Motivation

Why do I want to be healthy? It's important to know this when you start, so you can think of it on those days you really want to sleep in, be lazy and don't want to be motivated.

I once wrote down the pros and cons of working out and eating healthy, and found the pros far outweighed the cons, and so were important in my daily routine and thinking about health. Below are a few.

Cons
Bad food tastes great.
I'm lazy, tired and not in the mood to workout.
My tv show is on.
I don't want to spend the time doing it.

Pros
Better health against heart disease, cancer and diabetes.
Sexier feeling and looking.
Builds strength and energy for myself.
Feeling better.
Compliments from friends and fewer criticisms from family.
Being athletically superior.

They also say "imagine yourself" at your goal. I want to be sexy :) No matter what with kids, or grandkids, I always wanted to be a sultry and sexy older woman. Not necessarily a Cougar, but one of those women you meet, where you're like "wow she takes good care of herself". A woman full of charisma, emotionally balanced, smart and sassy. So my inspiration may have to be Lucille (Carla Gugino) in Sin City. In fact any woman from Sin City is pretty much an awesome badass that I'd like to emulate one day. Just oozing with an inner toughness yet gentleness. Or possibly Angelina Jolie, but that's too easy and too common. Maybe a character like Catherine Zeta Jones in Zorro. I also love the classic elegance of Sophia Loren, Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe.

Anyway, just a few photos and women that are inspirational below.

Tough & Sassy - Carla Gugino in Sin City

Classy & Quirky - Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face

The one below being my favorite photo of Sophia Lauren by Alfred Eisenstaedt, during a break from filming.

I hope one day to be that beautiful.

Below, a little something by Audrey Hepburn. Ciao Bella!

I Am An Excel Wizard!

So I just created an amazing spreadsheet that calculates and tracks our expenses in an easy to read and enter manner. It took awhile, but after fixing some excel mac formatting issues, and customizing with color and style, I have a working and usable spreadsheet. Now, we just need the discipline to enter all the information regularly.

It feels really good to know where your money is going and keeping our financial status in good health.

Tea

In my quest to be healthier, I've decided to switch out my daily coffee for tea. My usual coffee drink was a packet of hot cocoa, half a cup of coffee, a creamer of hazelnut and a creamer of french vanilla, and half a cup of warm water to cool off the concoction. No doubt there are tons of unnecessary calories in that, but it was my warm comfort drink at work in the mornings. Now I switch to tea, knowing tea has just as much caffeine, is overall proven to be healthier, and as a loyal iced tea drinker, should be a manageable change.

I think the thing I miss most about coffee is the flavor and the texture. Mind you I had mostly hot cocoa and sweet stuff in there. But I also enjoyed the thickness and warmth it gave me first thing in the morning. Tea is so watery. I still drink coffee occasionally, but it's a good switch for the calories, the sugar and the health. I drink straight tea, no sugar or cream, and have 1-2 cups a day, alternating between black and green teas.

Anyway I found this cute product while searching for a tea photo. It's a Penguin Tea Timer. Also here is an article on how tea is good for you - 33 Health Benefits of Drinking Tea

Drink up and cheers!

A day that will live in infamy

So Tuesday was a very wild roller coaster ride with my health.

The weekend left me feeling very sneezy, stuffed up, sneezy and sick on Monday. Overall it was a good weekend but tiring. We had stayed up late on Sunday night to watch LOST and the Jimmy Kimmel show. Had family over Sunday along with a day of bike riding and walking through downtown Ventura California on Saturday.

So Tuesday morning rolls around, and I feel tired and stuffed up, but overall ok so I decide to go into work. I carpool with the husband - and he drops me off and takes the car and house keys with him far far away. I get to work about 7:30am and slowly start to feel terrible, and I mean terrible! I was ready to clock out and sleep on the couch or walk to the Library next door and sleep off my sick until I could get picked up to go home. My wonderful department offered to take me home, and I almost did for lunch, but I had no house keys. By about 9:30-10am I was so nauseous I considered calling my sister-in-law to pick me up and let me sleep at her house. Last resort I decided to stand outside for a bit of fresh air to see if it helped, and it did.

