Love and joy...I think food goes with that

A hugely fun weekend all around was had by all!

Friday night we went to PD's for her 30th b-day party. She had researched and set up a wine tasting...pairing tastes of foods and wine. It was really interesting to take little TASTES of food and little sips of wine and really focus on the tastes and how the food and wine complemented each other. In several cases, the food made a mediocre wine very good! And what a concept to take little bites and really concentrate on your taste buds...not how much of something that tastes good that you can cram in!! ;-)

We stayed over at a motel in their neighborhood so we could get some sleep because we had to get up EARLY to get ready for the wedding -- picked up PD's kids at 8:30, then headed to Nearby Town for the wedding at 11. It was the first same sex wedding that this church had had and everyone was really fired up and so supportive. It was very beautiful and moving...these girls have been together for over 10 years, have a house, a dog and a baby and just recently they could marry...what's wrong with this picture? While, being a good liberal, I have given lip service to being pro-gay marriage, this weekend really made me UNDERSTAND the issue in a concrete way -- what a huge civil rights issue -- these people are made to feel like second-class citizens because of who they LOVE? WTF? DB and I can CHOOSE not to marry, but they didn't have that same RIGHT until now. Anyway, it was joyous, many tears were shed, much love was shared.

After the wedding, we went to check in to our hotel (DB's parent's house was way too full with all the festivities) and tried to get the kids to nap a little...no such luck! So, with just a little rest, we headed to the family reception at a lovely restaurant around 3. It was so much fun...delicious food, fun family (DB's other daughter -- I'll call her PD2 since she's younger -- and her husband and daughters came too), etc. The kids were outrageously well-behaved -- even the wait-staff told the newly-weds afterwards that they couldn't believe how well-behaved the kids were! I had the best sangria I ever tasted too (and ate very well -- salad, just a bit of bread, salmon and veggies...and we won't talk about the -- small -- dessert). As we were leaving the restaurant a few hours later, I went up to The Evil One (DB's "bad" brother who is the father of the niece who got married) to give him a hug and thank him for having us. He gave me a tight hug and said thank you for bringing the grandkids. Surprising...he hardly ever talks to me...it felt like a miracle, but there was even more to come!

After the restaurant, we went up to DB's parents' house...two of his sisters were up there (one of whom, sadly, refused to go to the wedding) and it was nice to see them and let the kids play in the big yard. Then we went back to the hotel so the kids (and we) could swim and we all had a great time. Got the little kids to bed about 9, then Princess and I went to the hotel restaurant to get some snacks (and beers for her Papa and Helen). We had our snacks, then she went to bed and DB and I sat on the patio before we crashed too.

Saturday night was hard -- Smiley (3 1/2, who has horrible allergies) was up most of the night -- she starts scratching and then crying because it hurts. I was up and down with her all night, poor sweet thing -- spent most of the night in bed with her trying to soothe her. We are sending her to an allergist this month because I can't stand it anymore and her parents can't afford one. She has "boo boos" all over where she's scratched herself until she bleeds. :-(

Yesterday was the baptism of the newly-weds' baby so we went back to the church by 9:30 -- we met The Evil One in the parking lot and he came over and gave me a huge hug and said "I'm sorry for being an asshole to you these past couple of years.". SERIOUSLY, he SAID that. Unbelievable. It was a miracle. Since he's also been a lot better with DB lately, I was so happy. His daughter just felt so happy that we came (I think she was afraid people would be disapproving) and I think that rubbed off. So now I guess I have to find a new name for TEO... ;-) Anyway, the bath-tism was really sweet. Afterwards, we went back to swim more at the hotel, then checked out and went up the parents' house for a few hours - kids played and we watched the girls open their presents.

DB's parents got very agitated with all the people "they didn't know" around (and DB's dad looks HORRIBLE -- has been in and out of the hospital the past couple of weeks and is clearly very sick and frail) so we left around 4:45 or so, but we had a really great time. Stopped for Mexican dinner (I had ceviche which isn't bad, but also chips and guacamole...), then for a bit at PD1's to hear about her weekend in Vegas before heading home to CRASH.

A BIG WEEKEND. :-) I'm pooped. ;-) But DB and I both feel such joy and contentment after a wonderful weekend with family.

