NSVs, Pool Crime Scenes, and Mexico Readiness.. ..

Hey all.. I've been a horribly bad blog friend these past few weeks. I do a lot of drive-bys but not a lot of commenting. Sadly, I don't think it's going to change any time soon b/c of the craziness of my next two weeks.  So, I apologize to you all if I don't comment and hope you are all well!!

Ok, this will be a bulleted list of what's going on and the reason for the title of my blog.

** I'm house/dog  sitting for the H's this week and this weekend, my friend Jen came over for some pool time.  I got in the pool and headed over to pick up the bucket that was floating (probably thrown in the pool by one little Miss Kennedy) and noticed that the bucket was not the only thing floating in the pool...  I immediately took a quick glance and then hightailed my ass right back out of the pool.. it appears that a little mole (or a desert rat.. I'd prefer mole) had either been murdered and pushed into the pool or jumped to his death.. and was floating belly up next to the bucket!! EEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!  You would think it was a deer floating in the pool with the way both Jen and I reacted!!!  PTL that Jen was ok scooping him out of the pool and throwing him/her over the fence to it's final resting place. I could not even go near to help.  It was traumatizing for sure..

**Have I mentioned that I'm going to Mexico on Friday am??  If not, I AM!!!!  You would think I was going to the Prince of England's wedding what with all the purchases I've been making. Even the hubs made a comment yesterday "how much more are you going to buy for this trip?? " bathing suits, cute dresses, incidentals, all have been purchased.. I can't wait!!!

**speaking of dresses.. I bought the cutest dress yesterday and it's a Lot smaller than I would normally wear but it is pretty open on the top, like sleeveless, kind of lower cut in the neckline.. and it looks awesome (at least I think so) I'm noticing in myself that I'm feeling pretty good about my shoulders lately. I have been working my ass off on my shoulders and upper arms and I think it's finally coming together and looking better.. so I'm a little more confident in showing them off!!  Hopefully my weight will start heading downward again as well soon!!! 

**Finally, Tim and I are celebrating our 8th anniversary on Tuesday but decided to do dinner on Saturday night since we both work a ton during the week.  We went to BLT Steak at the JW Marriott Camelback Inn in Scottsdale and it was phenomenal!! I urge you if you have a BLT Steak in / near your city, you must go!!! So good!!!

Hope you are all well!! 
xo, js

Holding Steady...

urghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....

even after all my crazy workouts, again, nothing has changed with my weight..  it's making me bananas!!! I do think that my monthly visitor is on it's merry way so I'm using that as my excuse for the lack in lost poundage..

I've been holding pretty steady with my workout routine. I actually took Monday off in favor or my weekly date with Michelle and the Bachelorette.

Today, I worked out with Kathi and am going to Zumba tonight - it's hip hop night..  I really am loving Zumba.  I literally start sweating 2 minutes in and my heart rate goes up, up, up.... I love the dancing too. I needed to shake things up b/c I was getting somewhat bored with my cardio workouts as of late.  So, this was just the right thing to switch to.

I have 9 days until I leave for Mexico! to say I'm ready and excited would be an understatement!! I'm moving into Brandon and Michelle's on Thursday to watch their dogs while they are away for the next week. Did you know I'm a dog watcher?? I think I should be officially termed as one!!  I seem to be watching a lot of dogs lately, which is funny b/c I don't always even enjoy my own dogs!! I just like to help people out, I guess.

Hope everyone is doing well!! Seems like a lot of us have hit a plateau this week!! there must be something in the air!! Hope it blows over soon.

**Oh, to Liz - Lizzle - Libby Lou , Pinnacle Peak is in North Scottsdale - not sure if that is close to the mountain you were climbing!! ***

Working Out: TONS; Weight Loss: NONE

What the heck?? I've been a workout MACHINE for the past week and I got nothing to show for it!!!
Here is what I've done:

Saturday, 6/5:  Workout with Kathi: 1 hour
                       Cardio:  45 minutes
Sunday, 6/6:    Cardio:  45 minutes
Monday, 6/7:  Workout with Kathi:  1 hour
Tuesday, 6/8:  Cardio:  45 minutes
Wednesday, 6/9:  ZUMBA!!!:  1 hour
Thursday, 6/10:  Workout with Kathi: 1 hour
                          Cardio:  30 minutes
Friday, 6/11:    Workout with Kathi:  1 hour
Saturday, 6/12:  Hike Pinnacle Peak; 4 miles: 2 hours
Sunday, 6/13:  ZUMBA!: 1 hour.

