Ft. Lauderdale

note: I wrote this entry Monday night- just edited it and posted Tuesday morning.

I'm in sunny Ft. Lauderdale, FL right now for a work conference.  And today has been incredible...and overwhelming.  Fair warning readers: this will be a post about me getting complimented.  If this bugs you.... I'm sorry but I want to write about it.  Just don't read this post if you don't want to. lol

So my day started oddly with some random business traveler hitting on me in the security line joking that we were Southwest A-list because we were the "beautiful people" while he stared at my boobs.  Weird and creepy but whatever. 

Then I got to the gate with my colleagues and the awkwardness surrounding my weight loss began.  Immediately it was everything from "you look amazing" to "wow, I can't believe you are still losing" to "You need to stop, you are wasting away!"  Although everyone said I looked great, the wasting away or some variation of it kept rearing it's head all day.  Some people were REALLY insistent that I stop losing weight and it kind of hurt.  That person has a lot weight to lose herself so I think it's just plain jeaulousy.

I am really trying not to let this mess with my head.  I'm just keeping focused on continuing to eat healthy and exercise and the weight will keep coming off till my body is done.  Yes, I have 20 lbs left.  Not just to reach a healthy BMI, but to also reach a healthy body fat % (hopefully!).  Trust me, people- I am not too skinny.  Please- if you are a friend and tell me this, expect that I will get annoyed at you.  In fact, please just don't say these words to me, because they aren't true on a health level.  While you may have good intentions and mean well, those words are harmful to my progress right now. lol.  I've given you fair warning!

The flight to FL was quite entertaining, though.  Never in my life have I ever been grateful that I was sitting in the middle- but today I was.  I volunteered to sit in the middle because my coworker is very overweight and I could relate and empathize with how she felt.  I used to hate having to sit next to a stranger because you aren't able to just stay in your own seat at that weight.  So I saved a row and she sat in the window seat and lets just say we were cozy.

A really nice guy sat down on the outside seat and I immediately noticed his neon yellow Nike's as running shoes.  So what do I do?  Yeah, I totally started talking to him about running.  Did you have a doubt? Turns out he likes short distance running and plays collegiate baseball.  Freaking cool!  We talked a lot about fitness, baseball, running, Adrian, his x-gf, life, and on and on.  We talked the entire flight with no real breaks in conversation.  It felt oddly liberating and refreshing.  In case you haven't noticed I love talking about anything fitness related and to be able to talk with somebody about fitness for that long on what would have otherwise been an uncomfortable flight was awesome!  It didn't hurt the guy was hot. Just saying.  What do you expect, he's a baseball player!


I didn't take this picture, but it looked like this about 6:30 am this morning

So, hopefully more good things to come from Ft. Lauderdale this week....I'm off for a full day of meetings and work.  Don't feel too jeaulous because it was already 85 deg at 6:30 am this morning with nearly 100% humidity. ewww.  Right next to the water though, it was beautiful! :)

THAT is a great experience!

Today Adrian and I went to Rehobeth Beach for the day.  It brought back lots of memories of past trips to the beach....some good and some bad.  My weight has held me back a lot in the past and the beach is no exception.  Can you say heat rash? That stuff HURTS.  Even though that hasn't gone away completely with weight loss, being able to shop in a "normal" size store is a major change from a couple summers ago, and it means more than most people realize.

White House, Black Market is one of those stores that I have always liked but have never shopped in for many reasons but mainly: 1. I couldn’t fit into their clothes. They only go up to size 14 I think. 2. They are PRICEY.    But I remember passing by their beautiful shop every time we went to rehobeth in HS.   Jen H and I would stop there frequently, particularly to look at their sale rack outside.  Each time we looked through I would feel so miserable because I loved their clothes but didn’t have a shot in hell of fitting into them.  I remember thinking one time when Jen H. and I were browsing that there would never be a day I would be skinny enough to shop in their store and fit in with their beautiful, stylish image.

 

I was wrong.  That day was TODAY.

After lots of sun and surf, Adrian and I changed and we both wanted to do a little shopping to get out of the sun and into some air conditioning.  We stopped in a few different places then started heading over to funland for bumper cars, when we passed the familiar store front and their rows of sale racks.  I made a little noise and said how much I liked that store and Adrian was like- let’s go then!  After browsing through some sale stuff I found a handful of stuff to try on.  We were greeted immediately by a sweet woman named Megan who asked me what my name was.  Wow, great start!  She then asked if she could take my clothes and start a fitting room for me.  Bonus point number 2!  I love when sales people do this in clothing stores.   Call it what you will, but I like being taken care of sometimes.  Then Adrian and I went looking, picking out several more things for me to try and show to him- with very little hope of them really looking that great on me.  At least that was what the evil little gremlin in the back of my head was saying.

Well Megan did not just hook me up with one of their gorgeous dressing rooms but asked me what size shoe I wore and proceeded to bring me several different pairs of heels that I could wear while trying on different dresses.  Then she asked me if I had any jeans to try on to go with my tops and when I told her no- immediately asked me my size and brought me the size 12s I told her I was.  I hesistantly tried on the jeans and beautiful size M shirt she brought me and opened the curtain- to a stunned “wow” from both Meghan and Adrian.   After wowing over the shirt, she immediately told me the pants were too big for me and with the smaller size on proceeded to tell me how great my ass looked in them.  I gotta admit, it did look good, but I didn't want to buy cropped jeans.  And the shirt she picked out…..wowsers.  On the price but also on the look- Adrian was very insistent on the purchase of that top especially.   



in LOVE with this top!



 At this point Adrian informed her of my weight loss progression and she got all giddy excited and kept bringing up how I needed to dress my new body to show off all the hard work I’ve done.  She brought me somewhere between 2-3 dozen dresses and outfits to try on by the end of the visit.  She has an amazing sense of style and what would look good on me, because every single one looked gorgeous and made me feel beautiful.   Every time I opened the curtain, it was to great reactions from them both.  I felt like I was shopping with a close girl friend instead of getting help from a sales woman.

I finally narrowed it down to two of the most beautiful dresses I have ever owned- a maxi and a cocktail, THE shirt that Adrian was in love with, and the shoes I was wearing the whole time. They were FANTASTIC, sexy, and quite comfortable.  The shoes were also 30% off, making them the easiest decision of the day. 



duh, these are awesome



In the end, I feel guilty for how much money I spent but no amount of money could ever re-create the amazing experience I had.  I’ve heard work friends talk about shopping trips to Neiman Marcus where the sales woman just asks your size and brings you endless fabulousness.  This felt even better than that because it was a personal connection and I felt SPECIAL the whole time. 

Adrian said as we were leaving that it was one of those milestone moments for me.  Totally on the ball, as always :)