People that are Cooler Than Me

Here's yet another person that I can add to the (already long) list of "People Cooler Than Me"
This young man performed this spoken word poetry at his high school talent show, and won!
Watch it all the way to the end, because he's incredibly inspiring, and beautifully wise for his age.



Okay - not sure if this "embed" thing is working for me, but if not, here's the link!

It is almost May...How did that happen?

It seems like the older I get, the faster time goes. I know...I know...My parents always told me that would happen. I start to think, “Where have my days gone?”
Days fly past without anything to show for them.
I start to wonder what I can do to make my days more successful, more meaningful. When training for my marathon, I always took great pride in knowing that before I came to work—I had done something great for my body! I fight with my bed EVERY morning over this topic, GUESS WHAT? The bed wins.
We have just started a new Active for Life program at work, encouraging us to become more active in our daily life. I try to remember that the little things help: stairs here, a little walk there, park far from the entrance etc. If I can incorporate these little things into my daily life, I will be making a major change.
As days become shorter and the to-do list stacks up, I just try to remember that every moment matters. I have to make the most of it—do the best that I can.

How do you make every moment count?

Vampire books: Romanticizing Bad Relationships

It's kind of funny, but kind of not.
When I first read the Twilight books, I kept thinking, "Holy cow! This girl is in a terrible and possibly abusive relationship! And.. I think I'm supposed to think it's romantic!"
And then, of course, those books cast their crazy magic spell on me and I devoured them in about a week's time. But even as the series went on, it became clear there was something wrong with that relationship. Let's break it down:
Girl meets Boy. He has some terrible secret that only the girl knows. She can't tell anyone else because they "won't understand". Others will be afraid of him, and will definitely tell her to break up with him if they find out the truth. Only Girl understands Boy. Only Girl can love Boy the way she does. She can't believe he loves her the way he does. There is always the threat/possibility of rejection from Boy. She must change if she really wants to be with him. Girl must convince Boy that loves him enough to change for him.
Shall we go on?
There was one part of the book that was particularly creepy to me. No, not one of the fight scenes. It was a scene where Bella and Edward are in her room and getting ready to go to sleep. Of course, since Edward is a vampire (spoiler?) he doesn't need to sleep, eat or use the bathroom. Bella has to excuse herself, even though she doesn't want to leave him for even a minute, to use the bathroom. Romantic? No, Gross.
Then there's my new favorite television show, The Vampire Diaries. Seriously - I love this show. It's so well done. But, it has the same issue. The main vampire Stefan has been jonesing for some human blood ever since he had a taste of it a couple of episodes ago. So he starts lying to everyone around him, including his girlfriend Elena, and hiding his habit. He can't control the drug, er, blood addiction. He even starts attacking humans, specifically a schoolmate of Elena's. When Elena finally finds out, not only does she put herself in harm's way to help him, but she continues to protect him, because no one else will understand.
My fear is this: I read these books/watched the shows & movies as a woman in my late twenties. I've seen bad relationships, I've sat with friends and comforted them as they tried to or refused to leave actual abusive relationships. This happens more than you want to imagine. So why are we letting young girls think it's romantic to date a troubled and misunderstood bad boy? Girls: if he's troubled and misunderstood, there's a reason for it. Save yourself the drama and take yourself out of the equation. Find a boy who won't need you to change, and who you can tell your friends and family about.

Saying Goodbye to (Some) TV

I wish I could say that I got rid of most of my tv channels in an effort to spend less time on the couch and more time outside or doing something productive, but no. It was all about the benjamins, baby. I lowered my package to the cheapest one, which was - oddly enough - some family package.
So no more MTV (good riddance! I don't miss it at all!), no more TBS (well, this channel would have been nice to have.), and I get basically every Disney/Nickelodeon/Noggin channel that exists. Which is fine. Because seriously, there are so many really crappy shows on television, and I'm happy to pare them down.
But you know what? There's one channel I do miss. One really fun, witty and "guilty pleasure" channel that I do think about wistfully every once in a while.
BBCAmerica.
That was good stuff.
Robin Hood hooked me, and Skins was the most incredible and (literally) unbelievably fun soap opera I've ever watched.
Plus, those BBCAmerica documentaries!! I miss them so much! "I'm in love with the Eiffel Tower" ?! "I own or make dolls that look like real babies and everyone thinks I'm crazy but me?" ?!?!
Oh, I miss those documentaries...

CORN, CORN...EVERYWHERE.

