Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Blogger Book Club.. Sorta

Today is Blogger Book Club day.

The Best of Intentions

Today I should be reviewing the April book for BBC.


But I'm not, because I didn't read it.

I've been dreading writing this post. Because honestly, I knew last week that I wasn't going to read the April BBC book. Because last week I made some decisions regarding my blog and my life.
Let's talk about some of them for a quick second.

Here's why Blogger Book Club wasn't working for me anymore:
  • Because I felt like I HAD to read the book before the end of the month, I wasn't interested in reading the book. It didn't matter how good the book was, I was almost always waiting until the last minute to read it (except for Wallbanger and The Fault In Our Stars) simply because I knew I had a deadline.
  • The pressure to pick a new and exciting book that multiple people would want to read every month really stressed me out and completely sucked the fun out of the whole situation. 
  • I didn't have enough people reading the books with me and creating discussions with me for it to make it worth my while to deal with the above two bullet points. 
  • It just plain stopped being fun.
I love reading and sometimes I love reading stupid, random books or total trashy romance novels or sometimes I like to read books that make me cry or think or learn a new thought. I used to devour books. I would read 3+ a week. My life was a little different then and my reading has slowed down a lot. Now I use reading as my "me-time". Lately I was using my precious "me-time" to force myself to read a book and then write a review on it before I could forget anything. It just stopped being fun and it wasn't even a little bit relaxing. Also, because I was choosing books I thought everyone would like or want to read, my own personal "To-Read" pile kept getting bigger and bigger and I was running out of "me-time" to read it. The whole damn situation was annoying.

I told you all of that to tell you this.. Blogger Book Club is no more.
I need to find a way to enjoy reading again and I need to simplify a few things on my blog to make room for some bigger and better things. On my blog and in my life.
I have a really awful habit of biting off more than I can chew and overwhelming myself. I've said yes to a few things lately and made the choice to take on a few new things that if I don't adjust the current things in my life, then I'm going to turn into a hot mess. Minus the hot.

If you did read The Scent of Lightning and Rain and wrote a review, comment below and I'll tweet it out so others can read it.

Thank you for your patience and, hopefully, for your understanding.

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In other, more exciting news, DON'T FORGET to come back tomorrow for the Honey Roast with Sarah, Juliette, Becky, and I!
The Best of Intentions


To read more about the Honey Roast, clicky here!
See you tomorrow, friends!

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Tough It Out Tuesday - The St. Louis Edition

I should have known to keep my damn mouth shut. But did I? Nooooo! Last week I had to go and brag that I'd been pretty on point with my eating, so I felt like I just needed to up my workouts. Then I spent the weekend in St. Louis.

I think the healthiest thing I had all weekend was a fruit cup at the St. Louis Science Center.
But I had beer, sooo..



This whole situation is obnoxious though because my workouts have been so good this past week. And while I didn't "workout" in St. Louis, we did so much walking every day and I'm more than positive I got quite the workout. But my eating has been crap.

I just want both things to line up and be good at the same time.
Is that too much to ask for?

So yesterday I made myself a pretty strict meal plan. We'll see how it goes.
Honestly, I'm a little worried about it because I think I'm going to be very tempted to go off script and eat things that aren't on the plan.. Aka Cookie Butter and Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. Also things like carbs and cheese. Yea, to be honest, I think I might have set myself up for failure a little bit this week. So we're going to aim for 100% on the meal plan, but if I hit 80% then I'm going to call it a win. 

We are definitely aiming for 100% on my workouts though. Anything less than 95% is going to tick me off. I'm still on my 2 week plan and I'll be back next week with a review on it!

OH, and I've decided it is officially time to bump up my water intake to 100 ounces a day! I'll be hashtagging like crazy on Twitter and Instagram #100ouncesAday so please join me so that I actually do it! Seriously!

Go visit Allie and give her some words of encouragement. That girl.. She's a rockstar. I like her.

The Best Of Intentions



Friday, April 25, 2014

Spoiler: I Heart TV Shows + An Announcement

Usually when I do a TV recap post I recap and review a ton of TV shows at once, BUT..
1. I don't have time to type all of that out today and..
2. I'm not caught up on most of my shows.

