Holiday Cheer and Photos

I cannot believe that Christmas is this Friday!!! Seriously..... it seems like this month has been a blur. Last night were both Mike's Branch and my branches holiday parties. So we went to his and ate yummy food, then went to mine and had a good time playing foozball and Chinese Christmas and getting pictures taken and such. My ABM, and long time friend, Kelly, has a photography business on the side. He's taken my senior pictures and some other artistic photos here and there of me, so I asked him to do some of Mike and I. :) I posted some of my favorite below. If you're interested, let me know and I can get you in touch with Kelly.

The serious one.

Cuddling on the couch.

Something I can never get enough of.

A Week Off

It's funny how much faster your week seems to go when you have a week to do whatever you want. At the same time, when you are still adjusting to not having to cram for Finals and get in the last minute service hours while working a 40 hour a week schedule, it can seem like there is nothing in the world to do, which makes people like me go crazy. So what did I do for the past 4 days that I have been off?

Well, Monday I cleaned.....and not your typical lets clean the house clean... I cleaned the entire house, top to bottom, fans, vents, and all. Then I got a couple of presents ready and wrapped, spent $80 at the grocery store, and stared mindlessly at the TV set for the rest of the evening.

Tuesday, I baked and hung out with the amazing boyfriend I have. I started off making fudge, because I've never made it and didn't think it would turn out right. I was wrong, it was yummy! So I tried my hand at rice krispie treats, another no brainer that were good. So I made a double batch of chocolate chip cookies, which I know I rock at. Picked up my HUGE posters that I will be framing (pictured above) at Costco, cooked my boyfriend dinner, and attempted to make brownies from scratch. (I hope those turned out OK because I never actually got to try them before giving them all away). Did I mention I cleaned the kitchen after every baking experience?

Wednesday, I got up bright and early to make confetti sugar cookies. I doubled that recipe as well and frosted them all with a deep pink frosting. Made snickerdoodles.....which I also rock at (according to my best friend Hillary who is always asking me to make them). After that I decided to stare at the TV in boredom again because there is nothing better to do with my day rather than shop...and being lazy is a lot less expensive when you want to buy lots of shiny new clothes. When I finally drug my lazy ass off the couch, I made peanut butter blossoms or whatever their called. Doubled the recipe yet again and realized all too late the bowl was going to be almost too small so I had to hand-mix a lot of it. So I make those, and unwrap a lot of Hershey's Kisses, and realize I've got to get moving for my best friends Glee party that she wanted me at. After an hour of traffic and 4 hours of pigging out on junk food, which I still feel guilty about, I drove to Walmart. It seems that no one carries cellophane anymore...the lady looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language and referred me to the post office. Why the hell would I go to the USPS to get cellophane?

After a long day on Wednesday, I woke up late this morning. I didn't get my walk in, which made me feel like a stuck pig all day and then I started pigging out again....but I got 11 plates of goodies out of my house and delivered. I also drove around for 45 minutes trying to find a couple of offices where I needed to drop them off at, but that's besides the point. Mike took me to lunch at a sandwich place by his work and I got to meet his co-workers. I was amazed that they didn't believe he actually had a girlfriend. His manager actually admitted to me that she thought he downloaded a picture of a "hot-chick off of the internet to show off to everyone." HAHAHAHAHA...he showed them. :-P They all seemed really nice though. Now, I got all of my shopping done for the family I adopted, with the help of a few really nice friends, and it's ready to drop off in the AM. My only obstacle now is to figure out how to wrap a basketball....any ideas?

Thanksgiving

It's the time of year where families get together and enjoy eating lots of food and each others company. This year, I am going to Sedona to spend time with my immediate family, and for the the first time ever, my dad's parents and sister and her kids. So it's time to reflect on what I am thankful for in my life. I am thankful for my family, my house, my job, and my friends. I am thankful I have my degree and for my roommate. I am thankful for my amazing boyfriend and his family. In this tough economy, it is difficult for some families to celebrate the way the rest of us do, so I am thankful that I can help one of these families out by donating food and gifts to these struggling people.

Twilight....

I am officially addicted to the Twilight Series. I have been trying for over a year now to not jump on the bandwagon no matter how good everyone said the books were. Well, my roommate got me to watch the movie, and I thought it was really good. I have this belief that the book is always better than the movie, no matter how good the movie is, so I borrowed the book from her last Wednesday. On Friday, I bought the second book in the series to read since I had finished the first. Saturday, I came home to find the third book on my bed (my roommate figured I read fast). So last night, I stayed up until 3:15 in the morning finishing the books because I could not put it down....... So now I'm exhausted after working all day and I need to read the last book to find out what happens to Bella and Edward and Jacob and everyone, but I can't because I need to sleep and told my roommate to hide it from me until this weekend. Seriously, I have a problem.

Sleeping in....

The sun is rising later and later, which means I am waking up later and later. I love getting up early in the morning and just hanging around bed for no reason, but it seems that I cannot possibly wake up when it's dark out. I have tried for the past few years, but it seems every year around November, I fall asleep later and wake up later. Maybe I should get a light outside my window that turns on at 6:30 in the morning, so I think it's light out and actually wake up? That might piss Mike off though when he spends the night.

On another note, my hair is now almost black, and everyone seems to like it. Apparently it makes me sassier? I have a feeling this is one of my better hair colors I've chosen. It'll be interesting to see my whole family's reaction at Thanksgiving in two weeks. My mom called and said there are 17 people coming for Thanksgiving in Sedona and my dad's parents will be there for the first time in who-knows-when. So, my mom is letting me bring an actual dish to help her out this year. Yeay for Mashed Potato Cassarole and Apple Pie. Thank god for Alayna for giving me a recipe for dutch apple pie. :)

San Diego

It's 9pm and I'm at home procrastinating. I think the worst part about vacation is coming home and having to unpack and get back into the swing of things. I have spent the last 3 days in beautiful San Diego, for the fourth time this year. This time was great because we went to all new restaurants and hardly ever waited for anything. I would have to say this is one of the best trips ever.

We started out Sunday by eating at Cafe 222 downtown. Mike got the idea from watching "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" on the Food Network. They were doing a breakfast feature, which is my favorite food so I kept it on, and Bobby Flay was on talking about their stuffed French Toast here. I tried a bite of Mike's and I must say that it was amazing. My waffle was probably the best waffle I have ever eaten...it was perfectly cooked and crunchy and the perfect color. To top it off, the atmosphere worked very well for the place. It was very upbeat and a great way to start the day.

After some fun walking around SeaPort and SeaWorld, and a trip driving around La Jolla, we decided to FINALLY go to the Strip Club in the GasLamp District. The Strip Club is very sports bar meets lounge, meets high-end steak house. The food is all designed to be shared with dozens of huge sides. The first thing you choose is your cut of meat, it is after all a steak house. they bring you a salad (included) and then your cut of meet and a basket of garlic bread on a tray with some tongs. So when you are ready, you get up and go season your meat and grill it yourself. It's a fun way to relax and I don't think I've ever eaten a steak that good...not even at Ruth's Chris. Although, if you really think about it, the idea is a genius for the owners.... you're paying to cook your own food. :-P

Other than the food, the trip has been pretty cool. We saw some of Mike's friends catch a lobster of Ocean Beach Pier. There were dolphins spotted off of Crystal Pier as well as birds actually diving in the ocean to catch fish. And of course, Mike went and putted at Torrey Pines. All in all, the trip was great, I'm just sad to be back so soon.

October

I love this month! It is like the best month because it finally starts to cool down and I can wear my jeans and coats and have an excuse to try to steal my boyfriends coats/sweatshirts. It is the start of fires in the fireplace and warm beds that make it hard to get up in the morning. If I liked snow, I would be excited about it too.... :-P The season also makes me want to bake, which is bad for the whole healthy-eating-working-out-thing because I end up eating half of what I make. Anyone want cookies or cupcakes or something?

Our branch is also in the middle of a remodel....part one. So everyday I go into work and there is something changed. It'll be interested in 2 months when we go through remodel part 2 and EVERYTHING is changed in a matter of 3 weeks. I have become rather attached to the old way of doing things and it's become a challenge for me to set everything up and relearn 6 years worth of knowledge. I guess you could say that's my new challenge... I used to juggle everything, but now I have to see how well I can adapt to the change and new rules.

Mike's been doing really well with his Golf and I'm superpsyched for him. It kind of makes me think about doing something I really like for a living. I have been considering doing a catering cupcake type company and supply cupcakes and cookies for corporate parties or get-togethers or something on the side...but everything is harder with a full-time job so it's probably not going to happen anytime soon.

