Awkwardness to Independence

Week 10: I dislike teenagers and bras

2015-02-28T17:47:00.000-05:00

This week has been an interesting one, especially on Wednesday. But before that... I have been dealing with school, of course. But I have been going to a deli in Clarksville/ Columbia area that is owned by the parents of one of my sorority sisters. It is called, Ruthie's Deli & Cafe.

It is a small deli with wifi in the store and the nicest ladies making the sandwiches. I went there twice about two weeks ago since it was 5-15 minutes away from the elementary schools I went to for Brickz for Kids.

This is the Ruthie Panini, which has corned beef, cole slaw, swiss cheese with Russian dressing on rye bread

This is the Bulgogi Sandwich, which has Korean style marinated beef with provolone cheese, lettuce, tomato, and banana peppers.

Out of the two of them, I liked the Bulgogi Sandwich the best. I think that the meat was sweet and delicious with a nice tartness from the banana peppers and a little heat. It was delicious. You can add fresh fruit instead of chips for an extra $1.50? I think, but I feel like it is worth it since I felt so much healthier after eating the fruit. Plus, I am in love with fruit.

Anyways... back to my story... This Wednesday, I went to a new elementary school to work with these two teenagers (Jake and Sam) since I will be taking over their class next week. They are going to be leaving for spring sports. I was talking to Jake about this senior year of high school and he was complaining to me about how hard it was. Here was the convo:

Jake: Senior year is really tough. It is the hardest year of high school.

Me: Well, after AP exams you can coast and not show up to school basically.

Jake: I can't. I am already in hot water, I can't get into any more trouble.

Me: What did you do?

Jake: (after like 10 minutes of asking) I got suspended... I got turnt at school. I got turnt on a water bottle and a half of Grey Goose. I threw up in the hallway. If I made it to the bathroom, I would have never gotten caught.

I was silent after this for a while, I could not believe that this happened. So I started to leave the building to go home.

Me: Well, I don't feel bad for you since I believe you deserve to get caught. But good luck with your senior year and college.

Jake: What?! Are we never going to see each other again?

Me: No. You are leaving next week, and yeah.

Jake: What?

Me: When are we ever going to see each other again?

Jake: When we party together

Me: I am 25, I am not going to party with you.

Sam: Does that mean you can buy us drinks?

Yeah... I hate teenagers. They have no idea how hard life is going to be when you get suspended from school because you were drinking?

Later that night I went to the mall with my housemate, Young, to get her boobs measured. I have gotten this done since I was 12. But back in the day, the Victoria Secret worker measured me in the middle of the store over my hoodie and jacket. On this night, Young and the sales associate walked to the dressing rooms and went into a room. Young started taking off her jacket and sweater. Internally, I was freaking out. I kept thinking, "Why are we in here? Am I going to have to go topless?" So, I asked, "How far do I need to go?" as I was taking off my jacket. Young told me to about my shirt would be fine since the sales associate can measure through my clothing.

After she measured the both of us, I moved to a different fitting room. The sales associate gave me a bra in my size and told me to try it on. Once I put it on she told me, "I need to see it on." So I threw on my t-shirt, and walked out. She gave me a crazy look implying that I need to take my shirt off for her to see. She gave me a push up bra instead because... I have no boobs. She came in after I put on the push up. She instructed me to pull on the middle part of the bra. She asked, "Do you mind?" and gestured to my boobs. I said, "No." She started to re-adjust my boobs in this bra for me. I went to second base with this woman and I had no idea what her name was.

I found out about an hour later what her actual name was. Life lesson: I am apparently easy and let people just touch my boobs. I need a push up. Always.

Week 8: Valentine's Means I Eat All The Chocolate

2015-02-12T17:59:00.000-05:00

Wow, the weeks and time that I am living here has been going by so quickly. Soon it will be that I have lived here for two months. Last Friday, I was going to blog, but I ended up doing homework and going to Pub Dog in Fed Hill with some of my friends. Jimin is one of my friends is starting a blog too. Here is the link, I will say that her blog makes my mouth water. I love looking at her blog and pretending to be there. Wow... writing that down makes me seem like a loser. We also ended up going to Pitango Gelato and getting gelato. It was tons of fun to see them and eat delicious food. Our friend Gina came back from California for her birthday weekend, so we hung out with her. It was awesome.

Graduate school is already kicking my butt, I feel like I am constantly behind and not really informed about what is going on. But I am slowly making friends, a group of girls added me to their WhatsApp chat about the class. They seem really nice and on top of their own assignments. They also seem really close, which makes me feel a little left out.

On top of the stress, I got sick this week. I have been staying at home. I didn't get to go to my field placement because I woke up yesterday not being able to talk. I have been practicing, "I'm Batman" randomly when I am by myself. I have also been trying out my Bane voice too, "Take back your city Gotham!" I look super crazy a lot.

As a roommate bonding activity, Young, Hyman, and I have been playing Heads Up, which is a game that has been made famous by Ellen. It is great. Awesome investment and great amount of entertainment for just a cellphone game. Here are our videos:

This is the Super Heroes category, which I was holding the phone.

This is Act It Out category. Hyman was holding the phone.

Yesterday night, Young and I were just hanging out since I spent the whole day at home by myself not talking. I just needed to converse with people! I also started to make chocolate covered strawberries because Valentine's week to me isn't complete without chocolate or strawberries. I wanted to make it for my housemates as well.

It was super easy to make it since I use microwaveable chocolate and dipped the strawberries right in. It is super important to wash the strawberries and dry them really well or the chocolate will start to harden. Young mentioned to me about how she thought chocolate-covered strawberries were usually only half covered and didn't really like them. She thought it was funny how mine were a 1:1 ratio. Towards the end, the chocolate started to harden from cooling and running out. Young and I crushed about half of them before Hyman came home. We need to finish them tonight.

If I had a Valentine, I would be making like a zillion of these babies. Actually, let's be honest, if I had more money, I would make a zillion for myself.

With school and my field placement going on, I haven't been cooking as much or taking pictures of it. I have been missing it. I think I need to start finding a balance in my life. I need to start making time for blogging, e-buddies, volunteering, and my life.

How do people handle it so well?

Week 6: First Week of Graduate School

2015-01-30T12:32:00.000-05:00

Sorry that I have to change the title of my posts because since school started I have barely had time to cook let alone blog about my life. My weeks are crammed with studying and various school related activities on top of my sorority stuff.

But, what I will say is that so far I really like school. I am in a cohort with 25 other ladies and they are all really nice. I am the only East Asian student in the cohort and there is another South Asian student. We do not have any dudes in our group, but that is okay. Most of the ladies are working with children or just working. There is a good mixture of undergraduates and graduate students.

First day of school was officially the 26th, but I don't have classes on Mondays and Wednesdays only Tuesday and Thursdays. Monday and Wednesday of this week was for orientation for the Early Childhood Education (ECE) program. I met some of the girls that will be doing the same schedule as well. They even suggested that we take a multiple intelligence test for homework. I put in a link if you wanted to see what your strengths are and what you need to improve on. We also made a pie chart representing our areas of strengths and needing improvement.

I clearly need to work on my spacing because 5% looks getting than my 10%s.

Starting school has been me want to get myself into gear, so I made like a weekly assignment doc. I hope that this will help me keep organized and on top of the various assignments that I will have to do.

This doc took me about 2 days to complete since I was waiting for my syllabi from my professors.

I already got my field placement which is apparently similar to a preschool that I went to when I was 4-5 years old. When I told my mom about it she mentioned that to me. I don't remember preschool other than that this girl kept calling me a liar and didn't want to be friends with me.

What I learned about this week? I need to plan better with food. I would come home and have to made a whole meal and do homework. Or I would be running out of the door with little to no food because I didn't time my morning correctly. I decided since Fridays are my off days minus work, I will do laundry, clean, errands, and blog. It will be my catch up day, plus the weekends depending if I am traveling or going home to my parents' house or no. I am planning on leaving early afternoon on Sunday to come back here to Severn since there is snow and I need to cook food for the week.

Day 25: I got this! Not...

2015-01-23T01:49:00.001-05:00

Today is my travel day to Georgia, so last night I laid out all my outfits and accessories for the weekend. I rolled them all into a large packing cube that I have. It left so much room in my suitcase for my toiletries and make up. I guess I can bring home souvenirs? I never really buy them.... I think I am a terrible friend actually.

This morning I woke up knowing that I only needed to pack my backpack and switch my wallet which wouldn't take very long. So I took my time this morning with making my breakfast and cooking sweet potatoes. I waited until about 1PM to start my yoga workout, which was so much more painful than I thought it would be. Jillian Michaels is an intense instructor, I totally get why she was a coah on the Biggest Loser. After 30 minutes of that, I got distracted by Natalie Tran of Community Channel and her hilariously awkward videos. I absolutely love her humor.

