It's Been Awhile

Man.....

The month of July was super busy ad super crazy. I've once again neglected my blog. I was doing so well with update about the baby and weight loss and then boom...no updates in over a month.

Things are going great. Everything is well with the baby. Amy is doing great. I give her a lot of credit as she is almost 25 weeks and has yet to beat the shit out of me. She not only keeps me in order but keeps the house in order as well, all while working one of the crappiest shifts. At times I may not say or do all the right things but I truly fall more in love her everyday.

And then to touch on the weight thing. I'm not going to make any excuses but just say that I haven't been doing all that I should be or where I was at about 2 months ago.

All in all things are going very well. I'm trying to find more time to take a break and jump on here to let everyone know whats going on. I still get emails from all of my past readers asking what's going on where ya been. So once again I apologize.

Things are going to move pretty quick as we are only a little more than 3 months away from welcoming baby Shelby into the world I can't wait.

Speaking of waiting we;re also waiting the addition of another niece into the family as my Brother & Sister-In-Law are anxiously waiting for baby Marnie to arrive @ any moment....

The Scale Doesn't Lie (Week 17 Weigh-In)

So I started out working with a trainer on Sunday at my gym. Bobby is awesome. He knows where I'm at and where I'm trying to get to. I worked out 4 straight days. I have never worked out like this in my life. It feels damn good too.

I plan to put up some video and pictures of me at the gym and of my progress. I want you all to see how hard I'm working. Plus when I shed the pounds I want to be able to look back at all the hard work I put in.

I went to weight watchers today and weight in. I'm down another 9lbs That makes me feel awesome. I'm really pumped right now and can't wait to get back in the gym tomorrow morning.

I've got about 6 months now til the baby is here. My goal is to lose 100+ pounds by then. I want my baby to see what daddy has been doing for her/him. (we'll know in about 5-6 weeks)

I'm going to start bloggin more with my weight loss and with the baby coming. I know I'm going to have a lot on my mind.

Below is a short video of Amy and I at the Doctors, the nurse was using a fetal doppler to get the heart beat. It took her a min but she was able to get it. Not the best video in the world but wanted to share. (audio may be low)

Big Changes Coming Up

My life's a combination of my past achievements
With a lotta heavy lifting, lotta deep breathing
A lotta courage, lotta doubts, a lotta mixed feelings
A lotta love a lotta luggage for a lotta reasons
I ain't forgot about the pain and all the mistreatments

I've got to rise up alleviate the stress
No longer will I expose my weakness
He who seeks knowledge begins with humbleness


As my home boy JL would know when I say

"Time 4 Change"

more to follow

Small Weight Gain and Baby's Heartbeat

I'm going through one of those times again where I fail to update everyone on what's going on in my life.

I weighted in this past Saturday and was up 2.2 pounds. I knew I was. I had ha a stressful two weeks with work and just being all around busy. I haven't been to the gym as much as I should be. I haven't went overboard but I haven't followed WW as I normally do.

Ok enough whining...

Now for some good stuff. Amy is doing great. She is 11 weeks now and the due date was moved up a little from our last appointment. The doctor said that due to the size and everything from the first ultrasound that was done, that we're a little farther along then we first thought. Not a big jump though. Instead of the due date being the 27th of November, it has been moved up to the 23rd.

The greatest thing about our last appointment was that for the first time we both got to hear our baby's heartbeat. It was a little emotional and made it real. I'm living the dream right now. It was an amazing feeling that I don't think can be put into words. For those of you that have experienced it before I think you all know what I mean.

We're both very excited and looking forward to what comes ahead. I'll for sure keep everyone posted on that.

I can't believe in a million years did i ever think I was going to become a weight loss and Daddy blogger...lol

I'm not complaining it's two very great things that I'm very proud of and I woulodn't change it for the world.

Love (Early Childhood & Present)

My whole life I have never been skinny. Always obese, even when I was young. I can't wait til the day where the doctor tells me that I'm not obese anymore just overweight.

I don't think I have ever wanted this more now than I ever have in my life before. When I was younger I put on a show for everyone, but deep down I think the only one that really knew my struggles was my mother.

