Weekly Workout Thread 28 May Through 3 June

[AmberGretchen]

DJ - good luck trying to find a bother or sister for the Demon! Its so wonderful that you guys are rescuing

In terms of his leash behavior, it sounds like he has leash frustration. The best technique I''ve seen recommended for that is distraction. You need some really high-value treats (hot dog, cheese, natural balance meat rolls) cut up into small pieces and at the ready in a baggie or pouch. You try to show the dog the treat when he gets overexcited and practice him making eye contact with you and/or the sit command and when he does either successfully (or to begin with if he just stops freaking out), treat him and praise him like crazy. He should figure out pretty quick that good behavior, i.e. focusing on you and/or sitting quietly = treats and praise while jumping around wildly and barking = no reinforcement at all, or simply turning around and walking away from whatever it is he wants to get at so badly.

 

[gailrmv]

Date: 6/2/2007 11:41:25 AM
Author: Dee*Jay
Yesterday I was SO bad, however I didn''t realize just HOW bad until I was on the elliptical this morning adding things up in my head. I had a 3,000+ cal day!!!

I can''t say I don''t know how it happened because I DO know how it happend. Someone needs to put a muzzle on me some days...

Anyway, I did 685 cals on the elliptical and then I made myself get on the bike for an extra 15 cals just as a matter of principal.

Today we''re going to a multi-shelter adoption event to look for a brother or a sister for The Demon. The thing I really worried about is that sometimes he''s really bad on his leash around other dogs (rearing up on his back legs, spinning around, barking like a mad dog) so I don''t know how this is going to be, but we can''t very well get him a sibling without seeing them interact together first. Fingers crossed please...

Lorelei, congratulations on having your new baby home and I am just DYING to see pics!!!

DJ, I can''t wait to hear about the adoption event!!! Angie is also terrible on leash with new dogs. We just started taking her to the dog park and she is so much better off leash. I hope it goes well for you at the event. We adopted a sister for Angie without the meeting and probably that was stupid. It took them a while to work out their differences. (I think two girls are most likely to have problems and that''s what we have.) Even now, they don''t fight much but they don''t seem to get along as well as some dog pairs do. They usually pick different spots in the house to hang out. Almost like 2 only dogs. Anyway I hope you have fun and find a wonderful new canine companion!

Yesterday was a weird eating day for me. We had a happy hour for DH''s work from 6:30-8 and it included some apps and drinks. We were having fun w/ our friends there so we just stayed on at the bar after the event ended. So I ended up w/ 3 beers but no real dinner - just some veggies and dip, 2 mini springrolls, and 3 wings (I removed the skin.) Calorie wise, probably as much as a normal dinner, but filling-wise, not so much. Fortunately I ate really light for bkfst and lunch (only 500 cals, plus a 100 cal snack before the event) so I think my total was still fine for the day. Tonight we have a formal dinner event which I look forward to every year. I am eating light all day and plan a big gym workout but then I plan to enjoy the dinner and eat whatever is served (if it is good!) I need to look up calorie info for alcohol. I am sure it is a lot, but I''m not sure how bad! I usually drink white wine since I read it is the lowest calorie drink - also b/c I enjoy it.

 

[Rod]

Thanks for the welcome home everyone

It was sure nice to sleep in our bed last night. We had no idea we were coming home to Tropical Storm Barry, so we had some pretty potent thunderstorms, accompanied by heavy wind and rain last night. But, since we live in a concrete fortress, nothing went awry. No leaks, no loss of electricity. And now the sun is out and the storm has passed to the north. We so desperately needed the rain anyway.

I'm still feeling under the weather (pun intended), but plan to go to the gym and sweat it out. Hopefully, it will help me get over the cold sooner. I'll let you know how it goes later. I'm determined to let this cold get me down one bit.

Lorelei, Jasmine sounds like a wonderful addition to your family. I'm sure you are beside yourself with happiness and joy!!

I hope everyone's looking forward to a nice and healthy Saturday!!

ETA: I was shocked at the scale this morning. Somehow, I lost 2 pounds. Not sure how that happened as you saw, I ate like a kid in a candy store. I guess I didn't do much harm though. Thank Goodness. I surely can't afford to buy new clothes, since I gave away every single article of clothing that was too big!

 

[peachy]

Welcome home, Rod! Glad to hear the trip went well... but can someone tell me why you pigged out all week and lost 2 pounds, while I pigged out for 3 days and gained over 6!!!??? Totally jealous!!! (and way to go, Rod!)

