Short and Sweet!

This goes for everything. We got our hair done today and are very happy we did. We both decided to go short and hopefully sweet. I am so impatient when it comes to sitting in the hair chair for hours, but I’m always happy after it is done. My hair dresser is phenomenal and we both really enjoy going.

So, I wanted to make this post short and sweet. I wanted to wish all of you Canadians a Happy Canada Day tomorrow! I’m off to start getting my place prepared for the bbq we are having at our house. There is a local music festival going on nearby as well that we will definately be stopping by at.

I have had a very strange day w/ real estate and have put out a lot of fires, but have had a few liars around as well. I’m not going to dwell on it, but leave you w/ this thought. No one likes to be lied to. Lying is very easy. If you are having to lie about something, you probably should not be doing it in the first place. I had several 80 something year olds that looked me in the eyes and lied. They had no problem doing this. Now, I have lost all my trust in them and are unsure about having my sellers move forward w/ the offer. All I’m saying is be honest. Be truthful about everything. In the end, it may not always be what the other person wants to hear, but at least it is honest. You have nothing to feel bad about.

Now, go enjoy the weekend and have a great time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Make It A Great Day–Go Inspire!”

It Is About How You Feel After….

My last night of inspiration from the lecture from Kary Odiatu and Dr. Uche is all about getting up and making change. It is about how you feel after you start to make these changes. At first it all feels uncomfortable, like too much work, too much money and you can keep going w/ the excuses. These are all excuses by the way. I have a rebuttal for all of these. Uncomfortable–it is good, it means change and change is always welcome–the same is boring. Too much work–anything that is worth something is work. No friendship, relationship, job, whatever is easy–you have to work for the good things in life. Too much money–initially, but imagine the money you save when you aren’t having to be treated by the doctor for sicknesses. So, please save all the excuses b/c that is what it is and get up and make change. Do something. Anything. Just do it!

Again, you only have to change one thing at a time. Trim back the calories, start to walk and turn that in to something bigger. Next step, only have chocolate every 10 days, turn the walk in to a light jog and so forth. A great motivational tool is to have a friend or partner to do the workouts w/ you. Find a walking group, running group, hikers, dog walkers, etc. There’s many people who want to get out and enjoy life, take in all the glorious nature and things around. You will find someone. MG and I are each other’s motivation. On days that I don’t want to do anything, he pushes me and vise versa. Here we are doing 400 stairs on the escarpment. Also, we try to help one another curve the bad food cravings. We don’t stop completely eating all the fun things, but we just trim back. This is what it is all about. Doing something good for you and hopefully encourage a loved one, friend, even stranger to take the reins and live a longer, healthier life.

I love to work out. Even though I truly enjoy it, I don’t wake up every day wanting to go for a jog or do the stairs or whatever workout it is that day. I do it b/c I know it is helping me stay healthy, stay in shape and most of all:  I like the way I feel after. After you do some exercise you get endorphins. Endorphins give you energy, excitement and an overall “take on the world attitude”. It doesn’t matter how vigorous your workouts are, just do something. Get out for a 30 mins walk, do some situps, something! You have to get the blood circulating. Inactivity is the number one cause for many things–cancer, diabetes, just to name a few. When our blood sits stagnate, it is not moving and passing infections through and out. I don’t want to get too technical and you don’t have to take my word, research it for yourself, but inactivity is the worst thing you can do for your health.

Paying attention to what you eat and drink. You do have to count what you drink b/c unless it is water, it probably has calories or fat or something. Try to start making healthier choices and you can cook one meal that can last you 3 days. That is great b/c you have dinner ready for half of the week, just off of one preparation. For instance, we made the Creamy Avocado Pasta (under my recipe tab) and it only took 15mins. So easy and oh so delicious. Try it! Quick, easy and healthy. Can’t ask for much more. Also, just b/c you do a workout doesn’t mean to eat more. Don’t slip in to the mindset that b/c you were active you can eat whatever. If you are trimming back, eating healthy and doing exercises you will notice positive changes in your body (physical on the outside) and overall healthier on the inside. Try it and I hope to hear some great, inspiring comments after you do.