I was the happy kid, never showed that my weight was an issue. Of course I got picked on as a kid. You would have thought I would have done something about it. I honestly had a really good childhood except for the fact that I was obese.

I had many friends, was active in sports mostly baseball.

The only thing that I always said I was missing as I got older and was interested in girls, was a girl.

I had crushes, I had what I thought was loves, I had dreams. But when it came to girls, I just wasn't the guy they were looking for.

You know the classic line, "I just like you as a friend"

Then after High School & into my twenties where I was hanging at the bars, I dabbled in all of that but never committed myself.

I tired the online dating thing but never was really interested or they would never pan out. Mostly because I would date secretly and not even let my family & friends know. Then when it came that time for ultimate commitment I would break it off.

Why? I was scarred. I have no other explanation.

Then came Amy into my life. She was the first girl that I really wanted to have my friends and family meet. Something was very different about her. I had always though I had been in love before, but I honestly don't think there is such thing as love until you find the right one. Then and only then do you truly experience love.

I used to always blame my weight for not having that special someone in my life. I used to beat girls up about it too (not literally...lol). Can't blame them. I wasn't for them, I was meant for my Wife.

I guess the reason for this long post.....

For the very first time in my life, I have a true meaning to lose this weight. Not only for myself but for her. She choose me, we choose each other. It wasn't about looks or about weight.

I love her so much that I'm not only doing this for myself but for her. This past month whenever I have doubted myself, all I had to do was think about her or look at a picture and get myself back on track. I've not slipped up nor have I cheated.

She's my true soul-mate, she is my motivation, she is why this time around......

I WILL NOT FAIL

Weight Watchers & GYM Time

Well Amy & I have joined weight watchers and looking to follow the points system as to not give up food all together like i have in the past with my shake program. I kick myself in the ass everyday and think where I might be if I would have stuck with my diet. I lost over 100 pounds in a year. I was on my way. At first I used the excuse of my Dad;s passing as to a reason for the weight gain. I'm at my heavest I have ever been in my life. I have gained back more than I have lost. It's really sad. Back problems have come back, I really am less motivated than before. I'm not depressed. I'm Happy, I just need to change my life style.

There's something about getting married that really triggers something in you. I want to be here and share as long as I can make possible with my wife. We have talked about starting a family and I need to be there for when god give us a beautiful child. Not oly do I need to be there, I also need to get myself more physical so that I'm not that father that plops down on the couch and doesn't play with his kids.

I have dreams and visions and to be corny, I sometimes find myself day dreaming about the future. I like what I see. But I see myself healthy. I'm not there yet.

Amy and I need to feed off eachother and get to where we want to be. I want and need all of your help as well.

I'm going to be taking you on this challenge. Letting you in on some deepest darkest secrets. Both by bloggin and vloggin.

I hope you will all come along for the ride.

I'll keep you all posted with what's going on here on the blog, on twitter and on my TooBIGtv channel.

I may even from time to time bring ya to the GYM with me. I'm going to start going to the GYM on a regular basis as well.

I feel like I'm getting another chance, I have something to prove. I have a goal.

Thank You

TooBIGtv

Hey all I added something new to the site. Using the capabilities of UStream, I've added to the right of this post a feed for when I go live. GO live your asking. Well from time to time I'll be going live from either @ home or on the road. UStream allows me to take a live feed from my Droid phone and broadcast it to the world.

Just something new I want to try and sometimes I have a few words on my mind and want to say it instead of write it.

Really the focus of TooBIGtv is I want to bring all of you into my world my journey as I start my mission on loosing the weight again.

After the fist of the year I'll be joining a GYM, Starting back on weight watchers with Amy and getting myself back in gear.

My goal is to lose half my current weight. It going to be no easy task. It's going to take a lot of hard work and ass busting. But I believe in myself and feel I can accomplish this.

It's hard when you know it's something that deep down inside you can control.

Well please tune in and join UStream and start following me so that you know when I'm live.

See ya on the interwebz

What does it take, A must read if you know Jess Perreca Jr.

When do you really start believing what you say to yourself. Wither it be out load or some things you just say to yourself? When do you make a promise to yourself that you really keep?

