We are slowly, but surely coming to the end of the semester. It's been quite a challenging semester in more ways than one. With school work, extracurriculars, work, and social life (or lack-there-of), I've just been taking things day by day. Honestly, at this point that's all I can do. That's all any of us can really do: take one thing at a time, work your butt off and hope that all of your hard work pays off. There's no use in worrying about things you can't change. You can't change them, so why dwell on it? Work on what you have to do for the next day, work hard and that's all anyone can ever ask.
To mentally get by I've just been de-stressing by working out. It's the cure to any stress. Promise. I've really been into interval training lately. I tend to get really bored by the treadmill. The monotony sort of gets to me after 10 or so minutes, so the constant changing the pace really keeps me on my toes. Here was today's workout:
Minutes Speed
0-1 4.5
1-2 8
2-3 4.5
3-4 8
4-5 4.5
5-6 8.5
6-7 4.5
7-7 8.5
8-9 4.5
9-10 8.5
10-11 4.5
11-12 9
12-13 4.3 (That .2 really makes a difference!)
13-14 10
14-15 4.0
15-16 8
16-17 4.5
17-18 6
18-19 4.5
19-20 4.0
All of this comes out to about 2 miles. After this I did my everyday ab routine which I will post very shortly! I finished my workout with 5 minutes on the treadmill at 6.0. I sweat away all of my troubles! It was excellent.
Well, now it's off to clinical. Then dinner and studying my butt off for my 2 tests tomorrow. One day at a time.
Here's my new favorite workout tune:
I posted the full version, which I wasn't going to do. But if you haven't watched it yet this gives you a good excuse!
The semester is winding down and I, as well as everyone, have a ton of loose odds and ends that need to get done. This weekend: finishing two papers and starting on a third as well as studying for a massive test I have on Monday. It's been nonstop go-go-go this whole week; I barely had time to even think! Hey, but that's life, right?
I cannot even begin to display my my excitment for Thanksgiving "break"! I have a jam-packed day on Monday, but I'm going home that night after clinical, so I don't mind at all. I cannot wait to sleep in my own bed in my own house, have my wonderful mom make me delicious treats and meals and hangout with my sister. I can't wait to spend time with my family, the boy, and some friends that I haven't seen since the summer.
After being home for just about a week with [nearly] nothing to do, it's going to be hard to go back to nonstop work and finals-prep, but I do have a couple things to look forward to: ugly sweater party and good friends.
1. I had a fantastic weekend. The boy came up and we spent the whole time just laughing and enjoying each other's company. It was so nice to have him here after not seeing him for a couple weeks.
2. Everyone should go see The Ides of March. It was absolutely excellent! Ryan Gosling and George Clooney were amazing as ever in this film. It was action packed, there were twists and turns, and definitely kept my interest. So worth the money!
3. Thanksgiving is so soon, but not soon at all. It's really only a little over 2 weeks away, and I'm actually going home even sooner than that, but I just have so much to do until then that it feels like the much needed holiday will never get here. I can't wait for everything about it.
4. New York Chinese food is way better than Pennsylvania Chinese food. Hands down.
5. I really love soup. It's one of those foods that when I'm hungry, I never say to myself, "I could really go for some soup." However, I've had it twice in the past two days and I could not be more satisfied with it. I've officially decided: soup is the perfect meal no matter what point of day. (Okay, maybe not for breakfast).
6. Mat Kearney radio on Pandora is perfect. Comforting and chill, yet upbeat and positive. go make yourself a free account [if you haven't already], and put him in your playlists. You'll be instantly satisfied.
7. I'm sick of coughing. I'm sick of being sick. And I'm sick of being tired.
8. Speaking of tired, I'm exhausted. Physically, mentally, emotionally drained. Okay, I'm done playing the wining card.
9. I have a ton of work to do tonight and I don't want to start any of it. I will, but I don't want to.
10. I need there to be about 30 hours in a day. Don't we all?
Today's just one of those days. Slept though my alarm, woke up late and had to rush around to get ready for work. Thankfully the boy called me because he knew I should have been up by then. If it wasn't for his call I would have most definitely been late for work.
I stepped outside and I could have sworn it was January. The air was beyond the crisp briskness that it should be at this time of year. With snow on the ground and the wind literally gnawing at my face, it felt like I was walking in the pit of winter.
Work was boring as usual and I did absolutely nothing. I was there for three hours and I cannot even begin to tell you what I did. Homework? No way. Online shopped? Didn't even do that. When I got home I cleaned up a bit from last night's costume party then literally laid in my bed. No computer, no TV, no music, nothing. Just laid there. I just had no desire to do anything. It's just one of those days.
From about 4 or so until 6 I watched Disturbia with the roommates, and now as I'm "doing my homework" (AKA writing this post) I'm watching Marley & Me with Jax. So lazy, I know. The assignment will get done, that's for sure, but it doesn't look too promising right now.
I can't even decide on a song to pick to leave you with! Okay I guess we can do this one. I'm a big fan of this one lately. Usher is just so excellent.
I mean, I know it's almost November, but snow!? Really!? This is making me want Christmas to come even more than I already did! It's not even like it was snowing for a few minutes; it's been snowing all day! I can't even believe it.
I just bought the Pumpkin Spice coffee creamer because it's fall and I wanted to be festive, but I feel like all I should be drinking is hot cocoa and wintery blends, like the peppermint and gingerbread things! That's okay - it didn't stop me from enjoying the pumpkin! :)
So, update on my life: I'm sick...again. Bronchitis this time and the medicine is just not working! I am so ready to be better it's not even funny. On Wednesday I stayed in my bed pretty much ALL day; I was in my bed from 1 in the afternoon until pretty much the next morning. I felt very rested the next day (as I should have), but still not really much better. Sickness is so atrracted to me it's not even funny.
Thursday, despite me feel under the weather, I went on a little pick-me-up shopping trip with Jackie. I got a ton of stuff for just $40! (I had a gift card from my birthday still!) Here's the deets:
The shirt and both necklaces were from Forever21. I also purchased a few other things that aren't pictured including a plain white T from Forever21 and a form-fitting, navy, 3/4 sleeve, scoop-neck dress also from Forever21. I also had $10 off a bra from VS that came with a matching free panty! Then I had a coupon for another free panty! I love sales and free things.
