Weekend Fun and Measurements!

First and foremost - I hope all the moms on here had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday.

I was lucky to spend it with my mom and nana (and rest of the family).   My mom doesn't like to go out on Mothers Day because it's such a busy restaurant day and we do our "girls nights" often.   So I decided to order a few pans of amazing BBQ from a local restaurant and bring over a lot of good food.   No cooking! Easy peasy!

I brought them some gorgeous peonies and some fun gifts for them and we spent about 9 hours together which was great. We were going to have a swim day and finally get in the pool but it was overcast all day.  I instead helped me mom learn her new Iphone which she was super happy about.  She isn't very tech savvy and she wanted to know how to use it better.

The day before - on Saturday we went to yet another music festival. This one was local.  It's an annual event which draws thousands of people and a lot of great bands from all over the world.   My friends live in an amazing loft in the neighborhood so we decided to have a pre and post party at his place.   We all pitched in with the food and I brought over my panini maker and made Grilled thin chicken, green apple thin slices, triple creme brie and a roasted garlic onion jam on chiabatta and pressed them and cut them into a ton of mini sandwiches.  That along with blue cheese cole slaw, home made sangria and it was quite yummy and a blast.  We walked about 12 miles that evening at the festival and it ended around 1:30 am which we went back to his place for a post party. Post food goodies, pandora radio, bad dancing and a disco ball came out.  Too much fun!

Too much in fact that Lisa needs some MAJOR DOWN TIME for the next week or so.  I feel like I am running myself ragged and I still haven't caught up from NOLA.  No complaints tho, I have an amazing friends circle and I am super fortunate.  They were all majorly excited to toast Z & I for our engagement and everyone was oooing and awwing over my ring.  It was a nice feeling!!

So with that said - the scale is moving but slow again because I need fill #3.  I noticed weight loss kicked into gear with fill #2 and now I am back to the point I can eat a lot and eat pretty much anything so I know the weight loss made it looser.

So when it stalls,  I always like to check measurements and today I did a couple (not all of them) and I was SHOCKED.

When I started, I was at:

Date: 1/20/12 - The day I started my Pre-Op diet.

Right Arm: 16.5

Left Arm: 17

Chest: 49 (not sure if this was measured correctly)

Bra Strap: 41

Waist: 44.2

Hips: 61

Right Thigh: 32

Left Thigh: 32

Right Calf: 17.6

Left Calf: 18.6

 

DRUM ROLL PLEASE:

 

Today, I measured 4 areas and was pleasantly surprised.

 

Chest:  41

Waist: 39

Hips: 46

Right thigh: 31

 

So my problem areas such as hips have moved a bit but my thighs are not budging much AT ALL. I mean seriously, I was so much more and have only lost one inch in 4 months?? Uggg- I really need some help there.

 

I am pretty excited however to see the difference in my waist and hips. I will do the rest of the measurements later.

 

I hope everyone has a wonderful week ahead!!

BIG NEWS!

I am in recovery.

Food, Drink, Merriment Detox.

Recovery from New Orleans. 
The city stole my heart yet again.

I will start from the beginning....
We arrived late Wednesday night, checked in and went en route for some food and music.  We walked a few miles to Frenchmen Street away from the quarter a bit and stumbled upon mainly closed restaurants.  We decided to have a few cocktails and discovered an amazing old 20's Parisian inspired Jazz vibe. 

Total Heaven!

We then went to Cafe Du Monde for Beignets and Cafe Au Lait.  My first (of two the whole week) stuck episode of the evening. I was so worried I would never be able to partake again.  Low and behold, it came up and I was good to go and enjoyed a nice fluffy french doughnut. I was able to enjoy beignets not once but three times this trip. Oh do I wish I had one now!  Oh My, we were here.

For the next four days, we had tickets for Jazz Fest.  We had basically the same routine daily.  Take the shuttle to the fairgrounds, zip around the grounds for 7 hours and see as much amazing music as possible. 

At night, we would go on a hunt for great food and even greater jazz.  We had two nights at Preservation Hall which is lifechanging and a must for me, a night at Irvin Mayfields club for Los Hombres Calientes, and tons of smaller joints for local flavor.  

We packed in SO much.   I can't even describe the amount of spots and things we saw and packed into this week. 
It was much more than I ever recall and I am not a Jazz Fest Virgin or NOLA partaker in the least.

We had friends fly in from Denver and it was amazing to spend some time with them.  They have not seen me in 40 pounds and have no idea I was banded, so the first response out of their mouths were "Holy Shit, you are thin!"   THAT was a nice feeling.

So anyways - four days of MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC and more music.

By Monday - the fest was over and it was time for some downtime.

Zack and I took the streetcar down St. Charles to the Garden District and we walked a few miles.  We stumbled upon a beautiful park (Audubon Park) and we went inside.

This is when it gets interesting.

We are at a gorgeous old fountain with beautiful statues all around us.  Beautiful big oak trees shading us and all of a sudden... I had no idea what was happening.

Zack decides to tell me how wonderful I am, how much he loves me and pulls out a gorgeous diamond ring and asks me to marry him. 

Say What?!!  I was not expecting that!! 

So I am officially engaged! :)  I decided after 6 years, I was definitely ready! 

The rest of the day consisted of a lot of wonderful champagne toasting, great brunch, celebrations, big smiles, a chefs dinner, more music and ending an amazing week in the Crescent City.

New Orleans has always held a special place in my heart.  Now even more so!

Photo porn to follow:



Breakfast of Champions!



Before Florence & the Machine



Salsa Band - Congo Stage



Beignets - Mmmm



Down on Frenchman Street



The Goods!

Where He Proposed :)

There a ton more pics but I don't have the patience right now to post them because Blogger isn't very user friendly.   All in all, we had an amazing time, ate incredible food, saw the best music, received amazing bling and walked over 50 miles in 6 days!

Guess it's time to start planning a wedding!!