A Year in Review

2017 is almost over.

I can't believe how quickly this year went by. Obviously, I wasn't terribly observant of the day, weeks, even months.

Hopefully everyone has had happy holidays.

This will be my last blog post of the year.

Don't worry, I'll be back in 2018, hopefully much more on top of things.

At the beginning of this year, I had 16 goals for the year, not necessarily resolutions, but 16 things I hoped to accomplish.

This year, I did get my passport. I did go on vacations. I even got out of my Texas bubble by going to Miami and New Orleans. I even participated in make-up-less March.

Although there were plenty on the list I didn't do, there were also quite a few things not on the list I did.

Such as I got back out into the dating world. That was odd, but nice. My obsession with dragons increased. At one point I got my weight down to 129 lbs. It was only for like two day, but still. I got to see my sister for thanksgiving and it was the first time in seven long years.

I even signed up for a trip to Belize. It's crazy. I'll be there from May 10-20th! I'm saying it's my birthday gift to myself.

(Although I am paying for it on my own, if you want to donate a little bit to the "get Shelby out of the country" fund, go to This link. Any contribution will be very much appreciated and every dollar counts.)

Towards the end of this year there have been a few negative things. Harvey, my grandmother (Dad's mom) going into the hospital (she's dramatically better now though), and my PCOS acting up again.

Of those, the PCOS was something I could do something about and since it caused me to have a 2.5 week period, I went to the doctor. Got put on a new medication. Had a horrible reaction to the medication (seriously, I thought I was dying for a couple of days). Thankfully it calmed down and I'm still taking it.

I'm not sure if it is the medication or the weather (it has been cold and I'm not a huge fan of the cold), but I've been feeling remarkably down recently. I keep switching between caring about getting things done a lot, to not caring at all. There's no in between. I keep wanting to be around a lot of people and wanting to be all by myself. I want to open up to everyone I meet, but I also want to push everyone away. I feel as though everything I do matters a lot and doesn't matter at all. Also, my emotions seem to have a mind of their own right now.

Basically, I feel like I'm going crazy. I can't decide if I want it to be a reaction of the medication or the fact that I can't hibernate through the winter. Either way, I hope it balances out soon. I was hoping that a trip to Fort Worth for New Years and seeing some of my old college friends would help me refocus on things. But thanks to the possibility of ice, I might not be able to do that anymore. Hopefully my dad doesn't try too are to keep me from going because I think I really need this trip. Mentally and emotionally.

I'm for sure going to write next week about the goals and such for the year 2018, so keep an eye out ;)

Until next time,
Keep safe and warm,
Shelby

Part of Why There Wasn't an Evacuation for Harvey

Growing up in the Houston area, I've grown accustomed to hearing the name Houston on the News. Whether it is because of athletes or a school doing something.

Even in my four years away while at college, Houston was mentioned at least once or twice a month for something.

That's the thing about it, Houston is the fourth-most populated city in the country. So percentage-wise, people here will be doing things.

But it's not just the city of Houston. It's the Greater Houston Area. A lot of people who aren't from Houston don't seem to realize that when Houston is mentioned on the news, generally it's talking about the GHA, not just strictly the city of Houston.

This area includes nine separate counties:
- Austin
- Brazoria
- Chambers
- Fort Bend
- Galveston
- Harris
- Liberty
- Montgomery
- Waller

Within these counties, there are countless cities and areas that each has a culture and personality of its own.

Growing up around here, although it wasn't terribly noticeable, there were still the simple prejudices of each different area. "Oh, you're from Tomball?" "Oh, you're from Dickinson?" "The Woodlands?" "Katy?" (Note: These were the first four places that came to mind; I have nothing against any of these places.)

This past weekend, any and all of those boundaries and borders fell.

Hurricane Harvey came in and drenched everyone.

There are a lot of people out there who don't understand why no one evacuated.

First off, up until Wednesday, Harvey didn't seem like he was going to be a big deal. He had been a Tropical Storm the last I had heard. Then he intensified (obviously). On Thursday, I was at work thoroughly unmotivated to actually do anything, because it has been years since a hurricane has hit. But news stations were starting to predict this being a much bigger deal than anticipated.

So why wasn't an evacuation ordered then? Let's look back a few years, for a history lesson.

Back in September 2005 (you know, the record breaking hurricane season that gave birth to Hurricanes Katrina, Dennis, Emily, Rita, and Wilma), Hurricane Rita was making its way to Houston.

