Los Angeles

I have been in Los Angeles (actually, Anaheim) since Wednesday. The house we are staying in has Internet from 1994. I swear it's slower than dial up. I can't even load any pages, so I've been stuck with my phone. I'm currently updating from the cellular device to let people know that I am, in fact, still alive.

That's us at the beginning of our 11 hour drive.

And that would be us at the end, stuck in LA traffic. It was a fun, but very long journey. My brother pointed out how nice it is that we can be stuck in a small vehicle for 11 hours together and not want to kill each other by the end of it. We even stopped at the Holy Grail of fast food joints somewhere in the middle of nowhere off the 5.

We also went from this forest:

To this forest:

We did not stop to hike in that massive forest. I know, such a mistake. When we finally got to the house, the boys got their wiggles out.

The entire reason for this trip was for this:

My step-sister, who is also my very best friend in the entire world got married yesterday. That will be its own post, it was that fun. For now, I leave you with my favorite picture of the weekend.

One Year

One year ago today the boyfriend asked me to be his girlfriend.  And I said yes.

A little over a year ago, before we started dating.

The night of our first kiss.

I was really hesitant about saying yes because of our age difference (let's just say he's a little younger...okay, he couldn't even drink legally for the first 4 months of our relationship...).  But I said yes anyway.  Because I liked him and he made me laugh and I loved being around him.  He made me feel comfortable and happy.

The first weekend we were dating.  Memorial Day camping trip.

In that year we have become inseparable.  Before he got his job in October, I didn't go a single day without seeing him.  And I didn't want to.  It's still hard to say goodbye, and he's only gone for 72 hours at the most.

I guess I can't complain when he's saving lives.  This was Christmas.

This is what I posted on Facebook: One year ago today, B asked me to be his girlfriend. In that year he has made me laugh, told me I am beautiful at least 2 times a day, fixed things that I needed fixed without me asking, introduced me to some of the greatest family members in the world, taken me to one of the most beautiful places on the planet, renewed my love of bacon, brought me coffee to work when I can hardly keep my eyes open, put up with my obsessive love of exercise, cheered me on at races, and many, many more amazing things. Most importantly, in that year, he has taught me the meaning of unconditional love and has shown me that I am worthy of it. I love you. Happy anniversary!

He has taught me the true meaning of unconditional love.  I have horrible self image and very low self esteem.  I have trouble believing that someone can be in love with me simply for who I am.  But he does.  He is the most kindhearted soul I know and when he cares about a person, he will bend over backward, move mountains, do anything to make that person happy.  He puts me before he puts himself and he supports me in every crazy, idiotic thing I do.  

I am so thankful every day that I said yes.  This year has been fantastic and I know there will be many more to go.

Lazy Sunday

My lazy Sunday began at 6am with a kiss goodbye from the boyfriend.  I hate saying bye to him, especially after only one day with him.  That's okay, we will have a lovely 12 hours together in the car on the way down south on Wednesday.  Oh, and a very important date night on Tuesday.

I promptly rolled over and fell back asleep until 10.  When I woke up, I was rearing to go for a long run.  I put on my running clothes, scooped up some extra comfy clothes, and a bathing suit because the sun was shining and I couldn't wait to get some more vitamin D in the backyard when I was finished and drove to my dad's house.  The wind was blowing REALLY hard and my foot was hurting a bit, so I decided to run on the treadmill.

I was fully intending on doing 10 miles, but the moment I walked into the treadmill room, I knew that wasn't going to happen.  It was incredibly muggy, even with the doors and windows open, and it smelled like cleaner for some reason.  I hopped on, found Criminal Minds on TV and ran 8 miles.  It was not easy like I expected it to be.

Moe was waiting for me after the run to congratulate me on not dying running for an hour.  He's such a good cheerleader.

I promptly refueled with eggs, yogurt, and strawberries.  That set off a long day of eating about 9 lbs of fruit.  I'm a little bit obsessed with fruit.

Then I showered and immediately went outside to enjoy the sunshine (and wind) while reading my book.  It's so terrible to be able to lay around all day in the sunshine in the totally disgusting backyard at my dad's house.

Running endorphins AND vitamin D??  Can you have too many good feelings?

This is the backyard.  So hard to look at isn't it?

