Viva Las Vegas!

Point of joy yesterday -- bouldering with new friends. That was really great. :o) My hands are all roughed up, my arms are tuckered out and I think I still have chalk in my fingernails.

Bliss. :o) It was really good to be trying, stretching myself.

Today felt good to sleep in . . . I'd told a friend I'd help canvass neighborhoods, but last night I bowed out so I can get everything ready -- for Vegas!!!!


Tonight, I'm getting on a plane to Las Vegas. I'm meeting Joanna in Vegas and we're going to be there until Thursday. Blogging may be a bit more sporadic, but I'm really stoked for a long, long girls' weekend. We found an amazing deal through Priceline -- five nights in a hotel on Fremont Street (part of the more historic part of Las Vegas) and a plane ticket from Illinois (where Joanna is) for $230.


Sweet!!! And we're off!!! :o) I'm packin' my bags and my mom's picking me up in six hours. Awesome.

Legit.

I passed my belay test - I'm certified to belay!!! :oD For anyone reading who might not be familiar with the terms, I'm certified to manage the ropes and basically keep other people from falling to their death while rock climbing.

I'm really excited. (Definitely my point of joy for the day.) You see that red card attached to my harness? Oh yeah . . . That's my belay certification card.

Feels goooooooooood. :o)

Climbing

This title might be a bit misleading as I didn't actually climb tonight. But watching, seeing people go higher and higher up the 60-foot walls (yeah, that's right 6-0) made me feel a bit more at peace with everything, made me a bit more motivated for how I'll be changing, how my body will be different for the process.

Today I'm joyful about my gym - the comfort I'm beginning to feel in this new setting. I struck up a conversation with a new person there tonight and it felt good not to isolate myself or wait for an acquaintance to be my social crutch for a few minutes. (When did I get so shy??? I didn't used to be like this!!! What happened?!) It's about pushing myself more and more . . . and I'm growing happier and happier about that decision.

Tears and Rain

No, I promise, I'm actually in a pretty good mood - in spite of some general badness from yesterday. Thankfully everything got resolved pretty easily, the big mess up wasn't my fault (thank goodness!) and life went on.

The title of this post is the title of a song I'm really digging lately - "Tears and Rain" by James Blunt.

The dreary weather brings me to listening to David Gray, Cat Stevens, the Beatles (but really, who NEEDS a reason to listen to the Beatles? - right, nobody), Missy Higgins, Amos Lee, and James Blunt.

Today, I am joyful for good tunes, good coffee, my favorite kind of weather and the vase of pussy willows on my counter. I don't know why, but I look forward to those every year. Maybe because you really only ever see them in the spring? Perhaps because I like to pet my plants? Who knows . . . All I can confirm is that they're so stinkin' cute and look adorable in my purple vase on the counter. :o) Photo to come . . .

Lesson learned: don't do yoga on an empty stomach

Went to a vinyasa yoga class tonight at Planet Granite. I think I would have loved it more if I weren't trying to keep my balance from the light-headedness I was experiencing. The class began at 7:30 and I had gone straight to the gym after work (got there around 6:15). I ran, but not to the level I wanted. I moved into the poses, but not with the coordination I was expecting. It took about 30 minutes of classwork to put two and two together: body was tired, energy pretty darn low.

Normally, I don't think I would have let this affect me, but I tried to remember when I had last eaten. My mind did this: "..............." Crickets. I figured if I couldn't remember the last time I'd fueled my body, it had probably been too long. No wonder I felt so funny! I was very hydrated, but starting to get dizzy and felt weak.

The last time I'd eaten anything substantial was 2:00, though I'd snacked on some celery (yeah, I eat it plain because I'm weird and LOVE the flavor of celery) around 4:00.

Lesson learned. Don't go to yoga with a full tummy, but don't expect a good experience without some sort of fuel in your body. Considering my diet today was almost purely produce, it's no surprise that it was burned up pretty quickly.

So now I'm eating dinner and it's after 10:00 at night. I am joyful for food in my tummy (spicy tofu with broccoli).

Other things that brought me joy today:
- yoga, even if I did get dizzy in that warm studio
- breaking a sweat
- rain (I really am a fan of seriously miserable weather)
- a short to-do list
- getting ready to go on vacation (woohoo!)

Groceries.

Sometimes I think I post about food too much . . . and then I think, "Well, everyone eats food, so why not?"

I have come to love Sundays - they're my produce-shopping days. Grapes, oranges, yams, jalapenos, portabella mushrooms, broccoli, celery, asparagus and a pound of greens (for salads). The biggest problem here is deciding what I'm eating first.

