Happy Thanksgiving!!!! (A Little Late)

So I was off on some wild adventures for the week of Thanksgiving and never had a chance to write about anything. Here is a recap of the Thanksgiving Trip... part 1.

The bf and I started out early Saturday and headed to Colorado National Monument. We did some hiking and it was BEAUTIFUL! The rocks were amazing and the formations were cool. You could see for miles and it was just gorgeous.

From there we headed to Moab, UT. The next day we hiked a LOT in Arches National Park. Again... BEAUTIFUL!!! And the arches look so strong but when you learn more about them you find they are really fragile. Also, some of the trails in the Devil's Garden are very high up with little around you. It was an intense hike on the anxiety front for sure. After a mile or two total in Colorado Nat. Monument and then a good long hike in Arches, my legs were tired but not done yet.

Monday involved driving to the end of the overlook road from the Island in the Sky Visitor's Center in Canyonlands National Park. Again... BEAUTIFUL!!! At the end of the road we hiked out to the end of the trail and back. The legs were still going!

Then the snow hit and we changed our afternoon plans and avoided seeing Canyons of the Ancients and Hovenweep National Monument. Tuesday brought with it a trip to Mesa Verde National Park. Now, when I was about 8 years old and in 2nd grade I remember seeing pictures of cliff dwellings in a book. I added seeing such things to my bucket list immediately. Imagine my surprise when I moved to Colorado and found out it was IN Colorado!! Then finding out how long of a drive it was... then how hot it gets in the summer so no driving, camping, and exploring for me. But now. This trip. We were going to actually see it. I have waited 20 years for this!!!! And again... BEAUTIFUL!!! Amazing.

The last day on the road, Wednesday brought a trip to Great Sand Dunes National Park. The hike to the top of the dune was SO difficult. Nothing like working your legs more than you ever have in the last 5 days only to spend the 5th hiking up sand! BUT I DID IT!!!!! And I'm glad I did.

Then we were back home and ate dinner with family on Thursday. Surprisingly I survived what the fitbits registered as almost 40 miles worth of walking. FOURTY miles of walking in 5 days. I'm kind of a beast!

Every place we went I thought it was the most beautiful thing and it nothing else could come close. Then we would get to the next stop and again... same thought. I couldn't have imagined how beautiful these places are and although we were exhausted from all that I crammed into the trip, it is wonderful to be able to say I saw these places, hiked, and am still able to walk. :)

Plan, meet Wrench

So, huge wrench was thrown in all sorts of plans last week... Let me begin with the good first. :)

Wednesday I went on a hike. A BEAUTIFUL hike. It has been one year since the bf and I became pretty much inseparable so we decided to both take off work and go on a hike we were going to do almost a year ago but hadn't gotten to yet. It was only 1.2 miles but in that you gain 1,000 ft. It was some steep trail and not the easiest at times.

Hanging Lake, CO

The water was SO CLEAR!!!

Changing Leaves of CO

Then I brag... cause I didn't really ever get winded! I felt leg day from the Friday and Monday before, but I could easily stop for maybe 30 seconds and be fine to go again! I also could still walk at the end of the day, and even the next. #winning

That evening the bf came with me to ASL class and was bored out of his mind but has suddenly started teaching me way more signs! I like it. We ended the evening at the Cheesecake Factory where I ate my weight in food and then we shared a piece of cheesecake and took one to go for the weekend. Overall it was a great day and I loved every minute of it. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Then comes #fail... nothing like taking a sick day only to wake up sick the next day.

Yep, Thursday I started to get sick. Friday was worse. Saturday was the peak of all that is horrible. Sore throat, stuffy nose, pressure everywhere, upset stomach from drainage, all of it... Sunday I began to feel a little better but it was now all in the sinus areas and trying to choke me. Luckily I have an awesome bf who let me lay in his relining couch spot all weekend and waited on me hand and foot. He even came to cuddle with me when I asked him to so I could sleep. It seemed the only way I slept during the day was if he was holding me. He let me watch whatever I wanted on tv and never complained and cooked all sorts of good food for me even though I couldn't taste it. I think he is a keeper!

Then comes today.

Today was rough. I felt better but it was a day where struggling to breathe and talk gives you a headache. As I was going through the lesson ideas I had for today I was dreading doing notes with the kids because that meant I would have to talk all day long. So instead I gave them a day to do the homework I would normally assign and give them 3 days for because it is kind of long. Then I was touched... kids really do have a heart and worked without issues on the assignment the entire hour. It was awesome and makes my heart happy. Then I left knowing I could come home and rest and be lazy.

THEN... I checked my email to find a student with high anxiety and over planned freaking out. Checked out some info and think it might be more than my class so replied to her about that. Then sent a note to the team as a heads up. Then went to deposit some checks and found that the last one I deposited didn't go through? Ugh. So sent the bank a message. No clue what I did with the check either. Oops. Checked the time as my internet was slowing and saw it was after 7... I REALLY need to call and complain about paying almost $50 for 1.5 Mbps internet. This is NOT ok... give me a promo rate again or I'm switching to a provider advertising 25 Mbps for $50. BIG difference there. But alas, it was too late to call. Which also means it is too late to call the other bank that I need to call and too late to call and cancel the milk man order because $11 for a gallon of OJ and a dozen eggs in a month is a little high. I don't use it enough anymore to justify it.

AND... to top it all off, I want to go work out. I miss it. And I'm doing so great at it! And I have a 5k in two weeks. And yet I can't even seem to walk a flight of stairs without feeling like I need a nap and fill tissues with snot all day long. Maybe I will take the pup on a walk in the morning if I'm feeling up to it before I go to school? I need to do something but I get so exhausted so easily.

And then there is the diet part... Yeah... not too proud to say my dinner tonight consisted of a bag of potato chips. But, I'm also at a place where I'm kind of thinking eating any food is better than nothing which is what I'm actually hungry for. I know I need to eat so I do force myself to... I just can't seem to force myself to cook or plan a meal.

So today I'm doing better on the illness front than yesterday and gaining my strength back one day at a time... but this is all a big wrench in the plan on keeping on track.