Don't worry about posting, at least not for my sake. I'll just keep adding to a post every night. I already know that I won't be taking my computer with me when I go to the Grand Canyon, and I won't use my friends' computers, either (I know you understand why). Maybe if they see me go a whole week without doing my reports, they'll stop thinking I'm obsessed! Or not.....


OK, I've never thought of a fracture as good news, but if you're happy, I'm happy for you! What counts as "overuse"?

And it was physically much easier than when I used to do those long walks last summer. I really noticed the difference on the hills, and it took me significantly less time to cover the distance to the gym. I am pretty sore today, though!

I slept pretty well. But it's even hotter tonight--88 in here at the moment. UGH.

The worst thing about vacations is the frantic preparations beforehand. I'm sure your ankle does not make things any easier, either.

My weight was actually UP .2 this morning, but it didn't bother me at all since I know I had a large calorie deficit yesterday. I didn't go to the gym today (thought I had better give my poor muscles a break) but have another personal training session tomorrow. If the weather is nice, I'll walk there again. Stayed OP all day. I burned almost 2100 calories today (ate 1500) despite getting much less exercise than yesterday, which makes me think that maybe vigorous exercise really does increase metabolism for hours afterward.

Hope you had a productive and pain-free day!

You should also feel free to call me any time! I usually have my phone with me and it's usually turned on, so feel free to call while you're gone.

Basically running, jogging, jumping jacks, or other high-impact stuff.


Ugh indeed! Do you have a balcony or something you can sleep on?




Wow, you are the exercisin' woman! Good for you! Bet you feel great, if tired!

Productive and mostly pain free. Had my teeth cleaned this morning, had a laser treatment this afternoon (hair removal from my lip -- Jane and I are doing it together) and got my dress from CAbi finally! I love it! Happy happy happy! Tomorrow I get a pedi, mani, leg wax, brow wax, and pack. Oh, and I have to do a little shopping, but that's okay.

Report: weighed (no change), ate slowly and mindfully and pretty reasonably given that John and I went out to dinner. No exercise. Ankle is painful but I can manage. It's swollen, though. I have three ankle bones and one "cankle." Oh, and Jane got into Kenyon with a nice scholarship -- the final countdown begins. Almost all the schools Jane applied to will respond within the next week-and-a-half. Pray for me.

Have a good one!

And you can always call me, too, although you should probably use my home number rather than my cell if you actually want to reach me!

I think you should be able to avoid those activities on vacation without cramping your style too much!

NO. I wish!



Yep on both counts. Today was a repeat of Tuesday, except that I walked "only" 10 miles instead of 12. I burned 2386 calories and took 19727 steps. YAY ME!

Oh, my goodness, you glamour girl, you!! I have wondered about laser treatments, since I hate my mustache! Is is painful and/or expensive, and how long does it last? I had never heard of the CAbi brand before, but my SIL is totally into it and introduced me to their stuff at Christmas. We went to an outlet store that was going out of business, and I got several things there for very little money.

Pray for YOU, rather than for Jane?? You got it!

My weight was down .6 today. Already told you about my exercise adventure. I stayed OP and ate just under 1500 calories, so definitely had a good deficit today. Ate everything sitting down, slowly and mindfully. Tomorrow I have my second therapy session. Saturday I am meeting my second "match" for dinner. I'm not sure how I feel about that, but time will tell!

Have fun with all those beauty procedures tomorrow. You are going to be totally spiffed up for your trip!

Hm, don't think I have your home number? I have xxx.xxxx.xxxx.

Yay, you!

It feels a little like a series of rubber band snaps on your skin, and it's PERMANENT. It takes 3 - 6 treatments, which last about five minutes, about a month apart. It's expensive -- about $100 a treatment -- but if you sign up with places like Groupon and Mamapedia and AAA Deals, you can often find half-price offers. Groupon is at Groupon.com, and you sign up by your closest major city but you can check deals for others close by, so you could for instance check in/get the emails from Columbus, Akron/Canton, Cleveland, Youngstown if it would be worth your while to drive that far for a deal. And lots of times the "Cincinnati" deals are actually in the outer burbs or nearby smaller towns, so you might come across some that are reasonably close to you or that you'd be able to take advantage of them in your work travels. Groupon usually sends out at least one deal a day here in Cincinnati, so when Jane and I decided we wanted to do laser I just started watching for them, and so far two have come through.