Lorelei, can't wait to see Jasmine...

I love the name and it also happens to be my favorite floral scent!

Have a fun Saturday night everyone!

 

[KimberlyH]

Ended up doing not a whole lot today and we''re not going out to dinner. I have a fever and other yucky stuff going on...not so fun. Three of our kids were sick at school this week and I was lucky enough to catch whatever it is that they have so I''m taking it easy and John is going to make hamburgers for dinner. We''re going to try to go out for dinner tomorrow night, depending on how I feel. GRR! Being around kids has meant being sick an awful lot.

Have a great Saturday evening all.

 

[katebar]

Welcome Jasmine

. How lovely to have a new companion Lorelei.
I don''t post as regular as some posters but read every day. My body fat has dropped by 5% and my clothes are definately getting loser. I bought a pair of size 6 pants yesterday which is slighly snug around the waist but fit perfectly every where else. Most of my weight loss has been from my thighs in fact i am almost back to having skinny legs

. I have lost some more from my back a little from my waist and chest and maybe from my feet (don''t laugh) as my shoes are loose and i have to wear inner soles!
But the scale has moved very little. I have lost only 2 kilos since starting my 5 meals a day aprroach for a total of 5 kilos for the year. But I think I have definately put on muscle and I now have a lot more shape to my arms. I got a bowflex on Ebay and whilst its not perfect it does the job. So that with the elliptical and pilates is SLOWLY getting me back to my size 4 body.

 

[Rod]

Date: 6/2/2007 3:24:32 PM
Author: Peachy
Welcome home, Rod! Glad to hear the trip went well... but can someone tell me why you pigged out all week and lost 2 pounds, while I pigged out for 3 days and gained over 6!!!??? Totally jealous!!! (and way to go, Rod!)

Lorelei, can''t wait to see Jasmine...

I love the name and it also happens to be my favorite floral scent!

Have a fun Saturday night everyone!

LOL.......Still not sure how I managed to lose a couple pounds and eat such bad and fattening foods there, but do know I surely could not keep it up long term.

Even though I was feeling like a flat noodle, we did go to the gym and I managed to hang in there for a 2 hour workout. I was actually OK, but was surely tired when it was over. I had intended to do a shortened and less strenuous workout, but I managed to do most of what I typically do, including multiple sets of unassisted chinups/dips. I didn''t want to push as hard on the elliptical as I usually do, but I managed to do a respectable 35 minutes and burn 539 calories. I''m going to take a boatload of over the counter cold medicines, knock myself out and sleep as long as I can tonight. Tomorrow, we''ll likely go to the gym again, but try to not push it again.

Since I wasn''t feeling that great, and wasn''t all that hungry, we just went to a nice diner near our condo and I had a bowl of homemade vegetable soup (really good), a cheesburger and a side salad. It was just the right comfort food for a guy with a cold.

Then we came home and got in the spa and let the heat and steam help my sinus open up so I could breath a little better.

So sorry to hear you''re not feeling well either Kimberly. Kids seem to carry every bug imaginable and everyone I know who are near youngsters seem to always be fighting some bug. Feel better soon! Sounds like you wanted the same comfort food I did tonight. I hope your burger was as good as mine.

Katebar, that loss in body fat is fantastic and you''re absolutely right about building muscle which weighs more than fat! Keep up the great work there!!

Have a nice night everyone!

 

[KimberlyH]

I''m sorry you''re not feeling well either, Rod. Not so fun. John chose cheeseburgers for dinner, I watched a Food Network Challenege today and he was in my office while it was on and since we weren''t going out he was inspired to make one of the best homemade burgers I''ve ever had. We had grilled zuchini and fruit salad along side. I was a bit above caloriewise (i''m guestimating as I''ve pulled away from counting for a few weeks to see how things go) but it was really good and will hopefully help fight whatever is going on in my body! Take good care of yourself and feel better soon.

 

[Rod]

Date: 6/2/2007 10:20:21 PM
Author: KimberlyH
I''m sorry you''re not feeling well either, Rod. Not so fun. John chose cheeseburgers for dinner, I watched a Food Network Challenege today and he was in my office while it was on and since we weren''t going out he was inspired to make one of the best homemade burgers I''ve ever had. We had grilled zuchini and fruit salad along side. I was a bit above caloriewise (i''m guestimating as I''ve pulled away from counting for a few weeks to see how things go) but it was really good and will hopefully help fight whatever is going on in my body! Take good care of yourself and feel better soon.

