Friday Five - Vacation Edition!

  Friday Five - Vacation Edition!

I 'borrowed' this idea from a fellow blogger, so thank you Juhli over at Boomer Girls Guide!

I don't think I can swing more than this once a week update until I return, but I'm definitely 'gifting' my blog with travel photos today. 😄

1. Had an easy, holiday-lite drive to the airport on Labor Day Monday, a quick check in, a fast check thru security, and a wonderfully smooth flight into Toronto, Canada. Gosh, if it were always this pleasant, I'd fly a lot more often!

2.  Paid a small fortune for our hotel in the Old Town area of the city, because our days of saving money by skimping on lodging are pretty much behind us. We may not be flying first class quite yet, but we are definitely paying more for convenience these days!

The hotel's central city location is fabulous. We've walked everywhere, and thoroughly enjoyed it. 

3.  I am not a fan of the hotel's choice to play loud music in the AM in the dining room, however. Can I please just sip my coffee and read my Kindle in peace and quiet?!?

4.  We had a long, but fantastic tour of Niagara Falls yesterday. And you know what? It lived up to every single one of my expectations! It was fabulous and worth every effort to get there!

The falls roared  . . . 

We definitely got wet . . . 

And we are so happy we got to experience it!

5.  I declined to engage when an Australian gentleman I sat next to at our lunch at the Falls yesterday launched into a personal diatribe on pretty much every controversial political topic we are grappling with around the world. I pointedly gave him my shoulder and immediately engaged the woman on my other side, coincidentally as it turned out, on her and my upcoming hiking adventures in Newfoundland. 

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Next up, hiking and kayaking on Newfoundland, where, remember, if it's 5:00 somewhere, it's 5:30 in Newfoundland! 

Weekend Wrap Up - Music, Ocean, A Debate

Weekend Wrap Up - Music, Ocean, A Debate

It was a great weekend, and hopefully I am still friends with a neighboring gentleman after going head to head on an issue I'm more passionate about than I'd realized!

Friday - This was housecleaning morning, and in that I'm on the early schedule, with my wonderful cleaning team arriving at 7AM, my husband and I head down to the harbor as soon as they arrive. We sat in our car for the first hour, while we sipped coffee and read our iPhones. Once sufficiently awake, we enjoyed a lovely and cool five mile walk, which was particular appreciated after a series of warm days here where I ended up throwing in the towel and finally turning on our A/C. 

Normally my husband and I go to lunch after walking the harbor together on housecleaning day, however, I'd hit a new low weight threshold in the morning, and asked if he would mind eating at home instead, so I could eat a smaller meal in my almost-there efforts to reach my revised goal of 110. He was kind enough to agree - thank you honey!

So, so close!

This is the evening I grilled the London broil I'd been marinating. It turned out really terrific, and although I made homemade steak sauce to go along with, it really didn't need it. The marinade (recipe here) did a lovely job of permeating the meat.

Saturday - Worked outside in the adjacent HOA area (I have no landscaping around my own property - it's all hardscaping aside from two very small planters. This was deliberate on our part, as we wanted to achieve a lock-and-go situation for long travel periods). I actually enjoy trimming and weeding - I find it tremendously satisfying. 

I got good and sweaty, so I enjoyed my lunch and some reading outside in our yard, where a really nice breeze was blowing.

Afterward I showered and got cleaned up for a Happy Hour event we were attending with two neighboring couples. The Happy Hour restaurant was lovely in that we had a shaded outdoor patio table. We all six were having a wonderful time talking and laughing when, somehow, one of the husbands and I got into it over the most basic of basic gun regulation efforts. He immediately went to the stance of "You all just want to take our guns away!" I responded, "Dude! We just want to see the needle moved slightly - even 5% would help. Stop with the '5% will turn into 100%!' BS!"