So today you're just getting a few shows. PS. I watch too much TV, I know.
Spoilers will follow, I'm sure, so here's your warning. This is the only one you're going to get, so use it wisely.

Pretty Little Liars

Honestly, I can barely talk about this TV show without losing my temper. Ezra isn't A, which.. ugh, annoys me. I really liked Ezra being A. Instead he's just a super creepy old guy who likes high school girls, which I guess we actually already knew. I don't know. See, the problem with PLL now is that I truly like some of the storyline possibilities, however I. Marlene King usually screws them up or drops them all together. Which just.. makes my blood boil. I mean, she brought Noel back now? At this point in the show you're going to reintroduce that character? I had totally forgotten him. Det. Holbrook has some serious potential to be a really interesting character, but I'm sure that'll end quickly. I hate Aria's character entirely at this point. The rest of the liars are fine, I guess, and actually Spencer had a pretty good storyline at the end of season 4. Oh and the "big teaser" for season 5 is that Ezra might be dead and honestly.. I don't care if he dies or not. So that's a shitty teaser, because I don't care. Kinda hope he is dead to be honest. Oh and as I predicted, Caleb is coming back to PLL. I refuse to even talk about this because I'm so incredibly annoyed/pissed by this whole Rosewood and Caleb disaster.

NCIS
Yawn. I really haven't had a ton of good things to say about this season and that really hasn't changed very much. I like bits and pieces from episodes, but I haven't loved any episode yet, other than the very last episode that aired. It focused on the real life problem in the military right now of uniformed females being sexually assaulted. I do felt like they covered this very hot topic incredibly well and very tastefully and still stayed true to the issue. It was a good episode and I actually watched it a 2nd time.

One other thing NCIS has done this year that I enjoyed was their backdoor episodes for a potential spinoff in New Orleans. It was a 2 episode thing and honestly, after the 1st episode I was mostly annoyed that NCIS was going to try to create another spinoff. However, by the 2nd episode I was liking the possibility of the NCIS New Orleans show more than another season of NCIS. Which probably says a lot. Yawn.

NCIS: Los Angeles
For as boring and terrible as NCIS has been, NCISLA has been the exact opposite. This season has kicked every other season's ass. I'm beyond in love with all of the storylines they've thrown at me. Also, there is something to be said for a show that follows its storylines and doesn't leave plot holes all over the place. The Kensi storyline, so that the actress could take a few months leave to have a baby and then come back, was perfectly done and wrapped up so awesomely. The humor has been there in every episode and has blended perfectly with their intense plots and just yes. Yes, I've loved this season.

Chicago PD
My sister and I are obsessed with this new show. So, soooo good. If you're not watching it, you should be. First of all, Sophia Bush. Perfection. Second, Jesse Lee Soffer.. hot. So hot.This is a new show that I highly recommend. I actually don't watch Chicago Fire, so you don't have to be a fan of that show to like Chicago PD. Actually, my only complaint so far about CPD is that it has far too many crossovers with Chicago Fire. I mean seriously like every 2 or 3 episodes and there will be some crossover bullshit. Stop. It's totally unnecessary. Chicago PD can totally stand on its own, it doesn't need help from Chicago Fire. Actually, I think that I read that Chicago PD has had a much larger audience than Chicago Fire anyway, so stop it with the annoying crossovers.

Criminal Minds
I heart Criminal Minds, really. No matter how blah a season is, I'm probably always going to like it. This season has been pretty blah for me. Yet there have been some serious star episodes this season too. I loved the episode where we finally got to learn about JJ's hidden storyline and Prentiss came back, which was fabulous! There was also a Garcia episode that I really liked and I also loved the episode titled "Blood Relations" with the creepy swamp guy and the 2 feuding families! It was SO creepy and so good and directed by one of the actors and did I mention it was creepy and good? Otherwise this season has been pretty blah..

