One of the worst things about losing weight is being forced to walk around helplessly as your pants slip off of your butt and then angrily yanking them up again. Remember the "skinny" pants that I bought back in June? Yeah, they bag in the waist now. Another equally annoying thing is putting on a t-shirt and realizing that despite your broad shoulders, all medium shirts must be banished to the pyjama drawer and replaced with small shirts. I basically have to replace my entire wardrobe (which consisted mostly of A&M t-shirts last year) so I'm in desperate need of a tent sale. Ironically, the worst part of losing weight is also the most rewarding. The world is a mysterious place.

- I "lost" my keys somewhere between the back door and my bedroom yesterday. Scot and I tore my room and the kitchen apart looking for them but finally gave up after an exhaustive and futile 45 minute search. I was without my main set of car keys, my townhouse key, my regular house key, and various other keys all night and well into this afternoon and I was freaking out. After doing some cooking today I decided to clean up my room a bit so that Rachel wouldn't see the minor mess when she brought me the box of stuff that I'd left at home. And that's when I found my keys - under my TAMU course book on my bed. RETARDED!!!

- I got an email yesterday saying that the architecture history class that I was supposed to take this semester has been cancelled and good luck finding a replacement three days before school starts. Luckily, I signed up for Pilates on a whim during registration so I still have 12 hours (and am still a full-time student) but now I feel like a supreme slacker. I tried to find a replacement class but the only other ones that I could possibly take are full. I mean, I guess if I was super desperate I could take a soil microbiology class, but I think I'd rather find contentment with my 12 hours.

- I need an envelope to mail my juror exemption form back to the state. I got a jury summons the week after I moved back to the Station and now I can't serve because I am "enrolled and in actual attendance at a high school or college". Boo! Why couldn't it have come two months before I moved back? I could have been a juror! I could have been involved in a law case! I could have been tempted to change my major again!

- I've decided that one day I will have my own house/apartment and my own ornery cat. Although, I'm afraid that once I get accustomed to that lifestyle I'll never want to give it up and then it will be so long, prospect of marriage! Of course, I am only 19.

College Station has really been kind to my diet (surprisingly). Only 14lbs to go!

I just saw some of my friends for the first time since May. It was the greatest thing that has happened all summer. God bless College Station.

I start my journey back to the Station tomorrow and since the future of internet availability is uncertain, I've decided to reflect on my summer now just in case. This summer was dreadful to be sure, but it was also the most productive "break" EVER. Was it worth it? You be the judge.

This summer I:
- Got an A in Physics
- Earned a really pretty penny in roughly 9 weeks
- Corrected my tongue thrust
- Lost almost 25lbs
Plus started a college scrapbook, got a really nice tan, and whitened my teeth.

In high school I resented busy summers because I thought they completely defeated the purpose of having a break at all. To a large extent that is true - once you reach a certain age (16ish I suppose) summer becomes less of a period of relaxation and more of an opportunity to do all of the crap that you couldn't get done during school. For instance - there's no way I could have gotten an A in Physics while at A&M, and there's no way I could have worked and been an ENDS major at the same time. From now on, summers will all probably be similar to the one that just (graciously) ended, and I guess that's ok since I didn't have anything better to do this summer anyway. Thankfully I spend more time enjoying myself in school than I do moping through May, June, and July. Now I just wish people would stop referring to the "lazy days of summer", etc. because those only exist for the unemployable.

So for the record, this was the definitive summer from hell. This summer is the base unit. It is the meter, the gram, and the liter. Could next summer be better? Absolutely. I might intern, I might live in the Station, I'll probably go on a nice vacation with my family. That would be the centi-summer from hell. Could a future summer be worse? Of course. I might die (the kilo-summer from hell). However, no matter how much I hated this summer, I can't complain about successfully BSing my way through 6 weeks of Physics, being able to afford almost anything, finally resting with my mouth closed, and throwing away 2 sizes of fat clothes.

Oh P.S. I lost .2lbs this past week but I didn't post Polly because a loss like that wouldn't really register.

Holy Lord God almighty, I'm in love with the song Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol. Of course, since I discovered it on Grey's Anatomy it will perpetually remind me of Grey's Anatomy. That's not a bad thing though because I am in love with Grey's Anatomy too.

Polly is back with a vengeance this week. I stepped on the scale and almost passed out when I saw my weight. Time to order all of my rewarding Weight Watchers food!

Some knowledge that I've gained during this God-awful break:
1. I've been to the Houston area 3 times this summer. I've decided that I like it a lot and am currently trying to convince my parents to move to The Woodlands when Trezy graduates (they've always liked Houston better than Dallas anyway). I don't know why I like it so much, but I have a fair number of guesses, including: its proximity to Galveston, its unusually abundant foliage, and the fact that everything that I love (my boyfriend, my baby Kylie, and my college) are all within spitting distance of downtown (well, at least more so than here in Slake). After the Florida fiasco, I've decided that I refuse to move out of Texas, and since visiting Houston, I've nearly decided that I refuse to live in Dallas. I'm a traitor.

2. The Florida fiasco - I won't mention everything because I need to go to bed at some point, but I will say that I don't want to move out of state. Ever. People who have never lived in Texas don't understand people who (happily) reside here. They think we ride horses to school. They don't understand football the way that we understand it. They don't have fierce loyalty to in-state colleges. They also think that the mascot for Texas A&M is the Longhorn. That was really the straw the broke the camel's back.

3. I'm listening to The Postal Service so much that I'm about to start speaking techno. Why? Because I listened to The Postal Service last fall so now I associate it with school. If I listened to The Postal Service and scrapbooked at the same time, I wouldn't even have to go back...yeah right.

Some things:
1. Portly Polly - Won't be making an appearance this week because Florida destroyed me. I'm sick of posting the same fluctuations so I'm going to give up on her until I can start losing weight at a steady pace once again (that hopefully started this morning...).

2. Food stuff - I love these! I hadn't been able to find them in Texas but we were walking through a grocery store in Fla. and my mom said, "Oh look, sugar-free cookies!" and I said, "Those are Santa Fe Farms cookies! I've been looking for those!" I might have to buy them at a whole-foods store in Slake and drag them to the Station but I don't mind.

I'm officially addicted to coffee I think. I drank a lot of it in Florida and now I can't stop. If it's flavored and toned down with 1/4 cup of skim milk and a packet of Sweet 'N Low it's heaven on earth (and only half a point).

3. Family feud - My uncle is back in town after a 6 week business trip around the world. He told me 3 times today that it was so obvious that I'd lost a lot of weight (etc). Eventually my evil scum-sucking cousin got sick of hearing all of her dad's compliments and accused me of being anorexic again. Boy I am going to miss her when the job ends...

This blog is a lot about my diet and not about much else anymore. Apologies. Losing weight is probably the most fun a girl can have, well, ever.

Eff being a girl! Especially a girl who is going to Florida tomorrow. Yeah, SUCK!

I don't really know what to say...losing 1 pound is far better than gaining 1.5 pounds, but it's nothing compared to the 3 pounds per week that I was losing in June. It almost makes me miss the days of physics when I barely had time to eat, let alone go on vacation and entertain company. Luckily I was able to eschew weight gain in Galveston, but who knows what's going to happen in Florida...

In other diet-related news - on the way home from Galveston yesterday, my evil, ho bag, elephantine cousin accused me of being anorexic when I ate a veggie sandwich at Subway. Then she said, "You got the sandwich instead of the salad? That bread is more points. Tisk tisk!" OMG, Fatso! You're so right! What was I thinking getting the 4 point sandwich!? I should get Weight Watcher tips from you more often! Maybe then I could eat a cheeseburger and fries, pork rinds, and chocolate doughnuts and weigh 200 pounds! P.S. This is the same cousin who, at the beginning of my nannying job, told me I was fat like her. I guess she can't call me fat anymore so she's changed the insult to anorexic. Somehow, that just doesn't have the same bite.

A couple of tips from Weight Watchers:
- Find pictures of yourself from when you started your diet and post them on the fridge or the pantry to encourage you to keep going.
I found the most hideous picture ever taken of myself (Easter 2006) and I have a very strong desire to carry it everywhere because 1*9lbs may seem like a lot but it's nothing compared to 1*8. Go me, go!

