I have been making all of the food

Let’s talk about my cooking abilities!!

Ok last week was not a good week in the health area of my life because I was in so much pain from BBG Day 1 legs and I was still sick…so pasta was the easiest thing to make. BUT before last week I had been doing really well in cooking a lot for myself and shying away from pasta and I’ll be trying to stay away from pasta this week too.

And when I say pasta I mean kraft…spaghetti is an adult dish and does not count.

I have completely shocked my parents in who I have turned out to be living on my own…mostly because I’ve eaten way more vegetables than I ever did in the last 21 years of my life. One of my housemates made BOMB ASS ZUCCHINI so of course I ran out to buy my own and make her teach me.

I also bought asparagus spears and sauteed both of them in olive oil and garlic salt 😉 I live for garlic salt at this point

Next I bought ham and swiss to make sliders:

Let it be known that the recipe called for some fancy sauce to be put on top of these but I literally slapped some butter on top and broiled them. Same thing.

Kassara decided to show us that she is capable of making more than buffalo chicken wraps and tortillas with peanut butter and she made the most bomb ass meal:

This picture does not include the bomb ass garlic bread she prepared for us, but it does show the shrimp alfredo she made randomly with red peppers in it. She wins chef of the month ok

Last night I finally (I’ve been saying I’d meal prep this for two weeks now) made shredded chicken sandwiches! It’s literally a can of chicken, a can of cream of chicken, and half of a box of stuffing (and then I just made the rest of the stuffing separately) and you just put in on the stove until hot:

I’m going to make barbeque chicken sometime this week and maybe a mashed potato bowl or something once I go to the store.

Any ridiculously easy go to meals?

Ashley

A Permanent Lifestyle Change!!!!

GUYS

I think I’ve found my permanent lifestyle change…which was one of things on my summer bucket list.

Once I came back from school my mom told me that she had a Planet Fitness membership for $20 and that I could go with her. But we worked at different times and I had to be with her to get in so I bought my own membership for $10 a month!!! (PLEASE SPONSOR ME PLANET FITNESS I LOVE YOU)

I quickly realized that I loved the feeling I got after working out and that even if I didn’t want to go I needed to remind myself how I felt after going. I love to workout in the morning because I am so much more motivated throughout the day and get a lot done.

I’ve consistently gone to the gym three to four times a week for the past three months! But at home I wasn’t focusing on my diet very much. So when I got back to school a couple weeks ago I knew that I had to do workout and eat healthier in order to see the results I wanted to see.

So I’ve been buying veggies (anyone who knows this should be shocked because I hate veggies) and staying away from fatty foods. I’ve been limiting my pasta intake (but not completely doing away with it bc I love pasta) and drinking lots of water!

I’m scared for the winter though because last year I was working out a lot but stopped going to the rec because it’s cold and I never wanted to get out of my warm bed to walk twenty minutes. But now my landlord is putting in a fitness center at their office (a two minute walk) and it’s opening sometime in September!

But in case I still want to lay in bed and struggle with motivation, any tips??

Ashley

Cooking for One — Burrito Bowls

Hey all! Since I got all of my homework done and had some time on my hands this Labor Day, I decided to try out a new recipe I found on Facebook and meal prep for the week!

I don’t know about you, but Chipotle is ridiculously delicious. I always get the burrito bowl with white rice, pinto beans, chicken, corn salsa, LOTS of cheese, and sometimes sour cream.

But for $8 I can’t afford to eat there as much I could.

So when I saw one of those thirty second recipe videos on Facebook for a burrito bowl I JUMPED ALL OVER IT

I put two chicken breasts on a pan and put salsa over it, cooked it for 25 minutes at 350. While that was cooking I made rice, cut up a green pepper, and washed a can of black beans and a can of corn.

Once the chicken was cooked I sliced it and divvied up all of the ingredients to make three meals out of them!

I’m so excited to try these out on days I’m too busy to cook dinner!

What kinds of meals do you prep for the week?

Ashley

I’m a junior???

Guys the weirdest thing is happening to me…I am halfway done with college. Like starting the second half. For the past week I’ve been living in my new townhouse with two of my bestfriends! I have my own giant room, going to the rec, cooking for myself, and being an overwhelmingly awesome adult.

Adult things I’ve done:

• killed bugs (I’M REALLY MISSING YOU, DAD)
• taken care of our ant problems
• cooking food other than pasta everyday of my life
• sweeping the kitchen
• taking the trash out
• gone grocery shopping
• doing my laundry before I run out of underwear

I’m telling you guys….some hardcore adulting is happening here.

Some childish things I’ve also done (because I’m only 20 so you can’t expect me to do everything correctly):

• binge watched netflix for literal hours multiple days with my roommates because criminal minds is dangerously addicting
• eaten kraft two days in a row for lunch (granted, it was the weekend and really the weekends don’t count)
• allowed ants to become a problem in the house (I blame others but I ignored the crumbs on the floor of the kitchen)

So Mom and Dad, I am adulting hardcore right now but I will always be your little girl 😉

What is one thing you will always do that is so un-adulty? (Mine is eating kraft until I die)

Ashley Shaffner

a bittersweet goodbye

If you’ve been following this blog from the beginning then you probably know that I work in retail and I’ve discussed my hatred of this customer service job. This Christmas will be four years that I’ve worked at the same JCPenney in my hometown. I worked my first year in the kids department (a great form of birth control) and the past three years I’ve worked in the women’s department (a great way to see how disgusting women really are).

I have cleaned up menstrual blood in the fitting room, I’ve accidentally grabbed piles of clothes that have been peed on, I’ve had to remove chairs in the rooms that have been peed on, I’ve heard of people pooping in the stalls too.

Does this happen in the men’s department? No.

Women are disgusting.

But through the thousands of fitting rooms that I’ve cleared and tables that I’ve folded, I have met some of the most amazing women.

And Tuesday I had to say goodbye and work my last shift with them.

Some of them are newer faces that haven’t been there as long as I have but some of have been with the company for over 1o years. My favorite woman to work with is Connie: a 69 year old grandmother who bakes four dozen cookies every friday for the store and bought me a Woodwick candle when I said goodbye.

My favorite manager, Danielle, is a southern lady who I can call a friend. She gave me a cake that said ‘you will be missed’.

I cried.

Three times.

And although I am staying with the company and transferring to a closer store in Oxford, I feel sad knowing that I will not work with these women anymore. The ones who made long Friday night shifts bearable. The ones who are always up for Applebee’s half priced apps after closing. The ones who are always up to complain about our jobs but continue to work retail. And the ones who play bean boozled and get the rotten egg flavored jelly beans.

I am forever grateful for the four years I spent at this store and I can’t wait to text them during Christmas to meet up for half priced apps.

Ashley

Summer Bucket List update

Hello all! At the beginning of the summer I wrote a bucket list that I wanted to complete this summer, and it’s coming along very well!

One of the things I really wanted to do this summer was learn to sew, so at least once a week I spent time with my grandma (it was mostly just me sitting in her bedroom in front of her sewing machine sweating because her apartment is 100 degrees) making a quilt! She never taught me how to hand sew and honestly it seems like a lot of work…so for now I’ll stick to the machine!

Here is the final product (courtesy of me screenshoting a beautiful boomerang on my instagram):

My grandma also made me a cute little throw pillow to match it :’)

I also think that I have found my permanent lifestyle change that was also included on my bucket list! The past few times I’ve eaten something very sugary (ice cream or some other dessert) it really upsets my stomach so I think that my semi-healthy eating this summer has finally kicked the sugar fix for me!

Hopefully my time spent at Planet Fitness this summer will also turn into a permanent lifestyle change. I’ve honestly enjoyed going multiple days every week (sometimes my work schedule only allows me to do two days but some weeks it’s five days) and I love getting up early and starting my day with a workout because it puts me in such a good mood! I’ve lost 10 pounds this summer and want to keep this going during the school year because I think if I can continue working out in the winter this change will be here to stay!

If you made a summer bucket list how is it going??

Ashley

REVIEW/BUCKET LIST/BEST BOOK OF MY LIFE

Hey guys!! Sorry I’ve been pretty absent these past two weeks but our wifi wasn’t really allowing me to get on my internet…and here we are with 95% of our data used and three days of the cycle left. It’s been fun.

So if you’ve been following along, I came up with a bucket list about two months ago and one of my goals of the summer was to learn about budgeting (I swear I am 20 and not 30) and to read as many books as I can! So when my sister pushed a book onto me that she used to take control of her money and start a real budget…I was all in.

The Complete Guide to Money by Dave Ramsey is THE book to buy high school graduates. Or anyone for that matter. I just wanted to learn about budgeting but now I know so much about credit cards (cue working in retail and hating having to ask customers if they want a credit card, I’m so sorry), getting out of debt, investing (why invest in anything other than a mutual fund??), loans, insurance, saving, etc.

I am telling all of my friends that are my age to read this book!! There are so many stories at the end of chapters about how the classes associated with the book saved families from mountains of debt and how quickly they paid it all off.

If I can implement a budget, start saving, and have all of this knowledge about finances…I feel like I will be miles ahead of others my age. This upcoming school year will be a practice run with setting up and maintaining a budget. My paychecks during the school year are smaller and will be easier to start with before I get back to retail christmas time paychecks.

So thank you to my sister for making me read this 😉

What’s one of the biggest lessons you’ve learned with your finances? Advice?

Ashley

my soulmates

Some days you just want to brag about how great everyone in your life is…and today is just one of those days.

