34 things to accomplish

Some of you may know I had a birthday this month. I turned 34. I love reading blogs and I was inspired by Elsie's blog A Beautiful Mess. She posted about how she made a list of things to do before her next birthday. It got me thinking and I just loved the idea.
Why not make a goal list for the year based on your age?!?! I need to get myself focused and working towards a goal. For the last few years, I have felt like I am treading water in my life.


Not going anywhere.


Not growing.


Stuck in stagnant water


This is my time, my year to make things happen in my life. I can feel it. Something was different about this birthday. Most of the time my birthdays just wash over me and they aren't that special. I hope to keep this feeling going.

Of course, over the last week it hasn't been a great time. Too much snow, not getting out of the house. I am getting down in the dumps, but today the snow is shining on ice coated branches making the world seem it is made of glass. The snow flocked evergreens waiting patiently. Today is a day of renewal and change.

I hope everyone has a wonderful end to their year and a great start for 2010.

Merry Christmas!!!!

I have lots to share!!! You can see in the background I was in Las Vegas this month. It was my birthday and our Christmas present to each other. We are standing outside of Bellagio where we stayed for a week.

I hope this next week I have off from school I can catch you up on everything that has happened over the last couple of months. But right now I just want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!!! I hope you all stay safe and be careful. We are staying home for Christmas because of the weather and will have Christmas with the families next week when hopefully the weather is a little nicer.

Take care and have a wonderful holiday!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

I have lots to share with everyone for the last few months. I want to post and say how thankful I am for a roof over my head, the love of my husband and being close to my family once again. I have missed living in the desert but I now have a job I love and I get to see my parents more than twice a year.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and make sure you don't eat too much. I will be down at weigh-in on Monday even after turkey dinner :)

Take care and I will be back with photos and other updates this weekend.

8 Years Ago

Eight years ago today I married my best friend. I met Jason my freshman year of college. We had a long distance relationship for close to 5 years. We were together 7 years when we finally got married. For some reason, we decided it was a good idea to wait for him to graduate from pharmacy school before getting hitched.

We have had a lot of ups and downs in the last 8 years. We have both lost grandparents. We moved over 1300 miles from both of our families. We bought our first house. We have had a niece and 2 nephews join the family. Jason changed jobs and we moved back to the Midwest.

I know I couldn't have done it without you by my side. I know wherever life takes us, I can count on you to be there with me. You are my friend and my partner in everything. I love you.

Maintaining

Well, I am down a little over 8 pounds as of right now. I have been working hard and keeping myself on track. I have had some restaurant eating in my weeks and some trips to families for dinners or over night.

This week I maintained. No loss or gain, just staying the same. I am starting my 8th week. Two months I have been working on getting myself healthy. Here are some things I have discovered about myself for this journey.

1. It's ok to eat out once in awhile just don't do it everyday.
2. Don't limit yourself on something you want. Go ahead and eat it. Give yourself permission to enjoy it. Just don't use it as an excuse to completely go off program.
3. This is NOT a diet, it is a lifestyle change.
4. Know you will have ups and downs. Take them as they come and work through them. I have had a couple of rough weeks emotionally, but I have worked hard not to turn towards food as comfort. It's not easy, but I have been keeping my hands busy during these tough times with embroidery.
5. This will not be an easy journey, but I am ready to get going and keep on this path.

Now some things I need to work on :)

1. I need to exercise. I did ok at the beginning but I got my schedule messed up and now I am not getting it in as regularly as I was. I need to start again and just get moving.
2. Eating my fruits and veggies. I love them, all kinds, but it's not the easiest to get in everyday.
3. Journal. I do pretty good most days but the weekend I have a tendency to slack off. This I need to work on.

Ok, I know there is more for me to work on but I think three things will be good for the next 8 weeks. I don't want to discourage myself by making too many goals that I can't possibly acheive them all.

Now, time to get started on my Silverbella swaps. I have the bases done for two of them and ideas started for the rest. I am getting so excited for this event. I can't wait.

I am off, but remember take time to create today!

4.8

This is a special number. This is how much I lost in my first week back at Weight Watchers. I was floored when the leader told me how much I had lost. I didn't know what to say at first. When I was last on WW I never lost that much in one week ever. The most I would lose is 3 pounds.

I want this. I want to be healthy. I want to be able to walk up the stairs to my apartment and not get winded. I don't want to end up like both of my parents. They both have problems with all their lower joints. They have high blood pressure, cholesterol and my dad is diabetic. I want to be able to live without these problems and without having to be on medication when I get older. Also, the older I get the harder it will be to get the weight off.

I am going to work hard and I will stay on program this time around. I want to see under 200 this time.

First Week of Healthy Lifestyle

Well, last Monday I started back at Weight Watchers. I got on the scale and weighed in at my highest weight ever. I was sad and ashamed of myself. How did I let myself get this far down the road??

I got home, sat down and started reading through the literature for Week 1. They have changed up the program some since the last time I was on WW. I made sure I was comfortable with the new program and started counting my points on Tuesday. DH is doing this with me so hopefully the two of us will be able to keep each other on track. We are both tired of the way we feel and hopefully this time we will succeed.

Last time I was on WW we did well for a while but then we went on vacation. We let the vacation take us off track. We then started to revert back to our old habits of getting take away and going out to eat.

So, our goal now is going out to eat twice a week instead of the four-five we were going out for. We are trying new recipes to keep things interesting. I am making weekly visits to the farmer's market while they are going and just making sure there are good, healthy items in the house.

We are heading to my parents for the fourth this coming weekend and we will see how it goes. We are planning our snacks and I will make sure I get my exercise in.

I WANT TO SUCCEED!!!