We had a lovely week. We met with some people visiting here from Birch Bay for dinner on Thursday.  We met them at the Thanksgiving dinner at Semiahmoo. They're both very interesting, and we're glad we got to know them.  Steve has gained another fishing buddy and is anxious to take him to some Canadian rivers.  Otherwise, this has been a relatively uneventful week. Steve and I are hanging out together, doing our workouts, having our lovely little lanai meals, and enjoying being healthy.  We definitely hope things stay that way.  Even though we will miss some of our family, we're looking forward to a lovely Christmas gathering this afternoon.  Two of Jake's friends will be joining us for Christmas dinner.  One is a vegan, so I'm adjusting certain menu items to fit the requirements. It's no trouble, and I'm learning a lot about accommodating these differences. Almost everything I'm serving is keto-friendly, so I'll do fine sticking to my diet. I'm still losing weight and will be 15 pounds away from my goal weight by the end of this month. I think I should be at my goal weight by the time we return to Birch Bay. I'm looking forward to getting back to a healthy weight.  At this point, I'm feeling so much better, having dropped so many excess pounds.  It's incredible how being overweight affects everything from walking to breathing to sleeping.  It is so much easier to navigate through life with less bulk.  I am sleeping better, and I feel cheerful for the most part.  I know I've done myself a favor by losing these extra pounds because weight loss usually means a reduction in blood pressure and cholesterol.  It also reduces my risk for diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and osteoarthritis.  My joints feel better already.  I am so happy I got the semaglutide support.  It has made all the difference!

​     This past week was hectic. Aside from our usual activities, it was Jake's graduation week, and a lot of things were going on. One outstanding highlight was Jake's ring ceremony on Friday evening. The ceremony inducting him into the material engineering group was lovely. We had a wonderful dinner afterward at a Himalayan restaurant in Waikiki. Then, on Saturday morning, Jake graduated.  He was with a huge group of students, which was a lovely sight! We're so proud of him. Steve and I attended the Nutcracker ballet for the first time on Sunday afternoon in Honolulu. We try to see a play or ballet during the Christmas season every year. We've seen the Nutcracker in Houston, Washington, DC, Seattle, and Vancouver, BC, and now, Honolulu, Hawaii. We also enjoy seeing Christmas plays, but we have not found any in Hawaii this year. We've seen A Christmas Carol many times in several venues and will miss seeing it this year. Steve is a great participator, and he goes along with all of my plans. Some people from Birch Bay are visiting Hawaii, and we plan to meet for dinner on Thursday.  We're looking forward to seeing them.  Another interesting thing happened this week. I happened across an interview with Oprah Winfrey regarding her dramatic weight loss, and she is making the same claims that I am making. She committed to Weight Watchers and an exercise program without results for years. Finally, a weight loss specialist helped her understand why this happens to some people and debunked the "calories in, calories out" fallacy. Of course, I've already developed a better understanding of the issue, but her interview validated my decision to use simaglutide support. The good news is that it continues to work if I do my part.  Like Oprah said, obesity is "a predisposition that no amount of dieting is going to control."

     I had a huge surprise this week. I googled my dad's name, and his and my mom's names came up as a collection archive at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. I was so amazed to see this because I'd been waiting a long time for their artifacts to get archived, and now they are! I am so happy about this. My father protected these items for more than 70 years. He even attached sticky notes explaining each item and why it was important, and I knew he wanted something or someone to find a place for them. Initially, I tried taking them to the flight museum and in the Houston area, but they didn't do anything with the collection, so I retrieved everything when we moved to Birch Bay. I contacted the Museum of Flight and described the items, and they were thrilled to receive the collection. However, that was two years ago, and I'd been waiting and waiting for word on the collection publication, and suddenly, there it was! I'm relieved because the public can now access these items and information, particularly WW2 researchers.  Seeing that my parents' items are now archived, available, and protected made all the effort worth it.  We're settling in here, and our little space in Waianae is still beautiful. Every morning, I sit on my Lanai and look at the beautiful view of the mountains before me as I enjoy the breezes coming down from them. We've been a lot less busy this week. Because we're selling one of our cars, we've spent some time meeting with people, but that has been pretty easy.  I also made two huge pots of pork asada for Jacob's friend, who was married on Saturday. The asada was a huge hit. I made it with hatch red chili, which is very flavorful. Of course, the chili flavor makes all the difference, and hatch red chili is the best! I walk along the bay every morning and do Zumba using a YouTube playlist. In the afternoons, I go with Steve to 24-hour fitness and hang out at the pool while he does his sauna, steam room, and laps. We have a lovely life. I'm sticking to my diet, and it's working out very well. I try to prepare everything for dinner before heading out to the marina in the evening. Steve loves sitting there and fishing with people he met several years ago. We brought a suitcase of crab with us, and he enjoyed passing it out to everybody like he's the crab Santa in the neighborhood. His Hawaiian friends and everyone he interacts with greatly appreciate him. He's a great guy. In the meantime, everything's going well, including my weight loss.

     ​Oops! I forgot Monday's post.  For the first time, I missed my self-imposed deadline! We've had a very busy but good week.  We're thrilled to be back in Waianae.  The weather is fabulous! It's been ranging from the mid-70s to the low 80s since we've been here, and it is such a blessing to be in a warm climate after cooling off so much in Birch Bay. We attended our son Jake's thesis defense on Thursday last week, and he did an excellent job! His committee was all smiles when we returned to the room, and they praised him and gushed all over us, so it was a wonderful experience.  Jake discovered a brand new material with a tremendous amount of capacity that will potentially work for a lithium replacement. It'll be exciting to see what happens in the end. I'm continuing with my hormone support for weight loss, and it's working very well. Everything else remains the same. I'm sticking with keto for all the reasons I've discussed in the past, including control of seizures, which is the primary reason for me. However, it's working now for faster weight loss. I'm continuing my exercise program, and the combination is excellent and effective. I am so grateful that I'm finally losing weight more quickly. I was getting very discouraged because of how slowly it was going. I would have eventually lost the weight I needed, but it would have taken a long time. I've been doing a beach walk and trot and am also using a Zumba playlist since I don't have a Zumba class to attend, but it's all working out. We have several events coming up soon.  We are looking forward to attending Jake's graduation in a couple of weeks and will be attending the Nutcracker ballet as well.  I'm eating my delicious lau lau again. It is delicious and keto-friendly.  We have an extra car here in Hawaii, and so we put one of them up for sale. I hope we get it sold.  That'd be a perfect end to another great year.