this is a hurricane?

OK, so they cancelled all the schools and a ton of businesses and other stuff for today. But they did it YESTERDAY!! And early in the day, too! What ever happened to waiting until the morning of to cancel? I left for work at 8:20 - it was drizzling. People called in and were surprised I was there! I said, "It's only a little rain!" Then it stopped raining and I haven't seen a drop since! In fact, the sun is out and kids are outside playing.

Then I heard that it was going to get really bad at 2:00. Well, it's after 3:00 and the sun is STILL out, kids are playing outside, and there is absolutely NO wind. You call this a hurricane?? I think not. Here's another crazy thing I've just discovered about Florida - when they're listing the school closings on the news, they're not in alphabetical order. They're just random, sometimes by county, but the counties aren't even alphabetical. FL needs to take a lesson from NY when it comes to cancelling school! LOL!

I remembered what I was going to say the other day! I got my hair cut off last Friday. No, it's not pixie short (yet), but I have a feeling I'm headed that way soon! :-) I just can't stand it long. It takes too long to fix, it gets in my eyes, and it gets all fuzzy in the humidity. Anyway, I'll post a picture one of these days.

34 pounds

I weighed myself yesterday and I was down another 5 pounds! That makes a total of 34 pounds lost! I'm so happy and also in a little disbelief about it! I've never lost this much weight before. (Of course, I also had never weighed that much before!) And I still have more to go, about 25 pounds to be exact, to get to my goal. When I get to that number, it will be the first time in about 11 years that I've weighed that little!

I have a picture to post (not that it's that much different from the LAST picture I posted...) but we're having Internet problems. I'm using the neighbor's signal to post this from the laptop - but the pics are on my PC and I can't get online on that right now. Well, it seems like I had a lot more to say, but I can't think of anything! We're just cruising along, having a good time, trying to be healthy.

ten pairs of jeans

Wednesday was movie night and we went to see "Accepted," which I personally thought was hilarious! It was way funnier than I thought it was going to be! And it's always fun to hang out with our friends from n-Space.

Something strange happened when I was getting ready to go to Downtown Disney for the movie. I remembered that last time we were there it was really cold in the theater, so I decided to wear jeans. Well, I haven't had jeans on since March. It's WAAAAYYYYYY too hot. Anyway, there were ten pairs of jeans hanging in my closet. (This is a result of gaining weight and buying new jeans but keeping the "skinny" jeans "just in case.") Anyway, there was one pair I already knew was too big, and two more pairs I was wearing comfortably in March and before.

Well, both of those pairs were too big. Of the remaining seven pairs, one pair fit comfortably and two pairs fit snugly, and the other four pairs (pairs that I haven't been able to wear for a few years!) were too BIG! This is SO not a problem that I usually have! And now when I put on most of my tops, I look like I'm wearing a tent. :-) I'm not complaining! I'm almost back in my skinniest of skinny jeans! :-D

Yesterday I taught my first piano lessons since May of 2005!! It was really awesome!! I started two new students who just happen to be Brian's boss' sons. They were just the sweetest, funniest, nicest boys. I had REALLY missed having kids in and out of the house! And I had really missed teaching, I didn't realize how much.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNI! It was Wednesday (the 23rd), but I did remember to call and sing on her voicemail. Jen, hope you had an awesome day! I wish my scanner worked - I would post the picture of us when we were 4 and 5 in our matching dresses and Snoopy purses, with you in cute black patent leather shoes and me in my horrendous brown BOOTS! (I don't think my mom could get them off of me!!) I haven't forgotten about October - I can't WAIT to see you guys!

Last night I got a pedicure. Again. I like pedicures and all, but you sure have to keep on top of them when you live in Florida and wear sandals practically every day of the year!! It's been well over a year since my toes have been without polish for more than about 5 minutes.

another busy weekend

Busy = Happy for me. I've finally realized that at the ripe old age of 33. For the first time in my life, I don't HAVE to work - I WANT to work! I've been bored for awhile - I mean, there's only so much stuff you can do to the house! And I've been scrapping a ton, which I love. My job has been to get healthy, and that's great - and I'm still going to leave myself plenty of time to scrap, exercise, cook, do stuff around the house, and build relationships with friends. I'm not going to work full time. I like taking care of our household and our health!

I'm starting three piano students this week. I'm just so excited to be sharing music again. I can't wait to build relationships with these students and watch them progress. It does make me miss my students from NY though.

