Thursday happenings

 It's been a busy week, as my boss is out unexpectedly ill, and I'm covering for her. I also went in to the office yesterday, which adds about 90 minutes to my day, but was necessary for a few things.

I've been reasonably productive & am excited to try out a new YMCA class today - boot camp. I actually joined the Y to get access to lower cost yoga & Pilates vs a specialized studio for either. Of course, I know the quality will not be the same, but I'm not at an advanced level of Pilates or yoga, so it doesn't really matter to me. I'm looking for stretching, mobility & to build my strength in my core to help work on my ongoing back issues that keep me up at night & make me uncomfortable during the day.

I've also had a few other wins that I'll share tomorrow in my Frugal Friday post, and wanted to share a recipe that I swapped out & wasn't on the menu plan - Pulled Chicken Tostadas. We loved it, and used rotisserie chicken. I forgot the adobo Chiles, so we added a jalapeno from the garden. It's not the most frugal recipe with the addition of the bacon, but we really enjoyed it and the recipe made a total of 6 dinners (3 diners, x2 dinners). I made 1/2 of the coleslaw with lime the first night, and 1/2 the second night, to keep it fresh, which worked well. Anyway, thought I was share, as rotisserie chicken has been a staple on our side.

I also made a lemon chicken orzo dish & it was not good & tasted like "cafeteria hospital food", which was super irritating. I made it, so no one to blame but myself. Going to have to remember not to repeat that one!

I'm meeting a couple of friends from my morning workout class (pre going back to work) this evening for a glass of wine & dinner, which will be nice, as I don't get to see them very often anymore. 

And, for visual interest, here's how we enjoyed our Valentine's Day. This is a picture of the winery/hotel we stayed at, and the cheeseboard I put together. ;)

Fitness Monday

 This isn't a very exciting Fitness Monday update, but I wanted to get back into the rhythm again & get back on track, post our vacation. I'd summarize February so far as being very hot & cold. I had some 36,000 step days, and multiple days without a workout. We were sore after the big hike, hiked on a much smaller scale other days in New Zealand, had travel days without a workout, etc. 

We also ate plenty in New Zealand, and shared a bottle of wine most nights, and the calories of that certainly added up. My weight is up about 2 lbs since the beginning of February. I also went on HRT medicine, and that is causing a lot of other fun stuff. So, I'm hoping everything with regulate a bit by the end of this week, so I can get a good sense of where I'm at.

I did do two of my class workouts (Saturday & Sunday) & am signed up for a strength class today. I need to come up with a workout schedule for each week, to give myself a bit of structure.

For this week, here's what I'm thinking:

• Monday - strength training class + a walk of some kind for steps
• Tuesday - cardio/strength workout class
• Wednesday - work out at the office gym at lunch
• Thursday - run outside
• Friday - workout class
• Saturday - hike outside with a friend or M
• Sunday - workout class

It's also my goal to drop my calories, keep alcohol to the weekends, and move back to the "No S" plan (no snacks, no sugar, no second portions), as well as keep a close eye on produce & protein intake.

I do feel like I'm doing a good job of working to resolve my health issues & staying on top of things. I saw a  sports medicine doctor last week (super hard to get into the clinic at Stanford) & have an appointment to get my hip dry needled at the end of March. I'm also trying to get into a regular massage routine, in order to solve some of my ongoing back issues. I still need to figure out a reasonably priced yoga/Pilates option, as I definitely need to incorporate more strength & core workouts. I'm thinking of getting more details on the YMCA near us, to understand the pricing & class availability. 

What about you? How are you doing on your health & fitness goals? 

Menu Plan Sunday

 We've been freewheeling the menu plan over here (we haven't had one), so it will be nice to get back onto a schedule again. 

A brief recap, plus planned menu items:

• Tuesday - chicken tzatziki protein bowls
• Wednesday - pizza delivery (parents request)
• Thursday - leftover chicken tzatziki protein bowls
• Friday - leftover pizza + salads
• Saturday - creamy garlic chicken
• Sunday - burgers
• Monday - leftover creamy garlic chicken
• Tuesday - pulled chicken tostadas
• Wednesday - leftover egg roll in a bowl
• Thursday - leftover chicken tostadas
• Friday - leftovers or something from the freezer

What about you? What's on your menu plan for the week? 

