First of all….’Dear reader’s I’m afraid I’ve been baking. A dangerous pastime (I know).’ …… If you caught the song parody, I give you ten points. If not, well there’s still more blog:
My first experiment in Baking was to see if I could potentially, successfully have a baking business on the side…..bake cookies, cupcakes, etc and sell them in a market stall. So, I baked a batch of sugar cookies and a batch of chocolate chip cookies just so I could see what one batch of my ingredients could make me….and therefore, how much I could potentially sell off at X amount to make X amount of profit, less the cost of supplies. I’ve found out I COULD make a profit, but will I do it? …That’s an undecided venture at the moment.
In any case, the cookies I baked went to work, because the girls claim they love my baking treats:
The second baking venture came from making my now 8-year-old brother in law his birthday cake. He had a special request and I did my best to fulfill it…..a Patrick Star(from the cartoon Spongebob Squarepants) cake:
As an added bonus…..I made him SpongeBob rice krispie treats, but those didn’t turn out as great as I had hoped:
After all this baking(and tons of consuming it) combined with the fact that the hubby and I haven’t been to the gym as much as I would’ve liked this year(2 weeks because a friend was visiting, 1 week out of sheer laziness, 1 week out of being too busy to go, 1 week out of transportation issues, and this last weekend because the gym was closed)….I have decided that I need to majorly get back into shape.
Ever since I’ve moved here, I’ve been WAY unhappy with my weight….because most of my clothes won’t fit me. I’ve noticed either my movement becoming restricted because my clothes are too tight, or worse….my clothes not being able to fit at all.
I know I’m still a skinny girl, but the fact that I brought over 6 pairs of jeans and only 2 of them fit(and fit TIGHT, to the point where it’s hard to breath while wearing them) is a little discouraging.
Last night I was comparing old photos of myself to how I look now. I took a screen cap of a head shot and a body shot every year from 2009 to present to compare the chubbiness in my face and my overall figure. It became clear that, although I looked fit and healthy in 2009 AND 2010, (as opposed to 2011 and this year where I keep getting chubbier as months go on), I liked my appearance FAR better in 2010.
From then, it became a puzzle as to why 2010 was my best year. What was I doing differently in regards to my health in 2010 that I wasn’t doing these past 2 years. It became clear to me that in 2009 and 2010…I took Pilates classes at my college. Also, in 2010, I had started an experiment with my eating habits(I limited my eating and stuck to dishing out ‘portions’ for myself to make sure I got a healthy amount of all the food groups per day), which I didn’t keep up with for long, for whatever reason(probably sheer laziness).
In any case, this brings me to my action plan:
- Go to the gym as much as possible(which doesn’t always happen because by the time hubby and I get home, cook dinner, eat dinner, and drive to fownhope(where the gym is), it’s far too late for us to do our full workout before the gym closes. Either that or we need to go to mum’s after work to do laundry….)
- When we can’t Gym-it, walk-it. Today I took a walk all over town, from 11am until 2pm. Up hill, down hill, flat ground, by the river, …everywhere. And I feel better already.
- Take up pilates again. It’s hard to take up something I haven’t done in a while…especially something that needs motivation like working out. I have the equipment(the mat, exercise ball, etc), I just never use it. TIME TO CHANGE THAT! To start me off, I’ve borrowed a book from the library called “Pilates on the Go”. I’m hoping it will force me to fit Pilates into my busy schedule.
- Change the way I eat. Portion out my meals, Count calories, focus on the food groups…ANYTHING to help me get the energy I need without overstuffing my belly.
GOALS SET!
Now….on to the last part of this blog….Today’s walk.
Ross on Wye is what’s known as a walking town. People are encouraged to go walking, especially through nature and there are several designated trails in and around town, so on a sunny day like today, you can find loads of people out and about town.
I got up and walked the hubby to work at 11am and didn’t get back to the flat until about 2:15pm. I walked EVERYWHERE and visited a lot of places in the town I hadn’t seen before, like the quaint little book sellers shop(Rossiter Books), and visited places that I love to go to: The River and The Cemetery.
Most people might find Graveyards too sad or scary to go into, but for some reason when I walk into a graveyard/cemetery…I feel clarity. There is nothing more calming or reverent for me that walking among the dearly departed. Weird…I know, but that’s the truth. Where people see death, dying, depression and old deteriorating headstones.....
....I see serenity, simplicity, and scintillating stories. As much as it is sad, I love looking at the headstones and imaging the type of people they were when they were living. I see it as paying my respects to humanity, and it puts things WAY into perspective.
While I was visiting today, I took a few shots of one reason why I find graveyards so beautiful....
...flowers. The bright colors bring life to the graves. It's a happy reminder that those graves with brightly colored flowers on them have not been forgotten, but it's all the more sad to know that graves without flowers have no one to pay tribute to their memory anymore.
After the cemetary, I took a walk down to the River, where I found some very funny ducks.
Here's one in mid 'scratch', trying to reveal an itch from it's neck.
A duck, taking a nap on a high wall, away from the other ducks.
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