Marvelous Maldives

I. Love. The. Maldives. I love travel, love vacations and love beaches... but I REALLY love the Maldives.  It is a simple as that. 
  
When we arrived at the airport, we were greeted by a porter who brought us to the boat.  Our resort is on a private island about 15 minutes from the airport.  After flying from London to Dubai and Dubai to Maldives, hopping onto a boat for a little ride was so much easier to handle than being crammed into a car.  As our boat approached the dock, the front desk staff was standing on the dock waving to greet us.  It might be a bit cheesy, but it was a nice first impression.
  

From our boat- pulling into the resort

We were given this amazing room on the beach and were very lucky to be on the quiet side of the island.  Some days we had the beach entirely to ourselves.  At most we shared with 5 or 6 people!

    

View from our room

  

Our anniversary was on March 28- three years and counting!  We decided to relax during the day and take a sunset dolphin cruise before dinner.  We were on a traditional Maldivian boat and saw a load of dolphin.  Unfortunately I didn't bring my good camera, so the dolphin pictures are lacking.

  

  

That is a dolphin, I promise!

All of the restaurants were great (no, I didn't gain weight), but we wanted something special for our anniversary.  We arranged for private dining on the beach with a five-course menu.  I ate so little of what we ordered but loved every single bite!
 

 

   

In addition to two desserts, the restaurant made this cake for us. 

After we cut it, they sent it to our room along with a bottle of bubbly!
  

What amazing staff to do this for us!

   

Evening shark feeding

  

Kenny and I were talking about my weight loss over drinks one evening, and he said some of the nicest things I have ever heard come out of his mouth.  He said that if I want to lose more weight, he completely supports me as long as I do it for myself and don't hurt myself in the process.  But he stressed that I should NOT do it for him.  He said that he is more attracted to me now than he has ever been and doesn't think I need to lose more.  How sweet!  We all know that I had a bit of an issue last month with working out too much and not getting my period, and he doesn't want that to happen again (nor do I).  On that note, I got my period over vacation.  While this would normally be exceedingly annoying, we were both very happy.  My body sorted itself out without the need for taking the 10-day regimen of pills prescribed by my OBGYN.  When I start working out again next month, I will be much more balanced in my approach. 

In lieu of my progress picture in gym clothes

     

Getting ready to leave:(

     

Parking lot-- Maldives style

  

Now I am packing for our golf weekend in Portugal.  I have more to report about our vacation and my trip home, but it will have to wait until next week. 

Happy Easter! 

Unpacking and Repacking

Hola everyone.  I have been a terrible blogger and am trying to make amends.  Here is a little update of what I have been up to:

Two weeks ago The American and I, along with our husbands, saw Z.a.c.h. B.r.a.f.f. in All-New-People.  I LOVE ZB from his days on TV and was thrilled to get to see him live.  If anyone is passing through London in the next few weeks, see this show! 

Earlier that Friday Kenny called to see if I wanted to golf at his club over the weekend.  I immediately said yes and then froze.  After doing a quick mental inventory of my closet- 3 jeans, 3 dresses, 12 cashmere sweaters, and gym clothes, I realized I had a problem.  I had neither the mandatory collared shirt nor the khaki pants, and this caused immediate anxiety.  The sizing in the UK, like the rest of Europe, does not cater to heavier members of society.  The GAP only goes up to a US 14, whereas the US stores carry up to 18 or 20.  Scary stuff.  I told Kenny that I would go shopping, and off I went.  I had trouble finding much in a 14 and asked one of the managers to help me.  We found a few pieces to try on, and they were all--  --  -- BIG.  Actually, the cropped/skinny cut size 14 was tight in my freakishly muscular calves, but other than that I swam in the 14s.  I had grabbed one pair of khakis in a 12; they fit like a glove.  I suppose vanity sizing is catching on.  Nora is no size 12.   

We did golf on Sunday, and I looked the part until I tried to hit the ball.  I don't have pictures of me on the course, but here is Kenny's club:

The following day I flew to New Jersey for the week.  Between seeing my mom and dad, catching up with friends and handling some personal matters, I felt like the Tasmanian Devil spinning from one event to the next.


Before going home, I ordered an obscene amount of clothing.  I never know what size I am and wind up ordering EVERYTHING in at least 2 sizes.  My mom's living room looked like a UPS shipping facility.  Here is the damage after I had tried on and sorted everything!

 This picture does not adequately capture the number of boxes

piled up, but it was the best I could do!

I  kept a few dresses (depending on your definition of a few), some jeans and two bathing suits.  I also bough new gym clothes because everything was getting baggy on me.  The jeans were all size 12- the dresses 14.  All hail vanity sizing!

I met a friend of mine for lunch on Saturday, and I just had to share the view with everyone in blogland...

Now I am back in London and am doing a quick unpack, along with some laundry and dry cleaning, before flying to the Maldives via Dubai on Thursday evening.  I am very much looking forward to some fun in the sun but will try to get a bit more blogging in before my departure!  

 

March Madness

I had intended to write a wonderful post about Prague and my birthday week (I didn't intend for the celebrations to last for a week, but hey, I'm not going to say NO either), but I waited too long to do so.  Now Prague seems so distant and talking even more about my birthday a bit too silly. 

Instead, let's talk about my freaking weight.  I have had a lot of trouble maintaining Onederland.  After my low of 196.6, I am now hovering between 199.0 and 200.4.  This isn't the end of the world, but it isn't making me too happy either.  I was doing my crazy workouts (2+hours a day, 6 days a week) until Saturday.  I have been feeling a bit run down and just couldn't see myself suffering through my third spin class of the day.  So I unclipped my shoes after two classes, went to a mini-abs class instead and proceeded to come home and take a way-too-long nap on the couch (after a shower, I promise).  I am starting to regain my energy but feel that I am still dragging a bit.  Until I feel 100%, I am going to scale back on my gym routine.

My eating has been very erratic.  I was a bottomless pit for at least two weeks in February.  I was always hungry, and nothing I ate made me full.  Then on Saturday (when I was feeling run down), I had just about no appetite.  That proved to be a good thing, as my band decided to tighten up on me.  Now I am back to being loose.  VERY annoying.  I am scheduled for a fill next week and really don't know what to do.  Most of the time I feel that I could use one (0.05 maybe), but I am not sure.  I have started craving some foods that I only crave when I need a fill, so I am leaning towards visiting the wonderful Dr. K for a little liquid lovin.  I haven't had a fill since September, so it is probably time.  At the same time, Kenny and I are off to the Maldives at the end of the month and I would hate, hate, hate to be too tight.  Oh well, I have 9 days to figure it out. 

Here is my monthly comparison photo.  I might (sadly) weigh one or two pounds more than I did in the February picture.  Blah.