Fully back!

Written 7/19
Today is the first full day I'm feeling back to normal and I'm so grateful! It's tough trying to do life on minimal energy and feel good, and makes me appreciate anyone who struggles with a chronic condition, yet manages somehow to smile.

Last night we had a house full of American and French teens, and it was a LOT of fun!

Written today
Life is flying by with two of my own kids, one French kid, and less than a month of summertime left. I've been limiting my computer time, which means there's more reading and cooking and connecting going on. But that makes it tough to blog consistently, you know? :)

If you've stopped by to visit, thank you! I plan to write consistently once our French student leaves on August 2nd. Until then, (insert French words for "be good!"). :)

Re-entering the land of the living?

Since Wednesday I've had no energy and felt nauseated almost 100% of the time. Last night we saw Ziggy Marley in concert, and thankfully I felt good for the whole concert. But then I slept almost 12 hours last night (WHAT? I NEVER sleep that long!) and I think after a nap today (I'm not kidding -- there's a nap in my future!) I may be back to normal.

Obviously when all you do is lay around, sit around, and sleep, there's not much to write about. :/

Today's stuff

Take dad grocery shopping.
Sprint workout.
Train client.
Ready house for Ben.
Fix dinner (one that can "hold" until he gets here).
Go get Ben.

Happy Wednesday!!!

Misc.

• Loving eating higher fat/lower carb. Waist down by 2 inches (!). Whole body is tighter.
• Our French foreign exchange student arrives tomorrow night. Looking forward to meeting Ben and having him here for 3 weeks. We've planned going to see Ziggy Marley in concert, rooting the Giants on when they take on the Dodgers, and heading up to Tahoe. The organization he's coming over with has organized field trips (to SF for example, which is a must for this area) and we can go on those too!
• Did Dailey Method today and Saturday. All's I got to say is OUCH!

life...

Still here. Quick observations:

• Both kids were gone for 4 days and it was so great being kid-free. A little too great. When they got back yesterday it was quite stressful and Tim and I had some tense icky discussions (not quite fights, but certainly not easy breezy harmony!).
• Still playing with this new way of eating and I'm officially in the low 130s as of today. This is a weight zone I haven't visited in a VERY long time! Eating between 1800 and 2000 calories per day most days, so not hungry much. Running less than ever, but still losing weight? I'll take it! I'd highly encourage checking this style of eating out. Let me know if you want recommendations of podcasts or books that can help.
• Tim and I have discovered Entourage on HBO and are enjoying it immensely!

Heading out for a 4 or 5 mile run before triple digit heat hits. Happy Sunday!

Primal eating...

...is working. Easy? Not exactly. But working? Yep. Weight is down by 2-1/2 pounds. Waist is smaller. And I'm feeling good.

Much of my computer time is spent learning more about low carb/high fat eating. As per Livestrong, yesterday 50% of my calories came from fat. That's crazy! I've never been a low-fat eating girl -- NEVER -- and for that I'm thankful. But it seems there's lots of evidence about high-fat diets helping with depression (!) and hormone balancing (!) and body composition (!).

So back to what I'm eating. I eat kinda strange stuff -- I'm the first to admit it. For example, I'm using Udo's Oil 3-6-9 blend as part of my diet. When I have it, though, I just have a tablespoon of it. By itself. Yeah, I'm weird like that. So anyway, here's what I ate yesterday:

Udo's oil
Beverly Int'l protein powder (low carb, tastes like cake batter!)

green smoothie (fruit, spinach, chard, lemon)
string cheese
tortilla chips

grilled chicken
1/2 avocado
strawberries

Starbuck's light bottled frappuccino
almonds
string cheese
Udo's oil

mahi mahi with butter and lemon and garlic
green beans with bacon and onion
Caesar salad
dark chocolate

protein powder

Livestrong says I ate 1910 calories and the proportions were

49% fat
23%protein
28% carbs

I also ran almost 5 miles.

Ok, time to go do P90X (workout of Tim's choice -- hope he doesn't choose Chest & Back -- he never chooses a lower-body workout, so I'm safe there!).

Needing to slow down

How is it that my kids are out of town, I don't work, and yet I never feel like I have enough time? I think I need to slow down. Way down.

Limiting time on the computer helps, especially now that I'm not trolling Facebook or playing games there. Where I get in trouble, though, is my incessant need for knowledge. It's one of those good/bad things. The good is that I'm curious. The bad is that I can be on the computer just trolling for information for ... well, this morning for an hour. Just looking at stuff that's interesting. I may need to see about a computer time limit -- just a thought.

So yeah, I'm kid-free still Saturday. Austin's at gymnastics camp. Tucker's with my sister and her fam in Santa Cruz. We're not doing anything exciting, but sure enjoying being the two of us. Last night we cooked dinner together, then went to a meeting, then did computer stuff at home, and while we were watching an episode of "United States of Tara" the power went out. And stayed out. So we went for a walk around 11:00. Really cool!

