Random v17.1

Good Day!

***I guess let me first say that our patio is finished with only some minor things to wrap up once the nice weather shows itself.

Finished Patio and Stairs

Stairs after being stained

So clearly we still have to finish the railing on the stairs, and we're going to put a couple flower boxes in to help brighten the space... and then we need to do something about a wall.  We talked about building a sitting wall out of bricks, we talked about building a wall out of wood, we talked about building a hedge wall.  Originally it was bricks and we were pretty dead set on it - until we had to lay all the bricks for the patio and saw all the labor that went into it - I think it helped us realize that we'd be spending an entire summer building a wall, even though it would be nice to have additional sitting space.  We then discussed spending 1 summer doing nothing but enjoying the space (after the railing and flower boxes were done) to see if we even wanted a wall.  I think our latest conversation is to plant hedge shrubs early in the spring and groom them to be a 'wall'.  The green will help brighten the space and will provide the privacy we desire.. not to mention be MUCH easier than building anything.  I'm so anxious to get out there and enjoy our new space!***


***Last week, on the afternoon of January 31st, 2017, I deactivated my Facebook account.  This comes in the wake of our most recent US Election.  I don't talk politics, so I'm not gonna preach, but I will say that Facebook became so saturated with each sides opinion and everyone bashing the other side or telling them that they are unjust in their opinion.... I just couldn't take it anymore.  I found that I'd sit and just scroll without reading anything.  I'd look at pictures if they were of something I wanted to see, but for the most part it was just scrolling... so pointless.  So far, I haven't missed it as much as I thought I would.***


***In the wake of the above note about Facebook, I've found that I have some extra time on my hands... how sad that Facebook was taking up that much of my time!  So over the weekend Steve and I cleaned out our basement storage room, which we'd been putting off since moving in (circa 2011); we now have a ton of space - not to be filled with junk going forward☺
On Sunday, I went for a run for the first time since October.  I don't know how much I blogged in the past about getting into my fitness (running mostly) to help cut some pounds off... I did a few 5k's, got hurt, and then never really got back into it.  The October 5k was so painful because I hadn't trained at all.  I have a 5k in 9 weeks, I will successfully run this one without pain and have a PR time.  That is my goal.
I went Aqua Jogging last night - it's a fun little deep water exercise class - you wear a flotation belt to keep you upright and above water and you do a bunch of running in 9-10ft water.  Great workout - major calorie burner.
Tonight Steve and I are going to take a tour of the YMCA and we're considering joining.
Why not take all my extra time and put it to good use to better myself and my body!***


***Speaking of water and floating... I did this strange thing the other week called Floating:

Float Room

They pump the water with one thousand pounds of epsom salt and it creates a natural buoyancy and you float effortlessly!  You have options for light and music, but I decided to turn the light off and music down... it was an hour long float and ... I really enjoyed it.  I originally decided to try this just to see if I could be alone with my thoughts (and no digital stimulation) for an hour; turns out I can.  I already have more floats purchased and I'm hoping to make this a monthly thing.***


***I think that last most important thing to mention is that Steve and I have expanded our little family...
... Don't be silly, no kids for us.
We rescued a little Tortie DSH kitty (Goldie) back in October...

Goldie is a cuddle bug, super playful, loves to jump and is 100% a lap kitty - she fills my heart and we are so lucky to have found her!

...and just recently we acquired a 5 month old Maine Coon kitty (Ivory)...

We're still learning what makes Ivory tick, but so far we know she has a TON of energy (still very much a kitten), she plays fetch, she loves to spoon up on my neck/chest area on the rare chance she's feeling cuddly... she also loves to wake us up and attack us in bed.  Being full blooded Maine Coon, we're testing her to see how much she likes water (she may have slipped into the bath with me the other night - I panicked more than she did)...

As it stands Goldie does not like Ivory - she hisses, growls and recently began to bat at her in a very non-playful way.  We have taken steps backwards to try and get their scents all over our house (they are fully separate, and we swap their spaces every 24 hours).  I'm trying to remain optimistic that this second try at a SLOW introduction will be better for them.  Ivory is so curious about Goldie that all she does it tries to chase her.  It's comical, but Goldie hates it.  This little girl is going to be HUGE, so Goldie better get used to having her around!***

Until next time my friends...


