100 ways to uncomplicate your life.

"1. Don’t try to read other people’s minds

2. Get up 30 minutes earlier so that you don’t rush/get a ticket while driving too fast/have to explain why you’re late/get fired

3. Get 8 hours of sleep per night so that you think more clearly

4. Stick to your budget

5. Start saving and investing every week, no matter how little you can spare

6. Balance your checkbook

7. Don’t try to be friends with everyone. Cultivate closer relationships with fewer people.

8. Don’t try to do business with everyone. Identify your target client and take very good care of them.

9. Before getting angry, ask yourself if it will really matter in 20 years

10. Focus on being a good person, not on pleasing others

11. Stay home this Saturday, and finish off that nagging chore that you need to finish

12. Kiss and make up

13. Make a weekly menu, and shop for only those items at the market

14. Ask your grandparents the best way to uncomplicate life, and try it for a month

15. Fill up your gas tank when it’s half full

16. Don’t drink alcohol when you’re tired, sad or mad

17. Pay your bills on time

18. Get an annual physical examination

19. Say “I love you” to your significant other and to your children. Studies show that more marriages last, and fewer kids use drugs, when these words are spoken every day.

20. For just one day, imagine everyone’s intentions are good because most people’s are

21. Give away clothes that haven’t been worn in two years

22. Throw out clothes that are in disrepair, and can’t be mended

23. When you have a conflict with someone, talk it out. Don’t let it turn into more than it is.

24. Know what your priorities are in life, and act as if they are your priorities

25. Tell the truth

26. Don’t cheat

27. Don’t steal

28. If you’re holding on to a ridiculous grudge, let it go

29. Clean your house weekly, so that it doesn’t become too large a chore

30. Do your best at work, or at school

31. Don’t eat when you aren’t hungry

32. Eat when you are hungry

33. Be yourself

34. Say no unapologetically

35. Cook simple meals

36. Don’t try to keep up with the Joneses

37. Pay off your car before buying a new one

38. Organise your desk at the office

39. Change your smoke alarm batteries when the clocks spring forward, and again when they fall back

40. Organise your important paperwork

41. Take only half the clothes that you planned to take with you on holiday

42. Help your children with their homework every night, and have an open dialogue with their teachers

43. Have white sheets and white towels in children’s rooms/bathrooms, because they’re easily bleached

44. Spend your time with nice people

45. Avoid drama

46. Don’t text or talk on the phone while driving

47. Turn off the television/video games/computer; they’re time consumers

48. Don’t engage in office politics

49. Refuse to gossip, or talk behind other people’s backs

50. Do the dishes right after dinner

51. Never go to sleep angry

52. Ask nicely for what you need and want

53. Walk 10,000 steps per day to help your heart

54. Do 20 push-ups before speaking in anger

55. Leave work at work

56. Don’t befriend anyone that isn’t trustworthy

57. Don’t envy others

58. Have your oil changed

59. Take vitamin C BEFORE you catch a cold

60. Don’t work more than 8 hours per day

61. Weed your garden weekly

62. Wash your car weekly

63. Have a spring cleaning month every year, and do one room at a time

64. You don’t need to be best friends with work colleagues, but build respectful partnerships

65. Don’t drink and drive

66. Don’t look for reasons to be angry or sad, look for reasons to be happy. You’ll always be able to find plenty of each.

67. Be friendly with your neighbours

68. Return emails and phone messages promptly

69. Schedule in free time

70. Don’t procrastinate

71. Do what you say you’ll do, when you say you’ll do it

72. Be more flexible when you’re able to be

73. Forgive and forget. End of story.

74. Break the consumerism habit…put a three month moratorium in place on buying anything not deemed a necessity

75. Start your diet on September 1, rather than January 1, so that you won’t also have holiday pounds to lose

76. Take care of any health issues or concerns

77. Have your tires rotated

78. Have your brakes checked

79. Have your eyes checked

80. Don’t let your imagination run away with you

81. Let go of perfection in others

82. Let go of perfection in yourself

83. Don’t try to help those that refuse to help themselves

84. Find a way to reduce your commute to work

85. Have an alloted amount of worry time per day/week, that you strictly abide by

86. Drink more water

87. Eat more salmon

88. Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill

89. Wear your hair in a classic, easy to care for style

90. Finish what you start

91. Wear classic clothes and shoes that never go out of style

92. Create a daily routine

93. Have a 1, 5, 10 and 20 year plan for your financial and life goals

94. Slow down

95. Eat out less often

96. When you ask your husband which outfit looks best, thank him for his answer and wear the one he liked rather than focusing on why he didn’t like the other one

97. Allow your children to grow up

98. Clean out your garage, and donate anything that hasn’t been used in the past year

99. Stretch every day

100. If a relationship is over, let it go"

-via www.bellamumma.com/2011/04/100-ways-to-uncomplicate-your-life.html

Our government...sucks.

