August in Review

August 1 was so, so hot. Matthew and I both had our to-do lists on this day. I got a massage that was pretty great. One of mine was to get my gross car washed, inside and out. I actually didn't put my car into neutral when I meant to, so I drove quite a ways into the wash area before I saw the employee flailing her arms at me. So that was mildly embarrassing. But my car is now super clean. I even vacuumed the trunk, which still isn't perfect, but it's better than it was. Matthew came over about 3:30. We went to the pool for a while. I made us dinner; we talked about marital stuff and our future. I also made us Butterbeer slushies since I didn't get to on Friday. We watched two episodes of the new Umbrella Academy. 

Sunday, August 2 I went on a walk, stretched, watched church on Zoom, did my July blog post, and called my grandpa. I went to the pool for a little while. Matthew and I made dinner and watched Umbrella Academy. 

August 3, I got dinner with Kristine at Texas Roadhouse in Bountiful. She was kind enough to share her gift card with me, so I just paid for the tip! I stopped to see Matthew for a minute and bring him a study, since he started studying again for his NMLS. 

Tuesday, August 4, I met Matthew at Costco for a slice of pizza dinner. This required some waiting on my part, as Matthew drove way south to the wrong Costco instead of the one right by his work. After we ate, we drove over to TNT shooting range in Murray for my first go at shooting a gun.

August 5 I battled for energy all morning. I slept in instead of doing my workout. I rescheduled my plasma for after work, and slept in. 

Thursday, August 6 date night for 1.5 years! We got dinner at Red Lobster, got an ice cream cone from McDonald's, and just enjoyed each other's company. He wrote me a beautiful letter which I've read countless times now. Sadly, I didn't have the server take a photo of us. 

August 7, I painted a picture. How anyone does straight singular width lines with a paint brush, I do not know. But I've had myself in this box for a long time that I am not creative or artistic. So I am trying to push myself out of my comfort zone and try new things. I'm starting small and easy and copying what's out there. 

Saturday, August 8, I got busy in the morning with cleaning and laundry. I did my workout (and kicked serious booty). I got ready and drove way out southwest to Saratoga Springs for Matthew's cousin's wife's baby shower. She is having twin girls. The food was delicious. I wore a mask when I wasn't eating. I just think it's the safe thing to do, and I was in the minority, but I'm OK with everyone's judgments. I don't know where they've been, and they don't know where I've been, so it seemed like a responsible choice. I got home and did client check-ins and was ready to spend the day with Matthew, who came at about 2:45. We watched shows, got potstickers to share, ate at Mo Bettahs, and watched Umbrella Academy season 2. We also went to Kuwahara's Farmer's Market. I got some peaches, zucchini, syrup, and cream top yogurt. The peaches have been great, thanks for asking. 

August 9, I was feeling pretty sad about my grandpa. Matthew came over by 11am. I had been canceling our CA flight and booking NY flights for the end of the month. Matthew sweetly came to spend the day with me. We went on a walk, where we walked past some old people in their backyard who talked our ears off for 20 minutes, but sent us away with tomatoes and kale. Naturally, we needed stuff for caprese, so we went to Wal-mart and got mozzarella, basil, and balsamic glaze. We also stopped at plasma for me, since I started prednisone and levofloxacin antibiotic on Friday, August 7. They said I could donate again when I'm done with the medications. I was disappointed because I was getting a pay bump the next six visits after a booster shot, and had to miss three of those six. Expenses are a little out of control recently, so I need the extra money. A tenant is moving out the end of this month, and I'm not filling the spot for September, assuming my relationship progresses as I hope it does. 

Monday, August 10, I went to the gym for my workout after work for the first time in years and regretted that immensely. When I did go to the gym regularly, it was at 3:30pm, not at 5:00. That evening, I ate leftovers and watched Downton Abbey. I also had therapy, where I'm starting to dive in to my religious and spiritual struggles. 

