Hello, Lovelies!

I hope you all like the new background!  Over the next couple of weeks I will be sprucing up the page.  I am thinking about creating a banner but that will take some time because I am not nearly as talented as I used to be when it comes to creating graphics.  Hopefully, with some time and some tweaking this site will look fabulous!

So I have one blog post that is itching to be posted which is meant for Friday.  As long as I can find the Nikon camera to take some pictures I will be able to post it!  It is a "Finish It Friday" post about two face creams that I recently finished.  I will give you the pros and cons of each!  I can also start adding pictures to these posts.  They seem so boring without any pictures!

So yesterday I posted my to do list on here and unfortunately I did not complete it.  My motivation is just nonexistent right now.  Its very annoying when you have so much to do.  I did workout and go for a very short run.  I am a terrible runner: I am slow and I cannot for the life of me run for more than a couple of minutes.  I am improving however and will continue to improve.  I have decided to run for four days a week.  Monday and Tuesday then Thursday and Friday along with a short full body workout.  On Wednesday I am going to do yoga and a short walk of a mile or so.  My workout yesterday consisted of five minute segments of the major body part: arms/shoulders, legs/glutes, and core.  It was definitely effective because I am sore!  Its going to be difficult to run today but I am determined to beat how long I ran yesterday.  I am definitely excited for my run but also kind of scared because I just sneezed and my sore muscles hurt even more.

I love the holidays and all of the food but I am ready to eat healthier!  I cannot wait until there is an excuse to purge the junk food from the house and only have healthy food in here.  Between the Christmas cookies, the extra food and snacks I am just ready to get back to my normal routine.  Only a couple more days!  Today I had a delicious bowl of vanilla Greek yogurt with honey and oats granola and some fresh fruit on top.  It was heaven!

My lack of productivity yesterday means that today I need to be productive.  Have a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas, Lovelies!

-Stephanie

Just some rambling...

I have so many drafts of different blog posts and ideas but unfortunately between a last minute trip into the city and finding out some terrible news I have had little time and little motivation to finish those posts.  I am still in the mood to organize things and better myself in some way or another but I am just lacking the motivation to do anything right now.  It is not even 9:30AM where I am and I'm awake.  For someone who is twenty one then I guess that could be considered an accomplishment but I am also an early riser by nature.  I've eaten breakfast and I'm drinking my coffee hoping that motivation or inspiration will hit.  If you all are wondering... its been a good half hour and it hasn't.

I am starting to watch what I eat again.  I am hoping that if I keep track of that and ease myself back into exercising then I will lose the ten pounds or so that I gained this past semester.  I have decided to start running.  Let me tell you - it is not easy.  I tried last week and lasted only a few minutes.  My goal is to run every other day and just try to run as long as possible.  I will run today but I am not sure I will have a chance to run again until 12/28.  The 26th I will try to do something such as yoga or weights.  On the 27th I will be helping to move my sister so I will not be working out.

With only two days left until Christmas I have left so much to chance.  I have bought my presents, decorated my mini tree in my room and that is about it.  My room is an absolute mess right now along with the rest of the house.  My family had not planned on going into NYC for the weekend.  It was a last minute trip to visit family before the holidays.  We were supposed to spend the weekend getting the house ready for Christmas and relaxing.  The trip though was wonderful.  We had a lovely time and the weather was beautiful.  Despite some fog and cloudy skies the temperature was in the sixties - almost seventy!  Up north, where I live, there is still snow on the ground despite the above freezing temperature.

I feel as though the only way in which I will actually accomplish anything today is if I write it down and make a to do list.  In order to keep myself accountable I will even post it here:

• Workout - treadmill and weights
• Clean kitchen
• Organize books
• Bring what is mine into my room
• Clean my vanity
• Laundry
• Make my bed
• Clean room

Lets hope I can accomplish all of that.  I am giving myself until 4:00PM to do all of this.  I may need a few more cups of coffee through out the day.

-Stephanie

Starting the New Year Off Right

New Years Resolutions are a staple in our society even if the majority of the time they are never kept.  It is a time for new beginnings, a fresh start, and a time for self improvement.  Unfortunately, I seldom keep my resolutions but this coming year will be different.  This time around I will set myself up for success before the New Year. I will be organized and I will map out my plan of attack.

My keys to success:

1. My Agenda:  With more than a week to go until the New Year I have already started my new agenda.  I've started to add important dates, deadlines, and more.  One of my resolutions is to save money.  I have already added my first deadline.  I am trying to plan ahead.  In my agenda I am also going to have a monthly list of what I would like to accomplish.  Hopefully this will help to keep me on track.
2. A Plan:  I love plans.  I believe plans help to eliminate stress and the uncertainty of the future.  It won't eliminate all stress and uncertainty but it definitely helps.  As a business major, I look at my plans as if it it were a business plan.  There are performance objectives at the beginning, a way to achieve them in the middle, and the end is the evaluation of your results.
3. Goals:  You need to have SMART goals.  Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely goals.   This will keep you on track for reaching all of your goals.

Good luck to all of you on your New Years Resolutions!

-Stephanie

Ciao!

It has been quite some time since I thought, "what now?"  Or better yet, "where do I go from here?"  I have always had a very planned out life.  My mother sent us to private schools so that our chances of going to college would be higher and we would be better educated.  Unfortunately, the public school system in my area leaves a lot to be desired.  It started of in elementary school and then I went to a small, all girls, private high school, and then to college.  The last time that I felt like I had no idea what to do next was when I decided that the college I had decided to go to was not for me.

I started my freshman year of college at a small Catholic college because that is what I though I was supposed to do.  I had been going to a Catholic school since I was eight years old and it seemed like the next step was to continue on that same road.  It wasn't necessarily because I was religious but rather because the school was relatively small and not to far from home.  Within a week of being there I knew I wouldn't stay passed that semester.  That was the first time I hit this particular road block.  Do I transfer to a college I can commute to?  Do I look into the college that was my second choice?  The one that my sister went to?  Well, in the end I ended up at my second choice college, the one my sister was attending at the time.

Not knowing what was next or where I would go from there was exciting and terrifying at the same time.  I am currently in that same situation.  I don't know what my next step is.  I just graduated from college a semester early.  Pause for a second and take that in.  My adviser told me that staying for another semester to take on a minor (history) that would not benefit my major (marketing) and then said, "As far as I am concerned, you are done."  That threw me for a loop.  I had planned on staying for my last semester.  My second semester of my senior year.  This was in October.  It is now more than halfway through December and I am still struggling to come to terms with not only graduating but also what my next move will be.

I put off thinking about my next step because I was scared.  I focused on the last couple of weeks of classes, my finals, and my new Netflix obsession: The Hart of Dixie.  I am someone who normally has a plan.  I have my next three steps planned out and contingency plans should any of those steps go wrong.  I'd be lying if I said I didn't have some idea of what comes next.  I moved back home and I am enrolling in a Master's program but I still don't feel like that is enough.  I need more.  I need to have a better idea of where my life will take me.  

I am either going to learn how to go with the flow over the next couple of months or throw myself into projects that will hopefully lead me to where I need to be.

-Stephanie