How did I let it happen? How did I wake up one day to find myself at 286 pounds and completely miserable in my own body? It happened, I can't blame anyone but me. And only I can fix it. So I am. On December 23, 2009 I had Lap-Band Surgery with Dr. John Marsden. I'm down 100 pounds so far with about 25 to go.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Scrambled Brains

I can't believe BOOBs is in 2 days. I still feel like I have a billion things to do before then - both at work and at home!

We've got a pretty big website update scheduled for Monday the 3rd which means I have to have everything done before I leave at noon on Thursday. I'm getting close to being done and I'm sure I'll make my deadline, I just don't like having to rush.

I haven't even started packing yet! But I usually don't until the day before. And since I'm not a clothes horse like a lot of you I won't be bringing 14 bags with every single piece of clothing I own. Hee hee :) Although, I have had a few assurances from the likes of Beth, Dawnya and Krystal that they will make sure I don't leave the hotel looking like enemy #1 on the fashion police's most wanted list.

Tonight I am going to my monthly Knitting Guild meeting. It is our first meeting of the season and I have to say that I'm not 100% thrilled to be going. The group is quite stagnant and if it wasn't for the fact that my BFF Debora is going to be there, I probably would skip it all together.

Last night I went to yoga, I've graduated to the Foundations level. No more Raw Beginner for me - whooooopie!!!!! It was pretty good and I think it is the place for me to be right now. I'm not quite there yet with my confidence and stamina for All Levels, but I've definitely outgrown Beginner. Plus now I will get exposure to some different teachers and start to meet some other people, so that is exciting!

Tomorrow night I am meeting up with some friends for more knitting. This time it is just a little informal group of girls that I hang out with some times. 2 of them had babies recently (one girl had twins) so we'd been taking a break to let them all get settled in with the new kiddos. I'll be glad to have that time with my pals again. I've missed them!

I got my hair trimmed and colored the other day .. I'm attaching a picture for your viewing pleasure. I seem to always be wearing the same shirt whenever I take a picture of myself! I swear I do own more shirts than just that one purple and gray one.


Have a great day everyone! And I'll see a lot of you on Thursday (or Friday) YAY!!!

Friday, September 23, 2011

BYOC!


1.  If you were a character on Friends, who would you be and why?

As much as I'd like to think I would be Rachel (gorgeous and put together), I am pretty sure I'm more Phoebe than anyone else. I'm a little bit nuts and tend to not worry about what other people think of me :)

2.  If you weren't in your current career what other career do you think you would have done?

I always wanted to be a singer. Like in a band. On the radio.

3. What did you want to be when you grew up when you were 6?

I never really had anything like that growing up. I don't remember ever saying I wanted to be this or that. I just enjoyed my life at the time. Dorky, I know.

4.  Do you think everyone only has one soulmate or true love? Or are there multiple people for everyone?

I honestly don't know. If you'd asked me when I was 18 and in love for the first time I would have said yes, everyone has a soulmate and true love exists. Now, I think that although it is possible for people to have a soulmate and find true love, that it doesn't happen very often and there isn't just one person for someone. I think you can make it work with many people, depending on where you both are in your lives and if you both want to. I guess after being hurt in the worst way, I'm a little cynical now. Sometimes it makes me sad.

5.  Repeat question.  Summarize your week in real life and in blog land.

Real Life: This has been a long week and I'm glad it is finally over. There has been a lot of garbage going on at work lately. Power struggles, ego wars, etc. It is exhausting. Outside of work, yoga was good this week. My house got cleaned yesterday and my cat is feeling better. So life is happy there. Plus fall TV has started back up, I'm going to a concert tonight with Beth, then Chicago next week with all of y'all and then to see Duran Duran with my BFF on 10/6!

