What's On My Mind

I haven't gone walking the last two days due to my schedule. Every other Tuesday I visit an independent living center to sell Avon to the residents, and this was that week. Usually I'm too busy in between getting home from work and leaving for the center to fit a walk in, and I'm there for at least an hour, so by the time I get home it's too late to walk. It's almost dark and the neighborhood I live in doesn't have many street lights. It's also an older neighborhood with uneven sidewalks.

 

Last night I could have walked, but didn't. I usually meet my friend Amy at McKinley Park to walk, but last night she had a dentist appointment so I didn't want to use the gas to drive out there when I could walk in my neighborhood. The thing is, I didn't walk. I knew I should, but I wasn't motivated enough.

 

Tonight will be different. I'm meeting Amy (and anyone else who shows up) and will be walking around the park 3 times. I'm really looking forward to that.

 

What's really neat is that now that I've been exercising regularly my body is craving the activity. If I don't get out and walk I feel like a racehorse that's being restrained. Not that I'm as fast or as sleek or as athletic as a racehorse, I'm more like a Shetland pony, (a cute one!) but that description fits the feeling best :)

 

 

I stopped at Trader Joe's last night...I love, love, love that store! If we ever move someplace where there's no TJ's, I'm going to be majorly bummed. MAJORLY. I bought some dry roasted unsalted almonds and some lightly salted cashews (bless you! The word 'cashew' sounds like a sneeze to me :P ) that were packaged in single serving bags. It makes it easy for me to take just one to work each day and not overeat.

I also bought a package of dutch goat cheese in slices. I so love cheese. I'm a cheese fanatic. I'll browse the cheeses at TJs for nearly 10 minutes sometimes trying to decide which variety to buy.

 

Cheese is one thing I don't skimp on, and I rarely buy low-fat cheeses. I just make sure to eat a smaller amount. I know this means I won't lose weight as quickly but it's a small amount and I don't think it's going to affect the weight loss too much. If it does, that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make at this time.

 

A favorite snack of mine is steamed string beans. I bought a package of green and yellow string beans at TJs, microwaved them in the bag and am now enjoying them as a snack along with a Baby Bel cheddar round and some of the lightly salted cashews.

 

What I'm drinking at home right now is an iced tea blend of green tea and passion fruit tropical tea. It's refreshing and naturally sweet with just enough passion fruit flavor. It's not overwhelming, I can still taste the tea. I don't like teas with strong fruit flavor, so I usually avoid them. I especially avoid raspberry teas because I don't like raspberries. However, the first time I was at Panda Express I ordered an iced tea and didn't know it was flavored.

 

When I tasted it I fell in love, and ever since I've made my own at home. It took some time to find passion fruit flavored tea, but I did it. I make it in a 1 gallon jug of water, adding 3 green tea bags and one pitcher-sized passion fruit tea bag. It's great for summer.