Proof that Teachers Do Care

While browsing the Freshly Pressed section through Daily Post I came across this post called "What Students Really Need to Hear." It really stood out to me because I am a student and to me it screamed out "read me!"

The post is written by a teacher who typed out this message he wanted to say to his students to explain to them why they shouldn't quit or take the easy way out. He writes about how despite what we are made to believe, academics are not the main point of school. It is to prepair us for life. To make us strong enough to face the challenges that are set before us. Build our resolve to see each task we face to the end. To open our minds to the expanding world around us.

For all those students out there (and teachers) it is definetly worth reading. It is a wonderful refresher to see how much teachers actually care about there students. This is the comment I left on his post:

"I absolutely love this post. As a student it is very refreshing to see a teacher who generally cares about their students and are willing to fight for them. Thank you for that. Thank you for proving to me and all other students that there are people willing to push us to be our best, even when we don’t want to. Thank you for reminding me why I work so hard in school, because it isn’t just about the acedemics, it is about prepairing for the bigger picture in life and working your ass off to be the very best you can be in every aspect of your life.

You have my respect sir.

Sincearly, Kimberly (the college blogger)"

Hope you enjoy and take a second to read his post. Have an awesome day!

Self-psychoanalysis via your bookshelf or Music.

I found this idea on the Daily Post and when I saw it I instantly knew I wanted to write from the idea. It is interesting and different and makes you take a critical look at yourself from another perspective. So, I hope you guys and enjoy and maybe get to know me a little bit better.

Take the five books on your nightstand, the last five songs you listened to, the last five movies you watched, or the last five blog posts you liked — what do they say about you?

According to my books:
Ok, so when I first thought about this I started laughing because I just heard a voice in my head saying, “you have the bookshelf of a middle age house wife with a boring sex life.” To explain why this popped in my head, I love reading romance novels. (Some of my favorites authors are Sherrilyn Kenyon, Kerrilyn Sparks and Martha)

But for me it isn’t about the smut that, for some, is all they want to get off to. For me, I genuinely love the story lines and watching the characters come together and I just love happy endings.

These aren’t the only books in my collection I promise. I love fantasy, romance, mystery and paranormal/supernatural. So to analyze myself according to these books I would say, “The owner of these books wants to escape from real life. Loves to be transported to another world and get lost, forgetting about life. Not one to want to struggle through a text.”

According to my music:
I have an insanely eclectic taste in music, listening to everything from country to Broadway to metal and rock to hip-hop and pop, and I can switch between these genres without missing a beat.

My analysis would be: “Kim listens to a vast variety of music because she is crazy! (Haha just kidding!!!) But because she likes to experience different things and listen to whatever fits her mood or makes her happy. The kind of person to sing at the top of her lungs to a song. Helps her to cheer up, make her smile, feel for her when she needs to cry, or be the DJ when she wants to dance in the rain.”

Hope you enjoy this little insight to my brain. Big hugs, <3 data-blogger-escaped-br="" data-blogger-escaped-kimmie.="">

Poetry Saturday - Poetry Slam Poem

Ever since we were young,

There is a song that has always been sung,

Adults and parents always said:

If you wish and you dream,

And you hope and you seem,

you can become anything and go anywhere.

But in a grown up world of deadlines and dates,

We’ve learned that this is not always the case.

Here in this land of responsibility and adulthood,

There is no clear path to our dreams,

But instead a road full of bumps, thorns and weeds.

However, it is our goal, our duty our mission,

To continue down our road without submission.

Life’s greatest test, is our ability to continue on.

To push on, to push forward, keep going,

Down that path with no knowing,

No inkling of what will stand in the way,

But still look forward to the future bright as day.

The world may place trials in your way,

But the strength you have can never displace.

As troubled as the night may seem,

Stand tall for the day,

When you will face the world and say,

“Here, here I am,

here, here I stand.

I will fight and I may fall,

But I will survive through it all.

