Hola from the Arctic Tundra!

Hello from the arctic tundra! There's a major news flash!! Antarctica has relocated to Greenville!! It is a bitter 19 degrees and I am snowed/iced in my cozy little house. I went to work today at 10am, supposed to work to close at 10pm, luckily we closed early at 8 because of the weather. Well, not so lucky, I went outside to my car, which had been sitting in the ice for the last 8 hours, to find almost a solid inch of ice over the entire thing. Twenty minutes of defrosting could not warm this wicked ice and I quickly gave up. So I went back inside to try to find a scraper… I'm in North Carolina, of course no one has a scraper. So we use a kitchen tool to attempt to scrape the ice. No such luck. I am now beyond annoyed and on the way to despair that I am going to have to trudge home a mile in the weather in my 10 dollar k-mart restaurant shoes and no hat. Before you all groan that I should have thought ahead and worn warmer clothing, yes I know, I am well aware of my mistakes thank you. But alas, I made it home okay my coworker dropped me off and my poor honda is a frozen ice cube in the Longhorn parking lot.

Literally, the walmart was a war zone for shovels and bread. But anyways work has been crazy and I really wish I remembered all the crazy things that happen to me on a daily basis. Only in restaurants do people act this crazy I swear. 

I feel this way every single day. I have to try with ever fiber of my being to care that people have enough ranch dressing, or their 64th refill of sweet tea. This next picture is awful but truly depicts what happens to me every day. Larger people are notorious for informing me that they are on a diet and will have water or a diet soda, which to be honest with you, i don't care to know you're trying to lose 12 pounds, that is not information you need to share with me. Your doctor? yes. Your family? sure. Your server? No, I could care less, I will absolutely sell you this 1400 calorie cheesy chicken dinner with mac n' cheese. But sure, you want a water to cut down on those calories, by all means go for it.

And my last server picture, truly represents how I felt about the 18 person table I had last week that left 17 dollars, and the 11 person table that left me 15 cents. thats right, cents. They took away our auto gratuity for tables above 8, so now we just get whatever they leave us, which is almost always less than 5 percent. This job will make you a hateful person, I now know why you see older waitresses that haven't smiled since 1982, its because people are awful haha. But I do love my job and I am grateful for it every day, I am a lucky girl!

Oops! Haha, very wrong, but very funny. Other than work, school is going well. I am a genius, and the last couple classes have been walking around helping other students because this last class was about "What is in the cell, and what are the functions of the contents" … Learned that in 8th grade but hey who doesn't need a review! I should be in for another few A's!! 

My weight loss journey is continually heading in the right direction and I've been working more on my back lately, hopefully in time for summer I will have some definition in my shoulders!! But below is a chronicle of my starting, one month, three month, and now picture!! I am so proud of the progress and never want to go back to the unhealthy lifestyle!

I am heading to JMU this weekend, and looking forward to seeing all my friends again and letting loose after a busy January, it really flew by!! I am also looking forward to going up to Vermont with my parents and the Murray's in just a few weeks. Hope all is well with everyone, and I should post again next week!! Here's my quote picture of the day, really how I like to live each day:

High: JMU this weekend!

Low: having my car snowed in at work :(

Weather: SNOWW!!

Finally over the Plague!

          Before I get the moans and groans about this blog post being late, BELIEVE ME, I had a very good reason. I had the plague. I am not kidding, the actual plague. Let's rewind to last week so I can tell you about my life pre-plague and post-plague. I had 8 closing shifts last week… well two I had to give up because I was sick, but 6 shifts were closing. Talk about living at the longhorn. I should really set up a cot in the back it would save me time and gas.  These next couple weeks should be easier because I told them I needed 2 days off a week because I started classes, let's hope they listen. Fingers crossed.

          Anywayyyyys, I started back at my hardcore gym regimen last week, and only have 14 pounds left till my goal!!! I am really down to toning up and losing probably 7 more pounds around the middle but still could not be more proud of my progress. Though I will say getting back in the gym after 2 weeks off, my trainer kicked my butt!! I needed a nap to recover because even though it was only 2 weeks, I felt extremely out of shape! This leads me to the plague… Thursday morning I got up and headed to the gym for my 8am workout and had a fine workout, still getting back into things. Had my normal protein shake and the Bails and Lauren came over to hang out before I had to go to work. I went to work at 11:30 to close lunch till 4:30. I felt weird, and it all started going downhill from there. I had sharp stomach pains starting in the early afternoon, but not debilitating by any means. I wasn't hungry and was eager to get off work, especially since there are no longer grats on parties above 8 and surprise surprise I get the big table thursday morning. 17, yes, 17 forgien people ALL OF WHOM didn't speak english, and wanted separate checks. YOU ARE KIDDING ME. 17 SEPERATE CHECKS. PLEASE LEAVE AND REPORT TO THE MCDONALDS DOWN THE ROAD. As you can see, I was not pleased by this. Nineteen loaves of bread, 30 coca colas y aguas, 2 and a half hours and 17 checks later they finally left. I actually made alright money off the table, which was shocking because customarily forgien people do not tip well because in other countries it is not custom to tip. But it made for a long day, and I was very ready to get off work.

I started my downward spiral of death shortly thereafter. With each passing hour, I felt worse and worse. By 10pm I knew something had to be done because I am not the owner of a Life Alert, nor do I know a friend with one, so if I fell and could not get up, I would just have to lay there. So my savior, Casey (a girl I met through Lauren that she works with) came and scooped me up and took me to the emergency room. At this point I am doubled over from stomach pains, going from sweating to chills, headache, and trying not to puke. They triaged me right away and I hoped that it would make a speedy process because I was definitely down for the count. They sent me to the waiting area where I met the King of all the Rednecks. Oh yes, another delightful term to add to your southern vernacular. He had brought his wife in for stomach pains as well, as well as his cousin, his son, daughter, and two brothers. Yes, all of them, at 12am. One of them was eating this massive cheeseburger and I legitimately thought I was going to heave all over him. The father looks in my direction, where i am curled in the fetal position in those uncomfortable hospital chairs and says " Oh darlin you don't look good you got the stomach problems like my baby over there? HA HA don't throw up on the floor!!" Oh don't worry sir, if i need to vomit it will be on your lap for continually mocking me while sick. He then directs his questions to his wife where he asks "Babe, what do you want to eat?! I'll go to mcdonald's, cookout, taco bell, hell ill even go to hardee's for you tonight if that'll make you feel better!" Okay, if this lady is feeling anything like me the thought of fast food should make her gills green. She responds, " No i don't like that cookout gives me the runs and my stomach already hurts, just go get me some m&ms and a snickers bar from the vending machine while I wait." Okay, see I have a problem with someone going before me to be seen by a doctor that can down a king size package of peanut m&ms when their stomach is "Killing them." yea no lady, chill out on the twinkies and corn dogs and pop a pepto you'll be fine. I apologize for my socioeconomic stereotyping but I was not feeling well and was in a great deal of pain. I finally got called back at 12:30 and they gave me anti-nausea meds and morphine and I felt MUCH better. They took a cat scan to rule out appendicitis because I had such awful abdominal pain, but it turns out it was just the stomach bug.. or so I thought. I got home at 3am and went right to bed. I slept on and off till saturday night when I had to go to work. I still felt crappy and hadn't been able to keep any food down since thursday morning. I got through my shift, but took another downward spiral Sunday when my fever kept spiking. Kris came over at 3 and gave me flu medicine which made me feel better for awhile, but it wore off at about 1am and I should have taken it as soon as it did, but I didn't. I is not a smart girl. By the time I finally took it I was shaking with chills so badly it felt like my bones were gonna break. So I decided at 3am to sit in my shower till the hot water ran out in attempts to warm up. It worked and I got back in bed and fell asleep. I woke up about 45 minutes later after sweating right through my sheets because my fever broke. I didn't get much sleep the rest of the night and into the day so I am looking forward to sleeping tonight. I had to go to class tonight so I rallied and went to class and got a slurpee after and finally feel half way decent. I am really looking forward to my mommy coming down next weekend and giving me a little TLC. We all know how I revert back to being 5 years old when I am sick, and it seems nothing has changed.

I apologize for my crude humor, but that one is just too funny. 

I started my class last Wednesday, Anatomy and Physiology I. I am retaking it to get an A so I have better quality points to get into nursing school. Let me just tell you how smart I feel. My professor took and hour and ten minutes to explain the syllabus…. then took and hour and a half to go over the first 10 slides of the power point. What a gem. Oh and when class was finishing up she said we were going to have a firedrill so everyone knew how to get out of the building.. Oh I'm sorry I was not aware that a room full of 18-30 year olds didn't know how to walk down the stairs and out of the doors, but sure let's pretend we're in 4th grade again and line up on the parking space lines. Really brought back great memories of my PCCS days. So the teacher watches and follows all 20 of us down the stairs and outsides, sees that obviously no one left, but still calls roll to make sure we're all there and "safe." Oh community college, you are never dull. This evening was no exception. We had a lecture for the first part of the class, then lab for the second half. We were instructed during lab to complete the first half of the 11 page lab in the left over hour and 25 minutes. I completed the ENTIRE lab with 50 minutes left.. awkward. Everyone else was on page 3 and I had to raise my hand and ask what to do now. Yes, you all know a genius now, feel special. She said oh wow! you teach class next week ha ha! Yes, exactly like that because her english is not so hot. This class will prove to be entertaining I am sure. I look forward to keeping you informed along the way! My next blog will be January 22!! Promise this time, as long as I don't contract the plague again.

High: mom comes friday!

Low: the plague

Weather: goes from 20 to 70 in a matter of days, I can't keep up

A new year, a better blogger

I can only hope that you all squeal with glee when you randomly check my blog and find a new one here, so feast your eyes my faithful friends, I have written again!!! As I think back upon 2013, the decisions I made both poor, and wise I can honestly say it was one of the greatest years of my short life. I graduated college, had a great last "kid" summer, and moved down these here parts of the great state of North Carolina. I was both challenged and rewarded and I can only thank you all enough for being incredibly supportive and being my greatest cheerleaders as I trailblazed my way through this difficult transition. I have an awesome life down here in NC, and I could not be happier. To catch you up on the month of December…
        The month of December was extreeeemeeely busy for me, especially at work. I finished up my online class I was taking and got an A in it!!! I have a 4.0 for the first time in my life, my parents are weeping silently out of joy at this I think. Happy tears. I am taking a class online next semester starting Monday, as well as a class on campus so it will be another busy 4 months because I am still working full time at the Longhorn.

You just cannot make up the stuff that happens at my work, and I really should start a journal so I can share all these funny stories with you because people these days are crazy. I had quite the redneck table today just to share a small bit. A man came into the restaurant smoking a cigarette, we immediately asked him to put it out, and he replied "don't worry darlin' I'm gonna sit in the smoking section anyways.." After we informed him there was no longer smoking in restaurants since (and i had to look this up because i know its been awhile) 2006 in Greenville. He replied well shoot I guess I haven't been out in awhile…… 8 YEARS?! I should have known this was going to be an interesting table from the start. He then asked me to pick the softest food out in the menu for him because "I ain't got no teeth since like 1988 I believe, wasn't Shirl (to his wife, who grinned with her missing teeth and replied Yep!)" So I showed him the softer foods and they ordered…. 15 minutes later I take their food out and check back and find them eating with their hands….. Not ribs, or burgers, or bread… steaks… mashed potatoes… mac and cheese….Keeping a straight face is not my strong suit as some of you may no, I have absolutely no poker face, so taking a man seriously who has no teeth and a beard full of mashed potatoes was one of my finest hours. The south… what are ya gonna do with them. I feel this way after a long day at work sometimes…

My Christmas break was stupendous, thanks to you all! It was so nice to see everyone and here is a HUGE thank you for all of your gifts, I am more spoiled every year it seems. Kris and I also went to the Eagles games, so here's a few pictures from that since you guys already heard all about it!!!

I will also share a few Christmas photos of Bailey and such!

This was one of my christmas presents from Kris, along with a starbucks tumbler, gift card, yankee candle, and michael kors scarf….. why yes he is an awesome boyfriend!!!!