Saturday Happenings

 I'm back & slowly easing into life. Yesterday was a rocky work day, and next week promises to be more of the same. As a result, despite it being a short week, I need the weekend to recharge & prep for what is sure to be an intense week ahead.

Everything I own feels tight after a few weeks of indulgences. The hiking food was shockingly good & they fed us very well. Time to get back to serious business on the exercise & fitness front.

Here are my plans for today:

• Workout class
• Return a few items to REI that I didn't need for the hike
• Work on our taxes. Yuck. I did manage to complete Sam's taxes yesterday, but his tax situation is pretty easy. Two W2s, and nothing else. ;-) 
• Menu prep for the week ahead
• Work on calendar & scheduling for next week
• And, workouts for next week
• Find a bottle of wine & a card for my friend. We are meeting up tomorrow for a workout class & coffee. Her birthday was this week.
• Call a friend who is struggling

What about you? What's on your list today? 

Frugal Friday

Let me start by saying that this trip was not frugal - it was a milestone 20th anniversary trip, planned to coincide with my 50th birthday as well as a bucket list travel item. We most certainly made the most of it! Here are a few frugal things that happened along the way, or over the past few weeks:

Saving on things we buy

• I almost never buy anything that's on iBotta's list of branded name items for cash back, but they have been running $.10 or $.20 off of any receipt lately, so I've been taking advantage of that. 
• We had some leftover NZ cash on our last day, and our hotel accepted that towards our payment (rest on credit card), which was super convenient & avoided any transaction fees. 
• M & I shared lunch a few times. 
• My parents requested pizza on their final night, so I used a $10 off coupon to get dinner for everyone. 

Earning money

• Nothing interesting to report here other than we were both on paid time off.

Avoiding spending

• Aligned with Sam's work schedule, to get a ride to the airport. This flight was out of SFO (all of the international ones are), which is further from our house & a more expensive ride share option. 
• On the way back, we used our Uber credit (purchased from gift cards) to get a ride home. The weather was terrible, and our flight landed at 6 am, so no desire to ask anyone to pick us up. 
• Ate at the lounge ahead of our flight home. 
• I didn't end up wearing my hiking shorts, so I will return those. 
• Took advantage of the free breakfast at all three of the hotels we stayed at. 
• Didn't drink a bottle of wine given to us at the winery, so I wrapped it carefully in clothes, and then put it inside my backpack, which was inside of another bag. Made it safely home, and drank it with my mom once we were back.
• We got free checked bags due to airline status & keeping the bags under the weight guidelines. 

Eating what we have

• Made tzatziki bowls again, using Costco rotisserie chicken. We didn't have hummus, but they were otherwise delicious. 
• Had a bowl again for lunch.

For others

• M set up a photo album for our fellow hikers, and we were able to send that out to everyone to allow for photo sharing. People loved it! 

What about you? Any wins to share?

We are back

 I'm tired, but mostly from not sleeping on the return flight. M managed to sleep quite a bit, and I was envious! All logistics went very smoothly, from our short hop flight from Queenstown to Christchurch, and our much longer flight from Christchurch to San Francisco. 

My parents were here visiting Sam on his birthday, so it's been nice to see them. We went to lunch yesterday on my last day off, & they head home today. We made an easy dinner of chicken tzatziki bowls yesterday, using rotisserie chicken from Costco. M made tzatziki sauce, and we diced up: feta, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions & served with artichokes & garbanzo beans. It was easy & delicious, and healthy as far as things like this go.

I'm attempting to get back on track with my eating, after all of the indulgences on vacation. My jeans definitely felt tight one of the days, so time to be focused on eating well & getting back into a more consistent workout schedule.

I'm feeling very behind on life, but much less stressed about work, which I suppose is one of the goals of vacation!

