the heavy heart// impractical desires

Today I’ll be starting a series of blog posts that I will call “the heavy heart”. Through this series I plan to empty my most “heavy” or “deep” thoughts out into writing and share them with you. I’m calling it “the heavy heart” because that’s what it feels like, when I have a deep or heavy thought it becomes a burden and a weight to my heart. As a teenager my mind tends to wander a lot and I’m hoping this series will be a positive thing for my mind and soul.

Today I’m going to write about impractical desires, this post isn’t going to be anything too heavy or mind bending don’t worry. Lately I’ve found myself wanting or “desiring” to do so many things.  Things from starting my own organic chicken farm to taking a road trip to San Francisco. Weird, huh? Obviously those things are impractical, I’m young, I’m still learning algebra. I was talking to my mom yesterday about following dreams and how stupid it is. She was shocked to hear that come from my mouth and replied with “you would be very stupid not to follow your dreams”. The thing about most desires is that most of the time they’re impractical so we tend to call them “dreams” and assume they will never happen.  We have to step away from that mindset, the only limits in life are the ones which we set for ourselves. Nothing is impractical. 

That’s what’s in my cup of tea 

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Be the best you can be

Hello, remember me? Yes I know, long time no blogging. Im deeply sorry for that and I will try harder to blog at least twice a month. Ok, lets move on.

This topic has been so heavy on my heart the past couple weeks. Non stop I have this one thought running through my head, “are you being the best you can be?”. What I mean by this is- are you living up to your full potential? I mean think about it, as human beings we are able to do so much yet this day in age we are doing so little to better ourselves and the world around us! Most of us get up, go to school, come home, go on the internet, do homework, more internet, dinner, even more internet, and then sleep. Wow, what an exciting life! Im not trying to bash the lives of hard working students or even students in general. What Im saying goes for students as well, are you working hard in school, are you studying your passions, reading good books that will expand your knowledge? If you know that you can do better than a C+ then do better than a C+! Put down twitter and instagram for a second and do something that will better you or the world around you. We spend so much time on social media we don’t even know what we are capable of, you could be the next Einstein but you wouldn’t know because you’re on tumblr so much.

Im not saying throw your phone in the trash and crack open a text book, what Im saying is in the end, how many people saw that one time you tweeted “omg I love grapes” really wont matter. What will matter is what you did, where you went, the people you met, and the lives you touched.

This post was really all over the place, and honestly I could say so much more regarding this topic. I just wanted to put this thought out there “are you being the best you can be?”. If you can do better, then do better my friend.

That’s what’s in my cup of tea.

thanksgiving

Happy (very) belated Thanksgiving. I knew it was likely I would neglect this blog, which makes me sad because I enjoy writing so so much, and I even more enjoy sharing my writing with those who are willing to read it. That’s besides the point, that today I’m going to briefly share my thanksgiving with you, not only in words but in pictures as well.

It all started when I woke at 6am up to the sound of my alarm, usually this sound is the worst a human could ever hear, but today was thanksgiving so the sound of the alarm was somewhat pleasant. My reasoning for waking up early on a holiday (which is rare in my case) was pie. Yes, P I E.  It was my job this year to bake the pies, and the turkey needed to be in the oven by 10am (which didn’t happen by the way) so I needed to get them prepped and in the oven early. I baked two apple crumble pies as well as two pumpkin pies.

Lets fast forward to when the pies were out of the oven, the turkey was in and I was cooking several other dishes, such as, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, and mashed potatoes. I enjoy cooking so this wasn’t a hassle at all! There isn’t much to say about this part of the day considering I was just simply in the kitchen hard at work.

Dinner time, ah yes the best time of the day. On the table? Turkey, brussels sprouts, cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes,the best gravy you will ever taste, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, and of course the pies, but that comes later.

