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Day Two
Today has definately been a difficult day. I have been really tired and headachy most of the day. I'm finally feeling better right now. I feel like I've made it over the hump and it's downhill from here. I've had a good day. I went for a walk this morning and did some yoga and took about 3 little naps. I've done some reading and managed to stay away from Sex and the City.
The one thing I haven't been able to do too much of is write in my journal. I feel like I don't really have any thoughts. Deep meaningful thoughts that is. My thoughts have been more planning thoughts. On my walk I was thinking about the juice I needed to make when I got home and then my bath and then yoga and if I needed to go to the store, etc... I've really been observing the planner. As these thoughts would come up on my walk I would gently release them. I thought about how lucky I was that I could do this fast without any interruptions. I could take three naps in one day and sleep in until 10:00 two days in a row.
My mom just sent me a wonderful essay by a mother. She wrote about how fast her children grew up and how hard she tried to be the perfect mother. Looking back she wishes she was able to let go more instead of always planning dinner, baths, books and all the activities going on. She says, "I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less."
Day One
The thing that is great about this fast is having this book by Pamela Serure. For every day, there is an intention and affirmation. She says, "I like to have both an intention and an affirmation every day of the fast to give balance. The affirmation is the feminie, "yin" side of the process; it is the reassurance, the cradle, the warm blanket. The intention is the counterbalance, the masculine "yang"' it is the goal, the guiding principle, the clear shining light. Both affirmation and intention will guide you through the day." My intention for today is to get calm and get still. My affirmation is: "Entering the stillness, I become new".
There are mediations, yoga postures and other activities that Pamela lists in the book in order to scrub away the old and let the new come in. I haven't really done too many of those today. I slept in until 10:30. This felt wonderful!!! Then I watched 3 episodes of Sex and the City from this season. Marya and Dan were over at her apartment measuring so I went over and talked with them about where she was going to put everything. I can't wait for her to be my neighbor!! She invited me out to lunch and I was so tempted to go, but I didn't. Then I did laundry and took a nap. I went to New Frontiers to get a Carrot, Apple, Beet juice for lunch and had to wait forever to be helped. It was very torturous standing in the deli and looking at all the good food. I'm feeling a little spacy and tired. I think the energizing part of the fast happens once you're all done getting rid of toxins. Which I have lots of I'm sure with all the chocolate, coke, cookies, carbs (hmmmmm all "c" words) I've been eating lately.
I picked up an Oprah magazine and found this quote which I found very inspiring. I think I might go out and buy the book, especially because it is directly related to my intention for today. It's Eckhart Tolle's new book,
"Stillness Speaks". I read parts of his other book, "The Power of Now" and it was excellent.
"When you recognize that there is a voice in your head that pretends to be you and never stops speaking, you are awakening out of your unconscious identification with the stream of thinking. When you notice that voice, you realize that who you are is not the voice-the thinker-but the one who is aware of it. Knowing yourself as the awareness behind the voice is freedom"
Twas the Night before the Fast
Wow, what a week. I'm so happy it's the weekend. What could be better than a Friday night on a three-day weekend? I totally wanted to back out of my fast all day today. Everytime I thought of the fast I pictured the hard work and determination involved. I'm glad I bought a bunch of the fruits and vegetables already or else I would have flaked out. It's only one weekend, but it starts to feel like I'm giving so many things up. Like a bike ride with Chester and Bret. Dinner and a movie with Marya. BBQ at Todd's house. And of course chocolate, chips and coffee. But, I can't look at it like that. I'll be gaining so much more. I went to the store and bought the last things I need. I chopped up the strawberries and pineapple and layed out all my apples and other items on the counter. I'm getting more excited about it now. Bret is coming over for dinner, my last solid meal for three days. I don't think I've made it the entire three days on the fast before. The last two times I eat a meal on the third night. I really want to make it this time.
We had our slide show at work today. It was so much fun. We ordered pizza and gave out the mini Cadbury collection and some tea from Australia. Bret went through the pictures and told all sorts of facts about the weather, population, etc... I'm so glad he ran the show. Almost everyone came and people were asking questions and totally into it. At least it seemed like they were. I wish we had more funny pictures. The one of Bret at the Cadbury's factory is definately the funniest I think. I'll have to post that one up here. For all of you (I don't really know who is still reading this) who haven't seen the pictures yet, I will be posting them on Ofoto here at some point. I also want to put together an album but that might take months.
My Plans for the Three Day Weekend
Everyone is talking about their plans for the upcoming three day weekend. When I tell people my plans, most people look at me like I'm crazy. My plan is to do a Three Day Juice fast this weekend. I think when I tell people I'm fasting they think I'm going to starve myself all weekend which isn't true. You drink a morning fruit smoothie, vegetable juices throughout the day, as much herbal tea as you like and a vegetable broth for dinner. I've done
this fast a couple of times and I love it. Although it is really hard to fit into a busy schedule because you have to have no plans for a whole weekend. My goal is to do it with the change of the seasons; 4 times a year.
I first did this fast a few years ago because I was addicted to caffeine and I was hoping the fast would help me with that. It did that and so much more. It is an amazing adventure. It's really about focusing on yourself by doing meditation and yoga. The author of the book suggests not answering the phone or watching TV and keeping a journal. I'm going to post some of my thoughts here on my blog. Here are some of the reasons why I'm itching to do this fast right now:
1. The caffeine addiction is back and sugar is along with it
2. I really need to change my eating habits and I want to start with a clean slate
3. I want to start doing Yoga and meditating again
4. I need to spend a weekend focusing on myself
5. This isn't the main reason for the fast, but I really want to loose weight
That's pretty much it. It's going to be tough, but I'm looking forward to the challenge.
On another note, Bret's parents have been in town this week. We've had a lot of fun. Last night Bret's parents and Todd (Bret's brother) and his girlfriend Rachale all came over to my apartment for dinner. It was my first large dinner party. After dinner we gave everyone their presents from our trip. It was like Christmas in August. I have really enjoyed giving everyone their gifts. It was so fun to pick things out for people, but even more fun to give them out. Then we showed our pictures. We're having a picture show tomorrow at work too. We brought back some Cadbury's chocolate and No worries tea for the office. Well, I better get back to work. I didn't take a lunch so I thought I would write a little update on the blog.
Home Sweet Home
Some say the best part of traveling is coming back home. I don't know if I agree with that 100%, but it is great to be home. It's nice to feel the warm California sun. It's nice to be back in our beautfiul town. I'm so happy to be back in my apartment and of course to see all my friends and family again. I think Momma might be the happiest to see me back. She does not leave my side. She has turned into a lap cat. I might need to get her claws trimmed (not removed!!) because she is so cuddly but her claws hurt.
This week at work felt like 3 weeks. It wasn't so bad though. It was great to see everyone and they were all happy we were back so that's always nice. My boss told me he had a deeper appreciation for what I do at our company. Wow, I couldn't have asked for a nicer welcome back message. Here I was worried about still having my job when I got back.
The most exciting news I've gotten since being home is that Marya is moving in next door. It's so exciting. It's like we'll be roomates!!! I can't wait.
I would like to write more but I actually worked most of the day today (yes on Saturday). It wasn't so bad because I was with Kurt, Tricia and Craig - some of my closest friends at work. I'm pretty tired. I'm going to veg out in front of the TV and go to bed.
Birthday in Byron Bay
I had been planning on going snorkeling around Julian rocks while Bret was scuba diving, but when we arrived to the shop on Wednesday morning they said the conditions weren't going to be good for snorkeling. I decided to go have my hair done instead. Bret went diving and had a great time. He saw some fish and a nurse shark. But, most exciting of all he saw a whale! They were just getting back on the boat when a whale (I'm not sure what kind) came entirely out of the water about 200 yards from the boat. It came straight up, head first with only it's tail in the water. Then it swam around for a while and flipped it's tail out of the water and splashed down. That must have been a site to see.
I had a wonderful birthday. Bret and I went into Bangalow and had brekkie at the
Urban. This is where we ate breakfast with Wyeth and Trina the Saturday before. It has this wonderful patio that is surrounded by palm trees and they have great food! We really have a thing for eggs, bacon, toast and baked beans for breakfast. The Urban has the most wonderful thick toast with tons of butter. Yum! You are probably thinking, "No wonder they have gained weight!"
We decided to go up to the Gold Coast and go to a
Wildlife Sanctuary. It was such a great day. It was another beautiful day and the park wasn't very crowded so we got to see lots of the animals. The park was very nicely done with lots of open space and nice animal exhibits. The koalas were definately my favorite. I even got my picture holding one. I know, I'm so cheesy. We also got to pet and feed kangaroos. We couldn't believe how docile the kangaroos were. We saw about 6 mother kangaroos with little joeys in their pouches. We saw one mom laying down and all you could see of the joey was two legs sticking out of her belly. What was nice was that the kangaroos had a huge area to roam around where you could pet them as well, but they also had a rest area that they could go to when they got tired of people. We also saw lots of birds and crocodiles, and two great wildlife shows. It was awesome! We went back to Byron and went out for thai food with Wyeth and Trina.
