Jigsaw July - 2017 Update #7

Wow - another month already? It's crazy how this year is flying, but I'm finding that as each month goes by, these habits are really becoming routine.

Designated Date Time

The weekly Saturday hikes just aren't going to happen for a while. In addition to having too much going on, it's just too hot. Sure - we could wake up at 6am and hike before it gets hot out. Frankly, we don't want to. Saturdays are the one day we really just get to sleep in, catch up on chores, and take it easy.


So we found a different solution. Whenever we can, we just take the dog on a nighttime walk through the neighborhood. We don't have to worry about her overheating, it doesn't take too long, and it's a nice time for us to just talk about our days and spend a little time together. The idea of weekly hikes was really cool and I hope we can get back to it in the Fall/Winter. However, big cool ideas just aren't always manageable. This was a great lesson in doing what you can and knowing that something is better than nothing.

We've also been good about getting out on more dates and spending time doing fun things around the city together. From beer events to Comicon events and everything in between, we were so good about spending time together and having fun this month.

Stick to a Regular Fitness Schedule

technique might have had help from new shoes!

I'll get to this again later, but sticking to a routine while a lot of events are going on, is really really difficult. July is a busy month. We had a very long 4th of July weekend, Comicon, and lots of birthdays. All of those events are fun but they throw a wrench in your schedule. Yes, I could have said no to all of those things... but I'm not a robot. I think they're all fun too, way more fun than working out... and that's generally what happened. These things aren't just disruptive when they happen, they take a few days to rest up from too. After both the 4th of July and Comicon, I had to take a couple of days off from exercising just to relax. 

TLDR: events are fun but really disruptive when you're trying to make a habit.

In all, I think I netted even. I worked hard and noticed some improvements in Body Pump. Climbing is a little different. I think my technique is getting better but I feel like I'm getting tired quicker. I think that has a lot to do with everything else I have going on. I'm looking forward to a milder August so I can focus more on my fitness... but more on that later.

One plus for fitness in July - fun and laid back exercise! Dan and I joined a kickball league and also got to try out stand up paddle boarding. The latter definitely grew on me quickly and I'm hoping we can get our own eventually!

Meal Planning

Last month, I discovered a trick to meal planning... freezing leftovers for future lunches! I have LOVED it. I don't have a lot of issues with cooking dinner each night but I do run out of time for making my lunches or just have a craving for a quick meal. This has worked out wonderfully.

My other issue has been with buying too many groceries. I love deals and also get excited about vegetables.. and tend to buy more than we can eat before it goes bad. Planning out meals was supposed to help me buy only what I needed for the week. Well, I went another way instead... I decided to start cooking dinner for the dog. Most of what we eat - meats and veggies - are good for her too. I did a lot of research on what dogs can have and what they need and have started making dinners for her. Usually, it works out that I can incorporate our extra veggies into her meals and we have less waste overall.

I'll give this it's own post eventually but if you're thinking about making food for your dog here are some basic guidelines:

Harley's Dinner for a few days:
 ground pork , veggies, and liver

- Dogs are omnivores but skewing toward carnivore. Meat should be more than 50% of their diet and the primary weight in their meal ( I weigh Harley's meals to make sure I'm not overfeeding).

- They need fat so dark meat is a little better than light when you can. Also make sure you are giving fish at least once a week and liver/offal about 5% of the time.

- Dogs can have some meats and bones raw. It seems like fish is the big exception here so make sure you cook that.

- Do a lot of research! Every time we want to give her a new vegetable, I look up and see if it's ok. I also read up a lot on how to find balance in a dog's diet. They really need to eat bones to get enough calcium but I was too worried about choking so instead we mix egg shells into her meals. We also still give her dry food for breakfast. 

I love that she's eating as well as us now and we're wasting less food!

Take an Annual Trip with My Husband

Still no more big trips for a while but we are starting to plan our small trips for weddings! We're so excited to see our friends and Dan's family on our next few long weekend trips. And that's all I have to say about that...

Read a Book a Week

One. Book. Just one. Obviously, that's a little under my goal. I'm kind of impressed I even got this one though... and it doesn't even have anything to do with everything else I have going on.

Screw you, you intelligent man

No... it's all Alexander Hamilton's fault. Oh yes. I encouraged book club to read it this month. Even though I had months to read it, I started 4 weeks before the meetup date... to read a 720 page book with the smallest font I've ever seen. I didn't finished in time for book club and still have 200 pages to read. Since I didn't make the deadline, I've slowed down my pace and read The Glass Castle as a break. I'll keep chipping away at Alexander Hamilton, but I'd like to read a whole lot of fluff this month as well. I've read so many biographies and memoirs this year and I'm ready to read some really silly fiction and probably a couple of comic books. Hopefully that gets my numbers back up for August because I've destroyed my buffer.

Me Time

Great find while cleaning!

We had so much going on in July. I had my two jobs, my endless fitness goals, and all of the fun events we listed. Every weekend I was either working or we had some fun, exhausting thing going on... until the last weekend. I spent the last Sunday in July with a whole lot of me time.

Dan and I started the morning organizing the garage - a task that we've needed to do since the day we moved in. Then, he went to work pouring wine at the soccer game and I had the whole day to myself. I mostly took care of chores and errands and read... but it was nice to do it at my own pace. I didn't have any person or list telling me what to do for the day and I felt really accomplished while not being rushed. It just goes to show, that you don't need a whole lot of me time but maybe half day per month will be enough to totally refresh you.

And even had some time to find this bridge while out exploring!

Jigsaw July

I really loved this goal. There was a lot of wisdom in it that I didn't realize at the time. June was about making the leap from someone who had a normal job and a lot of hobbies.. to someone doing all that and trying to learn a whole additional career on the side. June was about making the push. July was about getting used to it. I could have easily tacked on some other goal for the month but I knew what I needed... and it wasn't one more project. I needed to master what I already had on my plate.

It takes about 2-3 months to master a habit, on average. That's the whole reason that most of these posts are about making progress. It's not a one off thing - I'm trying to build better habits for life. It's also why they're not resolutions. I plan on continuing this for perpetuity, as long as I can manage. Last month, I threw a wrench in my habits. I didn't manage to destroy them, and I knew it was manageable... but it would take some getting used to.

And that was the point of July. I wanted to give myself that extra month to turn my new lifestyle into a habit. Mostly, it worked. I will still need some time and a lot of outside forces pushed on me last month which made it hard to fully adapt. However, I can feel it getting easier. I've figured out ways and habits to make the real estate work load fit better into my schedule. I've made a habit of signing up for as much training as possible. I've taught myself a lot whenever I could. I know I can still do more but I have more time to fit more in. I have a safety net in my full time job and I will feel more comfortable taking the time to learn as much as possible while I move forward in real estate. 

Athletic August 

You're probably wondering why I need this when I already have a fitness goal that's one of my habits. Well, I always feel like I fall short of that. Even when I do well and go to my classes and gym dates, I still feel like I'm not hitting my goal. It's probably because I have a very firm goal - to be at the peak of my fitness. Going to the gym 3x a week isn't going to cut it.

August is the time for that and for a very good reason - I have nothing going on. Every month this year, I've had something going on. Comicon, holidays, trips, deaths, new jobs, tests. There have been so many excuses or things that took me away from routine. Was Comicon the most fun ever? Yes. Was it disruptive to my schedule and life? So much yes! It was one of the most disruptive because the time we were away from home was like being on vacation... but we still had to take care of our pets and were living here and making a mess without taking the time to clean up. It set us really behind.

So there is none of that this month. Well, no, I'm lying. There is one thing going on in August and it's my annual Spartan race. While we'll be out of town for a weekend, it's still athletically related so it's not going to throw off that fitness element. It embraces it.

Other than staying on schedule, I have some solid goals. Unlike other months that were more general, I want to get really specific so here we go:

• Do 30 burpees a day and try to increase this number - the burpee works out so much of your body and is key to excelling at obstacle course racing... and I hate them. 
• Pull-ups - I want to put the pull up bar back into the house and keep attempting to do them. I'm sure they've improved but I don't work on it. 
• No days off - as I write this, I skipped my workout today because I was "busy." Not okay next month. I know you need rest days but to me, that means a day off from the hard stuff. I'd still like to get in a casual walk, some stretching, or yoga on the days that I need to rest from harder work outs.
• Level up - most of my workouts are pretty quantifiable. I know what level I climb at. I know what weights I can lift in body pump. I know how fast I can run. I'm definitely plateauing and so this is the time to push through to get to the next level.
• Kick it! Dan and I joined a kickball league. The last time I played kickball, I could barely get on base. It was just fun for me. While it's still a good time, I'm actually good now. It's fun watching my other fitness flow through and seeing results on the field. I want to keep it going, make sure I don't miss a game, and kick some balls!
• And a last minute add... 31 days of fitness! A local gym that Dan loves is having a promotion. 31 day membership for $31 including a beginning and ending fitness evaluation and a practice obstacle race at the end. Another way to quantify my month!

So yea, I'm excited for this goal and excited to have a month to focus on bettering myself. I hope adding in the burpees, pull ups, and extra days will do what it takes to get me to the next level. This is my time and I'm excited to really get to peak fitness.

Nikki's Comicon 2017 Top Ten

Every year, I tell you that I'm going to write you a Comicon post and then some how it's magically December and it's closer to next year's Comicon and it's just not going to happen. The problem is I think too big. You know I'm wordy and with an event like Comicon there's just too much to write about.

Well, I'll show you Comicon!!!!

This time I'm just doing a Top 10 list. Disclaimer - some of these will kind of blend and repeat. While there are 10 distinct experiences, the pictures overlap occasionally.

Nikki's Ultimate Comicon 2017 Top 10 Best Things Ever

10. Star Wars Booth

I'd be amiss to not mention the whole reason we go to Comicon. Dan and I are lucky to be friends with the guy who coordinated the Star Wars presence at conferences and we get to work the Star Wars booth which gets us our passes. Being Star Wars and all, their booth is generally a large attraction in the convention and this year was no different. Our booth featured a large scene from The Last Jedi as well as some X-Wing Pilot costumes that were used in the film. It was really cool.

The highlight of working the booth though, is interacting with the fans. For the most part, people were friendly and gratious. My job most of my shifts was to take pictures for the fans who came to the booth. I got a great angle and became really efficient with my role. I also really liked it. My favorite were the people with fancy DSLR cameras. I hadn't really used one before but by the end of the weekend, I wanted one.

I also got to see so many cool costumes come through and a few times I asked if I could take their photo for myself as well. I loved seeing the cosplayers have fun mixing their characters with our scene.

9. Cosplay

I didn't really get a lot of pictures of Cosplayers this year but that didn't make their outfits any less amazing. Dan and I normally put together some amateur cosplay as well, but weren't able to this year. Knowing how much work it is to make our mediocre outfits, I always applaud the people who have really good ones. While I don't have any stand alone pictures of them, you can look above for some of my favorites from our booth.

Oh wait, here's an awesome K2S0!

8. SyFy's Everything

SyFy had a huge presences at Comicon this year. They often marched through the streets with a band giving out prizes. They had a pedal cart where you could do trivia. If your team won, you would each get $20. They had a puzzle room for the Expanse (which we did not try out). Lastly, they had a huge party where they rented out the Children's museum, gave out free beers and shirts, had a 90s cover band, and was hosted by Zachary Levi. The last one was what I had the most experience with and it was amazing. I'm not a big party person but every now and then I'm into it and I had a great time at this one. It was a perfect mix of things I love - friends, costumes, beer, bands, and Zachary Levi. Very fun time.

7. Recoil

Sometimes at Comicon, you get to test out a new product. For us, this was Recoil. We thought we were just waiting in line for a silly laser tag game, but we actually really loved the product. Basically, you have some laser tag type of guns and your cell phone is your screen for your game. It plays more like a real life first person shooter where you have to reload, collect ammo, regenerate, and can command air strikes. You play on teams and you have headsets so you can coordinate. We played on a small parking lot course but you can create your own boundaries and play up to a football field sized area. Could you imagine playing in a big park or through a quiet neighborhood? With so much distance and many natural obstacles, you could really have an awesome game. Anyways, needless to say, we destroyed the other team like 40-6 or something.

Dan and I are definitely interested in buying a set. The starter pack with 2 guns and the home base is $130 with additional guns ranging from $50-70 (depending on size/quality). Our feeling was that we'd totally buy the starter set if our friends get their own add on guns. Our group plays in so many leagues that cost $50-70 every few weeks and I like the idea of starting our own Recoil league and playing weekly with our own things instead. Friends - if you're reading this, buy a Recoil gun. Thanks!!!!

6. The Kingsman Happy Hour

Comicon has a lot of opportunities for free food and drinks. This year, it seemed like there was more than ever. One of those opportunities, was a daily happy hour put on by Kingsman 2. My friends and I went two of the days and we loved it. For a short wait, you got 2 whiskey drinks, a burger, a chance to win prizes, and lots of challenge coins. What's a challenge coin? Well, it stems from a military tradition where everyone would have a special coin. While they were out drinking, soldiers would slam their coins on the table. The last one to slam their coin has to buy the next round. We had a fun time playing the whole weekend, and even more fun knowing that many of our drinks were free so no one had to pay up. 

