actually..i did forget to add to my previous post that

-the video for Nightmare by A7X  looks pretty amazing <3
-the new Avenged Sevenfold album comes out this month
-AND i get to see them in September!!

we've all been lost for most of this life, everywhere we turn, more hatred surrounds us....

i know, i know, i know! i haven't written in forever.
and now its going to be a while before i can write again because i just moved, so no cable/no internet. but hopefully comcast won't take years to get me set back up.

other than that, things are going pretty well. i'm still busy as always with 2 jobs. trying to get time with my friends and family.
i'm going to texas july 21, and i can't wait! its going to be a million degrees, but i don't care, i LOVE Austin so so much!!

<3 !!!
i'm planning a trip to vegas with the girls in october also, so that'll be great.

i've lost a total of 32lbs. not quite to goal...BUT, i'm not going to let it get me down because 32 lbs is great!
i guess i dont really know what to write other than this. so i'm off.

to no shame, never playin' the fame game!

admittedly, i've been bad about blogging lately.
i've been really busy & really stressed. i'm looking for a new car because mine is just not doing great. i'm actually relieved to be getting a new one, looking at a Chevy HHR . yep. looks like an old school mafia car!

work is getting really busy, which i'm thankful for, so thats great.
Steph will be out here from Cali in a couple of weeks! I'm excited & Metro is putting on a production of RENT so that'll be a freakin blast!!

also...

NEW MOON came out yesterday <3!! love it.

I lost another 3 lbs. I hadn't weighed myself in forever because when I was in Louisville I went off track a little bit, but nothing too bad. I really like the support group I'm in through Kaiser. The women in there are great! 

I'm really tired & feeling unmotivated to write or anything else. Blah. Sunday nights...i just want to be a bum

my tattoos so far..

getting a cover up on my shoulder, over the lily. also recently got a feather on my thumb...starting my other sleeve next month!

good things are happening

I have had the most positive outlook on life recently, I'm so happy!
I mean, I've always been a very happy, positive, optimistic person, but lately, its been even more.
I've lost 21 lbs since my surgery. Everyone has been complimenting me like crazy, I am feeling already, 100x better! I still haven't tried certain foods, for fear of getting "stuck". it hasn't happened yet, I'd like to keep
it that way. No bread, no rice. But I have done noodles and so far, had no problems, however, I've still only had one fill, so that might change down the road a bit.

Last week, I got my cover up tattoo started. Ian also did my thumb, and next sunday I'll go back to finish it. Then we'll start my other sleeve, I cannot wait to see what he comes up with, with the ideas I've given him!

We are getting busier at the salon. So things are really looking up there.

Everything is going well right now. I am very very happy.

Viva is in a couple of weeks. I really want to go, I could ride with Christy but I don't know that i'll have the money for the hotel. We'll see. I'm definitely planning on going to Ink & Iron in June though!

Well I'm off, going to socialize with everyone here at the salon.

<3

4 weeks

its been 4 weeks today, since my surgery. i've lost 21 lbs! i can't even believe it!!
i dont..i dont know what to think . i'm so beyond ecstatic! wow.


i am feeling so great.

i need to see Remember Me because I am in love with Robert Pattinson in this movie.
how funny..i dont generally like him. haha wow, good for him!
he looks like a man in that movie. he looks a little rugged, a little tormented lol, i love it!

next weekend im going to louisville for a scrapbooking weekend, which is greeat
since i haven't been to one in a while. then the following week i get a new tattoo!! <3 <3

other than that there is really nothing interesting going on with me and i'm finding myself to be way too tired to write anymore

dammit. i love keeping up with the kardashians.

we were fated to pretend

so here i am, sitting at work, waiting for my next client to come in.
i am so happy i have this job, this amazing salon..the kind of place i've wanted to work
ever since starting beauty school.  i love it!

i'm also waiting for lunch to get here...black bean soup from panera bread <3!!
so good!

well thursday night was my first lapband support group. it was great!
there was a woman there who had surgery the same day as my, feb 1st, same
surgeon, she was the appointment before me. ha so it was good to see how she
was doing. there was a woman who was 6 months out & 90lbs down!!!
wow!

but it was really neat to have a monthly support group to go to and ask any questions
we have, or vent or whatever. i find myself taking support anywhere i can get it.
i have all the support of my family & friends, which makes me incredibly happy, but of course, they dont
understand what i'm going through. so its also nice to have the support groups and the people on lapbandtalk
since they understand what you are going through, they can answer questions, help you calm down
if you're freaking out about something lol.

