5 Ways To Suck At Blogging

Don't Blog
Just don't show up to your blog for days and days at a time, even after you said you were going to. This is my go-to when I want to really suck at blogging.

Don't Do What You Said You Were Going To Do
That's exactly what it sounds like. "I'll be back tomorrow with a post about blahblahblah" and don't come back. "I'll tweet out your blog post links" and don't tweet them out. People love this.

Don't Reply To Comments
Someone comments on your blog and you get a nifty little email, making it ridiculously easy to reply to them. But don't. Just don't. Just read the email, put it in the folder labeled "COMMENTS" with the intention of going back and emptying that folder later and moving things into the sub-folder called "REPLIED", and simply ignore those comments for forever. This one is a crowd pleaser.

Don't Read Any Other Blogs
Because if you're really serious about this whole "sucking at blogging" thing, then you obviously don't want to read about how awesome everyone else is at blogging. Obviously.

Provide Nothing Of Substance Upon Your Return
When you do decide you're going to come back to Blogland and you're going to write a post, make sure, MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE that you don't provide the people with anything worth actually reading. This is essential. Practically Bad Blogger 101 stuff here, people.


That's it. Five simple ways to suck at this whole blogging thing. No need to thank me for this wisdom, it was my pleasure, really.

*disclaimer: the only blogger i'm referring to in this post is myself and only myself, so no need to get your panties in a twist*

21 Day Fix Thoughts & Review

Yesterday was the official conclusion of my 21 Day Fix that I mentioned I was doing (21 days ago..) and I promised that I'd give you guys an honest review since I'm not getting paid or perked or anything.

I've got a lot to say, so here's your warning.

My Official Results
So, in full disclosure, I have to tell you that I did NOT stick to the 21 Day Fix program throughout the entire 21 days. I'll talk more about this later, but there it is. So, I was actually pleasantly surprised by my results. In the 21 days I lost 3 lbs, which is absolutely ridiculous because I should have gained 3 lbs, not lost. I have no way to explain that 3 lb loss.

Sticking To The Program
As I mentioned, I did not stick to the program throughout the 21 days. Honestly, we chose a very poor time of the year for us to do this and my sister and our friend, who did it with me, quit before the first week was up. There's a lot, A LOT, of planning involved and there isn't a lot of wiggle room to have mistakes, so you've got to make the time to stick with this.

I did really, really well the first 6 days, but the other 15 days were sporadic, to say the least. I tried to stick with it and I might have 1 perfect day, but I'd follow that up with 2 or 3 half-assed days. Life and previous commitments kept interfering, which I know is a poor excuse.

Exercise While On The 21 Day Fix
Whomp Whomp. My exercise has been laughable the last 2 months. Laughable. The first 6 days, while I was sticking closely to the program, I was also getting back into regular workouts and I felt really, really good. I think the foods you have to eat and the amounts and the exercise all added together was a wonderful thing. So I recommend exercising hard during the 21 days. I'd imagine your results would be amazing.

What I Learned
I don't know if I've made it clear yet, but I love this program. I really love it and I'm a little obsessed with it. Probably not for the reasons everyone else is though. I love it because of what I learned from it. So let's break that down.

I was not eating enough vegetables. Not even close to enough. I also learned that when I'm forced to, I can actually eat a lot in one day and I'm not 100% miserable. I usually don't want to eat that many veggies, but I CAN and I NEED to.

I really enjoy fresh fruit. I always knew this and I've never had a problem eating fruit, but I'm usually too lazy to deal with the washing and the cutting and all that jazz. Now, I'm making a hugely conscious effort to not be lazy and do all of that because man, a nice fresh pineapple just can't be beat.

I'm addicted to sauces. I actually already knew this, but this program definitely drew attention to my problem. On the program I couldn't really indulge in my sauce addiction, so I started to miss them more and more, which is sad and a little pathetic.

Portion control! The same reason everyone loves Weight Watchers. This program teaches you portion control in a nice way. I don't know a better way to explain it than that. It's almost like they were accidentally teaching you, because it wasn't something I realized I was learning right away.

What I Didn't Like
On one hand I loved the semi-rigid eating plan and on the other hand, I hated it. There are plenty of healthy things that I couldn't eat because I couldn't fit them into my program. Which, was super annoying to me. Which is the same reason I kept going off of the program. I hated that even if I wanted to eat something that I knew to be healthy, I couldn't eat it. Frustrating as hell.

Also, the measuring and the planning got to be really tedious, which meant that it got to be really annoying. Nothing I couldn't get used to if I stuck with it, but also very annoying.

My Official 21 Day Fix Opinion
I love this program. I honestly don't see how anyone who sticks to the program and works out wouldn't lose weight. However, the best thing about the program, in my opinion, is that is changes your eating habits. I barely followed the program for the whole 21 days and yet, I can tell that the way I eat and especially the way I grocery shop has been changed. All for the better.

So that's that.
I'm definitely going to try the 21 Day Fix again and hopefully complete the entire 21 days. Regardless, I plan on incorporating the 21 Day Fix into my every day life. I'm excited.
See you tomorrow for Total Social with Sarah and Helene. Whoop! #GuiltyTotalSocial

Secrets On Top Of Secrets

I had to take the day off from the internet yesterday because things got a little heated on Wednesday and I needed some space. Truthfully, I didn't have time to internet surf anyway. I've been keeping some secrets that have kept me a little preoccupied and busy as of late. Yes, secrets. Some fairly large ones.. That I can't tell you about. Listen, I'm not being mean, but I can't tell you because most of the people in my real life don't know either. Secrets are fun.. And stressful.. And time consuming. I think I finally know how those pretty little liars feel.

