Posted onJanuary 6, 2023|Comments Off on Another Low-Key New Year’s Eve (or At Least I Made It Until Midnight)
I continued my tradition of having a low-key New Year’s Eve again. I know that some people love going out or going somewhere fancy and festive, but that’s just not who I am. I do love occasions where I can dress up, but not when it’s going to be super crowded and likely overpriced. So doing something that isn’t too fancy is much more my speed. And pretty much every year I do the same thing, hang out with my friends and just have a very easy evening.
I’m glad I got to spend time with my friends and it was a smaller group than normal for a few different reasons. But we all still had fun and a nice time being together. It was a little crazy getting there because of the rain storms, but at least I wasn’t in a rush to get there and could take my time while driving. And I lucked out and found a parking spot very close to my friend’s house so I didn’t have to walk too far in the rain.
Since it was storming, we all pretty much spent the evening inside. We sometimes went outside to get fresh air, but it was cold and windy as well. So I’m glad it was a smaller group since we were inside a lot more than normal. Everyone there also were people I knew so it wasn’t like I was around a lot of new people who I couldn’t be sure took as many precautions about things as my friends and I do.
And like many times when I’m with my friends, we just enjoyed spending time together and we didn’t need to do anything crazy. Most of the time I was there, I was just talking with my friends about various things. One of the friends in our group just moved back to LA so we were talking about their job hunt and move. We also occasionally would glance at the tv and joke about how we all must be old because we didn’t recognize the different performances going on. There was also some karaoke happening, but I don’t usually join in for that since I don’t sing. But I do love seeing my friends having fun.
Once it was closer to midnight, we started to play a new card game my friends got for Christmas. It was called Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza and it was really fun! There were some moments when we were all confused about a rule, but most of the time we were playing we were laughing and making fun of each other for some of the silly mistakes we made. I was shocked that I did well in the game, but I ended up not winning in the end. But that’s ok.
I was a bit tired while I was there and there were moments when I wondered if I would have to leave before midnight. I knew I didn’t want to drive if I was tired, especially in the rain. But after the game was over, it was only a few more minutes until midnight so I managed to stay late enough. And when it officially became 2023, we all celebrated together. A lot of people in our friend group have had a rough year (or a few years) and we could celebrate making it through another year and still all of us being in pretty good health.
Only a few minutes after midnight, I decided to head back home. There was a bit of a break in the rain so I wanted to drive before the next storm started. And I never like staying too late since I’m less likely to be on the road with a drunk driver right after midnight compared to an hour or two later. Maybe one year I’ll stay later, but I don’t mind leaving earlier than many of the others since I do have one of the longer drives home.
Once I was home, I realized I took no photos while I was at the party. Usually, I’ll take at least a few, but I guess I was more focused on spending time with my friends and enjoying the moment. So that’s ok with me. Even without photos, I know I had a nice New Year’s Eve and I have fun memories from that night. And I’m sure that in a year, I’ll be doing the same thing again with another low-key night and enjoying it just as much.
Posted onJanuary 7, 2022|Comments Off on A Chill New Year’s Eve (or Getting To Have A Little Celebration)
Most of the time for New Year’s Eve, I’m at a party with friends. I don’t like to go out to big events, but celebrating with my friends is the perfect way to celebrate with others but also have a low-key evening. There is no pressure to dress up, things are casual, and I always have fun. When the pandemic started, I don’t think any of us thought it would last through the end of the year. But it did, and I spend the end of 2020 home by myself and alone. I didn’t like spending a night that is normally a celebration alone, but that’s what needed to happen so everyone could stay safe and healthy.
By the end of 2021, things were better and worse at the same time. There are vaccines and treatment options to help, but the numbers are very high and people are still getting sick and dying. So being at a big party with friends wouldn’t have been a safe or smart choice. Fortunately, I was invited to a very small gathering with friends for New Year’s Eve and this group was all people who take things seriously. For example, one person invited found out they were in close contact with someone who tested positive the day before. Even though they didn’t test positive, they didn’t come because they didn’t want to risk getting everyone sick. Knowing that we all were taking the pandemic that seriously made me feel better about meeting up with a few people.
It was a very low-key night. We hung out and played some silly card games. And of course just talked and enjoyed being with other people. Most of us are staying pretty isolated or with very limited contact with friends in real life, so it was a nice break from that. There was still a sense of needing to be careful and cautious while we were together, but we did relax a bit more than I normally would around other people. And I needed this after not seeing many friends for so long. While the state of the world and pandemic never left my mind, I didn’t think about it as much as I usually do and that was a nice break for me.
