April in Review

I feel like this month was incredibly chaotic, probably due to driving back and forth many times from Grantsville.

On April 2, Matthew and I watched Melissa McCarthy’s movie Can You Ever Forgive Me? Her performance was good, but I don’t think I’d watch it again.

On April 4, I got a visitor at work. We walked to Starbucks and spent a while talking about all the things.

That same evening, I got to visit Vessel Kitchen with Laura and Karlie. It was really delicious, but Israeli poke is different from island poke. Just for the record.

I held a vote on my Instagram regarding pronunciation of the word “Wilshire,” which is an area of Los Angeles as well as one of the properties my company owns. I pronounce it “will-sure.” Just like Worcestershire, Yorkshire, New Hampshire, etc. as my friend Brianne pointed out. Turns out many people like the long “I” sound, which I think is very strange. Please don't ever ask anyone in southern California how to get to "Will-shire boulevard." They'll look at you funny. 

On April 5, I got to try Mod Pizza for the first time. It was tasty. I had amazing self-control and only had a half. We went to Scheels afterward and then watched Parks & Rec.

On April 6, I went to Orange Theory for my workout. While doing plank rows, I heard a snapping sound in my neck and was instantly taken over by pain. Pain flooded my neck. I sat back and tried to move it slowly, stretching it and seeing if I did any real damage. I did the side plank finisher, which I probably shouldn’t have. Then I tried to get on the treadmill, but I couldn’t handle it. So I left class. And I sat and sobbed in my car. Mostly I was afraid more so than I was in pain. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it hurt. But it was scary. Anything to do with the neck is scary.

It was terrible timing, because that was also my roommate and friend’s moving day, and Matthew and I were her whole crew.

I wasn’t super useful. I could only carry light stuff. Driving wasn’t the most fun either, since it hurt to turn from side to side. I spent a lot of the afternoon whining and crying. Matthew was sensitive to my pain and wanted me to go to the doctor. I figured I’d wait it out.

I am glad I did. It got better each day, and I was almost at 100% within a week. I was careful during my lifting sessions not to go too heavy, and make sure my form was on point. I didn’t want to risk further injury.

After helping Ashleigh move, we went and got poke. Well, I got poke. Matthew got a sushi burrito. We came home, and I watched conference and deal with neck pain while Matthew took a nap.

That night, I was on my own for my treat meal. I went to Corner Bakery and got the bacon three cheese mac and cheese, and the spinach sweet crisp salad. So delicious. Of course I went to Crumbl after because… Crumbl.

On Sunday, April 7, Matthew and I went to Grantsville to have breakfast and watch conference with his parents. Between sessions we took a walk down the muddy road and hung out with a local horse for a minute.

Unbeknownst to me, the whole family was coming over that evening for treats and a farewell for his parents’ mission. I didn’t save any macros for that event. So even though it didn't fit my macros, I still had one of Matthew’s SIL’s treats, a Carmelita. It was amazing.

April 11-13 was filled with lots of classroom time at the Online Trading Academy learning market timing. It was the worst time for me to take this class. I tried to in February, then tried again in March, but my work kept making me push it back, until the worst possible time for me personally. Thursday, April 11 was also the day Matthew had knee surgery. So rather than be able to drive to Grantsville from Salt Lake, I had to drive up from Sandy.

On Friday, April 12, it was FitCon. Don’t worry that I had purchased tickets many months in advance, and now this class was overlapping FitCon and making things really difficult. I work right by the Salt Palace and was really excited to just be able to walk over there when my friends could come and take my time. But no. I had class in Sandy instead of work. So I had to drive up from Sandy to FitCon, around 5pm when everyone else is also driving and heading to FitCon. Just really annoying.

I got some good stuff, though! I got a food topper from Feast Mode. It is super delicious. I got more Feast Mode seasonings. I got some dried Muscle Egg, and it is YUMMY. I got more CBD oil. I got way fewer samples this year, which was kind of sad. But any with caffeine I went ahead and gave to Matthew.

Saturday, April 13 was class again. I went up to Grantsville and stayed the night. All this back and forth driving helped me finish a couple of audiobooks pretty quickly, so that was one advantage.

April 14 was just full of laziness and hanging out with my immobile man friend.

Monday, April 15, I decided that I needed to try all the Crumbl flavors for the week: carrot cake, snowball, and of course the snickerdoodle and chocolate chip. So I took them to Grantsville to share.

April 17, I had dinner at Gourmandise with Brittney and Kristine. It was delicious, but I wish I had gotten the same sandwich I had the previous time because it was so, so good. That evening, I had a call with the Online Trading Academy, and only a few minutes to squeeze a trip in between. So I went to Wal-mart and picked up some basketball shorts for Matthew to wear with his huge leg splint thing.

