Time to Reflect?

Well last day of 2008 so I guess it's a blogger's duty to reflect. Wow- what a year. I already had the perfect boyfriend, but I will be damned if he did not get even more perfecter. Yes- he is a better boyfriend and I have fallen More in love. Every day I thank my stars to have him in my life. I am truly blessed in the love department.

As for my weight loss journey, well I manager to lose over 25lbs and gain it back. I don't feel good about it, but now, for the first time I know I can do it and in 2009 it will be my one and only goal to do it again and take it further.

I feel like I maintained friendships and became closer with some family members.

I have family members and friends get married and get engaged.

I played a part in the opening of a world class museum and love my job.

I learned how to change my own oil and am fully recovered physically from my motorcycle accidents- in fact i desperately miss riding.

I worked with Brian to create a line of plus size women's motorcycle gear- which will launch officially in 2009 sometime.

I started a side jewelry business selling Cookie Lee Jewelry. Super fun and cute jewels!

got a new roommate and new kitty roommate who are awesome so far.

boy what more could a girl want? it was a good year for me personally and i cant wait to see what 2009 will bring!

Thanks for reading my blog and happy new year

Okay for REELZ

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Wes and Gary Coleman too!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Yes we Dance!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Elf This!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

DONATE NOW!!

So I went to the International Motorcycle Show last weekend with Wes and got really excited about riding again. Don't worry- I promised myself no more commuting! I want to ride for recreation on summer weekends in groups or with my honey. But there is no way I can afford a motorcycle on my own right now.

So I have decided to tap into the generosity of the internet world. Meaning- YOU.
Wether it's $2 or $200 help me get closer to riding by donating to the "Get Jessy back on Two Wheels" fund:

Click there to donate.
If you help out I promise to always wear lots of gear, make and sell women's protective gear through Nelson Rides, represent women and motorcycling in a positive way and love you forever.
Here it is again:

YouTube Videos I am watching right now

I Heart Xmas too


Funny:


Gavin at my work:


Dance:

Sophia, Not Forgotten

Sophia finally stopped by this past Friday (yesterday) and it wasn't weird at all, except she didnt plop on the couch with us and Lunesta wasnt with her. She actually requested a blog post . . . so here it is. She is letting us keep the fruit basket hangy thing, which I LOVE and the thing that stacks the spices in the cabinet. We will take good care of these things and think fondly of sophizzle when we use them. I totally forgot one thing though- There are carious items in the fridge and freezer that she forgot. Oh well- an excuse to come back! Plus we have more mail for her too.

Below I put the photo of our dear former roommate (yet still current friend) having dessert for dinner one of the last nights of our roommate union.

Sick Timeline

Tuesday shortly before bed - beginnings of a sore throat, some mild dull pain
Wednesday morning - dull pain persists, obvious swelling and puffiness when looking down my throat (flashlight/mirror)
Wednesday late morning - Sneeze, dull pain turns into sharp pain, throat drops must now stay in mouth to prevent sharp throat pain.
Wednesday afternoon - Sniffling begins
Wednesday late afternoon - must carry tissues to meeting, very watery clear snot
Wednesday Evening - Sinus pressure headache begins, more snot, throat still hurts. I drink hot lemonade like Rachael told me to and that helps a little, Wes runs to store for more tissues and throat drops.
Wednesday night - took nighttime cough medicine, which doesnt last very long and I am only able to sleep in short increments. I call/e-mail in sick for Thursday. I somehow make it through the night, but it was pretty miserable. Mucas is now yellow.
Thursday morning and most of the day - watched a lot of TV, blew my nose a million times, headache and snot persistant, very miserable
Thursday afgternoon - nighttime cough medciine allows me to take a na, still miserable, still have pressure headache.
Thursday evening - Start to feel better, headache went away, sniffling less, I decide to go to work Friday.
Thursday night - all symptoms come back fierce evening is very interrupted and miserable. lots of chills and sweats. I think it was 3am that I decide to go on a hunt for old medicine for sinus- I found one single nighttime sinus pill and take it. I call/email in sick for Friday.
Friday morning - Sleep well from 4am until 11am. Wake up feeling better. blow some more yellow snot out of my chest and head. gross. headache seems gone, cough and mucus persists. This is the first time I feel okay sitting upright at the computer. I remain hopeful and optimistic that I am on the mend.

