When Did Packing Become So Difficult?

I have always considered myself to be a pretty good packer.  I pack quickly and neatly and just about never forget anything.  The morning after Kenny and I were married, mom hosted a brunch for 70+ wedding guests.  I spent the morning with our guests and then hustled to pack before the arrival of our limo at 3 pm.  The limo came early, and I made the driver wait until 3 (when I was done).  We were away for about 2 weeks, and I didn't forget a thing.  This is just how I handle packing.  Kenny and mom now have a running joke about my packing, and they don't even try to push me to pack in advance. 

    

I'm sad to say that I finally have packing fatigue, and this fatigue is making me forgetful.  I love the travel, but the packing is becoming an annoying inconvenience.  I think it is because I am in a perpetual state of packing and unpacking- I am rarely in London for more than 2 weeks at a time and am just about always in the states for a week a month.  This is on top of my European travel.  I am to the point where I don't always bother to fully unpack (yes, I take the dirties out and change up the shoes) before piling in a few more items and running to meet my driver.  My system had always worked until last month, and then it failed miserably. 

  

Kenny and I had been at the shore and were taking the ferry into the city when I realized that I had forgotten undies.  Three nights in the city and no undies.  Kenny had also left his ties at my mom's house, so I made an emergency trip to Bloomingdale's.  This little shopping trip was an unexpected bonus, as my old undies look a bit like very baggy parachutes wrapped around my body.  Still, I didn't like that I had forgotten something so essential.  I pride myself in my packing skills after all. 

      

Fast forward to our weekend in the Cotswolds.  We are unpacking on Friday evening.  I pull out my dress, shoes and wrap for Friday night.  I pull out my shoes and wrap for Saturday night.  What is missing?  The dress!  I remembered the items I really could have managed without, the shoes and wrap, and completely blanked on the dress.  Two trips in two weeks, and I forgot two major things.  Now we are a week away from our Mallorca trip.  We are staying here for 10 nights, and I really don't want to continue this trend of forgetting my belongings.  I am going to have to pack in advance for this trip.  Even worse, I might actually make a checklist!  Groan:( 

     

I hope that my packing amnesia is temporary.  My travel routine will become much more tiresome if I actually need to focus on it!

   

I had a great workout this morning!  The trainer I wrote about earlier this week, Ed, was there again.  He had offered to help me out when he introduced himself on Tuesday, so I decided to take him up on his offer today.  I was in the middle of a 5 minute warm up on the treadmill when we started chatting.  I asked if he could show me a few more kettle bell exercises, and he was very helpful.  He stayed with me from 9:10-9:55, which is pretty amazing!  Of course Ed wants me to do personal training with him, so he wanted to show me what he is like.  And it was a smart move on his part!  I've been watching the trainers most days to determine if I could like any of them, and some of them just wouldn't work for me.  Some stand next to the trainee as he/she runs on the treadmill for 20 minutes.  Sorry boys, but I can do that myself.  Others have the unfortunate condition of being female.  I've never liked female trainers and just refuse to even bother trying with another woman.  Lastly, some are just plain dumb.  I like to be able to chat and banter, and I need someone who at least has enough braincells to deal with me.  This guy is a 22 year old university grad, studying for his masters and going through the process of applying to the army.  Ed could work!  I am going to buy a package of training sessions so he can work with me once a week.  After my training today I completed an hour of cardio on the Vario, so it was a good start to the day. 

Compliments and Crooks

I invited one of my American girlfriends and her friend over for a boozy lunch yesterday.  I knew I would never got to the gym after our lunch, so I went much earlier than usual.  I was in the middle of my kettlebell routine when one of the trainers came over to me.  I am lucky to work out at a nice club, and the trainers are always friendly.  Still, all I could think was 'uh oh, what am I doing wrong?'.  He started talking about how much he loved these weights and that he brings them to the park for his workouts.  He introduced himself... and then the compliment... he said that I should feel free to ask him any questions but that I look like I know what I am doing.  A trainer told ME that I looked like I knew what I was doing with kettlebells of all things!  A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  I might have blushed, not sure...

   

My girlfriend and her friend came over, and we had great afternoon catching up.  When she and I first met, I wasn't sure if we would click.  We had the American connection, but I didn't know if that would be enough to have a friendship over.  She is also very fit.  She is a distance runner and has run two half-marathons in Europe this year.  She is also running a FULL marathon in Iceland in a week or two.  Would this super fit gal have any interest in being friends with the fatso?  Fast forward to yesterday.  She was saying how I look so good and I had so obviously lost weight since we last saw each other at my 4th of July BBQ.  She knew that I had lost a lot, but this was the first time I told her exactly how much I have lost.  She had an ear to ear grin she was so happy for me.  I have a decent number of friends who have been silent over my weight loss, and hearing that a super slim girlfriend of mine was actually happy for me made me feel very good! 

   

We were hanging out in my garden, which felt almost surreal.  Parts of the city had experienced severe rioting, and we were chilling in the garden with some wine and Lebanese food.  It felt eerily normal.  Then Kenny called to say that his company had emailed all London employees and told them to go home because the rioting might get bad.  My girlfriend's husband works for the same company and received the same message.  Of course my husband decided not to leave immediately and kept working for about an hour.  Then my girlfriend's husband popped up from the Underground and saw that the local Waitrose (grocery store) was CLOSED 'for the safety of the customers'.  Kenny finally made it home, and we decided to order Thai for dinner.  That would have worked if the Thai restaurant hadn't been closed as well.  We ordered even more Lebanese, I am convinced we keep this restaurant in business, and walked to pick it up.  The little Sainsbury's (another grocery store) was closed due to the riots as was the liquor store.  Now shutting down the markets is bad enough, but things are looking especially bad when the people at the liquor store decide to call it quits for the evening.  This is London after all- alcohol is a way of life. 

    

I, of course, get a bit freaked out that the rioters must be coming our way if businesses are shutting down for the night.  I get to thinking, if these SOBs riot near us so that we need to leave our flat, what will we do?  More importantly, what will we take?  One of the benefits of digital photography is that I can replace most of my pics if they are destroyed, but I love the frames.  Still, it probably makes sense to be a bit more systematic about what to grab.  First, passports, jewelry and our wallets.  This stuff is small and easy to carry, and having to deal with the embassy to get new passports would be an amazingly huge pain in the tush.  Second, the computers probably.  We have two laptops, and they are our lifelines.  Third (though I forgot about it yesterday), our wedding album.  I love the album.  I know we could have it redone, but I'd prefer not to. 

  

Now things get more difficult.  How much more could we reasonably carry, and what is most important?  I knew the answer immediately- shoes and purses (and just a few dresses, including two of the dresses that Catherine lent me last month).  So here I am, conducting a mental inventory of my shoes and bags to determine which I could live without and which had to come with me.  I have 40-50 pairs of shoes that I could not possibly leave behind along with probably 15 bags.  Are you seeing the problem here?  I envisioned Kenny and me leaving our flat with more luggage than we took for our two week Italian vacation (remember, I didn't even address the items he would want to take and how silly he would look walking through a riot with his golf clubs).  And then it dawned on me- these rioters are only looting the expensive stores, the stores with the fancy clothes, etc.  Rioters might be too lazy to work to purchase these goods the way you or I would, but they aren't completely dumb.  They would see us with our gigantic bags, and they would STEAL OUR STUFF!  So I decided that maybe our belongings would be safer in the flat after all.  Just take the passports and jewelry and get the hell out of here!   Luckily London was quiet last night, and we didn't have any issues.  I hope tonight is just as uneventful!  

Cotswolds Catch Up and London Riots

Kenny and I had a wonderful weekend together in the Cotswolds.  He was able to leave work early, so we made it to Upper Slaughter a bit after 5 in the afternoon.  The hotel grounds were beautiful.  I don't always understand this country, but these people can certainly do gardens well!  The hotel itself was just darling- it is an old manor house that maintains a very homey feel.  We were shown to our room and had some time to relax before dinner.

The back of the hotel

The front of the hotel- I actually chose to post the one full length pic to keep me honest!

The hotel is set up for foodies and does not disappoint.  We had a 7:30 dinner reservation and were asked to arrive 30 minutes early for pre-dinner drinks and canapes.  What a pleasant way to start the evening!  There we sat with a glass of champagne and canapes while reviewing the dinner menu and wine list.  Nice touch!  I won't bore you with an overly detailed blow by blow, but our meals were yummy and beautifully presented.  I started with Cornish crab, and Kenny had a beautiful quail dish; my main was halibut with broad beans, and Kenny's was lamb; my dessert was a fabulously dense chocolate bar/cake with a salty, caramel topping and Kenny had a fab raspberry souffle with raspberry ripple ice cream and Lord Eton's mess.  Indulgent, definitely, but I was well-behaved.  I ate my appetizer, maybe half of my entree and less than half of the dessert. 

   

We spoke with the concierge on Saturday morning, and he gave us a map with 7-8 towns worth seeing in our part of the Cotswolds.  I was surprised that so many of these 'towns' were not even villages.  Several were just clusters of little homes- the perfect setting for a murder mystery novel.  We parked in Winchcombe and walked 3/4 of a mile out of town to Sudeley Castle.  Yes, we could have driven all the way to the castle.  Yes, there was a parking lot right next to the castle.  Still, we walked it (one of the many benefits of losing Snooki).  The castle was pretty pathetic, but the gardens were beautiful.  After a few more hours of driving and visiting the towns we were back at the hotel in time for Kenny's Saturday afternoon nap (he only looks 32- in reality he is 85) and another dinner at the hotel.

 At the Castle

 
Yesterday we drove to Stratford-Upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare, before returning to London. 
 

 
The highlight of SUA was visiting a butterfly farm with hundreds (probably thousands) of butterflies flying all around.  It was amazing and it was beautiful.  

   

  
Now that you have seen my lovely weekend, let's move to a less appealing topic.  Have you all been seeing this rioting madness?  It is really out of control.  While doing cardio at the gym this afternoon, I spent an hour watching the riots on Sky News.  These lunatics have now rioted in East London, North London and South London.  I live in West London, but I don't like being anywhere near riots.  These thugs wear hoodies so CCTV can't photograph their faces, so I got butterflies in my stomach when I saw young people in hoodies as I walked home from the gym.  Not cool.  Onto my opinion of how this should be handled (skip rest of paragraph if you are anti police).  The riot police are being pummeled by bricks, bottles, fire crackers, wood, etc.  It is 100% out of control.  I vote for rubber bullets and tear gas.  Most of the people rioting are young men (young men who should be working rather than loitering on the streets).  They are thugs.  They are bums.  They are cowards.  Hit these bastards with rubber bullets and barrage them with tear gas, and these losers will call it quits.  And do it before they come to my part of town!!!  There, I said it! 

Weekend Plans and Eighty Pounds Down

I was greeted by a beautiful number this morning when I hopped on the scale.  I now weigh 244.6, meaning I am down 80 lbs from my Day 1 liquid diet weight.  This is very exciting for me and means that I am (I hope) on pace to lose 100+ lbs this year.  Maybe I should celebrate by digging into a chocolate mousse cake- kidding!

    

Kenny is leaving work early today so we can drive out to the Cotswolds and stay here for the weekend.  Given the amount we travel, it is amusing that we have seen almost none of England.  We don't have a car here, so it is frequently easier to just fly away rather than deal with the hassle and expense of renting one of the only automatic cars in the country.  Anyway, Kenny chose to stay here because the restaurant is well-known and has a Michelin star.  I hope to maintain my 80 lb loss during what is bound to be a food and wine heavy weekend, so I will walk as much as possible to compensate. 

     

No gyming for me today.  My quads are really sore, but my main issue is that the wonderful and amazing Kenny gave me his cold:(  I don't want to get too run down, so I will take a day off.

    

Happy Friday!

New Gym Clothes

After the case of the falling gym shorts last month, buying new gym clothes became a necessity.  I spent an afternoon at the local outlets while at mom's and stocked up on shorts, tops and sports bras.  All items were XL, which is so much better than 2X.  I was happy to find Adidas shorts with 4" inseams, meaning that they don't ride up the way the super short shorts would.  I was even happier that these shorts were on sale for $10- and on top of that, buy one, get one 50% off.  Given the sale, I must be one of the only women who likes these shorts! 

   

I didn't like many of the Adidas tops/bras, so to Under Armour I went.  I have always associated this brand with meatheads and anorexics and had real anxiety opening the door and walking into the store.  I pretty much thought the saleswomen would look at me and go back to stocking shelves rather than wasting their time on me when nothing could possibly fit.  I could not have been more wrong... well, maybe the brand is geared towards meatheads and anorexics, but at least the saleswomen were super helpful.  I walked out with 4 bras and probably 10 tops.  The bras are amazing!  They have great support and are sized XS-XL as well as according to cup size, so my modest C cups aren't smushed to accommodate the A cups out there or completely unsupported to make room for the Ds of the world.  What a concept!  And I picked up these amazing wonders of technology for $20 rather than the $50 list price.  Not too shabby:) 

   

Now, for your viewing pleasure...

 

Yesterday's outfit- I'm not talented when it comes to the Blackberry camera, so I thought I would try out a pic in each hand.

 

 

Today's outfit- I am no more talented but lacked the patience for multiple camera angles.

 

 

I won't be winning fashion awards, but the new clothes beat this getup from last month (or so I hope)!

      

I just returned from the gym, and my quads are less than happy with what I did to them.  I completed my first kettlebell/squat routine since before my wedding and followed that with an hour on the Vario.  When I stepped off of the Vario, I actually had to hold on to stop my quads from giving out on me.  Oops.  Not to mention that I need to walk down a flight of steps after I leave the gym, and I refused to be the fat chick who takes the lift after working out for 90 minutes.  Sorry, but it is like ordering a diet coke with a big mac and jumbo sized french fries.  So down I walked.  I'm thinking that tomorrow is going to be a low key exercise day (assuming I can get myself out of bed). 

 

     

And a Quick Pic

I am the Traveling Bandita, and most of my traveling takes place on a plane.  I sometimes forget to talk about how much easier travel has become since losing weight, but that doesn't mean there aren't HUGE differences!  Flying was always miserable at 320+ lbs.  I couldn't fit into the seats, couldn't fasten the belt, couldn't comfortably walk up and down the aisle, etc.  So how great is this?  This is a pic I snapped when I was flying back to the states two weeks ago. 

Look at all that room!

I'm Baaack!

After two weeks in the states, I am back in London.  I return to NJ on September 4- I will barely have time to miss the place at this rate!
  

I saw Dr. K on Monday and had a mini fill (.2).  She had talked about doing .4 or .5 in the beginning, but we both like to keep me less filled due to my outrageous travel schedule.  I think the mini will work out just fine, and I will see her on September 19 in case I need a bit more.  So I asked Dr. K what my goal weight should be.  I mentioned that I thought it should be 155 because that would put my BMI below 25.  She looked at me and asked if I had EVER been at 155.  I have not, or more specifically, I have not been at or around 155 since I was... um... 13 or 14 maybe.  The lowest I have been as an adult was 180ish, and that was when I was popping Adipex like tic tacs.  Dr. K said that my initial goal should be getting below 200 lbs, and then we will go from there.  She said that she wants me to not only be at a good weight but be able to maintain that weight and that 190 might be the 'right' weight for me.  She wasn't saying that I should only get to 190 or that it should be my final goal- just that once I get to a more reasonable weight, it will be easier to see what really is manageable for me.  I thought this was a very rational way of looking at this process.  I was considering changing my ticker to take this into account, but I think I will keep it as is for now.  I kind of like seeing that I have come very far but that I still have a long journey ahead.  From following blogs it looks like a lot of women get to the point I am at now (BMI just under 40) and call it quits.  Not I!  While I am in much better shape than I was 8 months ago, remaining at my current weight will be a pure failure.  So I will keep my tracker as it is and remind myself of all the possibilities down the road.  I will reassess if necessary, but I am not there yet!
 

I saw my dad a few times during my trip.  He does not know about my surgery and spent months NOT noticing that I'd lost weight.  Now he's changed his tune and is complimentary about how I am looking.  Unfortunately, dad only knows how to give a compliment in an underhanded way.  He recently said that it looked like that I had lost about 80 lbs, and I told him he was pretty close.  His response was that losing the next 80 would be more difficult.  I was dumbstruck by his comment.  I wish I could say I was hurt, but I simply know this man too well to be hurt.  Dad has a picture of me from 3 years ago- from his 80th birthday.  I have not seen it, but it is was taken from behind and is not all that flattering.  Now every time we talk he tells me how he has to me this picture of when I was THIS big (picture little old man spreading his hands wide apart as he says this).  In addition, he now likes discussing how I am holding my weight while on vacation (this time picture said little old man looking me up and down while asking if I am able to travel without gaining weight).  I finally told him that he is inappropriate.  He thinks that he is being complimentary, but the reality is that he is not.  Every little compliment comes with a dig.  Telling your daughter that you have pictures of her when she was gigantic (and that you have held onto this picture for 3 years just to be able to rub it in her face) is not a compliment.  Checking up on your daughter's weight is not a compliment.  Telling your daughter that losing the next 80 lbs is going to be hard is not a compliment.  My dad is a control freak and is convinced that he knows how everyone should better run his or her life.  He is also obsessive with weight in general.  He weighs himself daily and has documented his weight in journals for decades.  He has been 202-205 for as long as I can remember, and he always says he will be down to 190 in the next 2 weeks.  This clearly never happens, but he insists that this is just around the corner.  I think this weight obsession is a bit nutty, but it explains why he has become so head over heals meddlesome regarding my weight loss.  I'd like to tell him that a simple "Nora, you are looking so good" would suffice, but the suggestion would be lost on him.
  

On a more upbeat note, mom and I spent yesterday morning getting pedicures (they were needed after spending so much time in the sand).  I had not seen my pedicurist since before our Italy trip in April.  We have known each other for years, and she actually wrapped her arms around me and gave me a kiss on the cheek when she saw how good I was looking.  It was very sweet. 
  

I hope to have the energy to work out today, but plane sleeping is pretty subpar.  We shall see how the gym goes after I buy some fish for my first day of mushies.