Category Archives: Fun Stuff

How Is This Month/Year/Decade Almost Over? (or I Think Everyone Is Shocked It’s Almost January)

Posted on December 19, 2019 | Comments Off on How Is This Month/Year/Decade Almost Over? (or I Think Everyone Is Shocked It’s Almost January)

When I set my monthly challenge for this month, I knew it was exactly what I needed to do. I wanted to get myself in the best spot possible to get ready for the new year. While I know that the new year doesn’t have to mean anything special, I did want to use it as a deadline to get some things set up. And I like having the new year start off with new goals and everything ready for me to work on those goals. And when I set that challenge, I had every intention to spend time every day working toward that idea and being productive.

And I have been doing little things almost every day and have been getting things set up in my life to make sure that I make the most of my time during work and when I have free time. And somehow I thought I was more ahead of things than I actually was because I didn’t realize how close the month is to being over! And from what so many of my friends have been saying, I think that everyone was surprised to realize that we are over halfway through this month and it’s almost Christmas.

I’m guessing a part of this is because of how late Thanksgiving was this year, and maybe another part is how quickly time seems to go by. But I honestly was shocked when I paid attention to how many days left I had to mail holiday cards before Christmas. I had ordered my cards but hadn’t worked on them because I figured I would have plenty of time to get them done. But I finally realized yesterday that if I didn’t get them done and in the mail today or tomorrow that they won’t necessarily make it in time. I did holiday postcards again because they are easier so I should be able to get everything done in one day. But I hate that I am rushed to get this done when I could have taken my time.

I think another thing that makes this month seem over a lot sooner is the fact that I have several days off next week. My job doesn’t give us much time off for holidays, and most holidays seem to fall on Mondays when we already have time off. But this year, it’s one of the best setups for maximizing days off. I will have no work from when I’m done with my half shift this Saturday (which is my normal Saturday shift) until work starts on Thursday. I can’t remember the last time I had that many days off in a row. I didn’t realize I had that much time off until earlier this month so I didn’t make any plans to do anything. They will probably end up being very lazy days at home, but that’s fine with me. But not having those days feel like normal days also limits how much time is left this month.

I know that I won’t be completely slacking off on all my days off. I will still have lots of things I need to do and I want to get done. But I also know that there will be lots of time to read or watch some SAG Awards screeners. And in a way, doing that will feel like catching up on work or being productive since they are things I want to get done. I just ordered a new AppleTV (my current one is about 7 years old and isn’t really working correctly anymore), so watching the screeners should be easier than in the past because I hopefully can watch them on my tv.

I still have a bit of time left this month, but I’m just shocked how much time has already gone by without me getting as much done as I thought I would. I’m trying to make that motivate me to get going and not to be upset about what hasn’t happened. And hopefully by the time this month is over and I’m doing my recap of my challenge as well as how I did on my goals for the year, I will have a lot of things done and will feel as ready to go with a new month, year, and decade.

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Default ThumbnailUnder 90 Days Left In The Year (or Doing A Bit Of Reflecting) Default ThumbnailAlmost Through A Year Of Monthly Challenges (or Picking A Good Challenge For November) Default ThumbnailTaking A Month To Reset (or This Doesn’t Really Feel Like A Monthly Challenge) Default ThumbnailA Birthday Month Challenge (or Education And Celebration) Default ThumbnailIs This A Year Of Being Selfish? (or A Month Of Saying No) Default ThumbnailAlmost The End Of A Decade For Me (or The Birthday Countdown Has Begun)

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Feeling Useful Feels Good (or I Need To Be Productive)

Posted on December 18, 2019 | Comments Off on Feeling Useful Feels Good (or I Need To Be Productive)

I’ve written a lot about being bored or not being productive in my life. I have had a lot of issues with being productive while working since I don’t have to focus on my work all the time. I have done some things to cure my boredom that I know are very unproductive like watching a lot of random things on YouTube. It’s not easy for me to find things to do between customers at work because they need to be things that are easy to stop doing and pick back up where I left off.

That’s why the other job I’ve been doing has been good for me. It’s a lot of data entry or online searching so it’s easy to put the browser window that I’m working on behind my customer service browser when I have a customer. And I’ve been able to do that work most days in the past week or so because there was a new task to start on. This contract hasn’t been as steady as my past ones were because the work is a bit in flux. But I did just sign a new contract to extend this one for another few months (there were several delays in my work and there was no way to finish the hours by the end of the year).

Obviously, having my other job to do it most than just a good way to spend my time between my customers because I do need that income, but I love that it helps me stay focused on doing good things when I’m stuck at my computer for so many hours a day. And for both the income and the work, I hope that there will be another contract for me to sign when the extension for this current contract is up.

