Hi

Wow.  May 7th was the last time I blogged.  Oops.  I'm not even going to pretend that I have a good reason for the big pause, just life in general I guess.  I've been going through a lot both physically and mentally.  It's been rough, but it's getting better.  :).  Probably won't go into a lot of it, but that's okay.

I finally feel that after 19 months of working from home (how is that possible??), I have my groove down.  Well, I had it down quite a while ago, but I haven't blogged in forever.  Anyways.  It's finally feeling 'normal'.  And I LOVE IT.  I really do.  I feel completely blessed to work for a company that supports their employees 100% and has a fantastic flexibility and so much mental/emotional/work-life support.

I'm working from home full-time.  Hubs is working from home 3 days per week.  He goes into his office here in town 2 days per week.  Occasionally he will go to his Santa Fe office, but for now, he only has to go to this office here in town.  Which is only 2 miles from our house which is awesome.

On the 3 days that we are home together, our work spaces vary.  Most of the time he works downstairs in our sunroom (his choice) and I work upstairs in our joint office.  But sometimes it's the opposite.  It all depends on what meetings we have going on that day.  Like today we both worked upstairs in our joint office for a few hours.  If he has an on-camera meeting, I will grab my laptop and head downstairs.  And vise-versa.  We've made it work.  Thankfully, neither of us has a lot of meetings, let alone 'on-camera' meetings.

I still have a lot to work on as far as my general routine goes, but it's pretty good right now.

I'm still reading a lot, but have obviously failed at updating my reads here.  I'm on Goodreads though!  So all (well, most all) of my reads are tracked there.  I'd like to say I'll go back to the monthly reads blog, but that probably won't happen.  I think it's more likely that if I read a fantastic 5-star book that I will mention it here.  Maybe ha ha.  I have a lofty reading goal for next year, mostly to get my TBR down.  It's too humiliating to mention how many books I have on my shelves to be read.  Yikes.

We haven't traveled at all, mostly because I am paranoid about Covid still.  And I don't think there's anything wrong with that.  I see the horrific numbers and am just still super cautious.  We still have strict mask mandates here.  We are going to Arizona next month (a whopping whole state away) and I'm even a little paranoid about that.  But we really need a get away.  We haven't been anywhere just the two of us since December of 2019.  It's time!!!

Let's see...that's probably all for now.

2020 Year-In-Review

I'm only going to focus on the positives because as well all know, 2020 was generally awful.

But here are the 'goods':

• I got to visit my family in Nebraska before Covid hit.
• I started working from home, and most likely will get to work from home permanently.  This is a huge blessing.
• We started having Zoom meetings.  Which for me personally is also a HUGE blessing.  It has done wonders for my in-person-meeting related anxiety.  I can say confidently that I hope it never goes away.  Many people take issue with that, but I can also say I am NOT the only one who feels this way.  Many family members and also my best friend back in Nebraska and a few sisters in our hall have talked to me about it too and feel the exact same way that I do.  There are WAY more people out there suffering from anxiety and depression that we know about.  And Zoom is such a blessing.  Our meeting attendance (personally and as a whole congregation) has skyrocketed.  Our congregation is consistently over 100% attendance.  Unreal.
• We celebrated 10 years of marriage.  
• We saved a BUNCH of money.  Not eating out, not being able to go to stores to just browse, cutting gym memberships, etc.  
• We have a pretty impressive home gym now.  We definitely need to use it more, but it's pretty awesome.  I'll try to do a separate post on it.
• My sister came to visit!
• We took some beautiful day trips around the state.
• Hamilton came out on Disney+.  Yes, this is a big deal to me.
• We cultivated a greater appreciation for our house.  I have always loved our (dated ha ha) house, but now...I love it even more.  We have sufficient space with two full-time offices and with us home ALL. THE. TIME. we are not on top of each other, sick of each other, etc. ha ha.  We had to move some things around, but that also became a good thing.  My library upstairs became my husband's office, and our front room became my library/personal study/relaxing room.  Which has worked out great.  
• I got another great-niece!
• I got a Nintendo Switch and discovered Animal Crossing.  It got me through November, December, and I am still going strong.  It is the BEST distraction and one of the best purchases I've ever made.  Judge me if you want, I can handle it.  If you played it, you would know!
• I got my Matthew-Acts study Bible.
• And last but not least....I got my Covid vaccine.

