Tag Archives: visit

Another Hangout Day With My Parents (or At Least I Wasn’t Dizzy This Time)

Posted on February 17, 2021 | Comments Off

When my parents visited me in November, it was right after I was hit with vertigo. They weren’t originally supposed to come to LA to see me. I was going to go to Santa Barbara to see my parents as well as my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew. But because of my vertigo, I was stuck at home. And I’m so grateful that my parents took a day and drove down to see me so I didn’t completely miss spending time with them. But because I was so dizzy when they were here, we didn’t really do much. I spent most of the time on the couch trying to make the room stop spinning.

When they left, I wasn’t sure when I’d see them again. I knew I’d see them around the beginning of April when they will be in Santa Barbara again for my nephew’s birthday (and I’m planning on going up for that too). But I didn’t know if there would be another time they would be down this way before that. But they decided to go to Santa Barbara again this month because they wanted to spend time with my nephew (I don’t blame them!). They asked me if I wanted to come up for a day to see everyone, but now that I’m working again I can’t really do that. I could technically drive after work, but I wouldn’t have that much time before I would have to drive back home. So my parents said they’d come down to me again for an afternoon!

I really appreciate my parents making the drive to see me. While I’m close to Santa Barbara, it’s still not super close. It’s about 90 minutes of driving each way. And I know that when they come that also means it’s one less day that they get to spend with my nephew. I know they want to see me too, but it’s easier to stay in touch with me since I can be on the phone. So I just always am grateful when they take time out of their trip to Santa Barbara to come to LA. Plus, I know they don’t really love LA, so it’s even more special that they come here for me.

This time, they came after I was done with work so I didn’t have to worry about being too distracted when they arrived. We didn’t have much planned for the afternoon, but as always my dad and I had a few projects we wanted to work on. For example, there was an automatic light timer we installed when I moved into my house 11 years ago that no longer worked. But because it was hard-wired into my light switch, my dad didn’t want me to do anything on my own. So he helped me turn off my electricity and change the switch back to the standard one. There was also a cleaning tool holder I wanted to hang up and I knew we’d have to drill into my walls. And this decorative letter holder/key hanger I had by my front door happened to fall off right before their visit and because I used foam tape on it, it took some of my wall with it when it fell. So I had to get some stuff to fill in the walls.

Fortunately, most of the projects around my house went smoothly. We had a few glitches and issues, but nothing that was too difficult to fix. We also took some time between projects to all go for a walk around my neighborhood. My mom has gone for some walks around my neighborhood with the dog before (the dog wasn’t with them for this trip), but she usually goes a different way than I do when I take walks. So I took them on my route that I like to do and it was a nice and relaxing way to spend some time.

We also ordered dinner to be delivered and got a nice family meal from Tender Greens. It was a pretty huge meal with 2 giant salads and a lot of steak. But it was delicious and nice to have a family dinner together. I usually don’t have a lot of people over for dinner, so it was a rare moment that I had 3 people eating at my dining room table. But it was nice to do that and spend some time together as a family.

And getting to catch up was really good. Even though I don’t have a ton happening in my life, things have changed since they were here in November. I do have a new job and some new things coming up with my old jobs. I will be starting some new work with my data entry job very soon so I was updating them on that. And I’ve gotten a few updates about my box office job and the potential of that coming back in the next month or two. And I did get to tell them a bit more about my new job and what I do with each part of my job. And we talked about some medical stuff happening with me and how hopefully I’ll be able to get the vaccine soon (because of their age, both of my parents were able to be vaccinated already which makes me so happy).

I didn’t want my parents to stay at my house too late because they had to drive back to Santa Barbara that night and then they were driving home the next day. But I got to spend several hours with them and accomplish everything that we had on our list. Of course, it would have been amazing if we could have done more outside of my house, but that’s not really the best thing to do right now. But maybe by the next time they come to LA to see me, things will be different and we can do more out and about.

But even with being stuck inside my house most of the time and my parents only being able to be here for a few hours, I can’t explain how wonderful it was to have them spend time with me. I rarely see anyone these days. And the few people I do see tend to be employees at the few stores I go to. I almost had the most social week in a year between getting my hair done and seeing my parents. And while spending time with people does make me miss what life was like before, I also have learned to appreciate any moment I get to spend with people I love. And I hope that appreciation is something I remember for the rest of my life.

