paxiscoming

It’s almost time for PAXPrime! Pax, Penny Arcade Expo is a 3-4 day gaming convention brought to the public by the guys of Penny Arcade. Currently, there are 3 Pax events that happen worldwide. Pax Prime-in Seattle, in  the Fall, PaxEast-In Boston which occurs right before Spring, and PaxAus-in Melbourne, Australia which happens in the summer. I usually attend Prime or East or both! And I’m so happy that Prime is just around the corner. I can’t wait to see all of my Pax friends that I’ve met over the years, hopefully get a chance to play on next-gen consoles, tabletop game, and of course enjoy Seattle. Oh! And the parties! Pax parties are pretty great, y’all. I don’t have any parties set in stone yet, but I will be attending the Triwizard Drinking Tournament (TWDT) again this year. A Harry Potter themed pub crawl that happens the night before Pax begins. I’m happy to say I’ll be returning to house Hufflepuff!

I had such a blast last year and I’ve already started preparing my outfit for this years crawl. Theme- Hufflepuff preppy realness-Yellow dress, black ballet flats, black cardigan with Hufflepuff badge on the chest. Hair in a top bun secured with a Hufflepuff bow! I’m going to look darling. Which doesn’t matter at all because I’ll be completely smashed by the second bar. -_- The pub crawl isn’t just about drinking and making new friends. It’s also a fundraiser for Child’s play. Child’s Play, founded by the Penny Arcade guys,  improves the lives of sick children by donating toys and games to hospitals worldwide. The TWDT raises money by selling items house members have donated and flat out donations. I am donating some Hufflepuff themed bows. They cost me little to nothing to make and aren’t anything special, so l put a price tag of “Donate whatever!” on each of them.  All proceeds will go straight to Child’s Play! Hoping my house can donate enough money to Child’s Play to be number 1! We were #3 last year. Lets go Huffles!

Getting back on track!

Remember my awesome July? I was exercising regularly and staying in “keto” which resulted in a 12 lb total weight loss. Well, this month hasn’t been going so well! I have not kept calm and keto-ed on. In fact, I’ve done the exact opposite. Ever since the NASCAR race where I had beer and other carb filled goodness, I’ve been unable to get back on track(Har, har. pun intended)! I have been eating terribly-bread, pizza, cookies…if it’s full of carbs or sugar, I’ve been eating it! I’m over it. Eating like that is only going to put me in an unhappy place and I refuse to go there.

My goal for this week is to drink 8 glasses of water, get some sort of exercise in each day and stay under 30g of carbs. I’m not going to worry about meeting the protein and fat that my keto calculator recommends.
I see progress without worrying about them, so they will take a backseat for awhile. Because of my two week carb-cation, there is no way I’ll be meeting my goal of a total 20lb loss by Labor Day. But I’d like to lose 15lbs. Think I can do it? We shall see. The current total loss is 9 (gained 3lbs back!). *sigh*

Why yes, my Myfitnesspal ticker is Sailor Moon themed. :3

How do you stay motivated to stick to your “diet”? What fitness/weight loss goals do you have?

circular

Guys! Yesterday I was offered a teaching position for the upcoming school year. Pre-k 4 teacher at one of the Goddard schools. Such a great opportunity for me. BUT, I’ve already committed to the 2-day a week nanny position, which honestly is a better fit for me. The extra free time beats everything! Especially with a full load of online classes this semester. Admittedly, I’m kind of terrible with keeping up with online classes. It’s easy for me to be distracted and procrastinate even more than I do normally. The more free time I have, the better. And I want to get in as much traveling as I can this year because next year, it’s actual classes and then student teaching.

I already have a couple of trips planned for the next few months. Seattle at the end of this month, Detroit in September, and Seattle again in October. What!? I love Seattle! In November, I would really like to go out of the country. It’s been way too long since I’ve had a stamp in my passport (2011!). I know I definitely want to travel in Europe because I feel comfortable traveling there alone, but I’m not sure where in Europe. My short list includes: somewhere in freezing Northern Norway to see the Northern Lights, Berlin, Paris, Vienna, Prague, or Budapest. I DON’T KNOW! Any suggestions for a 5-7 day trip in Europe?

