Sometimes, I am pretty basic.

This temperature outside is so hot that I when I open the door to walk outside, I’m not quite sure if I am experiencing early menopause or if the air outside is on fire. I feel like I am standing in the middle of a group of football players during a second overtime and I am breathing in their hot breath. Only I try to blow out of my mouth and not really breathe except I don’t want to die so I have to just inhale the heat.

Anyway, lately I have fallen in love with Starbucks and Chipotle. I don’t even like coffee. That is the craziest thing about the whole Starbucks situation. The frapp’s taste like a milk shake except they make you feel like you have tons of energy and when you buy one before you shop at Target you end up spending way more money because they sprinkle crack into their Frappucino’s. The Salted Carmel Mocha is the best thing that I have experienced in a long time. What is life anymore? I’m currently drinking and Iced Coffee with White Chocolate Mocha because it has less calories and doesn’t really taste like coffee.

After eating Chipotle I want it all the time. Then I eat chipotle and I’m like “eh, that was pretty good but definitely not Pizza”. Then I crave it all the time and I think about it when I’m not even hungry, but I want to eat it and enjoy all the cheese and sour cream. I always get everything in my bowl because the price is the same. Except the guacamole. I never get guacamole because $1.95 is just not part of my life. I usually get extra beans because of the protein but then I can’t finish the bowl anyway because there is so much food in it. Check out this video. Pretty sure I have shared it before but it is a hilarious parody video talking about Chipotle the entire time.

Today, I will probably have Chipotle for lunch. So yea, I’m pretty basic and I don’t have a problem with it. I’d like to thank every social media outlet for brain washing me into thinking I need these things. I’d like to thank Chipotle and Starbucks for sprinkling crack into their food so that I want it all the time and am only somewhat satisfied when I get it. You guys are the real MVP!

Updated Blog Design/Eating my Feelings

Things looking a little better around these parts aye? Can you believe that I finally updated my blog design? I did it myself so I still have many other things that I need to work on adding/adjusting but overall I think I am going to enjoy this new layout for awhile. Not to mention, I am sure that it is much easier on those eyeballs (truth be told I had ‘eyelids’ here at first, a genius I am!).

Last night I was fighting off hunger cravings something fierce! Since my personal 12 week challenge started yesterday I realize that this first week will be rough. I have to retrain my mind to know that it is not ok to drink 17 Cherry Cokes per day and eat pizza 4-5 times per week. I have to allow time for my body to no longer ‘crave’ those things as well. I never really fall off of the work-out train but eating right has always been a challenge for me. What can I say? I freakin’ love cheese!

Depriving myself of the foods that I love and hold dear to my precious taste buds makes me think negatively about other things in life. It also makes evaluate every single choice that I have/am making because I am cruel to myself and typically try to kick my own butt when I am down. It has taken many of my friendships YEARS to get to the place where I no longer worry if someone is my friend or if they are just using me for personal gain. My trust issues run deep people! It can be a burden when trying to start anything new in life. I am always thinking something negative. I am working on thinking more positively about others and about myself.

In a way, food has been something that I struggle to master because it does make me feel better for a moment when I am upset or when things are not in my control. It has been a comfort to me in times when I just wanted to feel better or feel distracted. I very rarely drink alcohol so I made the excuse that food could be the one thing that I ‘deserved’. I would rationalize my unhealthy eating habits by saying ” I don’t drink, smoke, or do drugs so I should be able to have Cheetos and Dr. Pepper. Instead of a glass of wine after a long day at work, I would enjoy some Funyuns and a 12 oz can of carbonated toxins. Irrational thinking and irrational behavior.

Everyone’s body reacts differently to what you ingest and mine typically likes to store every ounce of unhealthiness. I don’t eat large portions of food very often because I know that the unhealthy eating is already going to have a negative impact. Honestly, sometimes it is hard to see other women that can eat whatever they want and still have a nice figure. The important thing that I need to focus on is my body, my journey. Comparing myself to other women will not change anything about me and it doesn’t make me feel good. It causes more poor choices and lowers my confidence in truly being able to reach my health goals.

I’m pretty nervous about my approaching period because that is when the cravings are out in full force. They are pretty relentless if I might add. I may just end up using Kim Kardashian crying GIFs just to get through the week.

Thank you for sticking around. Thank you for being such a supportive community. I truly appreciate the ability to be transparent and not feel judged for stating my true feelings. Let’s move on and have a great Wednesday! #PostiveHastags

Missing in action much?

Is anyone out there? Can you hear me? Hello????!? Oh hey, it’s me, Christina. You may not remember me because I am the person who decided to just stop posting for about two weeks while I lived this thing called life. I stopped without even giving any sort of an explanation or warning even though I knew it was about to happen. You see, we get an extended holiday at work and I knew that I wasn’t going to be on the computer much during that time. Initially I planned on writing a post about my absence and then, well, I just didn’t do it. My sincerest apologies.

While I was away I still received notifications that people were checking this little space out. I need to update my blog something terrible now. For example, I haven’t had an ombre in months! Like, almost 6 months.

Here is a lovely picture of the boyfriend and I at our New Year’s Eve dinner. I was a bit emotional that day and may or may not have thrown a tantrum prior to dinner utilizing the 14 year old girl method. “You don’t even want to go eat with me. Wahhhhh!” Just add more whining and complaining about how I couldn’t decide what to wear and almost dragging my boyfriend to the mall before we ate.

We went out with his friends and drank soooo much! I mean we both had at least 5 cups of water that night. Walking around the club all thirsty and stuff. Can’t nobody throw back the H20 quite like we can. It was a good thing that we did drink so much water because the following day/night we both ended up with a horrible case of food poisoning courtesy of Steak -N- Shake. It was amazingly painful. I still have yet to fully recover from that fiasco.

I’ve missed you guys so much! I haven’t even set any goals for myself this year and it is the 6th. I have some posts ready for you guys and I am looking forward to meeting some new people. So stop by and leave a comment so I can get to know you guys!

I love food…

Today, I am on week 2 of my diet bet and I am going to my 2nd class of 12 weeks called Weigh to Wellness that my employer is offering free of charge. We will be learning about nutrition and different methods of fitness to assist in the weight loss process. There are prizes and there is a winner so of course this is the challenge for me. I must say, I am nervous but I am more motivated then I have been in awhile. Just yesterday I had to resist a gigantic chocolate cake, a tray of lovely cheese cubes and sausage, cookies, crackers, cokes, all of the things that are so good especially when they are free. Then when I got home last night and put my son to bed it was around 9:15 and I wanted to eat something. I resisted. I am proud of myself.

If you are currently eating healthy or trying to and you have to resist food and temptation everyday then I applaud you. This is not easy. At all. It is easier for me to run everyday than to not eat food. I’m sure I have mentioned this before. Why does food have to be a temptation? I do not drink alcohol (wine very, very rarely), I do not smoke, I do not do drugs. Why can’t I eat food that tastes delicious in the portion that is suggested and not gain weight? Why can’t those foods give me abs?

I’ll tell you why, because with everything in life, if you want it, you have to work for it. The work is not easy but the payoff will be. I do not feel that I have much to do, I mainly just need to tone up and drop about 10-15 pounds to make my neurologist smile and lower the dosage on my epilepsy medication. I do not see him again until February but I want to hit the goal before that. Last time I saw him I was suppose to have lost the weight and I did not. He is not concerned with my weight but if I want to lower the dosage than I have to lower the number on the scale. Ahh, math.

I have some recipes that I make regularly that are pretty healthy but I need some more. What are your healthy yet delicious recipes? I want to eat food that tastes amazing all while fueling my body in the healthiest possible way.

These are my confessions

I confess that I had no idea who Ian was the entire month that I have been participating in the confessions link up. I finally googled him today. He was on Lost and the Vampire Diaries. I didn’t watch either of those shows so I don’t feel as bad for not knowing who he was.

I confess to sleeping way past my alarm everyday this week and not giving a truck. This comes just a few short days after telling my bf that I am going to put more effort into getting ready for work.

I confess that I don’t care if you can still see the pillow print on my cheek when I get to work in the morning.

I confess to considering writing about Kanye again today but I figured you may just be tired of it.

I confess to stalking Glassdoor.com to read all the reviews about my former employer and then getting mad when someone has something good to say. Lies! All lies!

I confess to eating a sausage biscuit this morning instead of protein and fruit. It wasn’t that good.

