Emptying the Jar For September

This month has been a crazy month! After getting back into the dating field, most of my time has been spent with one person. Forgot what that felt like, but I kind of like it. So much, that I haven't gone to the gym as much as I would have liked this past month. I have a total of $10 in my jar this month. I have also gained all the weight back, again. I just have to remember not to give up, that's when people usually gain an additional ten pounds. It's like a pattern: you lose five, gain it back, get discouraged, then gain some more weight because you temporarily give up. I'm determined not to give up easily, it's October 1st and I already have one dollar in my jar.

On a side note, I found out today that I moved in next to a meth lab. Yep. When I moved in there was a crazy girl living next to me with her boyfriend, or so I assumed. About a month later there were notices on the door stating that the apartment was unfit to enter, fire department saying that it was against the law to enter. I had no idea why, and didn't find out until almost a year later (today). This morning as I was walking out of my apartment a lady introduced herself as my neighbor. I commented that it was nice to finally have a neighbor, as that apartment was empty for so long. That's when she told me that her neighbors told her there had been a meth lab in that apartment. I am officially motivated to move! I can't even imagine if something would have gone south next door.

I have always believed in angels, I think when I moved in, my guardian angel stepped in and protected me by getting that apartment evicted and condemned. A lot of friends have told me how scary it is, but I just look at what I'm blessed with. I've survived a year completely on my own, it's been a scary year, but it came with a lost of blessings and life lessons. I'm one step closer to my acceptance of being able to live in a house by myself, now that I've mastered living in an apartment by myself.

The Best Music You've (Probably) Never Heard

I love going to the gym, I think I've turned into a gym rat, but I don't care. I never go for more than an hour, usually just go for one class and then I'm done, but I am in love with the music that I have discovered in my classes. I haven't done a top ten in awhile, so here is a list of the top TWENTY songs that I have discovered since starting going to the gym. To date, I have never heard any of these on any radio station. I have discovered some music that is on the top 40 list, but I tried to stay away from those for this list.

1. Move - MercyMe
2. Skinny Love - Birdy
3. Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) - Mika
4. When the Bells Don't Chime - Brian Setzer
5. Limbo - Daddy Yankee
6. La Bomba - Ricky Martin
7. Where I Belong - Nine Lashes
8. Dale Cuerda a La Cadera - DJ Mendez
9. DJ Dale Play - Mara
10. Tranquila - J Balvin
11. Pasarela - Daddy Yankee
12. Heartbreak on Hold - Alexandra Burke
13. La Maquina - Picco
14. Wings - Little Mix
15. Quiero Bailar - 3BallMTY
16. Mashallah - Wajid and Shreya Ghoshal
17. Only You - Ellie Goulding
18. Antidote - Swedish House Mafia
19. Dum Dum - Tedashii
20. The Saints - Andy Mineo ft. KB and Trip Lee

They are mostly in order of my favorite, but I really could listen to all of them every day. It is mainly a compilation of music from four different types of classes that I take at two different gym locations, which is why there's a little bit of variety. I don't know how the instructors pick their music, but it's so refreshing to have a little variety in music. They still throw in some top 40 hits too, but what a perfect opportunity to introduce music that people never hear about. I recently started listening to Spotify, and it has also introduced me to some great music. Maybe another top ten in the making. :)

Five Years Later

I post a lot about how much life changes, and we seem to stand still, so I thought I would do a comparison going further back than a couple months, or a year. The biggest changes in my life occurred in the past five years. When people say that time passes fast, it's because they think nothing has changed much, but if you look back, and see how much has changed, you realize time passes quite slowly. So, here we go, here is a list of what my life was like five-six years ago.

1) I didn't have a steady full-time job
2) I didn't own a car
3) I didn't even have a license
4) I lived with my parents
5) I had almost no friends who lived less than 50 miles away
6) I had a five figure debt from school
7) I was still in school (internship)

Me in my "new" car  (2009)

This list is all stuff that was true in January of 2009. By that summer almost none of it was true. By November none of it was true. This was just for one year, and so many milestones passed. I have passed many more milestones since then, but for now I'm going to post about this year because it's been on my mind ever since I hit my five year anniversary at my job. The time seems like it has passed quickly, but really so much has changed. Maybe next year I'll have to post about 2010. It really is interesting to go back and look at your life, and realize just how much you had to look forward to, if only you had the hindsight back then. 

Day 379: I think I missed something

This will be the last post with the day number....cause somehow I think the count got off. I also noticed that I never input for the month of July for the "money jar," although if I remember correctly I think I had thirteen for that month. This month was a little less, at 10. It still is pretty good, though, considering I took a vacation and have been trying to hang out with friends more. I can't believe I've been living in this apartment for a year. Thinking back a year I didn't think I would still be here. Money saving techniques are coming back ten fold. I dug through my freezer when I got home for something to make for dinner and found some frozen pizza I bought sometime after moving in here last year. It was expired, but I made the most of it. A little more crispy, so I spread some bbq sauce on top and washed it down with a soda, then treated myself to a cup, not a bowl, of peach frozen yogurt. I have also discovered Spotify, which means I can listen to all different kinds of music, which will prevent me from buying so many cds. Personal favorites are the Study station (ethereal music, think sigur-ros) and the Soul station. The sweet sounds of Al Green and the Commodores have been streaming through my speakers for the last hour.

I will try to keep up on this, I guess I can always number them by the month, instead of day, since clearly that didn't work out so well.

Edit: Ok I just figured it out, I apparently went through the 200 numbers twice, I guess I need to get on here more often.

Day 341: A Series of Unexpected Events aka Best Weekend Ever

This last weekend was one of the best weekends I have ever experienced in my life. I could have never anticipated most of the things that happened this past weekend, which is why this post is mainly about unexpected events that have happened within those short, but great, 48 hours. It all started off Friday night.

I get bored easily, living alone will do that after awhile. I can only watch so many shows on Netflix before cabin fever sets in, so I go walk around places that are 24 hours for fun. These places include Cub Foods, Wal-Mart, and Mystic Lake Casino. On this night I visited the latter. I actually almost didn't go...three times. I kept trying to talk myself out of it, mainly because I haven't had much luck there lately. I put a twenty into the machine, and three machines later I was down to 85 cents. I went to one last machine, one on which I had won before, and stuck another five dollars in. I lost a couple more rounds, then the machine said I won 35 dollars! I heard a rumor that once a machine hits big, it usually hits big again, so I kept going, and three spins later, I hit a bonus round and won 40 dollars. So for this night, walked in with 25 dollars, walked out with almost 75 dollars! I left right away, not wanting to chance anything else.

The next night was interesting, because one of my friends had expressed interest in doing a sleepover/girls night. I hadn't slept very well the previous night, and had been suffering from vertigo, so I took some Bonine, and took a long nap. Luckily her phone call woke me up and I called her and said I would be right over. I wasn't the most eager to hang out, I have been feeling kind of down lately, but thought being around people would help. I got there and my friend let me in. She told me to go downstairs, which I found difficult as the lights were all off. I asked her if we could turn a light on, then all of a sudden the lights went up and I heard "Surprise!" Some of my closest friends/family were sitting there, just waiting for me. They told me that it was basically a "get well" party for me because I had been so depressed lately and they were worried about me. At first I was embarassed, as I had only told one person in that room about how I had been feeling. Then I realized that there shouldn't be this strong a stigma associated with depression. And yes, I cried. It was my party. I wanted to :) This is a picture of me after my friends did my makeup, we all pampered each other.

After all these festivities I was kind of tired, so took it easy most of the day on Sunday, resting up before a concert that I had a ticket to. It was to see one of my favorite bands, Set it Off, and one of my new favorites, Our Last Night. I actually was listening to a lot of the music before the concert, and one song, "Sunrise," seemed like it was divine intervention, like it was meant to come into my life at this exact moment to give me hope. One of the bands even has a organization that they promoted during the show, called "Hope For the Day," which is a benefit that supports music as a means for treating depression and suicidal thoughts. At the concert, there actually ended up being five bands total, there was only supposed to be four, but well worth the wait to see the last two. I couldn't hear out of my left ear until about an hour ago, and I almost passed out from dehydration after the concert (my friend had to drive me home), but it was all worth it.

I know not every weekend can be as eventful and uplifting as this one, but when I get to feeling the way I did two weeks ago, totally depressed and hopeless, I can look back to this moment and know that I have a good life and I have good friends. I am still riding the high from the weekend, just happy that so many good things happened in such a short time, because I needed it.

Day 319: A Good Month for the Gym

This entry is a little late, but it is because I was so busy....at the gym! I emptied the jar and found $15 waiting for me! I am very impressed! That means I went half the days in June. I've started to become almost addicted to going to the gym, but in a good way. There is a class almost every night during the week that I love, so I attend every week. I have not lost any weight, but I have lost a lot of inches. I can tell my clothes fit a lot looser. I figure the weight will come eventually, right now I'm just trying to stay in shape. I notice that I don't get as winded by exercise as I used to, and that I can go up two flights of stairs everyday at work without getting winded. It's small, but it is a step in the right direction. I tell people my weight and they don't believe me, so I must have put on a lot of muscle or something. I'm definitely losing my stomach "pooch." In the pictures below I am the same weight, but they are taken almost exactly a year apart. The top one was taken June 21, 2014. The bottom one was taken June 16, 2013. There's not much of a difference, but it's a good reference because I am wearing the exact same shirt. This goes to show that there's more to fitness than just losing pounds.

Day 283: Emptying the Jar Again

It's the first, so it's that time of the month again. This was a very low month, only 8 dollars in the exercise jar. I'm getting a little discouraged, but I did go frisbee golfing a couple times this month, and I don't count those. I only count trips to the gym, that way if the count goes so low that I'm paying my membership fee to only go once a month, I need to cut that out of my budget. Eight isn't too bad, that's twice a week on average. It actually would have been nine, but the gym closed early on Memorial Day. The site said there was an evening class, but I guess they forgot to update their site. Oh well.

I have also started thinning out my junk food. I don't like wasting food, so I'm only allowing myself to eat what I have in my apartment. I saw this guy on an episode of Cheapskates that really inspired me. Most of the people on there are crazy, I will never use rags for toilet paper or box up other people's food at restaurants for myself, but this guy had a good idea. He would have one week every month when him and his wife could not spend any money on anything. He bikes everywhere, so he didn't have to worry about filling up his tank, but he would use what was in his cabinets to make dinner for a week straight. If he wanted to buy something he would scour the couch cushions and the parking lots of convenience stores. I think this is a good idea, it teaches people how to be a little more frugal. This idea, along with my idea of not carrying a credit card around at all times, helps me save money. It also prevents me from hitting up the DQ on those 100 degree days for a quick blizzard. Instead I have to plan around what I have.

I just found out I might be looking at houses soon, so I've been really trying to save my nickels and dimes. I have had a lot of PB&J sandwiches with a glass of water for dinner. Not the most exciting meal, but it fills me up and costs almost nothing. I added up the cost and it's about forty cents per sandwich, 35 if I skimp on the PB&J. I use MIO to flavor my water and, while the price on those is super expensive, they last for months. Everything is a work in progress, I just tell my friends I'm on the college diet. All through college I ate peanut butter and honey sandwiches, which are really good, but now I can't eat them. Everything in moderation.