The Girl I Use to Be

This was the girl I was over 20 years ago. I regret not loving this girl. I’m ashamed that I didnt enjoy this body when I had it. If you knew this girl, you know that she always wore baggy boy clothes to hide her body. She didnt know how to handle her eating disorder. She didn’t have all the love and support from all the people she does now. She didnt feel loved, but she loved too much, too hard. Even though she is smiling, in most of these pictures her heart was broken. She was a people pleaser, and she said sorry for things that were not her fault. She still does that!

Now, over 20 years later, she is a wife, a mother, and a teacher. She finally feels true unblemished love. She wears her heart on her sleeve still. She has learned how to say no, most of the time. She has learned that she is worth it. Worth the time, worth the money, worth the sweat and tears it takes to find herself again. Actually, no, to find herself for the 1st time in her entire life.

Her Husband loves her no matter what. He encourages her in his own way. He doesn’t care what she does or doesn’t do to meet her goals, as long as she is happy.

The fact the she doesn’t think her son is ashamed of her, gives her strength to carry herself through one more fast, one more workout, and one more rough day.
This girl is the same girl, yet different in all the positive ways! Not only will she make her friends and loved ones proud, most importantly she will make HERSELF proud. LaBranda Raye Finley Jones, I love you so much and I’m still fighting for you! Let’s knock out these goals!!

❤ LaBranda

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Day 100!!

Day 100! 100 days since I decided enough is enough! 100 days since I decided that I am enough. My life is worth saving. 100 days since I realized that I really have not been living life to the fullest! 100 days of winning mixed with some failures. 100 days since I learned to take it one day at a time. It’s taken 100 days for me to see a difference in my appearance. Thank God for these past 100 days! Yall watch out, I’ve come a long way, I’m not done yet, the best is yet to come!!!
#100dayshealthy #100daysworkingout #selflove #selfcare #selfreminder #weightlossjourney #selflove
#seldcare
#mindovermatter
#icandothis
#workout
#bringingsexyback
#waterchugger
#healthylife
#pushyourself

April Journey Update

Hello WordPress fam!! Today I would like to update you on my journey. As you may remember if you read about my last doctor’s appointment, I was to go back in one month to see if I was able to lose any more weight, as well as get my blood tests back. As far as blood tests go, they all came back normal except for my vitamin D. She wants me to get some and take it, as well as getting out in the sun more often. That’s totally my favorite part of Spring/Summer. So I have a plan for that.

Weight loss was exactly the same as it was the last time I went. I’m so disappointed in myself. I could have so many excuses, vacation, concession stand working, ball park living and on and on. But, the bottom line is that I did not do my best on more days of the month. I want so badly to get out of this mind set. I want to remember that I am worth it to continue to fight for my health and literally life. I don’t want to always be this way. I want to be proud of myself. I want my family to be proud of me.

We talked about my options. I do not want to have any kind of surgery. We both agreed that a low dose of appetite depressant would be a good plan to begin with. So as of tomorrow morning I will be on a new regiment. I’m also to take my blood pressure pills in the am and eat more fruits and veggies as well as get in at least 15 mins of walking a day. I will go back on May 8th to see how well i’m doing. Ya’ll wish me luck! Here goes nothing!! I’m determined! Be Blessed!!

Spring Break 2019 Part 2

This is part 2 of our Spring Break 2019 Part 1. You can read that over there ⬅.

Saturday morning was mine and Eli’s exploring time. We have always loved to just get out and about and see whats going on around town. They were having a 5k right in the middle of town. They had a little festival at the end of the race. We walked through and then found this little park that had these iron statues. Of course he had to get a pose or two in.

We found a dock that had a few boats hooked up to them. The view was beautiful.

After that we went to an Indian museum that Eli had researched.

This thing scared him, he thought there was a man standing behind him.

Here he was weaving something.

This is this thingy that the Indians used to build a fire.

Next we went to the Science museum. They had so many cool things there. We painted ceiling tiles that would be hung up to tell what science means to us. It was so relaxing!

His says, Science is Atomic!

This is mine, it says Science makes the world go round!

This is a thing that lets you make human size bubbles. He did his best but it was super hard.

Wow! I could not get this thing to work. It was like a giant claw machine. There were way too many things that you had to do at one time for me.

So cute!

Later we all got ready to do to dinner. We decided to eat at The Crab Shack! It was super yummy. Eli had been wanting some crab legs so bad so I let him get the big plate. He was in love.

Me getting ready to go to dinner.

This is our view for dinner.

I am so glad my Momma was able to enjoy this trip with us.

She had the simplest best time!

This is as good as I got of a sunset.

I was right in the middle of laughing at my Mommas photography skills.

My child has no sense at all. That water was freezing!

Overall we had a wonderful time. So far this has been the best Spring Break of my adult life. I have been able to get tons of things done around the house. I’m super proud of myself. Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the world. Who knows there could be a part 3 before it’s all over! Be Blessed!!

