It was wonderful when I forced myself from bed and glanced at the weather app on my phone. It promptly informed me that it was 24° F outside with an 80% chance of snow at that very moment.... "Hrm..." I thought, "That's fairly good odds...."
I took a gander out my bedroom window to a world glowing orange.
Being an Oregonian living West of the Cascade mountains, the seven year old part of my brain started squealing like a psycho. I pulled on my gear and grabbed my phone. I wasn't going to run, but I was going to enjoy that early morning quiet that comes with fresh fallen snow.
The scenery did not disappoint and I wish I had just snagged my camera for the adventure in place of my cell phone. Alas, I was able to capture some pictures. This one was my favorite of my solitary jaunt through the snow.
After I returned home we enjoyed breakfast and then decided to venture out around the yard with the tiny terror. This is the first time we have had snow stick on the valley floor in almost two years. She was two months old last time and taking her out in it was just not going to happen.
We all bundled up and out we went. At first she was completely unsure of how to react to this odd substance covering her world. With trepidation and caution, after seeing both her father and I, she scooped up her first handful of the crystalline water.
About thirty minutes and an extremely pink button nose later we convinced her it was time to return indoors with the promise of hot chocolate and a movie.
The rest of the day has proceeded in a quiet, calm fashion (other than the random outbursts that are to be expected with a two year old).
As I work to refocus on my overall health I am getting back to the things I know work for me. Beyond just meal planning, I am committed to sticking to it. Dining out tends to be both unhealthy in the choices made and financially unhealthy.
I am also taking the time to prep and plan my snacks for at work during the week. The main thing here is to stop taking the tiny person's snack foods. I need to remember to cycle through my favorites as I go along so I don't get burnt out on just snacking on the same things all the time.
The key ones right now are trail mix (portioned properly!), Greek yogurt, homemade granola (see picture below), fruit and veg. These are my power house snacks. They keep me full and happy through the workday and are nutritionally valuable.
I admittedly always get out of whack around the holidays and this year was no exception. It's so easy to do, and so fucking hard to correct. The worst of it for me is the bloated icky feeling I get all at once after the holidays. Never fails. It tends to make me feel gross and in turn I kind of treat myself like shit. Like, I am the mean girl from middle school mocking me and taunting me in my head. I get down on myself and there tends to be a lot of self loathing. Even though I know in my mind that I may have gained five to ten pounds of water weight from all this poor eating, that mean girl tells me I have gained thirty and I will never be the picture of health I have for myself.
This year started no differently. Then I shot the dumb mean girl. BOOM! Head shot!
I know what I need to do to feel better and I am doing it. I don't have the time or room to allow this sort of mentality to continue. Rather than wallow I need to move. I need to jump, run, laugh, crochet, write, draw, sing off key and love myself.
And that's what I am going to do.
You should try it too. I bet you'd be great at it.
My quinoa enchilada casserole is about done so I need to wash up the prep stuff and get the finishing touches to dinner together.
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