How I Keep Up

     Hello, readers! I'm back this weekend with a post about how I keep up with week to week activities because it might be able to help some of you who regularly forget things or struggle with time management! Long story short, I have a ton of anxiety and it's something I've realized I struggle with on a regular basis. For me, I worry about forgetting things and not having enough time for things. I worry about making sure I keep up with all my hobbies on a strict schedule. It's kind of weird but as much as it bugs me that I need to write everything down, it's helped me so much! So that's what I want to talk about today. Writing things down and how I go about it. 

     So I'll start off by saying I can't function unless I have everything written down. This includes appointments every so often and even things I need to do daily like eat and brush my teeth. Constant reminders ensure I get everything done I have to do that day. After searching forever I found the app Wunderlist. This lets me right everything down and have my phone remind me. I can set the alarms/notifications to occur once, every other day, every week, every other week, and so on. This means I don't have to write the same thing over and over but my phone will automatically tell me every single day to brush my teeth or feed my bird. Also every other Monday I know I have to get my work schedule and go to life group and Sundays I write my blog. Basically I had to sit down once and plan out a typical week and now my phone tells me what I need to do.

     The other option if you can take care of your normal daily activities alone is to just make a simple to do list for that week. This helps when you have a lot of random little things to do that are easy to forget about. 

     I guess I don't have much else to say about it. Basically I want to recommend Wunderlist to anyone who needs it and wanted to share how making lists and setting reminders has helped me. So, thanks for reading and I hope you'll check back next week! 

     

50 Shades of People

     Hello, readers!  Today I wanted to talk about the people I saw and what we experienced as theatre employees during the premier of 50 Shades of Grey in case anyone who isn't going to see it wanted to know what the crowd would've been like! So here are the main types of people that went to the premier.

     The first and most obvious is girls. Groups of girls. This could range anywhere from one girl to 12 all going in a group. Each group was obnoxious in their own way and made indescribable comments before entering the movie theatre. Clearly expecting that the movie would've been way better than what the reviews said it would be.

     The second group of people were couples. In each couple the female part of the picture seemed to have been the one who actually wanted to see the movie; while the guy was always the one who was silently following behind. With each guy came a new expression of sadness. 

     The third group that attended (or attempted to attend) the movie were teenagers who couldn't actually legally get into the movie. As hard as they tried they got nowhere fast. Entering different doors did nothing for them. Silly kids.  Try again another day. 

     The final group of people I saw attend the movie was single guys. As they entered the following conversation usually occurred:

Me: "Fifty Shades by yourself today?"

"No, my girlfriend is in the theater waiting." (insert nervous laugh)

Me: "Hmm. Whatever you say.."

It happened all too often to be true. Good try guys. You could've just said you were alone! 

     That's all I have for today, humans!  I hope you all enjoyed your Valentines Day and that you enjoyed this post almost as much! Thanks for reading!

Foot Tattoo Experience

     Hello readers! As some of you may know, I went to Fargo to get my first tattoo yesterday afternoon! I don't exactly have a ton to say, considering that I still have little to no experience or knowledge on the subject; however I can share my experience for those who are thinking about getting a tattoo on their foot! The first thing that I experienced that I didn't think about was the twitching. Now, I don't know that this happens to everyone but after asking a few people it's pretty much a mixed bag with the majority saying they experienced the same thing I did. My foot twitched pretty consistently and it almost affected my tattoo in a really negative way. I do have a few smudges that are barely noticeable due to the twitching but nothing too bad. So I would say either research how to control that, or be prepared to hold your foot down. I couldn't control it and it wasn't because of the pain. There are just so many nerves in your foot that the tattoo gun will hit! The second piece of advice I would offer Is just not to drink or take ibuprofen or anything because they thin your blood and the tattoo will probably bleed a ton. Other than that be prepared for some pain! It's worth it if you really want the tattoo, though. I love how mine turned out and it's definitely a good idea to choose the artist you want and make sure everything is perfect before you get inked! Thanks for reading today's blog! I'll be back next Sunday with another post!

Fun Fact!

     Hello readers! I'm back this week and it's actually not going to be a blog post that has tips for once! I know I post a lot of those because I always seem to have some sort of suggestion as I'm very opinionated. Today I'd like to share with you a fun fact that I learned recently. This may chock a few people, and for others it'll be old news. Anyways, here's what I found out!   

