It's been awhile since my last blog post but sometimes when you live, work, eat, play (especially the "work") part, you can't always find time for blogging. Over the course of two posts, I'm sharing the Top 20 Things I Learned on Vacation. Here's the first ten.


1.) Doing a few minutes of work each day of vacation is better than doing a full day of work each day.

2.) Pizza on the grill is actually quite tasty (albeit a lot of work if you're feeding a bunch of people and need to make multiple pizzas). A true exercise in logistics and coordination.

3.) No matter how many times you tell people how long you will be away for and when you'll be back, they will forget and still ask you multiple times.

4.) If you haven't been running in awhile (or run more than 3 miles the last few times you have been running) and you go out on a 5 mile run, you will be exceedingly sore the next day and get reacquainted with muscles you didn't remember you had.

5.) Reading nutrition books on vacation can help keep you focused on eating healthfully.

6.) It takes more than reading books on nutrition to help keep you focused on eating healthfully while on vacation. You still need some good old fashioned discipline. They should really bottle that stuff in travel sized containers.

7.) It's ok to take a short break from otherwise healthy eating habits as long as it's not a permanent break-which can be the dangers of a two week vacation.

8.) Two and a half year olds are actually smarter than 38year olds-even ones with fancy schmancy psych degrees and certifications in behavioral motivation. And--it doesn't really matter anyway because they're so bleeping cute, they will win either way.

9.) In addition to regular paprika, there is a souped up version of it called smoked paprika that makes a kick ass rub for shrimp and sausage skewers (thanks Epi app).

10.) Even though the Expendables was a highly entertaining movie with amazing fight sequences (albeit slightly unrealistic that none of them sustained major injuries while taking on entire armies with full ammunition), it provides a painful reminder that there is a shocking lack of female "bad ass" roles out there. Is there not even one women in Hollywood who's Expendable worthy? As a woman, a martial artist and an HR professional, I find this a glaring oversight-particularly in 2010.

Stay tuned for the second ten next post. In the meantime, have fun as you live, work, eat, play.