It's Friday!!! I'm Linking up!!

Ok, I don't technically know how to link up these letters but I like the idea that Drazil throws out there lately, so I'm jumping on board!!

Dear Facebook Politicians - seriously, you are annoying the shit out of me with all the politics talk.  I understand passion for a cause/candidate/etc.. but if you are going to spew constant politics and rhetoric, please don't quote a line from the Washington Post and claim it as your own.. come up with some original material.

Dear Arizona - I effing hate you right now. I never asked to live directly ON the sun, so why must you make us miserable already and it's not even July. And enough with the haboobs.. ok??  It's bad enough that it's hotter than balls outside, but then you blow all this dust so that we have to go out in the heat to clean off all the dirt.. it's beyond ridic.

Dear Michigan - Are you ready for us?? because we are soooooo ready for you. Less than 2 weeks and counting, and you will hear us (well, the little one) from miles away. He babbles very loudly these days and we think he's saying that he can't wait to see you Michigan (oh and Nana and Chief and aunts and uncles and cousins too!) We have big plans and expectations Michigan, hope you can deliver.

Dear Hubs - I love you. Really I do and last week we celebrated 10 years together. But, do you think that once you could put a dish in the dishwasher or maybe clean off the counter after you eat? i know I've asked you this about a billion times in the last 10 years, but let's see if we can start doing it? mmkay??pleaseandthankyouverymuch.

Dear Scale & Lapband - you are frustrating me beyond belief. I may need to take a hiatus from the scale. I can't believe I'm stuck on this plateau for the last 5 weeks. I'm also taking my ticker down. It's too much pressure for me and I can't stand feeling like such a big fat (non) loser. Somethings gotta happen soon or I'm going to lose my mind.

Dear Gym - I visited you 3 times this week. I know. I know.. it's shocking. Thank you for the Yoga and Pilates classes that helped to clear my mind this week when I was a raving maniac b/c of work. Also, I'll see you tomorrow when I try out my first Hydro Training class. Please be kind.

Dear BFF (shenaenae) - talking to you always makes everything so much better. I can't wait to see you (twice) in the next few weeks! I can't wait until we someday live in the same city! :)

Dear Bank Account- Your welcome. I did what I said I was going to do and didn't buy a thing for myself the whole month of June.  Did it save us some money? Maybe?  It was hard b/c I'm a shopper but totally doable. And since my weight is going no where, doesn't look like I'll be needing any new clothes anytime soon.

Have a great weekend!
xo,js

Not so stucky and 10 Things!

Hi all! So, thanks for your suggestions on my workout dilemma. The thing is, I already miss bedtime Tuesdays and Thursday nights due to Pilates. BUT, last night, Tim came home around 6 and I went out and walked for about 45 minutes and got home, got to do bedtime, no problem! It felt good to walk but it was SOOO Freaking HOT!! I was a sweaty beast when I got back. My plan is do that on Mondays and Wednesdays and then Pilates on Tuesdays and Thursdays and sometimes Saturdays. And then some walks with Mac on Sundays.  Sounds like a plan huh??  We'll see how it goes! Now, on to the 10 things of today!

1.  I'm not so stuck these last couple of days. I haven't eaten anything with sugar and the scale is rewarding me.. I've also been paying really close attention to my hunger cues and only eating when I'm hungry and it's amazing what a difference a couple of days make. Now, I just need to keep at it!! Maybe I'll actually reach my first mini-goal by July 12th!

2.  At lunch we started having this mindless conversation about Frozen Yogurt (which place was our favorite etc..  ) and then we started talking about Sherbet and how to pronounce it.  I say it as if it has an "r" at the end, i.e. Sherbert, how do you say it?? My boss, who is goofy, swears it is pronounced  like sorbet, without the t sound, which I told him sounds ridiculous..  thoughts??

3.  It's hotter than balls here.. I know I say this all the time but I'm seriously questioning my need to live on the sun!!

4.  3 weeks from today I'll be in Michigan! WOOHOO!!!!

5.  Someone I follow on Pinterest pinned a site that tells you how to make homemade grout cleaner. Now I don't know if it's the heat getting to me but now I'm obsessed with carving out some time this weekend to clean the grout in my tile.. which is ridiculous, b/c I have a fairly large surface area covered in marble tile!! We shall see how that goes..  it's just bugging me!!

