Day 1 of my Walk-a-blog experiment (364 days to go)

After sitting on the sofa for two nights in a row and going to bed very early and still waking up exhausted, I decided something has got to change.  I have been feeling awful lately - sluggish, sad, overwhelmed, and frumpy.  I kept thinking about the saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results and realized that I needed to do something different.  I went to my anti-frumpy book remedy French Women Don't Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano and started reading.  It made me remember how good I felt the last time I went to Paris.  I ate great food and walked everywhere.  I started thinking about all that walking could do for me and I made a list:

Helps with mood
Good way to get Vitamin D
Good way to save on gas
Helps me to be in better shape
Increases energy
Good way to spend time with the children
Sets a good example for our children

So, I started scheming about walking every day for a year for at least 15 minutes per walk, blogging, getting rid of my sadatude (sad attitude), and changing my life :-).  Our 12 year old son Logan got on board (pun intended-see below) too and we decided to walk to school (2 miles) and even see Grandma on the way if we had time.  Our 8 year old daughter Abby was not so keen.  That may take awhile...

This morning I jumped out of bed at 5:30 without an alarm (maybe it's working already) to prepare for my walk.  This is what I decided I needed on my first walk:

My new skinny jeans that are the perfect gray and go with
My new t-shirt that says, "Save the earth, it's the only planet with cupcakes"
My cute black puma shoes with the pink soles
Black sweatshirt that I could tie around my waist if it got too hot
A small purse that I could wear cross ways - I picked my green 9 west purse that I bought at a thrift store and sewed purple felted flowers to
A smaller wallet with id, money and euros (that have been in this wallet since my last trip to Paris in 2004)
Burt's bees tinted lip moisturizer
Business cards because you never know when I might meet someone who is looking for their dream house
My iPhone so I can take pictures of my walk
Scratched prada sunglasses (luckily the scratch does not interfere with vision) that I bought at a consignment shop in Philly
My cute notepad from Talulah Jones http://www.talulahonline.com/ with a pink calligraphy pen
My light blue with green heart felted "greensleeve" in case I stop for a coffee at the Starbucks along the way
Our anxiety ridden dog Coalie (I will probably regret this one...)
A water bottle to go in Logan's backpack
Oh ya, last but definitely not least - Logan who decided to ride his long board

As with most things, the walk wasn't all I had hoped it would be.  It was chillier (45 degrees) than I thought so I had to wear my vest.  On the way home, I got really hot, but couldn't tie the vest around my waist.  Coalie was very annoying - especially when we stopped at the nursing home to visit my mom and when he almost took my arm off chasing the geese, and when he barked so loud in the nursing home atrium all 6 floors could hear him.  I got a blister on my left heel.  And most frustrating of all, my iPhone does not have enough disk space for me to take the awesome picture in City Park of the lake, pavilion, city skyline, and mountain views. 

Then again, I did have an unexpected 30 minutes with Logan.  He told me all about his scary dream last night and his hopes for the medieval games that he will attend for 6th grade.  I do feel like I accomplished quite a bit just by walking 4 miles today.  The views were really quite amazing from City Park (I will show you another day) .  I had a really nice visit with my mom in which we remembered our favorite dog we used to have and her wonderful dog training skills.  I also ran into the nurse and social worker at the nursing home which saved me having to call them later to discuss mom's pneumonia and her upcoming move to another floor.  And best of all, Coalie is so tired he's not whiny and anxious at all.