‘Tis the Season
Okay so I’m still dealing with some of the same things from my last post but no matter. It’s nearly Christmas and so it’s time to focus on the positive!
One of my very best friends just had her first baby and while it was a little sooner than 
anticipated, everyone is doing well and I’m hoping to see them over the next few days. It’s crazy – in the time I went to the gym on Sunday she had a whole freaking baby! So new life is always something to celebrate and I’m happy to do just that.
I’m also happy to be visiting all of my family and friends over Christmas – I’m leaving town in approximately two hours and ready to go now! I’ve got presents wrapped and loaded and I’ve gained about 10 pounds this week with all of the holiday food sitting around the office so I guess you could say I’m prepared!
In other news, the weather has warmed up and my honeymoon gets ever closer. Scott had a birthday this week so that was fun to celebrate and our cat is holding steady (for now…). I received some very nice and generous gifts from my bosses for Christmas and have the promise of a bonus to look forward to when I get back from Thailand. Oh, and I basically have two days left of work until January 17th. So not even Trump can get me in the dumps!
Merry Christmas/Happy Hanukkah/Happy Kwanza/Happy New Year/Merry Festivus/Merry Everything!!
Is It Over Yet?
God this is the year that just won’t end.
It goes on and on my friend.
(If you now have a tune involving a sheep puppet in your head, I apologize).
But really, this year just keeps going and going and just when you think you’ve had enough, it goes along some more. I’m dealing with some personal stress and then of course there’s the national stress leftover from the election (and looks like it’s going to hang around for at least another four years), things can be tough. I’m trying to stay positive though and so I will say that I’m thankful for the fact that this year is creeping ever so slowly to its end and I’m looking at a significant time out of the office for Christmas and then our honeymoon. Because if I can get through these next few weeks, Thailand awaits!
Of course, the issues and stressors that are in my life will be waiting for me when I return. But hopefully a vacation will help them from being so damn daunting! After all, life always seems a little brighter when you’re sporting a tan.
Hail to the Chief
Just ask our President-elect…
Walk it Out
I have officially been wearing my Jawbone step tracker for one entire year. Every day, I’ve managed to hit at least 10,000 steps. That’s a lot of walking! Here are some things I’ve learned:
Ah yes, I’m familiar with this look.
- It wasn’t easy. 10,000 steps is (for me) essentially about an hour and 45 minutes of walking each day. Since I don’t have a car and commute to the office, I walk a bit every day by default but there were many days that I had to force myself to go back out for another long walk in order to actually hit my steps. On some days, I literally had to plan around it and I often went out of my way to incorporate more walking.
- Location matters. There was a big difference in my steps depending on where I was. It was always easier to hit them in Chicago and when I traveled to visit my family in other states where public transit isn’t as much of a thing, I felt it. I can’t even tell you how many laps I’ve made up and down my mom’s driveway in order to walk a little more! I’ve gotten spoiled to living in a place where there are sidewalks and I no longer take that for granted.
- It becomes addicting. Logically, I know that I don’t have to “hit my steps” every day. But I’m just a little Type-A and once I started I just couldn’t stop. There was something about that daily vibration on my wrist that I just had to have! Sort of like a good habit. Which I guess is the point…
- My tracker didn’t count stairs as two steps. Bummer, especially considering how I live on the third floor of a walk-up.
- It did, however, count my elliptical and treadmill time at the gym. But not the stationary bike.
- Some people thought I was crazy. I didn’t dispute that but I am glad I kept it up.
And because I think it’s interesting, here are some of my stats from the last year:
- I walked an average of 13,698 steps a day
- I walked the most in May, at 486,376 total steps
- I walked the least in November, at 379,375 steps (not surprising given the wedding weekend and all)
- Speaking of, I logged 11,478 steps on my wedding day…and I took off the band before the ceremony so that didn’t include all of my dancing, which probably added a few thousand more!
- The most I walked in a single day was 26,746 steps (thanks to working an overnight at the museum…those nights were consistently my highest)
- Overall, I walked 5 MILLION steps in 365 days.
Clearly my size 10 feet have done me some good after all!
Webpaige's Blog 