It's been the best of times...fun/relaxing....it's been the worst of times...food:)

Sunset at The Chart House

I have to say the first few days we were here I was pretty conscience of what I was eating and trying to be good. Then all hell broke loose and I decided that I am in paradise and what the heck!!! I have been hungry before every meal since. That's the good ole sugar I am sure. I have truly gotten bitchy because I am HUNGRY!!!
This is the view from one of my favorite eats so far. It was highly recommended on a travel site and a very short walk from the hotel. Not only were the views amazing, but the food...yum. I am a meat and potatoes girl, no fancy food for me. I had a prime rib dip that was truly out of this world. Everywhere we travel I eat them and compare. This was definitely one of the best yet. Other than the bun, which was a Hawaiin bread roll, they are Belly good. We also had catch of the day fish sticks...yum!

Rainbow Tower

Looking up from under our beach umbrella.

This is the view of where we are staying from across the Lagoon. We are in the end room 1/2 way up. There are 31 floors and we are floor 15. We have the double lanai's which has been amazing.

Pictures aren't my friend here!

Hubs and I got in a "fight" about his picture taking abilities. Every picture that he takes of me makes me look fat and ugly. He is so busy trying to make sure the scenery is right, the moment fades, I am ticked, my face drops, and there is no "real" smile forthcoming. UGH!!! 

OK, back to the food. I haven't been nearly as bad as I was pre-BFC. I have my moments, but not really too many heavy sweets. We did finally eat at the Cheesecake Factory and Rosie...were you ever right about the Hershey's cheesecake. I ate way too much of it, but it was hard not to. I didn't get sick, which really surprised me, but I did get really, really tired. 

Today we are catching the Aloha open air bus and traveling around most of the day. We both could use a little time out of the sun. No burns for me and no burns for hubby once he got the heavy sunblock. 

Oh...and I got bit by a fish. I thought I was stung by a jelly fish and I turned to look and it was a black fish that was coming at me again. I had to hit it away. I bit my lip trying not to scream which caused a blood blister to form. Not one person looked up or wondered why the heck a woman was thrashing around in the water!!! The guys at the beach rental said that was the first time in a couple of months they had heard the fish bite someone again. Seriously it looked like 2 stingers left in my leg. It is funny now, but wasn't funny then!!! I worried about all the little kids here, but I guess I was a chosen one;) 

The last picture is the famous Diamond Head. We were going to hike to the top, but I am being too lazy yet again. If it were totally up to me, I would be on a beach chair, every day, all day. Love, Love, Love the sun!!!

Blessings and good luck to everyone on their versions of lifestyle changes. We did not have internet for 3 days so sorry for not posting replies on all of your blogs...I read them!

The countdown to going home:(

There are no words:)

One of the reasons that I get bummed on vacations is because I know they have to end! How dumb is that? We fly out next Monday and I am already feeling blue about having to leave this magical paradise. As I sit here this morning I hear the waves coming in, I smell the food (bacon) from where we are going to eat breakfast this AM. I see people jogging, surfers out surfing, my neighbor lanai seeing me in my night gown with my panties showing because I was out here all alone!!! I woke up at 6:00 again. I just don't want to miss anything!
The sunsets while beautiful, have clouded up right before the sun actually sets past the horizon. That is an amazing site to see and we haven't see one yet!

one more night view

Same view morning sun

Morning time:)
So I have been pretty bad about carbs....still not tons of sugar. Yesterday after a quick sun time, hubby got too burned the day before, we went to the mall. I had this amazing roast pork roast with potatoes and gravy and macaroni salad. Count the carbs:) Then for dinner we ate at Ruby Tuesday's because we had an entertainment coupon. I had the petite sirloin and mashed and french fry potatoes...count the carbs!!! Then hubby had a molten lava cake with ice cream and strawberry sauce. I tasted the cake, too sweet!!! I had a bite of brownie earlier that I used to LOVE, too sweet! We went to the Walmart here and got some macadamia nuts. Even in Hawaii they are very expensive! I did get some of my thick sliced farm bread at the little bakery that we love. I am so full now, it will probably go bad before we eat again! Kidding. Today for breakfast was the HUGE buffet and I had 1 1/2 omelettes! I tell myself they are good for me because they have spinach in them. I also had some banana bread and a few bites of a coconut muffin. Bad Kay:( I asked my husband if he thinks by the time we leave I will have eaten at least 100 pieces of bacon. He thinks so:) It is so good and so plentiful!!! He just told me I should blog to everyone how "tough" it is to be me:)

