A FOUR pound gain from my weekend! Will be strictly adhering to the plan this week, for sure!

Next up for us is the Alanis Morrisette concert Thursday night. We'll be spending the night in Fort Worth, and driving from there to work Friday morning. I'm terrified, because that's a very nasty drive.

Saturday, we have Scott's daughter, and I think we're going to Oklahoma for the day to fish and see Scott's dad. When we get back and drop her off, we head back up to the lake for the 4th of July weekend. Whooo....a busy week ahead!

Taste of Success 1: We had somewhere between 60-70 people at our BBQ (depending on what time it was) which was a wonderful number. All of the meat came out great...best ribs I've ever eaten, tenderest brisket, and our turkey legs were awesome!

Taste of Success 2: All that tanning DID help because, despite all of the time I spent in the sun yesterday and today, I'm not burned. Normally, had I spent that many hours in the sun, I'd have been fried to the point of calling in sick from the pain - and I actually have had to do that once, about a year ago (hm...maybe that was last year's BBQ, I don't remember). So, I'm very pleased about that. We had the best of intentions of wearing SPF45 sun block all weekend to prevent burn and to protect our existing tans and not get lines, but it just didn't happen. There was too much going on at all times to even think about it.

Taste of Success 3: Almost all of the people that haven't seen me since I started my diet commented and told me how great I looked and I just ate it up. Although I find out that Scott has been bragging to everyone about how much I lose here and there, so it wasn't really a surprise to anyone like I had hoped. Still, it was soooooooo good to hear the compliments. I ran around very comfortably in short shorts and a halter top yesterday, and wore shorts and a spaghetti strap tank top today. I only recall being self-conscious about my body once, when I realized I was sitting hunched over and my stomach looked huge. Needless to say, I sat straight up immediately, and made a point to be aware of my posture after that. Six months ago, I would have first of all NOT dressed like that, and secondly, wouldn't have had the confidence that goes along with it.

Taste of Success 4: I discovered that my body really, really can't handle that kind of food anymore. The only greens I saw the whole weekend were the trees and the grass, and the closest I came to a fruit was drinking Peach Absolut and banana wine. I paid dearly. My body rejected all that greasy meat just as rapidly as it could manage....which was pretty quick, let me tell ya. I look forward to starting fresh tomorrow, and I'm actually craving a salad.

(I'm afraid to get on the scale after all that, but I know it's only temporary.)

Taste of Success 5: Between my divorce and subsequent marriage, I've always spent holidays with my ex's family (It drives my ex's girlfriend crazy, but oh well). These people have been my family for 20 years...in a real, healthy world, relationships of that long should not be severed, just because you divorce. After Scott and I met, the family and I didn't see any reason for the relationship to change. Scott and my son-in-law both didn't get it at first, because they came from homes where when you divorce, you hate each other and fight over the kids and property and God forbid you actually have to see them in public. Ick...not what I wanted for my kids, thank you very much. Occasionally, especially on Christmas and July 4th - the two big days in the family - we are all together. Scott now gets it, and has come to appreciate it for what it is.

This weekend, my ex-father-in-law and my ex-brother-in-law and his wife all came to the BBQ. More importantly, my ex-father-law came over to the site and spent the entire day with us, helping and talking and enjoying himself. He lives just 5 minutes from the campground, so if we needed anything, he went and got it. The BBQ would have been a much more difficult thing without him, and I thank you Jeff, should you ever make it to this site and read this entry. I love you and appreciate the love and support that I've received from you and Betty over the years, thank you for making my life a better place to be ;)

Ah...life in Texas - it's a good thang.

Back in the olden days, girls had "coming out" parties, which was meant to introduce them to society, and hopefully find a suitable match, which would benefit both families.

Coming out has a whole new social connotation now, but that's not what this is about.

Tomorrow night is my coming out party. Everything I've done for the past 6 months to improve my body will be put on display tomorrow night. I'm as thin as I can get before tomorrow night, and although I'll tan tomorrow morning before we leave, I'm probably as dark as I'm going to get.