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Posted in Family, Fun Stuff

Tagged family, hangout, visit

Not The Family Visit I Planned On Having (or An LA Afternoon)

Posted on November 13, 2020 | Comments Off

One of the most upsetting things about getting vertigo is having my weekend plans ruined. I was supposed to be with my family in Santa Barbara and I had done lots of things to get ready for that visit. When I first got vertigo on Saturday, my mom was trying to be optimistic and told me that maybe I would wake up on Sunday and feel ok. And I wanted to believe that too. But that’s not how it worked for me.

I tried to not be too upset about missing my family time, but it was impossible to not be. Fortunately, my parents said that they would come down to LA to see me one day so I didn’t miss all of my family time. I would still be missing some of my family, but at least I wouldn’t miss all of them. So this past Monday, my parents came down with the dog for a few hours.

I was still not doing that great on Monday, so I couldn’t do much. I was able to walk a bit more than I had the past few days, but I was pretty much stuck on my couch (which I guess is better than being stuck in bed). I kept apologizing to my parents for not being a good host and not being able to do much, but they understood. And it was nice to just have some time with them and the dog and not feel like I completely missed out.

I had missed what was supposed to be our family Thanksgiving on Sunday evening, but my parents brought me some leftovers so I could still have Thanksgiving food. And they brought other leftovers so we could have lunch together. That was really awesome and I appreciated my parents doing that. And for the majority of the time, we were just hanging out on my couch since that’s all I could do.

But it also had been a while since my parents were at my house so they were checking out the changes I had made since they were there the last time. And there were a few projects I wanted my dad to help me with and we got them all done. We actually almost forgot about some of the projects since I wasn’t preparing to work on them with him, but we did get them all done. Nothing was too big, but they were projects that I couldn’t do alone so it was good to be able to accomplish those and feel a bit productive (even though I wasn’t able to help much at all).

And we also exchanged Hanukkah gifts since I was going to do that over the weekend. And my parents took the gift I got for my brother and sister-in-law back to Santa Barbara for them so I didn’t have to ship it. It was not how I planned on exchanging gifts, but at least I didn’t miss out on some in-person gift giving.

After a few hours, my parents headed back to Santa Barbara. I was exhausted from being out of bed so I didn’t mind that it was a short visit. I would have liked it to have been a longer visit, but I knew I couldn’t handle it. But at least I had a little visit and a little social time. I needed the in-person social time for sure, even if it wasn’t what I planned on. I wish I had a few days with my family and not only a few hours, but it wasn’t meant to be this time.

I’m not exactly sure when I’ll see my family again. It might not be until next spring, which is a while away. But it seems like the most likely time I will see them. But at least I got a little time this week to be with them. And when I get to see them again, I just hope that I don’t get hit by vertigo again.

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Tagged family, visit

Another Family Day (or The Best Father/Daughter Project Yet)

Posted on September 30, 2020 | Comments Off

As I mentioned the other day, I recently did a full 2-week quarantine so that I can spend time with my family. It’s not easy to do a full quarantine, but it’s worth it to see my family. I know I have to do this to make sure that I’m not sick and I don’t get anyone sick. If I wasn’t taking these precautious and someone got sick, I would never forgive myself. So doing the full quarantine is a small sacrifice to make in order to feel good about seeing people who I do not live with. I can’t wait until I don’t have to think about this before seeing my family (or being able to see my friends), but I just remind myself that this is will end eventually and it is what we have to do in order to have our future.

Just like my other recent visits with my family, this was just going to be for the day. It’s not that long of a drive (only about 90 minutes each way) and it’s just easier to be there for the day than it is to pack up everything that I would need to spend the night. Plus, if I was staying overnight, it would only get me a few more hours as I would be going home the next day. So doing a day trip is just easier for me. I’m sure my parents would love it if I stayed longer, but they understand why I don’t.

This time, we were going to be hanging out at the rental house my parents were staying at because they had the dog with them! I hadn’t seen Tucker since the baby shower, so I was so happy to see him. He can’t be inside my brother and sister-in-law’s house because they have a cat. So to let him hang out with all of us, we had to be where my parents were staying. But that also worked for another reason.

I take a lot of pride in finding awesome gifts for people, and I was starting to think of things I wanted to get for Rory. And something that kept coming up in random searches that I was doing was busy boards. A busy board is basically a collection of things that babies and toddlers like to play with such as light switches, doorknobs, wheels, different types of locks, and stuff like that. And while there were some really nice looking ones that I knew I couldn’t make, in general, they didn’t look too fancy and it seemed like something I could do. Or at least something my dad and I could do together.

So I talked to my dad a month or so about this idea. The original idea was to make this for Rory’s first birthday. So we weren’t in a rush for anything. We both said we would just look around to see what we could find that would be good things to put on a busy board. We didn’t think we would need to buy a ton of stuff. Most things could be random things we had as extras from other projects. And then a week or two before I was going to see my family, my dad and I started talking more about the type of board and holder we would use for this. We wanted to maybe work on it when we saw each other, but we had no idea how to actually make it stand up and be safe. We looked at a few different ideas online like artist easels and other pre-built things, but we ended that call not knowing what to do. I promised my dad I would do more research.

But the next day, my dad texted me to stop the search. I guess he got inspired because he went to the hardware store, bought some wood, and built this.

And it actually can flip and be used the other direction so it doesn’t have as much of an angle! This is way better than anything my dad and I were looking at online. I was shocked that he was able to build this and do it so quickly! And he said that he would have it painted before they were in Santa Barbara so we could work on adding the gadgets together.

We were going to have a few hours before my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew came over after I arrived; so when I got there my dad and I immediately got to work. We had a bunch of tools to drill holes and get everything in there safely. And we had figured out that we might give Rory his present early (instead of driving it back and forth) so we were extra motivated to get it done before they arrived! We had a little bit of planning to do so we could figure out what should go where, but that ended up being pretty quick. And we made an awesome team with getting everything installed. My dad did most of the hard work and I did the prep work (like getting the correct screws and washers ready). It still took us a few hours, but we got it done! And I am so proud of how it looks!

My dad and I have done a lot of projects together. It’s something we like to do and we are good at it. Our go-to ultimate project for a long time has been a screen door we built years ago. It came from a box with instructions, but we did have to do some customizations. But this busy board was completely from scratch. Honestly, I think it’s the greatest thing we have made and I still can’t believe how it looks. I’m so proud of it and this easily beats the screen door!

Rory is still a little too young for this, but he was fascinated by it. We let him try to play with it, and he was so interested in what things were. He just didn’t know how to do them just yet.

This photo is also the first time he sat up unassisted, so I guess the busy board motivated him to do that! And I know that as he gets a little older, he’ll love it even more. He’ll play with the different things that spin and move. And I hope it will keep him busy for a while so my brother and sister-in-law can get other work done and know that he is entertained! And in the future, my niece will hopefully enjoy playing with it too! I can’t wait to see him really enjoying it, but the few moments that he was playing with it while I was there was enough to make me feel so good about what we made.

Besides letting Rory play with the busy board, we had family dinner that night (the cookies I made were for dessert). We also spent some time hanging outside because the weather wasn’t too bad. And when we were outside, Tucker seemed to want to be a part of the conversation too.

After dinner, my brother and sister-in-law needed to go home to put Rory to bed. And I started to get my stuff together so I could drive home. I was able to spend almost 8 hours with my family, which really was awesome. Of course, more time would be better, but just those 8 hours revived me a bit. It had been so long since I had a hangout like that and I needed it.

And fortunately, I won’t have to wait too long before my next family hangout. Usually, my family does a big Thanksgiving with my extended family. But this year, that just isn’t possible. Between travel and trying to keep people safe and healthy, we just can’t get together like we normally do. So my immediate family is going to do our own little Thanksgiving. And because house rentals and other things are more expensive during the holiday, we are doing Thanksgiving a few weeks early (this was actually the original plan for the extended family Thanksgiving too). So I am only about 6 weeks away from seeing everyone again. That does mean that I am about 4 weeks away from another quarantine, but like always, it will be worth it. And I can’t wait until I get to see everyone and get to spend a few days with the family!

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Posted in Family, Fun Stuff

Tagged DIY, family, hangout, Santa Barbara, visit

Work Time Family Visit (or Already Preparing To Renew My Disneyland Pass)

Posted on April 24, 2015 | Comments Off

My parents have been in San Diego again recently helping my grandma. They drove back yesterday. And since my house is on the way, they stopped by.

They usually don’t stop when they are doing that drive. Their preferred method of driving down goes around LA, so it would be tough for them to make the detour. But this time, there was a reason they drove through LA.

First of all, my mom still had the wine that I bought in Napa. I couldn’t fly it back with me (since I only had a carry on), so the plan was always for my mom to drive it down for me. I was originally going to try to meet them in San Diego while there were down this time, but that didn’t quite work out.

Also, I had gotten my dad his Hanukkah present insanely early this year. I knew exactly what I wanted to get him in January, so I didn’t think I would want to wait until Thanksgiving to give it to him. And I knew that he would want to use it, so their detour to my house was also for my dad to get a gift.

And as always, I had a few things I wanted to fix in my house and my dad is a pretty awesome handyman.

So yesterday during my work shift, my parents (and dog) came over for about 45 minutes. Fortunately, my job was pretty quiet while they were here so I could focus on them.

The projects in my house were pretty simple. There was a drawer that was broken that needed a new screw and my toilet paper holder was falling out of the wall. Both of those things were done within minutes.

Then it was time for me to give my dad his Hanukkah present. I had been giving him hints for a while, but he had no idea that I got him a TRX Strap system! My dad had used TRX straps when he worked out with me at Orangetheory before, but the gym that my parents belong to don’t have straps that can be used without an appointment with a personal trainer. So now he has his own set of straps that he can use at the house (my mom has already said that she wants to use them too).

But one of the coolest things was something my parents brought me.

They brought me ink to recycle! As I mentioned before, I use the money I get from recycling ink to help pay for my Disneyland pass! This will definitely help me when I renew my pass next year. And I’m sure I’ll get more ink from my parents over the year as well (my mom just saves them all for me).

While this visit was only 45 minutes, we really did get a lot done. And since I had just seen my parents a few weeks ago, there wasn’t too much to catch up on (plus, I talk to my mom pretty much every day on the phone). I’ll probably see them again in a few weeks when they come back down to San Diego too.

Even though this visit was super quick, I’m so glad that my parents were able to stop by. Any distractions during my work day are appreciated and this was a really nice distraction.

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Posted in Family, Fun Stuff, Saving

Tagged Disneyland, family, job, savings, visit, work

San Diego Day (or Hanging Out With Family On My Day Off)

Posted on February 18, 2015 | 1 comment

I always have Mondays off from my main day job (I work Tuesday-Saturday). I usually just spend the day getting stuff done around my house or running errands. They tend to be pretty lazy days (except for my workout).

But this past Monday my mom was down in San Diego visiting with my grandparents. Her cousin Karen (who I haven’t seen in over 20 years) was also down in San Diego. So I rearranged my day so I could spend a couple of hours in San Diego with everyone.

After an early workout and showering and dressing, I was on the road by 10:30am. The drive went much better than it has in the past. I was down at my grandparents’ place in 2 hours and arrived a few seconds after my mom and cousin Karen got there from their hotel as well.

Most of the day was spent in my grandparents’ condo just catching up. I hadn’t seen my grandparents’ since Thanksgiving so it was awesome to get to see them again. And my mom was at the tail end of a multi-state trip so she was filling me in on everything that she did. And of course, getting to talk with cousin Karen a lot.

We all went out for Mexican food for dinner. I knew we’d be going out to dinner, so I had planned my meals accordingly and saved a lot of calories for the meal. I also had done some research on good vegetarian options at Mexican restaurants (I still haven’t brought meat back into my diet yet).

I ended up getting Huevos Rancheros. It’s somewhat close to what I would make as a rice bowl at home, just with some eggs. Now that I’m being careful with what I’m eating, I’m realizing how difficult it can be to eat out. I had no control over oil, salt, or any other extras that were added into my meal. So I had to try to guess the nutrition levels of my meal as best as I could. But since I was careful with my breakfast and lunch, I think it was ok to splurge a little on my dinner. And I didn’t have any chips or partake in the pitcher of margaritas that the table got.

After dinner, we all headed back to my grandparents’ place and I got my car so I could head home again. I ended up being in San Diego for just under 7 hours, so that’s a pretty good visit.

The drive home was easy again and I was home in time to get some stuff done in preparation for my work week.

I’m so glad that the timing of things worked out so well for me to have a family day on Monday. My family has always been important to me, but I’ve realized lately that I need to put in a better effort to see my family. Time goes by quickly and I can easily go a few months without going to San Diego to see my grandparents and that’s not good. I might be going down to see them again in 2 months when my parents (and dog) are down there. But I’m still trying to work out the timing for that.

I know that it doesn’t seem like I did a lot on my day trip to San Diego, but just being around my family is such a great way for me to recharge and get ready to kick some butt again in my life.

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Posted in Family, Food, Fun Stuff, Travel

Tagged family, grandparents, San Diego, visit

More Family Time (or Seeing All My Immediate Family Last Week)

Posted on October 22, 2014 | Comments Off

After having my parents here for their long layover, I prepared for another family visit.

My brother and sister-in-law were coming to LA to attend a wedding.

They had plans to go to the USC game on Saturday and I had to work my box office job and babysit that day, so we made plans to get together on Sunday for brunch.

We headed to my favorite brunch place, Rush Street. They have the best tater tots and my brother is a huge Bloody Mary fan and they have a Bloody Mary bar there. We had a nice relaxing brunch and since my brother’s birthday was just a few days ago, I didn’t mail his card and gift so I could give it to him in person.

After brunch, my brother and sister-in-law had a few errands that they needed to get done. And since they didn’t have a rental car for the trip, I drove them around and helped them out. My brother has a couple of interviews with different hospitals this week and needed some more dress shirts (because he didn’t pack enough) and a nice folder for his resume. And since we were going to a clothing store for him, my sister-in-law and I shopped around for dresses because she has another wedding to go to this upcoming weekend.

After the errands, I took them back to their hotel so they could get ready for the wedding. My sister-in-law had to leave early from the wedding to fly back home, but since my brother has his interviews he was staying in LA a little longer.

So on Monday, I picked up my brother and we went to lunch together. It’s been a long time since he and I hung out just the two of us, and it was actually really nice just to catch up without other family being there too.

Then, I dropped him off at a car rental place so he could get a car to drive to Santa Barbara (where his interviews are). He heads back home this afternoon and there’s a chance he might come hang out at my house for a few hours waiting for his flight. I guess my house has turned into an airport lounge for my family.

It was so great to have so many family visits recently. While I did get to see my parents and sister-in-law last month, I hadn’t seen my brother is a while.

It’s always nice to have some family time, even if it’s only a few hours here and there.

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Posted in Celebrations, Family, Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged birthday, brother, brunch, Los Angeles, visit, wedding

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

Posted on October 21, 2014 | 8 comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Posted in Celebrations, Family, Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged breast cancer, chemo, flying, parents, visit

Having A Little NYC In LA (or Getting To See A Friend Again This Year)

Posted on September 4, 2014 | 2 comments

I’ve mentioned my friend Alex on here before. Like I said before, she and I met while working at Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios. Working that job bonds you to your co-workers pretty quickly. You work crazy hours, deal with even crazier people, and at the end you feel like you survived something amazing during the month of October.

I got to see Alex for the first time in 3 years when my sister-in-law and I were in New York earlier this year. That was so amazing and I loved getting to catch up with a friend. I also got to see her very quickly after my sister-in-law and I saw “Heathers” since Alex happened to be walking down the street while we were outside (running into people like that is awesome!).

Even though I got to see Alex twice in New York, it didn’t feel like enough. Even though she hasn’t lived in LA for 3 years, when she did live here we saw each other a lot. And I still miss getting to hang out with her.

Earlier this summer Alex told me that she was going to come to LA for a visit. So I marked the date down on my calendar so I would get to see her again.

The day that she had a get-together ended up being a tough day for me. I had a lot of things to get done and my day started at 6am. Plus, I didn’t know it then, but I was about to get sick. I didn’t want to go out in the evening, but I made it out there eventually.

It was so great to get to see Alex again. There wasn’t a big group of friends when I got there, so we did have a chance to talk and hear each other talk. And one of her friends actually has met me through one of my day jobs, so that was pretty cool.

Of course, we had to get a group picture to commemorate Alex’s trip to LA.

I managed to hang out for a little over an hour before I was starting to get exhausted. I hated not being able to stay longer, but I’m super grateful for the time I got to spend with my friend.

I’ll be seeing my sister-in-law this weekend so I’m hoping to talk with her about when we can go to New York again. I’m hoping she and I can go sometime next year. Then I know that I’ll get to catch up with Alex again sometime soon!

In the meantime, I’m just so happy that I got to see Alex twice (or I guess technically three times) this year after not getting to see her for 3 years!

2 Comments

Posted in Celebrations, Fun Stuff

Tagged friends, New York, sick, tired, visit

Quick Family Visit (or My Extra Long Lunch From Work)

Posted on December 9, 2013 | Comments Off

My parents were driving down to San Diego this past Thursday. Originally, the plan was for me to go back down to San Diego again this past weekend and spend time with them there. But my schedule wasn’t going to allow me to be there for too long, so the new plan was for my parents to stop in LA for lunch with me.

My boss at my day job okayed me taking a long lunch that day (as long as I was back by 6pm because I was running a table at the show that night). My parents got to my work around 2:30 with my dog. I was so excited to get to see Dante again! After his diagnosis, I wasn’t sure how many more times I’d get to see him, that’s why I took the quick visit home a few weeks ago. And of course, I was excited to see my parents again.

We went to lunch near my work and had a nice chat. My parents wanted to know all about the film festival and other things going on in my life. And of course, my dad and I chatted about my spin class.

After lunch, we drove down near the Santa Monica Pier and took Dante for a walk. He’s doing so much better compared to the weekend I was home. His incision is healing nicely and he can walk properly again. You can see the tumor on his leg growing again, but it doesn’t seem to be hurting him. And every time we passed another dog, Dante perked up and wanted to play with them. It was nice seeing him act like his old self again.

Before I knew it, my parents drove me back over to my work so they could continue the drive to San Diego (it should only take 2 hours from my work, but it ended up taking them 4). But before they left, we exchanged Hanukkah presents. I got my mom tinted lip balms (I use them and she tried mine and liked it when we were at my brother’s wedding). And when my dad was visiting me a few weeks ago, he mentioned that he needed to buy a new belt. Right after my dad left, I got an Uncommon Goods catalog and saw this belt that was made out of recycled bike tubes. So I got him that and I think he loved it! I also got my brother and sister-in-law presents but I haven’t giving them their gifts yet so I can’t share what they are.

And my parents got me noise canceling headphones! I had mentioned after flying to and from Hawaii that my ear buds weren’t that great on the plane. I could barely hear my movies and that I really should invest in better headphones. I’m so excited to have my new headphones and I’m planning on using them on my flight home soon!

Even though I only got to spend a few hours with my parents, it really revitalized me. I got to see that my mom and my dog are doing great. And it helped me get over the weirdness that I felt over Thanksgiving. I’ll be seeing my family again in about 2 weeks and that time I’ll get to see them for a few days. I’m already looking forward to that!

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Posted in Family, Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged cancer, dog, family, Los Angeles, lunch, San Diego, visit

Sharing My Soul (or My Dad’s First Spin Class)

Posted on November 19, 2013 | 1 comment

One of the things that I had been wanting to take my dad to for a while was spin class at SoulCycle. First of all, I wanted to see if my dad agreed with me that it was a good workout (I like to prove to him that I don’t do easy or weak workouts). But the second reason I wanted to take him was because he has been riding a bike almost every day since before I was born and I wanted to see how he would do in an inside bike ride. My dad used to ride his bike to work almost every single day. Now that he’s retired, he either goes out on his road bike or on an adventure on his mountain bike most days of the week. But spinning is different from outside bike riding so I was curious to see how he would do.

We scheduled our spin class to be on Saturday morning. I wanted to make sure that we got one of my favorite instructors for his class, and I saw that Heather was teaching at 9am on the Saturday that my dad would be here! So we signed up for that class right away.

My dad wasn’t too nervous for the class since I had shown him some videos of what the class would be like before we got there. And obviously he did a great job pedaling the spin bike the entire time. Where my dad had some trouble was the coordinator of the different moves on the bike. But I don’t blame him for that. It took me a couple of classes to get the rhythm of everything down. And since I still can’t do all the standing up stuff, I don’t do all the moves on the bike yet.

After the class, my dad agreed with me that it is a tough class and a great workout! And I got to say hi to Heather really quickly and she invited me to be her guest at one of her 7am classes one day (I have to try to start getting up earlier to make it to that class)!

Overall, I’m pretty sure that my dad enjoyed the class. We got a good workout in and I think he’s starting to understand why I love spinning so much! There isn’t a SoulCycle studio that close to my parents’ house, but there is one about 4 blocks away from my brother and sister-in-law’s house so I told my dad that he should take them to a class sometime! I don’t know if it will happen (I don’t think spinning is my brother’s thing), but maybe one day it will!

I’m just glad that I’m starting to share my love of SoulCycle with members of my family. Maybe my dad will come to a class with me again the next time he and my mom are in town…

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Posted in Family, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health

Tagged bike, dad, SoulCycle, spin class, visit, workout

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