~Cheers~
Ang

Posterior Tibial Tendonitis

So ... here's me:

Over the summer I've taken up running... I ran a couple 5k's:

I've continued to run and have 2 more 5k's coming up (Halloween and Thanksgiving).

In the process of this I obviously go for runs... well, one run was just too much.
Afterwards I was in quite a bit of pain... in my left heel area.  I automatically assume Planters Fasciitis and think great... all this training and commitment and this is what I get.  To be honest I worry about getting PF quite often, my mom and my brother both have it and it seems to be the common ailment for people these days.

I decide to wait a week and see if the pain goes away on it's own.  It doesn't.  Steve told me I need to go in.
I couldn't even walk up or down the stairs like a normal person.

So I go in.

I'm diagnosed with Posterior Tibial Tendonitis - yay.
There are 2 ways of dealing with this:
1. Custom Orthotic Inserts (longer healing time)
2. Walking boot (faster healing time)

I'm leaving for NYC in like a week... I opt for the boot.  Essentially it immobilizes the tendon so it doesn't move at all, allowing it to heal.  I have the orthotics on order anyhow, as the doc suggested wearing them when I run, and I will likely take them to NYC with me.  But until the morning I leave to get on that plane... I'm in a boot!

That's all.  Just wanted to share.

Accountability

I'm not happy in my own skin.  I love my life and, overall, I'm happy.  I'm just not comfortable.  I don't like the way I look anymore - I don't like having to buy new clothes because my old ones don't fit anymore.  I haven't been to the gym on a regular basis in a few years now, and I need to do something to change that.
I hated being in my bikini in Hawaii because I felt like a beached whale.

I am going to be in a wedding at the end of April (Shannon's), I'm going to NYC in May, I'm going to be in another wedding at the end of June (Pam's), and I'm going to Chicago in July.  At some point, hopefully within the next year, Steve and I are going to be using our free plane tickets to hit up a tropical beach... I don't want the same feeling for all of these things as I had in Hawaii.

I can't explain why it's so easy for me to hate the way I look and then drive right past the gym on my way home from work every day.  In the past 3 weeks, I've been to the gym 4 times.  I know that is not a lot, but it is something.  Something is better than nothing and hopefully it's the beginning of lots more visits to come.

I'm not sure how else to motivate myself to do something.

Yesterday my friend Abbie emailed our little dinner group of girls and asked if we can do weekly weigh-in's with each other.  I JUMPED at the chance.  While I'm a firm believer in the number on a scale not meaning shit unless you feel different and your clothes fit different... I will do it to make myself accountable.  This group of girls are all a part of the June wedding (bride included), so it's a perfect excuse.  I'm a huge fan of competition, so I'm hoping that looking at it as I'm going to lose more weight than these bitches this week I'll be more successful.  On top of that, if I can get in the habit of the gym by then, hopefully I can stick with it even after we've met our deadline.

Our first weigh-in was this morning (apparently we weight less when we wake up?  who knows).  Frankly I'm embarrassed to share my weight with you, so I'm not going to.  I'm keeping a spreadsheet in my gDocs so I can report weight lost each week.  The girls and I have decided to not share our weights, but to report that we've weighed-in and then next Friday we'll report what we've lost.

If you're still checking in and reading here, help me be accountable!  My plan is to report here each week as well... I'll never share my weight with you, but I will tell you how many times I've been to the gym and I will tell you how much I've lost.

While I do plan to adjust my diet as well, for now, the gym is my main focus - once I can get back to that I'll start focusing on eating habits.  I'm trying to get in the frame of mind that I need to eat less... so I'll just start there.

One step at a time and I know I can do this.

Blah - I need help though, so hopefully this will be the help I need!  Wish me luck!

Happy V-Day

So this post is going to be more random than anything else... but being that it's Valentine's day, I will say I hope you have a great day, whatever you decide to do.  Steve is going to make me dinner - salt roasted salmon with my favorite broccoli side dish and sticky rice.

