Herbalife saved my life...

Ok, maybe that is a little dramatic.. But I had an epiphany today. I've suffered from migraines for as long as I can remember, I started on HL a little over a month ago and I hit a record today I never thought was possible. I'VE GONE A MONTH WITH NO MIGRAINE! Seriously, not even a little one. I havent had to cover my head with a pillow in a dark room and beg my kids not to talk. I havent had to put ear plugs in and wear sunglasses to the ER to beg them to make it stop. I havent had to miss out on one single minute of my life due to intense pain, or vortex in my eyes, or throbbing in my ears. Seeing as though the only thing I've done different is my HL program, I have to say that its due to the HL program. I cant believe that I let myself live for that long, not feeling this good. Thank you Kattie, and thank you Herbalife. <3

HIgh school... already??

Yesterday my oldest son started high school. I cant even believe how fast time goes. You always hear the sayings about how fast they grow, enjoy them while they are young, etc.. but you dont realize it until you turn around and all of the sudden your chubby cheeked, big blue eyed toddler is a *gasp* TEENAGER. I thought of my experience with high school, and what I could do to help him with the transition. He didnt have a great experience with jr high, so I wanted to let him know that although high school might seem like the high light of his life, it wasnt the END.

To my baby boy on his first day of high school…

I cannot believe today is the day, it seems like just yesterday you looked at me with those huge blue eyes on your first day of preschool and said “bye momma” without so much as a glance back. I, of course, sat in my car and cried the whole way to work. Same with kindergarten, no fear, just walked in like you owned the place. I hope you remember that confidence that you had. I want you to walk into that high school like you own the place. High school is a miraculous mash up of some of the best and worst experiences that you will ever have, but let me tell you, 20 years from now you will remember every second, and how it made you who you will be. Just remember a few things, there will always be dumb ass jocks who will want to use you for your brains, don’t let them. There will always be cute girls who will want your answers for the test, or to copy your homework... you might consider letting them, but only once. Just be kind, other people might not think you're 'cool' if you're nice to the 'uncool' kids, but believe me, looking back, you'll respect yourself so much more for being 'kind' than for being 'cool'.  Ten years later, the only people who will care about who was cool and who wasn't are the people who haven't made anything of themselves in the meantime and have nothing to cling to except the trappings of their high school popularity.  But that small kindness you extended?  Ten years later, some kid's gonna remember that.  Believe me. Try new things, push yourself, and don’t give up. In this bag are a few things to help with high school.

1. Hand-atizer – cause girls have cooties. Remember that shit.
2. Pencils – take lots of notes, trust me it will help.
3. Note pad – for the notes, and to occasionally write a girls number if needed, but remember the cooties.
4. Safety pins – Because at some point, you will need one.
5. 5 bucks – not for you. At some point there will be a kid who will need this, all or part for food, help that kid.
6. A Map – because you are related to your nonyea
7. Advil – for headaches, because teachers cause them.
8. Tums – cause test days can be stressful
9. Wipes – Cause I’m your mother, and wipes seemed like a good idea

Remember, high school is fun, but its not the end of your life, only the beginning. Don’t drink, don’t get in the car EVER with someone who has, and don’t have sex. But if you do, and you are in a spot that you don’t know how to get out of you can ALWAYS ALWAYS call me. No questions asked. Promise.

I love you Kyle Caelan, you were the first to light up my heart, and you mean the world to me whether you know it or not. Have a great first day.

Hike Ho, Hike Ho...

So last week Chris tells me that his friend invited us to go hiking with them. Great! wait, what? US? HIKING? I had no idea what I had gotten myself into, but with this new invigorated feeling I felt like I could conquer just about anything, so off we went.

Griffith Park in LA is a beautiful, HUGE place. There is a golf course with coyotes running around (at least at 8AM there was). So we get there and find the "Old Zoo Parking" Not too bad looking I thought, seems easy enough. The place was amazing. Aside from the massive amounts of graffiti all over EVERYTHING it was actually a very neat sight. We even managed to wedge ourselves into the old big cat exhibits that had been fenced off.

I cant say that I felt much like king of the jungle, but it was interesting none the less. So after we had finished monkeying (HA, get it!?) around, we decided to go to the other side of the park to see the famed "Bat Cave" Which to my surprise had little to do with bats at all, and wasn't really even a cave, but was where the Bat mobile came out of the "bat cave" in the 60's TV series of Batman.

After walking through the "bat cave" we came out the other side to beautiful views of the Hollywood sign, which I've never really seen except in passing on a congested freeway.

 Thanks to my amazing nutrition plan I was not hungry/cranky/tired/generally bitchy at all that day. In fact when someone said we needed to stop for lunch I thought, but why its just barely breakfast - oh my lord its 1:30!
So after re-fueling we went to the "Hollywood Forever" Cemetery. Its strange to me that even after death some people can be so full of themselves. Over-the-top-insanely-huge headstones, statues, etc are rampant here. And most of the people, weren't even huge celebrities. Anyway, the only person's grave I was interested in seeing was MM, and hers was not at this particular cemetery. So after we were done walking about looking at mediocre B celeb stones we went over to Westwood Memorial Park. Jackpot. While I've been a Marilyn fan since as long as I can remember, I couldn't see kissing the stone, herpes anyone? So I settled for a long overdue picture with the woman whom I'd admired for so long. I half hoped that there would be a ghostly figure when the picture came out, but no such luck.

At the end of the day I was sunburned but seriously happy. It inspired me to plan more outside-ish things for the family. Thank you HL, I cant believe I ever lived not feeling this good. 

The Journey Begins...

Today I woke up slightly apprehensive... I had received my life changing package on Saturday and I have been waiting on pins and needles to start. But would "this time" be like all the others? Would it be filled with broken promises to myself, to others that "this was it". Will I wake up 6 months from now and think why didn't I stick with it?

I decided in my head this was THE LAST time that I was starting over. No excuses, no cheating, though there isn't a need for cheating because this isn't a diet. This is a lifestyle change. I need to be healthy, I need to be happy and fun and energetic. I need my kids to have a legacy to follow that does not include over eating, fast food, and pain pills. I need to start every day with "wow I feel great" and not "good lord I feel terrible"

So here's to the change, the better, the happy, the healthy and the love of life, the never again needed to take a "before" picture, the never needing to "start again" because this time I refuse to give up.