A&P+Stench+Ham Melt

Hey guys. It feels like it's been forever since I've vented to you. You've been missing me haven't you?

A&P has about got the best of me these days. The extremely disproportional drawing to the right is the beginning of my sad attempt to memorize muscles. I was supposed to have them memorized a long, long time ago. And I tried, I really really tried.
Then I failed. And I've forgotten almost all of them. I have a Lab Final on Wednesday. I can't forget that crap!
So I had to take things to a new extreme: draw the muscles myself.
And it actually seems to be helping. So far.
It's just about the most time consuming thing I've ever done for school though. Which may or may not be worth it in the end.
So I've been sitting on my bedroom floor with a blanket wrapped around me for hours drawing muscles whilst listening to Taylor Swift and The Fray. If you're a Taylor Swift hater, shut your face. Frankly, her songs just make me feel better when I'm feeling sorry for myself. Plus she has great curly hair. What's not to like about that?

I'm about to take a chainsaw to my face. It's breaking out to no end. Really bad. I would have taken a picture of my face for you...
Oh wait, no I wouldn't have! Sorry I'm not sorry.
It just makes me want to rip my face off. Seriously. I don't understand it. It could be the over amounts of dark chocolate I eat. But it breaks out even when I don't eat chocolate.
I've been doing some research and decided to cut out coffee for a while to see if that has been having any negative effects on my face. At this point, no coffee is becoming a very negative experience. Especially with Finals right around the corner. I'm not even that stressed yet. I don't know. It crossed my mind to start taking my acne medication again...

No hair < Zitty face 

But it just so happens that I'd like to keep the hair that I have. So I decided against it for now.

Speaking of Finals, I thought I'd share this inspirational picture. Is that not the best looking photo you've seen all day? I'm legit thinking of hanging this on my mirror or something so I can look at it every morning up until finals are over. Just so I can have him stare and smile at me every morning to make me feel more confident.

mhm 

I smell bad. 

Not right now. Well, maybe I do and just don't realize it? Because that's been happening a lot these days. Hence why I've concluded that I'm just destined to smell bad. 

A few weeks ago my brother informed me after over a month of my wearing a certain perfume that it smelled like hand sanitizer. I like using hand sanitizer, but I don't want to smell like it all over my body. That's straight up weird. So I had to quit wearing my perfume. 

My Vibrams smell so bad that I had to wear astronaut shoes (tennis-shoes) to the gym tonight. I hated it. And working out without socks on is something I've grown quite fond of. My socks really were irking me tonight. They kept sliding down into my shoes. 

And I did it again. 

I shoved some tuna into my purse before I left the house yesterday so I could eat it for lunch at work. 

We have a full kitchen in the office...so I opened the cans of tuna there and drained them in the sink. I guess I could have drank the juice to avoid the smell? Okay. No. That's disgusting. Why did I even type that? Someone smack me for being dumb. 

So anyways, I sat in the back corner of the kitchen and quietly ate my tuna out of the can. Apparently it smelled up the whole back of the office. And EVERYONE complained about the nasty tuna smell. All of my coworkers hated me. Some of them were even talking about how they thought they could smell it on their clothes. They grounded me from my tuna. Can you believe that?! Blasphemy. 

I personally thought it was hilarious though. 

But I did end up having to disinfect the sink, wipe off anything that might have been 'juiced' by the tuna, spray the kitchen with smell-good, and take out the trash. 

How I feel 

And from all this, I have thus concluded that I might as well smell bad all the time. I think I'm just going to wear my hand sanitizer perfume, eat tuna constantly, and wear my Vibrams without washing them. All the time. Who needs friends anyways? Or a job for that matter... 

Man, that picture makes me miss watching Ren and Stimpy. I need to watch an episode tomorrow. Don't you think? I think I will. Because I literally haven't sat down and watched an episode of anything in months. I don't know how many months, but it's getting close to three. That's sad isn't it? 

Well ya'll, I guess I'm going to finish another muscle drawing. Coffeeless too, so I'll probably fall asleep on top of my books like I did last night. Fun stuff. Except last night I fell asleep on top of Shakespeare's Hamlet with my light on until 4am. I don't want to talk about that though. No one wants to sleep with Hamlet. It's a disturbing experience. And it made me dream about messy closets...not even kidding. 

I had to write a paper on that book, and every time I typed Hamlet, it came out Hamelt. And every time I typed Hamelt it made me want a Ham melt. I don't know what a Ham Melt is, but I was really hungry and it sounded freakin' good. I think a Ham Melt would consist of ham and cheese, right? Right.  

Coffee

I love coffee.
LOVE it.  If coffee were a man, I'd marry him. Not even kidding.
My favorite coffee is Starbucks coffee. I get the same thing every time I go. An Americano with heavy whipping cream.
Gosh, I'm such a coffee snob.
I've never been disappointed by my Starbucks Americanos though. It's so much better than McDonalds coffee.
I actually went Black Friday shopping just to get some undergarments and an Americano from Starbucks. The coffee is what really mattered though.
And I got three of them. One when we got to the mall on Friday, and one when we left the mall. And one again at the mall today. Yes, I went at the mall twice within three days. Is that alright with you? It was more than alright with me.
Made me so freakin' happy.
I didn't actually plan to go to the mall today, it just sort of happened to work out that way. Because I had to make an important item return.

I've had a really good weekend. Like, a really really good weekend. Didn't do anything in particular that made it that good. Except for the fact that I didn't do homework. And that was spectacular and stress-free.
So, I had a  spectacular, stressless weekend.
Homework = Stress
No homework = No stress

Basically, I've broke up with Stress. And now I'm going steady with coffee. Obviously.
Maybe I should do this until school lets out? Never do homework; Ever. And drink coffee instead; All the time.

Actually, that sounds like a really bad idea. I'm pretty sure I'd fail Finals. And I would never sleep, because coffee has a tendency to keep me awake like that.

We're putting up our Christmas tree/decor tonight. I just love the word decor, don't you? 

I actually listened to Christmas music in the car on the way to the mall today. GASP 

I'm not so sure what got into me. Normally I'm a total scrooge up until about 2 weeks before Christmas. No Christmas music except on decorating night (tonight). No wrapping gifts. No Christmas anything. Then like two weeks before Christmas, I turn into Crazy-jolly-Christmas-Lindsay. 

But since I actually enjoyed listening to Christmas music today, a whole month before Christmas, I think my life must have taken a change for the better this year. We'll see. 

Don't judge the quality of this post by it's length. Because it was overly necessary to have a post devoted entirely to my love for coffee. I'm sure you totally agree. 

I'll probably post again later. Pictures of our crazy Christmas decor night. 

20 Reasons To Be Grateful

If I've learned anything at all this year, it's exactly that. Someone else in this world is happy with much less than what I have. And yet most days I still find adequate time to be unhappy about something. It's useless. And that's why I love Thanksgiving. Because I'm forced to actually think about the good things instead of the bad. It realigns my perspective on things.  

Today was a really hard for our family. Really hard. I'm crying right now. 

My Papaw passed away four months ago yesterday. He was always the life of Thanksgiving day. Most Thanksgivings I would show up and hear nothing but laughter coming from the kitchen. Typically because Papaw would be telling/playing a joke on someone. 

Today, I showed up at Mamaw's house to find most of the family crying. We didn't have anyone stealing the rolls before it was time to eat. There was no one snoring on the couch after the meal. There wasn't any UNO games played after the meal. There was no one there to stabbingly tickle me in the rib cage after I was stuffed full of Turkey. He wasn't there. 

And my cousin is gone to the airforce. She wasn't there to tell me my pies were the best thing she'd eaten all year. She wasn't there to wrestle me on the living room floor. She wasn't there to lay on the couch and complain about how fat we'd made ourselves. She wasn't there. 

I know Thanksgiving is supposed to be a wonderfully happy time. And it was. It was just really hard. And I cried a lot. 

A lot has happened this year. And so I've made a list of 20 reasons I'm thankful this Thanksgiving. 

Oh, so you say you enjoy reading long list posts? And you enjoy lots of pictures? 

Kay. 

Brace yourselves for this one. 

1) Grace and Unconditional Love 

Without grace, I'd have no reason to live. I live through grace. Without grace I would have no hope. I'm simply nothing more than a mess of a person. But through God's unconditional love and never-ending grace, I've been saved from myself. I have an eternal hope. I have a reason to live. 

What kind of lover would lay His own life down for me? What does a grace look like that someone would continually,eternally accept me as who I am; mess-ups and all? 

I absolutely love the poem above. 

Replace the word 'Sun' with 'Son.' And that's what grace looks like. That what unconditional love looks like. That's who God is.

