Bridges Through Life

Diamond Painting and 90 Degrees

June 7, 2021 by Alicia 2 Comments

While Memorial day weekend is usually the start of summer, it was chilly in NY state. Thankfully this weekend made up for it with 80-90 degree temps. Saturday I stayed inside most of the day, staying cool. An activity that kept me busy was diamond painting, the latest art trend I have seen around. I decided to buy myself a kit from Amazon and got Minnie Mouse. It arrived Friday, which was the perfect way to kick off the weekend. I loved having the activity to keep me busy on Saturday afternoon as well.

diamond art progress — progress with red diamonds and a few other colors

Sunday we got out of the house. I went to the gym around 8:30am for a workout. Then I had a snack and we packed up our bags and cooler to meet my friend’s family at the local state park for a picnic and beach afternoon. I was busy keeping up with her 2.5 year old between the beach area and the splash pad area. Even though it was 90 degrees, it didn’t feel too hot outside. I was excited to wear my new swimsuit from Venus.

We managed to stay at the beach for about 3 hours and I think the kids were pretty tired after.

On our way home, we stopped for some ice cream. The dairy free options this year haven’t been my favorite, so I haven’t had ice cream this season yet. I decided to try the Chocolate Dole and it was pretty good. I think it was just when I had a fruity dole, it was too sweet and I didn’t like it. Ice cream was pretty much our dinner since by the time we got home, it was about 4pm. I went back to my diamond painting for a while and had a snack. Then we ended the night watching some episodes of Guy’s Grocery Games. Although I was good at drinking water, I still ended up with a slight headache which was probably just due to dehydration. Luckily Advil and sleep helped. Now it’s time to kick off the work week.

Graduation and I’m Back

May 30, 2021 by Alicia 1 Comment

On May 7th I officially graduated with my MBA from Penn State University. The University did have graduation in person. Although we didn’t officially walk the stage, we were all seated in the bleachers and enjoyed a short and sweet ceremony. It was great to attend in person, especially since my parents were able to drive down too. I was only allowed 2 guests for the ceremony so Brian and my mom were the guests. My dad watched the Live Stream from the car. The day was forecasting rain and although it rained a little as we entered the open air stadium, it stopped for the ceremony and we were able to get many pictures around campus for a couple hours after before the rain started coming down heavy.

A couple days before the ceremony, I got myself a graduation cake. Brian and I celebrated at home, ate cake and froze most of it. We have slowly been eating the freezer stash of cake lol.

Here are some of my favorite photos from around campus. I bought a dress for graduation, but most of the time I was in my graduation gown as it was only in the 50s outside.

graduation3 — we will always remember the pandemic graduations

So now what?

I am still working on that, but for now, I’d love to bring this blog of mine back. I miss writing posts and I have a lot to share, especially in my new workouts because I can finally focus on the gym again and also some weekend trips this summer.

I received my second dose of the pfizer vaccine on May 3rd, so I am fully vaccinated now. It makes me feel better about traveling. It’s great to see the world slowly opening up again after the strange year of 2020. In some ways that year feels like a blur but it was certainly hard at times.

31st Birthday

April 9, 2021 by Alicia 1 Comment

Today is my 31^st birthday and it has been hard with this second pandemic birthday and still in the midst of a stressful school semester. It’s great to see things opening up and I get my first covid vaccine on Monday the 12^th.

Making it harder this week, I learned on Monday that one of my best friends passed away suddenly last weekend. We had been friends since 2^nd grade when I changed schools and always stayed in touch with sending little notes of snail mail and birthday cards to each other. I had just sent her a birthday card last month that she thanked me for and said it always brightened her day.

RIP Alexa. I will always be thinking of you, now watching over me.

I took the day off from work for my birthday today, a much needed day off. I ran some errands this morning and picked up a small cookie cake for myself and frosting. I also got my free Starbucks birthday drink this morning. I only just joined Starbucks rewards last summer during the pandemic because of the mobile ordering, so this was my first free birthday drink from Starbucks. It was nice to have an iced tea I didn’t have to pay for to start my morning of errands.

This afternoon I have a massage booked. I normally get monthly massages, but last month I needed 2 to get through the stressful school month. I knew with my last month of classes, 2 were needed again so I booked one for my birthday and I have my regular monthly massage in a couple weeks. School has consumed the last few months for me and I can’t wait to graduate and be done. The good news is my graduation will be in person. While I have been attending online classes, I live about 3 hours from the main Penn State campus so it’s not a bad drive. I’m looking forward to that weekend and to get away. Thankfully quarantine restrictions are less and less and I’m definitely antsy to do some weekend trips this summer and hopefully plan a week long vacation somewhere.

I know this post is a little all over the place. It’s kind of like my brain these days. I have had somewhat of a birthday week, opening my gifts as they have arrived. I’m actually so happy with my gifts so far because they are all useful items. I got a pair of wunder train leggings from my MIL and I understand the hype of the comfiness now. They feel like butter, are squat proof and once you get them on, you don’t want to take them off. I have already done a couple workouts in them.

Next my sister got me a couple more bralettes from Abercrombie. I’m finding myself browsing Abercrombie more these days. I got one of the bralettes for Christmas and I wear it all the time. I love V-neck shirts and these are perfect for work and home to wear. Pretty sure 2020 made us all ditch regular bras.

