Potential deterrents, eliminated!

It is freezing cold today.

And I have a little cold.  My poor nose keeps running.

Thankfully, I discovered an herb expert on YouTube the other day, and his cure works!!

How to Knock Out a Cold

(I didn't have any Eucalyptus oil handy, and it still helped me feel a lot better.)

The oranges are for later.
And I didn't use nearly as much onion as I did when I made this for my son. :)

I have steamed my nose with onions and I'll be going outside around 1:15 this afternoon, in the hopes that it the sun will be warming it up by then.

Winter weather arrived today

My son came with me, and we got caught in a mini blizzard 
right after we took this one.

Today's walk was mostly about getting photos.  The challenging part of that was focusing the camera, since I'd forgotten to bring my glasses.

The sky turned very dark, very fast.

I like how they turned out though.  Can't wait til tomorrow to take some more.

Winds of Change

My daughter, Megan, moved to Ireland today, so I didn't get my walk until 8 p.m.  I took advantage of the darkness to go across the street and look up at my Christmas tree all lit up in the window.  A snazzy hotel just opened up over there and I sneaked up into their parking garage for the first time to get a good view.  I'm grateful that I had the chance to see its sparkly beauty from the opposite vantage point.  If things had gone as planned today, I would have walked during the day, and missed it.

Will she really be able to see places like this?!!

Meg's flight turned into a train ride at the last minute.  Even though the airline didn't call to let us know that it was too windy to land in Newark, we figured out their sneaky ways and made it to the station without a moment to spare.  No one panicked and even my son's puppy got to stand on the platform to wave good-bye.  The plane from New Jersey left without a hitch.

It was kind of empty in the apartment when I got in from my walk.  I'll miss her around here.  Mostly though, I'm so excited for her and proud of her for devising this whole adventure that I don't feel sad or lonely at all.  Kids are like kites and it is a joyous, sacred moment when you get to let them go in such a grand manner. 

Plus, she's lived abroad before and I know she'll be back in May.

Up and down

When I started out on today's walk, it was all sunny and 60 degrees.  By the time I turned around to head for home, the sky was filled with heavy, dark clouds and it started to rain a few minutes after I got in the door.

My energy levels are equally inconsistent.  Today I'm super tired and achy, so I give myself extra points for walking anyways.  And I'm going to spend the rest of the day reading, in the hopes that tomorrow I'll feel all peppy again. 

The First Small Glitch

And now I see why taking a walk every day is going to be so challenging:

It's only the second day of my Warming Up phase, and I wore myself out yesterday and woke up with a headache today.   Headaches are good reasons not to go for walks, right? 

Not anymore!

My typical pattern goes like this:  Make a commitment to do something positive and healthy for myself while I am feeling quite good.  Wake up one morning not feeling quite so peppy.  Lose track of the motivation to stick to the commitment.  And eventually decide that wasn't a very good idea in the first place, so why bother?

I am going to foil that process this time, though!  Because I am blogging about it!  My followers would be disappointed!

It is easier to get out there and walk today, even with a headache, because I've made this commitment openly.  Left to myself, I'll always find a perfectly logical reason to "forget" and stay in my familiar comfort zone.

Feel free to leave comments, followers!  (encouraging words, tips, questions...)

Wilber's Legacy

2012...an even more auspicious milestone than Y2K. That was merely a possible computer mess-up; this is going to be REAL!

Well, maybe not. Who knows? Only time will tell.

No matter what happens when the next December 21st rolls around, 2012 portends more than the usual amount of transitions. My lease runs out in July and I'm moving to somewhere, as yet undetermined, hopefully right before the casino next door opens. I'll get my Master's degree in June and even start a new career. Or at least decide what my career will be. And my children will be traveling and living all over the world this year too.

As a way of grounding myself in all this upheaval, it occurred to me to make a commitment to walk, outside, every day. Challenging, yet do-able. I walked every day for years when I owned Wilber, the overly-energetic weimaraner. He knew how beneficial fresh air and movement are for bodies and emotional balance. He'd have me out at that park every day, unless I wanted to deal with the mess he'd manage to release from the trashcan.

Maybe it is Wilber's exuberant spirit urging me back out there. Whatever the source, part of me is feeling compelled to make walking the One Thing that I make sure I do for myself every day from now on.

That other part of me, the one that likes sitting around and playing video games, is just going to have to adapt.

What is the healthy change I am committing to?

Walking in 2012! I am going to do it every day and record my progress here.