Category Archives: Life

Life

Life Is a Book

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A lot of people ask me how I am able to travel so much. The answer is simple. I just do it. I make an average amount of money and I spend it on travel. Saying you don’t have enough, is an excuse. I was dirt poor and managed to scrape enough together to do a medical mission trip to Vanuatu in 2005 (I had to pay for flight and 30 days accommodation). Was it hard to come up with the money? Hell yeah, was it worth… every damn dime!

At this point in my life I am not married and the mom to 3 adult kids. I make a decent living working overseas. This puts me closer to a lot of places I’ve always wanted to visit. I don’t own a house, a car or very many “things”. I would rather spend my money exploring… and that’s what I do. Sometimes you just need to put on your big girl panties, pack up a back pack and walk out the door… You only live once!

This picture was taken by me, with my iPhone, while sitting on the beach on Phi Phi Island, Thailand in November 2011. I had an amazing vacation with my friends Cathy (from Illinois), Karen & Dominique. Karen & Dominique are Brits living in Abu Dhabi. Make memories… take the time to see something new… Step 1 get a passport and explore!

Ciao!

Phi Phi Island, Thailand November 2011

Day 187 – Still Runnin’ In the Rain

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Wednesday was a PP day.

Daily weight loss: 0.4 lb/0.20 kg
Total weight loss: 71.7 lb/32.61 kg

Well it was still raining… hard, when I left for work. The walk was a bit challenging, but more challenging was wrestling with a lady, armed with an umbrella in the tea egg line. One of the problems I have here is the inability to accept that these people simply have a. NO MANNERS and b. NO COMPREHENSION OF QUEING IN LINE! Seriously. I am Ms. Manners! And I’m not afraid to say something to anyone not following very basic, civilized rules of life. Like not blatantly cutting in line in front of someone. I asked her politely to move to the back of the line. She actually uttered the ‘F’ word and TOUCHED ME. Oh, touching me, not so good! I whipped my umbrella around to block her access to the tea egg lady, who was watching in utter fascination as to whom was going to win this battle. In the end I DID… MUHAHAHA. As I usually do, when it comes to manners and queing, and in the process of winning, she actually got taken care of 4 people after she would have, if she’d just gotten in line. I marched off, in the pouring rain, feeling like a champion 🙂

Oh, just a small glimpse into what I call my “China Moments”. I could go on for days, but it would bore you and you’d be asking yourself, “Why in the hell does she stay there?”… As I do, daily… but it’s a good paying job and I like the work and the people I work with (most days, like the rest of you).

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs, 500mL of water
Lunch: 1 tea egg, beef slices, 500mL of water
Dinner: Stir-fried beef with onions, seasoned with curry… YUM!
Snack: Yogurt with bran and splenda
Total water intake of the day: nearly 3 liters!

I went for a 30 minute run after dinner and before the yogurt. I stuck with the 7 minute intervals, will try to move up next week to 8 minutes. I hope everyone is having a good evening!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.
Vince Lombardi

I really wish it would stop doing this…

Rain, Rain PLEASE GO AWAY!

Ridiculously Amazing!

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So, I have a confession… I’m a blog stalker. I wish I could get paid to read and comment on blogs, I’d stop midwifing in a New York minute if there was such an opportunity.

Yesterday, while blog surfing I came upon a blog about promoting your blog on Pinterest and that sent me to this amazing blog on how to create printable quotes!

And so I downloaded Picasa and uploaded all of my pictures and picked this one as the background for today’s inspirational message…

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I then went to iWatermark and put my blog watermark on it, so when it’s “liked” or “repinned” on Pinterest, my blog address will still be attached.

I took this picture while camping on Bassam Beach in Oman.

Ciao!

Self Control

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So this goes right along with Moonday’s Philosophy, she’s a fellow Dukaner, who I discovered early in my journey and put her words on my fridge… Will I regret NOT eating this? The answer of course is always NO.

I ran into this problem yesterday. It’s been rare for me to be conflicted. Fortunately it wasn’t carbs, but low fat Gouda. I know, I know… Not allowed on Dukan, but I picked up a 200g block while in Shanghai as a treat on the train, along with my Shashimi.

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I filled up on the Shashimi and had a tiny bite of the cheese. Then I took it and the ham slices to work for lunch with the intent of having a tiny amount again. I found myself OBSESSED with wanting to eat all of it! After my 4th little piece I started searching my inspirational quotes for some help and found the one at the top of this post… STOP! OK, I did… THINK! WHAT COULD HAPPEN? Well, I could keep eating and then be disappointed in myself or stop then, after eating four small bites. And so I stopped, I sealed it up and locked it in the cupboard. IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT??? After I thought about it for a few minutes, the answer was YES! I definitely don’t regret putting it away.

Self control is tough! The bottom line for me is what does the finish line look like and do I want to take longer to get there? NO… DO YOU want to take longer to get there?

Ciao!

Eat to Meet

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It is so easy to talk yourself into eating something you shouldn’t to satisfy an immediate need. It is heroic to say NO! If you don’t have the crap in the house, you won’t be able to eat it. Throw it out. Don’t wait to start your diet until you’ve eaten it all… donate it, just get it out of your house. You’ll feel good about it… I promise you 🙂

Dukan – Day 184 – Six months in and Feeling Awesome!

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Sunday was a PV day.

Daily Weight Loss: 0.4 lb/0.20 kg
Total Weight Loss: 70.9 lb/32.21 kg

So it was six months ago today that I began my Dukan Diet journey. And I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am that I did! By sticking to this diet and by not straying (with the exception of a rare few times) I have managed to nearly lose 71 pounds in 6 months. I feel GREAT! Great doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel. My knees don’t hurt. I bound up and down the stairs at work. I use the stairs everywhere I go (like in the Shanghai subway yesterday). I walk 1 mile to work, clock in and take the stairs to the 4th floor. In August, I would have been winded before getting to the 2nd floor. Now… no problem!

