Better

I've accepted a 30-Day Arm Challenge.  On the first day you do 5 push-ups, 5 dips, 10 bicep curls, and punches for 10 seconds.  By the end of the month, you do 50 push-ups, 120 dips, 150 bicep curls, and punches for 150 seconds. Right now I can't even complete one regular push-up.  I'm hoping to notice vast improvements in my physical ability by mid-month.  After the 30 days, it'd be nice if by arms were visibly more Sarah-Jessica-Parker-y (circa Sex and the City) or Michelle-Obama-ish. 

Midday Light

My work lunches are a little dreamy.  It's delightful to eat a satisfying meal, work on The New York Times crossword, mess about on my computer, and have a full hour of downtime.

Plus the view from the break room isn't bad either.  I'm really looking forward to the day, in the not so distant future, that the magnolia tree starts to bloom.

Okay... Maybe everybody already does this, but just today, I packed a salad layered upside-down in a jar.  I've discovered that salads are easier to eat on a big work plate than from the smallish containers that I pack them in.  This morning, I figured that I could use whatever jar would work, and I would pack my salad top to bottom.  I wanted walnuts on top, then sliced carrots, and then mixed greens on the bottom so I filled the jar in that order.  Then, when I dumped the salad on a plate... voila.  All I had to do was slice up some apples to add to it.  I forgot the dressing, which wasn't really a big deal, because the salad itself was so tasty.  I may have liked a bit of crumbled goat cheese or gorgonzola though.

This discovery makes me feel like an idiot and a genius at the same time.  Do you have any lunch packing tricks or tips?

Happy Hour

Another [sort of] great thing about being sick is that aside from a strange craving for buttered popcorn and salty potato chips, I want to eat well.  This wellness drive has me on a juicing kick.  Admittedly, I've actually only used the juicer one time before now.  It's a bit labor intensive and time consuming, and kind of expensive to buy all that fresh produce, but it's well worth it.  It may be said that J. and I seemed to round the bend with a green juice Flu Shot (found via Pinterest of course).

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Little by Little

I don't really remember how or where, but I stumbled upon Eat Sleep Move.  It promotes the philosophy that those three areas of our well-being are intimately connected and that small choices can lead to big changes.  You can take a quiz and get a personalized plan, which I did, and I also checked the book out from the library.

Although I'm only on day-five and haven't been super intense about it, I did switch up the location of our healthiest foods and put them out in the open.

Now fruit resides on the counter and the bread is just a little more out of sight.  It already seems to be working because yesterday, I ate one banana, one apple, and zero pieces of bread.