I'd Like to Add . . .

This semester of college is officially over as of last friday when I emailed my english teacher my final essays.  Halleluyer! I just checked and the last time I posted here was almost a month ago. It definitely feels like waaaay longer though and I've been itching to write again.  I've basically abandoned my podcast the past few weeks as well and while I don't feel all guilt tripped to be more consistent about these things, I really just want to do them more often simply because I enjoy them.  Probably needless to summarize, I've been busy.  But not always with matters I had no choice in.  Some of the busyness came from having spent my time reading or watching netflix shows while I cleaned my room or crocheting (or trying to) a full-size blanket or just chilling with Jake, etc. etc. etc.  Truth is that yes, I've been busy but no, I didn't have to be as busy as I have been.  However, being busy, I have accomplished things and I'm glad about that.  I guess it

I'm just here to say hi and tell you what's on my mind. It's been a short-ish past two weeks (or at least they seemed like it).  They had ups and downs and turning arounds (I don't exactly know what that would mean, but it rhymed, ok?). I have added a podcast to the mix since I posted last (which I think was October 19th).  I guess I'm spreading myself a little thinner with both of those projects now as opposed to when I just had a blog to share my thoughts through. Basically, most of the time, I might post a little further and fewer between through both of the venues than I would if I only had one but I'm okay with that.  I like the variety of them both.  They stretch me differently.  This brings me to think that I'm excited for more of the creative outlets that I'll discover through life that will prove to stretch me but are enjoyable and in the end, worth it.  Another of these enjoyable stretches I've discovered is school.  I really enjoy learni

Oh, that struggle between the things I thought made up who I was and the things I choose now to be the person I want to be. I know that my identity lies untouchable in Jesus and the fact that He vouches for the wretch that I once was.  I'm not saying that things I do can either save or damn me.  Besides accepting Jesus, there isn't anything.  I'm talking about the kind of person I am. To gain those things you never thought possible, you have to give up things you never have(or something like that).  We've all heard a variation of the thought before, but I find myself making the choice again and again to give up those things I've grown used to in myself that really don't mean all that much to me for the sake of gaining things much, much better. It's hard to give up the McDisgusting in exchange for a steak dinner if you've only ever driven the road to McDonald's.  It's habit.  You might even be craving a filet mignon but the simple truth is tha

Instead of falling limp at the first sign of imperfection let's do the work that makes things and people great. Sweat, tears, prayers, trust. Instead of cowering away from ideas for amazing things because we don't feel adequate, let's decide to do our best and let God fill in the rest. Instead of looking at the sea of messes that need to be cleaned up and losing heart, let's start with what we can affect and watch The Lord use the ripples to reach far and wide.  Instead of slumping into the persona attributed to this generation, let's keep our heads up but chins down and show them that's not what we're about. Instead of selling out to the easiest thing, let's learn to wait for the good ones. Because there are good ones. Were actually promised to reap a harvest of righteousness if we don't lose heart and give up. I don't know exactly what that is, but I know it is worth it and I know it's good. Instead of building who we ar

So this Podcast thing.  It's finally coming together a little bit more.  I have my cover art, changed the name, actually got the cover art up, and posted my second podcast.  Yay! So on iTunes, now you can find it by searching "I'd like to add" and it should come up.  The cover art looks like this so you know what to look for.  My sister took the photo (I wish I had), and I really like it.  I like how it kind of represents how these thoughts are just there, in the middle of a world full of comings and goings.  Anyway, if you're into that sort of thing, go check out the podcast!

I said I'd let you know when the Podcast was a go so... the podcast is a go (said in a Squidward voice).  Just kidding I'm really glad about it. You're reading the typing of a Podcast owner! That's actually what they call us.  It was tough and frustrating sometimes.  But it's all figured out now.  There I am!  Still working on cover art... The blog for the podcast is www.idliketopodcast.blogspot.com (see what I did?) although I don't so much foresee a lot of content actually going on the actual blog, that's where it is.  It's more intended as an audio (and maybe video) thing.  You can find it in iTunes by searching for "I'd like to Podcast". It's embarassing to hear myself speak and do dumb things like forget simple words when I go back and listen to my podcast recordings, but it's a fun, new, creative endeavor so I'm throwing my cringe-worthy moments of podcasting out the window and doing it.  Hope you enjoy!

