10 Down, 10 To Go

I know you all are gonna want pictures, but for now I'm just posting a face shot I took in the car last week to send to my granddaughter. I labeled it 'Fancy Nana' in homage to her favorite storybook character and series, Fancy Nancy. I sent it because she rarely sees me dressed up when we chat on FaceTime, and I thought she'd enjoy it, but I like that it shows my face looking leaner than it has in a while:

With 10 pounds gone as of today, I'm feeling better about myself than I have in a while, but let me tell you that losing weight at this point in my life (age 58) is hard! I don't want to come off as discouraging for anyone out there that is struggling, plus my experience is mine, and not what anyone else may experience, but I have had to cut my calories significantly, in spite of my very active lifestyle, in order to effect weight loss.

For me, at 5'3", small build/bone structure, my calories need to stay at or below 1200 daily to result in any weight loss. I offset that by some additional calories for the days we hike or walk more than eight miles, by approximately half of what we burn, using a set standard of 100 calories burned per mile. So, for example, if we are going eight miles, I build in 400 extra calories. If we do 10 miles, I build in an extra 500 calories. And so on.

I am finding that drinking water in quantities of 4-6 cups a day alleviates a good amount of feeling hungry between meals. I'm also continuing to shun as much processed sugar as I can, primarily because I'm a sugar addict, and it's simply easier not to go there vs. trying to stop once I get started on it.

I'm also keeping a private online blog where I track my daily goals, and I am including an inspirational outfit photo each day depicting clothes and shoes I already own, but don't quite have the courage to assemble as shown until I lose the last 10 pounds.

Here is today's inspirational photo as an example. I already own every clothing piece shown, and I particularly love the wrapped jean jacket as a way of providing some additional 'bun' coverage. 😄

I'll update again once I lose an additional five pounds, and I'll share my starting and current weight at that time, because there's a numeric bar I want to break through before doing so.

It's a beautiful day here in S. California, and we're headed out shortly to meet friends for a beach walk followed by sushi outdoors. 

I hope you likewise make it a great day wherever you are!

The Big RV Trip 2021

 

Planning is well underway for our upcoming 10 week trip to the Pacific Northwest. All of our RV overnight reservations have been made, and I'm now fleshing out the available options currently available in each location, with hopes (but not expectations) that even more options will come online between now and then as more people receive their COVID vaccinations. But even with the limited options as they exist today, it's going to be an amazing trip due to the plethora of outdoor sights and activities.

I am incredibly thankful to be fit and strong enough to be able to schedule the majority of our time doing things like hiking, biking, and kayaking, which are not reliant on anything other than our own physical capabilities, and which are completely COVID-compliant regardless of what might be going on in the US at that point.

Here is a map of where we'll be traveling, essentially traveling up via the 5 interstate, and returning via the western coastline. Going up the 5 puts us in the heart of the Great Cascade Mountains, during which we'll be visiting Mt. Rainier NP (a return visit for us) and North Cascades NP (first time for us).  We'll then turn west upon reaching the Canada border, circling the Puget Sound in it's entirety, and continue west upon reaching Port Townsend at it's tip. From there we'll travel over to the Pacific Ocean via Olympic NP (also a return visit for us) before turning south for the return trip home via the coastline.

There will be 19 stops in all, over 70 days of traveling, with the majority of our layovers ranging from 4 to 7 days. We are so excited, as are our best friends, who will be traveling alongside us in their own travel trailer. We've done long RV trips of similar duration before, but this will be their first time doing any trip longer than the three weeks we spent together in 2018 RV traveling around the Southwest. I'm actually surprised at their enthusiasm in being gone for so long, and hope it maintains for them as it did for us during our first lengthy RV trip, but if it does not for some reason, the beauty of this trip is that we can easily continue on on our own.

That's actually a lesson I learned painfully many years ago - plan each and every trip the way we want to, without make concessions. If I make concessions, I then set myself up for resentment should things take a turn for the worse. Conversely, if others choose to join in with us on a trip we've planned to our particular liking - fantastic! Plus, there is no law saying our friends have to do each and everything our way. There will be plenty of opportunities for us to each plot out days to our individual preferences, and it will be fun to regroup after doing so in order to hear about each other's daily adventures. Because adventures, both good and bad, are pretty much guaranteed - towing and living in a travel trailer, exploring new locations, moving frequently . . . yep, adventures both good and bad will undoubtedly occur! 