I think Sunday night when I get to my laptop I will add links and the YouTube videos. The hotel we are currently at does not let me access internet for free. This makes Princess Kim very sad.

Anyways back to my "I Got This!" moment, I had a 7:05 PM flight to Atlanta, GA today. I planned on driving myself to the airport and parking in the Daily Parking lot. I totally missed the lot when driving and left late. I got super cocky since I now live about 15 minutes from the airport. So I left my house at 6 not accounting for the bus that needs to take me to the terminal. I was late checking in my bag, so it was going to be on the next flight to Atlanta leaving at 8:10 and arriving at 10:10. This is an hour after I land, I debated whether I should carry on and thought, "Meh this means I can wait for my friend, Diem and travel with her." My flight was boarding at 6:35, I was at security by 6:37. So I was late. Just so late because I was cocky and thought I could do things at my own time. Life lesson: Always arrive at the airport at least 15-30 minutes before the flight boards & always check when your flight is going to board.

I got priority check in for Southwest meaning that I got A section boarding, but since I was late... I was after C section boarding. The last few people in the plane.

I feel awful for my friends I traveled with since two of them from NY waited an hour before I arrived. Their flight landed at 8PM and we didn't leave the airport until about 11PM since we waited for Diem who arrived at 9:55, and my bag didn't arrive to about 10:30. When we got there, my bag wasn't on the carousel; I began to panick on the inside. I had to go to the baggage claim office to ask them about my luggage. They had it! I was so relieved!!! I have learned about when I need to leave for my next trip to Austin in about a month. I know that this won't happen again.

Day 24: Snow Days Are For Baking

2015-01-22T00:14:00.001-05:00

Today was a high chance of snow, do my boss at Brickz for Kids let me know yesterday that there was a high chance of my preschool class being canceled.

So this morning I had to be productive to make up for yesterday's just nothingness. I had to clean my bathroom and do my laundry. The laundry was most important since I am leaving for Georgia in a day and I like to pack early to make sure I have everything. Lists are the best for packing, I honestly think they are my salvation. They super help me keep organized.

By the time I was done with cleaning my bathroom and starting my laundry, it was around 12. This is when I would start debating on working out and getting ready for work. Young and I made plans to work out at 5:30-ish, so I didn't have to think about that. Luckily I got a text from my boss saying that classes were canceled since it started to know at 10-11 AM.

Since there was no work and it was snowing, this meant that I could bake the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie n' Fudge Brownie Bar. This I, of course, found on Pinterest, my pictures do not do it justice, but wow it is delicious.

I actually didn't have enough Oreos since this week and last, Hyman and I have been eating them. So the original has so much more.

I left this out to cool for about 3 hours before cutting it and it was still hot and fudgey in the middle.

I had it as a dessert treat with vanilla ice cream and chocolate fudge on top. I will say that I do not do it justice like the website does. I am just not that artistic.

Currently as I am writing this, I am in absolute pain from the work out Young and I did, plus no recovery from my work out yesterday. We did a 30 minute dance work out from PopSugar Fitness on Youtube. My thigh are just fatigued to the point of pain. I know that it is worth it and it is healthy, but wow. I am beat. Tomorrow I am doing yoga without a doubt or I might continue the pain depending on how much packing I get done to night.

I wish the music matched the moves we learned today and towards the end I was really dizzy and worried about my vertigo; but all in all it was a lot of fun.

Young and I was laughing a lot during this. It didn't feel like it was too crazy of a work out. I think the best part of having a work out buddy is that you don't feel like you are working out you are having fun together. You are achieving a goal with someone, I think it is more fun. But I don't want to be solely dependent on Young. I was last year and when she moved I just stopped working out which was bad. I want to continue no matter what. That is what I would like to achieve.

Day 23: Water Infusing & Sexy Dance Fighting

2015-01-21T01:32:00.000-05:00

Today was supposed to be a productive day, it was not. I was supposed to do laundry, clean my bathroom, and meal prep. I totally forgot. So I will be doing all of this tomorrow in the morning and working out with Young in the evening. This is what happens when I do not make a To-Do List for the day. Lesson learned today, I am more productive when I know what I am supposed to be doing within the day.

I was prepping my fruit and veggies this week; I got strawberries and cucumbers so I cut them and placed them into storage containers. I got an awesome water infused from my graduation orientation, so I wanted to try a infuser recipe. I have seen a lot of strawberry, mint, and lemon or cucumber, mint, and lemon.

So after looking at this on Pinterest, I thought I would make it with cucumber, strawberry, lemon and mint. It turned out pretty well, I only let it seep for about 30 minutes before drinking it during my work out.

It is actually really refreshing and just kept refilling it with water through out the day, but it was not as pink at it was the first time. I made it again tonight, since I prepped three days of infusing ingredients into a sandwich bag in the fridge.

I did a "30 Minutes to a Brazilian Body" work out today. This is Capoeira, which is Brazilian martial arts. I was interested in trying it mainly because of Bob's Burger's Season 1 Episode 3, "Sexy Dance Fighting"

This is the actual video I did.

This is how I feel like I looked. Like Tina.

It was a very intense and a lot of low to the ground movements. I honestly get why Brazilians have a nice butt because this was mostly squats. I felt like a breakdancer, but not as coordinated. The GIF of Tina is an actual move, which is amazingly hilarious. Proudest moment of my day: doing capoeira like Tina.

Day 21 & 22: Orientation & Making Friends

2015-01-19T16:57:00.000-05:00

Thursday was an awesome day because of the fact that it was my Graduate School Orientation at UMBC. I was really excited to go and make friends. It started at 2PM, so I wanted to get there around 1:45-ish to make sure that I would make it in time so I can mingle and try to make friends. I really want to make friends at UMBC since everyone that I knew graduated. I know two people one is working full time and the other is in his own Ph.D program... so yeah. I am trying to make new friends especially with the people in the Education Program.

I got there around 1:45PM, I thought it started at 1:30... so I thought I was late, but I checked in and got my name tag, I got papers and a drawstring bag from the GSA. I waited for the campus tour, but no one wanted to talk to me. I also realized that my last name was not write on the name tag. It was "Truing" so I went to the check in and asked whether this was a permanent thing. They apologized and said that they copied it from what I wrote my registration sign up. So it was me. I wrote my own last name wrong. After 25 years of having the same name, I still can not manage to write my last name correctly. Life Lesson: Always proofread everything you type, especially your name.

The orientation was great, I needed up meeting a few people and wanting to be more involved with UMBC's GSA. I met a few people in the Education Program, which was great. I even gave someone I met there a ride home. It wasn't until we got to my car that I thought, "I don't know this person very well. They could murder me." So I brought my cell phone to the front just in case. I think have a stranger danger problem, the problem is that I don't have stranger danger. I believe in people and the good within them. Luckily, the person I took him was a nice guy nothing bad happened and he even friend requested me. I panicked a little over nothing. Am I the only one that does this though? I want to help people in need as much as I can. I have been trying to be as nice as possible and I feel like sometimes that is crazy hard.

Friday was a very fun and chill day. I started to get ready to go home for the weekend. I was able to work at Brickz for Kids that day too. We were teaching Robotics which was super cool. The kids made a claw and programmed the claw to open and close. It was really interesting. I was talking to one of the instructors (who is 17 years old) who told me that I need to get a hobby and stop working so much. I told him in order to get a hobby I needed money. He suggested instrument, cooking and streaming TV. I laughed at the last two since I need to cook to survive as I stream everything. I guess when you are 17, you don't understand the struggles of life and there is the cushion of your parents and of home. Oh yeah, he even asked me if I was going to go clubbing. I SUPER laughed at that one. Hilarious. I wish I was back to being 17, I miss it.

After work, I made plans to eat Bon Chon with a sorority sister from Dallas who was in town for a residency interview. She didn't have a car and was in Downtown Baltimore so I offered to pick her up before we got dinner. Young met us there and we ate a large combo of soy garlic and some spicy with two orders of fries and kimchi. It was delicious. I got a coke since I knew it was going to be a long night of driving. After we went to Shilla's Bakery to get some dessert, but we were all too full to eat it. So we just sat and chatted. It was nice.

Today, MLK day, I went grocery shopping with my cousin Vicky to get a reign on my spending. I am happy to day I only spent $30 on a weeks worth of food. I was really proud of myself. I think she did really help me and the fact that I am not spending that much time at the house this week since I will be going to Georgia over the weekend.

Day 20: Salty Risotto

2015-01-17T23:34:00.000-05:00

I am currently blogging from home on a Saturday night so... super behind in schedule. I honestly don't remember much about Wednesday besides the bigger aspects: the killer work out Young and I did and the disgustingly salty risotto I made.

