Monday- Weekend Wrap Up

Weekend Wrap Up

As I've mentioned previously, it's a goal in retirement to plan the type of non-stop weekends that we did not have the energy to create or do during our working years. We were to wiped to do anything but go out for dinner on Friday nights, and we would generally carve out Sundays as the day we got ready for the work week ahead, so really only Saturday was reserved for a fun and activity during our working years. Now, in retirement, the fun generally begins on Friday morning, and doesn't conclude until Sunday evening.

So beginning with Friday morning, this was our latest retirement weekend, though I have to qualify that it was tempered somewhat by my husband's last minute decision to not attend a Men's weekend as planned. That left me a bit flat-footed in quickly coming up with a couples vs on-my-own game plan:

Friday- Five mile walk around the harbor, home to have lunch and shower, then over to our membership winery to enjoy complimentary glasses of wine while looking out at the ocean, then back home for an easy but delicious dinner of quiche slices I pulled from the freezer, plus salad in a bag. (I gentle warmed the quiche slices in the microwave at 50% power, then placed them for a few minutes in my hot air fryer for a perfectly crisp-ed finish.)

Boats at the harbor getting ready for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend.
There will be several floating bands playing over the weekend,
which we look forward to enjoying via our kayaks.

And then a rare Friday night at home streaming a movie, because I thought I'd be home alone in my PJ's watching old seasons of Top Chef while my husband was gone, LOL.

Saturday- Walked again to the Farmers Market, where I purchased a dozen fabulous frozen pot stickers for two future dinners. I learned a tip the first time I purchased the dumplings - to add both oil and water at the same time to the pan when cooking them. The water first boils, then boils off, perfectly steaming the pot stickers in the process, at which point the remaining oil in the pan starts to sizzle, browning and crisping them perfectly - how could I never have learned this two step process???

After arriving back home to shower, my husband and I headed out to see a matinee performance of Broadway's longest running musical ever, The Fantasticks. Not only did the show exceed our expectations, but it only cost us $12 a ticket due to it being a college (vs professional) production, and at the senior rate, so incredible value for the price. 

We ended the day with Happy Hour at one of our favorite seafood restaurants. One glass of wine each, a shared salad, and a shared fish entree, which we enjoyed in the Happy Hour designated area of the restaurant.

Sunday- Back to the harbor on another gorgeous day to do another five miles, then over to the next coastal town for a shared iced coffee, then a scenic easy drive back to the house. Spent the afternoon sitting out on our patio finishing the chilling non fiction book, The Well Trained Wife by Tia Levings, which details her traumatic experience with Christian Patriarchy. I then returned to reading the equally excellent book Horse by Geraldine Brooks. And both were borrowed from the library as eBooks, so zero cost to me.

I highly recommend both books!

Finished off the day with our own Happy Hour here at home, and then made Curry Shrimp Pasta, yet another great make from my Taste of Home One Pot Favorites cookbook.

I have a crazy busy run of days ahead, including some great evening events ( Tom Jones live anyone? 😄 ), so a somewhat quiet Sunday to end the weekend is appreciated even if unusual!

How was your weekend???

Weekly Weigh In & Movement (May 16)

Weekly Weigh In & Movement (May 16)

Goal Weight:  115

May 16 Weigh In:  122.0

Weight Lost This Week: 1.2 pounds

Weight Left To Lose:  7 pounds

Something I read years ago gave the measurement of 10 pounds as being the general difference between pant sizes, so if I use that guideline, I'm about 3/4 of a pant size away from my goal. That feels very encouraging to say to myself, because the effort this is taking is considerable! 

Taken in my home office, a space I much enjoy. Hubby has his own home office space as well. 
We both enjoy and appreciate having our own spots to engage in our various pursuits.
Attempting to take a remotely decent selfie is clearly one of mine, ha!

Weekly Mileage/Movement:

• Fri- 5 mile walk
• Sat- 6 mile walk
• Sun- None
• Mon - None, but I did work in the yard for a couple of hours
• Tue- 5 mile walk
• Wed- Quick 1 mile walk on an otherwise busy day
• Thur - 6 mile walk
• TOTAL FOR WEEK:  23 miles
• TOTAL FOR MONTH SO FAR: 53 miles

Here are some of this week's beautiful walking views, one of many reasons it is not painful whatsoever to walk out the door and put on some miles!

