Why I love IKEA.

C'mon. We all knew this was coming sooner or later. This is an ode to IKEA. The greatest store ever. (Marshall's runs a close second in my book)

So, here are the reasons I love it.

1.) It is cheap. IKEA is has the cheapest furniture I've seen around, and their other things are come very close to the best bargains.

2.) It is huge. Like 2 of our Wal-Mart supercenters two stories. They have everything. Bedding, everything you need for a kitchen, bedrooms for the whole family, pet things, outdoor things, all furniture, decorative items, toys, kitchen cabinets, appliances, bathroom fixtures and a RESTAURANT!

3.) It is organized. You may not be able to tell from my room or car, but I love order. My dream is a completely organized closet with shoe holders, and drawers, drawers and more drawers. And never a metal hanger. Ever. I love the IKEA shopping system. Walk in, drop your spawn off at the playroom/daycare, grab a giant cart. Grab your pencil, paper and measuring tape. You start at the beginning and weave along the arrows on the floor. They take you from room to room, through display houses and rooms so you may see the merchandise in action. You write down the numbers of the furniture you want and then when you reach the warehouse at the bottom you match the numbers and pick up your perfectly flat boxes of furniture. Then you checkout and buy a ton of huge 34 cent green bags. You may then go to the snack bar, restaurant or Swedish food store. Heaven.

4.) You can spend a whole day in it. (or at least I can) It's my personal heaven.

5.) Did I mention cookie jars all over the giant store?

I've added some pictures of my bedroom now and the bedding I've chosen for my apartment next year. :D

Take a glance for yourself....
www.ikea.com

"Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels"

Whoever the hell wrote that has obviously never tasted a McDonald's Sweetea or had a rare steak from Cheddar's. FML.

The St.Joe myth

Last night, I was fortunate enough to attend a get together for a friend's birthday in my future town of Charleston. This party just happened to have a pretty good StJoe kid ratio. We do tend to dominate such gatherings. Eventually, after many drinks and coaxing, we started an SJS chant. After this chant ended, it was brought to my attention that some people think they know what attending St.Joe was like, even though they never actually attended. (going to St.Joe church doesn't count, either).
The stigma that comes along with St.Joe students is that we had a terrible time locked in a dungeon being forced to recite bible quotes on command while having disturbingly open sexual lessons taught by our priest and only worshiping the Virgin Mary. (or something along these lines, the things ERMSers come up with are amazing. Ok) They say things like "oh, you went to St.Joe?! How terrible was it? It must have been awful to have such a small class. It's practically inbreeding." (again, I might exaggerate a tad...)

The truth is, attending St.Joe was in all honesty, the best thing my parents have done for me thus far. Alot of my classmates remain my close friends today. My very best friend is from St.Joe. I believe that we formed bonds that are not plausible at public school. When you are not getting along with a classmate, you are forced to address it instead of moving on to a new group of friends. I appreciate this. It has taught me to mend friendships and that most things tend to come full circle again. As far as the religion being shoved down our throats, this is not true, either. Although some parents may have wanted this, mine didn't and I appreciate that. We had religion classes sometimes twice a week and a school mass on Wednesday mornings that our parents or whomever were allowed to attend. I respect that to this day.

So don't feel bad for us St.Joe kids. We stick together, and most of us will tell you how it really was. I've attached some pictures of my closest SJS friends at our Senior Party :)

Love is....

A few things that I love the most, inspired by Jamie's post.

Love is....

-a long hug
-your dog
-rocking a baby to sleep
-a good book
-a great nap
-a good dream
-martha stewart blue
-being happy
-a long shower
-a snow day
-a perfect kiss
-a text with :)
-a toddler rambling things you can't understand
-flannel sheets
-unexpected flowers
-a suprise birthday party
-accepting people for who they are
-a tearjerking movie
-a visit with friends that lasts into the night
-a drunk dial from a friend
-a random shopping trip
-mcdonalds sweet tea
-a wink
-a compliment
-a memorable quote
-your favorite song coming on the radio
-peace.

Please remove whatever is in your butt.

I know you may find it hard to believe, but I am yet again writing about rude people. I just don't understand. At my job, it never ceases to amaze me how many people manage to make it through an entire check out without saying one word to me. I tend to ask things like, are ya ready? did you find everything ok? your total is ____, thank you, have a great evening! and other junk that you say. Crafty rude people find some way to respond with a series of nods while staring only at the screen and refusing to make eye contact, or God forbid, actually smile. I'm not expecting a full on conversation (though those people can be a bit much also), but have some respect and don't treat me like I'm a computer or something. On another note, I think every single person who is having a bad day insists on shopping at my workplace that day. I swear it. Then tend to scream at me when I greet them or ask to sign up for a charge (yes I know it's annoying, and yes I know you don't need one, but it's my job, and I don't scream at you for trying to do yours). So I suggest the next time someone asks you for one of those crazy things, you just reply that you already have one.
So the next time you go to McDonalds, Walmart, or wherever and you just aren't feeling like smiling that day, force your grumpy face to do it anyway. It really makes a difference to them. I know you remember working jobs like this...

Just another post from a bitter girl about Valentines Day

Let me start of by saying all of the cliche Valentine's Day hate things that single people say.
1.) It's a Hallmark holiday
2.) it's pointless and depressing
3.) it's just another day, blah blah blah.
Even so, it's extremely depressing for a single girl in college. I don't even want a boyfriend, so it's beyond me why VDay always gets me down. Yay for being young and dramatic I guess. Even if you do have a significant other, usually you are disappointed in whatever Valentines Day gift you did or did not receive. Lack of being proposed to and all that jazz. Maybe not. Maybe I've been out of the game too long to remember.

On another note, It's the first weigh in day, and I've lost 5 lbs and Heather has lost 4. I'll find out about Christina today. So that's my Valentine to myself, I suppose.

Did I mention Valentines Day is a holiday created to make people depressed and I hate it??
;D

Day Old Blues

The title of this piece happens to be a Kings of Leon song title, surprising, huh? But, their lyrics have alot of truth. I won't post them because they are a tad racy, but if you are interested, google the magnificent works of my kings. I had yet another rude customer preaching to me about donating to Haiti, this specific gentleman was complaining because his medicaid for hospital stays still includes a copay of $200 or so. He then told me that we cannot even afford to feed children on food programs such as his. This man has 11 children. On a slightly less depressing note,

Today marks day three of what I am calling "The Great Weight Race" at Fashion Bug. After being tricked by our sneaky scale to think that I had miraculously lost 7 lbs overnight, yes, literally overnight, I'm a tad discouraged already. Maybe the little sleuth is paying be back for avoiding him for so long...
Everyone has been asking "what diet I'm doing" and I've chose not to follow a set diet, but more of a set of what I like to call "boundaries". Here are my boundaries:
1.) 1200 calories a day
2.) eating more natural things, very little processed
3.) no meat except seafood
4.) heart healthy things (low salt and low fat)
5.) only whole grains and low fat dairies
6.) If I crave something, I eat a tiny bit of it or I will attack someone.
7.) have one cheat meal a week
These have worked out well for me so far, I have only used number 6 three times, once each day. By this I mean; one single lonely dorito, a tiny cupcake with barely any icing and two painfully small bites of delicious butterfinger pie from the Holiday.
So wish me luck as the weekend arrives because I am making two cakes, possibly attending two Joe's parties and a visit at Cindy and Jay's who always seem to have my exact favorite foods. The small town comfort food that I imagine as the hunger monster on the Weight Watchers commercial is winning as of tonight....

Here is a picture of KOL at the grammys last week, they won 3 out of their 4 nominations. I can't help but show them off!

Live as if you were to die tomorow, learn as if you were to live forever - Ghandi

First of all, I want to mention one thing...WHO DAT. That's all I'll say about that.

Last week my brother from another mother (Mama Helen to be exact), and well, Heidi's brother, decided to go and surprise Heid by just showing up at UK for the weekend. With a 4 hour drive ahead of us, a cooler full of food and a birthday cake, we left after school on Friday Lexington bound. We made it with no complications, save one broken windshield wiper and an Arby's laughter induced sandwich spew. We waited for Heid in her bedroom at the apt while she and her roomates watched a movie at the theatre. I wish I had recorded Heidi's reaction because it was all we had expected and more. I would have drove 8 hours for it. With a mixture of crying/laughing hysterically, she threw her arms around us and held a mean choke hold for approximately 5 minutes. Then we had cake.

It's times like that that remind me how great of friends I have. I am truly blessed and when I have really down days, which seem to be more frequent lately, I know I can always call Heidi. Or most of my friends for that matter. No matter how cliche, it is true, the best things in life are free. A hand to hold, a new baby, a shoulder to cry on, or just someone to call up when you're bored. These are the things that truly make people happy. Although my new hot pink straightener and contemporary framed Ghandi quote print don't hurt.

All in all, it was a spectacular time. I got to see my best friend in the whole world, and come back to a loving home with my dog waiting on me. Life's not too bad.

Oh yeah, and The Weight Race starts tomorrow. Goodbye McSweetea.

Frustration.

Today I got very frustrated at work with our customers. I work at Fashion Bug, and as part of help for Haiti, we offer the option to round up your total (ex. $12.59 to $13.00) and donate the change to the American Red Cross to help with Haiti. I was extremely excited when I was told we would be doing this. We did this for Coats for Kids one year, and it was very successful.
I was very shocked when I started to offer this to customers. I am appalled and embarrassed at our customers reactions. Most get aggravated when I simply ask. Then they start explaining to me how we have kids in America starving etc. and how we need the money to go here. I understand and agree with this, but this is what really pisses me off; Are these people personally donating to kids in America? Have they ever volunteered a day in their lives? Seriously people. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. So how dare you think we are more important and hold the livelihood of our citizens over Haitians lives. There are people who lost their children, parents, brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc in this devastating event. In America, we have the option to find food if we are staving. They didn't have that option before this tragedy hit.
And my favorite rebuttal; "but they didn't help us when Katrina hit". Seriously people? Are we taking score? What would the Haitian people have to offer us during Katrina? They were living worse than our Katrina victims during their regular daily lives.
If you were in their situation, wouldn't you want someone to come and help you? Pull your trapped and dying child out of rubble? I would hope someone else would have the compassion to help my children.
So today I got chills when a woman came in with her young daughter, who didn't have much herself, was more than happy to donate and begged me to let her donate $5 because it was all she could afford. After my day of frustration and nausea over this display of heartlessness, she was a gleam of light. People are all the same. Our lives are no more important than any one's in a third world country.
I understand this is a topic of high debate and controversy right now, and I don't expect you to agree with me. All I'm asking is picture your own child, parent, best friend under some rubble, or sleeping in the streets starving, and try to at least relate to the Haitians in their time of devastation.

Tattoos.

I always hated tattoos. I'll never forget when I was about 10 and my dad came home with his tattoo. I was so furious that I didn't speak to him for about two days. Me? Dramatic? Shut your filthy mouth! I was sure we'd be automatically labeled as trailer trash and outcasts of society.

So now I want a tattoo.

I've been stewing over what I'd like to get, although I'm not one of those people who get a tattoo just to get a tattoo. I want something with meaning, and I want a marker of my young life. I would like to get love. (with the period, as this is the most important part of the tat, the "understood you" form of the word, not the noun) on my wrist, but since I'm going to be a teacher, I've decided this would most likely be detrimental to my chances of getting jobs.
This leaves me with my more sensible wish for a peacock feather along my side ribs. I can hear my mom moaning now. I figure this is one of the few places I can make sure is covered if I need it to be. No wedding photos with it, no pregnancy stretches. A pretty safe place. I would like to get a song lyric along side it, take a wild guess which artist I'm getting....I'm between the lyrics "She'll shine once she's crossed the line" and "hand over your heart, let's go home" both are my favorite parts of my favorite Kings of Leon songs. And I know, I know, maybe I won't like Kings of Leon in 30 years or whatever, but it is a part of me now, and I want to remember it.
So.
If you have tattoos, what are they and what do they mean?
And, any advice on choosing?

Circles and more circles.

It must be that time of year when the winter depression starts in. That time of the year when life doesnt really have a point and you're tired every single day. And I just tried for approximately 15 seconds to pause my cable show instead of pressing mute. That kind of time. It seems like things are going in neverending circle, walking in place. I have been extremely single for over a year and a half now and it's getting old to say the least. I've been at OCC for two years this semester taking classes and doing work that seems to be just an extension of ERHS. It's like some kind of sick purgatory. Nothing is moving.
At the same time, things are going so unbelievably fast that it's mind blowing. I have two more years of college left. Period. I'll (hopefully) be preparing to finish school and teach a class in two years. Mindblowing.
So, with the new year starting up, I've decided to not make just a resolution, but to get things moving if I have to push them myself. Today I finished the weight loss chart today for Heather and I. We are starting next monday, and I can't wait. I've been doing some observation hours at the high school for my teaching class, which makes the fact that I'll be a teacher soon very surreal.
Growing up is one of the strangest things I've ever done.

Switching things over.

I have decided to slow down the caking and up the cupcaking. Cupcake is the name of Lindsey and my line of baby goodies that we make for Market Decor, here in town. We are currently working on some onesies, tutus, headbands and hats for the spring. The word spring acutally sounds like a joke at the moment, but nonetheless.

I have also decided to do a life makeover. This includes; a colon cleanse to kick things off with (accompanied with glances of angst from my close friends), a cleaner and better-smelling room and car, competing with Heather at work to lose weight, not wearing sweats to school 90% of the time ( yes, I know it's only OCC, but if I could look past the ballchuckers and super-hicks, there may be a suitable mate around somewhere) and finally, being calmer. By this, I mean not blowing up like I usually would and being more laid back. Oh, and applying for a Martha Internship. Piece of cake, right?