Oh gosh, it got heated. But 1) he started the conversation about guns and gun control efforts, not me, 2) our current no-regulations situation is causing harm to innocent children, which is 1000% unacceptable to me, and 3) we did manage to hug and shake hands afterward. And now he knows - don't start it and I won't seek to finish it.

Sunday - Up early to drop one of cars at the harbor for a floating concert happening later in the day. We returned home to attend spiritual services, then walked back to the harbor on foot to enjoy the concert, along with a lunch I'd packed earlier and left in the car. The harbor was packed when we arrived, so it was definitely a good plan to head down earlier in order to reserve a parking spot. The concert was great fun, as was the mass of small watercraft that crowded in. Plus, bonus, we watched an Osprey scoop up a fish in its talons right in front of us. 

We drove home from the concert, and enjoyed the last of the London broil steak for dinner, along with rice and broccoli. I also made pesto with the last of the summer's basil, which I then froze for future use.

Good day, good weekend.

Today, Monday - Heading to the airport to meet my gal pal for our hiking and kayaking adventure in Newfoundland, Canada. 

See you back here in two weeks when I return - likely with some good adventuring stories!

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Friday Five - Let There Be Water!

 Friday Five - Let There Be Water!

I'm 'borrowing' this idea from a fellow blogger - Thank you Juhli at Boomer Girls Guide!

1.  Successfully navigated an upgrade to my mom's condo - replacing her very, very old combo washer/dryer unit's water valves. Working on someone else's property, where I don't really know it's ins and outs, is considerable work. I think we made four or five attempts to replace her stackable washer/dryer unit, because it quickly became a "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" scenario when the dryer quit, which then meant the washer's ancient water valves needed to be replaced before the equally old water hoses could be replaced before the stackable washer/dryer could be replaced . . . 

But, whew, as of yesterday we are done.

2.  As a result of above, however, I finally found a plumbing company I really, really like and will use going forward. They were reasonable in their pricing, and that is increasingly difficult if not impossible to find. Plus, they have a real live person answering their phone, and their follow through has been excellent.

3.  I procrastinated like crazy, but I finally forced myself to pack for my upcoming combined city sightseeing plus back country hiking trip in eastern Canada. The hiking piece was what I was procrastinating, as there are so many small items to consider or remember - compass, headlamp, emergency items, bug repellent, gloves, layered outerwear, and on and on and on. There ended up being almost no room for my non hiking clothes, so a few outfits will be worn multiple times, LOL.

4.  Enjoyed a fantastic 9 mile urban coastal walk with a girlfriend, including a 250 step foray down (and back up!) to a small but public beach. We explored and explored, and just had an as-always great time talking and laughing as we went, including some memorable dodges around a number of parked cars along always-busy Pacific Coast Highway.

Me at the top of the 250 step descent, thinking "That's a long way down!"

Me at the bottom of the 250 step ascent, thinking, "That's a really long way up!!!"

5.  Looking forward to grilling a London broil tonight that I've been marinating since yesterday. (I used this recipe) The marinade smells divine, but I haven't grilled meat in forever, so I'm a bit nervous that I don't over or under do it, but I'm sure it will turn out just fine(!). And it should be a beautiful evening to dine outside. Plus it's Friday, meaning that some wine will be enjoyed as well.

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I hope your week has likewise been interesting! 

Monday Resets Plus Six Months Of No Sugar

Monday Resets Plus Six Months Of No Sugar & How Its Going

Monday Resets

Good Monday morning! In retirement I learned to love Mondays rather then dread them as I did during my working years, because they now represent a restart. They are a blank page on which I can write whatever I wish for the week to deliver, and renew efforts in areas where I may have stumbled. 

Areas where I stumbled and will now reset:

• Drink ample water. We are now in our season of humidity, and I can tell if I'm not drinking enough water by how frequently light headed I'll feel when physically exerting.
• Study Spanish. Fell off the wagon here and will now attempt to return to prior habit of doing 15 minutes of online and free Spanish Duolingo a day.
• Reading my August nonfiction book. I'm almost done, but oh gosh is it dry reading. So I'll return to my 30 minutes of self designated AM reading today, and then mark Mr. McCullough off my reading list forever. Too dry for me, even if I appreciate his ability to organize an array of previously scattered historical notes into a single cohesive book.

