Bridges Through Life

December and Holidays 2019

December 20, 2019 by Alicia Leave a Comment

I just looked up the date I wrote my last post and it’s been a month…so where have I been?

Well I was spending a good amount of time studying between Thanksgiving and the first two weeks of December. Just trying to get through my semester. Luckily the studying paid off as I was able to pull up my grade with that Economics final. I was happy to have that done earlier this week, but also just tired. You know when you are running, running, running like on that stress and adrenaline and then you CRASH. The other night I was laying on the couch enjoying a Christmas movie with Brian and I felt like, wow, I can finally relax, but I am also so tired. The summer and fall semesters were definitely stressful and I didn’t get much of a break between them. Actually each semester this year, the “breaks” were filled with wedding things and while those are wonderful, it can also be stressful because you don’t really get a break. I’m happy to finally have about a month break and hoping it will give me time to figure out what I need to change in my own routine to survive the next semesters.

In the meantime, I can soak up the holiday season a little more now. I have definitely enjoyed too many cookies and craving more veggies already. I did enjoy making my annual gingerbread cookies and inviting a new friend over to bake them with me.

Brian cut down a tree and I helped drag it down the hill after Thanksgiving so our tree was up nice and early. I enjoyed putting each of my ornaments on. I only have a small collection for now, but I’m content with that.

I am still working on decluttering my stuff that has been packed up since moving from my parent’s house 5 years ago. I hope to use this time to sort through some of those items. From October to early December, I was selling some things on ebay and Facebook marketplace which was good for cleaning out and getting a little extra money of course. I have found this Fall that I am really in the decluttering mood. I really do want to clean out the extra bedroom and I have also learned that some things I can no longer hold onto from place to place. They just are not keeping well in storage and honestly if you haven’t opened a box in 5 years, do you need it? Of course I have some things that are great memories. I am thinking of making one box a “memory” box of some of my favorite items from my childhood. I just can’t have 10+ boxes of those things that have no use.

This month I also slowly got back to weightlifting. I started PT at the end of November and it helped get the mobility back in my shoulder. I feel I can do the exercises on my own at this point and usually do them as a “warm up” at the gym now. I’m slowly easing into weights and keeping them light so that I can really be set on my form and feel if anything is off. My shoulder still feels off in some ways, but it mainly aches in the same spot it has for years with the bursitis. I think that more yoga would help as I have not been doing that regularly and maybe more stretching. I think being mindful is key and I know I had a lot of stress from school, work, life that built up so I was not performing my best at the gym. I plan to stick to shorter weight sessions for now. I have been doing one main lift (squat, bench, deadlift) and then a couple accessory exercises and stretching. I find that takes me 45 minutes at the gym and that is a good amount of time so that I can go back home after for breakfast and a bit of homework or relaxing by watching Youtube or something before work.

I’m currently enjoying watching all the Christmas movies on Netflix and Amazon Prime. Brian and I also watched Home Alone since that is on Disney +. I also bought a Blu-ray player FINALLY and I can play my old Christmas movies I have on DVD. My favorite thing in December is getting cozy on the couch with a blanket and watching Christmas movies and staring at the beautiful Christmas tree.

I plan to do a 2019 reflection post in the next week or so as we gear up for the next year. I can’t believe 2020 is finally coming. I feel like it is such a big year, entering the next decade and the year I will turn 30!!

Do you have any favorite Christmas traditions?

Currently November 2019 in a Chatty Fashion

November 18, 2019 by Alicia 1 Comment

Oh Hi there!! It’s been a month. Truthfully, I haven’t had much to share since I’ve been spending an average of 12 hours a weekend doing homework…the joys of online schooling and working full time. I also think I mentioned a while ago about how I needed to change up my workouts. Well I was forced to cut back when I was lifting one morning and felt some sort of pinch or pull in the back of my right shoulder. I have shoulder bursitis there and it was sort of the same area but never have I experienced that before and I rested, used a heat pad, took a bath, got some cupping and massage done. However, it still felt off, so I went to a doctor and they just did an x-ray, which doesn’t show muscles of course so the doctor tells me, I’m young and healthy and my bones look great in my shoulder! Well that’s great, but my shoulder feels off. Really, I felt I was misaligned.

