I Exercise My Right.....

Not to get on the scale this week!  I have not been looking forward to stepping on the scale and honestly it caused me just a bit of stress thinking about it.

EXERCISE!
Exercise this week has been null and void!  My back feels a lot better and I actually shoveled the 1 inch of snow we got today, but other than that I did absolutely NOTHING.

FOOD!
I stayed away from Olive Garden and the bread sticks but I failed at staying away from egg nog.  My egg nog addiction is ridiculous this time of the year, especially since I am lactose intolerant (I know - TMI).  I also failed at my 1 raw meal a day.

So with all of that said - I exercise my right to stay off the scale this week - I think it is best!  I need to remain excited about my journey and I know getting on the scale this week will not be a good decision.  Tomorrow my daughter and I leave for our annual Mother-Daughter weekend in New York with 5 other moms and their daughters.  I've already incorporated my goals for the week into the trip.

GOALS FOR WEEK 3

• Get plenty of exercise while walking around NYC this weekend (I will be tracking my steps on my pedometer each day),
• Get back on track with daily exercise when I return from NY
• Make healthy food choices even if that means turning down the Mac and Cheese at B. Smith's (I can do it!).  
• Pray! - Although this Journey is All Mine - I can't do it alone!

This Journey is All Mine,

Rhonda

4 DOWN - More to go!

Week one was a challenge!  The good news - I lost 4 pounds! **can you see me doing the happy dance?**  The bad news - I pulled a muscle in my back on Saturday which stifled my exercise for the rest of the week.   The crazy thing about it was on Saturday morning when I weighed myself I was down 4 pounds already.  So from Wednesday to Saturday I lost 4 pounds.  Sunday - Wednesday was a challenge to maintain that 4 pound weight loss when I couldn't exercise.

FOOD!
I've come to realize that my biggest food challenge days are on the weekend.  Saturday night I took Kai out to dinner at Olive Garden to celebrate a couple of things:  She made honor roll for the 4th trimester in a row, she had a fairly decent swim at her meet on Saturday and made it to finals (where she dropped 8 seconds off her time in the 200 Butterfly), and we'd just received her allergy test results back and shellfish didn't show up this time (she has not eaten shellfish for 9 years). So off to Olive Garden we went so she could have her favorite - Shrimp Alfredo!  I swear those Olive Garden bread sticks are the DEVIL!  I made a healthy choice by ordering soup and salad.  I know the Chicken Gnocchi soup is high in sodium so I drank lots of water (not ordering soda was a huge success for me).  The fat girl in me just had to order Alfredo dipping sauce for the bread sticks.  I promise you I had about 6 bread sticks to keep from wasting the Alfredo sauce.  Am I the only one whose mother said "Eat all of your food - there are children in Africa starving!"  Well clearly I was eating bread sticks and Alfredo sauce for all of Africa.  It was a shame!  I did stick to my weekly goal of eating 1 raw meal a day!  I know that helped me keep that 4 pounds off!

EXERCISE!
Every night (Wednesday - Saturday) I exercised for a minimum of 30 minutes.  I did Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred and also dabbled in fitness videos on Comcast/Xfinity On Demand.  On Saturday afternoon (prior to my Olive Garden excursion) I had to go and get fancy and do an abs video where I did v-sits with a side to side twist.  I was so proud of myself, I did them without stopping.  About 22 minutes into the video I felt something that was not normal, of course I ignored it and kept going.  Sunday morning I was very sore but assumed it was the normal soreness I get when I haven't exercised in awhile.  By Sunday evening I couldn't do much of anything (sit, stand, lay down, get up, roll over - NOTHING!).  I knew something was wrong.  It turned out to be a pulled muscle in my lower back.  I was told to lay off the exercise until this coming Saturday (12/11) and take it easy :(  Come Saturday I am back on a mission!

GOALS FOR WEEK 2

• Stay away from Olive Garden! :)
• 30 minutes of exercise - no excuses - but I promise to listen to my body this time!
• 1 raw meal each day - this week I am going to do some juicing to increase my vegetable intake!
• DRINK MORE WATER!     
• Celebrate the baby steps! 4 pounds was a great success for me this week! 
• Remember to pray and stay focused, especially during those times when I know I should make wiser choices.

Pray for me and send me some juicing recipes!  Have a great week - I will!

This Journey Is All Mine!

