Happy New Years

What a year 2015 has been.   What a ride!   It certainly wasn't the easiest year to navigate in terms of weight loss and health.  

I started out the year with one name and ended the year with a different name on my drivers license.   And yes, changing my name back to my maiden name was a HUGE deal!  I was soooo excited!  Ending my marriage was probably the most difficult decision that I have ever had to make.  My ex is not a bad guy, just a really bad husband...there is a difference.   That difference made it difficult to leave, but by the beginning of 2015 I was already separated.  I had moved in with my parents and was working trying to figure out a new single life and life at my parents.    My eating changed, as my parents eat VERY differently than I have for years.   (Full fat EVERYTHING....and my mother bakes a LOT for a city market....so there is ALWAYS cookies, cakes, pies and yummy goodness in the house.)    I tried to figure out how to mesh my eating with their habits......it was a struggle (and honestly it still is)!!!  That coupled with some friends that wanted to eat out almost every night (hey I was lonely, I said yes!) and I gained about 20 - 30  pounds.

I trained to run a 10K in Charleston, SC, the Cooper River Bridge Run.   I was ready and a week before the race, I kinda fell off the step in Step Zumba and hurt my ankle.   It was just a slight twinge....but it was enough to ultimately make me decide to walk the 10k and not add the extra impact of running.   It was the right decision but I vowed to come back and conquer this race as a RUN.

 I ran the Donut Alley Rally....with little or no training.  Oops.  I really need to focus on being properly trained and not injured for the future don't I?

I committed to running a half marathon.  I was training for it.  Really, I was.  I was up to about 8 miles in my training and doing GREAT!  I was doing great until I ended up being diagnosed with pneumonia.  Wow...that stuff knocks the stuffing out of a person.  A week or two after I was diagnosed, I tried to run a mile......and I nearly collapsed on my front porch upon my return. (My aunt/neighbor claims I DID collapse....I contend that I was just resting!)  Once again I had to make a decision.  This decision?  Was running a half marathon feasible?  I chose to pass on the half marathon. It just wasn't going to happen after missing so much time in my training plan.  

I purged some friends from my life during this past year.  People that were using me.  People that were negative.  People that were not healthy for me.   It left more holes in my life.  And I really do miss some of them because I did have fun.  However, I can see that the choices I made really were for the best as their actions as and after the purging took place only verified the  necessity of my actions.  The stress and sadness derailed me from my efforts to live a healthier life.....for a while.

I started dating.  Oh wow.....what can I say about that.  There are some CRAZY people out there in the dating world.  ABSOLUTELY CRAZY!!!!!   It was an interesting ride, and I could write post after post about some of the experiences......I mean when I have nicknamed these guys the descriptive names such as "Black Tooth", "Tiny Taco", "Fraidy Cat", "Master Eye Boogie" and many many more, you know that these dates must have been a real......hoot.  (yes, I have written down the experiences because I do not want to forget the humor!) 

Vacations......Starting in October I started vacationing.  It has been a whirlwind of trips.  So much fun.  Philadelpia, Perkasie and Lancaster; Williamsburg and all the surrounding areas; Baltimore; Harrisonburg Virginia and the Skyline Drive; Gettysburg;  Northern Virginia.  So many places to go and things to see.    What a blessing this has been.   I was petrified to vacation by myself, yet the big vacations were totally solo and I found out that I can have a LOT of fun by myself.   

   

I started to get serious about my weight in the last few months of the year.  I have managed to drop 20 pounds.  I am pretty darn happy with that as these pounds were lost in the midst of vacations.  Vacations in which I searched out and found some of the most delightful bakeries and cupcakeries!   (Tartes in Philadelphia is STILL my favorite followed by Smallcakes in Williamsburg!)  My salvation in indulging in these fabulous little sweet shops?  I walked upward to 10 miles each day of my vacations!   I actually maintained or actually lost on each of my vacations/get aways.....it was the time spent at home that caused my weight loss to stop!

