What is it about bright sunny winter days? Everything seems prettier and perkier and this includes my mood! I had a wonderful walk this morning, making sure I kept the sun on my face as much as I could. And now I am enjoying the bright light pouring through my windows.
The family drama (it was to do with the in-laws, I should have said this off this bat, and I would have avoided worrying my sister - sorry about that!) has subsided, too, for which I am grateful.
I started a new three week program at the gym on Monday, but when I got there I saw they were working on a skylight in the weight machine area, and workmen were walking back and forth through the area where the benches and free weights were. So I did my cardio (treadmill, cycle and elliptical) and went home to do my weights and abs. Hopefully they will be done by the time I go back tomorrow!
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Thursday, January 12, 2012
In Treatment
I learned a lot watching this (that therapy often doesn't actually solve any problems and usually creates new ones) and yet I often thought how nice it would be to have someone like Paul to listen to all my problems. Especially this week! Family drama and a painful hip have really been getting me down, and that has kept me from posting.
Of course you don't get to be 45 without learning that all things pass, and life is full of ups and downs, right? Next post will most likely be a lot more positive...
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Brain Decline
Just yesterday there was an article in our weekend newspaper about new research (published in the British Medical Journal this week) that shows that cognitive ability - memory, reason and ability to understand - begins to decline from the age of 45, much earlier than was previously thought to be the case.
Well, I can report that I am living proof of this! Having turned 45 a few months ago, I am definitely feeling the effects. Not only did I completely forget that my son had an orthodontist appointment on Wednesday, I also totally forgot I had agreed to skype with my godchild yesterday afternoon. And I have also been forgetting every single day that I promised Kim a photo of the necklace rack my husband got me for Christmas - I would be upstairs and look at my rack and think, "Oh, I have to take a picture of that," only to go downstairs and promptly forget. *sigh* And I am sure at this very moment that there is something else I am forgetting... Oh now I remember - the 10 euro certificate I had in my purse for several months to one of our favorite restaurants - and now the restaurant is closed for business so I can kiss my 10 euros goodbye. :-(
I am determined, however, not to go down without a fight! I decided the best remedy to foggy brain function is a good run in the fresh air, so that's what we did this morning - 6.9 km out the lake and back, in 50 minutes. In between the clouds and rain there was even a bit of sunshine!
It must have helped some because I did remember to take the picture - and I am keeping my fingers crossed for Skype again this afternoon!
Well, I can report that I am living proof of this! Having turned 45 a few months ago, I am definitely feeling the effects. Not only did I completely forget that my son had an orthodontist appointment on Wednesday, I also totally forgot I had agreed to skype with my godchild yesterday afternoon. And I have also been forgetting every single day that I promised Kim a photo of the necklace rack my husband got me for Christmas - I would be upstairs and look at my rack and think, "Oh, I have to take a picture of that," only to go downstairs and promptly forget. *sigh* And I am sure at this very moment that there is something else I am forgetting... Oh now I remember - the 10 euro certificate I had in my purse for several months to one of our favorite restaurants - and now the restaurant is closed for business so I can kiss my 10 euros goodbye. :-(
I am determined, however, not to go down without a fight! I decided the best remedy to foggy brain function is a good run in the fresh air, so that's what we did this morning - 6.9 km out the lake and back, in 50 minutes. In between the clouds and rain there was even a bit of sunshine!
It must have helped some because I did remember to take the picture - and I am keeping my fingers crossed for Skype again this afternoon!
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Unable to Run? Do Yoga!
A big storm blew through Belgium yesterday (Thursday) morning. I had plans to get up and get a short run in, but with the rain, wind and hail, it just wasn't going to happen. My body felt like it needed to move, so I decided to do this yoga video from Yoga Today's channel on Youtube. Good idea - because it felt great, and parts of it were pretty challenging. I have built up a lot more strength in my upper body this past year which means things like down dog, up dog and chataranga go a lot better for me, which is very encouraging. The Yoga Journal challenge starts next Monday and I am looking forward to it.
This morning the storm has died down, but it's Friday so I am off to the gym for some cardio on the elliptical Body Balance class. I've got my bag all packed so it's just a question of tearing myself away from this darn laptop...
Have a happy Friday!
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Resolutions, Good Intentions and a Recipe
I was back at the gym again this morning, doing my workout this time on my own. I missed my son! But it gave me time to reflect. It has been interesting this year reading everyone's new year's blogs and hearing what kinds of resolutions, goals and challenges people are doing.
For myself I have some long term goals focused around a big family reunion this summer in Colorado and our 20th wedding anniversary on coming up on 12-12-12: we are thinking of taking a big trip to celebrate - no concrete plans yet but we are leaning towards an exotic, warm destination - which puts visions of beaches and bathing suits in my mind...
So I have a plan for working out for the next 6 months down on paper, and a plan for healthy eating is taking shape. No hard core dieting as of yet - at the moment I am doing the PCRM Vegan Kickstart to get myself back into making healthy plant based dinners for my family, and refocus on healthy low fat meals for myself.