Take a look at this picture. There’s all ages in this photo and every one of them feels good. Every one of them goes for walks or hikes or something daily. One of the older gentlemen in this family photo has gone through some rough health issues (he is in his 80’s), but walks at least 30mins a day no matter what. He claims it is why he is still here today!

 

 

“Make It A Great Day–Go Inspire!”

Eat This…Don’t Eat That…Confused!

Continuing on with some interesting facts from the nutritional course from Kary Odiatu and Dr. Uche. I find that there is so much information on foods, exercise, what to do, what not to do; that it gets all jumbled up and confusing. Then, in the midst of trying to figuring out all of this, you are supposed to eat a percentage of this food group and this much of another. I’m going to try to simplify all of this and make it a bit easier.

To start, we should have around 2300 calories a day. This can differ a bit depending on how much exercise you get in a day, but overall, this is a good number to try to live by. Problem is that most adults are eating between 2900-3500 calories a day. Also, back in the 1940’s, 1950’s each person, each year ate about 4 pounds of sugar. Now, with all the fast food, processed foods, and so on–each person, each year is eating around 125 pounds of sugar. Insane! No wonder there are so many people who are overweight or obese. Check your BMI here   to see where you are. A BMI of 25 and under is ideal, 25-30 is overweight, 30+ is obese and 40+ is morbidly obese.

Now, we want to either maintain or lose weight. To make it easier to follow, you want to eat many vegetables throughout the day and incorporate some fruits. Through a plant-based diet you can get all the protein, fat, carbs, iron, calcium that you need. Really focus on trying to eat a rainbow of colors during your meals. The brighter the color, generally the more potent of healthiness you get. The reason I say some fruit is that there is a good amount of sugar, although natural, it is still sugar and too much can make you store fat. If you are meat eater, you should only try to eat organic, grain fed, free roam meat and eggs. This will reduce the amount of steroids, antibiotics in the meat. Also, this type of meat is generally smaller. You should only have about 6 oz of meat a day. Weird to hear, but too much protein can actually make you fat. The link provided is a great read on what the overuse of protein can do and can be harmful.

Also, you should pay attention to low or high glycemic foods. Foods with a high GI are digested quickly and cause a significant spike in our blood sugar levels. This in turn causes a corresponding spike in insulin to bring those sugar levels back down. Low glycemic index foods have less of an impact because they are digested and absorbed more slowly, so your body needs less insulin to control your blood sugar levels.Your diet should focus on a low glycemic diet. For instance, 100% whole wheat pastas, rice, NO white flour, pastas, rice. I have really grown to enjoy spelt and kamut pasta, kamut bread, sour dough bread (low glycemic), orzo and quinoa. This link is a great resource for what is high, medium and low glycemic foods. Our bodies work best when blood sugar levels are kept constant rather than big spikes up and down. Eating a diet high in the glycemic index is strongly linked to an increase in the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease. The World Health Organization has recommended that people in developed countries consume as many low-GI meals as possible in order to prevent heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. Voila! Pay attention to what you eat, keep it low glycemic, your insulin doesn’t spike, takes longer to process, better digestion and full longer.

Some outside influences to weight can be helpful or hurtful as well. A good way to start is to start a food diary and for 3 days mark down everything you eat and drink (yes, what you drink–pop, add sugar and/or cream to tea/coffee, etc). Then, start to look at where you could trim some of the calories down, eat lower glycemic and increase your calorie burn (exercise). Stress and sleep play a major role in weight. The more stress you have, the more fat is added. Stress can be overcome by deep breathing, yoga, endorphins from exercise, going for a walk, making a list every so often of things you are thankful for. Focus on what you are thankful for rather than things that bother or upset you. Sleep is another way to gain weight. If you are not getting your needed amount of sleep, your body can begin to store fat in case it needs it later. Make sure you are getting 6-8 hours of constant sleep per night. Also, eat many small meals a day to keep your metabolism burning and to keep your body from storing fat b/c it is storing for a famine.

