Mind Games

I had NO intention of working out yesterday. None. It was to be my day off. But I found that I was annoyingly munchy...in other words my mouth wanted to nibble and I was a tiny bit hungry despite the fact that I already had plenty of my shake. I have read in countless magazines and books that if you want to distract yourself from senseless grazing, you should go for a walk. Well, today that seemed like a good option as I needed to scope out other gardens to get ideas for our upcoming garden re-vamp (ugh) and it was still about an hour or so until lunch.

I wasn't going to make it a "Workout". Just a little walk. I even wore my ancient, cozy hippy-esque Old Navy long sweater with the wrap ties. So I set off a bit slowly and figured I'd stroll for a while, snap a few pics and call it a day.

My neighborhood must have been planned by a bunch of lab rats because it takes the shape of a complicated labyrinth. Some of the roads circle around and then change names.

You can feel horribly lost, but really you are never far from home. All of the streets eventually lead back to a main road, where you can get your bearings. An embarrassing admission: Even though I no longer get lost, I still don't know all of the names in my neighborhood. There's only about seven or 8 streets, 9 or so names, but they are all Italian, and I never bothered to commit them to memory despite living here for 12 years! :-?



Photo: Pretty Succulent Garden

I have an odd dislike of walking the same street twice, in the same direction. I must have a deep-seeded fear of someone looking out their window and thinking I must be lost, or worse, demented, because I'm covering the same route again. Weird I know! So I decided to play a mind game with myself- trying to figure out how I could negotiate the labyrinth by covering each and every street, but in each direction only once. Easier said than done, but it did get me chugging all over the 'hood in search of a new street I hadn't hit yet. At one point, I realized that (with the exception of the main road) I actually had a shot at doing the whole maze successfully, but it would require me to walk an extra 20 minutes. So I picked up the pace a bit.

Photo: These guys are HUGE and look like artichokes...getting hungry again!

Before I knew it, the Hippy Sweater was slung around my waist in true Boho style and sweat was starting to accumulate on the brow.


Photo: This one looks like a rose- so pretty! It's also huge- at least the size of a basketball :-)

While I hadn't burned a lot of calories, I spent a good portion of the morning in the fresh air, doing a nice low impact exercise and snapping photos of lovely gardens with the best camera I've ever owned (my iPhone). Finally home, I felt sweaty and accomplished and like any good lab rat, I indulged in a piece of cheese to celebrate.


Photo: Gratuitous kitty picture. "You must worship me".

Deb