Tuesday, October 18, 2011

The final installment, Chicago...

Sorry that it's taken me so long to post the rest of these pictures. Life is busy right now. Busy but good. I hope all is well for you guys too. So, here are pictures from Saturday night in Chi Town. What a fun night it was, the food was great, although, most of us couldn't eat much. The drinks were flowing and the hens were cackling. So much fun!




Me and my wonderful roomies, Jacquie and Vickie





Karin and Stephanie

Stacey, Ronnie, Brandi and Debi


Brandi, Stephani and Jacquie (they all have the same surgeon!)



Linda, Deb and Camille





Stephanie, Jacquie and Nicole





Carmen....rockin' that dress!







Carmen, Dawnya, Beth Ann, Vickie and Me



Vickie, Me, Joey, Jennifer and Carmen



Read and Me






In other news, my 30th class reunion is this weekend I was hoping to be in onderland but instead I'm in maintenanceville, it could be much worse! This is the least amount I've weighed at a class reunion, so for that I'm grateful. In fact, I skipped my 20th because I was so embarrassed by my weight. I'm looking forward to seeing some old friends, I hope we have a good turn out. I don't know why, but I've been less than motivated to blog lately. This happened to me last year after BOOBS, I think it's because I find it tedious to post pictures, and I didn't want to blog about other things until I put the pictures up. Now maybe I'll get motivated. I'm also hoping that I'll get motivated to lose some weight... we shall see. You guys take care, hope you have a great day!


Big Hugs!


T























Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Installment #1 pics from Chicago!

Some of these are out of order, but they are filled with fabulous women....









Vickie and Joey this was Thursday afternoon by the pool.




Kristin, Jacquie and Krystal

Jenny and Jessica



Tina & Beth Ann
This was Friday on the walking tour.



Amanda and Angie
Thursday by the pool.







Angela & Jacquie
Walking tour.




Dawnya



Amey, Deb and Vickie
This one and the rest are from Friday's meet and greet, good times!





Maria and Linda



Robin, Camille, Cindy, Deb, Donna and Nancy



Angela and Dawnya



Julie, Debi and Brandi



Brandi, Becky and Shannon



Lynne and Camille





Stephanie, Karin and Jessica





Joey and Cindy




Joey and me!



Kristin meeting her inspiration for the first time...Catherine



Kristin and Catherine



Me and Carmen....she took the pic!



Catherine and me


Tomorrow I'll try to post the rest. What a great trip it was, looking at the pics makes me miss everyone. I hope everyone is doing great! Take care....big hugs!!!


T



Tuesday, October 11, 2011

What? Me...a slacker?

I totally am, when it comes to blogging and other things too. I've been overwhelmed with the craziness of my life. Catching up at work and home after my trip with the boobs, running with my kids here there and everywhere, football, football and more. Anyway, I am sorry that I haven't posted. I had a wonderful time in Chicago and promise to post some pictures. I just got pics uploaded on Facebook today, but I'm at work now and only have time for a quick post, so ...
I hope everyone is doing well. It was so nice to see old friends in Chicago and to meet new ones. It really is surreal when you meet someone for the first time but feel like you've known them forever! I will write more about that and all the fun things we did in Chicago.

But for now I'll just say, while I was in Chicago, my eating was great, I didn't gain any weight, I felt really good, we were active, we ate and drank but nothing out of control. I came home and felt like I wanted to eat everything in sight. I have not felt like exercising, I've been on the border of getting sick and have been using that as an excuse for not moving.

It's time for me to take an honest inventory of my life, time to reevaluate my eating and get back in gear. I've just been maintaining for the last 7 months....seriously? What has happened to my reserve. I don't want to stop here. Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy that I have been able to maintain all this time, because that is unheard of for me. And, perhaps I'm just taking a break here...maybe I'm just a lazy ass and don't care anymore. I don't know what the answer is. I don't know what's different now. I know I feel better, I feel more normal, but I'm a long way from being thin. I don't know what to make of my lack of commitment. I generally am a very committed person. I could use any advise you might have.

I will leave you with a pic of me an my roomies, Vickie and Jacquie. We had so much fun together. Love these girls and miss them!


Have a great day!
Big hugs!
T

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

What a blast!