6.  Anybody seen "Rock of Ages"?? I totally want to see that, but my movie buddy is out of town! :(

7.  I think we are going to take Mac to the Phx Children's museum this weekend. Apparently they have a really good spot for infants and toddlers to play. I took him to meet my girlfriend for lunch this past weekend to a mall and I had him in the play area. Those kiddos in there were ruthless!! Jumping everywhere!! We ended up having to leave b/c Mommy was exhausted!

8.  Tomorrow is Timmy and my 10 year anniversary!!  We are going to Cabo in September to celebrate so we just have plans to do dinner somewhere locally this weekend. Can't believe we've been married 10 years!!

9.  Still no word back from my endocrinologist about the incorrect script situation.. annoying as hell. I guess I could just double up on the 88s and see how quickly I can get the levels down!! :)

10.. I got nothing else.

adios!  xo,js

Slumpy Slumperson...

People, I'm in a slump. A weight loss slump. I'm losing my mind with this plateau!!!  And the sad thing is, I've got no one to blame but myself. I have only been doing Pilates 3x a week for the past few weeks and that's it.. no cardio, no nothing..  while my body is definitely getting leaner, I've seen nothing move on the scale, nada, zip...  I knew I would jinx myself by putting that damn ticker up!!!

So, I need some motivation! Where will it come from, I don't know!! I gotta do something. If only for my mental health. I want to start swimming at the gym, just need to make it work with our schedules at home. I don't want to miss Mac's bedtime every night but also don't want to go after b/c then I get home too late.. it's a quandary, I tell ya!

So, I started yesterday with the getting off sugar thing again. I figure I can control that even if I feel like I'm going to lose it (tad exagerative? yes! but that's how I roll!) and I know it works to get the scale moving!

My endo appointment went pretty well for the most part. She didn't tell me anything I didn't already know.. my thyroid levels are up even after 7 weeks of consistent medication. Funny thing is that she had written down that they had prescribed me 75mcgs of Synthroid (which is what I've been supposedly taking for 7 weeks) and decided since that wasn't really working for me, she gave me a new prescription for 88mcgs..  I went home that night and looked at my sample packs that I had been taking and they were indeed the 125mcgs that I thought I had been on.. so I emailed her (with a picture) and told her that her notes were wrong and felt it would be counter-intuitive for me to take a lower dosage when the higher dosage wasn't working either..  so we shall see what she says. For now, I still have some of the 125s left so I'm taking those. I do feel a little more energy and my thyroid is about 2 points over what normal is so it's definitely better. They did an ultrasound and didn't find anything wonky so they'll do another one in a year.

Tim's first father's day was good.

 We had a good weekend and just really chilled with Mac. We went to the Lifetime pool, which made for some interesting people watching.  Mac starts swim lessons next week with his dad (mom is a little too neurotic to do swim lessons!) so hopefully he'll become a little fish in no time. Overall, life is pretty darn good.. now if I could only get the weight loss portion of my life to be good!! Remember when we used to do challenges?? I need another one of those!! :) I'll volunteer to host one if you guys agree to pass on the information?? what say you??

Ten Things Thursday.. (or maybe less, we'll see how it goes)

1.  I made a deal with myself that I would not buy myself any clothing item  for the whole month of June. Do you know how hard this is for a shopaholic like myself? I'm going CRAZY!!!  I just got annoyed with myself for buying so much when I already have a closet full of clothes that I don't even wear and I've decided that until I'm down to the next lower size, I need to zip up the wallet.

2.  Of course, now that I'm on a spending hiatus, I need some things.. like some new sports bras. No lie, I think the sports bras I have are from circa 1996.. seriously. They are literally hanging by a thread or a misshapen hook if you will..  but, I have to will suck it up until July.

3.  Part of my spending hiatus also has to do with the fact that I want to save save save these days. For what? nothing in particular, just want to keep building our savings..  we do have a lot coming up that will probably require dipping into the savings so better to have it there than freak out that we don't.

4.  I'm going to my parents house in Michigan in less than a month and I can't take the wait!! We will be there for 6 glorious days!! We are celebrating Mac's 1st birthday there and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that some of my girls from Chicago are going to be able to make it up there the first weekend we are there to help us celebrate. We are also getting him baptized while we are there as well.   Lots of fun packed into those 6 days. Just excited to get away from this heat and be with my family. I also can't wait to introduce him to the things that I love about being Up North!! (even if he doesn't really remember much now!)

