This quote from a fellow blogger MJ really stuck out to me this morning. I will blog more on this later. It’s funny, because I was thinking about this very thing on my walk to work this morning…
You Have To Change It Up!
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Dukan – Day 260 – West Lake Hike
Friday was a PP Day 🙂
Daily Weight Loss: +0.2 lb/0.10 kg
Total Weight Loss: 91.8 lb/41.71 kg
Stubborn last 10 pounds… LOL
I have Friday’s off and typically try to get out of the house early. I got out the door about 845, which is late for me, given that I’m up before 6. The sun is up very early here, around 530 a.m., and I’m a “be awake while the sun is up” kinda girl!
I took the city bus and finally found West Lake (by bus, that is… I’ve been there many times by taxi). My plan was to map out a running track for a guest blog post that I’m doing in July over at A Good Run.
I ended up meandering through some beautiful pathways, not really running safe, though. Which was fine. Because after the week I’ve had, I needed some serenity and I got it! You’ll see that in the pictures below.
After about a one hour walk, I found a Starbucks I didn’t know about, tucked in the trees next to the lake! I wasn’t planning on stopping there, my plan had been to hike about another 1/2 mile to the NE tip of the lake and have a coffee at that Starbucks. But I was drawn by the veranda overhanging the lake, so in I went.
Ordered a Venti Iced Latte w/Skim and headed up the winding stairs to the balcony. As I approached I noticed 3 local people sitting out there. As I opened the door an older man says, with a huge smile on his face, “We’ve been waiting for you all morning!”. At first I was surprised at his English, but managed to say immediately, “Well I’m glad you saved a seat for me!”.
It is challenging, dear readers, to live in a country where you do not know the language and a good deal of the people don’t know yours. I have what I call “China Moments”… not said in a positive light, LOL. But this was a wonderful China Moment. We sat and chatted, the 4 of us, for over an hour. The older man was quite a character, teasing us. What was amazing is that no one knew each other before walking on that balcony!
I needed that moment and God and the universe knew that. I really, really needed it. Funny how things work like that 🙂
Here’s a sampling of the beauty I saw along the way…
Sign at the head of the trail.
There are temples and gardens and even huts that you can rent for the night.
View over the “Little” lake. There are 2 lakes with walking causeway between them.
Stone bridge that crosses one of the many brooks that run through the park.
Cute little guy!
Gorgeous sculpture!
In her hands…
Quiet & easy to meditate in these gardens.
Been here 8 months… this is the first squirrel I’ve seen 🙂
Friends
Walking bridge over the connecting between the “little” lake and the “big” lake.
Path along the “big” lake… sorry for the finger in the shot… using my iPhone 🙂
View from the balcony at Starbucks.
One last pond as I exit the West Lake walk.
My route.
After finishing my walk, I took the bus to Kira’s to hang for a while… okay, well for a long time, LOL. But worth it. She’s moving back to the States on Wednesday and I’m going to miss her and Soren and Dan and Helena… a lot. I won’t miss their cat, Brooklyn, AKA “Tits”, because he’s moving in with me. I’ll have a wee piece of them here with me as a remembrance 🙂
Breakfast: 2 egg omelet with onions & garlic (I know, don’t fall off your chairs… ALERT! Sandi didn’t have tea eggs for brekkies!) Thanks for the idea Mel 🙂
Lunch: 2 tea eggs and 2 ounces of Edam
Dinner: 1/2 broiled chicken and grilled onions
Snack: pot of FF yogurt with bran and Splenda
Exercise:
2.76 mile walk along West Lake in morning
3.38 mile walk home from Kira’s in the evening
Ciao!
Dukan – Day 259
Thursday was a PV day 🙂
Daily weight loss: 0.2 lb/0.1 kg
Total weight loss: 92 lb/41.81 kgs
Slow and steady wins the race. Worked today. Very disappointed that the Director of Nursing cancelled our international Midwives Day events for tomorrow. I am sad for my Chinese colleagues who were very excited to be educating the public about midwives. Sigh. Part of my shit week I’m having. I had also been offered a job in Europe and the offer was rescinded. I am super disappointed about this, and not sure exactly what happened 😦 So a really shit week!
Onwards and upwards. I will start traveling a lot for the corporation this month. I travel to Wenzhou (WZ) to do teaching next week and my surgery. I then have a few days rest and I travel to Guangzhou (GZ) for 2 weeks of education (staff and community) then back to Hangzhou (HZ) for a few days, back to GZ for 3 days then home for a two week holiday and my first 5K… So excited to see everyone!
Here’s my run from last night. I think I’m doing okay… I have nothing to compare it with 🙂
So that’s the update. Now off to bed I go!
Ciao!
Dukan – Day 258
Wednesday was a PV day 🙂
Daily Weight Loss: 0 – stay the same day
Total Weight Loss: 91.8 lbs/41.71 kgs
I’m going to keep this short… my momma always said, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”… LOL
Breakfast: 2 tea eggs
Lunch: 1 tin of tuna and 1 tea egg
Dinner: Shrimp with mushrooms and garlic stems with cumin and curry powder
Snack: pot of FF yogurt with bran and Splenda
Exercise:
1 mile walk to work
1.5 mile walk from 35mm coffee house to home
3.66 mile/5.97 km run in the evening…
May 2nd run… B210K Week 1 Day 2
And as easy as that, my blog is done for the day. Here’s hoping the week ends on a high note!
Ciao!
Dukan – Day 257 & Liebster Award
Tuesday was a PP Day 🙂
Daily Weight Loss: 0.4 lb/0.2 kg
Total Weight Loss: 91.8 lbs/41.71 kgs
**yesterday’s daily weight loss should have been 0.7 lbs, not 1 lb… I must have put transposed the numbers, so if anyone is following that, there has been an adjustment 🙂
Tuesday was May Day… May 1st and it is apparently a public holiday here, so I had the day off… paid. That was nice!
I woke up at 545 a.m. on my day off… UGH! Although I had been sleeping for nearly 8 hours I really, really wanted to see if I could stay asleep… yeah, no. So up I got, jumped in the shower, made a french press carafe of Peet’s Coffee… yum, and laced up my hiking boots with the intention of hiking up the mountain again. Then, while on the bus I decided I wanted to hike around West Lake. The lake is beautiful, it was early morning, shouldn’t be too much foot or bike traffic yet. So I got off the bus and according to my trusty GPS on my iPhone, waited for bus 81. And waited and waited. I finally figured out there was no such thing as Bus 81 😦
So I started walking towards West Lake. I got to a sweet little park and had a couple of tea eggs. I thought I’d need the energy for the 9 mile walk around the lake… while I sat there I got a text from Kira and decided I needed some Soren love, and headed her way, instead!
On the way, I stopped at Pacific Coffee and picked up an iced latte w/skim milk. And took this picture of myself…
Gotta work on that pooch!
I had a fantastic day hanging out with them… ALL DAY! Sat on the couch, cuddled with Soren, pet the cat, chatted with Kira, helped her pack up Soren’s bedroom and watched about 14 episodes (I’m not kidding) of Steven Seagal: Lawman. I actually enjoyed it! Dan brought us iced lattes in the afternoon and then we had Arabic food for dinner…. yum! An all around fun day!
I then walked the 3.41 miles home. That’s 5.48 kms 🙂 Nice walk. Here’s the results…
Nice walk home. The weather has been pretty decent the past few days, temp wise. After I got home I finished reading The Last Lecture and followed up on some emails… chatted with my daughter, Tiffany and off to bed at 10 p.m. I hope everyone is having a good week so far!
Ciao!
