I pondered the title of this post for a minute y'all! I mean, after being off the scene for so long, it's kinda hard to settle on one topic, so I rolled the dice, and they landed on a "Chronicles" post, how fitting right!?! This topic gives me the freedom to yap about it all hUntY, and that's exactly what I plan on doing!
So, let's get reacquainted, let me give you the tea on the day-to-day happenings of Mrs. Maya D!
---->INSERT CUSSWORD<----- didn't call me fat, what the ----->INSERT CUSSWORD<----- is wrong with him, Lol!
Y'all, this dude was GOING IN, not only did he call a sistah FAT, but he also told me that I had let myself go, he told me that I needed to take charge of my life and that If I continued on the road I was treading, I would be extremely fat, unhealthy and ultimately unhappy. He had the nerve to pull out his handy-dandy chart and grind down on the fact that I'd gained 15 pounds in a matter of 5 months. Needless to say, he gave me the business, I felt terrible, Doc had completely KILLED MY VIBE! BUT not for long, fact is, I knew that he was speaking the TRUTH! That truth resulted in me finding the strength to lose a whopping twenty pounds! I went from weighing ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY-THREE POUNDS to my current weight of one hundred and seventy-three pounds! I'm not done though, I plan on losing twenty more (my goal weight is one hundred and fifty pounds).
Lets take a look at my before and after shall we :)
BEFORE (above) Note: Turning to the side makes you look leaner in photos, hence the reason I took a lot of side shots in my previous photos :)
After (above) I know this shots kinda blurry, but hopefully you all can see the change :)
Now that we've covered my weight loss, lets chat about whats been happening on the family front!
During my absence from the blogosphere, we were blessed to have celebrated six special birthdays; my babies (Emanuel, TaeSean and Amaya), and my three nephews (Jonathan, Tyriek, and Anthony)
Emanuel is now SIXTEEN years old! TaeSean is THIRTEEN years old, and Amaya is SIX years old. Yes, you read that correctly, I now have TWO teenage boys! Can you dig it world, my babies are growing up!
For TaeSean's 13th birthday, we did some shopping, he decided to cop a pair of KD's, some Ralph Lauren shirts and shorts, cargo pants and a couple of shirts from Tilly's. That weekend we took a day trip to Daytona Beach, where we kicked back and relaxed while enjoying each others company. Of course a birthday celebration is never complete without a good ole meal to eat. His restaurant of choice was Bubba Gump; he happens to be a seafood lover like his mommy, Yummo! After dinner we hit the road to head back to Orlando. Before we could get to the highway, we looked over to the left and WHAT. DO. YOU. KNOW, the HOT NOW sign was on at Krispy Kreme… as one can imagine, the rest was history! We bussed an ILLEGAL U-turn and snatched-up a box of yummy treats! Please note, this was BEFORE the weight loss guys, lol!
Ironically, I remember taking tons of pictures of the kiddos playing on the beach, as well as all of the food and drinks we'd ordered, but for some reason I can't seem to find them.... MAJOR effin' BUMMER right! Perhaps, I may have captured the images on my hubby's phone. Anyhow, here's what I have!
For Emanuel's 16th Birthday, he requested THE WORLD.... but we decided to go with the thing that would have the most impact.... A ROOM MAKEOVER :) He's a die-hard Knicks fan, so we decked his room out in orange and blue as only a TRUE Knicks fan would do. Let me tell you, he was so excited about it! Hubs also went the extra mile and stood in a horribly LONG line to cop him the "Low Eleven's". For all you non-sneaker heads... that's a pair of popular Jordan's that were released this summer. Lastly, Emanuel wanted Madden 25. The funny thing is, hubs had ordered the Collectors Edition for himself, at a whopping ONE HUNDRED BUCKS! Somehow or another, when the package arrived, Emanuel assumed that it was for him. Upon receiving the package, he popped that baby in and got to playing that game as he'd never played before! The game had been here for like two days before Reuel realized that Emanuel had it, lol!!! Y'all he was online tracking the status of that package like crazy, he kept saying, "UPS claims they delivered the package, but we haven't received it yet" He was shocked when he found out that Emanuel had the game, I felt bad for him too, he was really anticipating the joy of opening that package! Here's a few pix of Eman's room! :)
For Amaya's 6th Birthday, we had a small house party (with 25 guest). It was loads of fun, she got to hang out with her buddies and bounce until she couldn't bounce anymore. It was truly a good time. We had all of her favorites... hot dogs, hamburgers, sausages, Barbecue chicken, potato salad, veggies, fruit, chips, cake, cupcakes, ice cream, strawberry lemonade, old fashion lemonade, popcorn and a mini candy bar! She'd requested an iPad Mini and an "All dolled up" Barbie hair kit... She was elated when she saw that she'd got exactly what she asked for. The look on her face was PRICELESS... Hubs and I were delighted! I had Amaya's party decorations made at an Etsy Shop called Paper Party Parade. Robin is simply awesome to work with, she did a FANTASTIC JOB with everything. The goods didn't have the mass-produced feel like the party supplies you get from major company's like Party City, Wal-Mart and Target. They were handmade and personalized for my little angel, and that alone made my heart smile. Thanks
Robin, you rock!
