Good Luck, Aline!

I woke up feeling meh, but not badly enough that I couldn't make it to CrossFit. We worked on our ring rows and I'm getting closer and closer to being able to do one with my feet on the bench, body parallel to the ground.

Today is Aline's last day at the office. I went to Whole Foods with Reggie to pick up some cakes for her goodbye event later that afternoon. We got carrot, red velvet and strawberry shortcake cakes. I was really good with self control and only ate a bite of Ben's slice of red velvet cake. Go me!

New Holiday Nails

8:30 AM spin class, check! It was a full class (25 people). Everyone probably wanted to work off their Thanksgiving dinners. I know I was! The room felt like a sauna when the class was over and done with.

Afterwards, I went to visit Julie who came home this morning from a 1.5 week volunteer trip to Nicaragua. It took her ~3 hours to recap the first half of her trip! We got to a good stopping point in her storytelling so I could go home and she could continue decompressing from her odyssey home.

Normally I would go back to the gym to do Crush, but I looked at the weather outside from my couch when I got home and thought “NOPE.” The dreariness was definitely a deterrent. I made the best of the afternoon by cleaning (bathroom, makeup brushes, clothes) and redoing my nails (China Glaze in Vertical Rush, Maybelline in Bold Gold, Bundle Monster Plate #310).

New Camera Purchase

Holy ****! 11 AM CrossFit today was no joke. It’s Coach Mike’s birthday so we did a workout dedicated to him. He turned 25 today, and it’s November 28. He did the same workout scheme below with the 10:15 AM class but with more advanced moves, and the challenge was to beat his time. Understandably, he didn’t do it again for the 11 AM class with me and Maria. Instead Andy coached the class, and Mike and Maddie sat in the corner and ate Dunkin Donuts donut holes. Ah, they earned it since they killed it in the previous class.

25 Pull-ups (I did it with some bands)
11 Thrusters (55 lbs)
28 Burpees
25 Push-ups
11 Hang clean and jerk (55 lbs)
28 Burpees
25 Sit-ups
11 Front Squats (55 lbs)
28 Burpees

My time was 24:28. Those burpees just about killed me. My shoulders hurt so bad, and I thought my body was going to give out towards the end. BUT, as always, I summoned the strength and made it through the workout. And I didn't cry, not that I ever have in class, but the urge is sometimes there.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, I felt like it was holiday appropriate to hang up my Christmas wreath. Notice how it’s high up that the cat won’t get to it…

I also went shopping to upgrade my camera (my current one is easily 10+ years old…) and also bought a new liquid lipstick. The camera is awesome, but the Kat Von D liquid lipstick in Vampira applied patchy and is so, so drying. I looked up what time Sephora closed at another location and drove over there to exchange it for a Sephora Lip Cream Stain (a cheaper alternative...$14 vs $20 and I know I can trust the formula since I own 4 other colors).

I don't know why he's looking out for Santa already. It's too early and he's on the Naughty list!

Day 43: Chest and Triceps

I'm not sure what happened last night, but I didn't sleep well due to some crazy dreams. I don't remember all of them, but the last one I had before I woke up this morning was me being really late getting to the airport. I woke up before I found out if I actually made it. Ahh, the suspense. I was in quite a funk for most of the day. CrushFit was doing a Black Friday deal where the e-books were all 50% off and any apparel purchase came with a free e-book. I saw people left and right on social media making purchases, and it was nice to see everyone so excited to get started. Some people even said that they had wanted to purchase the program, but the cost was more than they could afford, but this deal really helped them out. I thought it was nice of the brand to offer such a deal so that more people could participate.

Seeing all that positivity online made me get up off the couch and go to the gym. What better time to start Phase 3 of Crush60 than the day after Thanksgiving! Oh, goodie. Tabata push-ups. My favorite. Day 43, check!

