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Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Bench Press Womp

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! Test week: 1 rep max for bench press. I was really hoping for 105 lbs (+5 from my last PR of 100 lbs back in May) but alas, it didn’t happen. However, I was able to do a 1 RM of 100 lbs today with one try, so at least I didn't regress. Sigh…grrr, next time! One of the guys did 235 lbs (?!).

WOD, 7:00
3,6,9, etc. ladder
Hanging knee raises
Dumbbell thrusters (25 lbs per hand)
I got through the 12s and then completed 5 of the thrusters. Whew!

Today's my last day off of my 4 day weekend, and it was good timing because I was feeling discouraged and down about the workout this morning. It's only a 5 lb increase, why couldn't I do it? Maybe it's more of a mental block? It kinda sucks to put in the work for a 6-week strength cycle and not really have anything to show for it (at least I PRed yesterday on squat cleans!). I took a shower and then did some organizing (threw away some beauty products that had expired, collapsed some boxes, put some plastic recycling together) and after a nap and some food, I felt better. Heh.

RJ also smacked me in the face when we were playing peekaboo. I was laying down on the edge of the bed and he was on the floor. Grr, you jerk!  At least he didn't use any claws.

Oh, and my Milani Cosmetics order came in yesterday (ordered TH, delivered MON, wow!). I didn't know because I hadn't checked my mail box yesterday and then when I got an order complete email and checked the tracking, it said that it had been delivered! Yay, I can't wait to try this new stuff out.

Monday, August 29, 2016

Testing Squat Cleans and Custom Wedding Card Order from the Office

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! It’s test week, and today we tested out 1 RM for squat cleans. After 3 tries, I was able to do 100 lbs. It was down to the last possible minute, but I did it! I had to sit down on the mat right after because my body was like "Ok, let's take a little break, right now."

WOD, 8:00 AMRAP
21 push presses (55 lbs)
15 front squats (55 lbs)
9 pull ups with green and red bands
I got through 2 complete rounds, and 8 of the push presses in the 3rd round. The goal was 5 rounds. I don’t think anyone was able to hit that, so I don’t feel bad.

When I got home, since I was already sweaty, I trimmed the bushes outside the townhouse, vacuumed, and scrubbed down the bathroom. Not bad for a day off and before 9 AM. I also went to deposit a check and run by Ulta (I bought a few lip liners using my 20% off coupon, 3 from NYX and 1 from Rimmel).

Before I went to Jacksonville for vacation, one of the girls at work asked me if I could make a custom wedding card for her friends upcoming nuptials. I was thinking she'd want something flowery, but nope. She had a specific request.
I was wondering if it might be possible to have the two main characters of the card be a marmot and a bear. That would be a very personal card for them! Front of card: “Whoever thought that a marmot and a bear would get married?!?” Inside of card: “Best wishes in your new den.”
Ummm...ok, sure. Internally, I was thinking, "What's a marmot?  Like a groundhog? I had to google it first to double check.  Here's the card that I came up with. I sent this picture to my coworker, and she really liked it, so mission accomplished! :)

Saturday, August 27, 2016

Performance Review

On this year's annual performance review, I received an "exceeded expectations" rating! I was hoping for that because when my teammate left last summer, I took on some extra work on top of the work that I currently do. It was nice to have the hard work pay off.

A celebratory shopping spree was in order, of course:
  • New cat mug.  Bah ha, it even looks like RJ. I think he'd have the confidence to rock some pink sunglasses.
  • New makeup and make up brushes from Milani and ELF (purchased online, hopefully it'll be shipped out soon!).
  • New crafty items: ink pads and liquid pearl pen for Joann's. The ink pads were already 50% off and then I had a coupon for 20% off your entire order (sale and original priced items).
  • New underwear from Victoria's Secret. The sales associate gave me one of those tickets that you tear off to reveal a coupon/deal. Mine was for a free full-sized lotion. I've never tried their lotion before, and yikes, they have quite a selection. I didn't want to take forever trying to pick one out, so I went with something safe: vanilla. And now I smell like cake! :)

Monday, August 22, 2016

Payment in Challah

Ugh, first day back from vacation. I got my CrossFit workout in this morning. We worked on our overhead squats and I had to decrease my load by 5 lbs to 50 lbs because 55 lbs was hurting my wrists. For the WOD, we did Fran and even though I took longer than I did when we did the workout last year, I was able to handle more weight.

I had 2 loaves of Michelle's challah bread waiting for me at the office, as payment for watering her vegetable garden the week of August 8. She made two smaller loaves, one for now and one for the freezer, but truthfully, it's so delicious that I don't think either loaf will last very long.

