I have put off writing this post for awhile now. I was afraid that if I wrote it that everyone was going to think that it was just another attempt and that it would not last long. For the past month I have been dieting. Yes.... again! I know that I have said this before (a few times actually), but this time I mean business. I know somewhere in the last few months I have had a change of heart. Or maybe a change of mind. I have been so unhappy about the way that I look. I hate not fitting into clothes that I once used to. I finally came to the realization that I needed to make a change. I was the only one that could make that change. I suddenly realized that I was not doing this for Gabe, for my family, for my future kids, not for anyone but myself. I hate looking in the mirror. The mirror is one of my biggest fears. When I look in the mirror I know that I have to see what I look like and I hate it.
One of the biggest downfalls I have about dieting is that I do it for a minute and when I don't see the results right away I get discouraged and give up. Well I can honestly say that I have not gotten discouraged yet.... In the past month I have been on a strict diet, working out more than I have ever worked out in my entire life. My legs have become noodles, I often feel like an old lady, I am so sore all the time. But I am told that pain is good. For those that don't know this, I am very conscious about what people think about me. I know that it is probably not the best trait to have. This did not help when it came to going to the gym. There are several "in fit" people there. I selfishly hoped that there were other people there that were in the same boat I was. Not in the best shape, a little heavier but willing to make the change. There has been a few but not as much as I would of liked. Every time I go it gets a little easier to learn that I need to focus on myself. There may be those that are asking themselves why a person like me is at the gym. But I am trying, it is a big step that I am even here. I am also sure that I have a tendency to exaggerate a little. I am sure some of those people don't even care what I do.
I am happy to report that I have lost sixteen pounds in the past month. Go me!!!! I feel great, my clothes are fitting better, and I have so much energy. Don't get me wrong, there are days when I struggle, when I feel that it's not working. But I have to keep telling myself that I can do it. How badly do I want this? I will keep making updates about my progress. This is only the beginning and I am determined to make it a perfect end.
Friday, September 13, 2013
Thursday, March 21, 2013
2+2=?
Tonight, I am reminded of how everyone of us has our own talents. For as long as I can remember I have loved numbers. Call me crazy, but math was and is my favorite school subject. In school, I was the first person in my third grade class to memorize all the multiplication. When the teacher would put the numbers on the chalk board, they were in my head. This is the one subject that I never had to think about. I aced all the exams, assignments, and quizzes and even did the extra credit problems. I was the math geek that everyone came to to ask questions. I was the one that everyone wanted to be friends with in math class, just so they had some chance of getting a passing grade. By the time I was in the 9th grade I was taking college credit math courses and by the time I was a junior I had finished all the math courses I would ever need for college. Although math was my strength, English was not. I may be able to add millions of numbers together in my head, but you put me in front of a computer and tell me to write a paper... I crumble. I sit there for hours looking at the white screen in hopes by some miracle the words would start flowing. There would be times where all I wanted to do was pull my hair out, scream, and even cry. After many hours and hard concentration, I thought that I had finally written a suitable paper. Every time the teacher would hand back that paper, I was probably the only student that had the most errors. There are probably some of you who are reading this blog and noticing all of my errors now and yes, I am that bad. My brother is an English major. He can write a paper at the drop of a hat and its perfect. At one point in time, I had him peer edit a paper of mine. He could not even get through the first paragraph without saying "This is not a paper". I often thought how could two siblings be so different? How could I be so good in math and so horrible in English. How could Scottie be so good in English and hate math? After finishing math so long ago, I have forgotten just how much people hate it.
I consider my husband to be an intelligent person. When Gabe and I first got married, we had to go through the immigration process for him to be a permanent resident. During an appointment at the immigration office, Gabe was handed a booklet. This booklet contained all the information about becoming a citizen of the U.S. That evening Gabe and I sat down and opened the booklet. There were things like what to expect on the citizen test. There is a writing portion, a vocabulary portion, and then a history portion. Within the history portion you are asked ten questions that are pulled from a bank of 100 questions about the U.S. history. I thought it would be fun to go through the questions to see how much Gabe knew about U.S. history without even studying. Well, the results were Gabe answered 97 out of 100 questions right. I instantly felt dumb. How could someone that had only lived in the U.S. for a short time, know more history then me who has lived here my entire life. I got a little discouraged and really had to rethink my intelligence. But this afternoon I was reminded of something very important. Gabe is taking math right now. As we sat down at our kitchen table so that I could review the concepts that he had been learning the last few weeks. I handed him a practice quiz that I had taken a good amount of time to make that entailed all of the problems that he would expect to find on his exam tomorrow. After reviewing the concepts, I set the cell phone alarm to go off in one hour. He had one hour to finish this practice exam on his own without any help. I had left the room for a short moment and upon returning the practice exam was on the other side of the table, and Gabe's head was laying down. It had only been five minutes since he began the exam. Needless to say, we went through the practice exam together and I made a different one that he can take tonight without any help. As I sat there explaining the concepts that I knew all so well, and Gabe sitting there frustrated and whispering the words "I just don't get it". I was reminded that I am not dumb, nor should I question my intelligence because I can't write a paper, or recall history. Gabe should not feel dumb or question his intelligence because he does not understand math. Any one of you should not feel dumb or question your intelligence. We all have our own strengths and weaknesses. And lucky for us, our children will have a father who can teach them to write and teach history, and a mother who can teach math and science. They get the best of both worlds.
