Best. Birthday. Ever

Well my birthday isn't until tomorrow, but I had the best birthday weekend!!! I made my goal of getting under 200 by my birthday, so it was a double celebration!

On Saturday I went to my gym and met up with my friends that were going to celebrate with me. I made a speech about how much I've changed and how different I am from last year. I basically bawled my eyes out. lol. Then it was time to party!!!



One of my friends made me this big jug of Malibu Bay Breezes!!!



My trainer ordered a stretch HUMMER to take us out to the bar. I have never had someone do something like this for me before. I was so excited and felt so loved!!!!



This was my crew for the evening. I was so touched that so many people wanted to come and celebrate my birthday with me. I've never had people make a big deal about my birthday before. It felt wonderful.



The inside of the hummer!



Me and my Best friend. Getting out drink on. lol



Having a blast. Please not the glow sticks in my shirt! lol.



We went to this bar called the Colorado Cafe. It was so much fun!! They had a mechanical bull!



It was so much fun but really hard! I fell off a bunch of times!



YEE HAW!!!!!



It was a great night. I had a blast!!!! This is something that I will always remember and keep close to my heart. What an amazing party!!!!!

Short Week!

I am so happy. Today is my Friday!! Whoo hoo!!!!

With my sister in law and niece in town, I really wanted to take a few days off to spend time with them. I am so looking forward to just being able to relax at home. I always feel like when you go away somewhere on vacation, you need another few days to recover when you get home! lol. So it'll be nice to be able to sleep in and just do whatever I please.

This week is going to be pretty awesome. Spending time with my family tomorrow and Friday and then on Saturday is my big birthday bash!!! I just know I'll hit my goal by then. I can't wait! We are going to this like country western bar that is in northern jersey. There is a mechanical bull! Something I've always wanted to do! Plus my gym ordered a car service so no one has to worry about driving.

I've never had a big birthday thing like this thrown for me before. It really feels amazing to have people care about me like this and throw me a party like this! I am the luckiest person!

I won't be blogging until Monday or Tuesday probably. But I will hopefully have pictures to share with you all!!! Have a great week!!

So excited!!!!

I just found out today that my sister in law and niece are coming to the states this Tuesday!!!! I am so excited to see them! I haven't seen my niece since I was in India in February. I can't wait to see how much bigger she is!!

My sister in law has to do some training in DC in July. Initially she was just coming to the US when her training starts and was then going to spend a few days with us in August before flying back. However her boss is making her take her vacation time now. She was trying to save it, so her and my brother could take the time off together. However it wasn't approved and she will be spending almost 2 months here now.

While I'm bummed she couldn't take the time off with my brother and that I don't get to see him, I'm really happy I get to spend more time with my niece!!! They'll be spending a week with us now, then in July my mom is going to take my niece for a week while my SIL has to work. Then we get another week in August!

I can't contain my excitement that in just a few days I get to give my niece the biggest hug!!

New and exciting opportunities

I told you all a few weeks ago that there were some big changes happening at my job. At the time though I couldn't really get into what was happening. I am a semi private blogger. I post pictures of myself on here and use my real first name. Sometimes that makes me uber paranoid that someone in real life will find me.

I love my job and never ever want to put myself in jeopardy. Anyway it's more or less public now, so I feel like it's okay to talk about it. A little...

The company I work out has many divisions. TV, Books, clothing company, websites, and advertising and marketing. I work under the advertising part. Last year the whole company was bought by a HUGE company. Nothing changed from day to day. Not even our name.

We found out a while ago that this new company thought that my department wasn't very important. We didn't make enough money to make a blip on their radar. They only wanted the big big money makers. So our head VP started looking around for potential buyers. It was pretty stressful for them. You could totally tell. Their entire demeanor changed and things were so tense at work. Everyone was nervous and walking on eggshells. We didn't want to lose our jobs. We LOVE this place.

Luckily we did find someone to buy us!! The great thing is almost everyone got to keep their jobs and nothing is really changing day to day wise. We are getting a new name and logo, and it will be announced publicly in the next few weeks.

Since it's happened it's like everyone took a huge sigh of relief. The atmosphere has been totally different and everyone is much more happier! The only con that has happen is my insurance went up. We went from a company of about 800 employees to only now 150. So my copay and deductible rose. As did the monthly amount taken out of my check. Thankfully it isn't too bad though. They really did their best to give us the same benefits we had without costing an arm and a leg.

I was initially really worried about my position. Now though things are turning around and it looks like in the upcoming months there will be new and exciting opportunities for me. I hope I can show them my worth and that I can do a great job if I get more responsibility. Fingers crossed!!

My Second 5K!

Yesterday I participated in my second 5K race. My best friend's school that she works at was having a 5K to raise some money. My friend is an amazing runner and she's been wanting me to run a race with her for a long time. Here was my chance.

A few people from my gym came along too which was great. I was very nervous though. More than I was last time. There was only about 80 people doing the race and I had a feeling that I was going to be last. Everyone else looked in much better shape than me.

Plus my friends that were there are all really good runners and have been doing this since high school. That didn't really help my self esteem. But I shrugged those feelings away and realized that at least I'm doing this race! This time last year there was no way I would have been able to!!

Off we went on the race. They said the course was flat, but they lied. It was pretty hilly!! Also the way it was set up, you had to loop around a few times. It was pretty discouraging to see all my friends pass me on their way back! But I kept pushing forward. Two of my gym buddies stayed with me thankfully, which really kept me going!

By the third mile I was dragging. I wanted to walk it in so bad. There were people stationed along the way with water and to tell you where to go. One of them made a nasty comment to me about how a dog nearby was running faster than me!! WHAT AN ASSHOLE!!! At least I was running the race!! Why would someone even say that to me! Ugh I was so mad!!

Then all of a sudden my best friend came running toward me and ran with me the whole way in!! Seeing her come after me to cheer me on was amazing. It really pepped me up and gave me enough energy to push through and finish strong!

I finished in 37:56. Almost two full minutes off my last 5K!! Which I couldn't believe. I felt awful during most of the race, I had no idea that I was doing so much better pace wise!!

I ended up finishing 3rd to last, but at least it wasn't last!! I'm very happy with my time and at how much I have been improving with running. One day I know I'll get under 35 minutes and be able to run the whole thing!

After the race my friend had a BBQ at her house. It was nice to hang out with my friends and eat some yummy food!! My friend finished 3rd overall, and her boyfriend won the race! I need to start running with them more often! lol

June is Here!!

This week has been flying by!! I cannot believe it's June!!!

My weekend was pretty fun. I didn't get to go the Mets game, there was all these problems that happend. I was bummed I didn't get to go, but I also wasn't that surprised things fell apart. A friend of a friend's husband was planning the outing. Things like that never work out, especially when people are lazy and dont' want to bother making an actual plan.

I was kind of glad I didn't go though. I was really hungover all day Saturday. I had a headache that just did not want to go away! I had a blast at the PBA Ball. It was fun to get all dressed up. It felt like a wedding, DJ, open bar and lots of dancing. Plus there was a chinese auction. I didn't win anything, but that's okay. It was just fun to hang out with friends like that. I just paid for it dearly the next day. lol

I did get to go to a BBQ on Monday. It was so hot out and they had a pool so I was able to get my first swim in!! I love love the water and can spend hours at a time in it. I got a little color and it felt nice to just lay on a float in a pool. I have a feeling this is going to be a good summer!

My birthday is at the end of June. The 28th. Since I've lost so much weight, my personal trainer (who is also a friend) told me that if I get under 200 pounds by June 25th, she is getting a car service and we are going to a country western bar that's in northern NJ!! It's been a goal I've been working toward for a few months now. It is getting so close!! I am only 6 pounds away!! I am working my butt off to hit that goal!! I can't even remember the last time I was under 200 pounds. It actually boggles my mind that I've gotten this far!

It's also a lot of pressure on me to get this done. There are a ton of people from the gym that are planning on going!! Every day they ask me for updates. It's a little nerve racking but at the same time it's really making me push myself! I have a little over 3 weeks to hit this goal!! Wish me luck!!!