My No Sugar Efforts At The Six Month Mark

The sugar beast has been slayed! Really, there has been a noticeable turn in my efforts to remain sugar free - I continue to no longer think about sugar, but even more exciting, I genuinely no longer want to eat it or even to smell it!

To my shock, but a really, really good shock, I no longer think about sugar in any form or at any point of the day. Rather, it represents a terrible coping mechanism I had developed from a very young age, that did nothing to enhance my life. It doesn't bother me one iota to be around sweets or to watch other people enjoying them. I can now bake and serve sweets without having any desire to sample or indulge. I feel free, free, free, which is a reward I did not see coming. I just wanted to stop feeling like my life evolved around my next sugar hit.

So my food life is good nowadays. I'm eating for the sake of fueling up and that's really about it.

And not at all the point of giving up sugar, though certainly my desire to lose some weight was part of it, but I am getting daily comments about my thinness and overall appearance, and I am deeply, deeply appreciative of each and every comment. The comments validate my efforts, provide a lovely moment for my ego to feed on, and incentivize me to keep on keeping on. Sugar now represents an awful return to my former self, where I lived in a state of constant self-criticism. 

And a note on my recent efforts, and the alcohol effect. I have no issues with alcohol. I've always been a light drinker, and I don't think about alcohol really ever at all. I enjoy it on the weekends, and am happy to drink pretty much just water during the week. However, back when I first began my efforts to stop eating sugar, I began to notice that after having a glass of wine on, usually, a Friday night, I wanted sugar. Badly wanted sugar. So I began to experiment, and realized that the alcohol weakened my self resolve just enough to make me really, really want to dive back into sugar.

And while I didn't stop drinking, because I never actually reached for the sugar, I just wanted to, this is no longer occurring. My battle with sugar is over, in that I simply no longer want it at all, even after a glass of wine. It represents an immediate return to a dark part of my life that I want no part of. Instead, a glass of wine is now making me want to eat something, anything, in general, which is making me laugh. It's like water - the active brain wants to find a way somewhere somehow!

So I'm now only having wine two nights a week instead of three, and I'm focusing on half glasses instead of  full glasses for now. If this follows form with my sugar efforts, eventually I'll be completely reset into my new lower calorie lifestyle, and wine won't be effective whatsoever in moving that needle.

To be clear, I haven't regained any weight. I just find it's been harder to stay with my new lifestyle after having a full glass of wine. So I'm drinking a lot more water on weekends, and limiting my wine to just one half glass on one or two weekend nights. The scale will generally show an uptick on Monday, reflecting the extra calories I tend to reach for after a bit of wine, but I can handle that both mentally and physically, since I'm able to knock back the weight in just a day or two of resumed 'normal' eating.

So an interesting correlation that I didn't see coming.

A recent event where I simply enjoyed the evening and gorgeous sunset while drinking water. I enjoy wine, but it's no struggle, thankfully, to pull back for a bit until my brain stops fighting, and instead resets into it's new lower calorie lifestyle, similar to what it has now done with regard to sugar.

Weight Loss After & Before, Plus Final Thoughts

Weight Loss After & Before, Plus Final Thoughts

 

An After and Before photo comparison, which was a bit more difficult than I'd realized. Not until I scrolled back through my phone photos did I realize how few full body photos there were of me, because I had spent some years unconsciously hiding from the camera. So I had to back five years to find these, which I think were taken when I was in the mid 130's, about 20-25 pounds heavier than I weigh now.

In hindsight, do I think the last six months were worth the effort? Yes, absolutely I do. More than how I might now look to others, is how I feel. I have carried around a load of body self consciousness since I was 17 years old, weighing about 120 pounds, and my dad offered to buy me a new outfit if I lost 10 pounds.

