Showing posts with label Five Things Friday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Five Things Friday. Show all posts

Friday, February 21, 2014

Five Things Friday


1)      I am so fortunate and grateful for all of the opportunities I have gotten to travel this year. E and I have already made two trips over to NOLA and a trip to Nashville. We even had a little stay-cation last weekend when we headed over to Pensacola Beach (I live downtown, two bridges/ 8 miles away from the beach) for our Valentine’s Day getaway. We couldn’t have asked for better weather or more beautiful accommodations. It was pretty awesome.



 

I also have a whole lotta trips coming up on the horizon and I couldn’t be more excited! I am off to Houston next week for a girl’s weekend with one of my dearest friends, Monica. The following weekend E and I are heading south for Phillies spring training. We will be hitting Sarasota, Clearwater and Tampa all in just three days- that will be a bit crazy and a whole bunch of fun. Early April I head to Anaheim for EIGHT DAYS for a work conference. Super excited to see all of my west coast peeps and hopefully set up a meet up or two. Then in early May E and I head to Atlanta for the weekend to see Arcade Fire and hopefully hang with some friends there too. Then the big one, the trip I have been anxiously waiting for- I’m going home to Philly….and taking E with me. He has never been so of course we will be doing a lot of sightseeing, hit some breweries and, of course, catch a Phillies game at CBP! That is May 21-26th- I cannot wait to see my family and my bestest friend Jaime. It’s been too long!

Ahhhh-  and I cannot forget Fitbloggin’ 14 in Savannah the last weekend of June.

Also in discussion- a trip to south Florida and possibly (hopefully) a second trip to Atlanta but this time with Jaime!

2)      HOCKEY, HOCKEY, HOCKEY!!!!    I love hockey, it’s definitely my favorite sport to watch. I hope one day I can learn how to skate and get out on the ice too! But in the meanwhile I am perfectly content with going to hockey games (and of course watching the US in the Olympics) and watching them on TV. E and I went to a whole bunch of Pensacola Ice Flyers games this year as well as a real NHL game- Avalanche v Predators when we were in Nashville. He is a super huge hockey fan and has been to 9 different NHL arenas (me, only two) and goes to almost all of the local games. When I found out I was definitely going to Anaheim the first thing I did was check the Ducks and the Kings schedules. No home games for the Kings while I am in Cali but two home games for the Ducks. So….I got tickets for both and invited two of my friends, Kiki and Annabel,  to join me. I am super pumped!

On my bucket list is to one day go to the Winter Classic. This year, January 1, 2015, the game is scheduled to be Flyers v Caps in DC. I am a Flyers fan, E is a Caps fan. My fingers are crossed that we can make it out there for this game. I know it is still pretty far out but a girl can dream, right?

3)      Yesterday I had my second personal training session. It was awesome. I still can’t do crunches but I was able to do three exercises again which I did last week, plank, boat pose, and Russian twists, with a little bit of improvement in the boat pose and Russian twists. The plank still sucked. But, to be fair, I was never very good at plank. Lol!

The workout was primarily weights (both machines and free weights) with a bit of cardio thrown in there just to get the heart rate up. It was good. This session as well as last week’s session was kind of setting the benchmark to see where my ability level is and determine what I can and cannot do. Going forward our sessions will be a mix of weights and cardio with the main focus on building muscle to help get my fat burn rate up. Sounds good to me. Happy to finally be getting my confidence back as things get easier and there is less pain after. Progress!

Oh and I am still doing the Couch to 5K program, just at my own rate. I think this was my third week and I just finished W2/D2 on Wednesday. Eh, I am not too concerned about the timing. I am not in a rush to finish the program. I am just using it to get used to running again.

4)      I just had my one year anniversary at the university and therefore needed to complete my one year performance evaluation with my boss. It went really, really well! Not only did my boss write some really amazing things about me in there but he also included feedback from other people I work with. It was nice to read that my peers think so highly of me. I mean, I think I am pretty awesome but it’s nice to know others do, too ;)

 

5)      You know, yesterday was a pretty big day for me. As you probably saw, it was my three year blogiversary. Three years ago I not only started a blog (thanks mostly to my BFF Jaime) but I also committed to change my life. I had hit my breaking point just a few days prior and I was finally able to recognize what had become of my life. It was bad, even though I still managed to keep a smile on my face, the reality of what my life had become had finally started to sink in. I was miserable. I was sick, tired all the time, everything hurt. It was just not at all the life I wanted. And I was FINALLY ready to step up to the plate and take responsibility for the actions that led me there and FINALLY ready to take the actions needed to change. And I needed to hold myself accountable for making those changes. Blogging helped. Twitter helped. Facebook helped. I shared everything; the good, the bad, and the ugly, along the way and somehow managed to end up here. Sadly, I don’t think I stressed this point enough yesterday- I would not have ended up here if it wasn’t for the amazing my support group which has somehow grown exponentially over the last three years. I am lucky. I know this and am thankful for it every day. I couldn’t have done this on my own. You have given me hope, inspiration, guidance, camaraderie, pride, happiness, love, a sense of worth, and motivation for days. You are my rock through all this. A big, huge, ginormous thank you to you!