The world may be rough,

But I am tougher

And that’s enough.

I am stronger than it all.”

So we can be anything we wish and dream,

Go anywhere we hope and seem.

Just push on and keep traveling on,

That long winding road to our dreams and the dawn.

Weekly Pet Challenge: Week 3 - Kitsu

Hey guys, welcome to another week in my pet round up! Moving on in order, I am going to be talking about my cat Kitsu. According to my friend Emmy, Kitsu means kitty in Estonian and she suggested the name when we were first trying to name him and we couldn't think of anything else so it just kind of stuck. After he got his tail bitten he has a permanent mini-kink in his tail so now we jokingly call him "Kinky Kitsu."

I already did a post about Kitsu when we rescued him, which you can read here. But basically we found him roaming around our block crying and following everyone around. We had been seeing him for a couple days and just decided to try and catch him, give him some food and see if we could find him a home. He was so skinny and skittish when we found him that we just guessed that he was dumped at the park near our house.

We weren't able to find him a home so we just kept him and now he is a plump 6-8 month old kitten who loves sleeping on my bed and laying in front of the window (he gets mad and meows when we close the curtains because he loves the sun.)

The original Kitsu post has more photos of when we first got him so here are some updated ones:

 

Johnny fell asleep on my bed and all three kittens decide to sleep next to his legs. (Kitsu is the largest one, black and white, in between Johnny's legs lol)

One of my Favorite Fictional Characters

Goood afternoon Interwebbies!

This is a really random post that I decided to do that I may continue into a series...who knows. Anyhow, I just decided I wanted to talk about one of my favorite fictional characters that I adore, look up to and am inspired by. That character is Penelope Garcia from Criminal Minds.

First off, Criminal Minds is one of my favorite tv shows! I have just recently started the series from the beginning to watch it straight through from beginning to current. Now, onto the focus of this post:

Penelope is a technical analyst at the Behavioral Analysis Unit, the center of the show, and she is just quirky, flamboyant, fun and just an amazing comic-relief in the show. She always makes funny quips when she answers the phone like 'The Office of Unmitigated Superiority'. She is one of the more emotional members of the team which sometimes makes her job harder but, for me, makes her more relatable and like I can connect with her.

I love how connected she gets with the other characters and is kind and builds family style relationships with the rest of the team. She is always cracking jokes and making the team smile.

Penelope in the show is one of those "dangerous or useful hackers" that the FBI took advantage of having her on their side. She is a computer genius! Another fun point is that Penelope has an interesting flirtationship with one of the other characters Derek Morgan who is her best friend and it is always funny to watch them interact on the show.

Here is the link to the Tumblr blog with more awesomeness about Morgan and Garcia's relationship: Click here.

Thing Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe Book Review

Things Fall Apart is a wonderful African Literature novel that discusses the lifestyle of an African village, Umuofia and the struggles of the main character Okonkwo. The novel also discusses the impact upon African indigenous tribes and religion when the imperialists and missionaries moved into Africa to “educate the savages.”

I really like this book, even though there are some really screwed up parts, it is a brutally honest representation of what life was like.

The book centers on Okonkwo, a powerful man and warrior in this village who has three wives, two titles, several children and a large compound.  Okonkwo is the kind of man who rules his house with a heavy hand. He despises laziness and really anything that reminds him of his father who died shamefully and in debt. (Okonkwo has daddy issues.) However, his fatal character flaw is that he is so overly masculine, he beats his wife when it isn’t “justified” by their culture, but just because he is upset and he refuses to let himself show any emotion.

Following Okonkwo, you can see how he struggles with himself and how he feels he must keep up this appearance of being overly masculine to be everything his father isn’t. He has this whole struggle of man vs. self, man vs. society and man vs. destiny. Okonkwo’s struggle is seen at many points throughout the story and in the end I feel like it is what leads to his downfall because he is so rigid and unable to adapt that he becomes obsolete when the western culture moves in. So if you like historical fiction and viewing other cultures then you should definitely give this book a try.

