Hello lovelies, I hope you’re all having a wonderful Wednesday.
First of all, I’d like to extend a giant thank you to all those who have commented on my blog so far! Reading each of your comments makes me realize what a lucky girl I am to have the opportunity to communicate with and receive advice from people who have shared similar experiences to me. You all made me smile and feel welcome in the blog world… it’s pretty daunting being the new kid!
Now, I’ll bore you with the events of my day. Warning: long and slightly jumbled post to follow. Read at own risk.
Her blissful slumber was punctured by the insistent beeping of an alarm clock. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and registered that it was 700 hours. Her body ached. Her stomach growled. It was time to face the day. She pulled on some leggings and her runners, gulped down some water and headed out the front door, camera in hand. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. The sky was a clear, radiant blue and the sunshine lit up the suburban silhouette of the neighbourhood. As she stepped onto the footpath, she decided ‘Today is going to be a good day’.
And mostly, it was. I started my Wednesday with an hour-long stroll around my suburb. Usually this setting would be fairly dim and uninteresting, but the sunshine today made everything seem so… pretty. Amazingly, I feel as if my mood is linked to the weather. It may sound a little bit bizarre… but as soon as those rays warmed my face I felt a kind of glow settle over me. Paramore kept me company on my walk… I let the music fill my ears and focused on the world around me.
I was so thrilled by my sunshine-music high I felt the urge to run. I wanted to feel my feet pound on the hard concrete beneath me. I wanted to sweat, and feel the wind pushing my hair back. I wanted to feel alive. Unfortunately, my short-lived run had the opposite effect. The part of my brain that obsesses over food and exercise really likes running. And not in a good way, either. I haven’t gone for a run in a long time…so my lungs felt the impact pretty quickly. As soon as I upped my pace, nasty thoughts crept into my mind. ‘Do you honestly think you can keep going? You’ve let yourself slip… look how lazy you’ve become’. I felt so naïve for thinking I could push myself like that… I know my brain associates running with disordered thoughts… I guess I just overestimated myself a little. But, at least I tried. Trying and failing is a lot less bitter than failing because you didn’t try at all.
I did not let that little incident ruin my beautiful walk, let alone my day. I told the voice to go top itself, and kept going. On my walk, I took a few photos of some things that caught my eye:
Suburban landscape
I adore cherry blossoms. What is your favourite flower?
Make a wish
The last uphill stretch of my walk left me famished! I arrived home ready to inhale the entire contents of my pantry. I settled for this delicious bowl of oats instead:
Om nom
Into the microwave went ½ cup of quick oats cooked in ½ cup of water, ¼ cup soy milk, cinnamon, vanilla extract and some sultanas. I topped the steaming bowl of awesomeness with 1 tsp of organic crunchy peanut butter. I seem to have gone through half a jar of peanut butter in less than a week… oops 😛
After breakfast, it was shower time! It’s amazing how much better a really good wash and blowdry can make you feel. As I emerged from the shower, I stopped for a second to examine my reflection in the mirror. For as long as I can remember, I’ve had negative thoughts about my body. Something was always too fat, or too wide, or too wobbly. I took a good, hard look at my body this morning and I realized something: my body was not made to be super thin. Yes, I have a small frame but on that frame are curves. My body is almost completely devoid of straight lines… curves are everywhere. And not just in the obvious places, either. I marveled at the curves from the back of my knee to my ankle, from my ear to my collar bone, even the curve of my armpit! It saddens me to think I was so intent on erasing all those womanly curves from my body. Today, I challenge you to think of one positive thing you really like about your body, preferably not related to weight.
Today, my belly was a beast! It growled, it grumbled and it was hungry all the time. I drank water, I drank tea… but my body still wanted food. So two hours after eating breakfast I caved and gave my body what it wanted. And it felt good.
Snackin' it urrrp
After some intense study time, I noshed on some leftovers from last night’s dinner. In this not-so-photogenic concoction was: steamed snow peas, red capsicum, broccoli, carrot, and yellow beans cooked in coconut milk and curry paste served atop of basmati rice.
I think this is self-explanatory.
My tastebuds sure enjoyed that curry… but an hour or two later my tummy certainly didn’t (Apologies for the information overload). A certain someone gave me lectures about ‘wasting’ calories on food that made me feel icky… but once again I told it to be quiet (In a not-so-polite way).
Dinner tonight went unphotographed… though it was exceptionally tasty and much prettier than lunch. I was craving carbohydrates again so cooked up 1 cup of wholegrain penne and topped it with a sauce made from tomato paste, a cup of steamed vegetables, and some flakes of tinned salmon. This was consumed whilst watching an episode of Skins with my housemate (hence the lack of photographs). I can’t quite pluck up the nerve to take food photographs in front of others yet.
I think I’ve blabbed on enough now, I hope you didn’t get too bored reading that enormous post!
I’m going to leave you with a photograph of a very important individual. His name is Winston, and we spoon every night:
The one man in my life who will never let me down.
Q: What is your favourite meal? Inspire me 😀
Q: What kind of exercise do you enjoy?
❤ Nead
The Little Things 