Blogging From the Labor Room

Posted on July 13, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Sitting in a labor room here in Guangzhou, China. I’ve realized a few things…
1. I’m glad no one called me until 8 am, as I much prefer my sleep now.
2. As much as I love birth, I am totally ready to handover the torch. I’ve got my fill. I now want to educate about birth and handling the tough births, the business end and my new passion health and fitness!
3. I’m missing home and can’t wait to get there! Come on September!

A glimpse (with permission) into my Chinese world…

A supportive husband and classical music from the phone… All a woman needs.

Quietly encouraging poolside. Another thought, can’t wait for Dr. Viggiano to fix my arms. A contrast… Muscular from lifting and yoga, flabby from years of obesity.

I love the different colors in this picture 🙂

Here’s hoping for a fast, easy water birth!

Dukan – Consolidation Day 56

Posted on July 6, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Thursday was a stressful day 😦

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

I sure don’t like stressful days. Makes me want to nosh around on food… thank goodness I only have healthy choices around me, but even too much of a good thing can be a not so good thing!

My stress centers around changes to my work schedule without consulting with me. They just toss me to the wind sometimes and see where I land. I am about the easiest going, “fly by the seat of your pants” kinda gal, but when it seems to be changes made with the wrong intent, it gets my hackles up.

Then after the schedule change stuff, I went on morning rounds and had to stop due to the stress of dealing with people who give misinformation. Formula (baby poison in MY humble opinion) is passed out like candy here. Women being told that they don’t have any milk in their breasts… it does my head in.

So… two things I’m concentrating on to get me out of my funk…
1. My job ends here in 10 weeks and 5 days and I will go home, for good… maybe, at least for now… and…
2. I won’t be doing birth work full time when I go home. I will be starting my own diet and fitness business. I am very excited about this.
Oh… and a 3rd thing… because they’ve changed my schedule to go to Guangzhou July 12, I will be near Hong Kong and being near Hong Kong means I can go to a movie theatre and watch ROCK OF AGES… now THAT will make me happy and get me out of this funk… I saw it in the States last month and I want to see it again! I’m listening to the soundtrack to ROA as I am typing this post!

After work I walked to the grocery store to pick up some veggies for the dinner I made for Vivi and Olivia. Vivi is my new personal assistant, having replaced the amazing Kitty, and Olivia is a translator in our office. I wanted to have them over for dinner for helping out with Tits the Cat while I was at home on vacation. Their request… an American dinner. So I made them steak, carrots with splenda and cinnamon and mashed potatoes with aged cheddar… I didn’t eat the carrots or the potatoes… although they both appeared to be big hits, given the fact there was nothing left over! I also made a nice salad with greens, red cabbage, cherry tomatoes and cucumbers.

Vivi and Olivia

An American dinner for my Chinese friends 🙂

While the carrots and potatoes were boiling, I showed the girls how to use the wii for bowling. Neither had bowled before. They did pretty well for their first game. While I was finishing up supper, they bowled their second game and Vivi scored a 201! She did almost as well on game 3… note to self… stop teaching people how to play, they’ll beat you! LOL

All in all a very nice night. The girls cheered me up. I walked them down to the corner and got Vivi in a taxi home. I then did a walk around the neighborhood.

Food:
Breakfast: 2 tea eggs, coffee
Snack: 10 almonds
Lunch: left over pork from the dinner out with Jerry… when I heated this up in the staff canteen here at work, the chef came over with chop sticks and had a few bites… lol. I’m working REAL hard on the lack of personal space… real hard!
Snack: 1 ounce aged cheddar and 10 almonds
Dinner: Steak w/ onions, salad and a tea cup of wine
Water: 2.5 liters
Exercise:
10 minute morning flow yoga, Walk to work (1 mile) Walk from work to grocery then home (1.9 miles), walk around neighborhood before bed 1.2 miles)

So… deep breaths, positive outlook, awesome soundtrack, meditation… in and out… 10 weeks, 5 days… ahhhhhh

Ciao!

One last pic… my little baby from Tuesday… his mommy IS exclusively breast feeding… that’s a rare thing here! 🙂

Cute lil thing!

Dukan – Consolidation Day 55

Posted on July 5, 2012 by flamidwyfe

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!

Travel – Not Quite Back in the Groove

Posted on June 25, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Exhausted. Knackered. Achy.

