overdue, but not quite!

So around Valentines day, my Kindle Fire came in the mail. Yay! It is an earlier birthday gift from padre<3. So I took the "unboxing" as an excuse to play around with my camera and a reason to blog!

the little boxy thing that says kindle contains the charger!

I am honestly a sucker for innovative/creative packaging and this really got me! I was not expecting this from Amazon. When going to open the box, there was a little tab thing that you had to pull in order to open it. Then there was a card that told one how to turn it on. After lifting up the kindle, there was a charger hiding under it. I have to say, this was a neat little package!

I have had it for several weeks now and I do like it. This is my first e-reader, so I can not compare it to anything. I have played with my cousin's Kindle touch and I have to say I like this a lot more. I am one of those people that prefer color on my screen! Sure, the e-ink may be better for my already dying eyes, but in the end, this type of screen satisfies my needs. There are settings in which you can change the background to brown with black words or black background with white words as opposed to a white background and black words. I did think that I would not like my e-reader too much because I like to physically hold the book. However, I do enjoy reading from it and it's nice to know that I can read almost any book with just a click (my wallet cannot say the same). I did want to give it a try so that I can be more environmentally friendly. I no longer have to waste paper or resources that transport books. It starts with the small changes in life right?

Anyways, overall I am really satisfied with the kindle fire. However, I find a lot of the other features pretty useless. I am not one that fully utilizes the apps because lets face it, I was able to do all of that on my phone already. Also, I suppose it is better to search the web on the Kindle, but not everywhere I go will have Wi-fi. Despite all of this, I think it was still a great buy. Purchasing books from the Kindle store is actually cheaper than buying a hard copy in most cases, so it will eventually even out.

--------------

oh yeah, so I decided that this blog will also help me work on my photography skills.. so if the photos suck or you would have like to seen more in my photos (eg. maybe the charger for the kindle?), I'm sorry. You're going to have to bear with me!

Jenny

Drawing! One day at a time

So not too long ago, I wanted to make a part of my daily life again. I realized I am really rusty and I can't really figure out what to draw. That is, until I stumbled across something online and that's when I decided to draw something small everyday! I started by drawing a letter from the alphabet then something that started with that letter. In some cases, I turned the letter into something! Some days I would work on more than one letter because I just got really into it. I really liked the way it turned out and I have come to realize that I am really a total beginner at this whole drawing thing. It's whatever though, cause art is about enjoying what you do, not bragging about what you can do.

Jenny

Happy Tuesday!

         Or as most people would call it.. Valentine's Day. Now I know it sounds pretty depressing of me to call this occasion by the day of the week it lands on, but believe me - it is with good reason. I know people would probably ask who am I to judge since I'm single, but just because I'm single doesn't mean I don't have an opinion. To me Valentine's day is another celebration derived from some past occurrence that no one is even 100% sure it happened. Okay, so maybe there is some indication that St. Valentine probably did exist, but this is just another time that Hallmark gets to make big bucks. Yeah, it's nice to have a day to celebrate the affection you have for another, but February 14th should not be the only day. Do not get me wrong, I love the idea of Valentine's Day. It is just that people sometimes blow it out of proportion. Rather than this being a day where two people show affection toward one another, it should be a day where two people are reminded of their affection for one another. There are slumps in relationships and it is occasions like this that have the potential of refreshing the bond. Now as for those who see this as single's awareness day.. haha well.. It is a pretty funny thing to joke about, but I know some people that take this point of view very seriously. Just because you are single on Valentine's Day does not mean you are forever alone (I, myself do love the weird internet rage thingys). Personally, I'd rather be alone for Valentine's day than settling for some random guy because I don't want to be lonely for one day of the year. This, like most things in life, should be taken with a grain of salt. I try not to let every little detail of life worry me; it is harder to lead a happier life that way. With all that being said, it is just my personal outtake on life and such.
         Even though I did have that little spiel about Tuesday, it was truly a happy tuesday :)! I went to school and even went to the 6;55 ACT prep class :(. Then I proceeded to fail my second period test, it's whatever though; I didn't even try to study for it. Then my day went by normally but I was really happy. I think it was from all the chocolate that people were passing out, but I think seeing people in the halls was just nice. Usually people are really groggy or what not but there was just a really happy atmosphere in the halls. Anyways, so then I got to lunch. That is when I started noticing all the internet troll things chilling around the hallways. They just said a lot of common phrases that people say all the time. For example, there was one raging about how dirty the lunch rooms are. That is me every.single.day. Then there was one by the vending machine complaining about how chips get stuck. Right after Anita and I were done laughing about it, her sun chips got stuck. I think I am going to go on an adventure and take a picture of all of them. So then after lunch I went to class and turns out that I didn't have to read my assignment :)! That made me extremely happy because we just watched scenes from a really crappy Macbeth movie and laughed about it.
         After that was Physics, which wasn't too exciting, but I did get all of my labs done :). Then after school I went to Freddie's with Anita because we're so b.a. for going out to eat instead of heading to work. Well, work wasn't even bad today. I had my favorite group of kids and they weren't even giving me that much of a hard time today. I think this is because Anita dealt with the kids that were hard to deal with.. Oh yeah, and after work, I quit. I told him that I couldn't handle all that I was doing. With all honestly, that was the truth. However, it wasn't even the times that I was working. It was a very, very draining job. I can't even describe how much weight was lifted from my shoulders when I talked to Mr. Zhou.. Anyways, so I got home and chilled for a while and then proceeded to procrastinate as usual. Then dad came home at about 8pm and we had dinner. It was nice. Dad is never really home because of work. We even had some light hearted conversation which is usually really awkward, but today, it wasn't. He was joking around about how he spent so much on Valentine's day (Justin's and my Kindle Fire arrived in the mail today). Then he got mother a new..filter thingy for her stove..? I forgot what it is called. Anyways, I joked back and told him he was dumb because instead of getting her that thing which probably cost about $200 he could of just got her some roses. He said he was being practical, mom said she would of preferred roses :(. It was so sad, she said she was tempted to buy herself flowers just because they looked so pretty when she went grocery shopping today. Then dad was joking about how one of the waitress' husband bought her a pot of flowers rather than a bouquet, because in the pot they would last longer. I think that is what I am going to buy mom for mothers day and her birthday. I am going to buy mother flowers more often.
         For mother's day I am probably going to go out for a pot of flowers, a bouquet, then some fancy skin care thing. The pot of flowers will be labeled 'from dad', then the rest will be from my siblings and me (I usually buy the gifts then they pitch in some cash).
         Anyways, after dinner and a shower, I decided to sit down and write about my day. It really was a good day. I was going to post about my kindle today too, but this is getting to be really long. I am beginning to like blogging and am afraid that I will no longer be able to do homework. It is 11;48 as I am typing this and no, I have not yet started my homework. Oh yeah, and tomorrow I have to go hunting for a gift for Tracey. This means that I will have no time to catch up on homework. Kinda sucks, but this is all self-inflicted :(. At least I am not making up excuses about why I don't have my homework done right?