I'm not following their menu plan to the letter but using it for inspiration. My goal each day is to have a healthy breakfast (a green smoothie or cereal with plant milk), a healthy lunch (right now mostly soup) and then try a new recipe for dinner from the PCRM menu plan or somewhere else.
On Tuesday I made a delicious and super easy oven roasted pepper pasta sauce inspired by a recipe in "Vegan Italiano" by Donna Klein (one of my go-to cookbooks!) and I promised my mom I would post it. So here you go:
Oven Roasted Pepper Pasta Sauce
(makes about 6 servings)
1 14 oz can of chopped tomatoes
2 red peppers and 1 orange or yellow pepper, roughly chopped
5 garlic cloves, pressed or finely chopped
2 T olive oil
1 T balsamic vinegar
1 tsp each dried rosemary and dried summer savory (or oregano, thyme, etc.)
coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Preheat your oven to 450 F (220 C). Put all the ingredients in an ovenproof casserole or baking pan, stir well. Roast for about 30 minutes (while you boil water and cook your pasta of choice - we had this with 500g of tagilatele). Give the sauce a stir once or twice while cooking. When done, mash about half the sauce mixture roughly (or puree half of it with an immersion blender) and then top the pasta with the sauce. Yum! This recipe would be very easy to double or triple for a large group - maybe a meal for in Colorado?
For myself I have some long term goals focused around a big family reunion this summer in Colorado and our 20th wedding anniversary on coming up on 12-12-12: we are thinking of taking a big trip to celebrate - no concrete plans yet but we are leaning towards an exotic, warm destination - which puts visions of beaches and bathing suits in my mind...
So I have a plan for working out for the next 6 months down on paper, and a plan for healthy eating is taking shape. No hard core dieting as of yet - at the moment I am doing the PCRM Vegan Kickstart to get myself back into making healthy plant based dinners for my family, and refocus on healthy low fat meals for myself.
I'm not following their menu plan to the letter but using it for inspiration. My goal each day is to have a healthy breakfast (a green smoothie or cereal with plant milk), a healthy lunch (right now mostly soup) and then try a new recipe for dinner from the PCRM menu plan or somewhere else.
On Tuesday I made a delicious and super easy oven roasted pepper pasta sauce inspired by a recipe in "Vegan Italiano" by Donna Klein (one of my go-to cookbooks!) and I promised my mom I would post it. So here you go:
Oven Roasted Pepper Pasta Sauce
(makes about 6 servings)
1 14 oz can of chopped tomatoes
2 red peppers and 1 orange or yellow pepper, roughly chopped
5 garlic cloves, pressed or finely chopped
2 T olive oil
1 T balsamic vinegar
1 tsp each dried rosemary and dried summer savory (or oregano, thyme, etc.)
coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Preheat your oven to 450 F (220 C). Put all the ingredients in an ovenproof casserole or baking pan, stir well. Roast for about 30 minutes (while you boil water and cook your pasta of choice - we had this with 500g of tagilatele). Give the sauce a stir once or twice while cooking. When done, mash about half the sauce mixture roughly (or puree half of it with an immersion blender) and then top the pasta with the sauce. Yum! This recipe would be very easy to double or triple for a large group - maybe a meal for in Colorado?
Monday, January 2, 2012
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year, everyone! I wish you all good health and joy in whatever you do in 2012!
I just took my boys for haircuts - they all look so cute when they've just had a hair cut. What can I say, I'm their mom...
My oldest went to the gym again with me today and it makes me feel so happy that he actually even wants to do that with me. A lot of teens would die being seen with their mother at her gym! It really warms my heart. And we had a good time, too. I even tried a new gym machine I never did before - the rower. My son had done it before, knew how to set it up, and he preferred it to the bike, so I said I would do the rower with him. It was fun! We only had to do 10 minutes on it, which went okay, but I would definitely have to build up to do a longer workout on it. We both had the start of blisters on our hands when we were done.
It was a lot less busy at the gym than I expected for the first day of the new year. But all the regulars were there!
Our workout was:
I just took my boys for haircuts - they all look so cute when they've just had a hair cut. What can I say, I'm their mom...
My oldest went to the gym again with me today and it makes me feel so happy that he actually even wants to do that with me. A lot of teens would die being seen with their mother at her gym! It really warms my heart. And we had a good time, too. I even tried a new gym machine I never did before - the rower. My son had done it before, knew how to set it up, and he preferred it to the bike, so I said I would do the rower with him. It was fun! We only had to do 10 minutes on it, which went okay, but I would definitely have to build up to do a longer workout on it. We both had the start of blisters on our hands when we were done.
It was a lot less busy at the gym than I expected for the first day of the new year. But all the regulars were there!
Our workout was:
- 5 minute warm up on the treamill
- 10 minute fast walk at 3% incline
- 10 minutes rowing
- 12 minuite elliptical
- 2x 16 chest presses
- 2x 16 lat pull downs
- 16 leg curls
- 2x 12 leg presses
- 12 French presses
- abs
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