A Woman of Many Jobs

When I left Toronto I vowed to never work a part time job again. Two weeks later I was giving my resume to my sister's friend in hopes of getting a serving job. I'm a little backwards like that apparently.

When I got home I realized that even though I had no bills, I was still feeling like I was stretching it paycheque to paycheque. I don't understand it either. I also felt like I had too much time on my hands. It didn't feel very productive and I figured that if I was going to try to occupy my time, I might as well make money doing it.

You're looking at the newest hostess in town:

You read that right. Hostess. Apparently my lack of serving skills held me back a little but I've been told that there's room to move up once I've gotten a hold on the menu/depending on my performance.

It's been fun to get a new job, meet new people, learn new things, and get my butt out of the house. Because I work from home I need something else to make me feel like I part of society sometimes!

On top of that my mom offered me a data entry job on Friday mornings so I come into the office bright and early and put numbers in a database, look at spreadsheets, and all of that fun stuff.

So that makes three jobs when you count my Monday- Thursday Editing job. I actually like having three very different jobs to go to. There's no juggling required because they all fall into different availabilities and hopefully I'll start to have enough money to have fun and save.

From the desk of:

Taylor Brown
Associate Editor, Hostess, Data Entry Specialist

Juiced Up

As part of this months Six Months of Resolutions challenge Tessa and I were to complete a 10 day juice cleanse at some point throughout the month.

Last Tuesday Tessa texted me to let me know she had started and I figured "hey, might as well have a partner in my misery" and started up the day after her.

The rules were that you had to do 10 consecutive days of juicing. If you quit on the 4th day then you would get 6 points against you (and so on…you get the point). If you still had time in the month and wanted to try for 10 days again then you could with no points against you if you completed it. Knowing what I know now, no one would EVER do this twice.

Truthfully, I felt little to no joy during my juicing experience.

Here are a couple photos. I didn't get many because of my sheer lack of a will to live, or do anything at all.

What I Juiced
My favourite vegetables to juice were spinach, kale and carrots. Spinach is high in protein, carrots have a sweetness to them so they blended in wonderfully, and kale is apparently some kind of superfood.

I was initially a big fan of the combination of apples and oranges in my juices, but that was before I discovered pineapple and strawberries. Unfortunately too much acidity made my tongue feel a bit raw by the end of it.

I tried to do a 1:1 ratio of fruit to vegetables. This helped mask the vegetables and left my juice tasting yummy!

Note: never, EVER, juice beets. They are the worst. Don't even try. It's a waste of time and tastebuds.

How I Felt
During the cleanse I felt very strong (mentally…definitely not physically).

I had low energy throughout but I felt incredibly alert mentally. I'm usually exhausted at night when I'm watching tv but I was always feeling very focused and awake.

Physically, I was a different story. I didn't work out during the cleanse because I knew that burning calories when I was probably not taking in enough already was not a good idea. I was really subdued during this. Usually I'm jumping around like a crazy person and talking a mile a minute. On the cleanse I was more quiet, less compelled to be talking all the time, and more likely to be sitting down and conserving my energy. People found this really weird and always assumed I was dying. I told them to enjoy it while it lasted.

This is another annoying side effect: everyone will assume you're either close to passing out, not feeling well, or have taken up an eating disorder. While cleanses are generally a healthy idea, especially when done right, most people can't wrap their head around not eating. I heard a lot of grief from my family but had no energy to listen to it.

The Much Anticipated End of the Cleanse
Tessa and I both tapped out on our 7th days of juicing. When she quit I knew that my motivation would drop, the next day I was picking something up from the mall and said "Ah to hell with it" and grabbed myself a slice of pizza (apparently that's not what you're supposed to eat after a cleanse but it was so worth it).

My stomach definitely shrank because yesterday all I had was a juice at 10am, pizza at 2:30pm and by 8pm I knew I would't be needing dinner. I also lost 6 pounds which I assume will be easy to find since my weight loss was definitely attributed to probably being a tad dehydrated/ having nothing in my stomach at generally all times.

When I ate food I noticed 1) that I could barely fit anything in this dang stomach anymore (which is both a good thing, and a bad thing depending on how you look at it) 2) my energy came back pretty fast. Last night I was back to my old self. Jordan said that it was as if everything that I was too lazy to say in the last 7 days had been stored up and was coming out now that I was fuelled with food again.

