.4 away from a double quinceanera!

Hopefully the title makes sense...ya know, 15=a quinceanera, and I've lost 29.6 pounds, so it's a double quinceanera! Okay, bad joke.

Yes, friends, not only is Malena a bad blogger-updater, but she has now lost 29.6 pounds!!! Holy crap! Am I forgiven for not updating my blog, Cade?

Here's the most recent picture of me, taken about 3 weeks ago (with my killer new haircut and my new favorite [smaller] shirt!):

Close up of the new DO:

And, a picture of my nephew, because he's ADORABLE:

Anywho, in other news, I'm trying to buy a condo! Trying, as in I can't really find one. I've been paying rent for 5 years now, and I'm ready for my own place. I'm all set to buy, but the condos I like already have offers made on them, and are therefore slightly unavailable. One of the complexes that I'm considering is right across the street from my aunt AnnaMarie (cross streets are Dobson/Broadway). It's so close to my work (about 3.5 miles-hello biking!), and right by family. The housing market in the Phoenix area pretty much crashed a few months ago, so now is the perfect time to buy. I'll keep you all updated!

Song of the blog:

Rascal Flatts-"Shine On"

Shine on, my friends. Shine on.

24 Bikes

I think I will call this blog ‘24 bikes‘. Did you see the movie ‘27 Dresses’? Well, this blog has nothing to do with that movie (great movie, by the way), but the title ‘24 bikes’ sounds cool. Basically, I have two topics for this update, so I need to combine them into one blog. Are you following me? Here goes.

Part Uno:
24 is the magic number! I have lost 24 pounds as of 2 weeks ago. I didn’t get a chance to weigh in this week, because I was in Utah. Maybe in 3 weeks you’ll get to find out how much I lost this week, but for now, 24 is my new best friend.

I’ve never seen the show ‘24’, but the logo is fitting for this part of the blog. Moving on!

Part Zwei;
I bought a bike! He is my old-new best friend. I LOVE him! I don’t know why I decided to buy a bike, or call ‘it’ a ‘he’ for that matter, but I’m sure glad I did. I am lucky to have some friends who are willing to bike with me, and I have enjoyed going on long bike rides with them every week. I say ‘enjoyed’ because I live in Arizona, and biking in our current weather is like a death wish. For the first few weeks I had the bike, I rode to work a few times (hello…12.02 miles!), and went on long bike rides almost every night. I wish I could continue to bike daily, but it’s not really possible. I’m anxiously looking forward to the cooler weather (in 6 months), so I can REALLY get into biking. I took my bike to Utah with me last week, and enjoyed riding it in the canyon and around the neighborhood.

When I told my dietician the amount of exercise I was doing with my bike, she just about died. I guess people my ‘size’ aren’t able to do that much exercise, and the fact that I was doing it, willingly, really surprised her. She commended my new hobby, and I am quite pleased with that.

Wow, did I really just make that whole paragraph into one sentence? Sharla, don’t kill me!

Any who, thanks for checking up on me, and thanks for your comments.

Until next time, I leave you with a very appropriate song for this blog.

‘24’ by Switchfoot. Funny video, too.

My favorite line: “I’m not coping out.” Darn right.

Coming Soon...

This blog entry it to let you know of a blog entry which is upcoming, but not yet completed.

Thanks to my faithful, and oh-so devoted readers (*cough*cademelaniesharla*cough*), I have been warned that if I don't update my blog, I will be disowned from the family...seriously.

Here's to family threats!

Malena

Dieting, The Book of Mormon, the Gospel, Prayer, etc...

About six months ago something happened to me. I’m not entirely sure what, but it helped me completely turn my life around. I never did anything bad, I just wasn’t doing anything good. I think it started with a book: Standing For Something by Gordon B Hinckley (go read it, if you haven’t.). I like reading church books, but I haven’t ever really applied them. For some reason, I felt compelled to apply what I was learning in this book. Slowly, my life started to change. The changes were gradual and small, but I find myself today, looking back in amazement at everything that has changed. I first began to give service. Not huge life-changing service, but the small stuff that makes someone smile, or have a better day. I also started to pray…for real. After I had the praying down, I started to read The Book of Mormon (again, go read it if you haven’t). Today, six months later, I continue to give service, I have real prayers everyday, I’m just wrapping up with Mosiah in The Book of Mormon, I’ve become 50 times more social, I’ve lost weight (and still continue to), etc…

My reason for mentioning the things above is to explain why I’ve been able to lose weight. My hope is that someone can read this blog, become inspired and motivated, and begin their own journey. There are so many things I am doing differently with my current weight loss endeavor, and those things have made all the difference. I believe that I at where I am today because of the things that I have done personally to prepare for this journey. When I began reading The Book of Mormon and praying, I had no intentions of losing weight (even though I knew I needed to), in fact, it was pretty much the furthest thing from my mind at that time. As my relationship with my Heavenly Father grew, so did my desire to change several things in my life. One thing I’ve always wanted to do was to become more social, and with the help of wonderful roommates and friends, I now attend all the church activities I can, and I actually talk to other people. I try to sit with people I don’t know at church, and I frequently invite people over to the house (mainly to watch The Office… :). Weight loss just came along as a side thought one day, and without hesitation, I decided that was the direction I needed to go. The things that I started to learn about myself, and about my habits were so profound, that I decided to document it. Hence, the birth of a new blogger.

