10 Reasons Why You Should Give 50 Shades Of Grey Another Chance

DISCLAIMER: While my blog posts usually do not have this type of content, this is something I feel that it is important to put out there! If you do not want to read about it, then don't read the post. That being said, I tried to keep it rated at about PG-13. No pictures are included and these are all 100% my own thoughts and feelings.
DISCLAIMER 2: Also, if you haven't read the books, and I have spoiled part of a book for you, I am deeply sorry because I know how much book spoiling ruins a good book. I tried to keep a lot of the important details from the 2nd and 3rd book out of this post and tried to show it with most of the first book. 

      Reading for me is disappearing into an alternate universe. (Hint: Sometimes I really believe that it is books that helped me make it through my years in middle school and high school) It is an escape from reality, where you don't have to talk to people. I should really focus my blog on writing more book reviews, but then reading becomes a chore instead of my me time. Sometimes, I enjoy reading other people's book reviews because it gives me another insight as to how someone else perceived the book. I've read many books. I enjoy reading and I probably finish one, if not two books a week during the summer.

That being said, can you call it a book review, if you haven't read the book?

So many women are complaining about how bad 50 Shades of Grey is. Not the quality of writing, but the content. Things I have read from other bloggers:

It is causing women to lust for someone who is not their husband. 

If their husband allowed them to read these books, she would be forced to let him watch porn. Because they are equivalent. 

It is just proving that money and looks are extremely important.

Ana has really low self esteem and practically no self-confidence.

    

While many people consider these books "Mommy Porn," a lot of people say they are bad for your marriage or relationship. Most of the complaints that I have heard are from people who admit that they haven't read the book. That they refuse and that there is nothing anyone will ever say that will change that. 

How many people have never read a Nicholas Sparks or Danielle Steel? How many people haven't watched a movie with a make-out scene and thought about how good looking a guy is?

Here are 10 things I learned from 50 Shades of Grey that the non-reading book critics won't tell you:

Crazy Life.

This week has been crazy. We were gone all weekend at the Wisner Tractor Pull, I spent most of the last three days getting things organized for classes and a new job. The house is starting to get semi clean again and I have been working my butt off to get in shape for my PT test in October. I promise that I will get back on my writing schedule after school starts back up, but right now, LIFE IS CRAZY.

I hope all my readers are having a good couple of weeks and I will be sure to be on top of my blog next week!

Here is a great picture of Matt and I on an Air Boat ride at the Wisner Tractor Pull! (: Isn't he cute (:

Picture "Canvas" for the Wall!

After getting everything moved in and completing the list of 10 Things to Do After Moving to a New City, I am excited to be getting some home decorating done! I am also so excited about this project! I have done three of them and they have all turned out great! My goal for the new apartment was to decorate and make it feel like home after we finally got moved in. Matt could not care less about what is on the walls, but I do. I love decorating and having everything colorful. I have been working on the dining room and the living room the most, but my next goal is the bathroom and bedroom.

I decided that I wanted to have quotes hanging on the walls, but I didn't want to pay $25+ for the decorative signs that you can find on the internet.

15 Ways to Drink More Water

While I was at AIT, we had this Platoon Sergeant that was hilarious. Everyone always thought that he was joking, but you never wanted to get on his bad side. He always called me the nerd and the baby of the platoon. He would always listen to our complaints and our problems, but if there was really nothing he could do about it, his answer was always "Drink Water." He simply meant that nothing is going to change so you might as well sit back and wait. He said it at least 15 times every day. He was known for this phrase. If something is going wrong, Drink water.

He wasn't far off. As I did some research for today's blog, I realized that water is one of the most under utilized drinks as well as free and the healthiest. All of the times you should be drinking water, are probably taken over by other substances like pop or coffee.

• Make it available. Don't go anywhere without a glass or bottle of water, even to another room.
• Decorate a cool water bottle. Personalize your water bottle and make it fun. (even if you get made fun of for it a little bit.) 
• Drinking from a straw can help you take bigger gulps at a time without thinking about it. 
• Drink a full glass right away when you wake up. This is a great way to start your day off right.
• One Full glass before every meal will help suppress your appetite and make you eat less.
• Drink at least one glass with every meal, also helping to suppress your appetite, but it will also aid with digestion.
• Carry a big water bottle with you. Keep a cup next to you and continuously refill the cup with the bottle. It will seem like you are drinking it quicker and will actually help you
• Set a timer on your phone for every hour and ensure that you have at least drank 4 ounces of water that hour (more if you are doing something active)
• Add some fruit to it. There are a ton of great recipes out there
• If you just can't seem to drink enough straight water, it is okay to get the low calorie, low sugar crystal light packages to add to your water bottles. Because it is better than pop!
• If you don't think you can make it through the morning without a Diet Coke, for every ounce of Diet Coke you drink, try doubling or tripling it in water. I have also seen people who force themselves to drink 3 or 4 glasses of water before they get the pop. (This can also give you time to realize that you really don't need the pop.)
• Tea can also be a good way of drinking water, but try to make it decaf when possible. (Caffeine is a diuretic, which makes you more dehydrated in the long run.)
• Keep a chart with how many glasses you are drinking every day. This can be a good way to ensure that you are drinking enough, but also to create a habit (it takes 21 days to create a habit, 30 days to officially break it) 
• Free apps like Waterlogged keeps track of how much you have drank on your phone. My Fitness Pal has an input place also. 
• Eating something a little spicy will ensure that you down that glass of water before the meal is over. 