Well, a lot of info, but I hope I have simplified it a bit for you. Some small changes, may be uncomfortable at first, but will become natural the more you do them, could be the answer to a healthy or unhealthy weight. Make the choice to make the changes and live a longer, more fulfilled, happy life.

“Make It A Great Day–Go Inspire!”

Dehydration!

For the next few days, I would like to elaborate on some of the important ideas that I took away from the health course I went to yesterday. As a refresher, we went to a course lecture by Kary Odiatu and Dr. Uche. They are amazing and have a load of great information.

The topic I would like to focus on today is dehydration. We can only live for 7 days without water. Water makes up more than 1/2 of  our body weight. Our bodies desperately need water. The problem is that if we don’t get enough water running through our system, it will start to borrow the water from other parts of our bodies. Some of this topic may be gross, but I feel that it is important for you to read and find out how things work.

Dr. Uche stated that as a dentist, he sometimes needs to wear 2 masks at a time b/c the patient’s breath smells so bad. One cause of this is dehydration. When we are not getting enough water, our body rings out our fecal matter, grabs all the moisture from our fecal matter and re-distributes it throughout us to give all our organs the needed moisture. Therefore, it can come out in our breath. Disgusting! I know, but true. I think this is enough of a reason to start chugging those 8 glasses of water a day. I have tried looking up what Dr. Uche has just said and I did come across a lot of articles that discuss how the longer the waste takes to pass through, the more moisture is grabbed up from it and then circulated throughout.

No matter what, we know it is true that the longer waste sits in your body, the more toxic material is released. When you are hydrated you will pass stools easily, not have constipation and overall you will feel better.  Water is so important. Our blood is made of a lot of water. Water makes our urine, potty and perspiration. This is a great link that quickly sums up why water is so vital to how our system works.

It is best to sip on water throughout the day. If you wait until you are thirsty, you are already starting to get dehydrated. Some other more severe signs of dehydration are dizziness, vomiting & feeling very sluggish. While it is very important to get enough water, it is also important to not overdue drinking water. Too much water can be dangerous and put unneeded stress on your body. By forcing too much water in to our bodies in a short period of time can raise the volume of water in our blood causing our circulatory system to work too hard and can put undue stress on a our kidneys b/c they have to work too hard filtering out all the excess water.

In saying all of this–drink enough water to stay hydrated, but don’t drink too much–how much is enough? Well, it is hard to say. I think we should always try to get in  64 oz. of water throughout the whole day. The problem is that the amount of water you need all depends on your diet, exercise, additives, etc.

For instance, if you eat a lot of plant-based foods, you get water through them and don’t need to drink as much water. If you workout and sweat a lot, you will need more water. Salt and caffeine can also cause you to be dehydrated. So, you should sip water all day, drink when you first start to get thirsty and make sure the color of your urine is more clear. If your urine is more yellow that usually leans on the side of dehydration. There’s a lot of info here and some can be confusing. I am not a doctor and do not advise anyone of what to do and how much to drink, but I do feel that you need to stay hydrated all day. My best advice is to sip water from when you wake to when you go to bed, try to keep your urine color clear and don’t guzzle your water. If you are sipping throughout the day, you should stay hydrated and not be as thirsty. In turn, your body will thank you and feel much better.

Here’s a cheers to water. Get to drinking. Plus, a 6-8 oz glass of water before dinner helps to make you feel full. In turn–you eat less! Win-win!

 

 

“Make It A Great Day–Go Inspire!”

You Only Need to Change One Thing

We went to a phenomenal nutritional course today. Our local health and wellness grocery store puts on free lectures from time to time about different subjects. I was very excited to go to the class they had yesterday from Kary Odiatu and Dr. Uche. They are a married couple living in Toronto w/ 3 children and we found out yesterday that a 4th is on the way. She is a life coach, competes in fitness competitions and was Miss Fitness Universe. Dr. Uche is a dentist, holistic lifestyle coach and professional  member of the American sports association. So, an amazing super couple. Well, that was one of the best 1.5hr long classes I have ever taken.

