From KATYpillar to Butterfly: Birthday Recap

This is the last time y'all will have to hear about my birthday for at least a year. Well, I might bring it up one more time because my family is getting together Friday night to celebrate it as well as Darla (my aunt) and Nan's birthdays. :-)

I posted a before and after picture on Facebook and told my friends and family that this is the happiest and healthiest I have felt in a long time, which helped to make this one of the best birthdays I have had in my 20s. The 'before' picture is from Christmas Eve 2011 when I weighed 271 pounds. The 'after' picture is from Friday, which shows the 50 pound weight loss I've achieved.

I hate that I can't find many full body pictures from my heaviest days because I never wanted my picture taken back then. I liked being in control of the pictures and being able to tell my sister, 'Just the shoulders and up!' Lord knows, she heard that plenty of times! One piece of advice I can give to people starting their weight loss journey is to take lots of pictures...up close and full body. You will love to do comparison pictures once the weight drops! Trust me!!

Moving on to the presents I got! Before my birthday, I wrote about five things I had on my wish list. I am happy to say that I got two of those things along with a few surprises!

My mom bought me the Sperrys I wanted, and I think the saying on their box seemed fitting for me. ;-)

My stepdad got me the Polar heart rate monitor! I can't wait to try it out tomorrow. I've got it programmed with all my information, and it's ready to go!

My sister surprised me with tickets to a Dallas Stars hockey game! We are going on Saturday. It's gonna be so much fun! Also, while all my other cards I received were sentimental, this is the card my sister got me.

I love it!

Friday night, Mallory, Emily, and I went to a Pink Zebra party that my cousin, Amanda, invited us to. To me, Pink Zebra seems like a new and improved Scentsy. There are lots of shades to put over your wax burner that are perfect for fall! My favorite scents were Stone Washed Denim and Farm House Cider. I'll probably wait until pay day to place an order, but once I do, my room will smell amazing!

How cute is this turkey shade to put over your burner?

After the party, we went to Applebee's for dinner. I ordered the Grilled Jalapeno-Lime Shrimp that is on their 'Under 550 Calories' section. It is one of the tastiest things on their menu, and I'm sure I would order it even if I wasn't trying to eat healthier. It's also something that I could probably try and recreate at home.