I'm really pumped about the shirt though. It's so cute! The dress is also very excellent and was only $10.80! I just have to find somewhere to wear it to. I could wear it out to dinner with the boy, I suppose!
As for today, I felt decently productive. Although I didn't do any homework and woke up wayyyy later than usual, I still feel like a lot was accomplished. I was Mrs. Fix-it for a bit and put up the curtains that have been sitting in my drawer for the past month, cleaned my room, re-arranged the tub full of sweatpants/sweatshirts in my closet, rested (your welcome, mom!), and DLed some tunes for the small costume party the roomies and I are having tonight. Decently productive, right?
I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend and most importantly staying warm! :)
I'm not a huge fan of Halloween, but I'm tryinnggg to put myself in the spirit!
So, I'm sitting at my desk job signing people out computer lab keys, giving them their temporary lock-out keys, and giving out packages when these two boys come to the desk asking to sign out the ping pong set.
There are a few groups of guys that come down all the time asking for ping pong. I guess it's all the rage among the freshman boys. It doesn't matter what time of day it is, they are all about it!
Today, some of the regulars come down and the two were bickering over who should sign it out - it was quite comical. So when they finally decide, the one boy starts to fill out the sign-out sheet and glances down at his watch to see what time it was. He reads his watch, jots down the time, takes the pong paddles and starts the walk away.
The other boy then goes, "Why do you have a watch, anyway."
He responds with, "Because watches are classy. And cell phones are for calling people."
The other boy had nothing to say, so they went on their merry way and are now happily paddling away. I just thought that was the most perfect response to a very, very dumb question.
Since my recent departure from my beloved coffee, I've had it once. And that once was the weekend we went to Oley, PA. My roommate's step dad picked up coffee from Dunkin' Donuts and I just could not resist. BUT! Since then, I have not had a single sip! When the boy visited last week, I made him a cup (or two....or three) every morning without a single ounce. Do you know how hard that was!?
Anyway, It's October and I could not be more excited about fall. I love fall. I think it just may be my favorite season! It did not start on the right foot, as I'm already sick! If you remember from one of my first blog posts, I'm always sick. I even lost my voice already! This may be a record. Usually my voice doesn't disappear until November/December or so. Then proceeds to go missing during the even colder months again.
Here are some of the things I'm most excited for about fall:
1. Attire. Although now my daily attire consists of khakis and a heinous purple polo, fall clothes are my fave. I love sweaters, boots, scarves, light jackets. I love it all.
2. Colors. Orange is my favorite color, so you can imagine how excited I am that everything gets to be this orange/yellow/red/neutrally color.
3. Warm drinks. Even though I am no longer having coffee, there are tons of other drinks that I love. All different kinds of teas, hot coco, ....okay maybe there aren't as many as I thought. But maybe coffee will be able to come back into my life? We'll play it by ear.
4. Going home. I'm going home next weekend for our Fall Break. It's not so much of a "break" as a "two-days-off". I get the weekend, Columbus day and the day after to hang with the fam. I cannot be more excited!
5. Pumpkin. I love anything pumpkin flavored. Actually, I've never had pumpkin pie, but I'd bet that I would love it! If you haven't been on Pinterest, get on it now! They have the most delicious looking pumpkin flavored things! Click here to go to my Pinterest food board. If you click on one of the enlarged pictures, it will bring you to the recipe! (usually)
6. Thanksgiving. With fall comes Thanksgiving and I am a big fan. Every Thanksgiving, my family and my aunt's family get together and have an excellent time. LOTS of food, games, and hanging out with the family. What can get any better than that?
7. Sleeping with the windows open. The best feeling is being snuggled up under the covers and being just a little bit chilly. Comfortabley chilly.
This was one of the opening bands at last week's concert. I am a big fan of this song. The boy? not so much.
This weekend was the best one I've had in a long time. Last weekend was a blast; the roommates and I went to the Oley Fair in Oley, PA. Basically a bunch of tractors, excellent food, petting zoo-action, and a great auction at the end of the night. We had so much fun.
This weekend the boy came and visited me. I hadn't seen him in three weeks and I was getting kind of antsy. Long distance sucks. I don't care what anyone else says - it sucks. It's hard and awful and frustrating and by the end of that two, three, four week period of not seeing each other, you're pretty much ready to scream. But you know what? It's totally worth it if you both are willing to work at it and really want to be with one another. All of the time between just makes the two of you stronger and more stable in your relationship. Once you can handle the distance, you can handle just about anything. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder.
He arrived Thursday night and stayed through this afternoon. On Friday we went to the Brad Paisley Blake Shelton concert that he purchased me for my birthday! It was absolutely AMAZING. Our seats were great and the experience was even better.
You like our matching outfits? I know.
Jerrod Niemann on the left, Blake on the right. Honestly PERFECT.
Brad on the left, Brad and Blake on the right.
We honestly could not have had a more perfect time. The atmosphere was great, crowd was great, performers were phenomenal, and just the overall experience was definitely an A+! Good job, boy! :)
Saturday was spent lounging, then a trip to the King of Prussia mall to do a little shopping (a successful trip, too!). Then it was off to one of our all time faves: Hooters! Classy, I know. What can we say? Last but not least, we visited another one of our all time faves, Hannah. What a great Saturday night.
I was definitely sad to see him leave, but we had the most perfect weekend. It was exactly what we needed. Here's my favorite Brad Paisley song. Actually, at the concert, someone was proposed to during this song. I loved every second of it.
Alright, so it's been a rough couple of days. The week started off with a trip to the ER for one of my roommates (she's fine, thankfully), then a test the following day, some major studying and homework on my birthday (yesterday), and some realizations.
One realization in particular: I stress wayyyy too much about wayyyy too much (shocker, right?). I have this headache that I've had since Labor Day. That's over a week ago! I'm going to say it's due to stress, being that it basically started up right around the time that classes started to get difficult and overwhelming. I am a stresser. I'm a worry wart and I think over way too many things. I get an idea in my head of something that's stressing me out and it just festers there until whatever it is I'm stressing about it over. I'm perfectly fine during the day - it's at night when the stressing takes over.