However, I was dealing with a lot of pain and nausea over New Year’s Eve, so I wasn’t sure how long I’d be staying at the gathering. I was hoping I would make it until midnight, but I also knew that if I was feeling horrible that I might have to leave sooner. And I also thought that leaving before midnight would probably be safer when thinking about crazy drivers on the road. So I went to see my friends knowing that I might leave early and that’s exactly what I did. I tried to stay as long as I could, but I really wanted to just lay in bed and try to feel better after a few hours. I left just after 11pm and was home in bed when it was midnight and 2022 officially started.
Somehow, having half of a party night and half of a night at home alone seemed perfect to spend this past New Year’s Eve. We are not back to the old normal, but we are not in the same place we were in 2020. We are somewhere in the middle and that’s what my evening was. It was between what my normal is like and what the last year was like. Maybe by the start of 2023, we will be able to have a party the way we normally do. I want to be hopeful and think that, but I’ve also thought that so many times and have been wrong before. But at least things are slowly progressing toward normal and I didn’t have to spend the entire evening alone again.
Posted onDecember 31, 2021|Comments Off on Reviewing My 2021 Goals (or This Really Was A Year Of Unknowns)
Happy New Year’s Eve! I think everyone is a bit shocked this year is coming to an end because mentally it feels like we are still in 2020. I do still feel in a way that I’ve lost 2 years of my life due to not being able to live the life I love and enjoy, but I did still get things done this year. And when I was setting my goals for 2021, I set them based on the idea that I didn’t know if or when life would feel normal again. But even with me planning for the unknown and unexpected, things still had some plot twists that made accomplishing some of my goals not exactly what I planned.
My first goal that I had this year was to do at least 200 workouts. I set this goal with the idea of doing mainly workouts through Orangetheory, either at home or in the studio. I did hit my goal for workouts this year which I expected would happen since it’s not too hard for me to get to 200 workouts a year now (which is still something I’m shocked about). And a majority of my workouts were through Orangetheory since I was able to go back to the studio this past spring. My home workouts weren’t the Orangetheory videos since I switched to mainly doing weightlifting at home, but I think this still counts as a win since I did get to my goal and most of my workouts were Orangetheory studio classes.
My next goal I had for 2021 was to work on my budget. I hate that this was another failure since I’ve tried to get my budget back on track so many times. I used to be really good at it, and then so much changed. My excuses in the recent past were about not being stable with work, but things have been much more stable for me lately. There will always be a little bit of unknown with how much I’ll make with some jobs, but most of the money I make each month is a pretty stable and known amount. Even without doing a budget, I was more mindful of my spending and where my money was going. I know I need to get this more under control, but it is nice to see that I haven’t gone completely crazy without a budget. But if I want to work on having more savings and the ability to splurge on fun things without stress, I need to get a budget so I am very aware of my financial situation.
I’m going to combine the next two goals I had for this past year. I wanted to try more, take more risks, and be ok with possible failure and I also wanted to be ok with asking for help and support. When I wrote those goals a year ago, I saw them as very different things. But now, I think they go together. Taking more risks and accepting failure goes along with asking for help and support. When I had failures, I needed support to boost myself back up. I don’t know if I had as many opportunities to try more and take risks as I hoped I would, but I know I did do this more often. I spoke up for myself more and learned how to cope better when things I wanted to have happen didn’t happen. And when I was feeling down about these failures or other things in my life, I had a better group of people I could turn to for advice and support. I still want to take more chances, but I think it will be easier doing that going forward now that I have great friends to help me out if things don’t go the way I hope.
And my last goal for 2021 was to get my house organized and find the best way to use the space I have. Obviously when I wrote my goal, I didn’t know that I would be getting a new place this year. And I did get things much more organized in the first half of the year. But starting in September, I was in the mindset of how I would be hopefully moving in the somewhat near future. So organizing my house took a new turn and became more about going through all my stuff and seeing what I want to move and what I want to toss. And that’s something I’m still going through now. My house is less organized than I would like it, but it’s organized for an upcoming move. And obviously since I’m moving into a place significantly bigger than where I am now, maximizing the space I have stopped being something I worried about. Instead, lately I’ve been planning for my move and how things will work in my new place. And I’m excited to have space to get some new things and really make my new place feel like a home!
Overall, I’m happy with how I did with my goals this year. They weren’t all wins, but I did my best with most of them. And things were an unknown so the ideas I might have had in the beginning of 2021 weren’t exactly how they turned out by the end of 2021. So some of my goals had to adjust with the changes in my life. But I think I was flexible with most of them and made them work. And I’m excited to share my goals for 2022 with you all next week and seeing in a year how I do with them!
