You just graduated. Now what?

May 24, 2014May 23, 2014 | cheriarmour

5 years ago, I graduated from Elon University.

The Timehop app has been rudely reminding me of this – and it’s not rude because it wasn’t a good memory or anything – but rude because of the way I looked in all the pictures.

Allow me to elaborate.

No….just. Absolutely not.

I need to understand a few things about this photo. Why am I sweating like a whore in church? Why hadn’t Vanessa Williams yet introduced me to the wonders of the Proactiv Solutions? Why hadn’t someone encouraged me to eat a few more salads instead of going to Cookout while drunk? All questions we may never know the answer to.

Well folks who graduated this past weekend at Elon, or who graduated anywhere really, I want to first congratulate you on such a huge accomplishment. All joking aside, college is a really insane and stressful time – not only are you expected to be academically successful, you’re suddenly navigating love, roommates, employment, internships, cover letters, freaking learning how to put a professional email together, all while also going through that awkward process that is the ages of 18-22. It’s a lot. So seriously, props to you guys.

You graduated, so now what?

Your parents are going to be in really really really good moods and really proud of you. They’re going to send an email out to the entire family announcing your graduation. Cherish that because they’re totally gonna not care in a couple of years what you’re doing. My parents have not always been sure what state I was in, I’m gonna put it to you that way.
Your relatives will hand you wads of money to start your new life with. Do NOT buy you and your friends shots with it because you will be feeling extra foolish mid-summer when you’re still kinda looking for a job. Take all of that cash, and put it away, just in case your end up on your butt a few months after graduation. Trust me.
Make sure you keep in touch with those professors that really stuck out to you. I have cultivated relationships with two professors in particular who really made my education at Elon special. I’ve made two incredibly smart friends, and as a bonus, I feel as though, at least for those recommendation letters for graduate school, I had some strong folks to choose from. Make sure you thank them, and keep them close to you – they are always an incredible resource to have.
It’s so tempting to relax by the pool for a month. Hey, you deserve it, right? But if you’re not going to travel or take a gap year, and you haven’t yet found a job, it’s really time to start looking. Even if you’ve got plans to head over to graduate school in the fall, there is nothing wrong with keeping yourself busy and making a little bit of cash until you move onto your next venture. Even if it’s a typical summer job, like at a camp, I would do it.
Postpartum may set in. This is completely normal. 4 huge years of your life were building up to this. And now, it’s just done. You might be weepy and sad, and really find yourself yearning for any excuse to hang out with your old crew, which is fine. This is a really, really good time to start working on yourself, especially now that there’s a good chance you might have more free time than you did before. This definitely happened to me – I was hurting after I graduated for a number of reasons. It took me too long, but I got into crafting, writing, and eventually began teaching Zumba, running, hiking, lifting, and creating an identify for myself outside of Elon University.
It’s time to create your own identity. You’re now a real grownup. You no longer have step practice or a cappella practice. You don’t have to write papers. Friends are not built into your every day – you have to actually work to begin and maintain friendships, as well as romantic relationships. There is no dining hall, no RA, and generally no free pizza on random nights. When you graduate is when it really begins. Who are you going to be?

Okay, that’s my commencement speech for all of you beauties that have graduated over the last few weeks, or are planning to do so.

**One last thing**

Discouraging things may happen over the next few months. You might not get an interview right away. Your college boyfriend, the one who you thought you might marry? It might not work out. The girls you could not be separated from may move to Texas and leave you behind. You feel like you have no friends. You’re in a new city. Whatever. Keep your head up because it gets better. Discouraging things can’t happen forever. Things will look up for you. So keep it up with the persistence, and make sure you keep your ears open to learn from those who have done it before you.

Ok! Done!

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

May 23, 2014May 22, 2014 | cheriarmour

I was inspired by this post yesterday on The Importance of Being Reese – this chick is actually kinda close to me and I didn’t know until I started reading her blog! Cool huh?

So anyhoo, obviously, as the resident veg in charge, I couldn’t do a chicken tortilla soup, but I used my noodle, and whipped up a quick and delicious veg tortilla soup, totally packed with protein and deliciousness for you to enjoy.

Soooooo here goes, my little poodles.

What you’ll need:

A thingie of low-sodium vegetable broth

1 can of black beans

1 can of corn

1/2 can of diced tomatoes

Some paprika

Some cayenne pepper powder

A tad bit of cilantro

A some crushed tortilla chips

What you’ll do:

In a soup pan, dump your can of black beans, juice and all in there. Now drain your corn, and dump that, along with the tomatoes in there too. Paprika, cayenne, and cilantro to taste, along with with a pinch of salt. Add a little bit of vegetable broth. Make it as juicy or as thick as you want, and heat on high til you see a boil, and then let it simmer for about 20 minutes. As you serve it, sprinkle some tortilla on top, add some guac, or add a spoonful of rice.

Seriously delish.

What do you think?

This weekend’s to-do list.

May 23, 2014May 22, 2014 | cheriarmour

First and foremost, I totally am feeling much more confident without makeup, because I started using Proactiv +, and my skin isn’t quite as horrid as it’s been in the past. So I did the blogger thing, and I took a makeup-free selfie. This is after a workout too 🙂

I’m feeling so much more confident, and who knew that a little forehead fix would give me confidence to post a selfie without makeup?

Okay moving right along!

I’m not sure about you guys, but the only way that the things on this to-do list are actually going to get done is if I lay it out, and if you guys yell at me on Sunday, which is when I’m giving myself til, to get this stuff done.

What’s at stake here?

I will let myself get a VENTI caffe espresso from Starbucks, courtesy of Austin’s wallet, should I be able to complete these tasks in a timely (and complete) fashion. So I don’t feel guilty, I will do it with skim milk and no whip. UGH. You guys are no fun!

So…here goes.

>>I’ve got to vacuum my carpets. There is pet hair everywhere.

>>I need to shampoo my carpets because someone had a little accident behind the table in the breakfast nook. And no, it’s not what you’re thinking, it was not me.

>>I need to order some more brooches of of this Etsy store I found.

>>I’ve got to email the girl who’s doing our invitations to see how things are coming along. Cause I need to get those suckers printed and in the mail in the first week of June or so!

>>Update our wedding website.

>>Schedule a date (probably next weekend) when me and Austin can go down to Greensboro and then to Charlotte to taste some food for the wedding/rehearsal dinner.

>>Pour a few candles to test out my candle making skills for wedding favors.

>>I got this weird-ass call from one of my student loan people, so I will be needing to give them a call this week which is what I’m dreading 😦 😦

>>Make a list of all of the little one-time bills I have that are coming up due.

Okay, I think that’s it (ugh) that I need to get done for the weekend.

What’s on your to-do list?

I must confess!

May 22, 2014May 22, 2014 | cheriarmour

That my loneliness!

Is killing me now-how-how-how-how….

^^Finish the above lyric, and you get a prize.

By prize, I mean no prize btws, cause I’m just too tired to do a giveaway at this particular juncture. Maybe I will do more giveaways when I’m married and I have all the time in the world (ha ha to that) but not today.

Also, remember when Britney Spears ruled the world? And then 2008 happened, poor thing. I’m glad she’s just bopping around now, recording when she feels like it and making it work. My personal favorite in her discography was…

61hxhuuPN3L._SY300_ — image via Amazon.com

Followed by…

Okay, enough of me blathering on however, let’s move onto my confessions. I’m feeling chatty again this week, so you guys get more confessions from me!

>>I’m starting to fall for trail running. I went out to the state park twice this week with a friend, and I love it, except for it’s a lot more technical than just running around the city, and I tripped a lot.

>>I twisted my ankle running the trail yesterday, but since I was a friend, and didn’t want to look like a huge baby, I didn’t want to stop, and it really felt better after we got going for a while. But it is really tender today!

>>My carpets desperately need to be vacuumed and shampooed (thank you pets and pet hair). I need help!

>>This week, and honestly, the past few weeks have been really tough at my job. Like almost breaking-point tough. But running, and focusing on other things has made it bearable, but only slightly so.

>>I love this blog. I love blogging. I hope to do it til the wheels fall off 🙂

>>I went to work with no makeup on. I was running late (surprise surprise), and no one had a comment, so I think I will try the no-makeup thing a little more often!

>>I started Proactiv + last week, and I think it’s clearing up the mess on my forehead. It’s drying, and I knew that my skin can be sensitive to that, so I’ve only been washing with it once a day, every other day, and I’m feeling the results!

>>I went to bed in my clothes again last night. Please don’t judge me. I woke up in a beautiful dress this morning and actually considered going to work in it if I threw a blazer over the top.

Yo turn! What do you confess? The only rules are there ain’t no rules 🙂

The definitive list of the 5 best foods ever.

May 22, 2014 | cheriarmour

First and foremost, you guys are amazing. The responses I got on yesterday’s post were nothing short of amazing, and you guys let me know what the hell foods would ruin your entire day. I have to say, the top food had to be mayonnaise, which ruled supreme as the creamy white food that you guys absolutely love love love to vomit to. I swear, you guys had me absolutely cracking up.

After this post from the other night, I can’t have you guys thinking that I’m just this negative Nancy who won’t eat anything, so I bring to you, the definitive list of the best foods ever.