We all have things that stress us out; that's just life. But for some of us, stressing is a big part of every day and that's just not okay. Therefore, we need to work to maybe not get rid of, but alleviate that stress a bit. Some things that I try to de-stress:
1. Work out. This always makes me feel so much better. Working out is sort of my "me" time; I literally don't think about anything when I'm at the gym.
2. Listen to music. This is a big one for me. I could be in the worst mood and then put on a feel-good song and I'm instantly brought back to normalcy.
3. Talk to someone you love. I think this one is really important. It's really important to have a good, stable support group. One or two people who you can call at any hour of the day or night and they'll listen to you and be more than willing to help you. The people who seem to put you before themselves and really care about you and what you're going through, even if it's the smallest thing in the world.
4. Take a cat nap. It's always good to remove youself from the situation for 15-20 minutes or so and completely shut yourself out from any others stresses. Cat naps are great. Even if you have a ton of things to do, 15 minutes won't do all that much in the long run. Sometimes you need to just chill out.
Here it is. The new unfortunate change that I'm about to implement in my life. Remember how I am not supposed to have coffee anymore but I still do anyway? Well...
I am going to try to eliminate coffee from my diet. Yup. I said it. My love affair with coffee must come to an end. I was reading about things that may heighten peoples' stress, and it said in order to decrease anxiety and stress, it may be a good idea to stay away from your daily dose of heaven in a cup.
So, being that I'm already supposed to steer clear of it, I've decided to really kick it up a notch and see how that helps me. Today is Day 2. I'll make a daily counter in the top right corner of the post!
I'm not sure if I posted this song before, but it's really relevant today, so here it is:
Is stress a problem for you? What do you do to de-stress?
This post is going to be short, sweet, and to the point. Just some things that I want to touch upon.
1. This week has been a whirlwind of hellishness and then excellence. Mental breakdowns by day, happy and content again by night. Bipolar? Perhaps. I just call it college life.
2. I finally am feeling better about my life path. For some reason I was have (yet another) meltdown because I didn't know what I was doing. In any aspect of my life. However, after starting my clinical (ish) and talking with a few beyond amazing people, I'm suddenly feeling like a weight's been lifted off my shoulders.
3. Life if tough and it sucks a lot. But guess what? It's the best time in the world. All of it. The ups and downs and ins and outs. The ups are great and the downs suck, but it'll all work the way it should. Okay I'm now stepping off my Life-Inspiration-Soapbox.
Goals of the Weekend:
1. Understand goniometry. (almost there!)
2. Study for my elbow, wrist, and hand practical.
3. Come up with some static exercises for an athlete doing hip pre-hab.
4. GYM! and then gym again tomorrow.
5. (try to) Relax.
6. Organize and destress.
...among other things. But those are the important ones!
Happy Post-Labor day! I hope everyone's long weekend was especially excellent. I know mine definitely was! I went home for the weekend and enjoyed an excellent weekend hanging out with the family and the boy. Friday was spent with my sister for the first half of the day then the boy for the second half. Saturday was spent with the fam at a nice dinner and then the boy again. Quick side bar: Has anyone seen The Hurricane? With Denzel Washington? It was absolutely excellent! This is the movie we watched over the weekend and it could not have been any better! I definitely recommend it. Anyway, Sunday was my Goddaughter's 1st birthday party!! I cannot even believe it's been a year already. Time really does fly.
And now, after a perfect weekend, it's back to the craziness of classes. The beginning of the semester is always hardest. Getting back into the swing of things and kicking the lazy summer habits definitely can be tough, especially when you're basically punted right into the heart of it by having a quiz the second day of class. Not fun.
Right now I'm feeling very overwhelmed and stressed. I feel like everything is really unorganized and all of my classes are meshing into one big class. I can't get it straight; what is due for which class on which day with which teacher - none if it is sticking in my head! I need to just lay everything out and get things sorted out before my head spontaneously combusts.
Oh wow! It's been about two weeks (at least) since my last post! Don't worry, don't worry, I'm not ignoring you. The reason for my absence and lack of posts? My devil apartment. Before I get to that, I feel like it's very much needed to do a small summer re-cap.
My summer was pure excellence. I worked, made some money, spent a lot of time with my sister, got even closer with the fam, hung out with friends, and got to really connect with the boy and realize just how great being together all the time feels. We basically started our relationship on long distance, so being together for those four months was exactly what we needed. I wouldn't say I did anything super significant, like skydiving or taking a road trip across the country, but I wouldn't trade this summer for anything in the world; it was understatedly perfect. That's the thing about summer: it comes in quickly and in the blink of an eye it's gone. One second you think you have all the time in the world to bask in the summer sun and the ones you love, and the next second it's time to pack the summer away and leave it behind as you move forward into the routine of classes, homework and tests. That's why you have to make it worth while! Spend as much time with the people who are the most important you - that time will be gone in seconds. I hope everyone had a beyond excellent summer and did everything you wanted to!
Being that it is back-to-school time, I have moved back to PA and into an apartment with three other amazing girls. We are loving the freedom and ease of living on our own, but there has been qute a few obstacles so far! (All very minor, but inconvenient all the same).
1. Devil toaster. This toaster literally goes from braed to burnt in the matter of four seconds. You have a four second window to grab your toast before it turns into this:
I almost burnt the apartment down on the second day. Not my finest moment.
2. Devil cable. This isn't a huge problem for the house, but more for me. The living room and the other girls' room cable is working fine, but of course mine is completely out. For a while my TV wouldn't even show a picture! Now, we got it to turn on, but I can't turn the channel and I can't get the closed captioning off. Wonderful.
3. Devil internet. We. Have. NO. Internet. Hence the lack of posts and what not. I've been living off of the internet on my phone which is not an easy thing to do! Apparently, the internet was never even streamed to our apartment! Luckily, they aren't charging us for internet for the first month because we simply haven't had it. The Comcast people will be there to fix it up (and hopefully my TV as well) tomorrow.
I know there's a few more "devil" things in the place, but for some reason they are slipping my mind. Those are the major ones for now.
So, after five hours of travel and two trains, I'm home for labor day weekend. I have another doctor's appointment later today and my Goddaughter's 1st birthday is on Monday so my aunt is having a little party for her on Sunday. I can't even believe how much time flies. It's unreal!
After I arrived home yesterday, the boy had planned on taking me to dinner. When he came to pick me up he brought these beautiful flowers!
