My best friend is coming soon for a visit. It's her year and I'm incredibly excited. I've been eating mostly protein (very few carbs) to eliminate the "cruise weight" I put on. I got most of it off and then. Bam! TOM! Nice. The water weight left; however, hubby returned with goodies from Vegas that we can't get here in Utah. We had a splurge day and bam! The pounds came back.

The good news is that I'm doing the protein-style diet again and the weight is steadily creeping off. I know more would leave if I could just increase my water (and finish putting together the treadmill that we bought --hopefully, hubby and I can finish it up this weekend).

I didn't start round three after the cruise, as I had planned, because my girlfriend's flight was made for only one month after our return. It would have been such a drag to be in the midst of a round with a friend here from out-of-town (way out of town). No lunches or late night snacks. So, I will start it up the Monday after her departure. I'll do a short round to try and get into the low 130s this time, which should have me stabilize, eventually, into the high 130s. The round should end just before Thanksgiving, putting me in P3 two days before. No cornbread dressing this year, but plenty of turkey and veggies. I'll be able to eat the "happy" goodies at Christmas (in moderation, of course).

Well, at least for now. I put on ten pounds (of mostly water) during our vacation. Thankfully, four pounds disappeared two days after we got home. We went to Vegas the first day and played around that evening. The next day, we drove to Orange, California and stayed two nights. The second day we were in California (Sunday) we spent time at one of my favorite childhood parks, Knotts Berry Farm. The girls loved it. Dad was less than thrilled about the lines, but he admitted to having a good time, too.

Monday, we drove to Long Beach port and hopped onto our Carnival Cruise ocean liner to Mexico. Sweet! Our first cruise! Lordy, Lordy did we have fun! We did really well with our eating the first two days, but things began to go downhill once they had their cheesecake buffet (seriously! I had to have some!). I figure that I was contributing to the consumption of American dairy, which is always good. The other items were tantalizing as well and I think I could have done far worse, if I'd let my curiosity of every dish get the best of me. More than anything, the salt was the biggest culprit.

In Mexico, I came to a churro stand where (I kid you not) I had the best churros of my life, and I'm really not that big of a fan. We also had the most amazing fish tacos, asada and tostadas ever. Hubby went back for round two, they were so good. My kingdom for another fish taco.

We went to shows, participated in karaoke and family karaoke, we ate, we swam, we debarked and visited Santa Catalina and Ensanada. What a wonderful vacation. When can we do it again?!

Once the cruise ended, we hoped in the car and drove back to Vegas for one night. We stayed at Tahiti Village (very nice and hubby and I have agreed to stay there again without the children). We would have stayed there a lot sooner, but my mother canceled out on us for babysitting so, hubby had to cancel the reservation.

So, round 3 will not begin until the end of October, most likely. I'm doing a lot of protein and a cleanse to rid my system of all the yuck. I told hubby of my plans and he's still touting the, "You better not get too small," speech. I promised him I would not venture into the crack-look. It's not attractive, no matter what the media tells you.