- Reward yourself for reaching your goals.
Now, I'm not supposed to reward myself with food, however, I very much doubt that Weight Watchers would object to me buying some of their 1 point smoothies and 1 point candies. Besides, I'm going to spend my own hard-earned money on it and that's a huge deal for a miser like me. I've got to four more pounds to go before it's bye bye $35 in nanny money.

Some other thoughts:
I only have to nanny for 4 more weeks (including this one), I'm going back to school in 5 weeks, and I'm wearing Scot's shirt that he accidentally left at my house. Nice!

Yeah, I cheated this weekend. A lot. Now I have four and a half weeks to lose 11lbs...I hope I can do it...

And that's why we take the hard classes at a junior college. Ridiculous? You bet.

Ahem - AHHHHHHHHHHH!!! I'll be honest, when summer started, I didn't think that there was any way I'd be able to lose 40lbs. EVER. So I'm absolute ecstatic that I've reached the half-way mark after only 8 weeks. And I'll just come out and say that they have been the tastiest 8 weeks of my entire life. Seriously, I eat better on Weight Watchers than I ever did before because we used to be all carb-conscious and mess and who really wants to eat a hamburger patty with a side of pork chops and an omlete chaser when they could be having peanut butter sandwiches, popcorn, ice cream, hot dogs, spring rolls, and fruit? I'll take the latter, thanks. I jokingly offered my dad a bite of my ice cream sandwich the other night and in return, he tried to tempt me with one of his pork rinds. Luckily I had the will-power to turn it down...mhm. Anyway, hopefully (read: surely) I'll be able to lose 10 more pounds in the five weeks before I go back to school (on a side note: where in the world did summer go? I don't really care, I'm just glad it is gone and hope the rest of it goes there faster). That way, I'll only have 10 more pounds to lose in College Station, and with a supportive boyfriend, a busy schedule, and a kitchen in my corner, I should be extraordinarily successful.

PS: Weight Watcher is so proud of me that they've taken two of my points away! In laymen's terms, it means that when I weighed 1*8 pounds, I needed eat the caloric equivalent of 22 points per day to lose weight safely. Now that I weigh 1*7 pounds, I need to eat fewer calories per day because if I ate any more than my 20 points I'd either maintain the weight of 1*7 or gain more (shudder). Thanks for looking out for me, Weight Watchers!

From today through June 13th I will be earning $50 a day house-sitting and taking care of 3 high maintainence Pomeranians and one very attention starved cat. And I don't even like dogs. Sweet!

Weight Watchers gave me a star today! I'm 2.4bs away from the half-way mark! I'm thisclose to getting another star for reaching another Weight Watchers goal! In 4 days I will be able to work out as often as I want! Yesss!

Where would we be without Houston? Without Houston, there would be no me, no Scot, no Ridin', and no Blue October. God bless Houston, Texas!

Also, these prove that the diet food industry has come a long way from sawdust cookies. Seriously, that is best novelty ice cream product that I've ever had and I'd probably eat them even if I wasn't trying to lose weight. I guess we can thank the obesity epidemic for them and, once again, we can thank Houston for its contribution!

A .4lb gain. I guess that's what I get for going to Chuck E. Cheese and staring at the pizza and drinking water while my cousins packed it in like that hadn't eaten in years. That's what I get for holding the popcorn in the movie theater so my cousins could have easy access to the two large bags. That's what I get for eating fat-free Pringles and Fiber One cereal and resisting the Club crackers and Fruit Loops. WTF!?

Let me just say that I think summer is a despicable curve to throw at a well-adjusted college student. The only happy things about this one (so far) are that I'm losing weight like crazy and making money. Other than that, I'm taking a terrible summer course, baby-sitting my purely evil cousins, stuck in soul-sucking Slake, and worst of all, I'm 300 miles too far away from my boyfriend.

On the bright side, I have a fair number of fun weekends ahead of me that are pretty evenly spaced throughout the rest of the season to help make the time until my return to the Station bearable. In exactly two weeks I will be done (FOREVER, mostly) with physics, the weekend after that I get to see my man for the first time in a month, two weekends after that I'm going to Florida, the weekend after that I'm going to see Tom Petty in the Woodlands (and I get to have dinner with my punkin in H-town) and the week after that is the last one I'll have to spend baby-sitting. All I have to do now is pass two more physics tests and I'll be well on my way to collegiate nirvana.