Then we went to get some sushi and came back to hang with my fam and what not. It was definitely a great first night back!
Alright! Well, I wanted to leave you with Beyonce's amazing performance at the VMA's when she sports her baby bump. So presh! However, I can't seem to find a good YouTube clip of it! Bummer. So, I'll leave you with another song that is right up there on my list lately. Once again, it's Lady Gaga! I'm not a huge fan but for some reason her new album is totally on my good side!
It's 9:30 and I've been awake since about 7:30 or so. I guess that 2 hour nap I took last night really affected my sleep. Anyway, I'm drinking my morning coffee, watching Will & Grace and laughing to myself like some kind of crazy person. This show always cracks me up.
This summer has been nonstop to the doctor and back, checking iron levels, blood work, back to the doctor and so forth. The (semi) verdict? Acid Reflux. Hi, I'm 65.
Yesterday I went for my last doctor visit of the summer. Sad, I know. He ended up putting me on higher dosage Reflux medicine because apparently I need a stronger acid blocker. The good news? He thinks my Esphagitis will clear up soon...hopefully in about three months.
The bad news? He basically ripped my soul out when he told me to cut out certain foods from my diet. Here is what I CAN'T have:
1. Caffeine. For those of you who don't know, this includes COFFEE. Flashback to what I said earlier? I am drinking my MORNING COFFEE. Fast forward to about a week from now? School. You know what that means? COFFEE. I may not make it past the first week without this precious element to my everyday life.
2. Spicy Foods. Hmmm. It's Wednesday. What happens on Wednesdays? WINGS with the boy. I love spicy food. All kinds. I even put hot sauce on my eggs, hot red pepper flakes on mostly all things salty, and I love wings. The hotter the better.
3. Acidic Food/Beverages. Example: lemon, orange, tomatoes. Basically anything that I love. Pasta, lemonade, pizza, orange juice. COME ON.
4. Soda and Alcohol. Eh, really not a problem.
5. Chocolate. Aside from carbs, chocolate is my favorite food group.
In addition to cutting perfection out of my life, I also need to:
A. Eat smaller portions. I am KNOWN for overeating. I am over-indulgence girl. PS: Sorry for showing you those pictures. I'm disgusting.
B. Not eat before bed. Just last night I scarfed down about half a thing of goldfish about 20 minutes before bed.
Ya know, the last two things really aren't that bad; I think I can handle it. As for the minuscule massive changes to my diet? Not so much. There's just no way! I guess I'll give it a try if it'll heal me faster. Key word: try.
*All Food images (minus the first coffee image) from Pinterest.
I can't even begin to tell you how much I have to do. WARNING: here comes a semi-large rant-sesh so if you're not up to hearing some bitching and complaining then feel free to X out of this post.
I go back to school in 8 days. EIGHT. DAYS. That is not nearly enough time to get all that I need to get done and/or enough time to sit back and do nothing before this crazy semester starts.
As of now I don't have a bed. I don't have room decor. I don't have any regular life supplies. No food (for the apartment, obviously). No books, school supplies, cleaning supplies. I don't have nearly enough khaki pants. I have about one pair of good jeans. Andddd...I don't have any money to purchase anything on the list of things I still need to get. Well, I have some money but I must use it VERY sparingly and wisely.
I also need to clean my room, do my laundry, shower and get a grip. Mostly get a grip. I'll be working on that one indefinitely.
Okay, so how do we feel about British pop stars? I just heard a song on @efosta's blog by Kate Nash called The Nicest Thing. Brief sidebar: Follower her on twitter. Follow her blog. Read both everyday and bask in the excellency of her wittiness. You'll want to know her. Better yet - you'll want to be her.
Anyway, enough ranting and raving over my Cyber-BFF who doesn't quite know it yet. Let's get back to the British pop star bit.
So, The Nicest Thing by Kate Nash. I'm kind of a fan. It's really heartfelt and the live version is raw and honest and I'm all about it. She sings about the "nicest thing" she's seen and all of the things she wishes he would see in her. How she longs to be the "nicest thing" he's ever seen. It's one of the more honest songs I've heard; she makes you feel what she's feeling. We've all felt this at one point or another and she brings you right back to that very place.
After I listened to this, I came to a preconceived conclusion: British (and other non-American) pop stars are deep, deep human beings.
Okay, so this isn't always true. Lily Allen's F*ck You - not so deep. Some of Kate Nash's other songs - really not that deep. But then there's Adele and Duffy. Now they are kinda deep.
I am not a British pop star expert by any means, but I have been YouTubing quite a bit of them. I want to love them. I feel like they're all really awesome and trendy and have that cool accent. However, I can't really find anything that I'm super in love with (besides that one Kate Nash song, Adele as a whole and some Duffy). Maybe it's not meant to be. Maybe I'm supposed to stick to the AMURICAN stars. Maybe my love affair with British pop stars ended before it even started.
I'll continue to look for another few days, but then I think my quest must end.
Do you guys have any British pop star songs that you love? Not a fan at all?
How many times have we heard the phrase, "Don't judge a book by it's cover"? Our parents and teachers have been preaching this to us from the time we can speak. Sometimes even earlier. They want us to grow up to be upstanding human beings, not judging the "book by it's cover". Just because the book has a giant raging shark on the cover doesn't mean it'll be about a giant raging shark that sweeps through the town's waters and eats every single child one by one. It could be about a boy who falls head-over-heels, cross-his-heart, painfully beautifully in love with the girl of his dreams and they live happily ever after. The message: just because a girl is wearing a red push-up bra, teenie-tiny leather skirt, fishnets and 6-inch clear heels with her hair knotted around itself (looking like it hasn't been brushed in weeks), heavy black eye liner, and glitter just about everywhere doesn't mean shes a hooker (or Ke$ha).
Honestly, I think it's BS. I don't know about you, but I always judge a book by it's cover. If the cover doesn't look appealing to me, I'm definitely not going to pick up the book and see what it's about. We're visual people and that's just how it is. If something looks good, we're more likely to be drawn to it and engage ourselves. Whether that be a book, decorating ideas for your room, movies, an album cover, right down to people themselves.
