Chugga chugga blue spruce was Goalielocks’ rally cry every time he saw a blue spruce during our first trip to Utah. Blue spruces had somehow become his favorite tree, so naturally, he felt the need to call our attention to every tree he spotted in the Wasatch mountains. Consequently, when I saw spruce was the word of the day it brought back great memories.
It’s funny how a word can usher in a tide of memories. Our first trip to Utah was so much. We were a motley crew hiking the Wasatch Front for the first time and making a few mistakes. I’ll never forget hiking the wrong trail in triple-digit heat with minimal shade and a big altitude gain. I tapped out before the summit. Obviously, we learned our lesson the hard way. Thou shall start with an easy hike when first hiking at over 5,000 feet above sea level in the summer heat.
After that first brutal, yet beautiful, hike each trek got successively easier. To be clear, there weren’t any really easy hikes outside of Donut Falls. The Donut Falls hike would have been a perfect first hike. Every hike was an adventure that trip and it led to a love of hiking. I found myself being at home on the dusty trails of the Wasatch mountains. I loved being immersed in the national forest deep in Big Cottonwood Canyon.
It’s funny how memories work, but I’ll take it. The word prompt spruce took me back to the Utah trips with my boys, Melly, and my folks. That first trip, in particular, will always be special to me. It was our first adventure in the mountains and the greater Salt Lake Area. It’s the trip where my boys and I discovered our love of hiking, lavender lemonade, and Goalielock’s love of blue spruce. I am hopeful the boys and I will get at least one more trip out West before Jake moves again.
Well, my weekend is staying in the theme of a transportation clusterfuck. I went out to get my Dunkin’ coffee this morning, when to my unpleasant surprise the rental didn’t start. In fact, it didn’t even turnover. Fortunately, the hotel engineer had jumper cables and was able to give us a jump. Unfortunately, the car’s battery wasn’t the issue. Given the lack of sound from the engine, we surmised it was a starter or alternator issue. Either way it wasn’t a problem that could be solved in the parking lot.
Thankfully, my friend Lyssa let me use her rental to pick up my already order coffee. While I drove to Dunkin’, I called Hertz’a roadside assistance line. The customer care agent was amazing. She got me setup for a tow, so I wouldn’t have to wait around for the tow truck. After all, I am completely unwilling to miss any of the Mayor’s games while I’m here. Nor was I willing to miss out on the deep dish pizza.
As for a replacement vehicle, I’d have to call back after the game to set that up. Ordinarily, I would have setup another car, but sometimes the universe is sending us messages. Also, we’ve had no issue finding rides to the games. Honestly, the Mayor’s team is filled with incredible families, which has made this situation so much less stressful. Consequently, I’m leaning into the universe’s message and going rental free for the rest of the weekend.
This morning’s troubles were, but a blur after two entertaining games today. I was so grateful that my bestie Jen was able to come and watch both games. It’s such a gift to be able to see her and her kids. Moreover, I love watching the Mayor play. I love watching his scheme and plan with his teammates on the ice. Mostly, I love when he scores a nice goal or sets up his teammates for a nice goal. Tonight he got the game winner after great plays and passes by his teammates.
Today was all about redefining expectations for our transportation this trip, great company and entertaining hockey. Today’s bloganuary post asks what is your preferred mode of transporting. My answer is simple, a rental car that works. As for the rest of this weekend’s transportation, we are fortunate for the generosity of spirt from our hockey family. Hopefully, next trip will stay on theme, but it will be a better less stressful theme.
It was a big day in our house as Goalielocks moved out this afternoon. He’s headed to Orlando to start college and live with his buddies. He’s super excited and so are we. We’ll sort of….. It’s a little bittersweet to see our secondborn fly the coop. Nonetheless, we have been making bets about how much our electric and grocery bills will decrease now. Stay tuned. To be honest, I will be counting down the days to his coming home.