Thanks Kimberly. On the calorie counting front, not only have I quit counting calories, I''ve pretty much stopped getting on the scale every single day. Now, as long as I don''t overeat, I workout like usual and my clothes fit just fine, I''ve stopped worrying so much.

I hope you''re feeling better after a nice nights rest!

 

[monarch64]

Rod sorry to hear you''re feeling less than fabulous...hope you''re all better soon!

So I posted a couple days ago that DH and I were going out to dinner downtown, first time I''ve been "out" to eat since my oral surgery. We ended up cutting the evening a little short which I''ll get to in a minute. We went to a seafood joint on N. Halsted downtown and had oysters rockefeller which I always love, and I had the crab cakes which were fantastic as usual. DH loves crab legs so he got the snow crab legs, one of which I sampled and they were tdf.

We cut the evening short, though...DH golfed today and drank a few too many on the course and at the clubhouse after the round, which is unusual for him, but the other three guys in his foursome were college buddies he hasn''t golfed with for a while and well, it was what it was, lol. I ended up driving 4 rowdy guys, including my DH, downtown to the restaurant and they all joined us for dinner. Luckily the front room of the establishment is a bar so we all sat around the bar and ate, which was quite a change in plans but I guess you have to go with the flow sometimes. Needless to say, I wasn''t ecstatic about the situation as I had been looking forward to a nice romantic dinner with DH now that I''m feeling 95% normal, but now that we''re home and he''s sleeping I''m over it.

I did satisfy my seafood craving and got to go downtown for the evening, short as it was, so I can''t complain TOO much, hee hee.

Anyway, the infestation of cicadas here continues and today they were really out in full force and sort of swarming around all the trees around our house, which freaked me out sufficiently enough to remain inside most of the day and take care of some cleaning, so that is going to have to count as my workout for the day. Breakfast was a super green nutrition type drink from TJ''s, lunch was a mixed green salad with mandarin oranges and ff raspberry vinaigrette, and dinner of course was seafood, I had a banana for a snack before DH and I and the guys went out, so I''m right around my optimum cals for the day. Also, I weighed myself this morning for the first time in a week and half or so and I have lost 3 pounds, so that was exciting! I''m about 7-10 lbs from my ideal weight right now, but I feel like I need to rebuild some muscle as I have lost some tone and when I add the muscle I think my goal weight may have to change a bit. That''s all for now...

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

 

[Mara]

hello wwt'ers!! we're home..and it feels sooo darn good. we got in last nite and it was a stroke of genius that i said 'hey lets come home on sat night so that we have all of sunday to rest and recoup', it was a brilliant idea. we had been gone 10 days which was the longest since our honeymoon 3 years ago and so it felt like forever since we've been in our house. the trip was loads of fun though, even though we were running around visiting people, we still got a lot of sleep and exercise and so we felt pretty good in general most days. only one day did i really feel like my energy was flagging, towards the end.

we ended up working out every day, whether it was walking or the gym and it was absolutely awesome to keep that aspect of my life in routine. we also got some amazing walks in...aka when visiting greg's mom, he went to college over there and their campus is a maze of hills and stairs all over campus flanking these beautiful old ivy covered buildings and tons of huge shade trees so one morning we went over there and walked around for 1.5 hours! we ended up doing about 5+ miles and about 1 mile of that was all entirely uphill or stairs. i definitely felt it the next day in the bootie but it was a reall fun way to get a workout in!! and i got to take a tour of greg's school and see his dorms and where he hung out and his friends frat houses and all that. we actually did that workout 2 days but the 2nd time we just did about 3 miles (our last day, yesterday). one day we worked out at the gym AND then that night went for a 3.5 mile walk around his mom's neighborhoods with his sister and just chatted and caught up on things. another time we walked about 3 miles into a small downtown and back near his dad's house in maryland to get some coffee and a croissant. so overall it was a great time and did not really derail me much.

