Day 25 Holiday Challenge thread is available for check-in in the forum here.
I will be posting my day accountability/goals in the AM for each day but I will prep and put up each day, 1 day early for those of you that would rather post your goals for the next day in the evening (and for our friends in exotic time zones) 😉
Feel free to comment here as well, but I would love to get Holiday Challenge discussion going in the forum! Thanks!
Go Team!
P.S. Need info about the challenge? Go here!
Meet Nanny P…
Or what I like to refer to as the “crazy hair days”! (at least these early days!)
I’m very careful about showing pictures of other people though I would love to show a ton of shots of the various wonderful families that I’ve worked for over the years, instead you get this one!
It perfectly takes me back to that wonderful summer that pretty much started my nanny career. This was taken in the Hamptons of Long Island NY the summer after my freshman year at Luther College.
I had gotten this great summer job through a professor at college. It was an absolute blast. I would pack up the kiddos with food, toys and swim gear in the morning and we’d head to the private beach club for the day!
How funny does this sound? Often at the beach you would first see the row of children playing, then the nannies right behind them, THEN the moms back further still! What a crack-up! Those were good days. I became friends with so many nannies, au pairs and life guards! During our time off, we would explore the Hamptons, head into the city and try not to get in too much trouble!
I had worked my first real nanny job a few years prior to this. My cousin lived in Columbia, MD and my aunt had helped me to get a live-in position there for the summer. It was my first real glimpse into this world and at that time because of my age, I was really more of a mother’s helper than an official nanny.
After the great summer in the Hamptons, it was very difficult to return to college in small town Iowa. While I had been in New York, I connected with a nanny agency there and made the decisions to look for full-time work as a nanny. I had every intention of finding something that would also allow me to continue working towards completion of my degree. (which I did accomplish eventually)
From there, I did a 2 week stint for someone REALLY famous in Connecticut. I won’t mention names but I will say that this job was NOT fun! Interesting, but not nice!
I decided that I wanted to be a California girl and headed out to Palm Springs area to meet up with a classmate from high school. I then began a search and meeting with agencies in the Los Angeles/Beverly Hills area as well as further south in San Diego.
I won’t bore you with the details of every family. I’ll say that I worked in San Diego (Del Mar area) and San Francisco/Marin for the next 12+ years! There were mostly awesome families with a bit of craziness thrown in!
I’ve worked 8 major jobs with different families. Most of the children were age 3 or older when I started and I’m still close with a few of the families to this day. One of the girls I used to take care of (She was in high school at the time and I was really more of a chauffeur) just got married last summer! Recently I’ve reconnected with a few others via Facebook which has been SO fun!
My living arrangements varied with the last position in beautiful Marin County where I lived in a private guest house. (There were deer outside my window in the mornings!)
I say now as I am turning 40 that perhaps this WAS my child rearing days! 😉
I don’t know really. I do love children AND I’m thankful that I am also not a 39 yr old – soon to be 40 woman who is yearning for children of her own. We will see what the future will bring…
I definitely have it in me to be a great parent/wife/home maker. I have taken care of whole families from running the house/errands/appointments/kids schedules to ironing dad’s work shirts.
A domestic goddess is in me for sure! 😉
P.S. Here is one of my other projects in the works!
NannyP.com
I began my college years at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa right after graduating high school in 1988.
Luther was a great private school in the Midwest. I received some scholarships and got the financial aid package that would allow me to attend this school of choice.
At the time I began my freshman year, my family still lived in Ferryville, WI which was only about an hour drive away.
I was a bright eyed freshman that first year. It was a VERY busy year! I began my college career as an Accounting major. (with the intention of joining the FBI one day – it was one of 5 fields recommended to be eligible for consideration)
I was accepted in the Freshman Chorus which was important to me as music was still a big part of my life. Luther was actually very well known for their music department.
I worked a lot my freshman year of college. My financial aid package also included work study on campus, (I worked in the food service department.) and I continued to work nights and weekends at McDonald’s. It was a busy year alright and I also did pretty well with my studies and grades.
