Whew! What a week!

TGIF!!  I am so glad this week is over!  Whew!! It's been a rough week.  It came to a head last night when Nick and I got rear ended it my brand new car!  Booo!  What a bummer.  I know it will be fine, but the timing stinks! (I guess there isn't really a good time for this, but ya know...)

The girl that hit us has insurance and her company already has things moving.  Because the car is brand new and because it's having computer issues, I want to have the repairs done at the dealership.  Unfortunately, the dealership is booked up and can't start the work for 2 weeks!  The repairs will take about 2 weeks, so my pretty car won't be pretty again for at least 5 weeks!  Double bummer!

Here's hoping for a better week next week!

Happy Anniversary!!

8 years ago today, I married my best friend and my soul mate.  Nick has been the greatest blessing in my life.  The moment I met him, I knew there was something special about him.  He is the most supportive and wonderful husband and I don't think I could have crafted a more perfect fit for myself.  I truly believe that we wished on the same star for each other years and years before we met and our destiny's were linked from the beginning.  My life is amazing and I thank God for all that Nick is. 

Being Nick's wife has brought so many other blessings into my life as well.  I inherited his family and I love them like my own.  John and Kathy have been an amazing source of support and love and I cherish them.  Not to mention all of Nick's extended family.  They are so awesome!

Nick is one of those people that is sincerely good to his core.  His parents should be awarded some kind of Nobel Peace Prize or something.  They should certainly teach classes!  People can't help but be drawn to Nick.  Animals love him.  Kids adore him.  He is genuine and sincere and honest. 

I am not sure what I did to deserve him.  In fact, I am sure most days I don't deserve him, but I am so thankful that he loves me just the same way I love him.  8 years and each day gets better. 

I got some very nice anniversary gifts...

Beautiful Flowers:

And a new car.  Yes, really.  It's a 2011 Outlander Sport.  I love it!  I will post pictures soon!

What a great weekend!

Our weekend was everything I was hoping for!  We left right after work on Friday and drove to Bloomington, IL.  It was a beautiful drive and we made great time!  It look us about 2 1/2 hours to get there.  We found the hotel, unloaded our stuff and went for an adventure. 
First, we wanted to find the location of the MOD.  We knew we were meeting up with people early Saturday morning and wanted to have some idea where we were going.  We drive around town for a while with the help of "Ella" (our navigation system).  Once we felt comfortable with where we were going, we had dinner and headed to bed.
The next morning, we got up early and went to meet the "guys".  Nick has been talking with a lot of these guys online and was looking forward to meeting them.  We all met up and "oooh'd" and "ahhh'd" over the cars for a while.  There was another couple there that we hit it off with quickly and we spent most of the day with them. 
MOD itself was really cool!  Some of the cars were amazing and you could tell that people put a lot of love into their cars.  There were door prizes and Nick ended up winning a $350 cold air intake filtration system.  That was really cool!  They served lunch and we took a factory tour.  We got to see the assembly lines and got to see a real robot work.  It was neat! 
After MOD, we went to a local mall and walked around and then had Japanese for dinner.  We went and saw Money Ball.  Good movie! 
Sunday we slept in, had breakfast and hung out until check out time.  The drive home was uneventful.  Last night, we watched the Colts game and had dinner with Matt and Trina.
It was just the kind of weekend I needed!  Relaxing!  No stress.  Just nice.  I was able to get my homework done before we left, so that was really nice to not have to think about!
Today, back to the grind...  :-)  I did move desks at work and now I have a much bigger cube.  I love it!

Flying by... And HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOMMY!

First things first...  HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!!  :-)  Today is my Mom's (undisclosed #) anniversary of her 21st birthday!  :-)  We are celebrating with some yummy Chinese tonight.  My Mom is an amazing person and I am so proud of her and I am so blessed to have her in my life. 