A while ago my friend Abby tweeted an image of a handwritten note that said:

You’ll have more than one soulmate in life, for there are different ones for different things. There are musical soulmates, friend soulmates, let’s-get-coffee-together-everyday soulmates, artist soulmates, etc., etc. The romantic soulmate is only one aspect of this notion. Never forget that.

And from that day forward, I looked at people in my life in a different light.

I’ve had the same group of friends for years and although I would consider Emily my best friend, I wouldn’t consider her my only friend soulmate. We’ve been best friends for 11 years now and if I could only spend time with one of my friends it would always be her.

Sydney and I seem to have the same soul. We enjoy the same things in life and find the same joys. I know what she likes and she knows what I like…I know that she’ll always be up for travel and adventure with me and won’t be bored if it’s just a museum.

I feel as if Sammy and Kassara are some sort of college soulmates…I can talk to them for hours. We can all have such deep conversations and that has always meant the world to me.

Abby is my coffee and talking soulmate because we love getting coffee together, shopping, and just talk forever. We don’t need to be talking about deep things but we never run out of things to say. Tonight I’m donating plasma (mostly for the money but also because I’m a great person LOL) and she’s keeping me company…I think she’s going just because I’m bringing the coffee.

My sister and I are on some next level soulmate shit because of how close we are. I could never imagine a better relationship with a sibling…

Also I think my cat is my feline soulmate but my sister would say that I’m a weirdo…but she’s met him…she knows how he is.

No romantic soulmate in life so far…but I’m perfectly content with the above people in my life.

What types of soulmates are in your life?

Ashley

Cooking For One: Hummus

This health-kick that I’ve been on has really made me think long and hard about the snacks that I eat:

• popcorn (I would say 50% of my body is popcorn at this time)
• chips
• ice cream
• cheese and crackers

These are full of fat and sugar and not good for me. So for the past month I’ve been snacking on pretzel crisps, popcorn (hey you have to have some joy in your life…mine happens to be covered in butter), fruit, edamame, and oatmeal protein balls. I’m always on the lookout for easy, healthy, and yummy snacks!

So when I found this buzzfeed article about snacking better, the first thing I saw was hummus. When I’m at school I eat a lot of hummus…it’s an ala carte option with pita bread and you can get original or red pepper hummus on your sandwiches or wraps. But when I’m home, I never eat it because it’s not something I’m seeing everywhere I go to eat.

So I decided to make the ranch hummus (mostly because I didn’t want to send my mother on a wild goose chase to find whatever the heck tahini is). And today I didn’t have to work so it seemed like the perfect thing to do on my day off!

I threw all of the ingredients in our food processor and got to work! Except I only had plain regular yogurt (this just didn’t make it as thick compared to hummus with greek yogurt) and I also discovered that we didn’t have any dill today…so I threw in a little pinch of ground cayenne pepper.

a lesser quality photo

THIS CLEARLY WENT ON INSTAGRAM

And all though it wasn’t like eating store brand hummus…it was pretty good. Next time I’ll be sure to use either greek yogurt or whatever the heck tahini is and try a different type!

Do you have any recommendations for hummus flavors? Or snacks in general?

Ashley

I hate my job

This Christmas will be my fourth year at my retail job.

This past week at work was really tough on me…mentally. I mean physically too because it hurts my feet to stand for six hours and my neck hurts when I’m on the register for too long.

But mentally I was not happy….because I hate retail more than anything.

I will stand by my thinking that I believe everyone should work retail at some point in their life so you see how not to treat people. How not to leave your fitting room. How not to respond to someone who is only there to help you. How not to destroy a table someone just spend an hour folding.

I don’t hate my job because I love my managers and my coworkers and they make this work doable and the reason why I come back every winter and every summer.

I hate the customers.And the coupons. And having to constantly ask customers to apply for a credit card (I’M SORRY IT’S MY JOB STOP GETTING MAD AT ME). I hate when customers are rude to me. And when they are on the phone the entire transaction. I hate teenagers who think they’re too cool to say “hi” back or “you too” when I tell them to have a good one. I hate when they get mad at me for a company policy or something that’s out of my control. I get your frustration but it’s not my fault.

My depression does not allow me to get over small things that frustrate me. I hold onto it all day like a poison. My whole day is ruined.

Sometimes I think customers don’t see retail workers as humans because we get so mad at them for doing their jobs…I used to be guilty of this.

I’m staying at school during the winter in my house and was planning on transferring to a store down there but I don’t know if I can mentally do it anymore. It makes me unhappy…especially when I get scheduled in the morning. When I’m scheduled in the evening I can wake up early and work out which puts me in a good mood…but when I don’t workout before work I tend to be more on edge and more irritable.

But the money is too good.

During the Christmas time I work 40 hours a week and during the summer my manager always gives me max 35 hours for the off season.

I just got a nice raise.

So it’s probably something I’ll stick around with for another two years until I get a real career.

But I’m not going to be happy doing it.

So here are some memes that make me laugh when I need to laugh at my job

How do you get through tough times at work?

Ashley