The Student Workout Plan

So I have been stressing over this entire school year because I cannot find time to work out.

I am a full  time student, and I am also working a part time job so I can pay for rent, bills and all that fun stuff.

I do not get down time very often, and when I do, my mind tells me to get up and go to the gym, work out and just be productive.

But my body is telling me no. No to any productivity.

Yes to Netflix.

I realized that the average student lifestyle, is a work out on its own.

Sure, heading to the gym would probably be a very good thing for me to do, but i should not stress, because I am working out ALL THE TIME.

Cardio:

Walking around campus to get from class A to class B. For us advertising students, heading from J to G is a work out and a half.

Walking to and home from work 3-5 times a week.

Weights: (kinda)

Carrying my backpack all day, since I am hoarder, my backpack has too much stuff in it.

Not only does school physically work me out, but it is a mental workout too!

A lot of females feel the stress of wanting to fit into this idea of "beauty".

This constant voice in our heads can be overwhelming mixed with the stress of life, love, and school.

What is really beautiful to me is passion, dedication and maybe even bags under someones eyes because it shows they have put work into their academic life.

I don't have time to focus 100% on my physical shell, my hair, my makeup every day.

 I do have time to take control of my future, pull all nighters, allow myself to stress out, and drag myself around the school with my messy hair and backpack full of way too much stuff because when I am older, and have a kick ass job, I will hire a personal trainer, and I will take control over my physical shell since my job, my life, and my mental wellness is in order.

So, really, the school workout plan is the best workout plan ever. The most important thing for me is my future, and working very very hard for it.

So, I will continue to workout every single day to better my knowledge which will, in turn, better myself.

 Happiness, knowledge and a great career when I am older is more important than abs.

ONLY IN CANADA

I decided to write a post about things you only find in Canada, maybe some friends around the world can use this post to really understand what it is like here in Canada.

Yes, there are Canadian stereotypes.
Yes, we do live in igloos
Yes, our diets consist of ONLY maple syrup and beer.

...Okay so those are not true. Maybe the beer and maple syrup part are, but I haven't seen an igloo before.

Unless snow forts count.

If they do then I used to build Igloos as a child. Cool.

I was motivated to write this post based off of todays weather. (March 12, 2014)

For most people around the world, yesterdays weather here in Southern Ontario (March 11, 2014) may have been considered cold. Due to the weather we have had all winter long, any weather that ranges from 0 degrees to -5 degrees is considered a blessing. I literally can't count the amount of comments I heard about how gorgeous outside it was.

I'm pretty sure I saw a few t-shirts, it was amazing, and finally everyone could see spring just around the corner.

And then today happened.

Only in Canada, can the weather change COMPLETELY in less than 24 hours. Snow is crazy. Roads are crazy. School is closed. (yay). Below is a picture of what I can see, or really can't see, over my balcony

Beautiful, isn't it?

Of course, being a Canadian, I don't really mind.

I mean, I do get a snow day and do not have to go to school, I can catch up on my homework and it is not as cold as January (frost bite, frost bite every where). 

For people that are unaware, Canada can get warm, like, really warm.

A few summers ago I am pretty sure we broke records with how hot it was.

So, to wrap this up, only in Canada can we feel both January weather and April weather in less than 24 hours.

Some other awesome things about being Canadian that are 100% true

- Hockey players, gotta love 'em
- Tim Hortons = Roll up the rim = Free Coffee = Great
- We are polite (this Canadian stereo type I am so proud of)
- Beer
- Up North (have you been there? If not, GO NOW. Amazing)

That's really all I can think of. Here is a link to check out that features more Canadian stuff. Hilarious.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicamisener/the-29-most-canadian-things-to-ever-canada-in-canada


That is all for today

Jessica

Ps. If you haven't been to Muskoka, you are REALLY missing out.

Cooking as STUDENT

As a student, sometimes you need to be creative with cooking. You can only survive off of fast food for so long.

I actually love to cook, it relaxes me and I feel very accomplished after cooking a delicious. Luckily I was blessed with a roommate that has taught me a lot about fresh ingredients, PLUS I had a mother who always cooked homemade so I had some knowledge of how to put something together. 

To cook well as a student, is to use up your ingredients as best you can! 

One day, my fridge almost was empty and my wallet was not doing so well either (I'm a student!), but I felt like cooking something and was not in the food for fast food or kraft dinner. The ingredients I had on me were the following:

1. Goat Cheese

2. Hummus

3. Chicken Bacon

4. A few veggies left (onion, Tomatoes, Peppers)

5. Minute Rice

6. Pasta Sauce

Maybe some of you can look at that list and think of something yummy to cook but I couldn't, I needed some extras. I went to the store and bought Pita Bread (99 cents), Tofu (1,99 I can't really remember), frozen spinach (1.99) and I decided to make Pita Pizzas.

