It has been a whirlwind of a month for Chris and me. On Monday we closed on our new house and began moving in. Having things at our apartment and in storage we were all over the place and very busy moving things but finally have everything here so now we are working on unpacking. Once we get settled in, we do have a guest room and would love to have visitors. Chris’ mom and stepdad are in town as of yesterday afternoon and we are enjoying having visitors already. Thank you to all that helped us move and get settled in. It is a work in progress but it already feels like home. We have a LOT of painting to do as the previous owners had a very interesting style when it comes to paint so if anyone enjoys painting we may be having a painting party one of these days.
I also turned my time in at work this past Monday as well. My job was creating me a lot of stress and anxiety and I felt it would be the best decision to just to part ways. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I am starting at a new place on January 3rd as an IT Risk Management Coordinator. It is a pay raise with no travel and much better hours. It sounds like I will be able to use my creativity and make the position to what I want it to be which will be a fun challenge as well. Although I have been down here for 9 months, I have not had a chance to explore and meet very many new friends with the amount of travel I have been doing so I feel like this new place will be a much better fit and will allow me to have a work life balance. I will let you know how it goes but I am very much looking forward to the change.
This Christmas I am very grateful for the wonderful things that have happened over this past year. I am engaged to the man of my dreams and can’t wait to marry him in 2011. God has blessed me with a wonderful family and I pray that we all stay healthy and have a wonderful new year.
I am hoping to get our engagement announcements out this week. I am slacking in that with everything that has been keeping us busy. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Day tomorrow and I am blessed to have you all in my life!
Happy Birthday Jesus!
-Bessie
Friday, December 24, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Oh Brother!
Happy Friday - I mean Wednesday! Today is the last day of work for the week for most of us with Thanksgiving break starting. Our office is being shut down at 1:30 so that should give Chris and I plenty of time to get to the airport for our 4:30 flight.
Today I am thankful for my brothers. I was able to catch up with both of them over the phone last night and enjoyed every minute of our conversations. I am very luck to have such great brothers. Although no one would have probably believed it based on how much we fought as kids, I would consider both of my brother's two of my best friends now. We have been through a lot together and through thick and thin we have stood by each other and supported each other. My little brother has not met Chris yet and probably won't get a chance to until the week before the wedding (we are trying to figure out a way to meet up before then). He has been very protective of me and asked me a lot of questions about Chris wanting to make sure he is the right guy for me, but at the end of the day, he trusts my judgement and knows I am very happy and that is all that matters to him. I know they will get along just fine :)
I am sad that I won't get to see either of my brother's or their families this Thanksgiving but we are all with each other in spirit and know that we will make up it the next time we see each other.
I hope everyone that is traveling today has safe travels and makes it to their destinations. I pray that the weather holds out until everyone makes it to where they are going so that the holidays can be spent with family.
Bessie
Today I am thankful for my brothers. I was able to catch up with both of them over the phone last night and enjoyed every minute of our conversations. I am very luck to have such great brothers. Although no one would have probably believed it based on how much we fought as kids, I would consider both of my brother's two of my best friends now. We have been through a lot together and through thick and thin we have stood by each other and supported each other. My little brother has not met Chris yet and probably won't get a chance to until the week before the wedding (we are trying to figure out a way to meet up before then). He has been very protective of me and asked me a lot of questions about Chris wanting to make sure he is the right guy for me, but at the end of the day, he trusts my judgement and knows I am very happy and that is all that matters to him. I know they will get along just fine :)
I am sad that I won't get to see either of my brother's or their families this Thanksgiving but we are all with each other in spirit and know that we will make up it the next time we see each other.
I hope everyone that is traveling today has safe travels and makes it to their destinations. I pray that the weather holds out until everyone makes it to where they are going so that the holidays can be spent with family.
Bessie
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Thunderstorm in November
Today I am thankful for the beautiful thunderstorm we had last night in IL. I think the last time I saw a thunderstorm in November was when I was living in Florida. I love the sound of thunder and love the smell of rain so I was a happy girl last night. It is a far cry from what my friends and family are experiencing in MN and ND this week (we will see the snow tomorrow when we get up there). Thankfully Gypsy doesn't get scared from storms so she was sleeping right through it all evening on the chair in the living room. I think Chris was a little annoyed at how excited I was to see it raining in November. He just doesn't get it. I think I can handle a little more weather like this in November instead of the snow :)
Bessie
Bessie
Monday, November 22, 2010
2 1/2 day work week!
Today I am thankful that because it's Thanksgiving week, I have a 2 1/2 day work week before I get to go on vacation. Having worked in retail most of my life, Black Friday is usually a must work day. This year is the first year ever in my career that I get that day as a company holiday and don't have to work or take PTO for the day. It is giving me a chance to go visit my friends and Chris' family back home for a few days. We are looking forward to the trip but not to the weather. We will just have to pack warm!
After a full day today, I only have 1 1/2 days till we board the plane. The countdown is on!
Bessie
After a full day today, I only have 1 1/2 days till we board the plane. The countdown is on!
Bessie
Sunday, November 21, 2010
I Heart Technology!
Happy Sunday!
Today I am thankful for the invention of technology. It amazes me how much technology has advanced in the last 20 years. I was able to use technology to Skye in for my niece's 2nd birthday a few weeks ago so that I could watch her open her presents. I am able to keep in touch with my family and friends through cell phone, facebook, email, etc. But one part of technology that I love is that everyone can use it. The school that I attended for Grade School and Jr High is now giving students email addresses in 1st grade. I got an email the other day from my cousin Matthew who is a first grader at that school. It made my entire day. The message he sent was
hi bethany. hau or you deung?
It was the cutest thing and put a big smile on my face. He is still learning how to use it because he sent me the same message 10 times. I wrote him back and got a message from him again on Friday that just said, "hi bethane"
Today I am grateful for technology and the ability it has given us to communicate with loved ones. I hope the rest of the evening is happy and relaxing for everyone!
Bessie
Today I am thankful for the invention of technology. It amazes me how much technology has advanced in the last 20 years. I was able to use technology to Skye in for my niece's 2nd birthday a few weeks ago so that I could watch her open her presents. I am able to keep in touch with my family and friends through cell phone, facebook, email, etc. But one part of technology that I love is that everyone can use it. The school that I attended for Grade School and Jr High is now giving students email addresses in 1st grade. I got an email the other day from my cousin Matthew who is a first grader at that school. It made my entire day. The message he sent was
hi bethany. hau or you deung?
It was the cutest thing and put a big smile on my face. He is still learning how to use it because he sent me the same message 10 times. I wrote him back and got a message from him again on Friday that just said, "hi bethane"
Today I am grateful for technology and the ability it has given us to communicate with loved ones. I hope the rest of the evening is happy and relaxing for everyone!
Bessie
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Lazy Saturday
Today I am thankful for a lazy Saturday! I slept 12 hours last night and am finally caught up on the lack of sleep I had while I was in IN. We have zero plans today and are taking full advantage of it. Chris' friend Daren just came over and they are going to make chili this afternoon. Gypsy and I are chillin in the living room. I am doing a little laundry this afternoon and just enjoying being home. I hope everyone else has a wonderful lazy Saturday today!
Also - I am thankful for my wonderful friend Barb! Happy Birthday lady!
Bessie
Also - I am thankful for my wonderful friend Barb! Happy Birthday lady!
Bessie
Friday, November 19, 2010
Take Your Dog to Work Day
Happy Friday! Today I am thankful for Friday's and thankful that I was able to bring my dog to work with me today. Gypsy is currently sleeping on the floor in my office. That is one of the perks of working at a pet food company is that she can come with me. She doesn't get to very often because of all the travel and meetings I usually have, but today I had no meetings being we were not originally scheduled to be here today so she came with! I think I enjoy having her here more than she enjoys coming...
Speaking of Gypsy, she has been a little on the naughty side since I left for IN. She has been barking at everything the last 3 weeks while she has been home with Chris. She also somehow got a hold of a wooden spoon from the kitchen and broke it in half before Chris caught her. At least she didn't eat it. Could have been worse. But, after I got home last night she was as good as gold and has been so far today too. I take full blame for this and am glad I am not going to be traveling anymore so that she doesn't have to see me leave all the time.
We have had Gypsy for almost a year now and she has been a great addition to our little family! I love you baby girl!
Bessie
Speaking of Gypsy, she has been a little on the naughty side since I left for IN. She has been barking at everything the last 3 weeks while she has been home with Chris. She also somehow got a hold of a wooden spoon from the kitchen and broke it in half before Chris caught her. At least she didn't eat it. Could have been worse. But, after I got home last night she was as good as gold and has been so far today too. I take full blame for this and am glad I am not going to be traveling anymore so that she doesn't have to see me leave all the time.
We have had Gypsy for almost a year now and she has been a great addition to our little family! I love you baby girl!
Bessie
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Heading Home a Day Early!
Today I am thankful that for all the hard work we put in the last 3 weeks at the factory in IN, we get to close the audit a day early and go home tonight instead of tomorrow! I will still have to go into the office tomorrow but I would rather go in in St Louis than up here again. It will probably be a late night tonight, but it is very worth it to sleep in my own bed. After travelling for three years now, I have gotten to a point on these last two trips where I have not been able to sleep well in the hotel beds. Thankfully I won't have to do that very often anymore.
I am transitioning into a new role on my audit team as of January 1st and will be starting a continuous audit monitoring program for our department which means very little travel in the future if any at all! I am so excited that I can finally "be in St Louis" and go home every night. I have been on the road so much since my move that I haven't really gotten a chance to get to know the city and I am looking forward to exploring it more now that I will be around more. I have been thinking it would be fun to take a cake decorating class and now maybe I will have the time to do something like that.
Happy Thursday everyone!
Bessie
I am transitioning into a new role on my audit team as of January 1st and will be starting a continuous audit monitoring program for our department which means very little travel in the future if any at all! I am so excited that I can finally "be in St Louis" and go home every night. I have been on the road so much since my move that I haven't really gotten a chance to get to know the city and I am looking forward to exploring it more now that I will be around more. I have been thinking it would be fun to take a cake decorating class and now maybe I will have the time to do something like that.
Happy Thursday everyone!
Bessie
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Veteran's Day
So I am five days late on this one, but today I am thankful for all of the service men and women that protect our wonderful country. Each and every one of them put their life on the line to protect the freedoms we are lucky to have in this country. I especially want to recognize my uncle Greg who just returned from Iraq as well as my friends and high school classmates that have stepped up and provided such a great service for our country. I also want to recognize the wives and families of these service men and women. I don't think they get the recognition they deserve as they manage the households back home when their spouse/father/mother is away. Active duty appears to be just as hard on the soldier's families and I thank them for all they do.
God Bless America
Bessie
PS - Happy Birthday Dagney! Thank you for your service in the military as well!
God Bless America
Bessie
PS - Happy Birthday Dagney! Thank you for your service in the military as well!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Home Inspection
Today I am grateful for a clean house inspection at the home we are going to be purchasing in December. Chris met with the inspector last night and no major issues and very few minor issues were found during the review. This means we can move forward with the home purchase and have a piece of mind that everything checked out just fine.
Happy Tuesday everyone!
Bessie
Happy Tuesday everyone!
Bessie
Monday, November 15, 2010
Things I am thankful for
I know, I know – I have been completely slacking on the blog front lately and to be honest on the weight watchers front as well. Life is a little crazy with all of the work travel that I have been doing that I don’t even know what day it is anymore. On a very positive note, my work travel will be ending in December and will be very minimal going forward. I am transitioning into a new role within my current department starting in January and will be in charge of the continuous audit monitoring program going forward. It’s not my dream job by any means but it is much better than what I am currently doing as it will allow me to be able to sleep in my own bed every night, not to mention spend time with Chris and Gypsy during the week which is what I look forward to the most. I am curious to see how it all pans out as the position is a new thing they are trying. I will keep you posted.
