Behind the Velvet Rope: My Trip to Texas

Her house was so nice, and she had housekeepers cleaning when we arrived.  I was like geez, friend, you didn’t tell me you were rich!

We went apartment hunting on Friday during the day. My sister thinks she is moving to Texas with my niece (I’m in denial.) On Friday night, I went out with my friend, and my sis went out with a guy she met on Facebook. I told her he could be the Facebook Killer, you know, just like the Craigslist Killer movie on Lifetime? Good thing he wasn’t, he was just a nice normal guy.
On Saturday, my blog friend, Tex NY Queen gave us a whole list of stuff to do in her hometown. We ate at Empire Café, saw the beautiful meditation statues and went shopping.  I ate way too much on Saturday, and topped it all off with a pina colada at a local Mexican restaurant.

 Sunday was my big day. I didn’t come for the apartments, the food or the shopping. I came to go to Lakewood Church, where Joel Osteen is the pastor. Oh my GOD! I was so excited I squealed as we drove past the front. My sister was convinced I would pass out and faint when I saw him, and had the video camera in hand. I was so nervous and excited, that I had to go the bathroom. My mom told me I would probably be a little speck in the stadium seating sanctuary that holds over 16,000 people, so I didn’t expect to be close. I don’t know what my sister told the greeter, but she ushered us right to the front and center. She unhooked the velvet rope, and told us to sit in the middle of the 4th row! The 4th row?! “What did you tell her when I was in the bathroom?!” I asked. She just smiled. I started to feel that faint/tears feeling come over me. But I didn’t. Especially since we were almost an hour early and service hadn’t begun yet. 

Everything is Bigger In Texas

Well they say everything is bigger in Texas.  Apparently it’s true.  I certainly got bigger in Texas.  I ate whatever, with little to no moderation.  I was on vacation and I just wanted a break from everything.  A break from dieting, working, cold weather, and real estate.  I didn’t have to deal with any real estate drama except for the tenant that called and said someone was breaking in (with a key might I add) and stealing dishwashing liquid, lottery tickets and loose change.  Where do I find these people?! Thankfully the Maintenance Man is changing the locks for me, and if the loose change fairies continue to steal his stuff while he’s at work, then that’s his problem.

Anyway, I consciously ate poorly in Texas if that makes sense.  I didn’t get back home and say what the heck happened?  I was mindful of the cinnabuns, full size restaurant portions, and my signature Peach Cobbler I made for my friend as a thank you.  I made a commitment on the plane to start back tracking weight watcher points on Monday morning, and I did.  But, there was nothing short of a snow storm Monday night, weigh-in night.   

 

Pic taken from inside my car headed to the WW meeting

Snowing on my way to the meeting

I was comfortable being off plan for 3 days and I was even comfortable with gaining a little weight, but I didn’t like the idea of skipping the meeting.  I put on my snow boots, drove like a true St. Louis all-weather girl and went to weigh in.  On the snowy ride there, I reminded myself that I’m working on disconnecting my emotions with my weight and the scale.  I kept my commitment and tracked all day.  In the past, I would have said, I probably gained 5 pounds, it’s snowing, I’ll be embarrassed, I un-did all my hard work, I failed my Fiercling fans on my blog, I’ll just weigh in next week. But no, not this time.  I stepped up and was told by the receptionist that I gained 2 pounds.  I was okay with that, because it reflected my eating behavior.  I was actually surprised at how cool I was about it.  I didn’t go into a downward spiral and say woe is me, I ruined everything.  I just said I had a great time, ate what I wanted, and got back on plan.  I know next week that the scale next week will show my renewed commitment. 

P.S. The Texas trip post is coming soon, I’m still adding the pics for you guys…

 

My Southern Fried Independence Day

My Lawyer friend’s birthday is on the Fourth of July.  We celebrated her 30^th birthday in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  At first, I was a little leery of spending the holiday weekend in a cabin in the mountains. 

However, I was pleasantly surprised to discover how much I enjoyed it.  The wood cabin was fairly new with 3 bedrooms on the second level.  There were 5 bathrooms, a game room, hot tub and a movie theater. 

It was huge! Once we got settled in, I volunteered to prepare a Mexican feast for the birthday girl, her mom, her sister and her 2 other friends.  They loved it. I was glad everyone liked it since I’m not used to cooking for that many people.  The next morning, I woke up and walked out on the deck to inhale the crisp beautiful scenery.  It was so peaceful and serene.      

Sunday night we went to the “first” 4^th of July Midnight parade to kick things off.  I have to say it was the strangest parade I’ve ever attended.   There was a weird guy walking around with a cat that waved named Princess Sugarpop, dressed up in doll clothes with a hat and reading glasses.   Since it was my friend’s birthday, we were really hype and cheering and laughing.  Everyone around us was pretty quiet and just lazily clapped.  It was so strange, I figured that maybe they were like that because it was late and they were tired.  The Christian groups were a little more aggressive than the churches at home.  They passed out pamphlets and had a life sized Jesus on the cross on the back of a pick up truck in the parade. 

We ate so much during the entire trip.  The next morning my friend’s mom got up and cooked Fish and grits with biscuits, eggs and fried potatoes.  It was delicious!  We lounged in the pool and watched “Hall Pass” down in the theater.  That movie is so outrageous.  It was sort of Hangover-like.

On the 4^th, I went to the gym at our private resort.  I felt like I absolutely had to go, especially since I was eating so much, and did not like the image that looked back at me in the trip pictures.  I’ve slowly gained back so much weight.  I didn’t care that it was a holiday, that I was celebrating my friend’s birthday, or that I was on vacation, I had to work out.  I grinded it out on the elliptical machine (with the arms) for just over 20 minutes.  I worked up a sweat and felt great.  Afterwards, I joined the rest of the ladies in the pool.  My Friend’s mom bar-b-qued and made all the other “fixins.” I made a cute Birthday/4^th of July Flag designed cake for dessert. 

 I watched a low budget movie in the theater by myself while some others took a nap.  That evening we went into downtown Gatlinburg for the holiday fireworks.  We got to see a little bit more of the culture.  They were selling deep fried everything (including snickers and twinkies), stuff I’ve only seen on TV. There were images of bears and confederate flags EVERYwhere and we were greeted with heavy southern accents.  Most people were friendly, but there was an older guy at the popcorn shop showing subtle racism; no eye contact, obviously not wanting to serve me, putting my change on the counter so he wouldn’t have to touch my hand, you know ignorant stuff like that.  But it’s the south, and that kind of crap happens at home too, so I didn’t really let it bother me.  We watched the fireworks, and sat in rocking chairs outside sharing stories.  It was such a beautiful night, the temperature was perfect.  Then just for fun, we got dressed up and took some ol’ Time Western photos.  Me and my lawyer friend posed with guns and liquor as her mom posed as our madam.  It was such much fun pretending.  I love the pictures.  (sorry it’s blurry, I didn’t get to scan it it in yet, so I just took a pic of the pic)

On Tuesday, we went to breakfast at the Red Rooster pancake house and hit the highway for our 9 hour road trip.   I feel relaxed and refreshed and rejuvenated.  I’ve got a good chocolately tan too from lounging in the pool.  It was so nice for six educated women to spend time together in a house with absolutely no drama.  There were no fights or arguments, we didn’t even disagree.  If you get a chance, and want to unwind, head on over to Gatlinburg.  It has my stamp of approval. 

Winter Vacation Pics from California

Click the Little “i” in the upper right corner for the picture captions. 

Conquering the Mountain

Today I conquered a MOUNTAIN! Little Miss Commenter who shall remain nameless (unless you read these comments) told me that Runyon Canyon was a great place to “walk” while here in California.  I asked my Hollywood Aunt if she would take me, she couldn’t go, but 2 of her friends agreed to take me.  I had NO idea what to expect.  We got out of the car which was about six blocks from the gated entrance to the Canyon.  It was the longest six blocks of my life.  It was a constant steep incline; it felt like someone was pulling me backwards as I walked.  We don’t have hills like that in St. Louis….  By the time I got to the entrance, I was sweating and winded just from climbing 6 blocks! I had to sit down on a rock, I couldn’t believe it.  I jokingly told my Aunt’s friend I felt skinny already.  Then it was time for the real challenge, climbing Runyon Canyon.  It was hard y’all.  It was literally like climbing a jagged paved road on a mountain.  Then I thought somebody bumped into me.  It was actually a big dog not on a leash.  I thought, oh the fur baby accidently got away from his Mommy.  Then I realized that most of the dogs weren’t on leashes. There were tons of dogs without leashes running up and down the path and the outskirts of the canyon.  That was so strange to me.  They looked so free… I guess we have leash laws or something in Missouri. ….

Anyway, at one point the climb got so hard I almost turned around…No, actually I did turn around to go back and thought what a sucky blog post that would be to tell the story of how I started but didn’t finish.  The hill got steeper and the air got thinner the higher up I climbed.  One guy saw me struggling to breathe and reminded me to breathe in through my nose.  That helped a lot.  Later another guy smiled and said you’re almost there!  Then I saw my Aunt’s friends waving at me from the top, they were only about 10 minutes in front of me.  I can do that.  I can finish.  I was so happy to finally make it to the top.  It was so beautiful!   It made home look really…flat.    You could see the whole city from one side and the Hollywood Sign and the houses in the Hill on the other side.  I felt like a champion or a cool Gladiator… Going back down was breeze; all I had to do was balance a little to keep from rolling down the path.  We finished a total of 3.6 miles. What a day! Thanks Little Miss Commenter for recommending such an amazing experience.

Pointing to the Hollywood Sign, not my t-shirt

The Mountain Climbing Champ!