50 years later...

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the 35th President, John F Kennedy. It truly is an event unlike any other in recent American history.  I will be honest, American history is not really my forte and so my knowledge of the events on this day are derived from just a few sources.

So, this week I embarked on a task of asking all of my patients >50 years old what they remembered from the Kennedy assassination. I am a sucker for personal portrayal of history and it seemed like this week everyone was talking about the 50 year anniversary. Here are some of the most interesting stories I heard this week:

-"I was an 18 year old and the class president of my senior class. The principal tasked me to go to each of the classrooms to tell each teacher of Kennedy's death. At least half of those teachers cried"

-"I was 4 and I just remember my mom crying. It seemed the nation was crying"

-"Oh yes, I remember. It was horrible. It was the unthinkable. The unimaginable. And now we were stuck with LBJ. We had lost our hope. And Jackie. Poor Jackie. She truly lived up to all of our expectations. They were our Royal Family" -87 year old female

-"All I could think about was if Kennedy was dead, we were likely going to be taken over by the Russians"

-"I was living in NYC at the time, as a stock exchange currier. The news spread like wild fire and they closed trading for the day. They were terrified the market would crash as a result. It really shut down the city in a way I've never seen. No one was on the street. The city was mourning" -90 year old female

"I was 20 and remember it well. In college in California. Class had just ended or something and I was passing through the student union building and saw masses of people crowed around the TV. I stopped to check it out and couldn't believe my eyes"

"I was 18 at the time, living in Fort Worth. All I remember thinking is, we are going to go to war because of this. Sure enough, Vietnam came just a few years later" 78 year old patient, veteran of Vietnam

The stories go on. I tried to ask the questions in a way that I could spark personal memory versus memories clouded by information since learned. I will say it was a really neat experience for me and a week I won't easily forget.

my fabulous weekend

I want to end every sentence in this post with an ! or !!!!!, just so you know.  My best friend Kristen was in Portland to hang out with me for the weekend. Let me start by saying I am completely blessed by this lovely lady. She knows me from all my life stages. We were friends in high school, better friends in college and best life friends since then. She is truly a special friend and I am so lucky to have her only 160 miles from me! Such a perfect weekend!

Friday

 -Breakfast at Jam!!!

-Shopping (including Christmas gift shopping)

-Board games at Vivace

-Home made pizza 

-Home made pumpkin roll

-Wine!

-Authentic conversations til the wee hours

Saturday

-Home made scones and coffee

-Pottery painting!!!!!!

-Shopping

-Snack at Matadore 

-Great American Wife Festival with Kristen and Meghan

-Deschutes; best Mac and Cheese- ever!

-Falling asleep to Season 2 of Grays

Sunday

-Walk around the neighborhood while the sun peaked out on us

-Brunch at the Waffle Window

-Coffee at Barista 

-Ticket to Ride at a Coffee shop (I lost twice to this girl)

-Seahawks win!!!!!! 10-1 to start the season

-Shopping at BR with Tony

-Sunday night football and catch up for the week

-Dinner Chicken Parm and couscous 

Life goals

I am very good at setting work goals. And gym goals. And little New Years resolutions. But it's been a while since I have set any life goals. You know, the goals of where you want to be in 5 years? Things you want to try and accomplish. Finding a life partner you want to commit to forever and ever. Little humans you want to bring into the world, etc. Those goals, I am not so good at setting. 

Today when I was riding the bus I read something that said very simply, "if your dreams don't scare you, then they aren't big enough". Got me thinking, what are my life dreams? My life goals? 

It's interesting as you live your life in the world of academia for a while (18 years, plus 4 years, plus 3), most of your goals and accomplishments are established and layed out for you- you just have to go achieve them. Very different is the world once you leave that nice little structure. 

My best friend is visiting this weekend and I absolutely cannot wait to hang out with her and ponder life dreams together. I am ever reminded how blessed I am to life in a country that allows space for dreaming and achieving. Stay tuned!