Since begining my campaign of running around and eating good in order to be more healthy, I've talked mostly about the "running around" part and not so much about the "eating good" part. Yes, I am aware that you can't physically eat good(ness), but by "eatinig good" I mean eating well.   I just thought you should know that I know the difference.  Onward... A few weeks ago, I was pondering the "whole 30" program some people are doing.  I have gathered that the objective is to eat whole and unprocessed foods and leave out the rest for 30 days.  That would make sense.  I was considering doing that, and then I kept seeing good results from people around me focusing on consuming mostly raw and unprocessed foods and decided I would do the same, except adapt it for myself to be something sustainable for longer than 30 days.  So I started focusing on eating more fresh fruit and vegetables- Just taking them with me to school and work and filli

SO.  It's been 10 days since my last post, but it feels like longer.  I don't know what to attribute that to, although it has been a pretty busy 10 days for me. Let me recap what they've held. I posted last tuesday so I'll go from there. Tuesday: worked from 9-4, then went to meet my friend Lindsey for coffee on the other side of town and we discovered and walked around this trail by the Y, and it was beautiful.  I think I just came home and hung out there until Jake got off of work and then I hung out with him for a while. Wednesday: I had Math class at 9:30 and then went to work after class ended at 10:45.  I stayed at work until 4 and then went home, till Jake got off work spent time with him. Thursday: I woke up, decided I needed a shower, and took a shower (I'm not usually a morning showerer.  I prefer to go to sleep with that good clean feeling.)  Most of english class was a presentation about how to do research and use the library at the college so

Sunday was my first ever official 5k!  I'm sore but I am so glad I did it.  My sister ended up getting first place in her age group. What what! It was so nice to know they were doing this too, even if we weren't all together all the time. The day of the race though, everything wasn't super smooth.  I was late, which meant I couldn't warm up properly (like I'm used to).  I probably hadn't drank (drunk?) enough water that day, which meant I felt more tired than I probably really was.  I had gone to a going away party and a church picnic beforehand, at which I ate too much to wisely go and run a 5k right after.  But a lot of stuff went really well.  The handsomest chaufer around, or ever, for that matter. Jake drove me there and helped me get all my stuff together and ready to go, and to not freak out.  My dad and sister were there there too, running in the race.  Also, it wasn't super hot outside like it had been a few days earlier, and I wa

It might seem odd that I would write a post in memory of September 11, 2001.  I had no direct involvement.  No one that I personally knew died in the horrific event.  I wasn't even in the same country when it happened. But today, on September 11, 2013, I find myself more mindful and solemn about the whole thing than I have been before. I remember I was with my family at the home of some friends of ours.  My sister and I were playing or reading magazines, something like that.  I didn't even know what a World Trade Center was. The neighbor came running over and in a frazzled manner, said she had just seen on the news that the World Trade Center had been crashed into.  As an eight year old, I didn't really see why this was a bigger deal than any other plane crashes we heard about, but as my parents and their friends scrambled to find a radio to tune into BBC (the only live English news we had access to there), I realized that this must be a big deal. As I was in a differe

Welp, it's official.  I'm signed up for my first and second official 5k races!  The first is called the  Hustle for Hunger 5k and it will be on Sunday, September 15th at 4pm.  There isn't a reason in particular that I picked this specific race other than A) It was cheaper than some others I looked at (like the Color Me Rad 5k) and B) The proceeds go to good causes (google them if you want to know more). ___________________________________________________________ The second race (and the one I'm most excited for) is A Hope Center's 5k race -  Strides of Hope . This one will be almost a week later, on September 21 at 8:30 a.m. (I know.  I'm not sure how I'll get myself out of bed to go running at such a horridly early hour on a Saturday morning either, but there is a pancake breakfast afterword so that should help.) The organization benefiting from this 5k provides free Pregnancy and Relationship resources to anyone who needs them.  This 5k is one

My number of posts in the last few weeks have been zero to none.  That's because I've been busy and/or haven't thought about it and for that I'm a little sorry but not too much so.  Ya see, life has been happening for me, and said life has been busier than normal.  I got back from vacation early in the morning on Friday, August 16th.  On the 18th, a bunch of my dad's side of the family came to town for a birthday party celebrating my grandpa's 95th birthday.  On the 19th, I had my first day of classes in 2 years and then went to work.  On tuesday of the same week, Jake started a new job (meaning a new schedule), and my sister's soccer games began.  I probably don't need to state this again, but it's been busy. I feel like I'm just now starting to get used to the new, fuller schedule.  If it's any consolation, blogging hasn't been the only thing I've been behind on.  My running has almost fully fallen to the wayside and don't even

I've appreciated John Mayer for years, although never as much as now.  While I've heard shady things about his character, I personally can't judge that.  I can judge what I think of his music- and I say it's good . I don't remember the first time I heard him, like I wouldn't remember the first time I met an old friend.  Not that I'm calling myself an old friend with John Mayer, (ha!) but his music has been a small part of my life and I respected and enjoyed his work for a long time.  I didn't appreciate his work this much though, until Jake, who is really into the Blues (and John Mayer) came into my life.  I didn't realize before how much of John Mayer's stuff is influenced by and includes the Blues (because most of his popular stuff doesn't go too in depth into it), but he does, and I like how he does it. Jake is also a big Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix fan and I like them (and am starting to more and more) but they take some ge

Tonight I will be off to the great state of Florida for vacation with a friend and her family.  I say great state but I really don't know that because I've never been there.  Mostly I just said it cause it rhymes I guess. Anyway... I'll be gone for a while from my normal life and  work and rest and everything in between.  I know it'll be a good time.  Like I wrote last time I left my normal life for a week , I will miss a few things though.  Now of course I realize that going away on vacation to the beach is much different than going away to be a camp counselor in the woods (and if you didn't know it, let me assure you, they are very different).  However, I'm still leaving home and my normal life behind and that will probably almost always be at least a little bit difficult for me- in one way or another. In other news, I haven't written about things I'm thankful for in a while and I apologize for that.  I know neglecting to post about things I'm

I still don't really know what to call this genre of posts on my efforts to become more healthy and fit. (I'll label them all with Running Around and Eating Good  for now. Hey, if you've got something better, let me know.) So a few runs ago, I reached a new goal that I'm sorta proud of. I ran my best time in a long time (probably since last summer) and reached a goal.    Now, don't guess too loftily about what it was, but it is a personal best and I'm proud of it.  I covered 3.1 miles (so, a 5k) in 37 minutes.  Part of what constituted that was my longest time running without stopping for a walking break (which is now 5 minutes).  I'm a little sore, and I can feel it in my body.  And maybe it's just me, but I think I can see a teeny tiny difference too, which is always a nice pat on the back after working hard.  I think there were a few things that helped me accomplish this though, and I want to share them in case they can help you too. Get comfy.

"The quality of any advice anybody has to offer has to be judged against the quality of life they actually lead." -I have no idea who said this. (I apologize for the lameness of the title.  I couldn't think of something better so I purposely went with 'Lame') I saw that quote on somebody's blog.  More specifically, I saw that on a previous teacher's blog who is a participant in my city's version of the biggest loser (except here it's called the smallest winner).  Reading his blog has prompted me to take a look at my own life and the choices that I can make to improve on my life, specifically in the area of health. The quote (though I'm not sure of it's origin) struck me as wise.  It glorifies walking the walk and not just talking the talk and based on some of my blog posts, I'm probably throwing myself under the bus by quoting this because I don't always do that.  But I guess Jesus is the only person who does that all the time

"And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them 'Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." I have often found myself slamming people in my thoughts - sometimes complete strangers, sometimes people I sort of know, sometimes people I know well and even those I love.  That sounds awful, doesn't it?   But it's true. On a seperate thought (or so I used to think), I've also often found myself afraid of what people will think of me- strangers or not.  I'm afraid they'll judge me to a crazy degree of strictness.  I'm afraid that no matter what I do or how I choose to live my life, someone somewhere won't like it and they'll scoff at me for it, if only in their head. As of recently, I've found out that there's really quite a strong correlation between these two things going on in my mind and heart. As much as I wouldn't want to admit it, I know that the way I've tr

I really like a lot of Indie music.  Some of it just goes real far out there on the weird-music-ometer but a lot of Indie music I come across I either like off the bat, or after a minimal amount of listens. There are two aspects to Indie music in my mind: 1. the sound of it and 2. the fact that it's not known by people who don't do their homework in the genre. Some bands *cough Gotye cough* have an Indie sound, but as far as social standing with the masses goes, they might as well be Kesha (yepp. I just spelled her name with out the dollar $ign.)  Don't get me wrong, I spend a good amount of time listening to the mainstream radio songs too (and sometimes, liking it).  It just doesn't hold the same liking to my musical palette as Indie does. To me, a big part of being an Indie artist is that you're not popular with everyone.  Because that probably means you have something unique and you're strong enough to be okay with not being liked by some people because

  This band (at least most of the music I've heard from them) is a little on the older side.  According to Wiki, they're together again after taking a hiatus a while back.  I've only more extensively listened to their older stuff, but looked them up on the youtube and I like their new stuff too (maybe better). (Keep in mind, this is based on their older albums) This band has a sound a bit like Panic at the Disco in songs where their male vocalist sings. They have an indie vibe, but it's an older indie sound.  Even though a lot of current indie music has an 80's or even 90's sound to it, this isn't that kind of older sound.  If we can call the 'other kind of older' sound "vintage", this is almost  a sort of stale sound.  However, as a 90's child, I don't mind. The biggest thing I appreciate about this band (and this song in particular) is the classical music aspects in harmony with modern.  There is the dramatic piano music,

In my post about going back to school this fall and the favor I've seen in the process,  I said I would expound on why I'm glad I spent two years out of school.  Now I know I don't always follow up on things I say I'll write "more on later" but I am for this. Let me begin with my plans as a high school senior. In high school I had quite a few changes of plans regarding what I would do after word.  For a while, I planned to go to Ball State. That fell off the wagon for a few reasons that I can't remember now.  A local University was my next consideration, but something kept me from deciding to go for that full fledge.  The plan then became to go to a 6 month school at a Christian organization (more for personal growth than academic gain).  I prayed about that more and realized that I didn't actually feel like God was pointing me to that (although I'm sure if I had gone, it would have been great).  When I let that go, I didn't have a replace