2) My Family 

Generic, I know. 

But it's so true. I have no idea where I'd be without them. My Dad, my Mom, and my three brothers. I'm so   proud of each of them, I love them more than anything, and I'm extremely grateful to have them in my life. I don't have a picture on the computer of the whole family together. But we do exist. 

And I'm also very thankful for my non biological family. You guys know who you are. 

Absolutely Adorable 

3) My Mamaw and Papaw 

My Mamaw is a gorgeous, amazing, and a very wise woman. I'm so blessed to still have her in my life and for all the time she has invested in me. 

And I'm overly grateful for the 18 years God gave me with my Papaw. Even though I miss him terribly, I'm extremely thankful for the time I got to spend with him here.  

4) My Old Friends, and my New Friends. 

Like they say, "Make new friends, keep the old. Those are silver, these are gold." 

It's funny, because my very best friends are all away from me. Living away, or gone away. But like they say, "Good friends are like stars. You don't always see them. But you know they're always there." 

Missions trip to Haiti.  June, 2012

5) Haiti
I can't describe how awesome it was that I finally got to go on a Missions trip this summer. I prayed for so long for that opportunity. And it changed my life forever. 

I will forever hold a special place in my heart for Haiti. 

6) My Health 

This time last year I was pretty sickly. And this year is a totally different story. I'm so thankful for the way I feel this year. 

7) My Education 

I know I complain about school and homework all the time. But in reality, I'm overly blessed to have the opportunity to go to college. There's so many people who would do anything just to get the chance to do what I complain about doing day in and day out. 

8) My Jobs 

I have nothing to not be thankful for about my jobs. My bosses are amazing and flexible with me and my school. And I work with great people. 

9) My Church 

There are so many places on this earth where people are killed just for meeting to worship God. I am overly grateful to have the freedom to go to church, to have a wonderful Pastor, and an awesome church family.

10) A Free Country 

Freedom don't come free. And I'm thankful for those who are fighting for me to be able to lay my head down on my pillow tonight and sleep in peace. 

11) My car 

It may not be the snazziest thing around. But I freakin' love my car. It takes me everywhere. And I'm so happy to have my new tires on there. It's just awesome. 

12) Dark Chocolate and Almond Butter 

Food guys. C'mon. What's not to be thankful for? I swear these two foods are what keeps me sane some days. 

13) Silly Times 

Why so serious? 

Actually, I'm pretty serious most of the time. So when I have a really silly time, it's indefinitely awesome. 

And very appreciated. 

14) Music 

I don't have as much time to play piano these days. 

But music pulls me through a typical day. I hum, I dance, I sing obnoxiously loud in the car. Music makes me happy. 

15) The Outdoors   

We live in the country, and I love it. I love the fact that I can walk for hours through a forest and not see a single soul or building anywhere. I love the fact that I can lay outside and stare at nothing but stars at night and hear nothing other than crickets and coyotes. There was a time when there was more than trees and fields in my front yard (like concrete and more concrete). Which is why I appreciate it so much. 

16) Tears 

Okay, this may be an odd thing to be thankful for. But I cry a lot. Not in public of course. 

But I cry when I'm really happy, I cry when I'm really sad, I cry when I'm overly stressed, I cry when I'm mad. Heck, I even cry when there's nothing to cry about. 

I definitely wonder how insane I'd be if I couldn't cry. 

17) My Dogs 

I mean, how could a person NOT love those faces? 

Buster, my running buddy

Dice, my Baby 

18) A Place to Call Home 

There are so many homeless people on this earth. Just to have a roof over my head is something to be grateful for.

19) The Gym

Should have expected this one. 

Without the gym, I may go crazy. I don't get home in enough time to run outside. And I'm NOT waking up at five in the morning just to run. And weight lifting is sort of impossible without the gym. I love the gym! 

20) Rest 

Life is insane. School is crazy. Some days, nothing goes right. People are annoying. I'm annoying. Things are overwhelming. And it's on those hard days, when I appreciate rest. 

This Thanksgiving I'm really appreciating rest. I'm loving not having to do homework like a freak for two whole days. It feels good to just sit back and rest.  

21) You 

Yeah, you. Thanks for reading my blog =)  

And with 20 minutes to spare, Happy Thanksgiving! 

Good Life

It's almost Thanksgiving guys!
I absolutely love Thanksgiving.
It's the Best. Holiday. Ever. You just sit around and think happy, thankful thoughts whilst eating butt-loads of your favorite foods with your family and friends. Don't even have to stress about gifts. It can NOT get much better than that, folks.
I didn't have school today, which was dreadfully wonderful.
AND, while I was at work I got new tires put on my car.
I honestly felt like I was driving a new car when I picked it up. Definitely the best. I might have driven faster than I should have to test drive them. But it was for a good cause, I swear.

I went to the gym after work. Surprise there, right?
But, I came home and made one of THE best protein shakes I have ever made. No joke.
Have I ever told you that I'm sort of Lactose intolerant? I can not drink milk. It makes me puke. And I don't eat cheese very often because it makes my stomach upset. But I CAN eat some low/non-fat yogurt. And I use heavy whipping cream in my coffee. Otherwise, dairy and I don't mix very well.
I can eat icecream too...but that hasn't happened since July.

Here's my formula for my favorite protein shake:

-2 Scoops Chocolate protein powder
-1 heaping TBS unsweetened cocoa powder
-6 big icecubes
-1/3 cup Plain, non-fat Greek Chobani Yogurt 
-1/3 cup coconut milk (Because regular milk hates my stomach)
-1/4 cup water

Throw it all in a blender. And BAM. You've got yourself the best protein shake ever. In my biased opinion, of course. My opinion is the only one that matters after all. No one cares what you think. Or how you feel about my protein shake.
I'm kidding, gosh.

After I drank the best protein shake ever, I spent the rest of my evening in the kitchen. BAKING. I haven't got to bake in like 3 weeks. Talk about deprivation. I was thrilled by the experience. Thrillleeddd. I didn't even have homework to do.
And I got to taste everything I made! FTW!!

Pumpkin Pie

I'm eating again, right now. Cold ham. Why am I eating ham at 11:30 at night? Dang, I'm weird. I've been eating something on and off all day. I'm gonna use Thanksgiving Eve as an excuse, okay?

So, I thought that tasting everything I made would be a really good idea. But it wasn't. I mean, I love the fact that my body has this awesome 'sugar alarm' system goin' for me these days. But I don't want it to go into freak attack mode every time I take a taste of something sugary. It's stupid.
My stomach cramped up and spazzed out on me. And it's not like I ate slices of each pie. I just tasted the ingredients while I was making them.

Paleo Pumpkin Pie Bars

My body and I have a love/hate relationship. Mostly love. But we have our days of disagreements.
I made three desserts.
1) Juli's Paleo Pumpkin Pie Bars
2) A regular (As in, not healthy) Pumpkin Pie
3) And a chocolate cookies and cream jello icebox pie. Does that sound healthy to you? Good, because it's not.
I only took a picture of the pumpkin items because the chocolate cookies&cream pie looks like crap. I'm sure it'll taste amazing. It just wasn't being photogenic, and I didn't feel like cutting it just for a picture.

A&P hates me

I haven't had time to post lately. Sunday I had church, then spent the afternoon volunteering to serve a Thanksgiving meal for some elderly citizens. Now THAT was a grand time. I love elderly people. Me and my table laughed and joked around the whole time. And I sat down and ate with them afterwards. They even offered to tip me for my waitress services to them. I denied the money. So instead they gave me tips such as, "Don't invest in the titanic."
The rest of Sunday was spend studying.
Monday night I had an Anatomy and Physiology Exam. And Tuesday night I had a Microbiology exam. I documented of one of my most unhappy times studying for A&P just for you. Please tell me you pity me.
Look at that face.


In case you were wondering, I went to therapy for my knee on Tuesday. She told me I have a pulled/strained ligament in my knee due to inadequate stretching before doing dead lifts, squats, and other heavy lifting.
That's awesome. Stretch Lindsay, stretch.
I bought a yoga video tonight. My therapist is from India and she said doing yoga once or twice a week would be really beneficial. So I listened to her. She's from India; she knows what's up. I actually enjoy yoga though, so now I just need to force myself into making it part of my routine.
I plan to do it tomorrow morning before I indulge in a huge meal.

