Plexus Journey & Healthy Living Day 1
Well, technically it is Jan 2. I have decided to go sugar and dairy free for 30 days. As well, I have started day 1 of my plexus journey. I desperately need to lose about 50 pounds. You know when it becomes uncomfortable to tie your shoes it is time. I am skeptical that this will really work but willing to put in the effort to try. Matt and I also made a deal so I feel like I need to put in the effort. More than anything I just want to feel better, hopefully stop getting headachesome constantly, feeling bloated, stomach pains from its, always lethargic, etc. I know I have done it to myself over the past 6 years of eating crappie and not working out.
I did the plexus pink drink, bio cleanse and protein shake for breakfast. Felt really good and had some almonds and carrots and hummus for lunch. Did another shake for lunch. Tonight I made a chicken detox soup. It was delicious. Matt and I did a 3 miles run tonight which was really hard.
I am starting to feel the sugar withdrawal symptoms, so time to go to bed. Tomorrow I will post my starting measurements.
Monday, January 2, 2017
Saturday, November 29, 2008
London
I am back in London and so happy. Levi and I split for a few days so that we could do our own thing. I just needed some me time and space. I am staying in Kensington, which is a really nice part of London. This is where a lot of celebritys stay. The hotel I am at is super nice and the beds are comfy which is exactly what I needed after staying in hostels for the last three weeks. Last night I went out by myself to a club. It was like a reggae/jazz/brazilian type music club. I had so much fun and learned to Samba. Tonight I will probably go to a piano bar that was recommended to me by the guy who cut my hair. Yep...I chopped my hair. I couldn't take it anymore....I cut about 3 inches off and got it layered. I feel like a whole new person and not like such a bag lady. I also treated myself to a massage yesterday which was nice. The next couple of days are just going to be relaxing and time to just debreif. I am really enjoying myself and all the people I am continually meeting. People are so nice in Europe. I love London!
Well I will write more later, but will be coming home in a few days.
Well I will write more later, but will be coming home in a few days.
Amsterdam
I hated Amsterdam. It was not my kind of city. The people were cool and there is a very diverse population there. It is also known for its red light district and open marijuana coffee shops. I didn't visit either one which it part of the next story. Upon arrival of our hostel, I knew I couldn't stay there. I was so grossed out...it smelled horrible, was really small and dirty and there was a kitchen where basically everyone smoked pot. I can't stand the smell and knew I wasn't staying there. Why did we reserve it...well lets just say that marketing can do wonders sometimes. They basically false advertised.
There was a bed and breakfast down the street, so I decided to cut my costs and stay there for the night. This 80 year old man owned it and he happened to have availability that night. Lucky me. It was a very old house, but the room was clean and I knew I could sleep. It was his birthday that day, so they were throwing a party for him..he was turning 82. When I asked how many people were coming, they said about 50...holy crap...I hope I know that many people when I am 82 and can stay up that late. He is a fashion designer and makes hats of all kind. He even makes them for the royal family there, so he was pretty well known in the city. I met some cool people at his party, but called it a night at 9:30 so I could get some rest. I awoke about 8:00 to the doorbell ringing. I didn't understand why noone was answering, so I went downstairs to answer it. The house was super smoky. I was like "Man, these people smoked a lot of cigarettes last night." I know I am super naive, but I was still slightly asleep. Anyway, long story short, their house was on fire and this lady was yelling at me in Dutch...all I understood was Fire. So I woke up the owners who were still pretty drunk I think and ran down the hall to gather my stuff. I know you are supposed to just get out of the house when it is on fire...but I couldn't leave all my stuff in there...I would have been screwed for the next week. I grabbed all my stuff which luckily most of it was already packed. As I was coming down the stairs the house was filled with smoke. These houses are very little and the staircases are super narrow...so imagine me coming down with my big ol backpack and 20 firefighters coming up the stairs. I kept yelling there are 2 more people in the house upstairs. This is another story in itself but needless to say I was alittle shook up for the rest of the day. Happy Thanksgiving Trudy...what a wake to wake up. It was a great reminder of how thankful I am for my life and the people in it and also how fast our material possesions can be gone. So that is why I think it is stupid when people put all their pride in to materialistic things. I think they either forgot to put out the fire in the fireplace fully or the chimmney hadn't been cleaned in over 100 years and it started there. Not sure, but I was lucky to get out when I did. So let this be a reminder to all of you to clean your chimmneys regularly.
