We have another softball game tomorrow morning. I'm apprehensive about playing considering it will be 104 and last week I got heat exhaustion at only 90. I should probably start drinking now to ensure that I'll be hydrated enough for tomorrow!
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Hot hot hot!
How is it that it's the end of September and it's still over 100 degrees?!?! How is that right?!?! Gosh...I can't wait for Fall. I just bought myself a comfy fleece jacket that I won't be able to wear until it gets below at least 90! I'm so over Summer.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Yosemite Pictures
Here's some pictures of the Nevada Falls hike. Please disregard how I look - I was tired, dirty and sweaty!
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| Me at the beginning of the stairs. |
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| I am Queen of the Vernal Falls! |
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| The bottom of the 600 stairs to Vernal Falls. |
September 20, 2008
That was the year I married my best friend. Well, one of my best friends at least. Two years later we're still best friends and then some.
Today Hubby and I celebrated in the only way we know how - at Disneyland. We are annual passholders (Premium Annual Passholders that is) so we already had our ticket in. We've always wanted to experience Disneyland on a weekday and off season and today was the best day in our eyes. It was great, too! It wasn't too crowded or too hot. We rode only three rides and strolled around the rest of the day. We even bought ourselves an anniversary gift of a Thomas Kinkad painting of Peter Pan's flight. All in all a good day!
Yesterday was our first softball game of the season (the second game but our first). Can I tell you how sore I am? I'm pretty sore. I played catcher and I'm a righty so the entire right side of my upper body is sore as well as my groin. TMI? Maybe. You never realize how many muscles you actually have (and use!) until you over-use them and start to feel them. Hubby even made an unintentional split. He ended up pulling the same groin muscle he did last week in Yosemite. TMI? Probably. What do these injuries say about us? They say that we're out of shape, that's what! I was proud of myself, though. I made it home twice (ooh la la) and Hubby made it home once. Hey, my goal was to make contact with the ball so I incredibly surpassed that goal! It also helped that they put a strong hitter after me. There wouldn't have been any way I would've made those runs if that wasn't the case. It's all about teamwork!
Well, that's it for now. I'll try to post again soon (maybe when I have something witty to say). Have a great night, all!
Today Hubby and I celebrated in the only way we know how - at Disneyland. We are annual passholders (Premium Annual Passholders that is) so we already had our ticket in. We've always wanted to experience Disneyland on a weekday and off season and today was the best day in our eyes. It was great, too! It wasn't too crowded or too hot. We rode only three rides and strolled around the rest of the day. We even bought ourselves an anniversary gift of a Thomas Kinkad painting of Peter Pan's flight. All in all a good day!
Yesterday was our first softball game of the season (the second game but our first). Can I tell you how sore I am? I'm pretty sore. I played catcher and I'm a righty so the entire right side of my upper body is sore as well as my groin. TMI? Maybe. You never realize how many muscles you actually have (and use!) until you over-use them and start to feel them. Hubby even made an unintentional split. He ended up pulling the same groin muscle he did last week in Yosemite. TMI? Probably. What do these injuries say about us? They say that we're out of shape, that's what! I was proud of myself, though. I made it home twice (ooh la la) and Hubby made it home once. Hey, my goal was to make contact with the ball so I incredibly surpassed that goal! It also helped that they put a strong hitter after me. There wouldn't have been any way I would've made those runs if that wasn't the case. It's all about teamwork!
Well, that's it for now. I'll try to post again soon (maybe when I have something witty to say). Have a great night, all!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Yosemite
I took my very first trip to Yosemite this weekend. It was a last minute decision on my part. A group of people had been planning for months to go to the park and to do the dreaded Half Dome hike. I did not want any part in that. I hate exercising and probably hate hiking even more. But literally a day before Hubby was leaving I decided to tag along, mainly for the reason that I didn't want to stay home by myself. We found a sitter for the puppy and I packed a bag and off we went! We carpooled with a friend of ours and two of his friends. I have to say that we were a fun group! Laughs all around. We got to the hotel at about midnight and then got up at 4:30 the next morning. Unfortunately the bed was uncomfortable and I was anxious so I only got about two hours of sleep myself. But there was no way the others were going to feel bad for anybody, bright eyed and bushy tailed or not! We all gathered and after an hour drive into the park and a quick bathroom trip, the 18 of us were off.