But I also have discovered that being productive is something I crave other times of the day. When I’m dealing with a lot of pain and nausea (like I am right now), I don’t really leave my house much. If there’s something I have to go to, I’ll do it. But if I can push something to another day I usually will. All I want to do is stay home and be in comfortable clothes and get through the discomfort the best I can. And when there is a lot of tv to catch up on, I admit that I spend a lot of that time at home watching things on my DVR. But when there aren’t new episodes to watch, I don’t want to be mindlessly going through different streaming services to find something to entertain me.

It’s not easy to find something to keep me busy when I feel as badly as I do right now, but whenever I find something it really does improve my mood. If someone asks me to help them with research online or another task I can do, I feel so accomplished when it’s completed. I don’t forget about how I feel, but it can be a good distraction. And when it’s something that I can pause when the pain and nausea get too bad to focus, even better.

Lately, I’ve been doing lots of random tasks around my house during that downtime. I have gotten a lot of organizing done (I still have a lot to do, but it’s a work in progress). And the holiday cards that I ordered a while ago finally arrived at my house (they were lost in shipping and had to be resent to me which delayed them a lot). So I have about 50 cards to write and address. I can’t put off getting stamps for them as long as I’d like since I need them to be in the mail soon, but I have to finish doing the cards before I go to the post office. So writing those will likely be my afternoon and evening work for today and tomorrow.

I won’t have much busywork to do next week and I have even more downtime because of the holiday schedule. But I think when it’s the holidays I can be lazy and not feel as bad about it. I do want to have a few tasks on my to-do list that I can work on just in case I feel the need to get something done. And if I don’t get everything done, then I can just work on them between customers when I don’t have the other job to do or after work if I don’t have anything planned.

I’m not going to wish that I was busier because I know that can backfire. But it is nice to know that I’m being helpful or productive when I know that it’s easy to be lazy. And that feeling of accomplishment when I’m not feeling overwhelmed is really great and I want to find more ways to get to that point.

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Another Union Holiday Celebration (or Being Social And Working Social Media)

Posted on December 17, 2019 | Comments Off on Another Union Holiday Celebration (or Being Social And Working Social Media)

One of the holiday parties I try to make it to every year is the SAG-AFTRA party. I haven’t been able to make it every year, but I do make an effort and know that even if I’m not feeling up for it that I will have a great time. I didn’t think I was slacking on sending in my RSVP for the party, but I guess I did because I was originally on the waitlist. I was a little sad that I might not get into the party, but I knew that it was my mistake for not sending it in the day I got it. But the day before the party, I got another email saying I was officially on the list and that improved my day a lot!

I was starting to deal with nausea on the day of the party, but I knew that I needed to go. I wasn’t planning on staying out too late, but I wanted to see my friends and I was excited about that. I arrived at the union early because I knew we would be lining up to get inside. I was in line standing right by the big tree in the lobby and I took advantage of that. I wasn’t feeling like having pictures taken of me, but I wanted to get some good photos of other people to put on my slate’s social media. I have been trying to work on improving the quality of the photos and I knew this tree was a great photo op.

I first got an amazing picture of my friend Shea (who had holiday decorations in his beard) with our union president, Gabrielle Carteris.

Then I realized that with so many of the union leaders being at the party, it was a great opportunity to get a photo of them for our main Instagram page. I usually am posting in our slate’s Instagram stories instead of the page, but I wanted to work on finding something new to post on our feed. And I think this one came out pretty good.

I only realized after I had posted it on all our social media channels that it looks like there are horns coming out of their heads. But fortunately, they found it funny so I was able to leave the photo up and not have to run around to try to take another one.

Once I was inside the party, I got some food to eat and then found a table to sit at with my friends. We didn’t take up all the seats at the table so we got to meet some members that we didn’t know before. Getting time to meet members and talk about how we are involved in the union is one of the great things about social events like this. There were no politics involved, there wasn’t any arguing, and there weren’t any stressful or tense moments like there can be at other union events. This was all about having fun and enjoying ourselves.

I did get one photo taken with some of my friends while I was there, but I really didn’t think about taking any others of me.

I spent most of my time at the party talking to friends of mine, but I did try to also introduce myself to people I didn’t know. But since I wasn’t feeling my best, I knew that I wouldn’t be making the best first impression.

When I was getting ready to leave, my friends said they were headed over to the photo booth area to take some photos. I figured I could wait a bit longer before leaving and went to take some photos with them. But we didn’t expect that there would be such a huge line and that it would move slowly. I’m sure it felt worse for me because of how I was feeling, but after waiting 30 minutes I realized I wasn’t going to make it much longer. Plus, when I’m really nauseous I break out in a sweat and I didn’t want to take a photo like that.

I decided to head home before getting that photo done and it was a little disappointing. But I knew it was for the best for me and my friends understood I wasn’t feeling great. I haven’t seen how the photo turned out yet (they are supposed to be posted online in the next day or so), but I’m sure it would look amazing and I’ll feel a bit sad that I wasn’t in it. But I also remember how relieved I felt when I got home and could work on feeling a bit better.