There was a bed and breakfast down the street, so I decided to cut my costs and stay there for the night. This 80 year old man owned it and he happened to have availability that night. Lucky me. It was a very old house, but the room was clean and I knew I could sleep. It was his birthday that day, so they were throwing a party for him..he was turning 82. When I asked how many people were coming, they said about 50...holy crap...I hope I know that many people when I am 82 and can stay up that late. He is a fashion designer and makes hats of all kind. He even makes them for the royal family there, so he was pretty well known in the city. I met some cool people at his party, but called it a night at 9:30 so I could get some rest. I awoke about 8:00 to the doorbell ringing. I didn't understand why noone was answering, so I went downstairs to answer it. The house was super smoky. I was like "Man, these people smoked a lot of cigarettes last night." I know I am super naive, but I was still slightly asleep. Anyway, long story short, their house was on fire and this lady was yelling at me in Dutch...all I understood was Fire. So I woke up the owners who were still pretty drunk I think and ran down the hall to gather my stuff. I know you are supposed to just get out of the house when it is on fire...but I couldn't leave all my stuff in there...I would have been screwed for the next week. I grabbed all my stuff which luckily most of it was already packed. As I was coming down the stairs the house was filled with smoke. These houses are very little and the staircases are super narrow...so imagine me coming down with my big ol backpack and 20 firefighters coming up the stairs. I kept yelling there are 2 more people in the house upstairs. This is another story in itself but needless to say I was alittle shook up for the rest of the day. Happy Thanksgiving Trudy...what a wake to wake up. It was a great reminder of how thankful I am for my life and the people in it and also how fast our material possesions can be gone. So that is why I think it is stupid when people put all their pride in to materialistic things. I think they either forgot to put out the fire in the fireplace fully or the chimmney hadn't been cleaned in over 100 years and it started there. Not sure, but I was lucky to get out when I did. So let this be a reminder to all of you to clean your chimmneys regularly.
Germany
We also stayed with my friend Kristin and her brother Jonas in Germany for a few days. This was also alot of fun and I got to experience the German culture in person. We went to Frankfurt one day and just walked around. We went to this botancial garden thing that was kinda ugly in the winter, but I could see how it would be beautiful the rest of the year. It was like a huge park in the middle of the city. I also discovered Apple Wine. I LOVE this stuff and have attempted to ship some home. I hope it makes it there. This is a story in itself...which I will probably create its own blog. We got to ride on the Autobaun....going 120km in the rain and snow. This was about 75-80 mph....don't worry Mom...it was safe. We would have gone faster but the weather created speed limits on the autobaun.
The next day we went to Koln pronouced "Cologne". This was a very cool city. We saw an old church and Kristin and I climbed over 500 stairs again to the top for a view of the city. They also have Christmas markets which is a cultural thing in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. They had just opened two days prior so her and I spent all day walking through them. I ate real German food and drinks all day long. It was so good. There are all these little shops that are set up by locals selling stuff they make. For example, one guy was making jewelry out of old silverware. It was very cool. Another guy made leather purses, wallets, etc. Others made this different things out of wood that were very detailed. There were so many cool things here made authentically. I wanted to purchase some but they were so delicate I was scared it wouldn't get home. I had Klu wine which is a hot wine drink. It is very sweet and didn't really like it until someone told me to put Ameretto in it. Ah...much better. We had so much fun in Koln and stayed up super late even though we had a train to catch at 8 in the morning.
I wasn't a huge fan of the beer here. I don't like beer but thought I would try it. I did however like this mixture of beer/sprite that I had in Switzerland. It was very good.
The next day we went to Koln pronouced "Cologne". This was a very cool city. We saw an old church and Kristin and I climbed over 500 stairs again to the top for a view of the city. They also have Christmas markets which is a cultural thing in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. They had just opened two days prior so her and I spent all day walking through them. I ate real German food and drinks all day long. It was so good. There are all these little shops that are set up by locals selling stuff they make. For example, one guy was making jewelry out of old silverware. It was very cool. Another guy made leather purses, wallets, etc. Others made this different things out of wood that were very detailed. There were so many cool things here made authentically. I wanted to purchase some but they were so delicate I was scared it wouldn't get home. I had Klu wine which is a hot wine drink. It is very sweet and didn't really like it until someone told me to put Ameretto in it. Ah...much better. We had so much fun in Koln and stayed up super late even though we had a train to catch at 8 in the morning.
I wasn't a huge fan of the beer here. I don't like beer but thought I would try it. I did however like this mixture of beer/sprite that I had in Switzerland. It was very good.