As summer neared, I began thinking about finding another fun nanny job for a few months. (I had done this for a summer during my high school days in Columbia, Maryland) As luck would have it, I connected with a professor on campus whose son was looking for a nanny out in Greenwich, Connecticut for the summer months. Thus began what would become my “nanny career”. 😉
It was a wonderful summer! The family had a home in Quogue, NY, so I spent much of the time in the famous Hamptons of Long Island with fun days and nights in New York City. (Wow, this girl was a long way from small town WI!) There were a few girlfriends from Luther there as well and we had a blast! (More on my nanny days in a later post)
I talk about the summer, because it led to my dissatisfaction with going back to Iowa to school. I did go back but I had loved being in New York and started to realize that I did not see myself living in the Midwest for the next 3 years of my life.
I took a leave of absence from Luther that second year of school to head back to CT for a new nanny position.
Not long after that job did not work out, I boarded a plane to head to California to meet up with a friend from high school. She was living in Palm Desert and I had decided to look for a job nannying in Beverly Hills or the Los Angeles area. I was going to be a California girl! WooHoo!
For the next several (10+) years I would work as a nanny in California. This has to do with my education because it became a wonderful way for me to relocate and choose a job that would still allow me to finish college.
I moved around a bit and ended up in southern CA near San Diego. Here I would attend a junior college to get in all of the prerequisite classes that I needed.
I became smart with financing my education and no longer took out loans, opting for more affordable choices in schools.
From Junior College in San Marcos, CA, I would move to San Francisco. Here I landed a wonderful nanny position taking care of two girls that were in school. This allowed me to go to college at San Francisco State University where I did get my bachelor’s degree FINALLY in 1998. Yes, it turns out I had been on the 10 yr plan to get my degree!
I graduated with a degree in Social Science and a minor in Business Administration. Throughout much of my years at SFSU, I really did not see a clear career path, but I did know that I wanted to finish what I had started. If I had to do it over again, would I have done the 10 yrs of struggle to get through classes? After all, I’m not “really” using my degree now. lol I think I learned a lot during that time. I wouldn’t trade it and I did have a great feeling of accomplishment at the end of it all!
So, I do believe in higher education for sure but I don’t believe that holding a degree is the answer for everyone. Especially in today’s economy where it means more than a high school diploma for sure, BUT it definitely does not guarantee employment that way it did once in the past.
Today I believe in education for the sake of learning. I would think more about the goals that are to be met.
For example, I love to invest in my Internet Marketing education. I purchase just what I need to learn advancement within my current goals online.
Ah….the college days. You can bet there are other stories about this time in my life.
For now, we will just leave it at that! 😉
Day 24 Holiday Challenge thread is available for check-in in the forum here.
I will be posting my day accountability/goals in the AM for each day but I will prep and put up each day, 1 day early for those of you that would rather post your goals for the next day in the evening (and for our friends in exotic time zones) 😉
Feel free to comment here as well, but I would love to get Holiday Challenge discussion going in the forum! Thanks!
Go Team!
P.S. Need info about the challenge? Go here!
New series coming soon!
Start thinking/praying/journaling about the New Year and THE big change YOU want to create!
To get your updates:
We’re gonna do 2010 together in a BIG way friends! 🙂
Day 23 Holiday Challenge thread is available for check-in in the forum here.
I will be posting my day accountability/goals in the AM for each day but I will prep and put up each day, 1 day early for those of you that would rather post your goals for the next day in the evening (and for our friends in exotic time zones) 😉
Feel free to comment here as well, but I would love to get Holiday Challenge discussion going in the forum! Thanks!
Go Team!
P.S. Need info about the challenge? Go here!
True friendship…there is NOTHING like it!
This picture is not a personal pic, but I think it perfectly conveys the idea of friendship. Particularly for women (girls) and the special bonds that we share with other women in our lives.
