It's Friday...that's my excuse

So, it's Friday morning, 9 am. I'm sitting here in my VS gray T-shirt with silver stars all over the front and the words I LOVE PINK across my back. I have on my black comfty PJ capris and slipper boots that come up to my knees with big pom-pom balls at the top. I have a hot mocha in my cute "fill-drink-wash-repeat" cup and I should be working. But you know what? I don't care. Nope, I don't. Because it's Friday. That's my excuse, valid or not and I've decided to be naughty for an hour or so.
So, while half of me really wants to go curl up on the couch with a big fuzzy blanket and drift in and out of consciousness while I watch re-runs of House Hunters, the other half of me is yearning to ramble on and on with a bunch of nonsense on this blog like I used to. Maybe I'll split my time up between the two and get my nap when I'm done talking to you. Yep, that sounds perfect.
So, I wonder...what've you been up to? The only person who reads this blog and that I actually keep up with regularly (that I know of) is Rene. The rest of you are becoming like fond memories in the recesses of my mind and heart. And that........is NOT cool. I miss you guys. I miss your feed back and your encouragement. Some of you have been my BEST and DEAREST friends for several years now (KATE!) or even for over a decade (KANDY!) and now it seems like we never talk. :-(
I know, I know....it's 99% my fault. I've gone AWOL from blog land for nearly a year now and while it's been necessary...it isn't how I imagined my life going...or how I've wanted it to be. Sometimes life has a way of making these choices for you, ya know!?!
Nevertheless, today, my attention is here. I wish this were a real conversation with all of you so that it wouldn't seem like me doing all the talking. It feels awfully self-centered right now.
But...I guess there is no way around that. So I will talk...and you can choose to read or not. :)

So...I realized just now that I really like to start every paragraph with "So". I wonder if that is what I do when I'm actually talking too???....hmmm.....

Anyway, (ha ha)...Since it's been so long since I've really taken more than 3 minutes to write, I feel like I have a MILLION things I want to say. Let me just give you a few major high-lights.

1) March 4th...one of the best days I've had in a while. Most of you know that on January 1st, 2009, I lost my 1.25 carat princess cut engagement ring along with the .5 carat wedding band that went with it. My heart was shattered and for over 2 years now, I've been without a diamond on my finger (although I did wear a plain gold band to signify my married status). All of my closest friends have heard me beg, plead and whine about wanting a new ring pretty much non-stop. Because I knew we were saving up for it, I knew the time was coming. Since March 28th is our anniversary (13 years!), I sort of expected that MAYBE that would be the day I would finally have a rock on my hand again. But...on a regular Friday morning (March 4th), I got up, threw on an old sweatshirt, baseball cap, jeans and raggedy tennis shoes and hopped in the car to go run some errands before my fitness class later on. To my surprise, Matt took off work and decided to go with me. That was unexpected...but NOTHING like when he pulled into the parking lot of Israel Diamond and said, "well babe, I got a bonus check at work and here is $X,XXX in cash and you can go pick out whatever ring you want right now!" O to the M to the G! I was in shock. Seriously, I didn't even know how to react. Long story short, I left with a beautiful round, vintage diamond and a gigantic smile! :)

2) March 28th...the actual anniversary date. Every year we try to take some kind of a trip on our anniversary-just the 2 of us-to reconnect as a couple. And when I say reconnect...I mean a LOT of serious CONNECT-ing. :) It's a special time for us that we look forward to every year because let's face it...with 2 kids, work, sports, church, family, etc....there just isn't a lot of time for THAT kind of intimacy at home. On these trips we spend ALL DAY LONG giving each other our undivided attention. We wake up when we feel like it, then we drink our coffee usually outside while we enjoy the sound of nature, read our Bibles and enjoy the uninterrupted presence of God and each other. We'll eat breakfast and then maybe take a nap. Spend the afternoon outdoors usually--walking leisurely through small boutiques or maybe down a trail to the lake while we throw a few lines in at the fish. We talk and dream and LISTEN. There are no distractions and after an early lunch/dinner, we settle in by the fireplace in our jammies and let the wonderful day we've just had culminate into a beautiful celebration of love that lasts hours longer than the average 7 minutes we spend on it at home.
As you can see...it is the reinforcing thread that hold our marriage together and preserves our sanity for the next year. To not have it...would be....dangerous. Sometimes this trip is big and exciting (like the year we took the 7 day Carribean cruise or the year we went to Big Cedar Lodge with the honeymoon package ) and some years it is extremely small (like the year we got a motel room in our OWN TOWN and pretended we were somewhere far away).
This year.....was a DUD. I won't go into detail because who really wants to hear negative stuff anyway right? But I will just say that what might have turned out to be a decent trip ended in cold, rainy days that couldn't be enjoyed outdoors, a gross hotel room that was moldy and didn't even have the fireplace we were promised online...and we were accompanied (unexpectedly-last minute change) by our 2 wonderful children who were bored out of their minds to be stuck in a hotel room with nothing to do. Pooooopy! That's all I can say about that. I am looking for some way, some how to save up enough cash to take a replacement trip sometime soon so we can have this time that we desperately need. Still...on March 28th, amidst whiny children, rain and mold, we celebrated our 13th anniversary and I couldn't be more in love with Matt Jones than if he were a buffet of my favorite foods. :) (that's saying a lot!)

