2010: My Summer of Books-plugging along!

When it comes to my summer reading goal, think of me as the little engine that could. I'll keep plugging along until I've successfully crossed the finish line.

Book #12 was "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson. This book follows the "life" of anorexic teen Lia, who dangerously counts every calorie and doesn't injest enough of them to maintain a weight over 100 pounds.

Lia is haunted by the memory of her former best friend (and bulimic) Cassie, who died shortly after making the last of 33 desperate phone calls to Lia (who didn't pick up even once). It looks like Lia is headed the same fatal direction as Cassie, but it doesn't end up that way.

This book is a must-read for anyone who has a daughter or anyone who has courageously fought the anorexia or bulimia battle. I was blown away by how real and how sad "Wintergirls" was.

Lucky book #13, "Murder List" by Julie Garwood, focuses on sexy hotel heiress Regan Madison. While Regan's job is to run the charitable wing of her family's international chain of hotels, she also spends a lot of time helping friends.

Regan and her friends hope to expose Dr. Lawrence Shields, a shady self-help guru who may have gotten away with murder. While attending one of Shields' seminars, Regan follows his directive to create her own "murder list" of people she wouldn't mind seeing vanish off the face of the earth.

Life becomes way too scary when someone gets a hold of Regan's list and starts killing people on it. Will the killer be discovered before Regan becomes the latest victim? In my opinion, it is totally worth it for you to read "Murder List" and find out for yourself!

I've been a big St. Louis Cardinals fan my entire life, so I got especially excited for book #14. With "3 Nights In August," Buzz Bissinger's main focus was to follow the St. Louis Cardinals and manager Tony La Russa as they faced the Chicago Cubs in a three-game series at Busch Stadium in August 2003.

La Russa creates a complex game plan for each series based on countless hours analyzing past statistics. This would be a fascinating read for any true baseball fan. It just happens to be a bonus that it focuses on the greatest team and rivalry in professional baseball.

For book #15, I'm now reading "The Compound" by S.A. Bodeen.

Beautiful birthday boy!

Yeah, I'm fully aware of the fact that Dominic's birthday was ten days ago, but we had a little mishap with our digital camera. Thankfully though, the photos were recovered! So, I thought this would be a good time to share some of my favorite pictures of the day with everyone...

2010: My Summer of Books-back on track!

My plan almost got derailed. Party details, weight loss and job hunting kept me busy. Also, book #9, Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights," was a long, slow read.

"Wuthering Heights" takes place in England in the late 1700's/early 1800's and follows the forbidden love story of Heathcliff and Catherine. They aren't blood siblings, but grew up together after an orphaned Heathcliff is taken in by Catherine's father.

I know this book is a classic, but I never got into it (mostly because many characters are mean). It must grow on you a little more each time you read it.

For book #10, I chose Brian James' "The Heights," a modern-day version of Bronte's novel. James' edition follows San Francisco kids Henry and Catherine, raised as brother and sister after Catherine's dad finds a shivering Henry abandoned by the side of the road.

Catherine and Henry share a deep, romantic love that makes almost everyone around them very uncomfortable, but they vow to remain together forever. As more and more forces conspire to keep them apart, Henry's anger continues to grow.

While neither "Heights" book was badly written, I prefer the James one. It was a quick, smooth read, and the story was clear and easy to follow.

With book #11, I went with Danielle Steel's "Coming Out," which focuses on perfect wife, mother and lawyer, Olympia Crawford Rubinstein. Olympia is excitedly helping her twin daughters prepare to "come out" at the biggest debutante ball in the country.

As the ball approaches, Olympia and her family deal with a lot of drama and bad luck. This ball means a lot more than playing dress-up, and as a reader, I was glued to this book right until the last page. It wasn't a long novel, but it was written well.

My Summer of Books ends two months from today, and I'm just starting #12, "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson. I better get going!

From one birthday to another-second weigh-in

Two weeks later...time for my scale once again.

On July 4 (see photo to your left), I weighed 178.2 pounds, and now (on July 18), I'm at 174.0 pounds. That's a loss of 4.2 pounds , which is approximately 2.4 percent of my starting weight.

I'll admit that while it wasn't a terrible time for food, it wasn't great either. I probably had more than a couple of pieces of birthday cake at my son's party and just kind of snacked on and off during this time too.

I didn't reach pig-out levels ever, but I know I can affect positive change by changing what I snack on from salty and sugary no-no's to equally tasty fruits and veggies.

See you in two more weeks!

Two-year-oldie!

Since I'm so tired that I'm starting to get really silly, this post will have to be a short one...

I cannot properly express with words just how much this perfect little boy means to me. Is it really possible that he turned two today?

Thank you God for sending Dominic my way. I could not have asked for anything more.

From one birthday to another...

Independence Day is my favorite holiday. I'm a very proud American, and it's important to celebrate the birthday of this incredible country.

In just over two months (on September 19), I'll be celebrating my own special birthday.

With the big 3-0 just around the corner, I'm officially re-launching my campaign for a better body that I started in mid-April.

Back then, I promised to show myself in a bikini on July 4, and I've at least kept that one promise.

This is what 178.2 pounds looks like, and I never want to see this again. I'll be weighing in every two weeks and reporting on the aspects of my diet and exercise program that are really working.

Ready, set, GO!!!!!

Five years with the love of my life!!!!!

July 2, 2010 is the five-year anniversary of my first date with Todd.

On that incredibly fun first date, we had dinner at Smokey Bones, went for a walk in Washington Park and did a round of mini-golf at Knight's Action Park.

What I remember most vividly from that day was how nice Todd's eye contact was. He was always looking right at me, and boy, was he handsome too! When I got home that night, I called my mom and probably spoke to her for 30-45 minutes on how I thought this could be the start of something big (and clearly, I was right).

Less than two weeks later, we went to the Chicagoland NASCAR race and saw our favorite Dale Jr. win! I think that means we were a winning pair from the start!