Winter Break

This semester was very hard and induced a lot of stress, so I felt a little rest and relaxation was deserved. While I've been home I have watched movies, hung out with my parents and friends as well as start making new recipes! Just wanted to share with you what I've come up with....


Semi-homemade Tomato Bisque:

Ingredients: One Tomato, Celery, Carrots, One 12 oz. can of Chicken Stock, a can of Tomato soup,
tablespoon of butter (unsalted), and whatever seasoning you like best I just used italian.
reduced fat sour cream (to your liking)

Directions:

-Melt the butter in a soup pot and add the celery and carrots that have been chopped pretty
small.
-Cook the vegetables for 8-10 minutes until soft and then add the chicken stock and the                  
 tomato chopped into pieces.
 -Add the tomato soup and just heat all together for a 3 minutes until the soup is hot
 -If you have a hand blender use that to blend the soup, but I just used a blender. Make
 sure you let the soup cool and don't fill about half of the blender.
 -blend in the desired amount of sour cream or plain greek yogurt, season and Enjoy!

This tomato bisque pairs perfectly with a perfect Grilled Cheese! yummy

If you want another healthy version of this which I just tweaked for what I had SkinnyTaste.com has a Tomato Bisque recipe as well. http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/08/tomato-bisque.html

Finals Week

In the spirit of the season it is that all wonderful week we all dread...Finals week! I have been semi-lucky in my years here and have not had too bad of a finals schedule, but we can't all be lucky. The important thing when it comes to Finals is to plan out a study schedule. No matter what you will need more time than you think. Even when I have a pretty easy final I will start studying and with in three hours I'll realize I may have underestimated how much there was to study. Make sure you leave enough time to study for each final fully. Try to find the best place to study, it is different for everyone! If you know your distracted easily don't study at home. If you like to have a busy environment, coffeehouses are always a good choice. When it comes down to it, most people can benefit from the library, it's not the most fun place to be, but it is efficient. Don't forget to have snacks and water wherever you study, if you're not thinking about food you won't have to leave to grab a bite. It's hard, but just try to knock it out and then get as much sleep as possible. Not having classes feels like it would be less exhausting, but it is easy to lose time and sleep during Finals week. Some good tips for this week include:
1. Sleep!! ZZzz
2. Eat healthy food, McDonalds is delicious and fast, but your brain wants good food
3. Make a study schedule for the week
4. Schedule some time to relax
5. Find the perfect place to study
6. Try not to stress too much, just do the best you can!

Being Healthy in College

It is a difficult task to stay healthy in an environment such as a college campus. There is already the difficulty of eating healthy, but with college there are many added hurdles! These can include: no time, no kitchen facility (dorms), increase of fast food and unhealthy restaurants, lack of funds (because in college its okay to be broke). Due to these obstacles eating and staying healthy is unbelievably hard. Here are 10 tips that can help get you by:

1. Eat some sort of fresh fruit or vegetable every day

2. Get to know what snacks are healthy, having little healthy snacks around or in your backpack will help you resist the urge to grab a scone from Starbucks.

3. Plan ahead, if you have a long day on campus pack a sandwich and an apple or whatever sounds good to get you through the day. 

4. Start experimenting with cooking. If you have a kitchen start trying to learn recipes that sound good and eventually start coming up with your own. 

5. Drink less soda! This is a really hard one for me because I LOVE sprite and root beer, but it is so bad for you and just empty calories.

6. Give yourself a break. I can't stress this enough, College is a stressful, fun, up and down kind of life and to expect to eat perfectly is insane. Do the best you can, but don't make it the top priority. If you really want to order pizza, chinese, or whatever strikes your fancy...Do It! 

7. Try to make weekly goals, if you tell yourself on Sunday "I will not eat fries at all this week"you are more likely to remember it and feel it is important. 

8. Get your friends involved, my roommates and I made a goal sheet and we like to cook for each other and workout together. Even something as simple as playing Kinect just to get the blood flowing. 

9. Walk to class!! I live in Indiana and it gets so cold and gross, but walking to class is the easiest way to stay healthy and in shape without feeling like your getting exercise. (Unless it's raining, yuck I just take the bus)

10. Tell yourself every day, "I am beautiful" don't ever let being healthy turn into wanting to look better. If you don't think you are beautiful no one else will be able to see it either. Stay positive no matter what!

