The downside of losing weight.

There is one, I promise.

I bought new bras today.

Not just any new bras. Bras that are a full size smaller than the ones I previously owned. Sorry husband.

It was only 15 damn pounds, people! I seriously think most of it came from my boobs. Ugh.

What I've learned:

Getting smaller around my middle? Awesome.

The fact that my thighs almost don't meet in the middle anymore? Outstanding.

Watching my once-prided larger than average fun bags recede into my chest cavity? Le suck.

At least I have fancy new bras to stick 'em in ;)

Winter makes me lazy...

Pretty sure I posted almost this exact same thing last year. 

I'm having a problem keeping up with my workout routine.  Boot camp ended the week before Christmas and I'm embarrassed to admit that I've only worked out twice since.  Ugh. 

Granted, the holidays definitely got in the way.  It's kinda hard to find time to workout when you're running yourself ragged shopping, cooking, decorating, baking, cleaning, entertaining, etc. 

"But Carolyn, why don't you just get up at the ass-crack of dawn like you're used to and go to the gym before starting your day?  What's that?  Oh.  Right."  WINTER MAKES ME LAZY.

Here's the problem.  I despise the gym.  And avoid it at all costs.  Running on a treadmill is about as fun as being punched in the face.  Or so I imagine, as I've never been punched in the face. 

I really tried to pry my butt off the couch last night but failed miserably.  I even found myself doing laundry to distract myself.  And laundry is seriously my least favorite chore.  Alas, laundry beat out going to the gym.  Things must be pretty bad.

I really, truly just want to go outside for a run, dammit!!  That's what makes me happy.  That's what I enjoy.  What I do not enjoy, however, is cold weather.  (But I love snow.  Figure that one out.)  I'm not a fan of freezing my face off for the first 10 minutes of a run only to find myself sweating, wishing I hadn't worn so many layers.

And it's dark pretty much all the time now.  And my neighborhood has no street lights.  And lots of traffic.  This does not bode well for a relaxing run.  'Cause you know, I'd prefer not to be run down by the speeding teenagers on my street. 

And yes, I've considered purchasing appropriate cold weather running gear.  But I'm cheap.  If I'm gonna spend money on clothing, I want it to be cute clothing that I can wear out.  Not semi-attractive spandex-type stuff that I can't wear for anything but running.

Ah, complaining.  I'm pretty good at it, no? 

Moving on.  I think the plan will be to give myself a break through the end of the year and then jump back into my routine.  Boot camp starts on January 18th and I bought a spin class membership.  I can tell you with 100% certainty that I will NOT be at the gym in January though... need to give all those resolution-makers out there a chance to lose motivation.

Sugar overload.

See this?

 This platter of cookies?

This half-eaten platter of cookies?

And this half-empty dish of peppermint bark?

Might be my fault.

I seriously can't stop.  But I really can't blame myself.  I mean, my sugar cookies and peppermint bark came out so amazingly good this year it would be a sin to NOT eat them.  Right? 

Someone should have stopped me after #5 last night.

I woke up this morning with an aching stomach.  For real.  I thought that only happened to children. 

I need to get rid of these cookies fast.

To do that, I've come up with two possible solutions:

1:  Eat everything that remains as quickly as possible.

2:  Throw them away.

ha.

Let's be sensible here.  We all know I'm going to eat them.

So if anyone needs me in the next day or so, I'll be in a sugar-coma on my couch.

Happy Christmas!

My first (and probably last) Troy Turkey Trot

I'm having trouble remembering why I thought it would be a good idea to sign up for the Turkey Trot.  Stupidity, perhaps?  My husband will whole-heartedly second that sentement.   Dragging him out of bed at the crack of dawn (well, 8am) to stand outside in the frigid cold was not in anyone's best interest. 

We were all a little cranky this particular Thanksgiving morning.  Hangovers, sub-freezing temperatures and relentless crowds will do that to you.  But on we went.

Sis and me trying to stay warm, pre-race.

Where's Waldo?  Oh, there she is in the middle trying not to freeze her face off.

We look happy, don't we?  That's because our mouths are frozen in that position.

I kid.  Kind of.  The race was (semi) fun but OMG was it cold.  My toes were literally numb for the first half of the race.  I didn't actually ever truly warm up.  And do you know how hard it is to run when you're sucking in cold air? 

One more complaint.  WAY too many people.  There was something like a total of 7,000 people running.  Most of whom ran the 5K with me.  I can't tell you how many 7 years old I came thisclose to running down.  I ended up running the majority of the race on the side of the road.

When I signed up for the Trot, I had silly visions of live turkeys kicking off the race.  You know, running down the road for all of us to chase.  How fun would that be?  (Do you ever wonder where my mind is?  I do.) 

Alas, there were none of these at this so-called "turkey" trot.

But we did have one of these!

There are no pictures of me running this race because I got totally disoriented toward the end and didn't know which side of the road husband would be on.  I apparently ran right by him, unnoticed. 

My goal for the race was to simply finish under 30 minutes.  I ran with the group in the beginning, at a pace significantly slower than my usual.  I picked it up around the mile and a half mark, hoping to make up time.  I never really hit a good pace because of how crowded it was.  I was so surprised that the road never opened up.  I was constantly maneuvering myself around people.  But even with all of the elements working against me, I managed to finish at a respectable 29:17.  Nowhere close to my PR but I was satisfied.  

And freezing.

So can anyone tell me why we decided to go for a post-race ice-cold beer? 

Stupidity, perhaps?  haha

This Thanksgiving I'm thankful for year-old cake.

Much to Bella's joy, my parents drove in from the 'lou for a Thanksgiving-week visit.

Much to Bella's dismay, they were here to see me and the husband.  Not her.  Ok, maybe her too.

And Miles.  Poor, tortured Miles, looking completely dejected in his sweater. 

Being the nice dog parents we are, we let him take it off.  So he could kill it.

Then we started the week off on the right foot with a Pre-Thanksgiving feast.  Italian-style.  'Cause, you know, everyone needs a 3,000 calorie meal four days before a 5,000 calorie Thanksgiving dinner, right?

And then we had cake.  Yes, we are those dorks who adhere to the old "let's keep the top-tier of wedding cake in our freezer for an entire year and eat it at our first anniversary!" tradition.  

Now obviously we missed our anniversary.  But look at the size of that cake people!  There was no way we were going to eat that without some help.  Or without subjecting loved ones to freezer-burned buttercream.

In actuality, the cake wasn't that bad.  The frosting was a bit chalky but the cake and filling tasted just like they did at our wedding.  Or so I'm told.  I didn't get cake at our wedding.  Not sure how that happened. 

The week of my parents visit was, per-usual, jam-packed with fun things to do.  What's a vacation if you actually get to relax, right?

First up was a New York State Restaurant Association dinner honoring my wonderfully-talented father-in-law, Chef Yono, for the Faces of Diversity award he received earlier this year from the National Restaurant Association. 

Here we are looking pretty.

 And here we are in the limo we surprised my parents with.

Remember this?  Because of that, we rode in style for the evening.  For free.  Suck on that, Unnamed Transportation Company.

We look happy, no?  Doesn't mean you're off the hook for last year's debacle.

More highlights of the visit:

Lunch with the Plue-family patriarch, Great Uncle Art.

Lunch with my dad's fourth grade teacher, Shirley, who is now basically a member of the family.

 Mom drinking a Sweet Carolyn at dp.  Named for me, duh.  Mom loves martinis at dp.  I love watching Mom drink martinis at dp.  Tipsy Mom is hilarious.

Aren't we precious?  Please ignore the fact that my shoulders are up to my ears.  I always forget that this is NOT a flattering way be photographed.

 Mom and me, post 5,000 calorie Thanksgiving dinner.  If only I hadn't been so preoccupied with stuffing my face then I would've gotten a shot of the dinner table over-flowing with food so good that I ate leftovers for breakfast, snack, lunch, snack and dinner the next day.

Don't you just love food Thanksgiving?



Holiday Hell

Well, not really. 

But does anyone realize that Christmas is in like 2 freaking weeks?!!

Do you all feel like the holiday season completely snuck up on us this year, out of nowhere?  Like, hey, hello!  It's almost Christmas, remember?  Better get your shopping done!

Haven't even started. 

Nor do I want to.  Not sure what it is about Christmas this year (oh, wait!  maybe it's the lack of money in my bank account) but the thought of Christmas shopping is seriously daunting. 

It's making me sad that something I thorougly enjoy has no appeal this year.  I pride myself in coming up with the PERFECT gift and I love spending an evening by myself at the mall hunting for said gift.  And even better, I love the actual giving and opening of my gifts.  What's better than making someone you love happy?

I need to snap out of this. 

I think a trip to the mall is in order. After a large glass of wine.

All press is good press, right?

Let's hope so.

A few minutes ago I received an email stating "What a great shot in the paper today!", followed by a facebook comment reading "Loved your pic in The Scene today!". 

Um, what?

Oh, yeah.  That. 

Last weekend, the husband and I attended our FAVORITE (caps is definitely necessary... it's that good) event of the year, Dancing in the Woods.  It's a black-tie charity gala sponsored by Albany Medical Center, held in the old Macy's space in Crossgates Mall.  You would be amazed at the transformation from vacant department store to gorgeous ballroom.  They go all out.

And it's open bar.  Duh.

Ooh, and the New York Players perform.  Our wedding band, remember?  We even got a shout-out.  I love being us.

Back to the topic at hand.  While on the dance floor, we noticed the events photographer from the Times Union.  We know him, he knows us and he's photographed us at other various events over the years.  We noticed his flash going off quite often in our vicinity but kept dancing like fools anyway.  Stupid, stupid idea.  Why, oh why didn't we walk over to him to pose like normal people?

Photo by Joe Putrock / Special to the Times Union

At least Nick looks good.  I, on the otherhand, am a dancing, screaming fool.  I'm assuming it was a good song ;)

The photo was captioned with "Carolyn and Dominick Purnomo light up the dance floor during Dancing in the Woods".  Light up?  Really?  Husband's glowing expression, yes.  Mine?  Not so much.  Thankfully I shaved my arm pits that day.   ha

I'm feeling slightly embarrassed.  But that's just my vanity speaking.  And here it is again...

Photo by Joe Elario Photography



What I looked like from the front.  With my mouth closed.  

So, as for today's press?  Begrudgingly, I'll take it.  Anything to get people to notice me right?  Even if they are laughing.

Oh Napa, how I miss thee.

So.  I got into my car yesterday to head to an appointment and turned on the whore.  I mean GPS.  We just call her Whore because she likes to give bad directions.  Moving on.  I was going to a destination that I knew I had previously typed in so I tapped the Recent Destinations button.  Sadly, the first thing to pop up was Viader Winery.  A mere 2355 miles to the west.  Sigh.

Oh Napa Valley, we'll meet again, won't we?

If you recall, the husband and I headed to CA about a month ago (I'm so awesome at keeping my blog updated) for an awards-slash-anniversary celebration.

Since I think that literally all of my followers know me in real life and have heard the stories, I'll spare the details and just hit on the highlights.  Like my pretty green dress.  

Here is husband at the awards ceremony accepting the three (THREE!!) awards he won, from Mark at Sante Magazine.  Service Hospitality, Wine Hospitality and Spirits Hospitality.  Yay Yono's!

We met some pretty fantastic people at the Sante events throughout the week. Now we have new friends with amazing restaurants all over the country. And vacation destinations for a lifetime.

We made sure to teach our new friends the infamous "look-away".  They're now using it in their home states.  Love that we're spreading ridiculous traditions nation-wide! 

A plate like this appeared in front of us no less than three times throughout the week.  Who am I to turn down free dessert?

A winery highlight.  Loved this place.

Nick standing next to Chef Morimoto (pretending he doesn't know me as I'm taking picture after picture) at his new downtown Napa restaurant.

"A vanilla milkshake will make me feel better", said in a 4 year old's drawn-out whiny-voice, was one of the better lines I moaned during our honeymoon last year.  But seriously, these vanilla milkshakes will cure anyone's hangover.  And the shrimp tacos?  So good we tried to recreate them at home last week.  Best lunch spot in town.  Gott's.  Not our house.

Me at a winery.  Too bad I don't recall which.  Reason #3,463 I should update my blog in a more timely fashion.

 Me after too much wine at aforementioned unnamed winery.  Apparently I like to look at myself.  And document it.  I ooze cool-ness.

We got a little bored listening to our tour guide drone on and on (thinking he was the funniest thing alive) at Robert Mondavi.  So we opted for a photo-shoot to keep us occupied.  Awesome room though, right?

The husband, looking all GQ at Viader.

 We even found a dachshund to play with at one of the wineries!  Kiss kiss, Bisou!

 Between last year's trip and this one, I think we spent enough time at the bar at Bouchon to be considered regulars.  The bartender recognized us a full year later.  Not sure if that's a good or a bad thing.  ha

Oh, pretty Villagio.  How I long for your luxurious hopsitality.  And your afternoon tea. 

Until next time, Napa Valley.  Don't forget me.

xoxo