Birthday Recap

9:30 AM CrossFit, check! I got lots of birthday wishes this morning at the gym, so that was really nice! I had to test my 1RM for my hang power clean because I missed that lift this week. I maxed out at 105 lbs. I tried for 110 lbs, but didn’t get very far.

WOD, 3 rounds:
400 m run
20 2 DB OH Walking Lunge (15 lbs per hand)
10 DB Push Press (15 lbs per hand)
Time: 11:19 As I was huffing and puffing around the parking lot, the owner was shouting, “Come on, birthday girl, work for that birthday cake!”

I met up with Shannon at Dunkin’ Donuts for a donut and coffee. Mmm, Boston cream donut and iced caramel latte. Afterwards, I went to Old Navy and Target and tidied up my place.

Robyn and Julie came over for dinner on Saturday night. One of Robyn's New Year's Resolutions was to make a legit layered cake. She went with a 2-layered chocolate cake with freshly whipped cream and strawberries. Julie made me a yellow cake with chocolate frosting, per my request. She made RJ and Harry cake toppers, how funny are those! Mom made me my usual birthday request dinner: beef noodle soup, yum!

Early Birthday Mail

Since I'm taking Thursday and Friday off from work in observance of my birthday, I moved my usual telework day to today. A telework day would not be complete with out an audience while I ate lunch.

Before I went to my parents' house to eat dinner with Julie (she picked up chicken and yucca from Crisp and Juicy, yum!), I checked my mailbox and there was a card from my crafty friend, Jen (thank you!!!). Look at it, it's got a kitty on it!  Obviously, very Tina-appropriate.

Shoulder Press PR and Happy Valentine’s Day!

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! Test week, day 2…shoulder press! I got a new 1 rep PR at 70 lbs (+5 lbs from my last PR).  I tried for 75 lbs, but no go. I think I maybe go the bar up to my eyeballs, and then I had to rerack. We’ll try again in the next strength cycle.

WOD, 3 rounds, :40 work/:20 rest and transition
Push-ups (on my knees)
Kettlebell swings (26 lbs)
TTB (Hanging Leg Raises)
Row for calories

Happy Valentine’s Day! I got some Valentine's Day mail last week from my friend Laura's twin boys. Of course, I promptly displayed it in my gallery of kid art in my work cubicle.

Gotta be festive in red!

Front Squat PR

It's test week this week at CrossFit. Today, we tested our 1 rep max for front squats. I maxed out at 1 RM at 135 lbs, +20 lbs from my previous 1 RM PR that I set in May 2016. I tried for 140 lbs, but I squatted down and couldn't get back up again. Heh. Ok, something to work on for next time!

My sister had to bail out on one of her lifts, and we just stared at the barbell for a second, like “ok, now what?” Fortunately, Coach Nic cleaned and reracked it for us, “That’s what I’m here for.” Oh, good, because there was no way I could have lifted 115 lbs from the ground (yet...).

WOD, running clock, using 8 lbs ball:
5:00 EMOM:
20 Double Unders + 15 Wall Balls (40 Single Unders and 12 Wall Balls)
5:00 EMOM:
30 Double Unders + 10 Wall Balls (50 Single Unders and 8 Wall Balls)

The winds last night knocked down one of the pine trees nearby! I'm hoping there's a tree crew that comes to clean that up soon.

Extra credit workout today: I did a FitnessBlender HIIT workout this evening (cardio + total body workout) and sweated my little heart out. Since I quit the regular gym back in October and haven't done a spin class in such a long time, I really need to make an effort to get my cardio in.

A Trip to the Zoo to Say Goodbye to Bao Bao

Robyn, as a member of the zoo, had access to the National Zoo's panda exhibit on Saturday and could bring guests, so she invited my sister and I go with her to say goodbye to Bao Bao. The giant pandas born in the US are on lease from China, so at a certain age, they have to go back. Bao Bao is set to leave sometime towards the end of February. We were fortunate to see her parents and her little brother Bei Bei out and about too.

After a few hours of walking around the Zoo, we went to get lunch at Open City before heading home. I got the hashbrown bowl, the same thing that I had when Robyn and I went to the Zoo for ZooLights in December. I think this was my first time being at the Zoo during the daytime and getting over 10,000 steps in a while.

Bei Bei on the left (baby), Mei Xiang on the right (mom)

Bao Bao looked like she fell asleep off and on while eating her treat.

Finished Makeup Product and Udon Lunch

I've had this Maybelline cream eyeshadow in Bad to the Bronze for a few years now. I made a concerted effort the past few weeks to use it every day so that I could finish it, and I scraped out and used it up today! OMG, what an accomplishment. To actually finish a makeup product takes a long time! I wish the makeup companies would sell smaller quantities because once you open it, you're racing against time to finish it before you a) get tired of it and/or b) can't use it anymore because it has expired.

I'm excited to be able to go back to using other colors now. The neutral look was getting rather old.

I went to the hibachi restaurant near work to get some lunch today. Mmm, beef udon, yum! A lady in the elevator asked me if I got sushi. Nope, I haven't tried the sushi there before (because it's a little expensive!). I gave her the menu that came with my order since I didn't need it. I basically inhaled my noodles at my desk when I got back inside from the windy and cold weather (wah, it was like 70 degrees outside yesterday!). I wore my leopard print tights to work, hee hee. RJ wanted some post-dinner attention. "Excuse me, I didn't say that you could stop me. You may continue, human."

Dinner with Sister and Cousins

I took the day off today and got a massage! The last time I got one was in 2013, so when I saw a coupon online, I pounced on it! I was going to get it last week, but I wanted to make sure some work stuff was under control before my boss went on vacation for 2 weeks. OMG, I really needed this. The lady really stretched me out, like sat on top of me so she could better move my arms and legs. Maybe I need to stretch more often. Heh.

Erick's birthday was last Friday, so Hugo, Julie and I took him out to dinner. He wanted to go somewhere healthy (uh, what's that??) or somewhere new (ah, much easier). We took him to a restaurant that the CrossFit gym holds happy hours. I got the chicken avocado wrap and we shared some molten chocolate cake and some Nutella bread pudding. Yum! Afterwards, we went to Hugo's house to say happy birthday to his mom (my aunt).