Posted onDecember 29, 2021|Comments Off on Enjoying A Bit Of A Half Week (or This Week Is Always Odd)
I think most people agree that the week between Christmas and New Year’s is always weird. It’s almost like a week that doesn’t necessarily happen since many people have odd schedules and routines may not be what they normally are like. And I think this year it’s even more weird than normal. The week is actually a full week and not split up with a weekend in the middle. And we are dealing with all the weirdness with the pandemic and those fears around that. So this week seems far from normal.
Even I don’t have a fully normal schedule this week. I’m working my regular hours at my box office job for most of this week, but those are pretty limited hours so they rarely would be affected by holidays. And at my other customer service job, I’m working half days. And they are half days in the middle of the day (so I’m working 11-3 instead of 9-5). I did keep my workouts early so I have a bit of a time gap between my workouts and starting work, which is nice to have since I usually rush a bit in the mornings. And I have my afternoons free which is nice to get some errands done. Especially for some errands that have to be done during business hours and I struggle to find time to do them in a normal week.
I’m glad I have a bit of a schedule to go by this week so I don’t just waste my time each day. I know how easy it is for me to get into a very lazy routine. I noticed that this past weekend when I had 3 days off. I try to not sleep in too much because it can be tough to be back onto a sleep schedule. But getting up early when I don’t have anything I have to do for several hours does leave me a lot of time to do a lot of nothing. But I am trying to enjoy the freedom I have in my schedule this week since I know things will be crazy again before I know it and I’ll be missing having this extra free time.
And having this odd week is letting me reflect a bit on how this past year went. I’ll be doing recaps the next few days on how my 2021 went and then also posting my plans and goals for 2022. I know this past year wasn’t what anyone expected, but that is both a good and bad thing. And having time to think about what I was able to do even when it seemed impossible is a nice boost when I’ve been a bit low lately.
Hopefully having this weird week gives me the time to rest and recharge a bit before kicking off the new year and hopefully accomplishing some awesome things. And it lets me remember that I earned a bit of rest right now because I did get quite a bit done this past year even if it doesn’t feel like that at times.
Posted onJanuary 7, 2021|Comments Off on How I Ended 2020 (or A Night Alone At Home)
Most of the time, I spend New Year’s Eve with friends. I usually will go to a party where things tend to be pretty casual. I’m not a big fan of elaborate plans for New Year’s because things can be overpriced and very crowded. I like just having a relaxed night with friends where we celebrate but everything is pretty low-key.
When the pandemic started, I never thought we’d still be dealing with it by New Year’s Eve. I really thought things would be safe again by the 4th of July. Then maybe by  Halloween. I fully expected to be able to spend New Year’s Eve with my friends at a party and didn’t think too much about things.
But as it got closer and closer to the end of the year, reality set in and I knew there was no way that there would be any party or gathering with friends. Even trying to figure out a way to be safe with one friend didn’t seem to be possible. I know that I have pretty much been in quarantine for a while, but most of my friends don’t have that same luxury. So it just wouldn’t be safe to try to meet up with even one friend. So my New Year’s Eve was spent the way I have spent so much of 2020. Alone in my house.
It wasn’t the worst thing to be alone for New Year’s Eve, but it was still sad. It was sad to think about how things didn’t have to be this way with the pandemic. It was sad to think that there are people who I know aren’t dealing with the isolation as well as many of us are. It was sad to think that things were looking up because of the vaccine but they were still not looking that great.
My night was not really that exciting. I spent a lot of time watching tv and catching up on my DVR and streaming shows. I made some dinner. I sat around and texted with a few friends. And I was in bed by 11 pm. I did stay up until midnight, but I spent the last hour of 2020 reading in bed. And pretty soon after midnight, I went to sleep.
This wasn’t how I wanted to spend my New Year’s Eve. This wasn’t how I liked to spend my night. But it was how I needed to spend my night to stay safe and healthy and to do the right thing.
In some ways, it did seem fitting to end the year the way I spent so much of it. But at the same time, I would have loved to have ended the year in a happier and more fun way. I hope that this will be the only New Year’s Eve that I have to spend this way. I might choose to spend one like it, but I want it to be my choice. This was not what I wanted, but it was the only option I could have without taking a lot of risks that I’m not ok with taking.
