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The Trip
We left about 10 a.m. on Friday morning, and had a fun drive to Ocean Shores. Kermit & Olive are not as used to being in the car as B is, so they were a little anxious. And B is not used to having to share “his” car with other dogs, so he kept wanting to get in the front seat (“What the heck am I doing back here with these DOGS?”) But after about a half hour, the 3 of them calmed down and went to sleep. About 1 o'clock, we stopped at a Jack in the Box and had burgers for lunch. And Pam & I shared an order of mini-churros…OMG they were so good. Fried dough stuffed with cinnamon sugar filling...what's not to love.

It rained off and on the whole way, and when we got to Ocean Shores, it was still raining and the wind was blowing like crazy. We checked into our condo (very nice 2 BR with kitchen & living room) then we braved the weather and took the dogs for a half-hour walk on the beach, which was all Pam and I could stand. The sand was blowing in our faces and it was so cold and wet...I started thinking “uh oh, we are going to be stuck inside the whole weekend.” We ate crap for dinner (chips and I don’t remember what else), watched TV a bit, then went to bed about 10.

Imagine my surprise when I took B out Saturday morning. Although it was a bit overcast, it was dead calm and about 65 degrees. After breakfast of cereal & yogurt (trying to be healthy) Pam and I walked to a Tully’s a few blocks away to get coffee then down to the beach where we walked for at least an hour. It's always fun to see the reactions that people have when they see these 3 adorable little dogs together. People think they are puppies, or they think B is K & O's mom since he is a few pounds heavier and a bit taller than K & O.

Then we got cleaned up and went exploring the area. There was an “interpretive center” (another word for museum of old weird stuff) at the end of the spit. It was full of taxidermed animals from days long past and the whole thing creeped me out so much, I couldn’t stay inside. However, Pam talked to the lady at the center, who told her about how Ocean Shores was a mecca for celebrities in the 1960’s. Pat Boone used to have a golf tournament there. I had no idea. The lady also told her about nearby nature walk through a mini rain forest, which was pretty cool. It took about 45 minutes, and we saw raccoons and deer…and mosquitoes (I got bit about 10 times on my neck). By then it was way past lunchtime, so we stopped and got crab cocktails and 3-cheese bagels, which were so good. Then we went shopping at a few cute stores and bought some funny cards and scented soaps, etc. After that we went back to the condo where "everyone" took about an hour nap, which was heavenly.

That night we went to dinner at a local diner which was packed. Steaks and mashed potatoes, and veggies which I didn’t eat because hub wasn’t there to say “you should eat your vegetables.” And apple caramel bread pudding with ice cream for dessert.

The next day it was beautiful again, so we walked to McDonalds for breakfast (sausage McMuffins, hashbrowns, and coffee), then down to the beach again for another hour walk. Checkout time was noon, so we packed up and headed home. Of course, we had to have ice cream cones for the road. The dogs were totally exhausted, so they all slept on the way home like they were dead. And it rained again! We stopped along the way at a Burger King, and I decided to try to eat healthy so I ordered a fish sandwich…yes I know, this was a total joke, a fried fish sandwich was 630 calories; plus fries.

(At this point, I’d like to interject a small rant…Pam is pretty skinny yet she eats like a horse. It’s not fair. And she eats everything she orders, down to scraping the plate until it's clean...just kidding, but close...meanwhile I pick and move the food around and take home at least half, probably because I'm still not that comfortable eating in public. Yet I'm the one with weight issues.)

When I got home, hub told me that it had rained the whole weekend there, so we were incredibly lucky to have nice weather at the beach. It definitely was a fun weekend, and we talked non-stop about everything.

Pam took tons of pictures which she said she will e-mail me. I’ve been thinking the best way to display the pictures is on a separate photo blog… I can put all the pictures from the last few weeks on this blog. I’ll spend a bit of time setting that up tonight.

Monday
I want to admit to a small binge I had yesterday. I had been in meetings all day, with more to come. (I sometimes think if I didn't have meetings, I could actually get something done.) It was about 2 p.m. and I had a few minutes in between meetings to get to the drugstore to pick up a prescription. On my way I started thinking about candy. If I could have candy, what would I choose? I tried to push the thought away. Well, on my way to the prescription counter, I went through the candy aisle and picked up 2 packages of Reese’s peanut butter cups. I didn’t even hesitate. I wanted them and I was going to have them. I ate them in the car on the way back to work…440 calories for 2 packs.

WTF??? I had already eaten everything in my lunch box, plus an extra snack bar, so it probably wasn’t real hunger. Afterwards I tried to analyze why I NEEDED them. I wasn’t upset, I wasn’t sad, I wasn’t mad about anything…the only thing I can come up with is…I was tired both emotionally and physically.

I first, I thought, well maybe it was all the walking we did, and not getting as much sleep as usual, and the 3 hour drive each way. I honestly didn’t drink much, because Pam doesn’t drink at all…so it wasn’t any sort of “hangover” tiredness. Then I thought...it's all the meetings so I haven't had a chance to slow down today. I know from experience that when I am tired (as I mentioned in an earlier post) I tend to have sugar cravings which are hard to control. But that just didn't seem like the whole story..why was I SO exhausted? So I thought about it some more, and here is what I decided:

While the weekend was really fun, I think I felt a bit on edge the whole time. Being around another person that I don’t really know that well (even though she is SO nice) and feeling like I had to be sociable all the time was a bit stressful. I just didn’t get to mentally veg out like I usually do on the weekend. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m really a loner and don’t have many friends. So it definitely was a stretch for me to do this, and I’m glad I went. I need to do things like this in order to grow as a person.

So, I went to bed last night as soon as I got home from my meeting, and I feel much better today with no binge cravings. Another epiphany? Awareness is Power. Dr D is going to hear about this.