And, for a few extra pictures, we went to Mount Cook on one of our last days. We felt spoiled by our pristine hiking (no tourists) for the earlier hiking trip, but Mount Cook was still lovely. Just more crowded. The water is actually that blue (or, I think it's a reflection off of the clouds?) Not sure what causes the color, but it was stunning.

Back to regular programming soon!

Milford Track

 Impossible to pick photos that capture the experience, but it was incredible. Met amazing people, saw amazing things, wore out our legs, had pretty much perfect weather... Spent my birthday on the hardest uphill & then downhill. M brought champagne to the halfway point (and, hiked with it for three days!) to surprise me.

More photos to come, but a few of my favorites.

More to come! Switching hotels soon. 

Queenstown

A quick update that we made it to New Zealand. All flights were on time, everything went as smoothly as you can expect on a trip of that duration. My back is bothering me from all of that sitting time, but otherwise all is well.

The hotel is fantastic, and our room got upgraded. What a treat. Photos below are the view from our room. We stayed awake until 7 pm local time last night, and then crashed. Both of us slept around 4 hours on the flight here (red eye), so we were pretty tired last night.

Next up is breakfast, stretching (me), heading to town for the pre-hike briefing. We have dinner reservations as well for tonight. 

LOVE Queenstown & the entire place is gorgeous. 

Two days to go

Two work days left until we leave on our trip. I've been closely guarding my PTO since I started my new job, as new hires have to accrue vacation days. Having long tenure at both of my previous companies, it's an unusual feeling to not have time off. Knowing I had both New Zealand & Greece in 2026, I've been very sparing with my days off. 

I have taken a total of one day of PTO (split into two four hour chunks) to accommodate an early flight for Christmas, and similar flight for the Las Vegas trip in October. I got "lucky" in that I also had to travel on a holiday 2x, and earned a comp day for each. At my previous company, you also received a comp day if you missed an entire weekend day. Not the case here, which is... not the best, let's just say. Anyway, whatever. 

This is the longest trip DH & I have ever taken, and I'm pretty sure it's my longest vacation from any job I've been at. I'm excited & looking forward to relaxing. I've been at the company for 7 months, so I'm definitely looking forward to the break.

I've been mapping out other planned time off, and here's what's on the agenda. Reviewing this helps me track my PTO, and creates mini milestones to look forward to.

• February - New Zealand. President's Day falls during this trip, saving me one day of PTO
• March - Nick will be home for spring break, and then I'll fly to Las Vegas & spend a night there + hike at Zion with a couple of friends
• April - at the very end of April, I'll fly to Boulder & hang out with Nick & help him move his college stuff to my BFF's garage (bless her) & then Nick & I will fly back together
• May - nothing currently booked
• June - likely US work travel + Greece
• July - likely Tokyo work travel + our company closes for three days. If everyone else can make it, we will rent a house at the Oregon coast. If that doesn't' work out, M & I will likely take the boys to a California national park. 
• August - Nick's move back to Boulder
• September - family weekend in Boulder
• October - I'm tentatively running a half marathon with my sister + BFF (assuming I can get my hip issue treated) in Portland, which will be a long weekend. And, then M & I are going to Sedona for a hiking trip.
• November - Nick flying back for Thanksgiving
• December - Nick flying in for Christmas, Christmas at my parents house. 

That's it! As we move into the mid point of 2026, I will likely start mapping out potential trips for 2027. We would absolutely love to see M's mom again, but there is no option for her to travel right now, given the situation in Iran. We always worry that by the time a window opens up, she will be unable to travel. 

What about you? Do you map out your travel in a similar way? How do you use your vacation budget, or PTO days? 

January Goals Recap

 The month is over, so how did I do? As a reminder for myself as much as anyone else, I was out of town for four days for personal travel, and eight days for work travel. 

Financial:

• Continue to pay for both boys college expenses - yes, made a large tuition payment for Nick & signed a lease on an apartment
• Stay on top of food waste by using up 3 pantry or freezer items - gave away pantry items we won't use, and used up a lot of leftovers: chicken parmesan, an orzo dish, and a chicken & rice dish
• Be more intentional about savings & spending. Establish a goal & benchmark savings. - I've done really well at this, and have been intentionally saving into a new college account for Nick, as I would love to not pull from long term savings to fund the rest of his college expenses. 
• Find one expense to optimize - after a frustrating experience, I cancelled the $5.99 subscription to my Oura ring. I actually really like the health details they provide, but can get a lot of the sleep information from my watch for free. 

