Category Archives: Fun Stuff

2 Busy LA Days (or Getting More Renovation Planning Done)

Posted on February 23, 2022 | Comments Off on 2 Busy LA Days (or Getting More Renovation Planning Done)

After my parents were in Santa Barbara, they came to LA next to help me with some things with the condo. Even though the contractor we hired is really great at being in communication with both me and my parents, I know it’s been tough for my parents to help as much as they would like to without being here in person. Plus, I think they both enjoy seeing things come together and they wanted to see the progress in person.

They were only going to be in LA for two days and we had a lot of things to get done. The first day they were here, we started at the condo so my parents could see everything that has been done so far. It’s very different seeing it in person compared to photos and on FaceTime, so it was exciting to see how happy they were with everything that has happened. And we had a few little projects we wanted to get done at the condo that the contractor wasn’t going to do, so we worked on those. Then, we had another trip to Home Depot to get a few materials we needed. Fortunately, everything we needed were things we already had planned on, so we could quickly go and get the exact items we needed. We did decide to change the hardware in what will be my bathroom to match another thing we picked, but those were easy to find too. I know there are always a few more things to add to the list, but I think we’ve made pretty much all the decisions we need to make related to the remodel (just not the decoration) phase).

The next day, we started at my current place. I have made my current place my home over the past 12 years, and part of that includes putting holes in my walls to hang paintings or other decor. So my dad and I went through the things that were hung with screws (since nail holes will be easy for me to spackle over) and we took them down and worked on covering up the holes that were left behind. I will need to keep working on this to finish the project, but we at least got started. We also took down the window a/c unit that I have really loved since I got it. I’m working on selling the a/c and a few other things in my place right now. I’m not asking for much since I’m not trying to make a profit. But there are things I have that I won’t be moving with me and I’d like to find people who could use them.

After the work in my current place, we went back to the condo to meet with the contractor. We had a few things we wanted to go over that we had questions about, but they were all easily answered. We also had to go over how we wanted each type of tiles to be laid, but that also was pretty easy to figure out. I won’t be able to move in as soon as I was hoping, but it should still be pretty soon that I’ll be moving in and out of my current place. We’ve had a few delays, but nothing too bad. And it should still be completed within the timeline we were originally given.

And the last condo task we had to get done was to get some ideas for some furniture that I knew I would want. We went to one store that was a bit overpriced, but we got some great ideas of what I would like and what would fit into different spaces. I knew I wanted to find a chair for my living room, but I couldn’t find options that I liked that were within my price range. Then we decided to go to the store where I got my couch 8 years ago. While I didn’t find my dream chair like I found my dream couch, I figured out exactly what I want. I’m going to go back with a friend later to double-check the color, but we are going to order a chair that is in either teal or blue velvet that has a slightly different arm shape than my couch and then also order a matching ottoman. It will be significantly less expensive than a lot of other places I looked at and I already know I like the quality of their products. I don’t know why I didn’t think of looking there earlier, but it seems like a no-brainer now.

The two days my parents were here were pretty busy and full with things we needed to get done, but it was a lot of progress toward me being able to move out and that’s one of the biggest focuses in my life right now. And the next time my parents are here, the condo might be done and I might be moving in!

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Default ThumbnailAnother Busy Condo Weekend (or A Working Visit For My Parents) Default ThumbnailOne Step Closer To Moving (or My First HOA Meeting) Default ThumbnailInto The Next Stage Of The Renovation (or Seeing Things Come Back Into My Place) Default ThumbnailA Busy Family Visit (or Making Some Choices For My New Home) Default ThumbnailI’ll Have A New Home Soon (or The End Of The Condo Hunt) Default ThumbnailMore Serious Condo Hunting (or Being Real About What I Want)

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Posted in Fun Stuff, Shopping

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Celebrating My Niece’s Birthday (or Another Santa Barbara Day)

Posted on February 22, 2022 | Comments Off on Celebrating My Niece’s Birthday (or Another Santa Barbara Day)

During the pandemic, I’ve gone up to Santa Barbara for day trips quite a few times. It’s usually because of a celebration (like to meet my nephew and niece) or a holiday. And this past week, my niece turned one! So of course, I knew I’d be headed up there for the day again.

My niece’s actual birthday was on a Friday, and because I couldn’t take off work I couldn’t be there for the little family party they had (it was just immediate family so it was small). But I was able to take time off on Saturday so I could go up for the day then and still get to celebrate a bit!