Holy cow!  Is it really September 22nd??  Time is FLYING by!! I feel like I am really struggling to keep my head on lately!  I have been super busy and I feel like my weeks go faster all the time!  It blows my mind.  I keep thinking I need to slow things down...  You know, stop and smell the flowers...  That kind of thing.  It's a work in progress.  LOL!

We went for another walk/run last night.  I jogged a bit more than I was able to Monday and I keep reminding myself that I have to push it a little more each time.  I will say that it feels great!  I am really proud of myself and I am really proud of Nick.  He amazes me. 

Tomorrow Nick and I are heading to Illinois for the weekend.  We are going to a Mitsubishi Owner Day.  Mitsubishi sponsers this event every year and Nick is really excited to go this year.  He's made a lot of neat modifications to his car and he's been really enjoying his new hobby.  We will be in Illinois for the weekend and I am looking forward to having a little downtime.  I am hoping to get my homework done today so I don't have to worry about it this weekend.  Our anniversary (8 years!) is the 27th, so we will probably celebrate while we are there. 

I am really hoping our bank issues are resolved by the time we leave.  I got a call on Tuesday afternoon from the fraud department at my bank.  They noticed some strange activity on my bank card and cancelled my card right away.  Apparently someone stole my credit card number and racked up about $450 in fraudulent charges.  I was SUPER impressed with how quickly the back caught it, took action and notified me.  They had to issue me a new card and they are doing an investigation now.  Hopefully all the money (and subsequent NSF fees) will be refunded to my account soon.  It's freaking me out to see a LARGE negative number as my account balance!  The bank has been great to work with so far.  Luckily, it was just my card that was compromised.  The account and Nick's card seem to be ok.  Thank goodness they caught it so fast and moved so quickly!  Way to go Huntington!!  :-)

Now, on a random side note, I have a statement I would like to make to all of my friends and family that follow my blog...  I know this is a generic format and I will try to say this to each of you in person, too....  But I need you to know that I love you.  If I am busy, or disconnected or flightly or seem to have put you on the back burner, it is no reflection of how I feel about you.  I am doing the best I know how to do with my life right now, but I feel like my best isn't good enough and I am letting down people in my life that are important.  I knew school would be hard when coupled with work and some other life changes, but I feel like it's something I need to do right now.  Unfortunately, I have had to make a lot of changes with how my time is used and some of my relationships are suffering.  I don't love it, but I hope you will hang in there with me while I try to adjust.  Please know that I love you and you are no less special to me.

Good workouts!

So we have finally done it!  We are getting back in the groove of working out.  We walked our 5K on Sunday.  Monday night we worked out on the elliptial.  I did 16 full minutes!  I haven't ever been able to do more than 10 at a time without dying!  And I did 16 right of of the gate!  I could have gone even longer.  It wasn't bad at all.  Last night we actually walked to Matt and Trina's and home (about 5K total).  We jogged about 1/4 of the way there total.  It felt great!!  We are going to keep at it!
Nick finally broke his stall at last weigh in.  He's been hanging around 215 for a long time and had a 3 pound drop last week!  He's at 212 now and looking great!  He'll be in onderland in no time.
I had a great talk with Trina last night and I got some great ideas for protein from her.  I've been doing a lot of fruits and veggies lately and have been slacking a bit on protein.  She gave me some good, workable ideas and I am re-energized on all fronts!  175 - here I come!!  :-)

Great weekend!

We had a really nice weekend!  Friday night we went to the Cheesacake Facorty with Katrina and her family for her birthday.  Saturday we drove up to Muncie and walked around campus and went to a Ball State football game.  It was a lot of fun!  Yesterday was mainly homework and family day.  Good times! 

I got an A in my Comm 1 class and I am super excited about it.  This class has been a bit harder for me and I am so glad I got thru it.  Tomorrow is my first Comm II class and I am ready for this 5 weeks to be over!  LOL! 

We rocked!

