Trip photos 243

Sorry I've been noticeably absent recently-- I've actually been gone for my San Francisco/ San Diego trip-- and I've been back for a week now.. (pictured above-- me enjoying a prickly pear margarita on our first night in Coronado)

Anyway I just wanted to share some photos from the trip with you-- tomorrow I'll probably talk a little about the challenges/ realizations I had while I was on my trip-- and then I'll also share with you a photo of my new *very short (for me)* hair do-- so stay tuned I've got several posts in mind for the up and coming days!This it he view from my friend's aunt's condo (that we stayed in for the duration of the trip to Cornoado/ San Diego)-- it was so generous of them to allow us to stay there for free-- look how close we were to the ocean-- and you can see the San Deigo skyline as well :o)

One of the days we went to both Miramar Speed Circuit and Legoland. Vroom Vroom speed racers!

A squared--or cubed if you count the "A" column we're standing underneath :o)

Darth and R2D2 were both made completely of legos-- fight him I did.. win HE DID NOT!

We spent a day @ the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park! It was pretty neat to see the 2 pandas they had there.. and also be close to a lot of the animals.-- I'll post more photos later!This is me with some sort of African deer and her baby (I don't remember what they were called exactly.. but they were definitely the softest of the animals they had in the "petting" area.

I'm Back! 247

This is going to be a short post just to let you know I'm still around and kicking. These past 3 weeks have been very difficult because I've been dealing with my two herniated discs in my back. This last week was also the week I spent down in New Orleans/ Biloxi -- unfortunately the week before I left I hurt my back and it started to feel better and then the plane ride really did a number on it.. then is started to feel better and the plane ride home made it worse again. I then went on a 5 hour drive to my Grandma's for Easter and back again (again making my healing back worse) at this point it's the worst it's been over the 3 week period. I'm considering going into the doctor for it :o(. This also means I haven't been able to be as active as I've wanted-- I haven't stepped on the scale until today where it shows I've gone from 242 to 247-- well see how accurate a reading this is over the next couple of days.. if it does prove to be accurate it will be very disappointing. I'm getting anxious to get back to the gym. I will post more pictures when I get a chance (I've felt really bad being away from the blog so long).

Fashion Spree- 251.5

I know I've been MIA for a week. To be honest with you I took a vacation from just about everything this week (including working out *gasp*) I just felt so overwhelmed by the monotony of my life (get up, work, come home, go to the gym, eat dinner, watch TV, bed) in and out every day-- I felt like my life was so boring and routine I just decided to take a vacation from that routine to re-energize and re-focus. I am officially off vacation today (worked out this morning on the eliptical for 35 minutes :o))

What have I been doing? Well... SHOPPING! Z Gallerie is going out of business (so I've been there 3 times this week to pick up on the now 50% off sale). I did some clothes and shoe shopping.

I must say I was really disappointed with Lane Bryant when I got a flyer/ coupon booklet and then when I went online and to the store I found out that the more colorful cool things I was aiming to get had all sold out (including online and warehouse) the SAME DAY the flyer came out. To be honest this really pisses me off. Lane Bryant went against the hum drum drain of plaid shirts (see previous post) but only carry a select number of the more fashion forward items! BOO! This upsets me, especially considering the alternative. Bravo to them for taking a step forward on the correct foot-- boo to them for being conservative in their numbers. Note to self: make a mad dash for the website as soon as I get the next booklet.

Indicently has anyone noticed the color scheme for this season is navy, yellow, green, white and purple-- it's kind of refreshing. Makes me feel like I should be on a sail boat sippin a mojeto.

I have to give some major Kudos to Lane Bryant for thier new approach to taking fashionable shots and hiring a stylist-- look how "WOW" this looks...
On the other hand-- I found a major gap in this on the website. Look on the same page we have the "stylized" model and the one that "did it herself" in the obviously cheaper rendition to the right (and you bet that's the shirt we get). Overall massive improvement-- but we have a way to go before we win the race tortise.Now here are the shoes I bought! Unfortunately the teal and white shoes from French Sole run about 1/2 size too small (and being a size 11 already rules out any hope of my step sister sized feet squeezing into this Cinderella's slipper :o() But on a positive note the other too pairs (brought to us by Me Too and Jessica Bennett Kurt) fit GREAT! GO TEAM!