The week

Today I’m off to scrapbook with some friends from 3-11. I’m meeting a gal before the crop to discuss her family photo session tomorrow and to get the paperwork signed. Yay for more business! I’ve been averaging two shoots a month, which isn’t bad since I just started in May. Hopefully time and word of mouth will bring in more business! I finally went and opened up a business checking and savings, been meaning to do that for a while. I have no service fees for 12 months, got free business checks and a “for deposit only” stamp as well. Cool beans.

I’ve shelved the idea of Mary Kay right now. I went to a new sales consultant meeting on Monday night, wow, talk about heavy sales pitch. I thought it would sell itself, but, I’ve decided it’s not for me right now. You can still order products from the Mary Kay website I’ve made, I have it for a year, so please do order. I offer FREE shipping right to your front door if you aren’t local.

I’ve gotten 90% of all the gifts purchased for Christmas! Greg, Jac and Vi are all bought for. Storm and Brian and Jess are almost done. I’m gave Greg my list, he’ll use cash to shop for me after we get back from Atlanta.

We’re hosting a cookie exchange next month! I can’t wait to do this. We’ve done one or two in the past, it was great fun, tons of cookies for days and days.

Hope to get started and maybe send the order to the printers for our Christmas cards before we leave on Wednesday. I have everyone’s name and address, just have to get the photo on there and send in the order. I did them last year and the year before, so, we’ll see how it works this year trying a printer. I may end up doing it on my own again. Not a pain, but, it’s overwhelming at the busy time of the year. I can always work on it on the trip, I just want to get started already!

My bff Lisa may be visiting us early next year! We haven’t seen each other since 2007, when we went to NYC for a long weekend.

I didn’t go to the gym all week, I think I am bloated or I gain a tiny bit. I’ve lost 16″ total and gained 2 pounds according to the WI on Monday. We’ll see how that pans out this Monday.

We’re spending Thanksgiving Day with my brother and his family. I’ve forgotten how much he’s like my father was. I swear, I will have to just suck it up I guess as I really want to spend time with everyone. We talked on the phone for a while last weekend, bought the aquarium tix and decided we’d bring a ham and other things. My neice popped onto Facebook and messaged me that they are making everything and we don’t have to bring anything. I guess flowers will have to do! I never show up empty handed to a dinner,  not even with family.

I plan on blogging while we’re on the road, so look for something each night while we’re gone. :smile: It’s a long trip, but, I think that it will be worth it and it’s going to be fun! We haven’t seen our neices and nephew in a while. I have, but Greg hasn’t and Jac hasn’t. My SIL has two daughters, Jac hasn’t seen her or the daughters in 5 years. She hasn’t seen my bro’s kids in about 10 years. TOO LONG!

If I don’t log in and post before Thanksgiving, I hope everyone has a great day with their family and friends. Safe travels if you are going anywhere. :smile:

Posted on Saturday November 22, 2008 ♥ 2 pieces of comment love!  
Filed Under Business, Crafts, Family, Friends, Hobbies, Holidays, Home, Internet, Layouts, Life, Photos, Scrapbooking, Weekend, Work

Thanksgiving

We bought our tickets for the Georgia Aquarium yesterday. My SIL and her two girls along with my bro and his daughter, possibly his son as well are going to join the 5 of us. What a group! I was talking to Jac and I don’t think they have seen each other since our wedding. It’s not like we live near each other or have ties together somehow for a big reunion. It’s cool how it worked out though. I’m SO excited!!

We’re driving down on Wednesday (pray for us traveling with an 18 month old) and then spending all day on Thursday with my brother and his family along with Jess. Friday is a half work day for Jess, then spending time with her and probably seeing my SIL and her girls that night. Saturday is the aquarium and then back to my SIL’s house for a while. We drive back on Sunday.

This is the first road trip Violet has taken that’s over 1.5 hours. So, it will be interesting to see how she does. We’re taking Greg’s car (with the huge trunk that can hold 3-4 dead bodies) and using duffels vs. suitcases. Diapers and snacks along with toys in the trunk, an umbrella stroller, booster chair and my camera stuff as well as laptops and books. We have iPods for the car, so at least we’ll have music. We have a pack and play at the hotel and TWO rooms, so we all can have some privacy. Violet is usually out all night, so hopefully this will be true in a hotel, although she didn’t do too badly back in May when we were gone for a night, she’s older now and is more aware of everything.

One of my SIL friends has a pack and play we’re borrowing for my bro’s house, just in case she needs a nap. Now that she’s on table food, that’s so much easier for traveling! I guess we should stick our small coolers in the car too, eh? I usually drink just water and have to stop every 2 hours, so we’re estimating about a 12 hour trip even though it’s only about 10 to drive it. Stretching our legs will be good for everyone.

