Adventures by Disney Backstage Magic Day 1

Hello Friends!

I am going to start scrapbooking my latest adventure and decided to blog about it before I do any pages. So here it goes....

Tuesday December 9, 2008 (Day One, Part One)

I woke up very groggy at 5:00 in the morning. Now mind you before I leave for any trip I have to clean the house and pack. Well, the night before I had a shift at the store. They were nice enough to let me leave around 10:00, but I still had so much to do. But at least the condo was cleaned and when I got home from work there wasn't too much left to do but pack and finish the laundry. I felt bad for the boys, they were all looking at me like they knew we were leaving them for a week. It breaks my heart, but I love to travel and cats don't travel very well. Below is a picture of Lucky, our middle "child", who no one ever sees because he is skiddish around people. He obviously didn't want us to go.

My sister Erin was nice enough to drive us to the airport so we didn't have to pay to park our car. We were even fortunate enough to still be going on this trip since both of us lost our jobs. But it was already paid for and included most meals, all the hotel stays, and the transportation. Once we got to Detroit Metro we got our boarding passes and checked out luggage, then we went through security at wrap speed, which never happens to us. At 7:00 in the morning we were ready to leave, but the flight didn't board until 8:45. So we decided to hit up the National Coney Island for one last taste of Michigan before we headed to sunny California. Don't worry, I didn't eat a coney dog, I had French toast while Brian had a Greek omelet.

(Brian enjoying his breakfast before the flight).

After we boarded the flight I fell asleep. I always do this. I slept for about an hour and by then we were in the sky. I am not going to bore you with what we did on the plane. Because all I really did is read a little and play with the Nintendo DS and Brian did the same. We finally arrived at LAX, thank goodness because I hate long airplane rides. After a brief bathroom break it was time to get the luggage. We went down the escalator to grab our luggage and saw a man holding sign that stated "B. Thomas". Now I knew that Adventures by Disney (ABD) was going to provide transportation, but I am sure there are millions of B. Thomas' in the world. So I asked the guy if B. stood for Brian and it did. This made me mad because I did all of the travel arrangements and talked with all of the ABD reps and they put the sign in his name (sorry I don't have a pic of the sign). We grabbed our luggage and we walked to the towne car that was going to take us to the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel.

(Me with my Hollywood shades on our arrival)

After a half hour drive we arrive at our destination. We walk into our hotel around 12:20 and were greeted by one of our guides Diana (pronounced Dee-anna). She gave us our room keys and told us to meet the group on the second floor at 4:00 pm to start the adventure. So we went to our room to change clothes, since it was like 70 in LA and I was wearing jeans. Our luggage was already there because a nice bellman already whisked it away for us. I was excited when we entered the room because we got free gifts, and who doesn't love free gifts. We got ABD cooldanas (pieces of fabric you soak in cool water and wrap around your neck, travel fans, some pens, a duffel bad, H2O hydration spray, and some weird block thing that I ended up throwing away once we got home). We looked out the window at the wonderful view of LA and saw the Hollywood sign outside of our window (which I have never seen). We quickly changed and decided to get something to eat since dinner wasn't until 5:00 and we missed lunch. I really wanted to go to the Disney Soda Fountain and I knew it was close by. But I will get back to that part of the story tomorrow....

(a picture of our gifts)

(one of the beds in our double bed room)

(you can faintly see the Hollywood sign out in the distance)

Day One, Part 2 will be published soon, so keep posted!

End of Week 4

Ok, so I didn't post anything at the end of week 3. Well, I gained that week. But only 0.8 pounds. But don't worry, I did lose that 0.8 pounds. All together I have lost about 7.5 pounds. I try to do water aerobics 5 days a week. These classes are at 8:30 in the morning. So I make sure that I get up. This week I am also going to try to get to the gym again in the afternoon to do about 45 minutes of walking, nothing too strenuous. I was going to try plus size yoga and I still haven't done that. I know I really should because it would improve my strength and flexibility. I am going to try a beginners one at the gym on Saturday afternoon. Then I will try to make it next Monday night to plus size yoga. The good news is that the yoga studio that I used to go to is offering donation only classes on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. So I can go an additional two times a week and pay as little as $1 to go. We will see how it goes.

End of Week 2

Boy, my body is pooped this week! Since Monday I have worked out every day (with the exception of Friday). I even got up this morning, went to the gym to do water aerobics and then went to weight in. I am down another 3 pounds, with a grand total of 6.2 pounds. I was hoping for 5 this week, but I guess I will take the 3! If I keep this up for the next three months, I could be down 36 pounds by April (when hopefly the weather gets a little nicer).

I can tell the difference in my hunger when I was working and now that I am laid off. Let me tell you! I am not hungry as much as I used to be. I think that while I worked I was so stressed out that it made me hungry. I decided to help Brian get a job first so I can have some more "me time" for a while. I think that I have to figure out a job where I don't have to be working late hours and not be as stressed as I was. When I first worked for BNP I had better working hours and was able to keep my weight loss off, until I started working at J.D. Power. So I guess my lifestyle change also will have include the stress I allow in my work life.

I was also talking to Brian this week, and realized that ever since we got married I don't do "girl" things anymore. Meaning I don't hang out with friends unless I am with him. It doesn't help that a lot of my friends have moved out of state. But I am going to try to go out and do more things (so Monica if you are reading, you know I will be at the book club this weeke).

Next up: Plus size yoga - trying out the class for the first time after not doing yoga for well over a year.

New Year's Resolutions

Ok, the title states "New Year's Resolution", but I don't believe in them. Let me tell you why. It is like you are setting yourself up for failure. Every year I have the same one and every year I fail at it. So this year I decided to join Weight Watchers before the New Year, and not to start a diet, but a lifestyle change.

Here is a pic of me and Brian on vacation and I decided I need to get down to my pre-Brian weight by 2010.

I was watching Oprah and she talked about falling off the wagon. I started to fall off the wagon in mid 2003, about three months before meeting Brian. That is when work got stressful because I was working in a situation that was not healthy for me. Then I got a new job, which was even less healthy for me. So since I am unemployed I am going to work on me. So I have decided to use my blog for two things:

1. Write about my experiences on my vacations (maybe one day I can write travel articles?). So you will see detailed accounts of my Adventures by Disney Backstage Magic trip that I took in December.

2. Write about my ups and downs in my new lifestyle change. I weigh in on Saturdays so hopefully I can get on the computer and let everyone know how I am doing.

So far (since my weigh in last Saturday), I have lost 3.2 pounds (and that was even after eating like a pig at Melissa's New Year's party). I have even started going to the gym. Since Saturday I have gone 5 times. My goal is to go six days a week and either take Saturday or Sunday off (depending on my schedule at the store).

Keep posted!

Going on Vacation

Brian and I are off on Tuesday to California. It still hasn't hit me and Brian still keeps thinking we are going to Florida. I will have extensive trip reports when I get back. It is going to be a trip of a lifetime!

Does anyone even read this blog?

Michigan Sucks!

Well it happened to me as well as many others in the Detroit area (including Brian). I lost my job. I guess this means it is a good time to move out of the state. Now I just have to figure out where to go!

We are still going on Disneyland trip in December. After the year I have I think that I deserve it!

Apple Picking

This year we actually picked apples. Last year we went to Miller's Big Red and just ate junk food and bought some apples that were already picked. This year I was determined to pick my own apples. Brian is feeling well after getting all 4 wisdom teeth out, so I thought we could go and enjoy the fall weather.