5. The weekend after we get back, we are having Mac's big 1st birthday extravaganza here in AZ.  I'm going to admit, that I'm going a little bit overboard, but how many times does the little guy turn 1!   Total Baseball theme (big shocker I know) including ball park food (hotdog machine, popcorn machine and cotton candy) Invites were sent out yesterday so there's no turning back now!! I have a couple of girlfriends who are coming into town for it which is a huge bonus as well!

6.  I have a big Endocrinology appointment tomorrow. I've had Thyroid issues for a little over 12 years now and have Hashimoto's which I know is pretty common along with it.  I'm getting an ultrasound done on my thyroid and I recently had a full blood work-up so it'll be nice to see where I'm at with everything. I'm definitely hoping that they up my meds since I've been on the same dosage for several years and I can always tell when I need more.. and I need more. I'm also hoping that their workup included some hormone level testing so that we can talk about the "pause" that I'm in the throes of.  Would be good to just start feeling great again!

7.  I made an appointment with the lapband doc for next week. Excited to go in and see how I'm doing and get some motivation to keep going downward. B/C lord knows I haven't had the motivation this week!!! MUST.GET.BETTER!!!!

8.  When Amanda and Jenn and I got together the other day, we were talking about our favorite blogs. It was hard to come up with a few b/c I love reading so many and there are so many people I connect with.   BUT, I would definitely say that my most recent favorite blog is a blog that has nothing to do with weight loss  at all.  It's "Enjoying the Simple Things" and you can find it here.  Thanks to Michelle for introducing me to this AMAZING woman.  I'm also reading her book, "Bloom" and don't want it to end. Plus, right now she's vacationing in Michigan and it's bringing up all the little things I love about "Pure Michigan"!

9.  Work is overwhelming (maybe not so OVER but just a little whelming (thanks for the new work Amanda!!) but I don't want to go there on this post..  mainly people are just driving me bananas.

10. I can't believe I came  up with 9 things to say.. I hate that I talk so much about myself (I'm definitely not someone who really enjoys talking about themselves or making themselves the center of attention) but I guess that's what these blogs are for. I'll leave you with a pic of my little munchkin who turned 11 months old yesterday! WOW!! Where did the time go? I couldn't believe it when Sarah posted that today was little Liam's first birthday! Happy birthday big guy!!!

xo,js

Monday... Bullet Style

Hi all!  Once again, it's been forever since I blogged but today, I have a LOT to talk about!! So, I'm going for it, bullet style!

1.  As both Jenn and Manda both already mentioned on their blogs (they are good consistent bloggers!!), we three met up this weekend for lunch. It was so fun!! Never have I felt more comfortable just sitting down for 2 hours with two people I had never met. It was so nice to just chat about our bands, blogs and life in general and to really "get" each other. They are both adorable and hilarious as all get out! I'm hoping this is the first of many of our get togethers!  I had to show them my talent of taking pictures with my freakishly long arms.. and got this good one!

2.  The rest of the weekend was a good one. We went out with some friends on Saturday night to True Food (have ya'll ever been to this place?? I think it's a chain, it is ridiculously good, healthy, clean eating food!!) and then to the iPic to see "Snow White and the Huntsman", which I thought was pretty good. Kristen Stewart totally bugs me, b/c I feel like she's the same in every movie but otherwise, the rest of the movie was good!  I also saw Prometheus, which was a complete waste of money and time!

3.  I spent some quality time in the pool since it was as usual, ungodly hot here!  Even Mac got in the pool and on Saturday, was not in tears while getting in (we haven't quite gotten him used to the fact that if he's going to live in AZ, he's going to have to start enjoying the pool!)

Mac would rather throw balls and plastic eggs though.. he's destined to be a baseball player!! (sorry for the dark picture, I just thought it was so cute!!

4. I was finally able to move my ticker down by 1.. yep, that's me, queen of the slow losers! It's all good though. I'm getting a little nervous that I won't hit my first mini-goal by July.. which is 10 lbs down.. but I've got to kick into gear and as of tomorrow, I'm going off the sugar again (can't say today since I've already eaten a mini-milky way bar) 

5.  I haven't been to my lap band doctor since January. May need to schedule a visit soon.  I think it will help me with motivation. I'm pretty sure I don't need a fill but just the whole process of talking about the band, seeing how I've done in the last 5 months, might be just what I need to get motivated. I need to kick up the cardio too. I'm going to start walking in the evenings after Mac goes down ( on the nights I don't have Pilates) and hopefully I'll be able to start Zumba again soon.  After talking so much with Manda and Jenn, I am totally ready to get the rest of this weight OFF, for good!!!  

