Category Archives: Family

The First Half Of Our Catalina Adventure (or Exploring And Touring)

Posted on March 7, 2019 | 2 comments

Earlier this week, I spent a few days in Catalina with my mom, aunt, and sister-in-law. Having a trip this time of year is becoming a tradition because we do the trip when my dad and brother go on a big skiing adventure. My mom figures since they get to have a fun trip we get to have one as well. This year, they went heliskiing in Canada and my mom and I decided we wanted to go to Catalina Island.

My mom grew up going to Catalina all the time. My grandparents had a boat and they would said from LA to Catalina and spend weekends there. My parents took me and my brother there when we were little, but I don’t remember that trip at all. The last time we were there was for my sweet 16 party. My mom and grandma took me and 3 friends to Catalina for a weekend. It was the best trip and I loved it. It’s crazy to think that was almost 20 years ago and I hadn’t been back since. It’s not that far to go since there is a boat that takes you there from Long Beach. The boat is only about 45 minutes from me and the boat ride is only an hour. But for some reason I just hadn’t been back and I was so excited to get to be there again!

We took the boat over to the island after I was done with work. It had been raining on and off and we were worried that it would be raining our entire trip as well. It was raining on the boat, but fortunately when we got to Catalina it was cloudy but dry. We rented a house right in front of the water next to the main street of Avalon (the main town of the island). Our view was amazing and we loved people watching since it was right next to the boat dock where everyone was arriving and leaving.

The day we arrived, we didn’t have too much planned. We got to the house and unpacked and then walked to the grocery store to get things for the few days we were going to be there. They used to not have a regular grocery store on the island so it was a big deal when they got a Vons, We weren’t sure what to expect, but it was just like grocery stores on the mainland so we were able to get everything we needed for breakfast and snacks. We went out for a casual dinner and relaxed at the house before going to bed. It was the perfect first day of our trip.

The next day we had two different tours scheduled. The first tour was a tour of Avalon and it was a van tour. We were driven around and got to learn a lot of history about the island and the different aspects of life there. We also got to see some incredible views of the town from up in the hills.

The one stop that the tour had was at the country club which is famous because the island used to be the training location for the Chicago Cubs and the country club had their locker room and clubhouse. It was a really cute place and even though it started to rain while we were there it was still so nice out!

The tour was about an hour long and it was the perfect introduction to the island. Next we had a backstage tour of the Casino, which is probably the most famous building on the island. It is not a gambling casino nor has it ever been. But instead it is a theater and ballroom. In the past, famous bands would come and perform there. The ballroom is used for various events now and the theater shows movies there daily. I don’t think I had ever seen the inside of the Casino before, so I was so excited to go on the tour.

We had a really great tour guide and he knew so much about the Casino and the island in general. He was full of lots of information, but to be honest I was in awe with how gorgeous the inside was that I wasn’t paying as much attention as I should have.

Our first stop was the theater on the first floor. Everything in the entire building is original from almost 100 years ago with the exception of the carpet (which was replaced with the same pattern as the original). And even though the theater isn’t new, it was one of the most spectacular theaters I’ve ever seen.

There are murals all around depicting the history of the island. And the murals were even more incredible when the lights were dimmed and the artwork was lit up.

We watched a little movie about the history of the island, and then we had the opportunity to go up on the stage. I love seeing the view from the stage since that means so much to me. And standing on that stage and getting the view of everything was so special and I was so happy we got to do it.

Next we walked around the various backstage areas of the theater. We got to see different dressing rooms and green rooms before going into the projection room. They had the current projector set up (since they screen movies every day), but they also had the different old projectors that they used to use. I love learning about the history of filmmaking and this was exactly what I enjoy learning about.

The last stop on the Casino tour was the ballroom. It is on the top of the building and it has almost 360 degree views from the windows.

They recently had their Oscar party there, so there were some tables and chairs around the room. But it was close to empty so we had the chance to walk around and explore. I loved seeing the views of the island from the huge windows.

We also got to walk around the balcony outside of the ballroom. Not only did we have the view of the town, but when we walked around to the other side it was so clear out that we could see the mainland!

It’s tiny and not super easy to see in my photo, but trust me we could see it. Considering the rain that we had earlier in the day, we were so lucky that it had cleared up enough that we could see that far out.

Of course, we also had the take advantage of the view and get a group photo because I knew that we probably wouldn’t do another one that trip.

After walking around outside, the tour of the Casino was over. It was a really informative and full tour and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is visiting Catalina and wants to learn a lot about the island history as well as Hollywood history.

