Training for Tuesday - Goodbye ClassPass

There's a lot that I'm leaving behind as I leave Portland and look out upon my new life in Memphis, Tennessee.

One of those things is the latest best thing that's ever happened to me. 

ClassPass.

You've seen me talk about it before and now you're going to obnoxiously witness me whining and whimpering about how much I miss the barre classes, the yoga classes, the TRX classes, the new to me classes and the Pound classes. Oh, the Pound classes!

Don't forget all of those amazing fitness instructors and studio owners who make me want to change my career in the near future. 

Now that this door closes, I've got great plans to take what I've learned from these classes, instructors and experiences to my new fitness life. I've experienced workouts that are fun, sweaty, functional, peaceful, calming, meditative, collaborative, adventurous and mine!

I'm going to get into my new fitness routine day one of my new residency. It's going to be easy to break a sweat with the 80-degree lows and 85% humidity - compared to Portland's 35% humidity - but I'm talking about gaining muscle and finding my new lifestyle.

My first order of business is to get a cheap and dirty gym membership where I can try out all of those impressive booty circuits I see on Instagram. While I'm not on the road yet, I've already scouted a new barre studio that opened this week and is offering free classes through mid-July. I've been subscribing to all of my favorite YouTube Yogi's and refreshing my knowledge on how to Om at Home thanks to Alyssa.  There was even a 1-minute solid headstand in there.

While I acclimate to the heat and the "new", I'll be bugging ClassPass like crazy on social media and begging them to come to Memphis. That's the same way I've been hounding Trader Joe's for a few months and will be the biggest supporter of the Bring Trader Joe's to Memphis Facebook group.

Oh! Don't forget how much water I'll need to drink to stand up against the humidity!

Any tips you southern ladies can share about fitness in the South?

Training for Tuesday as always with Alyssa and Tracy!

Where Y'all Going, Jessi?

Hi, blog!

Hey, hi! You remember me, right? 

It's been 20 days since we last got in touch and I wanted to share what's been going on. 

The last time I took a 20 day break the post was titled "Where'd You Go, Jessi?". This time I poetically and intentionally took a 20 day break so I could make that parallel connection, but did my disappearing act again without telling you. At least you can count on me to be consistent.

This 20 day break was unbelievably more life-shaking than the last where all I did was traveled to multiple states and read books and kept my nails painted. It's been hard to keep all of this to myself  on the blog, but it's been very easy to have this break from blogging while I've kept myself busy elsewhere.

Busy with what? Let's start with a big one.

+ I gave notice at my job on Monday, June 1st. I work at my dream company and I'm resigning 12 days prior to my six-year anniversary. Technically I gave four and a half weeks notice after a few administrative changes and have been in high demand for the past three weeks.

+ The resignation from my dream company is because I'm finally ready to listen to my heart and follow this crazy feeling I've previously attempted to describe as love. I'm finally ready to go somewhere I know will be uncomfortable. I'm finally at the place where I want to make this long-distance relationship into a short-distance one. I'm moving East of the Mississippi River to Memphis, Tennessee. If you're new to geography that's very far away from this Upper Left USA I've lived in my entire life.

+ That's right, I'm back together - please don't throw things at me for not telling you - with a man I care very much about and love very much. If you're really in the know you saw me throw a casual #NationalBestFriendsDay and #MCM on Instagram three weeks ago, but you really had to be paying attention to remember that you hadn't seen his face on social media since 2014. The sweet guy you read about here and here? Well, he's the same one you consoled me over here and a few other places on this domain before. He's my heart-eyed emoji and always will be. I can't wait to start this adventure.

+ In my moving prep I've tossed out more than three truckloads of clothing, furniture and why-did-I-need-to-buy-this items that were in my three bedroom home. I found way too much cash in a few envelopes that were from Christmases where things like Nintendo Wii were on my must-have list. I'm finally tossing some of the nail polish that's not Essie and glitter I used to wear all over my face in middle school. I've never realized how much "stuff" I had before understanding that I needed to significantly down-size to fit into my new life.

In the non-boy / non-leaving my job / non-moving across the country news, here's a few more things you missed.

+ Miss Black Betty (my brand new baby Prius) got in a 4-car accident. A < 5 mph vehicle damage only and nobody's hurt accident. Not my fault and not my money to get it repaired, plus I learned a few lessons on what you're supposed to do when you find yourself on the side of the road with a few other victims of the same collision.

+ I made it up on stage at my drum class TWO more times and hope to jump up there once more with mom in the crowd. Then maybe be a part-time fitness instructor in Memphis and bring Pound! to my new town. #poundtown

+ I went for a four-mile hill run in ninety-degree weather because it was just too nice to not do it. It made me miss the clear head and full heart I used to get when that used to be my daily routine rain or shine.

+ Weekend trip to the Oregon Coast for Father's Day as a family and watched a fireworks show on the sand. We struck it lucky to find a weekend we could all be together.

I know that Helene just announced that she's moving to Tennessee, but she's going to Nashville which is a three hour road trip away from Memphis and apparently much much much cooler because they've got a hoppin' enough city for Trader Joe's and ClassPass. Two Portland things I love and will miss dearly on my new adventure. Thanks for the care packages in advance, mom.

Other Portland things I'll miss dearly are my amazing parents who have done everything possible to show me support through this emotional life-altering decision. My brother who just returned back to our same time zone after four years away in Europe. My golden sisters who are crazy and silly and more grown up than ever. My friends and mentors and coworkers, the good ones who know who they are. My city that's been there for me through good and bad and great and worst.

