Life and emotions are ephemeral

A big reason why J and I decided to even go for it is because we’re so tired of having to uproot our lives because landlords want to raise the rent by ridiculous amounts or sell their property. Annnd after living in a house, we can’t go back to living in an apartment. And the asking price for the house was too good of an opportunity to miss. Even my parents in the real estate field approved highly in our decision. Our mortgage will be close to what the rent would be for a similar house and square feet in our neighborhood, and we don’t plan to move from our town any time soon since we like our jobs. I did wish we had time to plan to put a bigger down payment, but we are grateful our family are helping with the closing costs too. That was our big wedding wish

I also just got a raise, I didn’t get a raise I requested (but I was shooting my shot) but a pretty reasonable one, near a 10% raise AND continued student loan repayment assistance in a higher amount than what they are paying currently. So that helps me a LOT, because the student loan repayment assistance from work was going to end on my 3rd year of employment and it has honestly helped pay off some of the principal and will continue to help as interest will start to accrue after this month. But I don’t need to go on a different repayment program until next year so I’m just milking that.. so the fact my job can help with that without it coming out of my paycheck is huge.

I’ve kind of been just keeping on and unplugged from social media for the most part. I barely go on Instagram.

Anyways.. some things in my life lately

- closer to the end of buying the house my husband and I have been renting.. closing date is end of August. This whole process has been stressful (we were told seller wanted to sell the house early July, scrambled to get everything done to make an offer..) and I’m constantly oscillating in if I’m making a good decision, but looking at rental costs and other home values in the area does help. And we don’t have to move!!!

- just had jury summons today and that brought a lot of old memories and anxieties I wasnt expecting after such a long time. Didn’t get selected though but I was hoping for that. Lucky I got called in on my day off, but also sucks because I haven’t had a chance to sleep in for a while of my day off due to meetings/appointments

- Did my first half marathon up a mountain in June! I was more consistent with running but with all the stress I haven’t had a lot of motivation with working out, but try to at least once a week

-J and I recently celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary! This year is flying

- requested a higher raise after my 3rd year performance review.. fingers crossed

- doing a lot more gardening and recently got into bonsai

- sleep has suffered. That is why I’m here

- stopped smoking thc earlier this year and it has been going well. I feel like I sleep deeper and longer with dreams abd my anxiety for the most part is not too bad

I got a new car!!!! Among other things

I’ve been super proud of myself! The Covid weight got me and I was weighing more than I ever weighed before.. my highest was around 145 lbs and I wasn’t depressed but was just snacky. After getting my adhd dx and since getting treatment and medications I learned that snacking was me dopamine seeking..

Anyways the first picture is me last year in the summer and the next photo is me a week or two ago.

Since then I’ve been taking up running and a bit obsessed. Running in the sun is my medicine. My brain feels so clear and I just feel so good after a run. And I do strength training at the gym and if I’m not wanting to go outside then I do Pilates at home. Or I roller skate. I’ve also incorporated sprint interval training which studies suggest increases muscle mass (due to use of type II muscle fibers… I’m an anatomy nerd we learned this in OT school lol) and more benefits such as enhancing running endurance, and I do enjoy sprinting and kind of get bored with running after 6+ miles. And the more I run, the more tolerance I build for my type I muscles so incorporating sprinting has been great. I also just eat so much less, I fast during work until 12:40 pm and I’m not a grazer at work. And not snacking at night, especially chips and changing to healthy snacks like seaweed, veggies and dip/hummus, etc

I already made it to my goal weight (128 lbs) and I keep losing more it’s nice but now I also had to get new pants because current wardrobe pants are becoming too loose lol. If I make it to 125 that would be awesome, but honestly it’s been just fun running and being active when it’s nice out

Official wedding is in July which is going to be 🔥🔥

I did a 10k!! My first ever! I don’t think I will be able to achieve doing a half marathon with my wedding this year but 10k is so doable. I may have over did it with running 6 miles Wednesday as my legs are very very sore still but I wasn’t the slowest so I’ll take it. I did my fastest on my first two miles (9 min pace) and kept an 11 min average pace. 10 min pace would be my next goal

And what’s really nice is I feel so many muscles tight, like back and core and it’s definitely sliming me down for the wedding.

Update I can run 3-4 miles pretty okay and want to complete 6 but this weather is so annoying

Anyways, that's my current hyperfixation.

That as well as kpop dance choreography LOL

Please live forever Eggo. I can't imagine my life without you.

It had lead to finding out I had ADHD and on a journey of trial and error with nutrition/diet, health, and fitness to promote my brain and decrease insomnia.

For 2024, instead of making resolution or goals h to at typically stay the same anyways (stay active/be more active, be happy) I’m going to set a word of intention which is: thrive.

I want to thrive at work and start studying for the CHT specialty so I signed up for a study group session run by CHTs through my company that is 1 hour session per week for 14 weeks. I also plan to get the study book to to direct my studies. The accountability for this will be so helpful.

I want to thrive with all the wedding planning that can be challenging for me (and the ADHD doesn’t help) but also luckily J is helping with it too and he is much more organized.

And I also want to thrive in my friendships. I love all my close friends but so many of them are not local so I want to find more like minded friends who are big foodies or into the different hobbies I am!

I also want to thrive with fitness. I’ve been okay at maintaining my fitness this year, my brain definitely gets the urges when I haven’t ran or performed strength training, so that’s good. I want to run a 3k and possibly a half marathon, and I know my new Apple Watch is going to be helpful in this endeavor.