Monday, January 28, 2008

Back from San Diego

Thank you so much for all of your comments over the past several days. Wow! Your comments mean so much to me and I'm trying to reply to you all, but Blogger makes it difficult. If I don't get back to you, know that I love your comments, and thank you!Got back from San Diego late Saturday night and it feels fantastic to be home again. My trip went well, I learned a lot, but you would not believe the trip there. I ended up sitting in the rain and cold for nearly 4 hours waiting for a late train. I was with one of the other nurses from our district, and there were covered benches, but we were quite frozen by the time our train finally showed up. It's a little ironic because we rarely have wintry weather here. Fortunately I was well bundled.
The conference itself was good. I learned a lot, and I always come back from these things energized about health. Whenever I'm with a large group of "older" ladies I look around and ponder who looks best/has stayed "young." Always, the ladies who have stayed fit and trim seem the youngest and most healthy. It's good motivation for me to eat healthy and to be way more consistent about exercise. We also heard a keynote speaker who was very inspiring--he's a San Diego doctor who weighed nearly 500 pounds and lost 300 of it. He wrote this book. I didn't buy the book but his talk was very good--basically his point is that diet's don't work and you have to connect healthy lifestyle changes to something that is fun. For him, he took a one year sabbatical to go to every state in the country, attend baseball games, work out at the YMCA, and connect with family.
Friday night Ken drove up with Dieter and Rainer to meet me! Hooray! Otherwise I would have not seen them until late Saturday night and I was not looking forward to another delayed train ride in the rain. They were a sight for sore eyes and Rainer was very happy to have a good long nurse--no weaning in sight, to my relief. While I was in sessions all day on Saturday, Ken took the boys to the San Diego zoo, which was awesome. They had a great time and on the way home that night we took a little detour to Ikea. Ikea is a very big deal for me--I love it, but it's not close to where we live, so we hardly ever go. You can see my new pillow in the top photos, and the second photo shows Dieter sleeping with his new lawnmower toy (yeah, we bought them a toy, even after all my whining about the toys. But in truth they didn't have a push toy and they love it). And here are my new Ikea fabrics which will probably be bags someday.
It feels great to be home. Yesterday was Ben's birthday; I'll post about that tomorrow. He's the last of our January boys. I'm off to work this morning, trying to get back into the routine. I love being home.

9 comments:

Carrie said...

Welcome back! Glad the conference was good. Something to remember - we should stop at the Ikea in Burbank when I visit!

tess said...

glad you had a good trip, although that journey there sounded awful.
love your new cushion - how sad am I that I saw the picture and thought oh what a nice ikea cushion long before I got to the text about it!

Sarah said...

Glad you are back! What a wonderful idea for Ken and the boys to meet you in San Diego!

I've given up on the train as a reliable source of transportation. My mom still rides it when she comes to visit us, though. It's supposed to be a three hour trip, and last time it took her SEVEN hours to get here!

Florence Knapp (Flossie Teacakes) said...

Welcome home, Mary Beth! So pleased that you had a nice time and that more importantly that no unwanted weaning had taken place in your absence!

I can so relate to your feelings about Ikea (visiting mine would involve a motorway trip...so that's a no-go!)I too think it is wonderful and get cravings to go and wonder around in there buying lovely, vaguely affordable things. Your fabrics, cushion and lawnmower (is it really a lawnmower???!!! If it is, then it is a toy that will teach suspension of disbelief...that can only be a good skill to possess in life, so I think it is a fabulous purchase!) look wonderful.

x

Felicia said...

Aw, what a sleeping cutie. And glad you had a good trip :)

Gift of Green said...

Welcome back! That bed looks so comfy and cozy!

amanda said...

I'm glad the conference was good--too bad about the shivering rain! That's a terrible way to start out. I'm glad it got better from there.

I bet the San Diego Zoo was awesome. And a trip to Ikea sounds fun, too. Cute pillows!

Beth H said...

I was just at IKEA this weekend and ours didn't have all that great fabric!! DARN IT. I did see the lawnmower and pillow though. I was tempted on both. I opted for a comforter for big boy and some other Swedish goodies. I LOVE IKEA.

UK lass in US said...

Thank you for being so kind about my embroidery attempt.

I love Ikea, but I'm usually with my husband when I go (our nearest is on the way to grandma-in-law's house) and he's usually grouchy. I want that cushion, but I'm holding out for when grouchy husband won't notice me sneaking it in one of those big yellow bags... Now, why does my Ikea never have the great fabric??