(image via larskflem)

If you’ve been wondering where I’ve disappeared to this past month, here’s the answer: I’ve been dealing with a pretty serious issue, one that’s left me basically incapacitated. No, I’m not talking about swine flu. I’m talking about the dreaded Writer’s Block.

Have you ever felt like you’ve lost your creative mojo? It’s like I’ve run out of steam. For a while I was maintaining three blogs. Besides writing for EAD Living, I had my personal blog and my business blog. I thought I could keep my life separated into neat, little compartments, but that’s turned out to be pretty hard to do. And coming up with topics to discuss on a daily basis for three outlets has suddenly become very overwhelming. Despite living an active life, I find myself blanking out on what to write about when staring at the computer screen. Even writing this post has been challenging!

So I ask you, fellow EAD Living bloggers and readers, how do you unlock your creativity? For those of you who write for several outlets, how do you come up with a multitude of ideas every day?

My favourite six months of the year start in June and end up round about my birthday at the start of January. I love early summer and the excitement of the end of term, even though I don’t work in terms any more. I love summer drinks parties & balls & weddings. I love how it is usually hot in June and this year was no exception: a heat wave started on the day of our wedding and lasted for three whole weeks. I love the long drawn out evenings when swallows and bats start swooping around in the bluing sky. I love weekends sat in pub gardens, or the park, or lately, our own garden. Of the air ringing with conversation, with laughter. The taste of salt in the air, and on your face, of sand in the eyebrows and sun warmed skin after a day spent surfing, sailing or merely sunbathing. Of shorts, of flat leather sandals, of cold beer and cold Riesling and pimms and champagne and ginger beer.

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Just about 11 months ago now, I made the decision to come out of the fat kid closet* and own up to having lost a massive amount of weight. It was a major move for me. I found incredible strength and support in sharing my journey with an incredibly loving online community and, in turn, great motivation to keep moving forward toward my weight and fitness goals as I approached our July wedding. To this day, I think opening up and sharing my “fat kid” photos was one of the best decisions I could have made. It was liberating and to my great surprise, inspiring for others, something I never would have imagined.

{Here is a fat kid photo. Approximately  270 lbs. Yikes!}

So, what this have to do with present day? It’s quite simple really. My weight loss journey is not yet complete, but you wouldn’t know it from the way I’ve been eating and totally slacking off on work outs since the wedding. How easy it is to start settling into newlywed life, ease off the pressure a bit to look fabulous in an overpriced dress and wham! The next thing you know your jeans are just ever so slightly uncomfortable. Not good, friends, not good. So, with just a touch of bitterness, I’m doing what I’ve done so many times in the last three years. I’m gearing up, buckling down and getting ready to put up a good fight. I’m still convinced I can reach all new heights of being physically fit and improve my approval of what I see in the mirror along the way.

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In the 14 months that I’ve been married, I’ve gained approximately ten pounds–and no, I am not pregnant. I attribute the weight to eating poorly for the five months that my husband was deployed. He is the primary cook in our household, and when he was away I survived (quite happily) on cereal, peanut butter and honey on toast and pints of Ben & Jerry’s. I blame the gain on my laziness in the kitchen combined with my tendency towards emotional eating when I’m lonely.

Unfortunately, simply knowing how I went up one pants size doesn’t cause the weight to fall right off. In the last couple of months since J has been home, I’ve been eating more well-rounded meals and have started working out with a trainer once a week like I did prior to my wedding. Still, the scale isn’t budging. I’ve realized that I’m going to need to kick my own butt a bit harder if I really want to get back to my “I do” weight.

Cue Jillian Michaels.

(image source)

While I’m not the biggest Biggest Loser fan, when I do watch the show I’m typically “Team Bob.” I just love his zen attitude. But tough times call for a tough trainer–and that’s where Jillian comes in. I ordered her workout DVD, “Jillian Michaels for Beginners: Frontside,” through Netflix, and the first time I tried it (OK, the only time I’ve tried it, so far), I was surprised by how challenging it actually was. The exercises are basic enough that anyone can do them; there are six circuits that each include two or three weight lifting moves plus cardio. The workout lasts approximately 40 minutes, but it goes by quickly (thank goodness!).

My plan is to use the Frontside video a couple of times a week in addition to doing cardio, such as power walking, at the gym. Maybe I’ll get adventurous and rent the Backside DVD, too.

What are your favorite at-home workout DVDs? Have you had weight loss success using them?

I am not an elite runner. I do not know it all. And I’m pretty much a newbie to this sport running my first real race in 2005 with the Madison half marathon. Since then I’ve run in my first full marathon, completed another half marathon, and am now currently training for my second full marathon [eek!]. I was not a track or cross country runner in high school—quite the opposite, actually. I was a basketball and volleyball jock who would rather line up for sprints and stairs and punch herself in the face before running a mile. Then came college when I was no longer exercising for 3+ hours each day with high school sports and I was deathly afraid of the freshman fifteen. So I started running about 2 or 3 miles at a time just to burn some calories, but I ended up addicted to running.

Running is such a mind game. It’s methodical, simple, and accessible. The feeling of accomplishment you feel after a great run should be bottled up and sold for ridiculous amounts of money. Whether you are training to run/walk a mile, doing the Couch to 5k program, running in your first half marathon, or even a full 26.2 you’ve probably been overwhelmed by the running world out there. I mean, there are so many things to learn, so many questions to ask, and so many hard-core runners out there that scare the crap out of us newbies [at least, in my opinion]. So when Hanna asked if I would write a post about running—must have gear, clothes, equipment, etc—I decided to take her up on it in hopes that it will help somebody out there. I apologize for the length of this post already, but I just adore talking about this stuff [you can't tell, can you?]

