Pasadena!

Mary, Zizi, Luis, and I are on our way to Pasadena to see our 'Noles play for the BCS National Championship! 

Keep a look-out for new posts! 

And, as always...

GOOOOOOO NOLES >>------;->

Procrastination

Soooo....I'm a procrastinator. A proud one. Yesterday I wrote my persuasive speech for Public Speaking the six hours before I had to give it and then totally rocked my delivery. Earlier this summer I wrote a five page Shakespeare paper the morning it was due (at 10:30AM) and only got a B because I forgot the page numbers in my citations, otherwise my professor said the paper was "excellent," "solid," and "hit the nail on the head." He told me it was an A paper but the citations were too important not to take points off for...then again, it didn't really matter because I ended up with a 96% in the class anyways. Right now I'm pushing off writing discussion boards for a couple online classes and I don't even care because I know I can sit down a couple hours before they're due and bang out full-credit-earning responses in a stressful flurry of research and typing. Which brings me to the philosophical part of this post...do I REALLY like being a procrastinator?

Tomorrow Luis and I are driving to Orlando to go to Sanibel Island with my family for a week and I am ECSTATIC. I haven't seen my family for over a month and school is super hectic and my job is taxing...I'm really ready for a break. However, all of my classes are online and I have multiple assignments that will still be due the week we're on Sanibel. You know, the week I'm supposed to spend rolling around in the shallow Gulf waters, drunk on tropical frozen beverages, soaking up the sun? Yea, somehow I'm not seeing any Applied Linguistics, Enhancing Teaching with Technology, or Public Speaking in that beautiful daydream I've been having. Now, even though I know that avoiding homework on Sanibel means I'll have to finish it ahead of time, here I am sitting on my bed in a pile of clean laundry, writing a blog post and talking to my friend on Facebook the night before I leave because I am the worst kind of procrastinator. A proud one. I just can't bring myself to do the work when I know that it's not really due until July 16th and 24th. On the other hand, the speech assignment that's due tomorrow at midnight, I'll do in a little bit, but only because I know I'll be driving to Orlando tomorrow night and won't have time to do it then. In the back of my mind I know that I'll probably have time to do these discussion board assignments and lesson plans closer to their due dates so I just can't bring myself to do them early. However, I also know that the longer I wait, the harder it will be to complete them; meaning, if I do them the day they're due, it'll take a few hours of complete stress and aggravation.

Why do I put myself through this?? Last semester I was finishing assignments literally MONTHS before they were due and on top of that reading multiple novels a week and working almost daily. I had this unbelievable drive to do better than I'd ever done before that was fed by the accomplishments I was making. Now, I spend day after day sitting on my couch, reading books, eating, watching bridal reality shows, and surfing the internet wasting hours that I could be spending doing something productive, even if it was just the laundry. My lack of motivation and procrastination feed on each other; it's a vicious circle. I desperately miss the way it felt to carelessly watch TV the night before a project was due because I had finished it a week beforehand and the peacefulness my organization led to. No matter how hard I've tried this summer, I can't seem to replicate that. Sure, being a successful procrastinator feels great for now, but all those warm and fuzzy feelings from the spring are starting to be dearly missed.

Yet, as much as I miss my planner and color-coded notebooks, I just can't find the motivation to succeed at that level this summer. So, I've decided that it's not my fault. It's summer. Summer has created a lull in my academic life. Every day is so warm and sticky that I just want to zone out and read a good book while I sip some icy cold sweet tea. Summer isn't just a season, it's a mood, and I am so feeling it this year. I know that when it comes down to it, I'll pull A's in these classes because at the end of it all, I'm a fucking awesome procrastinator. I'm giving myself the excuse of summer and I'm okay with that, so long as it comes with Jeremiah Weed and lemonade and a great big umbrella to sit under.

So I guess the answer is no, I don't like being a procrastinator. I happen to be good at it, but that doesn't mean I enjoy it. It's working for me right now, though, so I'll let it slide until fall rolls around. Then I'll snap back into my serious, studious self that actually accomplishes things more than an hour before they're due. For now, I'm going to relax a little and enjoy my vacation, even if it means I'll have to submit some discussion boards while refilling my cup and reapplying sunscreen.

Goals...or something like them.