Today I got up early and met a college friend and a few others to go door to door and pass out information about Jim Cogan, a candidate for District 9 City Councilmember in San Jose. For four hours, I knocked on doors, passed out flyers and talked to residents. It was new, different and gave me a greater appreciation for the groundwork that gets put into place for political campaigns.

The things that brought me joy today:
- tasty produce (mmmmm, I love my fruits and veggies!)
- a warm, sunny day that induced driving with the windows down
- the completion of the closet reorganization project
- a cupcake I'm going to have later tonight (a small way to celebrate Alex's birthday, even though we don't get to be together)

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em . . . and 25 Days #3

I woke up this morning and sent a coworker a text to let her know that I was officially signing on for pager duty, rolled over and dozed off. I got up a little while later but shortly thereafter, crawled back in bed and snoozed for another 20 minutes or so. Lather, rinse, repeat . . . twice.

In the spirit of compromise, I'm working from bed now . . . Well, I'm not working, but I'm in bed. I brought my computer, my tea and my breakfast with me -- I'm celebrating my low, low cholesterol by eating eggs sunny side up.

Last night, I took the plunge and signed up at Planet Granite. It must have been divine timing that I opted to go home before heading to the gym - as I finished the paperwork, I looked at the schedule of yoga sessions (free to all members) and noted that the Friday night class started at 6:45 - it was 6:39. Woohoo!

I had my butt sufficiently kicked. It was a power yoga class and though I did everything to the best of my ability (I opted out of the headstands), I am now acutely aware of the muscles in my shoulders . . . and my legs . . . and my hips . . . and . . .

But today, I find joy in a lazy day to rest (tomorrow I'm helping a friend canvass neighborhoods for the city council campaign he's managing), my moving, working body, a good book to finish (sorry, San Jose Library - just add the 50 cents to my tab), and a cup of tea . . .

25 Days - Day 2

Happy Friday!!!

Did this week seem especially long to anyone else???? Wow, I must have been dragging. It was busy, but still . . . way too long. I am looking forward to a quiet weekend of cleaning and organizing (that closet project needs to be done already - sheesh!) and reading . . .

I'm looking into a membership at Planet Granite - a rock climbing gym in the area. A few months ago, I was so stoked about getting a free membership to the Arillaga sports complex at Stanford, but I rarely use it. :o( I don't really care for the facility all that much. I think I was a bit disillusioned by the pricetag (uh, free), but now it's becoming apparent that perhaps I should be going somewhere else.

The last couple of days, I've REALLY done well in terms of my eating habits. SparkPeople is an online tool I use to track my calories and nutrition - and I've noticed I've really changed my eating habits by observing what I eat. Example: lunch today is a pineapple teriyaki portabella mushroom "burger" on sourdough, a salad with garbanzo beans and homemade dressing, and a baked yam. So good!! So full of vitamins and good stuff (okay, the teriyaki probably isn't the healthiest of sauces, but it's still tasty when accompanying other good-for-you-foods).

Monday night I binged on mozarella sticks after I got home late. After a few days of some clean eating, this was a major blow to my system - or at least it felt like it was. I made them out of convenience. What also would have been convenient would have been dumping some salad in a bowl and tossing in some dressing - but that's a mental note for next time. Later that night, laying in bed I felt queasy, sick and like I couldn't get enough water. With all of the sugar, salt and fat in my dinner, it's no surprise that I had a junk food hangover the next day.

And since then . . . All is well. I'm eating healthy stuff again. I'm working out (running) again. My system is recovered. I'm still working on taking in more water, but other than that, I'm doing very well. Which brings me to day 2 of the 25 Days of Joy - what brought me joy today was packing my lunch and putting in things that I know will make this machine I operate daily work so much better, smoother.

And tonight I'm going to scope out Planet Granite. :o)

25 Days

Day 1 (for me) of a 25 Days of Joy series started by Ms. Abbey Feldkamp on her blog. Simple enough - post something that brought you joy today.

Today, I found great joy in buying a cup of coffee. A coffee addict, I usually rely on whatever I make in the mornings or whatever I make at work. Trying to be a bit more frugal and finance-minded, I've all but cut out trips to Starbucks. This morning, I made an exception and purchased a grande bold pick with room for cream. It feels more special, you know?

On the agenda today:
- trying to ID over 75 perfect strangers in photos (seriously)
- get in some cardio (went for a run last night and it felt amazing)
- figure out my climbing (am contemplating membership at Planet Granite)
- eating REALLY good food!!! I'm most excited about this, can you tell? In my lunch box: a salad with chickpeas and homemade dressing, some almonds and dried apricots, red lentil dal [a staple for me - I make it once a week], and a baked yam. Ohhhhh . . . it's going to be a tasty day!