Californi-beautifi-CATION! and some other exciting info

Life has been pretty good these days. I have made it to the gym at least once a week which, after all of the health issues, and car issues, and kid issues, and marriage issues, and work issues that have been going on... that is an accomplishment! Another accomplishment is this right here:
That's right... that is a 3 you see. 139. WOW I finally broke into the 130's! This is beyond exciting for me, as I have been stuck in the 140s for months now and I have definitely shrunk (hello size 4 jeans!) but the scale was flip flopping around 141 for awhile. When I saw the 139 I was THRILLED! Plus I had sort of accepted 140 as being a successful loss number and although I have been trying to lose more weight, my doctor was spot on at the difficulty of losing weight when you are already at your healthy weight.

Something I realized the other day is that although I talk about my work in bits and pieces I have never really delved deeper into what it is I do. I am in sales for an event rental company. Meaning: If you are having a party at a venue that is literally just a place, you would call me for tables, chairs, linens, pipe & drape, etc. OR if you are a wedding planner who has a client needing any of those items, you call me. I make site visits, do tours with clients, play "wedding" in our showroom, and also attend many "networking events" which I will get into in a moment.

My work history is comprised of planning events at a world renowned golf course (no lie... Tiger played there multiple times ; )) and also planning them for a couple of hotels in the Bay Area. Those jobs were fine, but my job now is comparable in pay, and provides me with amazing flexibility. Basically, so long as I am getting my work done, my boss is pretty lenient. And the same goes for attire. Most days I wear a dressed up version of jeans and a sweater, and that seems to suffice. But I don't exactly show up ready to go looks wise :) In fact, I am surprised my boss hasn't asked what happened a couple of these days :P

But again, lucky me, the way that the office runs, and is set up, we have a private ladies room, with a lovely outlet, and a little cabinet with a drawer reserved for my curling iron, hairspray, and whatever else I choose to store in it :P And myself, and my cowoker Kelly are famous for taking 5-10 minutes to curl our hair....generally around the 10 o'clock hour! haha. So here is a little photo-synopsis of how I look in the morning and what I end up looking like!
hair is up to start, wild when combed out, and then wayyyyy crazy curly sue when done.

So I exit the bathroom looking like Shirley Temple but due to my lovely hair that barely holds anything, it falls out in about 15 minutes and sort of looks like this. I attempted to take this picture like 5 times because I didn't like my hair in it, so here it is down.... and here it is half up. Either way you get the general idea of what it is supposed to look like.

Now there are also events that I attend in the evenings that encourage me to actually dress cute. And perhaps part of the reason I love fall so much is a) the multitude of events peaks in the fall because that is when weather is best around here b) I may or may not have a slight obsession with knee-high boots that I can now wear and zip over my calves with no problems! and/or c) I love the holidays and Fall is the ramp for all of the good ones! Either way I have been dressing cute this week and forcing Kelly to document my clothing choices before I leave for these said "networking" events!

See, here I am yesterday! Love the dress (which I might add someone asked me if it was Missoni.... sorry, $6.99 Ross clearance find, but THANKS!!! lol), and love my new "suede" boots from Old Navy of all places. Love wearing tights w/boots, love wearing fun jewelry, love having my hair look presentable in a photo, goodness gracious! Yesterday was a good fashion day! And that's just another bonus of my surgery.... I can finally wear what I want and have it look cute, and get compliments on my outfits. IT FEELS GREAT! I am not going to lie! I posted this photo on facebook yesterday because again, I love it, and I got over 10 responses. I figured a few girlfriends would like my dress, but was shocked at how kind people were. I felt special :)

A comment that kept coming up was how "skinny" I am. And I know that in the grand scheme, I am skinny compared to the old me, but when I look at this picture, I don't see "skinny", I just see "normal". I wonder what I would have thought a year ago if a friend of mine posted this.... would I just say "skinny" in relation to how they normally or used to look, or would I say "skinny" as in, this person is a thin person? I am not sure. But on the skinny topic, seeing people's faces when I tell them "yeah I have lost 105lbs"..... it's priceless!

So back to these events I am going to, because not only do I feel compelled to get all gussied up, but the extent to which people go for marketing their venues is amazing. Last night was absolutely spectacular, at a venue in San Francisco that ironically I used to go to for my family's company Christmas dinners. Well, the city has revamped it and last night they truly decorated/catered/lit/fed/entertained to the best of their ability! They had 5-6 different caterers, 5 bars, a cigar bar, live latin music, 3 DJs..... incredible! Here is a link to the photos of the event if you are curious: ok just kidding the photographer seems to have yanked the collection (maybe he is adding more?) so I will update this post when he fixes his site. But basically picture a gorgeous historical building redone with a spectacular view of San Francisco Bay. Yup, I am so glad I was invited to that one!

Tonight I am headed to the W hotel.... slight twist of scenery but hopefully something fabulous will happen and I might just have to blog about it ; )