I was only at the party for about 2 hours, but I feel like I got a lot done. I was able to hang out with a lot of my friends, I got some amazing photos for social media that I really needed, and I got to feel like I did something social when I would have been laying on my couch otherwise. I think that was a big win for me and I’m glad that not only did I get into the party but that I made the choice to go. And I know that when they announce the party next year, I’m going to RSVP right away!

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Default ThumbnailSAG-AFTRA Holiday Party (or Getting Ready For Elections Again) Default ThumbnailThe First Holiday Party Of The Season (or A Meeting And A Mixer) Default ThumbnailFirst Union Working Meeting Of 2018 (or Union Strong For All) Default ThumbnailUnion Working Holiday Party (or Just Enjoying Being Around Good People) Default ThumbnailUnion Holiday Party (or Seeing A Lot Of People In A Little Time) Default ThumbnailFinding More Ways To Help Via Social Media (or Continuing To Share Good Things)

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Another Union Meeting (or Getting Into The Routine Of Things)

Posted on December 12, 2019 | Comments Off on Another Union Meeting (or Getting Into The Routine Of Things)

I have been really good at prioritizing going to the local board meetings for my union. I believe there are 8 meetings a year, and the most recent one I went to was the 3rd one. I’m not sure if the year is by the calendar year or if the year starts after the election and the new board and officers have been elected. But either way, I’ve almost made it to half of the meetings for the year.

After being able to go to these meetings, I now realize how I should have been doing this in the past. It’s not as scary or intimidating as I thought it would be and it’s not a huge time commitment. And the meetings have not been during times I work for the last several years, so there was no reason for me not to go. But at least now I’m making up for lost time.

The first local board meeting of the year/election term had a lot of observers. So did the second meeting, and that meeting had to have an overflow room because there were so many observers. This meeting wasn’t as packed and I have a feeling that it might not be as full from now on. I think there were a lot of people who wanted to attend after the elections who aren’t as interested in attending anymore. I hope that there will be lots of union members who want to be involved and watch our local union government working, but I know that the interest might fade. For all I know, I might not be as interested in attending in a year or two. I hope that I will be, but I can’t predict it. The positive about people not attending is that there will be room for new people to go. I’m still trying to get friends who are in the union to come with me, but I haven’t been successful at that.

Even though this was only my 3rd meeting, I already knew what to expect for the evening. Getting checked in as an observer has paperwork we have to sign every time, there is a “snack” (I would consider pizza a meal and not a snack), and then we have a member going over the rules for everyone so we know what we are allowed to do and what can get us removed from the room. And I’ve been able to sit in the same section each time so even that is routine for me.

This meeting was a little different from the others that I attended because our local president was not able to be there. So one of the local vice presidents was in charge. Having someone else run the meeting didn’t change a lot of it, but there were some things discussed that were not voted on because they didn’t want to vote without the local president there. There also weren’t as many board members there, but I think that was because of work schedules or being closer to the holidays. But there were enough board members to have the meeting which is the most important thing.

Besides having someone else running the meeting, the rest of the meeting was similar to what I have gotten used to. There were discussions about the different local committees, policies to debate about and vote on, and making sure that different upcoming events were announced so they could be promoted to the rest of the membership. In a way, I get a bit of a preview about what is coming up by being at these meetings. But everything that is discussed that is ready to be announced does get shared with all members. If there is anything confidential discussed in the meetings, the observers have to leave the room so the board members have privacy. But that has only happened once and they moved that to the end of the meeting so we all just left at that point instead of waiting to be let back into the room.

And as always with union events, this was also some time to spend with my friends. I got to hang out with my friends who were observers when we were in the room where we waited after checking in before we were led into the boardroom. And I got some time to talk to my friends who are board members after the meeting concluded. It wasn’t as social as other events because there is work to be done, but it is always fun getting to see my friends and at least say a quick hello.

The next board meeting is in about a month and I already have it on my calendar so I save that time. And as soon as it is announced to all members that we can put in a request to be an observer, I’m going to do it so that it doesn’t fill up before I get my name on the list. And maybe I’ll have more luck next month by getting a friend to come with me to the meeting!

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Funko and Frozen (or The Last Pantages Show For A While)

Posted on December 11, 2019 | Comments Off on Funko and Frozen (or The Last Pantages Show For A While)

I’ve been going to the Pantages shows for a while now and it really feels like a normal part of my routine. I know that I would feel like something was missing if I didn’t have my shows in my schedule and I’m so glad that I have several more shows this season to look forward to. But technically the show I had this past weekend was my last Pantages show of the season since the shows are moving to the Dolby to finish out the season. The Dolby and Pantages aren’t too far from each other so some of our routine will be the same, but I also know that things will be a bit different. Plus, our seats will be in a different spot than we have had for the last few years. But I’m excited about the change and I’m sure it will be fun.

We were worried for a while that with the location change that we wouldn’t be able to go to our normal dinner places, but I think we’ve figured out a way to do it so this time we decided for a casual dinner at Shake Shack before the show. But before we had dinner, we remembered that the Funko store had just opened up on that block and Dani wanted to check it out. I don’t collect Funko and don’t know too much about them, but I heard this store was huge and I was curious about what was inside.

And the store was amazing and overwhelming! There were so many Funko displays and so much to look at. They also had other fun things for sale and I loved seeing all the Disney stuff they had. But one of the coolest things they had inside the store were awesome photo spots. And as soon as Dani spotted this one, we knew we had to take a photo with it.

It reminded me of the photo setup that Marie and Chris had at their Halloween party several years ago. I didn’t take many other photos inside of the store because I was busy checking out everything they had. Even if you don’t collect Funko, it’s still a fun store to wander around and see what they have.

After going through the store and having our dinner, it was time to head over to the Pantages for our show.

I’ve seen the original “Frozen” movie (I haven’t seen the sequel just yet) and while I enjoyed it I don’t know if I would say it’s my favorite Disney movie. I think by the time I saw it I had heard so much hype about it so that made my expectations really high. I don’t think it’s a bad movie or anything, but it’s just not one of the top ones. But I had heard that the musical wasn’t exactly like the movie (the musical at California Adventure is much more of a copy of the movie). I knew there were some songs in the show that weren’t in the movie and that a few plot points were either removed or added. So I was intrigued to see what I would think about the musical.

It was a bit annoying that there were a ton of kids that were probably too young to be at a show seated by us (one kid said “I’m tired” or “Is it over?” to their parent every few minutes). And I was worried that it would turn into a singalong with kids singing all the songs. But I don’t think I heard anyone singing in the audience for the entire show. But those were the only negatives or big concerns going into the show.

I have to say that it was one of the better musicals I’ve seen in a while! I loved the changes they made in the show and they were worked seamlessly into the original material. And the sets and costumes were spectacular. At intermission, I turned to Dani and said how that was one of the best ends of the first act I’ve seen in a long time. It was just perfect how they did it and it looked really luxurious, which is something that you don’t always get with a touring show. I know there were some changes made between the Broadway show and the tour, but since I haven’t seen the show on Broadway I didn’t know what was missing or added. But whatever they did, I felt like they did a great job.

I wasn’t exactly hesitant about seeing this show, but it wasn’t one that made me want to buy this season. But I’m so glad it was a part of the season because it was a great one to see and I’ve been recommending it to so many of my friends. And I think it was the perfect show to end the shows at the Pantages. I’ll be back there for “Hamilton” in the spring, but I don’t know when our season will be back there. They haven’t announced anything with the next season or where the shows would be. By the time they announce it, I think we will have seen at least a few shows at the Dolby so we can decide if we want to do a season there and where we want to sit if the next season is there as well.

I’m so glad that we had an awesome show to close out this part of our season. And now I’ve got a new venue to look forward to!

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Union Working Holiday Party (or Just Enjoying Being Around Good People)

Posted on December 6, 2019 | Comments Off on Union Working Holiday Party (or Just Enjoying Being Around Good People)

Because Thanksgiving was so late this year, it doesn’t really feel like we have much of a gap between then and Hanukkah and Christmas. Holiday parties are already starting and Thanksgiving was just last week! I’m making sure I don’t try to go to too many parties because I don’t want to overdo it, but I’m also excited to see so many friends in a festive mood.

The first holiday party of the season was the Union Working mixer. It has been a while since there was a Union Working event because so many of the leaders of the group are involved in union politics. So they have been busy with the election and then the convention. But hopefully, soon we will be back to our regular meetings in the new year.

This mixer was much more of a holiday party with a little bit of information thrown in. I didn’t have to run a live-stream because the things discussed were mainly about how we will be back to our meetings in the new year, that we have been able to accomplish a lot this year, and we have a lot to accomplish coming up. There wasn’t much information shared outside of things specific to the group. It only took a few minutes for that to be discussed and the rest of the mixer was a party.

I hadn’t seen some of these friends since the convention so it was nice to get to see everyone. And there were a lot of new people at the mixer that I hadn’t met yet. It’s always good to see fresh faces at union events because that means more people are getting involved and taking some ownership of the union. One of the most important and common things that people say is that the union is us. So if you are upset with the union, you need to take action. You can’t blame a different entity because members make up the union governance. So we hold the power and can make sure that our voices are heard. So whenever I see new people, I feel like they understand that concept and want to make sure the union is the best and strongest it can be. That’s one of my motivations for being so active in the union and it’s really encouraging to see others do the same.

I was bouncing around the party talking to different groups of friends. I probably looked a bit crazy because I wanted to make sure I had a chance to talk to everyone that I wanted to. I was feeling good, in a good mood, and had nothing else to do but be social. I have to take advantage of those moments and I definitely did that during the mixer. And I had every intention of taking lots of pictures in front of the step and repeat, but I kept getting distracted by talking to friends. I only managed to get one photo the entire night.

