About Me ... and my Family : )

I made a new tab!I realized I was lacking a page to introduce myself, and to introduce my lovely family. So I fixed it. You can either click on the tab or just read below: 

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Sorry about the Christmas-y picture, but we don't have any decent & recent pictures of our whole little family.

Hi, my name is Ely. The good looking guy behind me is my hubby, Chris. And the little fur ball in my arms is Gus. 

I guess I should start at the beginning. Hubby and I went to the same university. He was a year ahead of me. We even lived in dorms right next to each other. I'm sure we had to have seen each other at one point or another, but we never met while we were in school. 

It wasn't until we both decided to try an online dating site, OKCupid.com, that our paths came together. I was too shy to meet anyone in "real life" and Hubby was away from home in a new town and didn't know anyone. So we tried the online thing. Apparently it's pretty popular nowadays. 

We started talking at the end of May, 2010, had our first date the beginning of June, and were officially an item by June. I like to say that our dating anniversary is May 25th though because that's when we started talking. He literally swept me off my feet on our first date. Or rather, I fell backwards off a street curb, but close enough, right? : ) 

We've been pretty inseparable ever since. He just can't get rid of me! ; ) 

He asked me to marry him on October 22nd, 2011. I actually replied with, "Are you sure?" and then finally a "Yes!!". Lol, romantic, huh? We tied the knot October 2012. It was one of the happiest days of my life, even with all the little bloopers. It was a pretty chilly October day, but it didn't rain, and the colors were gorgeous. And I don't think that I will ever forget the feeling of such overwhelming love as I felt that day. 

Our wedding day was also the day that Gus came into our lives. 

Gus is our lovely little bunny. We thought it would be cute to do some kind of a magic skit while we did the garter toss. So we rigged up my chair with a box of props underneath and Hubby pulled out the items one by one, attempting to "find the garter". Well, Gus was the icing to his cake! Poor little guy had to sit there and get yanked out of a box and into a very noisy room. I was actually afraid he would hate us after that, but he's turned out to be quite the cuddle bug.

We aren't exactly sure when his birthday is, but we are guesstimating the end of September 2012, so he's still a youngin'. And funny story: Gus actually started out as Lola. Yeah, we thought 'he' was a 'she' for about two months. And then we noticed a couple of things that had never been there before. So we changed the name to Octavius ... or Gus Gus for short. Yeah, that's from Cinderella. I grew up loving Disney! : ) 

I currently work as a Spanish/English translator/coder and Hubby is a graphic technician. That means that he is super creative and has an eye for details. Me, I just love all things cultural. I fell in love with Spanish and studied abroad for a while and decided that teaching was not my thing. Too shy, remember?

So this blog. How did I decide to start writing a blog? It started back in 2008 when I weighed in at just over 275 pounds. I was extremely unhealthy and not very happy about it, so I decided to change that. I joined Weight Watchers and lost a lot of weight. A hundred pounds and then some actually. 

Unfortunately, wedding planning stress, married life, and just slacking off has caused me to gain some of that weight back. So I started the blog to document my success and to keep me accountable for getting back on track. I don't want to just lose weight, I want to be healthy and feel great. So I decided to start the Whole30 diet way of living. I don't like the term 'diet'. It seems to have a negative connotation and implies that it is a short-term event. I'd rather find something that works for me and just live a healthy life. Whole30 has been that something. Even Hubby has decided to hop on board with me. He definitely doesn't need to lose weight, but the other benefits have been enough to prove to him that this is the way to go. You can read my whole story over on my "How I gained and lost 100 pounds" page. 

So that's where I'm at now, trying to find a balance, trying to get healthy, trying to find something that works for our family. We're also in the process of buying a house right now. That's been fairly stressful, but we're trying to stay on track and hopefully it will end happily. I try to incorporate a bit of my personal life into the blog. I know that's one thing that I really love in other blogs that I read. I feel like it lets me connect to that person. So I want to share that with you guys. So you may see posts about family or outings or Gus or home buying/decorating in addition to the posts about fitness or nutrition and general wellness. I don't know exactly where I'll take it, it pretty much just keeps evolving and I like it that way. I hope you do too and I'm happy to share my little world with you all! : )

Update on the House!