I did want to make one note, this book does include scenes where Okonkwo beats his wife and there are traits of sexism, however I ask you to keep in mind that this novel is set. The entire world was sexist towards women so you have to take that with a grain of salt and realize that Achebe is merely portraying the culture as it was.

College Survival Guide: How to Create a Transfer/Graduation Plan

One day I got bored in between classes and was trying to think about what classes to take this upcoming fall semester, staring at the list of required classes I would need to transfer. So I just opened up Microsoft Excel on my computer and started putting all the requirements into one place. You could say I went OCD because I now have all my remaining semesters mapped out and a separate tab for my overall classes I need to take, the IGETC requirements and transfer requirements for my majors.

Ok so you are probably thinking, wow that is really in-depth and complicated. But in reality it really isn't and I'm going to show you how!

1. Find out the requirements for your major and general ed needed to graduate/transfer.

2. Write them all down and figure out how many units each class is, this way you can find a balance of units to take per semester. If you are working like me, or don't handle stress well, aim for 12/13 (enough to be full time) to 15 units. If not you can to anywhere up to 18 units, but let that be your maximum.

3. Think about the classes you have to take and figure out the prerequisites. If you have any try to get those out of the was ASAP.

4. Go from there mapping out your semesters or quarters going from your lower classes and prerequisites to the harder, higher up classes as time goes on.

*One key thing to remember, make sure you balance your time. Don't over run yourself and allow yourself to take a couple elective classes.

I will be putting the template I created on Google Drive as a public document if you want to use it or just take a look for reference. If you would like an excel version instead you can always comment and I will email it to you. (For some reason it wouldn't let me upload it as a template but the document is linked and you can copy and paste probably.)

Got any questions? Let me know down below.

Good Luck

Happy Easter Everyone!

Hey all, I hope you are having a wonderful Easter! A.k.a Zombie Jesus Day, a.k.a Decapitated Bunny Day. Haha

For today I got up really early to participate in an Easter service held at the Shriner Auditorium. I have done this for the past several years but this was the last year they are doing it because turn out has dramatically decreased over the years.

Other than that I just spent the rest of the day cleaning in my room and doing homework. Kinda boring I know.

One comment that did make my day was my friend Christian joking about how "pothead christmas and christian/pagan holiday are on the same day."

I know it is a short post but I at least wanted to write something.

<3 Kimmie

A Letter to My 16 Year Old Self

Dear Kimmie (16 year old self),

It has taken me a while to write this because I wanted to provide sage wisdom while being poetic and insightful. But I realised I don't need that. I just need to tell you what I have learned.

At sixteen you think that reading, writing, tumblr and other miscellaneous things are the most important things in the world. They aren't. As important as all that stuff seems right now it is almost worthless in the long run. What is truly important is to find the people who are going to stick by you. Get better at interacting with them, build your friendships and don't be afraid to let them in. Build relationships that will last who people that matter.

At sixteen you are old beyond your years, you spend your days often depressed, worrying about money, the house, and if everything will be ok. Worrying about college, a job and where your life will go and if your life is actually worth anything. Often times the world feels like it is ending. I remember the pain, the sadness, the suicidal thoughts and the self harm. Remember feeling like moving from day to day was pointless because I was just empty. Even though you are young regrets and idiodic mistakes haunt you. Take those mistakes in stride, acccept that you can't change them but you can learn and grow from them. Remember that your life is worth something, whether or not it feels like it. Never forget that you matter!

I know things are really difficult right now. You are struggling with problems at home, with bullying, with depression, with lack of friends.

But I wanted to let you know that it will all be ok. There will be a lot of struggles and hard times, friends will come and go and people are going to be cruel. But you are strong and will get through it all. I promise. Just have faith in yourself. Have faith that the situations you are going through will prove to make you a stronger person. Overcoming the challenges that you face will make you the person you are to become. The scars of the past will help to build your drive and resolve.

