Friend Makin' Monday, sans unicorns and rainbows

It's a brand new day.  It's a brand new week.  And I'm still here.

It was a bit of a frenetic weekend.  Lots of cooking and prep for SC600 - which I managed not to photograph even once.  That works out OK, though, because we'll be doing a second SC600: BBQ Edition soon, and I'm really looking forward to it.  Sunday brought major exhaustion - including a brief nap that accidentally turned into a three-hour-nap.  It also brought with it some major food addiction struggles.  I was feeling emotional, and experiencing 2 or 3 out of the 4 "HALT" conditions that can lead to relapse.  I fought food cravings all day, and managed to avoid indulging by talking through my emotions, resting, and seeking out healthy food.  (Even when hungry while out late, I managed to order a turkey burger instead of something much worse.)  I did, however, eat a brownie.  I ate it mindfully, just the single-serving I bought.  I felt sated and no longer felt the need to cram every kind of everything down my gullet.  As I said to Tom earlier in the day - that craving had nothing to do with food.  It had to do with wanting not to feel emotion.

But I'm still here.  And do you know why?  The answer also happens to be the answer for today's Friend Makin' Monday question.

Was there a defining moment in which you realized that you needed to lose weight? 

Yes.  There was.  And it isn't pretty, so if you're looking for rainbows and unicorns, maybe it's best you move along to LisaFrank.com.

My defining moment was actually a defining month. May, 2009.  It was the month my mother died.

Mom suffered from an auto-immune disease called ITP - which is a complicated condition, but boils down to her immune system consuming her blood cells, which made her bleed internally unless she took steroids.  Which she did for the duration of the disease.  Which lasted for twelve years before she passed away.  Most people gain weight from a couple of days on steroids.  Can you imagine taking them for twelve years?  Unfortunately, I can, because I saw it happen.  Along with the fatigue from the disease, it caused a vibrant, warm, spitfire of a woman to disappear before my eyes.

Before all of this went down, Mom had issues with behavioral eating (which I've discussed earlier and elsewhere) - and was already morbidly obese. But everything was compounded by the steriods, not to mention being exhausted and having her joints slowly destroyed. Which led to weight gain. Which led to more exhaustion, worse joints, more weight gain, more exhaustion, worse joints, more weight gain.  An infinite cycle of it.

There were years of slowly slipping mobility.  Of my dad doing all of the housework and caring for her 24/7. There were walkers, wheelchairs, electric wheelchairs, vans with elevators, chairs with mechanisms to lift her out.  And after her fall at the end of April 2009, in the retirement home where she was so miserable, there was even a mechanical sling that lifted her from the bed to the toilet on wheels.  She couldn't move herself at all anymore.  This is when I left Los Angeles to spend what I thought would be a week in my hometown, cheering her up.

But within five days at the retirement home, she'd contracted a blood infection from the pressure sores.  Her weight pushed so hard against the surface of the bed that it wounded her.  And because of her diabetes, healing would be impossible.  She spent the rest of that month in the hospital, and I stayed for all of it.

Soon there was an around-the-clock air pressure mask, for lungs weighted down so that not enough oxygen got to them.  Significant mental confusion followed, including an extended period of hallucination that my father and I were working with the mob to have her killed. (Which sounds funny now, but was heartbreaking then.)  And eventually, there was the discovery of her congestive heart failure.  There were a few precious days of lucidity as we all said our goodbyes.  And then there was coma.

And then, there's the day I don't talk about much, or think about much, for that matter.  The morning she woke up from the coma.  They were flipping her over to try to clean her rotting wounds, when she woke up screaming from the pain.  She didn't stop, or fall asleep again, until they administered the dose of morphine that allowed her to relax long enough to die that afternoon.  And we were all there with her, horrified, watching her suffer, and then watching her slip away.

I do my best to remember my mother as she was before all of this. A force of life to be reckoned with.  Quickest with a joke - with the least appropriate joke for the occasion, in fact.  Passionate about family, about celebrating, about understanding and communicating with her loved ones.  And those memories make me happy.

