Sunday, February 27, 2011

Before and After in reverse

Just in case you forgot, in summer of 2009 I lost 24 pounds and looked great. I felt healthy, I looked thin, and I was wearing a size 8. I had a "glow" about me and felt beautiful.

Before (thin and glowy)
My boyfriend, grandpa and me at my dad's 50th birthday party last year.
After (still confident in myself but less glowy and definitely not thin)

Graduation in December 2010. I don't look "fat" or anything but at this time (and still now) my weight climbed and I gained the 24 pounds I lost- plus 1 more.
So what does this all mean? I am disappointed in myself for letting myself gain back all the weight. It feels like it canceled out all my hard work and now my "skinny" clothes don't fit anymore. As a matter of fact, my former "fat" clothes (please know I'm keeping this as a relative term since we all have different feelings of when we feel fat) are right back to how they used to fit. Actually, in a brand of jeans I like (but they run small) I had to buy a 14 the other day because my 12s were feeling tight (at least that size in that brand feels ridiculously loose- gotta justify stuff sometimes, right?). Now I know this brand just runs small because I have NEVER been a size 14 before (and refuse to say I am a size 14 because my other size 12 pants fit fine) but this was pretty much my turning point where I realized I was just so disappointed in myself. I have been in a funk lately about my weight and basically eating my feelings instead of just dealing with it and losing the weight (once again).

I'm tired of feeling disappointed in myself. Let's turn that disappointment into another 24 pound (maybe even more!) weight loss and this time PERMANENT. I had a "last hurrah" today and in the morning I will have a fresh start.

Here's to new beginnings and lessons learned from past mistakes!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Accent Vlog (way overdue!)


The Accent Vlog: Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught
  • What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
  • What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
  • What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
  • What do you call gym shoes?
  • What do you say to address a group of people?
  • What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
  • What do you call your grandparents?
  • What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
  • What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
  • What is the thing you change the TV channel with?


Ok everybody, here is my accent vlog. I know this is kind of "old news" since these were done a couple weeks ago but I thought this would be fun. It was a royal PITA (pain in the a$$) to finally get working because my webcam software was acting up. BUT I finally got it to work and here is my accent!

A lot of people here in TX say I don't have a Southern accent but people from up North usually say different, haha. My family is from east TX so I kind of picked up on their accents. If you think my accent is Southern, you "ain't seen nothin' yet" (to sound all Texan haha)- my family has it way thicker than I do! I'm also very tired so my accent really comes out when I'm tired.

What do you think? Did I sound like you expected? If not, what were you expecting (more/less of an accent, a deeper or higher voice, etc.) to hear? If I sounded like what you expected, what were you expecting to hear (I sound different to myself than I probably sounded to you)?

Monday, February 21, 2011

ABC's of yours truly

ABC's of ME!!