Weight? Who knows, but the pants still fit… scale is missing in my “delayed” luggage. I did stick to my diet while on my vacation and since I’ve been back in China.
Exercise? Worry? Does that count? I can’t run, since my running shoes are also in my “delayed” luggage… along with clothes and underwear! I did walk all over Shanghai yesterday and to and from work on Saturday morning and to work, home for lunch and back to work so far today racked up 3+ miles.

That about explains the 3 ways I’m feeling right now. Even after having an 8 hour sleep
last night. Jet lag sucks… BIG TIME. So, I’m not quite back in my groove, but feel that an update is overdue, for sure!

I left Florida on Thursday morning at 1145 a.m. for a flight to New York’s JFK. As I blogged before, they actually have Wifi on flights in the States now… how cool is that? Nice 1.5 hour layover there then off to Beijing, except the flight is delayed and they are talking about me not making my flight to Hangzhou, blah, blah, blah… I actually said to the lady at the counter, “seriously, please don’t tell me that… I have travel anxiety related to timeliness!!!” I decided I was going to try not to fret over it… what will be, will be. They made up some of the time, but the transfer time was close in Beijing and I had to go through immigration, collect my bags and then recheck my bags and get on the flight. I had 47 minutes!

I sailed through immigration and went to the baggage carousel… one of my bags was the first one on the carousel!!! What luck! LOL… until after 25 minutes, the bags stopped coming and I realized that A. I had 15 minutes to haul my butt to my connecting flight and B. my 2nd bag was missing… PANIC set in. I ran to the missing baggage office and they put my baggage number in and found that my bag was still in New York… tears were shed, I’m a cry baby when I’m tired, and I ran to check my bag for the Hangzhou flight and actually made it on the plane… because it too was delayed.

I get to Hangzhou at midnight, collect my one bag and head to the lost baggage office to file a claim. It is now officially Saturday morning (I’ve missed all of Friday being in the air) and I have to be at work at 8 a.m. Through more tears I realize that the bag I have is NOT the bag with my clothes and my Brooks Addiction running shoes and MOST importantly MY SCALE… can anyone say MELTDOWN!?! She files the claim with the Air China office in New York and says, as she hands me the paper… it’s just “delayed” baggage, not “lost”… with the sweetest little smile. It’s hard to be angry with her 😦

I get a taxi home and fall into bed after loving all over Tits the Cat, who has apparently missed me immensely. He insisted I carry him around like a baby for half an hour! I got into bed at 3 a.m. and woke up at 558 a.m…. ugh! Made coffee, checked email and got ready for work… at work by 730 a.m. On my way to work I picked up tea eggs… I was so happy to see my favorite tea egg lady…

Those are the tea eggs in that ginormous crockpot!

I think the exhaustion hit me around noon. I felt like someone was sitting on my head! But I made it through most of the day. At 3 I decided to leave and called my friend Alice, a midwife from Florida who is visiting her son here in Hangzhou. They just happened to be at my favorite restaurant in town, The Vineyard, and I took a taxi there to meet them. It was so wonderful to see her. I think it’s been 15 years or so since I’ve seen her in person, but she is the one who inspired me to walk the Camino 2 years ago.

In bed Saturday night before 10 and up at 458… UGH! No problem, got up, made a breakfast of steak and onions and showered and dressed and headed out the door to get the train to Shanghai! A fellow blogger, Mona, was in China for a summer assignment and we were going to meet in person! How awesome is that? I love her photography on her blog and even though I was knackered as all get out, it was worth the trip to meet her!

Mona on the Bund… The Pearl in the background.

Walking to the Bund.

We met at her hotel and walked to the subway. We took that down to the Bund, which is the waterfront walk on the Pearl River. It was an overcast day, but we still had a good time! After walking the Bund we google mapped my favorite restaurant in Shanghai the Blue Frog. Unfortunately the address was incorrect and we ended up walking a heck of a lot more than we intended… no worries… the lunch and company was worth it!

On the walk we saw lots of cool things and some random things like the fresh piece of asparagus on the stairs of a walk over and this beautiful cherry in the gutter…

Cherry in the gutter… streets of Shanghai

After the trip back to Mona’s hotel, I taxied up to the subway and then took Line 2 to the Family Mart… the grocery store that I can get my Fat Free yogurt. Bought 8 containers and a few other items and then took the subway back to the Shanghai train station… it was a wonderful day!