 

Happy Friday my loves!

xoxoxox-

Dacia

Friday, February 7, 2014

Five Things Friday

Hooray! It’s Friday! And I don’t know about you but I am certainly looking forward to the weekend.  So much so, I will make it the first thing I talk about in this week’s edition of Five Things Friday.

#1- I live in Pensacola which, for those of you who don’t know, is on the gulf coast of Florida (in the central time zone) about ten miles from the Alabama border. It’s a pretty tiny city but a city nonetheless. I am always impressed with all the fun events going on around town. Tonight is a recurring event that I have yet to attend called hot glass cold brew at the First City Art Center. It is a fundraising event for the center and its programs and includes a hand-blown glass or hand-thrown pottery cup, pizza, beer, live music, live art demos and workshops. I am pretty excited for this event- I have been waiting since November (when I first learned about it) to attend one.  The rest of my weekend will probably a bit more low-key. Tomorrow I have a long list of errands and homework to do and I am also having some furniture delivered so most of my day will be spent on those things. Saturday night will more than likely be spent downtown at one of the bars we like to frequent and then Sunday we are heading out of town to visit E’s family. They live about an hour away and it’s a nice, easy drive. E has a three year old niece who is just the cutest little thing and thankfully she likes me too so I plan on spending a lot of time hanging out with her, playing Angry Birds.  All in all, it should be a really great weekend.

#2 This week was pretty good. Definitely the best one I have had activity wise since the surgery. Tuesday I had my fitness assessment and on Wednesday & Thursday I did the first two runs of the couch to 5K program. Wednesday’s run went really well but Thursday’s did not.  I think a lot of that had to do with the treadmill I was using, the one on Thursday was old and stuck on an incline and I think that was just too much for me. I scaled back as much as I could but afterwards I had some pain in my abdomen which was no bueno. I will try again next week, on the good treadmill, and see how I feel. I may need to opt for more cycling and limit my running if there is still pain. This whole surgery recovery/getting back into the swing of things is all new to me. I don’t know what is a healthy amount of pain/discomfort versus too much pain/discomfort. I know that it is possible for me to have lingering issues years after this surgery so right now I am just trying to figure things out.

#3 I need to get back into my greater than 50% raw diet. This way of eating is ideal for me. I feel really great when I eat pretty much all raw before dinner. I have tons of energy and I really enjoy the foods I eat which make it easy to do. However, it isn’t as easy to do when I am away from home which I was for pretty much every day for the past two weeks. Don’t get me wrong, I still managed to pack my lunches and snacks daily and still ate a decent amount of raw foods just not as much as I would like. So this week, since I plan at being at home most nights, I will try to get back into the swing of it again. Right now I think that is the most realistic plan for me to have- stick to raw before dinner on days/weeks I am home and the rest of the time just do the best I can. I mean ultimately, I can’t beat myself up if I eat oatmeal instead of having a green smoothie…both are really good and healthy options.

#4 On a more personal note…I need dating advice. After being married for so long, I am not really sure how to be a girlfriend. I fear most days I may be too smothering or too overbearing (my words, not his) but I think it is because I am so accustomed to being with the same person day in and day out. I am not really sure if I am doing the whole dating thing right. Also, is dating in your mid-thirties different? I would think it would be. I mean I have way different expectations from a relationship now than I had in my twenties. I would hope that most people my age who are out in the dating world feel the same. Kind of like the whole ‘I don’t have time for BS or head games or drama’ type mindset. I’m too old for that crap. But I do often worry that being totally open about my wants and needs can be a bit overwhelming. But that’s just the way that I am and I doubt I will change it. I guess I really am just looking for some affirmation that being this way is ok because I doubt it is possible for me to be ‘less Dacia’. LOL!

#5 Ok, so in this segment I will actually ask for your advice/input. How do you handle toxic people, especially those ones you cannot (due to circumstances) cut out of your life? Do you have a mantra or meditative phrase or some way to help get you through those frustrating moments? Although I am sure it would feel good to just scream STFU at someone I doubt that is the right way to handle this situation. So, any ideas how to work through a difficult situation with a difficult person?

Well, that’s about all I’ve got for today. I hope you all have an amazing weekend!

Love and hugs,

Dacia



From our last trip to the Abita Brewery...finally got it on there! 

Friday, January 24, 2014

Five Things Friday Mash-up


Today you get a hodgepodge of all the daily themes all compiled to make up a ‘Five Things Friday’ post…clever right?

