Last night was one of the best nights in my recent memory! Lance, JT, Bre, Jon, Leah, Justin and I went out to Betty's Rockbar in Walnut Creek to dance the night away to the sounds of The Spazmatics. For those of you who don't know, THIS BAND ROCKS!!!!! I absolutely love going out to see them and I'm SO happy that Lance likes them, too. It felt amazing to be able to go out on that dance floor with my friends and tear it up. It was such a release! The Spazmatics sounded awesome (as usual) and everyone was having a blast. What an incredibly cool night!!!
As a late Valentine's Day present to Lance, I am taking him to a brewery in Berkeley for lunch today. We've never been there before. It looks pretty amazing, though. He took me out to a fantastic Italian restaurant near our house on Thursday night and bought me some beautiful yellow roses. I love them! And I love him. My husband is the bestest guy in the entire world.
Ok...time to come off of my high from last night and get ready for today. Ah, what a night!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Oh, How It Burns!
Over the holidays I got a recumbant (stationary) bike. Since walking long distances with Lance and the dog kills my back, I thought that getting some kind of exercise machine would be good for me. (For those of you that don't know, last summer I found out that I have a bulged disk in my lower back). I'm not a huge fan of treadmills (we don't have enough room for one of them anyway) and the eliptical machines have never excited me, so I thought that the bike would be the best way to go.
I haven't really, truly exercised in a few years, so I didn't think that I'd be able to do much at first with the bike. To my surprise, I was finding myself doing 3 miles a day from the very first day...with resistance! It was such a good workout and I was really loving the bike. How awesome it is to be able to exercise while catching up on my TV shows that I miss during the week.
Starting this week, I decided that I'm going to step up my routine. I'm doing the same program with the same resistance but I'm doing it twice a day, meaning that I'm now up to 6 miles per day. I'm now getting up at 5:15am to do 3 miles and then I'm doing another 3 miles at night.
It burns, but it feels SOOOOO good! I'm pretty proud of myself, too. I didn't think that I would have worked up to this as early as I have. In roughly two months, I've doubled my distance.
Now my goal is to work up to 12 miles per day by summer. Wish me luck!
I haven't really, truly exercised in a few years, so I didn't think that I'd be able to do much at first with the bike. To my surprise, I was finding myself doing 3 miles a day from the very first day...with resistance! It was such a good workout and I was really loving the bike. How awesome it is to be able to exercise while catching up on my TV shows that I miss during the week.
Starting this week, I decided that I'm going to step up my routine. I'm doing the same program with the same resistance but I'm doing it twice a day, meaning that I'm now up to 6 miles per day. I'm now getting up at 5:15am to do 3 miles and then I'm doing another 3 miles at night.
It burns, but it feels SOOOOO good! I'm pretty proud of myself, too. I didn't think that I would have worked up to this as early as I have. In roughly two months, I've doubled my distance.
Now my goal is to work up to 12 miles per day by summer. Wish me luck!
Thursday, February 7, 2008
A Little Change
So, I've decided to make this blog more "me" oriented. I really meant for this blog to be for both Lance and I to contribute to, but he seems to have started his own blog that he is posting to. I'm not quite done adding to the site. I'll probably end up adding more pictures and who knows what else.
I'm not even totally sure how many people read this blog, but I've found it to be therapeutic for me. There is something freeing about writing down your thoughts for other people to see. I'm trying to be more open and less worried about what other people think. I don't think I ever write anything too controversial. It just feels good to let it go.
Anyway...for anyone who is still reading this...please feel free to comment on my posts. I'm really going to try and post more often.
I'm not even totally sure how many people read this blog, but I've found it to be therapeutic for me. There is something freeing about writing down your thoughts for other people to see. I'm trying to be more open and less worried about what other people think. I don't think I ever write anything too controversial. It just feels good to let it go.
Anyway...for anyone who is still reading this...please feel free to comment on my posts. I'm really going to try and post more often.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Rain, Rain, Go Away...
I actually really like the rain, but I feel like we haven't had a break from it in forever. Luckily, it looks like we're going to be getting quite a bit of sunshine next week. I'm very much looking forward to that.