April 19, I got Costa Vida for myself and headed up to Grantsville, where Matthew’s brother and family were visiting. I hadn’t seen them in a long time, so it was basically like a re-meeting.

April 20, I did my normal grown up things: laundry, groceries, cleaning. I also dyed Easter eggs by myself. 

But most importantly, I had sushi with Rachel in Park City. It was pretty tasty. I stopped at Smith’s to get some sweetened condensed milk to make treats. Then I got myself some Howdy ice cream on my way home.

When I got home, I put together Easter baskets for Matthew and my roommates and made macaroon nests.

On Easter Sunday, I got up early to make the drive to Grantsville to give Matthew his Easter basket. I spent a few hours with him before heading home to pick up some things and meet Ashleigh. We went to my grandma’s for Easter dinner.

My mom made me a really cute Easter gift, with candles and bath bombs in a bag, but a bunch of delicious treats inside a huge glittery egg.

On April 23, Matthew took me to Sugar House BBQ. It was pretty disappointing, sadly. I liked it the last time I went. After that, we went to see Shazam at the Sugar House Cinemark. It was free. Perks of being Yelp Elite.

April 25 was a momentous occasion. Yes it was the birthday of my sister Shivani, and my good friend Joyce. But that happens every year. On April 25, I installed a new door knob and electronic deadbolt on my front door. By myself!

On Friday, April 26, I went to the Good Feet store after work to see about arch supports. Oddly, they’ve made my feet hurt much worse this week as I’ve worn them. Maybe it’s just an adjustment period? That evening, Matthew took me to Bucket o’ Crawfish in West Valley. It was messy, and I had to get over tearing apart my shrimp for real. Like it made me nauseated at first. And my fingers smelled fishy the rest of the night. But it was really tasty!

Saturday, April 27, we went to the Dough Show. It didn’t start my day off right that I didn’t give myself enough room to turn and hit a car in the parking lot. I was amused by the girls next to that car who stayed to make sure I wrote a note. They were stalking the situation. It was really awkward. I was freaked out and sweaty, even though the damage was minimal. The real damage actually came when I tried to back out to straighten, and scraped my car on the parking pillar that is unnecessarily massive. So yeah. Off to a good start. Thankfully, Matthew held me and said he was sorry and told me I wasn’t dumb and that we all do it. I feel like most of my driving blunders have happened in parking lots, if I’m being honest.

Anyway, the Dough Show was awesome. Super cramped, but 19 donut vendors and lots of samples made me incredibly stuffed. Sadly, my favorite vendors weren't there: Donut Star, Banbury Cross, and My Sugar's. But I did get to try some other places I've been wanting to try. 

After that, we both went separate ways to do errands and stuff, and met back up around 3:30 for Avengers: Endgame. After a morning of donuts, we had an afternoon of popcorn. Yikes. I didn’t eat after about 5 or so. I made Matthew dinner because he needed real food.

Sunday, I went to church in a new dress I got from Matthew’s mom. I really like it. Did all the normal things--meal prep, watched Beautiful Boy after finishing the audiobook, made boba tea, went on two walks. 

Yesterday, April 29, we went to the Bees game. My friend Brittney and her boyfriend were supposed to come, but on Saturday she let me know that she forgot she had to help her brother move. I invited Ashleigh, who said yes, but then that morning she couldn’t get off work. Thankfully, my coworker Deedee could come, and Joyce could come! It was cold, as early season games often are. But it was fun. We left early, but I learned that the Bees won.

And today, the last day of April. I can’t believe we’re 33% done with 2019. Whoa. I ran 5K this morning, worked, and am just heating up some food for myself on this rainy evening.

Other items in April:

This month I finished reading:

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom (audiobook)

Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick (audiobook)

Girl, Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis (audiobook)

Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe (audiobook)

Beautiful Boy by David Sheff (audiobook)

Audiobooks have become the way I will smash my 2019 reading goal. I really enjoy listening to books on my commute. I also got a Bluetooth receiver that hooks up to my auxiliary input, so the sound quality is great, and I can charge my phone while listening!

I also got a new roommate this month. She’s been pretty quiet and clean so far, which is awesome.

I tried to start learning Chess. I feel like that’s a game that needs a lot of practice. I still don’t really follow it. I’ll keep trying.

I started the process of rolling over my 401k accounts from previous employers. If you haven’t yet, I’d advise you to do the same—get a different kind of account.

Very importantly, Game of Thrones came back on this month. Three episodes in, and I’m DYING. It is so good. I subscribed to HBO Go just for access to Game of Thrones.

And mostly the last couple of weeks have felt like a struggle for me. I just have a lot of thoughts and concerns rolling around my brain at any given moment, and I’ve had a lot of moments where it’s really hard to smile or enjoy things I usually enjoy. Laughing and other things have felt difficult, and I've felt heavy. Hopefully I can address these things soon, and just take my life a day at a time. That’s all anyone can do, right? Besides...