Weekly Workout Thread 17th Dec till 23rd Dec

[gailrmv]

I wanted to say hey to some other folks w/o editing my other post a million times

tdiddy did you get your run in with the nice weather yesterday? Are you for sure doing the half ironman this spring? I hope your training is coming along really well! In January I will start training for another half marathon this spring... and tri season is just around the corner! I am really hoping to go into this season a few pounds lighter - fingers crossed.

monarch how have you been? Is your store really busy this time of year? did you ever get that new car?

kimberlyh I am sorry to hear that you have not been feeling well but I hope that you get to thoroughly enjoy your 2 weeks off.

marcy you made me hungry for cookies! those sound delicious! smart move freezing some of them.

lorelei thanks for your recent posts about choosing your indulgences and enjoying them. you can tell that I did that with my massive pizza consumption this evening

crown jewel I am glad you stuck up for yourself with your trainer. I hope future workouts will start on time and be challenging enough!

Steph your husband is going to love the watch! what a great gift.

Skippy as I mentioned before I am very sad to hear about your aunt. I am glad you are there spending time with her. I''m sure it means a lot to her.

Night all!

 

[marcy]

Rod, I am glad to hear you had a fun and carefree day. Woo hoo to finishing Christmas shopping. Enjoy your chocolate cake and sugar cookies. My dad will be sad to know I didn’t bake his favorite sour cream sugar cookies this year; maybe I’ll make him some for Valentine’s Day. I am wondering about the shoes; they seem to work but aren’t really comfortable. I might go try on the next larger size. The walking shoes seem bigger and were very comfortable when I had them on in the store.
TanDogMom, no worries about splurging on pizza. I think the holidays find most of us eating some things we don’t normally eat. Yay for having a great workout today. I like to see the jewelry before buying it too. I have returned many pieces of jewelry. I definitely get buyer’s remorse – usually for the quality. I have gotten better recently though and will spend more money in the first place to get exactly what I want. Have fun shopping for your B-Day present.
Have a great Sunday everyone. Laters.

 

[KimberlyH]

I have nothing good to report on the food and exercise front, so I'm just going to say "Hi!" It sounds like everyone is doing pretty well balancing their indulgences, hooray for you!

 

[marcy]

Happy Sunday! The stupid wind woke me up about 4 am; this high pressure system is making me very achy so I had to get up and take an Advil. My feet were kind of sore too. I think I am taking back my new shoes to try the next size larger. See, I should listen to you before buying shoes, Rod. I will try out the other pair tonight around the house tonight and make sure they are okay. They seem to be roomier around the toes so they might be fine.
My poor DH was at work until 4:30 this morning so he’s going to try and sleep in. Our family Christmas dinner is at noon at my parents house so I told him I’d call him at 11:30. It’s a good thing I packed all our presents over to their house yesterday. I’d be pretty noisy carrying all my packages with jingle bells out of here this morning.
I started the day out with my normal cheerios for breakfast. We are having ham for our Christmas dinner and there will be chex snack mix, my cookies and pb fudge and cake to tempt me today but I am planning on going for cake only and leave the other things alone. There will be 18 of us there so I will be keeping busying taking care of getting dinner on, doing dishes, etc. My poor mom is still pretty gimped up from her fall. I found out they didn’t even x-ray her where she hit so she says it feels like she cracked ribs there. I figure keeping busy will keep me away from temptations.

Hi Kimi.

Well, I hope everyone has a great day!

 

[Mara]

have a wonderful family party Marcy!!!

morning all!! i seriously love being off from work even though this is still just sunday so it''s not like i''m really OFF yet but i am. haha. it''s funny because when i am off i want to sleep in but never really can, so i was up this morning at 8:30. cleaned out my wallets from receipts, gift cards etc and cleaned out my purse too while i was at it. i am the biggest receipt packrat EVER. so i made a pile of stuff to shred.

this morning we''ll have breakkie of eggs and english muffins and maybe some center cut bacon. coffee is already brewing...and then i''m going to cook the sweet tamales today so that i can have them ready for tomorrow and also probably cook some chicken, either today or tomorrow morning.