Bye-bye Shanghai

Back to my flat… call to Air China “delayed” baggage office… “good news Ms. Blankenship, your bag is on the flight to Beijing! You should have bag tomorrow noon”… well, my assistant has just called and been told it’s still in New York… I’m trying not to panic. I’d like to have my clothes, my shoes and MY SCALE… my Vivien tells me it will come, “this is China, it’ll happen”… I take a deep breath, come back to my office and pray… yes… this is China… things do happen.

As I finish this post I am listening to the soundtrack of Rock of Ages… the music makes me HAPPY 😀 I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this movie. I know that it got crappy reviews, but they were wrong. It’s a funny, happy inducing movie and thinking of Tom Cruise (lovingly referred to as TC) singing and dancing “Pour Some Sugar on Me” gives this 48 year old giggles and smiles… If I was in the States… I’d probably have seen it 3 times already!

And now… Vivien has just walked into my office and said MY BAGS ARE GOING TO BE HERE, IN OUR OFFICE IN 2 HOURS!!!!!!!!!! OK, trying not to hold my breath, trying not to be too optimistic, but they asked her for directions to the hospital. Dear Lord, I pray it’s MY bag… lol.

With that… I’m outta here… if anyone has a secret to getting rid of jet lag quicker, I’d be ever so grateful!!!

Ciao!

“I’m hot sticky sweet, from my head, my head to my feet”… Pour Some Sugar On Me by Def Leppard… redone by the yummy TC 😀

Travel – Weekly Round-up!

Posted on June 11, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Well, what a week! Going to do a breakdown with pictures.

Current Weight: 149
Goal Weight: 155

Sunday, June 3 – flew Guangzhou to Hangzhou. Flew between the clouds…

Went straight to hospital and saw 3 patients, rushed home, had reunion with Tits the Cat…

threw clothes in washer, started to unpack, knock on door… It’s….
KITTY!!!

I also got to hang out with Velina, Robin and their gorgeous baby and show off the beautiful necklace that Sheila, Greg and Lily gave me…

Finished repacking, went to bed…

Monday, June 4
got picked up by driver to head airport. Hangzhou to Beijing, Beijing to JFK… Here’s a shot from over Siberia… It really is frozen tundra!

Get into JFK pretty much on time, only to wait 1 hour and 40 minutes for my bags. Major panic, get through customs, race to airport train to go to AA building, still need to check in, recheck bags, get through security and they are already boarding… Major panic… People get me through quick, I’m trying to breathe, and I get on 2nd to last… Phew! Then we sat on the Tarmac for one and a half hours! Argh! Finally up, up and away and this gorgeous sunset off the coast of NC…

Finally got to Miami and Miri’s smiling face there to pick me up!

Tuesday, June 5
Up before the crack of dawn and out for a run… I love my hometown!

Then I had a haircut and color…

And sushi with my niece, Amanda 🙂 Then off to visit the kids and grandkids, then a run/walk with Michele and Michael and dinner.

Wednesday, June 6
Up early, breakfast with Tiffany and then out to Okeechobee to visit my friend Julia, who is not only a super awesome friend, but is hands down the best massage therapist in the world! Two hours of myofascial therapy, craniosacral therapy and some lymph work. Lunch with her son at Golden Corral and then back to her office for another hour or so of traditional massage. It was all amazing. Then back to Port St Lucie to pick up Sydnie for the night.

Thursday, June 7
Breakfast with Sydnie…

And dropped her off to school. Then back to motel and Jenni, Sadie, Tiffany and Joey came over to spend time in pool with me. Wore a bikini, LOL… That seems weird to me.

I then headed 90 miles south to check out a 1973 Airstream Land Yacht… I bought it!

Then raced back up to home to pick up Sadie from camp so we could go to Jammin’ Jensen with my friends… Just writing this makes me feel like I haven’t had a holiday, lol! Here’s some pics from the awesome time I had with my friends…

Then over to our friend Denise’s house, since she had neck surgery and couldn’t come out to play, we took the party to her…

Then off to bed with Sadie, so I can get up early to head 5 hours north in the morning!

Friday, June 8
Up early, drop Sadie to her mommy and hit the road. First stop, 2 hour drive to Daytona to see Shauna, Mouna and Fiona. Lovely visit. Then another 1.5 hours to Ocala to register for the 5K and get my BIB… How exciting! My first BIB!!

Then another hour drive up to get my mom and an hour back to Ocala to meet my friend Teri, who came down to support me 🙂 Dinner Outback, visit with my nephew and his wife and kids and then to bed!

