But wait... I will get to that later. First let's start with some "after" photos of the apartment! My shower curtain got rave reviews from my very first overnight guest.... my friend Meg! She drove down from Sacramento to see Kelly Clarkson with me (won free tickets on the radio!!!!) down in San Jose and that was way too far of a drive back up, so we had a blast having girl time and rocking out to Kelly! She also loved my shower curtain!! haha
What I can tell you, however, is that as more and more time passes, I definitely can see the kids feeling more comfortable in our little home. Benji loves building his train tracks in the living room and racing around this talking truck thing that Brian got for him. Aidan spends the majority of her time dressing up and putting on 100 layers of Bonne Bell lip gloss, or drawing me beautiful pictures with her favorite tool.. markers! The one challenge is the two of them not annoying each other! Siblings, I tell ya! ; )
Something that I have been making a point of doing is planning a really fun activity for my Saturdays with them, and then Sundays I go to my parents' house for the day so that they can spend some QT with their uncles and grandparents. If I have learned one thing through all of this it is that the support and love of family makes all the difference in the world! And they really do have so much fun with my brothers and parents.
The weekend before last, we went to the California Railway Museum, allll the way up in Sacramento. Here is a link: http://www.csrmf.org/ Benjamin ADORES trains, so Brian came along and we all got to check out the hundreds of trains! And ride one of course. Aidan liked it, but was more concerned with wearing her bridal veil and eating taffy, than she was with checking out the trains. She did however know the difference between a diesel train and a non-diesel train. That blew my mind. How does she know this stuff?!!! Benji LOVED looking at everything, riding the train, etc. He still tells me about how he rode a BIG TRAIN! The one bummer was the weather... it was pouring rain. So although being inside the museum was fine, we didn't really have a chance to enjoy Old Town Sacramento. I have to say, we will definitely be back up there again! And hopefully get to check more out around town. We did however stop for some taffy for Aidan, because that girl has the biggest sweet tooth!
Of course you can see her treat in her mouth! haha Oh and her veil of course. Meanwhile Benji was getting down with his ice cream! So fun!
Of course you can see her treat in her mouth! haha Oh and her veil of course. Meanwhile Benji was getting down with his ice cream! So fun!Our custody schedule includes us sharing the kids every other weekend, but this year I got to have the kids for Easter. Such a fun holiday! Aidan was so excited to wear her Easter dress and go to church. I had the decision of if I wanted to go in San Leandro, with their godparents, to a lively Easter celebration, or to SF with my parents to a Catholic Mass. Location and the fact that I knew the kids would enjoy the lively celebration more made my decision for me. We had a really great service and the kids survived being in their "classrooms" although Benji was not so happy about it. The next morning he asked me about his "classroom" and told me he wanted to go to his OTHER classroom. I asked him, "the one with Miss Krissie?" and he said "Ya!". So I told him that indeed he got to see Miss Krissie that day and he goes "Thank you Mama!". So darn adorable, that Boy! Here is a pic of the two of them before Church.... probably the cutest of both of them together and looking at the camera that I have snagged in awhile!
And some news that needs prayers is that Benji will be having surgery for his ear tubes, tonsils, and adenoids tomorrow. I am nervous because I hate the thought of him being in pain, but I also know that this will make such an impact on his growth and development and also just simply his comfort level. So if you can spare any "heal quickly" prayers for my little man, please do! We will be at the hospital tomorrow morning.
On a brighter note, my weight has remained pretty steady. I have gained a few "love lbs" thanks to opting to spend more time with Brian than I do at the gym, but our trip is rapidly approaching and we both decided to crack down on the weightloss plan! I want to lose 5 lbs before we go (May 1). We shall see. He is hardcore and is pretty strict with his eating and also sees a trainer 3 days a week, so I am proud of him! It is pretty cool to see him change right before my very eyes... I think he has lost something like 40lbs since January? That's a lot! It is really wonderful to have a partner in this journey who totally understands my weight issues and wants to work on ourselves TOGETHER and support each other's goals.
So, with the topic of goals in mind, the organization that I am actively involved in, San Francisco NACE, had a goal of having the meeting of the century with the one and only Preston Bailey... wedding planner extraordinaire! If you are asking Who the hell is Preston Bailey.. google him! The event was at the Julia Morgan Ballroom in downtown SF and that venue is just GORGEOUS. I mean really... it is incredible. The architectural detail is exquisite old SF. Wow! Anyway, it was even more fun because almost all of my industry friends made an appearance and I also got to sit AT PRESTON'S TABLE!!! Omg. Crazy huh?! I knew I was sitting with him, so what better opportunity to rock my new dress than last night?!
It was a great event, he was actually very honest, and quite open about how he got his start, his successes, failures, weaknesses, learning lessons, etc. Much more interesting than I had anticipated. And he explained that when he met with Joan Rivers to do her daughter's first wedding, she told him "I want people to walk in and say "HOLY SHIT!"". So he took it from there. Later on in his presentation he showed some pics of recent events. I swear to you, the first words out of my mouth during the first slide.... HOLY SHIT!!!! Lol! How funny is that?! He definitely creates magical event spaces and really makes you wonder.... how does he think of that?!!!
He also showed some slides of "oops" events. And let me tell ya, they were WAY worse than anyone could imagine! Even Preston Bailey has learned some hard knocks!
But the best part about attending any of these events is meeting new people, and also seeing all of my friends there. I have managed to build relationships with some really truly amazing people and I am so grateful! They understand the craziness of my job at times, and they are just super FUN! I am not sure how these pictures will space themselves out but the blonde lady is my friend Erin who I met right when I started working where I do now. She cracks me up because she totally looks like an uptight, waspy, lady, and she is SOOOOO NOT! She is hilarious and so much fun to hang out with! And then the crew in the Scribble Wall Pic is all of my NACE people who I love dearly! From left to right: Mimi www.creativedesignsbymimi.com, Sarah, from Sarah Ward Events, me :), Jason www.joelnelsonproductions.com, Lolita from the Lafayette Park Hotel, and Valerie www.alovesinbloom.com.
So when my friend Leslie said "I'm kinda jealous of myself right now!" on our Friday wine tasting trip "for work".... truth be told I feel like that A LOT! I am so blessed. Truly. I have not been happier in my entire life. And the story of this blog.. my weight loss surgery, has so much to do with it. I have become a different person, inside and out. And I finally love me :)
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