Monday Musings: Carb Friday, Travel & A Wedding

How is it Monday? How is it the final day in June?

How does Shakira get her hips to stop lying? (Anyone?)

I can't solve all of life's mysteries in one post, but I can share a little bit about my past weekend.

***

On Friday, I  woke up bright and early to take this little Scrunch and her dad to the airport. Only someone that cute could get me to wake up at that hour... ;)

I also brought back the weekly series Face It Friday to the blog after attending my Weight Watchers meeting. Once that post was written and I was feeling positive, it was errands time: walk with Laney while Molly was at the groomer, stop by CVS to get necessities for my 34 hour trip to Pennsylvania for a wedding.

I was eating well and knocking the Good Health Guidelines out like a champ ... and then the wife suggested getting fresh french bread with our dinner. And the night went to carb hell. I had bread, boboli pizza and delicious beer.

Thanks for the gift Kelly!

Did I need all those carbs? Not in the slightest. But the slipper slope was there for me to slide down. But I went to bed forgiving myself for the slip-up, tracking it and moving on.

Feedback not Failure - I assured myself as I drifted off to sleep.

Well there wasn't much sleep happening as we stayed up late being all caught up on the latest season of 24 and my alarm was set for 4:45 on Saturday morning to catch my 6:30am flight.

I really wish I had a travel agent to be mad at for making a flight at that hour, but I scheduled it myself. So -- booo Dani!

Thankfully the wife dropped me off at the airport by 5:30am and I was looking forward to some Dunkins.

But that wasn't in the cards.

For some reason my flight was taking part in a part of the terminal that had just 3 gates ... and no Dunkins.

C'mon now!

In order to keep myself from gorging on a bagel so early in the morning, I spent just over $8 for a Liter of water and a fruit cup. Absurd prices, but my conscious was clear.

We had a quick 55 min flight, where I slept the whole time.

As I headed to the car rental place I learned that the Dollar where I rented my car had lost power so we were being shuttled to the Thrifty (apparently they are really the same company).

After waiting an hour to get my rental car, I happily took the 5 minute car ride to the closest Dunkins.

Oh sweet nectar.

I plugged in the hotel address, turned up the tunes and took the 45 minute ride to the town where the wedding was happening.

I parked at the Holiday Inn (Saayy whhaaa???) and headed inside to check-in.

Except the Holiday Inn had another idea.

They were at capacity and wouldn't have a room for me until 3pm.

For those playing at home, the wedding ceremony was starting at 4pm.

Ummm yeah!

So I went into panic mode and tried to find another way that I could shower for the wedding.

Could I use their fitness center shower? They didn't have one.

Could I use an employee shower? Nope.

Did they have a gym close by that I could shower at? Yes.

The woman had a guest pass to LA Fitness!

SCORE!

I happily drove around the town of Fort Washington, PA, which seemed to have little to offer, as I made my way to the LA Fitness.

I headed in ready to pass a couple hours there, shower then head back to hotel to check-in.

I pushed myself on the bike, including sprints, jumps, hills and repeats, before walking a casual 22 minutes on the treadmill.

It was about 1pm so I headed to the shower.

But as I paced around the locker room, I didn't spot a single shower.

Ummm...

I went to the front desk - none.

Apparently, they keep their monthly costs down by not offering towel service.

Well, there goes my idea of showering at the gym.

So I was back to square one.

I headed to a little pub to have lunch, while trying to devise a new plan and not turn up as the sweaty girl at the wedding.

At 2:30, I decided to head back to the hotel and the woman at the front desk remembered me. She must've felt pity on me because she moved some things around to get me into a room around 2:45. Hey that 15 minutes came in handy.

I was in and could finally get ready for the 4pm ceremony. I drove myself over and was in the church with 20 minutes to spare.

My friend Joann, who I've known since 7th grade, looked radiant with her husband Mac. It was great to see the other six friends that were in attendance from high school. I think it was the first time we were all together since either High School or early college.

We would have a great time catching up at the reception. But first I had to get my car back to the hotel and prepare for the shuttle.

And by shuttle I mean school bus. ;) For some reason I was the only person on it from my hotel. It was like private transportation until we made it to the next hotel. :P

For those that took part in the "Which dress I would wear to the wedding?" poll on Facebook and Instagram, dress #1 won!

It is still a great feeling when I can slide into a dress without having to squeeze into a pair of Spanx first. I felt lean in this cut and even made it all night in the heels, which is a feat in itself. :P

We all danced the night away, laughing, reminiscing and having a great time ... but first #LetMeTakeASelfie with the bride.

I couldn't get over how beautiful the centerpieces and bouquets were. The Sunflowers were a great choice.

It was tough having the wife at home. The slow songs were sprinkled in and I was on the sidelines. A relative of the groom was taking candids during the reception and during the first slow song where everyone at my table was dancing, he looked at me sadly, gave the "aww single girl look" and snapped my photo. 1) who does that, but 2) I wanted to be like I have a wife she is just at home. Ha.

Soon it was 11pm and it was time to wait for the late shuttle to head back to the hotel. I grabbed a nightcap at the hotel bar to bring to my room and snuggle into bed.

My feet couldn't wait to have the heels off.

Before I knew it I was out like a light and happy that I didn't have to set an alarm.

I woke up Sunday wanting to get out and run, but I didn't bring enough KT Tape so I chose a nice lazy morning catching up on bad TV. We don't have cable at home so I was sucked into a nice Law & Order marathon.

Just like that it was time to pack up and head back to the airport. Of course there was a stop at Dunkins before hitting the road.

When I went to return my wheels, I realized I drank quite a bit of water in such a short time in the car. :P

Hydrating for the win.

Since I am a worrier especially when traveling, I was at the airport and through security with 1.5 hours to go before I had to board. This allowed for a relaxing lunch watching World Cup soccer at the airport before doing laps around my gate to get some steps in.

After watching more Law & Order on the plane (I love you Jet Blue), I decided to have a lazy afternoon laying in bed with the wife and the pups.

There is always a to-do list, but on that day I needed some snuggling for the soul.

And that is exactly how we finished out one whirlwind of a weekend.

***

Have you had a crazy or frustrating travel day before?