LOL… I forgot about the Liebster Award… 😀 My blogging friend Anna nominated me for this award and had this to say about it:
FIVE BLOGS THAT ARE ‘LIEBSTER’ TO ME…
1-Flamidwyfe’s Blog https://flamidwyfe.wordpress.com/ Sandi blogs about her adventures and spectacular success on the Dukan Diet while living in China and being a midwyfe. She is an awesome example of putting your dreams out there and living FULLY!! Also, I wouldn’t even be a blogger if it weren’t for Sandi xo
Five facts:
1. Each of my kids thinks that I favor the others over them… and at various times through their life cycles I have favored them. They are all VERY unique individuals. Right now my favorite is my “baby”, Tiffany LeAnn. She is an amazing human being on many levels and I am most proud to be her mom.
2. I consider myself Evangelical AND and from the Christian Left… some think that’s an oxymoron 🙂 I also love the teachings of Buddha!
3. I’ve been divorced for nearly 19 years… he’s a friend on Facebook. He’s the 2nd husband, who wasn’t a jerk and is still alive, thank God!… LOL. It’s important for people who divorce to put their kids FIRST… I think we mostly did that (there will always be a screw up or three along that path!)
4. I miss living in the Middle East more than I ever could have imagined! Everything about it.
5. I’ve done quite well with removing toxic people from my life and keep them out. It makes for a much cleaner living 🙂
5 blogs I nominate:
1. http://inspiringandhealthyrunninginlondon.wordpress.com/ … her running all over the world inspires me to lace up my shoes!
2. Mel at http://wwangel.wordpress.com/ My first runner’s blog… she ROCKS and is so encouraging to me… thanks Mel!!!
3. Abbi at Lil Monkey’s Mama… today’s post was especially thought provoking!
4. http://lipomachia.wordpress.com/ … a woman who has taken control of her diet after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Not only has she gained control over her blood sugar, but has lost weight to boot! She’s amazing and I’m in awe of her transformation!
5. And http://notimetow8.com/ … his weight loss and his running of his first 5K are spurring me on to keep training for MY 5K… Well done!
If you have been nominated, here is what you do to keep it rolling:
Each Nominee Should:
- Choose five, up and coming blogs to give the Liebster award to. Blogs must have less than 200 followers.
- Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
- Post the award on your blog.
- List the bloggers you gave the award to with links to their sites. Leave a comment on their blogs to let them know they’ve received the award.
- Share five random facts about yourself!
I think the 2nd paragraph is IMPORTANT! Stop making excuses!
Tagged: Most Touching Moment in Asia
I was tagged earlier this week by a running blogger at Inspiring and Healthy Running to answer the question: Flamidwyfe is a midwife currently living and working in Asia. My question to you: What has been your most touching moment in Asia so far?
And here’s my answer. There are A LOT of them, given that I’ve been in a lot of Asia. But the most touching has to be last year, almost exactly a year ago, on May 5, 2011.
May 5th is International Midwives Day. Midwives all over the world celebrate the day with picnics, rallies and community/consumer awareness activities. I celebrated mine in Hangzhou, China. I work here now, but last year I came to do a water birth training conference. Last year’s theme was “Midwives Walking to Durban”. The International Confederation of Midwives, an organization that represents more than 250,000 members all over the world, holds a conference every 3 years. Last years conference was in Durban, South Africa and as a symbol of solidarity, they asked that we “walk to Durban” on Midwives Day.
I gave a lovely speech, if I do say so myself. I focused on the UN Millennium Goal #5, Improving Maternal Health. I am passionate about improving maternal health. By doing so, we improve the outcome of newborns. My speech was an impassioned plea to improve the prenatal care that we give women, including diet and nutrition education, and at the end I said, “Let’s all stand and hold hands and take a walk to Durban”… everyone in the room stood up, applauded and then took hands (after the translator said it in Mandarin.. lol) and the first one up was the CEO, Suzong. We took a 1 km walk in solidarity of midwives all over the world. Here’s 2 pics that I took, the CEO is the man just behind me… yes, that is ME in the teal top… LOL
International Midwives Day 2011 - Walking in solidarity with midwives around the world! Hangzhou, China
International Midwives Day 2011. Hangzhou, China
I can’t begin to tell you how touched I was when everyone stood up and grabbed hands. An American guy that use to work here told me that they wouldn’t “get” it and no one would stand up, much less take a 1 km walk outside… Well they did GET IT 😀 I fought back tears and felt so supported in my passion for midwifery.