I am ending the year with another sprained ankle...this one much more serious than the one in April.  It is taking longer to heal and hurts quit a bit more. I sustained this one while hiking (stupidly on an incline...in mud....without proper shoes).   That has held up the running and exercise, but I know it is only temporary. 

There were changes that were cloaked in heartbreak.  There were changes that were filled with hope.  There were changes that were hard to figure out (truth be told, I'm still trying to figure some things out).   It ends with a sincere hope for the future to be bright and healthy.  

So what does the year 2016 have in store for me in terms of what I have planned and goals I want to reach.

***I have already registered for the Cooper River Bridge Run and I will be recommencing training as soon as possible.  My previous best time for a 10K is One hour 19 minutes.  I want to smash that!

***I have decided to set small goals for myself in terms of weight loss and I will whittle away at this excess weight.   I will be setting challenges for myself....The Love Bites Challenge is currently in progress.....14 pounds by Valentines day (during a period of 7 weeks).    When that ends, I will evaluate where I am....find a new goal and move forward.  In this way, I SHOULD be at or close to my goal weight by the end of 2016

***Running.   I am going to be more committed to running.  I want to see my pace improve.

                   ~~~  I want to set a new PR in a 5K

                   ~~~  I want to push for a sub 30 5k ( 10 minute miles!)

***  LOSE this weight once and for all!

*** Be happy and DEFINITELY stop to smell the roses!!!! (Even if it IS in the middle of a run!)

Check up check in

The other week I went to the doctor.....nothing bad, just a normal check up.   While there, I asked for some extra tests.  No, nothing wrong that would necessitate the tests as medically necessary....but with my life changes of the past year or so, the doctor and I both agreed that while we felt at no risk of needing the tests but that they would be a wise thing to do in order for me to  'move on' with no question. Kinda close the chapter on everything from that 'era of my life'.   (Use your imagination if you are curious.  ha ha ha)   Anyway, why I am mentioning this is because since I was having blood work done, I asked for my cholesterol checked.  I specifically asked for that because I have had high cholesterol in the past and wanted a current number...the doctor decided to throw on blood sugar and thyroid and one or two others (I think).  It was so much that the lab receptionist and the phlebotomist all remarked on how many tests I was having.  ha ha ha.   The doctor called me today.   Everything came back healthy and clean...almost.   The only concern.  My cholesterol was borderline high!  I was ecstatic.  In the past my cholesterol has been high...no where near borderline.  ha ha ha   I'm tickled with that....and the doctor wasn't concerned...just said keep an eye on it.     

Total Cholesterol    203

HDL    55

LDL  130

So I am absolutely TICKLED with my blood work.....everything came back clean and everything came back with normal levels (we are going to call the cholesterol normal since anything below 200 is considered normal)

My weight was down this morning.  I hadn't weighed myself since last Wednesday, so I was extremely nervous.  But much to my shock I was down 1.5 pounds.  Woo hoo.  Hopefully I can maintain that for this Wednesdays official weight!  That would give me a FABULOUS start to the Love Bites Challenge of 14 pounds.    Oh yes, might I add that the loss was OVER Christmas?????  Ok, I won't gloat yet...not until the official Wednesday weigh in!  

I want this weight gone!   I am so totally determined.   Hiking will be easier.  Running will be easier.  Zumba will be easier.  EVERYTHING will be better without the excess weight.   AND, lets face it...clothes are cuter for thin people!

The ankle?   It has been slowly getting better.  However, I did some activities this weekend that kinda irritated it a bit.  Yeah yeah yeah I did a bit of hiking.  Got to go swimming also.  So it is really tender today.  Oh well...I had fun that that is all that matters.  :-)

And here are some of the only pictures I took this weekend.   Morven Park in leesburg, VA.   And a few geocaches!!

Merry Christmas

Saving Christmas turns to Love Bites

Saving Christmas was a little challenge that I set for myself 10 weeks ago.   What was the challenge?  I wanted to lose 25 pounds by Christmas.   Was it crazy?  Yes.  Was it impossible?  NO.   Did I try?  Yes....I did.  I also went to Philadelphia on a short vacation during that time.  And I went on a longer vacation to Williamsburg.   Ohhh, and I spent the weekend in Virginia.  I was on the go...and lets face it...we don't always eat healthy on vacations.   Honestly, it wasn't the vacations that killed me...it was getting back into the normal daily routine that did it for me!  So how did I do?    

