Swimsuit Shopping ... ugh...

So this weekend was painful.  I fly to "the Other Big D" (Detroit) on Thursday for a long weekend for the bachelorette party for one of my two sisters-in-law to be.  Both my youngest brothers are getting married this year, one in Detroit in a few weeks.  I think I posted pics of the dress and the shoes already.

Anyway, I wasn't originally planning to go to her bachelorette party.  I adore her, and I think she is an awesome match for my baby brother, who is far and away the sweetest one of all of us.  But I don't really have any vacation time left at work (that whole "going to Europe for a few weeks right after you've started a brand new job" thing).  Plus, I'm about 10 years older than her and all of her friends.  And do you really want your fiance's older sister at your bachelorette party?  Like if she kissed some random guy, or had someone sucking off one of those necklaces, maybe it would bother me, I don't know.

But she has repeatedly been telling me how much she wants me to come.  I figured she'd invited me somewhat out of obligation -- as a member of the wedding party, and as the groom's sister -- but that she really didn't care too much if I wasn't there.  But she convinced me otherwise just by the fact that she kept asking and asking if I was coming.  It made me feel reallly good, and I decided to go for it.  I figured since she kept asking, it meant she actually really wanted me there, it would have been easy enough to let it go when I said I didn't have the vacation time if she didn't want me to come.

So I bought my plane tickets.  Going on Thurs, coming back late on Sunday. 

And then I got the invitation in the mail...

"One Last Fling Before the Ring."  Cute.  "Come join us for a relaxing weekend of fun in the sun and sand."  Cool.  It's at a family cottage a few hours north of Detroit along one of the Great Lakes.  Awesome!

But also enclosed was a packing list:
Bikini
Flip-flops
Sun tan lotion
Towel
Pillow and blanket
Toiletries
Panties (small) for a game
A bottle of your favorite liquor

Ugh!  Almost every single thing on that list makes me think I shouldn't have bought plane tickets to go.  I'm way too old for this stuff.

Bikini -- well that's not going to be fun for anyone.
Flip-flops -- not a good idea for me given my history of foot problems and the fact that my mileage is climbing
Sun-tan lotion -- NOT!  I used to love tanning but the skin cancer hype is finally getting to me, so I'll go with sunscreen and a huge hat instead
Towel -- this I can handle, though of course it's horribly inconvenient when you're flying and trying to cram everything into a small suitcase
Pillow and blanket -- does this mean sleeping on the floor?  Because I am WAY WAY too old for that.
Panties for a game -- sure, but I have to focus on ignoring the mildly creepy fact that my sweet little baby bro will be seeing this stuff (needless to say, I bought something fairly conservative for her)
Bottle of your favorite liquor -- I think I'd be down for the count for all of next week if I drank that much.  Way too old to be drinking like that anymore.  When I was 25, like all of them, it might have been fun occasionally, but not so much at 35 when I feel like it kicks my @ss for about 3 days later.  It's just not worth it to me anymore.  I still drink some, but less and less it seems.  Wine at dinner less than once a week, sometimes a drink at a happy hour less than once a week.  I'm just not so into it.  But since we're staying at the cabin almost the whole time, I can't even make my light-to-non-existent drinking useful by offering to be the designated driver.

So I'm positive I'm going to have fun spending the extra time with both of my bros' fiancees, I'm just not so sure I'm going to really enjoy this weekend. 

It makes me feel old.

But I decided to go bikini shopping anyway, in case I didn't feel old already, and still carrying a lot of post-marathon/Italy pounds.  What a great way to make me feel even fatter and older.  Yikes.  Those girls are going to get quite a reality check when they see me.  It could be like one of those "scared straight" programs for kids.  Like girls, don't eat too much crap and drink a lot, and sit on your @ss hanging out w/o exercising, or this could be you one day... 

I've been trying to work out a lot lately.  Trying to get rid of the post-Italy pounds (and after I get rid of those I can get back to trying to get to where I'd like to be in the ideal world, but one step at a time).  But there is no question that it was a mistake to get measured for that bridesmaid's dress 2 months before the Boston marathon.  I should have known the combo of post-marathon weight and weeks-in-Italy weight would substantially change those measurements. 

But even though I haven't taken a single rest day in a couple weeks, it doesn't seem to be helping much.  I dropped a couple pounds really fast when we got back to the US (I gained about 7), but nothing seems to help with the others.  I finally am starting to feel like I'm toning up a bit and getting a little stronger, but I'm still running slow (on purpose partially, just starting to bump up the miles). 

I think my big problem is eating.  I'm eating like I'm still in marathon-training mode, and it's worse b/c I think being with hubby's family for Easter, which is a HUGE holiday in Italy, substantially stretched out my stomach.  I haven't had the will-power to cut back lately. 

So I'm going to focus on trying to eat pretty clean this week and hopefully I'll feel less bulky when I put on that first bikini on Friday -- but the bulky feeling will come back as soon as I'm around all these 25-year olds!  Maybe I'll have to get drunk so I don't feel so awkward!