Travel Notes: Vol I

Many thanks to the neighbor who has the unlocked WiFi access  :-)   We've arrived after a 6 hour drive.  The beach condo is gorgeous, I've stowed things from our huge cooler and 3 grocery bags so that we have good food choices, John unpacked the car and stowed our bikes in the garage, and Jay is happily ensconced in his bedroom with a portable DVD player and his favorite DVDs.  We have the sliding glass doors open so we can hear the ocean, the sky is relatively dark and the new moon is low on the horizon so the stars and constellations are particularly brilliant tonight.  We're sitting in the living room enjoying a nice cup of tea while I check in with my cyber world and John checks out Law and Order.  Our bedroom has a large deck overlooking the ocean and the bed looks really comfortable.  Heaven!

I imagine we'll wake up with the sun (streaming in our eastern window) and go down to the beach early.  I see oatmeal with cinnamon and raisins in my future!  I think I'll run on the beach tomorrow morning and we'll bike the island (4 miles long) and explore some of the side streets.  DH lived on the island for a year or so years ago, and he has lots of things he wants to show me.

At this same beach in 2006.  We'll get an updated version tomorrow!

I lost .5 at my WI this morning.  Not as much as I'd hoped, but with getting the car packed up, my Bible study, and the WW meeting, I didn't get in my normal Wednesday morning run, so .5 is comparatively good.  (Did you follow that?  It works for me.)

I planned our meals for this trip well and expect to stay well within my plan parameters.  Our vacation meals include a fish chowder,  roasted rosemary pork tenderloin, lamb loin chops, and a beef stir fry with red peppers, shitake mushrooms, and snow peas.  Our pantry here is stocked with whole wheat couscous, orzo, oatmeal, shredded mini wheat cereal, dried apricots, tea, and popcorn among other things.

I have our scale as well as all the electronic stuff we seem to need when we travel.  I put them all in a green fabric reusable grocery bag (ipod nano, cell phone charger, spare cell phone & charger, a surge protector to plug everything in, the download cord for the camera, the battery charger for the camera, the portable DVD player and its cords, and the nike+ thingamajig to record my runs).

How do you handle your technological accoutrements when you travel?  Do you go without  or bring it with?

Have a great day!

183.5

Fly By

In a rush tonight.  Rehearsal for the Messiah starts in 30 minutes.  We're heading off to NC tomorrow at noon, but I've got to do laundry and packing tonight as I'm going to my BSF Bible study in the morning and then to my WI at noon before we go.  Just finished a yummy pre-WI dinner (baked codfish, whole wheat orzo with spinach and pine nuts, and a green salad with a WW Strawberry bar for dessert).  Not looking likely that I'll get in my early morning run tomorrow, but we're taking the bikes and a see some great exercise opportunities ahead (long walks on the beach, running, and bike rides).  The weather's still looking fine for the next few days--yipee!  I'm thinking I'll lose several "sticks o' butter" at my WI tomorrow--send positive thought my way.

I've got the car packed with oatmeal, apples, carrots, larabars, whole wheat pasta, and lots of other things that will keep me on track.  You be good, too!

I don't think our beach condo has wi-fi, but I'll try to scout out a Starbucks and stay connected with you all.  DH will certainly help in that endeavor (finding a Starbucks)!

La-la-la-laaaa-la-la-laaaaaa.   Off to rehearsal ..

Chilly Ride

Today was a good day.  We took my 93 year old dad to church--the first time he'd been since mid-summer.  My visit with him on Friday was great.  He was in good spirits and his memory was more focussed than it's been in months.  He asked when he was going to church, so darling DH picked him up this morning and gave him door-to-door service.  Here's a picture a friend snapped on our way in.  Our church is the chapel at Fort Belvoir (an Army post nearby) and we were celebrating Veteran's Day with great patriotic music and special recognition of our soldiers, past and present.  Dad enjoyed it.  He was done when it was over, though and we nixed our plan to take him out to lunch afterward.  DH stopped by McDonald's on his way back and I'm sure Dad enjoyed his Big Mac--I'm sure the assisted living facility where he lives doesn't "do" Big Macs.

