Brain Talk & Pictures

I don’t have much time to blog today. So I’m just going to make a few notes and add some pictures.

Today Aunt Flo has come to visit. I must say I am impressed with my Period Tracking App. It is spot on! P Tracker in the Android App Store in case you are in need of something like this.

I’m crampy and emotional and that isn’t even the bad part. The bad part is….acne. Whoa! I am 25 years old and I thought a perk to getting older was leaving behind the blemishes of adolescence. I guess my body isn’t recognizing that I am an adult. Here is a conversation I think my brain is having with myself. Imagine me in a small chair looking quite similar to a pubescent teen. Then picture my brain in a white lab coat with black rimmed glasses and a check list.

            Brain:         “So you still are living at home with your mother?”

          Me:              (Sheepishly) “Yes but…”

Brain:         “So…you still can’t afford a new car and the bank denied your request for a loan?

Me:              (Intense sigh) “Yes but…”

Brain          “That means you are driving the old Buick, the one similar to your cousin’s who is a senior in High School?

Me:              (Proud smile) “Yes but mine is a 2000 and his is a 97. That is 3 years Brain!

Brain           (Taps on clipboard with pen) “Riiiiight, I probably don’t need to ask any further questions. We did review your bank statement as well.”

          Me:              (Face reddens)

Brain:         “Well Jessilyn I’ll talk this over with the Pituitary Gland and submit your request for cancelling the Acne.”

Me:              (Over zealous) “Thank you, Thank you!”

Brain:         (Turns to walk away then quickly turns back) “I’m going to be honest with you kid, this is going to be a hard case to prove that you’re an adult now. I’d probably expect the worst if I were you.”

Me:              “But….”

Brain:         “Listen I’d like to stay and go over this with you but I have a 3:00 o’clock with that pimple next to your nose you were just picking at. He is angry and he wants some type of compensation like a scar or few friends to vent to. I need to do my best to calm him down. My advice to you is to get it together girl” (Deafening heel clicks on a tile floor)   

Hope that made you giggle as much as it made me giggle.

On a brighter note.

I took pictures over the weekend of Maximus and his buddy Walter. I was proud of a few so I wanted to post them. Enjoy! Any tips are welcomed on photography, being an adult, or acne. Haha!

Maximus looking to the heavens in the church courtyard.

Love the old wooden doors to this church.

The boys on the steps of the library.

See what I mean about the old wooden doors?

One of my favorites.



Emily's hands and her husband blurred in the background.

Enjoy your day!

I Miss My Siblings

I miss my brother. He is in the Marine Corp and is stationed down in North Carolina. He just got married this past June and when he was home he was so busy that I hardly got to see much of him.

I was visiting a friend yesterday who got a call from his younger sister who was asking for advice. I sat there listening to him talk to her and hand out all the advice he could. It reminded me of the times I have sat and had talks with both my younger sister and brother.

My siblings and I are exceptionally close; I look at them like my own children mixed with my best friends. Especially when we were younger and all were in the house together, we spent many nights up late watching movies and giggling. I miss that.

However, as we have gotten older and left the house (well some of us have returned cough* cough* me) I feel we have lost the closeness we once had. Mainly my brother and I. He has his own life and a wife now and he is busy and I understand that. He can’t call me up every week and chat and even when he does call we don’t have much time to talk.

I like to think that life has a way of getting back to where you were but, maybe in a different way. My sister is pregnant with her first child and is due is February. So her child and my son won’t be too far apart in age. I know my brother and his wife want children and plan on moving home when he is finished with his military career. So I hold onto the hope that one day we will spend late nights watching movies with our children and sharing the same giggles but with a bigger crowd.

Some of my favorite memories growing up are…

My brother used to get growing pains and I would go into his room and prop his leg up on a bunch of pillows and sing to him. I used to make up goofy songs so that he would laugh.

My sister and I shared a room all the way up until the day I moved out to California. Most nights we would sing some of our favorite church hymns that our grandma taught us.

Staying up late watching Ron Howard’s version of The Grinch all year round.

Chasing my brother around in the snow in winter time.

Getting the giggles so bad at the dinner table that my mom sent us to the living room because we couldn’t stop.

All 3 of us cuddled together watching a movie on the couch the night before my brother left for boot camp. Haha I’m sure he wouldn’t want people to know that!

So many more….  Sigh* where has the time gone?

Lost Tradition

A lost tradition.

I have a very close friend who lives in Florida who I miss terribly. She introduced me to a friend of hers down there that she felt was a male version of me. Haha! So I was curious and decided to investigate these claims. My male me does have a similar sense of humor and we do share a lot of the same beliefs. He is a really great guy and I feel like I can call him my friend (although I have yet to meet my friend in person). Well my male me is going through a bit of a rough patch and early on in our friendship he sent me a card that I was pleasantly surprised to receive! Since he is experiencing a bit of a speed bump in life I will return the favor. Plus it helps that I did find this very cute card that I wanted to share with you all.

Isn’t that a cute card? Made me giggle.

It has taken me forever to get a stamp and stick it in the mail. I don’t do a lot of stuff with the mail. I do most of my billing and banking online so the need for stamps rarely comes about. I finally put it in the mail today! This reminded me how rare people send and receive mail. I hardly get birthday cards anymore and I don’t ever get much in the mail besides bills ha. The letter is becoming a lost tradition. I remember when I got my male me’s card in the mail and how excited I was to open it. He took his time to pick out a card, write a very sweet message inside and, mail it! It wasn’t a quick comment on my status or an instant message to my inbox, it was thoughtful!

Not too long ago I got some stationary on sale at Wallyworld and decided that I would write letters to people who were close to me. I wrote 2 people a week and I did it for a whopping 2 weeks ha. I did get phone calls from my family telling me how happy they were to get my letter. I think its time I start this activity up again.

Take time this week and send someone a letter or a card just so they know you are thinking about them. Maybe you will get one in return J

Happy Mailing.

Florence and the Machine Monday

Florence and the Machine

On Monday my sister and I went to Cleveland to see one of our favorite bands, Florence and the Machine. They were amazing to say the least. The lead singer, Florence Welch has an incredibly strong voice and she did not fail to deliver on Monday. I was very impressed with just how much her live performance favored the songs on the album. It seems that a lot of times artist are so digitally enhanced that when you see them live it is like seeing someone totally different.

She was very interactive with the crowd and seemed to really enjoy performing. It is a pleasure to watch someone love doing what they do! I was able to snap a few photos of the event. Jacobs Pavilion is a small and unique venue. It sits right on the water and has a lot of old industrial architecture surrounding it. I adored that venue and would love to catch some more artists there.

My mom purchased these tickets as a birthday present to my sister. I was lucky enough that my sister wanted me to go with her. We had a wonderful time, which we always do when we are together. I love that my sister and I are close and that we share the same love for music as well as for the same types of music. It isn’t rare for her and I to often message one another with songs to download or listen to! We both feel through music, happiness, sadness, excitement….you name an emotion and we have a song that we can put to it!

This was my first concert of the summer (so late in the summer too L) hopefully her and I can make it out to a few more!

it is easy to stumble if you wear the wrong shoes

The weekend was a diet disaster. I don’t need to elaborate on it. I will tell you it included a foot long chili dog and onion chips from our local root beer stand.

I started typing this huge vent session. I have been in this mood where anything could send me into a 30 minute sob session. Have you ever had a week like this?

My mom at the last minute cancelled as my sitter and it was too late to get someone new. So I missed out on the pig roast that I was going to go hang out with my 2 aunts and cousin. Then my sister painted my nails (which I bite, so they are stubby and uneven) they looked horrible. The whole time I had the hot knot in my throat, feeling like I was going to cry. Over stubby purple finger nails? This is the week I have been having!

After proofing my little rant I felt stupid. Everything that I am complaining about (living at home, my son’s father, not having enough money to get up and make something out of my life, my ugly nails) is all a direct result of the choices I have made. I need to really remember that every time I start getting upset with the way my life is.

I can pull myself together and I am. I just finished my summer class I was taking online. At the end of August I start my full schedule of school. Those are all positive changes I am making so that my life can be better. Unless I am going to invent a time machine the changes I want aren’t just going to happen over night. This is a marathon and I have to log the hours in order to get to where I want to go.

Hopefully once school rolls around I will be too busy to care about having a “me night” and more concerned with a “me nap”.

It is easy to stumble if you wear the wrong shoes. I must change the way I think and perhaps I won’t be as stressed as I am! I think the wise Patti (therapist) told me that the first time I went there.

**On a happy note**

Tonight my sister and I are going to see Florence and the Machine which is one of my favorite bands! Heidi and I both love them and we are so excited to see her live! She has a lovely voice!