I have made quinoa risotto before, so I thought that I didn't need a recipe. But wow, it was a killer I feel so bad that I not only was cocky about making it and offered to make it for dinner for Young and myself; I offered some to Hyman as well. It was gross, I was offended when they told me it was good. They are clearly liars and don't want to hurt my feelings. It makes me think, "What else have they lied to me about?!" Well I figured out that my chicken stock was salty and it didn't help that I added more salt before tasting the food.Life Lesson: Always taste your cook as you cook. Weight watchers will explain that you shouldn't and if you do you need to track, but wow. Always, always taste your food because if you don't want to eat the food why would any one else? Sadly, that night I did not want to eat my own food, it was gross my dinner that night did not get touched.

Our work out was a Turbo Fire HIIT 15, which is 15 minutes of per death. Just heart pumping anaerobic work outs. On top of that we did a PiYo: Upper Body Define, I am still feeling the after effects of this work out. It has been 4 days. I don't think it is normal but wow. It was a killer. I am actually enjoying the fact that I am working out more and trying to be healthy. I think I need to be more independent about working out just in case Young can't work out or our timing does not match up. I have a FitBit Charge HR and I haven't had a consistent 10K steps a day yet. I hit it once in a while when I work out but I don't normally hit it. I think I should try to either working out 30 minutes a day or walking/running/ biking 3 miles a day. I feel like saw that goal somewhere like: Every day do 3 miles or 30 minutes. If any of my readers have a FitBit and want to be my friend you can use my email to add me, I believe my username is KimTruongIll. I accept all friend requests.

I feel like I am so much lazier at my parent's house than I am at my house in Severn. But I have no work out equipment here. I guess it is just my mindset at home, I am a princess at home so princesses don't have to work out. But I am changing my mindset. I am going to work out tomorrow... I really am... right? Ugh self doubt gets me a lot of the time. I am trying to be more positive.... Sometimes it works and sometimes I tell myself, "Kim you are the the fail princess."

Day 19: The Oven Hates Me

2015-01-15T11:52:00.000-05:00

I honestly late being two days behind, but I think by Friday I will be caught up. Since today I am not doing anything special besides my graduate school orientation, which I am insanely worried about. I just want to make friends. I think my housemates are getting a little tired of me and I feel like I need to get out of the house more. I don't think I have left since Monday. That is three days of not seeing the outside world without a window. I am leading a sad, sad life.

Anyways, Tuesday was a a great start to the morning. I had oatmeal in the morning with meatballs and tomato sauce. After eating my breakfast. I started to prep my berries in the fridge to eat with my yogurt or whipped cream. I started to prep my green beans too, I chopped off the ends and cooked them in chicken broth. I saved the broth to cook pasta noodles as well.

I combined a box of pasta, chopped green beans, cherry tomatoes, spinach and 4 tablespoons of pesto sauce in a large mixing bowl. It has lasted until today and there should be another bowl too. I have also been sharing it with Young, which has been super helpful or I would have never finished it.

Each time I have been cooking something, I send a picture to my mom. She told me that one day I will be a great cook like my dad, that is honestly my dream. I would love to be able to cook like my dad. He can make anything and it tastes awesome. She is a little jealous that I don't cook for her, my mother is just too cute sometimes.

This week I have been super missing my parents and family. I am actually looking forward to going home this weekend to see them. I know they miss me too... even thought my dad hung up on me when I called him. But I know it was a hang up out of love... Haha... at least that is what I am telling myself.

Later in the afternoon, I decided to make World's Best Chicken Recipe which I found on Pinterest.

I would like to promise that I actually read the recipe the whole way, it was really simple. But of course as I was cooking the smoke alarm starts to go off again. Even though I had the fan on so I opened a window. I think the sauce began to burn a little in the oven so... when Young came home she told me to open the balcony door since it stilled like burning. I swear this time... I did everything right. The fan was on... I guess I just don't have skills with the oven. I didn't take a picture of my chicken, but wow it looked nothing like that photo... It was like brown and black... and not a pretty sight. It was pretty delicious though.

I feel like the oven HATES me. Luckily it all cleared out by the time Hyman came home. I think I need to cool it with the oven and only use the toaster oven for the next... I don't know... MONTH! Young didn't want to eat until about 6:30, so I watched Commando as I waited and the area smell cleared out. Just... Kim is a fail. Life Lesson: The oven and Kim are not friends.

But that night we watched Pain & Gain, since Young and Hyman hadn't watched it. About 3/4 of thew ay Hyman went upstairs but we continued without him.

Day 18: Why do my groceries end up costing so much?

2015-01-14T14:35:00.000-05:00

I woke up around 10 since we had a late night of watching the Raid 2 and I had to facetime with my brother at like 10AM. The movie didn't end until like 1AM, my housemates were super tired after we were done watching. They seemed to like it.

I woke up to no real food that was good for me. So I made Shin Ramen Black with an egg (yolky) and a cup of kale. I then added some kimchi for more veggies, Sriracha, and lemon juice. It was pretty delicious. It just came to bite me in the butt later, much later. It was not pretty. Young actually came home and found me in the bathroom. Ramen retaliation. I love spicy but spicy does not love stomach.

I started to wash my sheets and clean my bathroom. I tried cleaning it with a dryer sheet since on Pinterest I saw that it would cut the cleaning in half. It was like the same but my bathroom smelled awesome and I didn't have to scrub since the dryer sheets were scruffy.

After showering, I went to Safeway to go shopping, and from my previous post, my groceries ended up being $118. I got about 43 items. I got lemons, tater tots, green beans, sweet potatoes, spinach, italian seasoning, string cheese, parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese, greek yogurt, hummus, cucumbers, baby carrots, berries, sweet onion, chocolate chips, brownie mix, cupcake liners, cool whip, frozen broccoli, chocolate sauce, oreos, sausage, panko bread crumbs, ground turkey, red wine vinegar, parsley flakes, chicken, and steak.

I think I get too much, I need to work on how much I get since I feel like I am sharing my food, which I don't mind. But I need to work on getting food for just me. But I feel like that is a selfish thought. I just need to work on actually getting things I need for that week. I think I need so much but in the end I only use about half of it.

After I put the groceries away, I started to work on making turkey meatballs which was going to be by meat for a couple of days. I used a large mixing bowl to combine ground turkey, italian seasoning, egg, salt, pepper, panko bread crumbs, cheese, cayenne pepper, garlic, and onion powder. I used my hands to make balls and baked them in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

I don't think the cheese was a good idea since it oozed out. But they came out great and can be added to any pasta sauce. I like using tomato sauce with it. I also made about a liter of pesto sauce as well to finish off what was left of my kale in the refrigerator. I put the extra sauce in the freezer to save for a later date.

Young invited me to go to Zumba at Gold's Gym with her coworker. It was a ton of fun, this was the first Zumba class I took where instructors were white. It was fun, there were little to no Asians like I am used to at other Zumba classes. We even talked about going to an Xpose class that is free for a trial since it is a pole class.

We came home and realized that we left our IDs at the gym so we had to go all the way back to gym and get it. So we didn't get home until about 9 and started to finish making our dinner. We decided to watch Big Hero 6 while we ate. Young was able to finish making her food first, so I let her eat first. Once my stuff was done which was pasta, red sauce, and meat balls, I sat with Young to watch the movie. I forgot to turn off the stove, luckily Hyman caught it and turned it off. I didn't know at all. He didn't say anything to me until I asked though, which I thought was weird. I would have told myself something a long the lines of: "Hey Dummy, learn to turn off the stove!" Yeah I apologized a lot for almost causing a fire. I am just not the smartest. Life Lesson of the day: Always turn off the stove.

Day 16 & 17: To Do Lists Help A Lot

2015-01-13T14:10:00.001-05:00

I started on Wednesday waking up and making a To Do List for the day to keep me busy and see what I need to do with my life. I tried to do it on my wall calendar desk organizer? It has a cork board, monthly calendar, weekly calendar, and a white board. The To Do list was harder to see, so I started to use post its. I think it really helps to sit and think about what I want to accomplish in a day.

Thursday's To Do List was:

Work out with Young for 30 minutes
Laundry
Pack for New York
Get 3 gift bags
Update agenda for sorority phone conference
Update budget sheet

I was able to accomplish everything but the gift bags. I did not feel like leaving the house on Thursday; it was just too cold to leave the house.

As I was putting my thrift store finds into the laundry, I noticed that one of the dresses I bought had a broken zipper, luckily I only paid about $2 for the dress, so I did not feel terrible to throw it away. One of the pants has a hem on the leg that is coming lost, which I can sew. After finishing the laundry, I started to pack for my weekend trip to NY for my sorority's national conference.

I am not a fan of NY, it confuses me and I am just... yeah not a fan. Everything is crowded and overpriced in my mind. Plus going to the conference I have to dress in business casual and before Wednesday's thrift trip, I had only about 3 things that were business casual. I just don't like dressing up, it makes me feel comfortable since that is not who I am. It is not my style.