A lot of goods.  This will be a nice list for me to look back on when I'm feeling sorry for myself.  :)

Life

Soooooo much going on.  But it's somewhat comforting to know I'm not alone.  This mess is happening everywhere.

Honestly, I've been a bit surprised about how rough it's hit me.  Not physically of course (I'm healthy), but mentally.

I am 100% working from home until further notice.  I'm guessing it will be at least throughout May...possibly longer.  There's just no way to tell right now.  I do think people are VERY optimistic about time-frames...I'm not one of them.

I work in healthcare.  I see/read/hear ALL THE THINGS.  All the scary stuff that isn't reported in the news.  I see the numbers before they are published.  I hear about the PPE issues and what's going on inside hospitals.  I get 30-40 emails PER DAY full of nothing but COVID information that I am expected to keep up with.  Medicare literally changes things by the minute.

I can't get away from it.  My work is not an 'escape'.  I work COVID all day and then at night the news comes on, alerts come up on my phone, etc.  I can't get away.  Which is why I am struggling.

Reading/watching the news stresses me out.  But NOT reading/watching the news stresses me out too.  

I cannot concentrate on anything outside of work.  I concentrate on work for 8+ hours a day, and then after that my brain is just done.  I only read 2 books last month because I cannot concentrate on anything.  When this first started, my initial thought was 'wow, I'll be able to get SO MUCH DONE!!'.  Well...that's just not the case.  I just can't concentrate.  And I seem to be in a permanent funk, which makes me want to do zero.  I'm hoping it gets better.

We are following all the rules.  We only go to the store once per week (if that).  We are home 24/7.  We've started starting our cars once a week just so the batteries don't die.  New Mexico is on a mandatory 'Stay at Home' order so we can only go out to go to the grocery store pretty much.  Which is fine by me...I honestly think the whole nation should be doing this.  ?  But I guess it's up to each state.

Last night my husband did the grocery store run for the week and when he came home, I immediately sprayed down the doorknobs/surfaces/groceries/counters, etc. with Lysol spray.  This is our new normal.

The cloth masks I ordered from Etsy arrived a couple of weeks ago and now we are using them when we leave the house.  I only ordered 4 (2 for my mother-in-law, one each for hubs and I) because, well, we don't leave the house much.  

But enough negativity.

Things I am thankful for:

*Zoom.  We are able to see our dear brothers and sisters twice a week on Zoom.  We can associate 30 minutes before and after the meetings (before they mute us ha ha).  We haven't missed a beat with the Zoom meetings because we need them now more than ever.

*Our home.  I'm thankful that I love our home and that we all have room to spread out.  I'm thankful for the outdoor space so that the dogs can run.

*Our neighborhood.  It's walkable, it's safe, it's friendly.  6 feet apart, of course.

*The weather.  It has been gorgeous here.  Absolutely perfect weather.

*My job.  I am thankful that I have a job that allows me to work from home.  I have moved my workspace into the guest room.  The front room just wasn't cutting it space-wise so I moved all of my stuff into the giant desk in the guest room.  It's working so much better.  It's more like an office.  I can shut the door when I'm done.  Even though my job is mentally exhausting, I'm glad to have it.

*Pure Barre.  They have not missed a beat getting everything set up with their Live Stream classes.  I am able to still take classes from home which is wonderful.  It is so good for my head.  AND my husband installed a barre for me in our gym.  It is so great!

*My health.  I am holding steady with my weight, which is 100% fine by me for the moment.  I'll start doing my regular weekly health-check ins soon. For now I'm thrilled to be maintaining.

*The extra time.  Even though I can't concentrate and am in a funk, I have still managed to get a few things done/organized.  I'll try to post pictures when I can.

*I'm thankful that I never scheduled our 10-year anniversary trip.  It's just so odd....It's so unlike me to not plan these things way ahead, but there was just something that was holding me back (we were going to go to Florida for a week).  I never pulled the trigger.  And now I am soooooo glad that we didn't make those plans.

So that's my random brain dump on this past month of life.  :)  Thanks for reading.  

PS:  STAY HOME.  I hear of people having 'quarantine' parties and it makes me so angry I can't even see straight.  I hear of nurses at hospitals with bruising on their faces from wearing masks all day and the back of their ears completely destroyed from the elastic begging and pleading with people to stay home and people aren't listening.  Just STAY HOME.  And wash your hands.  All the time.  They should be red and dry and ugly!  We keep lotion by all of our sinks (my hands are destroyed).

2020 Goals

Here are most of my goals for 2020:

*Read more (always).  My goal is 100 books in 2020.

*Hike more.  At least once (preferably twice) a month.

*Use the library more (put new books on hold, whether they be physical books or audio books)

*Blog more

*Hit my goal weight (I’m not putting a date on this….but would like to be close around June or July)

*Be more strict with money

*Be more productive at work

*Up my public witnessing game

*Hit my 250^th Pure Barre class by July (preferably earlier).

*Cut back on eating meat (not completely…but I’m going to aim for at least 50%).

*Shop for higher quality clothing/shoes once I reach my goal weight.

*Explore New Mexico more.  There are SO many places I haven’t seen yet.  White Sands is at the top of my list.

*Declutter my house/simplify as much as possible.  The more crap you have, the more stuff you have to clean.

*Put together 3 puzzles (it’s so relaxing).

Nothing major, and I think I’ll be able to accomplish most of them!

2019 Year in Review

Whew!

2019 was a busy one.  Here’s a recap:

January:  Went to Ojo Caliente Spa with a group of friends.

February:  Howie died.  ☹ 

March:  I took my 100^th Pure Barre class!  My sister-in-law and niece came for a visit.  We had a great time!

April:  We celebrated our 9 year anniversary and had dinner at a restaurant with a beautiful view:

May:  Hubs had to go to D.C. for work, and I tagged along for a few days.  We saw all the things. 

June:  My sister came and we went to all the bookstores and also the convention. 

July:  I got promoted.

August:  I started my ‘get healthy’ journey.

September:  We traveled to Denver and went to a football game and a concert.  We also had our circuit assembly and my husband went to D.C. again for work. 

October:  Balloon Fiesta.  And my brother came to visit!  We had a lot of fun.

November:  We spent November preparing for December.  We found out that hubs was matched with a service dog.  He also went to Boston for work.  I did Black Friday shopping again!

December:  December was all about the new puppy.  Hubs was in San Francisco for 2 weeks.  I flew out for a few days.  We saw Hamilton!  We drove home, stopping in Las Vegas on the way. 

Other things to note: 

*I lost 38 pounds.

*I read 94 books.  I didn’t hit my reading goal (100 books), but I came close!

*I started hiking and hope to do WAY more of it in 2020!

*I saw a couple movies in the theater:  Avengers Endgame, Downton Abbey.  I may have seen a couple more, but those are the two I remember.

*I don’t put pictures of other people up on this blog any more.  That’s why you won’t see many ‘people’ pics.  Just FYI.

Visitors (5): 

Uncle Bob

My sister-in-law and my niece

My sister

My brother

New family members (2):

1 great niece

1 nephew’s wife (niece-in-law?)

New pets (1):

Xy Xy

Places traveled (I track all the places we go.  It helps to look back on when I’m having a bad day or feeling sorry for myself for some petty reason.  Traveling is my therapy):

Espanola/Taos, NM (Ojo Caliente)

Washington D.C.

Denver, CO

Centennial, CO

Englewood, CO

Placitas, NM

Jemez Springs, NM

San Francisco, CA

Sausalito, CA

Penngrove, CA

Petaluma, CA

Santa Rosa, CA

Las Vegas, NV

We got to add quite a few more red pins to our travel map!