Dr. Uche began the day w/ talking about obesity, health, stress, eating well, etc. He discussed how much he can tell about our everday health through our teeth. If your gums bleed very easily or if you have bad gingivitis, then you are experiencing dehydration, inflammation and overall poor nutrition. He stated several times that “what is happening anywhere is happening everywhere”. What he means is that any inflammation you are feeling in your body, such as inflammed gums, lower back pain, neck pain, means that your body is unbalanced and needs more attention. We need to deep breathe throughout day. Air in needs to come out somehow. Deep breathing from your lower abdominal is something we all should be doing throughout the day–it helps relax you so that your muscles arent’ so tight, clears your mind and brings peace to you. Also, there is new research that alzheimer’s may actually be Type 3 diabetes. This is amazing. On the topic of diabetes, the prescription meds help 37% of the time and lifestyle change helps 70%. I was given so much info on the health side of nutrition and how our bodies react to poor nutrition, lack of exercise and dehydration.

Then, Kary began to speak. She talked about the other aspect of getting healthy and that is the motivation part. Throughout the class they would get us up to swing our arms, deep breathe and move the blood around a bit. She discussed how she used to be very unhealthy, but had a breaking point where she made the change. We all need to make the change, but most times it is b/c of something. For instance, a serious health scare will usually make people wake up and start exercising, eating healthy and make the lifestyle changes needed to live. As I stated before, lifestyle change has a higher percentage of curing, helping, recovering people than prescription meds. I hope that people will start to make the change before they get sick or have a problem. All we need to do is change one thing at a time. Try eating only half of your dinner portion. Cutting back to 1/2 a cup of pasta rather than a whole cup. make sure to drink 8 glasses of water. If you eat 5 pieces of bread throughout the day, trim it to 4 pieces. Don’t change everything at once. Only change one thing and once you are comfortable with that, change another unhealthy thing. Try going for a walk, then a fast walk, maybe a light jog or take the stairs instead of the elevator. See where I’m going? Also, you don’t have to give anything up forever. Kary suggested to have a free day every 10-14 days. This way you aren’t missing out forever on your favorite chocolate bar, you just don’t need it every day.

The strange thing is that when you start to make the changes, it is very difficult, very challenging and uncomfortable at first. Then, you get used to it and enjoy it. Once you start to take sugar out of your diet, after a while you just don’t enjoy it that much. I used to have a small double double at Tim Horton’s (meaning for 6oz of coffee I was having 2 sugars and 2 creams–yikes!). Now, I have a medium coffee w/ just a dash of cream. At first, I didn’t love the taste, but now I can’t have sugar in my coffee. It makes it way too sweet. This change has only happened over the last 3 weeks. So, it doesn’t take long. Now that I’m comfortable w/ reducing sugar in my coffee and my other foods, I am moving on to taking chips away. Not for good, not forever, but not having chips for a couple of days. Then, I’ll have a few chips, then not again for a week. I’m choosing to make change.

I want to live to be 100 yrs old, but a healthy, happy, able to do for myself 100 yrs old. The only way to achieve that is to respect my life and my body. Therefore, I’m making the choice today to eat better, continue to workout and largely reduce my stress. I’m choosing life. I’m choosing to live. I’m choosing to make one change at a time that will help my body stay healthy, active and reduce my risk of disease. So, I’m asking all of you to make a change, a healthy change. Do something uncomfortable and make your life better.

“Make It A Great Day–Go Inspire!”

Oh, Technology!

I did not write a post yesterday b/c I had too much technology in my life. I love to learn about new things, but I don’t like change. Sounds strange, but here’s how I work. I enjoy new apps or a new phone or new tablet, but I don’t enjoy changing everything. MG and I made the switch yesterday to Telus from Rogers. Think I’m really happy I did, but getting all changed over w/ ease is difficult. Since we are in real estate, changes have to be smooth. We ended up w/ four phones in our laps yesterday and trying to figure out how to work them. Two of the phones were from our last plan and now the 2 new phones w/ our new company. We are keeping the Blackberry Torch (had to get it unlocked to work w/ new company) and received the iPhone from new company. The other 2 will be sold. Thing is… we also started our new e-mail w/ gmail.

