Let's keep it a blessing

Food [food]-noun 1. Any nourishing substance that is eaten, drunk, or otherwise taken into the body to sustain life, provide energy, promote growth, etc.

I seriously think that food is one of the greatest blessings we have been given. It's something that everyone needs and it brings happiness! Eating is one of my favorite hobbies and probably always will be :) Food is a blessing but for some people it's a curse. The other day in biology we were discussing obesity and my professor showed this extremely graphic video of an open heart surgery. The heart was covered in fat and the doctors pulled a three inch long strand of solid fat out of this guy's artery. I'm a little squeamish anyway but seeing that made me nauseous. Don't get me wrong, I love pizza, choclate, chicken nuggets, and the occasional trip to Wendy's but watching that grossed me out.

What has happened? I really am curious at how 2/3 of American adults became overweight. And I'm not trying to go on a soapbox rant but our reality is a little sad. In my biology lab class every week, we have a discussion question and after talking about obesity, our question was "Should the government regulate the sale of junk food?" Just the concept that government intervention is needed to help people eat healthier is slightly pathetic. What happened?

Heavenly Father gave us amazing bodies. We are told constantly to not deface our bodies with crazy piercings and tattoos. We are warned of the consequences that will follow if we don't obey the Word of Wisdom. All of these things are meant to keep our bodies pure. So why shouldn't eating healthy fall into that category?

Coming to college has made eating healthy a lot harder. Eating unhealthy is a lot cheaper and way more convenient sadly. But I think having my parents be really strict about food growing up has really helped me to try and maintain the same diet. Even though I missed out on trick or treating, candy, and desserts growing up, I don't feel like it was "loss." I'm glad my parents placed such an importance on eating healthy. And I'll most likely do the same with my own children (in the far future).

Just for fun: A couple years ago, I received an interesting email. It had pictures of the food eaten by different families from different countries. It blew my mind. So I'm posting it for everyone (my few followers haha) to see.




Italy




Egypt



Chad (Africa)



USA



Picha Lovin

Sometimes I get bored of doing homework.

Let me rephrase that.

I ALWAYS get bored doing homework.

So...this is what happens.

When I sent it out, this is what happened.

(Nat doesn't have a webcam but I still love her anyway)

I LOVE these girls :)

Getting old(er)

It's already the second week of my second semester and time is flying by. Sometimes I think I can't wait to graduate and not have to worry about homework and paying tuition. And then I realize that there will be bigger things I'll be worrying about: money, parenting, paying bills, money, jobs, fulfilling a calling, etc. So life isn't going to get any easier. 



The longer I'm here at college, the more I'm beginning to realize that life will never be the same again. I will never get to be the carefree kid I once was...how sad. I occasionally (...often) wish I could go back to being a kid. But then I remember everything I have learned and my newly aquired independence :)  And the many things I don't miss, like being super chubby and having crooked teeth.

 I'm trading in my childhood and carefree days, and in return I'm getting adulthood and responsibility. Is this fair? I haven't decided yet. I'm stuck between used to being a kid and becoming an adult. 

Going home/Coming home

Going home was a lot more different than I had expected. I’m not exactly sure what I expected but confused emotions weren’t one on the list. I think I assumed that life would be the way I left it and I would just slip right back in.

Don’t get me wrong, going home was great. I had missed my family and finally got to see them. I got to cuddle with my cats and hang out with friends I hadn’t seen in months. It was all good fun but something was different. I was a visitor in my own house. I stayed in the guest bedroom and lived out of a suitcase.

I’m not someone who likes change so this was really hard for me. Something that I thought would never change did and I didn’t really know how to handle it. But I tried my best and my family was patient with me, especially my mom. I’m so happy I went home to see my family and learn again the true meaning of Christmas. But what I really realized is that I have two homes now: Enumclaw and Provo. I went home to Enumclaw and then I came home to Provo.

Things I’ll miss about home:

·         My family

·         Delicious water

·         Taking naps with my cats by the fireplace

·         Asking my little brother to get me a glass of water and actually getting one. I feel bad asking my roommates. Plus Jessica won’t, I already tried

·         Fresh seafood

·         Real carpet

·         Being able to take a car and just drive somewhere

·         Seeing my favorite people from high school

·         Unlimited amount of Costco chicken nuggets

·         Not feeling the need to wear make up

·         Going to the gym regularly (ish)

·         The smell of Japanese food

·         My dad’s dumb puns that mix Japanese and English

Things I love about my Provo home:

·         My beautiful, inspiring roommates

·         The amazing 20^th Ward

·         The chance to get a great education

·         Meeting new people

·         The little nice things I see people do everyday

·         The fact that there is a Subway on almost every corner

·         Being independent

·         Getting to do all my own grocery shopping

·         So much more that I don’t even know yet!

あけましておめでとうございます。

Right now my family is playing risk and due to the lack of a good hand (not strategy) I was the first to get out. There’s techno music playing and my dad is getting ready for Sunday dinner tomorrow. And now is the time I decide to think about the end of a huge year.

2010 was definitely a crazy ride. So far, it’s been the biggest year of my life. I had my first serious boyfriend, I graduated, I worked all summer instead of being carefree, I went to college, and I officially became an adult. But no matter what my birth certificate says, I still don’t feel like an adult. I’m still the girl that wants to have sleepovers and secretly go TPing. I still throw tantrums and I like having my mom pay for stuff.

But this year also taught me to love being independent. My parents weren’t really strict in high school so I pretty much had free reign and did what I wanted to (within reason of course). But I like not having to report to my mom where I’m going. I love going grocery shopping. I love the politeness in my dorm (my mom just told my brothers she was going for the jugular; she wants to win haha).

Just like Christmas, bringing in the New Year was different than our normal family tradition. New Years always reminds me of Japan because normally, we would be in there. On New Year’s Eve, we would go to the Buddhist temple down the street and gong the gong 108 times. The belief behind this is that there are 108 sins and by hitting the gong 108 times, you are getting rid of those sins for the new year. And then in the morning, we wake up really early and climb a neighboring mountain. It’s an intense hike but watching the first sunrise of the new year is so worth it. However, staying up until 3 o’clock this year didn’t really make me excited to wake up early and watch it as great as it is. Maybe next year.

(Risk update: Mom has Asia, Australia, half of North and South America, and half of Europe).

I haven’t gone through last year’s resolutions yet but I’ve been crossing them off throughout the year. This year has been the most successful so far! I’ve been trying to think of this year’s but I keep coming up with the typical ones: be nice, be more grateful, read my scriptures, etc. As great as those are, I’ve been trying to think of some that will help other people as well as myself. I found this quote that I really like.

         "It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself."  -Ralph Waldo Emerson

So my main theme this year is to help others. Somehow I will try and incorporate that into all of my resolutions.  Hopefully. But I’m ready for a clean start, a new beginning, another door---a new year.



Sunrise of last time I was in Japan.



Fujie
Oh how I miss you






There's always a new day.

 

今年もよろしくお願いします。