Vacations are good for you

Ok, well here is part one of the post I promised. Yesterday I said I'd post it by this afternoon, which turned into tomorrow morning, which is now today. Got it? Good.

There's nothing quite like a vacation to remind you of what life SHOULD be like. And while getting away isn't always 100% non-stressful (especially with kids), you should strive to make your getaway as relaxing as possible. Not just physically, but mentally too. By physically relaxing I don't mean inactive. I mean treating your body with the rest and nourishment it needs. Our room had a jacuzzi tub and you can bet I spent some time in it. We also slept in a lot, which felt really good. Mentally, many of us need to "get away from it all". That's easier said than done, but is vital to de-stressing. We all need to step back from time to time and evaluate our life, direction, motivation, goals, etc. I find I can do that better when I've had some time off. Time to remember who I am, what I want and why I want it. This also works for your diet. If you are frustrated or finding you are losing interest, step back a moment and look at the big picture. Determine your goals and what it really takes to get there. Decide if your current plan of action is helping or hindering. Or maybe it's just your attitude and expectations need some adjusting. Whatever the case, re-evaluating is always a good idea to get you going again.

I did just that this past week and find I'm more excited than ever about the direction I'm heading in life and in my health.

A quick summary:

Our vacation was a nice little getaway to Branson, Missouri. For those of you that have never been to Branson, it's a great place to take the family. You'll find Sliver Dollar City Amusement Park, White Water, Tours (Ride the Ducks) and mini-golf/go-cart racing galore! Shopping is great there and you can easily find something for everyone. Loads of restaurants as well to suit every appetite. And the shows are always a blast. I have no idea how many shows there are, but it'd take you weeks to see them all.

We opted for a couple of days at Silver Dollar City and a couple of local attractions during the week. Sadly it rained most of the time we were there and most of the outdoor rides were shut down due to lightening about half way through each day. We arrived early enough though that we were able to ride everything we liked. While the rides were shut down we spent time wandering through the shops in SDC, watching the shows available, and watching the demonstrations. I highly recommend watching the blacksmith and the glassblower - very cool stuff! Also the saloon show is always a riot.

Depending on when you get to SDC you can find a variety of shows. We were there during World Fest and saw a show from Ireland called Feet of Fire. Being of Irish heritage myself, I loved every minute. But even if you don't have any Irish blood in your veins, you would enjoy it. We also saw a Chinese Acrobatic act. Amazing how limber these people were! If you twisted me up like a pretzel I'd be broken for life. These people bended like they were made of rubber... they just bounced right back to a normal human form. AMAZING!

As for food in SCD, lots to choose from. As with most places, you can make about any meal LC if you know what to look for. If you go to the Lumberjack Skillet, they have what they call a low-carb fajita skillet. Honestly, it's only lc if you don't eat the tortilla that comes with it, but it's filling enough you don't need it. I get it every time we go and enjoy it immensely.

We also spent some time at the Hollywood Wax Museum. My kids have never seen a wax museum and though they'd enjoy it. We all thought it was cool, but it was a bit expensive for no longer than we were in there. If you have little kids, keep in mind there is a Hall of Monsters (which look pretty real... so it's kinda freaky, even for an adult) but you can bypass it though and alternate route.

The highlight of our trip was seeing the Bob Nelson show at the Clay Cooper Theatre. Bob has been one of my favorite comedians since I saw him in TV when I was about 10. When I heard he was there I knew we had to go. My only reservation was that I knew Bob used to curse a little in his routines. Before buying tickets I asked the clerk about his act and she said he'd cleaned it up in recent years. Later I learned that Bob was now a Christian and wants to keep his act 100% family friendly. Let me just say that this show was so awesome that we will go again next time we are there. We all laughed until we cried. And we were on the front row, so I got great shots, as well as the fact that we were actually a part of the show here and there when he decided to use people from the crowd for something.

All in all the trip was relaxing and much needed. We haven't taken a vacation since 2007 and needed the getaway badly. Now I'm back and renewed in mind, spirit, and my determination to take care of myself. (Nothing like traversing up and down hills on foot to make one aware of their physical condition, or in my case, lack thereof!) I'm also ready to get back to writing full time. I'll be honest. I've had so much on my plate the last month or so that the idea of blogging for writing for Examiner just stressed me out. But now that I'm looking at it through refreshed eyes, I'm ready to get going again.

I'm running short on time, but plan to come back later today to talk about the steps we can take at home to give ourselves a "mini-vacation" when we can't physically get away. (Also I'll probably share some photos, because you know my camera and I are never far apart.)

The 2009 Low-Carb Cruise is not to be missed!

With each day we get closer to January 2009. Time slips by fast, doesn't it? It's hard to believe in just over 7 short months we'll be in a new year again. But I'll admit this is one time I can't wait to see the days fly by. Why? Because on January 19 we will be on a cruise to Mexico!

