“What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.”

Yesterday was amazing. I woke up at 7, and Ashley met me at my apartment at 8. She was the only one brave enough to get up that early. So we drove down to Greensboro, and it ended up being Ashley, Cate, myself, and two ladies from the community, who were SO nice. Cate made is a cobbler for breakfast (yum!) and we sat for a bit and talked about why we were all there and whatnot. After that, we got to work. I explained to everyone what we were trying to do, and I showed them the patterns I had made. We spent the next 4 hours sewing, talking, and making the most adorable aprons ever. Around noon or one we stopped for lunch, and we had yummy veggie quiche and salad and walnut brownie pie. Yummm. I love Pie Lab.

After lunch, we finished up a few and cleaned up. In total, we got 14 aprons done, which is really really impressive. It was such a blast. Ashley had never really sewn before, and she was a pro by the end. It was nice to come together with people I've never really met before and do something so fun.

That's really what I want this experience to be about. Yes, it's an opportunity for me to get my name out there, and to show people some of what I can do, but it's also an opportunity to get the word out about Pie Lab, and bring the community together. We got nothing but positive feedback from everyone who came in, and everyone was so excited about the fashion show.

Once I get everything off my phone, I'll post some pictures. And the flyers for the show. But here are the details:

Apron Fashion Show!

March 26, 7 pm

Pie Lab, Greensboro

Come enjoy the new line of aprons at Pie Lab, and bring some of your own to show off!

"One cannot be deeply responsive to the world without being saddened very often."

Life is kind of hard sometimes. Well, a lot of times. Everyone is so different and everyone's lives are so different. I have a difficult time because I don't really know how my life fits into anyone else's.

The observation was made today that the people in fashion design aren't really "my kind of people." Which sounds harsh, but it's really pretty true. I didn't grow up knowing I wanted to be in fashion. I just kind of fell into it. I feel like if I had one more year of high school, I might have ended up somewhere completely different. Fashion design was just the last thing I decided before college applications went out.

I don't really think that's true, but sometimes I feel so out of place. I wanted to be a math major for a while, because I really enjoyed math. Now, I haven't had a single math class since senior year of high school, and it makes me feel dumb. I don't remember the stuff I learned, and I would probably fail miserably at math. Which makes me really sad, because I feel like a lot of people just assume I'm not intelligent because I'm in fashion design. There is a stereotypical fashion design major, and I am certainly not it.

On the other side of the coin, you have my CBH minor. I love CBH, but I also feel ill-prepared and stupid a lot of the time. I talk about how wonderful it is to combine CBH and fashion, but it really just ends up pulling me in two opposite directions and leaving me without a place I really "belong."

That sounds SO melodramatic, and it probably is. But I've spent so much time and energy on being "different" and "unique" and yada yada that I never got the chance to really figure out what I'm exceptionally good at, or where I really fit. This is where a lot of my life problems stem from. I'm involved all over the place, and I have friends from all of these different areas, but they don't ever really mesh well.

I feel like I'm on the outside of all of these groups looking in. I don't ever really feel like a true part of many things. This can include classes, activities, and a lot of times, friend groups. Since I'm not really a part of these different programs, I don't really feel a part of the groups of friends I've made in them. I think some of my friends can feel it too, and that makes me feel excluded a lot of the time. Hello melodrama again, but it really feels like I'm the odd man out a good portion of the time.

I still don't know where I really shine, or where I'm even going to end up in my life. I'm completely and utterly lost at the moment, and it scares the hell out of me.

I might just be severely lacking in sleep, but it's a place I've been for a while now. Really, for a good portion of this year. I know I still have a year of college left, but I'm so lost in so many aspects of my life, I don't know where to begin. That's why I lose it so quickly lately. I'm so stressed and frustrated, because I can't figure things out that I used to be sure of. I don't enjoy things I used to, and I don't feel like the same person anymore. And like I said, that scares the hell out of me.

I can't seem to get back on track, because I don't know what that track is. I've been on autopilot, just going through the motions, and I don't know where my passion went. I'm so consumed by work and school and extracurriculars that I haven't had a moment to think. And I won't have a moment anytime in the foreseeable future.

Just so you all know, I will most likely be back to happy Theresa tomorrow. I have stupid mood swings, and I tend to get inspired to blog when I'm down in the dumps. I'm super pumped about the Pie Lab stuff, I'm just so overwhelmed I can't seem to focus on that happiness.

I love you all, and I'm sorry I've been such a Debbie Downer. I'm trying to fix it. I just don't really know how.

“Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more.”

Today, I left work expecting to arrive at the Zeta Tau Alpha house and pick up a handful of t-shirts, or maybe a garbage bag's worth.

Today, I left work, arrived at the Zeta Tau Alpha house, and picked up FIVE HUNDRED THIRTY ONE t-shirts. 531. Five hundred thirty one. My jaw dropped. They were the only sorority to participate, and they will be receiving 531 Panhellenic points, as well as free tickets to the show and a huge thank you and recognition at the show.

I also got word today that we collected close to 200 t-shirts from other student organizations through the Source as well.

Ladies and gentlemen, that makes a grand total of well over 700 t-shirts. I am SO excited!!

I started to freak out a little about what we were going to do with all of them, then I realized we don't have to use them ALL this year. They can be our collection for next year as well!

I will have to cut all of the ZTA letters off the shirts, but hey, I'm okay with that. (Any offers of help are much appreciated!!)

Let's see. This weekend will be just as busy as the last one was. I will head down to Greensboro with some fabulous friends in tow, and we will spend our Saturday making aprons and bonding with some lovely ladies at Pie Lab. It's going to be wonderful.

Everyone stay tuned for the fabulous apron fashion show, as well as Tee Time, which are both shaping up to be quite the event. I need to get some press involved for both of them. Anyone interested? :)

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought."

I don't sleep much. My apartment is an absolute wreck. I can't focus on anything because there's too much to do.

But that's life.

Tux is still alive. I go to the vet once or twice a week, we give him shots, I give him meds twice a day, and we just pray like crazy that he is going to be okay. He has gained a half a pound in the past week, which is a big deal. Hopefully he will keep going and his blood count will go up.

This weekend, we had the CBH Finalist Visit. That was an adventure. I ran around like a crazy person all weekend and spent 8 hours Monday interviewing people. It was really fun, though. I like helping decide who will join our program.

Saturday I spent 7 hours at my dining room table studying for world lit. Seven hours. literally. I got up for the essentials and that was it. Then I went to Clay's and he made dinner for Abi and me. Yummm. That was a nice way to get away from homework.

Sunday and Monday were CBH. YAAAAA

Yesterday was my World Lit midterm. I'm pretty confident I got a solid A. I studied a lot, and it wasn't too bad. Thank goodness.

Last night we had a Fashion, Inc. meeting. We nominated officers. I got nominated for President. Exciting. :) I would LOVE to do it. I'm planning to focus on Fashion, Inc. next year and none of the other ridiculous things I got involved with this year. Then I went to dinner with Liz, Maryalice, and Stephanie. I'm so glad I found girls in fashion that I can actually relate to. :)

Let's see...the rest of my week will be spent making aprons for Pie Lab. I'm SO excited! We are having a work day this Saturday and the fashion show will be at the end of March.

In other news, the t-shirt drive has been a relative success, and I loooove the Source for partnering with us on this!

“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.