Category Archives: Just Me

I'm Blown Away

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Not only was it a blustery day.  It was also a day to try a new hairstylist for the umpteenth time since our move to San Diego.  To say I was blown away with my cut, would be an understatement.

 I had no idea it could take this long to find someone who understood just what I wanted.

When trying to explain this cut to other stylists, they would constantly texturize the cut.  Later I would ask them not to texturize.

Please don’t texturize, I would plead.  Only to be shot down saying texturizing was a must.  I’m not a fan when they do that.  While I’m nice and generous with their tip, that’s the last they see of me.

Then today, just like magic my “new” hairdresser saw the state of my hair and frustration as I explained just what I wanted.  And for the first time in years, I knew I was completely understood.

Not only was I understood, but I quickly relaxed as I knew this was not my average stylist.  And even tho the salon is a little further drive than I would like, I can’t imagine going anywhere else.

Sometimes it takes a while to land on just the right stylist.  But oh is it ever worth it when you find just the one.  It’s been nearly 6 years for me to have had a positive experience like this.  I’m totally blown away.

Blessings – Debbie

Dinner – It's What's for Breakfast

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What’s a girl to do?  She went to bed dreaming about breakfast and woke with a sore throat.  And it feels like a cold is moving in.

No longer are my thoughts leaning towards the breakfast I dreamed of all night long, rather a bowl of nice macaroni and cheese or a baked potato.  It’s what sounds good to me for breakfast.

Even this cup of hot tea seems to soothe better than coffee.

So long for today, I’m going to go see about having a late breakfast and take it easy the rest of the day.

Blessings – Debbie

The Flower Fields of Carlsbad, CA

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As morning coffee was sipped, the thought came to me of getting out and doing something today.  I had a couple of thoughts A – Drive up to the mountains for a peak at the snow or B – Drive to The Flower Fields.

It turned into a short tug-of-war.  The strings of my heart tugged towards the flowers, a place where I could roam.  50 acres of flowers, it sounded wonderful.

The question when I arrived was, which way to turn.

The path along the way was perfection.

And the flowers were strikingly beautiful.

Beautiful flowers, stretching as far as the eye could see.

There were rides – Hello there sir!

And I was happy as a clam to be in the midst of it all.

What a jolly man.

So jolly.  And what a treat to see the pacific ocean from this spot too.

I like how this guy waved when he noticed the camera.

Be still my heart…The color of Carlsbad is amazing.

How many petals can a flower have?

I’d like to think that for every flower, there’s a smile.

The sweet pea maze is so cool.  There was every color imaginable climbing the fence.

Twas fun!

Hey, another tractor – What a great team of men and women working such that visitors could have a great experience.  And what a cool way to see the flowers.  I opted to stay on foot.  I got to stop and enjoy the flowers when I wanted + get my exercise.

Known for their 50 acres of flowers, I’m impressed with all the amazing things they do to make their fields shine.

Today made my 2nd annual trip to the fields.  I’m thinking this will turn into an annual tradition for years to come.

My heart is full and running over with joy.

Blessings – Debbie

Winter and Spring and A Surprise Visitor is in the Kitchen

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Good Afternoon!  I hope all is well in your world.  It’s been one of those, what shall I say, frigid blustery last three days.  But this morning was a new day and So Cal was back to beautiful springtime weather.

While I’m a lover of snow with all of its beauty, it was fun enjoying it from a bit of a distance.  Like today, the mountains in the distance are topped with snow.

We can still see a teeny bit on the tops of these guys.

But here in our world, it’s beautiful springtime.  And my morning hike was nothing short of amazing.

After my hike, I made a visit with the orange tree out back.  I think these guys will be added to smoothies in the very near future.

And then, one of the highlights of my afternoon.  Allow me to say, It’s not something most would get excited about.  But for me, It was over the top amazing and hit the spot.  That is, a piece of rye toast (lightly toasted) with a medium – hard (not too medium, not too hard) boiled egg.