It was so nice to be at a union event that had minimal discussion about politics. There were some people there who I know are a part of the other slate or don’t agree with my slate or union politics, but that wasn’t brought up at all. There was a little discussion about how there is so much blame going around that isn’t true, but that wasn’t blaming either slate for what was happening. It was more about why this blame is being put on anyone when it’s not something accurate. Nobody talked about the election or the results and there was no discussion about why things would be better or worse if they were different. It was just about people coming together for an awesome holiday party that all happen to be very passionate about our union.

My plan was to not stay at the mixer too late. I knew I had an early morning and I was driving a rental car that I didn’t love driving (my car had a minor mechanical issue and was at the shop for several days). So I didn’t want to drive home too late so I could sleep and I didn’t have to drive the rental when some people might be driving home a bit crazy from parties. I joked to a friend when I said goodbye that I was starting my rounds of goodbyes and hopefully I would be out of there within the hour. I ended up getting into so many different conversations and before I knew it the entire event was over and it was almost 2 hours after I said I was trying to say my goodbyes. But I guess that’s a sign of a really good party and that I was having a fun time. It was worth being out later than I wanted to because of that.

I’m glad the holiday party season kicked off with such a great party. And it was really nice having a union-related event that was just fun and didn’t feel like work. I definitely need more events like that in my life.

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The Rest Of Thanksgiving (or Getting In Lots Of Family Time)

Posted on December 4, 2019 | Comments Off on The Rest Of Thanksgiving (or Getting In Lots Of Family Time)

I have already posted about the first half of my Thanksgiving trip. That time was mainly spent with my parents or my immediate family. But Thanksgiving Day was all about all of my family that was together for the holiday. We had 16 people (plus 2 dogs) this year in one place. And there was a bit of sadness as this was the first Thanksgiving since my grandma passed away, but we were all so grateful to be together with everyone in those 3 generations in one place.

Thanksgiving morning started with the family workout at Orangetheory. I love that we have that tradition now in the family and it was a great way to start the day. Even though the studio was really close to the hotel, it was really cold out so we ended up driving over to the workout. I made sure I worked out a little extra hard to make up for us having to drive over. But it was fine.

After the workout, we had some time at the hotel to shower and get ready plus some time to relax. There was no rush to get over to my aunt and uncle’s house and it was nice having time to read and not stress out about getting ready and leaving by a certain time. We were still over there a few hours before dinner, so we had a lot of family time. But we didn’t feel stressed that we had to get there by at a specific time and we didn’t have to worry about if we were going to miss anything.

Thanksgiving was originally planned for Sacramento because that’s where my grandma was (and she couldn’t travel). We knew that she wouldn’t be able to be at dinner, so I was prepared already for her not being there. But I had made plans that I was going to visit her before dinner so it did feel a bit like we forgot to do something. Starting next year my family will be rotating where we do Thanksgiving (which is what we used to do every year), so I think it won’t feel like we missed something. But it worked out fine for Thanksgiving to be in Sacramento and since all of us live on the west coast, it’s not too difficult to travel there. It was so awesome having everyone at dinner this year. We haven’t had the entire family together in a few years and I know how lucky we are that we can do this.

We were all hanging out in the kitchen and living room spending time together. A lot of the cooking was done in advance, so there wasn’t a lot of craziness in the kitchen. It felt very relaxed compared to some of the past Thanksgivings and I liked that. And it gave us time to enjoy things like the gorgeous sunset that we had that evening.

Also, I convinced my brother and my cousins that we should try to recreate a photo that was taken in 1988. This photo wasn’t from Thanksgiving that year, but it’s the first photo I think of when I think of a photo of all of us when we were little. I actually don’t love the photo, but it’s still the first one that comes to mind. My cousin Stephie was excited to do the recreation too, so she helped me get the guys together for it. And my cousin John even tried to match the pose from the original photo. I think it looks awesome!

I think that everyone loved the photos once I combined them and that they agree it was a good choice to take it. The 5 of us aren’t always together at Thanksgiving, so I am glad I took advantage of that. I remember the last time we were all together that we took a photo and it was only after we left that I was upset we didn’t match the old one. Now, I finally got to do what I regret not doing a few years ago.

Thanksgiving dinner was awesome as always. We had all the usual things that my family has and they are always delicious. My favorites are the green beans and the corn casserole, but everything that I had on my plate was so good!

After we had dinner, we did go around the table talking about our favorite memories of my grandma. Some people included memories of my grandpa too, but my memories were all grandma ones. She was very particular about her hair and makeup and always looked perfect. I remember when I was little that my grandma went on an amusement park ride and somehow she was the only one out of us that got wet. That was so funny. I also remember a Thanksgiving when we were young that my cousin convinced my grandma to try his rollerblades and she got on them inside the house and my cousin helped her stay up. I loved the memories that everyone else shared too and I’m glad that for the most part that was an upbeat thing. I was worried that it would be sad, but there was only one time that I cried. The rest of the time was all about smiling and reminding each other of these random memories that we loved.

