S-I-C-K, B.O.O.B.S., and misc other stuff...

Yep, I had not been on a vacation (a real one) for pretty much 5 years. Not something to be proud of, but I was really looking forward to going on vacation. About 3 days in, SICK. Not the expected tummy sickness when visiting a resort outside the US, but just plain ol' sick sick which progressively got worse. When I couldn't make it to bootcamp Monday morning, I knew it was time to go to the doctor (It was also kinda funny that when I didn't get up and go that my hubby became very concerned at that point. NOW I was really sick. It kinda makes me giggle...

Vacation bullets...

• Trip from Texas to Miami was uneventful.
• Miami to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (PCDR from here on) - plane issues. Thankfully we used some upgrades and were able to fly this leg in first class. I've never flown in first class. You can't miss what you don't know, right? Well, yep. It's definitely first class and a MUCH better way to travel. I asked my hubby to travel more so we can get more upgrades. ; )
• PCDR - had purchased a travel voucher to get from the airport to the resort. 10 mins for the escort to find the empty vehicle. 30 more minutes for a driver to show up. Then find out he's taking us to the WRONG resort. Got that worked out - and we are both trying to remain positive.
• Resort - Arrive. Seems OK. Supposed to be one of the "best". We were invited to go with some other couples after they had already selected the resort, etc. It seemed like it was going to be OK and that there were as many negative as positive reviews on one of the advisor sites. And, DANG IT, I wanted to go on a vacation! So, we decided to risk it.
• We had requested a room on the upper floor, which we did get, and hoped that "musty" smell was minimal. The room did have a bit of a smell, but was clean and the AC was working well, so we decided to keep it.
• We went to the pool/beach area and it really is beautiful.
• The food was OK overall. Just OK.
• The alcoholic beverages (it's all inclusive) were HORRIBLE. Seriously horrible, I just couldn't drink them and I KNOW they were doing something to the alcohol because when we got drinks from the pool bar they were tolerable - everywhere else - YUCK!
• Mold was an issue depending on where you went. I'm not going to call it musty or make excuses because of the climate. Bottom line - this was an expensive trip and resort. They could do something about the MOLD. You could see it and you could definitely smell it. (OH and get this, one morning there is this huge chandelier over a fountain, and yep - IT FELL! Not kidding you. Luckily no one was hurt, but let's just say never going back!)

I keep reading about the B.O.O.B.S. Chicago event and all the various people that are going as I think I read everyone's blog at a minimum through reader. Anyway, I want to go, but because of my desire to remain anonymous, I decided it just wasn't a good idea. It really kinda makes me sad though.

I didn't weigh when I got back from vacation. I didn't eat out of control and really didn't drink much either. I did water aerobics at the pool as I was there anyway and it was actually pretty fun and some of the other days I also did yoga on the beach. Flying makes me gain "fake" weight. Always has and always will, so I figured why bother and freak out. I'll just get back to my normal way of living and weigh in a couple weeks. I need to do a maintenance approach post that I've been doing for about 3 months, but too much for now. I have a zillion items to read and looking forward to catching up!

I'm Off!

Heading out on vacation tomorrow morning at o'buttcrack thirty, so I may not be around at all for a week. I am going to take some workout clothes with me and may or may not workout. My plan is to go with the flow.

I might have a semi-formal event to go to in October, so I was surfing around the internet to see what I could find. I have never ordered from Venus before, but this outfit was just too cute (and cheap!) to pass up.

I am still a weirdo when it comes to sizes. I am still coming to grips with my size. So, I ended up ordering two sizes, because I just knew that the smaller size would be too small. The outfits came the other day and for the price - let me tell you this was a great value. I SUPER love the skirt. It has this kinda skirt thing (crinoline?) underneath that kinda makes it full like in the picture and the picture is what it looks like. The top is very similar as well, but what you can't tell from the picture is that it laces up the back side. This is a very handy feature since my boobs are now an A CUP (I swear I whined about being a B cup, but had not had the whine post about now being a lovely A - guess you guys dodged a bullet). 

Interesting, they must have realized that it was a super deal, because I paid $34 for the skirt and the website is now showing $39. Honestly, it's still worth it for that. (Ended up that it was the smaller size (4) that fit for anyone wondering.)

Only 4 days of bootcamp this week because the instructor had to cancel. I had grand plans of going to the gym instead, but used the extra time to get more work done in preparation for being out of the office for the week. I had *thought* that sessions were a bit easier this week. Looking at the Polar results (calories) for the amount of time, I would definitely say that I wasn't imagining it.

Polar Round Up for the week:

• 4 hours 25 mins
• 2584 cals

People are Special

Whether blog buddies, friends, or family, all of these people are special. I am thankful for all and how they touch my life. My hubby did something very sweet, so I had to share...

Cute, huh? These past couple of weeks have been bad at work ---- just too much work and not enough time in the day. It's been taking "our time away" as well as I've been having to work late into the evening. It made me feel extra special because he could be grumpy about our lack of time together, but instead I got this!

In other news, there was a big storm here - much needed rain and the temperature (without heat index) has stayed under 100. That's the good news. The bad news is that a house about 2 blocks from me caught fire during the storm when it was hit by lightning. I wasn't home at the time, but got home a while after to a ton of ambulances and fire trucks. While the house from the outside doesn't look too bad if you didn't know what happened, it surely must be a mess inside. I don't know who lives there, but do know that thankfully no one was hurt. Regardless what a mess for that poor family!

What a week!

I've been working extra hours to try and get ahead (OK, get caught up) in preparation for my vacation. I made some progress, but need to work extra hours again this week. My "short" day was 12 hours, but it was no excuse not to go to bootcamp, so each morning I was up and out the door at butt-crack thirty.

One day at band camp (I mean boot camp), I was the sweating like a pig (I thought I read somewhere that pigs don't even sweat and that's the whole mud deal. So what does that expression really mean?) I had been in this sweltering heat. Toward the end of class, I was really feeling the workout and running out of steam. I had been drinking water throughout class and continued after camp as well. I started my work day and about 3-4 hours later stood up and WHOA! Head rush. Definite sign of dehydration. I didn't have any electrolyte beverages around the house, so I just continued to drink water and figured I'd be fine. It was bootcamp the next day that I realized I wasn't. I was lethargic and dizzy throughout class. I did what I could and then on my way home picked up a couple G2's. I sipped on those and continued to drink water. I can't say that I immediately felt better, but by the end of the day, I did.

I mentioned it to one of my buds in class the next day. She said she had been feeling it as well and that on her drive to work that same morning of the brutal heat classs they were flashing the warnings to avoid prolonged time outside doing vigorous activity. HA!

This week we are supposed to get a break from the heat - the temperature will be 98/99 all week - but I learned long ago to take the weather predictions with a grain of salt, so we'll see. I did think it was cooler this morning, but the temperature was higher, so must have been the humidity.

Uh, when did my blog turn into a weather blog????

Polar Round Up for last week:

• 4 hours 30 mins
• 3425 cals

Survived and Thanks!

Thanks for all the supportive comments! I thought of you guys during the race and pictured you on the sideline cheering me on (yep, I'm a dork). The course was said to be hard and that was no joke. There were inclines all over the place and when you thought, "finally, some F(*&(*&# level ground", back up again it went.

Oh the weather? Well get this - about 4pm it started to POUR here. Big time. It poured for about 30 mins and then it rained for another 30. So it brought the temperature down about 10 degrees. I think it was only 95 at race time. Not bad at all (dang it - can't "really" use it as an excuse either!)

I had never run an evening 5K. I think I prefer the morning races and will likely stick to those if/when I get the urge to do one. Having the race in the evening kinda gave me too much time to think about the other 293,847 things I'd rather be doing on a Friday evening. :)

Polar Round Up (not thinking that I'll exercise today or tomorrow more than walks):

• 6 hours 38 mins
• 4002 cals
• 5K race time: 31 minutes and 1 second. (Man, that really sucks! So close to 30 minutes something which considering the course and heat would have been a decent time. Oh well, it's a perfect 10 minute pace which is kinda funny.) I did place 4th in my age group with my time which I honestly found pretty shocking. : )

Just in case I disappear...