My therapist also told me in response to my telling her that school is stressful, "School is not stressful. You don't know real life stress. When you have to raise and family and pay bills, then that's stress. School is a fun time in life."
Maybe she should have been a psychologist instead of a physical therapist?
Actually, she kind of made me mad. I thought, So this lady thinks she can tell me I'm not allowed to be stressed about school? 
And then while I was studying and stressing out like a freak in the school library about an hour before my Microbiology test, I really thought hard about what she had said.
And I realized she was SO right.
I left all my crap in the library, I walked out to my car and I just sat there and prayed. I was blunt with God, and told him I was going to do crappy on the test unless He'd help me. And I felt  total peace.
I was about to starve, so I grabbed a jar of almond butter that I bought for my recipes today, and ate some with a fork.
Please don't ask why I had a fork in my car....
I got almond butter on my shirt. So I put on a sweater, finished studying, and actually felt confident about my test when it was all said and done.
Not stressful. Not exactly FUN. But when are tests fun?


Tomorrow I'll be posting a list of some things I'm most thankful for this year. Just a heads up.

Feed Me Dark Chocolate

I ate dark chocolate and almond butter for lunch today.
And more dark chocolate for a snack after the gym.
And more dark chocolate for a snack after dinner.

It wasn't THAT much. Just four packets of almond butter and 6 squares of my favorite 85% dark chocolate. But quite enough to make my stomach upset.
I worked out really hard at the gym though. I know, shut up Willy Wonka.

Do you happen to know just HOW good almond butter is on top of dark chocolate? It's better than a Reeses cup. And that's hard to do. Plus, these past two days have been relatively stressful for me. And I haven't had any chocolate all week. I thought I deserved something to cancel the stress.

One of the stressful things today:
I was supposed to wake up at 5:30 this morning, as you may recall. That did not happen. I woke up at 7:50. My class started at 8:30. And I still had part of my paper to complete. Thank God I have a wonderfully gracious teacher who let me turn the rest of my paper in a little bit later.
I don't even remember my alarm going off this morning. Knowing me, I probably shut it off without waking up. Because that happens on occasion.
So I went to school and work bummin.' Hardly any makeup and dirty hair. At least my face isn't broke out with acne. Oh, that's right. It is.
Whatever. It happens.
 What good are Fridays for if you can't use them to start acting like it's Saturday already, right?
The first 4 days after the weekend are the hardest. And Friday is just the weekend in disguise.

Actually this weekend is going to be really fun. Not. I have SO much studying to do, it's not even funny.
I hate it that every teacher at the school feels like they have to cram in a test right before Thanksgiving break. Why? It's not beneficial. I'm bound to forget 99% of what's on the tests by the time I come back to school after Thanksgiving. That's just the way my brain works after being overloaded.
Just feed me more dark chocolate. It'll make everything better.

I also went to the Doctor today about my knee acting like a child when I run. She said that I've done something to one of my ligaments in my knee. So now I have to go to therapy for it like 2 or 3 times a week for 3 or 4 weeks. That's not going to be pleasant. But hopefully it takes care if the issue.

I'm really sore and I'm really tired. G'night. <3

The Oddities

I just finished eating dinner. It's 10:30 at night.
No, not a sandwich. I just love Ren and Stimpy. I miss the days when I actually had time to watch that show.
I also never have time to eat on a normal schedule anymore. Mostly because I'm too lazy to pack myself food to eat when I go to school and work. And I won't eat food from the cafeteria. The only thing they serve is salads and  fried crap that would make my stomach shrivel up and die. And I won't eat the food they have at work. Office food consists of nothing but sugar.
It's hard to keep fresh meals fresh without a cooler. Heck no, I'm not packing a cooler for school everyday. And I don't even own one.
Would someone please buy me a cooler for Christmas?
When I DO pack food, it's normally weird crap. Like cans of tuna.
Retarded people seem to have issues with me eating tuna around them though. Apparently it stinks. So that means I'd have to sit in my car and inhale tuna with the 10 minutes I have between classes.
No thanks.
I'd rather eat at 10:30 at night.

I've been chewing a massive amount of gum lately.
I think it's because I haven't had any in a few months. And the sugar (ahem, fake-o sugar) content really just tastes amazing. Did you know that Mentos makes gum now? It's really good.
Within two consecutive days I chewed 32 pieces of gum.
I bought a pack of 5 Gum today and chewed 8 pieces of it.
I think I need to stop.
Like, cold turkey.
That's funny, because we have a cold turkey in our sink right now thawing out for dinner tomorrow.
I have no idea why we're having turkey 6 days before Thanksgiving. I'm going to be so sick of turkey.
Gum. Anyways, I'm done with gum. I was actually trying to get rid  of it during Microbiology class tonight. Which is when I decided to tell the whole class about chewing 32 pieces of gum in 2 days.
I got no sympathy. And I should have.
My jaw really hurt the next morning after that two-day incident. And I woke up wondering how I had managed to make my facial muscles so sore at the gym the day before. My jaw hurts today too.


I've been washing my face with oil and honey.
Kinda weird, right? I don't care.
I used to be on some pretty heavy acne medication. It was making my hair fall out and causing me to bruise extremely easily. Uhm, not exactly worth one less zit.
Even though changing the way I eat has helped to clear my face up a lot, my face still likes to throw a fit sometimes. It's been doing that for the past two days actually. What a joy.
So for the past several months I've been using Cetaphil (with lotion) face wash. I mean, it washed my face. But it can't even compare to my new routine.

I've been washing my face with oil for about a week and 1/2 now. It's called the oil cleansing method. And it really has helped my acne a ton. And I can even tell a difference in my complexion.
Here's the link to helpful instructions on the oil cleansing method:
http://www.crunchybetty.com/nitty-gritty-on-the-oil-cleansing-method
I have oily, acne-prone skin. So I use 2 Tbs castor oil (or a tad bit more) to 1 Tbs olive oil. That's what I wash my face with at night. I haven't gotten around to buying jojoba oil yet. That's happening tomorrow. I'll let you know what I like better, olive or jojoba.
And since the oil cleansing method is sort of time consuming, I started washing my face with honey for my morning routine. http://www.crunchybetty.com/honey-challenge
I have no results to report yet, since I just started the honey washing this morning. But the honey tasted good. And my face felt like a baby's butt when I was done.
That is my goal after-all; to have a face that feels like a baby's bum.

I talk about myself a lot, don't I?
I am with me most of the time. So I guess it happens. And I guess if you don't want to hear about me, then don't read my blog.
I have to wake up at 5:30 in the morning. Oh, the joys of procrastination.
I have a bar-chart to create for a paper that's due in my 8:30 class tomorrow. It shouldn't take too long to finish the paper. But I was sort of hoping to cruise through McDonalds in the morning and buy a coffee. It will cost exactly 1.50$. I order a large coffee with two creams.
I could just make my own coffee here at the house. But, that would mean I'd have to make my own coffee here at the house. Eh.
I think I drink too much coffee.
I was doing some research hoping to find something in my diet that could be causing my acne. Could be coffee. Could be too many almonds. I think I'm going to start with cutting out nuts first. Then I'll take away my coffee. We'll see. I love almonds, so that's not gonna happen without a fight.

Yep, this picture pretty much sums it all up. A Leg day, then a running+upper body day, followed by another leg day. My legs are so sore.

If You Were a Wink, I'd Be a Nod

Hey guys, I dyed my hair back to it's original color!
I knew you'd want to see what it looks like, so I took a really good picture of it for you while it was sopping wet and piled on top of my head. You're so welcome.
I even added a little Alfalfa spike.
I can totally see the resemblance. Can't you?
In all seriousness though, I really like my new color. It's so much more natural looking. And it just looks better all around.
I just realized that my orange nail polish is barely covering half of each nail. So tacky looking. I should fix that.

I don't have school Monday.Because of Veterans day I guess. Even though that's totally today, not tomorrow. Doesn't make a difference, because I'm just really happy about it. Even though I'll probably devote the entire day to homework. Since I decided not to do any today or yesterday. I was preoccupied. I just love not doing homework on the weekends.

Most definitely went on a run with Mom yesterday. And most definitely my knee started hurting. Again. Stupid darn knee, I think I should cut it off.

Okay, so. I'm kind of digging lists these days. I mean, my last two posts have been lists. That's okay, because I'm sure you like lists too.
I came up with another list while I was sitting in my car like two days ago.
My car is a wreck. I mean, literally looks like crap. Inside and out. Bluntly it's because I'm lazy and I don't like to clean it. So it doesn't get done that often.
I thought I'd give you a list of the oh-so-valuable things you'd find inside my car if you decided to steal it. Because, I mean, why wouldn't you want to steal my car?