My brain must still be on vacation. I went to CVS to get some candy to refill the communal candy bowl at the office. I had 2 coupons to use, but the self-checkout machine didn't want to take them. What the heck? The CVS employee asked me if I had scanned my card yet. Oh. Um, no.  Heh. Blah.
I had just a good time in Jacksonville, so I thought it would be the right thing to do to send some snail mail to Page, her brother and her father for being such good hosts.

Saturday, August 20, 2016

Jacksonville, Day 4

On my last full day in Jacksonville, Page and I wanted to host a dinner. On our way back from St. Augustine yesterday, we stopped at some grocery stores to get what we needed for dumplings. And we spent the majority of the morning wrapping them while watching the Olympics. Her cat provided moral support.

When it was time for dinner, Page's dad, brother (he brought sangria) and grandfather came as well as 2 family friends (they brought a salad). We had quite a feast. Her grandfather had never had dumplings before, but it looked like he really enjoyed them because he kept going back for more! It was a really great way to cap off the vacation. I'll be sad to go home tomorrow.

Friday, August 19, 2016

Jacksonville, Day 3

Layla, Page's part-time cat, was outside to hang out with me and Page as we waited for Brightman to pick us up so that we could go to St. Augustine.

In St. Augustine, we decide that the best way to see everything was to take the hop-on-and-off trolley tour and not have to walk in the oppressive heat. While we waited at our first stop, we checked out the first drugstore, which had all kinds of weird stuff behind the glass. It was cool to hear about the history and the widespread influence that Henry Flagler had in the area.
About halfway through the tour, we decided to hop off and find some lunch. The Columbia Restaurant was suggested by Page's friend, and what made it even better is that they served some awesome sangria, which we had to try of course. Page was clearly very excited.
I ordered the ropa vieja (Page got a salad and Brightman got something with mussels). The sangria was so good that Brightman bought the mix to make some for the family dinner that we're hosting tomorrow.
We went to an Asian grocery store and Publix to get some supplies for the dumplings that we are making tomorrow. I made sure to give Lilly some cuddles when we got home to relax and watch the Olympics on tv.
One cool thing that Page showed me was a Winnnie-the-Pooh box of all the cards that I've sent her over the years, starting in 2008 (I think). It was funny to read the stuff I reported on as I took a trip down memory lane. The bird card in the bottom right is card #50.

Thursday, August 18, 2016

Jacksonville, Day 2

Becoming best friends with Lilly the cat turned out to be a bad decision. Page kicked her out of her room and since I left mine cracked, Lilly came to wake me up for breakfast at around 6 AM, just like RJ. Ugh, I went on vacation to escape the early wake-up calls. What's even worse was that she attacked my feet through the thin blankets and she has very sharp claws, so yeah, now I have marks on my feet. I got up to feed her and then went back to my room. I must have dozed off because my phone alarm woke me up. Page had an appointment this morning and I vaguely remember her saying that she had to be out of the house by 8:30 AM. I felt like I was back in college, except I wasn't shooing her to get to class, "Page! You have to get up! You have an appointment!" She quickly changed and zoomed out of the house.
I waited around for her brother, Brightman, who was taking a yoga class this morning. He came to pick me up and we drove to the beach. He told me more about his El Camino hike and his girl issues, while Page was at her appointment. Everyone met back up at Page's house and then we went lunch at a diner-ish place. We also went to a nearby gallery because Brightman was interested in buying some art at some point and the gallery was going to be moving soon so the owner was willing to cut him a deal. We also paid Page's grandfather a visit. Wow, his house is huge! I was surprised that he remembered me and my family from graduation, 11 years ago!
This evening, the three of us went to see Page's father and he took us on a 30 minute boat ride to a fish camp (a restaurant where you could ride your boat and dock it). The restaurant was very interesting. They had a live alligator in an enclosure, eek. It was also decorated with lots of taxidermy animals, double eek. The food was delicious. I tried fried alligator (there was a lot of batter, so I didn't taste much of the meat) and got the fried scallop platter. Yum! The boat ride back was so nice with the sun setting and the cooler weather. :)

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Jacksonville, Day 1

Hooray, time for a much needed vacation! It's not going to be a long one, but it'll be nice to get away for a little bit. I'm off to Jacksonville, Florida to visit my friend from undergrad Page. She purchased a house there, and I'll be hanging out with her until Sunday morning. It'll be an added bonus if I can see her brother (he was a freshman when we were seniors) and her father.  Page's mom, unfortunately, passed away back in the fall after a long battle with breast cancer, so it'll be nice to see how the family is doing.

After a short flight, Page picked me up at the airport and we went immediately to her brother's apartment high-rise. Wow, his place was decorated so nicely, like something out of a magazine. I was really impressed. And then I remember, ok, yes, Brightman is now an adult, not some college freshman anymore. It's appropriate for him to have nice matching, grown-up furniture.

