“Whatever you are, be a good one.”

I haven't felt uber inspired to blog lately. I hurt my shoulder and haven't really been able to work out, so my weight loss goals have stalled a bit. Which is incredibly frustrating. My apartment is a mess because I have been so busy lately, and I just feel like AHHHH my life is out of control. But anywho.

Let's talk about life the past few days. This week started with a 2+ hour trip to th vet to find out Tux is dying again and he gets to go back on big nasty meds. Woohoo. Luckily, my vet is amazing. If you EVER need a vet in Tuscaloosa, go to McLendon. You will love them.

Other than that, this week we've been dealing with a lot of stupidity in our state recently. From the racist actions on our campus to the poisoning of the trees at Toomer's Corner, Alabama is in the media for all the wrong reasons. It makes you hang your head, sigh, and ask how people can be SO ignorant.

But let's move on to some more exciting news (my brain is everywhere today).

You may or may not have been aware, but I have been talking to the people at Pie Lab (www.pielab.org, you need to go. now.) about designing a line of aprons for them. Well, it's official, and I am. =D We will also be holding a fun apron fashion show on March 26th. I'll be spending several of my weekends between now and then in Greensboro working with some of the lovely local ladies (and maybe some men!) sewing away on some of MY own designs. =D I'm SO excited!!

I might not necessarily have a TON of free time, but it is SO exciting and such an awesome opportunity there is no way I could say no.

Even though I have a lot of fun stuff going on, I've been a bit of a Debbie Downer lately. I've been super duper busy, and it's just been bringing me down. But what I've been spending a lot of my time on was my research for Crenshaw Leadership Academy. It's a really awesome program for HES majors. They choose 15 people each year, and I was selected. Along with two other girls from CTD, we researched textile waste. The Academy consists of a one day, eight hour retreat at the NorthRiver Yacht Club. Well, today was the retreat. And it was AMAZING.

I don't think I've ever shared my views on things like this, or politics, or anything else where you're essentially being pat on the back and saying oh good job you're so awesome. It bothers me, a lot. Some people have to have that recognition, but a lot of times it's just BS and a waste of time and money. It's all a show to make people seem important.

Well, I can say that Crenshaw was not. We spent our morning listening to some of the HES faculty talk about what it means to be a good leader (standard leadership meeting talk) and then we got to hear from Stewart Welch, who is an amazing man/speaker. He spoke for an hour and a half, and literally made me want to go out and save the world. He is a self made millionaire and one of the most sincere speakers I've ever heard. I'm always a little leery about professional public speakers. They are usually so phony. But he genuinely wanted to help us succeed. He didn't come in with the usual, you are the future, you need to lead blah blah blah. He told us what HE did to become successful, and how that could work for us. He also passed out money. That was kind of hilarious. Brittany won $100. I kid you not. But anyway. From there, we toured the museum (which I've been to many many times) and then we went back and had poster presentations. Ours was the only printed and laminated one. haha. It looked SO legit. What was really awesome though was how well prepared everyone was to speak about their topics. We had some interesting discussions as a result. After we all presented, we walked over to the country club and had dinner with Mayor Maddox. That man is amazing. He was so inspiring and such a great, sincere speaker. After hearing him and Mr. Welch, I really want to start a revolution right now.

During dinner, Ms. Brakefield announced that we won the poster competition. Woohoo! We got mugs and shakers and coasters. hehe. It was cool.

So after all of that, I came back home and now I REALLY need to clean. Chris and Amy are coming to visit me tomorrow!! I'm SO excited. I need to figure out what we are going to do though!!

Overall, I really need to start taking control of my life. I need to get and stay organized, and I need to prioritize. School comes first, but I need to stop letting my extracurriculars consume me. This Pie Lab thing is a huge deal, as is Tee Time.

Oh yeah, did you guys know I started a huge t-shirt drive to collect t-shirts for Tee Time? I'm working with the Source and Panhellenic to collect used shirts rather than buy new ones. =D Great idea, yes? :P

But anyway, I need to get control. I need to REALLY work out everyday. My eating has stayed really solid, which makes me feel good. And a lot of people have been commenting that I look like I've lost weight. Which is awesome. I obviously have a LONG way to go, but it's nice to see some progress.

PS, I've heard a lot of people are unsure about whether they can comment on it or not. YOU CAN! There is a reason I am publicly blogging about this journey. I am SO open to questions, comments, whatever. I need you all to keep me accountable, and you have really provided a lot of encouragement to keep me going. I want to be svelt and sexy for NYC this summer, so I need that to keep me on track.

How random and all over the place is this post? Seriously.

But anywho. I really should clean. That will be step one of reorganizing my life.

"We live not according to reason, but according to fashion."

So who is excited about Fashion Week? Me? You? Everyone? Probably not everyone. But you and I are! So let's look at some photos!!

First off, I have heard A LOT of designers claim the 70's as their inspiration. And you can certainly tell. From the mustard yellow to the velvet, to the leisure suit-esque outfits, I find myself questioning a lot of the old standbys. What is this? Since when do we really want to bring the 70's back?

There also seems to be a surge of designers pulling inspiration from menswear for their womenswear collections. Which, obviously, makes me extremely happy.

Okay, so, after probably 2 or so hours of looking at every show up on style.com thus far, I give you:

MY FAVORITES!

Christian Siriano

He is one of the few Project Runway guys to actually make a legitimate name for himself. I like the progression of his show; dark to light, of course ending with the big evening gowns. I didn't love some of his choices, but overall I love his attention to detail and his awesome tailoring.

Edun

I had never heard of Edun before. Some of the prints were strange, but I love that they were put on wearable garments. The mixing was daring, but it's something that most people can handle.

