Quick Trip to Lexington

Suzie came down from New York City on Friday to visit. Like her last visit, we watched the Great British Baking Show (well, Masterclass version), ate Indian food and gave each other backrubs. A funny thing happened with the Indian food: I was wondering why it was taking forever to be delivered. I got a phone call 30 minutes after it was supposed to get to the house. "Your food is ready for pick up." UGH, I forgot to click on "Delivery"!!! Fortunately, they were nice enough to deliver and since they aren't that far away, it didn't take forever for the food to get here. Sigh.

Suzie and I took the Metro down to Virginia to meet up with Robyn and Meg, and off we went!  The whole point of the trip was to drop Suzie off at Alumni College (think of it as camp for adults) and also walk around town and campus. Suzie's apartment was in the brand new junior housing. Wow, it's so nice! The single rooms are spacious and each apartment has a kitchen and large living room and balcony and a full size washer and dryer! And air conditioning!  They are so spoiled!

 

We walked to the restaurant that we used to eat at. You know you're getting older when you look at the menu board and think "You shouldn't get that cheesesteak. You'll regret it later." I ended up getting a salad with chicken. I saved my calories for our trip to the ice cream shop (I got coffee crunch). We walked around campus and eventually sat to reminisce. We left Suzie on campus so that she could get settled into her room.

 

I was in charge of reserving the hotel room and when we opened the door, it was 2 double beds. Crap!  I should have gotten 2 queen beds. Robyn and I ended up sharing a bed because Meg was getting over a cold. It wasn't too bad for a night, Robyn and I have slept in smaller beds when we've had to share.

We met up with Suzie after breakfast and went to the bookstore. I almost got a tank top, but decided against it because it was too tight in the chest area. I ended up with getting a post card for us to write and send to Page, one of the other girls in my college group. We went to get coffee and we sat near the Commons to rehash some more stories from college, mainly about nutty girls that we didn't like. Finally it was time to say good-bye to Suzie and drive back.

I picked my car up at the Metro and drove to my parents' house to pick up RJ, who, I heard, was Mr. Grouchy Pants. Julie said that he hissed at Uncle when he came for a visit. SIGH.

Karen's Retirement Party

My boss and I stayed later than usual last night when she rode in from the airport to address a bunch of things on my to-do/to-ask-about list and then we went to Happy Hour afterwards with 2 other coworkers. First thing this morning, I had her signed off on a bunch of things so I could take the weight off my shoulders and then we did my performance review (I'm hoping my promotion will be effective any day now...I just want an official email with the news!). She then went to have her final chat with the Executive Director while we were setting up for her party. I was a little nervous about the cake because it was raining outside when I went to pick it up from Giant. It didn't fit in the grocery cart, so I had to lay it across the top. I was crossing my fingers that it wasn't going to slide off and land in a puddle before I made it to the car!

The retirement party that I coordinated for my boss was a success: pizza, cake (marble with buttercream frosting), plaque commemorating her 22 years of service, presents (a very nice tote bag with other travel related gifts) and a PowerPoint featuring funny pictures of her (I had a little bit of help from other staff).

I was able to hold off on the tears until our final hug before she gathered her belongings and headed to the airport. One of my coworkers said she almost teared up watching us hug because we were both crying (I almost didn’t want to let her go).

Her parting gift to me was her collection of giant microbes: syphilis, gonorrhea, H1N1, etc. Yay, science! I stitched her an amaryllis plant, which based on the florist's website, is given to commemorate a big achievement. I usually send her flowers for events, but they only last a week or so. These will last forever! I also made a card for the office to sign.

Guess it’s my time to grow up a little and take the helm of the department.

A Chat with the Executive Director

Julie and I were the only ones at CrossFit this morning. I guess everyone's sleeping in today or coming in later. I'm glad that we went because otherwise Ryan would have no one to coach!

After getting cleaned up from the gym, I went to the office to have a chat with my Executive Director to talk to him about planning my boss's retirement party (her last day is July 6). We talked about how the work conference we were at was a big success, but that we were happy to be home. When we got to the topic of my boss (he was going to help with planning her retirement party), he said “Karen (my boss) told me how proud of you she is. She said you really stepped up to the plate this year.”

Whattt. Wow, that was so nice, both for her to say that to him and for him to report that back to me! Our staff has really grown over the years, and I’m not always sure he’s aware of everything that his staff does because there’s so many of us and he’s got a lot on his plate. It was nice to get one-on-one time with him and get that recognition. He said he'd take care of lunch, Drew would take care of the staff appreciation plaque, and I'd take care of cake/cards/conference room reservation.

I also went to the office because I wanted to order some food. My refrigerator is looking very bare from being away from home on work travel. “Butter chicken? I like butter chicken!” Mmmno. I’m pretty sure you don’t. Nice try though!

