Out With a Bang

It's the end of an emotional week, topped by tonight being my last WW (Weight Watchers) meeting of my career with them. It's been nearly nine years!

One of my hallmarks as a leader/coach is that I always wear a special outfit. Today, the Firecracker Dress - 'cause I wanted to go out with a bang!

• Dress - Tangerine Jill, consignment; last worn here for New Year's Eve with fabulous booties
• Shoes - Big Presence Desmond, Fluevog; last seen here in May as a picnic princess
• Coat (below) - Club Monaco, thrifted; last worn here in May with stripes and regret-me-nots

This dress is a work of art - those are individual tabs of silk that are sewn onto the dress. But there are no seams down the sides, so those tabs were sewn on AFTER the black underdress was made. What an incredible amount of work!

"But what about meeee...?"

My coworkers and WW members variously called it post-it notes, confetti and Chiclets.

It's such a fun dress to wear - the flaps of fabric wave as I walk. It's also really comfortable - a jammy dress, for sure.

I needed that comfort today - instead of comfort food, it's comfort clothes!

 I've been emotionally preparing myself for a few weeks for tonight's meeting. I knew I wanted to share my story again with my group, and give them one last bit of inspiration. I also shared my blog with them for the first time, so hello! Welcome to my life. Thanks for swinging by!

Let me introduce you to my rotten cat, Vizzini, who ate 10 rubber bands this morning that he stole out of my purse while I was sleeping (they were for a tie-dye project). He eats a lot of things, including shoes *cough* here *cough* here *cough* here.

"All lies! This is not a good first impression, Woman."

We are keeping a very close eye on our little guy, though. We do love him to bits.

Edited to add: He barfed up a tangle of rubber bands this morning! Thanks to L for cleaning them up!

Outerwear - yes, once again, August strikes.

 It cleared up and got sunny later. Perhaps there's a little summer left after all?

The stuff:

Love these bright orange shoes. They're practically a neutral. That's one perfectly balanced heel.

Superfluous bling:

 The dress kind of accessorizes itself, but my additional big bold bling functions in the "Clothing as Armour" box for me today, giving me strength.

• Cuff/ring - 60s vintage, Italy, vintage mall
• Ring - c. 1996
• Earrings - vintage fair

Forgive my indulgence, but just nine years is a long time to do anything!

Some of the concrete things that I have as memories of all of the wonderful people I've helped, inspired and guided. I send them all thanks for inspiring ME.

• My 2013 award for Fastest Growing Meeting (received here, scroll way down; and gotten back here)
• My five year Certificate of Recognition (woo, a certificate, hee hee)
• My three name-tags over the years, oldest at the top to newest at the bottom
• My "inspiration" picture that I keep on my fridge

Here's a better look at my inspiration picture. That's L in the bottom with his Goblet of Rock - this is in June 2006 and it's my guy's birthday party. I'm 38 there.

I lost 50 lbs, starting two months after that, and have kept my weight off now for 12 years (an early post about my story here, and another aspect of it, my Dad's inspiration, here). I also did a post for my 10 lb celebration here.

I have always done 1-2 meetings a week since my very first "own" meeting here in 2009 (I did my training and subbed in some meetings in late 2008), and have been at my Thursday group for 3-4 years, I think? I adore my colleague Betty and will miss seeing her every week - we have been together from the start. I will miss my members, but this is a small town, and I'm sure I'll see some of them around.

So, why leave?

Wellness is a three-legged stool - this is the analogy I use. The legs are:

1. food: eating whole foods in proper portions; having occasional treats
2. exercise: moving whenever and however works for you
3. mental health: putting yourself first; doing that thing, whether it's art, music, whatever, that when you finish it, you go, "Ahhhhh...I need to do that more often."

When one or more legs is out of balance, your stool gets wobbly, or falls over.

My stool is wobbly.

I need to move more. One of the things I used to do on a regular basis is a weekly long walk, for about an hour, at a good pace (I used to racewalk - I've won a bunch of medals, pic here on our Bruins/Dolphins shrine). Since I now have my Thursday nights free, I'm going to do that walk then, rain or shine.

I also need to get back into my art. It has been years since I did my Zentangle (this is an example here, a fan I made for Mom), and my recent rediscovery of it (here), has reminded me that doing art centers me, helps me get my brain straight. I might even decide to start writing again (I used to host poetry workshops, have won awards and was published in a book sold at our local Chapters), although that is a bit of a treacherous deep dive, emotionally.

But right now, I need some purr therapy.

"Oh, so now the truth comes out."

Wishing you a wonderful weekend, my friends.

"Much love to my fans."

I'll be back on Sunday with the Bigass Weekend Wrap-Up and tales of adventure. Thank you for stopping by.