Good afternoon.

mette - I am so glad that we can be helpful for you. I know that I too am so happy to have found you ladies. Except for the fact that I fail at our mission and goals all the time and feel badly about it, I really appreciate all of the support. We can understand each other.

Your workout seems great mette! You are indeed a real weightlifter. Bottle your enthusiasm and save some for later. Maybe write down (here if you want) all your thoughts and feelings about it now so later you can look back and be reminded about how good you felt at the beginning. Maybe take pictures of you now so later you can see the changes in your muscular definition. I guess it depends on what types of things motivate you. I think it's just super that you made the initial appointment and have followed through with this. :bravo:

My dinner with bf's mother was just because I see her sometimes when I go to the farm (their house is right near by and sometimes I need to use the bathroom) and she asked if I wanted to stop by for dinner while watering last night. Not really a big deal. His parents seem to like me and I am glad, but his mother and I aren't best friends or anything. I'll take a home cooked meal over my crap anyday and a little company and socializing isn't bad either.

I didn't think my stress level could get worse but it has been every day and I am at my wits end. I am sure you all are getting tired of hearing me complain so I appreciate you letting me babble because it helps. I now break out into tears a few times a day for almost no reason. It is not good to have all these emotions built up with no outlet (emotions about bf and other parts of my life too). I think I am just so frustrated that I don't even want to put effort into anything - including exercise, food, bf, house.

Renee - I am sorry that work has been so tough for you. I know how stress can affect your entire life. Is there any point trying to talk to the salesman and trying to implement some better organizational tools and practices? Try to take care of yourself and don't let any of these clients push you around. They are not more important than you are and they should respect you - of course that means that you must respect yourself first and demand the respect from them.

Subway isn't necessarily bad for you. Did you have a sub? What type? Skipping dinner and than drinking berr might not have been the wisest choice but did you enjoy the softball at least? What position do you play? I played for a number of years too.

Walking before work sounds like a good idea. If you're not hungry for lunch can you walk outside at lunch? Getting out of the office and walking might help ease the stress of work a little. Good luck with the rest of the day. Try to do something today for you, even if it is only a little thing.

Jessica - I hope you are off having a wonderful time. It seems a little slow/busy for all of us so not too many posts.

Take care - I'm off to try and convince myself to blow off farm and go to my 3miles run tonight with my club. I just wish I knew if anyone was showing up. It stinks to drive out there (a different town) and then have to run alone.

Ang

Renee – I’m sorry your job is so stressful too. Will it be better next week when your boss comes back to work? Even if the other woman is off, at least he will be there and help you figure things out right? Ang has some good ideas – both that you look into possible ways of getting your job more organized and also to find ways of taking care of yourself.

And yes – Jessica, what are you up to?

Ang – Good idea to bottle my enthusiasm actually – I need to remember this for later. And I actually did take pictures of myself in my underwear yesterday. I’ve never bothered with “before-pictures” before, but Krista (heh) also said I should do it. And now you too! It must be the right thing to do then! ;)
It’s good that the BF’s family likes you. Have you seen him at all this week? How did you two manage to get together? You seem to be on complete opposite schedules!

You are not complaining Ang! You’re in a really bad place right now: you’re stressed out and in emotional turmoil - and of course you should tell us about it. As often as you want to.
I’m sorry that you’re feeling so bad Ang. I hope you feel better soon.

If I should come up with something to say to you, it would be that you remember to also focus on the good things in your life: how far you’ve actually come, what you’ve achieved.
I know your job isn’t optimal or maybe the job you want to stay with for a very long time, but it still will look good on your CV for when you’ll look for your next job. And you’re finding out a lot of what you’re not looking for in a job – things you didn’t know about before you started in this job.
The BF – we all understand how exhausting that must be for you – and the emotions you are feeling are not good and positive at all. And it makes it even worse that he’s never there so you can talk with him! Do you have any idea when you’ll see him and spend time with him again?

Did you go out to run? I went jogging this morning in the rain, it was actually quite nice – but my legs were a bit stiff so I didn’t do as well as I’ve done before. Ah well. Have nice Thursdays everybody.