But the memory of her dying?  I have to return to it now and again.  It keeps me on my weight loss journey.  Because although it was an auto-immune disease that compounded her health, it was her weight that made that disease so much more difficult to bear.  Someday, somehow, I will die, too.  And when I do, I do not want my weight to make that experience worse than it needs to be.

__


Thank you for being here with me today, everyone.  This isn't an easy story to share.  I work so hard to make my journey to better health one that is filled with joy.  I firmly believe that one can find so much to love and live for while one is losing weight, even within that very process.  And I promise that I will continue to share my discoveries about the joy of healthy living here, day by day.  But some days, I have to remember what set me on this path.  I just wish my Mom didn't have to die for it to happen.

Please.   Please take care of you.  And tell your loved ones how much they mean to you.

Requiem for a Ceiling

I'd like to recite a poem to commemorate the passing of my bedroom ceiling.

Oh, bedroom ceiling, naught where once you'd been,
I shudder when I think of all you've seen.
Though soon we'll have you patched and laced with paint,
For now we must admit: up there, you ain't.


Our very nice new upstairs neighbors found out that the previous condo owners did not, in fact, fix the pipes like we were all told.  Our kittens were fascinated/horrified by the leak coming through the ceiling, and then by the plumbers who cut a person-sized hole so as to fix the neighbors' pipes above.  Oh, multi-family dwellings, you suck.

On the up-side, this means that we have motivation to paint our bedroom after the ceiling is fixed - so I started to consider actually decorating it, too.

We've had the makings for a kick-ass space-age mid-century-mod bedroom for some time.  We've been collecting bit by bit over the years... we've just never gotten around to putting it together.  So I took the opportunity to create one collage of the pieces we have, and a second collage of the pieces we'd like in order to complete it.

It's currently a splattering of thoughtless and dull colors, and we're going with a red/aqua/turquoise/black pallette.

Here are the things we already have:

Clockwise from top left:
Chaise Longue by EQ3
Aqua swirl vase by Crate & Barrel
Retro red duvet by EQ3
Sunburst clock by Timekeeper
Antique dresser refurbished by Zamba in Burbank (yet to be repainted; for colors, see next image)
Wall sconce by Crate & Barrel

   
 Here are the things we still need:

Paint, in four shades.  (We already own bookcases, but we love this painted backsplash idea from Real Simple)
Arc lamp by George Kovacs
Pillow slipcovers by Etsy artists kainkain and sassypillows

   
I'm hoping that these collages - and the ceiling disaster - will help me get my butt in gear, because I really respond to whatever space I'm in. Creative spaces make my brain feel creative.  Cluttered spaces make my brain feel cluttered.  And I have a lot of creative work to do, and no room for cluttered thinking!  So here's hoping this helps me boost my creative juices.  It'll be a couple of weeks before we can get everything in place, but I'll follow up as soon as we do.

How about you?  Do you have any home projects that are hanging over your head?  How do you motivate yourselves to get down to business (without, say, ceiling waterfalls?)

Okey-dokey. I'm off to do some work of my own.  Back tomorrow with some flashy fashions... and I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing!  'Til then, take care of you!

Weigh-in Tuesday, with a post-op update, and a plateau revelation

It's nice to be upright again!  I'm almost finished with the no-exercise post-surgery ruling, and I can't wait to get back to my usual sweatin' self.  It's interesting... before this year, I would have in no way considered regular exercise to be "myself."  But now, going a full week without activity has meant that I've gone a little cabin-feverish inside my body. 

Also a little cabin-feverish inside my cabin! Er, condo. I've been out twice in the last week, and that is simply not enough! I must be getting acclimated to all this regulated weekly adventure that I've been doing for the blog.  I am positively itchy to do, like, five things on my list of future Adventure Wednesdays... all in a row.  But my body's not quite up to that yet.

The surgery itself went well. I'd never been under general anesthesia before, and I was a bit anxious beforehand.  But anecdotes from friends helped me relax, and the medical staff was very helpful at the hospital.  As they put the mask on me, the sweet Latino male nurse said "drift off to a tropical island." And then the dashing French anesthesiologist said "screw the island, go to Paris!" That's the last thing I remember.  Recovery has been OK - I had more problems with the painkiller side effects than anything else.  How anyone can use Vicodin recreationally... it's beyond me!

