SRD 2012

This note will be long, but not boring. :) This is the account of Thursday 10 a.m. until Saturday 6 p.m., May 4 & 5th, 2012, my TOPS State Recognition Days trip.



We packed up the car and my family all worked together to vacuum, mop, etc because I love coming home to a clean house. Then we were on our way. When we were in Marlow (about 20 minutes from our house), the tire suddenly sounded strange. Our tires are only about 8 weeks old, so they shouldn't be giving us issues! We pulled over and everything looked fine. Then we start to pull out on the road and BOOM we had a blowout. No clue why. The tire shop where we bought the tires was only about a mile down the road. BUT our spare was BURIED under all of our stuff. So, we unloaded our stuff, hubby changed the tire and we went to the tire shop. About an hour later, we were on our way again with a new tire. (Insert: I did NOT feel thankful for the delay but I chose to change the way I looked at it and rejoice that the blowout happened ONE mile from the place it was purchased instead of 5 hours away, and that it happened while we were pretty much parked as opposed to while going 75 miles per hour down the interstate)



Finally we get to Tulsa. SRD was held in this hotel, which is pretty nice: http://www.marriott.com/hotels/photo-tours.mi?marshaCode=tulse&pageID=HWHOM&imageID=0 The ice chest was WAY too heavy for us to carry and there were so many TOPS people checking in at the same time, there were no carts to put our luggage on. (Ok, I'll be honest. I'm also prideful and didn't want our cooler to be seen because it is pretty sun faded) So.......I had this brilliant idea to unload the suit case, carry it back to the car, fill it with the cold stuff and carry it up to the room. You know what happens to stuff that's been in the cooler for hours? It gets wet. I didn't have anything to dry the stuff off with but I didn't think it would be that big of a deal. Walking into the hotel, I realized my suitcase was DRIPPING onto my foot. So much for pride!!! :)



We registered, unpacked,looked around at everything (they had stuff for sale), and then we decided to figure out what we were going to eat for supper.



Our eating plan for the trip was going to be this: Breakfast- cereal and fruit brought from home; Lunch- sandwiches and fiber one bars brought from home; Supper- one day of splurge on whatever we want and one day of getting something from a less expensive/ healthier place. So, Thursday evening we were going to have our splurge night. Hubby wanted Pizza. The kids wanted McDonalds. I wanted Ted's. I looked up the locations for Ted's and Pizza Hut. Ted's was 7.6 miles in one direction and Pizza Hut was 2 miles the other direction BUT they were BOTH on the same road as the hotel, so I was CONFIDENT that I could get there and back without any problems. I mean, you didn't even have to turn off 71st street! How hard could that be?



Mapquest told me I would get to Ted's in 12 minutes. The mapquest people must not have been thinking about the 47 (I'm exaggerating) long winded red lights in that 7.6 mile stretch. But mostly, they weren't considering the fact that I would drive 7.6 miles the WRONG DIRECTION and end up in a residential neighborhood. I asked some random person standing on their porch where on earth I was. It was about this time that hubby called and wanted to know why I wasn't back yet. I also called Ted's and said "Don't throw out my food! I AM coming!" (could you imagine driving forever and then them giving up on you and throwing out your Chicken Quasadilla with green peppers and onions because they thought you weren't coming?!) Long story short: I finally got everyone's food picked up and got back to the hotel at bedtime. The whole deal took about 2 and a half hours. Seriously. Hubby kept calling. I guess he thought I was on my way to Las Vegas with some other guy. (If I was going to do that, would I really bring my 10 year old with me? *smile*) I got to Ted's just a few minutes before they closed. The guy at Ted's felt sorry for me (I probably looked frazzled) and knocked about $8 off my bill. :) I felt a bit odd walking back into the hotel lobby filled with TOPS people, carrying a pizza, a McDonald's sack and a Ted's bag. I walked quickly. LOL



So, we ate and you know my mind has been so hyped up about SRD that I haven't been sleeping much and that was the case on Thursday night as well so around 10:30 or so, hubby and I went downstairs to the gym and worked out. (May I also throw in here that I only ate about 1/3 of my Quasadilla? I gave another 1/3 to my family who wanted a taste and I kept 1/3 for the next day.)



