FLAT OUT BINGE mode... Oh, and a few wedding photos.

OK, so I’m going to have to declare a “do over” for the start of Challenge 2, which was supposed to be yesterday (Monday)… it just didn’t happen. My only excuse is being tired, sick and trying to restore my rhythm. However, that’s NO excuse for eating like crap and I mean CRAP. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday each contained a meal from either McDonald’s or Carl’s Jr. YUCK. I don’t even like those places. My other meals consisted of top ramen noodles and oatmeal and protein. I was just too exhausted and sick to make it to the store. My energy was so zapped that I barely made it through the drive thru. Oh crap. I just remembered the Reece’s Big Cups (2 or 3), Snickers, Caramel Sundae from McDonald’s… shit and one of those little chocolate cakes from Carl’s Jr. . No wonder I can’t get my energy back. Not with fueling my body on shit. I just ran an errand and had to force myself to avoid the McDonald’s drive-thru for a soft serve. What’s wrong with me??? I can’t stop shoveling food in my mouth. It’s starting to freak me out a bit.

Last night was the first full night’s sleep I’ve had since January 22 (the night before we left Malaysia). It felt so great to sleep rather than just nap. I did get up and go to the gym this morning for HIIT, but I’ve decided to start officially on Monday so I can be prepared, completely caught up on sleep and in the right power mindset.

I weighed myself in Malaysia twice. The first scale said 130 lbs. the second scale said 128 lbs. I NEVER trust those types of scales – they always seem several pounds light, but STILL… what if I’ve undone all the progress I’ve made with my binging???? My tight pants are still feeling loose, but not as loose as a couple weeks ago. I gotta get a grip!

Now, about the wedding… it was so lovely. Words can’t even describe it. We had such a great time and partied all night. As part of the wedding reception, the Nikko Hotel provided us with the “Honeymoon Suite” so our plan was to check in early, shower and then I’d have my hair and makeup done by the stylist my sister in law booked for us. Did I mention we had a double wedding with my husband’s little sister? I think that made it twice as much fun for me. Anyway, we didn’t get to the hotel as early as I had hoped and I didn’t have time to have my hair or makeup professionally done. I was so freaking sad. =(. I cried like a stupid little baby because it’s impossible to do anything with my hair in Malaysia (humidity poofs me out like crazy) and I knew my hair would look terrible. Fortunately, it didn’t poof out because we stayed inside the whole time, but it was totally flat and straight and ridiculous. Sigh.

I got over my bad hair day and had the time of my life. I don’t know how well you’ll be able to see the dress in the photos, but it was a fun dress to wear (until the spaghetti strap broke halfway through the night and I had to use someone’s corsage-thingy and safety pin it…). Not the best quality dress. Don’t know if I ever updated my blog about my dress ordeal, but wasn’t able to get one of the several dresses I loved I wanted and had to settle for something less than perfect…

Here we are walking down the red carpet at the reception. Cruisin’ by Huey Lewis and Gwenyth Paltrow was playing.




Side view of the walk (can't see much of the back of the dress, but I like the little bit of train...)



You can see a little of the back (and my tan lines) in this photo. I love the way my husband dances. He's so adorable.



I like this photo (and I usually HATE/DESPISE any photo of myself) but I must've said something quite funny because the man I said it to (and I have no idea who he is) found it hilarious... or maybe he just has an open-mouthed smile? Hmmmm. I'd like to think he found me very charming and witty. =) Unfortunately, the guy in the red shirt didn't have the same response...



The cake... which is totally fake, by the way, except for one little wedge for the cake cutting part of the reception. I was told all wedding cakes are fake in Malaysia except for the tiny wedge for cutting. I found that very odd and interesting. I think the wedge was fruitcake or something. Yuk. But it looked pretty.



Jason's group of friends from waaaay back. Lovely people. I adore them all.



And they're lots of fun, too. =)



P.S. I'm still trying to catch up on everyone's blogs. I have a lot of reading to do!

xoxoxo,
Rachel

Back from Beautiful, Tropical Malaysia =(

Our trip was so FABULOUS!! Our wedding reception was UNBELIEVABLE!! I had the best time, but now it’s back to life, back to reality. I’ve got a major case of jet lag (still on Malaysia time and haven’t slept more than a couple hours a night since I got home on Monday). Also, I’ve got a pretty bad cold and haven’t had time to do any grocery shopping or planning, so my 2nd challenge (dedicated to Julie) isn’t starting on January 25 like I had hoped, but I will start on Monday, January 30.

The first two weeks of the trip, my body was CRAVING cottage cheese, chicken breasts, brown rice, etc. But then my body got used to the carb heavy meals and now I’m having a little trouble getting excited about BFL/EFL again. It’s probably due to my exhaustion… because now that I’m typing this out and thinking about it, I’m starting to get excited. Oh, the first two weeks I was kinda missing the routine of work, working out, a schedule, etc. After the second week though, I thought living a life of leisure would be really easy to get used to… traveling and meeting people from different cultures and backgrounds is so much fun and absolutely fascinates me. Why couldn’t I have been born stinking rich? Why?

I didn’t do any weight training while in Malaysia (gym didn’t open till mid-morning and closed early so I couldn’t fit it in), but I did walk the stairs in the high-rise tower and it kicked my ass. My calves hurt so badly after the first time I did it – it was such an awesome workout.

So much to tell you all about and lots of wonderful photos to share. My poor husband had to leave today for a business trip to Wyoming (thank God I didn’t have to go), and he has all the photos on the digital camera and the camera software is on his computer so I’ll have to wait till he has time to download everything for me.

Here’s a photo of an island we visited during a trip to Langkawi – Pulau Payar. Gosh, I wish I were there right now. We didn’t get to spend as much time as we would’ve liked because my dad’s travel itinerary got a bit jacked up. Sigh.



I’ll be catching up on all of your lives and updating my blog with fun stuff about my trip over the next few days. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, New Years, and are having a great start to 2006.

xoxoxoxo,
Rachel