Well, my goal was to be 225 by the Wednesday before Christmas.   I didn't make it.  I was 234.   Which means I lost 16 pounds.   That is still pretty nice for a 10 week period!   I'll take it!!!!!!!  Because, yes, I know that 25 pounds was big....but I am realistic enough to know that 16 pounds is AMAZING!

So the next challenge????  Love bites!   There are 7 weeks until Valentines day.   14 pounds.  That's just a bit over 2 pounds a week.  Who cares that there is Christmas in in there.    Love bites....15 pounds!   (and yes...I will be just as happy if by Valentines day I weigh only 7 pounds less......or the 10 pounds that I was originally going to set my goal at!)    220 pounds by Valentines day!  I've got this in the bag!!!  

Soooo, last weekend I ended up going to Gettysburg with a friend.   We had a lot of fun.   Yeah Yeah Yeah...another little mini vacation.  (and just so you know...I have a free night through hotels.com coming up...so expect something else coming up sometime, somethere!)      We toured the battlefield, we toured the Eisenhower farm and did the National Cemetery to see the festival of wreaths and see the Gettysburg Address Memorial and site and we did a little hiking.  We ate some good food at the GarryOwen Irish Pub and the top ranked pizza joint in Gettysburg.   We had fun.    Well...not all was fun.......

We were on the battlefield and saw a hiking trail sign so just naturally headed down the path. (Bet you can guess where this is going)  We BOTH had our hiking boots in the car.  Notice I said, in the car!   We headed down a hill...me in just casual shoes.   It was apparently a little muddy.  And of course I would be the one to find the mud....my foot slipped and I landed with my leg underneath me......I heard a pop and felt the searing pain.  My friend helped get me to a standing position....and I could NOT put any weight on my foot.   My first words to my friend were "Oh no...please tell me you can drive stick shift so you can drive my car home...because I was sure that I was down and out!"   I waited and tried to shake it off...and eventually I could put some weight on my foot and we carefully made our way back to the car.   I can safely say that the monuments on the battlefield DO work as a nice screen for changing your clothes.  (Yes, I was covered with mud!).   We got our boots out of the car...and put them on...I laced mine up as tight as I could for the compression.  And yeah, I headed back down the path to finish that darn pesky trail.  I wasn't going to let it beat me!   I also walked the Eisenhower farm after this little snafu.  (ok, let me be honest and admit that  I completed almost 10k steps after this happened).  My parents asked why I did the walking at the Eisenhower farm....well I had already purchased my ticket of course.  :-).    I figured out quickly that the foot was only an ache if I kept my foot straight forward, on a flat/even surface and if I didn't twist the ankle AT ALL.   So completely manageable!!!!  Right????

I drove home, arriving just a bit before my families Christmas shindig (my bro and family will be spending the holiday in a different state so we celebrated on Sunday).   I wisely decided to leave that nice, tightly laced hiking boot on my foot until I got home after the Christmas dealio at my bro's house!    Lots of good food eaten, lots of fun presents exchanged, and lots of love in the house with the family.  

I bit the bullet when I got home after the Christmas celebration.   Yup....taking the sock and shoe off was just as bad as I assumed it would be.  The swelling kicked in...and yeah....no running for me for who knows how long.  I have improved a bit each day.....I am taking it easy....keeping it as propped as I possibly can while at work.   Walking carefully....and just trying to ease it along.  (heck no....crutches are for sissies!)   I have a cankle on my right foot....no visible...the swelling encircles pretty much the whole ankle...not really on one side or the other.  But even that has diminished some in the last few days.      No worries....I'll be running again as soon as I feel well enough.  I will be taping my foot for extra support.  And no....I won't be running a second before the pain (ache) from just simple walking is gone in my foot.....not a second before I can turn and twist my ankle without searing pain (which the searing heat of pain is slowly getting a little bit less intense each day!)    So how fun for me?????   

