May favorites

It’s June 11 and I just found time to recap May which flied by so quickly. The combination of work trip, busy work meetings, stress related to the timing of our move kept me busy and not really focused lately. Glad these are over and I hope to get back to calm routine in June, more relax and free time now that we are officially in summer break for the girls.

Reading: I read three in May. One memoire of a runner, which made me feel closer to my love of running, especially trail running which I did last week. I am officially starting my marathon training today, 15 weeks from the race day. Super excited! One non-fiction on teenage brain which I didn’t like much. And a historical fiction by Kristin Hannah which I absolutely loved. It’s a sad story during the Great Depression. Every night I go to bed with deep gratitude knowing that many people suffered a lot in those times.

Movie watched and enjoyed: Parallel Mothers, and Just like that. I watched both during my flights to Siem Reap. I know the review for Just Like That was not great but I absolutely loved it. Big’s sudden death set the tone for the series. In 50s, we start facing death of our loved ones. We can never be prepared for it, but we can be gentle with ourselves and give us time to grief. Having good friends around is a bonus. It also touches about midlife crisis and second chance in profession and love. No matter how old, how much live we’ve lived, always keep an open mind to others and to ourselves. Then Miranda’s affair… not morally correct but can I just say I love the plot? Che is soooooo awesome! I might fall in love with her too. hahahaha…. I can’t wait to watch another season. Oh… one more thing. Charlotte’s face is just tooooo much.

Favorite podcast: Peter Attia’s interview with Hugh Jackson. I absolutely love Hugh.

Favorite supplement: not just in May but it has been 3 months, thus I want to give it a proper review. Seeds, the popular probiotic that is super expensive. I’ve had digestive issues since my teens. I suffered bouts of constipation, bloating, IBS, for decades. It gets better from time to time but never consistently. It gets worse with travels, unstructured routines, and stress. But even when I am on vacation I can have symptoms. I have tried so many supplements over the years and none of them helped consistently. Then I started with Seeds. After 2 weeks I noticed changes. I am less bloated, more regular, almost zero pain related to IBS, CONSISTENTLY. Even in days that I eat more than usual and more refined carbs, the next day I don’t get the heavy feeling. I still get some symptoms around ovulation and before period, but overall it improved a LOT since I started with seeds.

May goal progress

• Practice a calming after work routine. work in progress. I’ve been coming to home later than I wanted, so it has been rushing to get dinner started.
• Eat without devise: good progress but sometimes I ate in front of computer.
• Early dinner unless work related: half way given work schedule lately.
• Minimize snacking. So so. sometimes it’s not hungry but anxiety eating.
• Back to reading. good progress.

June goals

• Less structure days given girls are in summer break. I plan to go home early if possible to spend more time with them.
• Friday off unless important meetings.
• Early dinners, ideally before 5:30pm.
• Start marathon training and stick to the plan. I signed up for runners connect. I’ve used them before for two marathons and had great result. They have revised their fee schedule (cheaper), and has more features including adjusting pace by weather (YAY!!!).
• Plan for a short gateway. While we agreed not to take big vacation this summer, I feel like needing a short break at least. Hopefully it’s not too late to book.