Mood:  energetic

So, out with the old and in with the new!  New program, that is!  I loved doing the OPT program that Leigh Peele wrote, but I needed a change, so I'm starting a program written by Rachel Cosgrove for the Women's Health Big Book of Exercises (a must own for ANYONE who exercises, IMO).

Its a 12 week program, consisting of 3 different cycles.  Goal is to drop at least 1 jeans size and 15+ pounds, so we shall see!

 I am still LOVING my Go Wear Fit.  I wear it everyday, mostly to make sure that I am not eating too much for what my caloric expenditure is.  Its really eye opening to see how realy active I am on the weekends, and what a sloth I am during the work week!

Posted by Jamie at 11:37 AM EST

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Mood:  lucky

Well, I survived my wisdom tooth extraction.  The first two days went fine, in fact, I was eating Skittles and rice cakes on Friday.  I think that was very ill-advised, because I developed intense pain on both sides.  I thought for sure I had developed dry socket!  I staggered through the weekend, doping myself up on Vicodin and Tylenol PM... only to learn on Monday that I just had food stuck in the holes.  The oral surgeon gave my a syringe to rinse out the particles, and its been smooth sailing ever since! 

Starting the following Monday, on November 9th, I joined an online challenge.  Normally I never do these things, but this one actually has some great prizes and an actual chance that I could win.  I had to enter in my weight, my goals for the challenge, and pictures.  Fun stuff.

 This was my original entry:

 1. Name- Jamie
2. Age- 32
3. Weight- 192.5
4. Height- 5'10"
5. Location- Massachusetts

6. Goal For Challenge- decrease scale weight to 182, improve hip flexor length and increase mid-back strength (to improve posture), hold plank pose for at least 90 seconds

7. Reason For Goal- I need to improve my core strength after having a baby, and my job causes me to have shortened hip flexors and a rounded back posture (aka desk job slump). Obviously, I also still have a lot of fat to lose as well.

8. Long Term Goal- Ultimately, my goal is to be around 160 or 19-20% body fat. I want to look like a slightly curvier version of the typical Hollywood actress- maybe something like Kim Kardashian.

9. Of note: I am 5 days post-op tooth removal with two, possibly three dry sockets, am on Vicodin and have stuffed clove oil soaked gauze in my sockets, have had the bare minimum of water to drink today, only some cold soup and a bowl of oatmeal to eat, and am feeling intensely sorry for myself. I think I am also retaining about 20 pounds of water.

Poor me.

 Anyways, I'm feeling tons better this week.  I have been able to eat meat now for a few days, so no more excuses to eat ice cream and pudding.  I did do the mobility program almost daily.  I only hit the gym twice though, which is completely pathetic.  This week my goal is to hit the gym three times and do some extra light cardio at home, and to increase the protein intake dramatically.

Here goes!

Posted by Jamie at 1:18 PM EST

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Mood:  hungry

Boy, its been a while since I updated.  I done been on vacation, people, but not from working out and trying to eat right, and learning new and cool stuff about fitness...

I'm still plugging along with the OPT program, and am in the beginning of week 8, which is similar in scheduling to the 1st three week, but the style of lifting and cardio is different.  Basically, I do 4 days of superset lifting routines and 4 days of interval cardio, with 1 day of rest.  I haven't been 100% perfect with getting all the workouts in, unfortunately, but I think I've been pretty good with the calorie intake, which for these weeks is about 1750 cals per day with 40% of those from carbs, 35% from protein and 25% from fat.

Another bump in the road came when I started taking my BC pills, which apparently cause you to "cloak" water in the amount of 2-3 pounds, so my nice 6.5 pound loss went down to 4.5 lbs.

Last week on Wednesday I took my current weight and retook my bodyfat using the same device, and lo and behold- some great changes!  

Starting Statistics
Weight	198	lbs
Body Fat %	34.5	%
Fat Mass	68.31	lbs
Lean Mass	129.69	lbs
Current Statistics
Weight	193.5	lbs
Body Fat %	31.4	%
Fat Mass	60.759	lbs
Lean Mass	132.741	lbs
Results
Fat Lost	7.551	lbs
Lean Mass Gained	3.051	lbs
Weight Lost	4.5	lbs

 Everyone has been complimenting me on my progress and people are amazed that I have only lost 4.5 pounds.  Me too, but I'm happy with what I've done so far.

