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Category Archives: Travel

Happy New Year 2017!

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In probably the most unexpected detail ever in the history of this blog…I did not take ONE. SINGLE. PICTURE. ALL. NIGHT. 😯

So, we were the surprise guests for this party. Meaning, obviously, no one knew we were coming (except the host and one other friend). We’ve had surprise guests at other Tivo events before and it’s always fun, so when it worked out that we could do it for this party (due to our White House tour) we were excited. And it was cool—we’re so glad to have surprised our old (and new) crazy ax murderer internet friends and spent the evening with them!

This was taken by Jay, who I haven’t seen in real life…

…since 2009.

You know you’re old when you have two glasses of sangria and think it’s got to be getting close to midnight…and it’s not even 9! There was lots of good food and games, and we all managed to make it to midnight (waiting for the ball to drop, below), but the party broke up shortly thereafter. I really knew I was old when I wasn’t drunk heading back to the hotel. 😆

I slept in until 10 (!) the next morning, and then it was off to brunch with friends before the wave of goodbyes (again, I did not take one single picture).

The only sights I recognized.

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So, you’d think that flying into DC would be cool because you could see lots of monuments and stuff, right? Nope. I didn’t see ANYTHING familiar on my Texas trip—and this time National Harbor was the only thing I recognized. So I’m either blind, we don’t pass over the monuments, or we are really too high or far away to make them out clearly.

   
 

I have TSA Pre-check!

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So, I had kept checking and checking and checking every few hours because I really wanted to get pre-check for my flight home if at all possible—and I did finally get it Friday afternoon!!! So, with all my worries about it, there were literally (LITERALLY) zero people in EITHER of the security lines this morning. I got through in about 12 seconds. Well, make that 23 seconds—I forgot my phone in my pocket so that took an extra bit.

So I’m not sure if that is considered a rave…or a fail? 😆

Bucket list lunch: complete

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We lived in Troy for three years and I wanted to eat at Zingerman’s Deli the whole time but we just never got there. Today, since we were literally right down the street, it happened.

Linda and I split a large reuben and it was still too much (we should have split the small).

Then we sampled this $26/lb cheese and it was VERY tasty. I was sad I couldn’t take any food home…

I wish I could come back here because there were A LOT more sandwiches I wanted to try…

Catching up on 20 years!

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What a small world! I posted on Facebook that I was in Ann Arbor at the hospital and my college roommate, Marina, saw it, posted, and long story short, stopped by to catch up! We haven’t seen each other in 20 years (aside from posts on Facebook)!! And I had forgotten…she’s actually a nurse at the main hospital!! What are the odds?!

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Here’s us waaaaay back then, at the end of our freshman year (1992):

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I talked to someone in the airport.

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So you may or may not know the story about how way back in the day I got a lot of grief about being bothered that some guy was trying to talk to me at a gas station. If you don’t know the story, ask me sometime. But the gist is that I generally don’t talk to people.

But sometimes I do. 🙂

After we deplaned in Detroit, I was sitting at the power bar recharging because I still had about a half hour to wait until Linda picked me up. AND I TALKED TO SOMEONE. I honestly don’t even remember exactly how it came about, but after some small talk, I realized we were headed to within about a half mile of each other in Ann Arbor and his Uber would have been $70. I called Linda to make sure it was okay (and of course she said yes) and it was a perfectly pleasant experience. 

I assured Matthew that my friends would get a BIG kick out of it. 

Off to Michigan!

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Hey, there’s nothing like starting my trip with a FULL BODY pat down and hand swab. Seriously? I got the full-body scanner THEN got pulled aside for a full-body pat-down, and THEN got swabbed for explosives. Are we having fun yet?!

Then, amazingly, Gate 35X wasn’t as bad as I’d anticipated, though it did seem a bit ridiculous to board a bus for a (maybe) 200-yard bus ride to the airplane.

Cue major travel anxiety

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I’m always a little anxious about flying—not the actual flying but the timing of things and getting through security and getting to the right place, etc. So I just really looked at my flight info so I could find my gate on the map (yes I’m that person) and I find out that I’m leaving from (apparently) THE MOST FUCKED UP GATE IN THE KNOWN WORLD: DCA 35X. Google it. Or read some of these FourSquare comments:

Down an escalator at which point there’s no room to sit and then hopefully you hear your announcement for your plane and then you are SHUTTLED out to one of the many commuter planes where hopefully there’s no weather happening because you’ll be outside.

Seriously? 

My Facebook friends tried to assure me I’d be okay (though they admitted it was confusing) and I kept my fingers crossed and told myself I was an intelligent 43yo and I could surely manage an airport gate. 🙂

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.  ðŸ™‚

P.S. I’m flying to Michigan because my dad is having an aortic valve replacement. It’s nothing we’re seriously worried about (it was planned and not an emergency procedure) but it is surgery so I want/need to be there.

That’s about 140# of coconut oil!

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Or what I’ve lost thanks to Naturally Slim! (Thanks to friend and fellow NatSlimmer Brad for helping!)

