G.L.A. M.

G.L.A. M. by anessa1105 featuring cameo rings

Until Next Time...

Earth Hour, "Lights Out"

Hey Guys!! I want to first say, "IT'S SPRING BREAK!!!" Woohoo... But (yes there is always a but)... The first one is unfortunately I'm still in St. Louis... womp womp. The even bigger womp is, it snowed this morning... Yes. It is officially Spring, but it snowed this morning. Needless to say it is below freezing right now. Anyhow, I am glad to have this small break. I'll be going home later on in the week, but I have a lot of stuff that I needed to get done, and I know I would have just worried about them at home. So I needed to just stay, suck it up and get all of my extra work done. 

Ok so back to the reason I came to write this post. Currently I am in the dark, typing by candle light. Why? It's not because I didn't pay my light bill, but today is the day that "Earth Hour" is being observed.

So what is Earth Hour? It is a movement that was started in 2007, to observe an hour out of the day (8:30-9:30, your time zone), in which all lights would be turned off. Sounds simple right... Exactly. I think it is is awesome, that people are so concerned about the earth and the fact that we as humans really need to be more sustainable.

Since living on my own, I have become way more conscious about the amount of my personal electricity use. Even as a child, my mom would constantly "remind/nag" us about turning off the light when you leave a room or turning off the TV. After a couple electricity bills that have been extremely high, I have adopted the same principles.

Yesterday when I was driving home, at the "wee" hours of the morning, I was one of the few cars on the road, and I could help but notice how many lights were on.. It was actually quite baffling. I live by several car dealerships and the parking lot was so bright it was outrageous. Many stores and buildings had so many lights on even though they had long closed for the light. The amount of energy that we are using is taxing our environment and just because we dont see the impact directly, does not mean it is not happening.

Gas has now reached the highest that it has ever been since I have started driving. Currently it is ~3.46 a gallon. It hurts every single time I go to the gas station. Ugh...

Below is some more detailed information about Earth Hour and some really cool pictures!!


Earth Hour is held on Saturday March 27 at 8.30pm-9.30pm and succeeds in being a global call to action to stand up, to take responsibility, and lead the global journey to a sustainable future. A record 128 countries and territories take part and iconic buildings and landmarks from Asia Pacific to Europe and Africa to the Americas stand in darkness.


http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/26/earth-hour-2011-photos/

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1. What is Earth Hour?

Earth Hour is a global grass-roots movement encouraging individuals, businesses and governments around the world to take positive actions for the environment, and celebrating their commitment to the planet by switching off their lights for one designated hour.

Earth Hour 2011 aims to show the actions that people, businesses and governments world-wide are taking to reduce their environmental impact. Thereby establishing and encouraging others to join an interconnected global community engaged in dialogue and resource sharing that generates real solutions to environmental challenges.

The highlight of Earth Hour 2011 will see the world’s most iconic landmarks go dark for one designated hour, as hundreds of millions of people transcend race, religion, culture, society, generation and geography, switching off their lights in a global celebration of their commitment to protect the one thing that unites us all – the planet.

Until Next Time...

Header...

Header... by anessa1105 on Polyvore.com

Playing around with ideas for my new header for my blog... Updated version...Version #4

Header...

Header... by anessa1105 on Polyvore.com

Playing around with ideas for my new header for my blog... Updated version...Version #3

Reason To Believe

Reason To Believe by anessa1105 on Polyvore.com

Playing around with ideas for my new header for my blog...

St. Louis Vs. Atlanta

So for all my non- tweeters, I've decided to extend the quick discussion to my blog about my comparisons of St. Louis and Atlanta. Even though I gripe about St. Louis at least once a day, there are some things that I have come to appreciate, not necessarily love, but for the most part, Atlanta is just "different".. So these were my "tongue-in-cheek" comparisons... (sidenote: I can't believe I actually used tongue in cheek because that phrase weirds me out). Anyways, here goes:

 St.Louis: 12 inches of snow. i'm pretty sure I have class in the morning, the snow plows will be out at 4 am.

Atlanta: 2 inches of snow...there is no milk, bread, or water in the grocery store, everything is closed early if it opened at all, and the news is being sensational about the storm ahead.

Lambert Airport: Get there about 20 minutes before your flight takes off, walk straight to gate, and be sure to step over any "tumbleweeds" that may be blowing through...
Harstfield Jackson Airport: "Crap I think I'm going to miss my flight, I've been in this security line for 45 minutes."

St. Louis: Let's go out to Bar X... and continue to go to the same Bar every single weekend.
Atlanta: Let's go out to Club X, the next weekend you have to make sure you don't go to the same club, actually you are going wherever someone cool is hosting, or you can get in before a certain time.

St. Louis: Person 1: "Wow you just bought a new gray Toyota Corolla... that's nice." Person 2: ::Immediately runs out and buys the same EXACT gray Toyota Corolla as his friend::
Atlanta: "Wow you just got a new BMW 335i...that's nice." Person 2: ::Immediately runs out and buys a BMW 745 and a Maybach just to top his friend::

St. Louis: It's "rush hour" traffic in the morning and the cars are driving at 45 mph in the left lane even though there are no cars in front of them or blocking their way... Applies to 170, 70, and 270.
Atlanta: It's "rush hour" traffic in the morning and cars are switching lanes every 5 seconds,thinking they are going to somehow get faster to their destination, but there is gridlock for miles.. Applies to 285,75, and 85.

So yup... Until Next Time...

This is how I Feel..

