January 17, 2005 - About us (Background)

Everything you ever wanted to know about myself and my wife is pretty much documented in our personal website ... http://www.HARTandYVONNE.com

Here's the Reader's Digest Version:

March 1997 - HART and YVONNE meet from the internet .. believe it or not!
September 1997 - HART and YVONNE buy a Condo together
June 1998 - HART and YVONNE rescued Zeus (the cat) from the Shelter
February 1999 - HART and YVONNE and ZEUS adopt Maxxie (the Papillon) from a breeder
July 25, 2001 - HART and YVONNE decide to get married and book August 31, 2002 in a Medieval Themed style wedding

August 13, 2001 - YVONNE Quits Smoking cold turkey

October 22, 2001 - HART decides to quit smoking
November 5, 2001 - HART Quits Smoking cold Turkey

August 31, 2002 - HART and YVONNE get married and HARTandYVONNE.com is born!

September 7, 2002 - HART and YVONNE and ZEUS and MAXXIE adopt Sophie (the Papillon) from a breeder

And we lived happily ever after!

ABOUT YVONNE

Before I met Yvonne, although she smoked slightly, she was an aerobics instructor, and quite healthy. She quit smoking many times before we met and also quit many times. After we met, because I smoked quite heavily, she took back to smoking. When she quit on August 13th, 2001 .. it took her almost 14 months to get off of Nicorette gum, to regular sugarless gum. As a couple, we probably go through 40-50 packs of gum each week.

ABOUT HART

I have always been skin and bones and active in sports, water skiing, and other ways to keep well, not healthy - but in semi-good shape. I have NEVER EVER wanted to quit smoking. Other people would say that I should quit smoking, but I never wanted to. It wasn't until after Yvonne quit, that I noticed it was hard on her that I was smoking in the house. Soon, I was offering to smoke in the basement or upstairs in my office. But, then SIMS (the original) came out and she ended up playing the computer in my office. I didn't like smoking in the basement! So, I decided then that I would quit smoking on October 22, 2001. At that time, I was averaging 43 cigarettes per day. What I decided to do was reduce my intake by 3 cigarettes each day until I quit. I think, due to stress and deadlines, I probably smoked a pack on October 31, 2001 .. but other than that I was on schedule and quit on November 5, 2001. Cold Turkey. I have never wanted to smoke again.

SIDE EFFECTS

I think Yvonne was more affected than me with fighting the urges caused by quitting smoking. I never had any urges to smoke, nor did I use or had the need to use Nicorette. But, I can only assume that it was quite stressful and affected me subconciously. Because by New Year's day January 1, 2002 - I had gained about 30-40 pounds extra weight. Yvonne didn't gain extra pounds, although she was chewing a lot of Nicorette gum. However, I should mention that since we met in 1997 until 2001, I was the cook of house. We did gain a few pounds here and there and over the years .. a pound or two adds up if it keeps coming each year. It's tough when you have a great Stir-Fry and Chili recipe and love to BBQ all the time.



Are we fat? This was 2002 don't forget. This was 3 years ago.

As my story will continue, Yvonne looked about the same, but has been working out religiously and it's more muscle than body fat .. but her weight has been going down, back up, down again, etc etc. I probably looked about the same for the most part, but gaining maybe up to 10-15 pounds extra at any time. I recall thinking that when my back hurted, it was time to lose weight so I wouldn't eat OUT at restaurants that often, until I got the weight down. All in all, I would say at about January 17, 2005 .. we were both about the same weight as we were when we got married.

Take care.
HART