It's growing slowly:) 

I tried my jeans on yesterday, they still fit! Here's my tummy after breakfast this morning...
Today is beach day. Hubs feels like he can just sit under the umbrella. We also got him 50 sunblock. I still don't look that tan to me, but I hadn't lost that much tan before we left home. Have a great day everyone and thanks for allowing me to ramble on. Wow:)

I had my ice cream....and cone!!!

For those of you that think I am wasting my vacation by keeping up with my blog...I'm not! My husband because of his back needs at least 45 minutes to an hour every morning to stretch and do his work out. We go no where until that is done. I wake up so early here because of the time difference. It is after 10 at home and just after 7 here. I am sitting out on the lanai watching the sand fairy clean the sand and watching tents go up for a big canoe race today. We will be right at the finish line with front row seats from the lanai. It is a huge thing over here so it will be fun to cheer and see the activity. 15 floors up:)
Hubby got burned pretty bad yesterday, but it was partly his fault! Stubborn man. We had a tiff yesterday because he couldn't figure out how to get on his air mattress and didn't want my help. What a baby!!! And that is about the first thing I have ever said negative about him. Anyway, because he was being a baby, we went our separate ways in the water most of the day. I watched the amount of sun I got, laid under the umbrella when needed, and reapplied sunscreen. No burn for me! The bummer part is that he has NO desire to lay in the sun today and I don't know if I want to go down bad enough by myself. We will be watching the race later anyway, so I will get sun out here. The umbrella and one lounge chair is 50.00 a day!!! Hubs uses his air mattress. Can you imagine? We figured that we would spend more money on the property out of guilt because the last time we were here and got this end room, we had to pay an extra 50.00 a night. We are going to the big breakfast buffet again this morning so I will be eating another 20 pieces of bacon. Right when we left the last time, I found the omelet bar so I am excited to have one today. I did eat banana bread and pineapple, but not one of the many pastries that were on display. The amount of food that is available is quite exciting!!!

Leftover cone:) 

View in our new room from the bed:) 

We packed a lunch again yesterday and then had pizza for dinner. I ordered the Hawaiian with 1/2 no pineapple. They made it all with pineapple so without me asking or ever even thinking to ask, they made another whole canadian bacon pizza. 2 pizzas!!! We also had hot wings and my hubs got a dinner salad. I did my pile everything on 2 crusts again and we have a lot of leftovers. Next was the ice cream cone! OMG!!! I only ate a few bites of the cone, but I did manage to eat ALL of my scoop of ice cream. I saved the cone in a glass and plan to eat more later. Yummmmmmyyyyy!!! I didn't even get an upset stomach which has surprised me since I have reintroduced a lot of sugar? That could be a very bad thing. Oh, I forgot...we did share a turkey panini sandwich after lunch. I was starving. Too much sugar lately making me hungry now:(

Visitors at our first room and I was not using zoom. they just stayed there and let me take the picture!

Every Friday night the Hilton does a big fireworks display. That's why we always make sure and stay 2 Friday's. They set them off right in front of our room. The boom's could be heart attack inducing!!!

No full sunset yet, the clouds come in right before the sun touches down. The pink was amazing!!!

I can't find the picture I took of the view from the bed of our first room. It was the wall, TV, and  a Hawaiin picture. Quite a difference to wake up to!
So it is about time for a HUGE breakfast. I have so many food successes and a few not so good. I LOVE orange juice and I have had a couple of sips, I LOVE banana bread and I eat the top off, I love pancakes, I haven't eaten any yet. I did not get my caramel corn out again yet:) Baby steps...
I still feel like someone should pinch me, or if this is a dream, don't let me wake up! This is not my normal life folks:) There's a cruise ship coming in and paragliders out already this morning. The surfers come out at dawn. Wow...I can just say...wow:)
Blessings and happy scales...to you FT....good luck!!!

Not too bad so far on food:0

Lobby view

This is the view when you first walk in the open air lobby It never gets old! We changed rooms yesterday so we did a lot of waiting and relaxing. I just wanted some time to regenerate! We wake up so early here because of the 3 hour difference.
We went to the Rainbow Lanai which is 26.00 a person for breakfast, discounted 8.00 per person for the Hilton Diamond member. It was so worth it though because we didn't eat again until dinner. I couldn't eat again until dinner!!! Too much bacon:)

Happy:)

About 1:30 we moved to our new room and I did not want to leave again. It is the most amazing room. We are at the end of the Rainbow Tower so we have 2 lanai's. Full Ocean facing and Harbor facing on the other side. I would never be able to have this room in "real" life. Seriously...I feel like pinching myself!!! They are renovating this tower, so there is a lag time on the elevators, but worth the wait. The elevator you punch what floor you are going to before you get on, they in tells you what elevator to get into, then there are no buttons in the elevator itself. That's a first for us! Pretty fancy!!! The room has had 1 other occupant before us, so it is amazing. I want my house to look just like it. The bathroom mirror is lit all around the border!

Last night was the fireworks show and they were right in front of our room. The booms from them were LOUD, but the fireworks again made me feel like I was in dreamland.

This is what I am looking at as a blog this morning. I thought I would show Dawn since she looks so pretty:)
Food wise....We ate at our favorite Duke's on Thursday night. We had prime rib and a huge salad bar. I ate a spinach salad, had 1/2 roll, but I ate boatloads of the macaroni salad....yummy!!! We were too tired to get ice cream again! The walk was really nice and we felt very adult being out that late at night. That's why we love Waikiki, you can walk to a lot of places and there are always people out and about to look at!
Last night we wanted to just sit outside on our lanai so we went and got a cobb type salad from the ABC store and had left over prime rib sandwiches. Because we were going to stay in the room to watch the fireworks I did not get ice cream AGAIN!!! But I did get the caramel corn/macadamia nut pop corn that have some pieces dipped in chocolate. I had about 8 pieces and then handed it to my husband and told him not to give me anymore even if I cried!!! I failed to mention I am part way through a bag of Maui chips that are to die for. Of course I forgot my chili cheese fritos and they only have the honey twists here:(

There are birds, flamingos, penguins, ducks, strange looking birds, parrots, white doves, everywhere around the resort. Yesterday 2 white doves sat on our lanai and I was able to get so close and they didn't fly away.
Time to close and shower for breakfast. Wish me luck on food today...so far so good...I would guess my jeans are really going to be uncomfortable on the way back to reality!!!

One last picture of where I am sitting. You can see my toe in the bottom right corner:)
Dreams do come true:)

Amazing so far:)

First room view

on the computer:)

Reflection from the window:)

