MAMACADABRA

This week has been a good one you guys.  I mean a really good one.  With great strides on the health front, wonderful things being dreamed-up and strategized for this blog, a ridiculously productive and good week at work, and exciting things happening with the little girls, it’s a shame it has to come to an end!  Let me share the joy we’ve been celebrating in our household this week!

This is not a weight loss blog.  Never has been and never will be.  There are so many good ones out there that I’m sure my voice isn’t needed.  Not to mention, my girlfriends and I talk weight-loss until we’re blue in the face…I do not need to bore you.  That said…I’ve wanted to write just one post about it lately.  You may recall me telling you that at one point I lost 100 pounds.  I was big, lost the weight, lived happily ever after, until I wasn’t happy for a good while, gained some of it back, and I’ve struggled to figure out how to lose it again.  From the very beginning of this year of what if, I have been saying I was going to get my a-s in gear and do something about it.  Throw in a couple herniated discs, some pinched nerves, ridiculous pain, and procrastinating in getting that actual diagnosis, and it was suddenly late May.  And I still hadn’t done a damn thing about it.

This week has been the best week of my year in terms of health.  A for one, I found THE.  ONE.  I found the best chiropractor who understands my pain, understands what needs to be done, and clearly understands where I want to be.  I’ve been seeing him for a couple of weeks now and I have exercised every day for the past two weeks.  EVERY.  DAY.  While I’m not yet running again, I am swimming, lifting weights, walking hella fast, and I’m even doing an aerobics class.  I am finally feeling like I can exercise the way I want to.  And the pain is manageable and under control (without the aid of opiates!).  I cannot tell you how happy this makes me.

B for two?  As of today I’ve lost 20 pounds.  Half-way there people!  I wasn’t noticing any difference and suddenly this week I can tell.  I mean I can really tell.  My frame looks smaller.  My clothes are too big.  People at work are noticing.  I’ve been on this weight loss adventure for eight weeks and I feel amazing.

C for three?  I am eight weeks off the junk (Diet Coke).  I mean…for someone who a mere two months ago was inhaling nearly 96 ounces a day…this is BIG.  I don’t miss it and I feel great.  Yay for me!

D for four…my husband and I finally get to enjoy our “gym dates” again.  Our girls love to go to the child center at our gym and it’s always felt like a date for us when we go.  I’m so glad to be able to resume this activity and to actually be able to work out again.  Thank goodness.

I’m so happy to feel like I’m amongst the living again.  Less pain, more activity, and lost weight…bliss…can I get an “amen?!”

Our girls are both fall babies.  Each year, we alternate which family hosts each little girls birthday party for their friends, and this year we are hosting for our oldest little girl.  I’d had an idea a couple of months ago about bringing the girls to a salon to get dolled up.  This week I found a local cosmetology school that hosts birthday parties.  We will be bringing ten little girls to have their hair done, their make-up applied, and their nails polished.  They even have facilities for cake and gifts and totally cater to little girl parties.  Tonight we got to tell our oldest little girl that we have it reserved for her.  She is so excited she can barely stand it.  She and I also discussed her cake this evening.  Chocolate frosting, marble cake, a hair dryer, painted  fingernails, and a made-up face?  Oh yes…I’m making this happen.  She went to bed saying “I can’t wait for my birthday party!!!”

My husband and I have been talking about this blog and how I’d like to see it evolve.  We think about goals, and work, and strategy differently.  Talking with each other about such matters typically opens our eyes to things we’d never thought of.  I have some pretty lofty goals for this here blog and I’m excited to get started.  Hopefully you’ll see some new things soon!

This week at work has been pretty tedious.  Since Monday morning I’ve been working on getting a very big project out the door.  A project that could generate some pretty exciting results.  Though I nearly went cross-eyed from data entry, and I am truly exhausted, I finished the project 15 minutes before I had to leave this evening.  I feel productive, and accomplished, and dare I say it?  Successful.

And finally, with September seemingly creeping up around the corner, we have planned amazing adventures for our little girls this month.  A camping trip for one little girl, sleepovers for the other, plus my favorite…school clothes shopping…our girls will so enjoy their last month of summer.  They are both excited to learn who their new teachers are and I’m so excited for them to go back.  They LOVE school and I LOVE doing homework with them and watching them learn more and more each day.

I’m heading up to bed (have to get a good night’s sleep before my kickboxing class tomorrow morning!) feeling accomplished, loved, inspired, and excited to see what next week brings.  Because right this second?  It kind of feels like things are only getting better and better.  And that my friends?  Is frigging fabulous.

TODAY:  What if I take the energy, and enthusiasm, and pure unmitigated joy that I feel about my health and apply it to the rest of my life?  What if allowing myself to really feel the joy will attract more and more joy?