A Year of Change and Happiness

Planner Troubles

2012-01-22T19:30:00.000-08:00

I love pinterest. Just putting that out there. So at the end of last year when I found a pin that linked to a blog with a free printable daily planner, I was really excited. However, the blogger had taken it off for the year and was working on one for 2012. I waited and waited for it, and finally, around January 2nd, it was ready, except I had to purchase it. But I was willing to spend $15 for this planner because it looked really cool :) After I downloaded all the materials, I realized I needed to get my printer to work. I haven't used my printer in about 4 years, because there were always other printers to use, and half of the cord was missing. I finally pulled it out of my closet and went about buying the other half of the cord. I looked online, found a good deal, and bought the cord. It came in the mail and lo, and behold, it was the wrong one. Ok, I only wasted $15, I can just get another one. But school started and life got busy, so I didn't get around to it. Last week, I decided to just go to Best Buy and ask them about the part I needed. Luckily, they had it in stock, and it didn't cost as much as I thought, so I just bought it there. I turned my printer on, plugged it into my laptop, and printed a test page. The paper went through, but nothing was on it. I figured the ink had run out, so I went to Target and got some ink. Unluckily, I got the wrong cartridges...I hadn't realized the cartridges for HP weren't all uniform (I think it's stupid they're not). So I talked to my brother-in-law about it, and he told me I can take it to an office supply store and they can refill my cartridges for a fraction of the cost. Yay! This is the battle plan for this week and I will get this planner made and get my life organized!

And in case you were wondering, my 3-week induction phase of my eating plan ended today! I finally got to weigh myself, and I weighed in at 172.4 (I started at 176.4). It wasn't quite as low as I was hoping, but this isn't a quick fix plan. Plus, inches matter more than the number on the scale, and all around, I lost about 10 inches! I cheated a bit today, and had a cupcake at my brother's/sister-in-law's/nephew's birthday party. But I did wait for 2 hours after dinner to eat it, so I think it all evens out :)

Food Lover's, Planet Fitness and ZUMBA!!

2012-01-15T08:28:00.000-08:00

So...last week, I wrote this great, long post about my diet and fitness plan for this year. I went to go add some pictures and BAM! It was gone! I have a faulty internet (it's not really mine, so it's kinda hit and miss). Consequently, I'm going to rewrite that post for this week's post.

The Food Lover's Fat Loss System

I saw this program advertised on an infomerical one Saturday morning a few months ago. I'm a sucker for infomerials, but this one looked legit and easy enough to follow. Plus, the plan made sense to me. I went ahead and ordered it and I tried it for a week or 2, but I had just finished a strict 21-no-junk-food challenge and I wasn't ready to deprive myself. What I didn't realize is that deprivation is not the key to this program, it's actually the opposite. As the title suggest, you're supposed to love everything you eat. The basis of the system is that you eat every 2-3 hours and for your meals, you have a protein (meat, eggs, tofu), a slow carb (veggies, berries), and a fast carb (bread, sweets, just about everything yummy!). In the 21-day induction phase, you add a tweak every day to get your metabolism running on high and burning fat. So starting January 2nd, I've been following the program, and you know what? I think it's really working! A big aspect is that you don't weigh yourself during the first 3 weeks, so I can't really track my progress that way...and it's really annoying. But yesterday I tried on my jeans from high school, and while they didn't exactly fit, I could put them on all the way! It's been years since I could do that! Yay me.

Planet Fitness and Zumba!!

At the beginning of the year, I got a membership at Planet Fitness. It's true, it's only $10 a month! It's pretty much amazing. I really like the feeling and spirit of the place, and they have a personal trainer that you can make a 15-minute appointment with for free! I signed up for an appointment and she gave me an exercise plan. She said to do the circuit training, then the ab circuit, then cardio for 30 minutes. The cardio is supposed to be 3 minutes with my heartrate at 138, 2 minutes at 158, and 1 minute at 178. 178 is super duper uncomfortable. I'm not following this exactly because I signed up for a Zumba class at school and I count that as my cardio. I love Zumba! The class is all girls, except for one big black guy. We're all so bad at it at this point so we just laugh our way through.

New Years' Resolutions

2012-01-01T19:16:00.000-08:00

I've never been much of a blogger, and even today sitting in church, the thought of starting kinda terrifies me. Why? Mostly because writing terrifies me. I do not like to write papers, letters, blogs, you name it. About the only thing I do like to write in is my diary, and I think that's because no one can judge my personal feelings. BUT...here, on this blog, I will keep myself accountable for keeping my New Years' Resolutions. I don't care if no one reads it, I will still write it. So...I have my herbal tea close by, I've put in a movie (Robots), and I'm ready to go!