After packing everything, I started to work on sorority things for my phone meeting at 9PM. I was starting to make sure that I had everything in order.

When Young came home, we were going to do a work out. She wanted to try out a PopSugar workout. We tried this one:

Pop Sugar's 30 Minute Bootcamp Work out

This work out killed Young and myself. My legs were shaking after and it was just an intense workout. I suggest if you are on a budget and want to work out from home, PopSugar or Youtube in general is a great way to go.

After the work out I had to get on the phone meeting, I am going to be honest and say that I am not the best person to be on the phone with since I just side tracked about halfway through the call and start thinking about something else or doing something else. So while on the call, I was updating my budget sheet. I do it on Google Drive Sheets. This is what it looks like: (This was updated today which is why it has NY stuff on it.)

I am clearly spending above my means right now. I need to really start working...

But I feel like since I started doing this I can really see where my money is going... and I waste a lot of my money on things, and I spend way too much on groceries. But I think I am going to try and do this throughout the year to keep myself in check.

After my phone meeting and some facetime with my mom, Young, Hyman, Sarah (Hyman's lady friend) and myself hungout. We ended up watching the Raid, this is definitely one of my favorite action movies. It is just amazing fight scenes and enough gore for me that it isn't too much. Everyone seemed to like it and wanted to watch the 2nd one.

Friday was the day I was going to NY, so I asked Young to drive me to the train station. My train was leaving the BWI station at 6:33PM. I was going to meet a friend on a train, she was coming form Union Station, so she was able to save me a seat next to her.

Before leaving for the weekend, I wanted to make sure that food was all eaten before the weekend. I also wanted to make sure not to spend too much money over the weekend. I luckily did not spend any money on food since my sorority paid for the lunch on Saturday and the hotel has free breakfast. To reduce on travel expenses, I packed 2 PB&J sandwiches, 2 clementines, 4 chewy bars, and a bag of Cheez Its. I did not have to eat on Friday night since I had a large meal in the afternoon at home. This really ended up saving me a lot since I only spent about $32.36 in NY and that was just taxi. I did not spend any money on food which is really expensive in NY.

I am not sure if I was being frugal this weekend or just a cheapskate because on Saturday night I did not do anything in the city. I ended up getting a free chipotle burrito so I ate that in my room and went to bed at like 9PM. It got me a grandma label by my fellow national board members, but I was the only person super refreshed on the entire weekend. I just love me some sleep.

Day 15: First Time Thrifting

2015-01-09T14:42:00.000-05:00

Wednesday started off really casual and chill. I didn't have to do cook at all which was really nice so I just started off my morning relaxed with an easy breakfast of leftovers. I had the leftover green smoothie that Young made the night before, pesto pasta, chicken, and cabbage.

I am starting to realize that I don't like to eat heavy dinners or sweet breakfasts. So I am trying to have my heaviest meal be either breakfast or lunch, while dinner is rather light. I am definitely trying to have veggies and protein with each meal. A lot of either.

After finishing my sorority stuff my emailing it to be printed, which ended up taking about an hour. I decided to work out I did three different PopSugar workouts: I did a 10 minute Cardio Barre, 10 minute Tabata, and Pilates Inner Thigh work out. It was like 30 minutes which was great. I showered and started to get ready to meet Young for my first thrifting shopping trip. If you haven't seen her blog yet, it is a fashion blog about shopping smartly. She has an awesome wardrobe and she gets everything affordably.

So I went to meet Young at the Salvation Army Thrift Store which is about 20 minutes away from our house. Since I am on a major budget due to my lack of income, complete lack of income this week especially, I told myself that I could not spend more than $10 on an individual item and no more than $50. Young told me that her goal was always to spend less than $30 each visit. We spent an hour and a half in the store looking for clothes for each other. I will say that Young has a better fashion sense than I do, she loves prints, patterns, and colors. I love stripes, and black or grey. We have different tastes, but it made shopping with each other very fun and interesting. I getting up leaving the store with 2 pairs of Ann Taylor pants, two dresses, 1 panda tee shirt, 2 sweaters, 1 button down and 1 3/4 sleeve shirt. I was hoping to find a half zip sweater, but maybe next time I will find it. I ended up spending 31.40 in total, which was way under my budget and I went home with a ton of clothing. Luckily on Wednesdays, the thrift store is 50% off, which really reduced a lot of the clothing. I think it was funny that Young was searching for more casual clothing since she has mostly business attire. I was looking for more business attire since all my clothing is casual.

I think I was especially not willing to pay too much for the clothing since I paid for school that morning and cried a little as I was paying for it. For my first time thrifting, I really liked it. I learned to better inspect the clothing since one of the dress's zipper was broken and a pair of pant's hem was coming apart. The hem can be easily fixed, but I threw the dress away, sadly. I would definitely go away with a better view and mindset about the whole ordeal. I am actually going to a conference this weekend and I will be wearing a lot of the clothing I got to the conference, so I am especially happy that I didn't have to waste a bunch of money to get clothing.

When Young and I went home, Hyman was home too and wanted to each dinner together. So we each started preparing our dinner. I had vanilla yogurt with berries and Honey nut Chex for dinner. It was delicious. I was trying to have little to no carbs for dinner. We sat and talked during dinner, but then Hyman had to leave to take care of his business.

Young and I cleaned up and watched Horrible Bosses 2 since we watched the first one the night before.

Day 14: I am a Nosy Neighbor

2015-01-08T14:43:00.000-05:00

I woke up the snow and hearing my neighbor shoveling the snow. Well that was the 3rd time I woke up that morning. Young called me at 7AM because she accidentally locked herself out of the house, I know she really wanted to see my face in the morning. I look like this:

Honestly, who wouldn't want at this in the morning? Sike, I wish I looked as semi-put together as Hot Mess Morning Anna from Frozen, I am definitely a lot worse. The 2nd time I woke up was because I heard Hyman talking to one of our neighbors. She told him not go out in the snow.

Since it was soooo cold and snowing, I decided to have Udon for breakfast. After eating that I realized that I needed to cook my broccoli in the fridge. I found some recipes on Food Network and went with Alton Brown's Roasted Broccoli with some modifications. I didn't have any panko bread crumb and I added some onions since I needed to get rid of it. I feel bad cooking so many onions since Young is allergic to them, I feel like I might be killing her slowly. So I made roasted broccoli and I tried to pan roast it as well. That didn't turn out well since I added water and it ended up being steamed and I might have over cooked them. Since I was worried about the smoke alarm going off again, I decided to roast the broccoli in the toaster oven instead. After cooking that, I had to finish cooking my Lemon Garlic Dump chicken.

Oven roasted

Pan Steamed

This picture doesn't look amazing, but it tasted really lemony which I loved.

Young came home from work early around 1PM because of the snow, and she liked the pan steamed better. I sat with her as she ate lunch and talked about different things. She said that she wanted to take a nap then we could work out, have dinner and watch a movie. I told her that was fine since I had a lot more sorority things I needed to complete. I did that until Hyman came home around 6PM. He went down to eat dinner, and I texted Young to join us.

For dinner I had chicken, cabbage, broccoli, pesto and oatmeal together. This was uber filling and I didn't want to eat that much after. Just a marshmallow on a chocolate chip cookie. I don't know why, but I thought it would be delicious. It was.

I just thought the caramelization on the marshmallow was amazing. There is a chocolate graham cracker for Young.

After dinner, Hyman went upstairs to do work and other things. Young and I decided to watch Dredd on Netflix since she hadn't seen it and I thought she would enjoy it. After, she wanted to watch a comedy and we went with Horrible Bosses, since she hadn't seen it. In the middle of watching the movie, we ended up hearing a neighbor getting into an argument with a random guy. He was banging on their door so loudly that Young and I thought it was our door and they lived across the street. We went to the window to see what was going on; the man was knocking on the door and screaming at the homeowners. He started walking to the back of the house and kicked a car parked on the street. I called the non-emergency number for the police to let them know. The operator asked if I would be willing to talk to the cops and I said that I was. Young and I continued watching to see where the gentleman walked and did to let the cops know. He disappeared into the woods across the street before the cops arrived. Unfortunately, they didn't end up talking to us, but it was really terrifying to watch. I am really happy that Young was awake with me since I don't think I would have handled it well by myself.

Day 13: Case of the Mondays

2015-01-08T14:12:00.000-05:00

I will be doing two posts since I am really behind on my posts... I know you guys are waiting for them because my life is uber interesting... not. But I am glad that people are reading.