After dinner, we had to get a family photo. And while I loved the one we had last year of all of us laughing, this one was a bit more normal. But I do love the dogs looking at each other.

Overall, it was a really great Thanksgiving and we had some amazing family time. And my concern about being sad while I was there didn’t come true. There was so much joy and happiness in being together and sharing memories that the sadness was minimal. And I’m so glad about that.

The day after Thanksgiving was pretty low-key. I had to work that morning so I worked in the hotel room. My brother and sister-in-law left that morning but they stopped by the room before driving home. And while I was working my parents took the dog for a long walk. I was fine being alone because it made me feel a bit better about having to work. When I work around all my family, it is fun because I’m a part of everything happening. But I also feel a bit guilty when I ask everyone to be quiet or when I can’t participate in a conversation or have to end talking to work with a customer.

When I was done with work, we headed over to my aunt and uncle’s house for some leftovers and a bit more family time. Unfortunately, I had to leave before some of my family was able to get there because I had to catch my flight home. But hopefully, the family that didn’t get to see me understood that I needed to be at the airport on time.

My flight home was much calmer than my flight there. There wasn’t as much turbulence so I was able to relax a little. I still don’t love flying, but this was much more normal and I only had my normal anxiety. And once we landed, it was pretty quick for me to get back to where I parked my car so I could get home. It was a bit weird when I was unpacked and everything felt normal when I was just with my family a few hours before.

Next year, we’ll be somewhere else for Thanksgiving. But I know we are going to have so many of the same traditions happening wherever we are. And I’m so glad that we all agreed as a family that our annual Thanksgiving gatherings are important to us so we are going to keep them going. I can’t wait for next year!

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Default ThumbnailGrandma’s Birthday Dinner (or One Of Our Thanksgiving Traditions) Default ThumbnailFull Thanksgiving Week (or Lots Of Family Time) Default ThumbnailFull Thanksgiving Trip (or Being With My Family In San Diego) Default ThumbnailThe Rest Of My Maryland Trip (or More Family Time) Default ThumbnailA Family-Filled Thanksgiving (or 4 Generations In One Place) Default ThumbnailFamily Thanksgiving (or Relaxing In San Diego)

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I Actually Wrote A Book! (or Getting Myself Ready For 2020)

Posted on December 3, 2019 | Comments Off on I Actually Wrote A Book! (or Getting Myself Ready For 2020)

Last month, I did a repeat monthly challenge. I’ve attempted to write my book about online dating for several years now and I’ve never been able to complete that challenge. I knew going into it this past month that even if I complete the challenge it doesn’t necessarily mean that I finish a book. But I wanted to see what I could get done and I was hoping it would be better than my past attempts.

I had changed what my book was going to be about when I thought about it earlier this year. Instead of just telling stories about dates I went on and guys I met, I wanted to organize it into lessons I’ve learned through dating. This allowed me to work on the book without figuring out where things were going or needing to have an ending to it. This book has the potential to be a work in progress with new chapters for a while, so I didn’t want to have to feel like I needed a way to wrap things up. And by making it more about life lessons got me into that mindset.

I was following the NaNoWriMo plan again this year as I had in the past. I knew that I might have some days where I wrote more words than I needed to and other days would be fewer words. My goal was to work on one lesson (or one chapter) a day. And while I had done a lot of research and planning, I knew I would need to plan more lessons during the month because I wasn’t going to have enough. It wasn’t always easy, but I figured out how to split things up differently and new lessons to add so I had enough to work on one a day. And on Saturday, the last day of the month, I made it to the NaNoWriMo goal of 50,000 words!

Writing this book ended up being very therapeutic for me. I had to work through some things that I didn’t realize I wasn’t completely over. I had to revisit some moments that are not positive or that I am ashamed or embarrassed about. I had to be brutally honest with myself as I wrote things because I’m not always the hero of the story. Every day that I worked on the book, new emotions came up but at the same time, I found new peace with some things as well. I didn’t realize how much I needed to write this book for me.

Since I know this is still a work in progress, I don’t want to say that I finished a book. There are still things that may change about it, but I have a full draft of the book as of right now. And I want to start working on the editing process on the chapters I have completed so far. I have several friends who have offered to read it, but I don’t know if I’m ready for that just yet. I can do some editing on my own first and that’s what I plan on doing. Hopefully, soon I will feel ready to share it with some friends for some feedback and editing. And then after that, I can do some more research on what it would take to get my book published in the future.

For this month, I wanted to do another reflective monthly challenge. Not only is this the last month of the year, but it’s also the last month of the decade. That seems monumental and made me think about how I started this decade. I was in the middle of a lot of change and it was a very chaotic time for me. This decade hasn’t always been the best, but I think that I’m in the best place I’ve ever been in with my life so far. And I want to continue doing that into the next decade (and beyond).

