CrossFit, New Nails, and Botanical Gardens Visit

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! We worked on our pull-ups and then the WOD was 3 rounds of the following.

400 m run (Everyone else did 800 m. I didn’t want to push it)
30 sit-ups (slowlyyy)
15 push-ups (with bands)
Time: 17:40

YAY! Considering I could barely get out of bed last TH without a lot of pain, I’m feeling good about my healing.

I’m also taking the day off, double YAY! I did my nails in the first time in forever. I went with a white base and gold nail art. The weather was so nice that I also went to the nearby botanical gardens and walked around to enjoy the sunshine and light breeze and beautiful flowers. I made a mental note to go back when the tulips are in bloom.

I also went to spin class in the evening. I feel so bad because my attendance has been inconsistent, and people wonder where I am and why I disappeared. But at least this time, it's not because of laziness (although going to spin class after already going to CrossFit in the morning is TOUGH!), I had a legit injury. Blah. After spin class, I went to my parents' house to eat dinner and watch the CrossFit Open 16.5 Open workout announcement.

Push Presses and New Liquid Lipstick

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! We worked on our push presses. I went with the weight I did on Saturday since I had to stop midway during the third set, rerack, rest and continue. Today went much more smoothly and I was able to do the last set without reracking. 3 x 5 at 85 lbs.

WOD, 5 rounds for time:
5 overhead plate step-ups per leg (15 lbs)
10 plate burpees
Time: 10:00

Oh, and I did my nails last night.

Reggie had a $5 coupon for a nearby Cuban-Latin restaurant so I tagged along when he went to get lunch. The restaurant was nice to let us both use the coupon. He got the chicken tacos, and I got a rice bowl with pork (the meals also included a side dish too). Yum! So much better than Chipotle: cheaper without the risk of sickness.

My Sephora order came in today: Stila all day liquid lipstick in Ricco (a very dark brick red. We’ll see how this formula compares to the Sephora cream lip stain) and a purse spray version of Gucci Guilty. This is my second bottle (Tube? What do you even call it?)...maybe I should just spring for a full sized version next time.

We're supposed to get some snow tomorrow...1-3 inches I think. It doesn't sound like a lot, but we got maybe an inch the Wednesday before Snowzilla a few weeks ago and everything was a mess. I took my work computer home just in case I have the option to telework. I do NOT want to be sitting in morning traffic!

CrossFit Pop-Up Class and Snowstorm Jonas

6:30 AM CrossFit, check. The coach was kind to open up the gym for this pop-up class, especially since the blizzard will probably close the gym for a few days. Apparently other people had the same idea since there were more people than usual for this early class. We worked on our wall-walks/handstands and tucks holds/L-sits (15 second holds each).  Yep, still difficult. My arms were shaking towards the end.

WOD. 10:00 AMRAP:
5 Shoulder to overhead (55 lbs)
10 Pull-ups
15 Walking Lunges each leg

The snow started to fall around 1 PM today, right on schedule. You know it's going to be bad when they shut down public transportation (subway, buses) and the National Mall.

Sunday Funday!

I woke up really sore from Friday and Saturday's workouts, so no spin class for me today! It was a productive day anyway!

• Worked on my cross-stitch project with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone playing in the background while watching the snow fall outside (it didn't really accumulate)
• Did laundry and scrubbed down the kitchen
• Did my nails.
• Made chocolate chip banana bread from last week's leftover meeting bananas.

Happy Sunday Funday to 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).

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

Sad Day, Happy Day

Today was a sad day and a happy day at the same time.

My coworker Kara's last day was today, and while I had planned to work at home, I decided to go to the office and give her a proper goodbye. I also wanted to see her expression when she opened the card that everyone signed for her. Her team also gave her a goodie bag of library related things: I Work at a Public Library, a tumbler that said Librarian: the Original Search Engine, and a necklace with a pendant that said "I love the smell of books."

I ran out of work around 4 PM to go pick Suzie up at the subway station. We got Indian food for dinner, and she introduced me to the Great British Baking Show on Netflix. The contestants on this show seemed a lot more charming than ones seen in American Shows. Watching several episodes of it makes me want to up my baking game, i.e. venturing into making bread (I don't know what to do with yeast!).

I also did my nails in the spirit of Halloween and going to my reunion tomorrow.

Old T-Shirt and New Nails

While going through some of the clothes I had stored away, I found my favorite t-shirt from college. I don't think I'll ever have the heart to get rid of it because of all the many hours I spent in the Science Center studying (I was a chemistry major). However, these days, I need to replace it with one that says, “I can’t, I have to go to the gym.”

I took a break from my work computer this afternoon to do some nail art (hooray for feeling better and not needing to use another sick day!). This is 2 coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Heat Wave with Maybelline Color Show nail polish in Bold Gold for the nail art, using the Cheeky Happy Nails plate.