tonite we have the Nutcracker ballet in SF, it''s a tradition for me and Greg to go but some years my family goes too. this year we are all going and we got primo seats which is so worth it, so we''re excited to hopefully not have bobbing heads in front of us or kids around us. i find that the more you pay for the seats, TYPICALLY there''s no kids around you so it''s much better that way for us. because otherwise you have little bobby asking Mom questions the whole way through the show, which might be cute....at the 12 noon showing on a sunday, but not the 7pm evening adult one! then afterwards we have dinner at this brasserie greg and i tried last time for Sleeping Beauty...we think my family will like it.

then tomorrow it''s xmas eve...typically we have my mom''s extended side of the family over to someone''s house, but since my cousin just had her baby they are not going anywhere and don''t feel like throwing a party, so my immediate family is having dinner here. we''ll go visit the cousin and baby for a few hours before, then come here to have dinner and then maybe drive through the vasona lights in the park thing or go to a movie. then xmas day we open our gifts ourselves (me and greg) and then go to my parents around noon for lunch and gifts over there, then a movie or a game or DVD or something in the afternoon.

so i have to figure out my menu for tomorrow night. we already got our fab blueberry pie from the bakery...and i have tamales obviously, but i am also going to def do mashed potatoes (my sister and greg love them) and maybe a steak or something as well a green veggie, and MAYBE macaroni and cheese with multiple cheeses. we''ll see how adventurous i feel. i want to keep it simple because we just have been eating so much...and we''ll eat again on xmas day all day long!!

i also feel like i''m battling a cold, i am taking my echinacea because i don''t want to get sick at xmas, but also because if i get sick i won''t want to go see my cousin''s baby and i haven''t seen her since she was born 3 weeks ago. so i''m hoping i don''t get sick. also i''ll take some tamales over to her and her family so we can do a little swappie swap and taste each others. i think they will like the sweet ones also as they didn''t make any.

whew that was long, anyway hope everyone is having a great pre-holiday weekend. gotta finish wrapping some gifts today too but our shopping is all done basically. yay!

 

[jas]

WWT! Makeover JAS is well underway! What a week it''s been...

Zippy the Pinhead made his triumphant return 1 week early (notifying no one) and expected that when he showed up I would just leave. The administration did not make a decision one way or another so it was rather uncomfortable for the last few days! My bosses wanted me to stay out my contract and finish up w/ the kids, but did not tell Zippy to either stay home or do something else, so he literally hung around outside the classroom door for the last week. It was weird. He did not want to take over the classes, either (believe me, I offered!) so it was just...weird. He was just hovering and enjoying the attention of being back. I of course am trying to administer finals and get grades done before the end of the week and he just wanted to meet whenever I had a spare second.

Anyway, Thursday was court. Apparently in Illinois, whenever there is an accident of the severity of mine, an appearance in traffic court is required. I was really anxious, but after sitting and waiting to be called for 90 minutes, my case was dismissed. It took a total of eight seconds. I allowed DH one "I told you so" for that.
Friday and Saturday saw the most "intense" workouts I''ve had in months (20 minutes on the elliptical and then however long I could Bowflex -- fear not, I alternate which areas of the body to concentrate and which to allow rest). It''s been good and I enjoy working out in the mornings. But most of the days I have been sleeping. I am really sleep deprived, which is why you haven''t heard from me.

Eating has been ridiculously bad because we''ve been at a ton of holiday festivities, but I am actually down about 1/2 pound (mostly because I am catching up on sleep).

It''s nice to be back here!

I only have a moment, but Skippy - thanks for keeping me in your thoughts. I am so sorry about your aunt. Hugs to you.

Everyone else -- I''ll jump in from this point...to respond to a week''s worth of entries would probably take me hours!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! HAPPY WINTER SOLSTICE!

We''re off to Florida on Tuesday, but we''ll most likely bring the computer so I''ll check in as frequently as possible!

 

[Linda W]

Good Afternoon all,

Just wanted to pop in again to say hello.

Our Foster City luncheon was so much fun. Mara, that is something that you met Greg there.

BTW Mara, I LOVE the Nutcracker Ballet. We haven''t been there in years. We will have to go next year. I used to take my daughter when she was little. We made it a girl thing.

We are leaving early in the morning to go to my mom''s house, so again, everyone have a wonderful and a very Merry Christmas. Wish I could give you all a big hug.

Love, Linda

 

[steph72276]

Just a quick "drive by" to say hello. I have been a busy bee today cleaning and cooking and wrapping. I haven''t stopped til just now and still have a lot to do! Anyway, just wanted to tell you all Happy Holidays and hope everyone has a great time with family and friends. You guys are all awesome and I love all the encouragement here (I am going to need lots of encouragement after the holidays to take off the pounds I''ve gained!!). Anyway, talk to you guys soon!!

 

[Skippy123]

Everyone who is traveling please have a safe trip!! Hubby and I went to see National Treasure today which was good and I did grocery shopping which was insane! I wanted to buy some knives from Costco but they were sold out, darn!! I still want to go to Williams Sonoma for some mulling spice; I hope they still have some.

Oh I forgot the doctor called me today which was a shock because it is a Sunday. He told me in technical terms what was wrong with my knees which I didn't have a pen on me in the car, darn. He says I have some softening of the joints which I need to start taking glucosamine and get more physical therapy. I am glad it isn't majoy but hopefully this will help and I was thinking of getting a personal trainer for building up the muscles specifically for my knees; thanks for all the good wishes all!

Mara and Kimi, sounds like your tamales will be fab. I was reading something that price of tamales is going up because corn is in demand for an alternative fuel. I wish I was there to taste them! hehe

Gail, a splurge every once in a while isn't bad; good to see you!!! Did you get hoops; I am dying for some diamond hoops but the ones I want are pricey and I rather wait to get exactly what I want. hehee

Linda, hey, glad you arrived safely!!!

Rod, glad you got in a good workout! What are you and Charlie doing for the holidays? You are off right??

Steph, I think we will all be here for each other hehee; I am up 2 lbs

Jas, what a freakazoid Zippy is! What the heck; just think if you said that you were going to stay longer then what?!?! Would have have stalked your classroom longer, thank goodness you left that insanity. I am glad things were dropped; I said a prayer for you. How are you feeling? Glad you are working out more!!

Marcy, I will be thinking of you tomorrow when I am cooking and putting this together for Christmas! I got lazy and bought a apple pie and hubby is making homemade bread. hehee

Everyone have a wonderful evening and wishing you the best!!!

 

[royalasscherlover]

hello wwt friends! life has been too hectic lately for me to check in much, but i did want to stop by and wish everyone happy holidays and happy and healthy new year. my eating the past few weeks has not been great - way too many snacky carbs and sweets - but at least i have been keeping up with the exercise to offset it a bit. elliptical on monday and tuesday, african dance on thursday, horseback riding on saturday, and elliptical again today. i needed it, since my birthday was friday and i had big birthday dinners both friday and saturday nights. i am hoping to bike at home for a bit tomorrow morning as well.

i now have a much-needed week off work and we''re headed to florida tomorrow to visit relatives and escape from the cold weather, yay! my goal is to make healthy food choices as much as possible, watch portion sizes of the unhealthy stuff, go easy on the alcohol, and keep exercising. i''ll have access to an elliptical so i need to get on that at least a few times during the week.

see you all in the new year!

 

[Modified Brilliant]

Hi everyone

It's been a while since I checked in.

Still feeling fit, eating well and working out at the gym. Jujitsu starts again next week.

And Rod remembers that I'm now 51. Ladies, it's time to see if your guys are as fit as us or as fit as YOU.

