I have a new blog. Since cancer is now a huge part of my life and what I'm going through. This is where I'm venting on EVERYTHING about it.
JulieOnAJourney.blogspot.com
Most of what I'm doing is there now.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Monday, October 29, 2012
I have cancer. It has taken me almost 12 hours since the doctor called to be able to say or type that word. Cancer. I have it. Breast Cancer specifically.
3 weeks ago I felt a lump. I called the doctor that Monday and got an appointment with my doctor on that Friday. She felt it too and she knew my history. She's the one who had set me for a mammogram a year and a half ago. That showed microcalcifications so I had my mammo's every 6 months. June 2011, December 2011 and June 2012. They were watching to see if anything changed. And as of June, all was good. I even have my appointment in December.
But 3 weeks ago I felt a lump. After seeing my doctor that Friday, she sent me for another mammogram and ultrasound, which was the following Friday. Because of the Aleve I've been taking after my wrist surgery (a blood thinner), I had to wait for the biopsy, which was this past Friday. Today I got the results.
I have breast cancer.
My next doctor appointment is on Thursday with a breast specialist at a breast clinic associated with Dana Faber and Brigham and Women's Cancer Centers. She will go over my films with me and what the next steps are.
I'm in shock. I'm 38. I shouldn't have to find the strength to say the words, I HAVE CANCER. What is that??? Why is that??? How does that happen? I'm healthy. I run, swim, work out, teach exercise classes. I ran a marathon! How do I get cancer?
Thursday I have to find out what steps are next. Thank GOD I was not at work today when this call came in. Thank GOD for this hurricane keeping me home with my boyfriend all day. And thank God for him. I couldn't have made it through the past few weeks without him.
He is my rock and I love him so much. He is amazing. I couldn't have made it this far without him. Going forward from here? I don't know what's next or what is going to happen.
Thursday I find out more. One thing at a time, one step at a time. Today I got the call and almost 12 hours later I find the strength to say it out loud. I have cancer. I am 38 years old and today I found out that I have breast cancer.
3 weeks ago I felt a lump. I called the doctor that Monday and got an appointment with my doctor on that Friday. She felt it too and she knew my history. She's the one who had set me for a mammogram a year and a half ago. That showed microcalcifications so I had my mammo's every 6 months. June 2011, December 2011 and June 2012. They were watching to see if anything changed. And as of June, all was good. I even have my appointment in December.
But 3 weeks ago I felt a lump. After seeing my doctor that Friday, she sent me for another mammogram and ultrasound, which was the following Friday. Because of the Aleve I've been taking after my wrist surgery (a blood thinner), I had to wait for the biopsy, which was this past Friday. Today I got the results.
I have breast cancer.
My next doctor appointment is on Thursday with a breast specialist at a breast clinic associated with Dana Faber and Brigham and Women's Cancer Centers. She will go over my films with me and what the next steps are.
I'm in shock. I'm 38. I shouldn't have to find the strength to say the words, I HAVE CANCER. What is that??? Why is that??? How does that happen? I'm healthy. I run, swim, work out, teach exercise classes. I ran a marathon! How do I get cancer?
Thursday I have to find out what steps are next. Thank GOD I was not at work today when this call came in. Thank GOD for this hurricane keeping me home with my boyfriend all day. And thank God for him. I couldn't have made it through the past few weeks without him.
He is my rock and I love him so much. He is amazing. I couldn't have made it this far without him. Going forward from here? I don't know what's next or what is going to happen.
Thursday I find out more. One thing at a time, one step at a time. Today I got the call and almost 12 hours later I find the strength to say it out loud. I have cancer. I am 38 years old and today I found out that I have breast cancer.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Mid October Already?
Lately I have been so busy and have had such a hard time getting the chance to write anything.. and things just keep getting even more crazy!!
I had the surgery on my wrist 3 weeks ago yesterday. Recovery has been a bit harder than I expected. Originally they said it would be about 45 minutes. Well it was double that! They said I had a lot more fluid in my tendons than they had expected and cleaned it all up. SO, much more swelling and soreness than I expected for recovery.
Still wearing a brace for some support and comfort, but trying to take it off more and more. Occupational therapy starts next week with a certified hand specialist, and that should make a big difference.
Work has been absolutely insane and I've been ripping my hair out for weeks. FINALLY starting to relax a little after the past month, and hopefully that will continue.
This past Saturday I started my indoor bootcamps again. I had a few new people and it went REALLY well. Pretty excited about this group too. It made me feel great and that I'm doing what I should be doing.
I keep looking up other training jobs and class positions open online. I just have to find a few minutes to sit and send out a few resumes. Everything with my wrist threw all of that for a loop and pushed back some plans, but at least now I'm in better shape for it.
Puerto Rico with the girls is in 3 weeks from Friday! I can't wait! This trip is going to be SO much fun! I've been looking forward to this for months. Getting away, hitting the beach and going out dancing. Things I need and can't wait for. :)
We had another girls night this past weekend for Kristin's birthday. It was pretty cool that for dinner there were 10 of us!! I love this group and I'm so happy that I've found the group of friends that I have.
What else??? Other than the biggest change? I'm moving. Starting now. Officially, I have already moved, although my stuff is still pretty much still in the old place. Cats are moving this weekend along with hopefully most of my clothes.
My boyfriend asked me to move in with him and I said yes. So I'm sleeping here every night and getting ready for work here in the morning. I went to my apartment after work yesterday to clean out a few things and pack up a little. Kitchen pantry is almost done. I brought over a bunch of food and some more stuff for the bathroom, along with the clothes I am wearing to work today.
After work today, I'm going back to the apartment, trying to do a LITTLE more but I have to be at the track for the running group at 6:30. Between changing for that, grabbing clothes for work tomorrow, and feeding the cats, I won't have too much time. But I do have a bag of stuff from the kitchen, the spoons and random kitchen tools, another box of food stuff and I'm taking a cooler to grab the stuff in the fridge. I'm hoping to get a couple of other little things out of the pantry and to have that completely cleared out tonight... to get at least one thing done.
My boyfriend is clearing out the 1st floor apartment in his house that he didn't finish his rehab on. Two rooms will be cleared out and cleaned out. Then we are buying 2 12x12 rugs and I'll bring over a few smaller pieces of furniture for the cats.... like the ottoman and some sofa cushions. So the plan is for them to get their own apartment by the end of the weekend.
And then my boyfriend has to build the closet he's giving me. Its just a very small room right now, a doorway into it, then the doorway to the attic. He's putting the rod up for my clothes and we are getting shelves in there too. I'll put in the shoe racks I have (4 of them with 2 shelves each!) along with a small 3 drawer dresser. Between that dresser, the shelves and the rod to hang clothes on, I should be okay for the most part.
I'm putting 2 other dressers on the first floor for off season stuff and things I don't wear as much, plus I can use the dresser and closet in his back spare bedroom. He has set up the 3rd bedroom basically as a mancave. We bought a new rug for it 2 weeks ago and cleaned the whole room out. I picked up new curtains and curtain rods for him in there too. And that was all before he asked me to move in!
So... trying to get all of that done. At least I am taking all of November to move as well. I still haven't given notice on my apartment. I'll just ease into moving in, so I don't have to rush it. And then I can go through everything a little easier.
I plan on tossing SO much. I've already purged a ton, between my last move 3 years ago and then every few months or so, but still.... I HAVE A LOT! Just out of my pantry, I have 2 bags of trash already! Between trash, donate, keep and store. Those are the 4 categories I have. We'll see how I do!
Okay... might be late for work. Still haven't showered today! Ooops!
