…when it all gets away from you. It’s been a really busy last few weeks. Lots of fun stuff. Lots of work stuff. So I’m milking my downtime for all it’s worth. This means that less of my attention and time is focused here. But I’ve got ideas and notes galore. So more posts coming soon…

We went to Pitchfork. My husband, my cousin, my friend Cameron, and I. All three days. And it was glorious. Pitchfork, in my experience, has always been really well run. Quality artists, scheduled in such a way that the headliner gets due credit and there’s a lovely relaxed feel to the afternoon. Lounging on a picnic blanket to Real Estate and Slowdive was exactly what I needed on Sunday afternoon. After scream-singing the whole Neutral Milk Hotel set the night before, I needed something easy. And Pitchfork delivered.

I love music festivals. You could argue that they aren’t the best way to see bands. Sets are shorter. Production can be minimal. It seems like way more can go wrong. The crowds are huge. But there’s also something magical about live music in a festival atmosphere. It feels like the whole world is there and excited. There’s that particular way that people dress for festivals. There’s the fantastic people watching  (especially while waiting in line to use the port-a-potties). There’s that satisfaction that comes from having the perfect strategy to be in the right place at the right time for the right band: in the middle of it all, up front and center.

The highlight of the weekend was definitely seeing Neutral Milk Hotel. My husband and I saw them earlier this year in Indianapolis. That was a good show, but this was completely different. The crowd was packed. Everyone knew all the words. And when they played new songs, there was hushed and awed silence. The clarity of every single word in “Little Birds” was astonishing. There was more than one occasion during the show that I cried. And when they played “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” (our first dance song), I had the odd realization that it would have been cheaper to buy each of our wedding guests tickets to Pitchfork than it was to have them at our wedding. It was one of the best shows I’ve ever been to, not least of all because Jeff Mangum himself seem to be quite affected by the fervor of the audience.

Our original honeymoon plan was to go to Brazil for the World Cup. That didn’t end up working out for various reasons, including sanity. So we got our thinking caps on and decided on Thailand and Cambodia. Since we already have a trip to India planned for the fall/winter, we figured it made sense to tack on an extra couple weeks and do the big trip then. Thing is…there’s a lot of time between April and November, so my husband decided we needed to take a trip before then. And because the flight prices were right, we decided on Costa Rica.

We booked the tickets for a week. Then realized we had no idea what we were doing. So we googled! And found this and this. We decided to rent a car and make hotel reservations that roughly correspond to the Frommer’s itinerary: one night in San Jose, one night in Arenal, two nights in Monteverde, two nights in Manuel Antonio, and a final night in San Jose.

I wanted to pack light:

* Shorts
* Skirt
* Comfy pants
* Light t-shirts
* Dresses
* A couple swimsuits
* Flip flops
* A cover up
* Sneakers
* Minimal makeup and skincare
* A light layer
* Pyjamas

And it all fit into one suitcase with room to spare!

Day 26
200 Bicycle Crunches | 200 Butt Kicks

So many crunches! Still don’t really understand the point of butt kicks, but it was a little bit of a cardio break between sets of 100 bicycle crunches. Definitely felt this one, though.

Day 27
100 Russian Twists | 4×60 second Plank

For some reason, planks are hard again. Which is disappointing. I was starting to feel a little badass, cavalier about planks even. But I was put into my trembling, stopwatch watching place. The Russian twists weren’t so bad. But like wood chops, doing a lot of them makes me dizzy, it turns out.

Day 28
25 Push Ups | 200 Seal Jacks

Holy arms, Batman. Accidentally did ten too many push ups. Oh well, it’s a good thing in the long run, I’m sure. And seal jacks are definitely worse than regular jumping jacks. The clapping is weird and annoying. My arms were so tired! And my calves!

Day 29
50 Lunges | 100 Froggies

That was horrible. Froggies are the worst. I think…worse than burpees. I just kept getting worse and worse at them. My calves were burning, throbbing, you name it. Very glad that I don’t have to do any more of those. The lunges were a relief, basically.

