Upcoming Changes

Hello! I am not sure if you noticed, but I didn’t blog on Tuesday like I usually do. I have had a busy week that has stirred up some developments that I would like to share with you. I work a full time job but since I graduated with my MFA, I have had the desire to teach. I’ve been looking for at least onc class so I can gain some experience. When it comes to high school, if you don’t have a teaching certificate, you can only teach at private schools and those are limited around here so I haven’t had much luck. I am also qualified to teach at community colleges and/or composition classes at a university. Because, in most cases, you have to have experience to get a job, it makes it difficult to find someone to give you a chance. A lot of graduate programs have a teaching practicum that sort of sets you up with the experience you need. Unfortunately, with mine, you were only required to give one lecture. Somehow, I got lucky and I have been given the opportunity to teach EN102 at the University of Alabama this fall. I made the case that even though I didn’t have as much experience as they’d like, they should give me a chance because I will work my behind off and I know my stuff…they went for it…so, now I’m getting the chance I’ve been wanting. I will only have one class to start which is good because I’ll still be working and I don’t want to be overwhelmed. I am going to be working hard on this class, trying to get some guest lecture spots at some high schools and writing more so I had initially decided to stop blogging all together. When I began to think about all the 5’s of readers out there, I decided to keep it. I was trying to put all of my blogs into a word document in case I ever did stop the blog and didn’t want to lose everything I’d written and before I even got done with a few months, I had well over 50 pages. I didn’t want to give that up. So, instead of blogging two days a week, I will only be blogging one, usually on Friday. Wish me luck, I feel like this could open doors and give me a firm idea as to what I want to do with my life.

Now that I’ve rambled on about that for awhile, I weighed this morning and I was NOT down. In fact, I was up a bit. I guess this once again proves that I must give a flawless performance in order to lose weight. My only mess-up this time was consuming way too many calories last Friday at the Miranda Lambert concert. Also, I’ve been focusing a lot more on my stomach and arm fat lately so I’ve been doing more work with weights. I’ve heard both sides of the spectrum as to whether or not lifting weights makes you gain but that may have a bit to do with it. I have no cheating planned the next week so it would be REALLY NICE if I lost next week…before I get FRUSTRATED. That also means that I should keep the blog going at least another year (I am about to renew my domain name for one more year) because I obviously have not come to an end or a maintaining point in my weight loss journey.





I wanted to show you a couple pictures from the food drive we are having at work. They split us up into teams to make it a competition. We had to design a receptacle, bring food, gather donated money and whatever else we could to gain points. We built an awesome receptacle, donated a ton of cans and money and we even visited the West Alabama Food Bank during lunch one day for an extra kick. I think we deserve to win but I’m not sure if we will.





Despite the unreal heat and humidity, Dad and I had a great time at the Miranda Lambert concert. I really like her music a lot and it gave me a chance to go to the new Tuscaloosa Amphitheatre for the first time. It’s so nice and clean. It’s a really positive thing for Tuscaloosa since we’ve been through so much this year as a community. I’m very proud of it.



This is a Chicken Parmigiana Burger. The recipe called for ground chicken and Pomodoro sauce but I used ground turkey and some pizza sauce I had in the refrigerator instead. It’s very simple, just heat the patty on both sides and pile it all on a bun. It was quite tasty…an easy one that I could do anytime.



This is me posing with a literary journal called, The Broad River Review. I am in this book so I was excited. My poem, “Wedding in Cumberland County, Tennessee,” was published in here and it’s my first print journal since college.





These pictures are interesting because both me and my friend Stacey in the picture, have lost weight. Yes, she’s pregnant there. No, I’m not. She went on Weight Watchers after she had her second baby and has been very successful!

I know that was a TON of info…so I’ll stop there.

Have a great weekend! Wish me luck on losing this week! Bye!

“I hope you still feel small
When you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
Dance
I hope you dance.” I Hope You Dance-Lee Ann Womack

Plateau, NO YOU DIDN'T!

Hello everyone! I weighed this morning and I was only down a few ounces from last week. I was a little miffed with this result feeling like I might actually be in a plateau. I went to the gym and ran and then luckily I was able to remove some food from my belly and I weighed again (TMI I know). After I weighed a second time, I was down 2 pounds bringing me .3 pounds down below the weight I was before New York City! I know that is totally cheating but I don’t care. I needed to make the scale move no matter what. I am sort of off my diet today but I’ll be back on for the weekend and next week. I’ve decided to change up my running routine a bit. I’m going to add another day of running to attack this plateau full on. I am also giving myself Sunday to mostly rest. I think my body needs rest too. We will see how this new routine works. I’m not too disappointed. I’ve lost over 105 pounds, I knew it would slow down at some point.

While I was in the kitchen yesterday at work, a girl came in who sometimes makes comments complimenting me on my weight loss. She looked at me and said, “Girl, what size are them jeans?” I found this to be a very rude question but since I knew she was TRYING to compliment me, I told her since I was fortunately wearing the smallest size pants I own. She told me I looked good but I just don’t understand why some people have to ask questions like that. Anyway, I just wanted to put that in here to make sure I wasn’t the only one who thought that was kind of a rude question.





The movie and TV industry has never been particularly kind to people who are overweight. In general, if you are the one in a million bigger people lucky enough to find a job in the entertainment industry, you are usually typecast into a role that centers around your weight. There are very few actors who, if they are overweight, get jobs that ignore their body type. I won’t say there are none because if you are someone with extraordinary talent (like, in my opinion, Kathy Bates) than sometimes, you can get past all of that. Even those actors have attention drawn to their weight sometimes. There have been a rush of reality shows like “More To Love,” “Dance Your Ass Off,” and “The Biggest Loser,” that can sometimes exploit fat people and I don’t think that’s right. There are also shows like “Drop Dead Diva,” which are more tasteful but still, the premise of the show begins with a girl who dies and gets trapped in the body of a “fat” professional. Honestly, I don’t think Brooke Elliott should be called FAT…to me, she looks fairly average. Anyway, I like the show and I think the overall goal is to look at inner beauty but how would you like it if your entire job as an actress was to be compared to a former fashion model all day. I don’t know, I just had some thoughts on that and I figured I’d share.





I must be out of my mind to share that first picture. I was acting crazy, as I usually am, posing with a statue of Bear Bryant in front of Alabama’s stadium. I’m not sure why I have my leg wrapped around it but that’s me…I’m nuts. Anyway, it’s not very flattering but that was the whole goal I guess to show myself in a different light. The upside is the “after” picture I get. This time, I’m posing with the Nick Saban statue…much better view.



I’m excited! Miranda Lambert is playing in Tuscaloosa tonight and Dad and I are going! It should be fun. We are both so bummed about not going to New Orleans so maybe this will make us feel a little better.

I know I have been so random today but my thoughts are super random right now!

Have a great weekend y’all!

Bye!


“Hey white liar
The truth comes out a little at a time
and it spreads just like a fire
slips off of your tongue like turpentine
and I don´t know why
white liar…” White Liar-Miranda Lambert

Heart, How Do I Get You Alone? No Seriously...

Yesterday morning around 6:30am, I received the devastating news that the concert that I was heading to New Orleans for with my Dad and Jordan had been rescheduled. The concert was moved to a week night in September so we can’t go. Thus, our New Orleans trip is canceled. I have been listening to Heart since I was in the womb and I’ve been trying to see them in concert since I knew what a concert was…so needless to say…I was not very pleased. I was also looking forward to spending the weekend with my Dad and Jordan. Oh well, I will get to see Jordan this week and my Dad and I are going to a concert on Friday and I promised him that we would go to an away game or something this football season to make up for it. My roommate was planning to go to NOLA in a couple of weekends and I told her I couldn’t go because I was going this weekend so since I’m not going now, my hopes of seeing one of my favorite cities ever may not be completely dashed…we’ll see.





This weekend, I had a clear goal of doing my absolute best so I could eat what I wanted in New Orleans. I followed all of my rules that I set out so I did well this weekend AND I don’t get to go to New Orleans. That’s fine though. Hopefully, I will manage to lose a pound or so this week, that would be nice. The photos above are of this week’s recipe. These are Hash Brown Egg White Nests. These are simple enough to make. You just make little nests of shredded hash browns in muffin tins and then bake them until they are crisp. After that, you fill it up with a mix you made of egg whites (I used egg beaters), ham, onions, salt and pepper. These tasted OK but I didn’t care for the texture. The hash browns didn’t provide a sturdy enough fence so that the egg mixture wouldn’t seep through. I used the recipe but if I ever make it again, I will just need to add more points and use more hash browns because the eggs moved to the bottom and got a little rubbery. The flavor was fine but this wasn’t my favorite recipe.





