Regression at its Finest

Since my last post I went through a stage of prolonged self pity. Aside from my bouts of homesickness that left me crying in the middle of the night for my parents and my dog, my body has undergone some uncomfortable irritations that I am still dealing with right now. The main irritation has been the bug bites that seem to be magically appearing every morning on different parts of my body. Neither my boyfriend nor his brother have been getting bit as much as I have, and I was told it was because I "smell and taste sweet".

.....

I will stink myself to the core if that means I won't have to deal with this wretched mysterious night bugs anymore. Anyway, another irritation has been this stupid thing on my eye that I have to take antibiotics for.

Due to the humidity, I developed a sty that formed from a sweat gland being swollen on my left eyelid. Aside from looking and feeling hideous, I've been taking these giant horse pills that are supposed to fight it. I get this every summer, but this time in Hawaii, the humidity seems to be making it worse. It's not horribly uncomfortable so much as it is disgustingly hideous; the main discomfort comes from the antibiotics which have been causing me a lot of chest pain and nausea. I have four more days of having to take these, so hopefully by then I'll be feeling a little bit back to normal.

I do apologize for my lack of posting. I have had a pretty exhausting schedule that required me to rush around starting from 5am in the morning to get ready for school then rush to work and work until closing. Work has been pretty demanding, but I am happy to have this weekend and Monday off from work. I was starting to have dreams about work, and it has become rather unacceptable. For a while there I was worried about being behind in school because I had to miss a full week for work training, but after a lot of reading and writing, I think I am finally caught up...just in time to study for my midterm on Monday (already???) and my French exam on Friday.

Although this post has been a rather whiny one (but hopefully not as whiny as the last), I assure you that I do still feel very blessed to be able to have the opportunity to live here. It really is a beautiful place to live. I would like to share the beauty that I am basked in every day with this picture of a typical beautiful sunset on the beach.

Captured on our walk around Waikiki. :)

I've decided from here on out that I will no longer be a whiny little baby in my posts. I went on an awesome tour last week and put together a cute little dresser with my boyfriend that I will be updating about later. Stay tuned for that. For now, I am going to head to the mall, find a nice hair stylist for both the boyfriend and myself (we need to be pampered badly), then study for my midterm. I hope you all have been having a wonderful time where ever you are. :)

EDIT (9:24 p.m.)


As a motivation to keep me in the groove of working out, I have decided to join in with a couple lovely ladies on the Christmas Dress Challenge started by Sarah. Her blog is so motivational, and I really admire someone with her strength an willpower. I found her through Mila at Free Bird Train --- another lovely blog about the simple joys of life (and she cooks!).

Anyway, here are the rules of the challenge:

1. Buy or find a picture of a dress in a smaller size (the size you're aiming to reach by the end of the challenge) The idea is to buy the dress to use as motivation, but it's not required.

1. On or before Sunday, Sept. 18th, make your first post with a picture of your dress, your starting size & weight and your goal size & weight. (I will link my post to yours, so let me know once you make your first post)
2. Aim for a healthy caloric intake each day
3. Exercise a minimum 3x a week
4. Drink water (not soda, not diet soda, not energy drinks...etc...)
5. Twice a month I will post an update on how I'm doing on this challenge. If you have decided to do the challenge with me, feel free to add your update in the comments.

And here is the dress that I will be buying from Nordstrom:

I'm so excited to start this challenge, and I can't wait to wear this dress!  I'm trying to make it into a size 2. Let the challenge begin! :D