Why I refuse to identify as a “Millennial”

I am not entitled.

I grew up in a town that I knew I didn’t want to stay in. I had no control over where my parents decided to raise a family. However, I knew that going to college would be the only way I could possibly get out of there. I didn’t know what I wanted to be or where I wanted to live so I visited colleges, found one, then took my time deciding what career path would best suit what I enjoyed doing. My parents did NOT pay for my college. There was never any agreement that they would help pay for it either. I had student loans like the majority of these ‘entitled millennials’. We aren’t entitled. WE’RE POOR and WE ARE IN DEBT! We need to work!

 

I am not lazy

During college I worked 3 jobs. Sometimes they would all fall on the same day. My day would start at 5am serving coffee at a drive-thru Scooters. Then I would go to my second coffee shop and work until about 6pm. After that I would go downtown to the bar that I served pizza at until 2am. Everyone preaches about these ‘lazy millennials’ that don’t want to work and think they deserve a $20/hr minimum wage … what!? In fact, none of my ‘millennial’ friends fit this category. Half of them were college atheletes AND worked jobs while going to school. Some of them worked more than one job as well! Let’s also not forget that College classes are NOT easy. I failed more than one and had to keep trying (and paying) for it.

 

I didn’t go to college to party

Did we party? Hell yeah. But, did we pay for our partying ourselves and not with mommy and daddy’s money? Hell yeah! College taught me that I was going to have to pay for my rent, gas, food, booze, books … all of it. Myself. I had to figure out a way to do it and it made me a much more resourceful person. I know how to budget my money. I know all about credit and how much it sucks to dig yourself out of a credit card hole. I know what it’s like to completely fuck up and not be able to afford groceries. I figured out that I could sell my clothes to a store named Plato’s Closet and get cash on the spot for it. No one helped me. My parents told me to work if I needed money. So I did. I got a job that paid tips as well as hourly so that if I needed money I could pick up a shift and have cash immediately.  I believe that college is much more than classes and semesters and grades. College is truly being thrown into the world and being forced to learn how to survive while sacrificing the majority of your day sitting in a class to receive a piece of paper to say you are worthy of a job. No one WANTS to sit through that and then go work the rest of the time they have outside of school. Going to college is a huge sacrifice. You give up 4 years of being able to work full time and make good money, to sit in a classroom in hopes that you will have less of a struggle to get where you hope to be. Did I live with my friends? Of course. How could I not? None of us could afford to live on our own.

I’m not the youngest person working my dream job

I’m still struggling in the field that I finally prefer. I spent 5 years in an office that had nothing to do with what I went to school for. During those 5 years I did side work for groups/companies that I hoped to work for some day. I applied for jobs constantly and got rejected because I didn’t have enough experience. There was virtually no way to gain experience out of college if no one would take a chance on an entry level journalism major. I found a way to write my resume in such manner that depicted my office job as the best experience possible for my chosen career field and it eventually worked! Though the office job was boring, I learned how to be punctual, professional and efficient at whatever I was doing. I learned how to work my way up the pay scale by showing responsibility could be handled and handled well. I learned to work with people I didn’t like.

 

I think people that didn’t go to college are brave

          I have always been a big dreamer. I have been striving for success ever since highschool. College is how you specialize in your field. It is how you say to an employer, “Hey, this is my dream. I take this seriously and I spent 4 years learning everything relevant I could about the field that you work in and I want a shot at thriving here.” I applaud people who didn’t go to college and have become successful. You’re braver than I am and you took a chance on doing something the unconventional way and you made it. If you didn’t go to college and you make a great living then you skipped the expensive part of getting there and have been making great money for 4 years longer than I have. There is no shame in either road and it’s about time we stop making a case that one is better than the other. Some people are phenomenal athletes without having to practice. Others spend summers in training camps to perform on the same level as that natural athlete. It doesn’t matter how we get there … it just matters that we do.

 

 

People say that it’s the Millennials that are the world’s problem. We’re lazy, we’re entitled, we didn’t do anything but party in college and we think that we are better … that couldn’t be farther from my truth. Maybe it is true at Ivy League schools, but not here in the Midwest. We know how to work.

Mysteries of Omaha: 4025 Izard Street

  Before I tell you one of the best stories you will ever hear, I have a confession to make. It is a confession that does not paint me in the best light and I risk having you think less of me.…

Source: Mysteries of Omaha: 4025 Izard Street

Adventure

So Far

How Ireland Changed Everything

You Get To Keep Your Experiences. You Get To Let Them change You and Completely Shatter the Way You Thought The World Looked.

 

“I’m booking a ticket for Ireland. In 6 months, I’m going for 11 days!” I said to my mother. “Alone!?” she exclaimed.

…

After a particularly frustrating time in my life personally and professionally, I decided to book a ticket to Ireland 6 months out and go. No matter what. I knew that it would be too expensive for me to change my mind and lord knows it’s not an option to attempt to change/refund a plane ticket without contemplating verbally abusing the airline representative.