I'm still a half pound shy of the 45 lbs I wanted to lose...maybe the scale will be kind tomorrow morning. Not terribly worried about it - it'll still be better than last year.

I've been exercising at minimum every other night - arm curls, ab crunches, reverse ab crunches and leg lifts (wearing ankle weights). My legs and arms have definition they've never had before, and although I'm not "done" yet, it's obvious that I've been working out.

Tomorrow, I will do myself proud, and do my husband proud. He can't wait to show me off, because he knows how much it meant to me to look good this year. I don't look great, but I do look good and that's good enough ;)

Have a nice weekend, all.

Before I forget to do this, I wanted to mention a couple of other bloggers I've been reading.

First, is Waiter Rant. This is a well-written blog by a waiter who tells about working in an upscale restaurant - the good, the bad and the ugly. I liked his writing so well that I went all the way back to the beginning and read forward. Good stuff.

Second, is a young but well-written blog called The Family Man. This guy obviously loves his kids and sounds like a terrific dad. I plan on following this blog for a long time.

Take a look, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

By the time most of you see this post, the new design will be up. It's supposed to be installed tomorrow morning, and I'm so excited about it! It accurately shows my love for Texas and for my birds. What's funny is that I never told her how much I love Texas...Cat must have done a quick read through my blogger ;)

The countdown has begun! We pulled all the camping gear out of storage last night and it's piled in the middle of my livingroom. We've spent this evening starting the cooking for the BBQ. Had to start the brine for the turkey legs - they have to soak for 2 days in it. I can't believe these turkey legs...they're massive. Scott's making his superhot salsa as we speak.

Funny bird story to share. All of the birds love both of us, but they love me more *beam*. I'm sitting in the chair the other night and Ozzie sneaks off her cage, to the floor, and up on my chair. After awhile, I hear a noise to my left and here is Katie, sneaking on to my chair. Not to be outdone, and realizing that those two were getting attention that he rightfully deserved, Ziggy started making his way across the cages...something he's never done...until I notice he's working his way over and just go get him. I sat there, surrounded by lotsa birdie love :)

I work for a law firm. It is a large, international, pretigious law firm, and generally, they treat their employees well. When they hired me permanently, after working as a temp there for three months, I was prepared to have to negotiate my salary; after all, I was paying $75 a month for parking, the job itself can be pretty stressful, and 8 days out of 10, I'm running around with my hair on fire...busier than hell. I knew the amount I wanted to start at...and surprisingly, they offered me $3k a year more...ok, well shut my mouth :)

Raises come out in July, so reviews occur in June and this is my first one. Overall, I was pleased - the two female attorneys I work for gave me incredibly glowing evaluations. I love working for both of them and could work for them until I retire and be just fine.

The third attorney, a male (and who, last year, gave me our cockatiel and our first quaker parrot) and I had a disagreement in March and he hasn't spoken to me since then, because I went to HR about him. No matter how mad at me he was, he should have taken me in his office and closed the door. Instead, he stood at my cubicle and raised his voice to me where everyone could hear it...just a wee fucking bit humiliating. The first time he did it, I let him get away with it. The second time, I immediately made an appointment to talk to the HR manager. I don't know what she said to him, but he hasn't spoken to me since, other than "Good morning" when he comes in, and to specifically give me work (which he doesn't do often anymore, thank God).

So back to where I was - reviews. I knew he was going to give me a bad review, but the man trashed me. 90% of the review was negative, 5% middle of the road, and 5% good. He lied about the disagreement (although I guess that's his perception of it). If that review had been the only one - I'd be job-hunting right now.

Fortunately, he's only 1/4 of my total review - I didn't know, but the HR manager gives a review too, and she gave me a good one. So, 3 out of 4 good, and hopefully, I'll get my full raise.

But I just don't know what to do about this guy. He makes me insane and I truly dislike working for him. He's a nice guy - if I didn't have to work for him. I'm grateful to him for the birds that I totally adore - but I wish he'd move to New York or go to work somewhere else.

*sigh*

First of all, Happy Father's Day, Dad :)

So, we got the kiddo this morning and had a wonderful 4 hours with her. You could tell she was glad to be spending time with us, even if it was supervised. Once again, I have to say how much I appreciate our supervisor. She's a lovely woman, who has given up holidays with her family in order to facilitate other families spending them together. Can't get much more giving than that. We'll miss her once the visits are unsupervised, but plan on still staying in touch and having her come visit us.

Anyway, good visit, good day and now a very busy week ahead of us because the 3-day barbeque that we throw every year is next weekend, and we haven't begun to get ready for it! Eeeek!

Somewhere in the middle of all of the work that needs to be done this week, my blogger will probably be receiving it's makeover, as the designer was supposed to start working on it this weekend.

Stay tuned!

Over at NutriSystem, we call any positive event that occurs due to your weight loss a "Non-Scale Victory" or NSV.

I've had several NSVs this week, one of which was being able to wear a dress to work for the first time in 10 years - not a skirt and jacket, which can hide a lot of flaws - but a form fitting, flowing feminine dress.

I wore a shirt to work today...a more orange than salmon but in that hue, V-necked t-shirt, nothing special, but not one I would have worn 6 months ago because of all the rolls around my waist. But I had no less than 6 people tell me that color was great on me...it's like they saw something but didn't quite know it was, so settled for the color was great. It could have been the newly blonder hair on a nice dark tan wearing a more orange than salmon but in that hue, V-necked t-shirt - a very striking combination.

My confidence hasn't been this high in years and I'm once again finding the sexy woman that's been slumbering within for the past couple of years as my weight climbed higher and higher.

Back when I started NS in January, I had a mini-goal of losing 45 lbs. by our annual BBQ which falls June 24-26 this year. As of this morning, I had lost 44.5 lbs! Close enough for me to feel the very sweet taste of success. :)

I know that I still have a lot to go, but it feels do-able now. Scott started to tell me last night that if I stopped right now, he'd be happy but I stopped him mid-sentence. He told me that once before and it sent me into a 3 week tailspin that I'm just now coming out of. I told him when I started that if I got thin enough for him, he could tell me and I'd stop, but I haven't heard that said in any kind of seriousness yet...and I don't want to stop yet.

My goal of 140 lbs is based on my height and what I think my anticipated size will be - a 10/12. I actually started the diet with the goal of 150, which is a weight that I know I can wear very comfortably, a size 12/14. I've maintained all along that I'll know when I'm there. So, I'm looking at somewhere between 32 (minimum) to 42.5 lbs (maximum) left to go. The 32 sounds much, much closer ;)

As you may have guessed (or know, if you happen to be family), I'm an internet junkie. I have loved the internet since it first became available to the public in 1994 and I was one of those first million users of AOL, often spending $200-300 a month for the privilege of surfing, chatting, and playing games.

Because of this addiction, I've read a lot of things on the internet, but few have touched me as deeply as the site I found today - 63 Days.

63 Days is a story being told by a woman who survived one of the teen "boot camps" that surfaced in the late 1980s. Her story is horrific at best. It is very well written, and should be turned into a book - I'm sure it would be a best seller.

Certain aspects of her story touched me to the very core of my being, having been through some similar experiences - and no, I'm not brave enough to share them here.

Anyway, I encourage you to visit her site and read her incredible story.

My blogger is about to get an overhaul! I've paid Blogtogs to design something especially for me and they should be starting on it by next weekend. I've asked for something tropical and birdy...I hope they can make more sense out of that than I can! LOL

Edith darlin...it's all you're fault! ;)

Last weekend, Scott and I were lamenting the death of the drive-in theater. Not that I ever got to go as a teen, but we did go a few times when I was a kid, and I went a couple of times as an adult, so I do have some fond memories of them.

