Great job on all the losses ladies! I weigh in at weight watchers in about an hour, my scale at home is showing a 2 pound loss but it is always different when I get there. We joined the YMCA yesterday - there are two in our area, one that is downtown that is REALLY close to where I live, they have a great exercise room that overlooks the Susquehanna River and this relaxing Yoga room. Then on the West Shore they have all the same stuff- but they also have a great kiddie water park. Today we are going to the West Shore one, going to put Abby in the daycare- work out and then play in the pool! Have a great OP day everyone!

Good Morning Black team! Congratz on the dropping pounds and keeping up with exercise. You are all putting me to shame.

We decided on burger King for dinner last night and although I could have chose grilled chicken Salad, out my mouth came Whopper, fries and a shake! So I ate it. I went WAY over calories and I felt like poo for doing it. Then I wake up this morning and my tummy is KILLING and and I am thinking y'all can figure out the rest. My body is rebeliing against fast food. I think that's cool but a painful lesson for me, lol!

Anywho, back on track today. Apparently this wedding thing is REALLY going to happen. I wasn't so sure for a while there....The fututre in laws up in PA are steadily planning things so I need to get on the ball! It's going to be a a family camp ground that we go to and celebrate every 4th of July, up in the Pocono mountains and is an outside wedding. I am going to get me a cute little bathing suit and teehirt/ shorts with bride on them because we are doing a pool party/cookout reception and below is the dress I am aiming for. Not doing fancy shoes. What's the point? It's outside and I can't see myself climing up a grassy hill in high heels lol! THAT would be comical. They have cute bridal tennis shoes too, but I thik Flip-flops would work...
Dress & Shoes-





I like this dress too, but it's more form fitting and I'll do good to be at 155-160 lbs by July 5th. So I think Dress #1 will work better.

Beautiful wedding dresses Roni!!! I wore flip flops at my wedding too. That's just who I am... a flip-flop kinda girl! CONGRATS on the impending nuptuals! !! I used to live in Athens, TN (in Eastern Tennessee) it is absolutely beautiful out that way and I would love to live out there again someday!

I had an absolutely terrible night at work and it has carried over into today (well, except for when I went to the gym this morning... I walk in the gym door and all stress steps aside, it's amazing!). But, for the story about last night. I work at Macy's - in retail. Long story short, apparently I allowed a woman to pay for her stuff with a stolen credit card. I didn't know it was stolen. We don't check ID's on Credit cards unless they aren't signed ... even then we hardly know if they're signed or not because we have those little keypad machines at every register where the customer swipes their own card. So... this lady bought about $1,000 worth of stuff. It's Macy's - that's easy to do.... so, we had a couple of problems with the card, it wouldn't go through the first time. There were 3 associates standing there AND a manager! So, I finally had the idea to do the order in smaller incraments. That's how we did it at my last job - because sometimes Credit card companies won't let you spend over a certain amount at one time. We ran into that a lot at my last job in Branson. So, the manager started walking away saying "if you want to set the stage for that...." and I said "are you telling us that we can't do it that way?" and he just smirked and walked away. So I looked at the other associates standing there and they said "let's just do it". Halfway through it, another manager called and we told her what we were doing and she said that was fine. So, it worked, breaking it up into seperate orders. No sooner did that lady walk out the door did the other 2 associates turn to me and say "that card was SO stolen! Oh my gosh!!" and giving me reasons as to why it was stolen, etc. They went on for about 10 minutes and I said "then why didn't either of you say anything when the card was being denied... or when I had the great idea to split the order up?".... and WHY didn't the manager say anything like "we can't do it that way, if a card is being denied, we just can't accept it" etc etc. But, nobody said ANYTHING to help me out... I'm little miss Bible Belt Midwest and give everyone the shadow of a doubt, it never even crossed my mind that the card could be stolen....until after she left and everyone started telling me that. The manager took time afterwards to tell me how "not smart" that was by taking the card. I was like, why did you not open your mouth, have some balls, and tell me that???? (I didn't really tell him that...but I thought it) and he tells me that he's not allowed to stop us when we have already started a transaction less the customer get offended!!! So, they can let us be ringing up a customer who they (the manager obviously knows has a stolen card) but they can't say anything once we already started a transaction????? UGH! So, I cried the entire way home from being so frustrated that people would stand around and let me pretty well hang myself.

So, I can't wait to see what today has in store. I don't deal well with confrontation so if any one in authority wants to talk to me about it, I'll cry. That's my defense mechanism... I cry.... when I'm mad, sad, angry, happy, frustrated, etc.... I cry. It's so embarassing! UGH! I go to work at 2 today. I shall update you all tomorrow on the story.

There's my night last night in a nutshell.

Oh Wow London Julz I am so sorry that you had such a bad night at work. I will be praying for your day at work.

Wow Julz that is awful, I don't understand how come none of them would not say anything to you before you let her walk out of the store?? Most cards do have a daily limit but also most credit cards will deny for that amount of purchase and try to call the card holder to verify. The surprising part is that after trying the large amount and then going back to do the small amounts that the credit card let the purchase go through still....
Well hopefully today goes much better for you today and I think since you had a manager standing there not advising you should be talked to as well.

