A Shake for Dinner...

So yesterday, I made a very expensive visit to the dentist office.  Almost a couple of weeks ago, I had an old cavity filling break.  I went in shortly after that and had them file down the rough spots. 

"Your Chariot Awaits";
Watercolor on 10" x 14" paper that I
painted last week.

This last Sunday night the old cavity filling broke off some more.  I couldn’t hold it off any longer; try as I might for next year’s dental starts on June 1^st.  So I called in the morning and managed to get in during the afternoon on Monday.  I skipped my lunch and went straight to the dentist instead.

 Almost 2 hours later, I come out with almost my entire right side of my face numb and starving for a lunch.  Did I mention that they have to use something stronger than Novocain?  Yeah, Novocain doesn’t work but a half hour on me and that’s if the dentist is lucky.  I swing by a fast food place and get some chicken wraps figuring they would be soft and easy to eat on one side of my mouth.  I try to eat at my desk when I get back to work.  I say “try” because I couldn’t feel my entire bottom lip at all.  Next thing, I discover is that I’ve bitten my lower lip and it’s bleeding.  What’s really sad is that a co-worker had to point it out to me.  I was rather oblivious and felt like I was walking around in a stupor.

Another two hours later, I still can’t talk right and another co-worker is answering phones in stead of me.  It’s time to go home and still half of my face is numb.  I swing by my last Spanish class and tell the teacher that tonight isn’t a good idea about practicing speaking Spanish.  After all, I’m struggling with just speaking understandable English. 

So I head home instead but I’m still starving because I could barely manage one chicken wrap.  Then it hits me!  Ice cream!  I can have a shake for dinner and I won’t bit my lips or the inside of my cheek.  Great!  So I swing by and get a peanut butter cup shake for dinner.  Hey!  Peanut butter has protein in it, right?  That’s kind of healthy but well, maybe not SO good for the diet... Oh, well!

Checking In!

Here's a quick Friday Check In Report...

The scale was telling me the same thing as last Friday morning.  Unfortunately, bribery doesn't work on it.  So it is still sitting there trying to decide to tell me if it is 13 or 12 lbs. to go till my goal weight.  But I will admit that it probably didn't help that I went out for dinner and drinks last night with a friend.  Note to self-- Not a good idea to go out the night before a weighing in.  Oooppps!  Live and learn!  Darn it and I had such good stats for the week!  Check these out...

96.5 miles cycling

4.5 miles running

20 min. on elliptical

Well, I'll keep working and hope for better results next week.

Like A Groundhog Finally Coming Out!

I will admit that I haven’t been blogging as much of late.   There have been a few reasons and I almost feel like I’m the ground hog coming up out my hole now.  To be truthful one of the foremost reason was that I had gained a bit of weight and I was rather embarrassed about the whole thing.  I was only up by about 4-5 lbs. at the most but I had just such high hopes for this year to finally reach my goal weight.  Well, I think I got the horse in front of the cart a bit and I’ve since looked at things to rectify the situation.  Mainly, I’ve started watching what I eat and trying to select lower calorie healthy choices.  Also, what I know has helped to take off few extra lbs., is that the warmer weather has hit here and I’m out biking more.

One of my favorite cartoon characters but I've felt like I've been in a bit of rut like them!

Other reasons that I have not been blogging as much, is that I was out with the flu for a few days and you know, sometimes I don’t have any real material to share.  Life sometimes is in a bit of a rut or a bit of a holding pattern.  Or, I could just say—“Life has been on auto-pilot for a bit and my brain took a bit of a retreat.”  I think that happens to all of us at sometimes.  So, here I am coming out of my hibernation; like a ground hog and WOW!  It’s Spring time!  It sounds silly I know.

It’s like I woke up and I discovered I CAN grow fingernails.  I’ve had the longest polished fingernails that I have ever had in my life!  Go figure it takes me almost 45 years to do this!  It’s like I finally learned not to bite my nails like my mom’s been telling me all those years.  Kind of funny when you think about it; I guess in some regards I AM a very slow learner.

I’ve lost those 4-5 lbs. and am now down to the point where I’m back to needing to lose those same darn 13 lbs. to get to my goal weight.  I think it’s possible for me to get there IF I focus on doing it.  The problem sometimes arises that life gets in the way but I’m going to try and to do that I want to start by getting on board here and doing a weekly check in’s.  I’ll do a weekly weigh in and report as to how I’m doing.  I find that it helps to keep me on track and focused too.  So, until I get down to my weight goal, I’ll be checking in weekly and it’s going to start tomorrow.  Every Friday, I’ll be checking in with a report to keep me accountable for what I’m doing.

So, I’ll stop my ramblings here and I’ll check in with you tomorrow! Ciao!

Who Me?!?!

I haven't been watching the scale for the last couple of weeks.  I just feel it's a bit of losing fruitless battle until the Holidays are over.  So I've taken on the attitude of - Who Me?  I'm not worried about the weight right now.  I'll enjoy the chocolate, rum & eggnog, and what other sweets may come my way this Holiday Season.  I'll just work my butt off come next year!  I've still been getting in about 7 miles on the treadmill, 45 minutes on the elliptical, and a couple of reformer pilates classes in during a week.  So at least I'm staying active while enjoying the goodies of the season.