Jason Wu

I.LOVE.JASON.WU.

Luca Luca

Yosemite as an inspiration? Love it.

Prabal Gurung

I have always loved him. 

Ruffian

 I had no idea who they were. And some of it is weird. But aren't these amazing?? And their inspo was the tuxedo. My love, my love, my love.

Rebecca Minkoff

Rebecca, I didn't know what I was missing. You are fabulous!

Rachel Zoe

Was anyone else unaware that Rachel was a designer now? Does anyone else wonder who is on her design team? Does anyone else really really love almost the entire collection?

Steven Alan

I'm glad to know of this man now. He's a little bit of a weirdo, but I love it. "He and his designers dove into Yosemite in the sixties, photographer Glen Denny's shots from his days as a tune-in, turn-on, drop-out climber in the Yosemite Valley. Cue the new Steven Alan man: a little natty, a little folksy, a Dylan in the desert."

So there you have it! There is A LOT more to come from F/W '11, and I can't promise this much of a dedication to the rest of the week, but I will do my best to keep you posted on all of the beauties coming out of it. Love it, love you!

"Tis one thing to be tempted, another thing to fall."

I wrote a nice blog post a few days ago complete with reviews of some lunch items that are super delicious. However, my computer decided to DIE before I could post it. Sad Theresa. So...that one will have to wait.

Let's talk about plateaus and temptations.

At this point, I am at the weight I have been for the past several years. I have serious issues with fluctuations, partly because I'm a girl, and partly because my body is insane. But right now is probably the "lightest" I've been for any substantial period in the past few years. Which is sad, and frustrating. But we're moving past that.

So I hit this weight, and everything kind of came to a halt. It's like my body was like, "Oh, wait, you want to go past this? No, no, we've been there before. You always come back here. So why don't we just stay here?" And so I plateaued for a good week or so. Which is INCREDIBLY frustrating. But at least I am mostly aware of the reasons why.

As most of you know, my life is INSANE most of the time. I'm at class/work all day, I do homework, and then I'm so exhausted I crawl into bed around 1 or so in the morning. This isn't really conducive to a regular, healthy workout regimen. My goal was to get up an extra thirty minutes early, work out, then get ready. And then I was supposed to do another thirty minutes when I got home. Funny thing, though, life happened. I weighed getting up vs getting an extra thirty minutes of sleep, and sleep won every time. And my homework has been so ridiculous, and I have been in the lab almost every night. I don't think I got home before midnight any night this week. (Besides tonight when the weather was like WHAT'S UP?! I'M GOING TO BE A TOTAL JERK!)

So yeah. I stopped working out pretty much completely. I still try to take the stairs everywhere, and I walk a whole ton when I'm on campus, but when I get home, I'm so beat it just doesn't happen. So I'm recommitting myself to getting up a little early. I'm going to TRY to be more on top of my homework, and get into a regular sleep schedule. At this point, I think three days a week of getting up early is a realistic goal.

While standing firmly on that awful plateau, I realized just how easy it is to fall to temptation. I'm not talking big scary things here; I'm talking stupid food that looks super delicious but is totally terrible for you. If you have ever been in Nott Hall, you know of Mrs. Batson's infamous candy jar. I've only fallen to that twice, and it was only for one or two pieces, but it's a slippery slope. When you go out to eat with friends, sometimes it's easier to just order like they do, but in the end you'll just regret it. If you have a goal, you have to do your damnedest to reach it.

Now, we're not talking about depriving yourself here. Last night, I wanted ice cream. So Autumn and I went. But the difference is, I got nonfat froyo, with fruit toppings. (Which, truthfully, is what I always get there.) But if I had been like, NO, NO ICE CREAM FOR YOU, I would have failed miserably. Eventually, I would have been like MUST. EAT. SWEETS. and gone overboard.

It really is all about moderation. And making the best choices. For example, I LOVE salt & vinegar chips. However, chips are not really good for you. So I found popchips at Target, and I'm completely hooked. A full size bag is only 360 calories, whereas a small snack bag of regular chips is usually over 200. 22 popchips is only 120 calories. And they are chips made of popcorn and are deliiicious.

But what do you do when you go to the chinese restaurant with your friends and you REALLY want sesame chicken?

You order it.

SAY WHAAAA? No, really. You do. But here's the thing; most restaurants are more than willing to accommodate your requests. I knew I wanted sesame chicken, and I also knew that fried things A. were bad for me and B. made me want to vomit. So I explained this to the super nice waiter and he was like well, we can just make it with steamed chicken. YES. So I got to eat my yummy sesame chicken without feeling guilty. (With steamed rice of course...don't you go falling off the bandwagon with that fried rice.)

I'm not saying we don't all slip up every once in a while. Trust me, we all do. But you have to realize that you can't let it completely ruin your day, or your life change. (See, no use of the word diet here.) You just have to be mindful of your choices, and think about your longterm goals. Tonight, I've been craving chicken wings something fierce. But I don't have any chicken, so I can't make healthy ones. And the pizza place chicken wings are awful for you. I debated just ordering them, but what's the point? I can make a huge dinner for the same amount of calories as a couple of crappy chicken wings. And then next week, I can go to the store and get chicken wings and make my own. Huzzah for knowing how to cook!

So there you go. Don't let plateaus and temptations shove you off course. Sometimes you might get a little lost, or hit a dead end, but there's always an alternate route to get you back on track!

I have to end with a picture, right? No, how about with some music. My old best friend Angie discovered Backseat Goodbye in high school, and I have been obsessed with him ever since. I have every album he's put out, and I think you should go give him a listen. Pretty much everything is amazing, but this is the song Angie and I played nonstop on the way to and from school.