April GOALS

Hey guys!
Last night I was sitting in bed reading my book and just had some ideas. I purchased an Erin Condren planner at the end of January, and I absolutely love it! I carry it in my purse with me everywhere and I write almost everything in it! So last night I whipped that baby out and starting jotting down things in the goals section for April!

If you have been following me, I have been on the struggle to a healthier lifestyle lately and a better looking me! I am in two weddings this year and am feeling a little self-concious about how I'm going to look in this dress! So I have created some goals for the month of April to help with this.

• walk/jog/run every morning on my treadmill when I wake up.
• Workout at the gym 6 times a week instead of the 4 I have been doing.
• Eat more fruit to nourish my body.
• Eat nothing but veggies for lunch for the whole month of April!
• Layout at least once a week!

All of these are GOALS for me for the month of April! To you they may sound ridiculous, but for me, it's something that I want to do! I bought a treadmill about a year ago and have gotten on it maybe 25 times! I am going to try and use it more in the morning when I wake up. I have a gym membership but the gym is about 20 minutes away from my house and with gas being the way that it is, I can never get there unless I'm on my way home from work or something.. which is normally at night. It's better to exercise in the morning to get your metabolism going for the day, so with getting on the treadmill every morning I wake up, that will help my metabolism tremendously!

I have been working out at the gym only 4 times a week because I thought that would be enough. I was reading a blog post the other day on someone's blog and read that she worked out at least 6 times a week and was in great shape! So I am going to try to work out 6 times a week with my off day being on Sunday! Regardless of whether I get to the gym or not that day, I have weights at home and free workout videos on Comcast demand! :P

Fruit has so many great vitamins and things that your body needs to lead a healthy lifestyle! I love fruit, fruit is just expensive and it ruins much more quickly than I can eat it! I went to the store the other day and purchased some pears, a pineapple, some bananas, and some strawberries! I made myself a strawberry banana smoothie last night before heading out to the ball fields! No recipe, just threw some stuff together and it tasted great and fixed my hunger at the time!!! I'll do another post about that soon!

I often find myself grabbing junk food for lunch or eating too many chips with my sandwiches, so for the month of April I am challenging myself to eat nothing but vegetables for my lunches! I have had a little bit of a jump start on that today and had cabbage, green peas, and turnips for lunch today! It was delicious! Many of people don't get their correct amount of servings of vegetables in the day, so this will help me take in my daily vegetable needs!

Too many people take advantage of a tanning bed because it's quick and easy to jump into and get on with your day. I will admit, I have used a tanning bed many of times, but it's horrible for your skin! I know the sun in general can damage your skin, but tanning beds are 10x worse! anndddd who wants to pay 40 dollars a month to go to a tanning bed when you can tan for free in your back yard! So my challenge to getting a tan this month is to layout at least once a week! I  need to get a tan for this yellow bridesmaids dress I will be wearing in May!!! Thankfully I was blessed with my daddy's cajun/french skin and I tan easily! Thanks Dad!

What are your goals for the month of April? If you don't have any, set some and work your hardest at keeping up with them!

with all the love in the world,
Lauren

Cleaning out the clothes!

This morning I woke up thinking that I was going to be extremely productive today since I have a day off and much to do. Most of the time when I say this I end up laying around the house until 4:30 and realize that I've let the time slip right out of my hands.. but also sometimes when you have a day off all you want to do is rest! I'm sure lots of you know what I am talking about!

I woke up, went straight to the shed to get the lawn mower out and headed out of the fence to the front yard. Now that summer has hit us early, our grass is growing so fast! The crawdad's are building mud mounds all over the yard, and the ant beds are going crazy! I drove right over all of these things with the lawnmower and the yard looks great! We have a small ditch in the front and since it has rained, it was too moist to get with the mower. Too bad we don't have a weed eater! So there's this nice line of tall grass with dandelions in my front yard! Lovely, huh? Anyone want to let me borrow their weed eater?

I had planted some petunia's along the front of the house last weekend and they're slowly growing. I don't have much patience when it comes to things growing. I think they should be planted and be doubled in size within a week. Maybe they will shoot right up in a few days! Or at least that's what I'm hoping for. The ants built a ginormous ant bed beside one of them that I had to spray down and pour ant poison on. I did rack up on an extra large bag of ant poison for $2.97 at wal-mart! Hooray for that. I poured the poison on the mowed over beds in the front yard as well. After doing that I came inside and drank a whole bottle of cold water! I am not a water lover by any means, but it's good for the body so I drink it. I like flavorrrrr!!! Thank goodness for Mio and crystal light mix-ins!