I consider my husband to be an intelligent person. When Gabe and I first got married, we had to go through the immigration process for him to be a permanent resident. During an appointment at the immigration office, Gabe was handed a booklet. This booklet contained all the information about becoming a citizen of the U.S. That evening Gabe and I sat down and opened the booklet. There were things like what to expect on the citizen test. There is a writing portion, a vocabulary portion, and then a history portion. Within the history portion you are asked ten questions that are pulled from a bank of 100 questions about the U.S. history. I thought it would be fun to go through the questions to see how much Gabe knew about U.S. history without even studying. Well, the results were Gabe answered 97 out of 100 questions right. I instantly felt dumb. How could someone that had only lived in the U.S. for a short time, know more history then me who has lived here my entire life. I got a little discouraged and really had to rethink my intelligence. But this afternoon I was reminded of something very important. Gabe is taking math right now. As we sat down at our kitchen table so that I could review the concepts that he had been learning the last few weeks. I handed him a practice quiz that I had taken a good amount of time to make that entailed all of the problems that he would expect to find on his exam tomorrow. After reviewing the concepts, I set the cell phone alarm to go off in one hour. He had one hour to finish this practice exam on his own without any help. I had left the room for a short moment and upon returning the practice exam was on the other side of the table, and Gabe's head was laying down. It had only been five minutes since he began the exam. Needless to say, we went through the practice exam together and I made a different one that he can take tonight without any help. As I sat there explaining the concepts that I knew all so well, and Gabe sitting there frustrated and whispering the words "I just don't get it". I was reminded that I am not dumb, nor should I question my intelligence because I can't write a paper, or recall history. Gabe should not feel dumb or question his intelligence because he does not understand math. Any one of you should not feel dumb or question your intelligence. We all have our own strengths and weaknesses. And lucky for us, our children will have a father who can teach them to write and teach history, and a mother who can teach math and science. They get the best of both worlds.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Neves Family Vacation 2013
Can't believe that we are half way through January already! It seems just like yesterday, we were putting up the Christmas tree, and the world had gone crazy shopping. Gabe and I had a great holiday season. We spent a quiet New Years Eve at home with Gabe's mom and brother. We watched movies, talked, and ate delicious food. On New Years Day, we slept in, did a little shopping, and then we were able to go to dinner with my family and Gabe's family. It's always so great, that we can all get together as one big happy family.
In 2011, after Gabe and I got married we did a ton of traveling. Hawaii, LA, Las Vegas, and ended the year in Brazil. Gabe loves to travel, he would spend everyday somewhere new if I let him. But since Gabe lost his job in the beginning of 2012 we were not able to have any vacations this last year. Gabe was heartbroken, so since it had been a year, Gabe's family was going to be in town, and we finally got back on our feet, we decided that it would be a great time to start planning yearly Neves family vacations. This year, our destination was San Diego. I had been to San Diego a few years ago, with a friend but Gabe nor his family had ever been. So, we all packed our bags and the 3rd day of January the entire Neves family (which only consists of 4 of us at the moment) was on a plane to California! We had rented a condo, and had tons of plans for the week. But without fail, a family vacation is not a vacation without a little stress. When we landed and were retrieving our luggage, my suitcase came, then Gabe's, then Lucia's and then...... Marcello's luggage never came. They lost it, it fact they never had put it on the plane. So his suitcase, was sitting in SLC. Lucky for us, the condo had a washer and dryer, so we could wash his one pair of clothes that he had on. After two days, we got the suitcase back. It was just a slight downer to the trip. We quickly recovered, and went about our week. We went to Sea World, did a city tour, shopped, went to Little Italy, ate fantastic food, spent some time at the beach, and just really enjoyed ourselves. Unfortunately, all good things had to come to the end, Lucia and Marcello had an earlier flight back to Brazil so we dropped them off at the airport. It was hard to say goodbye to them. This time was a little different, this family vacation allowed for us to all get a little closer. Lucia and I built a good relationship and I was sad to see her go. Marcello and I get along so well, for the first time, I am not the youngest in the family, so we can all pick on him. There were a few tears shed, and tons of hugs. Gabe and I had like 8 hours to kill before our flight left. So, we went to lunch, shopped around, and just hung out for awhile. We had a layover in Vegas, upon arriving my mother had called to inform that there was a blizzard in Utah and that our connecting flight had been delayed. By that time I just wanted to get home, and go to bed. So Gabe and I grabbed expensive airport food for dinner, and two hours later boarded the plane. Upon boarding, the lovely stewardess came on the intercom and announced that we were going to try to fly to SLC, and if the pilot felt that it was unsafe to land the plane in SLC, we were going to turn around and come back to Vegas. Great.... the one thing I kept thinking was I sure hope they brought extra Diet Coke's because I was going to need the entire can. Long and behold, we landed in 3ft of snow, took us 30 mins to taxi to the gate, waited outside in the cold for an hour to get a taxi , and then what normally is a 15 min drive from the airport to our house took an hour to get home. We arrived home just after 1 a.m. and it has taken me the entire week to catch up on sleep.