Posted onJanuary 1, 2021|Comments Off on My 2021 Goals (or Preparing For A Year With Lots Of Unknowns)
Happy New Year! I hope that you all had a great New Year’s Eve, even if you were home alone like I was. I’ll be writing more about my New Year’s, but for now, I wanted to kick off the year with my 2021 goals.
Setting goals for this year was a little different from what I normally do. I have no clue when things will be more normal and we won’t have to be isolating ourselves. I hope that by the summer, things will start reopening again, but we have no clue. So I had to create goals that wouldn’t be affected if a majority of the year is spent at home and isolating myself from others.
The first goal shouldn’t be a surprise since it’s one that I’ve had a lot. I want to do at least 200 workouts in 2021. My plan is for these workouts to mainly be Orangetheory workouts, whether it’s in the studio or at home. Once I can go work out with others, I plan on the workouts all being at Orangetheory. But at home, I’m a bit more open to trying other workouts that are available online. I do love the Orangetheory at Home videos, but I also want to allow for some flexibility in case I feel in a rut or that I need a bit of a change. It’s still not easy for me to work out at home by myself. But I know I can do it and I feel confident that I will be able to do at least 200 workouts again this year.
My next goal is another repeat and one I’ve talked about recently. I want to work on my budget this year. I know that this won’t be easy because my job situation isn’t as stable as it’s been in the past, but I cannot let that be an excuse anymore. My hours with my new job are going to be pretty stable starting next week. And I should know soon about my hours with my data entry job, and once those are figured out they should be stable as well. The only big unknown for my income is my box office job. I don’t know when I’ll be asked back or how many hours I might get. But I still need to budget with what I do know and start making a plan so that I have things in order when I do have more steady income and I have things I want to use my money on.
Next is something that I’ve been doing a lot since I’ve had to isolate myself at home. I want to keep my house organized and continue to find the best way to maximize the space that I have. 2020 was a year that I discovered that I have a lot of things I don’t use or don’t have in the best spot to make sure I use them. I have things in my kitchen that I know I don’t use, and they are taking up space. And I have gotten new things for my kitchen and nowhere to put them. I’m looking at storage solutions for inside my house, but with space being limited I have to be careful what I bring in. The same goes for my bathroom. I don’t have any counter space, so I have to keep things on a shelf I have and in my medicine cabinet. The space is limited and I know I have things there that I don’t use or need. Organizing my house will be an ongoing project throughout the entire year, but I’m excited to see what my house will look like as I continue to work on this.
The next goal is a combination of a few ideas. I want to try more, take more risks, and be ok with accepting possible failure. Now, this doesn’t include my health or safety so I will not be taking risks by going out until it is safe to do so. But this is more about not limiting myself to things that only make me comfortable. If I want to take a chance in my acting career, I should go for it so I don’t wonder “what if?”. If I want to take a chance with online dating and say how I really feel to a guy, then I should do it without worrying that I might scare him off. If I want to try cooking something new, I don’t want to be afraid that I will ruin it because that might happen and that’s ok. It’s not easy to accept failure, but it’s a part of life and I want to be better at dealing with it.
And my last goal is a bit more about whatever time we are still isolating at home. I want to be ok with asking for help and support. There is no question that 2020 was a difficult year for me in so many ways. Being lonely and isolated is something that I’ve never dealt with to this degree. And I wasn’t as open about how much I was struggling as I could have been. I never reached out to a friend saying I needed a phone call or video call instead of just texts. It’s not easy for me to do this for a few reasons. One is that I don’t want to feel like a burden, even though I know that isn’t how my friends feel about me. But the bigger problem is that I haven’t been good at recognizing when I need to ask for support. Sometimes I don’t realize I could have used the help until I get over that feeling. I need to be a bit more aware and mindful about this and make sure I reach out when I need it.
I feel like these are some good goals for 2021. I feel confident that I should be able to make progress on all of them. I might not end this year saying I was successful in all of them, but I don’t think that I will be a total failure in them either. Hopefully, these goals help me to make 2021 a good year for me. Whether the entire year is spent in isolation or if I am able to go out and be social for a part of the year. I feel like I’m prepared for almost any possibility of what this year might look like, and that I will find ways to continue to better myself and grow as a person.
Posted onJanuary 17, 2020|Comments Off on Time For Traditional Cheesecake (or It Can Still Count As Celebrating The New Year)
I don’t have a ton of traditions that I do every year, but the few that I do have are very special to me. And one of the few traditions I have are dinners with my birthday twin. We have our (almost) free birthday dinner and we have dinner at the Cheesecake Factory around the new year. The birthday dinner is usually done very close to our birthday since we have to go during our birthday month to get our discounts. But our cheesecake dinner is a bit more flexible. Sometimes we go before the holidays and sometimes we go after the new year. But whenever we go, we have been pretty good about making sure we have our dinner even if it’s a month or so late.
