May's Habit: Drink Water

I know you have all been waiting with baited breath (Let's pause for moment to ponder where that idiom originated.......) to hear what my habit of the month is.  Well, I shall hold you in suspense no longer.  This month I would like to make it a habit to drink 3 liters of water every day.  Before this month, I considered it a good day when I would get 3 cups of water down.  -gasp- I know.  Sometimes I would go to bed and then realize I hadn't drunk any water all day.  I'm breastfeeding right now and plan to continue to do so for about another year so I think that this is an important habit to get into if I'm not going to shrivel up and blow away like a crunchy, dried-up fall leaf.  

Drinking enough water is supposed to be very beneficial.  When I was looking up the benefits of staying well hydrated, I came across a lot of lists.  "The 5 biggest benefits of sporting a water mustache" "9 ways that being well hydrated attracts men" "11 reasons to marry your water bottle", etc. They went on and on.  I kept reading until I got to one that boasted 50+ points, then decided to make my own list.

7 Ways Water Will Rock My World

1. Make my skin look younger 
2. Prevent my lips from getting chapped
3. Give me more energy
4. Flush toxins out of my system
5. Give my organs an easier job
6. Boost my metabolism
7. Get rid of my irritability

So basically I'm expecting drinking 3 liters of water every day will solve every problem that I have ever had.  

Here are my strategies for keeping up this tricky habit that I have failed at so many times before:

1.  Write this blog.  

I know that I will have to give you all an update at the end of this month. I better follow through with this or you are all going to laugh at me!!

2.  Designate a special water bottle as mine

Jason recently bought this pretty little bottle for me.

 It is BPA free, and .75 liters so I have to empty it into my body 4 times per day.  Now that I have my OWN water bottle, it will be easier to track how much I have drunk.  Now if only I can stop Jason and Hazel from poaching my water and convince them to use their own "sippies" as we call them, I would be able to more accurately track my intake.

3.  Track my intake

I searched through a lot of different apps for my iphone.  There were some cute free ones.  TONS of them actually.  I finally decided on iDration.  Clever eh?  It cost me 99 cents (oh the humanity!) but the ease of use and of appealing design of the platform was worth every penny.  

4.  Set up a reminder system 

iDration not only tracks my intake, it also send me push notifications throughout the day to remind me to drink more water.  

5.  Reward myself with a new water bottle at the end of the month

Ever since I saw it on pinterest, I have been lusting after this super duper cool water bottle!

  I think it would be a nice way to reward myself for a job well done.  

April's End: Smaller!

There is a robin sitting on 4 perfectly blue eggs in the hanging fern on my front porch.  I feel just like her.  After 4 weeks of working out, I have lost 4 pounds!  I wish I had such a physical demonstration of my success so far.  I would definitely wear my 4 eggs on my head or something.  Instead, I just have numbers on a scale and a measuring tape. Speaking of measurements, let me fill you in on those.

So far I've lost:

Biceps- 1/2 inch

Stomach- 2 inches

Hips- 0, zilch, null, nada, nothing, niente.  Totally not dwelling on it....

Thighs- 1/4 inch

Weight- 4 pounds

Now, if it wasn't for the fact that EVERYONE gave me chocolate for my birthday, I'm thinking those numbers would be better.  You know that there is only one way to get rid of chocolate.  I have half a box and 1 bar left so I better get back to it! .....Now where did I put that Toblerone?

April's Habit- Working Out

A few months after having my first child I looked in the mirror and, to my surprise, saw a middle-aged body connected to my head.

"Well, yes." said my mom when I complained to her. "How did you think middle-aged women got those bodies?"

I don't know what I thought.  Too much chocolate?  Laziness?  Bad genes?  Bad jeans? Well, turns out it is growing a baby for nine months, then pushing it will-nilly out of your body, and then being so sleep-deprived and busy that you just let the baby weight sit there.  And bad jeans.