5. Grape leaves.

I appreciate a lot about Mediterranean culture. But one of those things that I appreciate more than anything else, is stuffed grape leaves. These delicious little green cylinders are, in my humble American experience, typically stuffed with a rice creation, and so refreshing. So usually, if I’m at the mall, and I can’t find anything vegetarian to eat, I will find a Greek Fiesta and order a side of these to tide me over until I figure something out.

4. Wine

Red wine is a food group, right? You are mean and rude if you say it is not. Please leave. (Just kidding!) (Kinda!)

3. Donuts.

I maybe eat a donut once every 3-4 months. But when I do, it’s really amazing. And I’m not ashamed. Had one (two) on Sunday, and I promise you, I felt the earth move.

2. Mashed potatoes.

800px-MashedPotatoes — image via wikipedia.org

Yassss honey! Unfortunately, because I don’t have a potato masher, I only eat mashed potatoes like twice a year – once at Thanksgiving, and once again at Christmas. I also ate them two years ago when I got my wisdom teeth out from K&W cafeteria, cafe to the stars. My favorite way to eat them is to mix my corn into them and crunch my way through them. Thank you God, for this perfect, perfect human interpretation of potato.

1. Mac & Cheese.

Not the boxed kind either. The black kind, that you bake and there’s cheese going everywhere, the kind that makes you do a dance while you eat it, that’s what’s the best to eat. Thank you Lord, once again, for this amazing invention.

Honorable mentions go to….

>>Chicken friend tofu. Since I don’t eat chicken, this is about the only friend protein I can do. And it’s awesome.

>>A cold salad with balsamic vinaigrette on it. Backflips.

>>Biscuits. One of the things the south has gotten correctly.

>>Nachos. No explanation required.

>>Green beans. I can eat these any way you fix em. Except with bacon on them.

So let’s hear it! What are you favorite foods!?

The definitive list of the 5 worst foods ever.

May 21, 2014May 20, 2014 | cheriarmour

So, in addition to having a horribly irritable stomach, which I’ve shared with you time and again, some may say that I’m a picky eater.

I don’t consider myself a picky eater, especially since I eat a wide variety of weirdly healthy things, but since I was a kid, there are some foods I find absolutely reprehensible, and today, I share these foods with you.

5. Cauliflower.

There is literally NOTHING that I find okay with cauliflower. For one, it is a strange color, and for another thing, it looks exactly like the wart on the back of my hand after the dermatologist tried to burn it off. Why would I want to eat that? Fun fact: the only thing fun about cauliflower is nothing.

4. Broccoli.

800px-Broccoli_and_cross_section_edit — image via wikipedia.org

The green, less-disgusting (but still disgusting) cousin to cauliflower, I hate this more than you could ever know. The absolute worst way that it’s cooked, is when you’re at a cafeteria-type place, and they cook it by simply boiling it until it’s so floppy that you can’y even get it to stand up straight on your fork. ADDITIONALLY, when you eat it, it completely tears your stomach into 16 pieces. No thanks. The only way broccoli is delicious? No way.

3. Mealy tomatoes.

800px-Bright_red_tomato_and_cross_section02 — image via wikipedia.org

The only time I ever feel like no one cares about me is when I’m eating a salad, there’re tomatoes on it, and the tomatoes are mealy. It sorta tastes like someone sat on the tomato and then left it out for a day or so before chopping it up and putting in on your salad.

2. The gourds.

Now I don’t mind any of the gourds in a bread. And pumpkin, zucchini, or squash do just fine when you just throw them in a crockpot, and by the time all is said and done everything in there is the same texture. But when the gourds are only slightly sauteed, and their mushy gushy seeds kind of just hang off of your fork? Consider my entire meal ruined.

1. Mushrooms.

I cannot stress to you enough how badly my life is ruined once a mushroom is introduced into the mix of anything I’m eating. You know what mushrooms taste like? Exactly what they look like. Which is a grey blob from deep in the pits of hell. The worst part is, that since I’m a vegetarian, everyone assumes I must love mushrooms, and they punish me by offering me a giant mushroom on a hamburger bun. Literally that portabello mushroom sandwich you just offered me? Just cost you our friendship.

**Honorable mention**

>>I wanna give a shoutout to yellow mustard and to effing pickles even when you didn’t want pickles or mustard on your sandwich for ruining every sandwich the two come in contact with.

>>Another extra special shoutout goes to fruit in my chococlate, without which none of this would have been possible.

>>And finally, I want to thank citrus flavored desserts for making dessert taste like the 409 that you’d use to clean your stove. Sick me out.

Come on, let’s hear ’em! Comment with the list of foods you hate. 🙂

Wedding Wednesday: What do we register for?

