Thursday Update: Spring Break

It has been SO NICE to have a little break from school the past few days. I've still been working a lot, but having nothing I have to do during the day is so relaxing. The weather dipped over the weekend but now it's wonderful and sunny and 85-90 degrees out! Awesome spring break weather.

Here's the week in photos:

continuing with using my new crockpot/searching for yummy, low cal recipes... this is a thai peanut coconut curry that works with chicken or veggies (or both in this case!) It was a success so maybe I'll blog about it later.

 

I gave Clementine a bath finally... it had been longer than I'd like to admit! After she was all clean and out of the tub (and running around going CRAZY like just-bathed dogs do) we noticed that her now soft, smooth hair had separated into a perfect part running down the length of her back. It was hard to get a good picture because she is so rambunctious but it looked absolutely ridiculous/hilarious. 

I attempted to make low-ish calories cookies! I kind of made up a recipe, reducing the flour/sugar/chocolate chips/eggs in the toll house recipe and then using greek yogurt in place of some of the butter...They turned out pretty good. Taste wise they're great but I wish the texture was a little more fudgey/dense and less cakey/airy. I guess I'll just have to do some more experimenting.

I posted this on instagram the other day. It has been so nice out (and our house can seem so small and dark) that lately we've been leaving the front door open while we do things around the house during the day. We have a very small fenced in yard around our house so it allows clem to be able to go outside and run around/frolic in the grass/mess with the dogs on the other side of the fence. A couple days ago I was doing my ab workout while Clem was outside and she decided she was done playing and ran in and hopped right onto my chest. She's such a little mama's girl. 

And this is a picture I took of myself yesterday wearing a skirt I bought at Ross last week... Say what you will, I think the high-low hem trend is super cute. I've been buying more clothes in the past few weeks that I have in the past few years combined... Finally having a job and working a decent amount of hours combined with not eating out and not spending any money on alcohol has been very good for my bank account. 

I also took this picture because as of yesterday I've lost 20.2 pounds and 20.5 total inches (added up from all over my body) since I started trying to lose weight on January 17th! I am very very very happy about this. It's kind of a halfway mark to where I want to be. also, 20 lbs is a huge hurdle. I think I should do/buy something extra special for myself as a reward but I'm not sure what that will be yet... But I'm looking forward to continuing to workout, tone my muscles, eat well, and reduce my body fat over the next few months.

In other news, this week:

My friends Nick and Amanda came to Tucson to visit/search for apartments! I was working most of the time they were here but I got to spend a couple hours with them and I am SOOO excited for them to move down here! They are definitely some of my best friends ever, I've known them since I worked at mama eddas in 2010. Nick actually hired me and was my boss haha.

I still have one serving left of the veggie soup I made and I think I'm going to make more this weekend. It is soooo good. I've been eating it with a salad literally every day for lunch, even though I have a ton of other food in the fridge.

I've been trying to figure out who I'm going to do my star study on for my screen artists class. I want to pick someone obscure enough to be interesting but no so obscure that they aren't really a star... I actually really wanted to talk about James Deen, who is a male porn star turned mainstream actor that recently starred in a Bret Easton Ellis film with Lindsay Lohan. I find him interesting because he has been called "the boy next door" of porn by mainstream journals/publications... in that he "looks like someone you would want to talk to at a coffee shop". He has a HUGE female fanbase though, dubbed "deenagers" (many of his fans are younger women) which is pretty much unheard of... He's kind of an anomaly and I think it would be so interesting to talk about his "star image". I'm worried it might be too taboo of a choice though. Ugh. I dont know. Suggestions on interesting stars?

Coming up:

This week I decide on/register for classes for my last semester of college!! Woohoo!!!

Back to school with a couple midterms and papers just around the corner. blegh. 

Not much else... this is going to be a pretty ho-hum week. No big plans, just school, work, working out, and sewing and blogging if I get the time :)

Hope you all have had/are having a wonderful week! Enjoy the weekend!

Love,
Em

Thursday Update: March is Here!

This will be a short update since I didn't blog much at all this week due to being out of town :)

This week:

This blog reached (and surpassed!) 25,000 views. That is pretty amazing! I can't believe people were still somehow finding and reading my blog while I was away... but I'm glad they were and still are! Hopefully that number will just continue to go up up up :)

I learned to ski! It was so fun, but exhausting! My legs are STILL sore.

I got my first concept exam for my Screen Artists class back- 90%! 10% deducted for not having a works cited page, but many of my classmates pointed out that it was not stated in the instructions so we can turn one in after spring break.

I kind of explored downtown Flagstaff for the first time, aside from an impromptu rainy day trip Stewie and I took there back in 2009. Apparently holiday lights all over downtown in march are a-ok there.I really enjoyed it though! We did the art walk (very similar to all other art walks) and ate at a cool local brewery.

I'm trying one of the many things on pinterest that may or may not be a complete waste of time (I have a massive love hate relationship with pinterest that recently has been mostly hate). I've been swishing with 50/50 mixture of mouthwash and hydrogen peroxide to see if it helps whiten my teeth. Hydrogen peroxide is supposedly the main ingredient in whitening strips? I read it on the internet so it must be true.

Photos:

Taking a break from skiing for lunch... Green Chili Chicken Soup and a Magic Hat Number 9 pale ale. yeah...I didn't take any pictures of the actual skiing. Just food.

While driving to Tucson from Prescott I passed this truck/bus/contraption and had to snap a picture... I'm not sure what exactly they do, but they're rather confident about it.

Coming up:

Spring break starts today! Hopefully that means some much needed time to focus on sewing/etsy stuff and also plenty of time to cook.

It's getting warmer and warmer in Tucson... it's supposed to dip a little this weekend but maybe sometime later this week we can head out to Tanque Verde Falls, Sabino Canyon, or one of the other Tucson swimming spots. Like the University Heights pool.

With any luck this week I'll hit my first weightloss goal... a 20 lb loss! What an incredible and rewarding feeling that would be.

Happy Weekend!

Love,
Em

Thursday Update

Thursdays are my last day of school during the week and my last day off before I go back to work (I work Fridays, Sundays, and Mondays) so it's a good day to recap what's been going on and talk about what's in store for the weekend and the next school week. This week I'm going to talk about all of February since it's the first update! I'm going to try to post a short little update like this every Thursday just to keep you filled in regarding my day to day life :)

This past (few) week(s) in photos/instagram:

Celebrating 211 much more quietly than in past years... getting a hot drink at Skybar after work. 

I got really into hot toddies in these chilly winter months! Whiskey, honey, lemon juice, hot water, garnished with cinnamon sticks, lemon slices, and cloves.

Valentines day was nice and quiet since my boyfriend Colton and I were taking a trip the following weekend that was kind of a christmas/valentines gift hybrid. I went shopping on my break between classes and bought a couple cute dresses and that night we made a nice Italian dinner at home. We did get each other a few small gifts but nothing crazy.

Spearmint gum (my favy) leek and morel mushroom jack cheese (yesss), some potted flowers, and coconut water. Perfect Vday gifts for this girl.

 That weekend Colton and I went to see one of our FAVORITE comedians, Louis C.K! We drove up to phoenix for the show, stayed in a nice hotel in tempe, went to an only so-so restaurant for dinner, and went to the late show which they were filming for HBO! it was sooooo fun and I'd pay 45$ a ticket to see him again any day. 

Hotel mirror pic! Right before leaving for dinner.

A week ago last Wednesday it snowed in Tucson! I've live in Tucson since Fall of 2010 and I've never seen snow here, other than way up on Mt Lemmon. It was really awesome... big, fluffy flakes were falling all day and night long and the next morning there was a wee bit that actually stuck. Of course it was gone by noon. Still cool to see though!

And of course Clem had her birthday on Sunday but I showed you that pic.

Here's what else has been going on this week:

I turned in my first test for my Screen Artists class, and received my grade for my first Roman Literature test. 96%! Not bad considering I was almost certain I would sound very stupid next to all the Classics majors in the class... I've never taken a Rome-focused classics class and it's actually been about a year since I took a classics class at all. 

I've lost 16.6 lbs total since I started actively trying to lose weight on January 17th. Woo!

I finally made a tumblr but I have no idea how to use it so someone should inform me...

I got my first paycheck since upping my hours at work back to 3 shifts a week. That's what I started with a year and a half ago but after Linn died I went down to 2 shifts and then to one measly 7 hr shift a week. It felt soooo good to have a paycheck over 120$ again! I'm looking forward to hitting up Joanns for some nice fabric and filling out my Etsy store.

Here's what's coming up:

Tonight I'm driving Clem and myself up to Prescott. Tomorrow my Dad and I will be going up to Flagstaff for a little ski vacation. I haven't skied since I was about 7 or so and I remember a lot of falling so... should be interesting. but fun!

Next week is the last school week before spring break! yay!

I have a TON of my own recipes saved on my computer, all with serving sizes and calorie breakdowns. This week I'd like to remake a couple of them and take pictures so I can share them on this blog! Looking forward to another week of healthy eating. 

 That's all for now! Have a great week/month and see you again in a few days!