Today was an unabashedly good day.

I exercised.  I did a continuous three mile run, and the first 2.5 miles were effortless with the remaining 1/2 mile slightly more challenging, but definitely manageable.  And I walked 1/4 mile on either side of the run on an incline.  I am super happy about it.  See how there are no dips in my heart rate?  😀

The Scale.  I was beginning to believe that our bathroom scale was stuck and I wanted to smash it repeatedly against the floor. (I refrained.)  The stupid thing finally, begrudgingly admitted I had lost another pound.  It is a malicious beast.  I am down by 6 lbs. now.

Hydration. My doctor told me that I should drink an ounce of water for every two pounds of body weight daily.  I am an over achiever, so I try to do well in excess of that.  Today, I drank 120 ounces of water.  (I wonder if I should get exercise credit for the many times I have to run to the bathroom every day…)

Nutrition. Cooking is one of my hobbies.  I have a little blood sugar issue, and I have to be careful about carbohydrate consumption in general. When my blood sugar rises, my blood pressure also rises.  Tomorrow, I will do a separate recipe blog.   For now, I will recommend that you look at my 2013 post for Halibut with Lemon Butter and Crispy Shallots.  I promise you will love it.

Riding.  Winter has finally remembered us here in the midwest.  It is 31º outside and the wind is howling. I want to and should ride Filigree, but it will be too punishing for both of us with the icy gusts over fields laid flat by the harvest, so I am going to take a pass on riding and work on her liberty work. She is very smart and we are making lots of progress.  I may blog about this separately, too, because it is very exciting.

Christmas movies.  Tonight we watched the ingenious classic, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and because it is short, we are watching the Charlie Brown Christmas, too.  My cup runneth over.

I am feeling a bit chatty, so I want to mention just one other thing that has brought me incredible joy, especially recently.  Reading. Earlier this year, I started the Goodreads Book Challenge and signed up to read 16 books in 2017.  I have been enthralled by Jean Auel’s 6-novel Clan of the Cave Bear series, George R. R. Martin’s 5-novel Game of Thrones series, and last night, I started book 21, the sixth of 7 books in J.K. Rowling’s masterpiece Harry Potter series.  I have walked among Neanderthals, flown on the backs of dragons, and just started my sixth year at Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  I am trying to slow down in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince because I know that the series ends in the seventh book.  I was underwhelmed by Margaret Attwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, but I now know that J.K. Rowling is one of the greatest story tellers in history.  My advice:  Just read!

Wishing you a very good night, a brightly crackling fire, a warm and lovely cup of tea, a faithful hound at your feet, and that you are drawn through pages into a riveting adventure.