KEEP ON MOVING!!! SNIPPETS from my journal....

 I remember coming on here in 2007 and following every DID YOU MOVE TO LOSE thread there was ... I remember the very first time ever post op getting on the treadmill at a speed of 2 and walking for less than 5 minutes and feeling as if I had climbed a mountain ... the effort left me winded ... I never thought I could do it ..AGAIN...EVER... but I KEPTAT IT ... ONE.DAY.AT.A.TIME ... until before I knew it I was walking for an hour and then two and then I was jogging and RUNNING and now I am fearlessly running at every 5-10 or 20K event that I could find and participate in ...I even participated in my first mock triathlon and loved it too ...I struggled a bit with the bike hurting my butt but did not give up ... I am ready for the real thing....

From the beginning ...for as far back as I can remember I have taken pictures ... and I have tracked them all in journals ... my life in pictures.... and now I have my very special journal post WLS that I have named 'A Picture A Day Keeps the Pounds and the Inches AWAY' ... yup and I take pictures of my food too.... it is my very own tool and it works for me ... plus I love doing it...

My life has been filled with ups and downs ... from before my surgery during and after ... of all things in my life I love best being a mother and a wife and a daughter and a sister and a good friend .... and to do all those things for a bit longer I needed better health and mobility ... and I have it and am keeping it....

4 years and 5 months ago I had WLS ... This is where I was ... and this is me today...


No more diabetes, no more gastroesophageal reflux, no more dyslipidemia, no more sleep apnea, no more hypertension ...ALL IN REMISSION.... my joints don't hurt and I CAN MOVE...

I can run...

and run some more... I run 4-5 miles every day of the week except Sundays....

I love swimming laps at the pool ... I love hot yoga (Bikram)... I love Zumba... Spin and although I do weights for toning I don't like it very much (LOL) ... but I tone nonetheless...

I love to involve myself in my favorite hobbies ... sketching and painting ... and I have so much fun sketching and painting people ... especially my OH friends who allow me to ... 

Last week out beautiful sista Tripmom02 made a beautiful poodle skirt for her DD and shared it on my artsy fartsy group and I was just so happy to sketch her in a poodle skirt along with Samantha who loved it too...




and while I was at it another sista shared her participation in a medieval event and I was only too happy to sketch her in a medieval dress I saw somewhere online...

there were all kinds of events happening last week in my life ... some very sad occasions as my DD college roommate and dear friend lost her mom to a hasty driver as she was crossing the street and was struck and all too soon left us ... however she left such beautiful memories that her funeral was a celebration of her life .. I had the honor to paint her and her daughter my DD's friend which my daughter presented to the family and they loved it... 

Canvas by Martitalinda Painted in Acrylics


The remainder of the week I spent working (my job..my shop at the outreach) ... spending quality time with my family and my friends and my ferrets ... I PAINTED AND I SEWED ... LOVE LOVE LOVE SEWING ... I ROCKED MY NEW BROTHER PROJECT RUNWAY SEWING MACHINE...

I went by my braiding/weaving shop and decided to rock my extensions which I did myself ... I have been damp braiding for a curly/wavy look or using 4-6 electric curlers for a more relaxed look ... I love rocking my hair in different styles ... as well as sewing or altering my duds ... it all works ... life is wayyyyyyyy to short ... and I am going to live it one day at a time just as I did before ... with health and mobility and embracing joy ... which is not predicated on my cir****tances....


and it is all captured in my empowerment journal ... A PICTURE A DAY KEEPS THE POUNDS AND THE INCHES AWAY....







Yesterday I shared Wet Braids Making Curls on my group Share-It! open to all ... see my siggy line... and others shared their projects/ideas/sentiments/weekend and more...

It is all good ... I am living my life to the fullest ... pre and post WLS ... the only difference today HEALTH AND MOBILITY  and a heart to LOVE ... WIN.WIN.WIN

Thanks for allowing me to share..... Snippets from my Journal....

Wow, so amazing you are !!!  YOU ROCK !!!   I so enjoy reading about your life, your many talents...You have such a wonderful outlook on life...

You look so hot in the white dress as well as the others...I love the curly hair...Beautiful indeed...Thanks for sharing your life/pictures with us.

Have a great day...Tammy 

 Thank you Tammy ... did not forget you at all .... finishing up and posting your canvas on SI on Saturday ... it is BEAUTIFUL! like you...

 Awww you are such a sweetheart!!!

I love the beige dress Marti, it's one of my favorite styles and you look fabulous in it.

 That beige dress is really comfy ... I am replicating it in sort of an olive green cargo ... I cut it already but have not gotten to it.... Have you ever gotten to that point that you just cut a whole bunch of stuff out from your fabrics and line them up to sew and then get distracted with another piece that you just want to see finished? Well I do that all the time ... I have a whole trunk of those LOL

I know what you mean, I have about four projects in varying stages of done-ness right now. It's just harder to spend time in the sewing room when the weather is so nice. I will get things finished just probably not today.