I love to go out of town on mini-vacations. I reeeeaaaallly love it. I also love to plan the vacation. So much so, that I over plan. I like to get the most out of each trip and often forget that just relaxing can be a very important part of said vacation.
The hubby and I have a mini-vacation planned for this weekend in Las Vegas to celebrate our anniversary. The plan started out looking a little something like this:
7:30am Leave home
10am: Drop Drake off @ Auntie's
12pm: Lunch
3pm: Arrive @ Hotel
4pm: Early dinner via Room Service (which takes an hour to deliver)
6pm: Get ready for Clubbing
8pm: Drive to Club
12am: Leave club
12:30am: Gamble @ Hotel
2am: Back to room for sleep
7am: Buffet at the hotel for brunch
etc etc
Every second was planned out. Hubby looks at the list and asks if I plan on scheduling in the time for restroom breaks and just plain old fun. Oops! So now, we have loose plans. We might go to the club and order room service, then again we might not. Who cares. It's a vacation!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Brandyisms: Ironing
I love ironing. I love it so much that even though I do not have to, I do it almost every day. I even do it on vacation.
I have a ritual when it comes to ironing. I pull out my board and smooth down the fabric. I then untwist the cord for the iron, fill it with fresh filtered water and a splash of linen spray then plug it in and set it for the proper temperature. Then the fun part: I iron the clothing for the day. Most often it is just my husband's work clothing and maybe a shirt of mine and my son's. It takes a mere 5-10 minutes of my day but it's enough to center myself for the rest of that day.
You see, I use the time I spend ironing to meditate. With each pass of the iron over the clothing I envision any anger, frustration and doubt coming out with the wrinkles. I breathe deeply and concentrate on nothing but the wrinkles in the clothing and in my head and heart coming out.Sometimes I can work out only one issue. Other times it seems as though I am working out as many issues as I am wrinkles.
As I lay out the clothing for the day, I usually find myself smiling and feeling much better. As I put away my iron and board, I also put away negative feelings for the day. They can be worked out tomorrow, just like the wrinkles in the clothes.
I have a ritual when it comes to ironing. I pull out my board and smooth down the fabric. I then untwist the cord for the iron, fill it with fresh filtered water and a splash of linen spray then plug it in and set it for the proper temperature. Then the fun part: I iron the clothing for the day. Most often it is just my husband's work clothing and maybe a shirt of mine and my son's. It takes a mere 5-10 minutes of my day but it's enough to center myself for the rest of that day.
You see, I use the time I spend ironing to meditate. With each pass of the iron over the clothing I envision any anger, frustration and doubt coming out with the wrinkles. I breathe deeply and concentrate on nothing but the wrinkles in the clothing and in my head and heart coming out.Sometimes I can work out only one issue. Other times it seems as though I am working out as many issues as I am wrinkles.
As I lay out the clothing for the day, I usually find myself smiling and feeling much better. As I put away my iron and board, I also put away negative feelings for the day. They can be worked out tomorrow, just like the wrinkles in the clothes.
New Segment!
I've decided to start a new segment on my blog. I am going to call it Brandyisms. Every Wednesday, I'm going to make a point to post one of my random thoughts on life. They are often quirky and sometimes utterly ridiculous; mostly optimistic with a dose of realistic and a smidgen idealistic. Letting people step inside my head for a little bit should be fun. Just don't be too loud while you're in there, I don't want to start complaining about the voices in my head!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
The Gym: The Wonder Drug
Since I started working out on Friday, I've noticed a few things. I've had more energy, I'm sleeping better, I'm in a better mood and I've not noticed some stuff too.
You may be asking yourself, what does that mean?
Here is what that means: In the short amount of time since I've started working out and the small amount of time I put in (30 min a day 6 days a week) I've managed to do away with most of the symptoms of PMDD. For those of you who do not know what that is, it's an extreme version of PMS. The only "cure" for it is birth control pills and I happen to be allergic. So nearly every month I would get extreme hunger that caused binge eating, migraines, digestion issues, fatigue, mood swings, and flu like symptoms that includes a fever and body aches. I had 10 days of dealing with that before my period even started and that is a whole different issue on it's own.
