Whatever It Takes

I landed in Memphis Saturday afternoon tired and on the verge of tears. I knew I had to wipe them away fast though because I couldn’t face my mom crying.

As soon as I had a chance after saying hello I asked the question I most wanted to know.

“So, how bad is it?”

I held my breathe as I waited for the answer and a recap of what the doctor had said. I calmly listened and held strong because I know that’s my job here.

A few days before my scheduled departure to Memphis I learned that my mom had breast cancer. It’s hard to sum up how I felt for the first two days that I knew. I was sad and scared before I had a chance to talk to my mom about it. I was then angry and bitter after that because it didn’t seem fair. Then finally I accepted the fact that it was happening and I would go home and help her through it. By the second day there was no other option in my mind than it being a temporary problem to work through together.

My mom has always leaned on me in tough times. We’ve gone through a whole lot together. I’m the rational one in the family, the logical one, the oldest and the only girl so I’m the one she leans on. I feel duty bound to be there for her and actually cherish this position. She is my mom and best friend after all.

A few years ago my mom almost died from blood poisoning. In fact if we had waited just another hour to go to the hospital she might have died. To say it was the scariest event in my life is an understatement. The thought of her being sick again, in a hospital, scares me. I remember that experience and the anxiety creeps into my mind and threatens to strangle all other coherent thought. Cancer now doesn’t seem fair. My mom has had a hard life and a lot of crap has gone wrong when she didn’t deserve any of it. Things were finally going pretty well for her recently until this. I don’t understand it and won’t even try.

I’m pushing my anxiety down and handling things. Trying not to stress already about how to help her pay the extra medical bills piling up (goodness that happens fast!) or how to deal with other difficult family members. Trying not to stress about being distracted at work or being away from Kepa. Trying not to stress about the fact that I can’t live in two place at once and I don’t know which is the right place for the future. Trying not to stress at all because my job here is to be calm and helpful and get her through it as best as I can.  It’s lucky, in a way, that this trip was already scheduled because at least being in the same city means I can’t support her and help in whatever way I can.

Luckily they caught this cancer pretty early we think. She will have to have surgery sometime in May and some sort of other treatments but because they caught it early she has a good chance to beat it even with other health problems she has. YAY, right? She has to meet with a bunch of other doctors first and get a final diagnosis and find out what surgery she needs and whether she whether she will get chemo or radiation (one or the other). Whatever it takes, really. It’s not the end of the world yet. Even if it is expensive and painful and scary, she’ll beat it.

Thank goodness because I’m really not prepared for any other outcome.

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Learn How to Lose 5 Pounds Fast in One Week

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Do you want to learn how to lose 5 pounds fast in one week? You can reduce your weight successfully, but you have to be sincere, patient and determined to change your lifestyle and eating habits. It is certainly not easy to lose weight in such a short span of time because it will take utmost hard work and commitment on your part to achieve your weight-loss target. You need to plan your diet to reduce your weight successfully.

Here is the way to learn how to lose 5 pounds in one week:

A high protein diet can help you in reducing the extra pounds faster. High protein diets have gained tremendous popularity as research says that protein is able to satisfy hunger better than any other fat or carbohydrate. When you eat high quality protein foods, they increase the amount of leucine, an amino acid that help a person maintain muscle mass and increase the fat-burning capacity.

Yes, you can lose 5 pounds in a week by eating high fiber foods. There are many researches to suggest that eating high fiber food keep your body hydrated, full and also help in losing weight. Our body cannot digest fiber so quickly so it stays longer in our system. In an addition, we cannot absorb any calories or fat from it. But, there are many health benefits that we can take from high fiber foods. As you’ll feel full, you will automatically eat less.

If you want to learn how to lose 5 pounds in one week, starts with first step i.e. eat breakfast every day. When you eat breakfast, it reduces the hunger and help you avoiding overeating. You will feel more energy to perform your physical activity during the day. It actually increases your metabolism and causes you to burn more calories throughout the day. Skipping breakfast can make you put on extra weight and tend to cause obesity.

If you seriously want to lose 5 pounds fast in one week, you have to cut down junk foods from your diet. Don’t eat any junk food for the entire week and you’ll find yourself losing weight successfully.

In order to burn off 5 pounds in one week, you need to burn more calories than what you consume. Perform physical activities such as swimming, skipping, jogging to burn more calories and increase fitness level. To lose 5 pounds in a week, you need to burn approx. 2,500 calories in a day.

Image Credit @www.ptweightloss.com

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Brad has written 439 articles .

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Foodie In A Food City

Is Memphis a foodie city? I’m not sure what really categorizes a city as “foodie” or not and you could probably make a case for every city since they all have at least a few good restaurants.

On the way home today my coworker and I were discussing basketball (Go Grizzlies!) and came to the conclusion Memphis is big on three things: food, music, and basketball. That pretty much sums up the city nicely I think.