Always remember that you don't have to change yourself for anyone! And you don't have to act a certain way just because you think that is what will make people like you. Never be afraid to be who you truly are, screw everyone else.

Also, never let anyone get to you who tries to tear you down. Use it as fuel, motivation, drive. Work your ass off to make a life worth living because you deserve to be proud of the life you live, not resent it. You are a dedicated and motivated worker and you know that life will be better, you just have to work to make it that way.

If I could go back to be you there are so many changes I would make to change the regrets that I hold now. I regret not getting closer to my friends and making my time with them count, regret never letting people in and always being left behind, I regret being so desperate for love and attention I let myself be manipulated, controlled and used. But the brightside is that you will live through the next 3 years even though it doesn't feel like it right now, your relationship with dad will get better and you will become stronger.

If you take away anything from this letter, remember and know that that you can survive. You are stronger than you think and you are an amazing and kind person despite what that nagging voice in your head tells you.

Love from,

Kim (18, almost 19, years young.)

(For all those reading is part two to the post I did on Wednesday. Click here to read.)

Weekly Pet Challenge: Week 2 - The Ferrets

Hi guys! Welcome to week two of my pet round up! I'm excited to share this with you! Like I said last week I am doing the posts of my animals in the order that I got them and next on the list is my ferrets a.k.a. fuzzbutts!

Meet Kiki (the white one, girl) and Zero (the black one, boy). We changed their names when we got them (but still use their original names as nicknames from time to time) they were originally named Sweetheart and Captian Pebbles lol.

I love these two even though they can be pains in the butt, especially when Zero becomes an escape artist and I wake up to see him crawling around.

Enjoy the cuteness!

(posted these two pictures in my post about when we first got them.)

this is a picture of Kiki in my pocket lol

sorry that these are sideways but I hope you enjoy! <3 Kimmie

Scars on my Skin

Scars on my skin,

That I made with nails or a pin .

I did nothing wrong

They helped me stay strong,

My way to deal,

With the pain I would feel.

They say that it’s bad

But please don’t stay mad

I did it to help me

Why can’t you see?

These scars saved my life,

When it was filled with strife.

Please all my family,

If you could forgive me kindly,

I swear I’m not crazy,

It all just gets hazy,

When my eyes fill with tears,

And cries fill my ears,

These scars brought me back,

Before I could crack,

But who are you to judge me?

These scars helped save me.

So what, maybe I’m crazy,

Because it’s still a bit hazy.

But that’s not for you to judge

Because these scars still have their touch

Source

Note from Kimmie: as I have mentioned in the past I have a history of depression and self harm and I wrote this poem about my history with it. For the record I haven't cut since, I don't remember the exact time frame, but I haven't cut in 2014. So I am pretty proud of myself.

College Survival Guide: Go to Class!!!

So as we all know college is EXPENSIVE!!! So one thing you want to avoid at all costs is missing class. Why, you ask. Well that's because you are paying to be in there and any class you miss is loosing you money! Most people don't think about it this way but it really is important to remember.

Also, if you miss out on class most professors will just tell you to get the notes from someone else and you could miss out on important stuff. Missing class is not worth it if you "just don't want to" or you are gaming or whatever. For me, the only good excuse to miss class is if I am really sick and just don't feel good at all. But there have even been a couple times I would get up and go to class when I was sick, even though I seriously didn't want to and I felt like:

Another incentive to go to class is that if you miss a certain number of classes, usually specified on the first day or the syllabus, the teacher can drop you.

I am going to show you how to calculate how much you would loose if you miss a class. If you go to a private university use the amount of your tuition. For example, at Concordia the tuition was (rounding up $5) $15,000 a semester. I know its a lot! So what you do is divide the cost of your tuition by the number of units you are taking. For me, last semester, it was 17. So you just figured out how much you pay for each unit you take. Ex. for me it was approx. $882/unit. Multiply that number by how many units one class is, most are 3. From there just divide that total number by how many class days you have for that class a voila. For community college, most JC's tell you off the bat how much each unit is because that is how you pay. So you would just do the last two steps. You will be surprised and I know I'm making you do math but if you do this it will make you never want to miss a class.

