Summer Recap

Today marks the beginning of a new school year, and in a sense, the end of summer.  As I enjoy the peace and quiet of having the house to myself for the first time since May, I'm compelled to look back (and share) some photos of the terrific summer we had!

It all started with a terrific trip to Colorado to see my brother graduate law school.

It was also wonderful to be able to revisit many of the places we visited as kids.  Colorado was our typical vacation destination growing up, so we took the opportunity to stay in Colorado Springs and take our kids to the places that held such good memories for me.

...such as the Pueblo Cliff Dwellings!

...and Garden of the Gods (where Dax and I got to celebrate Dax and Melanie Love Each Other Day!).

...but mostly we got to spend time with family.  I love my siblings!

Back home in Florida, we prepared to a summer full of visitors!  First out were my good friend, Sarah, and her lovely daughter, Lily.  With them, we made it to Disney World for the first time!

Following her, was Linda and Mackenzie's second visit of the year!  (3rd if you count the time they were here visiting Dax before the kids and I ever got moved to Orlando!)

We went to Gatorland, which is a must-see Florida attraction!  My kids have been to LegoLand, Disney's Animal Kingdom, Disney's Magic Kingdom, and Gatorland, and Gatorland is their hands-down favorite!  (and for the $10/person ticket price for Florida residents, we'll definitely be making several return trips!)

And we got to experience our first Fourth of July at the beautiful Lake Eola in downtown Orlando...

As the Linda and Knz were leaving, my brother came to take over the role of houseguest.  He stayed with us for three weeks and it was a really, nice, low-key visit where we did things like multiple beach trips...

and Dax got to enlist Evan to help him build a loft for Mazzy.

Finally, the last trip of the summer was mine alone.  I went back to Missouri for a few days to celebrate my amazing Grandma's 99th birthday!  While I was there, I got to spend a lot of fun, quality time with the sibs (especially during the dance party at Gina and Jason's!)...

...and I got to see Sarah again too!

I went to a casino for the very first time....(that's a pic of the INSIDE!)

....where I lost $27 while Gina won over $100.

But like I said, the trip was about my Grandma.  It was so wonderful seeing her!  She's doing so well, and I know she's getting up there, but I'm counting on a lot of years with her still!  She said to me, "Aunt Eliza died in the spring at 106.  Do you think I can beat her?"  Heck yeah, Grandma!  I do!

Busy busy summer!  I'm looking forward to a great autumn!  We already have company scheduled for September (Sarah's coming back!  Yay!) and two trips in October.  For today though, now that I've done my reminiscing, I'm going to take advantage of the quiet and take a nap!

Admiration and Vanity

Dax has been riding his bike to and from work for months now, and he has the legs to show it.  I've been spending more time poolside, and I have the tan to show it.  (I don't believe I've ever been tan like this before!) We often lay on the couch alternately admiring each other's muscle tone and skin coloring.  It's quite amusing!  Now if I could just get up off of my lazy bum and exercise with a bit more consistency, I could be both tanned and toned!

I'm still not going to yoga as consistently as I should.  Well, that makes it sound like I actually go.  Nothing like getting a 10-class punchcard in February and still having 8 left to put that into perspective!  Dax is going to go with me tonight though, and I'm really looking forward to that.  I need to start inviting people to go with me more often because it definitely gets me there.  I've also been going on a lot more walks, thanks to my good friend, Madonna.  I'm loving her new album sooo much!  Madonna puts me in a great mood and makes me feisty, my favorite combination!  Kenny benefits from this too because he's getting walked more consistently and with greater enthusiasm while I stomp around the neighborhood, listening to my girl, and sometimes even singing along.  On a good night, I get to do what I call the Trifecta, which is walk/hoop/swim.  I start with my walk with Kenny.  When I get home, I'm usually still pumped up enough to want to keep going, so I head straight to the backyard and hoop to the tunes until I am ready to drop.  Provided the kids are in bed (or if I have my swimsuit on under my clothes (which I often do these days), I then strip down and jump in the pool to swim a few laps and to cool off.  It's fantastic!  I manage the Trifecta a few times a week, but I need to bump that up for real results.  Ms. Madonna is doing her best to whip me into shape though!

Day 100!