Stuffed Peppers, CrossFit and New Nails

I decided to take today and tomorrow off, making this Columbus Day holiday a little longer. Mwah ha ha.

It was nice to be able to go back to sleep after my 5:30 AM wake-up call from RJ. Except I was woken up again around 8:30 AM by the neighbor slamming something next door and his kid crying. It was really jarring. WTH?!!  What could really be that bad that you had to be so loud and scary first thing in the morning?

Once I got moving, I ate breakfast and went to the grocery store to get supplies for Old El Paso Back-to-School // Enchilada-Style Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers (Recipe #5 of 2015). I found the recipe when I was scrolling through Tastespotting a few days ago, and conveniently peppers were on sale. I used green lentils instead of French ones because that's what I had in my cabinet already, and I also tossed in a can of chick peas for some protein. While they were in the oven, I vacuumed the house (multi-tasking at its best). I ate two of them for lunch, delicious!

Before

After. (P.S. Everything is better with a layer of cheese)

I went to 5:15 PM CrossFit. I was sitting in one of the folding chairs, checking emails and Maria came through the door. "TIIINAAA, I'm so happy to see you!" She was worried she wouldn't know anyone in class since she's part of the morning crew. Aw. :) I think it's so cool that I've been able to develop these relationships with people in such a short time. It's all the sweat and struggle that brings us together, hah. We worked on our pushups and then for the AMRAP, we did dumbbell thrusters and burpees to a target. I picked up the 15 lbs for the thrusters and about halfway, I was tempted to get the 10 lb ones but they were all taken. Okayyyy, just gotta push through it. Whew!  Then I went to spin class afterwards and my parents' house to check in.

When we were stretching, Maria complimented me on my burpees and said they were "graceful." Hah, it sure didnt't feel graceful.  I joked that it sounded like a pick-up line. We laughed and laughed about it, probably from exhaustion. "Ha ha, yes! It's like a pick-up line only CrossFitters would use."

Oh, I did my nails yesterday. OPI-Onyx and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Silver Sweep with Bundle Monster plate #314.

July 4th Nails

Feeling appropriately patriotic, I did a July 4th manicure on Friday night. Some glitter, some metallic, some nail art stamping. :)

In an effort to burn off last night's dinner (or rather dessert), I went to a 45 minute spin class this morning, went home to do a load in the dishwasher/eat/charge phone/take a short nap and then went to the other gym to do Day 4 of Crush60 (arms). I could definitely feel it when I was washing my hair. Tomorrow should be interesting, especially with traveling to Atlanta for work.

There was a guy doing cable chest flys that was creeping me out. A helpful tip: talking to yourself out loud as a form of motivation makes you look more like a looney toon than He-Man, mkay? (eye roll)

New Nails!

I woke up to RJ sleeping by the bedroom door, belly up. I have no idea why since there was no sunlight to lay in nor did it look particularly comfortable. What a weirdo. Anyway, I went to the 8:30 AM spin class and then went grocery shopping next door. When I got home, I did my nails with some nail stamping. This is a combination of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Mint Sprint and Sally Hansen XtremeWear in WhiteOn with Bundle Monster Plate 321. I cranked out a FitnessBlender workout (Total Body Strength Training with Dumbbells - Challenging Dynamic Superset Workout) before meeting up with Stephanie's mom who gave me 10 bahzhangs to share with my family. :)

New Nails

It was pretty alarming to turn on the news this morning to see Baltimore up in flames.  That was not what was going on when I went to sleep last night. They also said something about a curfew starting tonight, but why couldn't they have started last night when things were already really out of control.  I guess they didn't have enough law enforcement and military to enforce the curfew?  I just hope it gets better as the week goes on and that officials learn from this event and be more prepared/take more initiative next time (not that there should be a next time).

I was inspired by the nice weather today and did some nail art.  Hello spring! This is Cheeky Happy Nails plate with Sally Hansen in Mint Sortbet nail polish for a base coat and Sally Hansen InstaDri nail polish in Presto Pink for stamping.

Back from Iowa

Getting home from Iowa was quite the challenge.  I got to the Cedar Rapids airport at around 8:30 AM Thursday since my boss's flight was before mine and she had the rental car.  I knew the airport had free WiFi so I could amuse myself until my flight at 12:30 PM.  My boss went to go check in and when we said our "see you laters", she also mentioned that the two previous flights to Chicago were cancelled due to thunderstorms in that area.  My flight to Chicago was still on schedule.  But that didn't last long.  I was probably delayed around 4 hours.  We even got on the plane and then after the last person got on, they had us get off the plane because Chicago had another ground stop.  Once I got to Chicago, I was delayed another hour before getting on the plane and then there were about 4 other planes in line to take off.  I got quite a lightening show from my window seat. o_0  The one good thing about the Chicago to DCA flight was that there was a seat in between me and the gentleman in the aisle seat and I also got what seemed like extra leg room (not that I need it since I'm short).  Then I had to take a 45 minute taxi ride to my Metro station to retrieve my car and then drive home.  I didn't roll up to my front door until about 1:30 AM.  BLAH.