The combo picture above is a series of photos taken at a recent Christmas Party.  It's myself with my new darker hair and Diane.  We were doing silly faces and having some real fun!  The camera person refers to the photo as "The Party Girls"!  Go Figure!  Who Me??!

What Gives?!?!!!!

I can’t quite figure this out. Last night I ran 3.25 miles on the treadmill and did another 22 minutes on the elliptical. The night before I ran 4 miles on the treadmill and did 20 minutes on the elliptical. So this morning when I get on the scale, I’m expecting to be down 1 or 2 lbs. NOPE! I’m back up the 2 lbs. that I thought I had lost towards the end of last week. What gives?!? This doesn’t make any sense what so ever!

It’s like the Twilight Zone and I can’t seem to work off, beg, borrow, or give these 2lbs up! They just come back to haunt me. It’s a bit frustrating to say the least. I’ve been relatively good at watching what I eat for the last few days. I will admit I had a Christmas party that I went to last Friday night where I consumed enough “spirits” that I was a bit thirsty the next morning. I also woke up to a cramp in my right calf. I must have done something when I was dancing my little heart out during the end of the night.


In fact, my calf was still hurting on Sunday morning when I woke up. So I didn’t do any working out this last Saturday or Sunday. In fact, Saturday I was SO into working on my porch paintings that I forgot to eat until that night when I went to watch some friends play guitars at a local tea house. Being the BIG veggie fan that I am (I’m sure you are picking up on my note of sarcasm here.); I ordered a veggie/humus platter which I struggled to get ¾ of it down. That was my meal of the day.


Come Monday my right calf felt better and off I went to the gym. I figured I needed to make up for the no exercise weekend. I pushed myself to run 4 miles and then topped it off with sometime on the elliptical. Tuesday night I went into the gym just planning on doing a quick mile of running with an additional 15 minutes on the elliptical. Well, 1 mile became 1 and a half. Then, I was at 2 miles and it felt so good that BOOM! Before I know it I’m at 3.10 miles. I finished out with a bit of walking for 3.25 miles. Then I went on to the elliptical machine. Before I knew it the planned 15 minutes had turned into 22 minutes. I got so wrapped up in some new tunes I had downloaded on my MP3 player that I was just ZOOMING right along with the beat and lost track of time; funny how music can do that.


But here comes Wednesday morning standing on the scale and after all of that I find I’m up 2 lbs! Ugh! What gives?!? Hmmmm… back to the drawing board I guess. Tomorrow morning I’m adventuring into new territory. Yes, I let Diane talk me into to trying the barrEVO class at the same place where we take the Pilates Reformer class. This barrEVO class is described as a cross between ballet, yoga, and pilates. This should be interesting and I’ll let you know how it goes. That’s reliant on if I’m not stuck in a yoga’d pretzel position on some ballet bar.

Jump Board Alphabets & a Weigh In...

This morning was another Jump Board Reformer Pilates class. After the warm up, Laura our teacher has us do what I like to call Jump Board Alphabet.  We jump forms of letters onto the upright board by raising, lowering, or planting our feet together on the upright jumping plateform.  Mostly it's simple straight letters like A, V, W, M, T.  I teasingly told the teacher I refer to it as Jump Board Alphabet.  She teased me back that she may have us spelling words but I told her that might be a bit too complicated for 6AM.  But I always imagine
our teacher in a cheer leader outfit waving pompoms and yelling," Give me a "V"!"; as I'm jumping a "V".  It brings a smile to my face to imagine this.  I guess its better than grimacing while trying to do quite a bit of the rest of the Jump Board Class.  From the Jumpboard Alphabets we move on to other more complex moves in the class.

I will admit that I'm improving with each class but there are always new challegnes that are thrown into the mix.  This morning's BIG challenge was keeping a ball between my shoulder blades with hands behind head -elbows bent and trying to do a horizontal jumping cycling motioned sideways situps.  Yes, it was as hard as it is to say!  Coordination is a challenge to me and this reminded me of trying to chew gum and walk at the same time without biting my tongue.  I chose to jump very slowly and carefully because it was just challenging for me to keep the ball between my shoulders. 

AND of course, there was the "Saddle-Bags-Be-Gone" portion of the class.  I was about over after doing the single leg lifts on the one side.  Then, the teacher told us to turn to the other side.  I felt like the one leg was over done and I was struggling slowly to turn over.   Laura took one look at my face, laughed, and said," Sorry you're not getting out of this one by turning over slowly.  You still need to do the other side."  OMG!  Pain!!  And those DARN saddle bags are still there even if I can't see them anymore.  I KNOW because I CAN feel them!

After freezing my butt off on the way home in my car (No I haven't fixed the car heater yet), I weighed myself.  I'm down two of those 3 lbs that I had gained over the last couple of weeks.  Good News!!  I've tried to be extra careful the last couple of days and it worked.

How Did I Get Here? & Month End Stats

Ever get one of those quiet reflective moments that you are sitting there and wondering WTF happened to bring you to this point? That was me this morning at 5:45AM waiting for the Pilates Reformer Class. I will admit that I wasn’t feeling like my usual self and thus, I guess I wasn’t on auto-pilot.  I found myself in a reflective mood.

Photo- Diane Ross eat your heart out.  It's Ollie in drag!

I’m quietly sitting waiting in my frigid car in front of the pilates studio and attempting to think warm thoughts. The car heater hasn’t really been working since this latest cold snap and I’ve been meaning to check out to see if it’s just the anti-freeze that needs topping off. (I hope that’s all.) But I’ve been too busy to get it checked out and I’m not mechanically inclined at all. So, here I am freezing my butt off.


Just as my teeth are about to chatter, a car pulls up in the next parking stall. It’s another gal that’s in the pilates class with me. She’s sitting in her less than one year old shiny silver gray with black four door sedan Cooper with tunes and probably a heater that works. Meanwhile, I can't help but think about all of the steps that have led me to be sitting here in a freezing 11 year old scratched and dented (small dents & scratches from leaning my bike on it) silver station wagon that looks like I live out of it. Not that I’m jealous of the situation. I could be sitting there in a newer heated car if I chose to be. But it’s kind of strange that I’m relatively happy sitting here freezing in the old car that has me perplexed. What happened along the way that made me okay with that? Hmmm… Did I have a few screws that came loose along the way?!?


The more I thought; the more I found myself comparing...  I bet she lives in a cute little house with a spoiled cat or a springy young dog that loves to run. Meanwhile, I live in a one bedroom apartment that doesn't allow pets where most days my living room serves as a painting studio which leaves me inclined not to invite guests in. She probably has a productive job that she enjoys and she’s good at it too. Meanwhile, I’m passing the time as a lowly secretary/receptionist that answers phones and sometimes back talks to my boss. I really should be fired but for some reason I’m not. I will admit that my work is not fulfilling but I’ve reached a point where that’s not what I’m looking for. I opted out years ago to settle for an 8-5 type of steady job and I’m okay with that.  Not all of what I AM or who I AM is my job like some people.  I would have to say that I’m everything BUT my job to a certain extent. But overall, I’m happy with my life. Not that I couldn’t use some changes but overall I’m happy.


The pilates studio opens its doors. We both get out of our cars to head in and I can’t help but compare myself.   Now, is this mentally unhealthy of me to do this? I don’t think so. I see it as a litmus test. And so the comparison continues… She’s a tall blonde slender and looks like she’s ready for to model for a layout in a yoga magazine. Her hair is in smooth ponytail with matching headband. She’s wearing a matching black jacket with long yoga pants and black sleek tennis shoes.


Here I am looking like I’m homeless and look like I HAVE been living in my car. I’m in an oversized fleece jacket with a mismatched hoodie and almost threadbare yoga capris. I’m wearing knee high shearling winter boots, fingerless colorfully striped knitted gloves from some third world country and have topped off the whole affair with a black & gray skull cap to cover my bed head hair that is in BAD need of a color dye. So, in another words I look like I was literally dragged out of bed from my car.


We walk in and she (Ms. Yoga Model) is all sunny “Good Morning!” Meanwhile, I mumble “good morn” as I’m consciously trying to tug my hat off so my hair isn’t sticking straight up. You see, I really had a time trying to drag myself out of bed this morning for some reason. Which is really not LIKE me at all but my lack of being “put together” this morning seems very obvious when I’m staggering in with Ms Yoga Model next to me.


It’s later after the pilates class as I’m heading home in my still frigid car that I think that there MUST be a few screws loose as I’m happily puttering home to shower and change for work.  But I will admit that I wasn't happy with the scale when I got home.  It had been almost two weeks since I've stepped on it and I found myself up by 3 lbs.  Ouch!  Yep, there's some things that I want to change.

November's Monthly Stats--
27.5 miles running
60 miles cycling
3hours 11 minutes on the elliptical
Read 2 THICK books this month (bringing to a total of 55 books for year)
and ...
I'm up to #95 on the 100 Salt Lake City Porches Painting Project.  To view the progress of the project you can click here.  Here's the latest...

"100 Salt Lake City Porches, No.95"; Oil on 12" x 12" Canvas

Good News & Reformer Pilates

Good news!! I’m down another pound of flesh! I am now within 7 lbs of my goal weight. I’ve been trying to watch more closely what I eat and taking the Metabolife pills prior to eating. That’s if I can remember to take them 30 to 60 minutes before meal time. I have managed to get in bike rides during the weekend and during the week nights a run on the treadmill along with a little bit on the elliptical. But I will be curious to start the actual reformer Pilates this next week. My first actual class will be on Sunday morning.