Everything here has been going well. The teacher that I'm working with will be going out on paternity leave any day now. His wife was actually due yesterday and as of last Thursday was dialated 1.5cm. He'll be taking about 3 weeks off. I'm so happy for them! What a fantastic addition to their family. I've been picking up extra hours at work as a job coach after school. This means that I accompany students to their job sites and make sure that they are getting the job training that they need to hopefully become independently employed someday. This year I am doing two days a week (and every other Tuesday) and working with a total of 6 students. Usually I am paired up with students that I already know and are in my class, but this year I am working with quite a few students that I had never met. I have some very high-functioning students who I can see become fully employed after some training. They actually make my job pretty easy because of how capable they are. This has been a nice way of making some extra money this school year.
Lance is doing well. He is looking forward to the comic book convention that is coming up in a couple more weeks. It is held every year up here in the Bay Area. Lance and I have been together for over 10 years and I've been to all but two of them. We may try and work it out so that we can go to the convention in San Diego this summer, but we're not sure yet. I've never been to that one but I think it would be a lot of fun.
I ended up getting the stationary bike that I had been wanting. It is so great! I love it. We have it in the living room so we can watch TV while riding it. I've been doing 3-6 miles a day on it, which is more than I thought I would do.
My Dad is still working on our bathroom but our bedroom is now complete. The new paint looks sooooo amazing! It's fantastic what just paint can do to a room. He won't be able to come back and work on the bathroom again until the end of February/first part of March because of other obligations and a weeklong vacation with my Mom. It is really coming together, though. I can't wait until it's all finished!
That's all for now! Happy weekend!
Everything here has been going well. The teacher that I'm working with will be going out on paternity leave any day now. His wife was actually due yesterday and as of last Thursday was dialated 1.5cm. He'll be taking about 3 weeks off. I'm so happy for them! What a fantastic addition to their family. I've been picking up extra hours at work as a job coach after school. This means that I accompany students to their job sites and make sure that they are getting the job training that they need to hopefully become independently employed someday. This year I am doing two days a week (and every other Tuesday) and working with a total of 6 students. Usually I am paired up with students that I already know and are in my class, but this year I am working with quite a few students that I had never met. I have some very high-functioning students who I can see become fully employed after some training. They actually make my job pretty easy because of how capable they are. This has been a nice way of making some extra money this school year.
Lance is doing well. He is looking forward to the comic book convention that is coming up in a couple more weeks. It is held every year up here in the Bay Area. Lance and I have been together for over 10 years and I've been to all but two of them. We may try and work it out so that we can go to the convention in San Diego this summer, but we're not sure yet. I've never been to that one but I think it would be a lot of fun.
I ended up getting the stationary bike that I had been wanting. It is so great! I love it. We have it in the living room so we can watch TV while riding it. I've been doing 3-6 miles a day on it, which is more than I thought I would do.
My Dad is still working on our bathroom but our bedroom is now complete. The new paint looks sooooo amazing! It's fantastic what just paint can do to a room. He won't be able to come back and work on the bathroom again until the end of February/first part of March because of other obligations and a weeklong vacation with my Mom. It is really coming together, though. I can't wait until it's all finished!
That's all for now! Happy weekend!
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Busy, Busy, Busy
Hello everyone!
I hope that everyone had a nice holiday. It has been really nice having last week and this week off. It has been pretty crazy around here, but thankfully, we have found some time to relax and spend time with each other, too.
We had our traditional Christmas again this year. I spent the night at my parent's house on Christmas Eve. We stayed up until pretty late in the evening playing Mexican Train (Jon kicked everyone's behinds this year) while eating WAY too many Chocolate Chip Jubilee cookies that my sister made (grandma's recipe). It was a really fun night. On Christmas morning, Lance came over pretty early and we opened presents. This year, we decided to do Secret Santa because some of us were a bit short on money. We revealed ourselves to our secret person and opened our gifts. My mom's "stocking stuffers" ended up not quite fitting in our stockings, so we ended up getting pretty spoiled anyway. My dad made is usual OUTSTANDING breakfast and then we headed out to a matinee. This year, we saw Charlie Wilson's War. We all really enjoyed it. We went back to my parent's house for a fantastic ham dinner. Everything was really nice and we all had a really great time spending time together. It's really fun to have a family tradition.
