Its a Lovely Day In the Neighborhood.

For the new year, Ive gotten together for some "buddies" in an effort to lose weight and become more active. We are encouraging and talking to each other about this lifestyle change on a regular basis. I can lose weight. Ive done it before and Im pretty sure I can do it again. That is not my main hurdle. The challenge for me is becoming active in a realistic, healthy way.

While we were talking one day, I had a vision of the type of active person I want to be. I imagined myself a grey haired woman, walking around the neighborhood with her stick and her hat. I imagined myself contented and balanced and fit. Where I live, we have a couple ladies who fit that description. My kids know them by sight. One lady has a dog she walks. They always wave at me when I drive by. They are always smiling. I see them almost every single day. I dont know about you, but there seems to be a very contented, zen like quality to the way these women stay active. They are definitely more fit than I presently am, and yet their workout doesnt seem like a workout. Their work out seems like a by product of getting outdoors and enjoying the neighborhood. That is such an appealing thought for me.

I want to be active, but I dont want to punish my body. My focus isnt on how cut my abs or my legs are (though I could definitely use some firming up in both areas.) My focus, in all seriousness, is my heart. I turned 39 this year. Im not a young kid anymore. I have a very strong desire to stick around this world for a long time. Its about time I start planning on it - start working towards it. Its about time I start dedicating some time to extending my life and taking care of this body so that I can enjoy my later years with my family.

Last week, I began my neighborhood walks in earnest. I havent done it everyday, but Ive made it out several times a week. So far, its really enjoyable for me. I feels like my time. When I had that "vision" of what my active self would look like, a lot of that vision had to do with the neighborhood in which I live. I LOVE my neighborhood but its far from grand. My neighborhood is hilly and curvy. The actual road I live on is very long, but instead of going straight it rambles in and out of the hills. Pizza men never find my house; they always get lost. The houses in my neighborhood are all different styles, shapes and colors with many being built into the hills. My neighborhood isnt a high mortgage area. The houses are small with lots of character. My sister and her family live in my neighborhood. I can walk to their house. The boys' best friends also live in our neighborhood. This area of Vista has always appealed to me. I consider myself to be very, very lucky to live here.

Today on my walk, I took Matt's point and shoot camera. I thought it would be cool to show you some of the things I see around my neighborhood. Though I didnt get as sweaty as normal (I was stopping a lot to take pictures) it was fun to focus on beautiful things I see on my walks.

1. This is a picture of the "man in white." I dont know his name, but he lives in my neighborhood and always wears white with a white painters hat. He walks most mornings and is very friendly. He drives a truck and everytime he passes me he will wave. This morning when I passed by he said "Good morning, sunshine." 2. Around the corner and up the hill from my home is a beautiful, old, adobe house. Rumor has it that it was once photographed for Better Homes and Garden Magazine. Its not big or grand, but the owners take very good care of it. In the side yard they have a beautiful, unearthly garden. It is surrounded by a rather tall hedge to keep it private. I had to reach the camera over the hedge to get this picture. Im glad some of it came out.

3. This is a shot of the senior van that is run by the city. It comes and picks up senior citizens in our neighborhood and takes them to the market, post office etc. When I heard the bus coming behind me, I stopped to take this picture. When I took the camera down from my face, the bus was right beside me and the bus driver and a woman in back of him were waving at me. Made me smile. 4. This picture is of one of hills I walk up. Its a steady, gradual hill. My legs are quivering as I get closer to the top. Thank goodness for my stick. The car in this picture waved at me too. I didnt know the person, but I love how friendly she was.

5. This is a picture of a home on my walk that I have ALWAYS loved. It has several large, mature trees around it and it has a large slanting front yard. The front of the house has big plate windows to take in the view. I have loved this house since I was a young teenager. Recently, we were driving by it and Seamus said "I just love that house." He surprised me because, while its a lovely house, its not flashy or large. I guess Seamus and I have similar tastes. 6. This is another house I love on my walk. Some of my most favorite people in the world live there.

7. I added this picture for a couple reasons. First off, whenever I see these types of fliers in my neighborhood I feel a little bad because Im certain the animal in question is dead. We have a lot of coyotes in the area and when I see fliers about little dogs or cats missing, I feel certain they are gone... eaten. The other reason why I snapped this picture is because they describe this cat as being "very large." Yeah...we have our own fat cat here in Casa de McGarvey. When I saw this, I wondered to myself if this cat could be larger than ours. Seems unlikely. 8. I added this picture becuase its characteristic of the types of roads and curves in my neighborhood. I had no business taking this shot because the road narrows just where I was standing. But I wanted to give you an idea of how curvy the streets are.

9. This fence stands in front of the yard/house of one of the ladies I described earlier in this post: the grey haired lady who walks. I love this lady. She always has a smile on her face - a BIG smile. Recently Ive seen her walking with her elderly husband. They walk at a leisurely pace and they are often holding hands. Its so freaking adorable! I hope someday Matt and I can take walks together like they do. 10. This picture is of the bottom part of the hill that goes up to our house. Its the last leg of my walk and it kicks my ass every single time. Im usually huffing and puffing by the time I get to my driveway.

11. This dog barks like crazy at me every time I walk by his house. Thank goodness he's behind that gate because Im sure he'd come over and take a bite out of me if he could. 12. This is a picture of one of my favorite views in Vista. When we drive by it in the car, the kids say "Mama, here comes your favorite view." They know. hee hee This cactus farm is nestled away on a hill and into the valley near our home. Its beautiful. I love the color of the plants and the way the are grown in neat, orderly rows. Everytime I come down the hill and see this view I smile. Every. single. time. The dog, incidentally, lives across the street.

13. Just for your information, a cop lives three doors down from me. He often patrols the neighborhood, watching the speed of cars on the curvy roads. I think its great. On Halloween this year, he donned a pig mask and drove to the heart of the neighborhood to pass out candy from his police car. It was fantastic! 14. Normally, my neighborhood isnt this green. However, we've had a ton of rain lately so the flowers are blooming and there is green everywhere you look. Its like living in Ireland. Lovely.

15. When I saw this street sign this morning it made me giggle. 16. So. California roads are not made to withstand lots of rain. Parts of the neighborhood get flooded every time we get a good downpour. It was nice for the city guys to come out and put these signs up. If you're in your car, you can easily hydroplane on one of the many big puddles. I also saw the city guys opening manholes/drainage areas all over the neighborhood this morning. They're getting ready for the next storm to hit us later today. 17. Brenda + Frank. Awwww. This was traced into a little patch of cement near the road.


Welp, thats it. Thats a snapshot of the walk I took this morning. Thanks for coming along with me.:)
Happy Wednesday!