Christmas Travel Adventures Part 1 - VA to NC To GA to FL

Hello my Lovelies and Gents,

So I have a confession. I was actually happy to get back to the office yesterday...not because I love my job, but because I needed to get back in to my routine and schedule. O.M.G. I needed that!

I thoroughly enjoyed my time away. I truly did. And I did my best to try and control my situations, but the reality is that I was living out of a suitcase for 9 days. And  then the next two days were New Year's Eve and Day.  

I packed my entire gym bag full of workout clothes for trip. I packed my water bottle, crystal light packets, animal crackers to munch on, and protein bars. I was prepared! But, it's very hard to stick to your schedule when you have to take into account everyone with you.

The Saturday morning that we were leaving for Charlotte I took my grandmom out to breakfast. She loves IHOP. They have a Simple & Fit menu.  I try to stick to that. I had Whole wheat french toast, egg substitute, and turkey bacon. I didn't even finish all of the french toast. But, I was feeling good. It's never good to get on the road hungry. NEVER.

This was a good plan. It was an early breakfast though and I had hoped to get on the road shortly after. But, that didn't happen. I had to wait for mom to finish packing. We didn't get on the road until noon. Which now meant that I wouldn't get lunch until later. Dang it!  We did stop at Tropical Smoothie and I got my turkey spinach wrap so I was feeling good with that choice. The problem was that it had a bite to it and I was sucking down soda like a mad woman to put out the fire. Bah!  I had only gotten the soda as my caffiene fix and now I was drinking way too much of it.

The original plan was to have a light dinner at Marisol's in Charlotte when we got there and then serve appetizers for everyone (since it would be after dinner). I had stopped and picked up a veggie tray, cheese, and sour dough bread for a dipping oil that I had. Well we didn't get in until almost 9pm. I think you know me. I wanted to eat my car by the time we got there. We could have stopped to grab some food, but people were waiting for us. By the time we got there everyone had eaten snacks and weren't hungry. I wanted to devour her whole kitchen. She had made some pasta and chicken for dinner and saved us some. I HEART HER!

I loved seeing everyone and oh yeah, it was nice having them see me. I haven't been down in a year and a half and a couple of my girlfriends don't have Facebook so they hadn't really seen me. Not gonna lie, totally loved hearing "Wow you look sooooo great!"  Thank you :-)

In the morning Marisol made me pancakes and eggs.  I needed something hearty because we were not planning on eating until we got to Savannah. YEAH!  However, we got on the road later than I had hoped and we got stuck in traffic. A late lunch soon became dinner. WHAT???  I tried. I really tried!

You may remember that I was over the moon excited for some Savannah BBQ. Well, when we got to Savannah we pulled right in to the welcome center. If we only have an hour where should we go?  The very nice gentleman sent us down to the Riverfront. That's cool. We amazingly found a place to park and got out to stretch and take pictures. It was still light out and there was lots to see. Plus, I wanted to test out the new camera before I saw the baby.

So yeah, there were lots of sales going on. Everything was 50% off with an additional 5% holiday sale. Um...hello!  It was hard to buy a sweatshirt when we were on our way to Florida and equally hard to buy a t-shirt with flip-flops on it when it was Christmas time. Instead I found an across the body bag that I liked. Actually before we even saw that store we saw a rack of sundresses outside of one that were all $10. They were cute. So we went back. I found a pretty lavender dress that I just adored. I got the medium.  I didn't try it on because I was feeling very bloated from my trip. But, my thoughts were: if it doesn't fit now, it's my incentive dress for the summer.

We still needed to eat and we thought about the BBQ. We would have to get back in the car and drive to it or we could just grab something on the riverfront. I was so hungry that the idea of driving to Florida with the Family pack of BBQ I was planning on buying made me nauseous. The restaurant across from the car advertised Fried Green Tomatoes. Oh yeah! It was still pretty early for dinner and it looked like we could get seated right away so we went in.

I wanted to get a salad, but I was STARVING and feared that it would not be enough. I found a Southern style chicken salad with pecans and pineapple.  Um...hello!  So I got it. They were out of wheat so I opted for rye. Oh it was good. And honestly, I think a little easier on the belly than BBQ would have been. There was no way I was leaving without some Key Lime Pie so mom and I split a small piece. It was heavenly! Sadly, we forgot to order the Fried Green Tomatoes. DOH! Fear not! I heart Savannah and plan on going back for more!

I got some water to go and then we were off. It was now dark and the lights were dancing on the river. It was so pretty. The Riverfront is a cobblestone road and it's one way. There is also a trolley that runs back and forth.  So now it was dark and there were people walking everywhere. My car was bouncing all over the place. I was trying not to hit people. I had no idea where I could turn. Then all of a sudden there is a trolley coming at me. CRAP!

We made it out alive and on our way out I became mesmorized with the spanish moss dangling from the trees. I quickly pulled over to take some pictures. They are super cool...and creepy.

We didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked in Savannah. I had hoped for a longer stop to walk around more, but we really needed to get back on the road in order to get to Florida before midnight. I knew I was going to need to stop a couple more times just to stretch my legs. They were starting to cramp like crazy at that point...but in all fairness it was my third day driving.

This was my planned cheat day. I didn't quite eat what I wanted and my calories weren't so hot, but my portions were limited and there was no snacking in between so that's okay. I wish I had drank more water though. I was feeling very bloated.

I was VERY happy to pull into my brother's driveway at the end of the night. Even though the baby was asleep and we were not allowed to wake him. BUZZKILL!  Aunt Jennie needs a snuggle!  (Don't worry, we waited him out...he finally woke up at 2am and we got some baby snuggles).

Have a Blessed Night my friends

****Please note****

If you feel like you are alone on your journey and you just need some encouragement I am here for you! Shoot me an email and I will do my best to check in on you or give you the words of support you need several times a week. The journey is so much easier if you have support.

jhendersonfit@gmail.com