Keep looking for posts of recipes and work out routines as well! 

Definitely check out my two favorite sites right now:

 - blogilates.com    (free workout videos) 

 - skinnytaste.com    (amazingly delicious, easy, healthy recipes)

Roommates 101

          One of the hardest relationships to keep are the ones of the people you live with. All I can offer is my advice backed by my 3 years of experience. I have had the worst roommate to the best back to the worst and I’d say the main culprit is knowing how to deal with small issues before they become huge blowouts. I’m currently wishing I had known how to address smaller issues sooner, but it’s also important to know the person your living with if they are going to be a friend. This may sound confusing, but in my experience “pot luck” or random roommates are not a bad option. There is very little need to have anything more than a professional situation and it can even turn into an acquaintance or possibly a friend. That being said, if you want to live with a good friend there are a lot of things you must consider. One, how well do you know that person (really), what are their living “quirks”. Two, ask yourself if you and your friends on the same page on budget, size, location, etc. it’s really important to be on the same page and to discuss it before the lease is signed. Finding the right person to live with is only the first step, living with that person is another part of this touchy situation.

      

           Living with anyone is a different situation than anyone can imagine. There is the business aspect with bills, room choice, and buying supplies (kitchen supplies, furniture, etc.). This can add a lot of strain to a friendship, so it’s helpful to have a plan before you sign and discuss how that will work. Things to talk about could be how to allocate the bills, such as will someone pay the bill and the other tenants can pay that person with cash or check, or the bills could be paid each month by alternating tenants. Next you need to consider who will bring what stuff to fill the apartment. It is extremely important to constantly keep a positive attitude and not to bring personal issues into the arrangements. The best advice I could possibly give is to truly evaluate what living situation will best fit your life. Sometimes the fun of living with your friends can overshadow the possible advantages to living alone or with a random roommate. Every situation is different and everyone has different priorities and you must make sure you make your own priorities instead of trying to alter them for the situation. 

Relationships 101

Relationships are the most difficult to obtain, keep, treasure, and let go of. It’s no surprise that it will take many more posts to come close to grasping the concept, but I feel it’s something worth discussing. 

Recently, I’ve been bombarded with relationship trouble from all my friends. It is so hard to be the friend, therapist, and man-hater all at the same time; I feel torn as to saying what is true or what will make my friends happier. In college especially this is a tough issue, because the amount of relationships that will work out are slim and the maturity level of the males are still just rounding out to the average teenager. 

I myself have been through every trial a relationship can go through; infatuation, love, hatred, heartbreak, and friendship. My experience does not make me an expert but a wiser person perhaps. I am currently in the most amazing relationship I could ever ask for, but this seems to be affecting my friendships in a negative way. I used to be able to bash men and exhaust my relationship problems with the rest of them, but now I feel that saying how happy I am just makes my friends mad. Almost all of my girlfriends are experiencing the woes of dating; from the “won’t commit” to the “relationship addict” I’ve got my hands full. I want so much to be there for all my friends, but I’m human and find myself snapping back with the truth (and sometimes the truth isn’t the best thing to say). When does a girl start charging by the hour?

            

Here's just a few ideas for some relationship advice and fun things for you and your man

http://www.guyspeak.com/?gclid=CIbnvO68sKgCFZFoKgodoktQIw

http://www.loveromancerelationship.com/

http://www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/

College 101 and all that

I’ve been told over and over again to begin a blog. My friends and family believe I have some sort of a knack for relating to people. I never felt I had much to say, but this semester has been especially eventful and it made me think of what I know best. 

I will try to go through all of the trials of a girl in college, from the drama to the course-load. I am not saying I’m an expert by any means, but the fact is we are all looking for someone to say what we’re all thinking so we feel less alone. I hope to achieve that with this blog. I want to cover all the bases, friends, relationships, parties, schoolwork, food and diet, extra-curricula’s, working, etc. I hope to speak to the girls in the world that are trying to balance the world on their shoulders; I want to speak to my friends, sisters, and the lost. Hope you like my blog!