This year, I decided to be proactive in making sure we got our dinner in as close to the new year as possible. I knew both of us are busy so it might be tough to figure out when we could make dinner plans. So I reached out Joanna right around the 1st to say we needed to plan our dinner. And we were able to find some time this week that worked for both of us after work. Since the restaurant we go to is closer to my side of town than it is for Joanna, I let her decide the best time for her to meet. We had to be a bit flexible with each other because our schedules ended up being a bit busier than we expected, but we managed to arrive within minutes of each other and we were quickly seated for dinner (which was a miracle since there is usually a 30-minute wait).
We actually had decided on our cheesecake choices before we decided on our dinners, but we wanted to get the food ordering out of the way first so we could eat and get to our catch up talk.
We usually talk about the same few topics whenever we meet up. We catch each other up on what’s happening with our families and acting careers. But the main thing we usually talk about is the craziness about the dating world. We both have had a lot of random stories to share over the years and I love that we both have stories so it’s not just me sharing them. And as always, we both had lots of dating updates to give each other. And since both of us take screenshots of the profiles of the guys we meet (it’s a safety thing), we could show each other who we’ve had dates with. I’m waiting for the day that she and I (or any friend I know who is dating) discover that we have gone out with the same guy. That hasn’t happened yet, but I bet one day it will happen.
Both of us have had some good and bad dating stories to share, so it wasn’t all crazy stories. And I think hearing a friend is going through the same ups and downs that I am helps me feel like I’m not alone in my random journey with dating. And we can also support each other which is another positive. We both have recently had situations that hurt a bit, so it was nice to get some in-person support. And even though I know dissecting what happened on dates doesn’t necessarily do any good, sometimes it’s nice to go over things and have someone else confirm that the situation was weird or that I didn’t do anything wrong.
And of course, being at the Cheesecake Factory we had to have cheesecake! We did our usual tradition of ordering 2 different types and each getting half of a slice. Things are so much easier now that we know we can ask them to cut each slice in half. 2 halves of a slice are so much cheesecake, but it’s so good!
After our dinner and cheesecake, we were both very full. Since the restaurant wasn’t crowded we didn’t feel too bad about hanging around there for a while. And also, our service was a bit slow so we had to wait a very long time to get our dessert and the check. We ended up being there much longer than I expected, but we had a great time being able to hang out and catch up. And it was nice not feeling rushed that we had to get out of there. But since we both had to work the next morning, we didn’t stay out too late because we both wanted to get home to get to bed at a decent hour.
Every time Joanna and I meet up, we say that we need to hang out more often than our 2 traditions. But our schedules don’t always work that way and before we know it it’s time to have one of our traditional meals again. We do make efforts to see each other more than twice a year, but at least I know we will have our birthday dinner in August for our next catch up if we don’t have one sooner.
Posted onJanuary 7, 2020|Comments Off on A Very Low-Key NYE (or I’m Glad I Don’t Have To Impress My Friends)
I have written severalposts about how I’m so excited to start a new year and what I think the new year will bring. And I am excited about it being a new year and feeling like there is a fresh start (even though that fresh start isn’t really real). I love the idea of a clean slate and feeling like I have a new chance to do something amazing.
But despite all those things I love about a new year, I’m really not the biggest fan of going out for New Year’s Eve.
I might have been a bit more excited about NYE when I was younger. And even in more recent years, I think I was a bit more enthusiastic about it. Maybe having my car die on NYE has made things a bit more serious for me. I don’t worry about my car breaking down on my drive home, but I am reminded about it each year. It’s hard to forget when it was a pretty big deal.
But there are other factors that make me not as excited about NYE. I don’t want to go out somewhere that is going to be really crowded and will be very expensive to go to. If you go out to dinner, it is overpriced and they seem like they want to rush you so they can get to the next seating. I don’t want to be out late because I don’t want to be on the road when people are leaving bars. Hopefully, people wouldn’t be driving drunk (especially with all the rideshare options in LA), but it’s still something I worry about. And I usually don’t sleep in on New Year’s Day because I have a lot to get done.
I’m lucky that I’ve got a group of friends that usually get together for NYE that I can hang out with. And it’s nothing fancy or extravagant so I don’t have to feel like it’s a big deal. And hanging out with my friends is exactly what I did this year.