Parents and teachers try to teach us to do the "right" thing and not judge people, and in a perfect world that would be great. But guess what? We all judge people. And if you say you don't then you're lying to yourself. People make an impact on you based on how they look. You're going to remember that your cousin's boyfriend came to the family party with shoulder length hair and a handlebar mustache, wearing eyeliner, skinny jeans, a bow tie and a top hat. And you're going to have a preconceived notion about him before he opens his mouth. That' just life and there's nothing wrong with that. The people who dress like that know this and to be honest, that's probably the exact reason why they dress like that. Hey, HandleBar Jim might end up being a great guy, somewhat normal, and really interesting. But you're still going to be waiting for the day that he pulls a rabbit out of his top hat.
Have there been people that surprise me? Of course. Then you end up being sorry for the fact that you judged them in the first place and tell yourself over and over that the next time someone walks into a backyard BBQ wearing a ball gown that you won't think they're absolutely out of their minds. That's how the cycle goes and that's how it'll always go. I'll be real: when I get older and have kids of my own I'm probably going to teach them the old Book-Cover phrase. But when a kid shows up to my house for a playdate sporting a comb over, wearing plaid shorts, a tucked in pink polo, sparkling white tennis shoes, and tells me his name is Preston, I'm going to be judging the mother. In my head she'll be a snooty country club wife wearing a black collared dress and pearls, hair slicked back into a perfectly crafted ballerina bun at the nape of her neck. When she walks in to pick little Preston up wearing exactly that, I'll smile to myself and continue to make up a big story about her in my mind.
...then we'll end up being besties and the cycle will continue.
Look forward to a Here I Go: Promoting Mat Kearney post in the near future. He's great.
After 3 delays, a mini panic attack on the plane and finally landing down at MacArthur, I'm home.
I'm so glad to be back to normal food! We've had some excellently delicious things while on vacation, but I can't keep feeling guilty for eating things like this every day!
Amazing. Chocolatey. Smooth. Perfect. And yes, that is a chocolate covered cherry on top. Like I said, it was great eating things like that every single day, but man do I feel like I need a straight week at the gym. Nothing but treadmills and ellipticals forever. It's back to whole wheat bread, Wheaties, grilled chicken and various broccoli recipes. Well, not all together obviously.
Last night after I got home I hopped straight in the shower; planes just make me feel gross, even if I just showered right beforehand. Then the boy picked me up and took me to a beyond excellent dinner at Mama Lombardi's. Fried calamari and bowtie pasta with salmon. Absolutely delicious. Then we went back to his house, hung with his parents a bit and then had a low key night in, watching The Office and chatting. Oh! And how could I forget? He also brought me these amazing flowers:
Beautiful, right? He's kind of an excellent guy. Just a little though; don't want to think he's doing that great ;)
Alright so here's the deal. We just finished out longggg week in Florida and I think we're all ready to get back to the routine of normal life. Not ready to get back to work - that's for sure - but I'm ready to get back to my friends, the boy, and just the little things about home that makes it, well, home.
We get to the airport and look at the departure schedule...our flight: delayed. Of course. All I want to do is get home and have a nice big Subway sandwich and our flight gets delayed. Andddd it doesn't say til when....just yet.
After we go through the security, get body scanned, and sit at terminal 122, I took out my trusty lap top to see if I can find out why we're delayed and what our new departure time will be. What happens next?? No. Internet. Why am I not surprised? So, the boy looked online for me and it said we would be delayed 55 minutes. Not too bad, right?
Wrong. about ten minutes later, they made an announcement that our flight would be leaving at 1:30 and not arriving back home until 4:30. Why in the hell is it taking three hours? I have no clue. Then about 15 minutes later, another announcement was made about the final details about flight 1300. Departure: 1:40. Arrival: 4:15. Better than 4:30, I suppose, but it's still over two hours after we were supposed to get home.
Luckily, I now have internet so that will keep me occupied for a bit. However, I have this family sitting next to me who has three little boys. I'm going to say 4, 6, and 8 years old. The parents are trying to play Uno with them and screeeammminggggg at them because they don't know how to play. Then they bicker among themselves. Trouble in paradise? Talk about parents of the year.
Today we woke up and had some breakfast at the hotel. I'm really not a huge fan of breakfast in general (I know I know, it's the most important part of the day), and I'm even less of a fan of it when it's prepared by the hotel staff. It just tastes like frozen food defrosted or cafeteria food. Not my style.
Anyway, we're sitting there enjoying eating our breakfast and basking in our morning cup of coffee when we see this baby, about 1 and a half/two years old, running through the booths. Recipe for disaster, right? Absolutely correct. All of a sudden we hear an extremely loud THUMP. It was this kid's head hitting the floor like a bowling ball. We could feel the thump's vibrations through our feet - that's how hard this baby hit his head! Then the wonderful mother picked up his wailing body and proceeded to yell at him while continuing on with her eggs. I mean, yeah, the kid did need a little scolding, but I'm pretty sure she should have made sure he was alright first and worried a little less about her eggs getting cold. I'm telling you: this kid hit his head SO hard on the concrete. Some mom's just suck.
Anyway, after breakfast I did a short and easy workout. Here's how it went:
Warmup/Cardio
1 minute walking warmup at 4.0
5 minutes of 30-second running/walking intervals (run @ 9.5, walk @ 3.5)
1 minute walking coll down at 3.0
Exercise Ball
25 regular crunches
25 alternating cross crunches
60 second plank with your feet on the ball
20 in and outs
20 full range sit ups (all the way back on the ball past horizontal, all the way to sitting)
Extras
50 bicycles
30 ceiling humps
15 second hold at the top
20 more ceiling humps
20 bicycles
100 inside leg pulses (each leg)
15 sumo dollies
2.5 minute quick cardio
20 seconds high knees
20 seconds fast feet
20 seconds jumping jacks
20 seconds mountain climbers
10 second rest
20 seconds mountain climbers
20 seconds jumping jacks
20 seconds fast feet
There you have it. There were 2 new vocab words it there (in and outs and ceiling humps) that I will put in the vocab post. I'm thinking about making a page dedicated to the vocab words; this way it'll be easier to locate.
Now it's time to shower and get ready for Linner (lunch/dinner) and off the some shops later on tonight to pick up souvenirs for some special people ;)
Alright so I know I'm on vacation, but I think it's still important to keep up the workout. Once you get in the habit of not working out out it's so easy to fall right back into that rut when you get back home. So therefore: working out it is. Even if it's just a small workout while you're away, do it! I did skip Tuesday. I usually go roughly every other day while I'm on vacation. I try really hard to go every day, but sometimes the day does not permit me to if we have a lot going on that day.
