Chicago Recap and Pictures Galore

I am going to try to make this more of a photo blog because there are SOOOOO many photos.  I am also going to split this up into 2-3 posts because it's too much at once and I don't want to overbear you!

We packed a TON into five days and I couldn't add 200+ on here.  So I will post the full album link at the end if you want to see all of them.

On Wednesday evening, the poodle started a hissy fit and saw the suitcase.

She decided to stage a protest:

We flew out on Thursday and this was the incredible view from my plane:

When we finally arrived to our gorgeous hotel, we were pretty tired. We had planned to adventure out to our favorite Chicago restaurant but didn't have it in us.  So we ended at staying at the hotel which holds the world famous Pump Room.  This place is legendary and is star studded, James Beard awarded and a ton of hollywood history in the place. Just an FYI - on a late Thursday night, it was like the model convention was in town.  Everyone was stunning in there and I felt a bit plane frumped and tired.  But we did start the evening off correctly with the following:

After that - we went up for the evening and retired.

When we woke up, we explored the gorgeous hotel.

The weather was definitely chilly and it was quite blustery.  We headed out on foot and decided to explore the city. We ended up walking around 9 miles.  As we started our day, we saw our first "faux" celebrity siting.  I saw Marci from last seasons The Biggest Loser. She was the super sweet mom of Courtney. Well ironically, she was out in full force jogging and looked INCREDIBLE!  Pretty fun siting.

This is a pic of them to trigger your memory:

We went out for a hunt of coffee and breakfast and a place to buy a nice birthday gift.

This is how I started my morning after a brisk beginning 3 mile walk:

And my cute man

After lobster, spinach and truffle Benedict's and mimosas we walked around this amazing market called Fox & O bel.  I picked up some nice french caramels with fluer de sel for the room if we had a sweet tooth. We then went on a hunt for a lovely foodie gift for the 80th birthday party we flew in for.   (a little background - the man we were there for is Z's best friends dad). He was like a surrogate dad to him and helped the boys thru the Univ of M ichi gan.
Since I love to cook and the birthday man loves to cook, we decided to splurge on a gorgeous bottle of Leonardi Cherry Balsamic aged around 30 years.   He has already sent 3 emails of how amazing it was on his trout he cooked up and is planning on using it on ice cream and fresh berries this week.   A success I think!  This is what the bottle looks like.   (was initially bottled at 20 yrs and the manager brought it out from behind the glass and said it was there at least 9 yrs).   Hmm - I want one now!!

After that - we ended up walking around Michigan Mile & went over to Navy Pier.  We jumped on an Architecture cruise which gave us a nice perspective from the water. I took a TON of pics so these will be in the album link at the end.

From there - we walked back towards the hotel where people were starting to arrive. Our friends were having lunch at a French Brasserie and we stopped in and ordered wine. We peeked at the menu and it looked incredible but we were still stuffed from breakfast.  We then went back to the hotel and got caught up and showered and dressed for dinner. We were having dinner this evening at the famous Pump Room.

I REALLY regret not taking photos of the beautiful food that evening but instead, I will list what I ordered. I am still reminiscing about it  ;)

For starters we had the tuna tartar again which was pictured in the earlier pic above.  It was so incredible, the table wanted to try it and they agreed. We then ordered a fresh ricotta ravioli and each of us had one.   Then for dinner, I ordered a half size of tagliatelle handmade pasta which was paired with a very light lemon cream sauce. I also ordered a crispy kale salad which made my eyes roll behind my head.  Yes, that good.
For dessert, we 4 split the most talked about in the place which was a french caramel seat salt ice cream sundae with toffee popcorn in it.   Just the right amount of sweetness. 

We then went and had cocktails and caught up some more & until bed.

The next day, a lot more people were starting to show up. Some of Z's college friends and some people from other spots who were family of the birthday man.   In total, there were around 15 of us who flew in from all over the world.  From Spain, Idaho, Florida, Oregon, Ohio, other parts of Illinois and Kansas City.   I think that says a lot about a persons character on how people will flock to you no matter what to celebrate your milestone. This guy is that neat!

