Green Dress Challenge (Day 14-30)

Ok. So I haven't updated much about my diet in a while.

I'll be honest. I've been struggling a lot lately.

I've been "cheating" here and there, eating things that aren't awful for me... but that definitely aren't on my diet. I haven't gained any weight back or anything, but I haven't lost any more. I need to get my second wind with this thing.

Dieting alone without excerisizing is a tad bit discouraging because the results are slower. This needs to change. I'm still going to be keeping up with this blog and this diet, it's a life change.

People have noticed i've lost some weight, and I'm starting to feel a little better about how I look but the idea of being in a swim suit all summer is really starting to freak me out... so I have to just keep powering through! Words of encouragement? They'd be appreciated.

Britney.

Lately Maegan and I have been reliving our "youth" (more like late elementary/middle school years) by listening to lots of *NSYNC, Britney Spears and the occassional Backstreet Boys tune. We have been having discussions about just how big Britney really was... and how badly, when you were that age, you wanted to BE her!

You wanted her hair! Her clothes! Her dance moves.. and of course, her boyfriend! (who was Justin Timberlake at the time). She was an icon, and she still is! Princess of POP!

We even watched "Crossroads" the other day... boy did that movie want to make you want to run away on a roadtrip with your friends.

Britney has recently made, yet another, comeback and although her music has had to evolve with the times, she is still Britney.

This music just never gets old.

Couldn't tell ya why...

For whatever reason, I get wayyy more stuff done when i'm alone..

I think it's because of how easily distracted I am!

Just today, since I've been up, I had my coffee, lunch, did all the dishes, vacuumed and mopped the apartment and got a bunch of e-mail/school/work stuff figured out!

Yeah for being productive on a Friday!

Tonight is DZ formal! and I'm pretty stoked! I'm taking my good friend Chase, and I barrowed a smokin hot dress from Nat Nat! so I'm pretty excited! Pictures to come!

Happy Friday!

School UPDATE!

SCHOOL UPDATE!

I'm really excited. On Tuesday I went in for a meeting with my "advisor" for all of this major change nonsense, and here's what we/she figured out for me...

As of right now, with all of the classes I have taken, I am about a class or 2 away from completing a major in Liberal Studies!! and because I only have those 2 classes left, I will be under the unit cap so that I can add a minor in Creative Writing.

Therefore, with about 28 more units (in 1 more academic year), I will be able to graduate from CSUN with a degree in Liberal Studies with a minor in Theatre AND Creative Writing.

I am very happy! No more Journalism.

**HUGE sigh of relief!!**

my Weekend!!

Ok. So this weekend was Easter weekend and it was inSANE.

First of all, I was supposed to go home Friday after my class until I found out that my class got cancelled. So than on Thursday, the plan was that I was going to go to Long Beach to hang out with Amanda and James and than just go straight home on Friday morning.

But of course, as most things in my life, the plan changed.

Something happened so I couldn't go to Long Beach....

so there I was, car packed, in my bathroom getting ready for class.

and than I remembered that my professor had said we were going to watch a movie in class....

so, than I thought to myself....

It Thomas' birthday.... and I'm going to miss it?!

NOT OK.

so, I got in my car, I went home.

Now at this point it was around 7... and I didn't get on the 405 til around 7:20..

That puts my estimated time of arrival at around 11:40!

(Perfect timing to make it before midnight... until I saw the traffic).

So I am JETTING to get home...

(still being safe) but JETTING.

So it's nearing midnight.... and i'm getting VERY close

but I was going to be cutting it close, so I started to get very nervous.

My heart was racing and so was my car, when I zoomed around the corner to his street

(having already texted him to tell him to come outside).

I parked (5 feet away from the curb) turned off my car as fast as I could and didn't even stop to put my shoes on before I ran to him.

It was 11:59pm.

I made it.

Happy Birthday Thomas Andrew Wheelus.

Friday, I went with my mom and Cameron to the Stations of the Cross which is a kind of Good Friday service. Than we did some mother-daughter mani-pedi time before I got ready to hit up Monterey to celebrate the birthday at hand. Went out to Monterey and had a blast.

Saturday was nice, and sort of relaxing/preparing for Sunday.

And Sunday was Easter SUNDAY!

JESUS ate a FISH! We went to Easter Sunday service before everyone came over to our house for some good ol family time, delicious food and some Apples to Apples.

It was a great weekend.

I know I say this alot... but I love being home.

Dear Professor,

OK Mr. Professor.
This is super frustrating and not ok.

Today in my class we had a paper due and a test.
The paper was just silly... 500 words of busy work.

But the test? NOT OK.
He tells us to just study the stuff that's been posted online and that we can use the notes on the test and then you get in there, thinking your prepared(ish) and than NOTHING of what he told us to study was even on the test!

That was awful.
Probably one of the worst test I've ever taken.
Luckily, kinda, the whole class feels the same way, so at least i'm not alone in the frustration.
mrrrrrblahhhhhhhhhhughhhhhhhhh.


On a happier note.
Today after my night class I'm going to Long Beach to see Amanda Noel and her man friend!
Then tomorrow my class got canceled so I'll be home wayyy earlier than I thought and will be ready to celebrate Easter with my family and Thomas' birthday with him, which is today!
soo... Happy Birthday Thomas!!
(you're so old!!)

Happy (almost) weekend.

Peace.

John 16:33

"I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world."


Matthew 6:34

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

is it really only Tuesday?

today i'm in kind of an eh kind of mood.

all i want to do is build the scene from the above picture in my backyard

and lay there watching movies all day.

the week is moving quite slowly

and the idea of finals, moving out and money stuff is stressing me out.

so in an effort to lift my mood i'm going to make a happy list.

(inspired by my best friend's little sister, Becca Nicole).

1. being tan

2. laying out in the backyard or by the poolside

3. waking up to a "Goodmorning Beautiful" text message

4. listening to any and all songs from the 90's and early millenia with the roomie

5. sundresses

6. being able to relive your middle school years via youtube!

7. tearing up just from hearing the score of "the Notebook"

8. being motivated enough to make your diet a success

9. country music.

10. the thought that summer

(and all the amazing things that go along with it)
is only a little over a month away.

So Smart and So Pretty.

Every person has a different story, a different past and a different perception of the world.

As you become closer to a person... and hear about all of their stories and percetions of the world, you walk through a door into a new world, their world.

A Best Friend Weekend!

This weekend has already proven itself to be quite lovely.

On Thursday night after my night class I drove to Long Beach for some much needed best friend time. When I got there, we ate than went out on 2nd street (a cute street with bars and shops in LB). We went to a cute little pub and drank some beer and had some good catch up time.

Then in the morning we laid out by the pool in an effort to kick start our summer tans.

It was good fun!

Than last night, Maegan and I went to USC to stay with her best friend Melody.

We again just hung out with her and some of her friends at her apartment and ended the night with "Harry Potter," always a good choice.

On the way home from USC this morning, Maegan and I got to talking about our experiences and many adventures as roommates.

This girl in a short year has become my sister, and not just meaning my sorority sister, like my legitamate sister. We have had so many amazing times.

Because she and I both talk so dang much we literally feel like we've known eachother forever because all we've ever done in conversation is tell eachother stories about our whole lives! She knows almost EVERYTHING about my past. I can make a reference to a certain person or event and there is a 97% chance she will know what I'm talking about.

I have a year left down here in Northridge and I refuse to live with anyone else!

I can't!

I can't imagine living somewhere down here without here... I don't even think I could handle having a seperate room from her! I love her oh so much!

Some of the other stuff we were talking about was how amazing of a time in our lives this is right now! Never again in our lives will we have it this "easy." She and I are both so free-spirited and all about making memories. I could not be happier with the place in my life I'm at right now.

(Maegan and I spend a lot of time recapping our lives since we've met... and the things we have to talk about all make me very happy).

"I want to live my life based on the stories I want to be able to tell.." "I don't. regret. a THING!"

<3

Happy Weekend!!

Happy Thursday!

Today is just a very happy day!

I'm in a great mood!

It's my little, Amanda's birthday today

(and she is going to have the best day EVER!)

I'm going to Long Beach tonight

for some amazing, girly, celebratory, best friend time with Amanda Noel.

I feel fuzzy in my chest!

I just want to dance around and sing country music all day!

There are lots of silly school stresses surrounding me,

but i'm just too happy to let them get me down.

I wanted to put some sort of picture on here to describe

what in the world is going on but nothing good enough

popped up when I typed in bliss or happy or smiling!

I'm just too happy with what's going on in my life and the life of my girls!

so here's what I came up with.

This is what inspired my picture choice! p.s. I want to do this!

Happy Thursday!!

Green Dress Challenge (Day 6-13)

I've been on this diet for 13 days now!

Parts of it have really sucked

(no carbs and no sugar)

but other parts of it have been not too bad!

I have just told myself I can't eat those things

so I haven't.

and...

I've lost 6lbs!!!

(i'm at 147, down from 153).

I'm very excited.

I'm Proud to Be..

a Country Music fan!

This genre is so genuine and perfect.

I've been sitting here since I got home listening to

Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Keith Urban

and so many others!

These men also joined me on my entire ride home yesterday.

Bliss.

Tractors, Lifted Trucks & Country Music!

Spring break is coming to a close.
It has been an AMAZING 10 days.
From the girls coming here, and all the adventures that went down,
lots of good family time and just a lot of good home town fun.