The rest of that day was nice and relaxing. We walked around a bit more and we had a nice dinner that evening. It was so much fun getting to spend that time with family that I don’t always get to see and there was no pressure to get a lot done or to rush around. It was the perfect first full day of our vacation.

Tomorrow’s post will be about the rest of the trip, but I think you all can tell from this post how much fun I had the entire time!

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Default ThumbnailPart 2 Of Catalina (or Outdoor Adventuring) Default ThumbnailFirst Half Of Thanksgiving (or Hanukkah Gifts And Birthdays) Default ThumbnailGirls Weekend (or Hanging Out With My Mom And Aunt) Default ThumbnailA Backstage Adventure (or Back to Back Pantages Nights) Default ThumbnailA Weekend With My Mom (or An Adventure In Palm Springs) Default ThumbnailExploring West Maui (or My Dad Found A Coconut With Jesus On It)

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A Family Disney Day (or Rain, Cold, And More Rides Than We Expected)

Posted on February 26, 2019 | Comments Off on A Family Disney Day (or Rain, Cold, And More Rides Than We Expected)

Back at Thanksgiving, my cousin mentioned to me that her daughter was going to be performing with her dance group at Disneyland in February. I wrote down the dates that they would be in town and said that I’d love to meet up with them while they were here. They ended up getting flights that landed at LAX instead of Orange County, so when they flew in I was able to meet up with my cousin and her daughter for dinner that night. And we made plans to meet up at Disneyland the next day.

My cousin told me that the performance was going to be at 2:30, so I took some time off of work so I could make it for that. Between traffic and the parking lot taking time to get through, I was terrified that I would miss the performance. But by some miracle, I was able to get into the park and join my cousin to watch her daughter perform. I made it there only a minute or two before she went on, and I felt so lucky that I didn’t miss it.

While we were waiting for my cousin’s daughter to come out after the performance, it started to rain. I had seen that there was a chance of rain in the forecast, but it was saying just sprinkles and only for a brief time. This rain was a pretty heavy storm and we found an umbrella by the entrance of a ride that we could wait under. We still got a bit wet, but it saved us from being completely soaked.

To avoid the rain, we went over to the Animation Building so we could do the Animation Academy and see Turtle Talk. A lot of people had the same idea as us and it was so crowded inside there. But the space was big enough that we were able to get into both things without too much hassle.

When we were done, we went back outside and the rain was finally done. It was really cold, but we were able to dry off a bit when we were inside so that helped. I can’t imagine how bad it would have been if we were drenched and it was that cold out.

Then it was time for us to go on some rides. We started with Guardians of the Galaxy, which my cousin and her daughter went on earlier as well. Fortunately, they like all the big and crazy rides so they were happy to ride on it again with me.

After that, my cousin and her daughter had a ride time for Toy Story Mania with their MaxPass, but I didn’t have a time. But that worked out perfectly because we noticed there wasn’t a big line at the Lamplight Lounge and I was able to wait for a table for us for dinner while they rode the ride! By the time they came back, our table was just about ready. We were seated outside downstairs and it was a bit cold. They did have heat lamps which helped.

After dinner it was time for what we thought would be our last 2 rides of the night. We went on The Little Mermaid and Radiator Springs Racers.

After those rides, California Adventure was going to be closing soon and we were all getting a bit tired. But I mentioned to my cousin that it might be a good time to do Space Mountain together since we rarely get to be at Disneyland together. We decided to head over to the Disneyland side to ride that and when we were done we noticed that the Jungle Cruise was pretty much a walk-on. I love Jungle Cruise at night so of course we had to do that. And when we were getting off that ride, Indiana Jones opened up after being closed for a while and that was a walk-on as well. Again, we had to take advantage of that and we got another unexpected ride in.

I ended up being at Disneyland for about 8 hours and we did 6 rides (plus 2 show type things and dinner). I wasn’t planning on being there that long or that late, but I was having so much fun. I rarely get to see my cousin outside of Thanksgiving and we always have fun together. And of course, I always love being at Disneyland and getting to have fun there. By the time I got home, it was about 3 hours later than I thought I’d be home and I knew it would affect me the next day, but it was totally worth it.

I would have loved to have gone back to Disneyland the next day to hang out with my cousin and her daughter more and I actually debated doing that. But I knew it wouldn’t be the best thing for me to do and my cousin mentioned that they had dinner plans that night so I wouldn’t have been able to spend too much time with them.

I think we totally took advantage of the time we had there. We ended up doing so much more than we thought we’d do and we had the best time. The last time I was at Disneyland with my cousin was when her daughter was a baby, but I’m hoping that we can do this again much sooner than how long it had been before.

