Rounding Out Vacation

So I've been back a few days now and have been looking back on how last weeks vacation went. It really was awesome! You saw my yoga beach trip and my kayaking trip with hubs. The last bit to share was our trip to the aquarium.

I LOVE aquariums. I spend a lot of my summer working on the beach with sea turtles helping them to get to the sea. Well, hubs took me to the Virginia Beach Aquarium. It was so amazing!

First, the size of the aquarium is huge. It is two buildings with about a 10 minute walk between them. The first building had all kinds of awesome animals and learning. We saw sharks and my favorite sea turtles. Sadly, we missed the sea turtle tour they had. But they were so active and friendly. I absolutely fell in love all over again with these beautiful creatures! They even came over for pics with me!

The walk to the second building was through a wooded area with paths. There were some stop and overlooks over the inlet. We got to see all kinds of butterflies, birds, and bird nests. As we got closer to the second building, there was an adventure course in the trees. Ropes, ladders, and bridges looped across the trees at different heights. It will definitely be on my to do list next time I go.

Building two had river and inlet animals. It had river otters. They are so personable and funny! I loved watching them play and swim. We also checked out the snakes and turtles. Unfortunately, the aviary was closed. They also had a dinosaur exhibit. We all know how much I LOVE dinosaurs. So of course I had to ham it up with them.

In addition to the aquarium, there was a lot of beach time and pool time. The weather was awesome. Nights were filled with laughing, stories, a wild game of cards against humanity, and a song challenge to the house a block over behind us. We also took a trip to downtown Virginia Beach for some video game fun. Nothing like playing like kids in an arcade.

Since it was vacation, I was a bit more loose with my meals. OK, I was very loose with foods and ate things that I normally won't eat (read ice cream, donuts, and fudge). Needless to say, I found some extra pounds that will be worked off. I have to admit, I am happy to be back to eating clean again!

Overall, vacation was a success! Can't wait for the next one!

An Aquarium Adventure

Remember I talked about happy minds? Well here is another of my happy places. I LOVE the aquarium. For me, it is peace, getting to learn and see animals, and interacting with them as well. There is something so peaceful about animals in the ocean (yes, even sharks).

So Hubs took me to the aquarium and here, my friends, is the adventure.

After fighting traffic, we walked from the lot to the front door. It is spider season in North Carolina. I am absolutely scared stupid of spiders, especially giant ones. These things had condos built. It took all I had not to walk in the middle of the road and run screaming. I'm proud to say I made it. (No, there are no pictures because.....spiders.)

The first thing we did was head to the lorikeets. These birds were beautiful. We purchased some nectar to feed them and made some bird friends. One wanted to drink the nectar so bad it hung upside down to drink! No two were alike. We just had to watch that we did not get pooped on. Lets face it, they are birds and a lot were sitting up high in the rafters.

We then went inside. I am always filled with childlike wonder when I go in. The front room is all local fish and animals that can be found here in the Carolina's. Everything from alligators to giant fish and frogs to box turtles. They also have a special exhibit with a beautiful junior bald eagle. What a HUGE bird! He was also stunning. Just to see this bird up close is amazing!

The next room is my favorite. Why? Because I LOVE sea turtles. I spend my summer volunteering to help these sweet endangered babies get to the big blue sea. I have been posting some pics as I head to the beach each day on my Facebook page, but once they hatch, I will add some more about them here. Anyway, they build a new enclosure for the loggerhead turtle and she is so cool! It was a highlight of my trip there.

We went downstairs next and checked out the jellies. Gotta love the jellies. They are so pretty (as long as they are not stinging me. Finally, we checked out the exotic aquatic area which had all kinds of cool fish and frogs. No trip to the aquarium is complete without getting to pet a shark.

I hope you get the chance to visit the aquarium at Fort Fisher in North Carolina. It is not huge but it is ours and it is full of our local wildlife. I hope it becomes a part of your happy place too.

Mouth, Body, and Mind

When we think of health and wellness, we tend to think of nutrition and exercise. Yes, this is a big part of getting healthy. But there is one more thing that needs to be added, and that is the mind. Let's explore more about this trifecta.

Nutrition
Food. How we love to eat. According to the Journal of American Medicine, about 78.6 million Americans are obese. That, my friend is a lot of people. We have so many food choices from fast food to comfort food and home cooking to any cultural food we want. With all of the options out there, why wouldn't we partake in all of the food. We don't want to miss out on the good stuff. When people think about getting healthy, they seem to think health food has to be bland, boring or just plan gross. Sorry friends, that is false. Nutrition is an important part of health and wellness. We need to eat good, clean, nutrient rich food most of the time. Everything should be in moderation if you want to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Generally, I will say aim for 80% clean healthy foods and 20% other.

Exercise
You can't undo a crap diet. You just can't. You cant workout all day to burn off that burger (see moderation above). Exercise should be incorporated in your health and wellness plan 30 minutes every day. I'm not talking hard core exercise every day, but a mixture of different levels. One day go for a walk, another do a class, try yoga or a cardio class, you can workout from home to (that is what I do most times). The idea is to balance exercise with your nutrition.

Mind- and here is the good stuff
This one is a little more abstract. For nutrition and exercise to fall in place, you also need a healthy mind. This covers everything from why is it important to mental health in general (I'm talking things like depression, low self esteem, sadness, anger, and even happiness). You see, in order to keep you moving in the direction you want to, you need to believe that you CAN do it and have a positive mindset. Let's face it, it is not easy to change. Sometimes you need help (professional and non-professional) and support from friends and family. Sometimes you need personal development that you can find in a book or by journaling. I'm an avid reader and have found a few books that have really helped. Developing yourself and taking the time to work on you can help with changing negative mindsets. (I will include book reviews on personal development books as we go along as well.) At the end of the day, your positive mindset and belief that you can do it will help you meet nutrition and exercise goals (see, they do tie in).

Why did I share this with you? Because for you to meet your health and wellness goals, you need to feed all three. I will post a lot about exercise and meals but you will also see me post about things that make me happy. I invite you to share with me some of your favorite meals, exercises, or just things that feed your mind and make you happy.

References:
http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html

Do Something That Makes You Happy - A Happy Adventure

Life is too short to not find happiness. I do mean find. Only you can determine your happiness, you can't rely on someone to provide it. That is not to say, others can't make you happy. But you also need to find happiness in what you do. Why? Well, it makes life better, things seem to go smoother, and who wants to be miserable?

Recently, hubs and I got in the Jeep and he surprised me with a trip to the boardwalk (its maybe 15 mins away from the house). We had a wonderful time walking through the carnival area and listening to the kids scream on the rides. The sound of pure joy and terror!

  We then strolled down to Britt's Donuts. I normally am not a donut person, but this is the 2nd best donut place in the whole United States! It seems to get better each year.

From there, we went to the boardwalk itself and sat on a swing and just watched and listened to the ocean. The peace that came with just sitting there with my head on hub's shoulder just calmed me. I just felt truly happy for everything that I have in my life. And why not? If we look for the good, the beautiful, the perfectly imperfect, we will find what we are looking for!

We walked the boardwalk a little to see how it came out since they just redid it. Even got to see the sea turtle patrol vehicle drive by doing rounds on our turtle nests (I will have some of those adventures this year too).

No trip to the boardwalk is complete unless we are silly (another thing that makes me happy). We found cut outs and a surfboard with a wave backdrop. YES! We got to play
with them.