Accomplished and powerful.

Rested yet tired.

Recovering from a rock concert.

What is wrong with this outfit? Oh…. I didn’t anticipate moshing. My feet were trampled.

Bedazzled and smokey. My favorite way to be.

Took herself on a Saturdate to enjoy beautiful weather. Coffee is so yummy.

Because $4 dresses rock. Scored this at Ross and wore it yesterday to see Avengers with husband and to visit mom.

Enjoyed being outside on a gorgeous Saturday.

Did some reading in between sets.

Enjoyed a seasonal mojito.

Observed a mantra.

The difference a year makes is amazing. I know I loved myself at the weight I was in the first picture, but was I so happy? Probably not. The first tell tale sign? I never posted the first picture. Jen is absolutely gorgeous and I never posted it. Failblog! Sorry, Jen. Before we left on our cruise, I found it and showed it to her. I almost wanted to cry when I looked at this picture. I remember even before surgery, worrying about losing the first 50 lbs. Since surgery I’ve lost 80 lbs and it’s only April. We’re not done yet. 

My legs are so white in that pic too. And here is me and husband on the cruise. In case you can’t tell, I love this picture. I feel smoking hot, my husband is standing proud. I’m one proud wifey. Like show and tell, I brought these pics to work. One to scan them for my beloved blog, and two, to show them off.

While on the boat, I wrote a list of non scale victories of my vacation.

1. Walking up stairs with little to no difficulty. To get to the beloved Serenity, adult only section, you had to climb stairs. My love of reading had me going up those stairs pretty often.

2. Missing the gym and actually working out on vacation… 3 times. Yay! I love that feel good feeling after an awesome workout.

3. Not eating everything in sight and making healthier choices. I ate fruit at least once a day to keep me regular, but also because I really love fresh melon and oranges.

4. Taking my vitamins, even on vacation. You try to forget, but you feel better when you take them. No more self destruction.

5. Loving and wanting pictures on the beach in a swimsuit. Bonus: Actually getting them. Thanks, Jen!

6. Seeing my muscles and definition in said pictures.

7. Loving my new body, but still wanting improvement. We’re not done yet.

8. Climbing up onto a water trampoline not once, but twice. It wasn’t easy, but I was so thankful to climb up!

9. Swimming for a long time in Cozumel before reading. Really good workout and my favorite beach.

10. Hopefully not gaining any weight, even on vacation. I can cross out the hopefully. I didn’t gain one pound. I actually lost one. Yay!

Finally back, ladies. It was such a fabulous vacation. Carnival Dream class=fab fab fab. I loved that freaking ship. I don’t think I’d like it with 1500 kids on it, and luckily there were less than 2-300 this time, but man, it was a very fun ship indeed. Picture time!

I already had my basecoat tan from the tanning bed. This was us our first day of the cruise sitting poolside.

Someone is ready to enjoy her vacation!

Aren’t these shoes divine? I loved this lady’s purple strappy shoes.

Leaving Galveston.

Ready for dinner the first night.

Oh yeah. White shorts are now my friend.

Jamaica!

With my ride.

With husband, before he got burned.

Bathing suit pictures? Yes, please!

Last night on the cruise. Yay!

One of the things I noticed in my pictures is that my muscles on my shoulders started magically showing up. I love it!

My co-worker bought this shirt for me. Isn’t it fab? This was at our fancy steak dinner night. Hubs had me mohawk his hair.

Um, yes. I demand pictures from husband.

Smokey eye magic.

Leftovers. We could never finish a meal, but the food was soo good!

It was a fab fab fab vacation. Great friends, good food and plenty of beach, relaxation and reading time.

UPDATED to add pics… yes… more pics! Aka Jen’s facebook.

Banging legs! Cozumel, I love you.

Comedy time!

Jamaica time.

Drinky time? Yes, please! I love my nickname. Samantha! Jefferson’s is Big Country or Big Texas and Alex’s was Brown bear.

Drinky time again? Yay!

Last night of the cruise. We had an awesome vacation!

Cozumel beach time freaking rocks! 

Still in onederland. Yay! Cowboy and I are going on vacation with Jen and Alex next week. Yay! Last week, I had my trainer do my measurements. He wanted to do it the right way so he had the lady bust out the caliper thingie and they went to town. My body fat % is down to 31%. I was so stoked to find this out. Amaze-balls. Picture time!

