My birthday - 34

A couple months back I was thinking ahead and mentioned to my mom I would like to go wine tasting for my birthday this year. It came up in conversation with my aunt who said "Oh, I won this free lunch and antique limo ride thing through Cass Winery, we could go that day".

It became a fun relaxing girls day out. We couldn't have asked for better weather. It was a balmy mid-70s day. Cold enough for a sweater in the early afternoon but warm and refreshing as the afternoon wore on.



Seriously... look at this car. It was a 1947 Chrysler Windsor Limousine. My mom told me about a car that her and my dad had when my brother was a baby that this car reminded her so much of. My dad wanted to sell it to get a motorcycle.





I would love to rent out this space for an event



We had an amazing lunch at Cass and we got in the limo for a 5 hour trip to some of the local wineries. We got in the car and Erykah Badu's "Live" album was playing. (It was funny because my niece and I just loaded this album to our respective ITunes when she was in town visiting us 3 weeks ago. But I hadn't listened to it yet on my ITunes so to get in the car with this 60-something chauffeur playing this album. Priceless!)

My mama and I



My aunt and the chauffeur up front chatting about how he was picking up Drew Barrymore the next day for the film festival at Hearst Castle. We thought that was pretty cool.



We drive out several miles through the gorgeous hills around the wineries listening to music and chatting. As we start pulling into the next winery the car makes a funny noise and starts smoking. Luckily it made it around the parking lot and was able to safely park. We went in to wine taste and they had to call back to the winery for another car to pick us up and take us to get our car. Luckily the wine was good and the view was gorgeous so it did not put a damper on our day.







Left to our own transportation, we continued on to several wineries. I didn't get pictures at every stop (I think there were a total of 5), but here are a few from our day.









When we were done it was about a 20 minute drive home.

Have I mentioned that I LOVE where I live??

Motivation

A few weeks ago we were in Costco and I had Hannah in the cart. The lady was behind us in line and she was striking up a conversation about how her brother has an extra chromosome too and how handsome she thought Zach was.

Then she looked at me and Hannah and said "WOW! Someone really looks like their mommy!". The look on Hannah's face was priceless. She was beaming. She was proud.

It made me feel all warm and fuzzy but as the day went on it made me think about how much I want to be a mom for her to be truly proud of. I need to be the mom to shed this weight and be a healthier version of myself. For me AND for her.

I am proud to say that in the first 4 weeks, I am down 15 lbs and I am still going strong.

I want to feel like the mom that I see in my daughters eyes when she looks at me.

Shaking the dust off.....

...... of this blog.

I haven't been writing much in the last year and I do miss it. Over the years it has been therapeutic writing about the kids and life and Down syndrome. I love going back and reading the posts and seeing how much the kids have grown.

Rarely do I write about me. I have been thinking lately that I want to start writing more about me and using this to record some of my thoughts and talk about what I am up to. Next year I am vowing to be way more active. Not only me, but as a family. For all of us. I need to lose a large amount of weight and maybe if I talk about it more with others it will keep me accountable. In 2009 I lost 48 pounds in about 6 months. When I hit 50 I was going to post about it on here. I didn't hit 50. Then life got in the way and I stopped working on the weight loss. In 2010 life got crazy with ... well a lot!(you can go back and read the posts). And then Hannah turned 3 and officially entered CrazyTown and truth be told... I would have a glass of wine, or sometimes 3, a couple nights a week. It seemed to take the edge off of the stress of everything and those calories added up and back came the 50 lbs!

So I ask you... do this with me. Post comments and let me know you are with me. If we are Facebook friends we can stay in touch and motivate each other. I have also joined a couple friends on FitnessPal. It is a great free program that you can help make things a little easier.

2012 is going to rock. I can feel it!