Halloween Costume Contest!

The company where I got my leotards (www.welovecolors.com) to make my Cheetara costume is having a contest to see who made the BEST costume using their products.







Please vote for my costume!

Follow the link above, and click the little "Like" link.

Note: You need to be logged in with your google id.


There will also be voting on Facebook.

Once that page is up, I will post that link as well.

Thanks!

I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!









I am going as the Diva from the 5th element this year!

Here is a sneak peak!









I hope to win the company-wide (3300+ Employees) costume contest with this one!!

I will post more pictures later.


REMEMBER TO VOTE!!!

I am a dork...

If you have been reading my blog, you know that I am a dork that really likes to keep tabs on things. I have a excel spreadsheet where I record my daily weight and chart it.

Well since I got braces I have been taking a picture with my phone after each adjustment to see my progress. It is kinda neat to see how my teeth have gone from:




To this:

Time Will Tell

I am still in a holding pattern waiting for the moment my future will become clear.

Once I know which path to take I can start the ball rolling, but for now, I feel more like the marble on a roulette wheel.

I am waiting for all this uncertainty to end.

It may be as soon as a few weeks, or it may drag on for months.

I feel lots of pressure, and look forward to the release.

Aaron and I united in California is the goal.

On the Cusp of Change.

Aaron came back from CA, and has moved me into an apartment with a month-to-month lease on the east side of Madison. Most of our belongs are in boxes, only the essentials are out.

We still have a lot of purging to do before the big move.

We are in a holding pattern right now. It is hard not knowing how long it will be until the proverbial ship comes in.

I am trying to stay positive but it's been a crazy ride these last few months!

3 weeks....

The lease is up on our current apartment this month, and the Manager asked if we would be willing to move out early (9/24/09). They want to put in new carpet for the next tenant, paint etc...
She then said we could prorate our last months rent so we only pay for the days we are here! Sweet.

Aaron has been in San Francisco since 8/8/09 and it has been really hard living without him.

Aaron is still searching for work and a place for us to live. He has looked at a few places and he is looking at another one today.

On the job hunt: One company seemed very enthusiastic about hiring Aaron, but they never called back when they said they would, and that was about a week ago. I am beginning to doubt he will hear back from them in the affirmative... but we'll see... Plan "b" is already in full swing.


Once I get out there I will start a job hunt as well. The dream was that Aaron would get a job and I would go into "mommy-mode." But it might be the two of us living in a studio apartment again. ;)

Aaron and I lived in a TINY roach infested studio apartment when we first moved to Madison. Like when we had the full size futon in "bed" mode it FILLED the apartment. You had to crawl over it to get from a desk to the bathroom.

We might be going back to that lifestyle soon, but this time in San Francisco!

The current plan is to find a place and then Aaron will fly back here to help me load up a U-Haul and drive back across country with our slimmed down belongings and 2 cats!

We might throw a "going away" party or two... but that depends on how much time we have.

I have been super stressed but I am trying to keep cool and let life happen as it happens instead of worrying about the future. Worrying won't change what happens, but will make me feel miserable... and who wants that?

I try to focus on what I am doing at this second and not let my thoughts drift off into the "What if's...." I focus on the feeling of typing, the words as they appear on my screen. The hum of the computer's fan and the refrigerator. My own breathing, a passing car... Just keeping my mind in the present and not letting myself make me worry about the things I can't do anything about.

Living alone...

As perfect as Aaron is, there was one thing on which we disagreed...

To simplify it for a blog post: Aaron hates Wisconsin.

He wants to live in a large urban area with lots of culture and good public transit system.

He wants our kids to have opportunities to pursue their interests with a world class instructors.

These are things you can't find in small town in rural Wisconsin, and Aaron refused to start a family here. He even said that he would resent having kids here because they would "trap" him in Wisconsin.

So after years of arguing, soul searching and reaching our early 30s childless, I had an epiphany.

Just like when I realized that being fat and being me were not the same thing;
I realized that I don't have to live my life less than 25 miles from where I was born.

When I thought about it - it didn't matter to me WHERE we lived as long as we soon start our family.

My stubborness to stay in Wisconsin was preventing our own family from being born!

I shared this with Aaron, and soon he had a one-way ticket to San Francisco.

Aaron left last Saturday.

After being married for nearly nine years, I've found living alone hard. I have been keeping myself very busy so I don't have time to freak out about it. When I get stressed - it's like another person takes over my body and tries to make me eat really bad things. I stopped two "attacks" the Sunday after Aaron left.

"Crazy Jess" would start making a bowl of frosting or batter, and I would then stop "her."

I reminded myself that this is an unhealthy coping mechanism, and I should call a friend or workout. I then threw out all my trigger foods: chocolate chips, sugar, and cocoa powder. I have been okay since. :)


Aaron is staying with friends and is on the job hunt. He has some interviews, and is applying at IT temp agencies. (He is a computer programmer.) Once he has a job, he will find a place to rent.
Our lease here in Madison, WI is up at the end of September, so if he doesn't find a job and a place by then, we move to "Plan B."

Our future is really up in the air right now!


I am slimming down our belongings for a cross country move into a much smaller appartment.

Slimming Down

Aaron and I are moving to a new, much smaller, apartment soon and we need to slim down our personal belongings.

Although spending a weekend carrying boxes full of books we've never read, or DVDs viewed only once to our new place would be great exercise... there just isn't going to be room for them!!

We have been going through our collections, selecting only the "essentials."

Piles of really nice books, and like-new DVDs did not make the cut, so I thought I would take them to the local resale shop because they were too nice to just throw away!

I was only offered only $8.00 for over 20 really good books in really good condition. That was less than 30 cents each for books like this one:

I am not one to make the same mistake twice, so I started listing the remaining books and movies on Amazon.com.

In less than 24 hours, I had made 8 sales and shipped them off quickly!

Changing to Simple Layout again

Surprise! I have changed my site back to a cleaner, simple layout again.

My previous layout was pretty but not easy on the eyes.

I wanted to change to a layout that was neat and inconspicuous if you are browsing it at work!

I am still converting things, so be patient! :)

Have a happy, healthy and safe weekend!

-Jess :)

Changing Your "Spots"

I am loveable and deserve love!

It's often said "a leopard cannot change his spots" when someone believes he cannot change.

This saying goes all the way back to the bible: "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?"(Jeremiah 13:23)

I used to think that being a fat chick was who I was. Fat was me. My obesity was my leopard spots. I truly believed it was impossible for me to be healthy - I'm fat, I have always been fat -so why even try!!

Most people fail at weight loss because they can't change their spots. They go back to their old ways.

The truth is you can change your spots - but only after you believe you can!

Not a dream. Not a hope. Not a wish.

You really need to believe it is real... like those movies around Christmas time!!

Weight loss is more a mental process than a physical one. Your willpower and self-control, and self-esteem are key to your success.

You need to get your mind in shape before you can get your body in shape!

Are you battling depression or self-loathing? Get that taken care of first or you are setting yourself up for failure!

Losing weight isn't a magic bullet that will fix your life. You are loveable and deserve love right now - you don't need to lose weight for that! Do it for your health, that is the only reason that works.

Caught up in Summer!

First off, let me apologise for the long span between posts. I got so caught up in enjoying the Summer - I never found the time to make a new post!

I kept thinking, "Nothing to report! Life's great!"

I hope you are preparing for a happy, healthy, and safe 4th of July weekend!

Here is a funny video about getting healthy. I lost my weight just as they say by eating less (I made healthier choices, not really less) and moving more.

I would like to thank Starr for giving me the link to this video. It really made me giggle, and feel happy that I am losing weight the best way!