Where Should I Be In Life?

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Where should I be in life?

Hmm... I am going to take a wild guess here and say that I am probably not the only person who asks myself this question, or something quite similar, often enough for it to be something constantly itching at the back of my head.

I find it extremely frustrating that I'm in my early twenties and I already find myself feeling like I missed my chance to make something of my life. And I know I am not alone.

I'm blaming that, on societies habit of burning expectations into our minds throughout our childhood and teen-hood, about what life should be after high school.

Although some still follow those expectations and are happy with the outcome, and live life day to day knowing that they are where they should be, some of us (many of us) haven't followed those set plans and don't know where to go from here.

Some of us didn't graduate high school and jump right into college because we knew what career path we wanted, and were ready to learn how to get there. Then there is also the some of us that did go right to college, not because we knew what we wanted but because we thought that we were supposed to, and it didn't last long.

And now many of us are left with a fear that everything we try, might take us back to this same place.

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We may not know where we want to go, but we know where we don't want to be.
We don't want to live nine to five workday lives. We don't want to come home from work, eat dinner, watch television, go to bed and then wake up the next day and repeat.

I am slowly discovering that this is okay.

 It is okay for me to not know what I want to be when I grow up at the ripe old age of 20. And oddly enough, I find that when I am talking to the ones who hounded me in my late teens trying to find out what I wanted to go to college for and what my plans were for the future, are the same people who, when I tell them I am still unsure of where exactly I am going, say to me "That's okay, you're still young!"

And they are right.

We are young.

We have so much life ahead of us. Like I said, this is something I am still learning. But, just because you haven't already had an abundance of success, doesn't mean you never will (read this article). So instead of stressing about maybe's and maybe not's, let's just live.

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I know I want to travel. That's the one thing that I know about myself. And I am going to try my hardest to do little things to get there. I wont make the huge decision of choosing a career and getting glued to that path for the rest of my life. For right now, I am going to do the things that I know make me happy.

I'm going to write more. I am going to start filming and editing videos even if I never post them anywhere. I am going to work and earn money so that I can travel. I am going to better my mental health. I am going to take more risks.

And I am confident that eventually, I will come across something that sparks a fire in me. Something that will bring happiness to my life, and that I will enjoy doing.

I don't care where I should be in life. All I care about is where I am now and working towards where ever the hell I am going.


Love Always,
Mari

How To Save Money - Three Day Rule

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I recently came across an article on Facebook about a way to save money. 

I am definitely not the best with saving money; although I have gotten much better at it, if I do say so myself. So whenever I see something that gives me ideas on how to improve my spending/saving habits, I take the opportunity to look into it.

However, I find that I tend to get a little annoyed with a lot of the articles and/or videos on how to cut back spending and rack up saving. This is usually because they tend to turn out being ads for the online surveys that pay you and all the other possibly-true ways to make extra cash that I just don't trust. 

I was very excited when I came across this one and discovered it wasn't that at all.

This article talks about the "Three Day Rule" which is, when you see something that you want to purchase, wait three days before you buy it and, if after three days, you still want it just as bad as you did the first day, make that purchase. 

Another rule that the writer gave herself was that, if its something you can only use once "(coffee, fast food, shots at the bar)" she wouldn't buy it. 

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When I think of impulse buying, I think of buying very expensive items just because. Saying f*ck it and dropping lots of cash all at once and regretting it later.

But for me, and most others, impulse buying is more like going to target and buying 3 or 4 items from the $5 & under section every time. And then stopping at Starbucks on the way out because it looked good. 

All of this adds up... quickly. 

So I have decided to try the "Three Day Rule" and see if I can lower my useless spending.

We can all use a little bit of extra cash!

Love Always, 

Mari

Delicious Pudding Trifle

If you've read my "About Me" page you will know that I am an Independent Pampered Chef Consultant. If you haven't, now you know. 

Being a PC consultant, I make lots of food... I practice recipes to demonstrate at parties and I film videos of me cooking for online parties. 

