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Seasons Greetings

GGMT , Holidays , Personal • Dec 5, 2016

seasonsgreetingsTis’ the season! Holiday decorations, pine scented candles, christmas lights, decorated trees, hot chocolate and so much more! There are so many great things to love about the holiday season. It’s my favorite time of the year for so many great reasons.

The last few years have been very different since my mom passed. She left me with so many beautiful memories that I have plenty to look back on and be grateful for. My mom was the type of parent that could hardly wait for Christmas to begin opening presents. Lets be real, she also didn’t want me waking her up early so many times we did our presents on Christmas Even instead of waiting until Christmas morning. Each year I make sure that my partner opens one gift on Christmas eve regardless of how small it may be. I’ve never told him this but it’s one of those little things that keeps the memory alive.

Each year we put up two Christmas trees. His and His if you will, lol. I like a tree with multi-colored lights and glittery ornaments. Brian on the other hand prefers white lights and a tree full of ornaments both from his childhood and from his travels. Both trees are stunning and it’s disappointing each year when they have to come down.

There is also a massive Christmas village that Brian puts up each year. Probably 50-ish houses and all of the people to match. It’s a Department 56 village so it has all of trimmings to really make it come alive. A few novelty houses as well such as Play-Doh and Lego. Takes a few hours to put it up and a few more to take it down.

I hope that everyone takes the time to truly enjoy this holiday season. I would love to hear some of your traditions!

Weight Watchers – Round 3!

Good Eating , Health , Personal , Weight Watchers • Aug 15, 2014

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I have been a LONG TIME fan of Weight Watchers. Long before Jessica Simpson or Jennifer Hudson became representatives for the organization. In fact, I think i was joining Weight Watchers for the first time when Jessica Simpson was at her peak filming The Dukes of Hazard. I was at my fattest when she was at her best, ironic!

Anyway, I’ve been a fan. I’ve done two successful ’rounds’ of the program and i’m excited to say i’ve basically battled through round 3! I haven’t gained any of the 150lbs back that i lost 10 years ago (thankfully). I’ve just never fully completed the program. I’ve never gotten down to my ideal goal weight. To be honest.. i don’t even know what that number is! I don’t have a desire to look down and see a six-pack (although i wouldn’t complain) i just don’t want to feel unhappy with my body.

Body image is something that i’ve struggled with my entire life. Entire. Life. I was always the fat kid in school. I had amazing friends and went to a great school that wasn’t concerned with cliques, groups, and social circles. I was never made fun of and i’m grateful for that. I just never had a confidence to not feel self-conscious in the my own skin. I’ve always felt like the fat kid when i’m truly not anymore. I’m not proud of where i started but i’m proud of the fact that i’ve come so SO far!

In a nutshell the Weight Watchers system is pretty simple. Based upon sex, age, and average daily activity you are given a set number of ‘points’ that you can eat each day. Each point value has (or in the case of fruits/vegetables do not have) a set point value. Every time you eat something you must subtract the points consume from your overall daily limit. Nobody is perfect so there is a catch for that! You are also given a weekly point limit. Personally, i save these points for Adult Beverages and Junk Food! I can’t live without either.. lets be honest!

There have been good weeks and there have of course been VERY BAD weeks. I own it. Not everyday or every week for that matter will be a success. Sometimes that Krispy Kreme donut is just calling my name. Donuts do have a tendency to seduce their victims. I’m hungry just thinking about the damn things. When i’ve had a bad week i simply pick up the pieces and keep moving. I know they say in the program that you should still weight in but… i don’t. If i have a bad week i don’t even want to look at the scale. I’m going to just move on the next week and start over again!

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Personal , Random • Jun 29, 2014

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… or at least give me a hotdog and a beer, yes, that shall work. What a Baseball-Filled summer it has been! And surprisingly .. i’m not complaining! We went to the Boston Red Sox Vs. Cleveland Indians game about a month ago in Cleveland. Last week we went to see the Akron Rubber Ducks with a group of our work friends. I enjoyed both games and i’m excited to get to see another Cleveland Indians game this 4th of July!

It’s no secret that i’m not a big sports fan. Nothing wrong with sports i just don’t get into most of them. The only exception being WWE. Well, last year when Boston went to the World Series and i sat through numerous games to make the boyfriend happy i started to get into it (hopefully he’s not reading this). I enjoyed the games, i enjoyed the enthusiasm, and oddly enough i actually could understand simply enough what was going on.

Not understanding the game is probably one of the biggest reasons for not being very into spots. For example, Football, I have NO IDEA what is going on. I understand the basics of get the football from one end of the field to the other end of the field without getting the living daylights sacked out of you but i don’t understand the logistics of the game. Downs? What the hell is a down? I’ve never figured that out. The numbers on the field. Why? Don’t get those either. Thus, my lack of understanding is probably the reason i don’t enjoy watching those sports.

We don’t watch a lot of the Boston games simply because we don’t get them on our local TV. I think that certain ESPN channels may get them but we don’t subscribe to anything beyond the basic 1000 channels, lol. Instead we actually listed to the games! You can download the MLB app on your phone and for a small monthly fee we can listen to all of the games. I think that you can actually watch them to but i’ve never played around with that feature because it’s on my phone. Ain’t nobody got time for that?!

I even bought a baseball glove to play catch with the boyfriend! I admit i’m a bit afraid of the ball (don’t hate) but i enjoyed the one time we’ve actually done it. He was actually a bit worse than i thought he would be (again.. i hope he’s not reading). Then again, he doesn’t play all that often himself.

How is your summer going?! Anything exciting going on over the next few months?

Volunteer Day

Business , Personal • May 1, 2014

I don’t feel like there is any better feeling than giving back to the community! I wish i had the time (and i admit it, energy) to do SO MUCH MORE. It is always an amazingly rewarding experience. I admit that at the end of the day there is nobody that I can blame besides myself but that is one thing I really want to change over the rest of 2014.

I work for a company that really supports the growth of their local communities. They encourage each of us to get out, volunteer, and they allow us to do it while getting paid! You can’t beat that?! Each year we have two major events that they really encourage as many of us that can get out and help to do so. As an administrative assistant there aren’t any places that i usually have to be so it works out for me to attend. We do a joint venture with out local food bank during the annual HARVEST FOR HUNGER activities and then we do quiet a bit with UNITED WAY a couple of times throughout the year. Our main event helping clean up the community in the summer.

I spent a lot of my time wrapped up in work, friends, family, fanlistings, and various other things that although they are important to me there really are so many much more important things that we could be worrying about. Now – i’m not out of touch with reality. I can’t stop doing everything that i enjoy to spend all my time volunteering but giving at least an evening or afternoon a month won’t hurt.

I’ve applied to volunteer at our gay network in the local community but i never hear back. I got a letter a couple of months back stating that they were being taken over by a new group and that the volunteer database would be cleaned end up. Well.. that never happened. I sent a response saying how i was willing to participate and my organization was in full support. A gentleman responded and said that people would be following up and of course nobody did.

Does anybody else volunteer on a regular basis?