Jenny

time to make a change.

So the other day I told myself "okay!This time I'm really going to lose weight" Then I realized I said the exact same thing last year. I immediately felt like a failure. Now, I feel like I need to really be more proactive. I was testing out this under-eye gel for three weeks and somehow, that made me feel like I can commit. I mean I committed so much time to my skin care routine so why can't I commit to working out? There is no use in complaining so I will actually do something about it. I am going to begin recording my efforts in this blog. However, exercising is only the beginning. I am going to change my hair, skin, and body- the healthy way.

BODY/HEALTH
Let's face it. No matter how much I tell myself that being a twig is not the best approach, I would rather be a twig. I am tired of constantly trying to conceal my err. curves. Now, don't get me wrong- I am not trying to be a twig. I am just going to slim down until I feel comfortable with my own body. I do not need to be a size 00 in jeans to be happy, but I am unhappy with how my weight makes me look so much shorter! I have a medium sized frame but I only stand about five feet tall. Having extra baggage when that short is not too flattering. So this is what I am going to do about it: run/walk for 30 minutes a day, four days a week, for four weeks. Starting small is the key, because then I won't feel like giving up. After those four weeks are up, I will decide how I want to adjust or add to my workout. I know that just working out will not be enough so I am also going to try to eat healthier. Now this does not mean I swear off McDonalds and sugar, it just means I am going to eat smaller portions of unhealthy food. That also does not mean I will max out on healthy food- that will make one larger still- it just means I am going to make wiser choices and really try to monitor the amount of food and what foods I eat..which leads me to my next two points.

SKIN
Not only will my diet have an affect on my body weight, it will also change my skin! Drinking plenty of water and eating the right foods will help my skin. I will talk more about food later, I will first discuss my skin at the moment. I have extremely dry skin in the summer and winter. The skin on my body is very dry year round and the skin on my face is dry/oily. My t-zone gets oily while my cheeks are dry or normal (depending on the weather). My nose is a huge problem. It is always flaky with dead skin but gets oily. I also have large pores, which frankly just isn't flattering. Oh yeah, and I have stretch marks because I gained too much weight too fast in 2009 :(. So what am I going to do about it? Well... not cake on makeup, thats for sure. I am going to try to drink plenty of water again, to hydrate my skin. I am going to make sure I cleanse, tone, and moisturize my skin every night! In this process I will have the opportunity to test out many skin care products, because I have not yet found what will work best for me. This is a win-win situation because I love testing out new products. I think I will also review them on this blog. Also, my plan to exercise will definitely help bring about change. I don't sweat a lot or easily, so when I am working my butt off, I will be clearing out my pores. As for those stretch marks and cellulite.. well thats a toughy. I think I am going to try using a lotion for stretch marks more religiously. I think I will work on the cellulite later because it is not that visible right now. I know that eating more fruits and veggies over fatty and oily foods will definitely help a load. As for food.. I think I am going to make wiser choices and try to cut out a lot of sugar, processed foods, greasy, and salty foods. I don't think I will start wearing makeup on a daily basis anytime soon, but I really want to. I told myself to treat my skin better before this whole makeup phase begins. I hate that I love applying makeup. I just want to cake it on. The only problem is that I hate wearing it for more than two seconds.

