We were supposed to be in San Diego all weekend for the Southern California Championships for Harrison's soccer team, but it got postponed yet again because of predicted rain that didn't materialize. So, instead, we had a pretty mellow week and weekend.
Here are the highlights:
-Jacob and Michela both auditioned for the talent show and did really well. (Jacob did a tap number, Michela sang lead vocals in a band with some friends)
-Harrison got a callback in his audition for the middle school musical (Beauty and the Beast) and is hopeful he'll get a leading role
-With a little help from my mom and a good friend, I got the Bar Mitzvah invitations assembled, calligraphized (i know that's probably not a word), sealed, and mailed (well, they're going in the mail tomorrow). We're really happy with how the invites came out, esp since we chose one of the least expensive ones, but we love them and we worded them ourselves so we put a lot of thought and effort into them
-I got new bras -- i had gone down about 4 cup sizes! :) amazing what new bras will do. i'm nice and perky now! lol
-Several of my friends took me out to celebrate my 100 pound weight loss - we saw a movie and had coffee out. woo hoo!
-Midnight turned 3 years old yesterday (21 in dog years.) :)
I guess that's pretty much it. Things are good. Felt a bit less busy this week but that doesn't mean that I still don't have five gazillion things to do, it just means that I didn't stress out about them all!!!!!
Have a good start to your week!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Weekend Update
Whew. What a weekend! Here's a quick recap:
Jacob had his first dance competition of the "season." He's in 5 competition numbers. Last year he was in 3. It's a lot. Kept us at the Disneyland Hotel for hours and hours all three days, but of course he loves every minute of it. His numbers did well. His small group jazz honor group during which he has a nice solo feature took platinum and placed 4th overall, so that was great. His other three group numbers got gold, so there's room for improvement, but it was the first competition. He did AWESOME on his tap solo (it's really a level above him but our studio director who is his choreographer views the solo as an opportunity to really challenge yourself and strive for the next level) and got gold, almost platinum, placing 5th overall out of 9 in his age/category. There are three from his dance studio in that category and age, and he placed just behind one of them and just ahead of the other, which was really great because both of them have been tap dancing longer than he has and are at a higher level.
While sitting around waiting for Jacob's numbers, I was very productive and re-organized my "to do" list for the Bar Mitzvah, putting everything into categories like service, catering, invitations, clothing, decorations, etc. and putting deadlines by which I need to do everything. It took some time but it was a perfect task in between watching numbers and helping Jacob with costumes, etc. Now I feel very organized and, dare I say, even a bit less overwhelmed! Still tons to do, though.
In between the hours that we were there, Michela and Harrison each had a basketball playoff game and, unfortunately, they both lost, ending their seasons. Harrison's team hadn't really done well all season, so it was expected. Michela's team was undefeated, however, so it was quite a shock to lose the game and be out of the playoffs already, but it's ok because softball and baseball have started and it's so hard to juggle the multiple sports.
Marlon, Michela and Harrison came for two of Jacob's numbers on saturday and then the four of us walked around Downtown Disney and had lunch at the ESPN Zone (we've never been there -- with a 50 foot wall-long TV screen of a basketball game and 12 other tvs with different sports, Harrison was in heaven!) and the food wasn't bad either. (my baked potato w/veggies was certainly yummy!) Sunday Harrison went with a teammate to his game but Marlon and Michela came to watch Jacob's solo. It's a big honor to be "asked" to have a solo, so it's quite a big deal.
Both Marlon and I have been having nightmares every night, so I think we're both a tad stressed out! Sat night he dreamed that I was pregnant again and he only found out about it because he overheard me telling hi mom! I dreamed that I had forgotten to order the yalmalkes for the bar mitzvah and the temple didn't have enough so the rabbi was mad at me. then i dreamed that I had forgotten to do the table seating assignments and when everyone got to the party they were running around trying to find seats and it was chaos!
I guess that's it. I better go tackle the mountains of laundry waiting to be put away while I have a few extra minutes. I think the kids change clothes in the middle of the night just to create more laundry for me!!!