After I came inside because my Northcoast skin can only handle so much sun, I switched between reading my book and reading blogs.  I also got a call back from my grandma who said she's going to pay for my summer school tuition!!!  I have never been more grateful for anything in my entire life.  I have no idea how to thank her.

I also watched my dad make me dinner.  I then ate said dinner.

Step-mom's mother is in town for the graduation/wedding.

SO.  MUCH.  FRUIT.  Fruit in the salad and a fruit smoothie.

Now I am trying to convince myself to get off the couch and drive home where I can crawl into bed and lay around some more.  I've got to enjoy these really lazy days because I will soon have no free time thanks to school.

A Date at the River

Sometimes, you've just got to ignore real life.  This morning I decided I needed to let my body rest.  I have been going really hard for a long time now and I'm incredibly sore from yesterday's leg workout.  I got to the gym yesterday and really, really didn't want to be there.

Sat on this bench for approximately 14 minutes before putting my shoes on.

The boyfriend finally got off work yesterday, so I ran home to meet up with him before heading to his mom's house where we went to a fundraiser for dinner and then laid on the couch watching The Hobbit and giving each other foot massages.  Oh, and teaching his grandma how to use her iPad.

So this morning, when I waddled out of bed because my back was screaming at me and my legs felt like lead, I decided to skip working out and get right into making breakfast.  During this time I noticed a letter on the table addressed to me.  I opened it, and what do you know?  I've been accepted into the summer school program for the moderate/severe credential program that most people have to take the summer AFTER they complete their mild/moderate.  I saw the price tag and almost had a heart attack which resulted in calling my dad and having an almost hour long chat about funds.  Being poor is awesome.  During this mild panic attack, the boyfriend made the most amazing looking breakfast.  Meanwhile, I had my usual smoothie.  I was in a terrible mood.

Needless to say, when I was done eating my usual protein smoothie and a hardboiled egg and I still felt incredibly grouchy, I begged the boyfriend to go hunt down some sun.  And we did just that.  We ended up an hour south at the river and that is exactly what I needed.

Moe Moe loves the river.

I took a lovely nap in the sun before getting warm enough to brave the water.

The water was actually perfect, which is sad for this time of year.  We had an incredibly dry winter which means this may very well be a drought year for us Californians.  But it means that I got to swim in the river in the middle of May, which is amazing.  I also got a low impact workout in my swimming down river and then back up a couple of times.  Also, we had to trek from the car to the river, so that counts too.  Most of the time, the best workouts are those done outside in nature.

Boyfriend had the BEST idea to stop and pick up sushi for dinner and I ended up with salmon and a California roll.  It was absolutely delicious.

The rest of the evening will be spent taking a quick walk around the neighborhood and then cuddling with boyfriend because he has to go back to work in the morning.  Luckily, he gets off on Tuesday, which happens to be our 1 year anniversary, and then we will head to Long Beach for the weekend.  So, so exciting!

A Really Awesome Compliment

Since I am working Thursdays and Fridays in a town 20 minutes south of me, I go to the sister gym to mine on those days.  As I've said before, I feel as though I've been transported into 1993 every time I step in there.  I mean look at this treadmill.  

It doesn't even have it's down magazine tray.  And I have to turn my volume up as loud as it will go so that I don't get embarrassed by the loud pounding that comes from my feet.  I run too fast to be quiet, I guess.  The gym equipment cracks me up and definitely keeps me entertained.  Also, gym bros make me laugh too.

While I was busy sneaking pictures of myself in the mirror lifting heavy weights, I got the best, nicest text message from one of my very best friends.

I don't see myself as fit.  I see myself as a person who loves working out a lot and would rather be moving her body than laying around.  This text message made me feel really good about myself that other people see me as an inspiration for getting in shape.  

The answer to her question is yes.  I take a 5 billion probiotic and a 50 billion probiotic before I eat along with fish oil and vitamin B6 to help with protein metabolism.  That's it.  I've taken so many antibiotics in my life for ear infections that my gut is really messed up and since I've started taking the probiotics I definitely have seen and felt a huge difference in my body.

After the gym, I went to my dad's house for dinner since he was away at the most awesome concert on the planet last weekend and we didn't have Sunday dinner.  I won't talk about the concert because it's so sad that I am poor and couldn't attend, but I will show you the delicious gluten free lasagna my dad made that almost makes up for him not buying me a ticket to the concert.

