Ouch

So I think I am going to make Sunday my goals, and progress posting day.  I don't promise that it will be a weekly posting not sure there would be too much to say if I did.  Just to get things rolling though.  

I am so out of shape!  I decided to do a leg work out today.  One of the girls on one of the beauty channels that I follow on youtube also makes 'Get fit with me' videos.  After watching her leg workout routine I thought 'Hey that doesn't look so bad I should do that this morning'.  I was so very wrong.  While it wasn't near as bad as some workouts, it kicked my butt.  

Right away I felt like I seriously underestimated how bad in shape I was.  I started stretching since I think its pretty common knowledge that you should stretch before and after working out and right away all I could think was 'jeez even stretching out has become hard what the heck man?'.  

The workout consists of:

20 Squats
30 Lunges
40 Calf raises
50 second Wall Sit
100 Jumping Jacks
50 second Wall Sit
30 Sumo Squats
30 Leg Raises
20 Sideways Scissors
20 Squats

This is the leg work out she shows in the video.  I was able to do:

20 Squats
30 semi successful Lunges (really only 15 each leg)
40 Calf raises
38 second Wall Sit (I was going by the timer on my phone)
62 Jumping Jacks
30 second Wall Sit
16 Sumo Squats
30 Leg Raises (15 each leg)
20 Sideways Scissors
20 very long drawn out Squats

Starting with the squats I thought to myself hey this isn't to bad.  I checked my stance/frame whatever you want to call it, in the mirror before thought that it looked good.  Then I got to the Lunges.  They look so easy but it took me a minute to figure out how to do it without rocking to the side and wanting to lose my balance.  Also my left knee couldn't handle going as far down as my right, not even close, which was a bit frustrating because I have never noticed any problem with my knee until this.   I don't know if it is a simple explanation that it is just weaker or if something is wrong.  

Now if there is one thing I am more certain of now than I was before, with this new veggie diet I really really need to find a good source of potassium.  If it comes down to it I think I will have to force myself to start choking down bananas, because when I got to the calf raises which are simple enough, at about 15 I started to feel like I was going to cramp.  When I hit 20 I had to break stretch a little and then finished but the entire time I felt like my calf muscle was twisting and trying to rip itself off.  I know its partially do to, like I said being out of shape, but I know I need to up my potassium levels.

Now I don't know why I thought the Wall Sit wouldn't be hard but oh I was so wrong.  My legs started the shake and finally I had to call it quits or I was going to fall.  Which I totally did end up falling when doing the sumo squats.  Its a lot harder to keep a good frame with sumo squats lol.  Needless to say I wasn't able to do the full work out but I still feel really good about what I could do.

After working out I decided to try and look up some info about schools that offer G.E.D. testing.  That only lasted about 10 minutes before I realized hey its Sunday and that is why everywhere that I call is closed.  DUH!  So that is my mission for tomorrow.  I will definitely let you all know what I find.  I think I might also make a trip to Bookmans. That way I can try and turn in some of the books I no longer want as well as movies and then see if I can find any G.E.D. Practice Test or G.E.D. Prep books.

Anyways, I hope that you all are having a lovely Sunday morning.  Now that I am done working out I need to figure out what to do with the rest of my day.  Maybe I will just go to Bookmans today instead of waiting.

Goals?

So I have never really been one to set new year goals or anything like that.  In fact I am almost sure that I wrote something about the subject right around the new year.  I think a part of me thinks that most people set themselves up for failure by either making unrealistic goals or just putting too much on their plate.  After reading a very inspiring blog post today though and thinking about the changes that are going on in my life and the things I wish I could do or had done I wonder if maybe I really should make these ideas/desires a listed set of goals.  Make a well thought out plan of how I want to accomplish them and a reasonable time limit to give myself.  Most importantly IMMEDIATELY take active steps to achieving these goals.  I know I am the worst for convincing myself I need to do something and then making excuses to myself and others why I need to put off doing them right away.

