Happy Back to School!

This past week has been busy, returning to Tallahassee, moving into a new apartment, and getting stuff in order for school to start next week. I am excited for my last first day of school. College went by so fast, I almost wish that I could go back and be a freshman again, but then, I am so relieved that I don’t have to. I have new teammates to get to know and I have a new roommate this year (who is also my teammate). And guess what! She loves smoothies too. So today, I am posting a recipe created by her.

1/3 cup tart cherry juice
1 banana
2/3 cup soy milk or almond milk
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 tbsp pure maple syrup or agave

1 cup frozen strawberries

1 scoop Vega Energizing Smoothie (vanilla almondilla)

1/2 tbsp chia seeds

You get what you pray for

I’m supposed to be healing. A day has not gone by this month that I have not prayed for my shin to make a speedy recovery. But Jesus. He is truly amazing. Because not only is my shin starting to feel better, but that giant case of Pride I ailed from is healing too, through a heavy dose of humility. Tonight I heard one of the more powerful messages I’ve ever gotten as a Christian and I was convicted right there on the spot. Convicted of asking God for more “stuff”. Of believing that I was worthy and deserving of that stuff because I am a “good” person who works hard and prays and is kind to others. “Stuff” including but not limited to the American dream, a charming man to marry, a chance to compete at the Olympics, medals in cross country, enough money to live comfortably, a lake house, a healthy life. The truth is, if I got what I deserved, I wouldn’t be here, I’d be in Hell. The Gospel is not about receiving anything except Grace. It’s about us NOT GETTING what we ACTUALLY deserve for our sins. And this message is not always clearly communicated to the masses. It wasn’t to me until tonight. Because of the mix-up in this message, God is set up for ridicule by non-Christians. And what I learned tonight was that WE are responsible for that. The main reason why people are able to attack our religion is because we do not communicate the significance of what we believe in a way that glorifies God more than it glorifies ourselves. Here is the example that I immediately thought of (although there are many others): professional athletes in post-competition interviews who claim they owe their victory to God. Having just recently watched the Olympics, you probably know what I’m talking about. Dude lines up on the starting line with others. He probably prays as he prepares himself. Maybe he makes the sign of the cross on his chest just before he places his feet in the starting blocks. As he crosses the finish line in first, he throws his arm up at the sky. When he gets asked about his race in an interview. He immediately says something along on the lines of “I owe everything to God” or “I’m just so thankful to God to allow me to be here”. Now hear me out, this is not intended to attack these guys who praise the Lord after they have won a race. While I respect the athletes who make their belief in God public, I just think that there may be more tactful ways to do so. Matthew 7:6 says “Do not cast your pearls before swine.” Admittedly before tonight, I had never heard this verse singled out of the Bible. But it happens in sports all the time. Here we are throwing the Lord’s name around, out of context, and opening him up to ridicule (which you can find on any track and field message board on the internet). It does not honor His power and victory as much as it reveals our pride. It is a common mistake we make as Christians to be quick to speak about God’s glory without first explaining the why: the basic reason that He is magnificent, that we are sinners and thus deserve death. The deed that Jesus did was waaaaaay greater than any Olympic race. But we manage muddle that message in our attempt to glorify Him with OUR pride. Honestly, He does not care who wins a foot race. Nor did he help any one athlete win or lose. And unfortunately, we get so wrapped up sometimes, that we can accidently make it sound this way. Now I’m not saying that God shouldn’t be glorified in everything we do, including sports. He most certainly should. It’s just that now I have realized that pride can be a hindrance to that. And I am hugely guilty. Convicted. Today, I spent 2 hours (and more commonly, I spend 3-4 hours per day) on stuff devoted to building my fitness for running. Partly, because I enjoy exercise, but mainly in hopes that I will reach a certain level of achievement in a sport that will feed my own pride. But how many minutes did I devote to Jesus today, uninterrupted by my pride and asking him for things? Truthfully, not as many. I have trouble coming up with words to describe my shame in this. The worst part is that tomorrow I will probably wake up and do most of the same things over again that I did today. But what I hope is that when I get out of bed and my feet land on the ground and I can walk and breathe and speak, I will praise God for that rather than asking him for more. And that next time I have the opportunity to share the Gospel, that I can get the point across completely on His power alone and without any sense of my own pride. I am supposed to be healing. And while I continue to beg God for it, once again, he comes to my rescue, providing more than I could possibly ever merit, healing my soul.