And since I was going up for a birthday, I had to find a present! Getting gifts for babies can be tough, but I asked a few of my friends with little kids and a couple of them mentioned that at their kid’s preschool they had stacking dolls. It’s good for motor skills plus they can be fun. And I thought that sounded like a great idea. My niece’s room has a llama theme, and I found a set of stacking dolls that had different animals on them but the biggest one had a llama! So that seemed perfect!

Since my brother and sister-in-law had my niece’s party the day before, when I went up it was just a casual hangout. We went to the country club that they belong to so my nephew and niece could splash in the kiddie pool and we could hang out and have lunch. My sister-in-law’s parents were also there, so it was awesome to get to see them too.

My parents hadn’t seen the work done to the condo yet in person, but they had seen photos and been on FaceTime with me so talking about the renovation was a big topic. The last time I had seen most of this part of my family was at Thanksgiving which was right after we bought it and we hadn’t started to plan the renovation yet. Fortunately, I take a ton of photos so I had a lot on my phone I could show everyone.

And of course, it was awesome to see my nephew and niece. They haven’t seen me a ton, so I’m still a bit of a stranger to them. But they have both warmed up a bit. My nephew was trying to give me half-eaten bits of hot dog, which is one of the best compliments a toddler could give you. My niece smiled at me a bunch and was giving me high fives.

The only downside to this day trip was that I didn’t really take any photos. I wasn’t focused on doing that, which is good. But I wish I had some. I did get some photos from the day before that my mom took, so that makes it a bit better.

Once it was nap time, I went back to the rental house my parents were staying in to go over some condo things. My parents were going to come to LA the next day, so we didn’t have to do a lot. But we planned out what we needed to accomplish and also went through some catalogs to get ideas for what things I want to look for in stores when I’m getting more things together for my move.

I didn’t stay too late since I knew I’d see my parents again the next morning. Normally when I drive back to LA, it’s already dark. But this time, I got a pretty nice view as I was headed home!

But I’ll be back in Santa Barbara soon because in a little over a month my nephew is turning 2 and I’m very excited about the gift I’m giving him!

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Default ThumbnailA Santa Barbara Afternoon (or Celebrating My Future Nephew!) Default ThumbnailI’m An Aunt Again! (or Welcome To The World Presley!) Default ThumbnailAnother Santa Barbara Day (or A Little Bit Of Social Interaction) Default ThumbnailA Big Family Day! (or A Birthday Party and Meeting Presley) Default ThumbnailSanta Barbara Weekend (or Family and Friends Time) Default ThumbnailA Little More Time In Santa Barbara (or Hanging Out With My Sister-In-Law)

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Posted in Celebrations, Family, Fun Stuff

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My Usual Non-Plans For Valentine’s Day (or It Seems Like A Lot Of People Felt This Way)

Posted on February 17, 2022 | Comments Off on My Usual Non-Plans For Valentine’s Day (or It Seems Like A Lot Of People Felt This Way)

I don’t normally do anything for Valentine’s Day. I can only think of one Valentine’s Day where I had a date, and that was not something that was planned. It was someone I had gone out with a few times, we planned our next date, and the day of we realized it was Valentine’s Day. So in my mind, that’s not really a Valentine’s Day date.

While I don’t want to be single forever, I also don’t really mind not doing anything for Valentine’s Day. There is a lot of pressure to find the right thing to do and it’s nice to not have to think about it. And this year, I didn’t do anything special for Valentine’s Day just like I pretty much always have.

And it seems like so many people felt the same way. I don’t know if it was because Valentine’s Day was on a Monday or it was the day after the Super Bowl, but it felt like most people didn’t do anything crazy or extravagant this year. Even with one of my day jobs, Valentine’s Day is one of the busiest days for us. The shows we do are typically Saturdays only, but a lot of the locations will do a show on Valentine’s Day no matter what day it falls on. And for most years, that show has sold out weeks or a month in advance. But this year, while a lot of locations sold out, we had a few that had a few tickets left the week of. The shows were almost all sold out by the weekend before, but it took longer to sell out than it has from what I remember from every other year.