Oh well, San Diego next weekend to look forward to for now!

Late at Night and Don't want to sleep

I hate those nights when I'm completely tired and don't want to go to bed just yet. I'm reading this interesting book about lawyers and judged sentenced to prison who using extortion to gain hundreds of thousands of dollars and a dirty drunken lawyer to hide the money and cart the mail. On top of that, the CIA is throwing a Presidential Election because they have their own agenda of fighting the soon to be new Russian Leader.

Talk about making people paranoid. Between conspiracy books, and schizophrenic psychic murder mysteries, I'm going to have nightmares for months. Oh well, the book is interesting so far...and it's keeping my mind working.

A looooong week.

This week is going to be the longest week I've had since I graduated school. I am working all 6 days this week due to training for a new system. It starts with a 12 hour day tomorrow (which I've been informed will be every Monday from now until we are completely converted). Then I work 2 days in the branch making sure everyone is done with training and we won't get fried by auditors.... and lastly I have 3 days of training downtown, fighting with traffic. It's not like I really have anything else to do, and I love the overtime pay, so when my boss forgot to give me a day off, I told him to keep it that way. :) So, tonight, I have packed my lunch for the first three days of the week: Salad, Salad, and more Salad. I have also resolved to finish the book I'm reading (The Brethren by John Grisham), even though I don't know what to read next. Any recommendations?

Cleaning.....

.... Cleaning and Grocery Shopping should count as exercise.... I swear... I spent 4 hours cleaning my house from top to bottom. I was not only covered in dust and several cleaning products, but sweating like crazy because I had to turn all of the fans off in my house. And now, I get the pleasure of fighting the crazy Sunday crowds at the grocery store because I'm starving and the only thing to eat in my house is Mac N Cheese (how healthy). And honestly, if you think about it, these things should count as well:

"Sexy time" (haha got that from Laura): It takes a lot of work and energy and I always want to take a nap afterwards (like when I do my Taebo).

Dealing with Angry People at Work: If you've ever dealt with an unhappy customer at work, it takes a lot of effort (and therefore energy) to keep yourself from screaming back at them: You're right, It's all MY fault, go ahead and scream some more today. I mean, seriously, do they think we woke up in the morning and said, "I want to be yelled at today. Let's try and piss someone off."

Reading Horribly Mundane Textbooks Assigned by Teachers: I know I'm not in school anymore but the amount of concentration it takes to get through even ONE chapter of a textbook, remember every word printed, and not fall asleep trying is mind-blowing.

Yard Work: It's hot outside and it takes a lot of muscle and energy to chop, pick up, and dispose of endless trees and bushes.

Reading: Only because if reading was counted as cardio, I would be a size 2, and would have no qualms about working out. :-P

Oh well. On the bright side, I know have a nice clean house and will be in a better mood in the morning.

September

....I'm completely bored so I decided to bake a cake. Before I did, I was testing my friend's video chat, and he pointed out that guys NEVER bake just because they're bored. Golfed, yes! Played video games, yes! Drank a few beers, Yes! But never have a heard of a guy baking because he's bored.... which is probably why my rear end is so big.....

Anyways, I've been eating a lot of meat and salads lately, which is good. Today I went to the driving range and then spent 3 hours hunting down a flipping battery for my car...... Checker is too expensive, Costco had a warranty on my current battery so it would be free but no longer carried the model for my year of car. So they gave me $ for my current battery then went to autozone and ended spending 41 bucks for a new battery with an equal warranty on it. I love how cars just seem to wear down faster in AZ just because of the heat. It's always one thing after another....

The rain followed me home.....

.... I spent 5 days in Indiana this past weekend (actually arrived home this afternoon). It's crazy how the days are so much longer there. It didn't get dark until 8:30/9pm at night, so I feel like it's midnight here. It rained off and on all day on Friday, which made it absolutely beautiful and freezing cold. I prepared for 80 degrees, hot and humid whether, and I got absolutely gorgeous, but freezing at night and in the wind.

Now I enjoyed myself and was constantly going, but since this blog is about my birthday goal, I should get to "better myself" part. I had lots of sugar, snack foods, fried and greasy foods. I didn't really work out at all, but walked around a lot of different places. Went riding on quads, which takes a great deal of energy to not freak out that I was going to flip over a fence my boyfriend was constantly speeding towards.

