Category Archives: Blogging

Kindness, Kourtney, Divorce & Tom Cruise

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This should be a fun post 🙂

So for starters, this morning a post on one of the blogs that I follow was about kindness. What prompted the post was ugly comments written on another bloggers page. You can read A Beautiful Day kindness post here. This is the reminder she has there…

I’ve been thinking for a few hours about what this poster says. I’ve not been so kind this past week. I’m angry about a decision here at work that I wasn’t consulted on and I’ve been trying for 6 days to be more zen about it. The cool thing about the people here is that they don’t hold grudges… ME… I’m a GRUDGE holder and I own it 🙂 I just don’t get over things easily. I stew about them, work them out and then throw them out… but it takes me a while.

This morning, once again, something silly and non-evidence based practice came up in morning rounds. Sunday up on the mountain I PROMISED myself to stay zen, to stay calm, to practice breathing, to not care (although I totally do), to just let go. So the past 2 days when something comes up, I take a deeeeeeep breath, say the word zen, think of something positive and don’t comment on it… I’m a big under the breath commenter… sometimes inappropriate words (thank God most of the people here don’t understand English… lol). My personal assistant/translator, Vivi was with me. I went into the stairwell, took some nice deep breaths, said out loud, “stay zen, do not allow it in, meditate.” Vivi asked me if I was a Buddhist 🙂 It made me smile. I got over it pretty quick and continued on with my morning.

Then I started reading the Entertainment news on my morning break. I usually don’t follow Entertainment news… I don’t care what these people do in their personal lives, I want to be entertained by them. Two stories piqued my interest this morning.

First… Kourtney Kardashian had her baby girl. So, why would this pique my interest? Well, she was planning a home water birth and I’m a huge home water birth advocate… in fact, a water birth expert… so I was rooting her on. She had an “all-natural” birth according to her sister’s tweet, but no further info. I’m looking forward to the results… So what does this have to do with my Kindness post? Oh my… the UNKIND comments people made on the story. Calling her a whore and loser and a bunch of other names. How sad is that? Why do people even bother on commenting? I would say that for every 1 kind comment there were 10 or more UNkind comments. I personally like watching their show when I am at home in the States… I don’t have to think, they are funny to me and they have pretty much the same problems the rest do with life & relationships. Congrats Kourtney… I hope this child brings you as much joy as your baby boy has!
**On a side note, this article from Australia has nothing but KIND things… is it Americans that are so cynical and unkind?

And the next news item… Tom and Katie have divorced in just 11 days since Katie filed. I love Tom Cruise… I don’t care about what he practices spiritually… I seriously don’t… I love him as an actor. He always entertains me and I could look at him forever. His latest movie, Rock of Ages is hysterical and the man can sing! And oh what I could do to those gun tats on his err, um, lower abdominal area 😀 The soundtrack has all of my favorite songs from the 80’s and I walked out of the movie theatre HAPPY… HAPPY, with a grin on my face… I can’t say that about many movies. The high from being happy from the movie lasted for hours afterwards. OK… enough about that movie, hehe… The comments were SO UNKIND after the story that I just stopped reading. Again, why are people so unkind? What is the point of writing horrible comments. What cracks me up is that the people writing the comments write them as if Tom Cruise will actually read them… LOL.
You know what I say… good on them. I’m sure there was a prenup and things were hammered out quickly for everyone’s benefit… especially their child Suri. I think it was very grown up for them to handle things so quickly and without it dragging on forever.

And finally… as I was walking back to work after a yummy lunch at home, I saw this on the sidewalk, while listening to the Rock of Ages soundtrack and the song, “I Wanna Know What Love Is” was blaring in my ears…

Isn’t that what all of us want… a little heart? A little love? A bit of kindness? After seeing the leaf, I started thinking about writing this post. I then walked back a block to take this picture. I’m going to practice showing some love for the rest of the week… I’ll let ya know how that goes 😀

Ciao!