We started this process back in the end of July. We've gotten everything done and paid for that we're required to do before closing, but we are waiting on the well. The well is the one thing that we really expected to fly through. But we are now on our fourth treatment and testing to see if we can get it cleared up. We should find out the results some time today. So a little good luck/prayers/fingers crossed would be greatly appreciated today! 

We don't really have a lot of options if this test comes back negative again. I don't think that continually treating it and testing it is going to get anywhere if it comes back negative a fourth time. I haven't seen the reports beyond the first one though, so I'm not exactly sure what is going on. 

But if it comes back negative then we have to discuss the seller digging a new well for us. We're not sure if he'll be willing to do that. He is required by the bank to have the house up-to-code before selling, but I'm not sure if he could find someone else with a different kind of loan who would be able to buy as-is. 

So we are holding our breath and crossing everything possible that we get some good news today. I know that everything happens for a reason, but we're hoping that we don't have to start all over from the beginning and lose all the money we've put into it thus far. 

And since we all love pictures. Here is one that I took of our baby furbaby, Gus. : ) 

Feeling Inspired!

Hubby, staying warm in his jacket.

This past weekend my family came up to visit us. That includes my mom, dad, brother, and brother's girlfriend. The original plan was that we would be moving ... but that would mean that we had closed on the house. Which we haven't. Not yet anyway. More on that later.

My parents.

So they had planned to be free this weekend to come down and help us move and get into our new house. Since we hadn't closed, they didn't technically have to come down and see us. But since they are awesome, they did anyway! And they brought food!

We had a picnic! It started out pretty chilly. Luckily that only lasted for as long as we ate, and it got warmer afterwards when we went for a walk. But back to the food!

My mom brought some onion roll ups. If you've never had onion roll ups, you are seriously missing out! Onion roll ups are a part of the family. They come for every get together. And they are dearly missed when they are absent. They're super simple too. Just some deli meat, rub some cream cheese on it, and roll up a green onion inside. Dee-lish!

My brother's girlfriend and I.

She also made some kind of broccoli salad. I didn't take pictures because my fingers were frozen and I don't know what was in it because I pretty much inhaled it. It was really good. I could probably ask her for the recipe, but I'm sure it's not Whole30 compliant. What I don't know won't hurt me, right?

Hubby and my brother. Getting friendly.

I made some of the PaleOMG Mexican Egg Hash Bake that we love so much at our place. I also learned that I need to invest in one of those casserole travel carriers. Would make life a bit simpler. I ran into a little problem while I was cooking too. I forgot to season. Not just salt and pepper, but all the seasonings. I just forgot to add them. My brain must have been snoozin'. So I actually just sprinkled all of the seasonings on the top of the casserole before I put it in and warned people to mash generously before biting into it, lol. It didn't turn out as great as it has before, but it was the only warm food there, so I think they still appreciated it.

Bro and bro's girl. : )

For dessert there were key lime cupcakes (courtesy of my mom) and she brought some lemon frosting to put on top for those of us who are addicted to sugar. And my brother's girlfriend made some pistachio pudding. I am not really a fan of pineapple, but the pudding was pretty good. I also noticed that I could only do 2 mini cupcakes before needing to stop, as opposed to the 6 ... or 8. Sugar seems to act a little differently in my body than it used to.

Poor girl. He does this to her all the time.

Anyhoo, we ate and had a good time, then packed up the picnic and took a stroll through the park. That's when the sun came out and warmed us all up. And since I am experimenting with taking photos in manual mode, it really messed me up too. I haven't figured out how to shoot in very direct sunlight yet. Practice makes perfect though.

One armed pull ups.

Balancing act!

After the walk we went to the Halloween store. I never knew you could have so.much.fun. in a Halloween store. It was great. And then we went to Hobby Lobby. My mom and brother's girlfriend and I LOVE Hobby Lobby. We sent the boys off to check out the gun store while we went window shopping. We found all kinds of things we'd love to have and I got a few ideas for Christmas too! : )

Climbing the rock pile.