Course, I'm not quitting aiming for fat loss until that body fat reads somewhere between 20-22%.

So there.

Posted by Jamie at 2:00 PM EDT

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Mood:  chillin'

This week is supposed to be a rest week for exercise, and a lower calorie week with 50% protein intake, 30% fat, and 20% carbs.

 I'm grumpy without carbs people.  Thank god I'm not exercising because it'd be vicious.  I had a mild "re-feed" this weekend when we went to Boston and I consumed a lobster the size of my head.  With drawn butter and everything.  Delicious!!!

Weighing in tomorrow, but I'm not sure what to expect.  Going on vacation tomorrow too for 5 days in Maine, and you know vacations are!  Wish me luck :)

Posted by Jamie at 2:31 PM EDT

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Mood:  celebratory

I'm 9 days in to this program and kicking ass!  I've exercised every single day, ate clean every single day (in fact, I haven't had a single cookie in all that time- shocking, I know!), and eve gotten up several times in the morning to do cardio.

As of last Friday I had gone down from 198 lbs to 195 lbs, and the scale has been up since then to 197 yesterday, 196 today, and hopefully 194 tomorrow :)

Most notably though, I'm back in all my size 14 capris and a few of my size 12s from 2 summers ago before I got pregnant.  My stomach is really flat, and you can actually see my muscles in my arms!  You can see the cuts!

I haven't been this motivated since before my wedding, and honestly, I might even be more motivated than then.

Is there a such thing as fat loss euphoria?  Hmm....

Posted by Jamie at 10:51 AM EDT

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Mood:  bright

Down 0.5 pounds today, which is actually better than I feared because I am a) probably premenstrual, and b) weaning and thus emotionally eating, and c) tired.  I don't know what the connection is either.

This week went well- I did two a.m. HIITs, two great weight workouts in the gym, Pilates several times during the week, and salsa class last night.

Eating has been so-so.  Maybe a C+?  Am working on revving it up to a solid B next week.

Goals for next week:

1.  196.5 on the scale
2. 3 A.M. HIITs
3. 3 successful gym workouts
4. Solid B eating all week.

Posted by Jamie at 1:21 PM EDT

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Mood:  a-ok

Finally.  I think I might have some ass muscle in there.

Yesterday was legs, and it was an extremely annoying workout because the gym was packed.  I can't wait for the really good weather to hit so all the annoying "bad weather only" gym peeps get up out of my gym.

I got up this morning to do my HIIT and almost passed out.  I had forgotten how hard it is to do cardio, especially intense cardio, on an empty stomach.  I was able to do my cardio, take a shower, put on my makeup and clothes, and dry my hair before all in an hour's time!  I am SUPERWOMAN!

Week 4 of my HIIT program has me doing this: 

• 5 Min Warm up
• 8 Sprint Intervals - 30 Seconds each
• 8 Rest Intervals - 30 Seconds each
• 5 Min Warm Down  

Its a crazy intense workout, but the advantage of doing it over steady state cardio is that it is over quickly.  You really feel like you have done something, but without hanging out on the treadmill or elliptical for 45+ minutes.

Eating has been pretty good too.

Breakfast: eggbeaters with veggies and cheese, 1 packet oatmeal

Lunch: salad with turkey deli meat and watermelon

Dinner (planned): Meatloaf, roasted potatoes, broccoli

Snacks: Fiber one bar, apple, and the naughty stuff: 2 pieces of Dove chocolate, 1 mini York patty, a bite of a cookie, and a bite of a muffin.

C'est la vie!

Posted by Jamie at 11:24 AM EDT

Updated: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 12:13 PM EDT

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Mood:  down

Not sure why exactly, but I fell off the wagon this weekend.  It probably had something to do with making these delicious jumbo peanut butter cookies for Walter.  Or the two boxes of frozen cookie dough (so yummy right out of the box).  Or the lack of desire to do cardio.  Or the lack of time to do any Pilates.  Or the strong compulsion to mess around on the internet instead of spending time making healthful snacks and meals.

That being said, I have 4 days starting today to make the most out of until weigh-in on Friday, where I WILL be 197.

Posted by Jamie at 2:39 PM EDT

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Mood:  happy

Down to 198.5 today, which is a half pound down from a month or so ago when I finally broke the 200s to 199.  This is very slow going, but clearly I'm on the right path with the exercise and cardio plan. 

Yesterday was supposed to be HIIT, but I couldn't drag myself out of bed yesterday morning and after work I came home to help Walter with dinner before I headed out to salsa class with DeShaun.  I took the beginner class with him for a change, which was fun, but a little boring.   The teacher of that part of the class is about 4'5" and male, but dances very femininely, which is hysterical to watch.  He also is good at teaching the very very basics, but sucks at teaching leaders the intricacies of leading.  I think DeShaun would do better in the advanced beginner class up in Northampton or even just learning at home with me.  Maybe he, Walter, and I can set up our own mini-salsa class, learning off youtube and from the instructional DVDs that I bought way back when.

This week's goals:

1. Down to 197 lbs.
2. Tuesday and Thursday a.m. HIIT
3. Saturday UBWO
4. Squeeze in 3 Pilates sessions during the week at lunch
5. Take measurements and body fat at end of week

I will get to 197 this week :)

Posted by Jamie at 11:26 AM EDT

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Mood:  accident prone

Yesterday was cardio day and it was a killer... I am following a HIIT prgram that is slightly different than the BFL style HIIT.   Its an 8 week program that starts slow with 6 fairly easy intervals and increases to 15 very intense intervals.  I am on week 4 now.

Week 4 Interval Training Program

• 5 Min Warm up
• 8 Sprint Intervals - 30 Seconds each
• 8 Rest Intervals - 30 Seconds each
• 5 Min Warm Down
• Do the routine 3 times in the week with a rest day in between each workout

Its challenging, and fortunately not boring.  I cannot stay on a cardio machine just endless moving at a steady state any longer.  I don't know how I used to do the stair stepper in college for 45 minutes! 

I did great yesterday with continuing to eliminate sweets, although today I had a little bit of chocolate.  I'm well under my points allowance for the week, so I think I'm due for at least a pound lost on Friday.

I BETTER have lost a pound. 

Posted by Jamie at 3:43 PM EDT

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Mood:  a-ok

So Friday I restarted my slightly more strict, but still forgiving, workout and diet thing.  Basically I am stuck around 200 and want to get down to 170-175 eventually, but I'd be psyched to get down to 180 by mid-fall.  Its very frustrating, but completely my own fault, as I have had tons going on and have not really been focused on it lately.

 So Friday was a great day, ate really clean, had a great workout at the gym.  Weighed in on Saturday at 200, which was 2.5 pounds down from the previous day.  So far, so good.  Saturday I ate fairly well, but went out for dinner and drinks with two old college friends.  Overall, it was definitely a success because I really only nibbled on everything, despite drinking two Mojitos and a glass of sparkling wine.  Those Mojitos tasted like the best drink I have every had in my entire life.  It could have been that I was just happy to get out though!

Most noticeably, I have had no really sweets except a couple bites of the "Tres Leche" cake that we all shared.  That is major, as I have a huge sweet tooth.  The less I eat of sweets, though, the less I want them, so I'm off on the right foot so far.

Today everything is back to normal- I'm at work and I plan on having:

1.  egg beaters and oatmeal (done)
2. Fiber One bar (done- although I need to come up with a better option)
3. Salad with steak, apple
4. Rice cakes with peanut butter
5. pasta with chicken sausage, salad

Tonight at the gym is legs day, and I'm trying a new workout.  I got this from Stumptuous.com... the full workout is as follows, and I am doing Day 1 tonight:

 day 1 - legs

1. Squat
   3 sets x 6-10 reps
2. Split squat or lunge
   3 x 8-10
3. Stiff-legged deadlift
   3 x 8-10
4. Calf raise
   3 x 6-10

Day 2 - chest, shoulders, triceps (or “push”)

1. Bench press or dumbbell press
   3 x 6-10
2. Standing shoulder press or side press
   3 x 6-10
3. Dips OR assisted dips (if you are able to do these)
   3 x 6-8
4. Ab crunches or Swissball crunches
   3 x 8-10

day 3 - back, biceps (or “pull”)

1. Deadlift 3 x 6-8
2. Pullups OR lat pulldowns
   Do 3 sets of as many as you can do for pullups (if you can do more than 6-8 pullups at once, put a 5-lb plate between your knees and do them), 3 sets of 6-10 reps for lat pulldowns
3. Dumbbell row 3 x 8-10
4. Back hyperextension 3 x 8-10

 Should be great- quick, not complicated, and tough.  A nice change from BFL's method, which after 5 years is really getting old.

Posted by Jamie at 11:14 AM EDT

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Mood:  irritated

Darn it.  A whole month has gone by and I have had NO progress?  Literally.

 I need to get aggressive and bust out of maintenance.  I have a plan and it involves some sacrifice, but I think I can manage it.

1. Wake up at 5:45 for a.m. HIIT cardio on cardio days (T,TH,Sat)
2. Change my upper body and lower body routines (BFL style has me in a rut)
3. Cleaning up my diet (cut out the salty stuff and take out most of the sweets)
4. Get back into my daily lunchtime exercise
5. Consider upping my caffeine midafternoon with another dose of green tea
6. Go back to daily blogging when possible.   It helped before to keep me accountable.  I got sick of writing "I had more Oreos today."

All this stuff takes major organization.  Good thing that Organized is my middle name.

Posted by Jamie at 10:29 AM EDT

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Mood:  chatty

I started WW online back in September.  I was miserable then.. still wearing my maternity pants and a size 18.  Nothing fit right.  My body was still a complete disaster- no stomach muscles, aching hips and knees, no coordination.

Fastforward to the present time- I've lost about 25 pounds since then (on top of the 30 pounds that I've lost since giving birth).  I'm knocking on the door of the 190s!  Its been 20+ months since getting pregnant and being around this weight range.  My body is finally starting to feel good again- I have so much more physical energy.  I have better balance.  I feel cute- well, cutER.

I'm getting there!

I've started taking salsa lessons again.  Its amazing how uncoordinated you can get in 20 months.  I almost fell over at least 5 times last week in class.  It was so embarrassing, but I stuck it out.

I've been going to the gym too- at least 4 times a week, and I'm getting much better at sneaking downstairs to get on the Precor while Mia's sleeping on those nights that Walter works.

Hey.. I'm getting ME back!  I'm so happy about it!

Posted by Jamie at 10:24 AM EDT

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Mood:  a-ok

Finally, two months later and I am again seeing progress.  Alot of that is learning that I've been eating too many calories, and I had a "duh" moment last week when I realized this.  Basically, I've still been following WW online (its so easy!) and figured out that because Mia now eats solid food, even though I am still nursing, I am no longer producing as much milk and therefore my body doesn't need quite as many calories.  As soon as I figured that out, I swear, my body instantly dropped 3 pounds.  So freaky!

I am now down from my highest weight of 255 to 205.5.  I am still up from my prepregnancy weight of 195, which was then, in turn, up from my desired weight of 175.  But I think 50 pounds is pretty damn good.

I did squeeze into some of my old size 14 jeans yesterday though.  That was an amazing feeling!  They were still uncomfortably tight, but ina couple weeks when I have lost another couple pounds, hopefully they'll fit much better.

You know what's weird?  My thighs are about the same size as they always were (although less muscular, unfortunately) but my waist is a good 5 inches larger than its ever been.  Weird feeling, considering my waist was always the thinnest part of me.

Oh, and my body fat percentage?  Ugh.  You don't want to know.