Second, some replies to the comments from yesterday.  To those who took the time to say anything at all, thank you.  It may not have helped my day fully, but I promise that I smiled at each of the comments.
@Krysten - I am excited for Baseball season, I'd be more excited if I had cable AND if we had a promising team.  That being said... I'm always excited to see Joe "Lips" Mauer in any form.
@Dana - I'm so glad you liked the wine!  I was able to try that same wine a couple of weeks ago and thought it was really good too!  The whole line of wine from Cupcake is pretty stellar (and inexpensive)!
@Gringa - I replied to you personally.  I am excited for New York and Chicago - I've been planning those trips hard core over the last few weeks.
@Lo - I'm jealous that you can walk to Target Field!  On top of that, I'm so sorry your place got broken into.  While I try hard not to be one of those 'woe is me, let's have a pitty party' - I do believe that no matter how positive a person tries to be, we all encounter bad days.  I'm thankful for so much in my life and I hope that I didn't come across as ungrateful.

Okay, some of the reason why my day was poopy yesterday?
Not only am I sick and tired of dealing with the same shit day after day at work, it's even worse on a Monday. I try to wake up on Monday's and be fresh and new, ready to tackle a new week.  Yesterday I woke up the same way... but it was quickly turned around by the bullshit at my company.  My favorite co-worker, and one of only 2 people that I still like and enjoy at this place, told me a new way to think - while it may help for the time being, I'm still holding in all my true frustration.  He told me to do my job and not worry about the other stuff unless it directly and negatively affects my job.  It may sound like common sense but the 7 years I've worked here have been much different where everyone is involved in certain things.  Especially considering I know the office admin job better than the person that was given the position.  I don't know how you can plan for the future without knowing how things currently work.  It's extremely frustrating.

Also yesterday, Steve told me that he had some bad news - which is never good to hear.  As it turns out, his boss did some further research on our first class tickets and Hawaii is too expensive, so Continental US, Alaska, and Mexico are still options but Hawaii is off the table.  I'm super bummed about that.  I don't want to sound selfish, but I know I'm about to, so deal with it.  The thing that makes me the most upset is the fact that we went a month not knowing if Hawaii was included but would have understood if it weren't... then we are told it is, sowe get excited and I start looking into stuff and talking with my travel agent... and now it's not.  I just wish she would have looked into it BEFORE telling us we could go.  I'm super bummed and disappointed - we had our hopes beyond up.
Now to redeem my selfish thoughts - I know we're still getting a free first class ticket to somewhere, and I know we'll still have a great time... I just have to get over the bummed feelings and start thinking about something else.  The other part of that is we don't know where we want to go now... hard to get excited about something that we don't know.. ya know?

I went to the gym after work yesterday, thinking people always talk about how a good workout helps them feel better, maybe I can apply the same thought process - well... I don't think it worked because I was still bummed last night when I got home.  However, I have decided that the gym isn't so bad as long as I don't go there expecting to push myself to my death.  I always assume I can pickup where I left off 3 years ago, and I can't, and that's okay.  I have to start somewhere.  Yesterday I did 20 minutes on the elliptical and 20 minutes on the treadmill.  40 minutes of cardio at any pace is better than 40 minutes on my couch, right?

Steve and I made a Pinterest Recipe to take to my brother's house over the weekend, the pinterest link is no longer working, but I was able to find the same recipe here (the photos on this site are less exciting than what I pinned):

Bloomin' Onion Bread

1 unsliced loaf of (round is preferable) sourdough bread
1 pound Monterey Jack cheese, thinly sliced
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup finely diced green onion, including white part
2-3 tsp poppy seeds