My family was late in the discovery of planking as we only started discussing it last week. If you aren’t familiar, planking is the latest internet craze. If my sources are correct, the game became popular in Europe and Asia first and then spread worldwide. It’s especially popular in social media with pictures and videos. Wikipedia describes it this way, “The lying down game or planking is an activity consisting of lying face down in an unusual or incongruous location. The hands must touch the sides of the body and having a photograph of the participant taken and posted on the Internet is an integral part of the game. Players compete to find the most unusual and original location in which to play. The location should also be as public as possible, and as many people as possible should be involved. The term planking is described as the practice of lying down flat with arms to the side, to mimic a wooden plank.” So, there you have it. It’s completely pointless but I have to say, it’s really fun. It’s especially entertaining when you plank in random places or places where it’s difficult to plank (suspended in air or a place where it’s hard to get your center of gravity). Anyway, I wanted you to see a couple pictures of my brother and I planking. I posted a few more on Facebook…I feel like my planking experiences aren’t yet over…I have had a blast giggling and running from mall and stadium security.





Mom, Oma and I saw the final Harry Potter this weekend. The movie was absolutely amazing. It was by far the best movie out of the series and also the one that is closest to the book. If you have kids, love to read or you are looking for a series of books that will help you get reading again, I HIGHLY recommend Harry Potter. The story is genius, detailed and is a wonderful expression of good conquering evil, tolerance, family, friendships, love and sacrifice. I’m a TOTAL nerd for Harry Potter and I’m not ashamed to say it. I was so excited to see the movie but I took it pretty hard when it finally sunk in that it was over. I am re-reading it now and I will watch all the movies again soon. I think I’m done now.


Have a great week!

Bye!

“Til now I always got by on my own
I never really cared until I met you
And now it chills me to the bone
How do I get you alone…” Alone-Heart

Roller Coaster Rides

Another weekend is upon us and as usual, I’m happy that it has arrived. Well, I knew that the possibility that I could get away with my weekend binge last week was slim and I was right. I weigh pretty much the same I did last week which means I’m still about 2 pounds off my pre-New York weight. I am sufficiently angry at myself because there was no sense in it. It just goes to show how one bad decision (too many appetizers at dinner) can lead to a downward spiral because the rest of the weekend, I just let myself go completely. Well, if I don’t stick to my guns this weekend, I am going to outline some serious consequences for myself while I’m in New Orleans. I have been planning on cheating in New Orleans for awhile now so I think depriving myself there is motivation enough to be on my best behavior this weekend. The good news is I know now that to maintain the same weight, I can pretty much eat and drink what I want on Saturday and Sunday nights and as long as I’m healthy the rest of the time, I stay about the same. The bad part is that I’m not ready to maintain yet. I am still in losing mode so I need to get my head on straight. I think I am done scolding myself now.

I was talking to someone the other day about going to Six Flags and how I haven’t been there in forever and I was reminded of a time when I took my brother and his friend to Alabama Adventure which is the little theme park in Birmingham. I would say I was at my heaviest or around that. I’ve always loved roller coasters and rides that are really high. There is this ride there that you get in a seat and it shoots you up this long pole. I wanted to ride it and it never occurred to me that I may not fit in the seat. My brother used to be afraid of those rides so he didn’t go but the kid with us did (this kid was in our youth group and I love him dearly) and when we went to get in the seat, I hopped up, and the buckle was meant to come between your legs and attach to a contraption that went over your head. I couldn’t manage to get the buckle through my inner thighs, let alone reach it to the buckle above my head. I tried for a few seconds and realized very quickly that I wasn’t going to be able to ride. So, in front of my brother and his friend and a line of people, I had to get off the ride. I was completely horrified. I had never been unable to ride something because of my weight. There was also an instance when I was on a plane that I couldn’t get my seat belt buckled. I was able to hide it from the attendant, otherwise, I would have had to get an extension. For me, these things were the jolt I needed to motivate me. For others, this can send them back into their shell and only make them get more unhealthy and avoid things in an effort to forget. I have talked before about how society doesn’t treat fat people with respect and I think that’s true. Medically, I am still obese, so in no way can I judge others, but now that I can buckle my belt in an airplane with no problems and I have gotten on a rollercoaster easily, I want to make an extra effort not to judge those that can’t. I’ve been there. My advice would be to not let those moments make you more miserable, let them define your future. Businesses (especially airlines, theme parks and stadiums) should make more accommodations for overweight people because a shocking number of people don’t fit into the category of “average” when it comes to size and they should be treated like human beings. But instead of lashing out at these people because you are hurt or you feel defied, use that energy to take better care of yourself. I am happy to note that when I do have the money, I am going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and I’m going to ride EVERYTHING!

Below you will see my before and after pic for this week. I know the picture outlines how different I look but all I can see is how grown up my brother looks. I won’t get into it because the second I start talking about how I can’t believe he’s a senior in high school and how much he means to me, I will cry and I don’t want to go there right now.





I am proud of this image but I don’t want to become complacent. I will NOT have another weekend like I did last weekend. I want to get that weight off. I am getting to a point where I may be able to set a final goal soon and I don’t want to ruin that.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Bye!

“There's a fire starting in my heart
Reaching a fever pitch, and it's bringing me out the dark
Finally I can see you crystal clear
Go ahead and sell me out and I'll lay your ship bare
See how I'll leave with every piece of you
Don't underestimate the things that I will do.” Rolling In The Deep-Adele

Branching Out

Hey y’all! I hope your Tuesday is going well. I am SO VERY busy at work that I may even have to (gasp) work late or on weekends soon! Haha, I don’t mind because it makes the day go by faster but it is crazy around these parts. My weekend was good but short and as usual, I ate too much. Unfortunately, my plan of reeling it in on Saturday and Sunday didn’t work. In fact, the plan totally dissolved at some point on Saturday night so even though I will work hard this week, I may not get all that New York weight off until next week. Whatever, at least if I gain or don’t lose, I will know why…I’m not going to lie, the food was totally worth it. I went to a friend of a friend’s house for dinner Saturday, a kid’s birthday party and my mom’s for dinner Sunday night…it is no great shock that I had some trouble. I also may have had a late night fast food run but there is no reason to go into that. I don’t know what was wrong with me, I let myself go the first time and then it all unraveled after that. That is how it goes. I am certainly planning on having a good weekend coming up…I am really hoping to stick to it this time.







This week’s recipe is different than I am used to. This is a Mexican Shrimp Cobb Salad. I usually pick things that are cooked and have meat, potatoes, cheese…the things I would normally eat out if I could eat what I want. I had some shrimp that I needed to use and I saw this recipe and noticed all of the fresh produce in it and thought you know, this could be good, I should branch out and try it. The salad is pretty easy to make. You sauté the shrimp in chipotle powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper until it’s cooked (be careful to take the shrimp off the heat when they get pink and start to curl up, it’s real easy to burn shrimp), take the tails off and chop the shrimp in half so they are little bite size pieces. The recipe called for grilled corn so since I just needed a little, I took some frozen corn and tossed it in the hot skillet for a minute to let it get brown. Once the corn is done, mix it in a bowl with some diced red onion and a little bit of lemon juice. I would normally never put lemon on anything but the recipe called for lemon juice on the shrimp and corn. I do not like lemon flavor on my food (unless it’s in a pie) but I do know that lemon brightens up the flavor of your seafood and produce so I put just a little and I didn’t notice the flavor at all. The recipe called for black beans and chopped up avocado. I would normally leave out both of those ingredients but I made myself keep one. Because I don’t like beans, I opted for the avocado since I have been liking guacamole more and more lately if it’s fresh. In a bowl, you layer lettuce, chopped cucumbers, drained Rotel (or you can use fresh tomatoes), avocado, the corn mixture, the shrimp and then some cheese. Since there are so many veggies in this and shrimp, which isn’t high in fat, you get quite a bit of it for not a lot of calories. It was flavorful and filling and aside from a lot of chopping, it was pretty easy. I would definitely have it again!

I don’t know about you but one thing that tends to get me in trouble is dessert. I love cake and pie. I especially love chocolate and so finding alternatives to the bad stuff is important. I wanted to share a couple with you today.



I am a fan of the Fiber One bars for breakfast. I saw this brownie last week and thought I’d try it. It’s only 90 calories, full of fiber and it is quite tasty and chocolaty. It’s got actual chocolate chips in it. It’s kind of small but worth it for a quick bite of chocolate.