I had to close new years eve so I decided to be festive for work!! Then the picture below is of Kris' and I just after 12, happy new year to all!!!!

Lastly, I shall share with you my drive home on Thursday evening, and the myriad of emotions that I went through after a 9 hour 15 minute drive back to north carolina. As you all know, i have been blessed with the patience of my delightful father, aka I have NONE. So traffic tends to ruffle my feathers so to speak. Well lets just say this drive plucked every last feather I had by the end of it. There was an accident on every single major road that I went one, EVERY ONE. The lanes went from 4 lanes to 1 lane the day after Christmas. I jumped from rage, to despair, to denial, to annoyance, to suicide, to all out hopelessness …. and this was only 3 hours into the ride. What usually takes me 1 hour to get to baltimore took me 2 and a half, what usually takes 1 hr 45 min to get to washington DC took 4 and a half hours… you can see why I was slightly perturbed in this duration of the drive. But alas I finally got home at 11:40pm and was very ready for bed.

Another blog has come and gone, and since you all are not happy with the frequency of my blogs, I am going to give you a blogging schedule so that you don't have to get on every day and then cry yourselves to sleep with despair when you find that I have not written. Today is January 1, 2014, the next blog will be posted on January 10th, I hope you all will keep reading. Love you!!

High: making lots of money at work

Low: still working 6 days a week every schedule -___-

Weather: Chilly!!

3 Month Check-in Update!

Alas, I know it has been nearly a month since my last update when I promised almost weekly updates back in October. Again I ask for your forgiveness because I have been so busyyy!!! Work has been awesome, I love the people I work with and have already been working closing shifts on Fridays & Saturdays (the biggest money making shifts!!). My boss, Heather, is the best. Her and her husband came in with a group of about 20 of his cop colleagues and left me and this other server who was sharing the party with me, 105 dollars each tip!!! Show me the money. I just had a spectacular weekend with the parents, who invade and conquer in what seems like minutes. My mother barely makes it in the door before laundry is going (where she finds clothes to wash when she hasn't even unpacked yet is beyond me), something is smelling delicious on the stove, and she's already asked me 4 times when the last time was that I cleaned the mini blinds. Um, mother dearest,  whilst I am a very clean 22 year old woman, mini blinds don't ever quite make it on the top 10 things I wanna be doing with my one day off a week. I only heard a few small screams at the inches of dust that accumulated on them since the last time she cleaned them. I prepare for her arrival in the same fashion every time. I clean the house the best that I can, knowing full well she will not think its clean and clean it again. It never fails, every time. She whipped us up quite the Thanksgiving meal on Thursday that I am still enjoying today. The woman is a saint in the kitchen, though she will never admit it. And BREAKING NEWS: she didn't go to a furniture store once the whole weekend! FIRST TIME EVER! At least I think.. I worked a lot she could have snuck off to buy another end table or lamp that apparently I didn't know I needed. But the house has reaaaally come together well, the new carpet is soft and the walls are being painted in early January. 

    Another fun thing I did while this month hiatus away from you all was go to the Panthers vs. Patriots MNF game!!!!! It was so much fun, and definitely something I would wanna do again. Out of respect for my Uncle Mike, and my northern roots I wore a patriots shirt. I thought I would be one of the only fans there with patriots stuff on, but I was very wrong! There were tons of patriots fans around to high five and fist bump with, score. However…… my darling boyfriend told me to leave my jacket in the car because I "for sure would not be cold, no way" ….. LIES. I was freezing before we even went into the game. So unfortunately, well I guess fortunately for me, his friend that we met up with lent me a Panthers sweatshirt to keep me warm. It ended up being an incredible game, and we stayed till the very end. Of course my toes are still thawing out, but very worth it. Here's some pics!!

And as for my fitness journey, I have still been doing well 28 pounds down, which hasn't gone down as much lately because I have been working a lot and just maintaining more than losing but these 3 month before and after pictures make me so proud!!!! And make those sweaty hot hours on the treadmill worth it!!!

The back pictures aren't as much change but the front ones are I think!!! Its been a crazy three months, but I could honestly not be happier.

