Back On Track for HealthyQuest 2008

I've been moving away from my Healthy Choice regimen, and as a result, I put back on some weight. Granted, it's not a lot of weight, but...I was down to 40 pounds of weight lost, and now it's back up to 37 pounds.

Grr.

(This picture does not represent my actual weight, by the way. Or my feet. Ew.)

So, it's back to Healthy Choice meals and some quality time at the gym starting this week. Now, while today I'll be treating myself to some yummyness at the Texas Roadhouse (their sweet potatoes are out of this world), and I will be on vacation at the end of this week in Florida, I will be re-vamping my goals so that I lose another 10 pounds by the end of this year.

I simply won't go back to where I was six months ago. I had junk in the trunk, front and side to side. While I totally dig my curves, the lumps in between the curves simply weren't healthy.

So, if any of you out there have any tips for losing the last 10 pounds and maintaining the weight loss...I'm all ears...

Re-Emerging Into the Universe With Social Networks

I am finding the world of social networks to be rather interesting. I thought this would be a very solitary time in my life, to be honest. Not lonely, but alone. I don't know if that makes much sense, but in my head it does. I mean, not to get all pathethic, but I really expected to be "that woman in the house with 12 dogs" people would talk about and wonder what her story is. I was prepared for it. I accepted it, and was almost happy about it. Almost. :-)

Any-hoo...

A friend of mine sent me a request to join Facebook, something I thought was for the teeny-boppers. I've reconnected to friends I had in high school, college and even my grade school. For as many "requests to connect" I've sent out, I've received equal amounts of "Remember me?" postings. It's really been quite wonderful to catch up with people. I'm not a person that generally would entertain going to a high school reunion...EVER...so this way to say hello and talk to people I remember fondly has been a real hoot!


There's also a professional network site which I've been a member of for years. It's called LinkedIn. According to its About Us section, LinkedIn is an online network of more than 25 million experienced professionals from around the world, representing 150 industries. It's terrific for expanding your professional connections and opportunities. (Plaxo Pulse is, too, by the way.) When you register, you post your work experience and education on-line, and then it's smart enough to send you a list of "People You Might Know."

As per each week, I sign onto LinkedIn, and it gives me this list. This particular time around, they gave me a person I actually did know from college. I met him when I was a freshman at college; he was dating a good friend of mine from high school, and I briefly dated his roommate. As is typical, we all went our separate ways. Generally speaking, when I request to connect in LinkedIn with professional contacts who were also friends, the response I get is an Accept and a simple "Hello! How are you?" comment and that's about the end of it, and vice versa when people connect to me. So, I was pleasantly surprised when this contact said "Hello! How are you?" and then proceeded to send me a detailed e-mail on the events of his life. I caught him up on what's been new (you know, for the past 15 years), and then followed up with an Instant Message thanking him for sending me such a nice e-mail. We wound up continuing the conversation on IM for about an hour and a half. As much as I like IM, I'm a listener, so not being able to read a person's body language or facial responses in response to what they are saying doesn't always give me enough information.

So...I was brave. I asked this person if they'd like to meet me after work and get caught up. I thought of him as a friend then, and it appears 15 years didn't change that opinion.

We met, had drinks and dinner, and wound up talking for five and a half hours. Over the course of two weeks, we've had more conversations, more dinner, and more laughter than either one of us has had in a while.

It's...nice...in a very "huh? what just happened?" kind of way.

While I may never see the majority of the people to whom I've reconnected, it's interesting that when people post comments and messages, it's still in their voices that I remember from many years ago.

I'm An Auntie!

On September 6, 2008, I became an aunt!

My sister and her husband are proud parents to Miss Lily Isabel. She's a tiny, feisty girl, and doing well. She's a preemie, so she'll be in the NICU for a little while, but all indications are she's more of a Tiger Lily than a shy flower.

If I do say so myself, she's the most beautiful baby I've ever seen.

The Beginning of Cheryl's Next Chapter

It's been a while since I've posted anything here, mostly because it had been quiet on this western front.

Then, blam-o!

My divorce is final. The Court issued the divorce decree on August 20, 2008. I found out August 28, 2008, via my BlackBerry device. My attorney's office issued their final bill via e-mail on the 28th, for which I was extremely grateful. My attorney was totally kick-ass, but I paid for kick-ass.

During the e-mail exchange, I asked the paralegal if she had heard anything about the status of the Decree, and she replied generally the Decree takes about 4 - 6 weeks from the time the Praecipe is delivered to the Court. We had submitted the Praecipe about three weeks from August 28th, so I thought, ok, a few more weeks, and I can get closure. I had been told in other cases it may take as long as 3 months for this to occur, too, so I was relatively happy about the 4 - 6 week estimate. Not more than five minutes after the paralegal's e-mail, I received an e-mail from my attorney, saying she actually had the paper copy of my Divorce Decree, and I've been divorced since August 20th.

Huh. Interesting.

I stared at my BlackBerry screen for about five minutes. In my head, the Divorce Decree issuance would be documentation with a gold seal in a bulky package. Nope. Not in my county. A simple e-mail, followed by a single sheet of paper from the Court saying the marriage is dissolved.

Over ten years of marriage dissolved with a single piece of paper.

Poof.

Done.

What I thought would be an emotional breakdown was a shrug of the shoulders. Please understand: I am sad this had to be the way it was. But, as people told me, I knew it was coming, so I probably had enough time to process it, over-process it, and get the closure I needed by the time I received the official Decree.

So, August 20th marks the beginning of the next chapter of my life. Wife. Goes. On.