My mom introduced these to me (I’m sorry if the pictures are small). I love Skinny Cow ice cream and this is a new line of candy that they have out. I tried the peanut butter wafer bar they have and it was good but my favorite were the dark chocolate clusters (I think they have milk chocolate too). They were one less point than the bar they had and honestly, they are SO YUMMY. You get maybe 5 or 6 in this little pack and they taste like real chocolate and have a little caramel and maybe a little cookie or something for crunch. I have to say, I will definitely be buying me some of these.

That was all I had today.

Enjoy the new snacks if you try them…and I recommend that you do!

Bye!

“I'm goin' home, gonna load my shotgun
Wait by the door and light a cigarette
If he wants a fight well now he's got one
And he ain't seen me crazy yet
He slap my face and he shook me like a rag doll
Don't that sound like a real man
I'm going to show him what a little girls made of
Gunpowder and lead.” Gunpowder & Lead-Miranda Lambert (This one was for my Dad!)

In the swing of things.

We have finally reached the end of this long 4 day week. So, I know that all 10 or 12 (at best) of you have been waiting with bated breath to see how much I gained after my nearly 2 week travel food rampage. Oh, you don’t care or forgot that I was weighing? That’s fine. To refresh your memory, this morning was the first time I got on the scale in a few weeks. I was in New York one week, Nashville the next and then I wanted to give myself a week of being good in order to level out before I weighed. The scale was not quite as scary as it could’ve been. Because of my consistency with exercise and the week I gave myself to detox, I was only up 1-1/2 to 2 pounds (I weighed a couple times and got two different results). I am not unhappy with this at all. Assuming I don’t go crazy this weekend and have a great week next week, I fully expect (and hope) to make those couple pounds disappear and be right back where I was before I left New York. From this moment in time until August 12th which is the date that I want to reach my next mini-goal, I need to lose 9 pounds. I realized that this morning and I guess when I made that goal, I didn’t realize I was only giving myself just under 5 weeks to lose 9 pounds so that may not happen, especially since I will be spending a calorie ridden Saturday and Sunday in New Orleans during that time. If I can get close though, I’ll be happy. I am only about 4 pounds from having to decrease my daily points by one again. Tell me what kind of sense it makes to punish weight loss with less food! Oh well, that’s all part of the “one step at a time” method.

I know I've said this a million times but I want to encourage everyone today that has been procrastinating in their quest to get healthy to start today. Sometimes, people get a dangerous wakeup call that motivates them, but sometimes the wakeup call doesn't happen, sometimes deadly diseases can happen before it's too late. I know that sounds incredibly dramatic but letting your health spiral out of control is dramatic. I am speaking generally here, not to a specific group of people. Weight loss, while it plays a major role in many ailments, is not the only method of getting healthy. There are some people out there who don’t need to lose weight but don’t take care of themselves. I’m not always perfect. I’ll be the first to admit that I have some habits that I can’t let go but I really do try and I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn here. Someone once told me that you can’t love others until you love yourself. I think that’s a load of crap. But, I think you do a disservice to those you love by not taking care of yourself. If you are a parent, a friend, a teacher…you can’t be at your best if you don’t put yourself first sometimes. I don’t want to go any further on this soapbox but I just felt the need to remind myself and all of you to get started today and each time you mess up, pick yourself up…remember…it’s all about BALANCE! Ok, I’m done.





Today is Friday and since I want to start a Friday trend of sorts, I am going to post another version of a before and after picture. See, I ate what I wanted in New York and I’ve almost worked it completely off…this before picture represents a person who didn’t care enough about herself to clean out the junk she put in. I’m not that girl anymore…and I’m very happy about that.


Send me any before/after pictures if you have them and if you don’t, work to get some and then send them to me!

Have a splendid weekend! Bye!

“Yes, I'm grounded
Got my wings clipped
I'm surrounded (by)
All this pavement
Guess I'll circle
While I'm waiting
For my fuse to dry

Someday I'll fly
Someday I'll soar.” Bigger Than My Body-John Mayer

I'm on a roll(atini)!

Well y’all, I am back in the swing of things. My mood is very hit or miss as not only am I full on with my diet again, it’s flippin’ hot here in Alabama. During the summertime, my rage issues increase exponentially. Every time I get in my car and I have to gasp for air, every time I blow my hair dry after I get out of the shower and end up drenched in sweat and every time the “refreshing” pool feels like bath water, I get belligerent. So, if you see me anytime between mid-May and late September and I look incredibly irritated, it’s probably nothing you did, it’s more than likely my fierce hatred toward Alabama summers.

