Day 13 Photo Challenge

Post a picture of your favorite band or artist...




One of my favorite artists is Mat Kearney. His soulful and mellow voice never gets old to me. My favorite album of his is City of Black & White. The album before, Nothing Left to Lose, has some amazing songs as well, but several of the songs on that album are combination rap and rock songs that I'm not particularly fond of. He has some songs on Nothing Left to Lose that are just rock, and I love those ones, and On City of Black & White he doesn't do that at all. His lyrics are deep and honest and original. You should listen to him if you haven't yet.

Day 12 Photo Challenge

Post a picture of something you hate...



I hate the fact that there is so much poverty and hunger, true hunger, in this world. I hate that people, from infants to the elderly, are so skinny not because they spend hours working out, pay money for liposuction, or intentionally crash diet, but because they can't even afford to pay for a little food. I hate that it isn't easier to make a huge difference in the lives of these people or in the areas most affected.

The reason it took me a while to post something for the day 12 challenge was because I couldn't come up with something I hate off the top of my head that was good enough to post. That's because I was trying to think of petty things like foods I hate or activities I hate doing, but nothing seemed worthy of a blog post for this 30 day challenge.

I know there are ways that may seem simple to help out; you've seen the commercials: "Only 20 cents a day could feed a child" and so forth. But it's not as easy as that because of the way of life we're all used to. We are so set in our ways and routines that doing something like that seems out of the way. Or we assume someone else will do it.

I got a taste for helping out in the summers of 2003 and 2005, when I spent a week per summer with a group from my church at an orphanage in Honduras, giving my time and energy to various activities that needed to be done around the ranch. I loved it so much, and feel the need to do more. I'd like to go to other places too, perhaps Africa. Jake and I have talked about going on a mission trip sometime after we're married.

So out of the hate for this fact of life grows a desire and passion for actually doing something, not just donating a few cents a day, but involving myself in the lives of those who need the love and support of those who have it financially better.

Day 11

Post a picture of something you love...





These two pictures sum up something I love very much: breakfast! I didn't always love breakfast so much. In fact, the first three, maybe four years of college I would rarely have a big breakfast, if anything. Usually I would just have a piece of toast or some yogurt; I was just never that hungry in the mornings. I'm not sure when exactly this changed, but since last semester, possibly part of the summer before, I began eating more in the mornings. I think one reason is that I eat meals more regularly throughout the day and have dinner earlier and at a more consistent time than I used to, so I wake up hungrier. In fact, more often than not, I wake up ravenous, ready to eat anything in my path. My breakfast of choice that I can easily make is scrambled eggs with cheese, a piece of toast with strawberry jam, coffee (particularly Cafe Britt Tres Rios), and if I have any, sausage or bacon. I'll only stop when the doctor tells me to. I've been scouring the Internet for great breakfast recipes, should I ever (heaven forbid) get tired of eggs and toast. And not just cereal will do; it has to be something hot and filling and that will give me energy for a few hours. It's gotten to the point that if I don't have a sufficient, filling breakfast, I get rather grumpy.

So there you have it. I loooooove breakfast.

Day 10 and weather madness!

The past few days have been pretty crazy due to the arctic storm that has affected many states. With amazingly low temperatures and snow, rain, and sleet, it has caused quite a scene of drama. I know that New Mexico doesn't have it as bad as other states, like Illinois, but Las Cruces experienced its record low temperature two days ago and NMSU has been closed for three days straight. Espanola is out of gas. Governor Martinez declared a state of emergency for the whole state. Las Cruces has also implemented rolling blackouts for a couple days now, in order to help save power and to ease the stress of the electrical system, which was definitely not prepared for this. So the last two nights have consisted of me quickly making dinner before the next blackout, hurriedly taking a shower so I didn't have to take one in the dark, and sitting around with as many candles I could find, not knowing what to do with myself. It's like the pioneer ages all over again. Last night I made pancakes for dinner, and one blackout happened when one pancakes was still on the pan, only one side cooked. It was pretty funny actually. This morning I woke up to no working water in my apartment. Good thing I'm off to Los Alamos today. With all this chaos, though, I consider myself lucky because I do have an apartment with a heating system, food and water, and plenty of extra blankets in case my heating did stop working altogether. My heart breaks for the homeless and for those who cannot even afford to heat their homes. So while this blizzard has provided some excitement to our monotonous lives, I still pray for those who suffer more because of it.

Now onto the photo challenge.

Post a picture of the person whom you do the most crazy things with...



This is my brother Stuart. In this picture he is attempting to shoot cans with his BB gun behind his back. Now Stuie and I have done a lot of crazy things together, but this particular day of BB gun-shooting came to mind when I read this day's photo challenge. It was about three years ago, and he and I were raking in the backyard and decided to set up cans in the pile of leaves as targets. After shooting at these for a bit, one of us (I can't remember who; it could be either way if you know us) decided we needed more excitement and was like "Let's shoot each other in the butt!" And, being crazy, the other was like "LET'S!" I volunteered to be shot first, so I walked across the lawn, bent over a little, and prepared for the sting. The sting came, but in the wrong spot, the back of my leg. Oh man it hurt. So I jumped around laughing, in pain, and demanded he do it over and shoot me where he was supposed to. So he did. Jumped around and laughed and squealed in pain again.

So then it was his turn, and he started chickening out! I would not settle for this; if I (a female) got shot voluntarily, he would too, darn it! After telling (not asking or begging) him that he would do it, he finally gave in, trudged across the lawn, and squatted a little, being sure to do the sign of the cross. I took aim and pulled the trigger quickly before he had the chance to back out again. His reaction was about the same as mine. We gained some welts in awkward places.

Good times. See following videos.