Living the Creative Life

via: Runtastic Pedometer According to smart, healthy-type people, it's best to aim for walking 10,000 steps a day. (In other words, 5 miles a day). As a perpetual couch potato myself, that sounds like a tall order! The Walking Site explains that the average sedentary person (sounds like me!) walks about 1000-3000 steps a day, on average. No wonder my metabolism has slowed down post-high-school! I definitely qualify as a sedentary person. So... naturally this information made me curious to see how many steps a day I'm walking. I found an interesting free iPhone app (it's also available for Android phones) that you just turn on and leave in your pocket all day. It tracks not only your steps but also translates that into miles. Yesterday I tried it out and walked about 4000 steps (I went for a 15-20 minute walk in the morning, which I normally don't do). I'm very curious to see over the course of time, how much I walk on average (and whether or not this will m...

I was recently reviewing my GoodReads account and realized I've only finished 22 books this year! Twenty-two!! That's... like... crazy talk. Seriously. When I was 12, I could easily finish 22 books in one month. Granted, my life is busier now and the books I read tend to be longer, but still... If anyone's curious, I read 27 books in 2012, 22 books in 2011, and 13 books in 2010. This is an alarming trend, people! One realization I've been coming to is that I spend far too much time zoning out in front YouTube, television, The Sims, Solitaire... basically anything on my computer or phone that could be considered fun. And while there's nothing wrong with fun, I think perhaps I need to put fun back in it's rightful place. So... I'm going to try an experiment. I'm starting this week, even though it's not the New Year yet, because if I don't start now I never will. This is a modified version of my previous  technology fast , in case you were won...

I tried an experiment last night with an iPhone app called Sleep 101. It's supposed to be able to tell you how well you're sleeping based on the movement you make during the night. It also has an alarm clock that can wake you up w/in twenty minutes of your alarm by figuring out when you're in the lightest sleep and waking you then. I'm not entirely sure how well it worked, since it reported that I had 99% efficiency in sleeping last night and I happen to know that I woke up at least 3 times and actually got out of bed once. Not sure how efficient that is. Lol. Still, I thought it was an interesting concept for an app. You put it on the corner of your bed and it uses the gyroscope in the phone to sense movement in the mattress so it can tell how restless you are. It figures if you haven't moved in 5 minutes that you're probably asleep. Tonight I'm going to try the Sleep Cycle app. It promises to be a little more accurate in the monitoring, and also has a ...

via #1 -- Stop avoiding stairs. Stairs are my new best friend. #2 -- Drink more water. American's are way more dehydrated than we realize. #3 -- Read more. A happy mind is a less-stressed-out mind. #4 -- Eat more veggies and fruits. Especially local varieties. #5 -- Eat smaller portions of a higher variety of foods. Boredom of the tastebuds leads to overindulgence. #6 -- Stop using the computer in bed. Beds are for sleeping in, not working in. #7 -- Go outside more. I hear there's this new invention out there called fresh air. #8 -- Stop stressing about my shops so much. Make what I love and people will follow. #9 -- Make an effort to get to church every week. God loves meeting me there. #10 -- Clean / throw away stuff more often. Dustbunnies clutter the mind as well as my living space. #11 -- Make more art. For fun, not for profit. #12 -- Eat less processed "food". Because it's not really food anyway.

I highly recommend this book, French Women Don't Get Fat . French women eat very differently than American women do, generally speaking. Meaning that they lay out a plate that looks good... they choose the freshest produce that tastes and smells good... they eat slowly and savor every bite... which they pair with the finest wines. Eating is something they set out to enjoy... experience... celebrate. When was the last time you (or any typical American, for that matter) enjoyed, experienced, or celebrated your food? Thanksgiving, maybe? Definitely not every day. That would be too fattening. Wouldn't it? Maybe not. She says French women know the importance of drinking water, eating fresh, and enjoying life. They also know a "secret" that we Americans would almost call sacrilegious... less is more (as in... just because that first bite or two of chocolate cake was divine, that doesn't mean you should eat the whole thing). Drinking Water French women (and ...

I was attempting to catch up a little on my blog reading this afternoon and ran across this hilarious video. Have you ever heard of dance walking? Yeah, me neither... But, if I knew how to dance... and if I didn't mind doing it in public... this might just be the perfect way to work out. Lol. ;P Notice some of the funny stares he gets when he starts doing it (about a minute into the video). He is pretty good though, actually. By the end, when he gets other people to join him, it kind of reminds me of an exercise flash mob. Ha!

My mom told me about this theory she heard on tv about how having a cell phone within 5 feet of your head while sleeping affects your brainwaves somehow and keeps you from entering a deep sleep. Always one to test out a theory on myself, I decided I'd try it out and see. I've used my cell phone as an alarm clock for probably 10 years but had never put that together with my sleeplessness tendencies. I wasn't sure that it would make a difference, but... it was an interesting theory so I thought I'd test it out. This afternoon I was sleepy and since I'm now on Spring Break, I decided to take a nap. I purposefully set my phone about 6 feet away from my bed (up on my desk instead of right on my bed-table, where it usually lives). I kid you not, I could feel myself drifting off to sleep almost instantly. I can't remember the last time that has happened - usually I toss and turn for hours first, before falling asleep, but I just figured that was something weird ab...

I'll be the first to admit it... I'm a couch potato. A grade-A, certified, tv-watching couch potato. Is this necessarily the best thing for me? No, of course not. Have I tried to motivate myself to get a move on and get in shape? Yeah sure... sort of. I'm really good at starting exercise programs... just not so good at continuing them. Know what I mean? ;P I found this interesting work-out online: A Couch Potato's Six-Week Workout . It sounds do-able, especially for someone who's idea of exercise is walking to and from the kitchen for more tv-watching food. Here's what is in store for me for Week One : Repeat the following routine three times a week: Warm up for five to 10 minutes. Cycle or walk (either outside or on a machine) for 30 minutes at a light speed. Your heart rate should be around 55 percent to 65 percent of your maximum target heart rate. Cool down and stretch for five to 10 minutes. If I don't die of exertion after this week, ...

Operation "Kill My Allergies" is in full effect. I don't know for sure what I'm allergic to, only that it seems to be seasonal and only started once I moved to the Grass Seed Capital of the World. Yes, there is such a place. To be on the safe side, I bought an air purifier for my room, and am making sure to wash my sheets once a week. Can't hurt to get all the dust and cat hair out of the vicinity, although I'm pretty sure I'm not allergic to those things. You never know what a compromised immune system will get upset about though. I read somewhere that allergies are your body's reaction to something it shouldn't be reacting to. I like that explanation. It makes sense. I bought honey grown in this area tonight. I heard a long time ago that local honey can help immunize you from local allergies. Last summer I found some at the farmer's market. Not sure if it helped, but it sure tasted good! This year I found some at the local health food...

You know how they always say you should get 8-9 hours of sleep a night? Well, I usually get 5-6. Probably pretty normal, but also probably pretty unhealthy. Anyway, I was reading  this article  about sleep debt, and it made me think more about how I really should be making it a priority to get regular sleep. Sigh... It's just that there are only so many hours in a day, and I spend most of those at work, so... going to bed early is taking away a lot of my "me" time! :( Still though, if consistently losing sleep is super unhealthy, and possibly even cutting years from my life, in the long run, maybe it's worth it. Hmm... Or maybe I just need to quit my day job and become the night owl I was meant to be. Lol.