How do we know what our purpose is? When I was little I wanted to be a singer. When I was in middle school I wanted to be a vet. All through high school I wanted to do the same thing that my dad does. But now that I’m in college I have absolutely no clue what I want to do or who I want to be and it is so scary and stressful. Not a moment goes by that I don’t stress about what I am going to do with my life.

I don’t know if I will get into the business school or the advertising school, and if I don’t get into those, what am I supposed to do? I am currently working very hard to try to to attain the right GPA for both of those schools, but there is always the fear that I won’t be enough. While I haven’t figured out where my life is going to go after college, I have figured out who I want to be.

When I was younger who I wanted to be was directly correlated with what I wanted to be. But now things are totally different. No matter what I end up doing with my life I know that type of person I want to be: someone that makes an impact on the world.

I want to help people in no matter what field I go into, and I believe that it is attainable no matter the career. By being a good person and treating everyone with respect I believe that I can make this world a better place and that is all I can ask for. Whether it be in the financial world or the advertising world, I want to work honestly and live wholesomely. By coming up with new ideas and presenting thoughts that I know are for the best of everyone involved, I believe that I will better the people around me. That is all I can ask for. I want people to remember me as someone who cared for everyone around me and about everything I did. I want to put my heart into my work and because of that I’m not scared of the future anymore. I’m not scared because I know in my heart that as long as I am doing the right thing, I will be happy.

“Believing you’re a good person and actually being one are too completely different things.”

Every time my mom texts me I have no idea what she is talking about and I have to end up calling her. Maybe that is her master plan? Or maybe moms just suck at texting. To help you avoid a dreaded phone call with your mom, here are some commonly sent “mom texts” and how to decipher them.

1. If it literally makes no sense and there are random words and names she is probably voice texting. This is a tricky one because it is completely not what she means. The best way to go about this is to deconstruct the sentence. Figure out what she is talking about and you will probably get the gist of it. Call avoided.
2. Emojis. Moms haven’t quiet learned what emojis mean yet. For example, my mom thinks the laughing emoji 😂  is actually crying 😭 , and it was really twisted when she told me my cat died. Don’t take their emojis to heart. Just ignore them and focus the content of the message.
3. The list. The dreaded list. If your mom sends you a list don’t call and ask what it is, just go to the store and get everything on the dam list. Because if you call, she will add things to the list and she will keep adding and adding and adding until it takes you 2 hours to get out of the supermarket. Seriously, why do we need another thing of peanut butter?
4. The “k.” Apparently moms don’t understand that this is the rudest text known to man. “K”‘ing someone is the equivalent to telling someone you hope their dog dies. It’s not okay. But moms don’t know that, so don’t take it to heart. Your mom loves you and she just thinks “k” is a convenient way to say “okay.” Let the moms live in their delusional little bubble.

Here’s the tea sis…

Going home for Thanksgiving break is a confusing time for a lot of college students, me especially. I have come to love the city I go to school in and I dread going home so much that I try to not go home until I have to. For those of us that love our high school friends, coming home for break is probably a treat, but I hated everyone soooooo. Every year, I come home, I see fake smiles, I get invited to things that I know I’m not wanted at, and I eat way too much food.

The food part is alright, but everything else is just awkward and weird. It’s like, now that we all go our separate ways we are supposed to keep pretending to be friends when we are all back in the same place agian? I don’t think so.

The whole point of me going to school 600 miles away is that I wouldn’t have to see any of these people on a daily basis anymore, and you best believe that doesn’t change just because I am home for one week. AND PLEASE do not ask me what I am majoring in or how my classes are going. Because I will roll my eyes, flip you off, and walk away.

Rant over. Happy Thanksgiving.

I tried Orange Theory in Uptown Dallas. There is a trainer encouraging you every step of the way. This hour-long HIIT class is a combination of rowing, running, and lifting, but is very friendly for all fitness levels.

For the first half of the class, I was on the lifting + rowing side. We warmed up for each circuit by doing a minute or less of rowing, and if we finished the interval early we would go back to the rowing machine until the time was up. Each circuit consisted of 5 steps that were all displayed with cartoon demonstrations on the TVs.

For example, our first training circuit went like this:

• 12 reps of sumo squats with 25 lb. kettlebells
• 6 reps of super burpees (burpees with an arm curl followed by a high press at the top) with 10 lb. weights
• 12 reps of sumo squats with 25 lbs kettlebells
• 12 reps of jump squats with no weight
• 12 reps of sumo squats with 25 lbs kettlebells
• Finish off on the rowing machine

We did three separate intervals of this then switched to the treadmills. 

Throughout the entire workout, everyone wears a heart monitor band which then shows up on the monitors around the room so you can see what area you are in during each activity. Green (base heart rate), orange (medium heart rate), or red (really pushing yourself). I thought it was great to see where I was at during each segment to see if I could push myself harder or if I was at the right pace, especially on the treadmill. The monitor encouraged me to get my heart rate out of the orange zone and really push myself to get a burning workout in. I really enjoyed being able to see where I was at at all times, not to mention where others around me were. I’m a competitive person, so that was a major motivator as well… friendly competition is good!