I originally wanted to do this with tubs of Crisco but just never got around to it at home. Then I told Marcia about it and we were going to stop by Sam’s Club but we just never seemed to have enough time!! So after lunch at Ida Claire, I asked my Brad Uber if there was a Costco between the restaurant and the airport and if we had time…and he said yes! We did get a few strange looks while we were unloading and rearranging the buckets, but not one single person said one word!

Lunch with some Texas peeps at Ida Claire!

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Ida Claire. Say it. Now say it with a southern accent. Listen. Bingo! I missed it the first few times, too. 🙂

This is Brad. He’s a Tivo peep I’ve known forever and met once almost 10 years ago. He’s lost 90# on Naturally Slim.

This is a delicious Bloody Mary. I learned I liked pickled okra. 🙂

This is Brad, me, and Smeek (Jeff). I’ve met him a few times before over the years but it’s always good to see him. He’s one of our resident foodies so he picked the place. I also got to try two of his fancy drinks. 🙂

And here’s a pic of me and Smeek from 2007 (that last guy is not Brad, unfortunately—it’s Peter):

Here’s Brad from that same weekend, just to complete the group flashback:

And my super delicious lunch. [Thinking about it now, days later, still makes my mouth water.]

Shrimp & Grits @ Ida Claire
Shrimp & Grits | TEXAS PRAWNS, BACON LARDONS, GRISTMILL PARMESAN GRITS, SAUCE PIQUANT

The Naturally Slim Dinner

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So we had our Naturally Slim Dinner at Venezia Pizza Cafe—there were 10 of us including Marcia, one of her daughters, me, Bryan and his wife, and then Brad (another Tivo NS person), Jannie and Rich (a married Tivo NS couple), someone from Bryan’s church, and—SURPRISE!—Andrea! I’ve been online friends with her for years now and when I knew I’d be coming to Texas and she lives in Texas AND IS A NATSLIM MEMBER, I told her she HAD to come to the dinner. She has a lot of stuff going on, but she said she’d try to make it. Then she said she likely couldn’t. So I was thrilled to see her when I walked into the restaurant!! YAY!

And Tivo friends Jannie and Rich who I hadn’t seen in almost 10 years!

The most interesting thing we got to hear was some of the backstory about how Naturally Slim came to be. NatSlim as we know it really only came to be in the last 10 years or so. We knew her mom came up with the TrueThin philosophy 30 years ago and she taught classes in person and then Marcia taught classes in person (and still does), but the online video part didn’t really start until 2003 or so. And back then it was like “We really need to put these videos online, but there’s really no good way…” (For a data point, YouTube started in 2005.) There’s more to the story that I actually heard during some of our drive times over the weekend, but of course my mind didn’t retain all the details.

I forgot how awesome it is to be pampered.

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My next birthday weekend treat was a massage and facial at Marcia’s spa…I hadn’t had either of these things done since Owen was six months old and Tom got me a half spa day so I was REALLY looking forward to it.

Marcia was such a good sport about me wanting to take pictures of everything. 🙂

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Post-massage and post-facial…completely relaxed and pampered. I told Marcia this was NOT a good thing as I was going to want this a bit more often than every six years now. 😆

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And lastly, my spa selfies, pre- and post-makeup (getting ready for my official filmed testimonial for Naturally Slim):

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Touring the Naturally Slim offices. 

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The offices are in an unassuming strip mall type office park.

The decorating is absolutely gorgeous. Marcia is actually a little sad that they’re moving to the other offices next year because they JUST finished redecorating these (well, that and her commute goes from five minutes and no traffic lights to 20-30 minutes on the highway).

Sitting in Marcia’s chair. FEEL THE POWER. :p

Getting ready to be weighed on a $10k Tanita body composition analyzer (Marcia is programming it for me):

My results:

I think there was a mistake during programming—she didn’t enter a target body fat, but I remember her entering a 1-6 at one point and then it stopped, so I assume that’s where that came from; so, disregard that stuff.

I was SHOCKED to see that I weighed 167 because before I left I had weighed 171 at home! I told her I couldn’t believe I had lost 4# in two days (though, honestly, it is entirely possible with Naturally Slim…especially if I was following the principles). And that’s when she told me she was pretty sure her $10,000 calibrated scale wouldn’t be wrong. 🙂 I told her that may very well be the case, but my weight loss is tracked via MY scale, so I had to weigh on my scale for it to be official. 🙂

The kitchen, where Marcia loaded me up with a bunch of Naturally Slim peanut packs. She was going to send home some more insulated tumblers but I just didn’t have the space! 🙂

Marcia spoiled me with a few birthday presents!