Well about a month back I thought a 5K that is tomorrow night would be fun. It's close to the house and afterward there is a "party" with live music, food, and beer. As an added bribe bonus with registration there are two beer coupons, I figured how could this get any better?! And, while Texas is hot, I figured no worries 'cause I've been doing fine in bootcamp when I do the night sessions that start at 7pm.

Spring forward to now...for the past few weeks the temperature has been over 100 degrees. As in 105-110 - without the heat index (oh yes, the humidity has been high as well). Now for many, this may be normal temperatures, but for here that is dang hot. We are under heat advisories, air pollution watch, and very high pollen (gooo allergies!).

So what's the temperature projected for this race? One-Oh-frickin' five. That's right 105 degrees....I am gonna die...I thought I better go ahead and make a final post just in case I disappear to never be heard from again. My plan is to hydrate and my revised goal (it was to finish in under 30 mins) is just to listen to my body and finish. I can't say that I'm really looking forward to it, cause I'd just be lying...

I was thinking...

Yes, this usually means a scary post. You have been warned, but seriously I had written that last post about protein which led into other stuff and something just "stuck" with me. It was about the emotional eating. Since then I puzzled and thought and really strained my brain about "something" I missed. After a lot of deliberation by all the voices in my head, it came to me. Sometimes with the band the eating isn't emotional, it's just mental.

I was reflecting on my journey, the baggage from dieting, and just simply my baggage which has thankfully reduced over time to carry on size. There were many times when I seem to recall thinking: that's just not enough food, I know I can eat more, I want more, etc. etc. I think this is also part of the journey. Learning all of the counters to these thoughts. It is enough food. Yes, at times you feel looser and you "can" eat more, BUT just because you can does that really mean you should? The "I want more" - hell, I still have that today. Put a dessert item or candy in front of me and the "I want more" is the rule - that's just the way it is for me and I am still learning what I term "can't a little of a good thing be enough".

It really applies to exercise as well. You think things like there is no way I can do X or no way I can do X for Y amount of time, but in reality you can. Try it, you may not like it (remember - I'm the person that doesn't necessarily "like" my workouts, but LOVES how they make me feel and look), but you can do it.

Anyway, the point is that I thought about how everyone is at different points in their journey and for people early on I thought it might be helpful or a bit of an "a-ha - that's me Fluffy" to see this perspective as well. Enjoy and discuss amongst yourselves... :)

Wow, where did you guys all come from???

I sure appreciate you all following my blog! I'm going to go through and make sure that I am following you (Did you know there's a limit to how many blogs you can "follow"?), but if I am at my limit of blogs I can follow, no worries - I'll add you to Google Reader and get you there. In other words, I'll be reading. :)

(If you don't have your blog address in your profile - or whatever - would you mind providing me with the link to your blog? Plus others can also look here and get to your blog as well. I'm sure all of you guys are as addicted to reading about everyone's journey as I am!)

This dovetails into mentioning my new blog friend Sam who nominated me for a blogger award (versatile blogger)---I wish your cello, Lilly, a speedy recovery, Sam! Honestly, I'm not quite sure how the awards work, but I'll tell you guys this. I think you all deserve the award and hoping that by encouraging everyone to check out who is following mine, that we'll find each other. I am inspired and can relate to everyone. It's nice, because there are just some things that people that don't have a band just simply can't relate to. For those things, I come out here. So thanks to all of you for that.

The only other thing I can think of right now is my VACATION! I haven't really had a true vacation - the kind where you go somewhere not because it ties to a business trip of me or my hubby - and where I plan to tell work I am completely unavailable for FIVE years. I'm burned out. I can feel it and need a break. Plus we didn't even have a honeymoon - just a long weekend (yes, pathetic I know). So in 19 days, I am off for a beach vacation! I plan to do nothing but read, lay around, drink (yes, vacation brings out the inner boozebag in me), and r-e-l-a-x. This will mean a week of excess, so hubby and I have decided that we'll try to cut out all eating out until we go. We're not dieting - although I do jokingly refer to it to him as "the bikini diet" - but eating at home is just healthier for us. We'll see how that goes.

Last Week's Exercise Round Up from Polar:

• 8 hours 27 mins
• 4815 cals