Checking in Friday evening

I love my tracker and that it shows that you guys were looking for a weigh in post!

Here's this week's scoop:

My weigh in this week hit a big milestone - I am no longer obese!  I have been obese for the better part of my adult life.  I had to get below 180 to qualify as "overweight."  Funny how that can make someone so happy, right?  Yee-haw!  I'm overweight!!!  Yeah, well - YEE HAW!  I'm overweight!  I know that being overweight still leads to increased risk of health problems, and I am dedicated to being the healthiest person I can be.  I know I am on the right track.  My handsome hubby asked me this morning if I expected when I started on January 1 to have seen the progress I see here - 60% of the way to my goal.  My answer was honest - "I wasn't really worried about it."  I think that's the difference this time compared to times in the past.  I am not obsessed with the number.  I do track it.  I weigh in each week, and sometimes in between my weigh in day.  I am not overly obsessed about making it to the number.  I'm still a little in disbelief about being under 180 lbs right now.  I don't feel excessively jubilant - but I do appreciate glances in the mirror when I can tell that my figure has changed dramatically.

Last week at bowling, one of my male neighbors asked if I had been losing weight.  It was really cute because he kind of apologized to my husband for noticing, which I thought was super awesome, because my husband responded with, "Yeah!  I tell her all the time how awesome she's doing."  Talk about making a girl feel special.  <3  I consider that an NSV.  Another NSV was trying on my string bean husband's jeans this morning, and proceeding to fasten them completely and comfortably.  I could have worn them to town (and might in the coming days).

After my weigh in last week, with Nicole having gotten up in the middle of the night so excited for me, I received even more support from her than I expected.  I hung out with her and her mom for her mom's birthday one evening last week and received a gift.  I got the 10% keychain!  Nicole had ordered it for me in anticipation of me reaching my goal!  How fantastic is that?  What an awesome gift.  I can't wait to have earned little charms for it.  Even though I don't attend the meetings, I have earned it, and even if I have to order the charms myself, I'll be getting them!

As a reward for my 10% goal, I got myself 2 magazine subscriptions.  I love looking at magazines, and even more now that cute clothes are more of a reality.  I ordered Self and Glamour.  I am really excited about it, and it's a nice little escape for me in this very testosterone filled house.  I need all the girly I can get!

My goals the past few weeks have not been weight loss oriented.  I have been more focused on quality time with my family.  We went twice last week to the beach to walk around and look for sea glass.  I get so centered being in nature.  It doesn't have to be the beach - I'm just as happy on a hike.  It's nice to see my boys so excited to be participating and happy.  We played charades one night before bed.  It was awesome to see how one son totally got the idea and the other had a harder time not talking.  (and for those that know my kids, it was actually C that had the harder time being quiet than L for a change!)

My week this week has been busy, but I have been receiving a lot of nice feedback at work on the job I've been doing, and I am so thankful for that.  We have had a lot going on, and it is nice to hear good things.  Church is awesome, and this week, I will be at the church 5 of 7 days for services and/or rehearsals.  What a gift to be able to share the gift and heart that God has given me for His service.  Palm Sunday is this weekend, and we'll be presenting some beautiful songs.  Communion on Wednesday evening will set the stage for the juxtaposed reverence and celebration of Easter Sunday.  Here's a teaser that one of the very talented members of the worship team made.  There are snippets of me in the video, but that's not what it's about - it's about the sacrifice, the gift, the GRACE and MERCY that God provided in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  If you're in the Cape Cod area and need a place to worship and celebrate on Easter Sunday, join us!

Pinsday (indirectly) - More importantly - NSV!

A couple weeks ago I wanted to do "Pinsday" Wednesdays.  Okay, fine.  To meet that as you look at the pictures below, note the old windows hung on my living room wall.  Neat, right?  Bonus - they were free.  My plan is to maybe hang a couple more or at least get some pictures printed out to go inside. I haven't decided whether I want to do one HUGE print peeking behind the panes of glass or a lot of smaller pictures.  I've seen both on Pinterest, and I have ideas with both.  I guess that's to be determined.  Maybe I'll revisit Pinsday another time and let you know what I did.

Meh, whatever.  I have more important stories to tell today.

My bad week last week is behind me.  I had rehearsal last night for Worship Team at church.  It was so uplifting to be there.  I wish I could express what happens to my soul when I sing.  Music is such an amazing tool for me - a true gift. Even better, Valentine's day is coming up, and all our songs this weekend are "LOVE" themed songs.  We spent time in scripture, in prayer, and in fellowship.  My spirit really needed last night.  I am a different human today, and so thankful for it!

Okay, I have a small confession - most days I still set my clothes out before bed.  I do.  It's really a big help for me to be focused before the day begins and not have my fashion ADD explode when I'm in a time crunch.  I also don't have to worry about having to find clean undies or make sure I have socks that match or whether my shoe is under the sofa again.  Well, last night I didn't do that.  I was tired from a long day at work, and I went to bed not long after getting home from church.

This morning, I got up and was going to wear some jeans and a sweater.  I looked in the closet, and there was a super cute little dress hanging in there that I've never worn.  I have owned it since I lived in AL (so about 2 or 3 years) and I was always too lumpy to wear it.  Even though I weigh about 10 lbs more right now than I did then, I decided to try it on.  See what I mean about the fashion ADD?  LOL!  I slipped it over my head and could still breathe.  That accomplished, I decided to go in the hallway and peek in the full length mirror to see how awful it was.

Huh.  Am I imagining things?  Do I have the opposite of the body dysmorphic thing going on where I think I look good but I really look like a sausage?  I know how to get the answer...

"BABE!  How does this dress look?"  (insert audible sigh from the handsome hubby.)  He will always tell me the honest answer.  Even when I really don't want to hear it.

"It looks really good!  You look great, Sweetie!"  **internal HOLLA!!!**

Then I had to decide which color I wanted to wear.  Yeah.  I have the dress in 2 colors.  It was on clearance from Newport News for like $7, and I knew I'd be able to wear it someday.  I'm psychic like that.  I decided on the black for today.  I may be brave enough to wear the pink one on Sunday when I sing at church.  We'll see.

At this point there was another, smaller sigh when I asked him to take my picture for the blog, because this is totally a NSV (non-scale victory) for me!