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Starting on my goals

Just a little update on the goals I am working on. I am trying really hard NOT to buy an iPad. So far so good...even though that is one of my goals it should either be a donation from my parents (or anyone else for that matter), or after I have paid of some of my debts.

Currently I am in progress on the following goals

2. Get weight loss surgery
7. Cook 4 meals a week
26. Finish knitting mom's blanket
32. Make a list of 25 things I love about ATL
45. Make a breakfast smoothie 1x week for 4 weeks
47. Knit everyday for 4 weeks
57. Graduate from obedience school
101. Read 1 kindle book a month
Most notable in progress items:

Get weight loss surgery
Finished supervised weight loss plan, lost weight, following up on approval submission

Cook 4 meals a week
I have already cooked 2 meals this week !!

101 Goals In 1,001 Days

Happy New Year!!
I can't believe it is 2011 already. So I worked on my goals for this year and you will see them along the right hand side with their status. I will try to update them as best I can. I am not super consistent with blogging and you will note that there are no goals on there to change that either.

I will do the best I can with this. There are several categories and the idea is that I will be looking at this weekly and trying to get some of these things accomplished. Putting together a plan of action.

I will allow myself to remove and substitute only 5 of the goals. Some are already in progress. I will post another blog about the progress. So its official tomorrow is my start date and the end will be in 1,001 days.

Start: Saturday January 8, 2011

End: Saturday October 5, 2013

We will see how it goes...lol..

New Attitude..

So I have a new attitude about the whole WLS (weight loss surgery) thing. I have switched (during open enrollment) to Aetna and hopefully will be having my surgery in Jan/Feb or next year.

I am pretty happy about that. Out with the old in with the new.

Today I am under the weather: cramps, and a migraine that is really getting on my nerves. So I stayed home from work.

I have started a 3 month medically supervised weight loss plan. I can't tell you how its going my current issue has put a little bit of a crimp in my program. My plan is not to snack and to write down my food and exercise at least 3 times a week.

Ugh.. I am getting off my computer... Hopefully tomorrow is a better day.

Denial

I have decided to revive my blog as I seem unable to post videos to my you tube channel. I am pretty bummed about my current situation. I have applied for the VSG through Anthem and I was denied on 7.28.10 because they view it as experimental, so I had my doctor do a peer review with the Anthem dr, well that was denied on or around 8.16.10.
I STILL haven't been notified of that denial, although my dr's office said they told them right away it would be. So I took matters into my own hands and decided to write my appeal letter. My dr's office is supposed to also be writing an appeal letter. Mine is 6 pages long. I borrowed if from someone who posted it to their blog on Obesity Help. If it works i will post most of it. Some of it is personal, so i will probably leave those parts out.

My backup plan is to switch to an insurance carrier next year to one who will approve the VSG. So I know ultimately I will get it, but I just have to be patient

Off topic, I decided I am going to stop getting a relaxer because its painful and I mostly wear wigs anyway..I am not doing anything with my hair so this is where we are at. I am going to take pictures. I haven't figured out a way to show my progress that is flattering, because I don't like to post picture were I look crazy...lol..

Weight Loss Surgery

So I picked a surgeon, met with him today and I am on my way.. My girlfriend had her surgery last week and she is recovering quite nicely.I am really looking forward to mine. I have been ditching my personal trainer, but I am going to do better.

Hoping to have surgery in late July, we will see how that goes.

I have a bunch of appointments and I need to talk to my job about taking time off...oh how exciting!

Church!

I am looking for one. I have been going church shopping and I found one I really like. I am going to check out some others while I continue to pray about Liberty Church. I went to the singles ministry (yes they have one!) service, then they had a cookout and games afterwards.

The married people cooked and brought all the food...how amazing is that! The service was really good. The Singles paster talked about seeds being planted in good ground, but how we as the seeds have a shell around us that has to die once we have been planted so that the life inside of us can spring forth...good stuff.

Definitely going back next week. They have a LOT of services on the weekend. So I am going to try Friday night.. I can't fathom going to church on Friday night..i have done Saturday, but I am ready to check it out.