My sister also surprised me with Sarah’s day natural deodorant. I have been exploring some natural deodorants in the last year or so and this one smells great.

Brian and I talked about looking for a new bicycle for me, so I think that he may be paying a bit towards that. I’m not sure when we will get it but we might be able to look at a local bike store tomorrow or some Saturday coming up.

Today we plan to go out for dinner. Maybe I will even wear a dress because so far it’s pretty nice outside. I’m looking forward to more weekend hikes and outside adventures this summer. I also plan to write on the blog more once school is finished and hopefully some exciting things this summer.

Let’s Catch up and Recent Favorites

January 25, 2021 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Hey, grab a coffee, tea or drink and let’s catch up a bit. I am now 1 week into my Spring semester. The long break was very much needed but it also makes it hard to get back into school mindset again. Luckily the first week didn’t require too much, just a couple discussion boards and they were really active so replying to people wasn’t too bad. Although, you never know how the grading will go. It always takes a few weeks to get a feel for how the teacher will grade.

I have been on a good schedule lately with going to the gym and my mindset is finally back in the game for the gym. I hope the stress levels are not too bad with classes this semester. Knowing it is my last semester certainly helps and the countdown is on. I feel like the past few weeks, my squats and deadlifts have really improved and I hope to continue the trend. We are allowed to take photos and videos at the gym again as long as no one else is caught in the shot. This past week, I have been the first or second person to the gym, so that has been great. It’s like first pick of the equipment lol.

Last week I was in a bit of a food rut. I made some chicken for my salads (a new recipe) and I didn’t really like how it turned out. Then I wasn’t really into smoothies after my gym sessions. Not sure what it was, but this weekend I made delicious pasta carbonara with a dairy free recipe that I found before. I make it with edamame noodles so it has loads of protein. The first time I made the recipe, I added chicken and when I put all the ingredients in MyFitnessPal, it calculated almost 50g of protein per serving!! So if you are ever looking for a super high protein meal, this is it. I left out the chicken this time, but edamame pasta has 20g of protein a serving, so it was still filling.

A new weekend favorite is popcorn on the stovetop. This is only because we do not have a microwave popcorn dish, but I just ordered one on Amazon on a lightning deal. I also just ordered some more Stasher bags. I am slowly building my collection. I do not have any of the stand up bags and they posted on their Instagram how you can make popcorn in the stand up bags in the microwave. Yep the Instagram post got me that time, but I know it’s already a product I love to use. I love the sandwich bag size for freezing veggies and protein bars. Anyway, the stovetop popcorn has been a win and it might be a new Saturday night thing. Brian and I share a bowl and we relax on the couch.

While I am still working from home, I have found myself putting on jeans and sweaters for the workday more often. Sometimes when I go to the gym in the morning, I literally do not change from my workout clothes all day (probably not the best). Other times I shower in the morning and grab one of my new sweaters. I have a few new sweaters I got from Stitch Fix in November and my Abercrombie cozy legging tees (have this in 3 colors now after getting 1 for Christmas). Seriously so soft and comfy. I also feel like the sweaters I got look good with leggings, jeans and probably my work pants.

I have been trying to incorporate more yoga into my weeks. Saturday morning Brian had to work early and I ended up getting up around 6am because I fail at sleeping in. With all the time I had and the house to myself, I decided to do a 40 minute Bad Yogi class and then bring out my new tripod and practice some arm balances because it has been a while. I remember when I used to just play around in yoga poses on the floor each night in my first apartment. That was when I first learned to hold crow pose after practicing each day. Happy to say I still have it, but I definitely feel that it is weaker. Yoga and weightlifting work different parts, but I do find when I do more yoga, my weightlifting improves. Mobility work is really what I need.

In the living room, we decided to keep the arrangement we had when we had our Christmas Tree up. It has actually been really nice. The table is next to the big window and this weekend the sun was really streaming in which makes the living room so warm. Brian calls me a cat in the window because I like to sit at the table in the sunniest spot and soak up all the warmth.

It was really nice for doing some reading and changing from working in my office all the time. I think since I work at home now, I am just on my own computer constantly. I sometimes forget my computer is actually a laptop I can take from room to room since I usually work with 2 external screens. I love my extra screens but the flexibility to bring my computer to the living room lately has also been nice.

Related to my reading, I have many articles, but no textbooks this semester, so I had a fun time organizing binders for each class one night. I printed a couple weeks ahead. My poor printer never gets to rest. Also Staples free next day delivery during this pandemic has been amazing!! I finally decided to order an entire box of paper (I have pretty much used that much by this point between work and school the past 10 months). I ordered more ink and thankfully I did because I just had to change the ink in my printer. I swear I just changed it but it had been a couple months and I guess I didn’t realize just how much I had been printing with school. This semester might kill another ink cartridge alone with the hundreds of pages I need to print and read. Sure they are all available digitally, but it’s way easier to read when printed, have to reference and highlight.

So that’s my little catch up session. I have had the urge to write more, but I pretty much only leave the house to go to the gym and the grocery store still. In a couple weeks, I may be on a hybrid office/home schedule. I think I’m ready, except for wearing work pants. I need to find some comfy work pants. I truly love my jeans, but work pants I have never had much success with. Maybe one day when the mall stores and changing rooms are open again.

What’s something you are loving right now?

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