Day 14

Happy Halloween!

Today was a good day--the best of the weekend. And it had nothing to do with it being Halloween. I like Halloween, but it's definitely not my favorite holiday (that honor goes to Christmas). However, I do like decorating for Halloween, but that could be because I pretty much like decorating for anything. I love the entire process, from planning what's going to be done, to actually executing it. Even when problems arise, I love trying to figure out how to solve them. And I love seeing the end result.

I'm definitely a planner--always have been. I make lists, I am more organized than I probably should be, and I constantly worry over details. For instance, the boyfriend's birthday is coming up in a few weeks. We were originally going to throw a party (my idea, of course), which means I started the whole planning process back during the summer. However, he has since decided that he wants to invite a few friends over for dinner. Which means I'll be cooking. And I have no idea what to cook. I know what kind of cake he's getting (my own creation--Rocky Road cake). That detail was established a couple of months ago. And I'm getting ideas on what kind of decorations to do. But I still don't know what meal the guests will actually be eating. And the boyfriend has been no help with this matter either. He's very indecisive. :p

I've been working on new earring holders today. I've gotten a couple finished, but not in time to take pictures of them to post. I will be getting those tomorrow. I've got one more that I'm almost done with, and one more that I need to start working on. And I've gotten some more ideas on how to make my products better, which I'm excited to try out.

Now I'm sitting here talking to my dad, and he's telling me about how it's getting easier for him to move around and such. And it's amazing to see this change. Just a few months ago, he could barely walk around the house without pain, and he certainly couldn't walk around a store. He would almost always have to get one of the motorized carts (he refers to them as go-karts) to use. But ever since his back surgery a couple of months ago, he's been getting better. And today, he didn't have to use one of the carts when he and my mom went to Walmart. I love that it's getting easier for him to move. I hated seeing him in the pain he was in. It makes me happy that he's getting better.

Days 12 & 13

Sorry for the lack of a post last night. I was going all day, and I just wanted to crash.

Anyway, yesterday was pretty busy. I helped my dad clean the house, then I had class, and then my dad and I worked on some Halloween decorations. I also started working on something for the boyfriend for he returns home from his weekend trip to Alabama. Hopefully he likes it. I'll know Monday. :)

Today has also been busy. I had breakfast with my parents, and then we did a little shopping. I also finished my boyfriend's present and did a little work on some stuff for the shop. I need to get a lot more done though. Hopefully, I'll be able to get a lot done tomorrow. I want to be able to put some stuff up this weekend.

I did workout both yesterday and today. I didn't get to exercise twice yesterday like I wanted, but I was really busy, and pretty much constantly on the move, so hopefully that did something. I've noticed that I've been stressing out lately, and I'm not sleeping as well as I would like to. I would say that I hope that changes tonight, but I'm doubting it. We'll see though.

Okay, I'm starting to get really tired, so, I know this is short, but I'm going to go ahead and go to bed. I'll try to have more say tomorrow.

Day 11

I'm not going to write a lot tonight. I'm going through some stuff, and I'm tired and want to go to bed.

I had internship again today. It started off rough, but it got better. Which was good, because I did not want a repeat of Tuesday. I wasn't ready to deal with all of that again.

I got to spend time with the boyfriend and his mom and stepdad before they head out of town for the weekend. Yep, this weekend will be boyfriend-free. I've got plenty of stuff to keep me busy, but we'll see how that goes. :p

I haven't exercised today, and I'm probably not going to. Like I said, I'm tired. I'll probably exercise twice tomorrow, even though tomorrow was supposed to be my rest day. I need to get back into exercising twice a day anyway.

Well, I'm off to bed. Until tomorrow.

Day 10

It was a stormy day here in Georgia, and it's been a stormy night as well. I love days like this (except for the tornado watches), but only if I get to stay home. Since I had class today, I had no such luck. And of course, I had to be at school right as the weather started getting bad here. Needless to say, I was glad to finally be home tonight.

The day got off to a rough start, but it did get better. The bad thing is that I've been somewhat unmotivated today. It has taken me longer to do stuff because I have had to talk myself into doing them. Like exercising tonight. I finally talked myself into it, but it took me about 30 minutes to do so. And I'm glad I did. It was a good workout. :)

I was a little stressed and irritated today. I think it was a combination of last night/this morning, being tired, and just not feeling like doing anything. I hate feeling like this, and I really hope tomorrow is better.

Together

Even though we had a fight last night, and things still aren't 100% better this morning, this picture still holds true. It is always better when we're together.

Day 9

Internship today was really rough. I mean really rough. Probably the roughest day I've had so far. Honestly, 4pm could not come fast enough for me today. All I wanted to do was go home, eat, and pretty much go to bed.

However, once I got home, my day got tremendously better. First, I got the CD of pictures of the boyfriend and me that one of my best friends took for us. :) Then, I went over to the boyfriend's house and posted some of said pictures to facebook, and then spent the rest of the time just talking and venting about my day to him. Then I came home and watched DWTS (Team Ballin'!!).

I realized today just how lucky I am. I woke up this morning and thought about how happy I've been this past week. It's been unbelievable. I can definitely tell a difference in my attitude just over the past week. And I have to attribute a lot of this to the fact that I have some amazing people in my life. I have people who have been there for me through everything--good and bad--and they continue to be there and support me. These people are some of the most important people in my life, and I honestly don't know where I would be without them. They have seen me at my lowest point, and they stuck by me.

For so long, all I thought about was the fact that so many people left me. So many people found absolutely ridiculous reasons to decide that I was no longer needed in my life. Some of them even tried to blame me for things that they know I never did. And for so long, I let all of that get to me, and that's all I focused on. I let it get to me so many times, and that caused so many problems for me.

However, now I'm letting all of that go. I'm realizing just how blessed I am, and how many good, amazing people I have in my life. I'm in such a good place right now, and my life is only going to keep getting better. :)

Day 8

I have been pretty out of it today. I think it had to do with the fact that my dad woke me up this morning by telling me that we were under a tornado watch. I hate tornadoes. They terrify me, so today did not start off good for me at all.

However, it did get better. In the most exciting news for the day--I made my sell! Yay! I sold one of my earring holders--the one I posted this morning, in fact. It excited me to no end, and I'm still floating on cloud 9. :)

I got a little work done today...nowhere close to what I needed to get done, though. I'm just going to have to work harder tomorrow. My head has been in the clouds all day, and it is driving me slightly crazy.

I ended the day by watching DWTS and working on a new earring holder. Hopefully I'll have it up by Thursday at the latest. I'm pretty excited about this one. :)

Well, I have to get to bed. Internship tomorrow!

Day 7

Well, I'm at the end of my first week of this, and I must say, it's been a pretty awesome week. :)

Today was an amazing day. I slept in for the first time in a while, and after the rough night at work last night, sleeping in is just what I needed. Once I got up, I just took my time and really relaxed and enjoyed today.

My workout today was good. It's starting to become a staple in my daily routine, which is good. I've noticed myself actually making time to exercise, and instead of giving into all the excuses, I'm actually getting up and working out. In fact, I'm noticing that I'm making less and less excuses for why I can't exercise, and that is a good thing. :)

I went shopping at Michael's today to get some stuff for my new product. :) I got all excited because I was able to get what I needed on sale, plus, I had a coupon for 15% off my entire purchase. So needless to say, I bought quite a bit, but I didn't spend over $10 for all that I bought. :) But what really made me happy was that not only did my wonderful boyfriend come with me, but he gave me his opinion on the things that I was buying and helped me pick out stuff. I love that he's interested in this and appears to be almost as invested in this business venture as I am. I love that I have this level of support from him. He's been absolutely amazing through all of this, doing everything from giving me ideas to letting me set up my production studio at his house. I honestly couldn't ask for a better support system than what I have with him and my parents right now. All three have been great throughout this first month. :)

Speaking of my business, I got the new product up! I'm very excited about this one! If you check out the box on the right side of the page, you'll see it. :) It's an earring holder, and it's pretty amazing, if I do say so myself. ;p I am also using one that I made, and I am absolutely in love with it. It has solved my dilemma of never being able to find the earrings that I want to wear, or forgetting about some of my earrings because they're always buried under other earrings. Now I can see almost every pair that I own. Hopefully, I can help other people solve that problem as well...and with a little style to go along with it! ;)

I have some other ideas bouncing around in my head that I am also excited about, so we'll see where they take me. So, go check out my store, keep watching the blog, and follow me on Twitter. That way, you'll always be up to date on what's going on with me, the store, and life in general. :)

Thanks for reading this for the first week of my 30 day experiment. I'm looking forward to the next 23 days, and I hope you are too! And I hope that I'm inspiring at least one person out there to maybe start a 30 day challenge of their own.

Day 6

Well today has been an extremely long day. I don't know why, but I've just felt like today kept dragging on and on. I honestly didn't think it would end.

I was able to get some work done on some new products I hope to roll out tomorrow. I'm very excited about getting these up. And hopefully I'll also be getting some new products out next weekend as well. I'm very excited about this, and I can't wait to see where this whole venture takes me.

Work was looooong. I was supposed to get off at 9:30pm. I didn't get home until almost 11pm. It sucked, but hey--that's more money. And I need all the money I can get right now.

No exercising today. It was another rest day, but I was still pretty productive. So it wasn't like the other day where I was just sitting around doing nothing.

Now, I am completely exhausted, so I think I'll head to bed. More to come tomorrow.

Day 5

Sorry I didn't post this last night. I got extremely tired and decided to go to bed before I remembered to post. But at least I'm doing it now, right? :p

Anyway, yesterday was pretty productive. I finished my earring holder, and I even started planning to make more and sell them. Look for those to go up in my Etsy shop this weekend. :)

I also exercised, which was definitely a good thing. And I took my dogs to the park and ran with them, which wore all three of us out. But trust me, that is a really good thing. My dogs love going to the park and getting out of the house for a bit.

I'm noticing some changes already, and I'm not even at the end of the first week! I have been a lot happier this week, and a lot less stressed. I forgot just how much exercising affects my mindset. I need to keep this in mind when it starts getting to the point where I want to stop exercising. This is no longer just about losing weight for me--it's about keeping my sanity. And I have a feeling that I will need this outlet a lot during next semester.

So, that was yesterday. I have a lot on my to-do list today, so I look forward to tonight's update. :)

Day 4

This will probably be short because I'm falling asleep and getting distracted by the TV.

Today was better than yesterday. I had to sit through a 2 hour math class during my internship, but luckily, I'm starting to remember how to do all this algebra. And I was able to help one of my students today, which made me feel pretty good. :)

I spent some more time with my wonderful boyfriend tonight. :) He definitely always makes my days better...even if they were good to begin with. :)

I did exercise tonight, which is probably why I'm tired now. I feel like I need to get into trying to exercise twice a day, like I did on Monday. I felt really good that day. I feel like I ate way too much today, especially at dinner, so I think that had I exercised both this morning and tonight, I wouldn't have felt as bad as I did.

Okay, that's it for tonight. Hopefully tomorrow's post will be a little more interesting. :p

This Has Totally Satisfied My Chocolate Craving :)

So, I have been craving chocolate all day today, and I found this recipe a few days ago on one of my new favorite blogs Skip To My Lou, so I decided that today would be the day that I would try it.

And I am in love. :)

It's called White Chocolate and Peppermint Popcorn, and it's the perfect sweet snack. So here's what you need to do to make it for yourself. :)

First, get your ingredients. You'll need 1 bag of popped popcorn, 1 cup of crushed peppermints or candy canes, and enough white chocolate or vanilla-flavored almond bark to cover all the popcorn.

I'm sure your asking why I have a hammer. Well...that'll come in a minute. :p


Next, you'll need to get your peppermints/candy canes ready to crush. I used 40 peppermints, and I think that if you use candy canes, you'll need about 12. Remember, you need 1 cup crushed.

I would recommend using a food chopper of some sort, but since I couldn't find ours, I had to improvise.

And I'll admit, I had much more fun with the improvising. ;p

I put the peppermints in a plastic Ziploc bag, and took the hammer and just started beating the mints. So much fun....and a really good way to get some frustrations out. :p Just keep in mind if you do it this way, you could end up with some tiny holes in the bag, which means that you'll have some "peppermint dust" left behind. It's not enough to affect your measurements though.

And I would just like to thank my dad for telling me to crush the peppermints this way. :)

After you get your mints crushed, pour them in a measuring cup and make sure you have a cup.

Now, after that, you'll need to melt your chocolate. You can do this either on the stove in a double boiler or in the microwave. I don't have a double boiler, so I had to use my microwave. If you do this, I recommend microwaving the chocolate in 30 second increments. No matter how you melt your chocolate, you have to stir it frequently. Trust me when I say that if you don't stir the chocolate, it will burn. Been there, done that.


Once your chocolate is melted, pour both it and the popcorn in a bowl, and mix.
Add in your crushed mints (I promise, they are in there in the above picture!), and enjoy!

And if you want more snack ideas and/or craft ideas, stop by Skip To My Lou. :)

Day 3

Today was a little more difficult than the past 2 days. This morning was great. I, once again, got to indulge my creative urges and start on a project I've been talking about doing for a couple of weeks now. I'm very excited to finish it. :)

School was okay today. I enjoyed my first class, and my break between classes. I finally figured out how to make banners using Picnik, so my Etsy shop got one, as did the blog. :) I also ran into my cousin's husband and a girl I've known since middle school, so I got to talk to them for a bit, which was good.

Other than my strawberry-banana smoothie, my last class didn't go great. First of all, it's a class that I don't really care for to begin with. Second, we got our papers back, and pretty much all of us have to rewrite it--including me. So, I planned on working on it tonight and get it over with, but I have to run my thesis by my professor, and she doesn't have office hours until Friday. I am not happy about that.

No exercising today--it was my rest day. I must admit though, I don't like not exercising. I feel lazy when I don't. I've spent pretty much all evening on the computer, and I need to change that. I think from now on, even when it is my rest day (which is every 2 days), I'm still going to do some kind of exercising. I don't like just sitting around doing nothing. I need to be up and either exercising or creating or doing something.

So, that's been my day. Internship tomorrow--which means 2 hours of math. Joy.

And yes, that was sarcasm.

Day 2

Okay, I almost skipped out on exercising today, but I'm proud of myself because I made time to do so, and I didn't make excuses as to why I couldn't.

The downside? It's now 11:19pm, and I just finished exercising. Oh well....I burned over 130 calories, so that's good. :)

Tuesdays are pretty packed for me because of my internship all day. I get up between 5am-5:30am, and I'm going until 11pm. Especially tonight, because I went over to my boyfriend's house and spent a couple of hours with him, then came home to watch "Dancing With The Stars". I also worked on typing up some of my notes. And, I got all the homework that I have due tomorrow done, and I've gotten started on a reading assignment I have due next week (I think...). So, all in all, I'm pretty proud of myself.

Internship today required me to do a lot of adjusting, but I managed. We have a new schedule, so I had to get used to that. It's going to take me a couple of days to get used to it, but I will. And I think I'm going to like this schedule. As much as I hate change and being thrown out of my comfort zone, I'm definitely warming up to it all. This year has been a year of me leaving my comfort zone, and I've came through everything just fine. In fact, in some instances, I think I've come out stronger and better for it.

I was talking to my boyfriend tonight about how rough the past couple of years have been for me. There were a lot of personal things that I had to go through, and it was hard, and I got angry and frustrated and upset a lot. However, I look back on all of the things that I went through, and I know I've come out so much better. I've learned a lot about myself the past couple of years, and I've definitely noticed a change in me. It's pretty amazing to see how much I've grown in such a short time.

I'm hoping the next 30 days (well....28 now, I guess) prove to help me grow and change as well. I've already noticed a little changing, and I can't wait to see how this all works out. :)

Day 1

Well, the first day of my "transformation" is pretty much over with, and I must say, it's been a success! I managed to actually exercise twice today, and not make excuses as to why I couldn't, like I've done so many times before. And I am so glad that I got in there and exercised, because I feel so much better right now! And I'm hoping I sleep so much better tonight than I have been lately.

I also was able to bring my creative side out this morning, which made me extremely happy. (See my previous post for that project.) I've noticed that when I have the chances to be artistic and create something, I'm really in my element, and I love it. I honestly wish I could do nothing but craft projects all the time. I am constantly looking for new projects to take on and new skills to learn. I'm very excited because I'm currently teaching myself how to knit, and I am having a blast! It's been a lot of fun so far, and I just wish that my grandmother were still alive to see me take on this skill.

I even got a little homework done tonight, which makes me feel good. Now I won't have to stress about it tomorrow night/Wednesday morning. It leaves me with more time to work on other things that I want to work on. :)

Well that's pretty much it for day 1. I'm looking forward to seeing how tomorrow works out--especially since it's intern day, and our team got all kinds of messed up. It should be interesting, to say the least.

BBW Catch-All

I love mornings/days when I just feel immensely creative. :) And yes, this has been one of those mornings.

This particular idea actually came to me yesterday morning when I was in the shower. I had some body scrub that I finished off yesterday, and I didn't want to just throw away the container. It was too perfect for using for something else. So, this morning, I did a little refurbishing and gave that container a new life. :)


Yes, this was a scrub from Bath & Body Works. I absolutely loved this scrub. And Orange Sapphire is one of my favorite fragrances. (And yes, I am currently employed by BBW, but that still doesn't change how I feel about this scrub!). Sadly, the company discontinued the Signature Collection scrubs back in June during the Semi-Annual Sale. But, if you want the scrubs, you should still be able to get them online.

Anyway, this container is big enough to hold pretty much any jewelry or other miscellaneous items I need it to, and it's small enough to fit on my dresser and not take up too much space. I just needed to give it a little makeover. :)


I have a ton of scrapbooking paper, so I took a sheet that I liked, and that would work well with the colors in my room (my curtains are pretty much that shade of orange). I originally was going to cut enough to cover the entire container, but then I thought that I would just cover up the label. That way, I could still see inside without opening it up, and it gives it a little more flair. :) So, after cutting and measuring, and cutting another strip, and then trimming that strip, I finally got the right size to do what I needed it to do. I then put it around the label and glued it using regular white glue.

I then glued on some scrapbooking letters around the container. If you want, you could make your own letters, or find any other way to decorate this. And just so you know, this spells "Misc". :)


I even cut a piece of paper to cover the "Bath & Body Works" name on the lid, and I added a cute little sticker to add a little more flair.

And there you have it! Now I have the perfect little container for all of my little knick-knacks. :)

Determined

So, this morning as I was getting ready to go visit my cousin, I realized something. I haven't been too happy with myself lately. I've been exhausted, slightly stressed, and just feeling blah. So, I have made a decision to do something about that. Starting tomorrow, and going for the next 30 days, I will be exercising more, eating better, and just overall doing things that make me more positive about myself. And yes, I will be posting daily updates on this blog.

I am looking forward to this venture, and I would appreciate any motivation and encouragement you can give me. I've tried things like this before, and I've ended up giving up for various reasons. This time, I'm determined not to let anything stop me.

I Need To Know....

Click it!

It's Live!

Just a quick update to my last post about the pins:

I now have a website! Visit me at http://roseinbloom2010.etsy.com.

You'll get to check out everything I have and order anything you want. As of the time I published this post, I only have the Pink Ribbon Flower Pins up for sale. However, I am working on getting my necklaces and headbands listed as well. The purses will also be put up eventually.

But go check me out! :)

Rose In Bloom

It's officially October, and that means that it is also officially Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This is something that I hold very dear to my heart because I've lost both my grandmother and one of my aunts to breast cancer. So, in honor of them, and to help raise money to find a cure, I have decided to make special pink ribbon flower pins and sell them. This is also the launch of my business, Rose In Bloom. With this, I will be making the purses, necklaces, and headbands that I've blogged about previously, as well as venture into some new areas, as I have done with these pink ribbon flowers. I am very excited about this, and I can't wait to see what will be in store for me with this new venture.
Okay, now on to the pink ribbon flower pins.


As you can tell, this is my signature flower with a pink ribbon in the middle, and a pin on the back. I will be selling these for $3, and about 25% of the profit will be donated to Susan G. Koman for the Cure.


If you're interested in purchasing a pin, send your email address to roseinbloom2010@yahoo.com. I'll send you an order form.

I'm working on getting a website set up as well, so as soon as I do, I'll let you know! Hopefully it will be in the next day or two. :)

*Side note: Not all flowers will look the same. They will be made using pink and white fabrics, but the patterns may vary.