Back from vacation

Did you miss me? I had every intention of blogging at least once while I was away this past week, but the place we were staying only had internet in the clubhouse and being the lazy person that I am, I didn't want to lug my computer there. Plus it was a slow connection and truth be told I rather enjoyed being internet free. :o) Of course I had a huge amount of emails when I arrived home last night, but it was worth it. We had a great time and if you want the details of our trip, you can visit my HHT's blog, http://www.adventurebolt.com, and read about our excursions there. I enjoyed food and wine and definitely didn't watch every little thing that went in (didn't go crazy, either), but I was also more active than I normally am (walking, a little bit of swimming, etc.) and ended up being only 2 lbs heavier than when I left. I'm ok with this. :o) This morning it was back to being on track...except my water intake which I'm working on. I had a great time and now back to being focused on the last 30lbs or so. Here's to a great Autumn and back to school and a lighter, more fit me. :o)

School shopping...exercise or torture?

Since we're going on vacation again next week, I decided that we should get the school shopping done this week. It would be over and done with.

Monday we went through the kids' dressers and emptied out all the too small ones, seperated out the stained-not-good-enough-to-wear-to-school ones, and counted what was left that they could wear to school so we'd know what to buy. We then went through the old school supplies to see what could be reused this year (B found quite a bit to reuse because she wanted to be able to spend more money on clothes!).

Armed with our lists (and a budget per child...might as well teach them young), we set off to Wally-World (Walmart). The school supplies were picked out rather quickly and there wasn't a huge crowd which was nice. Then off to do some clothes shopping. YIKES!!! All I can say is that I'm very thankful my SIL was with us or I very well may have ended up a crazed, babbling woman because it would have taken at least twice as long.

She took ET to the boys section and began shopping, while I took the girls. 1st, of course...underwear. Now I have no idea why, but boys underwear was twice as much as girls. Anyway, they all picked out some items they liked, then it was off to...the fitting rooms! Even more torturous than the shopping (have I mentioned I'm not a shopper?), I entertained S (who is 2 and also not a shopper although she did amazingly well considering) while B tried on her clothes. Then B took EB for me to help her try on her clothes. And again we can't thank M (my SIL) enough as she was helping E try on his clothes. Go back to the clothing section for round 2 of selection and try on. Finally everyone is content that they have exhausted Walmart's clothing selection and want to spend the rest of their money at Target. And pretty much the only things missing are a jacket for ET and shoes for B.

M treats us to a well deserved lunch and we come back home to put S down for a well deserved nap. I explain to the kids that we will continue the shopping spree after dinner as that way HHT can take S for us. :o)

Now, a cool phenomenon that I've noticed is that while kids may not be excited about going back to school, they sure are excited about their school supplies and putting them into backpacks. I had to slow them down so that we could mark names on everything and make sure each child received what they were supposed to have. Then, HHT was bombarded when he got in the door with "Can I show you this?", "Daddy, you have to see this!", etc. until we announced that there could be a fashion show...later.

More shopping at Goodwill and Target after dinner and still no jacket for ET or shoes for B. So I decided that since we'll be back in town for Labor Day weekend, we'll take advantage of the sales. B wasn't happy as she had already been dreaming about being able to buy new shoes, but other than that everyone else was happy to go back home and put on the fashion show for Daddy.

And in between shopping excursions I worked out at Curves. Due to vacation, I missed 2 work outs last week and I was concerned that it would be a little difficult to go around the circuit. Nope! It felt easier and when I was done, the computer said that I had burned 545 calories which was a personal best for me. I also overshot my PI goal by 34 points. The last couple of work outs I had done, I was under my goal, so I left Curves feeling like the break had done me some good. :o)

Home again

Well, not quite, but we will be heading that way in a leisurely fashion this afternoon. We've had a blast! Yesterday we would have really liked to do some hiking, but it was just too hot! Really hot!

We went to the Open Aire Market, saw an ambulance come to help someone who had been overtaken by the heat, then we did a little driving around and yard saling.

We went out to lunch at the Old Mill Cafe, food was good and the owner was so much fun. After buying 2 GIGANTIC zucchini from him for $1 (I could have had 1 more as it was 3/$1, but there was no way we would be able to eat all of that LOL), he gave us a tour of the eating area. They've been open for 4 years and there is a beautiful mural on the ceiling, a table that has a scale model of the old mill that used to be across the street in it, saw chandelier and other cool stuff. He's also renovating the hotel across the parking lot where when it's done will have 4 theme rooms.