*to be clear, no one is trying to kill me or sending me ominous text messages*

Anyway, I now know why bloggers who are trying to hide their pregnancy have trouble blogging until they can let the cat out of the bag. When you have one thing that you can't blog about, it becomes the only thing you want to blog about.

*to be clear, I'm not pregnant.. Or engaged.*

So on Wednesday Juliette borrowed an idea from Allie who borrowed an idea from Kalyn and now I'm going to borrow it from Juliette. Follow?
I needed something to blog about and these ladies are pretty great, so following in their footsteps doesn't seem like a bad place to be. Here we go..

What/When Was The Last…

..recipe I made? Errr.. I haven't followed a recipe to cook something in MONTHS. I've been incredibly focused on making things as incredibly easy to cook as possible and as plain as possible. Lifestyle changes and all that. So unless you count like stir fry, which I don't because I don't follow a recipe, then I don't have a good answer for this.

..good decision I made? 1 - My secret. Feeling so good about things. 2 - Rereading Harry Potter. I've just started Book 5, Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix and I am going to have a whole post dedicated to my #HPsummerReRead because I am so, so glad I've made time to do this!

..cool place I went? Vegas. Hands down.

..show I watched? Speaking of Pretty Little Liars, my friend and I watch the show together and we were SIX episodes behind! So she came over last night and we watched 3 episodes to get us closer to being totally caught up. Those girls.. I actually hate that damn show now, but I can't quit it! It's so infuriating!

..awesome thing that happened? Hmm, hard to answer. Actually, I got to spend the whole weekend last weekend with some of my best friends, acting like we were 21 again to help my sister celebrating being 21, and it was so much fun. I mean, Sunday I spent half the day on my couch in misery, but Friday and Saturday night were worth it. Love those girls and glad to have them around!

..thing I bought for myself? A cranberry Nerds slushie from Sonic. Have you guys had those Nerd slushies? HEAVEN. Pure sugar and a total and complete party in my mouth. I always think I'm going to go into a diabetic shock after I'm done, but at least I'll die happy.

..good photo of me? Love this photo of my sista and me.

..bad decision I made? Probably announcing that I have a secret that I haven't told my parents about. That should go over well.

..time I was really excited? I'm pretty excited for my friend, who has her own little secret, and last night we discussed it for the 2nd time and I'm still just so excited for her! My friends being happy makes me happy!

..time I had a free weekend? I'm not really sure what that means exactly. Free with no plans? Like I just sat around and watched Netflix all weekend? Because the answer to that is it's been A WHILE. Probably approximately February when I was snowed in for the weekend or something. No.. There's no joke here.

i'm so depressed by this picture. like instant bad mood. i regret including it in this post.

And now we're here at the end and I don't know how to wrap this up..
Errr..

OH, a little PSA to everyone leaving me comments - Please, PLEASE make sure you aren't a no-reply blogger!! I can't respond to your comments through emails if you are and that makes it really difficult and really, really depressing. Lately I've noticed that so many of you are and it's totally upsetting and I hate it and I want you to fix it right this darn minute. So, follow Sarah's instructions and then we can all live a happy life.

P.S. Go buy a Nerds slushie from Sonic.

Words That Mean Something

People like to argue. Sometimes people read a post and comment nasty things just to be nasty. Or worse - they are "playing devil's advocate", without fully understanding what that means. Sometimes people write a post and write nasty things just to be nasty.

I was reading a tumblr article (mistake number one) about a show I watch (mistake number two) and the first paragraph started with "I love this show, I own all of the seasons on DVD, I never miss an episode, and I could quote the entire series to you."
Starts off nice, right? But then she goes on (and i wish she wouldn't have) to totally and completely bash and criticize the show, the actors, the writers, the producers, and the network. No one was safe.

It was a little like watching a train wreck. I was getting more and more annoyed with this girl the more I read, but I couldn't stop myself from reading on (mistake number three).

She took a very feministic view (which is totally fine) in her article, bashing the show for being too masculine and throwing fighting words around like "homophobic", "misogynistic", "transphobic", and "sexist". Which are some pretty big accusations and not words I would ever consider throwing around willy nilly. Those words mean something to people and they lose their power and validity the more we toss them around without anything to back them up.

So as I was reading I was getting myself worked up and incredibly annoyed, but as I got towards the end of the article I realized that no, I didn't agree with her, but she's entitled to her opinion, so I need to chill the F out. I took a calming breath or two and decided to finish her article with an open mind (mistake number four).

She went on to say more things I didn't agree with, but I stayed calm. Opinions are opinions and she's entitled to her own. OH BUT THEN she placed the cherry on top of her large, hot fudge hate sundae (with extra nuts, obviously) and ended her rant with "I don't actually believe these things, but I know most of the fandom does, so I just wanted to get it out in the open so it can be discussed and possibly addressed in the next season. Love the show! Can't wait for October!"

I think that's about the time my blood boiled over.

I'm not even going to discuss her opinions on the show or even mention the show, because that's irrelevant. I'm angry because she wrote this opinion piece on a opinion that she flat out says wasn't her own.

Listen, words mean something. It's the reason I put extra effort into not using the word "retarded" and the reason I flat out don't say "faggot". Those words mean something to people and while your intent might not be to verbally abuse someone with those words, sometimes your intent doesn't matter. Words can be hurtful and they can and do hold a lot of power.

Words like Feminist and Homophobic and Racist MEAN SOMETHING. And if you are going to use them, you better darn well be able to back them up.

Drops mic.
Kay, out.