Rye bread, it has to me my favorite bread ever.  And why is it that I never buy it?  If I think back over the last 10 + years, I would have to say it never once entered our home.  We have our  moments with bread.  A loaf could mold before we finish it.  Hubby is not a rye bread fan and I normally could take bread or leave it.  Perhaps I feared overeating bread if I brought the rye in.  Or it’s possible I didn’t want/need the butter on a nice hot slab of rye toast.  For whatever reason, I just never bought it.

But today, it made a grand entrance into the kitchen.  An entrance that is sure to wow me more than once in the days to come.

I have gained control over my old eating habits.  Butter was not an option, nor did I miss it.  I had just one slice and already thinking its what’s for breakfast tomorrow.

It has to be the best food reconnection ever.  And if it’s up to me, it won’t remain visitor status for long.  I plan for it to reside in the kitchen for years to come.

With that, my day is complete and looking forward to my evening with the hubs.

Blessings – Debbie

I've Been Thinking

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I’ve been thinking a lot about some of the ways I’ve been slipping on my health.

While I’m thrilled with the progress, I don’t want all the bad habits that slipped in to take center stage.

A big area was the non-existent water intake.  The slippery slope started this winter when I picked up some Diet Dr Pepper, just for a little treat around the house.  And it ended in full-blown Diet soda consumption All. Day. Long. for the last several months.  Water is a bad word when I get into this habit, shame on me!

So last week, while food shopping, I made a point not to purchase another box of diet soda for myself.  When my soda stash ended was the moment I would quit cold turkey.

That moment occurred yesterday afternoon.  And I celebrated that very last soda with a bowl of 100 calorie butter popcorn.  And just like that, it is out of the house.

It seems I’ve taken a liking to water now that the other stuff is no longer at my dispense.

Note: I have my coffee every single morning and I will have Diet Coke each and every time hubby and I have a date.  Just wanted to clear that up.

Another area I’ve given a lot of thought to is the lack of exercise. It completely fell to the side during the move.  Good excuse, ay?  I know, I tend to get myself worked into a frenzy when I have a lot going on at once.  And things seem to fall off my priority list.  Something I did not intend to let go for so long.

But this is the week it all changed.  Today I got right out there even tho it looked like rain.

I loved the cool 54 degrees with a little breeze.

I was concerned (when we were looking for a place to call home) I wouldn’t be able to replace the paths like our old home had.

But I’m pleasantly pleased that I’m able to achieve all of that and more right here from our doorstep.  Today’s hike took me 3.53 miles with an elevation gain of 1,134′. That = a mountain and makes me happy.

I feel blessed to have this opportunity. Now is the time to turn these new adjustments into daily habits.

Blessings – Debbie

Finding My Routine

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Happiness is, finding my way back to a routine after our move.  There were days that a routine looked for packing more boxes, staring at more and more packed boxes and wondering if we would ever get moved.

These days, we are beginning to look at fewer boxes and the house is beginning to take shape.  But with every move, we still long for day in and day out routine.

Today I was delighted with my brand new hiking path/aka our new neighborhood.

It’s fresh and new…

…with so many wonderful things yet to discover.

And as I sit here putting this post together, I long to be right back out there.

I’m thankful for beautiful places to hike and double thankful I don’t have to get in my car and drive to a gym.  I just don’t stick to gyms very well and I much prefer the great outdoors.

I wish I knew the names of every single flowering plant, bush, shrub and tree in this area.  But I’m learning.

Learning, like this morning.  A gardener noticed my enthusiasm for photography.  He stopped in his tracks and officially introduced me to these amazing African Daisy’s.  We had them at our old place, I just didn’t know what they were called.

 

I met a wonderful neighbor.  She would have had me in for tea but she had to scoot to the Dr.  She said, “Next time, we’ll have tea”.

I just finished an amazing lunch date with my dearest.  And next on the agenda, we could be meeting hubby’s friend (who is in town) for drinks.  Should be a fun afternoon!

Blessings – Debbie

Good Morning Sunshine

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Every now and then, I get the urge to check out the sunrise.

