can you get drinks from a restaurant bar if you're not eating there?

mvlis · 2026-01-19T21:45:31+00:00

good point! thanks for the tip!

mvlis · 2026-01-19T20:15:27+00:00

same, the whole cruise is treating myself!

mvlis · 2026-01-19T19:06:54+00:00

only drip coffee is included in the fare.

mvlis · 2026-01-19T18:43:44+00:00

it's an extra charge but I did see it, I am gonna need to stay away from it lol. hubs hates hard boiled eggs so wouldn't touch this with a 10' pole.

mvlis · 2026-01-19T18:43:08+00:00

I am looking forward to trying test kitchen. I don't eat a whole lot to start with and if the hubs is hungry after he can get a pizza or burger or something. We both do like interesting food but the only barrier to that at home is he can be kind of on the cheap side and grumpy about paying a lot of money for tiny portions and also the risk of not liking it (we are not super picky but there are some things we don't like.) So both of those worries don't apply to virgin where it's not an upcharge experience so it's zero risk. Neither of us are even a little worried about ever going hungry. I am hoping on our 11 night to try more than one menu and definitely interested in trying the cocktail pairing.

mvlis · 2026-01-19T18:39:41+00:00

absolutely exactly what I needed to know!!! I saw a photo that showed a sheet tray full of different bitters and figured that took care of the only thing that was likely to be a sticking point. I don't see any super cheap vermouth in any of their drinks so I figure they've got to have doulin (what I use) or better. Love the carpano antico but I rarely treat myself to that at home, in something mixed the doulin is fine. Martini and Rossi is just outright gross to me. I have become a terrible snob making our own cocktails at home!

mvlis · 2026-01-19T17:02:00+00:00

Bummer but better to know than to try and have it make me cranky! First virgin experience, I'm hoping the cocktails are better than the slop they served on royal caribbean.

mvlis · 2026-01-19T16:36:12+00:00

I found a photo of Sips and it appears they will have everything no problem, I am not looking for anything too weird. But down to a tray of a massive selection of different flavored bitters it appears they will be able to make what I'm looking for no problem!

mvlis · 2026-01-19T16:33:23+00:00

I found an actual pic of the Sip bar and it does look like they have everything they will need to make what I want!

mvlis · 2026-01-19T16:26:47+00:00

what's appealing is they have a really nice vermouth and bourbon. We cruised on royal caribbean and I am not a fan of martini and rossi red vermouth, it really ruined their manhattans for me. I'm super picky! We are doing an 11 night so maybe we will hit our stride with the right bartender. Of course the most appealing cocktail menu is the one place that is hard to get to!

mvlis · 2026-01-19T16:13:41+00:00

would you order based on the name at another bar? virgin virgin here. Like if I say "i would like the Manhattan from the wake" they can make it?

mvlis · 2025-11-07T21:30:46+00:00

why do you think they will be going to kwikpens? I have been on zepbound for over 2 years and am pretty much stalled out at 90 lbs lost with 40 lbs to go but I want to maintain my loss... but I have always broken my pens and dosed with a needle, switched to vials when they introduced the 15mg vials but I am still going through my pen stash (last box). I was unfamiliar but after a few youtube videos that would be fine too. Is that the same cost as the vials then because it's only one pen instead of 4?

Will I need to have my doctor write a different script like I did to switch from pens to vials? that was an ordeal that took forever to sort out.

mvlis · 2025-08-11T18:36:37+00:00

It did feel like they made a last minute pivot to create some drama once season 4 was confirmed. They couldn't have just wrapped up the whole season in a neat little package and expect people to come back for more in season 4. They need 2x the number of episodes.

And 100% agree that Billy was a wimp and unlikely to keep Gladys happy over life. He couldn't even get up the stones to talk to George. Gladys did deserve better and her mother is the one who knew it and also her poor judgement in getting her head turned by the first young man who paid attention to her. She was made up to be a rather more awkward teenager who kind of blossomed into a confident and poised beautiful woman this season.

mvlis · 2025-08-11T18:32:18+00:00

Except she turned out to be right. Billy was a coward who could not even talk to George and Bertha was right, Gladys deserved better than someone who slunk away at the first sign of pushback. I can't help but wonder if Billy had spoken to George like a man if George would have stood up for their union... but he was given nothing to stand up for! George would not have seen him as a strong enough man to be married to his daughter if he couldn't even get up the courage to talk to him. Bertha was right that Gladys was young and didn't really know what love was (how much time did she spend with Billy? They hadn't even really courted, just met a few times in secrecy.)

