A BIRTHDAY AND NEWS FROM ME

Today is my son, Taylor's 23rd birthday! This is one of my favorite photos of him that I snapped when we were in Tennessee.  He drove from Virginia to spend the weekend with us!  We had a great visit together!

 This is another photo of him, but he is at work and he's holding his friends' twin daughters when they came to visit him on the ship.  Cute, huh?

As for me, I am still in gear with my exercise and eating healthy gig. 

We ordered our bikes (yay!) and will get them in April.  I am so excited about it!

We are both getting Electra Townie Balloon 8i bikes.  This is the mens.  And this one is the ladies.  Then we can join the local bike club for some rides and hit the beach on our own!  I can't wait!  But I have to.  So, then I guess I can wait.  But I don't want to....oh heck, you get the idea.

My lunch was a disaster today.  Some asian noodle bowl that just had way too many green onions in it.  Blech.  I tried to avoid them, but they were these tiny pieces (and there were millions of them in this one container!)

Ewwww...and I like green onions.  Just not millions of them for one meal. 
I ate an apple afterwards and that helped. 
And then I ate a granola bar because I was still hungry. 
Hope your lunch was better than mine!

THURSDAY ALREADY?

 Where the heck has the week gone? 

I haven't been posting this week, because I think the posts would be repetitious (and boring) to you all.  Why, you ask? Because, I have been focused on working out and cooking dinners (so we can continue to eat
healthy and stay in our desired calorie range) and not much else, really.

Okay, I take that back.  I have been working on a small crochet project to get my feet wet again with my crochet skills.  I confess that I resorted to googling You Tube videos to help refresh my memory on how to complete ANY of the stitches.  How pathetic is that?

But it has come back to me and I am so thankful for You Tube and Knit Witch.  If you want to learn to crochet (or remember how to crochet, like me) go to the Knit Witch videos on you tube.  They rock! Or rather, she rocks!  She has a website and a blog too.  http://www.knitwitch.com/

I finally got my yarn (in the mail) for my granny square afghan I want to make but in the meantime, I got antsy and got yarn for this other little project and have been playing around with it.  I don't want to switch gears until I get this one finished.

We've been looking at beach cruiser style bikes, too, so stay tuned for news on those.  Since we live close to the beach, we can definitely get our use out of them and there is a local electra bike club that has monthly rides we can participate in, too.  Bonus! I am trying to come up with some fun ways for us to stay active and this looks like a winner! We are getting enough of a tax refund back to buy our bikes and add some bling! 

That about sums up our news for the past week.  We've been catching up on shows we have DVR'd and I get some crocheting done (and undone) while we watch!

I will take some photos when I get projects completed enough to photograph!  In the meantime, enjoy the sunrise photos.

TRIED AND TRUE -- AND A CHANGE

I'm progressing in my cardio routine and feeling like it's becoming easier in the sense that I can hop out of bed and get out into our (cold) garage and workout in the morning without dreading it.  Instead, I look forward to the way I feel afterwards. 

I'm still not ready for the hard core HIIT program taped on the dashboard of my treadmill.  But I mix it up between a fast walk and jogging.  I'm still not really running yet.  I have a ways to go to get there, but I will!

I watch the morning news and listen to music on my Ipod Nano.  I need to download some more (and new) tunes this weekend or rotate them out. I begin on my water and drink a 16.9 oz bottle while I work out.  I down my second 16.9 oz bottle while I get ready for work.  By the time I start sipping my morning coffee, I am 4 cups of water into my day! 

This is what is working for me.  I took a long neighborhood walk on Monday (3.28 miles in 52 minutes--3.8 mph) and it was a good change for me.  I want to do that once a week and find new places or routes to walk. 

Getting up and working out first thing in the morning is also what works for me.  I start my day off with a workout and I feel good.  I am ready to face the challenges that await me.  I haven't been tempted to stray from my eating plan (though the chocolate in a candy jar did try to lure me to take a piece yesterday), I quickly turned away and guzzled some water.

I know that piece of chocolate would not have been worth the way I'd feel later.  I want to plan for my chocolate.  I will be having chocolate. I do not believe in restricting any particular food or food group (dessert IS a food group, right?) from my food plan. 

Anyway, I have digressed a bit from my original train of thought...I'm doing what works, the tried and true.  I'm seeing results already in the way my clothes are fitting and that brings me to the change.

