Smoothie Day – Healing Journey Day 31

Journal:
I slept really good last night. However, morning still came too soon. I wasn’t really looking forward to today anyway because it meant I was flying back home in the evening. Oh well.

Because I had a blender in my hotel room, I was able to make datorade for breakfast (blended dates with water). Seriously, I love datorade but this was just not as good. I really think these deglet dates are not the sweet quality that I usually get in Canada. I’m looking forward to getting back to those dates.

Immediately after breakfast, we got ready and checked out of our hotel. We were on the hunt for a new winter jacket. However, most stores had hardly anything out as the weather was still t-shirt weather in Colorado, unlike the snow that had already fallen in Canada. So, I ended up jacket-less. However, my husband did buy me an electric orange juicer that I’m so excited about and some books Barnes & Noble. Educators get a discount and even though I’m a Canadian teacher, they still allowed me to sign up for their education program. So if you’re in education and you haven’t signed up for their education program, do it!

Now, lunch time came and I made the decision to eat one last time with my husband before I left. He even continuously offered to take me to the smoothie place, but I told him it will be awhile before I see him again, so I just wanted to sit down with him and eat one last time. So we went to the healthy, stir-fry place again: Genghis Grill.

You know, the difference of how I feel eating raw foods versus cooked foods is amazing. After eating the cooked foods, I felt like sleeping, with a heavy stomach again, and even a bit of that pre-headache feeling. It bizarres me. This is something I would expect from eating junk foods, but not cooked foods. My body is definitely ready to go back to all raw foods, particularly fruit for awhile.

For the last little bit of my time before my flight, my husband and I just sat and talked. I was flying from a smaller airport so it was easy to monitor the security lines and how long it would take.

Part of the reason I agreed to eat stir-fry was that I was only supposed to have 20 minutes between landing and flying again in Denver. It’s not a massive airport, but it is quite large and is often busy. So that meant that there would most likely not be any time at all to go to that smoothie place I had seen coming through last time. However, my flight arrived almost 20 minutes early and thankfully, that had given me enough time to go to the smoothie place.

The smoothie place was called Heidi’s Brooklyn Deli (I know… strange sounding place to find all-fruit smoothies). They had four smoothie options, but I chose the Summer Splash smoothie. In it, there was apple juice, strawberries, bananas and peaches. Oh my goodness. It was so good! I highly recommend it!

And that concluded my food for the day. I left a very hot, nice, t-shirt weather state and landed in a snow-covered, freezing province. By the time I landed, went through immigration and customs, retrieved my bag, waited for my ride and drove home, it was 11:00. I didn’t have my planning done for the next day (our flight had a tailwind again and we arrived 30 minutes early… not even long enough in the air to finish a movie! But, it was late and I needed sleep because as always, work comes early. So to bed I went, leaving tomorrow as an unpacking, cleaning, getting situated day.

Review of Symptoms:
-Tongue lightly coated.
-Digestion not as great (too much cooked food).
-Cooked food left me feeling heavy and tired with a touch of pre-headache.

Weight at the end of the day = 176.6 lbs (down 1.4 lbs from two days ago)

Total Calories = approx. 1784 (84% carbs, 8% fat, 8% protein… awesome macro ratio!)

Banana Island – Healing Journey Day 21

Journal:
Today, I finally did it. I did a full day of consuming only bananas. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be, but it wasn’t overly hard either. My biggest complaint is simply that everything seems so sweet to me now so the ripe bananas are almost too sweet, but the majority of my bananas tasted not as ripe. There was no perfect middle today.

I didn’t do much in the morning. In the afternoon, I managed to get up, gather a few things that I had left at work, and went to the gym. Honestly, if it wasn’t for the earlier Sabbath hour, I had enough energy to do a full hour of cardio on the elliptical instead of the normal half hour I did. I hadn’t even eaten that much today so I’m not completely sure where the energy was coming from. But regardless, it felt good to feel so good.

What didn’t feel good today was my neck. All the stress is starting to show in physical symptoms. I had an ache in my hip (never had this before without just cause) and my neck was in pain. Ugh… live a stress-free life as much as possible! The suffering is not worth it.