Stupid head cold

being sick sucks balls

Shrimp Stuffing???

I thought it would be fun a while back to do a cooking project with the kiddo, but she was interested in experimenting on her own. Here is what she came up with: Shrimp stuffing - blech! Well to be fair I dont like shrimp and not a huge stuffing fan, but she liked it!

Rob Schneider

So again, I am catching up on old stuff here b/c I am just now getting around to uploading some photos.
Aside from the excitement of opening weekend at the academy I went to a giant's game that weekend and afterwards look who we ran into:

Remembering Sophia

A homage to our former Roommate (who just lives somewhere else now)

One of the things some people might find annoying, but we found endearing . . . how when she left after a meal all of the cabinet doors and dishwasher door would be left open- wide open like a ghost was leaving us a message. We will miss this. It was cute.

Coach Bag

A long time ago I blogged about my new coach bag and raved about it and I have used it every day since I got it. It's my favorite bag of all time. Anyway I finally got around to getting a photo of it off the net so you can see how cute it is.

What's New???

Well Thanksigiving week was fabulous. Just the right mix of family, friends, fun and relaxation. Throw in a little bit of traffic and not enough shopping, but hey still prety awesome. COming back to work after a break like that is tough, but I am doing pretty well. I mean hey it's just about Friday, right?

Alicia is moving her things in very slowly, but we look forward to when she is settled in and we get to know her.

We still miss Sophia though, she has yet to stop by and say hi (and pick up some remaining items and security deposit) but I am sure when she gets a chance she will give us a ring.

Mister is still restless and lonely without his BFF, but I just remind him that he has new friends coming soon.

I must say I am loving the holiday season- it never gets old!

Great Thanksgiving

-cleaned the house really well
-left wednesday night
-my package from cookie lee did not come in time
-package made it to the house anyway- thanks alicia!
-lots of bay area traffic
-made it to buttonwillow by 11pmish wednesday
-bed waS hard, hotel bare minimum
-thursday morning we ate at the country truck stop buffet, not bad for $5
-drive to mom and jims pretty smooth, a bit of LA traffic
-Got there with plenty of time before turkey
-hung out, then ate turkey and all the usual suspects
-hung out more then ate dessert. HIghlight: Wenny's chocolate croissant bread pudding
-eventually drove to pasadena to crash at todd and wennys- real nice accommodations
-highlight: playing with waldorf T&W's dog
-Friday IHOP breakfast with T&W then Tuesday Morning browsing and down to OC for Cookie Lee show
-now many showed for the jewelry show, but I still did pretty well.
-My favorite michellie and her hubby came too, she sold her wine charms, which are AWESOME
-The great Lisa came over after and we all went to CPK for dinner
-W&Me drove back to pasadena again in time to catch a movie with T&W
-I read in the car and felt carsick so i took a dramamine for the first time
-could not stay awakw during the movie- oops- dramamine causes drowsiness! (Who knew?)
-slept very well and then yesterday morning we went to universal city walk and shopped and had lunch
-around 2pm saturday we hit the road
-the worst wendys ever for dinner in santa nella
-home by 830pm sooo happy to see mister and a clean house
-alicia did not move anything in yet, but soon enough i think
-caught up on our shows we missed (i heart DVR!) and slept really well
-really weird dream about me losing my job- ouch! thank goodness it was just a dream

Since it will b a long time before i upload the photos, i will include photos from thanksgivings from the past.

The Holidays

Yesterday we went to the store and passed the recycling center. Now this is not your average recycling center. There are art sculptures outside of it made out of recycled things, but yesterday it was all decked out for Christmas and this made me happy. Very happy. Christmas items have been on the shelves of stores for weeks now,but this was the first string of lights up in public I have seen and I knew the holiday season had arrived. I will have a week away from the office after Tuesday and I am just excited for the good times,the shopping, the good food, the comfy sweaters, etc.

