i've been MIA...

...but only in the blogging world.

After my {self} record breaking 30 days of blogging about my 30 thoughts of my weight loss journey I think my brain & my fingers needed a break! But really...only my fingers got a break because I feel like I've been as busy as ever!

After I hit the 2 year mark I decided to stop tracking my weight with Weight Watchers. I started out 2 years ago following the plan, tracking food & weight, and learning SO MUCH from their website. As time has gone on I have proved to myself that I can handle the planning, choosing, and eating on my own. I am very grateful for the WW program and I know it will always be there should I need it again...but I don't plan on it!

Here's a recap of what I've been up to the last few weeks...

Halloween MRI

DinoAnnie

Rainbow Annie at bus duty!

Dressed up in Vegas {whole post on that to come}

Detoxing from Vegas!

Lemon Meringue Pie!!

Being an honorary Lincoln!!

Cupping.

Hot cocoa & fire!

Christmas Tree of 2013

Shoulder surgery approved.

 

That's not all...but that's the jist!

Fingers crossed {this next month is WAY less stressful than the last}...

the 2 year mark!!!

Today marks 2 years since my tipping point. And you know how I celebrated...

Kait, Mom, Noel, Bree, Sara, Brooke, Jason

Erica, Me, Sabrina, Alison

{missing from the picture is Brian, Alison's husband}

 

BARRE3, of course!!!

 

I had invited my friends & family to join be at the barre for a class!! I was so happy with the turn out. A few of my village battled Portland rush hour traffic to be there with me. Erica taught a ROCKING class, it was so faced paced I didn't have time to cry. Except for at the end...the tears definitely came! Erica played "Girl on Fire" and dedicated it to me and then I looked around and saw my husband, Mom, and some of the very best friends a girl could ask for.

 

Flowers and cards from three of my biggest cheerleaders.

 

Carrie - owner of barre3 who accepted me for who I was and treats me like one of her own!

Amanda - my personal trainer who believed in me LONG before I believed in myself.

Kait & the barre3 Home Office - who continue to support & surprise me with their generosity.

Cards from Carrie & Amanda

The words on the outside are powerful. The words on the inside made my cry.

 

Afterwards Jason, Bree, Noel and I went to grab dinner since it was 7:30 and we were starving. We headed to the Mexican restaurant that shares a parking lot with barre3. It'd been a very long time since I'd been to a Mexican restaurant. Part of me really, REALLY wanted to get a cheese quesadilla but my friends reminded me I didn't need that. Instead I got a taco salad and it was very good!

 

Me, Noel & Bree

These two have stood by me and lifted me up through some of the roughest patches of my life.

 

Jason & I

I just love him SSSOOO much!!!

 

I have many feelings about this milestone and the future...

 

 

It is going to be interesting to see how this "maintenance" part of my change goes. I've been the same weight for about 12 weeks now so I really do consider myself in maintenance. Sure, I want to get tighter and more toned but I don't think my number on the scale is going to move easily anymore - and that's okay! I know I will never go back to where I was!! More on how I plan to tackle the maintenance part of my journey, later!

 

Fingers crossed {that maintenance is as easy as losing weight was}!!!

QVC version 2.0!!!

Well, it finally happened!!! Not only did was make it to Philadelphia...we made it on to QVC {unlike the last trip}!! Here's the story of QVC Version 2.0!!!

Just two days before we went we had to practice...This time around I was able to go so much more because I was 7 weeks out of the sling instead of 10 days!

um. hello butt!!

 

 

loving my waist in this picture!

 

I set my DVR...

 

 

 

On a lovely {rainy} morning Harper and I boarded our flight to Philly. While I was waiting at the gate I discovered a very fun non-scale victory...

 

I hadn't worn this backpack since last summer...

there's a little more room now-a-days!

 

Harper and my flight was uneventful and arrived on time!

 

travel buddies!!

 

practicing my ballerina arm at Chicago-Midway

 

We jumped into a cab and headed back to the trusty Radnor Hotel {we stayed there on version 1.0}! We talked the guy into getting us adjoining rooms which was the best idea ever. We headed for a walk and to find a grocery store to have snack at QVC because we weren't sure what the situation was going to be there! We had another salad for dinner {salad for lunch too} because  we are vain and wanted to look good on TV ;-)

 

It felt so awesome to check Facebook on Friday and see what some of my biggest supporters were saying...

 

 

Bright and early Saturday morning we got up and got full on ready AKA full make up and hair, all before 7am EST which is really like 4AM on the west coast!

 

We were picked up by Sadie, Chris, and Robin {Chris' Mom} and set off through some GORGEOUS country side to QVC!!

 

WE FINALLY MADE IT!!!

 

Harper, Myself, & Sadie

 

Chris, Susan {agent}, myself, Sadie, Harper

{Robin is FABULOUS at taking pictures}

 

walking down the many halls of QVC

 

officially official

 

Sadie signing in!!

Harper and I in front of the TVs that showed live QVC all over the world

 

ready to go!

Harper and I were super nervous and excited at this point!!

 

walking out to the stage!! nervous balls of energy at this point!!

 

it's happening!!

my testimonial.

 

truth is the highest I was was 220 lbs and that day we were on QVC I weighted about 142 lbs. So that's -78!! The picture on the right was from the second week of January...so almost 8 months ago! Wish we'd been able to update it all but legal didn't allow it!

 

horse pose

in practice I wasn't smiling and they were VERY worried I wouldn't smile on camera.

there's nothing to worry about...I love to smile!!!

seated core!