Monday... oh Monday. Everything was going great, I woke up with a plan to cook my allusive cabbage that I bought on New Year's Eve. I ended up searching Pinterest for different cabbage recipes. I knew that for one of my recipes would be cabbage cooked with bacon fat, which ended up pretty delicious. I found this on Pinterest:

So I went to this recipe, and read it and substituted some recipes because I didn't have any fennel seeds. As the cabbage was roasting in the oven, I was cooking the bacon. I think the heat from the oven and the smokeyness from the bacon caused a lot of heat... and the fire alarm went off. So I turned on the fan, fanned the smoke alarm, and opened a window. So, I tried to make sure that it would not go off. I started texting my housemate, Young, about the situation. She told me not to tell Hyman about it since that is something he would not be happy about. So I haven't, I just fail at roasting cabbage I guess. Lesson learned: Always turn on the fan when cooking!

Roasted Cabbage

Semi-steamed cabbage with bacon and onions

After making both sets of cabbage, I went upstair to work on some of my sorority things. Around 12-ish, Young came home for lunch and she had some of my cabbage. We talked during her lunch and I further explained what happened. She invited me to go to Zumba with her and her coworker at 7:30PM and that we would get back in time for our friend to come hang out and eat s'mores.

I declined since I didn't want to spend money on a Zumba class. After she left for work, I started working on more sorority things. At 2PM, I went to take a walk around the neighborhood for about an hour. I explored more of the neighborhood, which was nice but freezing, absolutely freezing. But it was a nice walk, I came back and showered in time to watch The Taste while FaceTime-ing with my brother. We like to watch it together to comment about the contestants and to predict who's going to be eliminated next.

At around 5:30PM, Young came home and I suggested that she start cooking her food before she goes to Zumba, so that she could have her food right away when she got home. She was cooking her dinner and I began cooking mine. I started to make pesto with kale since I had a lot of kale that I have not been eating. It ended up being really bitter with a weird after taste so I added lemon juice and it turned out pretty good.

Hyman came home in the middle around 6:30PM and he started doing his laundry. Young left around 6:50PM, and I started cooking my dinner. I finished cooking around 7:10PM and finished eating around 8PM when Hyman came down to eat his dinner. I sat with him and talked. He wanted to Plex to see The Interview, which I have now seen three times. We sat and watched as he ate dinner he was in and out of the movie to do his laundry. At about 8:30PM, Lacey came over to surprise Hyman, but also to hang out and eat s'mores. I offered her some dinner and cookies. She ate most of the cookies and once Young came home I offered to make everyone some s'mores. I made two each for everyone. Young ate hers after her dinner. Hyman only ended up eating one so the extra went to Young. After The Interview was over, Young wanted to show me The Man from Nowhere on Netflix. During the movie, I kept seeing people that we knew, which I think ruined Young's life since she was super into those characters and I related them to people we were friends with. I thought it was an interesting movie, it was like Man on Fire and The Equalizer but with consequences for the main character. After the movies, it ended up being around 12AM, so everyone went home and to their rooms. I folded my laundry that I did that morning.

Day 12: Sunday is for S'mores

2015-01-06T18:19:00.001-05:00

I started off the day late, I was just exhausted for some reason. I knew that Young was going to go back home to see her mom and I didn't have anything planned to cook for breakfast. So I started on a Pinterest recipe: Lemon Garlic Dump Chicken. I actually read most of this recipe, but made it more of my own.

I put zest and juice of 2 lemons, 5 finely chopped garlic pieces, onion powder, poultry rub, cilantro flakes, cayenne, and salt and pepper into a gallon bag with 5 chicken breasts. You are supposed to freeze it, but I just wanted to marinate to cook either that evening or the next day. I actually had it on Monday night for dinner, it was delicious!

Young came upstairs in the middle of my making dump chicken and we talked as she watched me making it. We ate Honey Nut Chex for Breakfast. After she went to get ready to go home and I worked on this blog. She left around 3PM, but returned around 3:30PM-4PM since her mom was feeling sick. We ended up going to Lima's Chicken for lunch/ dinner. I got 1/4 dark meat chicken with yucca fries, green beans, and lot and lots of green sauce. I always have to ask for more since they don't give me enough. I think the lack of carbs ignited my hunger. I wanted to eat more, so I just ended up having some more of my chocolate chip cookies. We watched Guardians of the Galaxy because... well.. Chris Pratt is gorgeous. As we were letting the movie buffer by pausing, I made oven S'mores for Young and myself, another recipe that I just glanced at on Pinterest.

I put broke up 2 graham crackers into 4 pieces and placed 2 pieces of Hershey's chocolate and a marshmallow on top. I put it in the toaster oven for about 5 minutes (I set it on lightly toasted setting). I think it was too much chocolate since it was spilling over the sides when we smooshed the s'more together. There is that nostalgia about a campfire, this is just sooo much easier since the marshmallow and chocolate are melted.

At around the same time, Hyman came home and my cousin, May who lives in Canada FaceTime-ed me. So I was talking to May and Young asked Hyman to reset the router. After it was reset everything was working swimmingly. Hyman brought back a shelving unit from PA, which increased pantry space. He started to eat dinner after building it and we ended up watching Edge of Tomorrow, I conned him into hanging out all night since the move pulled him in. He told us that he had things he needed to take care of... Oops!

Monday everyone is going back to work, and I will be home during the day solo, back to the routine of life.

Day 11: Rainy Saturday is a Lazy Saturday

2015-01-05T13:16:00.000-05:00

I will say that when it rains, I do not want to leave the house or move. I am not sure if I am only one out there that is like this. But wow, rain makes me a lazy hobo. Waking up to rain hitting the tree next to my window lulled me into a sleep like state for most of the morning. I was feeling groggy in the morning as well. I finally got out of bed around 12PM and got ready to start the day.

I started to make grilled cheese sandwiches. I got the idea from looking on my Facebook 's New Feed and seeing the 26 Food You Should Learn To Cook in Your Twenties by BuzzFeed. The first item is grilled cheese:

Honestly, doesn't that look amazing. I had to see the directions because my mouth was watering from looking at the picture. The directions are so simple, yet I never thought about it. My grilled cheese is usually semi melty in the center and almost burnt on the outside. I skipped the salt step when I made it, this is mostly because I completely forgot. It is a good thing too since Young does no like too much salt in her food. I clearly love all the salt, butter, sugar, cheese, and fat. They are alllll delicious.

So I used butter, whole wheat bread, and pepper jack cheese (2 slices per sandwich). They turned out delicious. I gave Young the sandwich with thinner slices of cheese since she does not love cheese as much as I do. I love it. I would put it on everything if I could. We ate that with green smoothie she made, it had pear, Granny Smith apple, kale, and frozen pineapples in it. It was really refreshing and delicious. I don't normally like green smoothies, but the kale was masked by the pineapples. Sweet, delicious pineapples.

We waited about an hour or so until we worked out. Young went to work on her blog, and I just went to my room to look at Pinterest. Our work out was Turbo Fire Low HIIT 20 and PiYo Legs. It was an intense work out. I am still feeling the effects and it has been two days. After showering, I changed into loungewear since I thought Young was going to go home after the work out. She came up and asked if I wanted to go to Target, so I got changed and we went.

I am not sure if it was an off night, but the Target we usually go to was completely bare. There was nothing in t the $1-3 bins. We got some things that we needed. I always forgot something I need, so I might just stop by Walmart this week to get gift bags.

After Target, we were starving so we heated up the left over NYE Tacos and pasta from our friend, Lacey and ate that. Young decided to stay the night at home, which was awesome. We each ended up staying in our rooms and working on separate things. I finally got to FaceTime my mom, which was really needed; I hadn't talked to her since I came back here on Tuesday. I also worked on my blog and things for my sorority. I called it a night around 11AM, I was exhausted... probably from the rain.

Day 10: Friday Night of Games & Movies

2015-01-05T01:32:00.001-05:00

Friday morning started off with me waking up late around 11AM, and relaxing in bed until about 11:30AM. I was talking to my brother and cousin in the morning since my cousin Vicky was coming to visit that evening. It would allow me to get stuff from my house that I forgot: trash can, laptop charger, trash bags, sharpies, dry erase markers, and a pair of khakis. My brother was gracious enough to gather all those things for me to give to my cousin, Vicky.

After setting all that up, I went downstairs to start cooking breakfast for Hyman and Vicky. First, I put 8 slices of turkey bacon on a baking sheet in a 350°F oven for about 20 minutes. It turned into the chip again, which I know that Young likes, but I totally forgot to ask Hyman what he likes. I am clearly a terrible housemate. I started on the french toast batter again. To the normal eggs, milk, sugar, cinnamon batter I added brown sugar and a flour & water mixture so that the flour would not just stay in clumps on top of the batter. Young told me that she liked day 2 french toast better. They each ended up with 3 slices of french toast and 4 slices of bacon. In the beginning stage of making the french toast, Hyman came down for breakfast. He seemed interested in what I was making and asked me questions about the batter and what went in it. He also seemed a little worried about the amount of food that I was putting on his plate. He does not eat that much; he ended up eating all the french toast, but only 3 slices of the bacon. They were both nice enough to wait as I made my breakfast of leftover pasta and sausage that I ended up cooking for myself. Hyman helped me flip the sausage when I ended up getting distracted in the middle of cooking. He even washed the dishes after we were all finished too.