I was getting ready to wash some clothes when I realized that I have really run out of room to put my clothes! I don't even wear half of them or I haven't worn them in over a year and a half at least! So I grabbed a garbage bag, and into the closet and chest-of-drawers I went! I bagged up a whole garbage bag of clothes and already found someone to take them! YAYAYAYY! The worst thing ever is when you clean out your clothes and they sit in the bag by the front door for a month! Our good-will store is about 25 minutes away and I don't get over that way often, so It's hard to just bag things up and go! Gas is way too expensive and I only go places if I'm already close by or passing by them. (just like i refused to take my taxes to the post office today because i'm not going into town) whooops!

Ham steaks, mac n cheese, and black eyed peas is what's for dinner. Going to the ball fields for Aidan's game at 6 and still much to get done! Hope you all have found ways to be productive today!!!


xoxoxo
Lauren

Biore facial products!

Hey guys!
I haven't written in my blog much lately; I don't know if that's just due to me not having much to write about or just me being so busy and not wanting to do it! Who knows.. but maybe I can catch back up over the next few weeks.

I am not much of a face washer, but I love the Biore facial cleanser line! There's been plenty of nights that I fall asleep with make-up on and then wonder why I have breakouts! DUHHH. I have been using Biore off and on since like 3 years ago and I always find coupons in the facial towels that I buy sometimes! I have tried CLEAN & CLEAR, I have tried OLAY, I have tried the full nine yards, but I always come back to BIORE. I don't believe in paying boo-coos of money for these huge name brand facial cleansers! (clinique, lancome, etc..) I have a naturally oily face, and this does the deed!

In the morning I use the blemish fighting ice cleanser!

*I like to use this cleanser in the morning because it's real icy feeling and kind of helps wake you and your face up! I know that sounds so silly, but it gives your face this cool feeling and sets you for the day!  [[this is all I use in the morning because I use a tinted moisturizer for my foundation; therefore I don't use any other moisturizer after my face wash because my face is naturally oily anyways]]

At night I use the pore unclogging scrub.

*This is my exfoliate. I put a quarter size of this scrub onto a loofah towel and it works wonders! I only use this if I've worn make-up for the day, which is probably 4 times out of the week. A lot of people say not to exfoliate everyday, but I don't see a problem with it if your skin isn't too awful sensitive. (which mine isn't.)

I also use the warming anti-blackhead cleanser at night.

*I use this instead of the scrub on nights when I haven't worn makeup for the day. This gives a slight warming sensation to the face and really gets into your pours for a deep clean! I like to use this just with my hands because it's more of a cream facial cleanser and doesn't really soap up, which is why I also use it when I haven't worn make up.

I use the triple action astringent at night after my face wash.

*I like to use this at night after my face wash because it gets away any makeup that my face wash didn't and helps treat any breakouts I may have. The astringent also helps tone my skin to one color so that I don't have rosey cheeks! I hate that. Astringent does dry out your face, so to prevent from any dry skin showing on my face, I use a moisturizer.

Next, I use the nourish moisture lotion.

*I use this simply for the prevention of my face drying out due to the astringent. Like I said earlier, my face is naturally oily therefore I only use this after my astringent. I do not use this in the morning either because instead of a full coverage foundation I use the Benefit tinted moisturizer. This Biore moisturizer has an spf of 15, so some of you may want to use this in the morning just to prevent the sun from damaging your skin on your face if you use a foundation.

and lastly, I use this boosting night serum every now and again!

*I use this every now and then. I read on a website that it has a star rating of AMAZING! I don't think that it is necessary, but just for good measure I like to rub it on my face before my moisturizer about 2 nights a week. This just keeps your face feeling extra soft and silky smooth when you wake up in the morning.


THANKFULLY I HAVE BEEN BLESSED WITH GOOD SKIN. I HAVE NEVER REALLY HAD AN ACNE PROBLEM, JUST A FEW BREAKOUTS EVERY NOW AND THEN WHICH MOSTLY APPEAR ON MY CHIN. THIS PRODUCT HAS BEEN ABLE TO KEEP MY FACE CLEAR FOR THE MOST PART AND I HAVE NOT HAD ANY BAD REACTIONS TO IT. AS YOU CAN SEE, I DO NOT LIKE TO MIX UP DIFFERENT BRANDS OF FACIAL PRODUCTS. THEY CREATE ALL THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF FACIAL CLEANSERS, MOISTURIZERS, NIGHT SERUMS, TOWELETTES, AND ASTRINGENT IN ONE BRAND SO THAT YOU USE THE WHOLE LINE. THEY ARE MEANT TO BE USED TOGETHER. AT LEAST THAT'S HOW I FEEL ABOUT IT. JUST LIKE SHAMPOO AND CONDITIONER.. EVERY NOW AND THEN I WILL RUN OUT WHICH WILL LEAD ME TO USE A FACIAL CLEANSER OR MOISTURIZER I HAVE RECEIVED AS A GIFT OR SOMETHING. I DO BELIEVE IN USING UP WHAT YOU HAVE BEFORE BUYING OTHER. SO IN THAT CASE, SURE.. MIX ALL YOU WANT! BUT FOR BEST RESULTS ON YOUR SKIN, I WOULD USE ONE BRAND.


