Getting to know you ...

[nessa3678 0]

Hey everyone! My name is Vanessa, I am 29 and married to my wonderful husband for a little over 3 years. We have a 2 year old daughter Madeline who is a handful and a 6 year old Golden Retreiver Dixie. I am orginally from Chalmette, LA (right outside of New Orleans) but in 05' Hurrican Katrina took everything from me, my freinds and family. The parish I lived in (St. Bernard) was 95% destroyed. I now live in Covington, LA which is still close to New Orleans (on the other side of Lake Pontchartrian). I have no more worring about leves to keeping us safe and all the flooding.

My husband, Frank, is a Federal Fierfighter. He works on the air force base out there. I've just started back to work since Katrina and I am an anministrative assistant for an insurance/finance company not to far from home.

I don't have many hobbies but I do enjoy spending as much time with my family and friends as possible.

[hajohnson1 0]

Hey there, Holly again. I just realized that I forgot to mention my age. I'm currently 40 but will be 41 in just 24 days.

[luvmy4boys 0]

My name is Deanna and I'm 39 yrs. old. I've been married for 16 years and have 4 sons ages 14,11,5,&2. I had my banding in Mexico on Thanksgiving Day (11-22). I have a Master's Degree in Elem. Education and an extra 12 hours past that I'll probably never use now that I have 4 kids. I taught in a classroom for 8 yrs. and have been a librarian for 7 yrs. I live in Potosi, Missouri and have all my life. Our family has a black lab, Australian Shepard, 6 barn cats, 3 horses, a pony, a donkey, and several head of cattle. Right now we're also parents to a bottle fed calf. I'm so eager to move on with my life with the help of the band! Thanks for all your messages as these have motivated me to get the band.

[Skinny_Jill 36]

Hi everyone,

I'm Jill, 39 yrs old and I live in Sugar Land, TX, a suburb of Houston. I am a controller for a manufacturing company and I am back in school. I have a 7 month old Cockapoo named Callie and I think she has been my biggest hurdle since being banded. LOL She has a lot of energy so when I want to rest she wants to play.

So far my band is great. Today is my 1st day back at work and school and so far so good. The pain isn't bad at all. I'm glad to be out of the house and keeping my mind busy so I can quit thinking about food.

I look forward to getting to know all of you.

[lizzie_07 0]

Dena - Yep I'm from Nova Scotia. I didn't think many Americans knew about Nova Scotia let alone wanted to visit! lol There are some really scenic places around here. Peggy's cove is STUNNING and so is the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton (especially during the fall).

[DDFran 0]

Hey Lizzie,

I don't know how to send a personal message, so I'll reply this way. I've wanted to go to Nova Scotia for 3-4 years. I plan to visit, hopefully next summer. I'll start researching Peggy's Cove, (I have heard of this place) and Cabot Trail. I was looking at reserving an old lighthouse. Thanks for your recommendations. I've seen some good celtic bands from Nova Scotia as well. I look forward to the local music, food and rural life. Thanks again, talk to you soon.

Dena

[lindata 1]

Dena, I've never been either, but trust me you are going to LOVE the east coast. I know a lot of people who've gone there, including my parents. I wish I had gone before I moved. Who knew I'd wind up in the States.

[DLW 0]

Hi everyone! My name is Dianne and I am 50 years old. Married for 8 years this coming New Years Eve to my 2nd husband, who, by the way, is a wonderful companion and friend to me.

I was married to the father of my 2 daughters for 21 years. We lost our daughter, Nichol in a car accident in 1996. She was 19. I miss her terribly sometimes. :-( My other daughter, Danielle is 27 years old and married, she has a son, Alex who is 9. She had gastric bypass surgery April 2005 and lost 110 pounds. She is now pregnant with a little girl! She is scheduled for a c-section on December 17th! I'm very excited about it. They have been trying for 8 years to become pregnant. She would not have been able to conceive if it weren't for the bypass surgery. Such a blessing. The baby's name will be Brooklynn Nichol. She named her after her sister, so sweet.

I live in NY, near Cornell University. I work at a place called Claritas Inc. It is a demographic, geographic data company. We are owned by AC Nielsen. I've been here for around 24 years. I love my job and the people. There is around 100 employees here in this office. We have 7 other offices across the US.

This was a great idea Linda, I found it right after I sent you the personal e-mail. LOL Sorry. :-)

It's nice to meet everyone and good luck to everyone!!

Blessings, Dianne

[Shalee04 7]

Hi, I'm Kelly 42. I am married to my wonderful husband Wes for 4 years now, But have been together for 13 years . We have 3 daughters. Jessica is 25 and in her 4th year of Grad school. The twins are 22.

