Twice as Nice Spice.. shelf

So I wanted to share with you guys really quickly my 5 minute organizing project this weekend. You read that right.. FIVE MINUTES.

Also, try to prepare yourselves for these unedited iPhone photos. This is real life people and in real life its tax season and I work at a CPA office and I don't have time to edit photos. It's okay to feel sorry for me.

Here's what I was living with before..

I know, hot mess. Oh, and try to ignore the 1970's shelf paper that I don't think I'm allowed to change. I've put a call in to my landlord, but I wouldn't hold out hope if I were you. I'm sure that it's here to stay.

So I was officially sick of sorting through that mess constantly. So I started by clearing everything out..

Yes, those are mushrooms on the shelf paper to match the jar of mushrooms on the side. Renting an apartment is tough sometimes.

I cleared it out and wiped down the shelf. Then I went to Bed Bath & Beyond and purchased this baby. It was originally $5.99, but I had a 20% off coupon making it $4.79. Hooray! (hey, i'm a poor college kid. every little cent adds up.)

So I tossed that little guy up there and then added my spices back and it looked like this..

So much better, right? For a 5 minutes organization project, I was pretty pumped about it. Now I just need to tackle the rest of my cabinets.. sigh..

Here's the official side by side.

Nosey Nora

I'm nosey. It's a big reason I read blogs. I want to know what other people are doing, what they're wearing, what color they are painting their bathroom, what they're eating for dinner, what exercise they did today, etc.

So in keeping with that theme.. I also like to always know what books people are reading, if they recommend it, it is a 7/10 star or a 2/10 star, etc.  And I like to read!! Any time I get a free hour or two, I usually try to read. Not because I'm forced to, but because I want to. I'm a nerd. You'll have to get over it.

 I'm nosey, guys. Really, really nosey. So I'm going to naturally assume that you guys are as nosey as I am. Because of that I've decided to put a little icon over on the side of my blog (see right side) with the book I'm currently reading. I promise to update it whenever I finish a book or change a book. I'm also going to be adding a tab to the top of my page. In this tab I'll keep a running list of books that I read throughout 2013. I'm doing this mostly for me, because I'm curious. But also for anyone else who likes to read and wants a recommendation.

I read all kinds of books. Cheesy romance novels, to motivational books, to crime stories, to sci-fi. I have trouble sticking to one genre.

This is just an informational post explaining what the new things on my blog are going to be. Feel completely free to ignore this post and all of the other new things on my blog related to reading and books. This week I'm slowly going to be adding things to the blog and updating it. So expect a couple more of these update posts along with regularly scheduled posts.

NSVs

Good Morning, sunshines! You're probably thinking "NSVs? Is that some kind of drug?"

And you'd be right.. and sort of wrong. NSVs are "Non-Scale Victories" (and technically these could give you high. high on life of course). We all know that for someone trying to lose weight, sometimes stepping on that scale once a week is torture.

Especially when you see no weight loss, or worse, a weight gain. It is so easy to get discouraged! So I think it's important to reflect on things we did well that week, instead of what the scale is telling me. Those things are called "Non-Scale Victories".

So today I'm linking up with Katie and Lex for

My Non-Scale Victory this week happened yesterday! My goal for this week was to try to drink 4 full bottles of water during the day. It sounds a lot easier than it actually is.

But I not only drank all 4 yesterday, I almost finished a 5th. Balloons and confetti fell down from the ceiling. There was band, with 76 trombones. Someone brought cake..

Okay, so none of that happened. And definitely no one put cake in front of me. That would have been a dangerous situation. I'm actually 100% positive that no one noticed, except for me. I'm the only person who knew that I had reached (and exceeded) my goal. Which was okay. For me, that's what the Non-Scale Victories are all about.. I was proud of myself. The scale may or may not reflect that come Monday morning. But I will know I did it. A big high five for me!

So go link up with Katie and Lex and spread the word about your NSV this week. Then give yourself a pat on the back. Then get back to work. :)

Weight Watchers vs. My Fitness Pal

So all of My Fitness Pal friends.. err, I mean my ONE MFP friend has probably might have noticed that I've been missing in action for a few days. Well I have a good reason. (no really, i do this time)

I tried Weight Watchers.

Now I know that WW works for a LOT of people.. I know. I've seen a ton several bloggers who swear by Weight Watchers. That's the reason I decided to try it. I'm really getting serious about this weight loss "thing" and I'm jumping on whatever bandwagon I can catch up to! I've seen the success people have had with WW. Maybe that was my problem, maybe I was expecting too much out of WW.

Because I didn't like it.

Now hear me out.. WW and MFP are VERY similar. Look at these 2 Screen Captures of WW mobile and MFP mobile..

Weight Watchers is on the top and My Fitness Pal is on the bottom. They are so similar! You can see it right there in black and white blue and orange! The biggest difference I noticed was that WW is all about their point system and MFP is about the actual calories of the foods you're eating.

That is one of the reasons I have decided to stick with MFP and drop WW. The whole point system is really kind of annoying to me. And because I find it annoying, I know it's a system I wouldn't stick with. I also despised knowing that my free trial was about to end and I was going to have to start paying to use it. I'm sorry, but there are so many other free options out there, and I'm a poor 23 year old, so I'm always choosing free. Period.

MFP is free. I can use it on my phone or on my laptop. I can scan the barcode on things I'm eating and the calories automatically get added in. No calculating points. I can adjust the serving size or type in my own calorie count if I need to. I also like that I can select the exercise I did and it will calculate approximately how many calories I've burned. I say approximately because everyone is different so you may be burning more or less than they say you should be, doing that specific activity for the specific amount of time. Either way, I like that.

Weight Watchers works for some people, I know this I get this. But it didn't work for me. My Fitness Pal and I seem to have quite the monogamous relationship now. So for my one MFP friend.. I'll be back today!

If you'd like to add me as a My Fitness Pal friend: kaystoll129

 I'd love to hear your thoughts on this battle royale. Who uses Weight Watchers? Who uses My Fitness Pal? Who's tried both (like me)? Does anyone use something completely different that works?