Prom Recap

I. Am. Exhausted.

But it was fun! I was glad I waited until my senior year to participate in any type of school dance--specifically prom. It was fun, but a lottt of money was spent on it. I sometimes feel bad that I am so cheap, but then again, I'm terrified of spending money frivolously, especially in large amounts at once. Anyways, my friends and I did not take it as seriously as others did, we took pictures that were not as fancy as others, and waited until the group pictures to put our act together (which most of them we photo-bombed anyway). Considering we had an hour and a half to take pictures, we had to do something entertaining, so we joked and took silly pictures.

Basically when we walked into the house we should have held a fat sign that said "Cool Kids Alert"

Another pro of prom night, no drugs or alcohol was involved! For a (as my art teacher refers to me) "little Mormon girl" like myself, that was enjoyable. And I was scared mostly about the dance itself, usually those include lots of uncomfortable "dancing", but funny enough, there wasn't a bunch of it going on! 1 or 2 songs, couples who were grinding would bump into me, and I'd yell at them to stop "throwing off my groove", so that was fun to see their reactions. It's almost like the environment knew that a Mormon girl was coming.

After prom was an after party, which included campfire, s'mores, and a game called "cards against humanity" which is basically a rated R version of the game "apples to apples". At about 2am my dad finally texted me saying to finally get home (which in all honesty I was ready to leave by 10:30, but I did not want to be a party-pooper). When I got home I took a shower due to my OCD about going to bed feeling clean, so that I wouldn't make my bed smelly or dirty. Plus I just sleep better after a nice shower. Then I decided to make a quick sign to leave on my door, which included: "Please, for the love of everything beautiful on this earth PLEASE...let me sleep in? I might actually die if I wake up" in anticipation for waking up at 9am the next morning for church...

My dad laughed...and woke me up anyway. I might has well been asleep the whole day because I was out of it and slurring my words all day until I got home at 1:15, and when I did, I went strait back to bed and slept until 5:00. It was beautiful. Yet, I'm still exhausted, and ready for bed, and the thought of waking up at 7am tomorrow for school makes me cry a little on the inside.

One Way, or Another

So it's Friday night, and I am sitting at home with my mom, watching Canadian cartoons, eating greasy pizza, alone. I need more friends. I was thinking about working out after school, but I was just too exhausted, and my thighs/shoulders were killing me. I decided I did not want to pull or tear anything so I choose not only to workout, but to eat my weight in calories in grease and cheese.

But the more I think about it, perhaps its better that I did not get too busy today because tomorrow is going to be very busy (Prom!). I honestly have no idea how I am going to be able to muster up enough energy to attend 10am church Sunday morning after not getting home until 12:30 or 1:00. I'm praying my parents just let me sleep.

But now I'm seriously regretting ordering pizza, because I can already feel the grease eeking into my pores on my face. Gross. I'm definitely going to have to wash my face a few times tonight.

I have come to a conclusion though. I have to stay consistent with my diet/exercise: no more of workout out really good one day, and then pigging out the next. It's not healthy, and I'll end up getting more bulky than anything. I just need to stay motivated, which holy crap its hard. But I can do it, believe it achieve it!

Shape Up, Slim Down

So today I went to the gym to workout. My dad pointed out to me that, sense I am currently unemployed, I should have no excuse not to exercise at least an hour ever single day. Today I only lasted 45 minutes, but still, I pushed myself! So much so that my legs gave out and I fell on myself in the middle of my hallway. Still, I agree with my dad.

I have a total of 3 classes (plus seminary), two of them are easy A's, and the other is English--which I speak. It's not like I have a heavy burden on my shoulders to fulfill, I need to spend less time sleeping on the couch, and more time shaping up and slimming down! It's hard to find motivation though, but usually what gets me to go is when I poke my thighs or stomach (as weird as that sounds...) and feel the flab and fat jiggle, it grosses me out, and makes me want to get rid of it.

