Thursday Thirteen: 13 Fairly Random Thoughts

Ciao a tutti! Hi, everybody!

Well, now. That was some hiatus, eh? Unplanned and longer than I'd like, but now I'm back, and for today, I'm going to keep it pretty random, with

Thirteen Fairly Random Thoughts

1) I went home to the US for the summer, as usual. While I was there, I managed to lose and then keep off six more pounds. (Considering how little physical activity I was doing for those two-and-a-half months, after riding my bike several times a week in Italy, I found that to be a good thing.)

2) Alas, when the hubby joined me in the US in August, we ate a lot of restaurant meals. As a result, I gained back four pounds. So that's a net loss of two pounds.

I'll take it, though.

3) Regardless, that's a grand total of forty pounds lost over the course of two years. I'm not ashamed to admit that.

Me, just before leaving for the US in May.

4) With the help of an app on my new tablet (my birthday gift from my hubby), I started trying to do yoga. While I'm not terribly "good" at it (I don't think), I did see an improvement in my flexibility and a reduction in back/leg pain.

5) I haven't done yoga since I've been back in Italy, and that's something I need to change, soon. It would complement my cycling very well - not to mention the benefit of stretching before and after rides.

6) In the States, I got reacquainted with my roommate from last year. Yahtzee.

7) Yahtzee was much fluffier than he was in the above photo, and needed a good trim.

He got it. The results were rather...interesting.

I'm just sharing this one photo of him (a few weeks post-shave) because, well... It just feels rude to have so many people laughing at him. Bless.




8) I spent the summer driving a lot, running errands for my mother, taking her to appointments and occasionally doing my own thing, alone or with my best mate, Cristy. I do enough driving in the US every summer to keep me from wanting to drive for the rest of the year. Heh.

9) As a surprise, my mother and Cristy colluded on my birthday present and got me a FitBit Flex step tracker. I've enjoyed using it quite a lot and wear it every day. It's very useful for keeping track of my activity level!

10) Since getting back to Italy, using the FitBit for motivation, I'm managing to walk more than usual, which is great. I also drag the hubby along for walks in our neighborhood, which he enjoys.

11) What kept us busy last week was something that had been in the works for quite a while: We painted our bedroom and my office! Woo-hoo!!!

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The door of my office - surrounded by my color!!!

12) It was a loooonnnng week, but we got the two rooms done, and aside from the rearranging of items and disposal of others, we're nearly finished with the whole project. Hurrah!

13) And, yes, for those who are curious: I am working on a new project which I hope to get out ASAP. Now that I have my lovely office set up, I have the space I need to get to work!




And there you have Thirteen Random Thoughts from my fairly rattled mind.





I hope you've enjoyed them.









And it's only fair that I share this lovely image with you all, too:

Daniele Bennati, Italian cyclist.

Ciao for now!