Insurance Chronicles...

So... I found out this week that my insurance has changed.. when I started my new job, i kept my NC address and so they assigned me to United Healthcare, once I changed my address to Atlanta a month later, they switched me to Anthem BCBS. The good new is, they are still going to pay for 100% of the surgery...I still think that is AMAZING! God is good. The issue is that I might have some issues with getting the type of surgery that I want. They approve RNY (Gastric Bypass) and the Lap Band.

I have decided I am against the lap band because of the post op complications that are possible and having to possibly go back for a bunch of fills. I don't want want to have to worry about something happening to the band, or me being able to feel the port or anything like that.. I know it works for a lot of people so no judgements, just not for me. I have a friend who has it and she LOVES it.

As for the RNY, I prefer not to have a surgery where they are moving around my intestines. But I would do it if I can't get the sleeve.

Oh so the 2nd BEST thing is I don't have to wait the 6 months that I had to if I had United Healthcare with the medically supervised weight loss program that was required. Yay.. I will keep you posted. I haven't shown up in BCBS' system yet, but the moment I do...I am ON IT! LOL...can't wait to get the process started..

Cute pic of the pooches.. I love them...

The big decision

Soooo... I have decided that I am tired of going on the way I am and I am going to have weight loss surgery. It is not something that I am taking lightly and I have prayed about it and I know it is the right decision for me. I am pretty nervous about it.

So the good news my insurance will pay for it 100%! How great is that? The only down side is the waiting. Although they will pay for all of, I have to go a on a medically supervised diet and exercise plan for 6 months. I don't have to lose any weight interestingly enough, I just have to go to a dietician/dr once a month for 6 months and discuss diet and exercise and weigh in. Oh and it has to be well documented.

I am getting something called a Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy, which actually isn't very common. Gastric Bypass and the Lap Band are done more frequently.

I am working on finding a surgeon, a confusing process as there are so many here. However my list is more narrow because I am not going to someone who doesn't do this very often, and several doctors on my list don't even do it. Anyway, I am excited about the outcome. I have to be patient and wait until September, but that is ok.

I will be adding more info about my journey.

Oh did I mention that I heart my new job.

Wondering...

I have another blog for makeup but with my move to atl I haven't been to focused on that. So yup I am in the atl for a new job that I really like so far. I miss my friends and my life but I am working on establishing a new life. So for a while I will just be posting here until I get settled. I am writing this post from my phone. I am going to include a pick of the 2 dogs on the drive up here to see if it works.

New day

I have a ton of things going on all over the place. However God has it under control. I just have to trust him, have faith, walk in it and be obedient. He has placed great people in my life and for that I am super grateful. I have a fabulous church family here that is really supportive and caring. Friends too who have my back. So its all good.

Its a new season..

Our father..

So I was talking this morning to one of my coworkers and I just had to write
this down before I forget. Now if you have read some of my earlier blogs you
would know how much I love the work I do in Jr. Kidz church at LWFC where I
go to church. This morning for about 5 minutes I talked with my colleague
about last night. One of my kids, who I absolutely adore, can at times be a
little challenging. I have discussed with her mother (who is also my friend)
that she is a natural leader but just needs to work on her skills as a
follower and a listener. In any case last night she was helping one of the
kids with picking up a ball after he threw it. At a certain point I was
closer and I said "give it to me, I will give it to him, and she made a huge
stink about it. We have had this situation happen several times where I have
asked her to do something and she doesn't understand why or agree so she
doesn't want to obey. So because we have been working on this it kind of
forced me to now have to insist that she give the ball to me first. So she
got very upset with me and then she got over it 30 seconds later when it was
her turn to throw the ball. Anyway that is just a little background. My
coworker told me a story about his kid being sick and acting out and at a
certain point he had to stop allowing that to be an excuse for that bad
behavior and start disciplining him for it. We talked about how these things
are necessary and for the good of the child even though they don't think so
at the time. I came back to my desk and thought of the analogy for how God
deals with us sometimes. In my situation, I know that sometimes God has
specified something he wants me to do. Well I make a decision because I
don't understand why or I just simply want to do it my way. But because he
loves me and knows whats best for me. He corrects me and i don't like it.
But eventually I come around. Anyway the point is that God is trying to
parent us because it makes us better, it helps us to take the skills we have
and develop them into the potential he sees for us. In the second situation
it reminds me that even though we may be going through changes and the
things that life throws at us, God still has an expectation of obedience. He
has mercy, but continued disobedience will yield consequences. But it is
because He loves us.