Friday morning I jumped out of bed like toast out of a toaster. Somehow, my planned breakfast of kashi cereal and a banana turned into a piece of cold leftover quasadilla. I went to the gym but only got in half of my usual workout because I was not feeling energetic (fattening late night supper + cold leftover fattening breakfast + several days of very little sleep= no energy). My body was drained but my brain was still happy.



Next I ironed, showered, yada yada and we went to workshops. One was about exercise and the other was about diabetes. Lunch break was sandwiches in the room.



I crashed in bed for about 10 minutes and then I woke remembering that I wanted to find the grocery store called "Whole Foods" because THEY sell my favorite flavor of Kashi cereal (I believe it is flax with walnuts and black currants). When I first starting getting my act together again with my weight loss (last September/October), I ate that cereal EVERY DAY and now it can't be bought in Duncan.Hubby didn't think it was wise to send me out alone, especially since I didn't have a very good time record thus far of "just running down the road" LOL I found the cereal and THEN I realized they had coffee flavored ice cream. NO........not that. It was really Stoneyfield Farms coffee flavored organic nonfat frozen yogurt with live active cultures! AND it was on sale. I proclaimed right then and there that I was going to have yogurt and cereal for supper instead of going out later for something! :)



Back in the car, I suddenly had 3 issues to deal with. #1 Where did I think I was going to store this pint of yumminess and keep it from melting? The only solution I could come up with was to eat it before the next session. Which brought me to issue #2: The next session would be starting about the time we would be getting back to the hotel, leaving no time to eat this melting yumminess. The obvious solution is to eat in in the car on the way to the hotel (not the whole pint....I know that's what you are picturing). Then there was issue #3: What will I use to eat this yogurt? I don't know you keep forks and spoons in your car, but we do not. And so, I did what came naturally. I took the lid off and just ate it with my mouth. Yep, lady going down the road on the way to a weight loss seminar, going to town on this pint of yogurt. *go ahead a smile, it's ok* The afternoon session was taught my TOPS Regional Director and it was very good and motivating. It was around this time that my face started getting red (happens to me very easily) and I was HOT. (It's not hot flashes, people! I'm 34 years old. It's not that! It's just me. Especially when I'm nervous. And I was....because...{more about anxiety in the next paragraph} moving along now................)



We had a break during which we were supposed to eat supper. After the break, the evening fun session would start. It was during this fun session that I would have (get to) walk across stage as chapter angel. Chapter Angel is the person in the chapter that inspires or helps out a lot. It is voted on by the entire chapter and the chapter angel must be someone who is going to SRD. Since my husband and I were the only ones from our chapter who would be going, I felt silly saying "Ok chapter, who do you like more---me or my hubby?" and so I just left it blank. However, our state coordinator filled it in with my name. I didn't mind at all and as a matter of fact, I was honored and excited. And anxious. I wanted to walk across stage. But I didn't want to have a beet red face. And I didn't want to fall on my nose. I didn't want to throw up, etc. :) Because that is how I was starting to feel. My stomach was churning (hum....yogurt probably didn't help that) and my face was red. It was time to eat supper and I dare not touch any of it. The family ate in the room and I just sat in the chair and looked down at the parking lot. I texted my friend, J'Nell and she boosted my confidence in all my insecure areas.



I found my assigned seat. I would be the LAST chapter angel to walk across stage. I was glad. I sure didn't want to be first! The assigned seat on my right was Norman Baker, the 2009 state king. I knew him and his wife from facebook, so I was not anxious about my neighbor. Since I was the last assigned seat, the seat next to me was available for my husband. Five minutes before the session began, I realized I had a runner in my hose! No time to go change, I just exhaled and kind of laughed. Sadly, I can be quite vain sometimes and when I saw that runner in my hose, I figured it was just God reminding me to be humble. LOL And the evening fun session began.



