{20/365}

I really like this idea but it would be so hard to figure out which books I loved enough to have its own custom spot built for it.

Super Slacker

Meh. Sooooo maybe I'm behind by a few (18: 9 NaBloPoMo and 9 365 posts) blog posts. No big. I always catch up one way or another. So here's my typical blah, blah, blah, I'm a slacker post. Onward and upward!

{19/365} Creative Bookends

I love creative bookends.  I want all of these.  I think my favorite is either the giraffe or the vines getting the girl. 

Broncos And Seahawks Who?

Do you watch football? Because I just don't.  I watch the Super Bowl but I get so bored watching football on TV.  Live football is another story.  I love live football.  So this game that just happened, Seahawks vs. 49ers.  I was (apparently) rooting for the Seahawks.  Thats how much I care.  

I actually spent the first hour of the game deep frying things with a friend.  We deep fried all the veggies, then we did oreo's, twinkies, reese's, snickers, then it got weird and we deep fried a PB&J, and birthday cake.  I feel like a grease trap that needs cleaned out so I'm drowning myself in water. 

Anywhosels, I'm off to do more homework. I hope everyone had a great Sunday.

{18/365} What Book Are You Reading?

This is so true!!! Nothing more to say.

Daily Workout Doubles

I just learned that I have to start doing daily doubles. BOOOOO! :( I don't want to.  But, I have too.  I'm doing the Jillian Michaels 30-Day Shred and in a couple weeks I'm going to start T25.  However, I have some 5Ks and such coming up so I have to start running also.  Workout DVD's can only give you so much endurance.  Lets see how this goes.

{17/365} Vertical Bookshelf

I've always liked these bookshelves.  They look simple enough that you could even DIY this project.  I have the floating bookshelves already and love them.  Maybe I'll get one of these next.

Handling Pressure

Do you think you handle pressure well, or do you usually fall apart?

I think I handle pressure well.  Stressing about things doesn't get the job done any faster.  Why would you want to fall apart? What good does that do anyone? Just get it together and get the job done.  

{16/365} Secret Library

I think this would be so cool.  Have a book case that opens to stairs that are lined with more bookshelves that leads up stairs to a library!! 

Who Puts Pressure On You?

Who puts the most pressure on you -- yourself or others?

I put the most pressure on me.  I want to be better. I compare myself to others. I set my own goals.  Nobody else.  

{15/365} A Truck Load Of Books

Mine would obviously say Barnes & Noble but this is how I feel every year after Christmas. I always get so much in gift cards (YAY!).  I feel like a truck load of books show up at my house.

No Excuses

I have no excuses for missing the last couple of days. January is just kicking my butt.   I hate trying to get on a routine.  I can do one thing or the other but something always gets left out.  The last few days has been the blogs. I added working out and prepping some stuff for the next day but then the blogs drop off.  Sooner or later I'll get it together and I'll do it all everyday. On the plus side, I always make up for missing.  I always do however many blogs I missed. 

{14/365} Book Headboard

I'm one of the biggest lovers of books that I know but I just do not like this headboard.  Its looks awful. I don't even think anyone I know would like it.  I'm sure there can be a cool looking book headboard but this is not it.  Maybe I'll keep looking

Game On Mom!!

My Mom made a bet with me and I am going to win! My goal is to lose about 50 pounds by June. Crazy I know.  But it will happen.  Not optional.  

Wanna know the bet? Ok I'll tell you!

If I do my Jillian Michaels 30-Day Shred for 2 weeks straight, not missing even a single day, she will buy me the Shaun T's T25! I didn't think I could do it, then I watched some videos and knew I could.  I'm so excited!!!

Have any of you done the T25? It looks intense but I can't wait.

Skin Care Regiment

Topic 2 for the 2014 blogger challenge is about your skin care routine. Well, I don't really have routine per say, it more like a bunch of junk I use sometimes. 

First would be my face washing routine.  I only wash my face in the shower. I hate washing my face in the sink. The water runs down your arms, all over the counter, etc. Or maybe I'm just doing it wrong. I'm not sure. 

