Yep! I'm still here

I can't believe it's been almost a year since my last post. A lot has happened and on the flip side, not much has changed. Since my June 13th post, I became the mother of a teenager. Yikes! It's been stressful, trying and sometimes I look at my son and think, "that is not the kid I gave birth to." So far I haven't killed him or caused bodily harm. I've been showing great restraint and patience.

Don't let the cute face fool ya

In September, my maternal grandmother passed away. It hit me hard. I mean really hard. She was my last surviving grandparent. She's the one that gave me my name. It still hurts but I know that she is in a better place. Always, the up side to a death in the family is that family comes together. It was great seeing all of my uncles, aunts and cousins. We are scattered all over the country and don't get to see each other as much as we should. With the death of my grandmother, we all made a vow to not let so much time go by without visiting whether it be in a central location or whatever.

The weight struggle continues on. I went to my Gyno at the end of last year and I didn't gain any weight! Woo hoo! But I hadn't lost any either. Boo. So right now, I am using the internet to help me with my weight loss. I'm using the Lose It! app to track my calories and workouts. Thanks to Pinterest, I discovered the workout jar. You put $1 in the jar for every time you workout. Once you get up to $100, you buy yourself a treat. I'm at $15 and I started the Workout Jar back in February. LOL! Baby steps. I have been consistent with tracking my food. Now I just need to do that with working out. Now that the weather is nice, it won't be too much of a hardship going to the gym (I hope). And I have decided to not let anything or anyone get in my way of getting to the gym. I'm putting myself first. Everyone else can wait.

A friend of mine (ex co-worker), Felicia, was diagnosed with breast cancer 2 years ago and she passed away last month. She fought the entire way. She didn't let the diagnosis or the treatment slow her down. She wasn't sure if she would have a little or a lot of time left so she did everything she wanted to do but had always put on the back burner. She traveled to Europe, visited New Orleans. She had her own bucket-list that she was determined to fulfill. I admire her so. damn. much. And I learned so much from her. Life is too damn short. Live it. Love it. Enjoy it.

That's how I want to live my life. Not everyday will be a great day or even an ok day. But I am going to be appreciative that I am alive to LIVE another day. The one thing Felicia taught me was that we should treat our bodies like a temple. She was into holistic, natural remedies and products and fitness. She was a runner and was trying to get me to start running. Thanks to her, I've started making my own products -- facial cleanser, body scrub, hair treatments. It's cheaper, better for you and you actually know what you're using on your body. My husband is on the same healthier living kick. He is about to turn 41 and he does not want to get the "Whitmore belly" as he calls it. So we as a family have cut back sugar, processed foods, red meat. We do allow ourselves to cheat because you still want to have that nice steak for dinner and that yummy cheesecake for dessert. But we are more cognizant of what we're putting into our body. Like I  told my husband, I don't want to be 50 and taking a bunch of meds to be able to function and get through the day. No sir, that will not be me!

Hopefully this won't be my last post for another 10 months. I will be getting back to being more consistent. We're actually going on vacation this summer to Aruba! (That's another motivator for getting my ass in shape). I will be detailing my journey through life. Some of it may be boring, some may be interesting but either way, I can guarantee I will find a way to make it funny!