DH and I had a lovely bike ride this afternoon.  It was his "trial run," the first time he's been biking since he broke his wrist a few weeks ago.  He's now in a half-cast (his new cast stops below the elbow) and did quite well.  We biked for about 50 minutes.  It was 52 degrees when we started and got down to 48 by the time we finished.  Rather chilly.  The weather underground forecast for our time in Wilmington this week shows highs in the 70s.  I've scoped out a nice 28 mile ride along the river which is supposed to be flat, low traffic, and quite scenic.  It sounds great.

The time change has gotten me today.  It was getting dark when we got back from our ride, so I just naturally started dinner.  We're finished now--dinner was ready at about 5:30!  I'll have to pay more attention to the clock and less to the degree of light outside.

Have a great day!

Super Saturday!

This is more like it.  A beautiful fall day--crisp out, but sunny.  I went for a 4+ mile run and loved it.  My little toes are behaving themselves and feeling good--yay!  I made pumpkin spice oatmeal for breakfast.  It is sooo good.  I've made a convert of DH, too.  I'd better stock up on cans of Libby's pumpkin.  A egg-beaters omelette for lunch, and lots of cups of my current favorite tea--Plantation Mint.  My morning scale reading is moving back down toward "Green-land" (the green=good in my caloriecount chart) and that makes me feel good.

I haven't decided what to make for dinner yet, but I'm thinking of seared scallops, whole wheat roasted vegetable ravioli, fresh spinach, and baked delicata squash--that sounds colorful and nutritious, no?

A view from my favorite running/bike path.

Our upcoming bike holiday that I hinted about yesterday is actually a quick visit later this week down to Wilmington NC to visit my FIL.  He has connections that will have us in a lovely condo on the beach there and we're taking our bikes along and hoping for good weather.  FIL (88) likes to ride his bike too, so we may make quite an interesting sight, DH (now sports a half-arm cast), and my 88 yr old FIL, and me!  If you see us, toot your horn!

Hope your day is good, too!

New Do, Hot 100 Update

Did you notice?  I got a new "do" today.  I've had my hair more or less the same style for just about 10 years, but decided to do something different today.  I took some pictures in to my hairdresser and she got it just about how I wanted.  My hair grows fast and I can have my "old do" back in four or five months, but I'm liking this right now.  I also suspect it's going to be very easy to take care of.  I'm not great at taking self portraits--I snapped about 30 and almost half only had part of my face, including the one above.  Here are a couple others.  Not in great focus, but they will give you the idea.  I'll change out my profile picture as I get more shots I like.

I'm doing better at sticking to my plan. Thank you all for your encouraging comments.  No more way off track days this week and I'm feeling more like myself (my good self!)  My results for my challenges aren't going to be pretty this week, but a new week is starting and is, as yet, pristine!  I love a clean slate. 

I grew up hating Brussel Sprouts, but have lately thought they were something I should like.  Sharon (Gains and Losses) shared her method of fixing them (loved by Mr. B.) and I started with that and came up with a couple refinements via the Internet and we all loved 'em.  Not enough to make them every week, maybe, but surely several times during the Brussel Sprout season.  Here's the recipe:

Sautéed BRUSSELS SPROUTS (serves 2-3)
Ingredients:
About 1 ¼ pounds Brussels sprouts


4 shallots


2 cloves of garlic, crushed


olive oil


vegetable bouillon cube/ (I used chicken flavor)

Method:

Clean the Brussels sprouts and cut each one vertically in quarters.  Finely chop the shallots and crush the garlic. 

In a large flat-bottomed frying pan, heat enough oil to cover the base of the pan.  Place the Brussels sprouts in the pan, cut side down, in a single layer.  Scatter the chopped shallots and garlic over the sprouts.

