The wonder of words

splash
                                                CRASH
                whirl
                       a
              dnuor

words are a wonderful tool

THAT
MAKE
A
POINT.
                 or gloriously slide
                          down
                                  a goblet
                                              of 
nothingness.

I am blessed to have them all at my disposal

An overcast afternoon

Silvery grey,
the sky is a chilly blanket
that reminds me of being at the beach - weird
My mood is similar:
chilled
lazy
wishing for a warm bed
Snuggled 
like 
a
little
worm
in the earth
Just looking up at the silvery sky

Top ten reasons for morning exercise

I'm trying to get back in to the morning gym routine (and out of the rationalisation that I cannot do without those two extra hours of sleep) and I found these tips - courtesy of sparkpeople.com a helpful shove out of bed in the right direction!

1. Exercising early in the morning "jump starts" your metabolism, keeping it elevated for hours, sometimes for up to 24 hours! As a result, you’ll be burning more calories all day long—just because you exercised in the morning.
    
2. Exercising in the morning energizes you for the day—not to mention that gratifying feeling of virtue you have knowing you’ve done something disciplined and good for you. (Much better than a worm!)
    
3. Studies have shown that exercise significantly increases mental acuity—a benefit that lasts four to ten hours after your workout ends. Exercising in the a.m. means you get to harness that brainpower, instead of wasting it while you’re snoozing.
    
4. Assuming you make exercise a true priority, it shouldn’t be a major problem to get up 30 to 60 minutes earlier—especially since regular exercise generally means a higher quality of sleep, which in turn means you’ll probably require less sleep. (If getting up 30 to 60 minutes earlier each day seems too daunting, you can ease into it with 10 to 20 minutes at first.)
    
5. When you exercise at about the same time every morning—especially if you wake up regularly at about the same time—you’re regulating your body's endocrine system and circadian rhythms. Your body learns that you do the same thing just about every day, and it begins to prepare for waking and exercise several hours before you actually open your eyes. That’s beneficial because:
   
   
   • Your body’s not “confused” by wildly changing wake-up times, which means waking up is much less painful. (You may even find that you don’t need an alarm clock most days.)
   • Hormones prepare your body for exercise by regulating blood pressure, heart rate, blood flow to muscles, etc.
   • Your metabolism, along with all the hormones involved in activity and exercise, begin to elevate while you're sleeping. As a result, you’ll feel more alert, energized, and ready to exercise when you do wake up.

6.  Many people find that morning exercise has a tendency to regulate their appetite for the rest of the day. Not only do they eat less (since activity causes the release of endorphins, which in turn diminishes appetite), they also choose healthier portions of healthier foods.
    
7. People who consistently exercise find, sometimes to their great surprise, that the appointed time every morning evolves into something they look forward to. Besides the satisfaction of taking care of themselves, they find it’s a great time to plan their day, pray, or just think more clearly—things most of us often don’t get to do otherwise.
    
8. Exercising first thing in the morning is the most foolproof way to ensure that other things don’t overtake your fitness commitment, particularly if you have a hectic family life. (It’s so easy to wimp out in the evening, when we’re tired or faced with such tasks as rustling up dinner and helping with homework.)
    
9. More than 90% of those who exercise consistently have a morning fitness routine. If you want to exercise on a regular basis, the odds are in your favor if you squeeze your workout into the a.m.
    
10. Non-morning people can always trick themselves in the a.m. Having trouble psyching yourself up for a sunrise jog? Do what I did—tell yourself that you’ll still be so fast asleep that you won’t even remember—much less mind!  

I am grateful...

