Swim when ya can!

Driving home from L.A. I passed a public pool at 6:15pm.  I pulled in and asked when lap swim times were & got LUCKY, 5-7pm! 
Moral of the story: ALWAYS carry your swim suit & goggles in the car.  Even though I only swam for 35 minutes it was rewarding & breathtaking to see the sun set around me!  Swimming always clears my head ~ counting laps, practicing techniques & rhythmic breathing.

Candylicious

The annual trip to Texas to see my brother is only complete with daily visits to Houston's 2 finest stores (thoughtfully side by side):   The Chocolate Bar & Candylicious.

If you want any candy, foreign or domestic, retro or hot off the press, it's at Candylicious.  A framed newspaper article stated that M & M's are the best candy (health-consciously speaking), which couldn't have made me happier since I consume them regularly.  The Chocolate Bar's homemade ice creams, gorgeous cakes, desserts & every kind of item attached TO chocolate are pure extacy.  I'm not kidding.  Each bite I felt the love of that Chocolatier carefully hand crafting my item. 
Who doesn't want 11 vitamins & minerals with their chocolate cereal "bon bon"!!!

Did I exercise?  Yes I did.  YMCA family membership came in handy!

Ordering, finding & tasting all the new products would be the best job!!!
 
http://www.theoriginalchocolatebar.com

Vegas Buffets Rock!

12 friends met in Vegas for 2 days to celebrate my college roommate's 40th Birthday!   On the flight there I customized my cell phone settings, changed it's display & finally read all the "tips" in its manual!  I'd been stuck in my 2007 habits & now I'm in the 2010 decade of shortcuts.

While IN Vegas I was impressed & pleasantly surprised how much our large group of girls did in a weekend!  ate, drank, exercised, spa, craps, watched & bet on The Jets game then The Saints playoff game, ate late dinner, drank, danced, blackjack tables, slots.  Day 2 Repeat, but we included a BUFFET! 

Now, I grew up going to Vegas once a year doing the buffet thing with my blackjack playing dad... it was a special treat to pay $20 for casino buffets.  The girls were hesitant to pay $32 but agreed to try a buffet at The Wynn.   It was unbelievable how much delicious, fresh, gourmet food was offered.  Japanese - sashimi, Southern -shrimp etuffe, Thai -grilled beef salad, Indian - lentils & curried chicken, Chinese - Potstickers, Italian cuisine - fresh butternut squash gnocci & imported olives & cheeses - mustard seed sharp cheddar.  But the icing on the cake were the desserts.  Gelato bar, Perfiterols, peach cobbler, coffee mouse, chocolate souflee, lime tart with fresh rasberries, OMG!  I'm sitting on the plane ride home very satiated, very happy.   On my "50 things you must do before you die" list is: a high end buffet at a big casino at least once, maybe annually, and THE WYNN was outstanding! 

If you go at 11:30 am, you'll be set with breakfast & lunch items, & one meal lasting ALL day.

Dieting

Dieting was the topic on the Today Show this morning.  The Cookie Diet, currently popular, spurred me to go get an apple fritter at Starbucks.  I liked the diet strategy of "portion size" & Starbucks' "Nutrition by the Plate" brochure confirmed my doughnut was NOT even the worst food there.   WHO KNEW that a zucchini & walnut muffin (vegetable & nut) had more calories & fat than my fritter!  This was great news!  Also worse was banana bread, every type of scone & all egg sandwiches.   For years I assumed a blueberry scone or vegetable muffin were healthier than a doughnut...THANK you Starbucks for relieving my restriction of doughnuts.

I love sugar no doubt, but I know I can't perform solely on it.  That whole day I ate on the run - the fritter then a candy bar for lunch & pizza for dinner.  BUT the next day I pulled a 180: 2 fried eggs for breakfast, salad for lunch & fish/veggis & potatoes for dinner.   I savor the days of orgasms in my mouth (fritters, cheesecakes, mixed drinks) as well as the bland calorie reducing days so my body never gets used to anything.  I couldn't have one without the other.  Embracing my busy life (accepting I'll eat un-nutritiously for a day or 2 & knowing I'll flip back to health) has made me mentally comfortable.

