#30DaysofThanks: Day 11, Friends

This month I’m participating in 30 Days of Thanks (#30DaysofThanks) by writing a blog post about 30 things I’m thankful for. To join in, go to the link above. The best part is, you don’t need to have a blog or even be on social media to take part in the project; you just need to be thankful. I can’t wait to see how my life might change by spending the 30 days in November giving thanks for things in my life — every single day.

Today I am thankful for all of the amazing people whom I consider friends. They are there to celebrate my joys. They are also there to console my sorrows. Many of them live across the country, but are still just a text, email, or phone call away. I’m grateful that so many connections that I made while I was in high school have survived the test of time; most of the people that I’m closest to are girls that I met in high school.

The abundance of riches was clear today when I drove to SF to see CTLB, who lives just outside of Boston, but was visiting for the long weekend. It’s been about two years since I’d seen her, and I’d never met her 8-month old baby, so we were long overdue. CTLB and I became BFFs instantly when we started teaching at the same high school, went through our Masters in Educational Leadership as a partner team, and have seen each other through the highs (and lows) that come with life. She is an amazing friend, a true soul sister, and someone whom I wish I could see more of. Even though the timing was less than ideal because I have tons of grading to do before Tuesday, I wouldn’t have missed the opportunity to hang out for the world, even if it was too short. With us, a week would’ve been too short! Distance my divide us, but CTLB and I will be friends for a lifetime.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day in SF – chilly (58 degrees), but sunny. I was meeting CTLB in the Marina district, which can be notoriously difficult to park in, but I found parking in a garage across from Monaghan’s, their usual watering hole/hangout spot. Unheard of! Then we nabbed a bench inside Peet’s for a coffee chat so that CTLB could open the early Christmas gift that I brought for baby M:

I also got him a 3-pack of matching socks, but I couldn’t find the photo.

It was so great to hold M in my arms (he’s a BIG boy!) and see his reaction as he saw me for the first time. He is seriously the happiest baby I’ve ever been around – adorable. CTLB look so happy, and I loved seeing the pride in her hubby’s eyes every time he looked at his son.  I love CTLB and her family so much, and I wouldn’t have traded my time with them for the world.

I raced from SF (mercifully no traffic) to meet up with LMK, the friend who inspires me to chase my dreams. She took the year off to travel the world, and is just touching down long enough to regroup before she chases the sun to an ashram in India, followed by Bali, New Zealand, and then she’s off to Australia. LMK is starting a blog, about her travels and life in general, and wanted to get some tips for me.  We spent hours catching up, planning, and being creative.  I cannot wait to read and hear all about LMK’s adventures!  I’ve written about LMK in the past because she is such a motivating force and an amazing example of living a healthy lifestyle. LMK runs half marathons for fun (she just got back from Santa Barbara, where she clocked in at exactly 2 hours!), practices yoga to clear her mind and fill her soul, and is always up for a new adventure. Plus she has a fantastic fashion sense. In many ways, she’s who I strive to be “when I grow up.”

These two friends are just a sample of the many people whom I’m lucky enough to have in my life. I truly love each of them and know that my life is so much richer because they’re sharing in it with me.

“A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.” ~Elbert Hubbard

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#WEverb11, Day 5: Befriend

For the month of December, I’ll be participating in #WEverb11.  Each day gives a new prompt, each of which is a chance to reflect and look forward.

December 5: Befriend

Did you meet any new friends this year? How did they impact your 2011?  Contributed by Jen.

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The older I get, the fewer close friends I seem to have.  Not counting Facebook, where it says I have 153 “friends.”  But even that is small compared to other who have 1000s of friends.

To me, though, a true friend is someone you can trust with your deepest, darkest secret.  Someone who will tell you what you need to hear, whether you like it or not.  A friend is someone whom you can call at 3am on a Wednesday if you’re really in trouble.

So to say that I have a select group of true friends makes me happy.  And to tell you that I’ve met some new friends makes me even happier still.

