Exploring the Neighborhood

Semester almost over, tenth blog post...and in case you're wondering, I'm still not thin.  I don't think it's going to happen this semester.  At least I'm learning some things about myself by writing about my journey.  When you write about doing something, you need to do it, otherwise you end up with a guilty conscience! 

For instance, I've learned that I really need to keep better track of what I eat and how much I exercise.  Just yesterday I read an article on how important it is to take notes of what we're eating, if we're trying to lose weight.  I believe that, and I think it must apply to exercise as well.  It's too easy to make generalizations and push the realities to the back of our minds otherwise. 

I've begun exploring my neighborhood.  Even though I wrote about walking the hills here, it was hard at first, once sweet husband's new job and the time change kept him from walking with me, to make myself get out alone in a strange new city.  I'm not a big city person anyway and don't relish the amounts of houses and traffic here in Seattle.  So, looking back, I have not done as much walking as I had planned.  But I do need the exercise, and with sunshine being at a premium it's important to soak up some rays whenever it does shine.  Now I'm taking my dog with me and exploring on a regular basis.  Don't we all have places nearby that we've never seen, even though we may have lived in the same town for years?  Believe me, I have places enough now to last a lifetime.

 

Did I Really Eat That?

Oh sure, bring me out to Seattle where every inch of spare space is used for feeding people!  I have never seen so many restaurants in one place.  I'm coming to the conclusion that it has to do with the demographics of the city: a huge single population, both students and working young people, who mostly live in apartments.  Maybe most people here don't have time to cook.  On the other hand, Seattle is also home to lots of grocery stores, including health-conscious Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.  So?  Maybe people cook but they like to go out to eat a lot.  Whatever, there are restaurants and cafes of every kind packed into lots of surprising little spaces, and if I never cooked again we would still find plenty to eat.

Yesterday, sweet husband and I ate vegetarian burgers in what seemed to be a garage, built onto the back of the restaurant we were checking out.  A garage with picnic tables, no less.  The burgers were phenomenal and salty, the fries were huge, greasy, and tasty.  And the environment was a laugh. 

What I have to get used to is the fact that just because there's a crazy amount of food all around me doesn't mean I have to go out and eat it.  That's hard because the sweet husband likes to go out a lot.  Maybe I just need to make such tempting foods at home that he won't tempt me to go out.  I mean, I can't spend every other day saying, "Did I really eat that?"

On The Move

Hello!  It's been too long since I posted here, due to a cross-country move I made recently.  Yes, in the middle of the semester my sweet husband and I moved from Michigan to Seattle, Washington.  I had never even been west of the Rockies before this! 

The troubles with eating while traveling weren't too bad this time.  We drove, it seemed like forever, and didn't overeat while traveling.  Of course, we didn't get any exercise, either.  Settling in while trying to keep up with school, though, has led to a couple of pizza runs.  Tsk, tsk. 

The good news is that Seattle is hilly!  Not only does it look pretty with its houses sitting on terraced hills, but the terrain helps keep most people in good shape here.  We are within walking distance of a small area of shops, restaurants, and our main grocery store, and to walk there means climbing quite a hill coming back.  We've seen elderly people walk up hills that steep while we have to stop and rest.  I keep thinking that if I were to walk up these hills every day, it would get a lot easier.  That is my new goal for maintaining fitness--not to walk these hills necessarily every single day, but several days per week.