Saying "Yes to the Dress"

Yesterday I went with my mom, future mother-in-law, and two of my bridesmaids to look for my wedding dress.  I wasn't planning on buying a dress yesterday, but I found one that literally took my breath away when I saw it on me in the mirror.  We spent two hours trying on dresses, and this blog is dedicated to those dresses that didn't make the cut.  Fiancee can rest assured that the dress I chose is not in one of the following pictures.

(I hope posting these pictures isn't wedding taboo or anything of the sort....)

 This first dress was absolutely gorgeous!  It was, however, extremely heavy and since we're having a summer wedding, I didn't see it as a possibility.  It made me feel like a queen though =)

 The opposite of the first dress, this dress made me feel like a princess.  I loved it & the train, but I felt like it was a little too tight in the back area.

 Dara and Roberta picked out two "fun" dresses for me to try on.  The one on the left, which I deemed "the Taylor Swift dress," was chosen by Dara.  I felt like I was going to a prom.   The one on the right was chosen by Roberta.

 

 This dress is the runner up to the dress I chose.  I had a hard time deciding, but I chose the other dress because this dress didn't take my breath away like the one I chose.

The last dress I tried on was my original first choice.  I LOVED the back of it, but I thought the front wasn't as up to par; it seemed like it was a little too plain in comparison with the back of the dress.

My future mother-in-law surprised me with a great gift, and I am very grateful for her in my life.  We all went to Subway afterward for a quick lunch.  I have to be more conscious of what I eat now because I have a wedding dress to fit into!

My name is Crystal, and I have a problem.

According to my Fitocracy profile, my last real workout was on June 26th.  June 26th was two days before my June minimester finals.  June 26th was also two days before our family beach vacation.  June 26th also made day 5 of my "low carb" diet.  June 26th was also the week that I was premenstrual, meaning that I was super depressed and whiny, because I ALWAYS get like that the week before my period. It's not a good feeling.  So while on our beach vacation, I used being premenstrual as an excuse to blow through my low carb diet, and devoured everything in sight.  Hey, isn't that what you're supposed to do on vacation anyway?  "Once I get back home and out of this premenstrual funk I'll go back to the gym."  Ha. Ha. Ha.

So after our wonderful beach vacation, I didn't go to the gym for the rest of the week.  I blamed my actual period this time, not my premenstrual hormones.  Then the week after that (July 9th) I used the start of July term as an excuse.  (July classes run from 7:00 A.M. to 12:15 P.M.)  School four days a week plus work five days a week?  No way.  "I'm too tired to work out!"  I was still paying no mind to my diet.  I told myself constantly yesterday (July 15th) that since I didn't have work, class, or the hellion, I would go to the gym and make it kick my ass.  Needless to say, I literally laid on the couch all day.  Which, may I add, is something that I NEVER do.  It felt nice to be lazy all day, but it's not something that I could grow accustomed to doing.

So here I am, typing up the past lazy twenty days of my life.  Aside from being a lazy fuck, the main reason I haven't been to the gym in the last twenty days is because I (ashamedly) was too focused on the competitiveness of Fitocracy.  On the website, you earn points for every exercise you do, and my workout quickly changed from working out to get toned and fit to working out in order to compete with my real friends-- the ones that I actually know-- on Fitocracy.  When these friends quit working out, I continued to work out, but was now competing against my other friends on Fitocracy, the ones I know through the Fitocracy network.  Because of this, I quickly realized that I wasn't seeing the results I had started to see before I went all Bad Sportsmanship Panda on everyone. (Because I wasn't doing any set target area workout, I was just doing things to earn the most amount of points on Fitocracy.)

I had this grand scheme in my head that I was going to hire a personal trainer in order to get back into shape and still be able to compete against other Fitocrats.  I was even going to sell my gym membership and buy a membership at another gym because my bodybuilder friend was willing to work with me.  But then he told me something that slapped me into reality, "Crystal, you don't need me.  You already know what you need to do."  So, with this realization, I understood that it was time for me to come out into the open with the reason and admit my shame:  that I've been a bad sport, and haven't been focused on my fitness goals like I used to be.

