The CrossFit Community

When you read about CrossFit, there's usually an element of community somewhere in the article. For the morning classes, it used to be Maria, Ryan, my sister and myself. Maria moved to Mexico in October last year, but even today, her name still came up. Coach Rel said that she was still expecting Maria to be scurrying down the parking lot exactly at 6:30 AM and we could start class. I still text with her at least weekly just to see how she's doing. I hope I can count on her in 2017 to tell me that whatever cake or baked goodie I'm lusting after is probably dry and awful, and I shouldn't have any. Once an accountability partner, always an accountability partner I guess.

After doing my makeup inventory on Monday, I took note of what items (makeup and non-makeup) are almost done that I need to focus on in the next month or so in order to finish them up: 2 Bath and Body Works sprays, 1 deodorant, 1 lotion, and 1 Maybelline Color Tattoo in Bad to the Bronze. I want to get back into the habit of doing empties on my blog every so often, especially this year where I'm going to make a conscious effort to finish stuff up instead of bringing stuff in!

Tina's 2017 New Year's Resolutions

CrossFit

• 100 burpees for time, sub 9:45 (current time 10:15)
• 1 RM bench press @ 115 lbs (current 1 RM is 105)
• 20 consecutive double unders

Crafty Work

• Cease buying craft supplies unless for specific project/order or I completely run out of something
• Reach 1,000 sales on Etsy (currently at 944 sales)
• Create a stock pile of cards for the office and whatever money that would have otherwise gone into my pocket will be a donation to the animal shelter where I got my cat at 5 years ago. I want to encourage people to write and send more cards because I feel like it’s such a rarity these days.

Makeup
Allow myself 12 new makeup products that I buy with my own money. Caveats: If I get them as gifts, hey, that’s cool with me! And also, if something runs out, like concealer, that doesn’t go against the 12. I want to challenge myself to use and really love/appreciate the collection that I have already, and not impulsively buy something that’s new and exciting.

Family
I’m stealing this one from my sister: have a sit-down dinner with my family once a week.

Last Workout of 2016 and New Year's Eve

9:30 AM CrossFit, check! The last workout of the year was a partner one.

Partner A completes 3 rounds of the following circuit:
10 Thrusters (55 lbs)
5 Pull-ups (with bands)
10 Push-ups (with bands)
15 Air squats
20 Burpees

While Partner A is doing that, Partner B does the following until A is finished and the switch.
400 m run
25 Sit-ups

Oh boy, this was tough! My sister did A first while I did B. She got through almost all 3 rounds before time was up for the people that decided to do A first. I got through 2 complete rounds of A before time was up for me, and the next class was coming in. Whew!
I’m closing out 2016 on a positive note:

• Baked a loaf of chocolate chip banana bread.
• Vacuumed the house, scrubbed down the bathroom, and did a load in the dishwasher and washer. Ah, a clean house to start 2017 with! 
• Tried out my new Urban Decay Vice lipsticks that came in the mail today: Alpha and Moshpit.  
• My sister and Robyn came over to make dumplings and EAT ALL THE FOOD and watch Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince as we waited for the ball to drop. I could barely keep my eyes open, heh.

12 Days of Strong WOD and Merry Christmas Eve

9:30 AM CrossFit, check! It’s the 12 Days WOD at the box. Last year we had to partner up to share equipment because there were so many people, but this year, the owner asked that you signed up to make sure we had enough space so everyone could get their own equipment. Like the song, you had to do 1 and then 2, 1 and then 3, 2, 1, etc.

WOD, for time, 40:00 time cap:
1 Thruster (55 lbs)
2 Push-ups (on my knees)
3 Box Jumps (18 inch box)
4 Power cleans (55 lbs)
5 Lateral burpees
6 Push press (55 lbs)
7 Walking lunges each leg
8 Wall balls (8 lbs)
9 V-ups (sit-ups)
10 Pull-ups (with red and green bands)
11 Front squats (55 lbs)
12 Barbell step ups (55 lbs)
Time: 39:33

I think I was the last or second to last person to finish, but I finished…and within the time cap! I’m really proud of myself because I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to do it as the final minutes were ticking down. Everyone cheered and went to get a snack (Coach Melissa brought homemade Rice Krispies treats and homemade peppermint bark). RJ was in the same spot that he was in when I left the house.

Christmas Eve dinner was at my parents' house. Several people brought dishes, so Mom wouldn't be stuck making everything herself: Mom made fried noodles, Aunt made vegetable and chicken dishes, my cousin brought a salmon lasagna and another cousin brought potatoes and a sticky rice dish. I finished everything off with my plain cheesecake with blueberry topping.

