Uh Oh!

I PASSED MY CHAPTER REVIEW TEST! Woo Hoo! I had quite a bit of anxiety built up about that. With that test out of the way I feel a lot more confident.

Also! I officially am taking back anything mean I said about winter/ the cold. I'm sorry winter. I wont ever talk bad about you again. Sitting in my car this afternoon waiting for a work meeting to start furiously fanning myself with my practice math test brought all the horror back. Visiting my mom's place also reminded me of the HORRIBLE HORRIBLE infestation of mosquitoes Sacramento is plagued with! I am no longer excited for the heat. Or any temperature that would allow those evil devils with wings to live. However, the new J.crew catalog that came in the mail didn't help me any.

Happy Weekend

Sad its over. Last week kind of seemed to drag on. Some highlights of the weekend

Saturday: I finally found a couch! I have been in search of the perfect affordable couch for what seems like forever. In the process I have learned I am more picky than I thought when it comes to furniture. My last couch drastically needed to go! Painters tape holding the stuffing in and its lovely hint of au de cat pee (she was not as yuck when I first got her). I was excited by the idea of liberating myself of this thing! I had visions of tossing it into the dumpster in my ally with triumph! Shane is actually going to take it to replace an even worse off couch they have in their band practice space. Good riddance! My new couch has some "character", for only $150 of course it would! The best part, its an awesome Crate and Barrel couch!!! The old couch isn't gone yet as you can see. It was one hell of a chore to get this thing into my apartment. The jerk, loud, dumb etc. neighbor ended up helping us carry it. I hope this doesn't mean I have to be nice to him. Maybe I will when he starts to keep it down on weekdays past 10:30pm.

Disregard the one sock. I was changing shoes when Shane took the pic

Sunday: BRUNCH! A new weekly tradition. This time it was battle of the quiches. I'd say mine completely won! Pretty much any Paula Deen recipe turns out to be a crowd pleaser. Who doesn't love a hash brown crust?! Shane "made" some biscuits. I love putting a ton of butter and honey on them! Next week Jimmy talked about making some insane potato thing. I think I am going to make chocolate chip pancakes and apple cheddar muffins using this recipe minus nasty raisins plus cheese.

In between all that Shane and I did a lot of stayin home and double datin'. I got him hooked on Ghost Whisperer (shut up. Everyone has their dirty secrets!). He always says "its ok", watches it, and at the end of the disk asks all ashamed if there is another one to watch. Tomorrow I take my first math test of the semester. I am super nervous. I am pretty confident I will pass. Jimmy helped me out today at brunch with some problems I had issues with. Everything will be ok. I will just repeat my favorite motivation quote a la Morrisey, "Do your best and don't worry."

Trip to SF...Finally!

Here is a little video I made of clips from Shane and I's trip to visit my Baba. I mentioned this before, remember? Here she is (I'm so proud!).

LD...Sassy!

I have been blogging for a little while now and I've noticed something. First, I will preface this post with some facts. I pretty much treat this thing like I did my private Livejournal. The truth of the matter is not that many people read this. I've been wanting to address this for awhile but I was afraid that maybe I may come off as offensive, however, I am not trying to be at all. Here goes...

In my time spent searching through the blogger hemisphere I have come across some pretty rad ladies to follow. When I stumble or look for a blog I usually am interested in fashion (especially on a bargain), design, and DIY tutorials and such. Basic inspiration type stuff. I have found some really great ones that I am loyal to. I started noticing a strange trend amongst the blogs I was most attracted to. Most the ladies are LDS or Mormon which ever! They have the best style (that includes their writing style)! Adorable little families and great eye for design.

One of the first people I started to bug about how they have such a great eye was my ex boyfriend Aaron  (He never updates his blog but I figured I'd link him anyway) was raised LDS. He said "its part taught while they were young and part just plain ol good taste!" I just wish they would share! Come on, puuuhhleeease!!? These girls are freaking mavericks at layering (when your a Jackie who doesn't feel very comfy showing a ton of skin but still wants some pizazz, you can't help but love this!). None of these girls actually has a blog that shares the secret tips and knowledge that is the, as Aaron said best "cute mormon girl" style.

