Listen to your body--it knows what it's talking about.

Lesson learned. I can only cheat on the diet so far. Last night my parents took me and Taylor to The City (SF) to eat a lovely dinner at a fancy restaurant. I decided not to be a big fat pain and insist on a place that serves food I can eat (no MSG), so I would eat whatever they had. I can recover after I get back to Utah, right? Also, I really love Chinese food, and don't really love cooking it for myself.

First we stopped at Target so I could get some new pants, since I fell down and ripped a big hole in mine about five minutes after I got dressed for the evening out. Cleaned up the bloody knee and complained about how stupid I am for a while, and that got me a free pair of adorable hot pink pants. Good deal. Thanks, Dad.

Next we drove to The City in my parent's adorable little convertible PT Cruiser, while I sported my new pink scarf in manner of Jackie O. Tried to go to a bunch of clothing outlets, but realized about halfway through our search that the article I had printed off the Internet was fifteen years old, and someone had demolished the Esprit building in the interim. I took this as a personal insult, since it's been there since I was a kid, or since Esprit got started, whichever came last (probably Esprit). Not having much luck with the outlets, we drove over to Japantown, which was infinitely more fun. This was partly due to the fact that there weren't scary people milling about in the streets.

Japantown happened to have my favorite Japanese soda, which I've been searching for ever since I left the country. I purchased an 8 oz. bottle for about three dollars and drank the whole thing without offering my family a taste. They can't miss what they don't know anything about. Also purchased darling chopsticks, since my family has bitten the ends off all the ones I have that are about fifteen years old, and thrilled to the Sanrio store experience as if I was a teen again.

Then came dinner. Nob Hill Fairmont Hotel has a fun restaurant called the Tonga Room, where you pay $25 to park your car and another $20 just to listen to the live music. You can guess the food ain't cheap. I ordered the Imperial Meal with my dad, and proceeded to stuff myself on Mongolian Beef and steamed asparagus. All very lovely, except the part where we couldn't hear each other speaking/yelling because the band was too loud. But they were good, so we gave them a break.

Drive home, and bed. Woke up about 3:00 a.m. with the worst stomach cramps I've had in a long time. Still recovering. Lay there thinking, "I should NOT have eaten all that MSG." But it was so good! Now, instead of helping my sister get ready for her baby's blessing brunch tomorrow morning, I get to lie on the couch and watch BooBah with my neice. Am I lucky, or what? Next time I want to get out of some work, though, I think I'll just fake a migraine. If I can figure out how to make my left eye droop on command, I'll have it made. Then I won't have to run to the bathroom every five minutes and miss the show.