Oh happy day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am under 200lbs again!!!!!! I went to my weight in tonight and thought I would have lost only 2lbs last week but I lost.........dun da da DA...................9lbs!!! That makes the grand total 55lbs lost! I am now 195lbs. This is the weight I was for YEARS and its the weight I am used to being. I was wondering why my pants went so baggy this week! I actually do not have a proper pair of pants I can wear. I desperately need to buy some tomorrow. How cool is that! So another 13lbs and I will be down to where I was when I lost that weight some years ago and then after that.....it will be all new territory. =) I just cant believe it. Its so exciting.
On to other news....my Lighter Life counselor thinks I should go to stress counseling and I agree with her. The reason I have always been big is because I dont deal with stress well. I eat loads when I am stressed. I dont want to have gone through all this hard work just to gain it back so will be looking into getting counseling specifially for stress. The next few months are going to be crazy so it will really help me a lot.
Other than that, I am good. Have my convention this week. OMG! I got my little black dress today. Its awesome! I love it. Will take a pic wearing it this weekend at the convention. When I tried it on Ronny was like "Wow" when he saw me in it and normally he doesnt like the dresses I pick out. Its a bit clingy in areas but I am sure by Saturday it will be fine. Dont really care. I feel great! I feel so much better than I ever did at this weight before. I cant wait to go to Sweden in 2.5 weeks and shock my in-laws. Will be even skinner then!!! =)
Anyways, I am tired so will post again soon. Ciao!

I know there was something I was going to post about but I cant remember! How sad is that. I dont think my brain is quite recovered from me passing out. =p

I have spent the whole day at home cleaning since my cousin and his wife will be coming in for the weekend and our house was a hot mess! Just crazy messy. Its starting to get there. Slowly but surely. I decided to take all my "big" clothes and give them to Bethel so I went through everything and there is a huge garbage bag full of stuff. Some of it wasnt in good enough condition so I trashed it. Some sisters will be very happy because almost all of the skirts are brand new. It makes me feel good to help. =) I will be doing that with a lot of our stuff when we move like our cutlery and things. They can use it more than most so why not?

I am so frustrated with Ronny's immigration. It would take too long to explain things but it doesnt look like we would be able to move until January the earliest. I hope it wont be longer than that. I still havent gotten mine sorted!!! I called them yesterday and they said that it was still processing. I cant wait until the new world when all these silly rules and things are gone. What a burden they are! I am sorry to vent on you but I am sure you will hear me talk more and more about this stuff throughout the next 6 months.....but please dont let that stop you from visiting my blog. =) I promise to limit it to a paragraph if I do talk about it. *grin* So normally I would have to wait for my residence permit as they want to see a copy of that when I start Step No. One (Form I-130) in Ronnys Immigration but I called and told them I dont know when I will get that so could I just show my marriage license and they said to include like pay slips and proof that I live here and the department will let me know if it will be enough. I hope so! Please pray for us guys. We really need to get out of here and be with family. This process is going to suck the life out of us. I keep praying cause we are doing this to put Jehovah first and improve our spirituality. I know he will help us.

Well sorry to keep this short but I need to finish cleaning. Oh! Btw, I got such great complements from my photography that I decided to try and sell some of it as stock photos. So I signed up with a site and they give you a website and everything. Will let you know when I am done working it out. Hope it brings a little extra $ here and there. I dont expect much to be honest but you never know! We are going to Madame Tussauds tomorrow so sure I will have loads of goofy pics to share. Watch this space!

I have some good news. I found out why I fainted. My doctor called me back regarding my fainting and after talking to her in further detail about what happened she has diagnosed me with postural hypotension. This basically means that when I get up from sitting or laying down there is a fall in my blood pressure. I read that whole page and its really interesting and would explain a lot of the problems I have. I have suffered from this my whole life but was fortunate enough not to faint before. So that is the solution. I am glad its nothing more serious. I think I will be fine. Just need to be aware of it and do as they suggest. It gets really bad when its hot so I know to keep cool. I mean I have gone 26 years without realizing that it was a real problem. Just thought it was a bit weird that I always blackout when I stand up and its hot. lol I still feel very weak and tired but I think I will be fine. Going to take it easy over the next few days. She also suggested upping my sodium so Ronny is getting me soda water. Yuck! I hate that stuff. =( But if it helps my cramps than so be it! She also said to keep myself hydrated as that can really affect it. So drink water ladies!