Where I started. November 2008.

The here and now.

Taken at a bridal shower for a friend of my brother’s gf. I love this dress!

Before I put on the high heels.

All glammed up in the car.

Saturday night party. Someone at the party had a fancy camera. Those pictures are super awesome.

Gym picture time.

So that’s where I’m at. I’m so ready for my vacation, and so looking forward to it.

Hey kittens, I’ve finally hit my first mini-goal. I’m now officially under 200lbs. Yay!

What does that look like you ask? Let me show you!

This is the picture on my work badge. I started working here in late 2008. This is me now!

Amazing difference methinks. I’m super proud of myself and all the work/sweat at the gym. It’s been so worth it!Yay!

Because I love my gym pictures.

I love a quick smokey eye. Coming to work early means make-up needs to be quick too.

My legs are getting tan! Yay!

I sent the picture of the blue dress to my mom and she called me a hoochie mama. “You better be wearing a jacket!” No, mom. No jacket! Lol. to you all and I’m so glad my friend made me buy this blue dress. It’s hot!

Hello chicas. What’s up? Has it been a week already? The work week definitely drags on and the weekend always promises so much fun! Friday, I went to dinner with a gf after my workday, and then we went shopping. Yay! I scored some super cute stuff. Since I was rushing to try stuff on, I didn’t take pics of everything I bought. We were in a hurry to get to a VIP party, specifically, Supercross. I’ve never been before, but it was so much fun. Before I babble on too much, weight loss progress newstime. I’m down to 201. So close to 200, so close to one-der-land. Super excited about that progress. I’m still going to the gym, and still busting ass. Also, in other news, I bought a car. Yay! I got my moneys worth out of my Mustang. 11 years and 195K miles worth. That’s plenty. I’m not quite ready for the soccer mom car, but I’m ready for 4 doors, and something roomier. I more than settled on the 2011 Kia Optima. Isn’t she pretty?

She just looks so sporty and sparkly and beautiful. I obviously need to get the windows tinted, but other than that, I’m in love. I was in love at first sight. I was shocked that it was a KIA, and even more shocked that she has so much fuel economy.

This picture is blurry, but yep, on a full tank, this baby gets 475 miles to the tank. Super score! And also, goes up to 160. The stang only went up to 120. And if you can believe it, she’s only a 4banger, aka 4 cylinder. She’s awesome, has bluetooth, and I love her.

I think I shared the picture of my other clothing swap score, but this is another outfit. The skirt, is sadly too big and I don’t know if I want to alter her or save her for the next swap. I love the shirt though.

Gym picture time. This picture doesn’t prove it, but I haven’t lost my boobs. Yay! The trainer gave me a killer leg workout this week. And it looks like it paid off. Walking to Supercross, my friend’s husband said my legs were looking banging in my shorts/wedges combo.

I’ll call these the beauty shots of the day. I wanted to look super glam for the VIP party. Little did I know the VIP party was going to be outside in a semi air-conditioned trailer in Texas’ 80 degree humid weather. LOL. My group had a good time, took pics with the babes and mingled. I loved hanging out with my favorite co-workers outside of work.

These shoes were almost the death of me. I was going to wear my flippy floppies but my gf wouldn’t let me. She wanted me to look cute, and I’m glad she did, but boy did these shoes nearly murder my feet.

Monster babes from afar.

Monster babes up close. They were gorgeous. The one on the left kept grabbing her own butt. I don’t know if she was checking to make sure she had enough cheekage hanging out or what.

Hubs with the ladies. Behind him was a hot tub. Hilarious.

As part of our VIP treatment, we got to walk the track. Yes, you heard that correctly. I had to walk the hilly track in wedges. I had husband walk in front of me so I wouldn’t eat dirt in my wedges.

They kept moving us along so we had to be quick about pictures.

My least favorite part of Supercross? The racist rednecks. Yep, his mom is sitting to his right and approving of his message. Ugh!

My cousin’s kids are too cute. I love that they got to come and enjoy all the festivities.

And look at how well behaved they are? So proud!

Yesterday’s shopping outfit. My bra is so beautiful, I had to semi-show it off. Thank you, Victoria’s Secret. I hung out with my brother/his gf today and brother cannot justify spending so much money on VS bras, but they’re really awesome. I’m a fan.

I wanted to love/own this dress, but it squashed my beloved boobs. Sad face. I cannot have that.

This dress did not squash them, but it also was too big in the waist. The size smaller was too tight on the boobs. One day, I’ll get it right.

This is today’s brunch/shopping outfit. I got this skirt on Saturday at Banana Republic for less than $20. Super score! I missed skirts that fit right so much. The top was a Marshall’s find. So in love with this outfit.

Definitely a good week/weekend. I didn’t take a glorious nap today, but, it was a gorgeous day outside. Being outside is like taking a nap right? Overall, I’m feeling great. The only thing I’m not used to yet is the attention. I know I’m not super small, but I’m getting the compliments, the up and downs and lingering glances. I’m more confident. While at the VIP event, my bestie wanted to talk to one of our Monster guys. I’ve seen him before a million times, but he’s normally wearing glasses and dressed for work. Outside of work, total hottie. He didn’t have his glasses on, wore a tighter t-shirt, and wow, yes made me nervous. I introduced him to my friend and it was good to talk to him. I’ll have to get the scoop for my friend this week. I hope all you lovelies had a fantabulous weekend.

On my way to the gym Friday, my car was making all kinds of awesome noises. I called Cowboy to come check on it. I had a training session with my trainer and wasn’t going to miss it because my car wanted to try to punk out and not get me there. He arrived and my car had no oil in it. Win! We put more oil in, checked all my other fluids but the high pitched squealing was still going on. He followed me home and I thankfully made it. We then went to dinner at this fab fab fab Vietnamese place by our house. I was being pissy because there’s a Vietnamese place close to my gym, but he was right (again) and thought it best to get my car home and then worry about dinner. So glad we tried that Vietnamese place, but the jealous monster in me cannot let him go there by himself. Those ladies were on Cowboy like white on rice. I wanted Vietnamese spring rolls, the kind with Shrimp/or pork and Cowboy wanted to get it vegetarian since it was Friday. He only whispered it, and I didn’t think the girl heard him, but she did and brought back tofu spring rolls. I’m thinking no tip for you, ma’am. We ordered this super yummy honey braised chicken thing for dinner and that was the bomb.com. The fish sauce there was just right on point. After dinner, I showered/crashed. Hubs tried for sexy times that night, but I had an early Saturday planned and wasn’t having it. That rarely happens.

Saturday, at the butt crack of dawn I showered/got ready for the Fight for Air climb volunteer thing for work. Our team leader mentioned firefighters. That was all I needed to attend.

There were more than just these two, but I was trying to be covert. They were super cute. It was a 48 flight climb, and they climbed the entire thing with all their gear/oxygen tanks on. Amazeballs.

One day last week, I also did a lunch time nails. Back to my favorite color, Bastille my Heart by OPI.

One day last week, my weight was down to 202.6. Super stoked!

I got this shirt at the last shopping spree weekend with Sheri. I was feeling skinny and took a pic.

This was my rodeo hair before it got all wind blown. Brother’s gf did an awesome job highlighting it last time.

This was on my way to the gym one day last week.

I wore this dress one day last week. Perfect for spring time meetings with vendors, right? I wish you could see the magical cream shadow/eye shadow combination I have going on in this pic. During the shopping spree I scored something from Mac’s holiday collection and it’s super awesome. It’s a paint pot in some magical color with the word skate in it. It’s a pale pink with gold shimmer. I put Pink Opal pigment on top, something darker in the crease and ta-da, magic! I need to do a video tutorial on it.

At the volunteer thing, I wore these fab “booty” shorts then changed when I got home into an even sexier top to see Hunger Games. Semi-see through over a black bra, sure thing, ma’am. Hubs really liked this outfit. When we got home, he asked, now what do you want to do? I said you. I got what I wanted. Sweet!

After that, he asked what  I wanted to do, but I was at that point where I got everything I wanted, I wanted him to pick something. He wanted to paint the guest bedroom. ?? The weather was super nice, so I didn’t want to do that. That’s more of a rainy day activity. So he suggested buying the stuff we’d need for when it does rain. We did that, and while there, he mentioned wanting to plan a garden. Another surprise. We bought some seeds and headed home.

