Good morning everyone. Hope all is well with you; I haven't had a chance to read the posts from last week, but will try to do so later.

Vacation was great. The first part was taken up with the modifications to the back deck and I must say I'm really pleased with the results. Much more character now, with nooks and crannies and lots of extra room for plants and flowers.

Then, Bermuda. Much hotter and more humid than expected, but wonderful just the same. We spent the week swimming, snorkelling and exploring - by bus and on foot. Got out for a run once (during a rainstorm). We also went scuba diving - my first wreck dive!! Was a little uncomfortable about the depth (75 feet) but it turned out to be effortless and really enjoyable. Lots of beautiful tropical fish, including barracuda, but no sharks - hurrah!!

We did a bit of shopping, but only a bit, given the high price of everything.

How are all of you?

Susan, I'm glad you enjoyed your trip. I had heard Bermuda was expensive. The scuba diving sounds great; you're braver than I am.

We finally have electricity at the house; only 1 week without. Now, I have a million phone calls to make to get repair people out to fix things. Our insurance adjuster will try to see us by the end of the week.

I won't be doing WI this week as TOM came along. I'll give it a try next week. I probably gained from all of the stress eating.

Lisa: I just read last week's thread. So sorry to hear about the hurricane damage -- at least you got your electricity back relatively early compared to the estimate. I hope you'll be able to find help with the repairs. We had a really hard time finding tradespeople, arborists, etc. after Hurricane Juan last year.

We watched the weather all week while in Bermuda, hoping and praying that Florida would at least be spared the effects of Ivan. Bermuda hasn't been affected this year yet but they are still dealing with aftermath of Fabian which claimed three lives last Sept. 5th.

On an unrelated subject, I seem to have somehow lost 4 lbs over the past 10 days. Must be all of the swimming and walking because I had my fare share of wine and chocolate

Good afternoon!

Susan: Welcome back!! Sounds like you really enjoyed your time off and the weather cooperated--that's great! Congrats on the weight loss too! Must've been all the extra activity/different things you were doing.

Lisa: The latest report I've seen is showing that Ivan is moving away from the Florida area--thank goodness! I talked with my GF a little bit ago and she is very relieved about the turn of events. She said it's been so stressful.

I had a busy weekend--went looking at cars and that is exhausting! Anyway, it's inevitable that I'm going to have to take the plunge and get something a little more reliable and something I'm not going to be sinking major $$$ every time I take it in for inspection or a check up. The cost of repairs has been killing me and I'd much rather be putting the $$ towards a new car. We'll see though.

My eating wasn't the best over the weekend--I went on a little salt rampage and I could feel it last night. Today I'm doing better in that respect. I did go out for a nice 6-mile walk yesterday with a friend and then went out again today over the lunch hour for another walk, although it was much shorter. Any kind of movement is good for me. I had a horrible night sleeping--couldn't fall asleep and then it was toss/turn all night long. I'm hoping tonight is better.

Hi to Pam, Lala!

Susan, congrats on the weight loss!! That is awesome. Yes, getting tradespeople to come out and give us an estimate is a major challenge.

Melissa, I hear you re: salty things. I am craving something salty right now. Sorry you can't sleep--buying a new car would make me sleepless, too. Have you thought of a good used car?

I hope Pam and lala are all right.

Bonjour mes belles,

I am sitting in the DFW AA lounge, sipping my last campari and soda for a while.

Lisa -- I am soo happy to see you have surfaced. I haven't read last weeks posts, so I'll comment further.

Susan -- I think I gained 4 lbs from all that fine cooking. Very little exercise. Oh well...

Melissa --- I have the same car you have, I think, a 90 volvo station wagon. I am thinking of buying a new one, but I can't bear to part with my old girl. She is still doing pretty well, but she's starting to cost a bunch of bucks each year. New ones are out of this world expensive, 35K to start.

Okay, DP is wondering where I have gone off too....

more later tomorrow.