1) Beef Jerky Wrappers 
Lets just say, I eat a lot of meat. And we'll leave it at that.
2) My Spare Key
I lock my keys in my car quite often. So just in case, I like to keep a spare. But it's been underneath the passengers seat for quite a few months now. I really should take care of that...
3) Hairspray 
In the cup-holder. Sometimes my hair falls flat. So I carry my hairspray with me to school and fix my hair while I'm driving. It's not exactly the safest way of going about looking good, but I work with it.
I'm not sure why I thought you needed a picture of the hairspray I use. But it smells like grapes.
4) Jewelry
Also in the cup-holder. I like to leave necklaces and earrings in there just in case I forget to accessorize.
5) Empty Water Bottles 
I drink a ton of water. And I often forget to bring a water bottle to the gym/school, so I refill the old ones. Talk about going green, guys. I'm totally saving the earth. Actually, I don't really care about that. I mean I care about the earth. I'm just not a green freak.
6) My Lab Coat and Weight Lifting Belt 
Yeah, it just makes me look cool. Scientist by day, heavy lifter by night.
But honestly, those things just tend to get forgotten if they're anyplace other than my car.
7) School Books/Notebooks 
For obvious reasons
8) Spare Change
And lots of it. I love me some spare change. I pay for my spray-off car washes with it.
9) Men's Deodorant 
Uhm...about that. I'm not so sure if I still have it in there. But I went through this phase where forgetting to put on deodorant was a habit. So I found some spare men's deodorant in our bathroom, and I thought it smelled good. So I put it in my glove box. And I actually used it.
Smelling like a man isn't such a bad thing.
But I've fallen out of my bad habit, so I don't have to smell like a man anymore.

Well, I would give you 10 things. But I'm done at 9. You'll be okay.

10 Things I'm Diggin'

Favorite Flannel and My Chums

 I ripped the back of my favorite flannel shirt over the weekend.
Just by bending over to put on my shoes.
That's definitely not something I'm diggin'.
But on the bright side, I guess I've gained more muscle in my back than I thought.
And I also got the back glass in my car fixed over the weekend by some awesome friends. FTW!

I've had a few of my friends ask me to to make a blog list of some products/things I'm currently digging related to health and life. So here we go guyssss.

#1. The Primal/Paleo Diet
This is by far the best thing that has come into my life recently. I've been eating this way for 3 1/2 months now. And I feel dreadfully wonderful.
I used to get terrible stomach aches, I'd randomly puke while doing intense exercises (gross, I know), I was tired most of the time, and I was on some pretty heavy medication for acne, which caused awful headaches and hair loss. And I really didn't eat all that much.

I hardly ever feel nasty after I eat a meal anymore. I've puked only once in the last three months. I've gained a lot of extra energy, now being able to function wonderfully on far less than 8 hrs. of sleep. I quit taking my acne medication, and my face actually cooperates (unless I indulge on far too much dark chocolate). I actually eat by far more food than I used to. Since 80% of the way you look is determined by how you eat, this has even helped me to retain muscle and lose some body fat!
it has taken some perseverance. But I feel great and I look healthier.
It's so much easier now to just say, "no" to the chocolate cake or to take the bun off of a hamburger.
I'm not going to delve into the logistics of the diet and why it is Scientifically better for your body. Google it, people. Do your own research.
But some of the most interesting things I've learned will be shared with you in a later post. Probably on Christmas break, when writing about technical science crap will be fun.

Where I learned everything I know about my diet:  http://www.marksdailyapple.com (I also have his book)
Where I find my recipes/inspiration to weight lift: http://paleomg.com/

OMG

#2. Lindt Excellence 85% Cocoa Chocolate
I can't say enough good things about these huge bars of heaven. I literally eat the crap out of this stuff. I just caught a sale of 2 for 4$ tonight. Talk about one happy Lindsay.
It's not good for me, I know. Chocolate is chocolate. But it keeps me sane. Can't cut everything wonderful out of my life.
I used to HATE dark chocolate of all kinds. Now I can't eat anything else because the rest has too much sugar content and tastes nasty.


#3 Gud shampoo and conditioner by Burts Bees

My hair is wild. It's curly, frizzy, and thin. So it requires a lot of extra products. It's very prone to product build-up, split ends, and drying.
I've been using organic shampoo and conditioner for about 8 months now. I absolutely love it. It doesn't leave build up, and and it's so much gentler on my hair. I've tried about 5 different types of organic shampoo. Burt's Bees products are by far my favorite. Plus, vanilla scents have a special place in my heart.And it just thrills me when my hair smells like vanilla.
Walmart and Walgreens carry Burt's Bees Gud products.

