Back From the Land of Loose Change and Flip Flops

With one wedding in Las Vegas, and another in San Diego a week later, more time was spent out of the gym than in it.

But I am back, and it is almost like starting from scratch.

I was spoiled on vacation, sort of. I slept each day until 6 a.m. -- which is truly 9 a.m. by my body's clock. And since I have been home getting up at 5:15 a.m. EST -- and BST, body standard time -- has been a challenge.

In Vegas, the first leg of my trip, my motivation to remain on the fitness wagon was still going strong, despite the exorbitant amount of money -- on top of your room fee -- that these hotels charge just to walk through the door of their fitness center. As if my husband wasn't donating ENOUGH of our money at the casino. . . .so every morning I would get up at 6 a.m. and walk the strip. There were only three types of people out at that hour in Vegas: those like me who decided to lace up their sneakers and take to the streets and not spend any more money than necessary to exercise; the homeless, who blend in with everybody else during the city's waking hours, but not so much at dawn; and those poor girls -- usually with their high heels in their hands and not on their feet -- stumbling along "The Walk of Shame" back to their hotel room.

But once we left Vegas and headed first to Santa Monica/Los Angeles/Hollywood -- which is a pit -- it was downhill from there. Hollywood itself was pretty scurvy. I feel safer in some of the bad sections of Boston after dark than I do in Hollywood during the day. Huge disappointment. Walked to the furthest coffee shop each morning to get my coffee, but did not stray too far from the beaten path for fear of, well, being beaten. No matter how hard I tried, I still screamed "Backwoods Tourist." The one redeeming thing: Starbucks on every other street corner, literally. Here, I have to go to the nearest Barnes and Noble for a Starbucks, and it's not like every town has a bookstore . . . Oh yeah, and In-N-Out Burger, that is just something to experience. But thank the God who created Calvin Klein and Levi's that there isn't one around here . . . .

On to San Diego, where, well, I was basically a bridal bitch. A bridesmaid. I was there to serve. But seriously, it was a great wedding and I was honored to be part of it. My friend is a Lt. Commander -- a doctor -- in the Navy (I am very proud of her, adn like to brag), her husband is a Captain in the Marines. It was a full-blown military wedding. It was a love story born in combat in the Iraq desert, and it was a very beautiful ceremony.

And then, after days in the desert, on the road, in the smog, in the sun and beautiful weather, just as I was thinking -- Hey, let's look at some real estate -- it was time to get back on a plane and go home.

And here I am. After a few stuttering starts -- due mostly to a hip injury (I think) got while hoisting one of our suitcases -- I am back!

Is there still time to get that beach body?