This is just three weeks after the devastation that was Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana.

People panicked. No one wanted a repeat of Katrina in Houston. Houston's has flooding issues for major rainstorms and no one wanted to deal with that.

This panic led to a Mass Evacuation. Between 2.5 and 3.7 million (yes, million) people evacuated.

My family was among them. Although we left either the day or two days prior to the major evacuation.

Now, we have family up in Dallas who normally take us in during hurricanes and such, so we're lucky in that way. It normally takes about five, maybe six hours to reach them depending on traffic.

It took us over eleven.

Two vehicles, three dogs, a cat, six people. I don't remember much about the drive out except my cat nearly having heat stroke because we had to turn the air off to conserve gas (because there was no gas to get to) and having to go to the bathroom so badly.

We didn't even have it bad compared to some people. I've heard of that same drive taking two-plus days.

And this was with both sides of the road open to people going north, and north only.

Not my Picture (Got from the Weather Channel)

Over 100 people died during the evacuation.

From what was reported at the time, total deaths, including those in the evacuation, from Rita was placed around 120-130. Seven of which were directly related to the storms. More people died due to the evacuation than the storm.

Granted, there was a lot of damage. Enough so that the name Rita was retired from the Hurricane list.

With little time to evacuate for Harvey, if they had, then people would likely have been stuck on I-45. And there were lots of places on 45 that were underwater.

Harvey was a horrible, freak occurrence. Yes, it was catastrophic and devastating. But can you even imagine how much worse it would have been if flooding streets were covered in gridlock traffic of people trying to escape?

I can.

Until Next Time,
Shelby
P.S. I'll probably post later this week about Harvey again. But my thoughts and prayers are with everyone in Texas and Louisiana that is suffering because of Hurricane Harvey

A Little Bit of Catch-up, Please.

Oh dear.

I have been completely failing on keeping this blog updated this year.

Please accept my apologies for that.

If it means anything, I've been out, you know, attempting to have a life.

This post is in hopes of doing a little bit of updating on my life and hopefully I'll be able to get back on track with it.

First off, I've not been doing nearly as much writing as I should be. That's going to change. There's no hopefully about it. If I want to be an actual author with a book out in the next couple of years, it HAS to change. So I'm making sure it does.

Weight-wise, I've been pretty consistently sticking between 131 and 135 lbs which I am very happy about. I am almost at the point where I am able to constantly use 8 lb weights (I am on week 9 of my second round of the IdealShape Up challenge and when I started it the first time I could barely use 2 lb weights).

Since a couple friends and I will be doing a 5K in a 10-11 days (it's September 2nd), I have been attempting to start running but it is rough. Like. Really rough.

Leigh and I FINALLY floated the river. And made some new friends while we were at it. Oh, and I got to play some Giant Jenga.

On the weekend of July 4th, I went to Miami with Leigh and a couple of other people and that was a blast. A few weeks after that, Leigh, Margaret, and I had a girls' night. Followed by a friend from college visiting (and I failed at being a wingwoman) and then the week after that my little sister from TBS visited.

South Beach

Party Boat

Next time Margaret is in town, plans are to attend Turtle Racing at Little Woodrow's in Midtown (I've attempted to go every time someone was available but without fail mess up which day of the week has them). Then in November, Leigh, Margaret, and I will be going to New Orleans. Woo! Super excited!

I am also part of a Sci-Fi book club now. Although I failed to finish the first book (oops), I'm almost done with the second one (All the Birds in the Sky). And if you're interested, there will be a book club blog!  There isn't much on it yet, other than the summary of the book we are currently reading.

Oh, and I recently got a Bumble account. That has provided me with a handful of... interesting conversations. Some in a good way, others earning an immediate unmatch and block. Not sure how long I'm going to keep the app, but for now I guess it is an attempt to step out of my comfort zone and talk to new people.

My family got a Great Dane puppy and named her Lady Brienne (of course after the Game of Thrones Character) and she's so delightfully clumsy, I just can't handle it.

Note: she's not this small anymore.

Until Next Time,
Whenever that may be,
Shelby

Ideal ShapeUp Challenge Results

Wow. It has been a lot longer than I intended for it to be. A couple of things popped up, which I will explain on a later blog post. Normally, I'd be apologizing for the lack of updating and saying I'll try really hard to post more often, but every time I've done that, it hasn't worked. So I'm trying something new.