Between now and then I am doing a deep dive into each location we'll be staying at in order to identify interesting places to hike, bike and kayak, interesting places to eat outside or get takeout , interesting geological sights to visit and photograph, and interesting COVID-conscious organized activities such as a jet boat ride on the Rogue River in Oregon, a paddle boat ride along the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington, and a guided horseback ride along the beach in southwest Washington. 

I'm also jotting down local museums wherever I can find them, but these are of course very volatile in a pandemic environment, so there are on my list as bonus activities should we be so fortunate.

As of now, my husband and our best friends either already are or will soon be fully vaccinated (hubby's second appointment is today!), and I am hopeful to be by then. If not, we'll be our own pod, and as vaccinated co-travelers, anything my three fellow travelers might pick up would expose me minimally per the health and science articles I'm continuing to read as the pandemic moves along.

We still have a few months to go before we kick off our big trip, but with much research remaining to be done, and with three more local RV trips occurring before then, I am optimistic the time will pass quickly.

Here's the specific areas we'll be visiting. Excepting Sacramento, which is just a one night layover to breakup the otherwise long drive up to Oregon, recommendations on things to see, do, and eat much appreciated!

Pinnacles National Park, CA

Sacramento, CA

Central Point OR

McMinnville OR

White Salmon WA

Packwood WA

Rockport WA

Anacortes WA

Gig Harbor WA

Port Townsend, WA

Sequim WA

Port Angeles WA

Astoria OR

Cannon Beach, OR

Winchester Bay, OR

Crescent City, CA

Mendocino CA

Bodega Bay CA

Pismo Beach CA

70 days, 19 locations, 5 national parks, 4 people, and 2 travel trailers . . . it's going to be an amazing trip!

Five Happy Things: Skinny Jeans!

  

Here are five things that made me smile, laugh, or sigh in contentment. The hope is that by keeping track of and sharing them here, I will continue to focus on the good things in life, of which there are so, so many, even if its metaphorically storming elsewhere..

So here are this week's Five Happy Things . . . 

1.  Malibu.  We just returned from a wonderful RV get away to Malibu RV Park, which is situated on a bluff overlooking the ocean. Our views of the ocean were sublime, the weather was great for most of our stay, considering that it's winter, plus we hiked almost 20 miles during our visit, and enjoyed some pretty awesome food on a particularly balmy night at local fav Marmalade Cafe.

In addition to the beautiful ocean, our RV site also had wonderful sunrise and sunset views. 
It was hard to leave!

2.  Friends getting vaccinated.  Our County is moving fast through it's 65+ population, and another vaccine site, UC Irvine, recently opened up a slew of available appointments, meaning that pretty much all of our senior friends not yet vaccinated were able to book their first round appointments as a result. For now this simply means a continued expansion of outdoor activities (hiking, biking, and kayaking) that we can enjoy with friends, as I'm still not vaccinated (I'm in the next tier to come online) and the variances continue to be of concern.

3.  Power Crunch Bars.  I love these bars, which I'm generally able to buy on sale for about $1.25 each. They make a good breakfast when combined with a banana, taste great, and are decently low in sugar and high in protein, meaning I don't experience any sudden changes in blood sugar after eating them.

4.  Beach walk & lunch date.  I'm meeting up with two girlfriends tomorrow for a long walk along the beach, followed by fish tacos to go that we'll enjoy together outside somewhere. 

A simple pleasure that never gets old.

5.  H&M super stretch skinny jeans.  These jeans are the best, simply the best. I have been buying them since I retired in 2011, and needed to jazz up my non-working wardrobe. First, the price is great, and hasn't changed in ten years - they are still $19.99 a pair. Second, and most important, they contain a small amount of elasticity so they conform to any body type.

Just recently I noticed a higher waist option, which was nice in that the lower rise jeans can necessitate a certain amount of tugging-action (LOL) over the course of a day, so I ordered seven new pair, pretty much every color available. With a 15% online coupon the pants came to just $16.99 a pair, and from prior experience I expect them to last for years and years. Plus they are super versatile, and can be worn with pretty much any footwear (flats, heels, boots) and paired with about a hundred different combinations of tops and sweaters.

Some of the ways I've styled my various H&M skinny jeans -

Here's a link to the specific jeans I ordered: H&M Super Stretch High Waist Skinny Jeans

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That's it for me at the moment. What's making you happy this week?