Chris and I also signed a purchase agreement on a house last week. Pending no issues with the inspection this afternoon, we should be closing around December 20, 2010 just in time for Christmas! We are very excited to be getting out of the apartment and Gypsy is really looking forward to the fenced in backyard! We will send out address updates around Christmas time once we close.
With Thanksgiving coming up, people have been making daily postings on facebook stating things that they are thankful for each day. I know I am ½ month behind so I am going to get myself caught up on this today and will try to post every day going forward for the rest of the month. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays and I have a lot to be thankful for this year so here is the start of my list in no particular order with the exception of the first five:
1. God
2. Chris. He is my rock and I look forward to spending the rest of my life with him.
3. My Family
4. My Friends
5. Gypsy
6. My Health
7. Vacation Time
8. A wedding planner in Mexico that will plan 95% of my wedding for me so I don’t get stressed out
9. Laughter/Smiles
10. Patience (when I can find it)
11. Inside Jokes
12. Intelligence
13. The ability to sing
14. Board Games
15. Learning something new every day
Chris and I also signed a purchase agreement on a house last week. Pending no issues with the inspection this afternoon, we should be closing around December 20, 2010 just in time for Christmas! We are very excited to be getting out of the apartment and Gypsy is really looking forward to the fenced in backyard! We will send out address updates around Christmas time once we close.
With Thanksgiving coming up, people have been making daily postings on facebook stating things that they are thankful for each day. I know I am ½ month behind so I am going to get myself caught up on this today and will try to post every day going forward for the rest of the month. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays and I have a lot to be thankful for this year so here is the start of my list in no particular order with the exception of the first five:
1. God
2. Chris. He is my rock and I look forward to spending the rest of my life with him.
3. My Family
4. My Friends
5. Gypsy
6. My Health
7. Vacation Time
8. A wedding planner in Mexico that will plan 95% of my wedding for me so I don’t get stressed out
9. Laughter/Smiles
10. Patience (when I can find it)
11. Inside Jokes
12. Intelligence
13. The ability to sing
14. Board Games
15. Learning something new every day
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Wedding Website!
Hi All!
I hope you had a great weekend! Chris and I had a fun and relaxing weekend here in St Louis. I am home for one more week before I have to hit the road again so we took full advantage of today and have been watching football all afternoon/evening. It is one of our favorite things to do in the fall so it is nice that we finally get to do it without me having to leave for the airport.
We created our wedding website tonight. You can find it at the following link: http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/BethanyVerDouw&ChrisMalone
The wedding date and location has been set, my dress has been ordered so now we can sit back and relax for a while. One of the beauties of a destination wedding is the resort takes care of pretty much everything! It is so nice being I am gone so much that I don't have to worry about finding the time to get everything done.
I hope everyone has a good week!
Bessie
I hope you had a great weekend! Chris and I had a fun and relaxing weekend here in St Louis. I am home for one more week before I have to hit the road again so we took full advantage of today and have been watching football all afternoon/evening. It is one of our favorite things to do in the fall so it is nice that we finally get to do it without me having to leave for the airport.
We created our wedding website tonight. You can find it at the following link: http://www.theknot.com/ourwedding/BethanyVerDouw&ChrisMalone
The wedding date and location has been set, my dress has been ordered so now we can sit back and relax for a while. One of the beauties of a destination wedding is the resort takes care of pretty much everything! It is so nice being I am gone so much that I don't have to worry about finding the time to get everything done.
I hope everyone has a good week!
Bessie
Friday, October 1, 2010
Yay for free WiFi!
Hi everyone!
I am currently writing this post in Boston airport as I wait for my flight to Minneapolis to go wedding dress shopping this weekend with my mom, future mother-in-law and godmother. I am super excited to see all of them and hope we have a great time shopping tomorrow.
I want to apologize for my delay in posts the last few weeks. Since Labor Day weekend I have been in Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts twice. I will be adding another trip to MN this weekend and then back to Boston for 1 more week before I fly back into Arkansas where Chris will pick me up to spend the weekend with his aunt and uncle. Finally, I will have 4 days in Orlando for work training before I actually have 2 weeks off from work travel. Whew! It has been a whirlwind these last 2 months and the rest of the fall appears to be the same until I get a couple weeks off at Christmas. Yes, you counted right - that is 11 states in 2 months and I may drive up to Maine next week if I have time just to say I was there. :)
In between all of the traveling we were finally able to make it up to MN and move my stuff out of my condo so now everything is in Illinois. I am working with a property management company to get my condo rented so if you know of anyone looking for a place to rent in Coon Rapids let me know.
We have also made a few decisions about the wedding. Nothing is booked yet, but we are planning on doing a destination wedding in Mexico over Memorial Day weekend. We wanted a small wedding and thought it would be fun to travel there being neither of us have been there before. Once we decide on a resort we will let you know all the details.
The weight loss journey has not been well the last two months among all this craziness. I have gained some of the weight back and am only down 18 pounds at the moment. It is still great to be at that point but I need to get my butt back in gear. I have been trying to eat as healthy as I can on this stretch of road travel but it does get difficult. I have been working 12 hour days and sometimes eating healthy is not my idea of fun at 9 pm. I may need some encouragement from each of you to help me get back on track. I seem to do well every week until about Thursday night and that is when the work week catches up to me and I make bad eating decisions. I will get back on track one step at a time.
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! You probably won't hear from me for 2 weeks but I will finally be done with travel for a few weeks and will catch you up more then!
Bessie
I am currently writing this post in Boston airport as I wait for my flight to Minneapolis to go wedding dress shopping this weekend with my mom, future mother-in-law and godmother. I am super excited to see all of them and hope we have a great time shopping tomorrow.
I want to apologize for my delay in posts the last few weeks. Since Labor Day weekend I have been in Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts twice. I will be adding another trip to MN this weekend and then back to Boston for 1 more week before I fly back into Arkansas where Chris will pick me up to spend the weekend with his aunt and uncle. Finally, I will have 4 days in Orlando for work training before I actually have 2 weeks off from work travel. Whew! It has been a whirlwind these last 2 months and the rest of the fall appears to be the same until I get a couple weeks off at Christmas. Yes, you counted right - that is 11 states in 2 months and I may drive up to Maine next week if I have time just to say I was there. :)
In between all of the traveling we were finally able to make it up to MN and move my stuff out of my condo so now everything is in Illinois. I am working with a property management company to get my condo rented so if you know of anyone looking for a place to rent in Coon Rapids let me know.
We have also made a few decisions about the wedding. Nothing is booked yet, but we are planning on doing a destination wedding in Mexico over Memorial Day weekend. We wanted a small wedding and thought it would be fun to travel there being neither of us have been there before. Once we decide on a resort we will let you know all the details.
The weight loss journey has not been well the last two months among all this craziness. I have gained some of the weight back and am only down 18 pounds at the moment. It is still great to be at that point but I need to get my butt back in gear. I have been trying to eat as healthy as I can on this stretch of road travel but it does get difficult. I have been working 12 hour days and sometimes eating healthy is not my idea of fun at 9 pm. I may need some encouragement from each of you to help me get back on track. I seem to do well every week until about Thursday night and that is when the work week catches up to me and I make bad eating decisions. I will get back on track one step at a time.
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! You probably won't hear from me for 2 weeks but I will finally be done with travel for a few weeks and will catch you up more then!
Bessie
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Week 16 – Vacation & no weigh in
Good afternoon!
I hope everyone is doing well! My week has been crazy busy and is about to get even crazier as we are jumping on a plane tonight to go to MN and move my belongings out of my condo. Of course that means squeezing in a little wedding planning by looking at reception halls and then driving a UHaul back here on Sunday for a fun filled weekend. Thanks in advance to those that volunteered to help me move – I couldn’t do it without your help!
I did not make it to WW this past weekend because we took a trip to the NE to see Chris’ dad and meet his grandparents. We did everything from watch the waves crash into the Jersey Shore because of Hurricane Earl to watching a game at the new Yankee Stadium to lounging up in the Poconos at his grandparents house. It was fun getting to meet Chris’ dad’s side of the family. We had a very relaxing weekend that was much needed. On another happy note, his grandparents celebrated their 58th wedding anniversary on Monday. I hope that Chris and I get to celebrate our 58th anniversary someday. It was fun hearing stories about how they met and how their wedding day was.
Yesterday was pretty rough for me as it was one year ago yesterday that Grandma VerDouw passed away. She was one of my most favorite people on this earth and it was hard to see her pass. I only hope to live to be 91 someday and be in as good of shape as she was until the day she left us. One thing I will miss is that she never got an opportunity to meet Chris before she passed. I told my dad that this was bothering me yesterday and he said, “Grandma has a lot of influence with the big guy upstairs, and if she did not like Chris, I would have found out by now.” He brings up a very good point with that one! I want to close this post today in her memory with a poem my aunt Pam sent out yesterday. I thought it was very fitting for Grandma Ann. I miss her very much, but I know she is with me every day and will be there on my wedding day to watch over me as well.
Do not stand at my grave and weep;
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.
-Author Unknown
I hope everyone is doing well! My week has been crazy busy and is about to get even crazier as we are jumping on a plane tonight to go to MN and move my belongings out of my condo. Of course that means squeezing in a little wedding planning by looking at reception halls and then driving a UHaul back here on Sunday for a fun filled weekend. Thanks in advance to those that volunteered to help me move – I couldn’t do it without your help!
I did not make it to WW this past weekend because we took a trip to the NE to see Chris’ dad and meet his grandparents. We did everything from watch the waves crash into the Jersey Shore because of Hurricane Earl to watching a game at the new Yankee Stadium to lounging up in the Poconos at his grandparents house. It was fun getting to meet Chris’ dad’s side of the family. We had a very relaxing weekend that was much needed. On another happy note, his grandparents celebrated their 58th wedding anniversary on Monday. I hope that Chris and I get to celebrate our 58th anniversary someday. It was fun hearing stories about how they met and how their wedding day was.
Yesterday was pretty rough for me as it was one year ago yesterday that Grandma VerDouw passed away. She was one of my most favorite people on this earth and it was hard to see her pass. I only hope to live to be 91 someday and be in as good of shape as she was until the day she left us. One thing I will miss is that she never got an opportunity to meet Chris before she passed. I told my dad that this was bothering me yesterday and he said, “Grandma has a lot of influence with the big guy upstairs, and if she did not like Chris, I would have found out by now.” He brings up a very good point with that one! I want to close this post today in her memory with a poem my aunt Pam sent out yesterday. I thought it was very fitting for Grandma Ann. I miss her very much, but I know she is with me every day and will be there on my wedding day to watch over me as well.
Do not stand at my grave and weep;
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there. I did not die.
-Author Unknown
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Week 15 – let the wedding planning begin!
Good Morning everyone! I hope everyone has had a great week so far and for those of you that started back up at school, I hope the school year is full of fun and learning!
We have slowly begun the process of wedding planning over the past week. We have contacted St Gerard’s in Brooklyn Park, MN (church I attended when I lived in MN) and have a tentative date set on their calendar for the wedding but are struggling to find a reception hall that is nice but within our budget. I think we have found a couple of places with potential that we are going to go look at in a week and a half when we are up in MN to move my belongings out of my condo. Once we have a reception hall booked I will let you all know the date of the wedding.
