Wonderful Wednesday

So, around 11 this morning, I got a phone call.  All I heard when I answered the phone was, "Lee Lee?  I was wondering if you would like to come ovuh?"  It was my Monkey!!!

I jumped in the shower, and got dressed, and an hour and half later, I was at my brother's.  (Have I mentioned how much I HATE how far he lives from me?!?!)  While I was driving, it occurred to me that tonight is an overnight for him, and I immediately started plotting in my head how I was going to get to take her home with me. ;-)

Later tonight, we are having a Girls' Night at my mom's house.  My mom, sister, sister-in-law KC (Ok, my brother's long-time girlfriend, but after almost 15 freakin' years, we consider her our sister-in-law!), a good friend of ours and myself try to plan these Girls' Nights every couple of months.  We usually do them at our friend's house, but this time, my mom volunteered to host.  I started thinking I would ask my brother if Monkey could join us for Girls' Night for a while, then he could come pick her up later.  I was really going to play up the angle that if I took her with me, he could run errands, go to the bar and get some work done, or just nap.  I was prepared to pull out all the stops until I wore him down, and he let me take my Monkey home.

Minutes after I walked in his door, I casually asked, "So, you have Monkey overnight tonight, right?"

"Yep..."

"Well, you know, Mom's hosting Girls' Night tonight.  I was thinking maybe she could join us..."

"Yeah, I know, KC mentioned it to me.  She actually said the same thing."

SCORE!!  Way to go, KC!!  Long story short, my Monkey is currently sound asleep in my bed.  When she gets up from her nap, we are going to make cookies to take to Nonna's house for Girls' Night.  Yay!!

Fabulous Friday

I got a last-minute call to take my Monkey today.  Yay!!

We had an AWESOME day, full of "adventures."  As soon as I picked her up, we jumped right on the expressway, and drove up to the school where I last worked. I won't bore you with too many details, but she basically was in her glory!  This baby desperately needs to go to school!  I'll leave it at that, because I don't want to start complaining about her parents...

From there, we drove to meet Magnum for lunch.  We had a blast.  She is just so damn cute.  She instantly won the heart of the woman who owns the restaurant where we ate.  Her uncle was thrilled to have her all to himself for an hour.

It was quite a long drive to get back home, and I was hoping she'd fall asleep and get a good nap in, but that little trooper fought it almost all the way.  She finally conked out about 10 minutes before we got home.  That actually worked out better, since I was able to get her out of the car without waking her up.  After a nice nap, we got up, and she got to sing Happy Birthday to Stud, and have some birthday cake.  Score!

Then there was just enough time to watch a little Lion King, before going to meet her mommy.  It was just the most fun day!

Lucky for you, my phone is currently too full to take any pictures.... ;-)

I hope you all had Fridays that were as fabulous as mine!

What's in a number?

So, the last time I lost any significant amount of weight was back in 2000, when I was training for the police academy.  (I think I may have shared that story way back when I first started this blog.  Then again, maybe I didn't.  It's a post for another day...)  That was a particularly significant year for me.  It was both incredibly horribly and incredibly awesome.  I'll explain another day, perhaps.

Anyway, I thought I really had it going on that year.  I've said many, many times that I was in the best physical shape of my life that year, thanks to the training.  For months, I actually ran and worked out daily with a couple of my cousins who were already on the job.  I would say that my self-confidence was at an all-time high.  That was the year of my New Millennium Resolution (now, I KNOW I've posted about THAT before, haven't I?!) and I was living life to the fullest.

One of the highlights of that year was that I, for the first time, was able to buy jeans from Old Navy.  The first time I was able to squeeze into those size 16, boot-cut, low-rise jeans, I literally did a Happy Dance.  I may have even let out a, "Woo hoo!" in the fitting room.  Those jeans fit me like a glove, and made me feel sexy as hell.  I bought several pairs of them, and wore them all the time.  Those were my "going out" jeans, my "salsa dancing" jeans, my "date" jeans, my "Girls' Night" jeans, etc.  I think you get the idea.

Last night I took a little trip to Old Navy.  I've been meaning to do it for months now, since I really don't have any clothes that fit me anymore.  Well, other than the handful of things I've picked up at the thrift store, and a couple of pairs of jeans I picked up on clearance a few months ago at Walmart.  (I believe I may have posted about finding those since they were size 14!!  Yep, from size 24 to size 14.  Go me!!)  But, what I REALLY wanted was a pair of my favorite jeans from Old Navy!  I've been carrying around a gift card that I think someone gave Stud years ago, so I figured it would almost be like getting the jeans for free, right?

I walked over to the Wall-O-Jeans, only to see that in the 13+ years since I've purchased jeans from Old Navy, they had the nerve to change their styles!  What the hell?  Now, instead of just looking for "low-rise, boot-cut," I had to figure out if "Diva," "Flirty," or "Sweetheart" was the right style for me.  After checking out the chart on the wall, I decided "Sweetheart" was the way to go.  (smaller waist, wider thighs)  I grabbed a couple pairs in different lengths and headed to the fitting room.  My first instinct was to grab the size 16s that I was so thrilled to wear in the past.  But, I grabbed the 14s, and hoped for the best.  And, that's just what I got!  They went on without a problem. =)

So, just for shits and giggles, I grabbed a pair of 12s.  I laughed all the way back to the fitting room, shaking my head at myself for being so ridiculous.  However, all that changed when I realized, "Holy shit!  They're on!  I'm wearing a size 12!"  I just could NOT believe it! 

All this time, I kept thinking about what great shape I was in back in 2000, how good I looked, how sexy I felt, etc.  Now, here I am, 2 sizes SMALLER than I was then.  Wow.  Just...wow.

I didn't buy the 12s yesterday, because they only had them in "long."  I absolutely need "short."  (It seems Old Navy jeans run long.)  Plus, just because I was able to get them on (and buttoned and zipped!) doesn't necessarily mean they looked that great.  Admittedly, they were a bit...um...snug.  Now, I realize lots of people wear their jeans that way, but I don't think I'd be comfortable walking around in painted on jeans.  (After all, I'm not a Caribbean Queen, for Pete's sake!)

So, what's in a number?  A LOT when that number is 12. =)

Simple Sunday

Today was a wonderful day.  I was able to enjoy some very simple pleasures.  The day started with church, as always.  I really enjoy the fellowship we have with the other members of the church.  I truly love our pastor, as well, and always get so much out of his sermons.

After church, I got my jiggly behind back to the gym, after a long hiatus (shame on me!).  I had a really great workout, and caught a couple of interesting shows on TV during my 65 minutes on the elliptical machine.

From there, I went home, took a quick shower, and headed off to meet a good friend for dinner.  She called me last night, before I headed out for the movie with my other friend, and asked if I wanted to join her for dinner tonight, her treat.  She said she had a Groupon, and wanted to use it to take me out.  Isn't she sweet?  We went to this neat little place called Wok 'N Fire.  We had dinner there once before, about a month or so ago, which was my first time there.  Apparently, she goes there often, as her kids love it.

We had a very leisurely (and delicious!!) meal, spending way more time talking than eating.  Truthfully, I think our server was a bit annoyed with us, since we were probably there almost an hour before we even ordered our entrees.  (We ordered an appetizer about 30 minutes after sitting down, just because we felt bad that she kept coming over to our table, and we hadn't even looked at our menus.  Although, to be fair, I DID tell her when we sat down that we were going to be doing quite a bit of talking, and that she shouldn't hurry back, since were going to need some time to order.)

After we finally decided we sat there long enough, we walked across the street to Starbucks for some coffee.  My friend wouldn't even let me leave the tip at the restaurant, so I had to convince her to let me treat us to coffee.  She only relented because she had a half-priced 'thingy' for Starbucks that expired today, and said I had to use it. 

I got to try something new there, a drink she had mentioned to me before.  She told me a while back that she is completely hooked on Starbuck's chocolate chai tea latte, which I had never heard of before.  She was right, it's good! 

I passed on my usual Pumpkin Spice Latte (basically the only thing I've ever ordered at Starbuck's) and tried a gingerbread latte.  (I picked it off the short list of special drinks for World Aids Day today.  A donation is made for every drink purchased off the list.)  It was delicious. 

Sadly, I remembered one of the reasons I don't care for Starbuck's.  Even with the half-priced deal, I still paid over $7 for two medium coffees.  Oy!!  But, it was worth every penny when I focus on the hour and half we sat at Starbuck's talking, and enjoying each other's company.

