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Happy Sunday, everyone! For those on the East Coast, it’s starting to feel like Spring and you know what that means – allergies! But it also means that the cherry blossoms are starting to bloom. Unbeknownst to me, we happen to have a cherry blossom tree right outside our kitchen window and she’s starting to get really pretty. So, there’s something to look forward to!

Without further ado, here is your Weekend Update:

Pilates Review

Since we were heading to Norfolk this weekend, I loaded up the week with classes. I am pushing myself to only take level 1.5s now in preparation to be at a level 2 in the next couple of months.

Tuesday: Reformer Flow 1.5 with Hannah

Well, it finally happened; my worst nightmare. I was late to class. Traffic was horrendous and I ran in one minute late. I was fully expecting the instructor to take me out back and put me down, as would be her right, but Hannah just told me the spring settings and continued on. Due to my late arrival, this was also the first time I was on the right side of the room. My go-to reformer is on the left side, two down. There’s no rhyme or reason for this but that one is mine. This time I was on the last reformer on the right. It was strange but not too bad.

After I got over the mortification of walking into class late, it was a great class. To prove that I am not a lazy, late loser, I took all of the progressions and was sweating my ass off by the end. Last week, I talked about how in Ashley’s class we did planks on the reformer with our feet on the platform. Hannah had us do the planks but she gave the progression option to put our feet on the foot bar. I felt like such a professional Pilates princess. The only issue I’m running into with the reformer planks is that my sweaty little elbows start to slip out from under my shoulders. I watch them slowly slip closer and closer to the edge of the box as I’m fighting for my life in my plank, and I can just picture them falling off and making me faceplant. So if anyone has any tips to make my elbows stop sweating that would be siiick.

Wednesday: Reformer Flow 1.5 with Maesy

Traffic was yet again a horror show, but I ran in 10 minutes early, chugging a juice box to bring my blood sugar up. The class was tough as always, and Maesy was giving progression options. Some of these progressions had the caveat of being approved for a level 2. So she would say, “If you’re approved for level 2, you can do this instead.” I wanted to try these progressions but I also didn’t want to break the rules. After class, I finally worked up the nerve to ask how to get approved for a level 2. Maesy told me that at the Alexandria location, you have to pass a test, but at the Pentagon City location that she also teaches at, you just need instructor approval. She told me that I’m definitely ready for a level 2, it just depends on if I want to take the test for the Alexandria studio or try it out at the Pentagon City studio. I decided to try it out first to see how I do before I take the test. Plus, the Pentagon City classes are more intense anyway, so if I can keep up there, I will probably be able to pass the Alexandria test with flying colors.

So, I am signed up for a level 2 on March 31! I’m excited and slightly terrified, but I am moving forward in my Pilates princess journey.

Thursday: Reformer Flow 1.5 with Maesy

This was a late-night class, so we were playing it a little fast and loose. And by fast and loose, I mean hard as hell. We again did the lunge series that I bitched about described from Sunday’s class. This time I was actually able to do the series all the way through, with a grimace on my face. We also worked on our teasers. I hate doing teasers in class because it is one of the things that I am inconsistent with – when I start to do one, I never know if I’m going to make it up or fall back like a fool. But, this is why we practice – I can’t get better at something by avoiding it. (Or can I? Someone give me the secret). The teasers on the reformer were actually not too bad, but then we put the box on top of the reformer and did a teaser on top of the box. It must have been a mental block from being that far off the ground because my body refused to even attempt.

At one point we were doing kneeling planks on the reformer with our hands on the foot bar. Maesy told us that because it was a small class and she could help us, we could lift our knees even though the full plank is a level 2 move. The first move in this video is what we were doing but this woman makes it look much easier than it was. I think any move where I could possibly face plant just gives me a mental block because I was shaking like a leaf.

A few of the other women in the class are set to take their level 2 tests soon, so a lot of the moves that Maesy had us do are moves that we need to know for the test. After class, I overheard one girl say that she has already taken the test and Maesy’s classes are harder than the test, so that gave me some hope.