A middle-age body at 28 was NOT an option for me!  So I began to scour the internet for the best solution.  I found Holly Rigsby and her Fit Yummy Mummy weight loss program.  After almost being scared away by her very spam-like website, I bit the bullet and bought her ebook.  I'm so glad I did..

Her program is only 15 minutes per day for six days a week.  You can do her workouts at home with minimal equipment.  I lost 25 lbs which brought me below my pre-pregnancy weight.  My muscles became more toned than they ever have been.  In short, my middle aged body was a thing of the past! Then I became pregnant again.

Just before starting to work out

At my daughter's 1st birthday.   1 month pregnant!

My second daughter is now about 12 weeks old.  I started up my Yummy Mummy training at the beginning of this month and therefore have decided that this month's habit will be to exercise.

I started a group on Facebook so that I have a support system this time.  I find that I do much better with accountability partners.  I'm doing strength training 3 days per week and intervals 3 days per week.  My first 16 week program will be completed in July.  We will see if I need to do another round or just maintain.  I'll keep you posted!

5 Years Later....

As many of you know, I started taking one picture every day starting on my 25th birthday.  I cataloged those pictures by posting them on this blog.  You may also have noticed that just yesterday, I finished up my goal by posting the last picture.  I had taken the pictures on time, I just hadn't posted them until yesterday....5 years late.  So.  At the time, I had thought that I would repeat this little experience every 5 years.  But blogging a picture every day for 365 days when I was childless but working full-time was difficult enough for me.  I'm not sure that it would be a good idea to commit to that again seeing as I now have two children.

But this is my 30th birthday!  I want to do big things this year!  And I don't want to look back 5 years from now and wish that I done something interesting this year.  So I came up with an idea.  Habits!  They say that it only takes 21 days to form a new habit.  I decided that each month this year, I will work on forming a new habit in my life.  That means that I really only need to post on here a minimum of 12 times this year.  I'm pretty sure I can handle that.  Hopefully I will write more often than that but just knowing that I don't HAVE to write more often should take a lot of pressure off.

Thank you for joining me for this year of transformation!

Birthday at Laguna!

Today to celebrate my actual birthday, we went with the Kellars to our favorite beach.  Shaw's cove at Laguna Beach.  We played in the sun and surf and I enjoyed turning 26.

Mosey takes over my spot.

 Can't believe I have (for the most part) taken a picture every day for a year!  I think the biggest thing I've learned is that life and memories are made up of the small things.  It has been fun to catalog those little moments.

Mystery Birthday!

Jason surprised me by taking me to a murder mystery dinner theater tonight!  The Kellars went with us and it was really fun!











 P.S. The waiter did it.

Where are my legs?

Pierre likes to snuggle.  My legs don't really.

International Food Fair and Protest

At school today, we had our first annual International Food Fair.  This was always my favorite event in college so I was excited for lunch today.

One of the tables.

My poor students are really the most international thing we have so there was a lot of pressure to perform!  ;]  My students brought some delicious kim bops and vegetarian chop chae.

Some of my students eating some Pringles that someone brought.  Hey, it's a work in progress.

After school Louisa and I took part in my very first protest!  I made a poster and everything.   Upon further reflection, I should have made my sign a little easier to read.  It was pretty fun and there were enough people that I didn't feel uncomfortable.  I even saw some people I know!

It's Alive!!!

The Furminator is awesome!  Look how much hair I got off Pierre!!

The Trade

We are home safe and sound and relieved that Mosey is also alive and well.  Now that my mom has kept him alive for so long, we have to return the favor by taking care of her dog, Pierre.  Here is Mosey with our ward for the week.

A Day in London

You can't get much sightseeing done in a day in London but we tried our darnedest.  Well, not really.  But we went to Covent Garden where I got a pasty that I had been craving since the last time I was here a couple years ago.

We also got to Buckingham Palace and few other places.

We finished the day at a Lebanese place near Harrods. Some of the BEST falafel sandwiches EVER! Flying home early in the morning.  This has been a wonderful vacation, especially since no one could reach me on my cell phone the entire time!