And thus the seeds of a lifetime of self loathing about my physical shape began. I've gone in and out of dieting pretty much my entire adult life. At this point, I am finished dieting for the most part, but maintenance will not exactly be a walk in the park. I still need to make a daily calorie plan, and I still need to make sure my head is in the game. However, if my head is aligned, staying with my daily plan is decently easy at this point. My brain appears to have become accustomed to consuming less calories over the course of the day. It's only if I walk into a food venue or event without a plan that I struggle, so I make it a point to not let that happen. I now always have a game plan, plus I always carry a small packet of almonds in the event I deplete unexpectedly.

So here is what I hope to be the final record of my completed weight loss journey.

AFTER

BEFORE

Thank you for bearing with me while I documented my journey here. The public sharing of my weight loss efforts helped tremendously - I really wanted to earn a 'Gold star' each week by posting a lower number than the week before!

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Questions about my weight loss journey? Feel free to ask me anything!

Five New Goals - August

Five New Goals - August

There are areas in my life where I can tell that either I've become stuck, or have allowed poor habits to develop. So, similar to my recent efforts to quit sugar and lose 15 pounds, I'm now setting some new goals to try and move my personal needle in a more positive direction.

Here are the five goals I've set for August, with the intention that the first two become regular habits by month end:

1.  Thirty minutes of nonfiction reading in the morning, as I drink my wake up coffee. I read lots of fiction, but other than memoirs, I avoid non fiction for the most part. And yet, I've accumulated a number of interesting nonfiction books (all free) that I have yet to read, which has been tugging at me. Morning is a good time for me to focus on what are often detail-dense reads. So my nonfiction reading goal for this month is The Pioneers by historian David McCullough.

2.  Incorporate walking with stops into the gym to do weight training. Our new gym membership has two locations, one of which is just down the road from our home. And yet, I've continued to struggle to utilize the weight room in spite of finding it very welcoming, because I love moving outdoors so much more than indoors. However, I simply have to get in and do weight training and stop my excuses. What I came up with is a compromise - I'll continue to do the bulk of my cardio outdoors, however I will stop in two times weekly, while still out on foot, as part of my return route back to the house. By incorporating the gym stop into my walking route, I avoid the excuse/permission I give myself upon reaching the house, that I'm now too tired to go out again and do weights. 

3.  Grill and eat dinner outside here at home at least one night each week. Our warmer evening weather has finally arrived, and I don't want to waste the opportunity to enjoy grilling and dining outdoors here at the house while we can.

4.  Make Happy Hour dates with two couples - one new to us, and one that just returned from a multi-month trip. This is one of the ways we've developed our current circle of friends. I do a mental scan of who we haven't seen for a bit, or who we've recently met and want to continue to build a friendship with, and make a point to reach out via text or phone with a Happy Hour invite. Both August couple 'dates' will include invites for dessert and card playing back at our place afterwards, which is an easy way to entertain at this point in our lives, and that we find others appear to appreciate as well. We seem to have all gotten increasingly food-fussy in our aging years, so meeting for Happy Hour at a restaurant allows everyone to easily and affordably have exactly what they want to eat. The entertaining afterward at our place is likewise easy - I love to bake, and I love to entertain, plus we have a well stocked wine fridge.

5.  Purchase a new summer sun dress. I'm not sure why I haven't done this yet, in that I was actually looking forward to going shopping, post recent weight loss.

For those of you from other parts of the country, it might seem like I'm late out the gate with this, however, our warmer weather really did just arrive, and should now be with us into October.

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How about you? Any new goals to share for August you care to share?

Weekend Wrap Up - The Perfect Pace

Weekend Wrap Up - The Perfect Pace

We did a good job this weekend in pacing out our activities, so I'm feeling refreshed this morning, rather than exhausted, which is a nice change of pace. I don't expect it to last, but it is a nice feeling for now.