I had a truly amazing time in Chicago! Unfortunately, I'm swamped at work, playing catch up. I took a few minutes to read a few blog posts and unfortunately Blogger won't let me comment!!! Uggghh! Anywhoo. I promise to get caught up and I promise to post. It was a great time! I'm so glad I went!!
Big Hugs!
T

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Safe travels!

Well, tomorrow I'll be headed for Chi Town. I can't wait to see my fellow BOOBS. Meeting new friends, catching up with old ones. Safe travels everyone. To those of you staying behind, we will toast to you. I know it's going to be dead in blogland. But there will be lots of exciting picture posts next week.

See you on the flip side.
Big Hugs!
T

Monday, September 26, 2011

Holy Cow!



I'll be leaving for Chicago early on Thursday. I have so much work to get done before. I'm a nervous traveler, so...well...I'm nervous. And of course, I don't know what to bring, clothing wise. I really only got cold one time last year and that was on the boat for the Architectural Tour. I'm doing the walking tour on Friday, and Maria said to bring comfy shoes. Here's the dilemma with that. I hate having to pack sneakers, because they take up so much room. But if I have to be walking, I guess I need to be comfy! I'm excited, even though I'm nervous. I can't wait to see my old pals and meet some new ones!


Big Hugs,


T

Friday, September 23, 2011

BYOC and remembering Rita...

It's Friday and you know what that means - yes? It's time for BYOC. Bring Your Own Crazy like your life depends on it! We answer a few questions to get to know each other better and to give our blogging brains a break. Copy to your own blog and ENJOY!!

1. If you were a character on Friends, who would you be and why? Probably a little bit of several: Monica, because, well I have control issues, especially with my household chores and cooking, Chandler, because I'm pretty quick witted and see things differently, Phoebe, because...I can be really ditsy sometimes and Ross and Joey...because I'm a geek who happens to be super cool! LOL! Not Rachel though.

2. If you weren't in your current career what other career do you think you would have done?
I'd like to be an actress.

3. What did you want to be when you grew up when you were 6? A movie star!

4. Do you think everyone only has one soul mate or true love? No, I believe that people come into our lives for a reason, that we are with them and love them when we are supposed to and then , we move on and love others. I believe that there are many opportunities for our souls to find a mate and for our souls to be nurtured. I have several of those people in my life.

5. Repeat question. Summarize your week in real life and in blog land. Blog land is buzzing with excitement as we get ready for Chicago! Real life is busy, it's homecoming week for my kids, we've had lots of preparation to get ready, parade, pep rally, tonight is the game and the dance is tomorrow. I'm excited about Chicago, but I'm a little bit of a reluctant traveler. So, I'm having my usual pre-trip anxiety when I travel alone. Other than that, I'm really excited to be going and to see everyone! Tomorrow is the 6th anniversary of Hurricane Rita, I've been thinking a great deal about how much my life has changed since then. I feel like I've been with my husband forever, we weren't even dating when Rita came. My boys and I had left my ex-husband a year before Rita, but we were still in the throws of nasty divorce proceedings. It was a time when I was so unsure of myself and I was faced with one of the biggest messes of my life. My boys and I lived in a tiny travel trailer for 15 months, we learned how to do without many things, we learned how important family is and how unimportant possessions can be. In the course of rebuilding my home, I rebuilt my life as well, I fell in love with the man who had become my best friend, I found strength, I found the blessing of true friendship and I found a new family. The last 6 years have been wonderful, not free of troubles and stress, we flooded again 2 years after Rita, but wonderful none the less. I'm so grateful for all the many blessings in my life. I'll leave you with a few pictures of my home one week after Hurricane Rita. I was staying with my boys in Houston and they allowed us to come into town for a "look and leave" day. I remember driving into town and feeling like it just wasn't real.





This is was my back patio, now there is a grapevine covered pergola where the tree once was,



many happy times have been had in this same spot!





This is what I saw when I drove up the street to my house,



the tree on the side was in my son's room.


And, this was my back door.









It's interesting to look back on that time. I wouldn't want to go through it again, but I certainly don't curse that time in my life. Nothing bad came from that experience. It really did enrich my life.










Happy Friday!




Big Hugs!





T