Hear me Roar!

At the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival this week. Haven't done any long walks since last weekend. In fact, I haven't been to the gym since Tuesday. Other than when  I was hiking out west over the summer, this is the longest  I have gone without hitting the gym. To be honest, I'm kind of surprised how crappy and tired I feel. It amazes me (in a good way) how used to working out every day I am. I also notice that although I pretty much weigh the same, I'm in so much better overall health. For example, I usually have a horrible allergy attack in mid-January. This year, it lasted about a day -- I just recover that much faster, and don't get sick nearly as often to start with. Another example, I hauled 6 bird boxes from the 2nd floor of the hotel down to my car this morning. I am woman, hear me ROAR!

But my favorite thing about being in shape -- I have stamina and recover in hours now. The last long walk we did (I haven't uploaded the pix yet) was 7 miles. I had a blister that hurt, but my muscles and bones were fine, and I didn't even have to nap afterwards, in fact if anything, it energizes me. Again, hear me ROAR!

I'll be starting afternoon walks again this week, and will be doing the Melbourne Marathon next Sunday. Join me if you want to roar too!

Event update: 10 miles!

If you didn't choose to GOYB today, you missed a spectacular 10-mile walk along the water. Here's just a little of what we saw. Click to enlarge pictures.

 There was a fair amount of bones and other dead stuff today. This was a bird we found, haven't been able to ID the species yet.

 We walked all the way to Brevard County from Treasure Shore Beach (5.25 miles out, 10.5 miles round trip). Here is Heather in front of the sign to prove it.

 Here is me in front of the sign. And no, we didn't drive there, we really walked:-) I gots the blisters to prove it. And, Dave and Alison,  I finally figured out the Garmin, so I have the technology to prove it too!

This was our coolest sighting of the day. We saw a sea turtle from the bridge. Then we saw another, and another, I think in the end there were about 6 playing in the water.

Here is the divine Miss H. sitting on the VERY windy bridge. She was sitting on the railing and to be honest, I tried to take the picture as quickly as possible cause it was making me nervous, I was afraid she was about to take a swim with the sea turtles below.

So, we were quite proud of our accomplishment.  Bring on the 1/2 marathon! Seriously, other than the blister, I felt great during and after the walk. I used Glide, and worked great on the places that my sports bra hits, but it didn't seem to work quite as well on my foot.  I could really use some blister prevention tips and cures.

Super Speed Walk!

So, Heather and I met at Wabasso Beach for our walk. We did FANTASTIC! I am SO ready for the 1/2 marathon. We did 15 miles in under an hour and a half. GO US!

In a completely unrelated note, Dave, Alison if you are reading this, I think I figured out how to use the Garmin! Or maybe not... LOL (It might have been closer to 3 miles in 1.5 hours:-)

Goals and Resolution for 2011

I realized today that I have been hesitant to record my goals and resolutions for this year because once I write them down, I will have to start working on them. So, as of this moment going forward, here are my goals and resolution for this year:

• Walk 500 miles. (8.2 down, 491.7 to go)
• Last year, I made an effort to reserve only one night a week on which I would eat crap for dinner. This year, I resolve to, instead of once per week, only eat crap AFTER I have walked 25 miles. After I eat crap, the count starts back at 1. 
• Get onto Alison (my awesome trainer's) Success Stories board.
• Short term goals continued over from last year:
• Continue seeking out bee people. This was the most important one last year, and is still the most important this year. I've found one or two, but you can never have enough. 
• Finish Timmy and start book.
• Get new tattoo. 
• Learn a song on the banjo and post a video to YouTube.
• Toilet train the cats. (I don't kid myself. I realize I have very little control over this one.)
• Add something new to the long term goals list.  http://deemotivation.blogspot.com/2009/12/new-years-resolutions.html

And finally, I decided that my main resolution this year is that no matter how high the cliff, this year I will hurl myself off of it with complete abandon. I might crash and burn or I might learn to fly, but either option is better than clinging to the same cliff for 46 years and being sad cause nothing ever changes.

New Years Goals 2009 Revisited

So, last year I made a list of long and short term goals.  I posted them on my web site not just for my benefit, but also in an effort to encourage my readers to make realistic long term goals. So, let's take a look and see how I did:

• Seek out more bee people. Find the short fat awkward people who don't fit in and dance with them. I know they are out there.  Mission accomplished. I think I need to make this a goal every year.
  
