Recovering from Thanksgiving

Hello my wonderful Peeps,

It's been a full couple of days since my last post.  Shortly after my last post I went out to the beach with my Aunt and her family to take their Family Christmas picture.  On the way I grabbed my camera and put it in my pocket.  I wanted a shot with my camera too.  If you know me, you know that it is an extension of my hand.  I carry it with me at all times.  I think you know where I am going with this.  Yep, it fell out of my pocket and into the ocean.  My belly flopped.  I kept my emotions together until I got inside and then I cried.  I mean I know I wanted a new one, but I didn't want to kill this one.  We've had some good times.  The good news is that my camera card is still okay.  The bad news is that I was upset and faced stress eating. 

We were having a bonfire with Smores and I was really excited.  However, when I walked out to the beach it was completely dark and I almost tripped on a step (shades of my falling in July and taking out both of my knees for months).  I got a little nervous about falling.  Plus, Hurricane Irene beat up the Outerbanks and the beach was a mess.  There was not a lot of beach area and there was a drop off from the step to the ocean level.  During the day I was walking down the ramp of sand to the side and around to the front, but in the dark I just didn't see that happening.  I had avoided walking on the beach a lot during the day because I was afraid of messing up my knee (and I usually walk for hours on the beach).  So I skipped the bonfire.  I came inside and had some ice cream instead.  Happily, I had a small portion and only one small bowlful and not the entire pint.  I'm learning to deal with stress eating.

Yesterday was my last day at the Outerbanks *insert giant sad face*.  I woke up for the sunrise and was a little sore from my workout the day before.  So after sunrise I decided to get a walk in.  Since it was still vacation and I looked adorable, I did my walk in my pj pants and t-shirt.  I was only going to go for two miles because we had a lot to do before getting on the road.  I stayed out for an hour though and got my four miles in.  I loved seeing so many people out there.  The weather was beautiful.   It was sad though to see people packing up to go home :-(

When I got back I started helping with the clean up.  I couldn't load the car until I showered and others were still showering.  So I vacuumed.  I straightened up.  I packed.  Once I showered it was time to load up.  I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I went up and down those steps.  It was a LOT.  Not only did I carry everything for our car, but I took stuff for my aunt's car too.  I was a beast.  When everything was loaded I came upstairs and vacuumed and straightened there too.  I was getting hot.

When we got on the road we really needed to eat.  SUBWAY!  My grandmom doesn't go to Subway and let me order for her. I got her a chicken breast on a wheat roll.  She was happy.  It was a good choice.  We were set for a good portion of our ride home.

I will admit that we stopped at the Border Station for gas.  The Border Station has some fun souvenirs.  They also have fudge. I got a piece of Rocky Road.  Um...yeah, I ate it in the car.  It was a bit of a rough ride.  I will say that I was beyond tired.  I had the walk, the cleaning, the packing, the Sunrise, the big workout yesterday..I was toast.  The car was also super packed.  I didn't have a lot of leg room.  My knee was not feeling good.  I offered to switch drivers so that I could stretch it a little.  That was fine, but I was really really tired. I put in a little over an hour of driving, but I was not going to make it the rest of the way.  The question then became: what do we do for dinner?  There were fast food places galore to choose from.  We weren't hungry, but we needed to eat.  We opted for Chick-Fil-A.  I got the kids meal for portion control.  And then I promptly fell asleep for the rest of the ride.  Still had to unload the car though.

I have been beyond sore today.  I really needed to walk, but my knee is not happy with me so I took today off.  I have plans to go walking with my cousin in the morning before we get on the road.  He did his first 5K on Thanksgiving (GO RANDY!) and may come cheer me on for the Half in two weeks (OMG REALLY?  TWO WEEKS already????)

Before I go let me just say how great my vacation was.  On a completely personal note, it was so nice to keep hearing how "skinny" I am.  I need to hear that.  I know I look much better.  It is so important to hear the positives because sometimes I look in the mirror and focus on the negatives.  I couldn't stop looking at the flabby areas under my arms this week.  I get so mad that I focus on the negative.  So hearing the positives made me feel so much better (I could almost enjoy the fantasies while reading People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive edition...um Bradley Cooper you can call me too!  I'm an Eagles fan you know :-). 

Anyway, positive reinforcement is so incredibly important.  So I'm telling you right now, you look awesome!  Keep up the great work.  :-)

*************************************************************************
Check out my Facebook Page for  Confessions (there are before and work-in-progress pictures):

facebook.com/ConfessionsOfAFormerFatGir

yeah, sorry, I messed up and the "l" is missing....I need an assistant :-)

Don't forget to follow me on Twitter: @hugsnsmile