I did have a few things that made Monday not just a normal Monday. One of my jobs sent all the employees in my department a gift, so I got a box of nice cookies which I appreciated. And I did a Zoom hang out with my friends since none of us had plans that night. The Zoom wasn’t necessarily Valentine-themed, but it was a good opportunity for us to schedule a time to have a hangout for our group.

And also, the podcast episode that I recently recorded was released on Valentine’s Day! This interview was an update on some of the dating stories I had shared before on the Secret Life podcast. It was fun to share these updates even if they weren’t necessarily happy or positive stories. But I don’t feel like I need to ever hide the negative stuff that happens in my dating life. I know that when I hear other people sharing crazy stories I feel less alone. So sharing my stories hopefully makes other people feel less alone.

I think not being surrounded by a ton of people talking about elaborate Valentine’s Day plans also made me feel less alone. I don’t feel like I missed out on anything even if I still feel lonely and wished I wasn’t single. This year, it seemed like everyone had the same feelings about the day as I did. It was something to remember was happening, but not necessarily something that you had to make a huge effort to do something special for. And I’m aware that I might have very different feelings about things if I was in a relationship, but at least this year it felt like nobody was really celebrating and I’m ok being a part of the majority.

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Default ThumbnailDoing Another Podcast Interview (or I Guess People Enjoyed My Stories) Default ThumbnailMy Usual Christmas Routine (or Somehow This Felt Lonelier Than Normal) Default ThumbnailWorld Mental Health Day (or Seeing So Many People Be So Open) Default ThumbnailA Story I Didn’t Know If I Would Share (or Having Complicated Feelings About People) Default ThumbnailI Do Enjoy Valentine’s Day (or Celebrating All Love In My Life) Default ThumbnailReaching A New Audience (or Laughing At My Dating Adventures)

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Posted in Celebrations, Dating, Fun Stuff

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Still Not Doing All The Things I Love (or I Wonder When I Will Have Another Disney Day)

Posted on February 16, 2022 | Comments Off on Still Not Doing All The Things I Love (or I Wonder When I Will Have Another Disney Day)

It’s been a long time since I’ve gone to Disneyland. This is one of the longest breaks from going to the parks that I’ve had since moving to LA. I know that one year of missing Disney was due to the parks being closed, but they reopened almost a year ago and I still haven’t returned. And this is for a few different reasons.

First, I still am anxious about being in crowded places. I know that when they reopened the capacity was reduced quite a bit, but it was still a lot of people. And now, I have seen photos of friends who have gone and the parks are just as crowded as before. I know that I won’t have this fear of getting sick forever, but I don’t see the need to push myself to go to the parks when I’m still uncertain. I’ve waited this long and I can wait a little longer. And right now, even though the numbers are getting better, they are still pretty high and I don’t need to add another risky behavior to my life. I know that going to the gym is still a risk, but I’m trying to be selective with the risks I take.

And they also just announced that vaccinated guests will no longer be required to wear masks at Disneyland, so I think I will want to wait longer before returning. I don’t know if they will be asking for vaccination cards when people are entering if they aren’t wearing masks, but I don’t know if that matters. Once someone is past the front gate, there won’t be regular checkpoints checking vaccination status. So someone who is unvaccinated could easily not wear a mask and I doubt anyone would know. I’ve seen what happened when there was a measles outbreak that was mainly around people who went to Disneyland. I worry that there could be the same thing with COVID-19 with unvaccinated guests not wearing masks. And I also know that being vaccinated doesn’t guarantee you can’t get others sick, so anyone not wearing a mask could be a risk for me. In some ways, I’m glad they announced this because now I’m even more certain about not going to the parks until things are safer. I’m not questioning my choice as much as I did when everyone is masked. Now, it just feels way too unsafe for me.

But even if I wasn’t worried about getting sick and being in crowds, there is another reason why I haven’t returned. I actually had a chance to meet up with my cousin at Disneyland this past weekend and I seriously was considering it. But I also don’t have an annual pass anymore so I would have to buy a 1-day ticket. And for the day I would be able to meet up with them, a 1-day ticket was over $200. When I had an annual pass, it was about $600. I can’t imagine spending 33% of what I spent for an entire year for a single day. Especially when I don’t know how often I would or could go now. I used to have Mondays free from work, and now I work Monday-Saturday. I will eventually start going back and I have a feeling I will buy the new type of annual pass since it’s worth it to me, but I can’t think of spending the money until I feel like I will be able to get the use out of it.

