A Challenge? Bring It On.

I'm a rules person. I don't like being told what to and what to not do, however I like following rules and guidelines. This is especially true when it comes to writing. When teachers assigned a paper in high school and gave me a prompt to follow, I was all set. Consider the paper written. If I did not have an assigned paper topic, I'm headed toward procrastination. It's a fact.

This is different though. I can think of things to write about, however finding the time to write them down is sometimes hard; however, I love my blog and want to use it! So, I've decided to participate in the 30 Day Blog Challenge. If there is one thing I learned from my childhood/brother: never back down from a challenge. I cannot guarantee that this will be the normal challenge though; it will probably end up being the 20 or so Day Challenge (What can I say? I don't like some of the topics.) So here goes....

15 Interesting Facts

1. I learned my right from my left by a "L" shaped scar on my left arm.

2. I've been up in a hot air balloon.

3. I have 24 cousins on my mom's side of the family. (Christmas is so crazy and wonderful.)

4. I'm addicted to working out.

5. I'm even more addicted to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

6. If it's possible, I'm more addicted still to Crystal Bay. (The best drink you will ever taste!)

7. I have climbed a glacier.

8. I have spent the night in an authentic tee-pee

9. I have traveled to Australia.

10. I chose to come to UGA because I would be closer to my brother and because the security here is awesome!

11. I quote movies like it is my job. (I should get a raise!)

12. I am terrified of roller-coasters.

13. I have been on swim team since I was six.

14. My worst fear is drowning. (I'm a swimmer, but still...)

15. I'm really not that interesting.

Mom. Dad. I love you.

It's been a few weeks since I have posted. I'm sad at this fact, but that also means that I have not been procrastinating on my homework. However, I have been wanting to write on this specific topic for awhile and I figure now is as good a time as any.
First of all, my parents are amazing. Period. No questions asked. My brother and I had an amazing childhood, awkward pre-teen stage, and teenage years. (For my brother, I suppose this can go into adulthood, because he's officially 21!) We were trusted by our parents and disciplined when we needed to be. My dad gave me a love for laughter, classic rock, and never paying for something that you can fix yourself. My mom taught me how to deal with friends, act like a "lady," and hunt down a sale. In a quick overview, I freaking love my parents.
While I usually acknowledge and thank them for doing something for me, they deserve so much more. This year was the first year that I went on Spring Break with just a group of friends, no adults. Was it crazy? If you consider laying on the beach for 6 hours a day, cooking dinners, watching tv, and going to sleep fairly early crazy. Then, yes, we had a crazy Spring Break. On the way back home, I was going a little fast on the highway (Not ok! Don't ever do it! It's scary and dangerous!) and was pulled over. Let's just say that I was shaking so badly that I could not sign the ticket without really, really concentrating. It was my first, and hopefully my last, encounter with law enforcement. I was debating about whether or not to tell my parents. Well, I did in the end. They were not happy, I was not happy, but they helped me.
Family is there through thick and thin, good and bad. I know that a speeding ticket is not the extreme definition of "bad," but for me it was a terrifying event. They were there for me. I can't even say how much it meant to me. It still blows my mind how great they are to me. So, Mommy and Dear-ole-dad, I love you!

Thank you, Richie!

In high school, everyone is identified by what they do: academics, sports, and/or clubs. For me, it was a combination of those three. I pushed myself academically and I was a swimmer. However, I consider my defining activity to be student government, or Mane Link. Cue the weird looks. Mane Link, at my school, was one of the crucial pieces that made our school exceed and be recognized nationally. It was the best experience that I could have had. I learned so much in the two years that I was heavily involved. Although some of the things that I learned were based on mistakes that I made, I learned the most from the Mane Link sponsor and Assistant Principal, Richie. He was and still is amazing. He put all of his faith, financial and otherwise, in Mane Link. We had a large budget that we had to regulate, plan multiple events to plan, and be leaders in the school.

Now, I say leader, but what does that mean? I don't have an all-encompassing definition and neither did Richie (that I know of). Leader is defined in many ways, however my favorite definition of leadership is "a leader builds more leaders, not more followers." Richie was a leader and, at first, we followed his and the previous year's executive board's direction. Yet, the faith and motivation that he displayed shaped my perspective on my school work, my relationships, my future, and every other part of my life. (I love telling him this, because he did have such a positive impact on my life. I still don't think that he believes his impact on me, though.)

One of the best things that Richie did was praising our well planned and executed events, but always saying that we could improve the next year. I think some of my friends would like to hurt him for this because I always want to improve, do better, and help others. It frustrates me sometimes, too. If a person doesn't understand the point of something or has an awful attitude, I go crazy because I do have high expectations. I'm glad that I do, though, and I have him to thank.

Therefore, I am giving up on the thank you e-mails that I always send him, and, instead, I am dedicating a blog to him. (Highest honor, right here.) When I am asked about my role model, after the Lord and my family pass through my mind, I think of Richie. He always gave back; whether it was his energy, his money, or his time, he gave to others. I strive to make the personal, yet small sacrifices that he made to empower me and make me a better person. The right thing isn't always the easiest. Actually, I'd argue that it is pretty much never the easiest thing, but I always want to go the extra mile and do the right thing because, while my parents taught me this, Richie pushed me to that higher level. Usually, I tie in a biblical verse here, but I'm going to end this with his favorite quote.

"It takes a village to raise a child." ~ African Proverb

Picture or Picture Frame?