I am done.  I did it.  I stayed (mostly) vegan for 100 days, gave up caffeine and diet soda, and stayed away from alcohol for most of it (it made a reappearance around Day 75).  Some of the time I loved being vegan, and I enjoyed finding new and delicious things to eat.  Mostly, I found it frustrating and isolating though.  My family was very supportive of my challenge, but they had no interest in joining me, and it often got lonely only cooking for myself after making everyone else a meal that looked more appetizing.  I think I would have enjoyed the experiment more if I had had someone beside me also excited about trying a new diet.  My favorite meals as a vegan were almost all in restaurants, where I could feel like I could indulge and still share in a meal with my family.

I've talked a lot about my health and improvements I have seen, but I do have to say that overall, I don't feel much different.  It's possible it's been such a gradual change though, that I just really haven't noticed.  I will be curious to see what happens next.  Other than my improved numbers from my physical, I've lost about 12 pounds, and my joint pain has improved.

What happens next is the biggest question I've been batting around for the last 100 days.  At first, I thought maybe I would end up wanting to stay vegan (that did not happen), and then I assumed that I'd probably at least want to remain vegetarian (that didn't happen either).  I don't feel like my diet was bad before I started the challenge, but I do think it got better.  I'm hoping that if nothing else, I have expanded my options for dining and I will continue to eat a more plant-based diet even if I'm still a carnivore.  I've also learned that I can still make positive changes to my health and body.  That may seem to be a silly realization (because of course we all can, duh!), but after years of not really seeing any measurable results no matter what my efforts, it was both comforting and frustrating to see for sure that with enough patience and persistence, there will be results...even if they're small, and those small things will eventually add up to something big.

Today was my 100th day.  I planned to eat vegan today and then have my first "free" day tomorrow, possibly celebrating with a dinner out.  Well, Jack has a baseball game tomorrow night, and Dax's best friend is flying into town that evening too.  Wednesday is Mazzy's birthday, and we'll be going out then too.  So I thought about what I would want for my reward meal,  and if there was any food I missed above all other.  What I found out was that I really didn't miss any one food all that much.  What I missed the most was the community of sharing a meal with my family.  Tonight for dinner, I cooked a belated Easter dinner (time got away from us yesterday), and chose to celebrate my 100 days being vegan by having my reward dinner one meal early so I could enjoy Easter dinner with my family.  I had baked ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, and peas.  It was really yummy, but sharing it with my family was even better!

Day 96--Mobile Melanie

There's little point to this blog post except to see if it works.  I finally downloaded the blogger app to my phone since I'm rarely on a real computer anymore.  Mine is about dead, and even if it wasn't, without constant photo work, I'm just not on the computer as much (which is perfectly fine with me).  However, there have been a few times I've thought of posting a blog update, but it's too big of a pain.  Maybe this will help.  Or at least get my bikini blog off the top of my page.

Oh! Six more days!  Can't freakin wait.

Day 89--Swimsuit Season!

I'd be lying if I didn't say I had hoped for some major weight loss with this challenge.  I haven't gotten "major", but I have finally gotten "some".  This morning, I weighed 179.6.  I started the challenge at 192, so it's definite (albeit slow) improvement.  Now, I know I'm still technically "obese", and I don't plan on leaving my backyard in this anytime soon, but I got a new bikini.  :D  Actually, I got two.  Three if you count the fact that one of the tops is reversible.

The timing of this couldn't be more perfect because on my favorite message board, there's been lots of debate about who should and shouldn't wear a bikini.  By the message board consensus, I should definitely NOT.  But I'm doing it anyway....

Well, at least in the backyard.  ;)

Day 87--Counting Down

When I started this challenge, this is how I saw it playing out, and at first, it was exactly like this...

First 30 days: Get used to different food.  Find new "staples" to eat.  Adjust to vegan diet.

Second 30 days: Add activity.  Maintain food changes and establish exercise routine

Third 30 to the end: Everything combines seamlessly to an effective diet/exercise groove.

