Confessions of Jersey Girl

Hey!   This week, I am interviewing Ashley D. From the fabulous Turquoise Ribbons!  Ashley is one of my new favorite bloggers and if you aren’t reading her, you are seriously missing out! I am seriously LOVING these interviews!  It’s such an awesome way to get to know bloggers you otherwise might not have come across!  :)  And now I present to you… Ashley.

who are you?
I’m Ashley, nice to meet you.

Turquoise Ribbons

I started Turquoise Ribbons in February 2008, but before that I wrote on Xanga, Livejournal, and Myspace for years. Originally I started blogging because I wanted my friends to be able to keep up with what was going on my life. When I moved to NYC in September 07, I was bored and lonely (aww so sad!), so I started reading blogs and found some great writers who inspired me to start my own. It only took a about 6 months before I was finally brave enough to start commenting, haha.

When I was trying to come up with a name for my blog, I had no creative ideas… so I just thought of my favorite color, Turquoise, and something fun and girly and fun, Ribbons. Thus, Turquoise Ribbons was born. I always thought I would go back and change it to something I liked better, but it’s stuck so far.

do you install toilet paper so that you pull from the top or the bottom of the roll?

Top, definitely. And if I’m in a restroom where the toilet paper is rolled from the bottom, I turn it around. Is that weird?

if i came to your home and looked in your refrigerator, what would i find?

Well, I share my refrigerator with my 2 roommates, but on my shelf there is peanut butter, jelly, bread, cheese, lettuce, a green pepper, pillsbury biscuits, tomato sauce, gingerale, more cheese, milk, yogurt, and leftover chicken with potatoes.

what did you want to be when you were 12 years old? how did that work out for you?

I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher. I still think I would like being one, but my mom (a teacher) has always tried to convince me otherwise. So, I’m in graduate school studying to become a Counseling Psychologist (aka a Therapist).

your co-worker comes by your desk and sticks her tongue at you, what do you do?

I would probably just laugh and smile. I’m not really too friendly (aka, I’m too shy) with my co-workers. If it were my friend though, I would stick my tongue out back at them.

Hmm… probably Brandy. Her blog is funny, interesting, and I always laugh at her George Clooney jokes. Why do all the cool bloggers live in Canada??

Take time to be sad. Cry. Be angry. Remember the good times. Eat ice cream. Go out with friends. Cry. Remember you deserve better. Stay busy. Find a new hobby. Cry. Write about it. Talk about it. Sleep. Learn what makes you happy. Move on.

American Idol. I was in choir when I was younger and I loved singing. Plus, Simon is kinda hot, haha.

142. I try to read all of them, but sometimes I do rely on the “Mark As Read” button if I’m feeling overwhelmed.

Never settle for less than your best. As cliche as it sounds, it’s great advice.

This one. It’s about my dad. I go back read it whenever I’m missing him because it reminds me what a great man he was.

Can I be a teeny-bopper and say Robert Pattinson?

I actually read about it on a friend’s myspace page a few years ago. I thought it was impossible, but I tried it anyway. It only took about 2 attempts before I figured it out and my life was changed forever, haha.

mac or PC?

I have a PC, but I really really really want a Mac.

The side-ponytail. It was hideous, but I think it would make for some great conversations.

I wrote a post about this not too long ago… my favorite thing about NYC is that there is always something fun to do. Plus, all the architecture is pretty awesome too.

It’s gross if you think about it, but I actually kind of love it.

Treacherous enemy.

last words?

Rachel, you are awesome. I’m so glad we’ve become blogfriends. Also, all you people out there is the blogosphere who I don’t know yet, stop by my blog so I can meet you!

**If you would like to be interviewed, let me know!!  :)  I am always looking for new victims people!  If you have already asked to be interviewed, don’t worry… your questions are on the way!  I try to customize the questions a little for everyone so that we get to know you a little better and that takes TIME.  :) **

Hi, my name is Rachel and I used to weigh 168 pounds.  Wanna see?  Good, I thought you would:

I’ve been delaying this post for a few reasons… one, because my return to higher education is sucking the life out of me and two, because I wanted to find the specific photo that made me want to change.  This is not that photo, however… it is from the same party.  Do you see that fat roll?  Yeah.  I’m not trying to be over dramatic here, this was a very unhealthy time in my life and I pretty much hated myself.  The shirt I am wearing in this picture is a large, the first one I ever had to purchase in that size and the skirt was a size 13.  I’m 5′2… a size 13 on my little body is a whole lot different then a size 13 on someone that is, say… 5′7.  Let’s just say I was a little roly poly.