we ate a TON of course, i can't even detail out everything but just imagine 3 days in NC on our own trying diff places (and southern food, honey and biscuits oh my) and then 3 days with his dad's family including one huge bbq all-day blowout including like 5 strawberry daquiris and 1/2 a pound cake (!!) and then 4 days with his mom and stepdad and his sister and his mom is a huge food pusher. lets just say that she made brownies and they seemed to be MULTIPLYING every time we left the house there would be like 10 more on the plate when we returned. she also made two cakes while we were there and the 5 of us basically ate them all each night. HAHA! in NC we ate a ton as well. i had ice cream 3 or 4 days which is sooo my treat of choice while out and about, there's nothing like a good ice cream cone when you are out walking or something and it was the first time in about 9 months i have had a real full fat ice cream cone like that!! tasty times. we had a ton of seafood which i love, and so much crab while in maryland but i LOVE crab cakes...so that was perfect. and ate at some fabulous places and some great little 'holes in the wall' places too. and lots of good home-cooked meals as well with lots of fruits and veggies. while greg's mom is a food pusher, at least she knows i try to stay fairly healthy so she also had a ton of fruits and veggies for me and she made salads for each meal etc.

the funniest part (scary at first) was that there was a scale in our guest room at her house, and so i weighed myself morning and night. now i don't really give that much credence to the scale at any given point during the day, as i have seen how it can move crazily and then be back down the next day. but it's amazing to really do the morning and night experiment to really see how much your body weight fluctuates based on eating, heat, etc. in the morning's i'd basically be 134 and then at night i'd be up to 140!! then in the morning back to 134...and sometimes 133. i left here at about 131 so i had imagined i'd gain up to 5 lbs during the trip knowing how much we'd be eating and knowing i would want to indulge all the time, so i gained about 3 lbs which is fine! also on the days that we were with the family, typically i would have a small breakfast (i found fage out there and ate it with fiber one and berries as typical for me at home) and then i had more leeway for lunch and dinner. also even though there were desserts all over, for the most part the regular eating part was good, aka both households had a ton of fruits and veggies and we had lean meats and i drank water 90% of the time. so the eating wasn't too crazy. and with the working out we were doing and walking, it really felt good to stay so active. but the scale in the room was kind of therapeutic for me, it really drove home the point that it is SO absolutely hit or miss with reporting accurate data. we always say that of course but a 5 lb fluctuation from morning to night? just crazy! no wonder people get so upset and depressed with it. but every morning it was always back down to where it was the day we got there. even after all that eating. go figure.

overall a fabulous trip, we are glad to be home and back into routine. this morning we are having eggs, toast and bacon with coffee and then i am going to the gym soon and then to TJ's and the market to stock the fridge back up. because we were going to be gone for 10 days i basically tossed anything that might rot and gave all the fruits and veggies to our neighbors to eat up. so this morning we had to go get milk and coffee and eggs for breakfast, but we still need a bunch of stuff for the coming week. and i am dying for some more fresh fruit. i have been obsessed with it!! even on the trip i'd be eating strawberries or blueberries or whatever else was available.

i have missed most of the thread as i didn't log on at all for almost the entire week but i did skim and congrats lorelei on the new horsie...you deserve it woman..and yes sometimes fate does us some good!! it looks like for the most part everyone is doing really well which is awesome!!

this trip was interesting overall for me as well because i didn't really count calories. at many points i just couldn't so i just said to heck with it and ate what i wanted but also tried to get the healthy veggies and fruits in, and fiber of course. so it was really good to see that i didn't deprive myself absolutely at all (and definitely had some 'overindulgence' days big time) and with a steady workout schedule i only gained about 3 lbs. and my clothes all still fit fabulously...!! not bad for 10 days away from the home. hehe. but i am really glad to be back and about to get back into the groove. hope everyone had a wonderful short week...i am actually looking fwd to getting back to work tomorrow which is a fun feeling...hope that nothing went too crazy while i was gone.

on a fun note, i got a little body ego boost during the trip twice when first one of greg's stepmom's friends said i was 'still pretty twiggy' after i was telling her daughter that she should eat what she wants now while she can and that i used to be a total twig when i was young. i was feeling kind of bloated that day so i was like thanks for the compliment! and then on another day towards the end of the trip i was having a girl talk with greg's friend's wife who has 3 boys...she looks fab for having 3 kids but she was saying she wants to lose weight and get her belly and thighs down a bit (she's a bit pear shaped and has a little extra stomach from having the boys) so we were talking about what worked for me and counting cals (which she loosely does) and she said that her sister is super skinny and then proceeded to say that her sister has a shape like mine, so i was like AWW thanks...then we had a discussion about how skewed our perceptions are of our own bodies vs how people see us (much how we talk on here as well)...but definitely after all the eating i was doing and looking in the mirror some mornings and going 'is that my STOMACH?'...i was happy to have a few nice compliments on the trip to remind me that sometimes we can be too hard on ourselves.

anyway hope everyone is enjoying their day. congrats rod on getting back into the work groove!!

happy sunday all!

