Sunday, March 23, 2014

Hen Party



You know sometimes when the thing that you need the most, comes along at just the right time?  That happened to me today.  I admit...I've been pretty stressed the last little while with all the stuff going down my mom.  It's a weird thing to take the role as the parent all of sudden, and the realization that your parents are growing older and won't be around forever dawns on you.  I guess sometimes as we grow older and get busy with our own lives, we forget that our parents too, are growing older as well.  Anyways, that combined with dealing with some people's idiocies this past week (grrrrrr!) and a persistent headache that just wouldn't go away not matter what I did...I felt exhausted and wanted to hole up at home and shut the whole world out.

This morning I got up to start my usual weekend cooking routine and was just getting into it when I heard my phone ping.  All of sudden, my phone went crazy...pingpingpingping!  I picked up my phone to check it out and two of my oldest friends were messaging back and forth and had looped myself and another friend into the conversation.  Now these friends are some of the very oldest friends I have...I met these guys thirty years ago when I was fifteen, and somehow through marriages, babies, rough times and just the overall hectic thing we call daily life, we've still kept in touch.  Anyways, the planets aligned today because even though getting us all together at the same time is like herding cats, we were all free and around our phones when someone threw out the words "anyone wanna go for brekkie?" 

Now even though I was knee deep in cooking and the kitchen was a disaster, I realized that this exactly what the doctor ordered.  Hubs is amazing and is so supportive, but sometimes you just need time with your girlfriends, so I dropped everything and headed out the door.  I know!  For those that know me personally, I am incredibly anal (and borderline OCD) about tidiness, so to leave the kitchen in a mess is a big ass deal.  Anyways...as I sat there today and spent time with my fabulous friends, I could feel my batteries recharging and it was exactly what I needed to get on with the week ahead.  It was perfect timing and I loved how it was just so spur of the moment...somehow it just made it all that much better, like a really pleasant surprise.  So thanks E, C and C...you'll never know how much it meant to see you all today...love you guys!



Tuesday, March 4, 2014

2014 Goals - Checking In

Yikes...have definitely not been very good with blogging lately, have I?  Things have been insane in my life...working through my mom's health issues has really sapped my energy, but I've managed to stay relatively sane by working out and getting out my stress that way.  I've been a total beast at bootcamp and throwing all the craziness into my workouts and it's been so helpful...I think even Jason gave me a little nod of approval when I was taking no prisoners one morning and slamming out chest to floor burpees like nobody's business.  Ha!

So instead of recapping Week 8 and 9, I thought I'd update quickly on how I've been doing with my 2014 goals! 

1.  Take Swimming Lessons
Done!  I've finished the first session of swim lessons and am crazy loving it...I've managed to get to the point where I can swim on my side and rotate onto my stomach, but not rotate from side to side yet.  I've signed up for the beginner class again, and am gonna keep on taking it until I'm comfortable enough to swim in the deep end and move to the next level.  I don't care if it takes me all stinkin' year, but I is learning how to swim if it kills me!

2.  Take CPR Course
Haven't signed up for anything yet, but absolutely on the radar.

3.  Volunteer for a Food Related Cause
Le sigh.  For some reason, there are not a lot of food related causes that I can volunteer for on evenings or weekends!  I know!  I'd love to work in a soup kitchen or something so I can put my mad cooking skillz to work, but no go...lots of stuff out there but always during the day.  I'll keep trying!  Some good news though on the volunteer front...I've been asked to help handing out medals for the Times Colonist 10K!  I guess I was a medal giving machine at the Goodlife Victoria marathon last year, so have been recruited to work at the TC10K this year.  Normally there's no medal at this race, but because it's a commemorative year, there are medals and a half marathon distance.  So cool and am so excited.

4.  Improve Mobility and Posture
I've been stretching, rollering and lacrosse balling like it's my job...every night I sit down in from of the TV and spend at least 20 minutes working on my mobility...I went to my physio today and great news...she was super duper impressed with my hip stability and how I was moving through my upper back and thoracic area!  Hurray!  My right shoulder and lower back were a little tight so she did a few needles and some stretching, but the last few times I've seen her things have been pretty good.  Not sure what happened though but tonight as I got up from the couch, my left knee twinged weird and it hurts a bit now when I walk on it...gah!  I immediately got some ice and Traumeel on it...I'm sure I'm overreacting and it's likely just a little niggle, but I'm taking no chances.

5.  Floss Once a Day
Flossing like a rock star...can't wait to see my dentist and show him how awesome I've been doing...maybe I'll even make patient of the month...ha!

6.  Jars of Awesomeness
I've had a lot to be grateful for the past little while, so my Jar of Gratefulness has been filling up quite nicely.  And so far, I've got forty two smackaroos to my name in my workout jar...not bad!

Oh!  and some other news...have signed up and paid for 18 personal training sessions at PISE!  I decided to bite the bullet and just do it, and actually pre-paying for it means I'm committed to doing this.  I'm making sure I'm totally healthy physically before I start...I asked my physio today if there's anything I should concentrate on, and she said neck and head positioning, thoracic strength/mobility and scapular stability...so a lot of upper body stuff.  Can't wait!