Ch 2: Life Skills

Hey guys,

It is currently 12:47 AM. Technically not Wednesday night, but can we pretend? I had a tough time getting up this morning. Plenty of items that I could say contributed to this, but now's not quite the time to get into it all. Bottom line is I got out of bed, went to school for four hours, had a break at home, then 7 hours of work. First day of school + work.

At school today we discussed characteristics, ethics, and like the title of this here post says . . . Life Skills! We set short term, intermediate, and long term goals. I will be honest with you all and say that when I set goals I'm not often specific. Today we had to write down dates, percentages, and much more. I like to stay quite in classes. ALL classes. I don't like volunteering my answers. I almost always doubt myself or feel like I will end up being humiliated. This could be from childhood experiences, but I'll save that for another time (maybe). But in class I shared a lot. A section in our workbooks asks us to "List the people who are in your rear-view mirror that you have counted on and will continue to support your legacy." I shared the individuals I wrote down, but that's not the most significant aspect. I added that I have such few names because over the past good handful of months I have realized people changed. I can't change who they are in relation to me due to definition, but I can change the way in which I view them. This was the part that got my classmates clapping. I felt like I had just said something life changing. Well in my case it is.

My instructor posed a question. Why is the rear-view mirror smaller than your windshield. I'm sure the first thought you have is along the lines of ummm so you can see where you're driving, duh! That may be true, but I decided that the rear-view mirror is smaller because it is more important to look to the future, what's ahead of you, than to reflect on your past. The past is the past, you can't change it. Although sometimes I think we all wish we could change the past. I know if I could change the past the last 8 months would be incredibly different. This may sound like common sense, but I think everyone should take a minute to think about what this means to them and apply it to their lives.

I hope you took this to heart.

ALG

Beauty School . . . Wait What?!?

Hi guys,

Why is it that every time I write so much has changed? Well if you couldn't tell from the title, I am now attending beauty school. I have always had a bit of a passion for nails. Those of you that know me, this may not be much of a surprise. Today was actually my first day of school to help me get my Nail Technician License. I will say that it is VERY different than my UCSD days. I think I am the youngest out of the students that attended today.

I won't go into too much detail in this post. In the photo (right) you can see my Career Connections Workbook, planner, and now organized binder (the inside cover at least). Hey, I can say I started day one being well organized.

In class we went over chapter 1:history and opportunities (left). I am NOT a fan of history. You guys know that. Especially when I used to mention UCSD's lovely MMW course. Today's history was so different. When you think back to history class what comes to mind about the Egyptians? The Romans? Usually religion, trade, government, class systems right? Well I learned about the various resources individuals used to stain their nails, color their hair, add color to their cheeks and lips. That wouldn't matter in a standard history class, but I find learning that the Romans had different hair colors to signify status is far more interesting than religion. I apologize to all you history fans out there. I learned about the growth and origins of beauty and its products.


One of the first activities we did in class today was fill out a "My Promise" sheet. I already know that to some individuals this will sound silly or insignificant, but just listen. It reads:

The gift of COURAGE is the greatest gift I can give to MYSELF! Today I give myself the courage to come back to school. This gift will make all the difference in my future . . . . It will allow me to accomplish my goals. I will always have the knowledge and skills I gain from this gift. No one can take this gift away unless I ALLOW it! I can finish! I WILL FINISH!

I must finish because: This is my chance to accomplish something on my own.

When things get rough, I can motivate myself to do my best because: I know others are waiting for me to fail.

If I ever think of quitting, I'll tell myself that I MUST FINISH because: I started and need to finish.

I will fail only if I quit trying.

I'm glad that they started the class off with this. Ever since my birthday back in June things have been a constant downhill ride. When I thought things couldn't get any worse, someone would prove me wrong. I now know not to question if things could get any worse. The answer is ALWAYS yes.

The reason I found it important to share this on my blog is that I need to remind myself. Yes, it can be looked upon as a silly beauty school and not a terribly impressive achievement, but to me this is a HUGE step. It's a whole new chapter in my life. I wish I wasn't alone going into it, but I have no choice now.

I don't have the ability to see into the future (believe me if I could things would be incredibly different) but I know I will get very negative. I may even tell myself I don't think I am cut out for this, but I will remind myself to look back to this post.

I won't:
~ let others tell me I can't get my license
~ let others drag me further down
~ let the voice in my head hold me back
~ keep questions to myself in class
~ turn into someone I'm not

Sorry for the deep(ish) post you guys. Warning you now though I think this may be the first of a good amount more to come. I've missed writing posts. Even if I can count the number of readers on one hand.

Time to study for my test tomorrow and attempt to sleep.

ALG

Banana Muffins! Healthy(ish)

Hello hello!