Blog Land: I've been a big 'ol slacker. Partly because work has been sucking the life out of me and partly because I don't feel like I have anything exciting to say. I need to get better about that and find things to post about. Even if it isn't earth shattering, right? :)

Friday, September 16, 2011

Friday Randomness

I'm gonna shoot up this blog post. Get it? Shoot. Bullets. Eh, whatever .. here goes:
  • This has been a busy and productive week at work for me. This might sound uber geeky to y'all but I learned how to write the code for a web page to display alternate, static content when the main content is a Flash piece so that devices that don't support Flash (i.e. iPad, etc.) will still see something and not a blank screen! Hey, it's the little things you know?
  • I just caught up on reading and commenting on some blogs and I have to say y'all are inspiring.
  • I have officially gone through the entire Raw Beginner rotation for Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga now. I am ready to move on to the Foundations level, which is the step between beginner and all levels! And also, I love my yoga studio! I got my very own yoga mat the other day (in, what else, but Midnight!) and a yogitoes (Sutra Collection, Bay). My friend/yoga teacher says I'm an official Yogi now :)
  • I am getting so excited about Chicago! I've got all my reservations and tickets and everything ordered and paid for! I've been reading what everyone is saying about packing and what all to bring and how much, etc. I think I will go ahead and check a bag. I'd like to do some shopping while I'm there ... and to make that all possible we found out yesterday that we are getting our bonuses from work for the quarter next Friday. Yahooo!!!! 
  • I miss Beth. She's been traveling A LOT lately and so I've not been able to chat with her as much as I usually do :( I miss you BBF!!!!!!!
  • Monday is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. So, on Monday please refer to me by my official pirate name: Cap'n Avalon Leadblade. You can find your official pirate name here. :) Yarrrrrrrrr!
  • I made an appointment to get my hair done next Saturday the 24th so that I'll be fresh and pretty when I meet you all on the 29th/30th!
  • Blogger has a new iPhone app!!! I just downloaded it and it is free. Now I can blog from anywhere, yeah!
  • I love bullet lists. I love when people do just posts of bullet lists. It makes me happy.
  • I keep seeing the "10 Things Thursday" and want to do it but I always forget until Friday and think that if I try it then I'll have to do like "15 Fact Friday" or "17 Statement Saturday" and I don't know if I can come up with enough things to say. But I bet that I could since this is already my 10th bullet in this list.
  • Fall TV is back! I am addicted to TV. You can judge if you want, I don't care. Here is a list of what I watch: 30 Rock, Addicted to Food, Alphas, Being Human (BBC Series), Bones, Breaking Bad, Burn Notice, Castle, Community, Covert Affairs, Criminal Minds, Doctor Who, Episodes, Eureka, Family Guy, Fringe, Game of Thrones, Glee, Haven, Hawaii Five-O, Heavy, House, How I Met Your Mother, Human Target, In Plain Sight, Jeopardy!, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: UK, Leverage, Mad Men, Rizzoli & Isles, Royal Pains, Rules of Engagement, SNL, Suits, The Big Bang Theory, The Big C, The Closer, The Glades, The Killing, The Mentalist, The Office, The Vampire Diaries, The Walking Dead, Too Fat for 15: Fighting Back, Torchwood, True Blood, Two and a Half Men, Warehouse 13, White Collar. There might be more, but that's all I could come up with at the moment :)
    And here are the new things this season I'm going to give a try: 2 Broke Girls, American Horror Story, Free Agents, New Girl, Person of Interest, Prime Suspect, Terra Nova, Up All Night.
    What do you watch?!?!?!?!?!?!
OK, I think I've blabbered on long enough for now ... Have a great weekend!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Oatmeal and Star Trek: TNG

I just wanted to check in and say Hi :) I'm on my lunch break sitting at my desk having some oatmeal and watching Star Trek: The Next Generation on my phone via Netflix!

We had support group last night and it was good ... it gave me the courage to toss out an unopened bag of chocolate almonds I had bought and not eaten yet. Yay!

Tonight is yoga, this week is the warrior series and it is kicking my butt! Well, more accurately it is kicking my quads! So keep me in mind tonight ... I hope I don't collapse. Hee hee!

Have a great rest of the day everyone!

Friday, September 9, 2011

I thought Friday's were supposed to be good?

Mine started off yesterday actually.

