Blueberries got me a job!

This summer I moved from Mansfield (school apt) back in with my family to Ludlow, MA (Western, MA). Right now it's just me, my parents, and 3 cats in one tiny little duplex! It's really much too small for the "6" of us, and we are looking to move again soon especially with my siblings wanting to move here too. My first whole week of summer has been spent organizing a portion of a room to hold some of my belongings to function as a bedroom (more on that at another time), dieting and exercising (which I have written about), and spending some time with my parents and getting to know the area. But the time sort of came that I began to ask myself now what?? Part of that now what was finding a job. 

Before I started applying I made a list of somethings I was looking for in a job (ideally): 

1. Sunlight, a place with windows or working outside.

2. To work with kids (good for resume)

3. To do something that feels fulfilling 

4. To not totally and completely dread going to work

5. To get paid hourly at least minimum wage (aka not wait tables)

I started thinking about my summer availability: 

I am gone most of the first week of July for the choir games, a long weekend around July 21st for a wedding and ideally mid August for a week or so on a personal vacation. This all adds up to a lot of requested time off from a standard job... Who on earth will hire me with so many days I can't work?? 

I started applying a few random places just to see if I could land interviews. I didn't hear anything back so started thinking a little more outside the box. I decided last night to check my areas craigslist for job postings and came across this one! It was for a 2 week summer theatre camp! Aha! I thought finally something I could be really great at. So I shot them an email to express interest. Evan, the guy in charge sent me an email back asking me to call and set up an interview. So I called last night and we ended up talking for nearly 20 minutes!! 

I had my interview today: I met Evan and Andrea at a coffee place in Northampton to have an interview. During the interview we chatted a lot about the program, but then they decided to play me some of the music for the show so I could hear it. Super cute and sends a great message. They sang a song for me called Blueberries, teaching about sharing and respect! After they played me a few more songs it was my turn to sing. I swallowed my on-the-spot nerves and asked if they would teach me a line or two of the song Blueberries. We jammed for a few minutes on the sidewalk and I was actually impressed with how great of a blend we had! I felt so happy and excited about everything, and I could feel their energy and excitement too! I left happy but nervous because they said they had a ton of people apply! A half our later they called me back and offered me the position! I think it had a lot to do with how great we all sounded together singing Blueberries. I am excited to sing agin with them soon! 

I accepted and it seems like all of my dreams for my summer job came true:

1. Sunlight! 

The camp is on a farm, and much of the day is spent outside!

I will be working at Stone Soup Farm, so cute!

2. To work with children...

21 children to be precise! 

3. To do something that feels fulfilling

Enstilling the love of music and theatre into kids? I would call that really fulfilling!

4. To not dread my job

I will absolutely not dread this job at all, in fact it's the most exciting thing about Western Mass right now! The people I will be working with seem so great! I can't wait to get to know them! 

5. To get paid hourly at least minimum wage... 

Try double :) 

I couldn't be happier with the outcome of the past two days. I feel so blessed and am thankful to God for this amazing opportunity. I will get a chance to sing, teach, and use my creative abilities this summer! I can start to get to know some people around my age in the area, and I won't have to take any days off from this job! If you want to know more about the super cute program we are doing with them check it out: Shiprock and Anchordog and feel free to read about it and like it on FB at the Shiprock and Anchordog Project! 

**All the photos used in this blog I do not claim to own, they are from the sites linked above!**

Now as lucky as I might seem, I still am looking for other jobs, I have a few more workable weeks of the summer and am trying to find other short gigs to make a few! Let me know if you hear of any! 

Happy job hunting to the rest of you, praying you catch a lucky break like me! 

"Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels"

Hello All!

I guess it's getting kind of late to be posting tonight, but I didn't want to put it off until tomorrow. I wanted to give a little update on how I am doing diet wise, and go into more detail about my system of organizing the information!