Day 30
200 Squat Jumps | 100 V Ups

This is the last day, I kept telling myself. Not that it helped. The squat jumps were fine…at first. Then they were really, really not. And I underestimated the V ups as well. Just all kinds of underestimating, really. This challenge definitely went out with a bang.

Well, that was ridiculous. But I made it. And here’s what I have to show for it. Not bad, I think.

As a refresher, this is where I was at the start of the challenge.

Overall, it was a good experience. It was definitely tough but never impossible. It helps tremendously to have someone doing it with you for moral support. And to give yourself a reward at the end like a massage. I wish I’d kept track of how long each day’s exercises took me as it varied widely from day to day. Any day with burpees or jump squats typically took considerably longer than other days. I definitely feel good about myself. My body feels more comfortable; my clothes fit more easily. I’ve definitely gotten stronger. I can lift things more easily. I can do more things in yoga. I would say that I got what I wanted out of this. And the progress I’ve made is motivation to keep doing some of these exercises. I would highly recommend checking it out if you’re curious. Or maybe one of the other challenges on the site. I think I might try the Abs Challenge next!

This fucking cat

These shoes

Cupcakes

Hair bow!

(NO) GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!

We got our wedding pictures. And they are lovely. (A deep and heartfelt thanks to our wonderful photographer Justine Bursoni!) Even though it’s only been a couple months, it feels like a different era. And it’s nice to see the smiles and laughter of memories confirmed in photographs. But it’s still hard to shake how weird getting married was.

In the first place, it wasn’t supposed to happen. I was supposed to die a virgin at the age of 20 (don’t ask). But then I didn’t like the idea of dying before I finished college. And by the time I graduated, living was too much of a habit to quit so easily.

Suffice it to say, I’m still alive. But it’s hard to let go of the childhood vision we create of our adult selves. The life I dreamed up for myself (being a ballerina-writer who lived in a loft in Manhattan with 12 cats named for each month of the year) left no room for relationships, let alone marriage. The way I saw it, the only reason you got married (instead of choosing a less institutionally based commitment) was because you wanted to have children (because I’m a little old fashioned on that front). And I didn’t want children.

But I grew to want them. A series of bad relationships will do that to a person, apparently. So I thought maybe I’d get married, after all. But I didn’t see how it was possible. Even if I found someone, everything was so complicated. Sure, marriage, but I couldn’t see how to make a wedding work. I’d have to elope. And maybe tell my family about it when I was too blatantly pregnant to get away with it.

And then I met the man who would become my husband. And it was incredible. And I fell in love. And it felt the way everyone said it would. I couldn’t roll my eyes anymore. It was real and very determinedly in my life. And then he proposed (after I proposed on more than one occasion, but he says those didn’t count. Grumble grumble). And there we were. And a wedding still doesn’t make any sense to me (even now that I’ve had not one but two…or three? But that’s for another time).

But I desperately wanted to marry the guy. And in the grand scheme of things, having a wedding turned out to be not so bad. It may not have been the happiest day(s) of my life, but there are some moments that I will treasure forever that wouldn’t have happened in any other circumstance. For that, I am grateful.

Day 21
200 Bicycle Crunches | 200 Punches

Somehow this wasn’t that bad. Got through 100 crunch sets without difficulty. The second set was definitely a bit tougher toward the end. And the punches…again, didn’t feel like much of anything. Really convinced I’m not doing them right at this point.

Day 22
35 Burpees | 200 Side Crunches

This one was a bit of sleeper. What’s 35 burpees after I’ve done 100? Still horrible, as it turns out. So I was exhausted going into the side crunches. I have no idea if I was doing them right because I didn’t really feel them in my abs. I felt them in my legs. Maybe I should have done them before the burpees?

Day 23
50 Lunges | 100 Skater Slides

It was a pretty light day. Fifty lunges? No big deal. And the skater slides were light as well. Though I did feel them a little more, having done the lunges first.

Day 24
50 Wood Chops | 200 Mountain Climbers

Overall, not bad. Though…doing that many wood chops made me more than a little dizzy. The mountain climbers got to be a bit much. I ended up having to take many, many breaks.

