Okay I give in

If you would like to see the Tucson pictures, go here. The best ones that I really wanted to share are on here, I think I labeled them all with canyon-anyway sorry to poop out but I kinda wanted my blog back, heh.

Continuation-I Will Get This Done

I meant to finish talking about that first day last time and sort of petered out-got to get this done so I can move on mentally and write about other things, I just don't want to skip past our trip-it was too great. Okay so after the waterfall we walked up to another lookout point:









Those pictures were taken to make a panoramic sequence all together but I'm not clever enough with software yet to piece that together so you get it in pieces. Pictures don't really do it justice, it was breath taking. I think I'll end this and do a separate post for the next parts. Almost through, hold tight!

Walk About, Yoga, and Dinner

So, where was I? Yes, post massage and swim we went for a walk on property, here are some photos of cacti. Please enjoy.




And then we made it up to the waterfall which flowed decently now but supposedly shoots water out forty feet or so during monsoon season.





There's more but I am exhausted, yikes! Slept in until 11:30 today, wearing this Bodybugg doodad has me obsessed with being more active and I am wearing myself out. That's a good thing but I guess is shocking to my system. I'd gotten so into the habit of just doing my workout for the day and then being mainly sedentary the rest of the time unless wrangling the child (lovely that he is), so I'll cut this short.
Goodnight.

Last Monday for the Win

Monday morning we finally got up and hit the Cascade Cafe for brunch. I had blue corn chowder that was delicious, but I can't recall what Jason had...he had a conference call he had to be part of so he disappeared to do that and I headed back to the room to take a shower. We then headed to the spa onsite to get hot stone massages, it was awesome! I had heard that it was ok but not worth it and I have to disagree, Jason thought the same thing, we would both definitely do that again.I took one picture of the spa locker room (no one else was in there for a sec) and then a few outside by the pool (it was heated so we went for a swim afterwards.)PS click to enlarge and see the mountains in the background.

We then changed clothes, thinking there was some hiking on property and there was, sortof...it turned out to be a nicely paved trail that went up to the waterfall they sort of built the place around (didn't want to disturb it or the 300 yr old Saguaro out front) and then wound over to sort of a look out perch that had one of the most incredible views. I spent a great deal of time just exclaiming over views, it was a theme. I'll talk about that and post pictures next time.

Groovy

Things are going well over here in the new year. I'm using the Bodybugg as intended and tracking my food on their software to compare with calories burned for the day. Yesterday was my first full day with food tracking included so it's easy to say well done so far, ha!
I want to find some good hiking boots, not crazy expensive but something to keep my ankles from rolling, ideally would keep me warm in winter but not be sweltering the rest of the year but I know that seems impossible. We went on a two and a half hr hike on vacation (also swam and did a yoga class together) and I'll talk about that but will start out with the first few pics of the trip.
If I keep waiting to make the perfect post about our vacation it won't happen so here goes a little bit. I plan on trying to make a little book about it too though I wish I had more pictures. I thought I was taking a ton at the time but it turns out? Not so much.The first night there I was too tired and my back ached overwhelmingly, I ended up having to take a nap and then barey made it out for dinner. So the first half day there? Sort of wasted because of me but I really could not have avoided the nap and felt really bad. We went to El Charro for dinner at the original location downtown. They are supposedly the originator of the chimichanga and also the oldest continuously run by the same family mexican restaurant. Been open since 1922 and the place we went was the family's home at one time. Fantastic food, here's a picture of the chimichanga I ordered, it was easily over a foot long, geez!

Jason's dinner, which was this incredible steak that was sun dried and roasted that also filled my chimichanga:

And here's the two of us, tired but happy:

Having a fabulous time, surprise surprise there is internet access here (wasn't last time I was here) and I am pretty dang sick but I plan on burning that out with some Crown Royal later, ha!
Had an awesome breakfast burrito at Joe's Deli in Vail Village this morning, the sun is shining and its a balmy 50 degrees. Heaven to this heat sensitive Texan. I've taken tons of pictures but did not bring a usb cable or my flash drive cause I thought I would be netless. Le sigh.
Love to all.

I don't comment on your blogs as often as I should, I feel inadequate at best when I am really struck by something you post. All of you. Marla, many of your posts really strike a cord with me and yet I'm not sure what to say that would be of any worth to the already lovely writing. The post about food pushing especially hit me but I have yet to say anything. And my inspiring Seattle friend Dynamo360, your thinking posts, well they make me think. Ha! So like my own posting, I will strive to stop being frozen from commenting because I DO want you to know I think you rock.
Hamstring is fine now but I started getting miserably sick last night. I feel like the highest frequency germ factory on the planet. Not the ILLEST person by any means as there are so many people dealing with seriously gnarly stuff, but I have persistent crappy colds, allergies, fatigue, etc. I blame Texas. Only half joking here.
Had fucked up dreams last night that I woke up and we were already in Vail and I totally did not remember the flight or the drive which led to panicking wondering if I had drank or taken something. And the mountains were more like molehills and I was so disappointed that I had finally gotten a chance to share them with my mom and then the betrayed me by being hills, and my dad was there with my brother (parents are recently divorced) and there was a repair dude named Clovis working on the water line? He looked like Morgan Freeman.
My throat is super swollen, my voice is hoarse and I feel all woozy. Perfect to go to a high altitude! I told my mom it would be in the 20s at night and she freaked! "Where are you taking me??" haha.
Huge day ahead of me, gotta finish the packing of the suitcase and then get to school then rush to my moms, eat and pick her up and then start the hellish process that is the airport. I hate airports, all of the check points and toll booths and what have you give me extreme anxiety.
Still not dieting, don't think I ever will again. THAT gives me peace.

Wow sorry to leave it hanging on such a downer post. I was out of town all weekend, but am back now and will catch up on everyone asahp (as soon as humanly possible). Starting day 12 today, did not make it past 11 am on Saturday, my MIL's house is kryptonite for me and I wish I would have made it but I did not. I'll explain later.

I've been extremely out of pocket since oh, around March 9th (which was my birthday, coincidence? no) but thank you for the comments about my birthday weekend, sorry I have been MIA. Two days after getting home from the birthday extravaganza we left town to visit family in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, OK. We returned last night and I've been immediately thrown back into real life and it sucks. Hard. I am exhausted and having a hard time thinking, in fact I have considered bailing on writing this several times already and let's face it: I have not typed that much at this point.
Anyway, no home cooked food was consumed from Wednesday lunch through breakfast this morning and my body is hatin' right about now. Dinner last night made both me and my husband pretty ill and neither one of us has any desire to go out to eat for quite some time. That's one of our favorite things to do so trust me, that was quite a feat. I did lift Tuesday morning, walked Wednesday and Thursday, then used the Stairmaster and my in-laws in Tulsa Friday and Saturday morning with a 30 minute walk outside afterwards Saturday. Saturday night I drank too much beer, and did a shot and then an Irish Car Bomb combined with consuming crappy food. I did eat some damn good food halfway through the night and have vowed to go back to Paddy's (Tulsa, OK) again to properly enjoy it. Smithwick's (pronounced smiddicks) and half a Reuben was an awesome combo.
So I exercised pretty well, but ate cookies and pie and pizza and lots and lots of fries. Oh and beer. I am so ready to feel good again instead of bloated and tired and dealing with seriously uncool digestive issues. I've eaten well today because that is all I feel like doing and am working on unpacking our little family and getting this house in order. Here's to onward and upward!