I confess to eating Chipotle for the first time yesterday. I’ve been on Qdoba forever and it felt wrong but it tasted so good! If Chipotle had queso I may never go back to Qdoba… but they don’t.

I confess to rarely proofreading my blog posts before I hit publish and then I have to go back and edit it at least 2-27 times. Terrible habit.

I confess to not having anything to really say this week. It seems like I am all out of ideas and its only hump day.

I apologize for the laziness of this post and hope to be inspired to share some amazing reads with you ASAP. If I come up with something good I may just even post twice in one day! Say what?!

Fitness + That Friday Blog Hop

Anyone have tips on migrating my blog from Word Press to Blogger. I have exported it and then when I am trying to convert it I keep getting an error message with something crazy. Any pro’s out there willing to help me? PLEASE!! I have no problems with the Word Press format personally I have simply noticed more benefits of having my blog on Blogger. Anyway, on to the post.

I started working out again this week on Monday as I promised I would in an attempt to rid my life of the fat, sugary goodness that happened all last week. Only problem was, I couldn’t make myself stop eating the bad food. It wasn’t as bad as the week prior to this one but I still ate chocolate. So there’s that. Also, I really wanted PIZZA! I’m participating in the Summer Shape up 2014. Check the link at the bottom of the blog for more info.

 Why is she flexing those baby muscles? Because Why not?

I went to the gym after work on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for about 45 minutes. Yesterday my friend Kara came over and we did a workout in my backyard that felt more like we were in a sauna due to the humidity. We did sprints and some weird football like drills because I’m cool like that. It’s a full-time job trying to remember all of the different names of workout moves. I’m good to know the difference between a regular squat and a sumo squat.

Once again she is selling tickets to a gun show that has NO GUNS!!

Welcome to awkward town, where taking a picture alone is always uncomfortable

Like anyone trying to start eating healthy this transition will occur on Monday because I need these last few days to eat the crap that I bought at the grocery store last time I went. I was on my period and a bit out of control with the impulse decisions and I refuse to throw perfectly good food in the trash that I had to buy with my very own money. Sometimes when I spend my money I think about how many hours I had to work to earn that money in an effort to curb my spending. It doesn’t usually work.

Speaking of money I also need to work out a budget and stick with it. I am going to have to get a new car (and by new I mean made after 2005 but before 2010) and will likely have some sort of car payment. My car sucks something terrible. I hate it. The thing about it is that it looks pretty fantastic on the outside but everything else is just all wrong.

With all the randomness I just typed you should go ahead and feel free to offer some advice to my young/aging 29 year old self. Also, head on over and join the party before the party at That Friday Blog Hop! Happy Friday!

 

29…..Warning! LOTS OF PICTURES

Did you miss me on Friday? I know. sometimes it is good to miss someone. What’s that?.. you didn’t even notice. Well, this is awkward. Let’s move on then shall we.

My birthday celebrations have come to an end so let’s get right to it. Thursday I enjoyed lunch with my coworkers at Wild Rita’s and a dinner celebration for my boyfriend’s mom’s bday. Her day of birth was June 10th and she deserved the best celebration as well.

Friday I took the day off of work to get a manicure and let my friend Kara torture me with a workout. It is all part of how she shows her love for you. If she doesn’t make you want to cry at any moment during a workout then you guys are not friends.

We did a billion sets of stairs and then rode bikes to this delicious pizza place to use my birthday coupon. Riding the bikes was a fantastic idea brought to you by yours truly. I haven’t ridden a real bike since I was 17 and when I asked Kara if I would be able to do it she said the most brilliant thing I have ever heard. “It’s just like riding a bike.” Alrighty then. First thing I did wass try to ride the bike with the front tire backwards. Bonus points!

The gears looked wrong but I just thought maybe they moved them backwards on purpose. Once I got on the bike I was all wobbly like the first time a deer learns to walk. Forget trying to stand up and peddle while going up hill, and turning; oh my sweet baby Jesus I almost rode straight into traffic at my first attempt. Nevertheless we made it to our destination and back. Upon return I was very proud of what I  accomplished; riding a bike less then half a mile and not dying. I will definitely be getting more practice in on that one. Following our bike ride we took some time at the pool in an attempt to change from pasty white to just normal white.

