There's something about this time of year that makes me feel like gardening a little more than I normally do. Perhaps the trigger for my sudden urge to garden was filling up a couple of holes the dog worked on in my back yard, IN THE MIDDLE OF MY LAWN... Since I live in Southern California, we usually do not have really extreme weather, so the gardening center and nursery are open all year long. I hit up Home Depot's gardening center and came away with new pruning shears, a couple of bromeliads, a ginger plant with a beautiful purple bloom, 3-6 packs of red dianthus, potting soil, and a new sprinkler head. There's something very therapeutic about digging in the dirt, well - for me... I can't explain it. Perhaps gardening evokes happy childhood memories of playing in my grandparent's abundant garden, and that they let us get play in the dirt, help them "harvest" green beans, squash, tomatoes, corn, oranges, and other vegetables and fruits. I musn't forget the added bonus to gardening, especially when planting several small plants -- it's like getting a hamstring workout in without putting much thought into it.
I've been keeping a consistent running base of about 12 to 15 miles/week. There's 5k run event in November on Shelter Island that Michael and I might consider. Someone asked me when I was planning on running my next marathon. (Key word "WHEN.") I may consider the San Diego Rock N Roll Marathon again for 2006, but that might be it. I think if I limit myself to one marathon per year then I will be okay... I sort of have the half marathon idea in the back of my head, but maybe in the course of training for the marathon. I really should start looking ahead.
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Featured Fitness Essay!
My fitness story is a featured essay on someone else's fitness blog! I've never done anything like that before, so it seems a little weird, but in a good way...
Check it out my story!
Just in case, I'm Guest Essay #3.
Check it out my story!
Just in case, I'm Guest Essay #3.
Saturday, October 01, 2005
Sleep?
There is no rest for the weary...
Thursday morning and afternoon was spent running errands and had to zip over to my uncle's house to meet with an appraiser. That evening was a planned girls night out. It's difficult to get everyone together anymore, so I didn't back out. I was good and stuck to my one drink. It was great getting caught up but I was a zombie.
Friday I couldn't sleep in because I'm back up day care for my daughter's little boy. Luckily, she had only one class at the college, so she was only out for about 2 hours... No kicking back after that. More uncle's house issues to deal, computer issues, lunch with a friend, visited my dad, then zoomed back home and did laundry. Then it was time to get ready for a big soiree. Michael's business partner turned 40 and had a huge party. The food was decent and they had an open bar. There was a band and dancing. I must have danced with everyone! Seriously! Michael was out there too... I must say that it was cool to know that women really watch out for each other. I was dancing with this one guy, an acquaintance of Michael and his partner. He didn't really do anything inappropriate, but he seemed to get a little too close for comfort. A couple of ladies, who I don't know well, came up to me and asked me if this guy was bugging me and offered to step in and divert him. Perhaps this guy has a reputation? I don't know, but it was cool to know someone was looking out for me. I thanked them and then left the dance floor for the restroom, found Michael and ended up chatting with a really great lady who is a jeweler... Hmmmm (Michael, it's just about 2 1/2 months 'til our wedding anniversary!) With the open bar, Michael was toast. I didn't drink that much but I didn't eat all that much, either. I was okay but not good to drive. Luckily, there was a hotel a few short blocks away from the party venue. I'm not sure what time we left the party but what ever time it was, we were done...
Saturday morning we woke up with parched throats and Michael was feeling a little ill. I took advantage of the nice deep tub and bath salts provided by the hotel. After a few hours of trying to wake up (and thinking how nice the hotel was and too bad we really didn't take full advantage of it), we wandered down to the lobby for breakfast. They actually had decent food. Whole grain bagels, fresh fruit, and coffee is what I had. There was no protein to speak of but at least it was a decent spread. They also provided the usual pastries, cereal and such, but it was nice to have some good options. Since this was not a planned hotel stay, we didn't have a clean change of clothes. We wandered around downtown La Jolla and purchased shirts, just to have something fresh to wear... Our clothes LOOKED like they were partied in! After wandering around a little longer, I decided that I would drive back towards home ( was more functional than Michael), and actually ran errands along the way. Still no rest back at home. We were expecting company! There's nothing like a good cover up to cover up dark circles under the eyes...
Today was day one of the October challenge on Pinkdumbells.com. For all practical purposes, I ate as clean as I could, drank plenty of water, but my plans to work out circuits with resistance bands never materialized... I don't consider it a screw up. If I would have stayed in bed all day, then that would have been a screw up. We did do all that walking, a good 2 hours worth of passive walking, but it was MOVEMENT during a small time frame where we really didn't feel like moving at all.
I think I'm allowed to rest now... Good night.
Thursday morning and afternoon was spent running errands and had to zip over to my uncle's house to meet with an appraiser. That evening was a planned girls night out. It's difficult to get everyone together anymore, so I didn't back out. I was good and stuck to my one drink. It was great getting caught up but I was a zombie.
