It got into the low 50’s today, which is pretty damn warm for NYC.  It was freeing to not need my winter puffer.  I snapped this quick picture this morning.  Sorry it’s a bit blurry, but that’s real life.  I ended up changing out of these old Clyde pants at the last minute and put on the normal looking slim wool pants from EL instead.  I loved this outfit but felt that it looked too “stylish” for work.  I had to tone it down a bit especially because the shoes are already sort of eye catching.

In an earlier post I complained about how my foot slipped forward in these wooden clogs and caused my nail beds to feel sore.  I tried wearing yoga socks with grippy rubber on the bottoms to hold my foot in place, and that did work, but the socks were too thick, and the grippy things would stick to the inside of the shoe as I tried to slide my foot in, so the socks would bunch up.  It was a disaster.  I searched for thin grippy socks, but because they are meant for old people, diabetics, and yoga, thin versions don’t exist.

In the end I bought those foam shoe petals which helped.  The sticky part of the petals don’t look too strong, so I’m hoping it can be removed and cleaned off if I ever wanted to sell these shoes.  They look cute with oatmeal colored socks but even with thin socks my feet felt constricted (and I have narrow feet!) so I took the socks off and went barefoot.  Barefoot felt much better, so I think going forward I’m only going to wear these shoes when it’s >50 degrees.

I also have a few exciting life updates to share.  Today I got my psychiatry board exam results back and I’m happy to say I passed with flying colors.  The only section I did poorly on was the topic of paraphilias (ie., abnormal sexual fetishes), but that’s fine because I think most of those questions were really backwards anyway.

I’m also getting very close to accepting a job in Los Angeles that would start in the summer of next year.  I haven’t signed on the dotted line yet, but I’m very close. Fingers crossed!

And lastly, I decided to subscribe to Barre3 online classes.  It’s like Pure Barre but slightly less intense and with a tad more yoga.  I tried Pure Barre once but didn’t go back because it was too expensive for me.  It’s hard to make it out to classes with the chaos of NYC pedestrian traffic and terrible weather.  Also over the summer when I was drinking a shit ton of coffee and stressed about my board exams, I had a couple bouts of tachycardia when I exerted myself, where my heart was racing about 200 beat per minute for 15-30 minutes.  As my heart became over worked, pain travelled down my arm.  I wasn’t anxious at all during these episodes so I know it wasn’t a panic attack.

Since then I felt very cautious about pushing myself too hard and was turned off by the idea of being in a real life studio class in fear that the social pressure would push me to the point of getting another bout of tachycardia.  I’ve seen an electrophysiologist who is monitoring me with an EKG app through my phone, but it’s been 3 months and I haven’t had any more episodes, so my guess is that the stress and coffee triggered it.  Hoping it never returns.

I’m starting to put on a little bit of weight and with the new year, I really want to get fit but want to go at my own pace in the privacy of my own home.   So I was super excited to sign up for Barre3 online classes.  I haven’t tried it out yet because my props are still being shipped in the mail.  I really hope Barre3 is something that sticks because exercise has been extremely hard for me to commit to.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  Stay tuned!

[outfit:  steve jobs halloween mock neck top, everlane cashmere cardigan, elizabeth suzann cotton twill (old) clyde work pants, gold toe fold over ribbed socks, no 6 store clogs]