This month however, I was surprised by my period. I had almost no symptoms. I craved chocolate over the weekend and had a mild headache 2 days before. That was it. That was all. I wasn't crawling into bed the day before with what felt like the flu. I wasn't eating so much the week before that my stomach would become hard to the touch, I didn't cry and then get angry at the drop of a hat and I wasn't falling asleep whenever I sat still. This is amazing to me. This makes getting up at 4:45 am completely worth it on it's own.
It's like my body is thanking me. I like that feeling. I'm going to keep that feeling going as long as I can. Weightless takes a back seat to this. Now, it's just a side effect and that my friends is something worth writing about.
You may be asking yourself, what does that mean?
Here is what that means: In the short amount of time since I've started working out and the small amount of time I put in (30 min a day 6 days a week) I've managed to do away with most of the symptoms of PMDD. For those of you who do not know what that is, it's an extreme version of PMS. The only "cure" for it is birth control pills and I happen to be allergic. So nearly every month I would get extreme hunger that caused binge eating, migraines, digestion issues, fatigue, mood swings, and flu like symptoms that includes a fever and body aches. I had 10 days of dealing with that before my period even started and that is a whole different issue on it's own.
This month however, I was surprised by my period. I had almost no symptoms. I craved chocolate over the weekend and had a mild headache 2 days before. That was it. That was all. I wasn't crawling into bed the day before with what felt like the flu. I wasn't eating so much the week before that my stomach would become hard to the touch, I didn't cry and then get angry at the drop of a hat and I wasn't falling asleep whenever I sat still. This is amazing to me. This makes getting up at 4:45 am completely worth it on it's own.
It's like my body is thanking me. I like that feeling. I'm going to keep that feeling going as long as I can. Weightless takes a back seat to this. Now, it's just a side effect and that my friends is something worth writing about.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
The Gym and Yummy Lunch
I finally started back at the gym on Friday. 2 days in and my legs are burning! Right now I am only doing 30 min on the bike so that I can start building endurance. Friday I used the recumbent bicycle and managed to do over 20 miles an hour. Today I decided to try the other bike. What a mistake that was. I was so uncomfortable that I had to get off of it after 13 min. Because of my discomfort it cut my pace down drastically from 20ish mph to 14! Okay... so, here we are with a lesson learned! Recumbent bike is the way to go for me from now on. I plan on adding 5 more min next Friday and 5 the Friday after that and then another 5 after that. After I get the 45 min of cardio going I will add in weight lifting.
So today when I came home I was sore. I wasn't hungry yet thanks to the low fat chocolate milk I drink right after my work-out but I already knew what I wanted for lunch when the hunger did hit. I wanted a grilled cheese sandwich, grapes and tomato bisque soup. So at 11:30 when the hunger hit I was ready! My sandwich was made on 12 grain bread with 2 slices of American cheese. It was made in my sandwich maker so there is no need for butter. The soup is made with 1 can of condensed tomato soup, 4 oz fat free evaporated milk and 4 oz water and lots of black pepper. The soup comes out thick and creamy and perfect for dunking your sandwich in. It was truly something delicious.
Now, I'm off to do some research on weight lifting!
So today when I came home I was sore. I wasn't hungry yet thanks to the low fat chocolate milk I drink right after my work-out but I already knew what I wanted for lunch when the hunger did hit. I wanted a grilled cheese sandwich, grapes and tomato bisque soup. So at 11:30 when the hunger hit I was ready! My sandwich was made on 12 grain bread with 2 slices of American cheese. It was made in my sandwich maker so there is no need for butter. The soup is made with 1 can of condensed tomato soup, 4 oz fat free evaporated milk and 4 oz water and lots of black pepper. The soup comes out thick and creamy and perfect for dunking your sandwich in. It was truly something delicious.
Now, I'm off to do some research on weight lifting!
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