As always its nice to see my Bails every week, she could not be any cuter. As she has gotten a little older, Wailey does not show her face as much, only around bed time and that is to be expected. Here's a picture of when she got pictures with Santa, she was fist deep in his beard. Poor old man.

I promiseeeee, this won't be my last post in December, I will try to post again next week. I will be heading home with Kris on the 20th, then he flies back down here for work on the 23rd and I will head back down here the 27th. I can't wait to see you all!!!!!

High: These before/after pictures

Low: Working 6 days a week gets old!!

Weather: chilly at night, warmish during the day

A long time coming!

My faithful audience, I do not know how to begin to apologize about my long hiatus from you all. I am sincerely sorry for not keeping you updated with my witty anecdotes and charming tales of my life here in Redneck Paradise. What is Redneck Paradise? I hoped you would ask, another word to add to your vernacular. Redneck Paradise: noun, a place where people are extremely overweight, insist on drinking 42 glasses of 1000 calorie sweet tea, then proceed to tip 4 dollars on their 60 dollar meal. It has been the place I have been slaving away at for the last month since I wrote to you all. I have been Longhorn Steakhouse's indentured servant for about a month now, and I am happy to say it is going well! I really enjoy it (most of the time) and have been getting up to 9 shifts a week!! Most weeks I work 6 days, at least 3 doubles a week. Now for the funny stuff, my work anecdotes. Things are never dull down around these parts when you work at a restaurant. Sundays are usually the most interesting days to work because we get a lot of mennonite people in to enjoy some nice electricity and cow after their church services. Most days I end up with a church brochure in my tip book, which is nice, I think i'm up to 17 different phamplets now, and am able to narrow down my decisions about where to attend church. However on this particular occasion a woman, complete with bonnet, pulled me aside and said she worried for my soul because I was wearing pants, and was I aware that they were evil….I explained to her they were my work uniform and I did not have a choice as politely as I could. She said she would pray for me and my soul… So there's that. Mostly what I get at tables it "Darlin' you're not from around here are you" … no what tipped you off? The fact that I had to clarify if you wanted sweet or unsweet tea? Or that I didn't say ya'll every five seconds? I am not sure. But I have forgotten most of my funny stories because work days have become a blur together.

To catch you up on my weight loss journey.. drum roll please……. 24 pounds down!!!!!! I have not been able to go nearly as much but still have managed to see the numbers creep down on the scale. I could not be more happy with my results and when I went back to JMU this past weekend I got so many compliments on how good I was looking. SCORE. Makes all those breathless minutes on the treadmill SO worth it.

My life has also been a little crazier because I have been seeing someone. Shocking I know, me settling down with life!! His name is Kris and I met him through my darling sister because they work together. We've been together about a month and I have high hopes that I will not self-distruct on this one for at least another few weeks.. Hopefully! We have plans to go to the Panthers vs. Patriots game in Charlotte in a few weeks and I am so excited to go to a pro football game! Don't support either team, but Uncle Mike you will be so happy to know I bought a Patriots shirt because I must support my Yankee heritage. I hope you all will meet him at some point he's a great guy and I am a lucky girl! Things are great with Bails as well, I have seen Wailey a whole lot less as she gets older. She ate cereal for the first time the other day and absolutely loved it. I am a proud auntie!! This is all for now because i am pooped after a long day of work but I promise I will keep things more frequent. Love to you all and can't wait to see you Christmas time!! Quote of the day or rather verse of the day:

Definitely words to live by in my opinion.

My best friend <3

High: Probably just that I am happier than I have been in a long time

Low: That it took me so long to blog!

Weather: Getting chillier around these parts!!

Weary Wednesday

Hello all, your neighborhood witty blogger here, filling up my Wednesday afternoon with entertaining self-deprecating jokes, and boring tales of my life down here in Greenville, NC. The last couple days I have come down with a cold, scratchy throat + headache. BLAH! I haven't had a sore throat since I got my tonsils out, so I am not a happy camper. I revert back to my 4 year old self when I am sick, whiny and cranky. I want my mommy. However, after a particularly long pity party yesterday morning I decided it was high time to get over it.

