Tomorrow Is Another Day...

Sayonara!

I wanted to take the time to write a longer farewell post, however between a mad dash to complete house projects, getting ready for Colby's deployment, prepping for Japan, finishing my math class, having some pals over for a lovely dinner and now dealing with a busted air conditioner, the past few days have been more than a little hectic.  Let's just say, I'm leaving for the airport in 3 hours and I'm still packing.  Sleep is for wusses!  And people on seventeen hour international flights!  Mmmmm, melatonin...

So, this abbreviated goodbye will have to do.  I'll be back on July 5th with photos and travel stories, as well as a desperate need to be cheered up as Japan will be behind me and the 4 long months of Colby's deployment will be stretching before me.

Until then, take care of you, have a wonderful 4th of July weekend if you're into that kind of thing, and don't do anything I wouldn't do!  That should give you plenty of leeway, but will require that you not eat any green olives or climb any particularly tall trees.

The Holy City

This past weekend was the last one that Colby and I will spend together before I leave for Japan and he deploys, so we decided to make the absolute most of it.  We put all of our projects on the back burner and got out of the house to spend some quality time with each other and our city.

 Friday we headed to Middleton Place, the remains of an old rice plantation built in the mid-1700s.  Unfortunately, between the devastation of the Civil War and the massive 1886 earthquake, the main house is no longer standing, but the original owners of the plantation built two impressive flankers to the main building--one to house gentlemen guests and one for their library and music conservatory.  While the gentlemen's quarters were also destroyed in the earthquake, the old library still stands and was converted by the family in the late 1800s into their primary dwelling. Henry Middleton also began cultivating the land as a beautiful formal garden in 1741, and it is now America's oldest landscaped garden.

Saturday we got up early and headed into the city for our Charleston staycation.  At 9:30 we met up with Ed Grimball's walking tour and the next 3 hours were spent exploring the city and learning all sorts of fun new facts.  If anyone is planning a visit to Charleston, I highly recommend Ed's tour.  He's a native Charlestonian with a seemingly limitless supply of knowledge about his hometown, and his delivery is perfectly enthralling.

After the tour, I officially jumped off of the diet wagon with lunch at Joseph's.  The Perfect Grilled Cheese and beignets were certainly not low in calories, but oh, they were delicious!  Our post-lunch entertainment was a tour of the magnificent 24,000 square foot Calhoun Mansion.  According to Charleston lore, its original owner was the model that Margaret Mitchell used to create Rhett Butler, and its current owner is an antiques collector with enough prized possessions to fill the Smithsonian.

By this point in the day, we were getting more than a little worn down, so we hauled ourselves back to the car and headed to our home away from home, the John Rutledge House Inn.  John Rutledge was one of the original signers of the Constitution, and he built his beautiful home on Broad Street in 1763.  We checked into our room in the Ashley Carriage House, then after a short rest, went to the ballroom for the complimentary tea.  And they didn't do it halfway--tea consisted of beverages and a smorgasboard of desserts.  They served a chocolate and strawberry cake, cucumber sandwiches, orange almond cookies, and mini blueberry bundt cakes.  Delicious!  And certainly figure friendly...

Given that it was already after five when we gorged ourselves on tea, and we had dinner reservations at 8, we decided to go for a stroll around the neighborhood.  We found a number of homes that we wouldn't mind moving into should we suddenly have a windfall of disposable income, as well as the crumbling old city jail that appears to be in the beginning stages of a renovation.

After our walk, we donned our finery and headed back out into the evening for dinner at Circa 1886.  Unfortunately, we weren't too impressed with our entrees, though the service and atmosphere were impeccable and the chocolate souffle was to die for.  After our day of walking and eating, we were utterly exhausted by 10 pm, and fell into bed the minute we walked back into our room.

The next morning we were awoken at 9 o'clock for our scheduled breakfast delivery and once more, found ourselves faced with a mountain of food.  We took our time working through the pastries, cereals, fruit and more, then sadly packed our things and bid a fond adieu to our lovely room before heading back across the bridge to our own home.

It was such a lovely weekend, and I'm so glad we took the time to immerse ourselves in the city.  I hope it's something we do again many more times before we leave, and I know it's a weekend we'll both treasure in the months to come when there is so much distance between us.

