We had a fantastic long weekend!

On Friday Lauren came to Dallas for a visit. Lauren and I have known each other since pre-school! And I am so grateful that she is one of my longest and best friends, and I so admire her for her strength of character, determination, and sincerity - she is one of the most genuine people I've ever known. We have such a unique friendship - with lots of history, memories, and great times. It's a friendship that has survived all kinds of obstacles in both of our lives... school and boys and all the dramas that go with being a teenager, camp and college and careers, and now 1400 + miles. She is one of those people that I can go months without talking to, and all it takes is a phone call for us to be right where we left off. Since Lauren was coming for a friends wedding, she came in a day early and spent a night with us (and bring LOTS of surprises to spoil Madelyn - for those of you who don't know - Lauren works for Disney. You can imagine she is Madelyn's BFF!!!) We had a great dinner on Friday, catching up on everything going on in each other's lives, and stayed up late just chatting. Saturday we woke up (well Lauren was woken up by a very eager Madelyn), did a little exercise on demand, took our time showering and getting ready, and met mom, Lene, and Kim for lunch at Panera. I was so sad that from there I had to take Lauren to the hotel for the start of her wedding weekend festivities - bummer that we didn't get to spend more time together, but I was so glad to get at least a day with her!!!

Here we are - goofin off - before heading out to dinner.

From there, Madelyn and I headed to Lene's to spend the rest of the day with them. Madelyn got a new playdo ice cream maker, and spent the afternoon making me yummy treats! All the while, Daddy was hard at work at Marcia and Larry's putting up a new fence. He got done a little early though, and was able to spend the evening with us. We went to Niecie's for pizza and the kickoff of the UT football season.

Sunday was an amazing and special day - Brady's baby naming. In Jewish tradition, babies are named for deceased family members to honor and remember them, and pass on to them characteristics of that loved one that we hope the child will posses. A baby naming ceremony takes place to give the baby their Hebrew name and officially welcome them to the world. Brady's naming ceremony was beautiful (although he wasn't too happy to be the center of attention at one point - quite funny since I don't really think he is a fussy baby.)!!! Travis read a very cute poem that he wrote when Brady was born, and Deborah talked about where Brady's name came from (After her grandmother and grandfather). Even Alex spoke a little about the big responsibilities he has as Big Brother - adorable!! It was really a nice afternoon - good food, good friends, and good reason to celebrate! And to finish it off, Deborah had a gorgeous crystal bowl for me from the Nasher store (I have strategically been avoiding that store!) as a thank you for making the naming invitations... TOTALLY UNNECESSARY, but SO beautiful -- Thank You again!!!

After all that going on this weekend, you can imagine I was incredibly thankful to have Monday off. Well... what was I thinking when I scheduled my trainer for 8:00 am?!?!?! I must have been crazy. And remember I said Lauren and I did exercise on demand on Saturday. Well, I also did it on Sunday morning, and on Sunday I did the Biggest Loser Total Body Workout - 25 minutes of all Cardio and pretty much all squats (with weights), and a 25 minute Kickboxing workout. I was so sore, my butt hurt!!! So I get to the gym (at 8:00 am!!! I must remind you) and my trainer, unbeknownst to me, had planned a squats workout. I thought I was going to die! Leenie - get the hot tub ready for me!

Well, that's about it for the weekend. I'm very sad to report that I did in fact weigh on Monday - my usual weigh day - and I didn't lose any weight last week. Ironically, mom had her weigh day on Saturday and she also didn't lose any weight (strange how much the same we are sometimes). When she told me, I responded with - "well at least you didn't gain any weight either". She made me eat my words! But after a long weekend of eating out quite a bit and celebrating being with old friends and a new little friend, I guess I can't complain, and at least I didn't gain any weight either. I will say - I am feeling so much more balanced and healthier than I have in a long time, and I very much enjoying being on weight watchers and working out.