3 about me

1. I seriously need to start working out. My lazy butt needs to get off of the couch and at least go for a freaking walk once in awhile because this new pudge isn't going to take care of itself. The Boyfriend and I played tennis twice, but our little workout plan has come to quite the halt. We've been talking about going for a walk the past few nights, but the couch and television have won us over every time.

2. The past few days have been a bit rough for me; I've been feeling depressed and tired, but I'm attributing it all to stress. I started classes last week and my workload this semester is going to be unreal. On top of that, I suck at time management and I'm having a tough time getting back into the swing of things. Work is also proving to be stressful because its requiring a lot of learning and it's been more difficult than I anticipated. On top of that, I had an interview for an internship and have another one later in the week. How on earth can I handle this all at once? That's a typical problem for me: taking on more than I can handle and being unable to admit that it's too much.

3. I need to find opportunities to be creative. I need to get out my camera more often, I need to write or read in my free time, and I need to get out my drawing pad for more than just one sketch every few months. My mother wants me to paint a picture for her living room, but I feel so uninspired and unfamiliar to being creative that I'm afraid to do it! With my busy schedule, hopefully I can find time to get a little artsy here and there.

more excitement...

So I love Gossip Girl. I am addicted to the show, after having discovered it with a friend whom I visited in Iowa. We stayed up practically all night watching as many episodes as we could possibly keep our eyes open for and I've been obsessed ever since.

Coming to Target on September 13 is a line of clothing inspired by Gossip Girl. Designed by Anna Sui, the line is filled with amazing items that I'm absolutely dying to have. Here's a sneak peek at what I've found:

Vanessa

Jenny

Serena

Blair

Blair

Again, I am obsessed!

(this and more found here)

Soooo excited!

So I know that if you ask me what my favorite movie is, I will immediately say, "10 Things I Hate About You" because, well, its fabulous. But then I will probably say, "And at a close second is Boondock Saints" because it's a freaking epic movie. Epic. If you haven't seen it, rent it NOW. Put it in your queue. Seriously.

Now, to the point of my post: Boondock Saints 2 is coming out October 30th. Oh em gee. I seriously can not wait! Here's the trailer for those of you who are as pumped about this as I am...

do I really have to go?

Sadly, I have to return to the real world today. Summer fun, goodbye. Books and lectures and homework, hello. On the upside, I only have one class today so I get to ease back into things at least. I'm also considering dropping one class which would probably help. Oh, and all my classes this semester are in buildings I've never been in before, so I'm going to look really awesome today carrying around a map!

The Boyfriend brought me home a nice surpise yesterday: molasses cookies! Seriously though, I used to get molasses cookies all the time from Hy-Vee when I was living in Iowa. When I moved back here, I sadly discovered that none of our grocery stores carry them! So last time I was visiting friends in Iowa, I made sure to stock up. Imagine my surprise when the Boyfriend handed me a huge box of fresh-baked molasses cookies that he brought home from Costco. Yum!!!

Early this morning, I was rudely awoke by the shockingly loud sound of the lawn service right outside my window. At what time, you ask? 6AM. And let me tell you, I am not a morning person. I was thoroughly peeved by this. And to make things better, it scared the hell out of my kitties who dodged into the bedroom, causing the door to swing open and the bright sunlight of early morning to come rushing in. Grr....

Currently Dreading: the commute to campus and having to rush to work afterwards.

Currently Sipping On: a mini Naked juice; I feel so healthy when I drink them, and I'm hoping all the natural fruits and veggies will boost my mood.

Currently Feeling: in denial that the semester really is starting today, whether I want it to or not.

(photo of a 1950's UW-River Falls student found here)

worry myself to death

I'm exhausted, both physically and mentally. The past 48 hours have been some of the most emotionally draining that I've ever experienced.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a worrier. I get stressed about everything and tend to maybe blow things out of proportion. This worry makes sleeping very difficult, and two sleepless nights makes for a very tired me. Yesterday, while I was driving home from work, I blasted the music in my car just to try and drown out my own thoughts. Perhaps I should try meditating...

Other things on my mind:

1) I'm extremely poor. Like, I dunno how I'm going to pay for books next week.

2) It is far too cold today to be August. Bah humbug.

3) The Farmers Market today was delightful! I got some hot peppers for the Boyfriend and some green beans, too.

4) I think I'm going to go see Post Grad with a friend tonight. Looks good! Here's the trailer:

(photo from here)

poptarts are banned from my shopping cart

My new employment requires me to wear tan pants... so today after my shower I dug to the bottom of my drawers to find all the tan pants I used to wear when I worked at Target.

Uh, less than half of them still fit me. Holy crap.

Reality check! My eating habits lately have been poor at best. Fast food, sugary snacks - I eat it all. I'm a skinny girl and always have been, but I feel like I've taken advantage of my remarkably fast metablism and abused my body. And now it's rebelling.

I've always been interested in nutrition. When I go to the store, I read labels and look for food color and high fructose corn syrup and partically hydrogenated oil and sucralose. Not that it really matters for what gets put in the cart though, seeing as I'm currently chowing down on a bowl of Chef Boyardee. Ugh, I'm ashamed of myself.

The Boyfriend is on the same page as me, but I'm sure his beer consumption is also playing a role here. We decided to try MGD 64 since it has less calories, but sadly discovered this meant it also had a lower alcohol content. Hey, you can't say we aren't trying to be proactive.

So starting, uh, tomorrow I'm going to start eating better. It's time to take control of my health and well-being!

Do you have any recipes or healthy snacks you'd like to share with me?

(cartoon by Natalie Dee, of course)

odd one out & awkward sunburn

I returned from my nice little vacation last night and before curling up in bed to watch one more episode of Gossip Girl, I checked my Facebook.

Perhaps you need a bit of back story here: After high school, I went away to a fabulous little school in Iowa and had the time of my life. I attended that school for 3 semesters before transferring for a variety of reasons. While I was there, I made some very good, close friends. Sure, we had our ups and downs, but we were solid friends. My leaving, however, changed that dramatically, and I haven't been having much luck staying in very close contact with them.

Last night, I found my news feed filled with status updates about their new apartments and pictures of how cool everything looked and of their first dinner living there together. This killed me.

We had always talked together about how cool our senior year would be when we finally moved into the campus apartments together. Now they are all there, living that dream together, and I'm here... without them.

This isn't me regretting my decision to transfer out. This isn't me saying I'd rather be there than here. I am saying that I miss them, and I'm sad I'm missing out. I am saying that I'm lonely without my close girl friends.

The Boyfriend stroked my hair as I cried my eyes out about this. I couldn't help but also feel envious of him and his BFF; even though his friend goes to school far away, they stay connected with an online video game that they play together and wear goofy headsets to talk to each other while they do so.

Moving on, my weekend was awesome. I got a ton of fresh air, ate lots of good food, rode the jet ski, and even tried to wakeboard. These water sports required me to wear a heater shirt so that I didn't freeze in the cool water. It covered my upper body and arms, so only the tops of my hands are awkwardly sunburned!

I did, however, realize on the 2 hour drive that my iPod is in serious need of being updated. The majority of the music I own is punk rock or other outdated late 90s crap. My music tastes have grown to like more coffee shop type music, like Meiko and Kate Nash.

Do you have any suggestions of artists I might like?

Plans for the Day: take photos of stuff for my upcoming etsy shop, do laundry, enjoy the beautiful day

Plans for Tomorrow: orientation at my new job

Personal Goal: learn how to make a female friend without feeling like I'm hitting on her

(picture from here)