Hi guys,

Sorry I haven't posted today. I slept until 7 this morning so I didn't get my usual leasurly wake up time with my 3FC friends. I'm sorry you all are having a rough time right now. Must be something in the air. This has been such a stressful work week for me, and I'm really trying to not get down on myself about my goals for the week not being met. I woke up at a quarter to 4 this morning, and had trouble falling back to sleep until about when I normally get up. Figures, huh? I was feeling on the axious side for some reason, but I woke up feeling ok. I made a healthy salad for dinner last night, and did some shopping at the local drug store for "girly things" such as make up and a new hair dryer. Everyone has complimented me today because I spent some time on my appearance this morning and they noticed. I at least feel good about that. I have my Planning Commission meeting tonight, so I know I won't have any time to exercise, and at this point, I'm going to be happy if I go Friday after work and Saturday. That's 3 days, which is more than I've been doing, so, I'll focus on the positive.

Renee- I know all about being pulled in 3 different directions and being left out of the loop. You're not alone!

Ang- I've also been where you are right now. The crying for no reason can feel so frustrating, but your emotions need to be honored and delt with somehow. Definitely time for some positive changes in your life. Please post whenever you want about your troubles. That's what we're here for.

Mette- So glad you got out for your run. You are fabulous!

My lunch hour seems to go by faster every day, time to head back. I'll try to sneak a post in tonight when I get home.

Heya... well, today turned out not quite as bad as most of this week as far as work goes. Thanks for the encouragement guys. The owner is a bit dimwitted and well, there is no hope of teaching that old dog new tricks. He doesn't even know how to use his cell phone or email!

My eating was... well, geez, I have done so poorly this whole week. Burritos. Again (sigh) chinese for lunch. Dinner was left over steak, chips, fruit snacks and hershey kisses. I was so bored and lonely and tired, that I just kept grazing. Now I feel bad.

Ang - I hear ya too on the bottling up. I tend to do the same. I've always tried to be 'the strong one' and I end up pushing my feelings down and aside and back, then they start piling up and I turn into a wreck. Sometimes a good cry is well, good for you. Just make sure you got a big stuffed animal handy.

Mette- Dang, you are like .. making this sound so easy! :) I was all set last night to do some running to day, and I woke up sore from softball. My legs were bugging me, like, on the inside of the calf? Not the calf, and not the shin, but more towards the inside. Screwy, but I am hoping tomorrow will work. I was thinking about, for my first day at it, just not bothering with timing things or anything. Just saying 'Hey, Renee, go around the block, run when you can, walk the rest, and then pat yourself on the back for getting from point a to .. point a. :)

Jessica - you and me, heh tomorrow! We both come back and post at night talking about the exercise we did pull off! Deal? :D

So, I bought a new cell phone, yaaay finally not carrying around a big clunker. Anyway, I went to download ring tones and found out that nowadays you have to have the whole wireless blah blah. It's only $4 a month so I did it. No big deal. Just gotta get used to the flip phone style and all.

So, my alarm is still set for early-ish. I think I will leave it there and give this morning run an honest effort. Provided my legs are better. If not, then I will do some skating at lunch. And for the love of pete Renee, drive PAST the McDonalds! The drive thru cashier is so used to me now, that she asked me for the time as I went through! They probably set up wages, 'when is that girl in the silver car gonna be here?' Hahaha.

Also of note, man, I woke up with a reaaaally sore front tooth. I wasn't expecting those teeth to hurt anymore through out my treatment because they are pretty much where they need to be. It's so strange how they just out of nowhere start hurting, even weeks after your last adjustment. Ah well. Progress. :)

See you ladies in the morning!

I just wanted to post very quickly to say good night to all and again, I am so glad you all are here. As I read the posts before I tried to sleep I think that isn't it good that at least 1 of us is usually doing well so when our lives aren't great we can commisserate (sp?) but also have someone to look to for inspiration.

I did not run tonight (my whole club bailed on our pub run so I did not bother either) and went to the farm for almost 2 hours. BF was there and I really had a good time with the veggies - more tomorrow on all of this. In general I am just glad I got through today - that was my only goal and I made it. Tomorrow is a new day with new hope.

Renee - pass by the McDonalds. Make it a goal for tomorrow and let us know. Do it for yourself. I know you can.

Happy Friday - the weekend is almost here and I have lots of plans. What is everyone else doing?

Ang

Hello from the land of the overworked and underpaid...!

I just got home from my meeting. Was a nice 15-hour day on top of an already stressful work-week. And I wonder why I feel like I don't have time to exercise? Sheesh. Anyway, tomorrow is Friday which means it should be a light work day. I can't wait until 5 p.m. Woohoo.

