Viva Las Vegas

Last night I ate cereal for dinner.

Today I went through a drive-thru for lunch.

None of that is anywhere interesting enough for blogging.

So I decided that maybe I should finally give you guys the Vegas Recap!

Tiffaney and Rose have travelled to Las Vegas together a couple of times.  Between them, they have been there TWELVE times!  Rose has a goal to stay in every hotel on the strip in her lifetime.  I have been there four times, but always for work…so I’ve seen a fair bit but never had the chance to just enjoy it.

Total bummer that we didn’t get a clearer picture of us this night.  I was super pumped about my rockin’ little purple dress and those gold shoes!!

We got a very good deal flying out of Bellingham on Allegiant Air.  If you live anywhere on Vancouver Island or the Lower Mainland, totally check out Allegiant.  It was a bit of a pain in the arse having to travel to Bellingham but we saved literally hundreds of dollars by doing it. 

Our room was at the MGM Grand…which we chose pretty much because of it’s FIVE pools and lazy river.  :) 

It turned out to be a great hotel…good location, fun club (Studio 54), lots of amenities, a fabulous pool area, excellent Cirque du Soleil show (KA) and the best food/restaurant selection I’ve seen in a Vegas hotel.  It’s nice that it has a food court so every meal doesn’t have to cost an arm & a leg!!  Oh, and the three Starbucks didn’t hurt…especially the one on the way to the pool each morning…er, afternoon. 

My name…spelled correctly!!  This never happens.  Only in Vegas.  LOL.

We crammed a ton of stuff into our three nights and almost four days.  All three of us required vacations from our vacation!  You know it’s a good time when….

A first for all of us was a trip to Freemont Street…I’ll do a separate post for that. But here’s some more pics…just cuz.

Rock on, girls.

Vegas Rehab

Don’t worry…actual Las Vegas details are coming.  Just waiting until I pool photos with the girls…there were some better shots on their cameras.

We actually didn’t eat tooooo terribly bad while we were away.  I did manage reasonable breakfasts, a couple of salads, and lots of water.  But we did find our fair share of treats, had some cocktails, and threw our sleep schedule to the wind.

I still came home sporting a “Vegas belly”, craving fresh produce and hating my scale…sooooo Operation Vegas Rehab is in effect for the week.  Bring on the bigass salads and cardio love!

My souvenir…

My breakfast…

It’s oatmeal season.  Today’s pot included: oats, water, UVAB, flax meal, 1/2 frozen banana, fresh blueberries and chopped almonds. 

My workout…

• 35 minute treadmill power walk, varying speeds, varying incline.
• Upper body strength training on bosu and bench.
• Abs and side abs.

My bigass salad…

The big silver bowl is back in action: red lettuce, baby spinach, carrots, celery, red onion, strawberry tomatoes, olive oil, white wine vinegar and coarse salt.

Topped with tuna mixed with olive oil mayo & dijon.  Served with bagel chips and crack hummus…

My afternoon weakness… TJs PB pretzels. 

My easy peasy dinner.  Turkey and black bean chili straight from the freezer…

My fancy dessert.  Gala apple, concord grapes, and a half portion of double creme brie…

Partner all of that with 3 litres of water and you have a pretty rockin’ good first day back on track.  It’s a vacation from my vacation. :)

We’re Baaack!

 

;)

Look out Vegas…

…Here we come!

Food for Thought

So I spent a little time considering how I possibly lost weight last week. I know I shouldn't dwell on it, but honestly sometimes the human body is a mysterious thing! I decided to try to list what I ate while I was away, and it helped...turns out that over the 4 days, my calorie intake was actual pretty good. Yay me!

