Thursday, June 10, 2010

OH Costa Mesa Conference and Fashion Show

Ok, so it's taken me almost 2 weeks to finish this blog post, but here it is...Finally!! LOL

The weekend ROCKED!!
Friday, I had good intentions to be at the hotel by 3-4:00, but you know what they say about good intentions; the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. LOL So I actually got to the hotel about 5:30pm. The Hilton was beautiful. I loved the glass-walled elevators. I have a lot of thoughts on them, but not for public view. LOL So anyway, loved the hotel. The staff was very helpful and friendly. My roommate was very nice, even tho we didn't see much of each other through out the weekend.


Saturday came and I realized that I didn't pack enough clothes for the weekend. Typical. LOL So I trekked down to Walmart in Huntington Beach and picked up an outfit. Came back to the hotel and changed. Went down to check out the vendors. There were some pretty cool vendors there. I made appointments with 2 reconstructive surgeons, Dr. Quiroz from Mexico and Dr. Katzen from Beverly Hills. Love them both. I met them both in 2008 at the OH Los Angeles convention. Both said that even with still having 25 pounds to lose, they would do the reconstructive surgery on me now. They feel I am ready for it. They both said that the suferies would take between 10-15 pounds off of me, leaving me about 10 pounds to get to my goal weight. I walked the vendors for a while, picked up some samples and bought some other items, like dried edemame. Sat is on three speakers; Yvonne McCarthy (BariatricGirl), Dr. Garth Davis (Big Medicine) and Mary Jo Rapini (Big Medicine). All three were great speakers. Yvonne was right on about the self-esteem issue. Dr. Garth was funny during his segment. But I think my favorite was Mary Jo, who was speaking about sex after weightloss surgery. She had everyone rolling with her sense of humor, and it got even better when she brought out the whipped cream and toys. Oh my gosh, I hadn't laughed so hard in a long, long time.


Saturday night came and I was running around trying to find Jeremy from Obesty Help so we could compare our lists of fashion show participants so he could put together to slideshow and trying to get something to eat before getting myself ready for the show. Found Jeremy and gave him my list, Kim V. was nice enough to share her pizza with me for dinner and we got to talking so much that we were late getting back to our rooms to get ready. Checked email and my high-speed internet had been shut down about a 1/2 hour early, so I went to the desk and they comped me a 4-hour block of internet service. See?? Told you they were nice and helpful. By the time I was done figuring out what was wrong with the internet, I had about 25 minutes to shower, dress, do my hair and makeup. So I showered, dressed, did my hair and took my makeup kit down to the room we were using for the fashion show and ran into the makeup artist. She took me into the makeup room and did my makeup for me. I was about 15 minutes late for the show that I coordinated, but they couldn't really begin without me. Yvonne introduced me and then the show started. It was awesome! We rocked the runway. There was a photo booth that everyone enjoyed over and over and over again...After the fashion show, we had a DJ. He was pretty decent. About midnight everyone went back to their rooms and I spent some time in IM with a friend for a couple hours before bed.


Sunday was a lazy morning, with a late check-out, which gave me a lot of time to consolidate everything intomy bags. The weekend and especially the fashion show was a HUGE success. I was happy that everyone had a great weekend.


On another happy note, I met a gentleman at the hotel. His name is Shane. We had passed each other several times. He was at the hotel for a differet event that weekend. So as I said, we had passed each other several times and wound up in the elevator together. He was on the same floor and i was, only the opposite direction. We wound up hanging out for a bit on saturday. He walked the vendor floor with me and we'd meet up between our respective speakers and my PS consutations. He had asked me out, but I explained my real life situation of married but seperated and still living with my soon-to-be-ex husband. He completely understood and told me that when I am free, he'd still love to take me out. He gave me his card with his home, work and cell numbers. He lives in Orange County and was still willing to come take me out when I live in the Inland Empire. Anyway, he was hearing a speaker at the time I was getting ready for the fashion show and I passed by him twice on the floor where the show was being held, and he didn't recognize me. I had to go up and re-introduce myself to him. LOL Now mind you, I had been wearing capris and a tshirt all day. When he saw me all 'dolled up', he was blown away. He told me I was beautiful and gave me a hug, caressed my cheek and gave me a soft kiss. He hung out by the door until the fashion show was done, I saw him for a couple minutes afterward and then he had to go to a party of his own, after kissing me one more time that night. Just a soft, sweet kiss. Very respectful. I will definitely be calling him when my home situation changes.


So, all in all it was a fabulous weekend. Very unforgettable.