I have more to talk about but I have lots of work to do and get done before I leave. 

Hope you all had a good weekend and are starting off the week on a good note!! 

xo,js

Hump Day Happenings..

Hey all!  hope you all had a pleasant long Memorial Day Weekend!!  We were on the go non-stop..  had two baseball games (Brewers v. Diamondbacks), had some people over for a BBQ on Sunday and then went to some friend's house on Monday.. I need a little vacation from my long weekend!! It sure was fun though!!

So, I was able to move my ticker down again back to where I started a couple of weeks ago. Not sure how I managed to lose 2 lbs last week, but I'll take it. I'm back full swing into Pilates and have been doing better on my walking (still need to step up that cardio!) I'm thinking of taking the Zumba class at Lifetime starting in a couple of weeks. You all may remember that I was obsessed with Zumba (ok, really just the instructor) a few summers back. I miss it!  My ankle is still hurting a bit and is still swollen and as yet undiagnosed, so I'm going to wait another couple of weeks and then go for it.

Major NSV and I cannot believe I'm going to post this picture. BUT, you all know about my fear of the shorts?? Well, I've been branching out a little this year and since it's hotter than balls here usually, I decided to buy a couple of pairs. Well, I have worn them while out walking Mac but not really in any sort of public setting (except for the one Brewers game in March in which I thought I was going to die of heat!) but I wore them out to our friend's BBQ on Monday. And guess what?? The Earth didn't shake, the world moved on.. and I was fine. I even got a couple of compliments that I was looking pretty good.  I look at this picture and don't see the large and in charge person that I once was. I see things that definitely need fixing and I know I'm going to get there eventually when I can look at myself and be 90% happy with what I see..  I'll get there..

(please don't mind that horribly messy room! It's one of our guest rooms that needs a little love but since it's on the first floor, it ends up getting all the junk thrown into it!! )

Hubs is on his way to Milwaukee this weekend so it's Mac and I on our own for the first time ever. Not gonna lie, I'm a little nervous. Tim is such a good hands on dad and he's good at taking some of the parent duties over on the weekends.  Add to the fact that I'm convinced that my child currently hates me b/c he whines non stop with me but happy as a clam with Daddy, I'm going to be trying to keep pretty busy!!  (I know he doesn't hate me really, he is teething, but could I get a smile every once in a while?? or a happy to see me hug??)

No blog would be complete without your dose of Mac!  Funny that I even got this picture b/c he had these glasses on for about 2 seconds.. he was trying to get them off when I snapped the pic!

Not such a good start..

So, last week I announced that I was finally setting some goals and I even added a ticker showing the 70 lbs I wanted to lose to get to goal..  take a gander at that ticker above.. notice anything?? It doesn't say 70 lbs to go, it says 72! say what??  Yes, after my lovely couple of weeks of consistently losing, I gained, soo annoying. I'm not one to make excuses so I really don't have any. I had fallen off the no-sugar wagon a few weeks ago and I have continued to ride along in the gravel behind that wagon ever since. I also have been drinking diet coke like it's going out of style soon..  so, there you have it. I'm further away than I was last week!

I did start back up with Pilates last week after a 2 week hiatus with the back injury. It was nice to hurt again! I also have been trying to walk a lot more. It's so freaking hot here this week!! It's supposed to be 108+ all week.

We finally were able to get in the pool on Sunday..  pretty cold still but very refreshing!  Anyone want to come over?? Seriously, us AZ girls need to have a meet and greet!  I'll even offer to set it up! Just need some email addresses!

I'm working on Mac's 1st birthday invites and we took the little fella out the other day to the park and I tried to capture a cute pic for his invite. The kid will NOT look at me when I have a camera in my face...  so this is the best I got, but I LOVE it..

the other day, I posted a pic of my favorite shoes.. I was wrong. I have a new fave!! I bought them when we were in San Francisco...  thoughts?  Super comfy, super cute, but limiting as to what I can wear with them.

could this blog BE any more random??  I didn't get a chance to read any blogs yesterday (work has become a little cookoo  lately so my reading time has been limited.  trying to catch up today!
hope you are all well!
xo,js