Dear Government,

You suck and I will tell you EXACTLY why. The state of Nevada is cutting funding for our education system, meaning that thousands of teachers are losing their jobs, meaning my future career in education isn't looking so bright. That means that class sizes are increasing from large...to huge. That means that elementary school teachers are going to be managing a minimum of 35 students. How are these students going to be able to receive individual and PROPER education when the teacher can't focus on anyone at one time? Billy is having a hard time in math, but John is making a ruckus in the reading corner? It's impossible. Americans already have the stereotype of fat and stupid, and all these budget cuts are going to prove is that every country out there...right. Great idea, Government: Let's cut the funding in an already low-end educated state. The city of Las Vegas has no priority when it comes to education. Why wouldn't you want to change that statistic?

This stint on education leads me to another issue. The wars that are waging across the ocean. President Obama, why are you considering going to Libya? We have troops in the Middle East. We have sent help/money to Japan. We are fighting our illegal immigration problem. There are so many things that America is involved in right now, I'm probably missing a lot of them. We are stretched in every which way and the people that are hurting and suffering in the long run...are your own. Gas prices are increasing, taxes are increasing, and people are NOT getting paid enough to afford this anymore. We've done what we can do in the Middle East. Either they take it and run with it, or they fall apart. It's their decision now.

Another thing, why is 27% being taken out of MY paycheck in taxes? I am a 21 year old student with a part-time job and you are trying to tell me that my lousy paycheck is helping out Momma over there with 5 kids? When people would rather have children for the money versus getting a job, along with collecting welfare, then there is a problem. Our system is TOO EASY to manipulate, and people are DEFINITELY taking advantage. I see this problem everyday in Las Vegas. Believe me, I know.
The reason that the men and women in the government don't care, is because they don't see it and are not affected by it. They make too much money to care about gas prices. Taxes don't affect people who make 6 figures a year. The rich are becoming richer, and the poor are becoming poorer. "The wealthiest 1 percent of families owns roughly 34.3%  of the nation's net worth, the top 10% of families owns over 71%, and the bottom 40% of the population owns way less than 1%." [Wealth Distribution Source]

This is not the complete rants and ravings of an unhappy American, but rest assured that this will continue.

So, in conclusion, our government is flawed, DANGEROUSLY flawed and I am an American who will likely rescind my citizenship in the next 10 years if something doesn't give.

Love,
Your Anti-Government American Pal.

I'd rather be a weed.

What are weeds? They have color, stem, and life. Who hasn't picked up a dandelion, made a wish, and cast it away into the wind, as if the universe could somehow make it possible? They provide hope.
What are weeds? Simply a willful flower, with a mind of it's own. It's determination to take root, make change happen. It locks itself into the ground, only to come back over and over again determining to take root once again.

What are flowers? Pretty, useless things. Providing occasional insight with the, "He loves me, He loves me not..." Only later, to provide despair when the answer you are searching for is not offered.

As for me, I'd rather be a weed.

11:12

She wished for many things when the clock hit 11:11. It was childish and she realized that it had no meaning, wishes don't come true that easily. However, everyday when that clock reached those numbers, she fantasized and wished and hoped like a child. Her wishes had grown more elaborate as the days passed. Her happiness enveloped her and with that came more dreams and more wishes. However, one day, her happiness came crumbling down. A storm came and it grew more furious with each passing moment. As her car faced the treacherous roads, it whipped and spun with the wind. Nothing she could do could control it. With terrified eyes, she looked at the clock. "11:10," is what it read. In that instant, a gush of cold winter air swung at her car, pushing her off the road. Her steering wheel was locked and fear froze her. As she opened her eyes to examine the wreckage, she stared at the clock. "11:12," was all that it glowed. She had missed her moment.