Driven Out!!

We were far too tired to go anywhere today.  At least half of us were. I was with the group that sat by the fire, read, and put together puzzles.  Jason was with the group who set out the back door and walked for miles in the heather taking pictures, or "Jason's treasures" as he likes to jokingly call them.

Jason's favorite "treasure" and a great picture of Michelle!

After the wanderers got home we decided to go out for just a little while to a nearby estate.  Back in the day, estates used to make their money by renting out farms and using the money to pay for the upkeep of the house and lifestyle.  Nowadays that isn't as common.  If families want to hold on to their land and make enough money to keep up the house, they have to be more creative.  This estate had turned its massive grounds into an adventure paradise.  White water rafting, mountain biking, skiing, etc.  We wanted to go rafting but all the trips were full so we settled for a walk around a very beautiful lake.

A massive Scottish Pine (?) on the side of the lake.

 On the way home, we visited some horsey friends.  As soon as we stopped the car, they came running.  Very majestic.

We got back to the cottage feeling rested yet adventurous today.  Huzzah!

Merrily We Drive Along

 Today we took another long drive.  We stopped by a beautiful river where I sat in the heather while the others explored.  

Heather is quite soft.  You can never really be sure where the beginning of it is.  I imagine it wouldn't be at all uncomfortable to sleep on.  Not to mention sphagnum moss!  This whole country is soft except for its craggy mountains and its people.

The river we explored

After driving awhile, we stopped at a scenic overlook to eat a lunch of sandwiches. 

 I was more interested in taking a picture of a typical Highland house than the overlook.  It took me a long time to get a shot that I was happy with.  

An electrical wire and the road kept getting in the shot.  Finally took a shot that looked like it was totally isolated!  Ha!

We then drove down into a little bay town.  Before we got there, we just had to take a picture of it! 

 I stopped into a book store there and walked the streets.  Very cute but then it started raining and we wanted to get back in the car.  We were headed back when we spotted a woodworking shop.  Since Chad and Matt are into that, we stopped and had a nice long chat with the proprietor.  He gave us a tour. I though he was one of the most Scottish looking people we have seen yet! 

   Then we stopped at a huge chasm to look over the edge and went home. 

Go, Go, Go

Took another drive today.  Always on the go!  This time we took a nice river hike in a beautiful forest area.

We also walked through some unbelievable woods.  We are sure to do more driving tomorrow!  Boy, vacationing is tiring!

I took this picture of which I am very proud!

Castles and Such....

Inside a moldering castle.. I haven't used the word 'moldering' before.  That's fun.  Moldering.

Today we got passes that would get us into many historic sites for the day.  As it gets to be a better deal the more sites you visit, I knew it was going to be a tiring day.  We started with a tour of a whiskey distillery and then hit the road stopping at as many places as possible.  Our last stop was at Dunnottar Castle.  These ruins were featured in Mel Gibson's "Hamlet".  I had visited them once before with my friends when I was studying in Italy.  It was different this time.  There was a car park and wide path all the way to the castle.  When I was here years ago, we had to search to find a small little trail head and then hike a mile or so and approach the ruins from the side.  It was a slippery slide down some neglected steps to the facade which was built into the rocky sides of a cliff.  There wasn't another person there and it felt as if we had randomly come across it.  This time, there were many other people there and it was a short leisurely walk to the vista point.  The stairs looked new and there was even a hand rail taking you down to the entrance of the castle.  Being older and more prissy now, I appreciated the pains that had been taken.  Part of me though, the romantic and mud-loving part,  preferred the first time I had visited it. 

In Elgin Cathedral.

On top of a moldering castle.

The group in front of Dunnottar Castle

Jason and I walking very dramatically away from the moldering ruins of Dunnottar Castle.  Ok, I'll stop.

On the long drive home, we stopped to visit with these friendly Scot fellows.

One of the only pictures I took on the trip!