This is how I feel right now... the semester is getting too REAL. Every week is Crunch time and I'm getting tired of it. Don't mean to whine like a little baby, but whatever. I have to waste $75 more dollars to change my flight to go home later because I have a stupid proficiency on Monday after spring break and I need way more practice. Up until this point I have been thinking about how much better 2nd year is than 1st year, but the other week I felt myself missing being a 1st year. I'm just ready for the semester to be over, but before then I have 2 big proficiencies, one of them being my White Coat Proficiency and then finals... ugh!

So I posted my schedule and we have 2 real major classes... my Ocular disease (7 credits) and Binocular Vision (4 credits), then we have 2, two credit classes and a whole bunch of random 1 credit classes, but both those one credit classes are too much work and it is distracting from the important stuff...

So the things that I like about Optometry are also the stuff that is really killing me right now. It's cool that we get to learn a whole bunch of procedures and techniques and play around with lots of cool instruments. But all of the playing is done and we are expected to know how to do pretty much everything. So it's one thing studying for a test out of the book using notes/powerpoints and what not, but practicing procedures is like crazy. Especially since most of the stuff we are doing now requires having our eyes dilated. So basically you are switching off with your classmates being subjected to dilation and bright lights while your partner gets practice. 

 It is scary that in 2 months I will be seeing patients, like by myself. Yeah the preceptors will be there if you have questions, but for the most part you are expected to do most everything on your own. So in 2 months, I have to do know how to do everything perfectly and be comfortable with it. Basically let me put myself "on line" again... So i'm done complaining for now...

Until Next Time...

Recipe Club and My favorite salad dressings

So I started to tweet about my favorite salad dressings, but I figured I would make a post about it. This is a random tangent about cooking, but I decided to make a "Recipe" group on google for people in my sorority to exchange recipes so far we have a lot of recipes posted by my sorority sisters such as


- Curry Goat
- Plantains
- Shrimp Scampi (which I made, it was so delicious)
- Lemon Tilapia
- Buffalo Chicken Dip
- Dirt Cake
-Chicken parmesan

-Grilled sweet and tangy pork chops

-Twice baked sweet potatoes

-Tilapia with balsamic browned butter

-Cheese burger

I am just really excited. I hope that the recipes keep coming!!

So I wanted to make a quick post about my Favorite salad dressings. It's weird because I have liked salad for a while now. I remember asking my mom for salad as a kid, and I dont know what kid actually likes salad. This is no particular order, because I like them all for different reasons.

#1- Kraft Zesty Italian
I like this salad because it is yummy and it is light. It isnt too heavy, but it is an upgraded version of any dressing. The real reason that I like this dressing is that you can also use it as a marinade. So I usually get some chicken breast and season it and let it marinate for about 15-30 minutes and it will add so much flavor to any chicken recipe that you are making.

#2- Caesar Vinagrette with Parmesan dressing
This salad dressing is just a classic. I dont think it is the healthiest but it is definitely a treat. Caesar salad dressings can get kind of mundane, but with the extra Parmesan there is an extra "zing"

#3- Balsamic Vinagrette
So Im starting to realize I don't have the best reasons for liking these dressings, besides them tasting good. I think the "zing" that balsamic vinagrette gives makes any boring salad even better.






So try them out, and let me know if they improve your overall salad experience. In addition, you can get all these dressings "fat-free" or reduced fat. But you guys know I dont like all of that stuff... lol. Give me the regular stuff and I'll just use moderation. Yup!Oh and I dont mean to be a spokesperson for "kraft" but all of their dressings usually have a consistent taste, which I appreciate and enjoy.

Until Next Time...

A random rant, a little bit of everything...

So it is nice to know that people actually read my blog. During my hiatus for about a month, I've gotten a few comments inquiring about new posts. So that made me feel pretty good. lol.

Last month was interesting... 2nd year, 2nd semester has been tricky. We have periods where there aren't that many tests and then this past week has been beyond crazy. Several different tests in a relatively short time period. I have been doing well on most of them, so that makes me happy.

So I decided to come write a post because I had a really long rant on twitter on African Americans and certain diseases such as heart disease, hypertension, stroke, diabetes, etc...

Basically I am tired of sitting in class and hearing my professor tell us about how most disease black people are more at risk. I could get technical and find all of the data/figures/statistics, but I really dont feel like it right now.

So my original twitter rant, which I might copy paste after this post in case you want it in real time (with grammatical errors and all), stemmed from the fact that I decided to flat iron my hair. So as most of you know my hair has been natural for almost 3 years. In that 3 years I have rarely straightened my hair. I think that is for several reasons. The first reason is I took a swim class both semesters my senior year, while I was at Emory. And straightening your hair is kind of counter productive when you are in the pool at least 3 times a week.

That kind of just carried over to me being here in Missouri. In addition, I love the versatility and creativity that natural hair provides me. Do I think I am making some type of "statement" by having my hair natural, not necessarily. I do think it is more exciting and a break from the mundaness of it all.

Ok whew I just got off on another tangent. So my "flat iron" iron hair rant started mostly because I noticed that this past week, I have only worked out twice. The day after I straightened my hair I wanted to work out, but I decided not to so I dont mess my hair up (::problem::). And the two days I did workout it was a "mini-workout"... So I didnt think about it much until today.

I was sitting in class (not tweeting) and I remembered an article that I read a couple months ago about black women and their health. The author linked her lack of consistent exercise to her inability to workout often and how ridiculous that was...while reading the article (with my head full of kinky curls) all I could do was shake my head. But now I have found myself suffering from a similar predicament.

With all of the stress, I decided that I was going to do an intense workout once I get home so I can release some tension/stress, which was going to help me focus more for my test tomorrow.

Ok so I completely forgot where I was going with this... my blogging got interrupted by an "interesting" phone call.

Until Next Time...