If not, there's work for them to do

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Jeff

www.metrojewelryappraisers.blogspot.com

 

[marcy]

Hi. I know some of you are taking off for Christmas so have a wonderful and Merry Christmas.
We had a great family Christmas today. My cute little 4 year old nephew was quite entertaining. He loves music so the play cell phone we got him and the play guitar my parents got him were very much appreciated by the little guy.
I got about $100 in gift cards so I will get some new pants with them. I have a ton of tops mostly because I love sweaters and can’t resist being able to buy any sweater I want these days. I am a total clothes horse these days.
I ate sensibly at lunch but if I decided to go for a cookie I would break off about a 1/3 of it and give the rest to someone else. I don’t even feel bad so I certainly didn’t overeat even though I know I ate extra calories.
Mara, it sounds like our purses are full of the same things. I pack around receipts forever. I hope you have a nice time at the ballet, if I ever need a receipt though I can always find it. It sounds like you have some fun days planned with family and celebrating Christmas. My Paula Dean’s mac and cheese turned out great but I made about 4 times too much. I sent it home with everyone else though so we wouldn’t be tempted to eat it at home. I hope you don’t get a cold.
Jas, yay for project makeover Jas being underway. How annoying to have Zippy hanging around while you are finishing your class. I am so happy to know you don’t have to go back to that horrible place anymore. I’m glad your case was dismissed so easily. Too bad you had to worry about it at all. Yay for getting some much needed rest and loosing ½ pound. Have fun in Florida. I think winter has been in Wyoming long before the solstice arrived yesterday.
Linda, have fun at your mom’s house.
Steph, I’ll be right there with you loosing those extra holiday pounds. I sure had fun enjoying some homemade goodies though.
Skippy, I love to go shopping at Williams Sonoma. That is shocking to have the doctor call you on the weekend. I know people that swear by glucosamine for their knees. My parents get it pretty cheap in bulk at Sams. Strengthening your knee muscles should help too. I am glad it’s not something that requires surgery. Homemade bread sounds great. I bought brown and serve rolls for our dinner Tuesday. I did enjoy some homemade rolls and bread today.
Shortblonde, Happy Birthday! Have a wonderful time in Florida.
Jeff, thanks for checking in. It sounds like you are doing great. It’s funny you mentioned our guys being in shape. My husband started really changing his eating and exercising habits a few months ago. He’s lost about 25 pounds and at least one clothing size. He says I started something.
Well, take care everyone. I hope you had a great weekend. I am going to write my thank you notes. My husband Hates to write them so I type his and have him sign them.

 

[KimberlyH]

Good Evening All!

Today we finished up tamales and I iced cookies. Then I decided I needed a bit of down time and curled up with my book for the rest of the afternoon.

John made tacos for dinner.

We''re deliviering gifts tomorrow. We''ve decided to go out to dinner for Christmas Eve; we''ll have a nice breakfast here on Christmas morning and head up to my parents for Christmas day (my dad has to work until 3) afterwards. We''re going to open gifts and then have a gingerbread house competition (hmmm, an ugly ornament competition, and a gingerbread house competition, think my family is a bit competative? ha ha ha). John and I don''t have gifts to exchange this year, we''ve opted to purchase a new mattress for our bed instead. We''ll be coming home, with my mom, on Thursday. She''s going to stay the night with us. Should be fun. She hasn''t been to my house in over a year.

I''m going to have lots of work to do come Friday, my body is not happy with me, at least that''s what the scale says.

Have a great next few days, friends. Take care, enjoy your indulgences and I''ll see you all on the other side of Christmas (if not sooner!).

 

[Perfect Diamond]

I''m alone this x-mas.

Only me and my cat.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Date: 12/23/2007 11:02:05 PM
Author: Perfect Diamond
I''m alone this x-mas.

Only me and my cat.

You''re not alone PD--you''ve got *US*!

 

[Dee*Jay]

No working out today and two HUGE restaurant meals. (Kimi, one of them was at the Cape Cod Room--I thought of you and John.)

Dee slinks off into the corner to loosen her belt...

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 12/23/2007 11:07:30 PM
Author: Dee*Jay

Date: 12/23/2007 11:02:05 PM
Author: Perfect Diamond
I'm alone this x-mas.

Only me and my cat.

You're not alone PD--you've got *US*!

Welcome Perfect Diamond!!! You will love it here; DJ is righ you have us!!!

ShortB, Happy Belated Bday!!!

DeeJay, I am feeling the same way; after Xmas I am hitting the gym and no more excuses. I will do the bike. hehee

Marcy, yay for new clothes!

Keep us posted on the contests Kimi!

Steph, I hear you sista!