I am a Manager at a clothing store, Wes is a graphics engineer/ architecture draftsman/computer nerd. hehehe

I met Wes after going thru a divorce and losing 130 pounds 2 years prior to that with sensiable eatring habits and excersise. Since we have been together I have gained 60 of them back. and I couldn't seem to lose them o matter what, even Jenny craig didn't work for me, so after much research I decided on the lap-band. Nov 12th was my banding date, today I am 2 weeks out.

glad to meet you all, and I love these forum pages.

[bandpal 7]

These are wonderful bios - moving and inspiring. Thank you to all. Here's mine.

My name is David. I'm 47 years old and have been married for ten years. I have four children: a 13 year-old boy, a 7 year-old boy, a 5 year-old girl and a three year-old boy, and a pygmy retriever named Motek ("sweetie" in Hebrew). I live in Israel, on a small kibbutz called Ketura (pop. 500) in the middle of the desert, about half an hour's drive from the Red Sea port city of Eilat. I'm a teacher with a BA in Elementary Ed and an MS in Special Ed. I now work in informal education, designing and implementing educational programs for groups which come to visit our kibbutz and stay at our guest house. I love writing (poetry, stories and songs), reading, hiking and bicycling. My DW is in charge of the volunteers on the kibbutz - young people who have come from all over the world to experience the unique kibbutz lifestyle.

A kibbutz is a collective agricultural community. All of our earnings go the kibbutz, and we receive a small monthly stipend adjusted for family size. Our housing , utilities, food, health care and the educational needs of our children are totaly provided for by the kibbutz, and many of our other expenses (telephone, transportation, clothing, etc.) are heavily subsidized. It's an incredibly supportive and interrelated community, and a beautiful one, too (see picture below) . We govern ourselves - all kibbutz members have one vote in our general assembly and are free to leave whenever we want. We grow dates, have 500 dairy cows, have a fish farm in the Red Sea and cultivate fresh Water algae from which we extract and process a pigment called astaxanthin, which is very much in demand.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/74/225357730_eb0c1d6a4f.jpg?v=0

I grew up in New York City, and moved to Israel in 1989 with my first wife after I finished college. We lived in the north of the country for seven years, had my oldest son and then divorced. I re-met DW, an old girlfriend living on Ketura a year later, and we soon picked up where we left off, got married and started making babies. My oldest son and my ex moved back to America a few years later, but he and I are very close, and we see him out here every summer and either winter or spring vacation.

I have always been fat, attended my first Weightwatchers meeting when I was 14, gained more weight in college, slimmed down for wedding number one, put it right back (plus, of course), slimmed down again for the divorce, put it right back again (plus again, of course). I've gained 100 pounds in the last ten years, which really set me up as far as meeting the criterea for this operation. WW, OA, therapy - nothing has worked. I believe I can do this - I just need a level playing field, and I'm counting on the band to give it to me. It was time for something new, and I'm feeling good about the decision I made (banded one week ago as of tomorrow) and about moving towards my hopes together with all of you.

[lizzie_07 0]

Dena - If you like celtic music you would love the celtic colours festival. It's a week long event held every October all across Cape Breton. I haven't gone myself but I've heard many people talking about it (my parents grew up in Cape Breton).

To everyone else: It's so nice getting to know all of you! Glad to see so many replies to this thread.

[lonestar5212 0]

I was a SAHM while my kids were growing up. I have 5 of them, (one set of twins). Ages 26-38. I have been married for 40 years. My husband retired from corporate America 2 years ago and now sells real estate. I started my own real estate investment company, and I flip houses. (Couldn't stand traditional "retirement.")

I have lived in Pa., Hawaii, New York, Texas, Florida and then back to Texas. Job transfers with my husbands job kept us on the move.

I love politics, movies, reading, decorating and remodeling houses, and traveling. Went to Brazil and Ireland recently. Best trips are the ones to visit my grandaughter near NYC.

Ruined my knees by being too aggressive for my weight at exercise a couple of years ago, but I still go to the gym and do the cycle and a few other things. I definitely look forward to starting yet another new chapter in my life as a thin person. I used to dream about a day like that, now I know it is possible, and I am on my way.

[lindata 1]

Bandpal - wow, a kibbutz! I've read about them but never actually knew anyone who lived on one. How cool are you!! How did you learn about it and get interested in living on one? Where did you go for your surgery?

[candy8360 0]

now we can see why he had to bring his own lapband!!!

[lindata 1]

Okay, it's official. I like every single one of you and you are all so very interesting!! Every time someone posts I want to respond with "Oh, I love that too!" Aw, now I'm getting all mushy.

Lonestar - I LOVE remodelling. HIRE ME!! haha. We had a character home in Canada built in 1912 (okay, not THAT old, but character for that area), and we remodelled a lot of it. I love watching those flipping shows.