-Reminder to write a reflection on my one on one talk with Juniper about truth telling and honesty tomorrow ending with crying and hugs and hopefully some semblance of a foundation for a better relationship in the future? It started with wondering whether Paul had been fed his dinner…
-Reluctant kids but did get everyone out for family training hike #2! Another unexplored trail along Skyline. Morning hike at Sierra Morena, Gordon Mill, Steam Donkey, and Oljon Trail Loop. A lot of bikes on the trail but still amazed that we can drive a mere 30 minutes and get to this beauty. Found the perfect pit stop location for Jetboil hot cocoa, but of course nature wasn’t any competition for the books they are currently reading. Plus look how happy Eric was finding this amazing geocache!
-Spent the early morning with Eric discussing and trying to strategize our trip to Glacier…Trying to figure out how to get a visit to Tippet Rise Art Center on a weekend, which then shifts everything over a day…and then struggling to figure out out this vehicle reservation thing in conjunction with where to camp.
-Decided I needed another shelf in the kitchen above the coffee nook to make better separation of all the stainless steel bowls…
-I made hamburger buns today with the help of the bread machine! What used to be a seemingly impossible task was suddenly achievable and so easy! And they were delicious! Note: Used the “toast dough” setting on the Neretva for where the recipe specified just “dough”.
-More Glacier NP Trip planning today while totally neglecting cleaning house. Once the car rental and campsite situation gets settled I can go back to mostly business as usual…😬 and not be worried about this thing 6 months from now!
-I’m afraid to check but I had a pretty awful sleep last night…some crazy weird dreams though I can’t seem to recall them right now.
-Started listening to Cal Newport’s “Digital Minimalism” today. There were a couple quotes from Marcus Aurelius and Thoreau that were relatable to the concept of digital minimalism. (I mean to record them here as I’ve bookmarked them in Libby.)
Thoreau:
Marcus Aurelius:
-Looking to see if there’s some kind of app to aggregate all the lab work/blood testing I’ve done in the past…I know Apple health take some but I don’t see a way to go back and add info the to have from even college days circa 1997 when it was already recognized I had super high cholesterol.
-Freaking out today a little about getting a campsite in a couple weeks at Glacier and close by hotel accommodations to the park filling up simultaneously. I was able to book a couple hotels with free cancellation just in case…keeping fingers crossed we can camp inside the park though both for the economics of it and just makes it so nice and easy when you are inside and so much closer to doing all the stuff!
-Made pseudo-valentine’s plans for Eric and I on a weekend in early February to visit Rintaro finally…it’s been on my list (non-existent real list) for quite some time.
-Remembered to last minute have our Tuesday Backhaus date with Jasper and Juniper after school…a nice little treat of time with everything pretzel and chocolate croissant. Was proud of Jasper when he got to the cafe and just went straight in to the counter to buy an apple yuzu fizz with his own money!
-Ran the same 5k as last week and made some small time improvements already! Will try again Thursday.
-Got my Monday 5k walk in early today because kids & Eric were off work/school and so I needed to make sure it got done even if it meant venturing out into the dark streets of Burlingame…was rewarded with a pretty sunrise tho.
-Eric accompanied me for a quick run to Costco so I can dedicate tomorrow morning to another 5k run attempt. He and I even had a short laptop date at the Marriott by the Bay to learn something.
-We signed up for Function Health lab testing today…hoping to take advantage of this new system venturing into Medicine 3.0 and actually get a more comprehensive snapshot of what our midlife baseline is. I think it’s good timing since early February we also have our next Dexascan…hopefully the last few months since October of mostly consistent weighted vest, and workouts has reaped some benefits.
-Thinking of trying to add Urolithin A as an experiment these next few months and see if that can improve mitochondrial health, maybe aid in muscle recovery (my right glute/hip/low back issue), improve my ferritin stores, and maybe more…going to delve into some of the podcasts this week again with Anurag Singh (doctor of Mitopure). I’ve definitely felt improvement taking the creatine and collagen regularly, however it’s also difficult to tell how much the weighted walking/exercise has impacted it all as well. Thinking of actively abstaining from alcohol these next few months as well – even though that seems to have already just been the case as is!
-I’m grateful the Nintendo Switch has given me a chance to spend time/reconnect with the kids on a different level again. They seem so independent and wanting to be in their own space/reading/drawing/listening to podcasts, that it’s getting harder to find common ground. I’m grateful for our time together on our hike yesterday…hoping we can get them out again next weekend!
-Eric finished my last 2 kitchen cabinet shelves! It looks more organized for sure and feels good to be making small progress. I will try to start seeing if I can strip the cabinet paint just a bit more and get it cleaned up entirely for the next steps…
-Lights out now…it’s so hard to wake up in the dark even with nearly 7-8 hours sleep. Who knew I’d be addicted to getting more sleep but I kind of am these days.
First official family hike of 2025…going to up the ante this year – longer treks, more elevation, more weight. Got some bigger plans later this year that need some training to see glaciers Glacier National Park! Determined that if we are heading to Montana in August, then that’s 6 months away, meaning only 1 day/weekend to go on a hike which leaves us with only 24 potential family hike days…not counting the weekends when Juniper will be gone meaning maybe only really 20 hikes! I bookmarked a few in AllTrails but need to do some research for a potential harder hike for us while at Sea Ranch.
The Memory Palace technique is a memorization strategy, based on visualizations of familiar spatial environments to recall information. “Loci” is the Latin term which means “places” or “locations”. The technique involves envisioning a location or physical space that you are extremely familiar with.
Eric was calling it a Mind Palace and I thought he was wrong but yet again we were both talking about the same thing.
-Kids played more video games and Minecraft all day, more than they probably should. Feeling a little tired though today and feeling lenient since it’s a 3 day weekend.
-Eric made me more kitchen cabinet shelves and also worked on his “does he love me today” website…taking my suggestions about trying to figure out how to find past messages…💕
-We had a late night run to Home Depot and Trader Joe’s for caster wheels and fake Takis. Planning to go on a family hike tomorrow together to Land’s End.
-Showed family Glacier NP hike to Grinnell Glacier which looks a bit grueling but beautiful…downloaded Alltrails to see it in more depth. I think it will be hard but probably worth it…family training the next few months to prepare? Also showed Juniper and Eric the guided kayak tour at Channel Islands NP…more family activities to train and get strong for!
-Got 1 hour of TV time watching the next episode of “the 3 body problem” with Eric…late bedtime for us today. After convincing him to do a full body dumbbell strength training workout. Gotta get our dot on the calendar!
