Wow, definitely a quiet weekend on here...not like my weekend!

My sister and her fiance and Jackie came up (so it was the apartment of J's in my place--Jill and Jeff and Julie and Jeff and Jackie ). We went to the National Aquarium in Baltimore on Saturday--so fun! We had picked up Anna, Julie's and Jeff's friends' daughter who is 5 and lives kinda near me, so Jackie had a blast. We also got to see the dolphin show, which was my favorite part Then we went to a few shops in Baltimore (2 little malls near Inner Harbor) and just walked around in the GORGEOUS weather for a while. We were going to go on the paddle boats in the harbor, but there was a massive line to wait for them, so we had to skip that idea.

We left Baltimore and went to another Mall in Maryland. Then we called Anna's parents, and they made a reservation at this AMAZING Italian restaurant for all of us to have dinner at 8:30. To kill time, we went toyes, another mall. Then another (the one where the restaurant was). So yeah, we had been in 5 malls on Saturday, and Julie's plan for Sunday was to go to Potomac Mills (a discount/outlet mall). So much shopping! My poor Jeff hates shopping, but he was an awesome sport about it all weekend. I'll let him choose next weekend's activities since I know he grinned and beared it all weekend long so I could see my family

So yeah, yesterday we all went out to eat for brunch, then hit the mall. I bought a pair of pants for 9.99 at Old Navy (there's FINALLY one that carries Plus Sizes that's less than 15 miles away from me!!). I am VERY excited about this nearby Old Navy with Plus Sizes. I kept looking at stuff online, but I hate ordering without being able to try stuff on. Then, if I have to return it, I'm screwed out of my shipping and handling fees, so I basically paid to try on something that didn't fit! But now I know their pants fit me in a size 22, so I can order with confidence The shirts are a little snug (as per usual with sizes like 1x-3x instead of numbers), so it'll be a few pounds before I can buy those, but at least I know Ican get their pants, which will be good if I can get cheap jeans there for my restaurant uniform. Anyway, Julie, Jeff, and Jackie left to drive home straight from the mall (we had taken separate cars for this reason), so Jeff and I headed back to my place, where we spent the afternoon watching horrible old scary movies (well, he watched, I slept). Then we got Papa John's pizza for dinner Bad, I know, but will crack down again during the week as usual.

I also packed my gym clothes and sneakers today so I can hit the gym between jobs again now that my toes is almost completely healed and sneakers are not an agonizing experience I think I'll do cardio all this week to burn off what I had over the weekend, then maybe starting next week, I'll start doing some resistance training instead so I can build muscles to increase my metabolism. We'll see. Of course, Monday is a holiday next week, so I won't be at the gym since I'll be at Jeff's mother's house. Or maybe, I'll do 2 days of cardio and 2 days of weight training. Hmm...have to see how long it takes me to get through all the resistance machines to determine if I can do them ALL in one day or if I have to do 2 days of upper body and 2 days of lower body. Okay, enough about that, I'll figure it out when I try it

Well, hope Diane and Heather and MARGE are all still alive and well. Hope Sara's enjoying her trip! And good luck to Kylie on the interview! And have fun with your mother, Aimee! thanks for waking up the thread, Kimberley Happy thoughts all around!

Lots of running around for your weekends, eh? I like Old Navy's stuff, but like you, don't like to order until I know for sure. Knowing the Lane Bryant Venezia sure helps since now I can shop online at their site or on ebay.

Though we were miserably off-plan Saturday night, yesterday we did great, and today we got off our butts and went back to the YMCA. Howie used the treadmill and weight machines, but I walked 30 minutes up on the indoor track while listening to music, then did some weight machines. I feel GREAT!

Barely making a dent in my mass o' beans, though I'm trying. LOL!

Boo! I had a great weekend on plan wise, apart from Dawson's Creek, the last two episodes when they are all grown up and a small bar of chocolate whilst bawling my eyes out. Hey 5 months ago it would have been a bottle of soda, a family block of chocolate and a bag of crisps - 1000 calories or so, and on Sunday it was only 200, so that's progress!!!

I went to the gym both days over the weekend and again today. I am really hitting the weights. I am enjoying weight training. I am sure that is why the scales have slowed right down, but that's ok. i am still losing but about 1/2 pound a week rather than the one to two I was losing. I might try and be strong and weigh only once a month so I am really seeing a difference, and don't get discouraged.

A busy week at work ahead, I am trying to get all my stuff done before I leave my department. I still don't know which job i am going to, and probably won't know now for another week!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Slow on here again yesterday, eh? Glad some of you are still sticking around, at least!

Well, I have a job interview on Thursday afternoon. It's for a Technical Editor position, which is basically the same exact thingI am doing now. However, I started here making $31,400 annually, and this job I am interviewing for would start me between $45,000-$50,000 annually, so I definitely have my fingers crossed! It is in downtown DC, which may be apain of a commute, but they also offer a $150 monthly transportation allowance, so I think I could deal with the hassle (for less than 6 months--then I can move in with Jeff somewhere where it'll be a little easier of a commute). I hope they offer me the job--even with the travelling back and froth to/from DC, I would be able to be home more often than I am now with the two jobs all week. The interview is at 2:45 Thursday, so I'll be able to go and still not have to leave either job out to dry, which is good. Here's hoping!!

As for the restaurant last night, my partner (we have 2 servers per section of 8 tables rather than 1 server per 4 tables--that way, we can help each other out if needed) was Nick, who I have worked with before but never as his partner. He's kinda scary--I think he may be manic depressive since you never know if he's going to hug everyone or bite everyone's heads off. Anyway, he was b!tching about me to anyone who would listen because he said I wasn't clearing the stuff off my tables after they left quickly enough so they could be sat again. Hello, I had a party of 9 plus two other tables--if he has so much time to whine about me, why could he not just shut up and help me out?! It would have taken him LESS time to simply wipe off a table for me (especially since I had cleared empty dishes from multiple tables for him throughout the night) than to find people to complain to. UGH! When I was cashing out for the night, my manager and another guy who used to work in our restaurant were sitting and talking, and my manager was talking about how glad he was that everyone in our restaurant seemed to get along so well. I just gave him a funny look, and he asked who I had a problem with. I told him, and he knew right away what my complaints would be, since I am not nearly the first person to make the same remarks. He said he was going to have a "chat" with Nick. Not that that will change anything with a guy like Nick (huge chip on his shoulder, big "screw the world and what anyone thinks of me" kind of attitude, ya know?), but at least it's a step in the right direction. Other than my attitude-ridden partner, it was a good night--no other problems. I didn't make a ton of $$, but it was REALLY slow early in the evening, so I didn't have a whole lot of tables total for the night. I think I walked with about $35, which is the same as I probably would have made if I were hostessing, but at least I was home before 10pm, which was REALLY nice

Kylie--I SO need to start doing weights, too. Muscle is so important--even if the scale isn't going down as quickly, I bet you are losing inches more rapidly since muscle takes up less space than fat AND the more muscle you have, the higher your metabloism in burning fat even when you're not working out. So you just stay away from that scale if you have to--know that you're doing your body good no matter what the numbers say!

Kimberley--I started making up for my horrible weekend yesterday, too. Over the weekend, we ate Papa John's pizza, ate at Silver Diner, Texas Roadhouse, Hard Rock Cafe, Maggiano's...and you know I didn't just get a salad at any of them Yesterday, I had the last leftover slice of pizza and the few remaining breadsticks. I also didn't pack all my food for the day like usual since I got up a few minutes late, so I ended up having the pot stickers at Ruby's for dinner (could have been worse), but at least I started back to the gym yesterday. I did about 20 minutes on the eliptical before my knee started killing me and I had to call it quits. In those 20 minutes, though, I burned almost 300 calories, so I figure that's about 250 more than I would have burned just sitting around. hopefully my knee will hold out for the full 30 minutes today. Good luck with those beans!

I'm back...had a really nice visit with Heather and her husband, and got to meet her kids...The zoo was packed, but just as great as always, and it was sooo hot that day...No Penguins though, must be they are re-doing that for them and had them some where else temporarily. The white lions were snoozing, but you could seee how gorgeous they really are...Then we went to the Mexican place, it was YUMMMMMMMY! the mariachi bandplayed too , we had a great time. Saw my "Second" parents too ( they were there for me during a lot of family problems while I was in HS)...sure was great seeing them after all of this time...I really felt great, I have lost some weight and everyone could tell, and even my new bra was too big, so that was a good sign although not too comfy...but what can ya do? Good to be home though...always great to visit, but great to get home...I really do hope Marge is okay...strange that she has been MIA for so long...Well, all, gotta run, take care, Diana

Well, I managed to stuff all the remaining beans into the freezer last night. Whew! I need to do some re-organizing in there soon - it barely shuts!

Jill, sometimes I think I'd like to be a server or hostess part-time, but not until I lose more weight and my feet and knees can handle my being on my feet that much. I really love people and have a hospitality gene in me, but it's really hard work physically!

Diana, did you catch that Oprah show with the British "What Not to Wear" gals and their advice on bras? We taped it, but I think it's been taped over already. :S My MIL told me some of the tips, and a couple of mine are good...But others, noooo. LOL

Today we're planning on working outside in the yard a bit. I need to apply some herbicide, but it's cloudy and still too cool outside for that.

Kimberley--yeah, my feet definitely hurt by the end of the night. I have bad knees (12 years of softball was bound to cause some sort of repurcussion on my overweight body), but they're usually okay as long as I'm walking on flat surfaces and not stairs or steep hills. When I get home at night, I just whip the shoes off and put my feet up in bed--they kinda burn for a while, but they're fine by the time I get up the next morning. I just keep that extra $$ in mind, as well as the extra forced exercise I get each night as opposed to watching tv or sitting at my computer.

My boss stopped by today to let me know that I should have a number for my raise sometime this week. I thought she said last week that the numbers had to be done by this past Friday, so I would hear something early this week. So much for that. If I do end up taking a new job, I will feel kinda guilty because I know how things work here, so I know that in order for me to get a big raise here, they had to pinch on some other people's raises and bonuses. I hadn't really thought about all that until today. I hate having such a big conscience Ultimately, I need to look out for me, though...right? I mean, I need to consider my future and my savings account and my career. I'd just feel reeeeeally guilty if they shifted all the $$ around here for me, and then I quit! Ahh, we shall see. I suppose I really shouldn't even worry about it until I get an offer, anyway. Just because they have called me 4 times and emailed me twice doesn't necessarily mean they're going to hire me

Diana--so glad you guys had a good visit! I, too, suffered a penguin disappointment. They had NONE at the aquarium. They did have Puffins, which were almost as cool, but just not quite the same. Glad to have you back here, though!

Hi everyone, I had some great news today, I got the new job I wanted woo hoo!!!! I don't start til July though!

nice to see you back Diana, you were missed. We still have a few missing, and just where has our Marge got too???

I can't believe you get Trinny and Susannah on Oprah, that is just tooooooooooooo scary. They're evil, but in a good way!!!!! I haven't found their tips overly useful, they did make over a very large comedian lady a couple of years ago, and I was really looking forward to some help, but they got everything custom made for her. Yeah right, like the everyday person can do that!!!!

I'm glad your winning the battle of the beans Kimberley. I haven't cooked in bulk like that for ages, it's fun to do, but you have to be very creative with your packaging and putting away!!! I sometimes wish Colin had to lose his weight as well (he's got a beer belly but is in normal weight range) it gets a bit lonely sometimes. He has learnt to be super supportive though!!!

Right well, it's off to bed for me. Hope to talk to all a bit more when I am not completely zonked!!!

Hey! I had a completely exhausting weekend! And it's not over yet... I am looking forward to work just so I can relax a little bit. heh. My mother arrived Saturday around 4pm, and we hung out for a little bit, and went to see StarWars (which was alright, considering I'm not a fan). Sunday I worked, afterwards we went out for dinner, and watched Desperate Housewifes season finale. Monday was a little more hectic, we went shopping for shoes, clothes, various things. We decided to go downtown where we sat on the beach by the ocean just chatting, and then met my friend Karen and went to a REALLLLY good Japanese restaurant. We walked along the seawall afterwards, and afterwards went out for the best coffee.. I ate SO SO much! Today my mom left, but before she left, we went out for lunch! I also went to try a new restaurant with a friend tonight, and tomorrow my brother is taking me out for lunch. I am getting VERY chubby over here!! But it was a great visit, we did tons, got to spend lots of time together. It was worth it, and it was a great long weekend

Jill - I hope you get the job! Decent money, which is always a plus Also sounds like you had a packed weekend, which are nice to have every once in a while. I also enjoy the weekends where I barely get off the couch.. lol. I have issues with my knees as well, I hate how it can limit me sometimes. A few years ago I really worked at building up the muscles around my knee, and since then my knees haven't been bothering me as much. I blew out both my knees snowboarding when I was 15, it was SO painful!

Kimberley - thank goodness for you! We've been so dead in here lately.. or maybe it just feels like that because I haven't been around much lately. Weights and walking, sounds like you are doing SO good! I've been having miserably off plan days lately.. and to be honest, I haven't thought about it at all, I've been thinking about the exercise thing lately... you know me though, I start at it, and then quit. lol. My mom was suggesting I see a Naturalpath (spelling?), and get some recommendations from her about what kinda diet would suit my body. But I'm not eating beans! My period just ended and I gotta tell yah... it was like I was eating ONLY beans.. are you grossed out yet?

kykaree - congrats on the job! A job you enjoy can make ALL the difference

Diana - sounds like you had a great visit.. it's good to have you back though

I am worried about Marge... the internet worries me sometimes, you never really know if anything happens to a person.

-Aimee

I sent Marge a PM yesterday, but haven't heard back. I hope she's okay.

Well, we worked out in the front today, repairing another section of the retaining wall by the driveway and re-grading some of the soil sloping down to it. I cleaned up, watched Ellen (priorities, you know), and headed out to Lowe's for mulch and cow manure. I could have gotten free horse manure, but it's a lot easier moving 40-pound bags of cow poop than it is an aluminum trashcan full of horse poop; we don't have a pickup truck, so that's how I would have had to do it!

Tomorrow we'll finish grading the slope, put down layers of wet newspaper and top them off with manure, top soil, then mulch. I picked up ten creeping speedwell (veronica repens) plants to use along the edge of the wall, hoping to stave off more erosion issues. I have other groundcovers like creeping phlox and ajuga that I can nab starts from in other parts of the yard, too. Finally, hope to get our veggies and other plants set out by the weekend.

I'm afraid I was a bit off-plan this afternoon, not spectacularly so, but ah well. Caribou Coffee has this tasty cold coffee drink called a Mint Snowdrift...Hmmmmm, good stuff. But it was 530 calories and 22 grams of fat! Thank goodness I didn't get the large. Yie, shoulda asked before I ordered it...Not looked after I got home!

