Manic Appreciation of Life & the Arts

I walked over the bridge and decided to do some of the Rebsamen trail as well. My hip flexors are a little sore and my lower back. I’m hoping a good nights sleep and some morning stretches will fix these bad boys right up!

Anyway, off to bed! Big day tomorrow! :)

I do apologize.

My ex girlfriend came into my life again and it’s all I can do to pay her enough attention. I love it.

I’ve also started school back and that’s driving me crazy, but I do love it. AND I’m trying to get everything I need to research set up for the farm so I can have a business plan that spans from 0-5 years. Terrifying, but exciting.

Okay, I walked the bridge yesterday. It was late and cold and gross but we went anyway.

Today we attempted to go, got all the way there and it started raining like crazy. We stayed for a few minutes and then left. It’s a good thing we did because there is nothing but severe thunderstorm and tornado reports circling. Wonderful!

We came home and napped. I’ve been trying to get back to MORE greens in my diet. I’ve been slacking because I had mostly run out of groceries and was avoiding the store. 

I ate lots of cucumbers today though and approximately 4-5 cups of lightly sauteed spinach. I know i’m not eating enough, even with the carbs I added, so hopefully I can fix that without adding meat back.

I bought some greek yogurt and ate a dab of that with the cucumbers. I was in such heaven. It was better than chips and dip, honestly.

This weather is stressing me out. The condition of my house is stressing me out. Textbook costs are stressing me out.

I wish I lived closer to campus so I could use the gym more often. I need to just *MAKE PLANS* and then carry them through.

I have class from 12:12:50 tomorrow, there’s no reason I can’t work out between 1 and 4. SO there it is- it’s on the schedule. DONE.

Still off the diet wagon, but still eating veggies. I’m eating how I should be eating a year from now— maintenance mode.

I stocked up on yummy produce though so I should be back on track this weekend. School starting back kind of threw me off, so hopefully things will get grooving again!

I’m all set up to volunteer extensively for several organizations…Yippee! I’m so excited about each of them.

I haven’t walked for two days— I’ve been too exhausted from school and I’ve been social. I went to eat with friends and had an absolute blast. I had alcohol for the first time in about a month and it was fantastic! Wine tasted even better than ever and I know it’s because I’ve laid off the processed food! 

5k is March 3rd. Don’t forget.

I want to be able to run over a .5 of a mile straight by February 1st. Don’t forget that either.

Ate fairly poorly— too much sugar.

Did almost 2 miles on the elliptical at school (in about 20 minutes, might i add.) Then Libby and I walked the bridge. I ran more tonight on the bridge than ever before- so that’s exciting. :)

My first class of the new semester starts tonight at 6PM. I worked in the garden today because it was so nice. I discovered my herbs have sprouted and am super excited about that! I should have cilantro for weeks before spring actually starts!

I raked and got everything all rounded up for the bon fire, which I hope to have maybe next weekend if it’s dry enough. The branches are still pretty moist, despite that i let them lay out for a day or two to dry before raking them together, so we’ll see how that goes. I guess I don’t want them too dry or they’ll burn *too* well and I’ll have a disaster on my hands.

Speaking of fire related disasters, my fire alarm in my home went off for no reason today and the fire men came. & now 6 members of the North Little Rock fire department know that I like to garden in a big tshirt and underwear. Wonderful.

I really wanted to walk the bridge twice but since it felt so fantastic outside Libby was a crazy monster & wanted to bite any and all runners/bicyclers.

First day back to school tomorrow. EEE!

…but I felt the need to share this with my follower(s?).

Over Christmas break I bought a pair of jeans on January 26th. I was also wearing a coat that zipped up, but that was so tight that it would not stay zipped.

Today i took my friend to the airport and I realized two things.

One, the jeans I was wearing were loose all over instead of just a little in the legs.

Two, not only would the jacket stay zipped, I had a jacket and clothes on under it as well and still had lots of loose fabric.

I’m still unsure as of my weight, but it does appear that progress is being made. This little encouragement came just in time, because yesterday was a real low day, despite that I walked the bridge at approximately 10:30. It didn’t take me that long to walk it. I’m still walking *too slow* for my liking, but soon I’ll be in the gym (and out of the cold!) and I’ll be able to measure distance/speed/time better. Everyone I’ve read says focus on one thing at first. 

I’m reading two books on running, so when am I going to be able to just do it? *insert Nike checkmark here*..

Someday, you guys.