One of the first things they did was roll call. When your chapter is named, your chapter is supposed to stand and scream and go crazy and be as loud as possible. Some chapters had 10-20 people in attendance. We had me and hubby. Do you know my hubby? Have you EVER heard him scream? Me either. I am not above screaming but I scream best with others LOL Plus I was trying to be this cute little (vain) thing....and I had to scream? alone? And so when TOPS OK 708 Duncan was called, I stood and screamed. And that was that.



Soon it was time to line up to go across the stage. I got up and walked to my place in line and I saw people smiling at me and I remembered "There is not one person in this building who doesn't like me". (Ok, maybe one old lady...but anyway LOL) And while I stood in that line confidence rose in me. Then I realized that my face didn't feel red. I believe my friend J'Nell was praying for me...and I felt it. Because I know me, and my face SHOULD have been red LOL



I walked across stage and none of the scary things I imagined happened. It was a fun session. There were "stand up and do these motions" kind of songs and I stood up (along with tons of other people) and did them and just really had fun and enjoyed myself. Hubby just kind of looked at me LOL.



After session, we played Bingo for a short while then went to the room. It was bedtime. I crashed and fell asleep quickly. It was around 10:30.



Four hours later, at 2:30 a.m. my brain got all hyper and woke me. I could NOT sleep for anything. I stayed in bed for an hour, because seriously, who gets up at 2:30 a.m.? (Note: I am NOT normally like this. I can usually sleep and sleep and sleep some more) At 3:30 I ironed, ate breakfast (finally kashi cereal and banana LOL), went to the gym, packed our room....................



I want to throw in a short story that was another confidence boost. This happened during the early morning gym thing (It was 5 a.m. by this time). In TOPS, the queen is someone who reached their goal weight, who lost more than anyone else. It is top secret and isn't announced until they are crowned. Well, I was on the treadmill. I have my first ever 5K next month (ack! NEXT MONTH!) and although I can easily walk 3 miles and can even jog part of it, I am slooooooooooooow. So, when I go to the gym, I try to beat my time. That's what I was doing at 5 a.m. There was this skinny lady in the gym on the weight machines. She was doing her thing, I was doing mine. After I finished, she asked me "Are you the queen?" I wanted to say "Are you BLIND?" LOL But I didn't say that. I just smiled and said, "I have lost 64 pounds but I still have 77 pounds to go" Then she said "I am very impressed with your workout. You were running." It was a shot in the arm. Loved it.



........back to the story........



Even though I woke many hours before daylight, would you believe I was still drying my hair when it was time to go downstairs for the winners session?





But I finally got there and I LOVED hearing all the success stories. One that touched my heart was from a lady who lost 53 pounds last year. She said that her mom had lived with her and they would sit up at night and talk about weight loss and nutrition and stuff. Her mom was her biggest cheerleader. And now this lady finally got to wear the fancy dress and stand on the stage to give her success story. Then she said "My mom died 3 months ago." Ah! Tear jerker!



One speaker was the International King from 2004. Hubby and I looked at each other and raised our eyebrows when they announced who he was because he had been in the gym with us the night before and we had been clueless that we were exercising with an International King!



SRD was wonderful. I loved seeing everyone. I am friends on facebook with many TOPS members that I don't know in real life, so it was thrilling when (several times) I walked by someone and they would hollar "Amy!!" and come running up to me to hug me. I felt like such a celebrity. It made my day. My hubby told me that I'm really going to have the big head when I become the queen. As bad as it sounds, I know he's right. LOLDuncan was well represented. We have 3 chapters in Duncan and all 3 sent representatives. One of the Duncan chapters had SEVERAL people in attendance and they also won a lot of awards ( I'm jealous and I'm going to beat you next year, you turkey! *wink, wink*) I was glad to see friends from my old chapter, #572. They are wonderful and beautiful people and although I wouldn't trade my current chapter for anything in the world, #572 will always hold a very special place in my heart because they knew me when I was 331 pounds and they thought I was awesome even then. It was there that I had my beginnings and they were the ones who first trusted me to be their leader. (They either trusted me or realized I was too new to TOPS to realize what I was getting into with leadership---I don't know which LOL) Either way, I will always love the #572 chapter.