I had the surgery on my wrist 3 weeks ago yesterday. Recovery has been a bit harder than I expected. Originally they said it would be about 45 minutes. Well it was double that! They said I had a lot more fluid in my tendons than they had expected and cleaned it all up. SO, much more swelling and soreness than I expected for recovery.
Still wearing a brace for some support and comfort, but trying to take it off more and more. Occupational therapy starts next week with a certified hand specialist, and that should make a big difference.
Work has been absolutely insane and I've been ripping my hair out for weeks. FINALLY starting to relax a little after the past month, and hopefully that will continue.
This past Saturday I started my indoor bootcamps again. I had a few new people and it went REALLY well. Pretty excited about this group too. It made me feel great and that I'm doing what I should be doing.
I keep looking up other training jobs and class positions open online. I just have to find a few minutes to sit and send out a few resumes. Everything with my wrist threw all of that for a loop and pushed back some plans, but at least now I'm in better shape for it.
Puerto Rico with the girls is in 3 weeks from Friday! I can't wait! This trip is going to be SO much fun! I've been looking forward to this for months. Getting away, hitting the beach and going out dancing. Things I need and can't wait for. :)
We had another girls night this past weekend for Kristin's birthday. It was pretty cool that for dinner there were 10 of us!! I love this group and I'm so happy that I've found the group of friends that I have.
What else??? Other than the biggest change? I'm moving. Starting now. Officially, I have already moved, although my stuff is still pretty much still in the old place. Cats are moving this weekend along with hopefully most of my clothes.
My boyfriend asked me to move in with him and I said yes. So I'm sleeping here every night and getting ready for work here in the morning. I went to my apartment after work yesterday to clean out a few things and pack up a little. Kitchen pantry is almost done. I brought over a bunch of food and some more stuff for the bathroom, along with the clothes I am wearing to work today.
After work today, I'm going back to the apartment, trying to do a LITTLE more but I have to be at the track for the running group at 6:30. Between changing for that, grabbing clothes for work tomorrow, and feeding the cats, I won't have too much time. But I do have a bag of stuff from the kitchen, the spoons and random kitchen tools, another box of food stuff and I'm taking a cooler to grab the stuff in the fridge. I'm hoping to get a couple of other little things out of the pantry and to have that completely cleared out tonight... to get at least one thing done.
My boyfriend is clearing out the 1st floor apartment in his house that he didn't finish his rehab on. Two rooms will be cleared out and cleaned out. Then we are buying 2 12x12 rugs and I'll bring over a few smaller pieces of furniture for the cats.... like the ottoman and some sofa cushions. So the plan is for them to get their own apartment by the end of the weekend.
And then my boyfriend has to build the closet he's giving me. Its just a very small room right now, a doorway into it, then the doorway to the attic. He's putting the rod up for my clothes and we are getting shelves in there too. I'll put in the shoe racks I have (4 of them with 2 shelves each!) along with a small 3 drawer dresser. Between that dresser, the shelves and the rod to hang clothes on, I should be okay for the most part.
I'm putting 2 other dressers on the first floor for off season stuff and things I don't wear as much, plus I can use the dresser and closet in his back spare bedroom. He has set up the 3rd bedroom basically as a mancave. We bought a new rug for it 2 weeks ago and cleaned the whole room out. I picked up new curtains and curtain rods for him in there too. And that was all before he asked me to move in!
So... trying to get all of that done. At least I am taking all of November to move as well. I still haven't given notice on my apartment. I'll just ease into moving in, so I don't have to rush it. And then I can go through everything a little easier.
I plan on tossing SO much. I've already purged a ton, between my last move 3 years ago and then every few months or so, but still.... I HAVE A LOT! Just out of my pantry, I have 2 bags of trash already! Between trash, donate, keep and store. Those are the 4 categories I have. We'll see how I do!
Okay... might be late for work. Still haven't showered today! Ooops!
Sunday, September 23, 2012
I keep starting to write something but never get more than one or two sentences out. I've wanted to review my 37th year and put out my goals for 38, but my mind has been in so many directions that it has been so hard to just sit and get there. I'm not sure if I'm afraid to do it either. I just don't know.
But... before I go there....
Ahh... a nice relaxing Sunday! Wow what a good weekend this is. I've been pretty lucky lately, that they all have been nice, this whole month! Yesterday morning I was up early. I met a friend of mine at 8:30 to get in a quick run. Still not as much mileage as I was hoping for, but for the first time in a while, I got in 3 days of some running. That's progress.
After running, I went straight to kickboxing. That was an incredible class! I love it SO much and really really missed it. I'm going to miss it when I can't go for 2 months (another story) so I've been trying to get in as much as I can right now.
When kickboxing was done, I headed over to my boyfriend's house. I ate my leftovers for lunch and chilled for a bit before a quick shower then headed out. Back in April at a fundraising party, I won a gift certificate for a haircut, so I FINALLY used it. I love this place too! It was only a basic wash/cut/dry, but she was great & did an amazing job. Plus, I really liked her. So I'll head back, even though its a bit more expensive.
After the haircut, I was back at my boyfriend's house. About a month ago he bought a 1948 Oldsmobile that he is going to be restoring. He has already taken a bunch of the body off and ripped out the whole interior. A friend of his came over to help him move it to the backyard yesterday so he can keep working on it there.
Since it doesn't have an engine or transmission or anything, they had to push it to get it into the backyard. But driveway on the side of the house it was parked on has stairs going down to the backyard. It needed to go into the back through the other side of the house, after they took out part of the fence. NICE!
So as they pushed it out of the driveway, across the sidewalk in front of the house and down the other side of the house into the backyard (landing on the damn patio we spent months of WEEKENDS working on), I got to SQUAT at the steering wheel and steer it around the house. Kind of funny! I couldn't see a thing over the dash since there isn't a front end to it, and I didn't know where I was going. Luckily it wasn't too bad.
Anyway... after that, I chilled for a bit as my boyfriend ate a very late lunch before I headed home to take care of a few things (feeding the cats and a few other things around the house). When I got back to my boyfriends, we watched a movie. I love doing that... laying in his arms watching a movie.
He has a HUGE project for work that he HAS to finish by Monday which he has spent most of the weekend working on. After the movie, he started working again. I feel asleep on the sofa before 10:30 & went to bed at 12:30. He was still working. I woke up when he came to bed at 2am.
The alarm on my cell went off at 6:30 but luckily we both fell back to sleep this morning. We were up around 7:30. I felt bad for him, cuz that's not a lot of sleep to have keep working all day. But that's pretty much what he's been doing.
We had breakfast with the news on, and he was working by 8:30. I had been trying to move the furniture around in his spare bedroom and needed him to help me out to finish it. After that, I ended up taking a nap on the sofa while the dog was on the floor next to me.
When I woke up, I finished cleaning the kitchen (the rest of the house I already did, plus all of his and my laundry). His dishwasher is broken, the computerized kind & he thinks its the motherboard, which isn't cheap. SO I washed ALL of the dishes that have been in there for a bit.
Yesterday I had gone food shopping (OMG I do not know anyone who eats more ice cream than him! Even more than me!) and picked a couple of things for his house, including one of those pre-cooked chicken, pasta & an onion. I had carrots, celery and chicken broth. So now sitting on the stove is a pot of chicken noodle soup. It is SO good! The whole house smells amazing too.
I'm planning on taking the dog for a walk in a bit, then heading over to my house. I'll hang out with the cats for a little while and also go through my clothes. Sadly, its time to pull out some fall/winter clothes. When I head back to my boyfriend's house, I'll bring those with me so I can wash them all after sitting for months. And the Pats game is on at 8pm tonight, so that'll be the night... well, after HE cooks dinner! I just want the soup I made and his stuffed portobello mushrooms. They are AMAZING.
So, yes, this weekend at my boyfriends house, I cleaned the entire house, cooked, did laundry and washed dishes. And I am VERY happy with all of that. How the hell did this become me?? When did this turn into what I wanted in my life? But I do! And that just shocks the hell out of me!
I am so happy and content just hanging out at his house, doing things for him. I love him and doing things that are good for him or easier for him or that make him happy all make ME happy. I never thought that this would be me.
Even yesterday... his parents got a dog. I was texting with his MOM. I love his mom, both of his parents, and his entire family! I would love to have an even closer relationship with all of them. I'm already looking forward to Sunday dinner next weekend. How messed up is that??
I don't know. This is what I want in my life. And I don't know when this switch happened. All I know is that it did.
Last weekend... hmm... Sad to try to remember! :) Saturday am I was at kickboxing. I think he was working on his car all weekend. I know I did a ton of laundry. I tired to help a little with the car, but there isn't too much I can do. I did take the dog for a walk on Saturday and Sunday last weekend. And Sunday the Pats game was at 1pm. He was with me to go to my house on Sunday to help me take out my super heavy trash.
I had last Monday off with a couple of appointments and was hanging out at his house with the dog in between. This is just what makes me happy!
The weekend before was my birthday. We went to Foxwoods for Sunday and Monday. It was so much fun. Neither of us won (didn't really lose much either) but we hung out and just had a nice time being together. I love that. SO much.
I don't know. He makes me happy. I want this. I want this to be my life and my future. With him. He makes me happy. He knows me more than anyone ever has. He knows what makes me happy, what I find funny or get upset about. He knows what makes me tick. And even still... I just don't feel like I'm judged by him. Ever. I am more me with him than I have ever been able to be with anyone else in my entire life... any friends I have ever had. He just gets me. Like no one has ever gotten me before.
SO... I do have a life other than my boyfriend... as hard as that might be to believe after everything I just wrote. :) Okay, him and I together did F-1 (like Go-Carts), racing, but higher speeds and we had to wear a fire suit to do it. SO much fun. I didn't lose with all the other guys in our group & I didn't suck either! I had a blast!
I went to Trapeze School with two of my friends and I ROCKED it. My friends kept telling me I needed to join the circus because I was that good! I can't wait to go back and do it again. We booked 2 more classes. I can't wait to learn more. But OMG was I sore. It just used muscles I'm not used to working. And talk about bruises! HOLY COW!! I looked like I got beat up!
That same night, the three of us plus one more went to the Sox game. That was so much fun too. I have great friends and I'm really really lucky to have them all in my life. In November I'm going to Puerto Rico with those three friends, plus two others. It really is a GREAT group. I'm really happy how it worked out for rooming. I'm with Laura and that's perfect for us. We might be in a little trouble though!
First, Laura and I are both ALWAYS late & the last to arrive for everything. Second, we are both always the last to leave places. Her and I met for dinner one night, maybe in March. We were sitting at the bar for dinner for FIVE HOURS! And that was just dinner. :) Most likely we'll be having some late nights out in San Juan.
Anyway... what else? F-1 Racing, Trapeze School, Sox game, upcoming Puerto Rico trip with the girls. What else?
OH! The Diva Dash! It was sponsored by Shape Magazine and they had 4 across the country. The "Boston" one was in Marshfield and was the only one in the northeast. The other 2 were in San Diego, Austin and Bolder. They had 5489 women in this race! HOLY COW!
I got a group together from the fitness group I organize. We were the South Shore Luna Chicks and there were 21 of us. We didn't all start together, but most of us were in the 10:30 start wave. It was so much fun. We all had matching shirts & it was really cute.
Hmm... what else do I have going on? I'm not happy with work, but that has been that way for a long time. I've been trying to get another full time job working as a trainer. I was offered one, but then he took it back. The only thing I can say is that I'm happy I hadn't given my notice yet to my full time job! That would have SUCKED. But I feel stuck since I was so close to getting what I really really want and then having it taken away.
I know it wasn't meant to be for whatever reason, but it still sucked. I was heartbroken over it. I'm hoping that something else works out. The one good thing that happened was that I figured out how much I really want this. I know this is what I want for my career. I've been working hard to get there and hopefully it will all work out sooner rather than later. We'll see. All I can do is keep working on it and trying to get there.
Oh, my health too! HA HA. That's funny. I had a cold for a while, completely knocked me out. I was just exhausted. My back is better but still sore. My hip too. Now that I'm trying to run more, and trying to train for a half marathon (that's what Puerto Rico is about... a destination, women's only, half marathon), we'll see how that works out.
Then there is my wrist. This is making me crazy! I broke it in 2008. Because the bone slipped, I had surgery to have 2 plates and 5 screws put in my wrist. It was fine for years. Last summer, it BLEW up. So much pain, swollen, and I couldn't move it. That was August of 2011. Then it was fine after about 2 weeks. The x-rays were fine and the new ortho my PC sent me to said all was good.
Fast forward to June 2012... happened again! I was just standing up, asking our IT guy at work about something and it started. Talk about pain! It brought tears to my eyes. I barely made it my desk. Someone drove me to the clinic where they gave me an anti-inflammatory injection, plus sent me for x-rays again. The next day I saw an orthopedic at the same office from the year before.
He wanted me to have an MRI to see what was going on. Even with the injection, it was still swollen and had an egg where the plates are. The MRI place wouldn't do it since I have the plates there. At that point, I was referred to another ortho at that office, the hand specialist. By the time I saw him, my hand was fine. He said to see him if happened again.
A few weeks later was my chance. I was again at work, but on the phone with someone sitting in another part of the office. I took Aleve right away and got ice on it right away which helped. I was at the ortho in a few days... same doctor. The swelling was going down by then. He said to keep doing what I was doing, if it happened again. I could have the plate out, but that might not help it. He had never seen this before. And he was on his tablet looking at other people's charts the entire 5 minutes he was with me. HATED him.
I made a decision then, that I wanted another opinion. I was going to call the original ortho who did the surgery in 2008. He was out of Beth Israel in Boston. Just for that alone, I trusted him more, rather than some south shore ortho who barely paid me any attention.
Another few weeks later (the weekend I had the F-1 racing!), I was at the movies on a Saturday night with my boyfriend and it started AGAIN. I didn't want to leave the movie, there was nothing I could do there or anywhere else. I took 2 Aleve and put my large drink on it for the swelling. I couldn't move it and it was so swollen again.
When we got back to the car, I took a video on my phone of my hand and wrist. Sometimes just a picture didn't show how bad it was. I moved the phone around my whole hand, showed my range of motion as well as how tense the tendons looked. That Monday I called Beth Israel to see if I could get an appointment with the original ortho.
Come to find out, he has an office he sees patients at twice a month right down the street from me! I was able to get an appointment for the following Monday. He took more x-rays, everything looked okay, but when I showed him the video, he couldn't believe how bad it got.
Because of the fingers involved, he thought it was more the median nerve. He recommended surgery to the hardware removed but also wanted another surgeon with him. She is also a hand orthopedic out of Beth Israel, but she has done carpal tunnel surgeries. He wanted her to do that because he thought that would help as well. I wanted to think about it a little bit before making a decision that day.
A few days later, I decided to go for it and make it sooner rather than later. With the trip to Puerto Rico, I wanted my hand to heal before going and I wanted to be able to get in running to train. So I called. He was out for the rest of that week, and the next Monday was Labor Day. I talked to him the following week. He had talked to the other ortho. She had SEEN my issue before! He was transferring me to her care, since she was more familiar with what was up with me. Great!
He scheduled me for an MRI in Boston. That was another whole mess (the Valium never kicked in, the appointment ended up being late, so I went about 45 minutes late, needed to get a different ride and overall had a panic attack about the whole thing.) My boyfriend ended up driving into Boston after he got out of work to pick me up, since I was done about an hour after I was originally supposed to be done. My original ride was coming straight from work to get me at 4:15. I was done at 5:20! Again... kudos to my boyfriend. He was amazing at calming me down when I freaked out about the MRI & was so great about coming to get me.
Then a week later, last Monday, I had my appointment with the new ortho. She's great. ANOTHER round of x-rays on my wrist, which said the same thing... all looks good. But the MRI showed that I have fluid in my tendons, from what she could see... so much hardware, it was hard to tell.
She told me that my tendons are reacting to the metal in there. If it continues to happen, my tendons could completely rupture. Again, she recommended surgery to have it all removed and she'll clean up the tendons when she's in there.
And now we are up to this week. Surgery is scheduled for this Thursday. I'll find out the time on Tuesday, but I asked for as early as possible... the first is at 7:30. Because the surgery is only an hour, my ride is supposed to hang around. I'll have to be there 2 hours before surgery for pre-op (if its at 7:30, I'd have to be there at 6:30 though). Then 1 hour for surgery and 60-90 minutes for recovery before heading home... with a quick stop at CVS for pain meds.
My boyfriend is going to work off of his iPad that day while I'm at the hospital and said he'd work from home that afternoon. He's going to stay with me when we're back.
I'm nervous but grateful that this will stop this from happening AGAIN. And I'm so happy that my boyfriend is the one taking me. He is so great when I am upset about something. He's just calming and I don't, just great! When I freaked out at the MRI, his voice is what helped me. When the job I wanted as a trainer was taken back, he just held me and said all the right things as he wiped my tears. I know I'm going to be so nervous that day and could possibly have another panic attack about it. Having him there to calm me down is already making me feel better. Although I have already tried to warn him for what he could be in for! :) The MRI was NOTHING compared to how I could be in pre-op!
So, that's everything in my life for the past 2 months. Work sucks, my boyfriend is amazing and I have great friends. As always, I have more good in my life than bad. And I'm happy.
I don't know what I'm doing for my birthday resolutions yet. I don't know what I want for next year. For some reason, that's a ton of pressure on me right now. So many things in transition right now... I'm always at my boyfriend's house and will most likely be moving in with him. I hate my job and want a new one in a brand new career, if I can afford it. How do I set goals when I'm not sure where I'm going to be living or working?? Maybe those are part of my goals, who knows. So I do have more to think about for my 37 review and 38 goals... maybe that's later tonight after I head back to my apartment and get back to my boyfriends house (my laptop has basically been ONLY at his house for the past 4 months... I canceled the internet service I had with Comcast since my laptop is never there.)
And otherwise... here are a few pictures to show what I've been up to!
Me before racing.
With Christin and Laura before starting.
But... before I go there....
Ahh... a nice relaxing Sunday! Wow what a good weekend this is. I've been pretty lucky lately, that they all have been nice, this whole month! Yesterday morning I was up early. I met a friend of mine at 8:30 to get in a quick run. Still not as much mileage as I was hoping for, but for the first time in a while, I got in 3 days of some running. That's progress.
After running, I went straight to kickboxing. That was an incredible class! I love it SO much and really really missed it. I'm going to miss it when I can't go for 2 months (another story) so I've been trying to get in as much as I can right now.
When kickboxing was done, I headed over to my boyfriend's house. I ate my leftovers for lunch and chilled for a bit before a quick shower then headed out. Back in April at a fundraising party, I won a gift certificate for a haircut, so I FINALLY used it. I love this place too! It was only a basic wash/cut/dry, but she was great & did an amazing job. Plus, I really liked her. So I'll head back, even though its a bit more expensive.
After the haircut, I was back at my boyfriend's house. About a month ago he bought a 1948 Oldsmobile that he is going to be restoring. He has already taken a bunch of the body off and ripped out the whole interior. A friend of his came over to help him move it to the backyard yesterday so he can keep working on it there.
Since it doesn't have an engine or transmission or anything, they had to push it to get it into the backyard. But driveway on the side of the house it was parked on has stairs going down to the backyard. It needed to go into the back through the other side of the house, after they took out part of the fence. NICE!
So as they pushed it out of the driveway, across the sidewalk in front of the house and down the other side of the house into the backyard (landing on the damn patio we spent months of WEEKENDS working on), I got to SQUAT at the steering wheel and steer it around the house. Kind of funny! I couldn't see a thing over the dash since there isn't a front end to it, and I didn't know where I was going. Luckily it wasn't too bad.
Anyway... after that, I chilled for a bit as my boyfriend ate a very late lunch before I headed home to take care of a few things (feeding the cats and a few other things around the house). When I got back to my boyfriends, we watched a movie. I love doing that... laying in his arms watching a movie.
He has a HUGE project for work that he HAS to finish by Monday which he has spent most of the weekend working on. After the movie, he started working again. I feel asleep on the sofa before 10:30 & went to bed at 12:30. He was still working. I woke up when he came to bed at 2am.
The alarm on my cell went off at 6:30 but luckily we both fell back to sleep this morning. We were up around 7:30. I felt bad for him, cuz that's not a lot of sleep to have keep working all day. But that's pretty much what he's been doing.
We had breakfast with the news on, and he was working by 8:30. I had been trying to move the furniture around in his spare bedroom and needed him to help me out to finish it. After that, I ended up taking a nap on the sofa while the dog was on the floor next to me.
When I woke up, I finished cleaning the kitchen (the rest of the house I already did, plus all of his and my laundry). His dishwasher is broken, the computerized kind & he thinks its the motherboard, which isn't cheap. SO I washed ALL of the dishes that have been in there for a bit.
Yesterday I had gone food shopping (OMG I do not know anyone who eats more ice cream than him! Even more than me!) and picked a couple of things for his house, including one of those pre-cooked chicken, pasta & an onion. I had carrots, celery and chicken broth. So now sitting on the stove is a pot of chicken noodle soup. It is SO good! The whole house smells amazing too.
I'm planning on taking the dog for a walk in a bit, then heading over to my house. I'll hang out with the cats for a little while and also go through my clothes. Sadly, its time to pull out some fall/winter clothes. When I head back to my boyfriend's house, I'll bring those with me so I can wash them all after sitting for months. And the Pats game is on at 8pm tonight, so that'll be the night... well, after HE cooks dinner! I just want the soup I made and his stuffed portobello mushrooms. They are AMAZING.
So, yes, this weekend at my boyfriends house, I cleaned the entire house, cooked, did laundry and washed dishes. And I am VERY happy with all of that. How the hell did this become me?? When did this turn into what I wanted in my life? But I do! And that just shocks the hell out of me!
I am so happy and content just hanging out at his house, doing things for him. I love him and doing things that are good for him or easier for him or that make him happy all make ME happy. I never thought that this would be me.
Even yesterday... his parents got a dog. I was texting with his MOM. I love his mom, both of his parents, and his entire family! I would love to have an even closer relationship with all of them. I'm already looking forward to Sunday dinner next weekend. How messed up is that??
I don't know. This is what I want in my life. And I don't know when this switch happened. All I know is that it did.