The past few months I have been participating in the Ideal ShapeUp 12 Week challenge. Today I finished it. It took 13.5 weeks rather than the 12 and I rarely did the challenges that were at the end of each workout. But I did each workout. And that by itself makes me feel incredibly proud of myself.

My first measurements were taken on 11 January 2017.
  I weighed 142.8 lbs.
  Chest: 35.5 in.
  Waist: 28.5 in.
  Belly Button: 29 in.
  Glutes: 38 in.
  Right Thigh: 23 in.
  Right Calf: 15 in.
  Right Arm: 10.5 in.

I admit that my weight hasn't moved much. I'm still stuck between 139.5 and 145 lbs. I'm still working on figuring out how to get passed the plateau, but I'm not complaining about it. Especially since I'm losing inches.

Today's measurements prior to my final workout (3 May 2017) were:
   I weighed 143.6
  Chest: 33 in.
  Waist: 27 in.
  Belly Button: 27.5 in.
  Glutes: 36.5 in.
  Right Thigh: 21.5 in.
  Right Calf: 14 in.
  Right Arm: 10 in.

I know the numbers in and of themselves seem to not change much. But if you do the math, I've lost 10 inches in 3 months. And I am very proud of that.

In the pictures below, the purple top is from the day I started the challenge and the magenta one is from this morning right before my workout. I wish I had taken a picture of my back muscles flexed originally, because I feel like that is where you can super tell the change.

Don't worry, I'm not going to start posting these type pictures everywhere, but I did feel like I should show these. They are definite proof on my journey to a better Shelby in the physical aspect.

Until Next Time,
Shelby

A Few February Thoughts and IdealShape Up Challenge

So, I'm more than halfway done with Fresh Face February and it is going great. Only a handful of people informed me I looked ill or tired (and those were solely in the first week).

Now, most of my face is much happier than it was prior to me doing this whole no make-up thing. Except of course for the giant cystic zit on my nose. One of the negatives of PCOS happens to be getting more than my fair share of Cystic acne, but what can I do? Other than complain and hope this one goes away quicker  than they normally do?

I will have to get more makeup when February is over (since I recently learned that eye makeup apparently expires quicker than I thought it did).

Now, I've mentioned to a few people this new workout program I'm doing called the IdealShape Up Challenge. I'm starting my fourth week doing it this week and although there has been no change in weight, I have lost about 3.5 inches overall. I can almost do 10 push ups and I'm learning how to properly structure workouts.

The best part of this program? It's free and comes with an incredible support group. There are a few things I'm still figuring out about it, but I am almost a month in to this 12 week journey and loving it. Some days I do still dread the workouts, but they are on average 20 minutes.

They aren't long, they don't hurt my wallet any, and I'm only somewhat sore the next day (unless I've stupidly missed a day and doubled up on the workouts, then I may be extra sore).

When I am done with the program, I plan to post before and after pictures along with measurements to show the difference.

I'm not expecting too much weight difference, partially because I have been stuck between 5 and 10 pounds away from my ideal weight (132 lbs) since I finally hit 140 lbs. But I kep reminding myself that muscle weighs more than fat.

And I'm starting to see a slight amount of definition in my arms, calves, and thighs. I'm lucky in the fact that most people see it in thighs and stomach last, my thighs wanted to be like "hey, there's muscle here too!" (I can only notice it when I'm doing inverted squats, but it's there!)

If you want to look into this challenge as well, this is the link to signing up. You can buy the meal replacements and bar and such, but that does get expensive. I bought stuff when it was super on sale and am waiting until the next one to stock up again. The Vanilla and Cookies and Cream meal replacements are the two I've tried but they are delicious. As are all of the bars I've tried. The IdealBoost water additive thing is okay, all of the flavors are nice, but not great.

Until Next Time,
Shelby

Fresh Face February

Hello everyone!

So as January is rapidly coming to a close (eek!) and February is approaching. I have the pictures for my passport ready, and I'm working on filling out the paperwork. Although there are a few things I have to figure out before submitting anything, hopefully I'll have everything ready by the end of this next week (like submitted at the Post Office and everything).

Starting on the first of February, I am participating in something I'm calling Fresh Face February. This will be the month that I don't wear makeup.

The reason why I'm doing this is because I've realized makeup is a sort of crutch that I've used. It's a comfort blanket. I don't want to feel the need to rely on something like makeup.

