Here We Go!!

I love reading Blogs.  It is like getting a sneak peak into the lives of people. My own personal reality series, if you will.  I have been wanting to start writing my own for a while now, a little free therapy for myself.  If you are reading these posts I hope you will get something out of it; if only a chuckle.

I am not exactly sure what shape this will take.  My favorite Blogs to read are the diary type.  So I will make mine like that too.  I guess I need to share a little about myself if I am going to do that...

I am a stay-at-home, married, mother of 2. 

I hate that description for 2 reasons: first of all when someone says that you picture them chasing around cute little children, with a nice neat and tidy home.  My children, while cute are not so little.  They are both teenagers, one can drive and the other will be driving in the next few months.  Secondly, my home while not a contender for the frightening show "Hoarders" is not super neat and tidy.  It is lived in and comfy.  My Hubby, I'll call him Dr. D, and I have been married for 18 great years.

I love to cook, and eat.

One thing I do really well is cook.  I love to cook and my family loves to eat my cooking. I read cookbooks for fun.  I record cooking shows on my DVR. I am a fairly adventurous in the kitchen.   My Mother in Law has said that my house is her favorite place to eat!  I am proud of this ability but it has caused me a problem, a big problem.   I am overweight.  Dr. D was overweight, too.   Dr. D recently lost about 80 lbs doing P90X, and Insanity DVDs and being VERY strict in his diet. Weird strict, but that is for another post.

I am on the final weight loss journey of my life.

After turning 40 this past winter I decided it was time for me to get rid of this weight once and for all.  I have been overweight since my sophomore year of college. I have steadily put on lb after lb of the 75lbs I need to lose.  I have lost a few pounds here and there but I managed to put them back on with new friends joining in on the party every time.  Well not this time!
I joined Jenny Craig about 13 weeks ago.  I have done really well on it and will be at my halfway to my goal next week, assuming I don't have a breakdown and go for a midnight donut run!

I have started exercising seriously for the first time ever.

Now I am not going to be one of those hard bodies standing behind Tony Horton but I have been exercising regularly, meaning some sort of activity almost everyday for the last 13 weeks.  This is saying something for me.  I have never really enjoyed exercise, hated it in fact.  But I realize it is part of the journey and I am committed to it.  I started out walking my neighborhood and slowly started adding in a bit of jogging.  I called them my 'wuns' (part walk/part run)  I have recently started incorporating Yoga, Pilates, elliptical and P90X upper body weight lifting.  I like mixing it up.   I have some aches and pains and sometimes I feel like I am 80 years old but I keep coming back every morning.

I am a TV Junkie.

It feels like I should be standing up at a podium with a bunch of anonymous faces in front of me.  "Hello, my name is Mela and I am a TV addict."  I am sure it is part of the reason I am fat but I like watching television and I don't make a big deal about it.  Reality TV is a love of mine and so are drama-dies, comedies  and cop shows. I like cooking shows and documentaries. I am an equal opportunity TV watcher.    It may be easier to say what I don't like to watch.  I hate UFC.  It is one of Dr. D's favorite things to watch and I hate it.  I just don't understand watching two men beat each other to a pulp, and having them bleed all over each other.  I do not get it.

I love photography.

I asked Dr. D for a small, slim, simple camera for Mothers Day about 8 years ago.  I wanted one I could slip into my purse that would be light and easy to carry around.  I told him the exact model and color (pink) I wanted.  And when Mother's Day rolled around I was really excited to see the large box they lugged into the restaurant we were going to for brunch.  I waited patiently until after we had all finished eating and I opened my present.  It was a camera, but not the one I wanted.  It was a point and shoot but it had so many functions and buttons I was afraid to use it.  After a few months of taking blurry pictures with heads cut off I decided to enroll in a local continuing education class to help me figure this thing out.  Well, after that I was hooked.  I upgraded to a dSLR after a few short months and about 2 years later upgraded again.  I have taken many more classes at a larger school of photography and film and I have had a few pieces framed and displayed.  I love giving photographs as gifts and I love the feeling of capturing "the moment"  I would say I am a very happy amateur photographer!

These and a few other things are what I will be writing about.  Come along for the ride and I hope we have fun!

Mela