Since everything shut down almost 2 years ago, I have gotten a lot of my old life back. But I am still missing a lot of things, and going to Disneyland is one of them. If I went now, it wouldn’t be the way I remembered having Disney days. In the past, they were days to be carefree and have fun. Now, I don’t think I could have that same carefree feeling and it might be more stressful than other things in my life. One day, I’ll be back to being able to enjoy Disney and escape the regular world, but I’m just not there yet.

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Default ThumbnailAnd Another Year Of Disney (or I Need To Get Back To The Parks) Default Thumbnail2 Restaurants and 2 Rides (or A Very Low-Key Disney Afternoon) Default ThumbnailAnother Disney Birthday (or Eating All The Foods Again) Default ThumbnailA Disney Morning (or Dealing With The Heat For One Ride) Default ThumbnailAnother Year Of Disneyland! (or Paying With Ink Recycling) Default ThumbnailCelebrating Villaintine’s Day (or Getting Something Checked Off My Disney Bucket List)

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Posted in Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff

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12 Years At One Place (or My Last Anniversary At My Current Place)

Posted on February 15, 2022 | Comments Off on 12 Years At One Place (or My Last Anniversary At My Current Place)

Exactly 12 years ago today, I got the keys to my current place. I set up my lease so I would have 2 weeks to move from my last apartment to my current house. I remember how excited I was to move here. When I was searching for a new place, I really wanted to find an old bungalow that would be the perfect size for me to live alone. At my last apartment, I was in a 2 bedroom place and had a bunch of different roommates. But I was excited to live alone and wanted to find the perfect place to do that.

I felt so lucky when I found my current place. It was exactly what I was looking for. The rent was a good price for me and even though it was pretty small, it was going to just be for me and I knew I could make it look like it was much bigger.

And for the past 12 years, I have been pretty happy here. There have been times when it wasn’t perfect and sometimes I wished I had more space for things I wanted. But considering the goals I had for a place, this place fit exactly what I had really asked for. I love having my own space and no roommates, I love how my place has character and doesn’t feel like a generic apartment, and I love the neighborhood I’m in. And for a long time, the idea of leaving here for another place really made me sad.

But things have changed over the past few months. Obviously, I’m so excited to move into my condo when it’s done. We had a small setback that may delay my move by a week or two, but nothing too bad. But things are moving along and I should be moving pretty soon. And with my new landlord and the issues I’ve been having at my current place, I’m counting down the days until I start my move!

I do still have some sad feelings about leaving this place soon. It’s been my home for almost 1/3rd of my life! The only place I lived longer was the house I grew up in. I love a lot of the features such as not sharing any walls with any neighbors. I will have to get used to that when I move, but I will be gaining a lot compared to the things I will need to adjust to. I’m also sad knowing that it seems like my new landlord will be tearing down this place in the near future and turning it into something else. I don’t like thinking about that because this place has been so special and I would love for someone else to be able to live here for a long time and also know how amazing this place will be.

But I know that is out of my control and I understand why the new landlord would prefer to have 15 upgraded apartments compared to 8 tiny and outdated ones. So I’m just going to be grateful that I’ve been able to spend the last 12 years here and I will be moving to an amazing place that I’m really turning into my home. And even though I’m not moving right around my house anniversary, I do love that I did make it to my 12 year anniversary here. Something feels just right about that idea. Like how there are 12 grades in school before you graduate. I have 12 years of renting here before moving on.

And maybe I’ll be at my condo for 12 years or longer! You never know. I didn’t think I’d be at my place now for 12 years, but at the same time, I couldn’t imagine moving before now. So I guess I will just have to wait and see.

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Default ThumbnailA House Anniversary (or A Decade In One Place) Default Thumbnail19 Years In LA (or The LA Anniversary Between Two Big Milestone Anniversaries) Default Thumbnail8 Years In (or Another Blog Anniversary) Default Thumbnail15 Years Later (or Reflections On LA) Default ThumbnailAlmost Forgot My Hip Surgery Anniversary Again (or 15 Years Down) Default ThumbnailMy LA Anniversary! (or 13 Years Have Gone By Quickly)

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Posted in Celebrations, Fun Stuff

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Into The Next Stage Of The Renovation (or Seeing Things Come Back Into My Place)

Posted on February 11, 2022 | Comments Off on Into The Next Stage Of The Renovation (or Seeing Things Come Back Into My Place)

The renovation on the condo has only been happening for about 2 weeks, but so much has happened in that time. I’m still shocked how quickly the demolition took as well as how fast all the things they tore out were removed. And it seems like almost every single day, significant changes have been happening. For most of last week, I think most of the work was about removing the things we are not keeping and getting the condo ready to be put back together. And while this week hasn’t necessarily all been about getting the new things in, it’s starting to be like that!