3) On Friday, April 8th, I reached a personal goal of having over 30 people attend my fitness classes in a week. It's not anything I've talked publicly about really, but just a small goal I had, a stepping stone of proof that my business is growing. I actually had 36 people total...but some of them aren't paying customers (for example: my mom, Matt, Brooklyn and the owner of the building) so I don't count them in my #'s. Speaking of.....yes! Brooklyn has been attending my classes! I am so proud of her! She is doing GREAT!

4) I just finished reading "What Are You Waiting For? : The One Thing No One Ever Tells You About Sex" by author Dannah Gresh. It is for young women who aren't married yet. It was a page-turner though and answered a question I've had from the day I got married (13 years now). It's crazy that all this time I've thought my body was dysfunctional only to find out the problem was a result of something I did as a teenager! I highly recommend this book to all women. Even if you've been married for years....it will certainly shed a whole new light on what it really means to "lie with" your spouse!

Well, I think that is about it. I'd love to take a whole paragraph and tell you about how Brooklyn hit a homerun in her softball game the other night, but I understand that is not really THAT AWESOME unless you are her parent or her grandparent...so I won't go into it. I'll just say that it was an enormous deal for us. Brooklyn has never had a home run and quite frankly, I don't think she ever, in her wildest dreams, expected to. I shed tears of joy at watching her plow through those bases with such abandon and force. I knew it was going to be one of the best days of her childhood! A memory she would carry long into her adult years! :)

I guess before I end, I will touch on the subject of my health and fitness, since I AM doing this post on my P90X blog. I admit though, I'm leery of "going there" today. You know how it is...some days you just aren't "feeling it" and today....BLAH.
At the beginning of my fitness classes (Feb. 8th) I was at 140 pounds. Not great seeing as how just the month before I had won a weight loss challenge and lost down to 135. BUT...I did take a few weeks off (between when I got fired from the gym and when I started my classes) and I basically soothed the pain with junk food. (the oldest mistake in the book!)
After about 2-3 weeks of classes and I hadn't dropped any weight, I decided to start drinking Shakeology seriously. I figured if I am selling this stuff and telling people how great it is, I should really give it a try. So I did...and within about 3-4 weeks, I lost that 5 pounds. I've been sitting comfortably at 135 again now for a while...until I got on the scale yesterday and it said 137. {{BIG SIGH.....}} I'm so sick of chasing a number. My goal has been 125 for almost SEVEN years now. Do you know how exhausting it is to reach for something that is SO close for 7 years but never attain it?
Again, I'm split...half of me wants to say WTHECK...WHATEVER...WHO CARES! and the other half of me says NO! I CAN DO THIS! I WILL DO THIS! It is a war within and honestly the winning side switches about as often as the wind changes direction. :-/
I do know this much, I need to get to around 133, at least, if I want to be able to wear my summer shorts/capris without gasping for breath every time I sit down. I tried them on last week (when our temps reached 90!!) and it was not good. You know your pants are too tight when you take them off and there is a red line where every seam, button and thread was! :(
Thankfully, I have the tools and support I need to make these changes and get the results I want. :)

So....that's it. That's me today. I'd love to hear how you are. Leave me a big old long comment. It's cool. It would probably make my heart skip a beat to know that some of you haven't given up on me and my blog! :)
Have a great Friday and weekend! :)