Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Bear necessities!
This morning started early, especially since I stayed up late talking to friends last night. Shew, that wake up call was NOT welcome, but it happened, and I woke up and off we went.
Yesterday we signed up for an 8 hour wildlife viewing tour through the Denali National Park.
So we get to Denali and we are the last group on the bus, but our bus driver, John Miller is WONDERFUL. I mean within 2 minutes of us being on the bus we are laughing. But the day is a dreary rainy foggy cold pretty icky day. Sigh.
Regardless, off we go. The first animal we come across is a snowshoe hare, not to be confused with a rabbit, apparently the difference is that a rabbit cannot change color whereas the hare does. The hare is white in the winter and brown now. And I know this makes sense but I still found it amusing: their feet are HUGE in comparison to the rest of their body. Yea, thats the one thing that I picked up about the hare.
Further into the park we go, John is giving us all kinds of info, the history of the park, the geology of Alaska, the history of the animals, the rivers and the mountains and while that might sound boring, he was a very good storyteller so it was fascinating.
But the miles came and went and there were few sightings of wildlife. We did see 2 caribou from afar, really really afar. And someone asked the difference between caribou and reindeer and the answer is that genetically there is no difference, but reindeer are shorter. We dont want reindeer to crossbreed with the wild caribou though because it would make them shorter and less likely to do well in the winter. The remaining question though is would a reindeer/caribou cross be a carideer or a rainbou? :)
We saw some mountain sheep, just chillin on the top of a mountain checkin us out, chewin their cud- it was amusing but again, not all that exciting. We want to see bears and moose!
We keep driving, further and further and further into the park. The road is now a 1.5 lane rock road and we are on an upgraded school bus- and there are steep cliffs and other upgraded school buses, coming the opposite direction! But our guide is not only a very good guide hes a very good driver and we all stay safe!!
So probably a mile before we get to the turnaround place we come across a momma bear and her 2 springers... that means the cubs that she had with her were born this past January. Bear mommas take care of their cubs for 3-4 years. And this big ol momma grizzly was just chillin on a hillside, eatin some plants. The cubs were kind of checkin things out and playing- but they were all totally ignoring the buses that were lining up to watch them. Momma grizzly then decided to cross the road- RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR BUS! So cool! We took this opportunity to go do our turnaround and then come back where we got to spend more time watching the momma and babies. Let me tell you, I am so glad I got to see a WILD grizzly bear in person, what an experience, amazing!
And then on our way back we saw a couple of moose! Experience complete. What a freakin awesome tour.
The unexpected gem of the tour was that there was no cell phone coverage- we were in the wilderness! Even though I told a new, old friend that I would be by my phone all day if he wanted to message me- and I was by my phone all day but I couldnt have gotten anything if I wanted to, it was cool not to hear the binging of cellular devices throughout the tour. I dont know if that sentence makes sense, but Im gonna leave it like that and hope that if you are reading it you are smart enough to understand what I mean! :)
But, wait for it, our day is not yet complete!
Once we get some hot chocolate and back to our car we decide to check out the sled dogs that the park has- they have puppies too!! We got to pet the dogs and then got a demonstration that talked about the history and the current status of sled dogs- it was pretty good, even if I did get yelled at for crossing the rope to try and pet the dogs- I am a dog person, I want to pet them!! And they werent clear in the directions that one shouldnt cross the rope!! But in all honesty- sometimes I just have to break a rule! haha. :)
After we saw the dogs mom and grandma went to look at the science center while dad and I stayed in the car- mom and grandma got lost, surprise surprise, but eventually they found us and off to dinner and shopping we went!
Dinner was Subway- gotta love Subway! And shopping was touristy! I have a weakness for touristy shopping! :) So I bought some bear socks and a bear t-shirt. This is in addition to the zip-up fleece that I got yesterday for $9... thats right a zip-up fleece jacket for $9, can you say a steal?! :)
Mom and grandma kind of ran out of steam while we were shopping, so we headed back to the hotel room.
