Hi… Can we take a moment to be honest?

I’m fat. I write a weight loss blog and I’m fat. What a shame.

There is a lot of talking we could do about the matter OR we could move passed the self-deprecating thought process and simply get down to the business of enjoying life. Because let’s face it, I’m at my healthiest when I’m living life to the fullest, enjoying healthy food, playing outside and taking time to myself.

And what better time to do that than during summer when I’m granted 8 weeks of work free solitude?  (Well… “solitude” may be taking it a bit far.) My first week of summer has commenced, and so far I have embraced every aspect of summer that I love. And I’m loving every minute of it!

 My mornings have started out at 5:30 every… morning… thanks to my little human alarm clock.

I’ve been making the mistake of staying up late at night since I don’t have to wake up to go to work. I always forget that Penelope doesn’t know that I’m on summer vacation, and I end up feeling like I have a hang over every morning. But once I’ve downed my iced coffee I’ll look out my window to see the hot air balloons on their early morning jaunt and I’m secretly grateful for the opportunity to enjoy the sunrise.

At this point I’m ready to go for a sunrise walk or a bike ride. There is just something special about summer mornings. If you just so happen to wake up early enough, you’ll get to see everything when it’s still sprinkled with morning dew. Everything looks like it has been misted with magic when the early morning sun hits it. It’s beautiful.

After that we get all cleaned up for the day and get ready to go do some stuff. After spending the past ten months busting my butt as a teacher I have been bound and determined not to let a day go wasted. I have done my research, I know the dates and times of every free activity that takes place in our area. My calendar is littered with the dates of every outdoor concert, storytime, and festival.

It has only been one week, but so far we have gone to the library…

The pool…

The museum…

    

    

    

    

The Chalk Art Festival…

    

To our favorite book store where Bridget bought an impromptu poem about music…

… and we indulged in “lattes” in real cups and saucers.

   

I’ve had the time to sit on my deck and meal plan while drinking a watermelon mocktails listening to the Beach Boys radio on Pandora…

And I’ve actually had the time to follow through with my meal plans and eat healthy yummy food that makes my body feel good…

Sure I was a bit bummed out at how flabby and pasty my skin had become throughout the school year. But I knew that if I spent time berating myself for it I would not do myself any favors. You can’t really live life to the fullest if you are too busy hating yourself. Therefore, I simply acknowledged it and moved on.

And to my surprise, in my first week of summer I managed to get a tan and shed five pounds.  It’s my goal for the summer to keep living day to day for the day, not taking anything for granted. Because that’s the path that leads me to where I want to go.