Luke and the Mayor traveled up to Orlando this evening as well. The Mayor has two games tomorrow in Orlando including an early morning game. Since our dog sitter moved to Orlando today, I am skipping tomorrow’s games in Orlando. Also, I’ll be traveling to Chicago next weekend for the Mayor’s tournament, while Luke stays home to work. Consequently, I came home after the Mayor’s two home games this afternoon to chill with my puppies and do nothing.
Since it’s just me and the dogs tonight, I ordered some good healthy food via UberEats. Now I’m not a food delivery guru, but it shouldn’t take over an hour from pick up to delivery of the food. For some reason, the drive from the restaurant which should have taken ten minutes took over an hour. Fortunately, the food still tasted pretty damn good reheated. Nonetheless, the delay was pretty aggravating. Good thing I was home alone and angry.
As for the Mayor’s games, his team tied the first one and won the second game. Both games were nail-biters and fun to watch. The Mayor spent more time than usual in the box, but he still had a great day. He’s so much fun to watch. In the first game, he had a beautiful assist on the tying goal. It was an absolute beauty of a play starting with his defensemen and ending in a goal. He just sees the ice so well. Well, this big day is going to end nice and quiet here.
Well, I’m back at it and not happy about it. This back-to-reality bullshit is for the birds. I’d like to go back on the holiday vacation with the family. Naturally, the first day back at the office after a long absence is always difficult. Today was no exception. Unfortunately, technology did not want to cooperate with any of us today. This made for a frustrating day all around.
It could be worse I guess. I could still be at my old job, which was pure misery. I remember when I left Progressive how happy my hubby was that I’d stop talking in acronyms. And then I started at Kaplan University and it was back to the alphabet soup he so hated. Fortunately, my current company doesn’t speak in acronyms, so he no longer has to worry about that frustration. Nonetheless, I’d love to see the measly lead flow improve back to 2022 levels.
Despite my frustration, I chose to move forward full of optimism today. While I may not have had the best day, it wasn’t the worst. Moreover, I’ll continue focusing on improving daily and hitting my goals. I used to meditate in the morning to a quick sales meditation I found on YouTube that was really effective for me. Unfortunately, the video has been removed. Consequently, I decided to write out my own sales mantra meditation. I’m toying with the idea of filming it, so I can listen to it while I sit in legs up the wall pose (Viparita Karani.)
Today I hit all of my goals less my personal sales goal. My two-mile run went okay. My lungs are still a bit tight from the lingering head cold/sinus/allergy bullshit, so that’s fun. After work, I completed day three of the yoga challenge. Today’s practice was a sixty-minute Hatha class, which I really enjoyed. It was not overly strenuous, but it wasn’t overly chill either. Truly, the instructor struck a really good balance between building strength and relaxation.
First three days do the yoga challenge in the books and Insta official
Lastly, today’s bloganuary prompt is what is the earliest memory you have. My earliest memory is of saying goodbye to my grandma and grandpa on my mom’s side. I think it was late summer or fall as we didn’t have jackets on. I wasn’t quite two yet, which I know because my clearest early memory is of my grandfather passing away from a heart attack. He passed away eight days after my birthday on my grandma’s birthday. Forty years later I stand in awe of my grandma’s grace, resilience, and faith. When times are tough, I remind myself I’m cut from the same cloth. Anyways I’m back at it.
Intentions sometimes get a bad rap i.e. he had the best of intentions, but….. Nevertheless, intentions are a powerful tool for creating the life you want. It can start small like setting an intention for your yoga practice or workout. Or it can be as large as setting intentions for the new year. As we start 2023, I looked back at the intentions I set for last year as inspiration for this year’s focus.
Last year the biggest intention I set was to reclaim my health by losing the thyroid weight. As I approached the ebbing months of my 42nd year, I felt a new sense of urgency regarding my health. While my family has been blessed with longevity on some sides, it’s been cursed with premature cardiac issues (plumbing not electricity). Consequently, I sat on the doorstep of high cholesterol and pre-diabetes, I knew a big change was in order.
