FINALLY!

Wow, do I have lots to catch you up on!  I have no less than 50 posts stored up in my brain.  Good thing it's so empty, or I wouldn't have enough room for all of them. =)

Let me start by going back a couple weeks.  I did something BIG!  Are you ready?

Here are some not-so-recent, random "before" pictures.  I picked this one cuz I think I was really having a good hair day here.  This is actually from about 2am, after a full night of dancing with Stud at the Mother/Son Dance.

This one is from this past Christmas, with my beautiful niece.  You can't really see my hair, but she's so darn cute, I wanted to post it anyway.

Well....a couple of weeks ago, I did this....

My sister and niece took those at the salon, after my girlfriend finished.  Then, I took a couple more at home, just for fun.  Every single person who looked at these said it looks NOTHING like me.

 I had to see how the new 'do was going to look when I wore my glasses...

I kept this new look for a few days, but then I finally had to see what it looked like curly, instead of straightened.  Keep in mind that this picture was taken on a morning when I had only had 3 hours sleep the night before, so be gentle.

Last Saturday, my cousin and his boyfriend had a big party, and I took this picture with my beautiful niece.  (My other niece took the picture, and she seems to always take pictures at a weird angle.  My legs look like they're 3 inches long.  In real life, they're at least 5 inches long!)

Ok, so that was the first thing I wanted to share with you.  I realize some of you (men!) might be thinking, "Who the heck cares?!  It's hair!"  But, my girlfriends understand.  It's hair!!!  I've had some moments of regret in the past few weeks, especially since my hair was to about my mid-back before I cut it, but for the most part, I'm digging my sassy new look.  My biggest issue is that I can't just pull it back and put it up to get it off my face and neck, but I'm learning to deal with it.

Now, moving on.  You may remember me teasing you the other day with this.

Well, my SIL and I ran The Biggest Loser Run last Sunday!  It was a blast!  If you aren't a fan of the show, you may want to just skip the rest of this post, as I'm sure it will bore you to tears.  If you're a fan though, keep going, so you can be super jelly.

Here we are at the starting line.  How cute are we?!

Even though I have many pictures from that day, naturally I'm only going to share the ones that are the least hideous.

There were professional photographers posted along the entire route taking pictures.  We were then able to go and download all the pictures that were taken of us throughout the race.  Here are a couple of us.

 You have to look closely at these.  It's us approaching, and then crossing, the finish line.

 We did it!!

Now, let me tell ya the REAL reason I did this run.  I just had to go see my "boyfriend!"

OMG, I LOVE DOLVETT!!!

Turns out that one of my SIL's best friends went to college with him, and is one of HIS best friends.  Apparently, she put a call in to her friend, who then spoke to Dolvett.  I was told, on the way down to pick up our packets, "Umm...ok...don't be mad.  Dolvett knows your name, and your story, and he's going to be looking for us tomorrow."  What da WHAT!?!?!?!

He is just as sweet and wonderful in real life as he appears on the show.  He hung out at the finish line, cheering people on, and even crossed the finish line with some. 

When we got to the finish line, my SIL told him who we were, as he was high-fiving us, and he went to talk to us, but I actually said to him, "Um, can I go cross the finish line first, and then come back to you?"  Yes, I really did.  But, I wanted to get in a good finish time!  He just laughed and said yes.

I tried to get some pictures of him from the sidelines, where we stood for a while and cheered on the other runners.

 Yeah....that would be his backside...so what?!

We were able to meet all of the Biggest Loser celebs who participated in this event.  And, God bless my sweet SIL.  She took a ton of pictures of me, and never got into any herself!!

Me and Danni, Season 14 Winner!

Me and Francelina.

Me and Pam.

Good Lord, Pam is a freakin' RIOT!!!!  Every time we met someone, my SIL would immediately tell them, "She lost 75 pounds!"  When she said that to Pam, Pam punching me in the arm, and said, "You fuckin' bitch, that's more than ME, and I was on the damn show!"  I thought I was going to wet my pants from laughing so hard.  She hung out with us for quite a while, and was just hilarious the whole time.

Me and Jackson

He's another sweetie pie.  And, yes, they both have beers in their hands.  Every runner could get a free beer after the run.  Apparently, it's a great way to replace some of the carbs burned while running.  Too bad it was only about 9am when we finished!

Pam, me, Jeff and Francie

When we were looking at these pictures after we got home, it was brought to my attention that I'm in this picture with 3 former contestants, and I appear to be the smallest one in the group. I'm certain that has more to do with the camera angle or something, but it made me laugh.

And, yes, Jeff and Francie are still a couple.  They are adorable together.  Francie wouldn't let Jeff have his beer because she put him on a No Carb diet.  tee hee hee...  (He got one anyway....)