We then made our way back to the house. Watched some Dr. Who and then just got really, really hot (there is no air conditioning or fan in this house and we picked the abnormally hot weekend to visit LOL) so decided to check out the Casino about 8 miles out of town. Now, here's something I did not know...WA has a law that there is no smoking in public buildings...apparently this does not apply to buildings on reservations because there was still smoking going on in there. We stayed in the non-smoking slot machines and played penny slots (I know, big spenders!), then decided to stay (it was air conditioned after all) for their bingo session. We didn't win anything playing bingo, but we enjoyed 3 hours of cooler air and I had 2 of the best margaritas I've ever had. After bingo I put the rest of my slot money (we each started with $6) into the Phantom of the Opera penny slot and ended the night at $14. I'M A WINNER!!! LOL We then had a late dinner of Applebee's happy hour appetizers and came back to the house and went to bed.

Now it's time to pack up, check out and make our way back home.

I'm a little hesitant to step on that scale when I get back. While I haven't been as off plan as I could have been (at one point I really wanted to go to the restaurant that had polenta lasagna, but HHT said no!) I also haven't been as good as I could have been either. There's been a lot of drinking (well, not stumbling drunk drinking, just we've had drinks or wine every night) and I haven't made the best food choices. I have been more active than I normally am, so hopefully that helps balance out the extra a little bit. :o) But what's done is done and tomorrow I'm back to it full force.

Vacation...thus far

1st congratulations going out to the maid of honor at my wedding, who just had her 1st baby girl today!!!!!

Well, I'm in very sunny Sequim, WA on the 2nd full day of having fun on our 14th wedding anniversary trip. Yesterday we went kayaking (which I'm sure took the place of my scheduled Curves workout) out to the Dungeness Lighthouse which I realized after squeezing into the life jacket I would not have been able to do at the beginning of the year. If I hadn't lost 50 lbs there is no way I would have fit into the life jacket...in fact I had a momentary moment of panic when I tried to zip it up the 1st time and struggled. But in the end we got it zipped up (really felt for Elizabeth Swann in Pirates with the whole corset thing) and after a quick paddling lesson we were on our way! We found out that we basically picked a perfect day to be out in the water as it was sunny, warm and relatively wind free. Just a slight breeze. We paddled about 1.5 hours to the end of the spit and saw a lot of wildlife...an elephant seal, seals, bald eagles, terns, sea gulls, canadian geese, herons, etc. We were able to paddle out into the strait of juan de fuca for a little ways and then we came back along the spit and landed at the lighthouse. We ate our lunches, visited with the other 2 couples and our guide and then took a tour of the lighthouse. I conquered (well, I wouldn't go as far as to say conquered...maybe faced would be a better word LOL) my fear of heights and climbed to the top. We then paddled back and we saw 5 bald eagles feeding on what we believe to be a baby seal. It was a whole Nature show taking place right in front of us. We saw crab on the bay floor and we also had a seal swim right under us and look up at us.

After a yummy dinner of crab cake we walked in the Dungeness recreation area and saw some deer on the trail. We saw more deer in several people's front lawns while driving around, too. Now, for those of you who know me really well, my next sentence will shock you so I hope you're sitting down. After 6 hours on the water/in the sun, I went to bed at 9pm and was asleep by 9:30pm. I KNOW...shocker!!!

Today we began our day at Graysmarsh Farm and picked 6lbs of raspberries. Then we went to the Dungeness Valley Creamery and bought some fresh milk and also some frommage cheese made from the fresh milk. We then went to 3 different wineries and had a grand time wine (and chocolate!) tasting. Now we're working on our perspective blogs (HHT has started another one and I love it...it shows off his fun-to-read writing style) and getting ready to go to dinner and perhaps some more walking and looking for deer (which doesn't really require any looking as they are quite prevalent around here). We'll see what tomorrow brings!

August 11, 2008

A word of warning...anything called "The Bite" of wherever it may be is not eating plan friendly...but it's totally worth the one evening of indulgence for the amount of fun you have! :o) Now the next day's scale reading will bring you right back to reality, though. LOL So, I'm back to the plan and getting ready to go on vacation in a couple of days. My stupendous SIL is here now and I'm looking forward to a very enjoyable rest of the summer. I thought long and hard and I'm not bringing my scale on vacation. I'm not one to be obsessed by the number on the scale, but it has been a useful tool weighing in everyday. For me it keeps my journey in the forefront of my mind. But I decided I need a break. I need a break from Curves, too. I think it's good to shake things up a bit every once and a while so that your body doesn't get used to any one thing. Now, don't worry, I'm going on vacation with HHT so I seriously doubt there will be much indulgence in the food department. And we've rented a house with a kitchen so it's even easier to eat healthier. It's also not like I'll be lounging around for 5 days either. There's hiking and kayaking to be done. I should be able to check in while I'm gone to let you all know what mischief I'm getting into! :o)

08-08-08

I just wanted to write the date that way. :o) I'm feeling a little discouraged (not the kind of discouraged where I say, "Skip this! I'm pigging out till I pass out!") that the weight is slowly going back up. I'm crossing my fingers that HHT's theory that your weight today really reflects what you ate a couple of days ago. I did have sweet and sour pork and a little rice a couple of days ago so maybe that's it. Regardless, I'm finishing up with phase 1 a couple of days early and moving on to phase 2. I know I could keep it up for a couple more days, I'm not stopping because it's too restrictive, it's just no longer serving its purpose so I'm on to the healthier phase 2. :o) Well, need to get cracking on making dinner (crockpot recipe!).

Curves Monthly Weigh and Measure - August 2008

name of measurement
3/16/07 measurement
7/08/08 measurement
8/07/08 measurement
month difference
start to now difference

Weight (on Curves scale)
280
233
228
-5
-52

Body fat %
48.3%
42.0%
41.6%
-0.4%
-6.7%

Body fat in lbs
135.24
97.86
94.85
-3.01
-40.39

Bust
49.75
46
46
0
-3.75

Waist
46.5
41
40.5
-0.5
-6

Abs
56.5
49
48.75
-0.25
-7.75

Hips
55
49
48.5
-0.5
-6.5

Thighs
31.75
25
24

(must have been the 13 miles I walked at relay for life. LOL)
-2
-15.5
(multiplied by 2 because I have 2 thighs)

Arms
15
14
13.75
-0.5
-2.5
(multiplied by 2 because I have 2 arms)

From the beginning of my Curves membership to now:
52 lbs lost
40.39 fat lbs lost
42 inches lost

August 6, 2008

Yippee! I reached my little mini goal of 224.8 and have earned myself a weekend away! I was seriously going to take it this weekend, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. It wasn't because I'll be going on a 5 day vacation next week with HHT, it was because the cheapest, nicer hotel (meaning upgrade from Motel 6 types) was 114 a night. In perspective, we're staying in a 2 bedroom HOUSE on vacation for only 110 a night. That seems a little off to me. LOL So I may wait and keep an eye on rates and take it when they're less or I may skip the weekend away and instead treat myself to a piece of Mikasa Whole Wheat china on eBay that I want. Either way, I am excited to have reached this milestone of 52lbs lost! Went out with HHT for lunch. Had sweet and sour pork (the most very yummiest that I've ever had!). I know it's not low carb by any means, so when I got my plate I divided the meat in half and only had half with just a few bites of rice for more flavor. I savored and enjoyed every bite, and the company, too! :o) This weekend I actually got back in to a pair of my stretchy jeans...but I'll take it! I can also get into my button up jeans and button them without having to lay down on the bad and wiggle into them, but they're still not loose enough to be able to breathe. LOL Soon, though! :o)

August 1, 2008

WOOHOO! Alright, I have reached the point where the weight loss is making the semi feeling of deprivation of the lower carbs in phase one a moot point. And really how deprived am I when I can eat at McDonalds and stay within carb range? One more week of phase 1. I'm stoked! Only 1 more pound to lose for me to earn my next weekend away. HHT tried to piggy back it onto our vacation, and that didn't fly with me. NICE TRY, SWEETIE! LOL So, I'll probably earn it and use it in September sometime or I'll use it next weekend, we'll just have to wait and see. :o) I still have cravings for the yummy tasting junk food that I've been allowing myself in moderation that has kept me in maintenance for 2 months and I just keep telling myself that someday that will be ok, but I'm not there yet. So I really am looking forward to phase 3 of maintaining. I'll just have to be really focused on losing so I can get to that point. I've joined another challenge at spark people to be 50lbs lighter on 1/1/09. New year, New me. So, I plan on finishing my 80 in 08 goal by Halloween (I can go as a skinnier me!) and then continuing on to lose 20 more pounds by the New Year...that would be a total of 100lbs!!! Wow, that would be quite an accomplishment. Ok, I've chattered long enough. Have a great weekend everyone!