I rather like to think of myself as a gardener. I thoroughly enjoy planning flower beds and going to plant nurseries to see what wonderful specimens that I have never seen before. I like reading gardening books and browsing web sites for the perfect plant companions and thinking about where they could go in my own flower beds. I have a list of plants and trees in my head that I will own one day when I have more room. I enjoy walking through the local arboretum and trying to name the plants without looking at their markers. Yeah, I know how to have a good time.

And while I have learned a lot about gardening in general, I have so much more to learn. I want to know more about the soil and how to best prepare it to grow organic flowers and veggies. I want to know the best time to plant and harvest. I want to learn more about native plants, rain gardens and sustainable gardening. This is why I applied for and was thankfully selected to participate in the Master Gardener program with the Fayette County Extension office. Tomorrow I will attend the orientation class and then, starting September 9th, I will begin the regular class that goes a few hours a day, two days a week for ten weeks.  Completing the course does not automatically make me a master of all things in the garden. I have to take a final exam and then volunteer for up to 40 hours to get that prestigious title.

The process to get in the program was competitive and I wasn’t sure that I would make the cut considering I’m more of a computer geek with no formal training at all in things of nature. I’m glad that they gave me a break though and am excited to start the classes. I have to admit, I haven’t done a great job of keeping my flower beds in shape this summer. I guess I can always offer up a place to do weed identification if that is needed.

Side note: Whenever I think of myself as a Master Gardener, Star Wars pops in my head and I chuckle. This explains the title of this post and also warns everyone that I will refer to myself as Jedi Master Gardener when the time comes.

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Yummy Vegan Apple Crisp^^

So let’s have a little update on the lifestyle changes shall we? Yes let’s.

As you may remember, I started following a plant-based diet in January of this year. Now it is eight months later and I am still going strong. A lot of people assume that vegans can only eat fruits, veggies, tofu and beans but did you know that frito corn chips and oreos are vegan? Yeah, me either. I spent the first few months eating vegan but not necessarily healthy until I found an online workshop called Vegan Hope. The Vegan Hope workshop came along at the perfect time for me.

Not only did I change up my diet but I also joined a gym and started working out with a trainer. The training was going fabulous until a couple months in and then it seemed like I was moving backwards. I soon discovered that I had a medical issue that would halt the workouts for about six weeks. Everything is fine now but let’s just file the medical issue under the category of lady troubles and leave it at that.

This six weeks hiatus from doing anything physical could have meant a huge set back for the weight loss and general move in the healthy direction but this is where the Vegan Hope Workshop came in. I spent the entire month of July learning about food and food combinations and refining my diet even more. I started eliminating unhealthy things like sugar, oils and processed foods and learned how to cook fresh, healthy meals. I stopped craving sweets and oils and I started to really taste veggies and fruits like I can only assume they were meant to be tasted. Now I reach for an apple or frozen grapes when I want something sweet and it almost always does the trick.

At the end of the six weeks, I hopped on the scale with much anxiety and discovered that I had lost 10 pounds! That is 10 pounds without exercise or tracking calories at all! That made me even more excited to call up Trainer Rob and get back to work. I am now two weeks into the new training plan and have more energy than ever. I am also happy to report that I am officially 20 pounds lighter from when I began this little journey back in January.

The difference this time around than the other times I have dieted and lost weight is that I look at food differently now. I think of it as fuel and in many ways medicine to heal my body rather than putting things in there that cause stress and disease. I also REALLY enjoy fresh foods now. I like how they taste and how they make me feel. This lifestyle feels right for me and has been surprisingly easy so far. It feels good to listen to my body for a change and take things as they come.

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I’m currently reading the book “Life is a Verb: 37 Days to Wake Up, Be Mindful, and Live Intentionally” by Patti Digh and it is loaded with inspirational stories and yummy bits to think about. It is one part short stories and one part journaling prompts. It is the perfect read for me right now.

I learned today: Tall Garden Phlox smells super sweet and Quinoa elbow pasta with whole tomatoes is good healthy southern comfort food.

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I spent this last weekend visiting my family. It is always nice to go home for a few days. The pace changes and everything slows down. My mom cooks special foods for me and my lovely sister makes me a surprise vegan birthday cake.

