Lost in Translation

I've recently been in the planning stages of a trip James and I plan to take in late spring. Planning for a trip means lots of internet research for lodging, places to visit, transportation methods, and more. I always love this part. Not only does planning get me excited for the actual trip itself, I get educated on the local customs and history. I also find myself highly entertained reading the websites that have been translated into English. I have to share a few of my favorites I've collected over the last few years.

At a Bed & Breakfast (B&B) website in Italy:

"...perfectly furnished with a big care in each particular, from the comfortable beds to the pictures on the walls and TV."

Another B&B: "The services offered will help you in any way."

A Greek website says:

"...while in the garden, which is on the sea, the visitor can enjoy the beautiful view and relaxing moments."

A Paris Hotel: "It is our goal to make you feel good when arriving in the rooms by an especially chosen furniture and decoration."

Czech Pension:

"Some of the rooms have private bathrooms, while others not, but there are many toilets and showers in the corridors of all floors of the Pension.

Same site: "...a beautiful terrace where you could have a gorgeous panoramic of Prague, and also relax or have some tan during summer or spring."


I think I found the longest sentence in the world on a Greek Tourism site describing thes restaurant offerings in and around Athens. Try to say this all in one breath!:

"Athens and Piraeus offers a variety of different restaurants ,that gives the visitor to choose among the typical souvlaki shops, the fish taverns of Piraiki and Mikrolimano in Piraeus sea front, the grill restaurants (psistaries) offering all the kinds of meat grilled on charcoal, the Mezedopolia specializing in various traditional mezes specialities,the Ouzeries specializing in small delicatessen (mezedes)and grilled octopus accompanying the national greek aperitif, Ouzo, numerous Pizzerias most of them offering home delivery ,many taverns and restaurants with live music and finaly all kinds of fast food and international restaurants."


I love finding these gems!

Today is a Good Day!

I woke up in a good mood, I only have to work half a day today. Granted, it is supposed to be my day off, but considering my last several weeks have been filled with 12 hour days, I'm feeling pretty darn good. I don't have to travel this month either. Things are looking up.

So I'm scuffling my slippered feet through the hall and into the kitchen to fire up the coffee maker, excited at the prospect of getting my Starbucks Sumatra Roast to waft through the house. I start making music. I begin breathing in rhythm to "Jingle Bells" (great rhythm). Much to my delight, my nose begins to whistle! So now I get to enjoy the sound, not just the breathing rhythm, of "Jingle Bells" as I make my way around the kitchen. This is truly going to be a great day. Oh, what fun...!

I managed to get more Christmas shopping done last night. My remaining list is getting shorter and shorter. I hope to be done here in the next couple of days and then I can start buying stuff for me! I like that part.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Utah Photos

I'm posting some of my photos that are from my trip to Utah. Have fun looking!



Utah Desert

Fitness Camp - Day 6 and 7

I didn't journal on Friday or Saturday, so here is a general re-cap on the last two days of my week.


Friday felt easy now that my body has gotten used to exercising and eating healthy. Heather and I walked Snow Canyon again, this time hitting the petrified dunes. What amazing rock sculptures. Heather is supposed to send me the photos since I didn't have my camera with me on Friday.


We had two exercise routines on Friday that were the most fun I've ever had exercising. An instructor we hadn't seen before, Scott, came in and taught "Living Drums" and a hip-hop exercise class. The drum class was where we used exercise balls on stands and drum sticks. We moved around with different dance steps from our ball to our neighbor's balls to the left and right, keeping up various rhythms he set out for us. It was a blast. The hour went by quickly and most of us felt we could have kept going! The hip-hop class was hilarious. Most of us were terrible but we laughed at our inept moves and had fun.


On Saturday Heather, Kris, Juliet, and Trina and I all drove to Zion National Park. The park is one of three canyons in a series of natural wonders that start with Bryce Canyon and end with the Grand Canyon. The Virgin River snakes through the park and provides the water for lots of trees and foliage that is absent in most of the surrounding desert area. Coming in the fall was wonderful since we got the honor of seeing the fall colors in their glory.


We met up with the rest of our Fitness Ridge class back at the compound and went to a buffet restaurant for dinner. The dietitian went with us and helped us look at our food selections to see if we were staying within our food "budget". I actually did really well and didn't even use up my full allocation of calories for my dinner (500). I was stuffed.


I learned a lot about the physiology of exercising and food: calories, fats, carbs, and more. I just hope I can take all this back home and keep it up. I want to establish a healthier lifestyle.


Our posse decided to keep in touch and hopefully blog to encourage each other (I will set that up) as we start into the holiday eating period.

In one week I lost 6.5% body fat! I lost 6 inches and when I weighed again on Tuesday 10/30, I had lost a total of 6 pounds!




I survived!



P.S., while waiting for the shuttle to the airport on Sunday morning, I tripped on a small bag and ungraciously went flying sideways onto the cement. Now I have a scraped up elbow and leg as well as a puffy ankle. Thankfully it is only damage to the same side as the bunged up toe. I had to do something to leave lasting memories with all the others there bidding me goodbye!

Fitness camp - Day 5 (Thursday)

Today was not so bad. I saw, I hiked, I sweated, I conquered.

I had to go back to the "Stop Sign" hike due to my foot. Heather and I walked a different trail that was flatter and went along the west side of the canyon. It was nice to have the change in scenery. I didn't have to worry about my foot hitting the end of my shoe, though it really hurt to even put my foot into the shoe today. I ended up walking on the outside edge of my foot to keep the weight off my toe.

It amazes me how one toe, particularly the big toe, can impact so much. You can't really run, walking can be painful, and even sleeping means sticking your foot out of the covers and dangling your leg off the side of the bed so nothing touches your foot. Stupid toe.

My knee seemed to be o.k., but when I did "treading" this afternoon I found my knee being pretty weak by the time I hit the middle. Treading is HARD! We pick a machine: treadmill, elliptical, bike, etc., and then work on them for a few minutes getting warmed up (as if we aren't warmed up from exercising 3 to 4 hours already). Next, you go as hard as you can for 5 minutes. You go so hard you can't even talk; your heart rate is high (mine went to 170) and you're truly puffing and sweating. Then you bring it down for 5 minutes so you "recover". Then go 4 minutes as fast as you can go and 4 minutes to recover; then 3, then 2...all the way down to 30 seconds of each to finish. It was the most brutal of all workouts but felt like it was probably very effective. By about the 3 minute stretch my bad knee felt like it was a noodle. 'Course pretty much my entire body was noodlicious by the end. But the big point: I MADE IT!

I didn't die today.