Look what I found!

Thursday night I was at Target picking up a card for a friend and breezed through the food aisles looking for some bargains. I often browse ice cream isles and almost never buy any, I just window shop. Well, for many years there has been a Girl Scout cookie ice cream with Thin Mints. In fact you can even buy it in the "1/2 Fat version" of which, I am a huge fan. But what did I find but my most favorite of all cookie put into vanilla ice cream with chocolate ribbons!! I LOVE the Samoa cookies. they are just sooo good. Well, even though there was no 1/2 Fat version, I decided that I can control my portion sizes and urges to eat this ice cream in no time. So, I bought it. I have had the chance to try it, it is spectacular. I highly recommend it.

Shady

So, in an underground corridor at work that connects my building to the main hospital building (shown here)

IMG_0058, originally uploaded by mleehartman.

these lovely items have appeared near one of the entrances. The first (and second and third) time I have seen this, the thoughts that creeps into my mind is "bombs" and "drugs". Don't those blue boxes look mysteriously creepy? They do to me. But there has been recent work being done in the tunnel, so it probably has something to do with that.

Flowers from Dave

IMG_0062, originally uploaded by mleehartman.

This morning I got a text from Dave with this picture attached. He said 'have fun in lab, I'll see you tonight'. He knows that yellow is my favorite color and that I love flowers. This is from a place on his school campus... isn't it lovely? It made my heart sing, but so does he.

Healthy Living

When most people look at me, I am sure that they do not think I'm fat. And I'm not. But, I exercise and eat right (most of the time). However, as I've progressed through grad school, my time at the gym has waned, I don't always have time to cook, and the list goes on and on. So although at surface level, I live a healthy and active lifestyle, but what they don't know is that I've got about 5 pounds I want to shed but no matter what I do, I can't seem to loose 'em, and ALL of it, sits on my lower abs... not my butt or legs or arms, so I can hide it fairly easily.

When I got to the point that I thought I could absolutely not take it anymore, I've got to do something about this before 5 pounds snowballs into 10 or 20, I realized one thing. Although I thought I was making healthy choices, I discovered that it isn't entirely true. Things I thought were healthy and OK to eat, turned out they weren't, or at least weren't optimal. So I set off to the bookstore to find a book about basic nutrition. I get to the store and what do I find but an entire shelf devoted to various fad diets. I don't want a diet. I want to learn about nutrition. But I did find one book, looked like it had potential. AND the cover had a picture of a perfectly poised woman holding a plate of food, not a salad (which is something I could live without). Called Skinny Chicks Don't Eat Salads by Christine Avanti.

I read the book cover to cover in about two days, and I learned A LOT. The first was that I realized that most women should be eating about 1500 calories per day. Before I started this, I took note of what I was eating and was consistently at 2000 calories per day. Not bad, but not great. But, I also realized that I really need to up the protein in my diet, which at a calorie cut, will help me feel full longer. (and, did you know, a person who gets 25% of their calories from protein loses 10% more belly fat than the typical person who gets about 12% of their calories from protein?)

The most important thing is that I am eating every 3-4 hours and am focusing on eating a combination of protein with carbohydrates and vegetables. This keeps your blood glucose levels from going crazy and minimizes the spike of insulin after consuming carbohydrates and hopefully preventing diabetes at a later date. As it turns out, your brain needs glucose every 4 hours or so to maintain function. When I waited 6 hours or so to eat a decent meal, I had problems with chronic headaches and I would feel irritable. No more my friends. No more. Although it may seem like I am always eating, trust me, it's within reason.

Right now, I'm 5'5", 130 lbs BMI ~21.7 with just under 17% body fat. I want to be 5'5", 125 pounds with 14% body fat. That is my goal. Not a big deal you say? Why not try to get down to 120 you say? Well, my lifestyle is changing drastically. I'm learning new habits. I'm doing it naturally and without the aid of any crazy supplements. And it's not a diet, it's a lifestyle change. It is something I will be able to maintain. Which is why I'm not trying to get down to 120, it's not a number that I would be able to maintain like 125 is.

And I would like to add just one thing. We are all responsible for our own health. Nobody is going to do it for us. So if we make some minor (or major) changes now, those are habits that we will be able to pass onto our children and grandchildren so that they will be more inclined to make healthy choices themselves. THAT is my main reason for doing this and taking it seriously.

UMass beauty

IMG_0057, originally uploaded by mleehartman.

