My body reacts in a few different ways to stress.

1. My hair falls out in clumps (yuck)

2. My face breaks out

3. I crave junk food

 
4. I don't sleep well

It always sneaks up on me and I don't realize how stressed I am until I'm munching on french fries at 11: 30 pm and I feel like I've gained 18 lbs. With the exception of tomorrow, I'm still keeping up with my scheduled workouts with my trainer. Its times like these that help me realize that I can't do it on my own. If it were up to me I would never hit the gym during stressful times. I know that seems counter-productive since working out relieves stress but I swear all I want to do is sleep, eat, repeat.

How do you guys deal with stress?

This video made me laugh...and laughing relieves stress!

You're Stuck on an Island

Everyone has played that game...you're stuck on an island and you can bring 3 things. What do you bring? My version of the game is a little different, its the three condiments I can't live without. I put one of these sauces on food 99% of the time.

1. A1...I put this tangy goodness on everything. Burgers, chicken, pork chops, steak, fish...A1 is my favorite. I always have it in the fridge.

I should start buying it in this size. It's probably cheaper.


2. Ranch. I think this one speaks for itself. Ranch and french fries...yes. Chicken nuggets and french fries...yes. Veggies and ranch...yes. Fried pickles and ranch...yes! Seriously...if it doesn't go with A1 it probably goes with french fries...or both! Have you ever had a baked potato with ranch? soooo good!

3. I guess you're wondering what I would put on sweet stuff...this was a tough one because there are a lot of good sweet sauces out there. The winner is definitely Nutella. Nutella and fruit, toast, cookies, graham crackers. Nutella is delicious!!

As I was searching for a Nutella photo...I found this...

hahaha!!!!

So what sauces or comdiments can you not live without?

Death by Peanut Butter

I love birthdays, even if they are not my own. I just enjoy celebrating someones life and the more you have the better! My daddy (aka Father of the Year) has a birthday coming up this Saturday. One of my awesome co-workers also had a birthday this week. So naturally, I decided to make them something that I've been craving for months now...chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing.

My old boss used to make them for important meetings and birthdays and they were TO DIE FOR. Ever since I left, I've been craving them so bad. Its not one of those things you can have often, just once every 5 or 6 months but they are so good.

First things first. I do not cook and I definitely don't bake. I was definetely worried that these would end up tasting like a peanut butter and poop sandwich. Tasty...NOT


Don't worry...this isn't mine!

I asked around the office to find out how difficult making homemade peanut butter icing would be. I'm not a fan of icing from the jar (unless I have to), but I can make a mean box cake so I wasn't worried about that part. I found out that its not that difficult and any googled recipe should be fairly easy. I also learned a trade secret. If you add a box of pudding mix to the boxed cake mix, it ensures that the cake will turn out extra moist.

I started off making the basic Betty Crocker chocolate box cake. Easy enough. I throw the pudding mix in too. It changed the consistency of the mix a little bit, but other than that it was fine. (in hindsight, I really wish I had taken some pictures)

While the cupcakes were baking, I worked on the peanut butter icing. Here is the recipe I used:

Peanut Butter Frosting
Ingredients
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter
3 tbsp milk, or as needed
2 cups confectioners' or icing sugar

Beat butter and peanut butter in an electric mixer. Slowly mix in the sugar, and when it thickens and gets dry, add the milk a little at a time until all of the sugar is mixed in and the frosting is thick and spreadable. Beat for at least 3 minutes for it to get good and fluffy

I had to double the recipe because I was making double the amount of cupcakes. It was nearly impossible to sit there and mix that icing without wanting to stick my entire face in it.



That reminds me of the summer we watched Mrs. Doubtfire every rainy day because my younger cousing was OBSESSED!

Once the cupcakes were ready I let them cool, while simultaneously licking the spatula (and dancing to immediately burn those calories ofcourse) and then worked on icing them. It didn't look professional but it was good enough for me. I made and iced 42 cupcakes...and only ate 1 (not counting the cake batter and icing that I ate out the bowl...)

This is the finished product!

They didn't all turn out that pretty, but those ones can go in my dad's batch because he could care less about how they look! Ofcourse I had to try one of my creations (before handing them out and embarassing myself). It was DELICIOIUS. It was very rich and moist and I'm glad that I had some milk handy to wash it down...I don't even like milk!

