The Bradley Fund

So I was sitting at work trying to decide what to blog about and one of my co-workers said "Well what do you do with your time?!" So of course I lamely said that I spend all of my time at the Bradley Fund..

Thus my first post about work.

As lame as it sounds, I really love my job. I've met some great friends through the Bradley Fund and I've picked up invaluable skills that have helped me out in multiple facets of my life. 

It's so strange though, because many people on campus have at one point worked here and really disliked it. I mean REALLY disliked it. I've come to the conclusion that fundraising via the phone isn't really for everyone. And that's okay. :)

For those of you that don't know, the Bradley Fund is made up entirely of student fundraisers that call alumni and parents of the university in order to obtain donations. Past initiatives of the Bradley fund include the Markin Center, the Alumni Center, and the GCC when it was new.

What's great about the Bradley Fund is that alumni have the opportunity to designate their donations to any place on campus. A good portion of donations go directly to students via scholarship funds. Without the support of these alumni, our tuition would be a lot higher than what we pay right now! When you get your call, be friendly and consider donating! :)

 

I've been working here since my freshman year and have kind of worked my way up ever since then. It's really starting to hit me that I won't be working here next semester and that thought isn't a fun one, so let's just enjoy the rest of college while we can!

"Me time".

Today, one of my co-workers and I were talking about "me time". That time you spend doing what it is that you want to do, at your own pace, without anyone else around. 

I am totally guilty of being that person that has plans with someone, looking forward to it all week, and just not feeling it so much by the time it actually comes. My co-worker said that I shouldn't feel guilty about doing that..

I'm just in need of some "me time".

Anytime that I can actually justify doing what I want, when I want regardless of what others expect me to be doing, I'm down for it.

I'm a big fan of "me time", now.

We got to talking more and I immediately knew exactly what my favorite "me time" activity is: Reading!

I've recently started working on a list of books for girls in their 20's. I'm loving it so far. They are exactly what I need to be exposed to at this point in my life.

At least I like to think so.

Right now I'm reading a great book called Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close.

I bought this book for my Kindle Fire on Sunday evening and I'm about 90% through it. I don't want to make this all a book review, but it's about a group of girlfriends that are out of college and everything that they're doing with their lives in their 20s. 

Honestly, it's starting to make me feel a little bit better and less anxious about my job search. Life isn't perfect and "me time" is helping me realize that, thank goodness.

What do you do for your "me time"? If you had a whole day of "me time", how would you spend it?

Goodnight! :)

Stopping the itch.. Literally.

Up until now I've been posting some of my adventures in baking and cooking. This time around, I wanted to post a little bit about something I deal with on a day to day basis. Sorry if you find it gross. :P

I have a skin condition called eczema. The way I explain is that it's kind of like EXTRA dry and itchy skin that leads to visible irritation on different parts of the body. WebMD does a better job explaining it than I do. 

This is pretty mild eczema on the forearm. (Not mine, for the record.)

Generally, kids are born with it and then outgrow it. One of my brothers developed eczema as a kid and as far as I know doesn't have any problems with it anymore. Unfortunately, mine has developed and gotten worse since I was 20.

In the summer time, it is really mild. I spend a lot of time out in the sunshine and that helps tremendously. I just moisturize regularly with hypoallergenic lotion and that takes care of all of my symptoms. (I've read online that people find tanning a great treatment for eczema. I'm as pale as you can get and tanning does not bode well for my skin. It's also dangerous. You're putting yourself at risk for many skin conditions just to help with one. Seems weird to me.)

The winter time is a beast all it's own. My eczema gets out of control once it starts to stay below 40 degrees on a regular basis. When I was 20, it developed in a small patch on my stomach and in a small cluster on my shins. It was really easy to take care of and hardly was noticeable to someone who wasn't knowingly looking for it. Think of it like any other allergy: when the weather changes, so does my eczema. When the weather is like it has been lately (Mother Nature PMSing), everyone's allergies go haywire. So does my eczema.

Every winter since I developed it however, it has gotten much worse. To the point that I have to use lotion multiple times a day and that it interferes with my daily functioning. It has also developed on different parts of my legs, arms, and the back of my neck. 

So, since I've had many encounters with eczema, you can guess that I've also tried out all of the lotions that are out there. I decided to do a little review of some of the lotions that I've used and what has worked for me and what hasn't.

This is by far the worst lotion I have ever used, even for a daily moisturizer. It is greasy and leaves behind a residue wherever you apply it that eventually turns flakey. As far as helping repair eczema, I saw no results. That could be because I stopped using it pretty quickly based on the immediate results I saw. It was incredibly baffling to me, but the bottle that I have is basically full because of my lack of use. I wouldn't recommend this one for any use at all, even outside of helping eczema.

I generally find that men's products are better for my skin than women's. A man's razor is much gentler on my skin and does a better job of shaving! This product did a great job as a moisturizer and did a good job of keeping my eczema from getting worse, but I don't feel like it was helping reduce the look of my symptoms. I use this one every day, but as an all over body lotion.

Outside of a prescription lotion, this is the best stuff I've used to help my eczema. It's a little on the pricey side, $8 for this 3.5 oz. bottle, but it's getting the job done. I've been using this for about a week or so and I've already seen improvement in my symptoms and my skin rarely itches during the day if I apply this in the mornings.

Outside of lots of special lotions, I keep everything that I buy as hypoallergenic as possible. Detergent, dryer sheets, soap, shaving cream, and even loofas come in a 'sensitive skin' version that are much gentler on the skin. I avoid any of the lotions from places like Bath & Body Works or Victoria's Secret because there are so many scents and chemicals in those. It makes everything much easier and comfortable for me. :)

That's it for today! I hope you learned something that you didn't know before! If not, I hope this didn't gross you out.

Happy Monday!

Bite your tongue!

Well. I guess I spoke too soon in my last post.

It is very possible for things to come out of the crock pot and not be delightful.

The orange chicken turned out less than desirable, but for the record, I blame the recipe rather than myself. If you're going to try this recipe, I would AT LEAST halve the orange juice concentrate that it calls for. When we tried the orange chicken for dinner, it tasted like chicken WITH oranges. Not so tasty.

The chicken also cooked a lot faster than I anticipated. I don't know if one of the ingredients made the cooking process go faster, but I put the chicken in raw and it was charred after just a few hours on low.

The whole thing was very strange and frustrating.

In a fit to produce something satisfying, I decided to bake something rather than eat dinner. I made chocolate chip banana bread. This was much more successful and a lot tastier, if I do say so myself.

It turned out looking pretty good, too! My roommates (allegedly) really liked it, so I think this one is a keeper.

This weekend I also made some sugar cookies and homemade frosting for my boyfriend's fraternity. I forgot to take pictures of this one, but they turned out alright, as well! If I had to change anything I would definitely watch how thick the dough is when you're rolling it, because there is a fine line between satisfying and too doughy.

If you're going to try the frosting, I would gradually add the powdered sugar and milk in small doses. If I could go back, I wouldn't have used so much powdered sugar. It made the frosting too grainy, but adding a little milk at a time helps that.

I hope you had a great weekend! Please enjoy this picture of my dog. :)