My awesome cousin Darla came down on Friday-Saturday to visit and start dress shopping with me. We didn’t find “the one” but had a great time none the less. It was fun to have her in town being we don’t get to see each other very often.
Darla came with me to my WW meeting on Saturday morning and I lost 1.8 lbs bringing me back to -23.6 lbs over the last 15 weeks. Not bad at all considering I have been in a little bit of a stall the past month. I still have a ways to go to get to my goal but I now have the wedding as a new incentive to continue my weight loss journey.
On Thursday night we are going to be flying out to Philly to visit Chris’ dad and grandparents for the Labor Day weekend. The initial plan was to go sailing with his dad on Friday but Hurricane Earl may put a stop to that depending on how fast he is moving. We are looking at taking in a ball game while we are out there as well so that should be fun even though it is the Yankees. I would love to see Toronto kick the Yankees in Yankee stadium! I would like to see all of the MLB ball parks some day so I guess I have to buck up and watch my least favorite team play for the ball park experience.
This week is finally my slow week at work. We just wrapped up two audits yesterday so our Team Lead is working on the reports while the rest of us get a little down time. I was actually able to leave at 4:55 pm yesterday which is unheard of for my department! It should be an easy week before we take our vacation!
I hope everyone has a blessed Labor Day weekend and has great weather so that you can all get outside for the final week of summer (in my eyes, summer needs to last until about November and then it can start to cool off). Even though it will still be in the 90’s around here for a few more weeks, the pool at our apartment complex is going to be drained after this weekend…So long summer, you will be missed!
Peace Out!
Bessie
We have slowly begun the process of wedding planning over the past week. We have contacted St Gerard’s in Brooklyn Park, MN (church I attended when I lived in MN) and have a tentative date set on their calendar for the wedding but are struggling to find a reception hall that is nice but within our budget. I think we have found a couple of places with potential that we are going to go look at in a week and a half when we are up in MN to move my belongings out of my condo. Once we have a reception hall booked I will let you all know the date of the wedding.
My awesome cousin Darla came down on Friday-Saturday to visit and start dress shopping with me. We didn’t find “the one” but had a great time none the less. It was fun to have her in town being we don’t get to see each other very often.
Darla came with me to my WW meeting on Saturday morning and I lost 1.8 lbs bringing me back to -23.6 lbs over the last 15 weeks. Not bad at all considering I have been in a little bit of a stall the past month. I still have a ways to go to get to my goal but I now have the wedding as a new incentive to continue my weight loss journey.
On Thursday night we are going to be flying out to Philly to visit Chris’ dad and grandparents for the Labor Day weekend. The initial plan was to go sailing with his dad on Friday but Hurricane Earl may put a stop to that depending on how fast he is moving. We are looking at taking in a ball game while we are out there as well so that should be fun even though it is the Yankees. I would love to see Toronto kick the Yankees in Yankee stadium! I would like to see all of the MLB ball parks some day so I guess I have to buck up and watch my least favorite team play for the ball park experience.
This week is finally my slow week at work. We just wrapped up two audits yesterday so our Team Lead is working on the reports while the rest of us get a little down time. I was actually able to leave at 4:55 pm yesterday which is unheard of for my department! It should be an easy week before we take our vacation!
I hope everyone has a blessed Labor Day weekend and has great weather so that you can all get outside for the final week of summer (in my eyes, summer needs to last until about November and then it can start to cool off). Even though it will still be in the 90’s around here for a few more weeks, the pool at our apartment complex is going to be drained after this weekend…So long summer, you will be missed!
Peace Out!
Bessie
Monday, August 23, 2010
Weeks 13 & 14 – We’re gettin’ hitched folks!!
Good morning everyone! Sorry for the delay in the posts for the past two weeks. I feel like I have been on the phone or at work non-stop the past week catching up with people while working on two audits at once. The reason I have been on my phone non-stop is because I got engaged a week ago Saturday!
As mentioned in my last post, Chris and I were celebrating our 1 year dating anniversary by going out to a nice dinner. I started out that Saturday morning with my weekly WW meeting and found out I had gotten back on track and had lost 3.6 lbs! I was excited about my weight loss so I decided being we were going to a fancy restaurant and Chris was playing golf all afternoon, I went and purchased a new dress for the occasion.
We went to dinner that night and had a great time. As we were leaving the restaurant, Chris told me he had a surprise for me and got us a room at the Hyatt downtown (restaurant we ate at was in the hotel) which is one of the nicest hotels in downtown St Louis. I was completely surprised and totally excited to stay there. We got up to the room and he had checked in already between golf and dinner so when I walked into the room, he had gotten me a dozen roses and a teddy bear from BABW. The bear was holding a heart shaped pillow that said I Love You on the front. He told me how much he loves me and and pulled a ring out of his pocket and asked me to marry him! Of course I said yes! I was completely surprised because he is not good at keeping secrets I figured I would have caught on at some point but I am really glad it happened the way it did. He planned it all by himself and picked the ring out all by himself as well. He did a great job and the ring is totally me! The planning hasn’t really started yet other than we are going to get married in MN so both of our families can attend. More info will come as we make more decisions.
This past Saturday I went to my weigh in and not surprisingly gained 2.4 lbs. After working long hours and trying not to let it stress me out, I didn’t eat the greatest this week. I figured it was ok for me to eat more of what I liked while I was celebrating our new engagement. I am jumping back on the weight loss bandwagon as of today so that I can get to my goal before we get married next year!
That is about all for this post. Now that the excitement has calmed down, I should be back on schedule for my weekly postings. Hope everyone has a great week!
Bessie
As mentioned in my last post, Chris and I were celebrating our 1 year dating anniversary by going out to a nice dinner. I started out that Saturday morning with my weekly WW meeting and found out I had gotten back on track and had lost 3.6 lbs! I was excited about my weight loss so I decided being we were going to a fancy restaurant and Chris was playing golf all afternoon, I went and purchased a new dress for the occasion.
We went to dinner that night and had a great time. As we were leaving the restaurant, Chris told me he had a surprise for me and got us a room at the Hyatt downtown (restaurant we ate at was in the hotel) which is one of the nicest hotels in downtown St Louis. I was completely surprised and totally excited to stay there. We got up to the room and he had checked in already between golf and dinner so when I walked into the room, he had gotten me a dozen roses and a teddy bear from BABW. The bear was holding a heart shaped pillow that said I Love You on the front. He told me how much he loves me and and pulled a ring out of his pocket and asked me to marry him! Of course I said yes! I was completely surprised because he is not good at keeping secrets I figured I would have caught on at some point but I am really glad it happened the way it did. He planned it all by himself and picked the ring out all by himself as well. He did a great job and the ring is totally me! The planning hasn’t really started yet other than we are going to get married in MN so both of our families can attend. More info will come as we make more decisions.
This past Saturday I went to my weigh in and not surprisingly gained 2.4 lbs. After working long hours and trying not to let it stress me out, I didn’t eat the greatest this week. I figured it was ok for me to eat more of what I liked while I was celebrating our new engagement. I am jumping back on the weight loss bandwagon as of today so that I can get to my goal before we get married next year!
That is about all for this post. Now that the excitement has calmed down, I should be back on schedule for my weekly postings. Hope everyone has a great week!
Bessie
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Week 12 – Family Visit!!!
Hello good people!
Before I get into last Saturday’s weigh in, I just want to say thank you to my mom, Tessa, and Rachel for coming to visit us last week. It was great to see all three of you and was really great to see my mom for a whole week. I am glad you three didn’t melt in the heat while you were here and I hope you are able to visit again! I especially want to thank my mom though for cooking dinner a few nights and folding some of my laundry – you didn’t have to do that but it was nice to be pampered by you for a few days. I love you mom!
Last Saturday was my week 12 weigh in. I went in thinking I would have a loss because I was more active and thought I did well with my eating for the week. Apparently I was wrong and gained 0.2 lbs again which puts me down to 20.6 lbs lost in 12 weeks. While that is still a great number, I was pretty frustrated to see a gain for the second week. I think I may have figured out the culprit of my gaining though…
The admin assistant at our office keeps a big jar of Nestle candy on her desk. People are constantly filling it up with candy from the company store. My favorite is the plain old milk chocolate bars. All of the candy in this jar is the mini or “fun size” bars, so I was thinking one little bar of that chocolate can’t be more than 1 pt a piece…boy was I wrong. Over the last few weeks I have been craving that chocolate so I would eat 2 “fun size” bars a day. I sat down the other night to see how many points they really were because I couldn’t think of what else could have caused a gain last week and found out that one of those bars is 2 POINTS!!! So, eating 2 of them a day (sometimes 3 or 4 if I am being honest) is 4 points! That is a lot when I only get 25 points a day! In comparison, I eat a bowl of low sugar instant oatmeal for breakfast every day and that is only 2 points. A whole skinny cow ice cream sandwich (these are delicious BTW) is only 2 points. I could eat an ice cream sandwich for the same number of points as 1 tiny chocolate bar! Needless to say, my chocolate bar eating came to a screeching halt as of Tuesday when I figured that out so hopefully I am on my way to getting back on track.
On a non-scale success note, I joined the gym at work last Thursday. The trainer there is great and sets everyone up with a weight training plan when you join and it’s only $10 a month. I started lifting this week and am planning on going 3 days a week to get more toned. My WW leader said once you start a weight training program it could take 3 weeks to start seeing weight loss again as I build up muscle so I may not see a loss for a few more weeks but am already feeling better about getting into better shape. Hopefully I stick to the plan she gave me and we will see how it goes.
Finally, I want to end on a very happy note. On August 16, 2009 I began dating the man of my dreams. Chris and I will be celebrating one year of dating bliss this weekend. He sent me a text yesterday and said he was taking me out to Ruth Chris Steakhouse on Saturday night for our ani – I am super excited to go. I have never eaten here and it will probably be the fanciest dinner I have ever had. He has been a great addition to my life in this past year and I feel very blessed to have him in my life. I love you babe! Happy Anniversary!
Well, I am out for now. I will update you all again next week on my week 13 weigh in (hopefully it goes better than the last two)!
Bessie
Before I get into last Saturday’s weigh in, I just want to say thank you to my mom, Tessa, and Rachel for coming to visit us last week. It was great to see all three of you and was really great to see my mom for a whole week. I am glad you three didn’t melt in the heat while you were here and I hope you are able to visit again! I especially want to thank my mom though for cooking dinner a few nights and folding some of my laundry – you didn’t have to do that but it was nice to be pampered by you for a few days. I love you mom!
Last Saturday was my week 12 weigh in. I went in thinking I would have a loss because I was more active and thought I did well with my eating for the week. Apparently I was wrong and gained 0.2 lbs again which puts me down to 20.6 lbs lost in 12 weeks. While that is still a great number, I was pretty frustrated to see a gain for the second week. I think I may have figured out the culprit of my gaining though…
The admin assistant at our office keeps a big jar of Nestle candy on her desk. People are constantly filling it up with candy from the company store. My favorite is the plain old milk chocolate bars. All of the candy in this jar is the mini or “fun size” bars, so I was thinking one little bar of that chocolate can’t be more than 1 pt a piece…boy was I wrong. Over the last few weeks I have been craving that chocolate so I would eat 2 “fun size” bars a day. I sat down the other night to see how many points they really were because I couldn’t think of what else could have caused a gain last week and found out that one of those bars is 2 POINTS!!! So, eating 2 of them a day (sometimes 3 or 4 if I am being honest) is 4 points! That is a lot when I only get 25 points a day! In comparison, I eat a bowl of low sugar instant oatmeal for breakfast every day and that is only 2 points. A whole skinny cow ice cream sandwich (these are delicious BTW) is only 2 points. I could eat an ice cream sandwich for the same number of points as 1 tiny chocolate bar! Needless to say, my chocolate bar eating came to a screeching halt as of Tuesday when I figured that out so hopefully I am on my way to getting back on track.