UMass is a very ugly place recently. There is lots of construction going on, which overall makes it very noisy with dirt everywhere. I don't really like dirt, but that's besides the point. One thing here that is spectacular is that at the base of all the trees on the front lawns of the school, there are red and yellow tulips that pop up annually to announce the presence of spring. I'm a complete sucker for flowers, which you might not have guessed had it not been for all my recent posts with pictures of blossoms. So when I walk on campus and I see these pretty flowers blooming underneath the trees, I forget about all the noise and construction for a few seconds and it lightens my mood. (ps- forgive the quality of the photo, it was taken with my iPhone)

New all-time favorite cleaner

I've got one of those teeny tiny showers that is difficult to clean so I procrastinate like crazy to clean it. But upon moving in, I cleaned everything like crazy because that's just what I do. I could never get the glass walls of the shower rid of the soap scum. It just never happened. In my desperateness, I bought what I consider to be an expensive shower cleaner, at almost $3 per can, in hopes of getting my shower cleaned once and for all. I have to tell you, It finally happened. All thanks to this:

It is a miracle cleaner my friends. I sprayed it on. I let it sit for about 5 minutes. I wiped it off with a rag. It did exactly what it claimed. No more soap scum. AND it did the scrubbing for me. I usually use Tilex bathroom cleaner and scrub and scrub and scrub away at the shower. Not this time!!!! I should note that it also claims to kill 99.9% of bacteria as well. I did not culture test my shower to see if this was true. But based on this product fulfilling it's first and primary claim, I have no reason to doubt it's antimicrobial activities.

I love it! Try it, I guarantee you'll love it too!

Sweet Nothings

So this past Saturday, Dave and I went out to meet some of his friends at a bar. We had a couple drinks, we danced a little, we had a good time. We got home about 1:45 am and crashed. Well, I crashed... in his arms while he lay there awake. Not long after he gave me a little shake. The kind that communicates "I'm awake and I want you to be awake too". So I groggily wake back up and he says, 'I was whispering sweet nothings into your ears'. I asked him what kind of sweet nothings? He laughed the laugh that said without words 'I can't tell you now that you're awake'... but he then said, 'i was telling you how pretty you are, how smart you are, how sexy you are, how much i love you...' Where did I find this wonderful man??

I love the Bloomin' Trees

P1030224, originally uploaded by mleehartman.

Can you tell that this is the same building/tree I took a photo of just a couple posts ago? Isn't this Dogwood tree blooming amazing?? I love the city of Boston when things begin to bloom!

Here's another of a cafe that just re-opened patio seating beneath it's own flowering trees.

And, of course, you know I like to write about my backyard wildlife. I've got a couple of swans that like to hang out on my grass.

Down the Road

hume 23, originally uploaded by mleehartman.

“If we can recognize that change and uncertainty are basic principles, we can greet the future and the transformation we are undergoing with the understanding that we do not know enough to be pessimistic.”
-Hazel Henderson

How great is this quote? As I gear up to finish my PhD and look for a job, this reminds me that we can't be depressed about the outlook of our futures or lack of job openings or any of the various degrees of uncertainty. Instead, we should be excited about the adventure that lies ahead.

Easter Sunday

Easter for Dave and I out here in Worcester really was a non-event. We went to church in the morning. We laid out in the sun by the lake in the afternoon. We took it easy. We went out to visit with friends John and Marianne for about an hour. We hadn't seen them in forever and so that was nice. They were supposed to come for dinner a couple weekends ago, but they've both been so sick that they couldn't make it. They are better now so we chatted for a bit. Marianne had nice baskets with Easter chocolate in them for us. It was really sweet. Driving home, I remembered I had my camera with me so we busted it out and I took a picture of my insanely handsome boyfriend. Without expecting it, he all of a sudden turned to me with this big-ol' grin on his face. I absolutely can't believe that I captured it... I was lauging so hard.

Then he took the camera from me and took my photo- this time, posed.


On Saturday I had worked a bit in the lab and noticed that one of the new visiting students from Denmark, Soren is his name, was also there and that his sister was in town for two weeks. I quickly invited them to come on over and take the canoe out on the lake sometime over the weekend. I'm not sure he knew it was Easter so he called at around 9:30am asking if 4pm was ok. I said sure, come on over (since I knew Dave and I would be home). At this point we weren't sure exactly what to do because we were planning on barbecuing some shrimp, asparagus and potatoes for dinner and that would have been about the time that they were done with their little excursion out on the lake. We didn't want to be rude and be eating dinner in front of them. Ultimately we decided since it was Easter and we had a bit of extra food, that we would invite them to join us for dinner as well. When they arrived, they were thrilled with the invitation... although I thought it would be only two extra people, it was actually 3, but oh well.

