Wednesday, April 27, 2011

When on Wednesday you discover "Ten on Tuesday" go ahead and write about it.

1. How many blogs do you read every day and what are they? (I’m talking the ones you NEVER miss)
I have one guilty pleasure of reading a friend's blog because I can only live vicariously through her. Besides that, I bounce around with random blogs I find, and have a few favorites that I follow, but I don't make an effort to read them often, it's merely when I'm bored. (A.K.A. putting off homework, working out, or cleaning) 

2. How many “best friends” do you have? Do you have different “besties” for different areas of your life?
At this point in my life I have 3 best friends.
#1. My boyfriend (cliche I know) but it's the truth. Your significant other should be your best friend.  He is always there for me. He can make me feel better if I'm having a bad day. My life really wouldn't be the same without him.  He keeps me grounded and brings out the best in me. Not to mention, we have fun too. :) 
#2. My Mom (cliche again...I know.) But...she is always just a phone call or text away. She is the one I ask advice from, and she loves me no matter what as well. I wouldn't be who I am today without her, and she has done so much for me. 
#3. My bff Jenna. She is the only one who really keeps in touch with me since I moved away from my hometown. I have other friends, but these days, she is my only best friend. That's okay with me. People change and grow apart with time and distance. That's just life. I have had many other super close friends in the past that were people from high school, work, college and neighbors. But friendships change as life changes. It's convenient to be close with people in similar stages of life. The fact that I am still in College right now puts me on a different level than a lot of my friends who are moving on to other fazes of life. They have graduated, are getting engaged, married, having babies. I am no where near any of that yet, and won't be for over a year at least. I should graduate next spring if all goes well. But everything else, is a long way off. I have to find a job first when I graduate, and save up some money, pay bills, find a house or apt. Marriage and children come after financial stability. Wedding's aren't cheap. But back to my bff, we have been through so much together and she is the only one who really knows me for me and loves me for who I am. Having even just one best friend is a blessing. Girl time is a must.  Besides, Ross and my mom hate shopping! lol (I promise I love her for so much more than that though!

3. What’s your daily make up routine?
Eyeshadow, foundation, sometimes cover up and puffy eye cream, (I never get enough sleep) powder, mascara, sometimes eyeliner (at night). Most of my eyeshadows have a dark color for eyeliner. Bronzer, blush, and lipstick

4. What is your ideal girl’s night?
Shopping, Chick flick, come home and eat snacks and get in the hot tub, and drink wine. 

5. Do you keep up with your nails/toenails or are they au natural?
As of this moment, my pedicure is chipping (darn) they are a bit pricey so I don't get them done very often. In the summer I paint my own toes more, but only during flip flop season. I paint my nails when I'm in the mood. Normally I stick to it at the beginning of a new season, (I love the new colors) then I end of getting sick of the chipping, so I go natural again for a while.

6. What’s your best roommate story (assuming you had a roommate at some point in your life)?
Well...Ross is my first roommate, and it's great. My best story is the nights we had to pull the futon mattress out from the office and sleep on the floor in the living room because the neighbor decided to do his laundry until 4a.m. and our bedroom is right next to the laundry room, and once it stops, it buzzes every five minutes until the owner of the clothes comes to take them out. So basically, it's like an alarm clock going off every five minutes. (Ross bought me earplugs after that night). But then the people outside at the bar on the street below were so loud, we moved back and fourth between all three rooms until the neighbor took his clothes out at 4a.m. and Ross put up a nice little sign asking our neighbors not to do laundry till all hours of the night. (I had to be at class at 8a.m. the next day. not a happy tenant) 

7. What’s your “go to” outfit that you wear more than anything else?
My favorite Gap jeans I got for free at a gap jeans party! (Yes free!) They fit like a glove and are straight legs and a dark wash. I love to wear them with boots. Whatever boots match my shirt that day. My go to is my closet full of different colored t-shirts. I am awful at putting together outfits, so I throw on a matching scarf or necklace, and there I go. Someone, feel free to show me to Stacie and Clinton. I would love $5,000 worth of stylish clothes. I really am attempting to dress more stylish, but then I reach in a take out a blue t-shirt. (sigh)

8. Do you have a beauty secret?
Under eye concealer is my miracle worker for never getting enough sleep. Besides that I would only suggest exercise. I feel the prettiest when I have been working out. I feel like my stomach is flat, and I don't have to worry about a roll hanging over my jeans when I'm sitting in class. There is no way around it. If you eat like crap, and don't work out, good luck feeling confident about your body. You have to eat right and exercise. I promise if you do you will feel better about yourself. Then you have to keep it up. (Not easy I know) But I'm just saying, that's when I feel my best. 