The Whole Gang

Ok, here comes the part where you're gonna be REALLLLL jealous....

SQUEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

They almost immediately posted the results after the race.  Now, for our first 5k, I actually tried to train somewhat, and went running, etc.  I am embarrassed to say that the last 5K was the last time I ran outside until this run.  I ran on the treadmill at the gym twice, and that was in the week immediately after the last race.  I didn't even go to the gym for the three weeks leading up to THIS run.  ~~hangs head in humiliation~~

All that being said, we actually beat our last time!!  Not by a ton (about 2 minutes) but still!  AND, the first run was very straightforward, up and down the streets of the town I grew up in, so it was all flat and easy.  The Biggest Loser run was routed through some really pretty areas on the lakefront, and there was a lot of up and down on that path!  It certainly seemed harder, and we seemed to do a lot more walking than the first race.  But, according to the microchips in our bibs, we shaved about 2 minutes off our last run time.  Hell, I'll take it!!

Here are the results for my age group (AKA-old!):

I came in 48th in my age group, and 695th overall.  There were about 1,000 runners, so as far as I'm concerned, that's not too shabby.  Hey, I wasn't last!!

We had such a blast at this run.  Oo, and SIL and I played a game, and both won exercise bands.  Sweet!  I can't wait to use them, and tone up my Bingo Wings! 

Sheesh!!  Maybe if I posted more than once every couple of months, I wouldn't be so long-winded, huh?  Well, hopefully I'll be back before September.  Enjoy the weekend!

Any Biggest Loser fans out there?

Ok, I know, I know.  I said I'd be back with a "real" post days ago.  But, I've been sick, and for some reason, pretty busy the past few days.  But, here's a sneak peak into what the post is going to be about (whenever the hell I finally get around to doing it!!)

Do you know these people?

Now look at the full photo.

Um, yeah.  That's what I'm gonna tell you about.  Hopefully tomorrow. =)

Finally! A prompt!

Tuesday, January 4, 2011 Who was your best friend when you were 10? Did you still know him or her when you were 20?

My best friend when I was 10 is my friend Lynn, who became my best friend when I was 5 years old. Wow, that was a LONG time ago!!! (I mentioned her here before on her birthday.) And, yes, I did still know her when I was 20. And now that I'm 40-something, I STILL know her, and consider her my oldest and dearest friend. Holy crap! I just realized that her daughter, my goddaughter, my FIRST goddaughter (I now have 3 of them, and a godson) is going to be 25 this summer! Holy crap! And, it just occurred to me that she's going to be the age I was when I had Stud. And, I had already been married for 3 years. Wow. In my mind, she's still that adorable little girl who was my flower girl almost 20 years ago!

It was another late night tonight, as I had more errands to run after school, including hitting the teacher store. For the second day in a row, I left the house without a lunch, so needless to say, I was STARVING by the time I got home at about 7. How wrong is that while I was making something quick for dinner (pasta) I ate 4 of these:(They were leftover from the holidays, so they had red filling. It makes me cringe just typing that!)

I then stuffed my face with a big bowl of that penne (at least it was whole wheat!), and finished with 7 of these:
(I know that's a weird number, but that's how many Double Chocolate Meltaways that were left from a gift my neighbor sent us for Christmas. It's really hard to resist World's Finest. Yet one more reason Chicago rocks!!)

Now here comes the real kicker. All of the above happened while I watched the season premier of The Biggest Loser. What the HELL is it about this show that makes me want to stuff my face while I watch it? It's absolutely ridiculous. It's pretty clear that I'M the biggest loser....

CRAP!!

Ok, first let me say that I realize there are people with real problems in the world. Hell, I have a few REAL problems of my own that I should be dealing with, but right now, I prefer to bury my head in the sand. Just call my Olivia the Ostrich. Anyway, here's my dilemma at the moment:

What the hell am I going to watch tonight!?

WHY do all the shows I love have to start the same week? Now, I know I can watch all of these online tomorrow, so it's not like I'm really going to miss anything. However, it's still bugging me that DWTS is going to be on at the same time as the glee premier. Crapsicles!

I think I'm going to watch glee "live" and then watch DWTS tomorrow. I know I can find out who gets eliminated by watching the news, but I like to watch the musical guests. I'm pretty sure Santana is performing tonight, and I LOVE me some Santana!!!

Thankfully, I'll be able to watch this at it's usual time. I've been meaning to post about this show for the past week or so. I just discovered it last week, when NBC aired a full night of Parenthood. I never watched it during the regular season, but now I'm totally hooked!! I went online and watched all the episode available, but I was bummed because it was only the last 6. I just may have to rent Season 1 at some point to see what I missed. I did see the season premier last week, and I'm glad I'll be able to watch it this season. Anybody out there a fan?

I realized when I went to the NBC website to lift that photo that I'm also going to miss the season premier of The Biggest Loser. Poop. I think I just may have to let that one go this season. Especially since my usual MO is to sit and EAT while I watch it anyway!! Oy!

OK, guess I'd better go pop some popcorn for my very FULL night of mindless television. WOO HOO! glee starts tonight!!! Guess I'll miss Margaret Cho getting booted. ;-)

***update***
(Yeah, cuz I really DO think you give a rat's ass about this!)
The universe it working with me here tonight. Turns out that the first hour of DWTS was a repeat of yesterday's show. So, while I was thoroughly enjoying glee just now (woo hoo!) I didn't miss a thing! And, as soon as I clicked over to ABC, they introduced Santana, who I ADORE!!! So far, so good. Once I watch Margaret get dumped, I can switch to NBC to watch Parenthood. All is good in ChiTown.... ;-)

***update 2***
WHAT THE HELL?!?!?! Margaret was just saved from elimination as I was clicking 'publish' for the first update. Seriously?! I guess it's The Situation that's getting the boot then, huh? Although, it's between him and The Hoff, so that's a pretty close call. The Hoff will get the 'old folks' vote, but The Situation may have an advantage since the youngsters may be inclined to vote for him. I have no idea. Oops, gotta go, Adam Carolla is on!!!

The cherry's been popped....

I have FINALLY watched an episode of American Idol. Oh, trust me, I'm not bragging, it's not something I'm proud of, it just is. I had my sister, nieces and parents over for dinner tonight, and one of the conditions for my niece to come was that she got to watch the AI premier. The rest of my family knows I want nothing to do with this show, so she HAD to make sure she could still watch at my house. Kinda funny, no?

OK, so I didn't die, my eyes didn't fall out of my head, my ears didn't seal up (although, more than once I wished they would have!!) and I'm obviously here to write about it. However, I highly doubt I will be watching again. Yes, I laughed, it wasn't horrible, it just wasn't my thing. PLUS, I'm really pissed that I missed tonight's episode of Biggest Loser. THAT'S what I watch while the rest of those goofballs are watching AI. I'm hoping NBC lets you watch their shows online like ABC does, because I'm going to try and watch tomorrow.

One of the reasons my parents agreed to come over for dinner was because my dad had my car. We switched cars last night so he could drive mine today, then take it to his buddy's place and have a remote starter put on it while he was working. He had done the same for my last car. Most people have that feature so they can warm up their cars in the winter. Yes, I do that sometimes, but I mostly use MINE in the summer, so that the air will run for a while before I get in. There is NOTHING I hate more than getting into a stifling hot car. I just can't breathe! So, I start mine in the summer to cool it off. Bottom line - Thank You, Daddy!!

A couple of funnies from today's episode of "Let's Test Our Babies to Death!!"
Given word - which (which every single baby hears as "witch!")
Sentence - "They ride around on mops!!"

Another one of my babies REALLY cracked me up today, and it was exactly what I needed at that moment because I was completely about to snap. While testing this particular little one, I was getting more and more annoyed with him because he just wasn't paying attention and/or trying his best. I knew he knew the things I was asking him, but he was more interested in watching the Between the Lions video playing (yes, I know, I need to find a better way to get the testing done other than putting the TV on!) than focusing on the task at hand. We were on the test where the child has to break words into phonemes (essentially 'sounds'). For example, if the given word is "mop," they need to tell me "mmmm. oooo. p." OK, so anyway, we had done about 4 or 5 words so far, and he was simply repeating the words instead of breaking them into sounds, and I was becoming exasperated. The next word was "by." When said it to him, he immediately turned around and walked away! He obviously thought I was saying "bye" as in, "I'm SO done with you! Bu-bye!" Poor baby! I just burst out laughing, which completely confused him, but it was exactly the tension reliever I needed in order to finish today's testing.

Wow, I just realized how late it is, and I still have some cleaning up to do in the basement from dinner. Time get off this damn computer. Nighty night.... :)

Ok, just give me a minute...

...cuz I'm totally wrapped up in the season premier of Biggest Loser. I love this show. I'm just wondering, though...am I the only one who watches this while munching on snacks?

Today was ok. Nothing really exciting to report, which is actually good, cuz that means nothing "bad" happened either. The babies actually had a good day, and earned a marble in their marble jar because I came back from a grade level meeting and "caught them being good." I even sent one of my little darlings home with a note for her mom about what a great day she had. Oh, and smiley face stamps on her hands and cheeks. Thank God for washable markers!! The babies love when I stamp their cheeks. I used to have a pink heart stamp, which was perfect for putting "kisses" on cheeks. Then, one of the little beasts stole it!

Oops, commercial break is over! Gotta go!