As I am sure I have mentioned in recent posts there is a huge change about to happen in my life.  Which I will tell you guys about VERY soon.  Like hopefully next week kind of soon.  Anyways, with this huge change coming up I have been thinking about things I want to do, wish I had done long before this.  I know I talked about it ONCE and I know this because I am embarrassed to discuss it.  After being home schooled all through high school I never went and got my G.E.D. as most do.  Instead I immediately started going to a college that did not require that I have my G.E.D. which seemed well and fine until I left before receiving my associates and never went back.  So now I am 22, have been out of school for nearly three years and feel like I have nothing to show as far as my education goes.  I know getting one's G.E.D. is easy enough but I am literally so terrified of failure (mainly because I am awful at Math) that I keep putting it off, even though it is LOOOOOONG over due.  

After a recent discussion on this specific topic with my bf I haven't been able to get it out of my head.  It's almost like a feeling of anxiety that I will try finally and fail, or worse that if I don't do it now then I won't ever do it.  Then along the same lines in the end ruining any chance of going back to school which is something else that I feel I need to do sometime in the immediate future.  Even if it is to simply get my associates though I would like to work towards something that will be beneficial to some sort of career choice.

This is probably the most important goal/desire.  I just feel like my educational window is closing and if I don't do something now it will just be harder to open it up later. 

Something that sort of goes hand in hand with this also is I want to become more independent.  I want a stable job which as of right now I don't even have one (very long, depressing story).  If it were not for my bf I would be, excuse my crudeness, completely and totally screwed right now.  There is no way I could make it on my own right now.  While I love that he can take care of me, I don't really want him to.  Even when I was younger I never wanted to be the type that was supported by another.  I always admired successful independent women. I want to take care of myself.  I want the satisfaction in knowing that if I had to I could do just fine on my own.  This is just more fuel as to why I think it is really important that I get the ball rolling on getting back to school.

My second goal.... 

I know a lot of you women and some men out there will cringe in empathy, while the others will feel like this is something over discussed in the blogging community....

becoming healthier and losing weight.  

BLEGH!  Now I know we have taken some pretty active steps in becoming healthier as a couple.  Giving up meat as well as soda and most juice.  I still feel like it is not enough for me personally though.  I don't feel as though I have lost any weight and only slightly do I feel like I am actually healthier.  Now in all honesty I could be wrong on the weight thing because we don't own a scale.  So there is no way for me to know for sure.  Last time I was at the clinic though I was horrified at the numbers I saw compared to what they used to be.  I have felt a bit of jealousy since I know my bf has dropped at least 13 lbs just because he is weighed during doctor visits which have happened a couple of times since the new diet.  

I know I need to start working out.  It is as simple as that.  I know if I would just work out even a little bit there would be a noticeable result.  I likely still wouldn't buy a scale since to be honest I wouldn't care what number was shown if there were visible results.  

And my third goal which might not seem important to some but is extremely to me;  I need to get my creativity back.  I lost it.  I used to be the girl who carried her sketch book with her textbooks at school and could either be found in her down time reading a book or listening to music, side of her hand covered in led far away from the world as she formed a picture on the blank piece of paper.  I haven't really sat down and dedicated my time to sketching in... well over a year.  I love to sketch it makes me happy, I like that I have a small bit of skill in it.  I don't say that to be conceited, but everyone has something they are good at and I really had thought my thing was drawing.  I wanted to build my talent and create my own style.  I don't know what happened though.  My sketch book has collected a coating of dust and it makes me a bit sad.  

So those are the things that I really want to accomplish right now.

I would like to have my G.E.D. sometime within the next three months.  Next year I want to be enrolled in college, at least working towards my associates if I haven't figured out what else I want to do.  I want a stable job with a steady income I don't care if it is part time or full time just something to give me some of my independence back.  The constant job hunting and failed nanny employment is starting to wear down on me.  I just want something that is stable.

I want to start actively working out maybe starting with three times a week, including throwing in some yoga here and there because I really do enjoy yoga.  I also want to make healthier choices like making sure I eat three meals a day because I am the worst at that.  As well as not vegging out in the house doing nothing so much. I think that is reasonable.  Eventually I want to work on getting my arms toned, of course losing a bit of the belly even though that isn't what bothers me the most, and as weird as it sounds toning my back if that makes any sense at all.  I am sure any girl out there who has a little extra weight will understand what I am talking about.  If I could just accomplish those three things.  Maybe drop 2 pant sizes I would be very very happy.  Oh and I want to be able to do a push up, because as of right now I totally can't.  If I could do one legit push up that would be an accomplishment on it's own.  I have zero arm strength.