Anywhosels, my facewash(es)

First, I use the L'Oreal, Anti-Breakout cleanser. Then, because I don't like how it leaves my face feeling, I use the Biore Pore Unclogging Scrub.  I feel like they both do 2 different things and my face is a nutcase so any help I can get in keeping it under control is great.  The Clean & Clear I use to take my makeup off. It works excellently. Taking my make-up off is literally the only thing I use it for. Mostly my Mascara.

Next, if I do have a breakout I use the Clean & Clear Acne Spot Treatment.  I can see a change in 1 day.  Its miraculous.

Finally, if my face feels dry I use this moisturizer. 

The L'Oreal Hydra-Renewal.  It works decently.  It doesn't leave my face oily or anything.  

So my skin care regiment isn't anything miraculous or time consuming or expensive.  Just some basic stuff that I buy at Walmeezy.

{13/365} In All The Crannies And All The Nooks

I love Dr. Seuss.

Chicken Almond Stir Fry

Yeah. I'm doing the same thing I did yesterday.  Judge me.  But when I find a good tip or recipe I can't help but share it.  Me and my mom are eating clean and she wanted stir fry so I searched for clean stir fry and I found it and it was glorious!!!!!   So I'm linking Leigh Ann's blog Your Homebased Mom. The Chicken Almond Stir Fry. 

My modifications: 

• Added teriyaki stir fry noodles, minus the teriyaki seasoning.
• No mushrooms.
• Made half the batch since it was only for 2 people.

It was seriously amazing. Go try it. Give Leigh Ann some major kudos while you're at it.

{12/365} The Espresso Book Machine

"A new vending machine has been released which can print any book within minutes. The Espresso Book Machine has access to 500,000 different books and can even churn out a fresh copy of Crime and Punishment in just nine minutes. Pages are printed at a rate of over 100 per minute & are then pressed, glued & cut to produce a pristine book. Users simply pick the book they would like on a screen and wait for it to be printed … it certainly is a novel way of getting a new book."

I have a Powells Bookstore a few hours away from me with one of these machines. I will do this some day. 

The Best Steak Ever

So today, instead of writing out a bunch of stuff I'm just going to post a picture and a link.  This is the best way to cook steak ever. These guys are awesome. Next time you make a steak, follow these instructions.

Apparently this is as big as the picture will get so go to THIS LINK and check it out.  Seriously, the BEST way to cook steaks.

{11/365} Book Beanstock

This raises a lot of questions in my mind:

• How is this (I like to call it) book beanstock supported?
• How many books are in it?
• What books are in it?
• Did the artist keep track of titles, authors, number of books or just find a bunch of books and build?
• How are they kept together? That metal railing looks close enough that people could still touch it/pull on it.
• How tall is it?
• How did they get it in there?
• Does it get skinnier at the top or is it all the same size?
• Is there a plaque or something that explains it?
• Where is it?
• Is it solid or hollow on the inside?
• Who built it?
• Won't the pages turn yellow eventually?
• Are the pages coated or something so that they can't turn yellow? 
• Were these all brand new books when it was built?
• Why so many books about Abraham Lincoln? I see at least 4 in this picture.

I know these are all questions that I could probably google but I just want to know right now! Maybe I'll look these questions up someday and I'll come back and update this post with the answers. But not like…anytime soon...

My 24th Birthday!!!

So today is my 24th birthday. I'm ready for bed.  My last few days have been pure crazy so I've slacked on the blogs.  Apparently my body refuses to be a night owl AND a morning person at the same time.  Eventually you crash.  And I did.  For a couple days.  So now I'm writing 6? 8? blogs tonight. I've lost track.  I have one more after this and I can sleep! 

My birthday has always been shared with my Dad because his birthday is the day before mine so we just do one birthday party for us.  Today we went to a buffet at the casino and then watched a show with the family.  It was pretty cool.  After I lost my $35 my Mom gave me her $9 she won off of $1 and I won $50.  (Mind you I've only even won 1 other time. My family is super unlucky.) So after I paid my mom back her money I came out $6 ahead for the night. I was pretty excited.  I hope you all had a great Saturday!

…I just read this back to myself and I apologize.  That was a whole lot of rambling about nothing.  But there's no takesy-backseys. Mostly because I don't have the energy to make this post better.  

Night world!

{10/365} Stolen Books

I find this to be interesting.  It makes me feel like I'm missing out on something because I only (from top to bottom):

Own: Invisible Monsters, Fight Club, Choke

Have Read: None

Considered Buying: The Kurt Vonnegut Books

That means that over 20 books are good enough to be stolen consistently and I've never even considered looking into them.  That's craziness to me.  

4 Challenges And Counting

I'm doing a lot of challenges.  Lets list them shall we:

• Blogher, January NaBloPoMo - Pressure
• Another Girly Blog's 2014 Blogger Challenge
• 365 Challenge - Books
• Saida Cane's Sweet Snap Challenge - Weekly when I feel like it

So 4.  Thats seems like a lot. Is that a lot? I'm not sure. I'm new to the blogging world. Whats a "normal" amount of challenges to do at once? My problem is I don't want to wait say a whole year to do different daily challenge so why not do it now.  But then I find more and more challenges that I want to do.  

What I'm saying is, I found another one I want to do.  It's more of a reading challenge rather than a blogging challenge.  However, I'm not sure of I want to do the Series Challenge, TBR (To Be Read) Challenge, etc.  There are a ton of them. I know I want to do one of them.  Now I have to decide which  one. Whats one more challenge?!

{9/365} Bibliobibuli

There is no such thing.  I do think there is however, such thing as a person who reads too little.

Daily…Octoubles...

Octoubles? Is that even a word. No. No it's not.  Do I care? No. No I don't. Anyways, here we go, making up for time, because I'm sucking at life this month. Go figure. So here today/tonight at 9:30 P.M. is my 8 posts. Here we go!!

Can peer pressure be positive? Why or why not?

Well of course peer pressure can be positive! Who in their right mind would think otherwise?! If you have a friend that is super healthy and you have a steady diet of McDonalds, then chances are you are going to feel some type of peer pressure to be healthier and to live a healthier lifestyle to fit in better with your friend.  I'd say getting healthier is a positive effect of peer pressure. 

{8/356} TypNO

You have editors for a reason. If they can't do their job, who can? Enough said.

Cock-A-Doodle-NO

What kind of person are you? An early bird? A night owl? I'm a total night owl. I cannot understand how you morning people do it.  I feel like death early in the morning.  Not even death warmed over. I'm always freezing cold.  It's horrible.  Then you go to take a shower and you have to pep-talk yourself out of the shower because for some reason the entire temperature of the bathroom changes with the weather outside.  It's ridiculous. Then you have to do stuff when your warm bed is calling your name. 

I love Gilmore Girls

But thats basically how I feel about mornings.  You people should get an award or something.

{7/365} Polyhedral? Homemade? Tetris?

I love this picture.  I've seen a chair similar to the polyhedral (I'll do that post later), its my DREAM to have a secret book case in my house, I've made my fair share of handmade bookshelves and right now I have so many books and so few shelves I feel like I'm playing Tetris to get them all to fit.  This is perfect.

Slump Day

Slump day! I don't want to write about the January post and I'm sitting here watching Next Great Baker not even attempting to figure out what I'm going to write about.  It's one of those days where no post is probably better than this post but…I just don't care.  I'm not giving up on January's NaBloPoMo which is ironically pressure. I feel the pressure from myself to complete it.  I completed December's so I know I can do it. I missed yesterdays for both NaBloPoMo and my 365 day challenge but I'm doing a daily double today. That's 4 posts. 

End Ramble.

{6/365} Movie vs. Book

If you are a reader than you understand. I just want every detail and every unimportant event to be incorporated.  Oh! He talked to this person when walking to work in the book? Well why isn't in the movie!?

However, I never go into a movie expecting it to be as good as the book. I know better.  But one day I hope there is a movie that is as good as the book.

Fun Fact: The movies are never as good as the book because they have to change the movie by 30% or something so it's not considered copyright. 

"Those Days"

Everybody has "one of those days".  Yesterday was mine. Hence the lack of blogs. So today I'm doing a daily double.  Yes, I'm counting this as a post. Please forgive me. This is how I feel most days.

{5/365} I Can't Have You

I'm just going to let this one speak for itself.  It's me in a nutshell.

Routines

Do you have a daily routine? I try all the time to get into one but it's so hard. Mostly because most routines start fairly early in the morning.  I have so many things I need to do in the morning but I don't wake up soon enough.  Ok, maybe not that many things to do but things that I would rather do in the morning. Like workout for example.  Prepare dinner. Or lunch. Blog. Ya know all those little things you hate to do last minute? Yeah, I do them last minute. I don't want to anymore!!! I'd rather have them done ahead of time.  In the morning minimum.  So my goal: wake up at……6:00 A.M…..that sounds horrible thinking about it.  ...I guess I shouldn't be up until 10:00 at night doing my daily blog then.  With that being said, I'm off! Night all.

{4/365} Must Be Magic

Did you do as it says? Crazy huh? This is part of why I love books.  You can sound like anything in your mind.  When you read a book you can have a zillion different voices.  Very few of which you would actually be able to say out loud.  I tried the old man voice out loud…its not the same…not even close. You can be anyone you want to be in a book.  Must be magic.

Eating Clean

I challenged my mom to clean eating for a week.  Minimum. We both struggle with losing weight and the like so I figured it can't hurt to try.  A lot of those "pretty people" you see walking around eat clean. 

There's a sort of saying: "If you want to be rich, do what rich people do. If you want to be skinny, do what skinny people do. If you want to be popular, do what popular people do." The list can continue.  

Now, I'm sure that 1 week won't do a whole lot for our weight loss but I'm curious to see. I think this week will be like a cleanse really.  Cutting out sugars, white breads, processed foods, etc.  We shall see. This is one of the most helpful things I found to understanding it.

And this is the most helpful thing I found to slowly learn how to eat clean.  Of course, we are just jumping into because, well, why not?

If you are interested in eating clean, I definitely suggest researching it.  I found these things on Sharee's Tumblr: I Wear Black When I workout. It's A Funeral For My Fat. She's pretty inspiring.

{3/365} I've Got Nothing To Read!!!

This is me 100%. Red hair and all.  Every time I finish a book I feel like I have nothing to read.  In actuality, I probably have close to 50 books I need to read.  I stock up at Christmas and then every time I walk into a book store. At Christmas the main gift I ask for are gift cards to Barnes & Noble. This year I bought 10 books.  Then, whenever I walk into a book store I always leave with at least 1 book.  It's a disease, I swear.   

I'm Slow, But I Run

This is how I felt today.  I started my Couch-To-5K program.  Let me just tell you, I am out of shape.  Like, WAY out of shape. It's absurd.  However, I completed day 1 which is a big deal.  I've tried this program before and always gave up half-way through day 1 even.  I think I'm finally over being fat.  I didn't give up today and I finished it.  

What is Couch-To-5K? It's a 3 day a week for 9 weeks program.  It starts out on week 1 with 1 minute of jogging hen 1.5 minutes of walking for 30 minutes (or 20 depending on how you want to look at it. 5 minute warm up and cool down.) Then as the weeks progress it slowly increases the amount of running and decreases the amount of walking. 

Seems pretty easy. I know. But it sucked. I ran until I was nauseous and then I ran some more.  It was great fun. But I did it and thats what counts.  

That picture reminds me of this one.

Thats essentially how I felt.  Everything was screeching and I just wanted it to quit. I just wanted that stupid app to tell me it was time for my 5 minute cool down.  Then it did. And I won that workout.

{2/365} How Many Lives do you Lead?

This is so true!!! I feel like I've been so many things! I've ben sick with cancer, in love with vampires, lost in a world populated by twisted fairytales, addicted to drugs, alive in the 1920's, friends with Gatsby, schooled at Hogwarts; the list goes on and on.  80% of Americans didn't even buy a book in the last year.  80%!!! That's such a high percentage!!! It's mind blowing to me. I couldn't imagine not buying or reading a book for a whole year.

Holy Social Media!

Let me just say, the amount of social media available is overwhelming! I apparently didn't do enough research on blogging before I started.  I don't regret it by any means but I'm learning SO MUCH everyday.  

Yesterday, I learned about Bloglovin. I still don't really understand it. It appears to be a great way to get traffic to your blog and an easier way to follow other peoples blogs.  Maybe I'm wrong.  

So I learned the importance of having social media…stuff….for your blog through numerous "How-to improve your blog" posts from various people.  A couple of my favorites are from We Call It Junkin - Six Things I've Learned In Six Months Of Blogging and Kristen Daukas from Blogher - Ten things That Make Your Blog A Hot Mess They help newbies such as myself make your blog better.  Which I need help with. I feel like Alice wandering through Wonderland.  There is so much to learn. 

While you have your own, personal social media stuff, you now have to have (recommended you have) all that same stuff for your blog.  Plus Bloglovin and whatever else is out there that I haven't found yet made specifically for bloggers.  Its crazy.  

So now I have double the social media.  Here are the ones that I have thus far. 

Facebook
Bloglovin
Twitter
Instagram
Google+
Pinterest

Are there any I forgot or that you think I should have? I'm still learning. I haven't even made a Twitter specifically for my blog yet. Oy. Some day.

New Years Inspiration

I'm participating in a 2014 blogger challenge hosted by Gaby at Another Girly Blog and the first blog prompt was "New Years Inspiration."  Instead of writing a life story about how you came to your inspiration, you show people your inspiration through pictures or quotes. I'm sure you can figure out what mine is.  Do you have any New Year Inspirations this year?

{1/365} Author, Title, or Color?

That is the question.  Having so many books, I often wonder how to organize them.  The most typical way (and how I currently have them) is by author. However, I rarely know the authors of the books I read.  I remember the title and color no problem.  But the authors, not so much, unless the book blows me away and I LOVE it.  Then I remember who wrote it.  So this whole color coordinated thing kind of fascinates me.  I think that I need a couple hundred more book though.  I think I'm almost to 200 books.  Maybe I'll try it one day.  

On the flip side, what do I do about book series? I can't split the series up just because they are different colors…. *sigh* Someday I'll figure it out.

Photo courtesy of Pinterest

New Years Resolutions Are Crap

I'm not setting NewYears resolutions this year.  They are ridiculous. MULTIPLE FUN FACT TIME:

• Only 45% of Americans make a New Years resolution. (For understanding sakes, lets say that is 45/100.)
• Out of those 45 people, 64% or 29 people make it to the 1 month mark.  
• Only 46% or 20 people make it to the 6 month mark. 
• Barley half of the less than half of Americans that make resolutions make it to June.  (Was that clear as mud? Good!)
• Want to know the top 10 New Years resolutions? I bet you can guess #1:
1. Lose weight (Who would have guessed!)
2. Getting organized.
3. Spend less, save more.
4. Enjoy life to the fullest.
5. Staying fit and healthy.
6. Learn something exciting. (Hang gliding? Parkour?)
7. Quit smoking. (That's all the way at #7?! Really!?)
8. Help others in their dreams. (What does that mean?! My dream is to finish school, get married, and build a house! Is someone donating money or guys to me….that got weird fast. Please don't donate guys to me.)
9. Fall in love. (Can that really be a resolution? You can't make that happen. It just does.)
10. Spend more time with family. (Way to go America. Family is the last thing we are worried about. Seems a little backwards to me.)
• 24% of Americans fail and never succeed on their New Years resolutions.

With all of that being said, I'm not making New Years resolutions, I'm making lifestyle changes.  I don't want it to be a "New Years resolution", I want it to be a "rest of my life resolution". With that, here's 1 more fun fact: 

• People who explicitly make resolutions are 10 times more likely to attain their goals than people who don’t explicitly make resolutions

So, here are my EXPLICIT "rest of my life resolutions":

1. Lose weight! (*gasp* Who knew!!! It has to happen. Not optional. And here's how explicitly)
1. Drink more water. A lot more.
2. Work out minimum 3 times a week. 
3. Less junk, more veggies. (I strongly dislike veggies so heres to learning new things!)
4. Less carbs.  (My family is like carb addicts. We love the breads, pastas, rice, etc.)
2. Blog better. (Or learn how. I'm getting there. Slowly but surely)
3. Stay on track with my Dave Ramsey stuff. (And in walks #3! …I meant up there^^^ but here too's good.)
4. Read at least 50 pages a day. (I've already started trying.)

So those are my main 4 life changes.  I want these to be things that stick with me my whole life.  I don't want it to be just a New Years thing. I want these goals to be long term or until achieved. 

All statistical information courtesy of Statistic Brain University of Scranton 12.13.2013