Another Dog

So we got another dog. 

Watson, our service dog, is 7.  There are many service dog programs around the nation, but you really have to do your research to weed out the ‘legit’ ones from the others.  We started this process about 6 months ago, because the typical time that you’re on the wait list from the time you apply is 2-5 years.  In 5 years, Watson will be 12!  Well past retirement age.  So we started the process thinking it would take at least 2 years, and 6 months later we got a call.

VERY long story short….we just got back from California picking up Xylo, our new dog.  He’s a lab (100% lab).  2 years old.  They actually used him as a stud because he was SO well-tempered and (in their words) the smartest dog they ever trained.  This program specifically breeds super smart labs and they start training them at 5 weeks old, and train them until they’re 2 years old.  He fathered a few litters, and then they had him fixed so he could be a service dog.

And we TOTALLY won the jackpot by getting him.

He is goofy, playful, and a genius.  He actually doesn’t like doing the ‘easy’ commands like ‘sit’ and ‘stay’ because they’re TOO easy.  But you tell him to turn off a light and he’ll do it immediately.  Or you drop something, point to it and tell him to get it and he retrieves it and brings it with you (anything from shoes to cell phones to keys).  Anything.  When my husbands leg starts bouncing from anxiety, Xylo immediately puts his head on his leg to distract him and lower his heart rate.

He can read about 20 different words.  I thought my husband was joking when he told me this.  There are about 20 different words that if you write them down on a sheet of paper and hold it up, he will do that command.  Like ‘Sit’.  Or ‘Down’.  HE KNOWS THOSE WORDS ON PAPER.  I mean…it’s just incredible.

But, don’t think he’s a robot or anything.  He is DEFINITELY still a dog.  He got in trouble for the first time last night when we got him rooting around the cat box.  Yep.  And any food that happens to end up on the floor (or ground) is fair game.  Hubby is constantly fishing things out of his mouth.  Not that we have food on our floors, but it happens sometimes.  And there’s always food outside in the ground and in restaurants.  Restaurants are the worst.    

We love him.  Abby loves him.  Hannah tolerates him.  Watson…tolerates him.  And honestly I don’t think Macy realizes he’s new.  I think she thinks he’s Watson lol.  She is unfazed.  He sniffed her the other day and she just laid there and looked at him.  She’s always gotten along with Watson so I knew there wouldn’t be a problem with Xylo.

He’s fitting in nicely. 

Although I think we need a bigger bed.  Do they make anything bigger than a king?  Ha ha. 

Colorado

We took a short little vacation to Denver last weekend.  We left on Saturday around 8:00, and arrived around 2:30.  Denver is not a bad drive, about 6.5 hours.  Here is my recap with a few travel tips thrown in.  😊

We first checked in to our hotel.   We stayed at the Hyatt House Denver Tech Center in Englewood.

TRAVEL TIP:  Price check, price check, price check.  We were going to try to find an Air BnB, but in this case the hotel was cheaper.  And it was a GREAT hotel.  Our ‘room’ was more of an apartment, with a separate bedroom and a full kitchen.  It’s so nice to have a large fridge/freezer/microwave when traveling.  I had packed a bunch of snacks (yogurt, fruit, nuts) so it was convenient to throw those in the fridge and put my ice packs in the freezer so they would be ready for our drive home.

ALWAYS check the amenities of the place you are staying.  Like free wi-fi.  A lot of hotels advertise free wi-fi, but they only offer the free wi-fi in the lobby, and then charge you for wi-fi in your room.  Check the details of the breakfast.  This hotel served a hot breakfast every morning complete with an omelet bar.  There are a lot of hotels that offer free breakfast, but most of them are cold cereal, fruit, pastries, and make-your-own waffle type breakfasts.  And there’s nothing wrong with that!  But if you’re expecting a hot breakfast and find cold cereal, that might be a tad disappointing. 