Mike probably won't be home until Saturday. He (well, his crew and his boat) are supposed to be on local L.A. news tomorrow evening for the work he's out of town doing. They are helping to train the L.A. SWAT team in "homeland security" and the Mayor of Los Angeles as well as the Chief of Police are supposed to be there, so that's pretty cool.

I feel like I hardly ate today, and although my choices weren't terrible, I see how not eating enough can sort of throw my next meal or two out of whack.

No breakfast
Snack (at about 11 a.m.) small serving of bean dip with a few tortilla chips
Lunch (about 2 p.m.) hommade turkey melt on sourdough bread
Dinner (6:15 p.m.) Steak and blue cheese salad w/ vinegrette dressing from Quizno's Subs.

I think I ate even less than I realized. Like I said, it has been a **** of a week. Anyway, I'm finally starting to wear down. It's hard unwinding after such a long day. I'll talk with you all tomorrow.

Everybody is working to hard and being stressed out because of their jobs recently! I’m sorry you’re all having such *sucky* times at work.

Yey for Jessica who dressed girly and got complements at work! :D

Yey for Renee who had a fairly good day and bought a new cell phone! :D

Yey for Ang who had a good time with the veggies! :D

Jessica, you really did eat very little, but you know you'll improve your eating when your days are getting better at work and you’re not stressed out all the time. Whatever happened to slow and easy workdays in the summertime?

I’m really enjoying my days off – and haven’t gotten much done actually. The weather has been so nice, and it’s been great to be outdoors. It’s not as if the cleaning, organizing and filing is going anywhere! It’ll still be there when it starts to rain again.

Wish you all happy workdays on Friday. Ang, what are your exciting plans for the weekend?

Well poop. I panicked this morning as I drove past the last remaining places to get food. I have none at work. It was McDonalds (again) or Dunkin Donuts. I figured that at least McDonalds was lower in carbs.

I have a friend that calls me the undisputed Queen of Rationalizations. There is nothing I cannot rationalize my way into or out of. I wish I could apply that to something healthy, instead of always using it to convince myself something unhealthy was actually ok.

Determined to not let this undermind my efforts for the day, I -WILL- be going out at lunch to either run, or skate. This despite my calves still really hurting. The weather is beautiful, I am going to make use of it.

Tomorrow is horse farm work, and Sunday I am going to go on another bike ride. This time though, I will get a water bottle for my bike!

Good morning!

Well, as a result of my late night and long week I slept in this morning and called work to tell them I'll be in at 10. I feel bad about not being there, but the sleep sure felt good!

Mette: I'm sorry all of us are having such stress at work and elswhere; I hope we're not bringing you down! I think I am going to take a few days off toward the end of this month, just to have some down time and relax around the house. Enjoy your beautiful weather and worry about the organizing later!

Renee: I think we can all understand the rationalization that goes on in our minds when we're behaving in ways we know aren't good for us. I used to do it all the time, but I'm getting better at calling a spade a spade. Honesty with yourself is really important and when you are able to do that, you may be better equipped to develop new habits and behaviors that work in your favor.

Ang: What are your plans for the weekend? I hope you have a really good one and are able to take some quality time for yourself.

Anyway, I guess I better get moving. It will at least be a short work day today!

Talk to you all later.

Hi Everyone.

Wow - it's already Saturday. I actually cooked dinner tonight (stuffed chicken breast, salad, and rice) for a friend and then we went out to see a movie. It was kind of nice to cook. I'm slowly getting there and trying to adapt my eating to something I can live with. I realized that I was not allowing myself to eat enough carbs so I was feeling deprived and binging on them at times. I think controlled moderation would be better. After dinner I took her to the farm. It was so nice to be able to share that with someone. It is amazing how much joy I get out of those little veggies. :D BF and I put out a bunch of stuff yesterday and almost all of it sold in one day! Hopefully there will be more for me to pick tomorrow.

Tomorrow, after errands and shopping, I am going out in the city with some friends. I hope to have a good time, although I'm not thrilled about the prospect of dressing up. Sunday I am going with same friend to the beach if the weather holds up. Again, not thrilled about wearing a bathing suit for the first time in 2 years but looking forward to the sun and some relaxation.