Today just so happened to be one of those days.

So I took a little trip to Coronado Island and spent the early morning hours watching the sun come up.

A view of San Diego from the island.

Good Morning San Diego!  I love you!

Playing – that would be me and what I did best today.

Next stop, The beach! ~ The plaque next to me reads “To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides” with a sweet ocean breeze.  In honor of Gordy and Betty Beaubien Don and Polly Valliere  From: Beaubien Family and Valliere Family. ~ Just beautiful, I love it!

The Beach!

One of my favorite places…

It truly was a fun place to chill…

Next stop ~ Seaport Village – To stroll and visit this area is sheer bliss.

Here’s where I stopped for breakfast.  It was such a beautiful place.

Seaport Village Resident – Love him!

A flag on the streets of Seaport Village.

The shoe fits!  And I’m totally getting into the Christmas spirit.

On that note, I’ll say I’ve had a blessed day.

Blessings – Debbie

Hair Drama

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I consider hair drama to be an ongoing thing of mine.  In years past, I would go from long to short in an instant.  All it would take is a bad hair day, to just go have it all cut off.  Then more drama would follow as I went through stages of allowing it to grow out.  It’s been a yo-yo just like that since my 20’s.   Ask my mom, she used to call me scissor happy during my sudden cut outbursts.

So this time, I had it all planned out.  I was going to work thru my outbursts and enjoy the long hair thru the holidays.  I was to wait thru the New Year before I made any drastic changes to the length.  Of course, over the summer I was tempted on more than one occasion to cut it off.  It was during those times that I would reflect on years past.  So I kept it.  In fact, I’m proud of myself for keeping it around this long.

I work to have long hair – I force myself to keep long hair – I’m a fan of long hair – And I’m a prisoner to long hair (when I get it)

But it’s not what I want when I have it.  I’m thankful I stuck it out this summer – fought the urge to cut – By the time I was ready to cut it, I could no longer remember what the reason was for keeping it so long all this time.

So I had it cut!

I came to grips with it this week.

As I looked down, I had to take one last pic…

It makes me wish I cut it sooner.  But there is a lesson here.  Hopefully the next time I think I want long hair, I’ll remember how much I’m not a fan of it for myself.  Not to confuse the fact that I will always be a fan of long hair..Anyone confused?  Yes?  Me too!  I’m just trying to convince myself otherwise.

Blessings – Debbie

I Believe In Me

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I enjoyed a wonderful lunch date with hubby (yesterday) – As we were talking about health as a whole…I said “The key to success is believing in me”.

Climbing that mountain just over a week ago did something to me. My attitude has drastically changed towards exercise.

I feel empowered with an “I can” attitude. I will climb that mountain again ~ I believe in me.

I don’t want to forget this moment, it’s pretty amazing.

Blessings – Debbie

Crisp Fogy Morning Walk

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Oh my oh me or is it – o me-o, my-o?  All I know is this one thing, my legs are still in pain from our hike this past Saturday.  Namely my claves are pretty much tight as ever.  As my feet hit the floor bright and early I could hardly put one foot in front of the other.  After a bit I was waddling and humored with my predicament.  It takes a while to go from neutral into first.  After awhile, my legs start to warm up and it’s not so bad.  Then is when I asked hubby if he thought it would do me good to get out and exercise.  He was all in favor, so long as I didn’t push too much.

So I promptly hit the pavement.

With my walking stick.  I left the other one at home.  It kinda felt good to have this in hand in the event I encounter a coyote, stray dog, snake or what-have-you.  Honestly, it was most helpful climbing nearly a 200′ hill, made me wish I had brought the other one today.

After climbing a few hills and 50 min later, I found myself in this spot for the next 15 or so min.

It’s nice not to be lying around.  But, I do hope these aches and pains wear off soon.

Hubby grilled extra chicken the other night such that I can have leftovers for lunch.  Served with fresh hunks of cucumber and cottage cheese, topped with lots of pepper.

It’s a great day.

