Saturday, August 20, 2011

and then they grow up......

There is something about a child leaving to pursue her life that is both heart wrenching and beautiful. It is sad, and wonderful. It is hard, but it is time.
My daughter drove off in her little blue Toyota this morning with the sun at her back on to the rest of her life. She's 20 and this is not the first time for her to move out, as she did go to CSU for a semester and lived on campus that year. That separation was much more difficult for me than this one, but I am still so sad.
We will all miss her, even her little brother who gave her complete hell all the way out the door. I guess that would make it easier than the crying of not wanting her to leave that he did when she was at CSU. That really would make it hard.
As a mom, this is the time in my life that I begin to focus on me and where I am and where I want to be. My son is 4, so I am far from an empty nester, but that is a piece I truly wanted. I never want to stop having children in my home.
I love being a mom, and I love watching them grow, as hard as this very day is, it is a gift for me to be here to watch her drive down the driveway and pray for her safety and pray she makes good decisions and always learns from her bad ones. I pray for her to find true love, make tons of new friends and always be able to hold onto the old ones. I hope she always has what she needs. I hope she is able to create her vision for her future, so she can clearly chase her dreams, spread her wings and fly.
It was such a gift for her to come home for her sophomore year in college so we could spend so much time together as I transformed my career and life into doing and being what I've wanted for a long time. This change left me our Mondays where we were able to go hiking, exploring, walking, shopping, to lunch at Beau Jo's, to the museum to look at rocks, and so many other places. To have my second birthday, just me and Auriel, filled with lots of talk about life, boys, dreams and each other's challenges.

How lucky am I to have a daughter who is also a best friend. 








Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Eat in Season, right now - yellow squash and tomatoes!

Getting ideas for veggies at breakfast time can be challenging. Especially if you dislike scrambled eggs and omelets, which is my own problem. However, I usually don't have a shortage of creativity in my kitchen.
This morning, I created a saute using yellow squash, tomatoes, a "dippy" egg (over easy), and served it on whole grain toast.

Directions:
Chop 1 small yellow squash into 1/2 inch or bite size pieces
Chop 2 grape tomatoes into bite size pieces
Saute in 1/2 tsp olive oil and minced garlic for about five to seven minutes until slightly soft and warmed through.

Cook egg as desired. My son likes over easy, as do I, so this is what I made.

Toast sprouted grain or whole grain toast.
Top with egg.
Top with saute.
Sprinkle with fresh cilantro.

I brought the saute to work with me at my center this morning and reheated it in our toaster oven at 325 for ten minutes. Served with fresh avocado on a whole grain tortilla.

Confession: I ate two of these wraps.
YUM!

I love eating well!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Egg in a Butterfly Shaped Hole

I looked for a heart shaped cookie cutter, but I plain don't have one. I have a butterfly though.

This year, the butterfly has taken on a significant meaning in my life. Transformation, change, from the same old drudgery to a beautiful colorful new life. This transformation has taken shape through my career and health, which has improved my relationships, my outlook, and me! In my new center, I've really taken to the butterfly as the symbol for this transformation, it is my logo.

Now, I see butterflies everywhere. Do you ever have that happen? I truly feel like it's how I know I'm where I am supposed to be.

I knew today would be a perfect day because the only shape I could find was a butterfly. ... well, okay...whatever must be. It's sure funny how these critters have a way of showing up in my days....

Egg in a Butterfly Hole

Ingredients:
Whole grain bread, one slice per person
Eggs, one per person
Butter
Swiss Chard
Butterfly cookie cutter (or heart, or circle), use to cut shape in center of bread.

Directions:
On a griddle, melt about 1/4 tsp of organic butter.
Lay toast in melted butter, pour one egg into the center of each piece of bread.
Allow to cook for at least 5 minutes over medium heat. When you can see the egg is cooked on the one side and 1/2 way through, it's safe to flip. (slowly)

Allow to cook on this side for a few minutes until egg is cooked to desired doneness. My son loves dippy eggs so I try to not over cook the yolk. Add pepper, top with greens before removing from heat allow to lightly wilt. (or place fresh greens on top of egg after removed from heat, serving them raw.)
Serve warm.

Don't they just make you happy?
This healthful breakfast filled with protein, multi-grain toast, and beautiful swiss chard was preceded by 1/4 mile on the treadmill and 10 minutes on the elliptical machine.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Self Challenges and Accomplishments

I think it is my Gemini side that always ventures off the trail I originally set out to walk.
I intended to originally challenge myself to walk, a lot. Then I found out that my son is totally opposed to hiking and completely not up to walking much more than a block.
This resulted in a lot of non-walking activities over the summer. Especially after the Red Rocks hike. It was beautiful, but he opposed, griped, and complained the whole way. Which truly took the enjoyment out of it.
Yet, last week, I found myself at the zoo toting him along in his wagon, while I walked a couple of miles in the 100 degree heat. I LOVE to walk, and it's always the way I find my way back to health and balance when things get out of whack in my life.
The other thing I intended to do was to eat vegetarian to get some of the stress weight off that I gained in my huge changes this year. I realized why I am not a vegetarian in the first place.

  1. Doing so makes me crave meat
  2. When I don't honor this craving, I eat pretty much anything that is near me, except cats and people of course. (let's not talk about furniture....of course I'm kidding)
  3. I usually find myself in the middle of a binge wondering how I got so far off track. 
So, needless to say, the vegetarianism went right out the window. If you read back and wonder what happened to all of it, you can now see why I got off track... really, I needed to identify it before I realized what happened. This is the gift of doing what I do as a health coach. 
As I find balance in my every day life of coaching and running New Beginnings, my center, I am once again finding the balance in my health and lifestyle activities. 

While I am not eating vegetarian, we have mostly meatless meals. I prepare meals with meat perhaps 2 or 3 times a week, with the rest being meatless. 
I've also found a nice balance in my movement that keeps me inspired and allows me to accommodate my son's need to not walk too far. 
I find myself in my work out room, in our basement 6 days a week. This space allows him to play in his room, watch television, or work along side me for a few minutes at a time. It allows me to properly control my workouts so I get the most out of them, keeping my heart rate elevated and my body moving. We also have the appropriate equipment to rotate exercises to keep my body guessing, allowing me to reduce plateaus and quickly reach my health goals.
Our Mondays are still filled with fun activities with the kids, but they often revolve more around his interests. Little Monkey Business, the Denver Zoo, along with hanging out around the house and getting stuff done. 

So, If you find yourself asking, "What happened to the 100 salads in 100 days? and How Many Miles Can I walk in a year?", well, I'm still working on the salads.... and I'm adding miles, as they are walked where I can account for the distance. 
In a way, it shows that being able to change your routines to meet the needs of your life can help you to continue to move forward in reaching your goals, and in a way it might help to know that you are not set in concrete and it's okay to not end doing what you originally set out to do, as long as you know you are taking care of you. 

Today, I walked a mile on my treadmill, and topped it off with 13 minutes on my eliptical. I've been lifting weights 3 - 4 days a week as well. I am loving this weight resistance and the results I'm seeing. I'm standing taller and losing inches quickly. WHICH I LOVE!