Here are a few pix of Cupcake's birthday celebration
Then of course there was the back to school madness! Here are some pix of my babies on the first day of school, me-oh-my have they grown.
Aside from the FAB birthdays, we celebrated yet another MAJOR milestone! As many of you know, I'm married to one of the GREATEST, most selfless Chiefs in the UNITED STATES NAVY! This man of mine shakes my soul.... I LOVE HIM SO VERY MUCH. He has made countless sacrifices for not only our family, but for our COUNTRY. My baby has served this country for a whopping twenty-one years, he served five years in the Marine Corps and sixteen years in the Navy. Thats a life-time for some. On the 28th of August, we were blessed to celebrate his retirement. It has been a honor to have a front-row-seat in the life of such an amazing individual. I've watched him go through many chapters of his career, I've seen him overcome so many challenges. He has earned the right to stand strong and proud of the freedoms he has defended, the freedoms that many of us take for granted. It did my heart good to sit before him on his special day, to celebrate the many memories we share of his time in the Navy, and lastly, the new memories we will create in the coming years. ANCHORS UP, we've set-sail into another chapter of our beautifully blessed life. Thank you Reuel, we're all happy to have you home for good sweetheart. Also, to our lovely family and friends, we'd like to thank each of you for joining us. Sista Cee, you put a hurting on the food you prepared, everything you made was delightful... we didn't have ANY LEFTOVERS! You definitely did your thang hunty. Also to my lovely sisters Meka and Amiee, and my lovely cousin Aleshia; thanks a million for helping me get everything labeled, you guys ROCK! And to my beautiful mother Felecia... girl, you SANG that song HUNTY! Thank you so much for gracing us with your pure, unfailing talent. Another huge thank you to my brother James and my mother-in-law, Momma J, you guys helped me keep my sanity through all of the chaos that comes with party planning. Alana, Tiff, Gab, CeCe, Sonja and Lisa, I thank GOD for you guys, you all have become my ORLANDO FAM!!! I'm so glad we met, thanks for helping with EVERYTHING. Lastly, THANK YOU Eddie and Gerald, for making my hubby's day special, Senior (Eddie), you did an extraordinary job with planning his ceremony and Chief Howell (Gerald), he couldn't have had a more genuine guest speaker! I appreciate everything you guys did for my boo... hats off to both of you!
Here are a few pictures of the ceremony, and the backyard celebration!
Then of course, I had to have a night on the town with the crew, so on Thursday, we all headed out to Grey Goose One80 (on the roof top of the Amway Center). I really enjoyed having my family here, there is nothing like it! Huge shout out to my big cuz, Danni-D, it surely felt like old times again!
Check us out y'all!!!
How can I forget the TURN UP KING HIMSELF... my lil bro (James)
These little butterflies finally got to have a sleepover... and boy did they LOVE IT!
And LAST BUT NOT LEAST.... Guess who will be starting a new career path this October! Yep, that is correct, Ya girl got a new JOB! I'm so excited to take on this new challenge!!! To GOD be the glory, all things are possible through Christ who strengthens me. Look out world, your girl is coming through baby! :)
Well, thats it y'all... thats the TEA on whats been happening with Mrs. Maya D!! Hopefully it won't be too long before we chat again. As long as this post is, it will probably take you a few days to read through it all.
Many Blessings!
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