in review {2011}

in the year 2011

we had...

a big move across the country

our first family vacation experience

our car breakdown

lots of date nights with my husband:)

and we...

moved into our home

experienced our first (and hopefully last!) ambulance ride

spent a few days in the hospital with the baby

(thanks a lot RSV)

started preschool

turned one

celebrated weddings and babies being born

it was a hard year, but it was a really happy one too.

One of the things I'll treasure most is the moment that came sometime in December.

When I realized that I am ok.
Something clicked into place when I accepted myself.

I see my potential.

I'm more comfortable with my imperfections.

I love me.

My body isn't the enemy.

I am not the enemy.

I had gotten so caught up in being "good" or "bad" that I lost sight of WHY I was trying to make changes.

 I don't need to loath everything I am now in order to drive myself to become the person I want to be.

Even if I never lost another pound I know that I have worth as a person, but I know I haven't taken care of my body and that's going to take a lot of work to undo the damage.

I hope you'll follow along :)

Here's to a happy and healthy 2012!

{Win, Lose, or Blog Finale}

I'm not ready for these to be my "after" photos, I've still got a long ways to go!

But here are some pictures taken at the start of the competition:

(yikes!)

Here are some more recent ones..

and side..

I lost a total of 13.6lbs in 7 weeks, but what's really exciting is that I lost 27.5 inches!

10 inches came off my waist!

Now that the competition is over I really want to keep going! So I'll be blogging much more regularly to help keep me focused and on track. If you're new here please say "hi!" And if you have a blog I'd love to come check it out. Anyway, I have lots of fun things planned so check back soon!

Heeey June?

Where did you go so fast!?

My June Boom was more like a thud. I was super excited and then things got complicated emotionally and I got tripped up. I realize that a big part of my emotional upheaval is due to our recent move back to the west coast. So many memories combined with the anniversary of my mom leaving had me reliving some very painful parts of my past. I'm still untangling things, but it's getting better.
The past can't be changed and those experiences will always be there; if I allow them to they can consume my thoughts and put me in a very real depression. And that is exactly what I have done in the last few weeks. While I still do my normal daily things, playing with my children, doing my chores, spending time with my husband, a huge part of me has been living in the past.
 And that just isn't going to do. There is enough hurt and pain in this world, I won't add to it, not when I know how to move past it and hopefully do some good.

My goals for the next week are….

Keep a food journal.
Drink more water (a lot more!)
Be more mindful of what I'm eat and why.

So I'm still working on it and that's OK.

"Just got to keep on keepin' on..."
-Joe Dirt

PS. Hi to everyone who has stopped by and left such sweet words of encouragement. I'm still making my way around to say hi back personally, but in the mean time know that it mean so much to have complete strangers giving me a boost when I need it most. Thank you!

Day 1

Yesterday...

I ate healthy foods and not one bit of junk food.
Drank as much water as I could 56oz up from about zero and no regular soda!
Went for a walk with  the boys in the morning (it's too stinkin' hot in Arizona, even at 9am! so we're going tonight instead).
Started a 30 day Challenge on the wii active. Love love love wii active.
Was completely blindsided by a migraine around 3pm.

I know the migraine was my body rebelling, probably freaking out without it's daily dose of sugar. Seriously, I'm not trying to be dramatic here. For me sugar is sooo addictive, but that's a whole other post. Whatever the cause of the migraine I know it's not because I'm treating my body poorly. It feels nice to be able to say that, it's progress.

Deborah:1 Sugar:0