[darkfoxx]

 

Back to another ‘I won’t be home for most of this Cycle’ challenge. It’s back to hotel life for a few weeks, and a movement shift is in order. I’m still looking to see if there are any good looking daytime yoga classes anywhere near where I’ll be, but thus far - nada. It looks like people are sliding from Ramadan timings to Summer Hours. Boo. 

 

That’s fine. I’ve got some inversion homework from one of my teachers, another that has moved to the UK has posted a host of YouTube flows, and I’ll have access to a fairly decent gym if I remember correctly. 

 

My big challenge is going to be doing what I need to do motivation-wise to ensure I get a good workout in (i.e. forcing myself to get ready out of order by wearing contacts + workout clothes to breakfast and showering after the gym), and not eating anything too crazy. Or at least not too many crazy meals. Alcohol won’t be an issue. 

 

Movement 

 

Get something done each day. A trip to the hotel gym, a yoga class out in town, a flow in my hotel room, a mall walk - something. 

 

Nutrition

 

Simple breakfasts - most likely back to my egg/spinach/mushroom combo; if I remember correctly, this hotel has soy milk for coffee but that’s it on the dairy-free front. I *think* they also do eggs. At least scrambled. 

 

Don’t go too crazy at dinner - watch my hunger cues if I’m getting any that day, otherwise aim for 80% of my plate. Err on the side of veggies when possible. 

 

Other

 

I’m bringing a big crochet project and my iPad for drawing, so should be good there. I had intended on bringing a sewing project as well, but didn’t have *quite* enough fusible fleece to complete 1 bag. Boo. I got everything I have cut though. 

 

I think that’s mostly it while we are gone. I need to do some scrapbook stuff finding/scrap filling once I get another book - it looks like my Smash Book journals may have been discontinued (at least on Amazon), so I need to find an alternative. 

 

I also want to continue working to step up my wardrobe game a bit and may look for some more “fun” pieces while we are gone. I got a super cute but plain orange sun dress while in Paris (I was excited to see a Uniqlo) and a really pretty silk scarf from the Van Gogh Museum I can use to zhuzh up an otherwise basic outfit. Hopefully I can still get away with the jeans I bought right before we left for at least most of the trip - I’ll mostly be living in lounge wear, but we will be hitting the mall pretty much every night. Should be enough a/c so I don’t melt completely. It’s only in the low 90s. 

 

I think that’s it for this challenge. The last week or so will be spent rebuilding my yoga schedule, snuggling the pups, and re-acquainting myself with the current grocery stock. 

[Mikroftt]

Sounds like you travel a lot, I am guessing for work, so you got a good plan for traveling.  Good luck with this challenge!  I know hotel breakfasts aren't the best especially when it is the same over and over.  Had a couple multiple week trips for work before and the mental side for me is the hardest part of the trips just trying to stick to the plan.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Following along again!

[Scaly Freak]

On 5/3/2022 at 3:23 AM, darkfoxx said:

 

 

 

This is mesmerizing.... 🤨

[darkfoxx]

On 5/3/2022 at 1:54 PM, Mikroftt said:

Sounds like you travel a lot, I am guessing for work, so you got a good plan for traveling.  Good luck with this challenge!  I know hotel breakfasts aren't the best especially when it is the same over and over.  Had a couple multiple week trips for work before and the mental side for me is the hardest part of the trips just trying to stick to the plan.

I do! We are getting back to pre-covid life here, and that means bunches of travel. I follow along with my DH (Dearest Husband) when he goes on long work trips, and we are generally gone for 1-3 weeks at a clip. I calculated it a bit this morning, and at least he leaves an average of once a month per year. A few of those trips are vacation-related, but most are work and a chunk of those are long. I think he did 200-something nights in 2019. 

 

This kind of travel always throws a wrench in my nutrition and fitness goals, but if I go into it prepared and with a good mindset, I can make the best of it. I’m fortunate that we travel to the same places and stay at the same hotels on most trips. That cuts waaaaaay down on the novelty/musteatallthethings factor. 

 

This hotel has an excellent breakfast. Possibly even better than I remembered, since I completely forgot the Asian corner that’s usually loaded with a killer curry and either idli or the occasional hopper. I love a Subcontinent breakfast. This morning it was a healthy dose of mushrooms, scrambled eggs, a little potato curry, fresh watermelon juice and coffee. I’m super lucky this hotel also has a mini fridge and Starbucks, so I can get something decent for lunch without having to resort to room service, chips or pot noodles. 