Switzerland
Switzerland was by far my favorite country. Of course I am a little biased because I grew up in Colorado and it reminded me of "home" in so many ways. It is absolutely the most pristine country. It is extremely clean and everything has its spot. The culture of the Swiss people is that of kindness, calmness and great hospitality. I stayed with my friend Barbara and so happy I did. We had so much fun and we realized that we are similiar in so many ways. We went to Jungfrau Mountain-Top of Europe. This was so pretty, my words or pictures couldn't describe it. We went to the top of the mountain about 11,366 feet. It provided great views of several other peaks and towns in Switzerland. Now this doesn't sound very high for those of you who know Colorado mountains but keep in mind that we started out at a lower evaluation compared to Colorado where you are already one mile up. It was freezing up there. It was -7.5 degrees Celsius which I have no idea what that is in Farhenheit but probably way below 32 degrees. It was so windy at the top of the mountain. Glad I wore like 5 layers of clothes that day! The train system in Switzerland is so cool. The engineering behind the tracks and tunnels through these mountains is unbelievable. On our way to the top of this mountain we were only held on by the littlest track. Amazing we stayed on.... There was a restaurant at the top of this mountain that we ate at which provided 360 degree views of the peaks....so fantastic! The next day Barbara drove us south of Bern to Montreaux. This town is right on Lake Geneva which is probably equivalent to the size of our Great Lakes. The French Alps were right across from Montreaux....unbelivable views. These people are so lucky! It was very rainy and cloudy that day, but God made it possible for me to see the Alps for awhile before the clouds blocked their view. She also told me the town Evian is right at the base of there where they make the bottled water. Who needs to drink bottled water over here when the tap water was the best water I have ever tasted in my life! I couldn't drink enough of it. Guess that is why they bottle it and ship it to the rest of the world. She then drove us over this pass where it began to snow. I would have been nervous, but she is a true mountain girl....not even the snow bothered her. I couldn't get enough of the views. We stopped in this little village that I can't remember the name of but it was exactly what I would pictured a little village to look like. So cute. We went to the bar that the creator of Aliens designed. It was very weird inside....almost felt like I was sitting inside the skeltal system of a human specifically the spine. Then she took us on a tour of La Greyere cheese factory. This cheese is very famous. She bought some fondue cheese and later that night made fondue for us. It was so good. We then went and participated in local events...and were the only fans of a local basketball teams championship game. Her friend Matthew had friends playing in the game so we decided to be the cheerleaders. It was in this little gym of a school that had no bleachers or seats...just one bench that 6 of us piled on. The next night she took me to a Swiss hockey game that is the equivalent of our NHL. Except these games are way more fun. They are so intense, like college football in America. The "true and crazy" fans stand on the ends of the arena. The rest have the choice to sit in the middle of the arena. It is like one big pit and so crowded. I had so much fun. this hockey game could be another story in itself. I met so many cool people in Switzerland and miss them.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
What day is it?
What day is it? It seems like the last week has been one big blur. Maybe it is all the fun I have had or just the fact that I have been traveling for a few weeks now or maybe the fact that I am a little home sick. I can't wait to sleep in my own bed again and not live out of a bag.
I know tomorrow is Thanksgiving, so happy Thanksgiving everyone. I have a ton to say about Switzerland and Germany. Had a great time in both places with my friends and met new friends. We are in Amsterdam and I can already tell you, not a big fan of this town. I honestly just don't feel like blogging right now, but wanted to let all my friends and family know how much I love them and how thankful I am to have great people in my life.
I will blog more in a few days when I have some time to just sit and write.
I know tomorrow is Thanksgiving, so happy Thanksgiving everyone. I have a ton to say about Switzerland and Germany. Had a great time in both places with my friends and met new friends. We are in Amsterdam and I can already tell you, not a big fan of this town. I honestly just don't feel like blogging right now, but wanted to let all my friends and family know how much I love them and how thankful I am to have great people in my life.
I will blog more in a few days when I have some time to just sit and write.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Nov. 12-18- Cinque Terra, Florence, Rome
We are still alive. Sorry I havent had much Internet access to blog. We have had to pay for it everywhere we have gone the last few days. Also apologize for any mistakes in here.....these keyboards are so different. The letters and characters are all in different spots so it takes longer to type.
