When asked about my favorite season it is, without a doubt, winter. I LOVE winter. I like cold weather and how great it feels to warm up in front of a fire and/or with a cup of hot chocolate or my favorite Cafe Mocha. I love the holiday season. I love getting in bed with lots of heavy covers and how comfy I feel - even when my face peeks out to the cold around me. I love wearing jeans and sweaters. I just love winter. Second to winter is fall. The leaves are changing (at least some of them!) and the cool, crisp air is such a relief after the long, hot summer.
When it comes to summer or spring, my instant reaction is spring because I'm not a fan of the Texas summer. Although I like the idea of summer, the season is just too hot for me in Texas. In my dream life, I pack up and head north for - at least - July and August in search of cooler temperatures. You would think having grown up here and lived here most of my life that I would be used to it, but I'm not. By mid-August, I'm terribly cranky and yearning for highs below 100!!!
The problem with spring is that between the beautiful clear days, the flowers blooming, the trees sprouting their new leaves, and the start of baseball season are thunderstorms, lightening, tornado warnings, and sometimes hail. And I really hate all that. I fear the tornado. I really don't mind the rain, but I hate the thunder and I don't want hail damage on my car even if it is almost 5 years old now.
So, I guess the order is winter, fall, summer, then spring. And it's only just begun this year...
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
March
The weather started warming up in March. We bought our hiking boots for the Grand Canyon trip and started breaking them in. Overall, we had a pleasant month. Here's how it broke down:
Weekend #1 was also Hike #1. On Saturday, we flew out to Amarillo and hiked The Lighthouse Trail at Palo Duro Canyon. It was a nice, easy hike except for the very end, which was straight up. And even the up wasn't nearly as bad as the back down. I was pretty much on my booty on the way down!
We took the opportunity to get a couple of NPS stamps as well - at Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument and Lake Meredith National Recreation Area.
The visitor center serves both Alibates Flint Quarries and Lake Meredith:
On the Alibates Flint Quarries tour - guided by a park ranger.
Lake Meredith has lost a lot of water in recent years. This used to be a boat dock:
Lake Meredith now:
Weekend #2 was a lovely weekend, so we decided to visit the Fort Worth Zoo. Unfortunately, it was the beginning of Spring Break for the area schools and about 1 million of our closest friends also decided to visit the Fort Worth Zoo. We still managed to enjoy the visit and we topped off the day by trying another Triple D restaurant - Fred's Texas Cafe.
My favorite picture - a Mountain Lion:
Fred's Texas Cafe:
Weekend #3 took us to Illinois to visit Joe's family. I actually knew better than to travel during Spring Break, but the flights in and out of Peoria looked so good, we decided to go. We barely made it home!!! We burned a D1 because a few non-revs showed up on the list and they were all D1. Unfortunately, they all got on the list above us. For a while, I was pretty convinced that we were going to have to decide whether or not to split. There were 7 seats left and we were #7 and #8 on the list. Next, our flight was delayed. Joe and I were checking every airport between Peoria and Dallas and trying to make a backup plan. We had decided we would drive to Springfield, MO and fly home on the first flight the next morning. EEEE YIKES!!!! Meanwhile, a revenue passenger opted off the flight because they were going to miss their connection, so we had hope. If the flight left, we should make it. And, we did. There was even one empty seat on the plane. I have, once again, vowed to never travel during spring break again!!!!
Weekend #4 was the weekend we did our shopping. We bought our new hiking boots and some water shoes for a fall trip that we have booked, but I don't think I have mentioned yet. We also bought Mother's Day gifts and did a few other errands (Wal-Mart shopping, etc.). On Sunday, we headed to Lake Mineral Wells State Park for Hike #2 and the first hike to break in our new boots. The weather had turned drastically cooler, so it was chilly. But, we enjoyed the hike and the day in general.
The trail was a little tougher in places than we had in Palo Duro Canyon:
Joe loves hiking...
On the other side of the lake from our hike - near Penitentiary Hollow:
Weekend #1 was also Hike #1. On Saturday, we flew out to Amarillo and hiked The Lighthouse Trail at Palo Duro Canyon. It was a nice, easy hike except for the very end, which was straight up. And even the up wasn't nearly as bad as the back down. I was pretty much on my booty on the way down!
We took the opportunity to get a couple of NPS stamps as well - at Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument and Lake Meredith National Recreation Area.
The visitor center serves both Alibates Flint Quarries and Lake Meredith:
On the Alibates Flint Quarries tour - guided by a park ranger.
Lake Meredith has lost a lot of water in recent years. This used to be a boat dock:
Lake Meredith now:
Weekend #2 was a lovely weekend, so we decided to visit the Fort Worth Zoo. Unfortunately, it was the beginning of Spring Break for the area schools and about 1 million of our closest friends also decided to visit the Fort Worth Zoo. We still managed to enjoy the visit and we topped off the day by trying another Triple D restaurant - Fred's Texas Cafe.
