Post-Party High

We did it -- invited the new neighbors over for dinner. Yay! I was nervous -- what if they don't like us? -- but as it turns out we share a lot of interests. Shawn and Mr. Neighbor geeked out about Marvel and Star Wars and gadgets, and Mrs. Neighbor and I talked PTA and working motherhood (she's not, now, but is anxious to go back sometime after her Baby #2 arrives this summer - probably working at home, lucky dog). I heard a lot of laughter from the kids, too. And on a related note, their daughter, age 8, taught Kate age 10 to ride a bike this weekend! Ha! So now we're in the market for a used bike for Kate. ;)

I tried to keep dinner simple and not get crazy or stressed, because that's no fun for anyone. And it helped that it was Cleaning Weekend anyway, and we got the downstairs nicely vacuumed and dusted, and rearranged some furniture on Saturday. We had all the laundry finished and folded (thx, Shawn!) at 6:25 pm and they were due to arrive at 6:30! Everything came together beautifully.

For food, I ordered 2 pounds of pulled pork from a BBQ place, and made all the other sides. Hashbrown Casserole in the Crockpot (yum), coleslaw, Jim N Nick's cheddar biscuits, and watermelon. These Strawberry Brownies for dessert (and I resisted eating one).

This meal was not WLC compliant! Nor was my Saturday-night-after-Mass, celebratory-WLC-is-over Mexican food at Huey Luey's! I had a chimichanga of all things (not as satisfying as a cheese enchilada would have been, but they didn't have those), and lots of chips and queso. And a margarita. It was nice to be "off-challenge," and I enjoyed it all. I am trying to be back on track for the work week as much as possible, because I didn't lose many pounds during the challenge, which is a bummer. But I think I've said, my pants fit better and I lost inches. We'll see how well I stick to it in the "off" period. I don't want to lose what little progress I made. Stupid dieting. Why do I love food (read: bread and cheese) so much? And here's a tip from me to you: Staying away from sugar does NOT take away the craving for it. I totally believe in having less sugar/fewer carbs, but I still love/want them. Deprivation has never "cured" me.

The spring weather makes everything seem lighter and happier, too, I think. It's still cold in the mornings/evenings, but this weekend was just lovely in the middle of the day. Birds are singing, sun is shining! That has been so nice, after such a lot of rain  and gray days lately (which I think are set to return this week, boo).

I'm trying NOT to let my mood be swung by a required weekend business trip coming up. It's a trip to Vegas, and actually shouldn't be HARD or anything -- I'm just going to listen, observe, and learn in some conference sessions. I don't necessarily have to shmooze or sell anything, and I can go to my hotel room as soon as I like after the conference ends. But it's over the weekend, and I have to travel there on my own. So funny -- something I used to really want to do, when I was in my twenties, was travel for work by myself. It felt so grown up. I'll have to remember that instead of grumbling about the hassle of it, on Friday. I think the good news is that I get to take 2 days off that next week, to make up for having to work over a weekend. So I need to ask about those -- something else to look forward to. :)