The internet and texting has stolen our integrity.

Many people are unsure of what this foreign word, "integrity", means. Let me give you a few of my favorite definitions.
It has to do with perceived consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations and outcome. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the quality of having an intuitive sense of honesty and truthfulness in regard to the motivations for one's actions.

The internet has stolen this from us. Texting has stolen this from us. It is so much easier to type, text, or write all the things that a person is "feeling"; however, when it comes down to acting upon these feelings, they are different. I cannot tell you how many times people have said something to me and have proved to be false.

What happened to the times when people say exactly what they mean, with no bullshit attached? What happened to the days where people did what they say they would do? What has happened to people's integrity, honestly, truthfulness, and consistency?
I pity those who can text and write and use the internet as an outsource for their feelings. I pity those who can use a "status update" to tell everyone how they feel, but never talk to the person that it is meant for. Be a person of integrity. Say what you feel, do what you say, be truthful and do not deceive those that care about you the most.

Make-up tutorials and haul.

I've been watching makeup tutorials.
2 thoughts ran through my mind.
One: I want to know if people would watch my hair/makeup tutorials if I made them on youtube. Hmm. (more hair versus makeup). And two, I thought I would share some of my favorite things that I've been wearing and using, religiously, for all those girls out there who like trying out new pretty things as much as I do. Wooh. Here they are:

1. "Glow all the way" - by Hard Candy

I actually found this product through my best friend when we were getting ready to go out one night. I use it on my forearms and chest area. I really enjoy it because it adds a "lively shimmer" to your body. It's not expensive, it's something that you can pick up at Walmart for about $5 or $6. I highly recommend this if you want to add an extra something to whatever you're wearing.

2. False eyelashes- These are something that I rarely wear (mostly because I'm mentally handicapped when attempting to put these bad boys on), but when I do wear them, I absolutely love them. Even if you use the "natural" ones versus the dramatic fake eyelashes, they really make you feel pretty and add a dramatic emphasis to your eyes.

3. "Glow Daily Moisturizer"- by Ulta

I recently just bought this product...at Ulta, obviously. Why I like it? Well, it adds a small tan without the smell and without you turning orange. In the description, it states that it is more for evening out the skin tone rather than giving you a tan. It's true. If you want to add a small, healthy glow to your skin with a combination moisturizer, I highly recommend this.

4. "Secret Weapon" - by Frizz-Ease

I only use this product when I have just finished blow-drying my hair. I hate the way my hair looks after I blow-dry, mostly dry and brittle. I put a tiny amount on my hand and smooth it through the ends of my hair. I also like to use this product after curling my hair. It makes the curls more bouncy and doesn't add that matte finish when you hairspray.

5. "Miracle Leave-in Product"- by It's a 10

I have 4 words for you. This saved my hair. I have done every possible damage imaginable to my hair. From, stripping my hair of red color, to bleaching my hair, to dying, to straightening..etc. (you get the picture). I had to grow a completely new head of hair and have been working on that for the past year. If your hair is damaged beyond repair and you think that you will never be able to grow healthy hair again, spritz this on while your hair is wet, avoid blow-drying, and you'll definitely see results.

Alright, that's all I have for right now. I urge my other bloggers to do the same. Let me know some of the things that you use on a daily basis that you absolutely adore. I like learning about new products. If you liked this, let me know. I might do some youtube vids. :)

Travel.

I'm sitting at work, effortlessly scanning through the endless world of the internet.
Often, I find myself wishing to be other places, i.e. Bali, Finland, Iceland, etc. Naturally, I'm looking up travel deals for these places. I like to find out prices of things, planning my fake vacations that might turn to reality in about...30 years. All of this fantasies led me to this one webpage.  A family-owned, family-operated island, off the coast of Honduras, called Sandy Cay, which you can rent for $100/night (minimum of 2 nights). Do you hear me? You can rent...a private island (about the size of a football field)...for $100...

I immediately looked up airfare.

I want to go.

I will never be fully satisfied in living in one place for the rest of my life. If I could cram in as much exploration before I'm too old and tired to walk, I would still seek out adventures in my HoverRound. I want nothing more than to see what the world has to offer. Moscow, Reykjavik, Saariselka, Tokyo, Sydney, Bali, Utila town: I'm coming for you.