As I have been writing this post, the sun came out, its quite magical, considering we havent seen the sun the whole time we have been in Alaska... its been cloudy the whole time with some pretty rainy moments. Amazing that its 9pm right now and the sun is out as if it was a 5pm at home. Its just beautiful.
Alas, my day is coming to an end and I've got nothing more to talk about, so I will give you a sentence or two on what we will be doing tomorrow. We are gonna head back towards Anchorage tomorrow and then Homer the next day. I think we will be staying 2 night in Homer then back to Anchorage so that we can head home.
Goodnight friends. :)
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Wassup Denial.... I mean Wasilla Denali!
6 people read my last post, which means I have to deliver tonight.
Today we started out heading to the Anchorage Botanical Gardens. First thing we see is "Be bear aware" and the other things we see are mosquitoes... large deadly scary mosquitoes. So while dad and I are being bear aware and slapping ourselves silly, mom and grandma are looking at the pretty plants. Dad dodges the majority of the mosquitoes by putting up his hood while I apparently attract them, by the hundreds with my hair. And while slapping at a mosquito I missed and scratched the area by my left eye, so much that it looks like I was scratched by an animal- yep, I drew my own blood, which probably didnt help my mosquito problem. Ok, so mosquito adventure done.
Next we head towards the highway and up to Wasilla. In case you live under a rock, a very large rock, thats where Sarah Palin lives. I googled her address in time to look up and say "Thats the road off of which she lives." as we drove by, and that was that. Next we stopped at a Subway for lunch in a town called Talkeetna. They also had showers in the gas station in that little town- something that I have never seen before in my life!
Ok, so I pee while at Subway, and then I pee at the gas station next door as we leave, but you know, less than 20 miles down the road and I have to pee again. There's only one problem with that: Talkeetna was the last town- and bathroom- for 95 miles. I have a sprinting bladder and it gets nervous when it knows it wont be able to be relieved for a long time... I do NOT have a marathon bladder. So here we go, 95 miles...and I have to pee for about 80 of those miles. There is gorgeous scenery passing by and all I can think about is oh my god, I have to pee. Someone says funny, I laugh and then regret it instantaneously. Anyway, here we are driving in the middle of beautiful Alaska and all I can think about is counting down the miles til we can get to a restroom. But heres where magic happens. We are driving and theres a sign for a trailhead but it also has the universal- or what I think is the universal sign for bathrooms, so I scream "BATHROOM" and my dad says "Do you want me to stop here" I said "YES!!" and had my door opened and was RUNNING down the path to the little outhouses before he had the car in park. Relief never felt so good.
So, after that little side trip we got back on the road, and finish the trip to Denali. Let me just say, the scenery here is breathtaking, absolutely beautiful. We got to Denali, checked the place out, got tickets for a big wilderness seeing adventure tomorrow, and then went to dinner. Oh, and I bought a bear bell, its a carabiner with a bell. I hate making noise, but Im willing to make noise if it means that I dont have to deal with a bear.
Back to the day, we did a little 15 mile drive through the park and saw some Caribou... which the reindeer are a subspecies of, btw. And then once we got out of the park we went to dinner, where we had to wait for a place to eat for over an hour, but it was delicious pizza! Thats where I made my grandma cry, not awesome by the way. But mom really pissed me off, making me feel worse about hurting grandmas feelings so I got up and left for a while to cool down. I felt horrible, about half an inch tall. Really, I didnt mean to hurt grandmas feelings, but apparently Im good at it, sigh. So I buck up, buy her an emory board- because she loves them and go apologize. Things seem to be fine now, I just gotta be patient and not so quick with my one liners.
After dinner we went shopping!! I love souvenir shopping! I love it more when I can get a fleece zip-up thingy for 10 bucks! YES!! But I also dont like to dawdle, so we did our shopping and then came back to the hotel, which has a river running right outside of the cabins, which is beautiful, and by this time its 9:30ish and mom and grandma get situated and fall right asleep. Dad and I again are the ones up but since it is now 11 here- no it didnt take me an hour and a half to write this and if it did, I blame it on being distracted by talking to friends on FB- I need sleep, we have to be back up at the National Park by 7:30 in the morning... eek!