I don't think I'm caught up on any of my other TV shows. So, so behind.
And I won't be catching up on any this weekend. I'm off to St. Louis for the weekend!!
Follow me on Twitter and Instagram to stay caught up with me in the big STL!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Quick little (big) announcement too..  Sarah came to me with a genius idea and I fully supported it, so a fun one time link-up was born!
I'm sure you've heard of "roasting" someone. Where you poke fun at them, tease them, point out their flaws, etc. etc. The problem is that most people roast themselves every day. It's easy to pick out the flaws in yourself and much harder to pick out your strengths and then even harder to admit your strengths out loud to someone else. Well, that's exactly what Sarah, Juliette, Becky, and I want you to do.
It's called a Honey Roast and we want you to do it to yourself and then write about it and link-up so you can share your strengths and all the good parts of you and your personality with everyone else.

This is a one time link-up that will be next Thursday, May 1st.
Start your month off on a positive note!

The Best of Intentions


See all you snicklefritzes on Monday!

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

My Strange Addiction: VINE (Part 1)

HUMP DAAAAYYY!!!


My aunt and uncle got me this shirt last week because I still laugh like a buffoon when that commercial comes on. It's hilarious and I love it. And also because they're the shiiit (and i'm obviously their favorite niece/nephew)

Well, this got me thinking..
I've mentioned at least once that I'm addicted to Vine. It is a very serious problem, guys. I check Vine every. single. night. I also frequently (very frequently) (more frequently than i'm going to admit right now) (it's a lot, trust me) rewatch the vines that I've "revined" because I think they're so funny. It is not uncommon for me to laugh so hard that I cry while watching some of these vines. I quote them constantly. Especially to my sister, who is equally addicted to Vine, though she refuses to admit it. I've incorporated vines into my every day life.

I've held off posting any of my favorite vines on my blog because then I'll have to really show you guys how weird I am. Which is.. wow, so weird. I also didn't know how to embed vines into a blog post, that is until yesterday.. Last night I was jacking around on the interwebs and I found this cute little site that showed me how to embed the vines into posts. Well, that pushed me to go ahead and let my freak flag fly!

Now, I've revined 423 vines and liked 357. I know, I know.. I'm ridiculous. So, anyway I devised a plan.. I went all the way back to the beginning of my revines and I've decided to haphazardly choose some of my favorites for today starting with those oldies. And depending on how embarrassed I am after today, I might show you a few more favorites in the future.


Bump this, bump this..


Ugh, JBiebs, you idiot.

The number of times I've texted my friend "heyyy" and she's responded "YOU WANT IT" is like.. embarrassing.

That pesky autocorrect.

HAHAH CSI Miami jokes never get old for me!

Thought it was a one day thing..

The guy on the right kills me every single time.. I absolutely lose my shit.

HAHAHAHAH

The struggling has got to be real..



Okay, so.. OOPS. I meant to only include a few and then I got out of control. There are so many more I want to share though, so definitely expect a part 2. I'm LOLing on this beautiful Hump Day and I hope you are too!

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Tough It Out Tuesday - The Workout Plan Edition

The last couple of weeks have been really weird for me. I've had a lot going on and I've used most of my spare moments to get some sleep. Things are on the up and up now though and I'm using my planner to get my life back to normal.

The backstory for today's TIOT goes a little something like this - I have a friend who graduated with a degree in Exercise Science and she's currently in grad school to earn her Physical Therapy degree and just in general she's really fit and likes to workout and such. She was a 3 star athlete in high school, so it's comes pretty 2nd nature for her. She lives a little over an hour away now, so she's not my workout buddy or anything, but we do talk frequently and I very, very frequently ask her for workout advice and just general questions about this healthy lifestyle stuff.


Last night we were facetiming and I mentioned that I felt as if I was doing a fairly decent job with my eating and I really wanted to spend more time getting better with my workouts. I think that's my weak spot and I think that if I devoted a little more time making working out a normal part of my routine then I'd be a lot better off and a lot closer to my goals. SO, she made a suggestion and we ended up spending the next half hour coming up with my new 2 week plan.

I figure if I can stick with my plan for 2 weeks then I can re-evaluate and decide which parts worked and which didn't.

Here's the crazy plan..

