2010

OMG, it cannot possibly be a few days away from 2010! It seems like just yesterday, we were all waiting till midnight, the year of Y2K to see if our computer world would fall apart. Where did the time go? I know where it went; mostly it got divided into good and bad choices that we made with our lives.

To say the least, New Years Eve was never my favorite time of year, I always felt forced to have fun and for the most part that never worked. Two years ago, I had my very first New Year’s date, which was very memorable to me, to have someone actually ask me out for New Years was such a new experience for me. I use to be the girl who stayed home and ate a half gallon of ice cream and told everyone I had plans so they would not feel bad for me, It amazes me how quickly my life changed for the better once I turned my bad choices into good choices.

One day, I was saying how will I ever lose 300 lbs and then I had lost 200. One day I had type two diabetes and then very shortly after I started losing weight my diabetes numbers were normal. We might feel totally overwhelmed today with our lives, but I am here to tell you every choice you make counts and your life can turn around for the better so fast that you would not believe it. There are so many things I still want to get right in this life and sometimes it truly overwhelms me. I need to slow down and remember what works for me and then repeat those behaviors. I learned from the Oprah show to write 5 things every day that I am grateful for and I started this at 550 lbs . . . . in the notebook I wrote even the littlest things, like I’m grateful I got out of bed today, I’m grateful I have friends, etc. It is not important whether they are big or small, what is important is that we learn to appreciate things.

So here is my new year’s 2010 grateful list for today:

!. I am grateful that my mom is alive

2 I am grateful that I can go outside everyday and enjoy life

3 I am grateful for my wonderful new dog

4 I am grateful that this year’s mammogram was clean

5 I am grateful that people feel I motivate them



Now start your grateful list and have a great New Years with love … Stacey

New York, New York

If you happen to be in New York City at holiday time, you are very lucky, because there is nothing like it in the whole wide world. The sights… the smells…the friendliness of the people are all not to be missed. The store windows will have you in a jaw dropping awe. They are filled with colors and sounds like no other place. You can barely walk two feet in front of yourself, but it is all worth it to experience the mayhem of New York City.

I was in Macys, on 34th Street Sunday, thinking Sunday, would be a perfect day to shop, because it is a work week area, but boy was I wrong. I took my mom to lunch and we had to wait 45 minutes to be served. There was a long line to get in the restaurant, but no one was doing their usual complaining, instead, people from out of town were asking suggestions of what New York places would be fun to go to. There is a window, in New York City that is so worth talking about, that it was news worthy. I call it the naughty window, near the store Lord and Taylors. This window is set up to look like an apartment and in the apartment there were six girlfriends, hanging out in very scantily clad lingerie. They are just hanging out and pretending that the whole city could not see from the outside. They would go to their dresser drawers and try on different night gowns and lingerie behind a screen then come out and talk with their girlfriends on the couch. This went on for two weeks with changes in shift of course. People crowded around the window all day and not just men. Only in New York!

I do have some sadness at holiday time, although, my mom is fine, she still has to go through radiation during this time and that makes me feel bad. The other thing and something I don’t share too often, but I have a gaping hole in my heart for my precious dog Gertie, who died nine months ago. I will never get over her. I never run out of tears for her, because she was my first dog after I was well enough that I could walk a dog, and nothing and no one ever made me as happy as her. I remember all the things we did last Christmas and I miss her terribly. I LOVE YOU GERTIE-not a day goes by! I hope you all have a joyful holiday season with much love Stacey

P.S. Above photo of Gertie and I last Christmas