Fitness Monday

 

Weight: I dropped 2.6 lbs, although the last time I weighed in was more like several weeks ago, so this isn't a month on month drop. For clarity, I'm just going to share my actual weight, to make it easier to understand. It's hard to follow along otherwise. So, I'm currently at 157.4, and my ideal weight is around 140, as I have a pretty muscular build. 

Calories: average daily calories of 1,582. Monday-Thursday was a little more difficult, as I was eating three meals a day out of the house, due to work events. Friday-Sunday were really great eating days, with well planned calories & great overall nutrition. 

Steps: I'm keeping a close eye on my steps, as I need to not drop from the 12k/day to hit my yearly goal. I had some lower days early in the week (all of that office time + the commute on both sides really slowed me down), but I did do some walking 1:1s, went to the gym before a dinner event (x2) & went on a long hike this weekend (after my regular workout). All that to say that I finished the week with 13,289/day steps. 

Workouts: same story as above, with some challenges getting in my workout earlier in the week due to the commute & in office days + evening events.

• 2 elliptical workouts
• 1 - 7 mile hike
• 3 workout classes 

Goals for the week: my goals for the week are to keep up the progress. The only anomaly to my schedule is that we are going out with friends on either Friday or Saturday, which always risks spiking the calories. I will plan out my calories in advance & choose a healthy-ish option for dinner. I've found that tracking my calories & planning my meals in advance is incredibly helpful to staying on track. There's no mental debate if I can eat something. It's either factored into the calories for the day, or not. I sometimes swap a piece of fruit for another, but any swaps I make need to balance out to the same calories.

Overall, it was a pretty good week, considering my crazy schedule Monday-Thursday. What about you? How are you doing on your health & fitness goals? 

Menu Plan Sunday

 Trying to get into a bit of a rhythm again, and meal planning definitely helps with that.

Here's what we're eating this week.

• Friday - Chicken & orzo (chicken broth + rotisserie chicken from the freezer)
• Saturday - creamy Dijon chicken
• Sunday - Korean beef rice bowls
• Monday - leftover chicken skillet
• Tuesday - grilled chicken & rice
• Wednesday -  leftover Dijon chicken
• Thursday - leftover beef bowls
• Friday - leftover grilled chicken & rice

Lots of chicken again this week! I need to stock up on some fish, so we can rotate that through.

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

November Goals

 I'm very late to the party, but as with many things in life, better late than never. My core focus this month is fitness. The rest of my goals are a bit on autopilot at the moment, but that's an area I really need to focus on, as I wrestle with my menopause body changes.

Financial:

• Offer to help with financial planning for sister + BFF (they've expressed interest before)
• Earn $200 of side hustle
• Finalize 2026 budget

Family:

• One date night with M
• Have a fabulous Thanksgiving + break with the family
• Start on Christmas gifts. We buy for a very limited number of people, so this is usually pretty straightforward.
• Decide on NYE plans. 

Fitness:

• Lose 2 lbs
• Get back to regular fitness check ins
• 15 & 15 - strength training & No S days
• Meal prep for lunches
• Average 12,500 steps/day

Personal:

• Get together with friends x2
• Say yes to adventure & trying new things
• Declutter 50 items
• Work on travel planning & budgets
• Work on bucket list planning

What about you? What are you hoping to accomplish in November?

Frugal Friday

 This won't be my usual list, as I have had a crazy week & no time to write a proper post. 

A few frugal things I've been up to:

• Jumped through some hoops to register status on my credit card, to get Southwest A list, which will be nice & save some money on future travel.
• Ate dinners from the freezer (mostly M + Sam, some me), because I didn't meal prep or have time to really cook. For example, last night was half of a frozen cauliflower pizza + some shrimp scampi (freezer) + salad. 
• Ate the free lunch at work, Monday-Thursday. Also had free dinner at work Monday, Tuesday & Thursday, although would have definitely preferred being at home.
• Went to a company merchandise sale, where everything was $1 (limit 10) & all of the proceeds went to the Make a Wish Foundation. Bought 8 items. Sam can look through anything he wants, and found a hoodie that I think will work for my nephew. Will donate anything that's unclaimed. 
• Sam picked up a few extra work shifts. I tried to leave easy dinner leftovers for him to reheat.
• The majority of our trip last weekend was comped - we paid for tips & M arranged for a surprise spa service, which we also paid for. 
• Drove to the office extra early one day to participate in a volunteer event, which was loading cars with food supply donations at a non-profit. We ran out of a lot of things, and folks can only come through this particular food pantry once a month, so I felt terrible that they weren't going to be getting any meat, canned goods or dairy. We did have a lot of fresh produce, bread, etc, but I know that won't last long when trying to feed a family. 

I really, really need a weekend at home to get my life back in order & prep for the week ahead. Looking forward to meal planning & shopping, and getting organized. 

What about you? Any wins to share?

All of the tired things

First off, we had an absolutely incredible time in Las Vegas. M planned everything, and I have such amazing friends, all of whom gelled fabulously. I feel so lucky that I have such amazing women in my life. The trip was pretty much perfect from top to bottom, especially impressive was the 8 different flights out of four different airports, none of which were delayed at all! We had wonderful dinners, laughed A LOT, loved the concert, and just had total shenanigans by the pool, at the casino & getting ready for dinners. I'm incredibly lucky.

After I planned this trip, my work decided that our mandatory "in office" week would be this week, complete with 14 hour days (work + evening social events). I knew that the timing would be abysmal, as Las Vegas isn't exactly a place known for getting a lot of sleep. I'm absolutely exhausted. Laundry is everywhere, the house is a wreck, I haven't seen anyone since Sunday... 

I will be VERY excited when Friday rolls around, and I can get back to my regularly scheduled life. As with everything, work stacks up while we are spending time in training sessions & getting to know each other. It's all very valuable, especially as a new person, but it's time intensive on top of other work, so I'm falling behind there.

That's all. Life is good. This weekend made me feel incredibly spoiled to have such an amazing network of people I can laugh with, and who are there for me through all of life's many adventures.

Frugal Friday

It's definitely not going to be a frugal weekend, but here are a few things we've been doing! 

Saving on things we buy

• Booked our hotel in Greece to take advantage of a credit card offer. I received: a $250 statement credit & a few perks as well. A $100 hotel dining credit, as well as breakfast for two for our stay. I should be also receiving a $100 cash back statement from the credit card, so I will keep my eye on that. I chose a hotel that was also associated with Hyatt, where I have status, so we can get our third meal for free as well. 

Earning money

• Sold a set of Air Tags & made $62. 
• My insurance let me know that I was eligible for an incentive for a wellness visit/yearly check up. Sam & I have both had a yearly check up, so I filled that out & had no idea how much we would get. I received $75x2, which I will definitely take! 

Avoiding spending

• Met an acquaintance at Starbucks (more on that below) & used a Starbucks gift card to pay for my tea.
• We get Apple TV through our credit card, so we cancelled Netflix. 

Eating what we have

• We made a delicious sheet pan dinner, and ate that for two nights. 
• M made rice on Sunday, so I turned that into an opportunity to defrost two dishes that needed rice to round them out - the beef/tomato/garbanzo bean dish & chicken curry. This moved things out of our freezer, and saved us time on a busy week.

For others

• A friend of a friend has a daughter who was just diagnosed with lupus. She introduced us & asked if I would be willing to talk about what my experience has been like. Her daughter is much younger (12), but shared all of the information, and hope it helps as they navigate this. 

What about you? Any wins to share?

It's Wednesday

 Which means, I only have 1.5 days left until I'm on vacation! Woohoo. I'm very excited about seeing my friends & seeing how the group mingles. Luckily, it's a fabulous group of women who I adore. Two of them are hikers, so I can also imagine future hiking trips together. 

My sister works wayyyyy to much, so it's great for her to take a "forced" break from work. And, it's almost my BFFs 50th birthday, so this will be an advanced celebration for both of us. Plus, Alanis! Can't wait. I'm not much of a concert person, but think it will be fabulous. Let's hope I can stay awake long enough. I'm an early bird. ;-) 

I also expect that the Halloween costumes in Las Vegas will be...quite hilarious people watching.

What I need to do today:

• All of the meetings
• Work on team strategy stuff
• Catch up on a project
• Finalize packing
• Check in for flight
• Sort dinner
• Find 2 more items to give away
• Attend treadmill class (it's my 5th hard workout in a row, so that will be tricky!)
• Work in the yard for 15 minutes at lunch (the sunshine is a game changer mid-day)
• Laundry for Sam before I leave. Yes, he knows how to do his own laundry, but our washer is intermittently leaking, and I'd just prefer to monitor it & deal with it before we leave.
• Pick up the house

What are you up to today? Anything fun? 