9. Did you read Seventeen magazine growing up?
Yes I did, and after reading a friend's response to this answer, (she was blessed to be forbidden to read them in fear of developing a body image issue). I wish I had been banned from reading them. I have always been obsessed with my appearance, and have always longed to look like models in magazines. In my freshmen year of College I took a Speech class where I researched the way the Media affects women, and let me just say, it affects us big time! It's hard to remember to tell ourselves that those pictures are majorly cropped and edited and we can't actually look like the models in the photographs. How could young girls not yearn to look that way? They set us up for a lifetime desire of the products they advertise in between their pages to make us believe we just might be able to achieve that perfect appearance. Just maybe, if we could look like them. So yes, I read them, and I wish I hadn't. I was always left feeling I was falling short of perfection, with an image that was cropped using a computer. What's on the outside will only get you so far in life. Being a well rounded person is a much better goal.

10. How did you learn to put on makeup?
I followed the methods of my girlfriends in High School and watched what my mom did. I also had an almost older step brother who's girlfriend helped me do my make-up in High School. But when I was older, I sold Mary Kay for a while, and learned a more mature method to makeup. 


and now, it's time for me to look over my assignment for my photography so Ross doesn't freak out any longer that I have been procrastinating by writing all evening. (and looking for a camera strap cover) (sigh) I did at least exercise tonight and purchase my portfolio for my class. Progress.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Warning!

Last night, I finally decided to be a good girl and go to bed at a somewhat decent hour. I seem to always stay up past 1:00a.m. the night before my mon and wed 8a.m. class, and feel so terribly tired the next morning. I actually completed my homework in time too! But low and behold, if my own procrastination doesn't hold me back from getting enough sleep, then surely a natural disaster has to get me out of bed. I had officially fallen asleep sometime around 11:30p.m. when the storm outside started to get pretty violent. We had heavy rain and strong wind. It was thundering and lightening. Next thing I know, I hear sirens in my sleep. Something is telling me, "Wake up! Something's wrong!" Then, a pound on my apartment door brings me jumping straight out of bed. I run out of the bedroom, and Ross is talking to the neighbor asking where we should go. I realize the tornado sirens are going off in our town and we have to take cover! I'm half asleep and as I reach for a pair of tennis shoes, I decide it would be a much quicker and better decision to simply slip on my rain boots.

Ross is running around still doing, who knows what, and I'm like, "Ross it could be here now! We have to get out of here you idiot!" (hey I've been woken straight out of my sleep and I'm groggy and trying to get it together in an emergency!) I shut off the heater, look around and yell at him to get his butt out the door! The girls across the hall emerge in their sweats and jammies, and we all run down the back stairway outside. The girls who live upstairs with us, run into a side entrance to the bottom level apartments. As I running against the wind, it's so strong that I feel like I'm fighting to move forward. Everything is dark and gray. The rain is pouring, and my heart is pounding. I've never felt fear like that before.

The girls upstairs had apparently banned on the door of someone who lives below, and he just so happened to be up doing homework, and he let us all in. He was a college student. How nice of him to let seven complete strangers into his apartment. We all sat on the floor in the kitchen against the wall. We listened to the rain and wind pound against our building. The sound of a train echoed in the background. "They say tornado's sound like a train," I say shaking, holding my tennis shoe in my hand that I apparently forgot to set down in my rush to get out the door. I hold it up and we all laugh, nervously. Everyone is on their cell phones, texting people trying to find out what's going on. Ross brought his i-pod touch so he could see where the tornado was. It was heading our way.

The sweet girl who lives across the hall from me was shaking too. I could tell she was a scared as I was. We all start talking about our apartment building. How we can't open the windows unless they are propped up by cans of soup, how the ceilings and walls are so thin they can hear someone sneeze in another apartment, how the hallways and stairs have been swept once this year, and spiders are building homes in the corners of the stairs.

"Who's living here next year," the single guys asks who lives upstairs with us.
Only the girl who likes to party tells us all that she is staying. One girl is graduating, the rest of us are moving somewhere quieter.
"I want a cat," I say looking at Ross who knows that's not the reason we are moving, but a plus nonetheless. Our apartment isn't pet friendly. But I also can't wait to not live on main st. where the trucks are so loud going over the train track, people drunkenly yell to one another outside walking to and from the bars, the bar music is loud and we can hear it in our apartment, the train is super loud when it goes by, we share washers and dryers and can't do our laundry whenever we want to, we have no counter space in the kitchen, we have to run our space heater because the gas heater sets off the fire alarm if we use it, the carpet is old and ugly, our screens suck and bugs get it. but...

