DVD Clutter

Since 2009 I've moved 5 times.  Those moves have made me realize how much unnecessary stuff I have!  One thing that's helped a lot is going digital for media like books and music.  The only thing that is still a real problem is my expansive movie collection.  I'm sure all of you remember how many movies I have.  In case you forgot, it's like a zillion.  And they are such a pain to move!  Another thing that I hate about them is how much space they take up.  The bookshelf that we've been using to house these DVDs is giant, falling apart, can't hold all that we have, and is super ugly.  I finally couldn't take it anymore!  I used to think that the DVD cases looked so pretty all together around TVs.  But they don't!  They look like clutter! Grant and I will probably be moving again in at least a year (and maybe once more after that) and the thought of moving them all again was not pleasant.

This is just the Blu-Rays.  I forgot to take a picture of the other bookcase.


Here's all of the DVD cases on the floor.

So we went to IKEA and bought 4 of these boxes.

One for Blu-Rays, one for TV seasons and two for movies.  Unfortunately, that's not enough.  I'll have to head back there to pick up a fifth one for the rest of the TV seasons.

Then we went to Target and got some cheap DVD sleeves and card stock.

I kept the cover art for the Blu-Rays, because I can't make myself part with them just yet.  I didn't keep any art for the DVDs though since we were missing a lot of them and have a lot of DVDs that came with Blu-Ray combo packs.

Here's the finished product!  I just made the dividers with the card stock and cut them so they'd have little tabs for the letters.

I'm very happy with our newly organized DVDs.  Maybe someday I'll get around to making a spreadsheet or something to keep track of them all since it's hard to read some of the names when the disc is 2-sided.

We used the now open wall space to make a little bar!  Complete with a shelf for wine glasses and such!  When that's finished I'll post about it.

"We're all different people and we're allowed to be different from one another.  If someone ever says you're weird, say thank you.  And then curtsy.  No, don't curtsy.  That might be too weird.  And tip your imaginary hat.  That'll show them." - Ellen Degeneres (Seriously, I'm Kidding)

Diet Bet

I don't think it's too big of a secret that Grant and I have been trying to lose weight.  Weird work schedules and making time for school is a bad combination for weight-loss.  We were doing really well about this time last year.  We started doing Herbalife.  (Which is a protein shake based diet, in case you were wondering).  It did work for us (I lost 25 lbs!), but as soon as we stopped doing it we gained all of our weight back.  Grant's older brother is getting married in November and suddenly that has given us the motivation to eat healthier and make better choices so we can look better in those photos that'll be around forever.

The hardest part for me is always going to be giving up dessert.  The second hardest part is that it's so hard to make myself work out!  I'm always glad I went, but still making myself go is so hard.  It's just so much easier to sit on my couch and rub my puppy's fat belly.   It seriously would do us both some good to get out on that lovely track right outside our apartment.

The aforementioned track is directly behind Kingsley and about 15 feet from our porch.  It's 1/3 of a mile.

Anyway, to the title of this post.  There's a Web site, called dietbet.com, that Grant and I have joined.  Basically, it's based on the idea that people will do almost anything if money is part of their motivation. Different people set up different Diet Bets and basically challenge users to lose weight.  There are different "bets" with different "buy-ins."  We chose a $25 buy-in.  But for all of them, you're betting the group that you can lose 4% of your body weight in 4 weeks.  If you lose the weight you get your money back and a share of the money of those who didn't lose 4%.  I hate losing money.  I think I even hate it enough to eat right and exercise semi-regularly.  It's actually really cool and the site will have a lot more info if you're interested in learning more!

And so, today is the start of our Diet Bet!  Wish us luck!  Here's to making better choices and hopefully making a little bit of money!

“Most people fail, not because of lack of desire, but because of lack of commitment.”

 -Vince Lombardi

Back Again

I haven't blogged in so long that this interface is confusing to me.  I don't know if I should rehash what's happened in my life this last year so that I can pick back up where I left off, but that's boring.  Here's the quick version.

I moved in with my sweet lovely awesome boyfriend Grant.  It's been amazing.  Yes that's a picture of him in Gaston's chair in the New Fantasyland.  (PS - come visit me and I'll take you there...for free!)

We have a silly puppy named Kingsley who's a little over a year old and training to be a therapy dog.  It's harder than I thought it would be to train him for that.  He's just so excited to say hi to everyone and jump all over them, which would be an automatic test failure.  We're shooting to have him take the test in late February.

I go to Full Sail University now where I'm working towards a Bachelor's in Web Design and Development.  I linked to it above so you can look at my degree program if you're interested.  This is also much harder than I thought it would be, but so far I'm learning a lot and can't wait to get a big girl job.  Thanks a lot for the useless degree, OU!  Hopefully soon I'll be reworking this blog with my new found web skills.  I'm pretty lazy though, so let's not count on any time soon.

I started working as a server at the ESPN Club on Disney's Boardwalk.  It's been ok so far.  I'm glad I won't have to be there forever though.

We've got a lot of things going on right now that I'm excited to blog about!  Losing weight, organizing/decorating our apartment, maybe getting a new puppy (!!!) and just trying the enjoy the few hours we have together since Grant works all the time.

That's all I've got for today.  Now that I've started writing again, it's kind of hard to stop!

"When people try to rain on your parade, poke them in the eye with your umbrella" - Author unknown