Hello Wench - A Life Update

Let's sit down for some coffee - shall we?

The past few months have been an absolute roller coaster for me - and I am exhausted. Travelling to Japan was one of the absolute best experiences in my entire life. It will be a moment I will always cherish and I look upon those two weeks with such fondness I don't even know how to explain it. I have so many blog posts planned around this trip - but I also have 800+ photos to sort through and edit. Don't worry, it's coming. Posts will also resume back on the regular schedule of twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday.

In case you DON'T know who I am, I'm the ONLY official regular host of the Friday night #bdibNA chat. Which is seriously difficult to host on Friday because well, it's Friday. But chats will start coming back in regular rotation once I get back on my schedule. I really didn't realize it was going to take almost a month to get back into the swing of things. Which is probably an error on my part.

Other than that I am honestly making an effort into being the best version of myself possible and making strides in being more confident than ever. Thanks for spending some time with me!

Twitter & Bloglovin & Facebook & Instagram & Tumblr

Where I've Been...

Where I've Been...

Hey everyone! Thought I'd take a second to give you a little bit of a life update seeing as my blog posts have become slightly more erratic this month.

So in reality I've actually been at work and juggling my regular home life and whatnot, the holidays makes balancing everything super hard. Some has to give, right? It ended up being this little space for the past few weeks. This didn't happen on accident though, either. Let me explain...

I'm not just working one full time job anymore, I've got two. And its sucking away all my time from my hobbies and my blog. Thankfully the second job is something that I can do from home - but it still means that I go home, eat, and then start working again AFTER I've already worked a full 9-5 day. If you saw last week's planner layout that I posted on Instagram you would understand - and this week is only worse!

I honestly want to apologize for the lackluster posts that I've been writing and the lack of content. Hopefully just past the holidays I will get a better grasp on my time and I'll be back on the saddle!

Thanks for stickin' in there with me guys. I truly appreciate it.

Blog Overhaul Time!

Blog Overhaul Time

You know that feeling when you are tired of how your blog looks and are ready for an update? Well I'm at that point and am looking to overhaul my blog!

uhm no ew i dont liek u no more

I think when I started my blog I just picked something that I kind of liked instead of taking the time to actually work on my blog layout. And I know that a blog layout is actually fairly important for readers!

Being the tech-savvy blogger that I am I started a testing blog and have been slowly but surely adding to the layout I've been creating. One thing I've noticed between most blogs is the color blocking. Its BORING. (to me, anyway)
I dont want a pastel (insert color here) blog. I feel like its not being true to myself if I just create a blog that caters to others and doesn't feel anything like me.

I love science, beauty, videogames, and just LIFE. And what feels more like me than SPACE. It has seriously been an obsession and passion of mine for like, ever. I took a roadtrip to the Kennedy Space Center a little over a year ago and I had an absolute blast. I seriously wish I had the time to go back.

preeviews!

My fiance has been lovely enough to help create a new galaxy theme in my favorite colors. I'm hoping to debut it on Friday! I hope you guys like it!

Stalk me?

Twitter & Bloglovin & Facebook & Instagram & Tumblr

-Jenn

Where I'm at now

Weight Loss & What I'm Doing To Get Healthy

Post 3 of 3:

A little post on how much I've lost & how its going overall.

So far I've lost 13 pounds.
Well, since the last time I got on a scale I've lost 13 pounds. I make a conscious effort to not step on the scale everyday and to just weigh myself once a week, usually on Saturday, and before I've done any of my morning activities. Although in the new apartment I can't actually weigh myself because I don't have a scale. I think I'll just wait to weigh myself again when I go back to my Grandparents house. (in over a week)

On the topic of Weight Loss...

Weight Loss & What I'm doing to get healthy

Post 1 of 3:

I'm not necessarily sure if these posts are necessary, but I wanted to share how I'm losing weight to inspire others to find ways that work for them too!

Overall, I just count calories. My limit started out at 1230 a day, and once I lost the first 10lbs the myFitnessPal app dropped it to 1200 a day.

Yes, I keep a copy of it stuck to my monitor. Also, ponies on my desk.

Food Schedule: I haven't really changed too much. I'm more or less just /very/ conscious of what I'm putting in my body now. And I keep the same food schedule almost everyday.

Food Schedule:

Breakfast: ~9AM - 9:30 AM

Snack: ~10:30 AM

Lunch: 12 Noon

Snack: ~2 PM

Dinner: ~6 PM - 7 PM

Dinner always fluctuates based on what time I leave work. And sometimes I eat breakfast at home when I have enough time in the morning. Otherwise, this is the Food Schedule I stick too. 

Typical meals for me are pretty routine, and I'm a creature of habit and have no problem eating the same things and only changing them up a little bit before I get sick of them one way and not the other. I love yogurt and chicken, & I made basic changes from things I would usually eat beef for to chicken or turkey. I also bake a lot of foods now vs. frying them. And have amped up the amount of greens I eat.

If you've got any delicious healthy recipes to share you can comment them below or send them to me via social media: Twitter & Bloglovin & Facebook & Instagram & Tumblr

I'll be posting about this all week long so keep on the lookout!

-Jenn

Two Week Apartment Update + Wifi Issues

Its already been two whole weeks?!

No seriously, its been two weeks since I've moved into my new apartment. There are boxes everywhere still, and Chris doesn't get in until tonight so we'll still have to unpack all of his things. On the bright side though, the kitchen is unpacked & organized, the living room is how we like it, and the dining room is coming along nicely! We went grocery shopping the other day and got food for the week. I think this week I'm going to bring back the Tuesday staple of Taco Tuesday. 
So basically, my rooms craziness is contained to just my room and I still haven't attempted to start my closet yet.

AND I FINALLY HAVE WIFI. So here's the story.

Late Post: Friday's moving update

I was supposed to post this is Friday, but I didn't really have anything to write about until very late at night, and at that point I was so exhausted I just went to sleep and didn't write this post. Either way, here is EVERYTHING that happened to Friday.

For one: I requested the day off to be able to move allllll day long. Which thank goodness they requested. I felt like I was grossly underprepared to start moving that weekend, but it all ended up coming together (which I will get too). Chris arrived at 9AM & I drove to the airport to pick him up. We called Will to tell him to come over, and after a few hours and 2 different full carloads, we drove the 45 mins to my new apartment.

T-minus 1 week until move day!

It is exactly 1 week until I move from my childhood home to my new apartment! Oh my goodness I'm so excited but severely unprepared for this move! I feel like I dont even know where to start with the packing. I was supposed to start cleaning out my room last weekend, but I never actually got around to it. (my best friend moved back home, read here)

I know most people are probably a lot farther along than I am at this point, but I guess I need help. Or I just need a list of how to tackle my room, with my closet being a major part of it. Haha!

I'm still anxious and definitely more than a bit nervous about the whole move. But I'm also excited and looking toward the future that I'm building for myself. It is time for me to step out on my own, and although this is one of the more terrifying things to do. I'm ready.

We sign the papers next friday, and I'm hoping to get the kitchen and dining room done. It'll be a bonus if we can start the bedroom closets and organizing that (what I know will be) a mess. On Saturday is the day we move all the furniture, we're getting a big truck and hauling furniture from our respective homes. Asking for volunteers from anywhere we possibly can. ;) Sunday will hopefully result in us getting everything else in order and then another crazy week starts. My final project is due for my class next week but I have a final the wednesday after I move in. Eep!

These next few weeks will probably be nuts, but oh well, here we go~!

-Jenn

Who else despises the word 'diet'?

Because I definitely do.

The one thing that I have absolutely abhorred about myself since my graduation from high school is my weight gain. It didn't bother me so much when it was only that 'freshman 15' but that freshman 15 has turned into a freshman 50.

Yes, in my 6 years since I graduated high school, I have gained 50 pounds.

My weight has fluctuated a lot since then, honestly, but this is the highest I've ever been and I really needed to take charge of what I was eating and my health in general. So this past week I've been doing a fairly decent job of keeping track of the food I've been eating and making a conscious effort to eat healthy. The only thing I do not do, is exercise. Its not that I don't enjoy doing anything physical, its just that I get bored. I do not find running on a treadmill or lifting weights systematically very stimulating mentally. Starting small is probably the way to go. But where to start...?

The first thing I did was download the myFitnessPal app. I heard about it while browsing youtube and looking for ways to kickstart this "lifestyle change." The app suggests that I eat 1230 calories a day. Which is only 30 calories over what I should be eating minimum a day. I knew that was going to be hard but ugh. Misery! After a few days of realizing how many calories I was probably eating I know how I got to be as heavy as I am now.

I started this journey on Monday, and the first week has been a course of trials and tribulations. (and portion control, and impulse control, and frustration) But I'm getting the hang of it.

I think I'll realize that this journey is being successful when I hit that first 20 lbs.

-Jenn

Post 4th of July update

I needed this past weekend.

I really feel like I got the opportunity to relax. And I got an amazingly golden tan. I did however, get to spend a lot of time with my Brother (who still snores like a banshee) and my Grandparents. I got to spend all day Friday at the pool with my Grandma. We chatted of course, and I made a few friend in 8 year-old Gabriela. She made me smile, she was interested in comics, science, and videogames. She reminded me a lot of myself, as we continued talked though, I realized that through her over-sharing she was probably going to turn away from any kind of STEM field in the future. Her parents seemed to do what most parents (without realizing it) do. Discourage their daughter from embracing what she was actually interested in, to talk more about her hair. She seemed relieved to talk to someone about how /awesome/ Mystique was (even though she was a 'bad guy') and how many different x-men there were in the universe.

I hope I made some kind of impression.