Aren't you?

Skull BUtterfly Hair Clips!

They are Orange and my Babe got them for me at a Car Show!

A Day Off

I woke up without the aid of an alarm yesterday at 7:30am.I probably could have easily convinced myself to go back to sleep, but instead I wanted a full day to myself and got my butt out of bed. I cleaned, farted around on the puter, excersized, went to Ikea with Rachael, went to a girl's potluck at Haydees, went to Target, did dishes, watched a little bit of TV, new roommie stopped by with some papers and to measure her room, I made dinner. Wes and I were relaxing in a post-dinner haze when I looked at my blackberry to see our therapy appointment reminder pop up- Whoops! We only go every other week and the last appointment was canceled because I didn't feel well. It was about seven minutes to the hour and I said "let's go!" Wes said "c'mon, we won't make it". But away we went. In fact we were only about seven minutes late to our appointment. Not bad!

I think a mid-week day off should happen at least once a month, that was good!

Mendocino

Wes, HL and I drove up to Mendocino/Ft. Bragg to visit my sister and her husband before they moved out of their current house, which is in the redwoods on a beautiful campground. Here are some photos.



This is my sweetie and the Nin





Pretty Stuff



The Nin admires the pretty stuff on the drive



We had to stop at one point on the drive home because I thought I had to barf- it was a pretty spot to barf at (although I kept everything down afterall)

Update

Well my doc said my good cholesterol is low and my triglicerides are a tad high. She said nothing to worry about too much as long as I continue to excersize. And excersize I did. I went jogging last weekend at the park, then i did the jackie workout on comcast excersize tv and last night I did the biggest loser excersize video which totally kicked my ass. I think tonight iwill mend and repair and saturday i will jog again. i really like those biggest loser videos. I put them (amung other things) on my amazon wish list. In case you want to buy me something, LOL.

We have no roommate this month, so im short on cash, but i might buy them for Xmas.

wishlist here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/1GFE1XN29QCRJ

YesWeCan

It felt very good to see Obama win, but Wes and I are holding our breath for prop 8.
I am very excited for change and very glad to see great voter turn-outs, etc.

Aren't you?

Just Do It

Don't Forget . . . . . . . .

Some Relief

After a whole day of agony we finally heard from Alicia, our housemate hopeful. I had e-mailed her in the morning yesterday to tell her the roommie position is hers if she wants it. I figured I would call her in the evening if I do not get a call or reply. Oops! She never gave me her number. But luckily last night she did respond with enthusiasm and said application and deposit is no prob. - Yay! After feeling jerked around by several other potential roommies this is some relief, but it's not over until money is in hand and paperwork signed- in fact I prob would be truly relieved until she is sleeping here, but at least we are two steps in the right direction. I hope if she ever reads my blog she looks back on this and laughs, knowing that I am a tad neurotic about things sometimes but mean well.

The Waiting Game

As Sophia and her Mom are scrubbing her ten months of grime out of her room and bathroom I hope I hear back from Alicia, whom we have offered Sophia's former position of roommate to. Waiting for her to confirm and then having to wait until December 1 for her to actually move in will not be fun but she was the best candidate for the job. We are taking an almost $600 hit by waiting, but having a good long term roommie will be worth it in the end. I hope she calls and is excited to move in.

only a few days Left

This was by far my most productive sick day ever. I slept in, cleaned some, answered some work emails, cleaned some more, went to Comcast to exchange the defective cable box, got gas, car wash, saw my doctor for my annual, bank, cleaned some more, took out trash, dishes, went to the dentist, went shopping, found a halloween costume, went for a jog, programmed (or tried to) the cable remote, dinner.

