Small steps add up

In the name of health (not weight loss!) I've decided to make some changes to my habits:

1. Staying on top of diabetes management - this includes many blood tests per day, accurate carb counting, and scheduling and going to my doctor apointments every 3 months (and getting bloodwork done in advance so we can have something to talk about)
   
2. Being aware of my thyroid symptoms and proactively getting bloodwork done to make sure my dosages are on track
   
3. Eating healthier - We recently switched to Organic produce, dairy, and (when we can find it) meat.  I'm also making smarter choices when I order out, and we're eating at home more often.
   
4. Eating breakfast - I eat a healthy, balanced breakfast every day now, usually consisting of a hard boiled egg, some fruit, cheese, and water
   
5. Drinking plenty of water - We recently got stainless steel bottles that are 100% BPA free, and mine can hold 1L.  I keep it at my desk and do my best to down 2 of those in a day.  Usually I only get through 1 - 1.5, but it's way more water than I used to drink.
   
6. Not drinking other stuff - I've given up soda.  Can you believe it?!  I was a diet coke junkie, and now I drink almost exclusively water.  That's gotta be healthier, right?!
   
7. Minimizing the amount of "sweet stuff" I eat.  I'm a sweetaholic!  My favorite foods are buttercream frosting and caramel.  And I have seriously reduced the amount of sweets I have in a given week.  This is helping with #1.
   
8. Avoiding artificial sweeteners.  Those things probably aren't very good for me, so I'm trying to give them up.  Which means cheating on #7 is a lot harder.

Things I'm not doing that I should be:

1. Exercising!  I don't do this...ever.  I have a gym membership, I just need to use it.
   
2. Logging my blood sugars.  How do I know if I am doing a good job if I can't watch trends?  I suppose I can't.  I am currently researching meters with good computer interfaces that allow me to upload my data and it does the graphing for me for easier analysis.  Hopefully I'll find the right meter for me that will make this process easier.  Logging has always been a struggle for me.

My husband is the BEST!

I got a call at work today "Jenni, you have flowers at the front desk".  Sweet!  I've NEVER gotten flowers at work before!  When I got down there, there was a beautiful bouquet of orange, yellow, red, and lavendar flowers - daisies, alstromeria (a fave of mine), and carnations.  

Today's not a "special" day per se, but Scott and I decided earlier in the week to make tonight a date night.  What, you may ask, are we going to do tonight?  I have no idea!  Scott has planned the whole thing and it's a surprise for me (which I love).  He's already made me smile all day at work...and now I can't wait to see what's in store later! :)

I'll keep him.

A few lessons from the beach

Scott and I, together with my college roommates F and C and C's family (J and A), went to Oak Island, NC for a week the week prior to Labor Day.  I had an absolute blast and can't wait to get together with those folks (and others!!) again!  While there, I learned several lessons, which I'd like to share with you:

1. Always wear sunscreen.  Even if you think you "don't burn there", just do it.  Because you do.  Or at least I do.
2. Never use the spray-on sunscreen.  Or you'll end up patchy and bruised-looking like Scott and I do.
3. Quo is not a word.  Not even when you have had a Q all game and there's only 1 available U on the whole board and you have an O as your only vowel.
4. Sandbank is a word (and so is sandbar.  Both mean basically the same thing).  Here's the definition: A sandbank is a patch of sand in water, which creates a shallow area which may pose a hazard to boats. Some sandbanks are above water at low tide. See also shoal and bar. A shoal is a sandbank or bar creating a shallow. ... In geography, a bar is a linear shoaling landform feature within a body of water. ...
5. Oak Island locals may or may not know how to pronounce the Greek letter Chi.  It might sound something like "Chee".  When wearing your fraternity letters in public there, try not to giggle if someone asks "What the heck is Alpha Chee Sigma"? ;)
6. Homemade ice cream on Oak Island is not worth eating.  Dairy Queen's a good option, and so is that other place that Caitlin recommended, but the homemade stuff is really icey and not really creamy and not very flavorful.

So, there you have it.  A new blog post with some highly insightful things to get you through the work week.  Or a vacation.  Or a game of Scrabble.  

Happy Anniversary to Us (last week)! And my parents (today)!

Last Tuesday, August 12, was our 3rd wedding anniversary. To celebrate, Scott told me to be ready to leave by 6 pm. He had a surprise planned, and he did a fantastic job at keeping it that way until the very last minute. He drove us to Arlington and parked in the Ballston Mall. I was surprised, for sure, since the Ballston mall is well, not that great of a mall. But, it has an ice skating rink. I've never been, so I thought maybe we were going ice skating. (Yes, I realize it's August, and that ice melts in hot weather, but I couldn't see him taking me to the Ballston mall for many other reasons...). Alas, we were not going ice skating. He led me into the mall, to the right (away from the Macy's and the flooring store and the jewelry stores...my other guesses once ice skating was ruled out) toward Chevy's Fresh Mex. I thought, no way would he take me to Chevy's for our anniversary! I don't even like Chevy's all that much. Fortunately, my concerns were dissolved when he steered us toward the spa. I love spas! I love facials and manicures and pedicures and massages...and he chose the perfect gift! He got us a couples massage lesson, where we got to learn massage techniques by practicing on one another. It was so relaxing, entertaining, and a great learning experience. Once we finished there (and decided we're going to buy a massage table for home!), we decided together to go to Harry's Tap Room - a local restaurant that serves organic and locally raised foods. We were lucky enough to get the last outdoor table, where we sat in the perfect weather and enjoyed a delicious meal. It was also Restaurant Week at Harry's, so we had a 3 course meal and were able to take leftovers home. I've since vowed that I want to make Harry's Tap Room part of our (minuscule) restaurant repertoire. This was by far our best anniversary yet.

