Tell about yourself, especially new members

Ok, sitting here eating my gy and thinking about Martin Luther King (being old enough to clearly remember his actions and assassination) and wondering what to write about to stir up this group. So it would be nice if each of us would tell a little about ourselves; keeping within the bounds of internet privacy. Some of us post a lot and have revealed quite a bit of our stories but others have not. So its up to each of you but nice to know more about each other. My weight loss story is on my blog page so this is stuff other than weight loss. I am 59 years old and work as a ceramic artist on a free lance basis. Its my dream life. I studied art undergrad and always wanted to be an artist. But the need to earn a living and fit into the real world plus the feminist movement of the 60's and 70's got me to go to law school. Started and graduated the same day as Joni of Doonsbury. So went to work in a law firm when there were only a very few women in private practice in the midwest where I am from. Continued that for 25 years through a couple of firms and ended up in a very large regional firm which was about to merge and get huge. Did tax, employee benefit and estate and gift work with some commercial real estate thrown in. Had great experiences but after 25 years with one two week vacation when i got married, began to get restless, desire to do art returned and generally just wanted to own my life. The impending firm merger plus a disease in my hands made me realize I might not have forever to do my artwork and a visit to north coast california plus my husband being sick of his equally high stress IT job all factored in to us deciding to quit our jobs, sell the house and move west. Loving it ever since. DH and I run my art business together and he does the photography and web site and also heavy lifting. He also does some computer consulting so is home all day with our two spoiled rotten border terriers who rule our lives.

So I sell my art mainly at a local cooperative gallery www.arcataartisans.com and do one fair a year and take commissions. my web site is dianesondereggerart.com.  Would like to get into a bay area gallery but have trouble making enough stuff to keep my current commitments. Commission work is time consuming and i should probably charge more. Oh well.

And just started a martial arts class in Aikibojitsu - the art of the staff. very interesting. can see demos at www.aikibojitsu.com.

Above all I try to enjoy the spectacular beauty of the north coast and the redwoods and empty and clean beaches. Natural beauty abounds and maybe my newly skinny body will get out and do some of the many hikes and trails that my fat self couldn't do before when the rain lets up.

I find I always need some sort of a project going or i get antsy. This past year the project has been the weight loss. Now its gonna be preparing for summer art show, taking art to a new level and maybe the martial arts thing. Its always gotta be something.

So thats me. A natural blond with both right brain and left brain working. Hope some of the rest of you will tell about yourselves.    diane

Well, I'm not new, but here it goes!
My name is Adele, not Summer(I know there is a real Summer on here!)  The reason I picked Summer as my log-on is because I feel that I live in a perpetual summer, and I love it.  It is my life and lifestyle, (my license plate holder reads, "the lower the latitude, the better the attitude"!!

I'm originally from NJ, and moved down to sunny south FL to go to college, fell in love with the climate, met my DH, and stayed.  I also have a little piece of paradise in the FL keys, which is where I try to go off to on most weekends.  I know, I know, it's a tough life.  We are certified divers, we love to fish, snorkel, kayak, swim, etc.

I work in a family business with my brothers.  It keeps me busy and I am in charge of the number$!  I have two children who have flown the coop, and I'm recently suffering from empty nest syndrome.  It has gotten easier and less painful, and I'm actually enjoying this new stage of my life.  If it wasn't for my new and wonderful knee injury(fell off a ladder getting Xmas decorations down from the garage), I would be at the gym sweating and getting in touch with my much needed endorphins.  Yes, the children left, my daughter took the cat with her, and my big doggies have all passed.  It's DH, me and an annoying little chihuahua-rat terrier mix in the house!

Also, since I do not have the kids to keep me occupied, I have started updating our house, much to my husband's chagrin.  Hey, it's better than some "other" hobbies middle aged women are known to get into :)

I always have a houseful of people over on the weekends.  I love to cook, and we love the red wine. Cheers!
Adele

If people want to know a LOT about me, I would suggest they read my blog. The only thing I don't talk about there is my marriage and my job. LOL

Anyway, when I was young, I wanted to be a teacher and a writer. Somehow I ended up being a software engineer. I love the work, though, even if I hate my job situation right now. I find program computers to be very creative so I am lucky that way -- to find a job that fulfills me but also makes a lot of money.

However, periodically I get sick of it and do something else. Most recently I started my sports photography business and then added in videography. It was fun but almost impossible to make money so I ended up going back to software. I found I missed the intellectual stimulation as well.

I have always been a very analytical person and thought of myself as a big brain. My body merely served to carry my brain around. This changed with surgery. I became an athlete!

I started biking and running and then I signed up for a triathlon and threw swimming into the mix. The next thing I knew, I was training 6-10 hours a week and signing up for races all over the place.

I also like to read and go to the movies and I'm a big figure skating fan. I skated for a while and am toying with going back to it. I kind of sucked before but I'm hoping I have more body awareness now. Then again, I'm really busy with the triathlon training and I'm not sure I have the time to do something else.