Day 25
100 Supermans | 200 Plank Jacks

Plank jacks are pretty awkward. Not dreadful to do. But definitely awkward. And 200 is definitely plenty. I was exhausted. The supermans were rough. Didn’t think they would be. But quantity changes things.

Five days left! And I think I look pretty good!

Day 16
50 Lunges | 50 Donkey Kicks

This was surprisingly painless. Definitely started feeling the lunges towards the end, though. Did 25 on each side for both lunges and donkey kicks. Again, hoping that was the right thing to do.

Day 17
35 Push Ups | 100 Mountain Climbers

The push ups weren’t that bad, actually. Wonder if I’m building up arm strength. The mountain climbers were manageable as well, though I did take a break halfway through. That shit’s tiring! I’m not entirely sure I did them right, but I got through them…

Day 18
100 Triceps Dips | 50 Squat Jumps

100 triceps dips was horrible. Even breaking them up into two sets of 50 turned out to be pushing it. I literally “felt the burn”. And then I felt the burn for hours after. The squat jumps were tiring, as expected, but nothing crazy.

Day 19
200 High Knees | 100 Supermans

Didn’t think it would be too bad. Thought the hardest part would be keeping count. What a fool I was. The high knees started out all right. Then became medium knees, then low knees. And I ended up having to break up the supermans into sets of 25.

Day 20
75 Burpees | 4×60 second Plank

Dear god, this was brutal. Even with breaking the burpees up into sets of 25. The planks were easier though. Barely looked at the stopwatch. But I was really feeling them in my abs. And this was true of the burpees as well: abs and quads. It was my jelly legs that made the reps so hard.

But hey! I’ve made it two thirds of the way!
 

It’s been two years now since I went to Paris with my dear aunt. It was wonderful. And, lately, I miss that place like the dickens. I don’t know if it’s that a couple friends mentioned trips there recently. Maybe it’s that the husband and I were toying with the idea of taking a summer trip to Paris and Amsterdam. Perhaps the fact that it was around this time of year that we went. Or that my beloved blazer that I bought on the trip has a gaping hole in it.

In any case, I’m pining more than a little.

I love traveling and can’t wait for my upcoming trip to Costa Rica. Where are some places you’ve gone that you’ve loved? Any exciting future travel?

Day 11
25 Push Ups | 75 Triceps Dips

Clearly a dedicated arm day. The triceps dips were rough. And I did them first, so I ended up having to do push ups on my knees.

Day 12
200 Punches | 200 Butt Kicks

I don’t know if I was doing these wrong, but I barely felt anything. Definitely sore from the day before. I wonder if these are sleepers and will manifest their effect a day later.

Day 13
50 Plank Walks | 50 Lunges

Well, that was awful. Plank walks are definitely solidly up there with burpees in terms of inflicting misery. Couldn’t do more than ten without needing a break. The lunges didn’t seem so bad until I tried to do anything with my ass or legs afterwards. A very exhausting full body day.

Day 14
50 Wood Chops | 50 Squat Jumps

I expected this to be rough since I was crazy sore from the day before. The wood chops weren’t so bad, though I have no real sense of whether I was doing them right. The squat jumps, however, were excruciating. I had to take a long break after the first 25.

Day 15
4×60 second Planks | 100 Russian Twists

I was relieved that there was no lower body (is that how you say it?) stuff, but man…this was rough, anyway. I don’t know if you know this, but 4 planks is a LOT. The first one was kind of easy. Or it felt better than previous planks had. But there was a dramatic fall off after that. Naturally, I suppose. I broke it up. So that I did two planks and then all the Russian twists and then the last two planks. But the planks after the Russian Twists were, probably unsurprisingly, much harder. I tried to get through them without looking at the timer. Tried closing my eyes and taking deep breaths. No dice. Not only was it impossible for me to keep my eyes closed, I had trouble maintaining steady breathing. Damn! The Russian twists were all right though. Got through all 100 without resting. Booyah!

Halfway there! And here is what I have to show for it.