The one really bummer part of the day was that the girl we were expecting to move in this weekend was turning out to be a big flake. She said the reason she didn't contact us for almost a week after we sent her the paperwork was because she was sick with the stomach flu (one of the biggest symptoms is broken dialing/typing finger i guess), so I gave her another chance and arranged for her to bring it by after work the next day (yesterday). Not only did she not show up, but she didn't apologize. I called to see if she was coming an hour and a half after she was supposed to be here and she emailed me to say she was stuck on the phone with Dad- "really?" - I asked if she was still coming and she said it was getting dark and he was still talking. No apology, no "ill come tomorrow" - just "It's getting dark and he is still talking" - again - "REALLY????" - So Wes and I had a big talk. I feel stood up. I do not want to live with someone this inconsiderate. I give her one more chance and I ask her to call me when she is off the phone with her dad. She does not call or e-mail at all.

This morning I told her it wasn't going to work out and I reposted the roommate ad.

Sad. Less than a week until rent is due and we have no one moving in.

Discouraged

So we had a few flakes and a few almost roommates, then we found Annalese . . . well we haven't heard from her in a week and she is not returning e-mails or calls. If her mother is sick or something I will feel bad, but is she just another craigslist flake? I would like to thing we are a good judge of character and she really wanted to live here and will be moving in next weekend as planned, but we have to cover our butts and get rent paid- so we reposted the ad for a roommate on CL today. I doubt anyone will respond and if they do, they will prob be lame- but we are trying- and still hoping Annalese works out too.

What is This????

I can not for the life of me find what these "flowers" are called. I love them. They are cut flowers, not a potted plant. Please tell me what it is called so I can buy some or plant some. Thank you.

Sunset in the Sunset

This was a while back, but my friends and I went to see a sunset in the sunset - Ocean Beach, San Francisco

Chihuly!

Wonderful Wonderful Wes

Now I know sometimes I talk about the tougher end of my relationship and sometimes I gush ...this is going to be one of those times I gush. Wes hates when I talk about his less-than-quiet sleeping, and he is somewhat embarrassed about the fact ...but the other day I showed him a recording of a TV show about real people testing our night-time breathing aids and a couple of them seemed to work. Rather than ignore the issue and huff and puff and feel bad like some folks might do, he went right to the computer to look up the product and even laid down the inflated cost they were asking to try it out. I was beside myself! He knows that this is something Istruggle with every day adn I can do nothing about. He realizes it is effecting sleep time and comfort and he did something about it. What an angel!!!!!! Even if it doesn't work I knwo he really is trying and that means a LOT. That is LOVE!

THen, yesterday I came home a little frazzled and tired, but was very happy to be home adn he had surprised me with no reason roses!!!! that's right a beautiful bouquet with fresh pink rose buds and some beautiful dried purple flowers all wrapped up and super special from a florist ...just because! Wow- That realllly made my day. I will take a photo fo them tonight.

How did I get so friggin lucky????

Next up, he knows I worry about him when he rides his motorcycle 30 miles to work (he doesnt wear as much safety gear as I would like- in fact besides for a 3/4 helmet he wears none) so this morning he texted me when he got to work so I didnt worry about him. So thoughtful!!!!

I love this man so much, he really is my light and my love. What an amazing person adn perfect partner. I am soo lucky.

That's all (well I COULD go on, but I will spare you)

Finally a Solution

Someone is finally speaking out and has a solution. CLICK HERE for an important message from Natalie Portman.

Wow how time flies

I was contacted recently by someone doing apaper or something about people and weight loss blogs and she asked me to do a survey. I had to look back and see when I started this darn blog and its been about 15 months. I had to look back at my original weight (scary close to my current weight) and I had to explain myself a little.

Well at one point I lost close to 30lbs. I don't remember at what moment I deicded after I platueaued that it wasn't worth the extra effort to keep going and I slowly let things fall back to how they were, but it happened.

I have started excersizing again, but I don't feel the same motivatin for my eating habits.

Well at least I am excersizing again, right?

I think come January I might have to see if I can get Wes on board with me for an overhaul in our ways. ...again ....

Jewelry!

Anything appeal to you?

Wow she has grown