On the road to a healthy life...

 It wasn't that long ago that I started this weight loss journey. I checked back and I had signed up for Weight Watchers on December 28, 2010. So one year and a few months later I have lost 60.8 lbs. My life has changed drastically when it comes to my activity level and how much I do care about living a healthy lifestyle. I want to be healthy, I want to try new and fun things, I'm not afraid that I can't do something anymore. So let's recap:

December 2010

September 2011 -35 lbs

November 2011 -40 lbs

January 2012 -50 lbs

March 2012 -60 lbs

Thanks to Cheryl for coming up with the idea to document this weight loss with a picture every 10 lbs or I wouldn't really have any good examples!  My goal is to reach my Weight Watchers goal by next April. I have increased how much I exercise each week and if I stay on top of my tracking I should reach this no problem. I have no clue if what I am about to say next is even possible, but once I reach lifetime at Weight Watchers I want to either be in a WW commercial or be in the WW magazine or both ;).  I wonder what the process would be to make this happen? I'll let you know when when I reach lifetime! :)

My newest motivation is this:

 5K's are my new hobby and I want to get better times with each one I do. I often think back to the Weight Watchers 5K that I did last May. It was so hard and all I did was walk it. No running whatsoever. I have come along way and with each 5K I complete, I feel a little bit stronger. I wanted a way to display my bib numbers. They encourage me and remind me of where I have been and where I am going. I found this online for photos and decided it would work nicely. There are fourteen spots to hang bib numbers and I plan to fill it up! It hangs in my closet so each day I am reminded to stay on track. My new thing is doing crazy 5K's. I signed up for the Dirty 30 in May. It is a 5K mud run with 15 obstacles along the way! It sounds like so much fun!!! Then in June I signed up for the Color Run in Tulsa! This one they throw a different color of paint on you at each kilometer! Again, SOOO excited about it! I am sure as the year goes on there will be several more, probably not as outrageous as these two but fun nonetheless. 

I am lucky enough to have a husband that supports me in each of these crazy ideas I get. He  has been to each race and plans to be there for every other one as long as he is town. Some days I get overwhelmed with how thankful and grateful I am for the life I have. I feel like by being healthy and active I can truly live this wonderful life I have been blessed with and appreciate every minute of it.


Until next time,
Leigha

Jacob turned 22!

Jacob Andrew is 22!  We went to Dave and Busters to celebrate and it was awesome! I love my family! 

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L.A. stands for LA Awesome!

I had the most wonderful opportunity to attend the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Women and Sport Conference in February. This was a once in a lifetime experience. This conference is held every four years and this was the first time it had been held in the United States. This conference hosted very important women from across the world. These women are a part of the United Nations, Presidents or high ranking officials of their National Olympic Committees, Olympic athletes that have taken on the responsibly of equality of women in sport, and many other amazing women who are doing great things to bring women to the forefront of the sport scene in their countries.

The conference brought to center stage just how far we, not only as the United States, but as a global community have to go to get women into decision making roles, in business, in sport, and in the media. Women's sports coverage is around 5% of all televised sports related news. I don't know about you, but I am pretty sure there are a lot more women out their competing in news worthy sports than that 5% covers. There are other statics that I would encourage you to research. It is ridiculous. The only time in television sports that women and men are represented equally are the two weeks every two years during the Olympic Games. The problem is not only in sports, but in other media and how they portray women in stereotypical roles more often than not. Our children grow up watching more TV than ever, and they are being fed images of what society thinks of the gender roles they should play.

I don't know about you, but I want my (non-existent) daughter to believe that she can be whatever she wants to be. I want to empower her to dream bigger than she even thinks is possible. If she wants to be an ESPN commentator that is not just a sex symbol, but covers real sports, then do it. If she wants to be the owner of a Fortune 500 company, she can do that too. If she wants to be a stay at home mom, she can, but it won't be because society has told her that is her place. I want to encourage her be an independent thinker and dreamer, who will pave the way for future generations of women.

I get very passionate about women's rights and this conference has encouraged me to do more, even if it is something small, to get the next generation of women in sport one step closer to equality.

