Embarrassing moments of the week

Shirt: Target // Sweater: F21 // Jeans: American Eagle // Shoes: Vans // Bracelets: F21

As promised I am going to be sharing some of the most embarrassing moments of my week.

Now, don't get your hopes up too high because these aren't that bad.

Although the second one would be bad if there had been people outside... but more on that in a second.

Story number one.

First, you all know that Monday was my first day back to school right?

Well, imagine me driving through a town that I do not know at all with about 15,000,000,000 kids running through ALL the streets of the town (not just the ones the college is on).

Yes, I did exaggerate. Geez, you catch me every time.

So there I am.

All I want is to find a dang parking spot so I can go to class, is that too much for a girl to ask?

I think not.

I have a little map that the school hands out with all the nearby streets and everything.

Note to whoever makes that freakin' map: in the future if you could please mark which streets are one ways and which way those one ways go, it would be very helpful. Thanks!

So, kids are scattering all about, I am driving like a grandma, looking for the street I am trying to turn onto. I come to the street at a very awkward 4 way stop.

I stop.

When it is my turn I start trying to turn onto the street, but a pedestrian runs in front of my car.

So again, I am stopped, but this time in the middle of the intersection.

While I am waiting I see the huge red

DO NOT ENTER sign, and realize that I am trying to go the wrong way down a one way street.

I try to reverse but there is a biker girl behind me.

I stop again.

 I try to go forward and there are like 8 other pedestrians. As I sit in the middle of the intersection, feeling like a horrible driver I realize all the other  drivers are staring at me. One lady gave me a death glare and I'm pretty sure one of them flipped me off.

... Oops

If only I had out of state license plates, I would have a good excuse.

But I survived the day.

Story number two.

Wednesday morning I was getting ready for school.

I got out of the shower and walked to my bedroom...

Let's all be adults here, I was not wearing clothing, but I did have a huge towel on my head.

Our window curtain was open a little bit because we had our fan in the window.

So I turned off the fan and went to close the curtain.

All very normal

Except when I was standing in front of that huge window, completely naked, and the curtain came crashing down in front of me!!

Dark outside, light inside. Which can only mean that if there was anyone outside, they have seen more of me than I would like for them to see!

Luckily it was 6am, and not many people are out and about on the streets at 6am.

At least I hope not!

Story number three.

This is how I welcomed my new neighbors into the neighborhood.

By putting on a wonderful show for them!

And yes, they did see my display of awesomeness.

They were sitting in their backyard about 5 feet away from me while I took these pictures.

Welcome to the neighborhood!

Have fun getting used to your crazy neighbors!

To the rest of you, have a great weekend! 

See you on Monday!

{And if you have any good embarrassing moments, send them my way!}

Linking up with:

top knots and pity parties

I had a nice long list of things to get done today.

Unfortunately at the top of the list was to catch up on DWTS, which means most of the other things didn't get done.

I did do a little bit of laundry and finished my chemistry homework.

That is good enough for one day right?

I also somewhat did my hair today.

I say somewhat because this did not require me to blow dry or straighten, which are two things that I hate.

Since my hair is short I have to do a braid up the back in order to have a decent looking top knot.

Anyways, this is pretty much a post about nothing.
I hope that is ok.
I just have to get back to working on my microbiology homework... which is not something I am feeling excited about.
blogging = good excuse to avoid homework.

Tomorrow I actually have a decent post lined up.
I am titling it "Embarrassing moments of the week", or something like that.
Because every embarrassing moment deserves to be told, and laughed at.
This is not a pity party, it is a "how many awesomely embarrassing moments can one person really have?" kind of party.
If you have some good stories from your week email them to me!
I want to hear them!
(knowingtanya@gmail.com)

Alright that is all.
I'm sorry if you were hoping for a super exciting post.
I just didn't have it in me today to be exciting, or entertaining, or whatever else it is that you people expect from me.

Lately

Life has been crazy lately.

Crazy, but awesome.

As you have probably figured out I started my fall term classes on Monday!

So far I am loving it!

I finished my transfer degree last spring and have moved on to a university that is about 45 minutes away from my house. (An update for those of you that are new around here.)

I was really nervous about commuting to school because for the past 3 years I have had panic attacks while I drive on the freeway.

Not just like I get nervous driving, but I would have a full on panic attack.

Sometimes ending in tears.

There were several times where I tried to drive just from one end of town to another (which isn't very far, maybe 5 miles of actual freeway driving) and I would just freak out and couldn't do it.

I had some unexplainable fear of passing out behind the wheel, or losing control of the car.
If I needed to go somewhere out of town I would have my husband drive.

At the beginning of summer I knew that I couldn't allow this fear to continue.

I knew that it was something that I needed to get control over, because I knew that there was a good possibility that I was going to be commuting to school this year.

