The Polly Project

Alison: You can ring my belllll-elll-elll….ring my bell!

pollypositive — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 20:23:18 +0000

I’m sure you’ve seen all of the Salvation Army bell ringers all month. But how often do you drop something into their bucket? They aren’t asking for anything specific – no amount is too big or too small. In fact all the ones I’ve seen wish you a merry Christmas regardless of if you drop some change in or not. I always seem to pass them at the grocery store. I try to remember to either grab a handful of change from my car (you know you have spare change in there somewhere) and toss it in on my way into the store. Or even after I’m done shopping, I’ll stuff a couple dollars in my pocket to drop in the bucket on my way out the door. And when I don’t have any change or spare cash on me, I always make sure to look them in the eye and give them a big smile and wish them Happy Holidays too.

Happy Holidays to you as well – make it safe and fun and full of laughter!

Alison: Round it up!

pollypositive — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 00:41:45 +0000

Have you ever gone to a grocery store and when you check out they ask you if you want to round up your total to the next dollar? The change ends up being a donation to a charity. At my Safeway it’s for breast cancer awareness. It’s literally pennies – but it’s change that could make a change.

I recently had dinner at the Yard House and they are participating in an project called Round It Up America: http://www.rounditupamerica.org It’s the same concept. When they give you your bill in addition to the tip and total lines, above that there’s a line to round it up. I wish there were more restaurants participating in this. It’s a simple, easy way for people to contribute to charities.

Alison: It’s just a letter

pollypositive — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 06:53:59 +0000

The week before Thanksgiving my boyfriend, Joe, happened to chat with our garbage man, Kip. Kip mentioned that his son is a soldier in Afghanistan and his only Christmas wish was to get 100 letters to hand out to other soldiers on Christmas Day. So he asked for 1 letter from Joe. Of course Joe immediately said yes. When he came inside, he told me about it and of course I wanted to write a letter too! And then we thought, well, we’ll tell our friends too! We set up a quick email address for people to send to and printed off whatever we got and to give to Kip the following Wednesday. It started off as just an email we sent to our parents and a few friends. Then we called a few people asking if they would send a letter too. One of our friends was dropping his kid off at the airport for deployment that very day! Another friend’s son left for his third tour the day before. Everyone we talked to wanted to write a letter! Then we put it up on our Facebook and Twitter pages…and those friends put it up on their pages…and friends of friends pages….

Before we knew it, we had over 450 letters! It has been incredibly fun reading what everyone wrote. Some laughs, some tears. I think our youngest writer was 7 years old and the oldest was a 96 year former prisoner of war from WWII. We received letters not only from Americans, but from people from Canada, the UK, Australia, and even as far away as India. The shortest letter was 6 words. The longest was 3 pages (single-spaced!). Most people wrote 1 letter. A handful of people wrote more. One person wrote 7! Everyone was grateful for the opportunity to simply write a letter. I was too.

This was a true lesson in gratitude. Regardless of their politics or thoughts on war, everyone’s letters expressed thanks, gratefulness, pride, and more for all the soldiers who serve selflessly, fight bravely, and protect those of us at home. It was also a lesson in giving. A letter is so simple. It didn’t take a long time to write, it was free to send (an organization was sponsoring the postage), it wasn’t hard to get others to join in. Maybe these letters will give the soldiers who read them reassurance that people back home care, maybe it will put a smile on their face. It’s the least I could do. It’s just a letter.

I spoke to Kip today. He has collected 1000 letters so far.

Alison: The holidays are officially here!

pollypositive — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:52:37 +0000

It’s been a while, Polly….

November didn’t end up exactly as I pictured it. I had great aspirations – I was thinking I would be 30 lbs lighter, have low blood pressure, sculpted arms, a flat stomach. Funny, that didn’t happen in 30 days. But my goal of getting healthy is well underway. I have definitely been to the gym more often than I had in October (or September, or August, or all three combined). I dropped 12 points in my blood pressure and my doctor gave me a 3 month reprieve to get it to an even healthier level. I’ve even been eating better, more vegetarian meals, less sugar, more water.

Then Thanksgiving hit. I know I’m not alone here. For me, it wasn’t even so much the actual Thanksgiving meal that was the issue as it was the entire week of Thanksgiving. We had the kids at our house which meant more of everything. More groceries, more eating out, more cookies, more elaborate breakfasts, more snacks, more of everything. Sound familiar? But we had so much fun and I wouldn’t change a thing.

I’m back on the wagon, as far as eating better, working out, and getting healthy. In the face of all the holidays coming up, I encourage everyone to take it one day at a time. Do one thing per day. Eat well. Go for a walk. Take deep breaths. Feel good.

Part of feeling good for me is doing good. And this month, I’m focusing on doing good and being grateful. In the spirit of the season, I’m going to keep a grateful mind in everything I do and try my best to help others in whatever way I can. It’s not about giving money…or gifts…in fact, we’ve decided to put Santa on a diet this year. We’re keeping it simple and not exchanging gifts like in years past. That’s not what this month should be about. For me, the holidays are about the people I care about, it’s the smell of the Christmas tree in my living room, the twinkle of the lights outside my house, and being grateful for all that I already have and loving those who are around me.