In late January, I joined Calibrate after reviewing my options with my endocrinologist and primary care physician. Calibrate is a bit different than other weight loss programs in that it’s medically supervised and a full-year program. The first step is completing the lab work and establishing a baseline. It’s during this phase they also qualify patients for GLP-1 usage. Due to my family history in combination with thyroid disease and troubling blood sugar and cholesterol trends, I qualified for the medication.
In the last four years, I’ve gone from Hyperthyroidism (Graves) to Hypothyroidism (thank you RAI.)
Calibrate is great because it focuses on reclaiming your health by using resetting your metabolism through behavioral and dietary changes. Over the last year, I’ve made major improvements to my sleep hygiene. Additionally, I’ve made major shifts in my diet. Thankfully, the Calibrate program was the kick I needed to stop using poisonous artificial sweeteners. Moreover, I’ve hit become more intentional about what I eat and when. For example, I’ve started eating fruit seasonally. This also brings a nice variety to my diet. Lastly, the program reinforced that my workout routine was a point.
I want to maintain my weight and health as I taper off the medication. Thankfully, the doctors designed the Calibrate program, so that their patients to come off the medication. By sticking to the programs, the changes in our biology should help us maintain the lower set point (aka our new weight). Naturally, I’ll need to maintain the healthy habits I created in order to maintain the weight loss.
Now that the enchanting holiday season is over, it’s almost time to go back to work and school. This, of course, is the lamest part of the holiday season. Nonetheless, I find myself excited to embark on my goals and intentions for 2023. 2022 blew chunks in so many ways. For me, 2023 will be a year of redemption and reclaiming the life I want to live. To that note, I’ve listed my goals below.
It’s that special out with the old in with the new time of year. Personally, I can’t wait to wave 2022 goodbye. At the same time, there were definitely some bright spots, 2022 of as an emotional roller coaster punctuated by gut punch after gut punch. Unfortunately, I know I’m not alone in this. 2022 was a rough year for so many people that we know and love. To say I’m looking forward to the hard reset that the new year new you offers would be a vast understatement.
One of the highlights of 2022 was Goalielocks’ graduation from high school. It was fun to take part in all the end-of-year/end-of-high school rituals that go with graduation. My folks and Luke’s dad stayed with us for the week. Unfortunately, my older brother and his family couldn’t make it due to the late scheduling by our school district. Nonetheless, it was a great time to celebrate Goalielocks and an important right of passage.
Second, we went to the Bahamas to celebrate our friend’s 50th birthday. We had one rainy day, which was okay. It gave us a much-needed chance to chill. Goalielocks and TK enjoyed their newfound ability to legally drink and gamble in the Bahamas. Both boys came away with some great memories (albeit some may be fuzzy) and some extra cash courtesy of the casino. They also enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Nobu to celebrate the birthday boy. It was a wonderful trip.
No sooner had we gotten home from the Bahamas when we turned around and headed west. Jake was home!!!!! I can’t even tell you how excited I was to see my boy. It was like the anticipation of first seeing your BMT graduate tuned up to the nth degree. I had hoped he would be home in time for Goalielocks’ graduation, but current events and world leaders had other ideas. Nevertheless, that first post-deployment hug hits differently. I think Jake worried I’d never let him go. But honestly, would you blame me if I didn’t let go?
The boys and I spent ten days out west hiking and getting Jake re-acclimated to live in the US. There were a couple, okay, maybe a few unpleasant surprises awaiting him stateside. The cost of living had soared tremendously while he was overseas. Particularly, gas prices, rent, and food prices were problematic. His post-deployment rent was almost double his pre-deployment rent. It was absolute insanity. As always, we had a blast exploring and hiking Utah.
In August, we took on Arrow as a foster through Justin Bartlett Animal Rescue. As was the case with Anakin, Arrow is another foster failure. We simply fell in love with the adorable puppy and couldn’t bare to see him go. We loved his name, so we left it as Arrow. Athena took to him immediately. Unsurprisingly, Anakin was slow to warm up to the idea of a little brother. I have the feeling that somewhere Maya is getting the last laugh as she watches Arrow harass Athena and Anakin as they harassed her.