Sunday, at the butt crack of dawn again, he wanted to get started. I helped, but was still tired.

He shoveled the grass out and I supervised. He finally, finally bought a kennel for the dog and got most of that set up yesterday. Double win! I started laundry and then headed to another clothing swap. I really love these. It’s so cleansing to purge my closet, give things to someone else to wear and get some new stuff. I’ve scored some super cute stuff in the past. Shrinking down didn’t leave me many options, but I did score some cute stuff.

This was my outfit. I love this blue shirt, don’t I?

Eep! I see collar bones. I so love these sunglasses too.

Ok, enough shenanigans, this is one of the items I scored at the swap. Isn’t it super cute? I love love love it! I’m such a dress girl. My mom game me these shoes over the weekend. They’re cute little kitten heels.

The girl who had surgery the same day as me went to the swap and she got one of my dresses. Yay! Cowboy didn’t want me to part with it. It was black/copper. I’ve worn it to a couple weddings and to a Christmas dinner with him. I was sad to part with my beloved dresses, but I know they went to good homes. I had such a good time at the swap and seeing people I haven’t seen in a while. They were impressed with my weight loss and I loved discussing it. It’s just one of those things where, it’s available, we don’t live in a third world country. Just do it.

There have been so many, but lately, they’ve been multiplying. Today, I went shopping with my gf Sheri and we had a very successful shopping trip. Everything I bought today was either on sale or seriously discounted. My kind of shopping trip. I found out my new breast size and scored a beautiful VS bra. It displays the warlocks perfectly. So exciting! I’m volunteering for something with work next weekend, and I needed some new shorts since none of my old ones fit and found some super cute ones for $15 at Old Navy. There were so many sales today. I found tops for $6, super score! I love shopping days like today. I didn’t take pics today, but I still have plenty to share.

Yesterday we took my parents and friend Sheri to the rodeo. Brad Paisley performed and I had the best time ever. Several people I love surrounding me, what’s more fun than that? Here are the pics from the day….

I’ll start with one of my favorites. These are some of my co-workers. To the right is Tenese, pronounced Tee-niece. She’s a go-getter with a banging body. Behind me in the middle is Robbie. He’s a hustler, baby, but I love that about him. To the left of Robbie is Keith. Such a heart and soul guy. He’s a flirt and hilarious while he does it. My nickname for him is Breezy. To the left of him is Robbie’s wife and son. They had to work early today, so they gave us their suite tickets. We scooted off to the suite, free food and booze! Double bonus! My parents and friend had a great time. Yay!

Sheri. I wanted her to wear this hot pink dress so we could be twinkies. She happily obliged. We definitely faced our share of haters, but that’s to be expected, right?

Awww, another favorite. Me/Cowboy. I love being held like this.

Me/Sheri.

Awww. Me/my stepfather. I super this picture.

Yay! Me/mommy. I always love getting pictures with mommy. I’m looking so small.

The parents. My mom looks so radiant/in love. I love that we got to take them to rodeo and spend the evening with them.

I hate that I’m squashing my boobs in this picture, but I love seeing Cowboy look so handsome.

My hair is flowing like Beyonce. Hot dresses, right?

Here’s a better shot of the dress. I wore this another night to rodeo.

The profile. See how packed it was? Madness. My mom and I love crowds, we love to be seen.

Aren’t her eyes sparkling?

She has longer arms and can get better angles.

Posing. I love my hair in this one.

She wanted me less posed.

I love candid shots like this. The bartender in our suite hooked it up.

Ah yes, Mr. Handsome. This was the guy I wanted Sheri to meet. I call him Mr. Light/fluffy. Light/casual, handsome. Mission accomplished.

Bahaha! Something tells me I wanted to take a butt shot of him. Lol. I had too much to drink, obviously.

I wanted a picture of the typical rodeo outfit, Short dress, boots, hat. It’s my favorite rodeo outfit.

In the suite, I got to rub elbows with several co-workers. One of them is Cowboy’s channel director. He’s met me before, but he did a double take last night as I told him my name. Finally, he settled on, “Wow! You look fabulous.” Later on, he apologized for not recognizing me, but my response was, thank you, I was quite flattered. LOL! That felt amazing. I was smiling all night. We had so much fun. Maybe I had the most, because I was asleep the whole way home, but I had a super good time. Yay!

