Good morning everyone!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. The weather here was sunny. Saturday was warm (80's) and Sunday much cooler (60's).

We had a picnic on Saturday and point-wise I was high but I knew that was going to happen. Sunday I worked off what I overate on Saturday. I mowed our lawn which is large and it took me 2 hours.

Hard to believe that it's June already. The kids are winding down the school year and we're gearing up here in my office for our summer programs. At least it makes the day go by fast.

Catch everyone later!

Hi Melissa and co. - it was an absolutely beautiful weekend weather-wise and today is also just the perfect summer day. Went outside for the walk/jog exercise. Very pleasant. Too bad there's that little thing called work.

And is this an amazing year for roses! at least in this corner of the world. They are popping out all over. My tomatoes are starting to flower and the strawberries are beginning to ripen. That's the farm report from New Joisey.

Hey, I don't know if I reported yet, but remember my mini-challenge to lose 1# in 2 weeks (after going to Dr. and having gained 9 # in 6 months ). I did my weigh in and lost 2.5#. Yippee!!

catch you later.

L.

Hi everyone,

It was a nice and moderate weekend here. Got my gold stars for activity, but probably a bronze for eating.

Moved lots of compost, dug, hoed and clipped for about 3 hours on Saturday and 5.5 on Sunday. Only one rose blooming here and no peonies in my yard yet- the wiseria and lilac are looking good though .

Good on ya Laurel for getting down. Nothing like a visit to the MD to wake you up. I'm sure you'll be down soon enough.

Melissa- I'm all for moderation of temps. Do the kids have lots of activities planned for the summer?

So, nothing to report here. The dog is doing much better on his weight loss regime than I am, maybe he should be my role model.

I hope everyone has a great start to the week!

lala

Hi everyone. Hope you are all well. I feel like I've been mia for ages instead of a few weeks.

I will get no medals for my eating habits over the past week, perhaps an honourable mention for exercise. I hate to admit it but it appears that stress got the better of me. Now I have to deal with the aftermath - get my running back up to speed after a disastrous 5K run on Sunday - - and get my weight back into the comforable range. On a happier note, the community meetings that we were gearing up for were held last week and they went reasonably well. Glad that's behind me.

Gotta run. Will try to catch up some more tomorrow.

Laurel, great news about the loss. Hopefully I will have some good news when I WI Thursday. Last Thursday was challenging with the conference. It has been hard staying in my point range with all the stress here but haven't strayed too much. Hopefully the scale will be kind to me.

The mystery of the "click". Who can explain it? I have it tentatively, hopefully, fingers-crossingly for now. Though I think my "2.5" pound loss might be due more to the vagaries of my crummy bedroom scale than actual fact. Now it seems up a bit. Maybe I should go to an actual WW meeting and get weighed in??? There's a concept!!!

Gosh, I wish I could get out into that garden. Such a beautiful day again and stuck in an office.

Hi everyone! It's storming here this morning--thunderstorms are rolling through and it's supposed to get humid and around 80. Good day to curl up with a good book!

On flower front here my rhodedendrons are in full bloom as are the irises, spyria (??). The strawberries have lots of blooms and we've already got some that are light pink which is really surprising with the temps we've been experiencing. The roses are also starting to bloom. I love this time of year!

Lala: The kids don't get too involved for the summer. The boys will be participating in a bowling league on Thursday nights and that's about it. My older son works and they've asked him about putting in some more hours but they're pretty flexible. He helps keep an eye on his younger brother (10) for me.

Susan: "Take the hit and move on!" Don't fret about this past week plan to make this week a good one! It's so easy to let stress interfere with our plans.

Myra: I hope your weigh in goes well. Maybe now you'll be able to get back in the saddle and move forward. It's hard when you have to attend conferences and you're at the mercy of them for your food choices. Keep plugging away!

Laurel: It might be a good idea to swing by a meeting and get an "official" weigh in to see where you're at. My scale at home doesn't usually match up with the WW one. I love it when things "click" and I'm motivated. I know exactly how you feel about being stuck in an office when the weather outside is beckoning.