I needed out. I needed an adventure to set my worldview on fire. I needed a new reason … Something happens when College ends. You no longer have a reason for being in the city you’re in. You aren’t home, but you aren’t a stranger either. The thought of working, paying bills and dying is the most depressing future I can think of. Ireland set my soul on fire. This place changed the way I looked at travel. The craving, that wanderlust feeling, hasn’t left me since.

 

…

With that being said, there was absolutely no way that my mother was going to allow me to travel across the World by myself. Even though I was 24-years-old and completely capable of doing so without her permission, it stopped me dead in my tracks when she asked me how much she needed for a plane ticket and insisted that she was going with me! This woman had never been out of the country. She doesn’t travel often and she rarely travels without my father, but she always knows what her kids need.

 

I can make a comprehensive list of all of the tragedies that took place in Ireland:

1. There she is … at Airport Security. My Mother. Explaining why she’s attempting to leave the country with an expired license … here we go.

 

2. We travel 13+ hours. Land in Dublin, Ireland. Keep in mind she has an expired license and I am only 24-years-old and we need to rent a car (you need to be 25). I can’t make this up.

3. Our rental car is a miniature spaceship that we have illegally rented and couldn’t figure out how to start. We had to get out, go back inside and ask them to show us how to start it. We named him ‘Scooby’. We proceeded to smash Scooby into rubber reflectors alongside the roads (more than once, but she’ll fight to the death saying it was only one).

4. We knock on at least 10 B&B doors only to hear that they are completely booked all week, until someone finally informs us that it’s Ireland’s ‘Hurling’ Championship that week … comparable to our Superbowl, and that there will be no open B&B’s in Dublin and we will have to drive to the next town over.

 

5. It’s raining.

 

6. We don’t know how to run the windshield wipers & we’re driving on the opposite side of the road.

7. The roads are very narrow. Often lined with thick tree lines with no emergency lanes. A large hay truck was barreling down said road heading straight for us. My mother stopped the car as close to the ‘edge’ as we could get. We rolled down the windows, pulled our side mirrors in, held hands and screamed as this hay truck missed us by a quarter of an inch and then laughed like fools and went on our way.

8. We forgot to pay our bill at a pub while we were being harassed by a drunken old man.

 

In short, Ireland was everything that I needed it to be. It was everything that Nebraska wasn’t for me at the time. It was hilarious. It was fun. It was relaxing, exhilarating, different, culturally diverse, and beautiful. It was the adventure of a life time and I am so incredibly grateful that I have the type of mother who will pack her things and get on a plane with me when I know she does not particularly want to leave the Country for 11 days, but does it any way.

We sang American classics in a pub with drunken Irish college kids on a Tuesday. We got completely lost in Scooby and stared blankly at the confusing road signs. We ate leftovers for dinner in our parked car because we were lost and hungry. We wandered through the most beautifully restored castles and museums filled with rich history. We let ourselves be transported to a place from such an early time that it was hard to imagine life as it once was.

 

It opened my eyes to a much larger picture. People will constantly come and go from our lives . College will end. Jobs will change. But You get to keep your experiences. You get to let them change you and completely shatter the way you thought the world looked. I want to keep searching for sights that will completely blow my mind and take my breath away. Views that will render me speechless and immobile. I want to stand still and revel in the world’s beauty and diversity. I want to meet people from all over the world and connect with them on the most basic human level of small talk, genuine interest, kindness and compassion. I want to put the screen down.

We experienced another world. The craving for travel of this type hasn’t left me since. Ireland left its mark & changed my heart. The only part of the entire experience I cannot eloquently twist into words is what it meant to do all of this with my mother. It leaves me with more of a feeling than words … and I’m OK with that.

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Spring workout for Summer Body!

This workout is so simple. Basically all you have to do is get through it. I am not the best at pushing myself when it comes to running/cardio/HITT workouts- so lifting has always been the best way for me to stay in shape. These simple moves will work your entire body and the only challenge is increasing your weight to exhaustion level and getting through the workout! Scroll down to find info on each lift.

 

Week 1-4

Week 5-8 – The weight that you are lifting should be increasing (That is why the number of reps are lower)

Week 9-12 (heaviest weight you can lift)

Deadlifts

Deadlifts are a full body exercise, meaning it stimulates just about every muscle in the body. Deadlifts hit the legs, back, traps, abs, obliques, etc. Deadlifts are a must for building a fully developed body. If you don’t do them, you are selling your results short.

Squats

Squats are perhaps the most effective exercise you can do for overall leg development. Free-weight barbell squats are a compound exercise that hits the entire upper leg, quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes. Like deadlifts, if you don’t squat you are selling yourself short. These are a must for sexy, toned legs.

Lunges

Lunges are great for targeting the glutes, hamstrings, and quadriceps. Lunges will help tighten up your legs and butt and give you the curves you want.

