I'm back!!! The conference was fantastic; I used to dread these type of "networking" opportunities, but it was actually fun this year. It's taken a few years, but I'm at the point now where I've created a network around myself and my scholarship. Tons of people recognized my name and wanted to get to know me; it was fairly exciting! Plus, I know I had added confidence this year from losing weight. I felt much better, and knew I looked better in what I was wearing. Not that what I look like should have anything to do with how smart I am, but...well, it was a confidence thing, and it definitely worked toward my benefit. Anyway, I should be set up well for the job market next year.
San Francisco was beautiful! The weather was such a nice change from Texas! So cool, I even wore jackets and sweaters! Unfortunately, I only saw the Union Square/Chinatown area since I was so busy with the conference. I tried to get to Fisherman's Wharf one evening, but my colleagues decided at the last minute that it would be too "touristy" and selected a "hip" Asian restaurant. It was fine, but I paid $20 for a meal I only half-way enjoyed and never got to see the Golden Gate bridge
I get really irritated with this type of attitude....we
were tourists, after all, so what is the big deal with seeing touristy type things? I did love walking up and down the hills, and got some exercise that way between my meetings.
I actually got back late Sun evening, and played catch-up all day yesterday. I'll be getting back to my writing today, and try to start catching up on everyone's journals.
Eating could have been better, but I think I did rather good within the situations I was given. I ate as many salads as I could for lunches and dinners. The Phonix airport is now my new favorite because they have California Pizza Kitchen salads to go in each terminal- I'm going to try to re-create their BBQ-chicken salad tomorrow night and will post the recipe if I recreate it well. I had Chinese food the first night; sesame chicken and potstickers...definitely not on plan, but I haven't had Chinese in months and we were in Chinatown, afterall. After dinner, we went shopping and I got a beautiful silk purse for going out at night.
Breakfasts were typically South Beach bars and an iced coffee, although twice I also got a spinach croissant at Starbucks and the last morning I got a yogurt parfait with fruit and granola. We went to a Mediterranian place twice, once for lunch (gyro sandwich) and once for dinner (grilled chicken sandwich). Unfortunately, I didn't actually get to eat that dinner until 10:30 at night because I was invited to a private party with the Governing Council of the conference (Go me!). Other than that, it was mostly salads with chicken on top.
The few slip-ups I remember- a bag of potato chips the second night, 1/2 a toffee brownie on an afternoon trip to Starbucks (the iced coffees kept me going through long sessions), and a Giradelli chocolate at the gift store while I was getting my DH some chocolates for a gift. (I also brought him back some sourdough bread).
I weighed in at Curves yesterday, and I'm up 2 lbs (205). I'm not going to let it derail me too much, however. I was traveling for over a week, and I have TOM right now. And, let us not forget the white bread and sugar extravaganza I had in Pennsylvania. So, I'm just going to ease back into my regular eating schedule and slowly pull it back down. I'm hoping it's mainly water retension.
TOM actually came 2 weeks late this month, and I was wondering if I was pregnant for a bit. To be honest, I'm a little disappointed...I kind of got used to the idea, even though it would have been a bit stressful since the due date would have been very close to my dissertation defense date. So, now I feel like I have to be responsible again and consider scheduling...which essentially means delaying a year. I know I need to finish what I started with this degree, but I'm just starting to have mixed feelings about how this is delaying the start of our family.
Anyway, that's the end of my traveling for a while. My next trip isn't until November (Toronto). So, back to the grind today with my eating and writing. We went to the grocery yesterday, so I should have plenty of healthy food to get me back on track. And, I'm going back to the pool today to swim laps...I definitely missed that while traveling.
Onward and Downward!
aw: 
Maybe even a cruise because it sounds really stressful.
