Sorry...

...That I've been MIA for over a week.  Life has been busy with school, work, and just life in general.

I've got to admit something...I need to come clean with you all...I have a problem, a big one.

I am unhappy with my weight and how my body looks but I'm not putting in the effort to change my lifestyle to change what I am unhappy with.

Homework is always my number one excuse.  I always have too much to do because I have a problem with procrastination, even after many vows to change.  And there my friends, the procrastination, is the reason why homework becomes an excuse rather than a real reason.  It is true that I have homework that needs to get done but when I don't use my time to do the homework; instead I'm watching TV or surfing the internet, I could really be working out.  It makes me feel bad that I have to stress over getting homework done at the last-minute, and it also makes me feel bad that I am putting off my goals to become a healthier and happier person because I always say homework needs to get done first.  So if it makes me feel bad why don't I change?  I baffle myself because it seems like a no brainer to me.

I sometimes think if I had a personal trainer, or even just a friend to work out with, that I wouldn't put off my work outs.  I need someone to push me to get up off my butt and do something.  Too bad I can't teleport around the US to work out with all of you bloggers.  Now that would be awesome ;)

Well in other news...

Nothing exciting happened Monday-Wednesday...well except for the season premiere of Survivor: Redemption Island.  Boy oh boy was it ever a good one!  I was almost jumping out of my seat while watching it and my brother and I were just talking away during it because we were so shocked.  I don't want to discuss what happened incase you readers DVR'd it and haven't watched it yet.  If you don't watch Survivor let me know...then I'll disclose the shocking news in my next blog.  I can't wait for this week's episode now :)

Thursday was very, very foggy! I snapped a picture while driving to class around 10:30am.  It was foggy like this all day!  Cars without lights on were very difficult to see until they were right in front of you.  Even cars with their lights on were hard to see until they were right in front of you.  Definitely scary weather to drive in.  It was just crazy if you ask me.

[caption id="attachment_46" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Would you guess there was a hill coming up??"][/caption]

 

I had made plans to watch the Gatorade Dual races with my mom and uncle at Phil's Round 2 (a bar) and have lunch so when class was dismissed at 1pm instead of 1:30pm I was super excited.  It was still just as foggy as when I had driven into town, and stayed that way until after it got dark.  My aunt ended up being at the bar as well to have lunch and watch the Dual races.  We only watched one of the two races at the bar.

Friday a lot of schools around Wisconsin were closed due to not enough teachers coming into work and not enough substitutes being able to fill in.  This was in response to Governor Scott Walker's Budget Repair bill.  I'm sorry I'm not more informed to explain what is going on with my state government but from what I know the big issue is that state employees that are members of unions will lose their collective bargaining rights.  I would say more but I do not want to misinform any one about what is going on in the state of Wisconsin.

Saturday I went to a Lia Sophia jewelery party with my mom and aunt.  My mom and I picked out 3 items each, and then one item that we both really liked...maybe I'll post some pictures when it is delivered.  After the party my mom, aunt, and I went to a bar to have lunch and watch the Nationwide race at Daytona.

Overall it was a pretty big weekend for NASCAR.  Not only was it the season opener for all three series; Camping World Trucks, Nationwide, and Sprint Cup but it was also 10 years since the death of Dale Earnhardt.  Michael Waltrip, who won the Daytona 500 on February 18, 2001, the day Dale died, won the Camping World Truck Series race on Friday night which was 10 years to the day that Dale died.

I am a Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Dale's son) fan so Saturday when he ran in the Nationwide series race I was cheering for him.

Again on Sunday for the Daytona 500 I cheered for my man Junior.  I ended up taking a nap during the race though because I was super tired but I woke up for the really exciting part when the race was almost over.  Trevor Bayne who had just turned 20 on Saturday won the Daytona 500 with one of the oldest race teams the Wood Brothers.  Trevor became the youngest driver ever to win the Daytona 500 at 20 years and 1 day old.  This was also  Trevor's 2nd ever Sprint Cup race.  The Daytona 500 is like the Super Bowl of NASCAR so it's a big deal to win it.  Like I said, it was definitely a big weekend for NASCAR.  Next weekend we're off to Phoenix.

 

[caption id="attachment_47" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Trevor in victory lane with the trophy"][/caption]

 

After the race I had to buckle down and read for my organizational behavior class (online) because I have an exam to take this week.  I'm one chapter away from being done with the reading.  I have until Friday to take the exam.

