Back to Work

Tags

Barre, Pilates, Relationships, Summer, Triathlon

Today I start back to work after a little more than 100 days of “summer break”. While I did many hours of work, did research, wrote, and lectured throughout the summer, I hard large amounts of free time to fill. Most of the summer was a surprise to me. When I walked out of my office on the last day of work in may, I had no idea how difficult and painful so much of the summer would be. I also had no idea of certain fun aspects and surprises as well. I love summer and I’m sad to see it go, but I’m hoping this burst of 90 degree weather (where was that weather when it was only 70 and I wanted to go to the pool?!) means a nice, long, and warmer fall! Summer was difficult, but I found ways to cope and stay healthy. Summer was lots of fun, too though. Here were some of the highlights and surprises:

• In May I got to hang out with my brother who is in the military for a few days! I’m excited for any time I can get!
• I got to spend hours every week gardening, pulling weeds, and working in the yard. I found being in nature really therapeutic, and it was definitely a favorite activity of my weeks.
• I spent time before bed reading a favorite book series of mine from elementary school! It was fun to remember all those positive memories!
• I found my new favorite bike trail and also hit a new 40 mile PDR on the bike!
• I celebrated my birthday with a lot of fun outdoor activities!
• One of the best surprises of the summer: I became a pilates barre instructor! When I started the summer I had no plans to do this training, but it was definitely an exciting part of my summer.
• I got to go on vacation to one of my favorite places on earth: Marco Island, Florida!
• I completed my 2nd sprint triathlon!
• I finished my first round of best body bootcamp.
• Beyond that I got to spend lots of fun hours with family and friends.
• I got to watch a calf be born! That was crazy and unexpected and disgusting and really awesome all at the same time.

Despite the difficulties I’ll miss the summer. I love getting to ease into the day a little more slowly, have a more relaxed schedule, get to do way more outdoor activities, eat meals outside, etc…

But now it’s time to start back into a routine, and with that comes more planning for meals, workouts, etc… I’m excited to get back into more structure but I’m sure going to miss all the sunshine (especially since my office is in a basement and has no windows!). I guess it’s a good thing I have a job that I really do love!

What was something exciting or surprising that happened this summer?

 

Thankful Thursday

Tags

Summer, Thankful

The weeks of summer really are just flying by, and I officially start back to work next week (although I’ve been in the office and at meetings this week). I’m so sad to see summer go, and I’m clinging to the last few weeks of it and trying to enjoy it for what it is. Life is difficult at times, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t things to be thankful for either:

I’m thankful for the heat and sunshine. It’s been HOT, HUMID, and SUNNY this week, and I can’t get enough of it. The sunshine is so happy, and it’s hard not to smile when I walk out onto my porch in the morning and feel the sun hitting me already. Pure happiness.

I’m thankful for reading & happy memories associated with it. I wrote an entire post on my “reading mentality” for the summer, and how connecting to past happy memories has helped to keep me healthy in the present.

I’m thankful for the “life giving-ness” of being surrounded by flowers. To me there’s something so therapeutic about gardening and caring for flowers as they grow and thrive. I’m so thankful that I had the opportunity to care for so many flowers this summer!

I’m thankful for sales at the grocery store! I walked in without any coupons this week, but still managed to walk away with $33 in savings due to great sales throughout the store! I was able to stock up on a few essentials that I use on a regular basis. It’s the little things, right?

I’m thankful for the love and laughter given by my sweet friends and family members. Life would be so, so sad without them.

Now it’s your turn to share! What are you feeling thankful for today? What final “summer moments” are you having? 

Surrounded by Flowers!

Tags

2013 Challenge, Health, Summer

Every summer that has passed I’ve realized more and more how much I REALLY like flowers and gardening. This summer I had a great time planting 22 different pots, along with a planter and bushes and plants that were put directly into the ground. It’s certainly a lot of work to keep them all fertilized, watered, and dead headed, but I found it truly therapeutic to work with them this summer. I thought I’d share a few of them with you all!

Geraniums, petunias, and impatients! I think the bottom left is a variety of rose bush but I can’t remember since it’s been a few years since it was planted. It’s pretty though!

Lillies, Ferns, grass, and more beautiful petunias. The top right picture is a variety of grass, which I lovingly refer to as “the hair grass”. I was obsessed with these purple petunias this summer.

