Habits & Rabbits

Ok, so this post really has nothing to do with Rabbits. I just liked how it sounded. I am not a poet, but if I get a chance to rhyme a word or two, I feel like telling my high school self that it will turn out ok that you can’t master writing a haiku or other poetry types. (Confession: yes, I have been laughed at, by a teacher, with how poor my poem-writing-skills were, in front of the whole class). But that is neither here nor there…I’m beyond my need to write poetry. Doesn’t really suite me anyway, just not my thing. 

But ANYWAYS, back on track. Reeling it in.

Habits. I googled “define: habits” and this is what pops up:

Pretty straight forward and applicable. Minus the taking of drugs part. Just say no.

Anywho, I have gotten into a bad “regular tendency or practice” of not eating as healthy as I should, and not exercising regularly. I blame two things: I started dating KGK and I became happy, so why work out?; and I started grad school.

So now, I am more than 2 years beyond the start of KGK and I starting our fun-filled journey together and my grad work is behind me. I have gotten into quite the slump and extra humps (graphic, I know, how do you think I feel?!). So it is time to get myself back into better shape. I will never be within my ideal weight/BMI range for my height. Never have been. And even when I played sports with morning and evening practices and constantly on the go when I was younger, I was NEVER within those ranges. I was always like 20 pounds more than those. Not sure how they come up with that stuff, but I had two things going against me: big hips (even in middle school when those suckers started spreading), and big boobs (even at my lowest, these suckers are just big).

So now that I have gotten extremely personal and said things on the web that my mother would probably freak out over (sorry mom, but just being honest about the girls), I have decided to get myself into a workout routine and making healthier eating choices.

Now first, let me explain. I am not an expert. I will mess up. I love beer and wings, so those will still be in my food consumption every so often. However, I am making small choices to ensure I am feeding my body what it needs MOST of the time, and having those “fun” things only some of the time. My some and MOST have been flip flopped for the past couple years. So it is time to flip flop them back again. Get myself back on track and be a better and healthier me.

Ok, next. Working out. UGH. Say it with me…UGH. Well, time to get that kicked into high gear too. I am not planning to start going to the gym 5+ days a week. I will not spend more than an hour or so there at a time. Because let’s face it, if I place too big of a goal, I have more room to miss it and fail. So, I am starting small. I plan to go to the gym at least 3 times a week. If it doesn’t happen, I will try to do it the next week. Life happens. You can’t always be a machine and stay on schedule or keep to regimens as we hope we can. So I am allowing myself to be flexible, but not be lazy. I am going to force myself out of bed in the morning to go to the gym. I will be sure to go to classes or get a workout in even after long days at work. Enough forcing and it will be an easier push eventually. I will get in the habit of it again. I used to frequent the gym 4 times a week before grad/KGK happiness entered my life. Now, with more going on, I expect 3 times a week for myself. I want to be healthier and fitter so that I can be active for more years of my life. I don’t want to have a family and not be able to go outside and kick around a soccer ball or not go for hikes. I want my kids to see their momma as active and going on adventures. They need to see me making the time to take care of myself so that they will do those same things too. 

So now starts the hard part. Getting into the habit. Habit making is hard, habit breaking is easy and so much more fun. But once something is a everyday practice, it becomes easier. Making my coffee every morning is a habit. I enjoy it. Being healthy can be the same too. I just have to get over the initial work to get it brewing.

Received this gem from a friend today.

So my goals are to get some poundage off and be healthier. I will need all the help I can get, so any encouragement or words of advice/wisdom are greatly appreciatedJ

~AMK

Second Big Thing

Sunshine and butterflies. That is how things are right now. The sun is out (I thought it was suppose to rain all day??), spring and summer are in the air and it is glorious. I am loving this nice weather and wishing I was back on vacation. 

Oh, yeah. I went on vacation:)  KGK and I went on our honeymoon! That was the second big thing of the few exciting happenings this start to summer. 