Every night I pray for strength with several things. I recognize that I can’t make any progress without the help of my Heavenly Father, and so I ask him to help me with specific things I struggle with. I used to have terrible cravings, and now I find those same things repulsive. I was just reading a talk from October 2007 General Conference by Elder Bruce D. Porter titled A Broken Heart and a Contrite Spirit. I line in that talk really stuck out to me: “When we yield our hearts to the Lord, the attractions of the world simply lost their luster.” I’m sure this statement can apply to several different things, but I felt like it really applied to my situation. I am praying to the Lord to help with my cravings, and now those things I used to crave have simply lost their luster. Amazing, eh?

I find that when I am reading The Book of Mormon, I come across verses that really stick out. It’s almost like they were put in there to help me, because they really have. Here are a few of my favorites:

2 Nephi 32:9 “But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul.”
Jacob 3:1 “But behold, I, Jacob, would speak unto you that are pure in heart. Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions…”
Jacob 3:11 “O my brethren, hearken unto my words; arouse the faculties of your souls; shake yourselves that ye may awake from the slumber of death; and loose yourselves from the pains of hell that ye may not become angels to the devil, to be cast into that lake of fire and brimstone which is the second death.”
Mosiah 10:11 What not to do: “Now, the Lamanites knew nothing concerning the Lord, nor the strength of the Lord, therefore they depended upon their own strength. Yet they were a strong people, as to the strength of men.”
Enos 1:15 “…I cried unto him continually, for he had said unto me: Whatsoever thing ye shall ask in faith, believing that ye shall receive in the name of Christ, ye shall receive it.”

Now, I know that some of the scriptures might warrant an explanation, and that is something I will provide upon request. Each of these scriptures spoke to me at a certain point in my journey, and they aided in allowing me to overcome some type of obstacle. There are so many things pertaining to the Gospel that have helped me, and I wish I could list them all, but I’m afraid this blog would be never ending.

In closing, I am grateful for the trials I have faced in my life, they have only served to make me stronger. I know that if I’m looking for help with things in my life, I make sure that I have the important things in my life in order, and the help will come. It may not be in a way I want, or in a way I initially recognize, but it always comes. Again, I did not begin these small changes in my life with the hope of greater things coming about, but they did, and for that I am very grateful. It’s been six glorious months, and I’m in this for the eternal haul (if you will). I’ve lost 20.6 pounds so far and I’m loving life.

The best Office episode EVER!

Yeah, Thursday night was the best night EVER. Here is why:



I'm so giddy, I'm making myself sick.

Here's another clip, from the second best episode ever. This takes place before the previous clip. Enjoy!



P.S. I bought a bike! More on that next time!

:) <----That's me-VERY HAPPY!

Sorry for the delay in updates. I've decided to post my 'Dieting & The Book of Mormon' blog later, as I can't seem to get the final draft just right. Stay tuned!

Lets see...where to begin. I lost a slightly disappointing 1 pound two weeks ago, but this last week was AMAZING! More on that later... :)

I went to Utah for conference last week, and got to spend some quality time with my family, including Lindsay and Natalie, who live in Oregon and Oklahoma, respectively. It was a much needed vacation (of sorts) and I was very happy to see my family, whom I miss immensely. I was lucky enough to travel with some good friends from my ward, and we had a really good time...all 24 hours in the car together. None of them had been to conference before, and one of them was just baptized in February, so it was nice to be able to be with them for their first live conference experience. Here are some pics:

Clark, Jason, and Danielle outside of the conference center

Danielle, Jason, Clark, and me!

I wasn't sure if I'd lose any weight while in Utah, but when I got back, lo and behold, I lost 5 POUNDS...or as my roommate, Lindsey says "That's as much as a premature baby!" This brings my total of weight loss to 20.2 POUNDS! YIPPPEEEEEEEE!!!!!

Here are some pictures of me, after 15.2 pounds of weight loss. Can you tell the difference?

Me and my sisters!

My friend Lamar, and I at a Phoenix Coyotes hockey game

I'm feeling good, things are going great, and I'm excited for my progress!

On an unrelated note...Is everyone as excited as I am that The Office is back on?! My life has had a void in it for the last 5 months, and now I feel complete. The Office is the greatest. Go watch it. I'm watching it as we speak!

Thanks for reading, and come back soon!

Questions!

I'm fairly new to this whole blogging thing...so I'm wondering how I can add a list to my blog of other bloggers blogs. Wow, that's kind of fun to say...

Also, obviously this layout is a generic one, how do I make the layout my own? Melanie-I especially like yours. How do I do that?

Any other cool things you guys can help me with to add to my blog would be much appreciated!

Thanks for your help fellow bloggers!

P.S. Here is the picture of the stapler in Jello, as requested by Aunt Ellen.