Cinque Terra
This was the most beautiful place I have ever seen....okay...well maybe in my top ten places. We stayed in Vernazza in an apartment. It had the best views overlooking this tiny town, ocean views from our window and balcony. We even could see all the vineyards on the mountains. The first day we got there is was rainy and late in the afternoon so they closed all the paths to each town. The only way to get to each town is to take the train or hike. The next day we did a hike from Vernazza to Corniglia. This was amazing. It went right along the cliffs that dropped off to the ocean, through vineyards on the mountains and beautiful views of both towns and each town after. Hard to explain, but the pics turned out really good. This hike took us 2 hours and was much harder than Levi and I anticipated but well worth it. Each town probably doesn,t have more than 100 people in it. Very cute towns.
Florence, Italy
We got in late to Florence and was greeted by the happiest man in Italy upon entering our hostel. Max was so excited and so happy. He loves his hostel and his life. He recommended a restaurant that turned out to be excellent. I had fettucine alfredo with walnut sauce. It was amaying. Levi had a mix of different meats and said it was good. The next day we went to Duomo Cathedral. This church was absolutely beautiful inside. We walked up 365 very very small steps to the top of the dome. It provided very beautiful views of Florence. We then went to see the statue of David, but they wanted 14 dollars to get in and you couldnt even take pics, so we opted to pay 2 dollars and buy the postcards. The architechure is so detailed in Italy in all their buildings. The colors and detail of this cathedral were unbelievable.
Rome, Italy
We stayed in Rome for four days. We went to the Vatican, the colosseum, spanish steps, trevi fountain, circus maximus, Roman Forum, angel bridge...all over the city. This town is so old. I knew that it was the start of the Roman Empire, but until you get there and see all the old stuff...it really hits you. I could spent days talking about Rome. We ate lots of good food, gelato and walked and walked. The metro system was quite the experience. Line A is nice, Line B is totally ghetto. Rome is also a dirty town, but people are so nice and very proud of their culture. I was able to do lots of shopping in this town...I am not a shopper, but after here...I think I might have slightly rounded the corner. I could shop everyday in this town. We also met David from Denmark. He spent the last day and half with us. We had so much fun with him and his energy level is outstanding. He absolutely loves his life. He was very spiritual but not in a pushy way. Him and I have a lot of the same views and Levi and him had some very interesting conversations. We gave him our emails and hope that he stays in touch with us. Gotta run.
Cinque Terra
This was the most beautiful place I have ever seen....okay...well maybe in my top ten places. We stayed in Vernazza in an apartment. It had the best views overlooking this tiny town, ocean views from our window and balcony. We even could see all the vineyards on the mountains. The first day we got there is was rainy and late in the afternoon so they closed all the paths to each town. The only way to get to each town is to take the train or hike. The next day we did a hike from Vernazza to Corniglia. This was amazing. It went right along the cliffs that dropped off to the ocean, through vineyards on the mountains and beautiful views of both towns and each town after. Hard to explain, but the pics turned out really good. This hike took us 2 hours and was much harder than Levi and I anticipated but well worth it. Each town probably doesn,t have more than 100 people in it. Very cute towns.
Florence, Italy
We got in late to Florence and was greeted by the happiest man in Italy upon entering our hostel. Max was so excited and so happy. He loves his hostel and his life. He recommended a restaurant that turned out to be excellent. I had fettucine alfredo with walnut sauce. It was amaying. Levi had a mix of different meats and said it was good. The next day we went to Duomo Cathedral. This church was absolutely beautiful inside. We walked up 365 very very small steps to the top of the dome. It provided very beautiful views of Florence. We then went to see the statue of David, but they wanted 14 dollars to get in and you couldnt even take pics, so we opted to pay 2 dollars and buy the postcards. The architechure is so detailed in Italy in all their buildings. The colors and detail of this cathedral were unbelievable.
Rome, Italy
We stayed in Rome for four days. We went to the Vatican, the colosseum, spanish steps, trevi fountain, circus maximus, Roman Forum, angel bridge...all over the city. This town is so old. I knew that it was the start of the Roman Empire, but until you get there and see all the old stuff...it really hits you. I could spent days talking about Rome. We ate lots of good food, gelato and walked and walked. The metro system was quite the experience. Line A is nice, Line B is totally ghetto. Rome is also a dirty town, but people are so nice and very proud of their culture. I was able to do lots of shopping in this town...I am not a shopper, but after here...I think I might have slightly rounded the corner. I could shop everyday in this town. We also met David from Denmark. He spent the last day and half with us. We had so much fun with him and his energy level is outstanding. He absolutely loves his life. He was very spiritual but not in a pushy way. Him and I have a lot of the same views and Levi and him had some very interesting conversations. We gave him our emails and hope that he stays in touch with us. Gotta run.