Why I Won't Be Marrying My "Best Friend"

We've all heard it before. Some of you have probably even said it. Some of you probably believe it. "I'm marrying my best friend!" I see it on Facebook, hear it on TV shows, everywhere. I'm happy for you all. I truly am. However, I will never utter those words and here's why.

My best friend and I went through college together, we've grown up together, and have supported each other through tough times in our lives. I've seen her through dating her first few boyfriends and moving to Seattle with her current boyfriend. She's seen me date a handful of losers and has been there when I've called her crying at 1 a.m. in the mornings. I understand that I haven't found "the one" yet, but he will never replace her. 

Subscription Boxes Faves and Fails

Who out there has never tried a subscription box? I'll wait....oh right, pretty much no one. They're so prevalent now. I swear there's always a new one that I hear about each week. I've definitely tried a few of them and there have been some great ones, and some not so good ones.

Here's what I thought of the ones I've tried.

Faves

Barkbox

I love Barkbox, it's awesome. I actually don't subscribe to this anymore because I get a lot of my treats from Chewy, but they were a great subscription. I signed up when I first adopted Starla and had no toys or treats for her. They always sent cute, durable toys and healthy snacks for Starla to try. She fell in love with banana chips her first box. You can customize your box based on the size of your dog. The price depends on how many months you sign up for. It's $21/month for six months. 

Stitchfix

It's an addiction. I've had three fixes so far and need to go back for another one because I still have $25 in credit. It costs you $20 for a styling fee and then you get sent five pieces of clothing (or 4 pieces and one piece of jewelry). You can keep everything and get a discount, or you can pay per piece. For most of my fixes, I end up keeping about half of the box. They're really good at listening to your concerns about sizing, styles, etc. So just make sure to be very descriptive when you sign up and I'm sure you'll get some good fixes too. 

Humpday Confessions | One Year Blogiversary

I almost let this day fly by unannounced. It's been officially one year since I started this blog, Alanna & Company. There have been many changes and switches and I'm really glad to see how my writing and posts have improved.

Thank you for sticking with me, reading my blog, and commenting! Anyways, I will start off with sharing some of my posts that you may have missed that I really enjoy.

Why Chick Flicks Are The Best

Wine Tricks That Make You Seem like an Expert

Why I Switched from Wordpress.com to Blogger

Girly Things I'm No Good With

Why I'm a Bad Blogger
(a lot of these aren't true anymore which makes it even funnier!)

So sorry, no confessions from me today, however it's still open for you to link-up! Happy Thanksgiving everyone :)

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Now onto the link-up!

Here are the ground rules for the link-up:

• Each Wednesday create a post about what’s going on in your life and confess!
• Grab the button and include it in your post or include a text link back to the link-up. 
• Link up so we can see what you're confessing this week.
• Comment on at least one other blogger’s post from the link up.
• Feel free to share on social media with the hashtag #HumpdayConfessions and I'll retweet.
• Enjoy!

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Say hello to this month's sponsor:

Keeping Motivated to Exercise

I've mentioned a couple times how I want to lose weight and my activity goals. Cue eye roll. I've been so bad, and going into this holiday season, I'm kind of concerned for myself. I even signed up for a "Maintain, Don't Gain" challenge at work, so hopefully that $50 spa gift card incentive will help me through the holidays. 

I'm actually great at maintaining my weight. Between dog walks and fitness classes, I keep myself pretty active. However, my motivation has been at an all time low this fall/winter time. My commute is longer and a bit more draining, I don't have telework days anymore, and I'm studying every night for the stupid GRE. I try to keep up exercising at least three times a week, but sometimes it's tough to maintain.

Here are the ways I keep motivated to go to the gym and exercise. 

Prep my accessories and clothes ahead of time

We have workout classes offered during work on Tuesdays and Thursdays. When I bring my clothes into the office, I can't ignore going to the workout class. Even when I'm at home and want to work out immediately after walking Starla, I change into my workout clothes before walking her. That way when I get home, I feel silly (and guilty) if I change out of my workout clothes into my yoga pants and t-shirt.

New Blog Layout!

Phew! I think everything is now up and running. I started transitioning yesterday and finished up today. Yeah, I'm impulsive and wild about designs. Regardless, I'm super excited about the new layout change. Georgia Lou studios has some really good templates and great customer service, even though I didn't need any help installing this time!

Just a couple updates. There is a featured posts slider. I'm going to be updating it with new posts that have larger images so that picture isn't awkward and blown out of proportion. But in the meantime, I apologize if the featured images look a bit wonky. They're not the right size, but I'm not going to go back and change all my photos. I'll still keep a "pinnable" vertical image in each post but I've moved it down to the bottom of the page, so you can look for the most "pinterest-optimized" image at the bottom of each post now.

Lastly, please shoot me an email or comment on this post if you notice anything broken or not viewing properly in your browser. I've checked it out in Firefox and Chrome, but if you're a mac user and it looks weird on safari, let me know!

On another note, thank you to everyone who has been linking up with Sarah and I for humpday confessions. It was our second week together and we had 18 people link-up! How awesome is that? I'm super thankful to all of you and I really mean each single one of you who takes the time to participate, comment on my posts, and visit my blog. If you are a silent reader who doesn't comment, take some time to introduce yourself. I really try to reach out to everyone as much as I possibly can.


Say hello to this month's sponsor:

Perfect Gifts for the Dog Lover

Man's best friend is truly the most accurate description when it comes to dogs. I have had Starla a little over a year now and she has completely changed my life for the better. She keeps me happy, entertained, and she keeps me healthy.

As a complete pet lover, I get super excited when Starla gets gifts. All pet owners love getting gifts for their pets just as much as they like getting gifts themselves. So here's some ideas of gifts to get for the dog lover/owner in your life for the holidays. 

Framed Pictures

I can never have enough pictures of Starla. I have them in my office, in my room, throughout my apartment.

Humpday Confessions | Let's take a step back

Phew it's been a tough week since last Wednesday. Let's get right to the confessions.

I confess that

I didn't even hear about the Paris situation until about 5 p.m. on Friday. I almost had to pull over my car so that I could listen on the radio to what was happening. Super shocking and appalling. I can't believe that I didn't even hear about Beirut the day before. I usually try to keep apprised of news daily but I've been out of the loop lately.

I'd be lying to say if I wasn't afraid for DC, too. I know that ISIS is pretty notorious of threats and unsubstantiated claims but after this Friday and now seeing a threat to hit the nation's capital does have me a bit worried. In addition, having a shooter situation this Monday that caused me to work from home has me a bit flustered.

I'm also really frustrated with everyone being offended about this and that on social media. I feel like everyone is offended by something nowadays and we all just need to take a step back and relax. The whole #RedCup situation, completely stupid. Since when has Starbucks had "Christmas" themed cups? Never. They had snowmen and snowflakes. To those offended Christians, sorry but I didn't realize you laid claim to that. Secondly, that people are mad that Paris is "getting all the attention" and that Mizzou isn't. WHAT?! Both issues are important. Let's all just agree to be humans here and take a step back before getting all up-in-arms.

on a happier note, I can't wait for Thanksgiving and I'm so excited that it's next week. This year we're staying at my parent's house and my aunt and uncle are coming up to visit. Which is good because I only get off Thursday and Friday this year. Still no time off since I'm still on my first ninety-days of my new job. What are your plans for Thanksgiving?

I'm struggling with my creativity recently. I'm not sure if my creativity is draining because I'm brain dead from studying for the GRE and prepping grad school applications or it's just that foggy time of the year when I'm preoccupied by other things. Send me some creativity.

I just got my first box of Hello Fresh (Thanks, Cat!) and can't wait to start cooking it up. I've heard some issues about delivery but it actually came right on time for me. Right at 8 p.m. and luckily my front desk called me to pick it up because it's perishable, obviously. Finally good customer service at my apartment! If you want to see me struggle to cook Hello Fresh, definitely come follow me on snapchat @alannaandco. It'll be funny.

I ran for 45 minutes the other day (with a few stops here and there for Starla) and actually felt great. My shin splints only hurt at the beginning and I wasn't dying the next day. Maybe the cool weather helps? I don't know what it is but I haven't tried running since the summer and maybe I'll give it a try again before it gets too chilly outside. How have you been keeping fit in the colder weather?

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Now onto the link-up!

Here are the ground rules for the link-up:

• Each Wednesday create a post about what’s going on in your life and confess!
• Grab the button and include it in your post or include a text link back to the link-up. 
• Link up so we can see what you're confessing this week.
• Comment on at least one other blogger’s post from the link up.
• Feel free to share on social media with the hashtag #HumpdayConfessions and I'll retweet.
• Enjoy!

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Say hello to this month's sponsor: