reflection

2019 Reflection

December 26, 2019 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Oh 2019, what a year!! Reflecting back on this year, I feel it was one of my most stressful years. I successfully completed 3 more semesters of my MBA program, bringing me to the halfway point which is a HUGE accomplishment. The summer and fall semesters were definitely really challenging and my weekends were mostly spent doing homework, giving me little free time to enjoy the summertime and fall. In the fall, I feel like I was better at enjoying the weekends until I hit October and then it was just getting through the semester. I know that I chose this and I still love the program, but I definitely need to work on some things as well and accept that this is just a phase in my life right now.

The start of 2019 I got into yoga practicing daily and I don’t remember when I exactly fell off that bandwagon, but I did and I need to get back. I was concentrating on school and my powerlifting meet I had in April, which did not go as planned for me. In the meantime, somewhere around March, it seemed my work department all came down with the plague of some sort. I managed to scoot by other than the first weekend in April when I found myself exhausted and not feeling great and spending the weekend on the couch. That later led to Brian mentioning a red spot on my back appearing. I didn’t think much of it until spots began to spread down my back and chest. Thinking I was dying (slight exaggeration but freaking out a bit as it spread), I went to the dermatologist towards the end of April and was diagnosed with Pityriasis rosea. Apparently it’s a viral thing that starts with a big patch and can also start with a fever which I might have had that one weekend. There is no treatment, it just takes about 10 weeks to go away. This was only slightly comforting considering I was getting married in less than a month from when this was diagnosed. It’s a good thing I wasn’t a bridezilla or anything. So yes, I still had spots on my back and stomach and even the tops of my thighs on my wedding day. Thankfully my friends tried to cover up the shoulder spots as much as possible and unless you look closely at the wedding photos, you don’t see them. The other interesting thing about this rosea was that it’s supposed to go away with no marks, but my back got a bit burned on our honeymoon and because the skin was already damaged from the rosea, the spots didn’t burn, but still show on my back maybe because I got burned around them? I really have no idea, but those areas are slightly lighter in color on my back so it did leave a scar basically. I will also say it definitely took the full 10 weeks for this to go away, but I was glad it wasn’t contagious or anything and it didn’t hurt.

pityriasis rosea — the white ovals on the right side are left from the healing of the rosea

In May, I finished my spring semester and we got MARRIED!! FINALLY!! I was so happy that everything came together as it should. I was only sad that the time with my friends was so short and busy. I had a wonderful 10 days off from work as we went to Charleston for our beach wedding and then flew to Atlanta for a day and then Aruba for our honeymoon. I learned that Aruba sun is NO JOKE and I thought Australia sun was no joke. As much as I tried to continuously put on sunscreen, I got pretty burned on our boat ride to snorkel and that burn bothered me for the end of the trip and Aruba Aloe Vera lotion was my BFF. You can check out wedding posts here, here and here. Aruba recaps are here and here.

Aruba was still amazing. I loved our Airbnb away from the crowds and tourist area. I enjoyed yoga at Rachel Brathen’s studio and Brian finished his scuba certification. I also enjoyed driving an ATV for the first time through the desert. Since our wedding and honeymoon was our main trip of the year, I am itching to travel again and hoping that 2020 will have a few trips, probably within the US though.

Summer semester kicked off while we were honeymooning so I started my reading and homework there. The summer semester is also 4 weeks shorter than a regular semester so it was constantly busy and it was the first time I had tests in each class and midterms and finals were on the same weekends. This is why summer flew by and we didn’t go hiking like we wanted or any mini trips. Then in August we had our reception at our house. The reception went great and Brian’s family did most of the food. I got a giant cookie cake from Wegmans which was a hit and I was surprised by how many family members were able to travel out to see us. I was thankful for that.

The wedding festivities didn’t end until Labor day weekend when we took a trip up to Tupper Lake and had a mini party there as well. That was fun since my only job was to show up and I had fun chatting and bringing my wedding album to show everyone.

September jumped right into the Fall semester and Economics was killing me. I did get to take a short trip to Chicago for a work conference and I LOVED it. I spent a day with my parents and then was able to enjoy beautiful 70 degree weather in Chicago and learn at the conference. It was a nice change of scenery from the office.

In October, the highlight of the month was going down to NYC and seeing Harry Potter on Broadway. The show was absolutely amazing and worth it. Brian and I also celebrated 10 years dating. So as we enter this new decade next year, we are officially married and only took us 10 years. We have grown so much and traveled to so many places. I’ll save it for another post about this last decade.

November was pretty much about getting through school. I was stressed for sure and there were lots of changes at work as well. Just a lot going on and I feel like at the end of December, things are finally beginning to settle into place.

As for December, I was happy to continue with making gingerbread cookies and counted down to my final exam and freedom for the holidays. December started out with a big snow storm that has already closed the schools for a day. I feel we are due for a bad winter and this is only the start. Every time it snows like crazy I question my car and want a new one, but I also need to save up for one and have had many big expenses/investments between a house, school and a wedding this past year. It makes it hard to save for travel currently, but I just have to work through this next year and a half to be on the other side of school.

I looked back on my reflection last year and my word of the year I chose was Growth. I think in some ways it was a major year of Growth. This was the first year that Brian was home the entire year and we were together. It was challenging figuring out routines together because we both are so used to separate routines. We also have different work schedules so there are still many things we have separate. In the beginning of the year I was strong with my powerlifting, but that kinda fell in the summer when school work picked up and I wasn’t into the mindset as much. I still went to the gym, but didn’t spend as much time at the gym. I have learned since October and hurting my shoulder that I need to step back and do workouts that take maybe 45 minutes instead of an hour and a half. I also need more yoga, because that has felt amazing lately and I need to stretch and foam roll more. Working on my recovery and my eating as well. There has been tremendous growth in my job since I got a new role recently. I hope in January, I can have more of a routine with this new role. While I didn’t hit all my points on Growth, I hit some major ones and we made it another year.

2019 was very challenging, but with big life events as well. I look forward leaving 2019 behind and moving forward to 2020.

The Year of 2017

December 29, 2017 by Alicia Leave a Comment

I’ve already been reading posts on blogs about the best of 2017 and reflections on the year. I have to say, overall, this was one incredible year. There were many hard times, many lessons and lots of moving around with travel and settling in a new state. All of that though, has brought me here and for that I am grateful.

This post starts with Australia of course. After my first time in Australia, I knew I had to go back and explore more. I told myself I would try to make it back in 5 years and I just made that deadline arriving into Sydney on Dec 30, 2016. I had first gone to Australia in 2011. We rang in the New Year wearing shorts and sunscreen and watching the fireworks over the Sydney Harbor bridge. That was another item on my {lost} bucket list, you can check out my new one here.

We had no itinerary but there is so much to see in Sydney, we opted to stay for 2 weeks.

By the end of the two weeks, we took some rest days lounging around our apartment we had through Airbnb and then hopped on a plane to New Zealand. Our original thinking was that we should go to New Zealand before doing any farm work in Australia due to the high bio hazard control New Zealand has.

We went on the best guided tour to Hobbiton and then rented a campervan for two weeks to drive around the south island of New Zealand.

That brought us to February, hopping on a plane again to Melbourne Australia. We settled there for a week which was wonderful after all the driving. I even joined a pilates/yoga studio and went to the 7am class 5 days.

We loved the campervan so much in New Zealand, we decided to get one in Australia. We ventured to Adelaide, happening upon the Fringe Festival, a festival we would love to go to again. Then we drove to the outback on the Stuart highway, a very long straight road. We saw Uluru and quickly said goodbye to Uluru as we had to get back to Melbourne to return our van.

Next it was off to the East coast, beginning in Brisbane. We took a train ride from there to go to the Australia Zoo for a day and I had my wish come true when I got to hold a koala, even if the mosquitoes were awful and bit my face while I was holding little Peanut.

australia zoo koala cuddle 2 — holding a koala, one of the best days of my life

We took trains and buses up the East coast, stopping to visit one of my friends, then taking a boat trip totally out of my comfort zone, before heading to Cairns while Cyclone Debbie made its way into Australia.

We ended with a visit to the Australia honeymoon capital, Port Douglas, where Brian and I parted ways as he headed back to the US and I headed to London.

April began in London, where I was very tired and hardly adjusted to the time zone in the few days I was there. I mostly stuck to walking around, but I splurged on the Harry Potter tour and was glad I did. I also went to see Kinky Boots on London Broadway which was amazing.

I took the train to Paris. Oh the Eiffel Tower, Louvre and all the bread you could want.

I then took the train down to the Aix en Provence to stay with a family friend. It was my birthday and we got treats from a local bakery. I stayed with them for a week and about half of the week was pretty chill where I caught up on reading, writing and doing yoga in my room. I needed that down time in all the hustle and bustle of traveling. We had some fun day trips to Marseilles and then to see flamingos in the wild which was just incredible.

Soon it was time for another train ride to Barcelona to meet up with my sister’s friend. Thank goodness for her Spanish because I only took French in school. She was also the best tour guide.

My final travel place was Dublin, which was too quick of a visit and I came down with some sort of stomach bug so I lived on cereal and water for the most part in my time there. Thankfully I was feeling better by the time I had my flight home to Chicago.

In May I got to visit my sister in Iowa and cross that state off my “to visit” list. I then moved to Binghamton and was applying to whatever jobs I could find, which I found difficult being in a smaller town compared to applying in Chicago or Philadelphia.

I kept sane thanks to finding an awesome powerlifting gym and going for 5 mile walks on the bike path nearly daily until my ankles were so sore I needed to rest. Finally I had some interviews and started my job in June.

Still working to keep myself busy, I signed up for a yin yoga training in the area which ran through July and August.

I also attended my first BlogFest in July and it left me on a total high. It was amazing beyond words.

Blogfest IDEA bridge 2017 — Blogfest/IDEA World July 2017

August was when the year took a turn with a sudden loss followed by another loss. I did however attend my first state fair.

I thought things in September would turn around and then I had to head home to Chicago for one of my own family members. Though I made the best of my trip supporting my friend’s small business and also visiting the beach because it was so hot for September and the water wasn’t even that bad.

In October, I enjoyed a visit to Penn Yan and some pumpkin carving. We made the difficult decision to put one of our cats down. I also finally decided to get an online coach for my powerlifting. I love having a workout made for me and also working on my nutrition to really build muscle.

November was a less eventful month (thank goodness). Of course we had Thanksgiving, but I’m not into Thanksgiving food much. I did enjoy a wonderful friendsgiving though. We also finally got our deposit down on our wedding venue and I will talk more about that in 2018 and the wedding plans.

Once December came, I was ready for the Christmas movies and music. I had all my shopping done in the first week pretty much. Brian was actually home over a weekend and we decided to go down to NYC for a day and I invited my friend Alicia along. We saw Cats on Broadway and that was really good.

I once again made my gingerbread cookies and ate sooo many of them I think I will be set until next Christmas.

My mom decided she wanted to spend Christmas in Florida because we found out my grandma had lung cancer so my mom, sister and I spent Christmas weekend in Florida. It felt weird with it being so hot and Christmas, but it was also really nice to get sun because we had a lot of grey, snow and rain in New York and I was really feeling those winter blues already.

And now we head into the New Year. I’d say 2017 started at a high high and the middle was kind of the lowest of lows with too many funerals. I hope now we are headed in an upwards direction again with a New Year starting. One of my main goals for the year is to work on my strength. My Florida bikini photo says it all to me. I am so proud of my hard work to get back in shape, but not just in shape, to see my body transform before me and be increasing my weights to a number I never imagined. Investing in an online coach has definitely paid off already in the only 3 months so far.

Wow that was so much to recap. If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading. I really appreciate you stopping by my little corner of the internet. I love to write and share my adventures. Cheers to the New Year!! I’m ready for 2018!!

Are you excited for the New Year?

Confessions of a Traveler #1 TOL#65

February 9, 2017 by Alicia Leave a Comment

I’m calling myself a “traveler” after 5 weeks of traveling, I hope that counts. Anyway I had a few random thoughts.

Confession, I don’t have much of a yoga routine. OK I didn’t at home either but I was teaching the last year and that kept me more on my toes. When in the campervan, we were in a different place everyday, didn’t even know how long we would be driving as we planned it as we went. Then it was a bit chilly and rainy every other day so the ground was wet or it was gravel, which is really uncomfortable to practice on by the way. I have felt the difference and know I need to get back to doing a bit of yoga here and there so trying to do what I can.
I probably could have packed half the amount of underwear I brought, though the longest we went without doing laundry was 10 days and it was handy to have many pairs.
After washing my hair with only conditioner for almost a week, my hair was less frizzy, more curly and a bit more oily feeling. I was happy when I finally got to use shampoo at our Airbnb place Saturday.
To add on to the last point, it’s not like shampoo has been totally unavailable. We have been to stores, I just don’t feel like spending the money and conditioner is more important to me because my hair tangles…
Not having a routine is hard, but I keep up with my routine to make breakfast in the morning right away and then washing the dishes and cooking dinner.
When I had fast internet when we first stopped in Christchurch 2 weeks ago, I started the show One Day at a Time on Netflix and love it. I was able to watch 4 more episodes yesterday and enjoyed some down time/internet time.
I got a new camera for my trip and it is fun to have something to learn since I am not working at the moment, so I am learning about the manual settings on the camera and having fun playing with the settings and taking the same photos multiple times.
I’m currently sitting in the airport as I write this, on my way to Melbourne. I am thinking I should do some stretching or yoga before our flight since I have a nice surface (see #1). (edited to add: time flew by and I still didn’t stretch…oops)

Thank Amanda for the link up.

I might continue this as a series throughout the remainder of my trip so I called it #1. Hope you enjoyed the random thoughts. Check out my travel guides of New Zealand from earlier this week as well.

Mental Health During Injury: TOL#58

October 6, 2016 by Alicia Leave a Comment

This is a topic that has been on my mind the last few weeks as I continue to recover from a stress fracture (at least that is what we are calling it because I really cant be 100% certain as the doctor zoomed in and maybe saw something).

For those who don’t know me, I love going to the gym. I love trying new workouts. The gym is like my playground, so many things to do and so little time. It is my time to destress from the corporate life. The gym is my happy place. Time for myself. Time to play. Without that time, I am more depressed. I don’t know what to do and usually end up just sitting on the couch watching Gilmore Girls.

Of course with this injury I have learned to step back. It was hard at first, knowing that I couldn’t go to zumba each week but I also knew that that was only going to hurt me more so I had to listen. I added more swimming into my workouts to replace that. Even though that wasn’t the same, it helped and improved my swimming so that’s a win.

Then I got a shoe for 3 weeks and suddenly I couldn’t do downdog, vinyasa or lunge in yoga. I took a week off from teaching to rest and mostly practice warm up and cool down postures at home. I practiced “teaching” by talking through the poses and sequences I have made.

During this time I learned it was ok to take a break. I am always so go go go. I did more stretching and restorative yoga at home and told myself that my body needed to heal.

I wont lie. It was hard. But it did get a little easier as time went. I focused on what I could do.

Swimming is probably my favorite type of cardio next to zumba. Swimming is like my running. I can still swim a mile before running a mile. Some people don’t get that but I know a huge part of it is because I know how to breathe while swimming.

A couple weeks ago, I went swimming after a rough night of tossing and turning. A mile long to do list awaited, but I made swimming (my workout) a priority that day as it helps me to clear my head. I am so grateful for that swim. It helped me to be more productive with my to do list when I got home.

One thing I couldn’t do for a while was downdog. I also am still working on lunging with my right foot back but I can do downdog again and even a plank on my toes thanks to some physical therapy help to get over the fear of bending my toes again. I can flow through a vinyasa slowly but I still can not last an entire class. I still half coach my class through as my toes regain strength.

Focusing on what I can do, the positive, has helped me through this injury. It also helped teach me to slow down. Some nights I may just play some music and meditate and breathe for a few minutes. A few moments of peace can be so powerful. I am an introvert and I need my me time and quiet time. While I have dealt with the frustration of this injury, it has also been quite the learning experience. i even learned some more anatomy! I also learned how important my yoga practice is for my health. It helps to improve my balance and strengthen my body from my arms to my legs and toes. I love how yoga can be modified so that you can either have a powerful sweaty class or a calm slow restorative class. And it’s not just physical benefits but also mental benefits so whether I have a good day or a bad day, yoga is there.

At the end of the day, focus on the positive! What went well? What are you grateful for?

If you are having a tough time finding something positive, maybe just taking a moment to move your body through your favorite exercise or play some music and sing along or play instrumental music and meditate.

Thanks Amanda for letting me think out loud.

What helps you get through a tough time?