A little inspiration from Ryan Gosling...

via pinterest. 

It's that time of year! I've been saving this picture up just for the occasion :)
Projects, more projects, and some finals smushed in. It's about to get real cray cray around here, and I know a lot of my fellow classmates are going to be suffering, me right along with them. But lets try to keep this all in perspective, lets not panic (because then I start to panic). On the bright side:

1. It's the holiday season! Put up some lights (mine aren't coming down), light a candle, listen to some holiday music. Don't let finals/work ruin the most wonderful time of the year!!!

2. We who have assignments to freak out about are fortunate enough to actually be able to attend centers of higher education. Many people can't say that.

3. Each of these projects merely makes us a better future job candidate (at least that's what I keep telling myself when I get frustrated at how boring classes like Research Methods can be).

That's all I got for now. Read this, "18 Signs You're Doing Better Than You Think," for more inspiration (thank you to one of my sorority sisters for posting this on FB, now one of my new favorite websites!). Point is, I think that we get so caught up in the stress that comes with the end of the fall semester that we forget about how awesome this time of year is (Christmas lights/decorations make me so extremely happy-- it's the little things). So stop, bundle up and go for a walk, drink some coco because when you get stressed, I get stressed and that's the last thing I need right now.

This one's just for me :) via

They've Found the Antidote!

I could've cried last night when I read the article about Emory researchers at the Center for Sleep who may have found an antidote for hypersomnia. I was so excited I called my mom (who suffers just like me) even though I knew there was a good chance that she was already in bed.

Thats me, but without the prince. via

Day in and day out it feels like I wage a war with my sleepiness. I plan my day around my naps, and never feel like I get as much accomplished as I could. I could only sit and imagine what life would be like if I only had more energy. Sure, you say, I feel tired sometimes too. But I don't think people get it. I take pills (the kind they give to fighter pilots who need to stay up for 48 hrs on bombing missions) to keep myself awake; I can nap on them. If I didn't take them I could sleep for 20 hrs straight. I don't remember the last time I woke up feeling refreshed. I miss out on a lot because I have to sleep.

The idea that I could have more energy feels like a miracle. I could actually go to class and go to an internship after like my peers often do. I've jokingly done some medical studies for money; I say jokingly because I didn't really care what it was for, I just wanted the money. But I would gladly offer up my person for a study if it meant that I was no longer debilitatingly tired. Who knows, in the future you might be seeing me more often; my bed will just have to be lonely without me.

Homey...homie?

I actually like Atlanta a lot more than I thought I would. It's not the concrete jungle that I pictured before coming here; there are actual trees and pockets of cute neighborhoods where the shops are all dog friendly and leave bowls of water outside. But being here makes me really miss Virginia. What's that cheesy Counting Crow song say? "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you got till it's gone?" Sounds about right.

At times I can see myself living here. And other times... not so much. I hate driving here. Not only is the traffic a bitch but the drivers are terrible. They don't follow speed limits or the general rules of the road; the few times I've gone on the highway have really stressed me out.

Not an actual picture but pretty accurate of how I feel. via the Chive

I've continued to volunteer at the therapeutic riding barn, but it becomes more and more painful to help give lessons and not be able to ride myself. I think it's generally a bad sign when I start to really envy the kids that I'm volunteering with... but finding cheap lessons anywhere near me is looking like a major impossibility. The overall barn we work at charges $60 per lesson; the results of an internet search show that to be the average going rate. And really going anywhere outside the city, with a car ride of 45 minutes or more, seems to defeat the purpose when you consider gas prices/my hatred of driving down here.

In addition, it's really sad to see that the horses don't have grass here. This is an extremely ritzy barn, probably costs an upward of $1000 a month to board a horse here, and there are no pastures. When you turn a horse out, it's to this small dirt paddock a little bigger than the size of my room. Even if you don't like horses you have to admit that's pitiful. This doesn't bode well for someone who jokingly/semi-seriously has asked for a horse every year for Christmas.

Basically it all comes down to this: how do I make Atlanta feel more like home? As a friend pointed out, I think it will do a lot for my psyche if I don't treat this as a temporary pitstop on the road of life (even though it may be, I have no way of knowing where I'm going to end up). I'm a creature of habit; I like to feel comfortable and settled in my surroundings. I've really started to like Emory and the public health program that I'm in. So how do I make this (temporary) home more homey, like an old homie?

So this is going to be harder than I thought...

Wheat/gluten is in everything. It's in my veggie burgers, my veggie hot dogs, and my veggie chick patties. As a vegetarian/poor student there is really no way I can afford to completely eliminate that stuff from my diet because I have neither the time nor the money to make crazy meals with this like lentils as quinoa every night.

I feel a little embarrassed. Day 2 and I'm already giving up, but the idea of completely changing my diet by just dropping something like wheat is stressful. Instead I'm going to try and focus more on adding good things in, like more fruits and (especially) veggies. I will swap my beloved spaghetti noodles for the equally interesting spaghetti squash. I'm going to make every attempt to be healthy but also know that I can go out and enjoy a good meal. Because eating (and food) is awesome.

Is butter a carb? Day 1

via

This is day 1 of my no wheat (so basically no gluten) diet. So far so good, but I've had a terrible barrage of images pop into my head. No pumpkin bread? No chocolate chip cookies?!

