Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. DH was good to me; he did not give me chocolate even though I love it. He did give me some of those conversation hearts. Anyone receive something special from her sweetie?

What a weekend. I took Friday off to rest and prepare. I had a manicure and pedicure on Friday; that was great as I don't get them too often. On Friday and Saturday, I was in the Sonnets and Chocolates show; we had small, but appreciative audiences. It was fun.

On Sunday, my musical group gave a concert. Again, it was a small audience, but they just loved it. We invited an up and coming young singer (10 years old) to be our guest and she wowed the crowd.

Our weather has really shaped up. It will be in the mid-70's today.

I hope your weather is not too bad.

Tonight is WI. I had a good week, so I'm really hoping for a loss.

lala, sorry about your fender bender. That would ruin anyone's day.

Hi everyone,

Happy Valentine's Day. I hope everyone's sweetie is kind to them.

I had a very bad weekend, not in the eating department, but in the life department....

Suffice it to say, my trip leaving this Thursday to London and returning on Tuesday from Paris is cancelled and I'm going to Oregon on Friday to give moral support to DP as she defends her project idea to her committee. I was little prissed as this is my annual trip with the girls, but I guess I can always go next year and it will give me time to start and finish my paper for my class. Anyways, I was on a nice emotional rollercoaster all weekend that still is giving me a bit of an wonky stomach.

My valentine is soo stressed out, I have no idea what is happening. I am hoping the dog gives me a nice lean and that will be enough.

Lisa-- I hope you have a loss. Your concert sounds like fun. You sang sonnets and then showered the audience with chocolate? Or you sang sonnets about chocolate?

I had a whopping .2 loss, but with TOM I'm not complaining. Hey, at least by staying within my ecoregion this upcoming weekend, I won't gain any weight, right?

Waving to Melissa, Pam, Kathy and Miss Susan.

Off to get some tea, I have a 2 hour conference call coming up. Yipee!

lala

Happy Valentines Day Ladies,

DH is taking me out to my favorite sushi restaraunt today for lunch. He should be here in about 1/2 hour. The weekend was busy. Lots of cleaning on Saturday. On Sunday we had my Dad's b-day party which was a lot of fun. I was a little upset with DS who decided last minute to spend the weekend in Long Island with his girlfriend and missed the party. My Dad didn't seem to mind saying he's young let him have fun etc. but I think it was rude...we will discuss it more later today

Lisa glad you did a little pampering on Friday..that's always nice. Sonnets and Chocolates sounds interesting...very Valentiney... Tomorrow our temps should reach 50 again. I'm hoping that winter is beginning to wind down early this year.

Lala sorry you had so much turmoil this weekend. Sounds like DP has a lot going on. I hope things calm down for both of you soon. Hope you breeze through the conference call this afternoon.

Hi to Melissa what did your sweetie give you for valentines day??

Hi to Susan who I'm sure is having a very nice time on a beach in Thailand.

Well I should get going my honey should be here any minute now. Talk to you ladies later.

Pam, Mmmm, I like sushi. I hope you had fun. Your son is typical of young people; the things that are important to you just aren't important to them. He must be in love.

lala, I thought DP already had her PhD. Somehow I've gotten confused. I know that dissertation time is so stressful. I helped a friend with hers a couple years ago. I was her editor. It was amazing what her advisor would write to her. Some of it was quite insulting. She almost quit; I talked her out of it. Sorry about your trip; I would be super bummed. Hey, a loss while on TOM is great!

Sonnets and Chocolates was a show with readings of sonnets, some medieval music and dance, and some Shakespearean scenes. At intermission there was a chocolate buffet (there's the chocolate part).

Went to the dentist today, so I don't feel like eating to mess up my clean mouth. Actually, I've read that having clean teeth is a weight loss tool!

Hi, Melissa, Kathy, and Susan far away.

Lisa -- She is in the Ph D. program. Her anticipated grad date is somewhere in 2007. I am hoping it stays on schedule as she's not collecting data but using someone elses data and modelling it.

Yikes, that is always a problem.

In her case, she can submit three or four peer reviewed articles and that will suffice as in the sciences, no one ever reads your dissertation, just the articles that are spawned from it.

I will agree about clean teeth. If I'm having a bad day, sometimes I just go brush my teeth and it feels so good I don't want to ruin it. I actually like going to the dentist. He's pretty sweet and we have the same political views.

Okay, gotta get back to this work stuff.

I'll post journal toute de suite.

lala

Woo-hoo; I was down 1.5 pounds last night at WI. That made me happy. At least I'm headed in the right direction!

It will be warm here today. Have some meetings at work, then rehearsal tonight for my next play.

Nice going Lisa!!

Good morning ladies!

Yesterday was pretty crazy and today isn't much better. DH and I don't usually do anything for V-day.

Lisa: Yesterday must've been the day for the dentist--I had my cleaning as well and I echo your thoughts about keeping them clean Congrats on your weight loss!!

Pam: Did you have a nice lunch out with DH yesterday? Sounds like your dad's party went well.

Lala: Congrats on your loss...I know .2 is frustrating and doesn't seem like much but at least it's a loss (now if I could just remember that when I have a .2 loss )

DH is coming down with a cold or something so he's been grumpy. We did hear from the vascular doctor today that his surgery on his legs will be done on April 1st. Hopefully this will help his legs.

Busy week here at work and Friday afternoon I leave for Chicago. I'm actually looking forward to a break from the regular routine.