Tonight I needed to buckle down and read for my marketing class (meets Tues & Thurs 11-1:30) because I have an exam tomorrow.  So far I have gotten an 82/100 and an 80/100 on my exams so I'm not too concerned about the exam tomorrow as long as I get the readings done and take the time to review the notes.  I didn't get as much reading done tonight as I would have liked because I was distracted by all of the Monday night shows that were on.  I'll be setting my alarm for 7am tomorrow morning to work on reading some more and reviewing my notes.  Wish me luck!

I also have my first exam in my history of rock and roll class which I am concerned about.  I haven't been doing as well on the weekly quizzes lately because I haven't been getting the entire reading done or listening to the lecture that my professor records.  Procrastination is to blame here.  I am definitely going to listen to the lectures I haven't listened to yet and finish the readings to hopefully help my exam score.  I have to take the exam by 11:59pm on Wednesday.

Since I have an exam tomorrow I'll probably be done with class early so I have no reason to not hit the gym after class.  Hold me to it blogger friends!!  You have my permission to kick my butt should I fail ;)

Baking Lesson Learned, 126 miles in a day, & Love at the Olive Garden!!

What is going on my blogger friends??  I've been a busy beaver these last couple of days so I'll just recap the highlights for you.

Thursday the most exciting part of my day was making a Chocolate Peanut Butter Bunt Cake.  It tasted FANTASTIC but didn't look quite as good as it did when Holly made it (check out her cake here).  I had asked my mom the night before when I was planning to make the cake how I got the cake out of the bunt pan.  She said to take it out of the oven and turn it over on a plate or something right away so that's what I did.  My cake turned out rather flat, almost brownie like instead of high.  When my mom saw it she asked what I did.  I assumed it was because I was caught up in the TV show I was watching and forgot to take the bunt pan off of the cake.  But after talking with my grandma, who is an awesome baker, it turns out my cake my have fell flat because I turned it upside down too soon.  According to my grandma I should have let the cake sit upright for about 10 minutes for it to set up and then flip the pan over on a plate or something, leave it sit for about 5 minutes or however long for the cake to fall from the pan.  Like I said, the cake still tasted really really good so it wasn't a complete fail, just a presentation fail.  Oh well, lesson learned for the next time I attempt to make it :)

Thursday when I was walking out of school to my car my aunt texted me asking if I wanted to go snowmobiling the next day if she could still get off of work.  I told her I would and I would be inviting my dad who also didn't have to work.  So Friday my dad, aunt, and I went on a 126 mile round trip ride.  We left our house, which is only a 1 & 1/4 miles from my grandparents' where my aunt still lives, and rode to Tomahawk (about 45 minutes by car) for lunch at Freddy's Pub & Grill.  Freddy's is a mexican place with amazing food.  I had a shredded chicken chimi (yum yum yummy!).  After eating we hit the trails again heading home, stopping once to use the bathroom (after eating & drinking you always have to go more on the way home lol) and again to put gas in.  We had started our trip around 12:30pm and were home around 7pm.  Overall it was a great day for riding, trails were awesome and the weather was great.

Saturday I had planned on working on homework all day so I could enjoy going out for lunch and shopping on Sunday without that voice in the back of my head reminding me about a bunch of homework that needed to get done.  But plans changed, my mom was no longer needed at a church function that evening so my grandma, mom and I ended up going to town to do some grocery shopping at Sam's Club and eat lunch.  We had lunch at Olive Garden, which I had only eaten at one time before and didn't like.  I decided to stay away from spaghetti or lasagna as that was what I remembered having tried the first time many years ago and not liking.  My grandma makes both so I think I'm biased as to what would taste good to me.  I had the Grilled Shrimp Caprese and fell in love!  Here's what their menu says: "Grilled marinated shrimp served over angel hair pasta with melted mozzarella, fresh basil and tomatoes in a garlic-butter sauce."  I could have done without the tomatoes as I didn't eat them anyways but I know now for next time, and there will definitely be a next time :)

And now today has been homework day, nothing exciting.

How was your weekend?  Do anything for Valentine's Day or are you like me and think tomorrow is just another day?

I'm going to leave you with a video from the 2010 CMA Awards of Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson performing one of my favorite songs from Jason's most recent album My Kinda Party.  This was also the best performance of the night if you ask me.  The song is "Don't You Wanna Stay", enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqmjDrecgzA&feature=fvst

Music I Love

I know it's late (10p) but I told myself I couldn't post a blog today until I had my assignments for History of Rock and Roll done.  I was still a bit naughty and read some blogs when I should have been reading but I just couldn't help myself!