Hyman then got ready to go home to Philadelphia to see his family. Young and I ended up watching Maleficent on Plex and another movie or TV show. I am not 100% sure. But we ended up snacking on chips, salsa, and guacamole too. After the movie, we each got ready to go to Shin Chon and tried to go to Target earlier, but I take too long to get ready.

We met Huy and Vicky at Shin Chon in Ellicott City, which is Korean BBQ. It was a lot of fun seeing them and eating delicious Korean meat. The only downside of Korean BBQ is how you stink after. The smell gets into your hair and clothing and does not leave. At the dinner, we talked about how Hyman seemed sad that he could not be joining us. After dinner, Vicky and Huy came back to the house to see it for the first time. We gave them a tour and showed off our rooms. They seemed to like the house. We then played Telestrations and watched Mean Girls.

I absolutely love board games or games in general, but this is definitely my favorite one.

If you have never played or heard of it, it is like pictionary and telephone had a baby. It is a hilarious game especially when you are playing with a larger group of people. You start off with a secret word, someone has to draw a picture of that word then pass it to the person to their left. That person needs to guess the word from the picture then pass it to the left. The new person needs to draw the word and this continues until it ends back to the original person. It can be on point the whole time or just go somewhere completely different. Once I played the original word was moonwalk, which turned into Michael Jackson and then Super Saiyan. Everyone seemed to like the game, which I was happy about. I think the best one from when we played was graveyard to garden.

Vicky, Myself, and Young

After Vicky and Huy left, Young and I stayed up watching The Equalizer and then we started watched K-POP music videos. Specifically, we were watching 2NE1 to see the evolution of their plastic surgeries then we moved to Big Bang. It ended up being 3AM after that and we went to bed.

This will forever be my favorite 2NE1 song and music video.

"I Am The Best" by 2NE1

Day 9: New Year's Day!

2015-01-03T22:48:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! I am a little.. okay let's be real... a lot late. I have been busy hanging out with my housemate, Young. She has had the week off so we have been hanging out all week. It has been great and fun not to be alone in the house all day long.

On New Years, I got up around 11AM and started to change my sheets. I wanted new sheets and a clean room for the new year. I febreezed the mattress, pillows, and blanket. I put them in the washing machine, which was my first using the machine. I don't think it put the correct settings since the machine sounded like it was unbalanced and it was really really loud. I was really worried about walking up my roommate.

I started making french toast since it is Young's favorite breakfast food. So I tried making it based on what I saw on Pinterest.

This was all I saw from it so I thought, "Okay I just need some flour," so I added about a teaspoon to my batter for the french toast. the flour stayed on top and clumpy even after more mixing. When I dunked in the slices of bread, I would just spread the flour over the bread. I will say that this helped make the bread browner with a crispier crust. I also made scrambled eggs and turkey bacon with it. I semi-killed turkey bacon in the toaster oven so that they ended up like bacon chips. It was interesting since they were not greasy, the whole cooking process for the bacon was simple. I would rather cook bacon in the oven. It takes longer, but it is so much less greasy.

After eating together, Young was nice enough to wash the dishes after. As she was washing, I started to bake the chocolate chip cookie batter I made and chilled the night before. Young watched as I did this. I wanted the cookies to be a little crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, but I think I made them way to big for that so they are soft all over. Young said that they were good. But I was still worried.

We watched part of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the Chromecast using Plex, but our internet was being crappy so we ended up watching Ultimate Spiderman on Netflix. Then we worked out by doing a Daily HIIT workout. We did a animal based work out for two rounds and Young did an extra core workout and I sat there and watched her. We then showered and got ready to go to a New Year's Day Party at our sorority sister's boyfriend's house. We also saw Hyman before we left and offered from him to come but he declined. He wanted to get Pho for dinner with us, but I told him to eat the leftovers from the New Year's Eve part from the night before. He seemed okay with that.

We went to the party, which was full of food and Filipinos. The host's friends seemed a little stand offish but I still had a good time talking to people. They watched the interview too.

After the party, we went home to finish the rest of TMNT. Young seemed to really enjoy the movie. I think it reminds me of the 90's movies of TMNT, which I uber loved. It was just enough of the goofy-ness with all of the fighting scenes. I just hated how they changed the story line.

This is the first picture I took of the New Year: Young and I.

Day 7/8: New Year's Eve Party

2015-01-02T02:13:00.003-05:00

I came back to the house on the eve of New Year's Eve aka December 30th in the evening. Thank goodness my housemates were home because I had so much stuff it was like I was moving again. I brought a printer, my clean laundry, two pots, wok pan, two crates of clementines, case of Honey crisp apples, six water bottles, instant noodles, over the door hooks, laundry supplies, Ziploc bags, Sperrys, L.L. Bean boots, and Chromecast. I brought all these things back, but totally forgot important things like: trash can, sharpies, dry erase markers, and the most important thing I forgot was my laptop charge. As I am writing this, I am on 22% and going down. I am willing to risk it to update the blog.

I am so thankful for Young who helped me carry all my stuff in and organizing it in the kitchen. Hyman helped me bring the stuff from the living room to the kitchen. They are both great for helping me carry my things into the house and around the house. Hyman, Hyman's lady friend, and Young hung out in the kitchen for about an hour talking about our Christmases and mutual friends. Around 11PM, Hyman's lady friend went home and we continued talking until about 2:30AM. It was nice, I feel like they missed me.

On New Year's Eve, I woke up around 11AM. Young and I made plans to work out, go grocery shopping, and prepare for friends coming over for New Year's Eve. I started cleaning my bathroom when Young came upstairs to see if I wanted to work out. We did Turbo Fire's Fire 30 and a Daily HIIT work out that she had. It was intense, I am started feeling sore by that night. My legs were heavy and sore. After the work out, we got ready to go shopping at Safeway, Bed Bath and Beyond, and the liquor store.

I made a list of the groceries we would need for the tacos for our potluck party and my groceries for the week. The total for the groceries was $150, I really need to start rethinking what I need for food and stop buying like I am feeding a family. I am feeding me. At Bed, Bath, and Beyond we got cookie sheets, liquid measuring cup, and cooking utensil rest. I love those 20% coupons from BB&B, they never expire and you can use as many as you want during your purchase.

Around 5PM, Young was hungry and cooked us some lunch. As she was doing that I was prepping for the tacos by dicing the tomatoes. I was going to shred the lettuce, but as I was opening it I realized I bought cabbage instead of iceberg lettuce. So I had to go back to the store, which I did after making chocolate chip cookie batter. Young was nice enough to come back with me as I picked up bell peppers, cumin, and the much needed lettuce. It was about 7PM when we got back from the 2nd shopping trip. The guests were coming by 8PM, so I needed to get into gear cooking the tacos. Young made guacamole for the first time and she did a great job. The taco bar seemed like a great idea, I think that everyone enjoyed it and we have supplies for another taco night if needed or a burrito night. This was my first time making tacos. They all seemed to like it, I wish I gotten more taco sauce to mix in with the ground turkey.

We had about 4 people came over. They brought pasta dish, pie, and alcohol... lots and lots of alcohol. They seemed to like the tacos and pasta. It was a chill night of talking, listening to music and watching the TV once it was midnight. I didn't turn the TV onto the right channel so we didn't see the ball drop.

I kept making a joke to Young about how when it was 12:01AM everyone had to go, but they actually did leave by that time minus one closer friend. She stayed until about 2-3AM. Young and Lacey (our close friend and sorority sister) forbid me from cleaning the taco bar since they wanted a midnight snack. It took me and Young about an hour of on and off cleaning to get the kitchen back to where it was. It didn't seem like there was a party at all.

I hope that you all are having a great new year. Are you guys making any resolutions or goals? I am going to make goals for this year, but more about that tomorrow.

Day 6: Homebound

2014-12-28T19:07:00.000-05:00

After spending most of the night talking to Hyman and Young or as they like to be called Hymdiesel and Youngjeezy, I had to get up at 7:30 AM to prepare to spend about a week and a half home. I made a list of things that I will need coming back to the house, packed up my laptop, charging cords, and put all my laundry into the basket by the door. I got up extra early. I did not feel like I slept because of the noise the closed vent in my room made. It was like a white noise machine and canceled the outside which was great, but I did not feel like I slept at all. I showered and got changed. When I came out, Hyman was in the hall, he wanted to troll Young by shouting, "YEAH DADDY!" at 8AM to wake her up. So mean.