This last Tuesday evening, I attended an orientation class for Pilates. I arrived early and sat on a couch in the lobby area to wait for my class to start. There’s two different classes going on; one in an orange colored room- a reformer Pilates and another in a green room that like a cross-bred of yoga /Pilates. I’m watching the front end of the orange room and getting rather nervous as I watched a gal on the reformer machine. She has one foot on the floor and the other knee is on the reformer machine and she’s practically doing the splits as she pushes the bottom of the machine towards the wall. I’m thinking, “OMG!” I look away because it would take years for me to reach a position like that.


So I watch in the green room for a bit. They are sitting on the floor holding plastic balls about the size of soccer balls between their knees. Now this is not the usual just sitting on the floor type of position. Oh, no! They are sitting in a “V” shape with their legs together no arms supporting their upper body and slowly lowering their feet to a 90 degree angle to the floor and then back up to the FULL “V” shape again. It’s done slowly. I find I can’t look away~! It’s like SO foreign to me that I’m amazed that the human body is able to even perform this feat. All the time in the back of mind, I’m thinking Thank GOD I’m not signed up for any of these classes; unless of course they are in need of comic relief. Then, it would be Lucille Ball move over! A comedy of errors would in sue!


So I was rather nervous when I entered into the orientation class, but it was more of a case of figuring out how to get fit ourselves to our own machines each time we go to class and otherwise it was learning the names of the parts of the reformer machine. There were 4 other people that were in the orientation class with me. There were only 2 of us that didn’t have injuries of some sort that would inhibit the Pilates workout. I thought that was interesting, and also made me feel more comfortable that I can work towards my possible version of the splits.   The TRUE test will happen on Sunday morning... Keep your fingers crossed!

Being a BUM, Pills, & Pilates...

I feel like a lazy bum! My exercise activity has slowed; almost to a stand still. Well, it almost feels like it. I’m only cycling on the weekends now because there no light on the week nights. I’ve managed to get a few runs in since the beginning of the month and a couple of times on the elliptical too. But it’s not nearly the amount of activity I was having. As the days get shorter and shorter and the on-slaught of holidays come closer; I fear the weight gain.

LOL! I see this picture as me being the wolf in sheep's clothing when it comes to dieting.

I was especially surprised when I got on the scale this morning and I was at the same weight. I still have 8 lbs. to go until my weight loss goal. I have been trying to watch what I eat. I’ve also been trying to make more wholesome choices too. I’ve been forcing myself to choose those fresh fruits and veggies; which in a way makes me eat less because they are not too appealing to me as the junk food. I guess that’s kudos in a way.

So as a preventative I’ve signed up for reformer Pilates classes and purchased a bottle of Metabolife. OMG! WTF?! Pills?!? What are you thinking?!? Quite frankly, I’m hoping that Metabolife will help amp up my metabolism a bit and help me to possibly still lose with this slower part of the year activity. I’m not heavily relying on it and I’m actually very leery of using it too much. We’ll see how it goes.

Now with concern about the reformer Pilates classes; my friend Diane has been mentioning them to me for awhile now but the only time that they have offered an orientation class was on Tuesday nights. That has been a conflict during cycling season with the Emigration Canyon rides that I was leading. But now that cycling season has wound down. My Tuesday nights have opened up and I can check out reformer Pilates.


Of course, I’ve all ready dove in like I usually do. I leaped right into the frying pan and I HOPE it works out. I signed up for the orientation class and paid for 10 more class sessions ahead of time. So, I hope I like reformer Pilates or I’ll be struggling through 10 class sessions in a “what-the-hell-was-I-thinking” mode. I find out this next Tuesday night. Please keep your fingers crossed and I’ll let you know how it goes.

Dentists & End of Month

I’ve been living the last two weeks with hot and cold sensitivity on the upper left side of my mouth. It’s been getting worse and worse. The last week, I’ve managed to lose 2 lbs. because I don’t want to eat due to pain. It’s my own fault. There’s one thing I HATE more than anything else--- going to the dentist’s office! It’s been 2 years since I went last and that was for an awfully painful root canal. I also didn’t care for the dentist that I went to; talk about a cold fish!

I decided I needed to go somewhere because it wasn’t getting any better. But I wanted to go to another dentist; preferably a nice person with some personality. A girlfriend recommended her dentist and we went by her dentist’s office one day. She introduced me to a gal in the office and the next thing I knew I set an appointment. I figured give it a try and everyone in the office I met seemed nice. Besides, I really did need to get my tooth fixed. It’s not an ideal way to lose weight, and I was praying to God that it wasn’t another root canal.


I like the new dentist. He walked in, shook my hand, and talked to me person to person. I felt like he wanted to get to know me before he started in with the dentistry stuff. That was nice for a change. When we got around to the dental talk he managed to be encouraging and positive. The last “cold fish” had made me feel about 2 inches high for not taking better care of my teeth. I also discovered that my body may metabolize Novocain at a faster rate because I had experience episodes in the dentist office where there was pain when there shouldn’t have been. The new dentist said we could try something else and that he had a policy of a no pain approach.


