Walking on the beach.  I actually had to duck back a bit taking this picture as the waves got a little close!

We spent 2 days in the Ogunquit/Kennebunk area.  There was a lot to explore.  We were hoping to find better bike trails, but it just wasn’t happening, so we did a [...]]]>

Walking on the beach.  I actually had to duck back a bit taking this picture as the waves got a little close!

We spent 2 days in the Ogunquit/Kennebunk area.  There was a lot to explore.  We were hoping to find better bike trails, but it just wasn’t happening, so we did a ton of walking.  We did find a Franciscan Monastery and wandered around those trails.

This trail led to the water’s edge and we saw a common Eider!

It was peaceful and relaxing.

The next day, we stopped for a donut breakfast at Congdon’s.  Can I tell you that this was probably the best donut I have had in my life?  Puts fresh and hot Krispy Kremes to shame. Seriously.

This was the honey dipped cake style donut.  Damn this was good.  You know that saying “nothing tastes as good as thin feels“?  - well, they haven’t eaten one of these.

Then it was to Portland.  It was chilly and windy in the morning, but we biked anyway.  We found the East Cove trail, which ended up being about 8 miles or so of path?

It was mildly annoying because the paths just dumped you out to a busy intersection with no direction of where to go.  We put about 11 miles on the bikes and then were a bit frustrated so called it a day on the wheels.  Then we walked and shopped in Portland.  We saw Henry Wadsworth-Longfellow’s house.

It has a precious hidden garden behind it.

There was also a multitude of coffee shops and we had a difficult time choosing one for a latte.  We decided on Coffee By Design.

It was quite tasty!  We sought out little local roasters and coffee shops on our trip, which was fun.  I was wondering how many lattes I could drink in a day and still function – but I never found out (the most I had was 2).

We decided at this point to start heading back to NY.  We were mostly avoiding the interstate, so driving was pretty lazy and slower.  We did stop at Cape Elizabeth to see the other uber famous lighthouse in Maine.  The Port Head Light!  I loved, loved, loved this lighthouse!  My favorite.  We were there near sunset and it afforded me great lighting.  If only I had a really good camera.

It almost doesn’t look real!  This lighthouse you can go right up to and touch if you want, which I did.

I have a bajillion pictures of this one 

Breathtaking views:

Plus some interesting writing on the rocks.

A very nice person took our picture.

This is really just 5 hours from our home.  I never really realized how close the Maine coast was to us. Seems like a world away, but we will definitely be back!

I think Portsmouth, NH was our favorite city.  It was just big enough to have lots of stuff to do, but small enough to not be overwhelming (plus really good coffee).

The last part of our vacation was in Maine.  We had no itinerary and just stopped wherever seemed interesting, so we ended up in Ogunquit as our home base and stayed for 2 days.  I had heard of Ogunquit before from Stephen King’s The Stand.  Fran and Harold were from there. Ogunquit [...]]]>

The last part of our vacation was in Maine.  We had no itinerary and just stopped wherever seemed interesting, so we ended up in Ogunquit as our home base and stayed for 2 days.  I had heard of Ogunquit before from Stephen King’s The Stand.  Fran and Harold were from there. Ogunquit means “Beautiful Place by the Sea” – and it was!

Our first stop was the Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge for a hike.  This is a wonderful little place with a salt marsh, which is actually pretty rare.

There we stops along the way that explained about the salt marsh and its delicate habitat.

This little guy popped out of his hole in the ground to say hi:

Actually, it was probably more like “Get off of my lawn!”

I was scanning for wildflowers in the hopes of seeing a lady slipper, but no luck there.  John actually found this one (so proud of him!):

Trillium.  I have never seen one in the wild in bloom before.  Yay me!

Ogunquit is really touristy, but has the most beautiful coast line.  The nice thing about traveling out of season is that there are hardly any people around.  Yes, some things aren’t open and no swimming, but I am not much of a swimmer – I just like to look.  There is about a mile of path called Marginal Way, which follows the coast and has spectacular views.

It was a beautiful day, too.

Can you imagine living here and looking over this view?

We weren’t sure if this was a luxury home or a hotel (under construction).

You reach the end of Marginal Way at Perkins Cove and some shops.  Right at the end is Breaking New Grounds cafe.  There is a cafe in Portsmouth that is run by the son of the owner of the Ogunquit cafe (which we also stopped at).  The view was phenomenal!