All in all, the happy hour was a fun and silly event. The movie is kind of a spoof on spy movies and it seems like the sequel is going to be even more silly so it was cool that they took the idea and just had a lot of fun throwing some great parties.

Even Halle Berry took part in the Kingsman festivities! .... just not with us

5. New Trailers

Here's something everyone benefited from - even if they didn't make it to the convention. So many movies dropped new trailers from Thor Ragnarok to Ready Player One. I could list them all but I'm sure you've probably already watched them all. I love that people know to look to Comicon for info on new movies and it helps make the event such a major part of the film industry.

4. Photo Ops

The last 5 could probably be inter-changable. They are ALL my favorite things about Comicon but I was able to barely place them into an order.

The Photo Ops are something Dan and I have loved every year. It's probably the reason I had so much fun at our booth - it was a giant photo op. We've always loved finding places to take fun pictures around Comicon and this year was no different. With how many things have long lines, being able to just take a quick photo is such a nice instant gratification and leaves you with a lasting memory.

3. Bladerunner

Like the Kingsman happy hour, this was an outside event (meaning no pass was needed to go) and it also featured free whiskey and food (literally the theme of Comicon this year). That's where the similarities end. While Kingsman truly was a happy hour, Bladerunner was an experience. For a scant 5 hour wait in line (we must have gone at a peak time), you got to watch a VR video that landed you in Los Angeles 2049. You arrive at the scene of a crash with futuristic police officers grilling you about what you saw.

If you survive that room, you move onto the downtown scene. There's an Asian restaurant, transvestites, fog, and a lot of lights. Frankly, it felt a lot like the Castro in SF to me. I loved it. In the downtown area you could get scanned to test if you were a replicant, get a free shirt from a vending machine, eat some free noodles, and try Johnnie Walker scotch (not really related to the movie, but they were the event sponsor). It was a long wait but it was such a fun experience that it was worth it. I heard the line for the experience without VR was shorter and in the future, I would have done that. The best part was the interactive portion and everyone got to do that.

2. Sharing it with My Friends

You're probably thinking, "Damn Nikki, your friends are #2? That's cold!" NUMBER 1 IS REALLY GOOD, OK? Ok great!

Every year a few of my friends come into town for Comicon and it makes the whole thing so much more fun. There are also a lot of San Diego friends who reach out and try to meet up. Imagine how fun all of the past numbers were... now imagine it with either friends you don't see often but love or with friends you see all the time but have never seen the wonders of Comicon. It all adds up to a super amazing fun time.

While I didn't get to meet up with everyone I tried to connect with, I appreciated the time I spent with the people who met up with us. Every year I put together a really organized calendar so I can maximize my time at the con. I was happy to share it with anyone who asked and I'm glad it helped them find cool events and also find me.

Having so many friends meet up at some point took it from a very fun event to a super duper amazing fun time with some of my favorite people.

1. Panels

In my opinion, getting inside the Con has two major perks. You get to buy exclusive merchandise and you can go to panels. Dan and I try not to buy a lot of stuff so we try to maximize our panels. The holy grail of panels are in Hall H. That's about a 24 hour line though and we've never been up for the sacrifice. Luckily, many of our favorite shows are in Ballroom 20 and the line is just a few hours.

Those same shows all ended in crazy cliffhangers so getting a first look at the show's new footage was amazing. Hearing the actors' thoughts on the crazy things that happened over their seasons was also really cool. I mostly just love seeing all the banter and friendships amongst the cast.

Sometimes - you get a really amazing moment at the panels you attend. Last year, the amazing moment was the cast of Flash singing and tap dancing. That moment led to a musical episode. This year, the moment hit much closer to home. A young girl asked Stephen Amell (the star of Arrow) if he will sell anymore shirts to raise money for cancer... as she was a cancer survivor. The room went still. He proceeded to ask her some questions and the end result was him giving her a personal necklace, a hug, and a kiss. I cried then and I cry now thinking about it. Recently losing a parent to cancer as well as both god parents, I know it's a tough experience. I can't even imagine a kid going through it. That's just absolutely terrible. I'm happy she's a survivor and I hope she doesn't come across it again in her future.

That clip is here if you want to see it for yourself:

So that's it! It was hard to limit myself to 10 and I had to move things around a bit, but I did it! I wrote about Comicon! I had an absolutely fantastic time. It's impossible to do it all and I know I missed some experiences - from the friends I didn't meet up with to the Westworld experience (seriously, Google it) to my endless pursuit to meet Nikki Bella. Lucky for me, there's next year and you better believe I will keep coming back for more as long as San Diego has this fantastic event.