I just wanted to wish everyone who celebrates Christmas a wonderful holiday. I hope that you are all enjoying time with your friends and family.
We are having a great day - getting some projects done around the house, waiting for Marlon's parents to get here from Texas, and then we're going to see Marley and Me, which we've been waiting anxiously for!
More later!
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Happy Hanukkah
PICTURES ARE FIRST, THEN A NEWSY POST ABOUT WHAT WE'VE BEEN UP TO!
All of the out of town family and friends have been begging me to post a more recent photo since I've lost 80 pounds (as of last week). I've been hesitant to do so because I don't think it shows that much yet and it's just really started to show now, but i've gone ahead and posted a couple of photos here. there were taken about a month ago, on Thanksgiving weekend.
Now for some really recent photos, from TONIGHT! (how's that for quick downloading)
Michela concentrating on playing dreidle.
Marlon and I
Midnight enjoying the toy he got as tonight's gift
Harrison and I watching the dreidle spin. (ignore the messy kitchen in the background!)
Jacob takes his turn
All of the out of town family and friends have been begging me to post a more recent photo since I've lost 80 pounds (as of last week). I've been hesitant to do so because I don't think it shows that much yet and it's just really started to show now, but i've gone ahead and posted a couple of photos here. there were taken about a month ago, on Thanksgiving weekend.
Now for some really recent photos, from TONIGHT! (how's that for quick downloading)
Michela concentrating on playing dreidle. 
Marlon and I
Midnight enjoying the toy he got as tonight's gift
Harrison and I watching the dreidle spin. (ignore the messy kitchen in the background!)
Jacob takes his turn
Happy Hanukkah to all of our friends and family who celebrate it. I hope you're enjoying it so far. We have been busier than usual the last couple of weeks with end of school activities and holiday preparations. The kids (and I!) are all thrilled about their 3 week break, which started last friday. They'll do reading and some extra credit and Harrison has a science fair project to finish up, but not the usual regular daily homework and no rushing in the morning to be out the door by 8 a.m. Yay! And most of their activities stop for a couple of weeks around the holidays, so that's nice and gives us a break.
We've been enjoying things even though we're busy. We've had several parties at our house already and have a couple more to come. Marlon's department party was here was two weeks ago, then we had a party for the kids' jewish (and a few nonjewish) friends last week. they decorated cookies, ate latkes and other snacks, played dreidle and we lit the menorah and sang songs. it was fun. Friday night we went to an annual Christmas party at our neighbor's which was nice. Saturday night we had our chavurah from our synaogue for a hanukkah party at our house (about 8 families) and sunday lunch we had a different group of friends from the temple (harrison's close friends and their families.)
Last night, for the first night of Hanukkah, we went to a community wide event at the Irvine Spectrum. They lit a giant menorah made out of cotton candy and there were jelly donuts to eat and other activities. then the kids rode the ferris wheel and we came home. We lit the menorah ,had our "treat" from the "8 nights of hanukkah" boxes that I fill and read hanukkah books. oh, yeah, and opened presents. Jacob and Michela got new inline skates and Harrison got a football and some football "stuff." Midnight got a bone.
Today was the first real day of break and I worked ALL day on our holiday cards (the photo card with letter that we always send) and am ready to mail them. All 3 kids were at different friends houses for parts of the day and home relaxing the rest of the day. Tonight for hanukkah we lit the candles, read a story, and then played dreidle as a family, which was fun. For a gift, the kids all three got new tennis shoes, which they all needed and Midnight got a toy. not all gifts are big, of course, and i try to be practical. one night they might get new underwear and socks! :) I try to keep the emphasis away from the presents and more on being with friends and our family, but they're normal kids and they like presents.
Tomorrow we're taking our gifts to the family we adopted and that's always a highlight of our holiday season. I bought a TON of stuff for them. I love knowing that we make someone else's holiday so special. For the first time, we're actually going to do more than just drop off the gifts - we're treating the whole family to bowling and pizza. their kids are basically the same ages as ours, so i thought it would be nice.
Harrison's soccer team - the one that I mentioned was undefeated a few weeks ago - is STILL undefeated. they haven't lost a single game, which is almost unheard of. They won the Mayor's Cup and went on to the area tournament. They had 2 games on saturday and won both of them, so now they go on to the larger area tournament (more areas) which is in Feb. in San Diego. If they win that, they go on to the state Championships in Northern Calif. Its been very exciting.
That's all for now. More soon.
Friday, December 12, 2008
I'm back from my blog-cation!
I'm so sorry, faithful blog readers, that I haven't updated in so long. I've received many phone calls and emails asking if anything was wrong because it's been so long. One sweet friend even left me a voicemail saying "if you ended up stopping the diet because of thanksgiving and are now afraid to tell people, it's okay we all still love you." very sweet.
