Concert Review - Foo Fighters

For those of you that don't know me I love concerts - even if they are a band that I don't like or have never heard of.  Something about seeing a musician in their element doing their thing is really cool.

So far this year I talked about going to see Fleetwood Mac.  On July 4th we headed to DC to see the Foo Fighters at RFK Stadium. If you have never seen the FF's you should really do yourself a favor and see them.  They are phenomenal live

This would be the first event after Dave Grohl broke his leg so it wasn't until a few weeks prior that we knew the show was still going to go on.  Dave showed up on stage in a "throne" and rocked like none other! 

The crowds were insane but thankfully we were able to get some really good seats.  So glad we were able to make it to this one.

The next time we saw the Foo's was in October 2015 - in Atlanta.  We were able to get amazing spots by the stage.  (this isn't my picture but pretty accurate of how close we were!)
Jewel came out and did an awesome cover of Stop Dragin my Heart Around.  You can watch it here!

And if 2 shows were not enough we saw them the next night in Nashville.  We met up with a couple of friends and again - another epic night!  Can't wait till the next show!

Kung Fu - Week 5

Day 9: 1/4 - Monday
Sifu
Tonight I felt pretty good and did an OK job of keeping up.  I felt a little tired and sore from Saturday but it usually doesn't take too long to start loosening up.
We did quite a bit of breathing and our normal warm-up drills.   After warm-ups we got ready for line-drills.
I'm starting to get the foot work down but I'm still out of whack when it comes to coordinating my feet with my punches.  It's cool to have the Seniors cheer and come along side me but I am determined I will get this down!  We did a lot of punches and various holds.  Of course Rev was my partner.  She's a funny kid but eager to help me out.
We finished class and I did about 20 minutes of extra stretches.
Those of that stayed after class went out for dinner.  It's cool getting to know these people outside of class.

1/7 - Tuesday
Today is not a KF day but I wanted to document how I was feeling.
I woke up not feeling 100%.  I started feeling some achy-ness throughout my body which I can only describe as feeling like the flu.  I came home from work, ate dinner and fell asleep on the couch around 7:30.

Day 10: 1/6 - Wednesday
Missed
I woke up again today to the aches and pains like Tuesday on a bigger scale.  Today my pain was moving down my left leg and my right arm was hurting more than usual.  (I had issues with bursitis in the past).  I told Chris I didn't think I could make it to class and came on home after work.
I spent the night pulling some of my old medical files from Dr. Kopits and the last specialist that I saw in 2006. In Dr. K's file from the 90's the talks of a hip replacement were there but nothing he felt was terribly urgent.  He did mention that having the surgery would head off any pain when I got older but at the time I was going into my senior year of high-school and the timing was not the best.
The papers from the Dr. in Ohio said similar things but also mentioned my weight.  At the time I was 120 (at least I've hovered around the same weight all these years).  This further proves that the weight is definitely a factor.

1/7 - Thursday
Feeling about the same but today the pain is moving down my lower back.
Got home after work and had Chris rub some tiger balm on my lower back.  The pain was pretty severe.
The aches through the rest of my body are still there but maybe not as bad as yesterday.
We watched tv for a bit but around 11 Chris and I started doing some more research and a lot of the signs were pointing to Rhabdomyolysis.  After a few minutes we decided to head to the ER just to be on the safe side.  They ran some blood work and a urine sample and thankfully everything checked out Ok.
The dr. said my CK levels were a little elevated but nothing to be worried about.

Day 11: 1/8 - Friday
Missed
After yesterday I decided today that I would go ahead and just take the rest of the weekend off and decide to go back to class on Monday.

Day 12: 1/9 - Saturday
Missed

Overall I was bummed to miss so many classes but I definitely feel that I have to start listening to my body.
Chris said that Sifu and several others asked how I was doing so that made me feel good :)

Kung-Fu Week 4

Day 9: 12/28 - Monday
Teacher: Sifu

Day 10: 12/30 - Wednesday
Teacher: J

Day 11: 1/1 - Friday
Did not go to class

Day 12: 1/2 - Saturday
Teacher: L
I should have known this was going to be a brutal class when he asked if I had a sweater because we are going to be running.  We bowed into class and then collectively ran out the front door.
I knew I had to pace myself when I started but I definitely didn't do a good job.  It was about 30ish degrees outside and the run was maybe a 1/2 mile?  I wasn't sure what the protocol was for quitting but I didn't.
I jogged as far as I could and then I when I couldn't catch my breath I alternated from jogging to walking.
I wanted to keep up so badly but there was just no way that I was going to be able to.
When the last person got out of my view I felt completely helpless and defeated.  I shed some tears and kept trying to pull myself together.  Once I made it closer to the school I saw someone running towards me and it was Chris.  He helped me make the last leg of the jog where we got right back into class for some warm-ups.  Since I was so far behind there was only about 10 minutes left of warmups and thank God for that. My chest was hurting so bad, I couldn't catch my breath and all I wanted to do was cry.
L came over and just told me to keep my hands above my head but knowing I was not in good shape Chris recommended I go outside and do breathing exercises to get my heart rate down.
I ended up spending about 20-25 minutes outside before I felt somewhat back to normal.  Once I got back into class they had just finished doing circuit drills so I spent about 10 minutes doing my form and then class was over.
I made sure to tell Leroy that I was so sorry for having to bow out of class but I honestly felt that if I didn't I would have passed out.  He understood and apologized but I have to start listening to my body and learn to let the guilt go when I can't physically complete something.

