Tomorrow is my 22nd birthday. I'll be spending it with Jacob. The semester is ALMOST over. The year is ALMOST over. Jacob and I were talking on the phone last night while I was on my way home from the gym. He told me how proud he is of me not just because I've gotten healthy this year but because he feels like I've accomplished more in a year than most people do in five years.

I have accomplished a lot this year. This year has been amazing. I have lost 55 lbs. I have owned my classes in school. I've managed living in two places, two and a half hours apart without going crazy.

And as the weight came off this year...I became who I always wanted to be. Confident. Social. I admit that through most of this year the weight loss process was hard emotionally. It wasn't until recently that I finally started feeling good about my body and the way that I viewed it. Now that I'm finally at the point where I can feel proud of what I've accomplished, I can look back on how hard this must have been for those around me.

Jacob, especially. But everyone stuck with me, even when they couldn't understand why I was doing what I was doing.

Last year on my birthday, I stood in front of Jacob's mirror, naked. I was so excited because that morning, I had weighed 179 lbs. To me, 179 lbs was an epic accomplishment and it was in December of last year that I decided I was going to really get serious about losing weight.

A year later, I am excited because I weigh 134 lbs.

I took control of my life. I am so proud. I am proud that I love going to the gym. That I go and it's like breathing to me. I'm proud that I eat better. That I feel better.

It's too late in my college career to change my major but I really wish I could be a nutritionist or go into physical education. Nothing feels better than taking care of yourself and I wish I could help others do what I have done.

( pictures, as usual. )

Kasey, my roommate from last year, came and spent the weekend with me. She moved to another college forever away so I was so excited to have her over! I love her to death and we had the best weekend. We went to the park and planetarium and did a 3 mile hike. We ate at our favorite japanese place. We worked out! We started losing weight together last year so it was so exciting that we could go to the gym together again. I just loved having her for the weekend.

It was so funny when she drove into my apartment complex because I was standing outside and she looked at me and then looked away because she didn't recognize me. When she got closer and saw that it was me she practically jumped out of the car before it was in park, haha. She kept going on and on about how tiny I am now and it just made me laugh.

I have started feeling a lot, and I do mean A LOT, better about myself during the past few weeks. Thanks for all of the encouragement and support you all have offered me.

I'm going home for Thanksgiving break tomorrow night and I'm so excited. I haven't seen Jacob in over a week and miss him so much.

( pictures )

For those of you who have stopped watching Grey's...this is what you're missing.

It's still good. You should have stuck with it.