I recently filmed a video making Pampered Chef's Cookies & Cream Pudding Triffle and decided I had to share it with the world! 

This recipe is not of my own invention. 

What you'll need:

4 bananas, peeled

1 lb of fresh strawberries, with the stems removed

1/2 lemon

1 pkg mini oreos (I used regular sized & double stuffed)

1 box (4.2 oz) cookies 'n creme or instant vanilla pudding & pie filling

1/2 cup water

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

1 pkg (12 oz) frozen whipped topping, thawed

1/4 cup chocolate flavored syrup

Optional:

Whipped cream, maraschino cherries, dry roasted peanuts, additional chocolate syrup

First you want to start off with slicing the strawberries and bananas. Pampered Chef has this awesome product called the Quick Slice which makes this step 10x easier! After you do this, place the fruits in separate bowls.

Next, juice the lemon and toss 1 tbsp of the juice with the banana slices to prevent browning. You can use Pampered Chef's nifty Citrus Press to juice the lemon which makes it easier and much less messy than squeezing it with your bare hands. And I used their Measuring Spoon Set to measure out 1 tbsp of juice. 

Then you want to finely process 10 (five if you're using regular sized like I did) of the cookies. The Manual Food Processor, which is one of my very favorite's works perfect for this. 

Next, in a large mixing bowl, stir together the pudding mix, water, and sweetened condensed milk. And fold in the whipped topping and chopped cookies. 

Now to assemble! Spoon half of the pudding mixture into the Trifle Bowl, top it with half each of the cookies, bananas and strawberries. Then repeat the layers.

Just before serving, drizzle with chocolate and any other topping you picked!

You can find this recipe and so many delicious other's in their 2016 Fall/Winter Season's Best Cookbook (for only $2.00!) 

I hope you guys try this because I can't express how delicious this sweet treat is and creates such a large serving that everyone can have some! I'm going to go eat some more of my own... :)

Love Always,

Mari

We Should Talk About It...

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For anyone who doesn't know-i.e. anyone who hasn't read any of my other blog posts-I suffer from anxiety.
It's not uncommon to come across a person who is affected by anxiety now a days, and with this it is becoming more common to talk about it; I like this. 

Anxiety-like any other kind of mental illness-is a real thing and just like all other illnesses, I believe it is important to talk about mental disorders as much as we can. By openly talking about them, we are bringing awareness to these problems and helping people understand them better.

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I used to completely avoid talking about my anxiety what-so-ever because I was so incredibly scared that people would think that I was making it up or that they would tell me that its all in my head (which I still get a lot of).
But that's the thing with anxiety; it is all in my head and I know it! That's part of the reason it's so hard to deal with, because while I'm having an anxiety attack, I know that it's in my head and there is no reason to be anxious but my mind won't stop running.

It usually goes something like this:

1.) Something triggers my anxiety. (It can literally be almost anything.)

2.) I try my hardest to ignore the unsettling feeling growing inside my stomach, and that I'm having trouble breathing.

3.) Then my mind fixates on these, and I realize what is happening; therefore, in an attempt not to let myself panic, I begin to panic about the fact that I am starting to panic. (Silly, I know.)

4.) Then-most times than not-these feelings begin to take over and I have some kind of anxiety or panic attack. All the while I am trying my hardest to calm down, knowing I am in no sort of danger in any way.

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Anxiety is frustrating and vicious. I am well aware that my loved ones get tired of helping me through it sometimes, and I don't blame them. I get tired of it as well. It frustrates me more than it possibly could any of them, so I understand.

But something that you need to understand if you are a loved one of someone who suffers from anxiety; they need you. We need you. We need the support of the people we love. 

Mind you, everyone is different. Mental illnesses, including anxiety, effect everyone differently.

 Some people wear it so well, that you can't see it. You have to look beyond the surface and watch for the smallest signs. 