What is everyone else doing?

mette - I'm so glad you are enjoying your vacation. I agree that the filing can wait. That is my philosophy right now with stuff around the house. I would rather be outside now and wait until the weather gets bad to do stuff inside the house. It's not going anywhere. Enjoy!

Jessica - I'm so sorry that work has been so stressful. I am glad for you that it is over. I also took the morning off from work at the last minute. Sometimes we just need some time for ourselves to rejuvinate a little. Don't feel guilty. You work hard and I'm sure you don't owe your job anything. Did you enjoy your short day?

mette - you do make it all seem so easy. ;) Did you go to the gym today?

renee - did you go out at lunch? Definitely remember the water bottle on your bike ride. I don't think I have been drinking enough water and it sure isn't good for you to dehydrate. Speaking of which, I think I'll go drink some water now. Can you get to the store this weekend and buy something to eat at home for breakfast so you don't go to McD? I've been really happy with my cereal and fruit. I get up and don't even have to think about breakfast - I just throw it together, sit and watch a couple of minutes of t.v. in my new rocker and eat my cereal. I bet you could find something you like that is easy and fast that you could have at home. Just think how good you'd feel starting your day off on a good note.

I did see BF last night for a little. Although we did have 'the talk', he did and said enough things to allow me to wait a few more days until our schedules allow us to have an evening together to really sit down and chat. It does stink to have opposite work schedules. He isn't home 5 out of 7 evenings. Even though I only saw him for just over an hour last night, it was a good time on the farm. He asked all the right questions and said some really nice things without being prompted. I still haven't given up on him yet.

Have any of you felt like this - no matter how heavy I am I always think that I am the heaviest person in the world. I'm afraid I'm going to break things, not fit places others go (e.g. rollercoaster seats), etc. Even though I lost some weight last year I still feel really big. The other day at my track workout we had to squeeze through a hole in the fence. Everyone was doing it but I was scared that I wouldn't fit. I was SURE I wouldn't fit. I gave it a shot and fit without even hitting the sides. It just hit me how bad and possibly incorrect my self image is. How do you get honest with yourself? Jessica - you mentioned calling a spade a spade but how do you start to do that? Sometimes it scares me that even if I lose 30 pounds I will still think of myself as fat. I believe that if I thought better (and more honestly) of myself I would improve my attitude and in the long run lose more weight and be happier.

Ang

Hi girls,

Where was everyone today? I hope it was a good Friday all around. :) My day was busy, of course. I ended up not getting out of the office for lunch, but had a cup of soup at my desk. I was so tired when I got home tonight. I hate to sound so needy, but I can't wait for Mike to get home. Thinking about it, this is the longest we've gone without seeing each other, and I guess the rest of August is going to be about the same. He'll be home early Saturday morning and I'm SO looking forward to having him back.

Ang, sounds like you have a really nice weekend planned! The beach, a night on the town... how fun! Do your best to not let your insecurities get in the way of having a good time. I know you will enjoy yourself. :D

I know how you feel about the distorted body image. When I was at what my goal weight is, I DID still think I had weight to lose and didn't fully appreciate what I'd achieved. I think that contributed to regaining the weight; so we all need to really work on how we see ourselves as we go through this process. :chin:

When I mentioned being honest with ourselves, I guess I was referring more to habits and behaviors than perceptions. In your mind, when you think of yourself as fat, that is being honest with yourself because that's your perception. You're not telling yourself you're fat to achieve an end. That's how you feel. But when you know you should be eating a piece of fruit for dessert and you opt for the slice of chocolate cake and you make excuses for why you did it, you know you are rationalizing. Just say "I ate the chocolate cake because I wanted it and it tastes great!" It's by cultivating that kind of honesty that I think we can achieve doing the right thing most of the time. It's the rationalizing that makes us feel guilty about our behavior and eventually sabotages our efforts. Does that make any sense? :?: When people at work offer me doughnuts and I'm able to say no, I am able to say, "no, if I have one I know I'll have three." That's being honest with myself, instead of "Well, I'll just have one with my coffee because I didn't bring my oatmeal," and then have three. Or if I have one, I think, I really want a doughnut so I'm going to have one. Not because I'm weak, but because doughnuts taste good. I am trying to have this same inner dialogue about my exercise, now, and that's why I get frustrated with myself about not going to the gym. I don't want to rationalize that one. I really enjoy it, yet time and time again, I feel like I let myself get distracted by other things and I put it lower on the priority list. I'll get there, though, where I understand my motivation and my short-comings when it comes to working out.

