What a Difference Two Years Make

Today is my two year healthy lifestyle-iversary.  Two years ago today I signed up with Sparkpeople, starting my lost and not found journey.

Last year, I shared these pictures with you to show you the difference one year made in my life.  While July 2010 to July 2011 may not have been as productive in the pounds "lost" department, I count it as major progress in the "and not found" department.   I've maintained a weight loss of approximately 80 pounds for more than one year, and that in itself amazes me. Plus, I've become more active and eager for adventures -- like swimming in an amazing waterfall earlier this July.

Thanks for all of your support either face-to-face, on this blog or via email.  It all means so much to me!

Photo Fridays

One of my sweet sisters has a Facebook album where she posts a picture every single day.  She started on January 1 and hasn't technically missed a day since.  I'm her biggest fan, commenting on every single picture.

I dream of being able to do something like this too, but I know the work it takes and the effort just to remember to take a stinking picture every day. (I'm not kidding. It takes a lot of effort.) I won't be starting a similar album anytime soon, but thought that I might occasionally post pictures from my week on a new segment I'll call Photo Fridays!

Enough words. Here's my week in pictures.

I've decided I need to wear cute dangly earrings with my new
haircut.  I bought these to get me started.

We got some new sculptures on campus.
I tell you what, this frog ballerina is rockin'
the self confidence!

Look at these amazing chicken pizza packets I made.

My other meal of the week was a very tasty, low-fat
cheeseburger pie! (It tasted a LOT better than it looks.)

This is the track/gym where I've bee pounding the pavement
this summer while it's so hot outside. I love this place.
 Sorry for the blurry- I was running when I took it!

They're refinishing the floor outside of my office
using these buckets.  This one  says "Kosher Pickle 1/4"
Slices".  The bucket comes up to my knees.  My question
is HOW MANY 1/4" dill pickle slices fit in this
 GINORMOUS bucket?

Here I am happily working away in my little nook.  

PS I've also been inspired by April's Insta-Friday. Check it out on a Friday near you!

Living in the Gray

Maybe it's because fitness magazines and diet blogs talk a lot about how we (as a society of fat women, I guess) should not "diet" anymore, but embrace the healthy lifestyle, but I feel like a failure when I'm not 100 % on track. I feel like a failure because I'm not craving healthy foods, but still fried stuff and chocolate.

Over the last two years, I've always classified myself as either "good" (i.e. eating within my calorie range, working out six times a week, not eating out) or "bad" (i.e. eating well over my recommended calorie range, skipping workouts, eating out more than once a day at times). I have "good" or "bad" days, but mostly I have "good" or "bad" weeks that tend to lead into "good" or "bad" months. It's all black or white.

I've tried somewhat unsuccessfully to eat in a way that I refer to as "normal" without having to count my calories. Not black or white, but somewhere in the gray. It hasn't exactly worked for me. I always let it get out of control. Lunch eaten out can lead to dinner out.  One cookie from the batch a co-worker brings leads to four cookies from the batch a co-worker brings.  You get the picture.

'Cause if you can only have one more cookie, it might as well
be this one.

I think the key to living in the gray is perspective. I haven't failed if I go out to lunch.  I can go out to lunch, eat less snacks and a sensible dinner and stay within my calorie range (or close to it.) Eating a cookie doesn't mean it will be the last opportunity to eat cookies that I'm going to have in my life. One or two should be enough, because there will always be another time for cookies, right?

I think in the last week or so, I've been close to striking the balance and living in the gray.  At first I was quick to label the excessive amount of meals out lately (Note: I still have room to curb this habit) as failure.

But I need to recognize that there have been some successes mixed in as well. I went to a party Saturday and didn't eat one bite of the party food. I ate multiple meals at home over the weekend, which is prime eating out time. On two separate days, I did eat out, but still managed to stay within my calorie range.

Living in the gray is a lot harder than living black or white. Black or white garners expectations and boundaries, but gray is a looser goose. Despite the challenge, though, I think it is what makes this lifestyle do-able.

Maybe I'm finally starting to grasp what the fitness magazines and diet blogs are saying.  It's not about extremes. It's about a lifestyle you can maintain.  It's about not feeling deprived but not indulging every whim. It's a tricky balance.