Goodnight friends!
Today we started out heading to the Anchorage Botanical Gardens. First thing we see is "Be bear aware" and the other things we see are mosquitoes... large deadly scary mosquitoes. So while dad and I are being bear aware and slapping ourselves silly, mom and grandma are looking at the pretty plants. Dad dodges the majority of the mosquitoes by putting up his hood while I apparently attract them, by the hundreds with my hair. And while slapping at a mosquito I missed and scratched the area by my left eye, so much that it looks like I was scratched by an animal- yep, I drew my own blood, which probably didnt help my mosquito problem. Ok, so mosquito adventure done.
Next we head towards the highway and up to Wasilla. In case you live under a rock, a very large rock, thats where Sarah Palin lives. I googled her address in time to look up and say "Thats the road off of which she lives." as we drove by, and that was that. Next we stopped at a Subway for lunch in a town called Talkeetna. They also had showers in the gas station in that little town- something that I have never seen before in my life!
Ok, so I pee while at Subway, and then I pee at the gas station next door as we leave, but you know, less than 20 miles down the road and I have to pee again. There's only one problem with that: Talkeetna was the last town- and bathroom- for 95 miles. I have a sprinting bladder and it gets nervous when it knows it wont be able to be relieved for a long time... I do NOT have a marathon bladder. So here we go, 95 miles...and I have to pee for about 80 of those miles. There is gorgeous scenery passing by and all I can think about is oh my god, I have to pee. Someone says funny, I laugh and then regret it instantaneously. Anyway, here we are driving in the middle of beautiful Alaska and all I can think about is counting down the miles til we can get to a restroom. But heres where magic happens. We are driving and theres a sign for a trailhead but it also has the universal- or what I think is the universal sign for bathrooms, so I scream "BATHROOM" and my dad says "Do you want me to stop here" I said "YES!!" and had my door opened and was RUNNING down the path to the little outhouses before he had the car in park. Relief never felt so good.
So, after that little side trip we got back on the road, and finish the trip to Denali. Let me just say, the scenery here is breathtaking, absolutely beautiful. We got to Denali, checked the place out, got tickets for a big wilderness seeing adventure tomorrow, and then went to dinner. Oh, and I bought a bear bell, its a carabiner with a bell. I hate making noise, but Im willing to make noise if it means that I dont have to deal with a bear.
Back to the day, we did a little 15 mile drive through the park and saw some Caribou... which the reindeer are a subspecies of, btw. And then once we got out of the park we went to dinner, where we had to wait for a place to eat for over an hour, but it was delicious pizza! Thats where I made my grandma cry, not awesome by the way. But mom really pissed me off, making me feel worse about hurting grandmas feelings so I got up and left for a while to cool down. I felt horrible, about half an inch tall. Really, I didnt mean to hurt grandmas feelings, but apparently Im good at it, sigh. So I buck up, buy her an emory board- because she loves them and go apologize. Things seem to be fine now, I just gotta be patient and not so quick with my one liners.
After dinner we went shopping!! I love souvenir shopping! I love it more when I can get a fleece zip-up thingy for 10 bucks! YES!! But I also dont like to dawdle, so we did our shopping and then came back to the hotel, which has a river running right outside of the cabins, which is beautiful, and by this time its 9:30ish and mom and grandma get situated and fall right asleep. Dad and I again are the ones up but since it is now 11 here- no it didnt take me an hour and a half to write this and if it did, I blame it on being distracted by talking to friends on FB- I need sleep, we have to be back up at the National Park by 7:30 in the morning... eek!
Goodnight friends!
Monday, June 25, 2012
Alaska
So, here I am, in Alaska. I may not have visited all of the lower 48 states but I have now visited both Hawaii and Alaska.
The trip up was fairly uneventful. While going through security in Lou I pulled a sticker off the back of some foreign (cute) guy's shirt. It was funny trying to explain what I was doing- gotta love language barriers. The Lou to Minneapolis flight was nice and then we were in an old plane for Minneapolis to Anchorage. There were lots of babies too, but thankfully there was no more than about 5 minutes of crying the whole flight- magical.