Blessings – Debbie

Weekend and Monday Joy

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Long weekends…When hubby has a Friday off, it’s a little extra special.  And I can still hear him ask “what would you like to do this weekend”.  I believe he asked either Thursday evening or Friday morning.  I replied, “I would like to climb that mountain”.

On Saturday, this is the mountain we climbed.  Of the pictures I posted yesterday, most of them were taken from the top looking out in all directions.  Here’s one taken today from a distance, to fit the majority of the mountain in the picture.  My legs are still talking to me today, but I hope we climb it again one of these days.

I did get about a mile worth of exercise in this morning.  This is the path of choice today.

It was a beautiful morning and to this day, we’re still breathing in So Cal.

On a whole different subject – I talked about giving up coffee a couple/few posts ago, I won’t get into it again.  What I will say is that I have a yearning to sip on something warm…

While grocery shopping, I lingered on this isle.

The more I lingered, the more I knew the feel of my old mug (even if it is my coffee mug) would be most welcome first thing in the morning.  I forget exactly what tea it was I purchased (some sort of Green Tea) but it was quite soothing.

Does it replace coffee? I won’t go that far but it was nice.  I may even have another cup this evening.

Sometimes, it’s a matter of making the most of things.  In the end, we may come to realize it’s not so bad after all.

Blessings – Debbie

I Want To Be A Better Me

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Do you ever feel you deserve a greater punishment for what you did?  Well last evening I was none too happy with my behavior in the pantry that afternoon.  I have no idea what came over me but I had not 1, 2 or even 3 tablespoons of peanut butter but a 4th!  Of all things, there nearly went 4oo calories down the hatch without even giving much thought.  And that ate up the remains of my calories for the day.

I decided then and there that I was done eating for the day.  I felt just horrible and exclaimed “No dinner for you”!  Well it was as if my anxiety from trying to get daily duties done and planning for a trip went into full swing.  And then another wave hit and I sat down to a handful of crackers and jelly.  That took me over the top of my daily food allowance.  Shamefully, I did indeed exceeded the feed limit for the day.

As hubby walked through the door last evening, he exclaimed in his chipper voice “how’s my clicker”.  I like the way he brightened my evening.  Nearly the first thing I told him when he walked in the door (after greeting him with a hug and kiss) was just how bad I had been.  But he loved me right back and said “rack ’em up, I need to help calm you”.  It was as tho he could read my unusual bout of anxiety.

So we shot some pool…

…played backgammon and visited into the evening.

He worked his magic on me and I felt sweet peace once again.

Hubby encouraged me to pamper myself today, so I did.  Thank you My Love!

I don’t feel I deserved such a reward (he would argue that).  But darlin’ if you’re reading this, “that’s what makes me want to be a better me today and always”.

Blessings – Debbie

In The Fitting Room

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Hubby encouraged me to get some new clothes, I needed them as I’m down a size, yay!  He nearly had to boot me out the door to go shopping for myself.  I went, I conquered and promptly came home with 4 new dresses.

This may turn into a post each time I go down a size.  I think it will be fun to see and document the progress.

This Liz dress was on sale for 24.00.  Now it hangs in my closet.

Cheers to being down a dress size!

Blessings – Debbie

August

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Today is the day to catch up on the blog.  It appears I’ve taken a very long unexpected break from blogging.

I’m thrilled to announce that hubby and I have been seeking a new healthy lifestyle since mid June.  We’re experiencing good results!

In the above pic, you’ll notice I’m using a “Weight Watchers” jug for my water.  To be clear, I’m not doing the Weight Watchers program.  I’m just eating healthy foods and counting my calories.  Back to the jug, I love it as it holds a whopping 32 oz of fluid.  There are many days I’ll easily drink over a gal of water.

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Have you ever taken pix of every single bite you had to eat in a day?  It was August 3rd that I got the notion to photograph my eats.

Breakfast:  Scrambled eggs with a generous portion of sautéed peppers and onion.  Topped with 80 calories worth of cheese and loads of black pepper.

