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900th post :: just a chatty coffee blogger date

March 26, 2013

Today is my 900th post. Four and a half years, 900 posts. That's a lot of typing, especially for someone who blogged at a minimum for so long. I really feel like I've just gotten into this in the past two years, and have learned so much about editing, html, social media, and networking because of it. After 900 posts, let's just have a little coffee date, or a blate (blogger date) as I've seen a bunch of bloggers jokingly call it. I'll share my hopes and dreams, and you can share yours. 

Let me preface this with this...after hearing what Lisa Leonard spoke on at Blissdom, I want to blog what I feel and not appologize for it. If I can say what I feel, then what is the point of this whole online journal of mine. 

Lately I've hit that point where more IRL people read my URL. It's weird to say the least. For years I've blogged openly, but never really told people I knew that I was blogging. People look at it weird. Yes, I admit, it is weird to have tons of friends that you constatly talk to over Twitter and IG but have met very few in person. But it's a good writing release, I can get things off my chest and at the same time see that others have gone through, or are going through what I'm dealing with. In the most psych major way possible, it's like therapy to me. 

On the same side of that, sometimes I think bloggers get me more than some IRL people. Sometimes it seems that bloggers know that everything shared isn't everything. There is more to me, more to my views, more to the relationship with my husband. Just because they aren't discussed on a daily basis doesn't mean they aren't a part of me. I don't share a lot of personal stuff every week, I do share...but not every single week. 

For instance, the pending move/not move is weighing on me massively. This is the first year I've taught that I didn't move. I absolutely loved walking into a classroom I'd been in, a teaching environment I was familiar with, and lesson plans I had already written. It was a sense of ease that I hadn't experience before. Now with the potential move I could be anywhere teaching anything. I'm honestly fine either way, on a non-work level I would like the excitement of a different city. Especially a few of the ones we are looking into. Where we are is just too small town with not much to offer, but if we stay I'm fine with that too. I just know that where we are now is a "the world is my oyster" situation, so to not dream and think about living elsewhere seems kind of dull. When we walked into this situation 2 years ago I vividly recall standing in the kitchen with Jeremy and him placing his whole graduate school decision on me and saying that if I didn't think I was up to it we wouldn't do it. I agreed, I know just how smart and determined he is and I didn't want to take a chance from him. At the same time, I wanted excitement, and no matter how miserable getting settled somewhere else is, it's new and exciting to some extent. 

I really didn't think I'd be where I am now. I really saw late 20's as more of a settled down with kids thing. Jeremy always tells me I'm much more nostalgic than he is about the whole 5 year plan idea. I seriously had a 5 year plan though. Parts of where we are now were present in that plan, others not so much. I'm with him though, and that is the roller coaster ride I signed up for. The man saw me through grad school and now I'll support him through as well. 

Honestly though, having a husband a year out of thirty is weird at times. Not for me necessarily, but the way people view him is weird to me. I see a man who came a long way and conquered a lot to get where he is, yes he is almost 30 and finishing school, but that is because he had zero support from anyone and had to do it alone. I laugh when people try to tell me things about a man I know so well. I laugh, because it is funny to me that other people think that things that are so normal for us are something to make a deal out of.

I don't know, it's just weird how people treat us like children...because we don't have any. When we've focused on our education and being settled before adding extras in, on purpose. Nothing with Jeremy surprises me, but that doesn't mean I'm not proud of him. I just don't gloat about it. The only person I care to know how I feel about Jeremy is Jeremy. The only people who actually would understand why I would be proud of him would be me, and maybe a few others who know what he came from. Guess the problem here is that I am not impressed with common occurrences because, well, I wouldn't expect any less of the man. I know what he is capable of, and his determination makes me look like the laziest human on earth. 

So I guess what I'm saying here is that you don't hear me talk about him much, because I talk about him to him. I don't feel the need to yell it to the world, because I've whispered it to him. 

Maybe it's just the situation we live in now. Where we live is vastly different from where we lived and grew up before. The things people judge you on are different, what they care about is so different. At least through it all I have a hubby who is on my side, and knows I am on his side as well. 

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In the same way that I think people's view of Jeremy is so different from who I know, I see the same thing with me. I think what caused this is basically the fact that people where we are now only know the past 2 years of us, unlike our hometowns who look at either of us and see the real thing. 

People here see me as brass and outspoken. Most see it as negative. They don't see what made me who I am, or just how toned down I've become. Granted I will speak my mind, I was raised to do so, but at the same time the Emily you get now isn't nearly as much as the Emily you would have seen at 20. I was a tough cookie at 20, heck I spent that year trying to hold my own and hold onto what I thought was mine. Over the years I've mellowed out a lot, a lot. I still have a lot of mellowing to do...but you can't expect perfection overnight. I assume that by the time I'm dead I will have worked out the last few kinks. 

Honestly, sometimes I feel like giving people a taste of colleg Emily, just so they know what they're dealing with ha! I'm a work in progress, everyone else is too. Being home where people actually know me though, that has led to a nice feeling of normal that I haven't had in awhile. 
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On the other hand I think I've devised a way to go to Blissdom next year. I want to focus on what I love doing and do my best to ignore the negative. I want to grow my little blog, and grow myself as a writer. I'd like to guest post more, tweet more, and take more pictures of food. 

If you're still reading and you follow my blog through Reader, Bloglovin, Twitter, FB, or IG I really honestly thank you. If you read be sure to leave a comment letting know who you are, I'd love to visit your blog, or follow you on social media some how. It is so fun to connect with others, so let me know who you are:) 

On the other hand, are there any topics you'd like to see me blog about? Or questoins you have? 
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Carb Cycling - something has to eventually work

November 7, 2012

Let me start this by saying I am not a nutritionist or doctor and don't profess to be, I am just sharing my little food journey in hopes of helping another woman in my boat out. 

So yesterday I alluded to why I was having low carb and high carb days. Well let me digress a bit and then we will get back to that.

You see, women in my family are just not naturally thin. Weight is easily controlled until your mid-twenties and then it is all down hill from there. I am only 5'3'' almost 5'4'' and 120lbs is a good weight for me. I spent most of high school and college bouncing between 118 and 125. Totally normal for me. Then something happened, due to anxiety I quit working out like I was supposed to. I suppressed my aloneness with a the one pint of Ben & Jerry's I allowed myself every week and toasted marshmallows in the toaster oven constantly. I pushed negative emotions down with food. I still do it. 

If I have a bad day all I want is chocolate. I have spent many a teacher meeting with a pocket full of chocolate snacking away to relieve stress. 

Quite the opposite of healthy, mentally & physically. 

All those little stressful changes over the years has made it that much harder for me to control my weight. I haven't hit the 150lbs that I gained freshmen year of high school again, but I have been nearly 10lbs over my goal weight for most of the time I've been married. 

At one point in college I began the Ab's Diet and really watched what I ate, I had 5 meals a day and worked out like a beast. Somewhere it escaped me and I started having what I thought were "blood sugar" problems, which were really "You aren't eating often enough problems." 

There are times when I actually have the time to workout heavily again but while I feel great and look toned I haven't  lost an ounce. That ticks me off honestly. 

About 2 months ago my step-grandmother-in-law (that's a mouth full) told me she was taking Saffron Extract and she has lost 19 lbs in 3 months with it. I was amazed and immediately started researching it. Needless to say I jumped on the band wagon. I was exactly 10lbs over my "happy weight" max and couldn't lose anything to save my sanity. 

My pretty little 88.5 mg Pure Saffron Extract pills came in the mail (totally vegan and they only contain the herb by the way) and my appetite went down and I began losing weight. I actually made it to 2.2lbs from my "happy weight" max goal#1 and had the worst girl time of the month that shot me back up to 3lbs from my start weight. 

My body knows how to make fat. 

I am had been creeping back down to where I was and it is taking a lot more time than I hoped for when I saw a episode of Dr. Oz the other day that didn't seem so hokey. 

And we all know Dr. Oz can be hokey pokey!

It had Chris Powell on (a personal trainer) talking about carb cycling and it all clicked in my head. He said that high carb days give your body energy and low carb days right after burn it all off, that allows for better weight loss. Holy smokes it all made sense. 

Some weeks are very carb heavy here, while others are very low carb. I tend to get sick of carbs and want veggies after a heavy carb week. It is a "weekly" cycle. It suddenly clicked as to why I lose more weight after I have had a low carb few days and then one heavy carb day. Cycling! 

Now had the foods he listed not been what I normally eat, and had he suggested some wacky stuff I probably wouldn't have bought on to the idea. But when he showed an example of  high and low carb day meals I was totally on, literally they were what I ate when I did the 5 meals a day in college. Only difference was that he changed them up. 

I am guilty of making pasta and we eat that pasta until it is gone, or grilling chicken and eating that until it is gone too. With the carb cycling I am still going to cook the same large meals to prevent from constantly cooking, but I am going to interchange them with high or low carb days. Below I'll give you my week's meals for an example and a link to Chris Powell's grocery store list (which happens to be the only things I buy - aside from Jeremy's ice cream)

Carb Cycling Week:
Monday - High Carb
Tuesday - Low Carb
Wednesday - High Carb
Thursday - Low Carb
Friday - High Carb
Saturday - Low Carb
Sunday - Cheat Day

*eat all the low carb veggies you want
*muscle tone on low carb days
*Do a shred workout 6 days a week (I am using my 30 Day Shred DVD)
*you can have 1 cheat meal on high carb days (I'll probably only use it if I am dying for chocolate or ice cream)
*high carb days are 1500 calories and low carb are 1200 calories (for women)
* eat breakfast 30 minutes after waking up and then every 3 hours after that. 

Here is my week with times as an example:
High Carb
6:30 - whole wheat english muffin with poached egg and cheese 
9:30 - 1 c Greek yogurt, 1/2 c berries, 1/2 banana, 2 tbsp granola
12:30 - 2 quesadillas on corn tortillas with beans, salsa, and 2 tbsp shredded cheese
3:30 - Protein Shake
6:30 - Lasagna Soup (or some sort of pasta)

Low Carb
6:30 - whole wheat english muffin with poached egg and cheese 

9:30 - Peanut Butter & celery
12:30 - Salad with veggies & EVOO and balsamic dressing (homemade)
3:30 - Protein Shake
6:30 - Grilled Chicken and veggies (or any lean meat)

Chris Powell also mentioned that breakfast should always be high carb because we need the carb boost first thing to help with energy for the day. Here is a link to his shopping list, it tells what foods are veggie-high carb and what not. I watched the episode last Thursday by the way and tried it out on Friday, I didn't snack once and was full the whole day. When it came to that 3 hr mark though I was ready to eat again. 

After I am done with my first week I will let y'all know how it went. Between the 5 meals a day, being aware of my high and low carb days, and the saffron extract I think I should be able to get over this plateau. I really hate that he calls this a diet. I have eaten these foods for years now and don't consider it one. Yes I have my cheat meals and hormonal days when I can't control myself, but overall I eat well. I don't eat this way just to lose weight, because I don't have much to lose. I do this mainly to prevent health problems, I am from a family with a high rate of cancer and heart disease. We also have high blood pressure and if you become overweight for long you are diagnosed with Diabetes. I don't want that if I can stand to prevent it. Eating these foods is more of a lifestyle, plus I feel better when I do it. Fried foods just make me feel gross, that doesn't keep me from eating them...I just limit how much I eat. The only thing that I am really doing different is instead of eating all that food between 3 meals like usual I am spreading it out to 5 and alternating high carb days. 

If you have any questions about it just email me at labrideblog@gmail.com or contact me on Twitter @LABride. 
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growing it out...yet again

March 19, 2011

In my entire hair life I have had the same pattern of happiness and unhappiness. I tend to grow it out super long and then on a whim cut it all off, only to regret it later. 


Example 1: After high school graduation we went swimming and I had in earrings. My hair kept getting stuck in my earrings so I went the next day to chop it all off...and regret it later.


Example 2: Jeremy was gone to Africa for 3 weeks. While he was gone boredom got the best of me and I cut off my super long hair to really short and took out my belly button ring. 


Now for example 3:


Right before Christmas I went to get a trim, well the girl that normally cuts my hair wasn't there and I didn't want to wait so I decided to go with my Mom later and have someone else do it. Instead of just telling her to trim the end I told her to layer it up...big mistake. My already thin hair looked like someone gave me a shag with a bush wacker. My botton layer was super thin and I was sad. So I went back the next day and had her chop it all off. 


Now I am so antsy to get my hair back I am eating baby vitamins like a nut and brushing with a vibrating hair brush to stimulate it to grow back. I can't imagine what short hair will look like under my graduation cap.


Here is a photo collage I put together of the hair progression:
For the record I the initial short cut was dow on 1-23-10. It was growing out fine, but the way my bangs and layers were cut it would start to flip out, and therefore make me put it in a bobby pin like in picture 3.
The hair cut on 2-18 was done by the girl that cuts my long hair and cut it in a way that we could grow it back out easily, with the least amount of awkward. As for yesterday's pic, I like the way the front looks but I didn't realize the back was poofing like that. I blow dry it with a  round brush, maybe I should do it with a smaller brush in the back. Suggestions?


Also in both "cut" pictures the girls who did my hair had straightened the mess out of it, so you can't really tell the length as well compared to how I styled it. Needless to say I am going to get some horse shampoo today to try to make it grow faster. 


What are your hair growth suggestions?
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one big sigh of relief

August 20, 2009

7 comments
To my surprise the first day of school was great. Granted I am missing a few teaching materials, and am seemingly clueless about a few thing, I am having fun. I'm not gonna lie though, I am scared to death and more lost than I prefer to be. I am unorganized for a change and can't seem to get organized, but it will all work out. The fact that the staff is awesome and more than willing to help with any and everything is giving me a ton of confidence, and being able to call my Mom with questions is great. It is so nice to have someone you can talk to about anything and who has already been through this. I am just so excited...I have a career. No more restaurant or random jobs.

ULM finally got their act together today and I got to register for classes, not exactly the classes I wanted to take but I have to take them eventually anyway so why not take them now. I just wish someone would explain to me how I can register for graduate classes but my status is pending graduate. Maybe that has to do with the fact that I called and bugged everyone for education to graduate studies yesterday till something seemingly got done. Classes start Monday so I don't feel at all bad about being rude with the woman on the phone when she told me there was nothing she could do about my information being processed quickly, but if she hadn't opened my account to register for classes I would be pushed back another year in graduating from grad school.

Ahh to finally see things fall semi into place.

Oh and this is totally out of character for me but with all the busy bee stuff going on I haven't been able to think of something to cook for Sunday lunch this week...any ideas?

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{making progress}

March 31, 2009

4 comments
After quite the productive weekend/week I am ready to not do another productive thing for weeks...to bad that isn't an option. Tuesday I went to Walmart an printed some pictures for the guest book table. Yesterday I attempted to submit our engagement announcement the News Star, no luck though because when I went to News Star the second time the girl decided to tell me that the lady I needed to see was not going to be back till Monday. Not to mention I mailed invites and maybe I'll finish the death by Martha Stewart project I started months ago. But Oh do stamps cost a ton, and when I said "holy cow" to the post man he simply replied well you do have a lot of stamps, to which I said "exactly that is a lot for sticky paper."

On an interesting note...after ordering my wedding night lingerie our lovely US Postal Service lost it. After the amount of money I gave them for stamps I should have had a mail man deliver it to me then model the nighty to see if I liked it or not. Luckily I got a full refund and will be heading to the store to buy it in person today. I think I am boycotting snail mail for a bit.

{hostess gifts are wrapped and ready to go}

{the lovely invite assembly line}

If you or anyone you know happens upon a rsvp card don't be surprised. I had to revise the line once after I realized I had gone through a whole book of regluar stamps and still had two forever stamps left over. So there are two invites running around without rsvp stamps.

Has anyone else ever used a caligraphy pen? My addresses look like they were written with a funny marker.




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Hope someone knows something about this.

March 28, 2009

3 comments
The invitations I bought didn't come with inner envelopes but it is bothering me because it isn't traditional etiquette. A friend bought her invites from the same place and had the same lack of inner envelopes but she took the invite to a printer and bought some. Should I just buy an inner or do this for the outer. I personally don't feel that they will look as formal missing a inner but hey I wasn't happy when I was sent the wrong color invite anyway...then put the right color on sale in the store. So tell me, if you got this in the mail would you think "what on earth" or absolutely nothing of the sort and I am in fact just picking over an entirely minute detail.

Q.

Our wedding invitations do not have an inner envelope. How should I address an invite to a large family without using "and family"?

A.

Put the parents' names on one line and the kids' names underneath, like this:


Mr. and Mrs. Robert Sullivan
[or Robert and Sandra Sullivan]
Brandon, Jennifer, and Kyle
12345 First Street
Anywhere, USA 98765


If you need two lines for the children's first names, that's fine. Keep in mind that children over the age of 18 should get separate invites, whether they live with their parents or not.
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Please Mister Postman

March 8, 2009

No comments
Q&A: Invitations: Not Using Inner Envelopes?
Q.
Our wedding invitations do not have an inner envelope. How should I address an invite to a large family without using "and family"?
A.
Put the parents' names on one line and the kids' names underneath, like this:
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Sullivan[or Robert and Sandra Sullivan]Brandon, Jennifer, and Kyle12345 First StreetAnywhere, USA 98765
If you need two lines for the children's first names, that's fine. Keep in mind that children over the age of 18 should get separate invites, whether they live with their parents or not.

I found this on theknot.com and it kinda answered my question. Can you still address it Mr. and Mrs. Blah Blah Blah and family? Or should you be more specific. We aren't inviting a lot of children because it will be such a small wedding so this won't be done to many times. So far the only children are going to be close family, and there aren't many if any.

Also should we still get vellum to put in the invite even though we don't have two envelopes?
Or do you use tissue? I've seen both so I have no clue.
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I thought this was supposed to be a happy time?

March 3, 2009

3 comments
Not a painful needle involved time!

I emailed out minister and this is what he sent me:

This is a message i got from our wedding coordinator...

Whit, I called the Ouachita Parish Clerk of Court and the wedding license she gets here in Louisiana is ONLY good in Louisiana (any parish) -- this goes for Covenant and "regular" (!) marriages. You cannot use a Louisiana Marriage License in any other state.

Looks like there isn't going to be a covenant marriage for us...but we are lucky enough to get to have a Mississippi blood test whoo hoo(!).
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Oh to make it legal

March 1, 2009

5 comments
So the topic of marriage license came up today...I was almost right. In both Louisiana and Mississippi the couple has to apply no more than 30 days before and no less then 72 hours before to get a license.

But there is a catch, in Mississippi you have to have blood testing and in Louisiana you don't. That alone is enough to change the wedding location. Well for me at least, I'm scared to DEATH of needles or anything like it, just ask my mother, she will tell everyone I'm a big baby.

So here is my question...
Our pastor is from Louisiana, and we are too, so can we get a license in Louisiana and at the wedding just say LA instead of Mississippi and make it legal without all the blood loss?
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Any Suggestions?

January 3, 2009

No comments
So we are going to do the wedding registry tomorrow. A friend of mine who was recently married said we need to get this outta the way. She also said that Target is aggravating when doing returns and Bed Bath and Beyond was the easiest and most fun to deal register with. Does anyone have any suggestions as to where to register and what would come in most useful to register for? Hope to get some good suggestions!

To leave a comment if you don't have a google account just use annoymous.
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