Okay, off my soapbox and on to the amazing City of L.A.! I am in love with this town. When we arrived at our hotel there were protesters outside of it. Vice President Biden and the Vice President of China were meeting at OUR hotel and staying there! Crazy! The place had an awesome feel! It was a wonderful representation of the beauty of free speech in our country!

We saw Steve Nash in our hotel lobby and supposedly Britney Spears made an appearance one of the clubs we had a reception at! Awesome! Hollywood was fantastic and scary all at the same time! There are some looney toons loose! We stayed at the JW Marriot which is right in LA Live. That was was so fun. It was like a city within a city. At one of the events they had a red carpet, so I HAD to pretend I was famous of course. I really need to get back to California ASAP! I want to do some star stalking and venture out to some other areas as well! I will let the pictures I posted below speak to how much fun I had in this great city!

Protesters!

Hollywood!!

HA! Weird People...

The President of the IOC

Elizaveta
Look her up! 

Jennie Finch! Bring Softball back to the Olympics!:)

Diana Nyad spoke at our conference as well!

Geena Davis speaking at our Conference!

Watch out Kim K.! Leigha is on the red carpet now! 

That looks like a famous lady!

Chinese Theater!

Future NBA commentator...perhaps! 

I would like to thank the Academy and my agent. I wouldn't be here today without you! LOL!

All in all it was a phenomenal trip! I am so thankful to have been able to go as a part of my really cool job! What more could a girl ask for? Oh yeah equal opportunities in sports! ;)

I'm King (ahem Queen) of the World!!

Kaytie and I had the opportunity to see a sneak peek of Titanic 3d on Valentine's Day! Before I delve in to how amazing it was, let me give you a little bit of history.

Approximately 15 years ago, this movie called Titanic came out. Kaytie and I fell in LOVE with the movie and the ship's history. Not only did we see it 8 times (at least) in the theater, but we had every thing Titanic that you could imagine. We shared a room, so it was very easy to turn it in to the "Ship of Dreams" room! We had found a poster book at Sam's that had 20-30 movie posters in it. I covered one of our walls with all of the posters, putting them in chronological order of the movie of course! We recorded EVERY episode on TV that even mentioned the real Titanic. For my younger readers, we didn't have DVR we actually had to either set the VCR or manually push record on the VCR to record TV shows. Thanks to my Grandma Norma we had the 1985 National Geographic that documented the discovery of the Titanic on the ocean floor of the Atlantic. Not only did we love Titanic, but we LOVED Leo. *Sigh* I may still love him! We had every Tiger Beat and Bop magazine cover he was ever on! Our obsession grew when the movie was released on a two VHS collectors box set and we had not only the Original Titanic Soundtrack, but the Back to Titanic Soundtrack. While we are talking about the music, Kaytie and I re-wrote the words to Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On. I wish I could find our rendition. I am sure it would win awards!

So with that crazy history lesson in the Joiner girls let me continue about the sneak preview! Of course we were beside ourselves excited. We never thought we would see it on the big screen ever again! We stood in line hoping to get good seats and once in the theater we waited with anticipation for the start of the movie. Then you see it. The Titanic and Rose saying "It's been 84 years and I can still smell the fresh paint..." We watch intently for the next few hours. We cry our eyes out when the Titanic sinks and Jack dies. It was just as awful as I remember. Then we cried again when it showed all  of her pictures at the end and she had done all the things Jack had wanted her to. *Pausing for a tear...  When it was over we got a free t-shirt and a movie poster!! It was SO Awesome!