It ended up being a very deep cavity that was causing the problem. Oh BOY, did I luck out! It was pleasantly a no pain session. I didn’t even feel the needle. He was so smooth and gentle. Now for the next step and the next fix on my teeth is a crown. Tomorrow morning, I get to go in for that to be fixed. I’ve just started to get cold sensitivity in that area (the lower left) which the dentist says we need to catch before it becomes a problem. Meanwhile, I can see the dollar signs draining out of my pocket book; another reason I’ve never been fond of the dentist. But if I pay my bill that day his office offers to give a 20% discount. So, I guess it could be worse.

End of Month…

Weight- 8 more lbs. to go thanks to the dental situation.

100 SLC Porches- I’m up to 80 out of the 100. I’m a couple of porch paintings behind. But I’m hoping with the cycling season almost to an end that I’ll be able to catch up a bit.  The photo of the #80 porch painting is above.  It's a watercolor on 11" x 11" Paper.  To view the progress of the 100 Salt Lake City Porches Art Project, click here.

Uncluttering my life- The goodwill is still growing and I’m thinking I need to take that pile to the actual goodwill. But that’s just a thought so far.

Stats for the month-

16.5 miles running

358 miles cycling

1 hour 21 minutes on the elliptical

Read 4 books this month (up to 48 for the year.)

A Question of Sanity & An Update

It’s pouring rain outside this afternoon and I’m sitting at my desk at work. I’m staring outside watching our lawn guy mow the grass. And I can’t help but wonder at what point is a person considered insane or at the least eccentric?

It seems that the worse the weather is our lawn guy shows up to mow the lawn. I guess it’s a good thing we are not in tornado alley of the country. I can just imagine the wind whirling around him as he walks the mower along. Dorothy and Toto would have nothing on Marty and the lawnmower! I can imagine—“…I’ll get you my pretty and your weed whacker too!” LOL!


Last summer he even mowed the lawn once at 2AM in the morning. On that occasion he happened to report to the police about teenagers tagging the building across the way. I would have paid anything to see the police’s reaction to his story of…” I’m just out here at 2AM mowing the lawn! Nice night isn’t officer?”


But I will admit he keeps the lawn well maintained. He comes at a cheap price too, or so I’ve heard. AND I will admit, he’s also easy on the eyes. He’s all lean muscle. How can you complain but still it REALLY makes me wonder about his sanity. One of the guys just got back from helping loading a truck out back and complained that it was freezing outside and he was wearing more than our lawn guy, who is clad in a sleeveless muscle t-shirt and shorts. At the very least, I would classify him as a BIT eccentric.


AN UPDATE-
I’m up 1 lb. for the week. That means I’m back to having 9 lbs. to lose to my goal weight. I’ve been snacking at work. There’s been several birthday treats in the office of late. I do admit to getting a bit concerned with the cooler weather starting to approach that I’ll have a harder time losing weight because cycling season will be ending soon.

Some of the night rides that I do regularly have started to be shortened because of the earlier sunset times. I’ve been trying to catch as many of those rides as I am able. It’s just a matter of time when it’ll be just the treadmill and the elliptical machine between me and my weight. Though, I’ll probably throw in some snowshoeing time when the white stuff comes.

A Weekend Workshop...

I’m off to Pocatello , Idaho this weekend. Why the big "town" of Pocatello, you might ask? I’m going to be taking a “Pouring Luminous Watercolors” Workshop at the Pocatello Art Center . The workshop is taught by a wonderful watercolorist that I have been admiring on-line for awhile. Her name is Leslie Redhead. I LOVE her poured watercolors of cityscapes and buildings. Pictured here is a Chinatown Statue, a poured watercolor that I stole from her site. (I hope she’ll forgive me.) It is one of my favorites. She also has some amazing flowers; especially irises and poppies. Please click on her name and check out her artwork. It is definitely worth a visit. Leslie is based in Vancouver , BC , Canada ; and I jumped at the chance when I found out she was holding a workshop so close to Salt Lake City . It’s about a 3 hour drive and, of course, I’m taking my bike in tow. I figured I could bike some new territory while I'm there. I’ve really been excited for this weekend for the last month. It’s almost like Christmas! I’ll update you and hopefully share a beautiful piece of watercolor artwork when I get back. I'm also using it as an excuse not to do my weekly weighing in.  I KNOW I haven't been good this week, and don't want to face that scale.

Bucket List Thoughts & an Update...

It was as we stood in the elevator that Diane said,” You need to add that to your Bucket List and then check it off.” I could not help but smile at her plan. We just got done watching a movie (Rio) on an inflatable BIG (HUGE- 10' x10') screen TV while we were leisurely sitting in our swimsuits ensconced in a hot tub. I was also enjoying one of those sweet “chick-like” beverages that tasted like margaritas and we could see the stars above in the dark night sky. It was amazing night that had started off with a dinner done alfresco near the pool area and a "homemade" (not really- Diane tried to pass it off as such!  Nice try girlfriend!) Key Lime pie. Yum!  It's one of my favorites!


