Christmas Vacation in Tempe 2008

On the day after Christmas, we were fortunate to have dinner with Bob and Sandy in Glendale, AZ. This was great, complete with a gift exchange and homemade dinner and sides. Sandy did all the heavy work, with wonderful green beans and ham and turkey. It was so much fun to be with family and loved ones at this time of year. Great to talk about old times and enjoy looking forward to new times and new traditions to come. Their home is lovely and I feel guilty for not helping with the prep work or the clean up. They did all the work.
They even had their Maine Coon cat to make me feel at home! They have a Siamese also, and a pretty other cat too.
Fred was kind enough to chauffeur us around, which made it really nice for us. Thanks Fred! We appreciate it!

We also got to go through the Desert Botanical Garden in Tempe. That was awesome!

Desert Botanical Garden

Our Family Christmas in Tempe 2008

Christmas 2008 -- Just one word -- FUN!

Of course, we knew it would be awesome. Ed and I couldn't wait to be with the kids at Christmas this year. We left a cold and chilly Washington National airport to land a few hours later at beautiful, warm and sunny Sky Harbor in Phoenix!


This was a pretty special Christmas holiday for Amanda, as she received a beautiful sapphire ring from Fred, her beau. This was the holiday that we were able to meet some of Fred's family and share some good times and good food with them as well as our extended family.

Our dinner before Christmas was at a very fun, hot new Italian restaurant in Scottsdale, called Noca. We enjoyed a local Arizona, Cochise County red wine, which was very reasonable and great tasting too! The service was great and the food amazing.

We enjoyed Christmas Eve at a neat place called El Chorro, which is in north Phoenix.
This is a cool place in the desert, I think it was once a girls school. It is very charming in adobe architecture and on a good bit of acreage, which feels like an oasis in this urban setting. There were fireplaces roaring, both inside and out. This felt great on this pretty cool evening. (Well, pretty cool by Arizona standards!) This was a warm and friendly place, unpretentious, with good food and drink. Our niece (and cousin to Joey and Amanda) Tina Gallo drove in from San Diego and was able to join Ed, me, Amanda and Joey. We had such a good time!


Christmas Brunch was a true main event. Fred invited us to his home on the lake in Tempe. He and Amanda had worked wonders on a beautiful spread for us all. The table would make Martha Stewart smile, for sure! It was all done in blues and Christmas decorations, lots of candles, mirrors and some trees that incorporated both. Even Thomasina's blue and white dishes had never looked more festive! Fred's home was beautiful. He has a great space, with high ceilings and a huge tree in the foyer. The fireplace was blazing and that added to the ambiance. We enjoyed great food and drink with Fred and Amanda, Fred's mother and father, Jerry and Claudia, Fred's brother Michael, Ed's cousins Bob and Sandy Gallo, Amy and Rob Saffer and Tina Gallo. And, of course, my grandpuppies, Lilly and Buddy. (Although Lilly and Buddy stayed out on the patio enjoying that pretty lake view most of the day.) We had a wonderful time. What a nice way this was to bring in Christmas.

Happy Anniversary! Its 37 years today.

This is the view leaving Phoenix yesterday, we could see snow in the high country of Arizona. This is somewhere north of Phoenix, near Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon. It really was a beautiful view, I'm so glad I had a window seat.


I'll soon be updating this blog with bits of news from our Christmas trip to Phoenix. It was a great trip! We had so much fun and we are so grateful to be able to get together with family there. It means so much to us both. What awesome people - Amanda, Joey, Fred, his parents, Jerry and Claudia, his brother, Michael, our cousins, Bob and Sandy, Amy and Rob, and Tina.

We got in late last night, exhausted but happy. I've been washing clothes, trying to get through the mail to see if there are any bills I need to pay, sorting through the newspapers. We were too tired to go out to eat, and didn't have much at home. I think we were too tired to eat though. We had to pet the cats a lot too. The pet sitter said that Zeus almost let her pet him, but not quite. He didn't hiss this time.

We're heading out to breakfast this Anniversary morning, then off to Bedford Springs, Pennsylvania for a mini get-away. Its close and convenient and will be a nice break. We are enjoying this two weeks of vacation, we rarely take this much time consecutively, but its really good to do it I think. We have some little sight seeing planned and a couple really nice hikes.

Welcome to the Valley of the Sun

This was an awesome day!

Ed and I walked to Metro in about 15 degree weather at about 7AM today.

Our flight to Phoenix was just a little delayed, but pretty smooth. From my window seat I had the most unobstructed view of Arlington Cemetery. I could see the Pentagon and the Pentagon Memorial, where Ed & I were walking just about a week ago. (Photos on FB.) It was a beautiful, cold, clear, crisp morning.

The plane was overbooked and every seat full. But it was OK. Our seatmate was a nice girl attending Columbia grad school, from Sacramento. Great to talk a bit to.

The views coming into Skyharbor were awesome! Above the clouds, we had very very bright sunshine. I could see lots of snow in the Flagstaff area. I had great views of Tempe Towne Lake and ASU when we were landing.