So the first 30 were correct, and the second 30 were mostly correct until Dax had to go to Kansas.  When that happened, I quit going to yoga, temporarily or course.  However, I haven't been back yet.  (seriously, still temporary.  Shitty couple of weeks and now it's Spring Break and the kids are home).  Also, in this last 30, I have been less than satisfied with my diet.  I'm sick of the prep.  I'm tired of trying to come up with something interesting enough to eat.  I'm tired of tackling the challenges of eating out.  Last week, we went to LegoLand, and I thought I had done the proper research before going.  There were several dining options available there that I thought I wouldn't have too hard of a time finding something to eat.  Was I wrong!  The place that offered "healthy wraps and sandwiches", only had those pre-packaged triangle-cut airport sandwiches.  It's not like there was someone there who could make something for me.  Every other place that I thought would work out, either didn't actually have anything, or the wait list was so long, I couldn't make the kids go through that.  I ended up settling on french fries after three different dining locations, but I was stilll starving.  And then the headache kicked in.  After LegoLand, we went to Ruby Tuesdays because it was close and because I knew I could have the salad bar.  For whatever reason though, this restaurant had the worst salad bar I've seen in awhile, and I hate wasting money on food that I don't think is good at all.  I finished my salad before anyone else got their entrees, and I realized I hadn't really paid attention to what anyone else had ordered.  When I found out Dax had ordered a steak, I nearly lost it.  I certainly don't begrudge him a steak, but at this point, I was so hungry, so irritable, so headachey, I couldn't fathom watching him eat a steak in front of me, so I went to the car, called my sister, Gina, and had a complete meltdown.  I suppose I could say I'm sick of rules.

Now, I know I don't have much time left, and I'm really trying to rally and finish this thing on an upswing rather than just counting down the days.  This week has been a little better.  I'm going to focus on that and keep going.

Day 63--Really???

Time is zooming by pretty fast here!  I  planned a big "Day 50" post, but that day happened the same week as my birthday, same week as my annual dr. appt. (more news there!), and same as the week Cori moved back to Missouri, same that my uncle died, and same that we found out that Dax's uncle was dying too.  (He's in Wichita right now with Family).  So it's been busy and emotional here.

I should backtrack to my birthday though, because I took pictures.  I've mentioned before about how great it is living in a city that people visit often, because I keep getting to see people that I haven't seen in a long time.  On my birthday, I was lucky enough to have my friend, Kelly, in town.  She was my manager and best friend in California, and her mom and sister live in Orlando, so she happened to be here for my birthday weekend!  Yay!

We had lunch downtown and then we went to my favorite bakery for some vegan cupcakes for later.  The bakery is pretty freaking awesome.  They're very allergy aware and serve both vegan and gluten free cupcakes.  I knew no one was going to bake me a vegan birthday cake, so I bought a box of cupcakes to let everyone off the hook.  I also bought a couple of gluten-free ones, just so I could compare (they were in the box with the regular cupcakes, which of course doesn't make them GF anymore, but it was fine for a taste comparison.) All of the cupcakes were amazing!  

Not much else happened for my birthday, but it was a really good one...nice, relaxing, and happy.  Happy 41!

So, that was my birthday.  On the 22nd, I had my dr. appt, which was basically to give me the results of my blood work.  I had it done in Albany this past summer, but I needed to do it again to get established as a new patient here.  I was excited to see if my numbers had changed since summer since at the time of the blood draw, I was already almost 50 days into the challenge.  I wish I could find my paperwork from summer.  I know I kept it, and I know I'll run across it eventually and then I'll really be able to compare, but I know definitely that my numbers improved a lot.  I just don't know by how much exactly.  First of all, for overall cholesterol, I've always ran between 195-205....not awful or anything, and not really "high", but not as good as it could be.  Now, my total cholesterol is 154.  That's a pretty dramatic change!  My bad cholesterol was 80 (should be under 130).  My good cholesterol was 41.  It should be over 46, so I'm low on that one, but the dr. said that I can improve that by eating more fish (which I will be), and my triglycerides are still a little high, but he said that would come down as I lost weight and exercised more (working on it!).  He tested my thyroid, my liver and kidney function and everything was terrific.  He even tested a bunch of vitamin levels and said that "for a vegan" I'm don't have any of the vitamin deficiencies they often see.  (yay me!)  My favorite number on that whole page though, was my Hemoglobin A1c.  I don't even know what that really means, but that number tells you your risk for diabetes, and because of my family history, my weight, and the fact that I had gestational diabetes with both pregnancies, I've always been considered higher risk.  Anyway, my number for this one was 5.6.  Anything under 5.7 indicates decreased risk of diabetes.  Decreased!  You have no idea how much I'm loving that word right now.  I want to put a bunch of gold stars on this printout and hang it on my fridge, because this is one test I worked for, and I have the proof in front of me that it paid off.  It makes me want to carry the pages around with me and pull them out whenever people treat me like I must be someone who gets all of her meals out of a bucket.  Finally, I have proof in hand that I am healthy (or at least well on the way.