All summer I tried.

A few times I drove maybe a good 30 miles, which I could only do while my husband was in the car,  before I started freaking out.

Sometimes I could only drive one exit down before I felt too much anxiety and had to get off.

Two weeks ago I drove down to Corvallis (the city of my school) with my husband in the car, and I freaked out then!

I didn't know what I was going to do when school started.

But I knew I didn't have a choice.

I either get over it and drive on the dang freeway, or I give up on all of my dreams of actually finishing school with a real degree.

I woke up Monday morning.

Got ready.

Ate my breakfast.

And headed out the door.

I was nervous, but oddly confident at the same time.

And miraculously, I drove all the way to school without even a hint of anxiety.

And I've driven every day since, with little to no anxiety.

The weird, and often annoying, thing about anxiety and panic attacks is that it is all in our heads.

All of that "mind over matter" mumbo-jumbo.

Honestly, I don't even know what changed, but somehow it isn't as scary anymore.

I know that I don't want to live my life in fear.

I don't want to give up on something that is important to me, just because some very small detail is standing in my way.

Maybe all I needed was something to force me to get over it.

And realize that I am capable of so much more than I think I am.

Oh, and in other good news,

Friday was supposed to be my last day at my job.

I was looking for something that was going to be a little more flexible with my school schedule, because I didn't want to have to plan my classes around work.

Well, last Monday my work actually offered to keep me on as a 10 hour employee!

So I still have a job!

Yay!

Funny how a few months ago I was completely stressed about how things were going to turn out.

I guess sometimes we just need to let the pieces fall together on their own.

Thanks for reading guys! And for being such a big support system for me! I really don't think my life would be the same without so many of you!

I'll pencil you in

Last April, when I was starting spring term classes, I decided that I needed a planner, but I couldn't find any that fit my needs. I decided to make my own. You can read all about it here.

Anyways, I got too overwhelmed with homework and never got around to finishing it.

Now here I am, a new term starting and still needed a planner!

So I decided to finish what I had started.

My very own planner :)

Designed for me and my needs.

Back cover

I did find a few planners that had all the stuff I wanted in them, but for an unbelievable price of $30!!! And they weren't even cute! You can call me a cheap-skate, you can call me whatever you like, but I was not about to spend 30 of my hard earned dollars on a few pieces of paper!!

I'm not gonna lie, this was a time consuming project. All in all it probably took me around 3 days, putting in a good 5 hours (total), give or take a few hours. I have a regular run-of-the-mill printer that doesn't do any fancy front and back printing, so I had to figure out exactly which paper to print which pages on. But, it was so worth it!

I have full months with large squares to write lots of important information in, as well as weekly pages, which have very large sections to write out all the details I need to know about assignments or events or anything else. It is a full 8 1/2" x 11" in size, which I would have preferred smaller, but I didn't want to take the extra work to either cut paper, or try to find the perfect size and then have to rescale my design.

The total cost of all my supplies was somewhere around 10 bucks.

-Paper, weight: 24lb, 500 sheets for under $7 (that was just the size of the pack I did not use all 500 sheets!)
-Spiral binding for $2.99
-2 sheets of some pretty card stock for the front and back covers, 1-2 dollars.

It's so pretty! I don't even want to ruin it by writing in it!
But rest assured that this thing is going to get used!

Alright, I'm off to fill in all my homework assignments that I was given today!
See you guys soon!

PS. Yes, I am using my new desk that we built! Hopefully I will have pictures of my new homework space up soon!

How to be yourself

There is definitely a balance that I have had to figure out ever since starting my blog.
I've always wanted to be real and not pretend to be someone different on here than I am in real life.
But sometimes that is complicated.
Even though I would absolutely love to be an open book with everyone, I've had to learn when to share and when to keep my mouth shut.

On top of this, I've had to figure out how to just let go and be myself.
Without worrying about what everyone is going to think of me.
I'm a little quirky.
A bit weird.
Nerdy for sure.
Very sarcastic.
And sometimes even a bit cynical.
Sometimes people don't find the same things funny that I do.
Sometimes people don't realize when I am actually joking and when I'm being serious.
And you know what?
That's just who I am.
It's the way I am in real life, and it's the way I am in my blog.
When I post something that gets absolutely zero results, I've had to learn not to beat myself up about it.
Because that is honestly who I am.
Maybe not everyone is going to understand it, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I need to change.

It took me awhile to get to this place where I can just be myself and not worry what you guys are going to think of me. But, I'm happy that I did. Because I feel a little more free now.

And here is how you can do it too.

1. Remember that it is your blog. Write what you want to write and be who you want to be. If you are feeling funny, be funny. If you are feeling serious, be serious. Maybe it's not the way you usually do things. Maybe not everyone will get your jokes. Maybe not everyone will be moved to tears, but at least you are being true to yourself.

