mdrai

Actually, everyone who "voted" on the houses liked the $98 & $200 houses best, so it'd probably be less than $300, depending on how many of us go... that was based on 13 gals going... Also, a quick check online showed that both those houses were still available... "Beats' Workin'" and "Splash Mtn" (w/the pool & home gym!). Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... We're all talking & thinking about this... should we go ahead and post a new "who wants to go" thread & start taking names??

Now THAT's the kind of "I can do it" thinking I like to read, Laura!! YAYAYAYAY!!

I think decaf coffee & tea aren't as "evil" as regular...? Glad your 1st day went smoothly, Suzie!

$300 TOTAL, lodging only, per person, top end... as an ESTIMATE! Janie... we don't know what house we can get now, so it's still up in the air about "private" rooms.

We didn't get that far... we never actually booked a place... If you go to the old "pick the house" thread, you'll see the 3 that were our options in the Fall... the prices ranged from $98 - $329 per person for the 3 nights/4 days... but I don't know if those houses are avail now or not... + we'll need to start over w/who's coming to see what size house we need, etc... Figure $300 at the top end?? + flights, for those who need to fly... +, depending on how many we are, we may need to rent another vehicle... I'll drive & can take 5, Jen will be driving and she can fit ___ (I don't know how many!). We can use my house as a staging/meeting area... for those who are flying in, it'd be good if you all can coordinate airports & arrival times, for ease in picking everyone up (which I'm happy to do!)... so you'll want to arrive no later than 11am or so (to give us time to get back to my house & then up to the Lake by eve...)... another option is to fly in Thursday eve/night, I'll pick you up, and you can spend the night here @ Casa Raimist! The same rules apply w/the flights out on Monday... they'll have to leave after, oh, I don't know, I'm just winging this right now, but I'd say... take off @ 6pm or later?? to make sure we have time to get there, etc... and again, anyone who'd rather leave Tues morn is welcome to spend Mon night here... Just doing a brain dump in a general way about all this now, as you've got me thinking about it, and these are the most important points, imho. I figure the eating/drinking/carousing will take care of themselves!

Ok, phew! Can sit a sec & catch my breath. My "cleaning" is done & the in-laws just called & there about 30 minutes out! It wasn't really "cleaning" per se... more "the illusion" of clean! LOL! I said that once -- a long, long time ago (18 years, maybe?) -- to DH when some folks were coming over... I said, "We don't have to actually CLEAN, we just have to give it the ILLUSION of clean." About 5 mins later, I walk back into the room & he's still just sitting there, not doing anything. I'm like "WTF?" and he says to me, "This is just the ILLUSION of me not helping!" Ha ha ha! We still use that line all the time!

You guys!! I didn't even know you all still posted to this thread!! Laura -- You are SO DEFINITELY going, don't even think otherwise. Where there's a will, there's a way! It's not 'til MAY!! I was thinking I'd wait 'til Feb 1 to re-open the expedition planning... to give folks a chance to catch their breath & catch up on finances after the holidays (see, Laura??). But all variables will remain the same... same weekend, same location, etc. Everybody ok w/that??

Laura -- You've passed me, now! I was 256 this a.m. & you're @ 251!! You're doing great!

Hey Gals~~ Just a quick pop in, as I've been gone all day so far (fill & shopping) and my in-laws will be here in about 2 hrs or less & I've got to clean/vac, etc!! Ack!! BUT... want to tell you my fill story... I asked her (PA) how much I had in there already & she checks the chart & says "6.4 ccs in a 10cc band." so she said she'd put in .4. OK. So then I'm on the table, doing the "press up w/your stomach muscles thing" (hate that!) and she pulls out the fluid that's in there & it's over 8ccs! WTF? So she decides to put in just .2, and says that if I think I need more fill next month, she'll order it under flouroscope so she can check it out. So now I'm all freaked out that I'm getting too full!! I guess I'll see... my biggest fear w/this whole thing is slippage or erosion from being too tight... so I hope this takes me to my sweet spot! I've got to go clean... I'll check back later!! Love the inspirational quotes & h20 reminders -- thanks, Vi's!!

Announcement: No protein powder was harmed in the making of my dinner tonight! Dinner went a little something like this... "Ring, Ring!" "Hello?" "Hi Honey! I'm almost home! Grab the kids & meet me @ Carrabba's!" "Ok!" <Drive to Carrabba's...> <Order & EAT: 2 slices bread in EVOO w/spices, fried calamari (part of it), ceasar salad (split w/DD), almost ALL of a Rigatoni Martini chicken pasta in a HUGE bowl.> <Drive home & confess to Violets> <Find willpower under the couch w/the dust bunnies; dust it off; put it on table where I can find it easily tomorrow morning, when I "try, try again"> G'night!

Hi Vi's!~~ Just back from my lovely lunch w/my college roommate... I ate grilled salmon & balsamic grilled veggies... yum!... but I ate the whole thing!... think I def need a fill tomorrow. It's pro shake for dinner again! ((Judy)) I think we're all in the post-holiday doldrums, Judy. Even tho I "indulged" for the week from Christmas - Jan 1, I know I didn't eat nearly as much as I have in the past. Even so, I am up... really up... so much that I wasn't even going to tell you all how much... but, ok... 12 lbs!!! Seems impossible, doesn't it?? It's amazing how quickly the carbs & sugars add up. Yesterday I was back 110% on the Vi-wagon & today the scale was down 3.4 lbs... so I know it's mostly water weight, but still... yikes! My personal goal was -75 by 12/31... well, I obviously didn't make THAT! I made it to -71 tho... then added... so I can either mope about it, or do something, and I'm opting for the "do something" route! I'm now so motivated to get to at least -75 by the end of January... etc. & so on... Today's my 2nd day w/the bodybugg... I am really loving it, girls! I've always been ok w/willpower & eating, but the exercise part of the equation usually eludes me... but just wearing it makes me want to move... and then seeing the numbers... it's definitely a motivator! My aqua core class begins again next week, so that will help, too. Judy... you are not alone!! You've lost 71%!! Amazing!! And it will come of slower from here 'til goal, darn it... so maybe upping the exercise w/your fun machines will help... look into the bugg, too... I think you'd like it!... We're all in this together! Love you all!!

5:45am & still up @ the 'puter... I've made some lists for the upcoming *surprise* trip in Feb... did some Ebay surfing... etc... DH just left for work... maybe I can doze off now?? But ds wakes me up @ 6:30am... bleh. Today I'm meeting my college roommate for lunch! That will be fun. It's in VA, tho... so it's 1 hr drive each way, + 2+ hours to eat & chat & catch-up... so it'll be the main chunk of my day! Otherwise, it's just a regular day... work, laundry, etc... Ok then! Can't think of anything else to say! Make it a great one, Vi's!!

Hey Vi's... Anybody else awake @ 5am Eastern time?? I've been up since 3am! I got up to pee & haven't been able to fall asleep again! Between thoughts swirling in my head & dh's snoring (w/ a cold -- yuck!)... no zzzzz's. So I gave up & came down & got on the computer! This is the second night in a row that I've been awake @ 3am & can't fall back to sleep... I love me my sleep... this drives me crazy... which then makes it harder to fall back to sleep... a bad cycle... Wah.

It's now 4:57 am eastern time... I've got up to pee @ 3am & haven't been able to fall asleep again! Between thoughts swirling in my head & dh's snoring (w/ a cold -- yuck!)... no zzzzz's. So I gave up & came down & got on the computer!

Here are my Bodybugg Day 1 results as of 9:44pm... Cals consumed: 800 (it was a pro shake day... 800 total cals but 130 of them were protein!!) Cals burned: 2080 (I was in front of the computer for most of it! It was definitely a low-moving day) Cal deficit: 1280! Kewl!! Tomorrow will be a different type of day, more out-&-about, so it'll be interesting to see what that breaks out to be! Lovin' it!

Congratulations, Amanda Panda!! That's GREAT news!! I'm so happy for you!!

OK, Vi's!~~ Here are my Bodybugg Day 1 results as of 9:44pm... Cals consumed: 800 (it was a pro shake day... 800 total cals but 130 of them were protein!!) Cals burned: 2080 (I was in front of the computer for most of it! It was definitely a low-moving day) Cal deficit: 1280! Kewl!! Tomorrow will be a different type of day, more out-&-about, so it'll be interesting to see what that breaks out to be! Lovin' it!

Ok... I'm on my 4th 16.9 oz bottle now! The first 3 were water; this one is lemonade crystal light!

Oh crap... just got an e-mail reminder from my college roommate (whom I haven't seen in YEARS) that we're on for lunch tomorrow (we scheduled it a long time ago). So that means I'll have to EAT! I vow to get a chicken ceasar salad or some such thing, and eat only half of it! Such is life!!

Just finished my 2nd 16.9 oz bottle, so 33.8 oz of h20 so far today!

"Santa" brought me a Bugg for Christmas! I activated it yesterday, and today is the first day I'm wearing it! Just having it on makes me want to move more! Technology is really amazing!! I keep downloading the info every couple hours, even tho I'm mostly doing deskwork... it's just too fun!!

Me, again! (I'm doing lots of "deskwork" today, so I'll be popping in a lot!) Rockin' out to my new Bruce Springsteen cd, Magic... 1st time listening to it... ok so far... Cat sleeping w/her head on my left arm... makes typing interesting!... Bodybugg check-in! -- What fun! Just having it on makes me want to move more!! Just completed my first "download" of info (cuz' I couldn't wait!)... I've "consumed" 240 cals so far and I've "burned" 868, for a deficit of 628 so far!! This is so cool! I just pressed the button & the info was wireslessly downloaded -- technology rocks! I figure the first week or so will be setting my "baseline" averages... I may go for a walk at lunch today (which I usually don't, but should)... but otherwise today's a "regular" day of sitting in front of the 'puter + household tasks (laundry, vaccuming, etc...)... so it'll be interesting to see the results at the end of the day. Would it be true that the faster I type, the more cals expended???

Tracy!! Look at your progress pics!! Amazing!! Great work, girlie!!

Oops, frozen fingers up there. It should read: "... shouldN'T walk it 'til Spring!" that makes it a completely different sentence, huh?

Ack! I made it back up the hill! In the frigid wind... I'm heaving breaths like you wouldn't believe! DD said we should walk it 'til Spring! Ha ha! She's her momma's girl!