It was a much needed vacation. The next family Vacation is already in the works. Maybe Gabe and I will go back to Brazil, with a mini vacation to RIO. Maybe they will come back to Utah and then we will go somewhere new. Or maybe just maybe we will meet half way and do a cruise across the Caribbean.
In 2011, after Gabe and I got married we did a ton of traveling. Hawaii, LA, Las Vegas, and ended the year in Brazil. Gabe loves to travel, he would spend everyday somewhere new if I let him. But since Gabe lost his job in the beginning of 2012 we were not able to have any vacations this last year. Gabe was heartbroken, so since it had been a year, Gabe's family was going to be in town, and we finally got back on our feet, we decided that it would be a great time to start planning yearly Neves family vacations. This year, our destination was San Diego. I had been to San Diego a few years ago, with a friend but Gabe nor his family had ever been. So, we all packed our bags and the 3rd day of January the entire Neves family (which only consists of 4 of us at the moment) was on a plane to California! We had rented a condo, and had tons of plans for the week. But without fail, a family vacation is not a vacation without a little stress. When we landed and were retrieving our luggage, my suitcase came, then Gabe's, then Lucia's and then...... Marcello's luggage never came. They lost it, it fact they never had put it on the plane. So his suitcase, was sitting in SLC. Lucky for us, the condo had a washer and dryer, so we could wash his one pair of clothes that he had on. After two days, we got the suitcase back. It was just a slight downer to the trip. We quickly recovered, and went about our week. We went to Sea World, did a city tour, shopped, went to Little Italy, ate fantastic food, spent some time at the beach, and just really enjoyed ourselves. Unfortunately, all good things had to come to the end, Lucia and Marcello had an earlier flight back to Brazil so we dropped them off at the airport. It was hard to say goodbye to them. This time was a little different, this family vacation allowed for us to all get a little closer. Lucia and I built a good relationship and I was sad to see her go. Marcello and I get along so well, for the first time, I am not the youngest in the family, so we can all pick on him. There were a few tears shed, and tons of hugs. Gabe and I had like 8 hours to kill before our flight left. So, we went to lunch, shopped around, and just hung out for awhile. We had a layover in Vegas, upon arriving my mother had called to inform that there was a blizzard in Utah and that our connecting flight had been delayed. By that time I just wanted to get home, and go to bed. So Gabe and I grabbed expensive airport food for dinner, and two hours later boarded the plane. Upon boarding, the lovely stewardess came on the intercom and announced that we were going to try to fly to SLC, and if the pilot felt that it was unsafe to land the plane in SLC, we were going to turn around and come back to Vegas. Great.... the one thing I kept thinking was I sure hope they brought extra Diet Coke's because I was going to need the entire can. Long and behold, we landed in 3ft of snow, took us 30 mins to taxi to the gate, waited outside in the cold for an hour to get a taxi , and then what normally is a 15 min drive from the airport to our house took an hour to get home. We arrived home just after 1 a.m. and it has taken me the entire week to catch up on sleep.
It was a much needed vacation. The next family Vacation is already in the works. Maybe Gabe and I will go back to Brazil, with a mini vacation to RIO. Maybe they will come back to Utah and then we will go somewhere new. Or maybe just maybe we will meet half way and do a cruise across the Caribbean.
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