Overall, knowing the benefits of water to your body can help you want to drink water as well! Enjoy your water and the benefits like glowing skin, more energy, and weight loss are just a few reasons to keep drinking up!

Are there other tips that keep you hydrated? Please share!

Check out the other Weigh In Wednesdays! 

Easiest Shredded Chicken EVER!

I have spent a lot of time on Pinterest in the last few weeks trying to figure out what to make for supper. I always like having a good idea of the next few days and it is much easier to do all the grocery shopping at once!

  Last week, I made some chicken pot pie filling that called for cooked, shredded chicken and realized that this is one of the most versatile things that you can make in bulk and have on hand for unplanned lazy nights.
   With the shredded chicken, we have made Pot Pies, enchiladas, and BBQ Chicken Sandwiches, but the possibilities are endless.


First I threw the chicken breasts in the crockpot with enough water to cover the bottom of the crockpot. I cooked them on low for about 2-3 hours.

Once they were done, I took them out and put them in the fridge for a little while so they could cool off. 

Once they were completely cool, I took them out and shredded them with my hands. I put a little bit of salt in with it and put it in a tuperware container and put it in the fridge. 

The possibilities are really endless with shredded chicken and it is super easy to freeze and save for later!

Do you make yours a different way? What recipes do you use shredded chicken in?  Please share with me!

Check it out for other Tasty Tuesdays every week!

Saving Money while you are Abroad!

    So, you raised all the money you needed for the trip. You are walking off the plane into a whole new country. Congratulations! But now you have to figure out how to not burn through your entire bank account while you are in the country. I can help! While I was in South Africa, I spent a little more than I had expected to, but I also had the trip of a lifetime. These are the 5 tips that I figured out while I was there!


1. Don't promise people gifts from the country. 
   I know you want to bring every single person you know something back, which is fine if you have the money, but most of the time you don't. I brought stuff back for my boyfriend, my little brother, my parents, and his parents. Outside of that I really didn't bring home gifts for a lot of people. If  you can, see if you can hold them off for birthday/ Christmas gifts depending on when your out of the country. In this case, the gift would act as two gifts in one!

Post 1 of 3: What Strengths Training Did For Me

I want to apologize to anyone who talks to me on a daily basis for anytime in the future. I have just completed the strengths training through the TeamMates and Gallup partnership! So bare with me if you have no idea what I am talking about or if you think I am a little crazy.

This is my first post of the series. There will be two more coming up, so make sure you look out for them!

   My first reaction to my strengths when I took the strength finder was "My mom has these on her top 5 and I am just like my mom, so why don't I have them on my top 5." I didn't know why I wasn't a Maximizer and I thought for sure that I would be a Woo. I think that I was almost disappointed with my top 5 because they weren't what I was expecting, but after reading through the definitions of each of my top 5, I understood immediately what those strengths looked like within me.

Input: People who have a high theme of input have a craving to know more. Often archive all kinds of information.

Learner: These people have a high desire to learn and continuously improve. Typically enjoy the learning process more than the outcome of it.

Discipline: Very focused and pleased by routine and structure.

Significance: Often want to be very important in others eyes. They are independent and want to be recognized.

Achiever: they work hard and posses a great deal of stamina. They take satisfaction with being productive and busy

Now, I have to say that when I first say the significance, I HATED it. I didn't like the idea of needing the approval of others. I didn't want to have significance on my top 5.

After I completed the actual day of training, I realized why I have significance. My mom is a maximizer, which means that good can always be great. This often left me feeling like I wasn't good enough. I was doing so many things in high school. I was working full time and involved in every club in high school, but I always felt like there should be one more thing that I should be doing on top of everything. I still have that feeling, but it is not nearly as strong. Thankfully, my mom being a maximizer led me to a great resume and lots of scholarships, but it also fed my significance strength.

Now that I look at each, individual strengths. It's obvious. I understand who I am and why I do some of the odd things that I do.

Input: I have every single note I have taken since 8th grade science, because I might need that information or someone else might need it. In fact, I just used all of my notes from Freshman Biology and AP Biology during Spring semester this year for my biology class. Conveniently, we did a lot of the same labs.

Learner: I could read for DAYS if people and real life wouldn't interrupt me. I have a list in the back of every single notebook from conferences and discussions of books that people mention for me to read. Will I read them, yes. Maybe some of them. But having that list of books I want to read is the way I am going to learn.

Discipline: Military. nuff said. I crave a day to day schedule and I crave to know what is happening the next day.