I'm so excited about this cruise! I'll get to spend several days with the most wonderful low-carbers in the world. And you may remember in my last post on this topic I talked about how we'll be joined by Jonny Bowden, author of some of the best low-carb books on the market. It will be fantastic to meet him and learn from him!

At the risk of sounding like an infomercial... There's more! In this blog post by Jimmy Moore, he reveals that we have two other special guests who will join us on the cruise. Dr. Eric Westman, one of the world's leading researchers on carbohydrate-restricted diets will be there, as well as Jackie Eberstein, who worked side-by-side for 30 years with the late great Dr. Atkins himself. To quote Jimmy:

She really knows all the ins and outs of this way of eating so well that I consider her the foremost authority on the Atkins diet today.

I agree! And having all three of these wonderful people on the cruise will be awesome!

This will be a low-carb "get-together" like you've never seen. It will be informative, educational and fun! I can hardly wait!

If you haven't signed up for the cruise, but would love to join us, you still have a few days left to register with a small deposit of $50 per person ($100 per cabin), the remainder of the deposit coming due in September ($150 per person), and the remaining balance of $200 per person due in November. After May 21st all who sign up will need to put down a full deposit of $200 per person ($400 per cabin).

Where else can you get a fantastic vacation like this for $400 per person?


To sign up, here's another quote from Jimmy:

... should be booked through Vacations To Go through our cruise agent Amelie Richards and you can contact her directly with any questions about the 2nd Annual Low-Carb Cruise by calling her toll-free 800-514-9986 ext. 7583 anytime Monday through Friday from 8am-5pm CST. Or you can e-mail her Amelie at arichards@vacationstogo.com. If you have any questions for our cruise leader, her name is Becky Regandy and she can be reached at xregandyx@yahoo.com.

I really hope to see you there!

Home again, Home again, Jiggity Jig..

We made it home last night around 6. Then changed clothes and went out again to grab a quick meal and get some groceries.

Our vacation was fantastic! The only 2 things that could have made it better were more money and less bad eating. I ate horrible while we were gone. Why? I'm an idiot. I have no excuses other than that. Anyhow, I'm up about 5 lbs. I'm not changing my progress stats or anything. I expect to have all 5 lbs off very soon.

So here's what we did:

Wednesday was spent driving mostly. Hubby had to work his sales route on the way so we sat in the truck and read or listened to the radio most of the time.

Thursday we did a bit more driving and then checked into our hotel room. We spent most of the day relaxing at the room. That night we went to see the Titanic Museum, which is amazing, and then spent the rest of the evening at Branson Landing. We shopped at Bass Pro, had dinner and just enjoyed looking around.

Friday we got up early and spent most of the day at Silver Dollar City. We had a great time. My son rode his first loop-de-loop roller coaster (Wildfire) with me! He loved it! I'm a huge ride nut and love stuff like that. My hubby hates heights. He's rode a couple of rollar coasters with me and thinks the ride itself is fun.. but he can't open his eyes during the ride due to the height issues. My daughter has those same issues. She freaks when she gets up high. She wanted to ride a big roller coaster with me (the PowderKeg) and I told her I wasn't sure. She said she was scared but wanted to try it. In short, she hated it. No high stuff for her. At all.
They have a new ride called The Giant Swing. This thing was awesome! Matt rode it with me, but he wasn't sure he liked it. Make sure you watch the video on the link to see exactly what this ride was like. My all time favorite ride in SDC is The Electro Spin. There is a video link you can watch here as well if you wanna see what it's about. That night we checked into the time-share (which I will refer to from now on as the "house") and enjoyed relaxing there. Hubby took full advantage of the whirlpool tub. :0)

Saturday we hung around the "house" while I did laundry. Around 5 pm we took the kids to Celebration City, which is another amusement park. It's also owned by Silver Dollar City and picks up where SDC leaves off. SDC closes at 7 and CC is open from 3pm to 10 pm. We rode a few rides and watched a Veggie Tales show, which is a family favorite of ours. At 9:30 we enjoyed their awesome laser light and fireworks show.

Sunday was spent sleeping and recuperating at the "house". We did leave once to drive the kids by Table Rock Lake and Dam.

