Keep Calm and... ?

Slow, I'm feeling slow these days. Though everyone has the equal 24 hours in a day - however, lately I feel like other people are able to squeeze every last ounce of life out of those moments, go to bed and wake up earlier than me to seize the next day. I feel like I'm just trying to stay ahead of things. Does this happen to anyone else?  All these things... all these things... stay ahead of or on time with the bills, the birthday cards, the baby showers. Getting together an idea for dinner before dinner to have everything ready to mix and have it all in the cupboards when I decide to go to mix it. Can I leave the dirty dishes there? I think maybe I'll get to them tomorrow (I hope, I hope). Planning. I find I spend a lot of time in the now planning for later and I am beginning to wonder if I'm missing the now. Ya dig? Does this happen to anyone else? I mean, if we don't plan and become passive, um, lots of stuffs would fall through the cracks, or it would right? O.o The house of cards might just come falling down.... Bleh. Maybe this is suburban life, or rather, this is the life of a responsible adult? Oye vey.. ;) Someones got to do it, right?

Keep Calm and Take a Bath designed by Agadart of Etsy :)

 I pose a question - should I keep calm and take a bath? A bath with Epsom Salt? :D Is this appropriate for said times? It doesn't sound productive to me, wouldn't doing this just put a person behind on their scheduled things? :) ;) I mention the Epsom Salt because the chiropractor really wants me to do this. Baths take a while..  I really believe with all the hustle and bustle and how much women do for their family and friends there needs to be a time of decompressing and rejuvenating though. If we're in a constant state of stress our bodies start breaking down and then something gives.

A few years ago I was working as an accounts payable specialist and the work load was constant and intense. When I stress out I sweat and my stomach normally gets knotted and the last thing I tend to do is eat or drink because I would get indigestion anyways. I let it go long enough that I ended up with a sharp pain in my stomach e that would not go away. Needless to say I was concerned but not trusting a doctor in NoVa I roped my husband to taking off work to help me to the an Emergency Room. God bless him :). So yes, I landed myself in the hospital with... what would you guess? Dehydration... lovely... this visit could definitely have been avoided. This was years ago and I've learned to manage stress and my workload a bit better now.

 I don' t want this for me, or anyone for that matter. I work hard  in order to enable me to enjoy times with my family and friends...

Gah! Praying for balance and wisdom. :) It's definitely a balancing game as new challenges present themselves daily. I'd love to hear what things you do to decompress - what things rejuvenate you!? Hmm??? ^-^ How do you finish this sentence... Keep calm and ...?

Taking Care of Yourself

...can be hard to do!

Doctor and Doll by Norman Rockwell

I came down with the flu over Christmas for the first time in 6 years, needless to say after I got better I was so thankful for my health. Getting well brought new appreciation for the adage, "If you don't have your health, you don't have anything." My older sister would tell you anytime I was sick growing up I fought it to the end! She would tell me I was sick and I'd tell her I wasn't. I hated feeling sick, not being able to move with ease and of course due to this denial I often would throw up in places that were not the toilet. :/ lol I will tell you the first time I did throw up in the toilet when I was sick I went upstairs and found my older sister, shared my joy with her having made it to the bathroom in time.. of course as I told her she rightfully kept backing away the closer I got to her not wanting to get sick herself :) LOL ah memories.

This past winters flu I fought too but was quickly knocked out and bed ridden... if I wasn't in the bathroom I was in bed. A few times I'd get up from sleeping, feel a bit better and try to see what the hubs or my younger sister were doing in the house.. I didn't last long... and ended up in the bathroom again... oye.. vey..

Once in full recovery I decided to really "own" being healthy - I started getting up early in the morning and doing the Insanity workout. I was doing pretty well, started the 1st week of level two and then found out my grandpa passed away and I was headed to Iowa. The flights were long and anyones body gets stiff after sitting for a while. I did well to stretch between layovers too. However, I slept on the couch the first night visiting Iowa which was not a good idea... my right knee and hip flared up to the point I couldn't bend without pain until about a week later. I also stopped working out in the mornings to give it a break. Heck if it got bothered from being laid on wrong, it should work itself out right?

:( It's been about 3 weeks now and I'm looking into chiropractors, my knee is making noises as I go to bend it and my ankle is also starting to hurt. I'm so so hopeful I will find a decent, knowledgable doctor in NOVA (Northern Virginia) but admit that I'm very apprehensive about going because of prior experiences out here. The customer service quite frankly sucks. The doctors are rude and are pushing a money agenda (you need many appointments) or seem to find solace in berating people. I'll spare you the stories but I have a bad, somewhat distrusting taste in my mouth from them :p. And I hate being upset so if I don't have to go I won't lol.

Push is definitely coming to shove though... so I'm praying for a good chiropractor who can fix the right side of my body - I'm all out of whack right now and yup... it hurts. :)

I hope you are having a good day and that I'll have a good report before long. Pray for me!? ;)

And take care of yourself! ;)

Struggling with the scale?