 

4 hours ago, Scaly Freak said:

 

 

This is mesmerizing.... 🤨

I know, right? I was looking for a terrible Limp Bizkit gif but this was much better 🤣

[darkfoxx]

Yesterday was a travel day and food was accordingly garbage.  Tasty, but a lot and very few veggies. 

 

Did I tell y’all about my latest Princess And The Pea drama? I don’t think I did. 

 

I’ve been having this niggling pain under my left breast between that and my diaphragm on and off for the last few weeks. I’ve had it before for like a day and it went away, but since we got home from Europe, it really kicked up. Of course, since it hurt, I’ve also been poking the everloving fuck out of it trying to make sure it isn’t a tumor. 

 

Needless to say, that absolutely has not helped matters and the night before we flew out (Tuesday??) I couldn’t sleep until like 3:30 because nothing was comfortable, including breathing deeply. #goodtimes 

 

DH finally felt well enough from his bout of food poisoning to notice my wincing in corners and holding my chest randomly when it kicked up and asked about it. I finally looked it up just to make sure it wasn’t likely something I needed to stay home and go to the doctor for (while on the plane waiting to take off, naturally), and according to Dr. Google it’s most likely costochondritis. 

 

Yet another Princess Pea thing. 🙄

 

According to the Cleveland Clinic: 

 

“Costochondritis is a harmless swelling of cartilage in your chest. The cartilage connects your ribs to your sternum, creating the costochondral joint. Costochondritis feels like a sharp or aching pain. The pain can start suddenly or develop slowly and spread across your chest. Because the pain is in your chest, you might misinterpret costochondritis as a heart attack.” 

 

Apparently, it accounts for 30% of people that go to the hospital with chest pain and is higher risk for women 40+. It can have no cause - or can be caused by something like coughing too hard or exerting yourself. Using your arms too much is listed as a cause. Treatment is Advil, Aleve or Tylenol. 

 

Seriously. Using your arms too much. Or no cause. 

 

I’m fairly certain I’m in the ‘no cause’ camp, and I’m fairly certain this is what it is. I’ve felt this pain a few times over the years. I love the article I read talking about prevention - “do your best to avoid exercising too much or coughing too hard. But, you may not be able to avoid costochondritis caused by an injury to your chest during a car crash.” 

 

Thanks. I’ll take that under consideration. 

 

At any rate, it felt a bit better last night and I slept unusually well for the first night in a new hotel room. We are monitoring the situation and I’ll go to a local doc in a few days if it doesn’t abate. It’s less acutely achy this morning and I was able to do a half hour walk on the treadmill without pissing it off too much. 

 

 

 

 

[darkfoxx]

Yesterday

 

Breakfast was good as covered earlier.

 

Gym was :30 on the treadmill on a ‘surprise me’ track at a 5-ish km/hr clip. Got stuck into a conversation with a very friendly bodybuilder from Oman; still have no idea how to extricate myself from such situations. 

 

Dressed nicely in a shocking amount of color for me to a: participate in a style challenge in a new 40+ fashion group I’m in and b: take myself out for a matcha latte at the hotel Starbucks afterward - caught up here and then started on a new drawing project. 

 

Dug into the fruit basket for lunch & caught up on my game. Cozy Grove released a new DLC, adding 4 more bears to help ascend through their afterlife journeys. And ducklings. I now have duckling followers I can feed peas to. I’m excited. 

 

I also remembered to work on inversions a bit so I don’t lose that skill by the time I get back home. 

 

DH came home eventually and we ordered some pretty fantastic Mexican - yet again, why can’t we have Mexican food as good as the rest of the Gulf in Qatar? Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy? The tortillas did need salt, but at least the burrito was well seasoned. 

 

Worked on my other game while he practiced guitar. Today’s video of the pups included clips of Odin being an athletic badass fetching toys, Freya being ridiculously cute trying to murder said toys, and shots from their walk with a friend(!) We were quite proud. 

 

We’re rewatching Buffy and I didn’t notice at the time because the fashion was current, but maaaaaaaan, what a late 90s time capsule. I love spotting how many trends I wore back then - and how many I’ve recently seen loop around again. 

 

 

[darkfoxx]

Weekend Update

 

Saturday was an alternate-schedule day for DH; looks like he’ll be doing a fair amount of evening work this trip. I was proud of myself for making the best of it and heading off the gym the second he left. Added in some push/pull on a couple machines on top of my ‘surprise me’ half hour treadmill incline work. 

