A day for the record books!

Saturday goes down in the record books as one of my favorite days of my life!! Two major events took place that I never want to forget! 1st up: I ran my 1st (of many!) WARRIOR DASH! It was so much flippin' fun. For those who asked, Warrior Dash is a 5K but it's far from just a basic run! It's up steep hills, down hills, over rocks, through mud, through a lake, under barbed wire, over fire, over walls, cargo nets, and so on! FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN! I ran it with the most awesome people ever too, making it that much more fun. When all is said and done, they spray you down with a fire engine hose and hand you a free beer. Does it get any better than that?!!?

After I got back, I jumped right in the shower and headed back out for my baby sister's bachelorette party!! she is getting married in 2 weeks and I couldn't be more proud to be her maid of honor. My sister and I have been best friends since day 1. I laughed today as I called my daughter by my sister's name and I find myself calling my sister Elliana all the time but I realized today that it's because the love I have for my sister is allllmost as deep as the love a mother has for their child. I would go to the ends of the earth for my little sister!!! She is the best sister and friend a girl could ask for.

SO......with all that being said, see the pics below of my fantastic day:

practicing my warrior face in the car!

My crew crawling through the mud!

Clean up ....then out with my sis:

Fan-flipping-tastic day and night!! I work hard to play hard.

Here's a giggle:

Goodnight!

Short Story

A brief lesson on why you should be on this journey for nobody else but yourself:
The characters (Replacing real names for fake ones but this actually happened):

• Joe - an 80+ year old man who lives in my building and is very nice but a little fresh sometimes in an innocent old man kind of way.
• John - Middle aged married man, security guard in my building, who always jokes around with me but has been telling me to stop losing weight for the last 30lbs.
• Bob - My gay realtor who I love to death.

Scene 1: Coming down the elevator with Joe (80+ year old man) and he asks about my tattoos and in his fresh, innocent, old man way says "Women with tattoos are so sexy!"

Scene 2: Joe and I walk out of the elevator and find John and Bob talking. We both stop to say hi.......

Bob: "Krystle you look so cute now!!!"
Me: "I wasn't cute before?"
Bob: "Yea, you were but you're just so little and cute now."
Me: *jokingly* "Joe thinks I'm sexy because I have tattoos"
Joe: "Oh I love me a skinny woman!"
John: "not me...I think you could stand to gain some weight but whatever makes you happy"
Me: *Laughing as I walk away* "This is why I only do what makes ME happy. Can't please them all"

The end.

In it for LIFE.

As most of you probably read, yesterday I reached a goal that all of us Weight Watchers members only dream of for so long....a goal that when we join, seems SO far away....a goal that solidifies and recognizes all the hard work we put in for countless weeks, months, YEARS! I achieved LIFETIME status with Weight Watchers.
In the technical form, reaching lifetime means that you have reached your goal weight and maintained within 2lbs for 6 weeks. You get free Etools and you meetings, a gold key for your key chain, and a lifetime membership card.

On a much deeper level, reaching lifetime status has way more meaning. The closest thing I can relate the feelings I had yesterday to are the feelings I had when I graduated college. I worked day in and day out, week in and week out, semester in and semester out, for a moment in time that I could say "I did it. I have achieved this milestone in my life because I WORKED for it". College graduation, for many, is exciting yet scary and an ending but a huge beginning. It's the end of a chapter....or for some, the end of a whole book. It's a clean slate to start the rest of your life.

That is how I felt when it sunk in that I have achieved lifetime status. I have been overweight my entire life. I have failed over and over and over and OVER in attempts to lose weight. I've lost some in the
past, got complacent, gained it back. I've accepted being "big boned" and "a pretty fat girl". I've tried and I've quit and I've given up on myself too many times to count in my 22 years prior to this journey.

But THIS time. This time.......failure hasn't been an option. Quitting hasn't been an option. This time, I set out to do it and I knew that this was the last time I was going to be "trying" again.

***Side story: I met a man a few weeks back who dropped a pen on the ground and told a group of us "Try to pick it up". The other 5 people in the group stood and looked at the pen on the ground while I bent down and picked it up. The man then said "There is no 'try'. There is a DO and there is a DO NOT. Choose one." ***

I did.

I stopped settling for less and I did.

For me, reaching lifetime status symbolizes the lifetime ahead of me that I will now live as a healthy, fit, woman. A lifetime that I could have spent overweight and unhealthy but chose to take the reigns and take my life into my own hands. Lifetime means OWNING my life. Lifetime means I have been given ONE life to live and I am choosing to live it as healthy as possible.

Lifetime for me means setting the example for my baby girl so that when she grows up and is creating her own life, it won't include worrying about her weight and her health. At the end of the day, she is what started this journey. She is what forced me to reevaluate the lifestyle that I was living so that I could live a long healthy LIFE with her.

Lifetime is a clean slate. *Raising my glass*..... "Cheers to the rest of my life."

Thank you, Weight Watchers.

Welcome to my war.

This journey can make or break a person. I don't think some of us fully realize what we sign up for when we A) Decide to lose weight, B) Decide to share it with others, and C) Decide to lose such a significant amount that is going to completely change our lives.
I do believe that I am being MADE, not broken. I want to take a moment to thank everybody who has been there for me thus far through the good times and bad, through the ups and the downs, and have been there supporting me 110%....the journey is not over.....it's just beginning.

Maintenance is forcing me to really put myself in check. Where did I come from? Where do I want to go? What's next for me?

I found myself talking to myself in the mirror at the gym the other day as I tried to murder the elliptical. I was saying "Stop being complacent. Stop settling. Push yourself to want more for yourself. You deserve more than just reaching goal weight. This isn't over for you".

I know some of you are like "Stop being so hard on yourself" .....but here's the thing - if you don't want more for yourself in life then you aren't dreaming big enough. My goal is to be able to truly help others, not because I reached my goal weight, but because I can confidently look within myself and see a changed woman that can reach out and help change someone else. I am not there yet. I see, hear, and read the comments and emails saying how much I have changed people's lives but when I look inside of myself, I still see so much work that needs to be done. I see issues that need dealing with.

I read a blog once that talked about the fear that one day the "Skinnyville" officers are going to realize I don't belong here and lock me up and ship me back to Fatland. I know it sounds silly.....it is silly......but for those of you who have "lived" in both places, I think you can relate.

*sigh****....I'm rambling. This blog doesn't have an exact purpose. Before I started writing, I was rubbing my temples, deciding what to write, thinking about 10 million things, having my daily war in my mind. So I am letting you in on my war.

I'm a complicated person. I am thankful for who I am though. I'm here for a purpose....or several.....I can't figure myself out sometimes and I don't expect anyone else to. I'm just thankful to be on the journey of life, soaking it all in, learning lessons along the way, helping who I can, reaching out for help when I need it. All I hope is to leave my mark on the world when I'm gone.

I live. I love. I learn. I am KJB. Fin.

Tuna Stuffed Peppers Recipe

So the honey worked late tonight and informed me that he was more than okay with leftovers from last night. My girlfriend was over using my laptop, it was time for dinner, and I wanted to feed her too..... hmm.....what to make?
Tuna sounds good. Tuna and crackers. Simple and delicious......

Then Chef KJB took over....

Ta-Da! Tuna stuffed peppers.

1. I took 3 red bell peppers and sliced them length wise, took out the seeds.
2. In a bowl, I mixed together 2 cans of tuna, chopped onion and celery, spicy brown mustard, and tahini flavored hummus along with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and black and white sesame seeds.
3. As I was whipping this up, I decided it was going in the oven so I preheated the oven to 350.
4. In the bottom of the peppers, I layed down fresh spinach leaves and sliced tomato and seasoned with a little salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
5. Top that off with the tuna mixture.
6. This time I topped it with Weight Watchers cheddar cheese blend but next time I will use a cheese that melts better.
7. A little more pepper because I LOVE pepper.
8. Bake for 20 minutes ish until it's heated through and cheese is melted.
9. When I took it out, I sprayed it with a mist of balsamic vinaigrette spray dressing.

Enjoy! So yummy. I calculated each half to be 2 PointsPlus.