Has anyone else noticed that? I am sure we have all heard of Rock Star Diaries to name one. Who doesn't love the Boob Nazi! Hilarious! Or my most recent find Steoffrey. An adorable young photographer duo with the cutest baby (I wont let Shane hear me say that). Of course I love how the blog Sensibly Styled gives us a little help on how to put together outfits or where to find great pieces. I still would enjoy a blog that really breaks it down for the simpler of minds like mine. There is also Chloe (and her husband and cute dog Moses) who has been crafting and redecorating her adorable home lately. I would also rate her in there with bloggers who have made me LOL. Sure there are non LDS peeps that dress just fine. I am just noticing an adorable trend.

Do any of you out there follow these blogs? What are your thoughts?

7 Day Challenge Recap

I am a day late with this. So here goes:
Shane was a liar pants. I may have seen his pants on fire at one point. He told me that he only made it into a challenge to push me harder. Well Dragi, it worked.

I haven't weighed myself since last Sunday. Honestly, ever since I started running/ working out and eating healthier I have had an on again off again relationship with the numbers game. One second I am all about getting to a certain weight and the next I remember that I just want to feel good about myself, 10 6 152 140... it doesn't matter.

What I need to focus on is being happy with what I look like right now. I can't lie to myself and say that I don't feel better after most runs (lets face it some just suck!). I also need to dress and cater to the body I have now. I think all of us women can agree (especially California ladies) that there are a lot of pressures to look a certain way. My first step to that was accepting my inner Jackie. I have been doing a lot of family history research and I discovered I am a true Brit! I think I may take up after my homies on the other side of the pond and not obsess about weight so much. In my daily life I see ladies of every shape and size that are ADORABLE! I say to myself "well look at her she isn't a stick and she is ADORABLE" (Shane actually mimics how I say this quite well and said to me last night I pay attention to girls more than he does! He said, "Shane?! Didn't you see her?! She was ADORABLE!"). I never had a lot of really girly or close girlfriends growing up so I take a lot of inspiration from those around me.

So in conclusion I'd say the challenge was successful. I ran three days last week and didn't go a day (except Thursday) without some kind of exercise (I will post a lovely ballet inspired work out I used later). This week I am taking it easy. I don't feel one bit guilty for splitting a Twinkie with Shane last night!

Perfect Pearlies/Day 3

OK, first things first. I want to know if people can be born with perfectly straight teeth! Cause I don't believe its possible. I spy on the internet peeps with great teeth and I just automatically assume they had braces when they were young (like smart people. Not like me. NOTHING like me). Secondly I want to give a shot out to my mom. Mom (you don't read this, I think), I would not have been mad at you if you put the smack down back in middle school and tied me to the orthodontists chair and FORCED me to get braces. I also would not have blamed if you if you whipped me or with held food for days for not wearing my head gear at night (obviously none of this was done hence the busted ass teeth I am stuck with now).

We ALL remember when this beezy lost her mind...

Well the doctor said to me today "full set of braces". I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scurred. He suggested pulling out a few teeth to fix my millimeter over bite more quickly (ahhh!). After talking to some key peeps (namely my aunt, some quick advice from my cousin, my mom and Shane of course) I have a better idea what I am going to do. But I can tell you this, braces are in my future be it a full or half set. Believe me you, I will rock them....hard!

I had a normal work day (minus getting punched in the face by a 6 year old. I lurvs him still though. My fav kid). Shane and I did our normal Wednesdays; run, dinner, and kick it. Threw one of his hilarious tantrums in Target. No one is funnier when tantruming and I tell you it seems to always go down in Target. Shane and I had a pretty serious talk about our near future. Shit is real now. I feel like after he dropped the "L" word (love for you special types) the flood gates opened which is completely amazing. We have a pretty packed remainder of the week. I am pretty damned excited.

Hope everyone out there is having a fantastic week thus far.

Day 2 (A picture and lots of words)

My run yesterday was rough. As Jimmy said I did feel better afterward (not counting beating myself up a little for walking 40% of the way). I had a chance to try out my new Old Navy running leggings. While running I decided to do a review of some of the running gear I have acquired. Later I had a delicious cous cous stuffed bell pepper.

Today was the first day of class. I have an opportunity to get a permission number for my poli sci class on Thursday. Conversational Russian was interesting. I walked in to a class with about 80% bonafide Russians from Russia (aka fluent speakers). I think I was expecting to be taught how to just speak Russian minus all the reading and writing. The professor said you had to know the alphabet (check. Dida taught me when I was young) and be able to read basic russian (uh oh. Problem). I made an executive decision to drop all non math related classes and focus completely on math. Math is really priority number one not to mention the only thing holding me back from transferring. I feel amazing about this decision. So I said peace guzitza's (ass in Croatian misspelled in english) to russian and went home.