 

Was also proud of myself for not second guessing myself into oblivion and just ordering some damn food from Talabat (delivery). I usually plan to do this while DH is gone, get hyped up for it, and then never do because brain is an asshole. 

 

I got excited about a healthy place, ordered something that turned out to be two damn meals in one box and not a combo - and now have lunch for today (hopefully) + a good snack. And I had a great dinner. 

 

Sunday we kept our traditional mall day, hitting the fantastic huge mall here. Where I tried my damnedest to find a pair of athletic shoes I liked to no avail. The treadmill has pointed out that my current pair of athleisure shoes are f-l-a-t. They’re still comfy for regular walking around the neighborhood, but daaaaaaaamn the padding has collapsed. I could use a bouncier pair for athletic pursuits. I tried. Was unsuccessful, but now I *know* I hate a lot of Nikes and like the fit of Ons. We shall see how many moons it takes to find something I like that’s cushy enough to be good for non-lifting gym pursuits but cute enough to wear out. 

 

We also had Blaze pizza for lunch and it was glorious. I’m still sad that we don’t have Blaze in Qatar - it’s all over the ME; we need to have the glory of actual sausage too, damnit! 

 

Bummed that it looks like we are not getting the new Dr. Strange movie anywhere out here after all - Saudi banned it and it looks like the whole ME is following suit. We had posters and everything up for it in Qatar. Boo. I also can’t find Everything Everywere All At Once out here, which is also a bummer. We may go see Morpheus for something to watch this trip - I doubt I can drag DH to see Downtown Abbey. I mean, maybe - but I don’t think I’d do that to the poor guy unless it was around his nap time. 

[Heidi]

Hooray for mushroom and egg breakfasts! This sounds so very yummy that I might have to join you in spirit, especially since it’s officially egg season here in the Mountains. 

 

Tell me more about this fashion over 40 group challenge? Sounds dope. Just today I gave up and bought some new things for spring and summer: my shoes are flat, and I have been wearing the same five pieces since October. Time for a switcheroo, and my current wardrobe is either too dressy (which is okay, but I’m just not feeling it) or doesn’t fit right. Not too small, exactly, just, all wrong. Anyway. I bet you looked fabulous!

 

What is the big crochet project? 

I’m currently working on a meditation shawl (nothing fancy, just a basic crescent shawl) that has a blue body and a yellow-gold very wide bottom. I know knitting won’t stop war, or anything, but I couldn’t just do nothing.

16 hours ago, darkfoxx said:

Bummed that it looks like we are not getting the new Dr. Strange movie anywhere out here after all - Saudi banned it and it looks like the whole ME is following suit. We had posters and everything up for it in Qatar. Boo. I also can’t find Everything Everywere All At Once out here, which is also a bummer. We may go see Morpheus for something to watch this trip - I doubt I can drag DH to see Downtown Abbey. I mean, maybe - but I don’t think I’d do that to the poor guy unless it was around his nap time. 

Oh, snap. I am looking forward to Dr. Strange  as well. I saw three movies in the theatre last year (The Polar Express with Vivian, Dune and Matrix: Resurrections on my own) and I’m not interested in going to the theatre again yet. I know, I know: I’m being overly cautious. But it’s true. I still haven’t seen The Batman yet. Am definitely looking forward to Everything Everywhere All At Once. Let me know if you find a source for it, and we’ll gab about it! (I haven’t seen it yet, either.)

 

Stay awesome.  

[Sovalis]

Your writing is so bright and vibrant. It was a joy to read your adventures. I look forward to keeping up! 

[darkfoxx]

On 5/10/2022 at 4:49 AM, Heidi said:

Tell me more about this fashion over 40 group challenge? Sounds dope. Just today I gave up and bought some new things for spring and summer: my shoes are flat, and I have been wearing the same five pieces since October. Time for a switcheroo, and my current wardrobe is either too dressy (which is okay, but I’m just not feeling it) or doesn’t fit right. Not too small, exactly, just, all wrong. Anyway. I bet you looked fabulous!

 

It’s actually from the Facebook group a YouTuber I’ve been digging lately started: Erin Busbee. I found her there, but she’s also got a blog: https://busbeestyle.com I don’t jive with all her style suggestions, but she does have some good ones - especially regarding slumps and frumps. 

 

Your shawl sounds lovely. My big project is a lacey open work kind of cardigan thing that should take the better part of (if not more than) the 7 skeins of mushroom colored cotton blend I bought for it. It’s on an 11-row repeat with 5-7 repeating blocks per line so it’s good for busywork. I can’t actually *watch* anything while knitting it, but I can listen - true crime it is! 😆

 

I’ll definitely let you know if I locate Everything, Everywhere - from the memes and small snippets of interviews with the actors I’ve seen, it’s going to bring on the feels. 