It was a smaller group than normal because my friends have a dog that is a bit skittish. So it was mainly people that they knew their dog was familiar with. But it was still a good-sized crowd. And there were some people who did dress up, but that wasn’t necessary and there were plenty of people who didn’t dress fancy. I was one of the people who dressed pretty casually. I figured if I was going to be out late, I might as well be comfortable. And I know my friends don’t necessarily care how I dress so I didn’t feel like I had to impress them or meet a certain standard.
I didn’t take any pictures at the party, but that was deliberate. I wanted to focus on being with my friends and not trying to take photos or make sure I have things I can post on social media. But also, I didn’t do anything too crazy. I spent a lot of time hanging outside in the backyard with my friends just chatting about lots of random things. And when it got too cold for me, I went inside and hung out on a couch with other friends.
I usually don’t stay up too late, so I had to do something to keep me awake and alert. I thought it was close to midnight at one point and then looked at my watch only to discover that it was only about 10 pm. I think a lot of us were starting to feel that way, but we didn’t want to leave before midnight since we did want to celebrate together. We decided to play a game and we went with Cards Against Humanity. We started with a small group, but as people were coming inside to get out of the cold more would join us. It was a pretty fluid game with the group size changing often, but we were just playing for fun and we weren’t going to figure out an overall winner when we were done.
Finally, it was almost midnight and everyone was in the living room with us for the countdown to midnight. And once it was the new year, we all celebrated together. Everyone usually goes around to make sure they hug everyone to say happy new year. It’s a nice tradition because you don’t feel left out if you don’t have someone to kiss at midnight or to celebrate with. Everyone celebrates together and I like that.
And right after midnight, I went around to say my goodbyes to my friends. I was so tired and I really wanted to get home before it got too late. I think my friend group understands me wanting to leave early since I have one of the longer drives back. And since everyone was gathered in the living room, it was pretty fast to say goodbye to everyone and to get into my car to head home.
I was home and in bed before 1 am and that was perfect. I did get to celebrate the new year, but I didn’t have to do anything fancy or crazy. Nobody cared that I was dressed in comfortable clothes or that I left so quickly after midnight. And I love that nobody cared about those things because getting together was more about being with friends and not impressing anyone. Plus, we realized that the Oscars are coming up really soon so we’ll all be together again before we know it.
Honestly, it was the perfect way for me to ring in 2020 and I couldn’t have asked for anything else.
Posted onJanuary 6, 2020|Comments Off on Some New Year Workouts (or Finishing Out 2019 and Kicking Off 2020)
The past week of workouts included my last few workouts of 2019 and my first few workouts of 2020. It was a good way to end and start a year and it was exactly what I wanted to do. Because I wanted to keep my regular workout schedule as much as possible but I also wanted to work out on New Year’s Eve, I ended up having a 5 workout week. But somehow that seemed really fitting for me.
Monday’s workout had a mix of endurance, strength, and power and it had a lot of switching around. It was a good workout to start off a week with 3 workouts in a row and a total of 5 workouts (which I rarely do). The first part of class switched between the floor and the rower and the second part of class had one longer cardio block and one longer floor block.
For the first part of class, everything was 3 minutes long. On the rower, we had 2 different 3-minute rows for distance. The goal was to be able to go further on the second row than we did on the first, but I didn’t realize we were going to have 2 rounds of it and I probably went a little too hard on the first attempt. I still did better than I expected with both rows, but I wish I had been able to do better on the second row. And on the floor, the first time we were there we had plank rotations and bicycle crunches. And the second time we had bench hop overs and seated knee tucks.
For the long floor block, we had squats to calf raises, lateral lunges, plank low rows, plank side toe taps, and sit-ups to squats. It was a long floor block with a lot of work, and I was already a bit tired after the other work we did. But I was grateful that the switches were different from how they normally are and I had the long floor block before my cardio block. So I had a bit more energy even though I was tired. For all the exercises we had with weights, I didn’t go too heavy with them, but I did try to switch them up when I felt like they might be too easy.
And for cardio, we had 4 rounds of a 2-minute run/bike for distance. Each time we finished the distance challenge, we got a bit more recovery. After the first one, we only had 60 seconds and before the last one, we had 2 minutes. I kept my resistance level on the bike the same the entire time and just focused on speed work. 2 minutes is a good amount of time for a challenge because it’s a bit harder than most of the all outs we have to do, but it’s not too long that I can’t recover after. Plus, since all we had were the distance challenges, I didn’t have to worry about going back to my base speed after it. It did feel a bit weird to end on the bike since I rarely do that, but I felt like I had done the entire workout even if in my head I felt like I still had to do some more floor work.
