Do you ever just look in the mirror

 And think to yourself "my God I'm an ugly piece of shit." Damn I do that all time. Anywho that's all, peace out.

Ch-ch-changes

Yikes, I haven't posted since October! I have lost 43 pounds since then. Can you believe it? I owe it all to being vegan and My Fitness Pal. No scam diets or starvation, just calories in, calories out and healthy, ethical eating.

Before: 162 pounds. After: 119 pounds. Lost over 9 months!

I'd still like to lose another 4-9 pounds, but I'm just so thankful for where I am right now. I feel more beautiful, stronger, and more athletic. Before, I struggled to run a 10 minute mile. Now, I am effortlessly running a 8:30 mile! I bet I could run faster if I tried. 

This summer has been going excellently. I'm working at my job as a supervisor now and I think it agrees with me. Having responsibilities and looking over other employees has boosted my self esteem, and I feel like I'm able to work with people in a constructive and friendly manner. Also, my husband and I are moving to an apartment close by which I'm pretty excited about! We got it for an amazing price: $1400/month. That sounds exorbitant for most anywhere else in the country, but for Pasadena that's a thrifty price!

As a "side-effect" of my lifestyle change, I'm spending less money on food and restaurants. And to be more frugal, I've double downed on my thrift store shopping as opposed to going to Target or Marshall's for my clothes, which cuts down on my spending. My goal is to pay off one of my student loans by this year's end, which should be easy because I only have about $2,000 left to pay.

Vegan Weightloss

36 days ago, I went to the doctor for a some wheezing issues. I was weighed while I was there, and I was shocked and saddened to learned that I weighed 162 pounds. That was the most I had ever weighed in my entire life! The day after that visit, I implemented a new weightloss effort: calorie counting. I now only eat 1200 calories a day. It was very difficult at first, but now it's a second nature. And guess what? I now only weigh 150 pounds! I'm not where I'd like to be, but it's the lowest I've weighed in a couple years. I'd like to weigh 125 pounds which was about how much I weighed in high school. I had some kale, tomatoes, and vegan bacon for breakfast and 4 hours later I'm still not hungry!

I'm married!!!

I'm so happy and proud to finally be married to Matt! We are now legally married, but we will have a ceremony on August 1st in Arkansas.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Hartley
<3

I'm getting married tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I AM SO EXCITED!!!! My ceremony isn't until August 1st though, but tomorrow is when I get legally married!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Car Wreck on Friday June 19th

On Friday when Matt and I were heading home from Six Flags Magic Mountain, my car was rear ended on the I-5 freeway in Valencia. We hit a traffic slowdown, and as we were slowing to around 20mph my car was SLAMMED by a brand new Audi that had to have been going around 70 or more. I was never more terrified in my life than at that specific moment. I was so scared that another car would crash into mine and that Matt and I would die.

But, we survived. My 2001 Subaru Outback had fantastic engineering that allowed my trunk to take all of the damage rather than our bodies. It was a textbook accordion-like crumple. Even the police officer noticed how well my car took the damage and said we were in a Subaru.

My back seat crumpled like an accordion. Also, my driver's seat broke during the accident and could not stay up so I'm leaning back in this selfie.

Notice how the glass shattered outward. Not a single piece got in my car. Can you say fantastic engineering? I am amazed.

My poor baby.

Matt and I have, however, suffered a lot of pain. We immediately went to the ER at Huntington Hospital where we were diagnosed with acute cervical myofascial strains. Today, three days after the wreck, my entire back hurts now and my ears are also painful. There are many appointments to make, and so little time.

Also, my car insurance called and told me that my car has been declared a total loss and that I need to gather my things from it before it is taken to a salvage yard. This has made me feel more emotional than I thought; I really, really loved my car. However, material items don't matter in the long run.

The depression, anxiety, and insomnia from this accident has been awful! I'm looking forward to this ending so I can get back to thinking about my wedding.