Finally I want to actively start sketching again.  This isn't something that I want to disappear.  I don't know who I would be if one day years had gone by and I hadn't touched an art pencil.  One of the things I was thinking if you guys had any requests of a drawing you would like to see then I would try and see what I could come up with.  Don't care if it is an object, landscape, or person.  

I am going to try MAKE it point to keep you all updated on these things.  Maybe I will start a weekly goal update post?  I feel like part of my own self sabotage is that I never voice these things that way there is no disappointment or embarrassment when I don't accomplish what I set out to do.

Now that this extremely longer than I had intended rant has gone on, I think I should bid you all a good night.  Get myself some sleep since I plan to be up at a decent time tomorrow so that I can enjoy a little down time in the early morning before a work out.  =S  I hope you all are enjoying your weekend.  Best of wishes everyone.

Recipe time!

So with the new diet and my attempt to be healthier I have really gotten into smoothies.  So on one of my ridiculously long pinterest visits I found THIS.

All three smoothies I think are very interesting.  The one I was the most interested in though was the peach, ginger smoothie.  I am not sure why because neither peaches or ginger are my favorite, the recipe while simple looked really good.  So today I went out and bought everything that I would need to make this smoothie.  

Now I am sure you have gathered that the recipe given make one HUGE FREAKIN SMOOTHIE.

I however can not handle large smoothies.  I have no idea what it is I always order small smoothies if I buy them and downsize almost every recipe that I find.

So I altered the recipe a bit...

I used:

1 peach
1 small slice of ginger (I'm talking like teaspoon size because I was super worried about too much ginger)
1 heaping big spoon of honey vanilla greek yogurt
1/3 cup of coconut milk

This made a little less than an average size glass.

This smoothie is really good!  I think next time I might peal the peach before I dice it up and toss it in.  I say this only because my blender is not the best and left pretty big pieces of peach skin which I am not a fan of.

Only thing is, I really feel like this smoothie is missing something!  I have no idea what I could add to it though that would compliment the other flavors.  
So I guess the point of the post was to see if any of you had any good ideas?

Also I do recommend trying this if you are a peach, ginger lover because it is very good.  I haven't tried either of the other smoothies but I do want to and will be sure to leave a review for you guys when I do.

Ouch!

So I can't tell if this whole new vegetarian diet has made me much more sensitive in the long run.  If now when I eat highly acid foods which is a ton of veggies and fruits I will still be having gall bladder attacks on a regular basis despite the fact that I am eating much cleaner than I was before?

Anyways this isn't really a ramble about the new diet.  The bf and I waited until nearly 9 last night to decide that we should probably eat dinner.  We hadn't bought anything to make a meal at home and by then anywhere decent was closing.  So we settled for Burger King because come to find out they totally have a veggie burger even though its not on their menu.  Not the healthiest choice but we were able to not need to use a cheat night so we were happy.  I splurged and also ordered some onion rings to go with my veggie burger.  Now I could be wrong but I am pretty sure that they fry their veggie burger.  Or at least it looks like the meat was dropped into the fryer.  So that on top of onion rings which are obviously fried as well....

Needless to say I am awake before 5 o'clock in quite a bit of discomfort.

Well played gall bladder.  I had intended on sleeping in a bit today but never mind it was a silly idea anyways.  

I am tempted to make myself a cup of Irish Breakfast tea but I am not to sure I want to put anything on my stomach quite yet.  The pain has subsided a bit since I have given up trying to lay down and walked around and am now sitting at the kitchen table.  I don't want to do anything that is going to upset my insides.

Speaking of food in general though I have say I have found or rediscovered some pretty cool things.  One I have rekindled my love for snacking on a fresh apple with peanut butter.  I used to love to make little apple peanut butter sandwiches as a kid.  Only difference now is I am using a significant less amount of peanut butter and I have added oats as well just for a little crunch.  Yum!