Food during recovery proved a big challenge.  I take responsibility for my own choices, but I think that it was harder to make good choices while: A - in pain.  You know my reaction to strong emotion? It's the same as my reaction to strong pain.  B - under painkillers.  It's a bit like making decisions while under the influence of alcohol... harder to stick to what you'd usually choose.  Part of the reason why I don't drink often or to excess.  And C - having gone almost 24 hours without eating.  The old addiction adage, "HALT," exists for a reason.  And it's tough to make good choices about food when you're incredibly hungry.  But after a few days of completely mindless eating (not, to say, horrible food - just not thinking through choices) my body spoke louder than my addiction, and it was back to business as usual.  When you're off your schedule, out of your norm, it's a challenge to make the decision to eat well.  But once you make the decision, the eating well is... cake!  (Heh. Weird use of that expression.  I really mean, eating well isn't so difficult.)

After all of this not-mindfulness and can't-exerciseness, I wasn't surprised to see that my weight hasn't budged from last week.  I seem to officially be on a plateau.  And it's not just this week.  This whole month has been a slowdown.  And after some thoughtful consideration... I think I might know why.  It's not that I had surgery - although that surely affected things.  It's not that I haven't been as careful with logging my calories or exercising as much - though both are true, they are just symptoms.

It's that I'm scared.

I know, I know, that sounds crazy.  The last six months have changed my life.  I'm stronger, more active, capable of doing much more, and addressing disordered eating behavior.  Nothing but good has come from taking care of myself.

But I've reached a weight range that is my lowest since graduating college ten years ago.  Very few of the people active in my life (basically just my family and my childhood friends) have seen me much thinner than I am right now. I was always overweight, but around the time I graduated from college, I put on a lot of weight in reaction to a few challenges I faced.  I'm beginning to think it was "protection" weight - a barrier between me and those challenges.

So I'm going to have a little conversation with myself... it's going to be kind of obvious, but bear with me.  I think my subconscious needs to hear it.

Self.  Hey, self.  You have been kicking so much ass.  I'm so proud of you.  But I'm noticing that you're slowing down a little... and I don't think you consciously mean to do it.  So I want you to hear a few things.


One.  The people who love you, love you regardless of your size.  So what if some of them have never known you to be smaller than you are?  You aren't a different person.  They will not love you any more if you weigh less (and will not prove what you might secretly fear: that you're less loveable if you weigh more.)  They will not love you any less if you weigh less.  You are you, and they love you.  And you love you, so for heaven's sake, take care of you.


Two.  The struggles and challenges you faced so long ago?  They're long-past.  You've long-succeeded.  And you have the wisdom and strength gained from those experiences that will help you prevent them in the future.  No weight separates you from that wisdom and strength.  No weight can protect you from future struggles and challenges.  But you know what weight can do?  Prevent you from fully-realized health.  

Perhaps, together, we can look at these next weeks and pounds as the release of any toxicity that you still hold.  As we let go of 300, we can let go of the past, live in the present, and work toward the future.  Because you are worth it, self.  You are absolutely worth it.

OK.  That's it for today.  I'll be back tomorrow with a new adventure... and today, I'll take care of myself the best ways I can.  I hope you'll take care of you, too.

Suck it, Yoda.

It's Tuesday, which usually means a trip to the scale and a weigh-in report here.  But since I've been flu-y, I don't want that number to be artificially low.  So I'm skipping the weigh-in this week and hopefully once my body is more recovered next week, the number won't be out of whack either.

During Tom's fever-induced naptime this weekend, I happened to stumble upon a Star Wars marathon on TV.  So I listened to The Empire Strikes Back while doing some photo editing.  And as Yoda schooled an impatient Luke on Dagobah, I found myself getting pretty pissed off.

