Milestone Monday

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend…I know I did! It was a big weekend in terms of milestones, hence the title of today’s post.

On Saturday, I posted a picture of the mystery place I was this weekend. Obviously it’s ocean-related….well, here is where I was:

Monterey, California! I’ve really been hankering for a weekend away so I convinced S. to go on a roadtrip and help me cross the first item off of my bucket list….whale watching in Monterey Bay! And it was AWESOME!

I had a total fascination with whales when I was a kid, ever since my 6th grade teacher taught us all about them. They’re still one of my favorite animals and yet I’ve never actually seen one up close. My dad took me whale watching once before, but it was pretty late in the season and we didn’t see anything. Then, when I was on a boat in Puerto Vallarta during Christmas 2001, we saw a whale blow in the distance, but we didn’t go any closer. That was my first time seeing a whale in the open ocean, and it was pretty anti-climactic.

This trip was much, much better!

We drove the 3.5-hour drive to Monterey on Saturday morning, and got to the wharf in plenty of time to check in at the whale watching place and then get some food before the trip. I had about half of this small mushroom pizza…

And then I took my anti-seasickness medicine….

These babies worked like a charm. I’m super susceptible to motion sickness, and I didn’t feel one bit sick on the boat! Yay!

After we boarded our boat, it was about a 20 minute ride out of Monterey Bay and into the open ocean. Our naturalist said that the whales have been congregating around a canyon about 4 miles off of the coast, since this is where their food has been the most plentiful. The captain of our boat spotted whales blowing in the distance right away, so we got right down to business!

Before we knew it, we were basically surrounded. First there was a pair of humpback whales, then they joined up with another pair, and pretty soon there were a dozen whales swimming around our boat. They’d be sort of off in the distance…

And then they would dive. Who knew where they would re-appear….in this instance, it was about 20 feet away from our boat!

Man, it was SO AMAZING! These humpbacks are such graceful swimmers for being, oh…SIXTY FEET LONG. And eating a TON (i.e. 2,000 pounds, for real) of food a day! We saw them eating, and that was pretty cool.

Here is a short video of some whales swimming past and then lunge-feeding. At around the 31-second mark, you can see the whales mouth come above the surface with a mouthful of water and krill. It was so neat!!

Whale watching in Monterey Bay, 8-21-2010

Here is another short video of a whale surfacing super close to our boat…

More whale watching!

When our naturalist said that we were running out of time and we had to start heading back, I was super bummed. I really enjoyed seeing all of the humpbacks, but I was also hoping to see a blue whale, the largest animal that was ever lived on Earth! They grow to be over 100 feet long, and they’ve been spotted around Monterey Bay a lot recently! Knowing that I may never get the chance to see one again, I was hoping for a sighting. It wasn’t looking good.

But then…our naturalist saw two blue whales swimming ahead of our boat! We slowed down to take a look, but they were pretty far in the distance–too far to really get a good picture. They dove, and it was about 6 or 8 minutes before they resurfaced, and they were a bit closer but I still couldn’t get a good picture before they dove again. I wish we could have seen them close-up, but I was happy we got to see them at all.

I can’t say enough about how awesome the whale watching trip was. It was totally worth every penny. My first item is crossed off of my bucket list! And I definitely want to go whale watching again!

Bye for now, whales!

Okay, now on to my second milestone…

You may have noticed that my weekly weigh-in came a day early…I weighed in on Saturday morning instead of Sunday morning. I knew that since I was going to be out of town on my regular weigh-in day, I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss it. And guess what?

Not only did I lose 2 pounds this week, but I reached my first big weight loss goal! My first major goal was to lose 10% of my starting weight, which equals 28 pounds.

On Saturday morning, I weighed in at 255 pounds…that’s a total loss of 28 pounds! Wooo!! 10% of my starting body weight is GONE FOREVER! That is something that I’ve never accomplished before, so it feels AWESOME. What makes it even *more* awesome is that I accomplished it on the exact date that I stated when I first set my goals almost two months ago, August 21st. On top of that, it was the same day we went whale watching and I crossed that off of my bucket list.

Saturday was a big day around here!

There is *one more* bit of news that I want to share with you, and it’s something that was really exciting for me.

…I have this pair of jeans. I bought them two years ago, and when I first bought them they were pretty tight. Like, lay-down-on-the-bed-to-button-them tight. But I bought them online, and they were nice and long (it’s hard to find jeans long enough when you’re as tall as I am) so I kept them anyway. I wore them a few times, but eventually they were too tight. And then I gained more weight and there was NO WAY I could get them on. I didn’t even try. So there they stayed, in the back of my closet for two years, hanging with a couple of other pairs of jeans that I thought I might wear again someday.

Just this past Friday, I was packing for the Monterey trip and I decided that I wanted to try and wear jeans on the boat instead of my usual yoga pants that I always wear. I dug through my closet for a pair of jeans that I thought I might be able to fit into, now that I’ve lost 20-something pounds. I was happy to find that I was able to put them on, but unfortunately they weren’t the best fit….a little short and tight in the leg, and too loose in the waist. I knew that if I sat down in them, the whole world would see my underwear! Definitely not going to work.

Then I saw these other jeans hanging in the back of my closet. The ones that were too tight to start with, and got banished to the depths of hardly-worn clothes two summers ago. I was still pretty sure that they wouldn’t fit me. I reluctantly pulled them out of the closet. I took them off the hanger and held them up in front of me. Could I possibly get in these? Even though they never really fit to begin with?

I unbuttoned them. I slid one leg in. Hmm….maybe. I put the other leg in. I pulled them on….

…They easily buttoned.

I wish someone could have seen the smile on my face!! There I was, wearing a pair of jeans that I haven’t been able to fit into for TWO YEARS! Jeans that my friends have never seen me wear. Jeans I thought it would take me months to get back into, let alone fitting in them today! I wish I had taken a good picture…I’ll have to put them on again and have someone take a picture that I can share here.

It was such a great reinforcement! What I’m doing is working.

Goal by goal, milestone by milestone, I will get there.

Today I wore the jeans I haven’t worn in a long time. Soon, I’ll have to buy smaller jeans. Before I know it, I’ll be able to wear whatever I want. And I’m not going to stop until I do.

If you’re still reading, thanks for hanging in there! I know this is a long post.

If you are participating in the scavenger hunt for the Polar heart rate monitor giveaway from Rita @ The Giggly Bits, here is what you’re looking for…

Password Letter: M, now follow the link to your next blog, Radiant, Balanced & Fit

Thank you for reading and sharing in all of my exciting news and adventures!! If this is your first time here, I do hope you’ll return for future updates!
Have a great Monday, everyone!

xoxo,
~Melissa

Tagged as: awesome, bucket list, fun, Healthy Living, Inspiration, Milestones, Monterey, summer, victories, Weekly Goals, Weight Loss, whale watching