After we checked in to our hotel, we found a local tavern that hosts Husker fans every game Saturday.  It was so much fun!  It’s nice to be in a roomful of people rooting for your team.  I had their version of a Runza.  It was not the same.

Sunday morning I found the nearest Pure Barre and took a class.  It was a pretty full class (compared to what I’m used to).  It felt good to MOVE after driving for 6 hours on Saturday.

After Barre I went back to our room and hubby informed me that he got tickets to the Bears/Broncos game at 2:25 p.m.  YAY!!!  I showered, we relaxed for a couple of hours and then got back in the car and headed to Mile High Stadium.

TRAVEL TIP:  If you’re going to a large event, like a football game, do NOT attempt to find parking near the stadium.  It will be impossible and lead to loads of frustration.  So we drove to the nearest ‘box store’ parking lot in proximity to the stadium and parked there.  And then from there, we took a Lyft to the stadium.  It was soooooo nice.  Free parking at Target, and then a $5 Lyft ride to the stadium, where we got dropped off pretty much at the front door.  After the game, we did NOT attempt to get a Lyft back to Target.  Lyft’s prices go by supply/demand, so their prices skyrocket after events like football games and concerts.  So we started walking away from the stadium towards Target (it was 2 miles maybe?)  About halfway there, we found some Lyft scooters.  Basically, if you have the Lyft app (which we do), you scan the barcode on the scooter and off you go.  It was fun, and slightly scary at times ha ha.  So for about a mile, we rode the scooters back to Target.  The scooters charge by the minute.  I think our rides ended up being $4?  Totally worth it!

Now let’s talk about the football game.  Oh my.  I have NEVER in my life been so stress out about any football game.  First off, we paid a LOT for our tickets so I was really, really, really hoping for a Bears win.  And all looked great up until the last 2 minutes.  There were SO many things that had to happen just right.  First, the Broncos attempted point after kick to tie the game.  The kicker missed, but there was a penalty against the Bears.  So then, the Broncos decided to go for 2, which would put them one point ahead of the Bears with 30-some seconds before game end.  And they made the 2-point conversion.  At this point, I was heartbroken because I figured it was over for the Bears.  The Bears had just a few seconds to get the ball down the field in field-goal range.  At 2nd down and a bunch of yards, the Bears QB couldn’t connect with anyone.  At 3^rd down, he connected with his receiver who got down the field a bit further.  And then the clock ran out.  And Broncos players and coaches started running onto the field thinking the game was over.  BUT…the Bears had called a time-out with one second remaining on the clock.  ONE SECOND.  One field goal attempt.  A 53 yard attempt (not easy).  Everyone lined up, the kicker kicked and I swear it felt like the football was going in slow motion.  And he made it.  Game over.  BEARS WIN!  It was fun because we had Bears fans right behind us AND in front of us so we were all celebrating and high-fiving as the disgruntled Broncos fans were making their way around us trying to leave.

What a game!!!

After parking our Lyft scooters (you can just leave them wherever) and retrieving our car at Target, we headed back to Englewood and found a meatball restaurant for dinner.  Yes, a meatball restaurant.  It was delicious! 

Monday was Ikea.  We took our time in the morning, had a long breakfast, packed up our stuff and the car and checked out around 11:00.  And then drove to Ikea, which was only about 5 minutes away.

I don’t really have any Ikea tips, except HAVE A LIST.  And try to stick to it ha ha.  Ikea is like a wonderland of good quality cool stuff for cheap.  The Ikea employees are extremely helpful.

We pretty much stuck to our list.  We got a white shelving storage unit for my mother-in-law.  Light blocking curtain panels for our sunroom for the super hot summers.  A couple more bookshelves for the library.  And misc. odds and ends.

After Ikea, we packed up the car.  My trusty CRV.  I should have taken a picture with the Ikea boxes, bags, and our luggage all piled up.