The End of Spring Work Travel

Whew! It's been a busy spring in terms of work travel! In May, I went to Boise, Idaho and Albuquerque, New Mexico for work. I was also in Phoenix, Arizona in March and Jackson, Mississippi in April. This past week's trip to Providence is my last work-related trip until New Orleans, Louisiana this fall.

One of the cool things that I saw in Providence, Rhode Island was the WaterFire. People riding in gondolas lit up wooden braziers along the water. At first the flames weren't that big, but once this breeze picked up and they had some time to burn, it was a beautiful sight. It felt very "Tangled," if you've seen the Disney movie.

WaterFire

 

At the pre-meeting meeting for staff, we were highly encouraged to thank the vendors and make them feel welcomed since they paid quite a bit to exhibit at our conference. While wandering the Exhibit Hall yesterday, one of the vendors saw my watch, and we had a 15 minute conversation about our cats. I mean, we did talk about their product, but we talked mostly about our cats. My teal heels also got attention. I lasted about 2 days with them before I started wearing my flip flops as covertly as I could.

This is my 8th year attending this work conference, and it has probably been my busiest: staffed 1 pre-conference workshop, prepared 1 poster presentation, staffed 3 demonstrations, and coordinated 3 sessions (and moderated one of them). It was nice to see people that I normally communicate with via phone and email and get a bunch of hugs, but I was so happy to be back at home, sleep in my own bed and get back to my workouts.

Empties #10 and New Liquid Lipsticks

Since the beginning of the year, I've been making a concerted effort to use the stuff that I already have and not buy new stuff. For example, I have so many travel size toiletries from when I've gone to the dentist and have traveled for work. I had 2 sandwich bags full of them. I also wanted to use up some perfume samples.

I'm sad that the Palmer's lotion and The Body Shop Mango shower gel are done because they both smelled amazing. The Up and Up brand eye make up remover worked just fine. I've found that it's not necessary to buy brand name stuff for that kind of thing. I used up a Gucci Guilty purse spray perfume, but I bought a bottle of it for myself for Christmas this past year, so I still have it in my life!

I used up two make-up products recently: a under-eye brightening concealer by Maybelline (already repurchased!) and a Maybelline cream eye shadow in Bad to the Bronze. I scrapped out every bit of product in that jar, and I would repurchase it but I have other cream eyeshadow products that I need to work through.

Even though I told myself that I'd allow myself one new makeup product a month in 2017, I failed like 3 months in. Heh. I couldn't resist a good deal and a product that got good reviews on Youtube. These are the Wet N Wild Liquid Catsuit liquid lipsticks. I tried Oh My Dolly first, and wow, it's so bright! But it's an amazing summer color.

A Quick Trip to Jackson, Mississippi

My boss and I took a quick trip to Jackson, Mississippi for work (left on Wednesday, going home tomorrow). We are here to serve as facilitators for an assessment. I've gone to these assessments in the past as a notetaker, but with my boss retiring this summer, I needed to have experience as a facilitator. My boss did the first two sessions and I did the two afternoon sessions. I'm not sure if the people were just in a food coma or they didn't have the knowledge to respond to the questions that were in the assessment tool, but they were not as chatty as they were earlier. I was getting a little nervous, which apparently showed because after that session my boss was like "The only feedback I would give you is that you should probably smile more. You looked scared to death." Oh really? THAT'S BECAUSE I WAS! Heh. The last session went a lot better, so whew, I'm glad that's over!

The food here has been amazing. I had scallops last night and I had scallops tonight too. I also had something called a lemon ice box pie, which is the consisitancy of key lime pie, except with lemons. OMG, so good.

While I loved how cozy my king size bed was (I could lay in it diagonally and still have room to spare!), I'm looking forward to going home tomorrow!

(What I found concerning about Jackson was that there were pockets that looked great and other parts that looked run down. It was kinda sad to see the difference in just a few blocks. The apartments across the street from the hotel were run down, but I heard that they were going to be renovated, so perhaps the city is making a comeback.)

My boss's second grandson was born earlier today...and it's also her birthday today!  What an awesome birthday present! :)

Testing Deadlifts at CrossFit

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! It’s test week…1 rep max for deadlifts. My 1 RM is 170 lbs, but with my back injury last year, I haven’t been able to (or wanted to) lift anywhere near that weight. I stopped at 135 lbs today, and I’m happy with that since the last 3 x 5 I did was at 115 lbs. I can’t wait to see where I’m at the next time deadlifts appear in the strength cycle.

WOD, for time, 15:00 time cap
100 Walking lunges
80 Sit-ups
60 Push-ups (I started with just a black band, but I had to add a red one halfway through because my arms were toast.
40 Wall Balls (10 lbs ball)
20 Pull-ups
Score: I got through 11 wall balls in the time cap. Whew! What a way to start the week! I’m wearing a new shirt I got over the weekend. It’s got hummingbirds on it!