My second favorite discovery is Quinoa.  Now I have heard a ton of people talk about quinoa specially in the world of people finding healthier foods.  I have never actually tried it though.  So I bought a box of red quinoa and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to make and all the different things you can do with it.  I love making a veggie vinaigrette salad with it and even more than that it makes a great breakfast to cook some up, mix a little bit of peanut butter and a little bit of honey in it and then just top the whole thing with fresh strawberries and I think for those of you who like bananas that would be really good in it too.  

I got this idea from a friend on facebook.

I have also discovered Rice Paper to make super fresh spring rolls with.  Only thing is, well... must I say what is funny about how this looks?  Lets just say I posted this picture on my fb page and we all had a good laugh.  Despite how it looks though it is great and super easy!  It can work as a light dinner or lunch.  Now if only I could get the bf to just try it. No joke he seriously won't try them. *falls into a fit of giggles* Sorry I find this whole thing more amusing than I should.  Anyways I am determined though so I am sure he will come around eventually.   B-)

Well anyways I just wanted to get on and kill some time since the sun was barely rising when I started to write.  Give you guys a little update on the ever so exciting life of this witchy blogger.  I hope that you all are doing amazing.  Good morning to you all and hope you have a great day to lead into an amazing weekend.

Just some info and a shout out!

So as I am sure most of you remember I posted not to long ago about a big E.L.F. makeup purchase.  So far I am LOVING everything that I bought.  I did invest in some L'Oreal magic BB Cream to go under my tinted moisturizer.  It helps to give a more natural look and a smoother more matte finish.

I am not a fan of heavy makeup at all and with the BB cream which is SUPER light as my base I only have to use a tiny bit of tinted moisturizer.  Sometimes I don't even bother with the tinted moisturizer.  I also purchased Maybelline's Age Rewind Concealer.

Just to help with my dark under eye circles. With this concealer though I do recommend taking off the little fuzzy applicator and just using your finger (after washing your hand of course) or one of your own makeup brushes.  I am not the only makeup user to say this either.  It gets soaked in the product and is kind of gross after only a few uses.  So I just recommend pulling it right off right when you buy it. Both products are super light and can be found in most drug stores and are under $9 at least here in Phoenix AZ.

Anyways needless to say I have gotten back into doing my makeup a little more often, not all the time.  I do have something to say though as I had to be reminded that hard way.

1. Wash you face before you do your makeup!  Even if you just got out of bed and washed your face the night before.

2.  Wash your makeup brushes.  They will thank you and so will your face.

3.  DO NOT USE OLD MAKEUP!  It might seem harmless.  I got a reminder of what could happen today though.  I used a very old mascara.  I instantly regretted it as it didn't look how I wanted it to anyways.  It flaked into my eyes and onto my cheek.  After only a few hours of wearing it this is what happened.

Ahhhh look at it!

I was very lucky that it wasn't painful just a ....itchy feeling?  You know that weird feeling you get when something is swollen but doesn't hurt.  And with a warm wash cloth compress and some lavender oil it thankfully went away within a few hours.  So I am hopeful that this isn't the beginning of a stye.

I threw the mascara away needless to say.  Also for all the contact wearers out there.  You have to be especially careful.  You don't want to wear a mascara that flakes a lot when you have contacts in and you have to be EXTREMELY careful when putting liner on your water line if you decided to do so at all.  You can cause one of your lids oil glands to clog just like I did here which could lead to a stye, which is painful.  Your contacts are also bacteria traps if you aren't careful.

If like myself you notice a lump starting to form.  Take your contacts out ASAP and wash your face.

So this might be common sense I know but hey even people who know the consequences sometimes need a kicking reminder.  The lump freaked the snot out of me for sure!

Other than that again.  Still loving my new makeup.

Been having a lot of fun with it.  I know most of these pics look the same but I swear I did different eye makeup! =P  What can I say I like a simple clean look.

So for my shout out.  I found a new Artist on the tube to obsess over.  Julia Westlin.  She does covers of songs but also has a few of her own which I think are amazing.  I love her style and her voice and I think her personality is beautiful.  So here are two of my favorites by her.  The first being one of her originals and the second is a cover.   I hope you all enjoy them as much as I do.  Hope to post again soon!  Have a good night everyone. =)

Just an update

Hey everyone I know its been a while... again.  I swear I am not going to disappear for a year... again.  Things have just been hectic.  I have had a lot of free time lately.  TOO MUCH free time to be honest.  And this is due to my employer last minute (like a couple of hours before I am going to go into work last minute) telling me I have the day off.  This started before Easter.  Then after Easter I get a call and well to make a long story short I have the next week off.  THEN when I think I am going back to work like normal I end up having another week off.  Lets just say that I love being a nanny but I think I might be too nice.  I think from now on contracts will be drawn up making it very clear what hours are guaranteed and how time off will work.  

