Thursday, January 31, 2008

Ho Chi Minh City

My mom always says, and I agree, that things happen for a reason - we don't often know why but when sucky things come up, better things tend to follow.

After the wierdest weather day ever in Wisconsin on Tuesday, my 7 am flight Wednesday to start my trip was canceled. After several attempts at trying to work things out with the airport, I ended up with a 12:20 pm flight directly to Hong Kong from O'Hare - - this worked out MUCH better than to have to leave at 7 am and transfer in San Fran.

The plane ride to Hong Kong was good - well, as good as spending 15 + hours on a plane can be I suppose! I was able to sleep right away after taking off and be up towards the end of the flight which is really helping my jet lag. I sat next to a lovely older Vietnamese couple who spoke some english but lost me when I tried to get them to talk about their trip to the states. The did tell me how lovely Ho Chi Minh was though.

My flight from Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh was delayed by an hour or so which was fine by me - I enjoyed taking an extra long walk around the airport to stretch out my legs.

After getting my luggage and going through customs, I headed outside to look for Chris, it was such an interesting arrival procedure. I walked outside to massive crowds standing behind gard rails, it looked like something you'd see at an award show in LA - the fans smashed up as far to the front as they can to catch a look at their favorite celebs - - I was really waiting for people to start taking pictures, but I had to remember I wasn't on the red carpet :)

Amen that Chris is tall and so am I - we found each other really quickly in the sea of people and headed to his place. We did a mini driving tour just around his apartment so that I could get my barrings and then headed to his place which is really lovely. It's called Norfolk Mansion and with all the amenities, I really am going to be spoiled here - - beautiful outdoor pool, gym, amazing view, and someone to clean it - what more can a girl ask for??

I'm getting ready to start my day - I'm heading to the gym for a quick work out, hoping that my legs still know how to function and then I'm off to explore a little before Chris gets home from work and we head to the beach - it was 80 degrees when I arrived last night and let me tell you how good it felt to have some warm air for a change!!

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Yet another milestone

As of this morning at 6 am I have officially lost 70 pounds according to the scale in the fitness center at the Y and I'm pretty darn proud of myself.

Over the last 7 months, I have been asked what my "diet" is, or if I'm sick...the truth is I'm not on a diet, I've made a lifestyle change, one that certainly does not involve being sick in any way, shape, or form...it's been a lot of hard work, and surprisingly, a lot of fun.

Since my mom and dad are crusing somewhere fabulous (I really am not even sure where they are!) I left a voice mail for my mom and I was surprised at how emotional I was.

When I hit 50 I was pretty overcome with emotion - this is a huge undertaking and I was begining to become this whole new person, taking charge of my body and my emotions. And this morning, being 70 down, I was amazed that this continues to be such an emotional process.

I have to remind myself everyday that I am in charge of my body - how hard I push it and what I put in it are up to me - and there are days that I mess up and I have to remind myself that it's ok to make mistakes - because I'll get through it and forge ahead.

I also need to remind myself to love my body and what it is able to do now that would have NEVER happened 7 months ago. I'm so much stronger than I have ever been - I actually have biceps - who knew! My legs are stronger and I'm getting faster during my runs and am able to add miles.

I still focus on the flaws that I have - and I have serveral, but I'm continuing to plug away and work on them. I still have some to lose and I'll get there...But, I've realized in the world of instant gratification that we are all looking for I've realized that it's ok to take the slow and steady route.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Happy New Year!

I can't believe that it's 2008 already! This summer, I will have my 10 year high school class reunion and it kind of snuck up on me!

I never make a big deal out of New Years eve, I tend to think it's an evening for the amateur drinkers to go out and cause chaos and I typically like to stay away from that.

This year however, my friend Rachel and I decided to do something big - we ended up at the Intercontinental Hotel, rocking short little cocktail dresses and partying with the beautiful people of Milwaukee.

We kind of spaced out calling for a cab early in the evening, so when we were told it could be up to 2 hours to get a cab when we did call around 8 pm we were a tad bit nervous we'd even make it out for the night. However, fate stepped in and amazingly enough there was a cab in Rachel's neighborhood and we were out the door and on the road within 8 min. of calling. As Karma would have it though, we ended up waiting for almost 2 hours at the end of the night.

The party at the Intercontinental took a while to get started, but once it did it was a blast! Rachel and I scrounged up appetizers whenever we could catch a waiter and they were wonderful. Chicken fingers breaded in this yummy coconut breading, these deep fried artichoke hearts with cheese, mini egg rolls, mini burgers, seared tuna, etc...it was all really wonderful and since neither of us had eaten much throughout the day we were happy to have some sustenance while drinking!

Our first encounter with men that evening was a tad bit frightening - Gill came over and introduced himself and his friend soon followed and soon after we started chatting with them we made a bee line for the bathroom, getting stuck with guys like that all evening was not what we were looking for.

We soon found our way back to the bar and met some fun guys - two of whom co-host a morning radio show in Milwaukee and who were there to introduce The Guffs when they went on late in the evening.

Lots of gin and tonic later we headed up to the bands and since Rachel and I didn't really know The Guffs (we knew a few songs but aren't major followers) we rocked out to what we thought was them for awhile.

Our champagne toast at midnight was followed by kissing random men to start the new year - always a fun thing to do and a great start to the year!

We ended up at another bar towards 1:30 am and called for a cab shortly after getting there and when we finally made it into a cab with two rather odd people who although scary were nice enough to share it was after3. Apparently these people had won tickets to the Intercontinental from the dj's that we had been hanging with all night and they shared a cab to the bar and were left there when the dj's got out. They were nice enough and we complimented the guy's pink rat tail to be nice.

It was a fun fun evening and a great way to start 2008, I can only hope that the rest of my year is as fun as my New Years eve!!