What's Making Me Happy - March, 2024

It’s been a fun-filled past month. Our family visited Joshua Tree National Park. We went to a live taping of Circle Round, one of my kids’ favorite storytelling podcasts and enjoyed a rare clear, sunny, and warm San Francisco day at the Presidio Tunnel Tops afterwards. One of our good friends was visiting from Australia so we hosted an all-day hang with a larger group of friends so that we could all spend time with him. And then just last week, we went on our first camping trip of the year. It was just one night at a local county park but with all of the rain we’ve been getting, the forest was alive with the sounds and energy of so many waterfalls.

Beyond that, here are three more things that have made me happy this last month:

New cleaning towels

I am totally that person who gets excited about new cleaning supplies! We finally got a refillery store nearby (Right on Refillery in Los Altos), and I checked it out a few weeks ago. I picked up some new cleaning solutions but my favorite purchase from there has been this 6 pack of Not Paper Towels. It was the perfect find as I’ve been meaning to retire our kitchen cleaning towels, which are stubbornly stained and stenched. These paper-towel substitutes are so much better than my previous cleaning towels and strangely get me excited about wiping up our kitchen surfaces. I had seen these products come out years ago but was worried they’d fall apart but even after putting them through the wash many times, I can see that these will last a long time in my kitchen.

Dune 2

Give me a bucket of buttered popcorn and plop me in front of a movie screen, and I am a happy camper (unless it’s horror – I am too much of a scaredy cat). I dragged my poor husband (who feels the complete opposite about being plopped in front of a movie screen) to Dune 2 on opening weekend and was absolutely transported into the world of sandworm riding, gold-dust spice harvesting, the alopecia-afflicted Harkonnen people, every single one of Florence Pugh’s headdresses, and of course, all of the hero worship for Zendaya and Timothee Chalomet. I really enjoyed the first movie but found the sequel to be a rapturous entertainment experience (though my husband’s reaction was please don’t drag me to Dune 3) and am still daydreaming about this richly imagined other world. Even if you missed the first one, just read a recap and head to your local theater – this one is definitely worth seeing on the big screen!

DEKA and new workout buddies

As I mentioned in my What I’m Bringing Into 2024 post, I set a goal of more in-person exercise this year. I had one session with a trainer at my gym in January, and based on my goals, she actually recommended that I try DEKA classes instead of working 1 on 1 with a trainer. DEKA is an offshoot of Spartan, a fitness company that produces obstacle course races that look more like military training to me. DEKA markets itself as The Decathlon of Functional Fitness, and the program/race consists of 10 zones that test your strength in different ways:

• Zone 1: 30 RAM alternating reverse lunges - 55 lb ramroller for men / 33 lb ramroller for women on your shoulders

• Zone 2: 500M row

• Zone 3: 20 box jump / step overs

• Zone 4: 25 medicine ball sit ups - 20lb for men / 14 lb for women

• Zone 5: 500m ski on a ski erg

• Zone 6: 100m farmer’s carry - 60 lb dumbbells for men / 40 lb dumbbells for women (Right now I’m using 30 lb dumbbells but hope to work up to 40!)

• Zone 7: 25 calories on an airbike

• Zone 8: 20 dead ball shoulder overs - 60 lb for men / 40 lb for women

• Zone 9: 100m tank/sled push/pull

• Zone 10: 20 RAM burpees - 44 lb ramroller for men / 22 lb ramroller for women

I’ve been going every Monday since the end of January. Since then I’ve been on such a high fro experiencing a new challenge while meeting some great new folks. I think half the class are current or ex-military folks (the instructor is ex-military and such a fit bad-ass woman). I am way slower and weaker when compared to them but that’s not my focus. My goal was to mix up my training, get stronger, and exercise with others and this class checks all those boxes. I want to die at the end of class, but I always have a smile on my face (partially because the pain is over!).

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