My weight has been a struggle all my life. I grew up angry at the world and never really did anything about it, till I read a news article about a local man (Larry Coker) that lost I believe at that time over 500 pounds. He was starting up a program for kids that wanted to lose weight. I begged my Mom & Dad to sign me up.

I loved that class and everything about it. I was in an environment where all the kids were felling the same way I did and Larry was our hero. I lost about 65 pounds in that stretch and was on a roll.....

Then one day we all showed up for our weekly meeting and Larry was not there, another week went by and Larry was not there. My parents were paying this Man and he was not there supporting us anymore.

I was crushed and gave up.

Later on in life I would dabble with some other diets and they had minimal results. I then found the Beaumont diet. An all shake diet that surprisingly worked. I lost weight but a trip up north with my friends and a pizza and snacks later saying to myself oh I'll get back on track when we get back home was just the beginning.

I would then gain more weight to only one day wake up to want to do it again.

As determined as ever I started back up on the all shake diet. I was cruising. I was on my way. I lost over 100 pounds only to stumble when my father passed away from cancer. I gained all that weight back and more.

As I sit here and type this, I'm truly in disgust with myself and am looking deep inside me for a new beginning. I need to find a way to control myself and my eating habits. I need to find a way to be more active instead of working my 8 hour day and coming home and sitting in front of the TV and computer.

I've told my wife Amy that I want to join a gym with a trainer and she's very supportive and for it. I have yet to sign up it not because I'm stalling but with the wedding and holidays the money doesn't support it right now.

We have both committed to join weight watchers like we had when we first met and it both worked for us, we'll be starting that the first of the year.

I need to get a hold of my own support system and shake it and tell it that I have many things to live for and goals that I have yet to accomplish.

I'm at my heaviest weight I have ever been at and something needs to change. Wait I NEED TO CHANGE.

There is two goals that I have always made for myself before I leave this world, the first was that I wanted to become a husband. I have fulfilled that goal and the 2nd being that I wanted to be a father.

There's a lot of responsibility that comes with being a father and a husband and that's being able to be here for them. If I want to be a father as much as I say I do then I will make these changes, I will not die on my kids because of something that I feel I can control.

I'm writing this post today as a reminder for myself that I'm promising myself and my future child that I'm going to do everything I can to change my ways.


I know this was long and if your at this point I appreciate all your support.

I will not fail you, me, my wife, or my future family.

Thank You

Memorial Christmas Classic honors organizer

Article on my Dad in the Daily Tribune

Thursday, September 17, 2009 (click date for link to article on daily tribune website)

From 1982 until 2007, when cancer was beginning to overtake him, Daily Tribune Circulation Department District Manager Jess Perreca Sr. scheduled a week of his vacation every December. That's when he and his wife, Bonnie, would work nearly around the clock, along with many volunteers, to gather and pack gifts, toys and food boxes to assure that needy families and seniors had a happy holiday.

The Christmas Classic golf outing was founded 27 years ago to support this annual holiday basket program, which assists needy local families and seniors during the holidays under the auspices of the Boys & Girls Clubs of South Oakland County.

The next generation stepped up to take over the holiday program for Jess, led by former Boys & Girls Club member Matt Lovelace and Joe Ross, and assisted by Tony Piraino, Mike Ripinski and Royal Oak Golf Course General Manager Joe Spatafore. Still, in 2007, severely weakened and losing ground to the disease, Jess insisted on being at the delivery distribution site from early morning on. It would be for the last time.

Jess lost his battle with cancer on Feb. 5, 2008, but the event, now named the Jess Perreca Sr. Memorial Royal Oak Christmas Classic, and the holiday basket program continue in his honor. As many as 250 families and 75 seniors are now helped every year, thanks to the proceeds of the Christmas Classic golf outing and donations from many local businesses, including Holiday Market. Holiday conducts an annual food drive, in which they match customer donations of food and cash one for one.

This year's golf outing was the most successful yet, raising over $10,000, which is a good thing, because demand for holiday assistance is at the highest level ever. And even better, the presenting sponsor, The Miner's Den, is matching every dollar given.

More than 100 golfers turned out on a beautiful sunny day,

Friday, Sept. 11, and stayed for dinner and awards following the tournament. Al Pruner won the 50/50 raffle, but nearly everyone went home with a donated prize.