Lunch:  After such a hearty breakfast, fruit was all I wanted.

Mid Afternoon Snack:  1 serving of craisins + 30 g of walnuts.

Dinner:  Tuna + Corn + a nice hunk of onion = goodness.  If you’re thinking yuck, you may or may not be interested to know that sardines is also one of my favorite evening meals.  Did you know the little sardine is a giant when it comes to foods?  It’s been dubbed an “Important Superfood”, King of Omega-3’s, Brain boosting, good for joints, High-Quality Protein, without the saturated fats, bone-boosting calcium and known as one of the healthiest fish around.

And that’s a wrap of my food intake for that particular day.  I can’t imagine being a food blogger and taking pix of everything, but I did enjoy the experiment.

August 8 – The day I dug deep into the closet to find an article of clothing to inspire me.

Oats and walnuts are a huge hit.  This is going to keep me on track to get back in that dress.

August 10 – Oh the places I went that morning.  Hubby flew out-of-town bright and early.  I didn’t plan on anything other than to get myself home as we were up at 4am.  But home was not what I wanted to do once I had my cup of coffee.  So I ventured and enjoyed some me time at the harbor and beach for just over 4 hours.  I already have a notion to return again soon…

Lunch on the day hubby left – Lettuce, peppers, onions, cherry tomatoes, ground (Jennie O) turkey burger seasoned with taco seasoning, salsa for my dressing with a sprinkle of (80 calorie) cheese over the top.

August 11 – To say I enjoyed my “Spa Day” would be an understatement.  I’ve been on the hunt for a good hairstylist since we moved to San Diego (nearly two years ago).  Let’s just say “I’ll be back”!  I loved the whole experience.  Next time I plan to stay a while longer to get a chance to enjoy the resort.  I truly was not expecting such a treat…

August 12 – I was such a happy wifey ~ Hubby was on his way home ~ I was down a dress size ~ I was in a dress I haven’t worn since I don’t know when ~ It was such a great day!

August 15 – I was in the mood for a reward while doing my food shopping early that morning.  So I picked up this dandy Prevention mag and found a nice place on the patio to indulge.  I also had a not so pleasant thing happen.  I had my regular cleaning at the dentist and discovered I had a cavity.  The good news “it was small and on the surface” + more good news “no numbing or pain to have it filled”.  The bad news, I was sad, really sad as this makes the second filling in my life.  I guess I just wanted to keep my teeth healthy for life.  Oh well, the world didn’t come to an end.

August 16 – I started walking again.  Do you ever quit something because you have a good excuse and then allow excuses to fill in when it’s time to pick it back up?  Well that happened to me regarding my walking.  I didn’t post this experience on the blog but I did indeed have another fall.  No sooner did my hands heal from my fall (about 6 or so weeks ago) and here I up and fell again!  I don’t even want to talk about it but truth be told, that’s why I stopped walking but not a great excuse as to why I didn’t get right back at it.

August 17 – Cheers!  This brings us to today!  I’m pleased to announce I got my walk in before I so much as had a sip of coffee.  I’ll say that’s a pretty big deal but so worth it getting out there first thing.

With that, we should be pretty much all caught up with August and this makes me very happy!

Blessings – Debbie

Shopping For Luau Duds and Exercise

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This is me yesterday (late morning).  I’m at Pacific beach to find some wears for hubby and me for an upcoming Luau party.  This is the little shop where I found our duds.

After about 45 min of walking and shopping, I nailed our outfits.  This is taken on the passenger side of my car (SUV) and here is where I enjoyed my (packed) lunch and bottle of water.

After lunch I hit this trail.

I find this to be one of my favorite spots to exercise.  It was also a time to enjoy meditating and taking in the glorious day.

I believe I could walk this (seemingly endless) 20 something mile walk every day.

With a cool 76 degrees + the sea breeze made for the most amazing weather.

I could never tire of this most beautiful place we like to call home.  I know one day I will miss this so I plan to take it in for as long as we are here.

Blessings – Debbie