15 lbs down..i can't believe it! in just 3 weeks!!
now i know i've made the right decision!

anyhow..tonight i'm off to spend the night with my nephews & have some wii battles!

don't lingere, where the moss slowly grows

wow, can't stop listening to Tiger Army. its an addiction! hah

well, today was my weigh in, my FIRST weigh in since surgery. i lost 5 more lbs!
that's a total of 15...15 lbs in 3 weeks!!!

i am so happy, i really feel now, that this is going to work for me. finally.
& i have my first fill in 2 weeks, so that'll definitely help. the np said she can feel my port so it should be an easy fill, which is great, since i've heard some "horror" stories.

so in other erin's life news, i am going to get a new tattoo on march 10. yay!
i haven't seen ian in a long time i feel like & i haven't been tattooed in even longer. i am covering the lily on my shoulder (that ian DIDN'T do) with roses & i am going to get my LDV crown too. i just don't know where i'm putting that yet, but it'll be small

since we all have different crowns on our cards & i LOVE mine!!




i've been looking at Haunted Colorado a lot lately & i really want to go on a ghost tour. I think it'd be fun if all the girls went. I know Meghan, Christy & April would probably want to. I also want to get back to Austin.

OH! speaking of traveling...Greg & Danielle are getting married Sept 25 in Pennsylvania. AK & Carrie are getting married Sept 18 (leyla's birthday) but in Colorado Springs..Meghan & Dani are getting married August 25. Good thing I'm losing weight so I can buy cute new summer dresses for all of these weddings I'll be attending!


Well thats about all of the news I have for today! <3

the biggest loser?

i am so anxious for my surgery follow up on wednesday. i just want to see that scale. i want to see what i've lost so far! but what if i haven't lost anything? ugh.

there is a reason i, myself do not own a scale. i would be completely obsessed with the numbers. i know that about myself! (so, i have a little bit of an obsessive personality.)
but i know that i can't wait til I have a dr's appt to find out how much i weigh. that'll make me even crazier. i think i'm going to invest in one of the biggest loser scales or one of the weight watchers ones.
the ones that keep your last 4 weigh ins in it, it measures weight, bmi, etc.
they are about $30. thats a pretty good investment as far as i'm concerned. i think i will look this week for one.

i am hoping to have lost about 40lbs total by june. we have our pinups & hotrods 1st friday art walk in june. we are talking about having a pinup girl contest, a bbq, and it'll jumpstart summer! i want to look good!




fingers crossed. thats my goal!

love.

we can't stop here..this is bat country

i'm watching Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas. omg I LOVE this movie..its easily one of my favorites ever! Ah & I do love Hunter Thompson, mostly because of my mother. I remember when he killed himself, I was in college & in my English Comp class we had to write about him..I got the best grade in the class :) (granted I think I was one of the few people who actually knew who he was!)

well today I am officially one week post op! YAY! something about hitting the one week mark makes me feel good. I don't know why. It was also my first day back to work. It kind of sucked to roll out of bed, because last night was the first night since surgery that i really slept. But it felt good to get back to normalcy, to get back into my routine. I think I was starting to get depressed being home & alone. Although, I missed my mom last, considering I spent the last 2 weeks straight with her. I think I'm going to start going to Leyla's house on monday nights or on sundays. I need to spend more time with her and the boys. I think once summer rolls around I'll be less gloomy. More happens in the summer, I'm more active. Love that sunshine! I'm also going to rearrange my schedules some so I'm not working all day everyday.

...there is no future. there is no past. thank god this moment's not the last. there's only us, there's only this, forget regret, or life is yours to miss. no other road, no other way, no day but today!

In other news...yesterday was the final performace of RENT. I'm sort of heartbroken. That show had such a huge impact on my life & who I am. it was such a big part of my life for so many years, more than half of my life! I am thankful I got to see it live as many times as I did, and that I got to see Adam Pascal, Anthony Rapp & Gwen Stewart play their original roles as many times as I did!