Hi Pam !

lala

Hi Ladies,

It's good to see everyone back! We had a really nice weekend. I was able to get a lot accomplished around the house but still much more to do. We are painting 2 of the bedrooms, removing the wall to wall carpeting, and installing hardwood floors. Yikes what a job..can't wait until it is done and everything is nice and tidy again. I hate living in disarray!!

Lisa glad you've got your power back on, that is terrific! Also, looks like Ivan will miss Florida, thank goodness..you folks have had enough! Hopefully you will get the trades people to your house soon to make the repairs and get life back to normal.

Susan welcome back, your vacation sounded very exciting. You are braver than me to make a dive like that. Must have been awesome. Your deck sounds absolutely beautiful..it makes such a big difference in the appearance of the house. How long did it take to complete? Congrats on the weight loss.

Melissa good luck with the search for a new car. I agree with Lisa, that might be what was keeping you up last night..it's a big decision. We are faced with a similar one. DH has a 1992 Saab that he loves and has been reluctant to part with, but the past 2 years he has been spending a small fortune in repairs. You got a nice long walk in yesterday..you must have had a good weekend weatherwise.

Lala so good to hear from you! Can't wait to hear more about your vacation. a 4 pound gain is not bad considering all the wonderful French food you were exposed to!!

Well ladies time for me to sign off . My daughter is beckoning me to watch Fear Factor with her. I can't believe what some people would do for $50,000.

Hello everyone.

We are so glad that Ivan will not threaten us here, but I feel so bad for the people in Alabama and the Panhandle of Florida.

Through all of this mess, I have kept up my exercise. I've not only walked, but the yard work and clean up has been major hard work. I hope whenever I get to WI that it won't be bad news.

lala, I'm glad you enjoyed France. Ditto what Pam said about the weight gain; it's bound to happen with that rich food.

Pam, hey, when you're done with your house, you can come to ours!!

Hi, Melissa and Susan.

Welcome back lala. What part of France did you visit this time? Don't sweat the gain; you'll get back to your routine in no time. What's next on your travel agenda? I'll have to live vicariously through you until my next break in February

Pam: I sympathize with you re the construction mess, especially if your floors are like ours and were not the pre-finished kind. The good news is that you'll be so pleased with them once the work is behind you. Yes, the deck looks great and has changed the whole complexion of the back yard. It took about a week; we didn't do the whole thing over, just widened one end, narrowed the middle and re-attached the steps lost in last year's hurricane.

Melissa: Good luck with the car hunt. I don't envy you but I guess it's a necessary evil. Good work on the walking.

Lisa: Yep, all of that clean-up work should help offset any extra stress eating. We moved what felt like tons of fallen trees last year when they were still trees and again this year when they were firewood

Hi everyone,

Here is my trip report. I am going to upload pictures. As you can see this trip was about EATING. I did not exercise formally and I did not count points. All the food was amazing except for one meal at the top of Parc St. Cloud.

I can't tell you how happy I am to be at home. (NOT). I can tell you that I am seriously considering thinking of buying a small house in Normandy for our retirement. I think that three months in Normandy, five in Berkeley, three in Seattle and one in Canada will do us good. I always thought that I wanted to live in Italy, but I have fallen in love with Normandy....

Umm, butter, cheese, good vegetables, cabbages, wine, lovely countryside, good access to Paris and the UK, beautiful little villages, lovely houses... Nice climate (much like here...)

We had a great trip, we had a nice smooth flight to BOS, good flight from BOS to Paris, terrible time getting through customs, good time getting to Lille, disappointing time when we got to Dunkerque to see that the museum I wanted to see was closed, nice lunch in St. Omer, fabulous dinner at the Auberge de Moulins de Mombreux in Lumbres and a nice remembrance of DP's father. He took us there 10 years ago on a trip about town squares and michelin starred restaurants.

