Let Your Troubles Roll By.

That's the song of the day today. Sam introduced me to it back in April. I had posted it on my facebook, and re-discovered it today when I was going through old posts. I recently noticed Mom is on facebook now, so I had to check and make sure I didn't need to do any damage control before I decided to befriend her.

Those daily deal sites are so addicting. Last night, I purchased a $30 Groupon for a body boot camp class, and a $10 Groupon to Mellow Mushroom, since I have heard nothing but good things. (Nice combination, huh?) Then I woke up to reminders of a 50% off Groupon at Metro Music & Books in Anchorage, and a 5-session laser hair removal Living Social deal for $99. Half-off used books and no more bikini spiders? No wonder my bank account started dwindling quickly when I got a credit card. It's way too easy to get sucked into spending money.

I worked out yesterday for about 25 minutes in the workout room here in the complex. It wasn't as long as I wanted, but I got out late since I was chatting with Josh, and I had to shower and get ready for my dance class in the evening. I went to a Nightclub 2-Step class at Dance Doctors. It was fun, but I'm not sure I'll go again. I haven't decided yet.

I talked to Andrew last night about weight loss, since he is a nutrition and wellness major (or something like that). He said that drinking a gallon of ice water rather than regular, room-temperature water can burn up to an extra 200-300 calories per day. Apparently your body burns more calories than I thought trying to heat up the water. I knew it burned a few extra calories, but I didn't realize it was that many. That's pretty cool. I need to drink more water as it is. I'm going to try to drink a full 64 oz. of ice water per day now. I know I won't get all that in most days, but if I aim for it, I'll probably succeed much more often than I would otherwise.

I chatted with Mom a little bit earlier. Definitely letting the title song apply to that situation. She was talking about the Europe trip, and just made me feel like she doesn't trust my judgment. She said something about how we're planning this trip super last minute and so we don't have much time to research things. Um, two months isn't really last minute. Just because Sara has been "planning" for over a year doesn't mean I can't do all the same research in much less time. Then she talked about how I don't have much money and she thinks it's a poor financial decision. She also made a comment about my ability to pay tuition and books in the fall. I think my savings account is more than adequate to cover both this trip and tuition/books, or I wouldn't have made the decision to go. I can travel frugally and don't plan on bringing back an entire country worth of souvenirs with me. I've never really been fiscally irresponsible, and it's really frustrating that it feels she's slapping that label on me. I want to do this. I have the resources to do it.

She texted me and said

Hope you are not mad. I just want you to really think about your decisions. It is a lot of money!! Love you lots!!!!

I responded that I'm not mad, but it feels like she thinks I'm being responsible, which is frustrating. I told her I would keep her updated.

I'm off to get my workout on. I am keeping myself accountable, here!