I go through phases. These ones are specifically the healthy kick phases. I have been working out every day since the 3rd. Not tooo long but hey it's a start! Goal is 100 miles by Valentine's Day!

This morning I woke up and saw this text on my phone:

"I woke up this morning and didn't feel like going to class so I'm skipping it, and because you're asleep and can't talk me out of it I'm going back to sleep. I love you"

Schatzi is so funny. That totally made my morning! After I did a few things I made my way down to the kitchen and started on these banana muffins.

Ingredients:
 ~ 2 large eggs
 ~ 2 medium sized bananas
 ~ 1 cup Greek yogurt
 ~ 2 cups oats
 ~ 1 tsp baking powder
 ~ 1 tsp baking soda
 ~ 1/4 cup brown sugar
 ~ pinch of salt
 ~ chocolate chips

Step 1: Preheat oven to 400 F while you prep the batter. Place oats in your Bullet (food processor). Blend until it becomes a nice fine blend and place in mixing bowl.

Step 2: Measure out and add the rest of the dry ingredients to your bowl and mix together.

Step 3: Blend bananas and eggs in the Bullet. I found that blending them together makes it smoother for the batter. Also add in the yogurt.

Step 4: Add the wet to the dry and mix it well! It should look similar to the photo to the left. This is when you should fold in your chocolate chips, blueberries, strawberries, etc.

Step 5: Place into muffin cups and into your preheated oven. Set your timer at 5 minute increments. Rotate after every 5 minutes. Use a toothpick to check. If the toothpick comes out clean then they are done! I found that mine took 15 minutes total to bake through.

This was breakfast! I have been really into eating "omelettes" for breakfast. I have also been into wanting to be aware of the nutritional information accompanying the foods I am eating. If y'all are interested as well . . .

Calories                 122.0
Fat                           1.8
Carbs                       17.7
Protein                     3.1

Oh and it yields 13 muffins! Without chocolate chips they are only 99 calories each! I made 1/2 with chocolate and 1/2 without so I could share with the baby! Hopefully you guys give em a try.

Long time no post by the way

-ALG

Happy Halloween?

Boo!

Did I scare y'all?

Yeaaaa didn't think so. This Halloween doesn't feel like Halloween. It's not as devastatingly depressing as my Halloween junior year of high school, but I'd put it in that category. I started the day off trying to drag myself out of bed. How was I a morning person in college? I had my second day of work!! Yesterday I spent the second half of the day watching how the cash register is run. Man there are a heck a lot of buttons!! Today I got to input some of the customer orders all on my own! I got some pats on the shoulder and kind words of praise from my associates. As for the customers, they were super understanding and said I was doing a great job!

After work I walked around shopping for clothes for my other job. That's when I saw all the adorably dressed little ones. Isn't that one of the best parts of this holiday? Makes me smile to watch them get so excited. Remember those days?

Bought some clothes and headed home. Of course this was after I talked myself out of froyo, candy, Starbucks, and Panera hot choc with choc chip marshmallows. I know! Not a very happy drive home. Realizing I was driving home and probably not leaving home.

Few hours passed by. I watched some YouTube and Shatzi's Netflix while laying on the floor. My brother's out all night with friends and his girlfriend and my parents are out all night with a neighbor so figured I should buy myself some dinner. Too lazy to cook anything. Opted for Indian food. I think Indian food may be one of my favorites! Don't let this small portion fool you because I had another and then some . . . Of course I shared with my doggie. She LOVES the rice just like her mommy! I don't feed her any other part because of the spices.

Too lazy to walk upstairs to retrieve my iPad so I flipped on the TV. Glad I did because Halloween Wars was on. Look at these pumpkins! Granted they used other items (cake, blown/stretched sugar, candy, etc) to create these creepy crazy creations.

I didn't carve a pumpkin this year. Didn't dress up or do any cool makeup today. Didn't hand out candy. Didn't watch a scary movie. Didn't plan on spending it alone either. I am thankful that Mimi baby is here unlike junior year of high school.

Me and holidays. It only gets better, huh? One day maybe. Tell me about your Halloween! I hope you guys had loads of fun handing out candy, trick-or-treating, watching scary films, and whatever other Halloween activities you got to do!

Happy Haunting  =^..^=

ALG

Chili Or Not?

Salut mes amis!

It has been over a month . . . geez I am behind. Here's a quick and easy chili recipe for y'all! I am not a fan of ground beef or chili so I had no idea if it looks like chili or tastes like it. The family seemed to like it though. (don't ask why there is all this crazy spacing issues)

Ingredients:

- 1/2 lb ground beef

- onion

- green bell pepper

- can of diced tomatoes

- can of tomato sauce (not pictured)

- can of kidney beans

- 3 cloves garlic

- 1/2 cup water

- 1/3 cup A1 sauce

- 3 tbsp chili powder

- oil to coat the pan

- salt & pepper

Step 1: Add the oil, ground beef, onions, and pepper to the pan. Cook for 5-8 minutes. You want to get the meet to start cooking. (If you like onions I suggest dicing them. My brother is not fond of onions so I left them in large pieces so the flavor would not be missing from the dish. Easy to remove before serving)

Step 2-3: Add in the spices. Cook for a few minutes. Add in the tomato products, water, and A1 sauce. You want this to cook for 10ish minutes.