While reading other blogs I noticed people are doing this 30 Days of something and Day 11 was to put your iPod on shuffle and list the first 10 songs that come up.  I decided to expand it to the first 15.  *Warning! May contain large amounts of country* ;)

Here you go...

1. "Just Fine" ~ Bomshel

2. "When You Got A Good Thing" ~ Lady Antebellum

3. "Something 'Bout a Woman" ~ Lady Antebellum

4.  "You" ~ Bomshel

5. "Church Pew or Bar Stool" ~ Jason Aldean**

6.  "Hey Stephen" ~ Taylor Swift

7.  "Satellite Heart" ~ Anya Marina

8. "One Day You Will" ~ Lady Antebellum

9. "Barn Burner" ~ Jason Michael Carroll

10. "Let's Make Love" ~ Faith Hill

11.  "The Razors Edge" ~ AC/DC

12. "Ignorance" ~ Paramore

13. "Thirsty" ~ Hank Williams Jr.

14. "Whiskey Girl" ~ Toby Keith

15.  "Brick By Boring Brick" ~ Paramore

Wow my iPod was really in the mood for country and Lady Antebellum tonight!  Normally I get a lot of AC/DC when I use the shuffle feature because I have all of their CDs.  But anyways, obviously you can tell I like country music :)

**Jason Aldean is one of my absolute favorite artists right now.  I was really happy when he popped up on my iPod.  I can't help but smile when I hear his music.  I love his voice and his songs...and he's definitely not bad-looking either ;)

[caption id="attachment_34" align="aligncenter" width="200" caption="<3"][/caption]

Picking an image to share with you was hard, I wanted to post them all.  If you're even slightly interested in country music I highly suggest that you listen to some Jason Aldean.  I love all of his albums!  Let me know if you want some recommendations for songs.

My love of country music is part of my motivation to shed the extra, unnecessary pounds.  June 23rd - 26th I will be in Cadott, WI at Country Fest 2011.  In four days I will see the following artists: Brett Eldredge, Joey & Rory, Lonestar, Gretchen Wilson, Trace Adkins, Steel Magnolia, Justin Moore, Craig Morgan, Gary Allan, Miranda Lambert, Josh Thompson, Collin Raye, Chris Young, Dierks Bentley, Carrie Underwood, Bucky Covington, Jerrod Niemann, Clay Walker, Josh Turner, and Lady Antebellum.  Yes, all of those artists in just four days!  How awesome is that?!  Because it's in summer I want to look good in a pair of shorts and a tank top so I am going to work my butt off to shed some pounds before then.  Also, another nifty little fact, I'll be 21 for Country Fest as my birthday is the weekend before on the 18th which I also want to look good for.

I'm thinking maybe I'll share some music and possibly some facts about the artists that will be at Country Fest in my blog?  What do you think??  I don't want to bore anyone with stuff they don't care about.

I'm so incredibly excited for the month of June!!  I'm also incredibly excited to get home from class and my work out tomorrow.  I will be stopping at the store to pick up some missing ingredients for a Chocolate Peanut Butter Bunt Cake which I will then proceed to make once I am home.  I just about drooled all over my keyboard at work today when I read Holly's blog where she shared the recipe.  If you want to drool over the cake and see the recipe you can check it out here.

Well I'm off to bed now.  I have my second exam in my marketing class tomorrow so I need to get up *hopefully* early to do some last-minute studying.  Tomorrow I will definitely be posting a blog about how that cake turns out :)

How I Got Where I Am Today & Facing the Music

I have a horrible habit that needs to be changed.  Every night I set my alarm for a decent time to wake up that will give me plenty of time to get ready for school or work and have time to eat breakfast along with anything else I might want to do before heading out the door.  And every morning I hit the snooze button repeatedly.  This morning for instance, my cell phone alarm was set for 6:50a and my iHome alarm was set for 7a so my intention was to get up at 7.  I woke up for the first alarm, and snoozed it 3 times which I had planned for.  Now between the 2nd and 3rd snooze of the cell phone alarm my iHome alarm went off meaning I should get out of bed but if not my last cell phone alarm will be my final call.  That didn't happen.  I ended up snoozing my iHome alarm until it was 7:30!!  Now by no means was I late for anything as I don't have class until 11a today but I had wanted to get up at 7 to work on reading for the class I have later in the day or preparing the speech I need to record and submit.  I've done neither :-/ From 7:30-8 I laid in bed reading blogs (they're addicting!!) and then finally at 8 I figured I needed to get out of bed.  I didn't use my morning as I had planned to but I did weigh in, something I needed to do, and write this entry, which I definitely didn't need to do this morning.

