Happy Jully Year!!! ~Jully

This will be the Jully year. I feel it. Of course, this is my way to remain positive and to let the universe know that I'm ready to be happy.

Let me share with you where I've been the past few days.

On Wednesday's session (12/31/08), my sister came with me to take a few professional photo shots. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait a little while to get them posted here. We'll have pictures for the equipment, the exercises, our Instructor, Shannon, and I. The bad part of this particular session was my anxiety of having to miss the next 5 sessions due to my upcoming trips. Virginia; my instructor, assured me that I would be fine. I am just really nervous to break my flow.

That same day, my sister dropped me off in Manhattan so I could catch a ride up to Vermont with a few new friends. On the way, she mentioned how my body had changed. "I saw you in your yoga pants, and saw that you have a butt now!" According to her, I didn't have one before. Watch out Beyonce!

For New Year's eve, we went to a bar around in West Dover, VT. There I started the night by standing still in the corner, but by the time the new year came along... I was jumping and smiling.

New Year's day was too cold to hit the slopes, but I did take a 40-45 minute walk uphill. It felt great to get out and not slack on the first day of the year. I was extremely fortunate that the people at the house were so nice, and also very health conscious. All the meals had close to 0 fat, and the taste was absolutely AMAZING! Three of the girls there actively participate on triathlon, and what's great about them is that they're just normal people. They were so encouraging, it felt great to be surrounded by such strength.

Something amazing happened on this day. When we went to the farmer's market, I noticed that I didn't have to pull my jeans over my belly. I usually pull my pants up every 3-5 minutes because gravity (aka my belly) just pushes it down below my waist. I know, it's not a sexy visual. But not on this day, it actually stayed there. It was an incredible feeling.

On January 2nd, I hit the slopes on my snowboard. The bad news is that I still wasn't able to get up forward on a downhill, but the good news is that I was able to keep up with the group without having them wait for me too long. It was a great warm up day of the season for me.

The next day, I hit the slopes for a full day. On this day, I really pushed myself. Not just mentally, but also physically. I probably fell about 20 times, which really means, I did about 20 1/2 push ups. My arms are still sore today, but it is very interesting that I naturally used my arms muscles rather than my leg muscles. In the past, my legs would have the sore spots, but not on this trip. It's really been my biceps and triceps. Interesting, right?

On the last day of the trip, I went for another 40 minute walk up the hill before we headed home and only had 1/2 of my pull pork sandwich and 3 bites of the most amazing macaroni and cheese. I was trying...

On Monday morning, I went over to the track expecting lots of people to be there due to the all the New Year's resolutions, but I was the first one on the track. There usually is about 4 people when I go, but it was just me on this day. Since there was a bit of frost on the ground, it was so neat to see only my footsteps on the empty track.

Today, I am headed to Hawaii. I am armed with running gear and pilates bands.

I am STILL grateful for all the support and encouragement I've been receiving from everyone. It truly feels fulfilling. I no longer see myself as the fat girl... The one who's afraid to go shopping because the stores may not have my size, the one who can't imagine running, rollerblading, snowboarding, hiking, biking in the Palisades and more...

Although I wasn't 600lbs, I ALWAYS felt like I was in that category. Just felt completely helpless, hopeless, and blind. Now, I am probably still my 188lbs and I am just a bit bigger than the normal person, but now I'm excited of what's to come, to see what I can do for myself.

So, this is why I feel it's my year.