I love my home town!
I drive around in my little Honda, seeing the streets covered with lifted trucks,
GMC's and the occasional tractor or 2.

I love this small town.
Surrounded by Country music,
not being able to go anywhere without knowing at least a few people,
and being able to wear your North Face and Uggs and know that
everyone will be dressed just like you.

I can't wait to be back in 2 weeks for Easter!

( ^my mom and I at one of Cam's 3 game's that I got to go to! It was FREEZING!)

( ^Cam pitching!)

( ^Thomas and I in our flannels, boots and a cowboy hat?)
Thomas is my friend from high school/junior college.
He's a water skiing, flannel wearing, lifted truck driving, country gentleman.
My brother and his younger sister are friends as well so we got to hang out on a couple different occasions during the week, than last night he took me out on a REAL date.
(Imagine that?)
He picked me up, met my dad, opened all my doors, including the car door,
took me to dinner at Supporros (a Japanese restaurant in Monterey),
mini golfing, and then we got a drink downtown.
It was a very nice night.
We shall see. = ]

I LOVE being home.

TOMS: One Day Without Shoes

TOMS ONE DAY WITHOUT SHOES!
April 5th
To raise awareness of the charity of TOMS
and the reason we do it!
Here's some pictures of us being out and about that day!

"Mom's better at dying eggs than me!!"

( ^mom's eggs! she made one for my dad! aww!)

The other night my mom and I dyed eggs!
This is something we do almost every year.
We used to do it with the whole family, but the boys have kinda pooped out.
But my mom and I still do it! = ]

I made eggs for Cam and I! = ]

My hippie tye-dyed eggs!

My mom and I! We look like we're up to no good...

Casey didn't want to participate, but he sat with us for a bit!
He looks SO entertained!

Yeah for Spring Time!!
and
EASTER!!

I've been bitten..

by the travel bug!
There are sooooooo many places I want to go.
To experience.
To live at.
I just want to pack a bag and go.

I've been thinking a lot about life and money lately...
and thinking about how, yes, of course it's smart to save money,
but to an extent.

There's no point in saving money now, that you can always be saving later,
or for things that you will be working toward later on in life.
Example, I don't need to be putting money away now for a house!
I don't even know who I'm going to be buying this house with...
I can save for that later.

I also don't need to die with money,
or save money and not be able to use it until i'm in my 60's and may
not be able to enjoy it the way I would now!
I also think traveling can be easier and simpler if I do it in my 20's than
if I wait to do it later...

I want to go to:

London
Paris
France
Liverpool
Greece
New York
Australia
Tennessee
Graceland
North Carolina

I think as soon as I finish school...
and before I enter the real grown-up world,
I'm going to have to take out a loan
(and use some of my own money of course)
and just

go.

Goal.

Ok.

So I weighed in at 150.2 lbs this morning.

My goal weight is 130 lbs.

I can do IT!!

Stay tuned.

A Tribute to These Ladies.. and some Spring Break Adventures!

I don't even know how to start this blog.
On Friday at 2am Maegan got here from LA!
I was so excited for my roommate to finally be here so
that I could show her my amazing home town(s).
Then... at 2:30 in the afternoon on Saturday, Gail called me asking how I would feel about her and Natalie coming here!.... uhhhhhhh HELLO!! GET OVER HERE!! I was SO beyond excited for them to get here! It was going to be the two amazing two(somes) coming together to explore these amazing towns that are Monterey, Salinas and Carmel.



As our adventure began, I decided that I wanted to take these girls to a place that has always been magical to me, the Forest Theater in Carmel.

We played, and walked around all the pretty shops and walked down to the water and took a bunch of pictures up in trees! It was perfect.

I have to talk about these girls, because they have literally been my sanity in Northridge. Because I haven't been able to see Amanda as much at all this semester (and she is just my sanity, period) I was starting to go a little insane.

I don't know exactly how we all started hanging out as much as we do, but I am so greatful that we did. I have regained my sanity and have been learning so much about myself and life since I have been spending so much time with these amazing ladies.
They are all DZ's, all alumn, but I love this because this has just proven to me that being a part of this whole sorority thing has really given me real sisters!

I want to say a little bit about each of them individually...
Starting with Gail.
"Gail the Snail"... when I first met Gail I was SUPER intimidated. I knew that she was a lot older than me in the Greek system and for whatever reason, I couldn't tell you, I thought that she was SCARY and MEAN.
This was obviously before I knew her at all.
Gail is one of the best people I have ever met since I moved away to school.
She is so selfless, kind, positive and uplifting.
She makes me laugh so much and I love spending time with her.
She has given me insights on life that I never would have thought of on my own.
I love hearing her opinion on things and she has always been able to give me the best advice.
She is also one of the most talented artists I have ever met in my life.
I love Gail.
She is so smart and so pretty. = ]

Maegan.
"Maaaaaaegan! Like leggin!!"
Maegan IS my sister.
I met this girl on a complete and total chance of fait!
We met on facebook, so cliche, when we were looking for roommates at the DZ house and she was telling me that she was the "transfer from SDSU".... little did I know.
We moved in together and that was IT.
I have gone through so much with this girl and I do not know what I would do without her.
She is one of the strongest women I have ever met in my life. No matter what is going on in her life, big or small, she always respondes with such grace and beauty and I just don't know how she does it. I love her so much and I cannot imagine doing this college experience without her!

