Well I guess I shouldnt share that it was a BEAUTIFUL Florida day today!
We went to a birthday party of a colleage of Alan's at his wife's new dance studio that will be opening in a month or so. She gave sort of a group instruction for those that came to the party. We had a BLAST! I think we are going to sign up for lessons. I really felt like I had a workout tonight!
Howie and I are enjoying his last day of freedom. He goes back to work Monday. *Sniffle* I've loved having him around. It'll be nice to have a normal income again, but I also know he doesn't like his job. It's hard to get excited about junk mail, ya know?
Jen - isn't it always beautiful in Florida? I remember when we were there even on so called crappy days it was still pretty darn nice. Although I could do without threats of tropical storms. Dancing sounds fun, you burn lots of calories, learn a new skill and have fun. You should do it!
Kimberley - How long has Howie been off work for? I find when Josh is off work we get into a routine, things get done too! What exactly does Howie do? Junk mail sounds... odd, heh.
Marge - shoulder curl? Lateral press? Explain! I might know what they are already, but I can't picture either of them. I will definitely take a look at the ab workout, I've been doing more crunches lately, 70 regular ones, 28 bicycle ones (where your legs move like a bike and you twist), and 10 of the ones where you lift your butt up with the lower muscles. That last one burns! The great thing about white shoes, I also got white shoes, mine have a little light purple on them too though, you legs look tanned! I quite enjoy this effect I really want to work the backs of my arms and my waist area, basically I want buff arms with NO jiggle (tough one), and flat, buff abs. I may suceed, although it might take a *few* months
I don't know what we are doing today, its not sunny enough to take the ferry, I wanted it to be a warm and sunny day, we could still go I guess. I'm not sure that taking a Ferry just to take a Ferry is going to be all that fun, lol. I don't know where I come up with my ideas. It was a late night in this household, I think I finally went to sleep at 2:30am. I feel SO nasty today, I woke up at 12pm, and basically lost 2-3 hours of my day. I don't normally go to bed so late, it's just not me. My brother and his gf were watching a movie until then though.
I bought new runners, Nike Shox, my old ones were SO darn comfy! I put them on yesterday and was horrified at how much I hated how they felt, but I wore them all day and by the end of the day they were extremely comfortable. Isn't that weird?
Well I am off to make a very very late breakfast and read some more (everyone is still sleeping, so I'm trying to be quiet!). ttyl!
I'm home! We had a pretty good weekend. We left on Saturday morning (during crappy rainy weather, so of course there was traffic EVERYWHERE and it took forever) and got back around 3pm today. We hit the Franklin Institute yesterday afternoon and saw the Body Worlds exhibit at 4:30--VERY interesting. There were protestors out front handing out flyers and yelling through a megaphone--don't people have anything better to do with their time? Then I tell Jeff that it's his birthday present, so we can have whatever he wants for dinner. The hotel had 2 restaurants: one Asian and one American, and both seemed pretty nice. What does he choose? The Subway across the street Ah, well, at least he's easy to please Then this morning we went to the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, NJ (about a 10-minute drive from our hotel, RIGHT across the river from Philly). I have LOTS of pictures of the penguins All in all, not a bad weekend (except food-wise ).
I will try to attach some pictures of our adventures (although we were NOT allowed to take pictures of the Body Worlds exhibit ). Pictures are:
the perpetual motion machine from Sir Isaac Newton's Loft at the Franklin Institute
Jeff fell in love with the octopus
and I fell in love with the penguins
the Philadelphia skyline from across the river at the aquarium
Aimee, Howie works for a printing company. The majority of what his particular plant does is junk mail like DISCOVER card mailers, Publishers Clearing House, etc. Can you imagine how de-motivating it is to realize that 97% of your work goes in the garbage, unread? And that's assuming a good 3% readership. Ugh.
I made it to Lane Bryant today (you all inspired me), got a pair of black jeans, new jammies, some undies. We sat in Bryant Park and had a sandwich, it was a little chilly for that, but we enjoyed the sun. And I got some chocolates for my aunt in Washington.
I decided to give up my volunteer work, which bums me out. Some conflicts came up that I don't have the energy or big enough desire to resolve (one of the other girls there was just being a ***** to me and she's been there longer and may even be related to the woman that runs the place).
Maybe once I stop feeling p-ed off, I'll look for something else. Maybe not.
Jill, you look adorable in that pic. I'm glad you two had a good time. Did that bodyworks exhibit give you any bad dreams? That's intense stuff. I would have had to have spent a couple of days with the penguins to get over it
Aimee, you're a crunch queen! I do about 45 of the bicycle ones then 25 of the regular (every other day). for the back of the arms and shoulders, bring your hand together over your head and hold the weights, lower them behind your back until your elbows are at about a 45 degree angle. Probably 20 or 30 to start would do ya. I'm sure you know all the ones I do, Rob knows the names, I don't pay too much attention, heh heh. My tennies have a blue streak.
