I had a lot of insights on this trip. First of all, I learned that I have more strength inside of me than I ever realized was possible. I went to fabulous restaurants with my friend and brought my program with me, having shakes, chicken broth and other beverages. You know what? I was perfectly okay. Better than just okay. I was fascinated with the food she was eating, but not in a sense that I wanted any of it. One night, for example, she had a grilled salmon, steamed asparagus and a spinach salad. I thought to myself, how yummy, I look forward to having that healthy meal in the future. I wasn't sad about it at all because I am starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. The light is not near me right now, but it's coming in the horizon and that's terrific. I think it was eye opening for her, too, because she is working on losing weight herself and I used to be the heavier one - now I'm not. We had a lot of great conversations about being healthier with a lot of honest sharing. I also was amazed at my focus during the trip - I wanted to do active things. I went on a very long walk one day around the bay and beach in Morro Bay. It ended up being 2 hours, but it was wonderful. Then another day, we were going to go to the hotel's gym to work out in Monterey and I said to her that instead of that, let's drive 5 miles up the road to Carmel and go hiking ... they have mountains that are right next to the beach with hiking trails. We did that and it was gloriously wonderful. We both had moments where we cried because we felt God's blessings on us in a most tremendous way. For the most part, there was a lot of walking for me and I felt good about that. I think I wore her out a little, and I did apologize, but I felt so alive and just really realized what I had been missing out on in my life of thinking food was more important than anything.
In the theme of treating myself well, I went to the hilt of that when we were at Pebble Beach. We were walking around the grounds of the supremely opulent Lodge there and decided to go into the shops they had. We started out at a typical touristy shop, but there was nothing there that really caught my eye. But then I spotted a jewelry store right next to it. I wanted to go in just to look, I promise. That's when I fell in love. There I spotted a pair of earrings that were enticing me with their exquisite beauty. They were in a case for 50% off, so how could I not look, right? Right! I honed right in on them and, silly me, asked the sales woman how much the earrings were. Like a pro, she took them out of the glass display, showed them to me and even let me try them on. They were white gold hoop earings with little diamonds running through them. Gorgeous earrings, not too showy but just really pretty. She told me they were the kind I could wear every day (yeah, she was good at her job). When she told me the price, I gulped and told her I would have to think about it. I don't buy things like that for myself normally. When I found my friend looking at some earrings for herself, I told her about my find, how much they were and she said, "Kathy, I think you should do it. You deserve something very special!" I looked at her, back at the case, back at her, smiled and said, "You're right." So, like a child on Christmas morning, I walked back over (more like skipped) to the sales woman and told her I would take them. Perhaps I don't normally do things that like for myself, but I am in a place in my life where I am trying to actually do the things I like because I want to treat myself like I deserve. I like things that make me feel pretty and feminine. So I have a new pair of earrings, and so does my friend! I also got a new Coach purse at an outlet mall we stopped by on the way home. I know, I know ... I went crazy but so what!! I can afford it and I deserve to do things for myself that make me happy. I'm really not just saying that - I mean it.
So anyway, home sweet home. I will be heading out for another trip on Friday to go to Vegas with my mom. We'll be spending time with my brother, sister-in-law and aunt. I'm going to post some additional pics from my trip below. I posted a bunch on my Facebook page, but here are some highlights for those of you who don't do Facebook.
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