Tonight I have to go to the gym to make up for no gym over the weekend though...or at least to TRY to make up for it. ;-)

Maybe it WAS the fruit

I'm down just 0.6 today. I can't really think of any reason why such a small loss this week except (a) the fruit, or (b) new hormones. Otherwise this week was very consistent with all my previous weeks since February. Maybe it's just that I had the surprising 3 pound loss last week and this week is balancing things out. Whatever it is, I think I'll stay away from fruit as much as I can -- no great loss to me -- I just have thought that I could eat fruit as a substitute for high-cal desserts at business meetings -- no more (at least for a while)! (And thanks, ladies, for your suggestions that maybe it's a fruit allergy -- very well could be!).

Don't get me wrong...a loss is a loss! And, as I said to DB this morning, I'd sure rather see it going down virtually every week for the past months than to see it bouncing around like it did for the year and a half prior!! ;-)

HUGE weekend coming up: PD's 30th b-day is tomorrow so she's having a fancy wine-tasting party at her house tonight. We will go up there (an hour or more away), check in at hotel (we're staying over and not at their house because we want to get to SLEEP -- you'll see why!), run over to their place, party, then back to our hotel for sleep. We have to get up early, go back to PD's house, pick up Princess, Smiley and Cry Baby, then head out to Nearby Town (another hour and a half away) for the family wedding at 11 am. (PD is going with grown-ups to Vegas to celebrate her big day, so we're keeping the kidlets.) Staying in Nearby Town for all the festivities (at a hotel because DB's parents' house will be full of family) including baptism (or "bath-tism" per Princess -- story to follow) of the wedding couple's son on Sunday! :-) We don't expect much sleep... ;-)

Story of "bath-tism": When I referred to "baptism" last Saturday while shopping, Princess asked me what that meant. I took the quick-and-easy solution of saying "you go to church and the priest puts water on you". This satisfied her. And the rest of the day she referred to "bath-tism"...which, to me, makes abundant sense...she heard there was water involved and made it work for her understanding! :-) I love this story and, forever after, it shall be known as bathtism in our family. :-)

There will be wine and cheese tonight and eating well this weekend will be a challenge...not to mention NO organized exercise probably (I'm hoping we get some swimming in at the hotel tomorrow evening). I'll have to be super duper good next week to keep going down, but that's getting to be Normal now...

Wishing everyone a fun weekend!

Problems with fruit and arms

I think I have a problem with fruit. I don't really like fruit much so I rarely ever eat it (except in my lime Fruit Floes from Trader Joes and limes squeezed into my water at home). But I will eat melons (not water-), strawberries and pineapple and enjoy them if they are presented to me (I don't go looking for them!). So yesterday there was melon and pineapple at the business lunch I went to here at the firm (otherwise I had a chicken and tomato sandwich with half of the bread removed and a salad) and I had some. And I felt bloated the whole rest of the day. I realized that this often happens when I eat fruit.

Anyway...I just had a couple of strawberries that were lurking in the office kitchen...hope they don't do the same today. But we'll see what the scale says on Friday...if there's a weird "up", no more fruit!!!

I had a doctor appointment this morning about my wrist. He says it will take 8-12 WEEKS to heal. Grrrrr. I am now allowed to sleep without my brace, but otherwise am supposed to keep wearing it for the next three weeks (at least) until my next appointment with him. I actually think that any pain/ache I'm getting now is from lack of exercise of my wrist so I am not sure I really agree with this plan...not to mention that nothing I see on-line mentions immobilizing as a treatment for this type of injury. BUT I don't want to take any chances so I will be careful.

All this means continuing not to be able to use weight machines or go to yoga classes (NO weight-bearing on my arms at all allowed per the doc). And this is in the SUMMER when I want to have beautiful arms to show off in sleeveless clothes. I am very bummed. :-(

Maybe I'll e-mail my physical therapist and ask him what he thinks...

Weekend Round-up

Weekend was very fun. Tommy was so-so -- my old friend was the best thing in it. But it was kind of cool because each seat had its own headphones so the sound mix was really good. I didn't know the story before so was surprised how skimpy it was. But there were a couple of good songs that I didn't know before. And the kid playing Tommy was trying too hard (and not succeeding) at being Roger Daltrey. A fun night though...