Turkey Chase and Thanksgiving

Volunteer Activity #8 of 2015:  I woke up at 5 AM to go volunteer at packet pick-up for a local race. I'm so thankful that the weather was much nicer/warmer/less muddy than last year. After the race, I went to Safeway to pick up some groceries, including some vanilla ice cream to go with the Costco apple pie that I bought yesterday. I went back to sleep for a few hours before getting up to shower and make some pumpkin macaroni and cheese to bring to my parents' house.

Those were all the t-shirts that still needed to be picked up by runners after yesterday’s packet pick-up. Eek.

I ate pumpkin pie for breakfast because that’s how I like to pre-party

It felt weird to not have Julie at home for Thanksgiving since she's currently in Nicaragua. She texted earlier to say Happy Thanksgiving (her volunteer group did have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner there), send us a picture of her current view, and make sure I saved her some Costco apple pie. Priorities. I sent her this picture so she didn't feel like she was missing out.

Thanksgiving Break, Day 2

Today was less couch-potato-y than yesterday…

• Volunteered at packet pick-up for a local race. The sports store that this packet pick-up usually is held closed its doors, so they moved it to a nearby Honda dealership. One of the other snags that happened this year was that some people paid to have their bibs shipped, but for some reason some people didn't get theirs. Many people were somewhat grouchy about it and understandably so since they paid extra for the shipping. However, don't get snippy with the volunteers. We didn't do anything wrong and there's nothing that we can do for you about it. Here's your bib and t-shirt and I can direct you to the proper person to get you your refund. Sheesh. You'd think with the holidays, people would be more understanding or at least in a better mood.
• Survived a trip to Costco pick up an apple pie for tomorrow’s family Thanksgiving dinner. The lines were not as bad as I thought they would be.
• Baked a pumpkin cheesecake to also take with me to dinner tomorrow. I still need to make some macaroni and cheese…
• Went to 5:15 PM CrossFit and increased my deadlift weight to 115 lbs (10 lb increase from last week). I hadn’t seen Coach Mike in about 1.5 weeks so I could see his eyebrows shoot up with surprise out of the corner of my eye when I did some consecutive double unders. “Is this a new development?” Why, yes, it is! Maria and I had talked on Facebook and made a commitment to come to tonight's class. Afterwards, she said that it was good that we talked to hold each other accountable to coming. I think it was especially important given the holiday tomorrow!
• On a random note, I ordered some adhesive for my ATG gun in preparation for holiday card making and USPS says that it was delivered, but I haven't seen it. I'm hoping that it was accidentally put in another mailbox and someone will deliver it to me at some point. I mean, it's nothing exciting. It's adhesive. And if you don't have the ATG gun, you can't use it anyway.

Thanksgiving Break, Day 1

6:30 AM CrossFit, check. We worked on bench presses today. I upped my weight to 60 lbs. Towards the end of my next to last set, I couldn’t even lift the bar and Coach Rob had to help me rerack it.  “Take a longer break. You can do this.” So I did and was able to do the last set without help. I;m not sure how much more I can increase my weight on this lift, but we'll see I guess.

And since I’m off for the next week and am in no rush to be anywhere, I redid my nails and made cinnamon rolls and camped out on the couch. Ahh, break is nice! :D

A Good Review on My Cards

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! We worked on thrusters today. I added 5 lbs to last week’s weight, so now I’m at 60 lbs. With the shoulder workout I did yesterday, this felt extra challenging. For the Metcon, we did lots of jump rope, sit-ups and wall balls. Coach Maddie- “For those of you who can jump rope but need to work on their double unders, I want you to attempt at least 5 double unders per set. (Pause) I’m looking at you, Tina.” Oh, heh, ok ok. I actually was able to do several double unders in a row, so I'll take after not being able to do any when I first started CrossFit.

The policy director at work liked what I came up with for his card order…and he gave me a little more money than I had asked for. I was nervous on what he'd say about the Greek column card because that's the one that I had the most difficulty creatively. I just wasn't as confident about my execution of it as I was with the other cards I made.  "Oh, this is exactly what I was thinking. This one is for my dad." WHEW!

