Back to Chi-town

Some of you knew I had a trip back to Chicago this past week. It was 5 days and 5 nights away from my family! That was really weird. Thank goodness for my in-laws who came and stayed with the girls the days Stephen had to go to work. You think you are indispensable as a mom, and of course you are in a lot of ways. But when I called that first night and no one burst into tears at the sound of my voice and Odessa only talked to me in "dog-speak" and Ada was interested in grandma and grandpa, I knew they would be fine and focused on my conference. I went for a Dietetics Association Conference and squeezed as many continuing education credits out of it as possible. Getting on the airplane and hanging out at the airports was so strange. No one needed me, I had nothing to do. I felt really hollow inside- kind of emotionless because usually with the kids I am in a constant state of change and this was just . . . nothingness. Of course it was also really nice flying without kids- I could just read and do whatever I wanted instead of trying to run a 3 ring circus keeping them busy.
I got to stay with my friend Nicole and her family while I was there. They were so nice to put up with me invading their space for so many days! Nicole kind of hosted a get together at her house Sunday night so I could see some old friends from the ward. Yes, some of my friends are taller than others although this photo exagerates it : ) Danica, you would have been the middle somewhere, right?

I had planned on, but missed seeing the Dubiels, who are in D.C. with an emergent medical condition- here are prayers going out to you, Leslie and Morgan.
It was nice to get to play with Nicole's son, Josh while I was there. He and Odessa were best buds and I was sad I couldn't bring her and watching him made me miss her. Here is an old picture of them at Navy Pier, the night before we left. Since Josh hasn't seen her since that night, he assumes she lives there now- how cute is that? They were so great together- I can only think of one time they ever fought over toys or anything else, mostly they giggled and could play for hours jumping on beds and laughing at each others antics. We miss the Kestens!
Other fun tidbits: I got a killer work out in with Hillary at Bally's on Saturday morning and then we went to Walker Brothers for breakfast- my favorite and the most sinfully delicious breakfast place I have ever eaten at. Saturday night after enduring a non-inspirational conference opening session with Chris Gardner (The Pursuit of Happyness) I got to go see our friend Erin's new place and eat at a Mediterranean restaurant in Hyde Park. I miss that about Chicago- the meats. The deep dish pizza, the gyros and Italian beef sandwiches at every mom and pop place, the Mediterranean restaurants. We are excited to have Erin and Ambrose come stay with us next week! We will have to take them to what Seattle does best- Asian and Seafood.

The really important thing about this conference was that I got so much new inspiration to start practicing some nutrition counseling on my own. I have been toying with a lot of ideas for awhile now about how to use my training and still stay at home. I am going to try just offering some of my services for weekly meal planning, basic cooking classes and some nutrition counseling sessions. A lot of it will be via the Internet. I got an awesome tool at this conference- a personality test I can give clients that takes their results and helps pinpoint their personality obstacles to healthier lifestyle choices. It graphs their weakest areas and then helps me know how to counsel them according to what eating, exercising and emotional challenges they are facing. I was thrilled with this session and tool. I have always felt I need more psychology training to help patients make changes. This tool will help me with that side of counseling.

At a conference with almost 10,000 dietitians in attendance, you can imagine what the food expo might be a little bit like. Here is an opportunity for every new health food product to push their stuff and hope that all these RDs will recommend it to their patients and clients. Of course, they know giving us all free stuff is the way to draw us in, and women cannot pass by a free offer or a good deal. Reusable grocery bags was "the thing" this year, I came home with 12 of them. Every day I just ate lunch on the Expo floor. By day 3, my stomach had had enough of the protein bars, the organic crackers, the fortified juice, the probiotic yogurt, the sugar free sugar, the Acai berry stuff and on and on. All the nut and bean and dairy and meat associations were there- thank goodness for pork kabobs and lamb stew to even out all the snacky foods. But I was still a gurgling, urbling mess- they fortify everything with fiber! It felt good to have a hot meal in the evenings! And waking up at 2:30 am Central time to return my rental car and make sure I was to the airport well before my flight just about did me in, but I am recovering. By the way, here is a plug for Alamo. My "Economy" car rental (that I pricelined for a steal) turned out to be a Toyota Prius hybrid! What a strange and nice car to drive. Hardly used any gas, doesn't have a real key- just a power and park button and a touch screen for audio, climate control, you name it. It was a fun experience.
After 3 days of conference, I got to end my time in Chicago with some shopping downtown and an evening with the Kestens (whom I actually saw very little of some days!). We ate at the Tavern on the Park, right on Michigan Ave and off Millennium Park. Then we went to a members only viewing of the new Aztec exhibit at the Field Museum. It was really fascinating. I love the Field because it reminds me of Night at the Museum and it is what Odessa remembers most about Josh- going there with him was one of their last outings together. Here he is waving a hello message to her.Thanks Kestens for a great time. I can't wait to come back as a whole family someday!