CoachCher

The last time I spoke to Melting Mama she said she will be there, I'll find out for sure.

Here are some of the pictures we took from the weekend. I will post more tomorrow.

Ahh Wendy you are amazing. I will not be able to make the one in Houston, I have a previous engagement. I love it you are going to be "The Spy" for us. We want to do it up bigger and better. Wendy make sure you stop by Melting Mama's booth, she is a hoot. She does product review for our community. Be sure to tell her I sent you, she will love it. April is six months away, plenty of time to start saving and planning.

Dr. Vuong is going to be on "The Band Banter" Talk Show 10/20/08 at 6:00pm CT so mark your calenders you don't want to miss it. www.blogtalkradio.com/bandbanter

Paige, I am so thankful you had a wonderful time. The constructive criticism and positive feed back is welcome, this is how we learn to do things bigger and better. I am in complete agreement ditch the Saturday hotel event and let's all plan to go out with each other and enjoy the host city we are in. I also think 3 days was too much. Next time we could schedule breakfast on the last day; this way we can relax and enjoy our last moments with each other until the next time we meet again. However I did enjoy the support group with Dr. Vuong that was amazing!!

As promised here is the recipe for the afternoon dessert we had from Chef Leslie. CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CAKE<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p> WITH CINNAMON CREAM<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> 1/3 cup Water<o:p></o:p> 1/3 cup Splenda<o:p></o:p> 1 stick unsalted I can’t believe it’s not butter, cut in pieces<o:p></o:p> CarbSmart Sugar Free Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips 8 oz. bag chopped coarsely<o:p></o:p> 6 large Eggs ( 3 egg whites and 3 whole eggs)<o:p></o:p> 1/3 cup strong, brewed Coffee or Espresso<o:p></o:p> 2 Tablespoons Kahlua (may substitute with 1 tablespoon vanilla)<o:p></o:p> 1 teaspoon ground Cinnamon<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Cream:<o:p></o:p> 1 cup well-chilled fat free heavy Cream<o:p></o:p> 3 Tablespoons powdered Sugar<o:p></o:p> 1 teaspoon ground Cinnamon<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter and 8-inch round cake pan and line with parchment or waxed paper.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> In a medium saucepan, bring water and sugar to a simmer over moderate heat, stirring occasionally. Add butter and simmer, stirring occasionally, until melted. Remove pan from heat and add chocolate, swirling pan to submerge chocolate in hot syrup. Let chocolate stand in syrup 3 minutes and then whisk until smooth. Cool slightly<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, coffee, Kahlua and cinnamon. Add a small amount of the chocolate mixture, whisking until well combined. The idea is to warm the eggs slowly and avoid cooking them. Slowly add the remainder and strain into prepared cake pan. Place in a water bath which reaches halfway up the side of the cake pan and bake in the middle of the oven for 30-35 minutes. It is done when a knife comes out hot and clean, although you may call it “done” when there is a half-dollar size jiggle in the middle. Cool it completely on a cake rack.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Cake may be kept in the pan, chilled for one week. Alternately, loosen with knife around the edge and gently invert onto a plate. Top with cream.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> For cream: Place cream, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. With an electric mixer or whisk, beat ingredients until they hold stiff peaks. Serve along side the mousse cake.<o:p></o:p>

I love the idea of having the Body Bugg at the next one. A lot of the vendors backed out at the last minute, so I will definately make sure there are more vendors at the next one. LOL about Mary Jo, I didn't know she was going to have toys otherwise I could of had someone there to have those products available. Keep the suggestions coming this is what is going to make the next one bigger and better. I am loving the feed back!!

Hopefully will know more later this week. As soon as I get the date I will post and let everyone know.

Thank you Julie for your honesty. I am so sorry you were disappointed, that really breaks my heart. The only way I can make future conferences better is with honest feedback, so I do appreicate your honesty. I am very very sorry you did not get all you expected, it will be much bigger and better next year that's a promise. I learned a lot from this conference, so going forward I will be much more prepared. I will also have a much better understanding of how the "lunch, dinner's" should be organized. I am glad you guys came and hope to see you again at next years conference in Dallas.

We discussed New York in April. I don't have a firm date or location since we only discussed it briefly this weekend. I will be speaking with Alex later this week and we will try to firm up everything. Trust me once I know more information I will pass the information off to everyone here on the boards.

What an wonderful weekend!! The speakers were amazing, you can really tell they have a heartbeat for this community. "Mary Jo" need I say more, Dr. Vuong wow what a bonus; his commitment to each one of us (patient of his or not) is mind blowing, Dr. Heistein was very informative, Diane Wallace gave us some great tips and websites to use in the future, Dr. Prentice taught me to never eat at Micky D's again (not that I need to eat there anyway), Dr. Veninga drove home the point follow up really is the key to our success and Dr. Matin shared how we can educate our support system an area we all need help in. I want to "Thank" everyone who attended, without you the weekend would not have been the success it was. I know I didn't get to spend as much time with each one of you as I wanted to, however there will be more "National Lap-Band Conferences" in the future so hopefully I will have the pleasure of spending more time with each of you at the future conferences. Now of course this was the first conference and yes it did have it's hiccups. I know the food was not up to par as I had expected; I did speak with the hotel and expressed our displeasure with the quality and quanity of the food. I want to express my sincerest appolgies we didn't have the "Raffle" for the Lap Band as advertised. The surgeon who was going to offer his services was hit pretty hard with "Hurricane Ike" and unfortunately was not able to help us out. Again I want to "Thank" each one of you from the bottom of my heart; you helped make this an amazing conference. My hope and goal is to continue to improve and make the up coming conferences bigger and better!! P.S. I will be adding the chocolate cake recipe to this post later today, I promise.

Try following the three golden rules and see if that helps. Smaller bites chew to liquid before you swallow (even mashed potatoe's) Don't be stressed out or anxious before you eat, this will cause your band to tighten up. See if that helps, if not contact your surgeon until you get your fill right. Let me know if that helps.

I am always freezing cold, such a difference from 4 years ago. Definately bring something to layer with. Right now it's a beautiful 75 and it's almost noon, I love it!! Since everything is inside we don't worry about what it's doing outside.

We can't wait to meet you Patricia, it's going to be a blast!! Lots of us are coming solo so you will fit right in.

The band can loosen up, especially if you are losing weight. Think of it like a "BELT" the more weight you lose the more holes on your belt you have to adjust. The same holds true for the band.

Hey Kimmie, Just be kind and patient with yourself right now. You will learn to slow down and take smaller bites, it's a life saver. Let me know if there is anything I can help you with, I'm here for you.

Dress up, Dress down, just don't be late :cursing:) We are going to dance our booties off, hey that will be a bonus "RIGHT"!! LOL

I am wearing black crop pants, dressy shirt and boots. I am so excited you guys are getting pumped up for the conference. Because of "Ya'll" it's going to be amazing!!

Wow you have done amazing Cblancha. Band erosion or slippage is caused from constant throwing up. If you are throwing up all the time you need to let your surgeon know because that is not normal. Practice the three golden rules and hopefully that will help you.

I would start by taking smaller bites so it's easier to chew to liquid form, this should make it easier on you to eat. Taking an antacid is fine, but be sure to tell your surgeon about your reflux you want to keep him/her in the loop. Anytime you have a fill be easy on yourself because you getting use to your restriction. Just keep the golden rules close by and you should do great.

You don't have to be banded to contribute to the clothing exchange. Bring what you don't think you will be wearing much longer and pick up some smaller sizes so you will be prepared once you start losing weight.

Everyone who has signed up is on the list. All you need to do is go the registeration table to pick up your name tags. I am so excited and looking forward to meeting everyone.

The Clothing exchange will be available for everyone who wants to participate. No purchasing of the clothes will take place. Whatever we have left over I will donate to a local women's shelter here in the DFW area.

Hi, The hotel is The Wyndham DFW North. I look forward to meeting you at the conference.

Hey YaYa, I bet your right. If you haven't really had to pay attention before now you are probably taking too big of a bite and not chewing well enough. Just take your time to chew and concentrate on the smaller bite and you should be good to go. Let us know how you do with this fill and let us know what you learned.