Posted by Jamie at 1:41 PM EST

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Mood:  a-ok

Its been an eon, since I've been so focused updating my baby blog about Mia.  However, not everything in my life can revolve around Mia, so I suppose I'll have to come on here every now and then to give a fitness update.

 For the past three months I have been following WW online.  I'm actually having great results, considering that I haven't been eating all that healthy and haven't been to the gym in months.

 So far, down 45 total pounds from my highest pregnant weight.  30 of which came off magically in the 6 weeks postpartum, and these last 15 over the course of the 3 months.  However, I am stalled now, and need to (1) clean up my food intake, and (2) get my ass in gear and exercise.  My bones ache, my muscles are ridiculously tight, and I just feel flabby all over.

Enough of that!

Posted by Jamie at 3:24 PM EST

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Mood:  a-ok

As I promised, I'm going to keep updating until I finally get to present time....

On our second day in Prague, our first full day actually, we woke pretty late.  We were all so jet-lagged from being on a plane for so long, and from going out to that bar the night prior.  I think we woke up around 11 a.m.

After showering and dressing for the chilly temps (it was strangely in the upper 60s for those few days in Prague), Mom, Dad, D, Walt, and I headed out to grab some food and explore a little.  We walked right around the corner to enjoy a crepe (aka palichinky, in czech) at a delicious creperie.  I had one with apples and walnuts, and DeShaun had one too.  Our first time ordering from a totally Czech menu- kind of tough.  For the most part, all waitresses and waiters were very friendly and bilingual.  This particular one was pretty impatient with us and we weren't yet confident with our "prosims" and "dekujis."

I enjoyed my 7-up.  For some reason, the sodas are teeny tiny over there. 

We walked all over Old Town Square, which is absolutely beautiful and full of amazing architecture.

That crowd is gathering to see the astronomical clock, kind of a large coo-coo clock that has its 'show" every hour.  We watched it once, but it was amazing to see how many people would show up for each mini-show. 

All over the city there were beautiful buildings, amazing churches, gorgeous synagogues, and fascinating stores.  Most common were crystal shops, glass shops, shops that sold stacking dolls, and teeshirt/trinket shops. 

Oh- and money exchange shops.  Those were huge.  The Czech Republic still has the Czech crown, or koruna, and plan to go to the Euro in a few years, which will make everything drastically more expensive for travelers and citizens alike.

We did wander into this amazing marionette shop, and this was Walter's favorite:

We didn't have very much time to wander because we had an amazing dinner awaiting us at a restaurant in honor or Sarah and Petr's wedding.  Petr's parents treated us all to a fantastic "Prague Reception," where we were lucky enough to meet Petr's paternal grandmother and revisit with Petr's cousins and aunts and uncles.  Here's his adorable Grammy:

I had Beef Goulash with dumplings- probably my favorite meal of the whole trip- it was fantastic!

Sarah and Petr opened some presents, and we all ate and drank until we were pretty much ready to burst!  Afterwards, Petr and Sarah went off with the cousins for more drinking and hanging out, but most of us were pretty darn tired. 

The next day we had a HUGE day planned- Cesky Krumlov!

Posted by Jamie at 5:13 PM EST

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Mood:  incredulous

Can you believe?  I'm back!  I've been extremely remiss with updating this blog, especially considering the amazing summer that I had that I still haven't written about here.  I swear I'm going to remedy that starting with this entry.

The day after Sarah's wedding, after having a nice family brunch at the hotel, we all drove back to Mom's house and crashed, then repacked our stuff for the big adventure in Europe.  DeShaun, Walter, and I were all pretty exhausted, so I think there were naps involved.  THe following day we woke slowly, cleaned everything and got ready for our trek to the airport.

Mom and Dad had rented a big party bus to take us to the airport so no one had to figure out parking for 14 days.  The bus came a few minutes late, but we still made it over to the Liska's in plenty of time.  THe ride was really smooth and a lot of fun.  We sang and danced all the way into Boston!

At the airport, the line was abysmal, but we made it  through fairly well.  Since we flew at 9 p.m., we were already exhausted just by the time we made it through the line!

Once on the plane for the first leg of our flight, Boston to Frankfurt, Germany, we tried to make ourselves as comfortable as possible.  Those planes are absolutely enormous!  Think 11-12 people across, with three cabins, and two levels!  It felt like riding on a giant bus, and Walter was very uncomfortable.  Those plane seats were even tighter than usual, and would probably only accomodate comfortably a 5'3" woman who weighed 120 pounds.  Walter at 6'2" and over 250 was pinned in one position for hours.

Here Sarah takes a moment to educate us on proper hygiene:

In Frankfurt, the airport is very crowded and has many odd places to eat.  We found a fairly normal seeming sandwich shop, and ordered a bsiac turkey sandwich.  Only it was made with turkey, cheese, butter, and cucumbers.  Kind of an odd combination for us Americans, but it was food.  Then we rounded a corner and saw a Starbucks! We all hung out there for a few hours of our layover, then headed to the terminal for the second leg of our flight, Frankfurt to Prague.

You can tell Walter is not too stoked about his sandwich.

Here he is, happily working a crossword puzzle:

The flight went well, and we were picked up by two vans at the airport and taken to the apartment we were renting right in the heart of Prague.  Prague immediately struck me as the most beautiful city I have ever seen.

We shared an apartment with three bedrooms: one for my parents, one for Walter, DeShaun, and I, and one for Chris and Julia.  sarah and Petr shared with Tom and Annie upstairs, and Petr's parents stayed somewhere else entirely.  Here was our room:

This room was really comfprtable, and the windows overlooked the most amazing street full of great shops, bistros, bars, and even a bordello.  I loved looking out the windows and watching the people passs by.

Right below us was the best chocolate gelato in the world.  It was almost like mousse.  We immediately dumped our bags and headed into the Old Town Square to meet up with Petr's family members for the first time.  We stopped and grabbed the Czech version of hotdogs, which they serve with rye bread and mustard.  They tasted delicious!

After that, we ended up in the basement of a great pub, with our first try of Czech beer- the best in the world, according to Petr.  I normally don't like beer, but I have to admit that I liked it a lot!

After a bunch of beer, about half of us headed home to crash.  Big day the next day- exploring Prague and the Prague family wedding reception!  Stay tuned!

Posted by Jamie at 9:08 PM EST

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Mood:  incredulous

Shopping in Stop n Shop today, a cute little old man was bagging my cake mix, frozen pot pie, chips, and ginger ale (yes, it was one of THOSE days), and he made this coment:

"Wow, look at those shoes!  Pretty sexy!" 

Random moment of the day.

Posted by Jamie at 6:25 PM EDT

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Mood:  loud

Today saw me eating carrot cake at 8:30 a.m., chocolate covered graham crackers at 4, and cookie batter just 5 minutes ago.  Don't know why, but now I feel so bloated!  Oh well... a passing thing :)

I tried to edit photos from my sister's rehearsal dinner to add to this blog, but had some trouble with my editing software... suffice it to say, we all had a fantastic time and it can pretty much be summed up with this photo:

I stayed in the hotel room with Sarah that night, watching very weird shit on HBO (shocking to my newly married eyes), and listening to Sarah toss and turn all night... poor thing!  We woke up the next morning and Maria stole us both bagels for our trip to the hair salon.  Luigi's Hair Salon in Plymouth is an awesome place for an updo, let me tell you!  All of our hair was like art.  Here I am before and after:

Sarah of course looked amazing!

Of course, after the hair was all said and done, we rushed back to the hotel to don the dress!

(Not pleased about the side shot of my double chin, but hey- I wasn't the photog)

Doesn't my mom look beautiful?  My sister too, of course!  That's my mom's new diamond necklace.  Dad bought her jewelry for each child's wedding.  Not sure if she'll ever get jewelry again, but I'm sure someway, somehow there will be an occasion :)

On our way to the car, Sarah held it together so well, until she saw Jana, Petr's mom.  It was a beautiful moment.

No more little girl!  She's a married woman now!

Posted by Jamie at 9:38 PM EDT

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Mood:  energetic

First of all, so sorry to my dear friend Heather, who I had inavertantly left off my list of frequent readers.  Forgive me!

 Secondly, I am going to try and recollect all the goings on around Sarah's wedding to the best of my ability.  Forgive me (again) if I leave something out or "mis"remember a detail or two.

July 4th, the eve of Sarah's Bachelorette

Sarah and I drove into Boston on July 4th, to the Residence Inn on Tudor Wharf, and conveniently found free parking behind the hotel.  What luck, because parking was running $28/day!  We settled in, grabbed a quick (and also free due to a long wait for it) turkey club sandwich, then changed for our evening out.  We were headed to the waterfront for a special edition Salsa Cruise, which was going to be 3 hours of dancing and fireworks over the harbour from the boat at the end!  For such a special event, we had to get all dolled up.  I found a cute little faux wedding veil for Sarah to wear, and we had some fun with it.

We walked downstairs to the other girls' rooms, and met up for a few laughs and final touches on everyone's hair and makeup.  Fortunately, we grabbed two cabs very quickly to the Long Wharf, however, one cab driver was a bit more knowledgeable about the area and dropped half of us off right near where we needed to be, and Sarah and I and assorted others 3 blocks away.  Poor Jamie Jump had to walk in mile-high stilettos to the correct location, and just then... it started to sprinkle.  Fortunately, the cruise was rain or shine, so we knew we were getting on that boat no matter what.  While some of us took the dance lesson...

The rest of us tried to get drunk!  There was a cool little bar on the pier with some interesting characters around it.  Jamie asked this guy for his picture and he obliged!

After the lesson ended, we waited in a pretty short line to get one the boat.  Immediately I headed right to the buffet line- I was starving, as usual.  It was your typical Puerto Rican fare, pork, chicken, empanadas, rice with beans, plaintains, etc.  It was just like the food I ate in Guavate, Puerto Rico... remember the food that made me violently ill on my honeymoon?  Let's just say, uh, I should have known better.

Right away we started dancing.  The first floor was merengue, bachata, reggae, reggaeton, and some pop and regular hip hop.  I knew almost every song.  Upstairs was the hardcore salsa crowd, dancing on a piece of cardboard... wet cardboard at that.  I briefly put on my suede-bottomed salsa shoes, but changed just as quickly when I saw how fast they were going to be ruined! 

We all had some fun dances that night, but my most memorable might have been when Maria asked Johnny Giraldo from Salsa Y Control to dance.  He swung her around like a rag doll and made her look good doing it!  Pretty amazing! 

Later, Olaf from SalsaBoston.com spun Sarah and I gracefully around the floor, showing us both such a good time that I could have gladly danced with him all night!

The least enjoyable dance must go to this random guy, who was wearing Playboy Bunny PJ pants and a tank top.  I kid you not.  Our interaction went something like this:

• Him: You want to dance?
• Me: Okay, sure.
• Him: Do you remember me?
• Me: No, should I?
• Him: Yeah, you should.  I've met you before.
• Me: Ok, what was your name again?
• Him: Jose.
• Me: (thinking) Jose?  Such a generic name.  Do you know how many Joses I meet every time I go out?

However, what I said was, "Uh, okay." and danced out my song with him.  He was a kind of fresh dancer, so I made my move away from him as quickly as possible.

After the mishap with Mr. Playboy Bunny, we watched the fireworks (obviously amazing) and got off the boat to try and head towards Mojitos for the free afterparty.  On our slow and meandering walk there, we came across the Black Rose, a famous Irish bar.  We just couldn't resist taking a nice long rest... and ended up staying there instead of moving on to Mojitos.  It wasn't my choice of final destinations, but everyone needed a break and a beer, so that's what we did. 

What a fantastic evening!  I loved every moment, and I am pretty sure Sarah did too!

(One unpleasant side effect- while shopping in Marshalls the day after the party, 8+ trips to the bathroom did nothing to soothe the sweating, nauseous mess that I was.  I have never been so sick in my life- including that most horrible evening in Puerto Rico.  I will never eat comida criola again!)

Next time, the wedding day!

Posted by Jamie at 8:51 PM EDT

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