Aside from my mental tantrums in which I think I am starving and the relentless heat, I’m doing pretty well. I have been eating right and I am preparing for the worst for my weigh in on Friday. In the spirit of getting back in the swing of things, I decided to show y’all a recipe today.







This recipe is Chicken Rollatini with Spinach alla Parmigiana. It looks similar to a recipe I made not that long ago which was also a roll up chicken dish but it was stuffed with ham and cheese. This recipe is made in the same way. The recipe called for ricotta cheese but I used cottage cheese because I was only going to need it for one recipe and it was much cheaper to buy a little one serving pack of cottage cheese for 88 cents than a whole pack of ricotta that I didn’t need. Basically, you just mix the cottage or ricotta with some thawed and drained spinach, garlic, salt and pepper and roll it up with a chicken breast that you have flattened and dipped in egg whites and bread crumbs. Bake the rollatini for about 20 minutes and then get it out, top it with skim mozzarella (I used the fat free cheddar I had on hand) and marinara sauce, then bake it a few minutes more until it’s all bubbly. This is another one of those that is quite tasty and not too difficult to make. I am over dipping things in bread crumbs though…it’s messy and not usually worth it so I think I will try and stay away from that for a little while.

This weekend, we celebrated my Dad’s birthday and the 4th of July so I added a couple pictures of all that below.





That’s all I had for today!

I will be back Friday to let you all know how the scale treats me.

Wish me luck…

Have a great week!

Bye!

“Circus life
Under the big top world
We all need the clowns to make us smile…” Faithfully-Journey

Happy, Happy!

Hello Everyone!!! It has been a CRAZY couple of weeks. I am very excited about the upcoming 3-day weekend. It is much needed. I’ve already planned that I am doing little to nothing on Monday. Things are getting back to normal for me. After New York, I went to Nashville with my company for our annual conference. It was a lot of work but it was also fun. We stayed in the Gaylord…I posted a couple of pictures of the place and the group of people I work with below. The Gaylord was enormous so I got a lot of exercise walking around all of the areas and I also exercised in the gym one day while I was there. Starting yesterday, I was counting points again so of course I feel like I’m starving but I need to be perfect until July 23rd when I go to New Orleans. I didn’t weigh this morning and I don’t plan on weighing until next Friday. I have eaten WAY too much the past couple of weeks so I want to level out a bit until next week and then I will see how much I need to lose to work it all off.







The work trip was fun and it showed me the scope of my company and really encouraged me to grow and explore my options there. I had no idea how many people were involved and how many opportunities there could be. Before I left for Nashville, I went to a birthday party. My friend Whitney’s baby had a birthday and I’m so glad I got to see her! Happy Birthday again, Mya! I posted a picture of us together at the party below.



I know I posted pictures of New York last week but I forgot to include a video that I took while at the Top of Rockefeller Center and so I posted that video below. Again, I posted all the New York pictures on the Facebook and sent some of you links to all of the pictures…so if you’re interested, and you can’t see the pictures, let me know and I’ll get you a link.



I feel like I am playing mostly catch up today but next week I will start back with my recipes and everything should be back on track. I am playing catch up in pretty much every area of my life right now but it is unlike me to not have everything in order so I am hoping it doesn’t take long to get all of my ducks in a row. I had an absolute blast in New York and Nashville and so I think all of the hard work in my near future will be worth it. Now, it’s time for me to get the added pounds off, keep maintaining my exercise routine, get caught up at work and start expanding with new ideas and opportunities, save some money and keep writing!

Before I sign off today, I wanted to express two very important birthday wishes…



I wanted to wish my Dad a VERY happy birthday (On Sunday)! I hope you have a WONDERFUL DAY!!! Love you!



Also, I truly wish everyone an awesome Independence Day and my desire is for all of us to remember to thank those who have and who are still serving our country! I wish you could all be home with your families and this weekend, I want to make sure that I’m thinking of all of you.

Have a STUPENDOUS long weekend everyone!

If you have to work Monday, I am SO SORRY!

Talk with you soon!

Bye!

“Say what you need to say…” Say-John Mayer