We’re checking the weather on Saturday and again Tuesday night for both the trip down and while we’re there.

Posted on Monday November 17, 2008 ♥ 10 pieces of comment love!  
Filed Under Family, Holidays, Travel

Monday, Monday

Keeping busy around here!

This past weekend was nice, Greg was off on Friday as well. We did get a lot accomplished:

  • Halloween/Fall things put away in attic.
  • Oil changed in Impala.
  • Saw new James Bond movie.
  • Organized our DVD movies.
  • Finished Christmas shopping for Jac and almost finished for Storm.
  • Got a table and 2 chairs for Violet.
  • Caught up on DVRed shows.

I went to a Creative Memories open house thing on Saturday and I had a good time chatting with Sami. I scrapped with her and some others last month. They are having a crop on Sat. from 3-11 and I’m going! There’s only 6 people that can go as it’s in her home this time. I did buy another coverset, this one is for Greg’s scrapbook.

Yesterday Jac and I went to a Slipada jewelry party. It was at Tammy’s house. She’s best friend with Sami. Jennifer is the jewelry and Pampered Chef gal. While I was getting directions from Tammy she told me that they would probably be using me in the very near future for a photo session! YAY! Breaking into this group would be great, just takes a few and then business will start rolling. Tammy and Sami’s kids are the same age, 15 and 17. Both girls are older, they will be uprising seniors next year. So, I will be busy this summer! Hopefully the referral incentives I have set up will bring in some of their friends as well. Anyhow, we had a good time at the party and I ordered two things, neither for me! I have a wish list though. Jen and I talking I’m going to have a Valentine’s open house for Mary Kay and have a Slipada party at the same time. My SIL did this and got a lot of jewelry free as well as some MK bookings! :smile:

I have booked 3 Mary Kay skin care classes for the first weekend in December. If you are local and wouldn’t mind me borrowing your face, let me know. I just need to get 15 faces done in 2 weeks and I get something called “Perfect Start”. No one in the unit I’m in has gotten it and there’s a lot of them, like 25 or so. I have 9 faces booked, including Jac! One of the gals at the gym used to use MK, but, her gal moved, so that’s very cool for me. Just going to do the class and then take reorders. I’m going to do a follow-up with her the next week for color. Storm’s mom is going to get some church gals together and I invited my friend Jen to a class with Jac. I need to borrow your face, Alisa, Ginger, Joanna.

I got weighed and measured at JC this morning. Didn’t gain, didn’t lose, but, I’ve lost a total of 16″. Wow, eh? It’s coming off, slowly but surely. I’m kicking it up a notch this week at the gym, varying my routine, not just running. I think I’m PMSing, so that’s probably why I didn’t gain or lose. :cry:

Violet has been sick since Thursday night. Not eating much, but still drinking and slept almost the entire day and night on Saturday. She’s a little better today, eating crackers and drinking milk and water along with juice. I think that Jac said she was going to call the doc today about her. Poor baby, she’s exhausted and so is her mommy. I’m a little worried, but not overly as she’s still got wet and dirty diapers, she’s not running a fever, no puking. Maybe it’s going around.

The movie on Saturday night was really good. Really, really good. I liked this one a lot more than the one before it with Daniel. He’s not the best looking guy, but, he’s alright body wise. :grin: The trailers at the begining were good, even though it was a 20 minute time frame. We saw a few that we want to see when they come out, especially since Vin and Paul are back for “Fast and Furious” as well as my girl Michelle. The movie with Jim Carrey looks hilarious! It’s been a long time since Greg and I went to the movies, the last one we saw was The Dark Knight back in July! How did that happen?

Posted on Monday November 17, 2008 ♥ 3 pieces of comment love!  
Filed Under Business, Crafts, Events, Family, Friends, Gym, Health, Hobbies, Holidays, Home, JC, Mary Kay, Movies, Photos, Scrapbooking, Shopping, TV, Travel, Weekend, Work

Winter

New look for the blog. Since we’ll be on the road for Thanksgiving, I decided to change it a little early. Please pop out of your reader and check it out! :smile: I think I love it…gonna keep it until the Spring.

Posted on Wednesday November 12, 2008 ♥ 18 pieces of comment love!  
Filed Under Geekdom, Graphics, Internet, Layouts

Halfway

It used to be military cruise related when I would type something about halfway. But now, it’s about weight loss.

I’m now officially at my 1/2 way point! :party: I’ve lost 14″ and 15 pounds. I get measured again next week, they do it monthly, so we’ll see if the inches have changed. I do feel lighter and I have more energy!