So my plan for this month is to spend the time preparing to kick off the new year and new decade as my best self. I want to work on being in the best place I can mentally and working toward the best place physically. And some of the mental work includes working on my physical space, which is something I have been working on lately. I’ve been cleaning up my house and getting it more organized. I’ve been working on finding new ways to store things so my space doesn’t feel as cluttered. It’s been a process, but I’m feeling much better about how my house looks now.

I need to do some serious organizing work with my kitchen and it feels right to do that before the new year. I want to find ways to use my kitchen more and more efficiently. I also have a plan to do some food reaction testing soon and I need to have my kitchen in a good place to do that the best I can. I’m also looking at other things around my house that I want to change because I have lived here for almost 10 years now and some things are things I got when I moved here. I think updating my space after 10 years seems right.

I’m so excited that I’ve finished my first draft of my book (so far) and that I’m in such a good headspace for the new year. Now, I just want to make sure I’m continuing to work on those things so I can kick of 2020 with a bang!

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Default ThumbnailNot Sure How I Did With My Last Monthly Challenge (or Another Attempt At NaNoWriMo) Default ThumbnailFiguring Out A Plan For My Book (or I’m Not Sure What’s Next) Default ThumbnailYet Another Book Rewrite (or Letting My Blog Posts Inspire Me) Default ThumbnailRecapping A Few Challenges From Last Month (or Getting Ready Stop Going Easy On Myself) Default ThumbnailNaNoWriMo Take 2 (or Still Working On The Same Book) Default ThumbnailContinuing To Work On My Book (or I Wonder How Many Versions I’ll Have Before I Finish It)

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My Short Workout Week (or 6 Years Of Family Workouts)

Posted on December 2, 2019 | Comments Off on My Short Workout Week (or 6 Years Of Family Workouts)

This past week of workouts ended up being a 3 workout week. I was thinking about trying to make it 4, but it was destined to be just 3. But it’s ok because one workout was my family pre-Thanksgiving workout and that should count for more than one! Not only was my family workout awesome, but this past week was also just a great week for me and that’s what I really needed.

Monday’s workout was a power day, and it was a really great day for me. I only get to take a 2 group class on Mondays (unless I take a class during a time I normally don’t), and this one was a perfect 2 group workout. Because it was a power day, things were short and that was perfect when we were at each section of the room for 30 minutes.

For cardio, we had 3 blocks. Each block had the same pattern with a push pace, a pace pace, and then 3 rounds of all outs with recoveries after. The first block had a 90 second push pace, the second block had a 1 minute push pace, and the last block had a 30 second push pace. The base paces and recoveries changed between the blocks too. And all the all outs in the first block were 1 minute, all the all outs in the second block were 45 seconds, and all the all outs in the last block were 30 seconds. These were great little sprints for me on the bike and I was able to get some high numbers with my wattage and cadence. I kept the resistance level at my base level the entire time, but I think that was almost necessary with how often we were changing up what we were doing. I got one of my furthest distances on the bike that I’ve ever done and I felt awesome when we switched to the floor.

The floor was an interesting plan. It was one long block and we started with 3 rounds of bench hopovers to burpees and a 100-meter row. Then we had 3 rounds of push-ups to plank jacks, squats with hammer curls, and a 150-meter row. The last section was supposed to be shoulder presses to stands, plank work, and sit-ups with rotations with 200-meter rows, but I only got through the exercises once in that section so I didn’t make it to the row. I wasn’t going too heavy with the weights because we were moving around so much and I did have to modify things by using the bench, but it was still a great floor block for me. I know it was a lot of work, but because things were switching up so often it didn’t feel like that and the 30 minutes really flew by. I think it was the perfect workout to have right before traveling and to get me ready for my family workout on Thanksgiving.

My next workout was on Thursday for the family workout. We had 5 of us this year at the workout, so it wasn’t our biggest group and it wasn’t our smallest group. This year my dad, brother, aunt, and cousin joined me (next year or the year after my cousin’s oldest kid will be joining us and then we’ll have 3 generations at the workout!). We were at the Folsom studio again, which is where we were last year. And as always it was a partner workout.

The first half of the class was just 6 minutes in each section of the room without partners. We had 6 minutes of cardio with push and base paces, a 6-minute row for distance, and pull-ups on the straps, squats to bicep curls, and pushups on the floor. My family doesn’t row normally, so I think the 6 minutes of rowing was a bit tough on them but they all did great! Nobody stopped the entire time and that was so impressive!

The rest of the class was partnered in groups of 3. I worked with my dad and brother and the person on cardio set the switching. My dad and brother on the treadmills had a .4 mile run and I had 1.6 miles on the bike. The person on the rower just rowed the entire time they were there. And the person on the floor had squats, single-arm snatches, and sit-ups. We weren’t supposed to reset the rower the entire time, but my dad accidentally did it once so we were missing a bit of our distance at the end of class. But it was a fast-moving partner block and we were switching every 3-4 minutes.

And as always, we had to take a family photo with our coach after we finished the class.

