OK girls, I dropped the ball this week. I let Thursday pass me by completely loveless. I apologize. I partially forgot, but mostly this was a pretty loveless week comprised of work I didn't enjoy, tips I didn't make and very little time off. Not a good week for me at all. But here are some bright points I pulled out of it.

Vacation presents - I guess I'm getting a little old for my parents to bring something back for me when they go out of town, but since I am back living at home for awhile, this tradition has been resurrected. It's nice. My mom is so sweet and tries really hard to get into my head (a scary place for anyone really) and find me something I'll like. These last couple trips they've taken she's (and my dad too) brought home some really beautiful jewelry that suits me perfectly. All silver and simple, one necklace that's a turtle from Hawaii and some Celtic jewelry from Seattle. I'm really grateful for her efforts.

Solitary days - My one day off last week was Monday. My sister had left for some camp thing, and my parents didn't get home from their trip until that night, so all day I had the house all to myself and no place to go. I think I had contact with a couple of store clerks and that's it. And I love and need days like that. I like my social time too as well (as a server you have to) but I need equal parts of alone time to function. It was just what I needed before a week of smiling at customers who were rude and who feel like they can spend all this money on food but because times are hard cut back on the tip.

Word Verifications that aren't words - I have been noticing a trend lately with word verifications. First off they're popping up everywhere! I remember when they were mostly just on Ticketmaster. Now they're on all the blogs and e-mail accounts and Facebook. And they aren't words anymore! They are gibberish. On the one hand it can be funny, on the other frustrating. I was trying to get on something or other yesterday and their font was so screwy I could hardly make it out, and since it was futile to decipher a word, I finally gave up. But mostly some of the ones I've seen just make me laugh!

Anyway, this week is looking to be much better, and I expect to blog on time and with a much improved outlook. Happy next few days!

Oh man, I am the last one of my new Thursday group to get to this today, oh the shame! Oh well. It brings me to the first thing I love.

Friends who push you - I already mentioned how great I think my BEDA buddies are last week, but it's nice to have people who get your competitive dander up in a way. I always have good intentions but all my life I've struggled with the follow through aspect. I am a procrastinator, and didn't fully feel like blogging today, but just knowing that my other three gals have posted made me get my butt in gear and write this post.

Small personal successes - So I have sworn off chocolate in June (and essentially all sweets) and it has been going surprisingly well. I don't know exactly how to explain it, but it's like when I made it so it was not even an option, I thought about it less. I can't count how many times I swore I was going to cut back on sweets but never did. But the moment I turned it into a goal and publicized that goal, it was easy. I even survived the ultimate test last weekend when a table gave me a piece of their German chocolate birthday cake and without even pausing I took it home and gave it to my mom. Go me!

Veer.com - I love this Web site. Aside from all the awesome fonts and type I can't buy, they have all these great desktop backgrounds. I switch mine up every month or so, but I have a whole folder of backgrounds all from Veer that I just love. Definitely check it out.

Kristin Chenoweth - It is finally my turn for her new book at the library, and I haven't even started reading it yet and I am excited about it. My friend SEJL already read it (She and I are both huge fans of Cheno), and she said as you read it you can tell it's her voice. I am pretty sure this is one I am going to want to own.

My sister - Now I am living at home right now, and my sister is home from college for the summer. Being thrown back into that sibling dynamic with the parents around has been tough. My sister and I are two very different people who have very few opinions in common (except we both love Wicked). We fight a lot. But when our parents are out of town it's like this switch flips. The dynamic changes from siblings to something more like roommates. We go out to dinner and hang out and it's so much fun. I was feeling down the other night, and she took me to see a movie to cheer me up and it was great. The movie was funny and ridiculous and just what I needed to step out of my head for a couple hours.

April may be over and my blogging may be lagging, but I still communicate with my BEDA buddies pretty much daily through Facebook and Twitter. These gals are great and I enjoy interacting with them online so much and learning from them.

I don't think any of us are ready to go back to blogging ever day (Yikes!) but we have decided together to start blogging again once a week. We stole the idea of Things I love Thursday from Nicola, who got it from another source, but keep looking for a new installment each week from me and my BEDA Buddies: Nicola, Becky and Christina.

The Tony Awards - OK, so I didn't actually get to watch them this year, and that part of it really sucked. But I still love them. I look forward to June each year for that reason. I love that Broadway gets a night to recognize the incredible amount of talent all crammed into one portion of NYC. I love that all these current shows on Broadway perform and are watchable on YouTube for years to come.

Changing my shoes after work - I don't care if I was at work for an hour or 10. The feeling when I get to my car after a serving shift and take off my work shoes and slip on a pair of flip-flops is unbeatable in that moment.

Planning a trip - Taking trips is pretty great too, but I love the beginning stages of planning a trip when you are so excited and have so many ideas and plans about what you are going to do. You haven't yet remembered how poor you are so in your head the sky's the limit. I'm planning a trip to New York City in the early fall with my best and favorite traveling companion, SEJL, and I cannot wait.

Tables that remind me why I sometimes like serving - I've been going through a frustrating period waiting tables where I just feel burned out and sick of what I'm doing and I feel like I'm not good at it anymore. But then I had a couple of tables this past weekend that were just great and things flowed between them and me. One in particular told me before they left that the service had been fantastic, and I just really really needed to hear that.

Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments trilogy - I read all three books (City of Bones, City of Ashes and City of Glass) one right after another and just fell in love. I am not a critical reader, I just either love the plot and the characters or I don't. I cared about these characters and I am sad they only have three books. But then after I finished I found a great deal on the first two (I already bought the third) and now I own them all! More happiness.

This is a couple of days overdue, but all my BEDA buddies have been blogging today so it works out anyway.

For June I decided on a goal that was very important to me and something I really needed. I have decided to go an entire month without chocolate! That's right ladies, you heard me. Chocolate has always been a weakness for me. I don't go totally overboard, but I can't ration myself. If I buy a single candy bar I eat a single candy bar. If I buy a bag of chocolates I eat a bag. It's frustrating.

I've figured out that for now I am an all-or-nothing gal. So I am cutting myself off completely for a month. To see if I can do it and to prove to myself that I have that power over my "addiction" if you will. Depending on how that goes, I plan to gradually re-introduce it back into my life.

I am on day 4 of no sweets and it is going surprisingly well. It's like knowing it's not even an option makes it easier to go without it because I don't think about it as much. I feel good about it, but it is only day 4. Let's hope the next 26 go as well.