 

[steph72276]

Date: 12/23/2007 11:08:49 PM
Author: Dee*Jay
No working out today and two HUGE restaurant meals. (Kimi, one of them was at the Cape Cod Room--I thought of you and John.)


Dee slinks off into the corner to loosen her belt...

Belt?? I''ve already moved on to stretchy pants

!

 

[Rod]

Sorry for the quick drive-by, but it''s nearly 11:30 and I have much to do tomorrow (Chirstmas Eve), so this will be pretty condensed.

First, Perfect Diamond, I''m sorry you''re not with anyone but your cat, but never think you''re alone. We''re all here so Merry Christmas to you!!

Mara, I hope you don''t catch a cold for Christmas........

Jas, oh Jas, what a whackadoodle that Zippy is and so good you''re away from that nut house. Your trip to court sounded like a nice time waster.........Coming to Florida are you???? Just where in Florida are you coming to????

Glad your family Christmas was good Marcy!!

Merry Christmas Jeff!! Glad to see you''re still working out and being fit. Welcome to the over 50 club. In just two weeks, I hit the big 53 OH MY!!

Skippy, I''m glad to hear that''s all that''s wrong with your knee. I take Glucosamine and Chondroitan EVERY day and it does make a difference in my older joints, so I''m thinking that coupled with more therapy and a good trainer will fix you up.

Sorry if I missed anyone personally. This still needs to be short.

Had a great day. Finished my shopping and wrapped everything too. Had a really good workout later this afternoon too! Have to get up early to get to the seafood store to make sure I get the lobsters before everyone else get''s there. Charlie still says he has more shopping to do, so we''ll hit the mall one last time tomorrow afternoon, then it''s off to a (hopefully) superb Christmas Eve dinner at a fabulous restaurant.

I will check in again tomorrow sometime, so to those who may be out of reach the next couple days, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

I love you all!

 

[marcy]

Kimi, it sounds like you had some quality quite time with a book. I picked one up the other day and hope to start reading tomorrow. I don’t usually get that luxury working 2 jobs. I am having tacos for lunch tomorrow; they sound good. Yes, it does sound like your family is very competitive. My DH is too. The gingerbread house competition sounds fun, I hope you win. I am enjoying my indulgences and hope you are too.
PerfectDiamond, what everyone else said! We’re here for you. This is the greatest group of people you’ll ever find on a discussion forum.
DeeJay, I had to laugh at your “slink off to loosen her belt”. I did wear my tightest jeans today but that’s not too impressive – they are loose anyway.
Skippy, I am excited for the after Christmas sales so my gift cards will go further. I got 2 new sweaters and a sweatshirt today so I can throw out some of my larger clothes again. I am right there with you on getting back on track right after Christmas.
Steph, LOL on the stretchy pants. I got some stretchy knit pants I haven’t thrown out yet – maybe I was subconsciously saving them for the week of Christmas! Not. I am going to throw them out tomorrow now that I am thinking about them.
Rod, have fun on your busy day tomorrow. We did have a lovely family day today; it was nice to see everyone. I’m glad you got your shopping done and packages wrapped. My DH has to go out looking for stocking stuffers for me tomorrow; he doesn’t mind the crowds like I do. Of course, there are Wyoming crowds and real crowds and since he’s from the D.C. area our crowds are nothing to him. I hope Charlie has fun shopping tomorrow and you manage to get the pick of the litter for your lobsters.
See you guys on the next week’s thread.

 

[gailrmv]

Hope everyone had a great day! I am not proud to say it but I had more pizza and also indian food today. I did make it to the gym for some elliptical - that place was so empty! I also took my dogs for a long walk. I am still quite sore from yesterday's circuit training so it was good to have an easier day.

Rod I don't know if you saw my note on the last pg, but I was just wondering what your favorite jewelry stores are in Raleigh (if you were here long enough to have any favorite stores) and particularly, what did you think of Kerry Catherine near Mura if you ever went there? They seemed to have some neat things but it seemed like their prices are pretty high. They handmake a lot of things which I thought was neat. I checked out the abs book that you have recommended while I was at Barnes and Noble. It seemed like a really good book, and I was going to buy it but the line was really long and we had to head out, so next time I am there I will get it. Did you follow the author's 12 week program exactly or did you incorporate his recommended exercises into your routine? I ask because it seems like your workouts are significantly longer than what was mentioned in the book, but I only skimmed it.