Let's be clear.  I love Star Wars - and have ever since my brother introduced them to me one at a time, on his trips home from college.  And boy howdy did I respond.  I was a pretty nerdy kid.  For my eleventh birthday, my hair was done up in the Return of the Jedi double braid crown.  The first essay I ever typed on a computer (around the same time) began with "I know everything there is to know about X-Wing Flyers." Yoda is my favorite character, other than my schoolgirl crush on Luke. (Don't be surprised that it's not Han. I also prefer Raoul over Erik, Riley over Spike, and young X over young Magneto. Though it's impossible not to prefer Rhett over Ashley.)

Anyway... as I listened to Yoda's fatalistic platitudes on Sunday, I found myself thinking he was full of crap.

Wrong, you are.  Full of the force, am I.  Filled with crap, I am not.

Wrong again, Yoda.

Here's the thing.  You ask Luke to lift a whole ship out of a mud-laden swamp with just his mind.  You say...

"Do or do not.  There is no try."

It has, in fact, become one of the most popular quotes to come from the movie. (Next to... that one.  You know the one.  "Scruffy-looking nerf herder.")  And, like Yoda, it is full of crap.

Now, I'm not saying Luke can't do it.  You and I both know he can.  But Luke needs practice.  And what's another way to say that?  He's trying.

My first day working out at Slimmons - my first minute, actually - I was struggling.  The aerobics was kicking my ass, and I wasn't sure I was going to make it through all 90 minutes.  And, in fact, I didn't.  Within 20 minutes, my heart was pounding so hard that I felt nauseous.  I had to do the rest of the workout sitting.  I was humiliated.  The road ahead of me seemed not just challenging but completely impossible.

But Richard, and the kind people at Slimmons, encouraged me.  So I came back to the next class, and I sat down before I felt nauseous.  I kept attending.  The more I worked, the longer I could make it before needing to sit down.  And within a month, I made it through all 90 minutes.

On the journey to better health, you'll face all kinds of challenges.  You won't be able to do everything you want to do, right away, so try to be patient with yourself.  Sometimes you'll be your own challenge, and a food choice or a missed workout you regret will make you want to throw it all away - because you've been told all your life that you're supposed to be perfect.

Well, no one is perfect.  And all we can do is take that regret and transform it to wisdom.  NO DAY is a lost day, if you don't let it be lost.  If you missed your workout after work, can you talk a walk with your family after dinner?  If you overate at lunch, try thinking about it, talking about it, and letting it go.

There's too much pressure on us (from ourselves, mostly) to perform perfectly at everything from moment one.  The ensuing shame and fear will only make it that much harder to try and keep trying.  Remind yourself that you're not perfect, and then take a moment to be mindful.  You don't have to wait until tomorrow.  You don't have to wait at all.  Every minute is a new minute for you to take care of yourself.  And taking care of yourself takes practice.

You say "there is no try"?  Well, suck it, Yoda.  I say...

Try or try not.  But there is no do without try.

On rewards, bicycles, and dresses

There's a trend in the weight loss blogging community to reward yourself with something tangible for each milestone hit.  Some people reward every 10 or 20 pounds.  Some people start small (like a pedicure for 10 pounds lost) and grow gradually with each increment.

I like this idea, but our budget just doesn't allow for it right now.  Two freelancers between gigs equals "let's not buy anything new that isn't completely urgent."  (In other news, if you happen to need the services of a freelance writer, or a film/tv editor, by all means let me know.)

I have found this journey to be reward in and of itself, but there's something nice about the idea of working toward a fun goal.  So I've decided, in the hopes that our next gig comes in, that I will be working toward two different motivational rewards.

At 100 pounds lost (that's my current goal) 
I'd like to purchase a bicycle and some accessories.

I haven't biked since my last one was stolen in college over ten years ago.  So this week, I stopped into Orange 20, a local bicycle shop, the other day.  They were very nice, and very helpful, but it seems like they're focused on selling to the long-term, bike-crazy mindset.  And most of them seemed out of my price range at $1,000+.  They did help me to understand what I'm looking for, considering where I live and what I hope to do.  I'll want a multi-speed cruiser bike with a hand break.

If necessary, I'm sure I could find one on Craigslist or Ebay.  If I have the available funds, though, I have my eye on a few different options that fulfill both my aesthetic style and my laid-back approach to biking.  (I'm no racer or off-road explorer; I just want to enjoy another fitness option with a mellow ride on bike paths or to the Farmer's Market.)

