Today is an interesting day. While most of the country is mourning the loss of those lost in the September 11^th attacks, I choose to celebrate this day. Not for the terrible things that have occurred to our country, but for the fact that seven years ago today I married my best friend. I didn’t know it at the time that I would grow in the way that I have over the last seven years but I knew I loved Eric with all my heart. In the last seven years I’ve learned more about compromise, going with the flow, and knowing that not everything has to go my way. Eric has been patient with me, tolerated my crazy temperamental outbursts, shown me compassion when I’ve lost a family member, supported me when I wasn’t sure I knew what I was doing, and loved me ALWAYS. I am so fortunate to find my best friend in life and to still be together despite all my faults. I am so proud to be married to Eric. He is so loving, kind, generous, patient, and strong.

Eric,

I know you don’t like it when I post personal things about it us but I want you and everyone in the inter web to know how much I love you, how much you give me strength, and how much you mean to me. I know the last seven years haven’t been the easiest but we’ve made it through. There were time neither of us thought we would but we have. I truly believe there is nothing we, together, can’t over come or conquer. All my love to you!

Jona

Wow! What an AMAZING weekend. It’s not often that I have a weekend FULL of activities. I knew that Natalie and I were going to go to the Sock Summit on Friday. So before the summit I decided to sew up a  couple bags for us. I wanted to make something that was HUGE, could hold a lot, looked cute, and used fun patterns. I made a cool green striped bag for myself and a nice retro blue/green/brown bag for Natalie. I love making bags, sewing!

The Marketplace.. just one of the MANY vendors

My weekend really started on Friday. I took the day off to go to the Sock Summit with my best friend Natalie. She and I have known each other for many years. We met when we both worked at Intel in the training department for IT. Natalie is one of my very best friends. She’s an instructional designer too and a VERY avid knitter. She’s into technology too. She’s actually got a great podcast that she’s doing, Cloudy with a chance of fibers. If you haven’t listened to it, you should. She and I went to the Sock Summit on Friday. Who would have known that there were SO many people interested in socks. It was so crazy to see all the booths with yarn!

Results of my shopping binge!

I loved looking at all the beautiful hand dyed yarns and the combinations of bamboo, wool, alpaca, etc. There were so many booths, many more than I think I’ve ever seen for the scrapbook convention. The vendors came from all over the place too! I found so many yarns that I fell in love with. I did a little bit of damage while Natalie and I were there. It was sort of funny when we went because we’d start out walking the marketplace together, one of us would stop, the other would keep going and before you knew it we would loose each other. I don’t know how many times that happened. Ordinarily I would have just texted Natalie on my computer but we were both having a heck of a time with getting our phones working there. I guess most people were having issues. It did make things frustrating. Natalie organized a yarn crawl for those that listen to her podcast, or know her on twitter for the afternoon. We all met at the bell and then took the yellow line Max and headed to The Naked Sheep in North Portland (NoPo). I love that place. They’ve got great seating for people to just hang out and knit. They’ve also got a great collection of yarns and other knitting paraphernalia. So we hung out there for a while and then got pizza and Ruby Jewel ice cream at Atomic Pizza just two doors down. After that it was a walking trip back to the Max and then to Mississippi Avenue to walk the street and have some great dinner. It was such a long day but so AMAZING! I had a great time.

Saturday started out as a lazy day for me. Eric planned to go to the Beer Fest. I’m not a beer drinker so I really had no interest in going. I did want to go downtown though and enjoy the beautiful day. Eric and I hopped on the Max and headed downtown. After eating at the food carts we headed down to the waterfront. Eric headed to the Beer Fest and I headed to Pioneer Mall to get a new shirt because it was so hot.. I needed a new shirt. After hitting the mall I walked down to the waterfront and walked the esplanade. It was so nice to be out in the sunshine and just enjoy being warm. After walking around for a while I decided to head back up toward the Pearl District. I went to Cool Moon Ice Cream. It’s on 11th and Johnson, a bit of a walk but on a nice day, nothing big. I love Cool Moon. They make some of the most amazing custom ice creams. I ended up having the very best Salty Carmel ice cream I’ve ever had.

After grabbing my ice cream I headed across the street to the park to people watch, sit on a park bench in the shade, and knit my sock. It was so nice and cool, I loved it. I could do that every day. Maybe not the ice cream but just being outside on a nice day… that’s amazing. Once I’d been there for a while, and finished my ice cream I decided to head to Powell’s Books. I love that place and it seems that every time. So I went and checked out some books, but nothing spoke to me so I headed off to Stumptown coffee and the Ace Hotel lobby to hang out for a while until Eric, his cousin Brian, and Brian’s wife Diana finished at the Beer Fest. I ended up meeting them down in Old Town at Ground Kontrol. I hadn’t seen Brian in ages and I’d never met his wife until Saturday. Diana is so awesome. She and I chatted for a long time while the guys relived their childhood and played video games. It’s so funny to see Eric get excited about old video games he used to play. At one point I found Eric and Brian playing Joust. After everyone ran out of quarter we headed to dinner at Kin in the Pearl. It’s one of Eric favorite places to go. We sat there and chatted about everything from law, to politics, to family, to wine, and I can’t remember what else. I couldn’t help thinking the whole time that it was nice to see Brian again and nice to meet Diana. She and I would often break off in our own conversation and talk about socks, knitting, sewing, or our jobs. We were there for hours just chatting about everything. Once we were done eating we were off to Clyde Common for a drink. Diana has worked as a bartender so we wanted to take her there to give her the experience of unique drinks. We got there only to find out that junior had just clocked out so we headed to Tear Drop for great drinks. We sat and hung out together enjoying good drinks and just chatting. Junior ended up coming over for a while too which made it just that much more fun. It was such a great night. I loved meeting Diana and seeing Brian again.