I will admit that it was one of those wonderful memories that I’ll look back on but I could have never perceived putting it on a bucket list. Not because it’s not worthy of a bucket list, but what made it so special was the chance that it occurred and with such wonderful company too. Some moments are just made better because they are NOT planned or anticipated. It’s those unique moments like this that I believe make life so amazing and interesting. But I couldn’t help but smile and chuckle inside as I thought over what Diane had said. I would put it on another list though; a list of 100 Best Unplanned Moments.


But I’ve already lined up one item to do that’s on my Bucket List. I’ve made an appointment to have a henna tattoo near the end of this month. I’ve sent a prelim idea for the design and the lady that’s going to do it is working up a sketch before the appointment. Yes, there’s a bicycle involved in the design but I’m not sharing any more than that for right now.  I got the impression from the lady that she had never had such a design requested and I think she might have been intrigued by it.  I managed to find this lady through some on-line searching.  She does henna tattoos locally, but is currently doing a booth at a festival in Washington State.  I was rather surprised when I learned that she even comes out to your house which I thought was really neat but not a requirement.  But I thought that since I've decided to have this henna tattoo go from the back of my neck, along my shoulder, and to the top of my left arm it might be nice to have it done at home.  I'm getting excited about doing this!


An update on my weight, I’m up 1 pound which I wasn’t too surprised because I wasn’t really good this week but I’m planning on trying harder this next week. The good news is that I’m still down a total 23 lbs. and I have 9 more to go!

Breaking A Barrier!

I got on the scale this morning. Then, immediately jumped off to make sure the scale was calibrated. Then, jumped on and admired the number it read. Yes, I finally broke a barrier! Granted, it wasn’t a sound barrier in my bathroom but a barrier none the less. I broke that “I have 10 lbs. to go” barrier. I now only have 8 more to go. Yahoo!  A BIG Thumbs up!

For almost 3 weeks, my weight has seemed too settled in comfortably 10 lbs. above my goal weight. Who knows what created the barrier to be broken? It could have been the cold last weekend that finally threw the stalemate to the curb or my extra diligence in choosing those low calories options this last week. But whatever it was I’m really hoping to make it continue on. What can I say I am literally trying to work my A$$ off? :)  Oh, so sorry for the cliche use!



On another note, I’ve decided to add a page to my blog that’s totally devoted to my bucket list. I’ll update and of course, probably blog as bucket items get checked off the list. I’m still debating on what items to work on first. Though, I’ve all ready been offered access to a pair of roller blades. I rather surprised myself when I discovered that I’ve been to 20 out of the 50 states. Wow and here I thought I was really not that well traveled at all. Though, I still consider myself just a step barely above a country bumpkin. :)

Hair Adventures & End of Month Report...

This last Saturday I went into my hairstylist and said I needed a change. I bravely left it in the hands of my stylist and said whatever you think. Talk about the beginnings of an adventure.  I went in a mainly medium length brunette with red streaks and came out a short asymmetrical bobbed blonde with caramel highlights. My stylist made it look SO cute using a straightening iron and this is me on day 1. Barbara Streisand eat your heart out!

This is day 2- I don’t happen to have a straightening iron but used a regular curling iron to attempt to straighten it. Did I mention I have naturally curly hair?

This is day 3- This I took this afternoon at my desk. It’s been unusually humid here all day because it’s been pouring rain off and on. Some parts of Utah got up to 1’ of rain which is unusual for this time of year. But it’s been enough to make my natural curl sprout some of that wonderful frizz. Ugh!  Darn hair sometimes has a mind of its own!

Do we see a trend here?  More hair adventures to come, I'm sure.


Being the first day of August, here’s a look back at the month of July.  The End of Month Report for July.
Savings- I stayed right on track for the month of July which I think is pretty good considering that I went on a bit of a vacation to Helena, MT.

Weight loss- I’ve been rather on a plateau at the 22 lbs. mark, but that happens. Why does it always seem that the last 10 lbs. are the hardest to take off?

100 Salt Lake City Porches- I’m a bit behind on this art project. I should be finished through to porch #66 as of yesterday if I keep to the schedule I set up. Instead, I just finished porch #64 and hope to finish porch #65, an oil, tonight. I have lightly sketched porch #66 and have it prepped for a watercolor. So I’m not terribly behind and I can catch up to where I should be.  To view the progress of 100 Salt Lake City Porches, click here.

"100 Salt Lake City Porches,No.64"; Watercolor on 10" x 14" Paper

Uncluttering my life? I’m still building a pile to go to the good will. It’s slowly getting larger and taking up more floor space in the corner of my bedroom. I’ve added items of summertime clothing from last year that doesn’t seem to go with anything else in my closet. What happened there? I’m unsure.

Stats for the Month...

18.50 miles Running

460.50 miles Cycling

2 hours on the Elliptical

Read 6 books ( Makes for 39 so far this year!)

No Change & Things I've Done...