I haven't even been to the gym the last two days, horrifying I know. That is perhaps the most annoying part, I think I went a little too hard in the gym over the weekend and didn't eat properly, allowed myself to get worn down. But I will bounce back with great force! Yesterday morning started my first real day of training at work!!! I got there at 11, and finished up around 4, and learned A LOT! I think I am really going to enjoy it there, everyone seems very nice and helpful. By the end of the shift, I was picking it up pretty well, and I am eager to get my training done and begin work for real on Monday. Each training shift we get to pick an appetizer or dessert, and entree off the menu, whatever we want! We eat with our trainer and talk about what we learned during the day. My diet is not going to work well this week... I had parmesan chicken with mashed potatoes and fried asparagus. They fry everything down here I swear.

Today I woke up still sick and miserable. I made myself a big cup of tea and laid in bed until noon! Unheard of these days. I then got up and went to Harris Teeter to buy out the pharmacy in hopes that I will get my voice back by work at 4pm tonight! Day 2 of training, I have high hopes for myself. I am even more excited because tomorrow night my parents get here for the weekend! YAY!! My house won't be soo quiet and I will have people to converse with. So cue the marathon cleaning again today. I cleaned all weekend but figured since Jane "Mrs. Clean" Rigg was coming down, I should give it a second run through. After nearly asphyxiating myself with fumes of bleach to clean my shower, I needed to lie down. However everything is clean and hopefully up to snuff!! I'm going to take a short nap then head to work. Hope you are all having a great week :)

High: 1st day of work going really well

Low: Being sick

Weather: The same, chillier but still warm

Night before the new job!

Well, similar to Friday's post, nothing particularly exciting has happened to me over the weekend to report! Saturday I slept in until 10am then had a cup of coffee in bed... what a great way to start the day. I then hit the gym for most of the afternoon, had to get a good cardio session in for the weekend in case I felt like indulging in something bad for me. I did 13 miles on the bike, 4 miles on the treadmill, and 3 on the elliptical then worked my back and shoulder. As you can expect I was absolutely ravenous by the time this workout was over but I knew Lauren and I would probably do dinner of some sort so I sat staring at my phone waiting for her to wake up as I viciously ate my allotment of 6 almonds and 24 oz of water. In what felt like 42 years, she said she was up and we ordered dinner at Olive Garden. I went and picked up chicken parmesean for the three of us. I had half of my chicken parmesean dinner, some salad.. and dare I say a breadstick. I admit it, I ate a buttery, garlicky breadstick and enjoyed every calorie. I figure 20 miles of cardio more than makes up for it and I will feel no shame!!

After dinner I headed home to watch some tv and go to sleep, such an exciting life I lead. I was looking up pictures and thought also this was funny hehe.

I apologize if I offend any of my audience, just couldn't resist. Today I was extremely lazy, like set the new record for laziness but not leaving my bed except for food and the bathroom until 4:45pm....I kid you not my talent for laying in bed, watching Gilmore Girls is unparalleled. I finally got up and met Olivia at the gym for a nice Sunday evening workout. Much needed after my lazy day, my body was happy to get the blood flowing!!

Stomach getting flatter..thighs are still large, i cannot win that battle!!!

My new sneakers!!! I did about 45 minutes of cardio then a hardcore ab circuit that will ensure I will not be able to sit up tomorrow. Oh well! I got home around 7 to eat some dinner, I actually took a picture this evening, aren't you all so lucky! I had lite italian wedding soup, an orange, and 9 almonds.. delicious.

Lauren, Aaron and Bails came over and hung around while we facetimed the parents for awhile. They left and I sat down to watch Revenge after taking a shower. All my shows are coming back, and it's pathetic to say I am too excited. Gives me something to do at night!! Tomorrow is my first day at work!!!! Orientation starts at 2 and I hope you all will send good vibes my way that all goes well this week and I will start making money by next week!!! Which couldn't happen any sooner because I no longer have bread or eggs or the basic food groups. Need money and to go food shopping haha! I am more lazy then poor, but it will definitely be nice to have an income again! My last picture of the day is another new thing I am going to start each blog, a quote to end on! Miss you all and hope you guys have a great week!

High: Got such a good workout yesterday

Low: Weekends are always a bit lonely

Weather: Getting chillier but still very nice weather!!