Secret Santa is Secret No More

Thank you Stacey!  I love my new Cuddle Duds...I will be getting use out of them in New York for sure! Brutus will be putting those Jingle Bells to use as his just recently bit the dust after 4 years.  He rings them when he wants to go out and he has been lost these past few days not having something to ring!  Thank you again!  This truly was a great gift, including the Sleeve friendly mini-wine glass and exercise machine.  I will be using that also in NY as I'm not going to the gym!

Have a Merry Christmas Santa!

Seriously? Next Sunday?

Wow...Christmas really snuck up on me this year!  Thankfully, I am finished with shopping and now I just have to wrap the few gifts that I will be taking on the plane on Wednesday.  I've shipped some gifts directly to my sisters house for my daughter Jordan whose birthday is also on Wednesday so at least they will be waiting for me to wrap while I am there.

I had to go out and buy a new winter jacket for me to wear while in NY as my old one is really just too big.  Thankfully I hit a nice sale at Macy's and had a 25% off coupon!  Yea!  The jacket was originally $199 and had been marked down quite a few times to $89 and I got it for $66 or something.  Very plain, Michael Kors.  Perfect!  

We went to a few Christmas parties, one last Saturday and than one last night.  The following are a few pictures from those parties.  Please excuse me for wearing the same tank top as I just fell in love with it and had to get my monies worth.  I was the only one who knew it was the same as there were different people at each party!  Also, the second picture shows my new haircut.  Its much shorter than what it was and I love it!

Actually, let me clarify last nights 'party'.   We never actually made it to the party but we did make it to the hospital!  The plan was to go to our friends house to meet up than we were going to a restaurant for an early dinner and then we'd be stopping by a party at our friends Golf Club.  Well, we made it to their house and the restaurant but never made it to the party.  

As many of my friends know, I am not much of a drinker.  Steve always says "one drink, I can feel it; two drinks anyone can".  Well, at their house I had a glass of very good tasting Champagne.  I was also drinking it on a tummy that hadn't eaten anything but a hard boiled egg at 10 that morning!  Ok, so it went right to my head.  We proceeded to the restaurant where it was Happy Hour and I ordered a Merlot which came in a carafe as it was  2 for 1 drinks.  I was obligated to drink most of it, right?  Next thing I know, I was munching on some Chipotle' Grilled Shrimp.  Delish!  Next thing I knew, my feet were itching like crazy and my shoes were suddenly too tight.  Yep....you guessed.  I was having an allergic reaction to the combo of the shrimp and the RED wine!  This happened to me about 15 years ago and I've never mixed red wine with any type of seafood.  My doctor told me some people are allergic to the combo of some enzyme in the seafood and the red wine.   I've had seafood numerous times since and red wine but never together.  Oops!

Anyway, we went to the hospital and after waiting about 45 minutes and not being seen I wanted to leave and just go to CVS for some Benedryl.  Luckily, the reaction was not as bad as the first time.  I actually had trouble breathing and had to have a shot of Adrenylin that time.  This time it really was mostly my feet and my hands had started to tingle.  Steve and my friends agreed to take me to CVS but I promised them that if I felt it was getting worse we'd go back to the hospital.  I took two giant swigs of liquid Benedryl, we dropped our friends off at their home and went home.  I was in bed by 7:30 and slept until 7 a.m. today!

Do I know how to party or what?

My weight has been holding steady at 142, some days dipping to 141 and occasionally to 143 but it always settles at 142.  I am very happy to be maintaining, especially during the holiday season.  

This will probably be the last time I post before Christmas.  We will be spending the holiday with our family on Long Island and are leaving bright and early this Wednesday.  I wish you all a wonderful Holiday and will check back in as soon as I can!

Drs Appointment today - Edited with Pics!!!

I had an appointment with my surgeon today and I was so scared he was going to say he didn't need to see me again! Well, he wants me back in 6 months instead! I'm so happy. I love going there. The best part was that I weighed 143 lbs wearing jeans no less! He is so happy with my progress. In a gazillion years, I never would have thought that I would be at this weight or feel this great. It's taken me 21 months, slow losers take heed, the weight comes off! My body wanted to hang on to every ounce I've lost, believe me!

Unfortunately, the trip to my doctor usually takes 1.5 hrs to get there but this morning it took 4 hrs. Major accident shut down all lanes on i95. I am sure there were fatalities. I kept thinking about the families of those involved in the accident and kept thinking about my life on may 11, 2010. Getting that call. I will never forget the pain. Lucky for me, it was my husband on the other end of the phone giving me the horrific news. I cannot imagine being told by a stranger that your father and brother in law were killed. I will certainly keep these unknown people in my prayers.