I know this is a really short post but I just wanted to share this advice with you and, again, I am sorry for the math! haha

Junk Food Junkie

Doing a quick response to today's Daily Post Prompt: What’s your biggest junk food weakness? Tell us all about it in its sugary, salty, glory.

I LOVE ICE CREAM!!! Ice cream I think will forever be my guilty pleasure, comfort food, weakness. I love Ben and Jerry's ice cream even though they are kind of expensive at $5 a pint. Some of my favorite flavors are:

1. Ben and Jerry's Half Baked. This ice cream is basically as if they threw cookie dough ice cream and chocolate brownie ice cream together into a blender. It is vinilla and chocolate ice cream, cookie dough chunks and brownie pieces. This is usually my go-to ice cream.

2. Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Therapy. This is a CHOCOLATE OVERLOAD!!! Not even kidding, it is chocolate ice cream, chocolate cookie pieces, and swirls of chocolate pudding ice cream. This is litterally a therapy session for when I am feeling down!

3. Ben and Jerry's Phish Food. This is chocolate and vanilla ice cream swirled with marshmellow and caremel with fudge fish.

4. Private Selection Moose Tracks. This is a really good cheapy-store brand ice cream. It is either vanilla, chocolate or mint ice cream with peanut butter cups (the vanilla) or fudge cups (all the others) with fudge!

So those are my food weaknesses. Hope you enjoyed!

That Girl I Was When I Was Sixteen

I decided to do this post because when I read it I instantly knew what I wanted to talk about and what had been on my heart, so here is my response to today's Daily Post prompt.

"Tell us all about the person you were when you were sixteen. If you haven’t yet hit sixteen, tell us about the person you want to be at sixteen."

At age sixteen I had just finished my sophomore year in high school. I had awesome friends but I was nervous because the two halves of my high school were splitting onto separate campuses. I was afraid that I would loose touch, or worse, that I would get left behind...

On the personal front I was struggling with suicidal tendencies and depression. I had almost no self confidence and hated myself...

I behaved stupidly, allowing myself to act like trash because I thought it would make others like me more, but all it did was portray me in an unflattering light. I allowed myself to be peer pressured and do things that I knew I shouldn't have but never spoke up for fear of being rejected. So many rumors were being spread about me that I hated myself even more.

For my own personal privacy I am not going to reveal any specific details but basically I was a stupid teenager who thought acting that way would get me the kind of attention I wanted, to be liked, cared about, to even be loved. (I did talk about this a bit in another post here).

I had to learn the hard way that that was the wrong path and I didn't have to change myself or behave some way that I wasn't comfortable with or that wasn't me just to be liked. In some ways I am still learning this...

All I can say is that when I was 16 I didn't get a car with a big red bow on it, I wasn't rolling down the highway in a snazzy convertible, I was learning my lessons the harsh way, learning to be myself and change.

I know this post got deep but this was just what was in my heart and in a way this helped me come to terms and accept that I can't change what I did, but I can learn from it.

Thanks for listening, <3 Kimmie

Blogging 201: Day 2 - Audit Your Brand.

Today's challenge was all about re-evaluating and examining "how does my blog communicate." The assignment was to really look at each way that my blog is portrayed: the theme, the post titles, widgets, images, etc. It was all about getting to the nitty-gritty of what comprises your blog and "audit your brand."

After careful consideration I decided that I am actually really happy with the way my blog is portrayed. It represents me, it is consistent, fun (or at least I think it is), and not over crowded.

My goal for this assignment are:
     1. Make sure that I remain consistent
     2. All information is up to date
     3. That my blog communicates well.

Let me know if I slip up on any of these or you think I could improve. Suggestions are always excepted!

<3 Kimmie

Blogging 201: Day One. My Goals for this Blog.

Today the Daily Post's Blogging 201 challenge started.  I am super excited to be participated in this since I also participated in Zero to Hero (Blogging 101).

For the first post of this challenge I wanted to share with you three goals that I have for this blog, here we go!

1. Publish three times each week through June.  I know I have been sporadic in the past about when I post so this goal is to help me establish consistency and a pattern.

2. Increase my blog traffic by 20% by June. I honestly don't know how many people read this blog but I would love to see my reading base expand. (Also, for those of you out there who do read this it would mean the world to me to leave a comment and let me know you were here. Give me feedback, misc comment, anything!)

3. Finally, I want to create a community. I want to be able to talk to my readers, have conversations and just connect with you out there. 

Hugs from my screen to yours! <3 Kimmie

P.S. Let me know if I should set up a Facebook page for this blog. Also, I have a personal twitter but would it be a smart move to create a separate one for blogging?

Another Mini Vacation, B Movies and Red Robin...

Hi Everyone,

So this weekend I went on yet another road trip up to Nor Cal, only this time I went farther north. Johnny and I drove up to Sacramento to visit his friend Marek who is like a brother to him. We had a lot of fun and just relaxed and derped around. Plus, it was just good to get out of the house.

Most of the day Saturday we spend going to a card shop to look at Magic the Gathering cards (yes I am a nerd and proud of it!) We wound up going back to Marek's apartment and spent the rest of the day hanging out, gaming and watching B rated horror movies. We wound up walking to the local Walmart to pick up dinner and then continued our marathon.

We watched Chillerama, Two Headed Shark Attack, Mega Shark vs. Mecha Shark and Cabin in the Woods (which happens to be one of the few horror movies I like).

Ended the weekend by eating Little Ceaser's Pizza at a park and then going to dinner at Red Robin in Roseville with my dad, step mom and step brother. I'm really happy that I got to surprise my dad by coming up and getting to go to dinner. Also, I'm happy I got to decompress with family. Overall great weekend!

Hope you had a great weekend! <3 Kimmie

Weekly Pet Challenge, Part 1: Lemi!

Just for fun I wanted to participate in this pet challenge. So for the next couple weeks, who knows how long, I will be posting random pictures of my animals with a little post about them. After that I may continue just posting random pictures but who knows.

So I thought I would start with the animal I got first, my dog Lemi.

We adopted Lemi Winks from my mom's work friend who couldn't have her anymore because Lemi hated her husband. We have now had Lemi for about 7 years.

She is kinda annoying sometimes because she likes to yip ALOT and is sometimes one of the worst trained dogs, but I still love her all the same. So here are some cute pictures of her:

College Survival Guide: The Freshman 15 is REAL!

Source

Before entering college the one thing we all hear about is the freshman 15. For those who for some reason you don't know what that is, it is the 15 pounds you gain from eating at the cafeteria and the all you can eat. (Or for some it is the 15 pounds you loose from going to the on-campus gym all the time.)So This is just a quick post about how to avoid gaining that extra 15 pounds!

So the first way is the most obviouse: AVOID THE TEMPTATION! Avoid over eating in the cafeteria. It is the simplest way but you are also really tempted because you have all you can eat three meals a day. So the biggest key here is to make sure your meals are balanced and your diet is balanced this way you can stay healthy and not over eat or gain that extra pudge. One tip for eating a balenced meal is to go onto .

The other way to avoid the freshman 15 is exercise! You are probably thinking "ugh of course Kim we know" and my response is: well then do it! Take advantage of that on-campus gym. Most universities and even community colleges have a gym that is free for student use so go ahead and take advantage. Or if you are not really much of a gym person you can find exercise videos online (believe me there are tons of them on YouTube.) But the one girl I swear by, I talk about her a lot, is Blogilates. Cassey is funny and sweet and you just feel like you are working out with a friend.

