Finally, A Job

  It's been beyond stupid trying to find a job in this town. I gave up for a period of time because after every place I applied, called, and emailed, they hardly gave me the time of day before promising to get back to me and never doing so. And most times I checked available jobs, there were two options: Pizza Hut or Home Depot. Not very appealing. I just wasn't that desperate, I don't know.
  My employment status seems to come up in every conversation we have with anyone in our family or close friends at home. I know there's not that much to talk about per say, but do you know how annoying it is to hear "so are you working anywhere yet?" every. single. phone call. If I was, I'd say so pretty quickly, because it's news. But as if I didn't feel like enough of a lazy mooch who can't get a job, everyone had to remind me constantly that I wasn't doing anything.
  So stop the presses! It's finally happened!
  Anyway, I'll stop being sarcastic.
  We went in to this new Greek restaurant for a meal, and somehow I came out with a job. I noticed someone else coming in to apply and decided to give it a shot, honestly expecting to be shot down like everywhere else. But instead I was put on the schedule immediately! So that was really surprising.
  It's honestly one of the best places to eat here, for a few reasons. The first is that people just don't seem to care quite like they do in Arizona. Both the service and the food quality is just lower than expected. It's littered with fast food places, and it's hard to sift through them to find places that are decent. Even when we were recommended some place, we were still disappointed. But at this Greek house I suddenly find myself employed by, the food is handmade and authentic and amazing.
  The job itself is not even close to difficult. I haven't quite gotten a hang of the register, but I had my first table on my first day. I still remember how hectic things got at the resort restaurant, and knowing it will never be like that puts it in perspective. The place isn't even very big. As of now I have a pretty good feeling about it all. I'm still in that beginning crash course paperworking phase, but by next week I think I'll really have a hang of things.
  So that's that...I'm officially a waitressing food slave. But hey, the food is tasty!

More From The Exercise Diaries

  I haven't posted much about fitness in the last while because I felt like I hadn't made much progress. None worth mentioning anyway. But when I compared a picture from today to just two months ago I was so surprised! I knew some of my clothes felt like they had a little more room in them, but I don't own a scale. I still don't want one. I'm not a number and I don't want to get sucked into looking at it every day.  
  But holy crap! This is probably the most progress I've made since I started. It's been slower than I wanted it to be, that's for sure. Though I've been feeling up to more and more and doing things that challenge me, raising the bar all the time. It's about time it paid off. Michael told me this morning that one of the guys in his unit we saw this weekend said I'd lost a lot of weight. I don't think I'd seen him since sometime last year, but it was really awesome to hear.
  This week is the 20th week of my own exercise regimen. I've also been trying pretty hard to eat better. I hardly ever eat red meat and I've been adding tofu to certain dishes. Anyway, this is a recovery week, something I picked up from P90X. Every fourth week I cut out strength training and focus on cardio and core. On weeks that aren't recovery weeks, I dedicate certain days to certain muscles. Last week looked like this:
  1. Fire 45 EZ, Lower 20
  2. Elliptical 37min at Resistance 18, Distance of 1.178 miles, Tone 30
  3. Fire 60
  4. Elliptical for 23min at Resistance 18 0.729 miles, Hiit 20, Abs 10
  P90X Shoulders and Arms, 10lb weights, minimum of 15 reps each exercise
  5. Rest Day
  6. Fire 45, Core 20
  7. Abs 10, Stretch 40
So even though it's taken what feels like forever, it seems I'm finally doing something right. I still have a goal size I'm working towards, and I'm also hoping that going home for almost a month won't totally ruin me. It's easy to eat lots of fattening foods and be lazy. But there's also a lot more outdoor activity possibilities. We'll see how I handle it.

New Ink

  I've been wanting to get matching tattoos with my husband for a while. We keep talking about a ring finger tattoo but we can't seem to come to a firm conclusion, and he isn't sure about getting another visible tattoo while he's in the army. Finally I brought up the idea of the red string of fate. It's said that people who are meant to be in each others lives are connected by a long red invisible string by the gods. No matter how far away or how tangled the string gets, it will never break. It's kind of our promise that no matter what happens we'll be there for each other. So far I've always liked having Mikey in my life since the day I met him, friends or more. I'm happy with how they came out. Simple and cute.

  This one was all for me. I've been entertained by lip tattoos. I love what people choose to put there. It's something others won't see unless you want them to. I chose this phrase from a tv show I like, honestly. Archer. It's hilarious. I thought it was also a fitting phrase because I tend not to have a filter when I talk. It's my danger zone, and I don't care what you think.
  Pain wise, the toe hurt so much more. Getting my lip done was awkward for sure; the artist stuck a paper towel in my mouth to dry it out and had to get a pen to finally work in order to make the outline. Some parts of it I didn't feel at all, others I definitely did. Mostly it was just strange. The string I wanted done as soon as possible and cursed loudly all the way through it. But they're done! I'm proud of both of them.
  The only issue is inner lip tattoos don't always stay. It's a strange spot; they can often rub away just in the first few weeks. I'll just have to wait and see if I need to get it touched up, and if I do, if it'll be worth getting done over and over. Of course, it can also go the other way, and it may stay forever.
  I plan on getting a tattoo when we visit home as well later this year, but I'm not sure what. Tattoos are so addicting!

Letters R and S

R – Respect

86. How do you show respect? When I don't argue and I go out of my way to do what I'm asked.
87. What can someone do for you to lose all respect for them? Not much, honestly, if it personally affected me. It depends though. It might just take a conversation and an act that counteracts whatever made me lose respect for you. But in most cases I never really gain it back.
88. Do you respect your teachers, parents, and other authority figures? If they seem intelligent and confident, yes.
89. When you are disrespectful to your parents, what is the punishment? Used to be I'd be grounded, get my cell phone taken away, wouldn't be able to go to whatever party or friends I was invited to.
90. If someone is mean to you, are you mean back or do you kill them with kindness? My first impulse is to be mean back. But now I stonewall, meaning I don't do anything and just let them wear themselves out.

S – School

91. If you are still in school, what grade will you be going into? I don't even know anymore. I haven't been in school for a while. I'm at a strange point in my life where I'm not sure what I want to do.
92. When will you graduate high school/college? Couldn't say.
93. After high school, what did you do/are you planning to do? I originally wanted to be a therapist. Now I'm thinking about being a fitness instructor. Maybe I'll do both? No idea.
94. Do you like or hate school? What do you like/hate about it? I actually like school. It's just enough stress (usually) to motivate me.
95. Have you ever been suspended, expelled, or dropped out of school? I guess I kind of stopped going to college. But only since I moved to Oklahoma. I left my last school with notice and did it right, I didn't enroll and abandon it. I've never done that. 

   Stole this from Tumblr. I feel like there can be a fine line between judging someone and losing respect for them because of something they did, but I have a hard time respecting someone who can't be strong enough to respect themselves. Obviously I don't judge race, sexuality or religion, but I'm just so disappointed by people who can't seem to leave a situation that makes them unhappy. I know it can be hard, especially if it's something you're comfortable with/incredibly used to; change is scary. But if you're unhappy and can't seem to fix it, why force it? I can't stand seeing people just letting themselves be unhappy because they think its some kind of sacrifice just to have something stable. Find the strength to walk away, because you know you deserve better.

  That's my blurb on respect for the day.