Last night, Scott was golfing with a buddy of his, Mike. Mike said he and his wife were going to the drive-in and did we want to go with them? Turns out, the Galaxy Drive-In Theater is about 30 minutes from us - three screens and when I looked at the website, they were double features of new releases on all three screens, for the rate of $6 per person...pretty reasonable if you ask me, since a walk in theater is $7 for one movie!

So, we decided to go. I had to take my car in for repairs early this morning, so we didn't stay for the second feature (The Longest Yard), but did see Mr. and Mrs. Smith. It was a good movie, and yes, Angelina and Brad have a good chemistry, but I still hate her for stealing Brad from Jennifer Aniston. ;)

You used your car radio for the speaker, the snack bar food wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible, and it was crowded beyond belief (but then we got there pretty late too), but it was very cool to kick your shoes off, put up your feet and smoke if you wanted to!

Ahem...we won't mention what all that very salty popcorn heavy with butter did to my weight ;)

As you can tell from my picture, I'm white. Not just white, but very white. I have shunned the sun for many years because I always burn, I've had rosecea (since cured), the fear of skin cancer, and my ongoing battle against aging.

But as I'm thinning down (still holding at 185, plus or minus tenths of a pound), I'm feeling pretty good about myself. Yes, I know 185 isn't exactly thin, but it's much better than 227 was, and on me 185 looks about like 160 on most people. Anyway, I've been using a tanning bed for hm...3 weeks now. Not every day, but as many days as I could manage it and I've got an all-over, even tan! My legs no longer glow in the dark! It's quite an accomplishment for me, and ya know what? Tans are sexy. Tans are also slimming.

Tanning has become quite the industry, I've discovered. When I first walked into this place, I was greeted with a display case of tanning lotions. Looking them over, there must have been 30 different kinds, each with a higher, more shocking, price tag than the others. Seriously, who in their right mind is going to pay $42 for a bottle of tanning lotion?? Grumbling (and vowing to buy a bottle of tanning lotion at Walmart for $8), I forked over $15 for a bottle of lotion called an "accelerator", meant to do just that - accelerate your tanning. It worked ok, color was coming out, but not fast enough. I did buy the $8 lotion at Walmart and hated it. So, I did some research and talked to the owner of the tanning salon, who assured me that the higher priced lotions were worth the money. Standing there, debating it for the last time, my darling husband (who is also tanning), came into the salon and said "just buy it", so I did. I bought Australian Gold's Almost Famous ($39).

This product makes some incredible claims:

Darkest Triple Bronzer with Hemp
You’ll have a famously dark tan with the amazing new triple bronzing formula with Lipocare contouring blend.
Feature: Lipocare BlendBenefit: Anti-aging, firming and slimming complex designed to visibly firm and contour the skin.
Feature: Natural Bronzing ExtractsBenefit: Botanical ingredients that provide immediate bronzed color.
Feature: Bronzing ComplexBenefit: DHA-based ingredients produce delayed, natural looking color that is fully noticeable within 12-24 hours.
Feature: Biotanning ComplexBenefit: Revolutionary new melanin booster for darkest color that lasts 5-8 days.
Feature: Anti Aging and Firming BlendBenefit: Visibly younger, toned skin

Is it worth $39? Hm...I'm going through the bottle pretty quickly. I am considerably darker, but I haven't noticed any firming, slimming and younger, toned skin yet. Will keep you posted on that aspect :)

Our annual BBQ is now 3 weeks away. I'm going to be a bronze goddess. In the meantime, my darling husband can't keep his hands off me.

Maybe $39 isn't so expensive after all ;)

I signed up for an online savings account the other day. It pays 3.00% interest, which is better than my own bank pays at the moment. They're a legitimate company and what's really cool is that they give you $10 to refer people, and if someone signs up through you, they receive a $25 bonus in their savings account! I imagine (although couldn't find it in the small print) that you'd have to leave the savings account open for a certain time period, but that's what savings accounts are for....to save money, so why not?

Interested? Drop me an email at hlcarey@gmail.com and I'll send you a referral :)