President's Weekend Getaway

This weekend, we traveled up to my dad’s cabin in upstate NY. Dad and Patricia, my brother Pete, his wife Heather, his daughter Hailey, Patricia’s daughter’s Kim and Sheryl and their husbands Mike and Dave all joined us. It was quite a full house, and it was a blast.


The Adirondacks got 37 inches of snow last week, so it truly was a winter wonderland up there. Saturday, we hung out at the house, and went snowmobiling.

Hailey was the star of the weekend. Being the only child, everywhere she turned she had admirers…which she loved. She was adorable out in the snow. My Dad turned a snow mound into a slide for her and sat her at the top. She would slide down laughing and at the bottom she’d say “more, more”. He pulled her in a sled on a path around the house and she sat there like a little princess. He dug a tunnel through one of the snow mounds and helped her crawl through.


Sunday, we drove 2 hours north to Whiteface Mountain and went snowboarding. Initially, the conditions seemed like they would be typical icy disappointing East coast boarding. Steep, icy, crowded. After lunch however, we took some of the local’s advice and went to the summit and rode the first black diamond. It was mostly untouched powder, a little steep and full of moguls, but really fun. So, we rode that, and I had my first real experience with moguls that was not entirely unsuccessful. Skiers like to ride between the moguls, but I found that if I used the powder on top of the moguls to turn in, it was really quite fun.
Needless to say, by the time we finally made it back to Atlanta Monday night, we were exhausted! I told Charles when we’re old we’ll take vacations where you sit on your butt and come home feeling refreshed, but for now, we take adventure vacations that you feel like you have to get home from to recover.

Bunny Valentine

Well, I can't say that Gordy enjoyed taking these pictures. I thought maybe he would eat the candies, and therefore I could get him to sit still a little longer. But, this is the only picture where he actually sat in the middle of the candies and looked up before hopping away. Oh well, Happy Valentine's Day.

Body For Life

So, beginning the first week in January, our "New Years Resolution" you might say, Charles and I started doing the Body For Life program. It is a 12 week program that determines diet and daily activity. The diet is basically 6 small meals consisting either of a protein shake, or a handfull of protein and a handfull of carbs each. Throw in 2-3 fruits and vegetables, and one day off per week.
The exercise alternates: Monday 1hr Upperbody workout, Tuesday 20 min Cardio, Wednesday 45 min Legs and Abs workout, Thursday Cardio, Friday Upperbody, Saturday Cardio, Sunday Lay around and Eat whatever. The following week, you do 2 Legs and Abs days, and 1 Upperbody, etc.

We did 4 solid weeks before our snowboarding vacation, and it may have been the reason that even after being sick, I felt stronger than ever snowboarding. However, being sick and on vacation, we both let the diet go that week, and now this week Charles has been sick, and I still feel worn out, so I only worked out one day!

So right now, I'm doing an upperbody plus lowerbody workout to try to make up for it. And I'm posting this blog to try to encourage myself to get back to it. I guess we'll get back to it next week and consider it week 5 with a small gap in the middle.

Why are we doing it? Well, it's not to lose weight, but to hopefully bulk up a little. I'm strong, but I don't look strong, so I'd like to maybe change that a little. Plus, honestly, it feels good to work out. Our first week, we totally pigged out on our day off, and I felt like crap. I couldn't wait to get back to the diet, and mostly we stick to it even on days off, but will maybe throw in a dessert or a few extra empty carbs.

Of course Gordy is involved. The bowflex is probably his favorite playground, so when we work out, he usually comes and sits underneath it. Or if we're really lucky, he'll climb up on it and lick our foreheads while we're trying to do leg curls.

To get more details, go to www.bodyforlife.com, and check out the exercise demo guy. He's my favorite. I let him lift and lift while I work out. It encourages me.

Extreme Conditions

Well, I was hoping to snowboard Wednesday thru Friday, but Wednesday I was still getting used to solids and walking around. My head cold was still just as strong as ever, but I knew it wasn't going away in a hurry.

Thursday was my first day back snowboarding in two years, and even after being sick I still felt really strong and natural when I got out there. The only really odd thing was that I was super dizzy. I think it was the pressure in my head from my head cold plus the altitude, plus the shortness of breath from the cold air and exertion. It was a little scary at first, but it sort of added to the whole boarding experience. Conditions were beautiful- powdery and soft. Charles swore that I was boarding better than I ever have before, but he also said that two years ago too.
Mari Ann, whose knees were bothering her too much to ski, went dog sledding Thursday. She of course loved the dogs and they loved her.

Friday is when things really got extreme. Charles woke me up around 8 and asked if I wanted to join him. Then he mentioned that it was 8 below on the mountain, so I figured I would wait until mid-morning. When I joined him around 10:30, it had “warmed” to 6 below, snowing heavily with 40 mile an hour winds at the top of the mountain. Needless to say, at the top, there was no visibility. The winds were blowing uphill, cross hill, whichever way it felt like. We headed for the trees for cover, but in the open areas, you had to feel what to do, because you couldn’t see what the terrain below you looked like or tell how fast you were going. The trees were dangerous too because they sometimes formed wind tunnels. To be honest about it, I was dressed so warm and it took so much energy to board, I was hot most of the day. Every once in a while on the lift, the wind would find a gap between my goggles and my helmet, or my thumb, separate from the hand warmers would freeze up. But overall, I have to say that I was mostly too hot, rather than too cold that day.

I realized that when I was boarding, I thought of myself as a little kid playing in the snow. I'd think, I'm a 28 year old woman...and then I'd think, that can't be, I wouldn't feel like this. Of course until I'd fall or when I'd wake up stiff the next morning. Then I felt my age.

I’m really thankful that we had the opportunity to go to Steamboat. I feel like I am privileged just to have those 2 days of amazing boarding this year. But, it was still really hard to be sick for most of a vacation that I’ve been looking forward to for the past 6 months.