drammatical

On the 28th I turned 29. It was sad. Seriously. This will be my last year in my twenties and well it’s sad. I love(d) my twenties. Not afraid of getting older just afraid of what’s expected with it. I’m still trying to get used to the idea that I’ve become an adult. I think it happened a year ago. Getting married does that to you, make you grow up that is.

1. There is tons that I want to get done next year. Special projects and attend events and read, lots more reading. Hopefully my old book club can get its act together again…

2. Something that I really liked this year was meeting with friends at least once a week. I know we all have crazy schedules and I hope we can all keep it up, meeting.

3. I also cut down my spending, a lot. Want to continue that and hopefully I can cut back some more. Sure it was great on the pocketbook but really I don’t want anymore more stuff. There’s far too much stuff as it is and I want to cut my dependence on the accumulation of stuff.

4. I’d like to seriously start a library. Maybe invest in some early editions of my favorite books. Total contrast to what I just said up there I know, but these are books!

5. Also, I need to get my Spanish reading up to high school level. I set out this year wanting to read the entire Harry Potter series in Spanish and just never got around to it.

6. Well I will do it this year.

7. Must also finish reading all the books that haven’t ever been opened currently on our bookcases.

8. Take a vacation, again. After our awesome two weeks in Mexico N and I realized that was probably going to be our last vacation for a long time.

9. We are planning a big purchase this year, biggest one in our lives, so we figured we wouldn’t be able to afford one. Well nope, I think vacations are a necessity and I want to take one, again. Maybe somewhere in Central America. I’m even up to going back to Huatulco since we loved it so much with a trip to Oaxaca City first.

10. Must save my pennies for this one splurge.

11. Professionally I need to get my act together.

12. There are some certifications that I’ve been putting off that need to get done.

13. Also, I will invest more time in my career. Apparently this is what I’m going to be doing from now on, that’s a good thing.

14. Focus on health. No more chocolates, cheese, cracker, wine dinners. Getting far too old for that nonsense.

15. Will make breakfast a priority.

16. More intake of protein, both the animal and vegan kind.

17. Cut back on animal milk, must acclimate to soy.

18. Learn to say no to tias that force food on me, and my dad too.

19. Will look into ways to reduce my asthmatic episodes.

20. Goals that are up for next year include a mini triathlon with Shannon,

21. Mt. Wilson race time decrease with N’s help,

22. Rosarito Ensenada bike ride with my tia Chevy,

23. and complete the San Dimas AR with team Three.

24. Need to make sleep a priority. At least seven hours a day to begin with.

25. When tired, must rest. No more burning myself out to a point that I’m nonfunctional.

26. Be more kind and appreciative of people, everyone.

27. Act the way I want to see people act.

28. Help where help is needed.

29. Love more.

I took this post from here.

I feel the need to follow-up on my dog post. Pobrecita, I guess I made her sound like a pain in the a…

She’s a Siberian Husky. The breed that was bred for nothing but running, in the harshest of climates. So yeah, obviously this dog shouldn’t even be in the city. Anyway, we have her and are keeping her. She’s been passed around like cheap xxxx and this is her 5th home that I can track.

Personally, I think no one took the time to read up on her. See what she needs, wants, is all about. All they saw was “OMG she’s soooooo cute!” Once she expressed any type of behavior that was not wanted/liked she was shipped to the next place. Sorry but that’s what I see, totally not trying to bring anyone down. She’s beautiful, intelligent, energetic and ready to please. She’s also afraid of being abandoned, but hell who wouldn’t with so much moving around.

We’ve contacted a few trainers and have visited some message boards, all say to crate her. We tried. It failed. She escapes! Seriously, we’ve tried numerous times and all of them she’s managed to break free from her cage. If this doesn’t tell you how smart she is I don’t know what does. She’s okay to roam free BUT since her anxiety takes over she’s been chewing on the front door since she knows that’s the way out. Also, she’s been jumping on our couch when we’re not home. Honestly I wouldn’t mind if she didn’t scratch at it. N seems to think that she’ll be okay to roam while we’re not around, I’m not so convinced yet.

A trainer came over last Tuesday, she’s already trained so it was mostly for N and myself. We bought her a prong collar and she suffered with the trainer… Well you know what!? Whenever I put that thing on her she behaves like a damn show dog. No pulling no trying to run in front of us, she doesn’t even try to visit with other dogs. She obviously learned about the prong collar and its pain… So what I need now is an equivalent for the kennel. Or a new trainer. Any recommendations? Anyone own a Husky out there? I’d like to talk to someone that has some experience with this breed. And I already know, “enjoy the ride”.

I may be putting my foot in my mouth with this post but she’s a keeper.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

xmas thoughts...

- free gift wrapping is godsend and should be mandatory.

- wine is the gift that keeps on giving.

- books are always welcomed. thanks friends/family!

- i <3 uno. that's how i managed to keep a bunch of tweens, teenagers and one 18 year old entertained on xmas eve.

- chocolate, marshmallows and almonds are haven.

- trying to get wicked tickets sucks.

- having a b-day sucks.

- will never have children in december. my parents must hate me.

- you can find anything and everything three days after xmas!