We had plans that evening so I left Kara in the afternoon and met up with my boyfriend for some time alone before we picked up my son from daycare and then we headed to meet Kara and her boyfriend for dinner. Dinner was great, minus the fact the my son is apparently terrified of those extremely nosey hand dryers and had a meltdown. Following dinner we went to a nearby park for a made-up game of four-square. Some of us are too competitive to play on teams and keep score all at once if we would like to remain friends in the future. This resulted in randomly yelling out “POINT” whenever one deemed it necessary.

My son said Eff your picture.

Saturday morning was just as packed starting with the Epilepsy walk. I will recap that tomorrow because it deserves a post in itself. After the walk my son and I met up with my boyfriend for lunch and a game of two person spades that took 2 hours to result in a tie. We have to pick that game back up at a later time in order to determine a champion. Saturday night my mom came up to watch my son so that I could stay out with my friends and act like an adult.

Kara met me at my house and we went to dinner together at a lovely Mexican restaurant, El Toro. Most of my friends meeting for dinner are those that do not go out because we are grown up with big kid jobs and families now. It is so great to see how far we have all come since we joined together for dinner on my 21st birthday. I love these ladies!

After dinner we made a quick stop back by my house for a drug transaction. My dealer carefully placed the pills in a zip lock bag outside in a plant so as not to disturb my child. Seriously though, I forgot to take my seizure medicine so my mom put my needed dose out on the deck to keep my kid from getting all mad that I came home only to leave right away. It did look pretty sneaky and I kind of now know what it feels like to get the goods when you need them. Hiding it in the plant was my moms idea so now I wonder if she was really part of the Mexican Cartel while growing up.

Baby bro… poor picture quality.. don’t judge me. It only gets worse.

Kara and I headed to a bar called Molly Malone’s where we were met by my youngest brother and two former co-workers. The music was crap and the crowd was even worse. We hung around long enough to spend some time with my brosef before he had to pick his girlfriend up from work. Little brother grew up into a pretty cool little dude. He even bought big sister two glasses of wine for her b-day. I don’t drink very often at all so it doesn’t take much. The music at this location made me want to amputate my pinky toes so we left and headed across the street to a bar named Drakes.

My friend Kim met us at Drakes and we ran into Kara’s mom as well. I really wanted to dance and Drake’s has a dance floor and music with a beat. Kara proceeded to buy me two more drinks to which the effects were being felt so I stopped after that. There was still pressure from the gang to drink more but I am a control freak and didn’t want to feel like death the next day. I enjoyed watching my friends have a good time. Sometimes I miss being able to drink and get a good buzz going. It is a good thing that I decided to cut myself off because right as we were discussing which bar to head to next I got a text form my mom around 1:45am that my son woke up crying for me and wouldn’t stop. It was time to head home.

It was kind of bittersweet to cut out early. On one hand I was really tired and knew that I would still be getting up early but on the other I haven’t been out since my bday last year and wanted to live it up. Either way it was a great night.

I hope all of you enjoyed your weekend! Happy Father’s Day to all the dads that take care of theirs and to all the mom’s that are doing both jobs! Cheers to you!

Let’s eat; everything! + Let your light shine link-up

I hate to break it to you but I am about to turn 29. I know, I know. How can this be true? Someone so youthful, so energetic, so…. immature. I feel the same way! It just does not make sense to me that my life in my 20’s is coming to a close very quickly and for some reason I figured it would have lasted a bit longer. It felt like I was a teenager for eternity and then once I turned 21 I blacked out and woke up as soon as I am about to be 29.

For this special occasion I have taken the day off of work tomorrow to give myself some alone time while my son goes to daycare to clean my house, do some laundry, get a manicure, work-out, maybe go for a quick swim if it doesn’t rain. You know, grown up stuff. It’s hard to get all of that done and play with my son. I usually prefer playtime so I just let the rest of the stuff sit and wait for another day. Don’t worry, I’ll recap my Friday to Sunday celebration for you soon enough!

I love birthdays. Everyone’s birthday! Maybe I just really love to celebrate now that I think of it. Anyway, the point of this post is to ask for your help. I have eaten like someone who has never seen convenience food before or tasted the greasy goodness that is Pizza. Everyday this week someone has assisted me in eating unhealthy and I love them for that. All in the name of my good ol’ bday. You can help by making sure I am working out and eating right next week. I’m going to try to post it on Friday’s, or Wednesday’s or really just any day when I don’t have a cleaver post in mind. A day similar to today.

