Let the games begin!

I started dating Kevin back in the fall of 1998. I was SKINNY! Yes, I was sick because of just coming home from being in China for a while, but I looked gooooood. I think I was somewhere around 140 or so. Not too shabby for a gal who is almost 5'8". Well, almost 5'8" on a good day :) We broke up in Spring of 1999. I went on to touring Europe for the summer of 2000 while having my home base be in Limanova Poland. December 2000 - January 2001 I was in China for the second time. March of 2001 I fell and injured my back. The weight just kept on piling on. March 2002 I finally had back surgery after gaining somewhere around 30 lbs because of immobility issues. I was on bed rest for 8 weeks and was also hospitalized a 2nd time for paralysis. I gained more weight during this time. Summer of 2004 I began to have some other medical problems that had me gain more weight because of my doctor messing around with my birth control pills. Then, my depression began to get worse. March 9, 2006 James and I broke up. My diet started that day. As my regular readers know, I lost a bit of weight. So, over the course of the past year with my dieting and not, I've only lost a total of like, 15lbs. NOT ENOUGH.

It's true that you should be in a relationship with the person who makes you be the best YOU possible. Someone who makes you happy inside and out. Someone who you are IN LOVE with. Kevin and I got back together a few weeks ago after our almost-a-decade-stent. His sister found me on myspace and helped me get back in touch with him. Things have been FANTASTIC so far (knocks on wood). I hate getting my hopes up about relationships because when I do, they don't work out. So all I will say is that I am ecstatic that we are trying things again. He is helping me feel way more motivated and more conscious about my health (aka weight). He knows how happy I was back in the day when I was a lot thinner, but not too thin. I had curves. I still have curves, but not the right ones! So today when I got home from class I started going through an old box of photos. I found all the old ones of me and Kevin from way back in the day. You can tell from the pictures just how happy I was. I am scanning the pictures in tonight, so I will post them later or just another day.

So.... here we go kids.... This is me promising to lose all this friggen weight and to get back in shape! I'm NOT telling you how much I weigh because that's just embarrassing. Now, I don't plan on getting down to 135 or 140 because I think that's a bit too thin. I will have a more reasonable goal for now. Anyways, I will keep my blog posted as to my progress. I will have my weight loss/BMI ticker at the very bottom of this page (not in a side bar because the new blogger templates are not that great).



Wish me luck!!

Bean's Stock is back up!

I have decided to move my Crafting business over to my friends at Etsy. Check out my new website HERE. I am in the process of listing all of my new cases that I have made. I have a bunch of new knitting needle case fabrics that I am excited to share with you all.

Prices for my knitting needle cases currently range from $18 - $32 with shipping costs at $6 via USPS Priority Mail in the USA.

Please message me if you have any questions!

Here are some examples of the new fabrics!

Yeah... I'm nerdy.

I've been doing Where's George since April 4, 2005. I'm always excited to see where my bills go! So far, I have hits in 30 out of 54 states (including Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, Washington DC, and the Virgin Islands) and other countries such as Mexico and El Salvador. However.... the other day I got some great news. I GOT A HIT IN JAPAN!!! Go look!

That's all for now. I'm excited :)

I've been published!

Hours after I uploaded my peanut butter salmonella photos, I received this letter from Calder, the Director of Public Relations at NowPublic.com.

:: Your Salmonella photo


Hi Jill Rachel,

This is clorenz41. One of our Vancouver contributors posted
a story on the Salmonella recall, and found that people on
Flickr were sharing photographs relating to the story. I
wanted to see if you would be interested in contributing to
the article.

The post is on NowPublic, which is a news sharing community
that relies on stories, photos, & videos from sources like
you.

Yrs,
Calder
Director of Contributor Relations @ NowPublic.com

So... without further a-do... Here is my link :)
If for some reason it doesn't load, let me know. Here is a screen shot of the website!




Thank you NowPublic and Flickr!

Salmonella anyone??

So apparently, according to CNN.com, Government scientists have pinpointed the first US salmonella outbreak to one of my favorite foods. PEANUT BUTTER!! Any jar with the code "2111" on the top indicate the infested jars.



It's such a shame though... To think that I already ate 98% of the jar! Ya know, Peter Pan Plus Peanut Butter is my FAVORITE peanut butter. Actually, it is the only one that I will eat. Hopefully things will get under control soon!

What it takes to live in a snow belt....

So everyone knows that I HATE THE WINTER!!! I can't wait to move out of New York and not have to shovel or anything!

So yesterday in the spirit of Valentine's Day, or the fact that I needed exercise and wanted to do a selfless deed, I headed out to my horrid parking lot. Noticing that the plows had yet to come through and clean up the lot, I proceeded to dig out my car and move it to a more cleared out spot.


A couple people were snowed in, so I helped dig them out as well. Then I figured it would be nice of me to clear out a few spots so when people came home from work, they would have a spot to park. Walking back in towards the building, I noticed the walkways were way too covered. So, I cleared out the 3 of those as well.


I hope people appreciate this, since no one else did a damn thing about the awful snow covered complex. Too bad they don't know that it was me who did it all. Talk about a self-less deed!

When I finally got inside, 90 minutes later, I realized the necessities of snow shoveling.



I have to be glad though... At least I didn't get as much snow as Erin did!

Seattle

Erin and I went to Seattle for a week for some much needed R&R.
From the plane, we had great views of Mt. St.Helen's and Mt.Hood.

On our first full day, the skies were mostly clear, and Mount Ranier made an appearance.


We spent a morning at the Pacific Science Center which is at the base of the Space Needle in the Seattle Center. I made friends with a grub.

This was an amusing display representing chromosomes.

I even climbed a fake rock wall- one of those lateral ones.

We spent quite a bit of time at the Seattle Aquarium in the freezing cold rain. Thankfully, most of it was inside.






We made our way to the Woodland Zoo just north of downtown. Lovely zoo, but QUITE chilly and VERY wet.






We got a chance to go to REI and try out rock climbing. I am HOOKED.


This is a view of the city from Union Station in the International District.

And we had one last view of the market on our last day....


Overall I had the best time ever. Erin is such a good friend to me, and a BLAST to be with!!!

2006 wrap up.

I haven't been here in forever. And I can't even say that it's because I've been busy. In fact, I've been the complete opposite. Not a whole heck of a lot has been going on.

November:

Jeff needed a date for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, so he asked me to go. We started off the night with a nice dinner at Delmonico's, then we headed over to the WarMemorial. After the show we called it a night.






















For Thanksgiving I went to Mom's house. Noah made some awesome cookies for us all to take home. Then, Noah serenaded us on the piano for a good hour. He's getting better!

















December:

I got a new haircut. I think it's cute.













I was Betsy's date to her Holiday party for work at Pascale's in Syracuse. Good food, good times, good booze.











Betsy bought me a tree for Christmas. It's a small little fake one. It fit perfectly. I kept the decorations simple, because this year it was just me and Liz for the holidays. I worked Christmas eve at the hospital, and Liz spent the night at my house. John moved to Hollywood Florida a couple months back, and these were Liz's last couple days in New York. Christmas morning I came home, showered, and grabbed Liz. We went to Mom's house with Betsy and Noah and did the whole present thing. I was exhausted from working the night before, so I ended up passing out on her couch with Liz in front of the woodstove. When I buy a house, it WILL have a fireplace..... Sorry guys. No pictures from Mom's house! Surprising isn't it?














Liz moved to Hollywood Florida the last week of December. This makes me sad :(