I'm Losing It: Week 4

Starting Weight: 126.4

Current Weight: 122.0

Total Weight Lost: 4.4 lbs

Starting Measurements: 27" waist, 36" hips, 22 3/4" thighs

Current Measurements: 26 1/4" waist, 34 3/4" hips, 21 1/4" thighs

Total Inches Lost: 5"

Well, I'd be lying if I said I'm not a little bummed about the fact that I only lost .8 pounds in 2 weeks.  Especially with as much as I've been working out and as well as I've been eating compared to my old habits.  But, it's not entirely unexpected.  Everything I've read says that the closer you get to the lower end of your BMI, the more your body resists letting go of those last few pounds. 

So, I'll take whatever progress I can get.  and if I consider the fact that I've actually lost a total of 5" in four weeks (I just realized, up to this point, I've only been counting one thigh--ha!), I'm pretty damn proud of myself.  Furthermore, when I first started trying to lose weight about 6 weeks ago, before I started tracking my progress here, I weighed somewhere in the 128 region, so I've lost a total of about 6 pounds and shorts that I wore in Hawaii last year are a full size too big.

I have reconciled myself to the fact that I'm just not going to hit 119 before I leave for Japan in seven days.  So, I'm putting my weight loss efforts on hiatus for now, and then when I get back home I'll be starting it back up again until I hit my goal.  That's not to say I'm going back to my old ways.  Until I leave, I'll still be working out at least 45 minutes 6 days a week, and I'm not going to go wild with the eating.  But I'm not going to be following the South Beach diet as precisely as I have been, as we have a lot of dinners planned, and obviously it's going to go entirely out the window in Japan.  I don't expect that they're too into whole wheat in Tokyo!

So, I'll do my next weigh in upon my return from Japan, undoubtedly with a few pounds added to my hips, and then get back on track to drop those last pounds.  Thanks for all of your support up to this point.  And beware, jiggly fat cells, I have not yet begun to fight!!

Sail Away, Sail Away, Sail Away

Well, I'm leaving for Japan in one week (I'm actually leaving on Friday, but since I have to be in the car on the way to the airport at about 3:30 am, I'm just not counting that day), and as if I don't have enough to take care of in the next week, yesterday we woke up to a $900+ charge on our credit card for our automatically paid water bill.

Yes, you read that right.  NINE-EFFING-HUNDRED DOLLARS.  For WATER.

Colby immediately went to work trying to figure out what is wrong, calling the water company, making calculations, and generally stomping around the house with a look of stormy consternation upon his face.  I just tried to stay out of the way and resist the urge to go to the bathroom.  We're currently working under the assumption that the meter is broken.  According to our toilet, it uses 1.6 gallons when it flushes and according the meter, it is using approximately 16.  You'll notice  a very importance difference in decimal places in those two numbers.

Granted, we've been using a lot of water lately as we've put in new grass seed and a new garden and we've been trying to keep them thriving in our recent near drought conditions.  But we have definitely not used $900 worth of water.  So.  That's been fun!  I'm thinking of just building an ark and floating away from all of our cares and worries on all of this water we're supposedly using.

I'm also stressing a bit because my next (and last) class begins on the 24th, the day before I leave for Japan, and I know I'm not going to have time to finish all of my work for the first week before my flight and I'm not going to have any homework time during my trip.  Last summer, there was a week long break in the summer, and I thought it fell between these two classes, so that's why I thought the trip would work out perfectly time-wise.  But apparently, Grand Canyon has gotten rid of their summer breaks.  Argh!  So, I'm going to email my professor as soon as possible and request an extension on my first week's assignments.

I'm still searching for the perfect day bag for Japan.  I got the Sherpani Flora Minor in the mail the other day, and while it's an awesome day bag, I'm concerned about also using it as my sole carry-on.  My goal is to carry only one day bag and a 24" expandable suitcase to make train-hopping easier, and I'm bringing this small hideaway tote in case I absolutely cannot cram anymore souvenirs into my bags.  I ordered a different day bag that is a little larger than the Sherpani to do a test run--now I just hope it gets here in time!  I really want the Sherpani to work because it is so much cuter, but I feel like the Rick Steves is going to be a better size.

(L) Rick Steves Avanti Flight Bag, (R) Sherpani Flora Minor

On top of that, I have homework to finish for the last week of my math class, I haven't even started packing or organizing for Japan, and we have two pages of house projects to finish before Colby leaves.  But on the positive side of things, our bedroom, master bath and upstairs hall is finally painted after three days of workmen tromping through our house and it looks AMAZING!  And we're leaving behind all of our cares and worries on Saturday for a romantic weekend in downtown Charleston.  We can only do what we can do, and everything else has a way of working itself out.  This weekend I just want to focus on enjoying the time I have left with my husband and eating dessert.  Priorities, people.  Priorities!!

