Different

So I finally took the plunge.

Everyone kept telling me it would be damaging

and that I should go to a professional.

However,

the past few times that I have gone,

things didn't turn out how I wanted.

After talking to Jenny multiple times,

she re-assured me that I could do it myself.

I actually wasn't planning on doing it.

I was at work, and it was sitting on the shelf

staring at me!

Clearance: $3

It's made specifically for people with dark hair,

and promised to work even on black hair.

Soooo, I gave it a shot.

The instructions were helpful,

and I'm glad I started with this.

Although,

I accidently got some on my bangs.

After a couple days,

I got some QuickBlue bleach

and reapplied.

The next day,

I bought some more QuickBlue

(this time in the big container

so that I could keep it up.)

And reapplied again.

It's almost how I want it.

Although,

I must admit it's not easy.

And I do wish I had someone here to help.

The roots are the hardest part for me.

But, that's why I only did the underneath

so you can't really tell :)

It is a very long, drawn out process,

but it lifts my spirits while doing homework.

And weirdly makes me feel like a grown up

(Look Jenny! I'm doing it by myself! Ha.)

The lady at Sally's told me to put a bag on my head.

She said it keeps the bleach from drying,

so it won't take as many applications.

(Haha yes, I know I'm a dork.)

I just thought this looked cool :P

As you can tell,

the bangs are still at the "orange" stage.

But overall,

I'm happy with the result

:)

Busy, busy, busy...

I had forgotten how difficult it is

to go to school and work.

At Extended Stay,

I almost always had time to study

and do homework.

I don't have that luxury at Target.

I hate living off of savings,

but I am debating on "focusing" on school next semester.

I want to join a sorority,

so maybe I won't work...

It's doubtful,

but it is a thought.

RCA

Redcliff Ascent

Three years since I first met you.

Since I first hated you.

Since I first loved you.

They're planning to do a reunion

summer 2011.

Hopefully,

it won't be during Eurotrip.

If it is,

I'm not so sure which I would pick...

I still haven't written anything more on my Redcliff post.

The only thing that saddens me about that,

is I'm slowly forgetting everything.

Ups and Downs

Everybody has their days of ups and downs.

Recently,

I've felt like I'm on a roller coaster.

I haven't been able to feel my knees recently,
and it's really starting to worry me.

This month,

I have spent WAY too much money.

The interview for the Venetian,

didn't go as planned.

Last week, my AC broke;

My house has been 88-104 degrees :(

Friday I had to reschedule the appointment

due to work.

Sunday I went in late to work

so that they could come.

They never showed up.

Last night,

they showed up late

and then told me they needed to order the part.

Hopefully,

they'll call soon with the necessary part

and we will be able to schedule an appointment.

Yesterday,

I failed a test I thought I was going to ace.

My mind just went blank...

Tomorrow will be three years since I went to RCA.

This time last year,

I had just lost my best friend.

So far,

I haven't made any friends in Vegas.

On the other hand,

I have a gorgeous campus to study at:

My family is coming to visit

(for my Aunt Susie's wedding.)

I have visibly lost weight

(although I've not been following my diet the past couple days :C)

I have a lot of fun with my co-workers.

My classes are interesting

(even if they are hard as heck.)

I'm still aiming for straight A's

(so far all A's and B's)

Like I said,

Everyone has their ups and downs.

Hopefully,

more ups than downs :)

Online Shopping

So there's this new site that I discovered,

that I think is pretty darn cool.

It's called Ebates.

Personally,

I LOVE online shopping.

Ebates takes that and makes it even better;

each site you click on through Ebates

has a different percentage of cash back.

Pretty much ANY store that has online shopping,

you can go through Ebates.

Ebay

Southwest Airlines

Baby's R Us

JC Penny

Barnes N Noble

Walmart

I'm not kidding.

There hasn't been a store I've tried yet,

that hasn't been on Ebates.

Now, don't get me wrong,

the percentage is usually 1-5% back

(although it does go all the way up to 26%)

but that's more than what you would get otherwise,

right?

Personally,

I won't buy something online if I don't get free shipping

(or very close to - lower than gas cost)

Also, if you have any coupons

or gift cards,

or promotion codes

or anything else,

they still work just as if you didn't use Ebates.

Here's the thing.

For every referral I get $5

and the person referred, also gets $5.

So do you and me a favor,

if you're going to shop online

do it through this link:

http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=ONncc8eWAjjtJHnbgiFnsA%3D%3D

Just sign up

(USING THIS LINK - otherwise, no $5)

and after your first purchase,

you and I both will get $5

:)

Just Try It

As I mentioned in my last post,
I started the Special K diet.
Before that,
I was also making myself try new things
(and even try old things again)
just because I am getting older
and my taste-buds are changing.

I like salads,
but ever since I was little I haven't liked lettuce anywhere else.
So, I tried to stop ordering things "without lettuce"
but that is one thing that I truly don't like.
I don't know why,
maybe it makes things taste watered down?
Just not my cup of tea I guess.

Then there are things like strawberries.
I have never liked the texture of a strawberry,
there are too many seeds... gross.
However,
I have recently started to enjoy
strawberry lemonade
strawberry (virgin) daquriis
and strawberry juices.

I've always been a ranch lover.
But, I decided it was time to try something new
something healthier on my salads
(although fat-free ranch is still
one of the healthiest dressings sodium wise.)
I like zesty italian
and some caesar dressings.
Next on the list is to try oil and vinegar,
as I have heard that's the healthiest.
However,
the stuff at the store,
is very unhealthy.
So that's still a to-do,
since I would rather have ranch
than oil and vinegar.