Lip color: Maybelline Creamy Matte in Touch of Spice

Long-Lost Craft Projects

I was looking for one of my stamps with the intention of making cards tonight, and in the process, I found a Ziploc bag with 3 unfinished cross-stitch projects inside! I’m missing some colors, but I hope the craft store has them in stock when I go tomorrow. In the meantime, I’m going to work on the middle project until I get sleepy.

A Donut Card and New Stamps!

I love getting snail mail! Look at what came recently all the way from Bermuda! Thanks, Jen!

I know I told myself I wasn’t going to be buying anymore crafty supplies this year, but I couldn’t resist this Hero Arts tree stamp (on clearance!) and a set of clear stamps (the HELLO stamp was included in that set) when I went to Joann’s today. I put my new finds to good use earlier tonight. It's good timing because Maria (one of my CrossFit friends who has since moved to Mexico) got bit by a dog earlier this weekend. Thankfully, she's okay and doesn't need stitches. I'll be sending her the one on the left to cheer her up. She's been so good about exercising lately, but this injury will have her sidelined for a little bit.

Box Jump Mishap at CrossFit

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! Push press day…3 x 5 at 90 lbs. Maybe I’ll go on Saturday and do 95 lbs to get a star next to my name. We’ll see how 17.3 goes tomorrow, whatever it is.

WOD, 12:00 AMRAP
400 m run
Max set of Unbroken Pull-ups
7 Box Jumps (24 inch box…usually I use the 20 inch ones!!!)
Score: # of pull-ups…24 with green and red bands. I scratched my finger on my box before I jumped on it. Does anyone wanna kiss it and make it better? Or buy me a donut? Boston cream or jelly. Kthx.

Lip color: Maybelline The Bolds Collection in Gone Greige.

International Women's Day

6:30 AM CrossFit, check! 3-second pause back squats today… 3 x 5 at 85 lbs.

WOD:
5:00 Row for max calories
–1:00 REST–
5:00 7 Wall Balls (8 lbs ball) + 7 Burpees
–1:00 REST–
5:00 5 Bear Complex (55 lbs) +15 V-ups/tuck-ups/sit-ups

In honor of International Women’s Day, I’ll be wearing red to work. Truth be told, I’ve had this red dress hanging in my closet for the past, I dunno, year? Never been worn, tags still hanging. Ah, what a perfect day to break this out! I hope all the ladies out there feel strong, beautiful and capable today. Well, any day, really! But especially today.

The new BBQ place near work was open for lunch today, finally! Thank goodness! If I was turned away again like I was yesterday, I would have been super disappointed. I went with 5 of my coworkers, and we enjoyed the good food and company. I got the lunch special: 1 meat and 2 sides (BBQ pulled pork, macaroni and cheese, and mashed potatoes). I’d totally go back!

Lip color: Maybelline Creamy Matte in Nude Nuance.

Weekend Recap: Jenny's Brunch, New Cards, and New Puzzle

My friend from graduate school (Jenny, far right) was so nice to invite us to her new house for brunch on Saturday. She and her husband made some many improvements to the house over the past year. The house looked awesome and I'm really happy for her because I know it has been quite a labor of love. My favorite space was the kitchen: it was so open, had a large island in the middle as well as tons of storage. She prepared a lovely brunch spread and we caught up with the other graduate school ladies, Cristina and Laura.

My friend from undergrad Page texted me a few days ago, asking if she could order some cards. I tackled that order on Friday, after I shut down my work computer. She requested specific sentiments and that the cards be animal-themed. Ok, easy peasy!

Another friend from undergrad Meg gave me a cat-related puzzle for my birthday a few weeks ago. I started it after I got home from Jenny's brunch and finished it about 24 hours later. The distinct colors in the puzzle made it easier to do.

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).

Dim Sum with Coworkers

My coworkers and I have had this dim sum lunch on our calendars for the past month. I was a little afraid that there were going to be too many people because my calendar appointment got forwarded quite a bit, but it turns out that there were only 6 of us that ended up going, a manageable amount. I told Ben to sit next to me since we were already familiar with the menu. I feel like each time we go, we get better and better about knowing how much food to order and not having a ton of leftovers, heh. OMG, per usual, the food was amazing, and I'm already looking forward to going back soon.

Happy Lunar New Year!

To start off the day, my sister and I went to CrossFit for the 9:30 AM class and then we went to Dunkin Donuts with Shannon (one of our CrossFit friends) for some breakfast. Afterwards, Julie and I went to my place to pick up the pet beds that we made a few weekends ago and drive over to the humane society to drop them off. The staff there were over the moon about them and the prints that we chose for the beds (not that the animals would have been too picky.