I used Goat Cheese instead of the traditional Mozza, and I used the pasta sauce as marinara . I was able to make 3 different types of Pita Pizzas

Boyfriend Style Pizza

Marinara spiked with Sriracha, Chicken Bacon Bits and Cheese (I stole my roomies cheese, he was not in the mood for goat cheese, or veggies, or anything healthy for that matter)

Tofu Pizza 

Goat Cheese, Spinach, Tofu, Tomatoes

Running Out Of Ingredients Pizza

Tofu, the rest of my veggies, both kinds of cheese, hummus mixed with marinara, spinach.

Anyways, my mission to cook succeeded and it was a fast and cheap meal. It was also my first time cooking tofu and only my second time eating it. I can definitely improve with that ingredient...

My other half is moving to Australia

Something some people may not know is that I have a twin. A life Partner. A second me but with better hair and a larger iTunes library. The cooler one of us varies now and then, since she has grown her hair long recently and is moving to Australia, she, by default, is the cooler one. For now. That may change if I get another tattoo.

Anyways, my twins name is Jeri. Together we are Jeri & Jessie.

She did an exchange last year in Australia and obviously I hated her because I wanted to be in Australia. She fell in love with it (who wouldn't?) and is moving back in July.

I have heard through the grape vine that people have mixed feelings about her decision.

"Why would you leave your family???", "Once you move there you wont come back!", "You need to finish school and work" blah blah blah.

I personally am SO happy for her. A lot of people ask me if I will miss her.Obviously I will miss her. But she is happy in Australia which makes me happy.

See, when you have a twin, everything they feel, you feel too.

When we were in grade school and she had to go in front of the class and present or talk, I felt so nervous. I felt the sick, disgusting feeling you feel when you are speaking in front of the class even though I was sitting comfortably in my seat. If she is crying, I am crying. We also have this really contagious chuckle that is more of a bounce that when one of us is laughing we sit there silently and move up and down in our silent but hysterical laughter. The more she laughs, the more I laugh and in turn she laughs more. Ten more minutes of this and our stomachs will hurt.

We share the same fears, have had the same dreams, and yes, freaky twin things do happen and yes, it is awesome.

I feel like a little part of me is moving with her and I can't wait.

It will be weird to have my other half permanently living on the other side of the earth. It will take getting used to but I am so excited. I am nervous that if she gets her heart broken, or feels sad or needs something I will feel helpless because she is so far away.

But that sisterly anxiety will probably soon turn to typical sisterly envy when I see her new profile picture that shows her on the beach looking like a tanned hippy that gets over 100 likes.

I'll miss her!

Jessica R

Blue Notes Response

For those who did not read my first blog entry, I sent an email to Blue Notes about how I felt about their decision to not put mirrors in their change rooms.

Yes, that is right. I was THAT bothered by their change room ordeal.

Thankfully I did get a response.

 Here it is.


Hi Jessica, Thank you very much for your email. We apologize for the delay in getting back to you. It’s due to a higher volume of emails than normal during the holiday season. I’m sorry that you were disappointed with the change rooms. Unfortunately, we design the change room that way to discourage the multiple thefts that occur in the fitting room area. It’s definitely a shame that our real customers are inconvenienced because of a few dishonest individuals. I am very sorry for the inconvenience you experienced and appreciate you taking the time to write us your email about your experience. Please know that I am including your feedback in my customer service summary for review by our management team. I hope that we can come up with an alternative solution that will benefit everyone. Best wishes and thank you again, Caitlin MacKinnon Customer Service Coordinator/Store Operations Support I am very pleased with an actual response and it seems like they actually read the majority of my rant email.

I hope they do actually bring this issue up to their management team because every Blue Notes customer I discuss this issue with agrees with me...Put mirrors in the change rooms and implement a stronger system to avoid theft by increasing the number of staff members monitoring the change room area and start security tagging ALL the merchandise.

I am not a retail pro but summer is slowly (very slowly) approaching and I REFUSE to try on anything that begins with the words "High Wasted" without a bit of privacy...


Jessica R

.

Summer Bucket List

It is almost February and Canada is as cold as ever.

But really, is this the coldest winter Canada has ever had?  I would not doubt it…Anyways, I am keeping high spirits by focusing on the months passing by until it is warm.

Since I am a creature of the sun, I am the happiest in summer. To make the time go by fast and to have things to keep my mind occupied I have made a bucket list of things I plan to accomplish this summer.

I have made a bucket list before but I usually get very carried away with such crazy ideas that I probably will never, ever do.

So, here is my (realistic) summer bucket list, or at least the start of it.

1. Buy a bike

2. Stop taking public transit/cabs to ride my lazy ass around and begin biking EVERYWHERE

3. Spend a weekend at Sauble Beach with my friends

4. Spend as much time as I can outside

5. Enjoy every sunny day like it is my last

6. Visit at least 2 other provinces

7. Road Trip

8. Get my licence to road trip...

9. Visit the Ripley's Museum

10. Go fishing

11. Go canoeing

12. Go kayaking 

13. Throw a (legal) bon fire and make banana boats

.. To Be Continued.