Tuesday (4/22) - Run
Wednesday (4/23) - Gym Workout
Thursday (4/24) - Pinterest Workout
Friday (4/25) - Run
Saturday (4/26) - Long Walk In St. Louis
Sunday (4/27) - Rest Day

Monday (4/28) - Gym Workout
Tuesday (4/29) - Run
Wednesday (4/30) - Pinterest Workout
Thursday (5/1) - Gym Workout
Friday (5/2) - Run
Saturday (5/3) - Long Walk
Sunday (5/4) - Rest Day

Monday (5/5) -Pinterest Workout
Tuesday (5/6) - Re-evaluate

Two things you'll notice -
1. There's no real rhyme or reason to the order of workouts
2. I'm doing a ton of different workouts

I have a lot of reasons for this, but basically I want to try out a few different things and try a few different combinations of things. I also want to rely a lot less on workout dvds. I also want to avoid boredom. And a few more reasons but blah blah blah, you don't care. There are a TON of workouts on Pinterest, so I really want to try a few out.


So what about you guys? What are you doing to stay fit and active and healthy? Workouts I need to be doing? Anything else you want to throw at me? Always willing to listen, because I can always use some advice!

Check out the other lovelys below!
The Best Of Intentions



Monday, April 21, 2014

Your Average Sunday In Indiana

Here's a fun fact that you may or may not know - I live in Indiana and on Sundays in Indiana you can not buy alcohol. Yes, we're the very last of the 50 states to hold onto this lovely little law. Now, you can buy alcohol at a bar or at a restaurant or a winery on a Sunday in Indiana, but all liquor stores are closed and you can't purchase alcohol at any grocery store or convenient store in Indiana on a Sunday. Just in case any of you ever land yourself in Indiana for say.. Superbowl Sunday? Well, you best be buying your dirty thirty pack of Natty Ice and handle of whiskey on Saturday or you'll be chuggin Jack and Coke minus the Jack while you tailgate.

Yesterday was Easter Sunday. I'm just giving you the 411 in case you weren't informed. Anyway, I spent the majority of my day with my daddy's side of the family. My grandma cooked. This was my plate.


I regret nothing.
I also ate a Reese's egg.. or two.
Again, I regret nothing.
I also might have had a jelly bean. Just one, of course.



When we left it was almost 6pm. I really didn't want to, but I really needed a few things, so I ran to Walmart really quick. Ya know the saying "drive you to drink".. that's what my Walmart trip did to me. Drove me to drink. Oh, but did you read my first paragraph? It was Sunday! Easter Sunday! In Indiana! I couldn't buy alcohol at Walmart. Because.. Duh.

So when got back to my apartment and I searched through my wine collection. Why do I have a wine collection? Because I was born and raised in Indiana and like a good alcoholic Hoosier, I keep a mini stock of alcohol, just in case I need to drink on a Sunday. Obviously. Found a bottle of wine I had purchased because it had a cute name and figured I'd try it out.

My thinking process went something like this:
-Self, you could drink just half a glass while you catch up on NCIS and it'll be totally fine.
-Self, you could blog while you drink that half a glass and watch NCIS.
-Self, you're so good at multi-tasking!
-Self, I mean, a full glass would be fine too, ya know?
-Self, this HTML code tutorial is total bullshit, go ahead and have a 2nd glass..

And that might be where things got out of control. Because next thing I know, it was 11pm on Easter Sunday and I've finished the entire bottle of wine. I was drunk, like really drunk. And I was alone, in my apartment watching NCIS, writing a blog post.

So, that's my life.
Happy Easter!

Friday, April 18, 2014

Photo Roll, Unexplained

Nothing should be looking drastically different to any of you yet, but boy do I have more plans! First of all, I've updated my About Me and The Best Of pages and added some quick links to the right underneath my photo. Over the next week more things will be changing, slowly but surely. I'm still working on teaching myself some HTML and it's been a really annoying game of trial and error.

Now, for today I had planned to choose one of my prompts from my 36 blog post idea list. To be honest, I have plans to work my way through that list. I'm a little excited about it. Today I was going to write about aliens, HAHAH, but then I started looking through my phone's photo album and thought "oh, I definitely can't do the 10 last photos on my photo roll prompt, these are outrageous and stupid".. But then I thought that maybe that's exactly why I should do that prompt.
So boom..
Oh and also, to make it interesting.. I'm not going to explain any of them. :)

 
 
 
 
 

Enjoy! ;)

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Currently In April..



