Weekend Festivities: 20 Year High School Reunion

It was a really great weekend.


Friday was the adult night for our 20 year high school reunion. 

We had about 40 classmates come and about 60 total.  I really enjoyed meeting the spouses and seeing many “old” friends.  I was thinking today how your classmates are a huge part of life for the first 12 years.  You see these people five days a week for nine months out of the year.  Each of them play a part in shaping the person you become.  It makes me really sad that I haven’t kept in touch with them.  Thanks to Facebook, it does make it a bit easier. 

There we some people that had stayed friends and some that felt “clicky” like they were back in the day.  But, overall, it was wonderful to see everybody.

Longdrop Cider Company and Smoke & Thyme were both great to work with.  We had a great evening and ended up shutting the place down with some staying well after closing time.  There was three different after parties and I just so happened to get an invite to all of them (it pays to be the hostess).  We decided to stay downtown and went to a nearby hotel at the rooftop bar.  We got “kicked out of there” due to noise and went to another bar downtown.  It was a really late night but tons of fun.

 

On Saturday, we had the family day at the park.  This was less well attended and sadly, our weather didn’t cooperate but at least the rain held off.  Most of those that attended were out late on Friday night so I really appreciated them coming.  Each group brought their own picnic and the kids were able to play at the park playground.  I am glad so many attended the two day event because it gave me more time to visit.

 

I didn’t get much sleep this weekend so it was nice to be able to spend the evening at home where Kenyon and I called it an early night.  Party planning is exhausting.

Sunday morning we were up and at it again with my Damsel in Destress party that afternoon.  We went to breakfast at Original Pancake House because I’d been craving pancakes.  And, I needed to clean up the downstairs so it was a win-win. 

 

We ran errands at Costco and then headed home so I could get busy.  I had a great turnout and earned some free product.  I really like the company and my friends did too.

I’m back at work today on overtime and then I start my workweek.  I’m off starting Friday so I can go to Spokane to visit Dawny.  Yippie!

Calming Down The Nerves

It’s Friday!!  Yahoooo.

Despite thinking this week would fly by, it has been a long week.  I am ready for my weekend even though it is jam packed.

Tonight and tomorrow afternoon I am attending my 20 year high school reunion. 

I’m a teeny bit nervous to see everybody partly because I haven’t seen them in years (I wasn’t able to attend my 10 year reunion due to scheduling) and partly because I am hanging onto about 50 pounds extra since high school.

Weight loss and weight gain, to me, will always be on my mind.  It is part of the journey I’ve been on and the journey I continue to navigate.  I find myself getting super nervous when there is a social situation where I’ve not seen somebody for a while.  The anxiety used to be positive because I worked hard to lose 130 pounds and wanted to look my absolute best.  The anxiety I’ve felt over the last few years has been more negative and I am literally giving myself a pep talk in front of the mirror saying, “there is nothing you can do to change the outcome today, so be as confident as you can be and do your best.”  I 100% believe that confidence shines through at any size and weight.

My weight over the last 20+ years has fluctuated quite a bit.  The summer between my junior and senior year, I had dieted down to 175 pounds and remember fitting into a size 14 jeans.  Here is my senior picture from 1998.

 

I gained much more than the freshman 15 when I went to college and to the best of my recollection, the gain happened slowly over time throughout adulthood.  I took control of my weight and my health in January of 2007 and over the course of two years, I lost 130 pounds.  I would have been around the same weight as when I graduated at my 10 year high school reunion had I been able to attend.  For those of you that have been following along for the past several years, you know I’ve gained several pounds back and even lost some of those re-gained pounds again.

But, for those that have not seen me in 20 years…I’m really just 50 pounds heavier.  They don’t know my journey.  They don’t know my story.  They don’t know my struggles or my successes.  They only see the outside and the confidence that I exude. 

With age comes wisdom and while I am nervous that my classmates will be looking like the exact replica of their senior portrait, I am also realistic and know that they too have insecurities.  And, you never know, they might have changed a little bit too and they might even be a little nervous.

I am really excited to see everybody and had I not been the party planner throughout all this, I might not have already started making some re-connections.  Plus, you all know I love a good party!

Getting Back To A Routine

Good Morning

*yawn*

Since I’ve been home from vacation, I’ve hit the ground running!  My 20 year high school reunion is this coming Friday and Saturday.  During our vacation, I had put out some fires and get the ball rolling but we are making headway.  Kenyon and I met with the venue on Monday afternoon so we are feeling better about the details.  I ran a million errands on Monday and still have name tags and the memory table to get put together.  I already feel exhausted.

I have been staying up too late this week and boy am I feeling it today.  I had an opportunity to go see the new movie TAG with free tickets tonight but I just don’t think I can stay up late another night in a row.  I’m sad because I love movies and I was able to snag free tickets through a theater promo/rewards card deal.

Getting my food back on track has also been difficult.  I am trying to detox from sugar as I had way too much ice cream treats while on vacation.  I felt really good yesterday after eating a huge veggie chopped salad for lunch.  I even felt less bloated and my rings fit better.

 

I’ve not been able to hit up my Monday morning meeting and I also won’t be able to get to a morning meeting for the next two Mondays.  I am not sure if I’ll try to go to another meeting or use this opportunity as a mental break and re-focus later in the month.  From the middle June to early September, I will have a lot of time to focus on my eating and activity.  I really like the exercise routine I had started to develop a few weeks ago and I’m looking forward to getting back into that.  I struggle the most with my eating when I am on dayshift and never know what the heck to plan for dinners.  I was talking with Kenyon on vacation and I think the biggest hurdle is that we don’t eat the same foods and being the good wife that I am, I feel like I need to have food ready for both of us by the time he gets home.  We will have to sit down and talk about that more.

I feel a bit overwhelmed right now and the last thing I want is to gain a ton of weight.  I have been afraid to get on the scale because I can feel the difference in my body after eating way off plan for a week and a half.  I’m going to really try hard to zone in on that feeling and what drives my reckless eating so I can work to combat it.

There are many positives to focus on as well including the donuts in the breakroom that didn’t make it into my mouth or the frozen yogurt stop after dinner out with a friend that didn’t happen.  I need to start writing them down so I can shift my mental state.  After spending a week with people that talk about weight loss all the time, I need a break!