Dukan – Consolidation Day 60 – Two Months!

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Wow! I can’t believe it’s been 2 months since I reached Consolidation Phase! Two months and I’ve actually lost weight, not just maintained. Which says a lot about this amazing lifestyle change… it’s for the long term. It doesn’t abandon you once the weight is gone.

A former colleague, Rachell, is on Dukan and has lost 19 Kgs (nearly 42 pounds). She looks AWESOME! One of the comments under the picture she posted that she was on Dukan and one of the people commented back, ” I must look into it, do you eat anything?”… This is the general mentality we have about diets… that you must not eat… well I’m here to tell you that on Dukan you eat and eat and eat… but you eat GOOD, HEALTHY FOOD. Nourishing food. It’s a lifestyle change and if you stick to it, it continues to keep you fit and healthy… while you eat and eat and eat! 😀

Daily Weight: 144 lbs/65.45 kgs (yes, mother, I know… lol)
Goal Weight: 155 lbs/70.5 kgs.

So, this is something interesting. When I started the Dukan Diet way back in August of last year, Dr. Dukan asks what you think your weight should be. I said 145. He said 165 was my True Weight based on age, # of pregnancies, menopause and other factors. So I agreed to set my goal at 155. Which is what I reached 60 days ago. I am now 11 pounds below that goal and just 1 pound below what I thought my weight should be. I feel good. I’m eating and eating and eating (you get the point)… but my exercise has increased from being a couch potato 10 months ago to running 5K five times a week, yoga 2x a week, mountain hiking on Sunday mornings, walking a mile to and from work every single day, etc. I have increased my calories, as well. Trying to match my motion burning energy 🙂 So, in all actuality, I’ve lost 111 pounds… what a cool number that is!

For a glimpse into my typical Sunday… here we go…

Up at the crack of dawn… no alarm, drives me nuts, as I’d love to sleep in just a little, teeny bit, but nope, my body goes to sleep at 10 pm and wakes up just before 6 am every morning, work or not!

Breakfast: FF Greek yogurt with Splenda and 2 Tbs. Flax seed meal, cup of coffee and 750 mL water with Crystal Light. Strap on my hiking boots and off I go to catch bus #900. Towards Guyuan Park, where I get off to walk to the entrance of the mountain hike.

Along the way to the mountain gate there are many paths to choose from to get there…

And then, as I came out of the park to cross the road to the gate, I encountered this…

No end in sight… but the construction workers waved me over, moved the walls and let me pass through… YAY!

More paths to choose from 🙂

There are 838 steps to get up to here…

West Lake in the background… the view is stunning in person. I drank another 750 mL water while on the hike.

And this is the path I take, thanks to Runkeeper!

838 steps up, 483 ft elevation… nice climb! I paused up at the top for pictures and about a 25 minute guided meditation.

After finishing the hike, I walked down to the first traffic light in front of the University to meet my driver Jerry and found Teresa’s… how in the WORLD had I not found this place in the past 10 months is beyond me!!! I texted Jerry and told him to meet me there and we had brunch… it was Mmmm Mmmm good. The iced coffees were a perfect way to cool off after the long hike!
Brunch: Avocado & Bacon salad. Two tea eggs (smuggled in). 2 Iced cafe lattes with splenda and about 500 mL water.
Groovy restaurant…

Then Jerry took me to the mall to do a little shopping… I was able to find 2 bras that FIT, which is a score here in the land of little women! And after a few hours of shopping, we ended up for a late lunch at The Vineyard… Jerry wanted to know how I could eat so much… YES PEOPLE… YOU GET TO EAT ON DUKAN!! WOOT!
Late lunch: Philly Cheese steak with grilled peppers and extra grilled onions, no bread please and no french fries… side salad instead and several glasses of water. Jerry had french fries… I sniffed them, no appeal, whatsoever!

