UPDATED: Manic Madness Management

Hello fellow interweb friends!

With the school year finally starting and what not, I know we're getting tempted to put things off, especially school-related things, so we can try to hang on to whatever is left of summer. Unfortunately, that's a really bad idea, unless you have an organized way to procrastinate. As weird as that sounds, being organized is actually helpful when you want to procrastinate. How does that make sense, I have no idea, but here's a little video that can go more into detail about it!

Hope you guys enjoy! What are some of your organizational tips?!?! Please leave it as a comment down below and follow & subscribe for more!

Until next time,

Uyen

Foodie Tues-dee On a Wednesday?!?! Sure!

Hello fellow interweb friends!

Now, I know I haven't posted one of these in a long time, but that's just because I haven't gone out to eat that much and if I did, it wasn't great enough for me to share. But then again, maybe I should share things I don't like as well...I don't know! Thoughts, comments, leave them down below and help a girl out, please and thank you!

Anyways, for this one, I wanted to share with you my thoughts on Starbucks' Bistro Boxes/Sandwiches/Salads. Now, I know the prices for these things are ridiculous, but when you're an avid Starbucks-goer like myself, then most of the time, they wouldn't cost a thing because you'd just use your free item to redeem it. Anyways, I love their chicken caesar salad as well as the roasted tomato and mozzarella panini. Both of these have one thing in common that just makes them extremely delicious and that is: roasted tomatoes!!! Good lord, I love me some roasted tomatoes because they just smell amazing and tastes delicious!

Now, does that not look delicious or what?!?!? So this is the panini and I just had it last night before my horrible 3 hour long night class. The sandwich was toasted to perfection because it had just the right amount of crispiness to it and everything blended so well together in the sandwich. The taste, texture, and coloration of it just makes me so happy and pleased, so much that I had to share it with you guys!

Gosh, looking at the picture now and see this all over again makes me want to go out and get one right now. If any of you guys are hungry from this, please do go try it out! The best part is all this gloryness and deliciousness is only like 380 calories! Ya, that is not bad at all, especially since you are more than likely to burn more calories than that in a day just by doing everyday activities like breathing and laughing. 

Until next time,

Uyen

Foodie Tues-dee #2

Hello fellow interweb friends!

So today is Tuesday, which means it is also Foodie Tues-dee, which also means I get to tell you about some of my favorite foods!!! Lately I've been trying really hard to stay healthy, but my body will definitely get some cravings, and as we all know, it is better to satisfy a craving than to completely ignore it and then end up over-indulging, which is worse. My latest craving is just general pub food, but not any kind of pub foods! I have been craving foods specifically from the Anthill Pub & Grille, which is a nice, quaint, little pub on campus at the University of California, Irvine, which is also the school I am currently going to. The Pub not only has amazing foods but also a good beer selection and an amazing ambiance! Its nice and small, very well conditioned, so it's the perfect place to go hide out and pig out on a hot day in between classes!

One of the most infamous food you can order when you're at the Pub is the stoner fries! These things are flippin delicious, worth all the bang for your buck, but just ever so slightly not nutritious. The fries are seasoned very similarly to cajun fries and its topped with guacamole, salsa, sour cream, cheese, and a little bit of meat. It is just heaven in your mouth, definitely worth the heart attack if you eat these too much, so I don't suggest you to eat it everyday since it's probably better to live longer so you can enjoy more stoner fries! These are perfect with a beer and some good company. I usually try my hardest to minimize eating these stoner fries so sometimes I would cheat and just order regular fries. For some reason, the Pub just makes some gosh darn super good fries that I cannot walk away from! I remember, one quarter, my friend and I were pretty much at the Pub and we literally ordered every kind of fried potatoes served at the Pub; that is pretty much an order of stoner fries, regular fries, tater totes, and all in all, a walking heart attack. Now though, since I'm a tad bit more health-conscious, I decided to limit my Pub's fried potatoes consumption to pretty much none at all, but still, sometimes,  a girl's just got to indulge, especially around midterms and finals where I become overly stressed and food is my way to relax!