There were two groups: the Half Dome hike group (which eventually split into the Advanced group and the Not-So-Advanced group) and the Nevada Falls hike group - Nevada Falls being about 1/4 of the way to Half Dome. I was part of the Nevada Falls hike along with my sister and her mother and sister-in-law. Have I mentioned I hate to hike? I hate it! And I have no valid reason for my despise, either, just that it's hard. But there I was anyway. Luckily I had a great hiking buddy in my sister so she pushed me through it. I wanted to quit almost immediately but there she was kicking my butt and telling me I had to do it. She also deduced that I was feeling sick because I hadn't eaten. I was so nervous that morning that I was only able to eat 1/2 of a banana, which is most definitely not enough fuel for a strenuous hike. So I pulled out an energy bar and nibbled on it while I walked. Eventually I had calmed down enough to finish the bar and I immediately felt better. We hiked to the footbridge of the first waterfall, the Vernal Falls, and then up 600 cobblestone stairs (on which we witnessed an unfortunate sight of somebody losing their breakfast) to the top. There the four of us took a snack and pee break, battled with some squirrels and birds to keep our food, and then made our way to our destination, the Nevada Falls.
I was feeling good at this point. I was hydrated and energized and appreciative of the beautiful scenery. I felt this way until we got to the bottom of the cobblestone stairs to the Nevada waterfall. Those sucked. They were steep and almost completely in the sun. At one point we pulled to the side to unzip and remove our pant legs. BTW - I would like to shake the hand of the person who invented zip-away pants. You're a genius - THANK YOU! We took a lot of breaks on those stairs but eventually Sister and I went ahead of the other two ladies and made it to the top in one piece. We pulled up a shady rock and ate lunch to refuel. Eventually the other two ladies made their way to the top and the four of us broke apart from each other and lounged in various places at the top. I even managed to take a quick cat nap on a 1/2 shady 1/2 sunny rock. All in all we spent about 2 hours on top of the waterfall.
What an amazing accomplishment that was for me - making it all the way to the top of the Falls. Especially since I was only planning on making it to the top of the first falls! I was pretty darn proud of myself! And I even managed to ration my water well, too. I think I had just enough to get back to the bottom.
Speaking of getting back to the bottom, we remembered how steep and dangerous the trail was coming up, and none of us were really keen on taking that back down, so Sister decided to ask a fellow hiker if there was another trail. Sure enough there was. It was a tad longer (only by .3 miles) but it was a gradual decline and more of a straight shot. The end of it even brought you back down to an outhouse and a water supply. It was still a bit slippery and there were a few inclines, but nothing we hadn't seen on our way up. And there was even a pleasant surprise of runoff from a waterfall, in which we stood for a bit to cool off.
Our main concern the entire time of our return was that we wanted to get off of the trail before it turned dark. Even though Sister had a flashlight, trekking down slippery rocks is no fun, especially in the dark, so we were racing against time. We only had to take one snack break on our way down to re-energize. We luckily got to the bottom of the trail before the sun set. We still had about a mile and a half (give or take) to walk to get back to the car, and at that point it had gotten dark, but luckily Hubby met us at the bottom and he brushed off his Eagle Scout skills and ran ahead of us to find the car and to make sure we were going the right way. We were and after a 12 hour hike, and 15 hours of being awake, we finished and were rewarded with a car ride to the pizza parlor.
Hubby and Sister waited in line to order pizza for the group and I waited in a separate line to order beer for the three of us. I then scoped out some tables and marked our territory and we waited until the rest of the group met up with us. They were all very relieved and grateful that the pizza had already been ordered, especially since it was an hour wait to get it, which gave them some free time to do a little souvenir and beer shopping. We all exchanged war stories and showed each other our battle scars. I couldn't think of any better way to end the day. We left the park around 10:30 and made it back to the hotel an hour later. I immediately booked it into the shower and soon Hubby and I crawled into bed. We slept pretty soundly, despite the broken A/C unit and the uncomfortable mattress, and awoke at 9:00 the next morning. Hubby and I attempted to ransack the Continental breakfast with only mild luck (there were so many people that we were able to get a small cup of OJ and I managed to pour myself a small bowl of cereal). We went back to the room, got dressed, packed and then hit the road. Unfortunately Hubby wanted to get on the road, so our car forwent the group breakfast and instead hit up a Burger King. However, that particular Burger King proved that not all fast food restaurants are fast and the entire process probably took the same amount of time as going out to breakfast would have taken, minus the incident of spilling OJ on myself. Or maybe I still would've spilled OJ on myself. In fact, I probably would've. There were more laughs in the car, accompanied with some snacking and we made it home by about 4 pm. We relieved the puppy sitter, vegged out in front of the TV, ordered take out, and were in bed by 9 pm. I could barely move this morning and I'm still sore. Today, stairs are my enemy.