Then Jerry dropped me off at home. And around 730 p.m. I made the deviled eggs from yesterday’s recipe and while making them, I had salmon shashimi with wasabi & gluten free soy sauce (Tamari). I also ate 6 halves of the deviled eggs… YUM! Drank another 500 mL water and took a 2 mile walk around the complex after dinner and then fell into bed at 10 p.m…. wonderful day. I love being so active!

What do you do on your days off from work???

Ciao!

Dukan – Consolidation Day 55

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I am really missing my daily blog posts! I still don’t feel like I’ve caught up from my vacation!

Daily weight: 147 lbs/66.8 kgs
Goal weight: 155 lbs/70.5 kgs

Things weight and goal wise are going very well. I have to remind myself often that I am no longer in the Cruise Phase and can add a few things into my diet! Today (Thursday) is a PP day and so far I’ve stuck to that. On the Consolidation Phase (which for me will be 500 days long) you get to add some stuff back in to your diet, you get to have one celebration MEAL (not day) a week and you still have one PP day a week. Dr. Dukan suggests Thursday as that day, and I’m going to stick with that.

On Tuesday morning I got up early and went for a 2 mile run at sunrise. I then came back and did Chaz’s YOGAmazing 10 Minute Morning Flow workout. The combination of the two is a great way to start my day! Chaz has some amazing short yoga workouts that are easy to fit into your day and he also has workouts that focus on specific areas of your body, which I really love!

I then headed to work by walking and within the first hour was told I was being requested for a water birth. All day labor, difficult birth, as the baby was face up instead of face down, but this momma pulled energy from the universe and after nearly 3 hours of pushing had a gorgeous baby boy with a funny looking head… lol (it’s looking much better this morning!)

On Tuesday evening Alice came back for a night stay over. We went out to dinner with her son, Leon. Alice and I had the salmon with horseradish appetizer and we all three ordered mixed grill. The meat was DELICIOUS!

The waitress that took pics for us kept tilting all of our cameras… so none of us have a straight shot, lol!

Alice and I then headed back late to my flat and I was in bed at 1 a.m. (gasp!!! that is SO late for me!). And we were up at 6 a.m. to get a ride to the train station. Alice had a noon flight to Hong Kong.

Wearing Red, White & Blue on the train to Shanghai in honor of America’s birthday!

So off we went to Shanghai on Wednesday morning… the 4th of July. Not only is this America’s Independence Day, but it is also my little sister Nannette’s birthday!

Alice and I were suppose to be on the high speed train to Shanghai, which usually takes about 42 minutes, but we somehow got on the slow one… so between that and the subway ride on Line 2 from one end of Shanghai to the other to get to the airport, it was cutting it close… good Lord I was glad it was Alice traveling and not me, as we all know how bad my travel anxiety and time goes! We, of course, got there with plenty of time and from the pics that Alice posted on her Facebook wall of Hong Kong, she got there in one piece!

Bye Alice!!! It was fun hanging out!

I then got back on the subway and found my way to the grocery store that I shop at in Shanghai and found a restaurant that I hadn’t eaten in before. Sat down at a table with a lovely gentleman named Stern from New Jersey, in China teaching for a year, and had a wonderful conversation over lunch… we’re Facebook friends now 🙂  and then I got a little shopping done… mostly a backpack and sack full of groceries to sustain me through the week. I then took the subway back to the train station for the ride back to Hangzhou. I called Jerry, my driver (I love saying that… he’s a very cool dude!) and asked if he could pick me up… he said yes and told me to keep an eye out for the special way he was going to display my name at the train station…

You see MY driver uses an iPad instead of cheesy paper! 😀 Thank you, Jerry, for making me feel so special and important and for being environmentally friendly!

He then informed me that he was taking me to dinner to thank me for all the referrals that I gave him. He was taking me to the “best Chinese restaurant in town” and inquired about what foods I could and could not eat… the man pays attention! Too bad he’s married with a kid, lol! Just joking, his wife is one lucky lady!