Again, I think the self-image thing is really important to try to get in perspective before we reach our goals, and I'm not sure the best way to achieve the proper perception. Maybe mette can help us out on this one?

My plans for the weekend are pretty much the same as last weekend, I guess. Visit my folks, spend time with Mike, visit with my grandparents, get my house in order for next week, try to exercise... I hate to even think about it, but I should probably spend some time at the office finishing some things I started today. We'll see.

And, last but not least, I lost another 2 lbs this week! I'm now back at the weight I was at when I started my last weight loss attempt. Feels good to know I've been able to break even. Now the real adventure begins! Whew! :goodscale

Talk to you all in the morning!

SW: 202
CW: 183
GW: 148

Hi guys –
I’m sorry. Monster-entry ahead. You’re warned. ;)

Jessica – congratulations on losing another 2 pounds!!! Great work! :high:

Renee – how did your lunch go? You probably shouldn’t overdo it if your calves are still sore. But in moderation – running and skating is great exercise. Do you find that it’s easier to eat better when you’ve been exercising? Or is it the other way around for you – easier to exercise when you’re eating better?

Ang – it’s great to hear that you’re enjoying cooking, and figuring out how it is best for you to eat. You’ve been feeling low a couple of days so it’s also great to hear that you’re doing better – and enjoying yourself – also at the farm and with the BF. Very good to hear Ang! :D

I’m not very fond of dressing up either. I often end up avoiding doing things where I have to do that, it’s not very good. But I hope you soldier through, dress up and go out, and have a fabulous time!
The beach sounds wonderful – I find that I’m self-conscious for a bit at first, but eventually I just give in to how good everything feels: the sun, the water, the breeze, being with friends. Hope you enjoy it Ang.

Ang – about feeling huge and thinking you’re the heaviest person ever, I think that’s quite normal. Have you seen the program “What not to wear”, where they go through the selected women’s wardrobes, tell them what not to wear, and send them out to shop for new clothes? Again and again the women are being pushed into wearing sizes that fit and are *shocked* that they actually should wear one or two sizes smaller then they thought.

And when you lose weight – like you did last year – I’ve found that it really does take forever for the image in my head to reach up with my actual size. Researchers actually have a name for it: it’s the phantom-fat phenomenon they find in previously over-weight women.
It will get better as you make experiences with your size and how big/small you are. Just like you did with the hole in the fence. When you lose 30lbs it will probably take some time before you start thinking of yourself as thin, and in one article I read the researchers found that previously overweight women continued to pay more attention to what they ate, what they weighed than normal women who hadn’t been overweight. But as long as it’s not extreme or excessive – I think that keeping vigil, so to speak, is necessary if one is to maintain a weightloss. Which we all know is the hard part.

Jessica – at least you survived your week and Mike’s coming home. Good for you, hope you two enjoy your weekend together. I also think you’re completely right about habits and behaviors; sometimes it’s not even possible to work through all the emotions, motivations and thoughts before you do something – because then you’ll never actually get around to doing the things you’re supposed to be doing if you want to ‘finish’ the emotions first.
But I’m not talking about you and going to the gym here Jessica, because – you know what? – the number one requirement to do that is having days where you have time and excess energy. If you’re tired, stressed-out, exhausted, then you’re not going to be able to go to the gym, exercise and spend even more energy. Energy you don’t have. And you need to stop beating yourself up about it too.

As for self-image, I think that I finally have gotten to the place where I select my battles. I’m slowly moving out of the all-or-nothing, black-or-white thinking when it comes to self-image, self-esteem, body-image, self-efficacy – whatever we call it.
There are a lot of stuff I avoid, there are a lot of stuff I sort of pretend isn’t there – I just choose to not deal with everything right now.
So, selecting my battles – I’ve chosen to focus on my eating and on exercising. I’m not sure whether it’s a very smart approach or a very stupid one. ;)

And it does look easy, doesn’t it? Somehow it is sort of easy too. It ties back to what Jessica was talking about – habits and behaviors. I’ve gotten into a flow of things where eating well and exercising isn’t hard work. But I don’t have your stressed out days. I don’t feel exhausted and emotionally drained from other stuff going on in my life right now.
And – no matter what - I still have to make the right choices every day, try to eat right and get the exercising done. I’m trying to go for 30%protein, 30%fat and 40%carbs – so I have been upping my protein the last week. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten so much protein before in my life. And I’m having some difficulties getting enough too (it’s not as if I’m being a **** about it – yet).
Jessica, are there any sweets that are high in protein and relatively low in calories? I get sweet-cravings in the evenings, and eat stuff like fruit, berries, sugar free dark chocolate, and crackers with cottage cheese and jelly. But that’s mostly carbs.
I do eat protein bars though – that’s the only sweet protein snack I’ve found so far. Is it really excessive if I end up eating two a day do you think?