International Midwives Day is this Saturday. I work in Hangzhou now. We are planning a big event on Saturday, with a speech, slide show presentation and consumer awareness. The midwives I work with here are gaining more respect each day. I am hoping that with continued international awareness midwives everywhere will be valued and respected for the work they do and the passion in which they do it.
Ciao!
Dukan – Day 256 – Slip Slidin’ Away
Monday was a PV Day 🙂
Daily weight loss: 1.0 lb/0.44 kg
Total weight loss: 91.6 lb/41.65 kg
8.4 lbs to go to reach my goal weight!
Breakfast: 2 tea eggs
Lunch: 2 slices ham & baby bell cheddar round
Dinner: 2 pork chops with onion, bell peppers and mushrooms
Snack: pot of FF Greek yogurt with bran and Splenda
Worked today. Office stuff. My surgery was rescheduled on my request to next week because Saturday is International Midwives Day and I’m planning a celebration at the hospital with the marketing Dept.
Exercise:
1 mile walk to work
1 mile walk home
1.2 mile walk to mall to buy two massive suitcases
1.2 mile walk home from mall dragging said massive suitcases
25 minute run, didn’t set GPS, but I think I got enough exercise in, LOL
I am finally feeling “normal” sized. I am in size 10 pants and medium tops. It’s a good feeling. 8 pounds to go. How awesome is that?
Ciao!
Nothing better than spending a half hour cuddling a newborn. I get PAID to do this 😀
Dukan – Day 255 – Mountain Hike
Sunday was a PV Day 🙂
Daily Weight Loss: 0.7 lb/0.30 kg
Total Weight Loss: 90.7 lb/41.21 kg
Well thank you to the scales… I was pretty happy to step on them this morning and see a loss!
I was up at the crack of dawn Sunday morning, had an omelet with onions and green peppers for breakfast and slid on the Chaco hiking sandals and headed out the door. It has warmed up here and I wanted to get my hike in before it was too hot. It had rained the night before…
The path leading up to the base of the mountain.
So I wanted to be very careful. I also took my time. I am still having some shortness of breath while climbing, which is frustrating me to no end, given I can run 40+ minutes without stopping… WTH??? Anyway, I kept reminding myself to slow down and took a slow and steady pace up the mountain.
Some of the stones have writings on them.
I like walking on the rough path because I think it helps with balance. You really have to concentrate (or at least *I* do) to stay balanced. A lot of the walkers go on the dirt paths on each side.
After walking/climbing for 1.6 miles, I turned around and headed back. I came upon this group and offered to take a pic of their group… they refused and asked me to become part of their pic 🙂
The guy in the blue shirt helped me out about 25 minutes later 🙂
I’m working on trying to get toner… I actually really don’t like my arms in this shot! I want to thank my friends, Teri and Terri for pointing out that I was wearing SANDALS and not my HIKING BOOTS… Anyhoo, I continued on my hike back… it’s really wonderful walking on the ridge of a mountain. Here’s the route…
It's a nice route up and down the ridge and back.
And as I was walking down the steps to the base, and actually… at THAT MOMENT, thinking about how well my Chaco sandals worked on the slippery, rainy stones, I fell on my ass! HARD! Having had multiple surgeries on my knees, I’m a PRO at falling. I seriously am 😀 A fact I am proud of. Falling on your ass, instead of putting the weight into your wrists, prevents fractures… EXCEPT MY ASS DOESN’T HAVE ANY PADDING ON IT ANYMORE! Or at least it’s greatly reduced! OW! And this is what your butt looks like with a big, deep, ouchy bruise on it…
LOL... you only live once... ViviMokaLaka is the best buddy you can have for documenting your life on film and YES, I have tats... more than a few and my mom has seen all of them.... Oh... and my ass is much smaller than it was 9 months ago... I never would have posted a bruise on THAT ass!
