Let's start with how I got here...

Before you can witness my transformation, you must first get to know me.

My name is Autumn. When I was in High School I was determined to be the next Katie Couric. I remember proudly telling the judges that very thing during an interview in one of my many beauty pageants. Yes, I was a beauty queen. I loved it, standing on the stage with all my hair, makeup and perfectly practiced poise. I won a few crowns. I was on a path and nothing would detour me. Or so I thought...

Until I fell in love with Chris. I had always loved this man. I met him when I was a whopping twelve years old. :) But at some point I fell IN love with him. He had set his path as well. He was joining the Air Force. I gladly gave up my path to follow him on his.

I went to school off and on in the early years of our marriage. Five years after we married I had my son. I gave up everything, work, school, myself to stay at home and take care of this beautiful gift. Then a short eighteen months later came my daughter... and a move to a foreign country. I was now officially a stay-at-home Mom and a military housewife, a path I would never have laid for myself, yet here I was... happily, here I was.

Over these years I was transforming, but not into anyone I could recognize. I was gaining weight. I was sitting around the house, not exercising, not pursuing my education, not being independent and working, just sitting around the house in my yoga pants and tanks, eating, gaining more weight everyday, living less for myself and more for my family... bit by bit losing the confident person that stood in front of the judges and proclaimed, "I will be the next Katie Couric."

You don't notice when you lose yourself. It's so gradual, you don't see it. Until that day it hits you. Twelve years, four bases, and three children later it hit me. I was sitting looking at some pictures from a New Year's party, New Year's 2007/2008. I stared at the picture of myself and didn't recognize the woman staring back at me. Autumn was not there, anywhere, not in my eyes, not in my smile, my body, my hair, none of that was me, was it? It was at that moment I knew change had to come... it was at that moment I began my transformation.

So welcome to "The Transformation of Me." I am really on my last leg, but it took two years to get to a point that I was comfortable sharing where I was, what I was trying to be and who I was finally becoming with the rest of the world. At this moment I am just a few months away from my Bachelors. No, not in Broadcast Journalism, but Paralegal Studies. I am 35 lbs away from my goal weight. I am losing the yoga pants and tanks for tight jeans and knee high boots. ;) I can see my new path emerging from this long uphill hike... it was a beautiful hike, one that I truly loved and was grateful to get to walk. I wouldn't have taken any other path, because the long, uphill hike made me the strong woman I am now. But as beautiful as it was, I am looking forward to setting out on my own...

So welcome to "The Transformation of Me." I hope it entertains you, makes you happy, sad, inspires you to transform into the person you see in yourself!

~ Autumn

"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." ~ Howard Thurman