Today was Day 5 of the diet, and my mom and I agreed to do the first weigh-in this morning! I felt slightly nervous last night knowing that this morning was coming. I was plagued with the questions: What if I didn't lose anything? What if I gained weight? What if all of this was for nothing so far? Eventually I sucked it up and hopped on the scale. My new weight: 182.6lbs! In only 4 whole days of dieting I lost 4.6lbs! My mom managed to lose about 6lbs already! I was so happy with our results, and thought more about the long way I have to go. I feel more encouraged and inspired to keep trying, especially with the fast results cycle 1 gives you!

The diet itself is going really well. I am still struggling with the waters on occasion but am starting to do better, and the days I don't quite make it I am much closer!

Along with the diet I mentioned I am exercising, doing the Couch to 5k program, and other types of exercises. Today I did my second C25K run. It was invigorating! I went at around 9:30 PM, and I really liked it! I like nighttime running much better than mid-day. Next on the list is early morning. I think I might eventually like that one the most, but I need to get over this disease called sleeping in.

My recent successes and accomplishments that I have had with jogging has made me want to know more about it. How it helps, and when to do it. Most articles came to a consensus that it's not really a matter of WHEN, it's just a matter of DOING it. There are great health benefits to jogging as well, read about them in this article: 12 Top Health Benefits of Jogging.

Want to know more on the time of day debate?? Check out what these people have to add:
morning vs. evening jogging
Early morning exercise outside

I am really excited to try the early morning jogging thing, but I am not sure how I will do at being alert. Here are some tips for Beginning Morning Joggers!

Whenever I diet, keeping track of all of the information can be intimidating. In the past I have tried recording all the things I eat in a journal, making checklists and checking things off each day, blogging daily about things, and several more. When push comes to shove I usually can't keep up with such a detailed log, so this time I simplified it! Take a look:

In case you are having trouble deciphering.... the purple numbers on the days are the days of cycle 1, this way I can't lose track of where I am, or skip a day.
The stars each stand for a different color!
Red: Weigh-in Day
Blue: I drank all my water (8 cups)
Green: I didn't cheat at all today
Gold: I exercised today
Silver: TBD

As you can see; the first day I weighed in and did not cheat, but I didn't exercise that day, or manage to drink all my water.
I am most proud of today because: I managed a weigh-in, didn't cheat, drank ALL my water and some, and did my jogging!

Call me silly but I like giving myself stars at the end of a long day. It makes me feel accomplished, and it's easy to see a visual representation of how well I did on any given day! This way I can feel proud of my actions, or have the shame stare me straight in the face! (notice day 4 was not so hot).

How do you record your diet info? Comment below or on Facebook if you have a neat method to share! 

My 17 Reasons

It seems like every spring I start to feel this incredible desire to diet and lose weight. I think mostly it comes from gaining weight throughout the school year and especially putting on some holiday pounds. Before I start a diet or exercise program I like to question my reasoning and come up with a plan. Anyone who has ever dieted knows that if you don't have inspiration and great motivation it's so easy to fizzle out after a few weeks or even a few days. The urge to cheat at your plan becomes irresistible and one cheat leads to another and eventually it leads to quitting the entire thing. One important thing to realize about diets is they are a life style and if anything I am living proof of that. Last summer I successfully dieted and lost a lot of weight. During the school year I stopped dieting and even thinking about my health choices and I have gained back all the weight I lost- plus a few bonus pounds. I won't lie getting on the scale today was amazingly scary and it has been really rough lately coming to terms with the weight I have gained and finding the motivation to not eat a donut to console my depression. But I have been thinking a lot about starting to diet and whether or not I can be in it for the long haul (for the lifestyle). The answer is yes: I want to feel good about myself and confident with my body. I want to feel healthy and in shape. I am a 21 year old woman: I should be healthy-no excuse!! So here are my reasons and inspiration that I can look back at during my diet to keep me going!

 Reason 1: Because I deserve to have more self confidence,

 and feel great about myself and the way I look.

 Reason 2: Because wedding season is rapidly approaching

 and I have a bridesmaid dress to fit into!

 Reason 3: So I feel better about being on stage and performing!

 Reason 4: So I can have fun at the beach

 and not feel strange in a swimsuit!

 Reason 5: To fit into skinny jeans- and feel skinny in them!

 Reason 6: To be able to wear a short skirt or shorts

 and not feel like I am scaring small children!

 Reason 7: To send the message I want to send with my image

 Reason 8: To fit into some of my old clothes!

Reason 9: To get in better physical shape

 

Reason 10: To shape my curves into smaller proportions-

 but love them more than ever!

 Reason 11: To lose weight in my face- so my eyes and smile look bigger!

 Reason 12: To have more overall energy!

 Reason 13: Because I did it once and can do it again!

 Reason 14: To fit back into the red shorts!

 Reason 15: To reach a healthy BMI

 

Reason 16: To feel like I have control over my body image

Reason 17: To feel more similar in size to my friends

I am dieting and exercising- and attempting to lose weight to regain control over my body image, feel more secure in my own skin, and to be more healthy. I want to live from this point on always making an honest effort to be healthy and stay at a reasonable weight! 

Stay tuned to follow along for this fabulous diet journey...

Things to come: 

Weight and Measurement updates, Dieting Goals, Diet and Exercise Plan, Recipes and so much more! Hopefully even some progress pictures along the way! 

Last summer I had so much success with losing weight- I am determined to achieve that same success and more! 

To Blog or Not to Blog? That is the Question...

Sometimes people approach me and ask me about starting a blog. I will heartily give my own advice to reasons why you should, and anything else, but among the blogger community- I am still such a youngin'. I have had my blog for almost 2 years but I used to go long periods of time being really inactive. (I am getting so much better at not doing that) but I still feel like I am playing around and defining myself as a blogger. I think if I known all the things I know now the way I started my blog would have been drastically different. I also feel like there is a change possibly coming for me. I would like to take my blog to the "next level" so I have a lot of planning and redefining to do, which might even include a new blog address eventually. My goal as a blogger is to reach out to others and establish a solid base of readers, and connect with other bloggers, and of course to write and post about the things I love!

That all being said- Here are some posts that are good to read for new bloggers or young ones.

If you have a blog already and want more feedback from readers- why not try posting a survey? (I am going to do this soon) Here is a 1 year post with a survey for a good example!:  Keeping Everyone Happy...

Now for those of you who are new to the blogging world- and are thinking about starting a blog- or just began one... read this article, it has AMAZING advice!  Start your Blog with a Bang!
However keep in mind that if you are starting a more personal blog- it's ok to take a different approach. Like I said I kinda just randomly started one day- and mine has worked out so far... but definitely take her advice if you want your blog to be popular, have sponsors, and become almost like a business.

Either way- Blogging is a great hobby or job. It can play as big or as small of a role in your life as you wish. It can be an excellent way to cultivate your writing abilities, your photography skills, or any type of skill you want to post about. It's a great idea for teachers as well- posting about your teaching experiences will almost act as a reflective journal- which we all know is helpful for self-evaluation.

Happy Blogging-
Any questions? Just Ask!

Memory Lane

This semester I was given the opportunity to choose my final project for my Intro to Music Tech Class. I decided I wanted to play around more with Garage Band, and get to know that software. So Dr. Walters recommended a 5 minute song, I took it one step further and decided to make it a music video. So not only would I write all my music, but also do some filming. The "youtube" video doesn't sound as good as it did on the original program, and I am aware that the video isn't the best; but I feel like it represents the way Mansfield makes me feel, and some of my favorite places outside in Mansfield! Anyhow here it is, be nice though, this is my first try at anything like this! Enjoy!
 

Are you pinterested in me??

I haven't had much time to blog lately, especially because of finals and packing, and the whole computer being broken thing hasn't helped. Well I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel! I have tons of great things to post about but need about a week to get my life in order first. Wait just a little bit longer, and I promise lots of new posts will be coming your way! Until then, why not get to know me a little better- by taking a look at my Pinterest Boards. You'll learn all about the different things I like: fashion, food, quotes, places I want to travel; you will see good craft and organizational ideas; you'll get beauty inspiration, and even learn about some great places and things I have already seen or done! Check it out: My Pinterest Page!

Previews of what beauties await you:

*I do not claim to own any of these photos*