The Executive Director sent an organization-wide email this afternoon, recognizing 2 recent meetings that were well received by our members and praising the staff that were responsible for the behind-the-scenes work. One of the meetings mentioned was one that I worked on in Atlanta 2 weeks ago. Aw, that was nice of him to acknowledge a job well done.

While I love my job, I have turned on my out-of-office notification in my Outlook and plan to really enjoy my Thanksgiving holiday. No work until next Monday. Wheee!

Shoulders and Office Card Order

I managed to make my way to 8:30 AM spin class this morning. With the colder weather these days, it's getting more difficult to get out of my warm bed! The guy that usually has the bike next to mine was sitting a bike behind that one. Uh, that's weird because no one was sitting in his usual bike. I asked him what was going on. It turns out that he didn't have his spinning shoes and his usual bike didn't have the straps for regular shoes. Oh. I think it's funny that we all have our own bikes. We're just creatures of habit.

Afterwards, I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond in search for an outdoor doormat, but I didn't find one that I liked. I did find a peacock one that was pretty, but I didn't like enough to buy it. The search continues. I then went next door to Michaels where I got a new stamp. I like that it's not holiday specific so it'll be great for this year's holiday cards.

I went home and...feel asleep.  Heh.  But I did wake up and make my way to the gym to do Crush60, Day 42: Shoulders. This was the last workout for Phase 2. Onward to Phase 3...here we go!

This evening's goal was to do some laundry and work on my coworker's card order. Some cards I already had made because of yesterday's craft fair, but things like "anniversary card- go all out" and "birthday card with Greek columns," I had to put my creative thinking hat on. I hope he likes what I came up with!

Holiday Craft Fair 2015

I took a break from doing craft fairs last year. While it's a lot of preparation up front, it's nice to interact with the other crafters and customers. I decided to do only one this year and that happened today. I made my table fee within the first hour (the most important part!) and made some extra money.

The lady next to me made chain mail jewelry. There was also a lady that crocheted dolls and another that made candles. I took a celebratory nap, and while I had plans to go to the mall afterwards, I ended up camped out on the couch, catching up on NCIS. The money will be there for another day.

Feeling Strong like Wonder Woman

Whoo hoo, 5:15 PM CrossFit! It’s my 5th class of the week, so a rest day tomorrow is definitely warranted. We worked on our ring rows. In order to get you name on the whiteboard, you have to do them with your feet on a bench, body parallel to the ground. There are many guys' names already on the board...hmph, showoffs, hah.  I tried it to see what it would feel like. I had to laugh because I didn’t get very far, maybe a third of the way? Oh well, something to work on! The AMRAP included box jumps, overhead squats and ring rows. I had to laugh because during the ring rows, Eileen talked about what foods she wants to eat during Thanksgiving because, by then, the healthy eating challenge the CrossFit gym has been doing and she'd been participating in will be over. Rob the coach warned her not to eat too much because she'll probably feel super sick afterwards since her body won't be used to eating all the sweets.

Huh, whaddiya know. My kitchen has pretty good lighting. Taking pictures while waiting for dinner to finish cooking…multi-tasking at its best.
For dinner, I wanted to try a new recipe...Creamy Skillet Tortellini with Sweet Potato and Spinach from the Kitchn. I threw in a can of died tomatoes for some extra color and vegetables. The sweet potato and spinach were conveniently on sale this week at the grocery store.

A Day Off

My boss was nice enough to let me take the day off since I had to work on Veterans Day last week. I went and bought a new doormat and worked on some cards in preparation for Saturday’s craft fair. I actually wanted to replace the black welcome mat outside because what's welcoming about a black welcome mat? Sorry, I think that's dull and boring. It was leftover from the previous owners and I hadn't had the desire to replace it until now. I went to Kohl's because I had a $10 off coupon. I didn't fine any that would be appropriate for the outdoors, but I found an owl one to replace my red one that's indoors. It's a little unraveled in the corner because of RJ. I couldn't let such a good coupon go to waste, so sure, I'll replace the red one too! It was already marked down 50% and then with the $10 coupon, it came out to $2 and some change. Bah ha!  I then went to Target to see if I could find an outdoor mat, but didn't find one that I liked that would be appropriate for all year round. There are lots of cute holiday ones though. There was one that said WOOF, but that's not really the language that we speak in this house.