(A) Age: 21, close enough to 22
(B) Bed Size: Queen
(C) Chore You Hate: doing the dishes and folding laundry
(D) Dogs? 1 dog, a 1 year 3 month old yellow lab (see dog in my profile picture)
(E) Essential Start Your Day Item: shower
(F) Favorite Color: black
(G) Gold or Silver? Silver
(H) Height: 5'5''
(I) Instruments You Play: Piano (played for 7 years as a kid and recently got back into lessons- YAY!!) and all percussion instruments (hooray band)
(J) Job Title: Compliance Teacher and a human who is dying to get back to being a student (in grad school)!!!
(K) Kids: none unless you count my dog :)
(L) Live: The best state in the world...TEXAS! :)
(M) Mom's Name: no thanks, not posting my mom's name all over the internet lol
(N) Nicknames: Steph, Stephie, and other nicknames that I plead the fifth on :)
(O) Overnight Hospital Stays? for myself, none...but I've stayed overnight with my dad when he got in a wreck 3 years ago
(P) Pet Peeve: people with bad spelling/grammar (not as annoying as it used to be), rude people, yappy foo-foo diva type dogs, cats that just run around my neighborhood peeing and crapping all over my yard and not in their own yard, people who don't clean up after themselves, people who choose to be ignorant instead of actually learning something, my dog always wanting to hump and chew blankets (he's at that stage haha), people who let their kids run amuck in stores getting in everybody's way, lazy people, people who feel entitled for doing nothing, arrogance, people who don't use their blinkers/turn signals when driving (I call it a blinker, but some of you may call it a turn signal haha), and last but not least- ABUSERS (of any type), drug dealers, murderers and rapists (don't even get me started on what I think society should do with those pieces of crap)...I have way more but I just thought I'd list off the stuff that really really bugs me haha
(Q) Quote from a Movie: "You don't just look for an hour and call it quits. You get your ass out there and you find that f***in dog!" Billy Madison (my favorite movie haha)
(R) Right or Left Handed? Right handed
(S) Siblings: none (parents couldn't get pregnant again)
(T) Time You Wake Up? Monday through Friday I wake up at the ungodly hour of 6:10am and on the weekends I sleep till around 8 or 9ish
(U) Underwear: the kind you wear UNDER your pants/skirts/dresses...duh :P
(V) Vegetable You Dislike: Brussels sprouts, celery, broccoli
(W) What Makes You Run Late: the only thing that could possibly make me late is a traffic jam...I am NEVER late! "to be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late" is my motto (you can thank my band director in HS for that haha)
(X) X-Rays You've Had Done: just stuff in my mouth for when I was diagnosed with TMJ, when I had braces, when I got my wisdom teeth taken out, etc
(Y) Yummy Food You Make: all breakfast food, lasagna, enchiladas, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, grilled chicken, cakes, pumpkin cheesecake, the good stuff :) I can cook anything really, cooking is one of my hobbies.
(Z) Zoo, Favorite Animal: penguins

Thanks to M at I Made My Bed for the ABC's :)

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Heck yeah!!

I got an interview to the grad program I really want to go to! It's March 10th and I can't wait!

Yesterday at work was kind of rough but at the end of the day, things started to look up. After school on Fridays, I tutor a small group of some 5th graders who need extra help. At the end of tutoring, someone wrote on the board that I rock (she wrote Ms. ____ rocks! I don't want to write my last name on here haha) and then another girl said "you're the best teacher!" so I told her that made me really happy to hear that and that's what I'm here for.

Ahhhh it makes me feel so much better on days when I feel discouraged, the days I feel like I don't know anything about teaching (I tutored the men's basketball team in college, but tutoring is a lot different than teaching I've found out), that I still am making a difference. That's what I want to do, so I feel so much better knowing that I'm making a difference in helping someone learn. Last week, one of my 4th graders that I tutor after school also told me "I like tutoring with you best because I learn more". I think I must be better at tutoring than teaching because when I try to teach in the class I work in during the day (1st grade) I seem to be at a loss on what to do sometimes.

HOWEVER, I've been helping a small group of kids in the first-grade class who have a hard time with reading and now they're starting to read! Maybe I do make a difference. It's just some days I feel like a total "newb" and feel so lost. It happens, right?

So all in all, yesterday turned out to be a GREAT day :) I love working with the kids (1st, 4th, and 5th grades) and they are great.

What do you love about your job?

Sunday, February 13, 2011

I'm a bad blogger :(

Sorry for being such a bad blogger, guys! I've been super busy at work and by the time I get home I'm either too zonked out to post or I'm busy doing some other activity that isn't internet related. Working with first graders all day means no internet until I get home from work.

What has been going on since my last post?
  • I celebrated my 3 year anniversary with Court on February 10th. He gave me an awesome Blu-ray player and a blu-ray movie to watch on it. I can't wait to set it up with my TV! He is truly the best person I know and is my best friend. I couldn't ask for a better man to spend 3 years and counting with :)
  • I've been eating super unhealthy lately and am starting to think I need restriction when it comes to losing weight. I love the mentality of WW where you can eat what you want but in moderation, but I don't think it's for me. I need MUCH more structure.
  • I'm going to sign up for Healthy Lifestyle Secrets with my school this week (they start the program together later this week). The "diet" is really restrictive at first and gradually adds in more foods, and I hear it's set up to where you lose more fat than with other diets. I'm excited to try it to see if this will be the structure I need.
  • My previous post was the first day it snowed in Texas for 2011...it snowed some more for 3 more days and I had all the rest of that week off work. It snowed AGAIN February 9th and I got that day off work, too. What's up, Texas?
  • The weather is FINALLY warming up! For the last 3-4 weeks, it's been 20s-30s every morning and I am NOT a fan of that. Today it is mid-70s and sunny- a perfect day to me!
  • I realized that I look better when I wear less makeup. Win-win, right?
  • I started a photography class and am learning a lot!
  • I did my first 5k last Sunday! I walked it with my parents, who asked me to sign up with them. I would have jogged some of it, but I was nice and walked with my parents. What a great way to start the day :)
  • I'm starting to make a difference with one of the kiddos in my class! I sympathize with the students who are a little slower on the uptake with school work so I try to help them out more. I'm still lost as all get out in the job (at least, I feel like it- people say I'm doing a good job for being so new to the job though!) but I love the kids I work with. On Friday as I was leaving, all 27 kids in the class gave me a hug. I had kids surrounding the whole circumference of my body. It seriously melted my heart and was the highlight of my day! It's the little things, right?
I've  been thinking about doing one of those accent vlogs soon because it's fun listening to everybody's accents! Knowing me, I'll be too lazy to do that :)

I leave you with some fun pictures :)

Marshall just LOVED the snow while it lasted! Didn't my dad get a great action shot of him?

Drinking a Grande Skinny Caramel Macchiato with an extra shot of espresso before the 5K

My dad got another cute picture of Marshall in the snow. Isn't he so photogenic? He's even cuter in person :)

How has everybody been lately? Any juicy gossip to share? ;)

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

SNOW!!! and February Goals

Well, North Texas got to kick off the first day of February with snow (yes, REAL snow!!) and the school district I work for shut down today so I get an extra day to rest and recover from this nasty cold! We Texans are gigantic babies when it comes to snow, it's quite ridiculous. Everything pretty much shuts down even if we get just an inch of snow. I know, it probably sounds pathetic. BUT 100 degree days are nothing to us whereas people up North think that's like a sauna, so I guess it evens out :) I feel almost 100%, but it was nice to get an extra day to rest. There is no such thing as rest where I work, so this was almost like it was sent from the big man upstairs :)


This is the snow that shut down all North Texas schools and a lot of places of work. It may not look like much to people who see more snow, but to me this is awesome!!

I slept in until 9am (and to think I used to think 9am was waking up early...LOL) and had a nice hot bowl of oatmeal with 1/2 C canned pumpkin, some cinnamon, allspice, a squeeze of agave nectar, and a small spoonful of peanut butter. YUM!

Now, to preface my February goals. Today, I dropped my membership to WW Online because it just doesn't feel right for me right now. I don't really have a good reason other than counting points is just not my thing. I'm thinking about trying the program my parents have been doing called Healthy Lifestyle Secrets. You don't count calories/points and it teaches portion control and healthy eating. Best part is that I don't have to pay for it because my parents have all the information about the program from their work places doing it for the staff.

February Goals
  • Eat sensibly and not gain any weight (hopefully lose some weight in the process)
  • Find a way of eating that works for me
  • Save my money as much as possible- don't spend more than $100 a month in "luxuries" I don't need
  • Keep learning more effective ways to help my first grade kiddos so I can help as much as possible!
  • Read at least one book
What are your February goals?