I am no beauty expert, just simply giving you a run around of the facial cleansers and what not that I use! Biore has created a new look, so all of these products will now be in a clear bottle or white bottle with blue writing. They have changed the names of a few things and created a couple of new things, but I haven't had to buy anything (ran out of anything) since they have created their new look. I recently read some good reviews about the neutrogena pink grapefruit facial products, so maybe I will be able to try those sometime!


xoxox
Lauren

I'm back!

Hey guys!
I know I haven't posted in over a week. I have been so stinking busy! My blog is not something that is a priority! Don't get me wrong, I love to write in my blog.. but there are other things.. such as LIFE that get in the way that I have to tend to first!
      Working in a banquet hall leads to a hectic and crazy schedule. We have weeks where there's probably two events going on and really low working hours.. and then there are weeks where every day there is an event.. except for Sundays because we hardly ever have events on Sundays! So this past week and a half have been booked with events at work, and me being considered a "full-time worker"... gets me to the top of the totem pole for "first come" hours. I don't know if that makes sense or not.. but basically my mom and I get the most hours depending on the amount of events going on and what not. Yes, I work with my mom! How cool, huh? So.. with it leading into the wedding season, I'm about to start seeing many rehearsal dinners and wedding receptions at my work which leads to busy weekends at work. I love my weekends off.. but as an independent college student, I have to take what I can get. The age I'm at too leads to many weddings that I'm taking part in which calls for buying bridesmaids dresses and what not. Which are not cheap! I love to be in friends and family weddings, but I have to work a little extra so that I can have those opportunities! So in other words, I have been working non-stop it feels like.. over the past week and a half!

      Also, I had my second interview for radiology school this past Friday. My first one was at UMC and my one on Friday was at Hinds Nursing Allied campus. I always get extremely nervous doing interviews.. especially with 6-10 very important people asking you questions! It's like impromptu and you never know what they're going to ask you! Some of the questions were crazy.. like how do I answer this off the top of my head. Overall, I think it went fairly well and I answered to the best of my abilities. annnnddd that's all that matters. I really have my heart set on one of the schools, but I'm praying for God to bless me with what he feels is right for me. and to tell you the truth, I can't wait to start radiology school! I know that it is going to call for some extensive studying hours and a crazy sleep schedule.. but we all know, you can do whatever you set your mind to! I truly believe in this statement. After working full time jobs; sometimes two.. and going to school full-time, and through high school.. I fully understand the difficulty of it all! I have stayed up all night studying just to find out that it really doesn't help much because by the time you go to take that test, you're so tired that you probably don't remember as much as you could if you would have gotten some sleep! Lesson learned.. So please be praying for me to get into radiology school. Will hear from Hinds the first of April and UMC the first of May! andd by the way, I'm taking an online English Literature II class right now that is kicking my booty. That's taking a lot of time as well. Literature is probably one of my weakest subjects. Thank goodness I don't find interest in that stuff because I am no good at comprehending those crazy poems!

      I was finally off yesterday (in which I slept until 1pm)! Pitiful I know. I was also off today (in which I spent the day at the ball fields)! I needed to get some clothes washed, but by the time I got home and cooked dinner.. it was time to sit down and watch the season finale of the bachelor! So.. since I don't go to work until 1pm tomorrow, I will try my hardest to wake up at a decent hour tomorrow so that I can wash clothes! and then hopefully be off at a decent hour to finish that and clean my room.. because Lord knows it is a disaster and it's hot as heck in Mississippi! Which means it's time for bugs and what not! I'm not afraid to say it. This is Mississippi.. I do live in the hicks.. and there are woods surrounding me.. and there are bugs that enter my house in the hot summer weather! Get a grip.. it's life. no ewwing me!

      Now I've discovered this "draw something" game and I'm addicted. So it's off to playing some more of that.. relaxing in my bed. and watching a couple of episodes of ONE TREE HILL! Do you realize that I'm on season 3 and they are in the 9th season on tv right now..? I have got to devote some special, non-productive time into this show to catch up! I'm trying! love you guys to pluto and back! Hope you enjoy!


a tired and exhausted,
Lauren

....as usual