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Default ThumbnailAnother Disney Monday (or Fantasyland and Parade Time) Default ThumbnailEnjoying The Lack Of Rain At Disneyland (or Buzz Lightyear and Electrical Parade) Default ThumbnailAnother Disney Birthday (or Eating All The Foods Again) Default Thumbnail2 Restaurants and 2 Rides (or A Very Low-Key Disney Afternoon) Default ThumbnailEpic Disney Evening (or 8 Rides In 3 Hours) Default ThumbnailDisney Afternoon (or Beauty And The Beast And Rides)

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Finding The Perfect Gifts (or A Gift A Year In The Making)

Posted on November 28, 2018 | 1 comment

I wrote recently about how excited I was to bring my family’s Hanukkah gifts to Thanksgiving. I love giving gifts and working on figuring out the perfect gift to get people. I don’t do a ton of gifts for the holidays, but I do get something for my parents, my brother, and sister-in-law. And I usually do one gift for my parents and one gift for my brother and sister-in-law for a few reasons. First, I do have to consider how much money I have to spend on gifts. But also, I love getting something that is more of a group gift for Hanukkah because I do something more personal for birthdays.

I take a lot of pride in finding the perfect gift for people and I have a tab on my web browser just for gift ideas. I know that I have to get gifts each year so when I see something that is perfect I save it because I know I’ll eventually buy it for someone. And the Hanukkah gifts I gave this year were something I found a year ago at Thanksgiving last year. And it’s been crazy to keep it a secret for a year because I was so excited about it!

I saw on social media that someone I follow got a custom pet portrait done and thought it was so cute! I looked at a couple of different companies online and they all seemed to be out of my budget. I was disappointed by that but determined to keep looking to see if I could figure out a way to make it happen. I ended up finding a company that was a bit out of my budget, but they usually had sales so I saved the link and was planning on ordering them in September.

I had a setback with the ordering because I placed my order and then the company wasn’t getting back to me. I was supposed to hear from them within 72 hours and gave them over a week before I reached out to them. They weren’t responding to emails or private messages on social media and I was so upset. I disputed the charges and got the money back, but then had to search again for a company to help me out (I finally heard from the original company and they said there was a glitch that caused them not to get my order or messages).

I contacted several stores on Etsy and found ZK Portraits. While the portraits I wanted to have done weren’t exactly what they usually do, they were willing to work with me and we started emailing back and forth so they could find out what I wanted. And they were even cheaper than the original company that I was going to go with!

I knew that for my brother and sister-in-law that I wanted a portrait of their cat as a doctor. But for my parents, I was on the fence with a few ideas. I knew I wanted something that was about Tahoe but I couldn’t decide if I wanted Tucker as a skier, hiker, or kayaker. As much as I wanted to keep this a surprise for my parents, I knew I needed help so I asked my dad for advice. He told me that having Tucker as a skier was the best one and he was so excited that I was going to be doing these portraits. I know that he probably would have loved to have been surprised, but I think he also enjoyed being in on the gift planning too.

Within a week of ordering the portraits, I got the proofs via email to approve. And I couldn’t have asked for anything more amazing than these!

I was smiling so much when I saw these and emailed the artist back to say they were perfect! I was getting the portraits as high-resolution digital images so I had to figure out how I wanted to present them. There are so many options for artwork like these and I didn’t know if they would want them on canvas, metal, acrylic, or photo paper nor did I know what size they would want them. So I had them printed out as 8×10 photos and figured I’d give them the full size image after they opened the gifts so they could do something different if they wanted to.

Sometimes my family does all of our gifts at the same time, but this time we ended up doing them each day. I gave my family their gifts on Wednesday even though they were going to do their gifts the next day. I just couldn’t wait any longer!

My mom opened theirs first (my dad already had seen a preview so he let her open it) and I wish I took a video of her reaction! She was so excited and shocked and was laughing so hard about how amazing the portrait was. She never would have thought of doing something like that herself and loved that I got them a portrait. My brother and sister-in-law started to ask questions about it and I told them they needed to open their present first. That clued them in that I got them something similar and I think they loved that I got a portrait of their cat like a doctor. My brother posted it on the Instagram they created for their cat right away.

The next day I got an Amazon gift card from my brother and sister-in-law and my parents got me a nice down jacket and a beanie that has a hole in the top so I can wear it when I have my hair in a ponytail or top knot! Both gifts will be put to good use (I actually wore the hat when I flew home since it was cold out) and I loved them! I’m still picking out what fun things I want to get on Amazon with the gift card since I don’t want to just use it on something boring like vitamins or printer paper.

It’s almost a joke in my family now that I always try to top the gifts I’ve done in the past, but it’s true. I really want to find the perfect thing and when I find them months before I’m going to give them that just gives me so much time to build up anticipation on how the recipient will react to it. And I’ve actually found something that I might do as Hanukkah gifts for next year, but I don’t think I can top the pet portraits for a while. It really was the perfect gift and I’m so glad they were a big hit!

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Recapping My Thanksgiving (or A Few Days In Sacramento)

Posted on November 27, 2018 | Comments Off on Recapping My Thanksgiving (or A Few Days In Sacramento)

I’ve already written a bit about my trip for Thanksgiving, but I haven’t really said more than my flight there and my workout on Thanksgiving Day. I wasn’t in Sacramento that long (I got there late Tuesday night and left Friday afternoon), but I managed to pack quite a bit into my trip!

When I arrived, I got there so late that all I did was get to the hotel and go to bed. And the next morning, I had to work a few hours (it is nice to work remotely so I could work from the hotel) and the original plan was to try to make it to Tahoe so I could see the house. I haven’t been there in quite a while so I was excited to see what the house looks like all done. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t that great so we decided to try for a Tahoe adventure on Friday when we were hoping it wouldn’t be as bad.

Since I had finished with work early because we only had a half shift the day before Thanksgiving, we had a lot of free time. So my parents and I went to visit my grandma. She lives in an assisted living facility there and I wanted to see where she was living now. I had seen her home in San Diego (both in independent living and assisted living) so many times and it was weird to think my grandma was living somewhere for almost a year and I hadn’t seen it yet.

She had just moved to a new room recently so I never got to see the first room she had. But I still wanted to see where she was living and what amenities the new facility had. When my parents and I got there, my mom had to ask the staff something about my grandma’s mail (the birthday card I mailed to her was never delivered) so my dad gave me a quick tour. This place is significantly smaller than where she was living in San Diego so it was easy to see the various places there that my grandma uses. I got to see the hair salon, the library, and the living room area. We looked at the courtyard too, but since it was raining we didn’t go out there.

Then we went to where my grandma is. She was out in a common room when we got there so my parents took me to see her room first. I really liked her room and it felt much more spacious than where she was living in San Diego. I’m glad I got to see it so I can picture where she is when I call her and we talk on the phone. Then we found my grandma sitting with a bunch of other residents and I got to take some time to talk to her. My grandma isn’t as chatty as she used to be and it can be tough to see her be confused and not how I remember her, but there are still lots of moments where she seems like herself and we can have some fun conversations. We were there for maybe an hour or so before heading back to the hotel because my brother and sister-in-law were arriving.

Thanksgiving Day started with the family workout and then we all went back to the hotel to get dressed and ready. My grandma was going to be picked up later than the rest of us arrived at my aunt and uncle’s (we didn’t want to exhaust her too much) so when we got there the cooking was happening and I tried to stay out of the way the best I could. My mom brought family movies to watch and it was really fun to see movies from when my grandma was growing up. And when my grandma arrived, we had started watching movies that had 3 generations of us in it (my cousin’s kids were the only generation not in the movies) and my grandma was really enjoying watching them and commenting on random things. She made a really great joke about how my dad looked weird because he had hair in the videos and he’s bald now.

When dinner was ready, we had a pretty incredible spread.

I had a little bit of everything except the mashed potatoes and cranberry sauces. And it was all really delicious! I probably ate too much food, but I think that’s a pretty common thing on Thanksgiving. And my family was having a great time sitting at the table enjoying all the random conversations we were having.

After dinner, we tried to get a family photo. My uncle was using his nice camera but the self timer didn’t seem to want to work. He ended up also setting his phone to video so we could see if we could get a good still shot on it while he attempted to make his camera work. We didn’t really get a great photo, but when he sent me the video I found some amazing moments that I love more than a staged, smiling photo. This one is from one of the last times he attempted to use his self timer and it went off before he could get in place.

I love how we are all laughing, even if I don’t love how I look in the photo. But it’s an honest and genuine moment from all of us and I think that makes it so special.

The day after Thanksgiving I had to work, but I had made an arrangement to work limited hours so I could spend time with my family. My parents and I were trying to get to Tahoe, but again the weather didn’t work in our favor so we didn’t make it. Hopefully I’ll get out there next year because I want to see the house and spend time with my family. So I ended up working my entire work shift (plus an extra hour because I mixed up what day it was) and then we headed over to my aunt and uncle’s house for some leftovers before I had to get to the airport.

It was nice to have some more family time even if it wasn’t that much time. But I don’t usually get that very often so I value whatever time I do get with my extended family. And after spending a few hours with my family it was time to head back to the airport for my flight back home.