Last weekend... hmm... Sad to try to remember! :) Saturday am I was at kickboxing. I think he was working on his car all weekend. I know I did a ton of laundry. I tired to help a little with the car, but there isn't too much I can do. I did take the dog for a walk on Saturday and Sunday last weekend. And Sunday the Pats game was at 1pm. He was with me to go to my house on Sunday to help me take out my super heavy trash.
I had last Monday off with a couple of appointments and was hanging out at his house with the dog in between. This is just what makes me happy!
The weekend before was my birthday. We went to Foxwoods for Sunday and Monday. It was so much fun. Neither of us won (didn't really lose much either) but we hung out and just had a nice time being together. I love that. SO much.
I don't know. He makes me happy. I want this. I want this to be my life and my future. With him. He makes me happy. He knows me more than anyone ever has. He knows what makes me happy, what I find funny or get upset about. He knows what makes me tick. And even still... I just don't feel like I'm judged by him. Ever. I am more me with him than I have ever been able to be with anyone else in my entire life... any friends I have ever had. He just gets me. Like no one has ever gotten me before.
SO... I do have a life other than my boyfriend... as hard as that might be to believe after everything I just wrote. :) Okay, him and I together did F-1 (like Go-Carts), racing, but higher speeds and we had to wear a fire suit to do it. SO much fun. I didn't lose with all the other guys in our group & I didn't suck either! I had a blast!
I went to Trapeze School with two of my friends and I ROCKED it. My friends kept telling me I needed to join the circus because I was that good! I can't wait to go back and do it again. We booked 2 more classes. I can't wait to learn more. But OMG was I sore. It just used muscles I'm not used to working. And talk about bruises! HOLY COW!! I looked like I got beat up!
That same night, the three of us plus one more went to the Sox game. That was so much fun too. I have great friends and I'm really really lucky to have them all in my life. In November I'm going to Puerto Rico with those three friends, plus two others. It really is a GREAT group. I'm really happy how it worked out for rooming. I'm with Laura and that's perfect for us. We might be in a little trouble though!
First, Laura and I are both ALWAYS late & the last to arrive for everything. Second, we are both always the last to leave places. Her and I met for dinner one night, maybe in March. We were sitting at the bar for dinner for FIVE HOURS! And that was just dinner. :) Most likely we'll be having some late nights out in San Juan.
Anyway... what else? F-1 Racing, Trapeze School, Sox game, upcoming Puerto Rico trip with the girls. What else?
OH! The Diva Dash! It was sponsored by Shape Magazine and they had 4 across the country. The "Boston" one was in Marshfield and was the only one in the northeast. The other 2 were in San Diego, Austin and Bolder. They had 5489 women in this race! HOLY COW!
I got a group together from the fitness group I organize. We were the South Shore Luna Chicks and there were 21 of us. We didn't all start together, but most of us were in the 10:30 start wave. It was so much fun. We all had matching shirts & it was really cute.
Hmm... what else do I have going on? I'm not happy with work, but that has been that way for a long time. I've been trying to get another full time job working as a trainer. I was offered one, but then he took it back. The only thing I can say is that I'm happy I hadn't given my notice yet to my full time job! That would have SUCKED. But I feel stuck since I was so close to getting what I really really want and then having it taken away.
I know it wasn't meant to be for whatever reason, but it still sucked. I was heartbroken over it. I'm hoping that something else works out. The one good thing that happened was that I figured out how much I really want this. I know this is what I want for my career. I've been working hard to get there and hopefully it will all work out sooner rather than later. We'll see. All I can do is keep working on it and trying to get there.
Oh, my health too! HA HA. That's funny. I had a cold for a while, completely knocked me out. I was just exhausted. My back is better but still sore. My hip too. Now that I'm trying to run more, and trying to train for a half marathon (that's what Puerto Rico is about... a destination, women's only, half marathon), we'll see how that works out.
Then there is my wrist. This is making me crazy! I broke it in 2008. Because the bone slipped, I had surgery to have 2 plates and 5 screws put in my wrist. It was fine for years. Last summer, it BLEW up. So much pain, swollen, and I couldn't move it. That was August of 2011. Then it was fine after about 2 weeks. The x-rays were fine and the new ortho my PC sent me to said all was good.
Fast forward to June 2012... happened again! I was just standing up, asking our IT guy at work about something and it started. Talk about pain! It brought tears to my eyes. I barely made it my desk. Someone drove me to the clinic where they gave me an anti-inflammatory injection, plus sent me for x-rays again. The next day I saw an orthopedic at the same office from the year before.
He wanted me to have an MRI to see what was going on. Even with the injection, it was still swollen and had an egg where the plates are. The MRI place wouldn't do it since I have the plates there. At that point, I was referred to another ortho at that office, the hand specialist. By the time I saw him, my hand was fine. He said to see him if happened again.
A few weeks later was my chance. I was again at work, but on the phone with someone sitting in another part of the office. I took Aleve right away and got ice on it right away which helped. I was at the ortho in a few days... same doctor. The swelling was going down by then. He said to keep doing what I was doing, if it happened again. I could have the plate out, but that might not help it. He had never seen this before. And he was on his tablet looking at other people's charts the entire 5 minutes he was with me. HATED him.
I made a decision then, that I wanted another opinion. I was going to call the original ortho who did the surgery in 2008. He was out of Beth Israel in Boston. Just for that alone, I trusted him more, rather than some south shore ortho who barely paid me any attention.
Another few weeks later (the weekend I had the F-1 racing!), I was at the movies on a Saturday night with my boyfriend and it started AGAIN. I didn't want to leave the movie, there was nothing I could do there or anywhere else. I took 2 Aleve and put my large drink on it for the swelling. I couldn't move it and it was so swollen again.
When we got back to the car, I took a video on my phone of my hand and wrist. Sometimes just a picture didn't show how bad it was. I moved the phone around my whole hand, showed my range of motion as well as how tense the tendons looked. That Monday I called Beth Israel to see if I could get an appointment with the original ortho.
Come to find out, he has an office he sees patients at twice a month right down the street from me! I was able to get an appointment for the following Monday. He took more x-rays, everything looked okay, but when I showed him the video, he couldn't believe how bad it got.
Because of the fingers involved, he thought it was more the median nerve. He recommended surgery to the hardware removed but also wanted another surgeon with him. She is also a hand orthopedic out of Beth Israel, but she has done carpal tunnel surgeries. He wanted her to do that because he thought that would help as well. I wanted to think about it a little bit before making a decision that day.
A few days later, I decided to go for it and make it sooner rather than later. With the trip to Puerto Rico, I wanted my hand to heal before going and I wanted to be able to get in running to train. So I called. He was out for the rest of that week, and the next Monday was Labor Day. I talked to him the following week. He had talked to the other ortho. She had SEEN my issue before! He was transferring me to her care, since she was more familiar with what was up with me. Great!
He scheduled me for an MRI in Boston. That was another whole mess (the Valium never kicked in, the appointment ended up being late, so I went about 45 minutes late, needed to get a different ride and overall had a panic attack about the whole thing.) My boyfriend ended up driving into Boston after he got out of work to pick me up, since I was done about an hour after I was originally supposed to be done. My original ride was coming straight from work to get me at 4:15. I was done at 5:20! Again... kudos to my boyfriend. He was amazing at calming me down when I freaked out about the MRI & was so great about coming to get me.
Then a week later, last Monday, I had my appointment with the new ortho. She's great. ANOTHER round of x-rays on my wrist, which said the same thing... all looks good. But the MRI showed that I have fluid in my tendons, from what she could see... so much hardware, it was hard to tell.
She told me that my tendons are reacting to the metal in there. If it continues to happen, my tendons could completely rupture. Again, she recommended surgery to have it all removed and she'll clean up the tendons when she's in there.