Rhonda

"THE UGLY TRUTH"

My nicknames growing up were "Pancake" and "RhondaCake".  My Uncle Thurman gave me these nicknames when I was very young.  As a teenager I remember asking him where the names came from.  He said he called me that because I was as thin as a pancake (held sideways).  I guess that made a little bit of sense, however, as a grown up I am far from this definition.

These days the UGLY TRUTH is that I am as ROUND as a pancake! I am not proud of it but I am motivated to do something about it!  The photo below was taken yesterday - December 1, 2010 - the official start of my transformation!  I don't EVER want to look like this again - this is the heaviest I have been in life.  I am determined to get rid of this weight!  My goal is to get rid of 60 pounds!

December 1, 2010

Yesterday was the 1st day of the rest of my life!  I got off the couch and got moving!  I made better food choices. I need you guys to hold me accountable.  I plan to document my journey via weekly updates, no matter how good or bad my week goes.  Keep me in your prayers!

This Journey Is All Mine!

Rhonda

Rhonda's Easy Carrot Ginger Soup

A couple of weeks ago I was in West Orange, NJ at a restaurant and tasted the best Carrot Ginger soup ever!  However it was clear that it was filled with butter and heavy cream.  I have been on a quest to find a recipe that excludes the dairy but keeps the rich taste.  I am sad to say I could not find one, but happy to say I created my own and it is BETTER than the original, if I must say so myself.  I put a couple of surprises in there to create the texture of the "heavy" soup without the calories (sweet potato and coconut milk).  I used all organic veggies too!  At the end I have some recommendations on how to cut the calories - although I don't think its very high in calories (maybe the olive oil and coconut milk contribute but its far less than butter and heavy cream).  Sorry for the crappy photo, next time I won't use my cell phone.

Rhonda's Easy Carrot Ginger Soup

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves of fresh garlic chopped

1/2 large white onion chopped 

2 thumbs of fresh ginger sliced thin (take the outer skin off first)

2 lbs. carrots 

4 cups low sodium vegetable broth

1 large sweet potato

8 oz. light coconut milk @ room temperature (I used the Trader Joe's brand which comes in a can)

In a large stock pot heat the olive oil and add the garlic, onion and ginger over medium heat until they are translucent.  While those are cooking skin the carrots and sweet potato and cut them into large chunks.  Once the veggies are translucent add the carrots, sweet potato and vegetable broth to the pot and cook on medium heat until you can break the carrots apart easily with a fork (I cooked mine for about an hour and 1/2).  

When it is done transfer the contents of the pot to a blender (do this in small batches and never fill the blender more than 1/2 full each time).  In each batch (I did mine in 2 batches) add 4 oz of coconut.  Be careful when blending HOT liquids!  Blend until smooth and transfer to another pot or large bowl.  Blend next batch, adding the final 4 oz of coconut milk and add to the pot/bowl where the first batch is.  Stir to mix batches and serve.

You will notice I added no salt or other spices.  This recipe without the spices was very very good, the ginger, onion and garlic was enough.  You may add spices such as nutmeg, all-spice, or pepper.  Additionally to reduce calories you can decrease the amount of olive oil used to 1/8 cup or swap the coconut milk for rice, almond or soy milk.  

Please let me know how you enjoy it!

This Journey is All Mine!

Rhonda

It Ain't Easy Being Green!

I've never had a green thumb and green isn't even my favorite color, but I thought I could at least try composting at home and succeed.  Two years ago my daughter's school began composting and of course she shared lots of info with me and "suggested" that we try it at home.

Fast forward 2 years......I buy a counter top composter, a book on composting, and I think I am off to a good start.  My first contribution to the composter were the scraps from a fruit salad I made for a potluck.  Watermelon, honeydew and cantalope rinds are all thrown into the composter, along with some peppermint leaves and lemon peels.  I read that I should add both green and brown matter but after the rinds were added there was no room for brown.  I figured I'd let it "decompose" a little before adding the brown.

Fast forward 2 weeks....I am just back from a weeklong vacation in Barbados, I walk into the kitchen and I see fruit flies EVERYWHERE!  What in the heck is going on?  Initially I think I left something in the trash, or maybe the in sink-garbage disposal had scraps in it.  I am swatting fruit flies and itching at the same time!  Did I already say how much I hate bugs (especially flying bugs)??  Then I remember - the counter top COMPOSTER!  OMG - what did I do wrong?  Of course I do the unthinkable - I open the top of the composter and the composter is FULL OF FRUIT-FLIES!  I slam the top back down, but not after a million of them escape to freedom in my kitchen - now I am really itching!  I start spraying my "eco-friendly" cleaning products that also claim to kill mosquitos and other flying bugs and the fruit flies laugh at me while they fly all over the kitchen doing the "I've escaped from jail" dance.

