The Beginning

Welcome! I am Erika and this blog is dedicated to my weight loss journey. This is the very beginning and I'm still working out the details and how I will be structuring/documenting this adventure. I'll start by saying that I am NOT a writer. I won't come up with cool/clever/quirky snippets that will entice you to keep reading. I'm not very funny, although I try REALLY hard to be. I'll be writing this blog like you, the reader, are my friend sitting across from me, drinking a (fat-free/sugar-free, everything free) frapaccino... [err, just make mine a water, after all this is for weight LOSS].

A little bit about me: I'm married to the funniest guy I know, Joel. He's always smiling, literally, and can make ANYONE laugh. I'm a mother of TWO beautiful girls. Elika my oldest is 19 months old, and our newest addition is Selah and she is 4 weeks old today! WOW. We have lots of fun together and this weight loss challenge is inspired by the fun we COULD have in the future. I want to be active with them, go to the beach, play a game of soccer, run to the back of Six Flags Magic Mountain so we can ride "X" as many times as we can before the normal park goers arrive by walking, etc etc. I am a photographer and a hairstylist. I have a huge family.. not huge like fat, but huge like a LOT of us! I have a very mixed family, so all in all... I have 3 brothers & 3 sisters, 2 moms, 1 dad, 3 aunts & 1 uncle, TONS of cousins, 3 nieces & 2 nephews (and a mystery niece or nephew on the way), in-laws and my close friends that I consider family. I hate jello and dairy scares me. I love black olives, pickles and mushrooms. I do too many crafts and own WAY too much yarn. I want to write a book, but would need a seriously good editor (good thing I know one!). There is much more to me that I will post in this little paragraph. You'll learn more as the time passes, I assure you.

For everyone that loves me and supports me, THANK YOU! This is will be... interesting, scary, embarrassing and hopefully fun and successful. I'm sure this is going to get VERY personal, you will probably find out things about me that you didn't know before, maybe no one knows them.. Maybe *I* didn't even know these things.... who knows?

The beginning is actually tomorrow. No, that is not just another excuse that you hear everyone use. "I'll start my diet tomorrow." Tomorrow is the arrival of my new soon to be best friend, named Elliptical Machine. Once we meet in person, I'll probably rename Elliptical Machine, so be on the lookout for that. I'll be sure to show you a picture of Elliptical Machine once we've put it all together too.

Next on my agenda is to brainstorm. If I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it right. Organized and everything. I need to write some lists (I love lists) of goals, short and long term. My plan of execution and how I'll reward myself. I'll most likely brainstorm here, but beware... my mind goes in circles, so you might be dazzled... BEDAZZLED. That's it! At the end of all of this, I'm going to Sparkle and Shine.