Oh my goodness, how the fresh air helped. Not sure what it was, but I would feel very nauseous indoors, and go outside and slowly start to feel better. For a little while I was walking outside every few minutes, but that was drawing too much attention so I stuck my head out the window for a bit and turned on the fan in the office. This all seemed to help.

By the time lunch came around I felt better, and able to do work and manage, but still had a headache. A coworker said it looked like I had a sinus infection - why I had the headache and the sneeziness. He recommended a sinus flush - gross - and some nasel sprays. Later in the afternoon I thought to myself, since I was feeling so sick and taking all sorts of pills and trying to eat fruit to make it go away, I completely forgot my regular cup of tea or coffee. The headache might be from caffeine withdrawal. One cup of tea and an hour later, I'm feeling oh so much better. It's about 4pm, and I went from almost throwing up on people to jazzed and feeling great. The great feeling that comes after feeling like shit for most of the morning and some of the afternoon.

Oh how important it is to pay attention to your body and your health. I took sinus sudafed, multivitamin, vitamin c, got some fresh air and caffeine, and I think all that put together put me right again. Just wanted to share that. It really does feel great when your day ends so much nicer than it started. I actually feel better - really better. Now I will pay much more attention to my sinus issues, perhaps schedule an appointment to see a doctor finally, and also keep track of my caffeine intake. Overall I think my sinuses need attention, as I usually get weather headaches and they can definitely take over when it gets bad.

Christopher Robin

Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.

Christopher Robin to Pooh

LOST

I don't get it?

Coconuts

Sitting outside with coworkers during lunch can be very entertaining and eventful. One coworker brought a coconut to work, proceeded to cut a hole in it, stick a straw in it to suck out the juice. Then after slipping the final drops, threw it high into the air and dropped it to crack it open. Then proceeded to much away at the coconut inside. It was a really fun and nice lunch, with lots of lovely laughing and good jokes all around.

Makes you think of I've got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts and You put the Lime in the Coconut :) Where would we be without all these coconuts in our lives!

Naked

Recently I was looking in the mirror, and I weighed myself, and realized that I had gained about 5 lbs since the last time I checked. That was nearly a month ago, before all the fuss and stress of home stuff was in the works. But I've been out of shape and not very healthy for quite awhile now.

I got some perspective end of 2007/beginning of 2008. I decided to start taking care of myself, so I focused on body, mind and soul and started exercising and eating healthy. I was doing really really well. Started out at almost 150lbs, and after about a year I was eating tons of fruits and veggies, could run for up to 30-50 minutes and lost about 25 lbs, averaging 125lbs for my 5'4" body. Then real-life happened, some issues came up, and I started gaining the weight again, but more importantly, I started picking up my bad habits of eating badly and not exercising.

I'm all about "healthy", not about thin. So now that things have started settling down with the house, I've decided it's time to start getting back into my healthy habits. Now that we have our own home and our own kitchen, I can finally control the foods we eat and concentrate on getting the healthy stuff in our system. Also, this morning was the first morning in a long series to get back into shape. I woke up early and went for a walk. It wasn't a hard walk, it was rather easy, but it was a good step in the right direction. I was a bit tired/sleepy on the drive into work today, but I've had a morning workout routine before and if I can keep it up, it'll be a big help to my health and my sanity in the long run.

So, this is the beginning of my health diary. I kept one when I was unemployed and was very successful at being healthy. But now that I have a job, and all the work and stress that goes with it, a personal journal isn't cutting it. So now, I'm going to post it online. One factor they say to help with healthiness - is to be accountable. So if I post online, I know I'll be accountable for my actions and their results. Plus I can share some wisdom and success/failures of my health journey.

Some words on weight: It's a reflection of your lifestyle. Losing weight shouldn't be the goal, but it's an indication of how healthy your body is. That's my perspective, and although weight loss is not my goal, it's a perk of being healthy, getting muscle and being fit. It's also a good measurement for how well you're doing. When I was being very "good", I lost weight. When I wasn't being good - it tended to stick around or gain. So that is why I'm listing my weight on here. As a general indication of progress. I also plan on listing other aspects of physical well being, but we'll come to that when we get there.

