We're in town from Sandy...

These are some photos from the gallery stroll. You couldn't bring cameras into the concert.

This past weekend was wonderful. I had such an amazing time both Friday and Saturday. The weekend encompassed some of my favorite things: Joshua, family, friends, art and live music. Friday I went to the gallery stroll with Chad, Mike, Jake and T.C.C. After a couple of adult beverages we went out on the town to see some art. Most of the art was not great, but the company was fantastic. Like always I wore the wrong shoes, which is especially bad because of my back problem. We ended the night by eating too much Thai food at Sawadee.

Saturday night I took Joshua to the Ani DiFranco concert at Library Square. It was so much fun. We went with Jerilyn and Chris, but we also ran into Chamonix. So, once again fabulous company. I think it might have been a different environment for Joshua, but I think all in all he had a good time. I am happy that he is open to new people and new experiences. It means so much to me! 

Week Three

Well, I have just completed my third week of the diet. I didn't get a chance to blog about my previous week, sorry. So, week two was not as good as my first week. I found myself eating off the diet plan more than once, but I still managed to lose one pound-yay! This past week I had a few celebrations that I had to go to and well, I probably didn't make the best eating choices. However, brunch on Sunday at Silverfork lodge with Joshua was worth it! It was a beautiful day and Big Cottonwood Canyon was gorgeous. We had a wonderful time and the food was great. Anyway, the rest of the week I worked really hard, oh wait there was that training at work and the owners bought us pizza. Ok, so other than that I worked hard this week. Well, I made my weekly journey to the scale this morning and I discovered that I was down one pound and a half. So, I feel great! So far I have lost a total of six and a half pounds. It might not be the rapid weight loss I was hoping for, but I am really happy with my results. 

The plan for this week: tonight I am gallery strolling with Mike, Jake and Chad, which is always an interesting time. I will probably use my cheat meal tonight. I know, I know it sounds as if I have had more than one cheat meal per week and I have, but I am really going to try to stick to the plan. Other than tonight, I don't really have any other eating excursions planned. 

I do have an amazing story to tell all of you, which has given me new motivation to live a healthy, happy lifestyle. I had a client come into me yesterday, she was a breast cancer survivor and had just finished her last round of chemotherapy. She came in to celebrate and give herself a little papering. I could tell that she felt a little self-conscience and she even told me not to be scared of her bald head, of course I wasn't.  I made sure that I gave her a fabulous treatment. At the end of the facial, she said to me as tears came into her eyes, that the facial was the best she had ever had and that she hadn't felt that good in months. Not only did I make her day, she made my day as well! So I want all of you to be aware that even small things can really make an impact. Really in the end, yes I want to be healthy, I can be a size four, but if I am not living a life full of joy, it doesn't matter.

Fascinating...

DISCLAIMER: I know that I have friends and family from all backgrounds. I don't want to offend anyone, but I just found this interesting.

So, this morning I was listening to Radio From Hell and they had a woman on their "ask a" segment who had been excommunicated from the LDS church for getting angry about women's rights, or lack of, within the church. They opened up the lines for callers and a woman called in and starting talking about "mormon feminist" blogs, particularly something called bloggernacle. I had never heard of this, I am new to the blogging world. So, I decided to check it out. I went to bloggernacle, which sent me to this site called ldsblogs.org. On this site were hundreds of different blogs that dealt with many issues facing mormons all over the world. So, I began to read through some of these blogs. Some of my favorites: celibate in the city-about a mormon girl living in NYC. She recently found out that she is bipolar(insert celibacy joke here). Tales from the Crib-about a group of mothers, who first met while living in Queens, who are now trying to figure out mother"hood." There was also Mormon Mommy Wars, which was very similar. Feminist Mormon Housewives, which I think is the blog that the caller from the radio writes for, was about issues facing mormon housewives. I found some of the blogs on this site really interesting. Many of these women are dealing with issues within their relationships and marriages that most of us will never understand. I actually thought that it was a good place for LDS women to write and comment on their thoughts and feelings. There were some posts that I found a little sad. One question however, there is not a right or wrong answer, can you truly call yourself a feminist if a. you are pro-life and you think that women who are pro-choice are evil and completely beneath you and b. you still believe that your husband holds some sort of authority over you? Just something to think about. 