As we were getting ready to head back to our apartment to meet up with the guys we started talking about weight loss and fitness and nutrition. We all want to do it, but have problems with motivation at times. Don't we all? But my brother's girlfriend and I have decided that we are going to do our best to follow or own food plans and workout routines until she finishes the 30 day program she is currently doing. And then we are going to attempt P90x together! We definitely need this 21-ish days to prepare because that stuff is serious business. So I will be trying to stay Whole30 compliant and doing my Fitness Blender workouts (I love Fitness Blender) and she is doing her diet and 30 Day Shred.

I'll keep you up to date on how it all goes! But bro's girlfriend has inspired me. So I started on Sunday. I skipped the donuts at church and stuck to my nutrition plan and even did a workout AND took a walk. Got my vitamin D for the day! I'm feeling pretty good! I'll have to take some "before" pictures soon and weigh myself. I love numbers and results! : )

Hubby and I. : )

This is me playing with Photoshop. I love this picture of them.

And now for some of the Halloween store pictures! Love them! : )

They all "suddenly" were attacked by zombies! 

I'm Famous!!

Well, I'm not really famous, but I've never been in a newspaper article before. This is an online newspaper, but I will take what I can get.

A month or so ago I saw a link to this web page where Huffington Post listed different weight loss success stories. I was inspired by all of the brave people who submitted their story for the world to see.  The good and the bad. They even had pictures! I have my story on my blog, but I don't actually get all that much traffic here, although I greatly appreciate each and every one of you who take the time to read my little page. It really means so much to me! : ) 

Well, I decided to muster up some courage and I wrote Huffington Post. I sent a picture and a link to my blog and said that I'd like to add my story to their archives. I hit "submit" and then went about my day and forgot all about it. 

A few days later I got an email from Huffington Post. The lady said that she looked over my blog, thought it was interesting, and asked me to write up my story and send in another picture for her. So I did. I basically updated the page on my blog that describes my story and submitted that with a few before and after photos for them to choose from. I was a little nervous and was afraid I would sound silly when I wrote out my story. I tend to ramble a lot and start talking about whatever and wherever my thought processes go to ... like now. I'm rambling. 

Anywho, I did my best and sent her the info. She wrote me back quickly and said that they were going to include it in their list and that it would come out late August or early September and she would send me the link.

Well, I got the link. I read it. Ooh'd and ahh'd and then I closed the link and didn't tell anyone for about two weeks. We've been busy with the house and packing and hoping to close soon and I actually just forgot about it. Until a couple of days ago.

I told Hubby. He, like the sweetheart he is, made a big deal out of it and printed it out and said he's going to save it and that he's proud of me. It made me feel pretty good. And so I decided to share this with you all. So if you go to Huffington Post's website, you may just find me there! 

But if you'd like to check it out now, you can just click on my handy dandy link! : ) 

Sometimes it's a little scary to put yourself out there. With the blog I just feel like I am writing down my thoughts and if someone sees it, then that's great. But to write to someone specifically and request that they publish my story in a well-known website... well, that's something completely different. 

I'm glad I did it though. I sometimes have a habit of downplaying my accomplishment. I lost a lot of weight. And that ain't easy, folks. I need to remember that more and stop looking at how much I've still got to go so much. I'm proud of my accomplishment and it feels good to share it all with you! : ) 

Hope you enjoy. And if you would like to share your story, just click on the link on the Huffington Post page. You can submit a tagline and a link to your own blog or a picture and I'm sure they'll contact you in a week or so. 

Hope you all are having a good weekend!!

I Am A Ham. A Ham. I Am.

At the radio club. We were taking pictures of all the birds.