Bucket list for the upcoming decade?

I hope I won't need an entire decade, but turning 50 has got me thinking about what I want to check off of my bucket list. I have a BUNCH of travel destinations & a few other things in mind. Mostly, I feel so incredibly grateful for everything in my life, and I want to keep pushing myself, trying new things, helping other people & just experiencing life. 

This is not at all complete, as I'm actively soliciting input, so please share what's on your bucket list! And, in no particular order.

1. Take an art class
2. Improve at Spanish
3. Another family trip to see M's mom (and, sister, cousins, etc.)
4. Another trip to Hawaii with my parents
5. Make an anonymous & very meaningful donation to someone in my community who needs it. (I have nothing in mind for this, but something in this general arena of giving. May ask a friend who is very connected in the community for suggestions.)
6. Get to know our neighbors more.
1. Invite our elderly neighbor for dinner
2. Make plans with our neighbors behind us who have a son at Boulder as well
3. Go for a walk or hike with our neighbor across the way
4. Learn the name of the neighbors & I occasionally chat with. (Embarrassing, but true!)
7. Travel bucket list:
1. Hiking trip to New Zealand
2. Italy with M
3. Greece girls trip
4. Take M to Japan
5. Hike the Camino de Santiago
6. Iceland
7. Patagonia
8. Maldives
9. 10+ national parks
10. Spain/Portugal
11. Banff/Lake Louise
12. Alaska
13. Ireland
14. Scotland
15. Lots of additional hiking trips 
8. Get comfortable with entertaining
9. Create a scholarship at the high school the boys attended
10. Figure out my "next act", after my current job
11. Master a complex cooking technique or at least 5 difficult recipes
12. Create at least 5 meaningful surprises for other people
13. Volunteer at a local school
14. Learn a new hobby with M
15. Offer to have a networking chat with 5 new grads

Hit me with ideas! Very interested in hearing from you on what you would put on a bucket list, or wish you had done at a different time in your life. 

Fitness Monday

Going through menopause & trying to lose weight is...daunting, shall we say. I'm certainly not a perfect eater, with a perfect workout routine, but I do put in a lot of effort & see minimal results on the weight side. It's easy to get frustrated, but I'm reminding myself that many women gain weight during menopause. I'm not only trying to avoid that, I'm working to lose weight during a time that my body is going through a lot of other changes, in addition to lifestyle changes (new job).  

Weight: Holding steady week on week, but up 4.3 lbs since my low of the year (which was in May). 

Calories: average of 1,695/day, as I had two splurges for our anniversary + an unexpected dinner out on Friday. I did have 3 No S days, which was a nice trend. 

Steps: I didn't do any long hikes/walks this week, which was a bit unusual & led to a lower daily step average - 10,943. This is also a good reminder to see where I am for 2025, and ensure I'm on track for my annual goal. 

Workouts:

• 4 workout classes (mix of cardio + strength)
• 3 walks
• 1 40 minute elliptical workout

Goals for the week: It's going to be a high calorie weekend Thursday-Sunday, so my goal is to really keep things in check the rest of the week, and ideally get 3 No S days, with lowered calories, to balance things out. 

What about you? How are you doing with your fitness goals?

Menu Plan Sunday

 It's a partial menu plan around here, as we are out of town for a very fun long weekend! My BFF has her 50th birthday in November, so we are meeting up in Las Vegas with my sister, and a few other friends & going to a concert & getting up to general shenanigans.

• Friday - grilled burgers (from the freezer)
• Saturday - grilled chicken & rice
• Sunday - fall sheet pan dinner (new to us) - update, we made this last night & loved it. Highly recommend! We subbed butternut squash in for the sweet potatoes. Delicious & super easy. 
• Monday - leftover rice + chicken curry from the freezer
• Tuesday - grilled chicken salads
• Wednesday - I want to try & recreate this roasted veggie salad we had recently. We shall see how I do. We will top it with some sort of protein & I'll probably go off of this recipe. 
• Thursday - We are eating at a seafood restaurant
• Friday - my favorite steak house!

What about you? What's on your menu this week? 

Saturday Happenings

M & I ended up going out to dinner last night, and had a lovely evening walking around. The weather was perfect fall - crisp & cool, with lots of changing leaves.

My back was bothering me so much that I ended up taking an OTC medicine I got in Canada (it's for muscle & back pain). I use these very sparingly, but my back pain was reduced greatly. I also iced my back & added heat yesterday, and I do feel a lot better today. Sometimes it's about knocking down the inflammation & irritation, and allowing things to go back to (mostly) normal. At some point, I need to probably get another MRI & see if the bulging disc/nerve issue has gotten worse, or if this was just a short term thing. I like to be optimistic, but can't imagine it's getting any better.

Nick is hanging out with my BFF + her kids at Rocky Mountain National Park this weekend. I feel so lucky that we have (friends like) family there to spend time with him. He also loves hiking, rock climbing, etc, so it's a perfect opportunity for him & the friend he brought. I hope he brought enough warm clothes!

As for today, here's what I have going on:

• Workout class
• Packing list for our trip next weekend
• Menu planning
• Shopping list
• Stop by the store
• Make dinner
• Do some additional decluttering (inspired by Jackie!)
• Continue to clean up the hall closets
• Dead head some plants

What about you? What's on the agenda for today? 

Frugal Friday

 A few frugal wins this week. 

Saving on things we buy

• Noticed that iBotta had a $.10 reward for any grocery receipt, so got that uploaded. Also uploaded the receipt to Fetch. 

Earning money

• Sold a few things on eBay: luggage tags + an old art print. Made about $25 between the two.
• The Frugal Girl reminded me that I had a bunch of books (Sam's lit books from school) to list on eBay & got those posted. Sold 2 in 24 hours, so that was a nice win. Junk out, money in. Made about $20 between the two.
• Gave away a Hyatt free night award to a friend who could use it before it expired, and he thanked me with a $100 gift card.  
• On a related note, had another expiring Hyatt "Guest of Honor" award, and traded that with another friend for ~$100 of Marriott points. While I don't have a use for the points at the moment, they don't expire, unlike the Hyatt award I had. We will definitely use them at some point. 
• Finally had enough Swagbucks to cash out for a $25 Amazon gift card. 

Avoiding spending

• I had a crazy day, and planned my lunch in advance, defrosting soup & stashing my lunch in the fridge. When I went to open the container to heat it, it refused to budge. It was a glass container with the four closure "snap locks" & the vacuum seal was so strong it couldn't be opened. Anyway, I wrestled with that stupid container for the five minutes I had to heat & eat my lunch. I thought about ordering delivery & eating it between my next round of calls, but instead made a very haphazard lunch out of a protein bar I discovered in the back of the pantry (Sam must have missed it -because they are his favorites ;-)) & an overripe banana. M later was able to open the container with a lot of elbow grease & a knife, and Sam had the soup for dinner after work. 

Eating what we have

• We bought a rotisserie chicken at Costco, and used that for two dinners, plus froze half of the rest of the chicken. I then made a large double batch of chicken broth. I've already used one container in the beef & tomato dish we served over rice on Sunday.
• Speaking of that dish, we made a double batch, as we had Sam & his GF at dinner. I also only had one can of diced tomatoes, so subbed in tomato paste + water & some fresh tomatoes, to make up for the gap. 
• Made plenty of leftovers for the week, including this easy Southwest Chicken Skillet

For others

• A friend is leading a project to collect new shoes for kids & teens that are unhoused, so I picked up some on Amazon from her wish list, which felt nice.

What about you? Any wins to share? 

Thursday Happenings

It's been a reasonably productive week. My manager is out, which means I have fewer 6 am meetings, and who can say no to that? ;-) 

I handed off a huge project last Friday, so unblocking that has been such a relief. 

I've gotten a lot done personally, which has felt good.

• Listed a bunch of stuff on eBay
• Organized my shoes & really cleaned up closet
• Went through my 3 tiered tray & found a bunch of papers to shred & recycle
• Gave away 5 notebooks that I found in my tray. I prefer a spiral notebook for list making & note taking, so I'd rather just give away the ones I won't use.
• Gave away Nick's high school graduation party decorations (national park/camping themed)
• Cleaned out the fridge
• Planning our budget for 2026
• Reviewing our 2025 spending & thinking through the "least valuable" spending. Of course, not things out of our control, but areas where we can make adjustments if we are not getting the value we want out of the money we are spending. 

Today should be pretty similar. I have six meetings, and wrap by five, so I need to get in a workout at lunch. 

What about you? What have you been up to lately?