Hey guys!

Hi y'all! I'm still on my summer vacation, minus internet, so I can't update my ticker :( However, it wouldn't be a positive (negative?) move as I've gained some weight while I was in Spain (you would have too!) or while I was at a number of picnics over the holiday weekend. I weighed in this morning three pounds away from my 50 pound goal, which is I think about a half pound from where I was when I weighed in before I went to Spain.

Spain was... wonderful. Fabulous. I can't use these generic terms to describe how beautiful the Basque country was, how wonderful my hosts were, how luscious the food was. If you are anything of a foodie, you'll love this information: the Basque country has the most Michelin stars per capita. I think I literally drooled when I found out this information. We had these lunches (which were the main meals of the day) that went on for seven or eight courses, easily. Lots of ham (some type of serrano ham is the local delicacy) along with fresh seafood and foie gras. I've never had foie gras until I went to Spain, but in being an Anthony Bourdain fan, I figured it was time I tried. Plus, I've always been told to try everything, because if you don't, you offend your hosts. I have to say, my hosts were surprised that I tried and ate pretty much everything. They imagined Americans to be picky about their eating, but when I told them that I was raised in a family of Italian immigrants (I'm first generation) they kind of got why I was okay with food experimentation.

I spent an afternoon wandering around by myself and fell in love with the city, the ambiance, the lay back and have a cafe con leche whenever I wanted attitude. I want to move to Europe. Actually, I want a Fulbright so I can get paid to live in Europe. That's my new work-related goal.

Pictures will come when I get back from my post-Spain vacay. Unfortunately, I didn't load the program necessary to transfer my pictures to my laptop, so they are stuck on my camera right now. I promise that you'll get a whole post dedicated to Spain pictures when I get back to my desktop!

So, I've been back in the States for a week now. When I got back, I was religious about my every other day runs. I even got to the point where I did a 2.5 mile run in 25 minutes. Okay, first, there was this weird looking guy walking down one of the streets that I run and I did kind of kick it up a notch. Second, some woman pulled over to warn me that I was running towards a bad neighborhood and that someone might mug me and take my Ipod Shuffle. Um... that's my neighborhood, the place where my mom still lives. I can't change that, but I'm also not going to be scared of it. And if someone wants a Shuffle full of teeny bopper music, they can have it! So, yes, I booked it. But I've been having some weird knee pain on and off this week. It's not actually knee pain, but more pain behind my knee. Either way, I've laid off the running.

Now back to my vacay! See you guys next week :)