Today is Let your Light Shine Thursday and I’m joining in for the first time. Being my birthday week I figured this was a great post to share. Hope on over and check out the other fantastic bloggers that join in!

Since today is my Friday I find it hard to get focused and motivated but I do need to get some things done and turned in before I leave this afternoon. With that said, I will leave you for now but don’t worry; I will always come back for you friends! I give you a picture of me graduating from preschool… adorbs.

That time I lost weight

Catch up by reading “That time I got fat”, then jump on this stroller…

My family obliged my request to get a jogging stroller so that I could get back into shape. We ordered a Jeep jogging stroller because hey, if the Jeep vehicles can handle all-terrain then surely the stroller will be just as capable.

I loved the stroller. The first time I tried to run after giving birth without the stroller I barely made it two blocks; with the stroller would definitely be more difficult. My son was about 9 months old when we took the Jeep out for a test drive. That bad boy was so smooth, I loved it. My son fell asleep so fast that I debated making the stroller his crib then later realized that could be considered bad parenting and ultimately decided against it.

I would take the stroller out every night when I got home from work and every morning on the weekend as long as it was not raining. My family put a lot of money into this gift (like $200 and that’s a lot to me) and I needed to prove that it was worth it.

He was about 1.5 years old in this picture, looks like he is takin’ a selfie.. he isn’t.

Last summer, about 1.9 years old. My kid is a giant.

I changed my eating habits as well during this time and started counting calories as I told you in my last post using the MyFitnessPal app, that helped tremendously. I also increased my water intake like a boss and was chugging that crap like it was the only way to make it to tomorrow. Prior to this I was drinking about 2 large Cokes or Dr. Pepper’s from McDonalds per day while at work and some water sprinkled in there for fun. Almost all three of my meals were fast food every day as well. I was just asking for some diabetes and high blood pressure.

Prior to losing weight I kept making excuses for not being able to eat healthy. I had a baby and was doing it alone because of the issues I was having with my son’s father. My family does not live in the same city as me and were not able to help at all. I was trying to get some sort of schedule going so that I did not lose my mind and cooking was not in my time frame whatsoever.

I don’t know what made me get serious. Just one day I was tired of my being uncomfortable and my pants being too tight. When I changed what I was eating I started to get results. First I changed what I ate for breakfast. Instead of a gloriously greasy yet tasty bacon, egg and cheese biscuit I would have yogurt and some fruit, or oatmeal and fruit. This was a quick and easy swap because this did not require cooking at all and I could just grab it and eat it. For lunch I was either having turkey sandwiches or I was eating those frozen Boca meatless patties with some sort of a side. Occasionally I would have some ground turkey and rice. When dinner would come I would only have to prepare food for me because my son was too young to enjoy this tasty cuisine. I would have either another meatless patty or a healthier version of taco salad or mini pizzas.

I also found alternatives that were not necessarily healthier but lower in calories when I would get food from a restaurant. I hadn’t learned about sodium, protein, and fiber. I was just keeping in the calorie range.

I had made a decision that I was not going to buy any new pants until I went down two sizes because who wants to waste money like that? From June to October I lost almost 30 pounds and I was walking around work with dress pants that were too big looking like I took a giant poo and was wearing a soggy diaper full of my own crap. It was time to try on pants! I was nervous. I was terrified.

When I got to the dressing room to try on pants I was excited to see what I could stuff myself into. In my opinion my body did not look any different. I really hadn’t taken the time to really look at my body in months and since I was celibate no one else was seeing me naked either. I made it to my goal of losing two pants sizes! YAY! Finances wouldn’t allow any new purchases that day but there was hope on the horizon and I couldn’t wait to get into those jeans.

I didn’t want to fluff back up over the winter months and thought it would be a very funny joke if anyone thought I wasn’t going to partake in the gluttony that is Thanksgiving and Christmas. So I started to do Insanity after my son went to sleep at about 9 o’clock at night. If you have ever done insanity you know that is no easy feat, especially after being up all day working full-time then coming home to take care of a child. I didn’t see the results that could have been possible though because I did not eat very well during this time. I did however get much stronger.

I maintained my weight throughout the winter and signed up to do some races with my friend, Kara. This summer would be the first time I ran a 5k without stopping and it was glorious… Stay tuned for that story and I’ll share with you the most embarrassing part.