I went downstairs put the recycling out in the bin since my bottled water drinking habit just filled up the recycling bucket we have in the kitchen. I drank my Suja green juice and ate my fruit in the kitchen. Apparently Hyman thought I already left, so when he was getting ready to leave, he was scared by the sight of me in the kitchen. This I found utterly hilarious since he has been scaring me all week when he comes out of the darkness. Young has scared me once in my week at the house and Hyman has scared me at least 3 times. He scares me to a point where I scream and fall to my bottom. Clearly, I have no survival skills.

I left the house with my Suja juice in my tote (it was not very delicious but I powered through since I needed the veggies and fruit). I got to the house about 10 minutes before 9AM and A's mom talked to me about the routine, snacks, and what time they would be back. They left the house around 9:30 AM and would be back around 1PM. A is two years old and really cute. She loved playing with legos, watching Disney Junior, and PBS kids on her iPad. Around 11AM, a pest control worker showed up at the house, I did not know what to do, so I called the dad, who didn't answer. Luckily Mom answered, but she had no idea what was happening. So, yeah that was the first time that has ever happened to me. But hanging out with A was a lot of fun, she was really easy going.

I left around 1PM to go home and eat my dad's homecooking since I was utterly starving. I got home by 1:50PM and no one was home but our cleaning lady, Ana. So I called up my cousin, Jonathan that I was supposed to met at 3PM to come over early since no one was home to greet me. I went over there to make these awesome shirts for our family's annual Christmas gift exchange. Jonathan and I went to Michael's and McDonalds to get supplies for the shirt. Well, the McDonalds was because we were starving. We ate at watched Christmas Carol with Jim Carey, and I fell asleep for about an hour and a half.

We started working on the shirt. It was going to say "Merry Christmas" with a picture from last year's get together. Too bad that Jonathan's printer ran out of ink. So we had to go to Target to get some printer ink; we ran into more family members at Target getting last minute gifts for each other. It was cool. Jon and I returned to his house to make three iron on shirts for him, my brother and myself. They were ironed onto bright neon green shirts.

Jonathan with the shirt we made

2013's Family photo (I am not in it)

My favorite part of wearing these shirts besides the fact that they are bright green was that I'm not in the picture. I think Jon wants to continue this tradition of making shirts, but wants to make them for everyone next year.

2014 Family Picture with the shirts

For dinner, I went home with my family to have Five Guys since my mom has never had it before. Sigh, it is just so good.

I am not sure if you guys want to read about my week at home, so I might just do one big post about it since it isn't that exciting.

Day 5: Why Do Chipotle Patrons Touch My Hair?

2014-12-27T11:58:00.000-05:00

I woke up around 9 and stayed in my room until about 10AM because I thought Hyman's lady friend Sarah was still in the house. I was actually a little excited for her to be around since I was going to have company throughout the day and I wanted to get to know her better. I heard that she was really shy and because I am clearly not I thought I would be able to break her of her shell and be friends. Sadly, she left around 11:30PM- 12AM the night before, I had just not heard because I was sleeping like a bear apparently.

After wondering the house for her shoes and pizza remains and coming up short, I started to cook some breakfast. I was going to make oatmeal, eggs, and bacon; but I thought I used way to much of the shared eggs. I think within the week I used 4-6 and there had been 10 before I started using them. I didn't feel right using them since I haven't contributed much to the community food which is eggs, bread, and now milk. I added the milk, but that was about it. Instead of a complex breakfast, I made udon out of laziness and curiosity, I wanted to see the taste difference if I cooked it purely on the stove top and now in the pre-packaged bowl. I liked it better stovetop way. As I was watching the Simpsons and eating, I received an email about my appointment to be fingerprinted by the Howard County Parks & Recreation Department which supports Brickz for Kids. The confirmed the appointment and provided me the address of where I need to go. I rushed to clean my pot and bowl, and rushed to shower. I didn't have time for make up or bowl drying my hair since it was 10:50 AM and the location was 20 minutes away.

The fingerprinting process took about 20 minutes, LaShae was really nice to me and we talked during the whole process. She told me that the results would be sent within the next couple of weeks.

After I had time to kill since it was only about 12PM, so I thought going to Bed, Bath & Beyond to look for oatmeal containers would be a good idea. The BB&B closest to my house in Severn is the one attached to Arundel Mills Mall. Wow, was it packed on Friday at noon. I could barely find parking, and the mall was so crowded. I ended up getting a container, scooper, and a candle for the kitchen. Sadly, the container does not even fit all the oatmeal that I have.

I started to wonder around the mall since I wanted to go to the Disney store. I haven't been in one for about 2 years, I didn't know which direction it was in so I thought it would be good exercise to walk around the whole circle that is Arundel Mills. I got suckered into talking to the Dead Sea Deja Vu II kiosk people. The guy was really nice, I don't remember where he is from but I know it is French and English speaking country. The company sent him to Arundel since he has been doing so well within the company. He has "expertise in skin care and health." He was a nice guy, I love/ hate the scrub products since they make me feel disgustingly dirty when my dead skin comes off. He told me to never use make up, I replied that I had to or I would look like a child. I am awful at these high pressure sales situations. I am terrible at saying no since I don't want to hurt people's feelings, and I am so easily conned. I am definitely the person calling into QVC or infomercials to get the newest and most innovative product. This sales associate was practically giving the product away to me since the price went from $200 per product to $100 for 4 products he used on me. I kept telling him that I could not since I could barely afford groceries and I did not have a paying job. He finally let me walk away when I promised to come back after I get a paying job and asked for his business card.

After that 20 minute encounter, I avoided all kiosks and almost all human interaction after that. The longer I stayed in the mall the more I realized I had no money to purchase any of the things that I wanted. But I wanted to circle back to my BB&B entrance. I was in the mall for about 2 hours, I didn't have to be back to the area for another 3 and couldn't stand being in the mall area, so I went home.

When I got home Young was already home from work, I was ecstatic for company. I said, "Young?" I didn't realize that she was trying to nap, but asked her if she wanted to watch Ultimate Spiderman. She did! We talked and snacked on Honeynut Chex and Cheez Its for about an hour and a half. I started to get sleep and offered for us to take naps and watch again after I get back from my dinner plans. She seemed down for it and sleepy too.

I took about an hour nap before my cousin called me to make plans for me to come over on Saturday around 3PM after I babysit and go home for Christmas week. I looked at the time it was around 4:30 and meet time was 5PM. It only takes about 8 minutes to get there so I took my time getting out of the door. I was meeting my college roommate of three years, Kathleen to catch up since I hadn't seen her since August/ September time. She was stuck in traffic so I didn't mind waiting. When we are together we reminisce, tell jokes, and talk for hours; this is the second time we have stayed at a restaurant until close. She is also currently living in a similar situation: in house with two other roommates (her's are just both female), the house owner is passive aggressive, and she gets along with both of them. We are paying around the same amount too. Somewhere in the middle of the dinner rush and our conversation, someone in line started to lean on the booth I was sitting on and leaning on my head. From their extra weight my head started to go forward, I started busting out laughing and Kathleen made jokes about how he wants to touch my hair. I wish I could say this is the first time someone has done this to me at this exactly Chipotle, but I cannot. Apparently people love my hair here and want to touch it.

I had been craving fruit and veggies since I moved in, so I went to Safeway to pick up a fruit cup, Suja juice, Chewy bars, and two boxes of Honey Nut Chex since Young and Hyman seemed to like ti so much. It is pretty sweet that 1. I found the Safeway (not Shoppers) and 2. that it is open 24 hours.

I got back to the house around 11PM, Young scared the crap out of me, and then we went upstairs to bother Hyman. Hyman was napping off his food coma and drinks from his holiday party and I was telling them about the man who was touching my hair at Chipotle. We migrated to the kitchen island and started talking (mostly me) about engagement rings, my college roommate's living situation, hemorrhoids, and dating situations. Hyman was making notes of everything I would hate in a man so he could "troll." He wants to tell the potential suitor that I really love everything I hate like a naked guy in only socks. Just why? But this conversation lead to me admitting to him how I was scared the night before of possibly hearing him and his lady friend having sex and how I didn't know how to react to the situation. But since he is going to troll me, I thought him I am going to get those New Year's popper and make a since like "YOU GOT IT IN!" and high five him and then girl the next morning. He did not like the idea. We stayed up until about 2AM talking but Hyman had to work the next day and I had to babysit at 9AM, so we went to bed.

What are some good troll/ prank ideas for housemates? I need ideas!

Day 4: All I Hear Are Ghosts

2014-12-26T13:33:00.000-05:00

The day started off with me making my bed and having plans to cook about a pound of maple bacon and cleaning the kitchen. I remember my mom talking to me the night before about how she feels it is unfair how much I clean here at my new place compared to cleaning at home. I completely understand why she feels this way, but if I don't clean here no one will. If I don't clean at home, our cleaning lady or my parents will; yes this is a spoiled point of view but this is how I am thinking.