Not too much else going on here--they're hold the annual ribfest just a stone's throw from my office and you can smell the wood fires and bbq. Oh well...back to work ladies...have a good day!

Hiya everyone.

Other than having a run in with some ice cream at 10:45 last night, I'm doing pretty good. Its really very seattle like here right now, drizzling with a predicted high of 68. I'll take it over anything hotter. I like to call it shorts and sweater weather.

A question: Has anyone used dryel? I'm wondering as I spend about 5 bucks a sweater for drycleaning and I'm getting prissed off about it. I wear mostly cashmere sweaters and want them to last- meaning actually cleaning them before storing them for the summer.

So, nothing else going on here. I have meetings and reading to do today. No other excitement. I'm about to harvest my first arugula and lettuce of the season. I'm excited about that. Looking like arugula pesto for dinner.

Laurel- click away baby! Melissa's suggestion of weighing in to get an accurate assessment is a good one. Are you still working at WW too?

Melissa- I'm with you on the smell of bbq. Yum. Hope the weather calms down in your neck of the woods.

Susan- Honorable mention isn't too shabby. Are you still running? Glad to see you back from your out of town adventures. Are you staying put for a while?

Janet, Myra and kt and everyone else- hola!

okay, back to w*&K.

lala

Hi guys. It's a beautiful afternoon and I can't wait to get out of here. Gotta mow the lawn when I get home, but at least I'll be outside.

lala: Yep, still running but I've lost a bit of "ground" over the past few weeks so have to back up a bit in my half-marathon training. Got out for a quick 4k before work this morning. I've adjusted my work hours so that I can get out in the a.m. cause once it gets hot, I'm uninspired. Have never used dryel. Let me know if it works - I'm with you on the cost of dry-cleaning everything.

Melissa: All of our flowers are behind schedule this year. Ha, can't believe I said that, like nature has a set schedule. Anyway, I don't think we'll see rhododendron blooms for a few weeks. The tulips are just on the way out - that's how late everything is.

laurel: Yes, official weigh-in -something to be considered from time to time. I'm happy to hear you have the click - when you're finished with it, I could use some help...

myra: You'll do fine on Thursday. Just think positive thoughts, and step away from the fridge

Janet: How's it goin'?

Am looking forward to a long weekend. I'm taking Friday off and will try to catch up on stuff around the house and also on sleep. E-ya tomorrow.

Greetings ladies-
It's been rainy & dreary here today and yesterday. Hopefully it'll perk up come the weekend - have 2 high school graduation parties to attend this weekend.

lala - I tried Dryel a couple of times - didn't seem to really do a lot of hardcore "cleaning"-rather it sorta fluffed it out & made it smell nice. I try not to buy clothes that I can't wash or handwash - it's so expensive and I guess I'm just too cheap.

Laurel - maybe an official weigh in will be just what you need to give yourself a little extra kick - sometimes paying for being over goal is enough to help the motivation.

Myra - I'm thinking good thoughts for your next weigh in - keep us posted.

Seasaw - even tho you might be eating more, at least you're keeping up with the exercise to combat it somewhat.

My eating has been a little heavy over the past week & the scale is reflecting it. I think it's just a game I play - I up the eating and see how much I can get away with until the scale starts to inch up - then I rein it in to shave off those 2-4 that I added to the scale. Does anyone else play these silly mind games??

Gotta run - hi to Melissa & anyone else lurking out there.

Susan, so glad the community meetings are going so well! WW has tried to hold them here, but they never get enough members to keep them going; guess it's because of the poverty-level incomes in our area, combined w/small population. Way to go on all the exercise! Are you training for a specific event (half marathon?) in Nova Scotia?

Lala, over five hours of gardening in one day; whew. I'll bet it's gorgeous! re: Paris, if you ever find time, would love to know which area you like to stay in. We'll be in the Marais part of the time, but am still looking for another interesting area to stay in when we first get there, before we leave for Provence.

Melissa, the roses and rhododendrons sound lovely. Our temps are so hot now, the only blooms I can keep going are moss rose (portulaca) and geraniums. The drought is causing the grasshoppers to start eating my tomato plants, as there is no grass for them to chomp on. Drat! It reached 100 degrees here yesterday. Still no rain.