So, he takes me to Nongtangli Restaurant near West Lake and he was not kidding… it was the best Chinese food I’ve had since I’ve been here! I decided right then and there that Wednesday, July 4th, was going to be my Celebration Meal of the week. Not that I ventured too far… I don’t do wheat, rice or potatoes… here’s what we had…

Spicy Black fungi and to die for pork… nommy, nommy pork, melt in your mouth, fall off the bone, better than sex pork 😀

And pumpkin with a creamed coconut sauce… now this was yummy!

And I had juice, which is something I haven’t had since August! It was fresh juiced green apple and grapefruit… cool and refreshing on this hot summer’s eve!

Awesome dinner, awesome dinner companion. Jerry then took me back to my flat and didn’t charge me for the pick up… such a great guy!

So my 4th of July food was:
Breakfast: 2 tea eggs, coffee at train station
Lunch: Salad greens and a poached salmon steak
Snack on the train: about 2 ounces of aged cheddar that was crumbly and sharp!
Dinner: See above… Yum!!
Snack before bed: FF Greek Yogurt with Splenda and flax seed
Water: About 3 liters
Exercise: 1 mile walk after dinner and 20 minutes of meditation

So how was everyone else’s 4th of July??

Ciao!

Dukan – Consolidation Day 52 – Monday Weekend Round-Up!

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I can’t believe I’m already 52 days into Consolidation! My weight is holding steady and I’m super excited about that. I’ve not had a moment to breathe much less blog since I’ve been back in China. Here’s the stats…

Today’s Weight: 146 lbs/66.36 kgs
Goal Weight: 155 lbs/70.5 kgs

Last Thursday my friend and fellow Florida midwife, Alice called and said she was still in Hangzhou… could she come hang out… ABSOLUTELY! Nothing like staving off the “just returned from home vacation” blues like having someone to hang out with on my after work hours! We’ve had a good time playing catch up and eating some yummy food. Alice follows a Paleo life style, so our foods work well together!

Friday food:
Breakfast: 2 tea eggs, 500 mL water*, 1 oz of Edam cheese
Snack: 10 almonds, cup of coffee
Lunch: 3 slices of beef, 1 tea egg, 500 mL water
Snack: 500 mL water, a few more almonds
Dinner: Alice made a duck soup with: duck (duh), broth made from the bones of the duck, carrots, garlic, ginger and red cabbage… YUMMY!!!!!!!!! She also made a very delicious salad with red cabbage, cukes and apple slices! We also had a plate of duck meat.
Snack: FF yogurt with splenda and flax seed meal and a pinch of cinnamon
Exercise: Walk to and from work x 2 (went home for lunch) Total: 1 mile/1.5 kms
Neighborhood walk in evening: 1 km with Alice
**I put a packet of Crystal Light in my 1.5 liter bottles (1 pkt is suppose to be for 16.9 ounces) It helps me get all my water in!

Duck Duck Soup

Gorgeous Salad

So good!

My guest chef, Alice!

I worked on Saturday and had a pretty good day at work. They are trying to get me to come up with a plan to continue working here after my contract is up. So discussions about that a lot of the day.

Saturday food:
Breakfast: 2 tea eggs, 500 mL water
Snack: 500 mL water, 10 almonds, 1 ounce cheese
Lunch: Walked home and pan friend Tilapia coated with flax seed meal and Italian seasoning! Yummy! FF greek yogurt. 500 mL water and a Coke Zero (Alice is a bad, bad influence on me!!! LOL)
Snack: 500 mL water.
Dinner: Bus to the Mexican restaurant where I had a big bowl of guacamole mixed into my beef fajitas, minus the tortillas. Spicy as all get out tonite!
We then walked to 35mm Cafe for a cafe latte…

Mmmmm

We then had a nice walk back to my flat!