I like CAbi's stuff, but I was sweating not getting the dress in time since I purchased it specifically for this trip. Here's the dress I bought, along with the stuff I'm planning to wear with it, if you can see it:

http://pinterest.com/pin/208010076509211587/

Oh, I hope I can get online to hear about it!

Report: weighed (no change, but I'm good with that given no exercise for nearly two weeks), ate reasonably.

TTYS! I'll check in tomorrow before we get going if I have a chance!

That's my cell. My home number is (xxx) xxx-xxxx.

I didn't know that it would be permanent. That alone is enough to motivate me to do it, despite the cost. I can deal with the rubber band feeling! Amazing what we women do to be beautiful, isn't it?

My computer kept timing out before the page could load. I'll try again, though.
Just tried again, and this time it worked. Your dress is really pretty and will look fantastic with your dark hair. You have a real flair with accessories. I really like that tangerine-colored purse!

Or to commiserate and console!!

Wow, I didn't realize that almost two weeks have passed already. Time just flies by!

If you can't, I'll just keep using the edit function to add to my post, and I'll try not to write a book!

My weight was down .2 today. I went to an outlet mall after my therapy session (which I pretty much cried my way through, but it was helpful re: tomorrow night) and walked a lot there(albeit not 12 miles!!). I wasn't wearing my Exerspy, though, so don't know how many steps I took. I stayed OP all day but have been struggling mightily not to overeat tonight. I'm going to bed now so that I won't give in to temptation.

Have an absolutely wonderful vacation! I will look forward to hearing all about it!

Check with local plastic surgeons and dermatologists -- that's who usually has the laser treatments. Dark hair on fair skin is the best candidate. Light-colored (including grey) hairs are difficult to get rid of, so depending on what's there, you might still have to wax. I waxed at home the last few years, figuring it was cheaper to buy the waxing pot and do it myself, but even at a salon it's only about $20 a pop and lasts about three weeks.



Thanks! I just bought that purse on Zappo's. (Zappo's is great, btw -- they pay for shipping both ways and their return policy is extremely generous.) They called it "peach" but it's closer to tangerine or mango, I think. The little draped cardigan is actually not white but winter white, close to the background color of the dress. They look really cute together. Jane helped me pick out all the shoes.

Yay for the down again! Sorry it was a difficult therapy session, but glad it'll help with getting through the next date. Good for you for going to bed instead of eating!

Report: weighed (down nearly 2 pounds to 5.4 under goal, yay!) I'm where I wanted to be -- 111.6 -- but I don't know why, as I haven't exercised and didn't eat especially low yesterday, though come to think of it I was pretty busy, don't remember having lunch, and ate a fairly small dinner so maybe that's part of it. I might be dehydrated, though -- I woke up thirsty. But at any rate it's nice to go off with that number on the scale. Makes me less likely to want to "blow it" I think. I've been going back and forth on taking the scale. I've decided not to and am hoping Glenn and Joe have one.

TTYS!

I've only ever had waxing once--on my eyebrows--and it peeled strips of skin right off! So I've never been willing to try it on my upper lip. Laser sounds like the way to go.



That's great that you and Jane have the kind of relationship that allows you to share fashion sense!


YAY for making it the weight you were aiming for before your trip. And if you don't have access to a scale, don't stress too much about it. You've already proven how good you are at making good choices, especially with regard to portion control. And if you remember to save your splurges for foods that you can't easily get at home, you'll be fine.

My weight was up 1 yesterday (no idea why). I had a very low calorie day until my dinner date, when I ate lemon pepper shrimp pasta, which sounded very reasonable from the menu description but turned out to have a lot of oil on it. And I ate a "no sugar added" dessert that was also probably a lot less diet-friendly than it sounded. As for the date itself--let's just say that I see no possibility of a relationship there, and this may be my opportunity to learn a new dating skill: how to let someone down gently.