We then drove from Nord Pas de Calais to Normandy to see the ruined abbey at Jumieges, it was closed (guidebooks suck), so we had a delightful lunch at the auberge de abbey -- just reopened after the summer break. Amazing food. Yum. The abbey was great, a bit hot, but we loved walking around. After that, our plan was to go up towards Dieppe to see the les bois de moutiers, but alas, we kept getting lost. So we decided to just make it Honfleur. It was beautiful coastal seaport. Quite picturesque. Cute hotel, nicely decorated with country gack. The town was fun to walk around, we did that for a while, had a drink or two, walked around some more. Ate at a small crepe place instead of a full on resto. Why? Because the full on recommended resto was closed....

And besides, the things they did with frozen apricot mousse at lunch was enough to kill me.

Slept well, walked around some more and then went off in search of Bretagne...

On the way I realized I left my shoes in the armoire of the hotel. No biggie, they sent them to my paris hotel. Have no idea how much it cost me, but those are 100 buck tennis shoes and I love them.

Puttered along towards Deauville and Trouville and towards the D-Day beaches. Each town is gorgeous with amazing plantings. We stopped at Pegasus Bridge and Juno Beach. It was quite moving. We then continued on towards St. Malo and Cancale where we had dinner reservations at Chateau Richeux and the little brother restaurant
of Jane and Olliver Roellinger's Maisons de Bricourt. It was a lovely drive, as we had been skunked on our Dunkerque and Dieppe gardens, we ended up hitting chateau de Brecy outside of Bayeux. Wow, what a delightful garden with amazing parterres and a lovely kitchen garden. Will post pics, we had a bit of trouble finding it. That was a bit defective. How can you misplace a chateau? Its not hard.

We then made good time and stopped at Mont. St. Michel. Hmm. Nice from a distance, but not worth the tourist hoardes. Walked up to the top in my new now scuffed isaac mizrahi flats. Grr.... The views were nice...

Found our restaurant in Cancale, had an amazing meal, I would count it a one star on the michelin guide. It was a great value at 45 euros each for a full meal and then a nice muscadet sur lie and a pre dinner drink and coffees.. I think the bill came to 127 euros. I have had cruddy meals for twice that...

Made it St. Malo, parked the car around 11 pm, checked in to our hotel, had a nice view of the little citadel outside the walls, slept well and spent the morning walking around st. malo, enjoying the citadel and enjoying quieter parts of St. Malo. DP has decided that this is where she wants to spend December, I am not so sure...

Found a market outside of St. Malo, unfortunately it was mostly clothes. Nice town though. Wandered through Bretagne on our way to Tregiuer. DP wanted to see the estuary. We ended up seeing a lot of construction on small roads and wasn't too crazy about Tregieur. Bummer. Nice cathedral and square, not much else to report. We went towards Quimper and other than the not very outstanding hotel by the train station. Really enjoyed the city. Its famous for the river, the faience pottery that is produced there and is amazingly lovely and quiet. We ate an early (for us) dinner at a nice bar/bistro in Quimper (les caryatides) and had a sleepless night...stuffy, hot and loud.

The next morning we walked around some more, got on a train to Paris... Read a book on the train and got in to a hot and sticky Paris in time for a stiff drink and shower.

We spent three nights in Paris, two nights at the hoity-toity Park Hyatt. It was okay, the service needs work and DP hates the location. I am not crazy about it but its free (relatively as I use free nights), but what can I say about a hotel with a cartier boutique right next door. We shopped, walked around, had some amazing food, went to Parc St. Cloud and had amazing views of Paris and another chateau, shopped some more, moved to a great little hotel near Odeon. Shopped some more, walked around, ate more good food and took a party train on Sunday morning to London.

Note to self: upgrade to first on the sunday trains to London.

Spend Sunday in London pruning, planting, mowing and edging for my aunt. I can't believe we had to fly 6200 miles to do this. Did a bit of cheese shopping too. Hotel in London was great and we were on the late flight out of London, so we could sleep in. DP loves this flight, I find it hard to get to Dallas at 6 pm and realize that I still have another 4 hour flight ahead of me.

lala

lala, Wow! you sure traveled around; I was exhausted reading it. France sounds really pretty. How were the French? I've always heard that they are unfriendly towards Americaines. The food sounds delish--I love different cheeses. Having a house there would be great.

