Allison,
Our 25th anniversary is August 1, 2012 and we are contemplating a walking tour in Italy. I'm saving for it now. We took one before and absolutely loved it. When is your anniversary?

Our 25th anniversary will be May 14, 2012--but we don't necessarily have to go on that date. I'm thinking summer would be better anyway.

I think that if we were to do a driving tour, one country would be enough.

I got a Rick Steve's brochure and that sounds pretty nice for a tour (lots of walking plus side trips and lots of time away from the group).

Jessica~my parents have done a lot of those river cruises, but I agree--they're for the "older" folk (they were in their late 60's and 70's when they did those).

I just can't find anything that starts in London and goes south--they're either exclusively UK or everything but the UK.

Could you put two together? Come to London for a few days, and then catch a train to Paris or Brussels and pick up another holiday there? Or does that sound a bit complicated?

That would be possible, depending on how long we plan to be there. It's hard being business partners--there is just so much time we can spend away from the office. It was a bit easier a few years ago before we bought out our other partners (then we could take turns for vacation).

Now we need to search for parasols, and bustles, and bonnets. . Let's skip the bustles - we've all worked too hard to reduce the size of our posteriors.

Dagmar

Last night I had the image of maintainers frolicking in my head. Suddenly the frolicking flock started doing burpees and lunges.

Or breaking into a full on run and doing a 5k...

Three weeks done on Medifast. Stats: -10 for me and -9 for DH. If we keep it up, I will make my goal by August!!!!!

Congratulations on sticking to it !

That is exciting Allison! Keep on going!!

I'm so glad that Medifast is working Allison! Woo hoo!

So in the name of TMI - I absolutely love my Diva Cup. It makes me want to dance around in the white dress and tell the world like Saef described. It is the greatest personal product I have ever owned I think. Love love love it.

For a second there I thought you were talking about an ice cream product. (it's been a long day )

Then I googled it. Ohhh, she says.

Dagmar

Have a happy period, Shannon.

Megan, I think I could manage a lunge in that dress, but it wouldn't survive a burpee. Nor would it get me through spin class.

Allison, congratulations, though I must confess, I need to Google your Medifast, as I don't know what it is -- though I think there's a forum devoted to it here. Is it a meal delivery thing? Do you drink shakes or eat bars or what? Do you do it all on your own or visit a center & see a counselor & etc.? No, don't answer all that ... I'll look it up, to satisfy my curiosity.

You all make me want to go to Europe. But all that's in my future for this summer anyway is Upstate NY & Cape Cod.

We were back to pants and jackets yesterday. My "spring" dogwalking pants are some old coloured jeans that I got from LL Bean about 5-6 years ago. They are form fitting for curvy folks like me and have straight legs, though they are not "skinny". And LL Bean doesn't make 'em any more or I would order 20 pairs! Best fit ever!

Anyhoo I was leashing up my two young monsters at the off leash yesterday and happened to glance over at two older men I know quite well, Leo and Alistair.

Both of them were very admiringly checking out my booty! Leo covered really quickly (he's from Brazil and quite the ladies man) by making a very favourable comment about my losing weight. Alistair just stood there smiling. And both of them watched me walk away.

I'm 54 and I never, ever expect to be "checked out" by anyone anymore. So this was a pleasant little surprise.

I think I will stay OP this weekend re eating and do lots of biking while DH is away with his buddy, having his "last blowout before starving" - DH's term for dieting. No telling who might flirt me up.

Dagmar

You gotta love a pair of jeans that really exploits your assets.

The scale reading horrified me this morning. Actually, I had not been happy with it for the past two Fridays, but I was able to blame it on hormones & having eaten lots of roughage (as I've heard it called) & not processed it all yet. Even today my breasts are still painful to the touch, so I'm wondering whether that's a lingering menstrual thing as well. But I'm at that age where hormones start rioting in the streets all the time, so I can't hope for that to calm down any time soon. Weight is weight.

This is what happens when I become irrationally exuberant: I don't watch my portions as much. Which I really must do in return for not counting calories. The thing that gets me, whenever this happens, is that I manage to do it without ever having any of the fun that other people seem to have on their way to a slightly higher weight. It's not due to eating red velvet cake or maple walnut ice cream or fig & prosciutto pizza or fried chicken or Pad Thai or whatever. No. I eat none of these things anymore. Ever. It's due to me eating an extra handful of Trader Joe's Trek mix, or having a mango, or getting overly generous with the peanut butter on my morning toasted Ezekiel bread.

Today I'm resolved to watch my portions for one week straight & see what happens. At the end of that week, I'm probably returning to the 5-10 pound thread. Which is a nice place to visit, but I don't want to live there.

Saef - I wandered back into the 5-10 pound thread yesterday, too. I also would like to just visit, so have to get serious mysef.

Dagmar - cool on the jeans! Dig the guys at the park.