The Photos

I had done up a nicely organized album, using iPhoto on my iPad. However, much of the day was spent trying to upload to share and it totally failed. So here is the link to the partially curated but unorganized and unlabeled photos on Picasa/Google Plus instead:

Nan's 2012 Med Cruise

Anyone with the link can view.  Enjoy.

The Tally

14 days away
6 of us together (me, my mother, HS, all 3 kids)
2 hotel rooms/cabins (3 per room, boys and girls)
4 countries visited (Italy, Spain, Tunisia, Monaco - not counting US)
8 cities visited (Rome, Florence, Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Palmas de Mallorca, Tunis, Palermo, Naples)
19 hours on airplanes
5 hours in airports

13 bacon and egg breakfasts consumed
9 desserts as part of 9 four course dinners aboard ship
7 gelatos bought on the street
5 helpings of french fries at lunch
2 cups of coffee per day (just happened, didn't intend to cut back)
1-2 alcoholic drinks per day (beer and mojitos), except
2 1/2 bottles of wine consumed for most fabulous dinner in Rome

2 trips to the gym, 1 mile run each time
1 2-hour kayak trip
oodles and oodles of walking

7 books read (last of Gregor the Overlander, 3 of Thief of Attolia, Nevada Barr, Sue Grafton, American Dervish) I love my kindle!
7 tv episodes watched (3 Downton Abbey, 4 Mad Men - I hadn't ever seen it, and bought season 1 on iTunes to watch on ipad)
270 minutes of shipboard wifi purchased and used
3 restaurants selected because of free wifi
105 emails noted but never opened (about 20 actually opened)
1 new niece arrived early but healthy - thank goodness for email!
2 times work email checked, no action necessary

3 ties bought so men could join us beautiful women at formal dinners on ship
3 bracelets bought
3 pairs of earrings bought
1 magic carpet bought in Tunisia
3 tshirts bought
2 caftans bought by our men

2 major electronics failures
1 drivers licence lost
1 iphone stolen
4 bags of laundry on ship
3 trips to shipboard medical center for
2 courses of antibiotics

630 photos taken - stay tuned for link to highlights
35 minutes - amount of time so far waiting for photos to transfer to PC
193,000,000 (approx.) Vespas spotted
gazillions of sights, sounds, smells, as backdrops for books I've read and will read

more than a few laughs
a new career as dinner table magician by our big boy
a lifetime worth of memories

11 pieces of non-junk mail waiting
about two more hours before I check my work email and lose the vacation glow

and, is this even possible, only TWO pounds gained?

Ice Cream and Exercise

I'm on a totally fabulous trip, all around the western Mediterranean on a cruise ship. Today is Monte Carlo in Monaco, home to the very origin of fabulousness and nothing but beautiful people. No travelogue right now, just an update on eating and exercise, because my body still does its thing, no matter what my current place on the planet or my state of mind.

It is hot hot hot here, and in Italy before this. That is, hot even by their standards: up to 100 F yesterday in Florence. I cannot begin to describe the sense of beauty and culture from being in Italy. One of my favorite things to do on vacation is to walk and walk and walk, looking at people and things and taking pictures. I've done that, and interrupted the walks with beer or ice cream at many opportunities.

Europe is expensive beyond belief, and that managed to keep the eating down before we boarded the cruise ship. Beer and gelato is quite affordable, but all four courses of an Italian meal with wine is not something I could afford very often, because of both money and calories. But now we're on the cruise ship, and so all the food is already included. It's a good thing I really don't care much for wine anyway- onboard its not cheap either. Beer and mojitos are more my style, and they go down really well on a hot fabulous vacation.

For two days in Rome we walked and stood around on tours. Yesterday in Florence and today here in Monte Carlo there were a few hours walking in the high heat. But this morning, no one else in the family was rousing and I was restless, so I went off to the gym on the ship. Me and the iPod put in a couple of miles on the treadmill, and then waved some dumbbells around for a while. I really really enjoyed it. The feeling of getting my heart really pumping is very stress relieving, and the full extension and stretching with the weights makes me feel good.

I'm having the full meal every night, and very indulgent breakfasts. Lunch has been just gelato a couple of times, without my feeling deprived in the least. I definitely will gain weight on this cruise, and I don't care too much about it. I'm choosing the immediate gratification. It's easy to tell myself the food is part of the never to be repeated experience. But I'm also going to keep active. There is no way my little workout comes close to equalling my extra calorie intake, but I work out because I enjoy it while I do it, as well as for the benefit it brings me of keeping the energy level up so I can do other things. It's part of what I do when I'm on vacation and pleasing myself.

 

Tracking Challenge

I retroactively tracked the whole week last night, trying to be brutally honest about my food intake. Both choices and quantity have been really off track for a few days. It added up to an amazing amount of points, made worse by the fact I've only earned three activity points all week. I've got three days to go in my WW week- can I live within the remaining point total - only three weekly points left with three full days (including two weekend days) to go?

So here are the really positive aspects of the WW tracking, to my point of view. I get every day a new daily total, and if I really focus on vegetables and fruit it can be a very satisfying amount of food. Plus, I can add back points with some activity. So, even though I've got some social events this weekend, and no structured exercise planned, I'm going to give it a whirl. I'll let you know Sunday night or Monday how it went.