Water

I may have learned a new thing this weekend: the power of drinking water.

I know, you all are saying, "Helen, get with the program, we've all known how important water is FOREVER". You're right. I have known it intellectually, but I have never had a situation where I had a real practical experience...and, like with most weight- and food- and exercise-related things, I seem to need to EXPERIENCE the theory in order for it to (start to) sink in.

So, we went skiing last weekend. I am trying to do better with my eating and drinking on these weekends this winter than I did last year (when I weighed 15-20 pounds more than I do now). I am generally (like at home) not eating red meat. I am drinking not more than one beer a day. I am trying to keep the eaten-out breakfasts within a reasonable range. I am trying to balance -- when I've eaten something higher in calories or carbs than I usually eat at home, I eat less at the next meal. So far, so good (although I still have Xmas/NYE/Birthday lbs not completely gone)...

BUT, Sunday I had some ice cream after dinner. I had been craving it since my birthday and I made a conscious decision to eat it. Honestly, it was not very good and not worth it, but I knew what I was doing and was prepared for the consequences. Other than that, I had eaten REALLY well (even the eaten-out breakfasts which I always have to watch volume-wise -- and I had cooked dinner at the condo on Saturday night -- salmon and sauteed spinach and mushrooms, yum!).

THEN, Monday I made another conscious bad food decision for breakfast: corned beef hash and eggs...and a biscuit. The biscuit tasted like dry cake so I didn't finish it and the corned beef hash was SOOOOO salty. As soon as we got in the car after eating it, I had to stop for a huge 2-liter bottle of water. Over the next hours of driving, I drank two of those babies. And more that night. While I always have water on my desk as I work all day, I am sure I never drink that much regularly.

And, miracle of miracles, when I got on the scale yesterday (I left it at home for this short-trip weekend...maybe a mistake), I had only gained 1 pound. THAT is a miracle. One that I am not taking for granted, but am looking at the facts and figuring out how that happened...even with the extra exercise of skiing, I don't think I would have had that result without all that water.

So, glug glug, I just may have finally learned the lesson of REALLY drinking water...in fact, I need to go get a refill right now! ;-)

Best. Valentine's. Day. Ever.

I have THE BEST VALENTINE!! :-)

Because we both think going out on Valentine's Day is for amateurs, once again this year, my sweetheart made last night special at home.

When I got home from work, the house was lit only by candles (and the red light on our Valentine tree), the massage table was set up in the living room, gifts were on the counter and there was a fire in our chiminea on our front patio. DB poured me a glass of champagne, while we burned the flowers he gave me for my birthday (they were ready to go) and talked about our day...

Then, dinner time! He had gone to my current favorite restaurant and gotten take-out of my favorite dishes: kale salad, brussells sprouts and deviled eggs. I love this place because portions are perfect and the chef adds just a little something yummy to each dish: blue cheese to kale, bacon and dried cherries to brussels sprouts, horseradish to deviled eggs. Perfect.

DB had gotten me way too many presents, but he told me that we would laugh at them together and we did! The theme was "food is love" (my family's unspoken motto): oven thermometer, new measuring spoons and two awesome spring-loaded cake pans (I struggled with my cake pans last weekend). So very thoughtful...he had talked with a friend of ours who is a baker and went to a special baking store. Sweet!!

I got DB a chest-mount for his GoPro camera (usually goes on helmet when skiing...and ziplining), but it didn't arrive in time. Oh well...it will be here in time for this weekend's ski trip.

We both had nice massages and went to sleep fairly early...it was great to have a night just to focus on each other and LOVE.

I am a lucky girl.

Birthday Season and Valentine's Day

Lots of fun = little time to blog! :-)

The trip to the island off the coast for my birthday weekend was amazing. The best part? My sister flew in from NYC to surprise me!! Wow. I was asleep on Thursday night while DB had band rehearsal in the studio (I've trained myself to sleep through the loud music), ready to leave the next morning on the boat and I had a dream that there were all these people in my room, including my sister. It took me quite a while to wake up...and realize it wasn't a dream! It was so much fun to have her with us on the Birthday Adventure. And DB had kept it a secret since last August!!!! Special. :-)

We got to the island in the late morning and checked into our condo overlooking the ocean. Had some champagne, then went into town for a light lunch and some grocery shopping. I really wanted to cook dinner on Friday (the condos are expensive and I want to be in them as much as possible!) so I made delicious steak wrapped in bacon (treat), salad with homemade vinaigrette and roasted asparagus with tarragon. Yummy!

On my actual birthday (4th), I woke up early, excited for the day to begin! We went to brunch with friends who were already in town (this was my only really BAD meal of the weekend and I paid the price), then back to the condo to relax until our ziplining adventure at 2 in the afternoon.

Ziplining ROCKS. They first give you instruction, then take you in a bus up the mountain. At this place, there are 5 ziplines...you zip all the way down the mountain, across canyons, etc. As Birthday Girl, I was the first in our group to step off at the first zip -- everyone sang Happy Birthday to me and I flew away! It was literally AWESOME. The first step-off was a little scary but, after that, we all couldn't wait for the next one and were sad when they were all over.

After ziplining, we went back into town to meet some new arrivals at their hotel, had a glass of wine and some cheese and I got a hula hoop from a friend for my birthday! FUN.

I got all dressed up in my 6-inch booties for dinner at a really nice restaurant that night and was so blessed to be surrounded by dear friends on my special day.

Sunday, after breakfast, we had scheduled a whale-watching trip. We got into an impossibly tiny boat to head out into the ocean...I'm pretty happy that we didn't run into any whales! But we did run into dolphins and sea lions. The dolphins were just amazing...the water is so clear you could see them swimming under the boat right before they jumped out of the water!! At one point, we were in a pack of hundreds of them. It was, again, AWESOME.

So far 50 is...AWESOME. :-)

[I did gain some on my birthday weekend and it's not all gone yet...it still amazes me how much longer it takes to come off than to go on.]

Last weekend we celebrated two of the grandkids' birthdays and today I celebrate LOVE. Specifically, the Love of my Life, DB.

I got my first "wife" Valentine card today. It felt really good.

Wishing everyone love...

I'm proud to say I'm (almost) FIFTY YEARS OLD!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiehDcVZ-vA

LOL, I love that video...I'm going to post it as my Facebook status on Saturday (when I actually turn 5-0).

Anyway...

Last week we were in Ski Town for a week vacation and we are leaving tomorrow for a 3-day weekend holiday for my 50th. Weight hanging tough at about 18 lbs less than last year at this time. Still have some holiday lbs to lose before getting to my pre-Xmas lowest of the low weight. I brought my scale on vacation to keep it real and it really helped.

With the BIG birthday, I've been very reflective this week. Most of all, I've realized how my life has changed in the past 10 years. 10 years ago, I had tons of what I thought were really good friends. My friends were really my life. I look at the photos from my 40th b-day weekend and I am not good friends with almost any of the same people anymore. And, this week, I realized that the people who are my friends now are, by and large, flakes. Why is it now acceptable to be a flake? It depresses me because it makes me feel like I'm not important to my friends.

I have invited my closest friends to a special dinner on my birthday. Some are so flakey that I have no idea who will show up. I am feeling like I should have spent the money to bring the PDs and the grandkids and my mom with us, rather than doing a nice dinner for friends.

Life is different now. I love my life then AND now (despite flakey friends). :-)