On a non-scale success note, I joined the gym at work last Thursday. The trainer there is great and sets everyone up with a weight training plan when you join and it’s only $10 a month. I started lifting this week and am planning on going 3 days a week to get more toned. My WW leader said once you start a weight training program it could take 3 weeks to start seeing weight loss again as I build up muscle so I may not see a loss for a few more weeks but am already feeling better about getting into better shape. Hopefully I stick to the plan she gave me and we will see how it goes.
Finally, I want to end on a very happy note. On August 16, 2009 I began dating the man of my dreams. Chris and I will be celebrating one year of dating bliss this weekend. He sent me a text yesterday and said he was taking me out to Ruth Chris Steakhouse on Saturday night for our ani – I am super excited to go. I have never eaten here and it will probably be the fanciest dinner I have ever had. He has been a great addition to my life in this past year and I feel very blessed to have him in my life. I love you babe! Happy Anniversary!
Well, I am out for now. I will update you all again next week on my week 13 weigh in (hopefully it goes better than the last two)!
Bessie
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Week 11 - Backtracking
Hi All,
Sorry for the delay in getting this post written. My mom and cousins (Tessa and Rachel) are in town this week for a visit so I have been busy spending time with them. We have had a great time so far. I have had to work during the day so far this week but am taking a vacation day tomorrow so that I get an extra full day of time with them. We are going to go to the St Louis Zoo and do some shopping tomorrow. I am looking forward to it!
My lack of tracking what I am eating finally caught up to me last week and I gained 1.2 lbs – yuck. I think I needed that little kick in the butt to get me back on track. I have tracked everything this week and am feeling much better about this week’s weigh in. I also joined the gym at work and am going through my free training session this afternoon so hopefully I can start lifting some weights to get my butt into better shape. I am not much of an exerciser as most of you know so this will be a much harder motivator for me than just eating better. I am going to try my best. One of the girls I work with joined the gym with me so that will help get me there a little easier.
I am keeping this post short because I have to get back to work but just wanted to send out a quick update. I hope this finds everyone doing well and having a good week. My day is going well knowing that as I write this, the Twins are currently leading the Rays 6-0 in today’s game! Go Twins!
-Bessie
Sorry for the delay in getting this post written. My mom and cousins (Tessa and Rachel) are in town this week for a visit so I have been busy spending time with them. We have had a great time so far. I have had to work during the day so far this week but am taking a vacation day tomorrow so that I get an extra full day of time with them. We are going to go to the St Louis Zoo and do some shopping tomorrow. I am looking forward to it!
My lack of tracking what I am eating finally caught up to me last week and I gained 1.2 lbs – yuck. I think I needed that little kick in the butt to get me back on track. I have tracked everything this week and am feeling much better about this week’s weigh in. I also joined the gym at work and am going through my free training session this afternoon so hopefully I can start lifting some weights to get my butt into better shape. I am not much of an exerciser as most of you know so this will be a much harder motivator for me than just eating better. I am going to try my best. One of the girls I work with joined the gym with me so that will help get me there a little easier.
I am keeping this post short because I have to get back to work but just wanted to send out a quick update. I hope this finds everyone doing well and having a good week. My day is going well knowing that as I write this, the Twins are currently leading the Rays 6-0 in today’s game! Go Twins!
-Bessie
Monday, July 26, 2010
Week 10 Struggles and a great Twins comeback!!
Good evening everyone!
As I write this post, Joe Mauer is currently 5-5 with 7 RBI's and a HR! It is about time he start playing to his full potential for the year! They are leading the KC Royals 17-0 and showing they are still alive and well! Chris drafted Mauer this spring for his fantasy baseball team just for me and has given me a lot of crap since then as he has had a sub-par season in Joe standards. I am hoping that his play as of this week is a sign of a great second half of the season! Go Twins!
Week 10 was by far my hardest week with the weight loss thus far. I still lost -0.6 lbs this week but discovered how much of a stress eater I am. I had a difficult week at work last week with some things that are going on in my department and I let it get the best of me. As a result I was constantly craving junk food and gave in way more than I should have. I went into my weigh in on Saturday completely expecting to see a weight gain and so the loss was a good surprise. I do know that I can do a lot better. I am determined to get back on track this week and have done well the last couple of days so I am feeling better in both my stress level and in my weight loss plan.
My biggest success this week came on Friday night. I went to the Sara Bareilles concert on Friday night with a couple of friends from work (she was awesome - but more on that in a minute) but the concert didn't start until 8 so a couple of us decided to kill some time at the mall first. I went into NY & Co. and tried on a pair of pants a size smaller than I have been and they FIT!!! I have not been in that size of pants in 7 years so I was super excited! I am still trying to hold off on buying new pants until I get closer to my goal but am starting to run out of things that don't make me look like a drown rat because they are so big. I consider this a good problem to have :)
Back to the concert - Sara Bareilles is one of the most talented artists I have seen perform live before. I like going to concerts when the artist sounds even better live than they do on the radio. She looked like she had a great time up there on the stage for the whole concert & I really enjoyed her new music. I regularly listen to her current CD and have full intentions of buying her new CD in September. I would recommend her music to everyone. Check it out sometime!
This week is shaping up to be very quiet which is just fine with me. My mom and cousin's are coming to visit next week which I am super excited about! Maybe I will get some of my shopping in while they are here.
Thanks to all of you that put up with me last week. With your support and patience I am feeling much better about things this week. I am really trying hard to leave work at work so if you hear me complaining about it, just remind me that it is just a job and tell me to focus on all of the wonderful things I have going on in my life right now. I hope everyone has a good stress free week and hope to post good results this Saturday!
Bessie
As I write this post, Joe Mauer is currently 5-5 with 7 RBI's and a HR! It is about time he start playing to his full potential for the year! They are leading the KC Royals 17-0 and showing they are still alive and well! Chris drafted Mauer this spring for his fantasy baseball team just for me and has given me a lot of crap since then as he has had a sub-par season in Joe standards. I am hoping that his play as of this week is a sign of a great second half of the season! Go Twins!
Week 10 was by far my hardest week with the weight loss thus far. I still lost -0.6 lbs this week but discovered how much of a stress eater I am. I had a difficult week at work last week with some things that are going on in my department and I let it get the best of me. As a result I was constantly craving junk food and gave in way more than I should have. I went into my weigh in on Saturday completely expecting to see a weight gain and so the loss was a good surprise. I do know that I can do a lot better. I am determined to get back on track this week and have done well the last couple of days so I am feeling better in both my stress level and in my weight loss plan.
My biggest success this week came on Friday night. I went to the Sara Bareilles concert on Friday night with a couple of friends from work (she was awesome - but more on that in a minute) but the concert didn't start until 8 so a couple of us decided to kill some time at the mall first. I went into NY & Co. and tried on a pair of pants a size smaller than I have been and they FIT!!! I have not been in that size of pants in 7 years so I was super excited! I am still trying to hold off on buying new pants until I get closer to my goal but am starting to run out of things that don't make me look like a drown rat because they are so big. I consider this a good problem to have :)
Back to the concert - Sara Bareilles is one of the most talented artists I have seen perform live before. I like going to concerts when the artist sounds even better live than they do on the radio. She looked like she had a great time up there on the stage for the whole concert & I really enjoyed her new music. I regularly listen to her current CD and have full intentions of buying her new CD in September. I would recommend her music to everyone. Check it out sometime!
This week is shaping up to be very quiet which is just fine with me. My mom and cousin's are coming to visit next week which I am super excited about! Maybe I will get some of my shopping in while they are here.
Thanks to all of you that put up with me last week. With your support and patience I am feeling much better about things this week. I am really trying hard to leave work at work so if you hear me complaining about it, just remind me that it is just a job and tell me to focus on all of the wonderful things I have going on in my life right now. I hope everyone has a good stress free week and hope to post good results this Saturday!
Bessie
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Week 9 – Hungry Girl!!
Hello Everyone,
I hope this post finds everyone doing well. Week 9 of my weight loss journey had it’s moments, but most were good so I will focus on those in this post. I weighed in for my week 9 results on Saturday July 17th and lost another 0.6 lbs bringing me to a total of 21.4 lbs lost to date. That means I have 18.6 pounds left to get to my goal of 40 pounds lost total! I was a little disappointed in the number for the week but considering I felt like eating everything in sight last week & had such a great number the week before, a loss is a positive thing.
Last Wednesday night, I attended a book signing with two of my coworkers. Lisa Lillien is the author of a few cookbooks and a daily email blog that I subscribe to called Hungry Girl (http://www.hungry-girl.com/). I had tried a few of her recipes in the past but have been trying them more and more through my weight loss journey and have really liked a lot of them. She released a new cookbook within the last few weeks so she was touring and made a stop in St Louis. The book signing party was a happy hour consisting of food and cocktails to try from her new book, great music from the 90’s, and the book signing. I purchased a copy of her 1-2-3 cookbook and have already read through it and flagged the recipes I want to try. We had a great time at the signing and Lisa was really nice. I thanked her for being an inspiration through my journey and will continue to read her daily emails for more great recipe ideas.
Friday, my dear friend Rachel and her BF came to St Louis so we all went out to dinner and drinks for the night. It was great to see one of my MN girls and catch up on how everyone is doing. Rachel is dating a guy in Peoria IL so I hope it continues to go well so that I can see her more often ;) He is a really nice guy and I am glad she has found someone that treats her well.
Sunday was Chris’ birthday so his dad decided to make the trip from NJ to spend the week with us. This was my first time meeting his dad. I hope he likes me and enjoys his stay in St Louis for the week!
I recently found out that the shower in my master bedroom in my condo in MN is leaking water through the ceiling into the condo below me whenever the shower is turned on so Chris’ mom has graciously offered to meet the plumber over there on Friday morning to get it fixed. I was not too happy when I found this out but it has to get taken care of. Hopefully it doesn’t cost too much. Once the repairs are done I will be renting out the condo so if anyone you know is looking to rent a 2 bed/2 bath condo in Coon Rapids, MN please send them my way!
That is about all from last week. Chris, his dad, and I are going to the Cardinals/Phillies game tonight at Busch stadium. Should be a good time pending the rain holds off. We had a storm this morning and they are predicting more rain after 9 pm tonight so I am hoping it holds off long enough to get the game in.
Enjoy the rest of the week everyone! Happy summer!!!
Bessie
I hope this post finds everyone doing well. Week 9 of my weight loss journey had it’s moments, but most were good so I will focus on those in this post. I weighed in for my week 9 results on Saturday July 17th and lost another 0.6 lbs bringing me to a total of 21.4 lbs lost to date. That means I have 18.6 pounds left to get to my goal of 40 pounds lost total! I was a little disappointed in the number for the week but considering I felt like eating everything in sight last week & had such a great number the week before, a loss is a positive thing.
Last Wednesday night, I attended a book signing with two of my coworkers. Lisa Lillien is the author of a few cookbooks and a daily email blog that I subscribe to called Hungry Girl (http://www.hungry-girl.com/). I had tried a few of her recipes in the past but have been trying them more and more through my weight loss journey and have really liked a lot of them. She released a new cookbook within the last few weeks so she was touring and made a stop in St Louis. The book signing party was a happy hour consisting of food and cocktails to try from her new book, great music from the 90’s, and the book signing. I purchased a copy of her 1-2-3 cookbook and have already read through it and flagged the recipes I want to try. We had a great time at the signing and Lisa was really nice. I thanked her for being an inspiration through my journey and will continue to read her daily emails for more great recipe ideas.
