One jam-packed blog post! (about the week!)

Ooh, baby baby! This week is o-v-e-r! I have been up since 4 AM.

...and this girl does NOT do 4 AM.

Wednesday through today, my company was all in madness about our quarterly divisional meetings that ensued. I will try to explain this, but you may get confused. My company is owned by a holding group. The man who owns my company is the 168th wealthiest man in the entire universe. The 3rd wealthiest man in Canada. He is a big deal - he is our investor who buys companies and hires a President for each company to run it. There are many different companies that are apart of the holding company. For instance, I work for our publishing company. There is also a back office Administration company, wine business, automotive group, all of the Ripley's "Believe it or not" attractions, and we even own the "Guinness Book of World Records". Thus, four times a year, all of the Executives from each different business come together to show financial and business presentations. This quarter we were chosen to host. 

It was a busy, busy week. It's now Friday evening, I am on my couch writing a blog entry, resting, and I cannot think of anywhere else I would rather be. I ran around so much this week. Assisting my President, setting up for ALL of our events (that alone was a full time job), attending meetings, and still running my office. I wore my heart rate monitor this week because I was curious as to how much I was really running around - from Wednesday to Friday, 10-12 hour days each day, I walked nearly 17 miles. That is a LOT. All of that in my dress attire with full out hair, makeup, and jewelry... and heels. Oh, heels. I love you, but gosh you were killing my feet.

I had to keep my favorite quote at my desk, especially on a week like this. - keeps me positive!

My curls were cooperating this week for Wednesday - day one. And that is important to me. I love hot rollers and swear by them, but you never know what you're going to get. I was also double pleased because it really made the red in my hair come out. 

This is random but I love having those red streaks in my hair! It just completely sucks red fades so fast. At least I have a hair appointment on December 20th to spruce it back up!

Amidst the chaos and tiredness from work this week, I went by "Anna Linen's" last night. I picked out a new bedding set for my bed. I have had leopard and zebra print for years now and sadly, it is time to retire it.

I move into my new apartment two weeks from tomorrow and I could not be more excited. It is a one-bedroom, but it is really big, open, and spacious. It's almost 900 square feet. 

The theme for my new apartment is going to be old gothic and Victorian!

To go with my new decor, I needed new furniture for my bed and living room. Basically furniture wise, it will all be black. A lot of shiny blue, red, and white will be accented with everything. However, this can get pricey so I have to be frugal about it. Luckily, someone on Ebay was selling a black nightstand, black TV stand, and a small dresser - all for $100. After working all day today, I went by picked up the furniture from him, unloaded it and brought it up to my current apartment all. by. myself. I am pretty damn proud - just call me the energizer bunny!

Speaking of my new apartment, below are a few pictures of where I am moving. I am missing a lot of pictures like my built in bookcase that I love, but when I was touring the place, I was so excited that I did not take a lot of pictures.

When you first walk into the apartment, is a big opening with a coat closet that leads to a semi-long hallway, I like it. 

Standing on the edge of the hallway, there is a half view with some of the living room, dining area, and kitchen.

Another living room view, I love all of the windows. I have gorgeous curtains that will look fantastic on them!

View into the kitchen. I was so surprised, when I opened that pantry door you see below. It is a HUGE room - so much pantry space and a full size washer and dryer going in there. Now I understand why the room is quite small for the size of the apartment.

Bedroom: Because the living area is so big, the bedroom is paying for it. Between my king size bed, small dresser, and nightstand, I will not have room for much else.

So, thank goodness for big closets!

Partial bath area with nice garden tub.

I can't wait to be there. A short week at work is coming up, then Thanksgiving, then the next weekend, I will be moving. Lots of great things company up so it is nice to look forward to all of that. But for now, I am going to go pick up Panera for dinner then come back for a bubble bath and watch "The Dead Files" marathon. This girl is ready to veg out. Have a great weekend guys!

"Real Women Have Curves?"... No.

So. My name is Liz and this is my body:

I'm not thin. I'm not skinny.

I'm pretty curvy. I have a big butt, my legs are big in comparison to my upper body, and big natural boobies that can be very annoying at times.

I have lost over 100 pounds and I am pretty damn proud. 

However, I want to step on my soap box and say that I loathe the term "real women have curves". I heard women at work talking about it today and then I saw this article on "The Huffington Post". I hate the divide that is among women, a lot of it brought on by society and the media. I love women and I am all for "girl power". When I was in the cosmetics world, one of the best parts of the job I had was improving a woman's self esteem. I also enjoy promoting my girlfriends in every way I can. 

I see no point in jealously, cattiness, and most of a divide. We all need to lift each other up, not tear each other down. 

ALL women are beautiful. If you are thin, fit, slightly overweight, "skinny", and/or regular. The quote needs to read: "real women are who they are". We all come in different shapes and sizes, and we are ALL real women and beautiful.

In comparison to that, I don't like articles celebrating obesity. If you click the link I have above from "The Huffington Post" it has "regular" (and I use this term mocking, just look at the pictures" modeling in lingerie. Here is an example from the article:

I am not judging these women at all. I would be their friend in a heartbeat, I would support them, and they sre probably very intelligent, successful, goodhearted people - not to mention brave and confident. That alone is beautiful. I don't know what their story is or their struggles. 

However, being that much overweight with a significant amount of body fat is NOT healthy. This is not what we need to promote amongst ourselves and especially the youth. When I was 274 pounds in 2008, I felt depressed, fatigued, and down a LOT. I was very overweight. People would tell me to just "love the skin I was in", however, the skin I was in, was killing me. I was on the verge of heart problems, clogged arteries, and diabetes. That is not anything to celebrate. It will literally amaze you to see how many issues with our health that can be cured solely by being fit and healthy. 

Now that I have lost over 100 pounds, I feel like a brand new person and all of those potential diseases I could have had are gone, my physical and my health are in tip top shape. That is something to celebrate. That is beautiful. 

I say: "Real men AND women come in all different shapes and sizes. Real women are intelligent, confident, and know their self worth. Real women know that their outer appearance does not define them, but takes pride in their health."

Lets work on empowering one another and helping when we can. A divide amongst what is beautiful does no good for anyone.

To view another post on my view of women, jealously, and friendships click here..