Friday: Reformer Flow 1.5 with Gina

Friday’s class was a morning class at the Kingstowne studio. I realized from the moment I got on the reformer to stretch before class that it was going to be a tough one. I was so sore! Four level 1.5 classes in a row, (five if you count Sunday) might not have been the best idea. It was still a good class though – we did some work on the Pilates chair and actually did feet in straps on the springboard rather than the reformer. I’m always a little nervous at the springboard. For some reason I think that the springs are going to snap and either make me fall on my ass or the metal spring will come back and whip me.

One thing about me is that I don’t wear my glasses in Pilates. I wear them to the studio, because I can’t legally drive without them, but I take them off before class so that they don’t fog up or otherwise get in my way. Today was no different. I was on the reformer, blind, facing the aisle, attempting to do a hollow hold on the box. Due to my soreness, it was an embarrassing attempt that gave me the Pilates shakes in my whole body. Because I was blind, I assumed that the girl across from me was staring and smirking at me, which lowkey made me want to die. I spent the rest of the class thinking about how mean she was and that I should say something to her. After class though, she thanked the instructor and was super nice to everyone, smiling at me when we were putting our weights back, and complimenting another girl on her coat. So turns out, she was not the villain I thought she was. The lesson I learned today was that you cannot judge a book by it’s cover if you are visually impaired.

Health Queen

My diabetes coaching sessions have moved to every other week, so I did not have a meeting with my coach this week. I also almost immediately fell out of the habit of sending her pictures of my tracking journal every morning. I’m saying that here so I can have some accountability and can shame myself into doing better this week. However, my blood sugars have been pretty great this week! The thing I am struggling with the most is not panicking when I get low blood sugar. When my blood sugar is low, it genuinely feels like I’m dying – shaky, sweaty, panicked, light-headed, etc. – so I tend to over-correct by shoving sugar down my throat until I feel better. This week I am going to work on trying to settle that panic a little bit and to not overdo the correction.

Another Health Queen update – as I seem to be in my data collection era, I finally bit the bullet and got myself an Oura ring. So far, I love it. I’ve had an Apple Watch forever and like it and still plan to use that as well, but my issue with the Apple Watch is that it dies so quickly. You have to charge it once a day for around 2.5 hours and when I am using it to track my activity and my sleep, there’s no great time to charge it. With the Oura ring, a full charge can last up to a week! I take it off and put it on the charger while I’m showering and so far have not dropped below 40%.

Weekend Updates

This weekend was full of activities. After work on Friday, Boyfriend Alex and I headed to Norfolk to meet up with some friends at Top Golf. After getting the swing of things (see what I did there?) we both got pretty good at it. I don’t think we will be becoming members of the country club anytime soon, but we may make a return to Top Golf. The next morning, at brunch, I had the best quiche, maybe in the whole world. It was a crab quiche with cheese, spinach, and an Old Bay aioli – to die for. After brunch, we headed home to spring Penny from jail (see photo below) and had a lazy Saturday.

On Sunday, Kira and I took the journey into DC to check out The Mansion on O Street. The mansion has four floors and spans across five townhomes in Dupont Circle. Every nook and cranny is filled with stuff. Some rooms are themed, like the John Lennon room or the cabin room, but most seem to be random. There are 112 rooms and around 90 secret doors. Also, everything in the mansion is for sale. Oh, and it’s also a hotel. It kind of felt like a combination of an antique store, an escape room, and a museum. We spent about 2 hours walking around, trying to find as many of the secret doors as we could. It was really interesting and I would love to go back and see what else is hidden in there.

Entertainment Weekly

Wednesday’s movie date night featured Novocaine. A painfully awkward bank manager has a condition where he can’t feel pain. He uses this condition to his advantage while chasing down three bank robbers who took his crush as a hostage. I loved this movie – it was funny, intense, and a little heartbreaking. There is a twist that I did not see coming that actually hurt my heart. We’ve been seeing the preview for this movie for a couple months and I’ve been excited to see it. I’m so glad it didn’t disappoint.

