Vickerdoodle

thoughts, opinions, and random arts & crafts

Month: March 2016


Fitness & Health: Easy come, easy go

March 30, 2016 · 3 Comments

I went through a rough patch last September. A lot of different life factors hit all at once, and I had a really hard time handling them. So, at the time, I decided to focus on the one thing it felt like I could change and control: my health and my weight.

I’ve always felt self-conscious about my weight. I’m not overweight, but I’m not in shape either. I’d never paid attention to my diet, and I had a pretty rough time walking up a flight or two of stairs, not even gonna lie. But it was always one of those things that was “affordable,” so to speak. I wasn’t happy with my body or my weight, but I always found some way to put off getting in shape. I could afford to go another week without going to the gym, or afford to eat another slice of pizza…

I got serious about it last September, partially because I got to a point where I just had enough of the way I looked, and also partially because it was something to distract me from everything else that was happening in life. If I was focused on losing weight and eating better, I wasn’t thinking about how much all the other stuff sucked.

I was pretty successful. But I’ve learned recently that it’s one thing to lose the weight, it’s a whole other thing to maintain it.

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Review: Keurig K15

March 11, 2016 · 1 Comment

I recently received a Keurig K15 Coffee Maker along with a cup carousel, reusable K-Cup and Green Mountain coffee (in Breakfast Blend and Caramel Vanilla Cream) as well as a box of Celestial Tea cups (in English Breakfast) from Influenster to test out!

Ironically, over the past two months, I’ve actually been trying to wean myself off of coffee and onto drinking tea only. My morning routine consists usually of cereal and brewing a cup of Earl Grey tea with cream and sugar. But who am I to say no to a shiny Keurig machine? I’ve always wanted a Keurig, ever since working at Starbucks when they rolled out their Verismo machines. (Getting instant lattes is really cool and all, but those machines were so hard to figure out…)

I’m told that non-coffee options do exist for K-Cups, like the breakfast tea blend that was included in my VoxBox, and also things like apple cider and hot chocolate. Now, I’m incredibly excited about the possibility of instant apple cider at my fingertips, but as far as brewing tea with a K-Cup… I’m questioning the quality. Tea has a pretty strict brewing process (amount of time, temperature, how much tea, how much water… those are all important factors) and I’m skeptical that a machine that’s intended for instant production could produce quality tea. But… we’ll see!

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5 Things I’m Grateful For

March 8, 2016 · 2 Comments

A project was suggested for me recently: over the course of however long it takes, list 1000 things that you’re grateful for. A the time it was suggested, I was almost asleep, and I’ve gone back and thought about it quite a few times, but have never really taken the time to sit down and really think about it. (If you know what I mean.)

Isn’t that how things work in life? We have a list of things we want to accomplish, start, or look into, and every day, we glance over at the list and think, “not today, but maybe tomorrow.”

So here are 5 things I’m grateful for. A start.

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Excuse the dust. (Or lack thereof?)

March 1, 2016 · 4 Comments

Welcome to my blog! If this was not the destination you meant to land on, let me explain.

I’m Vicky, and I’ve gone by Sakuya and Mei on the interwebs. (Some still call me that, actually!) I ran a freeware graphics site (frozen-rain.net) and a personal collective (tijira.net) for years. However, with life, school, then work, they became horribly neglected. I still like web design, but I simply don’t have the time to put into it anymore. I probably should have let go of both domains years ago, but they were just so much a part of me (I believe I’ve had tijira.net for over 10 years now…!) that I just didn’t have the heart to let them go.

So, here you are now. There will likely not be any freeware graphics here, sad to say. Instead, I’m going to use this space to talk about life things, hobbies, interests, and other odds and ends. This is the first time I’ve had a personal blog, and I’m still not quite sure the exact direction I want to take this just yet. But here are some things I do know:

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