In 2014 I Said Yes

Today I read this post by my friend Samantha over at Samantha Cycles. Thanks for the title and inspiration, Samantha.

I couldn't agree more with this idea because I absolutely feel that 2014 was the year I said yes. To everything.

Last year was my rebuilding year. It was the year I set out to find myself. I wanted to do more and see more and live life for myself. I wanted to move forward and start anew. And I did so by saying yes.

In 2014, I said yes to…

Two birthday celebration weekends and heading somewhere new (Nashville)

Trips to NOLA just because

A girls weekend away in Houston with my bestie (we said yes to a second order of the world’s most amazing brussels sprout dish which we ate for breakfast the next morning)

Phillies spring training and Tampa Bay hockey

Concerts…just the most amazing concerts. The Mowgli’s (in Jax), Arcade Fire (in Atlanta), Weezer (TB) Austin City Limits (duh!) and the Black Keys (in Ft Lauderdale)

Hugging all the baby goats…and sheep…and alpaca

Planting a garden….and then planting another

Painting and pottery and pizza

Anaheim- reconnecting with old friends and new

Philadelphia- sharing my home and favorite place with the person I love most

Fitbloggin’….again. So much love, not enough words. So much happiness and #yessssssssss in Savannah

Baseball games and the Blue Angels

Manatees…all the HUGE MANATEES

Standing on the outfield at Trop Field

Beach days and bicycles

Road trips and airplane rides

Seattle and sail boats

Far too many selfies

Two Ferris Wheels

Bubble baths and back porch swings

Amazing co-workers (who are truly the most amazing friends) and a new job

Being in a magazine article and reading my story in a book

The Empire State Building and Armenia food with friends

Puppy snuggles

Running (and walking) all the miles

Early morning wake up times, super early bedtimes, and crazy ‘runners habits’

Half marathons and weight lifting

Another year of grad school (all A’s!)

Ft Pickens and girl talk

Dinner dates and binge watching Orange is the New Black

And more craft beers and breweries than I ever thought possible….

Every holiday, every celebration, and every moment in between I tried to say yes

To live my life in the moment. To live my life how I always wanted it to be.

I spent the year alone and together. With friends. With family. With E.

I spent the year learning new things, trying to be a better friend, and hoping I was becoming a better human being.

I spent 2014 saying yes to so many wonderful adventures and I have been able to spend my time with so many wonderful people. I am eternally grateful for the amazingness that was 2014.

And so it was no surprise that I started 2015 out with another big YES…when Erick asked me to marry him. Of course there wasn't a moment of hesitation. I just blurted out YES! I mean seriously, how could I not?

So it looks like 2015 might be another year of YES for me J

Love and hugs,

Dacia

xoxoxoxo

FMM: Vacations!

I just had to because I LURV this topic!

If you’ve taken part in Friend Makin’ Monday (FMM) then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s questions on your own blog then add your link in the comments section over at: http://losingweightandhavingfun.com/ this way everyone over at Losing Weight and Having Fun can check out your responses. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to create your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts, too. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

1)      Where was the last place you went on vacation to?

Funny you asked, I just got home last night from a whirlwind trek around central Florida. E and I headed out to Sarasota and Clearwater to catch two Phillies games, St. Pete for dinner and beers, and Tampa for a Bolts game and a brewery. We left immediately after work Thursday and drove to Lake City. Woke up Friday morning, drove to Sarasota for the Phillies vs O’s baseball game, dinner and drinks in St. Pete then over to our hotel in Clearwater. Saturday we went to (the World Famous) Lenny’s restaurant, Bright House stadium for the Houston vs Phillies game, over to Tampa where we grabbed a quick bite, checked into our hotel and dashed across the street (literally) to the Tampa Bay Times Forum for the Bruins vs Lightning game. We headed back to Pensacola yesterday but not before stopping at Wawa, Cigar City Brewpub and Whole Foods! It was an AMAZING weekend!!! I cannot wait to do it again next year!

2)      Do you have plans for a vacation this year?

On top of all the traveling I have already done this year, I have four more just planned between now and the end of June. I am heading to Anaheim for 8 days in April. It’s for work but I am making a vacation out of it by seeing a bunch of my bloggy and IRL friends, going to TWO NHL games, and of course some breweries. Then Atlanta in early May to see Arcade Fire and spend the weekend exploring, home to Philly for Memorial Day Weekend, and then FITBLOGGIN in Savannah the end of June. E and I have talked about some day trips, heading back to NOLA and spending the summer riding bikes and laying on the beach so I probably won’t be heading anywhere too far until the fall rolls around.

3)      If money was no option, where would your dream vacation be?

This is a tough one. If it was just me- probably India. But if it was me and my significant other maybe someplace romantic (Paris)…or maybe someplace tropical (Fiji)…or maybe someplace with a great nightlife (Montreal). Ok, I guess if money was no object, honestly, I would pick a trip around the world. I would want to see it all J

4)      What is your favorite vacation spot that you have visited?

This is another tough one. Maybe England/Scotland. I spent a few weeks over there and had just the absolute best time.

5)      Have you ever had a staycation?

For Valentine’s Day E and I headed 8 miles away to the beach part of Pensacola Beach and spent the weekend riding bikes, eating out, and relaxing on the gulf. Best staycation EVER!

6)      Are you a lie on the beach person or a go out and explore person?

Both. I am a lie on the beach during the day and go out and explore at night kind of person. I like to do both equally.

7)      When you fly do you have a favorite airline?

This really depends on where I live. When I was in SA I always flew on American and now in Pensacola I prefer Delta. I do fly SW sometimes , mainly because of cost, but I would pick Delta over them most any day. I have always preferred United, AA, and Delta. I would prefer not to fly on US Air if I can help it.