#1 A question from this week’s Friend Makin’ Monday post

What is the last movie you watched? I was home from work two days this week fighting a cold (luckily I didn’t end up with the flu like my bf did) and so I spent a day watching only movies. I’m not gonna lie, it was pretty awesome. I watched four movies. FOUR! And they were all good and nothing at all alike so it was fun. I watched Don Jon (love, love, love  me some JGL), the Butler, In a World, and the Spectacular Now. I really enjoyed them all but I think 'In a World' was my favorite. This says a lot about the movie since it’s pretty hard to beat anything with JGL in it.

#2 Transparent Tuesday

Authentically Emmie had a great post this week for #TransparentTuesday. It was the first time I had heard of that hashtag and liked the idea of writing something a little less filtered, a little more raw. I don’t ever want this blog to be a place where I come to air my dirty laundry or talk badly about others. But it should be a place where I can talk openly about my life and the issues I am dealing with. Right now there are two issues that are really weighing heavily on my mind; the soon to be loss of my doggies (they are ok, they just need to go to a new home. Not my decision. And yes, I am filled with sadness, hurt and unbridled anger over this) and the constant feeling of guilt that comes with losing my two best friends. It was difficult when Paul and I separated knowing I would have limited time with them. It was the hardest part of the whole divorce process, not being able to take them with me, not being able to cuddle with them every night and have them to pick up my spirits and help me through the transition. So, when I was informed that the dogs could no longer stay with Paul I was devastated. I still am devastated. After 6 and 8 years with them it is hard to imagine my life without my girls. They have been by my side through so much. I feel lost without them. I am not sure if the pain and guilt will ever go away. I am heartbroken. Without them, my life just isn’t the same.

The second issue is dealing with my past life, post-divorce. I made it through the separation and divorce pretty easily because it was the right thing for me. It was good to break away from that relationship and until the news (after the divorce was finalized) about the dogs, I had no anger or ill will towards Paul. I am still trying not to since I know it wasn’t easy for him to decide to get rid of our dogs. At least, that is what I hope to be true. But there are times when a memory comes to mind and I look back on that moment of my life wondering how I became that person I once was. How did I let myself get so far from the path, from my true self? Some times that realization of that person I was is hard to deal with. It makes me sad. It makes me angry. And if you know me, you know I am not the type of person to dwell over the past. I am a ‘learn from it and move on’ kind of girl. But lately, I just feel a bit defeated and deflated when I am hit by those memories. Luckily, I know better to dwell on these thoughts or feelings too long. Luckily, I know that I had to experience all of the life behind me to get where I am today. Luckily, everything I have endured has prepared me to finally reclaim the life I wanted, the person I once was. And that makes me happy. Knowing I am finally in a place where I can be myself and live this life and enjoy every moment of it without fear or shame is a really amazing thing. So, yeah. I’m human. And yep, there are definitely times when I feel regret/remorse/disappointment in the decisions I have made in the past. And yep, some days it is hard to work through those feelings quickly. Some days I just have to be sad. Some days I just have to cry it out. Or scream a bit. Or curse the world. But most days, well most days I am filled with gratitude for all of those hard times. For those are what have made me strong.

#3 WIAW

What I Ate Wednesday…well, I am not quite sure what I ate on Wednesday. I was sick so my guess is I ate some vegetable soup at some point. I looked back through my photos and found some of my favorite eats  from the past few weeks and thought I would share those instead
Best. Breakfast. Ever. This is from Surrey's Cafe in NOLA and I will be eating this again next weekend for sure when I visit! 

TLT- Tempeh, Lettuce and Tomato sammie with a bowl of roasted brussel sprouts at Pub 5 in Nashville!

A lovely, and super yummy, vegan entree (not on the menu) from Etch in Nashville



Champagne and straberries cupcake from Oh Snap! here in P'cola
 
#4 Throwback Thursday

For good measure…little RRR

The world's best parents...and one pretty dang cute baby RRR ;)

Bet you didn't know I was a mini-Mozart...

#5 Five Things Friday

And for my fifth thing…well today I wanted to share something (someone?) very special to me. Last night we made it official by sharing it on Facebook. (I hope you can sense my sarcasm when I say FB makes it official)  So today I thought I would share a bit here. I just wanted to ‘introduce’ you to my boyfriend, E. He is a pretty amazing guy and I plan on having him as part of my life (and subsequently this blog) for a very long time. And since he is in almost every picture I take it was only a matter of time before he ended up here.

He took me to Nashville for my birthday...
We enjoyed lots of yummy local craft beers...


And we saw a Preds game...6th row, center ice. It was awesome!
And enjoyed our time exploring the city...even if it felt like the frozen tundra....

I love that he doesn't mind taking 5 millions pitcures either...even at the most inopportune times...like on an airplane

...Or while driving



...Or even half asleep in bed


He willingly eats tempeh...every once in awhile, on special occassions ;)


...and cuddles with me after surgery 

...and most importantly he stays by my side, even when it involves a nap, through the good and the bad and that is what really matters most!