Treat Yourself!

The view from my cubicle isn't very exciting. If I'm lucky, I see my leader(through our pass-through window). If he is in a meeting, I see a slit of sunshine through the closed blinds in the aisle. But take note, I am squinting because of the supersonic florescent light over my head. Toiling away in this environment makes me feel as if I am crystalizing into Styrofoam. It's just unnatural.

I sip coffee(okay, I admit I didn't give it up-though I know I should) and guzzle water, and make frequent trips to the restroom. And sometimes I work. Mostly, I wish I were outside. When I grow up I'm going to be a professional sunbather. I love the feel of sunshine on my shoulders. And yes, every time I say that I think of John Denver and feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Naturally, I believe sunshine should be a part of everyone's day.

Why do I bring this up? Well for one thing, being a grown up is stupid. I live in a constant state of "hurry up." There aren't enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do. Most of the time "sunshine on my shoulders" is at the bottom my priority list. There are many good reasons for this. My paycheck ensures I have a roof over my head and food in my belly. If I don't spend 45 hours at my place of employment, well, I might get hungry. And I don't enjoy being hungry, or broke, or homeless for that matter. And then there are the ferocious beastlets(my children). They have this habit of squawking like gargantuan hatchlings, fresh out of their dragon eggshells when I don't stuff food into their bellies. So I spend many more hours than I would like to standing over a hot stove cooking them mealworms and grubs. (They like it best with bananas and chocolate chips). Alas, I have so little time for me.

But today I have vowed to make time for "sunshine on my shoulders." I have purchased a new swimming suit, on which I spent an obscene amount of money, so I do not embarrass said beastlets when I drag them kicking and screaming to the swimming pool tonight. They will watch in abject horror as I dive(gasp!) off the diving board and sploosh(!) down the water slide. My 16 year old has informed me that there really is nothing worse than going to the pool with his mother. But he doesn't seem to understand that my signature joy in life is mortifying him in front of strangers, and to deprive me of such joy is well, just wrong. Mothers must have fun too!

So my advice for today is this…. Make time for yourself. Don't get so caught up in life's responsibilities that you don't take time to do something you enjoy. Life is just too precious and way too short. Your simple pleasure may be different than mine. I was never very fond of bungee jumping or mudding. But rest assured, today, taking time to renew my frazzled mind is at the top of my list.

Water water everywhere and no one takes a drink!

When I first began my journey to better health I looked up quick and easy ways to shed pounds. One of the first and best tips was "Drink lots of water!" So I picked up a 32 oz cup and forced myself to sip on it. Now you have to understand that I actually HATED drinking water. And I thought, "How in the world am I seriously going to make myself drink 64 ounces of water a day? But I had read that often when we think we are hungry, we are actually dehydrated. Since I had a practice of eating pretty much nonstop I decided to drink water instead. My best practice was, if I wanted to put something in my mouth, take a sip of water. It was really hard in the beginning but then it became a habit. Now I literally don't go ANYWHERE without my water cup. In fact, even in Alabama I had my well worn 32 oz cup with me in many pictures. I literally feel naked without it.

Soda dehydrates the body so I quit drinking it cold turkey. Diet soda may not have calories, but it is LOADED with salt. You are not supposed to drink ocean water because the saline content is toxic to the body. I have to wonder, who came up with the idea to make salt water, add sweetener and then market it to the general public as a diet drink. Oh, they were looking to make $$$$$ because if you drink a diet soda, golly, you are still thirsty! Whooda thunk it? I don't drink diet soda because before I got healthy it tasted bad to me so I have never really been tempted to subsist on it. I used to get bladder infections ALL THE TIME drinking root beer and finally had to give it up. I don't get those drinking water because water actually cleanses the body. Every so often I'll buy a diet soda but inevitably it makes me ill. Which is a little depressing in the grand scheme of things but obviously the stuff is no good for me(or anyone else for that matter).

So if you are interested in losing weight or just making your body healthy, start small. Pick up a cup and start sipping. You may find you aren't as hungry as you thought you were and you will be doing your body a HUGE favor.

