And now, on to my Water Water Everywhere Weigh-In…

February 15, 2012
Weight: 369.6
Change from Last Week: -1.2 pounds
Change from All-Time Highest: -33.2 pounds

I am finally back in the 360s! Woo hoo!

So why is this a Water Water Everywhere weigh-in?

Because that’s really all that I’ve changed. Granted, I didn’t lose as much this week as last, but when I look at where I was at the first of the year, I have definitely lost weight. It isn’t a fluke; it isn’t a salt issue. I’ve lost weight. There is less of me.

Finally.

And yay.

Related Posts:

• It’s About Time Weigh-In
• A Seven Points Weigh-In
• A Shirt Skirt Weigh-In

Our kitties, who more frequently wrestle than cuddle, are getting in the holiday spirit.

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• A Giving Up the Gym Weigh-In

She’s the only woman I’ve ever had a Valentine’s Day with.

Here’s to the last five and the next seventy or eighty I plan to share with her.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Related Posts:

• Happy Valentine’s Day!
• Window Seat: Antigua Honeymoon, Day Two, 10.10.10
• Date Night #1 – The Fur Ball

This is copied and pasted exactly as it was written in Antigua, back in October of 2010.

* * *

Again note – This was written while in Antigua on my iPad, hence the reason for any weird verb tenses. I’ve decided not to really edit, because I want to capture what I wrote while I was there.

***

We got up nice and early at seven o’clock. Okay, that’s really not that early, but things don’t open here until about 7:30, and Tina and I don’t want to miss anything. We can sleep when we get home in Kentucky and aren’t paying so much for a room.

The fountain outside our room…

The little lizards that are EVERYWHERE!

We went to Bayside Restaurant for their breakfast buffet, and it was beautiful. We were given mimosas as soon as we walked in, and we were allowed to seat ourselves, as it was a buffet. There were only a handful of couples in the restaurant, and they were all seated in tables closest to the open wall facing the sea. We chose likewise. Slightly warm (but really, I sweat in the dead of winter, so of course I’m going to sweat in the tropics), but there was a nice breeze off of the ocean. It was so much fun just sitting by the beach, listening to the waves, while we were eating breakfast.

They had a huge fruit spread, a tray table of typical breakfast foods (i.e. – french toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, etc.), and a table for cereal and oatmeal. The oatmeal was a make-it-yourself arrangement, and it was pretty interesting. One part that I found really neat was that the bar also had vases filled with guppies! There was also an omelet bar, but we were entirely too full by the time we were done to visit it.

Vases of guppies…

Lots of fruit…

Pastries!

My first trip was pretty standard breakfast food that I had to try because I had been craving them for weeks. First plate was scrambled eggs with mushrooms, hash brown, bacon, sausage links, french toast with the most amazing warmed syrup I believe I’ve ever had, and a fried plantain. I wasn’t particularly thrilled with the plantain, but the rest was quite tasty.

My plate…

Tina’s plate…

For my second plate, I decided to do mostly fruits. I could tell I was already getting full, but I had to try some fresh fruit. Watermelon, kiwi (served, not in slices, but in halves!), sugar cane (I had never eaten raw, but quite interesting to bite and suck out the juice), pineapple, star fruit, and passion fruit. I had no idea what passion fruit looked like, and it was pretty ugly (looked quite nasty, actually) but it is now one of my favorite fruits! When I came to the table with it, I announced ugly fruit, which Tina interpreted as they actually had Ugli Fruit, which is one of our favorite fruits. Alas, they did not, but the passion fruit more than made up for it.

Me eating Passion Fruit…

Random pastries Tina got on her second trip…

Oh, and Tina made a new friend that she christened Boots. He just kind of roamed around the outdoor portion of the restaurant.

Funny lid on a box of sugar in the restaurant…

Random pictures from around the resort that morning…

We spent some time in the pool as well, slathering on sun screen repeatedly, even though we felt like we were already burning. The sun is bright here. It was nice just laying by the pool and reading, though.

We went to go sign up for an excursion, as we had gotten some money for the wedding with the directions “Enjoy on your honeymoon.” We signed up for one tour on Wednesday, later found out it was already full, but then changed that to a similar tour called Bird Island which sounds even better. We’re doing that on Thursday.

