Honey....I'm home!

Hello to all of my blogger friends. I have missed you, but you were never far from my mind. I took a long break from most social media while on vacation, just because I didn't have time. I did post some facebook photos from my phone and also some tweets while we were out and about each day.  I was able to check in and keep up with the blog posts from time to time, but we had a fairly busy intinerary and we were always 'hurrying up to have fun' so to speak. It was a wonderful trip, and I have lots to talk about as usual! I'm going to post about the good, the bad, and the ugly part of eating while on vacation throughout the next week or so. For the most part I think I made good decisions. I often had too many carbs which is always my problem, but I did pretty well in the sugar department, except for the delcious fruit that was always offered at breakfast.

I wanted to say great job to all of you doing the Fast Track or their own modified versions of it. I was trying to read a few blog posts on my Ipad before I went to sleep at night, but usually just couldn't keep my eyes open. It will take me awhile to catch up. I am raring and ready to go, and plan to jump on the bandwagon with you. I'm going to ease back into it these next few days and since Wednesday is always my weigh in day, I'm going to consider that the full speed go ahead start day. I have to restock my kitchen, get my meal plans in order, as well as detox alittle from all that wine drinking! That will take a few days. My son is getting married in less than 10 months, so there is no time to waste! I have to get serious and back to writing, planning and keeping track.

Today, I am trying to adjust back to the east coast time, restocking the fridge, laundry, and dealing with a few house problems that occurred while we were away, as well as get ready to go into the office early in the AM. My new hires will be starting gradually, so for the next few weeks, I will be playing catch up from being away, and getting all the papers in order for their hiring. Vacations are wonderful, but life does go on while you're away, and you always have lots to do waiting for your return. My personal mail stack for one week was unblievable. From all the catalogs that arrived, you know the holidays are very close!

While we were away, my central alarm system decided to start going off for no reason. My poor mother and a nice police officer finally got it to shut off after two hours because they couldn't get a hold of the alarm company repair person. They turned off the breaker to stop the siren, which unbeknownst to all of us was on the same breaker that my second refridgerator in the back room was on. My mom didn't go into this fridge, so she had no idea that it was basically defrosting since last Tuesday. I lost lots of meat, chicken, homemade sauces, pesto, fresh berries, bread etc. that were sitting in a nice wet puddle from the ice also melting. Also in the fridge, several 1/2 gallons of unsweetened almond milk, that I had stocked up on. So we have the job of cleaning out the entire fridge and running it to another outlet until the alarm company, and electrician can come out this week! I have to confess that I have been taking photos off the camera and putting them onto our computers, doing laundry and sorting mail, so my husband has been tackling this task.

Looking out at the vineyards.

I miss beautiful northern California, but it's nice to be home. Considerably cooler here than it was there. I packed more for fall, and one day we even hit 90. The nights were pleasant too, in the high 50's  or low 60's. For all of you wine lovers, I tasted some great ones. Well let's just say, I did more than taste! Lots of wine was consumed. I was so happy to hear one of the people at the winery say, "there is no sugar in wine." Thank God,  I thought, thank God! Until next time, missed you all so much and glad to be back!

In the tasting room!

 Thought for the day: No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow. ~Lin Yutang