Excuses, Excuses but So Much Fun!

My sister, Pat, has been visiting for the past week and we've had a great time together. We've done a lot of fun things and eaten a lot of good food. I didn't even think about "watching" what I ate, unless watching the butter melt all over my freshly baked biscuit counts. lol!

 Natchez, MS is just two hours away and has a large number of antibellum homes to tour, so that was our girls getaway destination. We started out having Sunday brunch at The Carriage House at Stanton House. They have an amazing buffet with fried chicken, shrimp and grits, crawfish tartlets, cornbread, salads, crab and brie bisque, silver dollar biscuits, and blueberry creme brulee. Delicious. We rolled out of there and took our first house tour of Stanton. The house was amazingly grand with 15 ft (or so) ceilings and 12 inch thick walls inside and out. The furniture was opulent and the smell was delightfully musty! We headed over to Longwood next and took the tour there, walked the grounds just a bit, and wilted like true Southern belles. Since we didn't eat until 1 and begin tours until 2, we never did manage to make it to dinner. We were still quite satisfied when we settled down to sleep around eleven.

Monday served up a breakfast buffet at The Natchez Grand Hotel...biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, sausage, jelly and coffee. I stuffed myself with four biscuits (with an array of gravy, butter, jelly) and some eggs so I'd have enough energy to take more house tours. We started with Dunleith, a bed and breakfast, and got a personal tour since we were the only ones there. Next we went to Rosalee, the headquarters of the Union army while they occupied Natchez. I needed a bit of refreshment after that so we went to The Natchez Coffee Company and had a raspberry iced tea and a scone. The atmosphere reminded me a lot of Pinky's in South Tampa but it had more baker items and a larger dining room. Next, we headed out to Melrose, our last stop. Once again, we got a lot of personal attention because we were the only ones who ventured out in the rain to take the tour. Afterwards, we decided we had room for lunch at The Pig Out Inn. It's been in Southern Living magazine twice for good reason. It's great pork barbeque at a very reasonable price. We both ate pulled pork sanwiches topped with cole slaw and had a mini pie for dessert. Stuffed to the gills, we rolled out of Natchez and headed back home to West Monroe, where once again, we were too stuffed to eat dinner.

Pulled Pork at The Pig Out Inn

Tuesday brought a day of clothes shopping around town with chicken salad at Daily Harvest and chicken and dumplings and cornbread at Cracker Barrel. Today, we're rather done with eating. We're stuffed and paying the price. Simple is the key, especially since my disposal is broken and we're awaiting a service call. Who wants to cook and clean with only half a sink and the uckiness of disposal woes. It's a no cooking day of sandwiches, bagels, bananas, and whatever else we can manage without having to wash more than we'd like. Thank goodness. I can't imagine putting anything heavy into my body just now. I'm going to have to go float in the pool to get some relief from the weight I'm sure I put on.

I'm not expecting a loss and will be surprised if I don't see a gain at my Saturday/Sunday weigh in. And that's okay. I keep reminding myself of my goal to change my lifestyle and lose weight slowly. I'm not looking for rapid, temporary loss, but long term overall better health and weight. So a week of indulgence isn't going to set me back a bit. It was a pleasure and I'm glad to move on and away from it back to normal routines and normal foods.

I'm hoping to go back to Natchez for the balloon festival or the Fall Pilgrimage and pig out again. There's more to see and more to eat. I can't wait!