Now I have to get the damn composter out of the house without the flies crawling on me and without letting anymore escape.  Immediately I envision tripping and dropping the composter and the other 50 million fruit flies escaping and taking over my house.  I'd certainly put the house on the market because we could not co-exist in this house and clearly the eco-friendly cleaning product people are liars so maybe I could sell the house to them to retest their products - that don't kill people OR fruit-flies!

I get it outside to the backyard and run for my life, back in the house, and slam the door behind me!  I have FAILED at composting!  I grab the "how to compost book" and nowhere does it say that this will happen.  Now I am on the internet looking for solutions to get rid of the fruit-flies without killing myself or my daughter with toxic fumes.  I really want to go buy 10 Raid foggers, set'em off, and come back in a month.  All results in Google point to apple cider vinegar.  So I put some in a spray bottle and I start spraying.....the fruit flies are still singing, laughing, and dancing in my kitchen.  OK, none of the posts said to spray it but I thought I'd try it.  Now I am following directions.  Put some vinegar in a jar with warm water, put plastic wrap on top, secure with a rubber band, polk holes in the top and they will go in, won't be able to get out, and drown in the vinegar water solution.  I do this, wait an hour and I have caught about 40 of them (40 out of 400 million - because in my mind they are multiplying FAST!!).  So I dump that solution and make more.  I wait an hour and no more fall for the trick - these fruit flies are INTELLIGENT, I am in trouble!  So now I am headed to the grocery store to buy BLEACH and plastic gloves!  I never ever buy bleach, remember I am trying to go green and 3 years ago I removed all the toxins and carcinogens from the house.  But today I am buying bleach because it kills everything!  I wash down all of the counter tops with bleach water solution - how could trying to do good come to this?  I am so tired I go to bed when I am done and pray that all of the fruit flies die a horrible death by morning.  Morning comes and 1.5 million of them are gone but there are still 1/2 million hiding somewhere in the kitchen.  Every now and then 1 flies past me saying *nah nah na nah nah!" BASTARD!  I am being run out of my house by these itty bitty pests! UGH!

Needless to say a day later I still see 1 or 2 fly around the kitchen.  I went to Home Depot this evening on my way home from work and guess what - ALL THE FOGGERS WERE GONE!  I feel better, someone else failed at composting too!  So I opt for a pet friendly, child friendly flying bug spray with peppermint oil, cinnamon oil, and some other stuff that makes me think it won't work.  I walk in the door prepared to go to war with the can ready to spray.  Initially I don't see any! Damn!  the fruit fly homeland security called the house and warned them!  Well, wherever they are hiding I will get them, I am armed and not afraid to use my ammunition! But one thing for sure, it will be a LONG TIME before I try composting again - It ain't easy being GREEN!

This Journey is All Mine!

Rhonda

Before, During, and After Vacation

Dover Beach, Barbados

Those who know me well know that I love taking vacations!  I have a college friend who swears that I am always on vacation!  Truth be told I look forward to the day when I can work 6 months and be on vacation for 6 months :)  Vacations give me an opportunity to "renew" myself.  I take the opportunity to finish books I started months ago.  I eat healthier when I am on vacation - on purpose!  I am usually more active too - I seem to walk more, swim more, and play more.  I take the opportunity to get closer to God.  It is something about the ocean that brings me closer to God and I take the time to have some cleansing conversations with Him.  

This week I am in Barbados.  While sitting on the beach today I finished my book club book, "The Shack" and started a re-read, "In Search of the Proverbs 31 Man" by Michelle McKinney Hammond.  I began thinking about all the things I did (or didn't do) "before" vacation that I need to change, the things I can begin doing while I am here "during" vacation, and what my life "after" vacation will look like.  This is a part of the "renewing" process for me.  Documenting it here is cleansing because it will hold me accountable!  So here is what I came up with.