Can you spot the Egret? 

No Sugar Progress:

Another week of no specifically sought-out processed sugar, which in my case primarily means cookies/pastries/ice cream/desserts. I'm qualifying because I did make or purchase some meals that included small amounts of products containing sugar such as BBQ sauce, hoisen sauce, sriracha honey, and ketchup.  The goal is to break the cycle that sugar addiction creates, that being the struggle to stop. None of these condiment or cooking items generated anything remotely close to the addictive mind-swirl, and thus I had zero problems sticking with the food quantity I'd pre-determined before sitting down to eat my designated meal.  

I found this article to be helpful  Sugar Addiction & How To Break It  as I continue to explore why I respond so strongly to sugar. This part in particular made a clear connection between sugar and the brain's response to it for some of us:

Why can sugar be addictive?

Because our bodies need glucose, we’re evolutionarily programmed to seek it out. “When sugar hits our tongue, it activates certain taste buds that send a signal up to the brain,” says Nicole Avena, Ph.D., an assistant professor of neuroscience at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and author of Why Diets Fail: Because You’re Addicted to Sugar. This activates the brain’s reward system: Feel-good dopamine is released and the behavior is reinforced, which makes us want to repeat it (just one more cookie!).

I had only a few minor sugar cravings over this past week, which I was able to satisfy quite easily with a small amount of fruit, or a nice sized bowl of satisfyingly crunchy vegetables (baby carrots, bell pepper strips, and cucumber slices primarily). I continue to be surprised that I'm satisfied with one serving of any of the above, never seeking to 'keep going' such as I did with sugar.

So while not yet 'easy,' easier for sure.

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If you are likewise on a quest to improve some aspect of your dietary or fitness life, please feel free to share here. The more we can work to support and encourage each other the better!

Monday- Weekend Wrap Up

 

Weekend Wrap Up

So this was a great weekend, with nothing that I would label as being extraordinary, but with lots of activity due to things we've worked hard to develop since moving here in 2017. That would include social connections, social clubs, local community performances, physical activity groups (hiking, kayaking, biking, walking, SUP'ing) and our spiritual community. Which means that there are a plethora of things to choose from pretty much every weekend, all within easy reach of where we live.

As I've mentioned previously, it is a goal in retirement to plan the type of non-stop fun weekends that we did not have the energy to create or do during our working years. We were to wiped to go out on Fridays after work, and we would generally carve out Sunday as the day we got ready for the workweek ahead, so really only Saturday was reserved for fun during our working years. Now, the fun begins on Friday morning, and doesn't conclude until Sunday evening.

So starting Friday morning, this was our latest retirement weekend:

Friday- Met a girlfriend to do a five mile walk around our local harbor, during which she shared about her recent separation from her second husband (no children, thankfully), and what lessons she was attempting to take from the relationship. Afterward returned home to do some bookclub reading (finished A Frozen River, now onto Horse by Geraldine Brooks- already excellent!), then showered and got ready to meet friends for a Happy Hour dinner. We had a really nice time at the restaurant, coming in at just under $70 for three drinks (total) and three small share items. After dinner we were invited back to our friends home to learn  and play the card game Euchre. The game was easy to learn in that we all four play bridge together at the same Bridge Center, and Euchre has many of the elements of Bridge. But unlike Bridge, it was relaxing! We also enjoyed their gorgeous ocean views while playing - I've never found myself envying someone else's home, as I really like ours,  but I definitely find myself envying a lovely view on occasion!  

As my realtor told us some years back - every block closer to the ocean comes with a corresponding uptick in price. At just under a mile and a half back currently, we have lovely ridgeline views, lovely sunset views, and some partial-ocean views, and we're much closer to the ocean than I'd every imagined we'd be when we first started looking to relocate here. So, I make a point to remind myself of all of those things when experiencing view-envy!