     Do you ever think about how chameleons change color and why? Apparently chameleons don't change color to fit in with their environment! Who knew? (This is where those of you who already knew can roll your eyes.) Chameleons actually change their colors based on their mood , aggression level, and if they're mating or not. Once I heard this, I had to dive a little deeper and figure out exactly how chameleons change their color. So look no further! I have here the most basic answer to the question. A chameleon's top layer of skin is clear! Their skin never changes color after all. They have cells in their bodies which change color. You can see this through their top layer of skin which makes it appear as if their actual skin is changing color. The cells all have very fancy names which I didn't think many people would care to hear about and it has a lot to do with cell pigmentation and molecules but nobody really needs all that science in their lives. Chameleons aren't the only species that have this color changing ability. Cuttlefish are another elegant example! So go check them out! Thanks so much for reading today. Feel free to share or do whatever it is you do! That's all I have for today. (: 

Working at a Movie Theater

     Hello readers! Today I decided to write about the pros and cons of working at a movie theater as I recently got a job at the theater by my house! It's actually pretty fun to work at a theater so there aren't too many cons but it's still a job so I'm sure I can find something! I'll start off with the pros!
     The first thing I like about working at a movie theater is that I can go to free movies anytime I want. It's absolutely unlimited and the theater I work at has a few locations so I'm always pretty close to one if I want to see a movie! Which also makes for cheap dates and/or fun things to do with my friends!
     The second thing I like about working at a movie theater is that it's not too intense but at the same time there's always something to do. When we walk around and clean theaters, we basically just sweep what's in the isle. We don't have to do it fast so it's not stressful, but you always have a theater to clean or a bathroom to check. It's nice because you don't get overwhelmed but you also aren't bored to the point that you want to die.
     I think I'm going to talk about two pros and two cons today, so it's time to move on to the side of working at a theater that is not so fun. The first thing that is hard to adjust to about working at a theater are the popcorn kernels. When you're making popcorn, the poppers are open just a bit at the top so sometimes a hot kernel or drop of oil will fly out and hit you in the neck, wrist, or anywhere else you have exposed. I have a co-worker who said a hot kernel flew out and got stuck in her bra while she was helping a customer, and all she could do was wince while the kernel slowly burned its way through her chest!
     The last thing that is hard about working at a movie theater is that you need to stay busy all the time. This is mostly a given for any job, but we all know that it's hard to stay on task for 5 hours without taking a break. Especially at a minimum wage job. However, you basically have to stay on task because there's always someone in the theater that doesn't work there. Movies start and end at different times and you can't be caught on your phone or half asleep on the counter.
     Hopefully this was helpful or informational to you in some way! If not, I hope you had fun reading it or that you learned something new! Thanks for reading!

Finals Week Tips

     This week I haven't been capable of thinking about anything over than finals. It's that time of the school year for me and it's getting a little difficult to manage so many different classes. Here are my top three tips for getting through finals week without a scratch. (Or a paper cut.) 

1.) Stay ahead of the game. This means getting everything done right when it's assigned to you. There are always those teachers that don't give you a final, but they'll still load you up with homework while they disregard the fact that you have a million other things to be doing for your other classes. Take care of what is assigned to you immediately so you have less to focus on. It seems like it goes a lot faster when you finish one thing rather than working a little on each assignment. 

2.) Stay organized. This is a given. You should stay organized because the last thing you need happening is a missing assignment. Just keep everything together to prevent finals week from falling apart.

3.) Study! This is something a lot of people breeze over because they feel like they know enough about each class. It can never hurt to review some notes even if you feel comfortable. Trust me, that one little fact that you forgot about will be the topic of about 10 questions. Things you don't know start to add up when you don't study. Just review and do some extra homework if you have to. Nobody wants to stay after to retake a test that was all simple mistakes. 

     That's all I have for this week! Thanks for reading! I'll be back next Sunday. 

Privacy

     Today my topic of choice is privacy. I don't have any tips to maintain your personal privacy because what I've come to understand is that if someone really wants to know something about you, they will find a way to figure it out. The thing about me personally is that I value my privacy above all else. I remember seeing a video that talked about this. Even if you don't think privacy matters and you tell people you don't care what they know about you, it isn't the truth. Everyone has something they don't want people to know, or see, or hear, or discover. The best thing you can do in this world where everyone knows everything about everyone is to keep your mystery.  Be mysterious. The problem is that being mysterious is the hardest thing to do. I feel like if you're reading this you should think about how much you value your own privacy. If you value it a lot you can help other by not invading their privacy. I think the world would be a whole lot better if everyone respected everyone else's privacy. Believe it or not; it's very important. As always, thank you for reading, please like or share if you thought this made sense in any way!

My Trip to Colorado

        As some of you may know, I didn't write this last week because I was in Colorado. I got to thinking, what better to write about than my trip? So here are some things I noticed in Colorado that were a lot different than Minnesota. 

