Raw?

I was sitting at the table reading a health magazine the other day. It was mostly about people switching to a raw, vegan diet. I'm one of those people who can't read anything without sharing it with someone so I was telling my mom about what I had read. My mom sort of jokingly challenged me to eat raw for two days. Two days isn't long so I decided to do it.

I’ve been eating nothing but fruits and vegetables, raw milk cheese (I didn’t go vegan btw), and nuts.

I haven’t minded it much. I’m just a lot hungrier. I’ve been eating so many bananas and oranges. Fruit is filling it just doesn't keep me going long!

I had a banana when I got up this morning

And an orange for breakfast with a few walnuts.

A little bit of a not so great tasting beet, apple, celery, and carrot juice that my mom made with the juicer she got for Christmas.

A salad for lunch with another small orange.

A few nuts as a snack

And a small apple and (can you guess?) another orange for supper. I’m sure my vitamin C level is good!

I’ve heard that people who go raw have re
ally good skin and they feel really energized. Raw food is much easier on the digestive system.

I like fruits…and I like salads too but I don’t really think I’m ready to take the raw food plunge. I don’t think that being a raw foodie would be very good all the time. I don’t really care for meat but I do like bread and chocolate. J

Being a vegan isn’t for me. I hate milk but I like cheese and that’s my main source of calcium. I know vegans have other ways of getting calcium and protein but the cheese we get is SO good for you. I’ve been eating it since I was three. It’s raw so all the enzymes haven’t been removed and besides…its good.

So I’m going to have a piece of toast for breakfast tomorrow and be happy that I can have a bit of chocolate too...not for breakfast btw.

After all the only thing you really need to be satisfied is chocolate! Choc-o-late. It’s a wonderful thing.

Now Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate? That’s even better.

A Bit About Ballet

I rarely do a post devoted to ballet but decided I’d do one now.



Here are a few ballet myths clarified. This is going to be fun....:)
Myth 1: “Dancers tie their pointe shoe ribbons up around their knees.”


It may work for the Barbie Doll Ballerina but I’m not sure how it would work for a human. Ribbons go around the ankles.


Myth 2: All that dancers do is float around on a stage.


Think about it, you’re making (or in my case trying to make) something difficult look easy. It ain’t easy.


Myth 3: Pointe shoes are made out of wood.


I always thought that they were, but actually its a very long process where layers of materials are molded together with shellac to form a hard supportive shoe.


Myth 4: Dancers have eating disorders


No, this is not true about all dancers. Yes, there are some dancers who struggle with this, and some dancer might be pressured to be really thin but not all dancers are anorexic. Dancer have to eat, otherwise their energy wouldn’t be up. Some people think that if you eat your going to gain weight. Dancers are athletes; they burn a lot of calories! Besides baking is too much fun!


Myth 5: "How can you make your body do that? I couldn't!"


Really a lot about ballet is just plain work. I’m a very unflexible person by nature. God didn’t give me muscles that stretch like taffy. It took me forever to do a split. Most people can dance, try it if feels really good. 


Myth 6: Rosin is for baseball players and gymnasts.


Pointe dancers put rosin on their shoes to keep the satin from slipping while dancing. I have a big bruise on my knee from falling the other day form lack of rosin. Rosin is wonderful stuff, I should have used more!


Myth 7: Ballet is for little girls.


No Way! Maybe the reason people think that is because girls drop out when they get to be thirteen or so. Classes get smaller and smaller the older you get. Fortunately I like small classes better. 



"Are You Sure Ballet Honors God?"


When the founder of Ballet Magnificat! became a Christian she was told that she had to give up ballet. But instead she and her husband began the first Christian ballet company in the US and have since taken the Gospel around the world.


After all God said to, “Praise His name with dancing.”


I was blessed with a Christian studio when I was growing up where the music was uplifting, the costumes weren’t a problem, and the atmosphere was really encouraging. The focus was where it needed to be. Since then I’ve been in other studios where this isn’t the case. It comes down to focus. Its about Jesus, and the praise you are giving Him, He's the reason to dance.

 I’m sixteen with almost eleven years of ballet under my belt. I still have years of work ahead of me. An insurmountable amount of work it seems. Sometimes I’ll leave a class and think how bad I've done. I’m a perfectionist can you tell?

Then I think, if I’m supposed to be a professional dancer I will be. If I work hard enough maybe… If not than I’ve got a host of other interests, passions, and pursuits.


I’ll be what God’s made me to be.


And boy, I’m excited about finding out what that is.

some (random) thoughts and feelings on this snowy Thursday

Some days the words for blogs come easier than others. Some days I can’t think of anything to write and others and can’t decide what to write because I have so many ideas in my head.

There’s more snow on the ground. When it started coming down my mom and I were like, “If this was Georgia, we’d be flipping out!”

I love snow. I like winter but I have to say that it would be wonderful to have a sunny day. I want to see the SUN! I need some vitamin D, some nice rays of sunshine.

I’ve been a little homesick. Not that bad but just a little twinge now and then. Listening to Michael Buble sing “Georgia On My Mind” gives me a bit of nostalgia.  

“There’ll always be Georgia…..”

Enough of that. J

I’m off to  watch House Hunters! I hope it’s an interesting location, Europe is the best!

 I Love this little face!

