The secret to staying young...

“The secret to staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.” - Lucille Ball

Day 212 AS

What an incredibly fabulous glorious (add superlatives ad nauseum) day!!! And thanks to Lucy, I feel I can say I loved turning 33 today! ;)

I feel so very blessed on this birthday this year. As of Tuesday I was down 186 pounds from my high weight last April. I feel great! John and I went exploring today, the first exploration of which was to the Filoli mansion and gardens. While we were both struck by the abundant beauty, a couple of my favorite floral displays today included the garishly overblown (in the most fabulous way of course) tree peonies and the perfectly pruned wisteria. Our last stop of the day was at a local nursery where they still had some cut sweet pea flowers (the April birthday flower and one of my favorites!) for sale at an incredible bargain rate -- suffice it to say several bunches are now enhancing our table.

The VERY best news of the day is that our dear friend who underwent follow up to melanoma surgery last week got her lab results FINALLY today -- and the skin they excised around the cancer site and the two lymph nodes that were removed are all cancer free. Woohoo!! I was "reborn" on her birthday last year (my surgery day) and now we have great cause for celebration today on my birthday -- how cool is that?

The next best news is that I accepted a new job offer today and will start on Monday. The opportunity is VERY exciting. I'll be the Manager of Professional Services for a company that provides payroll, HR, benefits, time keeping and the like systems for mid-size employers. I interviewed with the VPs, the COO and the CEO last week and it feels like a great fit. I love the culture they are trying to instill and I know I can deliver a ton of value right out the gate. It's still operating with venture capital funding, but the last time I did this was at ProBusiness, and it turned out to be the very best job of my career to date. And the former ProBusiness CEO that took that company public is the CEO of this company... more cause for optimism, even in this yucky economy. John has a lead on a short term contract also, so with any luck at all we'll both be back in the work force soon... fingers crossed.

It sounds strange, but I feel like my weight loss helped a ton in landing this new exciting job so quickly. The company's in the same town as our home so is a wonderful commute. It's in a fairly large office building where it is the named tenant and inhabits the 3rd floor. Nice appointments... and very clean! I interviewed with the CEO in one corner of the building after which he escorted me to the COO's office at the opposite end of the building. A long walk at a nice clip -- and no huffing and puffing -- and no worry about having any either. This time last year I'd have had to ask him to slow down and might have even had to ask him to let me stop in the restroom on the way just to give me a moment to catch my breath... no issues at all of course. And I know I looked "right" for the job in my Jones New York suit.

Our support group this week was all about the numbers -- and statistically speaking, my numbers keep on continuing to get better. My BMI is still not normal -- I fall into the obese category still -- yet it's down to almost half of what it was this time last year... amazing. My waist circumference is still in the danger zone, but my waist to hip ratio is good now -- before it was bigger than my hips. I'm 26 pounds from a reasonably good BMI now and that feels so achievable. I'm down another size in clothing now -- and have hopes of going down one more yet. It's ALL good.

Thanks to all of you for your continuing support, not to mention the masses of awesome good birthday wishes I have received. Today has truly been special... thanks to all of you, and especially to my darling dearest John.