Shipwrecked & Comatose

The happy thought for the day:   The Friday street fair has moved back to 43 rd Street.   I no longer have to deal withall of that temptation right outside my door.     The less-than-happy-thought:   Bad, bad week!   I’m sure it would have been fine if I had kept all indulgence to Mom’s birthday party on Sunday.   Unfortunately, I could not keep my hands off the leftovers.   I should have sent every last bit of pulled pork home with my family in care packages.   I should not have kept some of my brother’s macaroni and cheese for myself no matter how good it was.    So right now I regained those three pounds again. Now for the coming week I’m going on vacation.   I’ll be in San Francisco.   Could there be more of a foodie city than SanFrancisco?   I’m going to want to eateverything!   At least my hotel has a gym and San Francisco is a good walking city.   I will get my exercise in.   I just have to take it one day (or one meal) at a time.   Make the best choices possible and

On my first business trip to London, which was also my first trip to London ever, I had the good fortune to have a decent amount of free time. I had a few hours most days to explore the city at my leisure. Upon my return I was talking to a friend who hadn't previously known I was going about the trip. She had been there multiple times. "Why didn't you tell me you were going to London?" she asked. "I could have told you all of the cool places to go where the tourists don't go." I think I surprised her with my response. "But I wanted to go where all of the tourists go." I spent my free time in London at The National Gallery and The Tate. I strolled through the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey. I walked the perimeter of Buckingham Palace and through Piccadilly Circus. I even rode the London Eye (I had been walking for a while that day and i thought it was a creative way to both rest and enjoy a view). I was, with no apologies,

My new habit with Lean Eating is centered on sleep, so it really is time for me to finish the other part of my sleep post. In Part 1 of my sleep post, I wrote about my experiences in the waking world when I was unable to sleep. I found ways to amuse myself over the years when I can't sleep, but the sleeping world is far more amusing.  The places I go when I can't sleep can never compare to what goes on inside my brain when I do sleep. I am always fascinated, haunted, and amused by my dreams.  A good dream can put me in a happy mood for hours after waking. A scary dream can make me afraid to go back to sleep.  There are dreams that make me feel sad.  There are dreams that make me feel guilty.  Some dreams are so bizarre I spend the day trying to figure them out. Do everyone's dream affect them the way they affect me?  Why do I care so much?  Why does anybody? For example, I had a dream recently where I found myself in an animal shelter.  All of the animals were in one

After last week’s three pound gain I was definitely in a bit of a panic.   My coach had to talk me off the ledge a bit saying it was probably just water weight.   She was mostly right.   I have lost two of the three pounds I gained last week.  I really hope to lose more this week even though I'm holding a big birthday party for my mother tomorrow and the food will be an all-out fat and carb fest. She also had to talk me off the ledge about my San Francisco trip, which is coming up next week.   My hotel has a gym, so I hope to have all of my weight workouts in the week.   As for the other days, time will tell.   San Francisco is a good walking city and those hills should give me a good workout.   We are going on a couple of day-long bus tours though.    Both tours will feature some boots-on-the-ground time in both Muir Woods and Yosemite, but I will also be on my butt in a van a lot and I don’t know how much control I will have over my food choices.   Since San Francisco is a big

Are people who use their middle fingers to push elevator buttons just being passive-aggressive? Speaking of elevators, I hate sharing the elevator with someone coming back from a smoke break! When someone is France is acting in a way that others find obnoxious and self-aggrandizing, do the French exclaim "Quelle Shower! " I still don't get Girl Scout Cookies.  Mint Milanos taste a thousand times better than Thin Mints, are available year-round, and are made with better quality ingredients.  Yet people still think Thin Mints are some kind of divine gift. If someone says, "It's totes cool," are they trying to say it's as cool as my umbrella? I often say I don't need to drink beer or coffee to prove I'm an adult.  The corollary to that is I don't need a tattoo to prove I'm still youthful. Harney and Sons raspberry tea is kind of gross.  It's too bad since I bought it to help curb post-lunch sweet cravings. How to be Dumb: 

Last week I talked about compliance and complaints.  My compliance was at an all time low this week, so I have no right to complain that I gained three (YES THREE!) pounds this week.  I haven't done my measurements yet.  If I'm not significantly bigger, I can feel a bit comforted. I don't know what got into me.  I suppose Aunt Flo was playing havoc with my appetite this week.  I just gave in to nearly every craving I had.  You know what's funny?  Half the time the stuff didn't taste nearly as good as I hoped it would or else it just made me feel like crap physically.  My digestive system gets a little freaked out now when I head to the Dominican shop for lunch.  Who would have thought?  What's worse is that this spring the weekly Friday street fair that normally takes place on 43rd Street has moved to my street.  I walk out of my office to be greeted by the smell of roasting gyros and sausage.  Even the stuff that's not all that bad for me is surrounded