        The first thing that was weird was that there were mountains. Everywhere. I kid you not, no matter where you are in Colorado you can see a mountain. Without fail you can look out any window and there's some kind of mountain. It's almost ridiculous! They're absolutely beautiful and it's nice to be somewhere that has gorgeous scenery even in the ugliest of places. 

        The second thing I noticed was hard to ignore. There were homeless people everywhere! This wasn't necessarily a bad thing, it just shocked me a ton to see them on almost every corner. This was a huge change for me. Even in Minneapolis I have never seen as many of these people as I did in Colorado. It blew my mind. 

        It gets hard to breathe. In Colorado, we were way higher up than I thought we'd be. It surprised me that after about three days there, I got winded going up 5 stairs! I didn't even think about elevation when we were on our way to Colorado so I thought it was just our Christmas dinner that had me feeling like I could never walk again. 

        They have a symbol for Colorado. When I thought about it, I realized we just use a picture of our state as our own little symbol on road signs and what not. However, Colorado has a mini logo with a "C" on it that you can see on road signs, hats, t-shirts, and even sometimes buildings. They had whole stores dedicated to making clothes that feature the Colorado logo. That was something interesting to me. When I got home I figured out it was just their state flag, but that still differs from Minnesota because I rarely see our state flag. I'll attach a picture of the logo below. 

        Last but not least, the mall cops wear hats like the one Rick wears on walking dead. I just about died of laughter. That's enough on that one. 

        That's all I have for now! I hope this post inspires you to take a trip to Colorado and buy some things that feature their logo! I had an awesome vacation there, and hope to hear from some others who do the same. Thanks for reading! 

Why Babysitting is so Great

        Hello readers! Last night I babysat for two 4 year old children, two six year old children, and a 6 month old baby. It ended up going super awesome, and the parents asked us (my sister and I) if we would be interested in being a full time nanny for them in the summer! This little situation prompted me to tell everyone about all the up sides to being a babysitter! 
        The first plus to being a babysitter is the money. When you babysit you're kind of in a position where you get to choose how much you make. You get to set your own wages because people are desperate to have someone to watch their monsters. I would say to keep your prices very reasonable. Although people need you, it's best to have prices maybe a little lower than competition because you'll be the one they choose every time, and you'll get more business to make up for those few extra dollars you don't charge people.
        The second plus I notice about babysitting is that it's very flexible. If you can't work, they don't give up on you. If you're their first choice they will ask you over and over again any time they need a babysitter even if you never say yes. I enjoy this because I have another job and school and hobbies, and I don't always have time to babysit. 
        The final major plus about babysitting is listed in my intro. You can get offered a full time position! It's like a mini promotion. Basically the parents that asked us if we could be their nannies said they would pay us every single week whether they needed us one day or two days, or none at all. That means we have money we can bank on every week whether we work or not. That is as good as it gets. 
        That's all I have for today! I think you should definitely try this out if you're a teenager looking for a job! It's fun, easy, and the kids sleep most of the time anyways! Thanks for reading! 

The Best and Worst of Being the Oldest

Hello, readers! Hopefully some of you can relate to being the oldest of your siblings because that's what I'm going to be writing about today. There are benefits to being the oldest child, but there are also some things that aren't the most fun about it. I'm going to talk about two things I've noticed to good about being the oldest, and two things I've seen to be the worst! I'll get started right away with the good things.

1.) As the oldest, you get to do everything first. This means that you get to drive first, possibly get married first, and you even get to finish school first which is a huge bonus. I feel bad for my little sisters because they seem so far behind being that we're all four years apart. I can't imagine going through elementary school and junior high again! Being the first one to do everything is awesome. You're the one people look up to, and I consider that a good thing.

2.) As the oldest, you get to tell your little siblings what to do. Personally, this is my favorite because I know I can always count on having a free back massage! Siblings are the cards you were dealt, make the most of them!

Although those two things are bonuses among many others, there are downfalls to being the oldest. Here are the two that come to mind. 

1.) You have to watch your siblings get more freedom than you did. Being the oldest means you were the first, which also means your parents had a little less knowledge about how to handle you and what to expect. As a result, they were strict with you and probably thought you wouldn't do very well if they weren't. As the siblings keep coming, the strictness diminishes. Parents know what to expect and start to grow a little more lenient. Little siblings get to do things your parents NEVER would've let you do. And that's just what comes with being the oldest. 

2.) You have to babysit. You have to babysit a lot. Babysitting isn't so bad on it's own, but as your siblings get older it turns into driving them to sports or home from school and making sure their homework is done and their rooms are cleaned and chores are done. However, you unknowingly signed up for this when you decided to be born first. So I say, make the most of it. I hear that you'll miss them when you move out, so make babysitting count.

That's all I have! Thanks so much for reading! Like or share if you agreed with anything in this article! Talk to you next week.