Friday, my dear friend Rachel and her BF came to St Louis so we all went out to dinner and drinks for the night. It was great to see one of my MN girls and catch up on how everyone is doing. Rachel is dating a guy in Peoria IL so I hope it continues to go well so that I can see her more often ;) He is a really nice guy and I am glad she has found someone that treats her well.
Sunday was Chris’ birthday so his dad decided to make the trip from NJ to spend the week with us. This was my first time meeting his dad. I hope he likes me and enjoys his stay in St Louis for the week!
I recently found out that the shower in my master bedroom in my condo in MN is leaking water through the ceiling into the condo below me whenever the shower is turned on so Chris’ mom has graciously offered to meet the plumber over there on Friday morning to get it fixed. I was not too happy when I found this out but it has to get taken care of. Hopefully it doesn’t cost too much. Once the repairs are done I will be renting out the condo so if anyone you know is looking to rent a 2 bed/2 bath condo in Coon Rapids, MN please send them my way!
That is about all from last week. Chris, his dad, and I are going to the Cardinals/Phillies game tonight at Busch stadium. Should be a good time pending the rain holds off. We had a storm this morning and they are predicting more rain after 9 pm tonight so I am hoping it holds off long enough to get the game in.
Enjoy the rest of the week everyone! Happy summer!!!
Bessie
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Week 7-8: A Wedding & the 4th of July
Sorry I didn’t get a chance to update my blog last week. The weekend was full of vacation fun back to MN & ND. Before I talk about all the fun we had, I owe you all an update on my weight loss progress. For week 7 I lost 1.0 lbs and during week 8 I lost an amazing 2.6 lbs! Week 8 was a huge surprise being I didn’t follow my diet our entire vacation. That brings me to a total of 20.8 lbs lost in eight weeks! This is 10% of my initial starting weight which earned me a key chain at my Weight Watchers meeting on Saturday morning! I have also lost 3 in on my waist, 2 in on my hips, and 2 in on my thighs! My pants are starting to get really big but I don’t want to go shopping just yet being I am only a little over half way to my end goal. We will see how long I can hold out – I love to shop!
Our trip back to MN and ND was a blast! We made our first stop in MN and stayed with Chris’ mom and stepdad. I was able to meet up with my girls from Target for HH on Thursday night before we went to the Twins game. This was my first experience at Target Field. I watched the stadium get built the last few years and was excited to finally be able to experience it from the inside. The stadium was beautiful and it was a blast watching the Twins play baseball outside in MN! It was well worth the tax money I helped contribute to the stadium.
On Friday we headed out for ND. Friday and Saturday we spent celebrating Vicki and Brandon’s wedding. I am happy to report that the dress fit and was even a little big. The wedding was beautiful – it is always fun to celebrate a wedding of two amazing people. Vicki is one of my best friends and I wouldn’t have missed being there for her for anything.
For the 4th of July we spent the day with my family including going to the parade in Mandan, a BBQ at B&D’s, spending time with my beautiful niece, and topping the night off with music and fireworks at the state capitol. The weather was beautiful all weekend, to Chris’ surprise. I may be able to convince him to go back there. After the awful cold and snow we had over Christmas, he wasn’t too thrilled to go back to ND but was pleasantly surprised by the weather.
It was back to the grind at work this week. Pending the schedule not changing (I won’t hold my breath) I shouldn’t have to travel for a while for work so I am looking forward to spending the rest of the summer enjoying the Southern Illinois heat! Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July!
Until next week,
Bessie
Our trip back to MN and ND was a blast! We made our first stop in MN and stayed with Chris’ mom and stepdad. I was able to meet up with my girls from Target for HH on Thursday night before we went to the Twins game. This was my first experience at Target Field. I watched the stadium get built the last few years and was excited to finally be able to experience it from the inside. The stadium was beautiful and it was a blast watching the Twins play baseball outside in MN! It was well worth the tax money I helped contribute to the stadium.
On Friday we headed out for ND. Friday and Saturday we spent celebrating Vicki and Brandon’s wedding. I am happy to report that the dress fit and was even a little big. The wedding was beautiful – it is always fun to celebrate a wedding of two amazing people. Vicki is one of my best friends and I wouldn’t have missed being there for her for anything.
For the 4th of July we spent the day with my family including going to the parade in Mandan, a BBQ at B&D’s, spending time with my beautiful niece, and topping the night off with music and fireworks at the state capitol. The weather was beautiful all weekend, to Chris’ surprise. I may be able to convince him to go back there. After the awful cold and snow we had over Christmas, he wasn’t too thrilled to go back to ND but was pleasantly surprised by the weather.
It was back to the grind at work this week. Pending the schedule not changing (I won’t hold my breath) I shouldn’t have to travel for a while for work so I am looking forward to spending the rest of the summer enjoying the Southern Illinois heat! Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July!
Until next week,
Bessie
Monday, June 28, 2010
Week 6 Results
Hi All!
I am going to make this a short post because of a busy week but wanted to let you know I lost another 0.8 lbs during week six adding up to a total of 17.2 lbs for my first 6 weeks! I was hoping for a little better week last week but considering I lost 6.8 lbs in my 3 weeks of travel that is pretty impressive!
Head to MN and ND this week for Vicki's wedding! I am praying that the green dress fits when I get to town on Friday otherwise I may need an emergency tailor job done, but I am fairly confident it will fit just right. I am pretty much back to what I was when I tried it on last. I will take pictures at the wedding on Saturday to show everyone how great I am looking!
Next weigh in will be on Thursday morning in MSP being I will be doing wedding stuff for the weekend so I will let you know what the final tally is before the wedding is here. Congrats in advance to Vicki and Brandon! I can't wait to celebrate with you both on Saturday!
I am going to make this a short post because of a busy week but wanted to let you know I lost another 0.8 lbs during week six adding up to a total of 17.2 lbs for my first 6 weeks! I was hoping for a little better week last week but considering I lost 6.8 lbs in my 3 weeks of travel that is pretty impressive!
Head to MN and ND this week for Vicki's wedding! I am praying that the green dress fits when I get to town on Friday otherwise I may need an emergency tailor job done, but I am fairly confident it will fit just right. I am pretty much back to what I was when I tried it on last. I will take pictures at the wedding on Saturday to show everyone how great I am looking!
Next weigh in will be on Thursday morning in MSP being I will be doing wedding stuff for the weekend so I will let you know what the final tally is before the wedding is here. Congrats in advance to Vicki and Brandon! I can't wait to celebrate with you both on Saturday!
Friday, June 25, 2010
Fremont, Michigan
Good morning everyone!
Today is my last day in Fremont, Michigan. After spending two weeks in this little town I have really fallen in love with this place. Fremont is the home of Gerber baby food and the whole town is centered around this company. There are ~4,000 residents in Fremont and about ~1,000 of them are employed by Gerber. Everyone that I have worked with and met in this town have been wonderful.
We came into this trip thinking that there was going to be nothing to do in this town and that we were going to be bored out of our minds after one day. We were completely wrong. It reminded me of small town ND. Everyone at the front desk at the Harrington Inn knew me by name, the two ladies that worked breakfast at Subway knew exactly what breakfast sandwich I was going to be ordering when I walked in, and the girl at the Koffee Kup had a big smile on her face every time we came in for lunch. We even chatted with the owner of the 33 Main Café when we had lunch there earlier this week. Everyone has been so nice and we have yet to run into anyone in this town that didn’t have a smile on their face.
On Tuesday morning, my dear friend Barb sent me flowers to the hotel just because. It was a very sweet surprise and I don’t know if I was more excited to get them or if the girl at the front desk was more excited to hand them to me. Thank you again Barb for adding even more cheer to my week.
I am very excited to get home to St Louis today and be done with work travel for a couple of months, but if all of my trips were to places like Fremont I would be ok with having to travel once in a while still. Even though I worked a 15 ½ hour day yesterday I got back to the hotel feeling relaxed and not stressed for the first time on one of my travel trips for my new company. I am still not really liking my job yet but after these last two weeks I am starting to feel better about being with this company. It is all worth it to be near Chris and my family everyday.
To end this post, I just want to wish you all a good weekend. If you ever need to just get away for a few days and don’t want the hustle and bustle of a big city, consider taking a trip to Fremont. You won’t be disappointed. Plus, it is only $6 to see a movie at the theater here in town and $15 for two people to eat at the restaurant at the really nice golf course here so it would be a very inexpensive trip!
Thank you again for supporting me and being patient with me as I adjust to my new job and go through my weight loss journey. I am starting to feel more energized every day! I will post my week 6 results after my weigh in tomorrow!
Love, Bessie
Today is my last day in Fremont, Michigan. After spending two weeks in this little town I have really fallen in love with this place. Fremont is the home of Gerber baby food and the whole town is centered around this company. There are ~4,000 residents in Fremont and about ~1,000 of them are employed by Gerber. Everyone that I have worked with and met in this town have been wonderful.
We came into this trip thinking that there was going to be nothing to do in this town and that we were going to be bored out of our minds after one day. We were completely wrong. It reminded me of small town ND. Everyone at the front desk at the Harrington Inn knew me by name, the two ladies that worked breakfast at Subway knew exactly what breakfast sandwich I was going to be ordering when I walked in, and the girl at the Koffee Kup had a big smile on her face every time we came in for lunch. We even chatted with the owner of the 33 Main Café when we had lunch there earlier this week. Everyone has been so nice and we have yet to run into anyone in this town that didn’t have a smile on their face.
On Tuesday morning, my dear friend Barb sent me flowers to the hotel just because. It was a very sweet surprise and I don’t know if I was more excited to get them or if the girl at the front desk was more excited to hand them to me. Thank you again Barb for adding even more cheer to my week.
I am very excited to get home to St Louis today and be done with work travel for a couple of months, but if all of my trips were to places like Fremont I would be ok with having to travel once in a while still. Even though I worked a 15 ½ hour day yesterday I got back to the hotel feeling relaxed and not stressed for the first time on one of my travel trips for my new company. I am still not really liking my job yet but after these last two weeks I am starting to feel better about being with this company. It is all worth it to be near Chris and my family everyday.
To end this post, I just want to wish you all a good weekend. If you ever need to just get away for a few days and don’t want the hustle and bustle of a big city, consider taking a trip to Fremont. You won’t be disappointed. Plus, it is only $6 to see a movie at the theater here in town and $15 for two people to eat at the restaurant at the really nice golf course here so it would be a very inexpensive trip!
Thank you again for supporting me and being patient with me as I adjust to my new job and go through my weight loss journey. I am starting to feel more energized every day! I will post my week 6 results after my weigh in tomorrow!
Love, Bessie
Monday, June 21, 2010
Week 5
Good Morning everyone! I hope everyone had a good week last week and enjoyed the weekend as well.
My week last week was spent in Fremont, MI. As noted in the last post, I had quite the adventure getting here last week with very long airport delays. I was glad to say that my week went rather smoothly other than travel back home on Friday, but I will get to that in a minute. We had a really good week of work for once last week. We have been working with some really great people here in Fremont (home of Gerber Baby Food) and because they were so easy to work with, the latest we had to stay any night last week was 6:30 pm and no working from my hotel room afterwards either.
