Wokai

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A little about my favorite charity:

What is Wokai?

Wokai delivers an internet microfinance platform that allows individuals to provide Chinese microentrepreneurs with loan capital. Our organization acts as an intermediary in this process, transferring funds from contributors abroad to microentrepreneurs in China through our field partners.

Who does Wokai support?

A typical Wokai microentrepeneur is a female rural inhabitant, living on less than $1/day. Hermicrofinance loan, ranging from $150-$300 dollars, provides her with the capital to start a small business. Her business varies by location, raising sheep in a rural grassland or operating a small fruit stand in a city center.

With her income, she accumulates savings, which allows her to allocate money towards long-term investments like education and health. By the end of her loan cycle, she has experienced increased financial independence, bolstered self-confidence, and a strengthened sense of community.

Learn more and contribute today at http://www.wokai.org.

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Yosemite - Half Dome Hike

After finishing the Lemonade detox, I thought I'd do something super healthy. So my roommates and I went camping and hiking in Yosemite.

We got to our campsite at about 11 PM on Friday night after a long, traffic-filled drive. We pitched our tents with the car's headlights - that was interesting. The next day, another neighbor said he was impressed that we got it done so quickly and efficiently - yay us!

While two of my friends stayed at the campsite for the day, my other roommate and I woke up at 6 am and headed out to Half Dome. I was excited, but kind of scared too. It's a 17 mile roundtrip hike, and it's very steep. We had no idea where we were going, and we got really lost for a while. All you have to do though is go to Curry Village and follow signs to Happy Isles. The trailhead's pretty easy to find from there.

We started out going uphill, and I'm a really fast hiker (my roommate wanted to kill me). It evened out eventually, then went back uphill. Yikes! But it was really beautiful - there was a huge waterfall near the beginning (and end), and the woods along the trail were pretty. The views were amazing towards the end. You can see for miles, and the mountains are ridiculous.

We took the John Muir Trail by accident when it branched off, but I've heard the Vernal Falls Trail via the Mist Trail is the best, so I'll for sure be trying that next time.

Not to sound like a total hippy, but it made me realize how much I love nature. I had some great quiet time and feel like I had a good little reflection on things I've accomplished in 2007 and things I still want to accomplish. Nature will do that to me :)

When we got to the end, it was really scary, but I'm scared of heights so it might not be as bad for other people. We had to go up these giant mountainous step things - all I could think about was going back down, which is way worse for someone scared of heights. The very last thing was the dreaded cables, which were way way way scarier when I actually saw them. It's basically a flat mountain face with a rope ladder up it. No way. I refused. It wasn't worth risking my life. We laid at the top watching other people do it though - it was pretty crazy looking. Someone dropped their water bottle by accident from the top, and it just got dead silent. It clunked all the way down. I know everyone was thinking 'Wow I'm glad that wasn't a body.'

Anyways, we got done in about 8.5 hrs which from what I've heard is pretty ridiculous. We went to the grocery store to get S'mores and wine to reward ourselves. When we got back, our friends didn't believe we had actually hiked Half Dome because we got back so early. After one glass of wine, I was pretty tipsy - scary, but bound to happen after a whole day of intense hiking. We both had to take a power nap after that so that we could get up and hang out.

It was such a great weekend, and we had so much fun! I highly recommend Half Dome, and Yosemite in general. Beware the bears, but if you lock up all of your stuff, you should be fine. One of my friends woke up every hour thinking a bear was around the campsite, but she's just paranoid. We saw a deer get hit and killed by a car too, so be really careful when you're driving through the park!

All around, good times and great memories. I really want to go back soon!

Follow-up

Today's the Wed. after I finished the diet (Saturday was my first day of all normal food). I ate like crazy all weekend and all week so far. I have no idea why! I'm not normally at all this out of control.

Luckily though I have been eating tons of fruits and veggies, so at least I'm making a lot of good choices along with the bad ones.

I went to the park on Saturday (after that first night of boozing again) and we had a bbq. Ate a lot of crap and drank, which made me pretty unhappy with myself. Ate healthy on Sunday though. Other than being super full, I've been feeling okay stomach-wise.

I've gained a few lbs back already. As long as I can keep a few off though, I'll be happy with the weight loss.

Last Day

It's Friday again. I can have fruits and veggies and OJ today. Yay for variety!! I was super excited all day to eat real stuff.

I went out and drank because one of my friends was moving overseas. I didn't drink a whole ton of a lot, and I felt okay amazingly. Not too bad, but I really wish I could have gone longer without drinking - that really does gross me out.

I'm a little scared about really eating again because I don't want to gain the weight back, and I don't want to go back to my stomach hurting at all. But I'm also so excited to get back to normal food and social activities. Not going out and not meeting friends for dinner and drinks was a little depressing. I also thought I would find some great new activities post-work, but I always got home late and was exhausted.

Overall, I'm glad I tried the Lemonade Diet, but I don't know that I'll do it again. Unless my stomach feels a ton better for a long time - otherwise, I don't know how worth it it is.

OJ!

I never knew OJ could taste so good!! I drank about 5 of those Naked Juices yesterday. I got really full, but also really hungry at the same time. I can already feel the water weight coming on right away though :(

Today's my veggie soup day. I had OJ all day yesterday. I'm supposed to have OJ until dinner, but I cheated and had some fruit during lunch...I figured 24 hours wouldn't hurt!

I think I ate about 5 whole veggies with my dinner soup, and I made myself feel disgustingly full. But man, those veggies were so good! Be careful with the flavoring - I think I put too much in, and it was overpowering.

It was my roomie's bday, so we went to dinner. I decided for some stupid reason that I could have wine. Just one glass and WOW. Not recommended! I'm such a cheater.

Last Day of Lemonade!!

Woohoo! I can't wait to stop drinking this stuff!! It's so gross, and I love food.

I had a conference to go to today, and I was really busy. It was kind of weird to walk around with sippy bottle of yellow crap. But I made it through the day.

I got home and my roommates were eating cookies. They looked so good! I'm really craving fruits and veggies, but I'm not going to lie, I really want the cookies too.

As of today, I've lost 9-10 lbs, which I'm assuming is largely water weight. My pants are definitely looser though, but I'm guessing I'll gain it right back when I start drinking and eating like crazy again. My stomach is feeling better though! I guess it's not that hard to though when you don't have anything in it.

Day 8

Monday morning again. It's actually easier to do this at work. Some of my coworkers finally noticed that I'm not eating...it's always fun to try to explain it. People just think I'm crazy.

The day went quickly though. I've been drinking a lot less lemonade than I'm supposed to (about 40-50 ounces instead of 60 minimum). My weight's starting to plateau, but I'm almost done!

I couldn't drink the tea tonight. My body just needs a break from it for a day. I have a conference tomorrow for work, so I don't know how that's going to go. I also just found out I have a friend coming into town and a big night out for Friday night, so I think I'm going to stop a day early so I can drink this weekend :) Clearly, a great idea to detox and then retox again right away. So goes life though.