Bingo. Dino DNA!

I have had my eye on this dress for years, I'm pretty sure. I originally saw it on ModCloth, but once it was sold out there I had to find it elsewhere. Finally, it made its way to me in the form of a Christmas present from my parents. I love dinosaurs and Jurassic Park is one of my favorite movies, so a dinosaur print dress is always much welcome and desired. Plus, it's a neutral shade that lends itself nicely to remixing. But honestly...dinosaur print is enough to sell it for me.









Our first snowstorm this season wasn't terrible. The library closed and I didn't have to go to work, which meant I didn't have to drive anywhere. That's the best possible scenario for a snowstorm, in my opinion. No obligations to be anywhere. I spent the a lot of the day in bed with kitties and books. The next day the roads were pretty much clear, so I didn't have to be stuck inside with cabin fever. There is a very short amount of time that I'm ok with not having to go anywhere, then it just turns into extreme boredom and feeling trapped. I constantly crave the outside world, even if it's just sitting in a car or in a park somewhere. It doesn't have to be anything fancy.









In other news, I am trying to eat better and healthier. I would say that I am trying to eat clean, but I'm not too extreme with it or as dedicated to the idea as some people are. I'm simply just trying to eat less processed foods and less sugar. The sugar part is hard, especially when you work somewhere where there seems to always be some sort of baked good or treat in the break room. It's hard to resist cookies and coffee cake and donuts, especially when it's right there in front of you and you have a huge sweet tooth like I do. Basically, I'm trying to stick to healthy foods like turkey and chicken, eggs, vegetables, fruits, etc. If I make a sandwich, I use 100% whole wheat bread. Honestly, though, it is really confusing and overwhelming for me when it comes to this stuff because it seems like for every article online about how a food is bad for you, there's another saying it's not. It's hard for me to determine what's really bad and what's not. That's why I am sticking to a general "no processed foods" rule. I'm not saying I'm never going to cheat and eat pizza or burritos or cookies from time to time. I'm just trying to eat better generally and also to try not to binge. I could easily eat 8 cookies in one sitting, but that doesn't mean I should. I like the whole "if you can't read it, don't eat it" idea of looking at ingredients for the gross processed stuff.









I was looking into American cheese because that is the cheese I have pretty much always used at home. I love grilled cheese, and that's usually what I make it with. Now, here's where some confusion is: is cheese necessarily bad for you? Does it depend on the cheese? I was reading about it and apparently there are some cheeses like mozzarella, feta, and provolone that are better choices. The thing I couldn't figure out is if the American cheese that you get sliced at the deli (usually by Land o Lakes or Boar's Head) is processed like "cheeses" like Kraft Singles are. I tried for about 20 minutes to figure it out, then got tired and gave up. I always got cheese from the deli and I was wondering if all American cheese is created equal, or if the deli stuff is actually real cheese as opposed to just some sort of "cheese product". Regardless, I think I'm going to switch it up and try other cheeses that have less grams of fat in them. I can't live without cheese.









I am also trying to get more into soups, particularly ones that are heavy on the beans. Another thing I am also looking into trying to add to my diet is quinoa. Really,  I just need to find time to experiment with food and cooking new things. It's really about fitting it into my schedule. I'm not too into cooking like I am baking. When I actually do it, I tend to enjoy it, but making time and making myself do it always seems to come as a challenge for me. It's so much easier to just quickly make a grilled cheese and then do all of the other things I would rather be doing once I'm home from work. Plus I usually tend to wait until I'm feeling ravenous to eat which makes me not want to wait for something to have to cook to be able to eat.

Dress: Folter Retrolicious//Sweater: Le3no//Tights: Apt. 9//Shoes: Clarks//Sunglasses: ASOS//Belt: Forever 21//Lipstick: Colourpop

I never really make resolutions for the new year, but I guess in 2016 I am going to try to be better about food prep and eating better. I am also trying new workouts, which is exciting! I was doing Insanity Max 30, but now I am trying the PiYo and T25 hybrid workout to see how it goes. I like that it's not a super intense workout every day like it is with the Insanity workout. I am also going to try to blog more consistently this year and I think I would like to take up some sort of dance class since I love to dance and would like to get more advanced at it. I would also like to get back into playing music, travel more, and I also have a goal of reading 50 books this year. I don't know how many of these things I will achieve, but I will try!