Sunday… off work and a planned run/walk with my friend Rory. I am writing a guest post on the blog AGoodRun, due July 16th and I needed to map it out and take my pictures for the post. Rory was kind enough to volunteer. We ended up not running at all, since it was 98F and 88% humidity. We had a lovely fast walk, with breaks to take pics and one break for water and refreshments at Starbucks… nearly 15 kms in 3 hours… it was AWESOME!

Hot but GORGEOUS day to walk along West Lake.

My walking buddy, Rory.

Bamboo forest… the point of A Good Run’s blog is to show thankfulness. So, You will see me holding a sign that says Thank You in both English and Mandarin.

This was the halfway mark… My goal was to go to the bull sculpture and back… and we did it!

We started and finished at The Vineyard, my favorite place to eat in town. I love it there because the chef Rueben a. Reminds me of my son, Nick and b. Cooks food to my order, so it’s gluten and sugar free… he’s awesome!

My favorite chef in Hangzhou!

I had a Chicken caesar salad without the dressing and some hot chicken wings, without flour and a gluten-free ranch dressing for dip… plus lots and lots and lots of water!

So, that’s my weekend round up! How did everyone else’s weekend go?

Ciao!

 

 

Blogger Awards

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Phew… I feel like I’ve been on a roller coaster that never stops! Whirlwind vacation and now I’ve been back for a very busy week at work and my out of work life.

This week I’ve been nominated by 3 wonderful bloggers for 3 different blogger awards and of course I’m honored and humbled.

First up is the One Lovely Blog Award… nominated by MJ. I love her blog about life, kids growing up and her celebration as a naturalized American Citizen. Thank you, MJ for thinking of me!!

Rules of  acceptance:
*thank the person who nominated you and link back to them in your post – done!
*share 7 things about yourself
*nominate 15 or so bloggers you admire
*contact your chosen bloggers to let them know

Seven things about me:

I played clarinet in middle school and high school…

I’m Facebook friends with most of the other people in this photo and share a birthday with one of them… how awesome is it to have life long friends?

2. My favorite vegetable is…

Grilled asparagus, lightly brushed with coconut oil and marinated with crushed garlic for a half hour before grilling… NOM!

3. I love reading crime novels and keeping notes of typos and emailing the author 🙂 I know… crazy stalker behavior, but I can’t help it… especially if I’ve spent the money on a hard cover… here’s the worst offender… yet my favorite author ever!

His character, Alex Cross, is my favorite book character… ever!

4. I’ve visited, according to my passport, 31 countries!

I had to add 20+ pages in it 2 years ago, and now there are only 11 pages with nothing stamped on it.

5. This year alone I have taken off in an airplane and landed 20 times! This is one of my favorite shots from flying…

Flying between the clouds…

6. I often wonder what it’s going to be like to move back to Florida and not be a rock star. Here’s a video of me in the news last year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jySUb3O-f3A and this is an awards ceremony… please note the music in the background… it is played frequently… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfP-foh90zU … I feel like royalty 🙂

7. I’m sarcastic… I don’t think this is a big surprise to most people that know me!

Next up, I was nominated by buddy Anna for the Reader Appreciation Award. Anna just celebrated her 49th birthday yesterday and is like a soul sister… we have so much in common! We’re going to do our first triathlon together next year in Wisconsin, along with trigrandmatry and Sandra… who are my triathlon inspiration! Anna’s blog is about her home grown organic garden, her weight loss journey and life in general… check her out!

How it works:

1. Include the award logo somewhere in your blog.
2. Answer these 10 questions, below, for fun if you want to.
3. Nominate as many bloggers as you like, Or 10, you pick the number.
4. Pay the love forward: Provide your nominee’s link in your post and comment on their blog to let them know they’ve been included and invited to participate.

OK… 10 questions!