This is the Electra Coaster. I love the retro styling,
and it's gotten great reviews from other riders

This is the Schwinn Jenny 7.  Clearly I have a thing for classic bike styles.

And, of course, if I'm going to go retro, I'm going to need a wicker bike basket.
This one is by Electra.

Plus, huzzah, they've come up with cute bike helmets since I last wore one!
This adorable number is by Yakkay, which has several different hat looks for their helmets.

When the time comes, I'd love some bike advice from the avid bikers. (Especially from you, Bro J)

At my final weight (I don't know what it will be) 
I'd like to purchase a Kate Spade dress.

I haven't locked in a final goal, because I think it will really be up to my body.  No doubt I'll plateau at some point down the line.  In order to reach what's considered a "healthy" BMI, I'll have to lose another 100 pounds from my first goal... but I don't know if my body will make it all the way, or make it farther.  I have seen the pictures of my ancestors, ladies working all day in the fields who are still pretty heavy.  I mostly want to make sure I'm healthy and active and not having to restrict or over-exercise to get to that weight.  So I won't be purchasing any "investment" dresses until some time after I've reached that final weight - so I know that I can maintain it.

I'm not a "label" person - I don't care about wearing logos or being loyal to a particular brand.  But every season, I see the beautiful colors and shapes in the windows of the Kate Spade store as I walk past, and I think "hey, that's what I'd wear every day if I could."  Something about the classic full skirts and the retro patterns calls my name, and I hear they're constructed really well.  It's nice to have a few long-lasting investment pieces in a wardrobe.  (It feels weird to be letting all of my investment pieces go; very little that I was wearing last year fits now, except the things my mother-in-law tailored.)

Here are a few cute examples of Kate Spade dresses:

It is all just, you know, pipe dreamin' at this point, but I look forward to the day that I hop on my little retro bike, in my little retro sundress, and coast off to the farmer's market to buy a bouquet of flowers to tuck in my bike basket.  Can't you just see it?

A Beginner's Guide to a Healthy Kitchen, plus an unexpected guest

It is a gorgeous day in Los Angeles, but I find myself with about as much energy as a stuffed Garfield hanging on a 1980s minivan window.  Which is to say, none.

I haven't talked much about it here, but I've been suffering some lady-parts trouble for the last few months.  Consecutively.  If you follow my meaning.  So I'm back to the same level of anemia I had in December.  At that point, I could hardly lift my arms for exhaustion.  I'm certainly better off than I was then, thanks to all of the exercise and healthy food... but I am really, REALLY looking forward to fixing all of this.  (I just made a circling-my-abdomen gesture that, in hindsight, I'm pretty sure Liz Lemon would also make in this situation.)  Here's hoping that my doctor appointment this afternoon will help!

In the meanwhile, I'm going to give you a shorter update today, with the fourth part of my week-long series...

...to a healthy kitchen!

Yesterday's guide to healthy food includes only a part of what you can do to help improve the way you eat.  There's a lot you can do to make your kitchen a haven for you and your body.  (And also your spirit, but the more I am actually using my body, the more I see how closely the two can be connected.

When you're starting down the path to a healthier life, there's one thing you should do first.  (Well, other than talk to your doctor.)  Step into your kitchen, and...

Clean it out.

I don't mean with a mop and a broom, although the nicer you make your kitchen, the nicer it is to be there. 

I mean get rid of the stuff.  Get rid of the stuff that haunts you in the wee hours of the morning.  Get rid of the stuff that is there for your No Good, Very Bad Days.  Get rid of the stuff that you stuff your face with when you're bored.  Unless you're working very hard on your moderation (which is important, but can be easier to do after you get used to your new healthy choices), there's a good chance that if it's in there, you'll eat it. So whatever you put in your kitchen should be something that you consciously, mindfully want to put in your mouth.  That brings us to...

Stock it up.

When the last carton of Chunky Monkey (or the last block of Velveeta) is gone from your fridge, you need to put good things in it so that they're ready for you to eat as soon as you need them.  