I did have a few panic attacks on my flight back to LA, but they were pretty minor compared to the attacks I had on the way to Sacramento and they weren’t as frequent or as long. So I’m guessing my panic attacks were brought on by not flying for a long time and not that my panic disorder is back when I thought it was gone. And before I knew it, I was back in LA and back to my normal life.

My trip to Sacramento was quick, but it was filled with lots of great things. Even though I had to work 2 of the days I was there, that’s pretty routine for me for Thanksgiving and it didn’t feel like I missed out on anything. My parents were hanging out with me while I was working so I wasn’t alone. And work was slow enough that most of the time I was working was really just talking to my parents, helping them with random computer things, or helping my dad find some great deals online for new shoes.

I won’t get to see my extended family like this again until next Thanksgiving, but I will hopefully see them randomly throughout the year. I might be seeing my aunt in March and my cousin and her daughter in February. And there’s always time to plan for more in the coming year.

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Default ThumbnailOne More San Diego Day (or I Don’t Know When I’ll Be Doing This Again) Default ThumbnailSan Diego Day (or Some More Family Time) Default ThumbnailGrandma’s Birthday Dinner (or One Of Our Thanksgiving Traditions) Default ThumbnailThe First Half Of Thanksgiving (or My Pre-Thanksgiving Activities) Default ThumbnailFull Thanksgiving Trip (or Being With My Family In San Diego) Default ThumbnailFamily Thanksgiving (or Relaxing In San Diego)

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Posted in Celebrations, Family, Fun Stuff, Travel

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A Short Workout Week (or 3 Workouts In 3 Different Locations)

Posted on November 26, 2018 | 1 comment

This past week of workouts was a short workout week for me, but it was also a really amazing week. I technically worked out in 3 different cities (2 of them being my regular LA studios) but I also had my traditional family workout in Sacramento! It was so fun getting to have my family workout in the middle of my workouts this past week and I loved that we were able to continue our tradition.

Monday’s class was at the Brentwood studio (where I go on Mondays) and it was an endurance day, but it was a unique format so it didn’t feel as tough as most endurance days have been in the past for me. We had regular treadmill and floor blocks, but we also had run/floor blocks and row/run blocks. Things were switching up every block so it kept things very interesting and challenging!

I started on the treadmill and the first block was the run/floor block. We started with a 6 minute run for distance and I did run/walk intervals. I did 1 minute of running with 90 seconds of walking. The running was a bit tough because I had been on the bike the week before, but I’m glad I did it. I pushed myself but I didn’t push myself too much. After the run for distance, we moved to the floor where we had work on the Bosu. We had single arm chest presses while laying on the Bosu, crunches, and hip bridges with our feet on the Bosu.

After that, I switched to the rower side where we had our row/run. We started with a 1000 meter row and then had a minute of recovery before going back to rowing to get the meters to 2000 meters. The first 1000 meters were tough, but I only needed 1 break in the middle to catch my breath. The second 1000 meters were much harder and I was taking a lot of breaks. But I got it done and then it was time to be on the treadmill for a 3 minute distance run. After that there was more rowing and distance runs, but the block ended while I was working on the 3 minute distance run so I didn’t get to do that.

Then I was back on the treadmill for 2 more distance runs. The first was 3 minutes and the second was 90 seconds. I wanted to try to run but my legs were tired so I did those both as power walks. And I finished on the floor with a block that had a lot of plank work including side plank rotations, side plank crunches, plank hip dips, and back extensions. The back extensions were tough for me because I had a little nausea and queasiness while doing them, but I pushed through and was fine by the end of class.

I didn’t work out on Wednesday because of being out of town, but I had my Thursday Thanksgiving workout! For the past 4 years (since we started this tradition), we have always done the workout at the La Jolla studio since that is where we went for Thanksgiving. Now that we were in Folsom, we worked out at the studio there. It was so easy to get there because it was right across the street from the hotel we were staying at! So for the first time, I was able to walk to my workout!

Since this was a new studio for us all, we got there early to get things figured out. And as soon as we walked in, we felt super welcome from how amazing the staff was and from the sign they had welcoming my family!

Technically we are the Fry family (this family is my mom’s side), but over half of us in my family in the class have the last name Levin so it worked.

This workout was a 3 group workout that was all partner based. There were 7 of us in my family in the workout, but since I am so used to the workouts I let my family form 2 groups and I partnered with 2 people from the class that I didn’t know. Technically the rower was the pacer, but the floor and treadmill people paced things as well.