We got in and got our stuff, called the hotel for a shuttle and made it to our hotel around 1:30 am Alaska time- which is 4 hours earlier than home time. And the coolest thing was that the outside light was similar to that of dusk at home- thats right dusk at 1:30 am. Welcome to the summer in Alaska!
We were all exhausted though, so bed was of the first order. I popped in my night guard- attractive, I know, and my newly purchased ear plugs and I was blissfully unaware of anything until about 8 am. I am only wondering why I never invested in the ear plugs before- especially with my dads snoring and my grandmas rustling.
This morning we woke up and got our rental car. The rental car guy was an attractive black guy named Matthew who had a very large championship ring- thats how I knew his name was Matthew btw, not from a name tag but from his ring! Apparently he played football for the University of Washington and got the ring when they beat Nebraska for some championship- I love random people's cool stories!
After getting the car- a brown Hyundai Santa Fe, and checking the lost and found for mom's hat- she doesnt really remember where she lost it, we headed to brunch with our old neighbor. Well technically her parents are still neighbors but she moved to Alaska about 5 years ago and was actually headed to California today, so brunch was about the best visit we could manage! Anyway, it was good to see her, she is an amazing person and was like a sister to me in some ways growing up- a much older sister! And since she is honorary family, this is my not-so-shameful plug for her music, go look up Amy Lou Hettinger and listen to her CD, its amazing!
Somewhere between getting the car and getting brunch mom lost her credit card- are you counting? thats 2 things in 2 days- and so we retraced most of our steps looking for it, but no such luck, so we had to come back to the hotel to call the credit card company to cancel the card. Me, well, Im pretty annoyed by now, really, why would you put your credit card in the same pocket as your phone which you are checking every 5 minutes? Maybe I've just learned my lesson and mom hasnt yet. And grandma, oh goodness grandma is being helpful. So mom is losing things and grandma is being helpful, my annoyance level rises higher and higher. Oh, and while we are back at the hotel dad has gone to get drugs for his athletes foot. Never a dull moment!
So credit card canceled, with lots of extra help, and athletes foot treated we are on our way again. We head up to the Alaska Native Heritage Center- it was WONDERFUL! On our way there we saw 2 moose (!!!!!!) and as we walked in we were greeted by a dancing demonstration, then we walked around and learned about the various Native Alaskan tribes (?- I dont know if tribe is the technical term, but its what I am using) and along this path an Iditarod champion was set up, ok not just ANY champion the 2011 champion! And his dogs, and new PUPPIES! So we paid the outrageous price of 10 bucks per person for a 3 minute ride with 16 Iditarod dogs! And these dogs were happy to mush, amazing! We then met a native that was a great storyteller, someone we could have listened to for hours, but really, we were starting to fade.
Back to downtown Anchorage where we stopped at an Ulu factory that was near a stream where there are supposedly Salmon- we didnt see any Salmon. By this time its about 5 and we are hungry, so I directed the family to an "Old Alaskan Restaurant" where mom and grandma had halibut and salmon respectively and dad and I had a cheeseburger and a hamburger, respectively. They may have been burgers but neither dad nor I think that it was actually beef burgers, so I am claiming that it was a moose burger! hah.
After dinner we came back to the hotel room and have been vegging out. Mom and grandma have been asleep for hours now but dad and I are up and reading, although I think after this post I am headed to bed myself. Its now 9:30, which is a nice respectful time to go to bed, right?! Even if it looks like its the middle of the day outside still? I LOVE this daylight for something like 20 hours a day! Tomorrow we plan to hit the botanical gardens, Wasilla and make it all the way up to Denali!
Oh and in case you were wondering, I did get over my annoyance, in fact I got pretty giggly and amused as the day wore on- thank god!
