I didn't mean to stop posting about my trip - and I promise - before the weekend is over You, Yes, You, You Lucky Readers, will get to hear about TheWeddingInRomania! But for today TheQueen is going to talk about HerRoyalSelf.
TheQueen returned from her travels with the dread Vacation Poundage clinging to her regal form and some of the vacation photos are (ahem) Not as Attractive as She Would Have Liked. So she buckled down on her menu planning and joined an exercise challenge from SparkPeople dot com. Every morning she - er, sorry, I'll get off my throne now - I get an email with New Exercises To Do. They're fun. They're challenging. They're shaking things up and I am loving it. It is just the mind-stir I needed.
Yesterday's challenge was to snack smartly and get in 30 minutes of cardio. I know that cardio really means get your heart rate up and I am sure I felt it beating now and then as I climbed the hills of Maymont Park yesterday. Was it sustained for 30 minutes? probably not but I got in about 3 hours of walking altogether and that is good enough for me.
I'm not really a bad snacker, most of the time. so long as I can stay away from the Cheetos - and I never went near a Cheetos store. (I don't count the grocery store since I think of it as a place to get food - not junk. Junk comes from 7-11 or a gas station store). So yesterday was not much of a challenge. It was some challenge since Sister and I were at CanCan, a very tony restaurant that can serve you up some calorie laden goodies .... think lobster mac 'n' cheese. Drool. but they also make such delectable goodies as roasted beet salad with walnuts and water cress. Do you know how rare watercress is in a salad? Lawsie I love that green! succulent. peppery. delicate. yum. On my plate. Lucky me!
It was warm enough for us to eat outside and there was a wonderful blues singer on the sidewalk serenading us at just the right decibel. We caught up on TheWedding and TheTrip and swapped horror stories about pilots going on strike and 1 year old triplets squirming in the seats directly in front of us, screaming for 5 hours. Then she said "Let's go to Maymont"
As a true Richmond VA girl - I know Maymont. It's a Gilded Age mansion that was given to the city upon the death of its owner, Sally Dooley in 1926. It lies on the rolling bluffs of the river bank just across the river from where I lived as a teen. You could walk there, though we usually drove and I have a lifetime of memories tied up with the place. My sister has even more because they've always operated an animal rescue operation on the premise and my 2 younger sisters volunteered there for years. The house, alas, was never open when I was a girl. It was left to the city. with almost all its gilded and glorious furnishings, but no money for upkeep. By 1929, gilded money had dried up and the house was closed to outside visitors till after I moved away from Richmond. In the 1970's a non-profit was formed to restore it but I just haven't ever had the opportunity (or taken the opportunity) to go inside.
sister and I rectified that yesterday and boy oh boy - did we have fun. Himself asked me later if the Dooley's had good taste and all I could say was that they had exquisite taste for the taste they had. What an explosion of ornamentation. I loved it loved looking at it - and was oh so grateful I neither had to live with it or clean it. But boy oh boy - it was like looking at all the glitter and glitz you could dream of in a single building.
So - what a rewarding, happy, joy filled way to spend Day #8 of my 30-day challenge. Still loving it - still feeling the obligation AND desire to watch what I eat - still wanting to reach my October goal.
For day #9 I will go to the gym and do the exercises - which look interesting and fun and yeah, probably hard. But I'll be thinking about day #8 and smiling.
And in my next life I get to sleep in this.
TheQueen returned from her travels with the dread Vacation Poundage clinging to her regal form and some of the vacation photos are (ahem) Not as Attractive as She Would Have Liked. So she buckled down on her menu planning and joined an exercise challenge from SparkPeople dot com. Every morning she - er, sorry, I'll get off my throne now - I get an email with New Exercises To Do. They're fun. They're challenging. They're shaking things up and I am loving it. It is just the mind-stir I needed.
Yesterday's challenge was to snack smartly and get in 30 minutes of cardio. I know that cardio really means get your heart rate up and I am sure I felt it beating now and then as I climbed the hills of Maymont Park yesterday. Was it sustained for 30 minutes? probably not but I got in about 3 hours of walking altogether and that is good enough for me.
I'm not really a bad snacker, most of the time. so long as I can stay away from the Cheetos - and I never went near a Cheetos store. (I don't count the grocery store since I think of it as a place to get food - not junk. Junk comes from 7-11 or a gas station store). So yesterday was not much of a challenge. It was some challenge since Sister and I were at CanCan, a very tony restaurant that can serve you up some calorie laden goodies .... think lobster mac 'n' cheese. Drool. but they also make such delectable goodies as roasted beet salad with walnuts and water cress. Do you know how rare watercress is in a salad? Lawsie I love that green! succulent. peppery. delicate. yum. On my plate. Lucky me!As a true Richmond VA girl - I know Maymont. It's a Gilded Age mansion that was given to the city upon the death of its owner, Sally Dooley in 1926. It lies on the rolling bluffs of the river bank just across the river from where I lived as a teen. You could walk there, though we usually drove and I have a lifetime of memories tied up with the place. My sister has even more because they've always operated an animal rescue operation on the premise and my 2 younger sisters volunteered there for years. The house, alas, was never open when I was a girl. It was left to the city. with almost all its gilded and glorious furnishings, but no money for upkeep. By 1929, gilded money had dried up and the house was closed to outside visitors till after I moved away from Richmond. In the 1970's a non-profit was formed to restore it but I just haven't ever had the opportunity (or taken the opportunity) to go inside.
sister and I rectified that yesterday and boy oh boy - did we have fun. Himself asked me later if the Dooley's had good taste and all I could say was that they had exquisite taste for the taste they had. What an explosion of ornamentation. I loved it loved looking at it - and was oh so grateful I neither had to live with it or clean it. But boy oh boy - it was like looking at all the glitter and glitz you could dream of in a single building.
So - what a rewarding, happy, joy filled way to spend Day #8 of my 30-day challenge. Still loving it - still feeling the obligation AND desire to watch what I eat - still wanting to reach my October goal.
For day #9 I will go to the gym and do the exercises - which look interesting and fun and yeah, probably hard. But I'll be thinking about day #8 and smiling.
And in my next life I get to sleep in this.
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