Carrying on with my new positive mindset, the month of November is dedicated to me showing what I am grateful for. Every day, one reason (in no particular order):

1.  I am grateful that I am alive and have the ability to experience and interact with the world around me. "Life is a succession of moments. To live each one is to succeed" - Sister Corita Kent.
2. I am grateful that I have an enormous family of cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents who cherish me and are an awful lot of fun to be around. Family teas with Nannavon's scones, cousin weddings and group photos that take forever will always make me smile. I hope that I can have a family of my own as amazing as the one I've grown up with one day.
3. I am grateful that I have friends who laugh with me, love me, deal with my psycho days and my happy days, and even when I have not acted like a good friend, they still stay true to me.   "Friendship is the golden thread that ties the heart of all the world" - John Evelyn. 
4. I am grateful for technology and the Internet. Being able to stay in contact with friends all over the world is amazing and catching up via email or skype brings lots of laughs and memories and erases the distance. 
5. I am grateful for new opportunities and never knowing what's in store for me! 
6. I am grateful for our amazing Creator, who hold me in the palm of his hands and keeps his arms waiting for me to run in to them.
7. I am grateful for Curly - my one. Who makes me laugh at myself, who listens, who comforts, or spends ages talking shit to me every weekend. For being my best friend and my Deli.
8. I am grateful for a job that I enjoy and an office full of people that I like and care for.
9. I am grateful that my parents sacrificed so much to give me the opportunity of going to a private school and amazing university. I will be eternally grateful.
10. I am grateful for a close relationship with my brother. So many siblings don't get that lucky as to have a friend and brother rolled into one. And I can't wait to see him in two weeks time! 
11. I am grateful for the holidays that are coming up - something to look forward to and work for...and the end is nearly in sight! 
12. I am grateful for growing up in a small town - for knowing half the customers when I go shopping, for staying friends with people right through to now and knowing that it will always be home whenever I go back. 
13. I am grateful for friends and family to give me sound advice. 
14. I am grateful for weekends - sleeping in, relaxing, braais, drinks, dancing, concerts, eating out, spending time with everyone I care about. You never appreciate weekends until you're working!
15. I am grateful that I am able to exercise and take care of my body. And even if I don't always like what I see - I need remember to be grateful that I have a fully functional body that doesn't limit my life (except maybe getting into a bikini :)
16. I am grateful for yummy food - like the delicious orange and vanilla cake my colleague brought for his birthday - and being able to savour and enjoy each morsel (well that's the theory...and then I ate two pieces....and now I feel sick)
17. I am grateful for being a South African - what a wild mix of people, culture and beautiful scenery to experience!
18. I am grateful for grandparents - to have grown up with three of them has been something I have taken for granted but a lot of people have not been so lucky. Now that Grandad is so frail though, makes me realise how precious my memories are. 
19. I am grateful for a safe and reliable car to get me from A to B everyday. - Thank you Dad for the most wonderful gift of Splashy (named after an unfortunate incident with a water meter).
20. I am grateful that Mum has found someone to love and cherish and who loves and cherises her back wholeheartedly.
21. I am grateful for music - the stuff that gets me going for a party, relaxes me in my car when I'm stressed or is just there on the airwaves to enjoy. Also, the opportunity to watch music live, like the 30 Seconds to Mars concert I went to on Friday is awesome!
22. I am grateful for learning. To be able to learn something new everyday is a gift and a privilege - something that I should not waste or take for granted.
23. I am grateful that I live in a digs full of cool, chilled people, who motivate me to be more sporty (yes I am contemplating my first 21km) and are just there to talk to when I get home from work.
24. I am grateful for this blog entry because right now I am seriously struggling to find something more to be grateful for as I have reached burn out point. But I will be thinking of some shortly.
25. I am grateful for being paid (and having a job to get paid for at all!) - and not feeling sorry for myself with R5 in my account - and now to actually manage my money properly.
26. I am grateful for beautiful scenery. I take the world around me for granted too often. A beautiful view over the sea and sand at Brass Bell in Kalk Bay reminded me of that.
27. I am grateful for the timelessness of family friendship. Cousins I haven't seen in months are just the same easy-to-chat-to-easy-to-jam-with-easy-to-enjoy as when we were little kids playing in Nannavon's garden.
28. I am grateful for such easy working hours. 8.30-4.30 really isn't a tough day to go through...although increased workload does mean longer hours...but I can always make up for it the next day and leave early :) (well that's what I tell myself!)
29. I am grateful for organisational skills (something I am learning anyway) to keep things on track on my desk! I've never used a diary so meticulously in my whole life!
30. I am grateful that are memories are entombed in our senses - and how a whiff of lavender as I walk around the block takes me back to my childhood home and picking pecan nuts off the ground under the tree,next to the lavender bush.