Kung-Fu Mama

Over the last 5 weeks I have embarked on a physical journey that has been about 12 years in the making and wanted to make that a focus of my blog for the next little bit.

Over the last few years I have done gyms, at home work-outs, you name it I probably have at least entertained the idea of trying it.  Like most people I have packed on a few extra pounds since my
early 20's - probably 20 to 30 pounds.  Being so short the added weight has not done my joints any good.
I struggle to make it through a day without Advil or my favorite drug of choice lately- Excedrin.
If I know I am going to be doing a lot of walking I make sure to pre-medicate to avoid the after-math of aches and pains.  I know that the added weight has contributed to the pain as well as a hip replacement that I probably should have had when I was younger.

So fast forward to how I got to today.  Noticing the extra pounds I was putting on as well as Chris, I realized we needed to start making changes.  We were getting in a bad habit of eating and drinking out several nights a week and this just expedited the weight gain.

Leading up to 12/7/15 my knowledge of Kung-Fu has been limited to what I knew through Chris.
When we first met in 2001 I knew that Chris spent a lot of time at "the school" but I didn't really know any specifics about what Kung-Fu was all about.  I just knew that it consumed a lot of his time and to be honest I didn't really understand.  The idea of having a hobby was very foreign to me.  Growing up I never had any hobbies or belonged to any clubs or groups.  I guess in part due to the small, private school setting - there weren't many options.

Over time, Chris slowly gave up Kung-Fu to pursue other hobbies and eventually gave it up all together.
He left the school on good terms and in fact several fellow students and the Instructor (we refer to him as "Sifu") came to our wedding.

When I first thought about mentioning Kung-Fu I knew it would be a serious commitment of our time and money and wasn't sure if I was prepared for that.  But, I knew something had to give so after talking with Chris we stopped by the school and talked to Sifu.   We talked for a bit about some of my limitations and
ultimately decided I would give it a try.

So on 12/7 we started our journey - this time together.

Don't Stop!

So last weekend Chris and I were able to see the great Fleetwood Mac at Thompson Boling Arena.  I had goosebumps from the first song (Chains) to the last song - which I can't remember right off hand... oops. 

Chris actually first introduced me to Fleetwood Mac when we first started dating - back in 2001.  Growing up I wasn't allowed to listen to anything but Christian music so if it wasn't played on our local Christian station then chances were I had never heard of it. 

Many times we would drive around and listen to their Greatest Hits album and I have been a fan ever since.  

So fast forward to last weekend when we were able to see them live.  They played for almost 3 hours and it was incredible from start to finish.  We were in the nose-bleed section - partly because of the cost of the tickets but just to be able to say we saw them will definitely be a highlight of our concert trips. 

One of my favorite songs (hard to pick just one) is Don't Stop.  It reminds me that even though bad days happen, people let me down and the general stresses of life happen,  tomorrow is just around the corner.  

If you wake up and don't want to smile,
If it takes just a little while,
Open your eyes and look at the day,
You'll see things in a different way.

Don't stop, thinking about tomorrow,
Don't stop, it'll soon be here,
It'll be, better than before,
Yesterday's gone, yesterday's gone.

Why not think about times to come,
And not about the things that you've done,
If your life was bad to you,
Just think what tomorrow will do.

Don't stop, thinking about tomorrow,
Don't stop, it'll soon be here,
It'll be, better than before,
Yesterday's gone, yesterday's gone.

All I want is to see you smile,
If it takes just a little while,
I know you don't believe that it's true,
I never meant any harm to you.

Don't stop, thinking about tomorrow,
Don't stop, it'll soon be here,
It'll be, better than before,
Yesterday's gone, yesterday's gone.
Don't you look back,
Don't you look back.

(lyrics from AZ Lyrics) 

Yum!

So I don't really ever write too much about recipes but thought that after making this delicious recipe, oh going on the 100th time, I might spread the love.

I love my crock-pot and I love salmon.  So one day I was doing a little googling and came across this gem of a recipe .  It is my go-to, make at least 3x a month recipe AND the best part is how easy it is to fix!

I typically pair this with rice and steamed vegi's and Voila!

The other great thing about this recipe is that it works just as well with frozen salmon.  I buy a big bag of Wild-Caught Pink Salmon and whenever I go to make this I just run the individual packets under warm water for about 5-10 minutes and then once I take them out of the plastic wrap I make sure to pat them dry. Otherwise you will end up with a lot of excess water in you packets.

Hope you all enjoy this as much as I do!

Ice Day!

The great IceStorm of 2015 hit and it was a doozy.  It started around 10:30 yesterday morning and thankfully I was able to get him from work just in time.  A lot of friends were without power and fortunately ours stayed on until this morning!  It went off around 8 and finally came on around 1:30.  We spent the morning cleaning our office and reading.  Temps in the house dropped to about 62 so we were thrilled it finally came back on!

Currently I'm warming up watching old re-runs of Beverly Hills 90210 and cuddling with the pups. We might venture out later for some dinner but just depends on the roads.