Traveling

Britton and I have both been traveling away from each other a lot lately! First I took a trip to St. Louis to see my old roomie Amy get married. It was like a college reunion. I got to see four roommates, one roommate's husband, and one roommate's fiance turn into a husband!
Before the wedding I got to visit the St. Louis Arch--Gateway to the West right next to the Mississippi river. We rode up in these cozy little claustrophobic "pods" that went through the middle of the arch and dropped you off at the top where you can look out these little windows at the city and river far below.It's 630 feet tall! I'm not really scared of heights, but it was so weird to be so high up in well...an arch. Instead of having floors of a building below you it was so unsettling to be kind of hanging in the air. It also didn't help that Amy said there's a 3 ft sway at the top. Anyway it was fun, and I got to see Amy get married at the St. Louis temple to a great guy. Here's a picture of the happy couple.After I got back from my trip which ended in a 6 hour flight in front of a screaming kid. I just remind myself I will most likely be the parent of the screaming kid someday. Anyway after I got back Britton finished his finals, and then took a skiing trip to Bear Valley with his mom and little brother.



Then I met Britton back in Brentwood for the Easter festivities. Yet another video:)




Right after that...Britton flew to Dayton, Ohio (stopping in Chicago to see his ol' buddy Bill). He toured an air force research facility because he was investigating a possible fellowship(money for school) and internship possibility. His favorite part was visiting the airplane museum. He was like a kid in a candy store, a vampire at a blood bank, or a missionary in Peru. Anyone else have a good analogy? Britton suggested a pedophile in a nursery. He would. Check out Britton in front of an SR71. Oh yeah. It looks like a space ship. Brings back memories of Flight of the Navigator.
We are finally reunited! I picked him up from the train station and we had some Indian food together, and then I made him hang out in my cubicle for the rest of the day:)

Lately

We headed for the hills President's Day to try out mountain biking. There's some trails up in the redwood forests. We barely managed to fit our bikes into our four-door car by taking wheels off, and hanging the handlebars out the windows. Once we found a parking lot we felt a little under dressed because everyone else was totally spandexed out, and using their fancy bike racks, and talking about investing in property in Europe...no joke. So we set out for the trails anyway, and chose a bad one. We rode down, down, down...and never stopped our descent until we ate lunch and I started pouting on this log here.























We found some cute little banana slugs. Which are also the mascot for UC Santa Cruz. Then we rode up, up, up (and walked) and called it a day. It was probably not the best introduction to mountain biking, and Britton is trying really hard to convince me to go again except start with the uphill and end with the downhill.

We also planned to do a bonfire out at the beach with some friends. The day got really windy so we opted for a bonfire at Lake Lagunita instead. It's kind of a glorified water retention area on Stanford's campus. But this time of year it has water...and DUCKS! We got a fire going on the sandy beach-ish area, and ate Girl Scout cookies and told embarrassing stories about each other.

What is NORMAL eating?

It was Wellness Week here at Stanford, and Nikki and I went to one of their activities together. It was 90% for the free t-shirt, 9% for the free food, and 1% to learn about joyful eating. I was expecting her to review the food pyramid and tell us the saintly qualities of broccoli and spinach, but her approach to nutrition was more like freshman roomate number three. It was more of a stay in tune with your body kind of thing rather than being strict with all kinds of rules.
The first thing she said that kind of shocked me was about getting rid of society's rules about good and bad food. Cookies are not bad, and carrots are not good. We need to keep good nutrition principles in mind, but eat what we feel like eating, and the amount we feel like eating. She gave an example of someone who took that advice to an extreme and asked herself everyday what she wanted to eat. She ended up eating raw cookie dough for two weeks...and then never ate it ever again.
Please forgive another post about food/nutrition. But I really liked her message about being in tune with what your body needs. Here's some highlights from the handout she gave us.

Normal eating is being able to give some thought to your food selection so you get nutritious food, but not being so wary and restrictive that you miss out on enjoyable food. Normal eating is overeating at times, feeling stuffed and uncomfortable. And it can be undereating at times and wishing you had more. Normal eating is trusting your body to make up for your mistakes in eating. Normal eating takes up some of your times and attention, but keeps its place as only one important area of your life.
Instead of thinking about nutrition as "What I shouldn't eat," ask yourself the question, "Am I getting enough?" For instance am I getting enough calcium? Iron? Vitamin C?

Variety & Balance: Just by including a wide variety of foods & food groups in your diet, you will get a lot of the nutrients you need without even thinking about it.
Individuality: No one diet is right for everyone. We have different nutritional needs based on factors such as: gender, age, activity level, and medical history.
Body awareness: Am I hungry? What do I want to eat? Am I full? We need to learn to tune into our hunger and satiety signals, and most importantly, to trust our bodies.

10 Ways to Feel Good in My Body
-I pledge to...
-Not read magazines that make me feel bad about my body.
-Appreciate all of the things my body can do.
-Watch my language! Would I talk to someone else the way I talk to myself?
-Not use exercise to justify what I eat.
-Be flexible and adventurous in the foods that I eat.
-Do nice things for my body, such as go for a walk or take a long bath.
-Be a critical viewer of negative images and messages that tell me I am supposed to look a certain way.
-Not compare myself to other people.
-Show respect for all body types.
-See my body as part of what makes me unique.

She wasn't a fan of diets because they tend to get people into a deprivation-binge cycle. Nikki and I were snickering during most of her speech thinking about our husbands and their calorie and weight charts and graphs. Anyway, I actually felt better and more confident about myself after her nutrition speech. Being pregnant I definitely have felt my body's nutritional needs change, and have been paying more attention to it especially when I don't feel good. "I feel sick, I feel sick...eat...NOW! But eat a peanut butter and banana sandwich not that other sandwich your husband packed." That's what my body says to me. It's so demanding nowadays!