Sunday Funday from Tahoe!

I am in Lake Tahoe for the long weekend! This is actually my Christmas present. Ok, I know I haven't mentioned this at all on the blog. But now is probably as good of a time as any. Many of you know that I got married in September 2011 and there were many wedding planning posts here. Well... As fate would have it, I realized shortly afterwards that things weren't going to work out. We were together for almost 5 years and I was very used to the idea of us being together, that I thought that was it and nothing would change. I was very busy studying for my CFA tests for like 2 years, aside from work and the gym. I barely had time to slow down and think things through. After I passed my test and all of a sudden had tons more time on my hands, I realized that I had been unhappy for a long time in that relationship and some of the issues we had were probably not going to get resolved. It wasn't an easy decision at all, but in the end we decided to separate before we had more obligations and while we were both still relatively young. That actually all happened about 1.5 years ago. The paperwork took forever (it's way easier to get married than divorced, trust me), and it just became final a couple weeks ago. So, there you have it. I didn't want to mention anything on here while we were still in the process of the divorce. Just to be safe, because you never know. I'm not proud that I'm now 30 and divorced, but I'm very relieved that it's finally over after so long.

So, I have started dating someone else now and things are going great. We've been dating for a while already and this just feels a lot more like now it's supposed to be. As for my Christmas present, I had been kind of collecting the Starbucks "You Are Here" collection mugs from different cities. I actually googled different city mugs to see which other ones I wanted. When I saw the Tahoe one, I mentioned to him that I loved the way it looked. So for Christmas he actually planned this trip for us so we could go to Starbucks and get the mug...LOL! The cutest part is that in order for me to have a present to open on Christmas, he bought a LA mug, and painted the Tahoe mug on a piece of paper (he's not an artist at all lol), taped it over the LA mug, wrapped it up and gave it to me! I was very confused when I first opened it. But when I found out what it was, I think I kind of melted lol. 

Here's his art work! I still haven't taken it off and I think it will forever remain on the mug unless I buy a frame for it lol. The pic on the lower right is the actual mug. Not bad huh?? We got the real thing today. I'm so happy!

It's a little ironic, since my wedding was actually in Tahoe, and this is the first time I've been back since then. He knows that, obviously. But he is completely fine with it, and so am I! We are actually pretty similar that way, those kind of things don't bother us at all. So this has been a very fun long weekend so far!

Anyways lol. Moving on... I got my new training schedule from my trainer this week.  I am now back on 5 days of weights broken out by different body parts, instead of weight circuits I'd been doing for the past month.  But something terrible happened to me on Wednesday - I hurt back back pretty bad during dead lifts!  It's actually bad enough that I feel the pain even while standing or walking.  Simple tasks such as sitting down and getting back up, or bending forward a little to wash my hands hurt like hell!  Let's not even mention picking things up from the floor.  Everything becomes 10 times harder.  Omg.  I never knew back pain was so terrible since I've never hurt my back before this, and really really hope for a full recovery.  I feel for everyone that suffers from chronic back pain!  It really is one of the worst.  I guess you never think about how many movements require back muscles (like... all of them?!) until it's hurt.  :(  So I stopped going to the gym or doing anything that would further injure it.  As my coach says, the recovery will be much more prolonged if you don't let it heal in the beginning.  So now, just rest rest rest.  

I still feel the pain but it's gotten a lot better today. So I decided that I was good enough to go cross country skiing for the first time, for both of us! Here I am getting ready to go!

I definitely didn't want to snowboard this time because of my back. I'm not that good at it so I would be bound to fall hard a couple times. Cross country skiing is more like walking on snow! But surprisingly it was kind of hard, especially going up or down hill. I had never skied before either so I had to learn all the basics, like how to brake. But overall it was really fun! I do have a new appreciation for these Olympic athletes though. They are so fast! I was going at snail speed...

The weather was really nice today, even though it snowed last night. It was still sunny and around 50 degrees today. I was wearing the Express camo leggings over Lululemon wunder under pants and leg warmers over it, which was perfect. But the Shelli Segal down coat was way too warm after about 5 minutes. I had on the Lululemon Runder Under below it so I actually just wore that most of the time. 

