Bubble Butt, Thunder Thighs, Muffin Top

Be very jealous - I got 'em all, baby!  But not for long. 

You guessed it.  This is my semi-annual attempt to lose weight.  You may remember 190 or Ouch! or  Running.  Every single time, I was bound and determined to lose weight, get in shape and become a runner. 

I've had this blog for 5 years, and I've written about "trying" to get in shape about 5,000 times. 

I have yet to follow through.

But this time is different.  I feel it in my bones.  I'm fed up with being overweight, under-energized, and most of all, I recently discovered this disgraceful fact:


I currently weigh more. than. my. father. 

Shut up and quit laughing. 

I should focus on the positive  here.  I mean, way to go, Dad!  I'm proud of you for losing weight.  But I kind of hate you, too.

Anyway, if that's not enough motivation to make it stick this time, I don't know what is....

Our 1D Summer

Today is a sad day. It's the end of summer. And this was not just any summer.

 This was the

 summer.

Yes, I'm a freak – a 43-year-old woman who adores One Direction. Their music is so fun and catchy, and the boys are all so stinkin' cute.  I like a lot of popular Christian music, but I haven't heard anything quite so upbeat from the Christian genre.

Last December, 1D was advertising their upcoming 2nd world tour.  I remember thinking how much I would love to take my girls to a concert.  I thought, "If only we had an extra $1000, then I could get tickets for them to see their favorite band."  Less than a week later, a $1000 check showed up on our doorstep!  Coincidence?  Maybe.  But I asked my husband if we could please use just a bit so my girls and I could go to a 1D concert.  When money had been tight for so long, it seemed a little silly to blow a small wad on something that seems frivolous, but I wanted to do something FUN with my girls after a couple of challenging summers. So it happened, (and no, we did not spend even close to the $1000 on concert tickets, FYI.  I just think that God is so awesome that He dropped the exact amount in our lap that I had been hoping for, even though it didn't take nearly that much to buy tickets).

The girls and I drove to Chicago and stayed with my best friend for a weekend full of the most fun I can remember. Aside from seeing the hottest band in the world, the girls and I also took a train by ourselves into downtown Chicago. We walked to Millenium Park and splashed in the fountain.  As we wandered around a bit, we would hear a rise in the noise from time to time and my girls' ears would perk up, and they would peer through the crowd to see if they might spot the 1D boys, on the extremely off chance that they might have slipped away from their very busy schedules to frolic in the windy city. No such luck.  We eventually got turned around so we caught a cab back to Union Station.  Being the dork that I am, I had no idea if it was kosher to sit in the front seat of a cab, so I smashed myself into the back seat with my girls and ended up on my teenager's lap!

At the concert, we had lawn seats (I told you I didn't spend the whole $1000!  If I had, we *might* have gotten a little closer....)  It didn't matter in the end - with binoculars and 12,000 other people, we danced and sang the night away with 1D.

We also caught the opening night of 1D's documentary-movie, “This is Us.” It was not nearly as exciting as seeing them in person in Chicago, but it was fun to do it with my girls.

As if that weren't enough excitement, two other events made this summer spectacular as well. On August 23, my nephew (and god-son) got married! August 24 was my parents' 50^th wedding anniversary, so my entire family stayed at the Radisson in Green Bay for a celebration-packed weekend.

My parents with my nephew and his new bride 

(disclaimer - this picture was taken by someone else and posted on my FB page, so I do not take credit for this photo.)

If I had to choose my favorite part of the summer, I might say it was the 1D events. Of course, the family wedding and anniversary were extraordinarily fun. But a girls' weekend in Chicago, complete with a 1D concert, cemented my relationships with them, and gave us some of those “time stands still” moments in my children's ridiculously fast childhoods. My oldest is starting high school. In the blink of an eye, she will be grown up. I only have 4 more years to call her my own, and then she will be her own person. Sure, we will still be able to go to concerts and have girls' weekends together, but it won't be the same.

Nothing will ever be quite as memorable as our 1D summer.