When real life begins to emulate the painted life.

GRATITUDE: Breakfast of pasture raised eggs, kimchi, parsley on my favorite plates. Hungry morning…had oatmeal with chia, goji berries, chopped cashews and cashew milk too. And a banana. Would have been all been better with a slice (or loaf) of sourdough but trying hard to go more real protein less bread, pasta, rice, sugar these days to experiment and see how my body adapts, is able to be more stable energy wise, lose fat, build muscle. Had the thought today that maybe by the time I’m 50, I also like Eric will be in the best shape of my life. Something to aim for anyhow, thankful for the thought.

FOCUS:

INSPIRATION:

GRATITUDE: Family made it to Backhaus Bread in the brunch hour on a Saturday! Tried my first coddled egg, yummy! Watched the Super Bowl with the kids (49ers vs Kansas City) after taking a nap on the couch while they all watched a movie – what a treat! All in all a lovely lazy Sunday.

FOCUS: Taking magnesium again before bed today to see if it helps with some better sleep this week. I think my period is approaching and likely the culprit of restless sleep this past week or so.

INSPIRATION: Eric reminded me about looking for super lightweight rain jackets.

GRATITUDE: For an evening with 2 manhattans (after skipping last weekend and only 1 drink per weekend since the New Year) and time to enjoy being with Eric while we watch modern house cabin…what a splurge, not to mention ruin it’s half past midnight!

GRATITUDE: For the 77 days remaining that I’m lucky enough to possibly walk this girl to elementary school. My heart is breaking more than a little.

FOCUS: Mental prep for a good weekend ahead.

INSPIRATION:

GRATITUDE: For peace in the morning to exercise, and listen to my book, make a protein smoothie with chard from the garden and bananas and blueberries. For at least a little time to do my assignment before Juniper gets out at 1:30.

FOCUS: Today was one of those days where there just aren’t enough hours in the day…

INSPIRATION: Remembering way 5 or was it 6 years ago when I started listening to this podcast and feeling that there were actionable things in my own life that could make life so much good-er.

GRATITUDE: Got the car back and didn’t have to pay $600 but only $175! Engine check light has been reset and so far the car seems to be running great again. Will have to keep my fingers crossed it stays that way…upon quick search it seems it actually may be possible to reset the check engine light easily on our own in the future (disconnect negative battery terminal, temporarily remove ECN fuse from fusebox, using a digits engine scanner you can erase or reset check engine light). Gah…was it really just that? Hmm…will have to try this next time.

FOCUS: A few pages closer to catching up with Japanese lesson for the week…gosh I’m just aways behind from those first couple weeks of spending all my energy researching places to stay in Japan!

INSPIRATION: Did 27 minutes of rowing with intervals today! Woohoo! Probably my longest row ever.

GRATITUDE: Sunshine this morning while I raked the mess of eucalyptus. 1-1/2 hours of being outside in the sunshine before the afternoon wind and chill came in. Took the car next door to get smog checked which is convenient but of course the check engine light has been on and so it wasn’t a quick pass. Hopefully tomorrow we can get by without too much added cost. Happy I got a short walk with Juniper to school this morning and a stroll to Walgreens to pick up an Rx. Such a blessing to be able to walk to all these necessities.

FOCUS: Tomorrow I’ll aim to finish our yearly taxes.

INSPIRATION: Feeling tired and slightly uninspired today…my body says to take a slight rest from the usual. Probably don’t get as much protein as I’ve been aiming for recently. Also consumed white rice, bread, on top of the pizza and pasta from the weekend. Must be my carb craving week, harder to track without my Oura ring data tracking body temp at night.

GRATITUDE: Juniper didn’t go to school today due to major sniffles…not sure if it’s a cold or allergies to something from the sleepover. Seems like allergies. Anyhow, grateful she’s so easy going and went on walks with me and was so quiet and understanding when I had to do my Japanese quiz…2x! We actively tried to make it at least a little fun and baked homemade chocolate chip cookies from scratch. So nice the grocery store is so close by when we realized we were out of flour and chocolate chunks. Picked up some parsley for lemon garlic pasta, which she also so willingly helped to make this evening. I’m so proud of her and the initiative she takes on and responsibilities she handles, and I just wish she knows it’s ok to be vulnerable and emotional and to shed tears, just like yesterday when she was crying at bedtime which I am blaming on lack of sleep. Anyhow, today I’m grateful my life has been blessed with such a loving, kind, caring, creative, thoughtful daughter. It truly is one happiness I never knew I could have.

FOCUS: Behind again in Japanese, but improved my test score to at least 19/20. Gosh it’s hard! Tomorrow the backyard is going to need some cleanup as long as it’s not raining. Dad comes back tonight from Iowa and I know he’s been working hard, the least I can do is help gather eucalyptus bark.

INSPIRATION: Been thinking of a better way to collect and share recipes with Juniper that we frequently use or want to cook/bake again. Wondering if a shared Google drive folder is the way to go…

Also, this morning’s lower body kettlebell workout is definitely something to improve upon and work towards/keep track of progress. Hard to master the deadlift to goblet squat, so mainly focusing on that for now. Using 15lb kettlebell. 😓

Warmup:

1 min air squats

1 min good mornings

2x:

1 min kettlebell Romanian deadlifts

1 min kettlebell goblet squats

1 min kettlebell deadlift to goblet squat