Saturday, June 9 – RACE DAY!

What a rush! My friend Gail told me I’d start out to quick and she was right… My first kilometer was in 7:12… I slowed my pace, walked some, ran, met a lovely lady named Trisha, picked up discarded cups (I know, I know) and finished. It was awesome.

Then breakfast and back to hotel to pack and hit the road… 9 hour drive to North Carolina with my mom to her best friend Sandy’s house. This is the lady I was named after 🙂

Sunday, June 10

Beautiful , cool, rainy morning in North Carolina. Mom, Sandy and I met Eric for breakfast and then Eric and I went for a hike up Mt. Pisgah.
Hike Statistics
Difficulty: Moderate
Total Length: 3 mi
Trail Tread Condition: Moderately Rough
Climb: Climbs Moderately
Lowest Elevation: 4980 ft
Highest Elevation: 5730 ft
Total Elevation Gain: 750 ft
Trails/Roads Used: Mount Pisghah
Hike Configuration: Out-and-back
Starting point: Mount Pisgah Parking Area, Blue Ridge Parkway milepost 407.6
How to Get There: From Asheville, take the Blue Ridge Parkway south to the Mount Pisgah Parking Area, on the left, at milepost 407.6. Park at the second parking area; the first is for the Buck Springs trail.
Great hike!

Then back to Sandy’s and I grilled steaks and leeks for dinner…

So, that’s the wrap up! I’ll try to be a better blogger and update again tomorrow 🙂

Ciao!

Weekly Photo Challenge: Bridges

Posted on May 14, 2012 by flamidwyfe

I took this photo a few weeks ago while traveling by train from Hangzhou to Wenzhou. This bridge was on the very outskirts of Hangzhou.

Dukan – Day 260 – West Lake Hike

Posted on May 5, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Friday was a PP Day 🙂

Daily Weight Loss: +0.2 lb/0.10 kg
Total Weight Loss: 91.8 lb/41.71 kg
Stubborn last 10 pounds… LOL

I have Friday’s off and typically try to get out of the house early. I got out the door about 845, which is late for me, given that I’m up before 6. The sun is up very early here, around 530 a.m., and I’m a “be awake while the sun is up” kinda girl!

I took the city bus and finally found West Lake (by bus, that is… I’ve been there many times by taxi). My plan was to map out a running track for a guest blog post that I’m doing in July over at A Good Run.

I ended up meandering through some beautiful pathways, not really running safe, though. Which was fine. Because after the week I’ve had, I needed some serenity and I got it! You’ll see that in the pictures below.

After about a one hour walk, I found a Starbucks I didn’t know about, tucked in the trees next to the lake! I wasn’t planning on stopping there, my plan had been to hike about another 1/2 mile to the NE tip of the lake and have a coffee at that Starbucks. But I was drawn by the veranda overhanging the lake, so in I went.

Ordered a Venti Iced Latte w/Skim and headed up the winding stairs to the balcony. As I approached I noticed 3 local people sitting out there. As I opened the door an older man says, with a huge smile on his face, “We’ve been waiting for you all morning!”. At first I was surprised at his English, but managed to say immediately, “Well I’m glad you saved a seat for me!”.

It is challenging, dear readers, to live in a country where you do not know the language and a good deal of the people don’t know yours. I have what I call “China Moments”… not said in a positive light, LOL. But this was a wonderful China Moment. We sat and chatted, the 4 of us, for over an hour. The older man was quite a character, teasing us. What was amazing is that no one knew each other before walking on that balcony!

I needed that moment and God and the universe knew that. I really, really needed it. Funny how things work like that 🙂

Here’s a sampling of the beauty I saw along the way…

Sign at the head of the trail.

There are temples and gardens and even huts that you can rent for the night.

View over the “Little” lake. There are 2 lakes with walking causeway between them.

Stone bridge that crosses one of the many brooks that run through the park.

Cute little guy!

Gorgeous sculpture!

In her hands…

Quiet & easy to meditate in these gardens.

Been here 8 months… this is the first squirrel I’ve seen 🙂

Friends

Walking bridge over the connecting between the “little” lake and the “big” lake.

Path along the “big” lake… sorry for the finger in the shot… using my iPhone 🙂

View from the balcony at Starbucks.

One last pond as I exit the West Lake walk.

My route.

