Event updates...

Sorry for the late post, I had the sniffles earlier in the week,  wasn't sure if I was up for getting out this weekend. Now I'm all better and raring to go. Hope you can join me at either McKee Botanical Gardens or  Goodwin Wildlife Management area this weekend.

Todays walk is cancelled

Today's afternoon walk at Goodwin is cancelled due to illness.  Please check in tomorrow for the weekend schedule.

Objects in mirror are smaller than they look...

So, I try to stay really positive, try to stay active, try to remember the important stuff like why I created this blog, and why I try to get people to come out on walks with me. But sometimes it's hard, sometimes it's really hard.

Case in point: A few weeks ago, the gym I go to started running a promotion where if you came in to the gym more that 150 times in the past year, you got a t-shirt that says "WORLDS BIGGEST USER" I thought the shirts were neat and I asked for one, given that I have been in 5x/week for over a year, I knew that I had earned it. The problem though, is that the t-shirts only went up to size XL. I was mortified. I've wear a 3x, and they just don't make them that big. I was so embarrassed, I started crying when I was telling my trainer about it. She talked me down, and that is actually how it came to pass that she challenged me to go 21 days without sugar to try to get me back on track eating a little better. 

Anyway, after a few days without sugar, Alison gave me one of the x-large t-shirts and told me to hang on to it for inspiration. I felt bad taking it, knowing it wouldn't fit any time soon, but I didn't want to hurt her feelings so I took it home. After seeing it sit in the laundry pile for a few days, just for laughs I decided to try it on to see how much further I have to go...

 (In case you can't read the writing, that is the "WORLDS BIGGEST USER", size xl t-shirt I am wearing in this picture, taken today.)

I've said all along that working out and getting off my butt in general isn't about losing weight, it's about getting out and feeling good and living in the world and not my head. But apparently somewhere along the way I have managed to drop a shirt size or two.

This post is for Allison, who made me do it :-)

Event Update - Turkey Creek

We had another glorious outing today. We (Heather, Ibrahim and I) went to Turkey Creek Sanctuary in Palm Bay. If you didn't GOYB today, here is what you missed (click on pictures to enlarge):

 This is a skink. The photo doesn't do him justice, he was a beautiful critter, kind of a silky black, brown and tan.

This is another skink that was hanging out. Again, the photo doesn't do him justice, his coloring was amazing, with the black and brown, but then the bright orange head.

This is a picture of Heather being really mean to poor defenseless little me. We somehow got onto a trail that ended in the middle of the boardwalk. Heather hopped right up onto the boardwalk, but I made the mistake of sitting my camera down, and Heather snapped this picture of me gracefully (haha) climbing up.

 We finally made it to the water's edge. There were tons of kitty fish swimming around.

 There were also tons of turtles sunning on logs today.

 Here is Heather doing her patented turtle-sitting-on-a-log imitation.

 Heather took this neat artsy picture of your truly in front of the Turkey Creek sign, with Galardia in the foreground.  (If anyone from Sampson Island is reading this, I mistakenly identified this a Coriopsis. Sorry about that). This picture came out so nice that I forgave her for the boardwalk one:-)

Heather and Ibrahim on the dock at Goode Park.

We are talking about doing a kayak trip for a future DeeMotivation event, so on the way home we stopped here to check out the launch facilities. From here you can kayak through Turkey Creek. As I will have to hire a leader and rent kayaks, please drop me an email if you are interested in joining, and I will schedule a trip. 

As always, it was a lovely outing, thanks to Heather and Ibrahim for making it so much fun! Hope everyone reading this can make it out to a future event!

The Return of a Taste of Tuesday

A while ago, I went through a vegetarian phase. My buddy Joy sent me a bunch of recipes, including one for Spinach Casserole. I have adapted it a little to suit my tastes. It's really good as a side dish, but it has enough nutrients to be a main dish as well.

Spinach Casserole

Ingredients:

• (2) 9 oz bags fresh spinach, chopped
• 8 oz your favorite cheese. I like cabot 50% pepperjack
• Spices in dish: I use nutmeg, cayanne and black pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup egg whites
• Pumpkin seeds
• 1 onion, diced
• Brown rice, cooked (I use a bag of boil-in-bag brown rice, it's easy to cook and hard to screw up)
• Paprika (enough to look pretty)
• Garlic (to taste, I use LOTS)

Procedure:

1. Cook the rice according to package directions and set aside.
2. In a large frying pan, cook the garlic and onions till the onions are translucent.  I use regular cooking oil, but I guess you could use Pam if you wanted to reduce the calorie count.  Add the chopped spinach by handfulls. letting it cook down (it will eventually all fit in there.) 
3. When the spinach mixture is all cooked, take pan off the heat. Either in the frying pan or in a big bowl, add the cooked rice, cheese, egg whites, nutmeg, cayanne an black pepper to the spinach.
4. Spray a cooking dish with Pam and dump the mixture into it. 
5. Sprinkle pumpkin seeds on top to taste (I like the texture, so I add quite a few), then add enough paprika to make it look pretty. 
6. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes or until browned on top.
7. Nom-nom-nom-nom-nom.

A few questions on the state of the blog...

 I am trying to decide the direction in which I want to take this blog. If you are reading here, it would be great if you could either reply here anonymously or send me email answering a few questions:

• I have mostly been doing trips here in Indian River County. If you live somewhere else, would you attend events if I held them in your area? (A general description of where you live would be helpful, either the town or county.)
• I've been most doing walking/birding tours, just because that is my interest.  I have always been open to other events, but haven't received any outside input. Would you attend other types of outings such as, for example, shopping, concerts, festivals, playing softball or other games? Let me know what else you might be interested in.
• Other than giving a few people my card, I really haven't promoted this blog at all. In your opinion, should I try promoting it? Is the advice/information I post here interesting and worthwhile? 
• What other topics would you like to read about here? 

Basically, I would like to reach a wider audience, but also do not want to waste people's time.  Please let me know your thoughts! Thanks so much.

Event Update

Today we got up at 4:30 am to drive up to Brevard County for a boat trip on the river with Wildside Tours. It was totally worth the insanely early hour. If you chose not to GOYB, here is what you missed (click to enlarge pictures):

 This could be one of my favorite pictures that I've ever taken. The pelicans just look so happy! They know the joy of getting off their butts!

 This was an interesting little scene. You can compare and contrast the laughing gull with the bonaparte's gull (check out the leg color and black eye patch on the bonaparte's) and you can also compare the royal to the caspian tern (the caspian has that honking big heavy beak.)

Two pelicans, looking majestic.

A pelican flying. I just liked the composition of this picture.

Two pelicans watching two great blues with a younger great blue between them. There is a story here.

 My HFC, and tour guide for the day, David.

 An anhinga, seriously in the mood for loving. I don't know...  if I was a girl anhinga, I'm not sure if blue mascara is really the thing that would get my motor revving.

 I love ospreys. They just have such a head full of attitude.

 A green heron.

A laughing gull, in the mood, and a pelican.

Just an anhinga, but I really liked this picture.








This was a great day out with Wildside Tours. I just tagged along today, but I would love to set up an official DeeMotivation tour with them.  It would be a paid trip (as you know, most DeeMotivation events are free) but I really thought it was a blast and well worth paying for. If you think you might be interested in doing this as an official DeeMotivation event, drop me an email.