Holidays

That Time of Year

Posted by Lisa Eirene

Well I’m not at all surprised that with all that traveling we just did that I got a cold! Thankfully I don’t think it’s the flu (I never had a fever) but I felt pretty crappy last week and basically all weekend. πŸ™

I was home Thursday and Friday and either on the couch or in bed. Drinking gallons of theraflu, emergenC, taking ColdEze and elderberry cough drops. Yuck! The good news is that I got to catch up on some TV shows snuggling with the fur babies on the couch.

I watched Pandemic on Netflix (very good) and started Locke and Key (also pretty good, with a twist of fantasy and mild horror). And I got caught up on my favorite TV shows I’m behind on (Schitt’s Creek, Grey’s Anatomy, and SVU). Lots of napping. Lots of laziness.

I was sick for Valentine’s Day. Bummer. But Michael brought home pho (my favorite when I have a cold) and some keto ice cream!

Not really doing keto right now while I’m sick but trying to do low carb at the very least. The pho hit the spot! The ice cream was a little weird in texture but I’ll try it again. πŸ™‚

Logan got me a super sweet card:

Michael also got some keto bread at Costco!

Saturday night I had a grilled ham and cheese sandwich on the bread. It was pretty decent. It itched the craving for a sandwich! The bread was pretty good. The first half was good but the second half got a little soggy and the bread started falling apart a bit. Maybe using the keto bread for just grilled cheese, no ham, would be better.

Sunday morning I had eggs and avocado toast with the keto bread. The keto bread was great as toast!

Sunday I also went to the doctor. I was feeling a lot worse and it was turning into a sinus infection. Antibiotics and prednisone for a few days. BOO. My surgery last year definitely fixed my issues, though. Instead of 7 or 8 sinus infections a year, one is definitely an improvement!

Also, once I’m feeling better I need to get back to weight lifting. I notice that when that falls off I start having issues with my back and stuff. My SI joint has been bugging me for weeks and my hip and back feel terrible. Probably because all I’ve done for a month is cardio (swimming, running, hiking etc). I need to get back to strength training asap!

As for losing weight…I managed to NOT gain any weight in Hawaii! Yay! I did a mostly on plan diet (low carb, not necessarily keto) with splurges every day (like rice with my poke and then birthday cake) but I didn’t go crazy and we were super active. So that was nice. I did manage to gain 2 pounds in LA, of course. LOL How does that happen?!? Who even knows. But as soon as this cold is over with I am back to the diet, back to the gym!

I started doing Keto last February 1st and have done it in fits and starts, which isn’t ideal and not effective. Stuff kept popping up (my surgery, the stress of buying a house and moving and then the holidays) so I basically kept gaining and losing THE SAME 10 pounds since last year. I am really hoping I can do better this year.

2020

Posted by Lisa Eirene

The start of a new decade. As I look back, I think of all of the stuff I did and all the things I accomplished and think “wow.” It was a lot!

I started this blog. I made a lot of friends online through blogging and Twitter. I am grateful for that. It was nice to have a “community.” I maintained my weight loss of 110 pounds for over 10 years.

I was on the cover of a magazine! And on the local news. My 15 minutes of fame. LOL

Michael and I did a TON of traveling! Something I definitely miss. Having kids means that changes, for sure. We still travel but it looks differently. But pre-Logan, we went to Texas a few times (Austin was great!), Vegas a few times, Tucson twice, California, Hawaii twice…so many fun trips.

We did a lot of activities together, too. I ran a bunch of races–half a dozen 5ks, a 10k, Hood To Coast. We biked a lot of events together (Reach the Beach and the Portland Century). You can read about the different events here.

We got a dog! Welcome to the family, Bella! Bella has been a gift to our family. I can’t imagine our life without her. She’s the best dog ever. She’s the best cuddler. πŸ˜€ She’s just so happy and sweet.

We got engaged and married. And went to Maui for our honeymoon. That was such a magical time!

I got pregnant and we had Logan:

It’s crazy how different our life is after having a baby. It really does change everything. But like with Bella, I can’t imagine NOT having Logan in our life. Both are a blessing.

Logan was a fairly easy baby with a sweet disposition and a goofy laugh. He loved everything and everyone and was curious and energetic. He grew into a curious and energetic toddler. And now, in 2020 he’s going to turn 4 years old (crazy!) and he’s smart and stubborn and inquisitive and opinionated.

In sad news, I said goodbye to my beloved kitty of 15 years. It was one of the hardest, saddest things I’ve ever done and the grief was real. I cried for months. It took almost a year and a half before I was able to even think about another cat.

In 2018 we welcomed Stevie to our family:

Stevie fit right into our family immediately like he always belonged there. He loves everyone and particularly loves cuddling with Bella! It’s so cute. πŸ™‚

In 2019, Logan and I both had surgery. I had sinus surgery (which has helped me a lot!) and Logan got tubes put in his ears. While both were good things, it added to the stress of 2019 in particular. Healing in general is difficult.

We bought a new house in 2019. Packed up our old house, finished the remodeling projects, moved into our new house, put our house on the market….

And after a VERY stressful summer, our old house SOLD! What a relief! A huge weight off our shoulders. We could finally relax and enjoy our new house and get settled without worrying about the old house selling.

As I sit down and think about the last decade of my life I think “pheww! that was a lot of stuff!” And it was, a lot of big life stuff. Big “adult” stuff. To say that it’s been a lot would be an understatement.

When I think about the new year and what I want to accomplish, my goals are simple. Yes, I am still trying to lose weight. I still have 20 or so pounds to lose. I’ve struggled with my depression and anxiety and medication management. I have been gaining and losing the same 10 pounds since I had Logan. It’s frustrating. So I am hoping that 2020 is the year I end that cycle.

I’d also like to work on being more kind to myself. I often feel like a failure when I don’t reach my goals in a specific time frame, even if they aren’t realistic. Patience is not my forte.

I’d also like to build more me time and more family time/downtime into our schedule. We tend to be very booked and it can get stressful and overwhelming. I miss doing fun stuff on the weekends and going out of town for little getaways. I’d like to do that more.

QUESTION: What were the big highlights of your decade? Any New Year’s Resolutions?