#4 New Mug 
Ignore the fact that my mouth makes me look like a horse. Do focus on that wonderful piece of artwork in my hand. There's even a small dancing Indian on the side! Wicked cute, right?!
I bought it recently at primitive reenactment. It was 100% homemade. I drink everything out of it.
Water. Tea. Coffee.
Well, that's all I ever drink. But the mug makes everything taste 10x better. Everything? Everything.



#5 Weight Lifting Belt & Gloves
My hands sweat like a leaky faucet.
I know it's gross. Just don't hold my hand and you won't have to worry about it.
Without weight lifting gloves, I wouldn't be able to even pick up the bar, much less actually lift any weight.
And my weight lifting belt is my back protector. I would have most definitely damaged my back in some way at this point without that darn thing. I would have taken a picture of me in my belt. But that's  not the most attractive sight, seeing as it pinches my waist and makes me nearly pop out of it. But it does protect my back while doing squats and dead lifts. Which happen to be two of my favorite exercises. Which is why I love my belt.

#6 Vibram FiveFingers
Warning: I'm about to hate on tennis-shoes.

Best Shoes Ever

I've had these baby's since September.
OhMyfreakin'goshIlovethemsomuchIcouldDie.
I love being barefoot. You just can't get any better than a pair of shoes that makes you feel like you're not wearing shoes! That's more than legit. Even my terrible arches like them.
And since I started wearing Vibrams while working out and running, I can't even wear my tennis-shoes without feeling like I'm an astronaut in a pair of space shoes. I tried going to the gym once without my Vibrams. It sucked. And that's when I dedicated Taylor Swift's song, "We are never getting back together" to my tennis-shoes. Vibrams do tend to smell bad though. And my feet like to sweat. Talk about a disgusting combination. Thank God they're machine washable!

#7 Almond Butter 
I love Almond Butter so much I had to quit buying it. I almost indulged today. ALMOST.
But I wanted my dark chocolate more. And I told myself that having both wasn't a logical idea. Since I would most definitely eat most, if not all, of both.
Next to my dark chocolate, this is the best stuff I've ever tasted. No lie. I eat it with a spoon. Sometimes the jar disappears within a matter of days.
Don't judge me. I promise that I don't live on nut butter and dark chocolate. Even though I probably would if I could.  But what's life without indulgences?
It's pricey, but Justin's Maple Almond Butter is probably the best thing you'll ever eat. I promise. I buy it at Kroger's.
They even sell tiny packets of it, so you can portion yourself!

#8 Tuna
More food?
Duh.
I eat a lot of food.
And I eat a lot of tuna. I love tuna. What more can be said about tuna? It's straight up amazing.
Please don't warn me of dangers of eating too much tuna though. Because I already know. It's okay, I'll live.


#9 American Eagle Tanks 
This doesn't have much to do with anything. But I love American Eagle boyfriend tanks. They're the perfect work-out shirt, perfect under shirt and the perfect summer tank. I bought my first one at a thrift store last year and I've been hooked ever since. I think you know what a tank-top looks like, so I decided not to humor you with a picture. I am wearing one in the picture at the very top though. Underneath of the fav. flannel. They are by far one of my #1 clothing and work-out necessities.

#10 Pullover Fleece

Mhm

While we're talking about clothes, I need to mention my new obsession: Pullover fleece sweat shirts. The kind with the zippy at the neck line.
Let's get something straight; hoodies look pretty tacky sometimes. I mean, you don't always need a hood. And the only cute, un-hooded sweatshirts without zippers that I've ever seen have been on old women. During Christmastime. With Christmas designs on them. Which is totally cool. Just not my style. So You've got to have a zipper. It's just a must.
It's pretty amazing how much more you can dress up a pullover fleece than you can a hoodie, too. They look good with everything. Everything? Everything.

FYI, that's not me in the picture. Surprise.
Models always have a way of making things look better than I do.
Plus I thought he made the point super clear: Everyone should wear pull-over fleece sweatshirts.
I have an orange one. And I just recently bought a black one from Walmart. I wouldn't be surprised if I invest in another one before the end of this winter.
And if I'm wearing them, I mean, c'mon people. It's got to be cool.

~RIP Favorite Flannel~