The rower started with a 1600 meter row. Every time the rower was back on the rower they went down 400 meters (my group only got through the 1600 and 1200 meter rows). While they were rowing, the people on the treadmill and floor were switching back and forth on their own. The treadmill person had a .25 mile run (I walked) and in the second round it went down to .2 miles. And the floor person had ground to presses, burpees, plank jacks, and high rows using the straps. Whoever finished first between the treadmill and floor initiated the switch between them. And when the rower person was done, someone else went to the rower and the new treadmill and floor person switched between themselves.

It probably sounds more complicated than it was, but fortunately it wasn’t too tough to follow. Some people in my family had some confusion, but it didn’t really matter since they still were working out for the entire class and they had a great time! Some of my family were a bit sore from the workout, but they weren’t used to rowing or some of the floor exercises. Everyone was so happy we could continue this tradition and of course we had to get a photo to add to the collection of Thanksgiving workouts!

I didn’t workout on Friday because I was traveling back home, but I was back at the Culver City studio for my Saturday workout. It was a mix of endurance, strength, and power and it was the perfect way to get back into being in my normal routine. Plus, the workout had a lot of great chances for me to run which was an added bonus!

On the treadmill we had 3 blocks. They all had a push to an all out pace, a walking recovery, 2 rounds of a push pace to a base pace, and then ending with another push to an all out pace. All of the all outs were 30 seconds so I knew I could run all of those but the push and base paces changed with each block. The first block had 1 minute intervals and I did all of them as a power walk. But the second block was 45 seconds and the third block was 30 seconds so I was able to run the push paces in those blocks.

On the floor, we had 1 long block. Every round started with a row, starting with 100 meters and going up 100 meters each round. Then we had clean to presses, sumo squats using weights, double crunches with weights, and mountain climbers on the floor. I tried going heavy with my weights, but I could only do that with the sumo squats. For the rowing, since they were short rows I tried to go as hard as possible. But I might have gone a bit too hard on my 200 meter row because I was so exhausted after that and had to take a bit of time on the floor to catch my breath. But I made it through 3 rounds on the floor so I was happy about that.

Even though this past week of workouts was a shorter one than I’m used to now, it was such a great week. I loved the things I was able to do and I always love working out with my family. My dad and I like to compete against each other with these family workouts, but it’s all in good fun. But when I said goodbye to my parents before flying home I did remind my dad that he’s only got a year to train for next year’s family workout. And I can’t wait until it’s next year and we can do this again. But at least I don’t have to wait a year to do another Orangetheory workout since I’m back to my normal routine this week.

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Posted in Family, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Travel

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Happy Thanksgiving (or Just A Super Quick Post)

Posted on November 22, 2018 | Comments Off on Happy Thanksgiving (or Just A Super Quick Post)

Happy Thanksgiving! I know not everyone who is reading this is in the US or celebrates Thanksgiving, but for those of you who do I hope you are having an amazing day! For some of us, this means celebrating the day with family. For others, it’s celebrating with friends. And some people just like to have the day off to be on their own and doing whatever makes them happy.

Whatever you happen to be doing today, I hope it’s exactly how to wanted to spend the day. I am with my 4 generations of my family today and will be doing a big family dinner. I’ll be doing a post about that next week.

But I know that today is not the day to spend reading a blog post about my life and the craziness that always seems to be happening. I just wanted to have a quick post here to say that I hope those of you who celebrate are having an awesome Thanksgiving and I hope you are spending your time doing what makes you happy!

Enjoy your day and I’ll be back posting on here tomorrow with a more normal post!

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A Day In Joshua Tree (or The End Of My Trip To Palm Springs)

Posted on March 2, 2018 | 1 comment

My trip to Palm Springs was 4 days (although the first day was really just getting there in the evening and having dinner) and for the first 3 days we were pretty much just in Palm Springs. But for the last day, my mom really wanted us to go to Joshua Tree and I’m always happy to follow her plans and was excited to end my trip on a fun adventure.

According to my mom, I was at Joshua Tree when I was 7 and when I was 10 but I really don’t remember those trips (and my mom had limited memories and stories from those trips). So in some way, this felt like the first time that I was there. It was about 45 minutes to drive there and after stopping at the visitor center to get a parking pass we were on our way to our first stop.

We wanted to go to a lookout point to see a nice view of the area. And it happened to rain the night before so it was so clear out!

And it was freezing out! It was about 38 degrees outside and while it felt nice in the sun, whenever the wind kicked up it was pretty cold! But my mom and I still took an opportunity to take a photo together since I realized we didn’t have any photos together yet on the trip.

When we were in the car to drive to our next stop, I realized that the photo of my mom and I reminded me of another photo of us. So I found that photo in the cloud and put them together.