Pinterest is a big help. My mom believes that walking on a treadmill for an hour is all you need to do to loose weight. Maybe if you're like, super obese and lazy you might, but for her, she's not doing anything besides maybe maintaining her weight. Oh well. Pinterest gives me a few options of various workout routines to try to work specific areas of the body, I'm currently trying to formulate a mixture of my favorite workouts so I can get exercise that is more fitting to my body type.

I'm going to attempt to not look at the scale. One thing that really did get me when I was younger was the scale. I am bigger than other girls. I'm not fat, just bigger--thick-boned if you will--and when I was younger (middle school) that number on the scale always got to me. Eventually I ended up eating nothing but 1 salad a day, and lots of water, and I lost about 20 pounds in 1 month. I was on my way to anorexia, but luckily school started and I got myself into eating more than 1 meal a day.

So, my "scale" is going to be the mirror. If my butt looks a little flat, I'll work on toning it, same with arms and whatever part of my body I am uncomfortable with. The thing I really need is support. When I tell most people I want to start working out they immediately say "oh no you don't need to lose weight, you're fine!" and that honestly doesn't help (and I don't just want to lose weight). Don't worry, I'm not going to be unhealthy about this, I'm going to try to stay as healthy as possible, you know, hence me wanting to exercise more often? I don't know.

I guess another motivation for me to be healthy is this whole "freshman 15" rumor that my brother kept reminding me of. I'm horrified to even think about myself 15 pounds heavier than I currently am.

The Story Behind the Gerbils

For those of you who are friends with me on Facebook, you know that I have a deep love for my 3 pet gerbils: Sargent Franklin Theodore Fuzzy-Boots (brown), Lieutenant Snow (Snowy), and Methos (Black). Technically, each of my brothers and I only own one of them, Franklin being mine. Regardless, I still think they're all mine considering I take care of them the most. I have even dedicated a whole Facebook photo album for them. It's weird, to be so attached to gerbils, I know, but you have to understand the background...

I have always wanted a hamster (or a dog), for as long as I can remember. My dad, having grown up in a small town where you either had animals for hunting, farming, or eating, felt no need to buy any type of pet for his kids unless it was a fish. After owning a pet aquatic frog for 8 years (Fred the Frog), I had to break the news to him that you simply can't love a fish.

When I was about 14 years old I walked into a pet store with some friends of mine, and we walked down the "Small Pet's" isle, and that was the first time I saw a real "gerbil" (not hamster) for sale as a pet. Hamsters are not as cute to me. Their faces are fairly flat, and fat, and they show little personality from what I've seen. Plus, all they do is sleep during the day, and keep you up in the middle of the night. Yet when I asked the store keeper about what the difference between a gerbil and hamster is, he informed me that he recommends gerbils over hamsters any day.

Gerbils can be nocturnal, but for the most part, they are fairly active in the day. And they love to be played with as well (depending on the personality of course), they are easy to tame, and are easy to take care of. I could go into more details, yet all in all, I fell in love with the idea of owning gerbils my own.

It. Took. Years.

Saving up, discussions with my dad, even a 10-page windows powerpoint to attempt to prove that I am mature and capable enough to take care of pet gerbils all on my own. It was not until I was 17 during my senior year that I was able to FINALLY break down his wall and get him to say yes at least once. One night he finally said yes, and the very next day after school I went to the pet store so he would not have time to change his mind.

The first Petco we went to was the one by Sushi Hana in Tigard, and they only had 1 male gerbil (we decided we wanted to get 2, gerbils are happier with friends, and we did not want anyone to feel lonely), considering we did not want to go through the process of "introducing" new gerbils to each other, we decided to go all the way to Beaverton to see what they had there.

At first we were horrified.

They have plenty of gerbils to choose from, yet the first red flag was that they were all on sale for 25% off. When we got a closer look, it looked as if someone had been testing the reactions of crack users on them, because they were all insane. One was randomly running in circles while others were scratching the glass and fighting others and chewing on their metal exercise wheel. My mom, brother and I all instantly decided; we could not possibly feel any sort of connection. So we talked to the pet store lady, who also was sketch (multiple facial piercings, dreads, dyed hair, tattoos, etc) if they had any other gerbils to choose from. She said yes and brought out the 2 new fellows that they just got the day before.

We loved them! They were smaller than the rest, and shy, and calm. We put our hands in and they would come up and smell us and we could feel their little paws on our fingers. We instantly felt a bond with them. So we got those ones (Franklin and Snowy).

Months later when my brother came home from college (surprised to hear dad actually caved and let me purchase my own gerbils), he decided he wanted to be a gerbil owner too. So that is where we got Methos (clearly Michael named that one), and luckily the introduction process was not as difficult as expected. Now, franklin and snowy get along just fine, and they scruffle and play with each other all the time.

So there you have it, for those of you who actually took the time to read all this, wow, you need to get off the computer now...

Those of you who just viewed the pictures, aren't they so cute??

Still Unemployed

Okay! So today was my job interview, and though I was offered the job I was sad to turn it down. the scheduling was way too complicated, and they expected me to drive out to Southeast Portland for a 30 minute class. It wouldn't work. So as of now, I am still unemployed and available for babysitting!

Secondly, I asked my friend to Prom today! Just as friends of course. We've been buddies sense freshman year. I think it will be a lot of fun! This prom will be the only school dance that I have attended within all 4 years of high school (besides freshman homecoming for a matter of 5 minutes...it was awful). Apparently we have a whole restaurant reserved for our group of twenty, and we get to ride in a limo to-and-from le Prom! It should be a blast.

My friend and I are super pumped, she went dress shopping recently, and I am reusing my old dress from when I went to Mormon-Prom my sophomore year (Actually, we couldn't find the Prom location, so we ended up going to Players for a few hours instead...in our formal-ness), because I am too cheap to go spend money on a new dress, and luckily, mine still fits! Yippee! We are getting ready together, my mother is going to assist with our hair and all that girly-foo-foo stuff. I'm jacked.

Moving Along

Senioritis seems to be taking over my life. Not only in school, but in church as well. I am a Young Women's president in my ward, and frankly, I am mentally done in Young Women's. I don't want to be that person who says the whole "I'm 18, I'm an adult now" thing, but honestly, I feel as if I need to get used to being in a "big kid church" setting with other people my age, and less kids. Otherwise, transitioning into a college life setting will be a small shock to my system.

I love Young Women's, don't get me wrong. But it's hard to plan future activities and have an opinion on things, when I'm not even going to be there for said activity because I'll be in college by then.

Thankfully, when I graduate I told everyone that I am planning on going to the Young Adult Ward, and that I'm leaving Young Women's until college. It's about a month and a half away, but I'll be able to survive. Mentally, I am in college-prep mode. That being said...

I have my job interview tomorrow, which I'm torn about. On one hand, I'm hoping I get the job because it could probably be one of the best jobs ever and it pays almost double what I was making at Boom Fitness. On the other hand, it's reallyyyy nice not having a job to go to after school. But, if I am going to meet my goal on not having to take out any loans for my freshman year of college, I need a job so I can get some extra cash.

Also, my parents expect me to pay for gas in my moms car considering I use it the most (school, work, babysitting, etc.) and eventually I'll be broke if I don't have a job while I pay for gas. I was also hoping to somehow get a membership at Boom, so that I'll be motivated to get in shape sense I'm spending money for it (the gym at my apartment complex really bites).

So right now I feel as if I am in a daze, not really mentally in the present, but mostly anticipating the future. I'm just hoping that mindset doesn't get me in trouble later on in life.

My Ridiculous Love for Children

So, as stated before, I adore children and can't wait to be a mom (I'm expecting laughs from all the other current mommies reading this). Today, I spend a decent half of it babysitting a family of five adorable children. Am I tired? Yes. Would I do it again in a couple hours? Yes. In fact, I am. I'm going to write this blog post, take a nap, and then go babysit again! This time a family of three.

Why do I love kids? I don't know. For a while, between ages 12 - 14 I refused numerous babysitting jobs. But that was also during what my family likes to call my "dark phase". Just picture dark brown hair with blue streaks, raccoon-like eye liner, grey/black clothing, and hair in my eyes.
That was me.
Not my proudest moment.
But when I was attempting to get out of my dark phase I noticed that children are extremely simple minded creatures. They are happy majority of the time, are easy going, and enjoy the small things in life. Why can't everyone have that mind set? It's sad that the world pollutes our minds so that we lose our innocence.

Even God said to become like a "little child", I see what he means now. No, that does not mean that I am attempting to go back in time and be childlike, but I am trying to be a happier, positive person. I am truly my happiest when I spend time playing Star Wars, Beauty Salon, or any other game their amazing imaginations can come up with! That's why I jumped on it when my cousin offered me a job being a daycare girl at a gym, and why I only applied for jobs online that included interacting with kids. If I work, I might as well work with something I love, kids, and frankly, they mostly seem to like me back. I just learned lately that I am a 5-year-old girls favorite babysitter! That is a huge compliment to me.

Also, if I plan to be a future mother myself (which I am) I might as well get as much experience with kids as possible so I have some sort of idea as to what I am getting into. I know babysitting off and on is nowhere near being the 24/7 no-rest-ever job a mother is, but it's better than having no experience with kids at all.

But seriously. I'm dying for a nap. Peace.

Fail vs. Success

So during my last blog post, I commented on how I was going to go workout as soon as I was finished.

But I didn't.

Instead, I ate 2 fat pieces of pizza, sat on my butt for 6 hours, and watched cartoons on Netflix. All-in-all, I need to work on my motivation...

On a positive note, I got a call for a job interview today! If I do land the job, I would be a preschool soccer coach! It will also be my 3rd job (before college) which I say is pretty impressive considering how lazy I truly am. I guess my plans for being unemployed until summer have changed after all. Ah well. It'll be nice considering the job makes almost double of what I made while working at Boom! Crossing my fingers!! :D

Intro

Well, I have never been into writing in my journal. Any journal. I have tried numerous times but for some reason I would always fall out of the habit. My mom being a religious journal-er sure was excited when I told her I was thinking about starting a blog. I thought about it simply because after reading all the young mommies blogs that I am friends with on Facebook, I wanted to live their life. Not really, but I loved how they updated their blogs regularly and posted pictures of their new houses or kiddos and such. Also, I'm going to college at BYU-I in September (5 months from now, seems like a lifetime away) and I know my mom is going to attempt to live vicariously through me while I'm there because she never had the opportunity to go when she was my age. Instead of taking her phone calls that will last hours every single day, I figured it would be easier for her (and me) to just read about what is going on while I'm there! Why am I starting 5 months early? Well, I need to get myself in the habit of "blogging" first, otherwise this is going to be a huge fail.

So my name is Andrea, and I am 18. I'm graduating in June and could not possibly be more excited (Senioritis is real). I just recently quit my job working at a Kids Club in a gym called Boom Fitness. I loved the kids, a lot, but not the partying/alcoholic employees. Before that I worked at Parsons Farms, which included lots of labor, dirt, and tasty veggies/fruits. Now, I'm planning on staying unemployed until I graduate (besides the occasional babysitting job of course!), and then hopefully I can work at Parsons again until I head off to college!

I'm really not that exciting of a person. I love art--specifically painting (but who doesn't when you live in Portland?) and am taking AP 2D Studio Art, my all time favorite class. I just had a showcase yesterday at the high school for my portfolio that included 12 paintings with a "marine life" theme. I'm kind of a painting hoarder, so I did not sell any of them, yet!

I also am attempting to workout more! When I'm done with this blog update I have nothing on my schedule except for working out (thank you Pinterest.com for giving me at-home workout routines!). I'm hoping to become less-flabby so that when I head off to college I might actually have a chance of dating the guys there.

Now, it is time to go sweat!