It's Time To Talk About Your Health....

Long time no post! I'll spare you the apologies and excuses, and jump right into what I want to talk about.....health!

I recently found a SD memory card from a camera I had about two years ago. I grabbed it and made a mad dash to the laptop to see what "ancient" jewels it held. It popped up with 535 pictures, I clicked download, and within a matter of seconds I was skimming through photos I had completely forgotten I had taken. Then, I made it to the section I had subconsciously tried to forget. The 2008 Marine Corps Ball. The dress I had chosen, within 20 minutes in the store, was NOT flattering at all. It was not only the dress that brought me to pure horror, but my weight. I hadn't realized until that point how heavy I was. Not an "O my gosh Becky, I can't believe I ate that extra cracker at lunch, 20 minutes extra cardio for me tonight!" but the "how did my family and friends not have an intervention to stop me from destroying myself" heavy. As much as I wanted to close out of the program, I continued on, jumping from picture to picture, looking bigger and unhealthier in each as they progressed.

It was at that moment that I swore to myself to get back on track. Since that time I had dropped about thirty or so pounds. It wasn't just the weight that was my goal, but all over health. I gained muscle so that could account for a few extra pounds. I went off of the way clothes fit way looser and it felt great! I reached a plateau about a month or two ago. I stopped going to the gym like I should have and stopped eating healthy like I used to. I was disappointed in myself. A lot of people try to blame the holidays, but that was not the case. I had given up. Until I saw what I used to look like. Sometimes it takes a kick in the ass to remember what you are fighting for.

So, I have been making it a point to cook home cooked meals each night. It has been working so far.

Now, you will have to excuse the tilapia. I guess I didn't realize how easily it would fall apart after marinading it in a lemon/hot sauce mixture. Either way, grilled tilapia (my own recipe), baked asparagus (biggest loser cook book- this was the first recipe from there I didn't enjoy), and a mixed salad (just lettuce and spinach). All-in-all it was a pretty good dinner.

Anyways, I'm always looking for great new recipes, whether it be for a main course, side, snack, beverage, whatever. So if you ever have anything to share, lay it on me :)

I hope to keep you guys updated on the process. Hopefully I can be an inspiration for some of you that may be wanting to get on the healthy path too. Maybe some of you can be MY inspiration?

Trying to fit a watermelon into a pin hole....

Okay, before I let your minds wander off too much, it isn't what you think. I happen to be talking about my breasts. :)

I've been on a quest to find a cute but sexy [enough] halloween costume to wear this year. Since I have dropped my 30+ pounds I am noticing that the larger costumes are TOO large, but where the smaller ones fit great on my body, they lack fabric in the breast area. I figured as I lost weight I would lose boobs. I braced myself for it and was happier and happier as the days went by and the numbers on the scale kept getting smaller and my breasts did not. I didn't realize what a predicament it put me in until last night. I finally located the costume I had been drooling over for the past two years, and I swore I wouldn't wear it until I slimmed down. This was the year, I thought to myself. I walked over, grabbed the package and ran to the dressing room. It looks perfect down to the smallest detail. My ass looked great, my tummy nice and flat, all I have to do now is pull the top up and......

There I was, staring face to face with a top that had, what I like to call, allocated boob zone. For those of you who don't have the same imagination as me, let me explain. Some designers make tops with a certain area designated for the boobs. It is great for people with average size breasts or even smaller breasts, as it accentuates the area. In my case = my worst enemy. All these years of pining over this one costume, only to be shot down within one quick moment thanks to the unthoughtful costume designer not looking out for the big boobie girls of the world.

So my question to my readers out there is, have you had this problem before? If so, what did you do?

Back from the Dead

That is about the only way I can sum it up. My world turned into a madhouse after my last post and, unfortunately, this was the easiest/most logical thing to cut from my schedule. Things have seemed to calm down a little bit so I feel like maybe I should give this another try. Also, I feel a lot better after I blog.

Let's see, first thing is first. I have managed to drop thirty pounds since I've started my quest for dropping the pounds. It is still not everything I want to lose but I already feel amazing and am able to wear between small and medium clothes in juniors, so ...yea, excitement! Pic below :)

I have managed to cross a couple things off of my bucket list. I was actually able to attend TWO Yankees games this season. Now, I know they don't really count since I saw them while they were playing in Texas, but I am pretty content for now to semi-check it off of my list.

I finally feel comfortable here, like it is my home. I have met some pretty amazing people and have formed some long lasting friendships. Everything finally seems to be going right, everything back on track && I'm ready to rock out.

Anyways, I'm going to try to start blogging daily [hey, no snickers here, you know I do my best ;)].....okay maybe I should stick with weekly first and see where to go from there. You guys have a lot of catching up to do :)

Inspiration...

Inspiration comes in different ways, shapes and sizes. Today I got a bit of inspiration and renewed faith in myself. My mind turned to my blog. The one thing I have always had control over (not including the times I've used it to take a jab at someone I KNEW would be reading). It is always here for me to vent to, lash out at, share happiness with.

But lately, I've let it fall to the waste side. Well, let's be honest, I never build it up to the capacity I meant to. It has always been a work in progress since its existence. This blog was meant to be a place to not only log my thoughts and dreams but to keep track of important memories/stories/jokes that may fall from my memory after time. To share my taste in music, food and alcohol. But most importantly, my love of fashion. Whether it be cute clothes, great accessories, or fantastic/stylish new make ups, that is where my heart is and belongs.

So I'm holding myself accountable and completely responsible. This blog will be turned around and become what it was meant to be. I will continue to bring you my random stories, but hopefully with more random bits of happiness and newness in between.

I hope those of you who have been my faithful followers from the very beginning will continue to stay with me. :)

The Scare....

Okay, let me stop you before you get too excited, especially those of you who know me personally. NOT a pregnancy scare (though we have been getting an OVERWHELMING amount of suggestions that we have children since we are so established, but I digress) but a scare of all scares concerning my puppy dog. Now, as many of you can sense from some of my blogs, I am OBSESSED (yes, the caps are necessary because I admit I have a problem) with my pup pup. He will be turning five in July and I have had him since he was just a few months old. Hubby and I have raised him and he has become like a family member/child. I know some of you parents out there are probably shaking your heads that I am comparing a dog to a child BUT, don't judge me :p

He is a large black lab mix, who stands taller than me (at 5'6) when on his hind legs. Despite his size, he still thinks he is a lap dog and will climb on top of me if I make the mistake of sitting on the ground. He is the biggest love bug you will ever meet.

Monday night I curled up in our enormous new king size pillow top (aka a cloud smack dab in the middle of heave) bed and fell asleep. In the middle of the night I heard a strange noise, but was so tired I thought it was a dream. I quickly fell back asleep only to wake up to the same noise at about 5 a.m. That sound was very distinct, the sound of vomit coming up and hitting the floor. It was not hubby, as he was still asleep in bed, but my faithful pup companion. He looked at me in horror, probably thinking he was going to get in trouble for doing something bad. Poor little guy.

I will spare you all of the disgusting details though. Long and short is this is the first time he has thrown up since he was a puppy. When we first adopted him he was not in the best condition and stupid amounts of money later, he was fine. He HAS been fine until that night. I had hubby check on him yesterday during the day since I was at work. When he got home he discovered he had been sick more and I asked that he take him to the vet immediately. He was one sick pup.

Diagnosis? After running every test under the sun, we discovered his enzyme levels in his kidney are slightly elevated. We were told once the enzymes raise like that there is already damage done and the kidney will never operate to the exact full capacity it did before. Solution? Prescription dog food for the rest of his life. Real kicker? low in protein but high in fat. Should be interesting trying to exercise him MORE than we already do.

All in all, it was worth the money to find out early what was going on with pup pup AND it made me appreciate him even more than I did before.

I have a feeling

that our pup is LOVING the new house...just ignore the long weeds that are being taken care of today. It makes me feel calm inside to see him loving the new house so much!

In broad daylight...

The timing couldn't have been more perfect. I noticed the neighborhood hubby had picked out to live in about a year ago was turning downwards...and FAST! The rental property was meant to save him money. He didn't have to worry about the looks or age because it was to be just him living in it. So, of course, it worked out that I landed a job and moved in with him shortly after he arrived at this house. It was horrible. We will just leave it at that. I missed our original house in the super safe neighborhood. Now, we were forced to mingle with people who didn't like to pick up their garbage and kept a million stray cats around outside (I really dislike cats).

So naturally, when we bought a house, I did the research and selected the neighborhood. All the lawns were well manicured and maintained. I saw a random cat here and there, but for the most part I saw people walking their dogs around the neighborhood and they looked at ease with the situation. It looked like everyone worked during the day, came home, played with their children out front/walked their dogs/socialized with the neighbors. This made my decision easy!

All my time and effort paid off, we purchased the house. Now the last thing we needed to do was successfully move out of the shady rental property. Sounds simple right? Well, not exactly! The person who rented before was a co-worker of my hubby AND was also friends with the property manager. Naturally, everyone had faith that he would take care of the property like he should have. And of course, to our misfortune he did not, which left us twice the clean up and work when we moved out. I had hubby and a few of his muscular friends do most of the moving. I was in charge of the breakables (come on, who would honestly leave the glass to the strong marines?? not a good idea!) and of course, the clean up.

I decided to take the opportunity and trash a lot of stuff we had. We had been starting fresh, time to become adults. We no longer need to live with college plastic ware and mix matched items. I bagged items up quickly and placed them on the street. After I was finished for the day, I began loading my car up with the smaller things, when I noticed my garbage had been ripped through. It was very obvious it was a person who did this, not an animal. I was FURIOUS. I rebagged the garbage, went inside, grabbed the last bit of the breakables and began loading them into my car. Still furious. I notice a few houses over, a car backing into the driveway. The car is making a lot of noise and is kind of shady looking. Nothing is unusual to me, this is a house that has had police cars in front of it a few times in the past month. I think to myself "thank GOD we are getting out of here, this is one step away from becoming the ghetto." One of the guys that gets out gives me a dirty look and I throw one back his way. I'm scrappy, I don't take shit. I get in my car and peel out, only a couple more trips and I can kiss this place goodbye!

I make another trip, but this time I make hubby come with me, I am not liking the vibe from the old neighborhood anymore. Hubby is cleaning off the lawn mower to load it up and I grab the last bit from inside. When I come out I noticed a girl talking to my hubby and by the time I join the conversation I gather than they had been robbed, in broad day light! The burglars backed into their driveway and loaded their car up with items from their garage and took off. My heart started racing then sank, I watched the people do it. I waited for her to walk away, and I told hubby that I had seen the whole thing. He laughed and started to walk away, I started contemplating if I should tell the neighbors when hubby stopped me dead in thought by saying a neighbor across the street had written down the license number. O thank goodness! I thought to myself. But I still can't help but feeling guilty that I watched it and didn't realize it.

Moral of the story, if you let trash and shady characters hang out by your house, how is anyone supposed to know when you are getting robbed?! haha