1-31-13 Full Moon Silhouettes

Full Moon Silhouettes from Mark Gee on Vimeo.

Someday.

1/29/13 snow walking

Yesterday morning, the skies were blue and the hills dry.

But over the mountains loomed a whole lot of clouds.

By yesterday evening, we set out with just a few flakes in the air

But it got heavier and heavier, very quickly

And I learned a sweatshirt gets soaked a lot faster than you expect.

This morning, with several inches on the ground, but no more falling

And one of us was a lot more bundled up this time. Too much, as it turns out. Four layers was overkill. I did have to keep stopping and getting the ice out of between the pads of Evan's paws.  And with my gloves clipped on the sleeve of my coat, as I'd pull out the little ice pellets, some of them would fall into the fingers. After the last time, it wasn't worth pulling the glove back on, since it was a whole colder inside the glove than out. He's getting snow boots, soon.

Looking up our hill from the dog park

1-28-13 My Half Birthday Moon

 

1-28-13 Repeat after me: Ignore the Scale

This past week, I logged an average of 5 miles a day walking in addition to my around the house movement and ramped down the calorie count to 1200 or less each day. I can feel my muscles tighter and stronger in just one week. Even in the mirror, I can see the slightly tighter outline of my thighs and butt.

And the weekly weigh in?

I've gained four pounds.

Yeah, I can say the scale doesn't tell the whole story, but it doesn't change that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when you work all week and see that number go up.

The reality is, I may well have lost 3 pounds of fat and gained 7 pounds of muscle.

And for you visual learners out there, here's a reminder of how much less space 5 pounds of muscle consumes compared to 5 pounds of fat:

I took some comfort here: Fat Girl, PhD: What 60 Lbs Looks Like in Mismatched Undies
She points out that between the second and third photos from the right, there is no weight loss. Since my current silhouette is pretty similar to her second to last photo, this is encouraging.


And so instead of diving head first into a stack of pancakes and sitting on my still too large butt pouting, Evan and I set out on another walk. Endorphins plus Colorado morning sunshine and air actually taste better.

1-27-13

1/26/13 Mizuno love

I retired the Saucony's I'd worn out over the past three years and went shoe shopping today.

I came away with the Mizuno Wave Creation 13s in Sea Foam Green. After a three mile walk, which was more like a smooth, almost bouncy ride, this afternoon, they are my new favorite shoes. 

Some pictures:

 Bruiser cuddles after a long walk

And a treat to end the day. Every time I open one of these I think of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Then at last, when he could stand it no longer, he would peel back a tiny bit of the paper wrapping at one corner to expose a tiny bit of chocolate, and then he would take a tiny nibble -- just enough to allow the lovely sweet taste to spread out slowly over his tongue. The next day, he would take another tiny nibble, and so on, and so on. And in this way, Charlie would make his ten-cent bard of birthday chocolate last him for more than a month.

Sorry Charlie, you're a better man than I. 

I had two scrumdiddlyumptious squares in one sitting.

AND, I am inching towards that elusive 1000 active score!

Good day.

1-25-13 IBrain

I'm beginning to suspect my iPhone has some wiring into my brain. On our walk this morning, I hit shuffle and as we set out, "Walking in Memphis" started up. Okay, that's cool. There's 100 songs in this playlist, and this is the only one with "walking" in the title.

Then, as Evan and I are hitting the hill -- the one we climb at the top of our walk before turning around and finally going downhill -- "Harder to Breathe" starts up.

This evening, for our second walk, we start out, I pause over the shuffle button, and think, what're the odds? I hit it and get... "Many the Miles."

Apple IBrain: it's real.

1-25-13 January's Full Moon

1-23-13 Dawn

You unlock this door with the key of imagination. 

Beyond it is another dimension— a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into the Twilight Zone.

This morning was sleep-in day. After logging 4.6 miles Monday and 5.7 on Tuesday, there's only one walk on the schedule today and it'll be this evening with Evan. So these colors were greeting me through the blinds this morning when I opened my eyes instead of out on the trails. The shadow of the door I caught in the picture reminded me of one my favorite opening narrations as well as the closing of the episode "A Stop at Willoughby": Willoughby? Whatever it is, it comes with sunlight and serenity, and is a part of the Twilight Zone.

1/21/13 Walk #2

But first, how cute are my dogs? 

(for more cuteness, click on the profile picture. I got the linkee to work!)

I finished work early enough to get out for a walk with Evan at dusk. Between the walk this morning and the one tonight, I got in just under 5 miles, and finally, for the first time, hit the daily goal of 10,000 steps.

Evan and I stopped to take a picture on the way back. and then...

Mr. Coyote saunters across the trail about 10 feet ahead of us. I waited until he was a good ways away before trying to snap a photo. He was a big guy, probably about equal to Evan's size.

As we're getting to the front door, my phone alerts me to an email, from my Fitbit, congratulating me on my 10,000 steps for the day. But man, I think I have to run a marathon to hit their active score of 100!

1/21/13 weigh in #3

Weigh-in morning = 11 lbs. down since Christmas!

I tried to add a link to my Instagram account through my blog picture, top left, since it is quickly becoming apparent that I have been assimilated. ONE OF US... but the link will not work. I'm not sure why the Extragram link is a problem -- it's incorporated into Google+ and Blogger is owned by Google, so poop.

http://extragr.am/torianne70

1/20/13 pictures from today

1-19-13 Snowshoeing Day

Some pictures from Snowshoeing this morning at Echo Lake.

The lake, completely frozen over.

This tree normally floats along the edge of the lake, but currently it's very comfy for sitting.

Evan the Snow Dog

No boating!

We had to cut the walk short because Evan needs snowshoes, too. He kept getting ice freezing between the pads of his paws and I'd clean them out only to have them back a few minutes later.

But it was a good trial run on a gorgeous morning.