Food was great, and it was even greater that the night was finished off with Apples to Apples and trying to explain homeschooling to my aunt. When it all comes down to it, I am beyond thankful for every little thing I have. Not just on Thanksgiving, but also on every other day of the year.  I could go on and on about how thankful I am for everything the Lord has blessed me with, but thats for another blog post.

Thats whats in my cup of tea

Thank you

Anna

the small things

With Christmas and Thanksgiving around the corner people begin to soften up, they begin to realize the small things they’re thankful for. Today was one of those soft days for me, I began to really notice the small things that bring me so much joy. So I typed up a list of “my small things”

1| waking up before the alarm

More often than not I will wake up to the sound of my alarm, which isn’t the most fun thing, as many of you know, but once in a while I will wake up before the alarm. Usually when I wake up before the alarm Im not tired and I end up being in an over all greater mood all day.

2| Rainy Days

Rainy days aren’t too common where I live, so when they do come along I take in every second of it.

3| Getting new music

I absolutely love getting new music, change is always nice,and whenever I do download a new song/album I have it on repeat all day.

4| Good face days

I don’t know about you but some days my face just looks better than others (silly I know)!

5| Baths

Baths are my favorite thing, so relaxing and calming. Im very thankful to be able to have a nice hot bath as frequently as I do.

Remember to notice the little things. That’s what’s in my cup of tea.

How I lost 50 pounds// My weight loss journey

This topic is so dear to my heart, and I struggled with my weight all my life. Please take everything I say lightly, I encourage everyone wanting to lose weight to do it the healthy way and to focus on personal health and well being other than looks and being thin. You can also check out the youtube video I made on this topic here >http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sa4MfOxt69Y 

With that being said, Ill go ahead and share with you my weight loss journey. 

All of my life I was “chubby” I always had extra fat on me and I was always bigger than the other kids. I’ve always had a slower metabolism so I couldn’t eat the way the rest of my siblings did. For example, my brother Jack could eat McDonalds and Pizza for every meal and not gain an ounce, but that wasn’t the case for me. I noticed that I had an “eating problem” around 5th grade, yes I was much too young to be worrying about my weight but that didn’t cross my mind at the time. 5th grade was when the crash diets started. It started with nutrisystem, I lost maybe 5 pounds with that, but when I grew tired of limiting my portions I gave up on it and gained all the weight back and then some. I went onto e-diets, raspberry ketones, and then HCG. if you don’t know what HCG is, it’s a crazy, ridiculous, and totally unhealthy diet in which you take a pregnancy hormone by mouth 6 times a day which convinces your body that you are pregnant. Not only that but you also only eat 500 calories a day. I’m ashamed to say that I would have ever been so desperate to look a certain way that I took a pregnancy hormone and put my body through that. 

Just like all the other diets, I gave up on HCG and gained all of my weight back plus more. By December of 2012 I weighed 185+ pounds. This is when it dawned on me “maybe I need to loose weight”, but this time I wasn’t going to do a crash diet, because obviously they hadn’t worked out too well in the past. I set my new years resolution just like everyone else, in 2013 I’m going to lose weight. Thats exactly what I did. 

There isn’t much I can say other than I ate clean. If you don’t know what clean eating is, it’s eating what comes from the earth, not eating processed foods with oils and sugars and preservatives. I ate the natural stuff, the good stuff. Kale was my best friend, and so was the gym! I worked out 6 days a week! Shout out to my dad for being a trooper and working out with me for hours at 8 at night 6 days a week. Once I started seeing results I became inspired! 

You will see changes in your body, thats a promise, but only if you stay consistent! Consistency is key, but to stay consistent you have to have motivation. I looked to visualization for motivation, I realize now that I had the wrong mind set, I visualized myself with a thin body when I should have visualized myself with a healthy body, not only on the outside but on the inside. 

Today I am a size 6 when I used to be a size 13 and I am 50 pounds down. I am so glad that I decided to make a change in my lifestyle to better my health. I wrote this post not only to share my story but also to encourage others to take control of their lifestyle, the way I did 11 months ago. 

That’s what’s in my cup of tea.