1 frozen banana

1/4 cup frozen blueberries (we only had this much left, otherwise I would have used 1/2 cup)

2 cups baby spinach

1/4 of an avocado

handful of ice

1 scoop Vega vanilla chai

1 tbsp Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa

1 cup water (didn’t have any almond or soy milk left either)

Episcopaddling

If given the opportunity to purchase a lotto ticket, you should do it. If given the opportunity to go canoeing with 40 Episcopalians, do it. And if given the opportunity to jump off a rope swing into a river, even if you are not wearing a swim suit, do it! That is all.

Yesterday I had a great adventure at Elk River with church friends. I started with this smoothie. I actually had it planned for a few days, ever since my mom brought home pears from the store. Once I finally made it and tried it, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t done it sooner, because it was sooo good! This one's definitely going to be repeated. Try it out!

1 pear, roughly chopped
1 frozen banana
1 handful ice cubes
1 scoop Vega One, Vanilla Chai flavor*
1 spoonful spirulina
1 spoonful minced ginger
1 cup soy milk

*Note on my smoothie recipes: Ever want to try out one of my posted “recipes”, but are missing one or a few of the ingredients? Make it anyway! With most of them, you can leave a few things out, or substitute something else in, and it won’t matter. For example, in this one, any protein powder could be used instead of the Vega One powder, or perhaps just a handful of oats, pinch of cinnamon, and a bit of honey. The spirulina could be omitted entirely, or replaced with a handful of spinach. Also, I don't exactly measure anything, just kind of throw it in, so weather you want to measure or just eyeball things is up to you.

Foodie Pen Pals

This summer I participated in a fun activity amongst foodies and bloggers called Foodie Pen Pals. Basically, it’s just a bunch of foodies exchanging boxes of goodies with each other. Both bloggers and blog-readers all across the country take part. The program is run by Lindsay at the The Lean Green Bean, and takes place once a month. Lindsay pairs everyone who signs up with someone to mail a package of unique food products to and somebody else to receive one from. On the 5th of the month, you get the name of the person who you are responsible for packing a box for. Everyone who is participating has until the 15th of the month to contact their pen pal for information and mail a package to them. It’s so much fun because first of all, you get mail (who doesn’t love getting a package?), and secondly, you get to meet other foodies, and thirdly, you get to try new things to eat! It costs a little money (about $15 worth of items plus shipping), but you can choose to participate just one month if you wish. I will not be able to keep doing it this fall due to a stricter budget. But it was well worth the it participating this summer!

Usually, anyone who blogs, reveals what they received in a post on the last day of the month. I was not able to do that this month because my box was delayed in arrival. But it finally came while I was out of town this weekend, and when I got home yesterday evening, it was waiting for me! I deliberately unpacked all my stuff from the trip and did all my “chores” for the day before I opened my special surprise.

My foodie pen pal this month was Melyssa. And she did a wonderful job! I got so many great things! And I’ve never had any of them before. Here is a picture of the contents:


Bon Appétit herbes de provence, Rising Moon Organics garlic & merlot pasta sauce, Dr. McDougall’s microwavable black bean & lime soup and Szechuan noodles, Just Great Stuff superberry acai bar, Enjoy Life Boom Choco Boom dark chocolate bar, and an assortment of tea.

I already ate the chocolate bar… along with my chocolate banana breakfast smoothie this morning. You can never have too much chocolate I believe.

Charleston (one day and one day only!)

