Whew! I have been busy! (and I am still unemployed)

Wow! It has been awhile since I updated everyone with things in my life. The last few weeks for me have been pretty intense. It all started with a flight to Florida. I flew down there to help my mom (who is a snowbird) drive home from her 3 month stay in Florida. I had a blast while there with my mom (3 days). I got to meet all her friends, go to dinner with her, lay by the pool,  go to the beach and watch the sunset, and even managed to squeeze in a game of golf! From there our journey moved us to Sharpsburg GA (just outside of Atlanta).

We then spent 2 days there with my dad's nephew and his family (always been like an uncle to me). While there my cousin Dave took us to some neat places including a small town where they filmed Driving Miss Daisy. It was very neat. I also got to see his daughter Lisa and her husband Todd. They have the most adorable puppy! Dave also gave me a lesson in knife handling 101! It is always great to see my dad's side of the family. I am truly blessed to have them as a part of my life. From GA mom and I drove to Columbus OH.

While in Columbus my sister and I did some dress shopping and Grandma and the girls colored Easter eggs. Gracyn and Adde were so excited to see Grandma and see what goodies she brought home for them. My most interesting expirence was when I went with Scooter (my brother-in-law Scott) to the Cheshire Market to pick up the pizza! This place was loaded but what set it apart was the fact that it was the bait and tackle shop...good thing I don't lose my appetite easy! I enjoyed spending time with my sister and her family. I wish I was still only a few hours away from them. On Saturday evening mom and I made the last leg of our Journey back to Indy!

We arrived late Saturday night and that is when the madness began. I had an appointment at David's Bridal at 1pm. I went dress shopping on Sunday with my mom, Amber (Bridesmaid), Kindra, and Lexi! I had a lot of fun but unlike most brides to be I was over it real quick. I did end up finding my dress and am VERY happy about how it s going to look! That evening I went to dinner with the family at Sahm's! Monday was another whirlwind. We had appointments to go look at reception sites. We went to 5 places and still have not made our decision on where we want to hold our wedding/reception. I got to see my Aunt Mary Lou and Uncle Mike which is always a pleasure. I miss my family but believe that being in NC is best for Kipp and I. The only friend I got to see was April because she came and picked me up to go bowling at 9pm Moday night. I was on my flight back to NC Tuesday morning! I was gone a total of 10 days and missed Kipp very much. I was so glad to come home and give him a huge hug and kiss!!!!

I am back in the swing of my job search and believe that things will happen when they are suppose to. I don't believe God will put job in front of me that is not meant to be. I believe he has a very specific journey for me and I have yet to quite figure it out. I did have a chance to go to a luncheon with a friend mine and learned a lot about a possible business opportunity that I need to pray about and recieve guidance on.

I also started my quest to run a 5k. I am hoping to be able to run a 5k in 9 weeks....Shouldn't be to hard but at least it is a start to a better healthier me! I hope everyone is well!

Love you !
Sarah

Happy Birthday Dad!!!!

Wow! It has been a great couple of weeks. Though I still have no job I feel as though the wheel is starting to turn. All the networking I have been doing has been great. It is awesome to connect with people who have the same thoughts, feelings, and obstacles as you. It is always good to hear their updates and share success stories with each other! IT has really kept me positive in this journey in my life. So often it is so easy to get down and have a negative attitude but then I tell myself that this isn't permanent and that it is just a phase. I do have an interview on Wednesday (tomorrow) with a growing company. It is a position they are creating so hopefully I can help them in discovering exactly what it is that they want :)

I want to share a story with everyone that really touched me. Yesterday while driving home from the gym I got lost in my thoughts. I really began to miss my dad (yesterday would have been his 65th bday). So while I was driving along thinking about him I started to just talk to him and tell him how much I miss him. I was sitting at a stop light when the most amazing thing happened. "I can only Imagine" by Mercyme came on the radio. Now to get the full emotion of this story I bring you back to the day of my dad's funeral. It was there as they wheeled out my dad's casket Steve Quinn (a friend of my dad that I grew up hearing sing in our church) sang this song and it fit my dad to a T! So, as sit at the stop light talking to my dad his song came on! I was overwhelmed with joy, sadness, tears, and a sense of peace knowing that Daddy was still looking out for his little girl. I really believe that this was his way of telling me that everything will be ok and that he still walks with me every day of my life. I miss you so much Big Papa but I know you are living an eternal life of peace and happiness with your father and our Lord and Savior! I also want to thank you dad for teaching me to be the best person that I can be and love unconditionally. I truly miss you everyday!

With that said I am really excited for my week coming up. My sister and her family are coming down to visit! I can't wait to hug those little girls and spend time with them going to the zoo, the beach, playing in the yard, and just being with my family. It is always great to see my sister!

