Who’s that girl?

That’s me in the summer of 2002, wow can’t believe it was almost 10 years ago.  You may be wondering why I am posting this picture after such a long time.  Well you see that picture was taken almost 10 yrs ago, when I had lost about 30 pounds.  I probably felt my best at that time, physically and emotionally.  I had graduated college just a few months earlier and was starting to really enjoy my life.  It was a good year actually, in December 2002 is also when I met my boyfriend and the man I fell in love with.  We are still together, which is good news!  I was by no means skinny back then, but did feel good and thought I was looking hot!  LOL  I was wearing about a size 14 and looking to probably lose another 20 lbs.  I was doing really well on my Weight Watchers plan at the time and knew getting to my goal was going to be easy.  Fast forward to 2012, lets just say I never reached that goal and gained back those 30lbs lost.  Not sure what happened in between then and now.  Maybe it was me falling in love, finding someone  who accepted me exactly the way I am.  Maybe I just got too comfortable and dare I say it…lazy. Some where, some how I gave up on my goal.  Although I have become more confident in my self and how I look in the past 10 years, I have not ever fully become comfortable with my weight.  3 years ago I started my first ever blog about plus size fashion.  Even then I was a little lighter than I am now, proclaiming  even big girls can be fashionable.  Which yes we can, I still believe in that proclamation, but even in those 3 short years I have probably gained about 10 lbs.  I’m at the point where losing weight means more than just wanting to look good in clothes or for someone else.  Ten years ago my motivation for losing weight was finding a boyfriend and getting into a certain size dress.  Now I am doing for my health, not to say I’m unhealthy at my current weight but know I can be healthier.  I am doing it to have more energy and to just feel great about my self.  Also have been thinking about having a baby, now that I’m in my mid 30’s its time!   Its time for me to get started and lose the weight I have been planning to lose for the past 10 years for good.   I’m blogging about this because it will give me a chance to document my weight lose, but also make me accountable.  Currently don’t have plans to make this into a weight lose blog, but will occasionally blog about it for my own sanity.  So starting tomorrow 3/26/12 I am attending my 1st Weight Watchers meeting (again) and starting on this new journey.   I miss that girl from 2002 and need to find her again, she’s in there.  She was fun, energetic and cute, time to get her back! 🙂

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Intensely Delicious Wine Pairing

I don’t consider my self a wine connoisseur, I don’t even consider my self a wine drinker. When I heard about this awesome event wine and chocolate pairings in Long Beach, I had to be there. It’s not to often we get blogger events in my city of Long Beach. My blogger friends often hear me complain about driving to LA for events.  I don’t mind the drive as much as the traffic. So this day was perfect, wine, chocolate, Long Beach and bloggers. Oakley (LBC twitter friend) held a wine and chocolate pairing party for the new Ghirardelli Intense Dark chocolates.  4 types of wine were served with 4 types of Intense Dark chocolates, along with some dried fruits, cheese, nuts and crackers.  I can’t even remember what types of wine we had and what it was paired with all I remember is it was DELICIOUS!  For someone who doesn’t know squat about wines, this was a great experience to taste different wines and explore what I like.  I have come to realize my preference for white wines, as well as sweet wines.  The red wines can be more dry and bitter, which doesn’t appeal to me as much.  The experience was wonderful, learned about some great wines and a wine bar in my neighborhood (District Wine), ate some delicious chocolates and spent a nice afternoon with blogger friends.  If you want to learn more about the wines and chocolate pairings, head over to Oakmonster.com she has a great post about the even here.

Here are some photos I took, they are not great since my hands were usually full of chocolate or a wine glass. 😉

Bloggers listening attentive to the speaker.

the goodies (cheese, fruit, almonds, crackers and marshmallows)

One of the red wines, thinks its Malbec. After 2nd pairing I was lost! lol

I arrived a bit late to so had to catch up on wines.

the artmuse and presleypantry tweeting about event.

Mark is the owner of District Wine, he was a very nice and cool host.

Toffee Interlude from Ghirardelli Intense Dark collection. DELISH!

looks funny, taste great!

Oakley hostess and foodie

I sat at the cool bloggers table...LOL. We totally enjoyed the wine and chocolate.

Ready for Missoni

I love Target! Just had to get it out there first and foremost.  Now that you know about my love for the Red Circle boutique, I will share my love for fashion.  When the 2 collide  you get designer collaboration with Target, for affordable stylish fashions.  The newest Target collab you may have already heard about is Missoni for Target.   I can hardly wait for September 13, when the collection is released.  The Missoni collection will include about 400 items, which range from clothing, shoes, children and home decor items.  If you haven’t taken a peek at the lookbook or any items from the Missoni for Target collection check out this video just released.