New Years' Resolutions for 2012:

Two things I want to especially focus on this year, and this goes for all of my resolutions, is prioritization and consistency. I am going to prioritize my daily activities and do them in order of that prioritization, so everyday, I know that I've done at least the most important things in my life. I've recently discovered that consistency is the key to success. So, according to my priorities, my daily schedule will look something like this:
1. Wake up, eat, and read the Book of Mormon
2. Practice for an hour
3. Work out
4. School work

1. Spiritual
1. Read the Book of Mormon at least 20 minutes everyday, preferably in the morning.
2. Do visiting teaching every month
3. Visit the temple every week

2. School
1. Get 4.0s for the rest of my master's program
2. Practice 4 hours everyday
3. Don't procrastinate doing projects

3. Financial
1. Make and follow a budget
2. Put money into savings every paycheck

4. Health
1. Think fit, lean, and healthy
2. Exercise five days a week
3. Eat every 3 hours, meals consisting of a protein, fast carb, and slow carb. Record in food log.

5. Organization
1. Keep a daily planner.
2. Do some cleaning everyday (follow a schedule)

6. Social
1. Hang out with someone at least once a week.
2. Get a date and/or number every month.
3. Organize something once a month.

And, of course, blog about it at least once a week!

Oh little me...

2010-03-18T22:05:00.000-07:00

My mind was wandering (as usual), and I for some reason started thinking of this story from when I was a kid. It's pretty funny, so I thought I'd share. When I was about 5, we were having Sunday dinner and Sherri and Janelle came in laughing hysterically. They told us about how Janelle took a spray bottle full of water and sprayed it on Sherri while she was taking her nap. I wanted to be like my older sisters and join in the fun, but I misunderstood the story. So the the next morning, I woke up really early while everyone was asleep, tiptoed downstairs and got a cup of water. Then I went back upstairs to Janelle's room and poured the whole thing on her. She, of course, woke up and was not very happy. I froze once I realized that I had done something wrong. She asked me what I was doing and when I didn't answer, she assumed I was sleepwalking. Dad was up early for a business trip and came in to see what was wrong. I was terrified I would get in trouble! But when I explained why I did it, they weren't mad and helped me clean it up...Do you remember this at all, Janelle?

Forget single-awareness, Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-15T12:42:00.000-08:00

I had such a fun Valentine's day and weekend! I'll start with Saturday morning. Right after I finished my last blog, I got a text from my friend, Jeremy. The conversation went something like this:
Jeremy: hey liz, how old r u?
Liz: I'll be 21 in two months, why?
J: IDK. this is trent.
L: Oh this isn't Jeremy? Sorry!
Trent: That's ok, we can still be friends.
L: How old are you?
T: 12
L: Sorry, Trent, you're a little young for me.
T: We can just be friends, we don't have to go.
L: Sorry, not going to happen.
T: Can we be friends, plz? Are you good looking?
L: Leave me alone kid

He then proceeded to try calling me and then he texted me saying "Hey, this is Jeremy, that was my cuz." But I didn't believe him, so I got onto facebook to see if Jeremy was on. He was so I asked him if he was texting me. He said he wasn't. This kid kinda creeped me out.

But the day got much better after that! I was practicing the piano when I got a call from Bryan, who is one of the guys I hung out with Friday night. He told me he had a really fun time Friday night and was wondering if I'd like to go on a date. I already had a little crush on him, so I of course accepted (probably a little too eagerly). He asked me what I was doing in an hour, but I had work so we couldn't do anything. I told him I'd get my schedule that night and let him know when I could go out next week. Work called a few minutes later and told me it was slow so I didn't have to go in. I hurried and texted Bryan and let him know I was free. He texted back and said, "Rats! I just put my clothes in the washer and took a shower. Nuts, it will have to wait. That's okay, though. That just means you will get my undivided attention later. I'm excited, this week will be highly anticipated :) See you tomorrow!" That text alone has kept me giddy for the last 3 days. So I stayed in Saturday night with Mom and we watched Kate and Leopold. I went to church the next day and right after sacrament meeting, Bryan came up to me to ask about my schedule and when we could go out. We decided Thursday at 7:00. After church, we had a mingle and I ended up talking to all of my friends, Bryan included. I got a text from Matt asking me to come over and talk to him. But I got the text too late, he had already left. So I told him I'd talk to him at ward prayer that night. Cory texted me later and asked if I was going to ward prayer and that he'd see me there. There was a point at ward prayer when all three guys were talking to me, so I motioned to my friend and she called Bryan over to her. That gave Matt and Cory a chance to both ask me out, so I'm going on 3 dates this week :) That is if Matt confirms Saturday. Guys can be so lazy. Some of us went over to Laura's house afterwards and watched Michael Jackson music videos. Then Bryan took Laura on a ride...I wonder if he's as much as a player as I am. Oh well, I'm still excited for this week!

