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)

making up for lost time...

today was our last long field trip.

it was a very sad day in the life of jessica ellis.

i'm gonna miss this.

our first stop was to qumran... 

where we were diligent scribes...

and took a bath in a ritual bath...

i don't know if that is actually ok or not. 

;)

i've only been waiting my whole life to see this.

and i think only my dad can really understand my excitement at seeing cave #4.

this is for you dad!

another shot of cave #4

jars that were found inside of the caves, that contained many fragments of scriptures.

i didn't tell you about my eye.

you see the little red blotch there?

i was giving someone an airplane ride...

and my knee made contact with my eye.

you didn't know i was that flexible, huh?

but it sure makes for a good story!

(you also didn't know airplane rides could be dangerous!)

my ariel and i on the bus!

heading toward MASADA!!!

this bus ride was awesome...

we totally made up a song to help us study for our ancient near east class.

 masada

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

:)

at one point, the jc students had to walk up that.

no joke.

i would have died.

luckily, we got to ride the tram up.

this section of masada is called the hanging palace

this is a view looking out from the top level of the hanging palace - you can actually see the bottom of the seige ramp that the romans built in 73 ce...

what no one else saw, was the guy taking a picture of the crazy american chicks.

i saw you buddy.

this was the room where they found the "lots"

this is the room where the remaining 10 zealots wrote their names on pieces of pottery, and one piece was picked. that person was to kill the remaining 9, and then finally take his own life.

this is what happened - they set fire to the fortress, leaving only enough food to show the romans that they died willingly - and not because of starvation.

walking down to other levels of the hanging palace

i don't know why anyone would want to take a hot bath here...

that sounds totally ridiculous to me.

today was a day for songs.

megan and i made up a sababa song.

(sababa means cool in hebrew)

it goes to the tune of hakuna matata.

i know you want to learn it.

so here ya go.

sababa masada

it's a wonderful place

sababa masada

it's a zealot craze!

it means no romans,

for the rest of our days...

it's our live free - die hard philosophy!

sababa masada!

(sababa... masada... sababa... masada...)

have you seen enough cisterns yet?

i didn't think so.

this is jess.

jess likes to pretend to be a bird.

or maybe she's just trying to find an excuse to air out her armpits...

we'll never knowwww...

see the dead sea?

it's way up there in the top left...

the seige ramp as seen from the top

ninja pic.

or maybe we should just call this "zealot stance"

jeffie (haha... jefferson), meg, and i

the synagogue where the leader of the zealot movement probably convinced everyone there to take their lives rather than become slaves to the romans.

the next part of the field trip was to a wadi by the dead sea.

we went to wadi david (the biblical story related to this is when saul and his soldiers fell asleep in the same cave where david and his followers were hiding. david had the opportunity to kill saul, but chose instead to cut a piece of his clothes off. he later used this to prove to saul that he was not trying to kill him)

there were tons of beautiful waterfalls, but considering it was mid-summer, they were probably fairly small.

now, when you read about the "valley of lemuel"

...think of this.

i like ashley's idea.

it was hotttttt.

we look way too nice and composed in this picture...

this is more like it.

holding to the iron rod is a little bit difficult when it burns your fingers off...

the dead sea is back there somewhere...

so i will have to work on getting ahold of some pictures of us in the dead sea. 

but, i didn't trust myself to take my camera anywhere near that water.

i'm so proud.

this is like a rite of passage for me!

anyone that wants to be a part of the sandal-tan club should contact me asap.

so that we can get an awesome tan picture too.

:)

Galilee: Day 4

July 14

Another day of class! They stuck us down in the basement somewhere… and sometimes the AC would work… and other times it would not… which made it very difficult to stay focused at times. But I most definitely am not snoozing off in class! I just have to go back and review my notes after class to make sure that I remember everything. Lunch was usually uneventful. Breakfast was great (I really couldn’t get enough of the granola… oh how I’ve missed it!) and dinner was always fantastic, but lunch was kinda bleh. Uneventful. Usually it was just something to get out of the way so that we could get out and go play in the water.

On this free day though, we got to go on a hike! :) The higher powers of the JC have connections, and they know a guide that likes to take groups on hikes up into the Golan Heights to a waterfall. (Don’t worry mom and dad… we didn’t go wandering into any mine fields!) When the guide walked on to the bus, I think we all giggled to ourselves… here is an old skinny guy with a big, poofy white beard, scraggly hair and socks that went halfway up to his knees. But we weren’t laughing long. Especially when we were all huffing and puffing to catch up to him the entire time. No joke. Old guy dominated us. My favorite comment was, “it usually takes people in typical BYU condition 40 minutes to walk out of here.” And what does that mean? Haha, I guess we’ll never know! I think it was kind of a diss... can he do that??? 

But the hike was gorgeous! We walked to the waterfall, and the dimwit that I am, I decided not to wear a swimsuit. However, this did serve me well in the end, because it meant that I had built-in AC for the entire walk back. It might have been easier to swim with a swimsuit though…

We were pushing it getting back to Ein Gev, and where I took the shortest shower of my entire life (and I washed my hair with soap) and ran the whole way to the bus. I was NOT going to miss dinner.

Can you guess what we ate? St. Peter’s fish. No, I didn’t find any money in its mouth, and even though I thought of pretending, I didn’t have any shekels. But, I did manage to get a kiss.

After dinner, we watched the sunset again, and then headed back to our “home” to get a little R&R. (Really? You believed that?) 

don't judge... i know i look like a homeless beach bum.

that's what happens when you spend all day at the beach. duh.