I walk....and walk.....and walk....yet the pounds don't disappear.....

So, I've been bumping up my exercise since November 2006. My gym visits have increased to at least three times a week. Since April 2007, my overall workouts have gone up to about five per week. Two strength training sessions with my trainer Tyrone (who is a cutie -I'll have to get his photo for you b/c all my girls who work out at the same gym just think he's adorable) and then two - three cardio sessions of either ellyptical or treadmill. Since the weather has gotten better, I have taken to walking outside to run my errands instead of driving. With the cost of gas these days, it's helping my pocket AND my weight.

The best part of all this is that people are looking at me and asking me "What are you doing b/c you're losing weight? You look good." That's exciting. And yet, the scale does not move......... why is that? How frustrating. The tummy is still out a bit too far....

If anyone has any suggestions, that would be so great! I've started to really watch my portions and lessening the sweets, as well. Let's see if that helps the situation.

Visit to Jeff & Laura - I finally went somewhere!

Hello everyone!

First and foremost, please accept my apologies that I've not updated my blog recently. It's been a BUSY month since my last blog. No travel; until my visit to Maryland for business. While the original reason for the trip was a business meeting with my boss and a couple of colleagues, the highlight of the trip was visiting my brother Jeff and my favorite sister-in-law Laura for dinner - how awesome.

Here are the newlyweds in the living room of their apartment. They look so cute!!!!!!

and here is all three of us hanging out in the living room. We took three photos with each of us standing in a different position. I chose this photo since I'm in the middle and you cannot see my extra weight! Still working hard on losing it!!

Laura cooked a GREAT dinner with mahi mahi, plaintains, salad and homemade bread! Plus some yummy dessert, as well. I'm impressed by your cooking abilities, Laura. Not necessarily inspired to emulate them b/c I'm lazy; however, I promise next time you and Jeff come to town, you'll have a great cooked meal. Now.....I did not say that I would be cooking it but you will be well fed! :-)

I also went to the office and saw my colleagues but that part was not as much fun. As soon as I download the photos from my phone, I'll share one of Jeff playing the banjo, as well. I did not even know that he played the banjo as well as the guitar. I'm impressed. It was a terrific visit!

Missed Travel....

Hello.
Well, instead of having travel adventures, I've had travel MIS-adventures. I was supposed to go to DC to do a site inspection with a client and then was going to spend the weekend hanging out with friends and family. Well, it SNOWED in mid-April. My flight was canceled. Bummer. So, since the reason I was going was for business and the next available flight would have put me into DC too late for the business appointment, we just canceled the entire trip. :-( That was a bummer as I was looking forwardd to visiting with my brother and his wife, as well as a number of friends. So....life goes on.

Then, I was headed to Atlanta tomorrow for a client program. However, a last minute dinner with an important friend/client is scheduled for Sun and the flight not being over a weekend is now over $500, it just was not worth it to head out to ATL. So, my travels have not been happening lately. But hey, life goes on, I suppose.

it's a beautiful weekend here in Chicago so I'm not too sorry to be here. i was outside a lot today just enjoying the weather and I'll keep on doing that tomorrow, as well. Perhaps I'll talke some photos of the fabu weather and the gathering wth my friends and sorors. We'll see

Fun Time with Santana

During my December 06 visit to DC, not only did I get to be a lucky participant in my brother's wedding to Laura, I also got to visit with some friends.

Here I am with my girlfriend's daughter Santana. Isn't she just the most precious thing?


And here is my best friend Renee and I having a ball with Santana! Santana's Mom was taking the pictures - since she would not let me take any photos with her!



My next visit to DC is coming up with weekend so I am looking forward to hopefully seeing Santana again - and maybe a few other youngins, as well. Ciao for now

Memories of Jamaica

Happy Easter! I hope everyone had a blessed Easter! Mine was good, thanks.

So as I updating my tax receipts to give to my accountant, I was looking at some receipts from my trip last year to Jamaica for my sorority's Health Summit. What a blast. Since this is a blog of my travel adventures, I thought it might be fun to share some of those photos with you. This was a GREAT trip - I really enjoyed it.

So this is our villa at the Half Moon Bay Resort in Montego Bay, Jamaica. It was spectacular and slept 14 people. Me and 13 sorors from our Chicago Alum Chapter stayed for five days and four nights! How fabulous it was!



This was the view from the back veranda of our villa. See the water through the palm trees?



This is our back veranda with our own private pool - in case we were too lazy to go to the resort's 3 different pool areas. Believe me, we were!


My sorors were doing the "Electric Slide" in the water! What fun!

This is me and my Soror C (protecting the names of the innocent) just after an early morning workout! We're so shiny b/c we worked up a good sweat working out to the sounds of the birds and the ocean - and the trainer yelling at us to keep up our heart rates!


Here we are getting ready to enjoy dinner that was prepared for us by the villa cook. Each villa has a personal maid, butler and cook who prepared all our breakfasts and any dinner we wanted her to prepare for us. I could use her in real life.


And here we all are - all 14 of us, enjoying dinner and each other's company. It was a great vacation - I mean conference.


So, that's another one of my fantastic adventures. More pictures to come as I continue to learn how to work the camera.

Next week, I'll be visiting my brother and my sister-in-law in MD. Can't WAIT to see them. And I'll see some friends and some of my favorite little ones who are just growing up by leaps and bounds. My goodness, where does the time go?

Mom & Dad came to visit

So this past Palm Weekend, my Mom and Dad came up to Chicago for a big theater weekend. Yours truly actually saw two plays in two days - more than I had seen in the last six months! They actually did three theater events - they were busy folks. I'm just glad they brought me along......

Here we are at the Black Orchid Dinner Theater. We had a great time. The photo came out a little grainy once I lightened the background shadows but we had a ball!

They went home Tuesday before the storms that are coming through. Smart folks, my parents. Let's hope some of that rubs off on me

Hanging out in Milwaukee

Well, last Tuesday, I went to Milwaukee with my Vice-President and my colleague to visit two clients. My colleague Dede was disappointed that she did not see any cows (don't believe the hype) but we had a great time with my clients.

We deemed my main client contact "Miss Grace Under Pressure" because she is always calm, no matter what crisis comes up for her on show site.

For my other main client contact, we gave him an Oscar for Best Stage Manager. What fun!

Although she did not see any cows, Dede still had a good time!