Then I went to 5:15 PM CrossFit. Ryan was in the 4:30 PM class was red in the face and dripping sweat. Oh nooo. If he had a hard time, how are the rest of us going to survive?? Well, Coaches Monica and Rob already saw me so it’s not like I could go back to my car. Heh. I let out a whimper of some sort and everyone laughed because I'm sure they knew what I was thinking: I'm gonna die. Monica came over to give me a big hug of reassurance. Thankfully Eileen showed up to do the workout with me. Today was thruster day and then we did a partner workout. One person rowed for 15 calories while the other person did wall balls…and you switched once the 15 calories were done. 10 minutes of this fun stuff. I still mustered the energy to go to spin class afterwards though. Go me!

After that, I went to visit my cousin who’s in town from California for the Thanksgiving holiday. What an awesome day off!

Bench Press and Card Order from the Office

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! Today was bench press day. I was working with 55 lbs, and it was starting to get tough towards the end. Ryan was doing 140 lbs like it was no big deal. I’m not sure how I’m going to get through the next few weeks with this exercise if we’re suppose to increase by 5-10 lbs every week. I’ll have to summon that strength from somewhere, I guess! We did clusters and step-ups for the workout. I went with 45 lbs and wow, the last round was challenging. It's far easier to step up onto the box with my right food than my left. I was praying that I wouldn't lean to one side and just fall off!

In other news, a coworker placed a card order this morning! He was telling me that he was out, looking for cards to buy and then realized "Oh, I can just buy them from Tina." YAY!

Julie is leaving for Nicaragua tomorrow, so stopped by my parents' house with a ham/pineapple/tomato pizza and the sunscreen that Julie asked me to pick up from Target.

Split Jerks and a Compliment

Today at CrossFit, we worked on split jerks, a move that I hadn't done before. All I could think about was "OMG, please let me not have this barbell fall on my head!" I worked with 50 lbs, so we'll see how this goes over the next few weeks. The Metcon, the workout was 21-15-9...power clean and lateral burpees. I thought I grabbed a 15 lb barbell, but really it was 35 lbs. I was wondering why I was struggling with the workout. I went to record my time and weights into Wodify, and my sister pointed out, “Didn’t you have more than that? I think you used a 35 lb bar.” Wait, what? Oh, yeah, I guess I did. Wow, that means I did 55 lbs for the workout…no wonder that was tough!
One of my friends at work caught me at the elevator before I left the office today.

"Tina, I got my birthday card from the office, but it wasn't one that you made! What's up with that??!" 

She looked shocked and horrified that she'd get something store bought and mass-produced because that hadn't happened in a a few years.

Well, HR's reasoning was because of "cutting costs." Anyway, it was nice to know that my efforts mattered to someone and she was looking forward to getting something that I made.

Day 41: Performance

I made it to 8:30 AM spin class and did some grocery shopping nearby. When I got home, I had plans to figure out what to make for food for the week, but the bed was more inviting and I ended up going back to bed for a few hours. Ah, it was nice. I woke up, put on a new gym shirt and went to do Crush60, Day 41: Performance. I have one more workout left in Phase 2. Yay, almost the home stretch.

Banana Pudding with My Sous Chefs

First victory today: walking around Target with a package of peppermint Oreos only to put them back before I left the store. I resisted their gravitational pull, so go me.