My word on gmail is that it is great. So far, really like it. I am an extremely organized person and gmail helps in really organizing me. Cool, eh? Check it out sometime. Anyway, it was hell trying to get our work e-mail to forward through our gmail and then branch off to both phones and the Asus tablet. Not easy b/c gmail thinks my work e-mail is spam. Arrgghh…well, I figured out how to change the spam filter for gmail, so if you ever need to know, I’ve got your answer. Just send me an e-mail and if I did it all right, it won’t go to spam, I will read it and respond to you. This was a fairly simple fix, but took forever. Getting the Torch unlocked and responding to the wireless internet in my house and w/ the new company took forever as well. All done.

Now, I’m learning to use the iPhone. Fantastic, but very different from the Torch. I’m also just learning how to work the Android idea through my Asus tablet. Again, loving the tablet, but waaaayyyy  too much change and learning. I feel that all is starting to come together, I’m getting all working and figured out. Maybe a 2nd job is in my near future. Just kidding, but I do feel pretty versed now on getting my life organized w/ all the new technology. We even figured out how to download all of our contacts, which was a HUGE help b/c we have over 500 contacts to transfer.

Oh, and another cool idea. I love bbm, which can only be achieved from Blackberry to Blackberry. I wanted to chat using my iPhone w/ all my Blackberry friends. Guess what? You can. Go to Live Profile and download the app to any iPhone, Blackberry or Android and voila! you get to chat w/ anyone. Exciting and I already have a couple of bbm friends doing it. Works great! Again, need help, just write me. You have to have a data plan on your phone, the download has to be done from your phone, not laptop.

MG made a phenomenal meal w/ falafel (vegetarian) on wheat buns w/ cucumber, tomato, tzatziki sauce and a side of asparagus. YUM! Well, off to enjoy a fantastic meal and go play some hockey. Then, for a refreshing drink after w/ some friends! Phew! Last night, it seemed like a nightmare, but today it seems very exciting.  So, just when all seems hopeless, pick yourself up, learn, try and try again and then enjoy. Something good is always around the corner. Do something that scares you  and learn from it. I’m scared of change, made A LOT of change and now couldn’t be happier.

“Make It A Great Day–Go Inspire!”

I’m Done…No More Eating S*!t!

Sorry for the anger in the title, but I was so frustrated today. I went for a 5 mile (8km) jog today and felt terrible. When I arrived back at home, I realized that I actually had shaven off 2 mins from the last time I did this jog, but I felt awful during the run. Let me rewind….last night I had no control or will power over bad foods. I wanted chips, cookies, chocolate, ice cream. Problem, I didn’t say no to much. My fav ice cream shop opened back up for the summer and they are just around the corner. I enjoyed a lovely pineapple-orange scoop of ice cream. Then, I needed something salty, so I had a few ruffles potato chips. Oh, a little later, I felt like a couple of Oreo’s. Shame, shame. Well, after the ice cream, I felt pretty sick on my tummy.

I’ll back up a little further. When I went vegetarian 1.5 yrs ago, I started by reading The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone. Fantastic book w/ lots of info and recipes for every level of someone considering vegetarianism and/or vegan. In this book she says to see how meat/dairy cause issues w/ your digestion by going off of it all for one week and then try it again and see how you feel. Well, I have given up all meat, but the reason I am vegetarian not vegan is b/c I have not fully given up dairy. I am so close, but not totally. I still have a dash of milk in my coffee. By the way, ever since my post regarding agave, I have cut out most sugar, but I don’t have any in my coffee at all now. Anyway, now that I don’t have much dairy, I have noticed that ice cream really upsets my stomach.