In the light of devastating events that happen all over, tornados elsewhere that did real damage, natural disasters around the world, I know that at the end of the day, I have a roof over my head, food to eat, clothes on my back and family and friends who are there for me. I know I do have a lot to be grateful for. But it doesn't hurt to be excited to live somewhere that I can study in a peaceful environment, and be able to sleep at night. When it's too loud to do those things, it does bring stress to ones life.

But most of all, I am grateful the storm passed us and we were alright. Others weren't so lucky in other states this month. So we have to count our blessings.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Weekend home and Wedding

This weekend Ross and I went home for my second cousin's wedding. It always amazes me how much shorter weddings are when they are not Catholic. Catholic weddings are quite long! But my second cousin's wedding was kept pretty short, but very sweet and even funny at some moments. Aside from the flower girl sticking out her tongue at the crowd, there was a moment after the bride and groom lit the unity candle, when they maid of honor was fixing the brides dress, when the best man comically pulled on a small lint roller, and rolled the back of the groom's tux. Everyone who caught it chuckled. It was a very clever way to add in some comic relief for a teary (joyfully teary) bride. I totally loved the idea!

When we first got into town we made a quick shopping trip, returns really. Gotta love online shopping. You can't try before you buy. (sigh) That's the downfall of a small farm town. There isn't much around. So when you want something, you get it online.

Then, I finally got to eat sushi this weekend! Yeah! So happy! Ross and I met his father out for dinner, and we had a very intellectual conversation. Though I feel a strong urge to educate myself more on societal issues like politics and world affairs. I swear once I graduate and am no longer a full time student, I will spend more time reading about what's going on in the world today. For now, I really need to be reading for my classes. It's sad I know. I do catch some worldly news when I sign in to aol. (Yes I am still living in the Ice ages and use aol e-mail. I soooo need to create a new e-mail. Mine is much too long and I hate having to spell it out for people when they ask for it. A job for another day.

Anyhow, all in all, I got to see a ton of family and friends this weekend whom I haven't seen in a while, so it was a success in that dept. But the downfall of visiting so many people on the weekends, is that I don't get hardly ANY school work done. I am officially making myself get to bed now, so that I can wake up (literally) at the crack of dawn to take "sunrise" photographs. Have to get my first assignment for photography class completed by monday. Tomorrow will be a very busy and productive day. I must stay focused! Study, Study, and go to bed at a decent time! It's always good to set goals!

On a sad note, my camera battery died, so I have no pics to post for now.  :(
I will luckily be able to use Ross's moms camera tomorrow morning. :)

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Exercise, dieting, and cooking.

Yesterday evening I went running with Ross at his School's campus. They have a walking path/paved track that runs around a large section of his campus. They have a little pond/lake and it's right by the football field and track(for the actual track team).

Let's just say, I realized last night how out of shape I am. Being a petite, smaller than the average American may give the false impression that I am "in shape"but let me just tell you, it means nothing of the sort. Quite honestly, I ran around the path once, and I felt like I was dying! ha. A bit dramatic, I know. But I have been having sinus issues for weeks, and apparently when you run, all your drainage can make it a bit hard to breathe correctly (in through your nose out through your mouth). So I was running and breathing in through my mouth and out through my mouth. My nose was stuffed, my body was tight, and it was VERY hard to not ask Ross to let me walk. But I kept going until we came back to where we started. I said "How can anyone like running?" "This is miserable!". Ross, being the patient man that he is (who happens to love running, and wishes I loved it too) looked at me and said "You're just out of shape. You have to run more and you will get better, and like it more."

I let him finish his run, and I took pictures for my assignment in my photography class I am taking this quarter. I have to photograph the alphabet. Basically I have to use natural light and find things outside that make a letter of the alphabet somehow, and take well focused and exposed photos. It's harder than you think. What makes the letter Q? How about R? Nothing can be "put together" either. It all has to be natural.

After I noticed my protruding belly (and no I am NOT preggers) I decided something has to be done. I may hate running (though earlier today I promised Ross I would try again) I do want to start eating healthier and working out more. I have been tearing out recipes from health magazines. It's much cheaper than buying a bunch of cookbooks (and more green) but I also ordered a Vegan and Vegetarian cookbook for the busy College student on a budget! It will be perfect for Ross and I. I am not saying I am forcing him into being a Vegan or Vegetarian. I am simply trying things out for myself, and maybe he will like some of the recipes along the way. I promised him I would still cook him meals with meat, but I might make myself something different. This is just an experiment. Sometimes I can eat meat. As a matter of fact I was craving corn dogs this week for some odd reason, but for the most part I just don't like the texture of meat. The way you can chew a piece of steak forever and it never seems to go away. I even can't stand the smell of meat sometimes. Ross cooked a piece of bologna today, and it smelled awful!

