Lara joined us – and I was super excited to see her! :D We drove down to Big Sur along highway 1. California has a beautiful coast. California also has a lot of coast. It reminded me a little bit of when we drove along the coast in Ireland, except if we’d driven this long in Ireland we’d have gone from the bottom to the top. The first stop we made was at a beach pull off near Carmel by the Sea. The sand was really a pale warm pink and the cloud cover gave me nice even lighting.
I’m excited to say our next trip is here already! I am looking forward to the following week of travel. We are going to see our friend David marry his fiancee Tiffany, check out San Francisco, enjoy Zac and Lara’s company, see my childhood friend Sehar, and just take a break from our day to day lives. I am so grateful for good friends, opportunities to take, and the great new photographs I am going to take.
It’s been a while since Missy and Molly have made my blog! Missy has been keeping me company on a new desk we got for my office. Now I have a computer desk and right behind where I sit, we’ve put in a writing desk. Yes, in 2019, I am still writing handwritten letters, and sifting through physical mail. The good news is – I am also enjoying the dedicated space for my bullet journaling, drawing, and magazine perusal without distraction. It’s nice to keep the two spaces close but seperate.
Last week the temps got into the 100’s. That’s probably the hottest it’ll get in Georgia! Molly enjoyed it by baking on the rugs on our back covered patio. I’ve had to keep corralling them back into the air conditioning because I don’t want them to overheat out there.
I love my sweet little furballs!
So recently, I started making time instead of making excuses and have been heading to the gym. I’ve been seeing someone to help me with my goals. I thought I was going for help with my biggest hurdle: weight loss, but It’s definitely about addressing how much you bullshit yourself instead. That’s the root of most of my roadblocks. So to my surprise, I am finding myself not taking my own BS and it’s been pretty dang great. Anyway, in the process I think I found the best workout app ever. It’s called FitBod and the reason I really love it is its muscle fatigue feature. You get a set of exercises per workout that takes your muscle fatigue into account. I’ve been able to log 500+ calorie hour-long workouts but not be completely busted a day later. I never found the absolute soreness that came after hard workouts to be helpful in keeping the habit up. The other feature I really like is that the generated workout plan also has the option to replace a recommended exercise with another. This has been super useful because my gym is well populated and sometimes the bench isn’t available or the squat racks are all taken up. I can swipe left on an exercise and it will give me a few more options that exercise the same muscle group – often without a machine or free weight requirement. Indispensable!
Changing my perspective has been good for me in multiple ways. The change in mood, ability to perform/execute, and overall satisfaction with my day to day life is really improved. I think the best part of the last 12 months was removing sources of negativity ( self centered user/abuser type people, overwhelming information sources, too much social media) in my life, refocusing on expending effort into my life goals, and making the effort to reach out and include positive influences and loving people more.
Hope you all are having good years too!
Guys, Japan was amazing! I had such a different experience of it than I had imagined and I honestly can’t wait to plan a return trip. The roughest part of the journey was definitely the 14 hour direct flight. I might pick a flight with a break in it on the west coast, next time.
Once we did arrive in Japan, the train experience was comfortable, convenient, and clearly communicated. Also it was on time – like on the second. How amazing!
New York City is my favorite set of skyscrapers, beating hearts, and busy streets. I always feel at home here mingled inbetween many strangers’ shoulders – peering through the outlines of their necks and scarves for the next street sign. I came her with my mentee from work and while the work hours were stressful, the evenings were an were like an old friend’s embrace.
We are all moved back in and I am in love with my new floors. That is the most adult thing I’ve probably ever said. Things change – I thought I’d never care about this kind of stuff but now that I have a house that’s mine I have this energy to give to it. I will post some before/after photos soon – after I take all the afters and get them off my camera. Also, guys, its spring. I’ve been waiting so long for it – and now it’s finally here. I can’t explain the sense of well being and peace I get from standing outside and absorbing the sun in temperate weather. The green plants, flowers, birds, everything resonates within me. Our trip to Japan is less than a month away ( whaaaa! ) and then it looks like I’ll be flying up to NYC for a few days again. Lots of travel in the books for me this season – which, tbh, I have no complaints about. Hoping for some time to post it all here!