The next morning we all met in the hotel library coffee bar and just went at a slow pace. I sipped on espresso and decided to finally remember I had a lapband and eat healthy. I had a hard boiled egg and Greek yogurt with fresh fruit.   We all decided to drive up to see the beautiful Fra nk L loyd W right - R obie House.  This was in the beautiful neighborhood of Hyde Park which is where a university is at and each mansion is more stunning than the next.  We toured the inside (no pics allowed) but did manage to take a few outside:





 Ok this concludes half of the trip.  I think it will be easier to blog this in 2 parts so it's not obnoxiously overwhelming.

Next up:  More 'celebrity' sitings, the main birthday party, more amazing food, Millennium Park fun, more shopping, lots of champagne and views. 

If you made it this far - I am amazed!!! 

I'm Baaaacccckkkk!

Super quick post as I am playing sleep deprivation catch up.

We flew back from Chicago last night around midnight and were back to work today. I am beat but had SO MUCH FUN!!

I took over 300 photos to prove it!

We ate, we drank, we were friggin Merry! LOL

Oh and I even came home to a 1 pound loss.  Flippin amazing if you saw the food that passed my lips!

Anyways - will be reading and catching up on everyone's blogs and will post a big old recap as soon as I have some energy.

Kisses to all!

My kind of town, Chicago is....

Razzmatazz!

Heading out tomorrow early afternoon to Chicago and I am pretty excited about this trip.

We are staying at a gorgeous hotel with an amazing James Beard awarded restaurant which has a ton of history.  Pair those together, it's my style!

I technically postponed my 2nd fill because of this trip because I will be with a big group of people who do not have a clue about my band.  Oh and I also want to eat!

At this point, I can eat ANYTHING. I don't have to chew to shreds, I can eat pretty fast and I have never been stuck.  I still eat smaller amounts and stay full for long periods but let's face it....   I am not losing fast right now and can eat like a champ at this point. 

With that said...  as I was packing yesterday and today - and after looking at the COLD temps for Chicago... I had to drag my massive under bed storage bag of all my winter items out. Here is Florida, we did not have a winter - at -all - this year.  So I basically didn't buy many cute new winter clothes because I didn't need much.  A few pieces here and there.

So I pulled out what I have and tried on all my outfits and everything looked big and frumpy and two sizes too big.   Utter freak out as I am leaving in a few hours...  what the heck was I going to do??!! 

I ran to a close department store and managed to find a few cute Michael Kors XL sweaters and was able to pair with a couple turtlenecks I have.  Sweaters were el cheaparooney since all the Spring wear is out.  Oh well - I didn't really want to buy anything but at least I will look cute.   That's all that matters in my world of chubby vanity!

Anyways - weather is up in the air but we are planning museums, The Art Institute, Frank Lloyd Wright house, architecture tour and 3 absolutely foodie-heaven dinners.  We are attending a close friends birthday and all of Z's best friends and college buddies are coming in for it with their spouses and sig others. I know a few of them and they are all a lot of fun so this should be a great trip with a lot of memories after.

I will post a full picture blog when I get back.

On the home front, it's been TOM but weight is still between a loss of 29-33 pounds.  Not nearly enough. I see changes in my body but I need to kick this into high gear with fill #2 on the 19th.   I have SO much going on this month and next and so much entailing dinners with friends, events, travel etc that I have been paranoid about getting filled.  I need to wrap my mind around it all and move forward and not be so afraid.

I have also been going to Zumba twice a week.  I LOVE this instructor... she is the lady who I went to for about a year before I re-fatted and quit it all.   I went back, and the class didn't kick my ass but I kicked IT'S ass! I walk out with about 10,000 steps, drenched and a MASSIVE smile on my face. 

I am glad to at least enjoy something that entails moving. 

I hope my banding sisters have an excellent rest of the week! I will be back next Tuesday.

Weekend ReCap!

So much going on lately which hasn't been the most conducive for weight loss!  This will be a HEAVY picture posting so hope you enjoy a peek into my life. 

Let's start with last Thursday. It was my friends 35th birthday. She is a member of a gorgeous private club in Tampa.  We celebrated 42 stories up with beautiful views, a full moon and a wine tasting party with heavy appetizers.

Some pics of that evening: 

Do you see how RIDICULOUS I look next to these modelesque ladies. Ugggg!!!!
Misty is the birthday girl in the middle.

Her birthday cake - shaped like a shoe and shoe box - of course!

FRIDAY:

Onward - Friday was a Funk Festival in St. Petersburg so between making Easter baskets and cooking - we ran over to see Erykah Badu. I LOVE her so did NOT want to miss it even though I was so behind on everything. Well she was over an hour late for the stage a bit diva-ish on stage and people weren't pleased. A bit disappointing. 

No pics from that evening but a beautiful night outside none the less.

SATURDAY:

I was inside cooking and dying some eggs when I heard my name being screamed from outside.  Zack was yelling me to run because there was a baby manatee at our dock.  I grabbed the hose because they love fresh water and the baby sea cow sat there for about 20 minutes drinking from the hose. It was AMAZING!!!!  I was teary eyed. I have seen them my whole life but when they come to our dock and are so close, it gives me goosebumps. 

Here are some of the snout pics:

Onward to Saturday evening.  A big day.  This was my childhood friends wedding. What a stunning bride she was. WOW!

We had SO MUCH fun that even on Monday, I am still recovering LOL.

They hired a private chef and there was serious foodie action occurring at the event.  There were waves and waves and waves of amazing tapas.  From lobster salads, empanadas, shrimp ceviche over tostones, Israeli cous-cous, kobe beef sliders, Ahi tuna and SO much more.  My gawd, I ate!

And the HEAVY handed open bar - hmmm  still paying for it!

We danced for HOURS!  We mingled, and we took over a historic hotel after for a very long after party.  We had the whole 1800's building rented out and the place was rocking before and after the wedding.   Seriously, What an incredible evening!!

Some photo evidence:

And some pics of our room while we were getting ready:



On our balcony overlooking the old cigar factory that the bastard "church" of Scienies bought.  There may have been one or two shout outs to Tom Cruise. LOL


SUNDAY:



After waking up around hmmm NOON - we realized we were the LAST of the hotel to wake up and leave. HA!  We are old and can't hang anymore...   But we slumbered in our big king bed, loved on each other and discussed the fun evening before. 

Then we showered and got Easter ready to head to my family's house for Easter dinner.  We were early which was great and I was able to help my mom a lot.

Some food porn and some family pics from Easter Sunday:

My amazing mom - Ta-Da!

My pineapple upside down rum cake

We also celebrated my nana's 89th bday with the rest of the family who didn't make the disney weekend

Home, Busy Life and Happy Bandiversary

What a whirlwind of a few days.  I decided to piggy back on my parents weekend away in Orlando and hit a few theme parks.  It was my parents, my 20 yr old nephew and my nana. 

I arrived Wednesday afternoon and we had dinner at Downtown Disney.  I ordered pretty well and didn't overeat at dinner.  Then we went to Ghiradelli and I ordered ice cream in a waffle bowl. It seemed like a good idea.  After about 3 bites, I gave it to my mom. I was over it. I went back to the hotel and hit the gym with my nephew. The gym sucked so I worked my arms and legs and then we left and walked the perimeter MANY laps.

Then on Friday, we went to Disney World - Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom on Saturday. 
I walked a little over 12 miles for the 2 days at the parks. I was so proud that I ate SO well. I brought protein bars, Greek yogurt and found salads there on site. Nothing fried and lots of water.

I departed on Sunday while they stayed to go to Hollywood Studios. I was a bit theme parked out by that point. I was however in a shopping mood and hit some of the best designer outlets.

I found 2 great summer dresses in XL which really made me ecstatic.  I then bought Zack some great new clothes for our upcoming Chicago trip from Banana Repub.  Everything was 40% off so I got some great new items.  2 new pairs of shoes managed to make it home with me as well. 

Sunday - I was exhausted. I am lucky if I walked 2000 steps all day. I went grocery shopping and that was it.

But a glorious thing occurred this morning when I woke up. The scale moved. About 3 pounds. I am not calling it official yet but will soon if it sticks.   It is apparent I am NOT moving enough.

I have a very sedentary job and even when I go walking at night, it's clearly not enough. I need to get my butt in gear.

2 big weeks up ahead and looking forward to some FUN!

This Thursday, A friends big birthday event at a private club.  Friday night - Erykah Badu concert. Saturday is my friends wedding and it's going to be incredible. Sunday - Easter with my family.

Next week - Chicago. 

I really need to move and keep the food in check this week (INCLUDING EASTER) so I can wear my new cute SMALLER clothes for Chicago next week :)

Oh and lastly - tomorrow is my 2 month bandiversary. Time flies!!

Some fun pics from this past weekend with my fam:

3 generations - Mom, Nana and Moi

My nephew and I. I love this kid more than life <3

Nana and her grandkids :)