"The Girl Behind The Blog"

I am so excited about this!

I am linking up with 5ohwifey and The Hollie Rogue for

"The Girl Behind The Blog"

This is my first ever VLOG, and I must say I wasn't really that nervous! It was so much fun, and those 4 minutes went by WAY too quickly. I will definitely be "vloging" again in the near future :)

The theme for this VLOG is what you have been learning this year.

We all learn so much everyday. We continue to grow in knowledge and experiences, in life, and we grow as people because of this.

God has been teaching me A LOT this year, so I hope you enjoy hearing my actual voice as I talk about all that I am learning. Enjoy! :)

{And of course, since it's my first time ever making a video, the picture has to be silly! And also, don't mind me fumbling to stop the video at the end, haha}

I hope you all are having a wonderful Saturday! :)

 

Banks.................. #FuckOuttaHere

Have you ever wondered why there are always moderately good looking people working at the bank?  In fact, I’d go as far as to say at least 85 to 90 % of the people who work at the bank are collectively good looking, well groomed, and a combination of well and soft spoken.  And don’t really pay attention to the old people that work there either, they may not look it now, but they have just worked there for a very long time.  I assure you, when they started at the bank they were pretty eye-catching as well.  But why is that?  Well, the answer is simple really, because not a lot of people out there object to being fucked by attractive, well-presented well-mannered individuals.  And fuck they do my friends, fuck they do.  They are the highest ranking masters of the Kama Sutra in the known Universe.  They bang you in every position conceivable with whatever force they desire, weather you want them to or not.  In addition, they are the most heinous of sexual deviants, because your pleasure or satisfaction doesn’t even factor in on their list of priorities.  Just raw dog, chapped assed, hardcore porno fucking.  Now I’ll go in on both the source of this post, as well as a plan I’ve come up with in a second, but before we do that, we first have to discuss what exactly a bank is, and how banks came into existence.

A very long time ago in, I believe it was, Italy somewhere (I’m not 100% sure if that’s factually correct, but it’s not important to the story), the currency of the day was gold.  And gold came in a variety of coins and bars (I’m sure purity was of some significance too, but again, not important to the story really), and most people kept their gold on their person or in their house.  Then slowly an epidemic started and break-ins and robbery became a serious problem.  People needed a way to keep their money (gold) safe, but solutions were difficult to come by.  Along comes “Citizen A” who just happened to have space and resources at his avail, and he built himself an extremely large storage area (usually kept underground, accessible through a basement or crawl space) that had very strong walls, a locking system, and was decently hidden.  “Citizen A” was an entrepreneurial of sorts, and offered his primitive version of a vault  as security for monies, valuables and anything else that required safe keeping, thus becoming societies first incarnation of a “Banker”.  For a nominal fee, “Citizens B” through whatever could store their treasures at “Citizen A”’s, and come and get what they needed when they needed it.  As “Citizen A”’s clientele grew, it rapidly become moderately inconvenient for him, as people would continually knock on his door requesting access to their goods all day every day, anytime they wanted to do a transaction.  So “Citizen A” came up with a plan.  Instead of having to come see him when they needed currency, he would write down on a bunch of pieces of paper different values, representing what people owned, and those pieces of paper, measured in denominations, could be endorsed and traded back and forth throughout the town in exchange for goods and services, in lieu of gold, or what not.  This caught on quite well in fact, and “Citizen A” came to a realization.  He now had this “vault” full of monies and valuables that didn’t really need to be accessible, as long as he kept solid book keeping.  People of the area trusted him, and so long as they had paper to trade, the gold, etc. just sat there collecting dust.  Ever the savvy business man, “Citizen A” started using other people’s gold to purchase things like land, farming equipment, livestock and other necessities that he could put into use and make other ventures and capital off of, just as long as he kept enough on hand at his site to appease the odd customer who actually still wanted access to their money.  In essence, he didn’t get paid his fee’s to safe keep anything, he got paid his fee’s to profit off his payer’s money.  There is just one thing “Citizen A” didn’t count on, but we will get to that in a few moments.