Its wonderful in Phoenix, great to see Amanda and Joey! We got to Skyharbor nearly at the same time, Amanda got us all. Dinner was an intriguing little Italian restaurant called Noca. I had Bass, which was really good. Service was very attentive but unobtrusive. Wine was a local red from Cochise Co. AZ. Nice wine!

Too tired to go on...more later.

Go ASU!

Or perhaps, even more fun, Go TO ASU!! Yay!!
I'm so looking forward to our trip to Tempe! Its really cold here, I don't care if its raining in Arizona.

WW day went very well, I lost -2.8 lbs. this time. Everyone in our group is trying to survive the Holidays with the best attitude. Its awesome.

Its a New Week ~ Moving Forward

Monday Weigh-In at WW went fine. I stayed the same, no gain! Hurrah! That is a victory in and of itself. Although I wanted to lose a little, I'm very very happy to have maintained.

I think Eddie is concerned that I will use his absence as the trigger to stop losing. Sometimes in my life, that might have caused me to stop the loss. But, I'm working at making this weight loss part of my life. That has to mean part of my whole life, whether I'm happy, sad, angry, depressed....my weight loss and maintenance must co-exist with the turbulence of my everyday life.

I think this is pretty hard. But, maybe not impossible. I'm committed to making a healthy weight part of my life. I have decided that I will just keep going no matter how unhappy or screwed up things become. The alternative is to slide back into my own personal hell of living in the life sucking slime of my obesity prison, unable to enjoy the things in life that give me happiness. Regardless of whether the rest of my life works out the way I would like it to, I will have to compartmentalize and make the "healthy weight" part of my life keep working. No matter what. Even when all I want to do is eat away the boredom and loneliness. I am giving this everything I've got.

So, the paperwork on Ed's new job is moving forward. He is in California this week and life moves on. We're trying to figure out how this will work, what will our lives look like and how will this feel to each of us.

I get over 5 weeks vacation each year, and I'm carrying forward nearly 5 weeks vacation. So, for 2009 I could have 10 weeks vacation to use....that is nearly a week each month I could live in California. Plus, my credit hours are nearly 8-10 weeks more time I could use.

I don't like this.

But, it would just be incredibly stupid and useless to quit a job I like and am well compensated for.
It would truly demolish my retirement for my own future.
It will be very very difficult to sell our real estate right now. (Probably could sell it, but it would be a huge financial loss, which could be mitigated if we can wait at least a year.)
--------------------------------

::Heavy Sigh::

Well, I'm celebrating that I can wear the small size wedding ring Ed bought me several years ago after our near-divorce experience. It is a lovely ring and its nice to be wearing it again.

Remember Pearl Harbor

Yesterday was Pearl Harbor day, the infamous date of the invasion of Pearl Harbor in 1941. That day was one that changed the course of my life I think, although I wasn't born yet. Dad had already served in the United States Navy and had been honorably discharged. However, he decided to re-enlist following the events of Dec. 7, 1941. That lead to his eventually meeting our Mom in Mannington later, and of course, having her fall for the guy in uniform. I think he must have been a very cute sailor. I've heard some survivors compare that day to our more modern 9/11 and then say multiply the reaction about 100 fold...That certainly would match what my Dad told us. There were several of his brothers that also went to war about that time. Great sense of duty and honor. No division on what reaction was needed, everyone seemed to pull together and no matter the personal cost. It was a very different world. Or maybe not...

--------

Today was an important Weigh-In day for my WW program. After a weight gain, it is those that recover their footing fastest that will be the eventual sustainers. So, today I lost -3 lb.s (Of course, I didn't mention my bout with food poisoning). LOL.

Anyway, I was happy to be losing once again. Hopefully this will continue. My goal is to lose 2 lbs next Monday.

I'm really looking forward to the trip to Phoenix!

The "post weight loss" Bounce! Uh Oh.

So, today is another Monday weigh-in day. Last week I reached my 50 lb. goal. This week was Thanksgiving.

Some folks elected not to weigh in today. Our leader suggested that we not get too freaked out, if the weigh-in will cause your head to go in the wrong direction, then just skip it for a week.

I was brave, I weighed in.

I gained 1.8 lbs. My first weight gain in 26 weeks! So, of course, I freaked out.

This was not totally unexpected though, I must say. It was a busy, fun, stressful week. I'll have to do better.

Ed leaves early Wednesday for Anchorage, Alaska. He won't be home until late Friday evening, after 11 I guess. Our life continues to have its challenges and as his job responsibilities increase, it will be more challenging for us both. I think all next week is California for him.

I'm in Baltimore tomorrow on a Site Visit to the University of Maryland. I meet my boss and our deputy Director at 5:45 AM to leave for the trip. Then on Thurs and Friday of this week, I have two full days of an orientation for our new employees out in the Regional Libraries, where I have to coordinate the computer needs of my dozen or so presenters.
Another busy, hectic week.

But, its a nice day today, just a little brisk. I walked to the WW meeting in the Clinical Center and that was great.