2. Don't check your stats or for comments a bazillion times after you publish a new post. A watch pot doesn't boil, and a watch blog doesn't get comments. Ok, it will probably still get comments, but you will just stress yourself out if it takes a couple hours to get your first comment. I've had to learn to publish my post and then go about my day, pretending that nothing is going on over here in blogland.

3. If you get zero comments, just forget about it. Even if no one liked your post at all, is it really the end of the world? Probably not. You have tomorrow to write something new and inspiring. Trust me, I know we all love comments! It is a good gage of whether you are keeping up with good content, but one "bad" post isn't going to kill you. Plus remember that many people who read, wont comment, even though they like what you had to say!

4. Don't change just because of something someone else is doing. One thing might work for one person, but it doesn't mean it is going to work for everyone. Trust me. I've tried to be more like certain bloggers, and it never goes over well. People can tell that you are being fake. At least I feel like I can tell when people are being fake.

5. Don't be afraid to branch out. I know that most people find their blogging "voice" and try to stick to that. But I say, don't feel confined to one specific "voice". People change and grow. You aren't always going to be the same as you are at this very moment. Not only that, but our moods are constantly changing. Sometimes I am extremely happy. Sometimes I'm hyper. Or sad. Or serious. Or missing someone. Or feeling like sharing something important. Or just down right silly. Why should I feel that just because I usually write serious posts that I can't write a silly one?


Obviously there are a lot of other ways to help you focus on being yourself. It can be incredibly simple and complicated all at the same time. At least that is how I feel sometimes. There is so much pressure we put on ourselves to be a certain way, or be more like a certain type of person. But it really isn't necessary.

The more we act like ourselves, the more others appreciate us for who we are.
Which is all I could ever ask for from life.

How to have an awesome face, and hair, and life in general.

Shirt & Hat: F21 // Jeans: American Eagle // Boots: Uggs Channing (Nordstroms) // Bag: Gap

Here is my first attempt at showing off some of my new clothes.
I'm not gonna to lie, it was an unsuccessful photo session.
My photographer (ahem, the husband) did not do a very good job.
I scrounged up these two pictures for you guys though.

But you guys aren't wondering about my clothes, are you?
You are wondering how to get great hair like that, right?
And my make up?

Here is what you do...
Spend all day wandering around a school campus,
wearing a shirt that doesn't breath very well (surprisingly),
sweating profusely from every pore on your body.
Then, after you hair is all crazy and frizzy,
pass out on the couch for 3.5 hours.
Wake up, toss a braid in it to minimize the damage.
Throw on a hat.
Smudge the raccoon eyes a little.
And, Voila! Stunning flat crazy hair.
And some radiant skin.

Another great tip?
Be long overdue for an appointment with your hairdresser.
Especially if you are like me and have enough grey hairs to feed a small army.
Wait... I'm not sure that is how that line goes?
Whatev, you know what I meant.

Anyways, on to other topics, like how my day was!
Like I said earlier, I was getting all oriented on the school front.
It went well, I walked like 18 miles, probably lost about 20 pounds, both from sweating and from the actual walking.
I had lunch with my little brother-in-law, who I will be going to school with.
And best of all, I made a friend!
She even waved at me while I was at lunch!
If that doesn't make a girl feel special, I don't know what does.
Ok, she will be my friend if we have a class together.
And if I ever see her again.
She is in the same program as me so we should have at least one class together.
I stepped out of my comfort zone a little and tried actually being nice to people.
It seems like it worked out!
Maybe I should try doing that more often?
We shall see.

Alright, I gotta go be domesticated and make dinner for the husband.
He said something about being starving...
Men! Always hungry.

Peace out ladies!
{I told you, I'm gangsta now because of my new tattoo!}

10 ways to turn your frown upside down

Hey Guys! So I'm off getting oriented into school today!! So I asked my awesome blog friend Lauren to take over for the day.

This girl is seriously the sweetest! You will love her! Be sure to check out her blog over at Life.Love.Lauren!

                                                                Alright, I'm outta here. 

Take it away Lauren!

Hello! My name is Lauren and I blog over at Life.Love.Lauren! Thanks to Tanya for letting me take over her corner of the web today! Hopefully you come and visit me over at my corner!


Today I have decided to brainstorm some ways to make us better happy. We all have those crappy days where nothing seems to be going right. Sometimes as much as it seems like it is not our fault, we have to be the ones to try and turn it around. Here are ten ways to make your day a little bit better.


1. Smile

2. Spritz on a little extra perfume

3. Eat some chocolate (and possibly have some wine)

4. Go on a walk

5. Enjoy mother nature

Estes Park, Colorado 2011

6. Pay it forward

7. Wear your favorite color.

8. Call a friend

9. Blog

10. And most importantly...

How do you make yourself happy?