Speaking of family, we are heading up to Long Island next Wednesday and will be there until 12/27. I cannot wait! I am also excited about coming up again in January and going to the boob brunch on the 21st! Both of my gorgeous daughters will be coming with me too. They are very excited to meet some of my blogland friends.

My work Christmas party is tonite and I am bringing baked ziti. problem is, it's 2:40 pm and we have to be there by 5 and it's not made! I'm not even home yet from drs. Sauce is made so as soon as I walk in the door, I gotta get a big pot of water on to boil to make the pasta. Once that is done, throwing it all together should be easy. I should have enough time to bake it, change and make it there on time. I made these adorable homemade marshmello s'mores last night ( i will post a picture later) to bring as I did not bake any cookies this year. Hmmmm....wonder if there is any correlation between that and seeing 141 on my scale this morning? Thought to ponder.

Wish me luck with my Ziti marathon....should be home in a few minutes.

Ziti was in the oven at 3:45...will be out at 4:30 and packed up for a road trip!

Is the Universe telling us something?

In September, when Steve went to Las Vegas with his friend, he came home sick.  In October, I came home from Chicago with Pneumonia.  Well, we got home from Vegas on Friday and guess what?  Steve is sick.  Again.  Poor guy woke up with a fever and chills.  It was so painful for me to have to keep pushing him so that we made our plane and than our connection.    Thankfully, he is feeling a little better now.

I do want to note that we also had a trip to New York in November and neither one of us got sick.  Hmmmm....maybe we are just meant to go there?  Something to think about.

While we were there we had a really good time.  It was a very laid back trip for us.  The reason for the trip was so Steve could do this car-thing in the dessert.  He was scheduled to do it in September but rain washed those plans away!  The day he went to do it, I did some retail therapy at the Fashion Mall which is right across the street from the Wynn where we were staying.  I got a few things.  Not much though because I didn't want to carry it home.

Our first night there we ate at the hotel at their ode to New York-style deli, Zu Zu Crackers.  I ordered the 1/2 sandwich and soup.  It was a cream of tomato and it was delish.  I only had a few spoonfuls and gave the rest to Steve.  My sandwich choice was a Rueben.    I had 1 bite of the full sandwich, grilled rye bread and everything in all its glory and than just picked at the meat.  Steve ate the rest.  Truly, he should weigh 400 lbs by now!  The next night we went to Maggiano's where he had Chicken Parm and I just ordered the grilled chicken and roasted pepper flatbread appetizer.  I had a little piece of that and a bite of his chicken plus a forkful or two of salad.  We also ordered a dessert sampler.  NY Cheesecake, Tiramisu, Apple Crosada, Creme Brule' and chocolate mouse cake.  We ate the Apple Crosada with vanilla ice cream at the restaurant and took the rest back to the Wynn because I had no room in my tummy!  I am not proud to say that I tasted every single one!  Our last night there we ate at Mario Batali's restaurant, Otto Pizzeria.  We ordered one individual pizza to share, they are huge!  and a salad.  I ate one piece of pizza and Steve ate the rest.

                                                                      

Dessert anyone?

At the Venetians Winter Wonderland

There was nothing that I wanted to eat that I couldn't.  What a change from the last time I was in LV when I still had my band.  Back in those days, I could always count on being too tight because of flying. I used to get so frustrated because I couldn't eat!   I am so thankful that I do not have to worry about that anymore.  My restriction never changes.  It is always just there.  I am also delighted that I managed to lose a pound while there too!  I guess its true what they say:  What you eat in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas.  Oh? Thats not what they say?  Who knew?

Except for the fact that my honey came home sick, we really had a great time!

I'm glad that's over!

Don't get me wrong, i love Turkey Day but i am happy to be done with Thanksgiving! It was great seeing family and friends but it never ceases to amaze me how easy the old habits sneak back! At my weekly weigh-in this morning, I saw a number on the scale that I have not seen in a while....149! I was away for a few days, away from my comfort zone and while I did not eat big portions of anything, I just plain ate crap!

I am in sugar detox mode beginning today. I started the day with a protein shake And will have a yogurt or tuna for lunch. Dinner will be a small portion of eggplant parm and dessert will be coffee and probably another protein shake. I have been so off my protein lately and I really feel It. no more! Back to basics for me. Although my goal weight is 150, I really would like to get down to 140 and I know that I can and I know how to do it. No more eating like shit. I feel so much better already.