And now we are up to this week. Surgery is scheduled for this Thursday. I'll find out the time on Tuesday, but I asked for as early as possible... the first is at 7:30. Because the surgery is only an hour, my ride is supposed to hang around. I'll have to be there 2 hours before surgery for pre-op (if its at 7:30, I'd have to be there at 6:30 though). Then 1 hour for surgery and 60-90 minutes for recovery before heading home... with a quick stop at CVS for pain meds.
My boyfriend is going to work off of his iPad that day while I'm at the hospital and said he'd work from home that afternoon. He's going to stay with me when we're back.
I'm nervous but grateful that this will stop this from happening AGAIN. And I'm so happy that my boyfriend is the one taking me. He is so great when I am upset about something. He's just calming and I don't, just great! When I freaked out at the MRI, his voice is what helped me. When the job I wanted as a trainer was taken back, he just held me and said all the right things as he wiped my tears. I know I'm going to be so nervous that day and could possibly have another panic attack about it. Having him there to calm me down is already making me feel better. Although I have already tried to warn him for what he could be in for! :) The MRI was NOTHING compared to how I could be in pre-op!
So, that's everything in my life for the past 2 months. Work sucks, my boyfriend is amazing and I have great friends. As always, I have more good in my life than bad. And I'm happy.
I don't know what I'm doing for my birthday resolutions yet. I don't know what I want for next year. For some reason, that's a ton of pressure on me right now. So many things in transition right now... I'm always at my boyfriend's house and will most likely be moving in with him. I hate my job and want a new one in a brand new career, if I can afford it. How do I set goals when I'm not sure where I'm going to be living or working?? Maybe those are part of my goals, who knows. So I do have more to think about for my 37 review and 38 goals... maybe that's later tonight after I head back to my apartment and get back to my boyfriends house (my laptop has basically been ONLY at his house for the past 4 months... I canceled the internet service I had with Comcast since my laptop is never there.)
And otherwise... here are a few pictures to show what I've been up to!
F-1 Racing at F-1 Outdoor in Bridgewater.
Me before racing.
Me with the boyfriend just before our race.
Trapeze School.
With Christin and Laura before starting.
Me FLYING!
After I did a tuck to get off the bar.
Another tuck off the bar.
Only one in the class to get the "Catch" on both tries!
After Trapeze School, Kristin took us to the Sox game.
GREAT SEATS!
Diva Dash, final obstacle, climbing down with Christine.
Christine and me stopping for a picture before racing to the finish!
All 10:30 South Shore Luna Chicks in the Diva Dash,
including Jill & Carrie who are also going to Puerto Rico!
The day before my Birthday... perfect way to start the weekend. :)
Saturday, September 1, 2012
September Already??
Where did the summer go?? And how did it go by so quickly?? WOW! Labor Day weekend and so many things I had wanted to do this summer that I never got to. Oh well. on to the fall things I want to do, like apple picking, a haunted house, a fall fair, and as much time outside as I can before it gets cold.
Looking back over my August goals? Time to check in on those to see how I did and come up with new goals for September...
My August goals were:
Fitness Business for Month:
1. Apply for 5 fitness jobs - DONE
2. Make $200 + in class fees-? Made some, but not sure exact amount off hand.
3. Order Business Cards - DONE
4. Make "special" to attract new business- DONE
5. Make 2 new fitness contacts- No
6. Contact Alex about mid/end Sept for space/time available to rent again- NOT YET
My Fitness for Month:
1. Run C25K training 3x/wk with my group and on my own- did better but not great.
2. kickboxing 1-2 times/wk- no, injured again.
3. In addition to teaching, work out on my own, full body, at least once a week- no
4. Increase my water- no, but at least Poweraide.
5. Eat healthy for the month- No
My Finances for the month:
1. Have money in the bank at the end of the month- Sure, but I haven't paid Sept rent yet!
2. Log all money spent for month- pretty close
3. eat food I buy not take out- MUCH better
4. Pay back $150 owe- did $70, keep forgetting and piece mail.
5. Pay extra & early on car payment- YES
6. Pay all bills up to date- not cable, but rest yes.
So now? What do I want for September? And at the same time, I need to start really thinking about my next year & do my birthday goals. I have some ideas, but still on the fence and still working it out.
SO, goals for month of September.... keeping in mind that I am having surgery in September.
Fitness Business for month:
1. Contact Alex about renting space
2. Apply to teach classes at local gym plus one other
3. Make 1 new fitness contact
4. Do more research on being a certified Personal Trainer.
5. Research nutrition classes.
My Fitness for Month:
1. Run 3 times per week other than week of and week after surgery.
2. Take 2-3 kickboxing classes per week prior to surgery.
3. Limit take out.
4. Food journal.
My finances for Month:
1. Log money spent
2. Limit take out to once per week
3. Stick to budget
4. Come up with new ideas for increased income.
Small ones, but trying....
Looking back over my August goals? Time to check in on those to see how I did and come up with new goals for September...
My August goals were:
Fitness Business for Month:
1. Apply for 5 fitness jobs - DONE
2. Make $200 + in class fees-? Made some, but not sure exact amount off hand.
3. Order Business Cards - DONE
4. Make "special" to attract new business- DONE
5. Make 2 new fitness contacts- No
6. Contact Alex about mid/end Sept for space/time available to rent again- NOT YET
My Fitness for Month:
1. Run C25K training 3x/wk with my group and on my own- did better but not great.
2. kickboxing 1-2 times/wk- no, injured again.
3. In addition to teaching, work out on my own, full body, at least once a week- no
4. Increase my water- no, but at least Poweraide.
5. Eat healthy for the month- No
My Finances for the month:
1. Have money in the bank at the end of the month- Sure, but I haven't paid Sept rent yet!
2. Log all money spent for month- pretty close
3. eat food I buy not take out- MUCH better
4. Pay back $150 owe- did $70, keep forgetting and piece mail.
5. Pay extra & early on car payment- YES
6. Pay all bills up to date- not cable, but rest yes.
So now? What do I want for September? And at the same time, I need to start really thinking about my next year & do my birthday goals. I have some ideas, but still on the fence and still working it out.
SO, goals for month of September.... keeping in mind that I am having surgery in September.
Fitness Business for month:
1. Contact Alex about renting space
2. Apply to teach classes at local gym plus one other
3. Make 1 new fitness contact
4. Do more research on being a certified Personal Trainer.
5. Research nutrition classes.
My Fitness for Month:
1. Run 3 times per week other than week of and week after surgery.
2. Take 2-3 kickboxing classes per week prior to surgery.
3. Limit take out.
4. Food journal.
My finances for Month:
1. Log money spent
2. Limit take out to once per week
3. Stick to budget
4. Come up with new ideas for increased income.
Small ones, but trying....
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Busy with Changes
The past month or so has been SO busy but almost all in good ways. There are always struggles, but that is what I learn the most from.
My health has gotten better. My back is SO much better it is incredible. My wrist blew up again last weekend... 3rd time this summer. But the swelling went down within a few days and I got strength back by the end of the week.
I've been working out more and more. I was too busy over this weekend for my run, but ran last Monday and Wednesday night. Wednesday, I got more in than I have in 2 months! And it felt really really good!! I have been doing some weights too and just feel better overall.
Life has been crazy and I haven't been to kickboxing as much as I would have liked. Over the next month, when life settles and becomes more consistent, I hope to get there at least once or twice a week.
The classes I have been teaching have been AMAZING! So much fun and I really got a great core group who has been pretty regular in attending. I've actually made some money doing this finally! How crazy is that??
I've paid down some bills and stayed on top of others. I've been doing my best to live within my means. Not always the easiest thing to do, but I'm getting there.... slowly but surely.
The next month will most likely be just as insane for me. It seems like this time of year is ALWAYS crazy! And it is always a transition time for me. Maybe its the back to school thing, maybe its being around my birthday and starting a new year... but this time of year always brings really huge changes for me.
2 more weeks until my birthday. Starting to take some inventory on where I'm at and where I want to be, as well as taking a review of the past year. I want to realize what worked and what didn't and why. If I know the why, then I can either make the good happen again, or the not so good not come around again.
More on the horizon for me.... REALLY big things that need to wait a few more days. But super big and exciting.
I'm just really happy with how my 37th year is ending. :)
My health has gotten better. My back is SO much better it is incredible. My wrist blew up again last weekend... 3rd time this summer. But the swelling went down within a few days and I got strength back by the end of the week.
I've been working out more and more. I was too busy over this weekend for my run, but ran last Monday and Wednesday night. Wednesday, I got more in than I have in 2 months! And it felt really really good!! I have been doing some weights too and just feel better overall.
Life has been crazy and I haven't been to kickboxing as much as I would have liked. Over the next month, when life settles and becomes more consistent, I hope to get there at least once or twice a week.
The classes I have been teaching have been AMAZING! So much fun and I really got a great core group who has been pretty regular in attending. I've actually made some money doing this finally! How crazy is that??
I've paid down some bills and stayed on top of others. I've been doing my best to live within my means. Not always the easiest thing to do, but I'm getting there.... slowly but surely.
The next month will most likely be just as insane for me. It seems like this time of year is ALWAYS crazy! And it is always a transition time for me. Maybe its the back to school thing, maybe its being around my birthday and starting a new year... but this time of year always brings really huge changes for me.
2 more weeks until my birthday. Starting to take some inventory on where I'm at and where I want to be, as well as taking a review of the past year. I want to realize what worked and what didn't and why. If I know the why, then I can either make the good happen again, or the not so good not come around again.
More on the horizon for me.... REALLY big things that need to wait a few more days. But super big and exciting.
I'm just really happy with how my 37th year is ending. :)
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Getting Back on Track
With all the craziness over the past 2 months, I fell off track with so many things. Time to get everything back on course so I can continue to work towards my goals. I had been great at setting monthly, then weekly goals so I could reach my overall year goals. But 2 months and it all fell by they wayside.
Time to start it up again! Time to find my focus!
The fitness group has been so successful! People are doing amazing with the Couch to 5K group and I love seeing everyone succeed. This new session that started last week seems like I'll have a group that will really do well. They seem very focused and intent on finishing this.
Between the C25K group and our Diva Dash in September, I'm doing more to promote my bootcamps. Last Wednesday night, my "free" class, was great! I'm pretty sure I'm getting more people just through that. At least that's what I hope! So today I need to plan my class structure for tomorrow night. Thing is... I have NO IDEA who is going tomorrow night! NO idea! Hard to plan out my class when I'm not sure who I'm planning it for. But I'll figure it out.
SO... overall goals were finances, fitness business and my personal fitness.
Start with the fitness business... for the rest of the month, 2 + weeks.
1. Apply for 3 fitness jobs
2. Teach 5 classes with income at least $100 for month
3. Find one new contact or new way to promote myself
4. Update website
5. Order new business cards
6. Figure out what I'm doing for insurance
So for just this week!!
1. Apply for 1-2 positions to teach
2. Teach 2 classes (income $40-50)
3. Think about contacts/promotions
4. Website
5. Order business cards
That's actually pretty manageable since I was already planning on working on the website more later today (already did a little this morning). I just want some help from my boyfriend before I continue. And I'm planning on teaching Monday and Wednesday nights, just need the people to SHOW UP!
Okay, second focus. Finances. That one has been off. I worked hard, pay down bills, totalled my car and needed to buy a new one, plus went on vacation. I ended up over extending myself a little last week and I think I ended up leaving myself a little short. So now I'm figuring it out. I get paid on Wednesday, plus I''ll be teaching twice and hopefully have some money from that. But I have just been spending TOO much. Granted, my bills are in GREAT shape. My new car payment is less than my old one, granted I was about to pay off that car! :( Oh well. This car is newer and will overall cause me less issues and will cost less in maintenance.
Hmm... so my finances for the rest of the months, 2+ weeks.
1. LOG ALL MONEY I SPEND. I was better before at that than I am now.
2. Keep money in bank to use for August.
3. NO GROUPONS for the rest of the month.
4. Limit takeout to no more than two times a week.
I just have to watch and not make any unnecessary purchases. Just tough when they all seem necessary!
So this week...
1. Log all the money I spend for the week.
2. Food shop to not get take out.
3. NO extra food purchases at night for dinner, except Tuesday night.
4. Pay Cable/electric/car payment
Just tough to figure it all out and see where I'll be. Bills, food, life that comes up and everything in general. Just SO hard!!! I hate dealing with money!
Lastly... my personal fitness
I have had SO many friggin injuries in the past 2 months. Just as I was getting my back under control from running, I had the car accident. It re-aggravated EVERYTHING! The first time I ran 2 miles, I couldn't walk with weight on my right leg 2 days later. It was BAD.
I've been treating with my chiro who has also had me seeing his massage therapist once a week for my back. I've been slowing getting better. Toss in that I haven't done ANYTHING to workout? I feel like a slug and slob! I hate not working out! I've lost SO much muscle in the past 2 months.
Last week I got the okay to do interval running. SO when the C25K group started up, I did their week one training with them, even though I should be SO much further along than that. But it is what it is.
I didn't get the okay to do anything else, but he already knew I was taking golf lessons.
SO last week... C25K on Monday. Tuesday was golfing. Wednesday was C25K, then a little bit of the bootcamp. I didn't do everything I had them do, but I did some. Thursday I HAD to go to kickboxing. I missed it SO much, plus the week at work was horrible and I just needed to punch something. I took it easy and didn't do everything. I know what my limits are right now and I'm not pushing too far with it. Then I took Friday off. Yesterday, although not "working out" my boyfriend and I were working on his patio. So I did something with lifting up those 20 pound tiles and moving them around the yard and all that. Today I'll do the same with the patio (which we should finally finish!).
My monthly fitness goals for the 2+ weeks left??
1. C25K with the group for weeks 2-4.
2. Increase what I do with Bootcamps to continue to build back strength.
3. Golf on Tuesday's.
4. Kickboxing on Thursday's
5. Run/jog, interval on Saturdays.
I need to listen to my body and not push it! But that's the same for each week. I can do that!
I don't think these goals are too lofty. I think this is manageable. I can do this. I want to continue to make everything a success!!
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On other notes? What else is going on in my life, besides completely blowing off my overall goals??
My week was all over the place. Worked SUCKED and I seriously wanted to quit at least 3 specific times that I can remember. I was miserable. I wish I could support myself on fitness training, but that's a long time off. Maybe at some point it can be a reality, but not for right now. So I'm doing what I have to do to make it work and keep my sanity. Which is why I was back at kickboxing on Thursday night!
My back is slowly getting better, which is nice. My wrist is feeling alright right now, but who knows what else will happen with it. Sometimes its better than others.
My friends are incredible and every day I realize how lucky I am to have made it to where I am. It took me a long time to get where I am and to have the people I have in my life. They are positive, happy, fun, healthy people. Everyone supports each other. There is no judgement or criticism between anyone. Just a great group of women who are so supportive of each other. I'm just happy to have them in my life!
And then my boyfriend. Life can toss challenges now and again. This week was no different. Things were good early in the week. Tuesday we argued a little but he helped me with my class structure for Wednesday nights class. But we didn't see each other on Wednesday. Which was good. We were both tired and cranky. I was still off on Thursday but kickboxing helped.
Then it was like a switch was flicked. He is back to everything I loved a year ago! So affectionate and loving. Little kisses on my head while I'm laying in his arms. Telling me he loves me. It was just a great weekend with him so far!
Even yesterday when we were working on his patio. It just looks so nice! I wish I could do more now, but with the point we are at... just one person at a time can do things. The other things I was doing are done. SO I do what I can do now. He said, "I couldn't have done this without you. Well, I could have done it, but I wouldn't have done it all without you." Just hearing that, knowing that he means it and he appreciates me being there and helping him, that means so much.
So I'm looking forward to going back over to his house to finish it up. And per him, next is the driveway! Which is CRAZY! LOTS more work, but that's okay. It was fun do to the patio and exciting to see what we could do. Plus, I feel proud of it. An accomplishment we did together. We work really well together for things like this, so its nice.
But that's where I'm at and what I'm doing. Life is never easy and always interesting. But overall, things are good. More on the good than not. And I am happy. :)
Time to start it up again! Time to find my focus!
The fitness group has been so successful! People are doing amazing with the Couch to 5K group and I love seeing everyone succeed. This new session that started last week seems like I'll have a group that will really do well. They seem very focused and intent on finishing this.
Between the C25K group and our Diva Dash in September, I'm doing more to promote my bootcamps. Last Wednesday night, my "free" class, was great! I'm pretty sure I'm getting more people just through that. At least that's what I hope! So today I need to plan my class structure for tomorrow night. Thing is... I have NO IDEA who is going tomorrow night! NO idea! Hard to plan out my class when I'm not sure who I'm planning it for. But I'll figure it out.
SO... overall goals were finances, fitness business and my personal fitness.
Start with the fitness business... for the rest of the month, 2 + weeks.
1. Apply for 3 fitness jobs
2. Teach 5 classes with income at least $100 for month
3. Find one new contact or new way to promote myself
4. Update website
5. Order new business cards
6. Figure out what I'm doing for insurance
So for just this week!!
1. Apply for 1-2 positions to teach
2. Teach 2 classes (income $40-50)
3. Think about contacts/promotions
4. Website
5. Order business cards
That's actually pretty manageable since I was already planning on working on the website more later today (already did a little this morning). I just want some help from my boyfriend before I continue. And I'm planning on teaching Monday and Wednesday nights, just need the people to SHOW UP!
Okay, second focus. Finances. That one has been off. I worked hard, pay down bills, totalled my car and needed to buy a new one, plus went on vacation. I ended up over extending myself a little last week and I think I ended up leaving myself a little short. So now I'm figuring it out. I get paid on Wednesday, plus I''ll be teaching twice and hopefully have some money from that. But I have just been spending TOO much. Granted, my bills are in GREAT shape. My new car payment is less than my old one, granted I was about to pay off that car! :( Oh well. This car is newer and will overall cause me less issues and will cost less in maintenance.
Hmm... so my finances for the rest of the months, 2+ weeks.
1. LOG ALL MONEY I SPEND. I was better before at that than I am now.
2. Keep money in bank to use for August.
3. NO GROUPONS for the rest of the month.
4. Limit takeout to no more than two times a week.
I just have to watch and not make any unnecessary purchases. Just tough when they all seem necessary!
So this week...
1. Log all the money I spend for the week.
2. Food shop to not get take out.
3. NO extra food purchases at night for dinner, except Tuesday night.
4. Pay Cable/electric/car payment
Just tough to figure it all out and see where I'll be. Bills, food, life that comes up and everything in general. Just SO hard!!! I hate dealing with money!
Lastly... my personal fitness
I have had SO many friggin injuries in the past 2 months. Just as I was getting my back under control from running, I had the car accident. It re-aggravated EVERYTHING! The first time I ran 2 miles, I couldn't walk with weight on my right leg 2 days later. It was BAD.
I've been treating with my chiro who has also had me seeing his massage therapist once a week for my back. I've been slowing getting better. Toss in that I haven't done ANYTHING to workout? I feel like a slug and slob! I hate not working out! I've lost SO much muscle in the past 2 months.
Last week I got the okay to do interval running. SO when the C25K group started up, I did their week one training with them, even though I should be SO much further along than that. But it is what it is.
I didn't get the okay to do anything else, but he already knew I was taking golf lessons.
SO last week... C25K on Monday. Tuesday was golfing. Wednesday was C25K, then a little bit of the bootcamp. I didn't do everything I had them do, but I did some. Thursday I HAD to go to kickboxing. I missed it SO much, plus the week at work was horrible and I just needed to punch something. I took it easy and didn't do everything. I know what my limits are right now and I'm not pushing too far with it. Then I took Friday off. Yesterday, although not "working out" my boyfriend and I were working on his patio. So I did something with lifting up those 20 pound tiles and moving them around the yard and all that. Today I'll do the same with the patio (which we should finally finish!).
My monthly fitness goals for the 2+ weeks left??
1. C25K with the group for weeks 2-4.
2. Increase what I do with Bootcamps to continue to build back strength.
3. Golf on Tuesday's.
4. Kickboxing on Thursday's
5. Run/jog, interval on Saturdays.
I need to listen to my body and not push it! But that's the same for each week. I can do that!
I don't think these goals are too lofty. I think this is manageable. I can do this. I want to continue to make everything a success!!
**********************************************************************************
On other notes? What else is going on in my life, besides completely blowing off my overall goals??
My week was all over the place. Worked SUCKED and I seriously wanted to quit at least 3 specific times that I can remember. I was miserable. I wish I could support myself on fitness training, but that's a long time off. Maybe at some point it can be a reality, but not for right now. So I'm doing what I have to do to make it work and keep my sanity. Which is why I was back at kickboxing on Thursday night!
My back is slowly getting better, which is nice. My wrist is feeling alright right now, but who knows what else will happen with it. Sometimes its better than others.
My friends are incredible and every day I realize how lucky I am to have made it to where I am. It took me a long time to get where I am and to have the people I have in my life. They are positive, happy, fun, healthy people. Everyone supports each other. There is no judgement or criticism between anyone. Just a great group of women who are so supportive of each other. I'm just happy to have them in my life!
And then my boyfriend. Life can toss challenges now and again. This week was no different. Things were good early in the week. Tuesday we argued a little but he helped me with my class structure for Wednesday nights class. But we didn't see each other on Wednesday. Which was good. We were both tired and cranky. I was still off on Thursday but kickboxing helped.
Then it was like a switch was flicked. He is back to everything I loved a year ago! So affectionate and loving. Little kisses on my head while I'm laying in his arms. Telling me he loves me. It was just a great weekend with him so far!
Even yesterday when we were working on his patio. It just looks so nice! I wish I could do more now, but with the point we are at... just one person at a time can do things. The other things I was doing are done. SO I do what I can do now. He said, "I couldn't have done this without you. Well, I could have done it, but I wouldn't have done it all without you." Just hearing that, knowing that he means it and he appreciates me being there and helping him, that means so much.
So I'm looking forward to going back over to his house to finish it up. And per him, next is the driveway! Which is CRAZY! LOTS more work, but that's okay. It was fun do to the patio and exciting to see what we could do. Plus, I feel proud of it. An accomplishment we did together. We work really well together for things like this, so its nice.
But that's where I'm at and what I'm doing. Life is never easy and always interesting. But overall, things are good. More on the good than not. And I am happy. :)
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