Happy Single-Awareness Day!

2010-02-13T08:03:00.001-08:00

Yes, it is Valentine's Day tomorrow, and yes, I am still single. But hey, whoever said you had to have a boyfriend to be happy? So I decided to make the most of it and last night, I rounded up about 20 people in my ward to go the institute's Valentine's dance. We dressed up as rednecks (I colored my tooth with a crayon), had dinner at Cafe Rio, then went to the dance. It was really lame at first because it was a live band playing music that no one knew and when they took a break, they stuck on the bassist's iPod, which was weird 80s music that again, no one has ever heard. Not even the ones that grew up in the 80s, and trust me, there were a lot of those. But finally, after many tears and complaints (not really), they started played some MJ stuff and stuff that we actually knew, though none of it from this century. I met a lot of guys, danced with a lot of guys, and my friend, Mindy, and I had fun raising the roof. We were pretty much the only ones in our group actually dancing. The others preferred to stand by and watch. I was proud of myself for putting this together and getting a great turnout. I'm not usually the one to initiate these sorts of things, but I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out! Too bad no one brought a camera :(

Weird things this week:
1. Mom and I went to see When in Rome. While we were watching, we were thinking how her story kinda sounds like us. The girl's name was Beth and her dad had a new girlfriend. Beth had a lot of trouble falling in love because she was so focused on her career (my Bishop told me the same thing). Beth's ex-boyfriend shows up and tells her he's engaged (happened to me a month ago). Mom kept telling me that they just said her last name was Martin, and I told her no, it probably wasn't. At the end, they show her full name and can you guess what it was? Elizabeth Ann Martin. Weird.
2. My friend works at Ballet West and one day her status said that if anyone was interested in working there, they should send them their resume. I thought that would be kinda cool, so I sent in my resume and mostly forgot about it. I already have 2 jobs, so it wasn't a big deal if I got the job or not. They called me about a week later to schedule an interview. I went into the interview and felt pretty good about it, but still wasn't expecting much. But then I got a call and they offered me the job! So now instead of saying that I work at Papa Murphy's, I get to say that I work at Ballet West!

2010-02-06T08:22:00.000-08:00

Update!

2010-02-06T07:56:00.000-08:00

Hee hee...I haven't written in over a year and two months! And even though last night I couldn't sleep because I was starting to stress to all of the things I have to do this semester, why not add one more? I'll try to update at least once a week from now on, although I'm definitely not guaranteeing anything, especially since I don't have too many followers. And I'm not writing about anything cool like Julie and Julia, it's just me. But random things do happen to me all the time! I'll probably write mostly about those. So here I am, breaking into the blogger world! I was planning on going running today, but have you seen the inversion? Yuck! I would probably suffocate before I got back! So I suppose I'll have to find some other form of exercise for today. I'm dieting too, however, today is my eat-whatever-I-want-and-get-away-with-it day! So I just went to the grocery store bright and early on a Saturday morning (which is one of my favorite things to do) and I got Reese's Puffs! And I'm being stubborn and not letting my family have any because I want to save it for next week! I have a busy day ahead of me. First, I'm going to go practice for 45 minutes, then go work at Spring Mobile for 2 hours. Then I'll come home and practice and study for some exams I have next week. At 5:00 I go into work at Papa Murphey's until 9:30 and then, since I haven't heard of any parties going down this weekend, I'll probably study and practice some more. Or watch a movie :)
Random things that have happened to me this year:
1. My dad got a girlfriend and told all his kids...over facebook.
2. The same day, I got an email from my ex (we broke up 5 months ago and I haven't heard from him since) saying he wanted to come visit me. Then he told me he was getting married.
3. I got a call from someone I don't know, but he seems to know me from a New Years' party I went to. Now he won't leave me alone!
4. I met a guy at the Institute who got out of jail a few months ago, found the church, moved to Salt Lake a month ago and was baptized 2 weeks ago. It was inspiring to hear his story and to see how thirsty he is for knowledge. He's taking 5 institute classes! He goes to the temple everyday and is about to get a temple recommend to do baptisms. Then I ran into him on the train that same day! He was on his way to help make dinner for the Salvation Army. If only we could all be that enthusiastic about the gospel, think of what a difference we could make! He is surely setting an example of and to the believers!

My secrets to flirting!