Friday was our last full day in Bryon Bay and we were pretty sad about leaving Wyeth and Trina. We drove around looking for waves to go boogie boarding in, but it was pretty flat. We ended up having a little party with some friends of Wyeth and Trina's. Wyeth has been jamming with their friend Jason, so Jason, Wyeth and Bret played some music while Trina, Lee, Amanda and Peter hung out and enjoyed our private concert. It was a great night. It has been so wonderful spending so much time with Wyeth and Trina and getting to know all about their yoga program and meeting their new friends. Oh, check this out. On my birthday morning, W and T put banners on the outside of my door with a card and balloons. This was a very special surprise. But, in order to appreciate this as much as I did, you need to know that they wake up at 5:00am every morning in order to get to meditation by 6:00am. This made this surprise so much more special to me.
Saturday morning we went to the Urban for one last brekkie in Bangalow and drove 2 hours to Brisbane. It's hard to believe that our two friends in Australia live so close to each other, especially when you consider how large this country is. We are very thankful though, it's made visiting both of them very easy.
I'm sitting where magic happens
I'm currently sitting at Bryon's desk in Brisbane. Bryon would refer to it as, "The place where magic happens" because this is where he works. He has a nice office here at his house in Brisbane. We have had a very enjoyable day with Bryon, Julene and Wyatt. Tomorrow is our last day of our vacation so this very well may be my last vacation blog entry. When I get home I will probably be writing about what it's like to be back and how I feel different about things for a while and then it will be back to writing about Momma Cat. Speaking of Momma Cat, Bryon was babysitting her and said that she caughed up a huge hairball. Once she did that, she was much friendlier and happy. Bryon, not being a cat person, didn't even know what a hairball was. :)
Bumming around Byron Bay
We are having a great time in Byron Bay. We have had perfect weather every single day, which means blue skies and sunshine. It can get a bit cool in the mornings and at night, but nothing like NZ. We feel very much at home here. On Thursday afternoon we went into the town of Byron Bay with Wyeth and Trina during their break from school. We went for a walk along the beach and watched kyakers in the surf and surfers. The beach is right at the end of town and is beautiful.
Wyeth and Trina live 15 minutes outside of Byron Bay in a cute little town called,
Bangalow. They live in a vacation rental owned by
Byron Country Cottages. You can see a picture of it by clicking on the link; they live in the Banksia cottage. Every morning we have brekkie and tea outside overlooking this amazing green valley. The valley has a few houses, cows, and trees in it. There are so many birds here that have the most amazing calls. There are several cows that are owned by Wyeth and Trina's landlord and they will come over to us while we are eating and beg for food.
On Friday, Wyeth and Trina skipped their Yoga class and we went for a hike around the
Byron Bay Lighthouse. This is a great loop hike. While we were at the lighthouse we thought we saw some whales (it is whale season). We watched some dolphins play in the surf while eating our ice cream cones. Then we walked back along the beautiful white sand beach. Then we went to
The Arts Factory. The Arts Factory is this amazing hostel/restaurant/movie theatre. We saw the movie, "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" in this funky theatre that had couch like seats with cow fabric that glowed in the dark. Lee, another girl from the Yoga school joined us. We have met about half of their class already just by walking around town and at the market today. They all seem like really nice people and it has been great to meet Wyeth and Trina's new friends.
On Saturday we went on a hike in Nightcap National Park to
Minyon Falls. We started at the top of the falls and walked around and down to the base of the falls. Then we walked back up. The forests here are so different from New Zealand. There are much taller palms and eculyptus trees everywhere. I was hoping to see a wild walabee or even a koloa bear, but we didn't. Just as we arrived back at our car, 5 kookaburras flew over and stood around watching us. That was cool!! On our way home we stopped in a small town called Rosemont that had a post office and a cafe called, The Green Frog Cafe in the center of town and that was all. The highways around here are all two lanes and all around you is open land, farms and trees.
Today we went to the
Byron Bay market. The market is a bit like our Farmer's market, except bigger. It was so much fun to wander around and look at the various items for sale and watch the people. The town and crowd reminds us of what Santa Cruz might have been like 10 years ago. There are lots of tie dies and dreadlocks. People are playing music, eating, having fun. There is a real sense of community here.
This week we are going to spend some time at the beach kyaking and boogie boarding. We are hoping to go for a drive over to Nimbin. Bret is going to go scuba diving out at
Julian Rocks. I'm not sure what we are going to do for my birthday. Do I get to celebrate it twice? Once on August 7 here and once when it is August 7 in the US? I think I'll celebrate it all week!