I do want to give myself props for the lack of obvious carbs purchased at the grocery store today. I got skim milk instead of whole, 2 bags of lettuce, bananas, grapes, baby carrots, and yogurt. Although I would like to write more, lightening just struck less than a mile from my house and I'm totally freaked out being online.

Wish me luck at work this week.

Cheating...

....so it seems that the theme of my blog has become, "How best to cheat when trying to lose weight." Which isn't helped by the fact that I haven't been to the grocery in over a week and have been super busy. Although, I have to say that spending 3.5 hours shopping with my mom should be deemed as exercise. I spent most of the time standing or walking around stores, holding my mom and I's bags (which were quite heavy), while looking at other clothes.... so I did burn some calories yesterday while my boyfriend and father golfed 52 holes in 9 hours.

So tonight, after having pizza and garlic knots for lunch and donuts for breakfast, I am going to attempt to do my whole TaeBo video..... wish me luck!

Good Morning World

I woke up this morning and stretched, and stretched, and stretched. Then, I turned on my TV and put on TaeBo!!!! I'd like to do that every other morning (or maybe every morning to make up for my vacation next week). The DVD is only about 55 minutes long, but it kicks your ass without using resistance bands...... so I'm excited to see what will happen if I keep working out with it....

.... off to work, Happy Hump Day!!!!

Waffles for Breakfast

I woke up and had waffles for breakfast, and yesterday I had Pasta Milano from Macaroni Grill. What is it about Carbs that makes them so damn hard to avoid? Pasta has got to be, hands down, my most favorite food ever, aside from all breakfast foods. I could eat pasta or french toast, waffles, and pancakes all day every day for the rest of my life and be a happy woman. Unfortunately, they are horribly dangerous and not at all good for you, regardless of how tasty they are. I'm going to have to re-think my eat right now, work out later idea......

...maybe a turkey sandwich and applesauce for lunch to make up?

A Good Day!

Monday I woke up late, but decided I needed to do my TaeBo anyways, so I did about 20 minutes of it, and tweaked something in my back. So now it hurts when I try to bend over at the waist... you'd think I was getting old!!! I was so proud of myself for actually working out in the AM, and I got punished. :( So my back hurt all yesterday, and I skipped working out. But I cleaned my entire house, which should count as working out, because it takes a lot of effort. I also had a handful of nuts as a snack instead of potato chips, and didn't eat more than 1 bowl of cereal in the morning. It's pathetic, but I love breakfast food above everything else. After all of that, I dropped my car of at discount tire and walked over a mile to the bank and back. 

Now the boyfriend came up for dinner last night, and I wanted to do a light healthy meal for dinner. I marinated some chicken for about 7 hours in a teriyaki/chop sauce mix and baked it. Then I cut it up and threw it over a salad of iceberg lettuce, carrots, radishes, and cucumbers. It was spicy, sweet, cool, and absolutely delicious. So I get to take some for lunch today and eat healthy again! 

Here's to eating right! 

Prescott, AZ

I woke up this morning and cooked waffles, eggs, and bacon, with the help of my wonderful boyfriend. After breakfast, we went on a drive up to Prescott. On the way up there, we almost got in 4 different accidents. It was like all of the stupid drivers were out on the road today. So after about an hour and fifteen minutes, we reach Prescott to find out that there was an Art show going on in the court-house square. We walked around for about an hour, drank a fruit smoothie, and then headed up to Jerome to grab lunch. We drove and drove along the windy road up to Jerome, and about 5 miles out, get turned around by the Sheriffs department. The road was closed and we noticed white smoke billowing up over the closest mountain. On the bright side, the scenery was beautiful and we decide to head back toward Phoenix. We hit some traffic on the way back, and a crazy semi that was riding everyone's asses, including a group of bikers. 

At Carefree HWY, we decide to get off and grab food, since we were starving. I was planning on just grabbing a salad or something until I saw their newest combo. You get an appetizer, 2 full entrees, and dessert for twenty bucks. So, if you could guess, I pigged out on queso dip, hamburger sliders, and chocolate chip cookie dough molten cake. So much for eating right!!!

To make-up for it, I decided that I am going to wake up and do my TaeBo, and eat salads and sandwiches all week. 

One Week In

Ok, so I've only been doing so-so in my trying to eat healthy. I've had pizza twice (one was because I was at a Kid's Bday Party), but I did do Taebo once. It made me so sore that I was still feeling it, 3 days later. I think I'm going to try to do that every other day now, as well as eating fresher foods, like fruits and veggies. I don't know how I'm going to do this, I'm just going to. My boyfriend has been extremely supportive, making me healthy foods and asking me if I've worked out. We shall see how much better I do this week. 

Wake Up Call

Monday night, I went and saw my boyfriend, because he just got back from vacation. For the past 6 months, I have avoided all scales, believing that knowing my weight would just stress me out and cause me to gain more weight. Well, I got on the scale, and it was a shock to me. I now weigh 20 lbs more than when I graduated high school and I'm 2, almost 3 sizes above my "goal size" if you will. So I have decided that I'm going to lose this weight and I'm going to do it right. No crash dieting or harsh workouts that I'm not going to stick to. I'm going to start eating right and get myself in the habit of eating right, THEN I'm going to start working out without paying 40 bucks a month for a gym membership. And instead of weighing myself every week, I'm going to take pictures of myself every few weeks. To keep myself motivated, I'm going to write about what I ate, what I've done all week, and, most importantly, how I'm feeling about myself. 

Any support my friends can give me and comments will be very helpful! Now, because it usually takes longer to lose weight, when you're not crash dieting, I have given myself a goal date of my 23rd birthday. So I have a little over 10 months to get into the best shape of my life. Here's to good health and good food!

My Life: The Best Friend

I've had several best friends since I was a kid and they changed every couple of years. I've had friends that would change their mind every semester about whether or not they wanted to be associated with me. Freshman year in high school, I was in colorguard and winterguard and really into it. Our Winterguard team took a trip to California for a competition, where we went to Six Flags afterwards. I got assigned to a room with the lieutenant, Sarah, and this girl I barely knew, named Hillary. It was her first semester in guard and she had both knee and back problems, so she was on crutches most of the trip. While we were at Six Flags, every one ran off on their own, and I spent my day with Hillary (who, I must mention is a Slore or I wouldn't be doing this memory justice). 

Since then, we have always stuck by each other, through good times and bad. She was there for all of my break-ups, for my mono and pneumonia, for my crazy move to BFE, and the insanity that ensued once I started college. She has been the one who helped me feel the most sane when I was having doubts about who I was and who I want to be. Hillary has seen me grow and change into who I am today, and I have her. 

I must say I was rather scared when I was the Maid of Honor at her wedding. I was afraid that our friendship would change and she would move forward through life without me (I being the ultimate single gal......as I am currently in my longest relationship EVER at almost 9 months). I have come to realize though, that although we don't see each other too often because of our crazy schedule, she is my true best friend, after countless years of drama and boys and trouble. So their will be lots of visits and traveling to really cold cities when she moves next year to (hopefully) Rochester, MN with her hubby while he attends one of the best medical schools in the country. I can only boast that because Mayo Clinic their saved my grandfather from cancer 6 years ago. :) 

Good Evening!

Today is July 19th and the reality has really set in. I graduated college 2 months ago and still don't have a job applying the skills I spent four years learning. All of the analysts say it is a very tough market for new graduates with many experienced employees being laid off and looking for new work. How do you explain to a prospective employer that, although you have only just graduated, you have almost 6 years working in a professional environment and dealing with some of the toughest and most critical customers out there? As I have applied to job after job and sent out email after email and attended mixer after mixer, I am beginning to realize that it is very difficult to get a company to take the risk of giving you your first professional job. 

Since I got my first job, I have historically had an overfilled and overflowing proverbial plate of things to do. At 16, I was taking several honors classes in high school, working as an intern for a bank, had an officer position with the Horizon Pride Regiment's colorguard, and lived about thirty minutes away from it all. After graduating high school, I worked full-time while attending college and become involved in dance classes, marketing competitions, honor societies, and finally Omega Phi Alpha Phi Chapter. After being so busy and so planned for so many years, the free time I have gained from graduating has been almost a shock to my system. 

Many times, I have caught myself daydreaming about doing things that I normally wouldn't do, like constructing cake sculptures (i.e. Ace of Cakes), or making shoes (P.S. I Love You), or even opening my own lounge that served just desserts and drinks. All of which are expensive to do, or very time consuming and artistically involved. Because I have neither the money to open my own shop nor the artistic ability to sculpt cakes and shoes, I have decided to start writing about my life after college.