The doctor sent me to get PT and I start officially this week, but I got my consultation done on Friday and finally got some answers. Basically, as I suspected, I am misaligned. My left pelvis is pulling back and my right pulling forward and between all this my right shoulder rolls more forward and that is all causing some discomfort and pulling along my levator scapulae muscle on the right side. A very common issue I was told. I was happy to at least have an answer and with my light anatomy knowledge from yoga training, I could understand what the PT told me. So here is to hoping PT helps, but I have decided to back off from lifting in the mean time and instead I have been walk/running (though I don’t know if this is the best with a misaligned pelvis so I hope that is fixed up in PT) and doing some band exercises for my shoulder, doing body weight squats and doing LOTS of stretching and yoga. OMG my muscles everywhere are so tight. I try to take this as a learning experience and what is my body telling me. Well I am pretty sure my body was telling me to slow down. Honestly with school work this summer and fall, I have been so focused on that and my mind is not into the powerlifting as it was last year. For powerlifting, I need to be there mentally and I am just not. But I can not give up the gym because that also keeps my sanity so it’s all about finding balance. I need the yoga and will focus on what I can do. Hopefully after PT for a bit, I can resume to some dumbbell lifting and maybe come up with some 30 minute circuit type workouts as I think 30 minutes is the time I can give right now.

Well that was a long intro, but that sums up what is happening at the moment. I’m counting down the last 28 days of school for the semester. With that, I did want to share a few things I am loving.

I treated myself to another Stitch Fix box. I have to say I love how Stitch Fix counts your boxes. I basically average 1 a year so I think it has been 5 years since my first and this was my 6^th one (I got 2 this year). Since I don’t live by a mall anymore (it’s a good hour plus drive to the big one) and I don’t have that time on the weekend with school work, I wanted a few new items. I have been good about saving so I needed something and I was happy they nailed it once again.

So I got 2 new blouses for work, a grey sweater, a pair of workout leggings and a tan sweater. I do have to say I didn’t like the fit and style of the tan sweater but it was cheaper to keep it since you get a discount when you keep everything so I am hoping to give it to someone.

I also recently upgraded my Garmin to the Vivoactive 3. I had just the simple HR one which I loved, but unfortunately, a year and a half into owning it, the strap completely tore and there is no replacing it. I have been tired of spending $100 or so a year on the cheaper Fitbits and Garmins for step counts so I decided to upgrade to the watch style Garmin Vivoactive. This watch band is at least replaceable. I like how it has the features to track swimming laps (for whenever I have a pool available again) and other activities. I have actually been using it to track my treadmill running and yoga, and using the timer for 15 minute stretch sessions so I go the full 15 minutes.

Another recent purchase I made was buying 2 big aluminum trays off Amazon. We only had one baking sheet that could fit the silicone mats I have for roasting and it was rusting really badly so I threw it out and got two beautiful trays that fit the mats perfectly and work great. With the cooler months, we are definitely using the oven more for roasting and cooking so these trays are already getting tons of use. I just roasted sweet potatoes this morning.

November is flying by and next week is Thanksgiving. I am looking out for Black Friday sales for some gifts I want to buy and can’t wait to get our Christmas tree and put that up. I have already started watching Christmas movies because with school work, who knows what time I’ll have in December. I just started to read Andrea Barber’s book Full Circle in the evening as a nice change of pace from homework and studying. I’m already about halfway through so I am sure I will be done in no time. It’s nice to read memoirs from celebrities and remind you that celebrities are just regular people too.

So yeah, I think that about catches us up. I hope to come back in December with some Christmas type post. Until then, back to studying and finding a balance of workouts, school and work.

Harry Potter On Broadway

October 14, 2019 by Alicia Leave a Comment

Oh hey, long time no chat!! Truthfully I have drafted a couple posts recently and just haven’t gotten around to fully editing them and adding pictures and all that. I needed a bit of a break in September, basically a recovery from a stressful August, but that’s the short version. Now it’s mid October and the I can’t believe how fast it is going. My weekends haven’t been all that exciting lately as I am usually spending a good 10-12 hours on the weekend doing homework and then I try to spend 2 hours a night on weekdays to do homework. It’s a crazy semester. While I love my business analytics class, economics…not so much and it’s just time consuming. We are now midway through the semester so I just keep pushing along.

I took Friday off from work so I could take my first economics test (I know, how exciting?!) and get a head start on homework. It was perfect because I was super productive Friday and as I sit here on Sunday night writing this, I have not been productive with school work today. I also spent a couple hours on Friday calling all my banks and credit card companies to figure out what I needed to do to change my last name….these are the things they don’t tell you when you get married…I’ve spent a couple days off getting a license, social security card and recently calling my banks. I submitted my passport renewal with my name change a while ago and I didn’t realize you needed a photo from the last 6 months. Well since I renewed my passport in Feb 2018, I had an extra photo leftover, but obviously that wasn’t in the last 6 months so I submitted a new photo a week ago and hopefully I will get my new passport soon…so yes it has been a process.

