Today is the last day of Bike Week 2012

Thank God!  As of last night, there were 7 bikers dead.  With the exception of 2 bikers, who lost control of their bikes and crashed, all the others were hit by cars who "didn't see them".  I came upon the remains of one of these fatal accidents Friday morning on my way to work.  Just seeing the crumpled motorcycle, I knew he didn't make it.  I was right.  Later that same day, Steve and I were heading to a favorite lunch spot on the beach and there were police, Sheriff and Troopers (not a good sign at all) all over the place as a car decided to do a u-turn and slammed right into a biker.  Dead!  Next year, instead of having signs that say "Look Twice, Save a Life"  I am suggesting we plaster these signs all over:

On a much nicer note, Steve and I enjoyed a gorgeous day yesterday out on the motorcycle enjoying the sights of Bike Week...and oh, the sights that were to be seen!  You truly have to see it with your own eyes.  

Main Street Daytona beach from the back of Steves Bike:

What a biker bitch I am!  You should have seen my T-Shirt....it had a little white puppy on it...I fit right in with the rest of the biker bitches I assure you!

The Famous Budweiser Clydesdales were in attendance too!  They are spectacular!

We had a really great day which even included an ice cream cone for me!  We got home safely, which is what I pray for every time we go out on the motorcycle and had a very nice Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner which was cooking while I was gone!  

Today we are meeting some friends for lunch and than just chillaxing the rest of the day!  Nice Weekend!

New Low, New doo

New low:  137!!!!  Unbelievable really as I am not actively trying to lose weight.  I'm thinking its a combination of not exercising (that will be rectified in a week or so) and continuing to eat 1200 or less cals a day.  Now that I am in maintenance, I should probably try to increase my calories but I am so afraid of gaining.  Maybe when I go back to the gym, I will add in another protein shake a day which will bring me to about 1400 calories a day.  

I am very comfortable at 140 so if the formula of multiplying your weight by 11 is correct to maintain that weight, 1540 calories a day is the number I would need to not go over in order to not gain weight.  Hopefully, when I start exercising again and start building up my muscles I will not be having this problem of losing and I will be able to maintain without adding too many calories.

I have been kicking around the idea of cutting my bangs and then my niece Elayna showed up with hers cut.....and I loved them!

Elayna, 2nd from right:

Than, Mallory got hers cut:

I got mine today!

And than it hit me.....we all look like my sister Sue now!!!!!

GO FIGURE!

What a week with my girls!

I have had quite the busy week!  Last week my niece Elayna was with me and on Friday, Elayna, Steve and I drove over to Disney to meet up with my daughter's Mallory & Jordan and son-in-law Kevin.  We were all there to chEAR Mallory on in the Disney Princess 1/2 Marathon!  So exciting!  

We spent Saturday checking in to and registering for the race and then we headed over to Hollywood Studio's and Epcot.  We ended up having dinner in Italy at Via Napoli.  What a great restaurant if you ever get to Epcot.  Their wood oven fired pizza is the closest I've come to anything since eating it in Italy!  We had a great dinner and them Mallory, Kevin and I headed back to the hotel and Steve, Jordan and Elayna headed over to watch Illuminations at Epcot.  I knew that 3 a.m. would come too fast so I wanted to get to bed early!  The race started at 6 a.m. but with 19,000 runners and a gazillion spectators, the day started VERY EARLY!

We got to see Mallory run by at mile 5 and then we saw her again going through the finish line.  Words cannot express how proud I am that she accomplished this feat.  Up until last summer, my daughter was never a runner.  She made a decision that this was something she wanted to do and she trained for it.  She has another 1/2 marathon scheduled in October that she will be doing on Long Island with a few of her friends.  She says its addicting, I will just take her word for it because running has never been something I was drawn to do!

Princess Mallory

Honorary Princess Jordan and Princess Mallory at Hollywood Studio's

Elayna went home on Sunday and the rest of the crew came back to our house.  Unfortunately, they had to get back to work today so everyone left yesterday.  

So, in order to make me happy again, for at least a short while, my unbelievably loving husband is taking me shopping for a new Louis Vuitton bag that I just have to have.  I am truly the luckiest girl in the world to have found such a great guy!

And now, the most exciting news of the trip?  My daughter and son-in-law are actually talking about the possibility of moving to FL in the future!  OMG!!!!!!  This is definitely newsworthy as my children have told me repeatedly that I have to come home to Long Island....Florida is God's waiting room.  They are weighing all their options but it really looks like it would be financially better for them to live here as they want to buy a house and have children.  Homes and taxes on LI are much more expensive and so is the child care....they have me here and I am cheap!  My greatest hope is that this really happens and that once Mallory and Kevin are here........maybe Jordan will follow?

Stay tuned!

