Wishing you all peace, love and happiness

Well, it's my 50th birthday today and to be honest, it has inspired some thinking about what I want in my life and what I'm doing to make that happen.

One of the thoughts I've had lately is that I spend a great deal of time reading about improving things I want improving and writing about how I want things to be improved. (Main focus - my weight).  I don't spend much time actually DOING anything to accomplish the desired improvements.

To that end, I have decided to take a year long hiatus from this blog.  This time next year, I'll re-evaluate.

Thanks to all you who have read my ramblings and offered your encouragement by leaving a comment or two.

Wishing you all much peace, love and happiness in your lives.

Maura
maurastoolbox  at  gmail  (should you want to email)

The Birthday List - part two

I'm still working on this....

Mindfulness

- establish a mindful eating practice - track hunger levels, focus on eating, satiety and stress

- establish a quiet reflection practice

- keep a gratitude journal


Creativity

- Knitting
- a sweater
- mittens or hats for people who need them
- a cat blankie (to learn to purl better)

- Cooking
- Bake muffins & cookies a few times a year, because I enjoy doing so
- Routinely roast veggies, make salads, and soups for myself

- Reading
- NO weight loss books or blogs (except on MFD)
- More fiction - including my guilty pleasures of romance and mystery novels
- At least two books I should have read in college, but didn't


Gardening
 - learn about raised bed gardening (specifically flowers)
 - learn about native herbs 


 - Establish monthly technology free days - where I don't use a computer, iPad or iPhone with the exception of answering the phone or listening to music.
Body

- establish a yoga practice
- ask D for foot rubs
- be more regular with pedicures
- walk in the neighborhood

Birthday list

My 50th birthday is next Saturday and I've been thinking about making a Birthday List for the next year. Things I want to do that will give me joy, challenge me, nurture me, etc. Yeah, it's about ME. The one thing that won't be on the list is "lose weight"

So far, I'm thinking about categories:

Knitting - a sweater, 12 pairs of mittens (fingerless) to give to a shelter

Reading - not sure what. More fiction. No weight loss books.

Make new friends or reconnect with old ones. I'm sorely lacking in this department. Part of it is because I'm such an introvert and part of is is that I'm a homebody at heart. But - I know I need more friends in my life.

Keep a gratitude journal.

Learn about raised bed gardening.

Establish technology free days

If you have any ideas that are more about nurturing than weight loss, I'd love to hear them!









- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

A quick update

I'm loving being back on MFD.  The support on the maintenance thread is phenomenal.  Such wisdom.

And I'm down almost 1.5 lbs from last month's weigh-in.  And I've found a type of yoga I actually want to do!

And I'm moving that line - inch by inch away from McDonald's and all that it stands for (to me).