So Little Snowbird, Take Me With You When You Go....

I was a Music Education major in college - everything reminds me of a song!   I've seriously considered (and may do it yet....) naming every post after a song title!!  I'm afraid you all would hate me because I promise when that happens, you sing that song in your head for HOURS.  Today's salute is to all my Canadian friends and one of my favorite Canadian singers, Anne Murray.   I've always loved her music and her silky voice.  Had the privilege of hearing her perform with our symphony orchestra as part of their Pops Series and it was one of the best concerts ever!   

We have been visiting Snowbird Mountain Lodge near Robbinsville, NC for more than 20 years.   I can safely say it is probably our favorite place.  Using the incredible and relatively unknown (translate uncrowded) Cherohala Skyway, we can be to Snowbird in exactly two hours.  When we first began going, it was a VERY rustic mountain inn with few frills.  At some point, it changed ownership, and the new owners have spent millions turning Snowbird into a luxury rustic mountain inn.  Their improvements have made the place much, much better, but in doing so, have priced themselves out of our budget except for very special occasions.  This particular "occasion" happens to be a mistake on my part - one I'm very glad I made!  We normally bike on Mr. B's fall break, but he decided early on, he wanted to spend a few days at Snowbird as a "gift" to me for the time I have spent with his mother handling every detail necessary to work through the financial aspects of his dad's death.  I didn't need a gift for doing something I wanted to do, but made the reservations anyway for what I THOUGHT were his fall break dates.  Thank heavens, I only made it for three nights instead of the four we could have stayed!  Because guess what!!  His fall break is NEXT Monday and Tuesday, not this coming one!   I am embarrassed to admit that I made that mistake - so unlike me, but so wonderful in the long run.  See, we now have a much better plan for his fall break that I'll reveal (how's that for tantalizing?) later.   So I'm getting two weeks of autumn travel this year instead of one!   We are in room 19.   18 and 19 are our "favorites" although I think we've stayed in just about all of them at one time or another even the very expensive "cottages."  We could justify that back in my high flying career days in CorporateLand, but not anymore.  Quite frankly, we prefer the rooms in the original inn!  Check it out!  

Here's my Hot 100 Update for this week.   I've changed my update day to Friday since that is also the day I am required to post my results on the challenge website.   Less details for me to remember!

1)  Reach my goal weight of 138 on or before December 31, 2010.   This goal was a stretch to begin with, but I wanted a big challenge to work toward.  I have not given up on it, but I'd have needed a good loss these first couple of weeks and that hasn't happened.  We'll see!

2)  I will eat nothing containing white sugar, white flour or trans fats.   This one is going well.  I have not knowingly eaten anything this week containing these items.  I realized after the fact a couple of times that I had eaten something with hidden sugar in it, but I'm not counting that!!

3)  I will walk 10,000 steps every day or an average of 10,000 steps over seven days.  Done

4)  I will not eat between meals or after 7 p.m.  Done perfectly on the no eating after 7 p.m.  A couple of accidental slips on the no eating between meals.  Again, just forgot about the challenge.  The point is, I'm remembering almost immediately afterwards and working toward the habit of remembering in time!

All in all, a very good eating week and the challenge is helping.  I just wish I'd see some results at the scale.  However, I remain very motivated and determined to make whatever changes needed to start seeing those results.

I have made one concession toward our visit to Snowbird of which I am VERY proud.  I'm actually excited to see how this will work.   Snowbird's location is very remote and their accommodations have always been all-inclusive.  When the upgrading to a luxury inn started, the three meals also became gourmet dining.  And believe me, it is wonderful.  I searched their website for any mention of accommodating "special" diet requests and found that they do.  I emailed their executive chef asking for a no sugar, gluten-free diet.  She immediately responded with some specific questions and then her assurance that my diet requests would be met and my dining experience would be no different than anyone else's.  I can't wait till dinner tonight! 

Thank you so much for your helpful suggestions in response to my last post.   I have told the voice in my head that insists success is only tied to the number on the scale to TAKE A HIKE.  I will lose the 20 pounds when I lose the 20 pounds and I WILL lose the 20 pounds.  Go away voices in my head!   I really am not discouraged, just bewildered and my word for the week is still DETERMINED!

 

Thanks also to a couple of you who expressed concern when I didn't post for a couple of days.  Although I didn't think about it at the time, it was nice to be missed!  October is for outdoors and I am spending as much of it as I can outside.  Something else has to go and for a few weeks, it may be daily (or almost daily) posting.  I suppose it will take a year of serious blogging to recognize my own patterns, but one thing I do know is this.  When I can be outdoors and when we are traveling, those things win out over blogging every single time!!  Keeps you on your toes, my friends.   You just never know when I might pop up in your reader or on your sidebar.  Hopefully, absence will make the heart grow fonder.......cough, cough!