Three Things Thursday

I'm back with a functional laptop, admin privileges and all!!  Since I missed Triple Tangent Tuesday, I can just change that into Three Things Thursday, right?  Right. 

1) I am PMSing today and throughout the day my eats have gradually gotten worse and worse.  Breakfast was my usual yogurt mess.. not bad.  Lunch was a Jimmy Johns sub and chips.. not great, but still not too bad.  Dinner on the other hand, well, it was what I wanted at least.

Chips and guac, and a medium DQ blizzard.  I usually get a small when I get a blizzard but I thought I might save half for tomorrow.  Fail.  That would be an empty container.  Oops.  Oh, and there was also an unpictured plate of pasta consumed.  The food baby is definitely going on right now!

2)  I mentioned in my last post that I don't own a computer.  Horrors, right?  My job gives me a laptop, so I use that for blogging, YouTubing, and all the other important things that I do in my free time.  But now that I will no longer be at this job in August I need to buy my own laptop.  As much as I don't want to spend a ton of money, I'm leaning towards a Mac Book.  It will last longer, and after that virus that I just dealt with on my work laptop, it sounds pretty nice to know that Mac's don't tend to get viruses.  If anyone has an opinion about this, let me know!  I'm still considering a PC.. basically, I have no idea what I want yet :)

 

3)  I have really been getting into makeup over the past couple of years, and I just realized a few months ago that you can learn how to do makeup by watching YouTube videos.  I know, I'm sure I'm the last to figure this one out but I've subscribed to a few channels and love getting new tips and tricks from them.  This one is my favorite.. http://www.youtube.com/user/SWalkerMakeup.  She is super talented and breaks things down into easy steps to accomplish a look.  She wears a LOT more makeup than I do, but I think that's a good thing in case I ever get into foundations and stuff like that.  If you want tips on products, makeup, haircare, etc.. I highly suggest checking her out.  Plus she has this super cute English accent and you instantly want to be best friends :)

Well there you have it.  3 totally random things you probably wish you didn't know about me.  Have a great night everyone, tomorrow is FRIDAY!!

Viruses

Happy Wednesday everyone!!  Last night I had planned to do a Triple Tangent Tuesday post, but before I did that I wanted to get my resume out into cyberspace.  There I was, innocently creating a Monster profile when it happened:  The blue screen of death.  The blue error message that means your computer might be on the fritz.  I shut it down, powered back up, and everything went black.  I got a message telling me that hard drive clusters had been damaged.  The whole time I'm thinking ohcrap thisismyworkcomputer.  (Further proof that I need to just deal with it and buy my own.)  When I brought it to tech support today, there was nothing they could do so now I have a new computer.  There are some kinks that need working out and I can't post pictures, so sorry for the picture-less post!  Hopefully things will be totally worked out tomorrow.

PS  I had NO computer until about 1:00 today and it was torture not checking blogs.  I think I may have an addiction.

A Good Monday?

Heyyy everyone!  It's been almost a week since I posted.  I'm sorry, that was not intentional.  I have had a headache every.single.day. since last Saturday, and I think it got bad in the middle of last week.  I'm taking a more drastic step towards helping these headaches though.. I decided, after 11 years, to go off birth control.  I feel like my body perhaps needs a break from the hormones, plus I know these migraines started when I began this particular form of birth control.  Fingers crossed that it helps and doesn't end up throwing my whole system into a mess!

Anyway.. onward.. My day started of fabulous-ly.  I have decided to switch up my spin workouts for HIIT workouts instead.  After talking with people and searching the h*ll out of the internet, it seems that maybe these workouts could be the answer to my weight loss issues.  Whereas spin class holds my heart rate consistently high and steady for an hour, the interval workouts will cause it to go more up and down, causing the breakdown of fat somehow.  (I don't know what I'm talking about really, this is what I got out of my research and reading a ton of blogs that I know promote HIIT.)  So after googling "HIIT workouts for beginners," this morning I trekked to the gym and stared at this.

