Goodbye Utah, Hello California!

After 12 fantastic years, I am moving back to California in the morning. I've found great friends and jobs, finished college, and become a semi-responsible adult here. It's time for me to go home and put it all to the test!

I'm so excited to actually be a part of my nieces and nephews' lives, instead of someone they see a couple times a year and someone their moms force them to talk to on the phone. I'm excited to get to hang out with my dad and brothers regularly and to get to watch sports and movies with them. I'm excited to get to see my mom and 2 sisters more often and be able to do things and go places on a whim with them.

I'm excited for snow to be a choice and something I only have to drive 2-3 hours to get to (although, yes, I realize it's not of the same quality we have here in Utah). I'm excited for more rain in the winter (yes, I love it) and still plenty of winter days where could choose to wear capris and sandals. San Francisco at Christmas, bridges, bay water, ocean nearby. Home.

I'll add more to this later ...

What I did today ...

I got on Highway 1 at Half Moon Bay and headed South. RIDICULOUSLY beautiful drive! Especially between Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz. I really should have stopped and taken more pics!


Half Moon Bay




A little further south




Just north of Santa Cruz



Big Sur and a bit south






I'm in a hotel in LA right now and on to San Diego in the morning!

thelifeofbonbon.blogspot.com

My vacation so far...

So, here's what I've been up to for the last week..

I drove to Vegas last Wed and stayed the night with my friend Olive.

I drove to Dana Point in Orange County Wednesday morning and stayed with my old bosses' family at a loverly beach house for 2 days.
the kids digging holes behind the beach house
Laguna Beach
Dana Point at sunset


Drove up home (via I-5) on Saturday to visit family.




thelifeofbonbon.blogspot.com

Hot Italian boy...

My roommates got back from Rome, Paris, and Spain last week. Before they left they asked me what i wanted them to bring back for me. Of course my answer was hot boys; I told them they should take pictures of all the hot guys they see and if they could maybe stuff a hot Italian man in their suitcase for me.

The brought me back a 4 inch statue of this:



Perfect, right?

Love it!

I'm at 65 pounds lost now!

Goin' to the GYM!!!

Ick! Let's just say there is one very good reason fat people stay fat. Really there are many reasons, but this is a major one! Exercising fat feels like you are dying!!! But, I have to if I want to have a chance at not having crazy amounts of excess skin after I've lost most of my excess weight.
I've noticed, in general, less back and joint pain so far during daily activity and when I walk down 5 flights of stairs at the end of my shift at work. I went on a few small walks with my family when I was home and noticed that I wasn't out of breath at all! Very nice change...
So, I've known for a while that I needed to get a gym membership, but I've been putting it off until I felt like I had enough energy to actually put it to good use. The time has come! I bought a membership to 24-hour fitness yesterday. I even swam laps with my friend at the Murray location on Friday. I bet you're proud, huh?
The nice thing about 24-hour fitness is that they're open 24 HOURS!!! This actually works with my crazy schedule because there is no way I will wake up early and go to the gym before work. So I'm gonna go after work at 3:30 in the morning. I'm oddly excited about this! Wish me luck!

May 2009 CA Trip

I was able to go home over Mother's Day and had such a good visit! The kids were super cute and fun and I miss my whole family like crazy!!!

Some highlights:

Picking strawberries with grandma



Walking to the park with the kids


(this park is right on the water and is ONE BLOCK from my Mom's house! LOVELY!!!)

Diego and Miguel's baseball game




Playing at grandma's house

3 Month Update

So, for the last few weeks I've been fluctuating between a loss of 55 and 58 lbs. A little bit of plateau that I'm sure won't last long :p

My friend Heather is a fantastic photographer and with some good timing, we were able to squeeze a mini photo-shoot in last Saturday. Thanks Heather!





Check out heather's photography blog at ayaphotography.blogspot.com

and her website ayaphotography.com