Eat Cookies and Love It

So I was on Pinterest the other day and I saw this picture:

 

A few of my friends had "repinned" the picture, supporting this idea that to be a healthy individual, you can never eat cookies or sweets and you should instead spend that time running. It's possible that the friends who posted this picture didn't really think of the implications; maybe this just seems like a good motivational poster that will help them keep their fitness goals in sight. To me, however, I find this picture discouraging and misleading.

Not many people outside my immediate family know this, but several months ago I joined Weight Watchers. One thing I absolutely love about WW is that they don't want anyone to feel deprived. If you want to lose weight, that's awesome! But you don't have to give up everything you love--you should probably just have less. [Basically the way WW works is that everyone has gets a certain number of points each day. Every food item has an assigned point value, so you simply eat your allotted amount of points every day and you lose weight. You can eat whatever you want as long as you figure out the points for your food and take it out of your daily allotment. (If you want to learn more, you can get more extensive information at www.weightwatchers.com and Jennifer Hudson can sing to you about it.)]

I have had a LOT of roommates within the last few years, and a lot of those roommates have been on diets or have been extremely obsessed with staying thin. These beautiful girls would completely deprive themselves of any food that actually tasted good in an effort to be more attractive. The problem, however, was that about once a week, these girls would binge on cookies, brownies, cakes, or anything else they could get their hands on. I don't know if it was psychological (since they suddenly couldn't have chocolate, they wanted it all the time!) or if it was physical. Maybe if they had one very small treat every day, they wouldn't have to rely on these binges to get their fix. These binges led them to feel terrible about themselves. "Oh my gosh, I'm awful. I ate like half a pan of brownies!" Well yeah, that probably wasn't smart... But the way I see it, if you'd let yourself eat one brownie every day instead of eating half a pan in half an hour, you'd feel much better about yourself.

I have a big problem with diets that insist you completely cut out anything. It's alright to eat a cookie every once in a while. I'm not saying you should binge on tons of cookies every day and feel great about it. I am saying that you should never feel guilty about eating one freaking cookie.

I'm not trying to diss exercise, either. Exercising is great, but running isn't the only type of exercise that can get you into shape. If you love running, that is awesome for you! I loathe it. Walking, however, and doing silly DVD workouts are much more fun for me. Why do something you hate just so you can be skinny? Instead, I suggest we all try to find an activity we enjoy so we can be healthy.

Being skinny doesn't make you happy and it doesn't mean you're healthy. Obviously I'm not an expert and there is a reason I'm a member of Weight Watchers... but I've known a lot of people, I've taken college courses in nutrition, and I've learned a ton from WW. If you are going to feel terrible about yourself for eating a cookie, then don't eat it. But man, I feel sorry for you. Cookies are great.

Faux-Graduation

So because I graduated in December, I didn't have an actual ceremony. (USU did away with their Fall graduation a couple of years ago due to budget cuts.) If I want to walk I'll have to do it in May, which I'm not super enthusiastic about right now. So we'll see if I want to when it gets closer.

Since I wanted some proof of graduating, I had my sister take a few pictures of me. We still had my cap and gown from high school graduation, so I just slapped on my USU tassel, held up my empty diploma case thingy, and smiled really pretty. Not super official, but it works. Here are a few of the results:

We think this should be on a brochure

Fall 2011

Hey folks, I'm back!

Sorry I've been MIA for a while. Here's a quick update on my last semester of college!

I was only taking a couple of classes this semester, but somehow I still managed to keep myself pretty busy. I took Intro to Political Research, which is required for my major, but I put off taking it for the last three years because everyone hates that class. As it usually goes, it wasn't actually too bad. Professor A was initially going to teach it, but then he got offered a better job; then Professor B took over. I've had this professor before and he's way fun. But since he took over after everyone had signed up for the course, he had to keep the same syllabus, textbooks, etc. This didn't actually work out... Long story short, a lot of things were changed and we ended up doing a lot more hands-on work. We did some class research projects about the efficacy of campaign signs in local elections and we had to propose our own research design for our final project. The group I got to work with for the majority of the semester was super fun and we got along really well. I usually loathe group projects, but this goes to show that the group makes all the difference.

The other class I took was on Persuasion in the Speech Communication department. That class was SO much fun! The professor made things really interesting. He was so animated and passionate about the topic that you couldn't help be excited about it, too. He also wrote the textbook for the class, so it was nice that the book and the professor weren't teaching two different things. (It happens more than you think.) Something that was a little weird though was how nice the class was. I'm not used to making friends in my classes. I guess that's just because people in the Political Science department are required to be more opinionated. Unfortunately that also means they're more argumentative, get more defensive, and can come across as kind of rude... Trust me, I've been in that department for the last three years.

To bide my time on days that I didn't have class, and in lieu of a job for the semester, I played the piano at the Skyroom (a restaurant on campus) twice a week. I got a free meal every time I played and I got to keep any tips people gave me. I didn't make oodles of money, but I made more than I thought I would. Plus it was nice to be able to play the piano during the semester. I usually go months without playing since I don't have regular access to a piano.

Well the not-so-crazy semester ended and I GRADUATED. Yes, you read that correctly. After six short semesters of hard work, I now have my Bachelor's degree.

Now all I need to do is find a job...

Harry Potter Madness

As most of you know, I am completely obsessed with Harry Potter. This is my blog, so I'm going to be arrogant. Usually I try to be respectful of each individual's relationship with Harry Potter, but not today.

I think I first read Harry Potter in 4th or 5th grade... I just remember that by then there were a couple of books out and that your status in my elementary school was determined by how many times you had read them. One of my favorite things about the books is that they were supposed to be my exact same age. If I were a wizard, I would be going to school with these characters! [Note: I have recently found out that everyone thinks that they are the same age as the HP family. This is false. My point is proven by looking at the cast of the Harry Potter movies. Daniel Radcliffe? Born 1989. Rupert Grint? Born 1988--okay so maybe he was held back... Emma Watson? 1990. Matt Lewis? 1989. And I was born in 1990. So we are ALL the SAME AGE. This only applies to you if you were born in 1989 or 1990, or graduated high school in 2008.]  My two best friends at the time, Katie Hathaway and Stacey Hansen, were just as in love with these books as I was. We decided that for Halloween in 5th grade, we'd dress up as Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Naturally, I was Hermione. Stacey was Harry, and Katie of course was Ron (red hair was a very large factor here). My mom was super great and made me the best costume EVER, complete with the caps they described the students as wearing in the book. I even had an invisibility cloak! It looked exactly how I had pictured it as I'd read the books. P.S. I believe this was before the first movie was released, so all we had to go off was the book. I think we did a dang good job.

Stacey/Harry, Katie/Ron, me/Hermione with our awesome teacher, Mrs. Wood

Anyway, as I was growing up, there was always another book or movie to look forward to. The final book was released the summer before my senior year in high school. Even in college, I believe I still made it to all the midnight premieres for the new movies. I LOVE midnight premieres because everyone is automatically best friends. You all know you automatically have something in common. You laugh together, you cry together... it's a lovely bonding experience.

As I'm sure you all know, the final installment of the films was released July 15, 2011. I decided that this event needed to be made epic. Although all my prepubescent friends adored the series, I didn't feel like Harry Potter carried the same appeal it had ten years before. So I decided to throw one of my infamous movie marathons the week the movie came out. I decided to throw the party the 12th and 13th. We'd watch 4 movies the first day and 3 the second. Naturally we had to have treats inspired by the series, so I proceeded to bake oodles of tasty things, even coming up with my own Butterbeer concoction! (All the recipes I found for Butterbeer online either had alcohol in them or tasted icky.) Here are the treats I made:

I love the little tuft of cotton candy to look like a potion is brewing!

Solid chocolate... Mmm

Isn't he cute?!

Licorice dipped in white chocolate

Tootsie pops dipped in Pop Rocks

Chocolate-covered chow mein noodles

My special blend of cream soda with butterscotch flavoring

The whole spread :)

I'd say the Harry Potter Marathon was my best yet. Everyone loved the food. And yes, I made it all myself. Re-watching all the movies was pretty fun. I can't remember the last time I sat down and watched movies 1-4. Since they've been around the longest, I've seen them the most. So I tend to just tune them out if they're on tv or something. But it was nice to watch the entire series from beginning to end.


The day after all the festivities ended, I got to see the final movie! It wasn't officially released until midnight Thursday night, but I had a couple of awesome connections and I was able to see it in the middle of the afternoon the day before! It was incredible. I invited my friend Michael to come with me and we had a blast. I bawled for the majority of the movie... I mean, I cried when I read the book (I always knew there was more to Snape!) but seeing it all happen in sort-of-real life was heart-rending. I won't go into detail if for some reason there's a human on this Earth who hasn't seen HP7.2... Contact me personally if you'd like to discuss the movie further.

Me and Michael!

 Although my get-up for the midnight premiere has often consisted of a super awesome Hermione costume, I decided to dress up as Lavender Brown this time. For those of you who may not know, Lavender is Ron's girlfriend in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I think my costume rocked.

Won-Won!

After bawling my eyes out at the afternoon show, I got ready for the midnight premiere with a bigger group of friends. A bunch of people dressed up so it was super fun! And yes, yes I did see the movie twice within about an 8 hour time period.

Lundy (foreign exchange student), Dan (Sorting Hat), Brooke (a wizard), Cheri (Prof. Trelawney), Leland (Draco), Jon and Richard (Fred and George), Ryan (Harry), me (Lavender), Taylor and Allie, DeeDee (Ginny), Lindsay (Tonks), and Katie (Death Eater).

The midnight show rocked. I cried a whole bunch (again) and it was awesome. Katie is probably going to kill me for saying this, but one of the most satisfying moments during the movie was when I heard her sniffling off to my left. Katie doesn't cry. Ever. I think I've seen her cry about twice in the 15ish years I've known her. I told her beforehand that she would cry. A lot. She didn't believe me. I hate to say "I told you so"...

The whole experience was rather bittersweet. We really went out with a bang, but I'm a little sad it's over. Now I just have to track down Matt Lewis somewhere in Leeds and convince him to fall in love with me. Then we'll get married and live in England and I'll be BFFs with the whole HP cast. Well, in real life, not just in my head.

Caribbean Cruise

This last June, my family was able to go on a cruise to the western Caribbean. It was kind of a Brad's-graduation-trip-slash-last-hurrah-before-he-leaves-for-his-mission vacation. I'd been on a cruise before, but I was like 12 and don't remember a ton. I will apologize in advance for this mega-post.

We were on the Freedom of the Seas, a ship from the Royal Caribbean cruise line. The ship was absolutely GORGEOUS. Supposedly it's the second- or third-largest ship in the world. It's longer than the Statue of Liberty is tall! There were some way cool features on the boat. The bottom decks were mostly staterooms and dining rooms. Each family was assigned a dining room (we were in one called Leonardo's) and table number. We had to share a table with another family. They were nice enough, but it was always kind of awkward. Our waiters were the coolest people ever! Our main waiter was named Olena; she was from Ukraine. She was a freaking ninja! I'm a huge fan of her.

Freedom of the Seas

On the 4th Deck, there was a big promenade with some shops and restaurants and stuff. There was also a casino, a theater for the evening entertainment, an ice rink, and a little movie theater onboard. Up higher on the ship, there was the big buffet diner place called the Windjammer Cafe. There were also a bunch of swimming pools up on that deck. AND there was a soft-serve ice cream machine and you could have as many free ice cream cones as you want! The top deck was pretty cool--there was a climbing wall, a mini golf course, basketball courts, and a FlowRider where you could surf and stuff.

The Promenade

Attractive FlowRider instructor from New Zealand

The climbing wall!

Mini golf course!

We stopped at 4 different ports; the first was Labadee, their private island on Haiti. It was absolutely beautiful, but effing hot. We got tickets to go on an alpine slide, which was way fun. It was kinda funny because the company's address was in Utah. We spent most of the day at the beach, though. The sand was super pretty and the water was the perfect temperature. Random funny story... when we were in the water, there was a border of rope held up by buoys to set a boundary for the swimmers. My brother held up the rope and something attached to it looked like this super nasty mangled head or something. We're like "Sick! Dad, what is that?!" "Oh it's just part of a boy or something." "Gah! Part of a BOY?!" "No, a BUOY." ...I guess you had to be there.

Labadee,  Haiti

 When we got back to the ship, we were talking to Julio, who cleaned our room. [Side note: he was the coolest dude ever. He would always leave us the coolest towel animals and every time we passed him in the hall he'd excitedly say hello and then joke around with us a bit.] Anyway, Julio is from Haiti and so while we were all hanging out on the island, he had to hurry and finish cleaning the rooms so he could visit his family. I guess he had to travel like an hour each way and only got to see them for half an hour! It was ridiculously depressing... I'm glad he got to see his family though. He probably has super cute little black children. :)

Our next port was Jamaica. It was probably my favorite of all the ports. I think seeing all the adorable black children had something to do with it. It is a beautiful place though--very green, and the water is really blue. When we got on land, we met up with our tour guide/driver for the land excursion. He told us to call him "U." (Or maybe it was "Yoo" or "Yu." We'll never know.) Our tour was way nice because it was just our family in the car, so we could pretty much do whatever we wanted.

Yes, that steering wheel is on the right side of the car. Super trippy.

The epitome of Jamaica

Our first stop was tubing down some river. It was a big surprise to us--my mom forgot she'd signed us up for it! It was GORGEOUS. We just floated along down this river and we had a river guide named George (like "George of the Jungle," as he explained). George was pretty great. He had a long ponytail and was missing some teeth... and yet I was strangely attracted to him. Probably because he was serenading us down the river. Yes, you read that correctly. He would change the song he was singing whenever something new happened. For example, when someone was heading for some brush on the side or it looked like they were headed to some rocks or something, he would sing Bob Marley's "Don't Worry." ("Every little thing is gonna be all right...") Whenever he was next to me, he would start singing Marley's "One Love." You know, the whole "let's get together and feel all right." I think he was in love with me. Naturally. Anyway, at one point he started singing "Lovin' You." My parents just busted up laughing--it was super funny hearing some random Jamaican dude with a heavy accent sing an awful song from the '70's.

Pretty view :)

Some random "pirate ship" on the side of the road

After tubing, we headed to Dunn's River Falls. It's a hike up these really pretty water falls. It was a little scary in a couple places because it was really slippery and/or unexpectedly deep. It was pretty cool though. (According to Wikipedia, the falls are 600 ft. high.) I had heard it was a really tough hike, and it didn't end up being nearly as bad as I thought; regardless, I was proud of myself for doing it :)

The official sign saying we made it!

All sweaty after climbing the falls

The next stop was Grand Cayman. We got on a little tour bus with some other people and headed to a little port to get on a boat that would take us out snorkeling. There were just 3 guys in charge-- one guy who drove the boat, another who was kind of the tour guide (who was basically a black version of Patrick Swayze), and some random white guy (our videographer) who went by "Froggy."

Snorkeling was super awesome because they took us out to the middle of the ocean and we just plopped right down and checked out some really cool fish. I heart snorkeling, even though sometimes I get a little claustrophobic with that big thing on my face...

Then we took our little boat over to Stingray City. That was super cool! It was just this big sand bar in the middle of the ocean where all the stingrays gathered. Unfortunately there were several boats full of tourists trying to see stingrays. But luckily our Patrick Swayze-esque tour guide was a freaking ninja! They had food for us to give to the stingrays, plus our guide knew the names of all the stingrays and caught one really big one for all of us to hold (and kiss for good luck). So yes, I held a stingray. AND kissed it for good luck. It kinda creeped me out... any of you who know how much I love loathe animals knows that is kind of a big deal.

Stingray City

Our last stop was Cozumel, Mexico. Our first excursion was driving ATV's through the jungle! Pretty adventurous, I know. It was pretty cool. We got really dirty/muddy and I got over 25 mosquito bites (I just wore my swimsuit top with my jeans because I didn't want to get my shirt all muddy). It was cool (at first) because we got to take a bunch of pictures with exotic animals. Like baby crocodiles. It was kind of awesome, but after they made us stop like 5 times, it got a little old. Unfortunately my mom had a little mishap... When she was turning, she felt the ATV start to tip over. She looked back and saw her wheel rolling away! Something like that could only happen to my mom. Haha. 

After our ATVing adventure, we went to a little beach club thing. There was a bar/restaurant and some gear you could use for snorkeling and stuff. Once you got out into the water, some of the fish were cool, but the beach was super awkward. It was super rocky and not easily accessible. We didn't stay there really long, but it was a pretty beach.

Overall, we had a blast! I got to see a couple movies I hadn't seen before, I got some really pretty jewelry from the store on the ship, and they had really good shows every night for their evening entertainment. The food was great, and I got pretty adventurous. I'm not a big fan of fish, but I tried quite a bit of it at dinner. The only thing I absolutely hated the entire trip was this cold papaya soup. It sounds fruity and delicious, right? WRONG. It tasted like vomit. Literally. Luckily you could order as much food as you wanted for no extra cost. So don't worry, I didn't go hungry. 

Here are some of our favorite towel animals. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture every day... there was also a really cute hippo, some swans, and an elephant.

A bat

A monkey

An alligator

After we got off the boat, we had several hours to spare before our flight left. We decided to go to Kennedy Space Center. It was super fun! I've always been really intrigued with space travel, so it was a lot of fun to see shuttles and stuff in person.

The actual control room they used for Apollo 13

 

Well that just about sums it up! Sorry I'm a blog slacker... I'll try to update more frequently. Thanks for reading!