Jacob had his first dance competition of the "season." He's in 5 competition numbers. Last year he was in 3. It's a lot. Kept us at the Disneyland Hotel for hours and hours all three days, but of course he loves every minute of it. His numbers did well. His small group jazz honor group during which he has a nice solo feature took platinum and placed 4th overall, so that was great. His other three group numbers got gold, so there's room for improvement, but it was the first competition. He did AWESOME on his tap solo (it's really a level above him but our studio director who is his choreographer views the solo as an opportunity to really challenge yourself and strive for the next level) and got gold, almost platinum, placing 5th overall out of 9 in his age/category. There are three from his dance studio in that category and age, and he placed just behind one of them and just ahead of the other, which was really great because both of them have been tap dancing longer than he has and are at a higher level.
While sitting around waiting for Jacob's numbers, I was very productive and re-organized my "to do" list for the Bar Mitzvah, putting everything into categories like service, catering, invitations, clothing, decorations, etc. and putting deadlines by which I need to do everything. It took some time but it was a perfect task in between watching numbers and helping Jacob with costumes, etc. Now I feel very organized and, dare I say, even a bit less overwhelmed! Still tons to do, though.
In between the hours that we were there, Michela and Harrison each had a basketball playoff game and, unfortunately, they both lost, ending their seasons. Harrison's team hadn't really done well all season, so it was expected. Michela's team was undefeated, however, so it was quite a shock to lose the game and be out of the playoffs already, but it's ok because softball and baseball have started and it's so hard to juggle the multiple sports.
Marlon, Michela and Harrison came for two of Jacob's numbers on saturday and then the four of us walked around Downtown Disney and had lunch at the ESPN Zone (we've never been there -- with a 50 foot wall-long TV screen of a basketball game and 12 other tvs with different sports, Harrison was in heaven!) and the food wasn't bad either. (my baked potato w/veggies was certainly yummy!) Sunday Harrison went with a teammate to his game but Marlon and Michela came to watch Jacob's solo. It's a big honor to be "asked" to have a solo, so it's quite a big deal.
Both Marlon and I have been having nightmares every night, so I think we're both a tad stressed out! Sat night he dreamed that I was pregnant again and he only found out about it because he overheard me telling hi mom! I dreamed that I had forgotten to order the yalmalkes for the bar mitzvah and the temple didn't have enough so the rabbi was mad at me. then i dreamed that I had forgotten to do the table seating assignments and when everyone got to the party they were running around trying to find seats and it was chaos!
I guess that's it. I better go tackle the mountains of laundry waiting to be put away while I have a few extra minutes. I think the kids change clothes in the middle of the night just to create more laundry for me!!!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
The Top 5 Good and Bad Things of the Last 5 Days
Top 5 GOOD things that happened in the last five days:
1) I am LOVING eating veggies every day. They are so delicious. We went out to dinner and I was able to order and eat a MEAL -- a half of a baked potato with steamed veggies (minus the cheese sauce) at Claim Jumper. So yummy!
2) Harrison and I FINALLY finished sorting through ALL of our family pictures and choosing the ones we need for various aspects of his Bar Mitzvah. It was a HUGE job - took us hours and hours and hours and we must have gone through 2,000 pictures. But now we're done with that part of the planning, plus all of our family photos are pretty well organized.
3) I'm slowly but surely getting things done and being able to "cross off" the things I've accomplished off my unbelievable list of things to do. We even made huge progress on new clothes for the Bar Mitzvah weekend for everyone but me (i'm not ready to shop yet) and only have a few things to fill in, like ties, etc. and we found these new suits and other things at an incredible SALE at Macy's.
4) We love our brand new tile in the kitchen and have been making progress on some other minor "home improvement" projects
5) Even though I'm finding it hard to juggle the Bar Mitzvah planning along with work projects, kids' activities and life in general, and even though i feel a bit overwhelmed, it is coming together nicely and we are actually enjoying the planning and finding things to laugh about. Every night I have some new story for the family (like the day I made the balloon vendor choke on her coffee when I told her our budget or the day someone else's "Bar Mitzvah coordinator" called to ask if harrison was coming to that party and she said "hello, I'm so and so, i'm the bar mitzvah coordinator for so and so. and i said "very nice to meet you, I'm Barbara and I'm the Bar Mitzvah coordinator for Harrison Boarnet...!" Both Marlon and I are enjoying involving Harrison in all aspects of it. (There's just so much involved with the service, the parties, the mitzvah project, etc. etc. Because i'm doing so much of things myself instead of hiring people (to save money), it's just a lot.