This summer is all about spending my summer days the way I did when I was a child. I used to hate when my mom would force me to go to camp but now that I look back I see how lucky I was to be able to go sailing, swimming, archery etc.

I hope to update this blog with my experiences as I power through my bucket list!!

Till next time…

Jessica R

My letter to Blue Notes

I decided for my first blog post I would share the letter I recently sent to Blue Notes.

Here is the story:


I am a frequent shopper at Blue Notes and as a student I enjoy their inexpensive clothes plus their merchandise at the store is usually what I am looking for in clothes (cheap as sh!$ but can be pulled off as trendy..ish)

I noticed that every Blue Notes l went to they did not have mirrors inside their change rooms.

This did not bother me at first, but the more I shopped the more I realized how annoying it really was.

For males and females who do not feel 100% confident about their bodies, trying on and buying clothes  can be an exhausting experience and I do not feel that it is fair that Blue Notes forces these experiences to be shared with other shoppers.

The Letter:

Subject: A genuine customer suggestion

"To whom it may concern,

My name is Jessica R and you could consider me a loyal Blue Notes customer. I love the prices and the merchandise is usually just what I am looking for.

I am a very, 'jeggings' and cardigan type girl and your store is able to feed my cardigan addiction without burning a hole in my wallet.

As an average 21 year old female, I do have days that I do not feel like a Victoria Secret model, but, that is normal.

As a loyal customer, I have a suggestion for you; Please consider putting mirrors in your change rooms.

I work in retail but still cannot figure out your tactic behind the non-mirrored change rooms.

If your reasoning behind having no mirrors in the change rooms is so that when I am outside of the change room looking in the mirror, your staff communicates with me by telling me I look great or offering help by asking me if I need a different size… well.. they don't always do that. 

In fact, out of all the times I have been into Blue Notes, I have rarely ever had a staff member engage with me while I was outside of the change room. (This is not specific to one location, this is all the locations I have been to). 

The last time I was trying on a pair of jeans the only "engagement" I got was exchanging an awkward smile with a dad of a tween sitting outside of the fitting rooms who was waiting for his son/daughter in a fitting room while I was deciding if these jeans made my butt look weird. I felt bad for the both of us.

Also, I have a twin sister who grew up with body issues and she NEVER went into a Blue Notes change room. Now that she is older, fit as hell and has no reason to be shy of her body, she is still a female and she still feels self conscious and refuses to try on clothes when others can see how she looks before she has a chance to look into the mirror.

I went to Blue Notes on Boxing Day (Yes, I did indeed have the courage to go shopping after christmas dinner). 

Obviously I was not feeling my BEST and I was forced to go outside of the BUSIEST CHANGE ROOM EVER and look into the mirror to realize I picked a pair of jeans that were 2 sizes too small and I, as well as every other person around me (This included the full capacity of customers trying stuff on who were also outside of their change rooms looking into the mirrors, AND the line up of people waiting for a room) they ALL saw me in a pair of jeans that were way too small. 

I looked like a stuff sausage. This experience was embarrassing, to say the least.

This epidemic (YES!! it is an epidemic) is even WORSE now that your store is beginning to target its merchandise to 12 year old girls who look like they belong in California.

I mean, if I could rock a crop top and short shorts, I probably would, but I CAN'T. 

What happens when jane doe wants to try on her "Love is my Drug" crop top but only wore a pair of jeans? What if she wants to wear this killer crop with her killer high wasted peplum skirt at home but did not wear it to Blue Notes?

So she has a choice of going outside of the change room, barring her entire stomach to a store full of strangers, or she can get dressed, put on her regular clothes, go out into the store, try and find a high wasted bottom and go back into the change room and try on her crop. Maybe her crop won't fit, maybe the skirt is 2 sizes too small, and everyone in the change rooms and in the store will be able to see her in her pudgy glory.

Long story short, I do not understand why you do not have mirrors in your change rooms. Maybe even put mirrors in half of your change rooms.

This is not just about your staff not engaging with customers who may need a different size in the change room, it is about someones full shopping experience. Putting mirrors in your change rooms might motivate me to spend more time in the change rooms and try more merchandise on. 

It can be like the 90's, instead of asking "smoking or non smoking?" you ask "mirror or no mirror?".

Please continue to rock, Blue Notes. Like I said, I am a loyal customer and 67% of my wardrobe is years of accumulated merchandise from your store. Most of it jeggings or cardigans and maybe more of it would be skirts, crops or any form of see-through blouses if I could have a mirror in the change room.

Please think about it!

Best Wishes & Happy New Year

Jessica R"

I really hope someone actually reads this letter and takes it seriously. I also hope I am not the only person with this opinion. 

An update will be provided if I get into contact with anyone from Blue Notes.

Fingers Crossed.

Jessica R