This is going to be a fun week.  

My youngest niece turns 6 this time next week and her mom asked me to help her redecorate her bedroom for her birthday. This is right down my alley as I've often dreamed of being an interior designer.

So yesterday we spent the day shopping for fabric and accessories to coordinate with the Tinkerbell bedspread she had picked out. The challenge was to stay kid friendly and girlie without breaking the bank. We decided to mix it up a bit and go with flowers and butterflies, not just Tinkerbell. My SiL and I both sew, so we divided the projects. We'll do our sewing while she is in school and then next Monday we'll put it all together. PTL for an uncle who is painting furniture!

Today I am happily immersed in shades of lime and butterflies, ribbons and beads as I am making the canopy/drape for her bed. Just hope it turns out as cute as it looks in my head!

Finished:

For years I have been online friends with Mary Hurlbut both on xanga and on facebook. We met on the xanga Christian Moms blog ring and soon began praying for one another's families and getting to know each other better. We often dreamed of one day meeting face to face.

Well, a few weeks ago that finally happened. My travel buddy, Mary Ann met me in Laguna Beach and we spent a whole week together with Mary at her mom's cliff-side home overlooking the Pacific Ocean. This was my first trip ever to California. It was so much fun hanging out with these two women who love the Lord. Thanks to the generosity of those two camera bugs I have loads of great photos and hardly even took my point and shoot out of the case. It was a perfect balance of just hanging out and activity. Great times! I'll create an album soon, but for now here is my favorite group shot from the week:

Okay, don't anybody faint and fall over because I actually blogged!

I could talk about lots of things here but today I am choosing to resume blogging with the story of some MAJOR changes I have made in my lifestyle this past year. Then tomorrow I will share something very exciting I got to do this month.

It all began a few weeks after my 49th birthday when I realized my next birthday would be the big 5-0. Looking back I realized I spent my entire 4th decade overweight and not feeling good about how I looked with little to no stamina. I saw my Moma get thin in her old age, but didn't want to wait that long to be slender again. So I decided then to do whatever it takes to begin a journey toward health. I began counting calories and exercising 6 days a week. My goal was to lose 56 pounds and 5 sizes by my 50th birthday. I figured losing a pound or two a week was do-able.

Along the way I learned what my trigger foods are, how to tame the carb monster and eventually ended up with a new healthy lifestyle. I eat more fruit and vegetables than I ever have in my entire life. I only eat red meat once a week.  I rarely eat simple carbs, ever! I lift weights twice a week and walk or ride my bike or do an exercise DVD the other days. And its finally paid off. I have decided if I want to feel good about the way I look, I can never again eat anything I want and must monitor every single bite that goes in my mouth from now on.

It didn't happen the way I planned. Some weeks I managed to lose more than one pound. But more often than not I only lost1/2 to 1 pound a week. Inches lost: now that's a different story. I didn't meet my birthday goal. But I didn't give up. I've come too far for that!

Its been 14 months and I've lost 4 sizes and 42 pounds, so I'm still not there just yet.  But the last time I was this size was at least 15 years ago. Clothes are fun to shop for again. Now, people walk up to me and say things like, "You've lost a ton of weight!" Yep, I'm loving it....