Surprisingly, I wasn't really struggling to get work done today.  I took a break to go to the post office to mail off an Etsy order and the mall to get a Chipotle burrito using the gift card that I got from employee appreciation week.  I've been wanting to get one for a while, but the line was always out the door at the one near work.  Good for their business though!

After I shut down my work computer, I went to my parents' house to go for a walk with Julie and get RJ.

Oh hai!  I like ribs too!

Mom gave me this Estee Lauder Pure Color nail polish in Sweet Pea for my birthday. I felt sorta...guilty? that she got me high end nail polish since I would much prefer to go drugstore on that front.  Or pretty much on all fronts.  But it's pretty for spring and I couldn't say no!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I've never been one to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, but I kinda did this year.  First off, one of the hotels that we give a lot of business to gave the office a bunch of cupcakes for the staff.  How nice of them!  Today is Day 2 of Employee Appreciation Week and the activity was bowling.  I originally had a conference call scheduled for that time and when that didn't happen, I didn't feel like going bowling so I stayed behind (and so did a bunch of other people too).  I went to Safeway instead and got some snacks for Wednesday and Thursday's meetings.

For dinner, I headed over to Sirin's place where she was made a corned beef brisket, some red cabbage and a kale salad.  I brought over some Halos and my nail art kit because she was interested in how it's done.  It was nice to catch up with her since the last time I saw her was almost a year ago. 

Me on the left, Sirin on the right.

Valentine's Day Nails and Chocolate Cheesecake

Valentine's Day is tomorrow, so of course I needed to have Valentine's Day nails!

This is Bundle Monster Plate #317 with Sally Hansen in White On nail polish for a base coat and Sally Hansen InstaDri nail polish in Racey Rouge for stamping.

Robyn and Meg are coming over to celebrate my birthday tomorrow and I said that I would make dessert. I wanted to try something other than plain or pumpkin cheesecake so I found a chocolate cheesecake recipe. I didn't make any of the melted chocolate topping because there's enough chocolate and sugariness in the cake and I also used regular graham crackers instead of chocolate cookies because that's what I had on hand.  I can't wait to try it tomorrow!

Volunteering and New Nails

Volunteer Activity #9 of 2014: I went to City Sports this morning from 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM to volunteer at the Turkey Chase packet pick up.  Snow was coming down around 11 AM in big flakes, but the weather wasn't cold enough where it was sticking anywhere.  It was pretty to see through the store windows though.

New Nails: I was feeling inspired by the snowy weather today and my other manicure was chipping so I did my nails with a snowflake pattern.  This is Bundle Monster Plate #323 with 2 coats of China Glaze's Little Drummer Boy for the base coat and Sally Hansen in White On nail polish for stamping

I also made my pumpkin cheesecake in preparation for tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' house.

New Nails and Hairdo

It's too cold to be outside today, so I decided to switch up my manicure and try a new hairdo.  This one is the Cheeky A plate and I used 2 coats of Sally Hansen in White On nail polish and Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Gray by Gray for stamping.

I saw this Halo braid tutorial on YouTube (source: Twist Me Pretty) and wanted to try it out myself. It's tough because it's one braid all the way around and at some point you have to switch hands. And then your arms also get tired. But I did it! I don't think I have it mastered enough to do it to wear it to work, but practice makes perfect!  I'm determined to keep my long hair, but I wanted to learn more techniques so I can be more creative than a ponytail every day.

Sunday Nails

2 spin classes today, check!  I wasn't sure I was going to be able to make it through the second class, but I kept going.  Yay for big accomplishments before lunch!

I decided to do some nail stamping this afternoon.  This one is the Cheeky Happy Nails plate and I used 2 coats of Sonia Kashuk nail polish in Tumultuous Teal and Maybelline Color Show nail polish in Bold Gold.

Halloween Nails

On my day off yesterday, I did my nails with my newish Cheeky Plates.  This one is the Happy Nails plate and I used 2 coats of Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri in Man-go Team and the Konad black nail polish.  I love the way these turned out because it's a cool spin on Halloween. 

New Nail Polish Storage and Nails

After going to the spin class this morning, I went to Bed, Bath & Beyond, armed with a 20% off coupon. I wanted to get a shoe hanger to store my nail polish and free up a shelf in my bathroom. Now I can hide my slight nail polish addiction, ha ha.

Robyn and Julie came over last night to make some dumplings for dinner. I had a plate of leftovers that I wanted to eat for lunch and dinner tonight, but I accidentally dropped the plate of them after I got home from the gym. Well there goes that idea! Fortunately, I bought extra ground beef and had almost all the ingredients that I needed (except ginger), so I made another batch for myself tonight.

While watching the Real Housewives of New Jersey tonight, I painted my nails with CoverGirl's nail polish in Grapevine.