I am also participating in the Hump Day Blog Hop this week. Hosted by the lovely Fitness Blondie. Click either link below to check out some other fabulous blogs.

What reality TV taught me

Gender, age, status, race, and religious beliefs are all completely irrelevant and will all behave equally

When it comes to violence, words are no longer powerful enough when you enter the arena of reality TV. Whether your undergarments hide your hot pocket or carry a twig and berries; you are welcome to participate. It does not matter if you are barely over the age of 18 or if you are someone’s grandmother. You do not have to have a single ‘big face hunnit’ ($100 bill) to your name or even really be on the show to get your fight club on. You can believe in God almighty or you can believe that the stars are your best friend and you will be in the presence of a fight at some point.

As long as you can take a hit and keep on swinging than slugger; this is the life for you. No one is going to report this crime. What is this? Assault? No. Not in reality TV land. As long as later on in the confessional or sometime in an interview you tell everyone that you do not condone violence, jumping a hoe, bullying or whatever.. than all is well for you to go right ahead and jump across the couch at the reunion show because hey, it is not YOUR fault. She made you do it! So you go ahead and drag her!

Everyone lives in an episode of cribs; the rest of us are minions living in shacks wondering where we went wrong

They’ve got the nicest furniture. The freshest rides. They walk around in their Gucci shoes wearing a Gucci bathrobe and Gucci Slippers while talking to their house workers about how terrible life is roughing it in the slums. If only their home were nicer and their clothes not so cheap.

Your house is less than 5000 square feet? You are the ‘poor’ one and some have pity on you and others mock you. Either way your cashing them checks so don’t let it get you down child!

 

You can do magic tricks

When you wake up in the morning you look like a troll that someone just pulled out of a shallow creek and you wreak of garbage and doggy do-do. However in a few scenes your hair will have grown 7 inches and now you look like Cruella DeVille from 101 Dalmatians or like you just stepped off of the runway. Depending on how well you can do your own hair and make-up. Or how well your Glam squad can get you together.

This is the same person.. different days but come on!!!

 

What you wear, it doesn’t matter

You can dress like a hooker on the corner of 5th and main and no one will judge you. This is actually encouraged. Accidentally nip slip? Please! We need you to do this. No panties? Tampon string? Give the people what they want! You will never get a real job after this anyway.

If you look like you are wearing cotton balls covered in glitter on your nipples and some sparkly G-string than you have exceeded my dress code expectations. Go on with your bad self. You run the show!

Hygiene is optional. So is picking up after yourself (depending on the show of course)

Living with 7 strangers? Get nasty with it. Go eat some Mexican food while sitting on the toilet taking a poo and leave your Mexican food in the shower. That’s what I do at home. I might want to eat it while I am engaging in some popular reality show shower sex. (say that fast 10 times). Can someone say snake time?

Take a dump in your pants while you are passed out drunk in the confessional? Leave your dirty clothes in their and immediately run through the house naked and take a dive into the pool to clean yourself off. It’s the best bath you will ever take. There is no bleach in the pool but there is chlorine so that will have to do. Your roommates will enjoy the streak fest and say that you live life freely. Until they find your dirty drawls.

Sex with anyone and everyone is totally cool

Sleep with no one, sleep with everyone. Who cares? STDs and pregnancy are not real risks on reality shows. Except for Sixteen and Pregnant and Teen Mom. They stay gettin’ pregnant. Feel free to make out with people you know, people you don’t know.. whoever! Hey you only live once. Am I right? No.. where is Drake when I need him?

Reunion shows are for dressing up like you are going to prom or a fancy ball only you will be fighting in your high heels and dresses

No need to go any further into this one. You will also hear many ‘bleeps’ because there will be so much profanity since there are not many brain cells left to use words that are perfectly acceptable on television but also deliver the same blow.

I must admit that some of my favorite phrases to shout at strangers while battling a fit of road rage have come from reality TV shows. I will have to share that in a separate post. Too many to list now.

I hope you have enjoyed yourself. I know I live my life through reality TV. If you ever feel bad about yourself just find a reality show to watch; they may have more money than you but you are smarter than them and make better life decisions. You go Glen CoCo!

Do you love reality TV? no… fine then.