1. What is your favorite color?  Purple (same as soul sister, Anna!)

2. What is your favorite animal?  Koala

3. What is your favorite non-alcoholic drink?  Um, no brainer, coffee!! (same as Anna!)

4. Do you prefer Facebook or Twitter?  Facebook

5. What is your favorite pattern?  Squares

6. Do you prefer getting or giving presents?  Giving

7. What is your favorite number?  13

8. What is your favorite day of the week?  Every single one my feet hit the floor (same, same)

9. What is your favorite flower?  Pink Carnations

10. What’s your passion?  LIVING LIFE TO THE FULLEST

And then 3rd up… Constance at becomingshehulk nominated me for the Kreativ Blogger Award. Constance is one of my Dukan heroes! She lost more than 110 pounds and has kept it off and is rockin’ her body with working towards competitions!!! She is an inspiration to many, many of us!

The questions to answer for the Kreativ Blogger award are the same as above.. woo hoo! Less work 🙂

Nominations… I’m going to do these in a separate blog because I want to do them right and not renominate people for awards they’ve already received 🙂 So give me a few days to work through it all and I’ll send out messages about that 🙂

Thank you to Anna, MJ and Constance for the nominations AND the support I’ve received from the 3 of you… my heart swells with appreciation!!!

Ciao!

Travel – Ain´t no mountain high enough!

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Wednesday, April 28… Last night I had a dream with my dad in it. My dad was my best bud, I adored him. He always had the best advise! He died nearly 18 years ago, and twice since then I´ve felt him near me. Last night was the 3rd time. I dreamed that we were driving in a car on a rural highway and there was a tornado coming right for us. I kept telling him, “Daddy, you MUST go right!!!” He looked over at me and the message I got was, “Sandi, sometimes going right isn´t always the right way to go”. He then proceeded to drive straight through the tornado! When we came out the other side of the tornado, I was driving and my dad was gone. This left me incredibly sad, yet unafraid to tackle the road ahead. I feel so fortunate whenever my dad “visits” me.

A left groin sprain prevents me from continuing the walk up to Roncelvalles. Disappointing, but I would rather rest it and continue the Camino, than push past it and possibly have to quit. Guiermmo, the transporter takes me back down to St Jean, then up to Roncevalles, where we stayed in a room for four with Carole from England and Harriet from Sweden. A really nice room with two beds down and two beds up in a loft, very cool! Excellent pilgrim dinner and then a long hot bath and a beautiful, blessed, blissful sleep!

Thursday, April 29…

Walk from Roncevalles to Larrasoana. Up and down 4 mountains, 29 kms, rugged and steep declines, one was 10%grade! Exhausting, painful, AMAZING! I almost quit in Zibiri, but talked myself into doing the last 4.7 kms, worth the satisfaction of finishing! Stayed at the Refuge du Peregrinos in a 4 bedded room with Lucy, Carole and Harriet and across the hall from the 4 Irish sisters… they´re a hoot! Yummy pilgrims meal of asparagus, steak & fries and ice cream. Sore as hell… Slept like a log!

Friday, April 30…

Woke as sore as when I went to sleep, LOL!! Walking like an old lady, wondering how in the world I will be able to walk today! Had nuts, fruit & cafe con leche for brekkies and took 1000 mg of Acetominophen. I started the ascent up the mountain and within 20 minutes or so I was walking just fine. Some pain, but manageable… I think my muscles just gave in and humored me… LOL! Beautiful hike through the mountains. About 7 kms into the hike I had two choices, down (the easy route) or up where there was a beautiful church. The easy route is for sissies (I tell myself little fibs to get me moving!) and I took the ascent up to see this church. Carole & Harriet were there, and the nun, Maria, offered her bathroom to us. She had wonderful Gregorian chant music on, and the church and hospitality were worth the hike up! While up there, I opened up a saved email from my friend Alice Sanpere, and read it aloud to Carole. This is what it says: “I cannot wait to hear your impressions as you work through the physical pain, move into the mental challenges and swoon with spiritual growth. You´ll see what I mean. LOVE”. Alice… I am definitely seeing what you mean! Your words brought happy tears to me and Carole as we sat at this church listening to the chants and praying. Your words inspire me daily, bless you!