I'd say there's probably a pretty good chance you're not eating enough vegetables.  Find a place that sells what you like,  and get munching.  Raw veggies are great for snacking on.  I especially love them with a little hummus, honey mustard, or - you guessed it - greek yogurt (with a little herbs or seasonings mixed in.)

It helps to have readily-available protein, too.  I love chicken tenders - I grill a batch early in the week and enjoy them in salads and sandwich wraps.  I don't go a day without enjoying single-serving cheeses.  At any given time, I have string cheese, or Trader Joe's Brie Bites or Goat Cheese Medallions in the fridge.  The latter come in one-ounce packages (with six or so in a bag) - and the pre-defined single-serving really helps me avoid the Just Another Tiny Slice phenomenon (you know the one... you're slicing cheese, and you eat a little, and then you eat a little more, and then before you know it, half of the package is gone.)

Most of all, stock it up with healthy things that are things you like.  If you buy healthy food but you hate what you're buying, you'll have a harder time eating it.  You may even be tempted to go out for something different than what's in your fridge.  This used to happen to us all the time, but now our well-stocked fridge keeps us right on track.

Measure it out & pack it in.

There are a few supplies that I find helpful in the quest to balance our meals.  Some of these things also prevent the items in our stuffed-to-the-gills fridge from becoming green, fuzzy, and nameable. (Thank you, Dawn Summers.)

a - We pack up our chopped raw veggies, our roasted red peppers, and our grilled chicken in resusable storage containers like these ones by Glasslock.  One great thing about the Glasslock products is that neither their glass, their plastic, nor their lids contain BPA.  Women in particular should avoid BPA, for hormonal purposes.  You can read more about that in this Glamour article, which was written by an acquaintance from college.  (Thanks, Aimee, for the link!)

b - And before you can store 'em, you'll need to chop 'em on a sturdy cutting board, like these pretty green numbers by ArchiTEC.  Make sure you wash your cutting boards carefully, and avoid cutting raw meat on boards you use for other food (this is where multiple shades or sizes can come in handy.)

c - We are very careful to measure our portions, and one of our best tools for this is the liquid measuring cup by Pyrex.  Won't break, but is super-strong.  We've had ours for a very, very long time.

d - For veggies that are quick to spoil, like berries, we use these Debbie Meyer GreenBags, and they're terrific.  In our fridge, strawberries in their original container last about five days before they start to get a little wilty, and a full week before they're fuzzy.  With GreenBags, we've seen them last up to 10 days without wilt or fuzz (but mostly, our new menu planning means we eat them within seven days, so we don't see as much fridge slime as we used to.)

e - Meat and produce comes in a variety of sizes, so the best way to know exactly what you're eating is to use a food scale like this one by Newline.  It can also really help with baking, because flour settles, so a cup can differ in mass considerably.

f - For sauces & fats, a little bit can go a long way (and a long way towards throwing off your calories for the day.)  We own a couple of different sets of measuring spoons - like this set by OXO - so that we always have the right ones handy, even if we're behind on the dishes.

We try to stay up on the dishes pretty regularly, now, though.  We cook so often that if we don't have all of our pots, pans, dishes & utensils available, we have to wash them by hand as we cook.  Plus, it means we're ready for unexpected company... like this lizard who came to visit this week.

He first appeared on the outside of our screen door Monday. 
We opened the glass to get a better look at him, and when our very curious
kitten Greta lifted her paw slowly to him, he jumped straight into the air,
freaking all four of us (cat, lizard, Tom, me) out.

We thought he was gone for good, but on Tuesday, he was back nestled by our succulent planter.

He kept curling back out of the sun, and in the process, posed for a portrait.

In trying to figure out what kind of lizard he was, we stumbled upon the Lost Lizards of Los Angeles project, through the Natural History Museum of LA.  Fascinating!  They're tracking what lizards live in what areas of the city.  Our Mr. Lizard turns out to be a Southern Alligator Lizard, which are apparently very common in SoCal.

Eventually it got too sunny for him and he crawled underneath the planter.  We're not sure if he's still there (he seems to have eaten all of the slugs that drifted toward our succulents after recent rainfall, so he probably has no reason to be.)  But we'll be on the lookout for our reptilian roommate!  I hope he's taking good care of himself.  And I hope you are, too!

