Living...After Midnight...

(I believe I danced to this Judas Priest song on Saturday night...but I can't be 100% positive)

If there is any actual science behind the "calorie confusion" theory, then I've done my part this weekend to confuse the hell out of my metabolism.

I've been eating very "low carb" for the past few weeks and it feels GREAT! Lot's of banana cream flavored whey protein powder (and the addition of work outs like "Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred" to justify the delicious muscle building smoothies). It feels good because I suspect I might be "carb sensitive" - I love 'em, but I feel like garbage after I eat the starchy stuff. I now eat those types of carbs in very limited amounts and only in one meal a day or every other day. I haven't noticed any big changes on the scale, but my clothes are getting looser. And I feel great! 

It just wouldn't be like me to me to stay in this uber-healthy mode without having a rockin'-partyin'-caloric blow out of epic proportions...and true to form, I managed to have the epic-est blow out to date.

This weekend was a busy one. Jacob had a baseball game, a friend celebrated her 50th with a house party in the afternoon, then the little league fund raiser - "Casino Night" was in the evening. All within a mile of each other and a mile of home. I'm loving our life here...really, truly loving it.

At our friend's party, we met a local musician, Michael McNevin, who invited us to his small studio space (Mudpuddle Music) in downtown Niles for a 6pm "Rapture Jam". We went, we toasted our good fortune with champagne and cupcakes, met some new friends, and listened to Michael and some of his musician friends jam with a couple of guitars, a stand up bass, drums, and a slide guitar. Lots of fun loaded into about 45 minutes (we had to get to Casino Night!).

The Mudpuddle is a great little space (really little - I think it's about 50 sq ft and fits no more than 20 people). It's right on the main street in old town Niles. Some of Mike's etch a sketch artwork is in the windows, you can't miss it!  You can learn all about Michael here: http://www.michaelmcnevin.com/ 

Casino Night followed: raffle prizes, drink tickets, Mexican food, DJ and dancing, gambling, parents ready to cut loose, etc. There may have been a small dance off incident with our neighbors and some words exchanged, but I won't get into that here. Suffice it to say, I'm not sure they should serve jello shots at these types of events. It was loads of fun though. (It was possibly loads of fun...or it might have just been a little bit fun, the fun being greatly exagerated by the above mentioned jello shots)

We had time for a quick "dive" into the Florence (the last local "biker" bar in downtown Niles - a town that used to have a couple of bars on each block, some of which I used to frequent "back in the day") where we were pleasantly surprised by some rockin' music courtesy of Jungle Rooster. A hard rocking band that is lots of fun to dance to. Lots. Of. Fun. To. Dance. To!  http://www.junglerooster.com/

Our neighbors, along with some of the other parents from the NCLL Casino Night, and even Michael McNevin himself, all ended up at the Florence around midnight. We decided it was time to go.....

Because this blog is mostly about my fitness and diet successes and snafus, I should add here that I did nothing but eat and drink beginning at about 4pm and continuing into the wee hours. But I DID dance my A$$ off in at least two of the venues, so I think I broke even.

It was a fun night, and I think Rob has been officially indoctrinated into the Niles culture. We met lots of locals and were welcomed like family. This is a great community! And they know how to rock....(and folk rock) out.

And now I remember why I don't party like I did when I was in my 20's. I'm not in my 20's. It hurts the next day.