I’ve gotten closer to people at work, as well.  It’s easy to make friends at work, because you spend so much time with them.  But then sometimes you realize that other than working at the same place, you don’t have as much in common with people as you think.  That’s happened to me many times in the past, but this year the opposite has proved true.  I’ve become close to two people at work that I didn’t think I had much in common with.  And on the surface, we don’t, but upon closer examination, we actually do.  It feels nice to get to know these two people on a whole new level and realize just how much common ground we have.  It goes to show that you really need to give people a chance to get to know you before you decide how well you’d get along.  It’s been a great lesson for me to learn this year.

I’ve  also made great friends this year in the WLS/weight loss community:

• BeautyJunkie824 is someone that I followed on YouTube and then met in real life, and liked her as much as I thought I would.  Even more, really!  She and I have become really close, and we check in on each other all the time to make sure we’re staying on track.  I am so thankful to have her in my life, and I know that we’re going to be friends for life.
• Kim is a newer friend that I met through this blog.  As it turns out, she and I live in the same city, so we’re going to be meeting up soon to chat and get to know each other better.  Even though I haven’t known Kim very long, I can tell you that she’s so supportive and encouraging, and an all around sweet person.

In 2012, I’m hoping to widen my circle of friends even more by getting out and getting more active.  I’ve become quite the homebody, and I’m not sure how that happened.  I used to be quite the social girl, but over these past few years, I prefer to be at home and have people over.  I’m not sure if it’s age or what, but that’s not the way to meet new people and have new experiences, is it?  So, in 2012, I want to try to get out of the house more often and meet people while doing things that I love, some of which I’m sure I haven’t even discovered yet.  How exciting to think that by this time next year, I’ll have found even more new friends and new experiences to share with them!!

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If you’d like to join in on the daily writing prompts, go to WEverb11, sign up for the email notifications, and join us! Or follow along on Twitter using the #WEverb11 hashtag!

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Merry Christmas!

“The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.”
―Burton Hillis

The thing I love the most about Christmas is the sense of joy and hope that it evokes in me. I love the thought that I get to spend extra time with family and friends so that we can catch up on the events of the past year. It always means that I have more time to myself, to share fun times with my
favorite people in the world. Having 2 weeks off doesn’t hurt, either!

I hope all of you have a very joy-filled day, even if you don’t celebrate Christmas.

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Excitement + Anticipation, with a dash of Fear

As December 1st gets closer, I am really excited about starting the SBD. As with any new endeavor I undertake, I have lots of plans, lists, goals, and expectations. I’m going into this with high hopes and the best of intentions, but I’m also worried/fearful.

The only diet that I’ve ever lost a significant amount of weight on was Jenny Craig. It was pretty easy — eat that food, don’t cheat, try to workout, and you’ll lose weight. You may or may not learn anything to take with you after you stop the diet, but you are pretty much guaranteed to lose weight while your following it. No prep time — just pay your money for the food, heat it, eat it. Easy. Of course, both times I was on Jenny Craig, I also gained everything back, and then some. Not really a success story.

So now I have this new goal, this new plan, this new lifestyle. It seems very do-able, especially with the built in support of BeachGirly and CCLuv. I know I’ll follow the program to the letter for at least a few weeks, because I’m really good about starting things like this. But still, I am worried that after a few weeks I’m going to fall into old patterns and go off the plan, eat too much of the wrong things and stay this same fat self. I’m not so good with the follow through when it comes to weight loss and working out. I always start strong but haven’t managed to maintain any level of lifestyle change for too long.

Not that I’m going into this with a negative attitude, because I’m not. I’m just trying to put this out there so that I can recognize my weaknesses and try to work on them. By acknowledging that this is a pattern for me, I’m hoping to break it.

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Here we go!

December 1st is “D” day for us. Diet day. The first day of the rest of our lives and all of that stuff. I’m excited and anxious to get started, but think that taking a week to really prepare is going to help to set myself up for a a success that I’ve never experienced before with weight loss.

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