I feel really powerful for being able to lose enough weight that the jacket already fits extraordinarily better. My friend says she can tell my face looks thinner, but I figured she was lying/just being supportive. We’ll see. I’ve been doing this since about January 4th, so I need to see what I look like February 4th. They say takes four weeks for *you* to notice your body and I’m already noticing it. Wonderful!

Also, March 4th is my 5K. How fitting! My 2 month anniversary! :) I still have a goal of 30 lbs by March. I’d love to lose 20 this month and ten next month. 

Should I start doing two-a-days at the bridge? I don’t want to hate it, but it’s like walking it once isn’t challenging enough anymore. I walked it a a pretty good clip and talked on the phone almost the whole time. I didn’t feel exhausted. Regardless, more mileage needs to be logged.

Emilie

Today I got outside and pruned and pruned the maniacal hedges. & my friend Kika came and she pruned for a while. We pondered the different places I can plant my seedlings, we talked about health and diet and I made smoothies.

It was a really good day. I’m excited for the weather to get even warmer so I can plant more things! 

I’ve got in mind a trellis or two, along the lines of this below, to go in between the windows on the side of the house. It’s just so much brick & I’d like to break it up and plant something that doesn’t required full sun. Still looking for *that* plant.

I also bought a hammock. I’m going to make sure of the old laundry line poles in the backyard, I might move one. I’m going to paint them a ‘rustic white’ and plant something that will climb the pole beneath it.

I want several producing plants in my garden & it’s going to be a long ride, but I’m so excited. It was nice to be able to clear some shrubs today by way or being able to work on the garden. Now I have to focus on being patient until it warms up! Ugh!

Edit: Also, I did weight and it didn’t go well because my SCALES are broken. It actually showed my goal weight, which was clearly not accomplished in one week. haha

The weather was awful and cold and as I’m prone to sickness if I’m out in the rain I decided not to chance it.

Instead I stayed in and cleaned, paid bills, restored general order, apologized repeatedly to Libby for not letting her outside. I also went to the grocery store. It was so wonderful to go to the store and buy a few things knowing I had consciously thought about the things I would need and use and bought only that. 

I’ve also been thinking about my garden and how I’m going to arrange it so the dogs still have room to play. Also, I’m not sure if Libby is going to want to dig in it yet, so that’s kind of terrifying. 

Tomorrow I really hope the weather is better so I can walk or get some sort of exercise. 

I’ve decided to weigh on Friday, too. I need to get an estimate and stop being afraid.

The whole day kind of sucked. Maybe it was the weather? My legs absolutely killed me and I ended up walking the whole time because after the first little jog/sprint I did, I was afraid I had hurt my joint(s) somehow. I literally limped. It was strange and uncomfortable and I’m PMS’ing.

It’s such a BITCH. I want to go to bed at a reasonable time and get up moderately early and EAT (this is a big one, today I had an avocado and some beans… only the avocado before i went for the walk.) I’m clearly not fueling enough and I know I don’t need to like carb-load, but geez!!

I have a new goal.

I want to be able to run a .5 mile without stopping by February 1st. I ran 1/10 tonight and I knew I could do more than that, but the LEGS man. 

Tomorrow I will try again and I will fuel more properly and I might even have my new iPod in! (I’m buying a used one that a friend happened to be selling…) :)

OH, update on another goal. I filled out the application to be a CASA volunteer and have gotten two of the references to fill out their forms. One left! :)

I got up, ate and ended up cleaning most of my house. Kitchen & living room is now spotless. I hung some pictures I’ve been meaning to put up, I moved some furniture around, packed up my Christmas decorations and did a little yoga. It was nice. Tomorrow will be fantastic, although I’ve got a to-do list a mile long.

Or in my case, anyway. I’ve had a lazy day or three. After the big mountain hike, I felt pretty drained, at least partially due to the amount of emotional battling required of not pushing her down the mountain.

I went for a long peppy walk with Libby yesterday around the neighborhood. Not as far as I wanted, probably, but I did notice it was easier to do than when I had tried to walk it a few months ago. 
Today was completely lazy. I’ve moved from my bed exactly three times.

 Exercising tomorrow. And potentially laundry.  

emerald-quill:

You looked beautiful at three in the morning,
shrouded in flannel sheets and blankets.
With the light that filtered through the smoke,
and your smile the only thing for miles. 

It’s a scary thing to rekindle feelings for someone who has hurt you, but look how beautiful the presence of a lover can be.

(Source: violet-words)