A night in Chattanooga

The girls are off school tomorrow so I took the day off to spend a long weekend with them. We decided to journey to Chattanooga, spend a night in a hotel & go to the aquarium tomorrow. We took our time driving down today, stopped in Monteagle on the way. Before we left Nashville we had to take a trip to Build a Bear workshop for Eri to spend her gift card. She got a new white kitty. Because we have a shortage of stuffed animals in our house (not!). She also spontaneously decided to get her ears pierced again. She had it done when she was 4 but let them more or less close up because they kept getting infected. So she's back in business!

We are staying at The Chattanoogan - it's pretty nice & has an indoor pool so we went there when we arrived. Then we ordered Chinese & had a little picnic. Eri thinks we are in another country. How awesome is that - kid thinks every trip is to a new country. I love it! we have a "kingdom" bed in our room. That's Eri's terminology.

Kendall & I celebrated 16 years of marriage Friday. Wow. We had a wonderful dinner at The Palm and got some pretty flowers from my brother & his family. My dad & Maryann sent us some caladiums for our garden (which we are in the midst of planning!). Kendall & I are taking a long weekend trip to the San Juan Islands in April to celebrate. I have to be in Seattle for work so we are going to tack onto that. Hoping to spend a day on the water seeing whales. We've never been to the SJI so we are excited about that. Supposed to be amazing photography there too!

I've lost 12 pounds so far. The beginning is always fast. It will slow down now but I'm doing pretty well staying on track. I think I'm over the sugar withdrawal but I still have really intense cravings for sugar, chocolate, etc. Going to start exercising this week. My physical therapist said I have to take the exercise very very slowly so my heart can gain its strength back. She said it will feel like I'm doing nothing for a while but my heart needs to start from scratch. So that's my plan!

No traveling this week but I will be gone all next week.... Up in Michigan & Minnesota snowmobiling with customers. I know, it's a hard job!

Here's a pic of us today!

A Cute Story

I feel compelled to share a story of one morning last week - it was Tuesday morning I believe. I have to start by setting the scene - our house is usually pretty chaotic, stressful, tense, loud, etc. in the mornings before school. The routine is pretty standard and the timeline each morning is well known, but somehow just doesn't always get followed... Typically Kendall has to go in each girl's room at least once & often more than that each morning to be sure they are getting dressed, brushing hair & teeth, etc. Well Tuesday he went to prod them & came back to get me, saying I needed to "see this". He & I peered from the hallway into the kitchen where we saw Eri, fully dressed sitting at the kitchen table. She was reading to herself. It was one of the sweetest moments. One of those snapshots in time when you feel like you're doing everything right. Magical.

Last week Kendall was in Seattle for much of the week, work was frenzied & the week flew by. Hard to believe in 3 weeks I do my 6 month scans. Wow. Saturday Emilia took the ACT. Yes, she is only in seventh grade but she has been selected for a program run by Duke called TIP which is pre-college prep for smart junior high kids. She was completely unfazed by the test. Will be interesting to see how she scores. Kendall & I saw silver linings play book Saturday night & enjoyed it. The girls spent some time with their beloved first nanny, Holly. I swear she is like our third daughter. We adore her. So do the girls.

Rest of the weekend was low key & I had to leave this morning for Atlanta but I will be back late tomorrow. There is much excitement over valentines day this week! And our 16th anniversary Friday.

I have been totally in control of my diet the last 2 weeks & it feels so powerful. I don't feel deprived or hungry or cheated. It's such a fantastic feeling after those rough couple months post chemo. Results are showing on the scale too! The nutritionists at Medi are amazing and wonderful and so supportive. I feel like I have my life back because I have control, motivation & willpower again. It's amazing. Now to start on the exercise.

That's about all the news for now. Life is fabulous!