HEY EVERYBODY!!!!
Oh where to start! FIRST and foremost... I miss you all very much... SECONDLY... everybody's new pictures are AWESOME... For those of you emailing me wondering where I am and if I have new pictures, I'm still here but haven't slowed down long enough to take any new ones. My sister said just this weekend we need to do that. So SOON! For the past couple of months, my life has been a crazy (but GREAT) whirlwind! I'm been spending all my spare time since the holidays on getting my new business off the ground... something I should have done more of LAST year... but that's water under the bridge. I'm working on designs for my first outdoor kitchens/living rooms for new clients and it is very detailed and tedious to do to make sure I've crossed all t's and dotted all i's. One of them is a HUGE Tuscan Themed space with kitchen, bar, fireplace, fire pit, dining area, sitting area, water feature that may include a spa/hot tub, a "Girlfriend's Secret area," and a golf putting green/chipping area. I have to make sure I've incorporated all the electrical and plumbing needs, etc. so once the flooring is down, we're good to go... whether it be concrete, pavers, etc. I also have to make sure I have exact specs for all the outdoor appliances, lighting, etc. Along with a thousand other little things... I've had what used to be a stable out behind my house converted into 3 new "rooms." One is becoming a vintage-decorated but functional potting shed. One side that was half open/half closed (I suppose where they took the horse in to wa****) is now a kewl screened room with ceiling fan where I'll put a big work table to do projects I can work on, leave, and come back to when I can. My favorite "room" is my new design studio. It was the tack/feed room (9 1/2 x 9 1/2). We put in insulation, particle board on bottom half and peg board on top half (so I've cleaned out every drawer and cabinet/closet in the house and have tools and "stuff" hanging out there where I can find it). I found these kewl old vintage red cabinets at the Habitat Reuse Center and a door to make my countertop/drawing table. I got 8 pieces for just $160 (and kept it out of the landfill). :) I found purple and yellow gold floor tiles (I AM an ECU Pirate) so we made a checkerboard floor in there... and then, I went to Stock Building Supply to their "Oddball Mall" (scratch and dent/extra stuff) and found a roll out window (exactly what I wanted) to put in the back wall of this closed in room (that looks into my neighbors pasture and his horses stand outside the window about 3 feet from me and "talk" to me), and happened to see out of the corner of my eye a set of French Doors. Both these windows and doors were BRAND NEW and still had stickers on them, but the new models had arrived for the showroom floor so they threw these into the Oddball Mall. I got probably $1000 worth of Anderson window/doors for $240 and that included tax! So I have this great "open" room now to escape to for my design work. I had DirecTV come and run a DVR out there so I can watch my HGTV or listen to Mozart to inspire me while out there working. I LOVE THAT NEW PLACE! I'm hoping to get things more organized around here soon so that maybe by fall I can have a WLS Group gathering here... so stay tuned for that. I'm getting inquiries from all over the place from folks finding my web page begging me to help them! It's WILD. Last week, in 4 days, I had an email from Huntington Beach, CA asking if I could help design a Yoga/Meditation space via email/online... one from Nashville, TN asking if I could help decorate a large wrap-around porch via online... one from Scarsdale, NY asking if I can help a gal who has ideas and a contractor design her outdoor kitchen, shower and living room... and another from somewhere in Michigan! But yesterday, a gal contacted me from MEXICO! with aerial views of her property that's a couple hundred yards from the Gulf of Mexico... she sent pictures of a GIGANTIC hacienda they are building and want to hire me to send some sketches of an outdoor kitchen, shower/bath, fire areas and living room to give their architect to draw into their house plans! I'm freak'n out... I'm running my first advertising in the June issue of Triangle Home Improvement magazine. The demographics are me! But I do fear getting inundated with calls because there just isn't anyone out there offering what I do... so I'm excited but also a bit scardt!! My house is a wreck! There are catalogs all over the place and magazine clippings still needing to be scrap-booked (that Barb helped me get started) for my "Inspiration" books. Vendors are coming to educate me and set up my accounts, 1-2 each week, and I have to leave in a few minutes to an overnight trip to Concord to meet with some folks who make custom frames for outdoor kitchens that I need to know more about and get that account in place. I try to have some sort of life and carve out time to spend with my family and sweet little nephew Wyatt so we all went fishing yesterday. I so missed coming Saturday, but we had a family reunion at 1:00 and I had to miss my FIRST WLS Raleigh brunch since I started coming last fall. My 6 month surgiversary was Friday and I hit 92 lbs. It's so unbelievable for me and all my family and friends! I've gone from Size 26 pants to 16's and about to move into 14's. I haven't felt so great since high school. I've gone from Morbidly Obese to Obese to one BMI point away from be "just" OVERWEIGHT! It's the most amazing thing ever...
I love and miss you all and wish I had more time to come in here to throw more recipes at you, and maybe soon I'll catch my breath to do that. Right now, I've gotta give it all I've got as this tidal wave of business is staring me in the face...
HUGS TO YOU ALL! I'll hop back in here as soon as I can...
It's IN to be OUT!”"
http://www.LivingInsideOut.net
H:260 G: 135 C:145 L: 131 BMI: 26 H: 5' 2 1/2"
RNY 10/07 LBL 11/09