An interesting descent after the church and then lunch in Arre. We had a nice 30 minute break there before heading on to Pamplona. We are all walking like little old ladies, but delighted we´ve made it this far. I am ready for a blessed sleep tonite… and I got it!

Saturday, May 1, 2010

A holy day here in Spain. Everything is closed. Lucy and I are taking a rest day here because we want to explore Pamplona. We have been to a museum, and walked the route that the bulls take during the running of the bulls. That´s my update for now! Ciao!

Travel – On our Way

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Friday night, April 23… taxi to AD airport.

Saturday, April 24.. Flight from AD to Casablanca, Morocco. The landing was aborted just before we touched down!!! I laughed my ass off, which is what I do when I think I´m going to die! We had to circle because there was ground fog and they couldn´t see anything (this is what the pilot told us… LOL). Anyway, finally landed around 930 a.m. local time. Train to Tanger 6 long hours! We stayed the night in an Ibis Hotel and had a traditional teagine dinner… bed early… exhausted. Travel Day 1 is done.

Sunday, April 25… HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BIG GIRL CELESTE ALENA THE BALLERINA!!! Took the ferry from Tanger, Morocco to Algecerias, Spain… 35 minutes, but time difference is 2 hours! Talk about being confused! Taxi to Malaga, Spain and we can´t get a train, bus is out because I´ll puke, so we go to the airport and rent a car. a cute little Peugeot. Stop at 10 pm in La Guardia, Spain, about an hour south of Madrid. It´s a truck stop-hotel. Bacon & Cheese sandwiches for dinner & breakfast the next morning… I´m a happy hiker 🙂 Day 2 of travel done and over…

Monday, April 26.. taking us FOREVER to get to SJPdP!!! On road by 900 am. Spanish countryside is amazing! Arrive at Pamplona airport to drop off the rental at 400 pm, taxi to St Jean Pied de Port 1.5 hours… We´re FINALLY at the start of our walk… 6 days behind, but here! Went wrong way up the steep road and ended up at a wonderful hostel, hosted by Jaques & Francois. I THOUGHT they said dinner was bread pudding, and it was delicious. Lucy informed me after the fact that it was traditional Basque BLOOD PUDDING. LOL!!! Good thing thing I didn´t know in advance. Met some really wonderful people at the hostel, John, a journalist from Argentina and Henri, an Irish/Spanish bloke for Madrid who has taken a year off to travel and the loudest snorer in the world, Pierre, who has horrible sleep apnea, but a lovely smile. Can´t wait to get started in the morning.

Tuesday, April 27… after drinking cafe latte from a bowl for brekkies, Lucy and I laced up our boots, grabbed our walking sticks, strapped our backpacks to our backs and set off with Henri & John. After half hour of climbing up, up, up John & Henri went ahead and Lucy and I continued on the hardest walk of my life! 9 kms, mostly at an incline, climbing to 1000 meters. It took me 5 hours to do it, but I DID IT! At times I would take 70-100 steps and rest for a minute, then do it again. Lucy was amazingly patient, I am so grateful for her. I mostly listened to the soundtrack from G I Jane… quitting IS NOT an option 🙂 Just when I honestly thought I couldn´t go another step, Orrison appeared around the bend, al humdilalah! This is our stop for the night and I am so happy! No inside beds, we are in a tent tonite, and Lucy has invited a lovely Japanese girl, Mika, to stay in our tent, since there was nothing available for her… the more the warmer, is what I say!!! More tomorrow!

