I like looking in the mirror now.......

....well, I should say it doesn't bother me quite as much as it used to.  I am making progress and that makes me feel proud of myself!  I woke up early yesterday morning and decided to hop on the scale "just for fun" and was TOTALLY surprised that I am down two more pounds!  I can't tell you how excited I am.  That's 31 pounds total lost since my surgery, August 4th.

See the picture to the left....that's a 31 pound fish!  That's how much extra blubber I'd been carrying around.  I'm not near my goal yet but it's good to SEE what 31 pounds looks like!

 My first mini-goal was when I lost 30 pounds I can get a pedicure. Now I just have to make the time to get it done!  (Too bad it's turned cold here and I won't be wearing sandles to show of my painted piggies....but I will still enjoy the pampering.) 

I guess now I need to figure out what my next mini-goal/reward should be. Any ideas?

Here's a NSV - Saturday night, Rick, the kids & I went to my friend's daughter's Quinceañera, (Quinceañero, in Latin American culture, is a coming of age ceremony held on a girl's fifteenth birthday. The term Quinceaños refers to the birthday of the celebrant, and the term Quinceañera refers to the celebrant herself. Like many other coming-of-age ceremonies, the Quinceaños is associated with the Quinceañera "becoming a lady".) It was a dressy occasion and I was worried about what I would wear.  I pulled out 2 pair of size 16 black dress pants and the BOTH fit me nicely! I paired them with a silky blue and black blouse & when we left the house I felt pretty and confident (which doesn't happen very often).  While at the Quinceañera I saw several people that I hadn't seen in a while.  My friend's mom (who has known me since I was in grade school) said that I looked nice and that she could tell I had lost "quite a bit" of weight!  So maybe people are going to start noticing now?!??  That's good for the ego.

I helped my friend, Bev, serve punch at the celebration and I could feel Rick's eyes on me.....you know how you can just tell!  Anyway, when I would look his way he was watching me.  Later in the night while he and I danced, he told me that when he saw me running around helping Bev that he thought to himself, "Aawww....THERE's my Sweet Pea that I haven't seen in a while".  (When he tells me that he saw his "Sweet Pea" it means that he saw me looking like I did when we dated in high school.....skinny, full of life, happy, carefree).  That almost made me cry!

Rick would only dance slow with me but I was in such a good (confident) mood that I got out on the dance floor with Bekah & Conner and "cut a rug"....LOL.

I ordered a 5# kettle bell from walmart.com and am just waiting for the email telling me that it's ready for pickup!  I'm actually looking forward to getting it and working out! SAY WHAT? ! ? ! Yup, it's true...I said it.....I'm looking forward to working out with my kettle bell! Never would have thought I would say something like that!

I most certainly do have restriction and as some of my fellow bandsters have mentioned, I feel tighter in the morning and afternoon.  Evening is not so bad.  Yesterday at lunch I made lunch meat sandwiches for the family and for mine I used a "Flatout" (which was tasty. Anyway, I was only able to eat two bites and then I was stuck.  You would think by now I would know to TAKE LITTLE BITES and SLOW DOWN!  I'm learning.

I've been somewhat absent from the blog world this past week. I just haven't made the time to read or write so I've been missing ya'll.  From what I've read so far, sounds like all the "sista's" are doing well!  Keep it up!

Have a beautiful Monday,
Sarah