See anything you like?  I am loving everything!!

I Survived BlogHer11

I’m back from a crazy whirlwind weekend in San Diego, where I survived BlogHer11 conference.  It was my first time attending, beside hearing and reading a few stories about what BlogHer is about, I really didn’t know what to expect.  I arrived in San Diego Thursday afternoon and had a quick nap before heading out to my first event.  I was invited to attend a glamour suite hosted by iFabbo (International Organization for Fashion, Beauty & Lifestyle Bloggers) held at the trendy and hip Robert Cromeans Salon.  The guest bloggers were treated to an evening of beauty, I received a mini facial treatment with Dermolagica products, an awesome shellac manicure from CND and lovely make-up by Stila cosmetics.  I really enjoyed all the treatments by California-based brands and was able to chat with the brand reps on a one to one.  This was the only event I attended on Thursday pre-BlogHer, apparently there were many more. 

Day one of conference was an early start and I headed over to the convention center where all the magic happens.  I arrived early for a yummy breakfast to be followed by informative sessions.  Most of the day was spent getting to know the layout of the conference, I wandered around trying to see and experience as much as I physically could.  I didn’t attend as many session as planned, and used my time to meet new bloggers and interact with the brands.  My favorites were the cool lounges where you could rest, relax and have a treat provided by brands like Hershey’s, Hallmark, HTC, LG and Johnson & Johnson.  My fave was definitely the s’mores lounge by Hershey’s , where you could relax and make your own s’mores. Very yummy and fun, being able to relax and chat with fellow bloggers over some s’mores.  Day one turned into night one with several parties.  I only attended 2 un-official parties hosted offsite by brands.  Lulus.com hosted a fashion mixer at the Hard Rock Hotel Float bar, we enjoyed drinks and appetizers along with some cool prizes given away.  I was the lucky winner of 2 prizes, a cool chunky bangle bracelet and cute necklace courtesy of  Lulus.com.  After Lulu’s party my blogging buddy Monique and I walked over to the Omni hotel right across the street for the “Kick Off You Heels” launch party for Stiletto Media.  The place was a roof top lounge with great views of San Diego bay.  The party was a hit with good food, music, fun atmosphere, photo booth and the best signature Stiletto Martinis I ever had.  Let just say I am not a drinker and believe I may have had about 4 of those delish martinis! oops

Day two of  BlogHer was much of the same, exploring and getting to those things I missed on day one.  The expo was a fun place to hang out, with several brands having cool giveaway (swag) and interactive booths.  My favorite was the Skinny Cow, not only because of the yummy low-calorie treats they were giving out, but also for the crazy glam lashes application.  I went there twice and got my fake lashes on both days for the parties.  I had the longest lashes ever and loved it.  Along with the Stila make-up I wore and my long lashes I was feeling very glamorous and received many compliment on my make-up.  Now if I could only have those lashes applied everyday I would be a happy blogger looking glam, even in my pj’s.   Day two and BlogHer ended with 2 more parties for me on Saturday night.  The Social Fiesta hosted by Kmart where the Latina Blogger got to show off some of their sexy salsa moves.  The highlight of the night was most definitely the CheeseburgerHer party, sounds funny but it was the best.  Its just what it sounds like, a party where you eat cheeseburgers and fries (courtesy of McDonalds), hang out on beds and making silly paper bag hats.  Along with great music from the DJ, I danced and partied my last night at BlogHer with all my favorite bloggers and had the best time.   BlogHer 11 was definitely a memorable experience and so glad I was able to attend.  Besides the achy feet and lack of sleep, I really enjoyed my time at the conference and can proudly say I am no longer a BlogHer newbie.  See you all next year at BlogHer12 in NYC!

**Special Thanks to my sponsors for helping me get to BlogHer and making me look good.  Jenny Dayco supplied and sponsored all the jewelry I wore during BlogHer.  Covivitas.com sponsored my hotel stay and transportation to BlogHer.  Please visit www.jennydayco.com for more info on her fabulous desings and www.covivitas.com for more info on the services they offer.

Latina Smart Video Tag

Haven’t played tag in years, glad there is a internet version these days.  I’m out shape and probably couldn’t out run the tagger…lol  Any who I was tagged in a video by Monique of Click Latina for Latina Smart.  In the video I answer 5 questions and then tag another Latina blogger to make a video answering the same questions.  Watch the video, enjoy my answers and see who I tag.

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