I loved Yosemite. It was beautiful and I would love to go back. Next time, though, I'm going to be more prepared for a hike and I would very much like to stay in the valley. And maybe one day I, too, will be able to say I hiked Half Dome :)
There were two groups: the Half Dome hike group (which eventually split into the Advanced group and the Not-So-Advanced group) and the Nevada Falls hike group - Nevada Falls being about 1/4 of the way to Half Dome. I was part of the Nevada Falls hike along with my sister and her mother and sister-in-law. Have I mentioned I hate to hike? I hate it! And I have no valid reason for my despise, either, just that it's hard. But there I was anyway. Luckily I had a great hiking buddy in my sister so she pushed me through it. I wanted to quit almost immediately but there she was kicking my butt and telling me I had to do it. She also deduced that I was feeling sick because I hadn't eaten. I was so nervous that morning that I was only able to eat 1/2 of a banana, which is most definitely not enough fuel for a strenuous hike. So I pulled out an energy bar and nibbled on it while I walked. Eventually I had calmed down enough to finish the bar and I immediately felt better. We hiked to the footbridge of the first waterfall, the Vernal Falls, and then up 600 cobblestone stairs (on which we witnessed an unfortunate sight of somebody losing their breakfast) to the top. There the four of us took a snack and pee break, battled with some squirrels and birds to keep our food, and then made our way to our destination, the Nevada Falls.
I was feeling good at this point. I was hydrated and energized and appreciative of the beautiful scenery. I felt this way until we got to the bottom of the cobblestone stairs to the Nevada waterfall. Those sucked. They were steep and almost completely in the sun. At one point we pulled to the side to unzip and remove our pant legs. BTW - I would like to shake the hand of the person who invented zip-away pants. You're a genius - THANK YOU! We took a lot of breaks on those stairs but eventually Sister and I went ahead of the other two ladies and made it to the top in one piece. We pulled up a shady rock and ate lunch to refuel. Eventually the other two ladies made their way to the top and the four of us broke apart from each other and lounged in various places at the top. I even managed to take a quick cat nap on a 1/2 shady 1/2 sunny rock. All in all we spent about 2 hours on top of the waterfall.
What an amazing accomplishment that was for me - making it all the way to the top of the Falls. Especially since I was only planning on making it to the top of the first falls! I was pretty darn proud of myself! And I even managed to ration my water well, too. I think I had just enough to get back to the bottom.
Speaking of getting back to the bottom, we remembered how steep and dangerous the trail was coming up, and none of us were really keen on taking that back down, so Sister decided to ask a fellow hiker if there was another trail. Sure enough there was. It was a tad longer (only by .3 miles) but it was a gradual decline and more of a straight shot. The end of it even brought you back down to an outhouse and a water supply. It was still a bit slippery and there were a few inclines, but nothing we hadn't seen on our way up. And there was even a pleasant surprise of runoff from a waterfall, in which we stood for a bit to cool off.
Our main concern the entire time of our return was that we wanted to get off of the trail before it turned dark. Even though Sister had a flashlight, trekking down slippery rocks is no fun, especially in the dark, so we were racing against time. We only had to take one snack break on our way down to re-energize. We luckily got to the bottom of the trail before the sun set. We still had about a mile and a half (give or take) to walk to get back to the car, and at that point it had gotten dark, but luckily Hubby met us at the bottom and he brushed off his Eagle Scout skills and ran ahead of us to find the car and to make sure we were going the right way. We were and after a 12 hour hike, and 15 hours of being awake, we finished and were rewarded with a car ride to the pizza parlor.
Hubby and Sister waited in line to order pizza for the group and I waited in a separate line to order beer for the three of us. I then scoped out some tables and marked our territory and we waited until the rest of the group met up with us. They were all very relieved and grateful that the pizza had already been ordered, especially since it was an hour wait to get it, which gave them some free time to do a little souvenir and beer shopping. We all exchanged war stories and showed each other our battle scars. I couldn't think of any better way to end the day. We left the park around 10:30 and made it back to the hotel an hour later. I immediately booked it into the shower and soon Hubby and I crawled into bed. We slept pretty soundly, despite the broken A/C unit and the uncomfortable mattress, and awoke at 9:00 the next morning. Hubby and I attempted to ransack the Continental breakfast with only mild luck (there were so many people that we were able to get a small cup of OJ and I managed to pour myself a small bowl of cereal). We went back to the room, got dressed, packed and then hit the road. Unfortunately Hubby wanted to get on the road, so our car forwent the group breakfast and instead hit up a Burger King. However, that particular Burger King proved that not all fast food restaurants are fast and the entire process probably took the same amount of time as going out to breakfast would have taken, minus the incident of spilling OJ on myself. Or maybe I still would've spilled OJ on myself. In fact, I probably would've. There were more laughs in the car, accompanied with some snacking and we made it home by about 4 pm. We relieved the puppy sitter, vegged out in front of the TV, ordered take out, and were in bed by 9 pm. I could barely move this morning and I'm still sore. Today, stairs are my enemy.