Myra, good luck tomorrow! I'm sure you'll have a good WI.

Did my June WI Saturday, and was down a pound, so I guess that's something. Have been walking/jogging 2+ miles each day and staying mostly OP; Dh is grilling salmon tonight, had salad for lunch.

Hope everyone is having a good week!
Regards,
Jan

Hi everyone-

I had a no good very bad day at the office. It was enough to wish that I had a much different job. Oh well, this shall pass.

I tried dryel tonight- kt is right, it mostly fluffs clothes. My sweaters look cleaner, but I wouldn't use it to do heavy duty cleaning either, more like maintenance of sweaters. I'm not sure I would put a silk shirt in there though.

Janet- we stay in the 16th arrondissement- usually right next to the Jardin du Luxembourg for various reasons. 1. on RER stop to airport 2. usually quiet 3. good shopping and restaurants within walking distance 4. i love the jardin du luxembourg

The hotel we stay in is inexpensive by parisien standards and does not have lots of bells and whistles. It is however, quiet.

I have a couple of free nights at the starwood chain and I think I'll be using those for some free nights at some swanky place in Paris or London, but if its my own dollar- its hotel l'avenir at 65 rue madame.

More later from lala the travel guruess.

I'm getting back into the ww thing. I am not going to a meeting until I figure out my travel sched. I wish myra and laurel grand luck on their weigh ins.

So, I'm off to the 95 degree heat of the Redlands tomorrow for meetings. Yipee. DP is flying down from Oregon too so at least we'll be together during these meetings. I hope its air conditioned, I don't care if its a dry heat, its still hot.

Take care all, I'll post if I have time.

lala

My WI wasn't great, but it wasn't awful either. I lost .6 lb. Not much but definitely better than a gain. Hopefully I'll lose a little more next week. I am definitely going to a different meeting with a different leader next week, though. I couldn't believe how opinionated this leader is. She kept putting down people on vegetarian diets. I don't know why. The vegetarian diet is very healthy and while it might not be her choice it is mine (although I do eat fish too, I confess). I hate leaders, or people in general, who think their way is the only way. So I left the meeting angry instead of motivated. But I am determined that it won't sabatage my week.

Myra: Congrats on the loss! You're heading in the direction that you want. I'd much rather take a minimal loss than a gain! Too bad you had such a bad experience with your leader. There's nothing worse than feeling angry after a meeting rather than motivated. Each person has the right to work the program in whichever way works for them. I'm not a big meat eater so getting in protein for me was a challenge.

It's an absolutely gorgeous morning here! It's cool, only in the 50's but it's supposed to warm up to around 70. The forecast for the weekend is great--lots of sun and warmer temps. Unfortunately I'll be inside all day on Saturday. I'm filling in for another receptionist at WW (7:15-11) and then we have a staff meeting from 1-4 p.m. after which my DH and I are going to a wedding (7 p.m.) It's going to be a pretty busy day.

Eating wise the past 2 days have been bad--nothing has satisfied me and I was doing the cupboard aerobics, or should I say refrigerator aerobics, the past couple of nights. I'm pmsing and I'm hoping that last evening will be the end of the munchie phase.

Anybody else have plans for the weekend??

Myra, I've said it before and I'll say it again - .6 loss is super duper. You're my hero!

You know, i love the WW program, but I have to say the WW corporation and some of their employees leave something to be desired. I have heard so many "horror stories" about WW leaders and other employees. Mind you, plenty of good ones too, but...The whole time I was a WW employee, I heard a lot of grumbling from the old-time staff.

But, thank God for the program, because it is great. Myra, go for another meeting/leader if you can.

Well, we finally got a really good rain last night which should go a long way out in the garden (and beyond...)

Melissa, I like your exercise lately - the kitchen aerobics! I'm sure that phase will pass you quickly. You always seem to be in very good control.

We're going away for the day on Saturday to the Catskills (Myra, in your neck of the woods? near New Paltz) and then Sunday I look forward to lotsa laundry and garden puttering. Hooray for weekends!