I was really into the mix of geraniums, petunias, and spikes in the center. So pretty!

I had two of these pots and they were my favorites. These pots included petunias (“normal” purple ones, and two special varieties called “Lemon Zest” and “Rhythm and Blues”), spike, squash plant, pink geraniums, and those pretty cascading snow-something plants.

Like yesterday’s discussion on reading being healthy, being outdoors with flowers can be incredibly healthy for us as well. I’m happy to have had the opportunity to care for all these beautiful plants all summer, and they certainly provided a lot of fun and self-care for me! It also helped me to live out one of my 13 challenges for the year: to be present in the moment.

Now it’s your turn to share! Do you plant at all in the summer? If so, what’s your favorite flower? 

40 Mile Ride

Tags

Biking, Summer

Last week I wrote a post about my 33 mile bike ride on the Root River Trail. On August 10th, while still in Minnesota, I decided I needed one more bike ride on my new favorite trail. I also had a goal to pass the 33 mile mark. The day was perfect and in the mid-70’s. I learned from my mistake last week regarding not taking in much salt which I need for my POTS, so this week I was prepared. I brought a water bottle with me as well as a 20 ounce bottle of Gatorade. In the bottle of Gatorade I put just under a teaspoon of salt, making it pretty salty. It worked and I didn’t get dizzy at all!

This trail is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever been on in my life! There are forests, prairie land, farms, rivers, quaint towns, and huge tunnels of rock. The rocks are really cool to bike through:

Even though all but 7 miles of the route were the same, I had even more fun than I did the previous week! Of course we had to stop for pie once again, and it was equally as delicious as last week. Every bike ride should be powered by pie 🙂 When we stopped for pie (at mile 25), I was definitely feeling a bit tight, and took a few minutes to stretch and do some down dogs.

We also stopped at a cute little shop in Lanesboro called “Essence of Lanesboro“, which sells natural body care products. I bought a few chapsticks. The shop owner makes all the products himself, and even uses really Dove dark chocolate in his chapsticks! The shop was really cute, and it was fun to browse and take a minute to hydrate.

I enjoyed every mile of this bike ride, and I was happy when my runkeeper app hit this:

A perfect note on which to end my summer biking season! This ride was about as close to perfect as you can get, and I’m so glad that I got over my ridiculous fear of biking because it would be a shame to miss out on such a fantastic experience! So now I have a shiny new PDR to enter the fall with!

Now it’s your turn to share! What makes a perfect ride or workout for you? 

Friday Facts

Tags

Barre, Exercise, Summer, Travel

Happy Friday! This week seems to have zipped by so quickly! I want July to SLOW IT DOWN because I really love summer. I thought I’d post a few random Friday facts today:

1. I step back a bit from my blog in the summer, and I really like that. I think it helps me avoid burnout, and it gives me the chance to take a little breather. I miss it a little, but I also love all the extra free time to be outside. 

2. I LOVE to be outside. I’d be outside most of every single day if I could be! 

3. I’ve decided that I really do enjoy weeding. Weird, right? I’m pretty sure I know no one who loves to weed as much as I do. It meets my need for creating order and getting stuff done, and I love the time outside (see above) to listen to podcasts! Seeing huge areas cleaned from weeds brings happiness to my heart. It’s the little things… 

4. I ran 4 miles this morning and it was the longest distance I’ve gone since my half marathon in May. I felt great while running and it was good to hit a distance longer than a 5k! 

5. I finally bit the bullet and am heading to sports medicine on Monday. More on that to come. 

6. I’ve fallen in love with pilates barre classes this summer. I have some exciting news coming up next week on that! 

7. My dad recently asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and I said “my youth”. Sadly, I’m thinking he will not be able to give that back to me. 

8. If I had to repeat any year of grade school K-12, I would probably choose to repeat 10th grade. I cemented a great group of friends that year, I hadn’t been diagnosed with POTS yet, and had a blast spending all fall rehearsing for our school’s musical. We had someone come out from Broadway to choreograph and I danced hours and hours every week. That being said, I definitely don’t miss high school much at all. 

9. I have a cousin who is 5 months younger than me, and we text almost every day. We were always great friends growing up, and regularly wrote letters and called one another throughout the years. She’s training for her 3rd triathlon right now, so it’s fun to talk training with her now as well! 

