The Fastest Loser

If you follow me on facebook, you have probably noticed that I have been posting about exercising lately. This is because of the Fastest Loser: Grossnicklaus Edition. Three weeks ago, my mom and I started a race to lose 8 lbs. Here's how it's going:

IT'S FREAKING HARD!! It's one thing to exercise, and it's another to cut calories, but it's a monster to take on both. Here's a few visuals to help you understand my feelings:
 

 

Overall though, I think it's going pretty well.

Week 1: minus 4 lbs

Week 2: plus 1 lb

Week 3: minus 2 lbs

Week two I broke down and ate fast food... twice. It wasn't my finest moment(s). It's AMAZING how bad fast food is. I even got a McWrap and the calorie count was not that much better than a burger.

Anywho, the few rules I'm living by right now:

1. DO NOT eat when you're not hungry.

2. STOP eating when you are no longer hungry.

3. NO soda. Ever.

4. Run every other day RELIGIOUSLY.

I don't feel that much different on the inside, but I can definitely tell on the outside. Love handles are shrinking and lower belly shrinking. (yayyy!!) I guess all I needed was a little motivation.

"Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So... get on your way!" Dr. Seuss

Money Lei

Crafting today. I had to come up with a graduation present for this weekend, and of course, money is what came to mind. Buuuuut just money in a card is so boring, so to Pinterest I went. I saw a cute money lei that someone made out of one dollar bills, but they must have put a hundred dollars into it and I was thinking more like twenty-five. So, I added some colored paper and I now I have a fun money lei!

Here's how I did it:

 

1. I got some cardstock of the school colors, 4 pieces but I only ended up needing 2 pieces. I cut each piece into 8 small squares.

2. I folded each little square and 25 ones zig zag by hand. Yes, it took forever. 

3. Then I tied some string and taped each zig zag paper onto the string so they looked like little bow ties. I ended up folding the money in half and then into little bow ties because it looked better than them being longer than the papers.

4. And then, ta-da!! 

I'm all proud of it. It is much more exciting than money in a card!

"From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere." Dr. Seuss

Tattoo Redo

Today, on my mind: a tattoo redo.

Currently, I have a tattoo on my back, between my shoulder blades, that looks like this:

Originally, it was just a plain green outline of Oregon, which I then had covered up with black and put flowers in the middle. Unfortunately, this tattoo that you see here is much, much different than the idea I had in my head.

My idea was to make the outline black (check, actually did that) and put flowers with striped petals in the center (not even close). So, when I went into High Priestess (which I will never go again for a tattoo, most likely), I gave the "artist" an exact picture of the flowers I wanted. It was a bunch of layered tropical flowers with striped petals--bright colors, big pop, really cool. But, the artist told me that the flowers were too detailed to use the picture as a stencil, so she'd have to draw them in by hand (RED FLAG). Yeah, I'm missed that red flag... I was totally trusting and said, "yeah, sure, okay, derrrrr." Apparently, most people (smart people) would have the artist draw it out for them before hand so they could see it, buuuuuuut I did not. Therefore, the "artist" scribbled in some outlines, showed me in the mirror, and we were on our way. At the end of the tattoo, I was so shocked that it looked absolutely nothing like I wanted, but being the people pleaser that I was, I smiled and said I loved it.

Now, don't get me wrong, I do like my tattoo. I like that it's Oregon; I like that it has flowers in it; I like the placement; but it's just not what I had in my master plan. So, now I am brainstorming somewhat of a cover-up and somewhat of an add-on.

I still want the Oregon outline, but maybe blending out of it some bold, thick, black, 3D filigree--almost like a picture frame around what's inside the Oregon. Maybe filigree like these:

Why are they all skulls?... ignore that part. More inspiration for the filigree:

I want the filigree to be like an oval shape, maybe pointing down the spine at the bottom. 

For the inside of the Oregon, I'm a little less sure. Maybe revamped flowers, maybe something completely different. I guess it depends a lot on what the artist is capable of for a cover-up. I'm leaning towards greenery--like a few up close leaves wet with rain? Unsure. 

Here's some inspiration for the inside:

I don't know what's going on with the eyes.... a little creepy, but you get the idea. Green, fresh, wet, realistic, etc. I hope I can find an artist that can do all this. 

Please let me know what you think! And I would love some recommended tattoo artists (local-ish) if anyone has any! 

 "Adults are obsolete children." Dr. Seuss

Let's try this again...

Welp, I tried blogging once and then realized that my life wasn't interesting enough, so I stopped. Since then, I got a new job, Ryen got a new job, and we're moving, so I figure I have more to write about now. But, I still don't know who is going to read this, or if anyone will for that matter, and I'm definitely unsure of my purpose here. Oh well--I'm going to give it a shot. Hopefully I will be able to end every post with a quote from one of my favorite men, Dr. Seuss.

"I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells." Dr. Seuss