A little back story: My middle kitty Nova was sick about 6 months ago but after some medication he got better ... until a few weeks ago. He stopped eating and lost weight and then yesterday he started back with the drooling. I called our "regular" vet only to find out that the doctor we saw last time is no longer with that animal hospital - which seems to happen every time we need to take one of the kitties in. I had just had enough and decided to find somewhere else to go. I found a family owned vet office about a mile or so from my house and called to make an appointment.

This morning as soon as we got out the crate we use to take them to the vet, Nova started drooling. He ran off and tried to hide. We got everything ready, and off I went to the vet with him. James couldn't go because he had to work at 8am and that was the time of the appointment. I'm driving down the road in morning school zone traffic looking for a new vet office I've never been to while trying to assure my drooling, whining, crying kitty that everything is going to be ok. I passed the place and had to turn around and go back. We finally got there and went in. I asked if they would go ahead and put us in an exam room while I filled out the paperwork because he was just miserable and had pooped in the crate (as he usually does) out of nervousness. Fortunately they were able to do that and I got him cleaned up before the doctor came in.

There was some good news here ... this new vet is awesome! He really took the time to talk to me and check Nova out and get a full idea as to what was going on. Based on previous tests from the other vet and the symptoms I was describing, he concluded that Nova has Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Great. Who knew cats could get that?! He gave Nova a shot of steroid cortisol to help with the inflammation and said the first thing we need to do is figure out if he is having a reaction to a particular food item (i.e. Chicken, Tuna, etc.) and the only way to do that is by trial and error. Yea! More good news. Sigh. Who knows how long that will take, but if it makes him feel better then it will be worth it. Just stressful.

THEN ... :) After I got him home and settled - thankfully James is working from home today - I finished getting ready and headed for work. I realized half way there that I forgot to take my crazy pills this morning. I was hoping that one day wouldn't make a big difference and that I could just take them when I got home. But as the day has progressed, I've noticed my nerves getting more and more frazzled. I've had a really hard time concentrating all day, and I have quite a short fuse when it comes to sounds. For lunch, a guy who sits opposite me had a huge drink and spent the next few hours chewing every single piece of ice from his cup. Then a lady a few offices down has been on the phone most of the afternoon - strictly using the speaker phone. Really? Is that necessary? Pick up the handset! Gah. Plus another guy in an office right next to me had a couple of loud and rowdy meetings. And other people interrupting my work asking over and over when this one particular thing will be finished - even though I've told them as many times that I'm waiting for more information from an outside source before I can finish anything. Why don't people listen?! I don't get it.

But now, the day is nearing the end and right after work I am going to get a pedicure and that makes me super happy. I will get some much needed solitude and pampering. Then tomorrow I am going to get my eyebrows done so I look presentable when I see you all in Chicago! Which I am so happy is getting closer, yahoo!!!!!!

Anyhoo, thanks for letting me rant for a few. I feel better now. Have a great weekend friends!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

What is with me!?

Again I have been neglectful of my blog. It's like if I read all of your blogs I think that I too have posted :) ha!

This month shall prove to be busy busy busy! Along with my 3x week yoga and 2-3x week cardio work outs, I have a salon appointment on Saturday, support group next Monday, happy hour on Talk Like a Pirate Day (the 19th for those not in the know), Maroon 5 concert with Beth, 2 different knitting meet ups and then of course BOOBs!!!! Not to mention a couple of doctor's appointments in there (some mine, some James'). Oh ... and let's not forget about work! Whew!

Other than all of that, my life is pretty normal at the moment. I am not worrying about the scale at all. I am watching what I eat and getting in my exercise. I could be better about my water intake though ... I'll work on that over the next week or two. I feel like I am in a pretty good place mentally with where I am weight wise. I'd LIKE to lose more, but I feel normal, I can shop in normal stores and I can do just about everything that I'd want to do. "Technically" according to various charts and graphs, I'm still overweight by 25 pounds. But I just don't know. I seem to be able to maintain successfully. And if I can do that and I'm content with where I am, should I push it? I just don't know. What do y'all think?

Thursday, September 1, 2011

This one is funny ha ha

I have to share this blog with y'all .... Jack Sh*t, Gettin' Fit. If you haven't ever read it, please go and do so now. This guy is hilarious.

That is all.