A few of my thoughts on this gray Monday

Today is so very gray. But at least its not freezing!

My iPod is not even a month old. This morning the pause/wake button got jammed. I fiddled and fiddled with it and it wouldn’t work. I got a hold of Apple and I’m sending it for repair. I was sweating there for a minute.


Mondays are busy. My mom drives me over an hour away for ballet on Mondays. They say that a gift is only a gift if it costs you something. I know this is a gift because time is not something my mom has in abundance! I’m very blessed to have her, she is wonderful.

I’ve decided that algebra and chemistry simply aren’t compatible with my brain type.


I’m reading a really good book right now. It’s called “Radical, Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream” by David Platt. I highly recommend it!

For an ending note, I’m including an excerpt from my favorite book, “Do Hard Things”


“If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music…sweep streets like Shakespeare composed wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.” ~M.L.K

“Take up your Viking challenge to do small hard things. The fact that you face the unwanted tasks is not a mistake; it’s an opportunity. That’s why we encourage you to put your full weight into every stroke of the oar.

And because God is good, by doing what He has put before you with all your heart, regardless of whether it appears significant or not, you will find yourself benefited and strengthened, ready for the next big thing.”

snow boys and girls

 I built a snowman with the boys on Friday. Baby, it was cold outside!:) They had made a little man that afternoon so Levi wanted this to be a snow girl. My scarf was supposed to make it look more girly. Did it work?

 Here's the boy

 I love this picture

He's going to crack up when he sees these.....
Or he's going to get mad.
Probably the later....

Does This Shirt Make Me Look British?

One of my Christmas presents was this t-shirt shown below, except mine is in black. Lydia gave it to me. Honestly it was the best present she ever gave me. It completely and totally screams my name.

Yes, I’m fascinated by Britain. As if you haven't already noticed. :P :)

Well, by Europe in general, and Australia.

The only show that I really like on HGTV is House Hunters International.

I think it’s so cool to see the different places and the different ways of life.

So tell me where would you like do go?

London? Melbourne? Belfast? Rome? Paris?

time to begin again

Every year people make promises to themselves to be better in the New Year. I am no exception. Ha

Last year I made a list of all the things that I would like to accomplish in the New Year.  Spend more time outside…eat more veggies…find a new hobby...go to bed earlier…learn how to cook better.

Some of them I’ve stuck with and others, well let’s just say that they barely lasted to February.

I thought that my new hobby was going to be gardening. Yeah right. Gardening is something that I simply have never enjoyed. Maybe I need to give it more time but it’s really isn’t something that interests me a whole lot. That’s more my mom and Lydia’s department.

I tried growing herbs in little pots a couple times and I over watered them and they stopped growing. So I stopped trying.

I am determined to have a flower garden this year though. It would be so fun to be able to arrange my own flowers! Hydrangeas are my favorite. I wonder how hard those are too keep alive?

I may not have taken up gardening as a hobby but I did take up running. And I feel a lot better about that than if I had bushels of flowers.

Anyway, back to the topic of resolutions. I have a few. Not quite as many as last year (I had twenty something) but enough to keep me busy.

In 2011 I want to…

Hold my tongue

Speak kindly even when I don’t feel like it

Eat a healthier diet…more protein

Not be forgetful

Learn to be more selfless

Not worry what people might think of me.

Stand strong against temptations even when it’s really, really hard

Find a way to make money (would anyone care for ballet lessons?)

And in the words of Eleanor Roosevelt “Do something every day that scares you”

Show the love of Jesus in my words and actions. Pray that God will use me to bring someone to Him.

Find new friends and opportunities in my new town.

Be a better sister and daughter. Be more caring.

Be willing to stand up when it’s tough.

Be better in chemistry and algebra. Ha

Be a better dancer.

Make a point to smile.

And finally, as always, DO HARD THINGS! 

Look to the New Year with hope. And like my mom say’s, with excitement at what it holds.

Be willing to share. Be willing to work. Be willing to change. Be willing to love. Be willing to care. Be willing to smile.

God bless you all!

It’s now 2011 A.D. wow.

Here's a song I really love from Sanctus Reel,

So get out there and head into the first week of the New Year with a smile on your face knowing that Jesus will carry you through it…and the other 51 weeks to come!

It’s time for healing, time to move on,
it’s time to fix what’s been broken too long
Time to make right what has been wrong;
it’s time to find my way to where I belong

Chorus:
There’s a wave that’s crashing over me, and all I can do is surrender
Whatever You’re doing inside of me
It feels like chaos, but somehow there’s peace
And it’s hard to surrender to what I can’t see, but I’m giving in to something heavenly

Time for a milestone, time to begin again, re-evaluate who I really am
Am I doing everything to follow Your will or just climbing aimlessly over these hills?
So show me what it is You want from me
I give everything – I surrender

Chorus:

Time to face up, clean this old house
Time to breathe in and let everything out that I’ve wanted to say for so many years
Time to release all my held back tears

Whatever You’re doing inside of me
It feels like chaos, but I believe …
You’re up to something bigger than me
Larger than life, something heavenly

Whatever You’re doing inside of me
It feels like chaos, but now I can see
This is something bigger than me
Larger than life
Something heavenly, something heavenly

Time to face up, clean this old house
Time to breathe in and let everything out