Skippy are your dream hoops the ones you posted in my thread about diamond earrings? Those were really neat! I haven't gotten anything yet, but have been making some inquiries I may be getting some hoops for my b-day, or my practicality may win out and I may postpone any big purchase. Looks like I could do about 1/4 carat in each ear for my budget, and I think that would be pretty good (small but noticeable). I would probably wear small hoops more often than big ones anyway because I'm usually pretty casual.

Mara hope you enjoyed the nutcracker - I love it too! did you ever end up getting the blue nile hoops that you had posted about a while ago? If so what do you think of them?

KimberlyH I hope you have a great visit with your mom.

Marcy it is great that you got a giftcard to use one new clothes! That will be fun! I always seem to have every receipt besides the one I need. I hear you about buyer's remorse. Usually my remorse has to do with not ponying up more $$ to get something bigger but thankfully my only recent purchases have an upgrade policy so that should be a non-issue. I've learned it ultimately is cheaper for me to buy what I REALLY want than a bunch of stuff that is not quite right, so I try and apply this lesson to everything I buy (i.e. I am definitely not buying designer clothing, but I'll buy the perfect thing at full price now instead of buying a bunch of things off of the sales rack. It has taken this bargain shopper a looong time to get to this point!)

Jas I can't believe Zippy showed up a week early with no notice

Glad the court appearance was a non issue. Do you have a new teaching gig lined up or are you going to enjoy some well earned time off?

 

[marcy]

TanDogMom, you had some great workouts today. That is always helpful for negating some calories. Your hoop earrings would be pretty; those are something I want someday. I have some oval hoops with ½ ct total weight and like them but they aren’t the in and out ones. I know what you mean about loosing the receipt you really need; that is sometimes just my luck!

 

[gailrmv]

Date: 12/24/2007 12:47:31 AM
Author: marcyc
TanDogMom, you had some great workouts today. That is always helpful for negating some calories. Your hoop earrings would be pretty; those are something I want someday. I have some oval hoops with ½ ct total weight and like them but they aren’t the in and out ones. I know what you mean about loosing the receipt you really need; that is sometimes just my luck!

hi Marcy,
The ones I am hoping for aren't the in and out ones. I like the ones where the diamonds are on the front only. While the in and out style is pretty cool, (especially for a big hoop), I have so much hair I am sure the back diamonds would not show so I'd rather put all the ctw in the front. Do you feel like the 1/2 ctw is a nice size for every day? Are the diamonds noticeable? Thanks!
And yep, I hope today's workouts did some good. I never have a problem on the workout front.... it's the eating that does me in!

 

[monarch64]

Evening WWTr''s...driving by here, too. Tomorrow is my last day of work until the 27th (I get two days off, yay!) but I''ve worked straight pretty much through the last month. I took what I would call a "midwinter''s nap" this evening since I got home around 4:30 p.m. and DH was taking a snooze himself with the dogs in the basement...they looked so cute, how could I disturb their slumber? LOL! I didn''t have plans to do anything anyway, so I just plugged in the Christmas tree, turned on a movie, (Legend...Tom Cruise and Mia somebody from 1985, fantasy) and woke up at 7 p.m. and was fine.

Slowwwwww in the sales dept. the past couple of days. We thought it would be a lot busier, but alas, it hasn''t been. Hopefully tomorrow will bring some last-minute customers who have just waited too long. The weather here today was terrible so maybe that was what kept the LM''r''s away (last-minute''er''s), but who knows. I think the economy is just affecting us all at this point. I work in a very affluent area and basically all of my customers are saying they are shooting for way under budget gifts because the wifey would rather have new windows, a new deck, pool, french doors in the BR, etc. I think I chose the wrong year to go back into retail!

Workout? What workout? Oh...you mean the one where I am running back and forth from the steamer/ultrasonic in the back by the bench to the showroom? Yes...that must be it. It seems many women want to have clean jewelry for the holidays, hee hee! I love it...the only thing I don''t love is that sometimes people have waited waaaaaaay too long to have their rings cleaned and it takes much longer to get all the gunk out of their rings. But it''s so much fun to present customers with super clean rings...they''re ALWAYS like "OMG, I forgot how gorgeous my ring are!")