The Accidental Vigilante

First a note on my weekly weight loss check-ins.  Last week I had a number of, ummmm, how shall I say this delicately... digestive issues.  As in, I was eating food, and then the food never really... came out.  Soooo, I spent the weekend with a gentle laxative, a severe case of the bloats, and an aversion to going anywhere near a scale or a tape measure.  I'll be doing my next check-in this Friday, and then my final weigh-in will be the following Thursday, also known as THE DAY BEFORE I LEAVE FOR JAPAN!!!!

I will say, I've seen some very positive changes in my body, regardless of what my weight turns out to be.  My arms are much more defined, I can actually see some toning in my legs, and while I wouldn't say I have a six-pack yet, I am hovering around the two-pack area, and have those two little lines of defined muscle running down my obliques.  Also, last week, I easily fit into a pair of shorts that have always been skin tight.  So, I'm a happy camper!

Aaaaanyway, this past weekend we went out for an amazing dinner at The Library restaurant, in downtown Charleston.  We got an incredible table, on an elevated platform right next to a window overlooking the street.  As I was enjoying my calamari and beets, bacon and goat cheese salad, I started giggling at a guy across the street making an attempt to ride a bicycle.  He couldn't keep upright and had to keep putting his feet on the ground trying to stabilize, then he crashed to the ground.

At this point, Colby started wondering what I was guffawing at, so he turned around to look just after the hapless bicyclist struggled back to his feet, pushed off again and rammed into the side of a parked vehicle.  That's when I stopped laughing and we realized that this man wasn't exactly in a sober state of mind.  He once again tottered forward a few feet, then crashed to the ground once more, this time he lay prostrate for about 30 seconds next to his bike.

Eventually, he got back up and hauled his bicycle to the sidewalk where he leaned it on its kickstand and then stumbled back toward the bar from whence he'd come.  It was then that I looked back at the parked car and noticed that the backseat passenger's door was completely bashed in where he had run into it.  The guy was still standing in front of the bar, wobbling dangerously on his feet.

I decided the only thing to do was tell our waiter what had happened so that if the owners of the vehicle asked questions about what had happened to their car, there would at least be some explanation, and the guy might still be in the bar.  He told the manager of the hotel where the restaurant is located, and I went about enjoying my scallops and herbed risotto.

About 30 minutes passed, when Colby looked up a spotted a cop headed toward the guy who was now seated on the front stoop of the bar, looking a bit worse for the wear.  He stood up to talk to her, gestured to his now bleeding knee, then suddenly she was pulling out the handcuffs, reaching around to pull his hands behind his back and marching him towards the car.

I felt absolutely awful.  I really hadn't intended to get the guy arrested, I just knew that if my car was bashed in when I left a lovely stroll along the Charleston waterfront, I'd want to know who did it.  After we finished eating, the cops were still out front talking to the couple who owned the car.  We gave them my information in case they needed a statement from me to get their car taken care of, and that was the end of my evening of watching out for the innocent people of Charleston.

Although I feel badly that the guy was arrested, I'm glad that the owners of the vehicle should be able to get the damage fixed and hopefully that will be the last time Drunky McGee decides that a bicycle is a viable alternative to driving when smashed beyond all oblivion.  Someone get me some Spandex and a theme song--I've got a whole world out there waiting for me to save it!

Countdowns!

As depressed as I am about the fact that when I leave for Japan I'll be saying goodbye to Colby for over four months, I'm trying to look on the bright side of these next few months.  I've made a lot of fun plans in an attempt to  keep myself entertained, and if nothing else, at least there will be less laundry to do!  Here are just a few of the things keeping my spirits up as our days together are dwindling.

1 day until... We get our master bedroom and bathroom painted!  I can't wait, it's going to be so beautiful.  I may never leave my bedroom again!

8 days until... We spend the day in Charleston, have dinner at a fancy restaurant, and stay the night in a charming, historic inn.  I'm looking forward to walking our city after dark and getting to feel like I really live there.

14 days until... I leave for 10 days in Tokyo, Kyoto and Nara.  We've firmed up our itinerary, all of our prior bookings have been made, and we're totally ready to be completely Lost in Translation!

~6 weeks until... A long weekend with my long lost besties in Washington.  This one is a little harder to nail down exactly as I'm contemplating taking a Space A flight with the Air Force.  For the first time.  By myself.  Eep!

