Friday, December 28, 2012

Thursday

Ok, boring title I know.  But whatever.  It was kind of a blah sort of day.  I had to go to work...which initially wasn't the plan but it was a blah day at work so not all bad.

I also got more invisaligns so i have 6 more pairs to get through.  I may get more but we'll see.  So my mouth is sore.  Its funny you forget if you don't get one for awhile but it was this moment of "oh yeh...this is what the tight ones feel like"  yay for shifty teeth.  At least I will have killer teeth after its all said and done :)

I went to Crossfit as well.  It was a deceptively hard work out.  But it was a good one and did suck as bad as I thought. 

Strength portion
Back squats 5 X 5 - the goal to end around 70% of your 1RM.  I ended at 130lbs.  Which is pretty good since my 1RM is 185lbs currently.  So i did it pretty much planned.

Metcon
AMRAP 11
2 power snatches
4 hand stand push up
8 over the bar burpees

The last move definitely sucks the big one.  I just have visions of myself catching my toe on the bar and doing a mega face plant. But I managed not to do that.  I also managed 5 rounds and 7 reps.  Which is pretty good I think.  I did the power snatches with 45lb bar and the hand stand push ups on a short green box.   So not really hand stand...more like inclined push ups.  But i kept with the box even though about half way I wanted to transition to regular push ups.  I kept going.    The only think i don't know is how i stacked up with everyone else since the gym is switching to an online system of recording so i couldn't scope out the scores before we started.  But considering I averaged a round in a little over 2 min each thats not bad.  Especially since my over the bar burpees are really really REALLY slow.  I just tried to do all 8 without breaking.  And i did. 

All in all a great work out. I'm looking forward to my yoga nap today before assisting with A....assuming she made it back from Maine ok...with the impending blizzard and all :)

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Christmas Day

So I'm a couple days late... I know I know.  But i've been busy.  Like I previously posted christmas eve was pretty typical except my grandfather won the dinner game.  Which was awesome.  He also go to tired to come to church with us...for which my brother was quite ok with staying home with him. 

So Christmas Day. 

I woke up at a decent hour and got ready to head out.  I had to gather a number of things because I was making multiple stops.  I showered and then put on my new christmas pjs.  I'm not really a fan of clothes for christmas day...even if I have driving to do.  It makes it that much more relaxing. 

I got over to the Holm homestead around the pre-determined time, and once all the Holm's were gathered we did gifts and stockings.  Its always amuzing to me to see the receptical my mother uses for stockings...this year.  Target bags.  We are a classy bunch.  My grandfather sat with us for most of it, until he got tired.  And I did the passing out.  Which does involve throwing anything lightish at the recipients head ;)  Its really fun.  I got some fun stuff...shampoo and tooth paste.  Hey I use alot of toothpaste.  It  was a good haul.  I also ACED the giving this year.  Everyone liked their gifts from me.  Boo yeah.  I felt good, especially since I was excited about the gifts.  Its nice to know you're not completely off base.  The Holm family portion of the gifts ended up taking longer then excepted.  Which was great.  But after we were done I quitely slipped out to drive my butt to Providence. 

I had another engagement with my sweetie. 

I'm still not sure what sort of excuss was given but I am curious.  Since I only told one Aunt that I was leaving and did it quitely.  But I didn't think a million questions on Christmas morning was the time or place.  So I just left. 

The drive to Providence was uneventful.  And then i got to my sweet heart :)   I'm so thankful that I have someone extra special to spend the holiday with.  I had many bags since I was in charge... by my own design of christmas dinner.  Thank you Practical Paleo for suppling the recipies :)

We had :
Bacon Wrapped Chicken Thighs
Broc- cauliflower soup with Bacon garnish
Roasted brussel sproats and fennel
and Processco for some bubbly

(can you tell we like bacon )

The meal came out pretty good if I don't say so myself... i think the broc-cauliflower soup could have used more kick but otherwise excellent. And I only set the fire alarm off three times.

After dinner we did gifts and watched Miricle of 34th street...the new one.  It was a great. Christmas. 

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Morf wins the prize

Christmas eve was tiring this year.  Thanks to the emergency room visit yesterday so I just felt a little drugged all night.  Well I am drugged.  Thanks to the dayquil.  But anyway. 

The meat fest was its usual deliciousness and heavy as usual.  And akavit is still gross.  I had my usual one shot glass full.  It was gross and I managed to eek out 3 shots into the one glass.  But everything was good. 

The funniest thing that happened was with our usual game.  We always put an almond in the food and whoever gets it wins a prize.  This year we used these chocolate pudding cups. There were actually more cups then people so it was a guess of who would get the prize.  But off all people, morf got the almond.  It was pretty funny because we  all sort of saw it on his plate and then he wasn't paying attention and put it in his mouth.  Then just got wide eyed and said "oh wait I got it"  it was hilarious. 

After dinner we did the dancing and gifts.  And went to church. 

Merry Christmas eve.

Monday, December 24, 2012

Christmas Eve at the HOLMs













Wanted and unwanted

Pre warning - this may be a bit whinny so just to warn you.

So this has been a good and bad week. I'm writing this on Christmas Eve while waiting for the dinner festivities to commence. Should be fun and I'm excited to eat some tasty food. My dad is making the ribs with bacon and potatoes as usual. The main difference with this year is the lack of rice pudding to start the meal. We always play a game at the beginning by hiding an almond. But this year we're doing it for pudding dessert. We'll see who wins... Almost never is it me.

I'm a little subdued this year for a variety of reasons. The least of which is that I was in the emergency room last night. I don't need to go too into detail about why I went but I not have internal hemoriods ... Woohoo! Lucky me. So at least it wasn't anything too serious... Though I need to follow up with GI to be sure. That will be a project for next year and unlimited sick days... Since I'm currently scrapping the barrel to get any time off anyway.

The other reason I'm subdued is that I don't have my sweet heart here. Things transpired with my family that made it so shes not here... By no fault of my own, but I still wish I had company sprawled out on the couch next to me.

Lets continue to back track though.

Yesterday was fun two different reasons. I went to the trans-Siberian orchestra with my cousins and I met Ks family. The orchestra was interesting and way cool. There was this story telling component that was odd but the music itself was awesome. And I had so much fun meeting Ks family. They were so warm and inviting it made it a lot easier.

Back tracking once more... We went to the nutcracker, which was awesome.

The family is starting to arrive so I'm off :)

Picture is me and Sister at trans Siberian orchestra

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Week of workouts

Ok. More like two days of workouts. It's been a big week at the gym. Monday we did our 20 rep max back squats again. And I do say again because I feel like it just happened. And i think it did but maybe a month ago.  The total work out is below.  I managed 128lbs.  Which is pretty good.  Though in thinking about it I may have gone heavier the previous time.  I was hesitant to go too heavy this time because i haven't been feeling that strong lately....thank you work plague... when everyone in your office comes in sick its bound to effect you eventually.  For the rest of the workout I used a 15lb (or maybe 12lb ) kettle bell.  Turkish get ups are ridiculously complicated and i did them ridiculously slowly...finished ways after everyone else.  Though funny I found out the next day that at least one person didn't finish it so YAY me for pushing through.


Tuesdays workout (listed below) was extremely complicated and even two days later i'm feeling it.  Which is the sign of a good workout.  Snatches are probably one of the most complicated movements in Crossfit so it was great to work on them.  But consiquently its easy to hurt yourself.  Solution...do less weight.  I maxed out around 60lbs..didn't write it down...shoot.  But I did #3 with 40lbs...around.  once again don't really remember.   It was a killer, and this is the kind of thing that my speed, or lack there off, really causes issues.  Because I would finish or almost finish the round when it was time to start the next one.  Killer.  But i made it and now I have a sore bumm....WOOOHOOO.


I decided to take the next two days off...well yesterday and today mainly due to scheduling but probably a good idea regardless.  We'll see how things are tomorrow for yoga time.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

WTF blogger

Ok so I had a great post that just got deleted. Totally annoyed. I did fight gone bad at crossfit yesterday

Below is my score

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Delicate flower

I have begun to realize I am a delicate flower of a person. Mainly I mean in regards to health and more specifically digestively. But also sort of emotionally too. I mean I consider my self to be a pretty tough cookie but sometimes and depending on the topic I just melt with emotion.

Health wise I have a lot going on. I mean obviously. If you are reading this you sort of know that. But now that I'm back from vacation my body has sort of freaked out. Which I was expecting but still am annoyed by it. I mean two weeks of less the ideal eating has caused the heart burn and hot flashes to come back with a vengeance. I mean I don't think the hot flashes are back due to that, but it is due to the lack of acupuncture. Which is still hard. I mean three weeks off and my. Body is flipping out. See delicate flower.

Emotionally is a little different.  I consider myself to be generally stable and calm.  Which is something that i definitely strive to be.  The one thing I've always had to work on is sticking up for myself.  I tend to over compensate one way or the other, and then of course get myself into trouble.  That is not to say that my generally laid back demeanor isn't the truth which is it.  I'm talking about the times I have an opinion about what should be done and, especially when people don't agree.  I either say nothing and then hate myself or I explode and completely over react....both does not achieve the desired results...believe it or not.

Recently though I've been instituting a tactic which I think will serve me well.  I have a number of friends out there that I trust their opinions and their rational so lately I've been running my ideas by them to make sure they aren't too rash... and surprise, or maybe not they agreed...on multiple occurrences.  Go me.  The delicate flower is growing up into a slightly heartier fern.  Its good though to know that my emotional reaction to things in no longer completely off base. 

Woohoo.  Personal Growth :)

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Den siste dag

Hello from the flytoget...
I'm officially starting my journey home again which will end at 6pm EST. I'm trying not to think about the actual time it will take. Lets just leave it as long. After what was a surprisingly quick trip to Oslo, but excellent.

What did I do on my last day you ask? Well let me tell you.

It started nice and slow which I'm quite ok with. I had been pushing myself so much before the trip I definitely needed a reminder about taking it slow in the morning. I had some breakfast and tackled the suitcase. I was admittedly nervous and still am about the weight but I will soon figure out if its a problem. But anyway I don't think so.

After that L and B and I got ready to meet S and E at the julemarket. It was at the folk museum out on the island, well sort of an island, is Oslo. I say sort of because you can drive there. Whereas an official Island you can't.

It was a very cute market and fun to sweet folk museum all done up for Christmas. They had an apartment building there with apt from the different eras which was very cool because there were definitely a few that reminded me of my grandmothers old apartment. I also got a couple of nisen there to add to the collection of the family.

After we did the luggage pass off to S and E and we made our way over to R and c for dinner and I was spending the night there. It was really great to get another night with the cousins and we had a lovely meal... Reindeer oh yeh talk about Norwegian and talked a lot more. I also got to see my final Oslo aunt which was great. So I managed to see all the direct Oslo people in the 6 short days I was there. Mission accomplished.

We retired pretty early because I started today at 415. What is with me and early flights? Anyway, R very generously drove me down to the train station where I boarded the train to the airport.

Now I'm in heathrow waiting for my second of three flights to commence. It was an easy connection since my bag got checked all the way to Boston.... Yay!

Now just have to kill 2 hrs with a lot of chocolate and cheese strapped to my back :)

Friday, December 7, 2012

One year ago today

One year ago today I woke up really early, I want to say 5 in the morning, drove to the hospital to have a bi-lateral mastectomy that kept me in the hospital for 2 days and I came out with no chest.

Today was a bit different. I woke up in a very comfortable bed in my cousins house in Oslo Norway. I got some clothes on, had a nice breakfast and got out the door to take the train to crossfit Oslo for one more workout.

The workout today was 5 rounds of
3 power cleans
3 front squats
3 push jerks
I used a bar with 30kg on it. Not super heavy but enough. I'm not great at jerks so I wanted to make sure to go light enough to have good form the entire time. Which I think I did :)

After the workout I changed and went down to Oslo center to do some shopping. I always, as certain relatives have put it, have a weird shopping list when I come and this was no different . I had to buy silver flatware for the family. Which isn't really weird or anything but still kind of special. So I wanted to get that out of the way first before I did anything else.

I pretty much just walked around the rest of the time downtown, got some lunch., and enjoyed being appropriately attired. I wasn't freezing so it wasn't too bad walking around for a bit. I popped into a few shops too.

The. I went to meet L, B, H and my final unseen cousin S for dinner and we were going to a Christmas show. It was great to catch up with S because of course she ha missed the cousins evening a few nights ago.

After dinner we went to a boys choir concert at Frogner kirken. The choir came from the famous church in Trondheim and apparently has been around for 900 years. Which is pretty cool to. There was also a really famous violin player, who's name of course escapes me. But they sang and played some good song ( intermettzo from cavliara rusticana, handels hallelujah chorus) and at the end of the show they had a sing along of delig er Jordan... Which was sing at Christmas at the Holm house. So that was fun too.

And now we're just relaxing a bit before going to cuddle down in the comfy bed again. :)

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Oslo Thursday

Today was a pretty basic day. First I finally made it to a Wod at crossfit Oslo. It was wicked fun and ironically almost the entire thing was conducted in English. Both of the coaches I've met at crossfit Oslo have been British and Australian so not native speakers. The one today heard me attempt Norsk and immediately answered in English. I mean it was nice because we did snatches and muscle ups. Both things that I don't know well so lots of instruction was a good thing.

The workout
2-2-2 heavy dead lifts with snatch grip.
"Amanda" 9-7-5 of snatches and muscle ups - in about 15 min

So the dead lifts were not a problem. We had done those at crossfit Boston a bunch of times so no biggie. I hadn't don't snatches in a year so that was tricky. I ended up only using the bar 15kg. Which was a bit light but even going up to 20kg was causing my form to go to shit. So wawa.. Light it was. And it was hard enough. We did a nice cool down too, which was a good thing so I can probably go tomorrow without being too sore.

After that we went to S and A. One of my uncle aunt combos. Actually yet are two out of three of my uncle aunts in Oslo. I think I'll be seeing the third on Saturday. We just had alittle lunch and tea and chatted for awhile. My Norwegian skills have definitely gotten worse since my summer school times but I can follow the conversation decently... Enough that I'm not completely lost most of the time, when only one person is talking. It's definitely ways harder when there is a lot of people talking.

After we left S and A I got dropped at the train to go for a walk down town / shop. In typical me fashion though I couldn't really see much I wanted. I went to the mall, Oslo city, and the Christmas outdoor market at Karl Johan's gate. It was fun to walk around and any outdoor market that sells liqueur is ok by me. I didn't drink but still felt very Christmassy.

And now I'm on the train back to Ls to warm up and have some dinner :) another great day in Oslo.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Mini crossfit and blogging fail

So I had a bunch of stuff written down but because I didn't press publish it didn't save. Damn it.

Today I finally made it to crossfit Oslo. Of course the fail part was the fact that the class I though I signed up for was at 4pm not 2pm. Damn you military time. Fortunately the very nice Australian man I talked to let me do open gym.

It's always harder to motivate myself alone which is why I tend to go to the Wods but I did. And I did a bunch of different stuff including "grace" at almost rx... Since I have no idea how heavy the bar was. But it was likely between 35 and 45 kg total weight. In 11:45. So not bad. I could have definitely done it faster but like I said hard to motivate when you're alone.

Otherwise it was a very relaxing day. Took the dog for a walk, and now off to have a cousins evening with almost all the Oslo girl cousins... Or I guess in this family you have to specify... All the first cousins :)

Let the fun times roll

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Epic crossfit fail

So I may sound like a bit of a broken record but its still freezing. I just looked up how cold it actually is in Fahrenheit and its probably been below 5F since I got here. Since -17c is 2F and -20c is -4F. The highest I've Seen is -10c which is 14F. But that was briefly in the middle of the day.

So what did I do today. I had a nice slow start to the day. Got up without an alarm and had a nice leisurely breakfast. L and I sat around for a bit and then took the dog for a walk.

When we got back and I got ready to go to crossfit. Which was great in theory because B was going to pick us up so I didn't have to walk... Woohoo. But of course I got dropped off at what we thought was the address and I could not found it. I circled around building until my ass quite literally was numb. And I had already missed the class.

Then I hopped the bus to Aker brygget. Which was a place I actually knew where was. I knew I would need to get inside, so I basically headed to a part of town I knew there was shopping places so I could get inside.

Once I got down there I puddle jumped my way around the shops and had a grand old time... Trying not to get too cold.

I then went to meet cousin I to get together. We had a lovely time getting coffee or in my case hot chocolate, and some dinner. I love coming to Norway because its so chill and family oriented. . Basically I spend the entire time making the rounds to family members and walking around the city. Though this time walking around might me walking around Oslo City (the big shopping mall in the center of Oslo) but anyway.

After we'd had dinner I got me on the right train and I made my way home. For so couch time with L and B before bed :)

Monday, December 3, 2012

Made it to the ice box

Ok, any guesses at how cold it is outside right now... Or was when I landed... Any takers. Ok it was -17c when I landed this morning in Oslo. Aka. Freekishly cold. But I've made it safe and sound.

The flight was uneventful, which was good. Except for it being full. Found my bags and made it through customs. It wa funny when the guy checked my passport cause he said hello in English and then saw my passport and said I think you speak alittle Norwegian right... In Norwegian. Which was two fold fun. Because of course I understood him and he bothered.

I took the flybussenexpress to meet L in Tasen. We connected easily and made it back to their place.

I've stayed at L and B's place before so it feels very familiar. Though I've never been here in the winter so it's a different experience.

We just hung out in the afternoon, and did things like have cocoa and these amazing buns with coconut and cream in the middle which are called something I definitely can't spell. And we went to the grocery store.

How we're relaxing in big sweaters in the Living room with a fire going. I may doze off since I've been up since 4, or technically 5 this time. But I'm tired. At least I'm warm for the moment.

London last day

Well maybe this post should be Oslo first day since technically I am writing from heathrow airport waiting for my flight. But let me wrap up yesterday for good measure before I start the second leg of the trip.

I got up and went to crossfit central London again. It's a really nice facility for sure and it was good to experience their version of an hr long WOD. We did two 7 min AMRAP. One was cleans and box jumps and the other was front squats and shoulder to overhead. I did good and was definitely dead by the end. Success.

Then I went to meet A at the V and A museum of childhood. Basically it's a museum of toys, both old and new. How cool is that. I'm not particularly museums in general but I can get behind something like that.

After that we went to Kensington Gardens to walk around. It's a huge park and is where Kensington Palace is, which we sort of missed because the famous side doesn't face the park... Oops. It was in a really swanky neighborhood which was quite the difference from the lunch time walk through the less nice part of town (though that included a food fair... So totally worth it)

Once we made it through the park we walked down toward Bond St and did some shopping along the way. Hey, two girls together.... It was bound to happen.

Then we met F and went to dinner at this really nice pub near their house. And I got my fish and chips. Quite tasty :)

After that it was off to pack and fall into bed and now we've come full circle. Just waiting to board the plane so I can pass out for a bit

London last day

Well maybe this post should be Oslo first day since technically I am writing from heathrow airport waiting for my flight. But let me wrap up yesterday for good measure before I start the second leg of the trip.

I got up and went to crossfit central London again. It's a really nice facility for sure and it was good to experience their version of an hr long WOD. We did two 7 min AMRAP. One was cleans and box jumps and the other was front squats and shoulder to overhead. I did good and was definitely dead by the end. Success.

Then I went to meet A at the V and A museum of childhood. Basically it's a museum of toys, both old and new. How cool is that. I'm not particularly museums in general but I can get behind something like that.

After that we went to Kensington Gardens to walk around. It's a huge park and is where Kensington Palace is, which we sort of missed because the famous side doesn't face the park... Oops. It was in a really swanky neighborhood which was quite the difference from the lunch time walk through the less nice part of town (though that included a food fair... So totally worth it)

Once we made it through the park we walked down toward Bond St and did some shopping along the way. Hey, two girls together.... It was bound to happen.

Then we met F and went to dinner at this really nice pub near their house. And I got my fish and chips. Quite tasty :)

After that it was off to pack and fall into bed and now we've come full circle. Just waiting to board the plane so I can pass out for a bit

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Market day!

Today A and I went to some local London markets. It was really awesome.

I started the day with a quick run, which ended up being kind of a shitty run because it was freezing and I was tired. But I went and that was what was important. I mean vital to get out there and let's be honest I still went running while I was on vacation so bravo to me.

I got back. I got ready for the day leisurely. Which is great. It's nice to not have to rush around.

We headed out to the antique market called boy rough market. So not how you spell it but whatever. It was in Notting Hill. As in the movie. It was an awesome sort of meld between walking street, flee market and antique market. I scored some good stuff for gifts and then something for myself...... I mean its my vacation and all. And we just walked around aka down and back the road.

After getting some gelato for lunch. We headed over to this other food market f to get stuff for dinner.

This one was called portabllo market. It had all sorts of fresh food and meat and street food vendors. It was soooo neat. And totally up my ally. There were stacks and stacks of baked goods, olive oil, smoked meats... Just to name a few. We picked up dinner stuff and walked around.
I did not have the infamous duck sandwich. But I did get the whole experience. So I was thrilled.

After that we jumped on the tube home. And stopped at the grocery for the extra items. And headed home to have A make dinner. And me "help" .... Or sit and chat