Saturday Smiler - Casual male

He should have been a model.

Flat Corgi Friday - Represent

One of our stops on this cruise is Liverpool. Now, this port of call had several Beatles related activities, but seeing as I'm not a Beatles fan, we passed on them.

My eye was on the ability to go visit Conwy Castle... which is in Wales. Of course I couldn't pass that up!

More to come when we return home.

Wordless Wednesday - That nose

Saturday Smiler - A lovely stand-in

Gimli and Merida in the back, with a new corgi friend - Sandy in the front

A couple weeks ago, the four of us went to a local museum to celebrate Her Majesty's 90th birthday.

As luck would have it, they had a... flat Queen Elizabeth II!

Of course, we had to get a picture of the corgis with this stand in.

Yum!

Flat Corgi Friday - Port of Entry

Tonight, we leave for our British Isles cruise on the Disney Magic. Naturally, the Flat Corgis will be with us, while the real corgis remain at home.

This time it's a little different, the corgis are staying in our house and pet sitters are stopping by to spoil them.

Naturally, I'm sad to leave them and worried about the flight, (nervous flier), and worried how they'll behave, so it's the usual par for the course going through my brain at this time.

Flat Corgi Friday - King Candy!

The corgis with King Candy. If you've seen Wreck it Ralph, you know he has to be the winner... that's his personality.

Flat Corgi Friday - Royal Mail

Do you think if I mailed the Flat Corgis they'd arrive at our destination in time?

This year Mike and I are going on a special trip, one that I'm over the moon about... except of course the part where I leave the corgis behind.

More to come later.

Yum, worms

She's probably thinking about the rabbit poop or dried up earthworms that she likes to gobble up on our walks.

Such a stinker.

Go to bed

I don't sleep.

I don't mean it in an insomnia sort of way, but when I'm supposed to be in bed, I'm not. I'm doing other things like playing around on the computer, scrolling through my phone, or watching something stupid on tv. All such things can be put off until the next day, but I don't. Then, I struggle in the morning, and I struggle in mid-afternoon. I cannot remember a time when I didn't have dark circles under my eyes.

Several local folks that I follow on Twitter were posting about an initiative called #MayHealth, which believes that small changes towards healthy habits can make a difference, and the sense of community created around MayHealth can serve as a powerful motivator.

I figured, 'Why not?'. I've read it takes 21 days for something to become a habit, and why not start now?

Since the start of the month, I've been slowly modifying my sleep patterns. I had set bedtime to be 10 pm, but that remains a work in progress. Before bed, I have a cup of chamomile tea, brush my teeth and put in my mouth-guard. For the most part, the tv and computer have been turned off and I've started leaving my phone in another room.

I've seen mixed success - on those nights when I'm in bed, I fall asleep quite quickly. However there are other nights where I've fallen down the rabbit hole of the Internet.

Little by little, I'll get there.

Flat Corgi Friday - Princess Merida

All hail Princess Merida who:

- has perma-resting bitch face
- plays by her own rules
- bosses around her big brofur
- chases away meanie birds from her kingdom
- refuses to play with the squeaker, instead forces you to squeak it for her
- loves to inspect every article of clothes you wear
- wears that crown so well
- loves to go for a run with you
- is a little cuddle monster
- is 3 years old today

She doesn't know it yet

Merida's birthday is on Friday and while we have her presents already, there's one present she's going to get on Saturday.

A bath. With the Spring thaw/rain/snow/ice/thaw again/snow again we've had in the past few weeks, she's a little stinky. She rolls in whatever nasty thing has appeared - worms or goose poo - and then comes up to us for a snuggle. Yeah little girl, not happening.

That cute face fools no one!

Sunday Smiler - Spring

It's snowing outside right now and in an attempt to coax Mother Nature to put away the snow until December, I'm posting this picture of my two lovelies.

This picture was taken a couple weeks ago, when there was no snow on the ground and we thought Spring had actually sprung.

Wordless Wednesday - National Puppy Day

Flat Corgi Friday - Hello Zazu

As I've mentioned before Merida despises, with every fiber of her being, birds. I think crows are at the top of her list because she can hear them even when the windows are closed and they send her barking and scurrying to the back door. On one occasion, I was watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban when she heard the crows around Hagrid's hut. She was not amused. I was though :).

These days on our walks with the birds steadily waking up for Spring, she charges at them... and consequently forgets she's on a leash.

Alas, Zazu is the only bird that she would tolerate.

Flat Corgi Friday - Panda

I have a soft spot for pandas.

I could watch panda videos all day... like this one:

And this one:

Alas, since I can't go play with pandas, I'll settle for a fluffy corgi.

Gratitude - Week 5

My listing:

• One eared headphones
• I lost one of the inserts for my headphones so I had to do one of my 4k runs with one headphone.
• Weird as it sounds, it helped me to focus on my breathing. My breathing was quite shallow and listening to it during the race really drove it home.
• I started taking deep breaths in and deep breaths out and it feels like it's making a difference. I am not there yet, but each time I go for a run I have to remind myself to breathe properly.
• It will come in time with practice.
• Friends who bring cider
• Friends who we don't see much of these days, came over for a game night and brought us 2 large bottles of cider!
• Skittles
• Skittles, Starburst, and Snickers. These are my top 3, if I buy candy at the checkout, it's one of these.
• I had a craving and tried out the new "Orchard" flavorings. It was ok... I couldn't tell the difference between the cherry and the red apple flavors. Next time, it's regular flavored Skittles for me!
• Hanging out with this guy
• I struggle to give each corgi their alone time with me. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work out in a fair manner, so that's an area for me to improve.
• On Saturday Merida went to the groomers, which meant Gimli and I got to take the long leash out to the park.
• It's a shame there wasn't a bit more snow, but he enjoyed what little was there - rolling around in it and eating it.
• 
  

Golden Mickey

On the Disney Dream, there's a stage show called The Golden Mickeys, which is the cruise line's equivalent of an award's show. We've never seen the show because we're just not interested in it.

However, outside the theater, there are Golden Mickey statues, which is where we've found the Flat Corgis this week.

Flat Corgi Friday - Wild Merida

Those wild Meridas, they will pop up when you least expect them!

Gratitude - Week 4

Here's my listing for this week:

• 4 day weekends
• This past weekend was a 4 day weekend for me. It was nice - I got my wings craving in, we saw Deadpool, (highly recommended), I napped, played with the corgis, and just rested my mind.
• the indoor track
• This past weekend was -20something C. That's not just cold, it's frigid!
• We went to the indoor track early Saturday morning and we were greeted by about a dozen other runners.
• It was nice, there was no running around people, no confusion, no people stopping in the middle of the fast lane. It's amazing how smoothly things go when everyone is on the same page.
• diet change ups
• I've recently finished reading Racing Weight 2nd edition by Matt Fitzgerald. In it, he outlines a bit of the science and nutrition behind fueling your body for exercise.
• I must admit, I don't know much about nutrition and I always thought that eating too much carbs was bad for you. However in his book he talks about finding the right balance for you, which includes carbs and protein.
• Over the past few weeks I've increased my carb intake over breakfast and lunch and slowly been increasing my protein. The result? I've lost about 2 pounds.
• How? By adding the foods that make me fuller, I've eliminated the need to snack between meals and that has resulted in a net loss.
• I'm nowhere near where I need to be, but I'm glad that I've finally found a resource that dispenses the 'why' and 'how this ingredient works' instead of 'go eat this and don't eat that'.
• I haven't started calculating my DQS yet or found my ideal racing weight, but I'm pleased with this initial set of results.
• awesome family doctors
• Who will fax over a prescription refill to the pharmacy for you.
• signed up for my first half marathon
• I'm going to be busy and sore for the majority of the year.
• Now, what will I wear :)

Throwback Thursday - snow

Remember that time last year when we had deep snowdrifts in the backyard?

Me too. This year we have a few centimeters. Snow corgi Merida is not amused.