About me:
Paula, 41, Business Analyst for the largest Natural Gas Pipeline Corp in the US. I work with their compliance department where I write technical manuals for software that help my guys do their field work. I train people on how to use our software and I also manage my department's sharepoint sites.
I'm dating Bob and have been for the last three years. We make a good team. We are each other's biggest cheerleaders. We're also a couple of three year olds as evidenced in this site: Pig E. Bank Adventures.
He's been an incredible support system to me on my journey to becoming a healthy, happy and whole person again after dating the jackass and the jackass II. I've been his support system while he was dealing with his father's declining health and subsequent death. I took him home at Thanksgiving and he met my family - they love him and think he's da bomb.
I'm also owned by Simba, the apple head, lynx point siamese. Simba is by far the best cat I've ever had and pretty much my constant companion in life.
I'm a lot of things in my life - I read, I listen to a lot of different kinds of music, I bead, I crochet, I cross-stitch, I write. My biggest passion outside of writing is photography and this year I purchased my dream camera, the Nikon D80. Since then, I've taken an obscene number of photographs, and I've had my first session as someone's photographer. At this point, I don't think the photography thing will ever be a full time gig for me, I like my job and the people I work with too much. And honestly, after being a contractor for 10 years, I love the stability of a full-time position. For right now, the camera is a way for me to explore the world.
I'm the happiest I've been in a very long time and I'm in a good place. I have tons of friends and an online support network who love on me and encourage me in ways that I never thought possible. But there is work to be done my people and this is what this journal is about.
First off let me say what this journal is not about. It is not about looking for the perfect body. It's not about obsessing whether or not I'm eating "Clean" food. It's not about what program is going to change my body the most.
What this journal is about is pursuiting my dreams and being healthy in all aspects of my life (personal, health, hobbies, and financial). It's about taking the lessons I've learned over the last 6 years since I began my journey to a healthier Paula and applying it to my everyday life so I move forward. I'm living in the moment so that I don't look back some day and say "God, I wish I would have ...". In my mind, these are the weighty matters in life and hence the name of my journal.
Long Term Goals:
1. Continue to improve my overall health. Diet and exercise are a means to an end for me. For me, being strong and healthy is not an option. My mother is 63 years old, diabetic, and on dialysis. She has a pretty sucky quality of life. I don't want to be her in 20 years. I want to be out, exploring with my camera and writing about what I see, find and experience.
2. Get my debt paid off by 2014. I'm tired of owing people money. This past year I've paid off almost $32K and want to keep that pace up. So I'm looking at ways to expand my income by selling pictures that I take, and taking pictures of folks in the Houston Area. I had my first paying photography gig right before Christmas and I'm pretty happy with most of the pictures I took. I also use coupons (still learning how to do this but I put just over $200 back into my pocket in December).
3. Write. I write pretty much full-time at work, but I also write on the web. One of the things I've done over the past year is focused on doing more blogged based stuff.
4. Photography. This is how I explore the world and I seem to have a knack for it.
5. Spend more time with my family. Since August 2007, I've seen everyone in my family at least twice in the last two years and was able to do it in such a way that I didn't go crazy in the process. I love my family, but there's a reason I live 1000+ miles from everyone. That can be frustrating at times, but it also saves my sanity.
__________________ It all starts with the mind, but the thoughts, the intention aren't enough. Action needs to come next. Dream it, believe it, plan it, execute it, celebrate it. - Wendy
C1) Bentover BB Rows with an Underhand Grip 3x10
C2) YTWLs 3x10
What I'm looking to do at this point is get back to where I was two years ago in terms of my consistency but I also want fat loss. I was consistent on food and diet. I ate about 2000 calories day and I was moving three days a week lifting. I wasn't losing a lot of weight, but I was losing inches and I felt good.
I can't do Cosgrove. While his programs are challenging, they put me straight into a nose drive. So I'm following the idea of letting the activity be guide for the food and doing a 10 day cycle
Calorie Levels/Grams for Macros - Based on Exercise activity for any given day
Lifting Days - 2000 Calories (170 G P/60 G F/190 G C)
Aerobic Days - 1750 Calories (170 G P/60 G F/150 G C)
Rest Days - 1500 Calories (160 G P/40 G F/125 G C)
10 Day Training Cycle
Day 1- Lift
Day 2 - Aerobic Activity
Day 3- REST/ Recovery Work
Day 4- Lift
Day 5- Aerobic Activity/ Mobility Work
Day 6- REST/ Mobility Work
Day 7- Lift
Day 8- Aerobic Activity/ Mobility Work
Day 9- Lift
Day 10- REST/ Mobility Work
__________________ It all starts with the mind, but the thoughts, the intention aren't enough. Action needs to come next. Dream it, believe it, plan it, execute it, celebrate it. - Wendy
Off to shower. My exercise for the day is moving furniture in the living room area.