I also worked out on Tuesday for my traditional New Year’s Eve workout. This class had a countdown theme and it was a 2 group class so there wasn’t a lot of switching around.
For cardio, we had a very long hill workout. We had 10 rounds of 1 minute at an incline (going down 1% each round) and between each round, we had 75-seconds to recover. Because I can’t do too high with the resistance levels on the bike, I decided to double up each level. So I did level 16 for the first 2 rounds, level 15 for the next 2, and so on. For reference, level 10 is my regular level and what I set it at for the recovery time. It was a lot of hill work, but fortunately, the minute went by quickly and we had a good amount of recovery time before having to get back to hill work.
On the floor, we started with a 700-meter row. Then we had countdown work with push-ups and pop jacks. We started with 10 push-ups and 9 pop jacks. Then 8 push-ups and 7 pop jacks. We worked all the way down to 1 and then it was back on the rower for a 500-meter row. Then countdown reps with lunges for the even number rep counts and lateral flys with weights for the odd number rep counts. Then back to the rower for a 300-meter row and squats for the even number rep counts and low rows on the straps for the odd number rep counts. And finally, on the rower for a 100-meter row and leg lifts for the even number rep counts and toe reaches for the odd number rep counts. It was a lot of work and a lot of reps for each exercise, but I think it didn’t feel as bad as it could have because we were constantly changing what exercise we were doing.
My goal for 2019 was to be able to do at least 200 workouts, and after my New Year’s Eve class, the total for the year was 207. That was pretty amazing to see.
Even though it meant I worked out 3 days in a row, I was also in class for Wednesday to kick off the new year. I didn’t go as early as I usually do, so it was a 2 group class instead of a 3 group class. But it was a good workout to start off my 2020 workouts.
For cardio, we had rounds of push to all outs. We started with a 1-minute push pace with a 1-minute all out. After a recovery, we had a 2-minute push pace to a 1-minute all out. Then it was a 3-minute push pace to a 1-minute all out. And we ended with a 4-minute progressive push to a 1-minute all out. I kept the bike resistance level the same the entire time and I really had to focus on my wattage and speed during the progressive push to make sure I was increasing them every minute. It’s not as easy to do that as it is to increase the resistance, but I really like keeping the resistance steady unless we are doing hill work.
On the floor, we had exercises plus a little bit of rowing. The first block had lunges to upright rows, regular lunges, and side planks with leg lifts. After doing one round of all the exercises, we had a 400-meter row. Then we just worked on the exercises for the rest of the block. The second block had step-ups (which I modified to be squats) and planks with leg lifts. Just like with the first block, we did one round of the exercises and then a 400-meter row. And after the row, it was only the exercises until the class was done. I did have some hip issues during the floor work, but that could have been because it was my 3rd workout in a row.
I was back to my normal class schedule by Friday. And it was an extra special class because my friend Jesse was in town (she lives back east now) and she took class with our group of friends. We were missing one person from the group, but it was still so much fun to have her back for one class.
This class was made up of 4-minute blocks and the cardio and rower switched every 4 minutes. Since I started on the bike, my workout went bike, rower, bike, rower, bike, rower (my bike time had 2 blocks on the bike and 1 on the rower and the rower time had 2 rower blocks and 1 bike one). Every time we were doing cardio or rowing, we had the same thing. For cardio, it was doing .25 miles (1 mile for the bike) and then we had a 30-second recovery before doing 30-second intervals of all outs and recovery. And on the row, it was a 500-meter row and then after that it was lunges until the 4 minutes were done. I did the lunges for most of the rowing blocks, but I switched to squats toward the end.
And on the floor, we also had 4-minute blocks. Each block had 2 exercises and most of them were Bosu exercises. The first block had pullovers with weights and side to side push-ups, both using the Bosu. The second block had kneeling lateral raises with weights and plank spiderman. They were both supposed to be on the Bosu but I didn’t use it for the plank work and put my hands on the floor instead. And the last block had hip hinge low rows with weights and plank jacks. The plank jacks were supposed to be on the Bosu, but I skipped that because I knew I couldn’t guarantee my feet would be stable enough on it (which is the point, but it’s a risk with my hips).
And since it was a special class with Jesse there, we had to take a group photo when we were done!
Saturday’s workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power. It was also supposed to be a workout where we added to our base pace. While I do want to work on increasing my base resistance on the bike this year, I also knew that this wasn’t going to be the workout for me to do it. Doing 5 workouts in a week is tough for me and I was feeling sore. So I had to take this workout as a bit of a recovery day.
