Joining Weight Watchers

As far as weight gain goes there are many "milestones" in a woman's life. There is the freshman 15, which is basically the weight you gain when you move out from home for the first time. It's probably because you are eating out a lot more often eating things like pizza and more fast food then you really should. It's also because you really don't have time to cook and eat healthy things or even work out because usually you are taking a full class load and lets face it there is a lot more homework in college. Actually I think all of the school work you do is homework. Anyway I've taken classes but, I never actually went to college full time. Instead I joined the Military so instead of gaining the freshman 15 I actually lost weight in basic training and maintained a pretty healthy weight while in the military. I'm sure it was all the physical training I did.
The next milestone is the weight you gain when you are happy  with a significant other and then after that after you get married. It doesn't make sense for me because though because Mike and I lived together for years before we got married yet somehow I gained the weight. After that you have the baby weight, then some times menopause causes you to gain weight. Well I've finally reached that magic number that I never wanted to see so I did something about it. about 6 weeks ago I joined Weight Watchers and so far I've lost 8lbs!! I still have a lot more to go and I know I can do it. 

Turning 30!

So Tomorrow is my 30th birthday!!! Wow! I just don't feel 30, I mean I'm finally noticing the fine lines on my face around my smile and eyes makes me want to go back and tell myself WEAR SUNSCREEN!!!!! It used to be that pale white was in style but, when I was growing up being the west coast girl that I am having a nice bronze was in. I'm not promoting sun bathing because I totally believe in wearing sun block to prevent skin cancer. I am a sunblock Nazi now. Anyway I don't feel like I'm getting older except occasionally when stairs and I don't agree.
So what do I want for my 30s well I'd like to eventually start a family  but, that is still a few years out. Considering I just pulled up my roots only to lay them down again in San Diego, they aren't completely planted yet still in a pot so to speak. Lots of things to finish up in Sacramento, plus Mike needs to get down here. Hopefully things will even out and we'll  be on track to getting our lives started, I can't believe we've almost been married for a year! Some other things I'd like for my 30s are to get my professional life on track as well. I've been training for far to long at this point. Granted I did just move to a new facility so it will take some time to get rated. I'd also like to take some fabulous vacations to places like Italy, Turkey, Germany, France, England, Ireland, pretty much all of Europe. I'm thinking a country every year!! That will be my goal. I'm also hoping to learn a new skill and actually get good at it such as surfing or ocean kayaking. :) Anyway off to bed for me!!!
Happy Birthday to me!!

Driving to OKC day 1

 I'm getting ready to transfer to San Diego and I'm super excited about that. Ever since I visited Karrie and Kat in 2003 I have wanted to live there! Before all of that can happen I have to go to Oklahoma City, OK for some tower training. All of my Air Traffic experience is in RADAR so even though I took the training in the Air Force I wanted to (and had to) take the FAA's Tower course. Last time I went in 2007 it was only for 1 month so I suffered (yes suffered) without a car. I thought I'd be no problem when I was there last time, you know I'd just catch the bus and rent a car on 2 of the weekends to go and visit my very good friend Cristin in Dallas. Well the public transportation system in Oklahoma isn't as good as it is in other cities. I know I'm spoiled by living in CA where we have things like the BART and buses and the train and stuff. Not that I use them too often but I have, especially when going to San Fran.
    On to the drive. So yesterday I left Sacramento at 8AM and arrived in Flagstaff (aprox the half way point) at 10PM. Man was I tired! I'm very glad I felt I could make it to Flagstaff though because now the rest of my drives are going to be much shorter and I won't be travel exhausted when I get to Oklahoma. It was raining Sac when I left and it continued to rain until just after Bakersfield. Once I started heading SE the sky started to clear up and it got much warmer. Everyone had said the drive would be boring because there isn't anything to look at. I guess since I'm from the desert I thought it was very beautiful! the mountains were a very pretty purple color (no not at sunset) and there were lots of different kinds of plateaus and cliffs with lots of different warm colors. I wanted to take some pictures but maybe on the way back. Mike is driving back with me so I'll have him bring the big camera. We are also planning to go to the Grand Canyon so that's another reason to bring it! Oh and the roads in Arizona on Interstate 40 are very rough in a lot of places! Well off to breakfast and onto day two of driving I'm hoping to make it to Amarillo today. (should be no problem).