No change in the losing weight this week, but I did stumble upon an interesting fact this last week while I was perusing through old journals. I now weigh the same as what I did when I started working my current job almost 8 years ago. Depending on how you look at it, that could be a good thing or a lot of work to get back to the same place you were at one time. I personally think it’s a good thing because everyone else I work in the office with has slowly gained over the years. I feel in my own right I’m fighting against that nasty secretary’s spread that I could be susceptible to normally in my employment position. Oh, the risks of being a glorified secretary!




I’ve been brainstorming about a bucket list this last week. I, of course, got online and did a bit of research to get some ideas. I’ve been amazed by how many websites are based on or about bucket lists. I was almost overwhelmed by all the ideas I got. I ended up with about 3 chicken scratched pages of ideas that I wrote down. I want to narrow them down and organize them some what before I display them here. I’m thinking within the next week or so I’ll have something displayed here.


But what I also found rather interesting while I was going over all these bucket lists were all the things that I’ve done or tried in my life. I really have managed to live and find the joy in my life for the most part. Here’s a quick list of 25 that I put together…(I'm not living a fish bowl that's for sure)


Things I’ve done that might be on a Bucket List

1. Running- 5K, 10K, half marathon’s

2. Cycling- Metric Centuries and whole Centuries (8 Centuries in one year)

3. 70.3 Iron Man (Noncompetitive Slow Salty Dog Tri)

4. Water skiing

5. Sailing

6. Backpacking expedition

7. Yurting

8. Bungee Jumping

9. Rode in a helicopter

10. Indoor Skydiving (a surprise birthday present!)

11. Been part of a hockey fight (I would not recommend.)

12. Eaten caviar (Not impressed with it!)

13. Got hypnotized (I don’t remember the stupid stuff I did!)

14. Milked a cow (Look out 8 Maids-a-milking!)

15. Spent a night in a hostel (and LIVED!)

16. Crashed a party(s) - (I was an Olympian in college at this!)

17. Thrown a surprise party and had it actually be a surprise

18. Jumped in a pool with my clothes on

19. Learned (sort of) belly dancing (took classes for almost a year)

20. Done karaoke
(One step up- Kamikaze Style- my friends chose the songs and surprise you are singing this!)

21. Held Art shows of my art (private & at a friend’s studio)

22. Sold some of my art (which I think is pretty cool!)

23. Tried Yoga (some may remember this post- BOOT CAMP Day 11)

24. Spur of the moment road trip- to have lunch with a friend (drove 4 hours each way to & fro)

25. Gone places---

Pikes Place Market in Seattle
Vegas Strip
Disneyland
Disney World
Universal Studios
Magnificent Mile in Chicago
Sears Tower in Chicago
Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago
(among other hi-lights of Chicago)
Redwood National Forest
Crater Lake
oh and ...
Yuma, Arizona's International Airport with it's 3 outdoor gates!

An Update & Prelim Bucket Listing...

Good news to share with the update which is surprising considering it’s been a couple of weeks since my last update. I was on vacation last week and was basically away from the blogsphere of the world. I got on the scale this morning and was really amazed. I’m down (drum roll, please!) a total of 22 lbs. as of this morning. Yeah!!



BUT I will admit that yesterday I DID work out what would be considered by some as being excessive. I woke up very early and decided to go for a 3 mile speed walk/run at my local favorite park. Then, I biked into work with a backpack of gear that weigh at least 15 lbs. After work, I biked over to the start of my normal Thursday evening Bike & Brew ride. I thankfully was able to stow my backpack in another bike club member’s car while I rode the 23 mile ride. I ended up having to change a flat tire with 2 miles left on the ride. Not fun at all! Then, I claimed my backpack and biked for home. I totaled 34 miles on the bike for the day.

Last night, I watched the 2007 movie The Bucket List with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Sometimes, I admit I find it amusing that a movie with two older male actors has created somewhat of a phenomenon. Bucket Lists have sprouted everywhere and have become a common theme in quite a few of people’s lives. Then, here is me Ms. List and I don’t have a bucket list.

Part of the reason I always thought was that I don’t want to have a life that’s planned out with goals and things to do. I like having an open-ness to life and feel that life is an adventure. Some of my best remembered moments have been totally unplanned; me just going along for the ride. Sometimes it has been rather hairy but overall it’s been very fulfilling. I’ve done quite a few things that have been on other people’s bucket list. I done half marathons, tri's, indoor skydiving, all kinds of cycling, and various other things.  To sound a bit like a Nike commercial but quite often I just do it and quite often its not planned through as well as it could have been.  For example, the Slow Salty Dog Tri that I did two years ago with only about 2 months worth of training.  OUCH!


But I’m thinking as of late that I could maybe open myself up to doing part of a list. Part of it has been my recent trip to Helena, MT. It has opened my eyes up a bit. There are places I would love to explore a little more if I had the time and there are experiences that I wouldn’t mind having.