Now, I'm home, in my jammies, sitting in bed, checking in with my Bloggy Buddies, while the Hallmark Hall of Fame movie is playing in the background.  (Is anyone else watching this?!  It's a bit of a tear-jerker.)  A day filled with the simplest.  What could be better?

2013 Day Twenty-Five

Happy, happy, happy...Joy, joy, joy!!

Back on November 6, which just happens to be Stud's birthday, I entered a give-away over at my Bloggy Buddy Tiffany's place.  And, wouldn't you know it...I WON!  I like to think the fact that it was on Stud's birthday is what brought me luck. =)

I'm SO excited about this prize.  Check it out.

How awesome is this!?  Most of my bakeware is stuff that I got at my wedding shower, which was 23 years ago.  And you guys KNOW how much I love to bake, which means my stuff gets a lot of use, so I really could use this.  And, it arrived just in time for holiday baking. :D

Thanks, again, Tiffany!!

When the FedEx guy dropped this off, he also handed me a smaller box.  I had NO idea what it was or where it came from.  When I opened it, it contained a can of Libby's Organic Pinto Beans, a can of Libby's Mixed Fruit packed in 100% Juice, and a can of Libby's Mixed Vegetables, along with a reusable canvas shopping bag with the Libby's logo.  Clearly, LIBBY'S sent this to me, but I have no idea why.  There was no other papers or information in the box.  I must have signed up for free samples or something.  However it came to me, I appreciate it.  My brother will be the lucky recipient of the organic beans, since he's all about eating organic.  Magnum will probably take the fruit to work, since it's packed in juice, not syrup, and he usually eats fruit with his lunch.  I'm not sure what I'll do with the mixed veggies, since I don't really care for canned vegetables.  (They're too mushy for my taste.) Maybe I'll throw them into some soup or something.  I'm most excited about the bag.  I can never have enough bags when I go shopping.

Wait, I haven't told you the BEST part yet!!  A few minutes after my goodies were delivered, I was sitting at the kitchen table, checking email.  I happened to glance up at the window, and suddenly felt like I was in a snow-globe!!  YAY!!  It was snowing!!!  I tried to capture it for you, but my phone bites,

I told you last night I would be boring you with Monkey "stuff" today, but clearly I decided to bore you with other stuff instead.  But, don't worry, I'll be back with the Monkey stuff tomorrow.

2013 Day Seventeen

Ok, back to my day with my Sissy...

There were some "issues" that delayed my sister in picking me up, so we ended up getting to Bloomy's much later than we were supposed to.(No worries, we still LEFT at the time we were supposed to! :D )  At one point, I texted my uncle's girlfriend, who is a police sergeant in the city, to tell her we were there, because the store is in her district.  She ended up coming to the store just as we were finishing up.  Long story short, we went to dinner with her, at one of my favorite restaurants downtown, Quartino.

We had a FABULOUS meal!  I usually tell people who have never been to Quartino that it's kinda like an Italian tapas bar.  If you click around their website, you'll see what I mean.

My sister's friend drove in to work with us, so naturally she came to dinner with us, but I'm afraid Quartino was NOT for her.  She will be the first to tell you, she has the most unrefined palate.  Ok, that sounded bitchy.  Let me quote HER..."I'm freakin' IRISH!  All I eat is potatoes!"  She usually eats a candy bar, or a bag of potato chips for dinner.  (She's single, and doesn't have children, so I suppose she can do that, right?  Is it wrong that I'm a little jealous?)  She seriously wanted to run into McDonald's to get an order of fries for her dinner, instead of going to a nice dinner at a beautiful restaurant.  But, to her credit, she sucked it up, and came on the adventure.

My sister and I ordered a bunch of plates to share with each other, and my uncle's girlfriend, of course.  Here's what we had to share:

• Dates, stuffed with Gorgonzola, and wrapped in Panchetta(TO DIE FOR!!  I could have eaten 100!)
• Polenta Fries (one of the main reasons I love this place!!)
• Fried Calamari
• Escarole and Fagioli (escarole and beans)
• Baby Spinach, Walnut, Pear and Ricotta Salata salad

My sister also order eggplant parmigiana, and my uncle's girlfriend order pasta.  I had ordered meatballs, and it didn't occur to me until I started writing this, that they never came!  Shoot!  It was fine, though, since we were stuffed.  But, man, I really wanted those meatballs. :(

My sister's friend ended up ordering a pizza, cheese with a little sausage.  Thankfully, she liked it!