Much more work to be done in the upcoming weeks but I'm happy you're now in the know.

ClassPass Two-a-Days

Daily Doubles with ClassPass last week, how'd that go? 

Taking two classes per day might sound impossible. It's certainly not "easy" but it's a break in my workday commute, it's an escape from a long day, it's a morning pick-me-up or it's a moment to decompress my head and heart. It's also a chance to get inverted in the aerial silks. 

Last week I set out for a goal of daily doubles and here's some of the fun I got into. 

I found myself front-loading the week with tough muscle things that made me sweat and squat and work. These hard work classes always give me that happy sweat, but the movements are always so new in the barre and drum classes that my muscles are yelling at me to stretch them out as soon as I work them out. 

Thankfully with ClassPass in Portland there are just as many - and maybe more - ways to get that deep sleepytime stretch or enjoy the playfulness in an aerial hammock.  There's a hundred opportunities per day to get on my yoga mat and many others to grab a foam roll or a tennis ball for some tasty myofascial release. Literally, one hundred chances. There's actually close to 1,000 classes available on any given day through just 122 studios available to me in the Portland area. 

Tuesday

PDX Results Fitness - TRX (5-6pm)

:: A fun and sweaty workout with a friendly crew of ladies who knew their way around the TRX straps and kettlebells. 

PulsePDX - Pound! (7-7:45pm)

:: My beloved drum class that I've taken three times every month. This was the 2nd time I made it on stage!

Wednesday

Pure Barre Portland - Pure Barre (4-5pm)

:: Pure Barre, you are the toughest barre workout in Portland. With Firebarre at Firebrand in a very close second. 

Hush Meditation - Love (5:30-6:15pm)

:: Meditation after a humbling barre class is the cherry on top. This was real life meditation. The class was small and intimate. We were all joined together in a room, but took separate loving journeys that eased our souls for the remainder of the evening. 

Thursday

YAS Fitness Center - YAS Spin (6:15-7am)

:: I go in and out of mornings being my "thing". I made this reservation two days prior so I was not going to wuss out of the 6:15am time. I packed a work bag like a big girl and conquered the morning studio sweat. 

Pil-oga-robic - Air Yogalates (7:30-8:30pm)

:: Earliest morning and latest night, but all was worth it because Dayna was a ball of energy who gave us all the confidence and grace to get upside down and have some fun in the hammocks. This class is taught at two different studios in the Portland area (by the same instructor) which means I'll be back. 

Friday

Yoga Bhoga - Restorative (3:30-5pm)

:: One of my new favorite all time things. This is 90 minutes of blissful upstairs sun-beaming through the windows magic. With all the props and blocks and bolsters a weary yogi could need, always ending with legs up the wall as my chosen shavasana. 

Pil-oga-robic - Stretching & Roller (5:30-6pm)

:: Immediately after restorative put me to sleep I found a nearby favorite studio with a foam roll and stretch class that had me in, out and flexy even before the Friday evening traffic subsided. 

After all of this weekday fun, there were way more plans for weekend classes. I mean way more. Like gym time, more yoga, more stretching, more barre, maybe some hot yoga but more likely maybe not. Then you all know that my weekend was instead spent with my amazing family and getting acquainted with my new baby girl. 

A New Something

I often joke that my favorite fish is efficiency. I admit that not many people understand that joke, even when I say it like "e-FISH-incy", but it still makes me chuckle. I think it's witty, others are trying to understand if I'm trying to say "a-fish-in-the-sea". We all can't win, but maybe we can enunciate?

Lucky for you (and me!) I get to say that joke way more often and maybe people will finally get it. That or they'll tell me I'm not funny. I get to say this dad joke more often because of a big investment I made this weekend. 

Meet my new baby 2015 Prius Three (she doesn't have a name yet, should I finally have a Betty?)

This was very very very, and I mean very unplanned. Not to say she was unwanted, but if you would have told me Friday morning that it was the last time I'd drive my Ford Focus to work I'd laugh and believe that meant I wasn't ever making the commute to work again. Which, yeah we'll keep this post about my new car. 

My point is that my 2005 Ford Focus (Black Stallion) made it 10.5 years and 79,730 miles as my main squeeze. Sure we went through some hard times together where we got towed, got parking tickets, dings on the doors, hit by a bus and other normal girl things. 

But she also showed me the world. She kept my ass warm in the winter with her heated seats and she kept my hair windblown in the summer with the sliding roof. She was pulled over several times but never given a traffic ticket. We took a lot of great selfies together. She did her job to get me from A to B and she also took me on some emotional long distance trips. 

With certainly longer and certainly more emotional trips on my horizon, it was suggested by those who love me the most that I needed to find a car that I could depend on.  Understanding their concern and agreeing with their recommendation, Saturday was full of a test drive, learning about amortization tables and really figuring out what an interest rate is. The day was full of excitement over a new adventure. The evening was rushed with a dash to clean up my Focus for a trade-in and a race home to grab my checkbook. 

At the end of the day, I drove my new baby off of the lot with only 15 miles (most from my test drive) and a very easy amount to pay off all on my own as a grown-up. Its very first stop? Taco Bell drive-thru. Dad's best call yet. 

I won't have to fill the gas tank for 550 more miles and that feels pretty dang cool. 

What did you get into this weekend?