Thanks for your concern and support. It is so nice to know you guys care. Love you!

Ok, good news and bad news:

Bad news: I passed out twice this morning. Let me explain. Since starting this diet I have been getting on occasion really horrible leg cramps in the morning. I have a tendency of stretching my legs out early in the morning when I am rolling over and they cramp up bad. Normally just one leg will do it and it hurts like crazy but then stops and Im able to fall back asleep. Well this morning I got cramps in both legs at the same time and they were BAD. I could not stretch out my legs or my feet. The pain was so bad I thought I was going to throw up so sweating with pain I got out of bed and hobbled to the bathroom cause my legs just wouldnt straighten. I mean when I woke up I started whimpering and crying which I dont normally do and that woke Ronny up. I have a high tolerance for pain. Anyways, all I remember is getting into the bathroom and looking at the toilet. I dont remember what happened after that but next thing I know my face is in the toilet and I feel AWFUL and Ronny has his arms around my waist. I was SO out of it. It was horrible. I couldnt figure out what was going on and didnt realize I had passed out. I thought I had fallen asleep or something. I couldnt think straight. I was still in pain and feeling nauseous. He helped me to my feet and I guess that is when I went out again. When I came to I was on my knees and Ronny was holding me up. He pushed my head back and felt my forehead. I felt really sweaty and totally out of it. I thought I was dying. I have NEVER felt anything close to this experience. I dont know what caused it, I doubt it was the leg cramps but regardless it was disturbing. I remember when I woke up the second time I was so relieved that my legs had stopped cramping and I wasnt nauseous anymore. He helped me to the bed and I was shaking all over. I just wanted to sleep. I couldnt talk and I could barely move, I was so weak. He called my manager and left a message saying I wasnt coming in today and I called her later when I got up. To say the least she was really concerned. I am not a person prone to fainting. UGH. It was so bad. I still feel pretty bad. Just weak and flu-ey and my legs are SO sore. *blah* I cant wait till my mom wakes up in America so I can call her. It was quite tramatizing and I am a big clutz and always sick so for me to say that you know it was bad! Anyways, I have decided that I need to up my sodium intake so will start having chicken now and then. I cant continue as I am. Its not healthy and I wont lose weight at the cost of my health.

Ok, on to the good news:

Good News: We have booked our tickets for Rome and Venice for our 2 year anniversary in September! I am SO excited. I just cant believe we are going. When we were dating it was my dream for us to go to Venice on our honeymoon but that didnt work out and we spent a very blah time in Fort Lauderdale and as most of my friends know, we got evacuated by a hurricane while there! So this will be our second honeymoon. =) We were going to go to Egypt but now that we are moving back to the states, I thought there is no way I am going back without having been to Italy first! So we agreed we would go to Italy but couldnt decide between Rome and Venice so decided to combine the two. Got VERY cheap airline tickets from here to Rome and even cheaper tickets from Rome to Venice. We are staying at B&B's in both places. In Rome, the B&B is extremely central and had very good reviews. So did the one in Venice. I paid about 20 pounds extra and we got a superior room in Venice with a canal view. *grin* Its going to be so romantic!!!! OOOOOOO, SO excited! We are spending 5 days in Rome (FAR too many things to see there!) and 3 days in Venice. The B&B in Venice came with a private boat excursion to Murano Island in Venice. Didnt know that till I booked it. How cool is that! So as you can see, I am way happy. We got a GREAT deal on the whole trip. =)
We will be going to Sweden in 3 weeks time to say goodbye to the inlaws and our convention is next week so a lot of things to look forward to. Hopefully the fainting will pass!
Thanks for the comments. I love you all!