 

[darkfoxx]

On 5/10/2022 at 5:13 AM, Sovalis said:

Your writing is so bright and vibrant. It was a joy to read your adventures. I look forward to keeping up! 

Umm ……. 

 

 

No, actually, thanks. I haven’t heard that about my writing in a dog’s age. I forget sometimes that I can turn a pretty phrase. 😁 Glad you’re liking it! 

 

[darkfoxx]

How is it Wednesday already? 

 

Monday, Tuesday

 

Monday: Kept up my current daily schedule - breakfast, gym for :30 “surprise me” treadmill + 3 rounds of 10 push/pull work on the machines plus a little inversion work, shower + real clothes for Starbucks (with catching up here + work on a drawing project). Lunch was my leftover salad; dinner was Mexican delivery. 

 

Tuesday: My ‘off day’ schedule (aka DH goes in late, so I adjust schedule) - Shower, real clothes and breakfast with him, nap + gaming, Starbucks with him before he goes, gym when he leaves, lunch after (leftover tortilla chips from the night before), moar gaming + crocheting, dinner was a vegan wrap from Starbucks, caught up on some Grace + Frankie. 

 

 

[Rurik Harrgath]

FRED DURST WHAT?

 

[darkfoxx]

15 hours ago, Rurik Harrgath said:

FRED DURST WHAT?

 

[darkfoxx]

Wednesday

 

Standard breakfast for this hotel: Curry of the day + whatever they’ve put out for it to go on (today was idli), some format of egg (today it was a mini Benedict), sautéed mushrooms & a side of fruit salad with 2 cups of coffee. 

 

Off to the gym for :30 ‘surprise me’ treadmill variable incline work + 3 rounds of 10 weighted push/pull movements & reverse crunches on the too-tall-for-me stand thing. 

 

Lobby Starbucks for a matcha latte & some drawing practice. Finished the piece I was working on.

 

Back upstairs to save some bears in Cozy Grove - DH came home about 5 minutes after I got in, disappointed that I wasn’t still at Starbucks - and that he didn’t have that as an excuse to get a tea. So we went back downstairs for teas. 

 

More Cozy Grove + My Time At Portia mixed with some work on my crochet project. 

 

Dinner was delivery Katsu curries. 

 

Watched some Buffy, finished Our Flag Means Death, and off to bed. 

 

 

 

 

[darkfoxx]

Th - Sun 

 

DH worked evenings both Friday & Sunday, so I gymmed late and ended up eating Starbucks for dinner. If they’ve got the chicken pesto lite sandwich in your area, it’s quite good - even room temp. The chicken avo wrap is so/so. 

 

Thursday was moar Mexican - what can I say, we have a lack of access to good non-hotel Mexican in Doha and need to make our way through the ‘excellent’ recommendations on Talabat (ME version of GrubHub). 

 

Saturday was a different mall - one that’s gotten quite the upgrade in the 2 years since we were there last. It was always a good mall, though they’ve now ditched AllSaints Spitalfields (boo), Black Tap (crazy af burgers and milkshakes that should really have booze) and one of my other fav stores to browse in, but they added: a whole enclosed catwalk over to a new indoor/outdoor section filled mostly with athletic gear and shoes, a huge hotel, access to an arena, and access to some sort of academy. I think there’s also passage to some tennis venue as well through a circuitous route. And a buttload of new restaurants. We lunched at a local meat-heavy restaurant I would absolutely love to see in Doha because I want to gank the flavor profiles of half the menu. Super cool stuff. I had short ribs with deeply cumin spiced sriracha honey bbq sauce and togarishi dusted fries with ponzu mayo. Both were delicious and I’ve got to recreate that sauce. Maybe for our ‘Murica Day party if we are home this year. 

 

Gym has been had all days but Saturday. I’ve added in free weights (rows + bicep-to-overhead thingies I remember liking from my training days + sometimes some sort of ab work). 

Still no luck on the gym shoes front, but not for lack of trying. I’ve also come to the conclusion that if I do find gym shoes I like, I should make my ass hit the building gym after my walk back from yoga - totally doable on every yoga day but Tuesday and Saturday for some light weight work since I’ll already have had my walking warmup.

