You've Come A Long Way Baby!

So yesterday was my birthday and it was nothing short of A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  I had the time of my life and I pretty darn well did whatever I pleased.  And it pleased me to indulge myself. Immensely. Without restraint. A Happy birthday.  To me, by me and for me.

Fast forward to this morning and I am sitting up in bed in a much more reflective mood....asking myself some pretty tough questions....

Questions like:

What did you accomplish this past year?

Could you have done more/better?

What about those goals in your journal...time to tackle those don't you think?

So, what is your plan for the next six months?

Are you living up to your true potential?

When are you going to finish all those incomplete projects you started?

What!!!?????   What is this, the great inquisition?

Truth is, I know exactly what this is.  I do it, you do it. Some of us do it once a year on our birthday and some, at least once a day.  It is that internal check list we keep to make sure that we are on course.

Well, my response to "miss internal dictator director" went a little something like this....

I loved hard.  Fought hard.  Played just as hard or harder.

I challenged myself to grow........to count my blessings even amidst the pain.  To allow others to love me as I am, and to accept people just the way God made them.

I painted, crafted, designed, and honed my skills.  I entered competitions,was featured in galleries and participated in trade shows.  I celebrated, and was celebrated in return. Now I have a loyal following of people who believe in my Artistic ability/talents.  Some of them are very dear friends and some are loyal customers. (giant pat on back)

And then, just when I was feeling great about my life and the progress I was making, I gained 13 pounds in 7 months.......

But fortunately, that is not all I gained.

I gained insight and wisdom about health....my health. I learned how to better take care of my body.  Of myself.

I succeeded....

I lost 15 pounds in 3 months.

Then I failed. 

 I gained 12 pounds of it back......again........ 5 months later.  

.....But I never quit.

I lost every one of those 12 pesky pounds. And this is where I am now.  I learned so much about myself during this time.  I know now that I can do ANYTHING I make up my mind to do with God's help.  Am done with the up and down weight gain. I know now where I struggled and how to prevent myself from struggling in the future.  I am now 80% vegetarian and very happily so.

But wait.  There's more.

And, as if that change wasn't drastic enough, I went from this....



To this.

Then recently I decided to kick it up a notch with my design business.  So I did.  I am saying this only because you never heard me say it yet on this blog...that is until now.  I have a fashion line coming out but honestly sometimes the magnitude of it overwhelms me so much I keep it in the closet. Talking about it sometimes is just too painful.  I just want to do the darn thing!

I have BIG dreams for myself.  They have been coming together slower than I would like but slow progress is still progress non the less, yes?  So here is a small sample of my God inspired line. Hopefully they will be in a store near you real soon.

And Finally, last but not least.  Mi Familia.  The people whom I love most...on most days.  I think this year has really brought us closer.  We have had my dad and grandmother fall critically ill within months of each other and but for God's grace and mercy, they both narrowly escaped death. Both of them.  This put a lot of things into perspective for me.  No more sweating the small stuff. Seriously.

I think this picture sums up the way I feel about it all.  Look real close you will see two little figures walking in the distance.  That is me behind, the one in front is my sister Shan.  We are polar opposites but we have lots in common too.  Unlike me, she is very athletic so I am always one step behind. Literally.

Did you ever know that you're my heroooooooo,.....lol.  Am kidding.  The point is, I appreciate her for her strengths and I think she appreciates me for mine.  We forgive the parts in between, especially in the last year.  We have both grown so much and we are so much better for it.

And so "miss inner director/diva" I got news for ya.  What did I achieve in the last year?

NOTHING BUT GROWTH BABY!!!....and not just the hair.

Cherio!