On my way home that night I was SO excited to tell TJ all about the movie and how wonderful it was and how I want to see it again when it comes out. He was in California so he couldn't have gone with me. Well, I am driving home expressing how excited I am about this movie to my husband, and when I hang up the phone  I see a cop behind me. No lights flashing or anything, but I check my speed. I am not speeding, so I go on. After a minute or so his lights pop on. So I pull over, mentally checking my seat belt is on, my speed was good, maybe I have a tail light out? The cop comes over to my window and asks "Miss have you been drinking? Are you feeling alright?" I was shocked! I told him of course not and he asked to see my license. Let me describe this scene. A grown lady in a Titanic shirt, a  movie that hasn't been in theaters for 15 years mind you, with a Titainic poster in her passengers seat and its late at night.  All that was missing was Celine blaring My Heart Will Go  On in the background! The officer comes back and says very politely "Please pay attention to the lines on the road." I apologized, obviously horrified, and he gave me a warning. I was so embarrassed! Instead of pulling over a drunk driver, he pulled over some crazy lady, reliving 1997, hopped up on 42oz of  Diet Coke, and on Leo overload! It was was so awful. Needless to say I was a very focused driver on my way home!

Anyways, I cherish the memories Kaytie and I have from way back when and the new ones we have made recently. I love that movie, my sister, and this crazy awesome bond that we will share forever! :)

I'll Never Let Go!

Happy New Year, Happy New Me!!

Today was a great day in the life of Leigha! I have officially lost 51.6 lbs!! This is an amazing accomplishment. For those of you that have been following my blog for the last year know my story for the most part. I wanted change and I want to be healthy for that one day in the future when we decide to have a baby.

Today marked 1 year from the day I first weighed in at Weight Watchers. A year ago, I wasn't even sure I would stick with this program. I wasn't sure I had the will power to put down the fork and step away! lol! The weight came off slowly. A little bit here and a little bit there, eventually started to add up. I made some mental changes. I didn't stress eat. I ate the foods I loved, but in limited quantities. I have had to change my mind set that life is not about eating, it's about experiences and those you are with when having those meals! In November, I hit the 40lb mark. I really wanted to lose 50lbs by the end of the year. I was focused and determined! After all, anyone can lose 10lbs during the holiday right? HA! Well when it was all said and done I had lost weight every week, except the week between Christmas and New Year's. I had gained over a pound! I refused to be defeated and spent the last week really watching my points and putting more fruits back into my diet! Well it worked and here I am 51lbs less!

My weight loss journey is not over. I plan to lose another 50lbs this year. The crazy thing is, I have no excuse not to. I have already proven that I can! So I will. I am excited. I am in a competition with myself and I have to beat me! I can't let me win! or wait do I want me to win...HA! (Wait that was too much of a glimpse in to my mind!)

I couldn't have made it to -50 this year without my great support system. I have a wonderful husband that encourages me and a wonderful weight loss buddy Cheryl Duke that calls me out when I need to be!  My family has also enjoyed watching my journey. I hope that if anything this encourages those that think they just have too much lose, that anything is possible.

The crazy part about all of this, is that if I lose 50 more lbs, that will be the least I have EVER weighed! Except maybe when I was the chubby girl in high school or middle school! I have no clue what that Leigha looks like. No pictures of me exist at that weight. I wonder what I will look like? Weird, huh?

I am excited! I can't wait for this next year of weight loss! I can do this I will do this and it will be amazing!

So my theme song for this year is LMFAO's Sexy and You Know It! LOL! It's on my ipod and I will be listening to it when I work out! I think it's funny and slightly appropriate!

Dec. 2010 at my heaviest

Jan. 2012 51 lbs lost!

Talk to you all soon!

Leigha

A Very Merry Christmas Wrap Up!

Merry week after Christmas! I assume we all survived the holiday and had a wonderful time with family and friends! I know we did.

Our Christmas adventures started off on Friday night with Christmas at my Dad's apartment. The whole crew met to exchange gifts and eat a delicious beef tenderloin my dad had prepared. I think this is the first Christmas we spent together in a few years, since he just moved back to Oklahoma. It was fun and we had a great time just visiting and relaxing. Also, everyone got to meet the super cute Elizabeth Taylor that night as well. She was a hit. :)