Today's schedule is as follows:

P90X with boyfriend :)
Hair appt in Auburn
Free afternoon
Dinner at The Chef's Table

Possibilities for free afternoon include:
shopping/browsing (Sur la Table, Lucy, Barnes & Noble)
gardening (need to pull out the veggies that aren't working)
watching SYTYCD (!)
reading (Hunger Games, Eat Fat Lose Fat)

Happy Thursday!

The Hunger Games

Started The Hunger Games last night. I think I'm gonna like it! What are YOU reading?

Great post from Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project

Buddhism Has 8 Auspicious Symbols. I Chose My Own Set of Symbols. What Are Yours?

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Wednesday, June 30, 2010 at 11:40am

Every Wednesday is Tip Day – or List Day.
This Wednesday: The 8 auspicious symbols of Buddhism -- and my own list, too.

I get a tremendous kick out of the numbered lists that pop up throughout Buddhism: the Triple Refuge, the Noble Eightfold Path, the Four Noble Truths. In fact, it was Buddhism that inspired me to write my Four Splendid Truths (after I formulated the First Splendid Truth, I just had to assume that I’d end up with more than one).

However, it’s surprising to me that Buddhism, with its emphasis on gateless gates and transcending the bounds of rational thinking, has so many of these numbered lists. I love them, but still, it seems incongruous. There’s a koan to be written about it, that’s for sure. Let's see...how about, “Use numbers to throw away enumeration.”

One of my favorite lists from Buddhism is the list of the eight auspicious symbols:
1. Parasol
2. Golden fish
3. Treasure vase
4. Lotus
5. Conch shell
6. Endless knot
7. Victory banner
8. Wheel of Dharma

I was inspired to come up with my eight - wait, make that nine -- auspicious symbols for my happiness project:
1. Bluebird, to symbolize happiness
2. Ruby slippers, to remind me that what I need for happiness is with me, right here and right now
3. Dictionary, to stand for reading, writing, and invention
4. Blood…between my husband’s Hepatitis C, my sister’s diabetes, and St. Therese, blood has assumed great power in my life
5. Gold star, to symbolize virtue and right action
6. Dice, to reminder me of the influence of chance and fortune
7. Holstein cow, a symbol representing my family. Long story.
8. Peacock feather, a reminder of symbols beyond words
9. Cherries. Cherries are cheery.

What would your auspicious symbols be? Please post them! I'm so curious to hear what other people would choose.

Oops

I guess today is not my day for lots of writing. Oh well...

One thing. I finished the book Little Bee. It was not a light-hearted book, but worth reading, in case anyone is looking for something to consider.

Thoughts

This afternoon I'm home with a houseful of teenagers which is a very good thing (they're great kids) and it means I'll have time to write, I think. So here are some thoughts (somewhat scattered cuz that's just kind of where I'm at today):

• Loving Livestrong's Daily Plate, but really understand what Colette said about getting obsessive with tracking. One of the reasons I was on dailymile for so long was that it's perfect for tracking running progress. But right now I'm interested in more than running. I'm reading a lot of stuff about eating primally (more meat, more fat, fewer carbs and sugars) and so tracking food (esp carbs and sugars -- nothing crazy, but just seeing how I do around 150g of carbs per day) making a lot of sense.
• Speaking of primal, Tim and I are going to PrimalCon next year. It's a weekend conference in Southern CA and it looks like so much fun!
• We are also going to see AEROSMITH on July 23. It's been a life-long dream to see them in concert, and I can't believe it's finally going to happen!!!
• I'm spending a lot less time on the computer and I think that's a very good thing. One of these days I'll write about why I got so caught up in Facebook and especially the games. But for today I'm just very happy to be free from the addictive nature of the computer. (But I get the irony of expressing this ON A COMPUTER!)

More later...

Livestrong

Thanks for all the helpful input about tracking stuff. I've decided to go back to Livestrong for food and fitness tracking. Colette made a good point about whether stuff needs to be tracked at all, and I think I do best when I keep track of what I do. So if you want to visit me on Livestrong, I'm lpglives.

Have a wonderful Monday!

So you think you can dance

If you're not watching this show, you MUST start watching immediately! Here's this week's best routine. Keep in mind that the Asian guy is a ballet dancer and you'll be even more amazed by how he moves. Enjoy!!!
Here

Points

(This idea is blatantly copied from Katie who is brilliant in every way!)

Katie made a list of things she wants more or less of, and assigned point values to each item. Here are some examples from her list:

• For every morning workout I complete, I earn 5 points.
• For every dinner at the dinner table, I earn 5 points.
• For every egg breakfast, I earn 3 points.

So she's assigned points to various activities, and then thought of rewards for certain point levels. I am a geeky girl who is highly motivated by rewards such as stickers and stars, and this might be a great way to improve my overall health habits.

So here's what comes to mind as activities that earn points:

Running
DVD workout (I'm just trying Brazil Butt Lift from Beachbody)
Green smoothie
No sugar after dinner (this would be so huge for me)
Meditation

I don't know how many points or what they'd earn, but I'm loving playing around with the idea. Katie, I will be closely following your progress in the month of July. Best of luck!