Last month I was in Texas for three and a half days during which I gained 6 pounds. Ok – maybe some of those pounds were put on during the travel/flight days on each end of the actual Texas time but the point is…yikes!! I lost five of those pounds within days of returning home to my active lifestyle (both inside and outside the studio). But you see I do LOVE BBQ (and seafood and fried food and dessert and margaritas and oh yes – I even ate DONUTS). We don’t have donut shops around here. I don’t believe I have eaten a donut in a decade but in Lufkin, Texas there is a donut shop, a BBQ place, a taqueria and a beauty salon on every block. Thus after days of the “donut” billboards and storefronts I caved. Big time. Because who can really choose just one donut in a store FULL of them? Well – I did choose simply one (maybe two?) but then I ate bites of Jeffery and Dane’s donuts (and yes – the Apple Fritter Jeffery ordered was definitely the BEST). The donuts happened on the morning when we actually scheduled some fitness. We drove to town to run on a paved path through a lush park but which has a bad reputation for muggings and other awful “city stuff.”

Which brings me to the recent trip to Texas where I found myself wondering if the impromptu run at the Denver airport (full speed through 62 gates with cowboy boots) could possibly cancel the calories in the fried ham and cheese sandwich I ordered at a gigantic flea market/outdoor craft and antique fair. Two or three bites cured my curiosity (yuck) so I ditched the sandwich in favor of a crepe (which we also don’t have in big supply around here).

I'm back home on my mountain relishing the fresh (if chilly) spring weather - dreaming of apple fritters and seeking the perfect place to hang the beautifully inspiring ceramic skull.