Work Hard, Stay Humble

This isn't my normal blog post, but I wanted to talk about something for a second.

Something that I know can be a problem, and something that I have struggled with as well. And I wanted to get this out there.

The line of work that I'm going into is full of egos. Big egos. Huge egos. And that's just a fact of life. But I want to say something about the poster above.

In my opinion, the best people to work with, the ones I would love to hire onto my crew or the ones I suggest when someone needs help, are the ones that do just what the poster says.

They work hard, and they stay humble.

First part of the rant: working hard.

Now, we all know that hard work will get you places. I don't care how much raw talent you have, if you aren't working your butt off, you will get nowhere. That is a solid fact of life.

Simply put, you can have whatever you are willing to struggle for.

How bad do you want it? How determined are you to better your skills and get yourself in the right place and be ready at the right time?

And yes, I said get yourself. You have to do the work. No one is going to come by your garage the first day you pick up you guitar and offer you a contract. It doesn't work like that. You make your luck.

Here's a story to help illustrate my point:

I know a woman who literally got handed a job directing a motion picture. She got the money and the gig and it turned out to be an awesome film that went to theaters and everything. And I heard this story and thought, "Dang! How does that even happen?"

Now, I agree that there is a bit of luck that factors into things. But those people who were "in the right place at the right time" all have something in common: they worked.

Mrs. Smith probably got the job because somebody told someone that she was a good worker. And if she did happen to just be blindly handed the job, she kept it because after she got it, she worked.

In her case, it happened to be both. She  did the work before hand that was needed to get her in the position to be an option to get the job, and then when she had it (and even after the fact) she worked extremely hard at it. She doesn't rest back on the fact that she has made a few motion pictures now.

She works.

We all need to work.

That's it. I don't care who you are, you have to work. Michael Jordan did it, Christopher Nolan does it, and everyone who's made a name for themselves has too.

You are not above them. You need to work.

Ok and now for the slightly nicer bit of my rant: staying humble.

Being humble means that no matter how good you become at whatever it is you do, you don't become a jerk about it. You probably deserve what you've gotten and you've worked to become freaking great at what you do.

Good. I'm glad. Seriously, that's awesome.

But don't be a douche.

I saw a quote once (and sadly I can't find who it belongs to) that says:

"Be confident, but have humility. Anyone deserves it, it's not a big deal. Go for it. Just don't, y'know, don't be an asshole."

(sorry mom, it was part of the quote)

That being said, I want to mention something that I think is a main problem with people's thinking.

Humility does not mean putting yourself down.

If someone asks you if you're good at something, tell them you are. When you get a compliment, thank them and accept it.

You don't have to belittle yourself because you don't want to come off as cocky. Admitting you're good at something if you are is not cocky, it's confident. Confidence is good.

You are cocky when you start comparing yourself to others. Telling someone you're better then all those other people, yeah that's the jerk part.

This post is getting longer than I was thinking it would be, and I don't want to keep you here too much longer. So I'll just end with one last thought.

This world is full of a lot of complaining people and a lot of people worth complaining about. Let's not add your name to those lists. Be above that.

I honestly believe that one of the best ways to succeed in this life, and succeed in being a person, is to follow the simple rules on that poster.

Work hard, stay humble.

Avocado Chicken Wrap

Being in college means I eat a LOT of peanut butter sandwiches. Which, if you knew my addiction, it completely fine with me! And it means I've gotten creative with ways to switch it up.

But! On rare occasions, I do switch up my routine.

Like, say, I don't know, when avocados are on sale and I have a few tortillas left over (:

So I decided to get fancy. Well, college fancy. And thus this was born.

Super simple, super quick, and super good. AND healthy.

Boom.

I made this three times this week. And weirdly enough I used three different dressings! Cilantro Ranch, Creamy Italian, and regular Italian. They all tasted great (:

Working at Taco Bell has taught me a lot of life skills (...), like how to roll a burrito/wrap without it falling apart.

Avocado Chicken Wrap

Ingredients:

• 1 whole wheat tortilla
• 1/4-1/2 avocado
• chicken slices (I like to cook up a full chicken and slice it up for all week)
• handful of lettuce
• 1-2 Tbsp dressing (I recommend Italian dressing, but and work just fine)
• Optional: other veggies (tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, etc)

Directions:

1. Cut your avocado into slices, then place it in your wrap.
2. Top your avocado with the chicken slices. Then add the lettuce and any other veggies to the pile.
3. Drizzle the dressing of your choice over it all and wrap it up.
4. Wrap the wrap and you're good to go!

Let me know how you switch yours up! Enjoy!

Oreo Cookie Butter!

Yep. You read that right.

So yesterday was my roommate's birthday. And Steph LOVES Oreos. Loves them.

And thus Oreo Cookie Butter was born!

No, this is not healthy. But, it is for a birthday, so indulge the birthday kid!

This is a great gift for Oreo lovers in your life. It's cute and fun. And I'm pretty sure you could do this with most cookies, if you happen to have, say, a snicker doodle lover in your life. The best kind of people (:

It's super easy and pretty quick. The secret to this butter: keep blending. You need to blend much longer than you think you're going to. This works best in a food processor, but if you don't happen to have one (like, perhaps because you're a poor college student) any blender works fine. It will just take a little more work. The stronger the blender, the better.

I was excited, because it gave me a chance to use my bigger Ninja blender! Yeah!

(have I mentioned I love my Ninja blender? Cause I do. A lot.) Anyway...

Herewego:

Ingredients:

• 1 packages Oreos (about 30-36 cookies, depending on what stuff level you get)
• 1/4 cup oil (vegetable, olive, coconut, etc)

Directions:

1. Crush your Oreos in a bowl (you don't have to do this, but it will speed up the blending process)
2. Place them in a food processor/blender with your oil, and blend. Blend some more. Blend longer. You're probably going to have to stop a few times and scrape down the sides. 
3. Keep blending until it's slightly runnier than you want it to be. As it cools down, it will harden up a bit (a little more if you use coconut oil). It makes a little less then a full Mason jar full.

And what can you put this on, you ask. 

EVERYTHING!

Seriously, imagine it's like peanut butter. Out it on bread, graham crackers, ice cream, swirled into yogurt, etc.

Yum (: enjoy!

Eat Your Veggies

This is a common command. Seriously, it's in just about every kid's movie or TV show, so it's gotta be common, right?

Well, one of my mom's and my resolutions for the year is to eat more vegetables.

And that's deceivingly hard.

Now fruit, I could eat that all day! I love fruit like nobody's business. But veggies.... eh....

So I came up with a little chart, (mainly for my mom and me, seeing as it's our challenge) but I figured it could help anyone else out there that's trying to add more vitamins and health to their life.

Mine's printed out in my recipe book, so when I go to plan meals I remind myself to add them in. AND! I split it up into sections to show you some of the easiest ways to get yo' greens.

(Does saying that in slang make it cooler? Yeah, probably not.)

How to add VEGGIES to your diet

Just the Basics:

1.    Serve vegetables at every dinner.  No, I’m serious.  I know it sounds hard, but that’s what you’re reading this for, isn’t it?  Try some good carrot sticks or cucumber slices.  They’re healthy and satisfying.  Make it a practice: a plate of veggies on the table. No matter what.

2.    Grill your veggies.  Peppers, zucchini, asparagus, eggplant, even tomatoes!  Coat them with olive oil and throw them on. Turn every few minutes and remove when they start to soften. Or skewer chunks and turn frequently.

3.    Roast them.  An easy side dish that will last as long as any other left over.  Make up a big batch and throw it in with your meals all week!

4.    Eat them like fruit.  Half a cucumber, celery, a fresh carrot; they all work like apples.

In Soups, Salads, and Casseroles:

1.    Shredded carrots and cabbage add color, flavor, and lots of vitamins.

2.    Open a can of soup and add a bag of precut broccoli and carrots (fresh or frozen) and Bam!  Fast and easy meal!  As the soup simmers, it cooks the veggies with it.

Sandwiches and Entrees:

1.    Build a sandwich with more veggies than meat.  Try this rule: the meat should be stacked no higher than the thickness of a standard piece of bread.  Then, pile on the slices of lettuce, tomato, etc.

2.    Load up your pizza.  Do your body a favor and add on the multitude of veggies your pizza joint offers.

3.    Add some more veggies to that pasta sauce.  Seriously, most every kind will go good in there.

Other Tips and Tricks:

1.    Use salsa liberally.  Add chopped up yellow squash and zucchini to store-bought salsa.  Then, put it on everything!

2.    Try a veggie meal.  Once a week make a meal vegetarian.  You’ll be surprised how easy this can be.

3.    Move your veggies to the top shelf.  I’m a big believer in “out sight, out of mind.”  If they’re bagged properly, they will last just as long on that shelf as in the crisper.

4.    Try this golden rule: half your dinner plate should be vegetables.

     Hope this inspires you! Let me know if you have any more tips!

Disney Party

Yesterday was my Joy's Birthday!

So, in honor of our roommate's special day, we threw her a surprise party, themed with one of her favorite things, of course:

Disney!

It started with some waiting for her to arrive. This is when Michael found the glow sticks.

But after some "hiding" (Our apartment is only so big, I wouldn't say we were hiding, more like, all shuffled to one side with the lights out) Joy, her mom, and her sister popped through the door!

Then the games got started. This is where I came in. Seeing as Joy loves Disney, and Tangled and Frozen are two of her favorites right now, here's what we planned:

To start, we played "Pin the Nose on the Olaf".

Then, we hit our Flynn Rider piñata. With frying pans, of course.

I think we broke his smolder.

Afterwards we all dug into some cake (this one was Doctor Who themed, another of Joy's joys).

The party went on into the wee hours of the morning. All in all, I'd say it was a success.

What do you think?

Picnic at the Park

Happy New Year!

I hope you've all had a wonderful holiday season. Our Christmas was great. I love this time of year. It's a time for friends and family to get together and celebrate and share gifts and sing songs.

And have picnics.

There was no red-and-white checkered blanket, so I don't know if I can call it a "proper picnic", but it was pretty awesome either way.

Mom, Nick, Nicola and I were joined by our cousin Crystal and her two kids, Cameron and Blake.

Adorable family, aren't we?

We brought all the fixings for sandwiches, as well as chips, apple slices, and juice boxes! It was a feast to remember.

Hali joined us too. She even went off the leash a few times! Coming to the park is always a big deal for her, because she doesn't much exposure to grass, so she really enjoys it when she can roll around with a happy grin.

She did a great job of running the whole time we were there, but she passed out when we got home. Even now, she's asleep on my feet. She's a wuss sometimes, but at least she's got her looks, right?

After we finished our meal we ran off to play some soccer.

The only proper way to end any adventure, I'd say.

I'd suggest getting out and having a picnic of your own! It's good fun (though some of you might need to wait for better weather...)

Keep smiling (: