LATTE Conference

Erin invited me to the FCC LATTE conference this past weekend. I have never been to one of these events or groups. They had a speaker, Jane Rubietta, so awesome! I'm not a big church goer. I love going to church with friends and listening to people that can put the Bible in my language. Some of the things that were brought to light:
* My longings and how they are buried/paralyzed=no debt, I just keep spending. I feel like I'm trying to keep up (Jones'); equality in the household. If it doesn't get done, I just do it; Advancement at work, I keep settling. I need to put a foot forward; Growing our family, I think its never going to be a good time.
* What are some things you are tired of? doing everything myself, not having enough time, trying to please everyone, hope that never becomes reality, self doubt.
* I need to believe in myself and accept myself.
* When you don't know what to say or do - say Christ have mercy. He will hear you.
* Look Him in the eye and accept and have faith that He will take care of you.
* Those that love, are loving and lovely.
* a quote from Jane, "in us, through us, and in this world"

**It's not important how you do it, but that you DO IT.**

One of the other nice parts about this event was that Erin and I had a hotel room at Hilton Garden Inn for one night. Even though it was only one night we lived it up. We went out after the first night for drinks with Erin's sister, Lauren, and Lauren's mother-in-law, Mary Beth. Jodi and Jess met us also. After, Erin and I headed back to the hotel. It was already midnight by the time we settled all in. Then we started doing our nails. It was a great bonding time. I think we finally went to bed around 2:15am. Breakfast at the hotel was complimentary because of Margaret's status. It was an awesome (too awesome) array of hash browns, country potatoes, eggs, eggs with veggies, bacon, sausage, many different fruits and muffins and breads. I don't think I needed to eat for the rest of the day.

At the end of this wonderful weekend, Jon and I went out for dinner at Bonfire for our Valentine's day dinner. After, we met up with the Desvousges. While the boys played video games, the girls watched Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1. Erin presented me with my first Bible. I was very touched. I was just telling Jon how I wanted one after this weekend and that I should start to read it or reference it.

Little Changes

I have been using a program to lose weight called Lose It. We are also going to the gym (YMCA) just about every day. So far in 4 weeks I have lost 10 lbs! Other than the weight I have noticed that I can now do things in the classes that 4 weeks ago I could not. The other day I was in Turbo Kick and they do burpees. I could do them before, just not at the same speed as I should so I just didn't attempt them. At this class I did them, full out. Then today I was in Body Pump. Basically a weight lifting class with a little cardio. Almost every class I have been in ends the class with crunches and planks. I have always done the planks on my knees. Tonight I did them with legs out AND side planks - NOT ON MY KNEES! I was so excited that I had done this.

Jon and I are going out for dinner on Saturday for Valentine's Day. We are dressing up. I tried on a few skirts that I haven't worn in over a year. They all fit. Probably the best part of losing weight is getting a whole new wardrobe (or at least your old one).

The Y

Jon and I received money from both parents for a 6 month family membership to the YMCA. So far we have gone everyday since Monday. We also both met with a personal trainer to go over our goals and how to achieve them. My plan is to go to group classes. It's one hour of exercise that doesn't feel like one hour of exercise. I have a problem with accountability when it comes to dieting and exercise. Going to group classes should help with that. Having Jon come with should also help. Jolynn LOVES the care center. Hard to pry her away from it. I know she is having fun when she doesn't want to leave. She must also be getting a lot of exercise because she comes home and pretty much goes straight to bed and sleeps hard through the night.

Jon introduced me to an app for my Android called Lose It. They have a website too. www.loseit.com This is going to be another way to hold myself accountable. You can have your friends join and they can see everything you do or eat. They can post comments to motivate you. The app tracks your intake of calories and your output of calories through exercise. It has you set a goal and then depending on your starting weight gives you a deadline to accomplish it.

Twin Cities Live - VOTE for JOLYNN!!

Potatoe Head Creations

When in Florida we went to a store in Downtown Disney that had an entire section just for Potato Head parts. They were all Disney related. Margaret and Mike bought the box full of parts for $19.99 and the body for $2.50. It was for Jolynn (right). 40 parts total! I had so much fun playing with it, that the next night I had Jon take me back to fill another container. We ended up with every part they had in the store except Cruella De Vil and the Star Wars characters. Here's the fun I had prior to going back for seconds:

Hodge podge

Tinker Bell (later discovered we have the wrong feet for this)
female traveler

pirate?

Chef

crazy Disney fans

this girl is NOT on a diet!

(told ya I was getting a little crazy)

Getting Inked

The artist (Johnny 5) never responded to my emails so I didn't know how much the tattoo was going to cost. Apparently the cost of their tattoos vary with your attitude. I thought mine was going to be around $300. It was $120. The bad part was that I also didn't know they didn't take credit cards, so luckily I had Heather there with cold hard cash - and also thankfully, enough to pay for hers and mine.