Second victory: making it through CrossFit without my body giving out. I worked on my ring rows and then the AMRAP was 11 thrusters, 14 box jumps (today’s date) and 28 burpees (it’s one of the co-owners birthday today and she’s turning 28), as many rounds/reps in 14 minutes. Next year, she should just say she’s turning 21 and save us all the agony. I had to stop a few times towards the end because my heart was racing too much and I thought my arms were going to give out, but I made it through 2 full rounds and a third set of the thrusters and box jumps. UGH. I'm glad that I went though, since I didn't get a workout in on Thursday or Friday this week.

I couldn't make it to Michelle's housewarming party, so I made it up today by going over to her house and making banana pudding with her kids. D put the first layer of cookies in the pan and Michelle cut up bananas for D to put on top of the cookies. I made the pudding while this was all going on. Mike, Michelle's husband, was like "I thought this was an old family recipe, but this is from AllRecipes.com." Family recipe?  Yeah, no. Hah. While we waited for the pudding to set, I played a matching game with D and caught up with Michelle (read: gossiped about work stuff). Another funny thing was when D wanted her dad to put a temporary mustache tattoo on her. OMG, that was hilarious!

After we ate some of the banana pudding, I said my goodbyes and went to my parents' house. Julie, Hugo and I decided on getting Five Guys cheeseburgers tonight and I also had to pick RJ up since he was staying there while I was in Atlanta.

Yay, dinner!!!

No, kitty. You cannot “has cheezburger.”

Atlanta, Day 3

Today was only a half day meeting, thankfully. We ended at noon and then it was time to clean up the room and head to the airport. Luckily, because of the timing, there wasn't much traffic on the roads, but it was a different story when it was time to get in the security line. I was probably in line for 30 minutes, which is unusual for me in Atlanta (but, then again, usually, I'm leaving around 4 PM).

A few notes from today:

• We recently did a 360 review at the office where employees were supposed to rate their respective supervisors. Well, I think this is a good idea in theory, but I'm not sure how useful it is if people aren't completely honest. In my case, I'm the only person that reports to my boss, so no matter what, she'll know that the feedback came from me. Yeah, that's no awkward, right? Fortunately, I only had nice things to say. At breakfast, my boss told me that she got an email from Human Resources with my comments. "That meant more to me than feedback that came from my boss." Oh.  Well, good! :D
• During this meeting, I had been sitting against the wall, in the corner while most people sat around the big table. Which was totally fine because I didn't have anything to contribute to the conversation as I was mainly there to soak in the information. At the end of the meeting, the facilitator had asked everyone what they were going to do to keep the momentum up from the meeting. Hey, that's something that I can respond to! I decided to take the seat that my boss's boss vacated. My boss made eye contact with me and nodded. I'm glad I could contribute something and prove that I was paying attention.
• On the plane, I was so ready to get home that I sat in the wrong seat. 20A instead of 21A. There was a little shifting of people and rows so that I could get to where I needed to be. Heh.

 I got so many compliments on this dress! JCPenney, folks. There are lots of gems there!

Almost home!

When I got home, Christmas music was playing on two of my radio presets (UGH, too early!) and then I turned on the TV to see the chaos in Paris. WTF?! I only watched the coverage for a little bit before I had to turn it off because it made my heart sink for everyone over there (and other places in the world that were experiencing a natural disaster or a terrorist attack). :(

Atlanta, Day 2

Ok (deep breath). Day 1 of meeting…check! 

Everyone (my bosses, stakeholders, meeting attendees) seemed happy at the end of the day. Well, especially after that group dinner. We went to a Chinese food restaurant that one of the meeting attendees recommended. She actually ordered for everyone and we sat at 2 tables with the circular tray in the middle and passed the food around. My favorites were the orange chicken and the dumplings (of course).

I was equally as happy (and thankful) that I was not in charge of taking notes for this meeting. It was nice to soak up the information and not have the pressure of having to get everything down on the computer.