I’m so excited about the fact that this Christmas is the one that I will see the difference. 2009 is the start of a new year for me 30 pounds lighter and a lot of inches smaller! My next chapter will be a new me body wise. I’ve already started on the spirit.

One thing I have noticed is that I can sit with my legs pulled up to my chest. I never could do that before.I also can get up easier from the floor if I’m down there with Violet playing. I can carry her up the stairs and I’m not winded. She weighs about 24 or 25 pounds now! We have about 15 stairs to get up to  the top level.

I recently had to buy a new coat! I just went out on Saturday and bought one. My first nice coat, it’s a pea coat, black, size petite medium. I was going to get the small, but it was too tight and well I do wear sweaters, so I need a little room. BUT, the fact that I had to get one is what blows me away. I tried on the coat that I bought last October for the trip I took with Lisa to NYC. It looked like a clown coat, which is how all my clothes fit as well. I don’t see it as it’s so gradual, but, the proof is in the fact that I dropped from a size 12 pants to a 6 and even those are getting a little loose on me. I will have to buy new stuff when we are down in Atlanta! :cloud9:

Greg, Jess and Jac have been so supportive! Jac is actually kinda jealous sometimes with the food as it’s cooking, she wants it! Greg told me last week that there’s less of me to hug! *LOL* He’s so cute! Jess saw me around my bday, so when she sees me at Thanksgiving, it will be more of an impact on her than with Jac and Greg who see me daily.

It’s so weird to look in the mirror after putting on my clothes and seeing things that are smaller fitting. My mind is still trying to wrap around the inches and pounds that I’ve lost.

I’ve been eating the JC food 5 days a week, Jello and fruit as well as salads in between. Exercising on Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri. Running each day except for Wed, I’m doing the arc trainer that day. Usually the bike after running, and then abs. Takes about 1 hour or so, depending on what I’m doing that day. Totally is worth it to me!

Thank you to everyone for being so supportive with comments, I really appreciate it and I appreciate you! :pinkgrin:

Posted on Monday November 10, 2008 ♥ 16 pieces of comment love!  
Filed Under Family, Gym, Health, JC, Me-Me, Running

Weekend Update

I’m laughing at the title I wrote, just like on SNL! I hope tonight it’s a good one now that all the election stuff is over and done with.

I just reorganized the entire kitchen. We’re getting rid of some things, moved some things, stored some things in the attic. Much better. We just added this to our counters, it’s big! I knew it would be, so we had to shift things around. We’re off to Home Depot today to find an over the range microwave! Finally! We’re putting the existing one downstairs in the game room, for popcorn and stuff. Hopefully we can find one we both love. We will probably have to have it delivered and I’m really considering paying the $75 for them to install it. Seems like it may be a hassle, of course if you ask Greg, it’s easy! I could then have it installed without him having to be here, easier to me.

I’m batch processing the family photo session from last weekend. I’m so glad I moved it to last Sunday vs. today. First, I have a cold and second it’s rainy and for an outside shoot, that’s a no go. I deliver  it tomorrow.

I didn’t get to go to the gym yesterday as I woke up feeling pretty cruddy. After a hot shower and some Sudafed I felt much better. I didn’t go to Tyson’s, just the base. I have 3/4 of our Christmas shopping done! I just need to get some shirts and jeans for Greg, a few sweaters for Jess + a gift card and some books and gift cards for Jacqueline. Violet is almost done too, I need to find her some of those Duplo Lego’s and a little camera. We bought her a riding toy and some little people things so far. Last year it was books, this year learning stuff. I may look at the V-smile things for babies/toddlers, she has one of those. I have yet to make up my list, I really just want to have Jess here for Christmas. :smile:

The other day Greg found a cruise book that we missed back in 1987 on a MED cruise. We either didn’t have the money or didn’t get it in time. Someone put one on eBay, probably from an estate sale and we jumped right on it. We’d never seen one, so we didn’t know that he was in a few photos! It’s nice to have one from each of the 6 cruises that he did. We finished the set and now it feels like we have closure or something. It’s a rare one as there wasn’t enough printed or something, I remember something about that.

My Mary Kay site is up and running here. Please go and visit, order if you need to replenish anything and if you are in the area and want to host a skin care class or facial, let me know! I have secure shopping and checkout, I only see what you are buying, not how you are paying for it. Every three months they update the site for me, nice that I don’t have to do that! I have a call with my sales director tomorrow. I’ve already contacted a few people about having a skin care class. I have cards on order and I have a few things for a starter kit. I do not like the pressure from everyone to take out a loan or borrow money or put it on a few different credit cards to have more product on hand. It makes me feel very uncomfortable that a company runs their business that way. VERY uncomfortable. I will just buy the product as it’s ordered and as I make more money, then I will buy stock. We don’t have $600-$4800 for something like this. I wouldn’t even think of taking out a loan for that, that’s ridiculous to me. We’re trying to pay everything with cash and get our debt down, hopefully Mary Kay will be helpful with this, but, I refuse to put ourselves more in debt!