My dad started working on our master bathroom last week. Basically, our shower was starting to fall apart. As much as I'd like to say that this was something that we just wanted to do for the fun of it, it turned out to be something that we couldn't ignore. In the master bath, we have a stall shower (no tub). The people who lived here before us put in a really cheap shower and not long ago, it began to peel and chip and the back walls started to peel away from the wall. There was also a water leak which started causing mold to form in the bottom corners of the shower on the wall. Not a pretty sight! This bathroom also had a vaulted ceiling which made it almost impossible to put in a fan. Because of this, we constantly got water dripping from the ceiling after one of us took a shower. Pretty yucky. So, my dad closed off the ceiling (making it flat), put in a new shower, and is going to be putting in new floors (tile). Today he also added crown molding and a new window casing. It is starting to look amazing!!! I can't wait for it to be completed. Oh...we're also painting the bathroom and also the master bedroom. Lance has been dying to paint our bedroom since we moved in 2 years ago. My dad has done an amazing job! We're so lucky that he is willing and able to do this for us. We're really grateful!
Lance has been doing well lately. Some of you might already know, but for those of you who don't, we think that he may be dealing with seasonal affective disorder. It has been apparent for the last few years that something with him changes during the winter months, but this year has been especially hard. After both of us did a little research, we have decided that SAD fits him better than anything else. (Depression didn't end up fitting him at all). The lightbulb moment for me came when I would come home from work after dark and he would have almost every light on in the house and he told me that it "made him feel better". He has had a few bad days but mostly good ones. According to the websites that I visited, it said that SAD usually starts in October or November (his started in early November) and lasts throughout the winter months. So, hopefully come February or early March, he'll be feeling more like himself.
We're making some progress with Oliver (the cat) and Willy (our inside dog). We knew that it would take a while to get them used to each other, but lately, Oliver has shown that he is no longer afraid of the dog. In fact, yesterday he was so comfortable with him that he decided to fall over on his back with his bell exposed and started to clean himself. All this while Willy was only 3 feet or so away from him. Lance has said that a couple of times, they have played "kissy-face" (as he likes to call it) and will go out of their way to greet the other one. One step at a time, but we're definitely making progress.
I've decided that in the next week or so, I'm going to be buying a stationary bike. It is really hard for me to go on walks with Lance and Argos as my back starts to hurt like crazy after about a half a mile. Last summer I was told that I had a bulged disk in my lower back, so I'm sure that's contributing. I know that I need to do a bit more exercising and since I don't go to the gym anymore, I thought this might be a good investment. Lance and I went the other day and picked one out that we like. I got a few gift cards and some money for Christmas, so they will cover most of the cost to buy it. I'm really excited and can't wait to use it!
I think that's pretty much it for now. Our Christmas pictures didn't turn out this year, so I don't really have anything to post. Please check out our Christmas video below if you haven't already! Lance will be in the next one...I promise!
I hope that everyone had a nice holiday. It has been really nice having last week and this week off. It has been pretty crazy around here, but thankfully, we have found some time to relax and spend time with each other, too.
We had our traditional Christmas again this year. I spent the night at my parent's house on Christmas Eve. We stayed up until pretty late in the evening playing Mexican Train (Jon kicked everyone's behinds this year) while eating WAY too many Chocolate Chip Jubilee cookies that my sister made (grandma's recipe). It was a really fun night. On Christmas morning, Lance came over pretty early and we opened presents. This year, we decided to do Secret Santa because some of us were a bit short on money. We revealed ourselves to our secret person and opened our gifts. My mom's "stocking stuffers" ended up not quite fitting in our stockings, so we ended up getting pretty spoiled anyway. My dad made is usual OUTSTANDING breakfast and then we headed out to a matinee. This year, we saw Charlie Wilson's War. We all really enjoyed it. We went back to my parent's house for a fantastic ham dinner. Everything was really nice and we all had a really great time spending time together. It's really fun to have a family tradition.
