Full Circle

I had two FB memories two years apart that popped up today.  The first one was July 9, 2015 when I officially announced on FB that was I was leaving ISP for a 911 job at Nampa Police.  The second one was July 9, 2017.  I had only been at Nampa PD for six months before returning to ISP but the training I received has been helpful on many occasions.  I am not sure of the exact event I was talking about on July 9, 2017, but I was thankful for that training and commented that it came in handy for a pretty tough call.  It was as if I could finally see that life had come full circle.

There have been many moments that make me realize the full circle and reminds me when something happens, there is always a reason.  We may not know what that reason is but somewhere down there road of life we will learn what that is. 

One of those moments was when I was in college and having a difficult time with Calculus 2.  I cried so much about not being able to pass the class and worried about what the future held.  I had wanted to be a math teacher since I was in the 2^nd grade and it felt as if my world was crumbling.  Thankfully, I pushed on, changed my major, and graduated with my Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice.  I have secured gainful employment for many years since college and am happy with where my life is now.

Another of those moments is when I was on my weight loss journey.  It can be very tough and really exhausting to track your food, make healthy choices, and move your body giving it a good sweat.  There were times that I didn’t know if I could continue on the path not knowing how the outcome would be.  I look back now and am so thankful I kept at it.  I see now how important this journey was and how improved my quality of life is because of it.  I all see now why I need to continue to make those healthy choices and when I feel like giving up now, I remember that it will all be worth it in the future.

 

Our overtime at work has started to ramp back up again.  We were fully staffed for 91 days, which surpassed our last tally of 60 days.  Being fully staffed was wonderful and I was taking full advantage of my three days off.  Sadly, we had some of our newest employees quit and have a few out on medical leave.  So, we are having to say adieu to our beloved days off.

I’m going to make sure I do my best to be a team player by signing up for OT since I’ll be taking my turn for vacation in September. 

Open To Ideas For Europe Travel

We are now less than two months until our Big Europe Vacation.  The excitement continues to build!!!  Since we are flying over ahead of the River Cruise, the official countdown is 58 days.

 

As it goes closer, I continue to search the internet for travel tips and research our destinations for things to do.  If you have any ideas for London, Amsterdam, Basel, or Munich, I’d love to hear them. 

Here is what we have planned thus far:

London – Hop On/Off Bus Tour and Harry Potter Warner Bros Tour

We arrive in London at noon and plan to walk around/get out and about so we can combat jet lag.  We also have two full days as well.  We have booked bus passes that are good for 24 hours so we could use those and/or save them for another full day in London.  I’m so excited to see all the iconic sights.  We have a full day dedicated to the Harry Potter Tour since that is about 7 hours total due to transportation to/from the location.  We are open to any other ideas.

Amsterdam – Red Light District Tour

We will have about 24 hours in Amsterdam before we board our cruise and have booked our hotel close to the pier.  Amsterdam looks to be a very small town that is easy to get around.  I want to pick up some tiny Dutch shoes and maybe swing into some cheese shops.  It was recommended to take the Red Light District tour, which does look pretty interesting.  So, we plan to do that in the evening.  We are also open to any other ideas.  We don’t have any interest in the Ann Frank House or the Van Gough Museum, which gets suggested often.

Basel – Still Open To Ideas

There are no plans in Basel, which will be just one full day.  I would like to take a gondola ride or see how some cheese is made, but I’m having a bit of trouble finding anything close to town.  So, we might have to wait until we arrive to poke around.

Munich – Still Open To Ideas but beer and pretzels will be consumed!

Since we are missing Oktoberfest by six days, I am hoping we can still find some good German beer, food, and pretzels!  We haven’t really decided what else we want to do.  We will have an evening and one full day since we are taking the train from Basel to Munich.  I am excited to see the beautiful scenery from the train and I’ve never ridden on a train like this before.  There is a Hop On/Off Bus option that we might consider.

The excursions on our cruise are included and there is a new one each day.  I haven’t done much research on those since it is all coordinated/planned through Viking.  I enjoy seeing photos on the Viking Instagram.  I’m most excited to see the windmills in Kiderdijk and our visit to the Black Forrest where we get to see cuckoo clocks and eat black forest cake.

Leaving Daily Points Behind

It feels foreign to me to not eat all my daily points.  When the new WW Freestyle program rolled out, one of the changes included not having to eat all your daily points.  I believe this to be because prior programs created a large calorie deficit and thus, you needed to eat all the points offered to you to maintain a healthy caloric intake.  With Freestyle, there is so many 0 SPV foods that it is assumed you will be eating more of them than other foods and thus meeting your caloric intake without having to eat all your points. 

Obviously, this isn’t an actual science and each person needs to find what works for them.  Typically, I need to eat all my points to encourage weight loss so I really don’t know what will happen this week.  I want to think that less food/points will help me get a jump on weight loss again but I really have no idea.  I’ll just keep plugging away and see what Tuesday WI brings.

Since I stopped drinking my afternoon ice coffee from home, I’ve saved myself 3 SPV a day.  And, if I don’t have any other coffee throughout the day, I can save up to 6 SPV.  I haven’t replaced this with other foods so I’m hoping this will be the deficit I’ve been missing.  I’ve also made some other food decisions this week and watched my points closer.  Last night, I made an all 0 SPV dinner by grilling chicken on the BBQ and then warming up some green beans and frozen corn.  Dessert was a large amount of watermelon. 

I had 11 DSPV left so I added real butter to my corn.  I ended my day with 10 points leftover.  I’ve also earned a blue dot each day this week. 

 

Building on my success each day feels really good.  I am working a 12-hour shift today and Kenyon and I are meeting at Sizzler for dinner.  I’ll do some pre-tracking and am planning to have the steak and salad bar deal.  I was going to use today as a rest day from activity but I ended up on the side of the room with the treadmill so I might as well make good use of it and get my 30 minutes of activity done for the day. 

Seize the day!