I picked up my Father Christmas at the ceramics store the other day. We found one through an ad in the local paper. I did paint one ages ago for my MIL and wanted to do one for our house (once we bought one) as well. Over Christmas break I will have plenty of time to get it done! Jac is done with school on the 15th of December and isn’t back in until mid-January. So if not for this Christmas, definitely for next as decoration!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Posted on Saturday November 8, 2008 ♥ 6 pieces of comment love!  
Filed Under Business, Events, Family, Friends, Gym, Health, Hobbies, Holidays, Home, Mary Kay, Shopping, Weekend, Work

Stuff

Catching up with everything around me. Did you vote? I did this morning, yay!

Work: Doing well, booked and did a session one day apart on Sat/Sun. Went and picked up stuff for auction photos on Thursday. Delivering auction photos, this Friday. Delivering family session this coming Sunday. Booked another family session with our Realtor on the 21st! Have to get with his wife for confirmation. I had to re shoot all the auction photos, I hope he likes them at delivery!

Work II: I just became an independent beauty consultant for Mary Kay! I have my training materials in the house, been looking at them when I can. Tomorrow is a phone call from my director. I joined under my SIL in Atlanta, so I’m out of state, but she gets me on her team. :smile: If you would like some samples, let me know. I have a few to give out to people that have never tried MK or haven’t in a while. I really like how it makes my skin glow and it’s all soft and healthy. I posted about it back in September and in August. If you decide to purchase after trying the samples, let me know! I ship for free! Everything can be ordered online and there’s a secure server for payment. I have to get all that set up tomorrow, so look for a post with the URL in it!

I’ve just been busy working out at the gym and I’m THISCLOSE to being at my 1/2 way weight! I think I will hit it next week. I lost over 3 pounds last week, my weigh in was awesome! I’m wearing a size 6 jeans now and I just had to return some shirts that were too big. I’m in a petite small now vs. a misses small. There’s a HUGE difference with that! I ran and did the bike + abs today and I do the arc trainer + abs tomorrow. Thursday I will run again, then Friday I’m off to get the 5K under my belt for the week. I didn’t get to run it last week as I was at the doc, so it’s been a while.The doc gave me a three month holiday from taking the Zocor. I’ve been taking that for 10 years for my high cholesterol. This is the first check since joining Jenny Craig, so we’ll see. I go back in January. I really think that the weight is coming off easier because I stopped taking it.

Friday I’m off to Tyson’s to shop for a while, then delivering the DVD on the way back through to the auction guy. A WHOLE DAY OF SHOPPING! No kids, no grand-daughter, I’m terrible, oh well. :grin: I can’t wait to spend a little bit of money on some nice stuff.

I went to a Pampered Chef party last weekend, was right next door to the family session, didn’t know it till I looked at the address. *LOL* Was a good party, met some more people. I’ve been invited to a Slipada jewelry party on the 16th! MORE people! And there’s a meetup group meeting on the 14th and the 22nd. I can’t wait for this, they are all over 35+ and women, which is exactly what I wanted. I have friends, Greg’s co-workers are married, those are my friends. I want my own friends, weird huh?

We changed our hotel for our Thanksgiving trip - November 26th through the 30th. We found one that can offer us separate rooms for just a little more than one room divided would be. After travelling for 3 weeks with everyone in one room and NO Violet, we don’t mind spending a little more for two rooms. It’s always worth it. It’s a long drive, 10 hours, so hopefully it will be okay. First long trip for Violet. I remember the girls being 6 months and going on long trips. She’s so antsy all the time, it’s like tying her down or something. Part of it she’ll sleep through, which is a blessing. Turkey at my brother’s house, then visiting with Jess on Friday. Also, we’ll have a porta-crib for Vi, so that’s one less thing we need to pack. Tina (my SIL) has one we can borrow while there she’s borrowing from a friend. I’m so excited to go already! We’re planning on going to the aquarium on Saturday. I think that my brother and his family along with my SIL and her girls + Jess are going to join us! Wow, what a group!

Time to go and watch election stuff. TTFN! :kiss:

Posted on Tuesday November 4, 2008 ♥ 3 pieces of comment love!  
Filed Under Business, Events, Family, Friends, Gym, Health, Hobbies, Holidays, Home, JC, Life, Mary Kay, Photos, Running, Shopping, Weekend, Work