But name change stuff aside…this weekend was all about Harry Potter and I have been counting down for approximately 6 months since I decided to purchase the tickets in April as a birthday present to myself and figured this was a good weekend, a week after our 10 year dating anniversary.

Oh Brian got me flowers for our 10 year anniversary which I loved!! The flowers also managed to last over a week even though I never changed the water in them (this is why I don’t have plants to take care of or get flowers often). This is only the second time Brian has gotten flowers for me in our 10 years together so it makes it extra special.

Saturday morning we left shortly after 7am which is just the time we were aiming for. Brian booked a hotel in Secaucus, NJ and we arrived around 10:30 after a couple stops. We found out where to park, as our room wasn’t ready yet, and just went over to the bus stop. We arrived in the city around 11am which was perfect for lunch time. I told Brian I was thinking Mediterranean for food and he found a place, Kashkaval Garden. We went all out for the weekend and got a tapas plate of hummus, brussel sprouts, babaganoush, artichokes and taziki. The hummus and artichokes were my favorite from the plate. The brussels were good, but I prefer them warm and they were cold, which made sense for the plate.

After the appetizer, we both ordered kabobs, I got chicken and Brian had lamb. The kabobs came with a small side salad and potatoes. All were amazing!! I was so full, I couldn’t even finish the chicken, but I ate a bunch of everything else. I also was so hungry and excited for the food I forgot to snap a photo, but I was enjoying the moment with Brian.

After we stuffed ourselves, we took a short walk to Central Park and grabbed 6 mini cupcakes from Baked by Melissa. I was excited to get some Halloween ones.

Then it was time for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Part 1.

I got us both Harry Potter themed shirts of course and asked someone to take our picture. The angle of the photo is weird since she was trying to get the sign from the Theater in and everything.

I am definitely more of the Harry Potter fan than Brian, but he tagged along. After Part 1 ended, he couldn’t wait for part 2 though!! He was so excited and into it. We also had great seats, row A in the balcony so no one was in front of us and it was a nice view of the stage. Honestly I couldn’t remember the seats I picked 6 months ago lol, but Brian said I did good.

After Part 1 ended, we had about a 2.5 hour break to grab dinner. We decided to head up to 9th avenue and walk to see what we could find. We eventually settled on a Thai place. We started with Fried tofu and then we each ordered soup and salad. My throat has been bothering me a bit (cold season) so I hoped some chicken and rice soup with ginger would help and it definitely did, along with a thai salad with ginger dressing. Give me all the ginger.

I will say we had amazing service at the place we found and I don’t remember the name of it. They constantly filled our water glasses, served food quickly and everything. It was also a beautiful night and some people were dining outside.

After eating, we still had an hour to kill. We quickly visited the M&M store, though didn’t buy anything. Then we just made our way back towards the theater and found a European Bakery to step into for me to get my cookie fix. The cookie was giant, but it reminded me of biscotti so it was super light and just the right amount of sweet I needed.

Back to the theater and we got some pictures and I bought a bag for Voldemort day because I felt it was unique and a good souvenir.

If we thought Part 1 was amazing, Part 2 was even more so. They really went all out with special effects, some of which I can’t even figure out. Both shows were truly amazing though and if you are a Harry Potter fan, I highly recommend.

The second part ended around 10pm and we managed to catch the 10:30 bus out of Port Authority to go back to our hotel. We checked in and then passed out soon after. Sunday was a nice slow morning, though we are both used to waking up early so at 7am I was wide awake and Brian was up shortly after. I watched some Flea Market Flip on HGTV (hotels are like vacations when I get cable since I won’t pay for it at home). Around 8:30, we checked out, stopped at a diner nearby and then drove back. We couldn’t have asked for more beautiful weather in October. It was nearly 70 in the city and it was sunny and 60 degrees driving back. It was beautiful to see the trees all changing. Seems all the trees are changing except for the 2 on our property that are fully green still. Last year we got a snowstorm in November that covered our leaves so I never raked LOL. I guess we will see what happens this year. It was a great weekend, though I am ready for another weekend as I still have mounds of homework to do this week, but back to the work week. At least I did make meatballs Sunday night that I will be eating for dinner for the next couple days.

Have you ever seen a show on Broadway? If not, what would you like to see?