10. I both attended camp and worked at camp every summer from age 8- my sophomore year of college. The last few years I spent about 6 weeks every summer up there, and even today I still miss camp almost every day in the summer. It was one of the best experiences of my life, and even when I have a blast in the summers, something still feels a little empty without some good campfires and canoeing on the lake. 

Now it’s your turn to share! Tell me a fun fact about you? Have you started to enjoy a new type of exercise this summer? What is one of your favorite memories of summer while growing up? 

Marco Island, Florida

Tags

Exercise, Family, Picture, Summer, Travel

I just got back from a vacation to one of my favorite places on earth- Marco Island, Florida! My family has been going to this island for a few generations, so it’s really become a family tradition. My time there, as always, was really enjoyable and relaxing, and I thought I’d share a piece of it here!

Clockwise from Top Left: 1: Sunset the first night! I never get tired of them! 2: Dolphins! I went out boating with my relatives and there were 7 dolphins swimming around and under the boat. So cool!  3: Out at the pool! 4: Kayaking

1: Amazing Honey Chicken Salad from a restaurant called Mangos! YUMMY! 2: Out of control humidity and heat meant constant sweating and absolutely no beach runs this trip 😦  3: I wish I could build a tiki hut in my house! 4: Sunset!

1: Smallpox has always been an interesting subject for me, so as soon as I spotted a book on the eradication efforts in India, I snatched it up and read it by the pool! 2: Fourth of July Fireworks. I talked more about the 4th here. 3: More sunset! 4: A sand castle snowman in a bikini! Cute.

1: A bald eagle/American flag sand creation. 2: Early morning walk on the beach. 3: sunset! 4: A lightning storm in the clouds! So cool looking!

1: HUGE snails come out after the sunset. 2: These sunsets were unreal. Oh yeah- no filters on any of these pictures by the way! 3: sunset 4: View of the marina at the Esplanade where Mangoes Restaurant is

I mentioned that I had extended and immediate family down there, and it was so fantastic to see all of them! I mentioned that I didn’t end up running on the beach at all while there. I’m so sad because I really love to run down there, but it was just too hot and humid and it would’ve been especially unsafe due to POTS. In order to still get some exercise, I walked every day on the beach (the views make the walks AMAZING!), and tried a new-to-me exercise: pool running! This was the perfect way to still “run” and get cardio while making sure that I didn’t overheat at all. Win-win!

Other than that, most of my days included a 4 mile walk on the beach, sitting out and reading at the pool, and swimming out at the ocean. However, the last few days the beach was inundated with baby jellyfish and multiple people were getting stung, so I didn’t go in the ocean at all those days! The days are leisurely there, and I love them!

Now it’s your turn to share! Do you have a favorite vacation place you’ve gone to multiple times? What’s your favorite thing to do on vacation? 

A Waterfront 4th!

Tags

Holiday, Summer

On the 4th of July I was trying to think about my answer to the question “What’s your favorite holiday?” I love holidays and I don’t think I could choose just one! 4th of July holds a lot of special memories for me as I used to dress up and participate in a local parade with my cousin! We would do “tricks” on our scooters and throw out candy to other kids; it was a blast!

This year there wasn’t a parade, but it was still quite a bit of fun! I got to celebrate at the beach which was perfect! My day started off with making homemade blueberry pancakes! Yummm! We hit the beach first thing in the morning and enjoyed a long walk before it began to rain on us! Luckily it was a quick downpour, and we were soon able to head back to the pool. After lunch we headed back to the pool, and enjoyed time out there until dinner! I started to read the second Hunger Games book again, and was reminded of how obsessed I really am with them!

A walk on the beach

Catching Fire at the pool!

Dinner was potato salad, brats, and my favorite part: blue and red jello eggs! Yumm!

I took this picture a few days after they were made, so that’s why they look a little deformed now! Just as tasty though!

After dinner we headed back to the beach and walked about a mile down while enjoying others’ personal fireworks and patriotic music. We finally found the perfect spot and settled in for the fireworks show! We were right at the edge of the ocean, and this provided one of the best fireworks displays I’ve been to! The fireworks were reflected in the water which looked really pretty, and I could hear the sound of the waves too. Patriotic music was played in the background, and it was a really fantastic moment!