So that''s my life right now...I''m not complaining...I''m thinking January will be pretty lucrative workout-wise. DH has big aspirations and so do I, to get in shape for 2008. Meanwhile we''re just trying to stay warm! It was 16 here today when I left for work...haven''t even checked the temp this evening but I do know it''s supposed to warm up a bit tomorrow and rain (I''ll totally take rain over snow!) the next two days. Yay for warm weather, LOL!

 

[Rod]

Happy Christmas Eve Everyone!!

We had a wonderful day. We got up and got going early, but sitll had coffee and a scone and fresh fruit out on the terrace. It was just the loveliest of day''s weather-wise. I headed out to the Lobster place which is on the other side of town and I got two perfect lobsters. Mine is 3.5 pounds and Charlies is 2.5 pounds (he can''t eat as much lobster as I can - LOL) and I also got 3 pounds of Steamers (softshell clams from New England - Which we just love). While I was out getting Lobsters, Charlie was out picking up the chocolate cake and a fresh loaf of this to die for whole grain bread, which is crisp on the outside and moist on the inside. Then we went to a little deli for lunch before heading to the mall to do our Christmas Eve tradition, which is to buy just one more gift. On our way home, we stopped off at Starbucks and enjoyed a cup of coffee under the "oak" with many people we''ve come to know there. It was such a nice afternoon when we got home that we put on walking shoes and went for a brisk 4 mile walk on Bayshore, and it was just so beautiful on the water. Our dinner at Roy''s (Hawaiian Fusion) was just superb. We had an incredible Sushi roll with three differenct kinds of tuna which while expensive was to die for, and we also shared an oyster appetizer that was sort of Hawaiian Rockefeller type and it was perhaps the best oysters I''ve ever had. For my main course I had surf and turf which as a perfectly cooked filet with 6 jumbo Vietnamese Tiger Prawns - WOW. Charlie had a trio of fish which he said was just fantastic as well. Then we came home, had a couple sugar cookies and watched our Favorite holiday movie - "A Christmas Story!" And we just got out of the hottub sitting under the stars listening to the palm tree fronds sway in the breeze. It just doesn''t get much better than that!!

Tommorrow, we have an eating day planned with some fitness. We''re having whole wheat buttermilk pancakes and fresh sausage for breakfast. Then we''re going for an 8 - 10 mile inline skating adventure, followed by the Steamers for lunch, then opening our gifts and finishing the day with our lobster dinner and cake!!

Gail, hands down the jewelry store that we thought had the nicest stuff is an old family run operation in Cameron Village, called Bailey''s. They are really a class act and had the most beautiful things (real quality too). One thing I think they do that is really unique is they will replace a battery in any watch, whether purchased there or not and always at no charge. I thought that was really a nice gesture and one that had we stayed there, would without question have made us loyal customers. Smart on their part. Anyway, if you haven''t been to Cameron Village, it''s a neat place to go shopping and I would highly recommend Baileys'' for sure!

Monnie, glad you''ve made it through the holidays. One of our friends is the manager of Mayor''s at the poshest mall in Tampa and we stopped by to wish him Merry Christmas today. He looked absolutely like he could fall over. They''ve been open for the last month from like 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM without a day off. He said sales were just awful this year. They didn''t come close to meeting projections and they were waaaaay off from last year for sure. I think it''s just a sign of the times with so many people about to lose their homes, jewelery is low on the list of things they can buy. Anyway, woo hoo for making it through the holiday and I hope you really enjoy your two days off! Though I did stop in Tiffany''s while I was walking around and they were so busy people had to take a number. Some man was buying an engagement ring for something like $7K and the diamond, while it certainly looked nice, was just a little over 1/2 carat. Rediculous how much someone will pay for the little "blue" box.

Marcy, enjoy your book!!

I hope you all had a great Christmas Eve and as I type this, Santa has either already been or will soon be on his way to your home with lot''s of love and goodies for everyone near and dear to you!!