• Make a little birdhouse in my soul. Continue with this web site and blog. I'm not sure anyone is reading anymore (I haven't gotten much feedback to the blog) but if maybe someday, one person stumbles across it and finds some solace, some sanctuary here, then I'll consider this resolution a success. In fact, as long as I keep the blog up I will.  Mission accomplished. I haven't gained a lot of readers, but the ones I know about mean so much to me and make everything worth while.
• Believe that life can change and I'm not stuck in vain! This is a tough one for me, especially as I get older and have to face my future with some sense of realism, but without a defeatist attitude. I need to remind myself that I'm too old to be a rock star, but still young enough to maybe play a song on YouTube or maybe even do a coffee house someday.  Mission accomplished. I haven't done anything with music this year, but I have made other changes in my life. Done 5ks, taken charge of other things in my life that were wrong. It's getting better all the time.
• Make every day the best day ever! Make plans, and even though sometimes things don't always go as planned, remember to make the best of it either way.  I didn't always succeed on this one. Working on my attitude is still something that I need to do.
• Continue making short term goals, and updating them as I cross things off. My current list is:
  
  • Make crabs for the ELC. Done
    
  • Make interactive map of how the FL land mass has changed for the ELC. Done
  • Toilet train the cats. Done (well, for Maggie, anyway, the rest are on their way)
  • Finish Timmy and start book. Not done. I need to make more time for creativity in 2011.
  • Get new tattoo. Not done. Not sure why I haven't done this yet, I really wanted to. I think this one relates to still not taking enough time for me.
  • Get promotional material (brochures and magnets) for David's business printed and distributed. Done. Not just printed material, we also have t-shirts for sale for his business now.
  • Learn a song on the banjo and post a video to YouTube. Not done. As with Timmy, the book, and my tattoo, I seem to have a harder time accomplishing the goals that are solely for my benefit. Got to work on this one in 2011.
  
  
• Continue making long term goals and do all that I can to work towards them. Done.  I haven't crossed anything off this list, but I've worked really hard at the gym this year, which is a major step to being able to physically accomplish some of my more physical long term goals, so I am very proud of that achievement.
  My current long term goals are:
• Appalachian Trail with Joy, Christmas 2010 (at least the part around north GA-North Carolina)
• Summit Kearsage. It's kicked my butt twice so far, I need to show it who's boss.
• See a cock-of-the-rock in its native habitat.
• Sing karaoke. Unashamed, despite having been begged never to go near a microphone again ever (I mean that literally -- my ex posted an MP3 on the internet when we had a band, and someone clicked the link to listen to it and immediately called me, all the way from England, to beg me never to go near a microphone again, ever.)
  
• Touch Marty Marquis' hair.
  
• When I was a kid I saw a tv show about a museum in Japan that had a big animatronics collection. I'd really like to find and visit that museum.
  
• Hike down the Grand Canyon.
  
• Get the rest of the stamps for my National Park Passport.
  
• Write a book.
  
• Sell another photo or other piece of my own artwork (and go to the museum somewhere in Utah that has the first photo that I sold.)
  
• See a Satanic Leaf Tailed Gecko in its natural habitat (Madagascar)
  

Next post: Goals for 2010

A Taste of Tuesday

So, I really wanted some fruit with breakfast today, but didn't want 2 carbs, so I decided to make an omelet with some fruit on the side. My dad taught me how to make omelets a long, long time ago. Every weekend for about 3 months, I would claim that I "forgot" what he had shown me, and had him make me one while I watched. I thought I was putting one over on him, but in hind sight, I think he, like I now, just really liked making omelets.

I few years ago, I took my Hiawassee Mom shopping at the outlet malls, and I found the greatest omelet pan ever. I think it is truly the key to making perfect omelets. It makes me happy to make omelets using this pan not just cause it's cute, but because it reminds me both of my dad and my Hiawassee mom:

It is insanely cute, and has a matching omelet turner-over thingy

But I digress. There really isn't a recipe for omelets. I just spray the pan with Pam, then put in what ever  I find in the fridge. This particular day, I used:

• Egg whites
• Frozen veggies (carrot, broccolli and cauliflower mix) thawed
• Cabot 50% Pepper Jack cheese

Put every thing in the omelet pan. Cook on one side for 3-4 minutes, flip and cook other side for about 3 minutes. Serve with fruit on the side, or, if you are PMSing, a bag of Pepperidge Farm Double-stuffed Chocolate Milanos. 

Event update!

If you chose not to GOYB this weekend, here's what you missed! (Click to enlarge pictures.)

A big green... worm.. I can't remember
what Heather told me it is... I'm a bad master naturalist!

A Red-shouldered hawk

A really tiny Ring-necked Snake

The divine miss Heather with a stick bug.
We saw lots of stick bugs today!

We walked a total of 7.5 miles, and it felt so great that we're gonna do another long walk on December 19. Join us, you never know what cool things you'll see, but I can guarantee that you aren't going to see them if you stay at home on your couch!