Category: Travel Plans

May Exercise Resolution

My favorite thing about the fact that it’s finally MAY is that now I can finally say we are going to Europe “NEXT MONTH!” Which is exciting, because it’s so soon but also a little sad because the trip will be here and gone before we know it. Additionally, I’m weighing the pros/cons of not blogging during the trip, or just doing photo dumps every few days, or what. Feel free to weigh in on that as well.

Fair warning: this post is about weight, and weight loss. If that scares/offends/triggers unhealthy reactions for you, please come back tomorrow or the day after for a more home-decor related post.

May also means that time is marching onward and I have not met my vacation weight loss goal (numbers: undisclosed) but in fact I gained two pounds since December. Two whole pounds, you say! Oh the humanity! I’ll just say that my weight is frustratingly consistent. I am extremely grateful that I do not gain, but frustrated that despite my best efforts I do not lose, either.

This morning as I bolted out the door with my “breakfast,” a cup of coffee (with milk, always) and a mini wheel of cheese, I thought of one of my favorite quotes from The Devil Wears Prada (love the movie, detest the novel).

It’s for Paris, I’m on this new diet. Well, I don’t eat anything and when I feel like I’m about
to faint I eat a cube of cheese. I’m just one stomach flu away from my goal weight. 

Well, I am going to Paris, but despite the evidence of my meager breakfast I am not on this particular diet. Let me state the obvious: it’s not healthy! 

I have made a last-minute May resolution: work out 5 days a week. Yikes. As one who rates exercise right down there with mopping the floor (our entire house is tile or wood, too), I don’t want to do it but it must be done. Who knows, maybe I’ll end up liking it. Yesterday I stairmastered my way through half an issue of Real Simple. Perhaps I can justify my magazine addiction by equating it with exercise motivation? Maybe?

As for my “diet,” I’ll let you in on a little secret. Lots of vegetables, some meat, and I could probably make real progress just by cutting out some bread and pasta, but who wants to do that?

Any tips for one who wants to diminish her “spare tire” in six weeks? 

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Guess What…

This was a great weekend.

I mean, aside from the fact that I spent more than half of the weekend hours in bed trying to get over a cold (for someone like me who never gets sick, even a little cold feels like the end of the world), this was a great weekend.

Why?

Let me show you…

FINALLY!

YES!

WE’RE GOING!

This trip finally feels like a reality, and I finally feel like I can function like a normal human being instead of being nervously preoccupied with passport delays, ticket prices going up, etc. Phew!! Now I can focus on planning what sights we need to see, where we need to eat, and what I’m going to wear! Oh yeah, and going back to the Y after my illness-induced hiatus to work on getting in shape. I don’t want to cringe when I look at my vacay pictures! Luckily I have a few months between now and then to work on my bod and to work on getting to know our new camera beauty!

PS: One of my FAVORITE bands, Delta Spirit, has a new album coming out. Stream it now courtesy of Rolling Stone.

Photo by Paul Ferney for Oh Happy Day

“It is never convenient and there is never enough money to travel but sometimes you just have to make yourself go or else you’ll never do it.” (Jordan Ferney, Oh Happy Day)

This sentence was included in Jordan’s update at Oh Happy Day this morning. It couldn’t be truer. There are people who have never left the country or even the state–I seriously can’t imagine how I’d live a life like this. I know I’m blessed and privileged to be able to travel freely as long as planning happens. Anything is possible if you think ahead, plan well in advance, and act strategically.

Saving diligently for our summer vacation has caused a little tightness at the end of the past few months (we get paid monthly), and trying to get my name changed on my passport has been a nightmare. Yesterday, I got an e-mail from the passport agency saying that my new passport is finally in the mail. It’s been a month-plus ordeal… But I’m not celebrating until I have it in my hot little hands. It has been pretty demoralizing not having a passport, even for just a month. Not just because it meant that we couldn’t move forward on our Eurotrip, but because many of my life goals involve leaving these ole United States. I want to visit orphans, I want to plant trees in Africa, I want to serve others in impoverished countries. I would love to (and feel called to) live overseas and work with an aid agency.

I have been adamant about not buying plane tickets because I don’t want to be stuck with an expensive non-refundable purchase if the passport fell through (it has been anything but smooth). Let me tell you, the DAY I get my new passport in hand we WILL buy our tickets to Paris, and begin planning our visits to the ends of the earth.