The trip up was fairly uneventful. While going through security in Lou I pulled a sticker off the back of some foreign (cute) guy's shirt. It was funny trying to explain what I was doing- gotta love language barriers. The Lou to Minneapolis flight was nice and then we were in an old plane for Minneapolis to Anchorage. There were lots of babies too, but thankfully there was no more than about 5 minutes of crying the whole flight- magical.
We got in and got our stuff, called the hotel for a shuttle and made it to our hotel around 1:30 am Alaska time- which is 4 hours earlier than home time. And the coolest thing was that the outside light was similar to that of dusk at home- thats right dusk at 1:30 am. Welcome to the summer in Alaska!
We were all exhausted though, so bed was of the first order. I popped in my night guard- attractive, I know, and my newly purchased ear plugs and I was blissfully unaware of anything until about 8 am. I am only wondering why I never invested in the ear plugs before- especially with my dads snoring and my grandmas rustling.
This morning we woke up and got our rental car. The rental car guy was an attractive black guy named Matthew who had a very large championship ring- thats how I knew his name was Matthew btw, not from a name tag but from his ring! Apparently he played football for the University of Washington and got the ring when they beat Nebraska for some championship- I love random people's cool stories!
After getting the car- a brown Hyundai Santa Fe, and checking the lost and found for mom's hat- she doesnt really remember where she lost it, we headed to brunch with our old neighbor. Well technically her parents are still neighbors but she moved to Alaska about 5 years ago and was actually headed to California today, so brunch was about the best visit we could manage! Anyway, it was good to see her, she is an amazing person and was like a sister to me in some ways growing up- a much older sister! And since she is honorary family, this is my not-so-shameful plug for her music, go look up Amy Lou Hettinger and listen to her CD, its amazing!
Somewhere between getting the car and getting brunch mom lost her credit card- are you counting? thats 2 things in 2 days- and so we retraced most of our steps looking for it, but no such luck, so we had to come back to the hotel to call the credit card company to cancel the card. Me, well, Im pretty annoyed by now, really, why would you put your credit card in the same pocket as your phone which you are checking every 5 minutes? Maybe I've just learned my lesson and mom hasnt yet. And grandma, oh goodness grandma is being helpful. So mom is losing things and grandma is being helpful, my annoyance level rises higher and higher. Oh, and while we are back at the hotel dad has gone to get drugs for his athletes foot. Never a dull moment!
So credit card canceled, with lots of extra help, and athletes foot treated we are on our way again. We head up to the Alaska Native Heritage Center- it was WONDERFUL! On our way there we saw 2 moose (!!!!!!) and as we walked in we were greeted by a dancing demonstration, then we walked around and learned about the various Native Alaskan tribes (?- I dont know if tribe is the technical term, but its what I am using) and along this path an Iditarod champion was set up, ok not just ANY champion the 2011 champion! And his dogs, and new PUPPIES! So we paid the outrageous price of 10 bucks per person for a 3 minute ride with 16 Iditarod dogs! And these dogs were happy to mush, amazing! We then met a native that was a great storyteller, someone we could have listened to for hours, but really, we were starting to fade.
Back to downtown Anchorage where we stopped at an Ulu factory that was near a stream where there are supposedly Salmon- we didnt see any Salmon. By this time its about 5 and we are hungry, so I directed the family to an "Old Alaskan Restaurant" where mom and grandma had halibut and salmon respectively and dad and I had a cheeseburger and a hamburger, respectively. They may have been burgers but neither dad nor I think that it was actually beef burgers, so I am claiming that it was a moose burger! hah.
After dinner we came back to the hotel room and have been vegging out. Mom and grandma have been asleep for hours now but dad and I are up and reading, although I think after this post I am headed to bed myself. Its now 9:30, which is a nice respectful time to go to bed, right?! Even if it looks like its the middle of the day outside still? I LOVE this daylight for something like 20 hours a day! Tomorrow we plan to hit the botanical gardens, Wasilla and make it all the way up to Denali!
Oh and in case you were wondering, I did get over my annoyance, in fact I got pretty giggly and amused as the day wore on- thank god!
