Maybe you need out of retail. What else do you enjoy doing?

Aimee, I agree--I think you need out of retail! They're not paying you what you're worth to start with, and it certainly isn't worth all the frustration and hassle...you deserve better!

Yes, I did have my TOPS meeting last night. After last week's 2.75-pound gain, I am happy to report that I posted a loss of 5.25 last night :) That puts me very close to getting out of the 280's (280.75 to be exact) and moving on down to the next decade. So no, I more than likely will not meet my August 31 goal of 270, but at least I will be a lot closer than I was. Keep-a truckin'!

Woohooo Congrats Jill!!! You will surely pass me soon... I'm on a weight loss sabatical (had no money for groceries, until today!!). I'm so happy for you, especially after you had some struggles with it, ah yes... success makes me happy! :) It's amazing what happens when you find that special combination that works for your body!

Kimberley - I've been struggling with that concept for a long time :( I enjoy people, I enjoy having fun (duh I guess?), I just can't pinpoint what exactly would make me happy work-wise. Since I was on EI (Employment Insurance), I qualify to get 12 months of schooling for free, if only I could make up my mind.

So work yesterday was MUCH better! I worked alone from 8-12:30, and then went home sick (upset tummy, probably from being tired and stressed). Before I left the Regional manager sat me down and wanted to know what was going on with me (as per my manager), I told her about the flip, how I've only been there for 3.5 months and how I felt as though my work wasn't appreciated. She assured me that what I accomplished was really great and thanked me. She asked me to trust her, and so I told her how my manager leaves 1-1 1/2 hours early quite often, which leaves us with a lot more work, which she said she'd take care of, in a confidential way. The is a temporary fix, retail ISN'T going to be my life. But while I'm here I might as well move up, which my regional manager also said she'd find out for me... so I could possibly be an assistant manager, which means, more pay, more hours, more responsibility.. but I'd get a job title!!

Alrighty, I am feeling better about work, now if I can just keep it that way, because i'm content with my social life, I just gotta work on that pesky weight issue I have! Speaking of which, Kimberley, isn't today weigh in day?

I better run, Josh has an ultrasound to see if his spleen is enlarged still, among other things I would imagine. Have a good one!

-Aimee

BTW - I just jumped on my scale and it went down 1 pound!! 3 pounds until I hit the weight before my vacation... :dizzy: this is too slow!

Jill, waaay to go! That's great! I told my MIL about your 11-table night and she said, "Oh man! It'd be bad enough if that were 11 deuces, but to have tables with fours or more...man!". She was a server for many years - it's how she and Howie's dad met.

Aimee, glad you were able to talk to your RM at work - hope things get better for y'all. I'm not sure what I want to do, either. I dislike office work and would much rather deal with people, but it's hard to break out of the office work rut and I don't really want to do retail. I think a coffee shop job would be something I'd enjoy, but I don't want to work at the place we frequent, because it wouldn't be a retreat for us then.

The scale was kind today -- two pounds down this week! It was teetering between 209 and 210, and I went with the higher number.

It's been quite the little carbolicious day. I made the mistake of going to the farmer's market on an empty tummy...amazing what that does to the willpower. "Why, yes, I'd love a sample slice of that bread, thanks! A bite of zucchini bread? Why sure! Oh, and sugar-free peanut butter cookies? Don't mind if I do!" Didn't spread those last ones out over a few days like I'd planned...all four are gone. WTF??! Time to face reality and log those calories! ;)

In other news, we found a doggie for my MIL. Butterscotch, in the process of being renamed Hannah, is a beagle/dachshund mix. A year old, she weighs about 15lbs and looks like a little fawn and white beagle with short legs and a long back.

She's darling and a real sweetheart! She had fleas because the lady who had her didn't wait 2 days after bathing her to apply Frontline...the vet gave us Capstar, which kills all the fleas on a dog within a few hours. She's had them dropping off her all evening, little fleas in their death throes, LOL. It was really gross! In a day or so, we'll put the Frontline on her.

Kimberley - Congrats to your weight loss :) You ARE so close to onederland, I can't even imagine.. I think I'd be in shock.. and not quite believe it. What a cute dog, I so want one, but we are in a place where we just couldn't do it right now... one day though! In my quest to find a job where I deal with people, but not mass amounts of people, and where I got to see the same people, as well as new ones, I discovered being an Esthitician (I can't spell), they are the gals who do manicures, pedicures, do eyebrows, and other general waxing. I am also obsessed with eyebrows, so it would almost fit. My brother wants me to aim higher... so I'm rethinking things. I like numbers, so maybe accountant/invester? There are just too many options!! Those calories were best spent on a weigh in day, now you have 6 days to recover! I've discovered a new way to cut back on calories, always eat with a friend, we buy 1 of everything and share it.. I'm really loving having a friend like this! It's been a while for me.