Travel – Everything you need in a ruck sack weighing 6.25 kg

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Well… after not being able to get on the flight Tuesday night because of the volcano that no one can pronounce the name of, we’ve rebooked to fly to Casablanca, train to Tangiers, ferry to Spain, and hopefully catch a flight to northern Spain. We’re literally flying by the seat of our pants, but dammit… WE’RE GOING TO WALK THE CAMINO… 😀

The bag is packed, and weighs 6.25 kg, that’s 13.77 lbs. I’m proud that this is what I’ve whittled a 5 week walking holiday down to. Just the essentials… everything I need for my holiday is here:

The only extra thing that is packed is Oreo, a class project for a cool kid I’ve never met in Connecticut. Doing a favor for my school chum, Teri. Oreo will fly back to the U.S. from Pamplona after my 3rd day of walking… I’m happy to have the extra 200 grams of weight. Here’s a pic of Oreo, just before I put him to bed in my pack:

And here he is all snuggled in for the long plane ride to Casablanca:

So, off I go! I will miss my daily chats with a lot of you on facebook, and interacting on Mafia Wars, but it will be a nice break! I will try to send updates from the trail, when internet is available. I hope all of you have as marvelous and adventurous 5 weeks, as I will!

Love, love….

Sandi

Travel – Local Wedding

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I was invited by my Emirati friend, Rana, to a family wedding here in Abu Dhabi. I’ve heard so much about local weddings and I was very excited to be invited to one.

I’ve just come off 3 night shifts, so I woke up a little behind schedule today (apparently the snooze button only works a certain number of times on my iPhone!). So I didn’t get to have my make up and hair done professionally. But that’s OK… I’m lovely just the way I am 🙂

It took me about 30 minutes to decide which dress I was going to wear and ended up with a black & gray dress with my black leather boots and a black pashmina. I threw on a bit of mascara and lipstick and called for the local car service to come and pick me up. The parking situation here doesn’t allow you the luxury of taking your own car out when you are going to be back past 10 pm.

I arrived at Rana’s and the photo shoot was already in full swing. I was invited to have pictures done with Rana and with my baby Abdul Aziz… aka Azooza!

Around 8 pm we left for the Intercontinental Hotel for the “wedding”. Now, a wedding ceremony as we know it doesn’t occur. It has already happened. So, even though they call it a wedding, it’s really equivalent to our reception. The ballroom was GORGEOUS! Beautiful centerpieces with orchids and roses and really cool little take home gifts at each place setting. Once the ladies where in the ballroom, the abayas and sheilas come off and it’s time to dance and eat and visit and listen to LOUD music!

The dresses the women were wearing were unbelievable. Every color of the rainbow with tons of Swarovski crystals and other adornments. The hair was as big as the ladies in Hairspray and the makeup was beautiful, very vibrant and alive. There was loud Arabic music and the younger women and kids got up on the catwalk and danced to the music. It was a joy to see these women let loose and enjoy themselves. The kids really liked it. The food servers were constantly bringing out more finger food: stuffed grape leaves, kibbeh, hummous, arabic bread, chocolates.

At around 1130 pm it was time for the bride to make her appearance. She was gorgeous. Her white dress over the top! While she slowly walked the cat walk up to her throne, dinner was being served. Biriani rice (my favorite!), lamp chops (I’ve eaten more lamb in the 17 months I’ve been here than in the whole rest of my life!), pasta, shrimp curry and other yummy food. Poor bride didn’t eat, she was busy getting pictures taken with everyone.

Around 1230 there was a big rush to put on the abayas and sheilas because the men were coming! All the women covered their gorgeous dresses with their black abayas (adorned of course with bling) and covered their beautiful hairdos with their sheilas.

Then the men came in accompanying the groom. The bride covered in a white sheila and abaya, even covering her face while the grooms male family members were there. Again, lots of music and pictures and after about 1/2 hour the men left and only the groom stayed. Some of the women took off their abayas because the groom is a relative. Throughout this time various family members would throw money out to the crowd… the kids loved it!

We had yummy cake and arabic coffee and then the night was over. I had a great time. It was so wonderful to be invited into this family event and have the honor of experiencing a local wedding.

Here’s the one pic I got… it’s of Rana and me. Her husband Mohammad took the picture… Rana’s the one that got up early enough for hair and makeup! LOL