Getting tired of maintaining

I guess that's a good thing...I'm getting tired of maintaining in this range so hopefully will be motivated to get going DOWN the scale again soon. I hate waking up and wondering which of my pants will fit (there are subtle fit differences even though they're all the same size these days).

Photo above is me in another salwar kameez...this is the dressy one that I wore for the black tie event on Wednesday. Super comfy and I got lots of compliments (this photos is at the end of the evening so I'm not so fresh looking but you get the idea).

We're headed up north again tonight for a three-day ski weekend -- this will probably be the last 3-dayer of the season (although we're going up for two days over Mother's Day weekend -- taking my mom so she can see the scenery). We are a "well-oiled ski machine" (DB's term) at this point -- it takes me 15 minutes to pack for the three days and us about 10 minutes to pack the car with everything including skis and gear. :-) They got another foot of snow this week so conditions will hopefully be good...and not too slushy too early in the day.

Superiorly fun at-home weekend

Yes, we actually stayed home this weekend and had a ball!

Friday night, we planned to have dinner with a friend and that got rescheduled because her aunt died the day before. We decided not to cram another friend into that "spot" at the last minute and just planned to have an evening with us. We took a long beach walk (we've been doing this a lot lately...now that it's spring and lighter later I can do it after work...it's working for me better than yoga at the moment), then went to dinner and early to bed.

Saturday, we did our morning Coffee Beach Walk, then went out for breakfast at a cheap place nearby. I was raring to go because a friend of ours who just got back from a trip to India was going to take me shopping in the afternoon to "Little India" (a 4-block stretch in a town nearby). We left about 11:30 and I got home at 7!!!! What fun! It was really like being in India for the afternoon (although cleaner according to my friend)...lots of shops...everyone was Indian and wearing Indian garb. It has been ages since I went shopping (which I love to do), so I went a little bananas. ;-) Bought five salwar cameez outfits (see photo of me above)...I'll probably give at least one away, but they were such a bargain at $25/each (including pants, tunic and lovely scarf). They are so cool, comfy and flattering. One of the ones I bought is so beautiful that I will wear it to a black-tie event I am attending this Wednesday.

We also had lunch at a Indian buffet where we were the only non-Indians there. I stuck with the meat and veggie dishes, had no rice and only one small thin piece of nan (bread). It was delicious. Oh yeah, I did have a couple of bites of the desserts (which were yummy and not too sweet -- which I why I probably liked them): halwa (made from carrots and almonds, I think) and kheer (made from rice and cream). It was worth the carbs, believe me. ;-)

I bought some pillow covers for throw pillows on our bed, an outfit for DB, four cds (yoga/mantra music that I love), Om and Ganesh stickers for my car and ski helmet, Indian groceries (WAY cheaper there than in my neighborhood) AND I got my eyebrows threaded for $4.99!!!! (I usually pay over $10 for waxing.) So many fun new experiences!

Saturday evening, DB and I did a little beach walk again and then dinner (burger and salad is my new favorite "treat" dinner).

Yesterday we were going to sleep in, but noooooooo. About 8:30 we heard a huge bang. Our electricity went off so DB went out back to investigate and found that it was a transformer that blew when a mylar balloon got into the electric wires. Yikes. We and all our neighbors called 911 and DWP to get service. Then we got back into bed and BANG! again. Louder this time. One of the wires out back had now broken, was lying across our tenant's apartment roof in the back and was on fire! I got dressed at this point to go see myself. The fire was incredibly hot but, luckily, landed on concrete (which it burned). Of course, we all were calling 911 again and now the fire department came...

By the time they arrived, the fire was out (until they touched the wire again). VERY hot (4800 watts going through this wire). The fire dept cut the wire so it wasn't a danger to anyone and DWP came soon after to fix it all. Whew. But a huge part of our neighborhood was without electricity all morning.

While they were fixing the power, we walked to coffee and breakfast at a new place. We were celebrating the 50th anniversary of my parents' first date. :-)

In the afternoon, we had our new petsitter come see the lay of the land before our next ski weekend (three days this coming weekend)...she got a ticket for talking on the phone with me as I "talked her in" to our parking spot. :-( But she seems nice and, luckily, doesn't have a puppy like our last, beloved sitter...after we took care of the puppy twice recently (including last week) and realized that she is (a) not house-trained, (b) chews everything including our antique sofa, and (c) most importantly, terrorizes my elderly gentleman Doglet, we realized we can't have her stay anymore.

After that meeting, I went to buy some work pants (I only had two pairs and am liking pants more than skirts right now). It was fun because everything I tried on fit! So I got to choose what looked good on me. Got two pairs for $25 total. Then went for a pedicure which I hadn't had in ages.

Last night I went to dinner with a good friend...just girls...and I wore a salwar cameez (above). Fun!

Today it's kind of interesting in my work neighborhood because the President is going to be staying at the hotel next door tonight. The 'hood is on lock-down as you can imagine. I wish I could see him! :-)

I'm feeling better physically...either it's the acupuncture or hormonal rebalancing or both. Either way, I'm so happy that episode seems to be OVER. :-)

More more more

We're going this weekend for yet more skiing...will be a two-day weekend instead of three so, while less skiing, it will also be less stress since I won't have to take any time off work.

I've been having more "symptoms" this week...emotionality (very very stressed out feeling) on Tuesday and hot flashes (which I almost never have) the next two days. One of my breasts is also feeling very achy in the mornings. I have been in contact with my gyne and she suggested upping some of my supplement that I take to help metabolize the hormones. It feels better today. But that could be because of the ibuprofen I'm taking to make my back feel better (something jogged it out of whack last night and I woke up in quite a lot of pain). I've been icing today and keeping on the ibu...it feels a lot better...hopefully will be ok to ski.

I have not been perfect in eating, but I am being good. Weight is maintaining.

More pieces of the puzzle

I went to see my gyne today and more pieces of the puzzle fell into place: since November my estrogen level has plummeted. She says that this OFTEN causes her patients to call with horrible debilitating anxiety attacks that they have never had before. Aha! While we are not sure what caused this (onset of REAL menopause or maybe a supplement I started taking in November to help metabolize my bioidentical hormones properly), we can work to fix it by adjusting my hormone intake. Yay! :-)

I am feeling better but not great. Have really been looking forward to this weekend at home (i.e., not away skiing) to rest. Unfortunately, it looks like PD1 is heading to the emergency room tonight with horrible gallbladder attack...we are actually hoping that they send her to emergency surgery because this has been bothering her for a long time. She has no insurance so I am not sure how that all works. I wish we had universal health care so we wouldn't have to worry about costs. Anyway, DB will head up there tonight to watch the kids. I really can't miss work tomorrow so I won't be going with him. :-( And I think this means our quiet, relaxing weekend at home is shot. I am happy that PD1 is getting this done but, selfishly, really bummed about losing my much-needed weekend.

We have been planning not to go back skiing for another 3 weeks but, with it snowing in the Sierras, I am getting more and more tempted to try to work another 3-day weekend a week from tomorrow. Selfish to take time to do this and not to take time to help DB with the kids tomorrow, I know.

I had a great lesson last weekend and I really feel like I am becoming a good (NOT great) skier. I am so proud of myself for being tenacious with this when it looked like I would never get off the beginner slopes. :-)

My yoga studio changed the description of its 7:30 Tuesday and Thursday classes to "gentle flow" (possibly because of some things I said to the teacher). I went on Tuesday and it was good (not great). The teacher, while a sweetheart and really trying to help me, is not really a TEACHER. She's a pose-caller-outer. It's frustrating to me. I will work with it for a while longer though...we'll see what happens.

I'm still maintaining. I read something that Vickie wrote to someone (Cindy, I think) saying that catching yourself at the 5 lb. up mark is so important and that that is part of maintenance. I've been doing that for months now. ;-)