And yet again I say, feast or famine in my office! I've been stretching out my work fr the past few days cuz it wasn't very urgent, and I didn't have a whole lot to do. Yesterday, I got slammed with a huge over 200-page document to read and edit, and when I came in this morning, there was an EPA SOW (Statement of Work) on my chair for me to QC (make sure other people's edits were correctly incorporated). I know the SOW is going out soon, so I have to do that first. I just really don't want to edit this other one--it's about Medicare rules for filing Part B claims. How exciting

Yeah, so maybe the world of technical editing isn't really for me. It's quite dull, but at least it keeps my writing/grammar skills very sharp. And of course, that's the same kind of job I'm interviewing for tomorrow, so I'll definitely survive if they pay me enough I know it's not a career for me--I'd much rather be in marketing. However, all marketing positions also require "excellent writing and editing skills," so getting my card punched at a few tech writer jobs along the way certainly couldn't hurt. At least I've also got a year of marketing experience under my belt, too (my last job was as a Marketing Assistant).

Last night at the restaurant, the general manager was being REALLY nice to me. I can't remember who it was, but last week, I had mentioned to someone that I didn't think he liked me, so I think they said something to him about it, and now he's trying to show me he does. Whatever the reason, I certainly don't mind him being extremely nice to me He knows I'm looking for a new job and that I have an interview tomorrow (since I had to switch shifts with somoeone so I could come in later after my interview). He said I could use him as a reference, that he thinks I do "good work," and that he likes having me around because I'm really nice. I'll take that!

Well, here's hoping Marge's computer is on the fritz and she's still okay.

Kimberley--I have been going off-plan all week! I keep getting a salad from the cafeteria here in addition to what I pack for my lunch. And it's not the best salad--lettuce, onion, egg, shredded cheese, and honey mustard dressing. Loaded with calories, but it keeps me full for quite some time--very satisfying. According to the scale (yes, I peek throughout the week), it hasn't been doing me any harm, but I know it's not good on my wallet, either, so I need to stop before it becomes a severe addiction!

To combat my extra salad habit, I had a bagel with fat free strawberry cream cheese this morning instead of cereal for breakfast. The bagel w/cream cheese has only 190 calories, while a bowl of cereal with skim milk has about 400 (I can never eat 1 serving of cereal--have to have a normal-size bowl). That way, I could pack more snacks and stuff for the day because I had more calories to play with. I also have become more lenient with myself as far as counting the calories in fruits and veggies. I keep very close track of everything else, but if I feel I need more food, I will add grapes or a banana or something without feeling guilty about it. AND (Aimee, you'll be proud of me) I packed not 1 but 2 servings of brocolli in my bag today! Given, I stil can't eat it plain (I added a few bac'n bits, a slice of reduced-fat cheddar cheese, and some fat free thousand island dressing), but at least it's veggies. That plus the tomato sauce on my pasta and the veggies in my stir fry, and I'm looking at 5 servings of veggies for today. 5! I think that's more than I have EVER had in one day (and more than I've probably had in some entire weeks!).

No gym yesterday (ended up working late at the office, so not enough time between jobs), but I will go today. Hope everyone had a Wonderful Wednesday!

I'm great at that kind of writing/detail work, but it puts me to sleep. I like more people contact anymore. Great to hear your boss at the restaurant's being so nice!

Okay, I've got to do the diet-buddy thing now. Forgive me in advance.

All right, c'mon -- You can eat 1 serving. Put some fruit in there rather than eating it plain, but you can eat 1 serving. It's all what you re-learn and get used to.

Okay, off my soapbox. I'm heading out to work on the driveway bed.

Goodmorning! I got woken up with a call from someone from work, asking me to cover her shift, as well as doing my own. But I work 5:30-9:30, and the shift she wants me to cover is 11am-4pm. It doesn't really work out right, so I told her to call someone else. Plus my brother is supposed to be coming today to spend some time with me, however he's not here.. and I still haven't heard from him. Silly silly people!

Jill - yay for veggies! I can't remember when I've eaten any veggies... lol.. it's been SO SO bad for me lately. I enjoy eating out (who doesn't?), so it's been heaven. Now I'm back on track! I say that now.. but I have no food in my house. A serving of cereal really isn't too much, I always have oatmeal for breakfast, with tons of fruit on it, which is also a great way to get more fruit! I was reading something with my mom and it was saying that 1 meal a day should only consist of fruits and veggies, if I did that everyday, my calories would automatically go down, so would fat grams.

