A new year

I started 2009 on a mission trip to WV. We had a good time, even with a lack of sleep and cold weather. We got to catch up with our friends...the Pendrys', BB and his family, Benton, among others. I did miss Jeff, and..yep, he missed me too.

He actually started getting sick while I was away. Last night he was running a bit of a fever, so today I've been nursing him back to health a little...chicken soup, OJ, and Tylenol cold. So he's feeling a little better. Today is also my 30th birthday. We had planned to have a nice day, which was going to include a Milde trip to the melting pot, but we'll do that when Jeff is feeling better. I did get my gift from Jeff today....a black pearl and silver necklace....simple yet fun. He did a good job with that one.

Okay...resolutions. I'm not really a new year resolutions person. I think if there's something you want to do, then why wait. I get the fact that it's sort of turning a new leaf in a new year....but so often people go back to their ways. If there's something you want to change...REALLY want to change you should do it, no matter when it is. I begin to think of things I had changed about myself for the better. One was loosing weight. For those of you haven't known me longer than nine or ten years, you may not know I used to weigh around 190. Yep...back in high school that was my top weight. I hated, hated, hated it. I truly wanted to change, so I looked at what I was consuming, and found a several things that could be changed. The main one was regular sodas. I was drinking close to ten a day...that's over 1000 calories from soda alone. 3500=1 pound. So I stopped drinking those the end of my senior year, and begin to loose weight. From there I started looking at what I was eating, and cut out some other obvious culprits. By 2000 I was to the size I am now. That was only from cutting out a few things.

Well, in Oct. 2001 I had a really weird dream (raw chicken sandwich), which caused me to gag at the thought of the texture of chicken. Well, I stopped eating it, and then slowly stopped eating other meat. Red meat was the last thing to go...I had a hamburger new year's eve...and in 2002 became a vegetarian. Not a resolution....just the last time I decided to eat it. I started learning how to compensate for the lost protein. The mission trip that year I thought I'd try a little meat...because people need protein, and I didn't have access to my new stuff. Well, Morgan will tell you...it was a bit like watching a Survivor challenge. It totally grossed me out. Didn't try it again. The more I started learning about meat, and the way we eat in general, the healthier my eating habits got. I did decide to add fish to the mix, but greatly limited fats--particularly saturated. I'm concerned about the additives put in food today---especially all the crap given meat sources, which is why even a couple of years ago when the texture problem went away I remained veggie. Since Jeff and I have been together I've eaten meat a couple of times. It's honestly just a convenience....Less to clean, less pots to watch. Plus, I know when we have babies the last thing I'll have time for is to cook myself and separate meal. I only buy meat that hasn't been given hormones or antibiotics, and that's fed good stuff. So I will occasionally eat a little meat. If at all possible I won't. I'll still cook some things as one meat thing for him, fish for me. When we go out, I'll order something other than meat....if possible. I did get a chicken sandwich from Chic-fil-a the day of our rehearsal...we were hungry, had no time to cook, and it was right there. This past mission trip, because I had to eat something with protein I had several meat items...including a hot dog, which I wouldn't normally eat if I was a full blown carnivore because of the nitrites...but mission trips are an exception. So it'll be rare, but occasionally it'll happen.

Then I graduated Lander December of 2002, so without anything to do I decided to start walking...again not a resolution. It just so happened that my boredom began at the first of the year...so did my fix for that. Walking turned to running, and by the end of the year I was doing between 15-20 miles a week. So I added weights the first part of 2003. From then until the mid part of 2008, on average I ran 20-25 miles a week (for a while over 30 a week), and lifted weights 2 hours a week. Christmas season was an exception because of extra holiday picture work.

Onto 2008...enter Jeff. I started dating Jeff in January....the days I came up here I didn't exercise....except some walking (strolling) we did. June hit, and I started planning a wedding. My time for exercise became less. I haven't really lifted weights since late June, or really ran since mid July. I started walking some in October, and since we've been married I've increased that. I honestly have to build my endurance for running back, and goodness knows...have to build back the muscles. I have gained a couple of pounds, not a huge amount, but can really tell that I'm not as active from the way I feel. So I don't have a resolution...just a strong desire to continue with the cardio, building back to running (three time a week), and adding in strength training again. A lot of it is getting into a new schedule, and we are doing well with it so far. I've done my hour of walking tonight. To think, this exact time last year I was running a 5k.

So I'm hoping for a good year for everyone. I'm excited about being 30 and what's to come.