Off the top of my head, I have always wanted to see a Cirque Du Soleil show in Vegas but I look at the ticket price and question myself. I also have always thought it would be a wonderful experience to bike the road that goes around Crater Lake. They are not big things and if I really sat down I’m sure I could come up with some more. Maybe I’ll think about this for a little while and come up with my own bucket list. I might even share it.

Up, Apline Loop, & Cat Sitting...

I grimaced a bit at the scale this morning. It said I was up 1 lb which brings me back to a total weight loss of 19 lbs. I was disappointed because I managed to bike 125 miles this week and I thought I would be down with THAT much cycling. But maybe I need to get out them running shoes too. I do notice that when I run I’m more likely to lose weight. But cycling can be a good calorie burning exercise too and I have been pushing myself to perform a bit better each time I do a climbing ride.



The main problem with my cycling is that most of those rides occur right after work in the evening. Then on the way home I usually grab something to eat. It’s the combo of eating late and eating quick fast food that’s not good. The problems are that I don’t have the time to eat before the bike ride and most times my stomach gets upset if I try to workout right after eating. It’s a catch 22 situation. I really wish I liked salads more that would totally be the solution. I have been forgoing the fast food combos with the French fries. I love going to Wendy’s and ordering the mandarin oranges instead of having fries.


This weekend if Sunday’s weather holds out to be nice and there’s no mudslide on the roads, I’ll be leading an Alpine Loop Bicycle ride. It is some of the most beautiful cycling country with a water stop at Cascade Springs Nature area and a turn around at Sundance. I will say there’s a great deal of climbing on the ride but its worth it and I’ve designed the route so that if its too much for my fellow cyclists they can always turn around and head back down.  I'll take my camera with me and share some photos with you.

Also, this weekend I’m doing a bit of cat sitting; a pair of calico kitties. This is the second time in two months that I’ve been a cat sitter. It’s kind of been fun in that I have the benefit of enjoying being with a pet(s) without any true ownership. Its also nice staying at someone else's place.  It's like a mini-vacation.  Bonus! Have a wonderful weekend!

An Update & Indulgences...

I’ve lost a total of 2 lbs. this week which rather surprises me with the indulging that I’ve been doing. For example last night at Mimi’s Café after ordering a small appetizer for my meal.  I, then, ordered the chocolate bread pudding. OMG! Talk about decadent! It arrived at the table with two different sauces – a rum sauce and a chocolate sauce. Then the bread pudding had chocolate chips mixed in and they were to that just melting point.  YUM!  Now I’ve never been too big on chocolate but bread pudding with a bit of a rum sauce I LOVE. But if you add a bit of chocolate on top of that and its pure genius!

Now I will admit that I did do a 23 mile bike ride before consuming the OMG chocolate bread pudding but I DON’T think that was quite a fair calorie exchange. The scale might have been slightly tilted heavy on the dessert side. I did however purposely choose to have a smaller appetizer so that I “could have” said dessert. But I was still rather surprised that I was down 2 lbs. after such rich dessert consumption. Oh, and I also had a beverage with sparkling wine with cranberry juice; called a Hibiscus. It was very refreshing after a bike ride, but that was another indulgence I probably should have forgone.

My activities for this last week to help combat the general war of weight loss and has assisted in bringing me to a total of 20 lbs less? Well, there was 110 miles of cycling, 5.75 miles running, and 1 hour on the elliptical machine. I guess it was enough to tip the scale in my favor but still I can’t help but think what I might have been down if I would stop partaking of such food items.  But ultimately, I blame that dang blackboard that listed the Special dessert of Chocolate Bread Pudding.  Talk about a sucker for a marketing ploy!

Healing & "Canned" Lunches...

I seem to be healing. If all goes according to plan, my stitches on my calf will come out on Thursday. In the meantime, I’ve been keeping to wearing skirts or shorts. There’s something about having pants or capris on that rub up against the stitches. It’s kind of like wearing that scratchy wool sweater; just a bit of an irritant.

On the running front, I managed to run 3.5 miles this last Sunday and no butt cramp. Yahoo! I want to thank everyone for their help with and suggestions. I’ve been doing a series of exercises and stretches that may be the key to beating this thing

Artwork- "Steak Out" soon to showing in the Bark-N-Art Stroll in Park City this weekend.

On the weight loss front, I’m down the 2 lbs. that I gained a couple of weeks ago. I think the new “incentive” was that I started a new journal. There’s just something about a new start of filling blank pages that can be very appealing. Though, in the back of my mind I often wonder about someone discovering my journal years and years from now. I’m sure they will be thinking,”WTF?!?” My mundane details of my diet and exercising would prove as a good bedtime story. It’ll put you to sleep right away.


In an effect to plan my lunch time food at work a little better, I’ve come up with the “canned” diet. It’s a simplistic way of planning a lunch time meal; open a can, pour into bowl, and microwave (if needed). It’s an effective way to keep the calories for lunch under 350. My work desk drawer now comprises of low sodium soups, non-fat refried beans, tuna, and sliced beets. Yes, beets! It’s the one canned “veggie” that I really like. And yes, to your other question—I limit the refried beans to just once a week out of respect to co-workers.