17 Magazine's 5-Week Workout Challenge

OK, so as everyone who knows me knows, it's against my nature to workout. I hate running, walking, lifting weights, the whole 9-yards. The only acceptable forms of exercise in my opinion all involve dance: Zumba, going out with friends for Latin Dance Night, etc. Every time I try to start a routine, it falls through after about a week.

So I figure that I wanna get more toned, I'm not 100% happy with my body, why not give this challenge a shot? I think the hardest part will be motivating myself to keep going and even HARDER will be eating right for this challenge. I'm a super-picky eater, so that makes it tough to take advantage of healthy eating tips when I don't eat any of the ingredients of a meal.

Side note: I wanna flatten my abs, tone my legs and KEEP MY BUTT!!! If it goes, I go (lol)!!! I guess we'll see... Wish me luck, peeps!!!

Shall We Dance?

So, minor breakdown today... For some reason I was on this music video kick today, I watched "Love Sex Magic" with Ciara and JT. Then I watched "Bad Girl, Good Girl" by Miss A (awesome Korean group, if you've never heard it, youtube it), and then finished it off with a few songs by PCD. This led me to miss dancing immensely!!! While I have only taken 2 formal dance class in college, I have always been drawn to dance. As a musician (or former musician, I guess) I have always been drawn to music and when I hear a good beat I can't help but want to get up and bust a move! I've always wanted to take dance, and regret that my mom made me quit tap in elementary because she was tired of hearing me practice (who does that?). I love just about any kind of dance, but my absolute favorite right now is merengue! It has a great beat and is super easy to learn. I don't get to go out much as I would like since I hate going out alone, plus it's prolly not the safest thing in the world for a female going out in the middle night alone :(

The downside of going out when friends are in town is that my boyfriend seems to hate dancing. This is always a tough situation to be in because I don't want to seem like I am disrespecting him by dancing with other guys right in his face, but when I hear the music it makes me feel like I'm slowly dying inside to sit on the sidelines and do nothing. I don't know exactly when this happened, but it did. Music is in my body and soul, and dance is it's escape route to the outside world when I can't control it anymore. Maybe one day I'll convince him to love dance as much as I do, or at least get him to take classes with me so that he won't be as self-conscious and he'll know a few moves to bust out on the dance floor. Until then, we we'll be a living incarnation of N.E.R.D's song, "She Wants to Move".

So feelings all these different emotions swirling today kind of set me off in a whirlwind of depression today, but the bright side is that I started looking into a few dance classes that I can take. Maybe a daily dose of Zumba or getting back into Friday night Latin Night downtown can cure me of this funk I've been in.

NYX Rant!!! Sale = FAIL

Ok, so this unfortunately will be my first makeup blog. It suck that it will start on such a sour note. As many fans of NYX Cosmetics know, there was a 12th anniversary sale on their website yesterday from 2pm to 2am CST. From about 1:45 until today around 5pm their website gave me SOOO much trouble!!!! I spent the first 3 hours trying to h=get to the home page. Then like good companies should, they extended the hours from 5 to 5, since no one was able to get on. So I spent that vast majority of my time from 5pm to 2am just trying to get the stuff added to my cart. From about 2:30 to 4am I filled my basket successfully (finally) and began trying to check out. At 4, I decided I needed sleep more than a good deal and so I went to sleep. I got up again at 8am to try to finish the transaction. I then spent from that time until AFTER the sale was over at 2pm trying to check out!!! While we stayed up all night the ppl at NYX went home and went to sleep, offering no kind of updates or solutions for about a 12hr period. Then call began pouring into the NYX office where it was reported that the sale would NOT be extended and even though we had our stuff in the cart PRIOR to the sale being over, we would not get to take advantage of the sale price. So I spent until about 4pm trying very unsuccessfully to check out still since my cart said the sale prices. When it finally went through with no problems at 6pm, I went to calculate the shipping, and it struck me as odd that I was not being charged fro shipping. This was strange because anything shipped under $50 is charged and I only had $19.20 worth in my shopping cart. That's when I saw my "new and improved" price of $105.00!!!!! You have got to be fucking kidding me! Then the NYX reps want to ignore this whole fiasco and try to placate ppl by forcing US to go to THEM for a 50% off/no shipping coupon. This is NOT cutting it! And even then I tried to give them the benefit of taking the coupon and still picking up a few items, about $30 or so.... But it has been HOURS and I have not gotten any sort of response. I have pretty much given up on them. I really feel like I wasted a day of my life to be scammed... That saddens me because this is my first experience with this company that I have herd so many good things about. And while I may still one day (not today) pick up one of their MILK pencils, it may be a long time if EVER that I decide to buy much more from this company that has disappointed so many...

Eyes of the Storm

On April 27, 2011, many locations across the southeast U.S. were hit by tornadoes. One of the hardest hit locales was the town of Tuscaloosa, AL, the location of my alma mater. The University of Alabama was my home for 5 of the most challenging years of my life, including the horror that was Hurricane Katrina in 2005. It was here that I found my second home, my second family, and my first love. Now to see it 5 years later in ruins brings back horrible memories of doing the exact thing before during my freshman year. Thank God that none of my friends were seriously injured or killed, and I wish the best to all of those that lost loved ones and all of their possessions.... On the bright side, things can only get better from here. ROLL TIDE ROLL!

Birthday Festivities!!!!

So... my birthday was pretty awesome!!! My WONDERFUL (gag, he made me say it) took me out for the day, we had crawfish, corn, and shrimp for lunch, then we drove across the lake for a nice dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings! BWW was in the middle of nowhere, but after getting past being creeped out, the food and atmosphere was great. I had a few cherry mojitos to celebrate another year of life, 24! Then we headed back into town for a nice night in. A hot tub for 2 and TV, very awesome way to spend a night...

