Valentine's Day...

My mom gave me this balloon that was in a mug full of chocolates. I straightened my hair that morning ... I usually do on Sundays cause that's the only day I have time to but I didn't realize quite how long its getting til I see it in a picture like this and well you can tell I just touched up my teeth with my bleach trays! Working for a Dentist you've got to show off those pearly whites on a regular basis :)

My cute primary class

Again I can't figure out why its putting certain pictures on here twice? Oh well... anyway Cindi came down for dinner and she suggested that we have heart shaped pancakes but then we realized we didn't have any syrup so my mom thawed out some steak. I then decided to get creative and took the time to cut our steak into heart shaped pieces before I grilled it. Cindi was absolutely thrilled about that and wanted to take a picture...its all about simple pleasures!

Valentine's Date :)

I couldn't have hung out with a cuter guy or felt more loved than I did Saturday evening when I babysat this handsome little man! He was my Valentine's Date last year when is mommy and daddy went out for the evening and well we followed tradition again this year. My friend Toni and her husband went to dinner and a movie and James and I spent the evening taking my cousin Cindi grocery shopping (that is her Frog in the picture) ate pizza with her at her apartment, then went back and played cars and while watching Cars :)

He's so cute and reminds me so much of my brother when he was little with his red hair

I love being his adopted "Aunt Tami"

Have no idea why this picture ended up on here twice but hey its cute so its worth repeating!

Special Surprise...

So the end of last week I had a SURPRISE waiting for me when I got home from work which totally MADE MY DAY! Opened up this manilla envelope to find this inside...a special Valentine from my friend Krystal's two little boys Spencer and Owen, so cute! Thank you Krystal for thinking of me and making my Valentines Day special!

Before and Afters....

So several people have been asking me when I was going to post my before and after pictures from having my reduction surgery...well I'm finally getting around to doing it. I had to wait until some of the swelling went down which they say can take up to six months or more til it is completely gone but I figured it was at least down enough that I could post a picture now. Most of you have seen me in person since the surgery but well these pictures really put it in perspective why I was so miserable before and why I was so self conscious about it. Cause there is such a huge difference! A weight has been lifted from my shoulders literally (almost six pounds believe it or not) I cannot even begin to describe what a difference this has made in my life. I am so much more confident and happy these days that's for sure! I still have some pounds to lose of course but at least now I can finally exercise a lot easier than before :-) It was so worth all the pain and misery of recovering for months and months and the still on going financial drama and trauma of it all! I would highly recommend it to anyone who is ever thinking about it cause its the best thing I've ever done and the best present I could ever give myself!

Pinch me...am I dreaming?

Ok so here is the story of me and this dang good lookin man :-) So the week of my surgery back in September my cousin Jenny's husband Kempton told Grant (his friend and old college buddy from the Dorms) that he should request me as a friend on facebook. Well as you can imagine I was completely out of it being all drugged up on pain pills that I did not check my email or get on facebook for almost a whole week and when I did it was very briefly and I really don't remember anything I did or said. Anyway a few weeks later when I was more coherent I get a message from Kempton saying "what's up with all the rejection girl I'm trying to hook a cousin up?" Then I realize that I have a friend request from Grant which of course I accepted and after that we started chatting a little back and forth on facebook and then the more we chatted the more I realized just how much I wanted to get to know him even more, so we then exchanged numbers and started talking on the phone. I talked to Jenny and Kempton one night and they told me that they were flying out here from Florida for Thanksgiving and that they wanted to bring Grant to Thanksgiving dinner at my Grandma's for us to meet. Well after talking to Grant a few times on the phone, we decided we didn't want to wait clear til then to meet so he asked me out and we went on our first date a few weeks ago. We then hung out both Saturday and Sunday night of this past weekend and well he is coming to Thanksgiving dinner in just a few days of course where he will meet quite a bit of the fam :-)

I can't even begin to describe what I am feeling right now... I do feel like I am in some sort of a dream. Can this really be a reality for me? But I can say this I seriously cannot stop smiling right now... I am oh so happy to be dating this wonderful man, who is so amazing! He has been through such a lot in his life and well he is just so positive and happy and such a great example. I feel so lucky just to be around him and we just get a long so well. We have so much in common and we can talk to each other so easily! I seriously feel like I have known him forever! Anyway what more can I say except for life is good and I am oh so thankful this year for friendships and new beginnings!

A whole new me...

Well here it is... I know most of you are going to be shocked that I am finally back to blogging again. So many of you have asked when I am going to get back to it again and well the wait is finally over... I am officially back now and well as for my lack of absence, let's just blame it on my recovery, shall we :-)

Speaking of which seeing as how the last thing I posted was the morning of my surgery (which was now over two months ago) I should at least post something about how it went, eh? I have talked to most of you and you already know but to those of you who don't ... it went so amazingly well! No complications or weird happenings (which is so good for me) and well such a huge difference! It is seriously the best thing I've ever done in my whole life and I would do it again in a heart beat. It has totally made me feel so much better not only physically but emotionally...I have never been more self confident as I have become in the last two months. It is amazing the difference that it makes in my self-esteem and to not have my back and neck and shoulders hurt anymore, ya oh so worth all the pain, trauma and expensive of it all! I took some before pictures of me in my scrubs the night before the surgery and well I will post the before and afters to show the difference but not for a few more months. It can actually take up to six months before all the swelling goes away completely so I will wait until then for the final pictures but ya my dream has finally become a reality and it really is amazing the huge difference it has made in my life!

The Time Has Come...

Well here it is 3AM and I've found it impossible to sleep so I figure I might as well get up and do something instead of just laying there in my bed worrying and anticipating any longer! It seems crazy to me that over a month ago now that I posted about having my dream come true of getting a reduction done and now here in just a few short hours that dream will soon become a reality! After so many years of wishing, wanting and hoping...this is really going to happen...well it seems so surreal to me right now, I can't quite grasp the concept really! Ha Ha that will change very soon when I'm lying there in pain, then it will become real very quickly I'm sure...but whatever pain I might feel no matter how bad it is I know it will be oh so worth it! Not only physically but emotionally, it will make such a huge difference in my life! I just want to say thanks to all my family and friends, you have been so supportive, especially these past couple of months, listening to me talk nonstop about this...for all your encouraging words, and for helping to make this possible for me!

I'm sure I will be pretty non-coherent for most of today so to all of you that would like to know how it went my mom will have my cell phone and she said she will be happy to answer it and let you know how I am doing. The surgery they said will take around 4 1/2 hours so they anticipate I will be back in the recovery room sometime between noon and one... well this is it then, wish me luck!!!