So that was my "just a reminder of the obvious" post lol. Good luck avoiding the dreaded Freshman 15!

My 100th Post!!! The signs that I am getting older...

Super excited to be doing my 100th post! I hope you guys enjoy!

When we are a kid all we want is to grow up. We don't realize how fleeting childhood is, that is is something we should treasure and hold onto.

I like many others was this way. But, unlike some, I was forced by my situation to grow up at an early age. To take care of myself, to act like an adult, to realize that I had to support myself. I know that I am an adult but now that I am there I realize how much it sucks! I feel like this accuratly represents my feelings about being an adult:

I know I am getting older because...

1. I have a car payment. Gah yes, I have to pay $400 a month now to pay off my little Honda Civic Coup. Thank you aunty for cosigning!

2. I am in college. Dear God, I have a technical, in depth transfer plan and everything.

3. I have a full time job. Yup, working girl here.

4. I pay for most things myself. Gah, why is everything so expensive! Can't I go back to being little when the only thing I cared about was being a kid?!

5. I am constantly worrying about money and being able to afford things.

6. I have to make all my decisions myself and I am on my own.

7. Now that I am 18 I could go to big girl jail!

10 Songs to Cheer You Up

1. Hamster Dance. Seriously who can stop themselves from dancing to this song?

2. Always Look on The Bright Side of Life (from Monty Python). This song will definitely make you smile and laugh, especially if you watch the music video :) I personally love Monty Python.

3. Haven't Met You Yet - Michael Buble. Michael Buble is just awesome when you are looking for fun good mood songs.

4. Walking On Sunshine - Katrina & The Waves. It is all about being happy so why not!

5. On the Brightside - Nevershoutnever. I like this song because it is upbeat and has a positive message.

6. Nine in the Afternoon - Panic at the Disco. I just love the melody to this song and you can't help but sing along.

7. Swing Life Away - Rise Against. This is an acoustic song that I love for its melody and happy lyrics.

8. Something’s Got A Hold On Me - Christina Aguilera (Original by Etta James). I love the movie Burlesque and this song just makes me want to sing at the top of my lungs (usually in my car) and it is just all about love.

9. Time Of My Life - Dirty Dancing. Because who doesn't imagine this dance and being Jennifer Gray picked up by Patrick Swayze(or vise versa for guys).

10. I Feel Good - James Brown. James Brown is classic and this song is all about feeling good so it is perfect to combat feeling down.

What songs do you listen to when you are down? Let me know in the comments.
<3 Kimmie

(This is a code to claim my blog on Bloglovin'.)

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College Survival Guide: Stress

By now in life we have all come in contact with something that seems inevitable: Stress.

Whether it is from an upcoming deadline for school or work, or it could be about the car payment coming up that you are afraid you will be short on. Whatever it is, stress seems to be an inescapable part of our lives. However, there are ways to combat it and I'm going to show you how!

1. Figure out the stressors in your life. Once you have identified what stresses you out you can use this knowledge to prepare yourself for future stress. Identifying the core issue of your stress is the first step to making a plan to solve it.

2. How do you currently deal with stress? Figure out the ways you currently handle your stress. Unhealthy ways of dealing with stress include: smoking, drinking to much, overeating or undereating, oversleeping, procrastinating, etc. If you use one of these ways to cope, STOP. These are unhealthy and not at all productive. I understand that it will take a while to completely get rid of these habits but it is important to start now.

3. Find a healthier way to manage stress. Your methods of dealing with stress should benefit your health, both emotional and physical. It could be exercising, meditating, reading, etc. Anyting that brings you peace without hurting your body. When deciding which option to choose, it’s helpful to think of the four As: avoid, alter, adapt, or accept.(Listed below)

4. What are you afraid of? Fear of failure, rejection, pain or the unknown? Remember: death or serious physical harm are about the only outcomes that you clearly cannot recover from. Otherwise, all obstacles, with proper planning, can be overcome (and they won’t kill you).