Hey there,

Just loked at my blog today and realized it’s been almost a month since I posted last. I bet you thought I dropped off the face of the earth. Well, no dice. I’ve been super busy… having fun. I spent the first week of April in Florida with Israel, Penny, Erica, and all their kids (Alex, Cade, Drake, Garbriella, and DJ).  In any case, Eric and I had a blast. We went to several of the Disney World parks. Rather than tell you about it here are just a few of the pictures.

Disney World Animal Kingdom Eric and I riding the rapids with the rest of the family in Animal Kingdom. Let me just say we rode twice and the second time I got SOAKED! Tons of fun! We took a safari ride and came across this rhino. Such beautiful animals out there. I love that they have tons of room to roam. This photo is a bit blurry but I have to say it was SO COOL to see a giraffe up close.

Medieval Times Eric and I posing by a Knight before the show started. Here's most of the group sitting in the green knight area ready to cheer him on in hopes that he wins. FYI, he was the evil knight. The green knight sitting tall and waiting to strike.

Disney World Magic Kingdom What a great start to the day. This is the entrance to Disney World Magic Kingdom. Riding the tea cups is one of my favorite things to do. This is a shot of Israel, Penny, and Alex. I'm in another cup with Gabriella. We were lucky enough to catch the parade and see Cinderella, Prince Charming, and the Fairy Godmother.

Sea World Erica, Israel, and Eric off to ride the Kracken roller coaster. I decided to pass and just watch them. I have to say this was one of my favorite things to do at Sea World. I could have stood there and fed the dolphins all day. I loved the Shamu show. Watching the whales was amazing. Interesting too that the trainers don't get in the water with the whales anymore either.

Pirates Much like Medieval Times but way WAY better. The pirates dinner was a blast. Eric sporting his pirate hat for the show. Israel got sucked in again, he's in the white shirt. He had to go on the pirate ship and walk the plank. Poor guy!

Disney World Hollywood Studios What could be better than a picture with "the man" Mickey mouse. Eric and I standing outside the Rockin' Roller Coaster. He was dying to go on this ride and got to go with Erica and Israel. Did I tell you I HATE roller coasters. Loved this. They had a whole section that was a faux New York city with a skyline and everything.

The trip was a TOTAL blast and one I’ll remember for a long time. I had such a good time with the whole family. Can’t wait for the next adventure.

I guess it’s been a while. I posted that Eric and I started our own Biggest Looser but since then I’ve not posted how were doing. I’ve had a few people ask how we’re doing on it. Honestly, that surprised me. I didn’t think anyone REALLY read this blog. Maybe it helps that it’s posted on Facebook too. I don’t know.

I have to say that I am enjoying getting fit. I’m enjoying working out a bit and really liking all the cool, new recipes Eric has been trying. My goal this week is to exercise for five out of the seven days this week. It’s really the exercise part for me that’s the most difficult. OK, I LOVE sweets and that’s REALLY my weakness but exercise is too. I just find it so easy to just come home and park it on the couch and watch TV or reading.

In any case here’s the update on the weight.

I’ve lost, two weeks in a row! Weight? Yeah, a little bit. Seriously though, I’ve lost to Eric two weeks in a row.

• Week 1: Eric wins by .2%
• Week 2: Eric wins by .18%

I suppose to most that may sound bad and a bummer, not to me. Since starting this journey I’ve lost four pounds. Not bad considering one of the weeks was my birthday and I was up in Othello for my mom’s birthday for part of it to. Did I eat well! FYI.. I make a MEAN carrot cake with cream cheese frosting (mom’s birthday request). I’ve also been exercising more, OK… I’m exercising. I’m not sure it can be more when you stopped doing it entirely.

And so it begins….. Today Eric and I started our own version of “The Biggest Looser” with our first weigh in. Let me just say, I can’t believe what my weight is.. and that I’ve got about 43 pounds to loose to get to a reasonable goal weight. Eric has a similar amount of weight to loose, OK… less than me, but I won’t share his since it’s his number.

Last year at this time I was working out, loosing weight and doing Weight Watchers with a couple of friends from work. I was so proud of myself and the weight I’d lost, almost 18 pounds, that I got to a point that I thought I could really do it on my own. HA! Right! Fast forward to now and with the help of a great cook (Eric is an amazing cook!), a couple of seriously stressful events in my life, and well, winter in western Oregon, I’m back up to what I was before Weight Watchers and a little more. Can you say mad at myself. Yup! I say that.. and yet I know EXACTLY why it happened. Lack of portion control and EXERCISE. Dang, I hate EXERCISE. I almost think it should be a four letter word.. if only it had four letters. In any case, I really, really want to loose the weight this time. Not just to be a “little miss thing”, I think my time has past for that. Really I want to loose the weight to feel better and to be healthier. I come from a long line of people on my fraternal side that have had heart attacks and by-pass surgery. I don’t want to be one of those. So, it’s time to remove the weight for it never to come back again.. and thus our version of “The Biggest Looser”.

So what are we doing? Today was our weigh in day and the day we set our goal weight. Now each week we’ll weigh in and whichever has the highest percentage of weigh-loss gets $5.00 in their virtual bank account. The first to hit 10% weight-loss gets $5.00 in their virtual bank account… and so on.. until they hit their goal. Here’s the kicker though.. you cannot spend the money you have accrued until BOTH have hit their goal weight. So there’s incentive to win, but also to help the other person. I’m pretty excited and hopeful that all will go well and we’ll do really good at it. It’s going to feel great to move more and weigh less.

So here goes nothing……