For the past couple of weeks I've been trying really hard to make some changes in my life regarding what I eat and how much I exercise among other things. It's hard, really, really hard. The first week of my new lifestyle went great; I lost 3lbs and 1.5" too! This past week...not so much. I didn't loose any weight, but I did manage to loose 1" (mysteriously). I weigh/measure myself on Wednesday mornings as soon as I wake up in order to keep things consistent. This week, when I realized I hadn't lost any weight, I thought, "Man, I really need to make up for that this week and work my butt off!" Ha! Guess how much exercising I've done in the past three days? NONE. Guess how good I've been doing with my eating habits? AWFUL. I don't know what it is, but I am becoming increasingly lazy by the day. I know how bad I want these changes to be made permanent, but I'm not finding the motiva

tion to do anything and I have a theory as to why: my goals are too long term. When I'm thinking about loosing weight I'm thinking about being 135lbs again...well, that's no good when I'm stuck at 187. I have got to start focusing on the little things or I'm not going to get anywhere.

So, here are a few small daily goals I want to start achieving along with a coup

le bigger ones:

DAILY:

Eat three meals, three snacks, NO MORE.

Exercise in at least one way for at least 30min.

Complete at least one academic task for every class I have (even if it's a project that isn't due for another month).

Take time to put things where they belong around the house.

Read.

Go to bed at a descent time.

Wake up at a descent time.

WEEKLY:

Weigh/measure myself.

Do ALL of the laundry (including sheets).

Complete a craft.

Read an entire book.

Take a bubble bath.

Spend time at the pool.

Pluck my eyebrows.

Paint my nails.

...and that's all I can think of right now. The point is, I'm finding myself unsatisfied at the end of the day and these are the things I think could help correct that. I understand that it's okay to have a lazy afternoon every once in a while, but I constantly get stuck in ruts where I just sit on my bum day after day watching TV and surfing the internet...no good. We'll see how this goes for now; if things need amending, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

I already completed one craft this week!

I made Spooky a sweet new bow tie for when formal attire is required :) And I think I'll start reading something new today...

Frozen Buttercream Transfer

So I was reading one of the blogs I follow this afternoon and came across a really amazing cake that used a decorating technique called a frozen buttercream transfer (FBCT). I'd seen this done before on a cake the site featured, but I didn't really feel like attempting the technique then. Well, as today is Sunday and I generally have nothing to do on Sundays, I decided to tie on my apron and try it out.

The basic idea of a FBCT is that you pipe a picture in icing on a piece of wax paper, freeze it over night, and then place it on a cake and peel off the wax paper to reveal a super awesome decoration. There's a lot more involved in it than just that, though. Here's how you do it:

First, you'll need the following:

Wax Paper, Plain Paper, Permanent Marker, Some kind of design or picture, Buttercream Icing (I used a can of Pillsbury Vanilla), Food Coloring, Piping Bags (I loaned mine to my sister so I only had those squeeze bottles, they worked great though. You can always use zippy bags with the corners cut off, too.), Tape, Cookie Sheet (or some kind of flat surface that is portable, cutting board maybe?)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Trace the image onto a piece of wax paper.

I decided to go with something easy, so I picked a picture of Pooh out of a coloring book, but you can do pretty much anything.


2. Tape the piece of plain paper to the cookie sheet. On top of it, with the marker side facing DOWN, tape the wax paper to the cookie sheet making sure there are no wrinkles or creases. Set aside.


3. Mix the colors you'll need for the picture and put them in the piping bags (or squeeze bottles or zippy bags).


4. Starting with the outline and the details, trace the outline of the picture with the appropriate color. REMEMBER: The bottom of the picture will become the top when you put it on the cake so you have to ice accordingly, from the front to the back.


5. Continue icing until all of the picture is filled in. Ice over top of the details with the fill colors, but be VERY careful not to smudge them. Use a paint brush to level out the different layers as you go.



6. Put the whole thing in the freezer. If you're actually going to put this on a cake, leave it in overnight to make sure it gets really hard. If you're just playing around, like I was, then a couple hours should be fine.

7. Pull the FBCT out of the freezer and very, very carefully untape it from the cookie sheet and pick it up. Flip it over onto the cake (or whatever you're decorating) wax paper up and push it down a little to make sure it sticks.