Paul Slocum, Nick Areddy and Jerry Tarchala, who won closest to the line and closest to the pin contests, participated in a 197-yard hole-in-one shootout for $100,000 with no success, and Jeff Hunt failed to make a 40-foot putt for a $5,000 payout. But a good time was had by all.

If you would like to make a Christmas Classic donation, mail a check, payable to the Boys & Girls Clubs of South Oakland County, to 1545 E. Lincoln Ave., Royal Oak, MI 48067, and note that it's for the Christmas Classic program. Or call Sally Owen at (248) 544-4166, ext. 106, to use a credit card. You can also let Sally know if you or your company would like to adopt a senior or family for the holidays.

Wedding Vendors We Went With

I'm doing this post to give you all a run down of Amy & My wedding and also give some PR to all the Vendors that we've selected to use. I'll go through all the vendors and locations and post links as well. If you have any questions just comment and I'll answer. When the wedding is over I'll do another post to let you know my review on all the Vendors.


Limos: Long story, but we went with two different limo company's. One to pick up the girls and one to pick up the guys the day of the wedding. Then after the ceremony, one will take all of us to the hall.

We went with both Limo World out of Hazel Park to pick up the guys
And Lavadas Limos out of Warren to pick the girls up and then take us all to the hall.

Flowers: Being that we were on a budget for the whole wedding we went with Thrifty Flowers and although we haven't seen the finished product, I feel very confident in going with them. We went to them with a plan and they were able to make it work.

Tuxes: President Tuxedo was the vendor of choice. Being that I'm a bigger guy this is my biggest fear about the whole wedding. I just want to look good in my tux. My last experience with a Tuxedo place did not go so well. (different Vendor) But I have been fitted before at President so I'm feeling good about the process.

Wedding Dress: Amy went with David's Bridal for her dress for both her and the brides maids. I can't wait to see how beautiful she will look in her dress. I feel like a kid on Xmas trying to find details, but I have been a good boy and can't wait till She's Mrs. Amy Perreca.

Cake: Sweetheart Bakery is the vendor of choice. We actually went and tasted a lot of samples before we decided on them. Unfortunately they don't have a website but you can read a lot of very promising reviews about them. They are very reasonable in price and very yummy.

Videography: I looked and looked and looked. On both quality and price and came to a decision on Tri-Foot Productions. I remembered them from a friend of mines brothers wedding and remember seeing the finished product. Tri-Foot is very reasonable in price compared to the competitors and what you get with what you pay for. I'm so looking forward to our finished product.

Photographer: The photographer is a friend of the family and also did our engagement photos. Sara's Photography. We have done a lot of photos with her from family photos, engagement photos, party photos, etc. She does very good work.

Ceremony: White House wedding Chapel by Lavadas. Amy and I were thinking of getting married in a church but Amy wanted to see this place before making a decision. In the beginning I was like why do you want to go see a place we'll both fall in love with only to be disappointed because it won't accommodate us. Well we went there anyway and instantly fell in love with the place. It's absolutely beautiful and after meeting with them they informed us that the site was wrong at the time about how many guests it could accommodate. We made a deposit right on the spot. We just recently went to a wedding there of a friend of Amy's family and are so excited for out day. Very elegant and very quick. Just what we like.

Hall: Eastpointe Manor We decided on this place for size alone. We both hate going to weddings and having to fight to go from table to table. The layout of this place is awesome. The space between tables and not having everyone be elbow to elbow. They've just recently remodeled with a new dace floor, carpet, and what not and need to update their site to reflect this. Their menu is awesome. We've sampled the food which was awesome and all the extras for the price per plate on a Friday night is awesome. I'll just say that it's awesome...lol

Rings: I bought Amy's engagement ring from a Jeweler that is a friend of the family. Chinn's Jewelery. We also bought our wedding bands from them as well. Very pleased with their service as they're very helpful every time we make a visit.

DJ: Mike Staff Productions. We went with them as we were giving a gift of a deposit for their services. When picking out our DJ, we went with an old High School buddy of mine and we're both looking forward to showing Stella how she got her grove back.

Invitations: After numerous samples that Amy had to get, we finally decided to go with David's Bridal they were very reasonable in pricing and I think they look good. Simple but good with our wedding theme to go along.


So once again if anyone has any questions please comment or email me. I'll be happy to answer.

Thoughts On Dj AM Passing

Ok, can I honestly say that before yesterday I had no idea who Dj AM was. This shit is all over Twitter, his last Tweet posted Aug 25th stats that New York isn't all what's cracked up to be. But come on people are making this guy out to be a legend. I just don't see it. These Dj Am's and Samantha Ronson would not be who they're are if it wasn't for the celebrities they dated, or the tragic air plane crash that he was in. Those are why I know him. Not because he elevated the game of djing like some of the greats like Mix Master Mike, Jam Master Jay, Dj QBert, Grand Master Flash, and I could go on and on. The ones that pioneered the business.


I'm sorry I feel this way. I could also be speaking pre maturely but if he died of an over dose he did this all to himself. I find it hard to have sympathy for someone that does that too themselves.

I'm not saying my life is perfect but I would never go find a bottle or a needle to try to fix it.

The point I'm trying to make is when people die everyone wants to crown people or make money off of them. for example, Michael Jackson, yeah you go to a bar with Karaoke now and that all anyone is singing. No one cared to sing it when he was alive. Dale Earnhardt dies and all these products come out for people to buy. Same with Ronald Regan. People just wanting to make a buck or crown em.

Even me posting this blog is just another form of it...

On that note, Happy Bday Michael Jackson and RIP Adam Goldstein aka DJ AM.

Time is going by so fast

Yep.....

Before I know it I'm going to be a married man. I'm so looking forward to it as well. The stress, time leading up to, will all be worth it in the end. I try not to think of it as the Most expensive 8 hours of our lives. And then I think about having a baby and seeing the doctor bill and then realizing now that's the most expensive 15-20 minutes of our lives.....LMAO.

Things are moving very quick. Amy & I have a BBQ this weekend for all of the bridal party and our parents to meet and have a good time.

Sept. 20th is the wedding shower and then boom a month later on the 23rd of October is our wedding day.

But it don't stop there. We're getting married on Friday and then getting on a plane Sunday to head to Vegas for our honeymoon.

I'm going to be doing a post here soon of all the vendors we went through for the wedding.

Hope all is well.

Wedding & Honeymoon

With The Wedding being only 3 months away it's getting a little stressful for Amy and I. More so her I think. We pretty much had all the large things knocked out pretty early on. Now it's coming down tot he wire and we still have the little odd & ends. Wedding party gifts, hall decorations, centerpieces, favors. But I'm keeping those up to her. I love that she includes me because she wants my opinion but honestly unless it really cheesy then I'm all for it. I think she knows me well enough by know of what I'll approve of and what I'll dislike. Time is flying and we're both looking forward to the day.

We did however book our honeymoon. We'[re leaving a few days after the wedding and heading to sunny Las Vegas. We're staying @ the Mirage Hotel & casino. I wanted to get some of my readers opinions on what type of shows to go see and things to do. This will be my first time and I believe Amy's 5th time going to Vegas. I'm super excited about it. We book everything through a travel agent who has been great with accommodating us. And take a look at the pic & video below, this is the deluxe room will be staying in. It will be our first attempt at making a Minnie me....I know the visual just made you lose your lunch right........LMAO

Kid Rock Concert

I'll start by saying that I have seen Kid Rock perform I think 15-20 times in the past 10 years. So when I try to review a concert of his it's hard for me to say well this one was better than the others. I'll also say that My favorite concert was in Toledo, OH. The place looked like Farmers market downtown royal oak. Just a slap of cement and a roof over it. The back stage was separated by a curtain and I can remember his trademark middle finger stage prop in the background.

But last night was a little different, the atmosphere of was great the fans were all into it. For Gods sake there was even a Rainbow.

I have never been to a concert at Comerica park and when we purchased these tickets looks at the seating graph I was thinking it wasn't going to be that great. I was totally wrong.

The stage setup was nice, a lot of pyrotechnics and Kid really knows how to work a crowd.

It was a great time. I won't say it was my favs, but high up there on the list.

For those of you going tonight your in for a special treat.....enjoy.