Now for the top 5 BAD (or just annoying) things that happened in the last five days:
1) Harrison has the flu and is miserable
2) Even though I've made significant progress on my original list of things to do, I thought of about 50-75 new things to add, so the list is longer than it was before!
3) Everything associated with planning this Bar Mitzvah takes longer than I thought it would take and costs more than I thought it would cost!
4)I had to go to 7 stores to find the right kind of "plain long sleeve red tshirt" for Jacob's tap solo costume (the studio director has a "vision" for how his costume should look and the red shirt is part of it). When I showed her everything tonight, guess what? She LOVED the one I got FIRST (that cost $5 at Kohl's) even though I thought she would hate that one because it's not plain, it has a picture of a guitar on it. I could have saved myself a whole DAY of running errands and now I have to go back and return about 5 versions of a "long sleeved red plain tshirt"!
ok, that's pretty good - i can only come up with 4 bad things. i'm racking my brain and nothing else comes to mind. so i'll just add a couple more "good" things -- i got a new really cute and short haircut! (I wanted a new look to match my new looking body!), Jacob has a dance competition this weekend, Harrison has the southern california soccer championship tournament the next weekend, and we all saw a cute and funny movie last weekend called "New in Town."
Okay, that's about all the time I can take for blogging - gotta get back to accomplishing real things now!!!
Until later....
1) I am LOVING eating veggies every day. They are so delicious. We went out to dinner and I was able to order and eat a MEAL -- a half of a baked potato with steamed veggies (minus the cheese sauce) at Claim Jumper. So yummy!
2) Harrison and I FINALLY finished sorting through ALL of our family pictures and choosing the ones we need for various aspects of his Bar Mitzvah. It was a HUGE job - took us hours and hours and hours and we must have gone through 2,000 pictures. But now we're done with that part of the planning, plus all of our family photos are pretty well organized.
3) I'm slowly but surely getting things done and being able to "cross off" the things I've accomplished off my unbelievable list of things to do. We even made huge progress on new clothes for the Bar Mitzvah weekend for everyone but me (i'm not ready to shop yet) and only have a few things to fill in, like ties, etc. and we found these new suits and other things at an incredible SALE at Macy's.
4) We love our brand new tile in the kitchen and have been making progress on some other minor "home improvement" projects
5) Even though I'm finding it hard to juggle the Bar Mitzvah planning along with work projects, kids' activities and life in general, and even though i feel a bit overwhelmed, it is coming together nicely and we are actually enjoying the planning and finding things to laugh about. Every night I have some new story for the family (like the day I made the balloon vendor choke on her coffee when I told her our budget or the day someone else's "Bar Mitzvah coordinator" called to ask if harrison was coming to that party and she said "hello, I'm so and so, i'm the bar mitzvah coordinator for so and so. and i said "very nice to meet you, I'm Barbara and I'm the Bar Mitzvah coordinator for Harrison Boarnet...!" Both Marlon and I are enjoying involving Harrison in all aspects of it. (There's just so much involved with the service, the parties, the mitzvah project, etc. etc. Because i'm doing so much of things myself instead of hiring people (to save money), it's just a lot.
Now for the top 5 BAD (or just annoying) things that happened in the last five days:
1) Harrison has the flu and is miserable
2) Even though I've made significant progress on my original list of things to do, I thought of about 50-75 new things to add, so the list is longer than it was before!
3) Everything associated with planning this Bar Mitzvah takes longer than I thought it would take and costs more than I thought it would cost!
