AllisonFit: Revisited

So remember how I posted a vlog called AllisonFit: The Beginning?  Well, as you may have guessed, my fitness program didn’t last.  I’m very disappointed in myself for this, but at the same time, I always do this to myself.  I come up with a solid workout plan, and because I’m so out of shape, give up after only a couple of days.  This is why I’m so grateful to have found freetrainers.com.

Recently, I weighed myself and found that I’ve gained 10 pounds so far this school year.  This really worried me, because I know I’ve already been overweight.  So, I vowed to finally lose weight and get healthy, while getting the body that I’ve always wanted.

This website has been a blessing in disguise for me and has helped me create an easy workout plan that is geared towards beginners.  I’ve already done a few days under my new workout plan, and have already noticed a difference.  While the first day wasn’t too challenging, I was definitely sore the next day, and have already noticed the exercises getting easier.  One of the things that has been so helpful is that I didn’t end the first session feeling like death.  This really helped me keep my motivation levels up and I didn’t get discouraged and quit right after workout #1.

So, given that I now have a totally new workout system, I’m re-vamping AllisonFit on both my vlog and blog.  So be sure to check out the new posts and videos that will soon be coming your way!  And in the meantime, go get exercising!

To watch my original video click this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB_zFPzM5cE

Introducing... Eleventh Gorgeous

So, as most of you have probably figured out by now, I love watching videos on YouTube from beauty gurus.  So, here’s one of my latest obsessions… Eleventh Gorgeous.

Eleventh Gorgeous is a sister duo (Stef and Tracy) who collab on beauty videos together.  Their husbands also have their own channel called ManHauls.  The two girls are super fun and sassy, making them really enjoyable to watch.  Their style is based off of basic, affordable items, making them a lot more relatable for a college student like me who is on a budget and can’t afford to spend my money on a ton of MAC products.  While they do use some higher end and pricey items, they tell the viewers why they own that product, and most of the time is a staple item for any makeup collection.  They are also obsessed with nail polish and always talk about the latest trends and their favorite colors of the season, which is great for a polish junkie like me.

Here are some of my favorite Eleventh Gorgeous videos.  Happy viewing!  Be sure to tell them I sent you to their channel!

FREE Makeup, Beauty Products, and more! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCyW2-VsBe0&feature=plcp

                If you love free stuff, check out how these girls score all kinds of free swag!

No Mirror Makeup Challenge http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5bLOrEDbo0&feature=plcp

                You never know how important mirrors are until you put your makeup on without one!  Would you guys like to see ME do this challenge on my vlog channel?

Nail Polish Collection (Tracey’s) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WXbeiNXNF0&feature=plcp

                If you’re a nail polish junkie, you’ll definitely be jealous of this collection!  Stefanie also has her own collection video.  Be sure to check out both collections!

Easy & Simple DIY- Wrap Bracelets http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFWELTG9Iug&feature=plcp

                Because who doesn’t love a good DIY?

The College Halloween Experience

*Please note that while drinking may be mentioned in this post, I am in no way encouraging the consumption of alcohol, especially for those under 21 years of age.

So, this past Halloween weekend was my first official “college experience” for the holiday.  In the past, I’ve always chosen to not celebrate the holiday at school, and instead have gone home to spend time with my family and get away from the craziness that occurs in a college town due to the festivities.  And, in 2011, I didn’t go home but instead went to watch the last Harry Potter movie at our campus theater each night.  So, I’ve never really celebrated Halloween since high school.

The costume: I decided to dress up as Athena, the Greek Goddess of Wisdom.  I didn’t want to dress up as something super slutty, like so many people do on Halloween, because that just isn’t me.  So, I chose Athena, and wore a knee-length white dress with a ton of gold jewelry.  I braided little braids in my hair and wove golden ribbon into the braids.  For makeup, I put gold glitter on my eyes as eye-shadow and created a golden smoked-out look.  Overall, I thought it was a pretty nice costume and look.

The Party: I was invited to a party where I would know the majority of the people there.  Being a little nervous about going out for the first time (because yes, I’m a total newb at this), this was a great alternative for me. 

The Reality: On Saturday night, after spending the day doing homecoming activities like tailgating, the football game, and a UPB alumni brunch, we went out.  Shannon, my roommate, and I went to her friend Michelle’s apartment in order to “pre-game” before the party.  This portion of the night was definitely awkward.  There weren’t many people that I knew there, and I definitely felt slightly awkward drinking at that point in the night.  So we all sat in a circle playing a game of Kings sober, which was just slightly strange.  Have you ever played a drinking game sober?  It’s just super weird to do. 

After we pregamed (or in this case, pretended to) for about an hour, we made our way over to the party.  The party was conveniently right across the hall from Michelle’s apartment, so Shannon and I headed over there first.  And, the party wasn’t really happening.  There were about 10 people that I’m pretty close to there, so I was fine with it- I knew I’d have a decent enough time.  But since there wasn’t a huge amount of people there, Shannon didn’t think it’d be a good idea to bring Michelle and her friends there since it was an invite only event.  So, we all ended up going downstairs to what everyone called a “legit” party. 

The legit party was no fun at all.  It was super crowded to the point where we could all barely get in the door.  And after about a few minutes of being there, a fight started to break out and I ended up getting a drink spilled on me.  It was so not worth it.  Luckily the drink didn’t stain my dress but it did stain the slip I had on underneath it.  After that happened, we all left because we didn’t want to be caught in a bad situation. 

Shannon and I went back in to the party where our people were, and we stayed for about 20 minutes.  We just sort of hung out with people and talked, but didn’t dance or anything.  We didn’t stay very long because despite liking that party better, Shannon had to work at 6am the next morning so we couldn’t really stay out too too late.

Overall, the night wasn’t as fun as it could have been, but it wasn’t horrible.  I still had fun hanging out with Shannon and my friends that were at the small party.  I definitely don’t think I’ll be going out anytime soon though.  It’s just not my scene.  But if it’s yours, there’s nothing wrong with that as long as you stay safe and don’t drink and drive.  I can’t even begin to talk about how important that is.  But stay true to who you are-if you don’t like partying, don’t do it.  You won’t be happy.  Just be your awesome self and people will love you for it. <3 

The Study Abroad Experience Pt.1

In the summer of 2011, I was lucky enough to participate in a London Study Abroad program that was being held by my school.  I was in London for 2 months, and during that time had the greatest experience of my life.  While it had its downfalls, I would never take back anything that happened.  When I was there I got the chance to travel to Bath, Stratford, Paris, and Edinburgh.  But despite all the traveling around we did, I still hold a special place in my heart for London, and it was by far my favorite place to be.

So why did I study abroad?  At the time, I’d never left the U.S. before, and was dying to get out of my comfort zone and experience a different country in a very personal way.  I’d wanted to study abroad ever since high school, and when the London program came about, I just couldn’t pass it up.  After all, London and Rome were the two cities I most wanted to travel to. 

While I was in London, I took three classes- London Theatre, Media and Politics, and Victorian England.  I also was lucky enough to get an internship at a small London-based publishing company, where I learned valuable skills and gained valuable experience that will aid me in my search for a job in the publishing and editorial fields.  The internship was by far my favorite aspect of my ‘productive’ time spent in the greatest city on earth.

In addition to classes and work, I spent much of my free time traveling the city, wandering around and exploring, trying to take in as much as I could in the short time that I had.  These were the times I loved best- being alone and taking in as much of the culture and lifestyles that I was able to.  I wasn’t afraid to do things on my own, in fact, it was a nice break from all of the group outings and activities we had, and it allowed me to catch my breath and regroup.

By the end of my time in London, I was truly sad to leave.  I had no motivation to leave except for the fact that certain people on the trip were annoying, but other than that, I had absolutely no desire to return to the States.  I love the city and the people so much that if I were ever to get the chance to move to London and work, I wouldn’t think twice about taking it.  Traveling to another country definitely altered the way I look at the world- before my experience I had only known 1 version of every story.  But being in the U.K. showed me that there are different sides to every story, and that each nation in our world has a unique view on things – even allies don’t agree on every detail.  While that is easy to think about in theory, until you actually experience it, you don’t get the same perspective.

When I returned to the States, I was unmotivated to go back to hum-drum job at Target, and continue living on in the country.  It was definitely a painful experience- the memories that I’d created seemed like a dream to me.  It took many months until I found my place here again, but I know that deep down, part of me still wishes I hadn’t returned.  But my life was waiting for me in the United States, and for the time being, that will have to do.

Day of the Dead (el Día de los Muertos) in Guanajuato, México, by Emily M. (guest blogger)

Last year, I was in Guanajuato for one of México’s most famous Fall traditions, the Day of the Dead. It is certainly an interesting holiday. The Day of the Dead actually lasts two days. The first day, November 1, is el Día de los Angelitos, which means that it is the day in which tribute is given to those who died as children or infants. The larger celebrations begin on the night of November 1, and continue into November 2, which is the day in which most people celebrate, and in which classes are cancelled (wooo! Holiday!).

I did not go to the night celebrations, but I had friends who went to the Panteón (Cemetery) the night of the 1^st. They said that there were huge crowds of people there decorating the graves/tombs, carrying candles, and that there were some mariachis playing over the deceased person’s grave. My host mother told me that it is common for more affluent families to hire a mariachi that plays the deceased person’s favorite song over his or her burial site.

Although I did not go to the nighttime celebrations, it was impossible for me to miss the daytime celebration! Once I got into the Centro (the town-centerish area), there were indications of the holiday everywhere: Pan de los Muertos (bread of the dead) in all of the bakery windows; flowers being sold in every street corner; altars in several public buildings, built for important deceased persons (these normally have the picture of the deceased, and then are decorated with colored cloth, sugar skulls, flowers, and items that show what the deceased person liked or enjoyed doing, like several apples if his/her favorite food was apples); artistic creations in the streets depicting  images of the dead in the Mexican  point of view, all made of natural objects (rice, flower petals, painted stones, etc.). I have provided some pictures as examples under this paragraph:

Some of my friends and I went to see these amazing creations, and then we went to the Pantéon to see the graves. It was AMAZING. I observed all of the traditional customs: the family members wash the deceased member’s grave or tomb (all over the place there are people carrying buckets of water). Then they bring flowers such as the cempasúchitl (a popular flower with the Aztecs). I will note here that the Día de los Muertos is a tradition formed by the amalgamation of Spanish and indigenous traditions), which are marigolds, and other types. They use these to decorate the graves, since it is believed that the appealing color and smell is welcoming to the dead souls. They also decorate the graves with candles and with things that represent what the person enjoyed when he or she was alive. For example, I saw a child’s grave that had toy racecars and candy on it, meaning that he enjoyed these things. Family members or groups often congregated around the graves. There was also a Catholic mass right there in the Panteón. I did not see any mariachi there, but I was told that this usually occurs at night, and it is more calm during the day. I have some pictures from the Panteón below:

One important thing that I learned through the Día de los Muertos is that Mexicans do not fear death – they honor it, and see it as a natural process. While Americans tend to shy away from topics about death, Mexicans embrace it with the knowledge that we are all going to die someday. The colorful flowers and relics left on a person’s tomb show explicitly that they are CELEBRATING, NOT MOURNING, the death of a loved one. They celebrate the life that the person lived, and the life that they now have in the afterlife. I think that this tradition and belief is very cool, and I really enjoyed my experience!

Update!

Hi everyone!  Thanks for the continued support and the time that you all take to read my blog posts!  I appreciate it more than you'll ever know.

That being said, I'm doing Vlogsgiving over on my youtube channel, so be sure to check it out!  I'll be posting a video every day until Thanksgiving, and I hope you all get a chance to stop by the channel and watch the videos I'm creating.

In addition to Vlogsgiving, I'm also considering doing VlogYear for 2013.  This means I'd be filming a video each and every day next year.  What do you all think?  Is this something you would all like me to do?  Let me know in the comments below.  It would definitely be an interesting  year to do it sinceI'll be graduating school and moving on as an adult.  It's definitely a big time commitment but it could be a great thing to do.

In addition, Charlie is doing much better, and I hope I'll be able to bring him back to school with me soon!  He's been really sick for a long time now so I'm really relieved and grateful that he's doing well.

Well, that's all for today, thanks for reading! don't forget to comment and let me know if you'd like to see VlogYear happen.

Until next time,

Allison

New laptop, The Sandy Experience, and Buffy Obsession

Hey everyone!  I hope everyone that could have been affected by Sandy the hurricane has stayed safe and is doing well!

So, as you may have guessed from the title of this post, I got a brand new laptop yesterday!  I’m super stoked about this since I’ve been having issues with my old one for quite awhile.  My old laptop was shutting down on me randomly even when charged and Microsoft office was doing the same thing.  I’d paid to have it fixed but it just wasn’t getting better, so it really was time to invest in a new one.  So far I’m loving the new computer, and I’m having a lot of fun with Windows 8.  Do any of you have Windows 8?  What do you think of it?

I’m also definitely lucky that I wasn’t hit to hard by the hurricane.  Luckily at school it didn’t flood anywhere and the wind and rain weren’t intense.  I also definitely feel blessed to not have lost power when so many others are without it.  And we had a university closing yesterday so I got out of my UPB office hours.  I really hope that everyone that has been affected by the storm is doing well!

Another thing that I wanted to address is my new obsession with the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  I never got into the show when it was airing, but thanks to Shannon’s influence, I’m now hooked.  I’ve currently started watching season 6 and so far my favorite season is the fourth.  I know I’ve gone against the norm with that but I really like the whole concept of the initiative and I love the character of Riley and the relationship that develops.  One of the most famous episodes, the silent episode was so well done and it is definitely in my top 5 episodes from the show.  If you’ve never seen the show, I highly recommend it and you should all check it out!