We’ve now had this tradition for 6 years and every year our photos make me smile!

I was back to my regular studio for my Saturday workout. This class was a strength-based one and I continued my streak of having awesome workouts! There were 2 blocks in each section of the room and we switched between each block.

Both of the cardio blocks had the same pattern. We started with a 90-second push pace. After a base pace, we had 45 seconds at an incline and 45 seconds at a flat incline at a push pace followed by 30 seconds at an incline and our push pace. We had a walking recovery and then a 30-second push pace and 30-second all out at an incline. The difference between the 2 blocks was the incline we were supposed to use. I used the resistance levels when we were doing incline work, but for the flat road pushes, I just focused on pedaling faster.

On the rower, the first block started with a 250-meter row and 25 pulsing squats. We decreased the row by 50 meters and the squats by 5 until the block ended. The second block started with a 100-meter row and 10 pulsing squats with increasing the row by 50 meters and the squats by 5 each round.

And on the floor, we had the same exercises for both blocks. We had deadlifts, chest presses, single-arm rows with weights, lunges, and seated shoulder presses to stands. I tried to go heavy with the weights, but I think I wasn’t feeling 100% myself and was a bit tired from traveling so I had to go a bit lower than I would have liked.

This week and next week at Orangetheory are the 12 Days Of Fitness and they are supposed to be harder workouts than normal. If you do 7 of the 12 workouts, you get a pair of OTF socks. But only the first 100 people who complete it will get them. I can adjust my schedule to do 7 workouts (and I’m going to see about trying to do that), but I don’t think I’ll be one of the first 100 to do it so I’m not expecting to be able to get the socks. But I’m excited either way about seeing what these workouts will bring and what I’ll be able to do!

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The First Half Of Thanksgiving (or My Pre-Thanksgiving Activities)

Posted on November 29, 2019 | Comments Off on The First Half Of Thanksgiving (or My Pre-Thanksgiving Activities)

My Thanksgiving trip felt like it was split into 2. What I did before Thanksgiving Day and what happened on Thanksgiving Day and after. So I figured I should split my posts into 2 as well. And this is the first part of my Thanksgiving trip.

As I previously mentioned, I was anxious about flying for Thanksgiving for several reasons. This has been an issue for me for most of my life, and I just have to work through it whenever I travel. I guess it is a good thing that I don’t travel that often. And while most of my fears I wrote about weren’t an issue, my flight for my trip wasn’t the easiest.

It was a totally full flight, which wasn’t as horrible as I thought it would be. I wasn’t too squished in my seat, and I think the new seats that Southwest did help. Even though the seats are probably smaller, the armrests are up a bit higher so that makes it more comfortable for me. I do fit in the seats either way, but it’s nice to feel better about it.

The flight itself was one of the bumpiest I’ve been on. It was pretty horrible. The turbulence was constant and there were so many stomach-dropping moments. I really wished that I had some panic meds with me because that would have been the time to take them. But I just tried to focus on breathing and I listened to podcasts during the flight instead of reading so I could zone out a bit more. And we did land safely, which is what is important.

And all that stressful travel was worth it because I go to see my family’s dog again for the first time in a year!

The day before Thanksgiving was mainly family time with my immediate family. I had to work that morning and my cousin and her kids came over to the hotel to say hi to me and my parents. My brother and sister-in-law were driving up to us that day, so that afternoon was just my parents and me.

A few days earlier, we were trying to figure out what to do that afternoon because it was supposed to be pouring rain. My mom saw that “Stomp” was playing at a theater very close to the hotel so she got the 3 of us tickets. My parents have seen the show twice and I technically have seen it before (but I was 4 or 5 so I don’t remember it), so we were all very excited to check it out!

My mom got us great seats and we were close enough to see everything but far enough that we weren’t able to see the entire stage at once.

And the show was really awesome! The performers were so talented and what they were able to do was fun to watch. And they were all able to show personality with their characters even though they never spoke a single word. There were a few moments that were Thanksgiving themed, but those might be always in the show. But I liked those touches and everyone in the audience was enjoying it.

After the show, we headed back to the hotel where my brother and sister-in-law were waiting. Their drive wasn’t too bad, so they got to us with plenty of time to spare before we went out to dinner. We hung out in our hotel room and caught up plus we did our Hanukkah presents. I gave my brother and sister-in-law a candle that is supposed to smell like San Francisco (where they lived before) and I got my parents these really cute wooden tiles painted to look like Scrabble tiles that spell out SNOW. I know the gifts weren’t as good as the custom pet portraits, but they were still good.

After presents, the 5 of us headed out to dinner. We went out for Chinese food and it was a nice and casual meal. And even though it wasn’t that late, after dinner we were all pretty tired so we headed back to our hotel rooms to get some sleep before a big day the next day.

Even though the start of my trip got off to a rocky start (literally), I’m glad the first half of Thanksgiving was what I hoped for. I got to hang out with my family, go do some fun things, and enjoy a little break from my everyday life.

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