Christmas Eve Kaytie and Nick came over on their way to Tulsa. We gave them their presents and had lunch.  I made chicken tortilla soup. It was yummy. Kaytie and I then made cookies for Santa. However, she left before we could frost them. They looked more like big blobs rather than snowmen and Christmas trees! Oh well, I never said my name was Betty Crocker! Later that day Veronica came over to the house to stay the night and my mom came over to stay the night! It was so fun to have people other than us in our house for Christmas Eve. I love having my family here. This year I was in charge of Christmas dinner and let me tell you that is a ton of work!!! Saturday, I fixed the mashed potatoes, baked beans, deviled eggs, pecan pie, and put the ham in the slow cooker. I seriously spent from 7 pm to after midnight in the kitchen. I was tired! I then asked my mom how people did this with kids. In theory if this was a Christmas that we had kids, after I fixed the food for Christmas dinner then I would have to make sure all of Santa's gifts were in place as well! Do parents sleep on Christmas Eve?

Then next morning I got up early and made biscuits, bacon, and sticky buns. Then we opened presents! It was wonderful and my sweet hubby did such a good job this year! I didn't really give him any direction and he totally surprised me. He got me a porch swing that we are going to hang from one of the trees in our backyard. I saw this cute idea on pinterest with a swing hanging from the tree and a cute garden around the tree! He remembered and we are going to set it all up in the Spring! He also got me a Xbox 360 with Kinect!! This came out of nowhere but it is really cool! He also got me Just Dance 3 and that is going to be my new workout! Have you ever played? It is so fun, but OMG such a workout! Dance party at my house! Come on over! :)

Okay, back to Christmas day! Once presents were opened I started on lunch. I was going to attempt to make a turkey. Okay it wasn't a full turkey, just a turkey breast, but still! I put that in the oven to cook, then an hour later, put the potatoes, baked beans, and dressing mom made in to warm up and bake. By the time it was all said and done everything was so yummy and the turkey turned out REALLY good. Since only a few of us were here to eat, we are going to be having leftovers for the next week. Mom spent one more night with us Christmas night, so after lunch we all took naps and then spent the rest of the evening watching Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel. It was perfect!

Christmas was really great this year. We did a great deal of celebrating and spending time with our family all through the month. .

Now it's time to get the decorations down and get back to normal! Wish me luck! I have a ton of work ahead of me this afternoon!

Talk to you all soon,
Leigha

A new puppy for the Pembertons!

Merry Week of Christmas Everyone! I hope you all are enjoying this final count down of the Christmas Season. I have a few more gifts to buy and wrap then Friday kicks of the Christmas weekend!

As many of you may have seen on my Facebook, we have adopted a sweet little boxer/terrier mix. I named her Elizabeth Taylor after Charlotte's dog in Sex and the City. TJ has asked me all year what I want for Christmas and with out fail I responded with I want a puppy!

Tiffany, a girl I work with at UCO, decided to foster puppies. The first one she fostered was Elizabeth Taylor. She posted her picture on Facebook and I knew right away she was the one. So we picked her up on Saturday and been in love ever since!

The pup is only 7-8 weeks old, so we have a long way to go on the potty training scale. She doesn't quite have a quick enough response time from "oh I have to pee" to "oops!". We are working on it. The first night she was with us, we all three slept on the couch together. She cuddled up to TJ, like he was her long lost love. It made me a bit jealous, after all, I am the one who wanted her! :) Last night Morgan came over for the first time. In case you don't remember, Morgan is the neighbors dog who thinks he lives at our house. We love him too! He seemed a little put off that there was another dog in the house and ran away. Of course this made me sad. Later that night when I was taking E.T. out (which is what TJ calls her by the way) Morgan came back over and came in the house. I think he was scared of the lightening. TJ calmed him down finally. Morgan slept on the floor, Elizabeth Taylor and I on the couch, and TJ in the bed. Tonight I am sleeping in my bed! I am exhausted! I love both dogs, but seriously, I am sleepy! E.T. did great. She licked my face when she needed to go out both times so score for us! Let's just see if we can keep it up.

I am so happy to have her at home. It is a fun dynamic to add to the Pemberton house and it's funny to see our discipline styles come through. So far, I am a push over for a cute face and TJ not so much! LOL!