Friday, June 27, 2008

Traveling to the Blues






I’m getting really excited! I’m going to the Portland Waterfront Blues Fest for the Fourth of July weekend. Lots of good music, including zydeco, which is just plain feel good, sexy, get up and dance, music. Since I didn’t go to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Fest this year, I’ll be able to get my hit of zydeco in Portland. How weird but wonderful is that!?

I’ve looked at the schedule of performancess and mostly the ones I want to hear start in the afternoons, so hopefully I’ll be able to do a little exploring of Portland and surrounds in the mornings. In my vision of the perfect day there I’ll get up, have a smoothie, go for a hike or bike ride for a few hours, shower and get ready for the fest, go there, listen, dance, laugh, smile, meet new folks, and generally have a blast, then go back to where I’m staying, take a nice long shower, have a healthy dinner with some interesting conversation, maybe a glass of wine or two, then fall into bed for a good sleep. Then wake up and do it all again the next two days.

Now, here’s where I’m a bit worried. Other than my usual nervousness about being around new people, I mean, but I’m just ignoring those pesky thoughts. I am. So, this is the first time I’ll be traveling since I started this getting healthy trip. I don’t know how to estimate calories or WW points well enough yet to feel confident about staying within the limits. Anybody have any suggestions of ways to keep eating healthy while traveling and eating at strange places? I know when I quit smoking preparation was the key to traveling successfully without blowing my quit.

I’ve decided I’m going to get my hair cut before I go. Kind of a risky move right before a trip, but I figure I can’t look much worse than I do now, since I always wear my hair up because it is so long. I’m hoping it's long enough that I can send it to Locks of Love, an organization for making hairpieces for kids with illnesses that cause baldness. I just colored it myself last week, but the stylist is going to see if she can maybe color it a little darker.

I used a virtual haircut site where you can upload your own pic to play around with styles and colors. It was fun, but since the choices were all celebrity cuts, they were mostly a little young for me. Some of them looked absolutely hilarious on me. I found a Jessica Alba cut I liked, with some sweepy bangs which I've never had and surprisingly, a light auburn shade looked really good on me. So, we’ll see. I might even get brave and post a pic of me after it’s done. If it looks good enough. Well, it looks like Charlize has beat me to the salon with the idea, but just so you have a general idea of what I'm thinking. I'll probably go just a little bit longer, though, so we don't look like twins.

Oh! Great news on my C25K progress!!!! I promised myself that I’d stay at the same walk and jog paces (2.9/3.8) until my heart rate stayed where it’s supposed to. Well, guess what? Today it only went over my limit twice, and both times went right back down within 20-30 seconds without my reducing the pace. Yippee!!!! So, this weekend I’m going to try 3/3.9 and see what happens. I think I already mentioned that I’m not going to increase the jogging time until I can sustain a 3/4 pace. Slow but steady progress. I keep eyeing the weight machines and think when I get back from Portland I’m going to start with a few of those.
Well, time to start trying on clothes for the trip. Kind of in an in between size. Most of my clothes are getting loose, but my skinnier ones don't fit yet. Lucky it's only for a few days.

2 comments:

Pollye said...

Sounds like fun to me. I know you will have a blast. I think the hair cut will look good on you too.
stick you a few carrots and some celery sticks in your carry on and just eat healthy and enjoy the music! It's a good day for the Blues.

Michelle said...

Pollye gave you a great tip, carry healthy snacks. Decide what you're going to eat on the plane. If you're going to eat the meal and snacks they give you fine, but if not, make sure you have your food. Bring healthy snacks.

When in restaurants I will first establish what on the menu looks good to me, keeping my options open but at the same time limiting it only to things that look good to me. I sure ain't gonna eat food I don't want. Then, I ask myself, "what's the better choice?" and after picking the item I want I figure out if there's something I can do to make it healthier (sauce on the side, etc) but still good.

You kind of use this process the whole time. You can keep a food log if you want just to have a sense but you don't need to track calories, etc. Just writing down what you're eating goes a long way to helping you modulate.

Don't get too caught up on it. Vacation is usually time to loosen up a bit. Do what you're comfortable with and HAVE FUN!

Congrats on your c25k progress. Doesn't it feel good to see your body responding?