(I purchased a watch for Scott as his gift. It is an Eco-Drive, so it doesn't require a battery, and it's classic enough that it won't be out of fashion next month. He likes it, but admittedly, his gift trumps mine this time. I'm OK with that ;) ).


Happy 17th anniversary to my mom and Eric! There's was yesterday and they celebrated with a meal at Bonefish Grill. Yum!

The city that never sleeps

I had a business trip in NYC July 21-23 and then Scott came up and joined me July 23-27 for a vacation. I had never been to NYC and he hadn't been since he was a kid, and we hadn't had a "just the two of us" vacation since our honeymoon, so it was a much anticipated trip! And it totally lived up to our expectations.

In the city that never sleeps, we barely rested. We toured pretty much all of Manhattan - we did Central Park, the Met, we saw the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, and Radio City Music Hall (but didn't go to the top of any of them). We walked...everywhere - through SoHo, Little Italy, Chinatown, Greenwich Village, Times Square, etc, etc, etc. We saw the Brooklyn Bridge and visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and I think the statue was my favorite part of the trip. And, of course, we saw Wicked, which was (ahem) a wicked good show. The Upright Citizens Brigade sketch comedy show was a lot of fun, too, and quite cheap at $8/person. We ventured to the Bronx only once - to see the (damned) Yankees stadium before it gets demolished.

The city is amazing. It's cleaner and friendlier than I expected in some ways, but the cabs and cabbies were just as crazy as TV and movies depict. I felt safe the whole time (except maybe when we were in the Bronx visiting the Yankees Stadiums, but all in all, I felt pretty safe there, too).

The subway was hard for me to understand (I much prefer the DC Metro for ease of use), but since Scott has a lot more navigation/map skills than I do, we fared well, only missing one event we wanted to do (a walking tour of Greenwich Village).

Our hotel (Hotel Metro) was FANTASTIC and I couldn't recommend it highly enough. I think we paid around $250/night for it, but the room was larger than I expected and clean, breakfast was included, and the service was spectacular. And it was in Midtown, and convenient to the subway and THE Macy's (important when you forget to pack lots of stuff like we did), and again, was a big part of the reason I felt so safe.

I usually try to include photos in my posts, but there are just too many! I'll leave you with some links instead. Enjoy!

When abstraction becomes reality

I had a delightful and shocking experience yesterday. My good friend Caitlin had her baby! I received a text message with the good news (a big, healthy baby girl!) and was absolutely thrilled for the whole family. A bit later, Ian (Cait's hubby) sent out pictures of the little one, and this is where the shock comes in. When I looked at the baby picture, and especially the family picture of the three of them, I had a hard time processing that the beautiful (and I mean GORGEOUS!) little baby in the picture is what Caitlin and I have been chatting about for 9 months. That the reason Caitlin's tummy grew so much was because of her. Because of that particular child in the photo. Of course I knew that Caitlin was pregnant with a baby girl. Of course I understand that when a mom gives birth a baby is the end result. But to be able to put a face to the abstract idea of "baby" or even associate the baby's name with her physical self, was a revelation of sorts. A beautiful, inspiring, surprising revelation.

Welcome to the world, little one. I can't wait to meet you in person!

A baseball stadium is not a good place to get a migraine

Not that there's a good place to get a migraine, but if I had to choose, I think I'd take a deserted cave: cold, dark, and quiet. A baseball stadium is quite the opposite: hot, bright, and noisy. On Friday night we went to the Nationals game with my former office mate, D, and our former coworker, R. We had GREAT seats - front row of the Diamond Club - courtesy of the connection D has at old work. We paid 1/5 the price listed on the tickets, and they came with $35 credit toward food, drinks, or merchandise. AND the Nats won! In a 10-0 shutout! That's something to get excited about! But, at about the start of the 6th inning I started to get a headache. And by the 7th it was clear it would be a migraine. I told Scott I wasn't feeling well and we left the stadium (after stopping in the store to spend the rest of our credit). The metro ride to Rosslyn, where we had parked, seemed to take forever. Then the 30 minute car ride home felt like an eternity, and I cursed the streetlamps the whole way. Finally we made it home where I was able to crawl into bed in our quiet, pitch black room, and sleep. I woke up Saturday morning bright and early to go to Hershey Park for a diabetic meetup without a migraine, but still not feeling 100%. On the way, we stopped and got water, which seemed to be the cure I needed. Lesson learned: when it's hot out, drink more water than you think you need.