In Conclusion...
I would not recommend a juice cleanse because:

1. They are generally pretty miserable
2. You can't workout
3. Some of my weight loss was probably due to muscle loss because I barely moved in those 7 days
4. Not eating food is the worst
5. You tend to crave things you never would have before and when the cleanse is over you'll probably eat them (ex. my trip to Pizza Pizza).

These are just my opinions of course, so do with them what you will. I'd definitely recommend buying a juicer so you can get all of your fruits and vegetables in as part of a healthy, balanced diet, but do so once daily, not for 7 days straight.

Now Tessa and I are back to making sure we run 10k a week next week (we decided not to run this week because as I said, burning calories when you're already consuming less than normal is not a good idea). As far as we stand in the challenge right now I have 8 marks against me and she has 7. Don't worry, I've got big plans for a comeback before this is all over.

From the desk of:

Taylor Brown
Functioning Member of Society Once Again

Desk Organization

Do you ever have those times when you just feel like your life is a mess? 

They really tend to stress me out.

My best solution is always to go to Target and find an organization solution.

Last week at work I felt like I was completely out of it. There were emails flying everywhere, I was flipping through my notes wondering "Did I write that down?", and remembering things right before I was finished that I was supposed to remember in the morning. It felt really stressful and sent me into anxiety overdrive.

Right when I finished work I hopped in my car and made my way to Target so I could find some kind of balance for myself.

Luckily I found some amazing stuff that was also completely adorable.

I got myself a gorgeous gold letter holder, file folders, a brand new notebook for my daily notes, and two kinds of sticky notes. 

I immediately got to setting my desk up:

I've been using this system for about a week and it seems to be going a lot better. I write notes on my stickies and they peek through and remind me of things to do. My next step is to work on getting a little filing system going for my folders.

I know this may sounds sad, but these are the kinds of things I get excited about my friends. I've also had a thing for the stationary aisle.

From the desk of:

Taylor Brown
Organization Junkie

A Month Without Fried Foods or Alcohol

The latest in the Six Months of Resolutions challenges was to live a month without fried foods or alcohol.

I would never have guessed that this would be a difficult month for me, but it turned out to be!

I went out drinking one night during this month because hey, a girl's got to live a little. What was weird was that I practically never drink but this month left we really wanting a glass of wine or a mimosa. Why of all months did that craving come in this month?? You always want what you can't have I guess.

It was actually the fried foods that caught me up, specifically fries. On good Friday my family basically looked at me like I would be disowned if I didn't eat fish and chips, and it just looked so good I had to take another notch against me. I ate fries one night at my boyfriends house because they specifically made them for me, who can break a person's heart by refusing that? And then one day I completely forgot and got fries with my meal! Fries, fries, fries.

So I ended the month with four new notches against me, so five in total for this competition. Tessa had a couple slips as well and she has a total of four notches against her.

We've moved onto the next month now. We have to run at least 10k a week and complete a 10 day juice cleanse at some point this month. Tessa and I have already started our juice cleanses and don't worry, I'll update you on that when it's over. Just to give you an idea: you don't know struggle until you've agreed not to eat solid food for ten days straight. I'm on day four…it's a struggle. But there's benefits as well!

You'll hear all about that soon enough!

From the desk of:

Taylor Brown
Fry Fanatic

Getting Stuck

This picture is from a scene of the show United States of Tara. If you haven't watched it yet, get your butt on Netflix immediately (after reading this, of course).

This scene has been running through my head lately.

Here's the dialogue:

Marshall: You know what I like about you?
Kate: Hmm?
Marshall: You don't get stuck. You know, you just put everything out there, and you don't worry about what comes next. I worry a lot about getting stuck.

I worry a lot about getting stuck too. About not being able to have the kind of career I want and letting myself succumb to the need to make a living and take any old job.

I find it hard to know where to go next a lot of the time. I always want to know how someone successful got to where they are now, how they started out and moved their way up. I don't know how to do that for myself right now, but I hope one day I'll find it.

I'm writing this because I bet a lot of other people find themselves feeling this way too. Feeling like there is somewhere they need to go next, somewhere they want to get, but with no idea how to get there, and a fear that they may never get there.

I guess the worry and the drive that makes me feel this way is a good thing. It's a feeling that will continue to push me.

I always want to push.

From the desk of:

Taylor Brown
Pusher (Insert Mean Girls Reference here)

To Market, To Market

Last weekend Erika and I made our way back to our old stomping grounds for a day at the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto.

I have wanted to go to the St. Lawrence Market on a weekend since we moved to the city. Unfortunately Winter took over most of my time in Toronto and I was definitely not trekking downtown in a snowstorm.

