Stair Stepper

About 3 weeks ago, I had my desk raised for "ergonomic reasons". I quote it because while it is partially true, it was not crucial. It is partially true because I work on two separate computers which don't fit equally into the corner of my cubicle. Thus, I'm always bending forward to reach one of the computers and its keyboard. After awhile, I would start feeling back pain, but not crippling. The main reason I got my desk raised is for health reasons... that's right! I am sick and tired of getting secretary butt by sitting all day! Since I started working at my desk job, I have gained 25 pounds while still eating the same somewhat-healthy diet I've always been on. I decided to take a "stand" against this curse. I had to get a doctor's note to state "Emily needs a standing work station for ergonomic reasons", which was surprising easy to get! No appointment needed. After 3 weeks of having my desk raised and doing standing all day, I recognized I needed to do more than leg lifts periodically throughout the day. Solution? A mini stair stepper with exercise bands! I bought it off of Overstock for $55. I have been doing multiple sessions of 15 minutes daily. Since the stepper makes me stand taller than my cubicle, I have to squat down when stepping, which really makes my thighs burn. Let's see if this stepper actually reduces my thighs rather than make them bulkier (which some exercises seem to do). To be continued..

Celebration

There is always so much to celebrate in life. Whether it be anything from winning a contest to simply finding the shirt you wanted on sale. With our hectic lives, it is good to take the time to celebrate. I have written a blog before of what I am thankful for, but the true definition of celebration is "to observe (a day or event) with ceremonies of respect, festivity, and rejoicing". Reasons to celebrate for Nick and I over the past month:
- I completed my last class of Statistics with an A-. That was quite the struggle for me since Statistics is hard for me to understand and I was not able to ask questions and have them quickly answered. Celebration for this: Taking a night off of homework to relax and watch a movie with Nick.
-Nick and I filed for our marriage license. While we still have to go pick it up, this makes it all that much more real that this is happening!! Celebration for this: a wedding in 72 days.
- Our country's independence day. We went up to South Lake Tahoe to our friends' new house that they bought a month ago. We spent the time with 5 other couples and cooked some great bbq and went on long hikes. This was a fun weekend. There was lots of wedding talk because two of the other ladies that were there are also engaged.. with one getting married on 09/04/10 and the other getting married in 08/2011.
- Nick and I have been lacking on the running, but we are starting it back up again. Celebration for this: more running!!
- We have great families and friends, so everytime we see them is a celebration in our hearts.

Heat wave

What a great weekend this has been. The weather has been warmish/hot (75-80) until today, which is 90 degrees! Yikes! On Friday, Nick and I both took the day off and went to Half Moon Bay. We enjoyed a nice breakfast at a popular cafe (yet I've never heard of it) then walked along the pier and looked at all the boats. We then drove to the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay. GORGEOUS!! Who would think that off of highway 1 there is a gorgeous hotel that is massively huge but with outstanding staff. Usually when I go to nice hotels, I feel like the staff thinks "she possibly does not have much money to tip us, so we should only give her minimum service with a forced smile"... not here at the Ritz. Every smile was genuine (I think) and they were all asking how they could make our time there the best possible ("would you like a glass of water while you sit here and enjoy the beautiful ocean view?").. and we weren't even guests there! I can't wait to stay there on our wedding night and the night after (courtesy of the woman that we have house sat for many times.. that I wrote about in last year's blogs). Then on Saturday, I went to go get a body wrap with Sarah and then went to the Nordstrom rack. I bought the cutest Maggie London dress for $29! I love great finds. At night, Nick and I decided to stay in and make dinner and watch a movie. Perfect date night in my opinion. Today, we went to see our friend's booth at the La Honda art fair. The fair was small, but cute. The rest of the day has been spent in front of the fan, trying to complete homework. :) I am very much looking forward to the coolness of the night breeze tonight.

