Mack and I had an awesome hike yesterday. Hard to believe this area is less than an hour from our house. To think a year ago I never would have been able to do some of the rock climbing/scrambling we did.

I see many return visits to this hidden treasure:

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/575336681vexmvh

lol cruise, you beat me by about 5 minutes : ) I've been lurking the last week or so, but I'm still here. will try to keep up on personals this week, as well as trying to get motivated and back on track. happy daylight savings time everyone!

I have been TERRIBLE about coming in and chatting with you chicks! and I am also NOT completely on plan. Coincidence??? I do much better when I am more involved with the community here and I've not done a great job this month.

Cat, you look gorgeous in your new profile pic!! and Rainbow Basin looks beautiful! I hear what you are saying too - yesterday i was just thinking "If someone were to have told me one year ago that I wold run for 1 hour and do almost 10 KM in that time I would have laughed myself silly and then told them they needed seriously psychiatric help". Amazing changes we have all made!!

How did November get here all ready? Dear goodness, where does the time go?

Penguin - i hope they get your glasses in order. Will you take them back again? My husband just got bi-focals and hates to wear them, so he relies on his older pair and is forever putting them on and taking them off!

BTW, great job on taking measurements - I love those, because when the scale doesn't move - but measurements do, it's a big motivator.

OnMyWay - hope you get to move that ticker down a few notches too! Hope you got a good walk in last night

DMC - one pound is one pound...and awesome. Think of it this way, you just melted 4 sticks of butter off of your body!!!!

Marie - sorry it's been sucha draining week - but wow..only 8 pounds to goal! THAT is AMAZING - and totally inspiring!

I did my elliptical and loved it. <----show off...hahahaa, KIDDING!

Joy - we didn't expect many, but handed out 3 bags before heading out for dinner. Totally surprised us. Ghiradelli reminds me of Disney, because they have an ice cream/soda shop in their Downtown Disney shopping area!

Cruise- i love yoru gorgeous hiking places - it's such a nice thing you two do together - he must love all the time together doing those things too. My husband and I love hanging out together - and he enjoys walking, so i'll need to get researching some new areas around here!

Weightlosswanted- thanks for the reminder! I have to do my clocks

Renee - looking forward to getting to know you - hope you jump back on program - looks like you've gone quite a ways all ready!

---
I've decided to sign up for something that will keep me motivated for awhile...

I had to decide if i was crazy, or truly want to challenge myself. I'm going to sign up for a 1/2 marathon - that i'll walk/run/crawl through-- and just see how far i can go. Don't know if you don't train and try. It will help motivate me to keep moving. I'm going to join a group of women and move forward from here. Just ordered Marathoning for Mortals, and am working on the c25k now. It's in the spring/Disney

Here's the thing - I'm not the kind of person who will beat myself up if i don't finish...i'll be proud of how far I did go, and use it as a place to try to beat the next year - so if i'm swept, i'm swept...but i tried, which means something to me.

Can you believe it's November! Where does the time go?

Had a very nice Halloween. Lots of walking and minimal candy damage! I'll be sending our leftovers to work with DH tomorrow, out of sight out of mouth!

Up early due to time change and spent 30 minute on the Wii and 20 minutes on the bike. Feels good to start the day with some exercise.

lambchop, I admire your attitude about the 1/2 marathon. That's quite a goal! Go for it!

Velveteen, Welcome back. We are here for you!

WLW, Good luck getting back on track!

Cruise, Another set of great photos! I'm with you in what a difference a year can make. Way to go!

Have a great day everyone!

Love the pictures! Looks like a great hike!

Good morning all!

We had a little candy riot at our front door last night. Some kids got overexcited and knocked a few things over while arguing with each other. I didn't think the candy was that good! They apologized afterward but I'm glad Hubby was at the door and not me. Geesh. I don't think we're doing TorT next year because of that.

Lambchop, I'm extremely fustrated with the whole glasses thing. I'll take them in tomorrow and see what can be done. Having gotten a taste of what the world looks like in focus I'm reluctant to return them to get fixed but I'm holding things at arms length to read them and by that time the print is too small to read. Good attitude about the 1/2 marathon. I get the same way with weight training. "let's see if I can go a little heavier this time"

Gotta get ready for church, back later.

Cruise - Wow! Loved your pictures! There's some great hiking around here, too, and I think we'll start doing some of that when the kids are a couple more years older. My dh needs to lose some weight before we can do that, though. He mentioned last week that he's actually going to go to a naturopathic doctor (a type of holistic medical person who's done miracles for me) and work on his diet, etc. I know that nagging would never work with my dh, so I haven't said anything, as I worry silently about being widowed within the next 10 years. My dh is 48 next month and he's already been on high blood pressure medication for a few years and he really needs to lose a significant amount of weight. I think I'm being a good example for him.

patchwork - hope you can get your vision cleared up. That has to be frustrating.

Onmyway - we're planning to get a Wii for Christmas. Which program do you use for exercise and what extra pieces of Wii equipment do you have?

lambchop - good luck on the 1/2 marathon!

Velveteen - congratulations on the running! Where do you usuallly run?

weighlosswanted - nice to hear from you.

So I made it through Halloween without any candy. Even though there was lots at work, I managed to avoid it and I even had them move the candy dish away from the entrance to my office area. It was difficult to do that, since I've barely been there a month and some people weren't too happy, but it was the best thing for my health. Yay to a week totally gluten free, too. I'm feeling really good as a result.

CAT - amazing pics - you live in a beautiful area! Have you scoped out all the potential hiking in your home-to-be in MX as well?

wlw - me too! October goes down as a weird month for me - I hit goal, and then regressed. New month, better days ahead.

Renee the Runner! That's an amazing accomplishment, lady!

lambchop - high 5 on taking on a big challenge! I'm doing the same thing to help me get through the winter. If I don't have something out there to work toward, I'll be like a big bear and just hibernate through the cold and snow.

OMW - great job on managing the Halloween - you really have recovered your good habits just like you said you were going to. Keep it up!

patch - blame the hyperactivity on the sugar buzz. TorT worked out well for DS10 - this year he brought back a lot more sugarless gum, toys, and pencils. Maybe, just maybe ... we're moving away from the candy??? Some wonderful soul even passed out dark chocolate Ghiradelli squares this year!

maggie - super job avoiding the candy, and eating according to your needs. It's not easy to do and you have more challenges than the rest of us ... and yet you never whine. You amaze me!

marie - keep on moving that ticker! That last 8 will be off before you know it. Good thing the dogs are getting so well-behaved, because you'll be light enough for them to haul you all the way to Boston if they decide to do it!

Turtle's gone and I'm back in my wagon. Signed up for the Thanksgiving challenge, registered for my Nov 15th swim meet, and revised the tickers. I went to a party last night and ate pretty much like I did last year ... so I'm feeling the repercussions and rather motivated to not do that any more. Another lesson learned, and another point in favor of a goot month to come!

Joy, we don’t get trick or treaters either. Lsst night DH asked if we had any thins year. I’m like, I didn’t turn on the light and I guess I have my lindt choc bars that I ration myself with. Ten years of no trick or treaters made me give up.

Cruise, isn’t it amazing how more open our lives become losing weight? I didn’t really think I was missing much being fat but I as so wrong. Your hiking sounds like so much fun.

Renee, welcome back. Make time to chat especially since you know you’re more focused when posting here.

Lambchop, there are days I don’t like to elliptical – the days when moving off the couch is effort. And me a show off – you want to try a ½ marathon. To me that’s nuts. DH used to run marathons and I’d ride my bike with him when he was training. The running looked so painful. You do have the right perspective on it – can’t succeed unless you try.

Penguin, perhaps you can tell the glasses place that since they’ve screwed up the glasses so often, they should make you a new pair to fix the problem and let you keep this pair.

Pres Maggie, good job speaking up for yourself and on the candy bowl and not speaking up to DH. We all know you can’t get pushed into losing weight. Only when someone is ready will they do it. And you are a great example that it’s possible.

ICU, turtle gone??? No I still see it on the avatar!!!! I’m so glad you’re back in your wagon. Great job signing up of the swim meet. And I’ve always wanted to go to Boston but perhaps not on the end of my pups’ leashes.

Marie

I had a great time with my DD and DGS. I thought I'd share a picture DD took of DGS, 2 of my 4 doggies and me.

Hey everyone! I have not been around for a little bit due to some family issues and also pc problems. Everything is going okay and I have been on plan and met my Halloween goal. I even lost 2 more than I thought I would, yay.

I am losing much slower now that I am coming up on half lost of my weight loss goal. Just knowing that others here are doing the same thing and also all the members that have made it all the way really stirs me to stay on plan. I sure missed you guys.

glad to see you back hydra, I've been awol as well. hoping to get back on track this week : )

WLW – Being an EARLY riser does have its advantages. Lurking is good getting involved is better. YOU can do this.

Renee – Good to see you here again. As I just said to WLW getting involved is much better. I know when I was just maintaining over the summer I was not as active as I was in the beginning or now. In the last month I have been VERY active and I have lost 10 lbs., Coincidence….. I think not.

LC – Every month I’m asking myself that same question. There are days that I really would like a “pause” button. Mack and I love being together. We each have a couple close friends but for the most part we spend all our time together. He will golf with his buddy and I do “dog” stuff with my BF.

Good luck on training for the ½ marathon. Joining a group of other women is a great idea.

OMW – Good job on damage control. For the last couple years we have bought candy and only had a couple TorT’ers so this year we decided to not buy any and keep all the lights off. From what our neighbor was telling us they only had one.

Patch – I agree…. GEESH…. Kids these days. Good luck with getting your glasses taken care of. I would ask to keep the ones you have and ask that they make another pair.

Maggie – Good for you on not nagging. Being the control freak (nag) that I am most of the time if I am watching what I eat so is Mack.

We also have a Wii and use the “games” that came with the “Fitness” board. I did see a Biggest Loser game that looks interesting that I might try to find on ebay.

Good for you for asking for what you need regarding the candy dish. Respect yourself and others will do the same (most of the time). There are those that will try to sabotage your EVERY move but those people have bigger issues.

Becky – We really haven’t checked out hiking in the area but there are three things we would like to do on a regular basis; walk the beach, swim, or kayak. The great thing about the water in front of our property is it is calm due to the barrier reef that is about 150-200’ offshore. We have also talked/dreamed about finding more Mayan ruins. There is a small site that was found back in the 50’s in Rio Indio (our little pueblo) that was never excavated and we would love to find more of the hidden city. Big problem with exploring in that area is all the mangrove and things that live in it.

November is going to be a good month for you…. I just feel it. Now take that turtle off its perch!!!

Marie I am so glad that you were able to spend some time with DD and DGS. Custody battles SUCK!!!

Hydra – Slow and steady will get you to your goal and studies show that you are more likely to keep it off.

Mack and I did our 5 mile walk yesterday and took the GPS with us… it’s actually 5.25. Not much going on here hung out by the pool yesterday trying to get a little color before my trip in less than two weeks. It’s supposed to be in the 80’s all week so I should have decent color before I leave; nothing worse than taking a cruise and getting burnt.

Just a quick "hello" before heading to work. I'll spend some time on a real post this evening! Hope everyone has a great Monday.