August 11, I read a book on the elliptical, which is how I started exercising about a decade ago. That evening, I picked up Matthew at work, and we went up Millcreek canyon. We spent a couple of hours there and had really good conversation. This day, I also got brave, revamped my resume for health and fitness, and submitted applications to several Orange Theory locations. 

Wednesday, August 12, I watched a webinar about fertility after the age of 35. Matthew stopped by to pick up his wallet, and then I got waffles with Brittney. I celebrated another leg day without hip pain! I was able to bump up my sumo squat weight and my lunge weights. 

August 13, I went to High Fitness at 6am. I spent the day totally overhauling my website, and I'm super happy with how it turned out! I was happy I could get it done in one day. Now I just need to get on track with posting on my website blog more often. I hung out by myself that evening: made myself a good dinner, got Megaplex popcorn, and watched Downton Abbey. 

Friday, August 14, I ran a mile and did a 20 minute AMRAP using an exercise dice I bought. The five moves I rolled were 30 Russian twists, 20 push-ups, 30 mountain climbers, 30 bicycle crunches, and 20 burpees. I got through three rounds plus two moves after that. It was ghastly. I worked some more on my website. I had free breadsticks from Big Daddy's, so we also got a $5 pizza, and went to see Dirty Dancing at Megaplex together for free. We called it a night because Matthew had to go home to his dog. 

August 15 I started my day off as normally as I could, with a workout, laundry, cleaning, and groceries. I even picked up peaches and got a smoothie. But by 1:30pm, I felt like I'd probably spend the next portion of the day on the couch. I had serious stomach cramping and pain all day long. Matthew and I were supposed to go to his friend Amanda's for dinner, and I thought I'd feel better in time to go. But I didn't. So we lay on the couch and watched Schitt's Creek. Matthew went to Harmon's to get me some yogurt and ginger ale. He was so good to me all day. We watched Lion, too, since he had never seen it. 

Sunday, August 16, I felt much better. I went on a walk, did some stretching, did some writing, did some meal prep, got waxed, made peach cobbler, and painted my toenails. Matthew and I went to Amanda's for dinner, which was super yummy. We had salad, green beans, garlic bread, roasted chicken, and potatoes. It was all super yummy, and then Amanda made us a peach galette, with vanilla ice cream. It was a good day. 

August 17 I took myself on a date to Waffle Love for chicken and waffles. I watched Downton Abbey, and I took a stab at another Harry Potter painting: Platform 9 3/4. 

Tuesday, August 18 I went to lunch at Costa Vida with Kelsey who was in town for a few days. That evening, Matthew took me on a date to Settebello. A big thing happened that night, but head here for the story. 

August 19 was a long, long day. I got less than five hours of sleep, got up and did leg day, donated plasma, and went to work. It was a quiet day at work, though I did have some things to do. I got dinner at Smashburger with Natalie, picked up a Crumbl cookie, and went to Pirate O's. Then I came home and wrote a the blog post linked just above. 

Thursday, August 20, I drove up to Bountiful and had dinner at Zao with Kristen. I hadn't seen her in such a long time. It was good to catch up. I stopped by Matthew's house for a minute to drop off a Crumbl cookie for him. I didn't stay since he needed to study. 

August 21, the day we attempted to start planning. This wasn't our finest moment as a couple. We didn't see eye to eye on a few things, especially when trying to keep a wedding super small when you are marrying a very loving and social man. But we were able to discuss it afterward, make apologies, and get ice cream at Handel's. 

Saturday, August 22 was a standard morning for me of Orangetheory, house cleaning, laundry, and client check-ins. Matthew got to my house at 1pm, and we headed down to Thanksgiving Point for Fitcon. We went to all the booths, and I basically just tried not to die from heat exhaustion. I came away with some Feast Mode, PB Fit, Surge pre-workout, Energy Cubes, and Bolero water flavoring. Matthew actually enjoyed himself quite a bit. We both wore our masks when we weren't eating or drinking samples, but I can't say the same for just about everyone else at the event, unfortunately. After Fitcon, we went to Itto Sushi to dinner. We haven't sat down to eat there since before COVID hit. We then went down to Draper to walk around Pirate O's, which we both enjoyed immensely. Matthew got a rubber chicken and a rubber pig, both noise makers, for his dog Dexter. So that was a fun time, when he squeezed the chicken over and over again. 