Saturday- Walked from the house to the Saturday Farmers Market and back, including along several picturesque streets in the historic district that the market is held in. I didn't buy anything, but I took notes for an upcoming wine event I'll be holding at our house. Items from the fresh berries stand, the hummus and pita stand, and likely the Italian pastry stand, should all find their way to my event food table when I return there next week.

The Cilantro Lemon hummus was a fave!

After returning home, I quickly showered, and my husband and I departed for a Spring BBQ Party with our social wine club. The food was really terrific - grilled salmon with dill sauce, and pork loin with a Bing cherry chutney were just some of culinary delights, plus there were lots of different wines to sample, and a terrific DJ that kept the dancing area full. At these quarterly events, inevitable, the gals will group together for line dancing, which I love way more than my husband, so he is thrilled that he gets to kick back with the other non-line dancing husbands while we women wear ourselves out.

Sunday- Early AM calls from my two girls, neither of whom currently lives here in California, then spiritual services, then we took my mom to a super cute live musical production featuring the music of Neil Sedaka, whom we both enjoy. Afterward, we stopped at the beach briefly, since my mom doesn't get to the ocean nearly as often as we do, then we returned to the house for a delicious braised steak and horseradish potatoes dish that I'd started in the slow cooker when I first woke up. I sauteed some fresh Broccolini to go with it, plus some warmed some rosemary sourdough slices. For dessert, for my mom and husband, I'd picked up a pint of specialty ice cream - chocolate raspberry truffle.

So, again, it was a great weekend! Today's plans are minimal by comparison - do some light yardwork, read, and start on the 2025 holiday ornaments, which I make for my granddaughters each year.

How was your weekend???

Weekly Weigh In & Movement (May 9)

Weekly Weigh In & Movement (May 9)

Goal Weight:  115 

May 9 Weigh In:  123.2

Weight Left To Lose:  8.2

Ended the week pretty much where I started it, and where I've been more or less since returning from our cruise. Looking forward to the transparency this blog will provide as giving me the incentive to dig deep and make it through those last few pounds. 

Weekly Mileage/Movement:

• Sat- 8 mile walk
• Sun- None
• Mon - 6 mile walk
• Tue- None
• Wed- 8 mile walk
• Thur - 3 mile walk
• Fri (Pending)- 5 mile walk, 1 session weight training
• TOTAL FOR WEEK:  30 miles, 1 session weight training

Here are some of this week's beautiful walking views, one of many reasons it is not painful whatsoever to walk out the door and put on some miles!

No Sugar Progress: Today concludes six weeks of avoiding processed sugar, other than one night on our cruise when I had a piece of apple strudel. Although that one night did not lead to a relapse, I'm electing not to repeat it for the foreseeable future to be safe. I've come to understand that my brain processes sugar more like a drug than as food, and that clarity has really helped me see the difference between being genuinely hungry vs simply wanting a sugar pick me up. 

A friend told me that three months should be a turning point, wherein random thoughts of sugar as a comfort food should pretty much cease. And even at the halfway point my sugar cravings are now quite minimal and easy to ignore.  As compared to the first few days, when I felt like I'd never get beyond the cravings. 😒

And already I'm 100% fine watching others enjoy their sweets, as well as having some here in the house. I'm not yet confident of having sweet treats that I love in the house, but there are lots of sweets my husband enjoys more than I do, such as Chips Ahoy cookies, and I'm fine having those here. He has no issues with sugar, and is content to ingest just a small quantity each day, so the treats that are currently here are lasting a very, very long time, nicely. 

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If you are likewise on a quest to improve some aspect of your dietary or fitness life, please feel free to share here. The more we can work to support and encourage each other the better!

Monday Miscellany aka Random Thoughts

I woke up with a bunch of thoughts rumbling through my head, and this seems a good place to which to put them. So this is pretty much a brain-dump post.

Firstly, and really the big one, I am sad, terribly, terribly sad, that a dear friend is struggling thru her fourth bout of cancer, this one located in her brain, and I am increasingly concerned that it is not going to end the way we all are fervently hoping it will. 

