Secrets Revealed

My girl and I do a lot of outings to the Town and Country Village, a fifty some year old plaza of shops across the street from Stanford in Palo Alto, that was refurbished a few years ago with fresh Spanish tiled roofs, vibrant Palm trees, and some really good new stores.

For instance, a cupcake store that carries delicious cupcakes made of only local and organic ingredients. If you don't believe me about how good they are, just ask the UrbanToddler or look at this long line from Valentine's day that took some people 45 minutes to get through. That is 45 minutes worth of an accompanying child saying "I want a cupcake" each and every second of it.

This picture has been cropped to protect the privacy of an anonymous cupcake lover.

And Day One. A store and resource centre for new parents with all kinds of classes and a knowledgeable staff to boot. They can help with anything when you are a new parent. And I mean anything. Cracked Nipples, The Right fitting Nursing Bra, A Colicky Baby... Just run in to the store and you will leave feeling much better. I guarantee it.

And then there is Mayfield Bakery and Cafe, which you have heard me swoon over on many, many occasions. And if you don't believe how good it is, then just ask Ms. Rice or Mr. Jobs, my fellow Mayfield buddies!

Anyways, I digress. Our outings to Town and Country usually consist of a visit to Book's Inc., West Coast's oldest independent book store, where my daughter and I browse the various sections, sit on the carpet and sing a song or two, should the mood strike us, and spend a wonderfully long time in the kids section, followed by a visit to Mayfield bakery for one coffee and one croissant. By the way, an entire afternoon could flash by in bliss with this itinerary.

Last time we were at Book's Inc. I picked up Bob Greene's latest book, because I really needed to find out about the secret Barriers to Weight Loss. I found most of the book to be right out of another well written and well researched book from an author with much less celebrity pull than Bob Green, The Appetite Awareness Workbook (which I highly recommend).

But there were a couple of nuggets of wisdom in Bob's book that rang a few bells for me as far as my barrier to weight loss:

Barrier 1) An Aversion to Discomfort and Pain... No Kidding!?

and

Barrier 3) My Pleasure Seeking Physiological Wiring

Stay tuned. I will report back if I ever find the answer on how to overcome these DARN barriers.

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