New Years Resolutions*

*Or Rezzies, as I'd more than likely call them. Yup Lisa, that is a shout out to you.

• Work on improving my skin and skin care routine.
• Drink less coke and more water ( I think that one might be a miracle).
• Whiten my teeth.
• Say at least one thing in each class every day (Believe it or not this is kind of hard for me. And believe it or not, some teachers actually care. And being that I go to Seattle University, where the biggest class size is like 30 kids, literally, it's pretty obvious.)
• Figure out my housing for junior year.
• Get a car.
• Experience my first facial at a spa, maybe clear my pores.
• Finish my third book.
• Achieve my weight loss goal.
• Go to a bar after November 8th.
• Choose a summer month to give charitably every day in.
• Go somewhere that is not in Washington, Oregon, or California.
• Make more of an effort to go to Mass.

I haven't made resolutions since like the 9th grade, so I guess I'm making up for lost time. Do you guys have any resolutions?

Beezy and Hungry

It all started with a little thing I'd like to call the strep throat diet. It's not something I'd recommend. It mostly consisted of me lying in bed, halfway to tears because my ears would not stop hurting and I could not swallow my own saliva without pain let alone food or even liquids. The only side benefit was that I lost 7 pounds in 9 days. The only reason I know that so accurately is because I was in the doctors office to close my claim and get a flu shot, when they forced me to weigh in, and I was there 9 days later for what I thought could quite possibly be swine flu, so they weighed me again, and the proof was in the pudding (no pun intended).

After my pants started fitting a little looser, I thought "hey this isn't too bad!". And I figured I'd quite like to maintain it. That's when I watched Kathy Griffin's latest comedy special, in which she shared her secret to staying in shape. "Bitchy and Hungry!" Now, I know that's not a very nice word. But it's Kathy Griffin. And she has a point. There's no point in all the celebrities who are on drugs and Lord knows I can't afford to have nutrisystem delivered to my door. But this is something I can buy into. Basically she is hungry ALL THE TIME. And thus, this makes her grouchy.

First of all, according to some (coughmymomcough) I have no problem being a beezy sometimes. I figured I might as well take one for the team and lose a few pounds while I'm at it and be a bit hungry.

My first major steps have been to snack less and eat smaller portions at meals. This managed to at least keep my weight loss the same, even during my whirlwind eating tour in California. And I just found out I have strep again (seriously I can't catch a break) so that combined with the fact that it kinda wipes out my taste buds, maybe we're looking at another seven pounds?!

Plus it's a new year, so what better time to revamp lifestyle choices and get serious about weight loss? No better time than the present to drink less coke and more water (I think we're all holding our breath on that one) and be a little more active.

Speaking of which, New Year's Resolutions coming soon.

I Have Never Felt Happier Then When I Was Swinging Under the CA Sky with my Brother

And that my friends, is the truth.
I am writing this remotely from my aunt and uncle's home, so I will keep it brief in order to not monopolize the computer.
I'm really grateful for the past four days that I've had here in sunny Southern California, it was a nice vacation, a nice chance to breathe, and a nice time to visit family and friends. I had a really fun Christmas, reminiscing. Everything we see, since we have such a short time here, seems to bring up childhood memories or memories from long ago.
Hopefully everyone has a blessed, relaxed, safe, and happy holiday, a Merry Christmas, and a wonderful New Year!

This is me, blogging in action, at my Aunt Elena and Uncle Scott's house. Picture courtesy of Uncle Scott =)

We Interrupt My Normal Wordy Blog (By Wordy I Mean Full Of Words)

To announce some things I'd legitimately like for Christmas. Granted, I don't expect things, but in case you needed an idea. Plus I really wanted an excuse to share the card cubby with you. And this list is off limits to my mom, who I already gave my own list to, even though all the ideas have been rejected by my father, like all good ideas =)

Card Cubby, $19.99

When I saw this in a magazine, I knew this was for me. Every time I get gift cards during my Birthday or Christmas, I end up stuffing them in my wallet and then its about three times larger because its not made for that. But this is PERFECT! It's made to hold gift cards, but even better it has little tabs in them to organize them alphabetically! The library snob in me is sqealing with pleasure. So in essence, I asked my mom to get this for me, and she flat out said no, so if it somehow doesn't make it into my organized little hands, then I am just going to buy it myself. Which is basically what my mom told me every time I pointed out a potential gift for me out, "Mom that's a good one" "You can buy it for yourself". Which if you ask me pretty much defeats the purpose of Christmas.

Other ideas...

Movies

Eagle Eye (With Shia Labeouf, pretty sure they sell this in the 8.99 section of my school bookstore, so it must be cheap elsewhere)

Transformers 2 (sensing a theme? Can't get enough of Shia) (Addition: they sell this pre-wrapped at Target for $14.99!)

Get Smart

Books

Official Book Club Selection by Kathy Griffin

Going Rogue by Sarah Palin (Come on, Ya gotta admit you're curious about her life too ;)

Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer

STATIONARY!

Because most of you know that I am really into letter writing lately. And stuff to write it on of course!

Like this! ---> Cath Kidston Cowboys and Roses Mix and Match Stationary! (it's my favorite on the whole Chronicle Books website actually)

Jewelry

Especially stud earrings, because you can never have enough!

This Sephora make-up palette for only $15

Gloves. Plain ones, preferably black. For the Washington winter chill.

OK, now that you all have enough Christmas gift ideas from now until I'm a mother of my own, that I hope are relatively on the cheap (I think everything is under $20), I am off to do some more writing. Because that is what I like to do in my down time =)