One Word

This is from one of my favorite blogs that I follow. Marc and Angel really make you think!

My answer: LIVING … what is yours?

Please check out Marc and Angel for more thought provoking posts!

Dukan – Day 188 – You’re Giving Two Speeches

Today was a PP day.

Daily Weight Loss: 0.4 lb/0.20 kg (4th day in a row that I’ve had 0.4 lb loss, strange!)
Total Weight Loss: 72.2 lb/32.81 kg

So off to work I go this morning… no confrontation at the tea egg line, this is a good thing for me and you can see the relief on the lovely, smiling faces of the tea egg ladies

After morning rounds I am told that I’m going to help with bathing babies as they are short of staff (for new comers, I’m the Quality Manager for a maternity hospital in China, helping them improve to international standards and I’m a midwife by trade, not practicing here (or at least that’s what it’s suppose to be… LOL). Anyway, bathed a lovely baby boy while the marketing department snatched dozens and dozens of pictures of him for the parents. He also had a swim in the tank, settled when I sang him The Rose (my go to song to make babies stop crying) and then I gave him a lovely massage. Taking my time so I’d only have to care for one bambino!

After that, Kitty (my personal assistant) and I went back to our office and she comes into my inner office with a 4 page document to show me which events next month I have to attend and which ones I’m speaking at. Speaking at?? “Yes, she says, You’re giving two speeches”… “What do they have to be about”, I ask. And she replies, “Oh, don’t worry, they will make for you”… Lovely. So someone will write my speeches in Mandarin and then Kitty with translate them into English for me, then I will read them out loud in English and Kitty will translate verbally to the audience in Mandarin. I love this place. I am their marketing doll and I really do enjoy it! I have to do very little, but show up, look pretty, speak and smile. I imagine this is kind of like being a beauty queen Kitty has informed me that this is all in honor of our hospital being open for 1 year and we will be celebrating from March 3 – April 4th… The Chinese know how to party it up!

Lunch at my desk, 2 tea eggs and 3 slices of ham.
Dinner… funny thing, I forgot to take meat out of the freezer, something I rarely do, and ended up stopping at the street vendor on the way into my apartment complex. She sells what looks like chickens and I thought I’d get one, sans the head (they serve it with the head here), and have that for dinner. She explains that they are free range ducks, this is why they are smaller than what I’d be used to from the U.S.. Well, ducks and Dukan don’t go together because of the fat content, but I need to eat so I buy one. She expertly shaved the meat off the bone and presented it to me in 2 little containers. It.Was.Yummy!!! Really yummy! But my tummy felt heavy for about an hour after I ate.

I went for a run, did 35 minutes and 17 seconds in the pouring rain, but I’m really starting to enjoy it. Kept up my 7 mins. run/2 mins. walk ratio and it seemed easier this time around.

Yogurt with bran and splenda for snack and off to bed… trip to Shanghai on Friday!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: “Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness” -Edward Stanley

Life Is a Book

A lot of people ask me how I am able to travel so much. The answer is simple. I just do it. I make an average amount of money and I spend it on travel. Saying you don’t have enough, is an excuse. I was dirt poor and managed to scrape enough together to do a medical mission trip to Vanuatu in 2005 (I had to pay for flight and 30 days accommodation). Was it hard to come up with the money? Hell yeah, was it worth… every damn dime!

At this point in my life I am not married and the mom to 3 adult kids. I make a decent living working overseas. This puts me closer to a lot of places I’ve always wanted to visit. I don’t own a house, a car or very many “things”. I would rather spend my money exploring… and that’s what I do. Sometimes you just need to put on your big girl panties, pack up a back pack and walk out the door… You only live once!

This picture was taken by me, with my iPhone, while sitting on the beach on Phi Phi Island, Thailand in November 2011. I had an amazing vacation with my friends Cathy (from Illinois), Karen & Dominique. Karen & Dominique are Brits living in Abu Dhabi. Make memories… take the time to see something new… Step 1 get a passport and explore!

Ciao!

Phi Phi Island, Thailand November 2011

Day 187 – Still Runnin’ In the Rain

Wednesday was a PP day.

Daily weight loss: 0.4 lb/0.20 kg
Total weight loss: 71.7 lb/32.61 kg

Well it was still raining… hard, when I left for work. The walk was a bit challenging, but more challenging was wrestling with a lady, armed with an umbrella in the tea egg line. One of the problems I have here is the inability to accept that these people simply have a. NO MANNERS and b. NO COMPREHENSION OF QUEING IN LINE! Seriously. I am Ms. Manners! And I’m not afraid to say something to anyone not following very basic, civilized rules of life. Like not blatantly cutting in line in front of someone. I asked her politely to move to the back of the line. She actually uttered the ‘F’ word and TOUCHED ME. Oh, touching me, not so good! I whipped my umbrella around to block her access to the tea egg lady, who was watching in utter fascination as to whom was going to win this battle. In the end I DID… MUHAHAHA. As I usually do, when it comes to manners and queing, and in the process of winning, she actually got taken care of 4 people after she would have, if she’d just gotten in line. I marched off, in the pouring rain, feeling like a champion

Oh, just a small glimpse into what I call my “China Moments”. I could go on for days, but it would bore you and you’d be asking yourself, “Why in the hell does she stay there?”… As I do, daily… but it’s a good paying job and I like the work and the people I work with (most days, like the rest of you).

