Summer Bucket List

To make this summer a little more exciting, I want to create a little bucket list of things I want to do or achieve this summer.

Some are health driven and some are just for fun. 

1. Paddle board in the ocean. I've never paddle boarded in our ocean, only been on a lake, but I want to give the ol' Pacific a try this summer.  The ocean freaks me out a bit mainly cause ours here is not that vibrant blue that you picture in your mind when you see the ocean. Ours is dark, a little grey and scary. 

2. longish bike trips. We have ordered our ebikes and I'm so excited to get them. I want to take a trip to  White Rock Pier (33K) and then eventually vancouver island (90KM). Hopefully the bikes are not too delayed. They were supposed to arrive mid may, but now looks like mid June. :(  We have vacation booked the last week of June, so hopefully we will have by then. 

3. Park Picnic with the family - this one seems simple enough, but it's so hard to drag the family out to the park for a picnic. I need the girlfriends to be there too so that they will agree with me and force the boys to come. Haven't done a full picnic in years, but I want to this summer. Even if it's just once. 

4. Okanagan wine tour - this one all depends on whether or not we will be permitted to travel this summer, but if we are, this is on my list! I've always wanted to do one.... but never gotten to it. We've gone to a few of these but not in an actual tour. 

5. Build our home gym. I haven't returned to the gym since Covid hit last april and I'm not sure if I will return. We took my car off the road as I really don't need a car during the day and I would only be insuring the car to actually go to the gym. I am starting to get into a rhythm of working out at home but I would like to setup an actual gym in the garage. It's going to take some planning and some money but I think it will be great. 

Day after Vaccine

Did I get a placebo?? Seriously, not ONE side effect? 

I mean, I'm not complaining but..... so weird. 

I did weigh in this morning and I was 169.8 Been hovering around that for a few weeks. Haven't been working out as much either but I feel good. 

Thursday and Friday off to celebrate the hubs 50th birthday.  In a pandemic. Should be interesting 

Emotions

So many emotions today.  Must be that time of month..... 

I had some serious fear this morning regarding my Covid vaccine appointment. I managed to get an appointment after they opened up the age group yesterday, for this morning.  The only vaccine that is available for my age group is the AstraZeneca vaccine and that vaccine has had reports of blood clotting and even some death. But the reality is that there are risks with all vaccines and medications. 

I did end up getting it and now I am feeling happiness that I have an opportunity to try to protect myself, my family and my neighbours. 

Somedays the news affects me more than other days. I have anxiety today about the news. Today I pray for the Floyd family, Minneapolis and the entire World....

Hoping tomorrow is a day of peace, serenity and healing. 

Newish Goals

 I've never actually published my monthly goals but they are always in the back of my head. The calendar turns and I immediately think.... this month I'm going to do x. X usually meaning "lose ?? number of lbs".  At first the number was big (ie lose 10 lbs). Then I realized that losing 10 lbs is actually not easy, so the number would change to 5 and that eventually became "I'll be happy with just a 2 lb loss".. 

But after spending the last few weeks concentrating more on my health and movement, I have strayed from "caring" what is actually on the scale. Yes, of course the number is still important and although it's not the only measure of my "health" it is a measure of it.  So I can't get rid of the scale all together, at least not yet. I do hope one day I can become less reliant on it and not feel that it's the only thing that keeps me accountable. 

So I decided for April, I'm not going to care what the scale says. I will still keep track of it but my goal for this month is to become stronger. I want to increase my cardiovascular strength and my physical muscle strength.  I'm still not comfortable going to the physical gym but I have enough equipment here at home to get in a good strength workout. 

My step count has increased daily and I'm getting 3-4 "sessions" at home as well. The sessions might be a quick 10-20 minute HIIT or a 30 minute muscle focused workout. So far, I'm feeling good. 

I did end up going to my GP to review my blood work and as expected he wasn't happy. He said he's not ready to recommend any medication as he believes I can control with lifestyle. He's not a fan of the Keto diet, which I completely expected, but I don't care. I feel better than I have in years and I have been spending a lot of time researching blood work results on a Keto diet and it all makes sense to me. I will continue what I'm doing with some small changes in my food (ie. Using plant fats instead of animal fats for cooking, and reduce my red meat consumption). 

I do think activity will better my numbers overall. I have already seen a dramatic decrease in my blood pressure over the last 2 weeks since starting my exercise regime. 

So my goals are really the same, about overall health, but with much much less focus on the number on the scale. 

Oh and I did exchange my too big clothes for smaller clothes. Can't wait to make another trip (sans hubby) to the mall so I can get some cute spring/summer items.