Forty! Forty!

Yesterday I hit the big 40 mark in weight loss!  I'm more than half way to my goal.  Only 35 more to go!

Positive things I have noticed:
I have tons of energy to play with Jolynn.
I don't cry when I try on jeans.
It's getting easier.
Having other people notice your weight loss.
Feeling attractive again.
Feeling more confident.

So far, one of my favorite new photos of me.

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!