Jen, the dancing sounds really fun. Get some black jeans from LB and think of me as you're twirling away the night!
Kimberley, hope you two have a good evening. It feels good to have the spring coming (except for the high pollen count, my eyes are red today).
Jill - great pictures! You are pretty photogenic! You've got a great face, which sounds so cliche, but lots of people just don't look as good in face pics as you do. I know I surely don't!
Marge - I think it was a good idea to quit your volunteer job, it sounded like too much hassle. You will find something better, but I'd suggest the teaching thing a bit more. I try to be the crunch queen, I notice a big difference in my waist when I'm consistant. I have NO idea how you do 45 of the bicycle crunches!! They just KILL my stomach, I shall build up though. I'll beat you I do 2 different exercises for my triceps, the one you talk about, and the other you lay on a bench (in my case the floor), and you hold a bar (in my case, a 10 lb weight), and extend up. It's pretty good.
Kimberley - yah thats a highly unrewarding career, I don't know how he does that. I keep my junk mail to shred it later, I don't get anything but applications for credit cards, apparently I've already been approved! I'm on the career idea lately, no idea what I want to do. How did Howie end up doing what he does? I'm curious how people get into things.
We went to Bainbridge island today, I've never really been on a ferry before. It was kinda fun, andnow I know where all the people are going when I see the ferries go by my brothers place. Great houses there, on the water, close to the city yet not close to the city. If I were american, I'd choose to live there!
I took the past 2 days off from exercise, I am pretty excited to get back to it, is that weird? My body feels better when I exercise.. perhaps I could get addicted to this instead of soft drinks.
Howie pretty much got into it because he was laid off from his previous job (the company ended up closing) and this company hired him as a programmer. LOL Seriously, it's been steady work for him and he's made it past three rounds of lay-off's without being scathed. He's been there a little over five years now.
Kimberley - In my quest for a better job, with more fulfillment I've had to admit how my job can really be good at times. I've made GREAT friends with customers, they truely care about me, and I do about them. So I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter what exactly you do, but as long as you feel good about it, whether its because of the friends you've made, skills you've learned, the quality of life it's allowed you to live.. all of that really does matter. Howie's job could be part of the equation thats allowed you two to lose weight.. you never know eh!!
Thats my two cents... maybe more like a couple quarters tho
Keep those fingers crossed for me, I weigh in tomorrow, I am hoping for a number below 255 (eek, stupid new scale!!).
Thank for the comments on the pictures It's amazing that I don't hate the photo of me as much as I usually hate photos of myself, but I thought it was kinda cute, and it's the only one of me from the trip (since I was taking all the pictures, so I have plenty of pics of Jeff!). It's amazing the thought process that occurs during photo time. For this one, I was thinking that I had to be over far enough to get the penguins in the shot, make sure to smile (but not too much to show the yellow teeth!), make sure not to scrunch my head back and make a bigger double chin, make sure to keep my shoulders down so I look like I have a neck, make sure...
No bad dreams from the Body Worlds I grew up with pretty much no restriction from R-rated movies and a sister who was very interested in the medical field--I've got a very strong stomach, and it takes a LOT to get into my head The plasticised baby fetuses tugged at my heart strings a bit, but (unlike the protestors) I realize that it is a (sad) fact of life that things like that happen and that everyone in those exhibits died naturally.
Aimee--I like finding out how people get into things, too. Like me--I NEVER took a science class or an English class throughout all of college, and then I ended up doing technical writing for the EPA for a year and a half
All this talk of exercise! I know I need to do some--I'm just so dang lazy This week, I am going to come home from work and clean one room in our apartment each day--it is a disaster! The living room may even take 2 days! But at least that way, I won't come home and just sit on my butt till Jeff gets home...I will be moving and accomplishing something. Not exactly intense exercise, but it's a start
My weekend was horrible food-wise, of course, but it looks like I'm only up about 1.5 as of this morning (fom Friday morning), so I know some of that is just water. I know I ate too much this weekend (and almost all restaurant food!), but we also walked around a lot, so hopefully that at least helped to minimize the damage
Jen--my parents started taking dance lessons, and they LOVE it! My mother has been trying to lose weight for as long as I can remember, so she likes the fun exercise, and my dad just plain has fun with it, which is crazy because he's sooooo not the dancing type They wanted to look good on the dance floor at my sister's wedding (in 2 weeks!), but they're lovin' it so much that I wouldn't be surprised if they continued the lessons even after her wedding.
I have to laugh at poor Howie's job--well, not really at his job, but at the idea of all that junk mail! Discover actually sends me stuff all the time addressed to "Jill M. D*****, Jr." Now how on earth they decided that I was a "Jr." I will never know!