I loved Yosemite. It was beautiful and I would love to go back. Next time, though, I'm going to be more prepared for a hike and I would very much like to stay in the valley. And maybe one day I, too, will be able to say I hiked Half Dome :)
Saturday, September 4, 2010
New do and new attitude!
I got my hair done yesterday and the hairdresser asked me why the drastic change. I didn't have a good answer for him, besides that I'm just ready for a new look, but it made me think - why AM I getting my hair done? And why the drastic change? I guess, subconsciously, I decided that I needed to change the way I felt about my looks and my body. So I'm going to take care of myself. I'm going to lose weight, exercise and just work on being a happier person. I guess this blog is going to help me with that. In theory, it'll help me stand accountable.
What's the first thing I'm going to do you ask? Well, I've already joined a softball team with my husband. I hate playing sports, and moving in general, but I think this'll help me on multiple levels. I'll exercise, yes, but it'll also help me make new friends, which is also something I've been lacking. Our first practices are Tuesday and Thursday of this upcoming week, followed by our first game next Sunday. Unfortunately, because the practices are relatively early in the evening and because I work so far away, I'm not going to be able to make them, but Hubby is going. Sadly, though, Hubby is going to be away next weekend and won't be making the game. So he'll practice but not play in the game, and I won't practice but will play in the game. That makes sense, right? Hopefully I'll be able to recall what I learned during my baseball days (20 years ago) and won't cower when the ball comes flying to my head. Did I mention I especially don't like sports where the ball comes flying to my head? Good choice of a sport, huh?
My complex has a community pool so that'll be another outlet of which I can use toward my goal of exercising. I love to swim and I wouldn't be surprised if I found out that I was a fish in a previous life. When I was a kid, my parents could never get me out of the pool. I would sleep in it if I could. I always felt that swimming underwater was as close to flying as one could get. And it's a good form of exercise, too. It works every muscle but is easy on the body and it's fun so you don't even feel like you're exercising. Needless to say I'm an advocate for swim time :)
I should probably break out my Wii Fit or Wii Sports games, too. I used to use them a lot but currently the board has begun to gather dust. Life got away from me and I found the couch, TV and food more enticing. Which brings us to where we are now and the reason why I have to start this long, exhausting process all over again. :::sigh::: If only I still had the metabolism now as I did in high school. Isn't that what we all wish?
What's the first thing I'm going to do you ask? Well, I've already joined a softball team with my husband. I hate playing sports, and moving in general, but I think this'll help me on multiple levels. I'll exercise, yes, but it'll also help me make new friends, which is also something I've been lacking. Our first practices are Tuesday and Thursday of this upcoming week, followed by our first game next Sunday. Unfortunately, because the practices are relatively early in the evening and because I work so far away, I'm not going to be able to make them, but Hubby is going. Sadly, though, Hubby is going to be away next weekend and won't be making the game. So he'll practice but not play in the game, and I won't practice but will play in the game. That makes sense, right? Hopefully I'll be able to recall what I learned during my baseball days (20 years ago) and won't cower when the ball comes flying to my head. Did I mention I especially don't like sports where the ball comes flying to my head? Good choice of a sport, huh?
My complex has a community pool so that'll be another outlet of which I can use toward my goal of exercising. I love to swim and I wouldn't be surprised if I found out that I was a fish in a previous life. When I was a kid, my parents could never get me out of the pool. I would sleep in it if I could. I always felt that swimming underwater was as close to flying as one could get. And it's a good form of exercise, too. It works every muscle but is easy on the body and it's fun so you don't even feel like you're exercising. Needless to say I'm an advocate for swim time :)
I should probably break out my Wii Fit or Wii Sports games, too. I used to use them a lot but currently the board has begun to gather dust. Life got away from me and I found the couch, TV and food more enticing. Which brings us to where we are now and the reason why I have to start this long, exhausting process all over again. :::sigh::: If only I still had the metabolism now as I did in high school. Isn't that what we all wish?
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