Laughter is the Best Medicine

This week can be summed up in two words: whomp whomp....My family has been dealing with a lot of things over the past two weeks, but I'm really making an effort to not be a total Debbie Downer about it. I posted earlier in the week about the loss of our family dog, Marley. I also mentioned briefly last week that I'd gotten news about a family member's declining health, and this week it went downhill quickly from there as the doctor's had predicted. Yesterday, my Uncle Steve passed away. I took a red eye to Virginia last night and am writing this from the patio of my parents house. Even though the circumstances suck, it is nice to be home and I am excited to spend time with my family.

Everyone deals with the loss of a loved one in a different way. My dad, my sister and I, much to my mother's dismay, deal with things like this by making jokes. Often under our breath at inappropriate times. Laughter is our medicine, and it helps that we're pretty damn funny too. Or at least we like to think so :)

We usually haven't even gotten out of the car at the graveside service before one of us says, "Good thing we got here early, people are dying to get in this place!" Classic Barnes family humor. Our mom has gotten used to it and has perfected her eye roll, but she still cracks a smile most of the time. I just wish we didn't have to say it as many times as we've had to.

It's an unfortunate reason to get to see your family you don't get together with often enough, but I like to look at the bright side of things, we'll get to see each other now and I'm planning to take advantage of that while I'm here. I'm very much in the 'celebrate life' camp, so cracking jokes and reminiscing about funny stories is one way that we do that.

That's not the only unfortunate news of the week, but I think that's quite enough 'whomp whomp' for one post :)

To cheer it up a bit, I Googled 'funny cat pictures' and I highly recommend you do the same. There were so many I couldn't even choose which ones I'd want to post. For some reason this one made me laugh the hardest though...

Basher needs a hat like that asap!

The Original Marley & Me

15ish years ago, long before the book and movie brought you Marley the world's worst dog, my dad brought me home the world's cutest puppy. This was also long before digital cameras so I don't have any cute puppy pictures for you, but believe me when I say he looked a lot like this:

Source

I had begged for a puppy, like most kids I guess, for years. Every Christmas I thought "this is going to be the year!" but instead my parents thought it was HILARIOUS to give me stuffed animal puppies to open. That actually is kind of funny now that I look back at it :)

One year, a few weeks before Christmas my dad came home with an adorable little puppy and I could not have been more thrilled. I named him Marley, yes after Bob, and the first night I had him he stuck his butt up to the side of his crate and pooped on my lavender carpet. Other than that rocky start, he was everything I'd ever wanted in a puppy.

We lived in a very rural area, so during the day Marley stayed in a nice, big pen attached to our shed so he could run around and not have to stay in his crate while we were gone. Everyday after school I would go out there to let him out, promptly be covered in puppy kisses, then race him to the house. About a week after we got him, I came home from school to find another Beagle puppy in the pen with Marley. I was totally confused but hey, two puppies are better than one! Turns out my mom felt bad about Marley being alone while we were at school and work and made my dad go back and get one of Marley's brothers to keep him company. The picture above is literally exactly what they looked liked, but again this was a time of film cameras so that is not actually them...

Marley and Toby were ridiculous. Ridiculously cute, ridiculously funny, ridiculously michevious. I distinctly remember the two of them running down the street, each holding the end of our neighbors lawn chair cushion, with only their wagging tails visible.

Toby was around for 5 or 6 years before we lost him to an unfortunate accident. Marley was visibly upset for a long time after that, but remained the most loyal and sweet dog.

My mom called me this past Friday night at a very late hour. I was expecting her to give me bad news about our relative who is sick. Instead, she told me that Marley had been hit by a car and didn't make it.

He lived a good life and I am so glad we got to spend time with him the last we were home.

I know some people think it's weird to mourn a pet, but if you have pets you know that they are most definitely a part of your family.

Every one of our neighbors knew him and said hi to him on his daily walks with my mom or my sister. Everyone who has been to our house in the past 15 years was greeted in the driveway by Marley...and he probably peed on 3 out of 4 of their tires while they were there. He loved long walks, belly rubs, bacon grease and hooking up with the pit bull down the street (he was sort of a ladies dog...). He was kind of stinky, picked fights with dogs three times his size, and had a semi-rational fear of cats. He was Marley way before the book/movie made it cool. I hope that doggie heaven is full of bones to chew on and trees, tires, mailboxes, coolers, couches and camping chairs for him to mark as his very own :)

Surviving Mondays

My sister recently graduated from college and was very lucky to get a good job right away. She actually had her second interview while we were back in Virginia recently for her graduation. It was fun to see her all dressed up!

Yes I did make her pose for a picture before she left :)

So far she likes the job and she likes her coworkers, which is awesome. Nothing worse than crappy coworkers you dread seeing everyday! I've been very lucky to have awesome coworkers in all my jobs so far, I think it makes a huge difference in how you see your job.

Last week she emailed on Monday afternoon saying something to the effect of "ugh, I'm tired/can't concentrate/just want to go home..." she also said she couldn't figure out why she felt out of sorts and bored that day. I knew why. My exact response was "Awwww you've got your first case of the Mondays, that's so sweet!"

I think she replied back and told me to shut up :P

There is something about Monday afternoon that makes your brain want to take a nap. I don't remember that happening in college - possibly because I did occasionally take an actual nap - so I think it's a 9-5, work week thing.

Today wasn't a typical Monday for me, I took a personal day today and kept myself busy doing things around the house and taking a long afternoon walk. Nothing like a beautiful view of the water to help clear your head!

My need for a personal day came on the heels of some bad news about a family member's quickly declining health. I've been reminded lately just how important it is to take care of yourself, both mentally and physically. If you repeatedly treat your body like crap (or your mind for that matter), it will at some point fail you when you need it most. That doesn't mean you have to run marathons - which sounds absolutely miserable to me - or drink those green smoothies all the time, just pay attention to what you're doing to yourself. And most importantly, make time to call your family members once in awhile to catch up. You'll never regret calling them, but you might very well regret not calling them. Ok maybe some family members you might regret calling :) everybody's got one...or two.

Do you ever get a 'case of the Mondays'? Any great wisdom for those just starting out in the working world?

Book Review: Divergent

One of my 28 in 28 goals is to read 1 new book a month. I'll be honest, I have not done very well with this so far...but I'm trying to make up for it this summer. I figure if I read an average of 1 book a month (so 12 this year) I can cross that one off the list! I also want to squeeze in as much recreational reading as I can before I start grad school in September. I have a feeling there won't be a ton of non-school related reading happening after that, unless I find more books like this one that I can read in a weekend or less :)

Here's a quick overview from Barnes & Noble's website:

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.

One of the reasons I chose this book, besides the good reviews I found, is that I'd heard it was similar to The Hunger Games. I haven't jumped on the HG bandwagon yet but I plan too, this book just happened to be cheaper at the time.

I loved the characters in this book, especially Tris, she's small and quiet, but also really badass. I also hated characters in this book, which I think is necessary too. There is a guy named Peter that I was really rooting to get hit by a train or something...him and his two friends made me really rage-y. 

I read the book in about 3 days, and it only took that long because I made myself put it down! It's an easy read, like most young adult books are, and the plot is incredibly interesting. The world that Veronica Roth creates is not completely far fetched, she explains the reasoning behind the factions very well and makes you think, hmmm I guess that makes sense. My only issue, and this is just because I'm curious, is that she doesn't address what's going on in the rest of the world outside Chicago. The characters don't even address it as Chicago, to them it's just their world, but she mentions Chicago landmarks so you know that's where they are. Maybe that comes into play in the later books in her series.

I had to resist the urge to run over to Barnes & Noble and scoop up the second book in the series, Insurgent. From what I can tell, this is going to be a trilogy but the third book hasn't been released yet. I'm going to hold off from buying Insurgent to see if it becomes available on PaperbackSwap.com in the next week or so. I joined Paperback Swap last night and I think it's a pretty cool concept, you list books you have at home on the site and when another member requests your book, you drop it in the mail and receive a credit for it. You can use your credit to request books you want which are then mailed to you for free and are yours to keep. So basically, you swap books for the price of the postage you pay to mail your books, which is usually $2.50-4.00. Not too shabby. Plus, they come right to your door and you don't have to return them. I don't usually buy that many books (I had a B&N gift card I used for Divergent), I'm a big fan of the library, but I also forget to take books back pretty frequently :)

Have you read Divergent? What did you think?

Anyone used PaperbackSwap.com?

A Chock Full Weekend & Restaurant Review: Barefoot Bar & Grill at Paradise Point

Once again, the weekend went by way too fast! Saturday morning we woke up relatively early and I got started on some work (including making a few tweaks to the blog design, love these social media buttons I found!) and then went on an easy run/walk to the beach and back. My hip did ok until the end, so I walked the majority of the way home just to be safe.

We decided it was finally time to use the Massage Envy gift card my aunt gave us for our engagement party - I have no idea how we held onto that thing for over a year! I'm glad we waited until we were in California though, because it turns out there is a Massage Envy across the street from us that we can walk to. The massages were great, it was the Ty's first time getting one and he said he had a hard time relaxing, but I definitely did not! Mine ended up being a little more deep tissue-like than I normally would get, and a few times it was a little painful, but in a good way. Because I rarely get massages I figured I should make this one worth it. She worked on my hip flexors a lot and I could REALLY feel it yesterday, I was so sore, but feeling good today.

After our massages, we continued on our mini-spa day with lunch at a new place we just discovered. When we came back from Virginia a few weeks ago, we took the Super Shuttle home from the airport and there were two other women riding with us who got dropped off at Paradise Point Resort. We were shocked when we pulled up, this place is maybe 3 miles away from us, I drive by it every day on the way to work, but it's tucked away and we'd never noticed it. It literally feels like paradise! It actually reminds me of a place I stayed in Costa Rica when I went on an eco-tour for a class in college.

Paradise Point has a restaurant called Barefoot Bar & Grill that is right on Mission Bay. Can't beat this view!

They have a lagoon built around the eating area too.

We started with chips & dip which came with 3 dips: queso, salsa and avocado dip. All three were really good, the queso and avocado dip were both really creamy and the salsa had a good balance of sweet and spicy.

I got the grilled cheese and tomato basil soup for my meal, which was amazing. The bread was really thick and it had Fontina and Vermont white cheddar cheeses on it...I've had a lot of cheese in my day and Vermont white cheddar is by far my favorite. The tomato soup was delicious too, very creamy and topped with brioche croutons (I'd already eaten those before I remembered to take a picture!).

I think dipping a good grilled cheese in tomato soup ranks in my top 5 favorite comfort foods, and it was a cool day out so it really hit the spot. This did too :)

Ty went with a burger, which was also delicious and easy to eat. You know how sometimes burgers are too thick or the bun is way bigger than the burger itself? It makes it hard to enjoy it when you're trying so hard to cram it in your mouth. This one was just right, evenly distributed and it fit the bun perfectly.

We will definitely be visiting Barefoot again, I think it'll be a great place to take our parents when they come visit this summer!

We took it easy Saturday night because I had to be up early on Sunday to head up to San Clemente with my friend Emily for a YNPN San Diego planning retreat. I joined YNPN about a month after we moved here and I've met some really great people through it. Only people who work at nonprofit wake up early on the weekends to talk strategic planning and actually enjoy it :)

Hope you had a great weekend too!

Aerial Art, Hips and Posts I Loved this Week

Look what I made at work yesterday:

Aerial art for Kids' Ocean Day

That is 1000 people and all sorts of awesome. I wrote more about it on my other blog if you're interested. Setting up aerial art is no joke, my legs are sore today from helping draw that image in the sand. It was worth it though, it was amazing to watch it come to life and see what it looked like from above.

So remember when I said I cured that pain in my butt? Spoke to soon. Wednesday I went for a run and my hip started hurting so bad I had to stop and walk. It felt better that night but I think I'm going to have to take it easier than I thought the next few weeks.

There was so much going on this week that I fell behind on my blog reading, but here are a few posts here are two I really enjoyed from the personal finance blogs I like:

Why You Should Stop Buying Cheap Clothes - And Read This Book - The Girl next Door's Guide to Finance. This goes along well with my budget wardrobe makeover.

How I Paid Off $14,000 and Became Debt Free - Careful Cents. I think a lot of people my age can understand this one.

Looking forward to a relaxing weekend, hopefully some beach time in there somewhere!

How to Cure a Pain in the Butt

A literal pain, not your chatty neighbor or annoying co-worker :)

I was SO excited to get my new running shoes and get back to my Couck to 5k program this weekend. One of my 28 in 28 goals is to run a 5k in under 30 minutes, and I'm planning on that being the Race for the Cure in November. I have plenty of time but having to stop the 5k program definitely wasn't part of my plan. Not only do I need to build back up to running 3.1 miles without stopping, I need to work considerably on my speed, which is typically more in the 'jog' category than 'run.'

Saturday the husband and I set out on one of our long walks to break in my new kicks. For the past year or two, I've occasionally had this weird pain in my...butt...while walking and sometimes running. Mostly walking though. It is usually only on the right side, which is coincidentally the same side I've been having hip pain that caused me to stop running this time around. Saturday, the pain was on BOTH sides and it even continued off and on for the rest of the afternoon after we got back and I was walking around the house.

Of course I hopped on Google and tried to figure out what was going on. From what I've read, I think my piriformis is what is causing my pain in the butt (I'm showing as much restraint as possible with the butt jokes...). I don't have piriformis syndrome which I guess is when the piriformis muscle, a pretty small muscle to cause so many issues, puts pressure on your sciatic nerve and causes pain down your leg. My pain is really more like a deep muscle cramp and it's only in one spot.

The good news is, I don't think it's a major side-lining kind of thing. And, since I'm also pretty sure that my hip pain is a hip flexor issue, those two things are most likely related and all I need to do is take it easy and add some more hip stretches to my yoga routine. It just so happens that some of my favorite yoga poses are perfect for hip flexor and piriformis issues:

Pigeon Pose (Source)

Half Fish Pose (Source)

Happy Baby Pose (Source)

Saturday and Sunday I did a lot of walking and stretching and then went on my first run in at least a month yesterday. I could still feel stiffness in my hip/butt, but no cramping! When I stopped Couch to 5k a few weeks ago, I had just finished week 4. I decided to re-start on week 3 to ease back into it and the run felt really good. I came home and immediately stretched. I'm a little sore this morning, but nothing like the pain I was having before. Pain in the butt cured :)

Last night I also wanted to make an easy dinner, so we opted for pasta with meat sauce (just seasoned half a package of ground turkey and tossed it into Trader Joe's marinara - which is the BEST). Pasta can be pretty boring, I wrote a while back about a few ways we make pasta more interesting but another way is to buy fun shaped pasta. Not like Sponge Bob fun shaped pasta, although they do make that, this is what we tried this time:

How cute is that?

Also on the agenda last night, diving into a new book!

I'm trying to squeeze in some fun reading before I start grad school in the fall. I haven't read The Hunger Games yet, I'm waiting for my mom & sister to finish those and send them to me, so in the mean time I'd heard good things about the Divergent series. I was looking for something easy but interesting, and so far this is both. I devoured 6 or so chapters last night!

I hope you're having a great week!

If you do yoga, what is your favorite yoga pose?


Are you reading anything interesting right now?

New Schedules & Posts I Loved This Week

I've always wanted to be a morning person. I've read articles about the benefits of getting up early and getting things done to start your day off right, but that's just not me. Or apparently that's just not East Coast me.

Ty started his new job this week, which meant we had to adjust our morning schedules to accommodate both of us taking showers, etc. and leaving the house about an hour earlier than I had been leaving since we're currently sharing a car. I usually set my alarm for 6:45, snooze until 7:00 or so, take my time showering and getting dressed, make breakfast and leave the house between 8:30-8:45. Well at some point Monday night I went a little crazy and decided I was going to set my alarm for 5:30am on Tuesday to get up early and do some work.

This isn't abnormal for me really, there have been millions of times I've decided to wake up earlier than normal in an attempt to workout or get some things done. Usually what happens though, is I drive Ty nuts by hitting the snooze for almost that entire hour I'd planned to be up and productive. Not this week though. I don't know if it is because I lived on the East Coast for 27 years and my body is subconsciously still on Eastern time, but here on the West Coast it seems I'm a morning person. And so far I'm loving it.

View from our balcony, ignore that ugly rooftop and it's a beautiful view of Fiesta Bay.

Not only have I set my alarm for 5:30 every day this week and actually gotten up, the past two days I've woken up 10 minutes before the alarm even went off! And no snoozing! I've gotten a ton of work done for my blogs (this one and my nonprofit blog), I'm staying caught up on my Google Reader, and so far I haven't been the lease bit tired in the afternoons like I usually am. I'm still going to bed at about the same time (10:00ish) so maybe before I'd been getting too much sleep? I don't know, I'm just hoping this wasn't a weird one week thing.

I'm not a huge coffee drinker in the mornings, although I do sometimes like the routine aspect of waking up and having coffee or tea. I have been drinking a vitamin energy drink each morning when I get up and while I'm catching up on blogs etc. I hate the taste of most energy drinks like Red Bull, they taste like...well you probably don't want to know what I think they taste like...gross, I'll leave it at that. The husband and I are big fans of an energy drink called Spark that you buy as a powder and mix yourself. (full disclosure: the husband is an Advocare Distributor so that link goes to his Advocare website) It's low in sugar, has a ton of B vitamins, and about the same caffeine as a cup of coffee. I'm not sure it really has anything to do with helping me wake up and be alert in the mornings, but it's becoming part of my routine. Plus, most of the flavors kind of taste like Kool-Aid :)

Since I'm so on top of my Google Reader this week, I thought I'd share a few blog posts I read and bookmarked for their awesomeness:

A few of my real life friends also have cooking blogs and posted delicious, super easy recipes this week:

Hope made this amazing Balsamic Chicken Caprese that I want to try, looks easy too.

Stephanie is trying to make everyone jealous with her fresh caught tuna :) but I think the Asian-style marinade would be good on any fish.

Brittany did a great job explaining natural sweeteners and even included a handy conversion chart for substitutions!

Also in my bookmarks, Tina, whose general philosophy on healthy living is great to begin with, wrote a post on why she doesn't do diets. Number 1 reason? Beer :)

I read so many good things this week in my new I'm-a-morning-person high, what did you love reading this week?

Are you or have you ever tried to be a morning person?