When the sprouts are just starting to caramelize (you will smell them), turn them over and cook for another 5 minutes or so. 

Add enough water to cover the base of the pan with about 1mm of water and crumble half a vegetable stock cube into the pan (I used Knorr bouillon cubes). Give the pan a good stir and then allow to steam-fry until all the liquid has cooked off and the sprouts are tender.  Serve hot.

{sorry, I have no idea why all the little emoticons showed up!}


Okay, now that you've had your veggies, here's this weeks Hot 100 Update:


My goals:

1. Reach my goal weight by Jan 1st by following the WW CORE plan, weigh & record my weight each morning, attend weekly WW meetings.
2. Exercise at least 6 out of 7 days with varied exercise including at least 2 strength workouts and 3 cardio workouts each week averaging 60 minutes per session.
3. Keep my house and my body reasonably chocolate free.  Limit dark chocolate to 1 oz per day.  [amended 10/20]

How I Did:

1. I blew this one pretty badly for the first part of the week.  Did not stick to plan--lots of unplanned splurges.  I did, however, weigh & record my weight each day and attend my WW meetings. My weight was up and I am farther away from, not closer to my Jan 1st goal. [maybe the hair cut will help . . . .] 
2. I get credit for this one, but it was certainly not the best quality exercise on 4 of the 6 days.  Okay, but not great.
3. I blew this one too.  I splurged on chocolate over the 1 oz allowance on a few of those days.  There was also the brownie incident (I made 1/16th of my recipe and had two brownies--yummie, but not on plan--however better than the bad old days when I'd eat a whole batch. . . .) 

Tish has much "room for improvement" in meeting her goals.  


Come back tomorrow to hear about my upcoming "bike holiday."  DH got his full arm cast off today and now sports a jaunty half arm cast and hopes to be able to bike with me.


TAFN,

Wake up Call, Wi

Well, I had a week of ignoring my well-established diet and exercise routines.  Nothing over-the-top; I didn't eat any Halloween candy, but I had lots of little "splurges" every single day.  I craved brownies, for instance, and made a 1/16th recipe (two brownies).  Another day I wanted toast with my soup at lunch, so I made one piece (with butter), ate it and then made a second (and ate it, too).  I ignored my own advice and went out for Thai food on the  night before my WI, AND I had popcorn after that.  And so on. . . . I did exercise 6 days out of 7, but aside from one run and one good bike ride, the exercise was not great quality--I sort of phoned it in.  I'm here to tell you that that doesn't work.  I gained 5 pounds at my WI (and I don't even want to think about how many sticks of butter that adds up to).  My lovely little physicsdiet.com graph which was so nice and green now has an entire week that looks like the new Republican congressional map--all red.

Sooo, my WI was my wake up call.  Kind of like when we travel and have a plane to catch in the morning.  We ask for a wake up call.  I wake myself up pretty well and always wake up several times in the hour or two before the wake up call.  Then I drowse back to sleep for a bit more.  But when that telephone finally rings, I hop right out of bed and get to work.

Now is the time.  I'm awake.  I REFUSE to go back to that mindless kind of eating. I am "on track" so far this morning.  I just got back from taking E to school and tucked baby J in for his morning nap.  I'm posting this (part of my "on track" plan is keeping on blogging on most days), having my morning quiet time, and then doing my Sweatin' to the Oldies DVD.

My clothes still fit and, ironically, a couple people mentioned how slim I looked yesterday.  I'm turning the helm 180 degrees and heading this ship back safe waters and on a course to my goal.

Ciao for now

Look at my Halloween Treats!

The cutest little scarecrow I've ever seen.  AKA The Eyelash King.

There's no-one cuter Over the Rainbow.

E&J with their Daddy, our son Johnny.

Surely you didn't think I meant CANDY!   Not me!  These little treats are WAY better than candy.

I'll check in tomorrow.