Stylist

Today I had my appointment with the stylist, it was a blast! As many of you know, I have lost a lot of weight, 65 pounds so far. I have no idea how to dress or what looks good on me since I have spent the last many years hiding in clothes.

Karen came to my house and spent 3 hours getting to know me and figuring out my body style, my personal style and my colors. I'm an Emerald by the way :-) Then we went to my closet and looked at what I should have, what I already had and key things to get. We tried on some things and put piece together, we had a little fashion show.

I know that I need to get a few things to extend my wardrobe, like a good thinner cardigan and a versatile yet fitted jacket. I also need to not always hide in black; I can wear teal, shades of darker purple, navy, charcoal and maybe even a shade of orange if I get brave. I have good shoes and purses, a big vice of mine finally paid off! I have a waist now and can even wear a wide and funky belt.

This was something I won on another blog, the homebasedmom.com. Karen also has a blog, stylebykaren.com, I've been following it and can pick up more tips, she is even planning a series on jeans, which I have a lot of by the way LOL

LOST

Dear Lost, I just wanted to make sure that you realize that this is your last season. Just curious because supposedly you are going to answer questions but I'm not seeing that yet. In fact, I have more questions than ever. And, what's up with that alternate story line? Are you trying to really mess with me? Geesh, where did Jack get a son? I thought Helen left? Rose is married to Bernard right? So many questions and so little time. I'm trusting you, I'm sticking with you, I got your back but please.........Don't keep me lost!

My progress

I've been reading like crazy and I love it! You remember that my goal was 75 books this year? To date I have read 17, not bad huh? I have read the two book club selections so far as well as one I didn't get read from last year. It's great!


This is one that I recently read; The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It's considered a Young Adult title but let me tell you, it's pretty intense. It deals with a future post revolutionary time when the country is torn apart in war and then separated into 13 Divisions. As punishment for the war, each division is required to send a boy and a girl to compete in a "last person" standing stand of battle at the capitol. The whole thing is televised to the divisions and people can sponsor fighters. I found it really dark material. These are kids 12-18 years old and they fight to the death. Some divisions consider it a big deal and train their kids for it, while others hate it and don't talk about it. I couldn't put it down and read it in a day, granted I stayed up till 2:00 am :-) But just a caution before you give it to your kids. The message is a good one and the writing is great, it's just a little graphic.

On another note, we had a very relaxing day watching the Superbowl. There was a young man from our local high school on the Saints. He graduated not all that long ago, my kids know him. So it was fun to not only watch him but see the team win. It was just Manly and I so we laid around in the couch and snacked on healthy stuff and drank diet soda. I know, wild aren't we LOL

Valentines Day was equally quiet. Manly had to work so we celebrated the day before. As a Fire Wife, you get used to that kind of thing. We used to go to the same restaurant each year and have the same dish, corny I know. But the restaurant closed down and we went to plan B. When we met, we loved the same restaurant and ate there a lot. So we went there and had a great time. Hhhmmm, food seems to be a big part of our lives, wonder what that means?

Hope you are having a great February, the weather here in the Northwest is fantastic! I'm off to work in the yard.

My Goal

There is a lot of talk in the blogging world about what people are hoping for the New Year, beyond your normal "resolutions", so I thought I would jump in the fray LOL

This year I decided that since I was going through all these changes, that I would go back to something that was always really important to me, BOOKS. I have always been an avid reader, even when the kids were growing up. But you all know how it goes, you don't get to read as much as you would like or you have to read things like parenting books so much you forgot what reading for pure enjoyment was like. We formed a Book Club a couple of years ago which is great! I would highly recommend that to you. We don't pick heavy literary selections, unless one of us really wants to. We meet once a month and talk about the book and catch up on each others lives, it's a very good way to get at least one book a month read. But, I will also say, I didn't always get the book read, life would get in the way even then.

So that brings me to my goal for 2010. I want to read 75 books this year. That sounds like a strange number but 50 seemed too few and 100 seemed too many so that is my compromise. It started with the Book Club selection; any book by Nicholas Sparks. Instead of picking a title this month, we picked an author. I read "The Gaurdian" and liked it, just liked it. I know people rave about Nicholas Sparks so I figured I would read something else by him and before I knew it, I had read 4. I also read Dear John, True Believer and Nights in Rodanthe. I found that I just "liked" them, I guess I'm just not a Nicholas Sparks fan, they seemed so sad and depressing. That lead me to read other books to get rid of the sad feeling, and the next thing I knew, I had read 4-5 other books. I'm now reading "The Immortals" series by Alyson Noel. So, I'm on my way, not a bad start to the year.

On another note, a lot you know that I lost a lot of weight in 2009. I now Health Coach for the program that helped me to do that. I'm loving everything about it but I don't know how to dress anymore. I don't know what looks good and what fits. Another blog I follow was having a contest to win a consultation with a personal stylist. I'm so excited about this, I have never really known what looks good on me. I spent so many years dressed in "mommy" garb and being overweight on top of that, so not only do I not have a personal style, I have no idea how to get one :-) This could not have come at a better time. For all of you looking for another blog to follow, I highly recommend this one, http://www.yourhomebasedmom.com/ by Leigh Anne Wilkes out of the Portland area. She helps you to find the pretty in your everyday life and celebrates being a wife and mother. She also has older kids so I can relate to her. I suggest you check her out, she is very fun. So thanks again Leigh Anne for choosing me for the stylist, I can't wait!!

I'm off to visit my kids in Seattle, I'm so excited about that too. It's a good week.