This book, as well as many other things I’ve read, discuss how changing your diet to a healthier one can make you feel sick. Sometimes you can get a bad cold when you start cleaning out your body or foods that you used to be able to tolerate before, you can’t anymore. I think that I am going through this. I dropped all meat instantly and have not had any since. But, dairy I have had a harder time parting with, so now that I am almost fully off of dairy, I think larger amounts of it make me sick. Weird, but actually a good thing. Dairy has a lot of steroids, antibiotics and a bunch of other yucky stuff. I’m not telling anyone to get off of it, but try something. Don’t have any dairy or meat for a week, then have a glass of milk and see how you feel. Also, I want to stop dairy b/c anything that makes their young grow to 400 pounds, I don’t want. Cows give their calves their milk to make them grow to 400 pounds, therefore, do you think it makes us heavier? I think so. Another thought is that we are the only species that drinks milk from a different species (meaning not just from our mother’s milk). Weird? I think so.

So, I felt terrible all night last night. Then, I go for my jog and I was feeling sick on my tummy before I left. I thought after running a bit it would go away. It didn’t. This is where my frustration comes from. During my whole jog, all I could think about was if I didn’t eat all that junk food, I wouldn’t feel so terrible during my run. Also, why exercise so much just to ruin it on all my junk food. Now, I’m not saying that I’m never going to have another chip or ice cream or chocolate. What I am saying is that I am going to start practicing more self-control, more will power. I think this is good for all aspects of life. We can’t give in to every desire. We need to learn to say no to ourselves. Especially when we really, really want something. This comes to clothing, food and much more. I am going to start focusing on not getting everything I want. I need to be able to walk away from things. Yes, this includes Lululemon clothing. On a side note, I read last night that Lulu is raising their price on Scuba hoodies from $99 to $148, so now is a really good time to learn self-control. I won’t be paying $148 for a sweatshirt. Just like I won’t feel crummy on a jog anymore due to my sweet tooth. I will continue to put good, healthy foods in my body and the reward will be the goodness I feel from it. The happiness my body gives back during my workouts.

So, here’s to controlling myself and feeling much better and much happier. I’m going do it. I’m hoping others of you will join me. I’d love to hear from you guys if you do try going without meat/dairy and if you try it later, how did you feel? I will teach myself will power and control. I got to my breaking point this morning. I don’t want to feel like that again. I want to get the most out of my workouts and I don’t want to do it all for not anymore.

Oh, I had an offer to do on one of our country properties, so we stopped by our in-laws. I snapped a quick pic of their dog. This is what all dogs should look like at the end of the day. He went to run at the dog park for 2 hours today and was absolutely wiped. Think he had a fun day? I do! Enjoy!

“Make It A Great Day–Go Inspire!”

 

Happy Father’s Day!

I would like to wish all the fathers including my own, a happy and wonderful Father’s Day! I am so lucky to have the dad that I do. What is important is to remember this throughout the year. My only “issue” w/ holidays is that you shouldn’t just do nice things for someone only on that day. Maybe I do something a little extra special, but I want to show my love, appreciation, happiness, etc every day of the year. So, happy Father’s day, I hope you all had a wonderful day and got to do some extra special things that you like to do.

Not only did we get to enjoy some family time this weekend, but we got to enjoy the outdoors as well. Near my hometown was a festival called Sound of Music. What a great time! The weather was amazing–about 85F, slight wind and just magnificent to be outside watching music and enjoying a festival. This festival has it all. Tons of people, loads of sidewalk shopping and 3 stages for bands. We saw several different types of bands–rock, country, punk, but one of our favs was Crash Karma. They were so much fun to watch and really good live. We had a great night. We got to start it off right by eating some Thai food at a restaurant near this festival w/ some of our dearest friends. We have not seen these guys in a while, so it was very nice to catch up w/ them. Then, we grabbed a coffee and headed to the festival. I could’ve bought so many things. I love these little shops that show up at the festivals. I ended up not purchasing anything, but that took a lot of determination.

An overall fantastic weekend. Lots of laughs, catching up, music, walking and plain old fun! I am so thankful that the weekend was beautiful and that mine and MG’s fathers enjoyed their day. Just remember to tell the special people in your life how much you care about them, think about them, each and every day. Maybe just do a little extra on these extra special days.

 

“Make It A Great Day–Go Inspire!”

 

 

Ride To Conquer Cancer!