10 weeks until... I am FINALLY at LAST after more than two years of work DONE WITH SCHOOL!!!  For real this time.  After this, if I so much as hint at the fact that I want to further my education, please slap me.  But please remember to refer to me as "Master" while doing so.

3 months until... My theatrical sister and San Francisco-based frister (friend AND sister!) are planning a simultaneous trip to Charleston where we'll be uniting the West coast, Northeast, and the deep South.  I really, really hope it all works out according to plan!

3 months & 3 weeks until... I head to a quaint Vermont town for my dear friend's wedding.  She has had a trial of a year, and I can't wait for her to have a magical wedding weekend and to be there to watch it all unfold.  Plus, Vermont!  Maple syrup!  Or something...

4 months until... I head home for a week or so to spend time with family and attend my mother's annual Pretty in Pink party, benefiting breast cancer research.  I may be off on my calculations, but I believe that this year we will be celebrating 5 years since her victory over cancer, and I can't wait to be there and support her cause in person!

5 months until... Colby is back home and this whole deployment nonsense is behind us for another couple of years!!

The Arts: Culinary and Otherwise

As terrible as this past weekend was for my diet, it was absolutely amazing for my palate.  One of my only regrets about moving down here, was leaving behind the wide variety of restaurants the the Seattle area had to offer.  Let me tell you, I need not have worried.  I have found more favorite restaurants in the six months since we moved here than I found in the entire time we were in Washington.  I'm still on the lookout for a great hole-in-the-wall Mexican joint and some Greek, but I have a couple of contenders on my list that I'm hoping to check out in the next few weeks.

But as far as just downright delicious food, Charleston has that in SPADES, and we hit three of the creme-de-la-creme this weekend.

Red's Ice House has a couple of locations, but the one we went to is located on Shem Creek, a fun collection of restaurants and bars with a casual, island feel overlooking the water.  We've also been to and loved Vickery's, but Red's had such a cool, laid back atmosphere and the food was downright delicious.  I started with a fishbowl of a pina colada, then had some of Laura's Sexy Salsa, and finished the evening with shrimp tacos.  Yum!  As the perfect ending to a lowcountry evening, we stood out on the deck for a while, watching a pod of dolphins frolicking in the creek.

The Mustard Seed, located in Mt Pleasant, has become a staple in my entertainment routine when guests come in town.  I have never had a single, solitary piece of food that I did not enjoy with the whole of my being and to the best of my knowledge, neither has anyone who has come with me.  My go to entree is the pecan encrusted goat cheese cakes on mixed greens with a raspberry vinaigrette (I generally request the balsamic instead) and there is the perfect amount of goat cheese to go with each delicious bite of salad.  This weekend Colby got the pad thai and our guest got some sort of intriguing concoction including beef tips, and we were all in hog heaven.  I haven't tried any of their baked goods yet, but believe me, as soon as this diet ends, that's at the top of my list!

Oh 17 North, how I love you with all of my being!  We've driven past this place a number of times, and it's pretty unassuming from the exterior.  However, once you're seated out on the lovely patio surrounded by their vegetable and herb garden, you completely forget the busy highway nearby.  And the food... oh, the FOOD!  To begin with, the cheese and herb biscuits we started with were heavenly.  Then came the delicious salad with spinach, blue cheese, bacon, apples and strawberries.  And then, the melt in your mouth flank steak with the most decadent pomme frites.  My stomach is grumbling just thinking of it.  Best of all, we learned that if you go early, there's a special from 4-6 where you get an appetizer, entree and dessert for twenty dollars.  Sign!  Me!  Up!!

Aside from stuffing our faces at any available moment, we also took in a couple of Piccolo Spoleto events.  On Thursday night we went to see {title of show} at an adorable local theater.  The house was filled with tables and chairs, much like a dinner theater, and there was a bar in the back where you could buy drinks throughout the show.  Perfection, my friends!  The show was pretty funny too and really well performed, for a local theater.  On Saturday we went down to a sandcastle competition at the Isle of Palms and the Charleston Farmers Market in Marion Square.  I was also thrilled to discover that Broadway shows do in fact tour through the local area, which was another experience I thought we'd left behind when we moved here.  Legally Blonde and Spamalot, here I come!

Have I mentioned lately how absolutely in love with Charleston I am?