Spring Break 2019 Part 1

Hello WordPress fam!! Just wanted to stop in and share with you about our amazing trip to Fort Walton Beach this past weekend. It was so nice to just get away for a few days.

I got a chance to embarrass Eli by asking these random strangers to take our pictures.

My kid is pretty handsome if I do say so myself.

This is our cozy little room set up. Eli thought it was so cool that he kinda had his own room.

We all stayed up late and watched tv. On Friday night we had Chinese take out delivered to our room. That is something that we never get to take advantage of since we live to far outside of the city limits. It was super nice to just relax.

Eli and I got up on Saturday and went to an Indian Museum and to a Science Museum. I have not uploaded those pics yet, but that will be a future post.

We then went back to the hotel and got Mom and went exploring some thrift stores. To Eli’s horror that is. lol Afterwards we went back to the hotel and Eli was just dying to get into that freezing cold pool. That only lasted a few mins.

Mom and I relaxed and sipped on some wine while he was ice swimming. It was so nice out there.

We all woke up in the silliest mood. I loved every moment of this trip and I can’t wait to go back.

On Sunday morning before we left, I took Mom to our little beach spot. She has a hard time walking on the sand so we had to keep our eyes on her.

Once again my teenager was mortified that i asked random people to take our pics!

I pray he takes care of his future wife the way he takes care of his Nana.

When I look at this picture I think of all that my mom has had to overcome in her life. The sadness and heartache. I can’t fathom how such a strong woman came out of all of that. She is classy and sassy all at the same time. She is clothed in dignity.

We were so blessed to be able to spend this time together. I was sad that T.j. didn’t get a chance to go. Our anniversary is coming up and I hope we can take a chance to get away somewhere together.

Now we are all back home and i’m pretty proud of myself for being slightly productive the last two days. Yesterday I got up and cleaned and organized 8 of my kitchen cabinets and got rid of tons of things. Today I finished the rest of the cabinets and my utensil drawers. I plan on tackling the fridge and pantry another day.

Health wise i’m on top of things. Yesterday I completed my longest fast at 23 hours. It was kind of tough towards the end but I reached out and got some help and advice from my super cool health friend. Thank Alexx!! I ended my fast with a baked chicken breast covered in spinach and mushrooms and a little Alfredo sauce. I am not even ashamed to say I ate the entire thing!!

Today I my fast lasted for 17 hours. I had some scrambled eggs with pepper jack and bacon.

I’m feeling pretty positive and motivated and can’t wait to watch myself crush up all these goals. I go back to the doctor next week and I hope I have another loss to report.

Well folks I am about to relax and fold some laundry and get caught up on blog reading. I hope you all have and amazing rest of the week. Be Blessed!!

Weekends Rule!!

Wow! What and amazing weekend we had! Friday afternoon I came home and got so much accomplished around the house. It was great since I planned on getting up and spending the day with Mom on Saturday. We went and got pedicures and they were so relaxing. I don’t do them very often but when I do I really enjoy them. We then had dinner at Texas Road house. It was super good. Afterwards we went and did a little shopping. I always have the hardest time spending money on myself, but I’m determined to remind myself that I deserve it and I’m worth it. I got 3 new shirts, bought Tj a new hat and a pair of shoes that he desperately needed, and I even invested in each of us a fancy chair to sit in and watch ball games. It was a much needed girls day.

Today we got up and went to Tjs aunts house and had lunch. We hung out with her and her son, his wife, and their little boy. We helped her get her pool prepared to get filled and leveled out. We made plans to go camping during the summer. His uncle died a few months back so his aunt is just now able to go and do things like we use to. We are really looking forward to getting our tan and splash on.

I hope you all had a great weekend as well. Let’s be positive and take Monday by the horns and get er done! Be blessed!!

Journey Update!

Hello there WordPress world and happy Friday to ya!! Just wanted to give a little update on me, myself and I.

I went back to the doctor yesterday. If you have been following me for long, you may remember me posting a couple of weeks back about my deal with my doctor. If you need a refresher you can read that post here. ( Apparently I don’t know how to mention an older post of mine. Who can help me figure that out?)

Anyways, at my appointment yesterday I found out I had done so good on my end of the deal that I had lost 9 pounds. 9!!! That’s like more than 1 but not as much as 10. My doctor was so proud of me. She did some blood work and told me to come back in another month. She wants to get my blood pressure leveled out a little more, and see about my blood work. If all that checks out, and I continue to show her how serious I am about this then we are going to talk about my other options. I for sure don’t want to do any kind of surgery. If i’m going to get this off of me, I want to do it in a normal healthy way.

I would like to send a shout out to Juliecares and Alexxketo. If I knew how to mention you guys I would. Who can help me out with that too. lol. You guys have really motivated me to take care of myself. You have cheered me on and gave me such faith in myself. Thank you!!! The more needs more people like you!!! Be blessed!!