 

after!!!

 

Once we were done with our 8 minutes of fame we stayed around a bit to watch the numbers. There was a live computer in the back room that you could see second by second how many units were being bought! It was cool!

 

Harper and I got dropped back off at the hotel to get ready for dinner. The Lincoln's planned dinner out in Delaware because they knew that I wanted to go to all 50 states! It was such an amazing gesture!! Though before we headed to dinner Harper and I wanted lunch...

 

Popping our Smashburger cherries!

 

watching the airing on the iPad at the Radnor while drinking wine at like 3:30pm!

great times!

 

Delaware!! Thanks for the amazing memories Lincoln Family!!

 

Robin wanted to show us the birdhouses on the river walk.

We used it as a moment to bust out some barre3!!

 

Harper, Sadie & I

 

We headed back to the hotel pretty early because Harper and I had to get up at 3:30 am to get ready and head to the airport - which is really 12:30 AM where we live! It's crazy!! But then, the real crazy came...

 

 

A cab ride where the driver was likely on drugs, asked us if we both over 30 and wanted marriage advise, had a bat, gas can, and rope in the trunk, was going over 80mph the whole way there and I was seriously writing my last will & testament on Facebook and texting Jason that I loved him. But we made it to the airport and had two very uneventful flights back home.

 

This was one of the most magical, memorable, and awe inspiring trips. I love spending time with the people whom I went with! I couldn't have asked for a better travel partner in Harper, Sadie is truly magical to be around, Chris is one of the calmest men I've met. While I don't know if I'll ever have an experience like this again, I will forever have the memories.

 

All of this wouldn't have happened without my past, which I think is an important piece. If you've read this far and if you're maybe just starting a weight loss journey please know...anything is possible. 2 years ago I was a size 20W and weighted 220 pounds. I never in my wildest dream thought I'd be a back up exerciser on live TV. EVER.

 

Fingers crossed {that anything I haven't even yet dreamt of is possible}...

One foot in front of the other...

... All the way to the top!





There's been many times in my life where I've started a diet or a lifestyle change and not followed through. This time though I knew I had to! It really was about seeing those numbers, seeing the pictures and how I was feeling. 20 months ago I couldn't even walk up a flight of stairs without having to stop at the top and catch my breath. When I would try to run a mile I would have to stop for five times because I couldn't do it.

Last month I went on one of the most challenging hikes I've ever been on, with my best friend. We hiked Silverstar Mountain in Washington State. Funny part of the story, neither of us had really ever planned a day hike before. We'd always gone with our families who did the planning. We set up on our adventure to do what we thought was a 4 mile round-trip hike. Turns out that wasn't the parking lot that we ended up in... After hiking about 2 miles, which should've been the halfway/turn around point, we realize we had quite a while to go! My first thought was that there was no way I could do it. That's what I was used to thinking about myself.





At that 2 mile mark was also about when we hit the snow, which we were most definitely not expecting! After looking through the guidebook we realized the end of our hike was still over 2 miles away... you can see the trail we ended up following on the far hill to the left of that big pine tree. It was about this time that a big church group had caught up to us. There was about 20 of them and they were all around our age. We actually ended up pretty much joining their group which was a nice distraction.





All said, we hiked over 5 miles in the snow! It was during the snow walking that I really had to do a lot of self talk. My brain really wanted to give up for some reason but I knew my body was really able to handle it. I didn't want to give up because my best friend was with me and I didn't want to disappoint her, I didn't want to give up because I knew I would be proud when I made it to the top and back down. I wanted to see the view! I kept telling myself that my body was Barre3 strong. I have never been so proud of myself as to when I stepped on the summit of that mountain.





At the summit of Silverstar Mountain!




Bree and I With a few gorgeous mountains in the background!
Left to right: Mount Saint Helens, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams.












Thinking about a multitude of things. I remember thinking how astonishingly gorgeous it was and that if I had never lost this weight I probably would've never been at the top. When we were at the top of that Summit you could see five mountains of the Cascade Range. There was barely a cloud in the sky, it was a perfect day, and I proved to myself that I could do this. I quietly, and without anyone noticing, shed a couple of tears. I was just overwhelmed with the beauty, myself, and my friends determination and support to get me to the top of that mountain. Bree stopped with me every time I needed to stop, I knew that she truly was not judging me, and even over longlegs probably could've gone twice as fast she always let me keep the pace. I feel so fortunate to have a friend like her, not only because of this hike but in so many aspects of life she's been such a great support over the last 19 1/2 years. I hope that everyone who's going through any kind of struggle has a Bree in their life. Bree's been through a lot recently and I hope that I've been as much of a support to her as she has been to me!




Of course, once you go up you must go back down. The way down was almost more tough than the way up because we knew how far we had to go and it's really hard to walk downhill in the snow! There wasn't as much talking on the way down as on the way up and I don't really know why that is but I was okay with it. About halfway down my knees really started to hurt. Bree stuck at my slow, slow pace, even teaching me how to zigzag back and forth across the trail instead of just going straight down.

We were about 100 yards from the parking lot, Bree had literally just said "I can see the car" and I twisted my ankle! Unfortunately it wasn't on the same leg as my hurt me so I really just hobbled the rest of the way down. When I got home this is what happened...




You know what I love most about this picture, the smile on my face. I had just walked almost 10 miles, through snow and in pain. But I had done it.





Finger crossed {that once my shoulder heals we'll be back out hiking}...