My weight was up another .6 this morning (no surprise, given my fattening dinner), so I stayed low today (just under 1300 calories). Got no exercise, though. Feeling kind of blah today. Tomorrow I go back to school, and I am actually looking forward to getting back into the routine, even though tomorrow is one of my 15-hour days of back-to-back classes and meetings.

Hope you are having a great time!

They do have a scale, though I haven't weighed yet. Now that I think of it I may not actually get a chance to unless I do it after I've been drinking coffee for hours, as of course I'm up before they are. I've been eating pretty reasonably, though.

Oh, too bad! Just no chemistry?

Hope you have a great day despite it being a long one!

Puerto Vallarta is beautiful, the condo is fabulous, and Glenn and Joe are a total hoot. They've only lived here since November but they seem to have met everyone in town. We are scheduled to attend three parties and they're hosting one while we're here, and apparently that's pretty much par for the course. Last night (Sunday night) we attended a birthday party for one of their friends at his even-more-fabulous beachfront condo with wraparound covered balconies overlooking the ocean. Everyone was bringing an appetizer plus they had a caterer, and based on the appeal of the appetizer Glenn and Joe made (asparagus wrapped with prosciutto, then grilled) I decided to eat extremely low all day so I would be able to eat at the party. I was glad I did. The food at the party was definitely out of the ordinary. I overate but not badly. There were a lot of really excellent choices that were extremely appealing, and I skipped the desserts altogether, though I did bring home a couple for Jane and Emma.

Yesterday Jane went parasailing while John and Glenn and I watched from beneath a palapa at a gay resort where we were drinking pina coladas and goggling at the crowd. Gay men like speedos, and lots of them have nipple rings. Puerta Vallarta is astonishingly gay-friendly for a latin-american town.

The girls got offered frozen strawberry margaritas while they were sunning themselves on the beach. They bought them, and then Emma texted her parents and Jane brought hers over to where we were sitting, "just to make sure it's okay." Good kids. Glenn said no one ever cards anyone here, and apparently 20 pesos (about $1.50) is enough to bribe a cop to look the other way.

The number of beach vendors here is fascinating. The beaches in Mexico are all public, so while bars and resorts are free to set up chairs and palapas for their guests right down to the high tide mark and even to rope them off, they can't keep anyone out. So while you're sitting in what feels like a restaurant on the beach with waiters bringing you food and drinks, you're being approached every few minutes by people selling everything from jewelry to drugs to cut-up fruit to temporary tattoos. They're very polite and move on immediately when you say, 'No, gracias' but it's kind of amazing.

My ankle was in terrible shape Saturday after two flights -- it was like a BALLOON -- but I iced it all Saturday afternoon and yesterday borrowed a vicodin from Joe and I think the combination of ice and vicodin are going to keep me mostly on my feet. I even walked down to the beach yesterday (250 stair steps! -- Glenn and Joe generally walk down, taxi back up.) Today we're going snorkeling -- an all-day trip -- and then Jane and Emma are going to swim with dolphins and sea lions on Wednesday, and Thursday we have an all-day sailing party with a bunch of friends of Glenn and Joe.

The internet here is a little tricky, so if you don't hear from me that's why.

As long as you keep eating reasonably, I wouldn't worry too much about the weighing.

Just for starters! I'm thinking Asperger's Syndrome and bipolar disorder, currently in a manic phase. Carrying a torch for his deceased wife (they started dating when they were 15). Bad body odor. And to top it all off, he was very frustrated when I couldn't follow his rapid-fire exposition on a completely new paradigm that will revolutionize the field of physics. It is very rare that I encounter someone who makes me feel intellectually inadequate, but I could tell that he was very disappointed in my lack of intelligence and appreciation for this theories. It was just exhausting. Oh, and he said that he just can't understand the appeal of food. He only eats one small meal a day (dinner). He positively inhaled his dinner, finishing it by the time I was on my third or fourth bite. There's more, but I think you have the idea. All of that being said, he was very sweet, and he touched my heart. I just don't have the energy to take him on, as selfish as that probably sounds.