__________________ It all starts with the mind, but the thoughts, the intention aren't enough. Action needs to come next. Dream it, believe it, plan it, execute it, celebrate it. - Wendy
thirteen things on my list and 3 of them are done. Time to do number 4
__________________ It all starts with the mind, but the thoughts, the intention aren't enough. Action needs to come next. Dream it, believe it, plan it, execute it, celebrate it. - Wendy
Numbers 4 and 5 are done. Went to Target this afternoon by way of Kemah. Will be going back tomorrow with my camera to document some of the stuff that I saw. It's amazing how much stuff is still left to do down there before things are back at "normal".
Dinner tonight is ribs that have been slow cooked in the oven. I put them in the oven at 325 for a couple of hours after putting salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and some lawry's seasoning salt. Then I turned the oven down to 275 and let them continue to cook while I ran errands. When I pulled the meat out to check it when I got home, it was fall off the bone tender. Slapped on some BBQ sauce and then back into the oven it went. I'm going to make corn and okra to go with.
__________________ It all starts with the mind, but the thoughts, the intention aren't enough. Action needs to come next. Dream it, believe it, plan it, execute it, celebrate it. - Wendy
When I pulled the meat out to check it when I got home, it was fall off the bone tender. Slapped on some BBQ sauce and then back into the oven it went. I'm going to make corn and okra to go with.
the ribs sound great but a few years living in Africa put me off okra for life
Thanks for the intro in your journal, it made a very uplifting read. good luck withh all your goals and aspirations for 2009
__________________
"Time and patience are the 2 elements that most people don't include in their plans."
-Alan Aragon
"The scale simply tells you how much the earth loves you on a particular day."
-Ogedei (Keith)
Just popping by to spread some good wishes for the New Year. May the new year bring with it some of what you wish for.
You know, I rarely sit down and verbalize goals at the start of the new year. I'll have to give it some thought though. Best of luck with the goals that you have set.
Quiet days yesterday and today. I ended up taking a nap yesterday afternoon cuddled up to my honey who was watching TV. Then I uploaded some pictures and did some cooking last night. Today I went and ran a couple of errands and I'm getting ready to clean the kitchen. Bob's coming over tonight and we're going to just hang out.
__________________ It all starts with the mind, but the thoughts, the intention aren't enough. Action needs to come next. Dream it, believe it, plan it, execute it, celebrate it. - Wendy
You know, I rarely sit down and verbalize goals at the start of the new year. I'll have to give it some thought though. Best of luck with the goals that you have set.
One of my favorite books is Write it Down Make it happen. The author says that if you write things down it gets things moving in your brain to make them happen. It does work, Everything that I wrote down for my graduate school application letters have happened.
__________________ It all starts with the mind, but the thoughts, the intention aren't enough. Action needs to come next. Dream it, believe it, plan it, execute it, celebrate it. - Wendy
I seem to have lost RW's log so hopefully she'll see this here, too.
I've done my quarterly trip to Ikea already and their meatballs aren't that great but thank you for the coupon link.
__________________ It all starts with the mind, but the thoughts, the intention aren't enough. Action needs to come next. Dream it, believe it, plan it, execute it, celebrate it. - Wendy
Great set of goals, and a very well-thought-out plan.
__________________ The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same. -- Carlos Castaneda
For the Houston Folks, I want to let you know about a charity that I just found out from a friend of mine (she's a board member of the charity). It's called a A Simple Thread and it distributes small kits of stuff to the homeless people in Houston. My friend Susan says that they put together small kits of items that folks might need, toothbrushes, laundry soap, letter materials, rain ponchos. mosquito spray, etc. and hand them out of the homeless on a regular basis. I really love this idea and am planning to make a regular donation to the group. I'm also planning a lifting goal to raise money for them. Maybe following in Mahler's footsteps and lifting a million pounds. That would be kind of cool and kind of different for a woman to do.
__________________ It all starts with the mind, but the thoughts, the intention aren't enough. Action needs to come next. Dream it, believe it, plan it, execute it, celebrate it. - Wendy
Thanks Anne. My tummy is giving me butterflies at the thought, but I think that's my sign that it should be done instead of not doing it.
__________________ It all starts with the mind, but the thoughts, the intention aren't enough. Action needs to come next. Dream it, believe it, plan it, execute it, celebrate it. - Wendy
Weighty Matters
but a few years living in Africa put me off okra for life 
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