Taking Advantage...

I am so tired of feeling like people are using me! Just because I am generally a nice person, that does not give you the right to demand ridiculous things and expect me to do them with no qualms. Could you at least be a decent human being and meet me halfway? Sadly, the answer is usually no...

I am 24 as of Sunday. I have ZERO kids!!! I do however have 9 nieces and nephews, and it seems like I am often babysitting 2 of them. I don't think that my sister realizes that they are in fact HER kids, or that she is not a child herself. So don't send your kids over to borrow milk and ask what's for dinner. How about you look in your own damn fridge and FIGURE IT OUT! Don't ask me if I want to babysit while you go out with 20 different guys every week, the answer is ALWAYS going to be no1 These ppl know you have kids, take them with you!!! Or pay me! And I don't mean in sushi...or in guilt trips when I occasionally ask you to pay for my hair appointments. I don't think she realizes this, but I am still a broke post-college student that doesn't have a job. Don't look at me when I ask you why you are in OUR kitchen asking what's for dinner. If I could have slapped her for answering, "I didn't ask you for anything...recently", I would have! Don't assume I'm gonna babysit cuz you asked, then reveal the fact you had no plans, you just decided to make some because you took my silence as an affirmation. I guess she's getting wise to my disgust, because now she'll ask my mom to babysit instead which means I am still forced to entertain the kiddies for the most part. And if your kids are gonna be out of school for TWO WEEKS (who does that? their school must SUCK) then maybe you should stay home, hire an actual babysitter, or PAY!!! Idk how you think the real world works, but this isn't it! And then she has the audacity to be pissed when I tell her that I need her to HELP me take care of my grandma for a weekend. ONE WEEKEND!!! Is that so hard? Ridiculous! Sorry I wanna hang out with my friends the 1 weekend that our parents are going to a golf tournament in Maryland? Don't ask me why they always have to be going somewhere, ask yourself that.

On the other end of the inconsiderate spectrum, you have my Hermanas!!! My ride-or-die chicas that apparently want me to die because they can't be bothered to drive down for the weekend. Forget the fact that I am doing you a favor by offering my help and my place for use FOR FREE. You can even forget the fact that over the past month I have driven to see them about 3 times, shelling out at least $20 per visit for gas. Guess what?!?! The I-10 goes in TWO DIRECTIONS! How about you come and visit me for a change instead of being lazy and using not having a car as an excuse. We know what excuses are.... Once again, I am doing them a favor when they get here, so it's not like I am just selfishly mad that they don't wanna spend time with me. I don't want your show to be total CRAP and reflect poorly on us all. Hell, I'll even chip in for your gas money, just get off your ass and take a drive!

Then there's the kid that seems miffed that she "didn't hear about" my personal life crisis. It wasn't a biggie, so stop being dramatic. It's nowhere near the fact that you were keeping shit from me that everybody else seemed to know anyway. You may not have told me, but you're not the only person that talks...I just sit back and listen and gather information. Who cares if your "ex" knocked up his girlfriend???? ...*crickets*... Nope. No one... Maybe you didn't tell me cuz you thought I would say you were stupid for caring, and maybe you're right. But it wouldn't be the first time, so I don't think of you any less now.... You'll live through it. So how is it that you stop talking to me and expect me to just spill my guts to you? I have no issue with talking to you, but before you say something about NOT knowing the story, maybe you should check to see if there is a story at all to be heard. Love you to death, but really...If everyone else in our little matrix of friends know, then I'm probably gonna hear about it too, and it would be nicer to hear it from you then have you beat around the bush and try to make me guess what happened when it has no relevance on your life or mine.

OMG! Random one. DAD! Stop stealing my damn food! I didn't cook for you! You went out for dinner, you didn't need to come back and take the rest of my shrimp scampi. And remember when Mama bought 2 pints of Cherry Garcia? Yeah, one was for me and one was for you. You ate yours...stop eyeing mine every time I take it out of the freezer. I know you guys provide for me, but really... Can I enjoy my Ben & Jerry's in peace?

The Rain Outside Is Falling...

So I am stuck inside on a night with a steady rain. I guess I could be out playing in it, but I just got my hair done on Saturday and it's not worth messing up the 'do to play in the rain by myself. It's crazy how much of a difference a week can make. Exactly 1 week ago, there was a massive thunder/electrical storm. There was hail and everything. I had an amazing time standing outside in the midst of the mayhem, just me and God having a one-on-one lesson about the awesomeness of Nature. I just sat quietly outside while I got pelted with hail and rain, and watched the sky light up like a Christmas tree (horrible analogy, ugh)! This week, the rain is much less awe-inspiring, and I'm in a crappy mood to match the weather. I have no one to enjoy the rain with, and instead I get stuck inside listening to my parents bicker over something stupid. My dad asked me to close the windows in the back of the house, so I did. When I come back, he asked me did I do it, so I told him that if he wanted to go see whether or not I had done it, he could go and check. This should NOT have started a grand discussion, but instead my mom wants to input how he's "always checking up on her" too. Not true in my opinion, but besides the point. Was that really necessary to the convo? NO!!! Especially when she has been on this huge "stop complaining, forgive everybody" kick! I think she's just bullshitting herself to feel better, but from what I can see, nothing has changed.

So what do I have to do now? It's raining, I don't wanna be alone, but clearly having any sort of simple conversation with my parents isn't gonna happen, I pretty much hate my immediate family, and my boyfriend is about 200 miles away at work. I guess I can watch the DVDs I got from the library, but I am tired of being in bed watching stuff (shocker).  I have a certain naming project I have to tackle before Friday and I am having writer's block, grr.... I guess I'll keep thinking, and try to be a Woman of Balance. <---a joke, jaja