Others don't hide it at all; they let it consume them and you can spot it a mile away. 

Some people like to be left alone, and given space when this happens. 

Others need to be held, to feel safe and immensely loved.

 And some are right in the middle; they need your attention, to know that you care and are ready to do whatever they need, but require breathing room. 

Everyone is different.

I'm not saying I'm any kind of expert on anxiety in any way. I'm just taking this opportunity to tell anyone who's willing to listen [well, read] what I have learned in my years of dealing with my own anxiety. 

And I have learned that the only way to really be able to recognize when your loved one is having some kind of attack and how to respond to it in a way that helps them, is to ask. It may be uncomfortable at first, but it will make things so much easier for the both of you.You will know how to help them and they will get the help they need.

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Moral of the story is, learning about mental illnesses especially when you or someone you love are affected by them, is incredibly beneficial to everyone in the mix. 

I have learned an abundance of new things about my anxiety since I started reading more about it. Living with it, and around it, is much easier when you are educated.

I hope this helped you understand a little more about anxiety.
And if not, I hope you had a nice read!

Love Always,
Mari!

Should I Post It?

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I have spent lots of time, over the last two and a half years, stressing over what I am going to write on this blog. This blog, that I have had since 2014 and still don't completely 'understand'.

I feel as though I am still 'getting to know' my own blog. 

By this I mean, that even though I know that I want the general theme of this [center for my only public-and not anonymous-writing] to be lifestyle, I'm not exactly sure how I want to achieve that. This causes me to remain in a constant battle of "should I post's". Never knowing if what I think of writing about, is anything worth writing. 

And all of this has seemed to do nothing but add more stress to my anxious life, and I have decided that I am done allowing it to eat at my mind; as it does nearly constantly.

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So, with this decision comes my new strategy; just do it. No more endlessly searching through lists of blog-post ideas. And dreaming of beautiful pictures that I just can't seem to take with my mediocre camera.
Instead I will do things more productive that help me ahead of time. Like keeping a journal to jot down writing ideas when they come to me, and using stock photos when I can't seem to get the perfect picture I had envisioned.

I guess we will see how all of this works in due time. But I'm hoping that I can get into the habit of sticking around on here, I presume it will help my positivity. I always get a good, productive feeling when I write for my blog, I need more of that.

Love Always,
Mari

Back Home

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Hello!

Happy new year everyone!

So... remember way back when I said I was moving to Georgia? Well that happened! Yep, we (my girlfriend Abby and I) moved 1,000 miles from home... But it didn't last very long. 

Oh man! Didn't see that coming did you? That's okay if you did. A lot people knew we would be coming back home, and if I'm being honest, I think that I did too. 

The biggest problem that we faced was finding jobs. We couldn't find work, as the town we moved to was quite small, which meant we didn't have money to help out our roommates with bills and such. 

However, this didn't stop me. I was willing to try my hardest to find employment and make it work on my own. But Abby became more and more unhappy and eventually I realized that maybe it wasn't our time. That we had made a mistake and we should head home.

So reluctantly, not wanting to have to hear the I-told-you-so's or have to move back under my mothers roof and feel so incredibly dependent, I packed my bags. I didn't want to have to come back home where everything was familiar and predictable. I didn't want to leave my start-all-over opportunity. I didn't want to go back to square one in my travels. But I did. Because I love my girlfriend and I wanted to see her happy again, and I know that everything happens for a reason.

We failed! And that's totally okay. When we came home, I didn't hear one single "I told you so..." not even from the people who told me "It's going to be hard!" and "You're making a mistake!". 

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Instead, I heard lots of "At least you tried."

And I know that even though it didn't work out, and even though I am back to square one, I still tried! I stopped everything and moved 1,000 miles from home with my girlfriend without any help. I took a chance, that taught me so many things, and provided me with so many new memories. Not everyone can say that. 

I'm happy that I failed, and came home. 

I'm happy that I tried. 

Lots of Love,

Mari!