Today i thought ...

Today i thought about Ephesians 3:14-19 and am praying that over myself. To have the power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. And to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that i be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Faith...

Some things i heard today...
Faith will help you to endure your current situation or to enter into a better one.

You will always act like the person you believe you are.

No pics today

That's ok. I didn't take any and now I am getting ready to go to bed. I had an 8 am con call this morning. I thought for 1 second, i could just take a quick snap. Then I realized that there is no quick snap with me. So that is that.

ok i am tired..later..

Peach and Purple

Yesterday was more peachy today more purple...

Yesterday I experimented with MAC Paradisco and Cranberry, trying to recreate the look my new MAC freelance buddy AG gave me. She was using some other colors I don't have that I really want, particularly Coppering. MAC is having a 25% off sale for the next day or so, so I am in heavy debate about buying some stuff. Although I really should be spending that money more wisely, since it is clearly not a necessity. Anyway back to the look. I used some stuff out of my Coastal Scents 88 Shimmery Palette. I gave the matte one to my sister then had to rebuy it. So I am waiting on that delivery. I love shimmer..lol..

Anyway, I still didn't get it quite right, although I am still pleased with the outcome. Also my eyebrows are in really rough shape so I have been giving them quite a bit of assistance to make them look decent.

Today I used less MAC and more Coastal Scents Shimmer. So there are too many colors to name because I started out with blueish green and it didn't have enough pigment too it, then I was like, ok why not try brown, again I didn't like, so then i tried a violet on top of it and I was happy. So I will never be able to create this exact color again, but oh well..lol. I have it in a picture.

I don't have any pics from monday because I had a 6:30 am flight from NY to Raleigh. I felt tired and didn't want to take apic although, I probably could have.. I had on a nice shade of blue. This weekend I was busy with my new neice and my family in NY. So excited about that. I had a date which ended horribly, but I won't go into that, but I spruced myself up for that one. I should have taken a pic, it was blue too, to match my shirt. Oh well, next time.

I will say that dating has been interesting, so much excitement then disappointment when things don't go as planned, then excitement again. I have had some good ones and Lord knows I have had some bad ones. But I am really enjoying the experience over all. Ok enough of that..

I am going to try to think up something different to do tomorrow..

Not my best day...but thats ok

So today i look a little tired...but this morning was the first day i used my de-potted eye shadows in my 15 eyeshadow palette. Inspired by one of my girls I used Paradisco, then Cranberry Retrospeck, Shroom, Mulch, and Bamboom paint.

MAC Day!

As much as I would like to take credit for this, because it is fantastic, one of my girls a newly hired MAC makeup artist, was practicing on me the night before her interview.



Fabulous job!

Starting Eye of the day - Smokey

So I decided that I am going to use my blog as a way to chronicle my current interest in makeup and fashion. Since I am not using it to ramble on about my life. Although there is church, work, dating, family, and friends to go on about. I just can't seem to bring myself to get on here, so this daily upload of my eye's and outfit might just be it. Since I do it everyday..for other reasons..don't ask.

OK so here is today, that is what we will start with today..the smokey eye..

Also, I am going to backtrack all the eye pics I took of the past couple of weeks. I did 4 or so already, the rest later.

Pink Eye..

Although I was wearing browns today, I decided to depart from being matchy-matchy, which I had started doing and just go with a feeling..and this day it was pink..

I am deciding if I am going to post my outfit too.. hmm..