Friday - This was housecleaning morning, and in that I'm on the early schedule, with my wonderful husband-wife team arriving at 7AM, we got a likewise early start to our day by heading down to the harbor as soon as they arrived. We sat in our car for the first hour, while we sipped coffee and read our iPhones. Once sufficiently awake, we enjoyed a five mile walk. And really, I mean it - we very much enjoyed it. The air was cool, there was a nice breeze, and tons and tons of dogs were being walked by their owners. While I don't have any plans to get a dog in the foreseeable future, I do so enjoy seeing, petting, and crooning to any that might cross our path.

 

We returned home from our walk in time for lunch at the house, and then I read until it was time to head up to shower and get ready for our easy evening out. This was really the first warm-ish evening we've had so far this summer, and our summer tradition if we don't already have plans, is to take our dinner, including Happy Hour fixings, over to the harbor point to enjoy being outdoors while watching the boaters, paddlers, jet skiers, and assorted marine life. It was just a lovely, lovely evening, and as simple as our outing was, I think we both came home feeling really relaxed and yet refreshed.

And I slept like a log.

Saturday - Did a seven and 1/2 mile walk to and along the beach from the house, as I continue to add mileage in preparation for the upcoming hiking trip I'm doing with a girlfriend in just about four weeks. I felt much, much stronger at the conclusion of today's walk compared to just a week ago, so I'm very pleased about that. Our longest hike on the trip is eight miles, so I'm really not that stressed, but still, I want to go in feeling very strong and capable.

I did some light chores at home, plus a good amount of reading, then went into the kitchen to prepare an easy dinner of curry vegetable pot pie (still working through my Pop Pie Co stash), green beans and watermelon. We had tickets to an early evening performance of Bye Bye Birdie, which we then headed off to.

So, Bye Bye Birdie, sigh. The performers were a delight, and a lot of the music was familiar, which was nice in that I'd never seen either the play previously, nor the box office movie starring Ann-Margret. But I was a taken aback by the number of sexist and racist bits of dialogue that were in the play. I mean, sure, I get that it was an earlier time, but JFC, does that mean that all sensitivity was out the window then as well?  So definitely a one-and-done for us.

(I looked up the play's current reviews once we got home, and yep, critiques about the play's sexism and racism, along with ageism, abound.)

Sunday - On Repeat again - I was up bright and early to reserve our park concert spot by laying out blankets and chairs, plus extra blankets for two additional couples that would be joining us. 

Later, after attending our Sunday services, we had lunch back home and then walked to the concert, which we much enjoy in that its a relatively flat walk, and temps were in the 70's. We could tell by the number of cars parked along the road as we walked, that it was going to be a packed concert. Which, per the photo below it was!  

The dancing area, which is in front of the seating area,
was likewise packed!

I don't want to go overboard here, but the concert, two separate bands, was awesome. People danced, beach balls abounded, bubble machines blew, and yes, marijuana wafted in the air, but the energy was absolutely fantastic. All those concerts I missed attending in my youth because I married young, and then raised my family, I am making up for now. My fellow dancing and singing attendees are the attendees of my youth I never got to enjoy, just with gray hair. 😄

It was soooo great. Afterward, we went to a brewery for dinner and beer with our friends. We had so much fun together. All the efforts I put out when we first moved here eight years ago have paid off in spades. Our lives are rich with friends, and I am more thankful than I can express. 

Today, Monday - 

Woke up early to put dinner in the crock pot (Tarragon Chicken with Mushrooms), then I'm leaving shortly for a 10 mile walk/hike (bits of both terrain) in Newport Coast with the girlfriend I'm doing my Canada hike and kayak trip with. We'll be enjoying some Ruby's Shake Shack (if you know, you know 🙂 ) when we finish, and I'm looking forward to that as well. Afterward I'm sure I'll need a good nap!

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Inquiring minds want to know - how was your weekend???