Sunday and Monday I just engaged in some light cardio then some quick 10 minute ab toning. See? Nothing crazy! Last night, however, I was in the workout mood. If you didn't check out my last post, click here for some workout vocab so you know what I'm talking about! Here's my excellent workout that mildly kicked my butt:
Cardio
4 minutes: incline walk. Incline- 9, speed- 3.5
6 minutes: fast jog/light run at 7.0
1 minute: brisk walking at 4.0
4 minutes: 30 second-interval running. Run at 9.5, walk at 3.5
1 minute: walking cool down at 3.0
Leg, Butt, and Ab Toning
20 walking lunges
15 squats
30 second wall sit
15 side lunges
20 stationary alternating lunges
20 laying leg lifts (I used 10 lb weights on each leg)
25 weighted inside leg pulses (each leg)
50 non weighted inside leg pulses (each leg)
8 pee on the fire hydrants
16 butt leg extensions
8 pee and extends
**repeat the last 3 another time**
20 crunches
20 sit ups
20 butterfly crunches
20 tuck ups
20 straight leg ceiling crunches
20 butt ups
60 second plank
25 crunches
30 second hollow body hold
20 reverse crunches
30 second plank
20 side crunches to each side
20 bicycles
30 dollies
20 twist and crunches
end with a 60 second plank with your feet on a big ball.
There you have it! I broke it up into leg, butt, ab, and oblique exercises just in case you only wanted to do one or two of the body groups. It really wasn't all that bad. A little time consuming, but totally worth it; I feel great this morning! Today I'm thinking some ball-exercises. (Get your minds out of the gutter...I mean the big exercise balls!)
Alright, so I just did a really great workout that I'm dying to share. However, a hand full of the exercises I do don't really have names, and if they do then I definitely don't call them by their right name. I tend to make up names for a lot of the exercises. I call them weird things, so beware. This is why I've chosen to dedicate this blog post to some workout vocab so that in future posts you'll know what I mean when I say weird things. Here we go. We'll start off easy and work our way up to the really out there ones.
1. Tuck-ups: Like a V-up, only you tuck your legs in and out as you crunch. Sit on your butt, legs in a tucked position, then lower your shoulders down as you straighten your legs. On the way back up bring them back into a tucked position.
2. Butterfly Sit Ups: These may look a little awkward, but they're great. Sit up in a butterfly position so your feet are touching then lay back. Crunch up toward the middle with your hands pushing in front of you, not toward the ceiling.
3. Straight Leg Ceiling Crunches: This is where you lay on your back, bring your legs straight up to the ceiling (straighter legs are better, but they can be slightly bent), then try too touch your toes. Your are essentially crunching to the ceiling with your legs straight.
4. Butt-Ups: Start in the same position as the Straight Leg Ceiling Crunch. Instead of reaching up for your toes, keep your back and shoulders on the floor and simply lift your butt up. You want to try to drop your legs as little as possible. Pretend there is a wall on the other side of your legs and your straight legs can't go past the invisible "wall". This trick always seems to work.
5. The Audrina: I gave it this name because I got this exercise from a Shape magazine article that featured Audrina Patridge. I'm going to try to explain this as easy as possible. It's a different take on the standard "Tuck Up". Lay on the floor with your legs straight at a 45 degree angle. As you crunch and lift your shoulders off the floor, you're also bringing your knees in toward your stomach. Then as you bring your shoulders back down, your legs should straighten back to 45 degrees.
6. Dollies: Sit with your legs in a straddle and your hands by your ears, elbows out. Go side to side alternating touching your elbow to knee, then elbow to knee. Kind of like a see-saw. Back, forth, back, forth.
7. Sumo Dollies: Stand with your legs apart and bent outward, like a Sumo Wrestler. Then engage in the same motion as you did with the dollies. Hands by ears, elbows out, elbow to knee.
8. Reverse Crunches: Lay on your back at 90-90 (hips flexed at 90 degrees, knees flexed at 90 degrees). Keeping the knees at 90, brings heels to the floor by extending your hips. Just before they touch the floor, flex the hip again, but this time bringing your knees all the way up almost to your chest, lifting your butt off the floor just a little bit. The key to this is form. Really try to keep those knees at 90 degrees the whole time.
9. Peeing on the Fire Hydrant: Okay. Bear with me on this one. Get on the floor on your hands and knees. Keeping your knee bent, lift your leg as if you were going to pee on a fire hydrant. Voila. Great butt exercise.
10. Pee and Extend: Do the Pee on the Fire Hydrant except at the top, instead of bringing your leg back down, extend it out so your leg is straight. Then bend the leg, and retract the "pee".
11. Butt Leg Extensions: Hands and knees again, bring one let out to the back and horizontal (straight from your back, to your butt, to your toes). From this position bring your leg up toward the ceiling then lower it back to horizontal.
12. Laying Leg Raise: Lay on your side with the bottom leg bent. Raise the top leg to about 45 degrees, hold for 2 seconds, then lower it down. Easy Peasy.
13. Inside Leg Pulses: Alright let me try to explain the one. Lay on your side, legs straight out so you're in a straight line. Take the top leg and bend it over the bottom leg so that you're underneath leg is still straight and almost peaking out through the bent "bridge" that I like to call it. It may be easier to hold the foot of the leg that's bent because once you start the exercise it tends to do some sliding. Now lift the bottom leg up and down in a "pulsing" motion. At first you feel silly and it doesn't hurt, but do 50 or so of them and your inner thighs will be burning!
14. Twist and Crunch: This I may have got from a Zumba move, but it's really great and works your obliques and just your core in general. I'm a big fan of this one. Stand with your legs shoulder width apart and arms bent, knuckles facing each other (but not touching) as if you were going to bow to a Chinaman. Now do the twist...kind of. Twist from right to left then back to right, but as you go right again bring your left knee up to your elbow. Then lower and twist left, right, back to left and as you go left bring your right knee to your elbow. Love these!
Okay that's all I can really think of as of now, but I'm sure there will be more weird ones that I'll have to add but I think we're safe for now!