And then we headed back downtown (ish) for the entire reason we went to Denver.  Of Monsters and Men!!!!  I got the tickets a couple months ago, pretty much as soon as they released their tour dates and cities.  They are an Icelandic band and they put out an album every 3-4 years.  So this is only their 3^rd album.  I kicked myself for not going to see them in 2015, so I did NOT want to miss them this time around.

They played at the Mission Ballroom, which is a relative new concert venue in Denver.  It was a really nice place.  It was a sold out concert, I’m guessing there were maybe 3,000 people there? 

TRAVEL TIP:  Again, when going to a large event like this, don’t count on parking near the venue.  I found a really cool parking app which lets you reserve a parking spot in a secured parking garage for WAY cheaper than event parking.  I paid $5 to reserve a parking spot at a parking garage about 6 blocks away from the venue.  I reserved it from 4:30 p.m. until 1:00 a.m.  When we got there, I just whipped out my phone, held it up to the little scanner at the garage and the arm magically lifted and let us through.  IT WAS AMAZING.  Especially when we got to the venue and saw they were charging $20 to park in the lots nearby. The app is called ‘BestParking’.  I’m a fan.

The venue was really nice.  There were bars and bathrooms everywhere, so there were NO LINES EVER.  It was general admission.  Meaning…there are no seats.  On the balcony level though, there are ‘tiered’ steps to sit on though if that makes sense.  So that’s where we sat.  Which was nice because we got to sit down for the majority of the concert.  It was mostly the older people in the balcony so we fit right in ha ha.

The concert was AMAZING.  It exceeded my expectations.  They sang every song on my mental list that I hoped they would, with the exception of one on their new album (Stuck in Gravity).  They sang maybe 20 songs?  They played for an hour and a half.  It was just amazing.  They didn’t do a lot of talking in between.  They speak English (obviously), but with heavy Icelandic accents.  After each song Nanna (the female lead) would say ‘thank you’.  It was so cute.  😊  They did introduce about every other song.  One of my favorites, Lakehouse (from their 1^st album), they introduced by saying ‘this song we wrote reminding us of summers in Iceland’.  And another one they introduced by saying ‘if you’re an awkward dancer, then  you will dance great to this song’ (Wars, from their newest album).  😊  They’re just such a great band.  It was an all-ages show, so it didn’t get crazy or anything.

They didn’t go on until about 8:45 and ended around 10:15.  We waited until a lot of people had cleared out before we left.  So we got back to our car around 11:00.  And then we started the drive home.  We had to drive home after the concert because hubby had to be in Santa Fe on Tuesday at 9:00 a.m.  I did the driving so that hubby could sleep.  I took my time (no speeding!), stopped for gas 2 times, ate a gross Arby’s sandwich at 3:00 a.m. (I was starving and it was my only option!), and listened to ‘Into Thin Air’ on audio.  Hubby slept.  We rolled into Santa Fe around 5:00 a.m.  I found a grocery store parking lot, parked the car, and looked at my pictures and videos on my phone while hubby slept.  I woke him up around 6:30.  We found a Starbucks, got cleaned up (thank goodness for disposable washcloths), had coffee, and then I dropped hubby off at the Santa Fe office and I headed home (he caught a ride back to ABQ with his co-workers).

It was a great trip.  Kind of a whirlwind, but we packed a lot in.  It’s so important to get away every now and then!

9 Years

On April 24th, we celebrated 9 years of marriage.  

We kept our celebrating pretty low-key because it was a particularly busy time of year.  We had company beforehand and were taking a trip to D.C. right afterwards.

So we opted for our usual traditions:  husband got me flowers, I brought home cupcakes, and we went out for a nice dinner.

The dinner was good, but the view was even better.

I can't believe it's been 9 years already!

Family Visit

Time to play Catch-Up!

In April, my sister-in-law and my niece came to visit.  I won’t ever post pictures of my nieces and nephews here because this is the internet, so my pictures may be pretty generic.  I’m okay with that. 