After finishing my walk, I took the bus to Kira’s to hang for a while… okay, well for a long time, LOL. But worth it. She’s moving back to the States on Wednesday and I’m going to miss her and Soren and Dan and Helena… a lot. I won’t miss their cat, Brooklyn, AKA “Tits”, because he’s moving in with me. I’ll have a wee piece of them here with me as a remembrance 🙂

Breakfast: 2 egg omelet with onions & garlic (I know, don’t fall off your chairs… ALERT! Sandi didn’t have tea eggs for brekkies!) Thanks for the idea Mel 🙂
Lunch: 2 tea eggs and 2 ounces of Edam
Dinner: 1/2 broiled chicken and grilled onions
Snack: pot of FF yogurt with bran and Splenda

Exercise:
2.76 mile walk along West Lake in morning
3.38 mile walk home from Kira’s in the evening

Ciao!

Dukan – Day 219 – Off to Marketing We Go!

Posted on March 25, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Sunday was a PV (protein/veggie) day 🙂

Daily Weight Loss: 0.4 lb/0.2 kg (this is actually 2 days)
Total Weight Loss: 81.2 lb/36.91 kg

I’m nearly recovered from my birthin’ babies week. Oh how we get used to 8 – 5, going to bed at 10, waking up at 6… SLEEP 😀 It almost feels a bit like jet lag. I can’t imagine what it must be like for the woman going through labor!

It’s been a glorious weekend here in regard to the sun. Shining, warm, bathing this lovely, polluted town in light. I even saw the moon last night! It was the first time since my last night in Florida back on February 8th! It was what I call a cradle moon… pretty in the sky!

I had to speak at a marketing event yesterday afternoon. Our branding and marketing department actually have MORE STAFF than we have NURSES… I’m not joking. But they do a great job putting on big events, at least once monthly! I spoke about “The Enchantment of Water Birth”… same PowerPoint I’ve been using for months now… we just change the title and sub-titles… the last event was “The Magic of Water Birth”… LOL… my Personal Assistant, Kitty, doesn’t even ask anymore… she just changes it.

And speaking of Kitty… here she is…

Seconds before I snapped this shot, Kitty was SLEEPING on my shoulder... she's too cute, popped her head up, smiled for the camera, laid her head down and went back to sleep 🙂

Random funny thing that happened yesterday afternoon. We were stuck in traffic coming back from the marketing event and stopped in front of the Chlitina shop (the one next to Slavery.. I’m not makin’ this stuff up!) and the staff were all outside doing line dancing. I tried to snap a picture, but the video was on instead… you can view it here: Chlitina Dancers it’s only a few seconds long, but you’ll get the point… I was listening to music on my iPhone at the time and in my ear was David Cook’s “Life On the Moon”… totally describes my life in China to a tee 🙂

Day ended with a visit to the hospital to check on K and Baby H and then home for dinner, which was Pork, mushrooms and asparagus and then a nice run around the neighborhood, where I even got a shot of yet another neighbor out strollin’ in his pajamas (call me a PJ stalker, but it humors me and keeps me sane in this crazy place, LOL)…

Out for a stroll in his jammies... Tough to get clear shots in the dark and while running, but you get the idea 🙂

Running is getting easier and easier for me… I’m totally loving it now. Running 2 nights in a row, then take a night off… on that night I go to the gym for 30 mins and have the muscle head help me work on my arms, abs and thighs.

So that’s the weekend update. I’ve added some other pics from along the way this weekend… Enjoy 😀

Ciao!

Street food from Saturday night... new meaning to the words Fish Sticks 🙂 YUMMY!!!

Our yoga instructor did prenatal yoga with audience participants.

The Emcee wore a gold suit and was quite the comedian! The orchestra was lovely!

Chiara and Alessaundro (aka NuNu) were there. Chiara gave a speech about her wonderful water birth... She was the first water birth in Hangzhou, and I was lucky enough to be her midwife! NuNu will be 1 on May 6th!

Dukan – Yummiest Pork – And a Day Trip

Posted on March 16, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Thursday was a PP day 😀

Daily weight loss: 0.4 lb/0.22 kg
Total weight loss: 76.6 lb/34.81 kg

Went in to work for an hour before embarking on a lovely day trip… left home at 0730 and didn’t get home until after 11 p.m…. late for me, but worth it!

My amazing driver Jerry showed up promptly (as usual) at 0900 to take me, Dana & Jenni (Steve’s family) and Tracy (Steve’s assistant) for our day trip. First stop the Taoguang Temple near West Lake in Hangzhou. We had a steady rain fall to deal with (all day) but I had on my water-proof hiking boots from Chaco and a rain jacket.

