Happy Birthday

So tomorrow marks the start of another year, one in which I am 23.  Normally I am not so gung-ho or excited about it but this year is different for me. This year, I am actually excited to celebrate with people and I have planned a simple day with friends of mine because that is what I wanted. 

I have learned over the past few years not to expect/anticipate anything because you only set yourself up to be disappointed in the long run. So, that is the attitude I have taken, not just for my birthday but for any day of the year. This way when something unexpected happens that is good, I can be thoroughly surprised and relish in the fact that it was unanticipated. 

When I turned 18, I decided that there would no longer be any 'family' parties. I wanted to chose who I wanted to celebrate my birthday with and I always HATE going out and having the wait staff sing Happy Birthday to me. So every year, I pick who I want to celebrate my birthday with. The past two years was with my priest at college and some friends. We would go out and get ice cream. Yes, I know it is the middle of winter but for those of you who know me know that I LOVE ice cream at any time of the year. This year I am spending it with two friends of mine who I have grown close to and am starting to really find myself with them. Just being around them, they have influenced my life in such a positive way that it was obvious who I wanted to hang out with this year.

This year also marks the almost end of a 10 year chapter where my weight was above 213 lbs. I am proud to say that after weighing in this morning I am below that number and am no longer the weight I was in 8th grade. I am moving to bigger and better things by getting healthier and working out. The next year of my life gives me so many new opportunities each and every day that I am going to grab it and go. I will be able to get into Onederland (May 18th) for the first time since I was 12. What a huge accomplishment that will be when I get there and can say, yes I did it!!

I also had a non scale victory that I wanted to share. My sister bought skinny jeans from American Eagle that are a size 18. She is unable to wear them so she gave them to me. At the time I was unable to wear them so I decided to put them in my pile of 'too small but I will fit into them eventually'. Well this morning, after having my confidence boosted with the numbers on the scale, I decided to try them on for size and see if I had a chance of wearing them. Well, they FIT!!! That is right, I am wearing American Eagle pants!! I never in a million years thought I would be able to wear something and I feel like the coolest person in the world right now. Especially because I was half hoping that they would fit.

Since I will be at my friends this weekend I will not be on the computer so thought I would post. Have a wonderful weekend to all my friends! Hope you had a nice Valentine's Day with your loved ones!!

☺Ashley☺