That same day, I took Cori back to the airport.  She decided to move back to Missouri since she was having trouble finding full-time work here.  So here we are, just us again.  And with Dax in Wichita right now, this is the first time we've been in Florida and he hasn't.  I really liked having her here.  It was nice to have an instant friend, and it was nice to have someone willing to babysit while Dax and I went out.  But I guess it's time to toughen up and make my life for myself here without counting on Cori to make it easier.

This move has been a good one for me.  It certainly hasn't been without its challenges, and those who've been living here with me, know that I've been dealing with a lot of them lately.  And then I think about how much has changed in a year.  It was the end of February last year that Dax lost his job.  Just a few days after that, a 20 year old friendship of mine ended.  In the matter of a couple of days, I lost one of my best friends, and learned that the life we had built for ourselves in Albany, was quickly coming to an end one way or another.  It was very hard on me, not knowing where we would end up, worry about schools, the kids friends, my work, Dax's job hunt, and of course "friend" drama. Dax and I weren't doing well either although I will say, him losing his job was the best thing that could have happened to our marriage.  He was so miserable there.  I don't even think he knew quite how unhappy he was, but the amazing thing is once that job was out of the picture, and even though we were sooo worried about what might happen next, we re-established ourselves as a team and really leaned on each other.  I'm so thankful for that because I needed my friends more than ever, and mostly I was just let down.  In a lot of ways, I'm still recovering from last year. This year, as far as friends are concerned at least, may be a little "more of the same", but I feel a lot better equipped to deal with it.  Or I hope.  I'm trying to start over here, in every way that I can while preserving what matters.  I have my husband, who over the past few months has really impressed me.  He has stepped up for me in ways that really surprised me, and I'm so grateful to have him to lean on.  He really stepped up for me and it's really given me the extra boost I need to help me really change my life like I'm trying to.

There's a song by Ivy that I heard after I moved here.  Lately it's been running on a loop in my head, and may just be my Florida theme song.  For me and my family.  For me and Dax.  For me.

Day 45--Happy Valentine's Day!

Dax and I don't celebrate Valentine's Day, and that's never bothered me because my birthday is just a few days later.  We have Dax and Melanie Love Each Other Day in May instead.  Regardless, the kids like Valentine's Day, and I have fond memories of it as a kid.  It was always more of a school holiday to me, probably because my family didn't do much for Valentine's Day either.  It was always small.  Usually, I try to get the kids a little toy or some candy, but this year I decided to make cupcakes, and since I was going to go to the trouble of making cupcakes, I decided to make vegan cupcakes!  Since this was a last minute decision, I didn't have time really to go to the store, so I needed recipes with ingredients I already had on-hand, or things I could easily substitute.  I went with this recipe for the cupcakes (substituting all-purpose flour for whole wheat (this is not a wheat-free day!), almond milk for soy, and leaving out the chocolate chips), and this recipe for the frosting.  I tried making some little hearts with sprinkles on the tops, but that didn't really work out.  Still, sprinkles are pretty anyway.

I haven't had my cupcake yet, but preliminary reviews from the kids is outstanding!  (and if my tastes of the batter and frosting count, I think I'm going to agree!)

Tonight was also Round 2 of my veggie burger experiments.  Apparently, still unwilling to follow a recipe, I think I can figure this out on my own using whatever I have laying around the house.  And well...I just might!  Maybe not quite yet, but getting closer!  This time I used about a cup of leftover brown rice, a cup or so of leftover lentil soup, drained as best as I could, a few tablespoons of ground almonds (all I had left),  2 tablespoons of ground flax seed, a handful of mushrooms, and a little bit of teriyaki sauce made from this recipe . I put that all in the food processor and it turned out looking like this...