I still have one more day here in Tahoe, then I'm going back home to the summer again! :)

Since I only worked out 2 days this week, this post will mostly be work outfits.  :/

Monday 2/10 - Rest day.  I wore my Ann Taylor Wild Jacquard pencil skirt to work again though!  I just wore it last week and I usually rotate my clothing items so that I don't ever wear the same thing more than once or twice a month lol.  But I love this skirt!  So whatevs.  I have so much clothes, doubt anyone at work is keeping track.  I wore it this time with the Express Metallic Pointelle Knit Layering tee which I love.  I also put on some tights since it was colder in the beginning of the week (but not as cold as last week) and the Vince Camuto Jiris sandals.

Really like the pop of color from the sole and heel of the sandals!  Side view is easier to see in person actually, but didn't turn out so well in this pic.  Oh well.

Tuesday 2/11

What I did:  It was shoulder/tri day!  I actually got pretty sore from this workout since I had been doing circuits.  I also did cardio afterwards.

What I wore:  Lorna Jane Radah tank in fern green marl, with Lululemon free to be bra in very green under it.  Splits59 Nova Capri tights, and black Nike Free Bionics.

The Lulu bra looks pretty good under this tank from the back I think.  

Lululemon Beach Runner jacket as to and from... I seriously think this jacket is amazeballs.

For work, I wore the Ann Taylor Mod Scarf Print dress in river blue, with navy tights (though they just looked black) and brown boots.

Wednesday 2/12

What I did:  This was the day I hurt myself.  :(  It was back/bi workout.  It started with 5 sets of dead lifts.  I didn't think the weight I used was too much (140 lbs) since I had been consistently doing American dead lifts using 110-120 lbs for months now.  You are supposed to be able to use more weight for real dead lifts.  But somehow my back got really strained from it.  Probably also didn't help that I finished my workout even though I felt something off in my back right after dead lifts.  Then I did my cardio session too which is walking on 15% incline treadmill which also puts pressure on the back.  Sigh... I really need to learn to stop when I feel like I might be hurting myself.

What I wore:  Lorna Jane Demi tank/bra combo in freeze/nelon sherbet, with Lululemon Empower Crop in coal/passion and Nike Free 3.0s in gray/crimson.

Splits59 Vail cutout pullover in barberry/apricot as to and from:

For work on Wednesday, I wore the Express marl v-neck sweater over a super old white Express button down shirt.  Express Wide Waistband Editor pants in gray, and Sam Edelman Mallory slingbacks.

Thursday 2/13 - Rest.  Work outfit:  I wore the Ann Taylor icicle tweed pencil skirt again too even though I wore it just last week!  It got pretty hot towards the end of the week in LA, back up to the 80s lol.  So I wore my Victoria's Secret Ruched Cotton Cowneck sweater in regal and Sam Edelman Mallory pumps again.

Friday 2/14 - Rest.  I decided to show a little Valentine's Day spirit with my work outfit.  So I wore the red Express Welt Pocket pencil skirt, with Splendid gray cowlneck top, and these old red/gold/black peep toed pumps that I got years ago.

What did you all do for Valentine's Day?  I've never been that big of a fan of this day.  Last year I went out to this uber expensive restaurant.  This year I cooked!  Lol.  Also because I had early flight the next morning to Tahoe.  I rather liked my dinner though.  It was shrimp spiced with cumin, veggies, and this awesome spinach chives pasta from Trader Joe's.  There are not many things that show love more than cooking anyways right?  :)

Even though I instilled this no-crap-Feb rule this month, I made an exception for V-Day!  A little exception... these mini RICHART Fruity chocolate.  They are so little you can probably eat the whole box in one bite lol.  They are good though!

The box/presentation is quite nice too!

And that's it ladies! I am going to get some sleep and get ready for more fun tomorrow! I hope you all had a great weekend! I think my back should be mostly recoverd next week, so I'll be able to post more workout outfits!