Even though I have lived through renovations when I was little when my parents fixed up their house, I really don’t remember too much about how things went. My main memories of those renovations are really weird things, like when a contractor was on the roof (I’m not exactly sure what they were doing there) and they stepped in the wrong spot and fell into the bathroom and broke the toilet. It’s an interesting memory, but it doesn’t help me know what the process would be like in the condo.

I’ve been lucky that my parents have gone through renovations before so they can tell me what some of the timeline would be like or what things have to be done before other things. And the contractor we hired is also great about communicating about the process and letting me know when different things are happening. For example, the contractor let me know when the tile would be picked up so I could take another look at what we picked and I could finalize what I wanted the paint colors to be. I was pretty sure I knew what colors I wanted for each part of the condo, but I still wanted to test it against the swatches on the wall that I did a few months ago.

And as exciting as it was to see the demolition and changes being made in the past week, I think I’m even more excited to see the things coming in that will be a  part of my new home. There haven’t been too many things added yet, but the biggest change so far has been adding the lights in the ceiling. Originally, there were no ceiling lights in the living room or either bedroom. I know I could do floor lamps, and I will probably do the for the living room anyway, but having lights in the ceiling will be nice too. And for the bedrooms, I will have bedside lamps in my room and probably a desk lamp in the office, but I still like the option of having more lighting.

I’m also seeing the bathroom start to come back together. We are keeping the bathroom with the same footprint with everything, but we are freshening it up. So far, the work has mainly been things you don’t see, like the plumbing. But also my new bathtub was installed this week!

I know this isn’t a big change, but it feels like we are done with one phase of the renovation and are starting another phase. And that just brings me that much closer to being able to move in! And as more things are added or brought back in, I have a feeling I will be more and more excited about it!

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Default ThumbnailNow Things Are Feeling Real (or So Far, We Are Ahead Of Schedule) Default ThumbnailOne Step Closer To Moving (or My First HOA Meeting) Default ThumbnailStill Preparing To Move (or Getting Rid Of Some Things And Buying Others) Default ThumbnailAnother Busy Condo Weekend (or A Working Visit For My Parents) Default ThumbnailStill Waiting To Get Things Started (or Continuing To Work On Patience) Default ThumbnailI’ll Have A New Home Soon (or The End Of The Condo Hunt)

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Continuing With My Union Committee Service (or I’m Still So Grateful These Are Done Over Zoom)

Posted on February 10, 2022 | Comments Off on Continuing With My Union Committee Service (or I’m Still So Grateful These Are Done Over Zoom)

I have been lucky to be a part of different union committees over the past few years, but because of when the meetings are and my schedule, I have always felt a bit disconnected from them. It’s not easy when almost everyone is there in person and I’m listening in through a phone line. As I’ve mentioned before, now all these meetings are on Zoom, which is much better than a phone line. Even though I have to stay off-camera because I’m working, I feel much more a part of these meetings than I did before.

I’m a part of some national committees as well as a local one, and so far I’ve only had official meetings for the local one (I’m the vice-chair of a national committee and I’ve had a meeting with the chair, but not the full committee yet). And this week, I had my local communications committee.

I’m grateful to be on this committee because it involves a lot of work that I have done for years. It’s about social media, writing articles, and providing resources to my fellow union members. So much of this is stuff that I have done through day jobs before, so I do feel like I have a lot I can contribute to the committee and the membership. And after our last meeting, we had an assignment to come up with some examples of things we would like to see on social media, in articles, and as resources listed on the website. This was pretty easy for me and I submitted more than I had to so there were options. And I figured we would go over what everyone submitted at the next meeting.

But at this meeting, I discovered that my email never made it (I’m guessing it was stopped by a spam filter). If this meeting was over the phone, I might not have noticed this because I wouldn’t have been able to see all the documents. But because this was over Zoom, I was following along and noticed my submissions missing from the list. I brought it up to the chair of the committee and she let me resend my email so they could be included in our discussion. I’m glad she let me do that since most of the suggestions I had were not ones that other people brought up. In fact, it seemed like all of us had very unique ideas of what we wanted to see, and I think that diversity and variety are really going to be a benefit for us as a committee and as a union.

Because so many of us had so many ideas and suggestions, we weren’t able to go through everything in that meeting. But that’s ok since we can go over them at the next meeting. And I’m glad the chair of the committee was paying attention to the time so we didn’t go over too long so we could all continue on with our days.

I’m not sure when the next meeting will be, but even if things are back in person soon, I have a feeling they will continue to make Zoom an option for meetings instead of just having a call in-line be the alternative to going in-person. And this will allow me to feel more connected to the committees that I’m in even if I have to be at home and working while the meetings are happening.

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Default ThumbnailGetting More Union Meetings In (or I’m Grateful These Are Done On Zoom) Default ThumbnailUnion Committee Work (or Continuing To Be More and More Involved In My Union) Default ThumbnailLots Of Virtual Meetings (or Virtual Union Meetings) Default ThumbnailAnother Union Working Evening (or Doubling Up On Live Streams) Default ThumbnailMore Virtual Union Meetings (or Hopefully We Will Be Back To In-Person Meetings Soon) Default ThumbnailAnother Union Meeting (or Getting Into The Routine Of Things)

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Getting Back To My Workouts (or Having To Go Really Easy)

Posted on February 7, 2022 | Comments Off on Getting Back To My Workouts (or Having To Go Really Easy)

I really wanted to be back to my workouts as soon as I could, but I knew over the weekend that there was no way I would be able to make it to a workout on Monday. And because of some scheduling things, my original plan for this past week of workouts was to not go on Saturday but to add in Thursday. And I knew doing more than one day in a row would probably be risking it. So I had to continue to be patient and allow my foot to heal and be ok with only having 2 workouts this past week.

My first workout back was on Wednesday. On Tuesday night, I was worried about if I could do it, but I was able to see what the workout would be from some online forums so I could plan out what I could do and what I would need to modify. And I figured doing even a fraction of my normal workout was better than nothing. It was a strength day, but I really didn’t do a lot of strength work for cardio.

On the bike, we were supposed to have push paces and base paces at incline. I just used the same resistance level for those and then had my regular base pace level. I was pedaling very slowly and I had to take a lot of breaks to relax my foot a bit. Even though I wasn’t putting pressure on my heel, the way pedaling stretches my foot was making things a bit painful for me. But I managed to do it and that’s all I cared about.

For the rower, I continued to modify things. We had 2 blocks and both blocks started with a 400-meter row. I did it, but it was very slow and with a lot of breaks. I knew rowing would be tough because you are supposed to push off with your heels. After the row, we were supposed to do ground to presses with a medicine ball. Because I was trying to keep as much weight off my heel as possible, I did just overhead presses because I could balance on my toes for that. And then we had stroke drills on the rower with medicine ball work in-between for the rest of the block. My stroke drills were not normal for me since I didn’t have my power behind them, but I tried.

And on the floor, we also had 2 blocks. In the first block, we had mini-band work. We were supposed to do suitcase squats, overhead tricep presses, front and back walks, and hip hinge reverse flies. I knew I couldn’t do the front and back walks, so I just skipped that. And for the suitcase squats, I just went really light with the weight and took my time. In the second block, we were supposed to do lateral lunges, pullovers, and leg raises. I knew lateral lunges wouldn’t be an option for me, so I just skipped those. I wish I could have thought of options for the exercises I skipped, but everything that worked the right muscles would have been too hard on my foot. But I just kept reminding myself that I was back after a week off and I was still healing. So it was ok if it wasn’t close to my best workout.

Friday’s workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power and I had to continue to go easy on things. My foot was looking much better than it had on Wednesday, but I was dealing with some new soreness as it continued to heal. I know this soreness might last a little while longer because this last part of healing can take the longest, but I’m hoping it is less and less each day.

For cardio, we had 3 blocks. Blocks 1 and 3 were both 4-minute distance challenges. I had the bike at my push pace level and just tried to keep going as long as I could without taking a break. I did better than Wednesday, but I still had to take plenty of breaks to stretch my foot and let the pain subside. Block 2 was rounds of 30-second all-outs and 45-seconds of recovery. I think I did better with this block. I did the all-outs at my normal resistance level, I just was pedaling much slower. And during the recoveries I tried to keep pedaling but I also allowed myself to rest then if I needed it.

