What's Been Going On?!?!?

Some of you may be wondering what the heck has been going on with me ... I just disappeared!  Well, here's a general update:

After returning from Thanksgiving with my parents, my first couple of days back were filled with preparing for the next event I was working on, which began December 3rd.  The good news is that when I'm actually working an event I really burn calories.  On the 4th I worked at the airport for 8 hours.  During that time I burned 1336 calories and took 8,570 steps.  That was awesome!  Then in the evening Tony and Ashton returned from England.  They were tired and jet-lagged, but they sure were a sight for sore eyes.  I missed them so much!

On the 4th and 5th we spent the days decorating the house for Christmas and getting our tree at a local tree farm.  It's a great family tradition that we all go together to pick and cut our own tree.  I grew up on a Christmas tree farm so I can't remember the last time I had to get a tree from a pre-cut lot.

Because the entire family is coming to visit I want the house to look very special. So with a lot of begging and pleading Tony finally let me climb up on the roof and hang lights. It's been years since I've done this and I forgot how scary it can be. The top peak on our roof is about 3 stories up (or down) to the driveway. Once I settled in I was fine, but I had lots of visions of Clark Griswold swinging and swaying on his ladder. In all, it took 8 strands of lights just to do the front. I admit that in my eagerness ... and then fright ... I hung some backwards and had to do them over. But now that I have the hang of it I've created a "map" of how do to it and next year will be much easier. :)

Then on the 6th it was back to work for me.  I was up at 2:45a and at work by 3:30a.  By the time I got home later that day I had already worked 11 hours!  I love what I do, but the hours can be long and tiring sometimes.  The good news is that I did burn some good calories and got some good walking  -- 1,163 calories and 6,893 steps.  Not as much as working at the airport, but still pretty active without a workout.

Making the day all the harder was the fact that we're having a cold-snap; our high temperatures aren't reaching the 40s and the wind chill is down in the teens.  I know this may not sound horrible for some of you, but for sun-loving us it's COLD!

Yesterday, our son began the P90X program too.  While I was typing this he completed his first Plymetrics workout ... and he's dog tired.  Even he had to take a few breaks ... I feel better already.  Tomorrow, since I've taken such a long break, I'm going to get in sync with his workouts; basically acting as if I was starting anew.

I've actually really missed it.  I am not sleeping as well and am finding that my hunger is greater than my activity ... NOT GOOD!  Generally my weight has stayed the same and my clothes are feeling like they fit a bit better.  But this past week off has taken it toll and I'm looking forward to getting back into the routine.

Of course, I'll get back into it just in time to get out of it as we're heading to Hawaii on Friday.  But I'm going to try traveling with the program again and either doing a workout a day in the gym at the hotel, or convincing Tony to "power walk" with me.

We haven't been to Hawaii in about 6 years and haven't been to Oahu in over 12.  The timing couldn't be better either as the warmth is going to feel so good after all this cold.  In fact, they're calling for ice and/or snow while we're gone.  Awww, too bad.  ;)