PART ONE = ATTIRE

A. Shoes

Absolutely the most important piece of equipment for a runner is her shoes. Now ladies, this is not a place to skimp on quality just to save some money and since this is coming from a self-professed tightwad, you should know that it’s a big deal to me. I hunt for sales as much as the next person and usually spending $100-$150 on a single item would make me blackout. But your shoes not only protect your feet but they are the basis for proper body alignment and will definitely make or break you as a runner. As soon as someone tells me “My _____ hurts when I run” I immediately ask about their shoes: are they old, worn down, or ill-fitting? If so, it’s time to get professionally fitted for the perfect pair of kicks. I don’t go by the 500 mile rule, or the 6 month rule, but I just listen to my legs and they will tell me when it’s time to make the next purchase.

I am a big fan of shoe stores that watch you run on a treadmill to observe your foot mechanics in their shoes. They should measure each foot, watch you walk in different styles of shoes, and also watch you run in them before letting you walk out the door with a new pair. They will see if you over pronate, stay fairly neutral, or possibly over supinate and then prescribe you the correct shoe accordingly. We like Fleet Feet for this purpose but I know there are other stores out there that will do the same for you.

Right now I’m wearing the Saucony ProGrid Guide shoes:

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Is anyone else feeling the strain of the time change?  If you are, here are a few energy boosters for this morning and afternoon.

A quick yoga routine….

An apple…

{Image Source}

Pandora…

A lot of water…

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Sunshine….

{Image via Decorno}

Today is MLK Jr. Day.  This is one of my favorite holidays because I live and work less than 2 miles from where a lot of the civil rights movement happened.  When I look at the pictures of people being hosed down and dogs attacking, I know the exact spot in the park where it happened.  I drive by the 16th Street Baptist Church several times each month.  I can’t help but ponder Dr. King’s influence, because the results of his life and death are seen everywhere in Birmingham.

One of my favorite documents is Letter from a Birmingham Jail.  It was written a short distance from my office. It is one of the most moving directives written during the civil rights movement.

We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God given rights. The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jetlike speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter. Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, “Wait.” But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate filled policemen curse, kick and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five year old son who is asking: “Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?”; when you take a cross county drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you…then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.  - excerpted from Letter from a Birmingham Jail

The holiday seems especially poignant this year.  I know I’m one of many who wishes Dr. King had lived to see this moment.  Tomorrow we inagurate our first President who is part of a minority group.  We have a long way to go, but this holiday and this inaguration is confirmation that we’re on the right track. We owe a lot to Dr. King and his friends for leading us here.

Growing up, we drove every year to see my grandparents in Tampa for Christmas.  I remember counting trucks on the long drive during the night, sleeping on a pull out sofa with my siblings, and listening to my brothers crack jokes as everyone drifted off to sleep.

As we have all married and started our own families, our traditions have adapted and changed to include the many children in our family.  We can’t always meet in the same city at Christmas time; jobs and in-laws sometimes prevent that.

Traditions we have preserved are Christmas Eve with my immediate family and Christmas day dinner at my grandmother’s house with our big extended family.  My favorite Christmas tradition is gathering our family together on Christmas morning and reading the Christmas story before exchanging any gifts. Whether I can be there or not, I know these traditions continue. I can participate by thinking of them, knowing that they are missing me. This year, only one brother and his family will not be with us on Christmas day. We’ll be thinking of them constantly as we celebrate all of our family traditions.

This season has always produced feelings of love and reflection. One of my favorite quotes from A Christmas Carol describes this perfectly.  It takes place at the beginning of the book, when Scrooge’s nephew comes to see him and defends his love of Christmas.

I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round–apart from the veneration due its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be can be apart from that–as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.  A Christmas Carol, pages 5-6.

As I begin new traditions with my husband, and let go of traditions impossible to continue, I hope for a season filled with charity, forgiveness and love!

I’ve just started reading No Greater Love by Mother Teresa.  The book, as a whole, is a very moving discussion on poverty and what it means to truly love your neighbor.  In it, she writes:

We know what poverty means, first of all, to be hungry for bread, to need clothing, and to not have a home.  But there is a far greater kind of poverty.  It means being unwanted, unloved and neglected.  It means having no one to call your own…Abandonment is an awful poverty.  There are lonely people around you…Yet they are all someone’s children.  Someone loved them at one time.  They loved others during their lifetime…The poor do not need our compassion or our pity; they need our help.  What they give to us is more than what we give to them.

During this holiday season, I encourage you to express your thanks to the family and friends who surround you and to find someone with a need you can fulfill.

I’ve always been a huge fan of the holiday season.  From Thanksgiving to Christmas, we have an entire month to celebrate and examine our relationships with our family and friends.  We see the best in people.  The world turns into a happier place. Until you make your gift list, and then you get a little frazzled at what it costs to show people you love them.  You get stuck in holiday shopping traffic on the way home from work.  Each year, all of us think “There has to be another way!” Well, there is! Here are a few steps to making the holiday season more peaceful:

Examine yourself

Spend the holiday season reflecting on the past year.  You can’t move forward without looking back (catchy, isn’t that?).  What were your favorite moments? What were your least favorite moments? What would you like to change?  How will you change it?

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