We are back! Sorry that I didn't post yesterday but I spent the day 1. Sleeping (called in sick to work, was exhausted and just ill) and 2. Uploading the 150 pics I took!
We had an AMAZING time. Truly wonderful. I love Paris. It was like being in a dream. Here is a run down of our trip:
Saturday: We woke up at 3:15am which as you can imagine was not easy. We went to bed late so had about 4 hours of sleep. Everything went fine...got to the airport and parked the car and took the shuttle to the terminal. The flight was ridiculously short. I think it takes me longer to get to work everyday. No lie it was so short. They "gave" us breakfast. More like threw sandwiches at us and by the time the coffee came around we were discending. It was a 40 min flight. LOL We got off the plane in a bit of a daze and made our way to the train. After some guessing with the tickets and getting the wrong ones, we finally got the right ones and got on the train to central Paris. It was exciting because it was the first time Ronny and I were in a country where neither one of us knew the language. Normally I get stressed if I feel like I dont know where to go but it was really fun and exciting. We got off and walked to the hotel (only had a general idea of where it was so got off way too early) and when we got there it was far too early to check in. We begged the reception to get a room cleaned for us as we were exhausted and she advised us to come back in an hour so we walked down the street to find a place to eat and find a lovely little side street with all these quaint cafes and fruit and flower stalls. It was really nice. Got back to the hotel where they had a room ready for us 2 hours before check in (which was so nice) and we went upstairs for a nap. It was so hot so thankfully the room had AC. We got up, took showers and decided to go find Jacobs (my friend that was visiting Paris) hotel which was really nearby. Went for a walk, stopped for coffee and wine and then finally found the hotel. There were LOADS of witnesses in the lobby from the international convention and it was so neat cause we met the nicest sisters! They had just come out of the gift shop and I stopped them to ask them if all of the witnesses had come back from the city tour (some had, some hadn't). They were so cool, especially Peggy (you can see her in the pictures). We had a drink with them while waiting in the lobby and had a very nice time chatting. Finally saw Jake and his mom come in and ran up to him and gave him a hug. He was organizing a picnic with a few other witnesses for that evening in the park in back of the Eiffel Tower. We all went out to get groceries and goodies for the picnic and had just the best time with everyone. It was really magical. I hope you enjoy the pics of the picnic! It was so nice to be able to walk back to the hotel in 5 min. =)
Sunday: We slept in really late (I forgot to set my clock forward and thinking it was 10 it was actually 11!) and went for brunch. Then headed out towards the Lourve to meet up with Jake and his mom. We were supposed to spend the morning in the museum but didnt have time so just met up with them in the museum, took a few pics and then went out towards the river. Ronny had the WORST stiff neck, poor thing. He was in so much pain. I was massaging him and giving him pain killers. It gradually got better but he really stuck it out, my poor hubby. He kept us laughing all day although he was in pain even walking which we did loads of. I think his neck to this day is still a bit off. Anyways, we walked along the Seine and there are loads of old book stalls and little souveneir stands where we got some prints and two canvas paintings of Paris. We got to one of the islands in the middle of the Seine that holds Notre Dame and took some pics. We took the metro to a pastry shop (REALLY fancy) that Jake had heard about and then had dinner at Les Deux Magots where evidentally Ernest Hemingway would go to write which was cool. Then we took the Metro to the Arc de Triomphe, walked all the way down the Champs Elysees and met more witnesses. The day ended with us saying goodbye to Jake and his mom near our hotel as we had to part ways. It was a really nice time with them and we enjoyed it. Oh, I have to tell you about this weird experience. Whilst in the Lourve, I went to go to an exchange place they have there to change over my money. So while I am waiting for the guy to give me my euros, Jacob pulls out this copy of a CD he made me that he taped of a radio station online in the US. It was a station he thought I would enjoy so he made a copy of some of the music for me. So the guy behind the counter is like "You know that is called pirating." and Im like "Well, he is just giving it to me as a friend and its from a radio station, not a CD." and he's like "Its against the law here and if you dont give me that CD, I am going to call the police and he will give you a 2500 euro fine. Its serious." and Im like "no way." and he's like "Well, then Ill keep your money." and I was like "Well Ill tell the policeman you tried to keep my money!" and Jacob is in the background like "aw, come on, your just joking right?" and I ask the guy (im getting really mad at this point) "Why would you do this? Are you bored?" and he says "Im evil." and I tell him "Give me my money. You have no right to take my money." So he smiles and he's like "okay, I was kidding." I was livid! He really had me going. He smiles at Jake and is like "She is strong." and jake says "Yeah she is puerto rican!" LOL!!!!!! Jake says I should have brought Ronny over and been like "this is my husband." LOL But I could take care of it myself. He wasnt taking my money! But he really had us both going.
Monday: Was really hot but we spent the day at the Lourve (saw the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo). The coolest part was seeing Jehovah's name on the Moabite Stone (you can see pics in my album) and the Babylonian lions that the captive Jews probably saw while walking into Babylon. It was a nice museum but I wasnt enormously impressed. I still prefer the Met in NYC. =) After the museum we went back to the hotel to shower (we were melting) and after a few hours of relaxing went out for dinner and to go up the Tower. After dinner we went on line to go up the tower but ran out of time as they close it at 11pm. Ronny was really disappointed but we went to walk along the river and saw these guys doing these portraits. I have always wanted to get one done and where better than Paris! So with the Tower in front of me and the river to my back, I had my portrait done. I really love it! He did Ronny's as well right next to mine. I will take a pic and show you guys. It was such a romantic evening. =)
Tuesday: VERY hot day. We basically just walked around and then went back to the hotel to wait. Ended up almost missing our flight anyway because one of the trains wasnt running. I mean we really almost missed it. So glad we didn't. Flight was short and had absolutely no problem getting back into the country. The immigration officer didnt even ask me any questions, just wanted to make sure we were residents. So it went really smooth.