Now, here's the crazy part.  The restaurant comped us the entire meal!!  It was a bit embarrassing, actually.  They did it for my uncle's girlfriend, since most places in the city are very generous to cops.  But, I didn't think they'd comp the entire bill!!  Man, that waiter made out, because we ended up leaving him a 50% tip! 

It was really a nice way to end the day.  Then, we even got a ride to the train from Sergeant Girlfriend, which was great, because it was raining.  Actually, by the time we got home (our train stop) there was a raging storm going on.  The rain was coming down sideways, and it was windy as hell.  I wish I had video of the three of us trying to walk across the parking lot to our car!  It was too funny.

We're supposed to keep having stormy weather today, too.  They're talking about possible tornado activity.  Poop.  I'm supposed to go to lunch with a friend after church, but I may have to reschedule.  I guess we'll have to wait and see what it's like in a few hours when we come out after the service.

On that note, I'd better go get ready.  I hope everyone enjoys a relaxing Sunday!!

2013 Day Ten

This is all I want to do right now.  I'm SO tired.  Yesterday's Day from Hell really wiped me out.  Then today was another busy one.

For the very first time, I did the reading during our church service today.  Last Monday, at Bible study (one of the "new" things going on around here...) the pastor asked me if I'd ever be interested in doing it.  He said he usually gives people plenty of notice (my first question!), and I said, "Sure!"  Well, imagine my surprise when he called me on Friday, and asked if I'd do the reading today.  I spent the rest of the afternoon preparing.  I printed out the passage, complete with the phonetic pronunciations of certain words, to make sure I didn't screw it up.  I think it went pretty well. =)

Then, after church, I went to hang out with some friends from grad school.  One of my girlfriends moved, and so we got together to see her new house, and do a little shopping.  Well, the rest of them shopped, since I have zero interest in purses, makeup and/or jewelry!  (My girlfriend had a few "demonstrators" there to show off their wares.)  It was a really nice afternoon, and it was great to see my friends who I haven't seen in FAR too long.

I've been fighting sleep since about 5:30 this afternoon, but I'm about to give in now. Good night.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......

2013 Day Two

Ok, so I forgot Jimmy Kimmel airs repeats on Friday nights, so clearly there wasn't a new "I Ate Your Halloween Candy" video played yet.  But, that's ok, since it gives his staff a little extra time to put a great one together.  I can't wait for Monday night!

So, since I can't share the cuteness of random children I don't know, I guess I'll just have to share the AMAZEBALLS CUTENESS of my favorite Monkey!!!  (Oh, come on now, I haven't made you sit through this in a LONG time, so quit rolling your eyes!)

Guess who's been trying to make the switch to Big Girl Panties!!

It's a work in progress.  The last couple of weeks have really been good, so I'm hoping by Christmas, she'll be ready for Santa to bring her some cute panties.


As has been our tradition for nearly two decades, we went to the pumpkin farm on Columbus Day.  It was Monkey's first time, and she LOVED it!

My sister and I have a picture of our kids standing in front of this gauge just about every year of their lives.  It was so cool to finally take one of Monkey.  (And, yes Jo, I threw in plenty of pictures of my brother for you.  But, you have to share them with Mark!)

I wish I had a clue what we were all looking at here.  It wasn't until about the 4th time I looked at this that I noticed my sister and I are both in the background, and all four of us are looking at the same thing, but I have no clue what it was.

This cracked me up!

My oldest niece and her friend joined us at the farm.  Naturally, she had to get her annual photo!

One day, we were playing dress-up at Nona's house, and she put on her Snow White outfit, along with a tiara.  I know it's a blurry picture, but her adorable face still shines through!

 

Actually, all these pictures are crappy, I know, but 1) my iPhone sucks, 2) She's still cute as hell!! and 3) No, she STILL doesn't have any hair. =(

Yay!  Day 2 - over and out!

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!