Street fairs and airplanes

Last weekend Tucson was a happenin' little big city! It was the spring-time 4th Avenue Street Fair and the annual air show at Davis-Monthan AFB. The weather was a-mazing, and luckily, fortunately Bradley and I were able to get out and experience both events! It was so fun, and reminded me how happy I am to be in a community that has fun things like that to do over the weekend. I am sure there are things like this in Las Vegas, but nothing ever caught my interest.

The most exciting part of the 4th Ave. Street Fair was riding the electric streetcar (trolley). It was only 50 cents - and it was so authentic.

The vendors at the street fair were sub-par, but I still enjoyed being out and about and people watching. The food vendors, however, were amazing. Brad had a smoked beef (I think?) sandwich, and I had a wonderful slice of pizza from Brooklyn Pizza. Yum-O. Here is a shot of the crowd on the street. It was packed!

On Sunday we headed over to the air show. An interesting fact about Bradley...he loooooves airplanes. Anything with an engine, really. His grandfather flew planes in WWII, and Bradley learned a LOT from his grandfather. I will admit that I would never have gone to the airshow by myself, but it was very interesting tagging along with someone who knew what each plane was, what it was used for, where it came from, etc etc etc (more than I could even remember).

We waited in line to check out the inside of an E3 - and much to our surprise, we got to sit in the cockpit! Like a kid in a candy store....

Before and After

Believe it or not, this entry is not about the cutest puppy in the world.

I have debated on whether or not I wanted to blog this entry for a few weeks now...I am approaching this with very cautious intentions.

Let me preface this - working at a destination health resort makes you a lot more 'open' about weight, weight loss, and weight gain. Canyon Ranch used to be a 'fat farm' that would limit guest's calorie intake to 800 calories! That isn't the case anymore, we are much more about the integrative approach - medical, behavioral, nutritional, and of course exercise physiological (is that a word?)

I have about 8 photos in my new offices of me with a variety of people that are important in my life. There is a photo with some of my high school friends, with my college friends, with my boyfriend, with my Vegas friends, and of course with my mom. It has been very interesting to watch my new Canyon Ranch co-workers come into my office and ask permission to look at my personal photos. Of course you can look!

About a week ago, someone was looking at them for the first time and said "who is that girl in all of your photos?"

Me: "huh?"

confusion

Me: "that's me!"

"ohhhhhhhh, wow. It doesn't even look like you."

awkwardness

Me: "well, I had brown hair in that one, and in the other 5 of them, I am about 25 pounds heavier."

Thoughts in my head: "Holy crap! Twenty-five pounds heavier?"

It hadn't really sunk in until that moment, that I had made a significant change to my outward appearance. So significant that a co-worker couldn't even recognize old photos of me? Naw....

I am not exactly sure when I was at my peak...there were several times in college when I would start Weight Watchers, only to lose 8 pounds then gain back 11. Then after college there were still several times I would join Weight Watchers to lose 6 pounds and gain back 9. Then, I thought that training for a marathon might help get me to my 'goal weight,' NOPE! That's a negative, I just over-compensated with more and more food.

I'm not even sure what my tipping point was. Or when I had this 'a-ha' moment (That is a Canyon Ranch reference...we often refer to our guest's "a-ha" moment of when they realize that something in their life has to change, for good).

It wasn't that I started thinking "I am going to loose weight, and this is how I am going to do it."

It was more "this is my body for the rest of my life, I can either choose right now to consciously make it a body I enjoy being in, or I can continue these toxic eating habits and complain that my jeans are always too tight."

Before I knew it, I was eating less (still the foods that I liked, just less of them), obsessing and thinking about food less (I still think about what I am going to eat for dinner when I am eating breakfast, but that will never change), and weighing less. I didn't notice it until other people noticed, and when someone would ask me what I "DID" to lose the weight, I would come up with these ridiculous "excuses" that really didn't give me any credit. Ready for these?

• My boyfriend moved to another state, so I didn't have anyone to wine-and-dine me anymore. (I had plenty of wining and dining with girlfriends and through my job!)


• My boyfriend moved to another state, so I was sad (dumb...I was definitely sad, but not sad enough that I didn't want to eat!)


• I was stressed out at work and just too busy to over-eat (what? was I too busy to partake in doughnut-Wednesday? no)


• I wasn't drinking as much (ok, this is partly true. I was drinking lower-calorie drinks, still just as many!)

Just recently I have been able to give myself full credit for taking charge of what I wanted my body to look like. Do I think there was something wrong with how I was before? No way...it just wasn't ME.

I am really enjoying learning about healthy eating and healthy habits. There are several "healthy food bloggers" that blog about their weight loss journey, and if this entry wasn't so long already, I would plug them here :)

I still feel like there are a few pesky pounds that are lingering on - but I'm ok with that. Doesn't everyone want to lose 5lbs? :)

Before

After

Marley and Me

I hate to admit it....as cute as she is....she exhibits qualities that are all too similar to Marley. Granted, she hasn't eaten a phone, or an answering machine, or jumped out of a car window....yet.

She has officially had her first visit to the E.R. Vet. At the ripe ole age of 8 weeks.

At the end of last week, Brad and I noticed that her, ahem, "number twos" were getting a little too runny. TMI? Welp, sorry! She wasn't drinking much water, and she was having major accidents inside and in her crate. By Saturday night, she was extremely lethargic, going to the bathroom every 30 minutes, and wouldn't eat her dinner. I was in Phoenix visiting a friend, and Brad...being the awesome puppy daddy that he is, took her to the E.R. The vet said she was severely dehydrated. Sadly, many puppies die of dehydration - their little bodies and immune system have a hard time fighting back.

They did a few tests (including one that meant sticking a huge Q-tip in her bum), and luckily it wasn't Parvo or a stomach parasite. Phew. However, something was still severely wrong.

The vet wanted to hospitalize her, and when Brad found out it would cost $950 to do so, we politely declined, and inquired about alternative options.

The vet suggested a subcutaneous fluid injection. Basically, they put a huge needle full of fluids in her shoulder. I wasn't there, but Brad said she looked like Quasimodo.

4 hours at the vet, one huge melon-sized fluid injection, two q-tip swabs and a vile of antibiotics later....she is healthy! We hope....

At least she is back to her spunky and obnoxious self, that is for sure!

I've been reading a lot on the internet about feeding dogs carrots. Not only are they a great and healthy snack, but it also helps with their teething.

Best Friends

I and Love and You

This song is where we got Brooklyn's name from:

It's such a great song - and I really think Brooklyn loves it, too. How do I know? Because she falls asleep every time we listen to it.

Brad tried telling me today that she isn't as innocent as I think she is. Apparently she "discovered her voice" today, and loved showing Brad all the different high pitched barking noises she could make. I don't believe him.