Lost in the right direction?

Hello All,

This a post that I have been waiting to write pretty much since I posted this post 2 years ago. But I couldn't write it at first because I had no idea how to write this post because I had no idea what I wanted to do with my future. I went through so many ideas of careers from Hollywood/news producer, to social work even stopping back at high school teacher. But none of those seemed to be the right fit. 

For a long while I figured I would apply for every job that was available and hope for the best. But then I started working for my university and fell in love with my job. One day I was raving about it to my mom or freaking out that I didn't know what I wanted to do, which isn't the point. The point is  my mom told me she always thought I'd do well working at university and she felt even more so after seeing the love I have for my job.

After she mentioned that I started really thinking about and realized that I could see myself working in residence life, student life or the first year programs at a university. If fits a lot of what I wanted out of a career such as working with teens/early adults, making an impact or a difference on people lives and an office job that isn't just sitting behind a desk, pushing paper all day.

I started researching the steps I'd have to take to get there and it looks like I will have to get my masters in higher education counseling. Many of the programs I have looked into require that you have some sort of psych background which at the moment I don't have.  Which means that I will probably be going back to school in January, part time to get  some psych pre-reqs, while working full time at some entry level university job.

At this point I'm still a little lost about where I'm going next but for the first time in almost 3 and half years I'm not scared out of my mind. I'm actually confident about the direction I'm going in and excited for what life after college holds, which starts in approximately 95 days (but whose counting).

I don't regret any of the hops I had to jump through in order to this place in my life. Its been hard and stressful at times but I honestly and truly believe it happened for a reason. I can't wait to share my future with you guys (even if it's not job related).

And for the people who have been there every step of this journey, thank you, your support has been more than appreciated.

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What's in my gym bag? {Literally and Figuratively}

Hello All,

A couple of weeks I wrote a post talking about what's been going on currently in my life (Check it out here). In that post I mentioned that I've been working out a lot recently. I know that I've talked about it multiple times on here and then "fell of the wagon" so to speak. But a few weeks a go while I was at the gym I thought about all the things I would tell a friend if they told me they wanted to start going to the gym but had never been. And then I was like I could share it on my blog and maybe it'll help someone. 

With this post I wanted to tell you guys not only the physical things I bring to the gym, or use right after the gym. But I also wanted to tell you guys about the mental and figurative things that I think about before, during and after the gym. 

1. Good sneakers

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This probably seems super obvious. But what some people don't realize is how many different types of sneakers there are out there. When I was getting my shoes about a month and half ago I knew I wanted running sneakers so focused on finding the running styles. But there are other types so think about what your work outs are going to consist of before shopping for sneakers. Personally I am a huge fan of the Nike Brand, I feel like my Nike sneakers last a long time and are great quality. But I highly recommend find the brand and the shoes that work for you and your style. 

2. Comfy gym clothes

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Again this one is pretty obvious. Since starting at the gym I've seen so many different styles and people feeling comfortable in different styles. For me personally I I like wearing shorts and tank tops. I like shorts because I feel like they fit me better then work out leggins (I don't have a butt to keep them up, lol) and I don't have to adjust them as much. As for tank tops I like that there's nothing on my arms but I also feel like I look cutest in them, which gives my confidence, which I feel like makes my workouts better because I feel like "I'm yup I got this." Also when I pick out my tank tops I like them to have motivating sayings on them because every time I look in the mirror it motivates me. For the most part I've bought most of my workout clothes at Target, their Champion brand. 

Before we move on I just wanted to share a tip that I've learned at big breasted women. I've learned that by layering a typical everyday bra over a sports bra I feel like I gain more support. :) 

3. Headphone and music player

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This is another one that is probably pretty obvious but music has been my life saver at the gym. Especially when I'm running. Instead of focusing on the fact that I'm running or that my joints are sore or whatever makes running hard I focus on the words from the music. My playlist is pretty varied to, it goes from Iggy Azalea's Fancy to Britney Spear's Work It B*tch to even some old Disney Channel because the beat is awesome. Basically my rules for my work out playlist is that it needs to have a good beat, I need to know the words and fun. I especially like the ones about pushing yourself or working harder to better yourself. I recommend finding out if your gym has wifi so you can create gym playlists on Spotify so you don't have to pay for the songs.