I can't believe tomorrow is Friday and then the weekend.  I am only working two days next week before heading to Long Beach for my step sister's college graduation and wedding.  I am so excited.

Home

I subbed in my class today after being gone for a week and a half.  That doesn't sound long, but when you're out of your element, it's forever.  I seriously felt like I was home.  The drive to work, the actual work, and the drive to the gym all felt exactly like I was doing what I was supposed to be doing.  I've been feeling like a foreigner for the last week and a half and finally I returned home.  It was so wonderful.  That and the fact that I was getting paid as a teacher really helped.  It was also really, really nice to have the kids excited to see me.  One student even brought me a flower.  It was very sweet.  Tomorrow it's back to the classroom south of here.  While it's not home, it's a very good second second home.

I brought my gym clothes with me, as I usually do, fully intending on running until circuit and then doing circuit.  Well, my errands took a lot less time than I expected and I got to the gym 2 hours earlier than class and I wasn't about to run a half marathon and then do circuit.  So I decided to just run for however long I felt like and go home.  Well, after 6.5 miles, I decided to call it quits.

I tried doing the negative split thing because it's one of my goals as a runner to start slower in races and go faster at the end.  I'm really good at going out way too fast and then losing steam about half way.  My run today ended up being more of a tempo run and I only went faster for one mile at the end.  I guess you could call me lazy?  I also should have ran outside, but after running outside so many days, my feet and legs are so happy to be on the treadmill.  Then I came home and did some ab exercises before cleaning the kitchen and my bedroom.

Love my kettlebells.

I can shamelessly take pictures of myself at my home gym.

I also took a picture of my runner's feet, just in case anyone was feeling alone in the fact that their feet aren't too pretty.  The middle toe on my left food is totally disgusting and isn't grown in correctly and it has fallen off multiple times.  I hide it with nail polish.  I also have several popped blisters and you should see the underside of my feet.  If I weren't so embarrassed by my feet, I'd be proud of them.

Speaking of being proud, I am incredibly proud of my mother and my boyfriend.  My mom told me today that she ran a mile in 10 minutes!  That's incredible for a woman who used to say she wouldn't even run if someone mugged her.  And the boyfriend has run the past two days in a row while he's been at work.  He used to wrestle in high school, and as most people know, wrestlers have to run to keep up their endurance and keep down their weight.  But he has run maybe three times in the year we have been dating, so this new running boyfriend is amazing.  I told him that he will be running half marathons with me soon enough.  After his run, he sent me this.

My year of brainwashing him is finally working!  I'm a proud girlfriend.  And because I'm so proud, I leave you with this fantastic photo that popped up on Facebook this afternoon of the show we went to last weekend.  I'm the one in white looking casual.  My boyfriend would be the one who looks as though he might be having a seizure.

Gym Rat

I will admit it.  I am a total gym rat.  I love the atmosphere.  Everyone is there working toward a goal to be a healthier version of themselves.  I feel like I am in my element at the gym.  I've never been really good at anything, just simply mediocre, but I feel like I am good at the gym.  I plug in my headphones and take off doing my thing.  I actually get excited to go to the gym because it helps me let off steam and have ME time after work (I am NOT a morning worker-outer).

After today's workout.

Yesterday was no different.  I was in between sets of Kettlebell swings when a man approached me and asked me a question.  I couldn't understand him due to my loud music, so I asked him to repeat himself.  He had asked me what I was doing.  What I was doing!  I told him and then he continued to ask what part of the body Kettlebell swings works.  I was so excited to tell him that it's a compound exercise and it works several different muscle groups and it's a very, very good exercise to be doing.  I was so excited that he thought I looked legitimate enough to ask about my workout!

Yesterday's workout, right after I was asked about my routine!

I was so excited I immediately texted the boyfriend to tell him that I finally look like a legitimate exerciser!  I was also really happy with myself that I had enough knowledge (thanks to my massive amount of internet stalking) to tell him what was up.  I am excited that, after two years of hard work, my body is finally deciding to start LOOKING strong, the way I want it to.  I've spent so many years beating up my body, degrading it for not looking the way I want, that I never really take time to appreciate the things it does for me.  I guess being a gym rat is finally paying off!

Another sneaky gym picture.  It was so busy yesterday!

Ran a 5k today.

In other news, for the past two nights, the boyfriend and I have been trying to teach my old dogs a new trick.

Be on the lookout for us as the newest Youtube sensations!