BEFORE VACATION

• I was slacking on exercising - down to less than 2 days in the past month (not good!)
• I was giving God the silent treatment because I felt He was punishing me by putting me in a situation that was familiar but not comfortable.
• My house was a HOT MESS and I hated going home to it!    
• My weight was spiraling out of control - even though I had been eating much better for a long time. 

DURING VACATION

• I began brisk walking each morning for 30 minutes.
• I apologized to God and started talking to and praising Him for all He has done for me.
• I took the opportunity to write out 5 goals, one of which includes getting my house back in order, and another is not being afraid to throw some things away that I have been holding on to.
• Along with the 5 goals I also started brainstorming about how to get rid of this excess weight once and for all!

AFTER VACATION

• I will continue walking 30 minutes each day (with the goal of getting to the point where I can run 30 minutes each day) and I will add swimming back into my routine.
• I will continue my conversations with God in the same way I talk to my best girlfriends - straight, no chaser - and I expect the same from Him.
• I will tackle my house, one room at a time and throw out (or sell) anything I haven't used in the past 2 months.  Books and Cooking Utensils included!
• I will recommit to losing 50 pounds! I have more than that to lose but I have to start someplace.  I will also post my "before" photo - as much as I hate to face the ugly reality.

Although I am far from being completely "renewed" on this vacation (its only day 3) I know that getting the rest I need is the beginning of my process.  My first day here I slept for 10 hours straight - clearly I need this renewal!

This Journey is All Mine!
Rhonda

Sometimes You Just Need to Get Away!

Every year since my daughter was 3 (she is now 13) I'd take a "Mommy Vacation".  At first this was my opportunity to escape parenthood and hang with my high school and/or college friends in some tropical location.  Each of us left the kids and husbands/boyfriends at home and spent days and nights laughing and joking about the old days, school, and our lives.  For about 5 years straight we headed to Barbados.  As time went on our paths changed, our likes and dislikes varied, and some how those group vacations ended.  

For the last four years I've taken my "mommy vacations" alone.  Something I never thought I'd do.  When I was younger my mother would tell me, "if you wait on other people you'll never go anywhere". And she was so right!  Now I don't even ask, I just book my week at my favorite (not so far away) beach location - Cape May, NJ, at my favorite bed and breakfast, Akwaaba Bed and Breakfast, and I go!  Other than my reservation I don't plan any events or activities.  I decide, when I wake up, what I am going to do that day.  Some days I go to the beach, one day I treat myself to a movie, some evenings I head to Sunset Beach and enjoy the sunset, and most evenings I enjoy a delicious dinner, at a restaurant, all by myself. 

I have been going to Cape May and staying at Akwaaba for about 7 years.  Owner and former Essence Magazine Editor-in-Chief, Monique Greenwood, is like an old friend.  This year when I walked in the door she greeted me with a warm "Welcome Home!"  I go there to feel like I am on a respite from the daily grind of parenthood but I feel like I am at home - my home away from home.  

This was my room for the 5 days I stayed this year.  I'll share more about my trip in a later blog but every time I look at this photo it reminds me that Sometimes You Just Need to Get Away!

Where do yo go to get away??

SWIM for Your Life!

This week's tragic drowning of 6 teens in Shreveport, LA has prompted me to pull an old "Parent Pause" post that I wrote for parents whose children are registered on the swim team with my daughter.  It is the story of my Mother and her experience the summer prior to her Freshman year in college.  It is my hope that my Mother's story and the tragedy of the 6 teens in Shreveport will prompt EVERYONE to learn to swim.

Olympic Gold Medalist, Cullen Jones, has partnered with USA Swimming Foundation's Make a Splash initiative to ensure that every child learns to swim and to decrease drowning statistics among minority youth.  I challenge you to learn to swim if you don't know how or to save a child's life by sponsoring a series of swim lessons for that child at your local recreation/aquatic center.  What ever you do - Do Something!

*****************************************************************************************************

PARENT PAUSE 


DC Wave Swim Team

October 7, 2008

Remember a couple of weeks ago I spoke of being in the right place at the 
right time?  Well here we go again.  Two Saturdays ago on a 
flight to Los Angeles I engaged in a conversation with one of my co-workers 
about Olympic Swimming.  She is new to our organization and asked if I had 
children.  Of course I began talking, very proudly, about my pride and joy - 
Kai.  Of course it turned into a discussion about minorities and swimming. 
 I always get the question about how Kai became interested in competitive 
swimming and it inevitably leads to the discussion about the fact that there are not many people of color who make it to the Olympics (and not many who 
can even swim!).