Now NATALIE.
Oh "Nat Nat the Baseball Bat!"
Natalie also came into my life on a whim. She is a very dear friend of Gail's and because of that, she has now become a very dear friend of mine.
She brings so much brightness and joy into my life.
She makes me smile and laugh so much.
Natalie is such an amazing women, she is so smart and so pretty (but really though, she is)
and has brought so many amazing, unexpected experiences into my life and I love her for it.

Long story short,
I love these girls.

I have already had an AMAZING spring break.
They are probably the only reason I'm not
COMPLETELY dreading having to go back to Northridge.

Green Dress Challenge Update!! (Day 1-5)

Alright! So here's whats been happening with the Green Dress Challenge.
Day 1: I woke up and had coffee (with vanilla soy milk for creamer), scrambled eggs with tomatoes and onions and a banana for breakfast.
Now because breakfast was basically breakfast and lunch, I didn't eat again until dinner. Where I had pork tenderloin (seasoned with a seasoning called Mrs. Dash which is salt free) and lots and lots of asparagus and salad for dinner.



Since then, I have STRUGGLED. I haven't craved fast food or anything like that, because when I'm home I never eat fast food anyway. So when I go back to school I know that's going to be an issue. But I have been making breakfast sausage and a banana with my coffee my basic breakfast routine.

I've been making either Larabar's or fruit my snacks, and I have been having amazing dinners!
One night my parents made Tri-Tip steak, sweet potato fries and salad for dinner.
Another night we had a really yummy white wine, garlic and onion chicken recipe with zucchini and mashed potatoes, but I didn't eat the potatoes. = ]

Now here's the part of my diet that is going to have to be a slight compromise, but I will explain how I know I will still be successful with it.

For lunch the other day, me and the girls went out to Elli's. I got a club sandwich, with turkey, bacon, lettuce and cheese. I decided I would eat the cheese, because I am not planning on eating anything dairy in any other forms, and I ate the bread on only one half of each side of the sandwich, so basically I had only one piece of bread, and I had a salad with the italian dressing on the side and unsalted steamed veggies.

Let me explain.
I know that I am not supposed to be eating carbs, period. But here's where I have changed my mind on not eating carbs at all.
I LOVE carbs.
I am almost slightly addicted to them.
and I know that I need to MAJORLY cut back on them and only eat them in certain forms, so here's the conclusion I came to.

I am going to run off and eat a big bowl of pasta? NO.
I am going to eat a bagel for breakfast? NO.
am I going to have a heaping serving of mashed potatoes? NO!
am I going to run off and have rice as a whole meal? NO!
am I going to sit around eating baskets of fries? hell NO!

But here's what I am going to do.
I am going to say that it's ok to eat half the bread that is normal to be on a sandwich.
I am going to say it's ok to eat a tiny bit of rice if it's on my favorite food, aka sushi.

I am going to say this is all ok because,
like I said before,
I am ADDICTED to carbs.
and with this diet I am not trying to make myself miserable,
or make myself feel like crying when I'm sitting at a restaurant trying to decide what to order.
I am making a life style change.
and by eating basically 1/4 of the amount of carbs that I USED to eat on a daily basis, I am going to still be getting the carb amount that is ok for my body to have, and I won't turn into a raging lunatic because I am FORCING myself to not eat something that I really love.

"By eating the way you are now (even with the little amounts of carbs) you are already eating SO much healthier than you were!"
-Maegan Murray
(my really smart and pretty roommate)

I have been learning a LOT lately in my life about doing things that make me happy. Life is so short and I want as little of my life to be spent being unhappy.

"For every minute you are depressed, you lose out on 60 seconds of happiness."
-Mike Murray
(Maegan's dad... he's really smart).

Tonight Maegan and I made a delicious dinner!
We had turkey burgers with grilled onions and tomatoes on a 90 calorie whole wheat hamburger bun, and a very yummy Spring Mix salad!
OH! and some yummmmy strawberries!

Even though I have decided on making this diet a variation of the Paleo diet,
know that I am EXTREMELY motivated to losing this weight and making this a successfull lifechange for me!

I want to thank Ashleigh for all of her amazing encouragment, helpful hints and suggestions for helping me to make the decisions I have with this GREEN DRESS CHALLENGE!
I am soo proud of her! = ]