On the rower, we also had 3 blocks. Each block had rows that were 250-meters each time. And between each row, we had a medicine ball exercise. In block 1, it was supposed to be a power jack with an overhead press but I just did overhead presses. In block 2 it was supposed to be a squat with a front press, and I just did front presses. And in block 3 it was supposed to be a power jack with a front press, and I did half overhead presses and half front presses. I might have been able to do the squats, but I was just being really cautious and didn’t want to push myself too much yet.

And on the floor, we had one long block split into 2 mini-blocks. The first mini-block had chest presses, push-ups, and hip bridge marches. And in the second mini-block we had lateral step-ups, step-ups with powers, and plank to pikes. For the hip bridge marches, I did regular hip bridges without a weight. It was tough, but I was able to put a little more weight on my toes. For the step ups, I did lunges and squats instead. And again, I tried to keep more weight to the front of my foot and because of that, I had to decrease how much I did each movement. I know that my form isn’t ideal because of these modifications, but I’m trying to do the best I can considering the circumstances.

I’m glad I was able to get back to my workouts this past week. I really did miss them a lot the week before and I do crave this routine in my life. And while I think I will still be making a lot of modifications this week because I will still be healing, I’m hoping I will see more progress and I will be able to put more weight on my heel each day.

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Default ThumbnailAnother Week Of Weekday Workouts (or A Week Of Painful Workouts) Default ThumbnailA Full Week Of Christmas Workouts (or Having Some Traditional Workouts) Default ThumbnailBack To My Old Workout Schedule (or Always Fitting In My 4 Workouts When I Can) Default ThumbnailHaving Some Realizations About My Workouts (or Still Adjusting My Thinking) Default ThumbnailWorking Hard (or Some Normal But Tough Workouts) Default ThumbnailWrapping Up My 2021 Workouts (or An End To One Year And A Start To Another)

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Feeling A Bit Unsettled (or I’ve Written About This A Lot)

Posted on February 4, 2022 | Comments Off on Feeling A Bit Unsettled (or I’ve Written About This A Lot)

For about 6 months now, my living situation has felt like it was in a bit of limbo. I found out my current place was being sold which put me into a bit of a tailspin. My parents and I decided that looking for a condo was the right next move, and then it was a few months of looking at places and open houses. And each time I looked at a new place, I tried to imagine living there. There was one condo on the first day of looking that we almost put an offer on, but something just didn’t feel right. And then when I found the right place, there was the escrow period and then preparing for the renovation. So since August when I learned my current place was being sold, I felt like I was getting ready to move but also unsure of when that would be happening.

Even now, I have a better idea of when I will be moving and I’m finally starting to make preparations but I still don’t have an exact move date. I can’t hire movers yet, but I also don’t want to keep putting things away in my current house because I know they need to go into boxes soon. I also have done very little packing, but I worry that if I don’t start doing it soon, I will be packing at the very last minute and that will be stressful. And at the same time, I don’t want to live somewhere that is just filled with boxes.

I also have been looking for some new furniture I want to have in my new place and have been making choices about what I don’t want to take from my current place. But I also can’t exactly sell things now that I don’t want because I still need them. I’m trying to sell the things I can sell now, but that’s not much compared to what I will need to sell.

This feeling of being unsettled has been a way of life for me for about 6 months, and I wish I was over it already. But every time I get past one thing that makes me feel this way, another thing comes up. But I know we are getting closer to the end of this. The renovation has started and a lot of progress has been made in just the first few days. And things are continuing along at a great pace. I have been joking that once the renovation finally starts I will probably be shocked at how fast that is compared to everything else, and I think I was right. Every day so far this week, major steps have been happening. And in the next week, I know a lot of the materials are going to be picked up so that will make there be even more dramatic changes.

I know this time is temporary and I am extremely lucky that this is how I am moving. Not everyone has this opportunity and I’m extremely grateful. But even with being this grateful, it can still be stressful and I’m trying to be ok with feeling like that and not being guilty that everything doesn’t seem happy and easy for me. And accepting those feelings is important for me to work through them so I can focus on the happier and more positive feelings and try to start being even more excited about everything that is coming up for me with this move and being in a new place that I helped to design!