I was never an OVER eater, in fact… I was probably an under eater and that’s something that I still struggle with today.  My problem was that when I DID eat, I ate the wrong things.  I thought that I could eat whatever my stick skinny boyfriend ate and never really considered that I had an office job, hadn’t worked out since maybe a year after high school and he played hockey 4 nights a week.  I have struggled with my weight for as long as I can remember.  When I was in 5th grade, I was 4′10 and weighed 140 pounds.  I remember going clothes shopping with my mom and I had to buy womens sizes because kids clothes just didn’t fit.  I almost dies from an asthma attack when I was five and to treat it, the doctors pumped me full of steroids and saved my life.  In exchange for a second chance, I got fat.

I’ve dieted and rollercoastered for YEARS.  I still cringe when I think about the time my mom found my box of herbal Dexatrim when I was 16.  When I saw the above picture, when I realized what I looked like, I knew that it was time for something to change.  What I did next, I don’t reccommend to ANYONE.  I starved myself for two months.  Sure, I lost maybe 15 pounds, but I also landed myself in the hospital for exhaustion, and b12 deficiency anemia.  NOT FUN.   So then that brought me to my second decision… I had to get healthy.  I wasn’t thinking about weight anymore and this goingle be a DIET (the dreaded word!!)… this had to be a lifestyle change.

I joined SparkPeople, ran outside or on the treadmill, I bought a bike.  I made sure I was eating three meals a day or at least two and a snack.  I parked my car farther from the enterance of the store and walked, I took the stairs instead of the elevator.  I took the time to plan meals instead of letting my cabinets get empty and reaching for whatever was easiest or going through the drive through and grabbing a happy meal.  I learned that sometimes the small changes make the biggest difference. Now?  I”m between a size 4 and 6 and I plan on keeping that way forever (or until I get knocked up, i’m SO letting myself go then.)  And that’s what the lovely Sarah Belle and I want to pass along to you.  I realize that the 20SB communities is probably FULL of people that have been there before or are there now.  The beauty of a community is that we are never alone. The rest of this entry I copied from Sarah, I know she won’t mind.  I’m a busy college student now, and she just explained it so damn well.

so the ever amazing, Sarah and i have decided to do something about this. beginning february 1st, we are launching the 20something bloggers biggest loser competition. there will be teams. there will be challenges, and there will be monthly winners. but most importantly there will be a place where we can all go to grab some motivation. a place where we can ask for help when we need it, and hand out advice to others. Sarah and i made a vow that it will never be preachy. we are not perfect, doctors or personal trainers (well, I’m not a personal trainer, can’t say the same about miss sarah). we’re two 20something girls looking to lead the healthiest lives possible.

so whether you have a lot of weight you’d like to lose, a little bit of weight you’d like to lose, or you’d just like to tone up the body you already have - JOIN. whether you are health food extraordinaire, or you’re about to start learning to cook  – JOIN. there is no aim for some unrealistic, victoria and david beckham perfection. this is about working with what you have, and striving to become the most healthy, sexy and comfortable in your own skin as possible.

how do you JOIN? leave a comment below by january 29th. make sure you fill in your email address, and you know, clearly state that you are in. and because everyone is going to have different goals, tell me what your biggest loser mission is in your comment. for example, mine is to continue to keep eating healthy and working out on a regular basis. I don’t want to let all of my hard work be for nothing!  this way, i will be able to stack my team Sarah and I will organize the teams fairly, and fantastically!

make sure you check back for updates (link to the 20sb biggest loser blog will be coming soon), and on february 1st put on your biggest loser ball cap, lace up your kicks, and get ready to get heaaaaaaaltthhyyy!

also, if you have any questions, comments, ideas or concerns about the 20sb biggest loser, feel free to leave a comment below, or email Sarah and/or i directly.  also, GUEST POSTERS!!  we want to hear your story!

I had a dream last night about vampires.  I don’t really remember what it was about, but I know they were trying to get in the front door, so I was sitting with my back up against the front door.  I yelled to my sister to come help me get my Uggs off of my feet so I wasn’t slipping all over the place and then I heard the creek of the attic door opening and yelled something about them coming in from the attic and then the attic door slammed shut.  I started to hear the creek of the attic door again and my dad ran over and I woke up.

Scared out of my MIND.  What the hell.