Flowers and No News

I realize I haven't posted in a couple of days. It's another case of nothing really going on, so I just don't have anything to write about.

We had a nice, sunny morning so I got outside and did some much needed weeding in the yard. With all of the extra moisture we've been getting, the weeds are flourishing right now. The inevitable afternoon storm is moving in now, which made for excellent lighting to get a few shots of some of my flowers.

I took the shot below the other evening. This is basically what it looks like every evening right now since the clouds and storms show up nearly every afternoon.

Tomorrow morning my daughter is taking me out to breakfast, then we're going to go hiking and have a picnic lunch together. It's my mother's day present, just a bit delayed. My husband is taking my son and one of his friends to see Ant Man at the theater while we're off hiking. My weekly progress report will come a little later in the day than usual with the morning activities. Although I think I'll just be breaking even this week. I didn't do such a great job with the My Fitness Pal app every day. But I have been doing more intense workouts again, so at least I feel healthy, even with the excess weight. I really better get it figured out though, or I won't be able to see Crimson Peak in the theater!

Living Dangerously

My daughter had piano lessons again this evening, and like every other recent evening, we were in the midst of a heavy rain and thunderstorm. But there was no way I was sitting in the car through a lesson again tonight. Safe or not (and it really wasn't since lighting was less than a tenth of mile away), I was going for a walk.

I'm glad I went. I heard train whistles, bird songs, and thunder, which thankfully became more distant as the walk went on. The sun actually was out for most of the day, but it was while I was in my office at work, so I didn't really get to see it. It did start peeking out around the clouds again towards the end of my walk.

I've been doing a decent, though not perfect job with my food this week. I'm eating more slightly calories than I should be, but I'm not throwing my hands up and just pigging out either. If I can keep this up and just make some slight adjustments, I really think I might be on the right path this time.

Dreary

The meteorologists don't always get it right. We've had another gray, rainy day. I think I might be suffering from seasonal affective disorder. In Denver. In July.

We saw more sun when we were in Ireland, sheesh!

I'm Back!

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, and I'm back from the best vacation we've ever had in Ireland. I'll be posting about the trip, though I think it will end up being several posts because we saw and learned so much, that it would be overwhelming in one post.

Here's a quick sneak-peek of a photo from Muckross Abbey.

We came home yesterday to light, intermittent rain showers, perfect temperatures, and a brilliant, sustained rainbow. I'm too jet-lagged at the moment, and have too much laundry and other things to catch up on to write a long post today, so this is just a quick check-in. I'll have a more substantial post up tomorrow.

It's good to be home, though I already miss Ireland!

Catching my Breath and Defining Success

Whoo! It has been a crazy week here in very dreary weather. We've had all kinds of end-of-year school activities, including my daughter's first high school band rehearsal, even though she's not done with middle school quite yet. Dropping her off at the high school for an event was a bit surreal for me. It's just hard to get my head around the fact that I'll be the parent of a high school student this fall. I've been running the mom taxi full tilt because my husband also has wrap-up items for the end of the school year, my in-laws are in Texas for a wedding, and my mom (and her sister) are in Illinois visiting family, so we've lost all of our back-up plans for transporting the kids. The long Memorial Day weekend is going to be very appreciated in our house!

We haven't seen the sun since last weekend, and then it was only briefly. A friend who moved to Washington state recently posted on Facebook that she couldn't believe how sunny and warm it's been in the Pacific Northwest. Apparently we've switched weather patterns with them. It was warmer in Galway, Ireland (where we're headed in about one week!) than in Denver yesterday. It's been a little depressing to be under cloud cover for this long, but I suppose it's really good for us because everything is really green, and maybe the fire season won't be as bad this year.

Update: After I finished writing this post, the sun briefly made an appearance today!

I've been thinking lately about how we each individually define success for ourselves. I recently saw an article about the commencement speech given by Stephen Colbert at Wake Forest University. It reminded me of a comic that I saw once based on life advice from Bill Watterson (the creator of the Calvin and Hobbes comic). This morning I was listening to music on my walk (in the pouring rain) and a song that I've really been enjoying came on. It was Love The Way You Hate Me by Like a Storm. It takes a slightly less positive approach to the topic, but is basically saying the same thing as the above speech and comic: We all have to figure out for ourselves what we want to achieve and how we want to achieve it.

Based on the choices I've made over the years, I think I've always had a defined version of success for myself. But I don't think I've ever really embraced that definition before, and therefore always felt slightly guilty about my choices, even though I knew they were right for me. Lately I've been feeling less guilt because I've realized that I am making the right choices for me and my family to reach the end-state that is important to me. When I leave this world (hopefully a long time from now), I want to be remembered as a good wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend. I want my family and the other people who I've chosen to spend my time with to feel like they were valued and appreciated by me. I also hope that at least in a small way, I'll have been kind and giving to strangers and people who have been less fortunate than me.

Professionally I hope that people have tools and reports that are useful to them and help them to do their jobs. I've never been interested in climbing the corporate ladder. I like being a high-level individual contributor. That role is where I have the ability to make the largest impact while still having plenty of time for my family. This has caused friction at times in the past because it doesn't match other's definition of "success" which is to take on larger roles and start supervising others. When I communicate that I don't want to move into that type of role, I sometimes get classified as a "low potential" employee, which is true from a succession planning standpoint, but ignores the tremendous contribution I can make in my role.