Now, I never really had any problems with banks before.  I, like most of you, just said whatever, there’s a cost associated with everything, and that’s that.  But all of that changed the moment I became a homeowner (of which I am no longer, thankfully), and one day I did a little math.  When I sat down in front of my calculator, and ran the numbers, I came to an astonishing find.  By the time my mortgage would be fully paid off, without any type of fast tracking or anything like that, I would have paid almost $600,000.  Now would be a good time to tell you the amount I “paid” for that house.  Are you ready?  $272,000.  So by the time it was all said and done, I would have paid more than double the actual “cost”.  For relation purposes, do you know what would happen to me if I were to say, lend you $272, and demand that you pay me back $600?  Well, if you called the police and told them the deal we made, I would subsequently be arrested and either fined harshly or jailed for “Loan Sharking”.  So who calls the cops and gets the banks arrested?  No one, that’s who, why not?  Because the percentage points required for “Loan Sharking” to be considered are usually around 60% over a period of around a year (vary by region).  And banks get around this by “front loading interest” then “compounding annually”, and other little tricks like that.  But my mortgage is the past, and not why we are here today.  Now, the other day I opened a savings account, and transferred half of my chequing account over to it.  I’m not ashamed to tell you what I have, because as most of us know, I’m in a “starting over” process, and it happens to a lot of us once in a while.  So I moved $3001 over to the savings account to qualify for the higher daily interest rate which is a staggering 0.1%, but whatever it’s more than nothing.  In fact it’s .1 percent more than nothing, which is practically nothing, but again, whatever.  I also now qualified for a multi-product rebate, since I now had multiple products with the bank.  Previously I paid $13.95 monthly to bank here, which I thought was pretty fucking noble of me in the first place, and now I get $1.50 off that per month.  But here’s what I discovered about the account that I just opened.  Unless I transfer money from it online, so if I do anything with that money at a store, or even at the bank itself, via the teller or the ATM, I have to pay $1.50 to touch it.  Say I take, for example, $1 out one time at the bank, I’m now back up to paying $13.95 that month.  IT’S MY FUCKING MONEY!!    Aside from the fact that I’m a generous fucking guy, why am I paying that much even??????  You have my $6,000, all I have left over from having to learn a very hard life lesson (don’t marry solely for looks people, PLEASE), and I have to pay you to how much to access it?   How is this allowed?  When did this start?  Why hasn’t anything been done about this shit?  Never mind mortgages, car loans, credit etc. because most of that is just people not living within their means in the first place, and that has a cost.  This is people like you and me having to pay someone a ridiculous fee to, as we discussed earlier, not necessarily hold our money, but to turn around and benefit from our money, which is what they do.  If all 6 thousand of my dollars were sitting right there in the corner of the bank, with a sign over it that says “BRAD'S GWAP, DN'T FUCKING TOUCH” and there was a guard making sure that sign was obeyed, then no problem, fourteen bucks a month well spent.  But they are taking my 6 grand, mixing it with your however much, and investing it anywhere they can and making serious money off of it.  All the while, I can hardly sit comfortably for any period of time, due to this aching asshole I have from the torrid raping it gets to the tune of $13.95 a god damn month!

RALLY THE TROOPS, because here’s what we are going to do.  The banks today, just like our friend “Citizen A” of yester year never thought of this little problem.  We have to get everyone organized, it will start with my paltry 700 or so weekly readers and will grow form there, seriously though, we need every one board for this to work.  When we are all ready, we will all walk down to the bank together, and one by one, withdrawal every dollar we have at every bank we use. It won’t take more than a few hours before the banks start running out of money to hand out.  And hopefully I will be the one they have to say these words to… “Sorry sir, I’m afraid we don’t have you’re 6 thousand dollars you pay us $13.95 a month to watch”, because then it’s time.  First things first, get those good looking, well dressed soft spoken people out of the way, because they after all are just employee’s and it’s not their fault.  You know what, get them in line with us, because I’m pretty sure they are getting doggy styled just as we are, do you think anyone gets free anythings from these rapists?  And now……. we tear these buildings to the ground.  It’s Watts, it’s L.A., it’s Vancouver, it’s London all rolled into one.  It’s nothing more than us wanting OUR money that WE work our asses off for.  What are they going to do, call the cops?  The cops are in line with us!  The army?  Shit, they are here too; everyone is here wanting nothing more than what’s ours.  And when the smoke is clear and the dust settles, the government will have to step in, because everyone knows “Citizen A” has been kicking upstairs the whole damn time, and someone will eventually have to give us our comings, because we aren’t going anywhere until we get it .  So do what you do whenever it’s good for you, and create money, print it off and get down here with it, I’d be fast if I was you.  And in the aftermath of all this, we will do what we should have done all along.  We will hold onto what’s ours, and learn to live within our means.  We will eat first, and purchase what we want after and only after we have what we really need to live.  We will learn to respect each other and each other’s property, and no one will have to worry about leaving the house because someone may come in and take our holdings.  We will become a society that operates on the good of everyone in it and has self-respect and appreciation for those around us.  And we will never, ever let ourselves become institutionalized again. We will……… Wait a minute……….   FUCK.  This whole plan hinges on people respecting each other and behaving humanly? You know what?  Never mind, $13.95 a month isn’t really that much anyway…….  Go back to doing what you were doing, I’ll see you all next week.

Heart-felt Letters and Nail Polish.

Happy Friday, loves!

I couldn't pick between one or the other...

So I'm linking up for "Friday Letters" AND "The Nail Files"


 I am beyond pumped for this weekend because I'm getting off campus and out of Minnesota and heading back to the magnificent land of cheese, beer, and frozen tundra.
WISCONSIN!
I can't wait to go home, see my family, and spend some needed time with Josh! Hopefully there will be picture taking and I can fill you in on my weekend :)
And also! I am doing my vlog for "girl behind the blog" over the weekend, so hopefully it is up on Sunday at the latest! I am so excited for you guys to hear me in person! So make sure you stay tuned to check it out :)


ALSO...
My mom texted me earlier yesterday and told me that my grandma was in the hospital. Two days ago she had gone in to get her esophagus checked out because there were some ulcers present. After the out-patient procedure she had been feeling very weak, light headed, and had coughed up some blood. She was then admitted back into the hospital and had to have a blood infusion because her blood count was very low. Her blood counts are now up and she was able to go home this afternoon, although still feeling very week {The woman only weighs about 100lbs to begin with!}. Please keep my sweet grandma in your thoughts and prayers. Hopefully this all passes and she is able to regain her health and strength!


Well let's get started on this letter shall we? We shall :)


Dear blog followers: I can't believe there are already 54 of you! I get excited every time the number goes up! It's great to know you have a following and that people like what you have to write. I feel like God continues to bless me through this blog, and all of you who support by reading and commenting. Thank you so much! :)
Dear New Ulm, MN: So long! See ya later! Adios! No hard feelings, but I am excited to leave you and go home. Don't worry, I'll be back Monday...
Dear God: Continue to draw me nearer to you. I desire to come to you more, and be immersed in your word more than I do. Please strengthen me in my quest to live a life for you. If it is your will, heal my grandma from her sickness and give her the faith to trust you even in times of sickness.
Dear Sophomore Year: You have been a tough one to get through. How about you have a little pitty on me these last couple months. What do ya say?! :)
Dear Annie {my dog}: I can't wait to snuggle with you, give you kisses {even though Josh hates that!}, and have you sleep in my bed with me! Love you poo poo butt!
Dear Weekend: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, go by slow. Please? :)
Dear Monday: On account of Arbor Day {the whole school cleaning up the campus for Spring} I am not supposed to have any classes. I would love it if it didn't rain so I don't have to worry about homework this weekend!
Dear Josh: I can't wait to spend the weekend with you! Three weeks is too long without seeing you! Oh, and by the way, I have a surprise for you on Saturday. Let's just say I'm going to blow you away and win you over even more with my domestic skillz :) {yes, I just spelled that with a z!}


Anything on your heart that you would like to put into a "blog letter?" 
If so, head on over and link up with Ashley!


In other news, I've been inspired to paint my nails these days, so I had to show them off to you in this link-up with Tara!
So last Friday I saw this on Pinterest and thought it would be pretty easy to try!

Here's my rendition. My stripes were a little darker and more sparkly. But I loved how it turned out! I received a lot of compliments :) And of course I used OPI nail polish! The pink color is called, "Pedal Faster Suzi!" and the silver is Nicole by OPI called, "Nicole's Nickel."