While some could say that a possible solution would be to stop using Fitocracy, I do not want to rid myself from it because it is such a great website:  the people are supportive and knowledgeable, everyone is willing to give advice when asked, and more importantly, it's such a great positive atmosphere.  There is never any pessimism; it's always optimistic and supportive, which is what most people need when undertaking fitness goals.  It's a great website and I have no intentions of deactivating my membership.

I just wrote this blog to ask forgiveness from my fellow Fitocrats.  Now that I'm no longer in denial and have come to terms with my laziness due to my bad sportsmanship, I'm ready to get back into the gym and start kicking some ass.  Can you forgive me?

What I've done during the past 6 months of my Facebook-free life.....

I decided to delete my Facebook account at the end of 2011.  This was due to reasons some of you may or may not know, but I reactivated my account two days ago, after 6 months of no popular social networking.

So what have I done these past 6 months?  Well, in addition to (somewhat) updating this blog.....

• I joined a new blog site:  Tumblr.
• I also convinced LC to join Tumblr, and whilst talking about why we liked it so much, we decided that it is because we can shy away from "social" networking, being mysterious while connecting with others who also share the same interests.  It's also nice to note the lack of drama that Tumblr social networking proivdes.  Check out my tumblr page here.

• I also joined a fitness social networking site:  Fitocracy.
•  Shortly before I deactivated my fb account, I bought a gym membership and joined this website. This website is amazing; the competitiveness of it and the people on it keep me motivated to work out. There is no weird pick up lines and hooking up (at least not with me), and the people are always so positive.  Again, with this website, like Tumblr, I can stay mysterious while getting positive feedback and optimism about staying in shape and being healthy.

• After being told about it by the fiancee, I also started an instagram account.
• I don't know how to connect the link to my account, but my name is lwlmthompson if you want to follow me.

• Additionally, I joined a Linkedin.
• Linkedin is a professional networking site.  I joined it in order to try and help get a job more steered toward my goal career.  Wish me luck!

• I focused more on schoolwork.
• It's funny how Facebook takes up so much of your time.  Without fb, I was able to focus more on school.  So much so that I made the President's List (all As) at JSU last semester.  I also made As in the two classes I took during June, and fully intend on making As in the two classes I'm taking now in July.  I am taking four classes this fall, and while I plan on staying active on fb, I also plan to make the President's List again in the fall before graduation in December.

•  I focused more on my relationship with other people.
• It's funny to see who your real friends are when you don't have fb.  While social networking can be a great way to strengthen friendships, it can also be an illusion of what friendship really is.  Without fb I was able to connect more on the friends that really mattered, and build more solid relationships with them the old fashioned way.

•  I figured out what I want to do with my life:  become a librarian.
• While some may scoff at the idea, I've realized that this is perfect for me.  No it's not the most ideal career, but if you know me (or have seen my tumblr page) you can get an idea of how much I love reading and books, and how books make me so happy.  Yes, I'm a nerd.  It is because I wasn't spending so much time on fb that I was able to read more and finally realize what I wanted to do with my life after college.

•  I was able to travel and go on adventures without being bombarded by fb.
• You know how this goes.  You go on vacation and you have this desire to take a million pictures and post them on fb, or to post status updates for bragging purposes to make those who aren't on vacation envious that you are.  Yeah, that was me.  Big time.  It was nice to actually go on vacation and not worry about posting pictures and status updates on fb every five minutes.  And I must say that the fiancee and I did a lot of traveling and had a lot of adventures the last 6 months, and we have more planned for the rest of the year.  It was good bonding time for us =)

There are a plethora of other things I accomplished while not having a fb, but these are the big ones I can think of right now.  Which leads me to the question I'm sure some of you are asking:  if my life was so great without Facebook, what made me reactivate my account?

In all honesty, I don't know.  Maybe it was because my 54-year-old technology-challenged mother got a fb account in order to connect with her family in the Philippines.  Maybe it's because I was completely bored one day and decided I wanted to start snooping on fb again.  All I know is that I reactivated my account two days ago and was completely overwhelmed about all the "new" things on fb.  These things that I used to know how to  navigate, and now I don't have a clue.  I, like my parents, am completely technology-retarded, and you can ask my fiancee about how frustrated I was/am about how difficult it is to navigate fb now.  It's a learning process.

