Weekends Away Are Tough!

There is no reason to hide this picture further down in my blog. This piece of loveliness was a high and low for me this weekend. First, I should admit that Red Velvet cake is my downfall. I don't know who invented it, but god bless that person! I'll get to my red velvet story in a minute.

I left for Florida on Friday (West Palm Beach to be exact). Had a lovely time, but I am exhausted and my tummy is angry. The weekend started out well. Got off of the plane and immediately went to dinner with my girlfriend. We went to City Cellar, a nice restaurant in this fantastic shopping center called City Place. I had two lemon drop martini's, we split a goat cheese salad (YUM) and I ordered baked stuffed shrimp. I had two of the shrimp and a teeny bit of mashed potatoes, three asparagus tips. All good. Then came the cake (oh no, not the red velvet cake, that's saturday people). We ordered molten chocolate lava cake. Now, I'm not a chocolate cake kind of girl, but the person who invented molten chocolate cake should be sainted. YUMMY! After more than my share of that, we went to The Blue Martini, where I had another lemon drop. I hadn't eaten much that day, a luna bar and some nuts, but holy smokes dinner + dessert+ drinks = a lot of calories.

Saturday morning we woke up and headed back to City Place. I had a small iced vanilla latte from Starbucks (I really don't like their coffee, but I was desperate for my breakfast coffee fix). We walked and shopped. I had so much fun trying on littler clothes. We went to Banana and I bought an XL denim jacket on sale, from $98 to $25. It's a short jacket so very cute and in reality could've gotten a large, but they didn't have one. I figure it will shrink up a bit if I dry it anyway. I used the remainder of a gift card from mom for Xmas, so it was free to me! We walked some more, went into White House Black Market (LOVE THAT STORE). I didn't try anything on because of a really annoying sales lady, besides I figured mom and I would hit it when I'm in AZ to have a dressing room fashion show. It was fun to see so many things that I could fit into if I had tried. Went to Anthro and tried on two very cute dresses. Too expensive so I passed, but so fun to shop there!! Lastly, we went to Fresh Produce. Not sure if you guys have heard of it, but such cute summer skirts and dresses. I got a cute black and grey three tiered skirt (above the knee), perfect for tooling around the city. SIZE LARGE!! I also tried on a size L dress, so cute, so exciting! Lastly, I bought my first pair of leggings since high school. Macy's size Large, they are too big! I need to return them for a medium. That is a first...I know they are leggings, but a MEDIUM! Woot woot.

We went back to City Cellar for lunch, I ordered a cobb salad and a glass of wine. Two bites in, stuck. Slime, throwing up in the bathroom. $HIT. Felt really tight the rest of the day. We went to massage envy for massages (seriously people if you have one of these near you you have to join..amazing!) I decided since I hadn't really eaten anything I wanted ice cream. Had the yummiest creamiest ice cream at around 3pm. Then at 6pm we decided we should eat dinner before we went home to get ready to go out. We ended up at the Cheesecake Factory. I went big and ordered the beef ribs. Here's my thinking on ribs. Not so much meat on each rib so you can eat a little bit and people think you've actually dug in. You don't have to face that annoying question from your waiter "Um, did you not like it?" They were great, went down well. I had three ribs (out of the seven...seriously huge portion), a couple of onion strings and a bite of mashed potatoes. Not so bad. However, immediately upon entering the restaurant I saw the red velvet cake on the menu. They were giving $.25 to Feeding America for every slice sold, so really...I did it for charity. ;-) Ordered the cake to take home.

8pm, opened cake. Oh My God. Seriously amazing. The top layer - cream cheese frosting, on top of cheesecake, on top of red velvet, then again cheesecake, then red velvet. RIDICULOUS. Had about 1/4 of the huge slice and put it away. We went out that night. I would have preferred to stay in and watch Sweet Home Alabama. But, we went. I had 1/2 a martini, came home at 1:30 and promptly fell asleep! Such a bad eating day. Didn't eat nearly enough protein, and way too many sweets, but I had fun and I made the decision, nothing fell down my throat!

Sunday: 11am, I hear my red velvet friend calling to me from the fridge. I take it out, I take four bites - too fast and I'm always tight in the morning. I get horribly stuck and proceed to slime and throw up for the next hour. HORRIBLE. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. We head to GNC, and I get some papaya enzymes. I had heard they were good for breaking up the food. Took a couple and felt a bit better. Got to the restaurant. Had 1/2 cup of clam chowder. Stuck, sliming, throwing up. I had already ordered a crab cake, so when it arrived, I took a bite. Stuck, sliming, throwing up. I stopped eating at this point. Just gave up. Enzymes weren't working. UGH! The weather wasn't great yesterday so after brunch we decided to stay in and watch movies. We stopped for snacks and ended up with chips and salsa and ice cream. I know both aren't ideal as they are sliders, but I was hungry. Should have stuck to liquids. Found I couldn't keep anything down. I had clearly irritated the band. Five chips, salsa = sick. Gave up and stuck to water the rest of the day/night. All in all, poor food decisions, got stuck alot. Back on mushies today.

My flight home was at 9:15 last night. Got on the plane and it started to rain. Captain told us it would be a bit bumpy. I do not like bumpy. It was turbulent for the entire first hour. Smoothed out a bit for about 30 minutes, then they warned us that weather in New York would be bad and that it would be bumpy. I looked out the window and saw lightening in the clouds below. COMPLETELY FREAKED OUT as we started to descend into them. Pretty much thought you weren't supposed to fly when the sky was lighting up all around you. So bumpy, freaking out, eyes shut tight, knees literally shaking. 30 minutes of terror. Landed, immediately called my mother. Thanked god to be on the ground again. I was in the last row of the plane and was fine being the last to leave. Wasn't sure my knees were going to support me when I got up!

I lived. I'm fine. I'm incredibly grateful that it will be sunny when I fly to California on Friday. Eating is slow going today but fine. Had my iced coffee. Luna bar at noon and about to have some greek yogurt. Water is going down fine. Way too much throwing up this weekend and poor food choices which completely bites. But, thankfully I'm okay. Up two pounds, but hoping to wash it all away with lots of water!

p.s. my girlfriend in Florida had gastric bypass 7 years ago so completely understood when I got up from the table four times during brunch yesterday. Thank God.