No longer flirting...

with the 130's!!!!  Today I weighed in at 139!  Sweet Baby Jesus!  It's incomprehensible really.  Two years ago I was at 220 lbs!  All I know is, I feel so much better both physically and mentally...everything else that goes with this weight loss is icing on the cake!

This is a very busy and exciting week for me.  My family is here (niece arrived over the weekend) and my daughters and son-in-law are coming Friday night!  I'm so excited.  We are meeting everyone over at Disney and will spend the weekend there to cheer Mallory on in the Disney Princess 1/2 marathon and than its back to my house for some more family time and festivities.  I am praying that our warm weather will continue...supposed to be in the 80's by the weekend.

Oh, and my ex brother-in-law and sister-in-law are also in town for the Daytona 500 and Steve and I have been spending time with them!  They are excited about seeing the girls as they live in Georgia and havent seen them in over a year.  Everyone is meeting up at our house Monday night for a big family dinner!  It should be fun!

Lots of eating going on this week but its all good....nothing that I can't handle with the help of my Sleeve!

Happy Friday!

Todays weigh-in was 140.4 lbs.  I cannot believe that I am flirting with the 130's!  2 years ago I wasn't flirting with anything.....I was running towards a whole host of health problems.  I am so thankful that I am where I am today, that is for sure.  I am so much healthier and active.  I no longer dread going to the doctors office and having to get on the scale, I no longer dread going shopping for clothes and I am just all around a much happier person!

We had company the other day.  Friends of ours from New York were here in Florida returning from a cruise and they came to stay with us for 2 days.  I had not seen them since July 2010.  To see the shock on their faces when they saw me was priceless!  Richie said if he was walking past me on the street, he would not have recognized me.  While I do not need the praise of others to be successful in my weight loss efforts, it sure doesn't hurt!  I was walking on cloud nine while they were here.  We went out to dinner that night and while i was the only one who didn't order an appetizer, I tasted theirs.  I ordered Veal Saltimbocca which came with oil and garlic sauteed spinach and gnocchi pan fried in a brown butter sauce.  I ate about 1/2 of one of the veal pieces and a few gnocchi and a forkful of spinach.  I was more than satisfied!  I was even more than satisfied the next day at lunch when I had some of the leftovers too.  Steve ate the rest for me or I probably would have had it for dinner the next night also.

My point is, my WLS has not made it so I am the outsider when eating with others.  I can order whatever I want and not have to worry about anything other than enjoying the company I am with.  More than this I couldn't ask for!

Heres to a great weekend everyone!

Question for iPad users

How come, when I write a post from my iPad, even though I type it with paragraphs, it deletes the paragraphs in the final format? I end up with one big blob of a post! I hate when I read blogs like this! So sorry. If you know why this happens, please share. If not, I will not be posing with my pad no more! This makes me nuts!

Company is coming!

Living in Florida with most of my family in New York pretty much guaranty's that we will have company during the winter months. Granted, these past 2 years have been different with us doing most of the traveling up north but times, they are a'changing!

On February 26, my daughter Mallory at www.irunforcookies.blogspot.com, is running in the Disney Princess Half Marathon! Seriously, this kid who Never ran in her life, woke up one day and said " I want to run in this race"! The fact that she wasn't a runner has never come into play as she started to train and she is now a runner coming to Florida to run in this event! I am so proud of her!

Her chEAR squad consists of her husband Kevin, her sister Jordan, her cousin Elayna, yours truly and her Bonus Dad, Stephen who is funding our chEAR squad packages (yes, only Disney charges for spectators!) unfortunately, as much as Steve loves Mallory, he will not be with us at the starting line chEARing her on. He will be sleeping in his Disney Hotel room as he has chosen not to get up at 4 am to see her off. The race officially starts at 6 am but of course we have to be there hours earlier. It should be a very fun, if not exhausting day! Lots of pics to follow, I promise!

We will then all be going back to our house after the race and the kids will be staying with us until Wednesday. Can't wait.

I also have company coming today in a much limited capacity as I have a much limited capacity! Our very dear friends are coming over with a home cooked dinner ! They know that I am confined to the couch and I won't be much of a host but still wanted to visit anyway. These two have the biggest hearts and I am so grateful that we have become such great friends. They live about 15 minutes from us and are also originally from Long Island.

On Tuesday, my old boss and her husband will be stopping by on their way home from a cruise that ends in Miami. They live in Hilton Head, SC, and will be coming within 5 miles of my house so I insisted they stop! I am so looking forward to seeing them even though I'm not really up to having company. They understand and I insisted they come. I haven't seen them since the summer of 2010. They know that I've lost some weight since then and are excited to see me too! It will be a nice visit. I am hoping to be able to join them for dinner out but if not, I am going to insist that Steve go without me. He can bring me his leftovers home as I am not a big eater these days.

So, that's the news over here! I just wanted to pop in and let everyone know I am still here, alive, doing well and weight is holding steady!

Life is good!