Breakfast: 2 tea eggs, 500mL of water
Lunch: 1 tea egg, beef slices, 500mL of water
Dinner: Stir-fried beef with onions, seasoned with curry… YUM!
Snack: Yogurt with bran and splenda
Total water intake of the day: nearly 3 liters!

I went for a 30 minute run after dinner and before the yogurt. I stuck with the 7 minute intervals, will try to move up next week to 8 minutes. I hope everyone is having a good evening!

Ciao!

Quote of the day: Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.
Vince Lombardi

I really wish it would stop doing this…

Rain, Rain PLEASE GO AWAY!

Ridiculously Amazing!

So, I have a confession… I’m a blog stalker. I wish I could get paid to read and comment on blogs, I’d stop midwifing in a New York minute if there was such an opportunity.

Yesterday, while blog surfing I came upon a blog about promoting your blog on Pinterest and that sent me to this amazing blog on how to create printable quotes!

And so I downloaded Picasa and uploaded all of my pictures and picked this one as the background for today’s inspirational message…

I then went to iWatermark and put my blog watermark on it, so when it’s “liked” or “repinned” on Pinterest, my blog address will still be attached.

I took this picture while camping on Bassam Beach in Oman.

Ciao!

Dukan – Day 186 – Running In the Rain

Tuesday was a PP (Pure Protein) Day.

Daily Weight Loss: 0.4 lb/0.20 kg
Total Weight Loss: 71.3 lb/32.41 kg

Well, the sun was a short lived adventure here in wintery south China! Woke up to a downpour, the good news… It’s was 41 degrees! Woo HOO! And it warmed up to 48… I feel spring is in the air. Vivien & Kitty promise me there is no where more beautiful on Earth than Hangzhou, China in the spring… I’m looking forward to that

Coffee while getting ready for work and picked up tea eggs on my 1 mile walk in the drizzling rain. Another cup of coffee after handover and then I by noon had more than 1 liter of my 2 liter water bottle already in.
Lunch was a tea egg and beef slices. Then another tea egg around 3:30.
1 mile walk home with Velina and her mom and then I made Dill Encrusted Pork with Onions. I basically chopped fresh dill and put it in a small zip lock Baggie. Cut 5 oz. pork into bite sized pieces and threw those in the bag and added some dry Italian seasonings and shook the bag. I then put 2 tsp. olive oil in a pan and sautéed a half of a large red onion for 3 minutes, stirring often. Remove onions from pan, add 1 tsp olive oil, turn heat up to medium high and throw in the pork. I let the pork sit for 1 minute and then stir frynit for 3 minutes, add in the onions for another minute and it’s done! Yummy!!

I then went out for a run. It ended up being a short 25 minutes because it started lightning! It was pouring down rain, and I have to add here for me to RUN in the rain is HUGE! I am terrified of screwing up my knees, but there was no fear at all! That is until the lightning, LOL. I was able to do 3 runs of 7 minutes with short walk intervals in between. That’s a first for me.

Came back, ate yogurt with Splenda and flax seed and off to bed at a decent hour. All in all, a pretty good day.

Ciao!

Quote of the day:

Remember that being a success without happiness is meaningless.
– Richard Denny -

Self Control

So this goes right along with Moonday’s Philosophy, she’s a fellow Dukaner, who I discovered early in my journey and put her words on my fridge… Will I regret NOT eating this? The answer of course is always NO.

I ran into this problem yesterday. It’s been rare for me to be conflicted. Fortunately it wasn’t carbs, but low fat Gouda. I know, I know… Not allowed on Dukan, but I picked up a 200g block while in Shanghai as a treat on the train, along with my Shashimi.

I filled up on the Shashimi and had a tiny bite of the cheese. Then I took it and the ham slices to work for lunch with the intent of having a tiny amount again. I found myself OBSESSED with wanting to eat all of it! After my 4th little piece I started searching my inspirational quotes for some help and found the one at the top of this post… STOP! OK, I did… THINK! WHAT COULD HAPPEN? Well, I could keep eating and then be disappointed in myself or stop then, after eating four small bites. And so I stopped, I sealed it up and locked it in the cupboard. IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT??? After I thought about it for a few minutes, the answer was YES! I definitely don’t regret putting it away.

Self control is tough! The bottom line for me is what does the finish line look like and do I want to take longer to get there? NO… DO YOU want to take longer to get there?

Ciao!