Two cool things from today:

• I overheard one of the feds tell my boss's boss about how good of a job one of the staff back at the office is doing. The staff member is pretty new, but apparently, she "has hit the ground running." I was sitting behind the two of them, so it was easy to eavesdrop. I sent the staff member an email to let her know this had happened to brighten her day. I know it would have brightened mine if someone did that to me.
• I got an email from the Executive Director earlier tonight. He wants me to be on the interview panel for his new administrative assistant since the current one is leaving at the end of the month (WAH, I'm so sad about it!). I was kind of shocked, but wow, what a boost in confidence to know that my opinion mattered.

Anyway, it’s nice seeing everyone in person, but I’m glad to be heading home tomorrow.

Atlanta, Day 1

I'm glad that I was able to make it to CrossFit this morning because I'm not sure how much gym time I'll get in while I'm in Atlanta. We worked on our thrusters and then in observance of November 11, the AMRAP was 11 Pull-ups, 11 OH Walk lunge (each leg), 11 Push-ups and 11 Plate squats. Since it's Veterans Day, I didn't have to go to work before going to the airport. Truthfully, I came home to shower and went back to bed for another two hours.

The flight was uneventful because I basically slept the whole way. Once I met up with my boss, we made a trip to Target to get candy and candy dishes for the meeting and Office Depot for folders to put our meeting materials in. The Chinese food restaurant to get take out and then the hotel to check in. We set up camp in the breakfast area to stuff the folders so we wouldn't have to do it tomorrow.

We had a 5 minute debate in the candy aisle on what to get. Chocolate was a definite. I horrified myself by saying "What if there are people that don't want chocolate?" Is there such a thing?  Well, yes...Julie. There must be other people out there like her, those crazies. "Well, then they are out of luck." I think I gave her a look or whined or something because eventually she gave in and I put a back of Starbursts into the cart. Bah ha, I won. We were going to use Star Wars folders for the meeting because they were on clearance, but unfortunately there weren't enough. That would have been super funny! Last funny thing of the night, the Chinese food restaurant knew my name when I called them to place the order while we were driving (efficiency!). I guess that's normal for restaurants, but it totally caught me off guard.

Whew!

I inhaled these dumplings while watching Arrow. Yum!

Bench Presses at CrossFit

We worked on our bench presses this morning. I learned that you're not really supposed to lift straight up. Instead, there's an angle to the movement. As Maria put it, "The bar is supposed to end below your boobs" (not at my boobs, like I originally thought). Ah, that's a reference I can understand. We all laughed because of course, she could say it, but it'd be weird for Rob the coach to say it.

I wore my hair down today and put on some vampy lipstick before going to the office. I walked by the receptionist to say good morning and she said, "I see you looking glamorous. I see you. You're like a budding flower."  Hah...errr, thanks? This isn't the first time she's mentioned something like this. I find it kinda amusing. Sometimes, I wonder what the big deal is.

Most of the day was spent copying and making labels of the meeting tomorrow. And since this was my last day in the office this week, I had to make sure that I didn't forget anything!

Deadlifts at CrossFit

At CrossFit today, we worked on our deadlifts. I don't know if it's because of my back workout yesterday or what, but my working weight at 95 lbs felt so heavy. Blah. Oh, and it was really cold outside this morning. So cold that I actually had to scrape the frost off my windshield before heading out. Brrr!

Anyhoo, I decided to telework today, since I'll be traveling on Friday (my normal telework day). The rain didn't let up when it would have been time for me to head to spin class, so I stayed home and worked on cards and braided my hair (5 strand Dutch braid).

Super fun evening...heh.

Spinning, Lifting and Crafting

8:30 AM spin class, check!

Crush60, Day 40: Back, check! It was nice weather outside, so after the gym, I walked around the outdoor shopping mall and walked into New York & Company, DSW and Ulta to look around.

I came home, showered, and took a 2-hour nap. That workout was tough...especially with the hyperextensions at the end. I woke up and it was dark outside, which is a little jarring. Ahh, what time is it?! Oh, 6:00 PM?  Whew, ok, we're good. I worked on some holiday cards, specifically Christmas tree ones for the upcoming holiday craft show. I'd say it's been a productive day! It's going to be a busy week ahead though because I have to be in Atlanta Wednesday-Friday.