Also, I have a lot of anger towards the driver who hit us. WHY WAS HE NOT PAYING ATTENTION?? What if he had hit a motorcycle? A Smart Car? A crappy Ford Focus? A Ford Pinto? They'd be dead! This fool was lucky he hit someone with a good enough car to handle such a powerful wreck.

Change of subject: it turns out we don't have to move out of our house! So no more apartment hunting! Yay!

At the ER in our fashionable neck braces. Luckily, we didn't need them for too long.

June Update

It's June, y'all! School's out for summer and tomorrow I start my summer job. Also, I'm getting married on July 23rd! Yayyyyyyyy! I'm excited, but also just ready to get it over with, as bad as that sounds. We've been engaged for well over a year which is much too long in my opinion. I wanted to get married last summer, but Matt didn't want to because his sister just had her baby. It's funny though because now he regrets not getting married last year! Oh well, live and learn I guess. You can't go back in time, so there's no point in dwelling on the past-- just correct your mistakes for the future.

Also new: apartment shopping. It's stressful, but it needs to be done. The housing market is super competitive here in SoCal, even though we're only renting. We submitted applications for one place already but I doubt we'll get it because Matt has no credit history! I have a great credit score however, thanks to my student loans. I guess that's one thing they're good for.

That's all for now!

The second half of my 50% Spring Break starts tomorrow

I'm only working one job this week, yay! Well, at this job (the SPED paraprofessional job) I work for 3.5 hours as my regular "set" job, and I often have the option of substituting for a para job at another school (or my own location if need be) so it's technically a separate job. So if you want to be technical about it, I work 3 jobs. Whew! It can be tiring, but I'm so thankful to be able to work.

My jobs are wonderful and I love helping children. My goal is to eventually become a special education teacher, although I need to pass some exams first, starting with the CBEST, which I've heard is pretty easy. Either way, I ordered some books on Amazon that will help me prepare for the exam so I can make a high enough score on all parts of it.

I ordered the cats a kitty cat condo and it arrived on Saturday. My cats LOVE it. I bought it on Amazon as well.

Yay! Catnip! Now we can act like crackheads!

Have a Happy Easter and a great week, y'all!

Happy April!

I started my month off Wednesday quite hilariously. At the Chinese school I work at, I gave my students a "pop quiz" that consisted of questions from Matt's physics qualifying exams for his Ph.D. My kids are in elementary school and their reactions were.so.freaking.funny. Oh my gosh, it was one of the most hilarious moments of my life. Then I have them Oreos with toothpaste filling. One boy took a bite and then spit it out, lol. The other kids caught on after they saw him do it.

Sadly, I don't have one full spring break week. Instead, I have two 50% spring break weeks, since I work for two different school districts. This week, I only had to go to the Chinese school job. Next week, I'll only have to go to my special education job.

Have a great weekend!

I've started working out again

Yay! I finally got motivated and I joined a gym. I've been twice this week already, and my goal is to work out at least 4 times a week. That seems pretty good for weight loss, right? The only thing is, I don't have the stamina to work out for very long! :( I ran two miles in twenty minutes on Monday but when I was done, I felt so weak and sick to my stomach that I thought I was going to vomit. I'm hoping that the more I push myself, the more likely that feeling will go away!

Last night, I had an easier workout of riding a bike machine for 6 miles and then lifting weights, so I spent a total of about thirty minutes working out. Is that bad? I don't even know anymore. When I was in high school, I'd have to work out for three hours, five days a week because I was on the soccer team. I don't have that much time to dedicate to working out! I hope I can still lose weight though. I want to look great in my wedding dress :D

After my first workout. Don't I look so thrilled?

Anyway, that's what's new in my life these days. OH WAIT! I forgot to mention that I got a second job, and it's in special education!! It's so amazing and I love it! It can be pretty difficult some times, but I don't mind at all. I started on the 5th and I'm getting a lot of great, hands on experience with kids and learning how to handle certain disability-related behavior issues. I am very grateful for this job!

Have a great rest of the week :)