 

[phoenixgirl]

Mara, glad your trip went well and the (temporary) weight gain was less than expected.

Well, I think I've got a cold. My coworker had one, then last night my husband said he had a sore throat, and almost instantly I felt like I had one too. I wasn't sure if that was psychosomatic, but no, I definitely have nasal drip. It's not that my throat is sore, but the drip is annoying -- tastes bad, irritating, etc. And I'm really tired. So pooh.

I worked out this morning nonetheless. Normally I do The Firm every other day, and on the weekends especially I try to do a longer video (about an hour) with cardio and weights, but since I was feeling blah I just did a shorter weights-only workout. And I've been avoiding the urge to drink coke all day. I'm drinking about 1/3 cranberry juice (100% juice, no high fructose corn syrup) and 2/3 carbonated water right now. But darn it, a coke would hit the spot!

But it was a good week. Even after the bottle of wine fiasco last weekend, I recovered and even lost another pound and a half . . . I'm half a pound away from my goal weight (124). Of course, that was sort of set arbitrarily when it seemed really far away. I think I could stand to lose a few more pounds, but I also won't be surprised if it becomes a lot harder to lose weight at this point.

And I walked 5 miles 3 days, so that's 15 miles total for the week, and did weights and cardio 2 days and weights 1 day.

My husband has been doing well with not smoking and riding his bike for an hour or more most days. It's been 12 days since he's had a cigarette. One of his smoking buddies also quit a few months back, so that is a help.

And I provided the inspiration! No, it wasn't the nagging or pleading. But my husband saw how I was looking so much better, and he wanted to too, and he knew he couldn't ride his bike like he wanted to if he was smoking. Funny how the thought of a shortened life expectancy isn't a motivation, but not being fit enough to do what you want is. But it's awesome. Yes, cycling is an expensive habit (I've gotten my 0.35ctw band, my 0.72ctw studs, and my 0.52 solitaire pendant this year, and he's spent more on bikes), but it's a good one. Not to knock diamonds, but unless very large they don't really provide a workout.

Good thing we moved into a house too because now he has 4 bikes, and I have 1. That's a lot for two people.

While I'm rambling in my cold-induce fog, I'll say that buying this house has been a real blessing to our lives. My husband is in his second year as a financial advisor, and at the time of buying the house he had three months to meet his target goals or get a reduced commission and be marked for failure. I didn't know that he was really stressed out at that time when I blithely suggested we buy a house (and we did three days later!). But since then things picked up and he was one of the 25% of his class who met the goals and is on track to meet the goals for next year. While stress isn't good, I think knowing that there was no fall back plan (since we were faced with carrying two mortgages for a while) was a kick in the butt.

More directly related to our house is our current fitness. Maybe now that I've been working out for three months I could go to a gym, but there's no way that introverted me was going to go to a gym and not know her way around or how things worked. So my only choice is working out at home. But in our tiny (less than 700 sq. ft.) condo, there wasn't room for workout equipment or even really enough room to workout in the living room (I'd have to move a chair and coffee table every time). Plus then my husband would be inconvenienced because I'd be in the way.

So with our house and basement, we can store all the stuff (DVDs, videos, the FannyLifter, the TransFirmer, the sculpting stick, and weights for me, and bicycles for him) to get in shape.

I love my house for many reasons, but these especially!

 

[KimberlyH]

Welcome back, Mara; so glad you had a good trip!

Way to go on workouts and motivating DH phoenix! That''s just awesome.

Where are pics, Lorelei?

I''m still sick, have a fever, blah, blah, blah. So we''ll be sticking close to home as I am subbing every day this week + have school work so I need to get better FAST!

John''s out grocery shopping, he wants to BBQ again tonight. I think he''s hoping to find some delicious ribs, sounds good to me.

Have a great Sunday all.

 

[mrssalvo]

welcome home mara...we missed you around here, but so glad you had a fun trip

kimberly and phoenix, I'm sorry you are not feeling well, i hope you can get some rest and get better soon.

rod: congrats on getting back into your job and the weight loss on the trip. that is awesome..

deejay, don't feel bad about the 3000 calorie day. we all have them once in a while, just hop back on the wagon.

so, my schedule has just been crazy. we've been out of town house hunting for our move as well and all the early summer activities of the kids taking us all over town. I had family in town which made getting to the gym during my normal time more difficult. I'll be so glad to get back into my routine next week (whatever that is, still trying to figure it out..lol). I plan on hitting the elliptical before my kids swim lessons in the morning though.

hope everyone has a wonderful sunday!!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Sunday all!