Significance.. This mostly relates to my military as well. I go out of my way to do a lot of stuff for people, just for a simple thank you. I often get frustrated when I am not appreciated or my hard work goes unnoticed.

Achiever: This I get from my mom. Some call it a hard work ethic. Some call it an over achiever. I have been called both.


Names that I have been called to make my strengths seem negative:

• Nosy
• Brown Noser
• Know it All, Nerd
• Control Freak
• Too Organized
• OCD
• Suck Up
• Over Achiever.

     The strengths training made me realize that the names that I have been called, are not a bad thing about me. They are a good thing. They are what makes me, Me! (: I am uniquely me.
   I also learned that it is a 1 in 1.33 million chance that you share the exact same top 5 in the same order. That makes me unique.

How would you feel after learning why you do some of the weird things that you do. How could this help you as an adult or how could it have helped you in 3rd/4th grade. What about high school?

Input: Always looking things up

Learner: Blocks that you use to start learning your letters

Discipline: 12 pt Font. Times New Roman

Significance: Biggest font, bright yellow, Underlined

Achiever: A very busy font

If you are interested in this strengths finder, all you have to do is go to this website. There is a fee of a little less than $10, but it is well worth it. After completing the questions, the site will reveal your top 5 and give you the information about them. 

    This is a great thing to use to figure out what your strengths are and how you can use them to benefit you! 

Have you already done the strengths finder? What are your top 5 and how did they help you!?

10 Things I Wish I Had Known Before Starting College

As college gets closer and closer, I keep thinking about all the things that I have learned and worked on since I started college last year. There are a lot of things that I truly wished that I would have known before started college that I didn't think I would need to know. Some of these things are from other people. There are a lot more things, and every person you ask will be slightly different in the things that they tell you, but it is still good to have some idea before walking into class.


1. Write a well versed paper
    Chances are you are going to walk into your first class on the first day and you will learn that you will have to write at least one paper for that class. This is something that comes over time and needs to be worked on. I started developing these skills in high school English classes and realized how thankful I was to have had 3 really great composition teachers over my 4 years of high school. If you lack these skills, take an English class. Chances are you have to take one anyway, but try to take it fall semester of your freshman year. Sit down with your professor during office hours and have them help you.
   Many colleges have writing centers available by appointment as well. You can take a paper into the writing center and they will go over it with you to help you improve it. The goal is not to go in for every paper, but to learn from the changes that they want you to make when you go in there. Try going every 2 months or so, because your writing will change and you will still have room for improvement.
   Also, if you have multiple papers due for one class over the semester, write the first one. Unless you get a 100% on your paper (Super unlikely), go talk to that professor during their office hours. Ask them what they would have liked to see differently and what you could have improved for your next one.
Life Hack: After you finish writing a paper, copy and paste it into Google Translate on English. You will find a ton more errors than you will just skimming it over.

2. Write a thesis
      All research papers need to have a solid thesis for your professors to be able to follow. A thesis sums up your entire paper in one sentence. It is really not hard, but asking your high school English teachers to really focus on your thesis when looking at your papers is an easy way to figure out what you are doing!

Making Fitness Goals

I have always struggled with the motivation to lost weight. I know that I could do it if I actually just focused and put a good amount of effort into it, but every time I start, I seem to lose it pretty quickly. It is super frustrating.

I have decided that by my 20th birthday. I want to be at my goal weight. I want to make these fitness goals.

That gives me 128 days. a little over 18 weeks to accomplish my goals.

I know I am relatively healthy, but I want to be more. I want to be at my optimal goal weight and be able to continue with the things I want to do.

Today, I started my challenge off with a 3 mile run. I got up when Matt was leaving for work instead of sleeping the extra hour that I could have, and went for a run on the path that we typically go on walks. Just as I walked inside from my run, it started down pouring. That just shows that if I were to sleep that extra hour, I wouldn't have gone for a run.

Cookbook!

 
 The hardest part of cooking for me is knowing what to cook. I have started to enjoy cooking over the last couple of years. I know that I have become an aspiring chef in my own kitchen thanks to Pinterest. Let's just say I didn't get grandma's cooking skills, they have been learned instead of handed down. I am slowly working on figuring out this whole cooking combined with grocery shopping thing. I can at least say I am getting better.

5 Ways to Raise Money to Go Abroad!

  This summer has been absolutely crazy. After getting back from South Africa I have been trying to focus on getting moved into our new apartment and making it a home. Then I had 2 weeks of military training out in Fort Carson. (Great Time) But I feel like yet another summer has slipped away from me.
   I am just getting Thank You's done from my South African Donors, 2 months after getting home.. Even though they have been on my list of things to do... since I got home. Slowly but surly this summer is coming to an end.
  All of that being said, I am finally starting to get some of my study abroad posts up onto my blog! Woo!

Studying abroad is well worth the money. I don't regret a single penny that I spent on the trip, but I do wish I would have watched my finances a little more closely. Here are 5 Tips for raising money for your trip, because it is no secret that it costs an arm and a leg sometimes. It is hard to pay for an entire trip straight out of pocket so follow these: