When you don't feel like blogging...

Hehe! I love "hey girl" memes!  This one is my favorite so far.  Happy Friday!!

How to be a Runner

1. Be Crazy

2. Enjoy Torture

That's me (in blue) covered in mud!

Just kidding! I really believe that we can all be runners.  You may not be fast but you can put one foot in front of the other and run.  The problem is there are so many "problems" surrounding running... it's hard on your body, you get injured easily, it's hard on your feet, etc.  Those things can be true, but there are ways for dealing with it!  The biggest thing is running properly and not overdoing it.  Recently, I did a presentation on proper running techniques in school so I will share a couple tips that are often overlooked or misunderstood.

-- Don't stretch your legs way out!! Your feet should land below your hips.  Often people think they need to take big strides when you are running, but you don't!

-- Look up!  Don't allow your head to slouch forward when you are tired.

-- Use your arms to propel you forward.  Don't hold your shoulders up, keep arms at a 90 degree angle.  Swing back and forth, but don't twist them in front of your body as this only slows you down!

-- Land mid foot.  This isn't always agreed upon by running experts, but I believe it is safe to say that this is probably the most safe way to run.  It reduces shock on the body and prevents stain caused by "heel striking"

I think learning to run is awesome, so I hope that you will utilize these tips and try going for a run! I always say that once I have gone on my run for the day, I have done one of the most challenging things I will do all day.  Let today be the day!

The Problem With Fire

I have a fiery tongue.  I am opinionated on many things (btw, what is with the word opinionated? It sounds made up) and tend to speak my mind passionately on whatever topic comes up.  (You think public school is the way to go? Wrong! Your favorite basketball team is the Lakers? Stupid!  You think pizza is healthy? No way!)  Get the point?  I am quick to speak.  

Ever since I wrote a post on using words wisely, I have been working on holding back my tongue.  While there is definite improvement, I still have a long way to go!

The tongue also is a fire... no human being can tame the tongue.  James 3:6,8

What does the tongue being a fire mean?  Yes, we know that fire is dangerous, especially when out of control.  But it also got me thinking... what does happen when fire gets out of control? We get burned!  I've done a bit of research on burns for school and know that burns are one of the most painful injuries.  Burn victims often develop post traumatic stress disorder because of the sheer pain of burn surgery.  In fact, burn victims have support groups because the pain often lasts the rest of their lives.  The point is, burns are lifelong.  

Maybe I am stretching this analogy a bit too far, but I think if we stop and think about it, it's true.  The careless, meaningless words we speak can sting for a long time.  But when we purposefully attack and harm others with hateful words, those words can be destroying.  They can destroy trust, confidence, happiness.  How scary that we can have that impact on other's lives.  Think before you speak.  

Let your words speak love.  

It's....

SPRING BREAK TIME!

For me, that means lots of relaxing time.  I get to go to bed late and wake up after 6 am!  I get to eat ice cream any time I want (technically I can eat ice cream even when I am school but it's Spring break so... EXTRA ICE CREAM!) I also can go to Bekka's house and karaoke.  Bekka, if you're reading this, I hope that's ok with you.  I can wear my favorite item(s) of clothing, my robes (I have 3).  I can read a book, or 7.  Oh, yeah, did I mention I can eat more?  It's so much better to be able to eat at home than out of a lunch box. 

What does Spring break mean for you? Relaxation?  Fun?  Travel?

Bad Breath in a Casserole Dish.

Mmm, that sounds enticing doesn't it? :-)  Enjoy a little cheesy bad breath!

 

 

2 large sweet onions, sliced

16 oz cooked penne rigate pasta

Cheese Sauce:

1 TBSP butter

2 TBSP flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

2 cups skim milk

1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream

1/2 cup Gruyere cheese, shredded (WARNING: this stuff smells nasty!! I can't stand Gruyere so I substituted cheddar)

3 slices bacon, crumbled

Topping:

1/2 cup panko crispy bread crumbs

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil 

Heat a little olive oil in skillet and add onions over medium heat.  Cook 10 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until tender and starting to brown.  Reduce heat to medium low and cook 35 minutes longer, stirring frequently, until deep golden brown.

Spray 2 quart dish with cooking spray; pour pasta into dish and keep warm.

In 3 quart saucepan, melt butter.  Stir in flour, salt, pepper and mustard with wire whisk. Cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and bubbly; remove from heat.  Gradually stir in milk.  Heat to boiling, stirring constantly; boil and stir 1 minute.  Remove from heat; stir in onions and remaining cheese sauce ingredients.  

Pour cheese sauce over pasta.  Sprinkle with topping ingredients.  Bake uncovered 10 minutes or until heated through at 400 degrees.

Random Fun!