Alison: Sore Again

pollypositive — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:15:23 +0000

So I took that BodyPump class again…and I’m sore…again! I don’t know what it is about that one class. I’ve taken other weight-lifting classes and have been fine the next day. And it’s not like I’m upping my weights any (for fear of being sore!). But I really like this class! It’s chunked into muscle groups – so each song is a different muscle group. Usually I’m staring at the clock about 20 minutes into a class wondering when my personal hell was going to end. But this class…I know we’re close to the end when I’m doing my tricep dips (the last muscle group/song) and soon we’ll be doing ab work. And I know I’m weird, but I love ab work. I think when I lay down on that mat I psyche myself out to think I’m resting. I realize the next day that I have not rested at all when I can’t bend over to pick up my purse. But all this soreness just means I’m waking up muscles I haven’t used in a while. Before you know it I will be pumping iron like Ah-nold!

Alison: every little bit counts!

pollypositive — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:16:47 +0000

In an effort to cut back on my sodium intake, I’m now ordering my margaritas without the rim of salt. That counts, right?

Alison: Success!

pollypositive — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:09:34 +0000

A successful appointment yesterday with my doctor! In just 2 weeks, I was able to reduce my diastolic reading by 12 points! I’m not out of the woods yet, but it’s a great start. My doctor gave me a reprieve of 3 months to continue to get that number down – without medication. I’m hopeful that by February 10^th, I will have enough normal blood pressure readings to not need any medicine…and maybe even lose a few pounds! Til then, I will keep moving, cut back on my sodium intake, and eat those veggies!

Alison: Two thirds vegetarian

pollypositive — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:37:04 +0000

I grew up in a “meat & potatoes” kinda family…actually, we were more of a “chicken and rice” kinda family. Meat was always our main source of protein. As I grew older and tried different diets, for some reason the Atkins diet or versions of it – where low carb was king – seemed to stick. So I’ve always thought I needed some sort of meat protein at every meal.

One thing the doctor told me I needed to focus on in getting my blood pressure under control was more veggies. I admit it, veggies are not my favorite. I feel like I’m missing out if I don’t have a hunk of chicken or fish on my plate. If I only eat vegetables, won’t I get hungry? How can veggies really fill me up?

But like my mom always says – baby steps. So simply put, I’ve been trying to eat more vegetarian meals than meat meals. Two out of three meals a day are vegetarian. I bought a vegetarian cookbook and analyzed each and every dish and marked all the recipes I thought I would like. I tried a few over the last couple days, some with serious disappointment (Eggplant Ricotta was more like Burnt Eggplant Schmear…yuck!) and some with considerable success (Lasagna Toss was a hit tonight…yum!).

Finding veggies that I actually like has been tough though. But salad is my friend. I could eat salad at every meal! That’s actually my boyfriend’s strategy. Step one: Big salads. Step two: Lots of fruit. (I love fruit!) Step three: Eat as much as you want. Maybe that’s the key? No deprivation, no hunger, all good stuff. And when I want a hot meal, I’ll keep trying new recipes!

Alison: Day 5

pollypositive — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:39:32 +0000

So far, so good. Monday I did a little cardio, followed by an hour yoga class. Tuesday, I went to a weight lifting class (Les Mills Bodypump at 24 Hour Fitness) that kicked my butt…literally. And my arms. And my legs. Quite honestly, I’m still recovering. I was a little ambitious on the weights. Wednesday, I went for a walk around the lake and even extended my usual walk to include a huge hill – go glutes go! Thursday, I was so sore from that weight class that I could barely reach my hands to my head. I thought a pilates class might help me stretch things out. I was wrong. Unfortunately, my triceps and biceps were so weak from my bold weight choices two days before, that I could barely hold myself up in the positions required in pilates. So I took it slow, modified most of the positions, and tried to stretch as best as I could. Today is Friday. I am STILL sore! And that pilates class from yesterday only made my abs ache today. I was going to go to a yoga class today, but I’m afraid that I won’t be able to hold myself up any better than yesterday. Luckily, it’s a beautiful day out and I think the lake is calling my name. I may not be able to lift my purse up off the ground, but my legs are working just fine. Five days in and I have managed to keep moving every day. Yay me!

Alison: Healthy November

pollypositive — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:17:43 +0000

After all that Halloween candy, it’s time to focus on health/exercise/fitness. It’s something I’m always conscious of (who doesn’t want to lose a few pounds?) but it’s never been a huge priority of mine. Now it is. Last week I went to the doctor and she said I have high blood pressure. Not pre-hypertension, but full-blown high blood pressure. It’s a shock to me because I’m relatively young and healthy. It’s not that surprising to me because both my parents have high blood pressure as does my brother, who is 4 years younger than I am. And hey, it’s been a stressful few months for me…another attribute of high blood pressure.

It’s not something that’s going to affect me tomorrow or next week or next month, but I do have to take control of it now. I’ve never had to take a daily medication and I don’t want to start. So as we dive into November, instead of stuffing myself with all the goodies that come with the winter season, I’m going to focus on health in an effort to get my blood pressure down to a normal number. I’m going to eat better, work out more regularly, go to yoga every week. I want to be stronger, healthier, and lighter! Here’s to a healthy November!