Wow, I Did It!

October 27th, 28th & 29th - 3 days I will never forget.

The actual mileage for the event ended up being 56.1 miles. I walked 29 of it. I couldn't be happier with myself for my accomplishment. Here's a link to my 3Day Photos. And below is the best I can do to describe what it's like to participate in an event like this.

When people say it will change your life, they don’t really explain how and until you do it you can’t imagine how. I’ll do my best to describe it because it really had absolutely nothing to do with being affected by everything that comes with breast cancer or any illness for that matter.

It was the whole collective consciousness of doing something good and right. There were 3000-ish people all together, doing the same thing for the same reasons. You can’t grasp the positive energy that comes with that many people doing something like that for 3 whole days. Everyone and I mean EVERY.ONE. was nice, pleasant, happy, supportive, encouraging and using every ounce of energy they had to walk. And if they weren’t walking they used every ounce of energy they had to support those who were. And the ones who were walking used every ounce of energy they had to support those who were supporting us. It was absolutely amazing.

Everyone thanked us for walking, we thanked ourselves and each other for walking, and all the walkers thanked everyone who wasn’t walking for doing whatever it was they were doing. Thank you for helping us cross the street. Thank you for serving me food. Thank you for bringing us toilet paper. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you for cheering us on. Thank you for playing this music to keep us going. Thank you for stopping to pick me up because I can walk no more.

And when it wasn’t thank yous, it was please, and good morning, and how are you? Do you need encouragement? You can do it! YAY!! GO WALKERS! Have a sticker! YAY! Here’s some water! You’re doing great! People driving by honking horns and waving, kids yelling “Thank you!” from the back seat of their family’s car. Constant encouragement, constant gratitude.

It was the hardest, most fulfilling thing I've ever done.

It was the world we all want to live in, for 3 whole days.

It was absolutely incredible.

60 Miles, Here I Come!

I did it. I actually did it. I set a goal to prepare for the 3Day, 60 mile breast cancer walk at the beginning of November 2005 and over the last 12 months I've worked hard to train and raise the required money in order to participate.

Today I collected the final donation to push me over the required amount!! The walk starts this coming Friday and I actually collected the money before the event!

Not only that, I set a goal to loose 40lbs before this event. That's quite allot and was probably doable, but I didn't quite make the halfway mark of that number, but hey, I'm not gonna gripe about loosing 18lbs!

I've trained to the point of having little to no ankle pain when I walk any longer and feel ready to walk this event. I also have hope that I might actually be able to walk the whole thing! I had thoughts that I might not due to my pace being a bit slow, but I think I can actually pull it off.

Anyway, I'm super excited and sorta nervous and real, REAL proud of myself. I DID IT!

My Donation Page

The coolest webcam EVER!

I ran across this link today and haven't been able to stop watching it. Which is really bad considering I am at work.

It's of Pete's" Pond in Botswana. When I first clicked it I expected a bad stationary web cam where your only hope to see anything cool at all is to stare at it all day and hope something pauses long enough in front of the camera. But oh how I was wrong!

Not only is it not stationary, it's a really great connection and camera. Plus the watering hole is VERY active. Within 5 minutes of watching a pack of baboons came down for a drink. Less than 10 minutes later a bull elephant was there!

In the course of the afternoon, checking randomly to see what might be there, I've seen a warthog, giraffes, an ostrich, an elephant, baboons, lions, steenbok, elands and assorted birds!!

It's AWESOME!

Well, I'm back

The myspace shiny has worn off and I find myself wanting to blog here more and more.

I spent one afternoon reading back through most of my previous posts and found myself inspired to start again. I was also inspired by some of the things I wrote. I've made progress in alot of areas that I might not have noticed if it hadn't been documented over the last few years.

I hope I can get the word out to whomever previously frequented my blog so that they can again. It is always nice to get comments back on some of my posts.

Anyway, to catch up on some things. From my very first post I complained about some home improvement projects that needed doing... that were long overdo when I posted it over 2 years ago. Hehe, I can proudly say I've finally completed my bathroom and hung the kitchen light. Yes!

I also mentioned the 3Day Breast Cancer walk a few months back. The event is closing in and I've been training and working hard raising money. I can also proudly say that I'm ready, the money that hasn't been raised can easily be covered and I feel I've grown leaps and bounds better in the walking department. So I'm looking very forward to the 27th-29th.

I could go on, but for now I think that is enough of a quick update. All things are looking better, not that they were grim to begin with, but better is good. That's all I ask of myself these days... to just be better in whichever department I feel needs work. So it's all better. ;)

Oh yea! I almost forgot... I'm debt free! Yay!

In Case You're Wondering...

...where I've been.

http://www.myspace.com/nadirah6

I found a new toy. Or should I say, I finally gave in and joined the masses.

I might blog here or there, or everywhere... as Dr. Seuss would say.

Which SciFi Character Are You?

I'm Elrond

A stern yet benevolent organizer who often knows best, your wits are keenly fixed on aiding efforts you deem worthy.

"Now at this last we must take a hard road, a road unforseen. There lies our hope, if hope it be. To walk into peril to Mordor."

Elrond is a character in the Middle-Earth universe. TheOneRing.net has a short biography.

Photos

I love to take photographs. I have alot of them too and I FINALLY took the time to start archiving some on flickr.com. It's a great site. I even signed up for the 'pro' membership so I could have alot of storage space.

