The Upper Penninsula - Memorial Weekend Recap

So I haven't been the best blogger, I know. I've been super busy! I spent all last week with Dan doing a whole bunch of different stuff, and then on Wednesday we decided that I was going to take a spontaneous road trip up north with him and stay the weekend. His dad lives up there, so it was mostly a trip to get him up there before he has to go back to Detroit for his internship.

So when we got there, his dad had a bonfire going and his aunt and uncle were up there. So all hung out for a while before everyone headed inside for bed. The next day I took a sauna (having a Finnish boyfriend has it's perks).

After that we took his 4-wheeler to go exploring around the area. And let me tell you, it gets really dusty out there. A lot of roads out there are dirt roads, so riding the 4-wheeler around, you kick up a bunch of dust and you get kind of dirty. For future reference, ya know. 

We stopped on a bridge that went over the Escanaba River, and then meandered under the bridge to continue exploring closer to the water. 

After we explored around the bridge we continued on our merry way to Boney Falls and the Boney Falls dam.

We finished our day off with watching both Madagascar movies. Because we're actually little kids. :)

On Sunday we went into town to spend a little time with Dan's grandpa and uncle. They live right on the Escanaba river, and they've got the most beautiful backyard. Dan did a little fishing while we were there, but didn't catch anything. 

After we got back from that, Dan and I loaded up the 4-wheeler again and took off, heading for a place to go fishing at. 

See a little peek of the river in that last picture? We found this cool set up way back in the woods, but the bugs were so horrible that we didn't stay for very long. We spent most of our time cruising around on all these back roads, and it was a really fun time. When we got back we took turns in the sauna again and watched a movie before bed time. Which I ended up falling asleep during. But can you blame me, with all the adventures going on here? 

Monday morning I got all my stuff packed up and said goodbye before I headed out. Leaving sucks, and it gets harder every time. At least I have a bunch of good memories to reflect on until I see him again. At least I got this pretty picture on the way home:

I took it as my own personal message from up there that soon we won't have to say goodbye anymore <3 

Dear Walmart, You Suck

I'm still alive! I will get to my absence later on after I've finished going through my pictures and getting a post written out for y'all, but for now I need to go on a rant.

For any fellow Shadowhunters out there, you know that today is a big HUGE day for us! (What am I talking about? Check it out here) The final book comes out today and we're all supposed to get our hearts ripped out. Bring it on!

So instead of cruising a half hour downtown where there is a Barnes&Noble, I decided to hit up my local Walmart, since it's on my way to work. And upon entering, this is what I see:

Naturally I'm starting to get excited. I mean, I've waited over a year for this baby to come out, and I will soon have her in my hands! 

I cruise down to where the books are... turn the corner aaannndd...

No book.

There is nothing! Not even a sign, not an indent indicating that it had been there but sold out. Nothing. Zilch. Trust me, I stood there for like ten minutes hoping that it would pop out at me. To no avail. 

So, Walmart, I'm not too pleased with you. How could you advertise something, and not have it on the shelves? It says, plain as day, that it was available Tuesday, May 27. Guess what, Walmart, it's Tuesday the 27th. And guess what else - my book was not available. 

Why am I so angry about this? Because, Walmart, this is not the first time this has happened to me. I don't know how many times I have gone to your store, seeing advertisement that something is there only to have it not be there. Actually with the book before this one, City of Fallen Angels, I encountered the same deal. So it's not like it happened this one time and I'm publicly ranting about this, oh no, this has happened multiple times in the past. So Walmart, get your shit together. I'm off to Target now.

Why Tumblr Annoys Me

Hello and happy Thursday peeps! I wasn't planning on writing anything today, but then I hopped on the ol' internet and started perusing Tumblr, my other blog, and it annoyed me to the point where I decided to make a whole post about it here.

For those of you who don't know, Tumblr is this amazing place where people go to share their thoughts and feelings and reblog a bunch of awesome crap that really just passes time. My blog (which can be found by clicking right here) consists of quotes, relationship stuff, LDR stuff, movie lines and gifs and really anything I find funny or inspirational or really just anything I feel like sharing. I don't make it a political place, or anything like that, but I follow some blogs that do from time to time. And as I'm on here, I'm starting to realize that Tumblr isn't as great as people make it out to be.