Flowers

I like to receive flowers, I like the way the smell, I am actually one of those people who will stop and smell the flowers, and flowers usually make me smile. The funny thing is I don't have a favorite type of flower. I didn't even know where to begin when I started looking at bouquets. I just knew that flowers out of season = expensive so I told the two flower shops I looked at that I wanted something in season. I began my search online. I dare you just type in flowers in season for (insert month), you won't come up with very much information. I'm thinking this is some secret squirrel stuff why wouldn't this information be available. All those wedding websites weren't helpful either; they just talked about different flower shops in the area. So to begin my search I just started looking through pictures of bouquets, I looked at a ton of pictures and eventually decided that the deep purple color I was looking for would probably best be displayed in calla lilies. I was a little hesitant about getting calla lilies because I had always heard that they were really expensive.
Florist # 1 meeting day comes along and I just crossed my fingers and told the florist what color I was looking for. They started talking about roses these were special roses from Mexico and they last longer and they don't cost extra because they grow them all year round blah blah blah. Granted roses are pretty I usually stop to smell the roses that grow at my house. In high school marching band I marched in the Tournament of Roses Parade....I just didn't really want roses. I just felt like they were so common I wanted something that wouldn't be so common. Plus flowers die and I knew I was going to be upset about my flowers dyeing.... (I was). Anyway I almost relinquished the whole flower thing and I probably should have, at least my bouquet part of it. I didn't really need a bouquet and the only time I held it was walking down the isle. It did double duty as a decoration after the ceremony, as well as the bridesmaids flowers. I digress so back to this florist they were cool but I clearly didn't know exactly what I wanted and they didn't have very many suggestions, I don't want to include their name because for other brides this might be what they want, it just wasn't what I wanted, the price for what I would have gotten from them was outstanding as well.
Florist # 2, Jackie's Flowers out of Elk Grove, was AWESOME!! She had great pictures her shop was full of different props I could rent to place flowers on or candles or whatever and she has some wonderful ideas!! She is truly an artist. While looking at her pictures I found this gorgeous bouquet of caramel colored roses and I knew that's what I wanted just modified a bit. So we talked it out and add the deep purple calla lilies to the caramel roses, the bridesmaids would carry a single calla lily with feathers (1920's theme). The backdrop to the ceremony would be a rustic/medieval candelabrum with flowers and candles on it.  Another thing that sold me was she hand picks her flowers at the flower market in San Fran!  Wait until you see the pics! If you have never been to The Firehouse Restaurant back patio you need to check it out. It is very beautiful back there and one of the reasons for picking it was we knew it would require very little decoration. I had some ideas about other things I wanted from Jackie but they were putting my flower budget out the window so I had to scale back. Jackie is awesome though (as I 've said) and the day of the wedding she surprised me with some of the things we had talked about that were out of my reach because of my budget.
Anyway some ideas that I had that didn't come to fruition were to have some carved pumpkins around with Mike and I initials and things like that, it was Halloween after all, but that was going to be too time consuming and was out of my budget.  I didn't want my bridesmaids and groomsmen sitting around carving pumpkins the night before the wedding (although that could have been fun). I also had ideas to have small pumpkins be part of the table centerpieces that were just scattered around. What we ended up doing instead was free and only took some time of some very good friends. I bought gold, silver, and ivory with various design's scrapbook paper, placed two wine bottles with white ostrich feathers, candle's and ivory rose petals on the table. This was very inexpensive and looked fabulous!
In closing flowers are beautiful but, not necessary and I really really had to twist Mike’s arm to get him to wear a boutonnière. I just knew that my grandma, mother and mother in-law would appreciate the touch of flowers so I bit that bullet instead of fighting it. I did see some pretty cool looking homemade flower ideas on etsy.com while browsing there so if you are against flowers then that’s the way to go!

The Pre- Ceremony reading

As you know by now Mike and I really wanted our guests to have fun at the wedding, even during the ceremony! We both wrote our own vows and included things in the ceremony that were "serious" and funny. We actually had laughter during the ceremony because of things that we included in it. We had references to the things we like (Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Team America) as well as things that were "appropriate" for Halloween (zombies). So without further ado here is the pre-ceremony reading! Enjoy! Before beginning I must note that the pre-ceremony reading I found online and borrowed it from the author. She gave permission on that site so that's why I did it. I'll post the other's later, I just didn't want to make it so long !
 Pre-Cermony reading
Dearly loved friends and relations, I have the honor of welcoming you all to this ceremony, in which we will wed Michael & Sharon to each other.
They asked me to say a few words to set the proper mood and tone for their wedding.
I thought for quite some time about what I would say, discarding metaphors and quotes of love, before finally settling on a topic near to their hearts - Today I'm going to say a few words about zombies.
Zombies. The shambling ghouls of black and white Saturday matinees and the quick, ravenous monsters of modern horror are all suffering from the same disease - disconnection - from the world around them and from each other.
And aren't we all there sometimes?
Don't we shuffle to work, monosyllabic, until we get our caffeine, and then go through the motions of work and house as if completely unaware of other people? Don't we set our sights on one desire after another, rushing from experience to experience without actually stopping to enjoy any of it?
Haven't you found yourself staring into space, wishing for just a little more brains?
Michael & Sharon were there too and they've decided to take the only vaccine that works - they've decided to get married. By which I mean they've decided to get connected - unashamedly, unhesitatingly connected - to each other.
In this they refuse to become numb themselves, they promise to give each other attention, consideration, and kindness - emotions zombies most certainly do not share. They refuse to feed on the heart and mind of the other, agreeing instead to grow those things together and share them equally. And they vow not to allow the other to become a zombie when they aren't looking - slipping into apathy, these things with the shotguns of their love strapped strongly to their backs and the truncheons of their humor held firmly in their hands.
Together, they will defend their humanity and their home with all the wit, grace, and power of any spunky heroine or over-sized hero.
Together they are an example of what is possible when two people set their sights on the same star. They cut through our 21st century cynicism and prove that, in fact, zombificiation is not inevitable - that friendship, love and desire, when held with both hands, are the only weapons any of us need to stay human.
With the zombies held at bay by their mutual promises, Michael & Sharon are ready to face the other monsters of life - defending against the Frankenstein coworkers, the Soul Vampires of false friends, and the Mummy of age itself.
The adventure they are about to embark on has all the magic of any Hollywood movie and all the terror of true Lovecraftian horror - dread Cthulhu has nothing on balancing family Christmases.
But the truest fact is that as long as they stick together, connected to each other, the zombies of life, real and imagined, apathetic and disastrous, cannot harm them.
That said, let's get married, shall we?
- Written by L.E.H. Light, 2008