Anyway, I thought I'd share my stuff. http://www.flickr.com/photos/45026945@N00/sets/

Enjoy!

p.s. per the post below, I DID get my damn shoes! :D

Procrastination, but Good Thoughts

I have a list of things to do. Most of those things have been on that list for an embarrassing amount of time. It's not a physical list, but a mental list. Perhaps that is why it weighs down on me so much. The list gets longer the more I think about it. I should probably write it all down.

But I digress. I feel the winds of change coming. I can sense the motivation to do these things. I think I *will* right it all down so I can get it off my brain and digest it a little more. It will also give me the satisfaction to cross things off the list once they are complete.

Namely that damn bathroom is STILL not finished. I haven't touched it in months and months and months. Also the light fixture I bought for the kitchen is still in my closet. Both of those projects have been half complete for well over a year. That's just ridiculous. Shame on me!

Then there's the belly dance class. I'm bored with it, but it's my own fault. I'm still in the Adv I class and I'm ready for Adv II. The problem is I have to prove my readiness to a teacher. I have to schedule a testing session where I will solo dance 4 choreographies that I've learned in the class. Two things have to happen in order for this to happen.

1. I have to wait until they are testing people.
2. I have to practice the choreographies so I don't look like an idiot.

Neither of these things is happening at the same time. They are about to announce a new testing schedule, so I hope I can get the courage and motivation to just do it!

The last big thing on my mind is walking and the shoes required to give me the support I need to train. I WILL get new shoes this weekend. Honey and I already talked about it and I cannot put it off any longer. On the other side of that mission though, I still continue to loose weight. I'm down 8 lbs total! Almost 1/4 to my goal!! (40lbs loss by Oct is my goal btw) :D

Speaking of goals, I obviously have this big one I keep going on and on about. But a dear friend of mine asked me what comes after the walk? He hoped that I still have a goal. A longer term goal to keep me healthy and happy. I hadn't thought about that much. I've been using this 3Day walk as motivation to keep me going through the rough parts of trying to change how I live my life. I figure by the time October rolls around I will have lost alot of weight and have a routine set that keeps me exercising and eating right. After 10 months of doing those 2 things I figure it'll be habit and I won't go back to my old ways after the walk. But I'm going to take his thoughts to heart and think more on what other things I might want to do that I could only do if I were in shape and healthy.

Thank you for that, dear friend. You've given me something good to chew on for a while.

It Is Working

Regarding my previous post, I'm losing weight and inches. :D

I set a goal to lose 1lb a week so that I'll be 40lbs lighter by the time I participate in the Breast Cancer 3-Day

As of today, I'm 4lbs lighter. I started this journey on Jan 5th. So my target for Jan was reached!! Not only that I've lost a total of 5 1/2 inches!

I feel fantastic. I'm actually doing this and it is going to work!

My New Life

I have so much to blog about I don’t even know where to start.

I know, I’ll start by saying that so far this year has been pretty darn good. Even though I’ve been busting my ass at work (more than normal) and I’m tired and burned out by what I’ve been doing there the last 3 weeks, I’m still in high spirits most of the time.

On Jan 5th I woke up to have an epiphany. I was suddenly able to talk back to the voice inside my head that nagged at me and called me ugly names and made me feel bad about myself. Being overweight that is.

Out of no where this other voice came and just shut her the hell up and then whispered this great truth to me. She said “Even if you buy good walking shoes, your feet will still hurt and you won’t be able to walk the 3-Day in October. You need to loose some weight and get healthy too.”

Later that day I joined an online group to help set a meal plan and fitness plan. Mostly so I’d know what I should be eating. It’s hard to know what to buy and what to make that’s good for you if you don’t have guidelines, or you’ve not done it before. Both plans have been pretty easy to stick to, but mostly it’s because of that other stronger voice in my head that shuts down the bad one.

Even just today the mean voice almost convinced me to run through Jack-in-the-Box drive through. Then the other voice came in and said “Subway, Subway, Subway, Subway, Subway, Subway.” I went to Subway. That’s happened 5 or 6 times I the last 2 weeks, and I’ve not succumbed.

Considering I was a 2 to 3 drive through meals a day girl, the fact that I’ve not had ANY fast food in 2 weeks is pretty amazing. I feel fantastic about this.

They always say you can’t change your eating and fitness habits unless you really want to and that you have to do it for yourself. It’s so true. And you don’t know it till you’re doing it. Until you can actually shut down that bad voice and make the right choice.

This isn’t a diet. It’s not a goal to “get into a bikini by summer.” It’s also not a resolution, just a coincidence that it’s the beginning of a new year. It’s a life change to make better choices, to be healthy and to be fit. I’m finally doing it and I don’t foresee falling off the wagon this time.

Last week some time I realized the day I had my epiphany and made this change was exactly 10 years to the day that I started dating my ex-husband. I just found that interesting. The moment I chose to date him lead me down a 10 year path to self abuse through neglect and bad choices.

10 years later, to the day… I’m finally free from that crutch.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Woo 2006! I got big plans for this year. Trips to take, walks to walk, other random stuffs I'm trying to be excited about. :D

But to start it off right, we had to celebrate the New Year. Mom, Dad, Me, Honey and my sister's two daughters (my oldest nieces) all went bowling. It was a package deal for 4 hours with pizza and soda, party favors and a toast at midnight.

I think we all had alot of fun. I know I did. There's not much to say about it. We went, we bowled, we laughed, we played... pretty much what we always do when my family gets together. :) I took my camera to capture the festivities.

Enjoy!


Honey & Me


Mom showing me her hat, Dad being silly(normal.)


Mom trying to show me her hat and not her double chin.
Dad still being silly and laughing - LOL.


My sister's girls. The blond is the eldest at 14. Can you tell?


GOOD TIMES! :D