squeakyjackie

4 courses (4 centuries in Spain),
24 dishes (including vegetarian options),
128 seated for banquet...

~2 dozen intrepid members of the Culinary Guild, comprised of Alpha Cooks, Sous Chefs, Team Garnish, Team Dishwashers, Minion Primus and Minion Secundus busting their arses all day cooking & prepping...

receiving a standing ovation & round of applause at the end of it all- PRICELESS... :D

Honestly and without exaggeration, 2009 was such a sucky year for many of us, myself definitely included in that one.  Too many deaths of loved ones, loss of jobs, health catastrophes, etc.  Mark and I decided before the end of 2009 that we are going to take the offensive and take back our happiness in 2010.  We've decided that this is 2010: The Year to THRIVE.  That means, we do what we feel we need to do in order to thrive professionally, personally, financially, in our relationship (strengthening the "us"), etc.  We are to make sure we are active and do things that make us happy.  This also includes removing a lot of the drama and crap that saturated our lives the past few years and dragged us down.

As such, we have been taking active steps in our THRIVE this past month.  Mark has really been having a ball at work, pushing his creativity and enthusiasm and deciding what he wants to do, and making it happen.  As such, he does have a bit of a "look at my balls!" attitude, telling it how he sees it and thinks things should be done, and his boss really likes this approach. He's been very much  "this is the way it needs to b done, because it's the right thing to do" and not backing down because it might bruise some fragile egos.  Yes, he has been putting long hours in at work, but he comes home with a smile on his face and professional inspiration in his heart.

I have been getting on top of my game as well.  I have long thought of starting up my own health & fitness site, and it has manifested in its current form as "Destination Fit" on Facebook.  It's a group where anyone can join and either post their goals, activities, ask ideas/suggestions, motivate or seek motivation, or just find some kind of inspiration to be more active than they were yesterday.  We've got only 30 members right now, but I'm happy with it right now.  It will grow.

Mark and I are in preparation for going to Estrella War in February.  We haven't had an actual "us" vacation since 2006 (Dominican Republic for his sister's wedding and NJ last year for my mom's funeral don't count as chosen activities).   We’re leaving Friday Feb 5 (today!) to travel to Phoenix to pick up our friend Andrew on Sunday evening.  Staying the night in Phoenix, then on to War Monday morning.  When we drop Andrew off the following Monday, Mark and I are off to Las Vegas for a couple days, then possibly to the Getty Museum in California, or check out the Grand Canyon while in Vegas.  Then we head to San Francisco to visit with a couple of Mark’s work counterparts, as well as do the touristy thing.  Then we’ll  take our time coming back up to Seattle are, possibly stopping off in Portland to visit Powell’s Bookstore (totally made of awesome place).

I did have more to write here, but time runs short and calls me back to the prep & pack for the car.  Will be near interweebs this weekend, then off to the middle ages for a week.  Won’t see me back around here until about Valentine’s Day.  Have fun, enjoy yourselves, and I’ll talk more when I can!

You know how sometimes people on your friendslist post about stuff going on in their life, and all of a sudden you think "Wait a minute? Since when were they working THERE? Since when were they dating HIM/HER? Since when?" And then you wonder how you could have missed all that seemingly pretty standard information, but somehow you feel too ashamed to ask for clarification because it seems like info you should already know? It happens to all of us sometimes.

Please copy the topics below, erase my answers and put yours in their place, and then post it in your journal! Please elaborate on the questions that would benefit from elaboration. One-Word-Answers seldom help anyone out.

NAME: Jacqueline Ann Bowne, aka Jax, Squeaky, Tazzy, The Brain, sweety, brat, l'il sister, baby girl

AGE: almost 35

LOCATION: Redmond, Washington (Seattle eastside)

OCCUPATION: Independent personal trainer. I was working for Fitness Together until March, when the owner of the shop closed it down. She was an executive V.P. at a local bank and managed to micromanage her business into the ground. So, I've been doing my own thing since then. Got a couple of clients, and I train sometimes at their homes and sometimes out of my garage. Got a lot of equipment from the old facility when it shut down, and had a bunch of stuff already, so I'm in pretty good shape on the Garage Gym thing. Want fitness?

PARTNER(s): Mark Simms, since 2001. We refer to ourselves as "Da Us"

PARENTS: Father (Robert) died in March of 1997- he was 51. Mom (Maureen) died August 25th of this year- she was 59. This is why I was home soo much this past summer.

SIBLINGS: Older sister Michelle (36) who now lives with me and Mark. Younger brother Rob (almost 32- his birthday is the day before mine), who lives back in NJ.

PETS: none. Allergic to cats, small allergy to dogs, and a lot of other hairy/furry critters (except Mark).

LIST THE 3-5 BIGGEST THINGS GOING ON IN YOUR LIFE:

1. After my mother died this summer, my sister Michelle moved out to Seattle with us. This is after she broke up with her sweety of 18 years (who was a real jerk), quit her job, and decided she needed, wanted and deserved better in her life. We drove cross-country in a Ford Explorer with all her worldly possessions in the back (and mom's ashes on the center console between the seats). 2 weeks after we got here, her former sweety of 18 years dropped dead. Michelle, Mark and I have been learning how to live together, still maintaining our individuality, independence and keep some happy "home-shui" going.

2. Mark's dad has been in the hospital for almost 4 weeks now. Brucie had bowel cancer last year and all was well after surgery & treatments, then found spots on liver this year. he collapsed after the end of treatments a month ago and his liver was doing crazy wierd stuff. Mark had to leave a conference in LA to head home to St. John's because the doctors weren't even sure what was going on or what to do. Mark has been home 2 weeks, and is planning on returning to me on Sunday. Dad has been improving slowly, but steadily (thankfully). We've all been worried about dad, while I have been fighting to be supportive of Mark & family, and not let energy & emotion from my recent parental loss shadow me and my days.

3. Since all the family drama that has been going on the past 6 months, I have not been taking care of myself as well as I should have. Emotional eating & some mild depression, etc... has caused a more than 20 pound weight gain. I am not happy in my skin currently, and have been working on getting back into the "Jackie zone". Considering it's the holidays (which I'm not a fan of to begin with), I've really been fighting to make sure I have "me" time, which mostly means time in the gym or working out/taking care of me.

4. Been working really hard with one of my clients who is extremely motivated, which gives me an extreme happy. Finally starting to see some really good results/transformations with her body, which is driving both of us even more.