What's Up Wednesday: What's Your Favorite Body Part?

We spend too much time picking over the parts of us that we don't like, so on today's What's Up Wednesday, I'm dying to know: What's your favorite body part or physical attribute?

Sorry for the close up, but if it weren't a
close up, you wouldn't be able to appreciate it

My current answer is my collar bone.  Two years ago, I wasn't even sure I had a collar bone.  I thought my head was just wedged into my shoulders somehow.  When it first popped out, I was pretty surprised, and it quickly became my favorite body part. It  is a daily reminder of just how far I've come. Especially when you consider I didn't even know it needed to be seen two years ago.  But, oh, it does need to be seen.  It's damn sexy!

I'm also in love with my calves (a lot of work has gone into them) and have been caught off guard by the beauty of my eyes from time to time.

Now it's your turn.  Don't be bashful! Tell me what you love about your body!



Make sure you've checked out the other What's Up Wednesdays:
Motivation
Healthy Snacks
Guilty Pleasure Food
Celebrity Doppleganger

Self Confidence Secret

Turns out a few consistent workouts in a row makes you feel worlds better about yourself and your body, if you tend to be one of those people, like me, who get down on their physical shape from time to time.

Exhibit A.

Take a few consistent workouts in a row and pair it with new shape-flattering clothes and you've got an instant self confidence boost.  This weekend I received another bag of clothes from my friend April.  Inside were some amazing dresses, colorful cardigans, cute skirts and sensible shirts. See exhibit A.

So for three days in a row, I have worn new-to-me dresses and have been showered in compliments.  More than that though, I feel like a different person in these dresses.  I'm not Jill who wears only solid colors, lots of black, can't seem to tame her hair or get through a workout.  I'm Jill-with-bright-colors-who-wears-cute dresses-and-cute-hair-then-beasts-her-workouts.  Think of it as my Indian name.

 Also, today I beasted my workout.  I finally believe I can be a runner again, as long as I'm consistent with my three-times-a-week efforts.

PS I'm sorry I've been slack about posting lately.  I just want to make sure I've got something to say before I say it, if you know what I mean.
PPS I'm sorry if me mentioning "Indian names" offends anyone.  Feel free to insert "Native American names" if that is less offensive to you.

Quick bites

Everyone's busy on Saturdays, right? So here's some quick things for you today:

Farm Fresh Fridays ended last week and I had no idea! I went to pick up my produce yesterday and no one was there.  I've opted not to do the fall delivery system. No more vegetable excitement for me. :(

I ran an entire mile this morning!  It's been awhile since I've run a continuous mile without walking at all. It's amazing how it makes you feel to accomplish something.

I also had my first bike mishap today. My chain popped off as I was changing gears and got stuck between gears.  Some strangers stopped to help me, but none of us could get it unstuck. Luckily I was only about a mile from my car, so I was able to walk it back. Before I got it stuck I did six miles...I was hoping to get in 10, but I'll take what I can get.  The bike shop guy fixed it later in about 10 minutes.

My parents have returned to the land from which they came, Effingham, Ill., for the next week.  My entire life we have made the trek to Effingham at least once a summer. Since I've become an adult, I've visited less often, but I do wish I was there to hug my Granny on her birthday - her 92nd - tomorrow!

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Assessing my Thoughts

I've been primarily sticking to the healthy eating for three whole days now (ooh!).  I have not gone unchallenged in this endeavor. Work has been especially stressful and crazy busy of late. Because of this, all day yesterday  I really wanted to eat bad foods. I really wanted to go out to lunch, but having already skipped my lunchtime workout on Monday, I didn't have any room to be bad and still be somewhat good, if you know what I mean.

At the time, I guess it kind of put me in a bad mood that I couldn't just do what I wanted, ie eat what I wanted.  However, I'm glad I stood up to that temptation. I feel much better about myself now. If I had given in, I would feel now like a failure, which would make it that much harder to try again in the future.

However, that being said, I did still go out to eat for dinner last night with some friends. I was torn, because I've made rules for myself that say no eating out on weeknights. But I was also sad about being on a stupid diet to begin with and allowing the diet to interfere with my social life was making me even madder.  So, I stopped and pored over my food tracker and decided I had enough calories left in the day to go out to a sensible dinner. I ended up about 200 calories over my expected total for the day, but I think it was worth it for a sense of normalcy.

In the end, I'd chalk the week (well, three days) up to a victory.  It ain't easy, but I think I'm making good choices and being healthy in my attitudes toward food.

Now to survive the weekend...does anyone else feel like the weekend is where all good diets go to fail?

What's Up Wednesday-What's Your Motivation?

This What's Up Wednesday is a little deeper than usual. I hope you'll dive into the deep end with me.  I'm wondering this week, "What's Your Motivation?"

I think most people who read this blog either try to live healthy lifestyles by eating right and working out or really want to start being healthier.  Since I'm in the middle of a diet reboot, I'm searching for motivation this week. I really want to know what makes you want to exercise when you just don't feel like it or what you think about when you're trying to stay on track with healthy food choices??

In the past, I set goals with rewards to help me in the motivation department.  That's how I got to go skydiving, how I got my victory boots and part of the reason I went to Europe.

Now I'm trying a more internal motivation thing. I want my motivation to be feeling good from eating right and feeling strong and energized from exercising.  I think its a process of continually reminding myself that these things are true. I feel better phsyically when I eat right and I have a better attitude about life after exercising.






What about you? What's your motivation?  What's your better reason to paddle?

Truths and Lies

I just recently realized I tell myself a lot of lies. Here's what they are:

Lie: I like fried foods.
I go crazy for fried pickles and onion rings. I regularly order chicken fingers.  I lourve French fries.  Don't get me started on the White Horse's apple sticks. But here's the truth that I've just recently realized: Fried foods make me feel gross.  Afterwards.  Fried pickles may taste good going down, but then they sit in my stomach feeling heavy and just weighing me down. I'm not sure it's worth it.

Lie: I deserve a reward. Bring on the chocolate!
I'm a raging chocoholic. I wish there was a 12 step program for it, except I don't really because then I would have to give it up and be choco-sober. On top of that, my thinking usually goes something like this "Yay me! I worked out extra hard today!" or "I'm awesome, I solved a difficult problem/got a lot of work done today." or "Poor me, I had to do something horrible today. I deserve a treat."  Interesting how it works both when I've done something good AND when I've done something bad.  Yet in neither situation is it appropriate to reward myself with food.

Lie: I am sad. Eating whatever I want will make me feel better.
Here's the thing, kids. Food might taste good, but it doesn't solve problems.

The bad thing is I'm pretty sure there are other lies I'm telling myself.  And I'm pretty sure I'll continue to get tripped up by these three.  I'm hoping that recognizing them will give me some measure of defense against them.

But how about you? Have you ever caught yourself telling yourself lies?  Care to share with the gang?

PS. I made it through one day of being back on track!. I actually counted my calories, have thus far eaten within my allotted range and haven't been hungry, plus I ran/walked for 55 minutes. It's not impossible to live life with a little discipline, it's just not quite as sugary.

Best Laid Plans

I weighed on Friday for the first time in just over two months.  It has been wonderful, the not weighing and the eating whatever I felt like.

However, I've gained 15 pounds since then. Not cool. Apparently I'm not meant to live a life where I can eat whatever I feel like. I'm meant to live a life of counting every calorie and avoiding ice cream and sweets like the plague.  Wonderful.

I took this information in stride on Friday.  I didn't let it affect me (see my happiness post) and planned to start trying again on Monday.  Over the weekend I tried to eat the foods left in my house from my time of freedom that do not jive with my diet plan.  Some chips, some ice cream, some beer, you get the picture.  Was this a healthy attitude? Probably not.

I made my meals yesterday and then I realized that today I had plans to eat lunch with a friend and dinner at a cookout.  Two situations I can not control, so I gave up on today. I got breakfast on the way to work and made an unhealthy choice at lunch.  Was that the right attitude? Probably not.  Was I a little bit scared of failing to lose again? Probably.

Plus, I've been reading a LOT lately.  I love this, but the more I read, the harder it is to return to the real world. Is that crazy? Probably.

Where does this leave me?  A little depressed and a little resolved to try again tomorrow. It seems like everyone around me is moving forward with goals or big life changes (marriage, babies, etc.), and I'm still here trying to lose the same pounds I've already lost once before.  "Frustrated" sums it up.

Any encouragement you can provide would be appreciated.

New Kicks!

Thanks to my friendly Omega Sports employee (and one of my top 5 favorite high school SENIORS), Jenna, I got some new kicks last week.

My last running shoes wore slap out and then I started running in just some generic sneakers because I was too lazy to go buy new ones. Then those generic sneakers wore slap out, and I've been using that as an excuse to not run as much lately.


But I've offiically registered for the Heels N Wheels duathlon on August 27 in Way Cross, GA, and I've got to get serious about running again. It's amazing how quickly you (I) lose the ability to run.I can't believe that in December/January I was running 5-6 miles.  Now I can't even run one mile. Right now, I'm doing a run/walk combination where I run for the length of one song on my ipod and then I walk for the length of one song.  I've completed two of these workouts this week. I hope to move up to running two songs/walking one song in another week or two.

Anyway, check out my new kicks.  These new guys are Mizuno Wave Riders. I took them out for my first run today, and they did great. Like running on a cloud! And no blisters at the end, which is a blessing for new shoes.

You may wonder about the difference between running shoes and regular sneakers.  Mainly, if you are interested in running, you need to go to a running store and get fitted by a professional to make sure you're buying the right shoe for your foot. These stores usually have treadmills with cameras attached to them. The cameras record your gait and then the salesperson can tell what kind of shoe you need based on how your foot lands on the treadmill.  They should also let you try them on and run in them a bit to get a feel for them.

Happy running!

Happiness and Farm Fresh Friday

While today is yet another Farm Fresh Friday (just two more after this), I don't want my blog readers getting bored with my vegtastic updates. So today is going to be a post chock-full of lists.
First the Farm Fresh list. Today we got:

• tomatoes
• corn
• cantaloupe
• green peppers
• cukes
• onions 
• green onions
• cherry tomatoes
• blueberries
• okra (new to the box! Luckily, I've already learned to cook it.)

I'm going to make shishkabobs again this week, as it helped me consume a lot of my veggies last week. I'm also going to make my favorite recipe, Veggie Sausage balls, because they use up some of these tomatoes!



Happiness
On to more exciting stuff.  I've been sort of bursting with happiness this week. I don't know why exactly, nothing out of the ordinary has occurred. But here is a list of what has been making me happy lately:

• Anticipation of the final Harry Potter movie (I'm going tonight to see it!)
• The thought of seeing 3/5 of my nieces and nephews this weekend
• The thought of seeing 2/5 of my nieces and nephews in a few weeks
• Driving GeorgJetta! (my Volkswagen Jetta)
• Country music/ belting out country music
• My voracious reading habits of late
• The thought of the weekend
• Making lists
• Smiling (it's my favorite)
• Cookies and ice cream (sadly, this must come to an end...and soon)
• Cool summer nights
• Cute boys (men)

Top 3 Best Things About Driving Myself

1. Speeding/navigating around slower drivers
2. Listening to my own music (see country music, above.)
3. Being able to run errands/take care of business on my own

Top 3 Worst Things About Driving Myself

1. Stoplights (I forgot how much I hate them)
2. Having to get into a burning hot car at the end of the day (when people picked me up, the car was pre-cooled for me)
3. Being pulled over for speeding (yep, on my first day back to driving I was pulled in an RHPD sting operation. Luckily, I just got a warning.)

Hope you have a super fantastic weekend!

You Are What You Tweet

My friend and fellow blogger April posted her twitter-life infographic over on her A Little of This and That blog today.

I also love infographics, and while I'm not a heavy Twitter user, I have been getting a little more tweet-happy lately.  Every time I post a blog it automatically publishes to Twitter, so there's at least that consistently.

 April and I have a pretty similar tweeting infographic.  And while this graph rates my interestingess at a lowly 2.7%, I do love that it points at an ice cream bowl as a "likely obsession."  Does it know me or what?

Want to follow me on twitter?  @justjills.

What's Up Wednesday- Healthy Snacks

In this edition of What's Up Wednesday, I figure that since last week I encouraged you to share your guilty pleasure foods, this week I oughta hit the other side with healthy snacks. What's your favorite healthy snack?

I tend to go on streaks where I eat the same healthy snacks every day for weeks at a time.   Lately, I've been doing these Breakstone's Cottage Doubles cottage cheese and fruit combos. My favorite flavors are peach and pineapple.  The strawberry and blueberry are slightly gross. They come in 100 calorie packs,which have 8 g of protein, making them pretty filling for 100 calories.

My second current go-to snack is Breyer's Yo Crunch Fruit Parfait.  I prefer it in Strawberry. It comes with a packet of granola on top that you mix in, making them very similar to the fruit & yogurt parfaits you can get now from McDonald's and Chic-fil-A (except smaller). These guys are 120 calories and 3 g of protein. They are not quite as satisfying as the cottage cheese, but they are very sweet and a nice tasty treat.

I was eating a lot of almonds, but I am S-I-C-K of them.  I'm also getting pretty tired of both the cottage cheese and fruit and yogurt parfaits (plus, that's a lot dairy, really).  So I'm going to use this What's Up Wednesday to my advantage and hopefully get some great new snack ideas from ya'll.

Let me hear from you!  What's your favorite healthy snack?

Never Stop Moving

This is my new motto: Never stop moving.

Last week I was busy/lazy/tired and didn't work out much at all. In fact, the only exercise I did in a seven day span was two hour-long brisk walks, both of which happened on Wednesday of last week.

If you've been reading the blog for any length of time, you know that this is unlike me.  Normally I do not have a lot of excuses that keep me from fitness. Exercising makes me feel good, and since I usually work out alongside friends, it's fun too.

oh, my aching back!

    Beginning on Sunday of this week, I began to  get serious again about exercise. On Sunday I  biked and swam, On Monday I biked to work and  lifted weights, and today I ran/walked for about 50  minutes.

    Let me tell you, last night I paid for this sudden  burst of exercise. I was so sore that I couldn't  sleep.  I just laid there in bed and ached. And  began to compose this post in my head about how  I'm not going to let my busy-ness or tiredness  sneak up on me again.  I need to move. I need to  move regularly to keep from being this sore again.  I like moving, and I'd like to be able continue  moving and stop hobbling around like I have  arthritis in places you don't normally get arthritis.*  Therefore the new motto: never stop moving.

So even when I am busy or tired, I'm going to continue to make exercise a priority. I don't always have to tackle it at full steam, if I'm not feeling great, but the point is to get out there and do something.

Who's with me? Say it with me now:
NEVER
STOP
MOVING

*If you must know, my butt (glutes) is the most sore, but also my shoulders/back and my abs.

Biking to Work is No Joke

After my little episode last month, I haven't driven since.  While I have been getting a lot of generous rides from my roommate, sister and other friends, my little streak of independence is strong, so I'd often rather get places on my own.  That's how I started biking to work.

But biking to work is no joke. First, it takes some advance planning. I pack my bag with my work clothes the night before, because I know if I waited until morning I would forget an essential piece of my wardrobe. In the morning I toss in my lunch, put on my helmet and rearview mirror (more on that below), start my tunes (which play through a speaker on my phone...no headphones involved) and go.

While biking to work only takes about five to ten minutes longer than driving, but I also need time to get cleaned up before work, so I usually leave about a half hour earlier than when I drive.

When I get to work, I carry my bike up this enormous set of stairs (see them at right) to store it in the print shop where I work. I chained it to a bike rack outside the first day, but then I started getting paranoid about someone cutting the chain and stealing it, so now I bring it inside.  After the bike is stowed, I lock back up and walk across the parking lot to the the gym to get cleaned up.  Luckily, I now have a locker (thanks, Laura!) so I can store makeup and other toiletries there.

