Thrills, Measurements, and a Winner

Got a bit of everything going to be thrown in to today's post.  Going to start out with sharing my experiences from the fair yesterday, then move on to my measurements, and then end with the announcement of the winner of the Member of the Month contest.  Let's see if I can do all three topics without writing a book of a post.

My daughter on the swings

First, the fair update.  There's only one word that can describe my experience at the fair yesterday:  FANTABULOUS!!!  What? That's not a word?  Well - it is now.  When we first got there, I was still very nervous about getting on the rides.  The fear of heights started creeping in, and seeing how extreme some of the rides were gave me an uneasy feeling.  I also started thinking "what if I haven't lost enough weight to fit into the rides?"  As a family, we decided to start off small and then work our way up to the big rides.  We started on the Tilt a Whirl - that was fun.  Then on to the swings - they made me nervous, but I enjoyed it.  Then on to the Orbiter (which is pretty fast, but doesn't go up very high), then on to the Himalayas - still doing good.  Finally it was time to move onto a ride where I had to be strapped in to one of the dreaded harnesses - the Double Shot.  It basically flies up really high in a circular motion really fast, then stops at the top and does everything over again going the other direction.  The guy came up to pull the harness down over my head, my heart started racing, and then "clink" it was locked - and I could still move a little.  My circulation wasn't cut off!!  That was it - that's all I needed to happen to find my "daring" side - and we then went on ALL of the really big rides.  We were there for about 4 hours riding the rides over and over again....and my kids and I had an absolute BLAST!!!

My son and I at the fair

Having that awesome experience is a great way to lead in to my measurements.  Preparing for my post this morning, I realized I haven't taken my measurements since July 15th!!!!  Definitely time to see what's been going on with my body.  Here goes:

Neck: 

Previous:  14"            Now:  13" (-1")

Bicep:

Previous:  16 1/4"      Now:  14 1/2" (-1 3/4")

Forearm:

Previous:  12"            Now:  11" (-1")

Thigh:

Previous:  28"            Now:  25" (-3")

Calf:

Previous:  17 1/2"      Now:  17" (-1/2")

Hips:

Previous:  49"            Now:  46" (-3")

Waist:

Previous:  41 1/2"      Now:  40" (-1 1/2")

Total Inches Lost = 11 3/4"

So in the past month and a half, struggling with working out and adapting to a new routine, I've managed to lose a total of 11 3/4".  Who can be upset about that?  Definitely not me!!  I think, being that I'm not the best person about keeping up with weigh-ins and measurements, I'm going to try and shoot for doing both on the first weekend of the month.  This month, now that the weather is getting better, I'm really going to try hard to push myself and make myself workout - even if I think that I'm too tired, or I just don't feel like it.  I'm going to take my own advice (for once) and at least do a quick work-out when I don't feel like it...because I always end up wanting to do more once I've started.  Besides, now that I know I'm only 7lbs away from being in the 100's - I have more motivation than ever to knock them pounds off as fast as I can (even though that's not my advice...my motto has always been slow and steady). 

Lastly, it's time to announce the Member of the Month from my Facebook contest.  Before I do, I just want to say that I will not be continuing this contest.  I tried something new, it failed, time to move on and find something else.  When I only have less than a dozen people signed up for the contest - from over 250 members - it makes me a little disheartened.  I think I'm going to follow in the footsteps of other bloggers and just do random giveaways here.  Thank you to those that did sign up - and I apologize if you didn't get a chance to win.  I just think I will have better luck doing a blog giveaway than a Facebook giveaway.

OK....the first (and last) winner of Member of the Month is.....drum roll please.... Cathy McAuliffe-Dickerson!!!!   Since winning the Member of the Week contest, she has continued to comment on posts, "like" just about every status update, and is just an amazing motivator to me.  She wins a "I am WOMAN, Hear me Roar" Bondi Band.  Congratulations, Cathy!!!

Till next time.  ;)