I love my friends…really nothing can compare to these special relationships.
I think there are different levels of friendships for sure and these relationships change and grow throughout our lives. (as we also change and grow older)
I do not have the same friendships today that I had back in High School although I would certainly call these people among friends if I were ever to be living in the area where I grew up.
I mentioned in a previous post on solitude how much I enjoyed being by myself and I would not say that I am particularly a very social person, but I do so enjoy the best friends I have in life.
I’ve always been one to have a handful of REALLY good, solid women in my life…for that I have always been SO grateful. You know the ones that you can phone when you are so upset that you can hardly breathe? They pick up the phone and instantly KNOW that their ear (and shoulder if you are lucky to live close) is needed….and they ARE there for you…REALLY there for you!
I love and need people like that in my life.
I also like to be that friend…I hope I am to at least a few. 😉
I’ve also spoken about my siblings and how blessed I am to call all of them my best friends!
As we get ready to enter 2010, I am amazed at the new friends that I have personally made and the friendships that I see being formed virtually!
This is the whole point behind the Celebrate Weight Loss Forum Community! If you have not joined us there, please do so! I would love to meet you and hear all about your journey to health and fitness!
I also cannot BELIEVE the amazing community within the virtual Twitter world that has become very popular. (Follow me and set up your account if you need to by clicking on that link.)
I have so many virtual BFF’s now to help me finish up what I started in my own weight loss journey!
You know who you are! 🙂 Thank you!
Day 22 Holiday Challenge thread is available for check-in in the forum here.
I will be posting my day accountability/goals in the AM for each day but I will prep and put up each day, 1 day early for those of you that would rather post your goals for the next day in the evening (and for our friends in exotic time zones) 😉
Feel free to comment here as well, but I would love to get Holiday Challenge discussion going in the forum! Thanks!
Go Team!
P.S. Need info about the challenge? Go here!
The prom pictures you see here are of me in 1987! My Junior Prom…
I wasn’t sure exactly how to introduce this topic. I mean I certainly feel very honored that I was crowned prom queen that year BUT for sure I want you to understand that I share this with you because I genuinely was feeling very appreciated at this time in my life.
Recall that this was the year after my car accident and broken neck. I definitely would say that I was well liked among my peers. Mind you, this WAS a small high school with about 60-70 students per class.
Another thing to note about my Junior Prom…I actually did NOT have an official prom date. lol I was on the prom court with an awesome friend but he had a girlfriend and I was there solo with a group of girls! I was never really into the high school dances too much but his year did turn out to be pretty special.
This is my favorite picture of the night. My parents were chaperones and here I share a dance with my father:
I thought I would take a moment to talk again about body image and how I believe I was feeling about myself as a 16-17 yr old young lady.
As I look at these pictures with the smiling girl looking fairly confident I also remember some really crazy periods during these times in High School.
I look now and I certainly don’t see a girl that was overweight, yet I do recall feeling fat a lot…and dieting a lot.
In fact, the previous year while I was at Oak Grove Boarding School I remember doing some crazy things to lose weight prior to a family Christmas trip to Florida. I was determined to feel awesome in that bikini! I exercised A LOT for months and I went through a period of only eating one meal per day! Ugh…the things young girls do!
There were other diets and craziness. In Ferryville, I used to walk an amazing 5-7 miles a day sometimes in the summer. I know that I focused A LOT on my body and the scale.
Man, I SO want our young girls to not have to feel fixated on their weight and self esteem issues.
Starting Weight: Jan 1, 2007 – 278 lbs
Previous Week’s Weight: December 7, 2009 – 170.4
Current Weight: December 14, 2009 – 168.4 lbs
Week 154 Weight Loss:Â 2 lbs
Total Weight Loss: 109.6 lbs
Exercise Report:
Cardio x 5
Strength Training (Upper body) x 3
Strength Training (Lower body) x 3
Abs x 2
Food Report:
Another great week thanks to my Holiday Challenge Support Team!
Notes:
