hooray I survived

Well, after 3 weeks off I was back at it today. Spin and sculpt class. And I didn't die and feel all the better for it, although it was tough. I can tell I've lost a bit of muscle strength.
Between being sick and then the holiday and then killer jetlag with a clingy cold I just wasn't ready for morning workout. But I realized I was dragging out my holidaying and slothing and munching and such and if I didn't get back to it there would be much much to fix (as opposed to just a bit). I have been really non-attentive to my eats and I can tell...so last night was a final tasty meal of stuffed pork tenderloin and roast potatoes and some lovely wine to send off the holiday properly and today it is back to the regular healthy life of moi.
And here we are.

At the London conference...
can you tell I'm excited?!

And so I must get back to life with a capital L. I have crazy people to wrangle and labs to move. Finally over my jetlag and this cold has given up so I feel human again. I was surprised that we didn't take as many photos this trip...I was caught up in enjoying the moment and not photographing it this time (if that makes any sense) and it was fantastic. Got to learn a lot at international conference, present my poster and still have time for delicious meals and visits with old friends and seeing places I've always wanted to. We saw the royal observatory...prime meridian and watched the time ball drop. Had a picnic on the grass at the Naval academy. Wandered Greenwich and Camden and got a few neat toys...Wandered through Harrods, Hyde Park at sunset and even got out to see a favourite DJ of J's friday night in Camden and then took the night buses back to our hotel. While I was at conference J found a 200 year old umbrella shop and toy store. Adventure :) Then it was visiting with old friends. We had planned biking throught he country side but my friend K hurt her leg so we walked through her town in the sunshine (it was spring there!!) and had cider in pub gardens listening to live blues and watching the kids and dogs run around in the sun on a lazy sunday.
It was lovely. I'm sad to be back, but glad I went. Learned a lot and played a lot. As it should be :)

This weekend was mellow...seemed positively slow after all the crazy of late. Last week I had jetlag that kept me waking up at 4 AM so a few days I came in at 6 to work and got started on a lot of things I had to catch up on and actually got a lot done (noone there to bug me yet). Today is back to more crazy business as I have just 2 weeks of work before we all go hiking in Utah for a week. I've never been and I am so excited. My husband who is not very outdoorsy but loves to hike is both excited and nervous. I'm hoping we can keep him happy and enjoy the hikes in the desert. I can't wait :)  Just have to make it through a busy insane prove-my-worth time at work first.