... or, how to gain eight pounds in nine days!

I had a fantastic vacation in New York City and environs. The travel part was not very good, as I had five flights total, and ended up missing one, having one cancelled, and another delayed. Blah. And the cancelled one meant that I got home a day later than originally planned, but it all worked out fine.

I spent the first day of my vacation travelling to and from Stamford, CT from NYC to see Dr. D'Adamo and to find out what else I could do to resolve my digestive issues and reactions to foods. As we all know, he's brilliant and figured out my problem lickety split. So now I've got some supplements that should help take care of the problems. It was delightful to see Dr. D. again, too - he was out here last year for a book signing for ER4YBaby.

Stamford seems like a lovely town - after my appointment I walked down the street to a Asian restaurant and had sushi for lunch. Yum. Then I walked back towards Dr. D's clinic, and thought about calling a cab, but decided to walk back to the train station (a couple miles). It was a beautiful day, and I meandered back to the station while glancing in shop windows and enjoying being on the east coast with all the greenery and different architecture than is out here in CA.

I can't begin to explain how much fun I had in the city - went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, walked for hours and then went to the top of the Empire State Building, went to Rockefeller Center, saw the Macy's Fireworks display on the East River, saw "Movin' Out" with my friend Suzanne, went out to dinner at a very chi-chi place with Suzanne and her BF, etc. BF joined me for two days and we went to see "Avenue Q" and spent two lovely and romantic days in the city. I am still incredulous at how quickly things have changed in my life - 6 weeks ago I wondered if I'd ever make it past three dates with someone again, and now I think I've met the person I'm going to spend the rest of my life with! (And he's thinking the same about me!) : ) He and I went to Ground Zero together, and I got very emotional, but it was cathartic, too.

I ate pretty much everything in sight the entire week - wheat, dairy, you name it, I ate it. Also drank more alcohol during the week and I've probably had in the last year combined. But I knew that I'd be getting back home and getting stricter with my diet again since I saw Dr. D, and it WAS vacation, so I didn't worry about it while I was travelling. I even ate PIZZA (it was disgusting, too, and not worth it.) Even so, I was probably at least 50% compliant. And now that I'm back, I'm cleaning up my diet so that I can resolve these digestive issues I've been dealing with forever.

I walked 3-5 miles a day pretty much every day I was travelling, and loved every minute of it. Got several blisters, though, and ended up buying a new pair of shoes on my second day of vacation so that I could walk without chafing anything else. So even though I gained eight pounds, my pants still fit fine, and I think I even gained a bit of muscle along with the fat that I put on. I've already lost a couple pounds just from starting to get back to my usual routines, but I'm not quite there yet.

Since I got back, I've spent lots of time with BF, and the more time I spend with him the more time I want to spend with him. We tested him to find out his blood type - he's an A+. And he LOVES red meat. He wants to lose weight, though, and has borrowed my ER4YT and is slowly incorporating changes into his diet. He's lost 4 pounds in the last week!

Spent about 90 minutes with Anne Sunday - she had a date to prepare for, and I had to take a nap before coming to work tonight, so we didn't have much time together. But we swam and chatted and partially caught up on the events of the last couple weeks. I missed her!

I sent Mike a postcard while I was in NYC. He sent me a couple emails while I was gone asking me to join him for a show that he was an extra on, but then he couldn't make it. I offered up this Wednesday as an alternative time to watch the tape, but haven't heard from him. I stopped in to chat with the apartment manager on Saturday, though, and as we were talking we heard something, turned, and didn't see anything, and then I saw him through the window. Apparently he'd stopped in and seen me and left. We'll see how this goes. I miss my friend.

So now I'm back at work, and not thrilled. It was a wonderful 13 days off, and I didn't realize just how hard the night shift thing was until I got back to a day schedule for more than a weekend. I need a new job ASAP. I'm working on that. Glad to be back home, though!