After my early morning inspection I came home and took a nap. I had almost talked myself out of going to the gym today, but then I realized it was only one in the afternoon and i had nothing to do, so I went. I did a full hour on the treadmill (atually 65 mins) for the first time. I would alternate every ten minutes between flat and the highest incline (15 I think) for a total of 520 cals. I really fell like I got a great workout, although I confess I did hold on to the bar for quite a bit of the time when I was at the high incline.

I''m going to pick up a friend who wants to meet my new "son" and then the HH is making shrimp with tomatoes, capers, black olives, and some other things, over wild rice for dinner. I will be MORE THAN READY for bed when the time comes--damn these pups wear me out!

Mara, welcome back!! It sounds like you had a great trip!

 

[Rod]

Welcome Home Mara!! Glad you had such a nice trip and didn''t gain too much in the process. I''m still curious to see what you and Greg thought of Second Empire in Raleigh. I hope it was a memorable (positive) experience.

Sorry you''re still not feeling well Kimberly. Also sorry to hear you''re coming down with a cold Phoenix. Summer colds are not fun. Glad you still worked out anyway. I''m convinced working out will boost the immune system and reduce the sick time assoicated with a cold.

Mrssalvo, glad you''ll be able to be back in your routine next week!

My cold is better today. I slept like a baby last night. Of course the massive amounts of over-the-counter drugs helped.......LOL But my cough is almost gone and my nose is no longer running. This is the first cold since I started working out nearly 18 months ago and quit smoking. Usually when I catch a cold, I get a nasty sinus infection which goes to my chest and turns into bronchitis. It appears with the new healthier Rod, neither will happen. WOO HOO for working out, quitting smoking and being healthier!!

We did workout this afternoon and even though I''m definitely better, I was a bit pooped to say the least. I did a full workout, but cut 5 minutes off the elliptical and just did 30 minutes instead of 35. But I pushed harder for the 30 minutes, so I''m not sure what I gained in the process. Still, I''m feeling just a bit down from fighting the cold.

Tomorrow will be an odd day. I''ll be back in my office for the first time in 8 months. It''s just going to be weird to say the least. I''m sure it will be nice, but odd at the same time.

Anyway, just checking in. We''re having a nice healthy dinner of baked salmon, fresh silver queen corn and steamed brocolli.

Have a nice night everyone!!

 

[Mara]

thanks for the welcome back everyone....it was funny but being away from home and the computer and all that i felt somehow more 'free' about my calorie watching, maybe all this checking in is not necessarily great for the continued maintenance? haha. i felt way less 'guilty' about things when i knew i didn't have to report back. kind of interesting anyway. sorry to hear that so many WWT'ers are sick, summer colds are a drag, feel better!!

rod i did chime in about second empire in last week's thread, did you see it? basically we loved it, greg liked it better than 115 but he also liked 115 as well just liked SE better. interestingly enough .... one of the things we found so intriguing about raleigh and the general area out there is that even though it's still quite steeped in southern culture, there are these pockets of liberalism and kind of 'modernism' that penetrate the whole area. so while at SE, we found it quite ironic that while sitting in a beautiful historic 1800's home in an area that is still quite southern, that we ended up eating all organic kinds of produce and farm-raised fish...along with 'fair trade' coffee, it was such a california thing!! SE was really tasty overall, i did not get the chocolate souffle because i was a little chocolated out at that point but what i did get was VERY yummy, if i recall correctly it was kind of a small coconut tart that they served with ice cream...the flavor i can't quite recall but it worked so well with the coconut tart. and while we were not impressed at all with many of the places coffee that we had after dinner, SE had exceptional coffee. we like it really strong and dark and most other places we ate at had it kind of weak and light. greg loved their cheese platter as well. i think that he had trout and i had the pan roasted halibut, both of which were exceptional.