For cardio, it was a mix of push and base paces to start. Then it was a mix of base paces with incline and base paces at no incline. This was to test if the new base pace was the right one. For me, I just kept the bike resistance level at my normal level for most of the work and increased it for the incline work. I didn’t go as fast as I normally do, but that’s to be expected with a recovery day. Most of the intervals were 1-minute, but in the end we started to have 30-second push paces instead which made it easier for me.
On the rower, we started with a 400-meter row. Then we had medicine ball squats after the row before doing another 400-meter row. After that row, it was a different medicine ball squat exercise. Then we repeated that pattern with a 300-meter row twice and 200-meter rows twice. I didn’t get past the 200-meter rows because my squats took a bit longer than normal, but at least my rowing was still good.
And on the floor, we had 3 blocks of work. The first block had suitcase squats with holding a weight in one hand, sumo squats, and step-ups (which I did as lunges). The second block had goblet squats and bench tap squats. And the last block had seated shoulder presses to stands (which I had to split into 2 exercises) and single-leg v-ups. It was a lot of lower body work and a lot of work that involved my hips, so I was feeling a bit sore after class was done. But it was my normal soreness and nothing too extreme which was good.
I’m so happy that I was able to end 2019 with awesome workouts and beating my goal number of workouts for the year. And I started 2020 off with 3 workouts even though it was only half the week, so that’s a good start for my goal for this year. It’s crazy to me that it’s only been a few years that I’ve been ending and starting years with workouts because it feels so perfect and routine to me now. And now I’ve got an entire year that will be filled with workouts before I get to end and start a year this way again.
Posted onJanuary 8, 2019|Comments Off on New Year’s Eve In PJs (or I Think This Is Finally My Last NYE Post)
I’ve been writing about the new year for forever now! I’ve had a lot that I wanted to cover and I didn’t want to cram things into a single post. I like having the time to allow myself to reflect on the past year and be excited about the year to come. But I think I’m finally at my last post about the new year.
For the past few years, I’ve spent New Year’s Eve with my friends at a party. It was driving home from that party 2 years ago that my car died and I ended up getting a new (used) car. I love going to that party for so many reasons. Of course, I love getting to spend time with my friends. Any opportunities I get to hang out with amazing people is something I want to do. I also love the party because it’s very low-key and casual. I don’t have to dress up or be super social. I just get to hang out with my friends and it’s perfect.
This year, that party wasn’t going to happen. My friends do so many parties all the time, so we all understood they couldn’t host one. Plus, they have a puppy and the dog isn’t really used to be crowds yet. So if they had a party they would have had to board their dog at a dog hotel and they wanted to ring in the new year with their puppy. All completely understandable things.
I had been invited to a few other parties, but I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to go out. I had been feeling a bit lazy and I knew any of the other parties I was invited to would be much less casual than what I was hoping to do. I did message a couple of friends to see if anyone wanted to come over and watch movies and order pizza, but I think everyone was feeling the same as I was. Nobody was really the motivated to leave their house and be social. It was kind of funny that we all felt the same, but it also made it easier when we all decided not to really do much.
So I spent my New Year’s Eve alone at my house. I ordered some food and watched movies on tv. I had been dressed in workout clothes earlier that day for my workout, but after I showered and got dressed I spent the rest of the day in my pjs. I did stay up until midnight, but I was in bed ready to go to sleep when the clock stuck midnight. And pretty soon after that I was asleep.
I know that in the past I probably would have been upset about spending the night alone, especially after asking friends if they wanted to come over. But I was actually very happy and excited about how I spent my night. I could have made an effort and gone to a party, but I really didn’t want to and I wasn’t going to force myself to do that. And I didn’t feel bad that my friends didn’t want to come over because I was doing the same thing to them. This wasn’t anything against me or a reason to think my friends are against me. It was just what it was and there are no feelings about it.
I feel like that is a huge sign of growth. I didn’t overthink things or stress out about why it happened. I knew what I wanted to do with my evening and I didn’t let anyone make me feel like I should do any different. And I didn’t make my friends feel like they should do something different from what they wanted to do. Â Of course I would have loved to have been with my friends to celebrate 2019, but that’s not what was meant to be.
Of course, just because I enjoyed spending my New Year’s Eve alone doesn’t mean that I won’t be planning a lot of adventures with my friends this year. I hope that the year will be filled with so much fun with as many friends as possible and I can’t wait to see what the year brings!
A Very Low-Key NYE (or I’m Glad I Don’t Have To Impress My Friends)