Food has been … what it’s been. Lots of fruit, too many honey peanuts and no real dinner last night (oops) - did, however, talk DH out of 9pm room service to save us both. Breakfasts have been mostly mushrooms + poached egg + the curry of the day + the carb that goes with the curry + 2 cups of coffee and maybe half a cup or so of cut fruit that‘s different than the room fruit. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sovalis]

14 hours ago, darkfoxx said:

I had short ribs with deeply cumin spiced sriracha honey bbq sauce and togarishi dusted fries with ponzu mayo. 

That sounds absolutely fantastic! 🤤

[darkfoxx]

On 5/17/2022 at 2:34 AM, Sovalis said:

That sounds absolutely fantastic! 🤤

It was! Think ‘regular’ red bbq sauce with the richness of honey, a little zing from sriracha, and an amount of cumin that would have you definitely second guessing yourself. Like, what would seem to be an almost criminal amount of cumin. But … it worked. And well. That too-much cumin balanced the honey rich parts well and brought the whole sauce up from ‘boring Bullseye-style blah’ to ‘where is this guy from, and is he interested in opening a shop in my neighborhood’ good. 

 

Also on the menu: charred grapes with fillet steak. I’ve only had charred grapes a couple of times, but they are magical. And with a good fillet ….

 

 

My food-nerdery is fairly sad I won’t be near a kitchen for another 4 days. 

[darkfoxx]

What day is today? 

 

Wednesday. 

 

Yesterday, DH worked evenings - gym was pushed back and Starbucks was before he left. 

 

More of the same since the last time I updated - gym (:30 variable incline treadmill + either free weights or machine weights working on shoulders/biceps/triceps/arms), food has been my standard for this hotel breakfast + mostly from Starbucks (or delivery Mexican). Lots of fruit. Lots of tea. Some amount of Diet Coke and matcha lattes. 

 

Crochet project is bopping along. I’m not super far, but I’ve got 1 repeat of the pattern done and am chipping away at the second. I may get through this second bop with my first skein of yarn. May not. I hope so, I only have 7 and I don’t feel like I’m super far. 

 

Home is in 4 days and my body is ready. My low back is starting to ache from the treadmill and really wants to get back to yoga. My lap is lonely while playing too much video games. 

 

On the other hand, the pups seem to be having a grand time:

 

 

[darkfoxx]

Some amount of days: 

 

We are home and I’m settling back into my routine. Yoga was had yesterday and today; puppies were snuggled to the max the other days. 

 

I cooked for the first time today and it was good to get back in the kitchen. 

 

Also started a new audio book by Andy Weir - Hail Mary - and finished our metric ton of laundry. 

[darkfoxx]

Some More Days:

 

Yoga has been relatively consistent. Food has been up and down.

 

Pups are snuggled. Crochet project has been worked on a tad. 

[darkfoxx]

Still moar days:

 

Yoga was had Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday; Friday I bailed to spend the morning with DH instead.

 

Food was mostly ok - I need to type 3 new recipes for the blog and all 3 were on the healthy spectrum and delicious.

 

Only did a modicum of crochet this week, opting instead to finish the main storyline of my game. 
 

 

[darkfoxx]

Weekend 

 

Stayed up waaaay too late Friday; went to bed when 2am hit and my body decided to click on wolf nose - which couldn’t let go of the slightly chemical smell from the couch next to the pups and I where I had to spray cleaner that morning because *someone* decided to excited pee - on me - while upside down. Jerk. Wolf nose made me hella nauseous, so I trundled off to bed before DH got home. 

 

Saturday proper we bopped around the newest mall. 

 

Sunday we headed to the souq to grab some Turkish style bowls for a friend. 

 

Food was so/so all weekend - too much quantity but it was all tasty. 

[darkfoxx]

Yoga has been consistent thus far this week, though I cheated a bit today and Ubered to the grocery store. It was 106 at 11:30 am and class was a killer. I was also starving and knew I didn’t want to have to stop for food. So, Uber it was. Still didn’t get what I really wanted at the grocery (dill); hoping they’ll have it at the fourth grocery I will have tried this week if I ended up dragging my happy ass to the mall tomorrow. 

 

Yesterday I caught up with a friend at the National Museum. They’ve closed half of it for renos but have flipped the exhibits around so there’s still some good stuff going on. Checked out the Hermes exhibit and the cool trippy light room exhibit, which were both new and temporary. 

 

I was supposed to go to a soccer match last night, but bailed - it started at 10pm and the friend I was going with and I never came up with a solid plan for getting there and back - so we both bailed. Which was fine. I imagine we would have taken the Metro, but I don’t know if she’s ever taken it or would feel comfortable in the crowd I’m sure was there.