Traveling

I'm a Nor Cal girl. I'm used to local food, public transit, and beautiful Spring colors. On Thursday night I left my state of abundance to go to my cousin's Bat Mitzvah in Boston's suburbs. We stayed in a hotel with huge rooms, abundant parking, trees everywhere you look, lots of history, Styrofoam plates, and a buffet breakfast. It's a nice change of pace, though I'm glad I bought my own coffee cup so I can save a little bit of Styrofoam from the trash.

Maybe it's the nature of traveling, but I was awed by the plate sizes during this trip. Our meals offered two to four times my normal meal size of rich, delicious food.

I tried to portion my food correctly and only eat when I was hungry. I even left food on my plate most meals! As a devoted follower of the clean plate club, this was a very big deal for me.  I'm not sure if I ate within my calorie range, but I was impressed with how thoughtful I was during this trip around food.  We'll see what the scale says on Monday.

I exercised when I could - once in the hotel's gym and once by taking a walk through Massachusetts' beautiful trees. I was exhausted most of this weekend because we flew in on a red eye, and I did not want to move Saturday during our down time. But my family got up and went on a walk through a beautiful state park. It was so nice to be with my family, and even better to be with them while on a nature walk. Moving my body always wakes me up, and the walk was the perfect pick me up.

My family's small and spread out, and we rarely get to see one another. It was such a treat to be with everyone, even if we only could fly in for the Bat Mitzvah.

And, in case you were wondering, the Bat Mitzvah was beautiful. I cried at multiple times during the service. It's such a beautiful event when a child can take on the spiritual responsibilities and ritual pose needed to lead a service for the first time. She beautifully sang the hymns her parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and ancestors before have sung for centuries in a language she's not familiar. What an accomplishment! And what a proud moment for her family!

I feel blessed to be able to be apart of this weekend and wish I could stay longer, but am also so excited to be back home.