In crafty news, I’ve been working on a baby blanket for my friend’s daughter, Stella, who was born just this morning!

I knew the blanket wouldn’t be completed before her birth, my goal is to get it to her before she reaches 1 month. It’s my first baby blanket! Even though I’ve knitted for years, I’ve never knitted anything besides scarves! Crazy, right? Mostly because other projects included circular needles and circular needles scared me. I always associated them with big, difficult,  projects with a million different fancy stitch changes. Blech! After a lesson with Meg, I was a bit more comfortable with them and  now that I’m knitting with them, I realize they’re not much different than straight needles. Stella’s baby blanket is my first project with the circular needles. Maybe it’s kind of cheating, because I’m still knitting “straight”- just on circular needles. It’s a good start though! I now feel comfortable enough to try an actual circular needle project. Perhaps a hat or something else in the beginner range AFTER Stella’s and another baby blanket have been completed. Everyone is popping out a kid lately. No more until I finish a new project on circular needles, OK?! OK!

 

Hey, August

Goodbye, July! Hello, August! Here are my favorite July snapshots from my Instagram feed.

Race Day

Last weekend I went to NASCAR’s Brickyard 400.

NASCAR?! Yep. NASCAR. The bf bought tickets  a couple of months ago. I wasn’t exactly thrilled about going to a Nascar event. I had a few preconceptions about Nascar fans and honestly, watching cars race around a track doesn’t really excite me. However, I never turn down a new experience-so, off I went.  I actually enjoyed it! I really did! Watching the cars race around the track, vying to improve their position on the turns reminded me of skating laps in roller derby. I was fascinated…for the first 50 laps. Haha.  My favorite part of the race was the pit stops. I got so excited every time  a  car pulled into the pit for refueling, tire changes, repairs, etc. Those pit crews are super effective and fast. Can we just watch them compete? I’d totally watch that!

I don’t think I’ll ever go to a race again, but it was fun. If you ever get a chance to see a race at the Speedway, do it for the experience…and the pork tenderloin. Trust me. That pork tenderloin is delicious!

The Sophia quote of the day, around lap 100- “Ok. I’m getting bored. How in the hell am I going to get through 300 more laps?! I WANNA GO HOME! Oh?!  What’s that? You mean the ‘Brickyard 400’ is 400 miles not laps? Oh…ok” >.<

(I posted a couple of videos from the race on my Vine. Here’s one where you can see a pit crew in action and hear how loud the cars were as they zipped by.)

 

It’s hump day!

That commercial never gets old. NEVER! I die every single time it comes on!

Yep, it’s hump day AND it’s the day I remember I have a blog! Oh, hey there! it’s not that I’ve forgotten about you. I’ve just been busy. The bf’s brother came into town for a couple of days and we went to a NASCAR race. Yep. Forreal. I’ll tell you all about it. Spoiler alert-It was actually fun! I’ve also been working a lot and for the last couple of days, I’ve been braiding my hair. It usually doesn’t take me this long to braid. Maybe 12 hours split over two days. But this time I’ve made them pretty small and I’ve had activities that have forced me out of the house. I have about 3 sections left in the back. *sigh* I HOPE to be done today? Hope.

Progress!

I just finished Neil Gaiman’s latest book, The Ocean at the End of the Lane. It’s a short read and filled with magic, fantasy, and a bit of horror. Enchanting! I couldn’t put it down! 4/5 stars to you Mr. Gaiman.  Currently reading Octavia Butler’s sci fi, “Wild Seed”. My first sci-fi novel. My online book club is reading it this month and discussing it in a couple of days. Which means I should probably finish it!

Cosplay

I believe in cosplaying whomever you want! Doesn’t matter if you’re a different race, size, species, whatever…but this video cracked me up.