It was Dave's idea to make an appetizer to "fill them up" in case it turned out we didn't have enough food at the meal, so I threw together some hummus topped with feta cheese and green onions to be eaten with carrots and Triscuits. For dinner we had 1.27 lbs of shrimp, one large bunch of asparagus, one round loaf of San Francisco Sourdough bread and 7 small potatoes to feed them with. We tried to buy some more beers (I only had one 6-pack of IPA that I keep on hand because that's what David likes to drink) but everywhere that sells alcohol was closed. Fortunately Soren's girlfriend Coralie didn't drink and so we had enough. At the end of it all, we had leftover maybe a spoonful of potatoes and one slice of bread. That was all. Fortunately, I did have some mint ice cream on hand, which they all loved... I am hoping that with the addition of a dessert, they had enough to eat!! Of course if we had planned on having a dinner party, we would have had more food. As Dave pointed out, we had about the bare minimum of shrimp and that if we were to do it again, for 5 people, we would need about 2 pounds total, not 1.3 pounds. But it is how things go sometimes. I was glad that they stayed for dinner... it was very nice. We had about 3 hours of eating and talking out on the patio on a gorgeous spring evening.

Here's the master griller, David.


Here are our visitors, on the left is Soren. In the middle, his sister Mette and on the right, his girlfriend Coralie.

Blue Herring?

I've been told that there are Blue Herrings often sighted on the lake. I was wandering on the dock while brushing my teeth this morning and thought I'd sighted one. Very still. Not moving. Like I'd seen in Vancouver about four years ago. I rushed inside to grab my camera. Of course he was still there when I got back. Why? Well, when I brought the photo's back inside to crop etc. I am realizing that this Herring is exactly that. Not real. Upon zooming, you can even see a reflection of the sun on the plastic. Boo. So sad.

But this cardinal is very real. I was lucky to get a shot of him before he spotted me and left!

Around the World

DON'T ASK YOURSELF WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS. ASK YOURSELF WHAT MAKES YOU COME ALIVE, AND GO DO THAT, BECAUSE WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS IS PEOPLE WHO HAVE COME ALIVE. {JOHN ELDREDGE}

As usual, to avoid doing things that need doing on a GORGEOUS Saturday morning, here I sit, on my futon with a lake-side view with the door wide open with the scent of spring floating in, browsing Facebook. My sweet David left early for a base jump and is now 'getting current' so he can be a safe skydiving instructor when the season begins at the end of the month. So here I sit, reading about other people's adventures while I *don't* do my taxes. But I'm on my way to my desk... I promise.

But as Facebook does, it often "suggests" people that you may know to add as friends on Facebook. One popped up and as it turns out, I didn't know her that well, but I was friends with her husband throughout college. I clicked on the link because I'm often curious about what people are up to and what they are doing with their lives. Well, on her FB page, I saw a link to their blog (often way more telling than a FB page), so I clicked on it and discovered a well-documented, amazing adventure that they went on in 2008. A trip around the world. Just shy of 7 months of traveling (you can click on the title of this blog for their travel itinerary). They booked 'round the world tickets and were given twenty flights to jump around the world at their leisure. The pictures are incredible. The stories are sometimes unbelievable. It's fantastic.

It inspires me to do something like that. I'm not sure I ever will. If I'm lucky, maybe shortened versions of something similar. But it's awesome. I would do it in an instant. My heart absolutely longs for adventure. Still. I really think that all I needed was the one move to New England to get that ball rolling... otherwise I'm certain that I would have been too scared to leave my safe haven of San Diego.

At www.around-the-world.com they claim that you can fly around the world for just a little more than you could a round trip ticket to only one of your destinations... about $1500 each. I SOOOO want to do this. You'd still have to pay for food and lodging etc. but how cool would that be? Maybe some day...

Breakfast in bed

The better weather means that jumper boy is getting geared up to jump off more stuff and skydiving season is coming soon too. Base jumping tends to happen early early or later at night. Last Sunday he was up at 4:30 to go base jumping and had some lights on and was stuffing (a little loudly- he admitted later) his pilot chute... i had a bit of a hard time falling back asleep after that but eventually did although it was only just before he got back and was all revved up on adrenaline. Fortunately I fell back asleep again only to find out that as I slept, he got breakfast ready and surprised me with a nice tray of fresh fruit and french toast that we had prepared the night before. How sweet was that?? Gotta love it! I guess that makes up for the 4:30 wake up!!

Spring is Here

Turns out spring is here in full force. You may have heard about the insane New England rain we've been getting. It's been all over the news. Last weekend, it stopped raining for a bit so Dave and I went walking around the city. We took a few pictures, but I'll take some more once things start to bloom. But it's nice to get out without freezing to death. It was cold on Sunday for our little stroll, but we grapped a hot tea and kept on going. We walked along the Charles River starting in Cambridge... then walked across a bridge and went up and down Newbury Street on the Boston Side. By the end, the wind had really picked up and I was an ice cube, but otherwise, it was a nice afternoon.