Not much else to say - we're just enjoying life and taking things as they come.

contentment

Ahhh - as I prepare for sleep, I'm just overwhelmed by the blessings I've received lately. Life in Florida is getting better and better, and although I miss New York and especially my friends and students there, I'm starting to feel at home in this blistering state. Have I told you how much I love our church? LOL It seems like every week, God blesses our services and blesses Brian and I with new friends.

Today, one of the girls who sings on the praise team came all the way up here to my house! I've been getting to know all the girls on the praise team pretty well, especially since almost all of them were at the crop at church a few weeks ago! I didn't even know they scrapped! :-) But anyway, Heather came up today and we had a great time just talking and laughing. We had planned to go shopping, but we couldn't shut up long enough to get in the car! (Imagine that!) We finally went out and had dinner and shopped a little before she had to head back down south. She is just so much fun and she's a talented decorator, so she gave me some ideas for my house. It was awesome!

I'm really enjoying my new (temporary) job! It's just busy work, but it's fun for me and it's nice to have a schedule. We're eating at more normal times - before I was having lunch sometimes at 3 or 4:00 and dinner at 9 or 10! Brian is getting up with me and going in to work earlier, which means he gets to leave earlier. Soon it will be cool enough to walk outside together in the evenings and I'm looking forward to that. While I'm LEARNING to enjoy exercise (can you feel the sarcasm), the treadmill is really starting to bore me. Walking outside is MUCH MUCH better for me, personally - it keeps my eyes occupied and that helps pass the time. So I can't wait for it to cool off - even if it was in the 80's it would feel downright cold!

Only seven more articles for me to write, and then my writing project will be complete. I'll miss it, but I hope to still do some freelancing now and then. Now that I have some experience at it, I feel more confident about pitching ideas. Normally you pitch an idea to a publication, and they hire you to write what you've pitched. In other words, they buy the article BEFORE you write it. (The writing job I've worked on most recently buys the articles before you write them, but assigns topics.) Brian has been doing some writing too, and I definitely expect to see some of his stuff in print someday.

I'm rambling. I didn't really have a lot to say tonight, but I just feel content and wanted to share it. I wish I had time to communicate with all of my friends from everywhere more often. Some of my fab college friends are reading this blog and I'm so glad for the Internet that keeps us better in touch. I know my NY girls are reading - I miss you guys so much, I know you know that.

To the Farinaccis - you have no idea how much I miss you. I've started several times to write you a note, but it makes me sad. I miss you most on Mondays! I also have a package I've been meaning to send you - maybe someday I'll actually make it to the Post Office. Susie, thanks for your words of encouragement this past winter. I love you guys! I'm sorry I haven't been in better touch. Oh, and I planted some Salvia Farinacea in my garden in honor of you! (I couldn't believe it when I saw that plant!)

endings and beginnings

First of all, thanks to everyone who posted comments on my last entry. You made me feel so good! I'm going to keep losing weight so people will keep saying nice things to me! :-D

Well, my freelance writing career is approaching its end. On August 24, the project we are working on will be complete and no other projects have been lined up. While I'll miss working from the couch in my pajamas, it will be good for me to move on to something different.

Tomorrow I start my "job" as fill-in church secretary. I'll be training with the regular secretary three days this week and three days next week, and then the following week she'll be gone and I'll be working 5 days a week till the end of October. I'm really excited at the prospect of a ROUTINE. And I found another piano student, so that makes three - building my studio one student at a time. I'm also really excited to start teaching again - I miss having kids in and out of the house, crazy as that sounds!

Today I checked my BMI. I had forgotten to check it the last time I weighed in. Up until this past weigh in, I had been in the "obese" category. (When your Body Mass Index is 30 or higher, you're considered obese.) Well, I'm happy to say that I'm no longer obese, I'm just overweight! My BMI is 29. I'm really trying to get to that "normal" BMI of 18-25. Wanna check your BMI? Click here.