Side note, when I go to the massage therapist they always tell me they notice that I am well hydrated. They say I wouldn't believe how leathery most people are.... Don't be leathery! Be supple and smooth! It's the best known beauty secret out there and guess what, it's nearly free!

Dreams do Come True

I've had a dream for a long time...that I jump in my car and drive to the ocean. On Saturday, June 29th, this dream came true. My husband and I left early Saturday morning and drove 12 hours to Gulf Shores, Alabama. It was a wonderful day of talking and getting reacquainted and falling in love again. We left our three beastlets in the care of my mother(BLESS HER) so there was no "Pipe down in the back" or "Stop farting on your brother!" What a nice day.

We arrived at the beach the next morning full of expectation. We immediately encountered a gentleman who was leaving... "Y'all be careful out there. There's a lot of jellyfish."

I braved the water anyway...(ankles only) and had the interesting experience of being stung by "the jelly's." We sat out the rest of the afternoon and watched the waves instead.

Day two was better. Not as many "jelly's" and I actually got to swim. I love swimming in the ocean. Even while being stung by stray jellyfish tentacles.

Day three I met a nice local man at the shore by our cottage. He came in on a kayak and I struck up a conversation. "Are there any beaches close by where we could see some creatures?" I love sea creatures! He said Johnson Beach was a good place to visit and gave me directions. He also said Pensacola Beach, in Florida, was a beautiful place. We tried to find Johnson Beach and couldn't so we made the 50 miles trek to Pensacola instead. This is what we saw.

It was the prettiest beach ever. There was a yellow warning flag indicating that waves were high and we should swim with caution. I flung myself into the waves and spent several hours jumping and being carried by the water. It was incredible. I was having so much fun in the waves that everyone else disappeared. I heard my husband scream "Margaret!" and I turned to see we were the only people still in the water. Then I heard someone on the beach scream something that sounded like "Shark!" I didn't panic. I just swam as fast as I could and abandoned my husband to the waves. Yes, I would totally leave him to the shark. My children like me better any way.

We quietly ate our lunch on the shore while a little girl told me about the 6 foot shark that swam right next to her and nearly ate her all up. Then we saw a giant sting ray swim by about two feet from the shore. Creatures indeed!

Near the end of our jaunt we met a man who struck up a conversation with us(the best part of vacation is often meeting people and sharing life stories). One of the first things he said was "There's a lot of jellyfish down at Johnson Beach. That's why we came here." Ha!

We sat on the front porch of our cottage and grilled steaks(a real treat for us) and chilled out on our last night in Orange Beach, Alabama(the cottage was in OB though we visited the beaches in Gulf Shores.) It was a nice, quiet evening and we collapsed into bed, utterly exhausted and ready to head home.

Wednesday morning I woke up early and decided to make one last trip to the beach. I put on my walking shoes and decided to fulfill one more dream....jogging on the beach. I arrived at Gulf State Park near the pier around 6:00am and ran along the beach, taking pictures of ominous storm clouds and sticking my tongue out at the birds. They were utterly annoyed that I interrupted their fishing and gave me the evil eye as I passed by.

I met a nice woman at one point who instructed me not to walk on the dry sand because they were taking pictures of the turtle tracks. Overnight a turtle had crawled onto the beach to look for a nesting site. I was happy to get my shoes and socks soaking wet to protect the turtle tracks. Oy!

This is me at the end of my jog....about 50 minutes later. What do you think? Do I look happy?

We survived the long drive home and today I am back with my beastlets. It was a really nice trip and we hope to do it again someday.

I am also proud to say that neither of us got a sunburn thanks to generous applications of 50 SPF sunblock. I came home with plenty of shells and some residual sand. I am filled with peace and looking forward to spending the rest of my vacation time with my family.

Today we celebrate our nation's independence. We celebrate our freedoms and reflect on the sacrifices made by brave soldiers who saw a future worth fighting for. Without them vacations like this may not be possible. Happy Independence Day everybody!