as for the raleigh area in NC overall, we really loved it....we liked how you can travel under 30 minutes to get to different areas and experience different towns' 'personalities'... each town had their own kind of flair. i actually found that certain areas had their pockets of urbanism to be near great restaurants and experiences, but then we liked how you could drive 10 minutes out of town and feel like you are in the 'country'. this was especially true of the chapel hill area which is very close to the research triangle park/work area. tons of great restaurants and a somewhat liberall feel but then a few minutes out of CH you are in a more country area with beautiful huge trees and open expanses. and 30 min from raleigh. i could see how if one doesn't venture out too much from the more uber-urban areas of raleigh, that it might get a little boring, but overall we found tons of places to explore outside of the regular areas, and we didn't even get to see everything we wanted to.

overall, everyone was so nice to us and we loved the surrounding towns as well to raleigh. i could easily see us in one or two of those towns and the cost is definitely affordable. however, we didn't realize that the closest family we'd have would be greg's dad's family in maryland which is a 6 hour drive! for whatever reason greg remembered it as being more like 3-4 hours. so quite honestly, that's kind of a downer mentally...i really would like some type of family to be within 2-3 hours drive to us if we do move. so we'll see but it was a really fun time. and apparently people from other states are continuing to move there in droves, i would imagine within about another 5 years that area will be even larger than it is now.

anyhow, i decided to not work out today...my butt and legs are pretty sore from the last few intense workouts we did...and greg commanded i take a day off. hehe. funny but i think that our variation in workouts the last 10 days has taken my 'fitness' to a different level. i noticed today in my mirror that my legs and bootie are a little leaner (all those hills and steps?!) and my arms are more defined (i did arms workouts basically every other day while traveling, when typically at home it's more like 2x a week). greg said he noticed i was a bit leaner in the hips too recently. so kind of interesting...3 of the gyms we tried had these ellipticals i REALLY liked that we do not have at our gym so now i am tempted to try to find a gym locally that does have them. they are the ones that have the metal rails that go up and down on an incline and the feet move up and down on the slider rails...the high inclines target your bootie big time and i was using those primarily for any gym workouts we did. the ones at my gym just are stationary with no incline so mostly works my legs and a little butt.

but i am taking P for a 1-2m walk in a few minutes and then we are going with our neighbors to dinner tonite to this lobster shack place we have been dying to try. it's totally not fancy but the menu is like basically all lobster all the time. the guys who own it came here from Maine and noticed there were no good lobster places here so they opened this place, and basically fly maine lobster in 3x a week and import all their rolls and everything from the east coast too...so it's supposed to be like an authentic east coast lobster experience. greg REALLY has been wanting to try it but with how busy we have been it just hasn't happened and next weekend we are going to be in napa for a friend's wedding so we figured we'd celebrate being back home with a visit to the lobster shack and invited our neighbors along...they took care of my garden and picked up our mail while gone so we figure a lobstah dinnah is in order.

anyway time for a fruit snack or something...i went to TJ's and stocked up for the week so the fridge is full again, yay!! got lots of fruits and veggies, my 99% fat free burritos for lunch, rosemary chicken and rice and TJ pizzas for dinner this week, spicy hummus, black tea, etc. has anyone tried the TJ's fiberful snack bars? they are basically like fruit roll up bars but they are only 60 cals and are 6g of fiber. i love snacking on them and TJ sells of them fairly quickly so whenever i see them i buy like 10. they are only 50 cents each. anyway, a fun quickie snack that makes you feel a bit of fullness if you are on the run.

hope everyone has a great afternoon and evening!!!

 

[Rod]

Thanks Mara. I guess I missed your comments about SE last week. I'm glad you enjoyed Raleigh and the surrouding areas. We did like it there, and as you recall, initially we were really excited about our new town. Somehow though, after exploring the area and the surrounding towns, we began to feel it less expansive than we initially found it. And the urban core of the inner beltline and the Glenwood South area became so small after a while. I guess with my job disatisfaction and the fact that our home in Tampa didn't sell, added greatly to our unhappiness. Perhaps had we been able to really setlle there and had I enjoyed the work front, we might have enjoyed life a bit more. In many ways though, I'm grateful that our condo didn't sell, that the job didn't work out and we returned to our life in Tampa. My family is also from Maryland, so yes, Raleigh is a good 5 - 6 hour drive to the DC area. I can see why people with children like living there. It's a very friendly place to raise a family. I'm sure you'll think long and hard before just picking up and moving to NC., and like you said at the rate people are moving there, the landscape could change quite a lot over the next few years.

Anyway, good to have you back from your trip Mara!! I hope your visit to the Lobster Shack is fun. I LOVE LOBSTER!!