Saturday Well Spent/We Love History

Hello everyone, I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Saturday was the highlight of mine. My daughter and I live about 2.5 hours apart, so often to conserve gasoline and driving time, we meet halfway in between. Our starting/meeting point is usually the Hanes Mall in Winston-Salem, NC since it is just off the interstate highway.

On this visit we were in the mood for some activity in addition to catching up on our chat time. We had a lovely lunch and a glass of wine. I chose a value-priced Red Diamond Merlot. What a lucky find! This was the most pleasant, smooth and joyful glass of wine I’ve had in years. Neither of us drink wine in large amounts or often, in fact my daughter has just realized there are wines she actually likes. We both agreed we’d be purchasing this one.

After lunch we hopped in my SUV and headed toward Wake Forest University. We went to Reynolda House Museum of American Art and adjacent Reynolda Village. This home was built by tobacco magnate R.J. Reynolds and his wife Katharine. I would encourage anyone to tour this historic landmark and to view the galleries of artwork, actual period clothing and furnishings, and architecture. We were given a personal programmed radio which told a small story of each area we visited. A converted indoor pool, bowling alley, squash court, and shooting gallery were some of the indoor amenities available to the family and friends. Photos of the inside of the house weren’t permitted, but you will love it, trust me.

The other buildings on the estate have been converted to all sorts of shops selling goods and services. These buildings designed like an English Village originally housed a school, post office, cattle barn, silos, blacksmith shop, carriage house, staff residences and much more. Reynolda even had its own church building on site. This was truly a magnificent, self-contained estate. The history of the family and their time spent there is both entertaining and sometimes sadly tragic–great stuff for us history buffs.

The gardens spanned acres with both vegetables and flowers and greenery. You’ll need good walking shoes and several hours to take in a good portion of this estate. We were there about three hours. I think a return tour will be in our future to find what we surely missed the first time.

I’ve shared some outdoor photos which will hopefully help tempt you to make a visit. If you borrow any photos, please remember to credit me and my blog. The house/museum tour costs only $10 dollars for adults and is discounted for seniors and students. Access to the grounds is free and you may photograph for personal use all you like during business hours. I hope you enjoy! 🙂 Lovinulovinme

Post-Holiday Lunch

BACK TO BASICS

Hello all! Hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day holiday if you are from the U.S. To everyone else, I hope you enjoyed your weekend. This post is a couple of days behind, sorry. Sometimes one just gets busy.

After a day of “cookout food” and a second day of leftover “cookout food”,  I was more than ready to get back to something more healthy. I did manage to get some exercise and walking in, but I still felt weighed down by those darn cheeseburgers and trimmings–oh, and ice cream.

I am still a firm believer that if you eat healthy at least five to six days a week and get in your usual exercise, you can splurge a little for a day or two and still not doom any weight or fitness goals. This has worked for me for almost 2 years, though I’m just in maintain mode right now.

So today it’s back to four or five meals a day at about 300 calories or less. My conscience and I feel so much healthier and lighter already. 🙂

My lunch, pictured above, was quite filling and tasty. It’s around 150 calories, so I added a small handful of almonds afterward to come in at about 225 calories.

1 slice of whole wheat bread
1 oz. sliced turkey
1 thin slice of tomato, cut in two

Salad
Radicchio, baby lettuce, baby greens,endive, and baby carrots.

I made my own dressing by mixing yellow mustard, chopped onion, a tiny bit of low-fat mayonnaise, a few drops of water or milk, and black pepper. I only add dressing for flavor, not to drown the wonderful veggies. About 1.5 tablespoons.

Lovely Low-Tech Morning To You

A bit of color from my yard to brighten your day!

I’ve had a pretty low-tech morning, and I must say it feels good. As soon as I wake, I normally get right up. I turn on the computer as soon as my feet hit the floor and the TV soon after, to catch some news. Of course I have to start the mandatory coffee, too. Then I sit down to watch TV news to my left, while I check emails, Facebook, Twitter, online social music sites, my blogs, and internet news. My eyes are soon tired and my body stiff, and I’ve only been up an hour, or has it now become three? As long as I’m wrapped up in all this I’m not worrying about food just yet, just sipping away on my half pot of coffee.

Today I lay in bed an extra thirty minutes just to meditate and collect my thoughts, then said a few prayers for my family and some others who really need them. I ignored the TV and PC and moved on to start  the coffee. I did a 10 minute stint of stretching, leg lifts, and squats to help my flexibility. (This usually happens after a couple of hours at the computer, not first thing.) Then I did something I haven’t done in my house in quite a while. I turned on the radio. I made sure it was on a contemporary easy-listening station at a pleasing volume. I then picked up one of about 12 new magazines that I haven’t even taken time to open and sat down with my coffee and read half of it. Finally, I made myself a healthy breakfast of one cheesy scrambled egg, whole wheat toast, and one half cup of high calcium, low-calorie almond milk.

Almost two hours of solitary bliss, with just a little background music for proper atmosphere. What a nice change of pace! I should definitely do this more often, or at least something else new or different. Although I have plenty of day-to-day problems and concerns, I started my day in peace and relaxation.

I’m now ready to get out and walk for a mile or two before it gets too warm. The vitamin D from the sun and the exercise should lift my mood even more. I know that when I get back to work  I won’t be able to have this much leisure, but it’s worth getting up a little earlier to have at least some time to oneself. It’s a pleasant way prepare the mind and the body for the work day ahead. I would recommend at least an occasional change of pace like this to anyone who is feeling stressed out and in a workday rut. Having a routine and schedule is good and often necessary, but sometimes a change is the best medicine.

Have a wonderful day! pclovinu 🙂

Sports Lovers’ Weekend

As a family that is into so many sports, today will require time management and possibly some compromise. We’ve aged past the point of competing ourselves, but we remain huge (possibly addicted) fans. My husband’s work schedule dictates that we will feed our addictions through the TV this weekend.

There is NASCAR racing excitement on TV all day long, including pit crew competitions and the All-Star race. The Preakness, second leg of the Triple Crown happens around 6 p.m. The NBA playoffs have an afternoon and late evening  game airing today. Basketball is one sport we both actually played, so certainly we need to see some of that action. Men’s ATP tennis’ 2nd semifinal featuring  Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer is happening right now in the  Internazionali BNL d’Italia. There are also track and field events and women’s lacrosse featuring our beloved UNC team going on as I type.

Such a wonderful day for sports, but yes, we’re also tackling our chores, doing the shopping, checking in on the parents, getting some exercise, chatting with our daughter on the phone, blogging, and planning to prepare dinner, too.

All that said, I’ve got to move on to the next thing and then the next. I can’t wait for my next shower–whew. Tomorrow we’ll be asking ourselves, “What did we do yesterday? Where’d the weekend go?” If we can remember until then the scores and outcomes, whether we exercised, where we left our keys, who we visited, and what we had for dinner I guess we’ll have our answer. Great sports day to you! 🙂

Where’s a Girl to Live?

 

Top U.S. Cities for Women’s Well-Being Ranked

By Hajer Naili

WeNews correspondent

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Where are the top cities in the U.S. for women to live? A study released today picks the best and the worst places for a woman’s well-being.

Click here for full story: Top U.S. Cities for Women’s Well-Being Ranked | Womens eNews.

Washington, D.C. on Shutterstock

NC Vibes

Please visit my other blog noted above to find out about my lovely home state of North Carolina. Thank you!!! 🙂

Outsmart Your Bad Habits

Outsmart Your Bad Habits. by Kristen Dold