And yes. I went to the gym and did upper body, and have the sore arms (my biceps are sore!) to prove it. Yey! I did bench press with dumbbells (2x22lbs dumbbells), one arm dumbbell row (30lbs), bicep curls (22lbs), triceps extensions (25lbs). I did 8 rep and 3 series. It was hard, I had to take a break here and there, but all in all it was OK.
Then – the last exercise – was lower back extensions on an extension bench. Ang, you know about that fear of being so heavy that you’re breaking things? I have this fear of tipping the bench over. Heh. I haven’t yet, but I’ll let you know if it ever comes to that! :D
But the back exercise? OMG! I was supposed to do 8 reps and 3 series, but for the last 2 series I couldn’t do more than 6 and 5. My back was completely seizing up! No wonder my back hurts when I do stuff: I have no strength there. Ah well.

But yes. I’ve done my first week at the gym. Yey.
Have great weekends everybody!

Good morning!

Yes, I think it's definitely time for a vacation. I've been sleeping in longer and longer each weekend, and I think it's because I'm so burned out and exhausted. So I got up at 10:30 this morning! Mike got in about 6:30 a.m., so part of it was relaxation because he made it home safe and it was nice having him next to me.

Mette: Thank you for your post! When you were talking about the "phantom fat" it made me think about what happens when people get a limb amputated. Even though there is no leg there, the person can still "feel" a leg, wiggle their toes, have pain in their knee, etc. My grandpa had his leg amputated a couple of years ago and has had that experience. Just goes to show how powerful our minds are, and how attached we become to our bodies. By the way, "What not to Wear" is one of my guilty viewing pleasures! And you're right, women in particular always seem to wear clothes that are way to big and really do get shocked when smaller clothes fit and look good. I really like watching those makeover shows and seeing the potential that people have come to life.

I think your approach is a REALLY good one. Eating and exercising. Not getting bogged down in everything all at once, just focusing on the "mechanics" of living a healthier life. It really is like the Nike slogan. That's exactly what I did when I lost weight before. I didn't really "know what I was doing" I just followed the program my friend outlined for me, had faith that it would work, didn't veer off of it, and I accomplished exactly what I wanted to. I think it was when I tried to second-guess what I was doing, do more than what I needed to do, that I got off track. Sometimes we just need to not over-think things.

Thank you for the encouraging words about my exercise. You guys are always so right-on. I'm still doing great even without the exercise, so it will happen when it can and I'll try not to stress about it. And your routine sounds great! You're lifting a lot of weight to start- I can see where your trainer would want you to stick with that for a while. You did really great though! And keep working on those back exercises; that will help you have a stronger stomach and be stronger overall.

Alright guys, I should try to get moving. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Hi everyone,

Ok, I changed my signature. Yeah, I know, I've lost 19 pounds, but I really wanted one of those chickies! ha ha... Close enough to 20 anyway. With as crummy as I've felt lately, I needed to give myself a pat on the back. :)

Hope everyone's having an awsome weekend. :cool: Mike and I hung out at home, and I got some stuff done for work... stuff that I've been putting off for a month. It felt good to get it done so it's not hanging over my head. Other than that, a nice, peaceful weekend so far. What's everyone else up to?

Hi Jessica –
Great chicken! :D It’s quite amazing that you’ve lost 20lbs – that *is* a lot of weight off! I totally agree: close enough to 20 – and you deserve the pat on the back. :cheer:
Good to hear you’re having a nice weekend too.

I’ll write more later, I’m just on my way out. The weather is nice, and I want to be outdoors today. The plan is to go hiking.
I have to start getting things together tomorrow – I think I start up with practice in the university clinic on Wednesday – but I’m not sure. (Have to check that – another thing to go on my to-do-list).

Wish you a completely stress-free weekend Jessica! Talk to you later.