I don't really run.  Let's be honest.  I tried it, it wasn't really for me.  But while I know that HIIT workouts can be done with bikes, ellipticals, etc.. the other options seemed like cheating to me.  I knew running would be challenging, so I went for it.  30 seconds fast running, 90 seconds walking, repeat till I hit 20 minutes.  And you know what?  It didn't suck.  I was dripping sweat and was fighting to breathe so I think this will work for me 3 times a week.  I finished up the workout with an easy 20 minutes on the elliptical and called it a day :)

Work work work, and I came home to a kitchen challenge.  Lately I have been obsessed with portobella mushroom sandwiches.  I even went to the same restaurant last week two days in a row just to get one.  I wanted to try to recreate it at home and I knew I wanted mushroom, red pepper and cheese, so I googled around, (apparently what I do for everything,) and made dinner loosely based on this recipe. 

This was even better than the restaurant version.  I found some frozen Artisan rolls in the frozen bread section of the store, and the addition of jarred roasted peppers was a better idea than roasting it myself.  So much flavor!  I just eyeballed portions since I was only making one mushroom and mixed the oil, balsamic and seasoning together and rolled the mushroom around in it. You can't see it, but under the mushroom are a few strips of basil that I chopped and mixed with a tiny bit of olive oil.  After roasting the mushroom for about 20 minutes, I topped it with the cheese and pepper and made my sandwich. 

Added a handful of sweet potato fries and a small Greek salad and dinner was served.  After I was done eating it, I was ready to eat it again.  Everything was so, SO good.  Don't be surprised if this is my new food obsession and you see it 84,000 more times on the blog. 

I'm off to bed now to rest up for a 'pump class in the morning.  Have a great night everyone :)

What workout are you currently loving?

Bodypump and now HIIT.  I still love spin, but I will see how the interval training goes for now before I return to it.

Any food obsessions that you just have to eat a lot?Right now I have this mad obsession with the portobella sandwiches.. and let's be honest, you all know my love for my vanilla Chobani messes for breakfast.  They NEVER get old!

Triple Tangent Tuesday

I decided for this week to join the ranks of the beautiful Janae and the adorable Katelyn and do a triple tangent Tuesday.  You all were just DYING for some random information about me, don't act like you weren't :)

1)  I prefer to eat dinner while watching reruns of Gilmore Girls.  They eat SO MUCH FOOD all the time that no matter what I'm eating, it's healthier than what they are eating and I feel good about myself.  Another reason is because I really love the show and I'm so sad they took it off the air :(

2)  I dislike root beer and vanilla ice cream.  Someone please tell me why I am averaging 76,000 root beer floats per week if this is true.  I can't stop.  WHY ARE THEY SOO GOOD???

Yes, I have posted this picture 3 times now.

3)  I have anxiety if I don't talk to my brother at least 4 times per week.  I feel like I'm missing out on some sort of crucial information or home gossip or something.  I took it personally when he deleted his facebook account and got rid of his cell phone.  Secretly, I think he was sick of me bothering him and texting and calling and posting all the time. 

I legit scared the crap out of him in that picture.  That is not posed.  He is really trying to run for his life because I snuck up behind him and yelled "SMILE!!!"  And yes, that is slept-in makeup on my face.  I am almost definitely hungover in that picture.  You are welcome.

Anyone want to share a random fact?

Exhausted..

It's a sleepy evening up in here tonight.  Lexi is passed out on the dining room floor, Molly is passed out on the bedroom floor, and I'm hoping to be passed out in the next hour.  Waitressing again is killin' me.. I forgot how draining it can be!  I feel like all weekend if I wasn't working, I was sleeping.  It's all good though because I am hoping to be able to save some money for August when I no longer have a full time job, and September when it's finally time to move out of this apartment I share with J.  I do need to get used to the hours though, and all the walking around for hours at a time.  Maybe I'm losing some weight? :) 

Right now I'm waiting for some pasta and hardboiled eggs to cool so I can make tuna salad for the rest of the week's lunches and then I'm (hopefully) going to get a good night's sleep.  Sorry for the lame post.. blogger won't let me upload pictures right now, and my brain won't let me think of of anything else to say.  Have a good night and I hope for a better post tomorrow!

It Finally Happened..

