The Special K Challenge

In preparation for my weekend in Saratoga, during which I fully intend to swim somewhere, I decided to try to slim down a tad with the Special K challenge. For those who don't remember or haven't seen the commercials, you're supposed to replace two meals a day with a bowl of Special K (or, in my case, Special K Redberries, which has a little more taste).

I had embarked upon the Special K challenge a year ago with some success, so I figured I'd give it a go again. Only this time, I think I've not risen to the proverbial challenge -- mostly because I hate being hungry. I'm sorry, but having only 100 calories for breakfast (plus milk and, in my modified version of the SKC, a boiled egg) and lunch simply puts me into a coma by 3:00 pm. It's just not sustainable. In fact, today I chose not to sustain it and had a cheeseburger and chocolate chip cookie for lunch. Moreover, it's 3:40 pm, and I'm feeling more awake than I have all week.

Interestingly enough, I haven't seen any commercials advocating the SKC lately. Now Special K is simply trying to take back breakfast. I chalk this up to the fact that after replacing two meals with little more than flaky-textured air, no one has the energy to go grocery shopping. Hence, cereal sales were probably down.

Wilkommen!

That is how I was welomed by my new Macbook, and I must confess that I am already truly, madly, deeply in love with it. I honestly do not mean to sound like an advertisement, but it is an amazing machine -- with built in wireless. The Musical Genius has been goggling at it and is still flabbergasted that I am on the net without a modum and sans Earthlink, AOL, et al.

I have been rather impatiently awaiting its arrival for the past 10 days, but once it was out of the box, starting up and getting on line was truly a snap. And I can't wait to try out all of the super fun applications. Scary. I really do sound like an ad.

Planning My Mini-Break (For Real)

When the Musical Genius finally, after years of prodding, agreed to take a weekend mini-break with me on Sunday, I was beyond overjoyed. However, it seems that I might have been counting my chickens before they hatched. For starters, we are not going to Mystic, my destination of choice and for which, for the past three years, I have been planning the mother of all weekend trips. Instead, we have decided to go to Saratoga Springs.

Our main reason for picking Saratoga is that Marcie, a soprano with whom MG has been working for at least 15 years, is singing with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center that weekend. Unfortunately, the events at SPAC coincide with the summer Thoroughbred racing season, which is seriously complicating my trip planning.

The most annoying thing about the racing season is that all of the area bed and breakfasts extend their minimum stay to 3 nights -- even for a weekend -- and up their prices by in some cases over 100%. Even if I wanted to pay for time I wouldn't use, it's difficult to find an available room, even with three weeks lead time!

Nevertheless, the most difficult aspect of my quest for Saratoga accomodations is finding a smoking room for MG. I have found cheap motels, RV parks, and campgrounds that will allow smoking (Joy! Just where I wanted to stay on my idyllic upstate mini-break); however, it has been virtually impossible to find charming lodgings that welcome the smoking set, especially given racing season parameters. I even looked at a dairy farm bnb with Holstein cows!

Of course, now that this short vacation with my beloved is actually within my grasp, I'm certainly not going to give up just because most people are averse to carcinogens. However, there must be a smoke-friendly inn or bnb somewhere -- or at least one with balcony or porch connected to an available room, and I am determined to find it. I will not spend my weekend getaway in a Days Inn or -- worse -- a glorified trailer park! And I want someone to cook me a five course gourmet breakfast!

Independence Days

I just returned from an incredibly lazy six day stint in Tennessee, most of which was spent at my mom's riverside cabin, aptly named "The River House." It's a bit of a family tradition to celebrate the Fourth of July there. For as long as I can remember, my mother's whole clan has gathered there for swimming, sun, boating, fishing, skiing, and canoeing -- not to mention grilling out -- one time my aunt even made her own beer-battered hushpuppies -- and feasting on homemade ice cream.

This trip was appropriately relaxing and replete with an afternoon aboard a pontoon boat, and the homemade peach ice cream that followed was fantastic. I even treated the fam to my new breakfast specialty, cinnamon raisin French toast English muffins (say that five times fast). However, perhaps the most amazing thing about my six days away was the fact that for four of them, not even a smidgen of makeup touched my face, and I didn't even unpack my blowdryer. If you know me, that should astound you.