remember me?

Hello lovelies - you have no idea how much I've missed you!
Thank you to everyone for all of your support and kind words after the mini-tri; it's meant everything to me!
Tons has happened since my last post -

I tried my first macaron - amazing!



Also found my BFF from back home - say hi, Tim!

It's still a little awkward for us to meet up 900 miles from home, so we don't see each other much.

E and I had a garden, after all. We ended up with a mass of herbs, some jalapenos, and a few tomatoes. We also had raspberries, but we let the bees keep most of them.


We got to get a guard 'dog' to keep our veggies safe. Meet Porter.

Celebrations!

The big 2-6 and the big sangria.

Final game of the Stanley Cup at Pittsburgh's finest


giving in to my deepest, darkest secret - being a housewife!

Trying out some goodies...


and some not-so-goodies....excuse the awkwardness that apparently is my hand...

plus, who could forget hanging out with E's dream gal and a few of her co-workers?


A lot's changed, guys - some for better, some...not so much.

Finally got my permanent residency, which means that I'm now employed and in school. I've enrolled in a local community college to up my GPA to get into the program of my choice in a year or so at the university level, which may or may not be dietetics. I've also figured out the bus system, which means that my car's still staring at me from outside the house, wondering why I can't man up and drive already. Me too, car, me too...

I went home in September for the first time in over a year. It was awesome to see my peeps, but I'm bummed that I couldn't see everyone. Unfortunately, I came back home less than a month later - my best friend lost her dad. It was one of the most tragic losses I've ever experienced, and being there was a really tough thing to do. I also learned that one of my cousins is in the last stages of cancer. Not a happy month over here, but I'm hoping that from now on, every time I go home, it'll be for a happy occasion.

So, what have I been eating? Everything! Between the stresses of a so-called new life, traveling, family issues and more, I've done the opposite of "eat less, do more". Thankfully, I haven't gained a pound (weird, right?), but I can definitely feel the difference. I'm grouchy, lethargic, and feel downright pudgy! I just plain feel unhealthy, no matter what I eat. It's been a wake-up call, my ah-ha moment. I always thought when I was really obese that I might've been fat, but that I was healthy. Well, guys, I wasn't healthy at 294 lbs. last December, and I'm not healthy at 245 lbs. now. Am I a size 18 instead of a size 24? Yeah. Is that healthy? For me, not so much. Sometimes, life is just about what feels good, and being this big just doesn't feel right. I've started to journal again, and just make better choices. I'm also starting to get back in the gym, slowly but surely, and it's making a big difference. I just plain feel better - about myself, e, the world. It's funny, a year ago, I would've been thrilled to feel this good, and now, it's not good enough. I couldn't miss something I didn't have, but now that I've had a taste of this kind of life, I wouldn't trade it for the world.

What's been your ah-ha! moment in life?