I know I am forgetting things but its late and Im tired. Will post them as I remember them. In the meantime, hope you enjoy the pics! Click here. Hope the link works! You may need to sign up to view them. Sorry if that is the case.

Oh my goodness! Cant believe I forgot! Ronny surprised me the Friday before by taking me to this new Thai massage place up the street. Its GORGEOUS!!! And we got Thai massages side by side for 2 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was awesome. I love my hubby!!!!! He wanted to treat me so I could relax before the trip. How sweet is he!

Ok, first of all I have to share what I saw on the train this morning:

An advert for garlic that read "Small doses of garlic can be fatal to leeches." and written in childish print right next to it read and vampires. I just thought that was so funny. Well at least it made me smile. =)

Ok, on to other good news..........I met up with my HSBC branch manager tonight (regarding the compensation). I don't know if I wrote about it earlier but basically after all the headache and nightmare I have been through with that bank, not to mention all the work lost trying to sort out things.....he initially offered me 250 pounds over the phone. I was in shock and told him that was no where near enough for me. So he tells me he is not authorized to give out more but would need to speak to the regional manager and I tell him I would like to meet with him in person. So we set up an appointment which is what I went to tonight. I think I basically called him on his bluff. It was just him and he was very nice and polite and I went through what has happened. He asked me how much I wanted and I told him no less than 750.......so that is what he is giving me!!! I am really happy with the results. I still dont think it was enough but its not bad and what I expected to get. So glad that is over!!! Should be getting it added to my account sometime next week....lets hope. That is going towards our anniversary Italy trip for sure! =)

So I am getting really excited about the weekend. I got my marriage license in the post today, thankfully. I need to call the British Embassy in Paris to make sure all will be ok for me to re-enter the country as a resident. I bought some cute tops and sandals and Ronny some tops and a memory card for my camera so will have plenty of pics to upload and share with you guys.

Anyways, I am so tired so will catch you guys when I get back! Au revoir!!!!!

We are off to Paris this weekend! I don't want to even bother getting into the messy details of our trip and how we were FINALLY able to book our tickets but just know this.....I got my passport today (minus the stamp I need) but didn't receive my marriage certificate. They sent along a nice letter telling me to apply at the British Embassy in Paris for a family permit to re-enter into the UK but the idiots forgot to send my marriage certificate. So for the 100th time I had to call them today all frantic to get that sorted. Supposedly arriving tomorrow morning. I have heard that one before. Also, when I tried to book our trip with Travelocity, they took my money but didn't give me my tickets. It took me a week and about 6 phone calls and a near nervous breakdown before they refunded it. It cost us 200 pounds extra. It was a MASSIVE mess. This country sucks SOOOO bad. The customer service here is absolutely disgusting. UGH! Dont really want to get into it. But after all that mess we are finally going and I cant wait. Not only did we decide to go for four days (Sat-Tues) but we decided to splurge a bit after the hassle and get a hotel right near the Eiffel Tower!!! SOOOO excited about that. It will be lovely to walk by the Rue Seine and the Tower and back to our hotel. So romantic. So that is the really great news.

Today was so rough for me. Again with the passport crap and I just really really felt like I couldnt take anymore. But being the wonderful husband he is, Ronny surprised me at work. I got a call from reception and she said there were flowers downstairs for me and said there was a note that said "An apology for our utter incompetence. HSBC, Travelocity and Home Office" so I was like "What?" and went downstairs to find my lovely husband with a HUGE bouquet of flowers. I took a picture with my phone so will try and upload it at some point. But it was the sweetest thing and exactly what I needed. It made a huge difference in my mood.

Anyways, I am exhausted. Been working overtime all week besides the meetings and my weight loss meeting. I am now down a total of 42lbs. Just thought I would let you know. Will post again before we leave for Paris. Love you all!