Perhaps one of the most exciting wins of 2022 was that I finally lost my thyroid weight. It was quite the battle and took over four years, but I did it. I’m so grateful for my wonderful endocrinologist and primary care doctor, who have both guided me through this Graves’ nightmare compassionately and effectively. Honestly, I’m keeping it a bit broad here as I’ll give into it more in my post tomorrow.
Finally, the holiday season has been fantastic. It was a complete blessing having Jake home for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Moreover, I love having my parents here. Anakin, who doesn’t like people coming to the house, finally took to my parents on this trip. In fact, he started to greet them and open the gate for them in the mornings. Of course, the piece de resistance of this holiday season is Jake and Melly’s engagement. I love them dearly as a couple and am so glad she’ll officially be part of the family. Tonight we’ll celebrate the out with the old and in with the new (aka the new year.)
The engagement photos are in and they’re absolutely perfect!!!!! Jake and Melly had their engagement photos taken yesterday by Julianna of Murano Media. (If you are local to South Florida and need photos, I’d highly recommend using Julianna’s services.). I had planned to get them photographs as an engagement plan for quite some time. Unfortunately, there were a lot of unknowns about timing that made it difficult to plan. Fortunately, Julianna came through in a pinch.
The kids met Julianna up at a nature preserve in Royal Palm. South Florida has some incredible setting for photography. This venue was no exception. For the uninitiated, the Everglades and surrounding area are exceptionally beautiful especially at sunset. Julianna blew us all away with her professionalism and efficiency. It was an awesome experience!
As of this afternoon, the engagement photos are in. They’re just incredible. I don’t think I’ll be able to pick a favorite anytime soon! Of course the photos came in while I drove back from our trip to IKEA. We spent the morning frolicking in the Swedish behemoth of a retailer getting Goalielocks ready for his move. I saw the text come in on my watch and was super anxious to get home and check them out.
Today’s accountability tracker:
Workout: Sweat HIIT beginner week 4 full body workout. I was a bit wheezy this afternoon, so I skipped the run to give my lungs a break.
My holiday break is over, so I’m back. Well, at least I’m back to blogging. Fortunately, I don’t have to return to my day job until the third of January. While I’ve been off, I’ve been nursing a Christmas cold/allergy misery. Unfortunately, this mean I also had to take a break from running and working out. Thankfully, I was able to go back to working out yesterday. Truth be told, my lungs were not super thrilled with the run. Today’s run went much better.
It’s been so nice having Jake and my folks here. I’ll be so sad when they leave. I’m sure they’ll be sad to leave, the now nice, Florida weather behind to return to the reality of a northern winter. Nonetheless, we experienced a shortened Florida winter from Christmas Eve until yesterday. In fact, Goalielocks even turned on the heat upstairs for one night. To be fair, it was in the 40s, which makes for a mighty cold shower.
Most of Christmas Eve and the days before were filled with baking esculent treats. My mom and the boys baked a couple rounds of mint cookies after I mixed up the dough. While they baked the cookies, I mixed up some joulutorts (Finnish stars cookies) to bake later. I also baked some peppermint patty cookies and rosettes. The rosettes were a pain in the ass to make, so I’m not sure I’ll make them again. We did attempt to make lefse, but there was a mishap in the fridge. I made Prosecco parfaits for Christmas Eve dinner. Lastly, I made my infamous caramel rolls.
I usually make the caramel rolls one time each year. They take a long time and they’re definitely not compliant with any diet. The kids have protested that I should make them more. In fact, it’s been mandated by the family that I make the rolls one more time this holiday season. Consequently, I’ll be baking more yummy caramel rolls on Saturday morning before the holiday break is over.
Today’s accountability tracker:
Workout: Ran two miles, walked one. Hamstring Opener Restorative practice via Practyce App.