4)I had to go to 7 stores to find the right kind of "plain long sleeve red tshirt" for Jacob's tap solo costume (the studio director has a "vision" for how his costume should look and the red shirt is part of it). When I showed her everything tonight, guess what? She LOVED the one I got FIRST (that cost $5 at Kohl's) even though I thought she would hate that one because it's not plain, it has a picture of a guitar on it. I could have saved myself a whole DAY of running errands and now I have to go back and return about 5 versions of a "long sleeved red plain tshirt"!
ok, that's pretty good - i can only come up with 4 bad things. i'm racking my brain and nothing else comes to mind. so i'll just add a couple more "good" things -- i got a new really cute and short haircut! (I wanted a new look to match my new looking body!), Jacob has a dance competition this weekend, Harrison has the southern california soccer championship tournament the next weekend, and we all saw a cute and funny movie last weekend called "New in Town."
Okay, that's about all the time I can take for blogging - gotta get back to accomplishing real things now!!!
Until later....
Friday, February 6, 2009
WOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hot of the presses! As of tonight, I have hit that major milestone and have lost over 100 pounds! 100.8 to be exact. Very exciting. It's been a challenging almost six months, but I look and feel terrific and it has been worth every second of challenge.
I still have about 40-50 pounds to go, but I've very pleased with my progress and feel that it has been a total and complete success. Even if I didn't lose another pound, I've definitely completely improved my health risks and lifestyle.
I've started the transition to the "Healthy Solutions" plan, which incorporates unlimited fruits and veggies (including potatoes and beans). It's a 4 week transition, so this week i get to have an entree every day (which i was already doing) and a cup of vegetables. Those green beans tonight were delicious! Next week i add an extra entree and veggie, then weeks three and four incorporate the fruits. I'll stay on healthy solutions for about a month or so and then continue the transition to mainteance in early april so that i'll be on real foods by the Bar Mitzvah. I'll still plan to keep my calories low enough to continue to lose very slowly until I reach my goal and then to maintain.
I want to thank everyone for the support that you have shown me along this journey. I appreciate the calls, emails, comments on this blog, and comments in person - it helps keep me going, so keep 'em coming!
As far as other things, still totally and completely overwhelmed. It's really good that the weight loss efforts and exercise routine are so under control because everything else is spiraling out of control. Just way way way too much to do (Bar Mitzvah stuff, work, normal activities, doing some household maintenance things like a new kitchen floor etc.) and not enough time in which to do it. You all know that I rarely get stressed and adopt a "it will all get done eventually" attitude, but i must admit i'm stressed! Big time. I'm making good progress in getting things accomplished, but there are so many things to do that even getting one or two things done per day is just a drop in the bucket. :)
and on that note, it's time for bed!
I still have about 40-50 pounds to go, but I've very pleased with my progress and feel that it has been a total and complete success. Even if I didn't lose another pound, I've definitely completely improved my health risks and lifestyle.
I've started the transition to the "Healthy Solutions" plan, which incorporates unlimited fruits and veggies (including potatoes and beans). It's a 4 week transition, so this week i get to have an entree every day (which i was already doing) and a cup of vegetables. Those green beans tonight were delicious! Next week i add an extra entree and veggie, then weeks three and four incorporate the fruits. I'll stay on healthy solutions for about a month or so and then continue the transition to mainteance in early april so that i'll be on real foods by the Bar Mitzvah. I'll still plan to keep my calories low enough to continue to lose very slowly until I reach my goal and then to maintain.
I want to thank everyone for the support that you have shown me along this journey. I appreciate the calls, emails, comments on this blog, and comments in person - it helps keep me going, so keep 'em coming!
As far as other things, still totally and completely overwhelmed. It's really good that the weight loss efforts and exercise routine are so under control because everything else is spiraling out of control. Just way way way too much to do (Bar Mitzvah stuff, work, normal activities, doing some household maintenance things like a new kitchen floor etc.) and not enough time in which to do it. You all know that I rarely get stressed and adopt a "it will all get done eventually" attitude, but i must admit i'm stressed! Big time. I'm making good progress in getting things accomplished, but there are so many things to do that even getting one or two things done per day is just a drop in the bucket. :)
and on that note, it's time for bed!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)