I have been sitting here for hours with my blog open to an empty post, there are so many things I want to talk about, but don't know where to start. I would do some task on my list, then come back to the blog, stare at it, then do something else, go pee, come back look again, etc... you get the idea. So, I think I'm just going to start to ramble and let everything come out and then edit appropriately. Here it goes...

Wedding
this weekend was Steve's wedding. He really found a great girl and I'm very happy for him; it was a pure sappy wedding that included an original poem that steve wrote for his new girl. It took so much not to break down and ugly cry.
With the wedding being this weekend, a flock of space camp folks came in. It was really amazing to see how we have all remain so close over the years, that 2 summers when were 19/20 created that strong of friendships! The SC gang: Kate, Chris H., Chris S, April, Kevin, Steve, Tremayne and Dan. We had the BEST time catching up on old times, re-living stories, laughing (hard), insulting each other, looking at pictures of kiddos, rubbing pregger bellies, talking about 401ks & mortgage rates, hugging, crying, etc... I truly love these people and cherish those times where we all get together and hangout (every 2 to 3 years based on wedding timing).
After the wedding on Saturday, I had everyone over and we hung out for a while and then the Henns and Spinales stayed the night and in the morning I made pancakes (read in the tone of Donkey in Sh.rek). We had a huge breakfast of pancakes, bacon, eggs, cinnamon rolls and juice. Yummo! We continued to laugh and re-live stories, everyone helped clean up and then the good byes started along with the tears. I miss the Florida gang so much and it was hard to say goodbye after such a short weekend, but folks had to get back to their families. After everyone left, I crashed hard on the couch and took the best 3.5 hour nap ever! Naps rock.

Clothes, Food and Exercise.
First, I wore a skirt that I have NEVER been able to wear before. I remember buying it when it was a closeout special and it was ~$5. I remember it was snug and thinking I 'just needed to lose 5lbs'. Yeah, whatever. It has sat in my closet for at least 2 years, if not longer. When trying to figure out what I was going to wear to the wedding, I was going thru the closet determined I was going to find something and not buy something that I hope I would never have to wear again cause it would be too small. I grabbed the skirt and I tried it on. Holy moly, it fit me and fit me well! My choice of tops to wear with it was bad, but I felt so cute in that skirt and I even wore my cute pink shoes to make it even better! I am so excited about being able to fit AND wear that skirt!
Second, it has been really hard that my scale is at Jodie's. In fact, it is driving me down right nuts. I NEED TO KNOW IF I GAINED/LOST ANYTHING! I feel as if I lost, not so much in my clothes, but how I feel overall, my stomach doesn't feel as big and I just feel better overall. I just want to black-ops that scale from her bench and run home as fast as I can. (but without a sports bra, that could cause some major injuries). I am counting down the hours to Wednesday morning when I can liberate my scale and see what I have done for the week. I will admit it kinda makes me push a bit harder not knowing how I'm doing thru the week and thinking that I have to step it up a notch to absolutely ensure a loss for this week.
However, with the food that I've eaten over the past week, I'm very surprised that I have not gained all my weight back and I'm back with tight clothes. I will say I haven't put the best things in my mouth, but I haven't gone completely nuts like I would have in the past. When I was eating breakfast that I made the other day, I used a small plate to eat on, so I would be aware of my portions and not take too much. I also grabbed Kate and we worked out before the wedding on Saturday. And, and, and... the BEST part of it all was when today came around, I just picked back up with my routine, I didn't do any of that stupid "I'll start on Wednesday again" nonsense thinking. I just did it and only did I think about it later did I realize that THIS routine is part of my life now. How freakin' cool is that!?!?!?!

Closing thoughts: I'm still thinking of my tattoo. Bryan suggested that I just get the outline of the dress for now and then fill it in when I reach my goal. I really like that idea, however, I would like the whole dress so I could always look down and have a reminder to be healthy and take care of yourself. the tattoo was never a goal oriented thing, it was something that was reminding me of my mother and how import it is to work hard at weight loss.
I've been reading a handful of articles lately that deal with heart disease and women. They are scaring the crap out of me. There where women in the articles that were 34 years old with heart attacks--that is my age and that is damn scary! I just have to keep telling myself that "I must become healthy, I CAN do this".