Thursday, June 07, 2012
Healthier
While in DC 2 weeks ago- insert comment about missing DC and bemoaning the fact that it has now been 2 weeks- I lost something like 7 pounds in the 4 days that we were there. It was something that blew me away, and inspired me. How did I lose so much weight you ask? We walked 11 miles on Friday and another 5+ on Saturday, according to my friends pedometer. But thats not all, on top of walking I ate foods that were not my norm, I didnt have many "junk" foods and I drank mostly water. Yep, that will make you lose weight.
But then I come home and get back into my normal routine, except man it would be REALLY nice to keep losing weight. SO I started exercising, biking, walking, mucking out the barn. I put on the 5 pounds I had lost and then I lost them again. (I know, I know, its not exactly healthy to be seesawing weight so much, but its only 5 pounds.)
Again, here we are 2 weeks later, and I am still inspired- though decidedly less inspired on rainy days. My weight still cant decide what it wants to be but its not that important. I've decided that I want to be active, happy and healthy- but I dont want to cut out all of my favorite foods. So I have been working really hard at moderation. Last week I did 3 miles worth of something- walking or biking but it was just not really what I wanted to do. Over the weekend I mucked out part of the barn, and thats all fine and good, but I dont want to do that during the week. And then I realized I missed running. Therefore this week, I have ran. I was always more of a sprinter and less of a distance runner but maybe I can train myself to run further- farther?... Anyway, Monday I ran to my old bus stop- a half mile away from the house. I ran the whole way, I was flabbergasted that I could, much less that I did. And then I was ecstatic. Then Tuesday I just wasnt feeling the whole running thing. Wednesday I ran to the bus stop again- and then I ran half way home too. Again, impressing myself. And today, I ran to the bus stop. Who knew I had the stamina for all that running?! But being a reasonable person, I dont want to push myself too injury so I think I may walk tomorrow. See, its all about moderation- even exercising in moderation, because if you push your body too hard you wont want to go out the next day, but if you dont push enough you might get bored.
Being healthy isnt just about exercising though, is it? Its a combination of exercising and providing your body with the right fuel. And if you know me at all, you know I love sodas, but sometime towards the end of lint I decided no sodas during the week, but I could have them during the weekend. And that worked, for a while. Now, though, I am allowed a soda occasionally. It can be during the week- like Wednesday, I was really craving a Dr. Pepper from McDonalds, so I got one. When I gave up sodas I started drinking a lot of sweet tea- a lot. Well, thats not exactly MUCH better than sodas. So now, my general rule is to drink water over the course of the day and have something different with lunch- so tea or soda or whatever and yes I am allowed to cheat occasionally. I am even starting to enjoy the tastelessness that is water- who would have ever thought?! That explains my drinking habits but not my eating habits.
Food= fuel. But not all food is GOOD fuel. No, I am not perfect, I ate a milky way as I walked out the door for my run yesterday, but I am getting better. Breakfast- I eat cereal. I get bored with sticking to the same cereal all the time though, so I switch up the cereals as I go along and I am allowed any cereal. Lunch- I try to eat fairly healthy, but sometimes I splurge. Like today, I went to Mr. Gatti's and had some ridiculous amount of pizza and it was SO FREAKIN good. And then for dinner I had a pear and a greek yogurt. So you see, I have small-ish breakfasts and dinners and then lunch is kind of whatever.
Is it working? I dont know yet, I figure really, it ought to be a gradual weight loss.
Will I stick to this plan like a dairy farmer milks his cows? Hell no. I am human, I want to be healthy, but sometimes not being healthy is so freakin fun. I am not going to have my life run by my goal weight and how far away I am- that ISNT healthy. I am however, hoping that little changes can become habits and that overall I will be a healthier person because of those little changes.
But then I come home and get back into my normal routine, except man it would be REALLY nice to keep losing weight. SO I started exercising, biking, walking, mucking out the barn. I put on the 5 pounds I had lost and then I lost them again. (I know, I know, its not exactly healthy to be seesawing weight so much, but its only 5 pounds.)