I'm exhausted just typing all of this..  NO Weight loss though all week!! haven't even been eating much (could be the problem??)
Maybe next week, I'll have some freakish drop of 10 lbs with my body catching up!! One can dream right?? Oh well, maybe I'll make up for it in inches lost!!

Ok, so tried Zumba this week and it was sooo fun!!! We went to one on Wednesday night that was mainly hip-hopish and it had fantastic 90s boy band music!!! going back this morning as well despite the fact that my ass feels like it's got knots in it all over!! 

Michelle and I hiked up and down and back up Pinnacle Peak yesterday.  A couple of years ago, I tried to hike it and made it up what I know now is only about 1/4 of the way(at the time I was foolishly believing it was about 3/4 of the way) and had to stop. Yesterday, we went the entire way.. it was a lot harder than I could have imagined, but it was still doable and I didn't die(I count that as a win-win!!) It's very up and down and up and back down again...  it was a beautiful day (a very rare cool morning in AZ) so we had the breeze and the cool air working for us.  Michelle was so kind to stop when I needed to stop, despite the fact she was barely winded.  I think it we did that a couple times a week, we'd for sure have the J-Lo booties we are desiring!!! 

Here's one of the pics I took... this was about middle of the mountain.. the views and the homes are AH-Mazing... 

Off to Zumba - hope you all are having a great weekend!!
xo,js

Where troubles melt like lemon drops...

Anyone watch Glee last night?  Love that show!! I can't get "Over the Rainbow" out of my head now....  what a perfect song for what's been going on with me lately.

First - thanks for all the support/comments/advice on my last post (which I have since removed...like I said I would) I opened up to two of my friends yesterday at work and they really pushed me to speak my mind as well.  I'm happy to say that I finally grew some balls last night (after a kickass 45 minutes on the treadmill where I walked and ran (Ran!!) and collected my heavy thoughts) and I went home and manned up to the BIL. He received my words a lot better than I thought he would (or perhaps I wasn't as stern as I wanted to be??)  and I think things will be moving in the right direction very soon. After that conversation, I also spoke to Tim and let him know that I need him to man up as well and have my back. Another conversation that went really well.  I'm proud of myself. I don't think things are going to be better overnight but at least they both know exactly where I stand on the issues and they know things won't be tolerated. 

Today is a major day.. why?? 

1.  I'm wearing a dress. To Work.  I can't remember the last time I wore a dress to work. I feel naked and all sorts of self-conscious about my knobby/chubby knees, but I gotta tell you, you'd think I was wearing a wedding dress, all the compliments I've been getting.  I thought I'd let you share in my dress glory and took a picture of myself this morning for your viewing pleasure!

Old Navy - $24.99.. what a deal!!! Got a couple of cute ones for my upcoming Mexico trip.  I figured it's getting so freaking hot here and I can't keep wearing my jeans and jean capris, I need some air flowing...  and I'm not prepared to wear shorts.  So f it, bought some dresses and am gonna wear them!!

2.  I'm going to ZUMBA today!!! I'm skeeerrrreeed...  If I can move tomorrow, I'll let you know how it goes

Not sure if I mentioned it or not but I am going to Mexico in 2 weeks!!!! We are going for my girlfriend Tracy (TMac)'s 40th!!! I can't wait. Just 9 of us girls!! Get to spend some quality time with my besties.. it'll be heaven!!!

The scale is stalled again at around 65 down.. I really wanted to be 75 down by Mexico but barring a tape-worm, that's not going to happen.  I have been really stuck a lot lately and I'm thinking it's b/c my allergies have been so bad that my mucus is just clogging up my band. Charming right??  I skipped my last fill b/c I do think I have pretty good restriction. I'm most likely not going to get a fill before Mexico and am wondering if any of you have ever had an unfill before a big trip?? I'd hate for something to happen while in Mexico.  Let me know your thoughts!

xoxo,js

When you know you are obsessed with blogs and blogging...