Busted out some serious ballet cardio in the living room. Ate grilled cheese and soup paired with some lovely two buck chuck and watched Undercover Boss. Tomorrow Shane and I are going to do 2 miles (possibly a girlfriend of mine will join). Not sure what to do for dinner. In the morning I am going to visit the orthodontist! I am so freaking excited!!! I never thought I would be so stoked to possibly get braces ever!!! I can't wait to update you guys! Come to think of it I feel great about the rest of the week now that I can just focus on work, math, my Dragi, and Sundays fabulous brunch I am hosting!!

7 Pounds. 7 Days.

Let the challenge begin!! Our weigh in:

Me: the doc scale last week said 152lbs and Shane's Sunday morning said 145 (which is actually my goal). I'm going to say somewhere in between the two weights.

Shane: 182lbs (but thats what his bunk ass scale said. He said he thinks he is actually 192)

I am going to try and break my running strike today and just run. I started the day with my regular grapefruit (I ate the entire thing since it was itty bitty compared to riper ones). I plan on making stuffed bell peppers for dinner. I have some cous cous I want to try in them. I hope that this challenge goes well. I have really hit a wall with my weight loss. I'm fine with how I look currently I am just not happy with it. More importantly I am not happy with how I have slacked off in how active I am. I usually run three days a week religiously but only do about two days now. Not once over the break did I run everyday. On that note I leave you with some wisdom from my crazy bro Jimmy. Jimmy is amazing and as I mentioned in my last post just finished his second marathon. If it weren't for his flat tire we would be riding our normal 30mi+ bike ride on Saturday but he sucks. When asked if he liked running he replied;

"Running is like pooping you dont really look forward to doing it but feel better when it is done."

Couldn't have put it better myself.

Title

The visit to Baba's was a huge success! So much fun. Aside from getting stuck in traffic and arriving later than I had planned it was perfect. I took so much video on my flip (I plan to chop it up into one piece in my imovie application). We drove down Lombard St, climbed up 843 steps to Coit Tower and ate pizza in an adorable park in North Beach. I love that city. We hit a major mile stone in our relationship and I foresee Mr. Shane around for a really long time. I really couldn't be happier. Had a relaxing day hanging with my mom. Jimmy finished his second marathon. Yay!

Tomorrow I plan on preparing everything so the first few weeks of school goes smoothly, cleaning mostly. Shane and I's weight loss challenge starts tomorrow. I got a new pair of running leggings that will hopefully keep me warm and encourage more cardio (the warm weather coming up helps too).

Anyone out there do anything fun and exciting or particularly relaxing?

The Sun Shines on the Bay

Part of being an adult is knowing when you should eat cheese cake for breakfast (especially when its off a teddy bear plate!). This weekend is going to be glorious. My Draga and I are headed to spend some time with my Baba and my bay this weekend. I got a flip camera from my aunt so I plan on documenting stories about my family (basically just tape my Baba talking). As usual amazing weather follows Shane and I around and the forecast is pretty sweet! I hope everyone has a fabulouso (long) weekend!!!

Things I Secretly Suck at

Some peeps may think I am super organized and on top of crap. I may come off like I keep a tight ship; dishes done, vacuum regularly, clean the cat box. Its all a front. I actually am a complete lazy blah. So I decided I need to out myself. When people aren't looking (or in some cases I am too sick to maintain the charade) all hell typically breaks loose.

1) I HATE folding socks. I will literally fold and put away all the laundry but a pile of socks will sit there for god knows how long. *edit* socks still, 3 days later, sitting unmatched and not put away.

2) Now that I live on the 3rd floor of a building and have to take trash to a dumpster I procrastinate that as long as I can. This usually creates a "weird trash pile" that I shamefully take out (yeah, head hanging walk of shame to the dumpster and all). However I have been perfecting my trash throw (the graceful way I throw the trash into my dumpster).

3) I have a junk drawer. What mama don't see wont hurt her is my motto!

Those are just to name a few. Here are some other things going on right now.
- Notice my pictures suck? Maybe you were bummed at the lack of pictures in a lot of my posts? Believe it or not I don't own a camera. Good lawd its a pain in the ass not having one. Well the good news is I got a raise! BOMB! As a little present to myself I want to buy this little beaut...

A lot of the bloggers and people I know have this camera and I've heard good things. Its decently priced I'd say for a good camera. Anyone out there have one of these and have comments about it? Haven't bought it yet, I want to buy one that will last me at least a few years.

- In other news. I am on the war path (hooah!) to get braces! Can you believe it?! What a total nerd am I?! 25 years old and I am dying to get braces! Ideally I want the Invisaline (I'm not that much a nerd please!). If that is too much $$$ or not a suitable option for me then screw it, metal mouth city here I come! I go to the dentist today and they will refer me to an orthodontist. My dad has beautiful teeth. He had invisaline though, at age 33!! I talked to him about it and he knows my pain (we're British).

-School starts Tuesday. Uhhhhh, not really ready to go back to school. I have an extremely light load units wise since all I have left to complete is math (Yay conversational russian!!). Only wait listed for one class which isn't a make or break just something CSUS wants me to have for my teaching credentials. I just like not having homework to do so much!!! Who doesn't!?

Off to my dentist appointment... Happy Wednesday guys!!!!

3 Months is Worth Celebrating!

I have terrible luck with boys. I am really proud of myself in my current endeavor with Mr. guy. Today (yesterday) is officially 3 months of gross, mushy, vomit provoking bliss. Here is to 3 more months of blegh! We don't even have to use breath right strips anymore!

Stinson Beach Adventure!

Shane and I went to Stinson beach awhile back. It was rainy in Sacramento but when we got to SF and the bay it was beautiful! On this day I discovered a leak in one of my rain boots, Shane got trapped on a rock because he didn't wear amazing rain boots like I did, we collected sea shells, and ate delicious ice cream whilst chatting with the nicest lady in the area! I'd say it was magical.

NYE Pie Party

Shane fell asleep while I was prepping for the party. Notice my cat peeping out of the bag on the bed? It was pretty cute. The night was disrupted by a regular slew of random balloon popping thanks to Jimmy and Shane. So to get back I gave him a Saturday morning wake up call. I'm evil.

The night was also marked by glittery dresses modeled by Lesley and Kathy. Jimmy loved his christmas present from me so much (arm warmers) he had to don them on the spot! Because I have no cable (which is actually pretty nice) I used an online counter to ring in the new year on time.

It was a pretty great night. Not many pictures of the pies unfortunately (which makes me want a camera of my own even worse). Jimmy made a "squishy Talbit" pie which resembled squishy talbit far too much for me to eat much of. I made a delicious snickers pie and someone brought a store bought apple (shame!). It was a great night! So much dancing in my kitchen. I dub this a wild success!

An Update on Attempts to "Slut it Up" Wardrobe Style.

Remember this post? There are none. Updates to my success or (what seems to be) failure to "slut it up". I cannot seem to accomplish this goal what so ever. I think at this very moment I am completely fine with that. Now with the holidays over I can focus on one of my very top goals I set when winter break started...to tackle my closet. I have lost 2 sizes and am somewhat continuing to shrink (which is a good and bad thing financially). Every time I have gone shopping recently to replace or refresh my wardrobe some Mad Men wisdom pops in my head, some girls are a Jackie and some are a Marilyn. I friends, am a Jackie.

There are things about me that make this plainly obvious:

• I wear pearl earrings constantly. I believe that if I am not feeling particularly put together, throwing on a pair of pearl studs classes up the joint. Over all I just love pearl jewelry. Of course I love the very J.Crewy modern style pearls mixed with other things or lots of pearls.
• I LOVE dresses or really feminine style tops. 
• I love a good pair of flats. Be it the basic black or something with a little more statement to them. I am slowly learning to walk in heels a little better (intermediate ballet has helped with that completely!). 

I'd love to try and be more Marilyn. Modern day Marilyn is just something I have the most difficult time reaching. I feel so completely uncomfortable in something low/ high cut (consider Lindsay Lohan's recreation of Marilyn's last photo shoot, yikes!). This year I will embrace my Jackie self. I hope to learn to appreciate the Marilyn's but not be so envious of their sex appeal. I'd like to work on finding my own sex appeal in my own style.

Do you consider yourself a Jackie or a Marilyn, why?