The mile walk back home on the beach was fantastic too with others’ fireworks displays. All in all, it was a pretty fantastic day full of music, food, the beach, and the pool!

How did you celebrate the 4th of July? Do you have a favorite holiday?

Thankful Thursday

Tags

2013 Challenge, Summer, Thankful

Gosh, it’s been quite the week. It hasn’t been the easiest of all weeks for me (lots of things going on!), but there have been lots of good moments along the way, and I’m choosing to focus on these things today. That’s the thing with gratitude; things don’t need to be going really well for us to still find things we’re thankful about in our life (remember: life isn’t all or nothing!). That being said, here are a few of the things I’ve been thankful for this week:

I’m thankful for my water bottle. Now that summer finally (FINALLY!) has arrived, I’ve had to increase the amount of water I drink each day (hey thanks, POTS, for that!). Water bottles make it so easy and convenient to stay hydrated on the go, and I’m so happy that they were invented! 

I’m thankful that summer has arrived. We’ve finally hit a few days in the 80’s, and I’ve been able to go to the pool once and pull out my tank tops. REJOICE! It’s been so nice after almost a month of rain every day to be able to just enjoy being outside. 

I’m thankful for evening summer walks. There’s something about going on a walk in the summertime that is just wonderful. I went on an almost hour-long walk a few nights ago as the sun was setting, and the whole time I could only thing “this is perfect”. I try to fully enjoy these moments and live in that present moment (along my 13 challenges in 2013 guidelines).

I’m thankful for chips. While they definitely aren’t the most healthy food out there, they are DELICIOUS! Again, because of my POTS, I am supposed to be putting extra salt on all my meals. You add training into that, and I pretty much constantly crave salt. Chips are such an easy and convenient way to eat salt, so they are one of my go to snacks! YUM!

I’m thankful for Arrested Development. This has been my go to funny show since the end of May, and I’m slowly working my way through the first 3 seasons, which I haven’t watched since either 2006 or 2007. I can’t wait to sit down and watch the new season:) 

I’m thankful for my backyard. The trees and all the flowers I planted have provided a very calm space for all the crazy going on around me, and I’ve utilized my lounge chair back there for a number of hours every day as I work (I’m typing from there right now!). I’m so thankful I have a beautiful view to enjoy. 

Now it’s your turn to share! What are you thankful for today? What do you do to create a calm environment when there’s a lot going on around you?

Thankful Thursday

Tags

Family, Summer, Thankful

Happy Thursday and happy day of being thankful! Here’s a few things I’m feeling thankful for right now:

I’m thankful that the Air Force gave my brother a few days off! He’s in a training program right now, and they finished one part a bit ahead of schedule so he’s able to come home for a few days. It’s so fun to have him here!! Having a brother who lives across the country from me isn’t so fun, but we communicate really frequently and are still close. I’m so happy for this surprise of a few days!

I’m thankful for a summer vacation. One of my jobs is nine months of the year, and this is my first week of “summer vacation” from that. I still have lots of work to do for my second job, but it’s a lot more flexible so I can travel and see friends and family a bit. Plus I have more free time to be outside and enjoy the nice weather! I’m thankful that I’m an adult who still gets the summer “off” 🙂

I’m thankful for laughter. Stop for a minute and imagine a life where you never get to laugh or be around someone who is laughing again. It’s sad, right? This is another simple pleasure in life that I don’t think about very often. I’m really thankful that humans have the ability to laugh and feel the joy that comes along with a funny story or memory.

I’m thankful for long days of sunshine. It’s light until after 9 pm now, and every night I get excited when I see the light outside. Part of my living in the moment goal means that I pause as I go about my evening to appreciate the light and the beautiful sunsets. Also- there’s something really beautiful about the sunlight that occurs right before sunset in the summer. It’s golden and absolutely beautiful.

I’m thankful that I have curly hair. I know people say that we always want what we don’t have, but it’s not true in this case. In 2005 I had a friend who had cancer and lost his hair, and in that moment I decided to never wish I had different hair again. Yes, I can’t get my hair to be shiny and smooth, and sometimes that would be nice. But overall I like that my hair is curly and bouncy and different.

Now it’s your turn to share! What are you feeling thankful for today? Is there a feature of your body that you really like?