My Notebook is a piece

So get this I spent all night re-doing my notebook. I bought my notebook about 2 years ago and recently it just have been running very sluggish. I bought some memory thinking it would boost the performance. Vista is a hog for memory. Still was having the same issues.

I spent 5 hours of my time last night trying to figure out the issue not wanting to reformat the HD and reload the OS.

No such luck. I was pissed at first but in the 2 years that I have had this notebook, I've put it through a lot. It's gone on many road trips and has been abused a little bit with a lot programs that I just never used.

I'm sure this is the most boring post ever but hey it was on my mind and decided to write about it.

So now my Toshiba Qosmio F45 AV11 should be running in tip top shape. Now I get to spend another 5 hours tonight loading all my programs back on and tweaking it to my liking...FML...lol

Oh by the way, I'm working on maybe 4 hours of sleep today.....NOT GOOD.

Back From The Dead

Holy Shit, I'm blogging after like 2 months of being MIA? I really didn't go anywhere. Was I missed? I'm not even sure how many people actually came and read my blog when I was blogging.

I think I have to go back to the basics and start blogging for myself again and just remember that the readers will come.

I've got a lot coming up in the next few months like getting Married.....

VEGAS.......

Baby Making.....LMAO

Anyway, Things have been going good and bad, planning a weeding and paying for it can be very stressful. I could have been blogging all the details but I can't explain how had no motivation at all to do so. It's kind of funny actually. In the past I would have wanted everyone in the world to know what was going on. Kind of like putting myself out there. Maybe I'm taking the MJ approach lately.

Speaking of MJ RIP my friend you'll be missed in the music world.

ok back to the blog....

So things are picking up quickly not too much time left before the Wedding OCT 23rd

but I want to find some ambition to get back to bloggin. Even if it is for myself.

I enjoy the comments like crazy it makes it much more worth while to log in and find someone read what I have to say and comment. Even if it's negative.

I'm going to try to be more involved and dig deep to find something to blog about.

with that being said, I hope everyone is doing well and hope that I can get my readers back and commenting again.

TB




----------------
Listening to: Kid Rock - Tin Can People (unreleased)
via FoxyTunes

Knock at the Devil's door long enough and eventually he will let you in

Stress Stress Stress, Stress eating, upset stomach the whole 9 yards.

I'm not gonna say life sucks, but it's time for TB to finally TCB

Oh I have a blog?

Yeah I must have forgotten that I have this thing. Sometimes as much as I want to jump on hear and spill the beans, I don't have the time nor the energy to do so.

I'm just dealing with a lot of stress right now and don't feel much like feeding all of you with my crybaby stuff life I used to do so many times in the past...lol

25 Days, 24 Pounds

When I started this diet/lifestyle change back on the 4th of April, I knew that I could succeed because I have in the past. They say that for every 3500 pounds you can cut in a week/day/month/ adds up to one pound weight loss. And if you looks at the calorie intake calculators that are out there on the internet, they say for the weight i'm at I can consume 5500 calories in a day and maintain my current weight. I never realized that. That's a lot of freaking food. Portion control alone can help you lose weight. 5500 calories. So I've been thinking that if I lost nearly a pound a day I must be cutting 3500. I did some math with the things I have been eating lately and it adds up. I still think that 2000 is a lot of food. If you eat less it can train yot brain that all you need is that amount. It takes time but it does happen. I remember back when I lost over 100 pounds from doing the same thing I'm doing now. I learned what it was like to be full. The problem I had was I decided to re stretch my stomach and start the process over again gaining almost all the weight back.

I have no more chances with this. I have my ultimate future ahead of me and I don't want to wreck it. I don't want to be the lazy dad that tells his kid he's too busy to play catch.

You have to vision what you want to get it. It you sit and hope that it comes to you it will never happen.

Monday Weigh In

Well it's not another 14 pounds but I did lose some more weight. 3.2 pounds for last week. 17.4 total.in 2 weeks. I'm not complaining. I'm just going to continue doing what I'm doing and I know that it has worked before and it will work again. If I stop believing is when I'll give up again. To me, that's not an option. I just want to get down to my target weight of 275. I have a long battle in front of me for sure, but I know what I'm capable of.

Hope all is well.