I am not using a scale to gauge my progress.  How many times have I gotten discouraged because the scale didn't reflect how hard I have been working?  Or inched up a pound due to water weight?  There are too many variables to using the scale as my compass on my journey.  I decided it has too many emotional triggers for me and that's not good.

My clothes will not lie to me.  If they are tight, I'm getting bigger.  If they become looser, I'm getting smaller.  Period. 

This journey is about becoming a healthier, more fit person.  My goal is to make exercise a daily part of my life. To keep my health in check.  Not something I do to lose weight and then stop.  Nope.  I must make it a part of my day as natural as brushing my teeth.  Not something I have to think about.  It will be a priority.  I will not make excuses. 

Exercise will be my tried and true.

OH SAY, CAN YOU CROCHET?

I can.  I just haven't in a very long time. I used to crochet a lot and I want to get back into it.  I find it very relaxing and will give me something productive to do while doing nothing in front of the TV.

I got some new crochet hooks for Christmas and now I need to get out and get some yarn.  I'd like to make some coffee cup cozies and scarves to start and see how that goes.

I started to learn to knit, but haven't stuck with it long enough to really pick it up.  There is a place here in town that has lessons and times for ladies to get together to work on crochet/knitting projects.  That sounds like fun to me and I may try it out soon.

I hope to start a crochet project this weekend...since it's a long weekend off of work for me and I will have to down time.  We're also supposed to get some rain on Sunday and I think crocheting would be a perfect activity to do while the rain is coming down outside and we are all cozy inside with a nice fire in the fireplace.

Anyone else knit or crochet?  Any tips on what type of yarn to get?

NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS

I've been absent from blogging, I know. I've been thinking about updating my blog.  Does that count?

I've been working out every morning and continuing to eat healthy and stay in my calorie range.  And I feel more energetic and upbeat! 

We spent a beautiful afternoon at the Leonesse winery last week. It was a gorgeous sunny day and so peaceful out there.  A nice way to finish up our holiday weekend before returning to work.

I've completed my Invisalign treatment and am in my retainers now.  They are clear--a lot like my Invisalign trays--so its not much different than before. I do have to wear them 24/7 for two months and then I go back to my Orthodontist for a check-up.  I will probably be able to go to wearing them only overnight after that appointment. I love my new smile!

We're going down to the desert this weekend for a target shooting day.  It will be a fun outing with some other couples.  It's been awhile since we went out for a target practice day.  The place we usually go closed down, so it's a little bit further trek for everyone.

Just keeping busy with work, hanging out with my hubby and getting healthier!

That's good enough!

HIT THE GROUND RUNNING

I literally jumped feet first into my first new year resolution Tuesday morning.  I hopped on the treadmill and churned out 30 minutes. 

We had already overhauled our eating plan over the weekend--after we emptied the fridge of all the dangerous, rich desserts and food (and transformed our leftover ham into bean soup).

So we're off to a really good start on that front...but the workouts seem the harder part of the equation for me.  At least at first...

Today is Day Three of my cardio routine.  They say it takes a month to make or break a habit and I believe it. 

I think someone forgot to tell my body that exercise is a good thing for it.  I had two consecutive nights of crummy sleep and then this morning after a welcomed good night of slumber, I awoke feeling as if I were in slow motion and my legs were made of lead.  I think I was finally feeling the effects of two nights of not sleeping deeply.

Still, I managed to get into my workout clothes, groggily find my way out to the garage, water bottle in hand, and complete my 30 minutes on the treadmill, despite my brain and body's clear objections.  Every cell in my body thought this was a BAD idea. I was unconvinced.  I kept saying, I have made a commitment to my health and I am determined to keep it.  

But those 30 minutes seemed to last forever.  I did everything I could to make it bearable.  I kept searching for motivating music on my Ipod, hoping that it would suddenly change my state of mind and I'd breeze through the rest of my workout.

Each time I looked at that time remaining I'd have a pep talk...Oh, good there are less than 20 minutes left...cool!  Now, over half way!  Yes, less than 10 minutes...you can do this!  Less than 5 minutes...you've GOT this!

FINALLY, it was over.  And yes, that is EXACTLY how it felt.  Man, it was TOUGH! But I did it.

I am going to celebrate my small successes...right now, my focus has to remain on the positive aspects of this journey.

Anyone else riding on the "workout train" this week?