Friday, January 18, 2013

42.


yeah, so a couple of weekends ago it was my birthday. 

 42.  

So far it doesn't feel much different than 41.  Hopefully that continues as the year goes on..lol.  


I ended up with strep throat.  On my birthday.  Not so much fun.  Joe made me get up and leave the house anyway because he knew I would be sad if I sat home all day on my birthday.

Since  I currently live 1.3 miles from this:, that's where we ended up.

It was a beautiful day.  

Later my roommate made me the most wonderful birthday cake.  

My favorite---strawberry!  She found it on one of my pinterest boards and it was TO.  DIE.  FOR.
OMG I can't even tell you how good this cake was. It had homemade strawberry cream cheese frosting.  I think I ate half of it over the span of one weekend and that's saying a lot because it was HUGE.  I still think about that cake, two weeks later.  Seriously, Yum.




Thank you, C for making me a cake for my birthday. So thoughtful!  

We didn't put 40 candles on the cake, unlike last year when Joe insisted and the smoke alarm went off. No joke.


That's my roommate's son. How gorgeous is he??  

It was a lovely birthday, despite being sick.

In our(his) free time, Joe and I have been making Tet and Chinese New Year banners to sell on etsy. Yes, you heard that right.  JOE and I have been making banners.  He has been cutting the pieces and assembling them for me so that all I have to do is string them and tie the ribbons.  I have sold quite a few, on my site and privately.  I have one left that is finished and ready to ship out if anyone is interested.  They really are beautiful.

If someone wants this one, I'll pay for the shipping on it. Just drop me an email at chinaadopter(at)gmail(.com).


The snakes can be removed for subsequent years. I will even send you next year's animal for free!


 I am back on the WW wagon, and it feels good.  I eat so much healthier on it.  

I have also decided to kick up my exercise a notch and my roommate and I have been doing the couch to 5K program.  

Don't laugh!  I didn't say I was *good* at it.  I just said I was trying it. I'm only on my third day and I'm not gonna lie, it's hard. 

 I'm committed to doing it though, because Lisa signed us up for the color run in SF in March.  It's such a fun run that I am excited for it. I don't think I will be in good enough shape to actually run the whole way(even though it is only a 5K) but I will be in better shape by then than I am now.

What's that saying?  No matter how slow you are going you are still lapping everyone on the couch?  Yeah.  That.

How fun does this look?

I'm going to start talking only in questions. Because that's not annoying at all. (How annoying is that?)



It's going to be a blast.


I don't think I will ever be a runner. But maybe I could become a slow jogger.  We'll see.  Like I said, only third day in.

That's about it.  Lots of other changes going on right now, but that's for another post.

Tuesday, January 01, 2013

Year in Review

I didn't blog that much this year, which makes me sad because that is the only way I am documenting my life and my memory is like a sieve.  I suppose FB would be a better way to look back and do a year in review but I don't know of any way to translate that onto my blog so I will have to go by the things I did post and what I can remember.


2012 started off with my birthday, as it always does(for me).  It was a good birthday and I was looking forward to the upcoming year.  Things were still going great at my job and we had just had a wonderful Christmas.


February brought our 19th anniversary(20th coming up in a month-yikes!)

It also brought with it one of the best vacations of my life-a cruise to Mexico with Lisa and the kids.  So.  Much.  Fun.

It was on that cruise that I had one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had-ziplining in the rain forest.  Hands down one the top memories for me in 2012.
This is my before picture at WW.  Ugh.  So glad I don't look like that anymore.

In March I got talked into having a procedure done on my face at work to kill the pre-cancerous cells.  One word:  Ouch.  But I am glad I did it.  Being fair and growing up in So Cal I was at a much higher risk of getting skin cancer later in life. That is so scary.  Wear sunscreen!  Every day!

In April we visited the Flower Fields in Carlsbad and they were stunning



I also was plugging along on WW and hit 25 pounds lost!



In May our beloved Dragon Boat practices started up again and I was blissful.  I am counting the days until they start for this year.  (146 days!  LOL)

In June we enjoyed spending a lot of time outdoors and riding our bikes

We also lost my Aunt, which was a very sad time.  She will always be missed.







July brought a quiet fourth of july and the Dragon Boat races



In August I visited my favorite place and made some very tough decisions


I also reached another goal on WW-35 pounds lost and am quite proud of it

Sadly it also brought the decision to leave Joe and having to leave my home of 14 years.  My heart was broken into a million pieces and I wondered if I would ever be o.k.  again.

There are some days that I still wonder that.

We said goodbye to our beloved Gizmo and I still miss her every single day.


September had me exploring the new town I had moved to and trying to become accustomed to my new "normal".





I still struggle with it.


October brought Joe's birthday and Halloween.  The first that we have ever spent apart.


November brought Thanksgiving and a wonderful trip up North, as usual.

December was recapped below, and that brings us to New Year's eve.

I'm not much for New Year's Resolutions but this year I have a few concrete things I would love to accomplish in the coming year so I may as well put them in writing.

I will get back on the weight loss wagon and lose another 35 pounds.  I know I can do this.  I did it this time last year.  I definitely gained some holiday weight but I can reverse that in a few week's time.  This year I vow to get into a size pants that I haven't worn in years.

I will try to be active more.  Not for weight loss reasons, per se, but for health reasons. I was reading some alarming articles on how sitting all day kills you. Like literally takes years off of your life. That's regardless of how much exercise you do at other times.  I have been walking on my lunch break three days a week and I vow to keep that up, and to also find other ways I can get up and move during the day at my job.

I will try to journal more.  I'm not going to promise to take a picture every day, or even once a week because I always fail at that but I am going to try and document my every day life more.  I would like to do this in a mini scrapbook form.  We will see. At the very least I will try to blog a little more frequently. I also would like to make my blog into a book.

I am going to try and go to church more.  My roommate introduced me to a church near us which I am really starting to love. It's not as "churchy" as I usually prefer(it's held in the theater at the local library), but I like the pastor and the messages.


This hasn't been a particularly easy year.   I can't say that the last couple of years have been so either.  I suppose my wish for this year is that I try to find a way to enjoy life more, even with it's ups and downs(even if the downs outnumber the ups sometimes).  I want to try to take one day at a time and worry less about things I cannot control.

I hope everyone has a happy healthy 2013!