rodent

I thought the before pics were just something we did I guess no one else will be posting theirs? that is fine. but it will be great to see some after pics!!! I plan on taking pictures along the way. I've never really tried to lose weight before. i was always so skinny in high school. i got a little weight on me in college, but i was still really thin. since starting grad school, i have just kept gaining & gaining. my lifestyle is so healthy now too. i think about all the junk i ate in high school/ college and all the beer i drank...I guess that is just my metabolism slowing down. still, i don't want to give up on it.

something that has been working for me lately is to eat about 3 mint altoids after a meal. once i have those, i don't want anything else.

Quote: Originally Posted by becks Oh NOOOOOO! Say it isn't true! Clay was my backup plan were DH to be killed in a freak ferret stampede. Whatever shall I do?!? I know the dissapointment. lance bass was my backup plan.

I think the thing that made me brave enough to post is knowing that will NOT be my stomach in 8 weeks. Seeing the pictures really shocked me. I thought by posting them I'd be more determined to make them true "before" pictures. a friend of mine who was realyl successful with weight watchers did the whole prize thing. for working out 5 days a week she'd earn points towards buying things like new clothes, makeup, hair products, cute workout clothes, etc. I think she had a entire tally system to keep up with how much she could spend on herself. I'm going to think harder about my system today. maybe i can earn my first real massage. i've never had a pro massage. Good luck to everyone!

OK i'm ready to put this out there...I can't believe I'm posting this My starting weight= 150 My goal=135 (even if it's not within the 8 weeks. this is the weight i want to get back to) pants size= 10 shoe size = 9 (ok, meaningless but at least it doesn't keep creeping up each year) Things I'm changing- I'm waking up an hour earlier & lifting weights at home using my p90-X videos In the evening I'm upping the number of nights a week I do cardio from 3 to 5. meals: i was generally eating healthy before, but i'm going to try to do better. I'm not drinking alcohol anymore (although I only had a couple of drinks a month.) no more chipolte on weekends. I'm making my own healthy version. no more eating out (except for work functions when I have to eat) no more pigging out on junk food at lab meeting. if there are no heathy options, i'll bring an apple no more punch & gatorade. water & diet coke only. it's so easy to drink calories no chocolate in the house (except fat free pudding) less time on the computer at night, more time being active. rewards if I can get stomach back to where it was 3 years ago I'm rewarding myself with boudoir pictures if I win the contest, I get to buy a new camera lens smal rewards- new gym shorts, and cute new outfits along the way if I'm dropping weight Here I am 4 years ago at 135 pounds. this is where i want to be again. yes, it was halloween. this is the only picture i can find of my stomach from that time. man, if my stomach looked like that again i'd always wear belly shirts.

Quote: Originally Posted by starchild Yeah it's close if you fly, maybe that's what they do because it's a considerable drive, like 8-10 hours whereas the flight is about 1 hour. oh, that must be it then. he probably does fly, but it's just faster and cheaper then coming home to texas. he doesn't fly home often because of the expense. maybe being in small town texas has something to do with it, too.

i was watching a podcast of photoshop users tv while I was waiting in line at the social security office (2 hours to change my name!!!) anyway, they filmed it inside the mpix building. the color correctors are actually people sitting at a computer with photoshop open. i thought it was some sort of automatic process that adjusts colors. after the picture prints they take a look at it to make sure the colors came out right. I'm so happy the website has been redesigned. i love the prints, but the website was such a pain before. another cool thing is that if you call them, they will send you a packet for getting your settings right to work with their printing. i'm going to request it.