Monday we packed up our things, said a sad goodbye to the "house", and left. We stopped for breakfast and then drove on to our next destination, Meramec Caves. We arrived around 1 p.m. and rented a raft for the 2 p.m. float trip. We had lunch and waited on the bus to pick us up. The driver then informs us that the river is running so slow that a raft my very well take us several hours longer than we expected. The canoes can make the 5 mile trip in about 3 hours, if you paddle constantly. The raft would normally take 5 hours (which would put us back at the truck by 7 p.m.), but the previous day they had someone who didn't make it back until 9. I was already a bit nervous about this, so the idea of floating back in the dark did not appeal to me at all. We changed our minds and took the canoe. We had a wonderful time, despite the fact that we almost got dumped into the river a couple of times and we got stuck on a log twice. Hubby and I both paddled most of the way, and let me tell you, my arms got a good workout! I'm feeling arm, back and shoulder muscles I forgot I had. I sadly don't have any photos to share of the canoe trip. I was too scared my camera would get dumped in the drink. I think it was a wise decision considering how many times we had close calls. We did stop in one shallow spot and wade around. The kids loved it. They kept lying on their backs, while in life vests, and letting the gentle current carry them a little ways. It really was a lot of fun.

So there you have it. What I did on my summer vacation...

Here are some pictures (you so knew these were coming..)


Matt (pointing at Dad), Rachel and I (in front of picture) on the Wildcat Roller Coaster in Celebration City. (Rachel liked this one)


Rachel and Matt on the kids coaster at Silver Dollar City. This was one of those pictures they sell you after the ride is over.



Matt and Rachel goofing off at Bass Pro. "I can squeeze your head with my fingers!"


I need to upload the rest to my flickr account. I'll let you know when I do so you can see more if you'd like. Ok.. lots to do to play catch-up around here. Later!

See you Tuesday!

I'm on vacation until Tuesday, Aug. 14th. Have a great week and weekend! See you then!

I'm a hazard to myself.. Don't let me get me!

No. I don't listen to Pink. But I heard these lyrics once and they got stuck in my head. They seemed appropriate as a title for this post as well.

I goofed.

I made an lc dessert yesterday.

It was awesome.

I can't stay out of it.

It's a low-carb key lime pie and you wouldn't know it wasn't the full sugar version. Everyone liked it, but I've ate the majority of it.

IT MUST GO AWAY!

So I'm thinking of throwing the rest in the trash so It doesn't tempt me anymore. I've already had two slices today.. and it's not even lunch!

I'd share the recipe with you, but I don't want to be responsible for the havoc it will cause. That would be irresponsible of me! (psst.. if you really want it, I'll share it, but don't say you weren't warned!)


In other news, I saw 159.8 yesterday! That's a new low! If I can just stay out of the pie, maybe I'll see another new low soon.

This week will be a bit tough for me. We leave for vacation on Wed. and won't be back until Monday. We are going to spend those days in Branson, MO at a time-share a friend of ours has. They gave these days to us as a birthday present to my hubby. (He will turn one of the big 0's on Sunday. I'd tell you, but he's not dealing with it well. I don't want to cause undue stress by announcing his age. Besides, you can probably figure it out on your own. lol) Anyway, eating on the go is a little harder on me. I don't always make the best choices. We will have a kitchen in the time-share so I can make at least some of our meals. That will help. I'll really be happy if I can just maintain while we are gone.

Our vacation will consist of a couple of days at Silver Dollar City, which will only be fun if it isn't 100 degrees out, which it may well be. We are also going to do some fishing at Table Rock Lake. We plan to do some horseback riding as well. (Yes, I'll be bathing in sunscreen before I do any of these.) And if we can't stand the heat any longer, we may go see the Titanic museum. Rest assured I'll be coming home with loads of pictures to share. :0)

So today will be busy with tossing pie in the trash, cleaning and laundry in preparation for the trip, and running last minute errands.

Have a great day!

August 2, 2007

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. We had that garage sale I've been mentioning and it took all day. I'm happy to say I sold over half the item I'd brought to the sale and made a nice little amount to take with us on vacation next week.

I also forgot to apply some sunscreen to my face and neck. In short - I fried myself. I didn't mean to. I thought I was safe under the roof of the porch most of the time. But obviously I was out in the sun just enough to make my neck look like a boiled lobster. I'm not kidding... you could fry an egg on the back of my neck. :0( I'm rubbing some after sun lotion on it about every 3 hours so it doesn't dry out and hurt worse.

OK.. quick update and then I gotta run. I have an appointment to leave for in about 30 minutes.

I'm down 1.4 lbs today. That makes me an even 160! I can't wait to break into the 150's again. Only 25 lb to go before goal.

Have a great day everyone! I'll get be back to post this evening if I can.

I'm Back...

and utterly exhausted. This was, by far, the worst trip we have ever taken. I will be sure to post about it in great detail soon so you can laugh at the whole fiasco.. and hopefully learn to use a different airline in the process. I assure you, it will be trip I will not soon forget, though I'd love to.

In the meanwhile, my friend Kendal's Wife posted something that cracked me up today. You'll just have to check it out for yourself to see what I mean.


I'm swamped with things to catch up on, but I'll try to post about our adventures later today if I can.