Hey y'all.  I hope everyone is ready for the weekend, it's almost FRIDAY!!  I know I am, even though I have to work at my new part time job.  I got some difficult news at the full time job today.  I was laid off.  Not immediately, my last day will be August 5th, but it's official and I have a severance packet and everything.  It wasn't just me, it was actually almost my entire department, another entire department, and other people here and there from other departments as well.  I believe the number I heard was 40 people altogether.  I guess outsourcing people's jobs is the new trend in this bad economy.  I'm not super upset, we all knew this day was coming sooner or later.  My company isn't doing well and to be honest, I don't see it surviving for many more years without some sort of miracle.  I know I will be ok because I have this second job now that can become full time if/when I need it too, but I'm not going to lie.. I got a little teary this afternoon thinking about all the people I've become accustomed to seeing and working with every day, and knowing that in a couple short months I will no longer speak with them.  I will miss my boss because if there is one thing I can say about my company, it's that I have been truly blessed with my managers while there.  I worked for my first manager for a little over 2 years and I was devastated when that department was eliminated and he was no longer my boss.  I was weary of working for someone new, but that manager, (my current one,) turned out to be just as great.  I'm worried that I'm not going to hit the jackpot again in that area.  I also have 2 close friends that I am used to eating lunch with every day, IM'ing and emailing all day long, etc, and I know that even if I score a great job in the future, I will miss working with them and seeing them every day.  I hope that the friendships I have made there don't suffer.

After we got the news this morning, my boss told us we could take the rest of the day off to let the news sink in.  I grabbed a Jinny John's sub, came home and took a nap.

I've had a headache all day but the nap helped a little.  I did not have any energy for the gym this afternoon but that's ok since I went to bodypump this morning.  I took Molly on a short walk, then went to Wendy's and grabbed a root beer float for dinner because it was HOT and I needed some comfort food.

That will only be my desk for 9 more weeks.. sad..

I am trying very hard to stay positive with all that is going on but honestly I'm a little overwhelmed.  I have to update my resume, search for jobs, pray for interviews and if I don't get something before August 5th, then I will have to accept being a full time waitress again like I was in college.  There is nothing wrong with that for sure, but I'm truly praying that it doesn't come to that.  For now I think I am going to curl up in bed and watch some TV, and hope that tomorrow isn't too awful at work. Come on weekend!!!!

Ocean Love

Hey peeps!!  I didn't mean to be gone for so long but I've been busy busy.  In my spare time, I've been sleeping :)  First things first, the girls beach weekend was FABULOUS.  It was the perfect relaxing weekend that I hoped it would be.  There are a ton of pictures, so lets get right to them:

The view from the balcony

The owners left us wine!!

NY friends <3

Jenny!! 

I went out one morning at 7am.. that chair was my happy place on the quiet beach for a couple of hours

Shells found on a beach walk

Check out that tan line :)

Honestly, if I could live anywhere on earth, it would be on the ocean.  It's one of the only places where I ever feel truly relaxed.  I can appreciate the beauty of mountains and deserts but I am definitely most at peace near the water.  Someday..

My other major news is that I got a new job!!  Not a new full time job, but a part time job to supplement the full time job.  I am waitressing with one of my best friends at a sports bar in Raleigh.  I spent last weekend training and this weekend will be my first on my own.  I waitressed for 5 years in college so I know what I'm getting into, but I know it will be a transition.  I'm not used to being on my feet for 5-7 hours at a time anymore.  Not to mention that this place gets PACKED and I will have to get good, fast.  I'm hoping the extra money will be worth the lack of weekends from now on.

It's been so hot here lately.  I think that's the story of the whole country right now, but honestly I was not expecting 90-100 degree weather this early in the summer.  It's taken away my appetite.. my eats lately have looked a lot like this for breakfast, lunch and dinner:

Fruit.. yogurt.. cereal.. toast.  It was difficult to go shopping because I just had no idea what I even wanted to eat.  I don't usually buy cereal because I rarely want it, but the past week it's been the perfect dinner.  (That is Frosted Mini Wheats by the way.)  I hate feeling heavy in the heat so I have to make sure I'm eating enough sometimes or else I will get a migraine.  If I could, I think I could live on water and fruit alone in the summertime.  Does anyone else lose their appetite in the heat?

That's all for now.  I've gone about 10 minutes without water and I need to get up and get more.  Have a good night everyone :)