Thursday, December 1, 2011

Day 1 - Denver

So this is what's going on right now

It's snowing!!!!!!


Being from South Carolina, this doesn't happen often so it's kind of fun! And it's Jane's birthday! So we're going to make pancakes and drink hot chocolate. And play with this little booger butt

LOLA BEANZZZZZZ


Yesterday, when Jane picked us up from the airport, we decided to tour Denver, since the rest of the time will be in Longmont/Boulder. Denver was interesting, a lot different than I thought. 

1) it's near the mountains but not in them. It's super flat here.

This was me trying to take a pic while Jane drove - but they looked so pretty!


2) I know Denver is a big city, but I guess in my mind, I was thinking it'd be like, quaint or something. But, it's just a big city. 

Larimer Street at a little cafe with some delish desserts






the German Christmas Fair! It was super German


I like the little domes in the background


the Capitol building and my husband's ear


a statue& I have no idea what it signify's. I'm thinking it's a wild west thing


the Civic Center - they were getting the tree lighting ceremony ready


Occupy Denver - it was going to be in the teens and snowing this night, so bless them


driving out of Denver - pretty neat - but see how flat



So that was our experience. And then we got to play with Lola more. 












Broncos stadium









she likes James a lot



Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Boulder to Vegas

I am about to take a trip and I am SUPER excited.

First place on the agenda,

Boulder, CO


I am visiting my friend, Jane, who left me about 6 months ago which was DEVASTATING. I love my friend Jane!!!! and she is gone :(. Work hasn't been the same without her. So I'm excited to see her and this little buddy -

this pic makes me laugh out loud - she is so funny. FYI, that's Lola and you should definitely meet her

Things to do in Boulder - 

Hike - Seems like Jane does a lot of hiking. Lots of her posts involved her, her husband and Lola hiking. 







Yoga 

Obviously, CO is pretty progressive when it comes to sustainable living and that attracts a lot of yogis!! So I'd love to take a yoga class out there and see what it's like. 

Lola doing downward facing dog



Festivals 

Jane has been to a lot of festivals and it looks like fun. Now that it's late November/early December, I don't know how many there will be, but I'm hoping!







Next stop on the trip -

Las Vegas


I am running a HALF MARATHON ON SUNDAY. My blog is typically about running but I've had so much going on for the past couple of months, I haven't talked about running at all. Actually, I haven't even been running so this time will be interesting. It's going to be slow!! But really, I don't care because I just want to enjoy life and sometimes, that means I won't be running my fastest race. If I finish, if I enjoy my first visit to Vegas and if I get a t shirt, I'm happy. 

Other things to do in Vegas - 

Gamble 

All of the NCAA Division I Conference Championships are this week and I will be able to bet on some games. I've never done this, but I'm excited to do it. I am actually terrible at picking games, so this won't be great, but oh well. I'll miss the Pac 12 conference championship game because it's friday. The big ones are obviously the ACC and SEC champsionships, both of which are happening upon my arrival as well as the Big 10 Championship game. Woot Woot. 

My husband also loves three card. I've never played but i'm sure I will. 

Shopping

this looks amazing... is this really what it's like??

The Hoover Dam

Everyone keeps telling me to go there and since I don't like to drink, I don't like to gamble and don't have money to shop, maybe this is what I'll do. 




I'll do my best to blog as I go, take lots of pics and hopefully keep you entertained. If not, I'll be back December 7th. 

Also, thank you to Jane for letting me use pics from her blog. 









You must be the change you wish to see in the world - Mahatma Gandhi

This is something that Karen, my yoga teacher, tells us all of the time.



What made me think about this earlier today was Facebook and the people I have as friends. Facebook is a weird beast in that there are a lot of things that I love about it, but there are also a lot of things I don't like about it. 

Pros -

1. I keep in touch with people I probably never would have otherwise. I see/talk to a lot of high school friends on facebook and keep up with their babies, etc. I LOVE seeing the pictures of their lives, their husbands, children, etc. Some of them live in other areas like Washington DC, Columbia, etc. 

2. I get to know people a little better than I would if I didn't have access to facebook. Biggest example, my husband's family that lives in MI. I keep up with them via Facebook and while we do try to do something once a year where everyone gets together, I would NEVER get to communicate with them and see what they're doing if it weren't for FB. Or maybe I would, but it just makes it a bit easier. 

3. Business - I can keep up with businesses that I like and more importantly, my husband can promote his business. I also use it to promote my blog and to keep up with others' blogs. 

Really there are many more benefits and that's why I like Facebook so much because it's a great way to connect with parts of the world that I normally wouldn't be able to. 

Cons

1. Is this my only form of communication? Do I hide behind snipits of things instead of truly getting to know others? I don't really think this is something I do, but I can see where it might be a problem. I think sometimes, it's too difficult to keep up with all the things going on with facebook, and have personal relationships as well. But isn't that true of all things? I don't know. 

2. The lack of fear/compassion for others. I'm having a hard time verbalizing what exactly I mean with this. I've written and re-written this paragraph several times because I want to say this correctly. With the added protection of the internet, we've become braver and meaner as a society. What I would say to someone on facebook is not necessarily what I would say to that person directly. In my mind, I can think of all kinds of hateful things to say to a person when I'm upset, but in reality, I would NEVER say some of those things because I don't actually want to be that mean. Facebook takes away that fear, or that concern of the other's reaction. People get into disputes and say things in the comment section that are rude and hateful. There is a lot of complaining, a lot of opinions being thrown around without the lack of concern for the thoughts/feelings of others. 


