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Saturday, September 8

Out to Dry


One of the things I've been doing for about 5 months is line drying clothes.  I've line dried nearly every load, only one or two loads that we needed in a rush went straight to the dryer.  I thought of it one afternoon after listening to the air conditioning run and run and run because I was doing a lot of laundry.  Around here air conditioning in the hot months (and there's a lot of them!) is very expensive.  


At first the line drying didn't go so well, but after doing some research I quickly figured out how to make it run much more smoothly.  The biggest thing I learned was using distilled white vinegar in the fabric softener place to take out the stiffness in clothes.  Sadly, for this load I had run out of vinegar so the clothes were a little stiff.  Its not a huge deal, I will throw the clothes that are stiff (cotton) in the dryer for 5 minutes and they'll come out soft.  Work out clothes are perfect for line drying, the dry so quickly and dont get stiff, even without the vinegar.  I'm really proud that I'm saving money, saving wear on our clothes and saving energy.  I feel very "green" :).

I had a great yoga practice today.  I really hope I make it tomorrow morning.  It made my day complete today.  My mantra was about peace and health.  I felt I found some peace and felt today was a great day for my health.  I had a great dinner.  I baked tilapia with some tomato basil spices and olive oil.  It was lackluster when it came out so I added salt and pepper and it was delicious.  On the side I had a half a red pepper and some carrots with Greek yogurt and natural ranch dressing mix for dipping.  The dip was really good.  Im not going to lie, Greek yogurt dip isnt the same as sour cream dip but I did really enjoy it.


I ended the night talking to my hubby, it was a pretty amazing day.  I had a lot of biking and walking too- I didn't use the car.  The puppy dog is so tired!

Deployment by the numbers update:

hours in yoga: 4.5 hours
miles walked: 4.3+2.7 (with our dog)+1=8 miles
miles biked: 4.3+1.1+1.1+.6+.6=7.7 miles
loads of laundry line dried: 1

Friday, September 7

Survive and Thrive

I thought it would be fun to keep a "deployment by the numbers" tally going to document all the craziness that happens during the deployment.  Mostly they will be about my goals, but I will put a few "normal" life things to see what it comes down to in the form of day in day out things in the end.  So far we've got:

gas station fill ups: 1 pit stop
hours in yoga: 3 hours
miles walked: 0.8+0.8+.7=2.3 miles
miles biked: 1+1.1+1.1+1.1=4.3 miles
bags of dog food: 1
presents sent from my  love: 1- a beautiful orchid plant, I need to post a picture!

Today I rode my bike around.  Yesterday I practiced around the neighborhood.  I was pretty nervous, the bike is old and the gear shifts are in very inconvenient locations and the steering is very sensitive.  I went to coffee with a friend and thought it would be the perfect time to try it out!  It is a "road" bike, but for me it will be a "sidewalk" bike :).  My friend snapped my picture.


My phone is in my front pocket leaning out making me look preggo.  Oh the joys of constantly carrying around your phone and making sure it is accessible at.all.moments, just in case!

I was also excited about a couple of my healthy eats today.  One was at breakfast.  I had oatmeal in yogurt and a spiced peach.  The peach came from the farmers market, so delicious!  I felt bad taking them, 3/$1 is what the lady told me, in the grocery store they are so much more expensive.  I made the peach extra exciting with some coco powder and cinnamon on the side.



Next was a delicious salad at dinner!  The rest of the spinach (I need to replenish tomorrow at the farmer's market) some tomato (FM), yellow pepper (FM), red onion and quinoa.  Sprinkled with white balsamic, grapeseed oil and pepper.  YUM!



While Im never going to be the blogger taking professional pictures, they will get better quality wise than this.  I guess in the transfers they didn't do very well.  I will be working on that.  I do really love to lookiat blogs that have healthy foods on them, they give me some motivation and ideas.  

Happy Friday!  I'm excited for the weekend, even though Im not sure what Im going to do yet :).

Thursday, September 6

The Beginning of the End

As we like to call it, the beginning of the end has started.  This deployment is the last big thing we will have to do in the Army.  Next summer we will be moving on, starting with our RTW trip.  RTW is what the cool kids say instead of Round the World.  Lots more to come on that!  We'll be working on planning, budgeting and researching over this deployment to prepare for it!


We've always called our relationship our biggest adventure.  We see this is another part of that adventure.  It will be hard for us, we're that couple that can spend nearly every second together for weeks on end and love it.  I'm not totally sure how he can stand me for that long, I think I get tired of being around me but it works for us.  This is going to be a new phase, a different relationship for a little while.  Both of our love languages are touch, so it isn't hard to see where the problem is here.  I've come up with a lot of goals that I want to accomplish while he is gone.  I want to be happy this next 6 months.  It may sound weird but I do believe all we have is today, this moment.

xoxo, little fish

Tuesday, September 4

Bonus Weekend!

This weekend was a bonus for SO many reasons.  We found out we could go to Atlanta on Wednesday.  I rushed to try to find a hotel (it wasn't easy, there were a lot of events going on in Atlanta last weekend), space for puppy dog at a boarder and all of that.  After fighting Labor Day traffic we made it to Atlanta.

Weekend festivities with family included...

NCSU vs Tennesse football game (a friend generously gave us tickets they couldn't use)
Atlanta Aquarium
A few amazing meals; Atlanta Fish Market and The Treehouse were outstanding!
Got to see my brother's studio apartment
A lot of laughs, quality time and story telling


<3


Atlanta Aquarium was amazing!



Me with the little bright fish :)


A MUST visit for Atlanta, there is no bad item on the menu!

Enjoying the next couple days!  There's a lot to look forward to for us, specifically planning our RTW trip.  More on that later this week!

I love comments, feel free to leave one.  How was your Labor Day weekend?

Thursday, August 30

An Update

A lot has changed since my long ago last blog.  I think over time you'll see some of the differences, but most of all the biggest change is that I got married!  I've continued my deepen my practice of yoga, healthy eating (but ditched the diet, that was no fun), running, walking, general healthy living :).

The new biggest change will be here much sooner than I'd like.  My hubby will be leaving for a deployment.  It'll be a new phase in our relationship and life.  While I wish that he didn't have to go I am determined to make the time he is gone a happy time full of life.  I hope to continue to build our relationship and myself.  A while ago there was a blogger who really inspired me.  She's since taken down her blog, but her motto was, "Survive and Thrive."  That is my goal.  Just surviving isn't good enough.  Yoga teaches that the only moment you really have is right now.  If I spend months of "right nows" upset, sad and miserable, Im not really living.

As the changes have come and gone like waves the last few years I've realized we're always in the middle.  I love the name of my blog because it is so true, Im in the middle today.  Today Im in the middle of packing, preparing, and celebrating.  What are you in the middle of today?

I'm off to enjoy a "bonus" weekend with family out of town!  This trip just became available to me a couple days ago.  I've felt like I could explode like party confetti all day!