And I actually work out harder & better when I've eaten poorly, so junk food fuels my fire!

Mad Libs

Coloring books, maze books, flash cards, chapter books & Mad Libs adorn the back seat area of my vehicles, but with so many options for my kids, it usually looks like a tornado has whipped through. 

Last week my parents visited.  In an effort to show 'my daughterly respect' & to show I'd grasped onto any bit of tidiness my mom tried to instill, I cleaned out the backseat so she could sit with the kids.   As a busy mom, I always choose to exercise for an hour, over cleaning the car.

Since she's really into grammar & verbs etc..she'd be so proud of me she'd be for having backseat entertainment involving education as well.  I decided to open the Mad Libs book - I remembered them giggling a few days prior - & this is what I saw.  13 pages of them filled with verbs like "pooping, peeing, nose picking, farting, boobing,"  nouns like "butt crack, crap & doggy doodoo,"  plural nouns such as "peanises, boobs, bugars, testikals, turds."  And adjetives like "booby, peanisy."  On one Mad Lib they used peanis, peanisy, peanising & peanises for every blank spot!

That was a good laugh!

I gotta work on their spelling.

Manners

I try to model, practice, teach, preach & exude BALANCE; who knows how out of whack I'd be if I didn't have kids!  My goal being to nurture their creativity, enjoy their stages through childhood & simultaneously to introduce manners & useful tools that are accepted by most people so they can be confident, capable adults.

Raised by very mannerful parents, I was forced to regularly practice eating dinner very formally, no elbows on the table, certainly no burping.  Now a mom of 8 & 9 year olds, I was having so much more fun NOT enforcing those rules that I gave up & accepted our playful goofy dining experiences every night.  We laugh a lot & it feels really good.

I taught them once how to eat properly & thought they'd understand when to use it (with Grandma & Grandpa.)  But that isn't happening; my parents are appalled at their animal-like, hyper demeanors.  I'm so bummed to have to be strict like my parents were with me. (I was so sure I could accomplish the same results without being serious, but they don't take me seriously unless I'm really serious.)  So I've got to balance out their hyperness with some emily-postness.

I'm glad to have the foundation of proper etiquette & know it's beneficial in life.  So here I go, trying to halfway undo the years of burping & spinning & joking at the dinner table.  Maybe doing every other night serious & silly will work.

Most importantly what's for dessert?  I guess we'll have to stop squirting whipped cream into our mouths some of the time too.

Crash & Learn

The morning was fast - kids to school, run for exercise, bank, pack, check-in online & print boarding pass, then airport bound to Vegas by 10:45am.  As I drove to the airport a "center-yellow-line RE-painting" truck headed towards me, hanging a few feet into my side of the highway.  Suddenly I plunged forward as I was rear ended. Miscellaneous console crap bumped to the ground around my feet.  Reeling with adrenaline, I impulsively swerved into the vacant oncoming traffic lane & missed hitting the truck in front of me.  SHIT!  I'm going to miss my flight! 

I've never been in a car accident until this.  I was surprised how jittery I felt, like ants crawling under every inch of my body.  I shakily checked my rear bumper, wow, barely any damage, just a few scratches & a busted trailer plug... I think my tow hitch saved me!  Then I glanced up & looked at the car behind me...hoooooooooly moly!  Their hood was smashed up to their windshield, car scrap metal scattered the highway like a garage sale & the driver & passenger were hidden behind airbags.  In disbelief I pushed & pulled on my bumper & looked underneath my car.  Go Volvo!!!!

2 ambulances later loading in 3 other people, I felt no worse than I did after competing in Wipeout.  And luckily the Highway Patrol officer was amazingly efficient with paperwork; I was the first to be released.  

I arrived at the airport, miraculously found a parking spot within 10 seconds & charged directly for the moving security belt (checking in on-line had never proven so handy until now).  I was the last to board, my insides stirring like a swarm of bees. 

Today as I write this I'm relieved & glad to be reminded how lucky I am.  My life is full, one adventurous day leapfrogging the next.