Then it was time to open gifts. The cousins did a white elephant exchange. I ended up with what my sister contributed: a Regal movies gift card and a pack of gummy bears. My cousin's girlfriend ended up with what I contributed: a nice red blanket. The cousins all chipped in for a new tv for my uncle and aunt. This was the year of cat presents for me: Julie and I gave each other cat t-shirts, Mom gave me a cat mug and cat flannel sheets, and my friend Suzie sent me a stamp with cats on them.

Cards from Crafty Friends

After I went to CrossFit this morning, I checked my mailbox and found 2 Christmas cards from crafty friends: Jen gave me the cat card and Louise gave me the snowman cards. Thanks, ladies!

After I got somewhat cleaned up from the gym, I headed to the office because my friend Reggie said that he left my Christmas present at my desk. It was a large bag with something wrapped in tissue paper. OMG, it was 2 Harry Potter coloring books (that I don't have but have seen at Target) and a set of colored pencils. How nice! :) Ok, he gets extra cookies next year, oatmeal raisin ones (I rarely make those because they aren't my favorite, but I can make an exception!).

I had some bananas that were going to go bad soon, so of course I made a loaf of chocolate chip banana bread. I also made a plain cheesecake for the family Christmas Eve dinner tomorrow. I hope it's fine, since it's not really brown on top like the pumpkin one turns when it comes out of the oven. We'll find out tomorrow!

Julie ordered Five Guys burgers, which I picked up on the way to the house. We watched Zootopia on Netflix (well, I watched half before going home and Julie watched the rest when I left). Check out that Christmas ambiance! :)

Office Cookie Exchange

Last day of work for 2016! I had to make it through a few conference calls and of course, the office cookie exchange today and now, YAY, I'm free!

The office cookie exchange was a huge success. I'm so impressed with the amount of cookies that people brought and the variety: spritz, oatmeal raisin, ginger, orange shortbread dipped with chocolate, sea salt chocolate chip, etc. One of my coworkers even bought milk, as I requested, and not just regular milk, but chocolate milk, almond milk, etc.

One minor thing that happened...I'm not even sure I feel that guilty about it. When I reminded folks last week about the cookie exchange, I was tempted to say "Please please please don't buy anything. If you are not able to bring something homemade, I'd rather that you come and enjoy the treats so that I don't have to bring any of mine home." But I didn't want to come across as a baking snob. At noon today, the treats started trickling into the breakout area. I made an off-hand comment to the few people that were there. "Wow, guys, I'm impressed that there isn't anything store bought here. I was going to mention this during program reviews, but I didn't want to come across as a b*tch." My coworker Michelle whispered to me later to say that the cookies in the glass bowl were store bought and the person who brought them heard me say it. Oh. Wait, what?! (Insert foot into mouth...) A part of me felt badly that I had said that, but the majority of me wanted to be like "I didn't bake my little heart out in my kitchen for over 2 hours to get store bought cookies. Like the ones from Safeway! You even tried to make them look homemade by taking them out of the original packaging! That's SO LAME!" Someone else brought cookies from Potbelly across the street and put them at the end of the table. Like, really? Even if you made cookies from a mix or you brought slice and bake cookies, that would have shown some sign of effort.

Sigh. I guess I am a baking snob.

Anyway, on a more positive note, I'm glad that so many people participated and that there weren't many cookies leftover. Everyone went home with a full tummy and baggie of cookies to share (or not share, ha ha).

Moana and Rolo Cookies

My coworker Jennifer said that she went with her family to see Moana over the Thanksgiving holiday and that it was really good (both movie and music). My coworker Reggie was going to go with me today, but bailed at the last minute because his cousin's holiday party was last night and he was pretty sure that it was going to be a late night. Meh, no biggie. My sister went with me instead. The movie and the music WERE good. It was nice to see a female character that wasn't chasing after some guy like the typical princess movies. The Rock as Maui was the best! I was also really impressed by the way they were able to make the water and everyone's hair look realistic!

My evening's activity was making Rolo cookies for the office cookie exchange that's happening tomorrow. Initially, I was going to start my Christmas break tomorrow, but with the program review presentations last week, that wouldn't have been a good time to do them. Since I was the one that organized this event (aka sent out a calendar appointment to the office), I figured I had to show up with goodies. The Rolo cookies got quite a few compliments the last time I made them, so here they are again. I made 2 batches so that I could bring some for the coaches at CrossFit tomorrow. I know that sounds counterintuitive...CrossFit and cookies?  Yeah, we're not that kind of gym. For example, when I posted a picture of these cookies on Facebook, the owner commented "Drool" on the photo.