Post-Grad life is Good :)

  

Back in the fall when we got hitched, we decided to take a shorter honeymoon (our “mini-moon”) because I was in school and we wanted to be able to take a longer trip with vaca time reset for work. We also wanted to use our big trip as a way to celebrate me being done with school too. So, last week, we had our honeymoon. We rented a beach house, which was just perfect. We went surf fishing almost every day of the trip, morning and then back again just after dinner. Our trip started off with some rain, but it didn’t stop us. We still went out and battled the chilly drizzle to try and catch some fishies. As the week progressed, the weather got warmer and sunnier and was awesome. We ended up catching several fish, but they were fairly small, so we decided to let them go and fatten up for the next time they get caught:) However, we did catch one “keeper”. 

Our one "keeper". Sheepshead

This is a sheepshead fish. KGK reeled this bad boy in. The skin on this sucker was crazy tough so we decided to freeze it and clean it once we got back so we wouldn't make too big a mess at the rental. Looks like we have a project to do now that we are home. We hear these are fairly hard to catch but that they are great eating, so we are excited about that.

Perfect evening on the beach.

We also went out to eat a few times to some yummy spots. There was this one restaurant that looked over the ocean where we could watch fishermen on the pier or surfers in the waves. It was great. And to top it off, they had some of the best fried shrimp either of us have ever had. YUM.

Needless to say, the trip was awesome. A much needed time for the two of us to get away from the normal routines and enjoy fishing, getting some sun, and relaxing.  It was glorious and I am ready to go back, like, right now. Who wouldn't with sites like these to enjoy...

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Some more vacation fun:

Fishing boat docked right outside our window as we had lunch.

Slightly inappropriate holding of the fishing pole (wasn't intentional, promise!) :)

Lots of reading happened on this chair.

And Lots of Rummy and Uno!

Needless to say, vacation was wonderful!

~AMK

The first big thing.

So how’s it going? How’s life? It is May, you know! That means summer is RIGHT around the corner. WAHOO! AND big things are happening in May. I am excited:)

The first big thing happened yesterday.  For most, this would not be so big. But for me, it was awesome. The rest of the big things will be shared later...how do you like that for suspense? :)

So yesterday, I went to the library and checked out a few books.  Yes, you heard me. I went to the library to check.out.books….not read journal articles, do research, or write a paper. But I looked at the fiction, autobiographies, mystery and other “fun” sections.  This was a momentous occasion! Finishing school means I can read again.  Didn't I read during my entire time in grad school, you ask? Well, yeah. But research isn’t as exciting as a good novel. So I am PUMPED. :)

photo from here

As I browsed the shelves, I found some books that I am excited to read. I looked for some that others had suggested, but I couldn't find them. So I decided to go through and see what was sitting there, waiting to be picked up and the cover read. I decided upon three books to last me the next week or so. 

Here's the breakdown:

photo from here. 

The first, was the third book in a trilogy by Allie Condie called Reached. I have been reading this trilogy since last summer. I read the first one just before the fall semester began, then read the second one over Christmas (before the stomach plague of Christmas 2012 hit), and I am now able to read this third one. To me, there are similar to the Hunger Games in that they are easy to read, they are so creative with a futuristic type society, like in the Hunger Games.  It is really a good read if you are looking for a couple books to get sucked into on a lazy Saturday.

 

photo from here. 

The second book I picked up was called  Into the Wild by  Jon-Krakauer. It is about a man that hitchhiked to Alaska and left everything he had behind to live in the wild. I have heard that this book is excellent, so I am pretty pumped to start this one. AND, they made this into a movie…so it looks like I have another movie to add to my list of “need to watch”.

photo from here

And the last book I got was Jodi Picoult’s book that she co-wrote with her daughter called Between the Lines. From how understood the description, a teenage girl has been reading a fairy tale story but the characters are actually real. It shows her interactions with the characters and their struggle living in a fairy tale when they don’t want to be living it. I am excited to start this one!

So I have some reading ahead of me and I couldn't be more excited! I’ll be sure to fill you in J

What have you been reading lately?
~AMK