My dad started working on our master bathroom last week. Basically, our shower was starting to fall apart. As much as I'd like to say that this was something that we just wanted to do for the fun of it, it turned out to be something that we couldn't ignore. In the master bath, we have a stall shower (no tub). The people who lived here before us put in a really cheap shower and not long ago, it began to peel and chip and the back walls started to peel away from the wall. There was also a water leak which started causing mold to form in the bottom corners of the shower on the wall. Not a pretty sight! This bathroom also had a vaulted ceiling which made it almost impossible to put in a fan. Because of this, we constantly got water dripping from the ceiling after one of us took a shower. Pretty yucky. So, my dad closed off the ceiling (making it flat), put in a new shower, and is going to be putting in new floors (tile). Today he also added crown molding and a new window casing. It is starting to look amazing!!! I can't wait for it to be completed. Oh...we're also painting the bathroom and also the master bedroom. Lance has been dying to paint our bedroom since we moved in 2 years ago. My dad has done an amazing job! We're so lucky that he is willing and able to do this for us. We're really grateful!
Lance has been doing well lately. Some of you might already know, but for those of you who don't, we think that he may be dealing with seasonal affective disorder. It has been apparent for the last few years that something with him changes during the winter months, but this year has been especially hard. After both of us did a little research, we have decided that SAD fits him better than anything else. (Depression didn't end up fitting him at all). The lightbulb moment for me came when I would come home from work after dark and he would have almost every light on in the house and he told me that it "made him feel better". He has had a few bad days but mostly good ones. According to the websites that I visited, it said that SAD usually starts in October or November (his started in early November) and lasts throughout the winter months. So, hopefully come February or early March, he'll be feeling more like himself.
We're making some progress with Oliver (the cat) and Willy (our inside dog). We knew that it would take a while to get them used to each other, but lately, Oliver has shown that he is no longer afraid of the dog. In fact, yesterday he was so comfortable with him that he decided to fall over on his back with his bell exposed and started to clean himself. All this while Willy was only 3 feet or so away from him. Lance has said that a couple of times, they have played "kissy-face" (as he likes to call it) and will go out of their way to greet the other one. One step at a time, but we're definitely making progress.
I've decided that in the next week or so, I'm going to be buying a stationary bike. It is really hard for me to go on walks with Lance and Argos as my back starts to hurt like crazy after about a half a mile. Last summer I was told that I had a bulged disk in my lower back, so I'm sure that's contributing. I know that I need to do a bit more exercising and since I don't go to the gym anymore, I thought this might be a good investment. Lance and I went the other day and picked one out that we like. I got a few gift cards and some money for Christmas, so they will cover most of the cost to buy it. I'm really excited and can't wait to use it!
I think that's pretty much it for now. Our Christmas pictures didn't turn out this year, so I don't really have anything to post. Please check out our Christmas video below if you haven't already! Lance will be in the next one...I promise!
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Denial
Okay, so I'm in denial about two things specifically right now....1) that it has been so long since my last post and 2) that we only have 17 days until Christmas! What the heck! Is that right??? Time to screw my head back on.
These last few weeks have been busy! Thanksgiving, a trip to Tehachapi for a baby shower, Lance's birthday, my birthday, my nephew's first birthday party...all in the last 3 weeks! I need a break as much as the skinny girl on Survivor needs a sandwich. Oops...that last one just snuck out. I'm a bit tired and I'm being rude.
Last night, I had the best time with my sister. Bre invited me to be her date for an 80s themed holiday party. She works a second job in the afternoons at Expression College and they put on the most rockin' holiday party! The highlight of the night was dancing to the sounds of The Spazmatics...an 80s cover band that dress as nerds but play their instruments like rock stars! This was the second time I had seen them live and they were fantastic! I completely *geeked* out when Bre told me they were playing. I'm a huge fan. I've included some pics of our photobooth fun and our favorite Spaz!
Some other fantastic tidbits from my neck of the woods...my dad has lost a bunch of weight and is on a mission to become a much healthier human being. I'm sure our doctor is going to be really happy with the results when my dad goes back to see him in another 5 months. As for my mom, she has stopped smoking!!!! It has been over a month now and she's doing really well! Not one smoke. My sister has now completed her last class for her A.A. Degree. Working two jobs and going to school wasn't fun for her, so she's really happy to have that done. As you can see, we are all crazy proud of each other!!!!
That's all for now. Enjoy the pics!!!!!
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