Today when I stepped out side at 6:30 a.m. to let Bonnie out, I was immediately hit by a wall of thick humidity.  Normally, biking to work is not a very sweaty experience because it's early.  Today, however, I was drenched by the time I got to work. Not only was the atmosphere wetter, but it was actually harder to pedal through the humidity. Sounds crazy, but I promise it's true.

After my first few days biking to work, I went by the bike shop on the way home to purchase a rearview mirror.  I have a few left turns on my route to work and back home.  It was a little scary to be darting looks over my shoulder to see if i could cross three lanes of traffic.  So I stopped by the bike store and got this guy. It attaches to my glasses/sunglasses (see pic at left.).  When I get it in the right spot, it works great. I can swivel my head to see more of the road behind me if I need.

Overall the traffic and the route are not difficult.  The roads I take are mostly neighborhood roads, though I do ride on four major streets on my way.  The streets I take look mostly flat to the naked eye. In fact, I was convinced they were pretty flat before I started biking them. Now after a few weeks of biking, I realize they all have a slight (hidden) incline to them, which means I'm either pumping hard or coasting the whole way to work. But hey, they say having your heart rate jump up and down like that is a good thing, right?

The best part of the whole route is a sweet little down hill that leads into my neighborhood when I am coming home.  It's a nice welcome home to end on a fun and breezy "wheeee!"

Tomorrow is my follow up with the neurologist when I'm hoping to be cleared to drive.  But just because I have the freedom to drive does not mean I will give up biking to work (I hope). Biking to work makes me feel strong, independent and accomplished.  It's just far enough (3.59 miles exactly) that it is a mini-workout, but it's not so far that I feel like I'm going to die. Plus, I suppose it's good for the environment.  Maybe my biking to work some cancels out all of the gas burned by people who've had to go out of their way to pick me up over the last month.

What I Ate for Dinner Last Night

I know there are a lot of blogs out there that chronicle every bite the authoress enjoys.  That is not what this blog is about. However, I ate some quite pretty (and tasty) food last night with some great friends, so I snapped a few pictures.

Shish Kabobs (sp?) with green pepper, squash, tomatoes, onions and chicken looked so beautiful on the grill.  I'm all about female empowerment through grilling so Amie and I cooked these babies until they were just right.  Plus, the boys were both late in arriving.

The veggies were all either from my farm fresh box or from gardens of friends. We also enjoyed some tasty corn from my farm fresh box. and finished the night with this delicious strawberry pie that I made.  It was a remarkably thick pie, and I only hope that this picture conveys that.

Best meal I've had all week (and probably healthiest).  What about you? Have you had any remarkably good meals lately?  What were they?

Farm Fresh, Plus Hair!

My farm fresh boxes are getting rather predictable, but that is not a complaint.  This week my haul included:
Corn
cherry tomatoes
regular tomatoes
cucumber
blueberries (new to the farm fresh box!)
a green pepper (new to the farm fresh box!)
Plus a cantaloupe and green onions, both of which I gave to Nancy.

I didn't eat hardly any of my veggies from last week. I still have corn, tomatoes and cucumber from last week, due to my excessive eating out this week. There are only three more farm fresh Fridays left. Can you believe it?

Now on to more important topics, namely, my hair.  My talented friend Ashton Geiger cut my hair. It's super short and I love it! Here are some pics:

 With my sis

What do you think of my hair?

And on that Bombshell

Yesterday I was telling a friend that I'm going through a phase where I'm trying not to allow myself to feel bad about what I eat.  I'm eating what I want, when I want and not holding onto any guilt over it.  Life's too short to feel guilty about what you eat. Amiright?

Example: this was the meal I had at
the Beacon on Sunday. Pimento
cheeseburger with onion rings and
fries. At least I only ate half!

This is both good and bad. Good, because what good is guilt, really?  No good.  No good at all.  (I've already used the highly descriptive word - good - six times in this paragraph. Clearly, I'm an amateur writer.)

It's also bad, because I'm eating what I want, when I want, which is generally not very healthy stuff.  My sister's visiting me this week and we've been eating out a lot. This is not her fault, but mine. I didn't make my meals this weekend, even though I had clearly a whole extra day to do it with the holiday on Monday.  Not making meals always spells disaster for me when it comes to healthy eating.