I have been having a tough time recently. Nothing major, but I have hit a few bumps in my life and have been trying to deal with them. (Hint: "deal with them" means that I pray 10x more then I normally do.) I am blessed to have friends that share in my similar beliefs and I love to celebrate with them.
Tonight, I went to a worship session, so to speak, that focused on spreading the Word of our Lord to everyone. The message was for men and women especially in the Greek system, where it is easy to fall into the trap of drinking, hanging out with the wrong people, and, to sum it all up, absorb yourself with worldly things. So often, whether you are Greek or not, we fall into the trap of putting all of our focus, effort, and time into a new cell phone, a boyfriend or girlfriend, school work, Facebook, things that fill nothing in our hearts. I like to call them distractors. I'm not talking about Facebook (or in my case, this blog) distracting you from writing that paper that is due tomorrow. I am talking about the superficial things that, 10 years down the road, won't really matter. These distractors take us away from the Lord.
An easy way to think about this is the optional assignment that my English teacher gave to my class senior year in high school. We were told to write a note to our parents. (Shhhh....Don't tell my parents about this, they think I'm the sweetest kid ever!) We didn't turn it in to my teacher, we didn't even write it during the school year. The letter was a thank you note to our parents for everything that they had ever done for us: make your lunch, teach you how to tie your shoe, tuck you into bed, you name it. It was all up to you. The big tear-jerker part of this is that we left the letter somewhere at home, so that our parents would find it the first night or morning that we were away at college. This little assignment is near and dear to my heart and my parents. I would bet money that the three pages that I wrote to each of them means more then the Christmas presents that I gave them last year. The Christmas presents were materialistic.
All of these distractors were called into light tonight. One of the men who spoke used an analogy that I loved! He held up a solid black picture frame with no picture in it and said:

"When you look at a framed picture on a shelf, you look at it and say, 'Wow, what a great picture!' You don't say, 'What a great frame!' Me, you, we need to be a picture frame for the Lord. So when a person looks at you, they don't see you; rather, they see the Lord."

It just makes sense. We need to constantly reach out to others. Dropping the distractors and holding (or framing) the more and most important thing in life. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

A New Dish

Every person has a favorite restaurant. If you don't, your mouth must be sown shut and you cannot eat real food. If this is your case, I am so, so sorry; because, I do not know what I would do without delicious food.

At your favorite restaurant, you probably have a favorite meal. You can discover a favorite dish by trying different entrees or, if you are lucky enough, the first time you entered the restaurant, you chose the perfect meal and you now order it every time you go there. The latter applies to me for my favorite restaurant in Athens: Transmetropolitan. Transmet, for short, serves yummy Italian style food. Since Italian food is my absolute favorite, I was immediately drawn in. My meal of choice: a side salad with fresh mozzarella and a amazing slice of pepperoni pizza with thin, crunchy crust. I don't even bother looking at a menu.

Last night, however, I did something crazy. No, I didn't do what you are thinking of. I ordered something different (Cue the dangerous/adventuresome music). I ordered a panini with sauteed green peppers, red onions and portobello mushrooms with grilled chicken. It was delicious. 

La scoperta di un piatto nuovo è più preziosa per il genere umano che la scoperta di una nuova stella. From Italian to English: The discovery of a new dish is more precious to human beings than the discovery of a new star. Or at least this saying is true for me.

We are all so concerned about what we are putting into our bodies. I can't lie, I'm probably more concerned than most, but healthy eating habits are essential to a healthy life. But every once in awhile, roll up your sleeves and enjoy a new, different, and delicious meal at your favorite restaurant. Besides, can it really be considered your favorite restaurant if you have only had one or two things on the menu?

Bad Days

No, it did not rain today. However, it was one of those days where one thing after another did not go as well as I would have hoped. We all have them. The test was way harder than we anticipated. The printer would not work and you were in a time crunch. The e-mail that you had been waiting for for two weeks finally came, but it started with "unfortunately" rather than "congratulations." For me, the day that I just had contained all of these scenarios. The day were you just want to throw your hands up and say "Everything bad has happened. Is there really anything else that could go wrong?" At that moment, a truck hits a puddle and you are soaked. Thankfully, that did not happen to me today. My point is that we all go through them at one time.
You know when you are studying for a huge test and a friend is studying for a hard exam too? We take comfort in the fact that we are both studying for hours. It doesn't seem as bad if someone is going though the same thing. So, why is it that, when we have bad days, nothing can top our sad stories. If you sit down to tell someone about the awful day that you just had and they try to pipe in with a mini-gloomy story, you hit them with a massive, look out for your lives, soap opera of your life. The bitterness started with one day, and somehow leaped into your entire life. Why don't we feel comforted?
I wish I had the answer, because I would love to unleash my inner soap star. I don't though. (I know. Sad.) It seems as though the only things that will comfort me are my good friends Ben & Jerry, but my wardrobe doesn't approve of our love affair. So, I'm sorry Ben & Jerry. Maybe next time. 
For now and always, I am turning to God. For where a door closes, God opens a window. (I hope it's a big window though so my two friends can come along.) I might not find the window tomorrow, but it's there. Proverbs 3: 5-6  says "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."It's hard to do, especially on the bad days. God is the shoulder of all shoulders to cry on. Lean on him, and, in time, the bad day blues will disappear.

Where are the good guys?

It has occurred to me as the awful holiday, otherwise known as Valentine’s Day, has quickly approached that the good guys are dwindling. What happened to the men depicted in the black and white movies? The guys that stop you, pick you up, and carry you over a puddle so that you don’t get wet.

With Valentine’s Day tomorrow, and my plans including getting desert with some friends and doing homework, you could say I am a little bitter. I’m not upset about not having a guy (well, maybe a little). I’m sad because all of the good guys are taken, or, even worse, the women are just settling for the “eh, ok” guys.

My friends and I are talking about re-enacting the scene from the movie Valentine’s Day, hitting a heart-shaped piñata. This is a problem. Good guys, if you are out there, your appearance around town would be greatly appreciated. You are extremely missed.