We had a spa appointment that we had later in the day, so we decided to track down the spa so we weren’t looking for it right before we were due. Near it, they had hot and cold plunge pools. Holy crap. One was hotter than a hot tub and the other was seriously probably fifty degrees or colder. Either way, it definitely made your skin tingle.

Following that, we decided to take another swim as the swim-up bar was open. Big mistake. I had gotten too much sun and apparently not drank enough water, because two drinks (which normally will not wipe me out) made me feel AWFUL. I don’t know how alcoholics do it, because when I get to feeling that weird, I just turn into a big ole baby. I seriously contemplated making myself throw up, but Tina suggested that eating lunch would help. (For the record, the two drinks were a Chocolate Monkey and a Mai Tai. We’ve done an all-inclusive before, and the drinks there were very watered down and were basically just smoothies. I’m okay with that. Here, they use lots of alcohol.)

We went back to Barefoot for lunch, this time with Tina getting the Jamaican Jerk Chicken and potato wedges, while I got a chicken baguette sandwich and fries. Both were delicious, and the bread definitely helped soak up the alcohol and made me feel tons better. For dessert, she got a Banana Coconut Pastry and I got roasted apple with vanilla ice cream. Both were good, but Tina once again picked the better dessert.

At 12:30, there was an activity called Bracelet Making, and I had the idea that making bracelets could be transformed into cool Christmas decorations later. Only a handful of people were at the activity, but it was still fun. My bracelet is pretty random and… well, odd, while Tina’s made hers have a nice pattern. Regardless, it was still fun.

The pavilion where we did bracelet making…

The bracelet I made for Tina…

The anklet Tina made for herself…

We got some pizzas to have in the room in case we get the munchies (one all cheese, the other Mexican), and we took a short power nap before we went to the spa for our Champagne Celebration.

*sigh* I SO miss their pizzas…

***

A picture of the outside of Red Lane Spa later, at evening…

The Champagne Celebration was pretty amazing. Tina and I were escorted to different changing rooms when we got there to put on robes and sandals, as well as fill out a little questionnaire on any problems we were experiencing we wanted addressed and how much pressure we wanted, ranging from light to deep tissue. I chose medium; I’ve heard deep tissue is pretty rough if you aren’t used to it. My robe was pretty tight – they did a decent job of estimating my size, but while it fit, it didn’t fit well enough that I would be comfortable parading around nude in it in a public-ish place. As a result, after I put my robe on, I also put my swim trunks BACK on.

Our masseuses were Kadie-Ann (for me) and Jeana (for Tina). They were warm, friendly, professional, and still joking, which was a good thing. The first thing I told Kadie-Ann was that I had never really had a massage. She promptly got a faux shocked look on her face and said, “You’re a spa virgin?” She assured me it would all be good, and I asked if I should keep my trunks on. I was informed that massages should always be trunk-less, if you want it to be a good massage.

We were given a moment to get under the sheet, and then they came in and gave us a full body massage. I wasn’t sure what type of a massage it was going to be, but they basically covered us head to toe, front to back. Very professional, and while I’m sure Kadie-Ann saw every square inch of what God gave me (poor girl), they also did a good job of keeping the sheet strategically-ish located so we didn’t feel completely exposed. Even the “turn over” portion of the massage was very well handled and not at all awkward, as I had feared it would be.

I should also mention the room; it was gorgeous, covered in candles and flowers. There was even flowers under the “face hole” in the table for me to look at, although to be honest, I was so blissed out during the massage, I kept my eyes shut.

Following our massage, they directed us to our bubble bath, filled with bath salts. They even escorted us into the tub while still “sort of” maintaining privacy with sheets. Again, I’m sure they saw everything, but I choose to, I can pretend the towel they held up provided privacy. And then we were given about twenty minutes to just relax in the hot tub and drink champagne and eat fresh fruit. They even provided grapes still on the stem, and it was a lot of fun to feed them to each other. Fruit tray also came with watermelon, pineapple, cantaloupe, mango, and blueberries.

After the bath, one came back in and helped us get out without flashing her. It actually worked pretty well, and we were then left alone to dry off and change back into our robes. We were also given a pretty low-pressure sales pitch on some of the oils they used today, and one smelled so good and is for the release of stress, aches, and pains, so we bought it. Twenty bucks, and it was a pretty big bottle, so I consider it money well spent.

We left feeling EXTREMELY relaxed and mellow. I’ll be honest; I was very skeptical about the massage, as I’m supremely ticklish, but except for when she was massaging my upper arms, chest, and armpit area, it was fine. She used firm enough pressure that no tickle sensation was created. It was definitely worth doing.

A rainbow before we went to the spa…

The sunset view from our room after the spa…

***

Couples photo before dinner…

A cool dragonfly we saw on the way to dinner…

After the experience at the spa, we went to Bayside for the Steak House Buffet Dinner.

Tina enjoying her glass of water…

The only part of the buffet was soup, salad, and dessert, but the salad bar was pretty amazing. It was by no means a standard salad bar; there was even some type of seafood salad that had some type of calamari in it. Very delicious. The main salad bar also didn’t have any dressings that I recognized, so I got something that was yellowish and quite good. Tina got the caesar dressing, which I did not because I really dislike caesar. However, this caesar dressing was amazing. I wish I had gotten it.

Our salads…

Me sweating at the table, even after the sun has set (and really ecstatically happy, for some reason)…

The one downside we’ve found to this place is that service is SLOW. Perhaps that is because tips aren’t allowed? At Aventura Spa Palace in Cancun, you were allowed to tip, which we did, and service was pretty speedy. Here, it’s often quite slow, and I’ve yet to be able to actually drink my fill of any beverage (except for at the swim-up bar, and I don’t see myself doing that again).

The food, though, is absolutely incredible! Tina ordered the rack of lamb, which came with couscous and steamed vegetables. Oh God. Delicious. I ordered the surf and turf, which was honestly one of the most amazing steaks I have ever had. It even beat the one from last night, which was also pretty freaking amazing. It was served with mashed potatoes and the same steamed vegetables that came with Tina’s. The serving, though, was pretty small, which actually works out quite well because we’re going to Eleanor’s at 9.

Tina’s dinner…

My dinner…

We also shared four different desserts – a creme brulee, chocolate cherry cake, some type of chocolate mousse, and a little pecan pie-type treat. So good! (Not sure why the pictures came out so blurry…)

Eleanor’s is one of the restaurants on the resort that requires reservations. You can’t always get reservations, so we decided to take the 9 o’clock slot in case there aren’t any later in the week. Frankly, we’re so active here, I’m finding myself starving all the time, and I promised myself from the beginning that I was going to eat what I wanted and just make up for it with exercise. (I did weigh myself at the spa. Weight is about the same, so maybe I’m doing something right. I definitely need to work on drinking more water, though. I’m sure I’m dehydrated here.)

Quick break from the evening to watch The Simpsons, decompress a little, and then we’re heading out to eat again.

***

When we came back to the room from dinner, we found that they had left some towel swans and flowers petals on our bed. Nice touch. (I also just realized that I forgot to take photos of it, apparently.)

Quick funny story that happened while we were watching The Simpsons. Tina has some OLD nail polish on her toes that is pretty cracked. She wasn’t able to get a pedicure the day of her wedding, so the nail polish was quite literally a few days old. She brought nail polish with her, but no nail polish remover. So what does my new wife do? She uses gin from the room’s concierge bar to take it off! And it actually worked really well. In her own words, she’s MacGuyverWife!

Eleanor’s was a very elegant dining experience. Unfortunately, I must disclaim one quick thing. I sweat. A lot. Even at night, when it isn’t really that hot, it’s just so humid, I find myself literally pouring with sweat. So all of my photos are probably of me with a nice sheen of sweat on me. I’m definitely “glowing” here. That’s one thing that I am definitely hoping changes with more weight loss.

We had to walk to the other side of the resort to get to the restaurant (not really that far, but it’s still a bit of a walk), and of course, my face was drenched by the time we got there. Oh well. Small price to pay for getting to live in paradise for a week.

Table decoration…

The ceiling…

Tina…

And me…

We shared a very small appetizer of coconut shrimp. It was literally three shrimp with a nice tropical fruit chutney. Unfortunately, we forgot to take a photo. Guess we were hungry. It was the best fried shrimp I have EVER had. I could have easily made an entire meal out of them.

Our second course was, for me, a Chilled Conch Salad. Fairly skimpy on the portion size (as I’m finding many things here are), but okay. It wasn’t something I would get again, but I’ve never had conch before (even though I dig the shells) and I wanted to try it.