Well, here is the story I gave her and everyone else that brings it up.  When 
my mother was 18 years old growing up in Norfolk, VA she was given the opportunity to work at a camp in New Hampshire as a counselor.  She loved 
children and needed the money to attend college.  She'd been accepted into 
Lehman College in NY as a physical education major on a full scholarship but 
needed living expense money and money to take the bus from VA to NY to 
college.  Her father was a Navy Seaman and at the time her mother had never held a job 
outside of the home.  So the opportunity to go to New Hampshire provided an opportunity to earn money, work with children, and get away from Norfolk for 
the summer before college.

One afternoon after arriving to camp the counselors decided to have a 
cook-out at the lake where the camp was located.  Because the sand was wet 
they decided to sit on the boat dock.  Well, after the cookout they 
decided to horseplay on the dock.  One of the male counselors pushed my Mom 
off the dock and then ran after another counselor to catch her and throw her 
into the water.  What he did not know was my mother COULD NOT SWIM! And only 
her close friend, who had gone to the restroom in the camp lodge, knew that.  My 
mother recalled very vividly how she sank to the bottom of the lake and then pushed as 
hard as she could to make it back to the top with the hope that someone saw 
her hand as she desperately waved when she surfaced.  She was too scared to 
scream because she thought she would get water in her mouth and drown.  The 
last time she came up she realized everyone on the dock had run onto the 
beach and wasn't looking her way.  Thankfully a man in a boat witnessed what 
happened and rowed over to save her.  As she realized her waves were going 
unnoticed and she started to sink he grabbed her arm and pulled her into the 
boat - saving her life!  Of course as a physical education major she had to 
take swimming as a part of her degree requirements - so she took that class her first semester in college and 
mastered it enough to save herself if she ever needed to.

My mother said when she had me she knew she had to make sure I knew how to 
swim so I would never have to experience the fear of almost drowning.  At 
the age of 5 she took me to the local YMWCA in Newark, NJ and signed me up 
for “Learn to Swim” classes.  I was a natural in the water and at the 
conclusion of each class I cried because I did not want to leave the water. 
 When my brother was born she did the same with him.  So naturally when I 
had my first child (Kai), I did the same.  When Kai was 9 months old we enrolled in "Mommy and Me" swim classes.

Lets talk about the issue at hand.  How many of you can not swim??  I am not 
talking about competitive swimming; I am talking about swimming to save your 
life!  As a member of the swim team our children can swim very well - take the time to evaluate your 
own swimming skills - and make a change that could save your life!  I am very 
happy that the man in the boat saved my mother's life that day - in essence 
he saved my life too! Take the time to save your future generations.  You've made the first step 
by making sure your child can swim - now save yourself!

This Journey is All Mine,

Rhonda

  

The Journey Has Begun..

For the last year I have entertained the possibility of having a blog.   I’ve periodically used Facebook notes as a mechanism to engage others in commentary, to share my opinions, and to say what needed to be said at any given time.   My FB notes have been used to celebrate special occasions, to express my frustration, and sometimes just to make folks say “hummmm?”  

For more than a year I’ve had a great role model, Renee from Cutie Bootie Cakes, my Spelman Sister who I admire for all that she is and all that her blog has become.   Renee and I met during my sophomore year at Spelman College in Atlanta, GA.  Fast forward 20 years and thanks to Facebook we reconnected as two business women sharing resources.  Renee’s life as a blogger has opened my eyes to a whole new world that I would not have been exposed to.  I’ve followed her blogs and watched her “shrink” before my eyes as she documented her weight loss over the last 5 months.  

Last year Renee and I spent a fun evening at the premier of “Night at the Museum 2” in Washington, DC as guests of Hershey (actually I was Renee’s guest, she was the guest of Hershey).  I met the marketing executives of Hershey and saw how they are embracing the power of Mom bloggers to get their messages and products to the masses.  I was already a fan of Renee’s blog but after that night I decided that if I were to ever make the move to being a blogger I needed to make Renee my role model.  I’ve teetered with whether to blog or not to blog and finally, with the help of an "aha moment", I am giving birth to "This Journey Is All Mine".  I’ve had a great role model, now its time to step outside my comfort zone and “embrace the blogger within”.  I hope you enjoy my journey!