My favorite picture - a Mountain Lion:
Fred's Texas Cafe:
Weekend #3 took us to Illinois to visit Joe's family. I actually knew better than to travel during Spring Break, but the flights in and out of Peoria looked so good, we decided to go. We barely made it home!!! We burned a D1 because a few non-revs showed up on the list and they were all D1. Unfortunately, they all got on the list above us. For a while, I was pretty convinced that we were going to have to decide whether or not to split. There were 7 seats left and we were #7 and #8 on the list. Next, our flight was delayed. Joe and I were checking every airport between Peoria and Dallas and trying to make a backup plan. We had decided we would drive to Springfield, MO and fly home on the first flight the next morning. EEEE YIKES!!!! Meanwhile, a revenue passenger opted off the flight because they were going to miss their connection, so we had hope. If the flight left, we should make it. And, we did. There was even one empty seat on the plane. I have, once again, vowed to never travel during spring break again!!!!
Weekend #4 was the weekend we did our shopping. We bought our new hiking boots and some water shoes for a fall trip that we have booked, but I don't think I have mentioned yet. We also bought Mother's Day gifts and did a few other errands (Wal-Mart shopping, etc.). On Sunday, we headed to Lake Mineral Wells State Park for Hike #2 and the first hike to break in our new boots. The weather had turned drastically cooler, so it was chilly. But, we enjoyed the hike and the day in general.
The trail was a little tougher in places than we had in Palo Duro Canyon:
Joe loves hiking...
On the other side of the lake from our hike - near Penitentiary Hollow:
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Diet, I mean "Lifestyle Change," Update
So, not only have I not vented about my diet - aka "lifestyle change" - I haven't said anything at all!!! I suppose the best I can say is that I haven't given up. There have been good days and there have been bad days. I have been frustrated to the verge of tears and I have felt the joy of accomplishment. I'm not as far along as I wish I were at this point, but I have made progress so it hasn't been a total loss!
My unreasonable self thinks that I should be dropping weight like crazy. I mean, after all, I went from eating whatever I wanted and not exercising at all to eating better and walking pretty regularly. My reasonable self knows that it took me many years to gain this weight and it will not come off without a fight. My unreasonable self wants it to happen faster!!!
Technically, I started this "adventure" on 2/28. On 3/23, I weighed myself and I was down 8 pounds, but the next week I was back up 2. That was when I started spewing curse words and told Joe to get rid of "that 'bleeping' scale" before I threw it across the room and destroyed it. Three days later, I weighed again and was back down 8 pounds, but vowed to weigh less often because it is too discouraging. 4/6 is the last time I weighed and I was down 10 pounds. That was 5 weeks and 2 days in to my effort, so really not bad. 2 pounds a week is what I was shooting for.
My reasonable self decided to take a hard look at my progress. I felt like I'd been better MOST days. So I plugged my days into a spreadsheet and did some calculations. Turns out, I haven't been NEARLY as good as I thought. It's been 27 days since I updated this blog with my progress and this is how it plays out:
I have been under my total allotted calories: 9 days or 33%
I was OVER my total allotted calories: 12 days or 44%
I didn't record my calories at all: 6 days or 22%
Wow. That is almost as eye opening as how many calories I was eating before I started counting them. To be fair, of the days I was over my calories there were 4 days that seemed more break-even. I was over 2 calories one day, 4 calories one day, 15 calories one day, and 23 calories one day. Discounting those days, would swing the days to 12 within and 9 over. But, assuming I was over on the days I didn't record my calories, I'm still less than 50% on the good side!!!! Wow. My reasonable self now thinks that I should be thanking my lucky stars to have lost 10 pounds!!!
My unreasonable self thinks that I should be dropping weight like crazy. I mean, after all, I went from eating whatever I wanted and not exercising at all to eating better and walking pretty regularly. My reasonable self knows that it took me many years to gain this weight and it will not come off without a fight. My unreasonable self wants it to happen faster!!!
Technically, I started this "adventure" on 2/28. On 3/23, I weighed myself and I was down 8 pounds, but the next week I was back up 2. That was when I started spewing curse words and told Joe to get rid of "that 'bleeping' scale" before I threw it across the room and destroyed it. Three days later, I weighed again and was back down 8 pounds, but vowed to weigh less often because it is too discouraging. 4/6 is the last time I weighed and I was down 10 pounds. That was 5 weeks and 2 days in to my effort, so really not bad. 2 pounds a week is what I was shooting for.
My reasonable self decided to take a hard look at my progress. I felt like I'd been better MOST days. So I plugged my days into a spreadsheet and did some calculations. Turns out, I haven't been NEARLY as good as I thought. It's been 27 days since I updated this blog with my progress and this is how it plays out:
I have been under my total allotted calories: 9 days or 33%
I was OVER my total allotted calories: 12 days or 44%
I didn't record my calories at all: 6 days or 22%
Wow. That is almost as eye opening as how many calories I was eating before I started counting them. To be fair, of the days I was over my calories there were 4 days that seemed more break-even. I was over 2 calories one day, 4 calories one day, 15 calories one day, and 23 calories one day. Discounting those days, would swing the days to 12 within and 9 over. But, assuming I was over on the days I didn't record my calories, I'm still less than 50% on the good side!!!! Wow. My reasonable self now thinks that I should be thanking my lucky stars to have lost 10 pounds!!!
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