These were the chairs outside the cafe.  I was so happy sitting here and relaxing.

We also were able to get to the most photographed lighthouse, which is the Nubble.

This teetery little cable basket is how the lighthouse keepers get back and forth from the island.

No thank you!

It’s a very pretty scene, but not my favorite lighthouse – you will see that one tomorrow.

We feasted on more lobster at the Maine Diner, which was featured on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives.  I had the lobster mac and cheese:

That was a claw I pulled out from the bottom.  There was a *ton* of lobster in this and so delicious!

Our home base was the Ogunquit  Inn.

This was sort of a hybrid of a BB and a hotel.  It was in a house, but the owner was not one of those that interacts much with the people staying there.  He provided a nice continental breakfast for everyone.

The first night  - we were the only ones in the inn.  The price was really reasonable as well (off season).

Our room opened to a balcony:

and overlooked the garden:

I loved this place.  We had only booked for one night, but then asked if the room was available to stay another and lucky for us – it was.    We were able to walk to the Marginal Way and downtown from here, which was really convenient.

I’ll tie it all up tomorrow!

First was Manchester.  Ready for riding!

There was a short bike trail that we found.

It was only a few miles long, but very pretty.  Crossing the Merrimack:

This was a nice bridge [...]]]> New Hampshire! We spent a night in Concord, but then headed out towards Manchester and  Portsmouth for some riding!

First was Manchester.  Ready for riding!

There was a short bike trail that we found.

It was only a few miles long, but very pretty.  Crossing the Merrimack:

This was a nice bridge to cross over.  No cars!

Then we moved on to  Portsmouth to spend the night.  We biked to breakfast at Friendly Toast. This is a quirky little place with some good food!

Lots of memorabilia.

John and I split a fruit cup.

Yes, this was the cup!!! I can’t imagine what the bowl size is!

And we split an order of Hansel and Gretel  gingerbread waffles.

OMG – these were so good!  They had a pomegranate molasses drizzle on them.

Then it was time for some riding.  It was a bit  chilly this day.  Had to layer up.

I crush the tiny lighthouse with my bare hands:

This was a beautiful ride.  We followed along the water when we could.  Check out this cool sculpture.  When you stand just right:

I wonder if the people who live here take this for granted.  I suppose we all take where we live for granted after a while.

We had our first lobster roll in Portsmouth as well.

We hadn’t tried another one yet, so I would agree that this is the best so far!

We shared one because it was so big!  Lots of good lobster meat and very little mayo on a toasted bun.  Simple and perfect.

I don’t want to overload you with pictures, so I will stop there.

Okay, one more from Hampton Beach!

A lot of bridges were damaged during Hurricane Irene, but this was repaired.  This was in uber quaint Woodstock.

On Monday, We hiked down Quechee Gorge on the trail. It’s not very long, but somewhat steep on one side.

There is [...]]]> Here are some of our Vermont ramblings. Home of the covered bridge!

A lot of bridges were damaged during Hurricane Irene, but this was repaired.  This was in uber quaint Woodstock.

On Monday, We hiked down Quechee Gorge on the trail. It’s not very long, but somewhat steep on one side.

There is a dam on the high end:

This is the view from the route 4 bridge.

Now down at the bottom on the other side.

At the bottom was a small piece of slate that a breast cancer survivor left, which was touching.

We spent the night in West Lebanon at the Coolidge Hotel, which is on the historic register and pretty neat!  It’s old and has a lot of charm.  Some people probably wouldn’t like it, but I thought it was neat!

Of course, you know we sniffed out coffee shops.  This was Tucker Box next to the hotel.

We spent some time at the Vermont Institute of Natural Science, which is a NFP bird rescue and education center.

I had posted some pics on facebook of the birds, but here are a couple more.  All of the birds here were rehabbed from injury or from being imprinted on people (therefore cannot be wild).  Only the  barn owl was raised by a breeder.

Ruff legged hawk:

As we headed to New Hampshire, we had to stop at King Arthur Baking Company Headquarters.  They have a huge store there.

I didn’t buy anything, though, as we can get KA stuff in our grocery stores.  I did have something at the cafe, though. YUM!

