Thursday Thoughts

Thankful Thursday:

Five things I am thankful for about myself
1. I am thankful that I have been able to walk and/or run over 120 miles in the past two months.
2. I am thankful that I refuse to give up. I may constantly be starting over, but I am constantly pushing myself to make it work instead of getting so frustrated that I just quit.
3. I am thankful that I am committed to completing my Coast-to-Coast goal in 2015. I know I was meant to do something like this because I can't stop smiling when I tell people about it.
4. I am thankful that I have found a gym that I am able to afford and that I enjoy going to.
5. I am thankful that I have found a new cardio workout that I enjoy, the stationary bike. It is a great cross training workout and I enjoy it so it doesn't feel like work.

Five things I am thankful for in life
1. I am thankful that I have a best friend that pushes me to go for at least one walk in the morning to break up the work day. We are able to push each other on the days that we just do not have the desire to go. She is someone who will hold me accountable and I appreciate that so much.
2. I am thankful that I have a husband who will compliment me. I may not always believe him (which in turn makes him say sweet things less often to avoid an argument), but the compliments are appreciated.
3. I am thankful that Patrick and I both have jobs that we enjoy and are doing well in. We were both recently promoted which is helping a lot financially.
4. I am thankful that Patrick and I are on the same page in regards to our budget. We are starting with our new budget tomorrow (payday) and we both feel good about what we have set as our goals. It's only a matter of time before we feel comfortable enough to buy our first (and hopefully only) house.
5. I am thankful that I have parents who are involved in Isabel's life. Growing up we were never really close to much of our extended family other than our grandparents. My mother would always say "Thank goodness we get to choose our friends.."

I never wanted that for my children. I wanted a close family. I wanted Isabel to spend time with her aunt (my sister) and uncle (brother in law) and cousin (niece). I wanted to be close with my parents so that Isabel would have a good relationship with her grandparents. I have that.. I consider my mom to be one of my best friends. My relationship is constantly evolving with my dad. I do wish I was a little closer with my sister, but I feel like we have a really close family over all (you have to in order to spend 9 days together on a family vacation with very little stress).

Without my parents I would have never been able to fight as hard as I did for custody of Isabel, or had the courage to put myself out there again. I cannot begin the thank them enough for everything they do for Patrick and I almost on a daily basis by watching Isabel while we are at work. Since Patrick's job is not 9-5 Monday through Friday they have to be flexible and it amazes me how lucky we are to have them in our lives.

Throwback Thursday:
I think it's going to take me a little while to get used to posting pictures of myself from the past. I feel a little weird doing it, but there are not a lot of pictures of myself from the past five years and that's kind of something I regret. So I'm going to put them out there from all phases of the past few years. From my highest weight when I was nine months pregnant and the yo yo weights from then to now. I don't know how many pictures I actually have, but I think it will be good to come to terms with my past in order to accept who I am now.

It's been one hell of a journey and I am ready to see myself, maybe the way others saw me. Again, I don't know how many pictures there are of me since I'm usually the one behind the camera. I'm going to do my best to pick pictures that show my body since this is a weight loss/fitness blog (or at least it's supposed to be).

My photo CDs are in no particular order (an ongoing organizing task I have yet to find time or money to do). Since they are not in any order, the photo's I post weekly will also not be in any particular order. I will do my best to include a year, but most pictures will be from March 2008-present as that is when I started saving my pictures onto discs.

 

 

These pictures were taken at Isabel's first birthday party in March of 2009. It took me almost two years to get back down to my pre pregnancy weight. I was not happy with my body here and I was not happy with other things that were happening that day (most of those things dealt with my ex and his father). I can honestly say that I did my best to let go of the negativity that day and made it all about Isabel. It ended up being a great day for her and I will be forever thankful to my friend Josh for taking pictures.