On Sunday, MG and I went for our usual morning jog. Or at least we thought we were. Once we hit the main street overlooking the escarpment, we saw bike after bike going by. We had seen on the news and read about the bike riders going from Toronto to Niagara for the Ride to Conquer Cancer. This is an amazing charity. This year 4,610 participants raised $17.5 million for Princess Margaret for cancer research. Cancer will touch most everyone’s life in some way. It is especially near to my heart this year due to my mother’s mastectomy. The fear that is evoked from the word “cancer” is extreme. I have never felt so speechless when I heard that word from the doctor about my mother. You just go blank and numb. I can only imagine how she felt. In fact, I don’t think we have talked about how she felt at that moment. The good news is that she is cancer free now.

Back to the Ride to Conquer Cancer is that these magnificent people do this ride to raise money for cancer research to try to find a cure for this terrible disease. As we were jogging, we saw the multitudes of bikes going by and we felt the need to follow in behind them. My jog never felt so good. As we were running amongst these riders it felt so invigorating. We ran faster and w/ such inspiration. It was intriguing to me at the strength just running w/ these bikers gave me. I made it in my best time, I felt so good running and all b/c I was just thinking the whole time about how great these other people were. This time my jog was not about me. Not trying to push myself, beat my times, whatever. It was about others and how strong they were, I was too busy admiring what they were doing. Great job to all of you that participated and to all the volunteers that help make this happen.

I realized how hard these bikers were working to help all of us. Most of the riders have had cancer or were riding in memory of someone in their life who had cancer. Most importantly is that they were pushing their bodies very hard to do something that will benefit everyone. I write and I try to do things for others in my everyday life. We should all try to help others. It feels good and makes us all happier, better people. It doesn’t have to be to an extreme. As I’ve said before, hold the door for someone, give a nice complement, by a coffee for someone. Just make a difference. As small as some of these examples are, you will make someone else’s day better. When people are happy, we have less problems. Problems meaning violence, anger, depression, etc. Sometimes a kind gesture can do more good than you realize. We don’t know what others are going through. Life goes on no matter how bad of a day, month, year we are having. We are still expected to go to our jobs w/ a smile on our face, go about our days as though nothing is wrong. If you are having a rough time in life, sometimes the tiniest act of kindness can make everything seem just a bit better. Sometimes putting a smile on someone else’s face, even if the smile only lasts a minute, can change the course of the entire day. And guess what, doing something kind for someone else will actually put a smile on your face. That’s winning all around.  Just something to think about. Give it a try, see how you feel. Bet if you do something nice for someone else once, you will be addicted to it.

“Make It A Great Day–Go Inspire!”

Outdoors Are Paradise!

We watched the Stanley Cup game from the comfort of my outdoor cabana. It was amazing! Let me back up a few steps….

A few posts ago I discussed outdoor drapes. Well, we finally got them up and they look great! The even better part is that they keep the wind down, so it doesn’t get too cold even on cool nights. It was around 60F last night and we were very comfortable. I love the outdoors and I always feel amazing. In the earlier mornings we try to get out go for a jog, hike or do the stairs, during the day we are out gardening and at nights we are watching TV in our cabana. In between all of these we buy and sell a lot of homes. It is so nice b/c all of our flowers are blooming, trees are growing and my blueberry bushes are going strong. They even have a few tiny blueberries on them.

So, MG grilled us up a lovely homemade pizza on our new pizza stone. Yum, yum! We got whole wheat dough, added tomatoes, broccoli, cheese, pizza sauce, onions, mushrooms and another veggie or two.

We had a magnificent evening and enjoyed the game. I also saw this cute little squirrel w/ a piece of bread we left out. I had a bag of bread w/ just a few slices left (old) and I was going to give it to the squirrels and birds anyways. I hear the bag move and I look outside and this is what I saw…

So, that is it for today, just an all around wonderful day and I could not be any happier w/ my new outdoors. We didn’t get to enjoy it last year b/c it took 3 mos to finish and then it was too cold. Well, we certainly are enjoying the heck out of it this year. If anyone has any questions about outdoor drapes, landscaping, etc don’t hesitate to ask.

I’ll leave you w/ one last look…

“Make It A Great Day–Go Inspire!”