Again, here we are 2 weeks later, and I am still inspired- though decidedly less inspired on rainy days. My weight still cant decide what it wants to be but its not that important. I've decided that I want to be active, happy and healthy- but I dont want to cut out all of my favorite foods. So I have been working really hard at moderation. Last week I did 3 miles worth of something- walking or biking but it was just not really what I wanted to do. Over the weekend I mucked out part of the barn, and thats all fine and good, but I dont want to do that during the week. And then I realized I missed running. Therefore this week, I have ran. I was always more of a sprinter and less of a distance runner but maybe I can train myself to run further- farther?... Anyway, Monday I ran to my old bus stop- a half mile away from the house. I ran the whole way, I was flabbergasted that I could, much less that I did. And then I was ecstatic. Then Tuesday I just wasnt feeling the whole running thing. Wednesday I ran to the bus stop again- and then I ran half way home too. Again, impressing myself. And today, I ran to the bus stop. Who knew I had the stamina for all that running?! But being a reasonable person, I dont want to push myself too injury so I think I may walk tomorrow. See, its all about moderation- even exercising in moderation, because if you push your body too hard you wont want to go out the next day, but if you dont push enough you might get bored.
Being healthy isnt just about exercising though, is it? Its a combination of exercising and providing your body with the right fuel. And if you know me at all, you know I love sodas, but sometime towards the end of lint I decided no sodas during the week, but I could have them during the weekend. And that worked, for a while. Now, though, I am allowed a soda occasionally. It can be during the week- like Wednesday, I was really craving a Dr. Pepper from McDonalds, so I got one. When I gave up sodas I started drinking a lot of sweet tea- a lot. Well, thats not exactly MUCH better than sodas. So now, my general rule is to drink water over the course of the day and have something different with lunch- so tea or soda or whatever and yes I am allowed to cheat occasionally. I am even starting to enjoy the tastelessness that is water- who would have ever thought?! That explains my drinking habits but not my eating habits.
Food= fuel. But not all food is GOOD fuel. No, I am not perfect, I ate a milky way as I walked out the door for my run yesterday, but I am getting better. Breakfast- I eat cereal. I get bored with sticking to the same cereal all the time though, so I switch up the cereals as I go along and I am allowed any cereal. Lunch- I try to eat fairly healthy, but sometimes I splurge. Like today, I went to Mr. Gatti's and had some ridiculous amount of pizza and it was SO FREAKIN good. And then for dinner I had a pear and a greek yogurt. So you see, I have small-ish breakfasts and dinners and then lunch is kind of whatever.
Is it working? I dont know yet, I figure really, it ought to be a gradual weight loss.
Will I stick to this plan like a dairy farmer milks his cows? Hell no. I am human, I want to be healthy, but sometimes not being healthy is so freakin fun. I am not going to have my life run by my goal weight and how far away I am- that ISNT healthy. I am however, hoping that little changes can become habits and that overall I will be a healthier person because of those little changes.
Sunday, June 03, 2012
Summer Sundays.
Last night I slept with the tv on... I turned on one of my favorite chick flicks and then fell asleep in the middle of it and so accidentally slept with the tv on... and then this morning I was super nostalgic.
I woke up this beautiful Sunday morning and it made me want to go visit my grandma- my dad's mom. And then I realized that she's dead, and has been for almost 5 years now. So then I remembered visiting her on beautiful Sunday's like today. I remembered visits from when I was a kid and my brothers still lived at home- I would fall asleep in the back of the car and then because they didnt want me sleeping on their shoulder they would play ping pong with my head- eventually I learned how to sleep with my head straight back against the car seat.
I remembered visits where we played cards, when we got Wendy's to eat on the way to her house, the drive, the happiness that I associate with her and her house. I remembered times where she played cards with me, times when she watched me and my brothers and we had Red Baron personal pizzas. I remembered drinking root beer at her house and how her fridge always had sodas and Breyer's yogurt.
And then I remembered the last time I went to her house: It was a beautiful Sunday in August. But we couldnt get ahold of her on the phone and when we got there she didnt come to the door. She had fallen wasnt able to pull herself up and her phones were all up high. I had to call 911 and then we followed the ambulance to the hospital. She lived another year after that, and there are days, like today, where I miss her so very much, but mostly I think of her looking down on me, and I hope, desperately hope that she is proud of the person I am and the paths that I have chosen.
Then after I had all this nostalgia, we get the phone call that my other grandma, my mom's mom has been in a wreck. She was fine- thank goodness, but her car burst into flames and was totaled.
So today was very interesting, but at the end of the day, I am thankful to have gotten 18 years with my dad's mom and more with my other grandma. I probably dont tell her enough, but I love her and she is one absolutely amazing woman. Hopefully I get several more years with her, and if I am really lucky my kids will get to meet her. And maybe, just maybe it was Grandma C watching over Grandma A today.
I woke up this beautiful Sunday morning and it made me want to go visit my grandma- my dad's mom. And then I realized that she's dead, and has been for almost 5 years now. So then I remembered visiting her on beautiful Sunday's like today. I remembered visits from when I was a kid and my brothers still lived at home- I would fall asleep in the back of the car and then because they didnt want me sleeping on their shoulder they would play ping pong with my head- eventually I learned how to sleep with my head straight back against the car seat.
I remembered visits where we played cards, when we got Wendy's to eat on the way to her house, the drive, the happiness that I associate with her and her house. I remembered times where she played cards with me, times when she watched me and my brothers and we had Red Baron personal pizzas. I remembered drinking root beer at her house and how her fridge always had sodas and Breyer's yogurt.
And then I remembered the last time I went to her house: It was a beautiful Sunday in August. But we couldnt get ahold of her on the phone and when we got there she didnt come to the door. She had fallen wasnt able to pull herself up and her phones were all up high. I had to call 911 and then we followed the ambulance to the hospital. She lived another year after that, and there are days, like today, where I miss her so very much, but mostly I think of her looking down on me, and I hope, desperately hope that she is proud of the person I am and the paths that I have chosen.
Then after I had all this nostalgia, we get the phone call that my other grandma, my mom's mom has been in a wreck. She was fine- thank goodness, but her car burst into flames and was totaled.
So today was very interesting, but at the end of the day, I am thankful to have gotten 18 years with my dad's mom and more with my other grandma. I probably dont tell her enough, but I love her and she is one absolutely amazing woman. Hopefully I get several more years with her, and if I am really lucky my kids will get to meet her. And maybe, just maybe it was Grandma C watching over Grandma A today.
Saturday, June 02, 2012
May Splurge
May was a whole month of splurging for me. I called it the month you may splurge. :)
Now, I didnt go CRAZY and like buy a new car or house or anything like that but anything that I found in my day to day life that I wanted, I bought.
I bought plane tickets to DC, new luggage FOR DC, a new tea maker, some clothes, some shoes, some music... you get the point.
Well, the interesting thing that came about my little experiment was that though I was buying pretty much everything my little heart desired, I was still living within my means. Now, normally a put a nice chunk of my paycheck into savings and I didnt do that in May, nope didnt put a single cent into savings but I also didnt run up a big credit card bill.
I find this interesting and exciting.
Now, May Splurge is over and its time to go back to saving my money, because at some point I want to move out of my parents house... and I want to have a pretty nice penny saved up! :)
Now, I didnt go CRAZY and like buy a new car or house or anything like that but anything that I found in my day to day life that I wanted, I bought.
I bought plane tickets to DC, new luggage FOR DC, a new tea maker, some clothes, some shoes, some music... you get the point.
Well, the interesting thing that came about my little experiment was that though I was buying pretty much everything my little heart desired, I was still living within my means. Now, normally a put a nice chunk of my paycheck into savings and I didnt do that in May, nope didnt put a single cent into savings but I also didnt run up a big credit card bill.
I find this interesting and exciting.
Now, May Splurge is over and its time to go back to saving my money, because at some point I want to move out of my parents house... and I want to have a pretty nice penny saved up! :)
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