...Updating my blog! I think I've officially decided not to do anything too crazy, but you will probably start noticing a few things changing around these parts! Including updating my About Me, The Best Of, and Contact tabs. Oh, and quite possibly my Sponsor tab.. Never can tell..

...Watching the bazillion TV shows on my DVR! I'm finally catching up on all of my shows!

...Planning a fun girls weekend trip to St. Louis at the end of this month! It started as a random, drunken comment from one of my friends and then BAM.. We're planning a trip and getting ready to have one of the best weekends ever in the history of ever!

...Wishing I could go back to bed. I can't seem to get enough sleep right now. Basically I'm turning into an old lady and falling apart.

...Scheduling an eyebrow appointment, because these beasts are getting out of control. Just keeping it real.

...Obsessing over the word snicklefritz. I'm sorry, but it still hasn't lost its shine for me yet. I'm very much still in love with it and I've tried putting it in every conversation. I even had to find a way to get it into this post. Snicklefritz. 

...Drinking LaCroix cran-raspberry sparkling water. BRO.. this stuff is legit. I never used to be a fan of sparkling water, but this is deliciousness is a can.

...Laughing (still) at something that happened last night. I was working an IU baseball game and a guy came up and started making chit chat and to make a long story short he said "game recognizes game" to me and I about lost my marbles. I laughed so hard and for so long.

...Saving for so many things right now. First of all, "saving" is like next to impossible. Second, I have so many things written down on a list that I want to save for and just looking at the list stresses me out. I wrote it to be motivational or some bullshit, but instead it gives me hives.

...Thinking about a quote from NCIS: Los Angeles this week -
"The oldest hand on our ranch, he taught me everything I need to know about deep cover ops. He said that everybody's got three hearts. The first heart, that's the one you show to strangers. The second heart, only your family gets to see that. Your family and the person put on this earth to walk by your side. Your soulmate. But that third heart is the thing.. Never let anyone see it. There's too much truth inside, too much risk."

And I'll let you ponder that for a while.
Oh and don't be alarmed if you're on this blog page and things are looking sketchy. That's just me screwing things up! No worries!

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Tough It Out Tuesday - The Tax Deadline Edition

Let's cut right to the chase today. I have scheduled myself 20 minutes to get this blog post written and ready to post. So, this could get ugly. You've been warned.

First of all, it is Tough It Out Tuesday.. and THAT is the only reason I showed up to Bloglandia today.

The "rules" are simple -
1. On Tuesdays write a post about anything fitness, weight loss, healthy living, etc. etc. and link up with Allie and I.
2. This isn't strict or heavily structured. Allie and I really just wanted a mutual place to motivate each other and everyone else who drops by!
3. The main, big, huge purpose of this link up is to motivate and encourage others. I would really love it if you'd take the time to click around the links listed below and give some words of encouragement to everyone else. Maybe even let them know that they aren't alone in their journey. Sometimes that's all someone needs.

The Best Of Intentions


For those of you who don't know or haven't figure it out yet, I work in college athletics and I also work in a CPA office. We deal with taxes and accounting. Today is April 15th. If you don't know what that means, well I'm sorry, but I don't have the energy or the time to explain it to you. I've already used 3 of my 20 minutes. Basically I've been at work nonstop since last Monday.

Which brings me to TIOT.
I'm so glad that Allie suggested naming our linkup Tough It Out, because holy hell I feel like I've been hit by a truck and I'm running on pure caffeine and will power at this point. #toughingitout
I'm not actually trying to complain or get "awe, I'm so sorry" comments. I'm just telling it like it is and right now I'm exhausted and running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Which is actually pretty comical when you think about it. Or maybe I'm just delirious from lack of sleep and everything is hysterical at this point.

14 minutes.

Okay, instead of being annoying, which I already have been up to this point so hopefully you're still with me, I'm going to just cut to the chase..

How's my fitness going?
Well, I've taken several walks.
I ran twice.
I did Jillian once.
... In 10 days.

How's my healthy eating going?
Well, it could be worse. Could be a hell of a lot better, but it could also be worse.
The funny thing about this is that I'm at the stage where I'm starting to crave the healthy stuff and I'm getting sick of the bad stuff quickly. I like this stage. I did have some brownie cookies yesterday though and HOLY CANNOLI they were amazing.