8. Slowly, and VERY carefully, peel the wax paper from FBCT.


9. VIOLA! Now you have an awesome cake decoration :)



This was a lot of fun to play with. I'm really glad I practiced first before trying to actually put something like this on a cake though. The black smudged a little here and there and I didn't do a great job smoothing out the piping lines. I think it was overall pretty successful. I'm definitely excited to try it again!

I made crayons!

For my birthday this year, my dad bought be a super awesome Crayola Crayon Maker!


I hadn't been able to play with it because I didn't have the kind of light bulb it needed, but now I do :) Here's how it went:

First you have to break up the crayons into little pieces so they fit in the melting tray, then put the tray on top of the light bulb. It came with some new crayons, but in the future I'll probably just use the bits and pieces at the bottom of my box of crayons.




Then you're supposed to just turn the timer all the way to the right to turn on the light and it'll let you know when it's time to pour the crayons into the mold. Yeah, this did not go according to plan. I don't know if it's a product defect or if I'm just special, but the dial was EXTREMELY hard to move. Eventually I had to have Luis do it with a grippy thing we use to open jars.


From here, it's supposed to take about 10 minutes to melt the crayons so I went to cook dinner in the meantime. About five minutes into cutting potatoes, I noticed the dial had stopped moving. Since I was already annoyed with the timer situation, I just kept an eye on the crayons until they were all melted together. Like this:


Yay! Now for the fun part...


I had to wait another 10 minutes while they cooled/hardened...then I popped them out of the mold!


Pretty cool, huh? I don't know how often I'll actually use my Crayon Maker, but it was a fun experiment. Now I have new crayons!

Times, they are a changing...

Wow. It has been a long, long time since I've visited the blogging world and I've decided to make some changes in my life and to my blog.

Since I was about 16 years old, I've been struggling with my weight. It started right after I quit playing softball and soon after started dating a new guy right around my birthday. All was well in the beginning, but things took a huge turn for the worst a couple months into our relationship. He was very controlling and super jealous...some examples: I wasn't allowed to wear form fitting t-shirts or shorts, I couldn't hang out with my friends or any other boys and if I even looked at another male while we were together it was the start of a huge argument and those are just a couple things, not even touching on the semi-sexually-abusive side of things. While we were together, he made it a point that I even ate what he wanted me to eat. I never ate salads (even though I love them) because, as he'd say, "I like girls that can eat!" Instead, I'd eat cheeseburgers, tacos, pizza rolls, and oh my gosh the amount of sweets. Now, I'm not entirely blaming my weight gain on this guy because after all it was me that picked up this stuff and put it in my mouth. The truth is though that because my activity level had gone down and I was eating so frequently, I gained weight quickly and things got worse when I finally broke up with him at the end of the summer. Reeling from our split, a "heart-broken" teenager, I found comfort in food.

Even though I knew breaking up with him was the right choice and he was a bad boyfriend, he had been one of my best friends before things went sour and I had experienced things with him for the first time at, what I consider, much too young an age (don't let your mind wander too far, though, I kept my V-Card for a lot longer). Anyways, when we broke up I resorted to my safe food: mashed potatoes. I don't know what it is about them but they're like magic, they make me feel better instantly, even still to this day. I would come home from school and eat a BOX of instant mashed potatoes and then take a nap EVERY DAY. I'm no nutritionist but I know this was bad. Already heavier from my inactive, gluttonous summer, the weight really started to pile on and over the next two years I gained more and more, graduating high school at 5' tall and 170lbs.

When I moved away from the god-forsaken town that I'm from (Ocoee, FL. - don't go there, ever), I started to feel better about myself. I took up belly dancing and made a lot of new friends through my newly found freedom, one of which that would turn out to be the most important person in my life. I lost somewhere between 15-20lbs my freshman year and felt amazing! Then I had to go home for summer and fell back into the unhealthy routine of going to work, eating, and sleeping the day away. I wasn't dancing and all of my friends were far away and by the time I made it back to FSU, my weight was back in the 170s. Then something amazing happened.

Luis was one of my very best friends from the first time we met. We were both from the Orlando area and clicked immediately. Our freshman spring semester served as a way for us to bond; AKA: get sloppy drunk together and play games as we partied the night away with our friends. But that's all we were, in my mind, just friends. Luis had other ideas. One night he stayed over night in my dorm and even kissed me a couple of times, asking me what I wanted to do with what was between us. Confident that Luis and I were not compatible, I told him I just wanted to be friends. This was great for us, we hung out the rest of the semester, went to class together, studied together, and helped each other with homework. Then summer came and I pretty much forgot about him until I walked into my first fall semester class.

It had been a bad day. I'd just started a new job and tripped on my way to my car and gashed up my knee really awfully on a cinder block. I came rushing into class a total mess, my leg bandaged and limping pathetically. "Sarah!" All I could think was, Great. Now I have to be nice to someone. Luckily, the voice belonged to Luis. After class we met up and found out we had another class together, what a weird coincidence. We started hanging out ALL the time and picked up on our routine from the last semester. But something was different this time. I definitely denied it at first, but I was definitely falling for my very best friend. I never wanted to be away from him and when he was hanging out with our mutual friend, Katie, I was annoyed that he wasn't with me. It took me a long time to give in, but eventually I did and I knew right away that he was just the one for me. Since then, although we have most definitely had some extreme ups and downs, Luis and I have been together and crazy in love for going on three years.

Unfortunately, with new love comes new habits. Eating out constantly, eating as much as or more than Luis, taking emotional roller coaster rides, spending more time lounging around, etc...has lead me to gain even more weight. Today I weigh 190lbs. I'm unhealthy and I can feel it. I can't go up more than a few stairs without getting winded, my BMI is 37.1 (obese, in case you were wondering), and I've lost sight of the body I used to have when I was 16 and a size 7. Now I'm 22 and almost a size 16, isn't that ironic. I know that my body has matured and I'll never be the size I was as a teenager, but I want more for myself than what I've got. There are things in my life that I've given up because of my size and I'm tired of sacrificing. I miss loving the beach. I miss playing sports. I miss wearing bikinis and having a tan midriff. I miss being proud of what I had under my t-shirt and jeans. I miss the confidence that comes with fitting into your clothes. I miss my tiny waist and strong legs. I miss my hourglass figure. I used to have all of that and I want it back. Bad.

I've tried to lose weight before. It never worked. I never wanted it the way I do right now. I'm getting older now and my life is turning towards adulthood. Luis and I are talking about taking amazing tropical vacations and getting married and starting a family. I do not want to be fat for any of it. I want to be able to lay out on the pool deck and feel comfortable without my cover up. I want to waltz into bridal shops, newly engaged, and try on dresses that zip all the way up and hug my curves. I want my newly pregnant belly to stand out, not blend in. And most importantly, I want to be able to chase my five year old around our backyard. I want a healthy future and it's taken me a long time to recognize the work I'll have to do to get it, but I'm ready now and I'm not looking back.

Originally I wanted this to be somewhere I could just write for the sake of writing, like I used to in my journals. Now that I've thought about it a little more, I've decided to make this blog a place to keep track of the many happenings in my life. If you know me personally, you know that I live for crafts. I'm always embarking on some new DIY adventure and I'm keen on trying new recipes, too. Luis and I have taken up a new hobby together, puzzles. I've got a lot of nail-polishes I want to try out and I'm starting the never-ending journey to a healthy body. I'm excited to keep track of my life here so that I can look back on my mistakes and achievements and learn from them.

Tubby

"A bear, however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise,"
Winne the Pooh

Today was quite uneventful on the academic front. I tried to start reading a new book for class but ended up watching "My Big Redneck Wedding" instead. Whoops. It's not so much that I don't want to read the book, I actually think it's going to be pretty good. It's just that I've been working so hard recently to keep myself ahead of schedule in all five of my classes that when this morning rolled around, I just didn't want to do anything. Eventually, I managed to start some laundry but that was about it.

When Luis got home he took me to a Cuban restaurant we've never been to before for lunch. It was DELICIOUS! Except, I couldn't finish it. This has been a recurring issue for a couple of weeks now. I order/prepare the amount of food I usually eat and I barely finish half of it before I'm slouched back in my chair, rubbing a very full tummy. On one hand, this is frustrating; I love to eat! On the other hand, this is awesome!! My stomach is getting fuller faster and that means that it's shrinking down to a healthier size!

To celebrate (kind of), when I got home I decided to play Dance Central on my Kinect until I just couldn't anymore. It was great! I love that thing. I never thought working out could be so much fun until I realized that dancing is working out. It feels so good to be on top of my eating habits and exercise routine AND my academics. Now, if only I could win the lottery or something to wipe out all of my stinky debt!