Bread makers at work!

And the pastry workers as well.

That was fun to watch!

Getting in some good relaxing!

Half-size me

Thanks Heather!

Welcome to anyone just finding me for the first time as well.

After we took mom and dad out to breakfast, it was off on our trip!  Pixie had to be left behind with a house sitter – and we will miss her, but I need a vacay!

We are driving blind so to speak.  Our destination is Maine and we have no hotels [...]]]> Happy Mother’s Day!

After we took mom and dad out to breakfast, it was off on our trip!  Pixie had to be left behind with a house sitter – and we will miss her, but I need a vacay!

We are driving blind so to speak.  Our destination is Maine and we have no hotels booked or any itinerary. We are just stopping where it looks like fun and enjoying what there is to do.

We sure found something fun on Sunday! We wanted to see the Quechee Gorge in Vermont, but there was also a glass blowing workshop there by  Irish glass maker Simon Pearce.  Now when hurricane Irene went through, this workshop was flooded as it was in an old mill and right on the river.  They had to rebuild the glass blowing area.  It is so cool!  Some of the tools:

The work area.  There are a couple ovens for shaping and a big oven that just holds molten glass.

These ovens are hot!!

The guys working were really nice. They said to ask any questions while they worked.

This is a fresh dollop of molten glass ready to be made into a glass.

They will roll the glass and shape it with the tools.

They can heat the glass up again at one of the ovens.

This guy is making a bowl:

That glass is glowing hot and they aren’t wearing gloves. Eeeek!

They trim the glass with scissors, which is crazy.

So cool!  Now I want to do glass.  I would love to do this.  One of the guys I talked to has been doing it for 3 years.  He used to be a teacher and kind of fell into doing the glass and realized that was what he wanted to do instead of teaching.  He said he went from teaching to learning.

The upstairs is all the fancy displays of the finished glass, which I can’t afford.

And the gorge is pretty amazing as well:

Wildlife exploring tomorrow and hopefully a visit to King Arthur Flour store!

I have been working my way through my 30 book challenge this year.  I love my Kindle!  The only thing I don’t like about checking books out of the library on the [...]]]> I tell you – work is kicking my butt lately.  It’s been very stressful and I can barely wait until vacation next week.

I have been working my way through my 30 book challenge this year.  I love my Kindle!  The only thing I don’t like about checking books out of the library on the Kindle is that you can only borrow them for 14 days with no renewal, so if you don’t finish, you have to get back on the list to borrow again.  I ended up having to get this book out in a few installments because of that.

The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles DuHigg.

Nonfiction on this one.  I have to say this is one of the more interesting nonfiction books I have read in a while.  It explores how habits are created in our mind and how it affects everything from how companies market to us (Febreeze) to creating social change (Rosa Parks).  Really fascinating.   The book actually seems a lot longer than it is because there is a very large section of citations at the end.  He actually also gives a plan of action on recognizing pattern habits and how to change the cycle.  Definitely recommend this book.

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The Painting by Nina Schuyler

If you like books that use the words themselves for imagery, you will love this book.  Color and art are very central for this book.  It follows the story of 2 sets of people in the time period of WWI.  There are 4 people in Japan, 2 of whom are in an arranged marriage (Ayoshi and Hayshi).  Ayoshi pines for her lover and paints pictures of them together.  To hide the paintings, she wraps her husband’s pottery in them before they are shipped off to France.

In France, Hayashi’s painting is discovered by Jorgen, who lost a leg in the war, and the painting brought back his deadened emotions.  The story in France revolves around Jorgen and Natalia and how the war affected them.

The 2 stories are only connected by that painting. They never really come together, but an interesting device because neither story was long enough to warrant a whole book.  I really enjoyed this one.

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The last one I finished (last night, in fact) is:

The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat by Edward Kelsey Moore

This was a very, very good book. It follows the lives of 3 African American women (Odette, Clarice and Barbara Jean) – dubbed The Supremes – who grew up in Indiana in the 1960s and how all the events in their lives shaped where they ended up.  None of them left their home town for various reasons. Every week, they meet at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat, which is kind of the central hub for the book. It’s really a study in friendship – the good and bad parts, racism and social status.  It tackles a bit of everything: infidelity, religion, alcoholism, cancer, ghosts, mother/daughter relationships, etc.