Pictures from Gettysburg...nothing fancy...but it was my weekend.  :-)

Saving Christmas turns to Love Bites

Saving Christmas was a little challenge that I set for myself 10 weeks ago.   What was the challenge?  I wanted to lose 25 pounds by Christmas.   Was it crazy?  Yes.  Was it impossible?  NO.   Did I try?  Yes....I did.  I also went to Philadelphia on a short vacation during that time.  And I went on a longer vacation to Williamsburg.   Ohhh, and I spent the weekend in Virginia.  I was on the go...and lets face it...we don't always eat healthy on vacations.   Honestly, it wasn't the vacations that killed me...it was getting back into the normal daily routine that did it for me!  So how did I do?    

Well, my goal was to be 225 by the Wednesday before Christmas.   I didn't make it.  I was 234.   Which means I lost 16 pounds.   That is still pretty nice for a 10 week period!   I'll take it!!!!!!!  Because, yes, I know that 25 pounds was big....but I am realistic enough to know that 16 pounds is AMAZING!

So the next challenge????  Love bites!   There are 7 weeks until Valentines day.   14 pounds.  That's just a bit over 2 pounds a week.  Who cares that there is Christmas in in there.    Love bites....15 pounds!   (and yes...I will be just as happy if by Valentines day I weigh only 7 pounds less......or the 10 pounds that I was originally going to set my goal at!)    220 pounds by Valentines day!  I've got this in the bag!!!  

Soooo, last weekend I ended up going to Gettysburg with a friend.   We had a lot of fun.   Yeah Yeah Yeah...another little mini vacation.  (and just so you know...I have a free night through hotels.com coming up...so expect something else coming up sometime, somethere!)      We toured the battlefield, we toured the Eisenhower farm and did the National Cemetery to see the festival of wreaths and see the Gettysburg Address Memorial and site and we did a little hiking.  We ate some good food at the GarryOwen Irish Pub and the top ranked pizza joint in Gettysburg.   We had fun.    Well...not all was fun.......

We were on the battlefield and saw a hiking trail sign so just naturally headed down the path. (Bet you can guess where this is going)  We BOTH had our hiking boots in the car.  Notice I said, in the car!   We headed down a hill...me in just casual shoes.   It was apparently a little muddy.  And of course I would be the one to find the mud....my foot slipped and I landed with my leg underneath me......I heard a pop and felt the searing pain.  My friend helped get me to a standing position....and I could NOT put any weight on my foot.   My first words to my friend were "Oh no...please tell me you can drive stick shift so you can drive my car home...because I was sure that I was down and out!"   I waited and tried to shake it off...and eventually I could put some weight on my foot and we carefully made our way back to the car.   I can safely say that the monuments on the battlefield DO work as a nice screen for changing your clothes.  (Yes, I was covered with mud!).   We got our boots out of the car...and put them on...I laced mine up as tight as I could for the compression.  And yeah, I headed back down the path to finish that darn pesky trail.  I wasn't going to let it beat me!   I also walked the Eisenhower farm after this little snafu.  (ok, let me be honest and admit that  I completed almost 10k steps after this happened).  My parents asked why I did the walking at the Eisenhower farm....well I had already purchased my ticket of course.  :-).    I figured out quickly that the foot was only an ache if I kept my foot straight forward, on a flat/even surface and if I didn't twist the ankle AT ALL.   So completely manageable!!!!  Right????

I drove home, arriving just a bit before my families Christmas shindig (my bro and family will be spending the holiday in a different state so we celebrated on Sunday).   I wisely decided to leave that nice, tightly laced hiking boot on my foot until I got home after the Christmas dealio at my bro's house!    Lots of good food eaten, lots of fun presents exchanged, and lots of love in the house with the family.  