What's Up Wednesday

It's our second edition of What's Up Wednesdays, and I'm wondering "What's your guilty pleasure food?"

By guilty pleasure food, I'm looking for what food you absolutely love, but feel like you shouldn't really be eating or are embarrassed to admit you eat.  I'm really hoping that I'm not the only one who has guilty pleasure foods and can't wait to hear what yours are!

I was going to say ice cream, originally.  I love ice cream and it is way easy to overindulge with.  It's just such creamy, smooth goodness. However, I didn't think that was exactly a guilty pleasure.  So instead, I'm offering up Nerds and Combos.  I don't buy either one all that often, but both are perfect road trip foods and often last minute purchases in the Wal-mart check out line.  Plus, once you start munching on them, you just can't stop.

I'm dying to know, what's your favorite guilty pleasure food?

My Weekend Adventure

This weekend, I had some most amazing adventures.   First, I went swimming in this waterfall. It was freezing cold and the power of the falls kept pushing me back. I really wanted to swim underneath the falls so that I could get behind it, but it was scary. I really wasn't sure I was going to be able to do it. I was scared. In the end, I'm glad I did. When you get behind the falls, it is a sheer sheet of water coming down in front of you and unlike any other swimming experience.  Then my friend Abi and I climbed the rocks to the side of the waterfall to make it to the top. Hooray for new experiences! 

That's us on the top left of the waterfall.

Then we came back to camp and decided to hike.  Stupidly, I suggested a long hike that was labeled with words like "difficult" and "guide required."  We were all overly confident. Really, how difficult could hiking be?

We were so happy to finally see
trail markers.

We got permission from the camp staff to take off without a guide.  Let's just say about 20 minutes in, we found out why they say guide required.  There were no trail heads on the first 3/4 of the trail, so whenever the trail forked or turned, we were at a loss.  We ended up having to call the camp office a handful of times to get directions.

About 1/4 of the way through, I started thinking back to my blog post from last month Why I Love Hiking and was writing in my head a companion piece called "Why I Hate Hiking."    First the frustration of the lack of trail heads, coupled with the intense uphill climb, the heavy amounts of cob webs and bugs and a freak storm all combined to make me a rather grumpy Jill.  On top of all that, there was no beautiful scenic lookout at which to arrive and take amazing pictures. We eventually crossed a lot of streams and my socks got wet, making for uncomfortable hiking.  

While I was utterly exhausted when we arrived back at camp, it's amazing what accomplishing something like this hike can do for your attitude.  Despite what I've just written in the above paragraph, I will look back on that hike with fond memories of my friends, beautiful woods and streams and an exciting close encounter with lightning. As they say, "it's all about the journey, not the destination." While we didn't get to a beautiful lookout, we did enjoy a delicious four hours together.  (I've been told I'm actually more entertaining when I am slightly grumpy.)

On our way home from the mountains, we took a
wrong turn and found this beautifulness. I had to share.

PS. I called and got my test results from the EEG and MRI today. Everything came back as normal.  I know nothing else until I go to my appointment next Tuesday, but it's definitely good news!

Farm Fresh Friday- Week Ten

Mr. Veggie Man is perplexed.

Happy Friday!  I hope everyone has some great weekend plans ahead of them.  Today is my great friend Abi's birthday, so I have an amazing weekend ahead of me helping her celebrate with waterfalls, hiking, grilling out, swimming and crepes!

But first, another edition of Farm Fresh Friday!

The new fruit this week was peaches!  How exciting!  Alas, the blackberries were gone, which makes me v. v. sad.  We got another eggplant and yet another cantaloupe, but I sent both of those with my friend Nancy who helps me consume my box each week.  Below, you can see a picture of my haul, including more of the delicious cherry tomatoes, corn, mini-cucumbers, regular tomatoes and a big fat onion.

We got a request to join a fall CSA this week.  This CSA would only be seven weeks and was significantly less money, but I'm just not sure the CSA is the best way for me to get my fruits and veggies each week. While it is exciting to get my box this week, it has been a lot of pressure to consume all the veggies before they go bad.

Help me out readers - do you think I should do another seven weeks of fruits and veggies??

Today's haul.