Yesterday I woke up early, caught a ride to the train station and spent the day in Shanghai. It’s a 42 minute bullet train ride and worth it. I had lunch with Federica and Will and did a little shopping. Picked up a couple of pair of jeans (one size 12, one size 14) and then coffee with them and the trip back. Makes for a long day. Makes for a short night of sleep, but through the yawns this morning I feel as if it was worth it. Worth it for my mental health and worth it to get a couple of pairs of jeans in normal size for a bargain 🙂

Speaking of jeans… I promised before and after butt pics. This first picture was what really made me realize I needed to do something immediately about my weight. This is at my 30th Class Reunion in August 2011, a couple of weeks before I started the Dukan Diet… I’m in the purple sweater… Good Lord!

Oh My!

And this was this morning… We took a couple of shots from a distance but because I’m wearing all black, they just didn’t show anything. Vivien insists I use this one… it’s a close up, but I’m loving my waist definition. And… in the pic above my hips were 56″ (cringe)… they are now 44″… that’s TWELVE INCHES LESS! And my waist has gone from 45 1/2 inches to 35 1/2 inches… TEN INCHES LESS… All I can do is 😀 So here’s my close up… LOL…

Dukan Diet = Smaller ass and waist 🙂

I have received so much encouragement from family, friends and fellow bloggers that I am amazed and humbled on a daily basis. It really is what has pushed me to continue down this amazing path of wellness.

Again… thanks for all the encouragement and for those of you on this journey… YOU CAN DO IT!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect it’s successful outcome ~ William James

Dukan – Day 183 – The Sun Has Come Out!

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This is going to be the fastest blog ever… Driver picking me up in 6 minutes to catch a train to Shanghai for the day… I am SO excited!

Saturday was a PV Day.

Daily Weight Loss: 0.2 lb/0.1 kg
Total Weight Loss: 70.4 lb/32.01 kg

Sun was out all day. I took a couple of pics, but the new download on my iPhone update didn’t save them… lol. Quick morning of doing some banking and then teaching a childbirth education class in the afternoon. I have a PowerPoint photo diary with music of Tiffany’s birth of Jose (Tiffany is my youngest daughter). It’s a beautiful montage of photos and with the music attached, there is never a dry eye in the audience. They loved it!

Dinner was stir-fried lean pork with onions, mushrooms and garlic stems with Italian seasonings. Thankfully I took that pic with my iPad. It was delish!

So, driver here… gotta run… Ciao!

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Get Up!

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Inspired tonight by my walk home. The sun was out all day and it has significantly improved my mood 😀 I realized on way to work this morning that my iPhone hadn’t been restored after downloading the latest iOS 5 update last night. The only song on my iPhone was the Black Eyed Peas “I Gotta Feelin'”. So walking home tonight, in the good mood I’m in (I’ve lost 70 pounds, I’m going to Shanghai for the day tomorrow and the sun is out) I played it and basically sang and bounced my way home. The locals think I’m a whack… 😀
Two lines that inspired tonight’s Words For Thought…
“Jump off that sofa
Let’s get get OFF”
“Look at her dancing
Just take it off”

So, what did I take off? 70 pounds! How have I done it? Staying true to the Dukan Diet and WALKING… EVERY.SINGLE.DAY! Sometimes just 30 minutes, sometimes a couple hours. NO EXCUSES… It’s just walking. WALKING… Doesn’t cost anything, don’t need a gym membership, don’t need special shoes. I’ve walked my ass off, literally… Tomorrow I’ll show my before and after ass, you’ll see what walking can do for YOU! Now get off the computer and take a walk 🙂

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Dukan – Day 182 – 70 POUNDS GONE!

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Well, it took me 7 extra days to get to the goal, but I DID IT! Not too bad given that I spent 3 weeks home on a super fun vacation 😀

Friday was a PP day.

Daily Weight Loss: 1.1 lb/0.50 kg
Total Weight Loss: 70.2 lb/31.91 kg …. 5 STONE!

I’m doing the happy dance! Seriously… the happy dance burns even more calories 🙂

I was off today and slept until 7! That is the first morning I’ve slept so late in over a month! Got some blogging done and threw in laundry. Then off to catch a taxi to Kira’s house for breakfast. On the way, the sun peeked through the ever present haze/smog and I snapped a shot…

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This picture was taken at 927 a.m…. the weather is still crappy and cold, but I did get to see the sun and that’s all I needed to cheer me up!

Breakfast was a crustless quiche, made especially Dukan friendly just for me… THANKS, KIRA! And I was so busy playing with the amazingly adorable Soren that I didn’t get any other pictures besides this one, which I thought was particularly artsy…

I present… Soren’s Spoon Art

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It’s a little blurry, but you get the point… It’s skippy peanut butter on a demi-spoon. He stuck it there because I didn’t want to “taste” it… LOL

Anyway… long walk to the bank to open an account with an American company (CitiBank)… treated like a VIP and it was the least painful banking experience I’ve had thus far in China… WOOT!

Then home to have a very accomplished afternoon of laundry, boxing unpacking and repacking, setting out candles all over my flat to raise and lift my mood, burned nag incense to make the house smell good, organized my office room as an art studio and cooked myself a yummy Curry Stir-Fried beef with onions.

All in all a good day, capped off by a wonderful, happy inducing weigh in this morning!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: Remember, that being a success without happiness is meaningless.
~ Richard Denny