Week 48: Nov 25th-Dec 1st: My 'Christmas Crazy' officially shines through

Now that the holidays are approaching, I'm finding it much easier to find 5 things each week that are beneficial to me. Anything Christmas related with make my list, and I try to do any and everything Christmas related, as often as I can ;)

My 5 things:

1. Went to the gym once for yoga. Unfortunately, I was left utterly useless for days after that spinning class last week.

2. Went on a hike on Thanksgiving morning with J and Riley. It was Riley's 1st hiking experience, he was kind of a little shit but that was to be expected. It was the same hike J and I did last Thanksgiving, we decided to continue the tradition this year.

3. J and I made an entire Thanksgiving feast for ourselves. We took on everything from the turkey to the sweet potatoes. All in all, it was really awesome, despite not being able to be with family.

4. Baked Gingerbread cookies for the first time ever.

5. Spent my Saturday, while J went and did man things, by myself watching silly Christmas movies and working on Christmas crafts/gifts.

Week 17: April 22nd-28th: The calm... that hopefully won't be followed by a storm

So It's yet another Monday and I am still practicum-less. I applied to 1 more site and have heard back from a 2nd one that they officially received my application and are now reviewing all the applications. The email included about 18 other students, so I'm not going to hold my breath. It's my top choice site too.
I had sort of a  revelation at some point last week, sort of a calm that just washed over me about all this practicum stuff. Yes, it's stressful not knowing, of course I'd prefer to have a placement...but with everything I've got going on, I can't afford wasted energy on this issue. I've done what I can, I've applied to some places and now I'm just going to wait. I'm going to wait, and not worry and focus on what matters in this moment: ORALS!

My 5 things:

1. I went running twice, which is an improvement from last week, although my knee is still bothering me. The second day of running I went over to Alameda with J and we both ran. Granted, he runs much faster and farther than I do, so we don't actually run together but we do our warm up walk and stretches together. It's nice to know he's there doing the same thing though, even if I can't run with him.

2. I baked: twice this week. That's also how you know the stress is piling up. I baked banana-blackberry-oat muffins for us to take with us to work, etc and then I baked chocolate chip cookies last night for a treat. I recently purchased wheat flour due to the hype about it being better for you. I won't lie, it just isn't very good in cookies. I can handle it in the muffins and breads I've made, but cookies are just made to be baked with white flour and that is just all I have to say about that. I guess it could just be an acquired taste, like when you first switch to wheat bread. Jury is still out I suppose.

3. Did yoga twice this week. I really need to invest in a yoga mat. I use videos on YouTube of different types of yoga, recently I've been trying flow yoga and I like it but the rug we have out on the front room is just not cutting it for trying to hold some of those poses. I need to stop being a cheapskate and just get a mat, they're like $10.

4. Sunday I had a study session via Skype with a friend for almost 3 hours, going over materials for our Oral competency exams. Definitely helped me a LOT to feel like I semi-have an idea now about what it entails and what I'm expected to know. I still don't feel totally prepared, but it helped immensely. We're actually planning another one later in the week to review more.

5. I had a take home midterm that was sent out Thursday. We have until the following Friday to complete it. I didn't want to have to worry about my midterm and orals so I decided to start on the midterm on Thursday, and finish it up this weekend. I spent most of my morning on Sunday working on it (which was followed by that 3 hour study session...Sunday was a busy-brain day). I can proudly say that I've completed it and now I can focus all my energy on my Orals. Did I do the best possible job ever? No, but Orals have a whole lot more riding on them than this midterm. Priorities.

Wow, so I went running, baked, and did yoga....each one twice. Interesting theme this week.

Week 13: March 25th-31st. Easter and I'm running again!

Spring break is over, although I can't actually remember any sort of break. I still had a  class (we were making up from a missed one) and I still went into Practicum, woke up at 4am, saw clients, and had supervision. I still had to work on my dissertation. Where was the break exactly? New quarter starts tomorrow.

Oh also, no practicum interviews, still. No rejections either, but I think lack of interviews at this point pretty much insinuates rejections. Waiting, waiting, still waiting. At this point I'm just waiting for rejection confirmation, which is a little ridiculous.


My 5 things:

1. I went running. Not once, not twice, but THREE times this past week. Yes, 3 times! While that used to be the norm for me (and is probably a slow week for most runners) it was definitely something I haven't done in a very, very long time. Needless to say, I'm pretty proud of this. Granted, the running wasn't anything spectacular, I did interval running (run 1 min, walk 1 min) and did about 20 total minutes (so 10 of each) but, it was running!

2. I got to talk with one of my closest friends, Lis on the phone. She and I try to keep in touch but it is usually ends up as sporadic texts on various days and then an email every couple of months. It doesn't help that there is a time difference, she's in Hawai'i so for half the year she's 3 hours behind and the other half she's 2 hours behind. This week we actually got to have a phone conversation, with some very important news. She was accepted (with funding!) to ASU for grad school! I am so very proud of her. Also, I like the idea of having her a 10 hour drive or a less than 2 hour plane ride away from me.

3. I did yoga twice this week. That totals out to 5 workouts this last week. Damn that feels good.

4. I skyped with my family when they had their Easter on Saturday at my dad's house. I got to watch the kids barrel out of the house on their hunt for eggs and watch them run around with their baskets. I got to see the faces of those I love so much and to see the beautiful weather they were having.

My dad and sister showing off their great weather

This was actually pretty bittersweet. This is now the 7th year I've been apart from my family for Easter. This holiday just always happens to fall at a time of year I'm not able to go home. It was also the first major holiday I was away from my family when I first moved away, right after everything went to shit with my family. Which is likely why it seems especially hard, even for the 7th year in a row. So although I wasn't able to be there in person, I'm thankful I got to be a small part of it.

5. I led, well I co-lead my first ever therapy group this week. It is a women's group that myself and another counselor have formed at the methadone clinic. It was actually originally her thing, she sent out an email stating she'd be starting one and I contacted her about co-leading (since I didn't have any group therapy hours under my belt). I was nervous, and there were definitely parts about it that could have gone better, but either way, I've now completed my first group. We're going to be doing it weekly through the month of April and we may continue, depending on how the month goes. Should be interesting!

Week 8: Feb 18th-24th: Yosemite!

Still no word back on any of my practicum applications. I turned them in over a week early, they weren't actually due until the 22nd...so really today is the first "business day" after the due date. Should be hopefully getting some interviews within the next few weeks. I'm just being impatient, weird right? ')

My 5 things:

1. I had J do an interval training cardio workout with me. He'd playfully mocked me before about doing youtube video workouts, which I admit seem a bit silly. I wanted him to join in with me so that a) we'd keep up on our exercise throughout the week and b) because I really need more cardio in my workout if I'm actually going to see results (and what I mean by that is: J is already showing improvements and I am not...which is frustrating). Also, I felt a little better when J remarked about how difficult the video was (since I have had trouble completing it in the past).

2. This past week I put it some extra hours in the library and at home to finish up work for a class in order to avoid having to attend the weekly TA sessions that require me to leave class early and often arrive to research group late on Wednesdays. Not to mention the time sitting in traffic, the extra miles and gas on my car. I managed to get all my work turned in and now I no longer have to worry about it, which is such a relief!

3. I only meet with my research group every other week because I have class at that time the other weeks so I am only getting feedback every few weeks on my dissertation which, as evidenced by previous meetings, can blow up in my pretty little face. I decided this last week, since I wasn't meeting with my group & adviser, that i should email him with some of my questions and concerns. This benefits me in a number of ways. First off, that way I'm not wasting another week going in the wrong direction (if my direction is not right), it also shows my adviser that I'm putting in extra time and effort (not just throwing together an update once every 2 weeks), and it allows me to get feedback about what I am doing (which he's usually much nicer via email anyway!).

4. I put in some extra time during the week on class assignments/dissertation research because there was talk of a possible outing with J over the weekend and I wanted to make sure I didn't fall behind in assignments. Also, I know that This upcoming weekend I'll be taking a quick trip home, so I will have less time then as well.

5. J and I took a spontaneous trip to Yosemite National Park over the weekend. Our 2 year anniversary is this upcoming Tuesday (2/26), a day where I am up at 4am and don't return home until 9pm and J will be at the woodshop for most the day. So we decided a weekend getaway was in order to celebrate. We left Saturday morning, stayed the night, and then headed back Sunday afternoon.