No, I haven't stopped the diet and things are still going great with that. I think it's been 2 or 3 weeks since I updated on my weight loss progress, so i lost track of what I blogged about it, but as of yesterday, which was exactly 4 months to the day, I've lost a grand total of 75.8! I'm still very pleased with my progress. Didn't cheat even one bite over Thanksgiving weekend or at any of the many holiday parties we've been hosting and attending the past two weeks. I'm still going strong with my swimming and going to the gym three times a week and it's all good.
Others have just been asking "what's wrong? Hope you're all okay." I'm pleased to report that nothing is wrong and we're all totally fine. I'm sorry to have worried so many of you and sorry to have disappointed others with no blog posts.
I've actually just been really, really busy - busier than usual, and just haven't found time to update. And, actually, I was hoping to post pictures from Thanksgiving weekend and was waiting to post until I got them downloaded, but since that has happened yet, I figured I'd just do an update. I should've just done it long ago and not waited for the pics.
Thanksgiving weekend was awesome. We had a great time with my family in Scottsdale. The not eating during Thanksgiving dinner and other weekend meals was fine. I just ate plenty of shakes, entrees and bars and felt satisfied. more or less. :) I was able to get all my exercise in, including lots of extra walks with Midnight (who also had a great time on the trip) although I often had to swim at 10 p.m. in the dark! But the pool was right outside the door of our hotel room, so it was fine. We saw a couple of movies (Twilight is awesome), had our annual family poker tournament every day (Jacob won!), read a lot, and had a nice 4 days of unstructured down time, which we all desperately needed.
Since we got back, it's been hectic. All three kids have had lots of school projects and tests to study for. Harrison and Michela are busy with basketball practices and games and Harrison's soccer team is still going strong, now in area playoffs. They won the Mayor's Cup! And they're STILL undefeated, although they did tie last night. It's been something like over 20 games for them! Jacob is busy with dance and it's a relief to have that West Side Story production over with, although it was fun for him.
Our house is all decorated for Hanukkah - I'll post pics of that when I can. Have to take some first. :) We've already hosted our first big party - Marlon's department's annual holiday potluck. I think there were something like 60-70 people here and it was a big success. No parties this weekend, but a ton coming up next week and weekend.
I'm behind, as usual, on getting out our holiday cards (I'm aiming for monday!) and gift buying (which I'm trying to keep minimal this year.) I hope to get a lot accomplished next week with buying for the family we adopt, teacher gifts, getting the kids' stuff organized, etc. They get out of school on friday for three weeks, so I need to get stuff done before that.
I've been really, really, really busy with work stuff the last two weeks. Not just my regular work with patti, which I'm really trying to get a lot of done before the kids' break, but I also had a research project for another client and I had a big meeting with the Asst Dean and Dean of the new UCI law school to prepare for --I'm trying to get involved on the ground floor of the law school seeking a position planning and coordinting student programs and events and other events like open houses for prospective students, community wide lectures, conferences, symposia, etc . It's not a job that was posted or anything, but one that I approached them about. I spent a ton of time researching what the other area law schools have in the way of this and making notes about program ideas, etc. and then put together a very impressive packet of my newly revised C.V. (which took awhile to do - it hadn't been updated in many years), recommendation letters, tons of writing samples from my Kids Konnection (because that makes me more marketable because I can write promotional literature about the events, publicity, etc.) They were impressed and the meeting went very well. They aren't "there" yet in terms of need and funding (the school doesn't open til next year) but I planted the seed and we agreed that we'll have further discussions soon. It would be my dream job, combining my legal experience with what I love to do (planning and programming events) and it would be such a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor. Who knows, in several years maybe i could work my way up to be Dean of Student Affairs! We discussed possible part time or full time positions or working for them on an independent project basis. We'll see what develops, but we had a great rapport. If it's part time or project work, i can do my other work with Patti too - it'll just make for full-time working, which at some point down the line I'll be ready for. I'm also working on my writing portfolio so that I can seek some additional freelance writing jobs. And I'm trying to figure out how to get those books written.
That's pretty much all that's been going on. So, as you can see, nothing wrong, just really busy with work, normal activities and holiday season stuff.
I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with the kids and Marlon over the holiday break and the plan is to get most of the Bar Mitzvah planning and preparations done this break so that we're ahead of the game. (right now we're a tad behind, but not horribly so.) Harrison's not behind- he's learned his whole Torah portion and is working on his Haftorah.
I will try to post pictures soon. Not tomorrow b/c I have to spend the whole day in traffic school starting at 7 a.m. because I got a ticket for making an illegal turn WHILE talking on my cell phone (against the law now in CA!) "My bad" as they say! I guess the saying is true - "you do the crime, you do the time!"
How are YOU???????? What's up with YOU???????? Feel free to COMMENT about all that. Hint, hint!