I started to watch the documentary Food Inc. yesterday. I have to say that I am shocked! I knew that the "meat" industry had shady aspects to their "business", but some of the processes they talked about were ghastly.
One of the main ideas the documentarian discusses is the use of corn in the food industry. Corn or by-products of corn are in everything that we eat. Watching the documentary, I started to feel helpless. What if you want to eat better? What if you want to avoid corn, sugar, wheat etc.? The food industry makes it near impossible to do so.
Within the informational section about corn, I was shocked to find out that farms raising fish are feeding them corn too! You aren't even safe with a "healthy" fish option. I personally find it disturbing. Because of our fast-paced, high demand society, farmers are cutting corners or choosing ridiculous options to keep up with the high demand.
The sad thing is they essentially have no other option. They would lose their jobs or most of their income if they decided to change how they do things on the farm.
Here is a list of some of the corn by-products:
* Acetic acid
* Alcohol
* Alpha tocopherol
* Artificial flavorings
* Artificial sweeteners
* Ascorbates
* Ascorbic acid
* Astaxanthin
* Baking powder
* Barley malt*can be contaminated
* Bleached flour*
* Blended sugar (sugaridextrose)
* Brown sugar*no caramel color
* Calcium citrate
* Calcium fumarate
* Gluconate
* Gluconic acid
* Glucono delta-lactone
* Gluconolactone
* Glucosamine
* Glucose*
* Glucose syrup* (also found in IV solutions)
* Glutamate
* Gluten
* Gluten feed/meal
* Glycerides
* Glycerin*
* Glycerol
* Golden syrup
* Grits
* MSG
* Natural flavorings*
* Olestra/Olean
* Polenta
* Polydextrose
* Polylactic acid (PLA)
* Polysorbates* (e.g. Polysorbate 80)
* Polyvinyl acetate
* Potassium citrate
* Potassium fumarate
and these are just a few.
How can this be fixed? How can we change America?

Check out how to pursue a corn free diet on:
http://www.naturesbounty.com/vf/healthnotes/HN77/HN77_English/Diet/Corn_Free_Diet.htm#Diet-Avoid-Foods

A Banana Copenhagen Cupcake

This is amazing. Like I may have mentioned (like a zillion times), it's my birthday this week.
My boss, who dabbles in baking on the side has decided to make me cupcakes to celebrate. I know, I know. Best boss ever. (and she doesn't even read this blog, so I'm not kissing up).
I had a choice of cake flavors, icing flavors and toppings. I'm not exaggerating: there were at least 10 options for each. I almost went with yellow cake with chocolate icing and M&Ms as a topping, but I figured that everyone in the office would beat me up if they knew I had so many options and went with "the usual".
So my final decision was....
.....
.....
....
Triple chocolate cake
....
...
...
with cappuccino icing
....
....
... and sprinkles!

So the big question is: WHAT WOULD YOU CHOOSE?
scroll to the bottom of this page to vote!

An Analysis

So I'm not great at this, but I'll try my best. The image at the right is from Banana Copenhagen's very own analysis located at Google Analytics. I'm dabbling, folks. Doing my best.
So we got a record number of visits on Tuesday, April 6, because that was the day I was supposed to post the Stuff Christians Like post, but since I was away for several days before that and didn't return until the next day, it didn't happen. Whoops! Sorry to everyone who wanted to read the Stuff Christians Like scorecard and only got one of our regular posts instead. I sincerely hope you enjoyed what you read.
I'm really surprised to find out some other stuff from Google Analytics. For example, most of our visitors come from South Carolina, especially the upstate area, which makes sense, since both Jennie and I live around here (hi, Mom!). But we also get a good deal of traffic from Texas and California, which are two states that I love, not only because the great citizens have amazing taste in blogs, but also because I've met some wonderful, friendly, funny and smart people from those states in my travels. South Carolinians and Californians really like to take their time on our site and stay awhile. Nice! Kick up your feet and make yourselves at home, friends!
People really like Jennie's blog on going barefoot for TOMS. Go, Jennie!
I also apologize for the person who ended up on our site after searching for what to do in Copenhagen for 9 days. I hope you eventually found what you were looking for! And maybe you got a chuckle out of this site....

Turning Thirty

I turn thirty this week. Thirty years old. The big 3-0.
Age is a really weird thing, isn't it? I mean, it does stuff to us that not much else does, and yet aging is unavoidable (to an extent). Like my mother says, getting older is "better than the alternative", so why does it affect us the way it does?
There's a girl in my fiction writing class that, when asked to tell about herself, responded, "I'm thirty and I'm okay with it."
So funny! And in those few words, she really told us a lot!
In the movie, 13 going on 30, the teenage girl in the movie wants to be older and thinks "Thirty and Flirty and Thriving" is just the perfect age to be!
As I flew past my mid-twenties and starting being "Late" twenties, I began to act really crazy about my age. I would make people guess how old I was instead of just telling them. I would pretend to be younger. And that's really weird and wrong. I know that.
So, I'm turning 30 this week, and I'm going to embrace it. I'm letting everyone know: I'm turning 30. I'm a capable adult. I work hard, I have amazing friends and a loving family. I love God and God loves me. I am okay with where I am in this life. So I'm turning 30. I'm not going to lie about my age, or make people guess anymore. I'll let people know: I'm 30. And I'll relish the moments when they say "You don't look a day over 29!" or whatever people say.
And one day soon, when someone asks me to say something about myself, I'll be able to reply: "I'm thirty and I'm okay with it."

Breaking the Hiatus...for TOMS

"ONE DAY WITHOUT SHOES"
It is when we can take ONE day, ONE minute or ONE second and experience just an ounce of what many people experience daily.
I can't personally go barefoot all day, but I will be taking a few minutes to walk down the street barefoot. Many of us can't imagine a life without the our cell phones or computers or the latest fashions. Many go without food, shelter and the basics that we take for granted everyday.
May this remind us how rich we are.
Are you going barefoot for the day?

The “Is that contestant on American Idol a Christian? Scorecard”

53. They wear a WWJD bracelet on both arms and even a leg! = + 2 points

To add up your score with over a 130 other ideas on this scorecard, visit stuffchristianslike.net.