Hey! So I did that little weigh in thing this morning, and I'm down 4 pounds. Is it wrong that I'm not happy enough? lol. I had 3 bad days, so I can understand why I feel crappy.. bad days just make me feel icky. So thats probably why I'm not satisfied.
Josh has come to see me, yay! I was pretty upset yesterday b/c of a little incident yesterday. But I'm feeling more calm today.
I need to get 100% on track, I've been good with calories and fat, well decent anyways, but it's that eating past 7pm thing thats killing me. I gotta not do that anymore, it's the MAJOR reason for my size I think..
Hi ladies! It's been a busy day--that's why I am just now checking in.
Aimee: You know, I don't know why we do that to ourselves. We should be happy for ANY weight release we have, regardless of how much. But we usually say "I *ONLY* lost __ pound(s)." Is it because we feel like we have worked so hard to see such a little return? Or do we just expect way more out of ourselves than we should? Hard to say. (PS: Great job on the 4 pound loss!)
Jill: I absolutely LOVED learning to dance the other night with Alan! He says he is willing to take lessons with me, and I am SO GLAD he is!! There are so many benefits to taking lessons together--good exercise, learning a lifelong skill, but most of all doing an activity together besides the obvious
Marge: I had been thinking about getting some black jeans....will have to check that out! I am loving my new bras!!
UGH, I am SO angry right now Jeff and I each pay half of our rent, so we turn in 2 checks for the same amount. To avoid any possible confusion, I always put both checks in a sealed envelope with our apartment number written on the front. Well, the office has managed to lose only MY check but has processed Jeff's. Jeff WATCHED me put both checks in the envelope--they were both hanging on the front door until I made up the envelope, so he knows it was there. I even have the check number and date of the check. I have been to the office no less than 4 times in the 5 days since we got the "late" notice slipped under our door. I finally got to talk to the manager today, and she basically just said that they have 2 people go through all envelopes, so they never received my check. Hello, would I really make such a big stink about it if I didn't turn it in?! I said I would write another check for the amount due, and she said that I would also owe the late fee of about $100 (I think it's technically 90-something and change). I said no, I turned it in on time, and just because someone lost it accidentally, I am NOT paying a late fee. We "talked" for about half an hour, and she was completely unwilling to budge. I kept my cool--no yelling, crying, or throwing things But now I owe an extra $100 just because someone in THEIR office messed up?! I understand that I have no proof that I turned it in other than Jeff as my witness, but they have no proof that I didn't, either! The late notice says, "Delinquent amounts only, may be paid at the rental office." It then goes on to say that if you don't pay within 5 days, they can bring legal action against you. Today is the 5th day. I would assume that quoted statement means that I only have to pay the amount of the rent, not the late fee, since the late fee is not delinquent! But she said no, I still owe the late fee regardless. Am I confused on the meaning of "delinquent amounts only"?! I don't have an extra $100 to fork over every time THEY screw something up!
Sorry, I'm just ready to punch someone in the face and needed to rant a bit
Howie's co-workers had a potluck to celebrate his welcome back to work, plus one lady cleaned his cubicle for him; I imagine it was pretty dusty after his being off so long. He was pretty depressed about returning to work when he first got up, but the day didn't end up so bad after all. He's the first to tell people there's a reason for everything, and we know he's been at this job for a reason. It has its ups and downs like any job, and most of the time he's busy and not bored - that is a great thing.
I got a lot of laundry done - even put away! - and went around with a big garbage bag, emptying the wastebaskets and throwing away the paper clutter that's been accumulating. That felt good. Now I need to vacuum the he** out of the house, several days in a row, and get the dust level down!
I need to change my ticker. When I was brave enough to weigh on Friday, I had to face the music. I was up to 211. Dang, it goes back on a lot quicker than it comes off. But we're back at it and with him having a normal schedule again, things should fall back into place somewhat.
Man Jill, that sucks! Which is why I am SO FREAKIN' GLAD we are moving out of our apartment and, God willing, NEVER renting again! I think it is total bullshit how most apartment complexes are run. The cold, uncompassionate way our leasing office treated us after the fire has totally turned me off to renting. I always make sure that someone in the office personally takes my check. You might want to consider doing this--IF your rental office is open at a convenient time. Ours is VERY inconvenient for people that have real daytime jobs.
Ah, well, at least he's easy to please 
Then this morning we went to the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, NJ (about a 10-minute drive from our hotel, RIGHT across the river from Philly). I have LOTS of pictures of the penguins 
All in all, not a bad weekend (except food-wise 
). 
). Pictures are:
I grew up with pretty much no restriction from R-rated movies and a sister who was very interested in the medical field--I've got a very strong stomach, and it takes a LOT to get into my head 