We had a BLAST.  We went to a Family Fun Center (and won loads of tickets), my husband and niece went hiking while my sister-in-law and I went to Barre.  We did a spa day and got manicures, pedicures and then did mud/peel masks on our faces.  We had cupcakes (and rated them 1 to 10 by taste), s’mores, and bonfires.  And White Russians!  And we did a LOT of coloring.  It is so relaxing and therapeutic to sit and talk (and drink ha ha) while coloring with markers. 

The time went so fast and I was sad to see them go.  :(  But I’m glad we had such an amazing time.   

100

Today I took my 100^th class at Pure Barre. 

Last year in June, when my sister was here, she talked to me about Pure Barre and how much she loved (and hated) it.  She had been going for a while and we drove by the one here in town and peered in the windows.  About a week after she left, I went back and signed up for one year of unlimited classes.  !  This is without even taking my first class.  But she raved about it so much that I figured it couldn’t be that bad, right?

Hahahahaha! 

The first class I took I thought I was going to pass out.  And throw up.  And the next day?  I actually had trouble walking because every muscle in my body was indescribably sore.  Sorer than I have ever been in my life.  I had muscles that I didn’t know existed.  But I just kept coming back.

And today I attended my 100^th class!

I love it. And I hate it.  I haven’t lost any weight (because I don’t eat right), but I’ve lost inches.  My clothes fit better.  And I am stronger.  Part of the warm up of each class is a 90-second plank.  90 seconds doesn’t seem like that long, right?  WRONG.  When you’re planking….it feels like an hour.  It is awful.  I think the first time I was able to hold my plank without coming to knees was maybe in November.  And remember….I started taking classes in June.  And full (SLOW) sit ups (not crunches) from lying completely flat on the floor (legs extended and everything)...it took me a couple of months to do one of those as well without helping myself up on my elbows.

I still get sore.  But not after every class.  It depends on the class and it depends on the instructor.  There are certain instructors that push you harder. 

Here’s why I love it:

*You have to sign up for each class via the app.  Which means that the classes aren't super crowded, because once they are at capacity, that's it. 

*It doesn't feel like a gym or a large grouop exercise class, which is a huge plus for me.  It's more intimate than that.  In fact, they lock the doors after class starts.

*The instructors are INCREDIBLY nice.  And super encouraging.  And they know everyone's name.  This still baffles me.

*They correct your form in class if necessary (which is super helpful).  It makes a big difference in how you feel (protect those joints people!) and it ensures you are working the targeted muscle correctly.

*The music is LOUD and really gets you going. 

*I gained a reading buddy, Rebecca.  We talk books before class.

*It doesn't get easier.  If it weren't challenging, then why bother going?  I don't know how they do it, but every single class is different (and I usually take 2 a day and they are NEVER the same) and every single class is hard.

*There is no judgment.  Everyone there is focused on themselves.  They are too busy trying not to die that they don’t have time to check out other people in class.  They don’t care what you look like, what you’re wearing, and how good your form is.  NOBODY CARES.  We’re all just trying to get through the class in one piece. 

Here’s why I hate it:

*Planking

*It's pricey

To celebrate my 100^th class and reward myself, I went to the Nordstrom Rack website and ordered 2 pairs of leggings (Zella), 2 sports bras (Puma & Nike) and 2 tank tops (Zella), all of which I needed.  

Next milestone?  250!!

2018 Year in Review

I'm so late on this!  It's already February!  But better late than never I guess?

January

Well the year started off on a bad note when I had my first emergency room visit EVER.  I was in the worst pain I’ve ever had in my life.  I will never forget sitting in a wheelchair, tears streaming down my face, holding the giant cup of CT contrast I had to drink wondering how on earth I was going to manage it without throwing up or passing out.  They got things figured out with the tests and sent me on my way with pain pills.

We also got a king size bed.  Normally this isn’t something I would include in a ‘year in review’ post, but getting this king size bed has been life changing.  I can’t even believe the space we have and I’m sleeping a lot better now.

February

Surgery!  To fix the above mentioned issues.  My uterus was trying to self-destruct (hence the horrible pain).  I wish I were exaggerating, but this is exactly how my surgeon described it to me.  They took out just about everything they could (but left some important things too).  It went well.  I stayed one night in the hospital.  I was home recovering for 4 weeks.  Everything went smoothly and I feel SO MUCH BETTER.    