...I can't believe this is, goodbye. 

Come on along, roll with the strong & kick this rebel song

aww Street Dogs were here last night, with Reno Divorce..I didn't go :|
I had a bad day yesterday, felt pretty much like shit.
I was upset because I had actually been feeling a lot better since surgery, but yesterday was just a bad day.
Oh well, today is a new day. I am ready to get home & put up my new artwork <3 I am ready to go back to work tomorrow..I've been off for 2 weeks. That feels like forever! Having to go to Kansas the week before last for my grandmother's funeral. That was so emotionally exhausting. I love that my entire family was there, as we don't all get together often enough. However sad the circumstances were. Then of course, last week I had my surgery so I was off of work for a week. Friday was our Massacre St Valentine First Friday Artwalk party, which I missed, again, due to surgery. That time it was mostly due to being drugged up! lol but the art will be up for the whole month so it's okay.

I am really looking foward to feeling "normal" again, being recovered from surgery. I am ready to feel good again!


in other irrelevant news, its snowing today.

The beginning of the rest of my life, a new me..

I decided that because I don't really use this blog anymore for anything, I was going to begin blogging about my journey with weight loss surgery.
I hope that this is informative, helpful, and possibly inspirational for others considering lap band surgery.


I first seriously considered WLS at the end of 2008. My sister who is a nurse had a friend who recently had gastric bypass & she was doing great. She wanted me to consider surgery myself. I have dealt with weight issues my whole life. Since puberty, my weight has yo-yo'd. I could lose weight on fad diets, but i would always gain the weight back, usually I'd gain a little extra.

When I was 20 years old, I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism. This caused me to have a very hard time losing weight. Even after getting my thyroid under control, it was still difficult.

So I researched WLS, and put in all of the necessary paperwork to my insurance company. I was accepted & placed on a wait-list. After about 6 months, my insurance co. called & began setting up my classes. It started with a psych evaluation and a physical. From there, I went to 6 weeks of informational classes. In those 6 weeks, I met several other people who were also waiting for the surgery that would change their lives. I loved this class, because so much information was given. Questions I asked were answered, questions I hadn't even thought of were answered. Now in this class, there were people who wanted Gastric Bypass, others who wanted Lap Band, and then there were some of us that just had no idea which one we wanted to do. By the end of the 6 weeks, I had my mind set on Lap Band. Don't get my wrong, both surgeries are great, but for my own personal reasons, Lap Band was right choice for me. For one, I wanted to still be able to eat most foods, just less of them. Also, the thought of the permanancy of bypass scared me. Even though, at first, having a foreign object in my body was an uneasy feeling, I know that if anything ever went wrong, it could be reversed.

My last class was on December 9, 2009. After the new year, I was called by my insurance's weght loss managment department. To my surprise, they had an availability with Dr Thomas Brown at Presbytarian St Lukes for Monday February 1st. I was THRILLED! Of course, a little anxious now too because it was less than a month away. So I hurridly took my 2 weeks of nutrition classes, my 2nd psych eval, and any other necessary pre op classes.

While all of this was happening, my grandmother passed away in Topeka Kansas. I had to make a very unexpected, last minute trip to Kansas less than a week before my surgery. Her funeral was on a thursday, and on friday I had to start my all clear liquids pre op diet. I was worried about this because my family are "foodies". They are chefs, and restraunt owners, and food advocates! Well the liquid diet went surprisingly well, and over the 3 days, I lost 10lbs!!






Now...Monday morning, Feb 1st, 2010 rolled around & I put on my comfy pink & black plaid pj pants and headed to the hospital. I checked in at noon, got my iv, did all the pre op stuff required. At 2pm, they wheeled me into the OR. I got the anesthia in my iv...here we go...





..when i woke up at around 330p in recovery, it was all over. I was done. I was thrilled! I went home that night, minimal pain, no hunger.
This was it, the beginning of my new life!


So now I'm going to blog about this journey I'm on. Whethere its relevant to the surgery or not, just a new blog about my day to day life as a bandster.

<3Erin