How does that effect me? One thing that I am trying to do is limit the amount of negativity that I bring into my life. I tend to be negative myself, so one of my goals has been to be more positive. How can I be more positive when I'm constantly consuming negative things? News is a great example. I've had to limit the amount of news I read, watch, etc. While I want to be an informed individual, I also sometimes feel that the news is sensationalized for dramatic effect and it can be devastating to my psyche. I try to limit the type of music I listen to. I used to love all kinds of gangster rap, rock, etc. I've found that it can have a negative effect on me, even causing me to be anxious. I know it's weird, but it's true so I've changed a lot of what I've listened to. 

With Facebook, I've actually had to hide a lot of my friends. People will say things that are mean or negative, they'll get into arguments about sports teams, talk about politics, etc and I've had to hide them. I don't want to be rude and defriend them, although I have done that to a lot as well, but I have to work hard enough to keep myself positive, I can't worry about others being positive as well. In turn, what I've tried to do is to only do/say positive things when I post something. I again, am not perfect, and fail a lot of times, but in spite of all the things that I've posted on FB, I've abstained from posting a lot more because I've thought, is this something I really would want to see from my friends. How can I add something positive to peoples' lives, I can be the change I wish to see. 

What are your thoughts on facebook? 



Monday, November 28, 2011

Back in Control - Wendi Matt style part Deux

Over the past few months, my life has been out of control, as many of you know. The biggest piece of the confusion was the buying and selling of houses. The second largest thing has been the amount of committed activities such as weddings/football games/out of town trips either for races or weddings/races. Things are finally settling down because all of the weddings are out of the way, the houses are done and I have one final trip starting on Wednesday. I'm kind of ready to get back into a routine because although I like excitement every once in a while, a routine is more conducive to taking care of myself. Some things I'm getting ready to being again -

1. Eating Healthy
This has been the hardest thing to do because we've had to eat out a lot. Although we've eaten a lot of salads and healthier items, I just feel better when I eat at home and cook.

*I control the quality of ingredients - I'm not so much a big advocate for low calorie or low fat food, but more so of less processed foods. That means, unbleached flour, unbleached sugar, real butter, not margarine or something that isn't made of real food, etc. I know that butter and things like that are processed but I'd rather eat something that is made from natural ingredients vs some kind of weird chemical that is low in calories/fat. I don't eat artificial sugar, I eat real sugar, I don't eat low fat mayo, If I eat mayo, I use real mayo, etc. When I eat out, unless I'm going to a place that specializes in organic food, I seriously doubt they're using high quality ingredients so even if I eat a salad with deli meat like turkey, it's probably not organic and grown without antibiotics/hormones. I can't even talk about where that meat comes from in terms of the type of farm and it's impact on the environment, but at the least, I know that I'm probably eating some type of chemical that could cause me to have cancer at some point.

*I can eat more frequently - eating out is expensive and when you don't have access to a kitchen, you end up eating out 3 meals a day. I typically eat more than 3 meals a day, but I'm not going to eat out more than 3 meals a day, so by the time we get somewhere to eat, I'm starving and there goes my portion control

*I control my portions - when I can eat any time I want, I don't get as hungry and I can stop eating when I'm full. When I'm starving, I will eat everything quickly until I'm stuffed. I don't like that.

2. No distractions 
I'm not as distracted right now. I still have a lot of stuff to put up and organize and decorate, but I've got the main stuff organized so I can go back to basic living. I can get back to a regular schedule which includes yoga, work, running, and rest. Since I won't have to go meet this person or pay that person or find this service or whatever - I can just get back to my routine

3. Exercise 
My goal over the past few months has been to simplify my life which has been somewhat hard since this has been the busiest fall ever but I had all these ideas of training plans I wanted to do and this and that and blah blah. I'm just going to run and do yoga. That's my plan for right now. I'd like to get back into Crossfit but don't have the set up for it yet and really don't have the money for it yet, so run and yoga. I'll do one one day, and the other another day. Every other day, run and yoga. I will also ride my bike because I LOVE riding my bike, so that'll be good cross training. Otherwise, I'm not worrying about it. I think that will be plenty.

4. Finances
Obviously, these have changed a bit and with an upcoming trip to Vegas and Christmas, it's going to be a little willy nilly. Starting in January, I'll sit down and write up a new budget. We spent some money from our savings in getting our old house sold and buying the new one, plus we bought a new couch and blah blah, so I'd like to get an idea of monthly expenses and getting them back on track. There's not point in stressing about it now though because as I said above, I've still got some unusual spending going on. January 1, I'll have an idea of new expenses, trash, uverse, and gas bill, as well as adjusted old expenses such as mortgage and energy bill. Then I can sit down and focus on monthly expenses, new financial goals, etc.

Other than that, I'm excited about our upcoming trip to Boulder and Vegas. I'll be visiting Jane at In the Pink and Green for a few days as well as racing in the Las Vegas Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon!!! No, I haven't run in 2 weeks and yes, I realize this will not be a PR, but I don't care. I'm going to have fun!!!