On the First Day of Christmas....

My new friend gave to me, some awesome smelling Anti-Bacterial soap and a sweet note!

I have never smelled this fragrance before and I am in LOVE! It's called Moonlit Path and it has now become my favorite!

On the second day of Christmas my new friend gave to me, a beautiful fabric covered art journal! I can't tell you how excited this gifty made me. I have so many ideas that I want to one day fill it up with!

On the third day of Christmas my new friend gave to me, Some Minnesota Snowflakes!

Seriously have you every seen anything so cute? Look at what she did to the bottom. You see where they are Made in...Nope not China.... Minnesota! LOL

On the fourth day of Christmas my new friend gave to me, a crochet book mark that is just gorgeous! I love the colors and how it fits perfectly in my book.

I think that should catch me up! This has been a real highlight of my day opening these little gifts. Not only to me, but my whole family. As you know we are going through hell right now, but every morning both the kids run in to remind me to open a gift. They love to see what I get. David even asked from the hospital if I was remembering to open my presents.

Thank you so much Julie for being my partner. I can not wait to see what the rest of the days has in store for me!

This past weekend Anna, Kathy and I participated in The Celebration inthe Oaks fun walk. It was a 2 mile walk in New Orleans City Park. The City Park in New Orleans, La is the second largest urban park, with the first being Central Park in New York. I know right! How cool is that little tidbit!

As you can see we went dressed for the occasion, along with the other 3,500 other people there! This was the biggest event I have ever been to, and it was AWESOME! It was so cool to see all the different costumes and families that showed up. Next year I plan on wearing a TuTu! I think my friend Carla makes them, and by next year she won't have to use nearly as much fabric as she would have this year. LOL

Here was my final time. Not too bad, I didn't do it to beat my time, or to make a certain time. I did it for the exercise and to spend time with my crazy friends. But you wanna know something really freaking cool??

All these people finished AFTER me! Oh yeah I was no where near the last person to finish this race baby! No way! That in itself made the walk worth it.

This week Justin was back and ready for action. And by action I mean ready to kick my ass all over the gym. But before he handed me my ass on a platter, he weighed me. I am down 17 pounds since the last time I weighed with him!!!! That puts me at 291!!!!! Holy batman! I am almost out of the 290's forever! I feel some new progress pics in the making. Maybe I can get David to take some this weekend. I know there is a difference, because pants that I have been waiting to wear because they were too snug, are now just a tiny bit too big! That is very exciting for me. I am happy he is back and ready for the rest of my transformation.

Before I go I have to share one more thing. Tuesday as they are admitting David to the hospital I get a call from one of the owners of my gym. She left me a message to call her back. Once I got David all settled in, I have her a call and she asked when the next time I was coming in. That they had something they wanted to give me. I told them that Justin was back and that I would be in the next night and she said to come before six. So last night I head over to warm up before my session, and Sadie catches me and brings me to the office. She told me that I was such an inspiration and that they loved seeing me work and my transformation so far, that they wanted to give me a gift. She handed me the cutest gift bag EVER, and I said that Tory had been wanting to give me this for a while.

OMG! YES this is what you think it is! This is MY OWN GRUVE!!! I have been wanting one of these types of calorie counters for a while. I had actually had one on my Christmas list, but since this crap storm, I just put it on the back burner. Now I have one!! I hugged her neck and told her thank you a million times! I will find Tory and hug and thank her too. This has to be THE nicest thing anyone has every done for me. EVER! When I got home I even cried. I have never thought of myself as an inspiration much. I am just a chic trying to do this for good this time. And with the help of some AWESOME people, it has now gotten just a little bit easier.

I am one lucky girl!