I think what they did was wrong . . . . TOTALLY WRONG . . . but you still may get lucky. Maybe the credit card isn't stolen. Maybe she, her husband, or her credit card company put a maximum spending amount on the card to try to keep her from dropping $1,000 in one visit.

If I were the head manager at your store that wuss of a manager would lose his/her job. You don't do that to an employee. The other employees out to be severely reprimanded, too. Wish I lived closer . . . I'd go in and yell at them for you!!

I'm not sure if we are supposed to comment in the picture thread so I just wanted to pop in here to tell notthecheat she's looking quite awesome.

-muse (Red Team Member)

Diva – Congrats on your wedding! Both dresses are lovely. The flip flops are great! Too cute.

Julz – It really sucks when we are punished by trying to do a good deed for someone. You had the best of intentions and I hope they see that and don’t get too much on your case about it. Also, your manager should not have walked away from something like that. and I hope it all works out.

I just got back from my Saturday classes (Nia, which is dance, and yoga). One of my classmates invited me to go dancing with her tonight and I am really excited about it! I haven’t been in a dance club in a LONG time. I was really happy to be able to do a upward bow backbend coming out of a bridge pose. I was inspired by recently watching TBL 2 and I thought if Suzy could do it so could I! That is not necessarily a reasonable thought since she was a good bit smaller than me at that point, but hey – whatever works! My struggle continues to be the standing on one leg thing. I have to remember to practice that during the week to improve my balance.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

(oh and I just saw Muse's comment - thanks!)

Julz- that totally sucks! if they thought it was fishy in any way they should've said something...you did NOTHING wrong!

Diva - awesome dresses! what a great motivator!

I am doing really well...so far for the month I have run 67 miles. I am really pushing myself as we are going on a chartered concert cruise (John Mayer, Colbie Caillet, a bunch of other artists, VH1's Best Week Ever is filming on it) in less than 2 weeks. I feel great now, but a few more lost pounds won't hurt! I still can't believe how good it feels to "find" me again under the extra pounds. Monday DH and I are going shopping for some new cruise wear - for the first time in a long time I am excited to try on new clothes!

Hope everyone else is having a good weekend!

>>>>>>sneaking in from the Red Side>>>>>>>>>>>

Julz, just wanted to come in and tell ya I'm sorry for what happened at work. I have worked in retail for many, many, many years and most of it from a management standpoint. Never in a million years would I put an associate of mine in a situation like that regardless of what policy is. You just don't do it. I can't believe that one mgr said nothing and decided to let you carry on that way. Some people! What gets me most is MANY of the people who set these policies and procedures are people who have NEVER worked in the retail environment! Ridiculous! Now I only work as a peon at a competitor just doing merchandising,etc...and I am thankful every single day that I don't have to ring anyone up. I will tell you tho', I am a frequent shopper in Macys(thank gosh for that lil' red card! ) and the policy is different everytime I go in there. One day I get someone who swears they "have to" see ID, many other times I think I could send my kid in with it and they wouldn't bother questioning it. I know you'll get thru this you're a tough cookie, hang in there chicky!

Hey everyone. The kids birthday party is done and I managed to stay on track! I am doing WW and I still have 2 points left for the day. Yay.

Caitbeans: You are so lucky to have 2 great YMCA's so close to you. I hope that you guys have fun there!

Julz: I am so sorry that you are having to deal with that crap at work. I hope that they didn't give you a hard time today. Keep us updated.

Roni: I love that first dress. I think the flip flops are a great choice for where you are having your wedding. Beautiful!

Ceegee: I can't believe how much you have ran this month. How often do you run? How far do you run at a time? I am training for a 10K and love hearing about other peoples running experience.

Half of the people that were invited to the birthday party didn't show up. None of my family came. The only people that came were my dh's, Mikella, family. My family lives on the other side of the state and they had snow today so they decided not to try to make the drive. My aunt totalled her car in the snow this morning. She is ok but her car isn't so great. I want it to snow so bad and we got nothing here.

We are planning on going to the YMCA tomorrow. I think I am gonna love that place!

Off to bed. The days seem to be gone before they start lately. Night. Good luck tomorrow everyone.

Hi, everyone. I need to catch up reading all these posts. Anyway, I just stopped by to say I lost 1 pound. It's not much, but every pound counts.

Hi guys! Don't have time for many personals, but wanted to reply to a few of you:

Laurie - Congrats on the new grandson! I hope you plan on showing us pics after he's born! Awww, I LOVE babies! Can't imagine your poor daughter having to carry around a 10 pounder though! My daughter was less than 5 pounds and I was miserable the last few days before she was born PLUS I'm A LOT bigger than your daughter is! The poor thing deserves a medal!

Roni - OMG! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the first dress and the flip-flops! So beautiful! It sounds like you are going to have a such a neat wedding! I'm jealous, but so excited for you!

Julz - I'm so sorry for your bad day at work! There are so many idiots in the world, and it just so happens that the majority of them work in the retail and food service industries. Before I get yelled at, I'm not saying EVERYONE who works in retail or food service is a moron, but if you've worked in either field, you know what I mean!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend! I'm still sick, so haven't exercised for the past 2 days, but I'm hoping to get back on track on Monday. Talk to you guys then!