For Lunar New Year this year, my contributions were dumplings (that Julie helped me make like 10...) and a plain cheesecake (with a blueberry topping on the side). The cousins and significant others went downstairs afterwards to play a Monopoly card game. About half of us were first time players. My cousin Hugo and I were a team so he could help me out. We ended up winning!

Weekend Movie Round-Up

For this long weekend, I spent it on the couch flipping between CNN and movies and making food. I rented Jason Bourne and Suicide Squad on Redbox, and both movies were meh. I'm glad I didn't spend $10+ to see them at the movie theater. Jason Bourne was like all the other Bourne movies with lots of running and car chases. I wonder when Matt Damon's going to get to old to run so much and then they'll have to end the series. With Suicide Squad, I've seen better superhero movies. I did like Harley Quinn though. She was fun! The Joker, on the other hand, what a creep!

Food wise, I made beef stew in the crock pot and a cheesecake in the oven (with blueberry topping). I think I should have waited a little more for the cream cheese blocks to get even softer because the texture in the finished product was a little different than usual. It still tasted fine though! I ate 2 slices just to be sure. ;) I left a little over half of it at my parents' house so that I wouldn't be tempted to eat more than I should.

CrossFit and Pet Beds

The local animal shelter built a new facility not too long ago, and we've been looking for an excuse to visit it. We'll bring present, perfect! Julie got funding from her volunteering organization to buy enough fabric and foam pads for 15 pet beds. We went to Joann's after CrossFit this morning to pick out fleece fabric in different patterns. The design is basically two sheets of fleece fabric and a foam pad in between. You cut strips around the edges of the foam pad and tie the two panels together, so new sewing involved!

RJ supervised the whole operation, of course.

We got about halfway though the project today before Julie had to go home to get ready to go out with friends. I stayed on the couch and watched CNN. I had no energy to do anything else...so soreee.

Work, Rawr

Work this week has been exceptionally challenging, and there was nothing I could have done would have prevented it. I've been working on a return on investment project for the past 3 years with a workgroup composed of members from my association. My work hired a consultant to crunch numbers that the workgroup provided, and for the past few months, we've been asking the consultant to explain how he got the numbers. This shouldn't be difficult, right? Just show us the formulas. Easy peasy, right? NOPE.

We had an in-person meeting yesterday and today, and wow, things got a little heated yesterday (first thing in the morning, mind you) when the workgroup had lots of questions for the consultant. He raised his voice a few times and got defensive. UGH, it was so uncomfortable, I wanted to leave the room a few times. I feel like this project is one step forward, three steps back. BLAH! I'm hoping we can find ways to move forward with this project without the consultant because there is NO way I want to add $30,000 to this project and continue to work with a consultant who is rude to our members and slow to be forthcoming with his data methods.

At least folks had a good time at dinner last night. 1/2 price bottles of wine probably helped!

I'm glad I was able to make it to CrossFit this evening. I couldn't go yesterday because of this meeting.

CrossFit, Pet Beds, and Valentines

9:30 AM CrossFit, check! Wow, big class today, even though it was a little snowy outside. As an ice breaker, Coach Rel asked everyone in the circle to say their name and one thing they are looking forward to this weekend. It was funny to hear what people chose to share: playing with their pets (riding a horse, walking a dog), going to see Wicked, going to sports games, etc. Julie talked about a crafty project (see below) and I said I was excited about the curry rice that Mom's making for dinner. Hah.

Anyway, I went to all the lift days this week, but I wanted to practice my hang clean form. Maddie said “Nice work!” so I guess I’m getting somewhere! 3 x 5 at 70 lbs.

Partner WOD…Between you and your partner, accumulate the following:
200 wall balls (8 lbs)
100 med ball sit-ups (8 lbs)
50 cal row

We did the exercises bottom to top because it was a big class, and there wasn’t enough room for everyone to do the same thing at once. In the time cap, my sister and I did the cal row, the med ball sit-ups and 140/200 wall balls

Julie and I met up at Joann's around lunch time to look at pricing for fleece and foam pads so we can make no-sew cat and dog beds. The idea is that we'll make them and bring them to the local animal shelter, as an excuse to see the new facility and see the cats and dogs. If there's a stowaway in my purse, oh well! After we parted ways, I went to get a slice of Costco pizza and my free bagel from Panera. Yummm.

For my afternoon activity (since the weather was rather snowy!), I made some Valentine's Day cards. I bought this pack of Valentine’s Day embellishments a while ago, and I wanted to use them as the focal point of some of these cards. I used this previous Valentine's Day card as a reference. I haven’t decided if I’m going to send these out myself to friends or put them in the staff kitchen for coworkers to pick through.

Mom made curry rice for dinner tonight, so of course, I went over for dinner. That's 2 sit-down family dinners this week. That New Year's Resolution is off to a good start! :)