September 6, 2007 My New Juicy Couture Bag and GO SAINTS!!!

Unfortunately not too much has changed since last week. I skipped my evaluation at the clinic yesterday :( It would be my 7th evaluation. Last week I also skipped on the day it was scheduled but ended up going 2 days later because I felt like I was being too much of a slacker. I don't know if I'll go tomorrow or not, the reason that I'm so avoiding it this week is because I have a strong feeling I put on a pound or 2 or 3. I know I say that every week and every week I end up dropping but this week has been my most unhealthy. I ate bad food probably every single day (I haven't today), I considered this past weekend as a vacation weekend. I mean I went to a 2 day wedding event for god's sake! I'm just really afraid of the possibility that the numbers will go up. I'm taking prescription suppressants along with a few supplements and I'm being evaluated every week by a counselor and a nutritionist so if those numbers on the scale go up I'm going to feel like a failure. Putting together the before and after pics and emailing them out to my relatives gave me a high that I'm still on and I'm afraid that if the numbers went up it'll bring me down and I definately don't need that right now. I'd rather have this week go undocumented and just make up for it the next few days.

I saw a primetime special a couple of days ago on breaking habitual bad habits and the key is to set one mini goal at a time. So today I'm going to not eat after 8 PM!

In a previous post I said that when i reach the 20 pound mark I'm going to buy myself a fendi bag, well those last couple of pounds just came really slow and I couldn't wait so I gave myself an early reward and instead bought a metallic gold suede juicy couture bag! It's super cute-the bag has actually gotten more attention and compliments than my actual weight loss LOL but that doesn't bother me. It sells in store for 275 and I found it on ebay for 250 + shipping which is less than sales tax. I'll post a pic up of the bag!

On a different note, today is the first game of the NFL season which is going to be the New Orleans Saints ("america's team" right?) versus the Indiana Colts which were last year's super bowl winners. I'm a huge Saints fan, I lived in New Orleans last year when they opened the super dome back up after the storm and the saints were a just a source of pride, happiness, and hope to me and so many others. It really seemed like nothing else in New Orleans was working except for the Saints! GOOOOO SSAAAAIIINNNNTTTTSSS!!!!!!

september 4, 2007 Wedding Weekend and PICS

This past weekend was soooooooo much fun!!! I went to my good friend Rhonda’s henna party on Saturday and wedding on Sunday. It was at the Sheraton on canal street in new Orleans and there were roughly 1,000 guests. I can’t wait to see all the pics-waiting for those facebook tags! Lots of dressing up, dancing, laughing, and memories-I really needed this weekend after such a stressful time in life.


Saturday night we contemplated whether it was worth it to stay in the hotel (99 + taxes and other weird fees, not bad but just not necessary) and after we saw that a lot of our friends from baton rouge didn’t come that night and those that did weren’t staying the night we opted to stay at family friends that live in the uptown area. Although it’s my friends wedding I definitely didn’t know most of the people there-lots of her distant family and family friends and other people that you invite to your wedding if you’re arab that I refer to as “obligations”. One thing I don’t like about arab weddings is that they’re relatively impersonal. It’s not about you as much as it’s about your family, your family name, and the town/village from which you and your spouse originate from-so basically lots of people that you don’t know. One thing that I do love about arab weddings is that they’re FUN!

Sunday night a lot more people came so it was more formal and for me less dancing just because the dance floor was always saturated with lots of people I don’t know who can do all those cultural dabka dances better than me so I did more socializing than trying to squeeze my way in. My friend nada gave the speech where she mentioned my name in front of 1000 people that don’t know me-that put a smile on my face! A lot more friends stayed the night so me and my sister stayed with some friends. The only change of clothes I had with me were my pajamas and after weighing the options I thought I’d rather stay in my dress than wear pajamas out. Everyone made fun of me as we were walking down canal and the French quarter and I would have to stop and hold my expensive dress up as to not let it touch the random piles of ‘liquid stuff’ or just plain garbage LOOOL!

As promised I do have some before and after pics of me in the same dress at my cousins wedding in milwaukee this past may. When I started I weight 191 (my scale) and my last weigh in was 172 so 19 pound difference. I have to admit not everyone noticed the difference but some people definitely noticed. My friends amna and nure said “you look good” but didn’t notice that I lost weight when I asked them-then again I don’t see those 2 that often. My friend nada said my face looked thinner and another friend sameera also made a comment about a thinner face. I personally see the weight loss in my midsection more than anywhere else. Here is the first pic, I may decide to add more later, what do you guys think??????