WARNING!!! This will be a little TMI for some, but all you bandsters will appreciate this.

The other day, I ate something (can't remember what at the moment) that did not sit well with me. I got up from my seat and headed to the bathroom (b/c my usual spot, the kitchen sink, is no longer an option with my BIL living with us now.. I know I owe an entire blog to that subject alone) I bent down ready for the slime/jelly-fish to fly right out and instead, the biggest bubble I have ever seen came out of my mouth, and you know what my only thought was??   Gah, I wish I had my camera so I could take a picture of this and put it on my blog!!!!  it's a sickness I tell you!!!

Note to self, always keep camera close by in case you have a blog-worthy moment /circumstance hit ya!!!

Happy Weekend!!!

Can't Blog?? Post Pictures instead!!

Gah, life just gets in the way sometimes!!!

No time to blog at work, too tired when I get home late and nothing really to talk about.. so here's some pics of our last couple of trips instead..   NYC was super fun! Will blog about that another time. The others are from San Diego. Hope you are all well!!

Need.longer.arms

working on stretching my arms so I can get better shots!

Look at all that bread!! Didn't hardly even touch it!

Got to meet fabulous Jenny and Colleen for lunch!!

The ever-present Coors Light!!!

                                  
 
 

Make a connection, Make it count, Don't forget it...

Before I started blogging over here, I had a blog for a couple of years that started on Yahoo360 and then moved over to a site called Multiply. I started at the urging of a friend in Minnesota, who had some "real life" friends who were bloggers on there. A large group of us became a family. In that family, there was a woman named Stacey. Stacey was friends in real life with my other blog friends Melisa, Mandi, Michelle and Dawn. I considered these women to that I met online to be close friends, even though I had not met many of them in person. They were my sounding board, my cheerleaders, my support system. Stacey was pregnant in 2007 with her 3rd son and in December, 2007, she lost baby Henry. During the same week (I can't remember exactly the timeframe) she was diagnosed with leukemia. It struck all of us to the core. We helped her fight her battle, someone I had never met but who's strength I was incredibly inspired by. While she was fighting her first rounds of chemo, I wanted to do something for her to let her know I was fighting along with her. There was a blogging term that we all used to use - FTC - which meant "First to Comment" and somewhere along the line, it became Stacey's and her friend's motto: but it meant something very different. It meant "Fuck the Cancer" or "fight the cancer" to the kiddos who asked what it meant. So, I emailed all my friends and asked that they show me what FTC meant in pictures.. I was overwhelmed by the response of the people I knew (who didn't know Stacey) but wanted to help me cheer her up. Finally, after getting about 10 versions of pictures of my friends with signs that said "FTC" I wrote a blog to Stacey. I was shocked at the response I got. I knew it would mean something to her, but had no idea that others would want to do the same. It was awesome to see how many people started sending in pictures, then our friend Mandi created a video with all the pictures and also encouraged people to get tested to see if their bone marrow was a match.



FTC Video

THEN, Melisa, organized a movement to make a quilt for Stacey and we all made a quilt square and Melisa's mom sewed it all together. And the movement continued and turned into a benefit for Stacey in May, 2008 in Minnesota. I was not able to attend but many of my blog friends flew and drove in from various locations to be there to meet and support Stacey. If memory serves me correctly, STacey was not able to attend but they presented her with the quilt.

Stacey's Surprise Quilt.wmv


Over the past year and a half, our little family of Multipliers kind of fell apart. I sometimes felt as if I had lost my best friends.. there wasn't one thing that "broke" us up, just life got in the way. My loss of some of my friends from Multiply is one of the reasons I always say I have a hard time connecting here. I'm still great friends with some of my Multiply peeps, but others, I have no idea what's going on in thier lives.

I always kept an eye on Stacey via Facebook and was always super excited when she was feeling good and moving on with her life.

On Friday, Stacey lost her battle with cancer... it has been on my mind ever since. I had somewhat forgotten about the pictures and the quilt and the benefit until Melisa posted the above videos on FB..

My point of this is to say, even if you haven't met people in "real life" it is entirely possible for someone you've never met to have such a huge impact on your life, for them to change your life, to want to be better, to want to do good. Embrace the blogging experience, I know I intend to.
xo,js