Hi everyone,

its beautiful and cold today. All the plants are drooping and frosty, but the little crocuses and narcissus look good. I'm at home this morning. I have PT at 9:30 and acupuncture at 11:00, so its not worth running back to work for 45 minutes, to run out and then run back for 10 minutes to run back, so I'm at home and then back and then to work. Whew....

Valentines day with the dog and cat were fine. DP bought me three beautiful white hellebores including one I had not heard of. They will look lovely when I get them in the ground and I can see them from my office. I also got a nice card from the dog and a gift cert to his favorite chocolate store so that I can take him and get him a ice cream cone. Isn't that sweet of him.

Melissa -- I'll take any loss and honestly, my TOM had just started, so I'm pleased. I had a bit of mindless eating this weekend, but I'm hoping for another loss this weekend as I'll be here.

I hope DH gets better soon.

Lisa -- Congrats on your loss. That is fantastic.

Pam -- How was sushi? Its always nice to go out with your honey for lunch, I like it because your not tired and it always seems so much more relaxed than dinner. I'm sorry that DS didn't make it to dad's bd party. Happy returns to Dad!

I'm hoping Susan is enjoying her time in Thailand.

Okay, now I need to get organized and get going....

See you all later..

Lisa I'll be seeing you in the journal thread for sure...

lala

Hi Ladies,

Lunch with DH yesterday was very nice...I heart sushi. My valentines gift from DH was a new cell phone charger for the house. I have no idea what happened to my original one, but it has been MIA for several months and I've had to resort to charging the phone in the car. Well, last week I was in the car looking for some change and I accidently dropped a penny in the thingie where you stick the cell phone charger and shorted it out. So...I've had no way of charging my cell phone which is like my life line. I've got to bring the car in for an oil change soon so I'll see if they can fix the thingie too.

Melissa good to hear from you. I had my teeth cleaned on Feb 1st and the hygientist told me that many ailments are caused by poor dental hygene. I have always been a stickler for brushing and flossing regularly and visiting the dentist twice a year for cleanings. How has your weather been lately? It's almost 60 here today...if only it could last..Think I'll be out walking this afternoon.

Lala How sweet of Jacques to get such a thoughtful gift! I've got a short day at work today too. Leaving at 2:30 to bring DD to a doctor's appt. Since I'll be home early maybe I'll make something special for dinner tonight.

Lisa once again big congrats on your loss. You obviously avoided the chocolate part of Sonnets and Chocolates!

Well ladies back to work. Talk to you soon.

Melissa, good to hear from you. I think all of us have been busy. I hope your DH's surgery goes well. DH and I don't usually do much on Valentine's, so I took him to Panera. He bought me roses, too, which was totally unexpected.

Pam, isn't that how it goes. One thing gets lost; then the replacement thing breaks!

lala, hope you're back to normal after PT and acupuncture. Some day I'll have to try that. I liked Jacques' gift to you.

Ladies, check out this link: http://www.offthewalls.us Click on Theater, then scroll down to the area for Sonnets and Chocolates. There are several photos of me with a long, red wig and an orange dress.

You look marvelous and quite slender!

I have never been to Panera. I think it must be a non-seattle thing.

lala

lala, Thank you, dahling! Panera is like Atlanta Bread (do you have any of those there?) It's better though because they make all of the baked goods on premises. They have great salads, soups, and sandwiches.

Today it will be 80 degrees. We are warming up here.

I had rehearsal last night--it was just a read through of the play, The Dining Room. I play a young mother, a couple middle-aged women, and a 5-year-old girl. It should be interesting.

I've been feeling a little under the weather, but last night I took a Cold-Eeze, had a good night's sleep and I'm much better this morning.

Good morning! Yesterday was a beautiful sunny 60 degree day and today we woke to snow and 32! The rollercoaster weather continues here...

Lisa: I love Panera's soups--in fact they have a great white chicken chili that's seasonal and it's 4 points and is very tasty. You look great in the pictures!!

Pam: The weather here has been good, although the forecasts are calling for snow for the next 5 days. It was beautiful yesterday and I didn't get a chance to get out for a walk over the lunch hour because I had a meeting!

Lala: I need to get myself back on track with the mindless eating as well. It's so easy to slip into old habits and with the weather it's a challenge to not hunker down and eat, eat, eat

I hope Susan is enjoying her trip!

Hi everyone,

I can't say its warm here, but sunny so its quite lovely.

I covered a few tender citrus in the garden, but looks like rain is coming, so they'll be fine.

Lisa- I just checked, there is no Panera within 50 miles of Seattle, so I'll wait until I get the East Coast to check it out.

Melissa -- I did pretty well until I decided that I really needed a bit more caramel corn, so there goes another 3 pts. As I have said before, you know that feeling when you put something in your grocery cart and you say "i'm going to eat this whole thing mindlessly and going to regret it" and you still do it. This was one of those purchases.

Hi Pam! I'm hoping the Lauren's drs. appt went okay. I know this is a stressful time for you but we're here for you and sending our healing vibes to Lauren.

Well, tonight I'm going to see "sideways". I'm going with some women from my old division and it should be fun. I'm going to have to run home, take care of mr. jacques needs and then run up to this movie theater which is a good 14 miles from my house. Grr. I'm going to suggest the next movie be closer to me.

Better get some calls finished.

Have a great on program, portion controlled and water filled day.

lala