May 21, 2014May 20, 2014 | cheriarmour

First off, I want to thank you guys for allowing me a day, and not completely abandoning yesterday. Yesterday was one of those days when I was completely overwhelmed between my laundry piling up, and paperwork piling up at my job.

So before we get into all the wedding stuff, look at these cool shots that were taken a few weeks ago at that fashion show! I kinda love when I do stuff like this because you sort of forget that you took the shots, and then they come out a few weeks later and you’re like “oh yeah!”

Fun, right?

Okay, so instead of me talking at you for a million years, I need to ask you all a questions, especially all of you who’ve done the whole married/wedding thing in the past.

As I go through the checklist of things that I need to do for the wedding, I kinda am starting to realize that I have NO clue what it is we need to register for, because it seems like we need virtually everything.

We met while we were in graduate school, so neither of us has quite has “real” stuff.

Between the two of us, we possess a hodgepodge of things – an old rice cooker (that still works, but is certainly not pretty), a rickety old George Foreman, and some pans that my grandmother ordered off of HSN before she passed last year. But it’s not enough,

We have no microwave.

We have a set of knives that are embarrassingly starting to rust when I leave them in the dishwasher for a second too long.

And my utensils bend if I shove them too emphatically into whatever it is I’m eating.

So there are definitely things we’re going to need as we start to live our life as a married couple.

But I have no idea where to start!

And this is where you guys come in.

I need help – if any of you have links, lists, or your own personal lists of things you pulled for from your registry, that would be really awesome. Please email me, comment below, or send up a smoke signal, cause for this wedding Wednesday, I need your help!

Day off.

May 20, 2014 | cheriarmour

I love you guys so much, so I’m taking a day off from blogland to catch up on some things around the house.

While you’re here, please poke around, explore, and leave me comments, cause I swear, your comments, and my interactions keep me going!

Love you tons, and I will see you bright and early tomorrow morning ❤

My version of clean eating and how it worked for me.

May 19, 2014May 18, 2014 | cheriarmour

Last weekend, I ate like an animal.

I listed some of the things I ate here, but in case you forgot, they were not limited to:

>>Cheesecake flavored frozen yogurt

>>A plate full of 2 different types of mac + cheese

>>An incredible cheesecake made by a supervisor of mine. It was one of those dense, heavy numbers that made you feel like you might have a heart attack, but it was really delicious at the same time.

>>Baked beans, the really sweet kind.

>>Deviled eggs (god bless those, how are they so good?)

>>10,000+ pounds of chips + guacamole.

So needless to say, by the time Monday rolled around, the clean eating idea that I’d been bouncing around in my head was really starting to sound like a good idea, and I just went for my version of clean eating.

My version of clean eating goes a little something like this…

>>No booze

>>No coffee

>>Nothing that comes prepackaged. For me, that means a lot of stuff that I shouldn’t be eating anyways, like my oatmeal bars that are packed with sugar, or my Fiber 1 bars that are the same, had to go.

>>Focus on things that come from the ground, not from a can or something.

So my meals looked a lot like this…

And this to combat my diet soda bubbly cravings….

And this to make sure I didn’t grab a frozen burrito or a Fiber 1 bar on my way out the door on the way to work.

Now listen, I didn’t get overly creative with my meals, but you really can get insane with this stuff. There are Pinterest universe’s dedicated to the art of clean eating.

My verdict?

Well first, let me disclaim this by telling you that I’m not your doctor, so don’t go doing anything stupid to your diet just because I said so. Do what WORKS for you, okay?

>>It’s a little time consuming because it involves a decent amount of prep and planning. But your food should be time consuming. Your meals should not be as easy as tearing open a package or flipping the top to a can. So yes, it’s time-consuming, but in the best possible way!

>>Though it’s time consuming say, the night before, your meals can be pretty grab-n-go the following morning. Once I did things like prep my fulls day’s worth of meals before, like oats and salads, they were really fast to grab the next morning, and usually only required a little bit of heating.

>>Even though I’m usually good about my water intake, it definitely increased since I wasn’t doing coffee or drinks with a lot of artificial crap in them! I had a lot of fun with it, and infused water with fruits, and took mason jars full of water with me to work that I could sip on. I also sipped on Kombucha and club soda whenever I got a hankering for something bubbly.

>>When I got the urge to eat something sweet, I reached for fruit, and it seemed to do the trick.

>>Toward the end of last week, my stomach was really very upset because of the sheer volume of fiber that I was unknowingly consuming. That was one of the bigger downsides – my body wasn’t really down with absorbing those levels of fiber, so I was very uncomfortable toward the end of the week. I should have laid off of the leafy greens for a day or two between big salads!

Overall, I loved it, and even though I said I was only gonna do it for like a week, I’m interested to see if I can try for another week!

What sort of eating plan do you try to follow?

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Author: cheriarmour