A Weekend with No Plans 9/9/19

September 9, 2019 by Alicia 1 Comment

This was the first weekend with no plans in over a month!! It’s no wonder August totally wore me out. It was so nice to sleep in both on Saturday and Sunday and ease into the days. Friday night I got home from work and I honestly wasn’t feeling great. My throat had started to get sore and I was very sneezy throughout the day with a stuffy/runny nose. Brian figured it was allergies, but it felt more like a cold to me. I decided to take my economics quiz Friday night right when I got home. Economics feels like it will be my harder class this semester and one that I was worried about. The quizzes have no give because they are all true/false questions pretty much, so you are either wrong or right and my 50/50 selections are usually wrong when I guess…I was further annoyed when I submitted the quiz and I couldn’t even see how I did. In the first quiz we could immediately see what we got and got wrong or right, but I’m guessing the teacher blocked that because with a week to take the quiz, maybe students shared answers? It would at least be nice to see your score even if you couldn’t view what was wrong or right, but I’m not the teacher.

The rest of Friday night was spent relaxing. I was wiped out and Brian and I just watched some tv. We both headed to bed early and slept nearly 10 hours which was so needed. Unfortunately, on Saturday morning, I felt worse. I rolled a lot overnight and didn’t sleep great due to my throat burning and I must have been dehydrated because I got a charlie horse in my leg when I woke up. I amped up the vitamin C in the morning and the only thing that sounded good for breakfast was a smoothie. I had to improvise a bit though because I didn’t have any spinach or frozen fruit. I used a full banana, some frozen cauliflower, protein powder, almond milk and ice to make it extra cold. I love our powerful Blendtec blender for blending all the ice up smoothly. I also cooked up some bacon for me and Brian. I used to buy bacon all the time, but then stopped and switched up breakfasts to more avocado toasts, eggs or mini bagels. This past week I went back to oatmeal though as the temps have lowered and I wanted something hot for breakfast.

my smoothie basically looks like a milk shake

I still headed to the grocery store Saturday morning. It was the only thing on my agenda for the day besides homework. Brian joined me since his truck was at the shop getting new tires and it worked out that I could drop him off to get his truck after shopping. Brian returned with his truck and also a Tim Horton’s iced tea for me. Iced tea is my thing when I don’t feel good. It started sometime in college with Brian, actually. There was a day I really didn’t feel good so I requested Tim Horton’s iced tea and a bagel. Now when I don’t feel good, iced tea is my go to and sometimes the bagel or a mini bagel at home.

Saturday I worked on my business analytics homework. So far we have only worked in Excel, so most functions have been familiar to me and simple. I finished up the homework within a couple hours, had a snack and then asked Brian what he wanted to do. I didn’t really feel good, but I also wanted to get out of the house for a ride and see how Brian’s new tires were. Brian suggested going to Salt Springs Park for a quick walk. So we headed there.

Salt Springs Park PA — smiling even though I didn’t feel great

It was my first time to the park, but Brian used to work nearby, so he has explored the park. Honestly the hiking was a bit much for my body, but the fresh air felt good. We only stayed maybe 30 minutes or so, just took a short trail around, which was all I could handle for the day. The afternoon, I spent cuddled up on the couch watching the last season of Jane the Virgin.

After 4, I decided to get started on dinner. Even though the prep time said 20 minutes on the recipe, I didn’t have everything chopped and ready, so it took a bit longer, but I thawed the chicken and marinated it. While that sat in the fridge, I started to make mini donuts. Both recipes from the new The Healthnut Cookbook that I just got.

My timing worked out well as I had everything ready to eat around 5:30 and called Brian up from his office downstairs and we enjoyed dinner. Then I continued to watch Jane the Virgin for a bit before decided to take a bath before bed.

Sunday morning I felt a little better. My throat didn’t hurt, just my nose was still bugging me. My body had ached on Saturday, but besides the Charlie horse in my left leg, my body felt much better Sunday. Hoping if I do have a cold, it is working its way out of my system.

I made some green smoothie pancakes for breakfast from The Healthnut Cookbook for me and Brian. Brian said they were good so that’s a success in my book.

After eating breakfast, I got to work on my next economics lesson for the morning. Again I love 2 classes because I can focus on one class on Saturday and one on Sunday.

Brian finally hung up my painting!!

I stayed in my pajamas on Sunday until about 2:30pm when I decided I needed a walk outside in the sunshine.

Then I baked muffins.

Then it was time for more study time before winding down for the night with dinner and some short TV time. Overall the weekend was much needed with lots of quiet time and down time to relax. It also helps to get back into my homework routine for the Fall as we enter week 3 of classes already.

Have you tried any new recipes lately?

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