I decided to bake some cheesy biscuits, and pour Clam Chowder soup on it. It was the recipe on the can of soup. I burnt the edges of the biscuits a bit in the oven, but besides that it was alright. I want to start learning how to cook more. Ross does a lot of the cooking, and I think a woman should know how to cook. My dad always did most of the cooking when I was little, and he still cooks a lot today, but my Mom cooks a lot more now too. (They are separated, but still.)

This weekend I plan on purchasing a scale, to keep track of my weight. I did buy some Reebok easy tone shoes and I love them and wear them around everywhere. I do want to buy some Tonalin from the Vitamin Shoppe. It is supposed to be jitter free, but help you burn fat. It's so much more than dieting. If you want to look good and feel good, you have to live a healthy life style.

YOU HAVE TO EXERCISE. YOU HAVE TO EAT HEALTHY!

Nothing annoys me more than a person who wines about being fat, and can't stand their physical problems and health problems, but does nothing about it! Don't wine if you are just going to sit on the couch and stuff your mouth with potato chips! Get up and get moving! Subscribe to a health/fitness magazine. It will motivate you! It motivates me every time I read them, and it makes me want to work out and eat right. Ross and I are cleaning out our cupboards, and every future grocery trip will be more strict than we have ever tried before. More fruits and vegetables than ever.

To live a life lifestyle now we...

-Only buy cans with sodium free, fat free or reduced fat & sodium on the labels.
-Try to avoid packaged foods as much as possible! They contain more preservatives that are bad for you!
-Try to pick out more organic or all natural groceries.
-I drink more water. (Crystal light Pure is my favorite additive to make water more tasty)
-We make dinners from health magazine recipes.
-We drink Skim milk
-Everything we can get that says "Light" on it we do! (Such as yogurt or salad dressing)
-We getter butter than has Omega 3's in it, or spray butter. (Carrie underwood uses spray butter, I read about it in one of my health mags)

-In our small town we walk places as much as possible.
-I plan on buying a bike after my birthday, and Ross will be getting one soon too!
-I work out. Mostly pilates, Yoga, and kickboxing.

I plan to...
-Work out more! One day on, one day off.
-Possibly purchase some new training shoes because the ones I have now are old, and are not comfortable to wear during Cardio.
-Buy more organic foods (I have been reading about it, and organic really IS better for you!)
-Give up junk food...completely!
-Drink more water.
-Subscribe to some more healthy living mags! (I love them!)
-Follow more blogs of other healthy living people!

You don't have to wait until New Years to change your lifestyle. Start living healthier today!

xoxo

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Strawberries taste so much better with chocolate!

Getting some sun just in time!
In the past few winter like weeks, (though it's supposed to be Spring!) I have been obsessed with with baking. The problem is, I have been baking cakes and cupcakes. (As seen in recent posts) 
Last week, I decided to bake a chocolate cake with triple chocolate chip icing. I didn't even know such icing existed, but alas, it exists! 



Today Ross said to me, "We really need to eat up that cake soon!" So a creative way to eat my cake without it compromising my touch 18 min Ab workout from my Turbo Jam Dvd, and my 10 min upper body routine from my Pilates Dvd, I ate my chocolate cake with fresh strawberries. 

My working out is going fine. I am starting slowly as not to strain myself. I have worked out twice this week. My first work out this week was only 20 min, but it was so intense that I was dripping sweat and was sore for two days. Hence why I am just now working out again today. I plan to work out more and more each week, for longer amounts of time and more days a week. I will post some pre workout pics as soon as I feel comfortable posting them. Well, it's time to shower! Until next time.

Thursday, April 7, 2011

New work out plan.

Spring is here, though for some reason we are still getting random days of snow. That's Ohio for you.
But regardless, bathing suit season is around the corner and unless I want to purchase new bathing suits for this summer. It's time to start working out! My favorite things to do are Yoga, Pilates, and Zumba. Sadly, the YMCA I am a member of is a half an hour away so I never feel like taking an hour out of my day to drive there. Especially when I can work out at home with all of my Dvds and equiptment that I have. However, if I could find a work out buddy to go with me, I would be more likely to go!

Well, I'm going to keep this short today because it's 2:12p.m. and I'm still sitting here in my jammies. Time to get a move on and work out! I think I'm going to start doing the beach body work out dvd to get my body ready for swim suit season! Maybe I will post some before and after pics? Maybe after I shower! lol
 

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