So far, so good.

Up to today, my tank was still pretty full. After a lovely meeting and talk of the upcoming Florida Writes/FCAT, I'm about halfway right now. I've still got a ways to go until empty, but need to consider refueling some time in the near future. Oh wait, I have a 4 day-weekend* coming up! Win for me. (*Note that I still have to work on Tuesday, but it's all about me cleaning/planning/socializing and no students will be present. That pretty much equals a holiday in my book.) 

I love starting a new year because it challenges me to stay focused on my health. I'm praying that I'll stick with it for a while and not fall back into an abysmal pit of gorging my face with pizza and cookies while sinking into the couch. I've exercised almost every day by starting back with boot camp and training for the Donna 1/2. And on days I don't feel like doing anything, I at least power walk with Diego. (I'm not ashamed to admit I power walk. And I do it pretty fiercely, too.) I've also been tracking my food intake with "My Fitness Pro," which REALLY does help because when it comes down to it, I don't need that extra piece of chocolate at work, or that slice of pizza that was sitting in the planning room.

For me, to eat right I have to snack all day long. And I've realized I'm so much like my dad in many ways, one being that I'm okay with eating the same foods every day. So my snacks are a yogurt after 2nd period, lunch, carrots after school with a can of seltzer, a tangerine an hour later, then I get to come home to THIS:

I believe I might have an obsession with avocado now, especially since they are in-season and cheap. I seriously can't get over how good they are. 

Anyways, have a good week and I'll try to post more frequently :) 

D's all about the snuggling, especially when it's cold outside.

Note the three cups of coffee on my desk. No wonder I was feelin' good at the beginning of the week...

First weekend of 2012 (last weekend doesn't count)

I find it hard to sleep when Mike isn't here... I sit around and play on my phone for forever. So why not blog from my convenient, recently discovered blogger app? Sure, why not.

The weekend was lovely. We celebrated a friend's birthday with a fun night out in jax beach at this place called Green Room. I love it as much as I love Bold City, maybe more. It's the perfect ambiance... Ping pong, sometimes bluegrass and the occasional dog running around. Fantastic.

Saturday provided gorgeous weather, and after assisting erick with creating a short film for his blog, it was outside we went for extreme bocce. We watched the Lions game that night and ate delicious food cooked be erick.

And today, we checked out a new church (more on that later,) watched more football, completed a little obligatory cleaning... And I got off my lazy rear to run 5 miles. Woot! I'm sore and my neck hurts a bit, but it feels good to care about my health again. Here's to sticking to it!! Tonight we ventured to Taco Lu's which was worth the trek, and now I'm cozied up in bed with the pup while Mike was forced to stay out for a little longer because of a ride situation.... Laaaame. Hope your weekend delivered and you are ready for what's in store this week'

Cozied Up

I just can't get enough of my covers... I am loving being able to wear soft snuggly pj pants and bootie socks, while being tucked away under a heavy quilt. Even better that the glass of wine on my beside table is keeping me cozy on the inside.

Okay, this might sound weird, but I like to think of myself as some kind of machine that runs on fuel, only for the purpose of using it as an extended metaphor. Maybe it comes from my dad talking to us as a child about eating healthy, our bodies being like cars that run on the right kind of gasoline. If it's empty, we lack the energy to function. All this to simply say that my tank is currently full; I am content. It helps to be coming down from the high of a 2 week break; I'm thankful it's been a lovely transition, and not the burned-out nightmare I expected to happen. My work load is light (maybe because I choose to put tasks off?) the students, relatively pleasant. I also had some time to myself this week while Mike worked through work issues, which lent itself to reading and long runs that I could indulge in without feeling the guilt of neglecting my domestic duties. I've worked out all week and counted my calories, attributing to the start of the new year but praying to stick with this commitment to health.

The funny about life is next week will most likely look entirely different, and I'll be lamenting that my tank is dangerously below the red line and in need of fuel fast before I'm left stranded on the side of the road with a dead cell phone in the middle of the night.

But for today, I will revel in the momentary nonexistence of stress.

To top it all off, I love the onslaught of love that greets me as soon as I cross the threshold of home:

PS... did you know that I have about 3,4000 pictures that I've taken on my iPhone? Hot dang.

First Freeze

I'll attempt to blog more this year, even if it means writing about mundane occurrences in my not-always-eventful life. Take our first hard freeze, for example. I come home from work today, and everything. has. died. 

Enormous beautiful banana tree that provided shade and a tropical ambiance? Dead. 

Jalapeños and green pepper that I made no attempt to cover? Dead. 

Good thing I 'harvested' everything this weekend, although now I have a million peppers rotting on my counter that I'm too lazy to freeze/can/whatever. 

I'm not sure how I feel about this sudden turn of weather. Usually I welcome Old Man Winter, but generally that's before the holidays when we're out looking at lights and singing carols and drinking hot chocolate, all that good stuff. Now it's January. 

Christmas break is over and I'm counting down the minutes until spring break. And I'm supposed to be shedding the proverbial ten pounds in a massive effort to be healthy once again.

I don't want to do anything if it's frosty outside. With my crankiness at the cold, which is totally unlike me, I'm wondering if I'd really ever be able to live somewhere snowy where I have to shovel driveways and stare at gray skies for months out of the year. Well for now, I'm tucked in my warm covers at 7 pm with a snuggly lab keeping watch next to be. He's curled into a tight ball, which means he's probably pretty cold as well. Maybe I'll make him scoot closer :)

2012 Bucket List

*See Annie in Washington
*Visit NYC
*At least 2 hiking trips... one spring, one fall
*2 local camping trips
*Jaunt through Spain
*Get back into tennis
*Run in three races
* Plane flowers and mulch the yard in the spring
*Set up a hammock
*Successfully grow tomato again
*Plan out weekly meals and establish a cleaning routine
*Charleston with AMy and Paul
*Play piano
*Try paddle boarding
*No more beer on the weekdays. Unless Kristin is over.

And the usual...
Love more
serve more
pray more
run more
fit into my skinny jeans without muffin top
eat better

aaaaand everything I didn't accomplish from last year. Make me proud, 2012...