Family:

• Continue to help the boys navigate college & life - yes, they are both doing well & we have weekly calls with Nick. Maybe we should arrange something with Sam, as even though he lives with us, his schedule is quite crazy with studying & working. A dedicated time together might be useful. 
• A monthly date with M - M & I were in Las Vegas together at the beginning of the month, and had one date night & several long hikes. 
• Continue planning our New Zealand trip - we are ready to go!
• Bucket list travel planning - M & I are going to Sedona in October, and I'm going to Zion in March. Sedona with M is on my list, and we are also talking about some bigger future trips (Iceland, Patagonia, Camino de Santiago), but nothing firmly established yet. I think we're also both very curious to see how this trip goes. 

Fitness:

• Dry January - I had three days with alcohol this month, but I did make it through my entire work trip with no alcohol, which was quite a feat. I shared wine with M on a date, and had two nights last week. Not perfect, but I'm very pleased. 
• Lose 3 lbs - I lost 2.5 lbs
• 10 positive days in a month - strength train, No S, meditate - 7, 11 & 6, respectively
• Positive eating: track protein & produce - I did pretty well at this earlier in the month, but sort of fell off in the last week or so. Eating a lot of protein & produce does indeed keep you healthier & reduce snacking!
• Average 12,000 steps/day - squeaking in at 12,078

Personal:

• 10 days of language lessons - 13/10
• Declutter 50 items from the house - 65/50
• Get together with friends - met friends for a workout, a hike, and went to a dinner party
• Try something new & uncomfortable - tried a Pilates reformer class!
• Say yes to more adventures - general travel planning for adventures continue
• Get to know our neighbors - went for another walk with one neighbor, and continued to help our elderly neighbor across the street
• Try a new recipe - made a buffalo chicken recipe, at Sam's request

I'm surprised by all of the green, but I'll take it! What about you? How did you do with your January goals? 

Menu Plan Sunday

 An abbreviated plan, as we leave mid week.

• Friday - we shared a cauliflower crust pizza + chicken (freezer) for extra protein
• Saturday - out at a party, where they served Mediterranean catering
• Sunday - high protein chicken tzatziki bowls (using rotisserie chicken) - new recipe
• Monday - lemon dill chicken cakes 
• Tuesday - leftover chicken bowls
• Wednesday - leftover chicken cakes

What about you? What's on your menu for the week?

I managed to hit my step goal for the month, thanks to an 8 mile hike yesterday. I knew what I needed to do when I added the numbers, and had planned time for a hike. I also did a lot of my packing for our trip, but still a few pieces to put together. And, somehow fitting everything into our bags. We went to a really lovely party with friends, and it was nice to catch up with a few people we know.

As for today, I again need to be very productive:

• Long hike with M, although I'm not options to bring my big pack, as I'm in the midst of packing it. I will probably try to weight my day pack & use that.
• Video call with my sister + BFF to catch up + do some Greece planning
• More packing
• Laundry
• Get a pedicure ahead of the trip. M laughed a bit at this, but my nails are too long at the moment, and I am hoping there will be at least a few days where I can where sandals - it is summer after all. The weather mostly looks quite similar to a bay area winter day in the current forecast, but I'm optimistic we will get more sun. 

Hope you have a great Sunday!

February Goals

I need to run the numbers to finalize my goals for January, but thought I'd start focusing on February as well. 

It's going to be a month of adventure!

Financial:

• Continue to pay for both boys college expenses
• Stay on top of food waste by using up 3 pantry or freezer items
• Be more intentional about saving & spending. Immediately move all savings to account for Nick's college & track for motivation
• Find one expense to optimize
• Complete our taxes

Family:

• Continue to help the boys navigate college & life
• Monthly date with M
• Have a fabulous trip to NZ
• Finalize logistics for Greece trip
• Sort out/finalize move out trip to Boulder (Nick)
• Bucket list travel planning

Fitness:

• Continue with my focus on solving/resolving medical issues. Have two medical appointments - menopause & hip
• Lose 3 lbs
• 10 positive days in a month - strength train, No S, meditate
• Positive eating: track protein & produce
• Average 12,000 steps/day

Personal:

• 10 days of language lessons
• Declutter 50 items from the house
• Get together with friends
• Try something new & uncomfortable
• Say yes to more adventures
• Get to know our neighbors
• Try a new recipe

What about you? What are your goals for February?

Frugal Friday

I'm testing out a new category for my Frugal Fridays. I love travel savings & it's easier to read everything in one place, I think. This will be optional when I've booked something. 

Travel savings - I'm doing a March trip to Las Vegas (one night) & St. George/Zion with friends. I set a very limited budget for this trip. Here are the things I'm doing to keep the cost in check:

• I booked a promotional offer in Las Vegas, which makes the room free, provides $50 in gambling money (hilarious, but maybe I'll win big) & $200 of resort credit, which should cover lunch & dinner for both of us, if we're careful (food at the hotel we're at is expensive, and we don't have transportation to get around, but might walk - weather dependent). 
• Used a $500 credit card cash back statement (only for Southwest) to book my flight. Because I have A list status (also through my credit card), I got to select seats for free. I still have $70 or so of the credit to use for another flight.
• My friend has a house in St. George, so we will stay with her for free. She is also renting a car, and I will reimburse her for 1/3 of it (another friend is also going). 
• My friend is staying in St. George longer at her house, so we had the choice to fly in/out of the smaller regional airport, rent a car ourselves for the trip, or book a shuttle. The shuttle was by far the most economical choice, coming in around $57. 
• The rest of the small budget I set will be used on food in St. George, a hostess gift for my friend, etc.

Saving on things we buy

• Nick cancelled the digital book subscription that is charged automatically each semester, as he could buy the required books for much less. We received a refund of $225. 
• Used a gift card to buy Sam some jeans & a shirt for his birthday. Made sure to click through to Rakuten to save a bit more in cash back. 
• Similarly, used a $20 grocery store gift card to pick up a few of Sam's favorites for when we are traveling. Uploaded my receipts to Fetch & iBotta & saved a couple of dollars. 
• I also used a CVS $10 reward to pick up a pack of Valentine's Day cards + a birthday card. 

Earning money

• Filled out my expense report quickly, so I can get money back from my employer for my London trip. Not quite "earning money", but getting reimbursed quickly.
• My paycheck was again hard earned this week. 

Avoiding spending

• Tried a free Pilates class

Eating what we have

• Our menu plan didn't go as expected, as M forgot to pick up the stuffed peppers from Costco, and the street tacos only lasted one meal. For Monday's dinner, I defrosted chicken noodle soup & a piece of salmon. I had the soup, M had the salmon. Sam was at a study group. 
• The following night we had a chicken/rice/black bean/salsa combo (also from the freezer), which was pretty good & enhanced by the cilantro crema leftover from the street tacos. 
• Another freezer meal was consumed on Wednesday - chicken orzo + veggies. It was a little bland, but everyone was fed. I suppose the benefit of my menu plan falling apart is that we used up some freezer meals & created a bit more space. ;-) 
• When I woke up on Sunday like a bear from hibernation, I'd eaten very little the previous day & slept a lot. M made me a large breakfast sandwich, using up the last bagel, a slice of cheese, tomatoes & eggs, which was all from the fridge & easy to whip together. 

For others

• My mom does a lot for my special needs aunt, particularly after my grandmother died. I fund part of this, to help them both & because I'm not around enough to take my aunt out for lunch, or treat her to an extra splurge grocery run, etc. I increased this contribution for 2026, because it's such a small thing but helps both my mom & aunt out so much, which is awesome. 
• Helped my sister with a long travel booking using my dad's miles, a mileage transfer, a code share... it was an adventure, but saved her a lot of money! :-) 

What about you? Any wins to share?