I'm very proud of myself...maybe I'll quit my job and become a full time baker...NOT!



The Job

I'm baccckkkkk!!! I'm so sorry for my extended absence. Work has been kicking me in the butt repeatedly but its paid off. Literally. I ended last week with a raise!! Praise the Lord. I'm so happy because I was honestly feeling underpaid and that does work on a girls motivation.

Speaking of motivation, I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine last week. She is incredibly smart, she just finished her Ph.D and is someone that I've looked up to my entire life. She also does marathons, half-marathons, 5ks, 10ks, half ironmans, etc. Needless to say we could totally nickname her superwoman.

(note to self, never google images "superwoman" unprepared to see some things that can never be unseen)

Anyway we were talking about all the things that we've been disciplined enough to accomplish in life. We can make sure the bills are paid, go to work everyday, keep tabs on our friends and families, study hard enough to get good educations, yet somehow we have issues disciplining ourselves enough to eat right and work out.

Doesn't make sense. I can turn in every work assignment in on time, make all the necessary phone calls, and return every email in my inbox inbetween 8 million distractions in 8 hours or less but I can't make healthly eating decisions or workout consistently? It shouldn't be THAT hard?

It kind of got me thinking. What do I need to help keep me going? What motivates me at work...a paycheck. What motivated me to finish school...graduating so I could get a paycheck. Clearly I'm motivated by money. So why am I not paying myself?

I always say that I'm going to pay myself as I lose pounds, but that isn't promoting healthy weightloss. At work, I get paid as long as I show up and put effort towards my projects and then get extra when my projects succeed.

I'm applying this same principle to weight loss. Everytime I spend an entire day withing my calorie range...cha-ching. When I complete workouts...cha-ching. When I actually lose weight double cha-ching. The thing is, I have to figure a way to pay myself extra...its kind of silly if I'm just going to spend the money on stuff I want whether I pay myself or not. Since I'm in desperate need of a tight budget, any money that is not paid to me as a result of healthy eating and working out goes to neccessities and gas. Thats it.

So there...two problems are solved in one. Here we go!

I BLANK

Happy Friday-Eve!! I am SO ready for the weekend. I have a ton going on, I need a work break, and I want to schedule 2 hours to see the Hunger Games. We'll see how that goes!!

Anyway, because work has been insane not much else is going on. I was reading Ashley's blog and she did a fun game so I'm going to continue it on....

I AM...choking due to the extremely high level of pollen floating in the air. It sucks because I've never suffered from season allergies before now.

I WANT...a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes and a banging body (is that too much to ask?)

A mere $700...justifiable...right?...

I HAVE...lots of clothes that don't fit (blessing and a curse) so I need to go shopping.

I WISH...well I can't tell you because then it won't come true ;-)

I HATE...bad drivers. Sometimes I don't know whats more stressful, my commute to work or work itself.

I FEAR...losing people I love before they know how much I truly care about them

I HEAR...that someone close to me is having a hard time and I hate it. I wish I could take it away and hurt for them so they don't have to

I SEARCH...for the remote. Constantly. I can never find it and when I do that means I don't know where my cell phone is. I never have both.

I WONDER...about my future.

I REGRET...I don't. Learn Something. Move on.

I LOVE...being Young, Fabulous, and Free

I ALWAYS...check my emails, facebook, and the weather before I get out of bed in the morning

I USUALLY...have something sweet after every meal. I try not to deprive myself.

I want to french kiss whoever invented these. AMAZING.

I AM NOT...interested in arguing about Politics. I think its personal.

I DANCE...in the car because I hate driving and I hate traffic and thats the only way to get me through it

I SING...horribly, while dancing in traffic (usually with all the windows down) and I have no shame

I NEVER...want to skydiving or bungee driving. NO. DESIRE.

I RARELY...use swear words. I try to use euphemisms like "fudge" or "arse"

I CRY...at sad movies and at everything during TOM

I AM NOT ALWAYS...as laid back as I seem. I just hide my "frenzied state" really well

I'M CONFUSED...by how stuff works, like cars (I don't know if its that I'm confused or that I just don't care)
I NEED...to get back into good eating habits if I'm ever going to get that "banging body"

I SHOULD...go to bed ASAP since I have training at 5:30 AM

I PROMISE...to have a good weekend!

I hope that you guys have a great weekend too!! 

Extra Credit

There are some things that we do in everyday life that we should get "extra" credit for. Let's face it....I want my extra credit to be in the form of calories burned.

So here are a few things that I think should count as cardio or "extra" calories burned...

Walking in Heels

I'm a shoe lover but I stand up about 60% of the time at work so I rarely rock heels at work but Lord knows I love 'em. It's hard, you have to balance, it hurts your calves, it hurts the balls of your feet, and by the end of the day all you want to do is take them off but for a girl like me that's only 5'2" they are a must.

Sitting in Traffic

(This is actually a portion of my commute...I was pumped to find it online!)
I'm late for work everyday (I could blame it on traffic but its mostly because I can never find an outfit to wear)...however there is nothing worse than being late for work or headed home on a super long day and seeing nothing but brake lights in front of you or some idiot who is driving 45 mph in the fast lane. I faced this today, my horn works. Rant over.

Eating Chocolate

 I don't have a good argument for this one. Chocolate should never count against you.

Having Spring Allergies

All week my eyes have been watery, my throat has been scratchy, I have had a killer headache, and my sinuses have beem draining. It sucks because its SO beautiful out. I guess I brought on myself since I was riding around like this...

Nothing beats the sunroof and 80 degree Atlanta spring weather!

So what did I miss?

11 Heaven

I guess I'm super blogging this week to make up for the fact that I was totally M.I.A. last week. Anyway, I'm extremely stressed out from work and while I was perusing my favorite blogs today I ran across this cool little diddy at my buddy Ashley's blog. (Check it out its darn good!)

Anyway the premise of this game is first to list 11 fun facts, answer 11 questions, and ask 11 questions.

11 Fun Facts:

11. I love all dogs and while I would love to own a rottweiler one day, I've only owned shih-tzus my entire life...4 to be exact



My babes, London and Kingsley

10. When I find something I like (fashion-wise) I usually buy it in multiple colors...I have 5 Longchamp Handbags [black, brown, purple, yellow, orange]
9. My eyes are really sensitive to light so I always wear sunglasses, even when its mostly cloudy.

8. I can currently count about 16 bottles of perfume on my dresser

7. Cheeseburgers are my absolute favorite food and I am not one of those people that only eats gourmet burgers...I also love turkey burgers

6. Most of my coworkers wear sweatpants to work, our office is pretty casual, but I absolutely can not bring myself to do it, even on Fridays.

Typical Workday Oufit

5. When I'm really stressed out I can't sleep, which stresses me out even more

4. I never wear contacts, makeup, or brush my hair on Sundays that I don't have real plans (running errands does not count as real plans)

3. I have to sleep with a fan. When I don't, I wake up with a stuffy nose. I even passed up a really awesome apartment after college because it didn't have a hook up for a ceiling fan in the bedroom.

2. My grandmother did my laundry my entire freshman year of college. I never even knew where the laundry room was in our dorm. She would come pick it up and bring it back clean, folded, and ironed. She even ironed my t-shirts. I knew there was a reason I picked a school close to her and far away from my parents.

1. No matter what, the first thing I do when I walk in the house is take my shoes off. I kind of hate wearing shoes but I love looking at them. It's a strange relationship

11 Questions:

1.       Which Website do you visit the most?

It's a tie between Facebook and Spark...oh and Google because I need to know a lot of random facts and google knows everything.

2.       If you couldn't shave your legs or wax your eyebrows for the rest of your life, which would you choose?

Legs...my leg hair is very thin and soft so I usually go about 10 days between shaves but I inherited a terrible unibrow from my mother

 

3.       Name a talent you have

Uhhh...I can find really good deals at the mall?

 

4.       If you could meet one person, living or dead, who would it be?

It's hard to pick just one but I would want to learn more about all of my grandparents. From the stories that I've heard, especially about my grandfathers who both died when I was younger, they are fascinating people. (I guess this counts, because I've met them before, I just want to talk to them more)

 

5.       If you had to go on a reality TV or game show, which one would you choose?

I've always wanted to go on the Price Is Right, but I wouldn't mind gaining the lifestyle that Lauren Conrad earned from her years on "The Hills"...but I think I'd still pick Price Is Right, only if Bob Barker came back and hosted for that one show

 

 

 

6.       If you were president, what's one law you would make?

I would mandate a minimum amount of vacation days offered to full time employees (I only picked this because having some extra vacations days would SO benefit me right now!)

 

7.       What's your favorite smell? 

Curve, the green one...mostly because it reminds me of someone but it smells good too

 

8.       You have a spicy piece of gossip,  who's the first person you tell? 

Twitter. KIDDING. Probably my best friend

 

9.       What's your favorite thing about yourself?

I can usually find something positive in most situations. It's a good outlook to have.

 

10.  what's your favorite holiday?

Thanksgiving for sure. My grandma cooks a delish meal and our entire family goofs off, laughs, and spends a day being loud.

 

11. What did you want to be when you grew up?

My mom convinced me that I wanted to be lawyer but judging by the pictures of my perfectly matched outfits, fashion has always been in my veins.

 

 

Questions for you:

1. What's your signature dance move?

2. What dish do you cook exceptionally well?

3. What's your bad hair day hairstyle...you know the "go-to" when you can't get your hair to do anything you want it to

4. Would you give up your cell phone for a week in order to earn more money?

5. What's the first thing you would do if you won the lottery?

6. Name one thing on your bucket list.

7. What is your favorite song?

8. Would you rather elope and have a fabulous honeymoon or a big wedding with no honeymoon?

9. Have you ever faked sick to get out of work?

10. How old were you when you had your first kiss?

11. Name one thing that if you forget in the morning you feel naked without all day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Non-Expertise

Recently a friend over at Sparkpeople messaged me and asked me what my weight loss secrets were. I was absolutely flattered that someone thought that I was sucessful enough at weight loss to ask me my secrets. Let me tell you, I am no expert. In fact, somedays I think that I stink at it. However, having been on this crazy rollercoaster since July, I have picked up a few things. So I'll share for those of you that have been wondering what I'm doing.

First and foremost, remember that this weight loss/health journey is NOT easy. It's hard and there are days when you will not want to participate. Something I learned recently, was that you just have to push through the crappy days and then pat yourself on the back when it's over with.

Here are the things that I try to do consistently:

1. Drink LOTS of water. I have 3 water bottles. One for the house/car/gym, one for the car, and one for the office. As soon as they are empty, I fill them back up. Also, for me, drinking through a straw makes the water go much faster. Strange but true.

My current nightstand situation. H2O and chapstick, what else do you need?

2. Snack! I don't plan all my meals, but I plan every single one of my snacks for those times where suddenly I feel like I'm starving. This keeps me from reverting to my old "peanut butter cup" ways. Some of my favorite snacks are almonds, luna bars, sugar free jell-o, frozen blueberries, and carrots with hummus. I always take atleast 2 pre-packaged snacks with me to work everyday

3. Eat breakfast. I don't care how late I am for work, how tired I am, I ALWAYS eat breakfast. It gets the day going and keeps me from going crazy at lunch time. I try to have a smoothie but when I'm in a hurry a toasted english muffin with peanut butter and bananas does it for me. Plus I can wrap it up and eat it in the car if I have to.

My "Go-To" Smoothie

4. Hit the gym. No matter what's going on I'm always in the gym atleast 3 times a week. I'm lucky enough to have an awesome trainer, but even if you don't there is no reason not to get in a good workout. There are tons of great free workout videos, you can walk, run, walk the stairs for 15 minutes...anything to burn calories. And when you are at the gym give it all you've got. There is nothing better than peeling off super sweaty clothes and hopping into a luke-warm shower before bed.

5. Don't completely deprive yourself. I love ice cream and if I go without it, eventually I'm going to break down and you'll find 3 empty cartons of Ben and Jerry's Half Baked around me. I have an ice cream cone every night aftern dinner. NO joke. It's the Skinny Cow brand ice cream with way less sugar and way less calories but it does the trick. Find a healthier alternative to your favorite food and enjoy! (I also treat myself to a soda about once a month too)
6. Don't beat yourself up. If you have a bad day, make a bad decision, skip a workout, it's not a big deal. Shake it off, keep going, and do better the next time!