Plan for the week?
My plan for the week is to get back to "normal". I'm actually sort of glad I've had this weird and busy (ew that word annoys me) time lately because it's definitely going to be a good kicking off point to getting back on track. I'm borderline ecstatic to get back to this healthy lifestyle and I think the mental aspect of losing weight and working is one of the most important parts.

6 minutes.

In conclusion, I have big plans for the rest of this week and next week that will carry us through to May, where even more big things are going to happen. Big bloggy plans and big fitness plans. Look the F out.

The Best Of Intentions

And I'm done with 2 minutes to spare. #winning #imatool



Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Tough It Out Tuesday - More Of The Same Edition

Short and sweet today..

The "rules" are simple -
1. On Tuesdays write a post about anything fitness, weight loss, healthy living, etc. etc. and link up with Allie and I.
2. This isn't strict or heavily structured. Allie and I really just wanted a mutual place to motivate each other and everyone else who drops by!
3. The main, big, huge purpose of this link up is to motivate and encourage others. I would really love it if you'd take the time to click around the links listed below and give some words of encouragement to everyone else. Maybe even let them know that they aren't alone in their journey. Sometimes that's all someone needs.

The Best Of Intentions

Here's the deal, if you read my post yesterday, you know I did a not so good job of this "healthy living" over the weekend. I don't regret a single darn second, but it is what it is. I jumped right back on the wagon Sunday afternoon, but I'm gonna have to work my butt off this week to undo this weekend. Sigh.


At the current moment I don't know what my plan is.
More of the same, I guess.
Truth be told I have a lot going on this week and I'm a little stressed.
So the big plan this week is to make a to-do list and decide what things on that list are THE most important things that need to be done and do only those things.

Today's post is crappy, hah!
I'm not feeling discouraged at all with my fitness goals and I'm not ready to throw in the towel or anything crazy like that. I'm not worried that I'm going to eat a giant brownie for every meal. I'm actually still feeling pretty committed and motivated. I feel good, I'm just stressed about other life things and work things. Also, nothing has changed.. It's just more of the same.



Work out, eat veggies, drink water, rinse, repeat.

Hopefully Allie and everyone else has something of real value to add to today!
Tough It Out Tuesday has officially earned it's name in my book.

The Best Of Intentions



Monday, April 7, 2014

Wine, A Bridal Shower, More Wine, A Bach Party, And More Wine.

You guys have heard of the "struggle bus" right? Well yesterday I was driving the struggle bus.
No really, I drove a car full of girls an hour+ home yesterday and it was a struggle.
Today, I'm no longer driving the struggle bus, but I think I might still be a passenger.

I'm not running on all cylinders this morning (afternoon), so here's the plan for today: One huge weekend photo dump with minimal words.

Friday - WINE FEST, 300 plus wines to taste + quality time with my favorite nephew. You've met him here.

HI MARION! HI KRISTEN! They read this, so they get special shout outs!
 He is perfection, seriously.

Saturday - Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Party for a girl I've known since we were 10 years old! That's 14 years of friendship and now she's getting married and her twin brother got married last summer and now I feel so old and it's scaring me!
ugh, all of that food was so disgusting, so i didn't eat any of it.. (i'm a liar)
 And the Bachelorette Party.. If you don't like looking a penises.. Please jump to the end of this blog post.
the middle pic is blurry because i couldn't hold my phone still because i was laughing so hard

There are more photos and I'm sure more will creep up the next few days, so if you want to see them probably follow me on Instagram.

I'm so ridiculously happy for Angela and I'm so glad I got to celebrate with her!
If any of you ever go to Indianapolis, I highly recommend Howl At The Moon! It's a dueling piano bar and it was a lot of fun. So I very much recommend it!

Sunday - No pictures. We were basically useless to society all day.

Happy Monday!
See you tomorrow for TIOT!

And BONUS FUN today -
Melissa used one of my blog post ideas and wrote a post about her morning routine and I'm super nosey and I love it so much! Why is it so interesting to see what everyone else does in the mornings?! PS. She gets up and leaves the house in an hour and 15 minutes.. with two children. What is that nonsense? How can she teach me to be that efficient in the morning?!

I love ya'll, snicklefritzes! ;)

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