That being said, there's something about "mysterious" social networking that doesn't cut it for me.  I guess you could say I substituted personal social networking for mysterious social networking, and while that's all well & good, sometimes it's nice to know what's going on in the lives of the people around you.  Like with my sisters and my nieces and nephews.  Or with my best friend, Crissy, whom I don't get to see anymore because she moved away.  Or with friends that live in other states.  Or even with my family in the Philippines.  I guess I deactivated my fb account the first time because I lost sight of what fb was initially for:  social networking, not stalker central.  I can say that while I deleted over 150 people from my account the day I reactivated it, I am still not on it as much as I was before.  For now, anyway.

Clutter, clutter, everywhere!

So every now and then I get in this mood to where I want to try and rid every aspect of my life of clutter.  I did this yesterday with my tumblr page, I did it with the pictures on my computer, etc., and then today I realize that when I go through these minimizing stages in my life, I fill the new space with more material things, such as clothes.  Although I just got back (BROKE) from my beach vacation on Sunday, I proceeded to go to the local mall today and spend about $250 on clothes in various stores.  Why does this always happen to me?  I am blaming this behavior on my premenstrual hormones.  That's totally it.

So the fiancee and I took the kids to Destin, FL this past week, and it was a blast.  Granted, I am pooped, I am broke, and I am certain that I am never having any more kids, but I still had a good time.  Vacation completely spoiled me, as I didn't watch what I ate and did little to no (lifting) exercising.  I blame this, again, on being premenstrual.  You boys are so lucky to not have to deal with this kind of girly stuff.  Ugh.  Anyway, check my  instagram for vacation pictures.

I finished both of my June summer classes (Black America and The Health Aspects of Aging) with As!  It raised my GPA from a 3.5 to a 3.6, so I am hoping that by the time graduation comes in December I will have at least a 3.7 if not higher-- we'll see what happens with my two July summer classes.  I know GPA does not really matter as far as employment after graduation goes, but it is something that is important to me, and I will attain to go above and beyond  my goals. 
I am also working to get my graduate application to UA together.  It's due in October, but I want to have it in by September to be considered for scholarships.  Wish me luck!

Also, today I got this crazy idea to reactivate my facebook account.  I've gone 6 months without facebook, and I don't miss it or anything like that, but today I got extremely bored and wanted to check my facebook account.  This idea may fit into the whole de-cluttering thing I was talking about earlier?  I don't know.  We'll see.

June, June, June

As of yet, I feel that April & June have been the craziest months of the year. April because of so many things planned: concerts, mini vacations, etc.

It is now June, & what I thought would be a somewhat easy online health class has turned into a Goliath. The assignments get harder each week. Considering that the class is only a month long & we have until midnight on Fridays to complete the assignments & test, it SUCKS. On a bright note, I have a 95 in the class thus far, & the class is over in 8 days, so maybe I should quit my bitchin' & suck it up.

June has been a crazy month. For some reason my family chooses to have babies in June. Por ejemplo, my birthday is the 16th, my brother's is the 18th. My nephew's is the 7th (his birthday party this year was on the 9th), my niece's is also the 16th (yay! & her party was also on the 16th this year), my other niece's birthday is on the 24th (& her first birthday party is on the 21st, I.e. next week.) Throw in Father's Day & the fact that I actually have an ex who wants to see his kid, & it makes for a crazy month. Check my instagram for pictures of all the June madness.

Also, the hellion has been doing wonderfully in the juniors class at tkd. I was worried at first, but he has stepped up from the Little Dragons (4 & younger) class, & I couldn't be more proud. Today he knew the name of his form, the # of movements in it, & the meaning of it all before anyone else could answer! He's so smart :)

The fiancee & I are taking the kids to the beach on the 28th (the day my summer classes end, yay!) & I cannot wait!!

Did I just say fiancee? Yep, that's right, he proposed! :)

I'm off to bed because I am pooped. I am an official antique (25-years-old) as of this past Saturday, & old lady is old. Good night, all.

Summer days drifting away...

This is being typed on my handy dandy android phone. Yay, technology!

I'm thoroughly enjoying my summer mini classes, an online health class, The Aspects of Aging. The online class is not as hard as I thought it would be (I've only taken one other online class before, & I made my first C. I told myself I would never take another online class again--oh the things a sooner graduation date will make you do), but it is by no means easy.

I'm also taking a history course entitled Black America.  We opened the course with American Slavery & will end it with the civil rights movement. We are currently reading a book called American Slavery by Peter Kolchin; I am enjoying Kolchin's book. I actually have to have the rest of it read by tomorrow & a 4 pg. book review on it due on Thursday (which I should probably be working on now), but I need to get this blog written since I've been so neglecful of if as of late.

The only bad thing about these summer classes is that they are mini mesters, so everything is so condensed. I would really like to take the Black America class during a full term, just so I could go more in depth with the subject. To sum up my summer school schedule: 2 classes in June, the above mentioned, & 2 classes in July. Then four classes in the fall & graduation in December!

I've also been searching information on grad schools, & I plan to apply to UA to get my masters in Library & Information Studies. Wish me luck!

In relation to my masters, I've been searching for jobs in order to try & gain experience for my career. Luckily JSU has a position open at their library for which I've already applied. I won't know anything until the end of this month, so wish me luck! I'm really really REALLY hoping I get the job. I've never wanted anything so badly in my life.

Because of my summer school schedule I've taken a cut in hours at work. This is both a bad thing & a good thing. It's bad because, obviously, I'm not making as much money. It's a good thing, though, because I have enough time before my class starts to get a full workout in at the school's gym, & then get my hourly cardio session in at the gym after class ends & before picking up the hellion from school. Needless to say, I'm still keeping up the hard work at the gym. I've even had four people in the past week tell me I've lost weight (see uploaded progress picture). =D

Speaking of the hellion, he has been doing wonderfully. He starts kindergarten in the fall, & this makes me so upset but also so happy. He graduated from preschool at the end of May, & at his graduation ceremony he even got to read to the audience! Proud mommy is proud. (I've uploaded a picture from his graduation that is supposed to be after this paragraph, but seeing as how I am technology-retarded & this is my first post from my phone, Idk if it will be here.)

My birthday is coming up this Saturday. I'll be an official antique-- 25-years-old. I'm mentally much older though; I feel like I'm ancient! Birthday festivities will be taking place. You can find my pictures on instagram, seeing as how I don't have fb anymore (6 months & counting!). My instagram name is lwlmthompson.

I think that is all for now, kind folks. I need to finish this book & start my book review. Let's hope I don't fall asleep in the midst of it. Wish me luck!

Post I started a few weeks ago & never finished. I'll just write another post later.

I started reading Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses a few days ago.  I love it.  I'm very happy that LC convinced me to read it, as she is reading it also.  I feel that it is a nice tie to the History of Islam class I took in the spring, as I would probably be very confused and not want to finish the story if I didn't know what I now know about Islam and Muhammad.  For Mother's Day, boyfriend Chad bought me Letters from the Earth by Mark Twain, which I've been anxious to read since I read an excerpt from it for the American Lit. class I took a few semesters ago.  My boyfriend is so good.  Yes, he is.  I plan on reading Letters from the Earth after I finish The Satanic Verses.  I think they may be a good compliment to one another.  East v. west.  Good v. Evil.

Mother's Day was fun.  We had homemade breakfast with mom, then I took the hellion to the movies to see "The Pirates! Band of Misfits" movie.  The weather wasn't up to par, however, so I didn't get to take pictures of us in our "swag."  However, I do have an instagram account, which I post random pictures on, if any of you lovelies would like to follow:  lwlmthompson.

I've swung back into my workout routine again.  I've also started drinking a protein shake after workout sessions, so hopefully my body can benefit a little more from that and I can start seeing the results I want sooner.  I'll keep my fingers crossed.

It's nice to have a month off from school.  I'm looking forward to summer classes, however, because I'm looking forward to graduation in December!