Don't get me wrong who doesn't like time off?  But when you have bills to pay and had no time to plan for a two week vacation when you are used to being paid on a week to week basis.  I wasn't really in the mood to write.  Seems like my schedule is going back to normal though and with the summer I will hopefully get more hours as the kids won't be in school.

I am sure that you all can understand not being in the mood to write.

Other than that I have some news.  Due to the fact that I have gall stones and my bf has gout.  Two things which can be extremely painful if not managed.  We have decided to become vegetarians.  It might seem a little extreme but we are going on two weeks almost three now and it has made a world of difference.  I have only had one gall bladder attack and I think that was because I ate fried food and had a big cup of coffee on top of it.  My bf just had knee surgery and with that going on along with having flare ups due to the gout it was getting really stressful to say the least.  

From what we are able to make from the many articles online the body breaks down purine from vegetables easier than purine from meat.  So while we are still careful as to what veggies he eats since some are worse than others, with cutting meat out he has been able to walk much more comfortably than he has been able to in weeks.  We have also stopped drinking soda as well.  Which is a big deal in my opinion.

So yay exciting woot woot.  Lol

So far it honestly isn't that bad.  I don't really miss meat unless I like see a Baconator or ads for ridiculously yummy looking steak.  =P  I have noticed that during main meals I get full MUCH quicker than before.  I am guessing that is a good thing.  I think one of the biggest challenges is finding a good variety of meals to make or when we do go out its a bit hard to stick to the veggie diet in some restaurants.

Well anyways I hope that you all are doing well.  I am sorry I have been away.  Hopefully I will be back soon.

busy busy...

Sorry that I haven't been around lately everyone.  Trying to get into the swing of the new job.  To be honest I have a lot of free time during the week days.  I just haven't been in the mood to write lately.  Thought that I would get on though and give you all an update of what has been going on.  It was Bike Week last week and we were able to go to an Aaron Lewis concert which was amazing.  He played for almost two hours.  Then the next day we saw Big and Rich which was really cool as well.

The most exciting thing that has been going on though...

Look who is here visiting for spring break!  We have been having a ton of fun together and I have been looking forward to this for a while now.  Been missing her a lot.  Luckily the new family that I have been working for was more than happy to let me bring Cait with me to work, so I didn't have to take any time off.  I have to take her home tomorrow which is making me a little sad but I am enjoying what time I have with her.

Oh!  And look at her new hair due!  We just got it done three days ago.

I love it!  I think the purple is so much fun.  She loves it too.  I think it makes her look much older as well.  Not sure how I feel about that yet lol.  It is funny though she has to wash her hair very carefully for the next week or two, separating the blonde from the purple so the color doesn't bleed .  Totally worth it though.

Other than that we are also having a ton of fun with the ton of makeup that I just ordered.  E.L.F. had a huge 50% sale on April 1st.  It was great because a lot of their more expensive items were already marked down 50% but then when you checked out you got another 50% off the whole total.  I was able to get $30 worth of stuff for only $15, $21 after shipping.  I thought that it was well worth it.  This is my first time using E.L.F. product though.

Now I am by no means a makeup expert.  I don't even do my makeup all the time.  I certainly won't spend ridiculous amounts of money on fancy label makeup.  So this is just the opinion of your average/every so often makeup user who typically shops at Walmart lol.  I won't be comparing it to other brands cheap or expensive because as mentioned I don't do my make up often enough to know if its better or worse.  This is a simple if I like it or not and the reasons why.

So far I am very very happy with all of my purchases.

I got e.l.f. Tinted Moisturizer SPF 20 which is originally priced at $3 but I got it for $1.50

So far I like it.  It goes on a bit heavier than I think tinted moisturizer should.  Then again I have only ever used tinted moisturizer once before and it was MUCH MUCH MUCH more expensive I bought it at ULTA and it was $40 for a similar sized bottle.  I really liked it but couldn't justify the ridiculous price to buy it again.  I however would purchase this over plain liquid foundation.  I don't like heavy makeup one and two foundation typically makes me break out.  

