JEWISH FAMILY EXPERIENCES A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!

What do Jews do in Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? If family is nearby, it is a good day to get together as everyone is off from work. Of course, the movie theatres are open everywhere.  Problem is, we already saw the new Star Wars movie - What else is there to see? It is a common tradition for Jews to go to a Chinese Restaurant on Christmas Day. That option is unavailable to us as our daughter has declined a trip to Chinatown in Chicago. Looks like we won't be going sledding either.  Temperatures across the country are unseasonably high and there is hardly any snow cover anywhere. All retail stores close early on Christmas Eve so shopping is out of the question as well.  Although this brings us to our 'Christmas Miracle'.

My daughter and I often will take an evening walk to a specialty candy store on Michigan Avenue right on Chicago's Miracle Mile. Dylan's Candy Bar. This small chain of candy stores is owned by Dylan Lauren,  the daughter of internationally famous designer, Ralph Lauren.

As I review this photograph, my guess is that founder and owner of Dylan's Candy Bar, Dylan Lauren, spends more time counting  the money that the stores take in on a daily basis rather than consuming her product(s).

Among the reasons that I particularly enjoy going to Dylan's is that I can purchase some very small amounts of candy that is priced by weight. The best benefit of the trip to Dylan's is that  it requires a roundtrip walk of a minimum 3.5 miles and it is a good way to accumulate steps for my 'hungry' fitbit. I anticipated that the store would close early last evening. I checked the website and the store announced that they would close at 6:00PM. I timed my late afternoon 92 minute workout on the elliptical machine to end around 5:15PM. As soon as I returned home, I announced that I was going to go to Dylan's. My daughter is almost always ready to accompany me for this trip. I told her that in order to get there before 6:00PM we could not waste any time. We walked there at a speedy power walk speed of 5 mph, which is faster than my usual speed. Usually my daughter implores me to 'slow down' when we walk together. Last evening, my daughter was moving faster than me! We arrived at the store at 5:48PM. This was more than enough time to make our regular selections and be on our way. The only problem was that the front door was locked with a sign taped to the front announcing that due to the Christmas Eve Holiday the store closed at 5:00PM. My daughter was very upset and I admit I was not too pleased either. There were still some employees within sight and I knocked loudly, yet politely on the front glass door. An employee did come to the door and open it to find out what my 'problem' was. He explained that the store closed early for Christmas Eve and I explained that we checked the website and had just walked two miles in order to get there before closing time. After a few back-and-forths of us each repeating our cases, the young man offered to get the the manager. A young respectful woman came to the door and without too much fanfare, did let us in.  We quickly made our usual modest selections of some bulk candy and when we asked to pay - we were told it was a gift. On the way out, we were asked one more time if we had gotten everything we needed. My daughter, was very respectful of the gift and said that she did not think it was right to take more after we knew we would not be paying for it. It was precisely then that the original employee we spoke with asked us if Sara would like a 'gingerbread house.' A gingerbread house may not have been something that we would have purchased - but my daughter did have fun making the icing and decorating it. At first it looked like we were going to be locked out of Dylan's - but, we were let in, we made out selections, the store made it a gift to us and gave us a gingerbread house too! I don't want to be too dramatic about this: However, it was a 'Christmas Miracle' for our Jewish Family.

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My daughter had fun decorating this gingerbread house

My day started at the doctors office for my annual wellness visit. Everything checked out real well.  My doctor continues to be somewhat amazed as what I accomplished this year. I showed him by before/after pictures that I had posted on by blog just yesterday. Before I left, he said that I was his 'hero.' That may have been over-the-top, but I did get the impression that he might have told my story to some of his other patients over the course of the past year. Before I left, my doctor, who is about one inch taller than me, and surely even thinner than I am, hugged me. I can not recall being hugged by any medical professional ever before. The best thing he told me was that my next appointment with him should be one year from now. What a great thing to hear from one's doctor!

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Your Food Diary For:

Thursday, December 24, 2015

BREAKFAST	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
NO BREAKFAST....FASTING FOR BLOOD WORK AT DOCTOR'S OFFICE
L U N C H
Marianos - Spicy Curried & Kale Walnut Salad, 1 Cup	360	36	26	6	460	0
Mariano's - Asian Broccoli Kale Slaw, 1 C	200	28	10	4	520	0
MARIANO'S - HUGE SPINACH SALAD, 1 SALAD	500	0	0	0	0	0
Mariano's - Chicken Milanese (Estimate), 6 oz Chicken Breast	461	11	18	60	560	11
	1,521	75	54	70	1,540	11
D I N N E R FONDUE-SHRIMP, ROAST BEEF, BROCCOLI MUSHROOMS, BREAD, SWISS CHEESE
Shrimp - Raw, 10 medium	64	1	1	12	89	0
Wegmans - Deli Roast Beef, 2 oz (aprox.4 slices)	60	0	2	10	230	0
Broccoli - Broccoli, 1 cup	60	6	1	5	49	0
Mushrooms, white, raw, 1 cup, pieces or slices	15	2	0	2	4	1
Bread - Bread Baguette, 1/4 baguette	150	30	1	5	0	0
Emi Swiss Knight - Fondue Au Fromage Suisse - Swiss Cheese Fondue, 0.5 cup (57g)	260	4	18	16	720	0
	609	43	23	51	1,091	1
Totals	2,130	117	77	121	2,631	12
Your Daily Goal	4,507	563	150	226	2,300	169
Remaining	2,377	445	73	105	-330	157
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
	*You've earned 2,577 extra calories from exercise today

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       Your Exercise Diary for:

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
Walking, 4.5 mph, very, very brisk pace	29	368
Walking, 5.0 mph	19	405 <-speedy walk to Dylan's Candy Bar
Walking, 3.5 mph, brisk pace	25	236 <-slow walk back from Dylan's Candy Bar
STAR TRAC ELLIPTICAL	92	1,478 <-(resistance level set to '20')
MFP iOS calorie adjustment	N/A	90
Daily Total / Goal	166 / 30	2,577 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	902 / 210	13,293 / 4,130

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total calories consumed 2130 calories

total calories (5.25 miles, 92 minutes elliptical) 2487 calories

total net calories 357 calorie deficit

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fitbit day 113

26384 steps

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A girl and her gingerbread house... Shouldn't this be eaten once it's made? or is only for show?