Now, besides all the fries and stoner fries, the Pub also has amazing sandwiches! My all time favorite is the pesto chicken with fries instead of chips. You will soon know that I love, like LOVE, chicken and I also love pesto, so putting the two together is just like heaven for me! On top of that, the side of fries and a slice of pickle just made this the bestest lunch I've had in a while! The reason why I kind of gave in and went to the Pub is because, literally, I had a dream that all my classes were at the Pub. I took that as a sign of me not going to the Pub for way too long, so while I waited for my friend to come on campus to study, I rewarded myself with this delicious little meal since I've not had it in way too long! So, usually, I'd pair this with a beer or soda, but since I am trying to be a little healthier, small steps, I decided to get a bottle of Pellegrino instead. It was just perfectly amazing and I cannot describe how happy I felt after that lunch! It was so delicious, great, wonderful, flavorful that I do not mind the fact that I just consumed a potential heart attack whatsoever!

So that's all for now,

Until next time,

With love,

Uyen

Managing Manic Madness

Hello fellow interweb friends!

Well, this week is pretty much hell week for me. I've got tests hitting me left, right, and center this week. To start the week off, I had 2 tests, both were back to back, so I was already freaking out over the weekend and the day of. Then, later this week, I will have 2 more tests on the same day again. As you all may know from experience, when you have tests after tests, multiple ones on the same day, it is super duper stressful and manic and mad! So how do we survive weeks like this?!?!? What should we do?!?! Well, after four years of college, I still do not have a solution for this! If anything, my anxiety/response to these days have only gotten worse even though I've found a good coping mechanism to plan out my week so I can be a little less overwhelmed. 

So here are some of my personal tips that I think has helped me manage my mad weeks. I try my best to stick to these, but as we all know, as college students, procrastination is always the best way to deal with these kinds of hard weeks! 

Tip 1: ATTEMPT TO NOT PROCRASTINATE (Key word: attempt)!

• As crazy as that sounds, we all know it is not a good idea to procrastinate, yet we do not do it! The minute we started high school, we started to have more classes, and have multiple assignments due at one time, therefore, we start to "plan" out when we do our stuff to turn it in. At the end of the day, we always end up procrastinating, leaving things to the very last minute, where we would stress and be extremely anxious. As we go into college, since we become busier with school, work, and other wonderful things we take up as a way to relieve ourselves from school, our procrastination skills go to a whole new level! Not only do we leaving doing papers to the last minute, we leave studying to the last minute! Never have I ever seen a college student who truly, completely, fully read all their reading materials before a class unless it was on the day of a test or a quiz. I am my own culprit of the procrastination crime, except I'd like to think that I've mastered my procrastination skills, but still, it does not help me what so ever! However, it is still ok if you do procrastinate like me because my next tip makes it a little less tempting to procrastinate because the next tip will sort of entertain you and make studying feel a little easier on the eyes, literally.

Tip 2: USE COLORFUL PENS AND MARKERS!

• Just like the tip says, use loads and loads of colorful pens and markers! Now, if I have any male readers, you may say this is a girly thing to do, but it really isn't! The only part of this that would make it girly is the use of what you guys think are girly colors like pinks and purples. If that is the cases, well then I guess you guys better load up on pens and markers in various shades of blues, greens, reds, oranges, and what not! From my own personal experience, using colorful markers make studying a little less dull and it is a great way of organizing your notes and thoughts while studying. Whenever I have long articles to read and formulas to remember, I love using colorful pens and markers just because I can divide everything up into certain categories. Sometimes, when I am a little lazy, I may just assign specific class to a specific color and use the designated color(s) to take notes in. Because you take notes in different colors, your eyes will be more alert, making you automatically pay more attention to your notes compared to those who take black-inked notes on a white piece of paper. Colors really help bring life to your notes/readings while you're studying, which really helps you stay entertained and that is very important since a lot of us get bored of our studying materials and just set it aside and not really look back until we have to for a test.

Tip 3: USE A PLANNER AND COMBINE IT WITH TIP 2!

• I am quite the planner freak. I have one of those big At-A-Glance calendars on my wall in my room. I also carry around a book planner as well as a weekly paper-pad that is color-coded according to the days of the week. All three of these planners/organizers are very well used and there is not one bit of free space left on the pages. To me, planners really help me visualize what I need to do and if the events are all color-coordinated, I feel an urge to constantly look back at it cause I think it's all just so beautiful and wonderful - this here is the main reason why my blog is called "Colors Galore" because I just cannot get enough of colorful things! Just the fact that I constantly check back at my planner because it looks so gosh darn pretty makes it that much more easy for me to stay with my schedule and get shizz done!