5. Find a support system. Even if it is just one person who you know gives good advice and can calm you down, take advantage. Support systems are there for you, you just have to access them.

6. Avoid unnecessary stress. I personally have trouble with this a lot. I often forget that it is ok to say “no”. You have to know your own limitations and remember not to push them too far, like avoiding situations or topics that get you worked up. Other ways to do this: avoid people who stress you out, because you just don’t need that negativity and blagh in your life and always have a to-do list because this will help keep your crazy life manageable.

7. Alter the situation. Don’t bottle up your feelings, make them known and express them in a productive way, but remember to be willing to compromise. If you need to then be more assertive, don’t put yourself in the back seat of your own life. And, as I’ve talked about before, manage your time.

8. Adapt to the stressor. Make a plan. Detail the steps and map them out on a calendar. Figure out how you are going to deal with this challenge and stick to it, find someone to hold you accountable to keep you on track. With proper planning you can conquer anything.

9. Accept the things you can’t change. Don’t try and move a mountain because sometimes you just can’t and that is ok. One of the hardest things to remember in life is that we can’t do everything so don’t stress yourself out about something you can’t do, just remember to accept it. Always remember to remain positive and optimistic, look for the bright side in what you can’t change. Finally, learn to forgive and move on from the things you can’t change. Let it go.

10. Make time for fun and relaxation. Always, always, ALWAYS make time for yourself. Because if you are all work and no play you will burn yourself out and this can lead to you getting sick or more stress. So just don’t forget to include yourself and reeeellllaaaxxx.

My First Ever "In Response Post"

In the post Cassey shares two girls stories who were able to bounce back from eating disorders and how fitness and being healthy changed their lives.

So I wanted to do a response post because of how much of an impact this post had. Blogilates "Gaining Weight. The Reverse Transformation from ED to Healthy" is a really inspiring post because it shows that fitness is not all about slimming down to a size zero.

Gaining Weight. The Reverse Transformation from ED to Healthy

Read more at http://www.blogilates.com/blog/2014/03/15/gaining-weight-the-reverse-transformation-from-ed-to-healthy/#qWYQHrYXehrCEbHL.99

Read more at http://www.blogilates.com/blog/2014/03/15/gaining-weight-the-reverse-transformation-from-ed-to-healthy/#qWYQHrYXehrCEbHL.99

Gaining Weight. The Reverse Transformation from ED to Healthy

Read more at http://www.blogilates.com/blog/2014/03/15/gaining-weight-the-reverse-transformation-from-ed-to-healthy/#qWYQHrYXehrCEbHL.99

Read more at http://www.blogilates.com/blog/2014/03/15/gaining-weight-the-reverse-transformation-from-ed-to-healthy/#qWYQHrYXehrCEbHL.99

I used to be slightly anorexic, not as intense as these girls but still, it is enough to impact my life. Eating disorders are a form of a mental illness and most people don't realize that. Almost 50% of people with eating disorders meet the criteria for depression and eating disorders have the highest mortality rate out of any mental illness. This is not something that should be joked about and don't make fun of someone who is dealing with this or may have in the past. Instead you should be encouraging them and motivating them.

I wanted to "reblog" this and share it with the world to remind everyone out there that there is no "one perfect size." We are all individual and unique and we should focus on making ourselves happy and healthy not kill ourselves trying to look like the photoshopped twig girl on the front of a magazine.

One magazine I read is called Fiterazzi. It was started by Cassey (blogilates) sister. It encourages girls to be healthy and fit. I love it because you don't feel like you want to shoot something with the constant "loose 10 pounds in a month" statements that constantly grace magazine covers.

So please, take a few minutes to read Cassey's post and listen to these girls stories.

If no one else has told you today, or even if they have, always remember that you are beautiful, smart and you shouldn't have to live up to any one's expectations but your own. Live your life to make yourself happy because in the end it is your life, no one else's.

Big computer hugs from my screen to yours,

<3 Kimmie