Pull-Ups

Pull-ups work the muscles of the back, biceps, and forearms. Most gyms have an assisted pull-up machine, so if you cannot do pull-ups with your bodyweight, this machine will allow you to do pull-ups with less than your bodyweight.

Dips

Dips work the muscles of the chest, shoulders, and triceps. Dips are a great exercise for overall upper body development, especially the shoulders and triceps.
Most gyms have an assisted dip machine, so if you cannot do dips with your bodyweight, this machine will allow you to do dips with less than your bodyweight.

Workout Motivation

3 days.. 3 days that I have skipped the gym now!! This calls for Pinterest motivation aka Pintervention…

This consists of looking at pictures of people who clearly do NOT skip 3 days of working out and look much, MUCH better than me. Until I feel so bad that the guilt forces me to go to the gym and not eat shit all day. You’re welcome.

 

Find my Favorite Workout guide here. This 12 week heavy lifting program will take inches off if done correctly! Just click and print.

Dominican Republic- Puerto Plata

Puerto Plata’s Lifestyles Holiday Resort in Dominican Republic is like a small city in and of itself. People live there. They retire in paradise and never leave. Personally, I could never handle staying in one place. When I retire it will be to travel and expand my mind to new places constantly. Dominican Republic was an experience I will never forget on my journey traveling the world

Although some towns celebrate it during March, Holy Week, and August, the Carnival in the Dominican Republic is celebrated throughout the entire month of February. The festival usually climaxes around February 27th, which is the Dominican Independence Day.

Cofresi Beach was pure heaven. Staff brings you pizzas and any drink you want right on the beach.

Small Island off the coast of Puerto Plata has a giant statue of Poseidon (God of The Sea)

 

Shipping yard near Fort San Felipe

 

Fortaleza San Felipe is a historic Spanish fortress located in the north of Dominican Republic in the province of Puerto Plata. Is also known as El Morro de San Felipe and was used to protect the City of Puerto Plata from pirates and corsairs.^[1] It is located on a hill at the Puntilla Del Malecón, overlooking theAtlantic Ocean; its strategic location protected the entrance to the city’s seaport. The construction of the fort was commissioned by King Felipe II of Spain in 1564, and it was completed in 1577 by Don Rengifo de Angulo, the fort’s mayor.

4 Real Life Experiences You Have When You First Start ‘Adulting’ (or try to)

1. You’re going to have to fix shit. Yourself.

You’re going to be elbow deep in a toilet tank thinking … ‘this is my life now’ … and let me tell you, when you fix that sonovabitch you’re going to feel so good! Then you’ll crack a beer or pour a non-adult size glass of wine … from a box … and sit back and revel in how bad ass you are. You can fix anything!

 

2. You’re going to cry.

It’s going to be Sunday… I’m sorry, but it’s inevitable … And Sundays aren’t fun for Adults. You’re going to be hung-the-fuck-over and your fridge will be empty. You will have no clean laundry and the Karma Gods will rain pure hell-fire and defeat over you as you give up on life and just lay down and press the power button on that remote to stare into the vast mind-daze that is Netflix … and then your internet will be down. And you’ll cry. ‘Sunday Funday’? Yeah-fucking-right. No wanna-be professional in their right mind (unless a raging alcoholic that is able to function under extreme intoxication) is going to drink their hangover away all day on Sunday and be functional for Monday morning. Unless you don’t value food and shelter and see it fitting to show up to work shitfaced. #adultlife Sundays are for misery and dread and meal prepping. Get used to it.

 

3. You’re going to stare at your stack of bills and wonder how in the actual hell you’re going to stay alive this month!?

Pay day is exiting for 5 minutes… then you get your calculator out (like a real adult) and deduct your mortgage, electricity, gas, internet, cable, car payment, student loans … and you’re negative 5 million dollars and realize that you’re fucking poor. Then you begin to rationalize your spending — If I go out and just pour the vodka from my freezer in this flask I’ll spend nothing!  Or I really need to lose a few pounds any way so I’ll just eat like 1 piece of lunch meat a day and drink coffee at work … that should be fine. Until it’s 12pm on Tuesday and you find yourself in a drive-thru binge eating oles and tacos because you’re slowly starving to death. Now you’re just fat and sad. Oh, and poor. Fat, sad and poor.

 

4. Car Insurance & any car expense is a personal attack.

I don’t want to have to pay for this! Why didn’t my parents tell me it was so insanely expensive to own a car!? I’ll take the BUS, for the love of God I’ll take the Bus! How much for new tires!? Do I HAVE to put new tires on this thing? Do I really neeeeed to be insured though? Is there any way I can counterfeit that little sticker for my license plate? All of these are questions I have disappointingly asked my parents.

 

In short, being an adult is utterly disappointing. It’s expensive, depressing and ultimately a fucking disaster. Stay in college as long as you can. Or live at home. Forever.