I hope everyone had a great holiday and is enjoying the weekend.

Thanksgiving blues & a little of this and that

Wow...I can't believe that the holidays are here already!  Steve and I will be doing a lot of driving this Thanksgiving as we are driving to his Dads house on Wednesday afternoon...200+ miles, than Thanksgiving morning we will all be heading to Peggy's, my Dads companion, who lives on the west coast of FL, 200+ miles...after dinner we will head back to Steve's Dads house, 200+ miles than on Friday morning back home...200+ miles.  I'm tired already!

When we moved to FL in 2008, Thanksgiving was the first holiday that I had to deal with not being with my girls and family in NY.  However, having my Dad here made it a lot easier.  I treasure the 2 Thanksgivings that we spent with him here in FL.  Going to Peggy's last year was so hard...knowing that he wouldn't be there and being surrounded by her family.    Don't get me wrong, I love them all but my Dad was such a huge presence that his not being there was felt so strongly.  Peggy had a candle burning the whole day to acknowledge my Dad's absence.

This past Friday was 18 months since my Dad and brother-in-law Jimmy were tragically killed.  For some reason, this milestone has affected so many of us in the family more so than others.  My nephew, who is usually so stoic, posted something on Facebook today that just made me cry.  It was so unlike him to share his feelings in such a public venue that it hit me like a ton of bricks:  we both lost our fathers on the same day.  The difference is, he was 18 and I was 47.  We share such a bond and yet I was blessed with having my dad for so many more years than he and his sister did.  Its just not fair.

Please, don't ever text and drive.  My family and I are living proof of the results of that deadly combination.

Anyway, back to Thanksgiving.  Like I said, I love Peggy and her whole family and I am Thankful that we will all be together.  I will still miss my girls but at least I will be spending Christmas with them in New York!  The following weekend, my sister is flying here and I will pick her up at the airport and drive back to Peggys to spend the day/night with her.  It will be nice for the 3 of us to get to spend some time together and I am really looking forward to having my sister here almost to myself for the weekend!  So what if I'm driving all over the state of FL again!  Family is what it's all about!

Oh, and speaking of Thanksgiving and family, my mama's birthday falls on Thanksgiving this year!  She was actually born on Thanksgiving too and that is how she received her nickname, Bunny.  My uncle said she looked like a turkey and my grandmother said "she does not, she looks like a little Bunny!"  79 years later, she still looks like a Bunny!  I better be getting her b-day card in the mail tomorrow!

Mama and most of her girls!

I finally feel like I am back in the gym groove!  I started slowly last week and am pushing through it this week.  I am so sore but it really feels great.  Scale is holding steady at 144 which is 6 lbs under my goal.  I am very Thankful for that!

The ease of gaining weight back has been a hot topic these past few days and boy, I am here to tell you, it truly is a constant battle....I cry to Steve some days that I just want to be "normal".  I hate weighing myself every single day and thinking about what I am going to be eating all the time.  I am constantly counting calories, carbs, protein, etc.  It will be like this for the rest of my life.   Please don't get me wrong....I wouldn't trade this for the world.  I'm just whining.  My band and now my sleeve have truly given me my life back.  I'll deal with all this any day if it means never having to be obese again!

I have one more dr visit on Monday and I am sure he will be giving me the all-clear!  What an ordeal!  I will be so happy to put that all behind me.

Another great weekend!

On Saturday we went to the Hal@@ifax Food & Wine Festival with our really great friends!  We had such a great time with them as we always do drinking wine and tasting food from many of the local restaurants.  The portions were the perfect size for me but the guys were complaining about them.  My favorite booth was dessert.  I sampled rum cake and all sorts of cupcakes.  My favorite was a Bacon and French toast cupcake.  Delish!  It had a maple flavor and the icing had a little piece of bacon on it.  Sounds weird but man did it taste great!

Sunday started off with Steve joining me on a listing appointment.  He is such a help to me.  While I was going over the contract with my customer, Steve was taking pictures of the home.  What a great team we are!  When we were done, we went out for brunch.  The rest of the day was just a lazy day as I am sick again!  This time its a head cold...it hasn't gone to my chest so I'm hoping its different from last time.  I spent the afternoon taking a nap and watching TV.

For dinner, I had planned to make spaghetti and meatballs but Steve couldn't wait to dive into the balls and we ended up just having them without the spaghetti!  Fine for me....too many carbs anyway!

Here is a pic of Brutus since he's gotten his scalping, ummm, I mean haircut!  He is not loving his new short doo especially since its gotten colder here in Florida!