Friday Confessions

 

I was just about to write something along these lines when I came across Lindsey’s blog where she linked up with Glamazon and Mamarazzi for their weekly Friday Confessions. So I’m linking up as well.

  So here are my confessions from this week:

• I’m really slacking on studying for my final, and even doing the papers that I need to get done in my other classes. In short, I’m just done and given up with school. It makes me feel guilty, but I’m surprisingly unstressed about it.
• I confess, that I only went to the gym on Monday, and after my knee started hurting I used it as an excuse to sit on the couch. Again, I feel guilty about it, and will probably work 3 times as hard this coming week.
• My knee got hurt because I’m too against wearing my knee brace, but now that I have learned my lesson, I don’t care what I look like as long as my knee is protected.
• Also, I don’t understand what the big deal with the Royal Wedding is… I just didn’t really get into it, and while I think it’s great they are getting married it truly wasn’t something I even planned on watching. OOPS.
• I confess, that even though I don’t have anywhere to go now days I still want to buy more shoes.
• Not only buy more shoes but dresses, and skirts… even though I live out of jeans and a t-shirt.
• Speaking of jeans and a t-shirt, I hate how “sloppy” I’ve become, I use to dress up, do my hair and makeup every day no matter if I was working or not. Lately, I can barely get myself to brush my hair… this has GOT TO STOP.
• The last on my list today, is the fact that I am willing to pay $4.00 a gallon of gas to drive around in my Camaro instead of one of the other cars with better gas mileage.

  I hope y’all have a fantastic Friday, and go over and link up with these lovely ladies.  

I Jiggle, but not as much as I use to…Week 4

 It’s that day of the week… I’m linking up with Lindsey at Mr. and Mrs. Smith for the weight loss challenge.  

It’s a great group that helps encourage each other on one of the hardest roads to undertake. Weight loss and fitness are essential to a healthy lifestyle and I am a strong believe that strong and encouraging support groups are the key to staying on track and meeting goals.

These were my initial stats:

I am 5’7’’

I weigh somewhere around 146 pounds during week 1

I’d like to be at about a 125-130

My goal is to lose about 15 to 20 pounds

Last week I was at 140.0 even, today I weighed in at 141.5, while this is a 1.5 pound gain, I am not too worried about it since I’ve been doing a lot of strength training. I still fit into my jeans, and have noticed changes on both my legs and abs.

I’ve been hearing a lot of “I’m not losing weight, but gaining even though I’m working out every day” from my gym buddy and several other friends so I’d like to remind everyone that being fit and healthy includes gaining muscle which just happens to weight 3 to 10 times more than fat!!!! Yup, you heard right, and this is why I advocate keeping track of your weight loss by a pair of jeans. It is the best way to insure that you are becoming healthier rather then just losing fat.

I’ve been a bit of a slacker in the gym department these past few days due to my knee, but I’m still eating better and trying to keep track of my calories.

Hope y’all have a great Thursday and a fantastic weekend!

What I’m Lovin’ Wednesday

 

I decided that instead of my usual Wednesday Wants, I’d link up with Jamie over at This Kind of Love.

 

Above all else, I’m loving my husband today. I couldn’t have asked for a better man in my life. He may be grumpy once in a while, we may bicker here and there, but at the end of the day he makes me happier then anyone or anything else which is really all that counts.

I’m also loving the fact that I have two more classes of Chemistry left, one homework assignment, one quiz and one big, ugly final. Hopefully, they will all go well, and I will be able to pass, which in turn would mean I’d get a diploma and be done with my undergraduate career.

Yup, I defiantly know what this kid is feeling, and I will be doing a little jig upon walking out of my final, you can count on it.

I’m also obsessing a little over some new jewelry. I tend to get like this right around end of Spring beginning of summer. I always want new and bright jewelry. My favorite stones other then diamonds are sapphires and emeralds and I’ve been seeing lots of cute combinations of these guys.

 

I am also loving that I can find matching items. I love when my jewelry matches. I’ve actually gone as far as to order custom pieces to match already existing pieces. In fact, I’m super excited for this June when I get to meet a new jewelry who specialized in creating matching pieces. He has done several rings for my friend, including her wedding ring and they are breathtaking.

Finally, I’m loving that the sun is shining. That it’s Wednesday and I get to have lunch with my grandpa. That I am sitting here, writing, reading and enjoying a hot cup of tea.

Today is one of those days that I am grateful for.

I hope y’all have a wonderful day full of smiles and love.

I have someone I’d like y’all to meet

 

I’d like to introduce you all to the knee that hates me.

  Knee meet everyone, everyone meet my jerk of a knee.

Yesterday, I forgot to take my knee brace with me to the gym. And when I left the gym it was feeling fantastic. However, after the short drive home getting out of my car was a bit of a problem. Now, walking and getting up the stairs is a problem. I hate my knee… and have officially given in to going to see my doctor about it. I’m trying to get an appointment after my final, and hopefully get this stupid thing fixed. I feel so useless hobbling around everywhere. I pretty much look pathetic and to prove my point, I got a good chuckle out of my brother. 

Aside from the knee, I had an awesome breakfast.

Greek yogurt, with half a banana, three strawberries and some granola. It really hit the spot, and since I hadn’t really had a real breakfast in a while it was fantastic… my tummy agreed.

I also pulled out my DSLR for this shots and wonder why I don’t use it more often. I know it’s easier to carry around the point and shoot, but the picture quality is no where near what it should be. Once my graduation is affirmed and I have a C in my class I will be getting the 50mm 1.4f lens which will make things even better.

I’m also thinking of investing in a new camera bag, I want one that wraps around the shoulder or some other more convenient way to carry around my Rebel and lenses.

I was thinking something like this… does anyone have one of these or any other choices of camera bags that will work better then a standard shoulder bag?

Tuesday Travels – Cruisin’ Away Part II

 

Last Tuesday I told you all about the fantastic excursions we did while on our Anniversary Cruise in the Western Caribbean. You can read all about them here, and while you read that keep in mind that there were a ton of other excursions that you could choose, such as diving in a submarine, or going to the Sting Ray Cove in Cayman, or even visiting a Rum Cake Factory in Jamaica. Since we only had enough time in each port for two dive we chose to dive.

In Part 2 of our cruise adventure I’d like to tell you a little bit more about what you can expect on the ship. It really was very different from what we had in mind, and exceeded our expectations by leaps and bounds.

I never got a picture of our stateroom, but it looked something like this. We had a balcony room which I’d highly recommend if you have scuba gear with you that needs to be spread out to dry, otherwise an inside cabin (which are much cheaper) is fine since you end up spending very little time in the room.

Our room attended was also amazing and I wish I had brought along more cash to give him extra tips. Our room was always made and ready to go. I felt that if we stepped out of the room even for half an hour we’d come back to our clothes folded, the bed maid and anything extra removed from the room. Not to mention we kept coming back to these babies:

      

 

The only complaint I had about our room was that the shower was TINY, and if you tried to shave your legs you encountered a bit of a problem. But I can’t really complain since we were in the middle of an ocean and had the ability to have hot water to shower with.

The room service was also excellent and you could order food at almost any time of the day and night. Of course tips were always welcomed by the room staff, so again I wish our travel agent had told us to bring more in cash with us.

Speaking of room service and food… the food was AH-Mazing, way better then some of the expensive restaurants we had dined at. Every night we had a more formal dinner, with two nights of black-tie dinners. You also had your choice of several buffets you could go to for breakfast, lunch, dinner and anything in between.

At the first formal dinner, I wore my wedding dress

      

And this is what we had, lobster ravioli for me and pot roast for Donald. Both were fantastic, and we both wish we had some wine to go with it, but since we were diving the very next morning we strained ourselves from putting alcohol into our system.

 

The last formal dinner, with my parents.

At our last dinner with our server, Guro who was fantastic. We also got a Royal Caribbean cook book.  