Quote: Originally Posted by starchild We aren't gamblers at all and we enjoy Vegas. You can put us anywhere with good food and we're happy Two nights will fly by and you'll be able to keep yourselves plenty busy. As for your uncle, the drive is not short and if he can I would recommend he fly from San Francisco. It's worth whatever they are charging. Actually SW usually has $60 each way or something of the sort if he buys in advance. Have fun my uncle, mom & gma have done this trip before. I think he drove. or maybe the idea is just that he can get a cheap flight. but, i know him being close is on of the reasons why they go to vegas. my mom doesn't really like vegas. it's just the easiest way to get my grandma & her brother together.

the only place we can get my grandma to fly is Vegas. So my mom is thinking about having us meet in Vegas for Thanksgiving. My uncle lives in san fransico so it's not a long drive for him. I have never been to Vegas & I'm not sure if I will like it. I don't gamble. I was thinking it would be fun to go to a cirque du soleil show. or maybe just walking around taking pictures of the cool buildings. we would only stay 2 nights. what else is there to do in vegas? is thanksgiving a busy time there? should we try to go earlier in the week? my mom has the entire week off & I can easily get off early & work thanksgiving.

I didn't know you were doing all of this stuff! how did i miss it? now hurry up & go get married. we are waiting for you to return

Quote: Originally Posted by dolfinluck What is this!?! we just pay the sales tax when we buy the car, i guess i would take that trade off for cheaper housing it's like property tax on a car. i think the idea is that it pays for the roads so even renters are contributing. i don't know if other states do this, but we didn't have this tax in texas. maybe it makes home owners property tax lower. i'm not sure.

Quote: Originally Posted by JoLo908 Thanks so much! I really appreciate all of the information, it is so helpful! FI's car insurance on a 97 Honda civic here is $155, no collision, just the basics... and mine is about $100 per month with just the basics, no collision... things just cost a lot here... those are pretty good for insurance around here. I definitely want to check it out down there. Not to be nosey but Morgan if you like it why would you leave? I am guessing work reasons. Thank you so much again, I really appreciate it. wow, ours is full coverage with a $250 deductable. I'm from texas & all of my family is there. I want to be closer to family after i finish grad school. so living here was always going to be temporary. i'm just getting attached.

at texas A&M some girls really dress up. dates of the guys in the corps of cadets often do. my friend bought a new dress for every game when she was dating a corps guy. the most dramatic are the yell leaders dates. they wear high heels and all when we are standing the entire game. the university of texas girls get dressy too, but in a different way. they often wear trendy burnt orange outfits. there is really a mix. i always wore a maroon t-shirt & the most comfortable pants/ shorts with comfortable shoes. but other girls go all out. i mean, some dress up more than i even do on my dressiest nights out.

don't forget your badges! janet made us these awesome "fluffy" animal badges. just copy the link into your siggy & remove the * [img*]http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h304/loveisblonde2/biggestloser4x1.jpg[/img] [img*]http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h304/loveisblonde2/biggestloser4x2.jpg[/img] [img*]http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h304/loveisblonde2/biggestloser4x3.jpg[/img] [img*]http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h304/loveisblonde2/biggestloser4x4.jpg[/img]

Quote: Originally Posted by JoLo908 Hey Morgan. I would really appreciate the info. It sounds great, and we would love to know more about it. Thank you so much. Raleigh Durham Apex Cary Chapel Hill North Carolina Real Estate Fonville Morisey Realty here is one of the local real estate companies, so you can get an idea of what houses cost. here is a map of durham, raleigh & chapel hill. my friend from ohio went to some kind of career fair when she got her teaching job with wake county. they are always hiring. lets see, cost of living... rent 1-bedroom $615 car insurance for 99 civic & 05 truck $110 per month annual vehicle property tax of 3% of car's value per year sales tax 7% state income tax about 7% most neighborhoods have HOA dues ranging from $10-$250 per month we have great state parks & places to hike and bike. we have 2 hours from the beach & 2 hours from the mountains. traffic is great. unless you live & work in a place where you'd need to take I-40 everyday, you probably won't encounter traffic. maybe in downtown raleigh there is traffic. i can drive home at 5pm & still not fight traffic. groceries are more expensive here than in Texas. my mom wouldn't stop exclaiming the prices when i took her shopping. raleigh is the #1 place for transplants, meaning that people from all over live in raleigh. same for durham & Chapel hill, but raleigh was ranked the highest. it's great because you meet a big mix of people. anyway, i love living here. i will be sad to leave in a couple of years. I can't think of any more info to give. let me know if you have questions.