My darling boyfriend bought me a 1-week anniversary birthday present (my bday is on Friday the 19th), he got the girls at the cosmetics counter to package up some free-be's (I love free things), and he bought me perfume, body wash and body lotion, in a new Hugo Boss scent, "Intense". I keep smelling myself, its really nice :) All of this was wrapped in a leather "Givenchy" box, its lovely, especially since it was free! He was going to take me out for dinner... but I'm ill, seriously, whats WITH that!!!!! Today we went out for breakfast, I got a small piece of coffee cake and ended up eating MAYBE half of it. We also went grocery shopping, which turned out good, we ended up buying really good choices, and I had to REALLY think about what I could eat this coming up week while feeling like this. I actually bought granola bars with the intention of having one for a meal, we also bought some gravol so I can work this week. Ah, I love having days off with my bf :)

Well I am off to do some cleaning, we are going to clean together, which just feels easier sometimes! Have a great one! :)

-Aimee

Ohhh, a goodie bag from the cosmetics and fragrance section is nice. Sounds like you had a great day.

We had our treat day tonight -- went out for pizza and then to the coffee shop, where we enjoyed a couple of non-diet goodies. It didn't turn into a food fest like last week's treat night did, so we feel good about it.

HEY Ya'll,
Just checking in to see how everyone is doing. I have had a busy week. My hubby left today for a work trip to Hawaii.I was hopeing I could go but I had no one to stay with the boys since we are new here. Well, He will be gone a week and he better get me something good.lol
Sounds like ya'll have had good weeks. I am ready for the scale tomorrow. My hubby had to weigh this morning because of leaving and he didn't lose this week. He wasn't to happy. So, If I haven't lost I will be o.k. I know it takes time.
Have a great Sunday, It is almost night time for us here.
TTYL,
Vicki

Hey, Vicki! :) It's 3:30am here and I'm just heading to bed. All the caffeine from the coffee shop is starting to wear off and I'd better take advantage of this narrow window of opportunity for sleep.

What are your favorite things about Okinawa?

Hey all,
Let's see,,,,what do I like about Okinawa?
The best thing here are the people. They are so kind. The customer service is what we had in the 70"s.You will see children walking home alone. As young as three by themselves. There is hardly any crime at all. When you go to the Mcdonalds,you are waited on by someone who looks like a stewardess on an airplane.
The island is beautiful. The beaches are the best and there are allot of them.The sightseeing is great and the shops are expensive but I like allot of the stuff.Things are really different. You wake up and forget you are in Japan.
The people here don't have heart disease or highblood pressure. They will start having lung cancer because they all smoke. Well, almost all of them.
Remember in the 70's when we still thought smoking was good. The people here love America and Americans. They never get frustrated if you can't speak the language. I took a 8 week class this summer. Some people get stationed here and don't learn the language or go off base allot. I say why come here if you are not gonna take adavantage of what it has to offer.
Well, I need to turn in,
Vicki

You and I would get along great, Vicki -- I'd be learning the language and making friends in town, too! What IS the point of seeing the world if all you see is what's on TV and all you do is surround yourself with everything that makes you feel like you've never left your familiar life? You've got a great attitude! :D

Where's our other peeps? Must have been a nice weekend for them. Guess I've been kind of scarce, myself! LOL

I'm here, I'm here! Friday evening, Jeff and I drove to my sister's in Va Beach. We spent the night there so I could attend her Pampered Chef party on Saturday afternoon. Then we drove back up here on Saturday evening (took about 5 hours to get down there thanks to traffic, but only about 3.5 to get back). Then yesterday, we slept in and ordered a pizza at noon for breakfast, then I left to go to my coworker's spa products party. I'm SO not girly enough for these things--we soaked our feet in mineral stuff, then applied foot lotion, did a lip peel and applied lip balm, did an "instant manicure" and applied hand cream, put soothing pads on our eyes...all entirely too much for me, considering I almost never wear any makeup and only clean my face occasionally with whatever soap and water I use in the shower :dizzy: I could never handle doing all this stuff to my skin all the time--the only thing I know I could use some work on is my feet (they feel like cement--thank you Ruby Tuesday!). Other than that, it's the economy-sized bottle of generic Suave lotion for whatever feels dry, and that's it!

Some sad news to announce--Pinch has moved on to the big toilet bowl in the sky. He made a suicide attempt on Friday morning (jumped out of his bowl onto my desk!), and he didn't look very well for the rest of the day, though he was still alive. sure enough, though, he was not so when I came in this morning. Ahh, well, 2.5 years certainly is a long enough lifetime for a fish!