The rules are simple.
I don't wear makeup for my normal day-to-day life, such as work and going out with friends and that sort of thing. There are a few exceptions that I'm giving myself, such as if I go somewhere fancy or get a date (hahaha -- I make myself laugh).

I'm hoping it'll give my face a chance to breathe.

So that's all for now.

If you want to join me in this, feel free to comment below!

Until Next Time,
Shelby

A Few Things New

The Bachelor is back on, guys! I'm so excited. Although Nick isn't necessarily my favorite of past Bachelors he isn't on my list of least favorites. That title is firmly held between Ben F. and Juan Pablo. They were annoying and rather boring. I've not quite decided where Nick will fall. 

But one of the coolest things that ABC is doing is the Bachelor Fantasy League! Woo! I've got 50 points so far. I didn't read the small print when signing up for it (whoops) but I'm hoping I didn't accidentally sign away my soul. 

On a different note, I've almost written another children's book. This one is about a kitten finding her forever home. 

Also, I've taken a picture for my passport. It's not the best picture since it took me forever to find a place that takes them. Note: not every CVS and Walgreens are set up to do that. I learned this the hard way by not calling ahead. And what I had hoped would take ten minutes ended up taking two hours. 

So now I just need to finish the paperwork and submit that with the funds and I'll be one step closer to a passport. 

Another thing I have done recently is start a new workout regime. It has been brought to me by IdealShape. I'm only on my second day, but I am very sore. Like VERY sore. But it could be worse and I know that. 

A week from today, Leigh comes to town and we are going to see Iliza Shlesinger with Margaret and it is going to be fantastic. I can't wait. 

I know this wasn't a long blog, but a brief update seemed like a good idea.

Until Next Time, 

Shelby

Welcome To The New Year

Welcome, my friends, to 2017, a new year where all things are possible.

Another new beginning, another year to grow.

A time of possibilities, a time of chances, a time of new plans.

A continuation of old ideas, a compilation of ideas.

It is 2017.

Many years have passed by and hopefully many more will continue to move along.

Last year, I spent a good portion of it making plans in my mind, contemplating things I could do. I didn't do many of them.

Despite all I was able to accomplish last year, finishing my first first draft, losing weight, attending my best friend's wedding, learning that I strangely enjoy F1, attending the Renaissance Festival with Margaret (and having a fun-filled weekend with her), and overall becoming happier with myself, I realized something.

My goal to stop being a stagnant Charater in my own life story failed. Well, not necessarily failed, I did grow as a person (at least I'd like to think so), but I still feel stuck.

Anytime in the past that I have tried to decide on how to stop feeling stuck, I've talked myself out of any ideas.

"They were too expensive."
"I couldn't do them alone."
"Why would this thing or that thing help?"
"I can do that when I'm done paying off student loans."

I've been making excuses.

Why?

Because I'm scared.

I've been so in my comfort zone, circling it like a vulture circling above its prey, so much that I've worn away the dirt beneath my feet.

Maybe I've been pulling myself out of the hole that I had fallen into, but I've been creating another just as difficult to get out of only in different ways.

So today, right now, I'm going to make a list of things that as exciting as they are frighten me for reasons I don't necessarily understand. Maybe not all of them frighten me, some I just really want to do. I'll pull from my bucket list as well, so I guess they don't all necessarily frighten me, but anyway.

• Get a passport
• Go most of a month without make-up
• Go skydiving
• Go on a vacation somewhere
• Go somewhere not in Texas
• Go Camping
• Finish my second draft 
• Get a literary agent
• Easily run a mile
• Do a 5k (I've done one, but I want to do another)
• Make Homemade jam
• Go Ziplining
• Learn to cook more things, different things
• Go Kayaking
• Become a Morning person
• Apply for something I'm pretty sure I won't get

That is 16 things to do. The list is in addition to continuing my journey to be healthy. 

Overall, my hope is it will help me become more comfortable with stepping outside my comfort zone. Yes, I know many of the things don't seem like they should cause anxiety and looking at them they don't. It's just when I go to actually try and do many of these I get nervous and uncomfortable, so what better way to stop walking in circles and actually do some of them? 

That is a little more than one thing a week for the year. Some things take more time than others, and although I'm going to try and cross everything off, if I can get 12 of the 16 done, then I'll be content. 

Have you made a resolution this year? If so, tell me what it is in a comment!

Until Next Time,

Shelby