We got up at 3:00 AM yesterday for our early flight. There is a 3 hour time difference here, which gives us 3 extra hours of paradise a day, but the first day hit us like a rock!!! We were so tired last night that we couldn't even function! Crazy!!! It would be 2:30 in the afternoon at home and it is only 11:30 here. That means no rush for us and we are just enjoying the morning before we head down to the ocean. We have never been in a pool on this property and have no intentions of doing it this time:) The tower in the picture is the one we have always been in, but this time we were put in a luxury room, which is nice, but we stare at the tower that we love! We are moving tomorrow to that tower so it won't have the luxury, but it will have a  much better view.
I was pretty good food wise yesterday, too tired to have my pecan praline ice cream, but did go to the shop when we first got here to make sure they have it. I decided I would buy the cone separately and break it into pieces in a baggy and have little scoops instead of a whole ice cream cone a day. The breakfast buffet that is free to Hilton Diamond members would be amazing if I was not trying to eat low sugar. Thick slices of fresh carrot bread and a bran/raisin bread. The gal brought me 2 slices of whole grain but indicated she can't do that every day. I had taken some canadian bacon slices up just in case so I put those with some boiled eggs and stayed on program. I had 2 tiny pieces of pineapple. It is so sweet, a little will go a long way!!! I am proud of my day one breakfast!
Tonight we are going to my favorite place "Dukes" for dinner. I get prime rib there which is wonderful, but I eat way too much macaroni salad. The macaroni salad is served with just about everything over here and Dukes is my favorite! I usually eat all the salad bar that I can handle and then take my prime rib back here for sandwiches tomorrow.
We are headed to the beach!
For those who haven't been too Hawaii....I hadn't either until about 7 years ago. All things come to those that wait, or marry a man that travels a lot and builds up Hilton Honors Points. Our hotel say is free because of that. The fact that he builds so many points is why they treat us nicely and put us in good rooms:)
They are renovating the tower that we are moving to, so things aren't always good there. Construction noise and slow elevators, but the best views and the closest to the ocean in all of Waikiki. Luxury doesn't always trump view!!! We are going to be in a corner room too, so double lanais! Woot!!! Losing the Hilton points is the worst thing about hubby not working:(
Blessings from paradise:)

I have so much to do, I am not doing anything:(

My weight is holding steady, even though KFC called our names again last night. We wanted to get one more visit in with my little sister before we left so we were out and about at dinner time again. I have a feeling that after 2 weeks of eating out, I am really going to be ready to try the FT for awhile!!!
Today is a busy day, lunch with my gym friends and then bunko tonight. I won't get home until late and we fly out at 6:00 in the morning. Ugh!!! It is going to be early!!! I have so many things that I need to do, but I can't do until the last minute. I am getting so excited. Sometimes you just need to get away to refocus. My poor hubby has a cold:( Dawn had mentioned in her blog about not being sick since starting this journey. I haven't had a cold since I started!!! Woot!!!
I will be blogging when we are gone, you will probably get sick of me! I want to share the beauty of the surroundings. I am in no way trying to "brag" that I am there. I just love pictures and I love to share...if you get sick of me, skip my blog for the next 12 days!
If my plane happens to blow up over the Pacific....I have had quite a wonderful life:) What a thought right???
Thanks all!

It was a good day:) 136.5

Feeling good:)

So I have dropped back down to the weight I was soooo excited for and now I am ready to drop a little more. I wonder if there is a Boob Fat Cure! I swear I would be way smaller looking if I didn't have 34DD's staring out!
Hubby took this picture before we went jean shopping for the 3rd time! These are capri's that I just don't roll up. Probably should, but what the heck. Too bad you can't make out the sparkle in my shoes:) And yes, yes, yes, they are comfortable! I'll find out how durable they are after they travel.
Success!!! FINALLY!!! I swear I have tried on every pair of jeans under 100.00 in Spokane! My daughter suggested that I try Gap and they were actually having a 30% off sale. Hubby was feeling generous and had sat through 2 other agonizing times of trying jeans on, so he bought me straight leg and boot cut. I don't know if I have ever had 2 new pair of jeans at the same time. They fit in the waist which is my problem area and the butt wasn't too flat. Score!!!
Tomorrow we are going to my husband's family for the day. Ugh!!! 3 hours there and 3 hours home. The good news is that my daughter and grandson are going too. I don't know what I am going to do without Karson for 12 days when we are gone. He brightens every day! He's like a sponge right now, absorbing every new word, every new concept. It is so fun to see when the light bulb goes on and they realize they really know things! He truly is pretty darn smart for his age and he talks and sings a ton. It has to be my amazing influence! We sing the 5 little monkey's/crocodile song and he thinks there are crocodiles in the fireplace. He will run by it and say "no crocodile, no!"
Thank you to everyone who is on this journey with me. I really hope I give inspiration of what could be. I can NOT believe what a difference a year has made. Honestly...when I look down and don't see a big roll....it is still surprising to me. On the 7th of with be my 7th month anniversary. I would love to be at an even 30 lbs gone, but I just don't see that happening. Oh well:)
Blessings and happy scales!!!