He started by tracing Jolynn's foot print from her birth record. Then he did the lettering and date. He put it all together on to carbon paper. Then he applied it to my ankle. Many times through out the whole designing phase he was asking me if I was sure this is how I wanted it, do these letters look okay, is this what you had in mind? When he finally had it all together we checked the placement on my ankle. He asked if that was where I wanted it. Everything looked great. I was ready to go - Heather was supposed to be sitting beside me, but ended up getting hers done at the same time. Johnny did a little strip and asked if I was okay. I hardly even felt it! As he went on there were moments I had to remind myself to breath, and Lamaze breathing came in quite handy. I was sweating so bad. A few times he would hit a nerve and my foot would twitch. He was done outlining and moved on to shading. I couldn't believe that I was making it through this without crying! He said I was doing very well. I guess my "attitude" must have been good because I think being it was Vegas and a large custom tattoo, that $120 was very cheap.

We wrapped it up and then waited for a cab. We waited for 45 min before we called the cab company again and they said they had to re-dispatch the driver. When asked how long it would be she hesitated and said maybe 15 min. Don't think so. We called Bill and had him catch a cab from a hotel (much easier than outside of the strip) and pick us up then we rode back to the Flamingo.

And that's my first tattoo, probably not my last!

Vegas 2011

It was a long time planning and it is finally here! I took a 1/2 day of work off on Thursday and drove 4 hours to Brookings. I met up with Heather, Bill, and Brian Prow. We drove to Sioux Falls to catch our flight to Vegas. Once there, we pretty much split up - girls one way, guys another. Knute flew in separately and met up with the boys.

First night there we just wandered Mandalay Bay (that's where we stayed). We went to bed around 1am Vegas time, which since it was our first night there, was really 3am MN time.

Friday morning we took our time getting up. Then we headed down to Raffles for breakfast. Yummy fruit platter, egg and bacon omelet, hash browns, and toast. So much food, I was good until dinner. After breakfast we walked around Mandalay Bay again and browsed the shops. Heather bought some cute shoes, purse, and a top. Our initial plan was to be poolside all day. While wandering we came across the Spa. The beach was filled with kids, and people that we really didn't need to be staring at to lower our self-esteem anymore. So we decided to have a spa day instead.

We each had the Quick Fix - 25 min neck/shoulder/back massage and 25 min facial. The massage felt like it went longer than 25 min. The facial felt great and we looked fabulous without ANY makeup. Then we each had full makeup applied. We tried to get in the hair salon, but they were completely booked. So we went back up to our room and did our own hair. Heather got all dressed up in the clothes she just bought; but she needed some bling. So we went back to the same store and found a bracelet and ring. From there we hailed a cab to the Flamingo.

There was a 1 1/2 hour wait to get into Margaritaville. We signed in then went people watching. There was a little mini bar for margaritas. Heather and I both got the 48oz "Booze in the Blender" margarita. I tried hers before ordering mine; hers was so strong I asked for a little less alcohol in mine. I was able to drink all but 8oz of mine. Heather got down to about 30oz. Hers was so strong I would have been passed out at that point.

When we finally were seated at Margaritaville, there was a very tall black man with a big group of people at a table right next to us. People kept coming up to him and shaking hands and giving hugs. We asked our waiter if it was someone famous - he said it was Jimmy Buffet's bodyguard, but that Jimmy Buffet was not there. Towards the end of our meal a lanky young man, dressed all in black, with an entourage, sat down with the bodyguard. Heather heard the bodyguard introduce him as Buffet's son. I tried to get pictures of him, but it was dark and he was wearing all black. I should have tried video. We walked a ways with our blenders and then hailed a cab back to the hotel.

Saturday. Tattoo day. Last nights 48oz felt like it was still in my system. Heather suggested mimosa for breakfast. It was a little hard to get down. Finally did a CHEERS, and shot them down. Breakfast was 2 french toast that were about an inch thick and as big as the plate! Totally stuffed myself to the point where I didn't need to eat again until dinner. We did some more shopping in the Mandalay Bay Shoppes before hailing a cab to the tattoo parlor.

The website advertised this parlor as being off the strip. It was exactly that, WAY off the strip. In a strip mall surrounded by Mexican/Latin stores. Heather said the parlor made her feel like we were at LA Ink. It was a pretty cool shop.

After getting the tattoo, we waited a long time for a cab. Catching a cab outside of the strip is not easy. The line up at the hotels awaiting passengers, but outside the strip they forget about you. We ended up calling Bill and having him grab a cab from the strip, come get us, and then we drove back to the strip. The boys went their way and Heather and I went to M & M World. We spent a good 2 hours there and visited all 4 floors. I did all my souvenir shopping there. Then we headed back to the hotel to drop off our goodies. The boys were at the Rio waiting for us. We ate at what we thought was the largest buffet. It was just a really good seafood buffet. Not so good for Heather. She is allergic to seafood. There were a few things not seafood, but she didn't eat it. She had a great $29 salad. The rest of us filled our plates with crab legs. Knute bought the four of us margaritas with souvenir glasses. It was another 45oz of goodness. I actually finished all of it this time. Did you know you can bring your drink with you into a cab? I finished that glass before we got back to the hotel. I was very giggly after that. Heather and I got in the elevator and there were two guys already in there. I could not stop laughing. Didn't even know what I was laughing at. One guy asked if we drank both glasses (we were carrying Bill and Brian's glasses back). The other guy was a jerk and told us that Vodka was evil and that it makes you do bad things. That shut me up, at least until he left the elevator.

What a weekend! I was so thrilled to be able to go on a trip that was just us girls. Yes, I went with Bill, Brian, and Knute; but we really didn't see them all weekend. We did our own thing and it felt great.