Step 4: Add in them beans! Give it a good mix and cover. Cook for another 10-15 minutes. You want it to be fully cooked at the end of the timer. Stir occasionally. (This is when I took a pair of tongs and pulled out all the onions)

Step 5: Turn the heat down to keep the chili warm. Serve over rice (my brother's choice) or with toast/crackers. So this question is for all my chili eating friends out there: does it look like chili? Smelled good and the family ate it sooo give it a shot if you guys want something simple and warm!

ALG

Ayu + ALG Day 5

Hi guys,

Our last full day :(

But it was so much fun!! Off we went to San Diego! Our first stop was Schatzi's house. Since Ayuka is so dear to me, my best friend, my sister it means the world to me that she meets my boyfriend. Schatzi made some suggestions as to where we should go in SD and out the door we went. We went to The Cove!

I've snorkeled a number of times before, but this was Ayuka's first time! We couldn't take our cameras because they aren't waterproof and we didn't want anyone to steal em! The water was cold at first. Pretty calm and then the waves started lol We got tossed around a bit, but I enjoyed it! Not as nice as Catalina but still very fun!

Our swimsuits happened to match!!

HUGE peanut butter cup. Cuz someone was starving before lunch!




This road reminded me of roads I'd have seen in San Fran. After lunch we headed to Balboa Park! You guys remember when I went with Schatzi? This trip with Ayuka brought back so many memories of the times I went with Schatzi.







Here we are taking turns posing for the camera!



These next photos are a handful of the moments during the day that reminded me of our (Schatzi & I) first day together.

Remember that newly wed couple that was taking photos and not looking terribly happy? lol

 Remember studying under that tree? It was such a beautiful day.

I ALWAYS have to pee it seems. Remember walking past these on our hunt to find a restroom? I think you were more focused on finding me a restroom because I kept getting distracted by all the cool things around us lol






I think this may have been one of my favorite photos I took of Ayu during her stay with me.

She told me ta pose. I tried lol

Thank you Ayu for photographing this moment I was having lol I was filming myself spinning . . .

Since we both were photographing everything we got quite a few shots of each other taking photos. Like these @.@

I'll say we did take a whole lot more of us taking photos lol I love how silly we can be.

Gaslamp was next! We walked around the shops since we were super stuffed from our lunch. Ayuka pointed out this Breakfast At Tiffany's inspired window! I just loved it!!

There was a store that was covered in accessories. You can probably guess we spent a good amount of time in there. Being girly girls!

We had a curfew of 10pm so we had to say our goodbyes to Gaslamp and SD at 8pm. Ayuka understands me now when I say how in love with SD I am. She says one day she wants a house in SD. I can come crash at your place right Ayu? lol

As we left SD we found ourselves singing along to the radio as it played Best Day Of My Life. Good times. Good times. Thank you for such a great day trip Ayu :)

After we got home though I had a turn of emotions. I did my best to put it aside as I knew that would be the last of my time with my sister. Thank you Ayu's family for allowing me to steal her away for a while. Thank you to mom, dad, and brother for putting up with our craziness. Lastly, thank you to Ayuka for making my summer vacation memorable. Sooooo ready to start our planning for next summer?!?

ALG

ps check out Ayu's blog post, How I Fell In Love With La Jolla, for more sweet photos!

I'm Lost :'(

Hey there,

Have you ever felt completely and utterly lost?

What a day guys. Today is one of my days off from work, but I was asked to come in so I did. Got to work at 9am. My badge doesn't allow me access to buildings. In other words, when a door is locked I must knock and hope that someone comes to my rescue. It's not too much of a hassle. I just feel like I bother people when I knock. Right so back to the story. My mom dropped me off and the front door was locked. I went around the back to find that that door was locked as well. I walked upstairs to knock on that locked door. After getting into the building for work, I spent an hour reorganizing flyers, throwing out old ones, and creating my plan of attack. I had six cities to travel to. Handing out stacks of flyers to any business that would allow me to. I am not the best person when it comes to directions and places. So I Google mapped the city halls of each city and put them into order to make a nice little route for myself. Figured as long as I start at the City Hall I will be able to find surrounding business.

My first stop was the Covina library. I arrived there around 10:15am. On the way there, a box in the back seat managed to invert itself. After I parked I got out and opened the door to fix the mess of flyers. That's when they all decided to fall out of the Tahoe and mock me as they lay next to my feet. It wasn't even Covina's flyers. 5 minutes later . . . I walked around to enter the library where I found a man laying out front. He told me that the library isn't open till noon. Back to the car. I couldn't afford to make a trip back after noon so I drove around to random business around the area.

I then hit up Glendora. At this point the temperature read a scorching 115 degrees. I realize this may not be terribly hot to some of you friends, but for where I live that is mighty hot! I walked up and down the streets leaving small stacks with local businesses. Then to La Verne. At this point I had been to cleaners, Verizon stores, gyms, Taco Bell, 31 Flavors, Sports Challet, pet shops, city halls, libraries, etc. When I finally finished La Verne I headed to Claremont.

Claremont I knew would be my biggest challenge. Most cities had a few stacks of flyers. Claremont had two full boxes of flyers! I walked up and down the streets. Moved the car to Claremont City Hall and then walked to the library and other busnesses. I moved the car a few streets over and did the same. I hadn't really stopped to eat. I had eaten an egg, some tapioca, 1/2 a snack size bag of cheese crackers, 1/2 a banana, and some of a caramel apple. The ac in the car was blowing out cool to room temp to warm air. The left vent was only blowing at half power if that. I tried to think cool, but I couldn't stop sweating. I moved the car again. The street parking was full so this time I went to a small parking lot somewhat hidden away. That was a big mistake. I left my back pack in the car, but luckily took my phone with me. As I walked store to store I realized I was getting close to hitting where I was before I moved the car. So I turned a corner and went down another street. I wasn't feeling too good. It was past 2pm, the time I was scheduled to work til. I told myself after this box of flyers I would go back to the office and be done for the day. Did this happen? Of course NOT!

I couldn't remember where I had parked the car. The company car mind you! I had to stop to sit to try to think, cool down, and catch a breath of warm air. My memory isn't the sharpest, but today something was really off. I couldn't remember anything. Everything started to look the same. I started to panic. I walked around for 20 minutes looking for the car. I wasn't sure what to do so I called my mom up. She told me to wait by city hall and she would come help me. What help would she be if she doesn't know the area? Or what stores I had been to? What the car looks like? She said at least I wouldn't be out in the heat. I didn't want her to come so she gave me ten more minutes. I'm sure you all guessed it. I didn't find the car within those 10 minutes. With every parking lot I passed without seeing the car my heart beat faster. I felt incredibly lost. I didn't know what to do.

Waiting for my mom I made my way back to a store I had previously asked if I could leave flyers. The two women saw me and instantly knew something wasn't right. They sat me down and gave me some water. It was nice to be able to sit in a nice cool room. I couldn't remember anything. I explained my dilema and how I remember coming in their store maybe 40-50 minutes prior. She was surprised when I said that. She told me it had been at least an hour and 40 minutes since she had last seen me. That kind of freaked me out. Not the best with judging time, but I am normally off maybe 20 minutes max. So to be off by a whole hour?? They were telling my I had probably suffered from heat exhaustion/stroke almost. The three of us chatted until I saw my mom drive by. I was to meet her at City Hall so I walked on over there. After thanking the two women of course.

I am so grateful that she came to get me because I wasn't feeling good. I had a huge headache. My stomache was upset due to lack of food and downing water too fast. My body was wet with sweat. As she was driving me around it started to rain. Not even drizzle, that part was skipped. Then it grew to a harder rain. We drove up and down the streets. My head was throbbing and I couldn't seem to think straight. After maybe 10 minutes we found it! Thank goodness!! We drove back to the office so I could return the car and she could take me home. The car ride back was hot and stuffy, but at least I had found the car and gotten it back to work safely.

Throughout my walking around cities I held doors open to men and women that had their hands full. Whether it be suitecases, ice creams, coffee, mail, etc. I held the doors because I know what it's like to struggle to enter/exit a place with my arms full. The two women that gave me water told me this is the good karma coming back to me. Since I helped people when I didn't need to I got to sit on a nice chair in a cool room and drink water when I needed help. Before I used to hold doors only if people were behind me. Now I'd say I go out of my way to hold doors open for others. I offer a helping hand when I see someone could use one. Even if I know I won't be much help. It's the thought and actions that count in these situations.

I now get to go to work at 10am instead of 3pm so I can go back to Claremont to hand out the rest of the flyers as well as Chino and Chino Hills. I think I may need to swap cars so I get nice cool ac. Lesson learned though. I must always take a photo or jot down where I parked. That way if next time I pass out and hit my head, someone will be able to help me!

Do me a favor. The next time you see someone struggling to open a door give em a hand. What would you lose, a few seconds? What would you gain, a smile a thank you? It's a very small price to pay for such a rewarding action.

ALG