UH, yep! Ok it is my birthday weekend, and as much as I slightly getting older I do enjoy being around family and friends. So I shall be enjoying some good food and more than one drink. Have a great weekend.

Sometimes the best part about weight loss is eating, especially with great company. Thank you Jessie and Anna, you always make dinner more enjoyable. We all had the vegetable combo it was very tasty and filling, we bought a plate of vegetables to dip in our hummus and that was perfect, we actually all took some of our food home because we were full. Found out they will be changing the menu every 2 months so we will be able to try a wide variety of items. Thank you Aladdin's for your contribution and support of this program.

I was happy with my results, if I can get a 1/2 to 1 pound  a week, I will be happy. I am very close to that goal weight and only 15 pounds left. Then it is time for the tummy tuck. Though, unless I meet a billionaire who just wants to shower me with gifts or I win the lotto it is not going to happen. It does seem everyone lost so it was a good month, onto month #2.

OK, I am not concerned and look forward to comparing my scale with Lean Livings. I really do believe that scale is 1-2 pounds on the heavy side. I will be weighing myself

right before I come. Let me know what you think. Does the scale seem oft to you? Good luck everyone, I will be happy with a 1 pound a week loss.

NO, it wasn't like that, I did really well at the nutrition end of things, but it can be hard when the day has just been one of those days. So my stress food is pistachios. Oh so good and so healthy, so at least I did not feel guilty. It's days like these that can cause one to eat. But I did have a light at the end of the day. My son, who has been in the Marines for six years has come home...to stay. Would love to see him find a job. He was an embassy security guard for the last three years. If by chance anyone knows of a job for a smart, hard working young man, I would love to hear from you. But glad to have him home..So proud of what he has accomplished. 

It is so nice not having to sit by yourself and eat a great meal, but a great meal is even better when you can sit with great people. A big thank you to Jessie and Anna for an enjoyable dinner. I had the Ali Baba Pitza, good tasting and very filling. Look forward to trying the chicken salad pita that Anna had, that looked really good. Thank goodness we have quite a few months so we can try everything on the Lighten up menu. The best part of dinner was the company.

Been doing really good with the eating up until Thursday. OK, I had a small doughnut and 4 small cookies and Oh yeah, 4 pieces of Malleys dark chocolate hearts. On the upside I didn't go over my calorie county for the day. OK, so the weren't healthy calories, but if you don't treat yourself every now and then you will go crazy. I did better on Friday, but I did eat a big black and white cookie, oh they are so good when they have that almond taste to them. On the upside of things took an hour walk this morning at 10 pm at the Metroparks Concord Environmental Learning Center. The hike was part of the B Fit 4 Life contest in Lake County. This is a great activity that gets teams from companies moving and active. I really love doing these events, definitely motivates you to get moving. Have already done cross-country skiing, snow shoeing, and winter hike. You are also required to walk every month. 100,000 steps for January and every month is goes up 50,000 steps, so by the end of the contest you have to walk a total of 300,000 steps. B Fit has really helped to keep my motivation to do well and lose the weight.

How sad to hear that Laura will be leaving but I do wish her all the best in her new endeavors in Canton. It was nice having her push us to go further and be better. I am sure the new News Herald Lighten Up will be great, but Sorry I already forgot your name. So if you could please start emailing us so we can get use to saying your name.

OK, was surprised when I got my meal at Aladdins and there was no dressing allowed. REALLY, let's be real. So I did wind up asking for lemons and EVOO. Wasn't bad, but don't know if I would get that meal again, I do like a little dressing on my salad!

Well, not me, at least not today. Spent two hours digging out from the past couple of snow falls. This latest snowfall was pretty light, but what was underneath was a real bear. So a foot on the driveway and of course about a foot and half on the apron, and as we all know, that is where the work out really is. So now my back is killing me, but on the upside got my heart rate up for a good 90 minutes.

Traveled to Mercyhurst University today to see my daughter Rose get inducted into the Ambassadors. Luckily it was a tea social. Had a plate full of fruit, and two little bite size sweets, as well as a cup of tea. OH yeah, the roads were horrendous but managed to go there and come home safely. Was a bit hungry when I got home so I pulled out some home grown frozen strawberries and mixed it with my Greek yogurt and granola. Mmmmm good, now I am having  a mug of tea. Been eating really well, but need to get some exercising in.

You ask what is it? Well, my twin nephews had their birthday party during the Super Bowl game yesterday and because they had been off of school the one had a homework to do during the Super Bowl for his gym class. So there was a list that for different happenings he would have to do a different exercise. Well, he wasn't overly motivated so while I was there I said I would do the exercises along side him. Low and behold the first couple second the SeaHawks get a safety so we have to do 10 push ups. Have to say I was very proud of myself for outdoing a 14 year old boy. Of course it didn't end, we wound up having to do multiple sets of sit-ups, dips, reverse crunches, wall sits, jumping jacks and more push ups. This was to go on for two chosen quarters. All in all, I was extremely proud of being able to out perform a fourteen year old and the rest of the people were very impressed with my level of endurance. Woo Hoo to the lady who is three times the boys age. So happy I could exercise off the four wings and small piece of cake I ate.

Well, this is the day that thousands of county  residents see us at our not so best. OK, not completely disappointed with my picture but then again it wasn't meant to be  a photo shoot. We all wish we looked a little happier a little tanner and even a little more leaner. Look at it this way, just think how great the after picture is going to look in six months. We don't want to look our very best for the before picture, so when the after picture is posted we can blow them away.