My parents will be in town next week to visit me, so they will get to see the present they got me in person soon. I’m so grateful that my parents got me such an incredible gift. It’s the nicest piece of furniture I’ve owned. And it really makes my house look even better than it did before!

Comments Off on A Birthday Present For Me And My House (or Thank You Mom And Dad!)

Posted in Celebrations, Family, Fun Stuff, Shopping

Tagged birthday, parents, presents

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