First weekend of June

The year has flown by so fast. We are so happy to finally get some sun here in "sunny" California! It has been nonstop rain when it should have been hot, but the great weather started last Thursday. We enjoyed a weekend of 75-80 degree heat with a light breeze in the shade. On Saturday, we were able to spend some time at our friend's new house in San Mateo. I felt bad for the most part, though, because I had to bring my laptop to do homework over at their house. :( Only 10 more classes until I am done with school! Then on Sunday, Nick and I went for a long run and then went on our way to BFD at shoreline. The event started at 10 AM, but we decided to get there at 5 PM to cut back on time in the sun and avoid the heat stroke! We were able to see bands like Hole (not a fan), Silversun pickups, deftones, and our favorite: Sublime. It's interesting how a band that loses their lead singer can find another singer that sounds almost the same as the deceased singer. While it was fun to hang out at the concert with our friends Nick and Adrienne, getting home at midnight was too late. Working the next day is tough on so little sleep. I tease my mom a lot saying "don't you wish that in High School I thought 10 PM was late for going to bed?" I guess I'm growing up

Running and Wedding progress

Nick and I are continuing to prepare for our wedding while improving our running endurance. I am checking off things on the wedding checklists (provided by the knot.com) that will get me closer to being prepared for the wedding in September. I think we are fully registered, I have updated our website, Nick has gotten fitted for his tux, the bridal shower date is set, I have chosen the bridesmaid dresses, I bought my wedding shoes, etc. Can you tell I am excited?

Throughout all this planning, I have been trying my hardest to run daily. After boot camp finished, I had to take a week off from running due to some horrible shin splints. I purchased the new Kayano 16's and put in some new gel insoles. After running this last week, it seems that new shoes and insoles really help. I also bought Nick some new Asics, but not the Kayano's. We try to run everyday, at least 2 miles. It is slow progress, but hopefully I can stick to it.

The devil which is named STATISTICS

For the past 5 weeks of school, my class has been Research and Statistics. It's not bad enough that I have an extremely hard time understanding all the equations (remembering them or understanding how to do them), I also have had a professor that is no more than a robot. I say this because there is no teaching involved. Throughout my online school career, I have never once had to be in a physical classroom, but yet I have had teachers post weekly informational "lectures", provide responses to the discussion questions that request for you to think more deeply, and correct essays with advice of where you can improve. This professor's only responses to the discussion questions to everyone are 1) "You need to cite your sources" or 2) "Please provide more information". As for the assignments, all I get is a low score and the comment of "please refer to the syllabus for reason of this grade". The reason this response is so frustrating is because I did everything that was requested on the syllabus. Finally, I have had to do group assignments with classmates who are just as lost as I am! After countless nights of staying up until midnight, hoping the professor will answer our questions we asked 3 days prior, we all surrender to turn in a less than satisfactory essay or presentation. I am glad the 5 weeks with that professor are over. He really reiterated the fact that you can't always learn something you're not interested in by reading alone. I have to take another 5 weeks of Statistics that will add on to the previous class, but it looks like this professor is here to help us all out. I am crossing fingers that I will get some sleep over the next 5 weeks.

Boot Camp

For the past 4 weeks, I have been doing boot camp on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning at 6:30-7:30 AM. It is held in the San Mateo Central Park. The original idea came from Sarah who said that we should do boot camp to get me in shape for the wedding (since all I was doing was complaining about how out of shape I am but not truly doing much about it). Here is a quick break down of each week:

Week 1 day 1: Wow.. I was so out of shape that I was doing worse than anyone else. Pushups, squats, and running.. oh my!

Week 1 day 2 (Wednesday): This was fitness training. I did a 10:04 minute mile, 24 pushups in one minute, 54 crunches in one minute, and a 1:05 minute wall sit.

As the next 3 weeks went on, we did loads of ladder exercises, jump rope, squats, running around the park, bleachers, etc. The first two weeks were tough, but on week 3, I was looking forward to waking up to go to boot camp!!

At the fitness test on Week 4 day 2 (Wednesday): I did a lot better! I did a 9:40 mile, 36 pushups in a minute, 72 crunches in a minute, and a 1:42 minute wall sit. Much better!!

I must also applaud Nick who came one of the Friday mornings on guest day. After seeing what I had been doing for an hour 3 times a week, he definitely understood why I was always so tired around 7 PM.

Since I had perfect attendance and I turned in a weekly food journal, I was awarded $25 to use towards future classes. Sooo tempting, but I can't afford it at the moment. I have a wedding to buy stuff for!!