The Liebster Award

Melanie from the VanWynsberg Nest nominated me for this award for up and coming bloggers! Thanks Melanie! I must admit I broke the rules a little because nominees are supposed to have less than 200 followers but I picked some who had a few more.  Whatcha gonna do?  Let's play! 

Rules

1. Answer the 11 questions the blogger who nominated you asked you

2. Give 11 random facts about yourself
3. Nominate 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers
4. Create 11 questions for the nominees to answers

Questions from Melanie

1. What is a favorite childhood memory you have?

I'd say some of my very favorite are playing with my brothers.  We liked to play in those big PlaySkool tents.  We would set them all up in the living room and connect them with tunnels, drape blankets over them and fill them with pillows! 

2. Were you more of a tomboy or princess growing up?

Princess.

3. What is a dream you have?

To make a difference.  To show people that Jesus is real.  To love.

4. What is an accomplishment you are proud of?

Making this blog! It was scary but I love it so much.

5. Whose a hero in your life?

Peter (the apostle)

6. What is one fear you have?

Rejection. 

7. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Anywhere my family is. 

8. Do you have a current favorite TV show, if so, what is it?

No

9. What is one of your favorite quotes?

 

10. Do you like to cook or bake?

I like to cook a lot. It's relaxing.

11. What's an interesting fact about yourself?

I like to Karaoke, a lot.

Randoms about me:

1. I love, love, love macaroni and cheese

2. I like weird combinations of food like tuna and pineapple

3. My very favorite place to get ice cream is Coldstone (are you sensing a food theme here? I'll stop)

4.  I used to be a legit ballerina.  I have the bunions to prove it.

5. I get 8 hours of sleep every night

6.  I recently discovered I can sort of hit a baseball ((wooow))

7. I have learned how to play lots of instruments but can't stick with any of them

8. I adore roller coasters

9. I find public speaking extremely exhilarating

10. I'm excited that next week I will be running my farthest distance so far (7 miles)

11. I like to paint rooms.  It is a secret skill I have (not so secret anymore)

Nominees:

1. Lauren from Musings of a Flower Child 

2. Courtney from exodus31three 

3. Chelsea from Taste and See 

4. Ashton from Landing on Love 

5. Abigail from A is for Abs 

6. Mikaela from Mikaela Rae 

7. Kellene from This Lovely Little Day 

8. Mindy from Best. Day. Ever. 

9. Elizabeth from Moonlight Goodbyes 

10. Lauren from Lauren's Latest 

11. Michelle from Filling in the Dots 

Can't wait to read your answers!!

Questions for my nominees:

1. What inspires you?

2. Favorite song at the moment?

3. Roller coasters... love them or hate them?

4. What is a book you love?

5. What do you do to generate blog ideas?

6. Have you ever been injured?

7. What is your favorite thing about blogging?

8. If you get an hour of free time, what do you do?

9. What was your favorite subject in elementary school?

10.Tell us a funny story about yourself.

11. What is your favorite animal?

My Trip to the Emergency Room.

Every Friday, I intern at a skilled nursing facility.  This basically means I follow a Physical Therapist around all morning and stand A LOT.  Last week, I fainted.  Yes, fainted... which resulted in the paramedics being called and a big ruckus at the skilled nursing facility.  Guess they aren't used to 21 year olds being sick there.  

Turns out my blood sugar and blood pressure were really low.  Since I had eaten that morning, they didn't really know why so I was taken in the ambulance to the hospital, where I waited for hours to find out that they couldn't find out anything wrong with me.  

Just so you know, it is surprisingly embarrassing to faint and be wheeled out of somewhere on a gurney.  It is also embarrassing when the paramedics pull up your pant leg to find that you are wearing Mary Janes and knee high stockings.  

So my advice to you is to never wear knee highs.  Then you don't have to worry about this embarrassment.  I, however, wore them again today. I guess some people never learn...

 

 

Let's Talk About Textbooks!

If you are a student like me, your internal conflict probably probably goes similarly at the beginning of each semester:

Should I buy my textbooks?  Where from...the school bookstore?  Amazon?  Or should I rent them? Sell them back to the bookstore for a few bucks at the end of the semester?  Would I make more money selling them on Ebay?  

 

Sound familiar? It's FRUSTRATING!! Which is why I'm so excited about a cool site I recently heard about-- Campus Book Rentals.  This is a site where you can rent your books online.  Why should you?  Here are just a few of the perks of renting your textbooks:

YOU SAVE A TON OF MONEY! Renting books costs a lot less than buying them in the bookstore

You get FREE shipping, both ways. 

You can still highlight and write in your books!  I was always worried with this about rental books.

The rental dates are flexible, so you get a bit of a grace period at the end of the semester.  If you procrastinate a bit, it's not a big deal!