Shopping and Spectre

I made this birthday card for Robyn the other day, using a Spellbinders vase die, American Crafts brads and a Stampin' Up sentiment stamp.

I went to the mall today, specifically to New York & Company because I had some City Cash to spend.  I came away with 2 new tops and 2 new pairs of earrings, using $30 in City Cash and buy 1, get 1 50% off the tops and buy 1, get 1 75% off the earrings. Bah ha ha.

I headed over to Robyn's place to meet up with her, Meg and Meg's boyfriend so we could go see Spectre. I couldn't tell if my body was sore from this past week's workouts or from sitting through the movie so tensely from all the suspense and action sequences. I can't say that I enjoyed it more than Skyfall or Casino Royale, but it was really good.

Hang Squat Clean PR and New Christmas Ornaments

I PRed my 1RM hang squat clean at CrossFit tonight…80 lbs. More importantly, I didn't hit my chin like I did last week. I'm excited to see what the exercises are for the next strength cycle. I'm determined to get my name up on the whiteboard for at least one of them, whatever they are.
Then I went to the nearby shopping mall in search of a birthday gift for Robyn (her birthday is on Saturday). I cringed when I saw all the holiday stuff at Target (it’s too early!), but wandered over to that section like a magnet to all the pretty decorations/ornaments. I picked out Catwoman for myself and Wonder Woman for Robyn. So stinkin’ cute! I wanted to get Captain America and Anger from Inside Out, but I’ll save those purchases for another trip. I also got her a bike helmet light and a bike bell. Safety first! I kinda wanted to get her a honky bike horn, but she said that she was "too demure" for that.

Push Press PR at CrossFit

Today was Day 4 of test week at CrossFit. It was the first class for one of the coaches. She seemed familiar, maybe she subbed for one of the spin classes I took a the gym a while back? Anyway, it was a full class today so we had to share barbells for our push presses. Last week, I was working with 70 lbs and today we were asked to do our 1RM. I was able to do 90 lbs, which was tough. I tried for 95 lbs, but didn't make it very far. Hey, I'm happy with a 20 lb increase! I was a little slow in getting my dumbbells for the AMRAP workout. All the 15 lbs ones were gone so I had to work with a pair of 20 lbs for the dumbbell thrusters. OMG, that was so hard, especially with the push presses we had just worked on. Agony!

One of the co-owners squashed a huge ugly cricket before the AMRAP. Jackie and I were horrified at the guts. He went into the bathroom to get some Lysol and paper towels to clean up the crime scene. Gross.

Afterwards, I went to spin class and then my parents' house to raid the fridge. Julie is out of town so she texted me to let me know there was food at the house for me since she wasn't going to be able to eat it: half a Subway sandwich and the crumbs at the bottom of her bag of chips.

Push-Ups in a Small World

CrossFit Test Week Day #3- Push-Ups. I was able to do an unassisted push-up with 5 lbs on my back. I tried for 10 lbs but the weight started sliding off because my form was faltering. I increased my max reps from 20 last week to 26 today using black and red bands for assistance. Whoo hoo. I'm glad that Maria came to class today because it's been a while since we've seen her at a morning class. Good thing we didn't have to send out a search party.

Trainer: Pop Quiz- what touches the ground when you do a push up?
Maria: Your chest.
Me: Your hands and feet.

Heh, it's true though...but not the answer he was looking for.

The workday went well, even though the highlights of my day have nothing to do with work. I went to lunch with Morgan and caught up with him. I also got a text message from my friend Jenny about our intern. Wow, small world! I introduced myself to her on her first day at the office. Her boss asked me to be her mentor, but then I later found out that interns don't get mentors. Err...
I picked up a book at the library called "The Missing Ink" (a book about handwriting) at the renovated library near work. They have a different holds system than the other older libraries. There's a wall of lockers on the side of the building and you enter in the last 5 digits of your library card into the keypad and the locker with your holds pops open. Very very cool!