Orange Theory has a special routine for every type of athlete. Depending on whether you classify yourself as a speed walker, jogger, or runner, they have a chart with some suggested paces to go at for each part of the interval runs. For the thirty minutes spent on the treadmill, they know how to make it go by quick. I was constantly changing my speed from a base speed to a pushing speed to an all-out with an occasional 30-second walk break to catch my breath. Going into the class, I classified myself as one of the joggers, but throughout the short intervals, I was able to get up to 9.5 mph during the all-out phases and keep up with the athlete next to me who was definitely a runner.

At the end of the session, the monitors showed all of our stats and I had burned 500 calories! I had fun and it paid off! It feels go to start off your day with an accomplishment which is why I like to workout and challenge myself in the mornings.

I highly recommend this class to anyone and everyone! It can seem like an intimidating place at first, but it was not as bad as I was expecting it to be. The trainer is motivating, the atmosphere is light, and the workout shows results! What more could you want? Not to mention the runner’s high you feel after. I would (and will) go back in a heartbeat.

A few of my photos from a yoga class at White Rock Lake with my Tri Delt sisters. 

My FAVORITE recipe. I am currently vegetarian, so I am always on the lookout for yummy meals that are still satisfying and packed with protein. This has come to be one of my absolute favorites. It is super healthy and a fun and colorful way to get all your nutrients.

Vegan, gluten-free
Serves about 4

Ingredients
4 large bell peppers
3/4 cup dry quinoa
15 oz. can black beans
1 cup corn (I use frozen, thawed)
2 green onions
2/3 cup salsa
2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
1 1/2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. smoked paprika
1 tsp. chili powder
Toppings of choice: guacamole (yum!), salsa, hot sauce, etc.

Directions
Cook quinoa according to package directions with 1 1/2 cups water/broth. (I often use vegetable broth in place of water for more flavor.)
Meanwhile, halve bell peppers and remove stems, seeds and ribs.
Rinse and drain black beans, thaw corn, and slice green onions.
In a large mixing bowl, add cooked quinoa and all other ingredients except bell peppers. Stir to combine, and adjust taste if necessary (salt, more seasonings, nutritional yeast).
Preheat oven to 350.
In a 9×13″ baking dish, place pepper halves, and generously stuff them with the quinoa filling. Lightly press down to compact and fill all the crevices.
Cover with tin foil and bake for 35-40 minutes. Remove foil, and bake 10 minutes more.
Serve with any desired toppings.

Puberty was SO good to me. This is my transformation from 8th grade to my sophomore year of  college. Thank god I grew eyelashes,  learned to tweeze my eyebrows, and stopped making my own headbands.

I got set up to go to a fraternity’s formals with a boy I didn’t know. I had no reason for saying yes other than that my friends were all going and I wanted to join in on the fun. It ended up being a great night because we had weirdly similar personalities and both went a little harder than we should have. I had such a fun time that I ended up inviting him to my sorority’s formal. I figured, that if I had such a good time at his, the same would go for mine. We hung out a lot in the weeks between his formal and mine and we had a lot of fun together. I paid for three of his meals during this time, which I thought was odd, but didn’t really look into it.  I was just super excited to be vibing with someone that I thought was really cool, and I knew he was going to be a great date and that we were going to be the best couple there. I was GRAVELY mistaken. When we arrived at dinner he first jokingly asked if there was a dollar menu, and then proceeded to ask if I could pay. I agreed to pay, and he immediately responded by saying “Well, looks like I’m ordering the steak then!” I laughed thinking it was a joke, but it was no joke. He actually ordered the steak and about 3 drinks right of the bat. Ok, wow. Off to a rough start. I don’t care if someone is tight on money, but don’t go somewhere expensive if you can’t pay for it. After ordering he basically ignored me for the rest of the meal and walked around the table mingling with his friends and being obnoxiously drunk. When we left dinner, his friends were more polite to me than he was. After my date walked out the door about 10 feet in front of, one of his friends ran up behind me and said “If you open that door for yourself, I’ll have to kill you.” This cheered me up a little and gave me a slight hope that there might be some good college boys out there. When we got on the bus to head to the venue he literally sat on the complete opposite end from me. Still, whatever. But then we got to the venue, and that’s when I really realized how shitty he is. I couldn’t find him for over an hour, so finally, I just left. After I had  been gone for over 2 hours, I received a text from him asking if I was still there. I told him no and all he said in response was “okay. dope.” The next day he venmo requested me $7 for a drink he bought me.

In reference to my last post about eulogies:

After that part of the assignment was over we were asked to come up with a mission statement using key words from the eulogies. Mine read as follows…

I want to create a more inclusive and accepting world by helping others to forgive themselves and speaking out about mental health. 

This was my favorite part of the assignment. It took me a while to come up with mine, but once I wrote this one I knew it was perfect. I decided on this one because growing up I never felt included or accepted by my peers, and I know that there are thousands of other teenagers who felt and feel the same way. As a result of being outcasted, I was constantly mad at myself. I felt like it was my fault and that I wasn’t good enough, but I had to learn to forgive myself. I also have realized that maybe if I would have known that other people were going through the same thing as me, things would have been a little easier. That is why I want to speak out about mental health. Because if there is even a slight possibility that I can help someone with their struggles through my own I want to do everything in my power to make sure that happens.