I bit the bullet when I got home after the Christmas celebration.   Yup....taking the sock and shoe off was just as bad as I assumed it would be.  The swelling kicked in...and yeah....no running for me for who knows how long.  I have improved a bit each day.....I am taking it easy....keeping it as propped as I possibly can while at work.   Walking carefully....and just trying to ease it along.  (heck no....crutches are for sissies!)   I have a cankle on my right foot....no visible...the swelling encircles pretty much the whole ankle...not really on one side or the other.  But even that has diminished some in the last few days.      No worries....I'll be running again as soon as I feel well enough.  I will be taping my foot for extra support.  And no....I won't be running a second before the pain (ache) from just simple walking is gone in my foot.....not a second before I can turn and twist my ankle without searing pain (which the searing heat of pain is slowly getting a little bit less intense each day!)    So how fun for me?????   

Pictures from Gettysburg...nothing fancy...but it was my weekend.  :-)

Lions, Tigers and Bears....ok, no lions and no tigers!!!!

The last mini vacation of the year has come and gone.  It was fun.  It was fast.  Now it's over.  BOOOOOO to that last part!

I don't know where my weight will be when it is over...but my eating was spot on calorie wise!!!!  We shall see!!!!  (I will peek tomorrow..but the official weigh in will be on Wednesday!)

So without much further ado........the last vacation of 2015 for good old MF.

Thursday was a low key day.  I actually turned 43 on Thursday.  I went to breakfast, hung out at home, went to dinner with my parents, did a bit of shopping and went out with the guy that I have been hanging out with.  Low key....fun....relaxing.  (And no pictures!). And I had NO birthday cake!!!  I turned it down when my mother asked what I wanted.   I turned it down at dinner!   I just didn't want it!!!

Friday the Away vacation started.   I was away from Friday morning until Sunday evening.

I decided to drive the Skyline Drive....through the Shenandoah National Park.  The overlook views are GORGEOUS!!!!

It is 105 miles in length....and the speed limit is 35 miles an hour....and if you stop to look at the breathtaking views....(70 plus overlooks)  it takes quite a bit of the day.

I hit up the Virginia Quilt Museum in Harrisonburg VA.   It has been on my 'must do' list for quite some time.  Since I was so close, I also went to the Valley Turnpike Museum which was right down the road.  I also walked around downtown Harrisonburg for good measure.

I decided to hit up a Cavern since there are SOOOOO many in the area.  I have already done some of the caverns in the area and I didn't feel like doing a repeat....so I stayed away from them.   I ended up going to the Grand Caverns.  It was actually really close to my hotel (ok 20 minutes...but that was probably the closest one) and it was one of the best priced ones around.  The price had me a bit nervous....but this cavern lived up to the big name caverns in the area.....Honestly, I thought it was just as good as Luray, if not better.  They were very proud of the history and the social aspects of the cavern...and that was just a neat as seeing the different geological formations.

 Last but not least, I decided to do a bit of hiking off of the Skyline Drive.  (Read about the Skyline drive.....which is located in the Shenandoah National Park....it's really pretty...very neat....and well, just cool!)   They apparently have over 500 miles of hiking trails in the park.....and the Appalachian trail goes right smack dab across the park....so on trail hikes in the park it is common to cross over the APT.    Now I don't know about you...but when I read the trail guide book....it CLEARLY stated that this was a 2.6 ROUND TRIP hike.  However, my tracker showed me at closer to 5.5/6 miles when I was done.  Go figure!  The first half was EASY....DOWN.  Down to the top of the waterfall....then down another mile or so to the bottom of the waterfall.  The return trip.....well.....I was drenched in sweat this fine (70 degrees in Virginia...that is FINE!) December day.....so bad that my shirt was wringable!  Yup..the return was UPHILL!!!!

The hike I chose was at about mile 62 of the Skyline drive.  So when I was done, I hopped into my car and drove back toward home on that pretty road.  I came around a corner and saw a bunch of cars sitting on the side of the road with their hazzard lights on.  I thought it was an accident...UNTIL........  I got my wish!  And I didn't just get ONE....I saw three!   You see, I have always said it would be so neat to see a bear in nature...a wild bear...not a zoo bear!   Today was the day!  YAY....another thing off my bucket list!