I tried Jessi's jallepeno wrap things,
which have three things that I don't like:
jallepenos (side note: ON A STEEEK!)
cream cheese,
and bacon.
They didn't taste bad,
but it's not something I would go out of my way to try.
However,
I'm glad I tried them (twice)
because now I am sure
that I really don't like those things
and I'm not just trying to be different from everyone :P

When I work with Seazun,
I usually let her pick my Starbucks drink
and what I'm going to eat
(if I eat something from Food Ave)
and she has had me try some nasty stuff,
(like one of the carmel drinks with SALT in it... EW!)
but some things are good.
It's gotten me away from drinking the same thing all the time.
Last time, she had me order cheese fries
with a side of jallepenos.
That was what got me to realize
WHY
everyone seems to like those things:
Cheese and fries are pretty bland alone,
but when you add a little kick
(such as a jallepeno)
they taste pretty darn good.
Although,
my mouth was on fire afterwards.
Again,
not my favorite thing to eat,
but definately a good try.

A while back,
my mom accidently ordered banana peppers on my Subway sandwich.
Since I was trying new things,
I didn't peal them off like I normally do.
Instead, I tried it and now,
guess what?
I get them every time I go to Subway.

One thing that I realized in trying new things,
I really enjoy eating healthy stuff.
Cantelope and watermelon are my favorite snacks.
Spinach and mushroom pizza is delisious.
Water tastes SO much better
when soda has been cut out of your diet.
Salad can be AMAZING with the right additions
(ie Steak, onions, tomatoes...)

Also, on a side note,
the healthier I eat,
the less I like unhealthy things.
The vanilla in the Special K cereal has become super sweet
and the chocolate is sometimes too much.
I only had ONE cupcake at Susie's trial,
and even that felt like a lot.
I don't eat ice cream as much
(although it is still my favorite dessert.)

This post has gotten a bit off track,
as it was supposed to be about trying new things
and it's kind of turned into eating healthier.
But as my title suggests,
I am only encouraging you to do what I have started to do:
just try it.
I am so happy that I did.
♥

Special K

So I have never been good at making meal plans,

and when I do I never stick to them.

When I saw a commercial for the Special K diet,

they mentioned that there are meal plans to print off.

I thought I'd take a peak at it,

maybe I could stick to a meal plan someone else made.

And the "lose a jean size in two weeks"

was a convincing argument as well :)

I picked the "on-the-go" choice

since I typically find myself grabbing fast food

instead of cooking at home.

They have a lot of choices!

Basically,

there are three meals and two snack choices.

You can either follow the meal plan exactly,

or substitute the other items in the category.

For example,

for a snack I can have different kinds of crackers,

or the snack bars which come in several flavors.

Breakfast can be cereal or a protein shake.

Lunch can be the same as breakfast, or a meal bar.

Then dinner is an actual meal

(the site said you can make your actual meal any of the day really)

which some of the examples they list are

Steak Salad

Roast beef open-face sandwich

and Lemon Salmon

:)

Drink wise,

I can have whatever I want,

although they suggest staying away from soda.

Fruit and veggies are also allowed

throughout the day whenever I want them :}

I never thought I would like Special K products,

but so far some of it is really good,

and others aren't bad.

So far, so good :]

End of the Chapter

It started with Precious:

Then came SweetPea:

And then Belly:

Followed by Sparky or Rebel:

(couldn't tell the difference until they're eyes changed)

In between them was Prince Charming:

And last, but certainly not least,

Mixberry fell out and scared me to death:

♥

SweetPea's name says it all,

and she obtained that name

by being the Sweetie that she is.

Belly loves to have her tummy rubbed.

Every time I scratch her back,

she rolls over for her belly to be rubbed.

Recently,

I found out that her mommy does the same :)

Sparky and Rebel

I couldn't tell apart until recently.

When I got home from AZ,

the kitten's eye colors had changed.

One of the orange cats eyes creeped me out.

They looked like demon eyes!

I thought about naming him Little Devil or something,

but then I thought of a name for the other orange kitten.

He is scared of everything,

but has a lot of spunk.

I thought about "Spunky"

but that was just too blah.

Instead, I thought Sparky would be a good fit.

Rebel fell into place shortly after,

since Sparky is ASU and Rebel is UNLV.

Prince Charming

is everyone in AZ's favorite kitty

(with the exception of my mom and I)

and he really is a prince,

so the name just kind of fell into place.

Jenny thought about Blueberry,

and then after a few minutes,

Stewart jokingly suggested Mixberry.

Jen loved the idea,

and so it stuck.

Although Steward still calls her

"Dingleberry"

every once in a while.

I am so happy I got to do this fostering thing,

and I'm kind of sad that it's going to be over soon.

However,

I am ready to have my house back.

I am ready to not feel guilty about

neglecting my babies.

Plus,

now that they're eating solid food,

I went through a big bad in less than two weeks!

So financially,

I'm happy for this to be over.

I am going to miss them though

♥

Doodling

This is what happens

when I am locked in a room

for four hours.

Jealous?

This is where I study :)

It's the Little Things

It's the Caesar's Palace key keychain.

It's the views from an airplane.

It's the random text messages.

It's the excitement they have.

It's the things remembered.

It's the tone of their voice.

It's the forgiveness given.

It's the conversations had.

It's the fact that they care.

It's the memories shared.

It's the questions asked.

It's the help they give.

It's the interest shown.

It's the pictures taken.

It's the offer to pay.

The little things in life

make the biggest differences.