Saturday morning we drove to a GO Station and took a train into the city. This may be a little more time consuming but it's better than paying for parking and a less annoying then getting stuck in traffic.

<< Thinking deep thoughts…or something like that >>

The market was sadly a little underwhelming. I was expecting there to be a lot more fresh fruit and flowers but hey, we got there didn't we.

We decided we were in the mood for mimosa's so we walked down the street and enjoyed some lunch and drinks.

 << This is my favourite building in Toronto. It's beautiful and the back has a great mural on it! >>

After a little brunch we walked around the city shopping and of course we had to stop and do our favourite Toronto activity: pose in front of murals.

Whoever decided that Toronto should be a city of amazing street art is okay by me.

From the desk of:

Taylor Brown

Weekend Warrior

Moving Back Home 101

As you know I've recently moved out of my Toronto apartment and back into my parents home. I'm hoping to save up some money for a year, spend next summer in Europe, and be able to buy a house by next September. Pretty ambitious, but I'm also doing these things with my boyfriend so I guess I have a team member to help me along.

Moving home is probably not an ideal situation for a 22-year-old but it was in my plan when I initially moved to Toronto. I wanted to live in the city for a year and was planning on coming back home near the end if all things stayed the same.

I consider myself lucky enough to still have a place at home. Most people are out when they're out but my mom and stepdad welcomed me back with open arms. That being said, it's been a transition.

When moving home you need to:

1. Simplify
Bringing everything back was a struggle. It feels like this house is already packed to the gills, adding all my stuff has not been easy.

I've been trying to get rid of some things where I can. I've gone through some of my clothes to get rid of the stuff I never wear but have been keeping around because I am way too attached to my material goods. I love my clothes.

I plan on going through more clothes, getting rid of shoes and purses, and really simplifying.

2. Compromise
Being back at home means being under someone else's rules. This is hard for me because my favourite thing about being on my own is having so much independence.

Both my family and I have had to make compromises on things now that I'm back and while I'm still their kid, I'm an adult and value my independence.

I've set boundaries about my space and the fact that I am an adult and can technically do whatever I want but I also make sure to try to let my parents know I'm not dead in a gutter somewhere. The fact that I use their cars also makes checking in a necessity so they win there. I also try to help out where I can by doing dishes and doing things around the house and in return I get to live a rent free life with no trips to the grocery store on my part. Fair deal.

3. Have Your Own Space
Having a desk that was in my room was very important to me. I work from home and working from my parents house in the past has proved to be very distracting. I needed a desk in my room so that I could close the door and not be disturbed.

<< It may be crammed in a corner but I found space! >>

4. Make that space your own

I'm a nester through and through. I have always felt a need to decorate every corner of every space I've ever been in.

It's important to make the space that you do have your own and have a place that you actually want to spend time.

Here are some tidbits of my new space:

5. Enjoy it while you can
Hey friends, this is the last time in your life when you won't be paying rent, or a mortgage, or utilities, or having your meals regularly cooked for you.

Soak it up. It's never been so good.

From the desk of:

Taylor Brown
More Child Than Not These Days

We Went to Disney!

It's been a whirlwind for this working girl lately!

April 26th we officially moved out of our apartment and now I'm back in the home town and living back in my parent's house. I'll touch on that in another post, don't you worry.

What I'm here to talk about today is my trip to Florida. The trip happened very last minute. My mom told me about the idea a week before we left and we ended up leaving the morning after I moved home!

My mom, my sister, my nephew, and I woke up at 3am to head to the airport on Sunday morning.

How does a broke girl like me get a vacation:

1. It helps to have parents
My mom footed the majority of the bill for this trip. She paid for flights, my trip to Disney, our meals and our tickets to Disney.

2. I worked while I was away
It is amazing to have the kind of job that I can take with me. I work from 9am-2pm Monday to Thursday so I stayed in the condo everyday and worked while they shopped and sunbathed. I was just happy to be warm again!

3. I was very frugal
I bought a few things, but I said no to more. It kind of killed me to put back an amazing dress that cost $50 but I did it. Gotta make sacrifices!

I didn't hold back from buying a pair of Minnie Mouse ears though!

 << The fireworks were Jack's favourite! >>

 << Jack was killing me with his cuteness here! He picked out the most adorable baby Daffy Duck toy and he hugged the crap out of it. I melted a million times over >>

Altogether it was a great trip and a great way to kick of the summer. No matter how old you are you should probably go back to Disney, I went right back to being a kid when I got there.

From the desk of:

Taylor Brown

Adult-child