No, I haven't stopped the diet and things are still going great with that. I think it's been 2 or 3 weeks since I updated on my weight loss progress, so i lost track of what I blogged about it, but as of yesterday, which was exactly 4 months to the day, I've lost a grand total of 75.8! I'm still very pleased with my progress. Didn't cheat even one bite over Thanksgiving weekend or at any of the many holiday parties we've been hosting and attending the past two weeks. I'm still going strong with my swimming and going to the gym three times a week and it's all good.
Others have just been asking "what's wrong? Hope you're all okay." I'm pleased to report that nothing is wrong and we're all totally fine. I'm sorry to have worried so many of you and sorry to have disappointed others with no blog posts.
I've actually just been really, really busy - busier than usual, and just haven't found time to update. And, actually, I was hoping to post pictures from Thanksgiving weekend and was waiting to post until I got them downloaded, but since that has happened yet, I figured I'd just do an update. I should've just done it long ago and not waited for the pics.
Thanksgiving weekend was awesome. We had a great time with my family in Scottsdale. The not eating during Thanksgiving dinner and other weekend meals was fine. I just ate plenty of shakes, entrees and bars and felt satisfied. more or less. :) I was able to get all my exercise in, including lots of extra walks with Midnight (who also had a great time on the trip) although I often had to swim at 10 p.m. in the dark! But the pool was right outside the door of our hotel room, so it was fine. We saw a couple of movies (Twilight is awesome), had our annual family poker tournament every day (Jacob won!), read a lot, and had a nice 4 days of unstructured down time, which we all desperately needed.
Since we got back, it's been hectic. All three kids have had lots of school projects and tests to study for. Harrison and Michela are busy with basketball practices and games and Harrison's soccer team is still going strong, now in area playoffs. They won the Mayor's Cup! And they're STILL undefeated, although they did tie last night. It's been something like over 20 games for them! Jacob is busy with dance and it's a relief to have that West Side Story production over with, although it was fun for him.
Our house is all decorated for Hanukkah - I'll post pics of that when I can. Have to take some first. :) We've already hosted our first big party - Marlon's department's annual holiday potluck. I think there were something like 60-70 people here and it was a big success. No parties this weekend, but a ton coming up next week and weekend.
I'm behind, as usual, on getting out our holiday cards (I'm aiming for monday!) and gift buying (which I'm trying to keep minimal this year.) I hope to get a lot accomplished next week with buying for the family we adopt, teacher gifts, getting the kids' stuff organized, etc. They get out of school on friday for three weeks, so I need to get stuff done before that.
I've been really, really, really busy with work stuff the last two weeks. Not just my regular work with patti, which I'm really trying to get a lot of done before the kids' break, but I also had a research project for another client and I had a big meeting with the Asst Dean and Dean of the new UCI law school to prepare for --I'm trying to get involved on the ground floor of the law school seeking a position planning and coordinting student programs and events and other events like open houses for prospective students, community wide lectures, conferences, symposia, etc . It's not a job that was posted or anything, but one that I approached them about. I spent a ton of time researching what the other area law schools have in the way of this and making notes about program ideas, etc. and then put together a very impressive packet of my newly revised C.V. (which took awhile to do - it hadn't been updated in many years), recommendation letters, tons of writing samples from my Kids Konnection (because that makes me more marketable because I can write promotional literature about the events, publicity, etc.) They were impressed and the meeting went very well. They aren't "there" yet in terms of need and funding (the school doesn't open til next year) but I planted the seed and we agreed that we'll have further discussions soon. It would be my dream job, combining my legal experience with what I love to do (planning and programming events) and it would be such a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor. Who knows, in several years maybe i could work my way up to be Dean of Student Affairs! We discussed possible part time or full time positions or working for them on an independent project basis. We'll see what develops, but we had a great rapport. If it's part time or project work, i can do my other work with Patti too - it'll just make for full-time working, which at some point down the line I'll be ready for. I'm also working on my writing portfolio so that I can seek some additional freelance writing jobs. And I'm trying to figure out how to get those books written.
That's pretty much all that's been going on. So, as you can see, nothing wrong, just really busy with work, normal activities and holiday season stuff.
I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with the kids and Marlon over the holiday break and the plan is to get most of the Bar Mitzvah planning and preparations done this break so that we're ahead of the game. (right now we're a tad behind, but not horribly so.) Harrison's not behind- he's learned his whole Torah portion and is working on his Haftorah.
I will try to post pictures soon. Not tomorrow b/c I have to spend the whole day in traffic school starting at 7 a.m. because I got a ticket for making an illegal turn WHILE talking on my cell phone (against the law now in CA!) "My bad" as they say! I guess the saying is true - "you do the crime, you do the time!"
How are YOU???????? What's up with YOU???????? Feel free to COMMENT about all that. Hint, hint!
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