The Cave in Caveman

I’m failing miserably on my blogging everyday about this diet. I know my many avid readers are very disappointed. Haha! (Sarcastic laugh)

Let me give you a quick run down. It hasn’t been a total failure but, I’ve already encountered some struggle on days 2 & 3.

Wednesday, I made spaghetti using spaghetti squash as a healthy substitute for noodles. It was delicious! The squash is bland enough that there isn’t an overwhelming taste besides the sauce and meat. Which essentially isn’t that what noodles are too? They don’t have a lot of taste!

Here is where the cave in caveman comes into play. My sister so graciously brought over an ice cream cake from DQ. Now I love ice cream but I LOVE that fudgy, crunchy middle that the cakes have! I chugged a bottle of water with hopes it would make me feel ill and I’d no longer want that sweet indulgence. Didn’t work, so I said to myself “one bite isn’t going to kill me”. I took one bite and then I put the spoon down and I was satisfied!

I’m pretty sure I have my days messed up. I made the stir-fry Monday but blogged about it Tuesday. So Tuesday I had the spaghetti and last night I had a huge bowl of green beans and a tiny piece of boneless chicken.

Cave Alert. After my huge bowl of green beans and chicken I was satisfied. My sister went with me to the local pool to take Maximus for a swim to beat the humidity. At the pool they have the best hotdogs ever. They are all beef; they put them on this spinning roster and yum. I know because I used to work there and that was my choice of lunch all summer. So we go to the stand and I’m looking for the Paleo section, it wasn’t there! So I opted for the most logical choice, parts of meat jammed into a tube! It was divine!

I’m back on track today and I won’t allow myself to cave. I’ve had one too many bumps thus far. I’d like to think though if the cavemen had a choice of meat, fruits, veggies and, nuts vs. fudgy crunch DQ ice cream cake they would hands down go with the cake every time!

I don’t think I could be 100% Paleo obviously if I am struggling on day 2. However, I have already shed 2 pounds! I think cutting out a majority of my sugar and carb intake is doing me well!

I have been working out a lot too. Lots of little stuff and I must say that sitting down to pee this morning was a struggle. Squats kill people! Tonight I am attending a class with a friend that invited me. It is circuit training I guess. We will see how this goes.

***On a life note, Farmer’s out, he “thinks we can work out he just isn’t sure what his aggravation with me is lately.” And then on our way to a date he proceeded to tell me the night I had my son over and he was having some trouble going to sleep “annoyed him”. Ouch! So….there goes my farm wife dream. Haha! Sometimes I don’t think men think when they speak. I get that my son was being fussy but, he is one! It gets on my nerves some nights too but holy cow to just come right out and say that?***

30 Day Fitness Challenge

30 Day Fitness Challenge

Yesterday was Day 1 of my 30 Day Fitness Challenge. The rules of the challenge are as followed:

·      30 Days following the Paleo Diet

·      30 Days working out

·      30 Days blogging my experience

I have a close friend in Florida who is also participating in the Paleo Diet. If you are curious about the diet check out NerdFitness.com.

Yesterday I woke up early which for me is a good start because usually I’m hitting snooze (which I’ve set for 5 minutes only) like an old woman hitting the buttons on a slot machine in Vegas. I’ll lay there forever until I finally have to get up.

For breakfast I had an egg inside a green pepper ring. I also had a banana and a bottle of water. Eating a whole banana is impossible for me; they just can be too much sometimes.

I was super busy at work so I worked through my lunch and did not eat. I did eat celery with almond butter as soon as I got home. Yum!

For dinner I made chicken stir-fry that was steamed in water. I added lemon zest and garlic. I added a lot of garlic because although I brushed my teeth a few times last night and once this morning, I still taste the garlic. Lucky co-workers who have to talk to me today haha!

For my working out part I have decided that there is no reason for me not to participate in an activity everyday that raises my heart rate. Yesterday I pushed Max to my grandparent’s house and we moved a reasonable pace and I got a pretty good sweat going on. I also did a few ab workouts when I got home later that evening.

I think I am going to struggle the most with working out because it bores me. I need to make it part of my life and not just something that I have to do. Tonight I am going to try and workout hard!

I did take a before photo that I will post tomorrow. If you don’t want to see it then skip tomorrows post haha. I’d suggest skipping.

Wish me luck!