At times the writing did dip into a bit of stereotyping and I found it a little strange that with the three women, Odette used first person narration and the others used third person. I am not sure why.  I also didn’t care for the talking to ghosts that Odette did.  It seemed a bit silly, but I think maybe it helped bring in some back story that wouldn’t have been possible otherwise.  I did tear up a bit near the end of this book.

I can see this book becoming a movie really easily.  You read that here first!

I recommend reading all of these.

Now time to walk up the street for a kiddy cone and keep counting down to vacation

Welcome back to the next installment of AIM!  This month’s topic is quite interesting and affects all of us on some level.  Weight regain.  It’s so common in life to lose and gain weight over and over again.   And after a really large loss, is it inevitable to have some regain?  I don’t [...]]]>

Welcome back to the next installment of AIM!  This month’s topic is quite interesting and affects all of us on some level.  Weight regain.  It’s so common in life to lose and gain weight over and over again.   And after a really large loss, is it inevitable to have some regain?  I don’t think it is a universal truth, but it is common.  Some people are able to lose the weight and stay there. Others, not so much.

I have lost and gained over my lifetime and it wasn’t until I really made a lifestyle change that the loss stuck (mostly).  I know that you always hear that, but it’s true.

I was here:

Then I got to my lowest point here:

And for the last 2 years I have been here:

Don’t you love my most recent dressing room shot? This was a couple months ago. I’m a size bigger than the previous picture.  The reason?  More food, basically.  I am a foodie.  Not a 5-star restaurant, snooty nose in the air, must have the latest and greatest item foodie, but someone who appreciates good food.  Simple food that is well made – or gourmet food.  So, there was some weight creep from that – and I was aware when it was happening.

I also find that I have trouble in the summers when I am doing tons and tons of biking trying to balance calories in and out.  That seems to be where I struggle the most and that season is pretty much here now.  When you burn 1200 calories in biking and need to take that back in on top of your daily – that can be hard. Then the next day if I am not biking, my stomach is like a bottomless pit.  It’s hard to balance.  I am hoping to do better this year.

While the black pants in the middle photo are a pair that this year I said I was going to wear again, the work that it takes to get there (and STAY there) could be more than I want to do.  I have made some progress this year so far, which is good, but it’s extremely slow. I’m not totally comfortable where I am, but then again, I am not really uncomfortable, either.

Yeah, I could drop my calories really low and exercise like a demon and cut out more of my favorite things and get a lot smaller, but at what cost?  Food is enjoyable to me.  I love to exercise, but I don’t want to spend more than an hour or so doing that a day – unless we are talking a cupcake bike ride on weekends!  I have a full-time job and I don’t want to spend all my free time trying to burn calories off.  Exercise is fun to me and I want to keep it that way.

I guess I am just a bit more relaxed about the whole thing as long as I am not gaining more.  Then I tighten things up again.  Then I relax. I don’t want to be someone who white-knuckle rides on the scale and is paranoid about eating.  I finally am in a pretty good place  with food, other than over snacking at times, and I do not want to ever associate food with guilt again.

One blog I love to read is by Dr. Yoni Freedhoff called Weighty Matters.  He really has a great way of viewing weight loss in the context of real life and not a weight loss bubble.

He recently had a post about all or nothing thinking.  The title is pretty awesome in itself and if I was a quote person, I would probably hang it on my wall.  All Or Nothing Thinking Will Always (Eventually) Get You Nothing

Ain’t that the truth?

The other thing he has stated a few times is this: “Life is about the healthiest life that you can enjoy, not the healthiest life that you can tolerate.”

I think that plays a role in my maintenance journey.

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Make sure you read about “Through Thick and Thin,” at my fellow AIMers’ blogs for their thoughts on this topic!

Lynn @ Lynn’s Weigh

Debby @ Debby Weighs in

Shelley @ My Journey to Fit

Cammy @ The Tippy Toe Diet

AIM: Adventures in Maintenance is Lynn, Lori, Debby, Shelley, and Cammy, former weight-loss bloggers who now write about life in maintenance. We formed AIM to work together to turn up the volume on the issues facing people in weight maintenance. We publish a post on the same topic on the first Monday of each month. Let us know if there is a topic you’d like us to address!