All I know is I’ve been eating out way too much since I’ve been back.

I’ve eaten out with my friends. I’ve eaten out with my mom. I’ve eaten out with coworkers. I’ve bought meals and had meals paid for. I’ve eaten fast food and at restaurants. I’ve either eaten out or eaten the leftovers for lunch and dinner since I’ve been back. Since I don’t normally eat out much this feels strange and like major overkill.

I know I need to cut down on this and start bringing lunch to work or making myself dinner. I bought groceries the day after I got here and have only really eaten cereal for breakfast so far. Yikes! At the very least I can say I haven’t been snacking or overeating which is a positive, right?

It will come to an end soon since I need to save money and help out my mom too. But for the first week it was nice to have all the things I missed while I was gone!

I guess I’m always talking about food lately because when I created my “what you tweet” infographic it basically called me an upbeat foodie obsessed with my dog.

Okay, maybe they were pretty right. ;)

Follow me on Twitter or Facebook to find out. I’m not crazy into social media these days but I do love the occasional conversation there!

Are you a foodie? Do you live in a foodie city? How often do you normally eat out?

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5 Easy Weight Loss Tips for Vegetarians

In today’s post, I will be sharing 5 easy weight loss tips for vegetarians that deliver fantastic results and suit both women and men. It is very hard for a vegetarian to create a balanced nutrition diet plan, especially in a society that focuses more on meat.

However, there are numerous advantages to being a vegetarian. You can lead and live a healthy life as a vegetarian and stay fit forever. Here are 5 easy weight loss tips for vegetarians to follow in order to lose weight safely and quickly:

1. Protein is very much important for reducing weight and build up muscles. One of challenge that you might face is getting enough protein. There are numerous options such as eggs, dairy products, almonds, seeds, whole wheat products, quinoa, fruits and vegetables that provide your body the required amount of protein. You should start your day with a protein rich breakfast to improve your metabolism and burn weight fast.

2. Soy is another good option for vegetarians. Soy can be eaten in many shapes and forms but many believe that it is not good for weight loss due to its estrogenic effect. Its estrogenic effect actually disturbs body’s natural ability to burn off fat and may slow down the results as well.

3. Dry fruits such as nuts, almonds and seeds are excellent source of protein and even, they also contain healthy fat which is very much important for your health. Don’t think that you need to cut down all fats from your meal in order to reduce weight. It is not true. Fat is also important for our body.

4. Dairy products can also help you to achieve good health. But, you need to choose dairy products meticulously ensuring they do not have high amount of fat. Eat yogurt and other low fat dairy product to get the required amount of protein.

5. Regular workout and gym is also important. Join a gym and become athletically fit. This will help you burn more calories and accelerate your metabolism as well. You should workout at gym regularly. Also, be sure you eat a good amount of protein after every workout.

All in all, aforesaid 5 easy weight loss tips for vegetarians can give you an edge when it comes to losing weight fast as being a vegetarian; you’re less exposed to fast food. Add fruits and vegetables in your diet to stay healthy and fit.

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Brad has written 439 articles .

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Thank Yous and Other Random Thoughts

So this post is going to be a bunch of random thoughts together. You are warned.

Thank You

Thank you all so much for the kind words and support for my mom. She is very important to me and I love her dearly so it’s nice to have the support from all you guys through this rough time. It’s kinda scary especially in the early stage where there isn’t a full diagnosis or treatment plan yet. Once we have more information it will be easier to deal with I think.

Thanks to everyone who offered well wishes and good thoughts and prayers. And for those of you who have been on this journey yourself or with a loved one and beat it? Thanks for telling me and sharing your story. It helps to know others who’ve already conquered this.

It really does mean a lot to have you guys in my corner (and my mom’s). I’ll stop now before I get all sappy about my love for you people.

New Dress

I’m wearing a cute dress today. It was my gift to myself when I got to the US this time. I don’t really buy clothes in NZ because they cost too much so I got this dress at Target for $18.

It’s perfect for work and super comfortable (I’ll take a better picture later). I love the stripes, and personally I think you can wear horizontal strips at any size. Whatevs!

Awesome Lunch

My boss mentioned he was headed to the Apple store and then to Deli Mexicana today. I didn’t need to go to the Apple store but I LOVE Deli Mexicana so a coworker and I headed out there to meet up for lunch.

I love the fish tacos there. LOVE. It’s one of my favorite things to eat in Memphis.

The $100 Startup

Just a heads up, but they are having another one of the Only 72 Hour Sales. It started yesterday but I figured I should still share since it’s going on for another 2 days. Basically these sales are a great chance to get some awesome business training courses at majorly discounted prices. This time you pay $100 for $1,000 worth of business training courses. Plus this time they are including the new book from Chris Guillebeau, The $100 Startup. He is a great writer and very inspiring just like the rest of the contributors. If you are interested in starting a small side business or a blog or in growing a blog then this package is a good idea. It’s nice to have a blog/business that brings in a little bit of income every month especially now when I need to help my mom out. Check out the $100 Startup sale now (disclosure: affiliate link because I usually buy the packages they offer).