Oh, family vacations. With these little getaways comes some really excellent people watching (and judging). Don't even say I'm awful because you do it to. We all do, not matter what you say. I've seen some pretty awesome things and some pretty hellish things. Here we go:
Awesome:
The little girl in her little two piece. She. Is. Adorable. Blonde hair in a little curly pony tail, about 3 or 4 years old with that little baby belly. She couldn't be more than like 20 pounds. Just a little nugget of a human. I honestly wanted to pick her little excited body up and squeeeezzzeeee her and play with her and slide down the slide and make sand castles and be little again. (in the most non creepy way possible). Kids like that are awesome; not a care in the world. They're just excited being a kid with their mom and dad by their sides.
Hellish:
The little overweight girl in a two piece. Actually, she's not so "little" anymore. She's probably around 8 or so and about 25-30 pounds overweight. And wearing a bikini. Please, just tell me why? I'm not understanding here. Why would you put your daughter in a bikini like that?? Call me a bitch, but I just don't think it's necessary. It's fine that your daughter is overweight (well, not really), but people are just going to make fun of her. Now why would you want that for your little girl?
Awesome:
Couples in love. You know, on their honeymoon or celebrating their engagement, first anniversary, whatever it may be. I love that they're so effortlessly in love, being a little mushy but mostly fun, darting from ride to ride. It's just so excellent.
Hellish:
Couples in love that wear those corny T-shirts. Today I saw one that had their names in a heart on the front, you know, like how in old movies they used to write their names on a tree? "Allen + Jane AAF". On the back it simply and vomitously stated "Once in a lifetime [insert silhouette of Mickey Mouse] life give us a true fairytale". Ughhhhhh. Really? That just sickens me.
Awesome:
When those girls get the princess treatment. Let me just state that it's ONLY cute when the girls are 6 and under. Anything older than that it just gets a little weird. Anyway, I love when they're dressed up as Belle or Cinderella with the little dress, bun on the top of their head and sparkles everywhere. It's even better when it's their first visit and they're just gleaming with excitement.
Hellish:
Wardrobe. This has to be a list because I could have an entire blog post just on the hellish wardrobe choice of some people. I get that sometimes its culture, but sometimes it's just weird. Examples:
- Fanny packs. STOP THAT. Men, women, Coach, Walmart. It needs to stop.
- Maxi dresses. You've got to be dying of heat.
- Heels. Really, ladies? Heels at an amusement park?
- "Smith Family Vacation" shirts. Thanks guys. We all are super ecstatic that you're on vacation, but so is literally every other person here.
- Those giant Goofy hats (the character Goofy). Once again, you've got to be sweating!
I can go on for hours, but I guess I should stop here.
Alright so we board the plane. There I am next to the window trying not to have a huge meltdown and piss everyone on the plane off. I get in my seat, put my carry-on under the seat in front of me, buckle up, send my parting text messages and turn off my phone. The flight attendants come around, do their spiel and we're ready to go. Or so I think...
All of a sudden the pilot comes on the loud speaker and says, "Alright folks, I just got a message from air traffic control saying there's a big storm ahead where we're supposed to be flying through. I'm just waiting for a re-route and we'll be on our way. It should only be a few minutes." Oh. Great. Of course that would happen.
I'm keeping cool, no big deal. Just a little turbulence, right? (:::We're going to hit the WORST turbulence, those little masks are going to come out and we're all going to die a long, slow, freaking-out, tragic death:::) Okay fine. I'm being a little dramatic, but whatever. Anyway, we start to take off and there go my ears. Pop, pop, pop. I look out the window and what do I see? The wing is shaking. SHAKING. What's going through my head? Of course the worst possible things.
We get up in the air and everything's fine. A little iPod action, some magazine reading, and some random small talk with the woman sitting next to my sister.
And now it's time for descent. This is where I have a problem. My ears are really bad. Of course, like everything else on my body. So we're on the way down and all of a sudden the pressure in my ears is SO bad I literally thought my ears were going to start bleeding. I couldn't hear anything, including that woman who decided now was a good time to chew our ears off. After some light turbulence, the sky going from clear and blue to almost black and cloudy, we were on the ground. Finally. Andddddd my ears still didn't pop. Of course that would happen. Luckily, I woke up this morning and all was well in the hearing category. Wouldn't that have been tragic.
All in all I guess it wasn't too bad of a flight. Now it's time to finally shower and get ready for dinner!
P.S. RIP Amy Winehouse? Crazy. I guess she should have listened to them when they said...
Here I am sitting and waiting at gate A7 for the giant metal machine to touch down and take me away. We should be boarding in about ten minutes and taking off in 25. I feel like I'm going to vomit all over the place, possibly on my sister. Mostly because she's currently reading Harry Potter.
Real quick: my parents haven't flown in about 20 years, so naturally my dad is freaking out. He's walking around pretty frantically, babbling like a nervous wreck and really needs to sit down because he's freaking me out.
Also, my dad made sure to lock every single bag just in case the Bag Monster came into the baggage claim and stole all of our socks and underwear. Actually, ya know what? That would happen to me. My stuff would get lost. I'm that girl.
Alright, that's it for now. I'll be sure to update on the trainwreck and random chaos that will be this vacation. That is, if I make it out of the flying machine alive...
Soooooooo......I really want a tattoo. Really bad. But I'm not going to get one right now and here's why:
1. I don't know exactly what I want.
2. I feel like it has to mean something. I don't want to to be like "YES! I got it. I love peanut butter, so I'm going to get a jar of peanut butter tatted PERMANENTLY on the outside of my ankle." That is a hideous idea. Just because you like something a lot, doesn't mean you can get it tattooed on your body. If that were the case, I'd have a roll of sushi, peanut butter, a portrait of Blake Shelton, a lame quote from Sweet Home Alabama, and a slice of vegetable pizza tattooed on my body. Not ideal.
3. Tattoos can cost a pretty penny. And guess what? I don't even have an ugly penny. I can barely afford regular life, let alone a tattoo of the NY Yankees emblem that I'll regret tomorrow.
Now, these are examples of "What the Hell" tattoos:
Really?? Okay, I get it. You like clothes. But a hanger?? Come on.
Over it. So overdone. Let's think of a new quote, shall we?