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Default ThumbnailNow Things Are Feeling Real (or So Far, We Are Ahead Of Schedule) Default ThumbnailStill Preparing To Move (or Getting Rid Of Some Things And Buying Others) Default ThumbnailOne Step Closer To Moving (or My First HOA Meeting) Default ThumbnailCleaning And Socializing (or Making Getting Ready To Move A Double Win) Default ThumbnailStill Waiting To Get Things Started (or Continuing To Work On Patience) Default ThumbnailA New Reason To Do Big Cleaning Projects (or Putting Other Projects On Hold For Now)

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Now Things Are Feeling Real (or So Far, We Are Ahead Of Schedule)

Posted on February 2, 2022 | Comments Off on Now Things Are Feeling Real (or So Far, We Are Ahead Of Schedule)

After attending the meeting with my HOA, I knew that the renovation was going to be able to start soon. We had a few things that needed to be done, but they were much faster than the initial preparation we did for getting the approval. And because we only had to submit the last forms and not wait for anything else, once we got it all sent in over the weekend, we knew we’d be able to start this week.

My contractor wanted to start on Monday, and I’m so glad we were able to stick to that. Because the hours the HOA has set that you are allowed to work on condos are almost the same as my work hours, I won’t be able to watch the work happening. But we are very lucky that we hired a contractor who has been great at keeping us informed about things during each step. Even as we were preparing things, we were getting frequent emails and texts letting us know what they were doing and with options that we needed to approve. Since this is the first time I’ve been involved in a remodel, I appreciate this. I still don’t know a lot about the process, but I feel less lost than I did before.

With the official start being on Monday, I knew things would be happening but I didn’t know how much would be done on day 1. So while I worked, I was getting emails to confirm things but I was curious to see what work would be done at the end of the day. So once I was done with work, I headed over to the condo to take a look.

I figured the demolition would have pulled up the floors and maybe some of the kitchen cabinets. I’m really glad I took some photos over the weekend because now I have some good before and during renovation pictures.

We had been told demolition would be done within a few days, but they got it all done in a single day! I think it looks like a lot more work than we are doing. We are putting in new floors, painting all the walls, and redoing the kitchen and one bathroom. This is more work than we originally planned, but this is getting everything on our list done before I move in instead of doing some of them later while I live there. It is much easier to redo a kitchen when I don’t have to live in the same space.

The entire process of finding and buying a condo has had different moments when it has felt real. And I have been trying to not get my hopes up about things until they are done and approved. So there were some things in the renovation that I was worried we would be told we couldn’t do (even though it looks like all the work I am doing has been done in other units). And I was trying to not be too hopeful about when we would start or what we could do. But when I walked into the condo on Monday evening and saw everything in progress, it really sunk in. This was happening. We are turning this condo into something that is really going to feel like it’s mine.

I still don’t know exactly when it will be done and when I can move in, but it’s going to be soon. Because we have been preparing for this renovation for a few months, everything we need is already ordered and waiting to be picked up. And while it looks like a ton of work, it’s considered a small job. I know there can still be random delays and setbacks, but the contractor feels good that things were prepared and it shouldn’t be too long of a process.

I guess now that things have started, I really need to start looking into moving. I haven’t looked at moving companies yet and I really haven’t packed up much. But I also have the luxury of taking my time when I move in. I should have at least 2 weeks where I can move in while I’m still paying rent. It might be closer to a month depending on the timing of when things are done. And because I can move a lot of my stuff in my car and it’s a quick trip back and forth, I should be able to do a lot on my own. I just need a moving company for the big and heavy stuff, but fortunately, I don’t have a lot that fits into that category.

I don’t know what will be the next moment this feels real to me. Maybe when I move in and am finally sleeping in there. And I have a feeling that will be happening before I know it!

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Default ThumbnailOne Step Closer To Moving (or My First HOA Meeting) Default ThumbnailStill Waiting To Get Things Started (or Continuing To Work On Patience) Default ThumbnailStill Preparing To Move (or Getting Rid Of Some Things And Buying Others) Default ThumbnailMore Serious Condo Hunting (or Being Real About What I Want) Default ThumbnailA Busy Family Visit (or Making Some Choices For My New Home) Default ThumbnailI’ll Have A New Home Soon (or The End Of The Condo Hunt)

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