Reading through some of these blogs I found other issues facing mormons quite interesting. I couldn't believe all of the "closeted" liberal mormons out there. Some of these people were afraid to tell members of their own family that they were Democrats. They were afraid of disappointing their parents, spouses, etc. I could not believe it! There was a funny story about a guy who had an Obama sign in his front yard and he got called into his bishop to make sure that his "values" were still intact. Another man kept having his Obama signs stolen from his front yard. He put up a poll to see how long his new sign would last. 

Many posts on some of these blogs dealt with issues of equality. For example, a woman posted that she just came to the realization that non-mormons were her equals. She could not believe that she had gone most of her life believing that people of other faiths were below her. Other people were struggling to find the "good" in non-mormons. There were other people who were having a hard time with their testimony because they were not sure that the mormon church is the true church and believe that all religions hold equal value.

Like I said in the disclaimer I didn't post this to offend anyone. I just found many of these blogs interesting and I encourage my mormon and non-mormon friends to take a look at them.

Shot Through the Back...

my doctor is to blame, oh man does he give love a bad name. I had my steroid injection yesterday. It was supposed to be last Wednesday, but due to some confusion they had me do it yesterday. It wasn't as horrible as I thought it was going to be. I was extremely nervous and tense. The needle that they shoved into my back was enormous. So, I am laying down on my stomach and they have to put the needle in my very low back area, basically I was mooning the entire room. It was awesome. After the shot, I felt a little weak but my back did feel a little better. I guess it takes the steroids a few days to completely start to work. Hopefully, I will be able to keep my roid rage to a minimum. Keep your fingers crossed that this works. I don't really feel like going under the knife.

One Week Down...

Well, I have just completed my first week on Medifast. I woke up this morning eagerly anticipating my journey to the scale. I was nervous. I kept thinking: did the Sex and the City cocktail party destroy my chances to get into a size 6? Did that Paradise Bakery cookie that I snuck the other day ruin an otherwise good week of self control? As I stepped onto the scale, I looked at the scale and...I was down 4lbs-WHAAAAAAT! I was pretty excited! I looked at myself in mirror. Did I look different? No, not really, but I felt great.

So let me tell you about my first week of eating the Medifast delights. My favorite food on the diet plan is the oatmeal raisin bar. There are not any raisins in the bar and it doesn't taste like raisins, so I wonder where they came up with the raisin aspect of the bar. The other bars are also quite good. They remind me of Luna bars. My next favorite food is probably the shakes. They come in several flavors. The vanilla and chocolate are the best. The orange isn't bad, but the strawberry and banana are YUCK! I had to plug my nose and chug them, then I had to fight off the gag reflex. After the shakes, I like the oatmeal. The texture is a little weird, but they taste pretty good. My least favorite items are the soups and the eggs. Besides the chicken noodle soup, which is actually not bad, the soups are not great. They come in powder form and when you add the water, it doesn't mix very well. So, what you end up with is a chunky, watery mess. Now, I haven't tried all of the different flavors of soup, so I am hoping that the ones I haven't tried are better. The absolute worst thing on the diet plan are the eggs. Call me crazy, but there is something about powered eggs that just doesn't sit well with me. You put the powder egg substance into a bowl, add water then microwave. What comes out you ask? A yellow, slimy goo ball. I had to douse it with salsa and pepper in order to get it down. However, if I can lose another 4lbs this week, I will eat the goo ball. My favorite part of the diet is the one normal meal that I can per day. Are you surprised by that one? It has to be a healthy conscience meal, but I always look forward to it.

I am looking forward to another successful week. I don't have many obstacles in my way, except the BBQ with the KKG Gamers tonight. However, I am allowing myself one cheat meal per week. I mean, I have to be realistic. 

Better than Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha

I just wanted to say that I am so lucky to have the best friends in the world! During this time of "change" in my life, they have all been very supportive. First, Chamonix and Morris came over to my house with meals on wheels. It made my entire weekend! Then, my wonderful friend Katherine, who lives in L.A., has called several times to cheer me up. We have had some of the best conversations, most of which revolve around our upcoming weddings. Also, my cute friend Kristi, who lives in NYC, has called to check up on me and sent me the sweetest card-it made me cry a little. Lately, I have been really emotional. Then this past weekend, my fabulous friend Mary came with me to a Sex and the City cocktail party and to the movie. It was great to catch up with her! I am excited to reunite with the KKG Gamers this Friday night all of whom said that they would help me bowl. I want to thank all of my other friends for their calls and emails they have meant a lot to me! What we would do without friends?