I was super nervous about buying makeup that needs to match my skin tone over the internet.  I choose ivory, which I know might seem a bit odd since usually very fair skinned women choose ivory and I don't really look all that fair skinned.  Any time I have ever gone with a darker shade though it is extremely noticeable.

I think my only complaint would be that the bottle could hardly be considered full.  Lots of empty space in there and if I was the kind of girl who did her makeup every single day I don't imagine it would last more than two - three weeks.  BUT it was only $1.50 so I am not that disappointed.

To go with this I also decided to get a small compact of pressed powder.  I went with e.l.f. Essentials Clarifying Pressed Powder in ivory.  It is normally a dollar but I was able to get it for 50 cents.  

Not too much to say on this one, it is just powder after all.  I like it though it's a decent sized little compact and I imagine it will last me a good while.  It also came with the soft little applicator/sponge whatever you want to call it.

Along the lines of foundation I also purchased e.l.f. Essential Eyelid Primer.  So far I am happy with it.  Much like the foundation though I get the feeling that the little tube really doesn't have that much in it.  At least the applicator barely has anything on it both times I have used it so far.  Curious to see how long it will last.  Like everything else though it was only a dollar and I got it for 50 cents.  I bought this in Sheer though since they didn't have ivory.

Probably one of the things I was the most excited about though was the e.l.f. Studio 80-Piece Day to Night Eyeshadow Pallete.  So far I love it.  It has great variety in my opinion.  From natural to more fun colors and even from colors with lots of shimmer to more matte shades which I really like.  Some of the colors are a little more dusty than others but so far it is not that bad.   

I am also really liking the case that it is in.  Sturdy, and easy to use.  As you can see in the picture obviously one pallete lays on top of the other, it is easy to switch them and I love that it has a nice big mirror that you can use.  I wouldn't hesitate for a second to bring it with me if I was travelling even though it is pretty big.  Oh also this is normally priced at $25 dollars, but the site had it marked down to $10 and then I got another $5 off for the 50% off my grand total.  Woohoo!

So far the colors don't fade very much even after a whole day of wearing them out and running around.  Keep in mind though I was also using the eyelip primer that I bought with it so that might have something to do with it.  I also like that the color didn't smudge/bunch up... whatever you call it in the crease on my eyelids like some of the other colors I have bought have done in the past.

Probably my second favorite item that I got was the e.l.f. Studio Lip Balm SPF 15 in Nude.  I am not a lipstick wearer... at all.  I don't even wear lip gloss that often.  I have two tubes that I bought over a year ago from bath and body works and I will probably have them for another year lol.  So what possessed me to get colored lip balm I have no idea.  I am so glad I did though.  One I love how nice it goes on and despite the fact that the color looks a bit orange in person unlike its picture online it is such a natural tone with just enough shimmer that so far I don't feel weird wearing it out and about for no reason.

Like the eyeshadow and its case I really like the tube this lip balm is in.  It isn't plastic which I was a bit surprised about and for such a little item it has a bit of weight to it.  Oh and much like Burt's Bees lip balms and chap sticks your lips feel cool and tingly after putting it on.  It is normally $3 but I was able to get it for $1.50.

Last I purchased many different makeup brushes to go with all of my new items.  So far I am happy with all of them.  Specially the Stipple Brush I got to use with my tinted moisturizer.  All of these brushed were $3 - $1.  The only ones I haven't made my mind up on yet are the Blending Eye Brush and the Eye Crease Brush.  I only say that because at first use a lot of the hair was coming out of of them.  I haven't decided if that is normal because they are new or if they will keep doing that because they were so cheap.  My third time using them hardly any of the hair was pulled out so I am hoping that is a good sign.

Wells I am sorry that this post has turned out to be super long.  I just wanted to share all the fun news.  I am hoping to be motivated to write up a post for PBP.  Probably not going to happen until maybe Monday though since this my last night with my sister.  Going to have to take her home tomorrow night and I am a bit sad.

I hope that you all are doing well.