I bet that'll look real cute and sexy when she's 65.
See? What the hell are people thinking? I'm all for expressing yourself freely through art blah blah blah but lets get logical tattoos please?
Soooo...for now I guess I'll put a hold on the whole tattoo business. Once I find something I really like, then wait a few months, see if I still like it, then maybe I'll have it drawn up or something.
This weekend was absolutely perfect. Everything about it. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, everything was amazing. I'm going to try to make this as short and sweet as humanly possible so I don't end up boring you.
Friday:
Friday was one of those days where you don't really do all that much, but somehow you still manage to have a good time. Nothing super significant, but nothing all that boring either. Actually, it was kind of a busy day! I went with the boy to feed his uncle's birds and hermit crabs (Luckily none were dead this time! Two days earlier we found out that one of the ugly poor things were dead in the watering hole!). Then we went to Hooters for dinner! Love. Their. Wings. Honestly, they have the greatest wings. Not only is the flavor so excellent, but it tastes like real chicken. Like they just killed the chicken out back right before cooking and serving it. We also tried out their fried pickles which were also surprisingly good! Then it was back to the boy's house and time for a movie. We watched (almost all of) The Company Men, which was great! A decent Ben Affleck movie. (I'm not always a huge fan, but he wasn't too bad in this one!)
Saturday:
Saturday was the wedding. The boy's cousin was getting married so I went with him and his family. The wedding was really beautiful. We all know how much I love weddings!The ceremony was held in a very nice Catholic church. It was a small wedding, but really wonderful. Just right. The reception was at a vineyard out East that was absolutely gorgeous. I'd never been to a vineyard and I can't wait to go back to another one. They came around and served Sangria, red wine, white wine, they had it all. And everything was really delicious. The boy and I walked through the vineyard a bit, mingled with his cousins and parents, and had a really excellent time.
Unfortunately, we suck and I don't have a full length picture. But that's as good as you're going to get.
Sunday:
Sunday was one of my favorite days. I don't even know why! It was just perfect. The boy and I were lazy in the morning, hung with his parents a bit, then laid out in his backyard and caught some rays. We got Subway, drank some beers and just hung out. (We also played Badminton. Dont' make fun!!) We chatted, had some life talks, and just enjoyed each other's company. At night it was time for more wings! I think I'm addicted. First it was Asian dishes and now wings. I have food problems. Many of them. Anyway, my friends and I went to this place called Kelli's where they have amazing wings and karaoke on Sunday nights. There was shoving faces, there was karaoke, there was laughing. Loved every second of it!
Attractive, I know. How disgusting.
Okay and now it's time to sign off for now. I hope all of your weekends were perfect!! :)
Lately I've been pretty up on my fitness, and I've decided a few things.
1. Long treadmill intervals suck, short ones are amazing.
Let me explain. In my One-More-Oreo circuit, there are 5 minute 30-second treadmill intervals. Full out sprinting for 30 seconds, then walking for 30 seconds. The time just flies by. You only feel like you're going to pass out for 30 seconds, then you're back to walking. Just as you get to the point where you say in your head, "I know if I go just five more seconds I'm definitely not making it out of this alive", you get to stop! How perfect is that? Long ones, on the other hand, might as well be the devil. I mean, I may not be the most in shape individual, but I'd say I'm getting there! However, intervals for more that 30 seconds are the death of me. I start panting, get in panic mode, and by that time I'm well past the point of "I'm not going to make it out of this alive".
2. Running up a hill (aka: incline) is harder than you think.
I tried to do this one work out where you ran for a minute then walked for a minute, but after each cycle the incline increased and so did the speed at which you ran up that incline. It. Was. Death. I didn't think it would be that hard, but man, I was dying about halfway through. To be honest (and I hate to admit it) I couldn't even finish it! I did about 17 out of the 30 minutes and it was a struggle towards the end. A really hard, painful struggle.
3. I love the way your legs burn the day after a workout.
I've been doing all of those squats and lunges and wall sits and various other leg workouts and the next day my legs kill me to just stand let alone walk up stairs. Even though it hurts so bad, it feels so good. That's how you know you did one hell of a workout, and better yet: you survived it.
4. Resting days are glorious but horrendous.
Everyone needs a resting day. At least that's what the boy told me. You have to give your muscles a day to chill out and get their energy back. I never really thought about this for some reason, but it makes a ton of sense. Working out every day is great, but when your muscles get so fatigued you won't get as good of a workout. Therefore: resting day. However, this resting day feels so great that you don't want to go back to the intense running escapades the day after! BUT! Success must prevail. So keep on keeping on after that day of rest (no matter how much it sucks).
5. Sweating is great. Embrace it.
So, being that I'm a girl, it's not really all that attractive to be sweating just as much as the guys. However, it's just in my nature to sweat. A lot. I am a sweater and proud of it. And if you have a problem with that, then maybe you should work a little harder at the gym. Granted, I can be sitting in the air conditioning and still sweat, but that's besides the point. I used to be really self conscious about my ability to sweat, but I've come to embrace it. Sweating is a sign that you worked hard. That you pushed yourself the your limits and reached new goals. It signifies strength, hard work, determination. Never underestimate the power of sweating. If you ask me, I'd say it's good for the soul.
6. Coffee makes me so happy.
So, this part really has nothing to do with fitness. Well, actually, I do love having coffee about a half hour to an hour before hitting the gym. The caffeine gives me that extra boost and motivation. I feel a lot better if I have a cup of joe before getting my sweat on. To be honest, I feel a lot better whenever I have a cup of joe. Iced, hot, with milk, with half an half, black (well, not yet - but I'm getting there), whatever the case - I love it. It makes me happy and warms my soul. Literally. Having a bad day? Turn on that coffee pot (or Keurig) and enjoy the warmth and comfort of pure perfection.
On that note, I had some coffee earlier, yesterday was my day of rest, my legs still burn from Tuesday's workout, and I must get my butt back to the gym. What's on the agenda for the night? STARBUCKS! Hah. I'm addicted and it feels so good.
Blake Shelton's new CD came out (as did Chris Young's) so look forward to a bunch of BS or CY songs coming your way (or don't look forward to it, you not country music fans).
Isn't he so handsome?? He's hysterical too. Follow him on Twitter please? @blakeshelton. Thanks.