I recently read a post by a girl who is well over 200 lbs and by all accounts sounds like she has been taking the right steps towards losing weight but not nearly fast enough as she would like... I offered this encouragement and wanted to share it with others.

As always, thank you for reading!

Roar!!!!! The scale is not our friend some days is it?? We want it to show all the effort we have put in has paid off and a smaller number to show it's face and smile at us... so what do we do when it refuses to move, or even decides to go up?!?! Do we falter?? Heck yes! But who has the last word? You do! Every day you decide to make those smart choices, everyday you decide to drink your water, and everyday YOU (and only you) decide you're going to hit the gym, the pool, or whatever your heart desires to "work it out"! You look forward... not back dear! You keep on keeping on because although those numbers may be saying one thing.. your body may be doing another.. it may be water weight hanging out or better yet, it may be some lean sexy muscle trying to show up and it will weigh more than fat my dear! Do not make friends with the scale love :) make friends with your ipod, your fruits, your veggies, your machine or workout dvd of choice :). I wish changes happened over night for you, I wish it were easier, and I wish it didn't have to be a thought. But you will meet your goal love! You will! Hang in there and keep looking ahead... great things are on their way dear... beyond what you can think or imagine. hugs to you! ~Dawn

Why I run...

Its in the everyday small changes and steps that over time we can look back and see how far we have come! And the small "habits" we change today will soon be part of our routine and as comfortable as breathing. It gets easier! Kind of like the run you don't necessarily want to do, the first couple steps aren't nearly as easy as the pace you have going well into your run. Like I said... it gets easier... just have to keep putting on foot in front of the other

I keep on keeping on with my running because I want more for myself.. more than what I currently am and have now in the physical sense. I do not want to be self conscious about my "cottage cheese" nor it be a nagging thought everytime I put on something a bit more revealing, I want to enjoy myself. I deserve that and much more.

I also run to clear my thoughts and leave the stresses of the day behind... I need to physically exert myself to let go of the frustration I feel against the things I cannot change but need to endure until circumstances change.

I encourage anyone on a fitness journey to think of the soreness as a medal from yesterdays work out, you broke down and pushed your muscle to be built up again and be stronger than it was before. :) YOU did it! :D Now drink that water and take the vitamin C to support your body in quick recovery! :D You can do it! :D And no one but YOU will reap the rewards of your committment to yourself to be healthier and more active. :)

Best of luck to you all! Please feel free to share why you run, or bike, or hike, or swim (!) etc. Thank you!

I was Run-nin...

Where to start... I've been running lately. Just yesterday I put up my first double digit distance ever... 13.74 miles... until then I was anywhere between 4 - a lil over 8 miles for one run. I've been sharing my runs on my facebook as a way to keep myself accountable to myself. Someone mentioned I would benefit from having a blog, which I have - so I'm sharing ;).

At this time I am not training for any particular event. Basically running to run and relieve the stresses of the silly rat race. So I guess I'm training for the rat race lol that I would not run if I didn't have bills to pay. Being from the midwest and having a general notion that people are decent and coming to the east coast have been an eye opening experience. That and it's definitely given me a thicker skin which I hate, but it's either that or constantly get my heart squished and beat up. No thank you. Granted it still happens, just not as often as it used to.

Right, so I'm running to run, to feel alive. I've heard the slogan "change your body, change your mind" and I believe they go hand in hand. My hope is that as I progressively get stronger day by day I will be more head strong too and able to brush off the day a bit easier as I leave it in my tracks.

I always like to ask people, if you run... why do you run?

Flowers for her...

Less than a week ago I went for a run in our neighborhood and discovered a few things while I did.

My eyes tend to catch things that others see as junk but I see as things that could be used.

ie. 5 blue tabs, 6 cents ( a penny and a nickel ), 2 pinecones, a dum dum wrapper (if you collect enough you can buy something from the site :)) a coke point and last but not least was honked at once. lol

I ran down to a corner and upon turning around so as to not cross the road I noticed a bright red fake flower, I took mental note of it and kept running, I crossed the street to other side and discover there were many more fake silk flowers and leaves scattered throughout the sidewalks... trash underfoot. Puzzled, I wondered where they had come from and why no one had bothered to pick them up. There was a lot of legitimate trash on the sidewalks as well... maybe no one was designated to pick up the trash. That's about all I can figure :s

I later realized that the flowers must have been blown at some point from the cemetary, not even a block away... and just scattered so no, no one was going to come looking for them.

Last night I finished a bowl with red accents and decided it was time to go out and grab the flower for a prop :)

I went out with a small grocery bag and a latex glove :) lol here's what I found :



and here I used the red flower :) I first saw :)

My Husbands so great - as I finished rinsing the pieces off he came into the kitchen to grab a snack, gave me a kiss and said, "oh, our sink looks pretty now" :) I love that he can be playful :) that still makes me smile just that he said that. :)

I'm sure to use these pieces in a project or as a prop, so keep an eye out, ya hear!?!? ;)