We had a great service at church yesterday and the band ROCKED as usual. I just enjoy it more and more - the 70 minute drive seems to fly by now. Someday I'll figure out how to put songs on here so my many readers (ha!) can hear our awesome band. It's an amazing occurrence, really, as all of the players are paid professionals, but everyone is doing it for the right reasons - that is, worship instead of performance. It's awesome. Everyone works together so well and when Chris gets an idea, he just communicates it and the band just DOES it! No writing out of parts, no transposing of keys, it's just immediate. I can honestly say that I've never been so musically fulfilled - and to think that the heart of this collaboration is to worship....well, it's just beyond words. I'm so thankful to be a part of it.

a variety of pictures

OK, as promised, here it is. Brian took this picture last night. It's a little blurry, but you get the idea. (Thought I'd also post a picture from this past March so you can see where I was when I started. It was taken at Universal Studios.) Both pictures are clickable. It's kind of hard to compare the two pics since I'm in different poses, but you'll at least see the huge spare tire I had! Notice I said HAD!!!! :-D












Since I'm posting pictures, I thought I'd show you what a crazy scrapper I have been lately. I like things to be neat and clean, and it especially makes me happy when my scraproom is clean. (Yes, I have a scrapbook room.) I clean up pretty much after every project and never leave my desk messy. Anyway, here is what my scrap desk looks like every day:


And here is what it looked like after this weekend:


Don't worry, it's all clean again now. :-) OK, one more. Here is my favorite page from the weekend:


It's the sweet Baby B, trying to get the camera while my mom was attempting to take his picture. He was probably going to put it in his mouth. LOL I love it.

three sizes and a new job

It's been forever. I've been a scrapbooking fiend for the last week or so, culminating in the completion of 12 layouts and 9 cards over this past weekend. I'll be posting some of my stuff this week, because Braden is so cute I just can't resist! Oh, he called me and said "Aunt Sis" over the phone!! And then he roared like a lion. I LOVE IT!

On Saturday, my neighbor came over and we scrapped together all day! She had never scrapped before. She's a stamper and she wanted to get into scrapbooking - so I told her to come right over and I'd share all my stuff. It was a blast! She got so crazy about scrapping - I saw her today and she FINISHED HER ALBUM over the weekend! Stayed up till 3am! A woman after my own heart!

This morning I got a new job! It's nothing exciting, and I'm over-qualified, but it's going to be great for me to get into a routine! And get out of the house! And talk to people! I'll be filling in for the secretary at a local church here in Apopka. She's going on vacation for about 2 months and they needed someone to fill in - a wonderful grandmotherly-type lady that I know from the gym asked if I'd be interested and I'm so excited to be doing something! LOL I'll work 4 hours a day M-F starting in a few weeks and going to the end of October. (Don't worry Jenni, I'll still hang with you guys at Disney! I'll be off by 12:30 every day! Can't wait to see you! Hurry up and get here!)

I also have a few piano students getting ready to start lessons. I'm a little nervous since I haven't taught in over a YEAR! But I'm REALLY looking forward to having music in the house again.

Lately I've been noticing that I can't keep most of my pants up! I don't mind this problem at all! But I really need some new clothes, so I headed out this afternoon to do some shopping. At first I went around as usual, picking up clothes that were the size I thought I might be (one size smaller than what I was when I started my healthy life). I got ONE pair of pants that were two sizes smaller and brought them to the dressing room too, thinking, "Now if I can't wear these, I won't be too upset because I've still got some weight to lose." Well, that pair fit fine! I was shocked! I put on a kind of fitted top and was surprised that it actually looked okay!

Then I noticed that the pants seemed kind of loose and roomy in the front. Dare I get the NEXT size down? No way I'll be able to wear them! But guess what - I tried them on and they fit perfectly! Grinning like a crazy person, I put my regular clothes back on and went all around the store again looking at all the clothes with new eyes. I picked out tons of stuff I bypassed the first time, and I got stuff in my NEW size - THREE SIZES SMALLER THAN WHEN I STARTED!!!! It feels great, I have to say. Not only am I out of plus sizes, I'm FAR AWAY from plus sizes and I never want to go back! Brian took a picture of me in a new outfit tonight - it's amazing how different you look when your clothes FIT! I'll post the picture tomorrow, right now I'm in bed and I'm not getting back up!

I guess that's about all I have to share - things at church are going GREAT - Brian is LOVING his job more than ever - we are blessed with new friends, friends with whom we have a lot in common - we're happy and healthy and in love - life is good. God is good.

I want to give a quick shout out to my dad whose birthday was August 2! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD! KEEP AMERICA SINGING! :-)

a quick layout share

I'll post about the weekend later, but right now I want to quickly share another Braden page I did at the crop on Friday night. :-) It's clickable.