what i'm up to this month...

you know when people go through phases?
the years that i would only wear my hair in a ponytail...
or braids...
or that i haven't had the same hair color for over a year since my sophomore year of college...
like the time i went through my i-must-have-a-jeep-or-i-will-die phase? (oh wait... that one's still going...)
eating a bell pepper every day for lunch.
learning to play the guitar...

i am a creature of habit, while also being very fickle. 
how does that work?

but speaking of "phases", my mom has been doing some research on cold thermogenesis. 
my mom is definitely the expert on this (she has been doing most of the reading. i have mostly acted as the devils advocate here...) but what sounds like a ridiculous idea, actually is starting to make sense in my head. 
i mean... who in their right mind would ever take an ice-bath? i won't mention the fact that i tried it once when i was a freshman in college... it didn't last very long. cold showers i can handle! especially when it likes to linger around a very mild 100 degrees here...

why cold thermogenesis?
from what i have leeched from my mother, we are "programmed" to store fat during the summer, and burn it off in the winter. well... historically that has been the case. the problem with our current society is that we no longer are subject to our environment. we artificially create our environment. so the fat that we store in the summer... stays in the winter. and then packs more on the next summer... we never get that "hibernation" effect (you know, like bears in winter?) 
so what do you do? 
i know you're just dying to know what all this crazy talk actually means...
beyond the fat loss potential of cold thermogenesis, there is another "side effect". 
think of michael phelps... and swimming in cold water... or maybe the fact that lance armstrong has a gigantic fridge in his house where he exercises on his bike. is there anything significant about these two athletes? they seem to have tapped into some kind of superhuman "power" that enables them to be the best. according to dr. kruse (a neurosurgeon who is one of the main proponents of CT) there is a connection! check out this link for more info. 

more of my own observations to come! 
and i just might try this out... (but it might take some more convincing. i really like my hot showers...)

The Complete Cold Thermogenesis Guide
http://home.trainingpeaks.com/training-and-nutrition-plans/preview.aspx?planid=33738&af=trainingpeaks3%20
Doing this daily will speed up fat loss and recovery. It can enhance athletic performance. That is why Michael Phelps and the other Olympic swimmers train in 50 degree pools. Also Lance Armstrong trains in an industrial size freezer that he had installed in his house. Notes: COLD THERMOGENESIS (CT) This should gradually be added to the Leptin Rx reset protocol (not everyone will need this). CT training should be done at sunrise or after dinner. CAUTION: If you have a serious health condition, please consult a medical doctor before beginning a CT regimen. Immediately stop treatment if you experience light-headedness or a pale pink to white coloration of the skin. Cold Thermogenesis Benefits: Lower body fat Increase hormone levels Reproductive fitness! Fertility Reverse diabetes Cut food cravings Kill fat permanently Strengthen adrenal function Fix thyroid disorder Super immune function Deep sleep Pain management Sense of well being and better attitude Cut visceral fat first Promote cessation of eating disorders BEFORE every CT session: Eat a high fat and/or protein meal Immediately drink 16-32oz of ice cold water. DO NOT drink more than 32oz. Face Dunking: What you need: skin thermometer, a timer, ice, and a bathroom sink or larger bowl. Remove make-up or facial products Get the water between 50-55 degrees Dunk your face into the ice water and hold as long as you can Record time and dunk again Continue for the next two weeks and work your way to using less breaths DO NOT let your skin temperature fall below 50-55 degrees Compression Shirt & Ice: Lay down flat on your back Place a 20-40 lbs block of ice on your torso (whilst wearing compression shirt) Try to extend your time 5 minutes a time until you get to 60 minutes You will notice your skin is pink to cherry read and numb in places If you can complete the 60 minutes- remove the compression shirt and place the bag of ice directly on the skin *Note: If you develop cold urticaria at this time, this is a sign you have high levels of tissue and serum omega six content. Stop the experiment and adjust your diet until you have a blood omega six to three ratio that is below 10 to 1 using a ketogenic paleolithic diet. When you can tolerate the skin being covered for one hour with pink to cherry red skin you’re now ready for the Cold Tub step! Full Body Immersion with Ice: Fill the bathtub with cold tap water Wear socks, gloves, and a knitted cap to keep the heat in your body Add 20 lbs of ice to chest and abdomen When your body is use to the ice you can remove the socks, gloves, and cap DO NOT let your skin temperature fall below 50-55 degrees Stay for 45 minutes Continue daily 2-5 times a week Full Body Immersion with NO Ice: Jump into a pool, lake, or hot tub from the neck down Stay for 10-20 minutes Pay attention to skin color.

good luck! and stay cool! (literally)

reading and grilled cheese. two of my favs.

i really think that i had forgotten how hard {wednesdays} were.
today has been brutal! (good luck i don't have a lot of homework or i would be pretty much toast...)

i know i talked about the soul-searching aspect that always seems to accompany the beginning of each new semester, but some people can say it so much better than i can.

