My Birthday Gift to Myself.

My 26th birthday was this Friday. (26!! I can't believe it.) Although I spent the day helping my grandmother move to her own apartment (ever!), dealing with mis-communication with the building manager AND moving things in the heat, I managed to stay in a great and complacent mood all day.

Was moving my grandmother and running errands my favorite way of spending my birthday? No. But I woke up that morning feeling.. ok. I didn't feel "fat" or tired. I was first woken up by my mother who burst in to the room, sang happy birthday very loudly, dropped a gift on my head, gave me a kiss and attempted to sock me 26 times before giving up after 8 and then ran out the door to go to work. After that I got up and reached for the scale.

My goal was to reach 215 lbs by my birthday. I had been going from 216 to 218 and back again all month so I wondered if I had reached that treshold and crossed it. I stripped and stepped on the scale three times. Each time it told me 214.0, 214.0, 214.0 lbs!

I had made it! I had reached LESS than my goal weight!

 I weighed myself the morning of my birthday and I saw the number I had hoped for. I guess the end of my period, and my considerably shrunken calorie intake due to getting 3 of my wisdom teeth removed a few days earlier (not to mention the sessions on the Wii Fit. LOL) had been enough to move the scale the few pounds I needed.

That was enough (oh and happy birthday wishes on facebook and some nice phone calls) to keep me in a great mood. That day I ate leftover cake for breakfast (my grandmother's birthday is one day before mine so it was her leftovers), had a salad with sliced ham pieces for lunch and steak for dinner/ no sides.

Letting our masterpieces dry.

I didn't get a chance to really celebrate my birthday how I wanted that day but today I got my family to humor me and try out making tie dye t-shirts. In the early evening we all went to a little photo studio and took a new family portrait/picture. We've all changed so much physically and so much has happened (umm can we say baby NEPHEW?!). I was excited to have proof that I have changed as well. Hopefully when the prints come out they'll not only show the decrease in puffy cheeks and double chin but will also show that my smile is more genuine now. The reason behind it being that in reality, although after almost three years of starting my weight loss journey and NOT reaching goal weight, the journey has really taught me so much about myself. I've been able to grow as a person and my confidence has bloomed so much since the first day I started this blog. I've been to many places, met many people, reached amazing goals as well as unexpected set backs.

I'm ready to see what's next. 

I'm in my mid-twenties now. I keep hearing people reassuring me that I'm still very young, "Just a baby!" But I don't feel that way. By this age my mother had already gotten married, had both my older brother and I and was expecting her third kid. She had her own little apartment with us and had started her life goal of having a family as well as working as an accountant for a factory. Although getting hitched and having kids has never been a goal in my life (yet) I would have thought that by now I would have had a more stable life.

I'm working on that frustration right now and hoping that by the time I'm 30 I'll have a better grasp of my life and my goals and would be well on my way to reaching them. I think I'm making good progress over all don't you?

I can't wait to see what this new year has in store for me. 25 was an interesting year. It wasn't the easiest but I think I seriously grew. I got to cross out A LOT of my bucket list just this summer! I have started a new career! I've even grown in my personal relationships. All these things are fantastic accomplishments. Time to keep going!

I'm hoping that this year I'll be able to rekindle my love of the arts. I want to challenge my mind as well as my body. Let's see how this goes!

love
-w0rld