Well, as if we don't have enough to worry about, there's a new storm called Jeanne. She'll be a hurricane on Sunday and it's in the Bahamas.

Hi Ladies,

Well 2 days down and 3 to go for the weekend! Actually I am counting the days until the following weekend (24th) when DH and I will be on our Cape Cod mini vacation!

Lala your trip sounded wonderful. I can't believe all you did in a week. Do you do most of the planning of your trips yourself? If so, you should be in the travel industry. So, you prefer Normandy to Italy..very interesting. I've been to Italy several years ago and loved it, I think I would like to check out Normandy now. Dh and I were planning on going to Ireland next year for our big vacation, maybe we need a change in plans?? Can't wait to see your pictures.

Lisa what is going on this year with the hurricanes?? I hadn't heard about Jeanne yet, lets hope she stays away. If I were closer I would stop by and help with your repairs/cleanup..it's a good way to earn activity points. I hope you can make it to WI this week, I bet you'll do well.

Susan I forgot that Juan hit your area last year. Sounds like you had some pretty extensive damage. Yes, I'll be happy when the construction is done at my house, this project has gotten dragged out so long while we waited for the contractors to begin.

Well it's getting late so I should sign off and get to bed. 6 a.m. will be here before I know it.

Hi guys,

Had a cruddy night's sleep and got up a 1:30 starving, so I ate. What is up with that? Oh well, live and learn. At least it was all core.

I wouldn't mind Ireland as a vacation spot, DP picks France year in and out as she wants to go chocolate shopping. I think Italy was my first choice as I spent nearly 4 months there as a grad student... However, its hot and sticky.

The hurricane season this year is vile. Really really vile. Jeanne looks terrible, the cone of uncertainity has it hitting most of the state and then SC. I know they evacuated labs in Miami again and that our other labs in Mississippi are also evacuated. Lisa, wanna come and visit? Its cloudy and rainy here, but pretty safe. I too would come and help you clean up, happy to provide planting services.

There are lots of tropical storms in the Pacific right now, but mostly going off shore.

Well, I forgot to add in my trip report that we tested macarons from five different patisseries in Paris and on in Quimper.

Hands down, Laduree was the winner. No ganache fillings, clean fruity tastes. I am sick of macarons...

lala

Lala It looks as if you had a fantastic time on your trip. I was tired just reading about it! Macaroons...yum.

It's been really crazy here--I've gotten 3 mailings out and I'm working on 2 more; freshman 4-week grades is my big project now and I'll be glad once the 28th rolls around. So much to do!

Anyway, the weather here is gorgeous and I'm hoping it stays a bit longer so I can get out at noon tomorrow for a nice walk. I'm heading off to Chicago on Friday evening so I'm trying to get things done at home/work so I can go and be somewhat relaxed. Monday I'm heading to Buffalo for a WW Super Meeting where the Duchess will be. It should be fun.

I went for my WI today and was up 2.4#--but then TOM is here. It's a bigger gain than I've had in the past but then again I've had a couple of major collisions with salty foods so that doesn't help the equation at all. I'm really putting more effort into making sure I keep up with my journal/tracker. I find I do better following Flex than Core. Maybe in the winter core will work better for me when life isn't so crazy.

Hi to Pam, Susan, Lisa!

lala, thanks for the offer. What I need is someone to rebuild my screen enclosure. I've pretty much got the yard picked up, but I'm still finding debris in the strangest spots. Mmmm, macaroons are good, but they uh can stop you up a bit. I've been to Italy twice and I really do like Italy.

The latest track for Jeanne shows more northerly, but we can't be too sure. Look what Charley did.

Melissa, sorry about the WI. TOM does it every time. I need to check if our WW place has power and/or damage. I drove by the other night and it didn't look like it was open. Have fun in the Windy City.

Hi, Susan and Pam