Long, exhausting, frustrating, and culminated in a breakfast-fest. Not one of my better days. Weight was down .2 (but that won't last, given the breakfast-fest).

Wow, sounds like you will definitely be facing some food challenges on a regular basis. But you certainly handled last night's party well. Yay you!

OOH, I have always wanted to try parasailing. How did Jane like it? Were you disappointed you couldn't join in? Not that sipping pina coladas and ogling gay men in speedos wouldn't have its own charm!

VERY good kids, I'd say! And what a cheap bribe! No wonder college kids swarm there for spring break!

I went on a Mexican cruise once, so I have some familiarity with Mexican beaches. I can't remember if I've ever been to Puerto Vallarta or not, but what you are describing certainly sounds familiar.

Oh, no, on the ankle. I guess it's not surprising after two flights, but it still sucks. 250 steps down to the beach? Who needs an exercise class??! YIKES. You have some FUN adventures planned (I'm JEALOUS!!), and I hope you will be able to wring every ounce of enjoyment out of every one of them!

My weight was up 1 this morning (ACK). Stayed OP all day despite going out to dinner with a friend. Ate everything slowly and mindfully. Had a personal training session that wasn't my best (only got 2 hours of sleep last night and was exhausted during the cardio workout).

Still eating pretty reasonably, but drinking way too much. Fortunately there's no junk food to have a wine-induced snackfest on!



Good grief! What an unusual person! LOL!




Bummer on the breakfast fest and the frustrating day!



She liked it! We were glad we learned AFTER she was back on the ground that a few years ago a parasail(or?) was killed when he crashed into a hotel!



One thing we haven't seen much of is college kids! Possibly because we're in a very gay area -- the students maybe stay in the big new hotels on the other side of town.





I walked down twice, up once yesterday, and my ankle is again swollen badly. John wants me to take it easier, but I really like getting out.

Hope your weight's back down!

Thank goodness for the lack of junk food!



Yes, he was that! I haven't heard from him, which is actually a relief. I was contacted by another guy on eHarmony. I'd be curious to hear your gut reaction to a couple of things in his profile. In response to THE MOST IMPORTANT THING I AM LOOKING FOR: "warm personable and innovative lover". In response to ADDITIONAL INFORMATION I WANT YOU TO KNOW: "I enjoy being creative in the bedroom." He's 64 years old, very fit-looking and attractive.



ACK ACK ACK. Good thing you didn't know that beforehand! Ignorance is bliss!







I would think that many stairs would be pretty hard on your stress fracture, not to mention your knees! Just make sure you don't injure yourself any further!



Don't know, since I overslept this morning, waking up just 40 minutes before my first class! I made it, but just barely. It was another of my 15 hour days, but I stayed OP all day and didn't have to eat in the car. Hopefully my weight will be down tomorrow. I also have a training session tomorrow.

Can't wait to hear about some more of your vacation adventures!

THURSDAY: Weight down .4. Had a good personal training session. Stayed OP except for having a glass of wine at happy hour. Good day!

FRIDAY: weight down .6. Had a helpful counseling session. Took a walk. Stayed OP. Another good day!

SATURDAY: weight unchanged. Stayed OP all day. Really want a snack now but am planning to go to bed early instead. Hope you are having fun!

Sorry! Their internet went out completely. Well, I'd say he's not getting enough to make him happy. It's possibl he just wants to make it clear that he is interested in a sexual relationship. Lots of 64-year-old women would be happy to just cuddle, and he may have run into so many of those that he wants to make it clear up front that he's looking for a relationship that is not just companionship. I'd give it a chance if otherwise he sounds like someone you'd be interested in, but I'd definitely get clear before meeting in person what exactly you're looking for. Get clear on what he's looking for: is he looking for a booty call, or is he looking for a relationship that if it progresses will eventually include sex? The fact he mentioned innovative AND creative definitely demands a question: what does he mean by that? Because he may be into something you wouldn't be into, and if he is, it's better to get it clear from the get go. I'd definitely ask about that in my first contact.

Yeah, it's been hard on the ankle! I see my doc tomorrow.