On Motivation

Do you ever have trouble with motivation?

I used to have trouble with weight loss motivation.  There was so much going on in my day that I didn't have the energy or focus to make it happen. But then, there were other things holding me back as well.  Now that I've managed to confront and address all of those things, the motivation to eat well and exercise has been pretty consistent, even on days that are more challenging.  I almost always get 60 to 90 minutes in, and I almost always eat about 1400 calories of nourishing, healthy food.

What I find missing now... is the motivation for everything else!  Tom and I both freelance and are working on our own projects, and so we don't have the regular 9-to-5 that provides automatic structure to our days.  We get on a good path and make terrific progress - inertia is our friend! -  but the second we get redirected by some unexpected event, inertia is our enemy.

After I stumbled on a terrific blog post by The Token Fat Girl, I thought it might be fun and productive to create a list of things that would make each day or week awesome.  It was EXACTLY what I needed today - it gave me a boost of motivation to strengthen my productivity the way I've been strengthening my body.  So here's my list:


Take care of my body:

• Exercise.  At Slimmons, evenings T/T/S, for 90 minutes.  At YMCA all other days, mornings for 60 minutes.
• Food.  Plan and shop for all meals on Sundays, aim for 1400 calories daily, following Food Mover.
• Shower.  First thing on Slimmons days. Immediately after pool on YMCA days.
• Teeth.  Brush morning and night, floss and mouthwash morning.
• Face.  Wash in the shower and at night.  Mask once a week.
• Medicine.  Morning.  No exceptions.
• Lotion.  Before bed.
• Fashion.  Select a cute outfit on workdays AND weekends.  Stay up to date with tailoring and purchases as my sizes change.
• Medical.  Make and keep doctor, therapy, and dentist appointments.

Tend to my environment:

• Kitchen.  Put away clean dishes in the morning, load washer throughout day, run in the evening.
• General tidying.  Pick up kitchen, living room and bedroom daily.
• Laundry.  Put clean and dirty clothes in their proper places. Wash swim laundry the same day it's made. Do a few loads each week instead of waiting until I'm out of underwear. (This will get more important as I update the wardrobe with smaller clothes, and have fewer of them.)
• Bathrooms.  Clean and mop once weekly.

Manage my business:

• Make lists.  Create my daily "Five To Do" list each morning before 9 AM.
• Regroup.  Attend our daily "team meeting" each morning at 9 AM, to discuss to-do lists and start work for the day.
• Focus.  Refrain from internet and television during working hours (excepting one hour lunch break.)
• Be proactive.  Manage paperwork as it arrives.
• Budget.  Enter expenditures as they are made.  Have weekly budget meeting.

Nurture my spirit and creativity:

• Projects.  Work on my writing projects for at least 4 hours on work days.
• Blog.  Write 1 entry per day.
• Journal.  Do morning pages every morning.  (More on The Artist's Way in an upcoming entry.)
• Refill my well.  Take an artist date weekly.
• Embrace adventure.  Try new things at least once weekly.
• Center.  Pray and meditate daily.
• Relax.  Plan time to rejuvenate myself through rest and creative input instead of output.
• Don't play computer games.  They kill my creativity. And my productivity.

Connect with my friends and loved ones:

• Online.  Reach out via Facebook, blogs, LoT, LiveStrong - once at lunch and once in the evening.
• Respond.  Answer emails and messages as they arrive.
• Call. Talk to family on a regular basis.
• Write.  Send one letter/email each day.
• Honor birthdays. I've been terrible at this, and I really want to change it.
• Network.  Have one meeting or discussion to expand work circles, once weekly.

Just doing this exercise was refreshing for mind and spirit.  I feel excited to get started... and keep going.  I sure hope this isn't the emotional equivalent of buying organizational tools at The Container Store, only to drown in clutter two weeks later.  But all I can do is put my best foot forward.  Many of these things I already do, though sporadically. Or I have done with success in the past.  So... sally forth and tally ho!

What's on your awesome-day list?