I don't know if I mentioned this before or not, but Hubby and I are hams. Not the kind that you bake for Easter and not the kind that go "oink", but the kind that play with antennas and talk to people in other countries. Well, Hubby is that kind of ham. Amateur radio ham. I am more of a spectator. I could blog all day and share everything about my life and be fine. But I get shy and clam up when I have to talk to someone in person/via radio waves, lol. I actually hate talking on the phone too. 

So why did I become a ham? Good question. And it took me a while to decide that I did want to take that hammy leap. I've never had an interest in getting on a radio and transmitting to other countries. I don't really know how to make small talk, although I feel like I may be getting better as I get older. Most of the people that are on the radio are 40+ years old, usually 60+ years old. Most of them are men. And most of what they talk about are radios and the weather. I don't usually know what is going on with the weather unless I look outside and take a guess. And I know abso-tootly nuthin' about radios. 

But...

Hubby getting things ready for the Hamfest.

Hubby convinced me that it would be a good safety measure. We had a storm a couple of years ago that got pretty bad. We were expecting tornadoes and I didn't have time to get to the shelter at Hubby's work. So I went down to the first floor (half underground) of our apartment building. Our very old apartment building. I decided that I would rather take my chances on the bottom floor and possibly be crushed than to stay up top and go airborn if a tornado ripped off the roof. Those were my choices at the time, lol. So I had a weather radio with me to listen to the alerts and I had my cell phone. The only problem was that my phone was dying. Hubby had called me to make sure I was ok but my phone died in the middle of the conversation. He knew I was fine, but he is a supreme worrier at heart and knew that he would not have any way of contacting me for a while. 

Hubby at the end of the Hamfest.

The storm ended up just being a strong thunderstorm, no tornado, but it was kinda freaky. Not only did my phone die, but before it died, I was having a hard time getting a signal through the storm. He had a radio on him. I did not. If I would have had a radio, I still would have had the ability to communicate. Radio waves operate more on the atmosphere rather than the Verizon-sphere, lol. So I gave in, studied my little not-so-little booty off, and got my Technician license. I decided it wasn't that big of a deal to just go and get it and then I would have it in case I really did need to use it. Technically if it was an absolute emergency, I could get on and contact someone anyway, but this way I've just got a little experience and a license in case I need communication outside of an emergency and phone lines aren't an option. Better safe than sorry, right?

There are three licenses you can get with ham radio: Technician, General, and Extra. They get much harder as you go along. For some reason, a sense of competition kicked up in me and I ended up studying again and passed my General exam as well. I would have kept going, but the Extra just seemed intimidating and then I got busy and haven't gotten around to studying again. I do not know why I would need an Extra license (like Hubby) given that I don't talk on the radio at all now, lol, but my OCD-ness (pretty sure that's a word, maybe) has got me thinking about it from time to time. So I'm pretty sure it will happen eventually. 

 

Birthday celebration for our friend at the Fox Hunt! Ignore my horrible Photoshop abilities.

So there you have it. Now you know. I'm a ham. And I am a member of our local radio club. I can't say I've gone to many meetings, but I have gone to a couple of Christmas parties and I helped out with our local Hamfest. 

What's a Hamfest? Think big flea market but the only thing they sell is radio equipment. Ok, that's not true. I know I saw a few rubber chicken noise maker thingies being sold, but for the most part it is a bunch of old men getting together to trade or sell their antennas, tuners, meters, etc.

Out and about, hunting the "fox"! : )

The most recent event was a fox hunt. No, no. I didn't kill a fox. Or even chase one. And we did not have any kind of weaponry. A fox hunt, in the ham world, means one guy goes out with a radio and everyone else has to try to pinpoint his location based on the strength of the transmission signal. Think: game of hot or cold on an adult level. And you don't get a clear answer every time. You really have to pay attention to listen and see if the signal is stronger or weaker. It is actually kind of fun. Like I said, I'm competitive, even with myself, so I wanted to be the first group to find the "fox". And we did! : ) 

Maybe next time I will sign up to be the fox ... of course that would mean talking ... so maybe not, lol. 

Anyone ever heard of ham/amateur radio before or know any other hams? If you see an old man driving around with a huge antenna on his truck, he may just be a ham! : )