The last thing I can tell you is something that I haven't even completely mastered but I know it works. You have to find the fine line between tough self talk and positive self talk. When I want to make excuses about why I can skip a workout or why I can eat those peanut butter cups, I have to look in the mirror and give myself a little lecture. Some tough love...but you can't be too tough on yourself because that's not motivating at all. The other side to that is loving yourself no matter what. I try to look in the mirror every morning, tell myself that I'm beautiful, amazing, and blessed. I congratulate myself on my accomplishments and encourage myself for the road ahead. Honestly, if you don't believe you can do it, then it won't happen and as long as you keep going, it will happen!


My progress to date...I guess something is working!



I Saw the Sign

So earlier today I got home from work with a headache. Before I even pulled into the garage I had decided that I wasn't going to the gym, despite skipping my workout on Monday for a dinner party. I had about 20 excuses for why it was okay to skip. I started writing a blog about how unmotivated I am and literally complained for about 3 paragraphs. Then I had a thought...

I kind of hated that I was being such a baby. That's when I got tough. I basically yelled at myself, put on my gym clothes and took my butt to the gym.

Okay so, no I'm not motivated, and I could easily take some time off until my motivation returns but what if my motivation doesn't return until I'm back to a size 18, what if it doesn't come back until I've gained back all the weight that I've lost plus some? Then where does that leave me? Where does that put all the hard work I've done for the last 6 months?

So I guess I learned a pretty valuable lesson today. If I waited to change my life, to get in the extra workout, to eat healthy, until I was motivated or until it was convenient either it would never happen or by the time it happened it would be too late. Maybe that is the secret to losing weight and keeping it off forever. I guess we'll see. In the meantime...

So stop making excuses about whatever it is and just do it. 

i.o.u.

I know...I owe you a blog (or 5...) it's coming I promise!

Please don't cry. I promise to do it tomorrow!!

(what a cute kid though right??!)

Twenty-Five

I got my W-2's today. Normally I would be excited at the thought of getting a little extra shopping money from Uncle Sam but for some reason this time I got an eerie feeling. It was like suddenly I transitioned from a "college-kid" to a real life adult. I mean I've been out of college for awhile now and this is like the 8th W-2 I've gotten in my life. The only thing was this one felt different. I can't be an adult! I still have some horrible non-adult-like habits.

I don't always wash my face before bed. Let me explain...I have been blessed with the wonderful gift of good skin so I don't wear a lot of makeup and I only break out (which for me is one pimple) around the same time as Mother Nature's Monthly Gift. So I don't feel the need to wash my face and waste all that soap. Or maybe I'm just lazy. Either way I usually wake up slightly resembling a racoon and wash my face first thing after I wake up. (I am however deathly afraid of the dentist so I'm an amazing tooth brusher!)

I have terrible road rage. This is kind of ironic because I'm not the best driver (mostly because I get bored while driving and pay more attention to the radio or whatever I'm thinking about than the road) HOWEVER, let one person cut me off or drive 55 mph in the fast lane and I lay on my horn. I once took my car in for service and they tried to upsell me one of those packages where they say the check everything and then charge you $500...one of the things they were going to check was the horn. I just laughed. I check that daily.

Nothing creeps me out more than ear wax. I'm not even going to share the story about seeing another persons ear wax...built up in the ear...ewww...okay I think you get it. After this horrible experience, I've been slightly obsessed with not having waxy ears which means that my gross at home habit consist of me constantly cleaning out my ears. Weird. I know. Once I even got an ear infection but the doctor said I cleaned it too much and the ear wax couldn't serve its purpose of keeping the germs out. Whoops. Ear wax is still gross.

I am NO housewife. I'm a horrible cook (ask my dad about the time I tried to make mac and cheese) and I hate all chores. I hate cleaning. I hate washing dishes. I hate folding clothes. I hate sweeping. I hate mopping. I hate vacuming. I hate making my bed. I hate dusting. I hate everything related to housework except a maid. I'm sure the ladies of Real Housewives of ATL would agree. (I saw Phaedra shopping a few weeks ago and I think she would agree the most!)

You see...I'm no adult. Adults don't behave this way. I'm in adulthood limbo. I'm living and adult hood facade. I'm not an adult. I'm a....twenty-five.

So tell me...what are some of your bad habits??