A Little Color, A Lot of CUTE!

Well you asked for it!  Y'all know I'm a shopaholic and my friends and family are always sending me messages, leaving me messages or telling me that they want to see what I bought.

You see I am still building my wardrobe.  Who knew it would be such a chore???  LOL!  Seriously, when you make a clean sweep of your closet going from a 26/28 to an 8, you've got to replace everything including all of your undergarments, socks and shoes...well most of the shoes.  My old shoes are too big!  Yay!  There are so many occasions for wearing different kinds of clothing and this year I realized that I did not have ANY nice tops or slacks that could be worn to a holiday gathering/party.  What???  Well that's just another reason to shop!  Woohoo!

I am very grateful for the kindness and generosity of my sweet dh and my wonderful mother...for their gifts allowed me to shop for my birthday and add these great finds to my wardrobe!  Oh and I cannot forget my friend Laurie who gave me a gift card from NY&Co!

A few fun facts about my shopping:

• All of my blouses and pants are from New York & Company...my favorite store.
• My dresses are from Ross, H&M and the cute little tan dress with the black lines is from Papaya.  
• The most expensive dress was $21..all others were only $14 or less!  Woohoo!  
• They all look great with tights and tall boots...they are above the knee dresses.  Just like I like 'em!
• My shoes are by Anne Klein and feel like I am walking on air!  Mmmmmmm!  Perfect for a day of shopping!  LOL!
• Now, I still need a couple of nice cover up sweaters and a nice pair of heels.  Nope...I don't own any...just boots with heels.  The old ones are too big and had to be given away to charity.  Yay!
• I'm going shopping next week!  I haven't depleted my birthday fund!  Woohoo!

Well there you have it!  Are you a shopaholic?  What is your favorite store?  What great find, did you come across recently?

Share and have a happy, shopping, weekend!

My New Tahari Boots are FIYAH!!!

Ok...I admit...I've been bitten!  Bitten by the shopping bug and it's a BIG ASS BUG!!!  I LOVE shopping for this new slimmer, fitter body...smaller feet.  I dropped a shoe size.  Yeh baby!  I get to experience things I never experienced before...like walking around in heels without needing to take a seat,  without the pain of aching feet because the weight was just too much.  I know I've said it before, that I only wore flats at 285 lbs.  Heels were just not comfy.  I know there are plenty of plus-sized girls who are rocking heels.  I just wasn't one of them.  They just HURT!

Anyway, this past weekend, I discovered Tahari!  Ohhhhh and I fell in LOVE.  I love good quality leather!  I only bought one pair (see at right), but I wanted two and I must say that second pair just might find it's way into my closet before the end of the year. Check out that 2nd pair here. I've got a birthday and Christmas coming up.  Hmmmmm?  They're on sale now!!! Rooobbbbeeerttt!!!!

Well girls...don't you love 'em???  Are they FIYAH or what!








The formerly, morbidly obese, shopping, scrappin', healthy living DIVA!

Save an additional 25% off on clearance items!

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I got this in my inbox yesterday and who better to share this with than you!  Every girl loves shopping and wants to save...so here ya go!

Share.  Tell your friends.


Happy shopping...I'm hitting the stores this Saturday!

...and be sure to come back next week to see if I had a successful shopping trip!

4 inch heels and a new dress!

Did I say, 4 inches?  Yes, I did!  Not only did I rock these for my friends wedding but I even danced in them and survived!  For the first time EVAH!  Woohoo!

As a girl who previously weighed over 280lbs I NEVER wore heels.  They hurt like hell!  For me it was not fun at all.  I LOVED flats and had a closet full.  However, now I have a tough time wearing perfectly flat shoes. I need some sort of heel.  They make me feel sexy!

Here I am in my heels and the new dress I bought yesterday morning (for less than $20) before the wedding.  At this size shopping is so much fun again!

Speaking of shopping...I picked up my dress at Ross!  I LOVE Ross.  I can go in, go straight to my size and pick up tons of items I like and head to the dressing room.  On this day, I tried on 21 dresses and came home with 4 for only $67!  For me that was a good day!

What is your go to store?  Where do you like to shop and save?

















Be happy. Be healthy. Be creative

My 1st Little Black Dress - The Anniversary Recap

Just last week I shared our anniversary dining out plans, as well as my healthy tips for eating out.  Well, I just had to come back and give you an update.  It was our first time at this restaurant and boy what a FANTASTIC choice.  I had decided that I wanted to photograph the meal this year, instead of just us for my scrapbook layout.  What a perfect place for photos.  It was beautiful inside, the waitstaff was wonderful and the meal delicious.  I was so involved with the atmosphere, the love of my life and the yummy food that I almost completely missed taking photos of the event!  LOL!

We started our meal out with a yummy plum tomato, basil and garlic flatbread.  It came out warm and sliced.  We ate the whole thing before I realized, I hadn't taken one picture.  Ooooops!  After asking way too many questions about the menu I finally decided on the Grilled Turkey Skewer, with veggies and orzo salad.  My dh chose Sea Scallops with asparagus and sun-dried tomato pasta.  Remember, one of the reasons we chose this restaurant is their menu boasts items from the Farmer's Market, fresh and in season.  It also features meals appropriately portioned and nothing on the menu is over 500 calories.  Wow!

When the food arrived it looked yummy!  Beautifully, presented.  We couldn't wait to try our main course and so we did and before we knew it...they were half eaten and guess what? No picture!  LOL!  Well, after having the flatbread and 1/2 of my Turkey Skewer, I was done and wanted to take the other 1/2 home...but before we packed it up...I snapped a photo.  It tells half the story...LOL!  However, half is better than nothing at all.

Keeping in line with appropriate portions, they serve what they call mini indulgences for dessert.  Oh my, just a perfect little taste of something decadent!  Small enough that you won't feel guilty but big enough that you won't be mad.  We both chose the Fresh Carrot Cake. Simply delicious.  I did snap a photo of the dessert.  Therefore, all was not lost.

We ended the evening with a few silly self pictures at home.

And last but not least a picture of me in my 1st little black dress.  You see earlier when shopping and I reached the cash register with a skirt and leggings...my dh steps up and pays and says, "Happy Anniversary." I say, "thanks, but I don't have a gift for you." (We don't usually do gifts, just dinner out.)  His reply, "Yes, you did. You gave me the gift of you.  The gift of a healthier you."   Once again, my heart is full and the silly girl in me too..so I say, "that's sweet.  I'm sure you like the slimmer, sexier me too."  Yep...I bet he does...she looks "sexy" in that little black dress!  LOL!  And this is the first time EVAH that I have worn one.  Yay!

My first pair of skinny jeans

Today, I celebrate 4 months at (actually below) my goal weight!  Yay!  I am 130lbs down and I decided to celebrate by buying my 1st pair of skinny jeans.  Woohoo!

This morning, I got up with an eager 12 year old and headed to the store and later to lunch.  She was very excited about my trying on skinny jeans.  She insisted that I buy skinny jeans and nothing else or at least no other jeans until I bought a pair of skinny jeans!  Well, what can you say, when a 12 year old keeps telling you how good you look in the jeans...well you know you've got to buy the jeans!  LOL!  So I did! SIZE 8!!!!  Woohoo!

Here I am.  Poses, also encouraged by that same 12 year old!  My niece, Ayanna.  LOL!

Happy 4 months of freedom!