pictures from 365q.ca

so i am a pretty big quote geek. back at home, i have quote books from high school, i copy quotes and keep them on my computer, i type them in my phone and send them to myself so that i don't forget them... i love reading what people that are much wiser than me have to say about the world.
the last quote has always confused me. not that i didn't understand what it was supposed to mean, i knew what it was saying, i just didn't get it. i do now. having lived in a different country for even three months - leaving my family, having to fend for myself (ie not blow all the money that i had), meeting tons of new people was all part of an amazing adventure.
but coming home was special.
i don't know if i can quite explain it adequately, but it was an eye-opening experience to come home and see how blessed i am. and how often i take all of those blessings for granted.
like going for a walk by myself.
wearing shorts.
sitting on the grass under a crystal clear sky.
hearing my younger brothers fight. because i am with my family.
having to run errands for my mom, but getting to drive around in my car.
cooking!
sharing my beliefs with others.
having so many clothes that i don't know what to do with them anymore...


on another note, i read something really cool from this awesome blog - i love reading it... it always makes me laugh.
it also made me feel justified in bringing home six books from the library today... (i have no idea when i'm going to read them - but don't judge me! i couldn't put them back!!!)

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Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but...she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.


***
Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.
***
You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.
-- Rosemary Urquico

:)

and it this weren't random enough already, we have to speak of food! the world would probably explode if i didn't...
this looks pretty much like the ultimate in grilled cheese.
i can almost feel my arteries clogging up looking at it, but it looks so good! 

and finally! 

a homemade solar oven to cook s'mores. 

{genius.}

oh what a beautiful day!

today started out early.

at 6:30 my alarm went off...

yes, i know that it is a saturday, but i forgot to turn it off

and i couldn't go back to sleep.

so i chilled in the living room and wrote in my journal for about an hour before i started getting stuff ready for a big breakfast that my roommates and i had this morning with a bunch of our friends.

don't you just love a little "me" time?

one of the friends invited us to go shooting with him this afternoon

[he's our go-to shooting buddy... which is way fun - since i didn't shoot a gun until this last summer! we have a ton of fun going shooting with him]

i know i've mentioned how cold it is up here in rexburg, but you don't quite get the impact of just how white

it is.

i had to wear sunglasses it was so bright.

exhibit a.

sagebrush and snow.

(there might be a few bunnies hidden in there somewhere... but i couldn't hit them if i tried, so i don't even bother looking.)

exhibit b.

the snowshoes! :)

we got these babies for christmas... and talk about FAIL... this is the first time we've actually gotten to use them!

notice the lightweight jacket i'm wearing???

it was a beautiful day today! (i pretty much wrote that in a sing-song voice in my head. you should read it that way. it makes it so much better.)

exhibit c.

me.

in my bright green (and most favorite-est jacket in the whole wide world...

pssst! wanna know a secret?

it's my favorite because it has finger holes!!!)

you really can't get a jacket better than that.

oh yeah, and those are my new snowpants too.

they have these sweet little zipper-vents that you can open so that your legs don't get too hot!

i wanna meet the guy that invented that.

i was playing with them and unzipped them (and then forgot that i had) and was wondering why my knees were feeling a draft...

exhibit d.

the partner in crime.

the other half.

the brunette one (for the time being anyway).

the one that steals my clothes (the jacket is mine).

my best friend.

and now my new snowshoe buddy!

meet the younger sis: Brooke

this picture pretty much sums her up.

exhibit e.

more snow.

kinda pretty in a monochromatic way.

i love my face in this one.

we were just so excited to get showshoeing!

i don't actually think i got to shoot a gun today... we wandered around the area for probably an hour before we realized that we had left my roommate with a bunch of strangers. oops.

sorry carissa!

i'll make it up to you i promise!

(as long as it's food i think i can make somethin' happen)

you don't see this...

but this is me off-balance and on my way to making good friends with the snow

yeah brooke, good idea, let's lift our legs up in the air while we are standing in snow... i don't think that it cares whether we have snowshoes on or not. when you hit the snow after falling, it's kinda hard to get back up.

probably not listening to her posing suggestions in the future.

love the gum.

i think this one is my fav.

remember, this is not mid-summer.

we are like 4 feet deep in snow here and we're running around in t-shirts.

today was heavenly!

the craziest thing about rexburg?

you think that 40 degrees is warm

that 50 degrees is balmy

that 60 degrees is a sauna

at 70 degrees you are sweating like nobody's business

and anything above 80 feels like you have relocated to the surface of the sun

i wonder how jerusalem is going to feel this summer...

this could be interesting!

saturdays should not be wasted.

every whim should be obeyed, no matter how weird or strange.

even when that means dying your hair blue.

(i can actually do my hair... but we had to bleach the hair before we dyed it and i had to keep the piece separate from the rest of them.

actually, if you really wanna know, i am starting a new style, and you have to leave out a random piece of hair and you just use a clip to pin the rest to the top of your head.

i think it's gonna catch on reeeeeeeeal well.)

oh and don't judge me.

i decided that makeup wasn't worth it today.

cara and lauren gettin' super excited for our amazing hair adventure!

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today i am thankful for heat.

for the stuff that comes from the heater

from the sun

from cuddling

and the warm fuzzy feeling i get inside when i think about special people

(nah, nobody like that yet...)

just cool people like the one that puts up with all my antics and bad moods and still loves me anyway. because honestly she has no other choice.