Five Happy Things: Kumquats

Here are five things that made me smile, laugh, or sigh in contentment. The hope is that by keeping track of and sharing them here, I will continue to focus on the good things in life, of which there are so, so many, even if its metaphorically storming elsewhere..

So here are this week's Five Happy Things . . . 

1.  Kumquats.  I first tasted kumquats just a couple of years ago, because until then I'd never understood the concept of why anyone would enjoy eating a mini orange with the skin still on. But I gave in to pressure one day, accepted a kumquat from a friend, ate it slowly, and, well, mind blown. So with it now being citrus season here in California, trees are bursting with fruit, and I've been on the lookout. This past week we were hiking past a loaded kumquat tree, and the owner came out and kindly invited us to pick a few, which we did . . . yum!

2.  COVID vaccine appointment booked for my sister-in-law.  I'm not eligible quite yet, but my sister-in-law is, and yesterday she got the notification that she could now go onto our county's supersite vaccine page and book her appointment, which I promptly did for her. She doesn't drive, so my husband will be taking her to first vaccine appointment today, big relief.

3.  RV'ing Reservations.  I'm wasting no time now that California has allowed campgrounds and RV parks to open back up. Between now and our big Pacific Northwest trip this summer, we have a series of weekend trips now booked in a variety of nearby communitities - Malibu, Huntington Beach, San Diego, and Carlsbad, roughly one each month. We'll follow the same COVID-conscious plan and protocol for each trip - bring our own home-on-wheels, food, wine, hiking and bicycling gear, plus pick up the occasional local meal via takeout. 

Feels so good to have things to look forward to!

4.  Our Home's Ocean Views.  We've actually had a very stressful week here due to a soon-to-be-resolved issue, so several times I went out into my yard simply to gaze out at the ocean in order to settle some of the anxiety I was experiencing. We are two miles away from the ocean, but because of our elevated location and clear line of sight I can observe kayaks, boats, sailboats, and ships, and even waves when it's a bit choppy out over the water. So just standing there and taking a deep breath while I gaze puts me back into a better place pretty quickly. 

The view from the back corner of my yard.

Sunset view from same. This was a fairly tame sunset, but still pretty!

In addition to what I can see from my home, our hilly community is replete with canyon ridge trails, and this was our view while out hiking a few days ago on another lovely sunny day.

I am thankful every single day to live so close to the ocean, and to live in a hilly community that affords these views.

5.  Sunshine.  Yesterday got up into the high 70's and I relished sitting outside in the sun reading and dozing, reading and dozing. I have not been sleeping well lately in spite of spending much hiking and walking, so I can't sit out in the sun for for very long without succumbing to a nap, but still lovely either way.

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That's it for me at the moment. What's making you happy this week?

Weekly Report: Progress Not Perfection

 

As an extrovert, public accountability is a strong motivator for me, so I'm now listing and tracking my daily, weekly, and monthly goal results here on my blog each Monday. Having and achieving goals makes my life feel immeasurable richer, so much thanks to those of you that read along here.

Last Update for JANUARY:

Daily Goals

• Exercise (Run, walk, hike, bicycle, kayak, do yoga, or lift weights).  Achieved 3 out of 7 days. All three days involved meeting up with other people, either my hiking club or my spouse. The days I didn't do anything were when I was on my own, so I need to work on finding the motivation to be active without other people being involved. 
• Tue:  Six mile hike
• Sat:   Eight mile hike
• Sun:    Six mile hike
• Practice guitar.  Achieved all 7 days. 
• Practice 15 min Spanish.  Achieved 6 of 7 days. 
• Limit processed sugar intake to Sat & Sun only.  Almost. I had a small piece of freshly made banana bread on Tuesday evening, but otherwise adhered to my goal. On Saturday night I had two cookies, and on Sunday night I had just one cookie. Sunday night was an easy stop, so I think I'm past the worst of the sugar weaning process. If I am good to go over the next five days, my plan is to reduce my processed sugar intake to just one day a week, and not worry about what day that occurs.
• Consume eight cups of water.  Averaged 4 cups a day. Even though I'm not yet hitting my goal of eight cups a day, this is the most water I've consumed on a regular basis, pretty much ever. So I'm very pleased with my progress thus far, and will continue working to get to eight cups a day. 
• Complete a unique household chore.  Achieved 5 of 7 days.  
• Cleaned the screen door tracks for all three of our sliding patio doors.
• Sorted and stored the leftover paint from our recent bathroom painting project.
• Dusted behind the piano
• Laid snail-deterrent copper meshing along rear wall of backyard.
• Did some minor grout touch ups in upstairs guest bathroom.