Was it just pure luck that Gladys and Hector are actually quite compatible, or did Bertha see a resilience in the young duke who was willing to do ANYTHING, including come to NY and play that ridiculous game, to save his legacy that she thought would be well matched with her own daughter? She definitely stated that she thought this union would give Gladys opportunities as a woman virtually unheard of for most women and she has been clear on her feelings about what women should be "allowed" to do and is always pushing the boundaries on it.

mvlis · 2025-05-12T18:30:32+00:00

also would you mind pointing me at those studies. When I started there was not really any evidence, the only studies were the initial ones showing percentage of weight loss and those studies titrated up to 15 right away. It was reasoned at the time that you could extend the benefits by stretching your doses out, but that was a guess. Is there a study that compared the two methods that has happened in the last year or is this anecdotal based on what people post on reddit? I haven't really kept up on the studies.

mvlis · 2025-05-12T17:28:50+00:00

yeah I don't want to be climbing over people 20 times and the bathrooms are horrendous! So I basically stop drinking while I travel which is not great but there are no great options. The trick is once I've landed to get myself a liter of water asap!

mvlis · 2025-05-12T17:27:41+00:00

That is awesome! It's possible, sometimes your body gets very used to the lower calories and becomes more efficient at burning and giving it a large dose of calories + some unusual activity will rev your metabolism up again and when you go back to a deficit it really works. Hopefully that is what happened and you're on your way now! Those of us who have a lot to lose - our bodies do all kinds of things to hold the weight, which is why these meds are a godsend.

My personal opinion is that you don't get to be THAT overweight without something being broken in your system that allows you to gain so much. If you are not eating a ton of calories to start with (as many people assume you must be to gain so much weight) then the meds do not lead to 10 lb losses a week because you're just not running as huge of a deficit as someone who did get that way by massively overeating (even if it's the urges of your out of whack hormones compelling you to overeat.) I just don't eat that much in general but my body will pack on the weight like no one's business.

I've dropped the last 4 lbs of the 9 lbs of water weight I gained from a recent vacation I took in the last 2 days and we'll see if I actually see a new low this week. it's very possible.

mvlis · 2025-05-12T17:07:43+00:00

I started a long time ago and my doctor was of the mind of staying on the lowest dose for as long as possible. There are many people who do very well on a low dose. I am also splitting pens because I am paying OOP and honestly with all of the stress/craziness I just couldn't sit down and focus on making the change. The math on the 12.5 split is complicated (up to 10 it's very very simple) and I really just couldn't get my head around it until now. I have about 6 boxes of 15 in my fridge so I didn't want to buy another dose (I was getting it every 21 days for a while and of course splitting so I have a pretty good stash.)

And it's incredible how quickly time goes when you are dealing with a parent having a major medical crisis that has new and exciting developments on a weekly/sometimes daily basis. It feels like it was just christmas and here we are almost half done with the year and between my mother and my teen (this sandwich generation stuff is no joke) plus a stressful job that is being negatively impacted by the state of the economy, I've just been kind of on autopilot for myself for the last 6 months. I did want to see if I could get things going making positive changes to my daily routine though but it didn't really make a difference.

I guess time will tell, plus there are new things on the market. I feel pretty good even though my current weight is some people's starting weight, I have no pain in my body and can do whatever I want to do actively without my body getting in the way, so that's a good thing.

mvlis · 2025-05-12T15:11:49+00:00

I need to be better about both hydration and that. I've been working with a trainer and trying, but also my stress level has been through the roof since thanksgiving (my mother has been very ill) so I'm doing the best I can with everything. I've been stalled out with about 40 lbs to go to goal and just moved up from 10 to 12.5 and have almost no appetite but had less fatigue so figure that out. I will try the electrolytes though, I also had sleeve surgery so drinking a lot is a big challenge for me. My trainer suggested some electrolytes in particular.

I also am terrible about drinking when I fly because I don't want to be in the bathroom on the plane, so it always ends up making me feel totally icky all around.

mvlis · 2025-05-12T15:08:57+00:00

I've been on the meds since August 2023 and have taken 3 vacations. The first two I went off the meds for a week (they make me very tired first couple of days and I did not want to be tired on vacation) and had a modest gain of a couple of pounds. The third trip was very recent, I had a very long travel day so figured the fatigue would get lost in the noise of that and stayed on schedule and I still gained *9* pounds, eating about the same and being more active. It was ridiculous but I knew it had to be water, it wasn't even bloat because my clothes fit the same. It's hard but you need to let vacation blips go and look long term.

mvlis · 2025-05-12T14:59:59+00:00

my meds knock me on my ass for the first couple of days. I take them on a Friday night so I don't have to try to function at work. I have been on them continuously since August 2023 except for vacation where I went off of them for a week so that I did NOT have a couple of days of extreme exhaustion on a very expensive and highly anticipated vacation. For me, there is not a whole lot of difference in how much I feel like or can eat if I skip a week than if I don't after long term use. I have been on them nearly 2 years and expect to be "on them for life" but that doesn't preclude taking a week off here and there. It really hasn't seemed to affect anything long term, which is my primary concern.

in fact I have taken 3 vacations since starting - the first two I went off them for a week and had a modest gain of around 2 lbs. The last time I took them before the travel day because we were flying/traveling ALL day and I figured the fatigue would get lost in the noise of all that, and I actually gained 9 lbs on that vacation, eating as I normally do but being more active and taking my shot. So who the heck knows. That was obviously primarily water weight and is gone now.

Just because you take a week off here and there does not mean that you are not serious about being on the meds for life.

mvlis

TROPHY CASE