Best hiking boots ever!

Dana & Jenni

The first of many Buddhas we saw.

After spending about an hour exploring the temple and lighting incense and praying for the safe journey earthside for my two babies that I am waiting for, we headed over to Tea Mountain. This is an area on the north side of Hangzhou where the local green tea is grown. I only got one picture because it was raining too hard to get out of the car 😦

Tea leaves in the mist.

From there we took a 1.5 hour drive north to the town of WuZhen. It is known as the “Venice of China”. The homes are on the water, they use Chinese gondolas for transportation and it really was quite quaint. The BEST thing about visiting here was I had the YUMMIEST PORK EVER in this little village!! OMG was it to die for. The pork is wrapped in lotus leaves and tied up and then steamed in a soy sauce that is infused with Star Anise, Cardamon and Cloves. I can’t even begin to tell you how yummy this dish was!!! There was a lot of meat and I left most of the fat… I have to admit I ate two pieces, lol, soaked in that amazing sauce… nom, nom, nom!!!

Yummiest Pork Ever!

We also had Chrysanthemum Tea… hot water with little chrysanthemum buds in it… it’s quite tasty.

Chrysanthemum Tea

There were 4 or 5 museums and active manufacturing in WuZhen… the wood carving museum, the bed museum and the rice wine distillery were just 3 of the places we popped into.

Carved into a piece of petrified wood.

Clay vats for wine distilling.

Working with silk...

Soaked to the bones in the Bed museum.

Not sure what the squeezer was... but the sign is over massive bags of rice... I love the signs I find all over the world!

I also love doors!

Cabbage Truck 🙂

So that was the end of our day trip… I then had the absolute pleasure to go hang out with my 2 year old buddy, Soren. His mommy is 4 days past her due date and was achin’ for some alone time with her hubby, so they went out to dinner and I hung with the love bug. He’s a very cool 2 year old.

First, he had me sit on his little Big Wheel and pushed me around… LOL

Getting pushed around by a munchkin!

We then played with cars and trucks, read 4 books and sang Baby Beluga 3 times… I recorded it and I’m hoping the upload works 🙂 Oooops, nevermind… need a “space upgrade” to do that 😦 It was cute though!
Here’s another pic of the little man…

Long, exhausting but fun day!!! Now I’m off for a run!

Ciao!

Dukan – Day 198 – Back in Hangzhou

Posted on March 5, 2012 by flamidwyfe

Monday was a PV day.

Daily weight loss: 0.4 lb/0.20 kg
Total weight loss: 74 lb/33.61 kg

I have no idea how I lost weight while out of town in Taizhou. Having eaten pork intestines, pickled octopus and various and assorted other things… I was careful not to eat anything in gravy, and I even had half a piece of fruit that was like an apple and pear together… but the scale was kind to me… thank you scale!

Whirlwind couple of days on a trip that was a surprise… holding on to the fact that I caught 2 babies keep my spirits up. Coming back yesterday was challenging, I’m not sure which event launched me into a “Michael Douglas in Falling Down” mode, but I felt like a volcano ready to erupt… was it the guy hocking loogies in the restaurant? (everyone here hocks up loogies openly… loud and proud, and spits them on the floor, wherever they might be… men, women, children) or was it the fact that my employer forgot to pick me up at the train station and I had to get in a 1+ hour que to get a taxi… Or was it the lady in said taxi que that did the Haitian nose blow onto my FRIGGIN hiking boot… my reaction parted the crowd like the Red Sea and we moved right up to the front of the line 😀 Or, it could have been the fact that I couldn’t get a taxi to go to a friends house because they do shift change at 5 p.m. and it was GOD FORBID 4 p.m…. her flat is a 15 min. taxi ride… SO I WALKED THE 3.5 MILES… or it could have been witnessing, for the 1000th time, a kid who’s grandmother is hovering her over the sidewalk while she craps, then wipes her and leaves the tissue on the sidewalk… Yeah… FALLING DOWN… argh!
I also walked the 3.5 miles back to my flat… so I think I got my exercise in for the day!

So the sun is TRYING to peak through the pollution, and it’s time to walk to work and confront them about the fact that they sent me on a 2 night trip, with no extra clothes or panties AND forgot to pick me up at the train station… should be a fun mornin’ 😀

Ciao!