I arrived in Charleston on Sunday evening. My old teammate and friend from high school, Amy, put me up for 2 nights in her new apartment. On Monday morning, I left her place with a backpack and my GPS, ready for a day of exploring. This was the first time I was really on my own in a city for vacation. It was kind of exciting! First thing I did was drive to the visitor center of Charleston. I parked my car there and picked up a map. Then I set out on a walking tour of Charleston. I saw some historic houses, churches, the waterfront. I walked down the 2 streets with the most shopping. There were so many stores! I mostly just looked, but went inside a few. Now, I always have said that one day I would splurge and spend money on Lululemon running clothes. I’ve window shopped many times, not finding any one item that I loved enough to pay the steep price for. Monday was the day I finally did it. I found some shorts that I loved. In fact, it was a tough decision narrowing down the ones I liked, but I selected one pair and got them. I was slightly nervous as I checked out, paranoid that my bank card would be rejected or something. But a few minutes later, I was walking out of the store with one of their special Lululemon tote bags that you get with a purchase. It was a day of small thrills like that. I finished walking the streets, not going in many other places because I spent all my money already. I did walk in one bakery just to enjoy the cupcake aroma for a moment and then left. I had walked pretty far by lunchtime, so I returned to my car and took to my next destination: the beach.

I arrived in Folly Beach to find it pretty busy. It was hard to find parking. I ended up paying more than I wanted to for that. I went to a café and had a pretty tasty sandwich, dining by myself is kind of fun sometimes. The rest of the afternoon I spent lying on the beach. I read a book, soaked up some rays, and swam around a bit.

That evening I met my friend Huck for dinner. He took me to a place in Charleston that I really liked called the Black Bean Co. If you ever find yourself in the city, check it out for some great wraps. At this point I was pretty tired. That was a long day for me, but I covered the area pretty well in 12 hours. This morning I headed back to Decatur. Just 10 days til I return to Tallahassee! And I’m really excited to get back to my friends there and start school again.

A Weekend at the Lake

My family and I went on vacation this weekend (a mini vacation since we could not afford extra time off work and school). We rented a cabin in the woods near Lake Rabun, in Georgia. We learned about Lake Rabun from an issue of Southern Living magazine. Probably the only time we have vacationed at a location recommended in a magazine! And it was pretty cool. We made it into an inexpensive trip, but some most of the homes on the lake were gorgeous places with boathouses as large as our regular house. Upon arriving Friday afternoon, we drove around checking the area out, went to a country store with every kind of jam imaginable, and dined at the Lake Rabun Hotel without reservations where Mathew made friends with a cat. Our place, dubbed Black Bear Cabin was small, but charming, with everything we needed (i.e. a tv to watch the Olympics). It had a river in the backyard and deck with rocking chairs. Only one small problem: It was raining as I fell asleep Friday night and raining when I woke up Saturday morning.

Our plans for Saturday morning were zip-lining at a place called Sunburst Stables (yep, they had horses too but I stayed away from them). We showed up despite the rain, and let me tell you, it was a ton of fun anyway! Even though, we were outside for 2 hours, we didn’t even end up too wet. It was our first time at this activity, but the place gave us a great experience, and we even had enough courage to flip upside down on the last few lines. Perhaps my favorite part was the beginning though. They staff loaded us into a war craft vehicle that was previously used for German troups and drove us out to the woods. The road got rough, really rough. I mean really, really bumpy. We were flying all over the place. There were 11 of us total in the back, and 2 guides in the trailer of it. At first, I couldn’t believe the crazy obstacle course we were roving on, but it turned out to be a blast!

I would highly recommend zip-lining to anyone. It’s an adventurous activity that you don’t have to have a ton of guts to do. It’s a great way to enjoy the outdoors, even for someone with a slight injury like mine. I’m not going to be running for at least 3 more weeks, but I still got to go gliding though the woods.

It continued to rain, so we did not rent a boat and go out on the lake like we hoped. But we were happy to hang out at the cabin watching tv and baking brownies. When the rain finally did subside, we went to a funny little place called Goats on the Roof. It was just what it sounds like: goats hanging out on a roof. And visitors get to send food and watch the goats from below. We took pictures and bought some fudge. It was an amusing place that killed a little time.

Sunday morning, we toured Tallulah Falls a bit. Tallulah is a historical gorge that had some pretty nice views (and lots of stairs). The second half of my day, I spent driving to Charleston for an extra day of vacation there, while my family returned to Decatur.

It turns out that the cabin kitchen was pretty well stocked, so a blender was available to me. I didn’t count on that though, so I did not plan to make smoothies while there. I did throw one together Sunday morning with a banana, some blueberries, ginger and coconut water.