Not new, but kind of new here as I'm still not to maintenance.  I'm 40 years old and live in Kansas.  Not my favorite place as I love the ocean, but all my family is here.  I have a wonderful husband of 18 years and beautiful 13 year old daughter.  Lost my 14 year old son in a auto accident going on 3 years ago.  I'm an Army brat, so I always told DH that once the kids started school, that is where they would finish.  So, waiting the 5 more years til my DD graduates, then I'm struggling with what I want to do.  DD has all intentions of moving away to college and I totally support that decision.  My problem is...my son is buried within walking distance from my house, his friends have planted a tree in our yard in his honor, we have a yearly scholarship we give out at the high school, etc.  I will have a hard time giving up our house.  I take it one day at a time now, and that's a ways off, so I'm not really thinking about it right now.  I work as an accounting lead at a law firm that handles foreclosures, bankruptcies, litigation, collections, etc.  and my husband is in IT.  Neither one of us care for our jobs all that much and I would love to take after Diane!!!  I know we will be moving to probably Florida at least part time in the future.  My DH has screws in his arm that the weather here really messes with.  I'm also a natural blond with all my wits about me (most of the time), I love to have fun and try to enjoy life as much as possible.  Losing the weight has allowed me to overcome/work through things and is making it easier to do that. This is what is on my son's grave and I try to live by it.  (quote from Abraham Lincoln)  "And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count, it's the life in your years"

 My name is Sandy and I'm 49 years old.  I live in a small town in Ontario, Canada with my husband of 26 years.  I am an empty nester this year as well as my daughter has joined her brother at university.  He is in his fourth year, she in her first.  They are 22 and 18 and the joys of my life.  I am surprised that I'm getting along pretty well without them, but luckily they only live an hour from home and are home on the weekends (more likely to see their sweeties than me:).  I am in Accounting in a manufacturing company and have been there almost 25 years.  Most of the time, I love my job, but every once in a while I need a change and its getting to that point now.

I lost just over 100 lbs in 10 months to reach my goal of 153 (I am almost 5'8") and have been maintaining for the last 5-6 months.  I would like to go down to about 143 and eventually have my upper limit at 147, but have not been very vigilant with the plan lately and really don't exercise.  I'm pretty sure that with a little more effort, I could get where I wanted to be and plan to work it in the very near future and bump up the exercise.

I don't post too often on here, but really enjoy it and am pleased to be part of it!

HI Sandy,

I was born and raised in New Liskeard, Ontario.  6 hours north of Toronto.  2 hours north of North Bay...

I went to College in Kitchener.
I went to University in North Bay, and worked for CIBC for 8 years there...

You near any of those places??

Cindy

I just reached my goal, after having VSG February , 2010, losing 107 lbs.  It was the best thing I've ever done for myself.  I've always been overweight, constantly on diets.  This is the first time in my life I feel safisfied with only a few bites of food, so I make sure I eat quality food.

I keep busy working fulltime as a registered nurse.  And in the summer, I have a greenhouse, berries, fruit trees, and very large vegetable garden.  I make my own salsa, fruit sauces, jams, and jellies.

it's fun to read about everybody. Diane, I really admire the way you & your husband started over to live your dreams. excellent!

My name is Jackie and I work as an Occupational Therapy Assistant for a hospital & a several nursing homes. I only get 3 days a week, however, have to drive 3 hours round trip & have no benefits. I need to relocate for a full time job but my house needs fixing before I can sell it for at least what I still owe.

all that is to say, I need to get my ducks in a row. my ducks are currently in a pile!

I love OH, though, in fact I would say coming here is one of my transfer addictions: I feel kind of anxious when I can't get online to see what's happening. I have met a lot of people from OH and it's been wonderful. I hope to meet many more.

check out the 2 links in my siggy: my Clean Eating group is to talk about Health Food (and that means different things to different people) and Say Anything is a friend's group to talk about off topic stuff.

LOVE this idea! 

So, I'm Theresa from Dallas.  Born and raised here, and I married my high school sweetheart, Matt almost 23 years ago.  We don't have children, but we love our dogs and cats very much.  I have worked for an airline for 15 years as an editor and training specialist.  My husband is an engineer at a cosmetics company.  We travel a lot.  It's our passion. 

In my secret fantasy world, we would just hang it all up and move somewhere humble in Europe and sell bread or something to just make ends meet and LIVE, LIVE, LIVE.  But, my parents live next door (we have about 10 acres) and I love them dearly.  I don't see them giving up their normal life, so our crazy dream of just hanging it all up will have to wait.

I've been overweight since about the age of 10, but I've always had a great self confidence that my parents and grandparents instilled in me, so I never was really down on myself.  I was one of those who believed that surgery was for quitters, and I lost 90 pounds or so more than once only to gain most of it back.  I just decided one day out of the blue that I was tired of defeating myself.  Best decision ever!  I feel liberated now, and that's a wonderful feeling.  Shopping is FUN!

And, my surgeon's office had their advertising agency call yesterday to ask if I would consider being in a television commercial for them.  I am meeting with them today but very undecided.  I've been open about my surgery, but I'm just not a "fame" sorta girl.  But, then, on the flip side, if I could help someone else make that leap to do something good for themselves, then I would be selfish not to.  We will see.  Fun and flattering idea, either way!

Great idea Diane.  I am a 40 year old, happily married mother of two.  I am fortunate that my husband works from home and doesn't travel very much so he takes great care of us.  I run my own small business and work strange hours so he takes up the slack.  I was heavy since I was 12 years old with periods where I lost all my weight only to regain it all back.  One of my best friends referred to me as the amazing shrinking and expending woman.  I got really tired of the yo-yo weight loss and gain and researched the WLS option.  Once I found the sleeve, I pretty much knew that this was for me.  I also did a great deal of research into different doctors and chose Dr. Cirangle because of his experience and stats.  I was self-pay so it only took two weeks from meeting him to having surgery.  Now that I am at goal, I am really loving life.  Shopping and dancing have become my new hobbies.  I am lucky that my husband understands and supports me through this weird mid-life crisis.  :)  OK,  really it is not that bad, it is just not at all the way I was before this surgery.  It is almost like I want to make up for lost time.  In any case, I am having fun and not doing any harm.  My husband said he benefits because it's like he has a new much younger wife to play with.  Before surgery, all of my focus was on the kids and now it is really split between them, my husband and myself.  This is all very new for me.