Progress not perfection is my mantra for all of my goals.

Weekly Goals

• Read and finish one book.  Achieved, I read two.  I read Evicted: Poverty And Profit In The American City by Matthew Desmond. I started this book not expecting to get too excited by it, because it was an assigned read for my spiritual congregation book club. But dang, it was so compelling I had a hard time putting it down, and read the entire 330 page book in four days. Way more to this book than I can possibly unpack here, but if you are interested in trying to better understand the issue of the cycle of poverty in our country, this is the book.

I also read The Island by Elin Hilderbrand, an easy to read and pleasant offset to above.

• Lose 20 pounds by summer, at a rate of 1-2 pounds per week.  Achieved.  I lost 1 pound this week. For me, there is an extremely strong correlation between processed sugar and overeating, so by working to keep sugar at bay, everything else fell into place and my total number of calories consumed dropped. 
• As of 2/1/2021:  2.5 pounds lost, 17.5 to go
• Menu plan and grocery shop, including at least one new recipe  Achieved. Here was my menu for the week, with the new recipe's in bold, and links to recipes as I'm able to find them online:
1. Pioneer Woman Meatloaf, baked sweet potato, sauteed broccoli. I left off the bacon from the meatloaf, but it was still terrific. And enough leftovers for at least two additional meals.
2. Leftover Huevos Rancheros from last week, fresh fruit.
3. Chicken Stew with Carrots, Parsnips Red Potatoes and Celery, from Cook's Country One Pan Wonders cookbook, Pillsbury biscuits. I like parsnips, but I decided to swap them out for some red potatoes I already had on hand and needed to use up.
4. Above leftovers
5. Mustard & Panko Crusted Salmon With Roasted Red Potatoes And Broccoli. Also from Cook's Country One Pan Wonders cookbook. It really is a great cookbook!
   
6. Chinese take out
7. Wine Club Dineout (and I do mean dineout . . . it was brisk!)
• One game night in lieu of TV  Achieved. We had fun putting together this Clue mystery puzzle, working to solve the mystery as we did so. I found the key to making this happen was to pull out the game ahead of time, setting it out on our dining room table so it remained nice and visible during dinner.  BTW- I saw this game on sale on EBay for $45, wow! Pretty sure I paid less than $10 even though it was 20 years ago, when my daughters lived at home.

• One reading night in lieu of TV  Achieved.  Since entering post-menopause I find that I struggle to stay awake in the evening, due to waking up between 3 and 4 AM most mornings - not on purpose, trust me.  But to my surprise, not only did the time fly, but I felt nice and alert as I read.  

Monthly Goal Updates

• January Goal Focus:  Home  This final week in January we had the glass shower walls and doors installed to finish off our recent bathrooms remodeling project. 

I also did another round of dusting to get rid of any residual dust still left from the project. We also enjoyed lots of YouTube fireplace music, mostly jazz saxaphone, on the TV in our family room as we went about our chores and various activities each day. I embraced my kitchen again now that we no longer had to depart our home while workers were present, and made a loaf of fragrant banana-chocolate chip-bread on a rainy afternoon. And as a result of our home feeling very finished and cozy, I spent a rainy afternoon huddled up reading on a sofa in front our family room TV, which was 'playing' a faux crackling fireplace. It felt sooo good to be done.

• February Goal Focus:  Romance  It's February, it's Valentine's Day soon, and with so much stress now lifted (2020 election, COVID vaccine rollouts, our home remodel project, and delivery and set up of our new travel trailer) I feel lighter and brighter than I have in some time, and I want to spend this month focused on the relationship between me and my husband. He is such a wonderful person, and I appreciate him more with each passing year, so I look forward to lavishing him with love this month. My intention is to pick one item each day from a book I purchased years and years ago, called 2,002 Romantic Ideas. 

I have lots of grandiose ideas, but I'm going to start off small and make a batch of his favorite cookies today, Oatmeal Raisin. I haven't made them in years because I don't care for them at all, of which he is well aware, so I'm hopeful he'll interpret my making them just for him as a small romantic gesture. 

 

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How about you? Any goal updates to share?