Nick and I spoke at the St Francis weight loss center last night.  It was so neat!!  There were about 40 pre-op patients there.  We told our stories and it was so fun to reflect and remember what the past year has been like!  There have been so many "wow" moments for us!!  We are down over 150 lbs each!!  We are down several clothing sizes.  We are more active than ever and we have so much energy!  Nick and I are really enjoying our new lives and we love sharing our stories. 
We had a lot of great questions and a lot of really nice compliments!  It was so neat to remember sitting where they were a year ago and feeling all the things they are feeling.  I remember sitting in our pre-op groups well and it was so flattering to be asked to share our stories.  The dietician wanted me to share some the issues I had to help people know what issues to look for with a stricture and I hope I was able to help them.

This weekend will be great!  Today is my good friend Trina's birthday, so we are going to dinner.  Tomorrow we are going to Muncie for a Ball State Football game.  That should be a lot of fun!  Sunday is homework/Colts/family day.  All good stuff!!  Here's to the freakin weekend! :-)

Gorgeous day!

We are getting an early taste of fall today and I WANT TO PLAY OUTSIDE!  It's so nice out!  It feels extra cool since I don't have any insulation anymore.  But I love this time of year.  The crisp days, the colors!  Fall is my favorite!  I can't wait to go to the apple orchards and put out my fall decorations.  SO fun!

I am still nervous about our presentation tonight.  I am excited about it too!  I am also planning on dragging Nick on a shopping adventure.  I am on the hunt for the perfect calf high boots, black, no heel, riding boot style, no slouch.  I am going to find them!  LOL!

Reflecting

Nick and I have been asked to speak at the Weight Loss Center's pre-op support group tomorrow night.  I've spent the last few days reflecting on the past 10 months since surgery. 

I've officially lost 150 lbs!  :-)  It has been a really interesting ride.  I am very happy I had surgery and I have no regrets about my decision.  I had a couple of rough spells.  Physically, emotionally, and pshycologically.  But there have been amazing wow moments along the way, too!  Like today, I am wearing a size 15 junior jeans!  And they look great!  My thighs aren't running!  I am in about a 14 pant and a large or XL shirt.  I can walk in to Target and buy anything I want!  I feel great!  It's been so fun to watch Nick.  No more sleep apnea!  He sleeps like a baby!

We are taking some "before" pictures with us!  It was fun to look at those.  It's easy to look in the mirror and think you are just as big as you always were - but when you see those pictures, it's amazing! 

I hope we can help the pre-op patients feel excited and that we get some of those "wow" reactions that I gave the post op people when I saw them.  It should be a lot of fun!

Catching up again!

It seems like all I've been doing lately is catching up!  Lots of fun happenings!  I had a great visit with my younger brothers and sisters that live out of town!  We really had a great time enjoying each other and catching up on all that's new!  They are all beautiful and talented and amazing and I was so glad to see them!

Work is going better than it had been .  I have been very busy at work, but my days go so fast it works out ok! 

School is going well, too!  Tonight will conclude my third full class!  I am having a good time with it.  I enjoy my project group a lot and I am learning so much! 

Nick is wonderful!!  He looks amazing!  ( I will post some pictures soon!)  Things are going well for him, too!  We are taking a road trip next weekend and I am really looking forward to it!  We are going to central Illinois for the weekend just for fun.  Our 8th anniversary is in 2 weeks.  I am so blessed!

The weight loss is going ok.  Slower, but I suppose that's normal.  I weighed in at 199.6 today.  I am still not celebrating onederland as I tend to fluctuate within a pound or so a week.  I will "officially" be at onderland in my book when I hit 195!  :-)  I am only losing about a pound or so a week at this point.  Just a little slower than I am used to, but when I consider that I only have about 30 pounds to go to be at goal, that helps keep it in perspective!

All is well.  I will try harder to write more.  For me, mainly.  I have the worst memory ever and I need to use this as a journal to remember fun stuff that happens!  Tata for now!  :-)