That gem comes to you courtesy of my IT person. We chat on the regular. He loaned me the True Blood series and that was what I read most of my vacation. I’m on book 4 now and apparently book 5 is where is gets really good. Shower scene anyone? I’m team Alcide right now.

Anywho, back to the topic. I’m a jealous b. I can admit it. It’s a problem I fully realize but haven’t found a solution for. It’s a work in progress, just like me. So, the past week, I went to rodeo a couple times with Cowboy. There’s obviously plenty of walking, since this is a Texas sized event. Often, hubs would walk 5-15 feet behind me. Since losing all this weight, I want him walking right next to me. Well even before losing weight I wanted that. I want him walking next to me, proud that I’m his hot wife. A couple times, during the walking, I’d look back annoyed because he wasn’t right next to me. Cowboy is not a jealous person normally. Lately, there have been a couple sparks, but that never happened while at rodeo last week. Of course, when the sparks happened, I’m like a kid with a shiny new toy. Oh, did I find a new button to press? We went to the movies last week, (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and I wore my gym clothes, a sleeveless tank and baggy gym shorts. I walked ahead of him like normal and he was behind me. There was a  guy in front of the entrance that apparently was staring at me. I didn’t notice. When hubs walked by him, he asked the guy, uh, can I help you? I smiled. Because again, hubs is not normally a jealous person.  

We went to rodeo last night, and our Lake Jackson friends were unable to join us. They never called me so I was a bit annoyed, but still understanding with that. We had extra tickets so I invited my favorite co-worker, Tigre. Tigre is hilarious and has been to our home for our Halloween party last year. He’s pretty much my work husband. Anywho, Tigre drove me to rodeo since hubs was running late, or behind. I was hungry/didn’t want to wait. When hubs finally arrived, I was sitting next to work husband eating a delicious fajita chicken skewer. I didn’t notice Cowboy’s face, but Tigre did and he was like, hubs is jealous, ma’am. We walked towards the stadium and hubs was right by my side, even put his hand on the small of my back. He never did that last week. While sitting down at rodeo, Tigre and I were talking, mostly work stuff, or eye candy comments. Hubs was on the other side of me and couldn’t hear what we were talking about and it bothered him. Cowboy complained about having to get up early today (show usually isn’t over until 10 and with traffic, we’ll get home around 11. I told him, Tigre can take me home (I really just meant back to work where my car was). Hubs response was, he can take you home, to his home, and then I’m locking the door, permanently. Wow! Another button pressed. He’s never said something like that. We stayed almost to the end, it was a packed house for Miranda Lambert, but we all walked out before the end of the show to avoid the heavy traffic. We got home, hubs watched The Voice, and I read more True Blood. I went to bed around midnight and hubs came in after, and I was falling asleep.

I was almost dead to the world, which I think is the title of the True Blood book I’m on now, when hubs started kissing me. Then there was shake the bed time, for a solid hour. Hubs has always had amazing stamina, but damn. I was pretty impressed with his performance last night. I had to recover after that. He joked after, are you going to work out tomorrow? I told him, I don’t know my legs are sore now. My hips, my arm, legs were still sore this morning. My arm? I know. Wow! After being ignored all weekend, well I felt ignored, last night made up for it.

So yes, maybe jealousy is an ugly color, but it looks so good on me.

Favorite co-worker loves to say that. “I haven’t had that in a minute.” It’s been a minute. Same thing. Anywho, I’m down to 207, hovering, patiently. Hubs and I went to rodeo tonight to see Blake Shelton and the aftershow was Honeybrowne, the band hubs and I danced to the night I met him. Such a great way to celebrate our anniversary. I really enjoyed seeing them again at a bigger venue with way more fans. Just a lovely evening. Here are some pictures.

Yours truly, rocking my favorite dress/boots.

Hubs’ self portait.

Me/hubs relaxing on the fancy club level before the show.

Us again. I this picture.

Our friends David/Chelsea. We saw Kid Rock with them last week.

Saturday, we’re going to see Chris Young with them. I love so many of his songs. Hubs wants me to wear something cowgirl. Oh darn, more shopping. you guys!