It's been 53 days since the last time I weighed myself...probably because I know I haven't been putting in the effort to lose weight and I didn't want to face the music.  I put my big girl panties on and dealt with it though.  I needed to see the damage that my lack of effort and dedication did.

A gain of only 2.2lbs in the big picture isn't THAT bad.  But to me it's bad.  When I initially made the decision to lose weight it was June of 2009 and I was at my highest weight of 179.5lbs.  I lost weight that summer, my lowest being 172lbs.  Not a huge loss but it was progress in the right direction and I was happy with it.

And then it was all downhill (or back up the hill) from there.  Another semester of college started, I gave in to the temptation of having Mountain Dew at school just because it was available to me, I was eating unhealthy food for lunch due to a large break between classes, and I wasn't exercising as much if at all.  By the end of October I was back up to 179lbs but quickly moved back in the right direction, by 11/13/09 I was back down to 175.3lbs.  But then I "fell off the wagon"...I stopped weighing in once a week so I wasn't able to see what my actions were doing to my body.  It wasn't until 1/2/10 that I stepped on the Wii Fit again and what it told me wasn't good.  I weighed 182.5lbs, a gain of 7.2lbs since 11/13/09!  A new highest weight, not something I had ever wanted to say.

My weight has been like a yo-yo since then going up and down, up and down.  Not a lot just a pound or two here and there but eventually the weight started going up more than it was going down.  I wasn't staying around the same weight any more.  First it was 184, then I found myself at 185, then 186, 187, and finally at 188 which is where I am at now.

In 2009 when I had lost some weight I didn't notice a difference in my body.  Now as I've put on some weight I've noticed a huge difference in my body.  I used to only have stretch marks on my hips, the love handles.  Now I have stretch marks there as well as my stomach on the left and right sides of my belly button just below it.  When I lay on my back my hip bones no longer stick out, there's too much fat in the way for that to happen.  I can no longer "suck it in" and make my stomach appear flat.  If I knew what would happen to my body in 2009 I would like to think I would have worked harder to keep the progress going, or at the very least not let my weight become worse than it was but of course hindsight is 20/20.

So now what??  As much as I dislike what my body has become you would think I would be out there hitting the gym or working out at home all the time, eating healthier foods, cutting out Mountain Dew but is that what I'm doing?  Honestly, no.  I try to cut Mountain Dew out and I do well during the week when I'm at work all day but with school I again am tempted to buy a bottle from the vending machine to enjoy during my 2.5 hour long class twice a week and on the weekends when I am lounging around with nothing to do but homework I think about how good one would taste so I cave and have one, or two, or three (yes I seriously did that Sunday).  I've hit the gym once in three months and haven't been back since.  Should I go today after class?  Definitely!  But I have a 3-4 minute speech I have to write and record by the end of the day so am I tempted to not work out?  For sure!  Excuses is what it is.  Do I want to lose the weight or not??  By my actions you would think no but by my feelings towards my body you would definitely think so.

So how do I get myself moving in the right direction again?  How do I get myself to commit and keep that commitment?  Tough questions...ones that I haven't found the answers to yet :(

Brand Spankin' New!

Well here it is folks, my first post!

I was inspired to start my own blog after following Hollie since the beginning of her blog, and more recently Nikki. It was actually a recent post by Nikki that got me seriously thinking about starting my own blog. You can read the post that started it all here.

At this point I think I'll be using this blog as my place to get my thoughts and emotions out of my head and onto "paper" so to speak. Today I don't really have much I want to write about other than how overwhelmed I feel with this whole blog thing. I guess it's just because I don't have a good understanding of how to make my blog look how I want it to yet so I'm kind of frustrated. For instance, how do I add a Blog Roll?? Any of you pro bloggers out there want to help a girl out? :) Any and all help is welcomed!

Even though I am super excited about this blog thing and I just want to keep playing around with everything I better get going. I avoided homework this past weekend like it was the plague and who in their right mind does homework during the Superbowl when your team is playing? Right, not me so I have to play catch up tonight. The awesome thing about living in Wisconsin and having the Packers win the Superbowl, speech due date is extended to Tuesday! Woo hoo!!

I'm curious...

What inspired you to start your blog?