2008-11-22T20:54:00.000-08:00

As we all know, I like to talk about very deep topics on this blog...boys, and more boys usually. Today is no different! Hahahaha! So bear with me. All of my friends tell me that I go on soo many dates and guys are always getting my number. I can't really deny that. I do have a very active dating life, however, I never have had a boyfriend. I don't really mind this, because it's too much fun to flirt. I wasn't always such a flirt, though. I have a secret...I study flirting! I think it's important! It started around my 18th birthday when my sister Sherri gave me a book as an early birthday present. She was going to give it to me on my birthday, but it was apparently too important to wait! It was a book called "The Rules" by Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider (that's ironic that Sherri's the one that gave it to me!) This is an excellent book on relationships and how to play "hard to get"! I love it and I recommend it to all of my friends, even the married ones! It tells you how to get guys to get your number and ask you out. You never get hung up on one guy because you have 5 other guys! It really works, too! After I read this book a couple of times, I bought another flirting book, and I signed up for a flirting class online. I love reading these books again and again to remind me that I am a strong, beautiful woman that any man would be lucky to have! I'm usually embarassed to admit all of this, but so many girls ask me what my secret is and I can't just hide it! You can check out these websites for more info: http://www.therulesbook.com/ and secrets-of-flirting.com. Happy flirting!

Fictional Characters

2008-10-16T09:55:00.000-07:00

Wow, I haven't posted in a long time! I've been so busy with school, but now it's fall break so I have time! I just watched North and South. It's such a good movie! It's a period film by BBC. I was watching it and I have to add Mr. Thornton to my list of fictional characters I'm in love with. He knows his heart and he knows his business and he knows how to keep them separate. He's in love Margaret Hale, but she doesn't like him. I thought it was such a sweet love story. He looks at her like she's the only woman in the world! Other characters I'm in love with include Mr. Darcy, Edward Cullen, Gilbert Blythe and Rhett Butler. I guess I was born in the wrong century because all of these take place at about the same time. The actual story of Twilight is in modern times, but Edward was born in 1900, so he has the same gentlemanly ways. These characters are of course played by extremely handsome men so that only adds to their appeal. I'll have to watch more period films and I'll probably fall in love with their characters as well.

I'm getting so frustrated with this!

2008-08-10T22:39:00.000-07:00

So I went to the YSA Summit Conference this weekend and it was actually really fun! I took some fun classes on dating and on some spiritual stuff as well. In one of my dating classes, a guy I really liked was sitting behind me. I talked to him and his friend for a little bit. The class started so we stopped talking, but it was really awkward having this guy sitting right behind me. After the class had finished, the guy asked me how old I was. Now this guy is in my ward and he got my number a few weeks ago. He called a few times, but nothing ever happened. He added me on facebook and I knew he was a little older than me, maybe 26 or 27, but I tried really hard not to let him know how old I was. He asked me after the class how old I was. He guessed about 21, but when I said no, he asked if I was younger. I told him yes and that I was 19. He got really freaked out and I asked him how old he is. He said he's 30. I was a little freaked out because he's a lot older than I thought he was. In truth, I still wouldn't mind dating him, but I highly doubt that he'll ever call me again now that he knows how young I am. This is so frustrating because this has happened more than once. Guys think I'm at least in my twenties and they flirt with me and even ask me out. Once they find out I'm only 19, they freak out and never call again. I also don't seem to relate well with guys closer to my age. I guess I'll have to wait a few more years to be more in the same age group as these 30 year old guys.

Babysitting...yay.

2008-07-28T12:14:00.000-07:00

So, I babysat my two nephews and one niece all weekend. It was exhausting but fun. I just thought some of the things they said and did were funny! I was talking to my 6-year-old nephew and he asked me if I had seen Barack Obama on TV. Surprised, I answered yes. He told me that Barack Obama is silly and he wants his 1-year-old brother to be president. My one-year-old nephew never learned my name, he just called me Mom. He would usually have to say it a few times before I'd remember he was talking to me. My 4-year-old niece would keep taking my lip gloss and put it on. One morning while I was getting ready, she took my mirror. She looked at herself and said, "I'm so gorgeous! That's a big word for really pretty." She then kissed the mirror. I was laughing pretty hard. Their parents came home and I was getting ready to leave. Her mom was holding her and we noticed that she was crying. We asked her what was wrong and she said, "I want to stay with Liz. I don't want her to go home!" Oh my, that was so cute! I did learn a few things about kids though. 1. They don't eat very much. 2. Don't give babies cereal with milk. 3. They come first, it's not just about you. You have to constantly watch them and you can't just do whatever you want. 4. Discipline is harder than it looks. 5. I'm not quite ready to have kids yet!

First Blog!

2008-07-24T19:08:00.001-07:00

Happy Pioneer Day! I was looking at my sister's blog and I thought, that's cool, I think I'll get one! So I signed up, and it took me forever to find how to write a new blog. I'm sure I'll know how to navigate around it soon. I'm pretty sure no one will read this, but that's ok by me. Maybe I'll put the address on my facebook page. Anyways, I'm pretty excited to be doing this! I get to watch my niece and 2 nephews this whole weekend, which is exciting because I don't have to work until Monday!