I'm Losing It: Week 2

Well, I had the best intentions about posting last night after we got home from our nook research-gathering trip to Barnes & Noble, but then the research-gathering turned into purchasing, and the rest of the evening was spent cuddling with my sparkly new eReader.  I got a $50 gift card to spend on eBooks with purchase, so it was a very passionate evening of kisses and book choosing.  BUT ANYWAY!

Starting Weight: 126.4

Current Weight: 122.8

Total Weight Lost: 3.6 lbs

Starting Measurements: 27" waist, 36" hips, 22 3/4" thighs

Current Measurements: 26 3/4" waist, 34 1/4" hips, 22 1/4" thighs

Total Inches Lost: 1 3/4"

Goal Weight: 119

The good news, even after a terribly difficult weekend of entertaining a guest and attempting to stick to my diet while eating out at almost every meal and failing miserably, I still managed to lose 1.6 pounds, which meets my weekly goal.  However, in a surprising and annoying twist, I managed to gain back a quarter or an inch on my thigh--the one area of my body I MOST want to reduce.  BLARG!  So, my total inches lost stays the same this week.  You know though, whatever, it's stupid to beat myself up over this, maybe I mis-measured, maybe my muscles are getting larger even though the fat is sloooooowly disappearing.

This week, I'm supposed to move onto Phase 2 of the South Beach Diet, and I'm not gonna lie, I'm kind of paranoid about adding starches back into my diet.  I have this nightmare that I'll eat a whole grain bagel and wake up the next morning 10 pounds heavier.  We may have more visitors this weekend, which will mean more eating out, so I'm going to work harder to stick to my diet if that should happen.  I think the first step would be to NOT drink an alcoholic beverage at every meal, but where's the fun in that?  Perhaps I'll just drink my meals.

The Weekend And Then Some

Now that I'm living life as a lady of leisure, I base my weekends on Colby's schedule--if he's at work, it must be a weekday, if he's at home, well, I guess it's a weekend!  So last week, Colby had a Friday through Monday off for Memorial day, and we jam-packed our weekend full of fun and projects.

As I mentioned in my last post, I went to see Sex and the City with a group of girls on Thursday night.  I've got to be honest, the vicious backlash that came after the release of this movie has me flummoxed.  I'm not sure what people are expecting from these movies.  Granted, I agree that they aren't as good as the tv show, but the movies are a fun, escapist couple of hours in a theater with girlfriends.  So, with that being said, I got a bunch of laughs and thought the movie was highly entertaining.  Plus, any excuse to lay eyes on John Corbett for a little while is OKAY by me!

Friday, we joined some other friends for a morning of boating on the Wando River.  It was an absolutely perfect day to be out on the water, and while I didn't join in on the wake-boarding or dare hurl my body into the creature infested water, I did a spectacular job of stretching out and absorbing as many sun rays as possible.  I wish I had a better picture to share, but Colby has been severely slacking in the photo-taking department lately!  It was this or one of seventeen thousand photos of water.

Friday afternoon and ALLLLL day Saturday were spent shuttling back and forth between our backyard and Lowe's, where we are thinking of petitioning for our own parking space.  Colby built a gorgeous retaining wall for a new herb and flower garden and I finally got around to cleaning out the garage.  We're waiting for the delivery of the flowering plum tree that we bought as the centerpiece for our garden, but as soon as everything is in the ground, I'll definitely post more pictures.

Sunday, we gave ourselves the day off and went to a barbecue.  I brought along this cake, which was not only the prettiest cake I've ever made, but the most amazingly delicious cake by a mile.  Of course, as was the theme of the weekend--no pictures, but you can easily replicate my barbecue experience by eating half of the batter out of the bowl, baking the cake, and then eating it all in one sitting.  Happy Memorial Day!

Monday, we got back to work on our respective projects, and I filled my new china cabinet with all of my lovelies.  Also inherited from the same grandmother whose hope chest I mentioned in my bedroom makeover post, was a beautiful collection of Fostoria American crystal and her Brentwood White Lace wedding china.  My parents also gave me a gorgeous set of Magnolia china years ago, and I finally have a place to display the main pieces instead of stashing them away in cardboard boxes and cabinets.

All in all, it was a spectacular, though exhausting weekend, and Colby and I are down to just three more weekends before his four month long deployment.  I haven't talked much about the deployment because I still haven't accepted that it's actually happening, but we did make our list of things to get done before he leaves, and are scratching things off of it each day, so it's definitely starting to become more real.  Ugh, who says acceptance is any better than denial anyway?