Directions:
Using a sharp bread knife cut the bread going both directions.  Do not cut through the bottom crust.
Places slices of cheese between cuts. Mix together butter, onion, and poppy seeds.  Pour over bread. Wrap in foil the entire thing in foil and place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Unwrap. Bake 10 more minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Lastly, As I sit here thinking about a new job and working on my resume, I'm forced to think about how to remove myself from searchable social media.  Facebook, Twitter, blogging, etc.  I've decided that once my resume is out there, I'm going to deactivate my facebook.  I think it'll be good for me for many reasons - who couldn't use a break from facebook.  It'll also assure any potential employers not be able to find pictures of me with my boobs hanging out (not literally, just the cleave) and photos of me being bombed off my ass at any given point.
Twitter is less of a big deal to me, being that I don't post often and there are no photos of me on there.  I'm not sure if I can just disable the site for a time being or if I have to delete my account... if it's the latter, I'll probably just leave it.
My blog... I've worked extremely hard to remove my blog from any mention of my actual name.  Being that I work with family and I'm also friends with the same family on Facebook and Twitter... I don't have any of it linked.  I'm not an anonymous blogger, obviously, but unless we're friends on facebook, you won't know my full name by reading my blog.  Just the way I want it.  I really need to log out of my google account and do lots of different searches to make sure of this.
All of that being said... I still plan to make my blog private once I submit my resume.  Which means, I think, that if you want to keep reading, you'll need to make sure you a) let me know b) give me your email address and c) I think that email address will need to be the one you use to sign up for a google account.  I need to look a bit more into this, but I think that's how it'll work.  It's going to be a pain, but hopefully I'll get a job right away and it won't have much of an impact on you, the reader.  I do appreciate you reading and hope you'll continue to do so while I have to take some action to keep my privacy.

Peace out for now...

I've lost my Mojo but replaced it with Zumba

So, we finally got the internets at home last night.  Well, we got it on Saturday, but we got our wireless set up last night and I was finally able to use my precious lap top again.  I have no pictures of the house yet, but soon - I fucking promise (yeah, just like pictures of Hawaii, right!?)!
Anyhow - I signed up for Hulu Plus - so I can watch my favorite TV shows on our TV through the PlayStation 3 using the Hulu App... ya dig?

I also signed up for a Zumba class through community education - I'll be taking it with a couple of girlfriends once a week starting in roughly a month.  I'm super excited to do it - super scared too.  Zumba is a dance based workout.  I don't really dance, other than in the clubs (and that's more like dirty dancing than anything else) - but I'm excited to learn something new while I get my workout on.  Because of the move and trying to save money, I've cancelled my gym membership based on the acquisition of EA Sport Active for the Wii and a few other workout things I can do at home.  I figure it's better to do the stuff at home, even if I have to buy stuff once, over paying monthly for the gym.  Now I've just got to get the damn Wii hooked up and get my ass moving.  Spring being right around the corner, I hope to start taking advantage of walking outdoors.
Anyhow - the zumba class is going to be interesting...

So this weekend I went out for a friend birthday - Steve and I just met up for a cocktail or two (and by that I mean, I had none and Steve had many).  Not the point ... I was talking with someone I've known on a casual level for several years - we gots to talking and he said to me "Angela, you become more and more reserved every time I see you.  What happened to your craziness?"  This made me sad.  I don't even know what to say about it.
I immediately jumped on the defense and tried to come up with some excuse... oh, blame it on the fact that I have a boyfriend now - he didn't accept that reply.  So I toyed around with a few more and finally settled on the fact that maybe I'm just growing up... which he seemed to congratulate me on.  I wasn't looking for congratulations; I was looking for something I've apparently lost.  It left me feeling out of sorts and, while I know it's okay to grow up, I really hope I haven't lost my true self.
My weekend was spent shopping at Lowe's, comparing paint samples, and having lunch with some family... 5-6-7 years ago it would have been spent drinking and dancing the night away at the club or whichever bar had good music and a dance floor.

I know it's okay to grow up... it just kind of hits you like a ton of bricks when someone calls you out on being lame.

23 Days, 17 Workouts?

Ok - I need your help thinking about this -

I leave for Hawaii in 23 days, I know it's way too late to start working out and expect to get where I want to be, HOWEVER, if I workout every weekday from now until I leave, I can get in 17 workouts - what'll happen if I do that?  Surely it'd get my metabolism going and I'd hopefully be able to shed some water weight and whatnot... but do you think it'd do anything to the way I look?  I can also start eating smaller meals, for the next 23 days, which... may or may not make a difference; any difference would be minimal.

It's probably just the right thing to do - for my body and my mental state - so I'll probably do it.  I just have no patience for working out and waiting to see the difference.  I expect results after a week and... well, we all know that's just not realistic.

Please be honest with me, I know it'll hurt, but I need to hear it.

17 trips to the gym in 23 days... what should I expect?!