4. Water Bottle

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Another obvious is water because you need to stay hydrated. I drink a lot of water when I work out and on the car ride home. I love using reusable water bottles because they are easy to refill, cheaper then constantly buying bottles at the grocery store and easy to add ice to. I also like ones that are insulated so that they don't sweat and get condensation everywhere.   And aren't those water bottles above adorable.

5. Face wash and/or make-up wipes

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In case you didn't know working out with make-up on is a really bad habit and horrible for you skin. It causes more make-up to get into pores which could cause acne. I highly recommend at least wiping your make-up off with a wipe before starting your work. I also love to wash my face with face soap as soon as possible after I work out. My personal favorite face wash is the Clean and Clear brand.

6. A plan

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One of my work out goals is to be able to run a 5k! So, I found the couch to 5k plan (shown above) as a way to start working towards that goal. For the first few weeks I changed the plan up a little to work better for me but as I get deeper into the plan I'm realizing that I have to follow it more to the T. I also like to plan out what work out I'm going to do each day. I spilt my workouts by days, i.e. arms, legs and abs. At the beginning of each week I chose what days I will be going to the gym and write down in my planner which day its going to be. Coming from some who is planner I like to know what day I'm working on.

7. A place to record your progress

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I'm one of those people who like to see how things have changed. So, I use to things to track my progress. The first one is the app, My Fitness Pal, which has the ability to track what foods your eating, some of the exercises you do (I'll be honest I have a hard time finding some the exercises I do on there but I do track my cardio) and weight loss. I mainly use the app to track my weight lose. Each week I weigh myself and add it into the app so I can see the progress. One of my favorite feature is it has the option of adding in a picture next to your weight lose so you can see the progress. I personally like to add a picture every five pounds. The other way I track my progress using my notes on my phone. I keep track of what I'm lifting during each session at the gym. That way I'm consistent with my workouts and I can make notes of when I want to add weight to what I'm lifting.

8. Flexibility

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Like I said above I'm planner but I also need to know when to go with the flow. My goal is to go to the gym 5 days a week but I also know that sometimes life gets in the way. Sometimes I change what day of the week I'm going to the gym or add it to a different day. Sometimes my workouts don't always go as a plan. I find is espcially hard to run when it's humid out. So, although I go in everyday thinking I'm going to run a little better then the time before it doesn't always work that way when it's humid so I have to change it up and maybe run a little less.

9. Positive Attitude

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Working out is hard! There's no doubt about it. And although it doesn't ever get easier you do get more practice and a better understanding about what your body can do. Because it can be hard sometimes I highly recommend going in with a positive attitude. If you think its going to be a bad workout then your aren't going to be as motivated. But if you go in thinking "I can do anything" then you can. Also I love the quote above, I think that every time I'm disappointed with my time or distance.

10. A goal

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I feel like when your first starting out if you don't have a goal your aren't going to be motivated to keep going to the gym. It doesn't have to a goal that is completely set in stone. You don't have to say I'm going to lift x amount of pounds or have an exact weight in mind but maybe you have something small in mind. For me my goals are to get to the gym 5 days a week, get to a healthier weight and run a 5k. And those 3 items get me the gym every time.

And that's what I what has motivated me to go to the gym and pushes me each time. If you're a gym goer what are things that help motivate you? Let me know in the comments below.

*This is NOT a sponsored post, All opinions are my own and products mentioned are ones I truly use and believe in***

BIG BROTHER 18 PLAYER OF THE WEEK {Week 5}

Hello All,

Happy Monday! This week is pretty exciting for me! And I can't wait to share why (Although you can get sneak peaks on Istagram, twitter snapchat by following @judy_judy94). But for right now a post about Big Brother will have to suffice. 

*This post contains spoilers from any episode of Big Brother 18 up to and including the episode that aired on Thursday, July 28, 2016***

This week was kind of boring in the house. From the nomination, to the POV competition, to vote of eviction, the house might as well have sang and danced We're All in this Together from high school musical.