The top photo was from when my mom and I were in Paris in January 2005 to celebrate my college graduation. It’s so crazy to think that the top photo is 13 years older than the bottom photo! And I don’t think that we look 13 years older either.

Our next stop was to do a hike around Skull Rock. The hike was about 2 miles and it started at a campground. We were walking to the hike and we already were seeing amazing views of the Joshua Trees all over.

Once we were off the paved road and onto the sand/dirt trail, I’ll admit the hike got tough for me. There was a lot of going up and down which is tough on my hips. But being on an unstable ground was even worse and I was hurting a lot. I tried to limit how many breaks I took but fortunately my mom and her friend were understanding and they didn’t mind stopping when I needed to. But even when we were stopped, we always had something amazing to look at.

We noticed a rainstorm and some ominous looking clouds while we were hiking, but they never reached us. So having those clouds just made the view look even better!

When we got back to the car, we drove to a picnic area to have a quick snack before heading to our final stop in Joshua Tree. My mom was so excited to see the Cholla Garden and once we were there I was so impressed by it!

It was crazy to see these fuzzy looking cacti all over when we didn’t really see them that many other places. They do look like they are teddy bears and would be soft to touch. I’m guessing a lot of people have tried to touch them because there was a first aid kit in the parking lot of the garden in case someone got stuck. I was just careful since there wasn’t that much separation from the cacti and the path we walked on. And there were little broken off pieces very close to the trail and I don’t think my shoes would have protected me much if I accidentally stepped on one.

After that stop, we got back into the car and did the drive back to Palm Springs to go back to the rental house. We had a little time to rest before we all headed out to downtown Palm Springs for dinner. It was getting colder out, but the place we went to had a heated patio so we were able to eat outside and enjoy the people watching on the main street of the downtown area.

After dinner, I quickly got my stuff packed up so I could head home. Originally I wasn’t going to head back until the next day, but I realized that I could avoid traffic (and not miss another day of work) if I went home that night. I think my mom preferred to know I wasn’t going to deal with traffic, plus she still had her friend with her so I didn’t feel like I was ditching her. I said goodbye and thanks to my mom and headed back to LA.

I’m so glad that my mom invites me to travel with her. I really couldn’t afford it without her right now and she really is one of my best travel buddies. We are already talking about a potential trip for next year (we are thinking maybe a spa vacation) so I’m getting excited to start the planning for that!

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

Posted on February 28, 2018 | 3 comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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One More San Diego Day (or I Don’t Know When I’ll Be Doing This Again)

Posted on January 23, 2018 | Comments Off on One More San Diego Day (or I Don’t Know When I’ll Be Doing This Again)

This past weekend I did a day trip to San Diego for what will possibly be the last time for a while. My grandma is moving from San Diego to up north where she will be close to my aunt, uncle, and my parents. I’m super excited for my grandma because I think this move will be a really great thing for her. But it’s still a weird feeling that I won’t have any more family in San Diego anymore.

My entire life my grandparents lived in San Diego. They bought their house a year or two before I was born. Then a few years ago they moved to their apartment which was only a few freeway exits further from their house. When my grandpa died, my grandma moved to assisted living but it was in the same building as their apartment. So that move didn’t really feel like a big move. But now she’s doing the biggest move in my lifetime.

On my drive down I was trying to not think about how this was probably the last time I’d be doing this drive for a long time. I’ve been going to San Diego my entire life. And once I moved to LA, I started to do the drive on my own for visits with my grandparents and for Thanksgiving. I would guess that I probably did the drive 3 times a year on average for the last 16 1/2 years. So that’s about 50 times that I’ve done that drive. I have so many random landmarks that I look out for on that drive to help pass the time. And I’ve had a lot of random driving adventures on that drive as well.

I probably won’t be driving to where my grandma is moving to (it’s about a 7 hour drive for me) so I’ll be flying to visit her and for Thanksgiving. In some ways it’s nice to know that I won’t be doing that drive again because it is a bit tiring, but it’s sad to know that I can’t do a day trip to see my grandma and that I will have to do more planning when I want to see her.

For this last trip to San Diego, I went down to help with the prep for my grandma to move. 2 of my aunts where there as well as my parents (and the dog). There were so many people in my grandma’s place that it did get a little crazy in there, but I was just trying to help wherever I could. My dad and I put together boxes and got artwork off the wall. I didn’t really do any of the packing, but I also wasn’t going to be the person unpacking so I wanted to let others do that job. They would know what was in each box so I didn’t want to ruin their planning.

And the main job that I knew that I would have that day would be to be a distraction. While I think my grandma is excited to be closer to family, I think this move is a bit scary and overwhelming for her. We are doing everything we can to make it as easy as possible, but it’s still an unknown for her and I think she still sometimes struggles knowing that it’s just her and not her and my grandpa. But I made sure that my grandma was feeling ok throughout the day. And I joked to her how her only job was to sit back and enjoy us doing all the work.

