Monthly Archives: September 2013

Sharing Your True Colors!

Good evening!

As promised during this previous post. I have finally completed my journal project that was inspired by Dyan Reaveley’s YouTube video ‘Creating a Patchwork Quilt with Diane Reavely.’

Click on Image to Enlarge

Click on Image to Enlarge

As I was painstakingly blacking out all of the work that had taken me literally hours to complete, I just kept asking myself over and over, what am I going to write on this? What does this mean to me? Is there anything more to what I am seeing that what I am seeing? I actually had gotten the black completed, and stared at it for another day before my answer finally came to me.

Click on Image to Enlarge

Click on Image to Enlarge

Click on Image to Enlarge

Click on Image to Enlarge

 

This piece, for me, became about my tendency to hide my true colors, my true self, my authenticity, the things about me that make me uniquely me. I have a tendency to hide parts of myself for all sorts of reasons, fear of being unloved, fear of being unaccepted, fear of being left alone. This is something that I am actively working on. Even as I type this evening!

Click on Image to Enlarge

Click on Image to Enlarge

So the message that I decided to write on these pages became this:

“You were not uniquely and wonderfully made so that you can hide your uniquenesses.
You were not made to blend in.
Your uniquenesses are what make you special.
They give you immense value.
Be brave.
Stand up for who you are.
I promise, your truth will set you free.”

Click on Image to Enlarge

Click on Image to Enlarge

I may not know who you are, or what your story is, but I know that there is someone reading this right now that needs to hear these words, so I pass this message on to you. Your were not meant to blend in. You were a uniquely made one-of-a-kind special-to-the-core person on purpose. Cherish your uniquenesses, whatever they are, because they are your truth, YOURS ALONE, and your truth shall set you free!

Here is to a FABULOUSLY artsy evening! 😉

Signature Line

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!

 

1-Year Post Bariatric Surgery Update!

This is me as a happy girl today!! ;-)

This is me as a happy girl today!! 😉

Good evening!

Yep! That’s right! As of today, it has been exactly one year since I had my gastric bypass surgery, and I thought it might be the perfect time to give you my weight loss update!

As of today, I have officially lost 99 point something pounds since April 2012, and 59 of those pounds have been since my gastric bypass surgery on September 4th, 2012. I say 99 point something, because I actually can’t remember the exact number that my surgeon said! All I remember hearing was 99 pounds. YEAH! ME!!! 😉

I have been reminded by my nutritionist that I am still eating waaaaay to many carbs, and I am almost 40 grams of protein short every day. OUCH!!

I also know that getting in 64 ounces of liquid a day has been the bane of my existence, and I am not sure I have EVER been able to get that much water in since my surgery. When your stomach is the size of 2 or 3 ounces, and you can’t drink within 30 minutes of eating, it really limits how effectively you can get your fluids in!

I also really need to step up my exercise routine!! I just need to push myself harder, and spend less time sitting on my keister!! 😉

SOOOOOO…

long story short, I have got A LOT of room for improvement!!

They also showed me a chart that proves that I am losing on the slooooooow track. and for some reason my physician thinks I am having a love affair with pizza – I really am not, but the last two times I had seen her, I had just happened to have pizza the previous evenings!! Which just also happens to be the only two times I have had pizza in the past three months! Sheesh!!

To say I left my appointment today feeling a bit defeated is an understatement, but I was reminded by my girl friends, and my sweetie that I have still come a LOOOOOONG way baby!! and I know it is true, but to put it out to the universe in writing, I decided to share a list that I had created months before surgery.

This is a list of all of the physical goals I had written to myself in May of 2012. Basically, this is the if-I-could-do-anything-after-weight-loss-surgery-this-would-be-my-dream-list:

  1. Jog a mile non-stop – DONE!
  2. Cross my legs – DONE!
  3. Touch my toes with knees unbent – DONE!
  4. Ride my bike for a half an hour straight
  5. Run up two flights of stairs without getting winded – DONE!
  6. Wear high heels without pain – DONE!
  7. Run a 5k – DONE!
  8. Fit into a bathtub – DONE!
  9. Sit Indian-style in a movie theatre seat – DONE!
  10. Be able to sit with my knees up against my chest – DONE!
  11. Be able to use the chair-tables in the auditorium – DONE!
  12. Be able to fit into a restaurant booth – DONE!
  13. Hike the longest trail at Silver Creek Falls – DONE!
  14. Weigh less than when I first met Jason, when I was 18 – DONE!
  15. Slip into a size-14 again – DONE!
  16. Not be the first one tired on an all-day shopping excursion – DONE!
  17. Get rid of the dreaded C-pap machine – DONE!
  18. Be able to ride cowgirl-style in my favorite evening activity! 😉 – DONE!

 

I actually hadn’t remember that I had written that list, but I have to tell you once I found it and realized that I have done EVERY SINGLE thing on this list except one (only because I haven’t tried it yet), and that was #4 Ride my bike for a half an hour straight, and I am sure at this point, I could TOTALLY do it!! 🙂

So, I am going to consider this a success thus far!!

Starting tomorrow, I am back on the straight and narrow, and my goal is to lose 30 more pounds within the next 6 months! WOULDN’T THAT BE AWESOME???? But the reality is, that if I never lost another single ounce from today, my life and my future is ALREADY better than it would have been 100 pounds ago!!! 😉 I have to keep in mind how good life is right this minute!! 😉

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Signature Line

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!

Getting Back Into the Art Studio!

Good evening!

I have discovered my new favorite art supply shop, Runaway. It is a cool little place that is located in downtown Salem. I have been down there a few times this past week, and after spending waaaay too much money on some much wanted, but not really needed art supplies, my sweetie and I agreed that I really had to commit to getting back into the art studio. So, for the past few days, I have made it a point to spend a little time in my art studio every day!

When I first got got back in there, I was overwhelmed by a blank journal page, and an overwhelming amount of art supplies, go figure! So, to break the ice, I decided to hop on to YouTube, and see if I could find some inspiration from some other fellow creatives. Thankfully, I happened to stumble upon this video:

Dyan Reaveley.

Yep, I said her name.

She is my new artsy hero!

I love her style, he sass, her creativity, and her can do attitude!!

Her patchwork quilt design had me inspired to give this project a try, and tonight I thought I would share with you my project in progress! 🙂

My Take on a Patchwork journal PageClick on image to enlarge

I was actually surprised how long it took to do just this step! It took me a little more than 3 evenings to get this completed, but I am pretty happy with how it turned out. If you watched the above video, you know that my next step is to black a lot of this out. I have a feeling that THAT is going to be harder to do, since it took me so much time to get this step done, but I am going to take a leap of faith and do it anyway! I can’t wait to see how it turns out!! 🙂

Here are some closer pics of each of the two pages.

Patchwork Quilt Page Left SideClick on image to enlarge

Patchwork Quilt Page Right SideClick on image to enlarge

This is basically like a giant Zentangle, and even though it took me a long time to draw and then color in, this part of the project was actually quite peaceful! I just turned on some inspiring music and just went for it! 🙂

I will make sure to share with you how it turns out in a couple of days!

Here is to an FABULOUSLY arsty evening!! 😉

Signature Line

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!!