It was really too moist, so I chilled it awhile until I was able to sort of make patties with it.  I put them between layers of plastic wrap so I could freeze them a bit too, hopefully making them a little firmer for cooking.  It worked...kind of.  When I was frying these, I was feeling like I couldn't quite get the inside cooked too, so I ended up, stirring it all up in the pan, with a little more teriyaki, and then reforming into a patty as I cooked, and that worked pretty well!  I topped the burger with mushrooms sauteed in teriyaki sauce (my attempt at recreating the teriyaki mushrooms I had last week), and I must say I found the result really satisfying!

I found the charred bits throughout (some would say "burned") most flavorful, and the nuttiness of the burger went really well with the teriyaki.  I need to work on the consistency of the burger, but I think the flavor is really coming along!  I have three more patties in the freezer, so I'm curious to see how they cook up.

As for now, it's time for dessert!

Nude Nite Orlando

Did that get your attention?  ;)

I mentioned before that Dax and I have been going out a lot more, and last week I heard about this art exhibit that was in town.  Nude Nite  is a yearly event, I believe, and it's a big art show celebrating the body, complete with wall art, sculpture, live art and performance art.  It was really an experience and a great excuse to really dress up.  (not that I bothered to get a picture of US)  Knowing that there would be live people walking around with little or no clothes on, I assumed that you wouldn't be able to take photographs, but apparently I was wrong...and stuck there with just my cell phone.  There is also the part of me that gets tired of always taking pictures and welcome the chance to just experience something as it's happening rather than through the lens, but seeing all these people snapping away at this great art was more than I could handle and I busted out the cell phone.  I did photograph everything through my Retro Camera app since I didn't have a good camera to work with, and I shot everything in black and white (which could be an insult to the artists who displayed their art in color) and even cropped everything in Lightroom, but I felt I had to have my thumbprint on the photos too, you know?  My biggest regret, though, is that I didn't think to get record of the artists' names to give credit, but I wanted to share a bit of our experience there.

This "mermaid in captivity" was the first installation I took a photo of.  People were really close to her and taking photos and chatting with her, so I figured it really was ok and started to get a little more comfortable.  Plus, she wasn't nude.

These people were, however, and I love this shot mostly for the silhouette of the girl with her mouth agape.

Beautiful, dreamy painting.

I couldn't resist a shot of this photograph (displayed in bright and vivid color).  I had that hoop.  That's the 5lb sport hoop that beats the heck out of your organs when you use it.  That hoop hurts. I have loads of respect for that woman.

Stilt-walkers.  I thought I got a shot of them head-on, because they were posing for everyone, but I guess I was still a little shy about taking pictures of some one's boobies.  If it hadn't been my cell phone, I don't think it would have bothered me as much, but instead I felt like I looked like that jerk with the cell phone who's sending "check out these tits!" pics to all of his friends.  So I tried to be discreet.  Plus there was one person dressed as "security" in one installation who yelled at me (and several others) not to take cell phone photos of his piece (it was a nekkid girl saran wrapped to a pillar with him "guarding" her), but I suspect that was just part of the piece.  Still, it made me anxious.

Oh I loved this!  It was done with bits of magazine.

Bubbles!

This was a set of two sculptured done with forks and spoons.  I wish they were a little clearer.  I loved these!

This was interactive.  People could write on the big white board around this guy.  I really like how this photo turned out.  Personally, I found this exhibit hilarious, for a few reasons, mostly the guy's resemblance to this character in Community (he's the Greendale Community College's mascot, The Human Being.)

But back to the neat stuff...

This one was done with Jelly Beans, and  again, color would have been nice here.
Oh wait!  (must find cell phone)  This is the one piece of the night, that I did switch modes to get a color shot of it too.

I really liked that one.  There were a few "works in progress" going on throughout the night, and this is one I would have liked to see the finished product.

Another "work in progress" and definitely my favorite of the live art that night, mostly because I loved the way this girl was painted.  It was swirly and sparkly.  Red glitter, clear crystals and white detailing.  It was just beautiful.  I want to be painted like that.  I would have really appreciated the zoom capabilities of my good camera to show the detail, but I really like the way this photo turned out too.  I love the reflections!

Finally, we'll end with a laugh.

Have a great day!  Make some art!