Had a fantastic day Saturday -- what fun!! :-) After I went to the gym in the morning, I met PD and her kids at the discount store that I love in her town (where it was SUPER HOT) -- we filled up our cart in no time! Then we went to try on -- that took a while because PD probably had at least 40 dresses and we also had stuff for Princess and Smiley (granddaughters) and me to try on. When PD when in the dressing room, Cry Baby (1-year-old grandson who hates me), of course, started to cry. I am used to this, so it didn't really bother me, but it was stressing her out so I called PD's partner (Daddy) to come get him. Then I walked Cry Baby and Smiley around shopping for some more stuff for Smiley until Daddy showed up (he had no trouble finding us...just follow the sound of the crying baby!). Daddy ultimately took Smiley & Cry Baby home so PD, Princess and I could have some relaxing time.

I ended up getting PD a couple of beautiful dresses and two pairs of dressy shoes for her festive occasions this month, new dresses for Princess and Smiley for the wedding, etc. next weekend, and two dresses for me! Then we headed to get mani/pedi/brow wax at the salon. We had a ball!! We also met a very nice lady there who used to work for the new ortho I've been going to for my wrist and she confirmed my opinion that he's really not a very good doc. The Universe sure was trying to get that message to me -- what is the likelihood of me running into her an hour away from my house or office when my doc is close to my office??? I'll just finish up with him on the wrist...

Anyway, I know PD really had a fantastic and special day (me too) and that was the whole point -- for her to feel special about her b-day. :-) I stayed until she left for her party Saturday night and she looked beautiful (and kept asking me to go with her, but I wanted to go home -- too far to drive after having a drink and too much food to tempt me!).

So I went to the Discount Store near me on the way home and bought some shoes to go with my fantastic new dresses, then to grocery store and got some beer. For dinner I had: beer and celery!! It was too hot to eat...even in by the beach! :-)

Yesterday I got up and headed to the beach where there were thousands of people but a breeze. Stayed down there for about an hour until DB got home (around 1). It was GREAT to see him!! Then we stayed at the beach until about 3...DB got cooked because he refused suntan lotion...oh well! ;-) After that I went to the gym, then we changed and biked down to have dinner at a place on the beach, then met some friends at drum circle, went for a beer at the beach, then home to snuggle. :-)

This morning DB had a doc appt at our house for life insurance and I had a gyno appt. She's putting me on cream hormones now (I've been on drops) and hopefully that will alleviate some of the horrible symptoms I've been having. My hormones were ROCK BOTTOM when I had blood tests two months ago. She said I should feel better in a couple of weeks...whew!! She also was very impressed with my weight loss...told me to keep going low on carbs (which I'm already doing) because the sugar in my blood was a little high or something.

One final thing: it's a lot funner to shop again now that I'm smaller! I had given up that pleasure a lot over the past few years...not consciously...just didn't want to buy things when at least part of me knew I didn't look as good.

Surprising weigh-in today

Update: NO CAST!! I have a microfracture of my wrist a/k/a "bone bruise" so I get to keep my hard brace and NO CAST. I am SO happy...was dreading how to take showers with a cast...and, most importantly, having to decide what color to get! ;-)

Although I had two beers on Wednesday night (bad hormonal day), I somehow still managed to lose this week: over 3 pounds!! Maybe the long walk I took with Doglet (also on Wednesday night) and eating not much more than the 2 beers that night balanced it out. But a three-pound week is surprising...especially with hormone stuff going on. Like some weeks when I don't lose or stay the same, I really can't figure out for sure what happened this week (maybe less muscle mass because I'm not doing 4 arm weight machines at the gym?), but I'll take it! ;-)

I'm also continuing to be baffled by my perception when I look in the mirror. While after 27 plus pounds lost, my clothes are obviously either fitting much better or are falling off, I seem to SEE more fat on my body than I did 27 pounds ago. I am bothered by the bumpy skin hanging under my arms, the bumpiness on my belly (even though I can see muscles again -- yay!), the looseness of my thighs and butt. I don't remember focusing on this before and I don't think I did. I think it's part of how I (we?) deal with our heaviness -- I didn't let myself really SEE it. If I did, I would have been SO depressed.

While this not-seeing is not good because it probably contributed significantly to my getting bigger than I should have been, it is also a symptom of my general lack of ability to accurately/truthfully perceive my body, period. When I was super-thin (that brief shining moment!) I still thought I was "fat". Then when I was "fat", I didn't see how fat I was. This is a problem and I'm not entirely sure how to address it/fix it. But what I'm trying to really appreciate this time is that, while I may see those smaller "flaws" a lot more now, I look good NOW. That doesn't mean that I don't want to lose a little more weight and that I won't look even better then (to a point...at super-thin time, as photos attest, I did NOT look better). But it does mean that I look GOOD today. At this weight. In these clothes. I look healthy.

Well, except for the brace on my wrist... ;-)

Had an MRI yesterday and will hopefully get the results today. Crossing my fingers that I don't need a cast, but something IS wrong in there. If it's not the break that my doc thinks, I may get away with the brace for the remainder of the healing time.

Tonight I'm going to see a performance of The Who's Tommy. A friend from college who is having quite a successful theatrical career is starring. I haven't seen her in FOREVER, but I will get in touch with her afterwards. :-)

I'm looking forward to going shopping tomorrow with DB's daughter (Pretend Daughter, PD)...I'm buying her a dress for some special upcoming festivities: her best friend's 30th birthday tomorrow, her OWN 30th birthday next Saturday and a wedding in a few weeks. Mostly I'm looking forward to spending time with HER. I love PD. :-) Oh yeah, and we're getting a pedicure and brow wax too... ;-)

Most of all, I'm looking forward to DB coming HOME on Sunday. I have missed him so much.

E-mail from The Universe

I recently signed up to get a daily e-mail from The Universe and today's made me think of Vickie and US:

"Little tiny dreams, Helen, require little tiny thoughts and little tiny steps.
Great big dreams require great big thoughts and little tiny steps.
Do I paint a clear picture? The Universe"

LOVE IT!! :-)

A big NSV from this morning: we have a family wedding on June 28 in Nearby Town and I was planning to go shopping with DB's daughter this Saturday to buy dresses. Well, this morning I went into my closet and remembered I had a couple of summer-y dresses that I had hung onto throughout the gain...wondered if they might do the trick. They did!! One (which I think I bought about 2 years ago exactly) still had the tag on and the other I haven't worn since a wedding in 2000!!! Oh Happy Day!! Having said this, I'm still going shopping on Saturday...but will be looking for shoes instead. ;-)

My darn wrist (and other things)

I went back to the orthopedist today about my wrist. The appt was ok -- the Xray showed nothing definitive as to wrist fracture, but he is worried that I've fractured a bone at the bottom of my thumb (called the "carpal"-something) that doesn't show up on Xrays because of its location and it's hard to see that break unless it is displaced. The places he pushed to check for pain that HURT were, apparently, the places it would hurt if this bone is fractured and he says it is often the one that's broken when "we" fall like this. The only way to know for sure is to get an MRI so he's going to send me for one. If it IS broken, I have to have a traditional cast. :-(

He also Xrayed my droopy toe (the toe next to The Frankentoe that hasn't been the same since that accident) -- said that bones are ok, but wants an MRI on that too to see if there is tendon damage. He didn't say what, if anything, we can do if it is damaged. :-(

He told me to take 1500 mg of calcium a day (along with Vitamin D -- it comes in tablets that way, I got some last night), which I started today already. He also said to talk to my general doc about taking Boniva or some other anti-osteoporosis med.

I'd be lying to say that this whole breaking bone thing doesn't worry me -- I'm 46 years old and had never broken a bone until last August -- now I've broken (probably?) two in 9 months. NOT good. I'm going to talk with my gyne about this when I see her next week about my hormones (which are totally out of whack). One of my grandmothers had osteoporosis badly (hunchback) and, if I unluckily got that gene, I am going to FIGHT it NOW while I'm young(ish).

Despite all this, I'm still doing The Balance and keeping up with my gym exercise. I even took Doglet for a little walk last night when I got home -- exercise on a non-gym night?! Wowee. ;-)

Missing DB a lot this week...the house is just too empty with him gone. His mom is having troubles with horrible unstoppable nosebleeds so he was up much of the night last night (including a trip to the ER around midnight...I think that's the third ER trip for her in the past 3 days). I watched The Savages last night and, while it was a good movie, was glad that DB didn't watch with me...dealing with ailing parents is no fun and watching a movie about it wouldn't be much of an escape. Thank goodness that my mom is (at least relatively) healthy and self-sufficient. Knock wood.

Livin' La Vida Normal

Today's weigh-in shows me just 0.2 pounds (virtually NOTHING) above my pre-vacation weight (2.8 pounds less than last Friday)!! Whoo hooo!! Now I can keep on the downward trend. :-)

I have shown myself here that I can have a vacation, enjoy "bad" stuff for a week, gain some weight and still get back to Normal and keep up with my good healthy lifestyle. This week's loss is even after the challenges of last weekend (after which I got Drastic). The Normal is actually, I think, The Balance: some days I overdo, some days I underdo = Balance. I think it might be kind of weird to actually have to think this out and notice it -- I'll bet a lot of people live this way with food all the time without having to make such a conscious effort. I don't know if I ever was that way...I doubt if I ever can BE that way. But this way is OK...I don't mind being more conscious. And I love Balance.

DB leaves for Nearby Town tomorrow for 8 nights. These are not my favorite weeks. It's hard to cram a whole month's worth of Real Life into 3 weeks a month. But it is what it is. I know it's hard for him too...

I have plenty to do to keep me busy, of course! Tonight I hope we get to go see the new Indiana Jones. Tomorrow, I have gym, bang trim (my hair dresser now is speaking to me only in Spanish so I can keep my skills up!), getting Doglet a nail clip, and dinner with a friend in another part of town. Sunday I hope to be able to get to the beach for a few hours just to rest and read (that was so nice on vacation!), go to the gym, then dinner with my mom.

I'm happy that I can still do most of my gym routine with my wrist as it is...the only real things I can't do at all are the four arm weight machines that I usually do. It's not bad at all. I am sad that I won't be able to go to yoga class for a bit (SO much depends on your arms...I never really noticed!), but if I can keep up my fitness otherwise, I should be fine when I can go back. I am still hoping the doc tells me next Tuesday that the fracture is all better and I can lose the brace...positive thinking!!!

Wishing everyone a good weekend... :-)

The Wrist

The wrist is fractured. It's not a dislocated fracture (and it's more like a little CRACK) so I'm lucky enough to get to wear a brace instead of a cast (at least for the next week). This is exactly like having a cast, but I can take it off (only) to shower. I'm happy not to have a cast! But I will have to really modify my exercise -- no yoga for a while, can't use arms on elliptical and can't use THAT arm on weight machines. But I can do lower body stuff. And I will!! This can't be a set-back in the weight loss.

I can still type, but I need to save it mostly for work. So, shortie things will be the order of the day for a bit (I go back to the doc next Tuesday for re-Xray).

I didn't do great on food/drink this past weekend -- it was mostly beer though that I was bad with. And I had some chips and 1/2 chocolate chip cookie at the kids' party we went to on Sunday (granddaughter pre-school graduation and birthday). I did swim a bit though so I thought/hoped that exercise might count! I am feeling less Drastic with the vacation behind me, but I really want to get those 3 gained pounds and MORE off.

The yoga seminar on Saturday was really great -- I learned a lot of stuff that I'll be able to take into my practice when I get back to the studio (I don't know when that will be, was afraid to ask doc). Most important to knee injuries was working to never lock the knee in hyperextension. This is harder than you might think. The seminar was over 3 hours and while I didn't feel like we DID a lot, I was sore afterwards. The concentration alone was challenging! Plus it's about a 2-mile round-trip walk to the studio and back. And we walked a lot on Saturday night before I fell.

Mostly I'm feeling poochy -- I had a martini last night too -- it was a weird day -- but just had salad for dinner as usual (I'm so happy DB is into the salads too!).

More will come, but in short spurts now for a while...

A lot to say and NO TIME

I'm posting this in haste just to remember what I need to post about when I have time...SO much stuff over the weekend:

- long yoga workshop on how to heal knees with your yoga practice.
- lots of "out-of-comfort-zone" eating (dinner, Carnavale, kids party)
- bad fall (seriously scraped my chin and hurt my right wrist -- going for XRay tomorrow)
- death of 59-year-old colleague (not someone I was close to, but another case of the 50s are dangerous for women and it kind of freaks me out since I'm fast approaching that Danger Decade)
- last but not least: worried about Hoosier bloggers/friends -- is everyone ok???

My wrist hurts too much to spend a lot of time here, but promise to update when I can.

Moral of the Story

On Tuesday, when I crawled back up on the scale after 10 days, my weight was up 7.8 pounds from pre-vacation. On Wednesday, after just one day of being back on the wagon, my weight was down 3 pounds. Today, on my official weigh-in day, I am exactly 3 pounds over what I weighed the day before vacation (so a "loss" of 4.8 pounds since Tuesday). The moral of this story? GET BACK ON THE WAGON right away and the damage will be mitigated! I am truthfully thrilled to be only 3 pounds over my lowest weight today after eating and drinking anything and everything for over a week. And, most importantly, I am happily back on the wagon, my "skinny" clothes are fitting comfortably again, and I am on my way DOWN again. :-)

This is a very very good lesson for me to remember (I've been through it a few times in the past few months since starting The Drastic): when I "screw up", it only would make it worse just to keep on eating/drinking badly. For some reason, this has always been hard for me to remember -- I am very good at the self-talk of "well, you already screwed up, you might as well enjoy that next bag of chips/martini, etc." So I must continually remind myself that overdoing for a short period of time is not fatal to the cause...I just have to get back to The Drastic...which I am about ready to start calling The Normal because THIS is how I think people at healthy weights with healthy attitudes about food eat...when they overeat, they get back to good eating rather than sliding down that "just one more won't hurt" slope.

I'm gradually getting back to normal in other areas of my life -- the pile on my desk at work is bigger than it has been in a long time and I'm chipping away, personal life stuff (renewing home insurance, getting life insurance for DB, paying bills) that was put on hold for vacation needs attention, and I'm working hard on a "trip report" which I am gradually posting at tulum.info (I'll post a link here when it's all done so anyone who is interested can go read trip details and see photos, but if you want to read it in-progress, you can find it there now). I still miss Tulum...or, more probably, the ultra-relaxed lifestyle we had there...

This weekend will be our usual whirlwind -- dinner tonight with a Burner friend from Austin, yoga seminar on How To Heal Your Knees With Your Yoga Practice for over 3 hours tomorrow, then Venice's Carnavale with some friends. Sunday will be DB family day: a Pampered Chef party for that charity that I was working on earlier this year with one of his daughters then a party at the other daughter's house to celebrate pre-school graduation for one of the granddaughters and high school graduation for the step-grandson.

I'm gradually catching up with all of you and, in that way, it's good to be HOME. :-)

Why I'm sorry I'm home from Tulum

Edit: Here we are in our hammock on the porch of our cabana on the beach in Tulum:

- The waiters at the Mexican restaurant where we ate last night (yes, on our first night home) don't speak Spanish.

- Real shoes cramp my feet, bras hurt, pants feel funny...why can't I wear my bathing suit every day anymore?

- My skin is dry, not smooth and/or sticky from sunblock, aloe lotion, the rain/salt spray.

- Sleeping without the constant noise from the wind and waves is no fun.

- I miss huevos motulenos (although my waistline doesn't).

- I miss my snorkel.

- Why did my cold go away the minute we landed and it's back the minute I'm home?

- I got way less groceries at the market yesterday than I got for the same money at Super San Francisco last Friday

...and the number one reason I'm sorry I'm home from Tulum:

- No cerveza for breakfast. ;-)

But seriously folks (not that that wasn't serious...especially the part about the shoes)...to answer Vickie's questions:

- I did get sunburnt my first day -- I thought I could sit in the sun with 50 SPF on -- WRONG-O. I got away with not getting burnt the rest of the trip, but only by not SITTING in the sun and religiously wearing the sunblock and REAPPLYING. Today I actually look tan -- and I never tan. This is the first time DB has ever seen me with skin anything but pure white! ;-)

- My "skinny" clothes feel a little tight so all the weight gain was not "fake". I'll get some of it off by Friday just by having no cerveza and no tortillas for every meal. ;-)

I'm SWAMPED at work and catching up with home stuff too...will check in with all of you slowly but surely and get caught up...and will hopefully have some photos and details on our trip for you too...SOON. :-)

I'm baaaaaaack!

Still off work today to adjust back to "real" life...DB and I have spent the morning culling through over 1000 photos and I hope to have a full report here fairly soon. In the meantime, I seem to have "gained" EIGHT pounds since we left...while I thought I probably gained some, this is a shock because I got some exercise every day (lots of walking, swimming, etc.) and really didn't overeat too much. My system really worked great with the Mexican food and climate too. So, I think it's all the cerveza...we drank it like it was water! ;-) I'm guessing/hoping that a lot of this will be gone by Friday after I've been back to "real" food and no booze for a few days.

I'm almost finished with PastaQueen's book and am really enjoying it.

I didn't miss "real" life AT all...a beautiful beach, beautiful sweetheart and beautiful friends. Even a beautiful tropical storm!

Anyway...more later...I'll look forward to catching up with all of YOU! :-)