Our First Summer in North Texas

I thought I'd start a pictorial essay about our first summer in our new home in Argyle, Texas.   A photo of the pool and back yard is fitting for this topic as we've spent many hours enjoying both!   

We also love the flowered trees surrounding the house.  There are several of these type of trees on  both sides of the front of the house (sorry, but I don't know what they are called!).   

In addition, there are lovely sage bushes.

We also spend a lot of time in the kitchen, truly the heart of the house.   This one includes my daughter who was preparing for our first family cookout.

And  here's a photo of my son, also taken in the kitchen:

What's a summer without ice cream outings?  Here's one we took to Yogurt Story on my birthday in July with Deniz (my daughter), Amanda (my son's girlfriend), and my two granddaughters, Hanna and Gigi.

Here's another photo of my birthday celebration with the lovely and colorful fruit tart that my daughter made.  With me is little Hanna, age 4, who thought I'd need help blowing out the candle!  : )

We also celebrated two more birthdays in August.  One was with Gigi who turned ten, and the other was my husband's birthday.  Here are a couple of photos from those outings.   The first two are from Gigi's birthday outing with her grandparents - which was a special event at the Grapevine Aquarium:   Sharks After Dark.    

Finally, Ralph and I celebrated his birthday with a wonderful dinner at a restaurant, also in Grapevine - Farina's Winery and Cafe.

Note: I will be adding a "part two" to this blog entry in the weeks to come since we still have a few weeks left before summer ends!

My Fitbit One

I have recently upped the ante in my fitness routine thanks to a very small but functional gadget called "Fitbit One".   While I was at the Chicago Reunion which I posted about in my last entry,   I noticed that several of the ladies were highly motivated to make sure they got their steps in each and every day - generally, this translated to about 10k steps or as close to that as they could given the itinerary we had each day.  Coincidentally, my Omron pedometer "bit the dust" during the reunion (this was after I had placed a brand new battery in it).   That and the motivation my friends have with their Fitbit contributed to my decision to purchase one.  I've had mine now for just five days but I've already noticed a huge difference in my motivation level to "keep moving" - and get my own steps in.   I'm not saying I'm walking 10k steps each day as I do have knee issues but I've done well in planning out my walks so that I walk between 1.5 and 2 miles and I'm trying to get in at least 4-5 long walks a week.  I've gotten up to 9k steps, however, as the Fitbit One counts one's steps throughout the entire day.  Along with my walks, I'm also getting in my lap swimming a few times a week - would be able to do more but we seem to have had a number of "issues" with our pool - i.e. pool repairs have gotten in the way.

Besides giving me immediate feedback on the number of steps I take during the day, I can also track my fitness routines online with my Fitbit One.  Once I sync it with my Dashboard online, it gives me the following information:  total steps, calories, stair climbing (if any), low-medium-high activity bar graph, active vs sedentary, distance traveled, and then I receive "badges" for various milestones - such as the first 5,000 steps, the first 25 steps climbed, etc.  Definitely very user friendly as can be seen by the colorful graphic below:

There is also a Journal and Food Log on the website, but I'm only using the Journal.  I will probably sync my Fitness One a few other websites - one is Earndit.com which offers "rewards" for reaching various fitness goals.  The other is Endomondo.com which tracks fitness routes in the neighborhood.  In addition, I plan to familiarize myself with My Fitness Pal (myfitnesspal.com) which several friends use to track their food intake (Food Log) and then decide whether I will use that or return to WW for food tracking. I'm particularly drawn to the former as it is "free"!   As for the Fitbit One, if it continues to be a motivational factor in my exercise routine, it will be well worth the $89. I paid for it!    

Addendum:

Popped in to add that I not only got my 10k Badge yesterday after I wrote this blog entry - but also went up to 11,400 steps!!  WOW!   Yep - Fitbit One is definitely a "keeper"!  : )   A HUGE THANKS to KarenF, KarenC, Nancy,  Bonnie, and a few others!!!

Chicago Zonie Reunion - August 1-6!

Since I'm now writing on a variety of topics,  this "photo album" is about a recent trip to Chicago where I had five fun days with a great group of online women friends from Dottie's Weight Loss Zone - which is why we are the Zonies!  :)   Photos were taken by Beth Ziemba  (thanks, Beth!) and me!

Day 1 -  Thursday, August 1

As soon as we arrived at the hotel, the party began!

Elaine, KarenF, and Bonnie

KarenC and Beth

Pat, Nancy, Karen and Beth (not sure who has her head in the bag! lol)

Day 2 - Friday - We had dinner at a Mexican Restaurant after a day of shopping at the Mall.

Day 3 - Saturday - French Open Market and Wine-Tasting

Beth, Pat, myself and KarenF (my room mate)

Elaine, Betsy and me at the wine-tasting

Dinner at Seasons 52

Day 4 -  Train to Chicago from Wheaton and Navy Pier

Our Group at the Train Station

Pat and Beth at the NP Ferris Wheel

Stained Glass Window Exhibit at Navy Pier

Our Group at Navy Pier

Dinner at Cozy Mel's 

Last evening together

Day 5 (Karen Firosz and I stayed an extra day) -  We took the train into Chicago and then walked several blocks to the bus stop for the Museum of Science and Industry.  We spent a few hours there, returned to downtown Chicago, once again took the train (albeit the wrong train!).   We finally got back to Wheaton, and then had a lovely dinner at The Cheesecake Factory!

Here are a few photos taken at the Museum of Science and Industry:

KarenF in front of replica of Chicago