For my birthday last Monday, we drove to Muskegon, MI and ate at a restaurant right on the East coast of Lake Michigan. Dinner was really good and the three of us girls had a really good time. Even though my birthday started out on an airplane and going to be at the hotel at 4:04 am, it turned out to be a pretty nice day.
On Wednesday night, we ventured over to the local gym as the 1 treadmill at the hotel didn’t work and we didn’t think we would get a good workout on the fan bikes they had there too. We ended up taking a Zumba class at the gym down the road for the night and had a blast. I am very uncoordinated so I probably didn’t get as good of a workout as I would have had I had any dance moves at all, but I still had a lot of fun. If you have never experienced one of these classes, I definitely recommend it. The fun music makes it worth it even if you don’t have dance skills to keep up.
Friday night I made it to Chicago on time only to find out my flight had been canceled. I talked to the lady at the counter of the flight that was scheduled to leave earlier than mine and she hooked me up with a #2 spot on the standby list. A storm ended up rolling through as they got ½ way through boarding the plane so I had to wait another hour to see if I was able to get on the flight, but they were able to get the first 3 people on the list on the plane so I only made it to STL about ½ hr after I was originally scheduled to land. Of course my bag didn’t make it there so after waiting in line for 45 minutes to file a bag claim, my bag was finally delivered to my front door at 4:50 am on Saturday morning. I decided that after my airport adventures in O’Hare I carried on for my trip back to Fremont this week.
I went to my WW meeting on Saturday morning thinking that if I broke even for the week I would consider that a success being there are not a lot of healthy places to eat in Fremont. To my surprise I ended up losing another 2 lbs for the week putting me at a total loss of 16.4 lbs for the past 5 weeks! I was super excited to find out that I still lost and am attributing it to the Zumba class – I will have to attend it again this week!
I finally had an uneventful trip through O’Hare yesterday, making it to Fremont on time last night. This should be my last week of travel for work for a while as long as the schedule doesn’t change. I am looking forward to getting home on Friday and being there for a while. I hope everyone has a good week this week! Thanks again for all of the support through my weight loss journey! I wouldn’t be as successful without all of you cheering me on!
PS – Happy Father’s Day yesterday to all of the wonderful dad’s and grandpa’s out there. I was able to take my dad to breakfast yesterday morning before I flew out and had a great time! Thank you also for the birthday cards and messages. It made my week that much more special!
My week last week was spent in Fremont, MI. As noted in the last post, I had quite the adventure getting here last week with very long airport delays. I was glad to say that my week went rather smoothly other than travel back home on Friday, but I will get to that in a minute. We had a really good week of work for once last week. We have been working with some really great people here in Fremont (home of Gerber Baby Food) and because they were so easy to work with, the latest we had to stay any night last week was 6:30 pm and no working from my hotel room afterwards either.
For my birthday last Monday, we drove to Muskegon, MI and ate at a restaurant right on the East coast of Lake Michigan. Dinner was really good and the three of us girls had a really good time. Even though my birthday started out on an airplane and going to be at the hotel at 4:04 am, it turned out to be a pretty nice day.
On Wednesday night, we ventured over to the local gym as the 1 treadmill at the hotel didn’t work and we didn’t think we would get a good workout on the fan bikes they had there too. We ended up taking a Zumba class at the gym down the road for the night and had a blast. I am very uncoordinated so I probably didn’t get as good of a workout as I would have had I had any dance moves at all, but I still had a lot of fun. If you have never experienced one of these classes, I definitely recommend it. The fun music makes it worth it even if you don’t have dance skills to keep up.
Friday night I made it to Chicago on time only to find out my flight had been canceled. I talked to the lady at the counter of the flight that was scheduled to leave earlier than mine and she hooked me up with a #2 spot on the standby list. A storm ended up rolling through as they got ½ way through boarding the plane so I had to wait another hour to see if I was able to get on the flight, but they were able to get the first 3 people on the list on the plane so I only made it to STL about ½ hr after I was originally scheduled to land. Of course my bag didn’t make it there so after waiting in line for 45 minutes to file a bag claim, my bag was finally delivered to my front door at 4:50 am on Saturday morning. I decided that after my airport adventures in O’Hare I carried on for my trip back to Fremont this week.
I went to my WW meeting on Saturday morning thinking that if I broke even for the week I would consider that a success being there are not a lot of healthy places to eat in Fremont. To my surprise I ended up losing another 2 lbs for the week putting me at a total loss of 16.4 lbs for the past 5 weeks! I was super excited to find out that I still lost and am attributing it to the Zumba class – I will have to attend it again this week!
I finally had an uneventful trip through O’Hare yesterday, making it to Fremont on time last night. This should be my last week of travel for work for a while as long as the schedule doesn’t change. I am looking forward to getting home on Friday and being there for a while. I hope everyone has a good week this week! Thanks again for all of the support through my weight loss journey! I wouldn’t be as successful without all of you cheering me on!
PS – Happy Father’s Day yesterday to all of the wonderful dad’s and grandpa’s out there. I was able to take my dad to breakfast yesterday morning before I flew out and had a great time! Thank you also for the birthday cards and messages. It made my week that much more special!
Monday, June 14, 2010
Week 4 - I have survived one month!!!
June 13th
Good evening everyone! I am writing this post as I sit in the Chicago O’Hare airport on my way (maybe) to Freemont Michigan for work for the week. My flight to Chicago was delayed by 2 hours because of the weather in Chicago so I missed my connection. I was originally scheduled to land at 6:40 pm in Grand Rapids but am now on a flight that is going to be landing at 12:30 am and will still have an hour drive ahead of me. I really hope my luggage makes it otherwise I will be going into work tomorrow wearing my jeans and a MN Twins t-shirt. I guess that wouldn’t be too bad…let me rethink that one :)
I probably won’t be able to post this to the internet till I get to work in the morning so I will update you on flight status at the end of this post to let you know when I got in.
This past week and a half has been very busy. We went to Columbus OH last weekend for M&K’s wedding. It was a great weekend and the wedding was beautiful. It was fun to catch up with some of my Minnesota friends for the weekend as well. We went to the Columbus art fair on Saturday afternoon before the wedding and had a good time there as well. On Friday night I got the itch to buy a scratch off ticket and ended up winning $25 so that paid for our lunch and parking at the art fair.
This past week I was in NJ for work. We only had a week there so we worked some really long hours including a 14 hr day on Thursday. I was really excited to get home for the weekend.
This weekend I went and did my week four weigh in – I lost another four pounds! That brings my total to 14.4 pounds in a month! I am super excited about this! Almost back to what I need to be for the bridesmaid dress so I am very happy about the progress I have made thus far.
I also took my driver’s license test on Saturday morning and am happy to report that I passed with flying colors so I am now officially a resident of IL. My car license plates are on my Prius, my driver’s license says IL and I am now a registered voter in the state. I have really loved living in IL thus far and am glad I made the move to be closer to Chris. He took me to dinner at the Melting Pot on Saturday night for an early birthday dinner being I am out of town this week. Dinner there was amazing as always (I put my diet aside for the night and it was well worth it). He also got me a Sirius satellite radio for my b-day so we listened to 90’s on 9 all the way there and back.
I am not going to lie – it was very hard to leave to go back to the airport again this morning. Gypsy must have known I was leaving again while I was packing my bag because she was following me around everywhere I went and tried to leave the house with me when I was heading out. I am beyond burnt out from the travel but after next week I “should” be home for a couple of months pending the schedule doesn’t change. I have hit the point in my life that the travel for work is no longer part of what I want to do. Unfortunately it is a pretty big part of my job and will have to do it for a while longer. Hopefully when I get more into the IT projects I will be able to stay at home more often as we shouldn’t have to travel as much for that.
Well, that is enough complaining for the night. I am going to watch the end of the Cubs/White Sox game here at the airport bar and hope to get some sleep on the plane tonight so that I am not dragging too much tomorrow morning. Go Cubs!!!
June 14th
Well, after arriving in Fremont at 4 am last night I skipped the first half of the day at work and am finally in for the day. It was 4:04 am when I crawled into bed and was not about to get up and go into work at 7:30 am so I told my team lead I was going to get some sleep. I am feeling much more refreshed now and am ready to go for the afternoon. The girls on my team that are here are going to go to dinner with me somewhere near Lake Michigan for my birthday tonight so that should be fun. It should make my birthday a little better than it started out this morning. I hope everyone has a great day today!
Good evening everyone! I am writing this post as I sit in the Chicago O’Hare airport on my way (maybe) to Freemont Michigan for work for the week. My flight to Chicago was delayed by 2 hours because of the weather in Chicago so I missed my connection. I was originally scheduled to land at 6:40 pm in Grand Rapids but am now on a flight that is going to be landing at 12:30 am and will still have an hour drive ahead of me. I really hope my luggage makes it otherwise I will be going into work tomorrow wearing my jeans and a MN Twins t-shirt. I guess that wouldn’t be too bad…let me rethink that one :)
I probably won’t be able to post this to the internet till I get to work in the morning so I will update you on flight status at the end of this post to let you know when I got in.
This past week and a half has been very busy. We went to Columbus OH last weekend for M&K’s wedding. It was a great weekend and the wedding was beautiful. It was fun to catch up with some of my Minnesota friends for the weekend as well. We went to the Columbus art fair on Saturday afternoon before the wedding and had a good time there as well. On Friday night I got the itch to buy a scratch off ticket and ended up winning $25 so that paid for our lunch and parking at the art fair.
This past week I was in NJ for work. We only had a week there so we worked some really long hours including a 14 hr day on Thursday. I was really excited to get home for the weekend.
This weekend I went and did my week four weigh in – I lost another four pounds! That brings my total to 14.4 pounds in a month! I am super excited about this! Almost back to what I need to be for the bridesmaid dress so I am very happy about the progress I have made thus far.
I also took my driver’s license test on Saturday morning and am happy to report that I passed with flying colors so I am now officially a resident of IL. My car license plates are on my Prius, my driver’s license says IL and I am now a registered voter in the state. I have really loved living in IL thus far and am glad I made the move to be closer to Chris. He took me to dinner at the Melting Pot on Saturday night for an early birthday dinner being I am out of town this week. Dinner there was amazing as always (I put my diet aside for the night and it was well worth it). He also got me a Sirius satellite radio for my b-day so we listened to 90’s on 9 all the way there and back.
I am not going to lie – it was very hard to leave to go back to the airport again this morning. Gypsy must have known I was leaving again while I was packing my bag because she was following me around everywhere I went and tried to leave the house with me when I was heading out. I am beyond burnt out from the travel but after next week I “should” be home for a couple of months pending the schedule doesn’t change. I have hit the point in my life that the travel for work is no longer part of what I want to do. Unfortunately it is a pretty big part of my job and will have to do it for a while longer. Hopefully when I get more into the IT projects I will be able to stay at home more often as we shouldn’t have to travel as much for that.
Well, that is enough complaining for the night. I am going to watch the end of the Cubs/White Sox game here at the airport bar and hope to get some sleep on the plane tonight so that I am not dragging too much tomorrow morning. Go Cubs!!!
June 14th
Well, after arriving in Fremont at 4 am last night I skipped the first half of the day at work and am finally in for the day. It was 4:04 am when I crawled into bed and was not about to get up and go into work at 7:30 am so I told my team lead I was going to get some sleep. I am feeling much more refreshed now and am ready to go for the afternoon. The girls on my team that are here are going to go to dinner with me somewhere near Lake Michigan for my birthday tonight so that should be fun. It should make my birthday a little better than it started out this morning. I hope everyone has a great day today!
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Week 2.5 & 5% body weight loss!!!
Hi all!