Other than that, the rest of the evening was very “chill” as well. No further developments have happened at my mother-in-law’s except for her own upgrading in security equipment. But just to be sure, when nobody was home, my dogs were also at taken out and put at the grandparents. No risks taken when not necessary.

Total bananas eaten for the day = 8.

Review of Symptoms:
-Energy is good.
-Caught up on some sleep = awesome!
-Lazy Day = nice break amongst the stress.
-Not craving bananas… would have been nicer to add a little coconut sugar to not very sweet bananas but I wanted to be completely reliant on solely bananas.
-Tastebuds are definitely much more sensitive.
-Elimination hugely improved!

Weight at the end of the day = 174.6 lbs (still the same)

Total Calories = approx. 923 (94% carbs, 3% fat, 3% protein)

The Comfort of a Gray, Rainy Day

Yesterday morning, I jumped in my car like usual. I drove to the end of the driveway like usual, and turned down our street like usual. But something was slightly unusual about today, and that was the atmosphere around me.

I normally have the radio tuned into our local Christian station, but my husband had taken my car to the gym the night before without me. So instead, I turned on the ignition to the beginning of the song, “See You Again” by Wiz Khalifa. I normally don’t like his music, but with the impact this song had, especially at the end of the latest Fast and Furious. I really, really like this song. Mix that song, with gray skies, and light rain. Perfection. A certain mood attained. Just right for this moment.

When I was younger, my mother always drove when she was upset. In fact, we probably spent more time on the road than we ever did at home. Whether it was driving at the end of the school week to visit my grandparents, and then waiting until the morning of school to get up extra early and drive back in time to meet our bus, we were always on the road. It was a way of life.

My favourite was always being in the passenger seat while my mother was driving, when the skies were dark and there was a light rain with the radio on. To me, that speaks comfort. To me, that speaks perfection. To me, that speaks home. I may be a case of a kid who never really knew what home was. I may be a case of a person who has a distorted way of looking at things. But as an adult, I feel that in my confusion and unstable life, I have found the very things that can be stable, that can be comforting, no matter what season of life one may be in.

So call me crazy, or whatever you please. But I have security in the fact I have experienced so much in life. I’ve been through troubling places, I’ve lived and experienced so many different cultures and schools. I have been dragged through the fire multiple times, and yet I can tell you exactly how not to fall apart when others may possibly see no way out.

I’m not a person who has despised my childhood, but rather a person who is thankful for learning what is most important to survive whatever may come in an adult life. You can plan your life, you can plan your job, your spouse, your schooling, etc… But plans rarely work out the way they are supposed to. The one thing you can prepare is your reactions, your attitude, and your stability. If you have that, with God by your side, it won’t matter whether money is an obstacle or struggle. Because you’ve already learned how to deal with change before.

It pays to be happy with the little things in life, because it’s the little things that will keep you going. So learn now what makes you happy, learn now how to react to change. Find comfort in the things that are stable to you, even if it’s driving in a car on a gray, rainy day.

The Most Embarrassing Fall…

So as I was looking through my posts, I realized that I have withheld an incredibly embarrassing yet totally funny story from you guys. I’m sorry! So here’s what happened last weekend.

My husband and I were shopping at Wal-Mart. At the point this “event” happened, we were looking for windshield wipers. My husband said something jokingly but ran ahead of me. So I was going to “gently” nudge him with my foot (call it a kick if you’d like…) only to notice that the floor was very slippery (wax?) and my other foot decided to go upwards as well.

Now if you can picture those movie moments, the really dramatic ones where their body flies up in the air, things from the shelves come crashing down with them to the bitter end of landing on the floor, and that’s what happened to me. No joke. I reached for a shelf to break my fall but needless to say, it didn’t work. I only took containers of car cleaning wipes down with me.

Yup, that was me.

Now, the best part of the whole thing is I didn’t really seem to hurt anything but my wrist which unfortunately still aches. But the second best part is that nobody saw, aside from the men and/or women who were probably laughing behind the security cameras. My husband didn’t even see the action, but did manage to see my display on the floor while helping me get back up.

Seriously. I think some of these things really only happen because I am me. What do you think? Have you ever had any crazy embarrassing moments? I’d love to hear all about them!

This Will Make You Think!

I have a habit (whether good or bad) of checking my Newsfeed on my Facebook quite frequently. I mostly skim through things, but every once in awhile, something grabs my attention. Today it was a quote:

Faith means believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse.

Wow. What a new definition of faith.

I stopped and started thinking about all the things I’m going through right now, the things that I may question “WHY” to, the things that don’t make sense to me. I truly believe that humanity is widely scared of the future because the future to us is the unknown. A lot of us get settled in the comfortable and are scared of changing for fear of the unknown. Or I’ve met people who are scared of being settled for also their fear of the unknown. We don’t take risks because we fear would could happen. The unknown outright scares us.

To add to that, the events we add the two questions to: “IF….” and “Why…?”. How many times have I asked myself the “if” question, let alone the “why” question. It is not unusual for a really big decision to come my way, and it actually take a month for my nerves to calm when I can see the benefits of a change. One example of this was moving. We have had problems at our current apartment, and quite frankly have outgrown it. Yet I was more comfortable staying at a place for almost 2 years that wasn’t right because I knew how to handle it. It was a comfortable place for me. And yet an opportunity came for a better place. A place that was bigger, that hopefully has no or at least less problems when we do go view it before moving in, and I freaked out. The thought of finding time to pack, finding time to clean my apartment, the finances involved with moving, the budget I have in my head if we move, whether I’ll actually like the neighbourhood, a million “IF” questions.

Or consider the “why” question. During this ONE month, I am tackling designing and researching and gathering and the process of going live with a new website for my school. As the new communications rep for the school, that also included creating, updating, and maintaining a school Facebook, a school Twitter, as well as my own classes Edmodo. Not only that, but I am still heavily studying and doing assignments for my two college courses while also full-time teaching. Not only that, my mother is coming to visit this week, which of course would be the weekend before my provincial evaluation which can either secure my career or end it. Not only that, the amount of prep work that goes into a provincial evaluation is insane. Not only that, I do try to have a home life with my husband and our dogs. Not only that, we haven’t had a functioning washing machine in our apartment for nearly 8 weeks of 2014 (currently it’s not working). Not only that, I have to try and find the time to pack up my apartment and clean if we can move before the end of the month. Not only that, but I refuse to give up my 6 day a week visits to the gym because sometimes I feel that’s the only thing keeping me sane. Not only that, but I try to upkeep with chores, dishes, laundry, cleaning, etc… as I believe a wife should. Not only that, but I’ve seemed to become a sort of school counsellors for many students that have questions about God and life. Not only that… and the list could go on. And sometimes, when the load catches up to me, I sit back and ask the dreaded question, “Why? Why do I have to be so busy? Why am I the one so many people depend on? Why can’t I ever have a nice vacation like other people do? Why?”

I know my questions may seem trivial. I mean, people everyday question why family members have to get sick. Why someone close had to die. Why you’ve just lost your job, your house, your health, your mobility. And yet these are all good questions, questions that I believe we may never get the answer to until the day comes when we meet God face-to-face.

But God promises, whether in this life on Earth, or when God returns, we will know the answers, and it will ALL make sense. I don’t see God as just a man sitting on His throne watching the world be destroyed. I do believe that God allows things to happen for reasons we may not know. But I do know that God knows the future, and God knows us. There is a reason for your question, there is a security in knowing that God already has the answers for your “IF” questions, your “WHY” questions. We just need to have faith that someday, in hindsight, it will all make sense to us.

Put your life in God’s hands, and know that those hands are stronger than anything Satan or this world can throw at you. God loves you and someday, you’ll understand.

I Left My Heart in Colorado

Good morning everyone! I am SUPER tired this morning.

I left Colorado yesterday. One of the saddest things I’ve had to do. I know my summer is not over as I’m off to Alberta for a few days for my friend’s wedding, then off to New Brunswick to visit my family for a few weeks before returning back to Alberta to teach another year. But leaving my husband was something I’d prefer never to do again.

He dropped me off at the Grand Junction airport after having a fantastic last two days.

On Monday, we drove to Grand Junction, got my hair cut (bangs), got a fantastic, almost 2 hour pedicure, hot stone massage, paraffin wax and shellac (worth every penny!) Then ate at Fiesta Guadalajara (amazing Mexican food!), walked around Mesa Mall, and then crashed at our hotel (Grand Vista Hotel). We then decided to go to a movie, so we went and saw the new Wolverine movie. My husband absolutely loves Wolverine, so we had a went and had a good time.

Tuesday, we got up, showered, packed up, and headed to IHop for breakfast. I don’t know if you have ever been to IHOP, but that was my first time. I’m so happy to say, I’ll be going again! What an amazing restaurant. If you haven’t been there yet, GO! You’re missing out.

After a huge filling breakfast, we headed to a movie matinee. This time, we saw The Lone Ranger with Johnny Depp as Tonto. I’m a huge Johnny Depp fan (particularly as Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean). Loved the movie. Hilarious and educational! 

Following the movie, we spent a bit of time finding how to drive to Bananas Fun Park. But when we arrived, we spent a ton of time on the arcade games. We love arcade games and had TONS of fun. It’s nice to be a kid again once in a while.

Unfortunately, that was the last thing we were able to do before it was time to go. I have never cried so much in so long. I was seriously considering not getting on the plane. He’s been by my side all year, and I now I have to leave. He told me not to cry. But as soon as he walked back to the car and I watched him drive away, I couldn’t help it anymore. No words can express my love of that man. He really is my other half.

I manage to get myself under control enough to get checked in ($150 later for baggage… bought too many books…) and through security. On the inside, I cried and cried.

My plane was supposed to leave at 6:20 p.m. We didn’t get out of there until after 7:30 p.m. There just happened to be a minor mechanical problem which the pilot was able to fix and would not affect our flight, but still needed an airplane mechanic to sign off on. Bad news was: Mechanics at this airport go home at 5:00. So we waited for forever for a mechanic to drive to the airport, do the inspection, and then do the paperwork. *Sigh. 

On a good note, the lady manning the desk was incredibly sympathetic. She spent the whole time making phone calls to dispatch, to the towers, to everyone she possibly could to try and make us arrangements. First, she tried to push someone to get the mechanic right away. Secondly, she went on the plane 2-4 times to try and get the mechanic to hurry up. Thirdly, she told us the pilot would “make time up in the air”. Side note: That statement had quite a few people nervously laughing. Then she told us she’d try to get Phoenix (our connection destination) to hold our flights (didn’t work). Then she told us at the very end that the last thing she could do was to have them prepare new flights and hotels for us as soon as we landed. Seriously, she updated us almost every 5 minutes. This lady was incredible!

But despite her efforts, we all had hotel vouchers and new flight tickets waiting for us when we arrived. I missed my flight by 15 minutes. So after making sure my checked baggage would stay checked, I got my stuff and waited for the shuttle. The shuttle driver was very friendly, and our hotel was amazing! The DoubleTree by Hilton. Go there if you’re ever in Phoenix. It’s only 5-10 minutes away from the airport (depending on traffic) and only 2 blocks from a big mall. The location itself is beautiful, and they provide you with a fresh cookie as soon as you check in! It was quite nice!

I was happy to be able to relax, but so hungry. So after getting online and updating family/friends on my travelling status, room service it was! Delicious chicken tortilla soup, and a refreshing caesar salad. All from the comfort of the very fluffy beds and watching on the big screen tv. It was pretty nice.

So with only 4-5 hours of sleep, it was unfortunately time to wake up. The shuttle driver had told me to try and be at the airport a couple hours early because the security lines can get to be a 1-2 hour wait time. Apparently Phoenix is known for having long waiting time.

So I was on the shuttle by 4:30 a.m.! Traffic did not exist, so we were at the airport in 5 minutes, and I did not have to wait in ANY security line. So I definitely was sitting at the gate a couple hours early. In fact, I’m writing this at the Phoenix Airport. Still here, still waiting. But at least I feel clean after having a nice shower and being able to brush my teeth with the complimentary toothbrush and toothpaste they provided at the hotel (all my toiletries are in my checked bags). Counting my blessings.

And so my travel continues. I was supposed to arrive in Edmonton last night at 12:15 a.m. I’m now leaving Phoenix to travel to Los Angeles and then Edmonton, hopefully arriving by the posted time of 4:15 pm. Praying this is it. I just want to go home and sleep in my bed. And talk to my husband of course.

Hope you all are having a fantastic day!