Off to bed....I must dream about my vacations for next year!!!!!!

Grandfather clock eating

The grandfather clock chimes 6PM and even though I haven't thought about food  or in any way am hungry my mind automatically says 'dinner time!!'    Yes, I am just like he scientific/psychological experiment that Pavlov did on this dogs.   (Ring the dinner bell and the dogs automatically salivated....that's it in a nutshell).  I am totally conditioned to eat at certain times.   Really?????  

I came to this conclusion a few days ago.  You see I was watching tv and had no thoughts of food....other than to think 'wow, I'm not at all hungry'. Then that pesky clock peaked the hour and voila....food was the only thing I could think of.  

I planned this post in my head while I was running this morning (Ahhhh. 40 degrees and clear as a bell....good running weather!!).  Yet when things went nuts at work and I was late leaving....and when I realized it was 7pm and I hadn't eaten dinner.....it didn't matter that I wasn't hungry.  I HAD to stop to pick something up!   It was a conditioned eating.   Certainly NOT because I was hungry!   How sad is that????  I wasn't hungry, yet I wanted to eat simply because it was 'time' to eat.    How utterly stupid am I???

So my new goal is to focus on eating ONLY when I am actually hungry.   If that means I go up at midnight to get a bite to eat, then so be it.  If it means I skip a meal....oh well.  I've got to get back on track!!

(Oh and eating when I wasn't hungry tonight...now I'm miserable and stuffed!!)

My weight this week has been all over the place!!!  It's been driving me nuts.  I know it's only a number on the scale but it's my number!!!  Not gonna worry about it.  Some of us the monthly ick......so hopefully things will have regulated by my official Wednesday weigh in!!

One last word...broke down and got a Diet Pepsi with dinner....all but about an inch out of the big cup is still there.  Guess it doesn't hold the same attraction.  Interesting!!!

Crazy crazy crazy

I have been recently hanging out with a someone new that I have met.   It is incredibly interesting.  

How so?  Well for various reasons...but I'm only going to talk about the ones pertaining to this blog....at this time.  

This person is not driven by food.  Food is no important to them at all.    I in the other hand am driven by food.  I have a mentality where I can be just finishing a meal and I'm already thinking about where and what my next meal is going to be.   Case in point, most days on my recent vacations, I knew well in advance what I was eating for my meals and throughout the day my mouth salivated just thinking about it.  Anticipation....Ahhhh.   But hanging with someone that is not driven by food is actually kinda interesting.   That's not saying that we don't discuss food.  That's not saying that when we do eventually get around to eating that we don't fully discuss the options and savor what we are eating.   But our activities are not based around food.   Food is almost just an afterthought.  Days are not spent based upon what place has the best food.  Activities are not planned around food.  Food is a secondary afterthought.  Want to know the crazy thing?  I like it.  

I like it.   And I eat so much less....because without the constant thoughts and plans and dreams about food, I find that I am not really hungry.  Craaaaaazzzyy!

The other discovery?   This person has been a life long hiker.  (Yeah, backpacks...camping...hiking boots..campfire....dreams of the stupid trails......the whole nine yards). Hiking had intrigued me for years.  (maybe not so much the camping...but I've read  accounts of hikers that do intense weeks and months long hikes and I am totally enthralled!). So walking is nothing to this person.   I'm cool with that...I have walked quite a bit...I've run quite a few miles...no problemo.  I'm good with it and I even accept it and look forward to some planned hikes.  

What affect does this have?   Last night we decided to run into dicks sporting goods  and also AC Moore.   In my town these stores are located in a strip mall.  In between these stores was Quite a few stores ...9 stores maybe (big stores too..bed bath and beyond, Petco, office max....not small store fronts). There was no discussion.  We strolled the length of the stores.  (And actually went further on the one end to hit up another store). As we were walking, I realized with shame that in olden days (and probably even last week because of deeply ingrained habits and the fact that it would honestly never have off cured to me to walk). I would have started my car and moved it  instead of walking along the well lit sidewalks.  The stores were crowded in the post thanksgiving /early Christmas season rush......but not once did we encounter someone walking between the stores.  Either way, it opened my eyes to how absolutely lazy I have been.  Once again...how crazy is this discovery???  