 

The buffets had a tone of food, and always fun decorations with fruits and veggies to go along with it.

 

There was also a ton to do on the ship while out at sea. On our first full day at sea we explored the upper decks were you could find the pools, hot tubs, gym, spa, recreation room, several bars and lounges. There was also an ice skating rink, a theater, and a movie viewing room.

There was lots of drinking and some karaoke singing

 

     

There was also some laying out by the pool and enjoying the sunshine

Not only this, but the ship was HUGE!! And it was constantly being cleaned.

This is the Royal Promenade where you could shop, eat, hang out and so on.

Over all, this was one of the best vacations we’ve ever been on, and one that was very affordable, even with a balcony room. 

This picture pretty much sums it all up.

OH… and we got to witness one of the most beautiful sunrises in the world.

96 Years of Denial

 

Yesterday marked the 96th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, the first genocide of the 20th century. Under the blanket of World War I, the Ottoman Empire decided to take care of their “Armenian” problem once and for all. On April 24, 1915 the Young Turks authorized the arrest of some 250 Armenian intellectuals, and killed every single one. Afterwards, the Turkish government announced the relocation of the Armenians living in Turkish land, this relocation was only a cover for what became a death march through the Anatolian Desert.

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The death marches were indiscriminate to age, gender or circumstances, the Armenians were forced to leave their homes with no chance to pack their belongings and march for hundreds of miles with no food or water. The current presence of Armenian communities in almost every part of the world is a direct result of the Genocide.

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The Armenian Genocide was one of the greatest and most compelling human rights crises during World War I. The actions taken by the Ottoman Empire were inspiration to Adolf Hitler and root in his belief that the actions against the Jews would be never be acknowledged.

“Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?” – Adolf Hitler to his Army commanders on August 22, 1939, as he prepared to enter Poland.

Hitler spoke these words when an advisor asked him how he planned to justify his actions when the world asked about the atrocities carried out during World War II. The quote is very relevant even today, in the 21st century. Today there are still many, including the United States of America who refuse to recognize the genocide and the atrocities that took place. To this day Turkey continues to deny the crimes that their country has committed and continuous to try and expunge from history the record of this enormous crime against humanity.

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The states above have recognized the Armenian genocide through legislation

Only through recognizing the lessons that history teaches us can we truly insure that we do not commit the same mistakes. By ignoring, denying and rewriting history we are only setting a stage for history to repeat itself. As I write this today, I can name several genocides that have taken place in our world that all of us remember.

• Bosnia-Herzegovina: 1992-1995 - 200,000 Deaths
• Rwanda: 1994 - 800,000 Deaths
• Pol Pot in Cambodia: 1975-1979 - 2,000,000 Deaths
• Nazi Holocaust: 1938-1945 - 6,000,000 Deaths
• Rape of Nanking: 1937-1938 - 300,000 Deaths
• Stalin's Forced Famine: 1932-1933 - 7,000,000 Deaths (Source)

These Genocides could have been prevented, if only the world would have acknowledged the atrocities committed by the Young Turks and held them accountable for their actions. Instead, we allowed for this crime to go unpunished for almost a century, and continue to see the extermination of nations and races throughout the world.

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As a descendent of Armenians who survived the Genocide, and having grown up with stories of my great-grandparents survivals I can state that we, as Armenians, are not looking for punishment, or a reward, we are simply asking for the the world to open it’s eyes and recognize the first genocide of the 20th century, to accept that the massacres took place and to prevent history from repeating itself.    

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The above photo is the Genocide Memorial in Armenia where an internal flame blazes in memory of all those who lost their lives.

 

The following are the nations that have officially recognized the Armenian Genocide:

Argentina 

Armenia

Belgium

Belarus 

Canada 

Chile

Cyprus

France 

Germany

Greece

Italy

Lithuania

Lebanon

Netherlands

Poland

Russia

Slovakia

Sweden

Switzerland

Uruguay 

Vatican City

Venezuela