Here's how I painted my nails last night! It's a color that I borrowed from one of my friends. This coral color looked so cute and springy on her fingers that I had to put it on mine! :)

So I love this color, and thankfully they turned out pretty well due to my amazing nail painting skillz! {there's the z again...;)}But I have to say that there is a reason why I am an "OPI brat." This Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear polish is super thick and it was hard to apply smoothly. It could be because it wasn't new...but either way, I usually have fun painting my nails, but this was not fun! It might redeem itself if it stays on for a long time!

I hope you all have a fabulous and blessed weekend. If God gives you rest, take advantage and remember to thank him. If he's given you a busy "go go go non-stop" kinda weekend, remember to thank him for those things you are having to do as well; they are blessings from him :)

Throwback Thursday {NYC}

I just ran across this fabulous blog by Monica: Monica's Notebook

And she has such a fun link-up called "Throwback Thursday"

So let's "throw it back," shall we? :)

I'm swallowing my pride, and going back 5 years to my Freshman year of High School.

This was the most awkward year of my life; looks wise.

I think the braces will do most of the explanation...

My Best friend Tia and I...we go back. Pretty sure this was still in Wisconsin on our way there. For some reason we all thought these weird spring headbands were cool?!

The City

Hannah and I

 The Lady herself!

Right below the Statue

The butt of the Wall Street Bull statue

A New York hot dog!

Like I said...the awkward years. Not my best picture ever; but since I'm trying to give you a taste of my awkwardness! ;) Here's Hannah and I riding the Subway

Times Square!

"Yuh Dun"

It was our theme phrase, haha

I so badly want to go back to New York City! I feel like there are so many more things I could see and do. And obviously I would love to go and not have to be "chaperoned!"

I hope you enjoyed "throwing back" with me, and hopefully getting a laugh out of my awkwardness. It's okay, I'm okay with you laughing ;)

Happy Thursday! Almost done with the week!

Pinterest Lovin'

Linking up with Michelle from The Vintage Apple

and Jamie from This Kind of Love

For all the things I'm Loving on Pinterest these days

Via 

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A Little About Me From A to Z!

I found this fun idea from Ruthie who blogs over at The Chronicles of Ruthie Hart

Such a cute and fun idea so I had to do it too!

Age: 20

Bedsize: Twin {I still live in a dorm...sad life.}

Chores that you hate: Dishes! Something about washing off people's food disgusts me!

Dogs:  hunter! (miss you doggy)

Essential start to your day:  COFFEE. I can't live without it! 

Favorite color: Blue {every single shade of it!}

Gold or Silver: I like gold a lot. It's very vintage and rustic looking. But I usually wear silver jewelry. I guess I'm a double standard...

Height: 5 feet/10 inches {I'm a tall one!}

Instruments you play: I started playing the piano last year. Let's just say it's a struggle...

Job title: Student

Kids: None {but I definitely want them in the future :)} I love kids!

Live: My hometown is Altoona, WI but I go to school school in New Ulm, MN

Mother's Name: Terri

Nicknames: Rach, Rae, Rachie

Overnight hospital stays: Never!

Pet peeves:  Let's be more articulate please. I HATE when people use "like" every two seconds.

Quote from a movie or tv show: "The most important relationship you have in your life is the relationship you have with yourself, because no matter what happens, you will always be with yourself" ♥

Right or Lefty:  Righty :)

Siblings: Older Brother

Time you wake up: MWF: 6:45 {yikes, too early} TTH: 9:00 {no class!}

Underwear: I have an abundance of them

Vegetable you hate: Peas...nasty

What makes you run late: Probably choosing my outfit, or going on the computer before I'm done getting ready

X-Rays You've Had: I feel like I've had lots! I'm an athlete and I've broken and sprained many parts of my body!

Yummy food you make:  I make the best cup of coffee around

Zoo Animal: Elephants, Lions, Giraffes {all of the ones you'd find on a safari!}

I would love to see your answers now! :)

A Self-described "Aspiring" Runner.

It's the title I have been going by for the past few months. And you could even say the past few years. 

Aspiring Runner.

I've always wanted to be a runner, but yet I've always kept the adjective of "aspiring" tacked on. I've never left that word in the dust and took on the challenge of actually becoming a 

RUNNER.

{These photos are definitely an inspiration.}

 Obviously these women have amazing figures. But the difference is they're not stick skinny. They are women working hard for their body and doing something beneficial. They are healthy. Running makes you a strong, healthy, and confident individual. I strive to be that strong and confident person, and I'm ready and willing to work hard for it!

I must say, I am a very active person. I am a college athlete, and I workout almost everyday. I am not a couch potato, or someone who has never ran before. I am a very focused and determined person, and if I set my mind on something, I usually accomplish it.

I have just never been a "runner." I'm very tall, and more of a muscular build, so I never thought I had what I thought was a "runners body type." I so badly want to get that stereotype out of my head and become a serious runner. I feel confident that I can train and work hard. But I just need the support and motivation to keep that mind-set!

Part of my reasoning for wanting to start running is to gain back the confidence that I have lost. I want to be proud of a goal that I accomplished. I am doing this for me.

Also, during the summer I am "boy-friendless."

Josh has the amazing opportunity to go up to Alaska during the summer and work on a salmon fishing boat {it's not dangerous like deadliest catch or anything!}

This means that I do not see him, let alone even talk to him very much during the summer. So the summer kinda becomes the time to focus on myself; but let me tell you, missing someone so much can really make the time drag. So I've decided to set a goal. And while I'm at it. I'm setting a goal to complete even before he leaves!

THE GOALS:

by June 10th: Be able to run a 10k {6.1 miles}

by August 18th: Be able to run and race in a half marathon {13.1 miles}

The timing for my goals are perfect! I'll be able to easily run 6 miles by the time Josh leaves. And once he gets back I will have doubled that distance!

I want to be able to run in the Madison Mini Marathon on August 18th!

Here is my training schedule for my 10k {I'm not entering a race, I don't think...} that I will be starting tomorrow! I got this schedule from Runners World. It's an awesome magazine and has a great website that includes informational articles about running. I would definitely check this site out if you are beginning to run too!

Week One:
Tueday: 3-4 mins easy, 1-2 mins recovery x4    
Thursday: 5-7 mins steady, 3 mins recovery x2    
Weekend: Long run: 8 mins hard, 3-4 mins recovery x3

Week Two
Tuesday: 10 mins easy, 5 mins recovery x2    
Thursday: 5 mins warm-up (3-4 mins hard, 3-4 mins recovery x2), 5 mins cool-down   
Weekend: Long run: 20-40 mins easy

Week Three
Tuesday: 4 mins steady, 2-3 mins recovery x4    
Thursday: 5 mins hard, 2-3 mins recovery x3   
Weekend:  Long run: 25 mins easy

Week Four
Tuesday: 10 mins easy, 5 mins recovery x2   
Thursday:  5 mins warm-up (3-4 mins hard, 3-4 mins recovery x2), 5 mins cool-down   
Weekend: Long run: 20-40 mins easy

Week Five
Tuesday: 20-25 mins (10-15 mins easy, 10-15 mins hard)    
Thursday: 5 mins warm-up (10 mins hard, 5 mins recovery x2), 5 mins cool-down    
Weekend: Long run: 30-40 mins easy

Week Six
Tuesday: 10 mins easy, 5 mins recovery x2    
Thursday: 5 mins warm-up (3-4 mins hard, 3-4 mins recovery x2), 5 mins cool-down   
Weekend: Long run: 20-40 mins easy

Week Seven
Tuesday: 30 mins wind-up (10 mins easy, 10 steady, 10 hard)    
Thursday: 6 mins hard, 2-3 mins recovery x4    
Weekend: Long run: 50 mins easy

Week Eight
Tuesday: 15 mins wind up (5 mins easy, 5 steady, 5 hard) x2    
Thursday: Out and back (20 mins easy, 20 mins hard on way back - aim for negative split of 2-3 mins)    
Weekend: Long run: 25-30 mins easy

Week Nine
Tuesday: 30 mins easy   
Thursday: 5 mins hard, 2-3 mins recovery x4    
Weekend: Long run: 25-30 mins easy 

Week Ten
Tuesday: 20 mins easy    
Thursday: 15 mins (10 mins easy, 5 mins hard)    
Weekend: RACE! 

Are any of you just getting started running? Are you a seasoned runner? I would love to get advice and inspiration from you as I start my training!

I hope you all have a wonderful and motivated Monday!