For example, Tumblr is often referred to as a place where everyone can go to feel accepted and not be judged by others. It's supposed to be a welcoming place where people go to escape bullying and the like. The way people talk about it, it sounds like this website should be farting out rainbows and glitter.

I'm here to tell you that this is a crock of bullshit.

I am a republican/conservative. I am a Christian, and quite religious. I am pro-life and my opinion on gay rights is a little in the middle. And apparently this is a problem on Tumblr. For every good picture/quote/gif/etc. you find on Tumblr, there are a million bad ones. Everyone on there talks about how you shouldn't be ashamed to be who you are, how you shouldn't be afraid to do your own thing and to stand up for what you believe in. Which sounds good, right?

What they don't tell you is that it only applies to people who are democrat/liberal, are pro-abortion, are gay/lesbian, are not religious. I have seen more ridicule against people like myself, and it makes me sick. Seriously, I have never seen anything more hypocritical! And it makes me so mad. If people are going to go out there and talk about how you shouldn't be afraid to express yourself and your beliefs, why in the hell are they ripping down people who do that?

If there is a space where people are supposed to go to forget about all the judgment going on in the world, why would you bring that there? I have seen more rips on republicans, more people throwing facts out there about how abortion is okay, more anti-God posts than anywhere else. It's very disheartening and disappointing.

Don't get me wrong, I love Tumblr. I've had some of the best laughs on there and I follow some awesome blogs in the LDR community on there that help me with this long distance deal. But to see this kind of hatred for anyone not conforming to the ways of this new society, it makes me second guess being a part of it.

I didn't mean to make this post so terribly long, and I hope I didn't steer too many people away from checking it out. I just hoped that I could make some of you think.

Holy Hill

Hey guys! I'm sure you're all wondering why I haven't been blogging this past weekend. No? Well I'm going to tell you anyway. This is why:

He's home! He got in on Friday night, so between spending time with him and (unfortunately) still having to work, I've been busy. Yesterday (Sunday) we decided to take a trip up to Holy Hill with my sister and her boyfriend for a double date of sorts. Holy Hill is this huge church around where I live, with Friars and everything. If you want to check it out, go here. Note: I'm not Catholic, I just really love the church.



Pretty awesome, huh? I really wanted to go inside, but there was a concert going on in there so we couldn't get in. If you want to see the inside, the website has a bunch of pictures. Since the church sits up on a bluff, the view from there is pretty spectacular. But even more so than that, the right tower you can see in the picture up there is open for people to climb. Let me tell you, I'm not afraid of heights, but climbing all the way up there is a little nerve-wracking but completely amazing at the same time. And the view, oh man.

It's one of those places that really make you think about how beautiful the world really is. When we look at it from the ground, we tend to miss the big picture. When you get to experience a view like this, though, you get a whole new perspective. 

Once we got back down from the tower, we checked out this area where it gave the whole history on the place, including the very first relic that was constructed in 1858. The cross was carried up the hill by the first reverend and his son-in-law. 

And then of course, there were some goofing offs after we left the park :)

I'm so in love with this guy.

#FirstsTotalSocial - First Instagram Post

 

Happy Thursday! Link up time! I haven't done one of these in a while. I'm not going to share my first blog post, because it's more stupid than anything. I'd rather go with Instagram because that one at least looks cool.

Probably not the best quality picture, but it was on my crappy little android phone so what can I say? Now I'm going to go spam twitter with hashtags about this. Everyone go link up with Helene and Sarah and have a great Thursday!



TIOT: The "I Need Reminding" Edition

I was starting to give up. Eating healthy is expensive, I don't have time to go to the gym right now. Why can't this whole weight loss thing wait until I'm ready for it? That's what was going through my head the last few days, until I read Ally's blog this morning.

If I keep telling myself I need to wait for my life to settle down before I really start doing this, it's never going to happen. Life doesn't stop, and it's not going to slow down. I can put off buying a new car, but I can't put this off. It's not something to do once and then be done with it, losing weight is a lifestyle change. And that's something I keep forgetting. It's going to take time, and it's going to take a lot of effort. And as much as I've been writing about not making excuses, I've certainly been making a lot of them recently.

Guys, I love food. I love eating, and I love awesome food. My favorite thing in the world is a nice juicy cheeseburger and fries. And I know that I have to change that. Not to say I won't indulge a little every once in a while, but I need to change my mind before I can start changing my body. That's the thing I need to work on most. I covered this last time, but there is a huge mental part of weight loss, and I'm not there yet. I start thinking about what I will look like one day, and that usually gets me through my workouts. But I need to keep that skinny version of me in my head all the time.

I discovered something about myself this past weekend, and it really kind of got me down. I think a big reason why I want to lose weight is because other people want me to. Whenever I go to my grandparents, I don't feel comfortable in my own skin. I'm constantly checking the mirror, making sure I'm sucking in my stomach enough. They constantly monitor what I eat and they make nasty comments if they don't like what I'm eating. My grandma has something against me eating chips. Chips are my favorite snack food. That has to change, I know, but goodness. I'm always concerned with what other people say to me when I eat these foods. Or if I decide to sit down instead of go run around outside with my sisters.

I need to do this for me, because that's the only reason it's going to work. I need to stop thinking about what other people think, and do this for myself. So I'm going to do what Ally did, and I'm going to make a list of reasons why I want to lose weight. Not for other people, but for myself.

Weekend Recap... On A Thursday

I've had a weekend. Holy cow. I haven't posted anything since last week, and I'm sorry about that. I've been pretty busy.

On Saturday, after work, my car decided to throw me for a loop. I was on my way home from work when my battery light came on. And then my brake light... and then my air bag light. And then all of a sudden my emergency brake light was flashing at me and my car was turning off and slowing down. So I got her onto the side of the road where she totally died. And thus, three days in to my brand new insurance policy, I had to utilize their roadside assistance.

About a half hour later the tow truck finally got to me and towed my car over to this little auto body place nearby.. that was closed. By this point, my mom was there so it wasn't like I had no where to go. I called the number on the building hoping for a voicemail of some kind, but a lady answered and she was already on her way back to the place. Thank God. So she got there and I told her what happened and she said they'd look at it on Monday morning and get back to me.

So Monday rolls around and they call saying that it was the alternator, and I would get it back the next day. So Tuesday comes, and I go to pick up my car. And $332.25 later, I had my car back.

But I'm not done.

So the guy told me that I have to get my car looked at, because there's a bunch of stuff wrong with it, just in the front end. He didn't even look in the back. Ohhhh yay! By this point I'm pretty sure I looked like this

And probably a little like Leo here

And felt like doing this

What am I going to do? I'll tell you. I'm going to get my brakes fixed on Monday, because I know that those are pretty bad, and then I'm going to head on over to a dealership and get a new car. And not the sketchy kind of dealership I got my current car from, because that's proving to be coming back to bite me in the ass. I wish I didn't have to put more money into getting my crap car fixed before I trade it in, but I'd rather get as much as I can for a trade in on it.

If anyone has some advice, I'd love to hear it!

The Best Banana Bread

Happy Saturday my lovlies! I have a recipe for you today.

Okay, so those bananas don't look very appetizing, but work with me. Here's what you have to do.

You'll Need:

1/2 cup of butter
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs
4 bananas (I like to use overly ripe ones, it makes it taste awesome and they're easier to mash up)
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

And start mixing it all together. I do a couple ingredients at a time, so I started with the butter and sugar and eggs.

 

Looks kinda soupy and gross. But don't worry, not for long! Keep on mixing in the flour and the rest of the ingredients.

 

After you're all mixed up there and it's a nice consistency, pour it into a greased and floured loaf pan. It might seem like a lot of batter for a little pan, but it fits perfectly. Now, make sure your oven is preset to 350 degrees and then slide it on into the oven and bake it for an hour. And then once it finishes, it should look like this pan of deliciousness. Let me know how it works out for you!!