Owning my definition and realizing that my choices will help me get there has really helped my attitude of late. I feel calmer and more centered because I'm not constantly second-guessing myself every time I make a choice. I suppose this is one of those advantages to growing older and getting more comfortable in one's own skin.

What about you? Do you believe that you've defined, and are making choices, based on your own personal definition of success? Do you struggle with feeling judged by others for doing so? Do you feel like you've let others define what success should look like for you?

Soggy

I haven't had much to say lately, so I decided not to write any posts which wouldn't have had much substance. I thought I'd check in today though so my readers would know that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I've been doing a pretty good job with choosing my attitude and have been feeling much better. It hasn't yet translated to eating better though. One step at a time I guess.

We've had pretty much constant rain for nearly a week now, and it's supposed to continue through this weekend. More than one person has made the comment "apparently we live in Seattle now." I actually love the rain and we need the moisture. However, I do feel for the people in Lyons and Evergreen who are finally recovering from the flooding in September of 2013, and who are now being threatened by high waters again.

Rain drops bouncing on the puddle, er...table

Droopy, green trees

Wet, drippy branches 

Green everywhere

The other thing that's been a bit of an issue is that we really have to watch where we walk, since the sidewalk and our driveway are covered with worms!

Ireland Weather Preview

Nature is currently giving us a preview of our Ireland trip. We've had overcast skies and rain on and off for several days now. The sound has been lovely and everything smells so clean and fresh. The creek is running right now, and everything is turning very green.

This is the most I've seen of the sun in about three days.

The mountains were finally visible again today. On Monday morning I could see a vague outline of the southern front-range, but the northern front-range was completely concealed behind towering clouds. I'm listening to the soothing sounds of rain and far-off thunder as I type this tonight.

Because Denver gets a high amount of sunny days each year (we're one of the sunniest places in the continental U.S.), it's kind of nice to have a change in the weather. Although I am going to be glad to see the sun again when the weather pattern is finally supposed to change next week.

Weekly Progress Report #17

I love the weekend. It's a beautiful, rainy spring morning here. I slept fairly well last night with the slight pitter-patter sound of the rain on the roof. I slept until 6:00 this morning and woke without the alarm. I did a longer weight session in natural light. I suppose I wouldn't appreciate these mornings quite as much if I had them all the time, so I guess I should be grateful for 4:15 weekday mornings.

Here are a few pictures from my rainy, overcast yard this morning.

Yesterday afternoon my daughter and I went for a long walk and the sky was just beautiful over the mountains .

I also did a workout yesterday morning, and finished it with some of the yoga poses on the Wii Fit. The cartoon yoga instructor told me that she noticed my right side wasn't as flexible as my left side. I had noticed that also. I'm starting to wonder if I need to work with a real yoga instructor to do something about my inflexibility. But I don't really have time for that right now, so I guess I'll just keep trying to get better on my own.

Weight: 138.5 pounds

Weight Change:  -0.3 pounds

I had a decent, though not great week with food choices. But at this point, I'm feeling pretty content to just take this slowly, because it is finally going in the right direction. Last night my in-laws took us out to dinner at La Loma, the best Mexican restaurant in Denver. It was a very belated birthday dinner for me since we had a terrible snow storm the first time we tried to go near my birthday. I was careful with my calories for the day, and decided I was going to indulge a little last night. So the weight isn't dropping as fast as it did the first time I did this.

I've been exercising harder lately, so I'm feeling stronger and healthier. My clothes are also fitting better. I'm still going to keep working because I know I'll be more comfortable and my joints will be less achy if I get back down to 125 pounds. But I guess I'm not going to worry about the fact that I'm not getting there as quickly as I'd originally planned. It's probably healthier to lose weight at a slower pace anyway.

The First Signs of Spring Weather

It is a beautiful, 60 degree day here in Denver. Spring is definitely in the air, even if we may still have more snow to come. It rained overnight and everything smelled so fresh and clean this morning when I went for a walk. One of my daughter's favorite smells is wet pavement, so I imagine she had a nice walk to the bus stop this morning. We're supposed to get more rain today, and based on the clouds to the west, I think it's a real possibility.

Between the warm weather and the rain, almost all of our snow is gone. There are two tiny little patches up against the fence in the back where it's still shaded because the sun doesn't travel a path this time of year to provide much light there.

I have a date with my son this evening. It's our final elementary school mother-son evening. I'm looking forward to having some time to just focus on him. I think my husband and daughter are going to watch a movie together since they'll be home alone this evening. I hope everyone else is having a nice end to the week also!

Crazy Day

Today was another especially busy day at work and I'm fried this evening.  I think I might need to take a bath tonight for relaxation because my shoulders are so tense.  So not much of a post on this rainy, dreary (but perfect) autumn evening.  I'm just going to share a couple of pictures from today and one that I took last evening that I rather like.  Enjoy!

The fall colors out my back window

Rainy evening

Clouds last evening