The Weekend Experience

After all of the struggles over the past few weeks, I am relieved to report that I had a very successful holiday weekend! I have to start with my BIG NSV because I am so excited about it!!!

For the first time in 13 years, I got to go on my very favorite carnival ride... The Ring of Fire.

Three or four summers ago, I remember looking at it longingly - knowing there was no way I could squeeze my wide hips in there with another person (and they require two riders). When I was in high school, it was a tight fit for me and my then BFF... so there was NO chance that I'd fit after packing on an extra 60 pounds from my high school weight.

When the carnival was here in the spring this year, I knew I was small enough to fit once again... but there was no freakin Ring of Fire. Driving to town Thursday night, I saw it sitting there in all its glory and was giddy with excitement. The next task was finding a victim to accompany me... enter my friend Melissa... who just happened to come stay the weekend. We got to the carnival and the darn thing was closed for some unknown reason! I was so bummed... I could have cried. We let the kids do their thing and toward the end of the evening it was reopened and I got to ride... FINALLY! Not only did I fit... I fit with room to spare!!!!! It was amazing!!!!

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Saturday was a busy day. My friend, Melissa, was here with her oldest son and three year old niece. We took the kids to one of the local parks/forts and had a blast walking all over. I couldn't find my pedometer (a sure sign that I've been away from my normal routine for way too long), but I think we probably walked about three miles all together. Plus, every time we came to a staircase, I went up and down them a couple times each while waiting on the kids. The kids were pretty worn out by the end of the day... burned some extra calories carrying the three year old around at various points. It was also pretty cool, we happened to run into an old friend and his kids there... I used to babysit them when they were little, but hadn't seen them in years. We packed along sack lunches for the day... mine was filled with a whole wheat bagel thin spread with laughing cow cheese, a pine nut mix with dried cranberries, and a 100 calorie pack of cookies... satisfying and a perfect amount for a busy, on-the-go afternoon. Plus, I was pleased with myself for not caving in to the temptation of fast food...

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Food was a better experience in general this weekend... despite the "crap food friends," lol. I ended up doing a lot of cooking... and for the most part there was no complaining. Food items included homemade chicken taquitos (about 225 calories for two of them) and a breakfast scramble with turkey kielbasa, onion, garlic and tomato. Seriously, I don't think they even realized they were eating healthy foods. Thank God for Hungry Girl recipes. :)

At my Mom's yesterday, we managed to have a pretty healthy 4th of July meal too. We had grilled kabobs, fruit salad with a yogurt dressing and corn bread. The corn bread was my splurge and it was soooooo yummy... it didn't even need butter.

They do the community fireworks right by her house, so we got to watch from her front yard... super nice to be able to avoid the crowds. The last two years I have been gone on the 4th, so it was lots of fun to watch The Boy One watching the fireworks. He used to be scared to death of them, but this year he was jumping up and down excited and hollering "BRAVO" at the top of his lungs between each burst.

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Monday has proven to be a most relaxing day. I finally finished planting my flowers for the back patio and the veggies are all in pots too. In the afternoon, I was in the car, on the way to the gym, and the weather was soooooo nice I couldn't stand the thought of being cooped up indoors. So... I went to one of the beaches in town and walked. It was a pretty short walk - about a mile - because I was sans-sunscreen... but I walked down on the rocky beach which is a way more intense workout for the legs than the boardwalk portion. It felt good to get out there. If the weatherman is right, we are headed for a stretch of awesome weather... which makes me itch for all the different beaches and trails... I can't wait! I'll just have to dash into the gym for some weight training. I just installed RunKeeper on my NEW phone, so that will be fun to use too!

Drazil says I must report on my trip to Victoria Secret... among other things... so I shall try to oblige her in my next post. Also, I know I have some awards that I've been terribly remiss in responding too... thank you so much for them... they mean more than you know...

Keeping my fingers crossed for a happy scale day...