The three of us walked over the bridge and towards Sweet Pete's, a confectionery. Wow, looking at all the different types of candy was a little overwhelming! We ended up getting a few boxes, and each of us got one of those specialty sodas. I went with grape, but they had things like bacon-flavored soda for anyone who's brave enough to try it. We took the skyway train back to the car and then Brightman drove us to dinner. I had a crab pasta dish that was delicious!
Then it was off to Page's place. She had given me a tour via FaceTime, but it was cool to see it in person. Her roommate was out-of-town for my visit, so we had some one-on-one time. I got my own room and bathroom, so that was really nice too.  OH, and her kitty is all grown up!

Saturday, August 13, 2016

Dinner with the CrossFit Girls

Work out together, eat together.

I got a side salad and the meatloaf (which I got last time, but it was so good that I wanted it again). I didn't get a drink last time since they are rather expensive. I swapped it out for sharing dessert: slices of lemon cake and chocolate cake. Yum!

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Delta Woes

On the way to CrossFit yesterday morning, the radio was saying that Delta Airlines was experiencing major delays and cancellations due to an outage. Oh great. How was this going to impact my trip to Atlanta??

I kept an eye on my flight information when I got home from the gym. Since I had the extra time, I went to Safeway to get some travel snacks. I went to the airport fully knowing that the flight would be delayed some more. Delta even went so far as to order what looked like 60 pizzas and popcorn for the people in the waiting area. Normally, I would be happy about free food, but I'm already kinda a nervous traveler and I just wanted to GO! Surprisingly, people weren't really visibly upset in the waiting area. I'm not sure if that's because of the advance notice of the delay or they were in a food coma (or both!).

I was supposed to get to Atlanta around 5 PM and meet my boss at baggage claim so that we could get dinner and go to the hotel. All that waiting resulted in me getting to Atlanta around 8:30 PM and getting to my hotel room at around 9:30 PM. Sigh.

Anyway, the meeting today was successful and my boss was happy, so that's really all that matters to me. I'm thankful this was a short trip! My boss said that Delta was going to give $200 travel vouchers to affected customers, so I'll be on the lookout for it and planning for a random fun trip in the back of my mind.

Saturday, August 6, 2016

Happy Birthday, Hugo!

My cousin's birthday is coming up on Monday, but we decided to celebrate earlier. We went over for pizza and cake. He specifically requested a chocolate cake, which I baked last night. While I would have liked to have made the frosting from scratch, I haven't been able to master the right consistency, so I went with store-bought (heh).

Thursday, August 4, 2016

Korean Lunch with Coworkers

I went with 3 of my coworkers to a Korean place for lunch. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. I got a rice bowl and you got to choose from a selection of things to add to it. I went with eggs (both sunny side up and omelet style), cucumber, and bulgogi beef for around $10. I would totally go to this place again, but there are other restaurants in the area that we want to try out first before circling back to this one.
Even though I went to CrossFit this morning, I still had gas in the tank to go to spin class tonight.

I went to my parents’ house afterwards and my sister and I split the last of the curry rice. Harry the Homeless Cat paid a visit, WITH A BABY BUNNY IN HIS MOUTH. It was still alive too! We yelled and chased him into the garden, hoping he’d let go, which he did. My sister went to pick up the bunny with an old towel and it leapt out of her hands. The scene was like something out of a cartoon: Harry chasing after the baby bunny and the sister chasing after Harry. We have no idea where the little guy ended up; I hope it’s still alive!

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Payment in Macaroni and Cheese

As payment for watering her vegetable garden, my coworker Michelle gave me at tray of macaroni and cheese. This was a similar arrangement to when I did my first Craft Time with Tina with her daughter and her daughter's friend.

The tray was actually kinda heavy. I made sure to share a considerable amount with Julie because it would not be a good idea to eat it all on my own! 

Michelle lives near my parents' so this was really minimal work for food that will last me a few days. Sounds like a win to me! :)

Monday, August 1, 2016

Office Potluck Success

My hope was that I'd come home with an empty tray of banana pudding and enough dumplings leftover for dinner tonight, and mission accomplished. Other items that people brought in from the potluck were: deviled eggs, challah (OMG, this was my favorite!), shepherd's pie (also very good!), some sort of African rice, etc. There were also some sort bought desserts, but meh, not very exciting. I did have one of the red velvet truffles that someone brought in. It was tasty, but very rich. I'm glad I had the self control to have just one!
I set aside some dumplings and scooped up the last of the banana pudding to save for my coworker's kids (my banana pudding sous chef and her little brother). My coworker uploaded a video to my Facebook of them saying "Thank you, Tina!" OMG, yes! With that much cuteness and good manners, I will totally make you more in the future!