Kick It. Kick It Good.

I cannot say more wonderful things about how delicious and easy this recipe is. I made it a couple of times but today, I plussed everything – more ginger, more garlic, the juice of one orange but then about a cup more of regular orange juice, then cooked the sauce on low much longer and it is even better. I also throw in red yellow pepper and snap peas at the very end. I don’t bother with the cornstarch or the egg whites because I don’t have a wok but definitely searing the meat is a good idea.

I just love being in my bed. It’s 1220 and I’ve had some water, and my regular protein smoothie. I turned my electric blanket back on and now we’re all just cuddling. I got enough sleep, but it just feels so cozy and relaxed in here.

I had a tough day yesterday. The night before was Fourth of July and I walked an hour down to the ferry terminal to get on a sailboat to go watch the fireworks on the bay to see the Golden Gate Bridge light up, and it was all fogged in. It was such a bummer. I walked all the way back home, fighting being grumpy. I went to bed really sad and heavy and woke up that same way.

I was emotional and teary all day yesterday and just felt so exhausted. I could not figure it out. I’m definitely working on getting better sleep but it’s inconsistent and I’m realizing now how much less than six hours affects me. I felt so depressed. I could not drag myself up to get anything done or be productive at all or even leave the house, and it scared me a little.

It felt amazing to get rid of all of that stuff - I’ve carried the same clothes around for years. I’m actually quite clean, despite some hoarding habits. Over the last few years, Ive focused on simplifying quite a bit. Losing weight has helped me deal with the whole clothing situation – like most women, I have four pairs of jeans that met my weight range. I could still easily lose about 30 pounds but I’m feeling pretty good about where I’m at. I’m pretty stable, and with my huge boobs gone through the breast reduction, clothes just fit better. So I got rid of all my tent-like clothes that I’d hide in. I also kept a few nice things but now they’re in the back of my closet.

What’s in front? That would be loungewear. Because that’s my lifestyle now.

I couldn’t recommend the Swedish theory of lagom (“just the right amount”) which is Swedish-inspired minimalism. I still haven’t mastered the Swedish death clean yet – that might come later on this year. Baby steps.

What you do is move (or put away) just 5 things. Put away 5 items that are out of place. Throw away 5 pieces of trash. Donate or relocate 5 things. Then stop if you want.

Do I know any of Olivia’s music? No, not really. Do I care? Nope. Did I pay way too much h for these tickets? Absolutely. Am I bothered? If you had a microscope, you couldnt detect a level of care.

I have gift bags for everyone -Olivia Dean friendship bracelets, face glitter, sparkly nail polish, neon sunglasses, a big happy birthday banner, and an instant camera with built-in photo printer for Cam to take pictures of the concert. I have to get a cake but that’s easy.

I’m a little nervous about where everyone’s going to sleep, I have a big air mattress, but I’m not sure if it works so got a pump to try it but then also found this really cool foldable mattress on Amazon for like 70% off so I ended up just buying that too.

Feeling a lot of gratitude today. For Grace, recovery, and time. I’m starting to relax into the idea that everyday can be something fun.

5am fire alarm. Fake news, nothing was on fire. Thankfully I’d managed to get two hours of sleep before it went off and I had to be up by 6am to prepare.

4:45am. Waiting to board my 6am flight. I have a faint recollection of waking up. Security was surprisingly busy.

The control freak in me did not respond well to my name being misspelled which caused slight delay at security. I’m not sure if it was the person from my client’s company who misspelled it or the Delta guy who helped me change my seat, nor does it matter.

I was on a boat in Monterey trying to find blue whales. Several of my Whale friends were there too. There’s lots of krill pretty far out in the ocean and it’s the only food blue whales eat.

We managed to find a female and her calf – the calf was playing with dolphins, rolling around in the water as they jumped over it. Blue whales don’t have a lot of predators, nor do their babies, probably the only thing that could come close is a really large group of very experienced orca hunters, but that’s pushing it. A baby is born about 27ft - pretty tough to kill. This mom was 97 feet long, as big as three school buses lined up, front to back. They’ve found some that are almost 200ft long, over half the size of a football field.

The largest mammal on earth. It was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen. I thought I was taking a picture of it here but I had flipped the camera around accidentally. I’m glad I captured this instead.