On a short note about my weight loss journey.....As I said before the scale and I broke up. I am very proud of myself for making the right choices in foods and exercising almost everyday. I am noticing a small difference but I am hoping that will turn into a big difference soon. I want to thank everyone for their encouraging words. YOu truly inspire me to do better and if there is ever anything I can do for you please let me know....I love you all!!! (I am posting the lyrics to the song "I can Only Imagine" below :)

3/22/2011
weight: unknown
job status: interview tomrrow

I can only imagine
What it will be like
When I walk
By your side

I can only imagine
What my eyes will see
When your face
Is before me
I can only imagine

I can only imagine

[Chorus:]
Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel
Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still
Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall
Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all
I can only imagine

I can only imagine

I can only imagine
When that day comes
When I find myself
Standing in the Son

I can only imagine
When all I will do
Is forever
Forever worship You
I can only imagine

I can only imagine

[Chorus]

I can only imagine [x2]

I can only imagine
When all I will do
Is forever, forever worship you

I can only imagine

Cleaning out the closet!

I want to start off saying that I attended a wonderful networking meeting on Monday! I met a lot of great people who gave me tons of encouragement. I am going to continue to go to this every Monday along with my current networking group on Thursday! I really am trying to get out there and meet people and land a job. I met a gal on Saturday night at a local establishment here and gave her my card. She emailed me today and asked for my resume to send along to HR. Hopefully that goes well. I really am starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel as far as employment goes.

Now on to my weight loss journey. I reported last time that I was down five pounds which was encouraging. Well on the contrary this time I have gained 2 lbs. It is frustrating to keep yo-yo'ing up and down this way. On Sunday night before my big networking meeting I was going through my closet to find something to wear and to my amazement I have out grown ALOT of my clothes. I REFUSE to go shopping and buy bigger sizes. So what did I do......

I broke up with my scale (in the words of my friend Niki) and started cleaning out my closet. Now I will let you know I did not give any clothes away or sell any of them. I simply have moved them into another closet. My theory behind this is that when I start dropping more pounds I will be able to go shopping in that closet and have some of my old clothes back. I am putting my scale away until March 27th. This is one day before my sister comes to visit me and I have set forth a goal to meet in that time. My goal is to lose 10lbs by then.

I have noticed with having the scale right by my shower I am weighing myself upwards of 4-5 times a DAY! That's right I am becoming a little obsessed with the scale. This is not healthy. I need to start focusing on how I feel and not so much what the scale is saying. I will not weight myself until the day before my sister arrives. I figure if I do that I will not focus so much on the weight aspect of things. Lets hope my theory works.

I started really getting back into weight watchers this week and am strictly counting my points. I had so much success in the past that the only thing that can fail on this is ME!

For those of you who have not heard we have set a date for our wedding. 4/21/12!!!

"Don't ever, ever quit. Recognize that stopping now, regrouping to try a new approach isn't quitting. If you quit you'll regret it forever."
~ Rudy Ruettiger

Feeling so much better!!

I feel so much better after battling some sort of cold! I was knocked out for 3 days! I was coughing, sneezing, sniffing, aching, hurting ALL over, plus I had a 102 fever. Now that it is over I feel much better and I was able to continue on with my work out schedule and job search.

As for the job search....well I am still searching. I go to a networking group every Thursday and those guys always help me feel better about the whole process. It is nice to sit down once a week with people who are facing the same struggles as you. Hopefully for all of us in this group we score jobs really soon. I am filling out anywhere from 10-15 job applications a week. I have yet to get a call back though and that is soooooooooooooooooooooooo frustrating. I keep telling myself that every NO gets me closer to that one YES that I need (because lets face it I only need 1 job!) I feel that God has a plan for me and that I just need to keep on keeping on and he will take care of me!

Now for my weight loss journey. As of Thursday I was down 5 lbs. I wish I had a bigger number to report but at least the number is going down. I think I am going to get back into weight watchers this week. I think there is a meeting place about 10 minutes from my house. This way I will be able to track what I eat again and the last time I did weight watchers I was very successful! I have been trying to get to the gym and move at least 5 days a week. I have been walking for 30-40 minutes on a 13 incline and also doing an express 30 minute workout that consists of resistance training and plyometrics.

Here is to losing more weight and gaining more confidence in my job search :}

2/28/2011
176 lbs
Unemployed

Let the games begin....

Hey all! Well after last weekend it is time to get down to business. I will say that my fiancé and I were able to explore a little bit of what Raleigh night life is like(after we drove 21/2 hours to the nearest Bass Pro Shop). We met some friends at the Flying Saucer (great bar for the beer connoisseur) and from there we headed to the Ugly Monkey. Mind you there is an Ugly Monkey in Indy but…..this one serves JACK AND COKE ICEE’s!!!! OMG we were in heaven! From there we went to a bar called Deep South (also a record label). Needless to say we had a lot of fun. I sabotaged my own diet with McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and some other garbage through out the weekend. I decided it is now time to get down to business. I weighted myself on Monday and gained a pound L

I started a 9 day detox on Tuesday. This consists of eating all raw fruits and vegetables, brown rice, yogurt, and all the water I can drink. Now this may sound a little extreme but I think it will be great. I can eat as much as I want just not fats, oils, fried food, salt, or any of the bad stuff. My hope in doing this is to reset my body to not crave so much of the bad stuff. After the detox I will slowly introduce meats back into my diet and hopefully have a healthier approach to eating. Currently I am on day 3 and would love to say I feel great but, I have come down with some sort of flu and feel like crap. Through it though I am sticking to this plan and giving it 100% effort. I will not weigh myself again until the 10^th day which is a week from today! At that point I will keep you posted.

As for my job search…it is still going. I have met a lot of great people through networking groups I have attended. Many of them have given me great leads but it just seems as though my “qualifications don’t meet their specifications”! What exactly does that mean? I wish I could march through the doors and just show them who I am instead of having to put it on a piece of paper. I am way more than my resume could ever explain. Oh well….It is the power of numbers right? Every No gets me closer to a yes!!! I will keep marching forward and hopefully by this time next week I will have even greater leads and hopefully even an interview or two.

Good news is my fever broke and I am feeling a little bit better. I don’t remember the last time I was this sick but, I guess it is better to happen when I don’t have a job right? I hope everyone reading this is having/had a great day.

2/17/11

Weight 181 lbs

Job unemployed

Observations of today, reality of tommorrows!!!

I don't want to overwhelm you with too many blogs but I thought I would share my observations of today (meaning my life today) and my reality of tomorrows (meaning what needs to happen in my future)! I am simply going to list for you each one of these categories. Please feel free to comment or add to any of these :)

Observations of today:
The job market seems impossible, manquins piss me off, my saddle bags hurt when I sit to long, my thighs rub together, my belly bulges, my arms jiggle. I LOVE cheeseburgers from McDonalds, bagels from Panera, and chinese food to boot. Getting up in the morning is difficult and staying focused is ......did anyone see American Idol last night? Depression has set in and my mood is changing.

Reality of tommorrows:
The job market is what I will make of it. The harder I work to market myself the easier it will be to get a job. I am going to start a strict work out regimin and slowly work into a healthier way of living. To go along with my job I also believe that my body will be what I make it. The harder I work the less I will jiggle, bulge, and rub. McDonald's can not be on my radar (except for a speacial treat in moderation). To make this happen I am going to start with a 9 day detox thanks to my friend Niki! After the detox I am going to rejoin WeightWatchers and really observe what I am putting into my body. I will definately keep you all posted on my progress and will even post before and after pictures....but I want to lose some of the weight before I post because the sight just depresses me...Speaking of depression I had a boss once tell me that "what you think about, you bring about"...I need to think more positive and be more optomistic...If I think happy thoughts then I will bring more happiness into my life.

Many of you may not know why I am so adament about becoming a healthier me but let me explain. Just over 2 years ago I lost my father to a very preventable disease (obesity)!  Technically he passed away after a heart operation but I truly believe that it was all caused by obesity. I now to face the obstacles of becoming obese and do not want to see my family suffer through another death that can easily be prevented :) So I hope you guys enjoy this journey with me!

WOW! I can't believe I weigh that?!?!?!

Hello! It is kind of crazy that I have started blogging. I am not one to usually jump on the bandwagon but, I feel that writing down my journey will help me to accomplish some major goals. As many of you know in November 2009 I was laid off from O'Charley's (which from now on I will refer to as Ochux). Shortly after this I got engaged and moved to North Carolina. This is where my journey begins.

I am going to be blogging often about my journey finding a new job, meeting new friends, discovering new things, planning my wedding and most of all I will be blogging about my journey to lose weight. At first I was not all about jumping into a blog site and posting all about my life. The more I thought about it though, the more I realized that I could utilize this as a tool for motivation. Not only to help motivate myself but hopefully to also motivate those who read my blog.

Earlier this week I stepped on the scale and realized I was just 3lbs away from being the heaviest I have ever been before. When I lost the weight the first time I promised myself I would never go back there (and technically I am still 3lbs away.) When I stepped off that scale I was overwhelmed with a rush of all kinds of emotion. I started making excuses like I am bloated or it’s just because it’s my time of the month. All I could think about that day was how I have let myself sink back into this hole. I could blame it on many things: losing my job, getting comfortable in my relationship, the death of my father, etc.

I could go on for days listing all the excuses I have but today I am deciding to take responsibility and action for what I have created. Many who have known me for a while know that I have always struggled with the issue of weight. I went through a spell in high school of starving and then purging anytime I ate. I always saw myself as "Fat"! Boy was my view ever skewed. I would love to have my old body back. The fact of the matter is that I am adult and will have to learn to deal with my womanly curves. What I don't need to deal with is over eating, emotional eating, lack of exercise, and not taking care of my body. Through out this journey I am going to be sharing some of my most personal information with everyone in hopes that it will motivate me and keep me on track to a better me.

The Journey starts TODAY! Wish me luck!

2/8/2011 Starting weight: 180 lbs
2/8/2011 Starting job: unemployed