Kimberley - I'm with you, I prefer to work with people. I can't imagine sitting in front of a computer, lol, even though thats what I do on my days off I suspect it's because I don't really like computers all that much. I like the idea of my job, and on paper it looks like it would fit for me, but when it really comes down to it... it doesn't really combine my love of shopping for clothes and how I enjoy working with people.

I'm thinking I'll do a little grocery shopping today, I'm pretty desperate in my house for some fruit. My mom brought me asparagus from a veggie stand in the interior, they will be GREAT, I'll likely stirfry them with some broccoli and chicken breast, nice healthy lunch! The sun is shining here again today, yesterday we washed the day, I'm hoping today we'll go for a walk. I love the sun, and it's not too hot yet.. so it's perfect Have a great Wednesday all!

-Aimee

Well, yes, it is physically possible for me to only eat one serving of cereal However, it just doesn't stay with me! I add strawberries and/or banana to my cereal as it is, but 3/4 cup of cereal and 1/2 cup of milk is just not enough of a breakfast for me (especially since I don't normally eat anything any later than 4pm the day before). Even when I do have cereal, though, I do include ALL of the calories (not just the calories in one serving), so it's not like I'm cheating myself out of anything. It's also my favorite way to make sure I get servings of milk right off the bat. I eat breakfast at about 5am, so I like it to stick with me till at least around 8 (when I have my first snack--not because the clock says so, but because that's about when my tummy starts grumbling at me ). I've recently bought almost every variety I can find of Kashi brand cereal to hopefully at least make my morning cereal calories healthier. Some are okay, but I still think others taste like cardboard (which is why I always have to add fruit!). I have not had sugared cereal in about a month now (YAY!--I was addicted to store-brand Cocoa Puffs and Fruit Loops).

Kimberley, you go right ahead and get on that soapbox whenever you want! You've always got such great information to share, and I for one know that I need a little hand-slapping once in a while

*GASP* no posts since yesterday?? I hate to post twice in a row, but--too bad...here goes!

I weighed in this morning--297.5. Down 1/2 pound. Not bad considering the insane amounts of restaurant food I gorged myself on all weekend long! Now if only I could actually stay on plan all weekend, imagine how much I could lose...

Lots to do today at work. I have my interview today at 2:45, so hopefully all will go well. I couldn't find anyone to pick up my restaurant shift, but I did switch with someone so that I don't have to be there until 5:15 instead of 4. Should give me enough time to battle the traffic from my interview to the restaurant. Walked with 70 bucks from the restaurant last night--even though one table only left me $35 cash for a check that was $37 That means I basically paid my own money to wait on them. How rude! And it's not like there was only one person who could have accidentally made the mistake--there were 2 people, and they had shared the check (I saw them figuring out how much they each owed, even though I had offered to split it to separate checks for them). Maybe they thought one of the 5-dollar-bills was actually a 10...who knows. In any case, not only was I shorted 2 bucks, but I still had to tip out the host and the salad bar guy for what they ordered, so I probably ended up losing a total of almost $4 on that one table. Ahh, c'est la vie...I still made a pretty penny for a Wednesday night I ended up staying later than I should have, though, because there was a new girl closing, and she could SO not handle it, so we all switched sections until she was first cut so she could get out of there ASAP (she was driving the manager crazy with all of her mistakes). I ended up getting home around 10:30, so still not too bad. Tonight, I will probably get out pretty late since I'm not on till 5:15 (the earlier you come on, the earlier you are normally cut).

Hit the gym again yesterday--30 minutes on the eliptical. I did over 2 miles and burned almost 400 calories (according to the little digital tracker on the machine after I put in my weight). So worth it!

Well, hope everyone had a good afternoon/night and has a great day today!