I completely made a mess of the kitchen when I cooked my bacon. I was trying to figure out how to place the bacon fat into another place to go into the trash, but I stupidly used a styrofoam bowl, which I thought would hold up for some reason. The bottom of the bowl was melted through. So, there was fat and grease everywhere in the kitchen. It took me about a half an hour to cook and clean up the bacon but about an hour to clean the kitchen. I honestly don't mind cleaning. I feel like I am rearranging things in the kitchen and I am worry that they will not like it. The house smell like straight syrup for the rest of the day, I used the exhaust and everything. I definitely need to get a candle for the kitchen or open a window when I am making that bacon.

Both Young and Hyman are so nice to me, I am scared they won't be honest with me to spare my feelings. I hope they will be honest about how I am trying to insert myself into their house and their lives right now.

After cleaning the kitchen, I heard these voices coming from the basement where Young's room is. I thought it was a neighbor's TV being really loud, but as I was sweeping downstairs, the voices were louder. My initial reaction: Ghosts are in the house. So, I snapped myself being scared to Young. She later explained to me that her laptop might have turned on when she accidentally touched the screen. These are the thoughts in my mind: ghosts. I am not atypical thinking person. I also thought this is later in the night when I was changing to go to bed, and I could hear muffled voices. My first reaction was: GHOSTS! But when I really thought about it, it was Hyman talking on the phone I guess.

I vacuumed my room, which really helped since I will like my hair is everywhere. I feel like my room is a lot cleaner. I really need lately.

Then I did some yoga for beginners. I forgot how serious yoga is, it is all about breathing, but wow right now a day later. I am sore. Super sore. I will keep doing yoga once a day. But I wish Fitbit would track yoga better, it said that I was not active yesterday even though I did yoga for 40 minutes and walked up 18 flights of stairs.

I was offered an interview to babysit for a family in Severn. I searched the address it was 2 minutes away, which was amazing. I was really excited and hoped that I was start building up families around here. I met them after I trained for Brickz For Kids, which I feel more confident about after training with Judy. She had more control over the children and it was a larger group than the day before. She seemed really sweet and loved the fact that I had a lot of questions about the program. She is 19 years old and was about to call herself old until I mentioned how I was 25. She just found out that she is pregnant and seems really excited about having her baby. It was awesome talking her and seeing how long she has been with the program.

The family was really nice and wanted me to start on Saturday. This makes me sad since I wanted to come home home to Germantown home on Friday night to eat my dad's food. Money will always win out in my mind since I am poor. So, I will be going home a day later than I thought. This makes me really sad, but I have to go what I have to do.

Day 3: Eating Like a Poor College Student

2014-12-25T22:36:00.000-05:00

I woke up and started to clean my bathroom since... well I blew it up. It was disgusting. But I gave it a good scrub and deep cleaning, under the toilet rim and in my shower. It was super satisfying to shower in my bathroom. I felt clean and the place felt super clean.

After cleaning it was breakfast time, so I cooked my ground turkey and made myself a oatmeal pasta bowl. It was great, but looked like a mushed mess.

I came up to my room to blog, put my face on, and get ready for my training. I went to an Elementary school as part of my new position as a Teacher for Brickz for Kids. I am really excited about the job. I just did not feel that confident about myself and the position. The person I trained with did not seem to like our boss and did not have control of the children. I was worried that it would all be like that, and I do not do well with chaos.

I went there from about 2:45 util 5:00PM, I was so hungry when I got home that I sat and watched CSI:NY as a crushed a half bag of carrots, greek yogurt, and cottage cheese.

I came up to my room and hung out solo for a while until my housemates came home around 6-7PM. We all had dinner together. They had their leftovers and I had a bowl of honeynut chex with almond milk. Hyman made a comment about my cereal and offered me some of his food, it made me feel like I was so poor. Haha. But I know it was out of a good place, but it kicked me into a new place that I should be eating better. I am eating like I am a poor person. I don't really eat any veggies with my meals. I am eating them as a snack. That is not how my meals should be going.

I guess for me it is conflicting since I will only be here for a week. I want to make the most of my food so I am trying to make sure that I don't get anything that will spoil or that I can finish in a week.

My idea is to start planning for a week, making sure that I plan all my meal and all the ingredients for the week. This is my first step to becoming an independent adult: planning and buying my groceries for the week.

What are some recipes or weekly planning tips anyone can give me? It would really help me out a lot. I was looking into Rachael Ray's 3 meals in a day recipes. But I am just worried about starving.

Day 2: Getting My Frak Together

2014-12-24T16:33:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was a day full of... confusion and a mess.

I woke up from very little sleep due to a tow truck honking and honking at people. I went to bed at 2AM and woke up at 8AM. I think that it is going to take me some time to get used to the noises in the neighborhood. I might have to get ear plugs because last night was awful too, getting very little to no sleep.

I started off my day realizing that I have little to no food, and no food that would work well together. So, I had to eat instant noodles.

I spent couple hours looking online and playing around until about 11AM. I went in search of my furniture that I ordered online. I got a 4 cube organizer and a desk. They were super heavy, since I was already there I got moisturizer, batteries, body wash, and night cream. I really needed to get toilet bowl cleaner, and bathroom cleaning supplies, which I totally forgot about. I hate going to Walmart since it is always super crowded and full of WT's. So, I wish there was a Target closer to me.

After Walmart, I went to Shoppers down the shopping plaza, I thought my roommates shopped there all the time. So I thought it would be a great place for me to get some food. It was not... there was little to no food that I wanted, it lacked variety. But I managed to get some essentials: almond milk, cheese, pasta sauce, cherry tomatoes, carrots, yogurt dip, cottage cheese, cereal, pizza rolls, and greek yogurt.

I came home put the groceries away, and start to build my 4 cube organizer shelf. It took me about 20 minutes to get the parts out of the box, only to see that there was no instructions. So I had to call Walmart Customer Service for them to email the a PDF of the instructions. I put it together... kind of... there was two screws that would just not fit in the holes, they were a little off so I decided not to put them in..

I waited for my housemates to come home. I had a little snack of carrots with yogurt dip and some pizza rolls, while enjoying season 4 of CSI: NY. Young didn't come home until about 5, when she came up to my room to see how I was doing. So I asked her if she wanted to hang out by going to Target. She was down, so we spent about an hour touring Target. The trip helped establish my infinite love for Target, and how it was definitely worth the trip.

I got my cleaning supplies, Cheez Its, Velveeta Shells & Cheese, and Telestrations for my housemates. Young (my female housemate) got a bird, some organizer baskets, and a candle. We came home to enjoy some dinner. She had a nice dinner, while I was too lazy to cook so I had Velveeta Shells & Cheese with pizza rolls.

After dinner, we loaded up the Netflix to watch Marvel's The Avengers, which Young has never seen. Before we started the movie, Hyman came home to show off his "ugly" sweater which was pretty nice and eat dinner as we watched the movie. Young was really into the movie which was hilarious. The movie is pretty amazing anyways, and hilarious. Here are it's funniest moments via Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXdYlKu3qZ0

It was our first house bonding activity with me now that I moved in and it seemed to go well. I think they might not be ready how much time I suck up, and how needy I am.

But I ended the night with some Adventure time, bed time routine and facetime with my mom. I hit the hay around 11-11:30PM, and it didn't feel like it was enough.

Day 2 was wayyy better than my first day, way less embarrassing. What will day 3 have for me?

Day 1: Moving In and Making My Mark

2014-12-23T18:29:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was my first day on my own after moving out of my parent's house to a room in my friend's townhouse. I am renting a room from his house, while I am in graduate school.

This is the first time I have moved out of my parent's house and not into a dorm.

Already it has been an experience of firsts, at the age of 25, I feel as though there should be less of these... But I had a coupe of minor ones and a couple of disgusting big ones.

My dad was unable to help me move to my new room yesterday, which was the first time my dad was not around to help me move. That broke my heart a little, but I understand that his work is important. I had to set up a bed frame a couple of times because I just did not understand how to do it. Every time I thought, "I got this!" I didn't have it. It was too small. I had to adjust it 3 times.

Saying goodbye to my brother and my mom was sad, I almost cried. I am making it seem as though I am moving states away. (Please know I moved 40 minutes away from my house.) I am just super dependent on my parents and my brother.

After coming home from dinner, I was having tummy problems, and I blew up my bathroom... I clogged the toilet my FIRST day. Sigh... I spent about 30 minutes or more trying to plunge a toilet for the first time. It got to a point where my new roommate offered to help and demanded that he come in and help me. No amount of embarrassment in my life can ever top this. None. At. All. I wanted to die, but luckily he was really nice about it. Am I going to avoid him today? You bet I am.

First day in new place with people I have never lived with went... awful in my mind. But the plus side to this whole situation is that I now know how to use a plunger correctly.

I don't think they will want to keep me around for another week. Anyone want to take me in? I promise not to kill the toilet. Just kidding. Hopefully...

I can't wait for day two...