Friday I couldn't sleep in because I'm back up day care for my daughter's little boy. Luckily, she had only one class at the college, so she was only out for about 2 hours... No kicking back after that. More uncle's house issues to deal, computer issues, lunch with a friend, visited my dad, then zoomed back home and did laundry. Then it was time to get ready for a big soiree. Michael's business partner turned 40 and had a huge party. The food was decent and they had an open bar. There was a band and dancing. I must have danced with everyone! Seriously! Michael was out there too... I must say that it was cool to know that women really watch out for each other. I was dancing with this one guy, an acquaintance of Michael and his partner. He didn't really do anything inappropriate, but he seemed to get a little too close for comfort. A couple of ladies, who I don't know well, came up to me and asked me if this guy was bugging me and offered to step in and divert him. Perhaps this guy has a reputation? I don't know, but it was cool to know someone was looking out for me. I thanked them and then left the dance floor for the restroom, found Michael and ended up chatting with a really great lady who is a jeweler... Hmmmm (Michael, it's just about 2 1/2 months 'til our wedding anniversary!) With the open bar, Michael was toast. I didn't drink that much but I didn't eat all that much, either. I was okay but not good to drive. Luckily, there was a hotel a few short blocks away from the party venue. I'm not sure what time we left the party but what ever time it was, we were done...
Saturday morning we woke up with parched throats and Michael was feeling a little ill. I took advantage of the nice deep tub and bath salts provided by the hotel. After a few hours of trying to wake up (and thinking how nice the hotel was and too bad we really didn't take full advantage of it), we wandered down to the lobby for breakfast. They actually had decent food. Whole grain bagels, fresh fruit, and coffee is what I had. There was no protein to speak of but at least it was a decent spread. They also provided the usual pastries, cereal and such, but it was nice to have some good options. Since this was not a planned hotel stay, we didn't have a clean change of clothes. We wandered around downtown La Jolla and purchased shirts, just to have something fresh to wear... Our clothes LOOKED like they were partied in! After wandering around a little longer, I decided that I would drive back towards home ( was more functional than Michael), and actually ran errands along the way. Still no rest back at home. We were expecting company! There's nothing like a good cover up to cover up dark circles under the eyes...
Today was day one of the October challenge on Pinkdumbells.com. For all practical purposes, I ate as clean as I could, drank plenty of water, but my plans to work out circuits with resistance bands never materialized... I don't consider it a screw up. If I would have stayed in bed all day, then that would have been a screw up. We did do all that walking, a good 2 hours worth of passive walking, but it was MOVEMENT during a small time frame where we really didn't feel like moving at all.
I think I'm allowed to rest now... Good night.
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Things That Go Bump In The Night
This is a post from my Muscletank.net diary for today...
I'm reading "We Thought You Would Be Prettier - True tales of the Dorkiest Girl Alive" by Laurie Notaro. It's a good before bed read, since it is very light and funny. In one chapter she talks about her dog barking at something that doesn't seem to be there when she checks out the situation... Ironically that is the chapter I had read last night before dozing off to sleep...
While I was deep into some serious REM sleep, all the animals at my house were going nuts. The cats kept jumping on my side of the bed and meowing in my face and the dog was restless and kept barking in her "you've gotta come see this" bark. Needless to say, I didn't sleep well last night after all that animal commotion. DH and DD got up to let the dog out a couple of times. This morning we discovered what all the comontion was about. There was a sick rat on the top of our patio roof, and the dog went out to bark at it this morning when we got up. My hero, DH, got the rat down from the roof, put it out of it's misery and burried it ... 2 cups of french roast coffee isn't even making a dent in how tired I am.
Reality check:
I'm exhausted. I'm gonna skip my cardio today. I have no energy.
Things that went right:
If there's any consolation, it IS a beautiful day outside and my roses are starting to have their last hurrah before the weather gets too cold.
Things that need improvment:
Sleep...
I'm reading "We Thought You Would Be Prettier - True tales of the Dorkiest Girl Alive" by Laurie Notaro. It's a good before bed read, since it is very light and funny. In one chapter she talks about her dog barking at something that doesn't seem to be there when she checks out the situation... Ironically that is the chapter I had read last night before dozing off to sleep...
While I was deep into some serious REM sleep, all the animals at my house were going nuts. The cats kept jumping on my side of the bed and meowing in my face and the dog was restless and kept barking in her "you've gotta come see this" bark. Needless to say, I didn't sleep well last night after all that animal commotion. DH and DD got up to let the dog out a couple of times. This morning we discovered what all the comontion was about. There was a sick rat on the top of our patio roof, and the dog went out to bark at it this morning when we got up. My hero, DH, got the rat down from the roof, put it out of it's misery and burried it ... 2 cups of french roast coffee isn't even making a dent in how tired I am.
Reality check:
I'm exhausted. I'm gonna skip my cardio today. I have no energy.
Things that went right:
If there's any consolation, it IS a beautiful day outside and my roses are starting to have their last hurrah before the weather gets too cold.
Things that need improvment:
Sleep...
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