She and I met when we first moved here to the coast eight years ago, and I consider her one of my closest friends in spite of the relative newness of our friendship. She is not of the same outgoing ilk that I am, and has often joked over the years that were it not for my persistence is setting up walking dates, we would likely not be friends, as she is quite the introvert, with most of her friendships going all the way back to her elementary school years. LOL - you see, we extroverts can be quite persistent! So, I just kept asking and she kept saying 'Yes.'  🙂

During COVID she began her third battle with cancer, and we would FaceTime several days a week so she could talk through her treatments in detail, which seemed to help her continue to remain fighting strong. Once done with chemo, she/we had a nice long few years to just be non-cancer focused friends, during which our spouses became quite good friends as well.

About six months ago she began to struggle with her speech, which I noticed with alarm during one of our walking dates. She saw her doctor shortly thereafter, and was diagnosed with brain cancer. At this point she is not responding well to treatment, and I am slowly losing hope, though I sure as h#ll am not sharing that with her.

She is also a grandmother to a two year old little boy. That more than anything else is ripping my heart to pieces. 

Sometimes life is just hard, hard, hard.

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So, OK, to now drastically change channels, we had a really nice weekend, particularly on Saturday night when we enjoyed a fabulous guitarist that we've seen often. Often enough that she recognized us and playfully interacted with us thru-out her performance. Which was so, so much fun. 

And, nicely, I liked the way what I wore out this weekend is fitting after losing 13 pounds, with about 7 vanity pounds still left to lose.

I also used a portion of the Barnes & Noble credit I received last week to add a new one pot cookbook to my repertoire. And already I'm excited about making the two recipes below, both of which are squarely in my wheelhouse of lots of fresh ingredients for, hopefully, maximum taste.

And finally, before I head out into the sunshine for some light yardwork followed by a five mile walk around our local harbor with my husband, this is what I've been reading:

The two on the far right were excellent. The one on the left is a bookclub selection from a new group I just joined, and I'm not quite sure about it or the club just yet. My own, 20 year ongoing bookclub, which above Crying in H Mart was read for, is rather discerning at this point. So I'm pretty spoiled, and thus not yet confident The Frozen River is going to live up to standards. We'll see!

Please feel free to drop any Miscellany you are pondering or planning here as well. Happy or sad, either way.

It's Always Good To Come Home, Plus The Weekend Ahead

 

We much enjoyed our trip, and the weather was beautiful, but even though we're currently about 15 degrees cooler here in coastal Orange County, it's good to be home.

And . . . I returned home two pounds lighter, so just eight pounds to go to reach my goal of 115 pounds!

I achieved the weight loss by working to maintain the same mindset on the ship that I work to maintain here at home. Firstly, cruise ship fare is cruise ship fare, even on a somewhat elevated line like Oceania Cruises. It's prepared in mass, and it doesn't come to the table piping hot, ever, so it's not worth blowing my caloric budget on, at least in my opinion. Plus, we walked miles around the deck almost daily, and never, as in never-ever, used the elevator, so we climbed a good number of stairs each day.

This was our fifth cruise to the Caribbean, though most of the islands we visited were first timers for us. I did, however, decide that in spite of enjoying ourselves, this is likely our last cruise for the foreseeable future. In comparing our three days in Miami pre-cruise, to our 11 days at sea, at this point in our lives I find that I really prefer the ability to speed up or slow down as we wish, without having to mind the clock to ensure we return to the ship on time. Plus, any ports that involve tendering are more stressful on both the front and back end, and stress is something I 'm continuing to try and minimize as I age.

So, I cancelled our previously booked August Iceland cruise. Doing it by land is now the more appealing option, though I'm still a bit undecided as to whether that will occur this summer. Summer is our funnest season here in coastal S. Orange County!

Below is a list of the cruises we've done. This is primarily for me to have someplace to keep the list other than at Cruise Critic, so my apologies if it's less than stimulating to review! 😄 

04/2025  Caribbean w/Oceania

08/2023  Alaska Inside Passage w/Celebrity

06/2023  Greek Isles w/RCCL

12/2020  Mexican Riviera w/Princess

02/2020  South America Circle w/Princess

09/2019  New England & Canada w/Holland

05/2016  Grand European River Cruise w/Vantage

12/2015  Ultimate Caribbean w/Celebrity

02/2012  Hawaiian Islands w/Cunard

03/2011  Panama Canal Transit w/Cunard

05/2010  Alaska Inside Passage w/Princess

01/2010  Australia & New Zealand w/Princess

11/2008  Mediterranean w/Cunard

06/2007  Baltics w/Celebrity

05/2006  S. Caribbean w/Princess

04/2005  E. Caribbean w/RCCL

10/2004  Pacific Northwest w/Princess

06/2003  Mexican Riviera w/Carnival

06/2002  Alaska Outside Passage w/RCCL

08/2001  W. Caribbean w/Carnival

04/1997  Mexican Riviera w/RCCL

The morning after returning home we had a fence installation scheduled, the final project of the 18 month long remodel we launched into immediately upon closing on our home in Fall of 2023. So that took care of most of Wednesday (I stick around to deal with the myriad of micro decisions that always arise), other than a quick dash to Trader Joe's for some essentials.

Yesterday, Thursday, I made a menu, and did a thorough grocery shop, stopping in at Aldi's, Trader Joe's (again), and Ralph's. Ralph's was solely to chase loss leaders - I picked up 20 Kind bars for $1 each, and three salad-in-a-bags that were discounted to $1 due to being close to their use-by date. I ate an entire bag of salad on my own yesterday, half for lunch and half for dinner, as my husband had a men's fellowship dinner event, and I never cook for just myself.

Additionally, I forced myself to make two unpleasant returns on Thursday, yesterday - a damaged  Caribbean travel book to Barnes and Noble that was 60 days past purchase. I discovered, too late, that every few pages of the book had printed blurry, though I did struggle through it for purposes of our trip. I received a store credit in exchange, which I'm more than happy with considering their store policy is to limit returns to 30 days.  

The second return was to Pacific Sales Appliances for an unneeded $35 set of hoses for a recently purchased washer/dryer set. Even though we had brand new hoses installed as part of our recent whole-house repiping, Pacific Sales forces all customers to purchase new hoses, subject to return if their appliance installer determines on site that they are not needed. In our case, the installer determined our current hoses were just fine, but he forgot to leave the new hoses with me so that they could be returned, necessitating a series of frustrating calls to their worthless corporate customer service line. Because the installer neglected to log the unused hoses back into their warehouse, the normal process, I had to go visit a Pacific Sales location in person to plead my case. Which I did yesterday, and which, nicely, resulted in my refund being processed.

Whew! A lot of effort for $35, but the principle of the whole thing kept me moving forward - I will not be taken advantage of lightly!

Today should be much more pleasant. I'm leaving shortly for a walk to the beach from our home, then I have a boutique to attend that's being sponsored by my women's club. After that my husband and I are leaving to have dinner with my daughter and her partner . . . he is such a good cook!

The rest of the weekend will be comprised of two longer beach walks, one of which will include a stop for lunch, a winery dinner & music event at 'our' winery, a fun vintage street fair, and spiritual services for us both on Sunday.

I spent some time on our vacation thinking about the concept of living the soft life whenever and wherever possible, so I wanted to ensure our first weekend home was lovely and vibrant, a concept I'll go into more in an upcoming blog posting.

Bon Voyage!

After 36 action packed hours in Miami, we are off to the Caribbean for the next week and a half. It’s a lovely 78 degrees here portside currently, and we are already unpacked and enjoying our first cruise libation. After the last year and a half of remodeling, we are ready for this trip!

Our 36 hours in Miami included dinner at a lovely Italian cafe, a Bay view boat tour, five miles of scenic walking, and a guided food and cultural tour in Little Havana.

I brought along my trusty cruise shorts, my fail safe way of maintaining my weight. As long as they fit, I know my weight remains stable. As often as we’ve cruised, we’ve learned lots of tricks to avoid weight gain - try on those da@n shorts every morning, always use the stairs, walk several miles around the deck in the AM, have normal-sized breakfasts and lunches, and save the cruise food splurges for dinner only. So far, so good!