Tina had coconut shrimp soup, served in a coconut halve and garnished with grilled shrimp. Hers was fantastic.

We each got grilled, Antiguan lobster for our main course. Apparently, these are caught locally, split, grilled, and served with butter, potatoes and peas, and some steamed veggies. I’ve only had lobster tail; this was a new experience, and it was excellent. I am definitely a fan of lobster, even if it is a bit tough to eat.

Our fourth course was dessert, which was bread pudding (just okay) and pineapple beignets served in a martini glass with vanilla ice cream (amazing!).

A lady singing in a band near the Caribbean bar…

A kitty friend that Tina made on our way back to the room…

Upon returning to the room, I made us a champagne-and-guava-pineapple-fruit drink. It may have a name; I don’t know, but we both liked it.

I think I’m finally full. We did lots of walking, some swimming, definitely some relaxing, and some sun. Neither of us burned, even though we got close. Tomorrow promises to be a great day of relaxing, lounging, reading, swimming, walking, and, of course, eating. I love Antigua!

Related Posts:

• Window Seat: Antigua Honeymoon, Day One, 10.9.10
• We’re back!
• A Where’s My Reset Button? Weigh-In

First time I’ve ever used a “good” heart rate monitor.  I worked out pretty hard today.  Just a quick workout before date night.  I really thought I would have burned more calories, but that’s okay.

I’ll burn more tomorrow.

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So for now, I am going to switch to Wednesdays. It isn’t that they are any less stressful or busy, but I think I’ll be more inclined to post on Wednesday than Friday.

So, without further ado… this is an It’s About Time Weigh-In!

February 8, 2012
Weight: 370.8
Change from Last Week: -2.2 pounds
Change from All-Time Highest: -32.0 pounds

I am about to break out of the 370s! Woo hoo!

What did I do different this week?

Not a dad-blamed thing.

Still eating well.

Still watching my points.

Still emphasizing fruits, veggies, and lean proteins.

Still exercising.

This week, my body decides to reward me with a loss.

The ONLY thing I have done differently this week?

I’ve drank more water.

I’m not sure if I can accept that THAT is why I upped my loss this week, but if it is…

Well, rest assured, my Nalgene bottle will be emptied four times a day next week, too.

Fingers crossed, next Wednesday, I will hit the 360s!

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* * *

Please note – this was all written while in Antigua on my iPad on October 9, 2010. Also note – I took HUNDREDS of photos, more than I will probably post here. We were in Antigua from October 9th to October 16th. Some of the photos were just of the various sights around the resort and aren’t specific to any particular day, but I will still post those on that day’s post.

The first day of our honeymoon has already been incredible. Granted, we are dead tired and are going to crash hard very shortly, but we still got to do some awesome things today.

We had to leave our house at 2:45 in the morning to make it to the airport in time to catch our flight. Thankfully, our flight was on time, and we left Nashville at 6 a.m. and made it to Miami at a little after 9 Eastern time.

Me Cheesing in Nashville Airport pre-dawn…

Tina enjoying Burger King before our first flight of the day…

Our first plane of the day…

Miraculously, our next flight was on time, too. I’ve never had two flights in the same day that were both on time. I’m not sure I’ve ever had ANY flight that was exactly on time, but these were. It was two hours and forty-three minutes from Miami to Antigua (I remember that because I thought it was a touch peculiar that such an exact time was given).

A pink cart and the interesting airport floor in Miami…

Extreme close up of us in Miami on our fairly brief layover…

Our second (and last) plane of the day…

Somewhere en route to Antigua…

Me Cheesing on the Plane, en route to Antigua…

It was a sunny, warm, humid, tropical day when we landed on this tiny little island out in the middle of the ocean. The surprising thing was that we didn’t drive up to the airport; a truck with stairs on it drove up to the plane, and that was how we disembarked. Pretty neat and definitely something I had never done before.

As we entered the airport in Antigua, there was a lady with complementary drinks out front. I’m not sure exactly what it was, but it was pink and tasted guava mango-y. Not sure, but it was nice and definitely refreshing.

Customs went pretty quickly. We were on a Sandals van with three other couples on our way to Sandals within an hour.

I learned two things about Antigua during the trip. One, they drive on the “wrong” side of the road. Not a big deal, and it was a new experience. But two, all vans here are equipped with a magic horn, that I am convinced keeps them from having horrible wrecks. Even though it was only a fifteen minute drive from the airport (thank God – I don’t know if I could have endured longer), there were at least three distinct occasions when I was sure we were about to have some type of fender bender (at best) or head-on collision (at worst). However, the driver kept honking his horn and just kept going, so the only logical conclusion I can draw is that the horn is a magical apparatus that keeps vans from wrecking.

When we got to the resort, we were absolutely pampered. We were given a chilled wet cloth to freshen up with, and then we were provided our own Sandals rep to give us the run-down of what we could expect. We were given a glass of champagne and a small plate of hors d’oeuvres while she discussed our options. We had a $250 spa credit, and we decided to use a little bit of our wedding money to get a bit extra and get a 1.5 hour couples massage, complete with some kind of fancy bath and champagne. Not sure exactly what it entails, but we thought it sounded like fun, and we signed up for it on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.

Tina and I were both still running on fumes, as we had been up for over thirty hours at this point (barring what tiny cat naps we were able to get on the plane), but we were starved, so we went to one of the restaurants called Barefoot by the Sea. It was an open-wall, open-air restaurant on the beach. Tina got burger and fries; I got chicken quesadillas, and we both had lemonade. Sorry, no photos of this. It didn’t even occur to me at the time, but I will do my best for the rest of the trip to get photos of our food. After the meal, we were still hungry, so Tina got a pina colada tart with ice cream, and I got flan with fresh cantaloupe. Both were delicious, but hers was better.

No photos of the food, but here is Tina and you can see her lemonade…

The birds that are EVERYWHERE (this is IN the beach-side restaurant)…

The ceiling of Barefoot…

The view from Barefoot…

A nearby Steel Drum band playing during our meal…

Just a few shots of paradise from our first day…

At this time, we were still hungry, so we stopped at a pizzeria and got a single-serving pepperoni pizza to share.

Some hours later, we decided to go out for dinner. We went to Cricketers Pub, a British pub. Tina ordered fish and chips; I ordered a steak, served with garlic mashed potatoes, steamed veggies, and blue cheese butter. We also got fried calamari for an appetizer. Sorry, no picture of that. It was so good, we had eaten it before I remembered I planned to photo-document all of our food. Tina was starting to crash, so we got our food to go. This time, I did take a photo of my food at least, albeit after I unwrapped my meal in my room. Still, is that not the most delicious looking steak?

I’ll be honest – there is going to be a LOT of food eaten here. I’m not even going to lie and claim otherwise. My plan is just to exercise so much that it doesn’t even matter that my calories will be a bit higher here than they are back home.

The weather has been beautiful. The resort is gorgeous and truly as nice as the photos.

Oh, and our room is amazing. Shower stall, king-size bed, and a jacuzzi tub in the bathroom.

The king size bed…

Coolest ceiling fan ever…

In-room Bar…

Shower Stall…

Jacuzzi Tub…

Bathroom Twin Sinks…

We’re already in love with this place.

* * *

Note from 2012 – More recaps to come! Hope you enjoyed this one!

Related Posts:

• Window Seat: Antigua Honeymoon, Day Two, 10.10.10
• We’re back!
• A Where’s My Reset Button? Weigh-In

February 3, 2012
Weight: 373.0
Change from Last Week: -0.2 pounds
Change from Highest: -29.8 pounds

Zero point two pounds.

I’ve watched my food. I’ve eaten well. I’ve counted my points. I’ve exercised HARD.

I have earned more than 0.2 pounds this week. At this rate… I will lose ten pounds this year.

*sigh* Something has to give.

It is not me. I am not giving up. I do not give up.

I tried eating more early in the week, and that made a big fat zero’s worth of difference.

This week, I will alternate days of higher food and significantly lower food. Let’s see if that will do it.

One change I am going to make this week is to significantly UP my veggie content via our new cold press mastication juicer (woo hoo!) and make some raw crackers with the pulp. When I look back through my journal, I see plenty of fruits, lean proteins, and whole grains, but I see remarkably few vegetables.

In fact, there are days at a time where I eat none.

I just don’t like vegetables.

Time to put on my big boy pants and make it happen, and veggie juice (which I can surprisingly tolerate) sounds like a good way to do it.

I’ll blog later about the February updates for my New Year’s Resolutions.

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Okay, let’s do this fast.

