Self-control

Self control is such an admirable trait, and one that I am not very good at! Whatever the circumstance I am very quick to cave in to pressure which as I learned the other day provides about a second and a half of fun and then some really negative thoughts afterwards.  Fortunately, God I think knows that I am not very controlled so there are some things He has removed from my life entirely so I am not tempted. Today I was able to get to read a little about self control in the Bible.

“Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.” Proverbs25:28 (NIV)

“So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled.” 1 Thessalonians 5:6

“But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.” 1 Thessalonians 5:8

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23

So hopefully I can just pray about this and it will get better! You can pray for me too if you want! How can I pray for you today???!

Also a friend showed me this video. You should watch it if you are feeling down. I got a good chuckle!

Zoolander clip

What did you do with your extra day?

February 29th only comes around every four years.  That's why it's awesome. (In scientific reality each day is actually 365 1/4 days, but for leap year purposes we will pretend that one is four years is 366 days!)

I decided today was an extra 'gift day' and got excited at all the great things!

It was my sister Katie's birthday. She is very supercalifragilistic and likes to wear only tutus. Happy 20th Katie... er Happy fifth?

I cleaned the entire track shack and made some ancient happiness tea and coconut granola for my roommates who are all pretty nice! What a good feeling. Get some ancient happiness tea from Gong Fu!

I went to the health fair where they tested my bone density, gave me a gift card to Takanami, and I received a free chair massage!

The extra day provided time to get an Americano at wake up Iowa City, bake sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts, go to Aldi, and run in extreme winds!

I hope you enjoyed your extra day this year!

let's get REAL

In our decision to try and avoid foods that have chemicals and things we can not pronounce in them, my roommate Mick, and I have gotten a little more creative in the kitchen.

The recent obsession is hummus.

For all hummus begin with:

-1 can of chickpeas 

-1 squeezed lemon

-2 garlic cloves

-2 tablespoons tahini

-1 tablespoon olive oil

-a dash of sea salt

-optional- sometimes I add more water if I want it to be smoother. The above recipe creates a very concentrated hummus!

Next: ADD WHATEVER and food process everything for some minutes.

Beet hummus- add 3 roasted beets.

Pumpkin curry hummus- add one cup of pumpkin and one tablespoon of curry

Sweet potato white bean hummus- substitute garbanzos for white beans and add a roasted sweet potato

Mick just made cilantro sun dried tomato! Coconut, spicy black bean, butternut squash? I think you can add anything!

Ideas?

SOUL ON FIRE

What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 16:26 Sometimes when life is hard for REALLY REALLY long and then it gets good all the sudden I think I am afraid to feel joy. I wake up every morning surprised that I am happy the sun is out and I can sing and laugh and live. God is SO good. So... Set Yourself on Fire The Stars Wake up with Wake Up Iowa City coffee (who also is placed in the most awesome clothing boutique and has a juice bar.) And embrace waking up at 6AM everyday, having homework and getting to learn, being able to push yourself and become a better person, helping those around you, sharing love and giving, and drinking crappy coffee BECAUSE at least you have some coffee. And all of this is so much better than not living at all.

Geez LOUISE

There were a lot of good things that came with the day.

Megs and I made some awesome butternut squash curry soup. And the sun was out and made me smile on my trip to Aldi to get these beauties:

 my dear Mimi thought since I have black hair now I also needed lots of temporary tattoos of dragons and the sorts.  This meant I got a package in the mail! WAHOO! And I was inspired to draw a heart on my knee as a possible first tattoo. Thoughts?

Then, once all the excitement calmed down I got WAY too excited for Saturday (a day without a meet or practice or school or anything. These only come once or twice a month.) So I made this:

Which includes going to see this:

The Tree of Life

And I didn't even mention my awesome run, having crazy sock day, and wearing a neon pink scrunchie. How the Lord has blessed this day!

Je Suis Brilliante!

Okay, I am not really brilliant, but I did make up a pretty cool recipe! 

I woke up at 6:15 am and,

The day started out like this:

There was nothing I wanted to do more than watch this:

The New Girl

So I laid in my bed and watched it till I felt like this:

Then, I felt empowered to make up my own recipe!

