Here we go

Vacation was AWESOME. Wish I could be on vacation all the time. We got home earlier today and the kitties had forgotten us. Not quite the welcome I was hoping for, but I played with them a bit and gave them treats and petted them and they've come around.

As far as my goals go, I'm doing okay. In the two weeks I was gone I smoked only 2 packs of cigarettes, and it would have been less but we stopped at a couple of casinos.

We did really well at buying locally! We went to a farmer's market our first day there and the food we bought there lasted us about half the week. When we went out to eat we only ate at local places, except for 3 or 4 times. We got Culver's on the way there, ate at a BBQ chain based out of Memphis while we were in Hot Springs, got pizza from a chain based out of Michigan while we were in Gatlinburg, and then got Arby's on the way home. I really didn't want Arby's, but my husband got sick of trying to find a local place to eat at the side of the highway. I would have been happier if it were a chain that wasn't a fast food place, or Subway, because at least it would have been more nutritious.

We ate a lot of Mexican food! We like Mexican anyways, but when you're looking for a local restaurant, Mexican is pretty easy. Chinese was easy too. We also tried Thai food for the first time. I forget what I got, but it was really good. And spicy.

I didn't go hardcore on the no high fructose corn syrup (damn you Dr. Pepper, why do you have to taste so good!!) but when stopping at a gas station to get something to drink, I found some soda made with real sugar. It did cost a little more than a fountain soda, but it kinda tasted a little like Mexican Coke. And if you've never had Mexican Coke, you are missing out. I'm starting to notice a lot more places carrying it now. I wonder if the Coca-Cola Company will ever get the message that we like it better? On the subject of soda made with sugar, when they brought back the Pepsi and Mountain Dew Throwbacks and the Heritage Dr. Pepper, we bought the hell out of it hoping that it would show Pepsi Co that we prefer our soda with sugar and maybe they would keep the Throwbacks and Heritage on the market. Since we went from buying no soda to buying lots of it, we thought it might make a difference. Maybe if more people had done it, it could have.