8)      Have you ever had a ‘vacation from hell’?

Not really an entire vacation but I have had parts of vacations that were just downright terrible. Mostly because of who I was traveling with. I don’t have that problem anymore.

9)      Have you ever had an airline lose your luggage?

Yes, but not permanently. The few times this has happened I always got it back in less than 24 hours. Knock on wood that this is always the case.

10)   Do you send postcards to friends and family when you go on vacation?

This is something I started doing last year when a college friend of mine asked me to send her some while I was at a work conference. Ironically, I just sent her some from Houston and spring training weekend today. From time to time I will send them to friends and family too. I like to think they enjoy receiving them. I sent one to E but it got lost in the mail. I am still kind of bummed about that.

Happy Monday friends!

Love,
Dacia

xoxoxo

Some Days

I'm writing this on my phone while nestled under the blankets on my hotel room bed. I am in Houston for the weekend. One of my bestest friends, Monica, from San Antonio graciously drove up here to spend the weekend doing girl stuff with me. Yesterday we hit the outlets in Cypress and I basically bought a, very much needed, new wardrobe. I packed an empty dufflebag (just like I did for Fitbloggin last year) and it is already full. In my defense, it's not a very big dufflebag but it really is stuffed to the brim with new clothes ;)

E told me it looks like there is a body in there. Trust me, no body. Just a crap ton of clothes and a pair of red chucks :)

Anywho, as I spent my evening lounging in pjs, talking hockey and watching the Tonight Show with Monica it really hit me just how lucky I am to have this opportunity to be here. And by here I mean, Houston spending time with my friend I haven't seen in over a year. I'm very lucky on this account.

You see, some days I get really sad because I have yet to make a really good girl friend in Pensacola. It's been over a year since I moved there and I still haven't found anyone to be my FL Monica or Jaime or any of my other amazing friends I've made throughout life. Yes, I have E and he is a great friend but he is a boy and boys stink at certain situations. There are definitely times where I just need a girlfriend's help/wisdom/comraderie. 

It is nice that I do have places like FB and twitter where I can catch up on (stalk) the happenings of my friend's lives all over the country and am able to still feel connected. That's awesome. But it's just not the same. It's close, but not quite.

And I think, as I get older, making new friends gets harder mainly because I don't have kids. Most people my age do. And although having children is an amazing blessing it certainly changes the dynamic of your life. I'm not saying I wouldn't/couldn't be friends with someone with kids- my BFF has a son and I still love her ;) - but it makes it hard to form a tight bond with someone when their free time is quite limited. Especially for a new friend.

Sorry, I don't mean this to sound like a 'poor Dacia pity post', I don't. It's just that some days I really feel the void of lacking girlfriend friendship in Pensacola. And I feel so many people can probably relate to this, especially those like me that move around the country frequently. 

But most days. Well most days I am flooded with gratitude for the amazing people already in my life. Being able to take trips to Houston or Philly or New Orleans to visit them. To be able to see 'mah people' at Fitbloggin. To be able to connect to others through social media and blogging. To have an amazing community that I am so fortunate to be a part of. It's beyond awesome. And I know this. 

But yeah, some days (because I am a human being and not a robot) I miss the in person companionship I have had in other cities I've lived in. 

I keep telling myself that it took 7 months before I met Monica in San Antonio so maybe some day soon I will find my Pensacola BFF. 

And if you're local you should know I am accepting applications in case you are interested. It's an easy process; a few interviews, background check, government security clearance. You know pretty standard friend application stuff ;) 

I hope you all are having an amazing weekend. 

I promise I am spending more time being grateful for the two days I get to spend with Monica versus being sad over the months apart until the next time we see each other.

Love and hugs,

Dacia

xoxoxox

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 21-26^th- 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

Training Tunnel Vision

Most days, getting my training run in is my number one priority.

Ok- maybe not most days.

I’ve been in a training rut lately and have probably missed more training runs that I have actually ran since I started this program up 7 weeks ago. If you’ve trained for a half before then you know that sometimes you have to skip runs (injury, illness, time constraints, etc) but most likely you focused on at least getting in your weekly long run. I’ve missed two of those. Eh, it happens.

But…training for this half is still super important and something I think about all the time.

This weekend I am heading home to attend my cousin’s wedding. Just a quick trip though, I’m flying in on Friday and back home Sunday. Of course the first thing that popped into my head when I bought my tickets/RSVPd was how will I get in my long run?

I reached out to some local runners the other day to see if they could recommend some good running spots and came up with a game plan for my 9 miles I was hoping to get in on Saturday morning. I was all set.

Until my Dad emailed me to point out that if I run on Saturday morning I won’t have any time to spend with him. He’s right. He isn’t going to the wedding. Friday night I will be out with friends. Spending the night Saturday where the reception is then driving basically straight from there to the airport. If I spent my time Saturday morning running then I wouldn’t get to spend any time with my Dad-whom I haven’t seen since February of last year.

So even though I know that when you are training for something you really should make it your number one priority this time I really just can’t. I want to hang out with my Dad. Who knows when the next time I will see him.

I’ll try to get in those miles (or at least some of them) at the hotel Sunday morning. Hopefully I can slip out while my family is still sleeping and go for a run around the hotel/vineyard. That would be cool.

Running, especially when following a training plan, is a great metaphor for life. It’s not always possible to stick to your plans no matter how great they are. So I will be flexible, be adaptable, but most of all I won’t beat myself up. It’s just one day, one run. And time with my Dad will always trump running.

Always.