But really, what's in a name?

Isn't it strange how certain songs on certain days can transport your mind and heart back to certain times and people and places and feelings? Part of me likes it. Most of me doesn't.

I don't like feeling emotions spring up spontaneously. I've been struggling with that lately, especially with judging. Negative emotions keep swelling inside me over particular things I see other people do. I won't get into particulars unless you want to hear about it. I don't like it. I am working through it.

The gospel is alive and well here in Houston. Our ward is really, really great. Many people in our ward are wealthy, very wealthy. And there are many young couples, just starting out like Jeff and I. There are many single members, and many members who are not as well off financially. I see how the ward bands together. I'm sure not everyone sees it this way, but I do. Perhaps I see this because I have an easy time getting along with everyone in the ward, old and young. I am sad to admit that I feel uncomfortable befriending one certain type of person, mostly because I feel a lack of interest on their part. Do you feel that ever? Perhaps I am intimidated by these people, by their looks. I'm not sure what it is yet. Can one look at a person and know they have nothing in common? Or is that a completely immature way to think? I am striving to serve unconditionally, be kind unconditionally. I am doing okay with it...for the most part. Nothing annoys me more than knowing someone, meeting them once or twice, and then they never talk to me again despite seeing me at church each Sunday. It is so rude. I try to avoid these people. I also try to not be that person. It always makes me feel sad when someone does that to me. We should just love everyone. At one point, just a few months ago, my ward had five Lisa's in it. Sadly, two moved away so we are down to three. I am good friends with all the other Lisa's. I miss the Lisa's who moved away. Lisa is such a funny name.

Do you feel like you personify your name? I have no idea if I do, I suppose because I don't identify myself by my name so much as I do my likes, interests, my core beliefs, my character. Lisa is just something other people call me. Whether I personify my name or not, I have acquaintances and friends who I feel most definitely personify their names. I suppose I might personify mine too, if I'm using my perception of others as a barometer.

Yesterday I went to our local LDS peanut butter cannery and screwed lids, assembled boxes, packed boxes, loaded boxes onto pallets, wiped down jars, etc., for 6 hours. It was so fun. I felt so happy. I am happy a lot these days. Not that I've been sad. I've been happy. Maybe it's just summertime. It is really hot in Houston, but I like that, even though I complain about it all the time.

I am happy when I take care of my body. I am happy when I sleep for 8+ hours, when I work out, when I eat healthy foods. I need to take better care of my spirit. I'm making more of an effort to pray always. It's amazing what that constant line of communication can do to better one's day. I feel grounded, more temperate, calmer, more satisfied. I deeply appreciate my loving Father in Heaven.

Lastly, I would really like to go to a cool place this weekend and go hiking with my Jeff.

strap on your boots

It's venting time!

I have this friend. She's a good friend. Loyal. Encouraging. Supportive...usually. She is also extremely close-minded, so whenever my philosophies on medicine come up, she becomes confrontational and rude. She asks questions with a mocking tone. It happens every time. I try to avoid conversations about anything medical or health-related with her, because they always end the same way.

For example, I would like to birth our children naturally, with a midwife, either in our home or at a birthing center. I've read about this a lot; it's not a decision I reached on a whim. My friend proceeded to argue for a good 15 minutes about why hospital births are better and that I must be a real nut case to even consider a home birth. Won't you be scared if something goes wrong? Won't you want drugs? I am probably more anti-hospital than I am anti-hospital birth. I've had friends who've had great experiences birthing in hospitals, and friends who've had horrible experiences. All I know is that I want to choose what happens during my child births, and based on the research I've done, I feel that I will have more control with a midwife, in my home or a birthing center. I know my body is capable of handling childbirth, because women have done it for centuries. That gives me confidence. My body will go into labor when it's good and ready, not when it's convenient for the hospital's schedule. Also, the c-section rate in Houston is astronomical, ranging from a low 7% at some hospitals to a repulsive 70% at one hospital. The average is in the mid-50s. I'm not saying c-section isn't needed sometimes--it is. I'm saying that if I have healthy pregnancies, I want to be able to labor naturally, with no pitocin drip and no epidural, when my babies are good and ready to come out.

Can't you just let me voice my opinion without jumping down my throat about it?

Then today, well let me telllll you about today. She asked what Jeff and I did for his birthday, so I told her. She asked if we had a special dinner, I said no because Jeff has class and he's doing a candida cleanse. I explained what it is and why he's doing it. He's doing it to try to treat a skin condition he's had for 8 or 9 years, something he's seen MDs for numerous times. Not once has any doctor ever successfully treated it. It always goes away for a little while then comes back with a vengeance. So he tells that to the next doctor and they say, Oh well you didn't do this. Try these pills/creams/etc. So he does and it goes away. Then he stops treatment because he's 'cured,' and guess what? It comes back full steam ahead. Jeff did a lot of research about the internal issues that could be causing this condition and found that a candida cleanse would be helpful. Great! He's eating a specific diet, taking specific supplements, and using essential oils to topically treat it. You know what my friend says? "So you're telling me Jeff read a bunch of hooey online and decided to treat himself? I just don't think some 20-year-old kid knows as much as a doctor. Maybe self-medicating will work. Who knows."

You know what? If you know nothing, don't pretend to know something.

Jeff and I are anti antibiotics, we are anti-chemicals. Maybe I'll explain why someday, but it sure makes sense to me. A missionary I knew on my mission was cured of cancer using essential oils. Yes, you read that right. Plant extracts with ZERO side effects. Some of you are probably reading this thinking, Pft, yeah right. But he was.

I guess all I'm saying is, don't knock something or someone until you've done a little research and tried to see where they're coming from. Don't harp on their opinions just because they're different. Don't be afraid of new ideas.

Don't be afraid to be wrong.

Birthday boy!

Today is Jeff's 28th birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He opened his presents last night because we just can't wait around here. And also he has class every night and I get home from work after he's left so we pass like strangers in the night. He said it was a great birthday! Luckily I didn't strike out on every present like I usually do. I got him gym chalk, those squeezy things to work on your grip and build mega huge forearms, and an elevation mask.

Now not only do we get to annoy our neighbors with our loud music and heavy weights when we work out, we get to emotionally scar them too! Huzzah!

The word huzzah reminds me of two things. One, another person named Lisa who I knew in high school. She always used to say it. And two, Tobias Funke.

Have you watched season 4 of Arrested Development? How did you like it? We have two episodes left. The first few episodes really were awful, but then you keep watching and each episode leaves little presents all along its way. I've enjoyed it a lot. To a new start!!

LOL!!!!

Moisture

Isn't that just the grossest word? Moisture. It's gross to say, it's weird to hear, and it is so non-descriptive. Let me suggest some situations where I commonly hear the word 'moisture' used.

From the pulpit during prayer: 'We are thankful for the moisture we've received.' Why not just say rain? That's what you really mean.

Outside in the summer: 'There's so much moisture on my water bottle.' Moisture? I think you mean condensation.

At a BBQ restaurant: 'Would you like a moist towlette?' Oh, you mean wipe? Yes, I'd love one.

In the suffocating Houston summer humidity: 'Sick. It is so moist out here.' You mean hellish. Go away now.

After running through a sprinkler: 'Darn. Now my shirt is moist.' Just say wet, because that's what it is.

I'd like to say I won't punch you if you ever say 'moist' around me, but I can't make any promises.

What got me started thinking about this was how much water I've drunk in the past four weeks. Each workday (and most Sundays, Saturdays I often slack off) I drink an entire bottle like this:

That is 101.4 fl oz of mois water, just 26.6 oz shy of a full gallon. I started it as a challenge to myself to see if I could actually do it. It's surprisingly easy. Sure, it's a ton of water and I pee a few more times daily than I used to (I commonly drank around 80-90 oz daily before, so I'm not drinking too much more), but it has done a few great things for me.

1. improved my digestion
2. improved my minor skin dryness issues. You may think that because I live in the most humid place in the world that I never have to use chap stick. Think again. This helps my otherwise very dry lips and eyelids.
3. made my fingernails super strong. Part of this is due to the protein in my diet, but I've noticed a definite increase in fingernail growth over the past few weeks. Luckily I haven't noticed any outrageously long toenails. Sick. Toenails are gross.
4. My body stays cooler. I work out in my 100-degree garage, so you know I sweat a ton, and I drink another 30-40 oz of water each night after I get home/workout. But for some reason, I feel like I don't sweat nearly as much as I used to. Call me crazy. My sweat also isn't salty.
5. given me more excuses to leave my office!!

In fact, it's just now 1 pm and I finished the jug already! I can't believe it.

Guys, I really have to pee now. But before I leave, you have to make this recipe. It is so good. Peace out.

I told you!

I told you to come back and there'd be another entry! My job can just be really boring. Very left-brained work, so I have to take frequent breaks or I will melt.

Speaking of work, on our last day in Maui back in January, our office manager quit. Guess who took her job?! It's been nice because I get paid a lot more, but I am doing more work, and it's not fun work. I like doing all the website stuff, but I don't like all the contracts. Many of our contracts are with countries I won't name for fear of evil men coming for me in the night, but they are the biggest, most corrupt bureaucracies on Planet Earth and as such they require oogles of paperwork. It's so awful. Definitely not what I pictured myself doing, or what I even want to be doing, but it's a good job and I am lucky/blessed to have it. I mean, I work from 7 am to 3 pm! It's awesome! And I'm still teaching piano lessons a few days a week during the school year.