You're probably thinking "why in God's name would you do this to yourself Alannah?" I will probably be asking myself that in the next couple days as I go into withdrawal (yes, people experience withdrawal), but here's my attempt at justification. I've been hearing on and off for years had bad wheat/gluten is for you, and the other night I finally downloaded the book Wheat Belly, written by this physician who swears it's done wonders for his patients. Weight, especially around the midsection (love handles/spare tire anyone?), melts off patients, cholesterol levels lower, any number of skin woes clears up, and, most important for me, energy levels increase and that mental fog just lifts away. Considering my narcolepsy and the fact that I basically spend all my free time napping, this last one is a big one for me. I'd do just about anything to have more energy and a clear head (not that my brain is terribly foggy but it gets hard to concentrate when all you want to do is take a nap).

Wheat, and even whole grain, is what raises blood sugar more than anything else, even sugar. According to the good doc it stimulates appetite and doesn't help us feel full (this strikes a cord when I consider that I could eat half a box of pasta in one sitting and still be hungry). The wheat today is totally different from the wheat of past centuries thanks to genetic engineering and whatnot.

Whether you believe it or you just think it's bunk science, I'm going to be giving it a try. I certainly could use more fruits and veggies and less empty carbs in my life so why not (though I'm going to have to make certain exceptions for birthdays and holidays). Plus, I wouldn't hate it if my not so loveable love handles decided to hit the road. However, this did not stopping from having the most kick ass last supper of pizza, breadsticks, and cupcakes. Go big or go home right?

The Pinterest Wedding Board

Disclaimer: this is not meant to rag on anyone who has one of these. They're a great way to organize ideas, especially if you're engaged. This is merely meant to rag on some of the ideas that you see posted every so often :)

Via

I love Pinterest. It's flipping awesome. As I have become older and wiser and increasingly interested in how to decorate my apartment/living space, Pinterest has become a valuable source of inspiration. Plus I get to arrange all the pictures into different boards for the office, the bedroom, the living room, etc. I'm a nut. 

What I've gotten a little creeped out about are some of the wedding ideas that I see floating around out there (my cousin/big sister is getting married in September so there's my reason for even looking in the first place). There's some really cheesy shit out there. Like this gem: "write a love letter every day during the engagement and give it to your husband on the day of the wedding." I'm sorry, but what guy would like that?! There's a lot of sappy things like that, and every time I ask that same question. Ideas like that sound like stuff girls like/wish their significant other would do for them... really doesn't strike me as something a guy would be thrilled to get. 

pinterest.com

This picture also confused/amused me. They are reading love notes that the other wrote prior to the ceremony. The prospective groom's face compared to the bride's... I'm sorry I just don't think guys are as sappy as us ladies. I don't think they will appreciate silly things such as a 300 page book of love letters. It's like a girl sending flowers to a guy, she's doing something that she wishes he would do for her. This is how I take it. 

One final thought: all the little things that seem to go into weddings, all those overwhelming details you see on pinterest? Makes me want to elope. 

'Scuse me, but does my karma look bad to you?

Do you believe in karma? It's this Buddhist principle where basically the universe keeps tally of all the good and bad things you do and translates it into this sort of cosmic energy. You've heard the saying "karma's a bitch." So basically when you're a bitch, things are going to come back around and bite you in the ass some way or another.

via

I loosely follow the idea of karma. I definitely feel like when you do good things good things will come back around to you (but obviously one shouldn't do things strictly to generate good karma, that kinda defeats the purpose). So let me just say, I think my karma sucks right now, and I don't know why.

Even though someone isn't your type and you never care if you talk to/see them again, finding out that an individual you've flirted/exchanged numbers with has a significant other is never a good feeling. Here I am on top of the world as a mingling machine and boom I strike out yet again. Seriously, they keep on coming.

People suck sometimes (I'm refraining for saying guys suck because while many do, some are awesome and from a guys perspective girls can be disappointing sometimes too). My dating karma is just way wayyyy off. But I like to think that I'm generally a good person; I volunteer, I don't kick puppies. I'm really not sure how to go about tackling this issue. I flip flop between giving up for the time being and sticking with it/practicing my mad mingling skills. I can't decide yet, although when it comes to guys...I just can't seem to quit them.

Mingling Machine

This weekend I was a mingling machine. The funny part is, the first random person I actually struck up a conversation with (I pulled the "so what beers are good here?" card) happened to be married. I noticed the ring just as the words were leaving my mouth. Oh the irony. But it got better! Miracle of miracles I actually went up to a group of guys I'd been making eye contact with and started chatting. I didn't even have to get wasted to do it (ok I had had a drink or two but was no where near inebriated).

Obviously even I'm surprised at myself, since I've previously written about how I suck at socializing. I really can't pin point what happened this weekend, otherwise I'd be sure to share my wisdom with the masses. I just sucked it up and did it. I took the repeated eye contact as my cue that the other party was interested and boom, "hey what's up guys?"

"Oh hey fellas" photo courtesy of Kristen

Pretty much, I threw caution to the wind. That's all it takes, 5 seconds of not being self conscious. Every time I go out I always tell myself that I'm going to be awesome and approachable and just exude self confidence; the only difference is that this time I actually did it. And generally people respond favorably to that. If they aren't a total dickhead then they will at least humor you for a little while (and if they are rude, then consider yourself lucky that you didn't have to waste one more second putting up with that!).