Wednesday:
- Kashi bar & dbl tall no-fat vanilla latte at airport
- BK sausage/egg/cheese english muffin @ Montreal airport
- roll of Mentos and mixed nuts on plane
- couple of Halloween size chocolate bars at hotel (I was starving and it was all I had)
- beef soft taco & refried beans for lunch (didn't eat the rice)
- drank only vodka/sodas at cocktail party, one big scoop of yummy dressed salad topped with big stack of fantastic, fresh crab
- out with the bosses for shared sushi (basically 1 spicy tuna roll and a couple pieces of sashimi) & one $14 cucumber vodka cocktail

Thursday:
- continental breaky spread at exhibit hall: coffee with vanilla syrup & skim milk, OJ, fresh melon & pineapple, croissant & another pastry thingy
- Bill Maher luncheon: salad with champagne vinegrette (so good!), stuffed chicken with some sort of yummy sauce, spinach, fingerling potatoes, just water to drink, about 1/2 of the chocolate mousse cake dessert, and coffee with Splenda and a splash of cream
- afternoon lemonade stand in hall - 2 glasses I think
- we had those Halloween chocolate bars on our booth table, so more than a couple of those (did you know that Americans had no idea what a Coffee Crisp was?)
- exhibit hall cocktail party: couple of vodka/sodas, fresh carved beef for a soft taco piled high with guacamole, tomatoes, cheese and salsa (best year yet for food!)
- 1 glass of champage at after-party

Friday:
- continental breaky spread again: I added a bowl of granola and skim milk to the mix because I wasn't sure when we would get lunch
- definitely a couple more of the Halloween chocolates...damn PB cups!
- late lunch - I really wanted a burger but we were outside and it convinced me to order a club salad instead - blue cheese dressing & bacon on there, but not enough to really be concerned. :)
- late dinner - the bosses took us to Smith & Wollensky - I opted to skip the appy, I ordered the smallest steak (the gorgonzola filet, and it was still 10 oz!), but it was the kind of place where you share the side dishes, so I had a couple of scoops of truffled macaroni and lots of the green beans with walnuts & goat cheese, shared the creme brule trio with my boss, 2 glasses of pinot noir
- couple more vodka/sodas when we stopped a few times while walking up the Strip after dinner (we needed the walk after all that beef!)

Saturday:
- thought I was meeting the bosses for a meal, so I only got coffee in the hotel
- turns out we were just hanging out by the pool, so I waited to eat...finally got a slice of pizza at Caesar's Palace around 2pm, with diet Pepsi (yay me!)
- then I started walking and walking and walking
- stopped around 4:30 for Starbucks - iced grande no-fat vanilla latte & an espresso brownie
- then more walking and walking and walking
- finally decided I should get water & a bag of chips around 7:00 (honestly I think I was just being too cheap to eat a real meal)
- more walking
- at the airport, there were like no options in the new terminal I was in, so I had an order of fries from the only little restaurant available (they had huge sub-sandwiches and I just couldn't face that much food at that time of night)
- then some ginger ale and that tiny little packet of bits n bites on the plane
- after that I think it was just some mixed nuts to tide me over to Halifax, and even then I didn't really eat much when I got home....of course, that's because it was now Sunday afternoon and I needed to sleep! so Sunday's food was next to nothing, which helped even out the rest of the time...so all in all, not the healthiest choices, but it all worked out...apparently. :)

Feelin' the Love!

OMG! You guys are so great and just too cute! Thanks for all the little messages! I missed you too!

I am exhausted beyond all recognition, but I promise to pull some serious zzz's so I can write you a long, detailed blog about my long, detailed week!

Food was bad, but not a disaster. The dress was a hit, and I wish I'd had a second one for the second party. There was no exercise until yesterday when I had 7 hours to kill so I walked up and down the Strip almost the entire time. Sleep was hard to come by, so I enjoyed every minute I got...which is good because I have only slept about 4 hours since I got up on Saturday morning. Now I'm going back to sleep and won't get up until I have to on Monday.

Up, Up and Awaaaaay

Grrrr.....the scale is catching up with me. 153.8 just now. That's up 1.4 from last week, making an total of 3.8 up for the whole month.

Time to buckle down! Operation Vegas is in full force! 23 days for staying OP and toning, toning, toning.

I'll have to find time to squeeze the gym in after work today. Mondays are supposed to be a day off but since I didn't go at all over the weekend, I feel guilty and need an extra cardio day. I made Mondays one of my days off because of my work schedule, so I don't know when I'm going to be able to go, but I'll figure it out. Maybe right after work...before dinner.

Dinner is going to be breakfast. I had planned to make spinach & egg white omelettes this weekend but we didn't have any tomatoes and they just aren't the same. So I will get DBF to pick up some toms and make the omelettes tonight...serving with Yves veggie breakfast sausage patties....hopefully they are yummy.

Day 1 of 23...today's goal: no straying from the menu plan.

- fresh pineapple
- coffee
- Red River cereal with natural PB & 1/2 banana (time to break out the Autumn breakies)
- Greek salad (if it's still good...if not, spinach salad) with ww pita & tzatziki
- pear
- sesame rice crackers with light Laughing Cow
- spinach & egg white omelette, served with Yves veggie breakfast sausage patties
- skim milk
- new batch of bran muffins tonight...maybe zucchini choc chip bran....get to try ONE :)

Fresh Start Monday - Retake!

Although I'm still weighing in at 151.4, I feel like today needs to be a true restart. Points/calories wise I think last week sort of evened out by the end of the weekend, but it certainly wasn't my healthiest week ever. Exercise was almost non-existant. There may have been a greasy carborama appy platter at Boston Pizza. There most definitely was a few late evening bowls of cereal that definitely weren't planned for. A Mars bar was eaten in under 30 seconds due to starvation while shopping and I don't even like Mars bars.

Mamma is gone now and DBF is doing freaking great on his new menu plan, so there are no excuses for me! I leave for a business trip in Las Vegas in exactly one month. So today commences OPERATION VEGAS BODY!

A few points I thought I'd write down to keep myself accountable...

- Lattes need to be treats, not daily requirements
- Water is my friend
- Take advantage of the good weather while it's still here (walks after dinner and such)
- New workout schedule (due to stupid work meetings buggering up old schedule)
- Tues/Thurs early morning HIIT & strength training, Sat or Sun HIIT & strength training, Mon/Wed noon cardiofest
- Stick to the menu plans!

On a positive note, we had a lovely goodbye dinner out on Friday night before Mom left and while she and DBF enjoyed steak and potatoes (he planned his treat night into his new menu plan), I ordered a seafood plate that was light and freaking to die for. Served with salad, it was perfect and I didn't feel overstuffed or saturated in carbs. No wine for me either!

Also, while DBF enjoyed a boys day yesterday I ran errands and did some shopping, and as the good little girl I am I toted my gym gear with me and at the end of the afternoon I hit the gym! Treadmill hill inclines powerwalk, followed by full strength training routine, including my 100 crunches. (I had actually tried to go to the gym on Saturday morning after dropping Mom off at the airport super early, but it wasn't open yet! and of course, my motivation died and I never made it back there when they were open.)

Today's menu plan...

- coffee
- Liberte Muesli yogurt cup (choco crunch)
- fresh pineapple
- homemade butternut squash soup, 1/2 english muffin with Becel
- Gala apple with light Laughing Cow wedge
- Kashi cherry/choco granola bar
- Tomato Basil Turkey sausage, grilled and served with spinach salad
- glass of skim milk
- Special K vanilla almond with vanilla Almond Breeze
- 2 litres of water!

Vegas Experience - Part Three

Ugh, yesterday was the longest day EVER!! Can we say "not enough sleep after long night of partying before travelling is not a good idea"? Yes, yes we can!!

Friday morning I managed to make myself wake-up and get to the exhibit hall with just enough time to grab some breaky before they put the continental buffet away. I went with a scoop of granola with skim milk and some fresh melon and strawberries. And water, lots of water. :)

I got a fair amount of exercise in too....going back and forth to our rooms a few times. I don't know if you've ever been to the Bellagio, but it's freaking massive. Fifteen minute walk just to get from the exhibit hall to the elevators...then another five minutes down the hall to the room. Then the same distance back....geesh, I don't even walk the dog for that long at home! (Note: wear comfortable shoes!)

I had to go to my partner's room to pick up my laptop and such after I had already walked all the way to the exhibit. I had left my stuff in his room when we went clubbing the night before and I guess it didn't occur to him that maybe he ought to bring it to the booth for me. Anyway, the walk was good for me and it meant I wasn't actively having to talk with clients. I stopped at the cafe on the way back and got a big non-fat latte....my brain thanked me for that!...but I was lured in by a chocolate croissant too. Willpower is sooooo not my friend when I'm hungover.

A little later in the day, there were huge soft pretzels put out at coffee time in the hall. I ate part of one, but it wasn't really all that great so I tossed it. I did eat my whole double chocolate cookie though...hmmmm, funny that eh? ;)

After we packed up our booth, we decided we wanted to finally try Olives for a late lunch, but wouldn't you know it....they close after lunch and we missed it by like five minutes. So instead we tried out the Buffet. I ended up sticking with a huge plate of salad, cold shrimp & cocktail sauce, and a couple of pieces of sushi. I really wanted to dive into the pasta and entree section, but honestly I didn't want to be full of that when we got on our plane.

At the airport I was excited to find a Starbucks right next to our gate that was serving Christmas drinks...so got myself a reduced-fat EggNog latte while we waited for them to change the wheel on our plane.

Our layover in Seattle was pretty long so I opted for some Ivar's clam chowder (I almost always get this when I'm in the Seattle airport because Seattle is the only place you can get it!) and there may have been some french fries too.

I'm so glad to be home and rested and back to the land of easier food choices. Not that my choices are going to be much better for the rest of this weekend, but come Tuesday morning I'm back on the wagon dammit!!

Vegas Experience - Part Two

Wow, did Thursday evening NOT turn out the way I had thought! That's the nature of Vegas I guess. :)

Dinner wound up being ham and scalloped potatoes at the cocktail party...with a few vodka/sodas of course. A couple of wedges of brie might have made it onto my plate too. Our clubbing plans were slightly waylaid by a couple of clients and other exhibitors....slightly....haha. I had a couple more drinks, but actually managed to get in three bottles of water over the night. No dancing to burn off anything though...booo. (See my other blog for details of the "dancing"...)

Vegas Experience - Part One

HELLO FROM VEGAS!!

The trek here yesterday wasn't too bad...however we did stop at Chili's in the Seattle airport and they don't serve ANYTHING healthy. I settled on the Spinach & Artichoke Dip because I needed something a bit substantial, but it was completely unhealthy and honestly not very tasty. Good news was that I was able to walk away from it when I decided I didn't like it and didn't need any more of it. My margarita was really salty and too strong too.

I stuck with a small box of Junior Mints for the flight and avoided the drink cart altogether.

Last night we attended the opening night cocktail party for the convention. My drink of choice was vodka/soda (lowest point highball out there!!) and they had many food stations so I was happy to sea a seafood one. Fresh jumbo prawns and huge chunks of fresh crab meat...with an excellent seafood salad. All to die for! Later in the evening we opted for an Asian dinner of pork tenderloin and mixed veggies. So yum!! Followed by a few more vodka/sodas at one of the trendy lounges.

Today I was able to snag a fruit plate and tiny bowl of granola & skim milk for breakfast so that was a relief. For lunch I opted for a really good tuna salad sandwich and bottled water. I did have to try a treat from the European pastry shop though....everything looked so AMAZING!! It was totally worth it!! (I'm going to try to go back for photos after work tonight.)

Tonight we have another cocktail party (weeeee....free drinks again!), then I'm hoping to convince my partner that we should go to Todd English Olives for dinner. Later on we plan to find a club for some dancing and fun, so maybe I can work off some dinner.

I'm having fun with all of this (aside from how boring work is so far) but can't wait to get home and back into a routine with DBF. It will be nice to get to a couple of kickboxing classes and maybe convince him to start walking with me after work. I'm feeling out of shape and I DON"T LIKE IT! It is nice to have someone else to cook for now too....so my menu planning is getting pretty exciting.

I think I might re-sign up for WW Online just to get me through to Christmas. I can still do it without the major sign up fee and I think I need the control.