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That is my daughter, Sara, peeking through the gingerbread house 'window.'

MARC BY MARC JACOBS

Somewhere within the past decade, the term, BLACK FRIDAY, became a marketing sensation.  When I was younger, Black Friday, simply meant the busy shopping day on the Friday after Thanksgiving that retailers finally went 'into the black' and starting actually booking profits for the year.  Nowadays, whether that it still true or not, is no longer the point.  BLACK FRIDAY, today, means that retail stores are making extraordinary efforts to earn the dollars of consumers.  Some stores offer impossibly low prices on very limited numbers of items, other stores have markdowns on the entire inventory of their store and still more stores open for business on Friday morning at ridiculous times like 5:00AM.  The latest trend has been for BLACK FRIDAY to start on Thursday.  More and more stores are opening sometime on Thanksgiving Day and then staying open all through the night until closing time on Friday.  In Chicago, we took notice of this trend at Banana Republic, The Gap and Macy*s. Our family had some minor shopping to do for the final preparation of our daughters' Bat-Mitzvah next weekend.  Me?  I am always looking for an 'excuse' to walk downtown and build up my 'steps.'  My family walked along Michigan Avenue, we took a detour to check out Millenium Park and then we finally headed to the legendary Macy*s store on State Street. (This location was the original home of Marshall Fields flagship store)  Before a dress and shoes were purchased for my wife and daughter - we stopped by the Marc Jacobs section where his handbags were for sale. Our shopping expedition was complete by 1:30AM early Friday morning, and since it was raining, we relented and took the subway home.  

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Yesterday morning, I awoke around 7:30 for my 10 mile walk.  Although when I started it wasn't exactly raining, it wasn't exactly not raining either.  The gusty winds were quite evident and the temperature had dropped around 20° from the relative warmth of the night before.  It wasn't too long during my walk that it started to unambiguously rain.  The lakefront looked much more like an ocean than a lake.  I was walking on a paved path close to the waters, and a wave surprised me and I found myself standing in 2" of cold lake water.  This made the last 1.5 miles of my walk just a bit more uncomfortable.  (note to self: when the Lake Michigan waters are so evidently choppy - stay away)

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Your Food Diary For:

Friday, November 27, 2015

BREAKFAST	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
Quakers - Rice Cake Lightly Salted, 14 Cake (9g)	490	98	0	14	210	0
michiganApples - red delicious apple, 1 large	130	34	0	1	0	25
Kind Healthy Grains - Dark Chocolate Chunk, 1 bar (35g)	150	23	5	2	70	8
	770	155	5	17	280	33
L U N C H
Libby's - Whole Kernel Sweet Corn, 1 3/4 cup cooked	210	32	5	7	700	25
Campbell's - Home Style Mexican-Style Chicken Tortilla Soup, 2 cup	260	40	4	14	1,700	8
	470	72	9	21	2,400	33
D I N N E R
Bobak's - Polish Sausage, 1 link	230	1	21	10	0	0
Wegmans - Herb Stuffing, 4 oz	160	20	7	4	360	2
Broccoli - Broccoli, 1 cup	60	6	1	5	49	0
	450	27	29	19	409	2
S N A C K S
WHOLE FOODS 7700 - ORGANIC DATE PIECES w/OAT FLOWER, 80 g (2 TBSP)	240	60	0	2	20	44
WHOLE FOODS 8497 - CHERRY VANILLA GRANOLA, 77.0 g (3/4 cup)	336	56	10	7	84	21
	576	116	10	9	104	65
Totals	2,266	370	53	66	3,193	132
Your Daily Goal	5,043	630	168	253	2,300	189
Remaining	2,777	260	115	186	-892	56
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
	*You've earned 3,113 extra calories from exercise today

Your Exercise Diary for:

Friday, November 27, 2015

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
Walking, 4.5 mph, very, very brisk pace	132	1,968
Walking, 3.5 mph, brisk pace	123	1,091
MFP iOS calorie adjustment	N/A	54
Daily Total / Goal	256 / 30	3,113 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	1050 / 210	16,306 / 4,130

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total calories consumed 2266 calories
total calories burned (10 mile walk) 1968 calories
total net calories 298 calories

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fitbit day 86

40912 steps

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ten mile walking streak reached 19 days.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

214.8 lbs

I weigh 214.8 lbs.

I lost 2.2 lb this week

I have lost 94.2 lbs in 339 days. Today begins Day 340.

I will always be at the beginning of a journey that never ends.

I weigh 214.8 lbs (339 days ago I weighed 309 lbs)

I have lost 30.48% of my weight since Dec 24.

I have a BMI, body mass index of 28.73

I had a 42.0 BMI on Dec 24 just 339 days ago (Class III obesity)

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My daughter does not share my opinion that this is a clever photograph.