So, going back to the man in the blue shirt sitting next to me in the group shot. He ran up the steps, quick as lightening, to help me get up. I thought that was very sweet. And then he yelled at me, in Mandarin for hiking with sandals on… I showed him the bottom of the sandal in a plea for understanding, but he wasn’t having any of it! He then gave me HIS walking stick and told me (in Mandarin) to follow him the rest of the way down and to walk sideways so I wouldn’t fall again. What a sweetie 🙂 I made it down the rest of the way without any trouble… LOL
Here’s how the hike went:
Nice hike! I know that 909 feet isn't a huge climb up, but it's pretty impressive to me 🙂
So, that was my hike. I then met a couple of friends at 35mm Coffee shop for an iced latte, then went home and showered. I then walked to the hospital to give baby Lyla a bath and some lovin’. Just as I was leaving, Reuben from The Vineyard, was bringing a special request dinner into the room… He’s the guy that made me the special dinner on Saturday night to keep me PP for the day… he’s an awesome chef… reminds me of my son, Nick.
Reuben with Olivia
After seeing that yummy food, I went home and had a pan grilled chicken breast with onion, anoki mushrooms, regular mushrooms and garlic stems. Yummy!
Since I had done the hike, I didn’t run… instead read a little more than half of “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch. Awesome book, lots of wisdom.
So that’s it… nice, fully Sunday. Great way to end the week. I’m really enjoying my Sunday hikes!
Ciao!
Tagged: Most Embarrassing Night Involving a Toilet
So, I got this message from my buddy Sandy over at TheSandyTongue. A challenge. One that, if asked by anyone else, I probably wouldn’t do… LOL. But his posts keep me in stitches. Even the ones I don’t agree with. I try really HARD not to read his posts at work, because I laugh so loud they KNOW I’m not working! So here goes…
thesandytongue on April 27, 2012 at 2:13 pm said:Edit
Hello dear, I nominated you, enjoy:http://thesandytongue.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/tmi-most-embarrasing-night-involving-a-toilet/
In the fall of 1983 I was a 19 year old mother of 2 and recently separated from husband Number 1, due to finding him screwing a 16 year old in our bed, while my 2 year old was playing in the living room and I was grocery shopping… this happened at 5 weeks post-partum.
Needless to say, I was suffering from raging postnatal depression AND situational depression.
Said ex-husband (may he rest in peace… he died from the affects of alcoholism at the young age of 44) had 2 best friends, Rick and Tom. And they decided we were going out for a night on the town. The “happening place” in good ole Stuart, Florida was The Stage East. **Please note, when I was 19, back in 1983, you could still legally drink alcohol at that age, it changed the following July 1, and my little sister (just 19 months younger than me) had to wait to 21 (not that she did… lol).
Anyhoo… I have not much recollection of that night except I had 3 rum and cokes, 2 Long Island ice teas and 2 pina coladas. We then went to an “after party” at Rick’s house. Where I apparently threw up on every surface of his bathroom, except the ceiling. Although, according to Rick, I almost hit the ceiling with it 🙂 I then passed out, hit my head on the bathtub and woke up in the hospital.
Not a proud moment, to be sure. I have never, ever been drunk since then. I have actually never, ever had more than 2 drinks in one 24 hour setting. I’m the designated driver. I would say that I’ve probably had 3 drinks this year, so far, and the last one was on the plane coming back to China where I dumped 1/2 of one of those little airplane sized Bacardi bottles into a diet coke… the other 1/2 is still in my cupboard… that was February 9th.
I wasn’t invited back out to party with that group. Rick said it took 3 of them 2 hours to clean the bathroom from the vomit and blood… more embarrassing that you can imagine.
And that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!
Ciao!
Flamidwyfe's Blog 