J on the edge...I didn't get that close

 

It was absolutely beautiful there. Neither of us had been and it was about a 200 mile drive from where we live. We booked a hotel the night before and packed up and left Saturday morning. Unfortunately, the hotel chosen was a bust.... but all the amazing views, wildlife, and nature made up for that.

Yosemite Falls

A lot of the hiking trails were actually closed, which was kind of a bummer. We didn't realize how cold it was and how much snow would be there. Lesson learned on that one (we didn't do much research, obviously). It was still beautiful, regardless of the limited access. You couldn't do all that you wanted to in that short of a trip anyway. Since we'd never been, it was all new scenery to us and at least now we're more familiar with the layout of everything and can do research on different hikes we saw to decide what we should conquer on our next visit. We purchased the year pass, so we will have to go back anyway :)

Week 2: Jan 7th-13th and the waiting, the annoying waiting

I am beginning to love Mondays.
Who would have thought? The most despised day of the week by most would evolve into one of my favorites.
The thing is, I have a grueling schedule throughout the week. It is just go-go-go from 4am to some times as late as 9pm. It's filled with traffic, commuting, lectures, presentations, due dates, clients, more commuting, reading, supervision, deadlines, time frames, did I mention commuting? So it's easy Tue-Fri to feel like I am so far behind on absolutely everything and find it difficult to really clear my head and combat my responsibilities with a calm mind. The weekend allows for some of that, but even then I'm with my boyfriend much of the time and I would way rather spend time with him doing enjoyable things that studying/reading/school work/prepping for clients.
So here is where Monday comes in. While the rest of the world is going to work, I am home for the day. I plan out ahead of time what all needs to be accomplished on this day:

• work out
• Various school/dissertation responsibilities
• Cooking for tonight and prepping/cooking for tomorrow when I don't get home until 9pm
• Time for writing
• A shower at some point and other various things

We've worked it out that J and I work out together Mon and Wed in the morning. We each have our own little routine we came up with ourselves (some variation of push-up/dips/sit-ups,etc). Then he goes to work, leaving me the house to myself. I fluctuate between school work, meal prepping, and breaks so as to never get burnt out doing either for too long. Mondays, unlike most days, I feel like I can actually breathe. I feel like I actually have some control over the whens, wheres, and whys of what I'm doing.

Now onto my list of 5 things:

1. Baked cookies....and brownies. I got to bake twice throughout this week. It helps that J is in love with my baking and is always game for me to bake anything so it's really killing 2 birds with 1 spoon ;)

2. Worked out the first time in a long while. As I said, J and I have started working out in the AM on some days doing our customized to fit us routines.
Mine:
5 push-ups
10 sit-ups
5 squats
5 dips
10 calf-raisers
10 lunges
20 crunches
(Repeat: total 3 times)
Then eventually, each week I will add 2 reps to each exercise.

It's amazing because even when I first came up with it I thought "meh... this is probably too easy for me and won't give me much of a work out" but then you have to remember that these numbers are actually x3 because you go through the routine 3 times. Plus, after the first day of doing it last week I couldn't walk right for days my legs were so sore! So, I'd say I gave myself a pretty good challenging start. I also made the mistake of not stretching before or after... so I learned my lesson there!

3. Used my crock-pot for the first time ever! I got this crock-pot probably back in about '05. I never used it, then I moved back in with my mom shortly before moving away to Hawaii which resulted in the thing being stashed away at my moms (who lord knows did not touch the thing) until this past Christmas break when we unexpectedly were driving back and I said "Oooh I have room to bring my crock-pot!" and was determined to make use of it, finally. Thank goodness it actually still worked, and it worked well. The meal was a success and I currently have tomorrow's dinner of creamy chicken chili cooking in there as I type. Yes.. I'm so on top of everything that I'm cooking tomorrow's dinner at 3 in the afternoon the day before. (except that whole "being on top of everything" will be completed destroyed as my 4am alarm goes off tomorrow morning, so just let me have it for now!)

4. Last night we went to see Craig Carothers play in Berkeley. This is a January tour he's done, apparently for about 10 years now with Don Henry and Steve Seskin. I surprised J with the show last year when he was playing in Santa Clara the weekend of J's birthday that he happened to be visiting me down in CA from Portland. It was perfect. Needless to say, when we found out he was playing less than 10 miles away in Berkeley, we knew we were going. It was, as always, a wonderful experience. We really need to make more time for events such as this, because it really is enjoyable for both of us.