It goes a little like this:

Sweet Potato Waffles

1 egg

1 cooked or microwaved sweet potato

1/4 cup oats

1 tsp. baking powder

1tsp. coconut (or vanilla) extract

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 cup milk

Now, in order to blend the ingredients best I would use a magic bullet or food processor.  I put all the ingredients in and gradually added the milk until it was a desired texture (about 1/4 cup).  After all the ingredients were blended I just put it onto an oiled waffle maker! The hardest part was getting them out afterwards.  Since they are mostly sweet potato the consistency is not like that of normal waffles.  To avoid lots of crumbling I just turned the waffle maker upside down and let them fall onto my plate. It worked!

Sweet potato waffles + Agave + Banana + slivered almonds= a great Wednesday morning

Valentines

I will be the first to admit that much of what happens on Valentine's day is legitimate cause for nausea and serious eye rolls, but in lieu of the season I have tried to take a step back and really focus on the LOVE that is all around us. 

I am in LOVE with the adorable old lady who goes on 'run walks' every morning.

I am in LOVE with the beautiful big snow flakes that weren't accompanied by bitter cold.

I am in LOVE with Jesus!

I LOVE that my friend is from Germany and brought me back awesome coffee.

I LOVE eating lots of vegetables and real food from the earth.

I am VERY IN LOVE with all the beautiful wonderful people that are in my life.

I LOVE the idea of faith, hope, and strength.

I LOVE opportunity.

I (actually even surprisingly) LOVE Iowa.

I LOVE picnics.

I LOVE massages with my best friend in the attic.

I LOVE space heaters.

I LOVE being surrounded by strangers and feeling connected.

I LOVE that everyone is unique and different colors and sizes and habits.

I LOVE tea and tea parties.

I LOVE summertime and wintertime and fall and spring.

I LOVE my heart leggings.

I LOVE tattoos (even though I don't have one).

I LOVE new experiences and recreating old ones.

I LOVE the gift of running and pushing yourself and becoming a better person.

There is so much about love to celebrate. And so much love to love!

Color

Sometimes in the middle of winter it becomes necessary to create lots and lots of color! I certainly have in the past 24 hours.

Eggshell toenails.

Black hair.

Lots and lots of paint.

A painting.

And a wall mural!

COLOR.

Tea for Two

Having an experience can be so wonderful.  

Having a tea party is definitely an experience.

Go to Leaf Kitchen and have one with Megan Ranegar.

 Right now.

“Hope is the thing with feathers, that perches in the soul, and sings the tune without words, and never stops at all.”

Living.  It's crazy the different things that can control us as each year and day brings something new.  I think that things like depression, anxiety, and being a crazy person are all very real, but also that they affect everyone is different phases of life.  This past year has been very ~~~~ (that is supposed to be waves), but a lot has been learned from it also! I was thinking yesterday of how much of a gift it is to feel hopeful and know that suffering produces endurance, and perseverance, and hope! (Romans 5:3-5).  If God is making me better at all these things than I should be excited about foregoing a little discomfort in exchange for incomparable joy!

I have been really trying to take life day by day in order that I can appreciate all the great gifts of each day without rushing through them and always awaiting the success of the future.  I think expectance is awesome, but I learned to plan and expect how my life was going to be instead of letting God be in control.  Only through repeated failure have I learned to let go of expectations and remain hopeful.  So this morning when I woke up I was so pleasantly surprised! The sun was shining! I had a great morning run! And then while I was getting ready for class, I just felt good.  I felt like myself.  So I started manipulating and trying to think of how this would make me run faster and such and then I had to take a step back and re evaluate.  The gift of just feeling hopeful and like myself was enough for today, and such a great joy to know that it is even possible to feel normal at all!

Anyhowz, sorry for the 'Dear Diary', I hope it will leave you feeling full of some hope!

Exciting things from the week:

I discovered the goodness of the Fava Bean.  After reading about the health and vitality benefits I decided to give them a try, and my o my, what a good call!

I also started planning a road trip for this summer to Steamboat, CO. Hike, bike, breathe, live!!!

J'aime Colorado :)

Man! I haven't blogged in far too long.  I am so sorry my loyal thirteen followers, I did not mean to ruin your month by not blogging! 

In the meantime....

I did Hot Yoga

(Hot house yoga Iowa City, Iowa)

I made beet hummus

farm to table online's recipe

(eating beets also provides very prettiful pee!)

And I started researching the future!

So far I have decided I could join Occupy Iowa City and sleep in tents,

or maybe go somewhere and find an awesome job or apply for graduate school! 

Who knows?!

Until then, I will thoroughly enjoy jaunting outside in this early february fifty degree weather. Happy groundhogs day!