I’m currently working on two cosplays for PaxPrime.

Daisy Fitzroy of Bioshock Infinite.

And The Walking Dead’s Michonne

Two kick ass women. Bonus-I don’t have to buy a wig. I’ll just install kinky twists in my hair.

I gotta say…

Guys. I am having a good day and I just have to share what’s been going on.

I woke up grumpy this morning because I had a appointment with my therapist at 8 am! 8 AM!! Unemployed Sophia,who stayed awake until 4 am, was not happy about that. Nevertheless, I got up, got ready and drove to see my therapist. And I am so glad I did. We had some really great talks, revised my treatment plan, and I left feeling like I’m getting somewhere. I’m changing how I think of myself and how I think in general. It only took 5 months, but I’m seeing progress. I left feeling accomplished instead of my usual “this isn’t helping anything” feeling. And that, my friends,  is a great feeling.

On the way home I was beaming! Smile on my face, singing along to Nirvana, feeling great about life and then my phone rang. Who was it? A woman offering me a job. Ever since I moved to Indy in March, I’ve been looking for a job. I’ve sent out countless copies of my resume, filled out applications,  interviewed for a handful of jobs,  BUT no one wanted to hire me. What’s wrong with me!? :( I was getting down on myself and feeling pretty darn shitty. I, Sophia, have never interviewed for a job and not been offered the position, until now! Big blow to my self-esteem. But, I kept pressing on and searched even harder. Two weeks ago, I interviewed for 2 jobs. One as a 2 day a week nanny– Awesome pay, only 2 days a week, and 3 adorable kids.  It wouldn’t look that great on my resume, but pays well and allows me to have a lot of free time. Which I’ll need since I am taking 5 classes this semester. Second job is for a preschool teacher position-5 days a week guaranteed, lower pay, but it would look nice on my resume and I’d gain some experience.

THEY BOTH CALLED TODAY AND OFFERED ME A JOB!

Ahem. Yea. So, now I have to make a decision. It’s nice to have choices!  I’m leaning toward the nanny job. I need the extra time for school. Even though it’s only 2 days a week in pretty much ends up paying as much as the preschool position. Did I mention the free time?! Yea. Definitely going with the nanny job. I’ll have time to travel and study! I’m super excited, y’all!

Gonna have to agree with you there, Ice Cube.

**I know I’ve been yapping about my physical health and getting fit, but mental health is just as important or more important. Sometimes we neglect it. Take care of yourselves-mentally and physically!

1 month of keto down!

Today marks one month since I started following a keto diet. I’m happy to report that I have lost a total of 12 pounds!

 

I lost all 12 lbs during the first 3 weeks of the month. The 4th week was…a bit of a wreck for me. I was so confident in my weight loss that I was having little cheat-y snacks all over the place. Eating popcorn, a cookie or piece of candy…it got out of hand pretty quickly. Luckily, I didn’t do THAT much damage. I gained 2lbs. Womp, womp.

I’m not beating myself  up over the 2lbs. I still have 10lbs of weight gone. It’s not much, but it has made me feel more confident. I don’t  see a 10lbs weight loss when I look in the mirror, but my dresses feel a little less snug!

I learned something during my week of cheaties. I learned that I remain in ketosis up to 35g of carbs. With this knowledge I did a little editing of my macros. My macros are now

Carbs-10%(35g)

Fat-65%(101g)

Protein-25% (88g)

I’ll be sticking to it like white on rice for the next month. I have a goal of losing 8lbs in the next month, Which will be a total of 20lbs by August 15th. If I stick to my macros and add in some exercise, I’m sure I’ll hit it.

Anyone have any suggestions for foods to help me reach my 88g of protein each day? No matter how hard I try, I can never meet my protein goals! Should I get some protein powder? What brands are tasty and what brands should I avoid?

Nerdy Love song!

This song is adorable! Complete with nerdy pickup lines, cute girl, and a cat!