I’m not going to lie, I was a little disappointed with Yellowjackets this week – it felt like a filler episode. We’ve got another man down – Edwin, the frog biologist. Lottie lost her damn mind and immediately axed him in the head, sending the other two strangers fleeing into the woods away from the crazy ladies. We learn that the tape that was delivered to Shauna was recorded by the other frog biologist, Hannah, the night that they found the girls. This tape also has a message for Hannah’s daughter, Alex. Shauna immediately jumps to the conclusion that this Alex is the one trying to murder her and the gang heads off on a road trip to confront Alex in Richmond, Virginia. Along the way, Misty learns from Walter that the DNA under Lottie’s fingernails belongs to Shauna. Van responds to this information by puking up blood and forcing a pit stop at the hospital. Misty confronts Shauna in the waiting room and Shauna GTFOs – heading to Richmond to sit in her car outside Alex’s house, staring through the window, and holding a knife.

One of my predictions from last week came true: while coming close to death, Van sees Tai for who she really is – that sleep-walking, dirt-eating, dark Tai, and it seems this Tai has been in charge for a while. My predictions for next week are as follows: Travis and Akilah team up with their prisoner, Kodiak, and try to get him to lead them out before Shauna can convince the rest of them to kill him; Hannah becomes part of the group, trying to Stockholm Syndrome her way out of this; the DNA found under Lottie’s fingernails was Callie’s, not Shauna’s; Melissa’s arrow wound gets infected and she dies; this Alex person has no idea who any of the Yellowjackets are and has nothing to do with it.

This week’s book was Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King. My mom actually got me this book while thrifting. My favorite book, 11/22/63, is by Stephen King, and I was on a real Stephen King kick for a while, so she grabbed it for me. Stephen (yes, we are on a first-name basis) has once again bamboozled me into a series. At least I started with the first book in the series this time. The summer after college, I read all of Doctor Sleep before realizing it was a sequel to The Shining, which I hadn’t read yet. My bad.

Mr. Mercedes is a mass murderer who seems to go quiet after his one extreme act of violence – driving a stolen Mercedes into a crowd of people outside a job fair. Bill Hodges is the lead detective on the case. After Hodge’s retirement, he receives a letter from the killer, taunting him for his failure to catch him. Hodge starts a new investigation, enlisting the help of a neighborhood boy, the sister of the woman whose stolen car was used in the mass murder, and her neurotic niece.

It was a great story and it was all set in real life – no supernatural aspects, which I liked. I love Stephen King books, but I feel like sometimes his supernatural books have great premises but he tries to explain the supernatural/weird stuff logically, which doesn’t always make sense or make for a good ending. Like Under The Dome: an entire town is suddenly trapped inside an invisible, impenetrable dome. The story is great – how would people react if they were cut off entirely from the rest of the world? But the ending? I won’t ruin it, but it was a little silly.

I’ve already ordered the other two books in the series, although I am a little skeptical on if I’ve read one of them already. The name of the neurotic niece, Holly Gibney, is ringing bells for me, but I’m not sure why. There is a TV series based on the series, but I don’t think I’ve watched it. And I’m having flashbacks of reading that name. This doesn’t necessarily mean that I’ve read this series though, as Stephen King likes to feature his own characters in different books. Pennywise and Christine, the animated evil car, both got a mention in this book. I’m holding out hope that he’s just mentioned her in passing in a previous book, but I’ll keep you all updated.

In’s and Out’s

In:

Golf

Doing your best while parallel parking

Crab quiche

Out:

Scanning QR codes

Rants of the week (for this week at least, I had nothing to rant about!)

Speeding tickets

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I hope you have a wonderful week, and I’ll see you back here on Sunday!