HAIR
In 2005, 2008, and 2009 I got a perm. I always got my laters cut too short, so I permed my hair to prevent it from becoming a mane. worse.mistake.ever. Whatever though..we live and we learn. Okay, so I would get layers put into my hair, but they would always start way to high up. I always thought it was just how my hair was (I have a lot) so I thought a perm would do the trick. and it did! After my perm everything was great. Then I would get it cut and cry about it then get a perm again. I am just too smart for my own good right? So now I have learned how to control my hair a little better. I grew up and stopped letting those illegal asian ladies cut my hair. (They turned their home into a barber shop without proper licenses..not because they were illegal immigrants..I think LOL). I went to Hair Cuttery and had Saadia cut my hair. I love her to death. She fixed up fringe and stuff so that there was hair framing my face, she left a lot of length in my hair, and she started the layers much later in my hair. Now this was exactly what I asked for. I have a lot of hair so I have a lot of volume. That is why starting layers closer to the ends is better. Anyways, I finally figured out how I want my hair, but it was so damaged. Naturally, my hair is very hard and frankly, not too pretty. I was blessed with hair that I can wash and do whatever the crap I want with though. It is very low maintenance but still decent. Due to the damaging chemicals and me constantly blow drying it ( I wanted to make my hair lighter :x) my hair was pretty stiff and dry. After all that abuse, I have to heal my hair. Now the only way to get rid off all the bad hair, it needs to be cut off. The only way to really get a better head of hair is to grow healthy hair. Conditioning it and stuff might do something for normal hair, but seriously now- mine is beyond repair. Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but the hair that was permed is seriously damaged (my hair grows really slow). So eating healthy (hair = protein) and treating it properly is what I will be doing. I am not going to apply heat, unless absolutely necessary... or special occasions. Also, I will be on the look out for the perfect shampoo/conditioner combo for my hair.. so yay!! more product testing and reviews! Oh yeah, one of the reasons I want to heal up my hair and stuff is so that I can ombre it and destroy it with chemicals and stuff again. Being a girl is just so fun..

Maybe I should take pictures/ find a picture that will let me compare how I look to the way I look in the future. I will try to check back with this post in a year. I am going to constantly post back on this blog to track what I am doing and because I enjoy blogging. I would use tumblr instead, but this just feels like a legit blog... and I am not tempted to reblog pretty pictures every two seconds.

until next time,
Jenny

Kids that aren't afraid to be different. #love

Today, I went to Lincoln Park Zoo during their Zoo lights event to volunteer. I set up a craft station with Anita and we basically made crafts with kids. We got there way to early, so we were pretty much the first ones there. We had to set up the station where we made light bulb pin things like the ones pictured in the right. It was really funny how the adults that came to work with us at our station made it seem like we were the ones in charge, though we were clearly younger than them by 15+ years.

One of the kids that were making the crafts was seriously not afraid to be different. The left one is suppose to be the normal looking light bulb thing. The one of the right is a copy of what the kid made. I couldn’t help but laugh. He seriously was really cute though!

I hate to have to submit the “normal” one to key club for the scrap book. That is why I decided to take a picture and blog about it. I really like to blog about my life now!

told you!

So the other day, my dad helped me hang up my guitar above my bookcase and this process caused it to leave some powdery stuff on top of the shelf. So i wiped it a little and got this really weird/cool outcome. It is currently still sitting on my shelf. Sorry it is such a bad photo! I just took a quick snap so that I could show what I meant on my previous post about being easily inspired.
Here it it:

It's all the dreams that never came true 'cause you were too damn scared to try.

I hope that doesn't happen to me. I am too terrified to follow my dreams though. Not only will I be unable to put dinner on the table, but I don't know what my parents are going to think of me. I know it's something that shouldn't hold me back and I should fight the stereotype, but it is honestly a part of who I am. I am done with that phase of rebellion. I refuse to do something just to make anyone angry, but I can't say the same about doing something to make someone happy. Here I am, again. I'm always caught up in doing what makes the people around me happy. I need to start doing things that makes me happy.