5. This past week I booked our hotel for a trip to Vegas we're planning with my best friend and her boyfriend. Granted, the trip itself is not until May but planning for a vacation is quite enjoyable. Especially when you're able to get such a good deal, with the help of my dad and his timeshare he has there, we were able to get a great deal for our stay. May is both mine and my best friend's birthday month. This year (2013) Also marks 20 years of friendship with her. 20 years!! Other than those I'm related to, I have not had such a close, consistent relationship with anyone else in my life. So there are lots of reasons to celebrate and Vegas is just a wonderful place to do it! Not to mention, J has never been! So that will be exciting as well.

This past week has also been pretty frustrating for me. APA is the annual conference for psychology, it's a pretty big deal and it's especially important for me because it's in Hawaii this year. I haven't been back since I moved back to the mainland in '10. I've made it a mission of mine to submit/get accepted to APA '13 since I started grad school. Submission deadline for APA conference was Nov 15th. THe conference is not until August, so I assumed we'd be hearing back around March or so. All the sudden starting on Thursday, my Facebook wall is filled with a number of different people from my program posting "I got accepted to APA!" and "APA here I come" and other various celebratory comments about how excited they were about getting accepted. I started checking my email frantically, about 37 times a day, waiting to hear back. and nothing. Not a word.
I know I will hear back either way, whether I've been accepted or rejected, so the lack of hearing anything is not a bad sign necessarily. It is, however, excruciatingly annoying and frustrating.
Despite the progress I've made with having patience and not focusing on what I cannot control.. I still, really, really hate waiting...especially while everyone else seems to be rejoicing.
So I continue to play the waiting game.

Christmas #1

Only 4 more days until we're homeward bound for the holidays.
My boyfriend and I decided that since we're traveling for the holidays, it didn't make much sense to pack our presents to each other in our suitcases and lug them 700 miles to open them up, only to pack them back up and return with them (little did I realize my gift wouldn't have fit in his suitcase anyway!) We decided to do our own little mini Christmas here with each other before we head up to the PNW for the actual holidays.
So Saturday, the 15th we had our own little Christmas holiday. We opened presents in our pajamas, played our new game of Monopoly (one of my gifts to him) and watched Home Alone 1,2 & 3...(although I tried to warn him that the 3rd one wasn't worth watching). We also watched my absolute most favorite Christmas movie, the original cartoon version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
In between our movie marathon and game playing we went to Christmas Tree Lane, in Alameda.

 Armed with layers of warmth and a thermos of homemade hot chocolate we walked up and down the street filled with Christmas lights, music, people, and holiday cheer!
J had never been to any place like this that he could remember so it was fun to be able to do something like this together. Plus, I'm game for any and everything Christmas related!
So lets get back to these presents I was talking about. We opened the ones that were wrapped. J told me that one of my gifts would be arriving in the mail in a few days, so I only had 1 to open. The one I did open was the awesome singing bird clock I wanted that sings a different bird song each hour, on the hour. I wanted to hear the clock and we needed batteries for it to work. J said "I think maybe there are some in the office" so I went in search of batteries. I walk into the office and SURPRISE! A shiny red bicycle appears!

J had of course tricked me saying my other gift was "in the mail" and had this beauty stashed down in the garage (which is his man-cave woodshop and I never go down there). Tricky man he is. This gift was a group effort made possible by J, his dad, my mom, and my brother-in-law.
This gift is in part because J wants me to ride with him, but also because of my knee injury and my difficulties with running, they all wanted me to have a way to exercise without doing more damage to my knee. Although I don't want to give up running, this is quite a lovely way to get outside as well :)
So today, despite a forecast for rain... we were determined to ride.

My first bike ride in over a year and my very first time on a road bike. 10 miles later and my butt is sore, my legs feel a bit like jello, and my knee is well aware it was used today. It sure felt great to be outside, riding with J. Him being such an avid rider, I've definitely wanted to get a bike and be able to share his love for them. Granted, I am not anywhere near up to his level, nor will I ever be...but it was still nice to ride along side him for awhile :)

After all of this, it feels like Christmas is over. Then I remember that in 4 days, we get to board a plane and see all our loved ones up north and begin the actual, crazy, huge, loud, fun, amazing Christmas festivities awaiting us up there!

Running Update: 9 months=set backs and reroutes

I am starting to get a bit frustrated with this knee pain.
Maybe it's just that I'm too impatient, but I'd say, in terms of this running business, I've done a pretty damn good job and taking it sllloooowwww and being patient about my progress.
Back in November, when I attempted to increase my mile time, (or rather, decrease) was when the knee pain made its majorly unwelcomed appearance. I took my time, I took it easy, I didn't push it. Fast forward to January, after giving my knees a break, I started back up again, but this time slow and steady, running less distance and at a slower pace to get my legs back into the groove.
Come February, I decide my 1 mile runs weren't cutting it anymore (since I was consistently doing 1.5 miles pre knee pain) So Saturday I decided since I needed to deposit a check and my bank isn't too far from my apt that I'll run there and back.
So I do this, and I do ok actually. I determine that the distance totals 1.5 miles. I feel pretty good about the fact that I'm able to do 1.5 miles again.
That is until about 20 minutes after my run, when the pain has returned.
I took a month running 2-3 times per week of running a slow  mile...and then the one time I do a SLOW 1.5 miles my knee just can't bare it.
I'd call bullshit, but it's my own knee and I can't seem to escape it.
So in light of this new found frustration, I've turned to the internet since it helped me get this running thing going in the first place (good shoes to get, interval programs to increase running, etc) and I have come up with what I hope will be the end to this godawful pain.
Strengthening Weak Knees is a video I came across that was originally from MadeFitTV.
Now this girl is a chatty one, but she has some good things to say.
I'm now officially implementing these knee strengthening exercises into my weekly routine.
There will be 2-3 times a week I run, and on the days I'm not running I will do these exercises to hopefully get some strength built up in those damn knees of mine.
I am determined not to quit.
I started running in May 2011... it is now Feb 2012 and I am still at it. Granted, I haven't made much progress, but again, I can't compare myself to what "normal people" are capable of.
I just have to keep reminding myself that I CAN RUN A CONSISTENT MILE!!
That is progress. That is something that no matter how small it may seem to others or on the grand scale of running...it is something I've never been able to do until last year in my almost 3 decades on this planet...therefore I will muffle the sounds of that little voice that tells me to quit, that tells me I'm not good enough and that I am pathetic.
I will shove a running sock right in the mouth of that voice that tells me my puny mile pales in comparison to the rest of the running world and press on.
Of course I'd love it if I were able to be running 3 miles a day, or hell even 3 miles even once a week!
But I'm not there yet, and maybe I'll never be.
Where I am at, is 1 mile further than I was in May.
I refuse to give up, because I give up on everything else that I can't master.
Running will not be on that list.

The only thing worse than Running

I think I've found something I hate more than running.
The gym, or to be more accurate, the work out room..but they contain the same machines so the terms are interchangeable in my book. 
I've been having trouble with my knees the past week. I'm not sure what it is from exactly (the running, the excessive sitting I've been doing lately because it's finals and I spend 8 hours in front my my computer like it ain't no thang) but regardless, running+knee pain=lots more knee pain.
So today I decided to do the bike in the work out room in my apartment complex.
These types of settings will forever remind me of the episode of Full House where DJ thinks she's fat, stops eating and overworks herself at the family outing to the gym.

picture is compliments of this site I found, Every Episode of Full House Reviewed in Chronilogical Order that does, in fact, review every episode of the show!

I find stationary bikes, treadmills, ellipticals, the whole bunch of them to be incredibly boring and difficult to motivate myself to use them or really push myself.
I tried to channel my inner Dj Tanner and push it to the limit. I did 9 miles on the bike, but with no resistance so it didn't work my body the same as running.
I really just want to figure out how to prevent this knee pain from happening. I'm think I'm going to dabble in some remedies such as insoles or something and see if that helps.
As much as I despise running, stationary machines are even worse and I didn't even think that was possible.
Then again, when I go up north for winter break, I will likely have to figure an alternative since running in 20 degrees is probably going to kill me. Hmm.. After finals I'll put my thinking cap on a problem solve.
Until then, I guess it's stationary bikes and ice for my knee.