The addition started on our house (my mother-in-law’s kitchen).  About a week into it, they discovered a major plumbing problem.  Which they fixed.  And then the addition resumed.

March

March was all about surgery recovery, organizing, and just life.

April

We had our 8^th anniversary.  We went to dinner at Cheesecake Factory and kept it pretty low key because we left for Iceland the next week.  That was our gift to each other. 

We also had our French Memorial.

May

Iceland!  We went for a week.  It was unbelievable.  I still just can’t stop thinking about it.  And I want to go back so bad!  In fact, a 2^nd trip has been discussed (in 2020).  We shall see!  I’ve traveled to other countries, but none of them have had the same effect on me that Iceland has had.  I wish I could describe it without sounding like a loon.  It’s just IN me now.  I look back at my pictures and I just get this feeling of longing and sadness that I’m not there.  I drink a cup of my precious Arctic Thyme tea that I got there (arctic thyme is a plant only grown in Iceland) and I take a whiff of it and I am immediately transported back.  Our little cabin.  The crazy weather.  The crazy landscapes.  The smell (it’s good).  The fresh air.  The fresh water EVERYWHERE.  The people.  The music.  The slower pace.  The peacefulness.  The remoteness (it felt like we were the only ones on the island).  I loved everything about it.  It was just a pretty perfect trip.  I think Belgium comes in 2^nd as far as the ‘feeling’ of a country.  We’ve discussed another trip to Belgium at some point too.  With Belgium I think we were just so surprised by how much we loved it.  It’s a tiny little country, but boy does it pack a punch.  Okay I’m getting off track.

June

June was our Regional Convention, which meant the visit of my seeeeester!  It was lovely.

July

In July, our ductless heating and cooling was installed.  It was a huge relief to get that done.  My house was in shambles and had tubes and wires and HOLES in the ceilings for about a week.  I never knew what or who I would be coming home too.  But the love I have for these ductless units now….amazing. 

My nephew came to visit as well.  We had a nice time!  We didn’t do anything too touristy, except a hike that I thought was going to kill me (Tent Rocks).  Spoiler alert…it didn’t kill me.  Ha ha. 

We also had some painting done in July.  The addition was slowly wrapping up (I won’t even go into that because I’ve been trying to block it from my memory).

August

In August we had a couple stay with us for a week for PS School.  It was nice to have them and they were easy guests.

We also had concrete work done.  We had a path poured out front, a patio for my mother-in-law poured out back, and the concrete leveled out on the West side of our house.

September

In September my parents came to visit.  We went to a lot of bookstores.  It was so much fun!  We had a nice visit with them.

We also made the bittersweet decision to switch back to English from French.  We miss our French family, but moving to English was a great move for us.  We love our new congregation. 

October

Nothing out of the ordinary in October…just incredibly busy at work.  Balloon Fiesta.  Also, my husband tore up the carpet in the man cave.  There was linoleum that looked like wood underneath.  We’re leaving it alone for now.

November

In November hubby went to Chicago with my nephew for a couple of Blackhawks games.  While they were gone, we had our new piece of fencing installed…the FINAL part of the addition project.

Also…Black Friday!

December

I traveled to Nebraska in December for my niece’s baby shower.  It was so much fun.  I got to see all of my family and go to help out with the shower.  And it was cold, but not SUPER cold.

Uncle Bob also came for an impromptu visit (funeral).

It was a stressful year (surgery, the addition, and our house being tore up, etc) but it was also a great year because we got a LOT accomplished.  The addition is complete.  Our heating/cooling is complete.  We visited a country that I still just can’t believe exists because it is so amazing.  I got to see a lot of family and we had lots of visitors.  All in all, a really good year.

Travel:  Colorado, Iceland, Nebraska

Visitors:  7 (my sister, my nephew, my parents, a couple here for PSS, and Uncle Bob)