I am proud to report that at my weigh in tonight I was down another 2 lbs which gets me to 10.4 lbs in total loss. With this, it also put me over the mark of 5% body weight loss!!! This is a huge deal for me being I have been awful at attempting to lose weight in the past. I am 1/4 of the way in my overall goal and only 2.5 weeks in! I have been told to expect to lose 1-2 lbs a week from here on out.
I do owe everyone an apology from my last post as I promised pictures from our lake trip last weekend. Well, forgetful me left the camera in the bag in the tent all weekend and didn't take any pictures. Hoping to get some from Kim and Bret when they download them from their camera. Gypsy did jump into the lake with her life jacket on, got completely freaked out and did not leave the boat or solid ground the rest of the weekend. We were very proud of how well she behaved for the weekend though. We let her off the leash for 90% of the weekend and she stayed right by us and didn't even attemp to wander off so she got a bully stick when we got back home.
We head to OH tomorrow for M&K's wedding! Should be a good time and I am looking forward to seeing some of my MN friends. It will be a quick weekend as I leave for NJ for work on Sunday for the week but it will be good to get out of town for fun for the weekend instead of work. I have three weeks in a row on the road again but should hopefully be home then for at least 2 months before I have to go on another trip. I do miss my travel team from my last job as we all got along so well, but I am starting to get into the full swing of things at my new gig so hopefully the travel gets better with it too.
My next weigh in won't be until next Saturday as I will be getting back on my Sat weekly schedule so hopefully eating out for the next 3 weeks doesn't derail my progress. I think I have learned enough to keep me close to being in line so I am thinking I will still see some progress!
That is all I can come up with for tonight! Hopefully I am not boring you all with this blog! Thanks again for the continued support through my weight loss journey! I wouldn't be as successful thus far without you all!
Good night!
I am proud to report that at my weigh in tonight I was down another 2 lbs which gets me to 10.4 lbs in total loss. With this, it also put me over the mark of 5% body weight loss!!! This is a huge deal for me being I have been awful at attempting to lose weight in the past. I am 1/4 of the way in my overall goal and only 2.5 weeks in! I have been told to expect to lose 1-2 lbs a week from here on out.
I do owe everyone an apology from my last post as I promised pictures from our lake trip last weekend. Well, forgetful me left the camera in the bag in the tent all weekend and didn't take any pictures. Hoping to get some from Kim and Bret when they download them from their camera. Gypsy did jump into the lake with her life jacket on, got completely freaked out and did not leave the boat or solid ground the rest of the weekend. We were very proud of how well she behaved for the weekend though. We let her off the leash for 90% of the weekend and she stayed right by us and didn't even attemp to wander off so she got a bully stick when we got back home.
We head to OH tomorrow for M&K's wedding! Should be a good time and I am looking forward to seeing some of my MN friends. It will be a quick weekend as I leave for NJ for work on Sunday for the week but it will be good to get out of town for fun for the weekend instead of work. I have three weeks in a row on the road again but should hopefully be home then for at least 2 months before I have to go on another trip. I do miss my travel team from my last job as we all got along so well, but I am starting to get into the full swing of things at my new gig so hopefully the travel gets better with it too.
My next weigh in won't be until next Saturday as I will be getting back on my Sat weekly schedule so hopefully eating out for the next 3 weeks doesn't derail my progress. I think I have learned enough to keep me close to being in line so I am thinking I will still see some progress!
That is all I can come up with for tonight! Hopefully I am not boring you all with this blog! Thanks again for the continued support through my weight loss journey! I wouldn't be as successful thus far without you all!
Good night!
Friday, May 28, 2010
Week 1.5 Results are in!! (And Memorial Day memories)
Good morning everyone!
I hope this note finds everyone doing well today as we all prep for a wonderful three day weekend! I wanted to give you a quick update on my WW progress before I get into a couple other things.
I went to my second weight loss weigh in last night instead of this Saturday morning because we are going to be heading out of town for the weekend as of tonight. After getting on the scale I found out I lost another 0.6 lbs in ½ week. I am completely fine with this number and pleased that it is still a step in the right direction. My WW leader said that this number has a couple of things behind it. 1 – I did not complete a full week since my last weigh in. 2 – I weighed in at 6:00 pm after work instead of 10:00 am on a Saturday after I just crawled out of bed. She said I probably lost about 3 pounds in reality being the body can fluctuate 3-5 lbs as the day goes on. 3 – I lost 7.8 pounds last week so she said it is normal to see a much smaller loss a week after such a great number. I will have to weigh in on Thursday again next week as we are heading out of town for M&K’s wedding in OH so I won’t be back to my Saturday schedule till the follow weekend. She said I should see that extra loss when I switch back to Saturday mornings. So, in 1 ½ weeks, I have lost a total of 8.4 pounds! I am super excited as that is a great weight loss for only 1 ½ weeks.
For the Memorial Day weekend we are going to be going boating/camping at Lake Kincaid in IL with our good friends Kim & Bret. They are expecting a baby in July so they wanted to get out to a lake one more time before the baby comes. I am really looking forward to the trip as it is predicted to be 87 and beautiful all weekend! I have never been tubing or water skiing so it should be a good time. With how clumsy I tend to be, I am a little scared of water skiing so I am hoping I don’t come home with a broke arm or leg :) We are bring Gypsy with and she is not a very big fan of water so we picked her up a life jacket last night in case she decides to get brave and try to take a swim. I will post pictures after we get back on Sunday.
I have a lot of wonderful people to remember this Memorial Day but particularly the three people that we lost this past year:
Happy Graduation weekend to Hannah and Hayley! I’m sure you will both look awesome walking in your caps and gowns on graduation day! I am very proud of both of you!
That’s all for now!
I hope this note finds everyone doing well today as we all prep for a wonderful three day weekend! I wanted to give you a quick update on my WW progress before I get into a couple other things.
For the Memorial Day weekend we are going to be going boating/camping at Lake Kincaid in IL with our good friends Kim & Bret. They are expecting a baby in July so they wanted to get out to a lake one more time before the baby comes. I am really looking forward to the trip as it is predicted to be 87 and beautiful all weekend! I have never been tubing or water skiing so it should be a good time. With how clumsy I tend to be, I am a little scared of water skiing so I am hoping I don’t come home with a broke arm or leg :) We are bring Gypsy with and she is not a very big fan of water so we picked her up a life jacket last night in case she decides to get brave and try to take a swim. I will post pictures after we get back on Sunday.
- My Grandma V passed away at the age of 91 in September 2009 after leading an extraordinary life. She was my favorite person on this earth and I pray that I can live to be an amazing person like her. She impacted many lives in her time here on earth and I am grateful for all of the times I was able to spend with her. I miss her dearly and look forward to seeing her again some day (hopefully when I am really old)
- The second loss in the past year came about a month ago. My 6th grade and High School band director passed away from cancer after battling it for about a year. He taught at SMCHS since before my Mom went to school there in the 70’s and in my biased opinion, created the best band program in the state of ND. I had the honor of being in the Junior/Senior band when I was a freshman and sophomore as well and learned a lot of life lessons from Mr Schmidt that has helped shape the person I am today. His motto was “Early is on time. On time is Late.” Because of him, I strive to always be early to everything I attend so that I do not make people wait on account of me.
- Lastly, my great aunt Toni (Grandma V’s sister) passed away from her battle with cancer on Wednesday night. Toni lived in the twin cities for many years and her and I became very close when I moved to Minneapolis after college graduation. I would go over to visit a couple of times a month and ended up finding out that McDonald’s was one of her favorite places to eat. We would go to the McDonald’s in uptown and have burgers and fries and catch up with one another. After she became sick she moved to Bismarck to live with my aunt and uncle. She lived three years longer than the doctor’s expected she would so I cherished all the times I would get back to visit her. Toni was known to be pretty stubborn at times which made me love her even more. When Grandma V passed she told me that she thought grandma was going to go straight to heaven but felt she herself would spend a long time in purgatory :) I told her that I disagreed with that statement and I truly believe she is sitting next to God in heaven watching over us all today.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Results of Week #1 are in!
Drum Roll Please.........
I lost 7.8 pounds for week one!!! I am extremely happy that week one went well! It really has been not bad at all this past week. It is amazing how much food you can eat when you eat healthy instead of eat pizza and chocolate all the time! :)
I have learned that Subway is my best friend during this diet experience. I can go to Subway and eat a 6 in turkey and ham on wheat with lettuce, pickles, cucumbers, lite mayo and a bay of baked lays with diet coke for 9 points. Pretty good deal!
It is girls weekend for Gypsy and I. Chris is on a fishing trip with his uncle and cousins so I am relaxing and getting caught up on things at home. I had my WW meeting this morning and then went and got my eyes checked. I am becoming more blind the older I get but at least I have been able to find some cute glasses to wear! I decided to schedule an hour massage tonight to get some relaxing in so I am looking forward to being spoiled! I feel I deserve it after such a successful first week.
Week 2 is where they introduce activity points into the program so that will be my test this week. I think I am going to take a quick nap and then take Gypsy for a long walk this afternoon. It will be good for both of us.
I hope you all have a great week! If anything comes up during the week I will let you know, otherwise I will give you another update after my week 2 weigh in. Thanks for all of the support this week! I really appreciate it!
I lost 7.8 pounds for week one!!! I am extremely happy that week one went well! It really has been not bad at all this past week. It is amazing how much food you can eat when you eat healthy instead of eat pizza and chocolate all the time! :)
I have learned that Subway is my best friend during this diet experience. I can go to Subway and eat a 6 in turkey and ham on wheat with lettuce, pickles, cucumbers, lite mayo and a bay of baked lays with diet coke for 9 points. Pretty good deal!
It is girls weekend for Gypsy and I. Chris is on a fishing trip with his uncle and cousins so I am relaxing and getting caught up on things at home. I had my WW meeting this morning and then went and got my eyes checked. I am becoming more blind the older I get but at least I have been able to find some cute glasses to wear! I decided to schedule an hour massage tonight to get some relaxing in so I am looking forward to being spoiled! I feel I deserve it after such a successful first week.
Week 2 is where they introduce activity points into the program so that will be my test this week. I think I am going to take a quick nap and then take Gypsy for a long walk this afternoon. It will be good for both of us.
I hope you all have a great week! If anything comes up during the week I will let you know, otherwise I will give you another update after my week 2 weigh in. Thanks for all of the support this week! I really appreciate it!
Monday, May 17, 2010
Will Power Test #1
Today my team at work had 1 new hire and four interns start for the summer, so they had a team lunch to welcome them that consisted of pizza, salad, and brownies. As some of you know, pizza is my favorite food ever and it smelled delicious.
I am proud to say that I stuck to my will power and ate the lunch I packed (turkey sandwich, cucumbers, and jello) instead of giving in to the pizza and brownies! I was so proud of myself considering chocolate is another one of my downfalls. Hopefully I am able to continue to keep it up!
Have a good afternoon!
I am proud to say that I stuck to my will power and ate the lunch I packed (turkey sandwich, cucumbers, and jello) instead of giving in to the pizza and brownies! I was so proud of myself considering chocolate is another one of my downfalls. Hopefully I am able to continue to keep it up!
Have a good afternoon!
Sunday, May 16, 2010
I am now a Weight Watchers member
Well, I am on day two of weight watchers and am surprised as to how much food I can eat. I went and signed up yesterday morning and attended my first meeting. I was a little heavier than I thought I was so I am setting my goal at 35-40 pounds total but my first goal is 5% of my total weight. They gave us a lot of tools (books) to use so so far the program seems pretty easy to follow. Once I start remembering how many “points” things are I think it will be even better. Then I won’t have to get out my book every time I want to eat to see what I can have.
It has been a pretty rainy weekend here. Not as much rain as was predicted but still enough to keep us inside for the most part. We have been pretty lazy today but did have my Dad and Lynda over for dinner last night to show them the apartment. It was good to catch up with them for a little while. The rain is supposedly going to clear up after tomorrow so we can get back outside a little more. Chris’ softball was rained out last week so he is hoping for some sun!
Good evening all!
Gypsy!
Friday, May 14, 2010
Welcome to my new blog!
Hi Everyone!
Welcome to my new blog! I hope this posting finds you all happy and that the spring weather is cooperating for each of you. After being inspired by my brothers and their blog posts, I have decided to start one of my own. The main purpose of my blog is to document my efforts to lose weight in order to fit into the bridesmaid dress I am wearing for my friend Vicki’s wedding on July 3, 2010. In order to tell you my plan to get to that goal, I should probably first explain how I got into this situation in the first place.
My story began almost three years ago when I went on a work trip to Bangalore, India for two weeks in May. At the time I was working as an IT auditor for a large retail corporation and when volunteers were asked to go on this audit trip I jumped at the chance. The extent of my international travel prior to this trip was to Winnipeg Canada and the Bahamas and I figured I would probably not travel to India for a personal vacation so this was my opportunity to go! We met with a doctor before the trip and had to get four shots as well as take malaria medication while we were there to stay healthy. As an extra precaution, they gave each of us 10 days of antibiotics to take in case we got sick while we were there. This should have been a red flag for me but I was just so excited to go, I didn’t care. What was the worst that could happen? Maybe a little stomach flu? Wrong.
Fast forward to the weekend in-between my two work weeks over there and I was sick to my stomach. I started taking the Cipro so that I could make it through the next week and that really seemed to help. After I was back in the states and ran out of the Cipro however, I was back to being in the bathroom within ½ hr of eating no matter what it was.
I was a pretty healthy person prior to this so I hadn’t established a doctor in Minnesota yet. I thought it was logical to go to the doctor that gave us our shots prior to the trip as she specialized in international travelers. She did the whole run down of testing for things like parasites and the tests all came back negative. I ended up just getting frustrated and didn’t go back because she said she didn’t think there was anything else she could do for me (I blame the rest of my ongoing problems on her as she was a crappy doctor).
When I had finally had enough and felt like I was getting a sinus infection the following January I decided to go into the doctor and scheduled an appointment with a nurse practitioner because she was the first person I could get in to see. I began to tell her about my stomach issues and she asked if they had checked for H. Pylori. I told her I didn’t think they had so she ordered up a blood test. Sure enough, it came back positive and I was put on two medications for 2 weeks to get rid of it. I won’t go into gruesome detail of what this bacteria infection is, but if you are that curious, I would recommend googling it.
As a result of having H. Pylori for nine months, my immune system was shot. I ended up getting diagnosed with Epstein Barr Syndrome (Chronic Fatigue) and was always tired. The H. Pylori did a lot of long term damage to my stomach as well which left me lactose intolerant and forced a lot of other things out of my diet. Once I was able to cut a lot of those things out of my diet and get to a regular sleep schedule I was finally beginning to feel normal again. Every once in a while I would go through a couple weeks of feeling like I had mono but would recover pretty nicely.
Last August I began dating the man of my dreams. How we ended up together is a whole different story that can be saved for a different day, but Chris and I have been together now for almost nine months after being friends for three years. We always had a long distance friendship as I was in Minnesota and he lived just outside of St Louis on the Illinois side of the river. As our relationship progressed, we decided that the distance was getting harder and I was tired of the weather in MN so I found a job for a pet food company in St Louis and moved to Illinois in March. I am loving it here so far (Miss my ladies in MN though!)
After getting settled into my new home with Chris, the Epstein Barr came back in full force. It has been six weeks of feeling extreme fatigue to the point where I started to fall asleep at work. I went and saw the doctor this week and he took blood work to see if it may be due to hypothyroidism or maybe iron deficient anemia. I should find out next week if either of these things are present in my system.
I have never been a coffee drinker and after diet coke was cut from my diet two years ago caffeine isn’t much of an option to help me stay awake during the day. It doesn’t matter if I get 5 hrs or 12 hours of sleep a night, I feel the same lethargy every day. As a result, I began to eat a lot of sugar to keep myself awake every day. This is not a good idea when it comes to trying to maintain or lose weight. Needless to say, I have packed on a few pounds over the last three years, but most recently the last six weeks so the doctor recommended that I lose weight. So, I have decided that on Saturday morning I am joining Weight Watchers. We will see what their recommended goal for me is, but I would like to try for around 30 pounds.
Back to the green dress – I purchased a bridesmaid dress last fall from David’s Bridal for Vicki’s upcoming wedding. At the time I purchased it, it fit me perfectly to the point where no alterations were needed. I have since put on about 15 pounds of weight, mostly in my stomach area. I need to fit into this dress on July 3rd so I am using this as my inspiration to get fit.
Going forward I will post updates on my progress from now until Vicki’s wedding and beyond as somewhat of a motivator for myself to keep working at it. I do not have a lot of patience or will power so this will be a great test for me to see how well I can do. I don’t feel like a blimp but my body is not where I would like it to be so now is the time for me to do something about it.
Thank you for supporting me though this journey and if you see that I am starting to fall off the weight watchers wagon, please tell me to get my butt back up and going. I think the end result will be worth it; I just may need a little pushing once in a while to get me to that point. Thankfully Gypsy (my dog) is a good exercise partner and she and I were able to run ½ mile this morning without stopping.
That is all for now. I was feeling a little long winded for my first post. I promise no life long health history next time!
-Bethany
PS – Please don’t read this as a bashing of Bangalore. It was an amazing experience to be there and I met a lot of great people on my visit to India. If I had to do it all over again knowing I would get as sick as I did I would still go in a heartbeat. I would probably just have gone to get a second doctor’s opinion a lot sooner than six months after the first doctor was incompetent. If you ever have the opportunity to experience India in person, make sure you take advantage of that opportunity and go.
Welcome to my new blog! I hope this posting finds you all happy and that the spring weather is cooperating for each of you. After being inspired by my brothers and their blog posts, I have decided to start one of my own. The main purpose of my blog is to document my efforts to lose weight in order to fit into the bridesmaid dress I am wearing for my friend Vicki’s wedding on July 3, 2010. In order to tell you my plan to get to that goal, I should probably first explain how I got into this situation in the first place.
My story began almost three years ago when I went on a work trip to Bangalore, India for two weeks in May. At the time I was working as an IT auditor for a large retail corporation and when volunteers were asked to go on this audit trip I jumped at the chance. The extent of my international travel prior to this trip was to Winnipeg Canada and the Bahamas and I figured I would probably not travel to India for a personal vacation so this was my opportunity to go! We met with a doctor before the trip and had to get four shots as well as take malaria medication while we were there to stay healthy. As an extra precaution, they gave each of us 10 days of antibiotics to take in case we got sick while we were there. This should have been a red flag for me but I was just so excited to go, I didn’t care. What was the worst that could happen? Maybe a little stomach flu? Wrong.
Fast forward to the weekend in-between my two work weeks over there and I was sick to my stomach. I started taking the Cipro so that I could make it through the next week and that really seemed to help. After I was back in the states and ran out of the Cipro however, I was back to being in the bathroom within ½ hr of eating no matter what it was.
I was a pretty healthy person prior to this so I hadn’t established a doctor in Minnesota yet. I thought it was logical to go to the doctor that gave us our shots prior to the trip as she specialized in international travelers. She did the whole run down of testing for things like parasites and the tests all came back negative. I ended up just getting frustrated and didn’t go back because she said she didn’t think there was anything else she could do for me (I blame the rest of my ongoing problems on her as she was a crappy doctor).
When I had finally had enough and felt like I was getting a sinus infection the following January I decided to go into the doctor and scheduled an appointment with a nurse practitioner because she was the first person I could get in to see. I began to tell her about my stomach issues and she asked if they had checked for H. Pylori. I told her I didn’t think they had so she ordered up a blood test. Sure enough, it came back positive and I was put on two medications for 2 weeks to get rid of it. I won’t go into gruesome detail of what this bacteria infection is, but if you are that curious, I would recommend googling it.
As a result of having H. Pylori for nine months, my immune system was shot. I ended up getting diagnosed with Epstein Barr Syndrome (Chronic Fatigue) and was always tired. The H. Pylori did a lot of long term damage to my stomach as well which left me lactose intolerant and forced a lot of other things out of my diet. Once I was able to cut a lot of those things out of my diet and get to a regular sleep schedule I was finally beginning to feel normal again. Every once in a while I would go through a couple weeks of feeling like I had mono but would recover pretty nicely.
Last August I began dating the man of my dreams. How we ended up together is a whole different story that can be saved for a different day, but Chris and I have been together now for almost nine months after being friends for three years. We always had a long distance friendship as I was in Minnesota and he lived just outside of St Louis on the Illinois side of the river. As our relationship progressed, we decided that the distance was getting harder and I was tired of the weather in MN so I found a job for a pet food company in St Louis and moved to Illinois in March. I am loving it here so far (Miss my ladies in MN though!)
After getting settled into my new home with Chris, the Epstein Barr came back in full force. It has been six weeks of feeling extreme fatigue to the point where I started to fall asleep at work. I went and saw the doctor this week and he took blood work to see if it may be due to hypothyroidism or maybe iron deficient anemia. I should find out next week if either of these things are present in my system.
I have never been a coffee drinker and after diet coke was cut from my diet two years ago caffeine isn’t much of an option to help me stay awake during the day. It doesn’t matter if I get 5 hrs or 12 hours of sleep a night, I feel the same lethargy every day. As a result, I began to eat a lot of sugar to keep myself awake every day. This is not a good idea when it comes to trying to maintain or lose weight. Needless to say, I have packed on a few pounds over the last three years, but most recently the last six weeks so the doctor recommended that I lose weight. So, I have decided that on Saturday morning I am joining Weight Watchers. We will see what their recommended goal for me is, but I would like to try for around 30 pounds.
Back to the green dress – I purchased a bridesmaid dress last fall from David’s Bridal for Vicki’s upcoming wedding. At the time I purchased it, it fit me perfectly to the point where no alterations were needed. I have since put on about 15 pounds of weight, mostly in my stomach area. I need to fit into this dress on July 3rd so I am using this as my inspiration to get fit.
Going forward I will post updates on my progress from now until Vicki’s wedding and beyond as somewhat of a motivator for myself to keep working at it. I do not have a lot of patience or will power so this will be a great test for me to see how well I can do. I don’t feel like a blimp but my body is not where I would like it to be so now is the time for me to do something about it.
Thank you for supporting me though this journey and if you see that I am starting to fall off the weight watchers wagon, please tell me to get my butt back up and going. I think the end result will be worth it; I just may need a little pushing once in a while to get me to that point. Thankfully Gypsy (my dog) is a good exercise partner and she and I were able to run ½ mile this morning without stopping.
That is all for now. I was feeling a little long winded for my first post. I promise no life long health history next time!
-Bethany
PS – Please don’t read this as a bashing of Bangalore. It was an amazing experience to be there and I met a lot of great people on my visit to India. If I had to do it all over again knowing I would get as sick as I did I would still go in a heartbeat. I would probably just have gone to get a second doctor’s opinion a lot sooner than six months after the first doctor was incompetent. If you ever have the opportunity to experience India in person, make sure you take advantage of that opportunity and go.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)