Strength Training

Subscribing to a lifting program has always been difficult for me to do. Not sure why, but I find myself really not that interested in lifting. Maybe because I associate lifting with big, bulky muscles that make it so I cannot get my jeans past my thighs or my shirts get stuck on my biceps. But what I think it really comes down to is I have never stuck with a lifting program long enough to see results. And if you never see results, why keep trying?

Being a physical therapist, I am the first one to know the benefits of strength training. Here are a couple that come to mind:

• Improved metabolic rate; improve and increase efficiency of the body's ability to burn calories 
• Improved Bone Density-prevention of bone loss. Increasingly more important for women as we age
• Sharpen focus and boosted stamina 
• Improved glucose control

This month I am committing to a strength program targeting specific muscle groups. Arms, back, core and legs. I have to admit, this is going to be a challenge. I know I am going to need to start lifting at work to get each program in and completed. I am also working on a plank challenge and that is where I am seeing the most progress.

Overall, it's been a good first week! I feel like I have more energy and I actually feel like my pants are fitting better :)

Cheers to the end of week 1! Don't forget to follow me on twitter if you're interested in a more daily update! @jyndiaschaible

Weekend! Fall back...

This weekend was fantastic! Fully of fun fall like activities. On Saturday we went out to Kramer vineyard to participate in their vertical party. We tasted 6 different vintages of the same wine (2005,2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011). It was really cool to learn more about the process of wine making, what goes into harvest and more details about Pinot Noir. I also got to wear my Hunter boots for the first time so I was pretty excited!!

We got back from the vineyard and got ready for the "Fall Back" party. I made some pumpkin bread and provided cheeses and crackers. It was fun to host a bunch of people and just hang out in the new house. I got to see some folks I havent seen in a long while. I wish I would have gotten more pics of friends for the evening.

On Sunday I went to the gym and got a good sweat on. I have been doing well with the workouts so far and surprisingly the hardest part I have noticed is getting my diet on track. Its not that I eat poorly on the whole, but I do like the sweets. I think I will focus on cutting some of the snacking out next week. This week it has been all about getting back to going to the gym! We watched the Seahawks win again and capped the night off by making jambalaya!

I am a bit late to update for the weekend, but it was truly a good one.

November Boot Camp!

 There is something to be said that once you put something "out there" in the not-so-small world of the internet, it carries a little weight. This is my attempt. In the past 3-4 months, I have taken a not so small break from the gym and all things active. Part of it has been a change in my working hours at work (I now work from 830-7, instead of 7-530) and part of it has been endless traveling and finding buffalo wings and beer more appealing than healthy shakes and veggies. Regardless, these not so lovely habits have got to stop for fear my pants will no longer fit.

Enter November's BootCamp! Here are some of my ideas. I am trying to be realistic in my expectations because I dont do well with failure (blame the type A, OCD side  of me). I am also enlisting some friends in my venture. And lastly, I am contemplating posting weekly as another way of keeping myself accountable. My poor little blog has taken a back seat and its time to revive it!

Here is a little of what BootCamp is going to look like:

Sweat:
-Gym workouts 4 days week
-1 class per week (included in the 4 days/week)
-Tally at least 10,000 steps per day
-Participate in the 30 day challenge for abs, arms and planks

Nutrition:
Breakfast: Must include yogurt and granola
Dinner: Shakes for dinner, 3 of 4 work nights
Limit eating out to 2-3 times per week
NO beer for the entire month of November :(
Drink 64 oz of water per day

Goals:
Lose 1 pounds per week (7 total weeks before Christmas)
2 inches off my waist and 1 inch from my true waist
Firm/Tone arms (unsure how to define this objectively yet...)

Thats a good start. I think I need to sit down at the beginning of each week and plan it out. I know I do better with a plan. I looked into morning classes and I could take a 530AM cycle class twice a week at one gym and 6AM at the other gym. I might have to try and attend one or two of those. :/ For those that know me, I dont do mornings well.

I will be posting instagram (jyndia) and twitter (@jyndiaschaible) updates of which you are welcome to join in a fitness challenge of your own.  I think I will use #NovBootyCamp for twitter follower if you want to also hashtag. Goal of updating the blog on fridays and will likely call it Friday Fitness Update or something super creative like that :)