So let me also finish up by saying that I weighed myself on Wednesday.   I didn't weigh myself again until after thanksgiving....Friday to be exact.    The scales showed me down 2.5 pounds.   Could be an anomaly....but it showed how reigned in and under control (and dare I say unimportant) my eating has been. Both when I'm out and when I'm home.    Let's hope I can hold onto the weight loss!!!  At this rate I may actually make my Christmas goal!  

Back to the grind

Well well well.  Here I am...it's Tuesday and I'm back at work.  Let me tell you, coming back to work was NOT easy!   First of all, somehow the plug came undone and my alarm didn't go off on Monday morning.  Luckily I woke up without the alarm...but I was late starting. I made it to work and it was just a LOOOOOOOONG day.  I had grand plans to get my eating back on track...but well that didn't happen exactly as planned.  I did plan on getting back to exercise.  I did that.  I went to zumba and had a grand time.  It felt GOOD.  I didn't suffer like I have done some years upon coming back from vacation.  WHy?  I think it is because I was a LOT more active in this vacation.  I walked and even hiked a bit.  I think it made all the difference in the world.

I woke up this morning.....and I ran.  Yes, it was cold, but I went out and did a little bit over 2 miles.  I could have made it three.  I know it.  But I figured to go with two and be happy with that as I slide back into exercise.  Once again, I felt wonderful when I was done exercise.

So today...back to the tracking.   Yes, I am tracking today.  Yes I am back on track with my eating today.  I'm surprisingly ok with this.  It is time to eat nutritional food and my body is thanking me!

No pictures today.....just a check in......well, maybe I will leave a few pictures leftover from my vacation!

Vacation is Winding Down

Well, I only have this last day left before I return to work.  Can we say saddened??????    

I spent Friday reading a book that was published this week and I also ran some errands and met up with a friend in the evening.  It was a really relaxed and low key day.

Saturday I decided to do something that I have been wanting to do for quite some time.  I went to Baltimore and toured the Historic Ships.   Yes, it has been on my to do list for years, but Todd and I never seemed to get there.  (I won't blame it all on him....If I would have put my foot down and insisted, he would have gone and probably had a good time.  It just was never worth putting my foot down and insisting.)  Saturday was the day!

I started with the Constellation, a wooden war ship.

From there I headed to the Chesapeake Lightship. 

Next up was the Torsk, a submarine.

Followed by a Coast Guard boat.

Seven Knoll Lighthouse was the last portion of the Historic Ship collection (maintained and operated by the same group.....the lighthouse was the only free exhibit) ....and I couldn't pass it up, so I treked over there next!

I grabbed a late lunch and decided to look at the map to see if there were any geocaches local.  There was one a block down the road.....PERFECT.  I looked closer and noticed that the cache was located at a museum.  The Star Spangled Banner Flag House and museum.  How perfect.  It was just the other week that I went to the Betsy Ross House.....I've spent my two vacations immersed in Revolutionary war stuff....wouldn't this just be fitting?   Off I went!   First to the museum (because they closed at 4) and then to pick up the geocache.  (Just for the record, the flag on the front of the building is the same size of the flag that Mary Pickersgill sewed, the one that inspired the Star Spangled Banner.  The stars are 2 feet from point to point.  She created it in a 6 week time period...that's a LOT of sewing!)

I didn't have any point in staying in Baltimore once the museums were closed.  I was home by 5:45.  I hit up a dinner with my parents and my brothers family.  I wasn't overly hungry so I had a milkshake and some fries.  I ended up not eating all of my fries and actually gave them away.  (Kinda shocked me too!)

Back to the salt mine tomorrow.  I am NOT looking forward to going back.  However, I will admit that I'm ready to get back into the workout routine.  Zumba tomorrow night for starters. (Maybe a few minutes at the gym before zumba to kill time!)   And more importantly.....back to tracking religiously!!!