They donate to an awesome company called Operation Smile that heals children internationally of their cleft lips!  Did you know that a child is born with a cleft lip every three minute?  These children have trouble eating, speaking, and smiling.  Sadly, 1 in 10 of them will die before age 1. 

Pretty great program, huh?  But since it is March right now, you probably aren't thinking about getting books anytime soon.  However, as the end of this semester approaches, you WILL be thinking about what to do with your books.  Why not trying renting them out? Campus Book Rentals has an awesome program that allows you to rent your books out and get paid.  Check it out in the following video.

Go check Campus Book Rentals out... I will definitely be doing so!

*While I am receiving compensation for this post, I would not promote it if I did not believe it to be a worthwhile cause.

Come get your Target gift card!

Somehow Chaotic | Chestnut Mocha | Marine Wife, Mommy, Life

Little Country Girl | The Frugal Foodie Mama | Britt Renee

The Domestic Fringe | Dear Brighton | Beauty Without Limits

Pretty Little Inspirations | One of Five | Pure Joy

Peace It All Together | Sunday Charm | This Little Light

Pink on the Cheek | Giveaways & Sweepstakes / Famous Free Samples | The Life of a Not So Ordinary Wife

Dreaming About Someday | Do Small Things with Love | Gone Yonkers

Pondered Primed Perfected | Glossy Blonde | Delightful Dream


Enter to win a $165 Target Gift card!! Good luck!
 

 

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In which professors should learn to be professors

I have big news... I applied last month to graduate next semester.  By December of this year, I will be a college graduate... AHHH.  Crazy stuff. 

Which means, that I am getting down to the end.  The classes I am taking theoretically should prepare me for my future job.  Which SHOULD mean that my professors are great.  Some are, but many are not.  In particular, my professor for my class where we learn all the origins, insertions, and actions of the muscles.  Pretty important stuff that needs a good professor to teach it.  

I kid you not, in the five weeks I have been in his class, our professor has not lectured one time.  Every single class we do group presentations which we learn nothing from.  In our lab, instead of studying models, we do more group presentations.  To make things worse, after our presentations are over, he makes us sit in a circle and talk about our feelings.  No joke! This frustrates me to no end.  Ughhh, I am so tired of bad professors! I have had some excellent professors over the years and I always make a point of telling them how much I appreciate them.

Alright, the rant is over.  Go thank your wonderful teachers.  

Your daily laugh

Fearfully and wonderfully made.

Happy Monday! Hope y'all had a great weekend. I spent Saturday helping Joy clean her new house (whoo hoo!) and then Sunday at church and relaxing at home.  I wrote a few weeks ago about those feelings of inferiority that creep into your mind at the worst moments.  You know, when you think your hair looks great and then you see someone whose hair looks ten times better.  Or you think you did great with your 95% on a test until you look over and see the person next you... 98%.  BAM!  You feel inferior.  How do you fight it?  Here are a few suggestions.  


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God first.  

Remember, He created us.  He made us look and feel the way we do.  He says we are treasures.  Let's believe that we are.

Stop focusing on yourself.  

Often, we get so consumed in our own lives-- our failings, our looks, ourSELVES that we forget that it isn't always about us.  I find that if I stop thinking about myself for a second and throw myself into something more useful such as helping someone or working on a project, my mood improves immensely.  When you are hard at work, you won't take time to think about the ways you don't measure up.  

Have humility.  

This may seem counterintuitive, because if we feel inferior aren't we already being humble? I would suggest that this is not the case.  I think the real reason for feeling inferior can come from the fact that we have a lot of pride.  We want to be the best, smartest, prettiest girl around.  When we aren't, we feel inferior.  A realization that there will always be someone smarter or prettier than us can actually overcome that feeling of inferiority because we become content with ourselves the way we are.  

Are You An Alien?

I hope you all don't mind when I do brain dumps on you from classes I've heard.  If you do, stop reading now because I'm at it again.  I just listened to a great class and I'm going to share with you what inspired me from it.  If you'd like to hear the whole class, I would highly recommend giving it a listen here (Craig Blewett class 4).

So here it is... your friendly reminder to be an alien:

When the world looks at us, what do they see?  Do they see someone just like everyone else? Hopefully not.  Because the people God tells us to be like are NOT like the rest of the world.  It is easy for us to love those who love us.  But not so easy to love our enemies.  Definitely not so easy to turn the other cheek.  So, do we?  Because if we do, people around us will take note... we will be alien.

So think about Paul and Barnabas singing hymns in prison.  That's a little alien for us.  Think about Joseph freely forgiving his brothers.  Lastly, think about Jesus dying on a cross for us.  THAT is the definition of alien.  Our love should stand out to the people around us, because God's love is so far removed from the love most people know.   

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Here's to being aliens!!