We got a lot of stuff packed up while I was there. I went back home that evening but there were movers to help move all the heavy stuff the next morning (and there will be movers at the new place to help unload all the heavy stuff). Fortunately, my grandma’s new place will be just about the same size as her current one so we didn’t have to worry about downsizing her things. We’ve done that when they moved from their house to their apartment and then again when my grandma moved from the apartment to where she was living. It was stressful trying to do that and I know it made my grandma emotional deciding what to keep. So I’m glad that we didn’t have to do that part again.

On my drive home, I was a bit sad. I’m so happy for my grandma and I am so glad she won’t be as isolated as she has been in San Diego. But this is the end of something that has been a part of my life for my entire life. I am not someone who moves that often (it’s almost been 8 years since I moved into my house) and my parents still have the house that they got before I was born. So maybe I’m just not used to transitions like this. I do still have some friends who live in San Diego (although normally they come to LA to see me) so I know I’ll be back down there eventually. But for now, I’m saying goodbye to San Diego and closing the chapter of my life that has family living there.

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Girls Day In San Diego (or It Might Be My Last Time Doing This Drive)

Posted on December 20, 2017 | 2 comments

Even though I was just in San Diego for Thanksgiving recently, I was back down there this week. My mom was down with my grandma and I decided to use my day off work to go down to be with them. I don’t usually have time with just my mom and grandma so it was pretty nice to get to do that.

I got down to San Diego just after lunchtime and met my mom at the hotel she was staying at. Right after we got there we headed over to my grandma’s place to spend time with her. She does have some memory issues, but she was having a good day while I was there. We went for a walk to sit outside in the sunshine and when we got back to her place we spent some time looking through photo albums of trips she had done in the past.

My grandma was saying how she didn’t remember going on the trips, but she still enjoyed looking at the photos. And she did remember the people on the trips and some of the specific activities they did.

We spent a few hours with my grandma and then my mom and I had to go back to the hotel. My mom had some business stuff she had to take care of and the person we were working with was meeting us there. But I think my grandma appreciated our visit that day and it helped to break up the routine of her day.

After my mom was done with the business stuff, she and I walked to a restaurant for dinner. It’s not too common for my mom and I to have dinner alone, so that was a nice treat for me. And I thought the sign outside of the restaurant was pretty funny. We went to a brew house for dinner, but neither my mom nor I drink beer. But we technically went to the beer side of the sign.

I thought about spending the night in San Diego because I was originally going to meet a friend of mine who lives down there, but he wasn’t able to meet up with me that evening. So I decided to drive back home. Some people consider it a bit much to do the drive to and from San Diego in a day, but I don’t mind it. Also, I prefer to sleep in my own bed and I knew that I had stuff I needed to do around my house the next day.

The drive to and from San Diego is pretty routine for me. I’ve been doing this since I moved to LA in 2001. My grandparents have lived in San Diego my entire life so I’m just so used to going there to see them. Even when they moved from their house to their new place it was still in San Diego and only a few freeway exits further for me to go. I have the drive down so much that I have landmarks I use to help me figure out how much more I have in my drive. But this might have been the last time I do the drive to see my grandma in San Diego.

Next month, my grandma is moving to be closer to family. Right now, I’m the person geographically closest to her and I’m 2 hours away. I could always go down in an emergency, but I can’t go on a regular basis to visit her. But she is moving somewhere that is minutes from my aunt and uncle and pretty close to my parents too. This way, she can have visits from family more often and we all know that this is going to be the best thing for my grandma.

I’m hoping to be able to go down to San Diego for the day to help pack up my grandma’s stuff when my family is there, but as of right now I’m scheduled to work that day. I’m hoping to get the day off so I can help, but it depends if someone else can cover the time that I’ll be missing. It might be very last-minute that I find out that I can go that day so I’m not really planning on it.

So if I don’t go down to help pack things up, I’ve just had my last day trip to San Diego to see my grandma. It’s so weird to think that could be true since I’ve done it so many times. I do have friends down there so I might still go down from time to time to see them, but it’s different from going there to be with family. I also know that when my grandma isn’t in San Diego I won’t necessarily see my parents as often as I see them whenever they come down to see her.

Those are all very selfish thoughts when I know that my grandma is going to benefit so much from the move. But it is a sad thought to think about something that I have done for so long isn’t really going to be a thing for me anymore. But that just means I’ll have to go up to Northern California to see everyone and I’m ok with that!

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