 After a LONG HOH competition the final 3 standing were James, Bridgette and Da'Vonne. James made a deal with the other two that he wouldn't put them up if they let him win. But it didn't take long for the house to convinced James to break his deal and put up Frank and Bridgette. During the POV competition Michelle pulled out her first win. Frank attempted to persuade Michelle to use the POV on him, but the house wasn't having it, they would interrupt Frank every time he tried to get close to her. In the end Michelle kept the nomination the same.

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The day before eviction the house guest were given clues to a secret room that would hold a secret power. The power stated that they could select one of twelve envelopes. While most of the envelopes held a one way ticket, one of the envelopes holds a round trip ticket that allows the player to re-enter the house right after their eviction. As long as they don't open there envelope until they are sitting out on the stage with Julie the ticket remains valid. Paul was the first player to find the room and he tried to play it smart by keeping it a secret, even if he was horrible liar.

On eviction night Frank was evicted by unanimous vote.  When he was out being interviewed by Julie Chen he learned that he had not selected the round way ticket and his game was officially over. This also makes Frank the first vet this season to evicted. 

This week I had a hard time choosing a player of the week. I hate when the house all bans together to get one person out because nobody really shows what makes them special or show that they are fighters. But I decided since he was the first to discover the room to make Paul my player of the week. 

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What did you think of this week's episode of Big Brother? Who would you chose are your player of the week? Let me know in the comments below. 

Big Brother 18 Player of the Week: Week 4

Hello All,

Welcome to this week's player of the week. This will be a fast post but I'm writing it less then 12 hours before it's supposed to go live. So, let's get started!

*Everything beyond this point contains spoilers from any episode that aired before Thursday, July 21, 2016***

Although the house guest didn't know it yet this week's evictee was the last one to that would be eligible to participate in the batt back. The week started with Paulie once again winning the HOH competition. Much like the past few weeks his primary target was Tiffany so he put Tiffany and Natalie up on the block. When Tiffany won the Road Block competition she decided to shake up the other side of the house by nominating Paulie's house best friend, Corey. While doing so Tiffany gave up all the information she had against the people who who did her wrong. Tiffany faced a lot of obstacles in her game, such as over coming her sister's legacy and having the whole house targeting her. And although she may have been evicted, the amount that she fought in order to stay in the house. For those reason Tiffany was my player of the week. 

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What did you think of this week of Big Brother? Who would you chose as your player of the week? Let me know in the comments below. 

BIG BROTHER 18 PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Hello All,

Last week I wrote a post talking about what I'm currently up to (Read it here). One of the things I talked about was about my love for Big Brother. Where I also mentioned that I wanted to able to share my love for Big Brother but wasn't sure how to. After thinking about it for a while decided that I would write a short weekly post where I will chose a player of the week (A small section from my original recaps) and explain why I chose them as player of the week. Since I decided to start this about 3 weeks in I figured I would do a quick post explaining why I chose the first 3 players of the week. 

*This post may contain spoilers from any episode that has aired before Thursday, July 14, 2016***

Week One:

This week is always the longest week because I consider the first week every episode up until the first live eviction (So, up until Jozea's eviction). This episode didn't have a traditional HOH competition. Instead the losing team for the first 4 comps had to chose one of their 3 remaining players to be HOH. Each team this season consists of 1 vet and 3 newbies. The losing team would lose one houseguest and one would become HOH. The losing Team had Nicole (BB16), Corey, Tiffany (Vanessa from last season's sister) and Glenn (Who got evicted). Nicole worked hard to convince her team to make her the first HOH by making her team believe it was their idea to make her HOH while still pretending she didn't want it. Once becoming HOH Nicole used a lot of the other players to get her information from all sides of the house and put up Jozea the leader of the "other" side of the house, who was gunning at her has his number one target. That nomination is what eventually sent Jozea packing, making Nicole my first player of the week.

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Week 2:

The power of the alliance of the house (Nicole, James, Da'Vonne, Frank, Corey, Michelle, Za'kiyah and Tiffany) knew their main Targets consisted of Jozea (who was evicted last week), Victor and Paul. For whatever reason they believed the only way to put up Victor and get him out of the house was to backdoor him. They decided to manipulate Paul to get him to go up as a pawn. Paul agreed to be the pawn. Throughout the week he played both sides of the house by keeping the peace with the power side and agreeing to almost everything they said and keeping what they agreed upon a secret while still dropping subtle hints to his ally, Victor. Although Victor didn't pick up on a single one. Paul picked up on the fact that he was in danger and switched up his game plan to make sure he kept himself safe. Which worked and made Paul my player of week!

Week Three:

From the moment that Bridgette won HOH everyone knew that she was going to the puppet to Frank's puppet master. Frank's primary target was Tiffany who has been rubbing Frank wrong the since week two pretty much. At first the rest of Frank's alliance, the 8-pack, was on board to evicted one of there own. With Frank rubbing Da'Vonne the wrong way, Da'Vonne decided to attempt to flip the vote, but soon met resistance from Paulie who saw Tiffany has a pretty big target. But on Wednesday (according to the live feeds) Michelle realized that by keeping Tiffany in the house there was always going to a bigger target, than herself and her allies, in the house. Using that fact Michelle was able to flip Nicole, Corey, Za'kiyah and Da'Vonne's vote which was enough to safe Tiffany and shake up the house. Because of her success in flipping the house, Michelle is my player of the week!

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And those are my first 3 players of the week. Do you agree with me? Who are you currently rooting for? Let me know in the comments below. 

-P.S. You can live tweet with me on Thursdays during the live evictions!

MOVIE REVIEW: Finding Dory

Hello All,

As some of you may have noticed some of my favorite posts to write are reviews so I'm excited to be back with another one today. 

Like every other twenty-something, okay maybe everyone, in America I was super excited when I heard the news that Dory, Marlin and Nemo would be returning to the big screen. For those of you who need a little Dory (or Ellen) in your life watch one of the previews down below.

So, I patiently waited for the Finding to Dory to come out for weeks, months, years, 13 years to be exact. And then I had to wait another couple weeks after the premiere to actually go see it. But that didn't stop me from seeing all the tweets, Instas and Facebook posts about the movie.  Everyone talked about how Finding Dory was one of the only sequels to surpass the prequel. Which gave me some really high expectations, but did it live up to its review? Find out as the post continues. 

LtoR: Dory and Marlin
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Mama Judy and I went to see the movie in 3D (that was a lot of fun). The movie opened up with a very cute Baby Dory and her parents. Her parents teach her how to explain her short term memory loss (little Dory talking about it was even more adorable then her looks) to strangers and new friends. Soon she looses her parents and they do a short flashback montage leading up to when she meets Marlin in the original movie. Slowly Dory gets some flashes of her past which leads Marlin, Dory and Nemo on another adventure across the ocean. 

LtoR: Bailey and Destiny
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The movie features some characters from the original movies including Mr. Ray, Crush (Mama Judy's favorite), Squirt and Nemo's classmates. It was so cool seeing these characters again and seeing where they were a year later (even if we had to wait 13 years to see it). I think Mama Judy's one complaint was that Crush wasn't in it enough. 

LtoR: Dory and Hank
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They also brought in some new characters such as Hank, a grumpy octopus, Destiny, a blind whale Shark, Bailey a beluga whale with a head injury and Dory's parents. All of these characters were adorable. My favorite new characters were the whales. They were so funny and adorable, if Disney made a movie about them I would be first in line to see it. The internet's favorite character was Gerald, who was adorable but not my favorite. 

Baby Dory in all her cuteness
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Over all I thought the movie was extremely cute and I am so glad I went to see it theater. But I will say that I didn't feel it was better then Finding Nemo. I think it was on the same level as Nemo but not better. 

LtoR: Merlin and Crush
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Mama Judy would probably like me to add that she loved the pre-movie short featuring Piper. 

Piper (The pre-movie short)
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Did you guys see Finding Dory? What did you guys think? Let me know in the comments below!

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Currently - July 2016

Hello All,

I know, I know I've been missing for awhile. But what else is new here? I could come up with a list of reasons why I haven't been here but I'm not going to bore you with those. I made a goal for this week (the week of July 11th) to blog for at least 10 minutes everyday so I can try and get some cool post up for you guys. 

I figured since I have been "missing" on these parts for a while I would start this up with a currently post, so I can give you guys an update on all the haps in my life. So, let's get started!

Currently I've been...

...binging Friday Night Lights on Netflix

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For those of you who have never seen it, Friday Night Lights is about the town of Dillon, Texas, their football team and the lives of the people connected to the football team. Its a show a lot of people had recommended to me and I finally got around to watching it. I absolutely love it! I'm almost done with the series and I'm on the final season. And if we're being honest I will probably re-watch it as soon as I'm finished with it. My only problem with it is that it only takes place during Football season and because of that not every storyline gets wrapped up and leaves me with a few questions. The show in general has made me want to move down south and raise a bunch of boys who play football. 

...watching The Bachelorette (ABC), Scream: The TV Show (MTV) and Big Brother (CBS).

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This wasn't a show that I watch religiously but over winter break I binge watched the most recently season of the Bachelor (ya know the one where Ben told 2 girls he loves them *Insert eye roll emoji here). At the end of the season when they announced that JoJo was going to be next Bachelorette I knew I had to watch it. Mainly because I love her and she seems so sweet. And yes, I know you can't judge someone by how a reality show portrays them but I love her anyways. 

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I love the Scream movie series (the first one is my favorite) so when MTV announced that they were going to make a TV series based on it I was intrigued. The first season got me hooked and I was beyond excited for season two (which I have been enjoying). My favorite characters are Audrey and Noah (both of who are slightly suspicious). As of right now I have no idea who this season's killer is. 

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If y'all have been around these parts for a while you probably know I LOVE Big Brother and watch it every season. In the past I have done weekly recaps on here but those are a lot of work and I just don't have the time to write them. Although I am brainstorming another way to share my love of a Big Brother on my corner of the internet but it might take some time before ones published. What I will say about this season is one of my favorite in a long time. I think this might have to do with the returning houseguests (Frank (BB14), Nicole (BB16), James and Da'Vonne (BB17)). I feel like when they bring back houseguests the game gets moving a little sooner because they already understand how to play. And for those who are wonder I am on #TeamNicole, #TeamCorey and surprisingly #TeamPaul (even if he was the jerk the first few episode). And my pre-season picks to win (before I knew about the returning Vets) this season are Paul for the guys and Michelle for the girls.

...reading After You by JoJo Moyes

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After You is the sequel to Me Before You. I'm only about 30 pages into and haven't gotten hooked the way I did to Me Before You. Although it takes time for me to get hooked to books sometimes so I'm still determined to finish it. 

...planning a new vacation!

My mom and I are going on a vacation in January and I'm super excited about it. It's one that we have been planning since I started college since it was going to be my graduation celebration. I'm not ready announce it quiet yet (its still over 160 days out) but I wanted to drop a hint. So I found a picture (which was taken by me) and cropped it so it wouldn't give it away but you'd get a hint. 

...getting excited about graduating and my future.

Throwback to my High School graduation circa June 2012

This is it folks, the light is at the end of the tunnel and graduation is coming up! I believe, I'm like 97% sure that I am graduating in December! The reason I say I'm 3% unsure it because things happen. If you guys remember I published this post over two years ago talking about changing my major. I went through a hard time when I realized that I didn't want to be a teacher (my original major) and had no clue what I was going to do. I think I may have found my correct path. I'm going to do a whole post about it, life update style, in the next couple of weeks.

...running 3 minutes straight!

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Recently I've decided to go back to the gym (at least in the summer I'm going 5 days a week!) and I've lost 4.5 pounds (as of July 11th). But the thing I'm most excited about is that I can run for 3 minutes straight. I've always wanted to run a 5K but I've never been a big runner. So when I returned to the gym about 3 weeks ago my main goal was to start running. I based my running plan on the couch to 5K (I post it down below). But changed it up a little to work for me. I've been going but by 15 second increments every few days rather then 1 minute increments. But I follow the how many minutes to walk when I hit the new minute. i.e. I'm currently running 3 minutes and walking 5 minutes on either side of the running. I also have a 5K goal but more on that when it gets closer.

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...playing Best Fiends on my phone

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While the rest of the world is chasing Pokemon I have been trying to kill slugs. I heard about this game through a lot of YouTubers and thought it sounded fun. It is a lot like candy crush where you're matching (what looks like fruit) and you built your team in order to kill slugs. I love it and I'm completely addicted. I recommend it for anyone who enjoy(s/ed) candy crush. 

And that's what's been going on in my world. What has been going on your guy's world? Let me know in the comments down below!