Sorry to be gone so long, and sorry to have to be brief today too! I'm in unpacking/laundry/getting back to real life chaos right now, have eighty gazillion things I'm trying to do but will try to get back to a normal post tomorrow. Weighed 116.8 this morning, so up about 5 pounds from the day before we left, but it's all good.

TTYS!

Hmmmm, you put the best possible face on it, and I hadn't really thought of that possibility. Nor did my therapist when I talked with her about it on Friday. It's been close to a week since he wrote me, and I still haven't responded, so by now he has probably given up on me anyway! Frankly, he scares me a little, and I'm not sure I'm ready to handle someone who is so explicit in terms of his sexual needs (even though he is not really explicit at all, because "creative" could mean just about anything!!).

I hope you didn't injure it any further and that you will find out tomorrow that it is healing!

No worries, I definitely understand that chaos of getting back to reality after a vacation. I'm glad you are OK with the weight gain. I will look forward to hearing more about your trip!

My weight was up .4 this morning, stayed OP all day (while grading statistics exams--UGH), feeling in control lately. I'm a bit heavier than I want to be but not feeling frantic about it.

I'm kind of with you. Innovative and creative could easily be euphemisms for kinky!

Good that you aren't feeling frantic! WW wants you to be +/-2 pounds of goal, which would mean many days you'd be slightly over your goal and that this should be normal. I don't like that particular way of looking at it myself, but I'm sure they've got plenty of research that backs up their plan.

Report: down 2 to 14.6, yay! That makes me feel better for sure! No exercise today, ankle is still really swollen. I see the orthopod again tomorrow morning. Hoping she'll take an xray and see the radiographic signs of a healing fracture, which would be the definitive diagnostic indicator I guess.

So glad to be home! We had such a great time -- Jane went parasailing and swam with the dolphins and sea lions, we spent a day sailing and went to parties or happy hours or out to dinner with Joe & Glenn's friends every night. Did some shopping, at some fantastic mexican food and lots of shrimp. Jane got her final college acceptances (Carleton, Hamilton, Emory, Kenyon), some waitlists (Davidson, Vassar, Wesleyan, Middlebury) and a couple of rejections (Pomona and Bowdoin) over the past ten days while we were travelling and she's narrowed it down to three: Emory, Kenyon, and Colorado College. We're visiting Colorado College, which we haven't seen yet, on Wednesday-Saturday this week for an admitted students overnight program. Then next week on Thursday we drive to Emory (admitted students program but no overnight), come back Saturday. Then Monday after school we drive to Kenyon (admitted students overnight). I'm going to try to talk her into also visiting Carleton, which she hasn't visited and which is probably the "best" school she was admitted to. (I use the quotations because in general I think the various rankings are worth approximately the paper they're printed on and would never have her create her list of possibles using one, but since they do rate extremely high in pretty much every list AND they'll subsidize a visit by admitted NMfinalists AND one of their admitted student overnights is the one April weekend we're still free after visiting the other schools, it seems silly not to visit unless she's just too worn out from all the travel, which she very well might be.)

Hope you had a great day!

EXACTLY! I can see when someone looks at my profile, and he's been checking mine daily, probably looking for a response from me. I'm not feeling it, though!!

I'm with you on this one. I'd much rather stay below my goal than hover around it. If I find that I can't stay where I want to stay, then I'll raise my goal slightly.

I suppose there's nothing you can do except be patient and wait for it to heal, but that's easier said than done! How are you feeling about not being able to exercise? Do you think you'll have trouble getting back into the habit again?

It sounds like you packed a LOT of activity into a short time! You guys know how to live!! And how wonderful to come home to all that good news for Jane! I wouldn't blame her if she is feeling burned out about visiting schools, but it does seem to make sense for her to at least check out Carleton under the circumstances.

I was really tired today. I seem to sleep every other night, and last night was one of the off nights. My weight was up .2, stayed OP, no exercise but have a personal training session tomorrow. I had better get to bed. Tonight is one of the nights when I should be able to sleep, and I have a 7:55AM class tomorrow. UGH.

Hope you are getting back into the routine of normal life!