Alright, this is a very strict buckle-down week! I need to lose the 10 billion pounds I gained over the weekend (people have great food at these home parties!), so I definitely need to up my exercise, too. I should be able to get in 4 days (Mon-Thurs) of at least 40 minutes on the elliptical, plus waitressing tonight and Wednesday night (I'm assuming Wednesday--haven't seen the schedule for next week yet).

Hope everyone had a relaxing weekend! I know I could still use about 10 more hours of sleep ;)

GoodMonday! Actually I can't guarantee that! I haven't decided about this day just yet, I'm hoping for the best, but it looks like TOM is here! The first and second days are always the worst, but with some fish oil pills and ibuprofen, I'll survive!

Vicky - I'm totally like that too, I wouldn't be sitting around at home in a different country.. too much to see and do!

Jill - I'm totally girly, I wear FAR too much makeup, spend FAR too much on it, both the bf and I have specialized shampoo, and specialized facewash. I think we spend more money per bottle, but use less, so it lasts longer. You should try a pedicure, they scrape off all the dead skin, moisturize, and it's really nice and relaxing. I had one girl give me a calf massage, and when you work retail? It's better than sex, or really anything I can think of! heh.

I gotta go jump in that shower.. bbl!

-Aimee

I'm pretty lax in the "beauty regimen" department, too. I am clean, but I don't generally primp a lot unless Howie and I are going out. Wintertime's more apt to see me in makeup since I won't sweat it all off in the heat! I use a generic of Cetaphil liquid facial cleanser that I just keep handy in the shower. As 40 creeps up on me, I'm thinking about using an anti-aging cream like Oil of Olay Total Effects or something...But not until I do some research to see which works best. So many cosmetics are just marketing hype without any hard science to back up their claims.

The weather's been cool and lovely...Monday's high was only 72°, and right now it's 68° with 89% humidity. We've had scattered showers and more are forecast. Oh, the rain is so welcome to our parched grass and gardens! I have a soaker hose for the veggie garden, but the rest of the gardens and container plants I do by hand and it's just not as efficient.

Howie's still at work...Long night, poor guy. Hope he's not hurting too bad after so many hours in an office chair. :( I'm heading to bed soon.

Oooh, I WISH our weather was more like yours, Kimberley! Yesterday was only one of 4 days in August so far where we did NOT have a heat advisory in effect. The heat index was only about 93, whereas it has been 100+ on most days. Today is supposed to only be in the 80s, so we're all excited about that :p

Pedicure? Heh, not likely. I don't even like my feet, let alone make a stranger touch them ;) I don't even let Jeff touch my feet. I paint my toenails, and that's about the end of that.

Well, the plan was to go to the gym between jobs yesterday as usual. However, I left the office, drove to the gym, and opened the back car door to get out my gym bag and realized my white shirt was not there! I need my white shirt for my shift at Ruby's, so I had to get right back in my car and drive aaaaall the way home to get my stupid shirt, then drive aaaaaaall the way back out to Ruby's. By the time I had grabbed my shirt and headed back out, I had to start my shift in 30 minutes, so no time for the gym :( Then my head started hurting like crazy--I was joking that it felt like there was an alien trying to burrow out of my head. I had a table, and this girl who was not scheduled to work came in to pick up a shift. Normally, the servers who were working double shifts would get first dibs to go home, but my manager knew I wasn't feeling well, so he told me I could leave. No arguments here! I went home and collapsed on the couch and napped for 4 hours. Normally, that would do the trick, but when I woke up, my head was STILL killing me! I took 3 Tylenol PM pills and went to bed--fell asleep by around 11:30. At least it was finally gone when I woke up this morning, but I nver got to working out yesterday. So, I'll do at least 60 minutes at the gym today to make up for it since I don't have to work at Ruby's :)

Wow you girls amaze me!! I use moisturizor everyday, with SPF 15 min in it. I'm exploring the idea of getting something with an SPF 30, or even a 60. Now is the time to protect the skin, I do this mostly so that I don't have to deal with sun spots as I get older. Josh and I have different face washes, different shampoo's and we DON'T share, heh. Is that odd? We don't have the same faces, or hair, so we just can't use the same products.. thats my theory anyways!

It's raining here today too, just a little drizzle, but the cool down is WELCOME! It's been some kinda crazy hotness out lately, and our heat is just INSANE. It's hard to describe... but it's unpleasant!

Well I am off to the mall, going to go shopping with my friend, see what I want for my bday from my brother! I'll bbl!

-Aimee