Hungry Like the Wolf

Well it’s been a crazy few weeks. Vacation, starting a new job, running around like a maniac. After so many years on the road with the band  – I actually hate to drive. Anytime Amber and I go anywhere she usually drives. So starting my job this week to having to drive three days in rush-hour traffic definitely took its on my body and brain.

Ugh

So I guess I should break that down in a few different ways and catch everybody up. Maybe put things in an order for my head since God knows who is reading at this point. Maybe everyone is already sick of me after 4 1/2 years. I am still here though. HA!

Vacation

Vacation started with a series of crazy. I was trying to get all my stuff for work done and taken care of before we left and anyone who knows me, while it might not look like it, I am very detail driven. I went to take a drug test and of course LabCorp lost it. Forgive me if I already talked about this but I’m still pissed off. I went and took another one and everything was fine. Fuck Labcorp! Quest for the win.

We did a lot of fun stuff during vacation. We had zero plans and ended up having a blast. We spent time with my cousin Frankie and his wife Amanda, my BFF Don Vito Corleone – Scott and Maryann, my son and his fiancée, half of the band stayed over on the final weekend and I showed them some of my favorite places in Wildwood to drink. My goddaughter Marlo and her dad came and we went to the zoo and actually saw giraffes and snow leopards. I hit the waverunners with my cousin Nick, Vito, and Amber. It was fun.

I think my favorite was just sitting on the beach for hours playing with my phone watching the water and taking in the sun. The guys in the band have been messing with me about going to the tanning salon which trust me I am ready to do because I like having a tan at this point. I am definitely a fan of sun kissed skin. God made the sun, why would he use it to kill us.

Dieting in Wildwood his hard. I can’t lie about having ice cream twice and my once a year fried Oreos with my cousin Amanda. It was nice to walk into the ice cream store to one of my old clients and one of the first kids I ever took the legit pictures for working behind the counter. She was one of the first kids that I was allowed to use her photos to build up my kids business. That is definitely something in the future that I will get back to work on. But for the most part we behaved, tried to go to bed earlier because we knew the dogs are going to wake us up at 6 AM no matter what and just let the week go where I was going to go. That is definitely something in the future that I will get back to work on.

I had messaged one of my coworkers that got me the job a few times asking if there are things I could read or watch to get me ready and All he kept saying was just enjoy yourself and be ready to work when you come in. And I was.

My shows this past weekend were fantastic with Saturday show being one of my favorites of the summer. I definitely felt like I was sprung out of the cannon and controlled that stage well for the evening. I also felt very comfortable in my skin. It didn’t hurt to be surrounded by people that I love.

We closed down the condo by 815am on Sunday and made our way back to Philadelphia. I started getting myself ready while Amber went out and checked on the pool, we did the weeks food shopping before the store got crazy and later in the afternoon Amber asked me if I wanted to go to Kohls to look for some clothes.

I don’t usually buy clothes at Kohl’s. I might be 47 years old but I do not dress like a golf dad, or an old man. And they’re big and tall section it’s full of that horrible crap. I also was not going to wear short sleeves to the office for a while so that the first impression of me was not my tattoos. So I really wanted some light weight shirts with long sleeves. Amber definitely had more patience with me then I ever have with her clothes shopping. We found 2 really nice dress shirts on sale and at least a size smaller or two that I had bought last time anywhere on Amazon. With the words slim athletic, fitted, and slim. WHAT! YAAAAASSSS!!!!

The shock and fun did not stop there. I actually bought three pair of pants for work that we’re not custom made by my father. While I’ve getting into my size 40 jeans, I opted for 42 in the dockers so That I would have a little more room in the legs but of course the waist is loose but That is what belts are for and I even got a new 38–40 belt. Amber knows how to work the Kohl’s discount for sure because I thought she’s going to kill me when the bill was over 300 and some dollars and it came down to 200. But three pairs of pants, 2 dress shirts, Two button downs to wear on stage with the band, A belt, and socks. She had three shirts in there too and still came out to 200 bucks, fuck yeah Kohl’s!

The new job.

I had to go past Reading on Monday for my first day. The second I went to Exton. I was surprised that I can work from home on Wednesday already and I’m actually working from home today, Friday. I really like my new job and the people that I work closest with. They gave me a shot knowing that I did not know anything I was doing whatsoever. I got an email from the girl that runs the Exton office today that was sent to the team to sign up and/or donate to a breast-, cancer solution 5K and September. So I said fuck it and signed up because one, it’s a good cause and two, I can’t think of any better way to meet some like-minded people at the company. The company I’m working for is very community minded.

Let’s just say that I am exhausted. But I went to the gym before work on Tuesday and I got up at 4:45 on Wednesday and went to the gym only to find out I was working from home. I got to the gym five days this week.

Post vacation weight was not the greatest, but I really think it was mostly because I was not getting my water and activity in. It took a few days back in focus to get back to where I was before hand and only 9 pounds away from my 2018 goal I have still lost 41 pounds since mid April. So we will keep trucking along –  I was hoping to have this tackled by the end of August but I am now thinking will be the middle of September. Trying to fast and been taking out to lunch a few times this week was not easy either. But I made it work.

Tonight I put on the band hat for the first time after working a full week and hopefully I can rally up some energy. I get to see some people I love tomorrow at a private party in Baltimore too. Amazing people who treat me like family. So I’m going to have to bring it.

Well this has been a long one and I can’t believe that I’m getting it done this week. I used the Mac speech to text as much as possible so I’m sorry if I sound like a complete idiot on this blog. I hope everyone has an amazing weekend and I will check back in soon.

Feel the love,

Franco