a beautiful weekend!

I was spoiled this weekend!

When Jason and I married 4 years ago, it never crossed my mind how often our anniversary would coincide with Mother's Day. For the last 3 years our anniversary has fallen within 2 days of Mother's Day. This year they were both on the same day!

We decided earlier in the week to celebrate our anniversary on Sat night, since Jason had a late night hockey game on Sunday night. We went out for an amazing dinner at Alexander's Steakhouse! We have been to Alexander's several times and it's never a disappointment! They have wonderful cocktails, incredible wine selections, mouthwatering appetizers, steaks that melt like butter in your mouth, and a dessert selection that can not be described it's so wonderful! BUT what makes Alexander's somewhere that we enjoy frequenting over and over again... their service! Although it might be a little "Big Brother" ish... they keep a customer profile on their repeat customers. They remember if you like a Bombay Sapphire martini before dinner.... a Bone-in Fillet for an entrée... or Creme Brulee for dessert! We usually get the same server and the same table... and they ALWAYS make whatever occasion we are celebrating special.

This trip to Alexander's was no different, except they were celebrating their anniversary as well. So, in addition to our complimentary champagne and creme brulee, they were offering Five of their favorite bottles of red wine, five of their favorite white and five of their favorite sparkling wines for $5 a glass! You can believe that I indulged! Jason and I were going to try the Chef's Tasting until we heard the specials. They were offering a few different cuts (T-Bone, Porterhouse and a New York) from a local ranch that offers Hormone free, Antibiotic Free and Naturally fed beef! You can believe we jumped at that! We both ordered the New York. We had a Prime Rib with Foie Gras Slider Dipper as an appetizer and then we shared a wedge salad with applewood bacon. When our steaks arrived.... we realized that we could have shared a steak as well! They were HUGE! I think between the two of us we only ate 1/2 of one steak total! After dessert we called Jason's parents (our chauffeurs for the evening) to come pick us up (with Keira in tow) and take us all home. We went home, put on the Sharks game (GO SHARKS!!!!) and put Keira to bed. What a great night!

Sunday morning I awoke to the feeling (smell) of Keira's breath on my face. As soon as I opened my eyes, she gave me a giant kiss and told me "Happy Mother's Day, Mommy! Now let's go cross it off the calendar!" She loves her little calendar... it helps her to know which days I am home from work, which days she has places to go and which are special days. Jason and Keira go up and left me to sleep in! OH HOW LOVELY!

As I was getting up and getting ready for the day, Keira comes in to tell me goodbye.

"Mommy, we'll be right back! Daddy and I are going to go get you flowers at the flower store!"

Jason and I had a great laugh, because she has no concept of a secret! Also, my anniversary gift surprise to Jason (Shari's Berries) was ruined by FedEx... who delivered them while I wasn't home and the box says BERRIES / Shari's Berries all over it!

They came home with the most beautiful floral arrangement! I want to take them to and from work with me every day.... so I get to enjoy them as much as possible! There are a bunch of roses, stargazer lilies, Gerbera daisies, and more! They might just be the prettiest flowers anyone has ever given me!

My heart is full of love.... I had such a great weekend!

Wake Up Call

I've struggled with my weight my entire adult life. Shoot, you might even say my whole life. Looking back I always felt like I was the bigger kid. In high school, I know I had some kind of eating disorder. I wouldn't eat breakfast, would have a diet coke for lunch and would eat whatever the family had for dinner. I managed to stay thin, even underweight for my height, but I wasn't healthy.

My whole life I've had some man in my life telling me I wasn't good enough... pretty enough... thin enough...

"Don't eat that, you'll end up fat like your mother!"

"Do you want to be UGLY for the rest of your life?!"

"Just look at you, how do you think I could be attracted to you?"

"When did you get so fat?"

To my best friend from my boyfriend:
"You need to take her to the gym with you, she's getting a little thick."

All of these comments were either said when I was a child or when I was 115 - 145 pounds! At 5'6 that's a BMI range of 18.6 - 23.4. (Normal weight = 18.5-24.9)

Never once was I able to enjoy my body. The last two comments were the most catastrophic to my self esteem. I immediately started gaining weight. Once I started gaining weight, it was hard to get it under control again. I lose and gain and lose and gain the same 20 pounds over and over again.

Once my daughter was born, I forgot how to focus on my needs and health. Here we are 3 years later and I'm a mess. I weigh the same as I did when I was pregnant with her. I'm unhealthy, unhappy and feeling like I've been beaten. I know everything I need to do to get my weight under control. It's really simple.... burn more calories than I eat. I know I know I know. Just do it already!

Well, last night I got a bit of a wake up call. I had some blood work done yesterday and discovered that I'm on my way to Type 2 diabetes. If I don't start eating better and working out... I am sentencing myself to a shortened unhealthy miserable life! My body doesn't process glucose like a normal healthy body does. Now I need to figure out how I'm going to tackle this... because I refuse to live like this anymore! I got the call..... and I'M AWAKE!