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First we had lunch at the Neiman Marcus Cafe with her two daughters and the two employees who helped with the Facebook event. I actually introduced them all to the delicious wonder that is Green Goddess salad dressing (it came on two dishes and no one had ever tried it so I asked the waiter to bring a sample; they all loved it) and they let me in on the secret that the little cup the waiter brought was not tea, but chicken stock. Sounds odd, right? But it was DELICIOUS. 🙂 At dessert time we hoped for something chocolate and surprisingly they didn’t have anything! But! The waiter said “Let me see what I can do” and he came back with a huge slice of chocolate cake! (Turns out he got it from another NM cafe on another level.) Then the table sang Happy Birthday to me. 🙂

Then it was off shopping at the mall. I had complimented her daughter Candace on her gorgeous necklace and she said she actually got it at Chicos…so we headed there (I usually get something “big” as a souvenir instead of a tchotchke). So I was looking at all the jewelry and Marcia and her daughter were looking at clothes. I was trying to decide between pieces to just pick one and Marcia offered to hold them for me while I was looking…and I turned around and she was buying all three for me!

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What?! I told you she’s awesome.

Then we walked around some more and we ended up at Sundance where Candace tried on a bunch of clothes. The stuff was way too expensive for me, but I tried on a few things for fun (I mean, that’s what you do when you’re out shopping with the girls, right?!). And then they both tried on this coat—which I had noticed and thought was cute but figured there was no way I would be buying it so why tempt myself—but peer pressure got me and I tried it on and it was SUPER cute…and Marcia immediately said “Excellent! I’ll get this for you, too! Happy birthday!” WHAT?! Holy crap. I told her she couldn’t but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. So I now own this coat. And, actually, all three of us now own that coat!! 🙂

And then it was off to get all our nails done…another birthday treat! I opted for a basic French manicure. I forgot how much I LOVE them…

And then it was off to dinner at Gloria’s Latin Cuisine with Marcia, her daughter, and another coworker/friend! It was delicious, and I enjoyed a strawberry margarita and fish and brisket tacos for my birthday!

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On the way home, Marcia said (paraphrasing) “I was going to get you dessert and have them sing happy birthday, but they get crazy with it so I changed my mind.” See? LOVE HER.

The live Facebook Q&A with Naturally Slim!

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So the Live Facebook event was actually going to take place at the combined offices of Holmes Murphy and ACAP Health, both new partners of Naturally Slim. I was VERY anxious about the event, but Marcia assured me I would do just fine. I was put a little more at ease when she told me it would only be about 20 minutes long—I had thought it would be an hour or something! Phew!

We got there early and Marcia showed me around the offices and introduced to many, many people…most of whom were all like “Oh, wow! I know you! You’re Jennifer Hudson! I recognize you!” It was VERY surreal. They were just as excited to meet me as I was to meet them! The offices were super fun and trendy, with named meeting rooms like the Vineyard (with a wall of bookcases and wine racks) and the Bead Room, which is where we ended up filming—yes, a “room” in the middle of the office space with floor-to-ceiling hanging beads encircling four chairs and a table!

Getting ready to start!

Our view during the event:

And then we were off and running…

Live Q&A with Marcia Upson, President of Naturally Slim
[iOS users, if Safari isn’t showing the Facebook video below, try Chrome]

https://www.facebook.com/gonaturallyslim/videos/1193773007361961/

And suddenly it was over! What?! Already?! Wow that went fast! I had a lot of fun and the time just flew by—I probably could have answered questions for an hour! Of course watching the video later I noticed things I didn’t like (like my roll of belly fat and a few strange looks I made) but overall I think I did pretty well!

And then on the way out, I got to meet Todd (Todd Whitthorne, President, ACAP Health—he’s in quite a few of the program videos)!! And just like Marcia, he was just the same as in the videos, too. And boy was he tall (I’m 5’9″ and you see how he towers over me)! 🙂

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What a memorable way to spend my 43rd birthday!!

Guys. GUYS! It’s THE kitchen!!

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So, it’s just as gorgeous in person…but I think it actually looks a bit smaller. The camera must work magic.

I have to say it was very surreal to be in that kitchen—and especially so when making my H2OJ in the morning (I tried Marcia’s pre-mixed strawberry banana but I didn’t like it!) and going in the pantry for Crystal Light packets and insulated cups. Yes, I just made myself at home. 🙂

Guess which network is hers?

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We were sitting out by the pool talking after we got home from dinner and I was telling her about the kids and Pokemon and I was showing it to her on my phone and figured I might as well ask for the wifi password since I was going to be around for a few days. Of course I am always interested in what people name their networks, and hers did NOT disappoint. I love it.

Mom, this is also when I gave her your hug. 🙂

Marcia! Marcia! Marcia!

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Upon the very first second of meeting Marcia at the airport curb, I could tell she was exactly like she seems in the videos—warm, welcoming, gracious (and I could go on and on with descriptors)—and we immediately started gabbing like old friends. We went to Bistro 31 in Dallas (where I had a mouth-watering spaghetti carbonara with scallops). It wasn’t until about 10 minutes in that I quick checked my email (while Marcia was in the restroom!) and saw my mom had said “So have you met Marcia yet?!?!” I had been having so much fun with Marcia that I hadn’t even taken a picture yet. ME! Not taking a picture?! Can you believe it? So when she came back I took our first selfie!

The time flew as we talked about anything and everything. It wasn’t as nerve-wracking to eat with her as I had thought it would be, and I did take home leftovers. 🙂