I stand next to one sister or the other, doing dishes, and we chat. I have long talks with my dad about his dogs he is training or the latest things he has been into.

My mom and I talk flowers and she almost always sends me home with a couple of new plants for my flower beds. I sometimes can give her a few tips from things I have learned from reading one gardening book or another but usually she teaches me a thing or two.

I take naps and they watch my doggy and sneak him extra snacks and he adores them more than anything. Telling Merlin that we are going to PeePaws house puts him in a frenzy.

The photo above is my dad with my sister’s dog, Maggie. They are looking for squirrels. Dad and Maggie are partners in crime. She helps him do the chores and then they snuggle up for a nap. If he is gone for a day, she pouts. I love their relationship.

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I have been home a few days from SXSW and have been processing what I thought about everything this year. I have to admit, this wasn’t my favorite year. I sat through some interesting sessions and brought home some good information but the overall experience didn’t compare to the last two years.

The event this year was much larger than in the past and, in some time slots, I was almost overwhelmed with which talk to attend. This could be a good problem to have except sometimes the choices still didn’t excite me. I still think it is a great conference and well worth attending but I’m interested to see how it will evolve. I have to make a disclaimer here that I managed to catch the SXSW Scurvy early on in the conference and spent a large part of it with medicine hangover, feeling tired and not particularly interested in socializing.

OK now to sum up the fitness/food situation while traveling, it was a challenge to say the least. I did not exercise at all other than walking around the conference and downtown to get some food. I blame this on the scurvy. I did not have the energy to do anything and I couldn’t even imagine a workout with my stuffed up head. I’m just now getting back on track with that.

Austin itself had a ton of options for interesting vegan friendly food but most of it was not within walking distance, well walking distance for someone that felt sickly and pathetic. I ended up eating Starbuck’s oatmeal and a soy chai latte almost every day for breakfast and then a veggie burger most nights from the restaurant in the hotel.

I did visit Pita Pit a few times for their hummus and falafal pita, not exactly the healthiest choices but not the worst either. SXSW had a few decent vegan selections as well at the conference center and I appreciate that.

This traveling experience wasn’t the best for the new lifestyle choices and I have to learn how to plan better for future trips. I may even pack a small bag of acceptable food next time that would serve as a back up for when I can’t find food that fits the bill.

Now I need to get back on track and into my new/old routine and I’m actually pretty excited about that.

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I think it may be that I’m traveling and staying in a hotel changes things a lot. Yesterday I had to search online for somewhere to eat and then walk around town to find it. It wasn’t as easy as going downstairs and grabbing a quick bite on the way to the conference center. Luckily, Austin has an amazing selection of places to eat for veggies and vegans.

And what crazy dreams I had last night! I dreamed of people disapproving of me and being mad at me. I dreamed I gave someone an apple power supply as a gift and they told me they would only ever use a PC (that dream really perplexed me). I dreamed of wolves, one was my pet and the other was wild and only seen from the distance as it ran into the woods. I dreamed of money issues that weren’t necessarily mine but the problem of others close to me.

I woke up this morning feeling overwhelmed, anxious and not quite right. I guess I was comfortable in my routine at home and now that I am out of it, I have to work a little harder at all of this.

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Six weeks ago, I started some pretty big changes in my diet and my lifestyle. The week between Christmas and New Years I did a cleanse. It was an amazing experience for a few reasons. First, I learned the difference between hunger and eating from emotions and habit. Second, for the first time in years, I have kicked the caffeine habit. There are no more highs and lows from the caffeine swing.

After going through a week of body and head aches and finally feeling lighter and more energetic, I couldn’t simply return to business as usual. I decided it was time to overhaul the diet to see how I felt. I began by eating strictly vegan. For six weeks now, I have not had any dairy or eggs. That’s right… No cheese! I thought I would never be able to do that but you know what, I don’t miss it at all. As a matter of fact, I feel more energetic and have less cravings overall and a nice bonus is my clothes are getting looser and I’m not evening counting calories. I know that it will level out soon but it has helped me to stay motivated to live healthier this year.

I realize that eating vegan alone won’t make me healthier so I am also dedicated to cutting out fructose and other refined sugars as well. This has been harder because it is in everything! I had to go through at least ten loaves of bread the other day in the store aisle to find one that didn’t have milk, eggs or fructose syrup in it. The best solution is to make my own bread and, while I have experimented, I haven’t been that motivated yet. I’m working on the learning to love to cook part. I’m getting there I think… well more so than days of old.

Finally, today I met with a trainer to start a 12 week cardio program. You see, I want to be a runner and I want to improve my cardio and endurance so that my favorite outdoor activities, like hiking and biking, are not so hard for me. I want an active life style. I have been going to the gym for a few weeks now and the other day I saw an ad for a trainer that does heart-rate based training. I came straight home, looked up his web site and emailed him immediately. This is exactly what I had in mind. I scheduled my first meeting and fitness assessment (um, I have some work to do) for this afternoon and now I have a game plan in hand and am ready to get to work.

I plan on keeping track of the journey here with updates on the vegan diet and fitness goals. The thing I’m most excited about is that this isn’t a diet but a true lifestyle change. Until science figures out the whole fountain of youth bit or making me immortal a healthy ticker will have to be my focus.

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This year I became more aware of the little body aches and pains and how tired I always feel. I have noticed that I have lost interest in a lot of my hobbies that used to fuel me and my creativity. As a matter of fact, I haven’t felt very creative at all. I find I’m spending more time sitting and reading about doing rather than actually doing myself. I’m stuck.

For all of these reasons, I am declaring 2010 a year of playing and discovery. Yep, I’m going back to the playground. I’m going to have fun. I’m going to read books that I may have never picked up. I’m going to try things I may not have an interest in. I’m going to listen to the other side a little more.

I’m going to exercise my body and mind and not judge whether it was a success or failure. I’m going to play around with the kind of foods I eat and actually enjoy eating rather than counting calories or feeling guilty when I choose something that is less than perfect. I’m flirting with the idea of a vegan diet and seeing how I feel.

I’m ready for a challenge. I’m ready to stretch and grow. I’m ready to dive into a new year. 2009 had some wonderful high points and I’m grateful for them but I think I’m ready to mix things up a bit. I’m looking forward to 2010. I think we are going to do great things together.

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December 9 Challenge. Something that really made you grow this year. That made you go to your edge and then some. What made it the best challenge of the year for you?

Almost a year and half ago I created a list of things I want to do in this life and on that list was to travel to Fairbanks Alaska to see the Northern Lights. I have already written about this trip in this Best of 2009 series but I think it definitely fits in this topic as well.

This trip was one of the most challenging and rewarding things I have done in my life. This trip taught me that I can accomplish anything I want if I break it down into achievable steps and took it little by little.

First, I had to convince myself that it was fine to ask for a month off work and to let some freelance clients know that I wouldn’t be available then. I didn’t know how much I needed that month until I was in the second week and realized that it took that long for me to get use to not checking email and thinking about working or feeling guilty that I might need to do something. It is so easy now to be connected all the time and sometimes it takes going to a remote area with no service to see how nice it is to unplug for a while.

Second, we had to save for the trip and we learned how to change our priorities so that we could do this. We sold one of our cars and bought an older model that we could pay cash for so that we wouldn’t have the car payment. We ate at home more and stopped spending money on things we didn’t really need. Everything was focused on our goal of this trip and we made it happen. This was huge for us.

Finally, we left home with a very basic outline of what we wanted to accomplish and the rest was completely flexible. We had no reservations and had nothing booked. We started driving each day with a general plan and there were many days those plans changed and we went with that. It was freeing and exciting and it pushed my comfort zones to the limits some days, especially when we were driving along the Alaskan highway and were not sure if we had enough gas to get to the next gas station and we had not seen another car in an hour or so… oh and big bears live there.

I thought this trip would be the trip of a life time but that suggests that we will never make a similar trip again and I don’t think that is the case at all. If anything, it has made us want to travel more and it has empowered us to think that we can go anywhere we want. We just have to think and will it into existence. It also makes me realize that those other things on my life list are ready to be checked off as well. I just need to get a plan together and make them happen. I also need to revisit that list and tweak it and add some more.

I did make it to Fairbanks but I didn’t see the Northern Lights but that is OK. I guess I will just have to plan another trip up North. We need to see what is going on in the arctic circle anyway, because we can.

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