So we have decided to keep the dog. [after spending a gazillion dollars on her] OMG is she a handful. She’s great and very well behaved but she also has issues staying alone and well we work! Plus I’ve been skipping xfit just so I can take her out on runs. I wonder if I can even bring her to xfit on days that I do go… you know just tie her up in a corner outside?

So this new addition is a big change into our little world. We are now faced with questions we didn’t have to ask before. Can we go to dinner, alone? Not until her alone issues are resolved. Is Vegas going to happen? Probably not. What are we going to do about our chewed up front door? Aye. Geez Louise. This is worse than a baby…

-need to find a decent watch for A.

-need help with dad’s gift. A Stetson is outta the question.

-have ideas for n’s gift, which always come way too late to pull off.

-thinking too much of pending anniversary of (my) year. And next’s too…

-I want to move. We may have an opportunity to move closer to parentals, even if it’s for a short time.

-need to call brother from another mother and reconnect. This relationship needs some love, from both ends.

-don’t want to celebrate bd, so please don’t bother people. Not being negative nancy but my bd sucks since well it sucks because of its timing. Bad economy and all, so nada! I’m only accepting home made scribbles.

-must practice my spanish skills as they are clearly deteriorating.

-make time for reading. Out of the 24 books I set out to read this year, only 14 have been finshed...

-----------------------------------------------------------------

I’ve been keeping track of all the days I’ve been working out since we got back to it. I did this back when I was training for Mt. Wilson, two months I logged everything I did and ate. What I didn’t do was log how I felt, physically and mentally. These past weeks I’ve been taking mental notes of everything and I think I’m ready to start putting stuff down on paper, again.

What triggered this? Well on Saturday N suggested [forced more like it] I go for a 5K. Ugh. I knew this was coming and well wasn’t looking forward to it. Recently I’ve decided that I’m going to push myself to the max when running, puke and everything, so yeah. Plus this route is tough, 50% upgrade. Did it…. in 29 minutes flat! That was a personal record for me. Plus, I really haven’t put in any mileage since, well since the ½ marathon. This really shocked me. Not that I could run that fast, for me anyway, but that I had improve my speed by not really focusing on running. Immediately I went over to the fridge to check out my workouts, three days of crossfit and one day of bootcamp every week for the past four weeks. Very promising indeed.

So apparently N has earned the right to chant “I told ya so.”

In the last three weeks that I’ve been back to xfit I have –
- Blistered my hands (still healing)
- Almost eaten sh!t while box jumping. Luckily my mad skills saved me… It was all luck that my had reached out and stopped me from eating it big.
- Hit my chin with a 45lb bar which hurt like hell for a week.
- Bruised my shins and thighs while dead lifting. If that’s not proof enough that I did em right I don’t know what is.
- Have not had one day without soreness.
- Have felt great physically albeit tired.
- Really enjoyed spending/suffering with friends/family.
- Really, really, I mean really enjoyed my rest days.

Funny moments shared –
- N was really proud of my hand and was showing it off while I was trying to hide it.
- While looking at the Muddy Buddy brochure I was saying how Shannon said it was a really fun race and how we should do it too. N said “that’s what she said about the AR you did right?” Right, five hours later…
- N doing the running man all over our place making fun of me.
- Both of us trying to out due each other in how sore we are.
- Watching/listening to N trying to get new people to come out and join the pain.


While in Huatulco, N came up with the best idea. Since the beach was a walk away from the hotel itself, all stairs, he proposed we run up them four times in the morning. We did. Three mornings. I wanted to die. The staff was really good about it though. After the first morning they made jokes about us getting lost. Then on day three they were pretty impressed. I was impressed I didn't faint!

What a weekend. Lots of family, friends and food.

Thanksgiving morning was started with a 5K. Even though it was like climbing Mt. Everest it was a great way to start the day. Lots of Red cult members there including the ringleader. It was my first time running since I can remember. Sometime before our vacation.

We hosted a brunch for my in-laws. Afterwards, we headed to the valley of the dirt to spend a lovely Thanksgiving dinner at my sisters’. Of course we ate too much but we did make it out to xfit the next day. Little A was taking us all with his newfound poker skills. Punk.

We DID wake up and make it to the sales. What a waste of time for us. Nothing we needed or wanted. I’m so over doing this to myself. Must remember to read this post next year.

Reflecting on all the changes we’ve made over the years I’m very happy that even though we know we eat (drink) too much during the holidays (and other days) at least we make an effort to work off some of it. I can’t say that for everyone, and I don’t mean that in a negative way either. It’s just something that I’m happy we have incorporated into our lives. After all, we’re the ones that have to live with these bodies and well its kinda hard lugging ourselves around as it is. Every year we seem to be making better choices and decisions, maybe next year we’ll cut out the pies. Maybe… Babysteps.

We also visited N’s granny. It’s always inspirational to see her. She’s an 80+ year old woman that is as strong as can be. She has no health issues and her mind is better than mine. She has such a strong and powerful will it’s unbelievable. She’s what I want to turn into when I grow up.

Yesterday was a day filled with great friends. Sometimes you don’t realize how important friends are and how much they really are part of one’s family. I’m very fortunate to have them in my life and to be able to pretty much say, do, and act anyway I want and they’ll always be there. They always have. It also amazes me how much we have all grown up and keep on growing. Yikes!

Leaving you with one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. Diego Rivera’s murals at the Palacio National. Amazing!