You weigh every day. There’s nothing wrong with that, if you can keep the number from getting in your head.

You lost 0.4 pounds over the weekend. You’ve stagnated for two mornings. And this morning, your weight was up 0.6 pounds.

Did you do anything wrong yesterday?

No.

Would you be doing something wrong if you decide to go ahead and take a “diet break” and just restart Friday.

Yes! That would be a terrible, terrible decision.

You can undo a week of dieting with one meal. Unfortunately, losing weight requires a ridiculous amount of diligence. Don’t let it beat you down. Just know that it does require continual hard work, and it always will. No use sugar coating it.

You say you are in this for the long haul, so there it is. Laid out on the table.

You may do everything right and still gain weight some weeks. It’s not the end of the world if you do.

It might be the end of your world if you stay obese. Keep plugging along, no matter how slow it goes. If you gain for three weeks in a row while doing everything right, then we’ll re-examine.

For now, just stay the course.

Things are fine.

Chill the heck out. You got this.

Regards,
Mason

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• An Open Letter from my Muse to Myself #1
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Stellar Path, in addition to being a document of my rather slow weight loss journey, is also a personal blog for the happenings in my life. I don’t share as much of myself on here as I’d like to, truthfully

If you read my blog solely for weight loss/fitness stuff, well… some of that will still seep its way in. Our date nights usually revolve around some form of meal, and even though I don’t necessarily plan to be a buzz kill, I’ll still share my eats and give a rough estimate for the points.

Tina and I decided we needed to take more date nights. Far too often, we hang around on Saturday afternoon, make grand plans, and then end up crashing on the couch and watching Harry Potter on blu-ray.

Now don’t get me wrong; there is nothing I love more than spending down time with my lovely wife. However, we still feel a need to get out of the house more often, and we’re pledging to take a LOT more date nights this year.

A few weekends ago, we went to the 5th annual Warren County Humane Society Fur Ball. The Fur Ball holds a special place in our relationship, because it was our very second date.

I remember the day I met Tina very well. It was January 11th. The Fur Ball was January 19th. I already had two tickets to the Fur Ball, because ever the optimist, I had purchased two, hoping to find a date. Well… I was in the midst of a dry spell, and I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I would be going solo.

While browsing Barnes and Noble on January 11, 2008, I met the woman who would someday become the love of my life. We struck up a conversation, I offered to buy her a coffee, we kept talking, I realized this was a pretty cool chick, and I asked if she’d like to go see Sweeney Todd.

Now you might be asking, really? Offering to take a girl you JUST met to see a horror musical?

Well, I like horror movies.

I also like musicals.

Casual dating or not, if this girl and I were going to have any chance of successfully dating, we were going to have to share some key interests.

She likes musicals and horror movies.

We went to see Sweeney Todd.

I fell hard. We exchanged numbers in the parking lot after the movie, I kissed her hand (because I’m a gentleman like that), and I asked her if she would be willing to come with me to a black tie optional gala in a week. She said yes.

We went to the first Fur Ball, and we continued dating. A year later, we went to the 2nd Annual Fur Ball. And the third, and the fourth.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Including the fact that we had some of our wedding pictures taken at Barnes and Noble over three years later, as that was where we met.

So, every year, we go to the Fur Ball. It is a very real dating tradition for us.

That aside, we are both HUGE animal lovers, and I love giving to any charity that benefits animals. We’ve got four rescued pets, and if not for finances and the fact that we don’t have room for more than four, we’d definitely have more.

Okay, on to Date Night, the 5th Annual Fur Ball! It was held at the Sloane Convention Center in Bowling Green, and it always features an amazing meal.

We started off with this incredibly tasty salad…

There was a buffet line, and I’m pretty pleased with my choices. I would have liked to get more roasted veggies, but the tray was extremely low when I got these, and I didn’t want to be rude and empty it.

We also had these amazing slices of chocolate cake. I ate it. It was good. No regrets, including writing a high estimation of 30 points in my food journal.

This is a nice photo of the crowd. This year’s turnout was their biggest yet.

There was also a band (I think called Familiar Faces?) and dancing.

And this is us with our friends Patti and Dana. If you were reading my blog back when Tina and I got married in October 2010, you may recognize them from our wedding party.

It was an amazing, wonderful date night.

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• Happy Valentine’s Day!
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