Never Miss Monday

People ask me why I am such a proponent of getting to the gym on Mondays.  Well, because my awesome personal trainer, Amanda, told me once that Monday is the easiest day to get the gym.  It's the beginning of the week, things don't USUALLY pop up, and you get it out of the way while you're still fresh from the weekend.

Obviously you need to go to the gym more than just on Mondays, but I have really made it a point to live by this advice when I am seriously in the swing on working out.  To that end, I had to share this great graphic that I found on Pinterest.

Back to Workouts

The bridal bootcamp has been underway for weeks now, but unfortunately I haven't been as on my game as I should have been... I'm going to blame the long hours at my new job.  

Well, two weeks ago I emailed my personal trainer, the wonderful Amanda, and let her know what my pain points are as far as not having a regular work schedule.  I told her that I'm going to make fitness a much bigger priority and focus on a manageable work life balance.  And she helped me out with some awesome workouts to help get me back into shape.  

First up on the list?  I started getting my act together for spin class on Mondays and Wednesdays at 6:45 p.m.  I cannot even begin to give Sam enough credit for how much he's enabled me to focus on myself.  Sam's on a really easy rotation (think reliably short hours) at Kaiser so he's been able to get home to let Hunter out on the nights I head to the gym directly from work.  

Additionally, Amanda has given me some really handy workouts that involve walking the dog - which is a win win for us because it gives us a chance to do something as a family (Sam joins us) and we also get to involve Hunter.  He has been sleeping through the night A LOT better with all this exercise.  

The best news of all is that I've gotten more than 10,000 steps and more than 30 minutes of intense activity for the last five days in a row counting today.  I know it's not going to happen over night, but this is the second week in a row that I've made it to two spin classes.  Let me tell you, my legs are BURNING, which is a good thing because in the simplest of explanations: the muscles in your legs are the largest, most powerful muscles in your body thus they are capable of burning the most energy aka fat.  

I'm also working my upper body so that my arms and shoulders are as sculpted as possible when I don my beautiful strapless wedding dress in less than five months!  I can't believe how quickly the months are ticking down...

I'm not sure if it's partly because of the Lexapro, but I don't have quite the same level of agitation and stress at work these days.  Not to say I'm not committed, but I don't feel the need to push and give my job all 110% of my energy.  And it's been making me really happy to spend some time on myself, improving my fitness and getting back into shape. 

St. Patrick's Day Priorities

St. Patrick's Day Priorities when you're on a wedding countdown...

No green beer, but at least I wore my green Lululemon shirt!

A Trip to the Doctor

My new healthcare kicked in at the beginning of this month and I was running super low on all of my prescriptions so I made a few calls and somehow picked the practice my former doctor's receptionist went to when they parted ways a few years ago.  It was wonderful to reconnect with Stacy, and she actually booked me with a doctor she regards very highly.

I really, really enjoyed Dr. Stults (I even recommended her to my digital and social media marketing mentor).  She was incredibly detailed in the notes she took about my increased anxiety and was more than open to switching me to Lexapro, which tends to have better results with anxiety.  In fact, I have at least two friends who take it and have had great results.

Dr. Stults recommended that I start with a half a pill for the first five days or so while continuing my current anxiety medication (Wellbutrin), then going up to a full pill of both prescriptions for 5-7 days, and then a full Lexapro every day and alternating Wellbutrin before cutting the Wellbutrin altogether.

I'm a bit of an overachiever, so I went with a full pill from the very start... and wow was that interesting.  I immediately noticed that I was having trouble sleeping through the night... and still am.  Falling asleep is no problem, but I seem to be waking up around 1:00 a.m.  Luckily it's not a problem going back to sleep, and I've been able to sleep in just like before I was taking the medication, but it's very strange to continually wake up just after midnight.

I am incredibly thankful I haven't had any increased anxiety, which is one of the side effects most complained about online.  The second night I took it, I did wake up in a complete state of panic thinking that I hadn't sent an email to one of my clients.  Thankfully, I was able to talk myself down and be reasonable... what could I possibly do from my bedroom at 4:35 in the morning, after all?

I'm incredibly hopeful that this will help minimize the stress and pressure I have been feeling since taking my new job in December.  Best case scenario I would like to be able to have a better work life balance!

Cleaning Recap

Why did we wait so long to hire someone to clean our apartment?!?!

Everything looks just as nice as when we first moved in - shiny, bright, white, clean!

And I am finally not stressed about the state of the apartment.

Don't get me wrong, it helps that Sam was out of town this weekend so I was able to tidy some of the piles of clothes up and put away some of our other items.  This definitely takes a load of my plate as far as my responsibilities and tasks!

As an added bonus, Jack and Hunter were ABSOLUTELY smitten with one another.  Which was really great.