Alrighty guys, well that was all of my tips for you just to help you guys manage your stress as well as keep your life events organized in a pretty, colorful way! We all want to get our lives organized and make sure we get things done in a timely manner, so why not do it in a fun way?!?! I know for me, I have so much fun going through my planner and calendars to put everything in and sort all the dates out, from social events, to work, to school, pretty much my whole life! Sometimes when we only use black or blue pens in a planner that already has blank ink printing on it just makes everything look so boring and gloomy, but the minute you add a little color in it, it's like your calendars/planners come to life and have a little more spunk to it, making you want to "interact" with it more, which totally helps you to stay on track and not procrastinate! 

Best of luck with all your planning,

Until next time,

With love,

Uyen   

Happy National Elizabeth Baker Day!

Hello fellow interweb friends!

DISCLAIMER!!!: This is a longer blog because I want to dedicate it to my best friend and sister, Elizabeth Baker for her birthday. She is one of the most important people in my life and I thought I'd let you guys enjoy the amazing friendship/relationship that we've built together as we grow together. This is not the bestest story you can ever read since there's not much "character development" or "storyline," but to me, our story is still developing and so are we, so this will be a story that never ends!

I would like to tell you a little story about my very special whose birthday is today!

Once upon a time, more like 8 years ago, there were two little awkward high school freshmen girls named Winnie-Win and Lizzle. They had most of their classes together and they managed to be one of the few that took English at 7 in the morning (instead of 8 like other school children). This English class was supposedly taught by a very strict and harsh English teacher, however, as the girls looked back,they thought she was actually very nice and isn't bad at all! So anyways, freshmen year progresses, they were assigned a project to do together, and that was the first time they actually got to talk to each other and become friends!

As high school goes on, they got closer and closer, pretty much inseparable. Winnie-Win and Lizzle got through all the late nights and stressful early mornings (since they never learned their lesson freshmen year and continued to take zero period classes all four years of high school). They even managed to get through multiple sessions of summer school as well as a whole summer volunteering at the Discovery Science Center. It was during the summer they volunteered that Winnie-Win and Lizzle realized how close of friends they have become, all thanks to a little boy named Kyle telling them that they are like systems, despite the fact that the two girls are completely different in looks! Anyways, to Winnie-Win, Lizzle is the first and only best friend that she's had since her childhood friend had moved out of state after graduating from the sixth grade. To hear that their friendship is more like a sisterly relationship, Winnie-Win was pretty stoked!

Senior year comes, high school is about to end and Lizzle and Winnie-Win will soon be separated because they must grow up and go to college. Though the thought of going to different schools completely saddens them, they enjoyed every bit of summer they had together. The best parts of their summer were when the two girls acted super rebellious and decided to go use different hotels' swimming pools for fun! They lounged around, while Winnie-Win was getting tanned, Lizzle was burning up like a lobster, but still, with a few reminders to put on some more sunscreen and use ones with higher SPF, the girls managed to last for hours at these sun-stricken pools!

Summer comes to an end, girls go off to their separate colleges, but whenever they meet up,it is as if they were still in high school and no time has passed at all. They enjoyed their quaint but exciting food adventures and of course more days at the pools while they burn together!

Four years have passed, and Lizzle is about to graduate from college. Winnie-Win cannot be proud and excited enough for Lizzle. Today, April 19, is Lizzle's birthday! Sadly, Winnie-Win cannot be there to celebrate the actual day of her best friend's/sister's/(every other thing that is amazing and great) birthday, but for sure, the girls will be making up for it the next time they meet up!

So pretty much, that brings us to present day-real life! After 8 years, those two freshmen girls are still pretty darn awkward but super proud of it! But hey, my philosophy is great friendship are built on the two being able to be super weird and awkward around each other.

Back to the more important part of this, I am so excited to be able to tell this amazing story about how I met one of the most important people of my life. Lizzle, or as I'd like to sometimes call her, Elizabeth Donna Baker, I wish y have the most amazing day/year with only better and brighter days and years to come. I feel like we're an old couple who is going to grow old and grey together as we watch each others' teeth fall out! But it is ok because as you know,I will always have toothbrushes in my bags so we can protect our teeth and hopefully keep them in for a little longer! I love you my Lizzle and I cannot wait to celebrate with you!

Until next time,

With love,

Uyen 

(story to be continued...with all the celebratory events!)