Have a great day!

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Biking In Memphis

Biking in New Zealand is pretty easy. Where we live the roads either have bike lanes or are wide enough to accommodate both bikes and cars. I can do pretty much all my errands by bike without a problem so I rarely take the car.

However, I’m a bit nervous about biking while I’m living in Memphis.  In years past it has been known as a very unfriendly city to cyclists and I’ve heard some horror stories from friends who did try biking to work. Personally I never tried biking to work either since I usually lived 20-30 minutes away by car and bikes don’t mix with interstates.

Now though I’m living closer to my work place and biking to and from work is actually possible! I’m super excited about that. And since I’ve biked a bit in Downtown already I feel more confident about my ability to actually do this.

Plus since the last time I was in Memphis they have created MILES of new bike lanes! The street I’m on and both of the streets nearby leading downtown have new bike lanes. It’s pretty awesome!

For a little extra reassurance I’ve been researching routes and other cycling stuff in Memphis. I’ve found some great things about Memphis and biking in my search:

Memphis is one of six cities that have been chosen to get fast track protected bicycle lanes from Bikes Belong Foundation. The Green Lane Project is a cool effort working with six US cities including Memphis to help build world-class cycling networks on city streets in the next two years. This is huge for Memphis and makes me really happy!Annual Bike to Work Day is on May 18th, which I can actually participate in! I remember this from last year and was so bummed that I lived too far away to ride there safely, so I’m super excited this year! You have to register this year though but that is easily done here.Some cool Memphis bicycle related sites: Greater Memphis Greenline (multi use trails throughout the city which are really nice), Biking in Memphis, Bike Walk Tennessee, Livable Memphis, Fix Memphis., Memphis Bike Polo (I’d be scared to play but it looks cool).City of Memphis Bike Route Tours and a map of proposed/future bike lanes in Memphis: Memphis Bike Lanes. Bike Lanes proposed by Mayor AC Wharton to be completed by 2013.And what I was really looking for: Map of Bike-Friendly Streets in Memphis!! I’m using this to plan potential routes to work. Thanks to this map I confirmed what I thought would be a good route to take and will check it out for real once I get into the city. Looks like it will work perfectly!I just found Kyle Wagenschutz’s website/blog Bike Ped Memphis this week. Kyle is the city’s Bicycle/Pedestrian Coordinator and he has done great things for biking in Memphis over the last couple of years and I’m excited to follow his blog on the topic.

I think Memphis could be a great city for cycling and it’s nice to see changes being made to move in that direction. Memphis gets a bad rap all the time from almost everyone but I love it here and always will. I guess I like an underdog with character. It makes me happy to see good things happening in the city, especially regarding one of my other loves – biking!

I’ll be writing a lot more about biking in Memphis once I actually pick up a bike and start doing it. For now I’m waiting on my bike I’m borrowing from my boss (should get it this weekend). I’m super excited to get it and get out there and test out all those new bike lanes! Wish me luck!

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Grocery Shopping Without A List

You guys…

I went grocery shopping without a list!

I neeeever do that anymore. I always have a list even if it’s just a short one or one that I’m repeating over and over in my head. Basically I always have a plan.

But this time I went to Kroger (local grocery store) without a plan. It ended up costing me more than I should have spent and wasn’t very thorough. I did buy a few things that will last the whole two months I’m here so that’s something.

Here’s what I got (the roomie’s leopard cat checking it all out):

ground turkey breastsliced deli turkeysalmon (in the packs, not cans)tunawhole wheat breadapplesstrawberriesbaby carrotsorganic baby greensnatural peanut butterKashi Go Lean cerealalmond milkluna and cliff barsred hot blue corn chipsketchup, light mayo, mustard, salad dressing

I’m probably mostly going to make myself salads and sandwiches (or turkey burgers) while I’m here because it seems like too much work to cook just for myself. It’s just easier, though I might change my mind later if I get the urge to make awesome meals since there is actual space in the kitchen.

It wasn’t a bad haul for shopping without a list. No clue how long that will last me but it should be good for more than a week. I’m also probably going to eat out quite a bit while I’m here. I already have actually! Saturday I had chicken fajitas from which I skipped the tortillas and brought half home for lunch the next day. Then today I had a salad and a single chicken enchilada with refried beans. I love Mexican food so I tried to keep it reasonable while still indulging in my favorite things.

Eating out here seems so inexpensive to me now that it doesn’t seem like such a big deal. That could probably get me into trouble fast so I’ll try to keep it in check.

And I’ll make a list for my next trip to Kroger. Having a plan works way better for me!

Do you grocery shop with a list or without one?

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