Time keeps on slipping... slipping... slipping...

Almost three months later...

Well here we are, middle of the summer. It's been awhile hasn't it? A lot's happened in the mean time.
I moved out of the dorm into an apartment then met a girl and fell in love and fell and twisted my ankle and went camping and went to Phoenix and got a new job and moved in with my girlfriend and went to Vegas for my birthday and joined Weight Watchers and lost one pound while celebrating my birthday in Vegas and then lost another two while entertaining a visiting friend and her friends...

I've been keeping pretty busy lately, to say the least.

Tomorrow I am going to the in town clinic to see if I can find out what's wrong with my ankle, as it still swells up and aches and isn't terribly strong even three months after originally twisting it.Hopefully the fix won't be "stay off it."

One Month Later

Have you ever gone for a walk where you let your feet lead while your head occupies itself with things other than direction and location... then you look up and find that you're somewhere totally unexpected and different than where you thought you were headed?

When I moved to the Grand Canyon I came here as an alternative to one of the worst fates I could imagine for myself. I didn't necessarily want to come back here (I lived here two years ago) but it was better than the alternative of staying where I was. I wasn't excited and I was thinking of an exit plan before I even started to unpack.

A month later, just a few days ago, I was waiting for the bus to take me to work and I was thinking about what I was going to do that day and I started to smile. I was sitting and thinking and smiling and it struck me, I'm happy. I am actually happy right now. I have friends that I care about, that I see often. I am seeing some one who makes my heart go all pitter patter. I have a job that I enjoy. And to top it all off I have one of the most beautiful backyards that anyone can imagine.

Things aren't perfect here. There are serious complications with my relationship. I'm broke and have to get a phone bill paid off before they decide to send me to collections. I'm in dire need of a dentist and I really should get an inhaler but neither are going to happen until I have insurance.

But none of that seems to matter much right now. I'll take care of all of it when I can take care of it and until then... well until then I'm going to enjoy where I'm at. Ten pounds lighter, a pants size smaller, and smiling. Not a bad start I think.

The Gym Membership!

Three days ago my friend called me while I was at work. She didn't want to work out she whined, she was already laying down in bed and maybe instead she would take a nap? I told her that if she worked out that I would get up amazingly early (7am!!) and go to the gym and work out. She was out of bed and changing clothes before I finished my offer.

That night I poked around the Internet and found a work out routine and wrote out my exercises on a piece of paper. The next morning I got up early and went to the gym and it was good. I felt awkward working out, rusty and unpracticed. I was self conscious and hesitant with some of the machines but I did it.

And then I did it again this morning!

I've lost 10 pounds since moving here which is wonderful and more weight than I've lost in ages but... I think it's more important that I've also lost my sedentary habits. I walk to work, walk to bus stops, walk to restaurants and the grocery store and the rec center. I hike at night on rim trails and wander through the forest.

Life is good.

No Kitchen Cooking: Veggie Pea Soup

One downside of my current living situation is the lack of a kitchen. I have a dorm room and while there is a common room there is not a common kitchen. So when I came out here I packed up a slow cooker/rice cooker so that I wouldn't have to eat every meal out of a microwave or at a restaurant. I also brought a bunch of dried beans and peas and rice and fun things to cook! I will be, on occasion, posting fun things that I cook with my unkitchen, these will be for the most part one pot easy prep meals because I can't really do much else.

Veggie Pea Soup

Ingredients:
1 carrot
1 celery stalk
1 small green pepper
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 small white onion
1 tbsp oil (I used vegetable oil)
1 vegan veggie bullion cube
1/2 pound dried green split peas
salt and pepper to taste

Supplies:
Rice cooker
Immersion blender

Dice carrot, celery, pepper, garlic and onion. Put oil into cooker and turn cooker on to heat the oil. Put the chopped veggies into the pot to cook until onions caramelize. Turn off cooker and carefully spoon the veggies from the cooker into the immersion blender. Add a little water and blend until you have a paste. Add paste back to the cooker with 1/2 pound of rinsed green peas with bullion and add 3 cups of water. Cook until peas are soft, adding in more water as necessary. Salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!

Who is She Anyway?

Hi, I'm Chrissie. How do you do?

Did you know that the appropriate answer to "how do you do?" is "how do you do?" and not actually telling the asker how it is that you do. I know this because I've read Victorian etiquette books. I am an insufferable nerd. I am also a super hippie type nature girl which is why I now live and work in the Grand Canyon National Park. I'm an animal loving vegetarian who uses only eco-friendly vegan products. I'm a displaced New Yorker who plans on some day going home, even though after 12 years and 13 moves and 6 states I know that home isn't what I remember it to be. I'm a poetry eater and sometimes writer and point and shoot photographer who is lusting after a "real" camera.

A few years ago I lived in San Diego and had a gym membership and worked out every day and counted every calorie and lost 50 pounds. Then life and depression happened and I've since gained back every pound I lost.

This blog is about getting healthy again and doing so holistically. This isn't just about weight or size but about health and well-being. A lifetime ago a friend of mine became a registered holistic dietician. Or something. I'm not sure what it was that she was licensed to do but we did sit down and talk about life and health and happiness. She explained that her interest was in holistic living. She explained to me that health wasn't just about the food that you put into your body, but also the situations that you put into your life. It's about your friends and your family and doing everything that you can to make sure that you are healthy and happy.

At the time I thought it was a bunch of silly hippieness. At the time I wasn't much of a hippie myself. But as I get older and unhealthier and unhappier and hippier I'm starting to think that maybe there was something to the silly hippieness. So I'm going to give this whole holistic thing a try. Because of this I'm not going to count calories and I'm not going to get on a scale. I am going to walk and hike and join a gym and go to counseling and make friends and take trips and visit people and read good books and not hibernate in my dorm and allow myself to get all kinds of depressed again.

It's not going to be easy. I know that. It's hard to move after years of atrophy. It's hard to laugh after years of crying. It's hard to share after years of being a hermit, but here I am - for better or worse, working to be a better, healthier, happier me. Thank you for joining me.