August 23 I had a really mellow day. I went on a walk, stretched, called my nanny, got popcorn and Starbucks, and read the rest of a book I had started. Matthew came over close to 5 and wanted to take me to El Chihuahua, so we tried it out. We both felt it was just OK. I'd probably rather eat at Chile Tepin or Lone Star Taqueria. We watched Schitt's Creek and tried some of our treats from Pirate O's the day before. 

Monday, August 24, I received my first wedding dress from Amazon in the mail! I had therapy that evening, and of course got Waffle Love because it was National Waffle Day! As a fun surprise, my friend Natalie met me at Waffle Love where we chatted about some of her goals. 

Wednesday, August 26, I picked up a pizza at Papa Murphy's for me and Matthew. I packed my bag to leave for NY. We did some wedding registry stuff, and went to see Unhinged at the theater. We loved our free luxury seats, but the movie was kind of laughable. 

August 27, Matthew picked me up and took me to the airport. I flew from SLC to Chicago, Chicago to Boston, and Boston to Massena. My uncle picked me up to go surprise my grandpa. Grandpa didn't recognize me at first, but he was so happy to see me. He just sat and stared at me for a few minutes. 

August 28, my dad left early in the morning. I went on a run; the weather was so nice! I did some cleaning at the house. I hung out with grandpa and watched TV with him. I also got to present him with a German chocolate cake. He was so happy! Uncle Marty and I went to Dollar General for some snacks and things. 

Saturday, August 29, I went on another run and did a body weight circuit, 20 minutes as many rounds as possible. There were some wild turkeys in the driveway. Uncle Marty and I went to Wal-mart to get some things. 

Sunday I made breakfast for Uncle Marty and I: French toast, bacon, and eggs. I spent a lot of time just sitting next to my grandpa. I did lots of voice memos of his stories and memories. I did laundry and got ready to fly home. I took a walk down to the cemetery down the road because it's so old, and I love that. We also stopped at Anastasia's Bakery truck for cinnamon rolls. She made my grandpa's cake, so I wanted to meet her. 

Pooh Bear took to me really quickly

Monday, we took grandpa to the hospital to get fluid off his lungs. They said he could have one support person, so it was Uncle Marty. I wandered around Potsdam looking at houses. I figured I'd get to swap uncle Marty to say goodbye. When we tried to go back in, they said visiting hours aren't until 2pm. I told her I was leaving town today. But I don't think that meant anything to her. In retrospect, I should have told her this was probably the last time I'd ever get to see my grandpa, and that I didn't know when she sent me outside that I wouldn't get to see him again. After we got back to the house, I had a pretty big meltdown. I ugly cried for a long time. Uncle Marty tried to comfort me and said we could go back and try again, but we didn't really have time. So I set up Skype on his phone (he doesn't have iPhone) so we could Face Time grandpa. 

Toilets as flower pots

I flew from Massena to Boston, Boston to Denver, and Denver to SLC, landing at 9pm. Matthew picked me up and hung out with me while I unpacked. I got to bed fairly early, since I stayed on Utah time while I was in New York. 

I'm super grateful I had the chance to go, and I owe a lot of people a thank you card (grandpa, Uncle Marty, my roommate for watching my cat, Matthew for the rides, etc.). Things didn't end how I wanted, but I'm grateful for the time I did get, and am so grateful for technology so I can see and talk to my grandpa anytime. 

Books I read (or finished) in August:

The Dutch House by Ann Patchet (audiobook)

Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson (audiobook)

Out of the Maze by Spencer Johnson (audiobook)

The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi (audiobook)

Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole