Tag Archives: lifestyle

Grocery Shopping Revisited

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Last time we talked about groceries, I told you my couponing tricks of the trade. Strangely enough, I’ve completely abandoned couponing. I’m just too busy to take the time to hunt around, and I found myself falling into the trap of buying unhealthy things and buying things I don’t need.

But cheap groceries without couponing is still possible! Here is an example of what I buy each week and how much it costs.

The total for these groceries was $23. And this is what I got…

  • organic spinach
  • celery
  • baby carrots
  • 4 sweet potatoes (small)
  • 3 apples
  • cucumber
  • 2 packages of sliced mushrooms
  • a loaf of freshly baked bread
  • small log of goat cheese + honey
  • frozen butternut squash ravioli (SO GOOD OMG)
  • 3 pork chops

With the lunch meat I had leftover from Target, this food definitely lasted me a week. I even still have the ravioli left to eat tonight! You can see that I am still buying food that I think is good for me to eat (less Cheetos, more mushrooms) but not spending an insane amount of money.

Unfortunately, my budget for the week got a bit…derailed by my fear of the impending winter storm that Oklahoma got. I went and bought extra food for the weekend for me and my roommate. Oops.

In a future post, I will try and provide you guys with an example of my meal plan!

What Learning to Run Thirteen Miles Taught Me About Life

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I’ve been feeling like writing something graduation-speechy (after having to endure some truly terrible graduation speeches) lately. Inspiring the masses with some token advice is totally a skill I’d like to develop.

So, I thought I would tie 5,000+13.1 up with a nice big red, sappy bow: what I learned about myself during those 5 or 6 months that I ran for hours at a time on the weekends, tracking sweat all down the North Oval and questioning why I keep doing it. It’s distinctly different than what I learned about running, and it needs to be said. Because I think it will help someone who was just like me. 

Here it is: my big piece of advice in one neat line…

…dreams don’t always find you.

Sometimes you have to find them. Sometimes you have to do something insane to realize what you’re really made of. Sometimes you have to just randomly select a goal out of the ether, and see if it works for you. You have to decide to go run three miles (?!?!) with your best friend through Dallas even though you’ve never done it before. You, the girl they shouted “Run, Forrest, Run” at during soccer practice. You, the one who always copped out of working as hard as the other cheerleaders because you were fatter and “couldn’t do as much”. You have to decide to do something you’ve never done before.

And then, of course, you have to see where it goes. You might end up hating the thing you choose to try out. I’m sure if I had decided to take up fly fishing or calculus, I wouldn’t be feeling so fulfilled at the moment. Don’t consider yourself a failure if you don’t know what you want. Figure it out, and don’t beat yourself up about it.

After that 5k, I decided to run one mile a day for a year. That was my 2012 New Year’s resolution. And then I did more. And then I watched “Spirit of the Marathon”, came out of my boyfriend’s room into the living room, and announced to three other people that I was running a half-marathon.

And so goes the growth of a dream.

If you could have gone back to January 1, 2012 and ask me if I would ever run a half-marathon, I would have shamelessly laughed in your face. “Me? I’m a terrible runner. I’ve never been good at running. What a joke.”

I have always dreamed of being strong. To have toughness, both mental and physical. Most of the time, I feel very weak. I cry a lot, over silly things that shouldn’t get to me, but do. I don’t feel strong during most of my daily life.

The half-marathon made me feel strong. I never felt weak, never felt like I wasn’t good enough, never felt like I wasn’t achieving something great each time I trained or talked about it. Now that I’ve technically achieved my dream, I’m going after more. A two-and-a-half-hour half in the fall, then maybe an even shorter one after that. I want to always feel this strong.

I beg you to try something new. If you feel like I did, like you have no real dreams, like you are weak, like you have never truly achieved anything great, do something you’ve never done before and do it with your whole heart.

There was a time when I thought I had no dreams. Now I know that I was wrong.

My life

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Today…

my car failed Texas inspection.

Twice.

So, I’m spending another night in Texas.

Which throws off pretty much my whole weekly schedule.

Also…

I have a cold.

The drama queen is off to blow her nose and edit some video.

The Lazy Foodie Reviews “The Hunger Games”

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I titled this post “The Lazy Foodie” because I’m a lazy moviegoer as well. I’m seeing The Hunger Games for the first time tonight, even though it’s been out for quite a while. My university is showing it for free on campus tonight, so I’m totally there.

Annnnnd I’m doing something extra special!

Follow the blog on Twitter (YES IT HAS A TWITTER NOW, I am just as stoked as you are!) to read my live tweets of irreverent commentary and romance-squealing-over.

(Don’t worry, for those who aren’t fans of Twitter, I’ll be posting a full transcript back here at homebase tomorrow.)

So, yeah. Live-tweeting the Hunger Games tonight. I promise to make you excited about it even though all the real fans saw the movie about 3 months ago.

Also, if you’re an OU student, and you read my blog, and you’re all “hey, I want to meet this girl!”, feel free to tweet at the blog and we can meet up, perhaps. I already have an entourage coming to the movie with me, but hey, Meacham is pretty big.

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New favorite “getting ready” song. It reminds me a bit of Queen, a band my friends and I adored during high school. We’d stand in a circle and scream the lyrics to “Bohemian Rhapsody” and laugh like hyenas.

This makes up for this band’s awful first radio single.

Obsession

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So, I do this thing sometimes, where I get really, really into stuff.

I guess you normals would call it an “obsession”….cause that’s pretty much what it is.

Obsessions that I have had in my lifetime:

Harry Potter

The X-Files

Iron Man/RDJ

Twilight (I am so embarrassed right now. This one is for sure OVER WITH.)

My current obsession?

the hunger games, catching fire, mockingjay, suzanne collins,

(picture from the Googles)

I know, I’m like a year behind all of the cool hipster Hunger Games fans, but OH MY GOSH. These books may not be high literature, but they have action, a couple twists, funny names, and romance. I will read anything that involves two people who should be together but aren’t. And it’s really refreshing to read a book where the girl isn’t falling all over herself over a dude once he confesses his love. I mean, Katniss has way more important things to worry about, like her sister and, you know, staying alive. Props to you, Everdeen.

SPOILER ALERT FOR MOCKINGJAY BEHIND THE JUMP.

(So help me God, if Katniss and Peeta hadn’t gotten together in the end, I would have thrown my computer across the room (e-book), yelled at my dogs, kicked some stuff, and taken one serious angry nap. And never discussed the Hunger Games again.)

Sisters

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They get snowcones with you, even though you’ve been eating snowcones at a rate of like 4 a week.

snow cone, summer, fun, sister,

One is such a lonely number.

snow cone, summer, fun, sister,

Much better together.

Later, we snuggled in bed with the puppies and watched “Girls” and “The Newsroom” and read Cosmo.

Love you, D!

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Oh, this kitchen. So sleek. So classy. So jealous.

Instead…

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Instead of working out this morning, I got out of bed, brushed my teeth, put on real pants and drove home to Dallas.

Instead of eating on the way home, I waited until 4 to eat lunch/dinner with my parents, who work approximately 37 hours a day.

Instead of running tonight (it’s still 90 degrees out), we took the dog for a walk and saw two rabbits.

Instead of washing clothes, I’m blogging!

Sometimes it’s okay to not do what you planned to do.

Things That I Find Suspicious About Country Music

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Now, now, calm down, Southern readers. I love (most) country music. I own cowboy boots. I was raised on Alan Jackson. I’ve spent a pretty penny on country concert tickets.

ticket, music, country, eric church, oklahoma,

miranda lambert, country, cowboy,

Me and B before a Miranda Lambert show.

See? I love country music…

…just not all of it.

The Two Things That I Find Suspicious About Country Music

  1. The song “Shake it For Me” by Luke Bryan. It feels degrading to me. Are you paying this woman that you’re seemingly forcing to dance for you while you sit on your truck and watch? At least tuck a dollar into her tied-up plaid shirt.
  2. Country songs talk a lot about keeping money in coffee cans under the bed. Do we not believe in banks? Is this not the 21st century? You can trust the bank. I promise the FDIC is a real thing.

There you go. See? My two biggest problems with the genre are one song and a lack of a checking account.