i really don't like lomas!!!!! sinal tours does shuttles. they are the guys we used for a trip to coba & they were GREAT! [email protected]

i drive maybe 10 minutes to work. my rent for a 1-bedroom is $600. you can buy a nice house easily with $150,000. $200,000 will get you something really nice. i don't mind giving you a breakdown of all of our cost-of-living expenses if you want.

we just made it legal before we left.

not sure how I missed before that you teach. definitly check out the raleigh area then. my friend's wife moved here from ohio to get a teaching job. they are always hiring teachers here. The populations has been rapidly increasing. i'm not sure what it is like in other areas, but it would have been hard for her to get a job in ohio.

I love north carolina. I live in durham (near raleigh). the economy is great here. what type of work do you & your FI do?

Quote: Originally Posted by *Heather* Meanwhile, in a dramatic step Friday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission temporarily banned short-selling of financial stocks. Short-selling is the practice of betting against company stocks. Short-sellers borrow shares in hopes of selling them later at a lower price while claiming the difference. Some short-sellers have been accused of spreading false rumours to make sure stock prices fall. "The commission is committed to using every weapon in its arsenal to combat market manipulation that threatens investors and capital markets," SEC chairman Christopher Cox said in a statement. "The emergency order temporarily banning short-selling of financial stocks will restore equilibrium to markets." Heavy amounts of short-selling have been blamed as one of the reasons for the fall of investment firm Lehman Brothers and other major companies. http://bestdestinationwedding.com/forum/t29363 This is a great podcast talking about the short-selling & how it wasn't a helpful move by the SEC chairman Christopher Cox. There is a recording from 2 congressmen warning him about the dangers of the ratings agencies giving AAA ratings to bad bonds & him just saying he doesn't plan to do anything about it. it's really frustrating to see that people were aware we were heading for this huge crisis, yet doing nothing about it.

Quote: Originally Posted by blkladylaw Just buy the copyright released CD of the pics and order them yourself for much cheaper on one of the many online sites like Shutterfly.com. You can even make photo books bound in leather online for way cheaper than the photographer was going to charge me. I'm glad we did this versus buying expensive packages. check out mpix.com. it's about the same price as shutterfly, but much nicer quality. the metallic prints are great!

I've worn the first dress too- twice. my friend was 8 months pregnant & it did hide the belly too. but, i like the 2nd one better.

i'm so sorry you are going through this. he needs to talk to you. i don't really have any advice, i'm just really sorry to hear you are dealing with this.

we are both savers. we wouldn't have had to go into debt for an expensive ring, but it's not something I value. I asked him not to spend over $500, but he spent $700. It's a moissanite, not a diamond. I love my ring. I don't bother having insurance on it since it's not that expensive, so that saves us money each year. investing $2,000 at 8% interest is over $40,000 at retirement. add in the $100 per year we would have spent on insurance & it's over $66,000. plus there is the piece of mind having that money in the bank throughout of lives. Quote: Originally Posted by gossip girl One thing I have noticed though, is that to compare the US vs. Canada, it seems like those in the US spend A LOT more on rings than Canadians. Not to say that every one does that, but just that I have noticed it. Different states too have different concepts of ring sizes. It seems geographical. I was in a bar one night and met a couple who just got married. And they were from the UK. She actually almost had a heart attack when she held up my hand to see my ring. (Which is not way big, maybe a little bigger than average). Hers was really really tiny, like I had not ever seen a ring like that. I of course told her it was beautiful (which it was) But she said that was how most rings are in the UK. They just do not spend tons of money on rings there vs. in North America. And they were the happiest couple ever, and I thought that was awesome. Just thought it was interesting. my friend lived in london for a year with a 1 carat ring. she got the same reaction from people.