Dinner with Chris, my parents, and his mom and her boyfriend went very well on Friday. Everyone got along like gangbusters and the tug of war over the check at the end of the night between my mom and his mom was pretty amusing to watch.

I’ve observed that strife between in-laws usually results from one set or another NOT liking their child’s choice of spouse and then projecting that enmity onto the other set of parents. Luckily, this isn’t an issue for us.

My ring came back from the jeweler in its new setting, but I’m kind of afraid that I will have to send it back for resizing. It’s a size 4 3/4, but it still spins around my finger. My joint is apparently bigger than the base of my ring finger.

Saturday I detoxed a bit from the Friday night Chinese buffet dinner and stayed clean with food. I did 30 minutes of YF and the TT beginner’s Bodyweight workout and tried to really focus on the muscle groups I was working instead of blasting through everything at military PT speed. The first 4 weeks aren’t that tough, but I looked at the Intermediate level workout and decided that I wasn’t quite ready for the 1-legged squats/pistols yet. I got to hang out for a few hours with my parents that night for dinner (Dad’s beefy noodles), Dancing with the Stars recap, and some awkward wedding talk with my mother, LOL. No one in my family is any good at planning this cheesy stuff, I guess, including my mom.

Sunday I stuck with 45 minutes of YF upper body for my workout and stayed clean with my eats until dinner, which turned out to be my second weekly cheat meal with my own beefy noodles, a serving of Breyer’s mint choco chip, and some tortilla chips and salsa. I then proceeded to spend 4 hours on the couch playing a new character in Jade Empire on the Xbox. I am determined to finish this game in the next week before the cruise so I can get it out of my system and experience that euphoric sense of accomplishment and closure that comes from beating a single-player roleplaying game all by myself without the help of a walkthrough or FAQ.

This morning I re-started Craig Ballantyne’s Turbulence Training for Women program at the beginner Week 1 workout. Between Kim’s four 1-hour long workouts a week with two additional tough 30 minute sessions with Ashley the trainer, I think I was pushing the overtraining line. I haven’t felt truly recovered in two weeks. I think that three short but intense workouts a week on the TT program plus the two training sessions will be more reasonable and still give me good results when combined with three HIIT cardio days. I’ll just have Ashley focus on shoulders, legs, and abs.

I’m signed up for Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) again this year, too, so I need to free up time to type up 10 pages a day.

Today’s workout (performed at home, so I had to modify/sub two exercises):
Warmup (Circuit performed 2x)
• 10 reps of bodyweight squats or step-ups
• 3 reps of 10 seconds for the plank
• 8 pushups or kneeling push-ups
• 2 reps of 10 seconds per side for the side plank
• 10 reps of light DB Rows

Workout (Supersets)
A1) DB Squat (2×10) (40 lb db)
A2) Bodyweight Row (2×10) (subbed for wide-grip row)
B1) DB Split Squat (2×12) (20 lb db)
B2) Reverse-grip Pullups (2×12) (subbed for reverse-grip pulldown)
C1) Ab Curl-up (2×6)
C2) Side Plank (2×4 reps per side for 10 seconds)

Tomorrow will be TT interval cardio followed by some YF flexibility or Yoga for Athletes, assuming I am not completely wiped out from staying up too late playing Guitar Hero II!

Note to other grown-up gamers: The real reason to workout in the morning and bulk cook on Sunday is to have plenty of game time in the evening during the work week.