Sometimes I feel actual shame over my job. When I was in college, I really wanted to be a music critic and write for Pitchfork or some dumb blog, or be famous. I still wish I were a famous singer, preferably in a rad band. I miss playing in bands. Now I guess I don't care, and that's my problem. I'd love to be someone, not just an office manager for some oil and gas firm, but you know, life is about many other things. In some ways, I am so glad I have this job because it doesn't define me at all! My poor boss is such a workaholic I don't think he'll ever retire. And then he'll be this 95-year-old cute little Jewish man saying, 'I'm so glad I have so much money to die with.' Yeah, right. I feel liberated by the fact that I am me, independent of anything in my life. At the same time I spend 40 hours a week doing something I really don't like! But it's okay. If I really hated it, I would leave!!

Jeff is in the last semester of the first year of his Masters in Education Administration. One more year! Not sure what the year after that will bring, except that we are open to staying in Texas and moving away from Houston. We like Texas. Who knew? Jeff is a really good husband. He was stressed this year with school and work, and I was stressed suddenly picking up more of the load around the house, but we figured it out and now things are peachy. Now he gets to be Mr. Mom because he has summer break! Someday soon I'll tell you about the trips we've taken this year and the trips we're taking soon.

Back in the winter we quit going to our Crossfit gym and bought all the junk so now we work out in our garage. We were thinking about long-term affordability, and owning the equipment is definitely the way to go. I'll admit, we got out of shape there for awhile, ate what we wanted and didn't think much of it. Getting out of shape after being in such great shape was not fun. I don't think we will make that mistake again. We've been working out steadily the past month or two, so we're back on the wagon at least. Because Jeff is now out of school and has tons of time, we've started a strength training program. We're both looking to make some gains in our main lifts (squats, deadlifts, standing press, and bench press), so we started using the Wendler 5/3/1 system, as of this morning.

This is Jim Wendler. He is a former strong man competitor. 

At a weight of 275 pounds, he lifted a 1,000-pound squat (as shown in the picture), 675-pound bench press and a 700-pound deadlift. I just can't even fathom how his bench press and deadlift are so close in weight, as usually these two lifts differ greatly in max weight. Obviously, Jim Wendler is the man.

These lifts are something we're used to but haven't strictly focused on. We'll lift three days a week, conditioning on Tuesdays, yoga Thursdays, sprints on Saturdays. Since Jeff is ditching me for class every afternoon/evening, I'm going to work in some extra conditioning at night, rowing, kettlebell work, whatever. Just keeping it light and easy so I can save myself for lifting HEAVY. Now, before you go thinking Jeff and I are going to get a huge and nasty, don't worry! I have no interest in consuming the amount of food needed to get that big. But if you want to be strong, you've gotta lift heavy!

Jeff's birthday is Thursday, so everybody tell him HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! IT'S THE BIG 2-8!!!

Sometimes you're up, sometimes you're down

If you check my blog history, you'll see that I was once an avid blogger, mainly because I wrote about whatever I did. I'm going to try to do that again instead of waiting until I just have to say something. Maybe someone out there wants to read about what Jeff and I are up to. If you don't, I'll crack myself up.

Jeff and I are almost to 3 years of marriage, and where has the time gone? I remember when we married thinking, yeah, about two years and then we'll have a kid. Psssh. I am so psyched to be a mom! Someday! But man, these past years have been rad.

Did I ever mention that we bought a couch? We did. Back in February. It's the Taylor sofa from Thrive Furniture and we love it. We got the ottoman too, and it's huge, but we love that too. Yes, it's gray because I just have a thing for gray right now. And we got the lighter legs. My only complaint is that the legs screw on, and they don't screw on tightly, so sometimes the legs, which are supposed to point outward, point inward. So last week, after three months of having the couch, I finally realized Thrive should fix that. We're supposed to get eight new legs (were supposed to on Saturday!! Grrr...) and hopefully those will work.

A few months back we also scored two Drexel Declaration pieces at the neighborhood high school's garage sale. I had a cow when I saw them, and saw their prices because these things can be expensive! Luckily ours weren't.

They both have the original white globe knobs, except the six-drawer dresser which is missing one knob, so we will end up replacing them all. The highboy had a broken leg. The thing weighs at least 250 lbs, so I can understand how the leg broke. We finally got that back from our guy Allen and it's as good as new! Did you know you can clean wood with vinegar? That's what we did and it works great. These pieces were both really really REALLY dirty, so we were afraid they wouldn't polish up, but they did. The highboy, though technically a dresser, works great in our dining room as a sideboard thingy, and our TV sits on our dresser. It works. I love love love them!

What's next? An Eames lounge chair and ottoman? I hope so. When will my bonus get here? Come on, November!!

There are so many more things to say! But I'll stop now before you're too bored. Come back in a few days (or a few hours if work stays this slow) and you can read all about my life! You know you want to!