Weight - 133lbs

Not bad, but not great. The goal is to be fit, healthy and well - awesome. More to come :)

Bread

The Joy of Cooking :) I really do love to cook. It's like chemistry or wood-shop, putting things together, using heat, and hoping everything comes out alright.

I think the kitchen is quite possibly the most important room and heart of the home. We gather around it, chat, eat and live from the kitchen. I have very fond memories of hanging out with family around the kitchen island, chatting, cooking and being fascinated with how things are made. My mother never cooked, so this only happened at big family gatherings like Christmas or Thanksgiving, so we celebrated food along with time together.

I didn't actually start cooking myself until a friend of mine started showing me how to cook things from scratch. I'd watch in wonder how easy she made everything look and how awesome delicious her food was. She gave me The Joy of Cooking cookbook as a gift, and it's one of the best gifts I've ever had.

One of my favorite things to make is bread. It's not that hard, but it takes a long time to wait for the bread to rise before you bake it. I love the smell of baking bread and the work your hands do kneading it. Yes I knead with my hands and without a machine. It's actually rather therapeutic. Anyway it's been years since I've made bread from scratch, and I did so last weekend and it was a lot of fun.

There are a few kinks to work out in the recipe and the process, before I start making it for other people. My brain and hands are a bit rusty for cooking, and I'm still getting used to the gas burners and oven in our kitchen. But overall basically a success. I'd give my bread a passing C or B.

With my cooking, this is one of those things where the journey is much more important and interesting than the destination. I love to eat, of course, but making bread is just way more fun than just eating it. I hope one day I'll perfect some recipes, and possibly inspire someone to start cooking from scratch too.

Mis-Matched

Our condo has a few quirks that are worth sharing. Mainly mismatching that I find charming. I actually hate anything that matches too much. If husband and I accidentally wear the same colors, we will joke about it and then promptly change if possible. For the most part, I believe there's good in variety and it adds spice to life.

After we moved in, we noticed that with some doors, one doorknob is silver and the other one is gold. It's kinda cool and bizarre actually. Our kitchen cabinet knobs are also a variation of gold and silver. Reminds me of the Girl Scout rhyme "Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other's gold".



Not so cute mismatches - some of our bathroom tiles are old and some are new. The old ones are hidden behind the master bathroom, so we didn't notice it til we started cleaning.

We bought a lot of black furniture - barstools, bookcases and couch. A lot of our old furniture is brown. We have a brown dining table, and we got cheap black Ikea chairs with red cushions. We also have a black couch and brown coffee table. I actually love the mismatched look of it.

So overall, just a commentary on matching. Just because things are different, doesn't mean they don't match up :)

Unicorns

Candles

Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.
Buddha

Home

Home is a place we all must find, child. It's not just a place where you eat or sleep. Home is knowing. Knowing your mind, knowing your heart, knowing your courage. If we know ourselves, we're always home, anywhere.

Glinda the Good - The Wiz

Judy Garland Quote

Always be a first rate version of yourself, instead of second rate version of someone else.
- Judy Garland

Introduce Yourself

"Pick one room and make it yours. Go slowly through the house. Be polite, introduce yourself, so it can introduce itself to you." This is one of my favorite quotes from "Under the Tuscan Sun".

Lately, that's what it's been like with the condo. Been feeling overwhelmed with fixing up the entire place, even though it's such a small area. So take baby steps, small moves and slowly but surely the place will start to feel more like home.

Unfortunately, it's bringing me more stress than relaxation. I find it's not feeling homey or comforting, but rather, everything is not clean and nothing is in place. The walls are still bare white. The furniture is in but there are very few personal touches. We've been living under someone else's roof for so long, I think I've forgotten how to decorate a room or a place to make it your own.

The master bedroom, master bathroom and kitchen are the most settled in. Functionally it was very necessary to get these in shape very quickly. Spiritually, the place does not feel like home. I think this is the most disturbing. I'm still getting used to the noises, the quirks and they're not all cute or adorable. It's only been 2 weeks, but I've never taken this long to settle into a place. Perhaps it's time to really decorate, because it's the personal touches that make a place yours. Currently I feel like we're living in a model living room in Ikea.

So, it's not quite home yet, something's missing. I don't know what it is, but I hope it starts to feel more like home soon.