tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13682575869522086582024-03-21T09:56:35.130-07:00Mocha's Midnight DinerMonicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966246923804053714noreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1368257586952208658.post-67392174160963175232015-11-12T17:47:00.001-08:002015-11-13T16:55:13.642-08:00The Meaning of My Blog Name<p dir="ltr">Everybody always asks me why and how I chose the title "The Little Life". </p>
<p dir="ltr">Well...  It wasn't anything too complicated and there wasn't any sort of crazy story behind it.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The reason I chose the name was because of two reasons.  One, I am short and two, when I originally began this blog, I was located in a smaller town.  I had no idea that I would be moving to much larger city.  I know Grand Rapids isn't as large compared to other places, but when you have more than one 24 hour restaurants in town and you take the freeway most of the time to get to work... you know you're in a much bigger place.  </p>
Monicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966246923804053714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1368257586952208658.post-22019382224937521752015-11-12T17:40:00.001-08:002015-11-12T17:40:46.724-08:0020 Facts About Me<p dir="ltr">Look at this!  Another post!  I bet I surprised you all.  </p>
<p dir="ltr">Well I have decided to help kickstart this blog and get the ball rolling with a 31 day blogging challenge.  I did my first post last week with my intro to me getting back on here.  NOW... it's time to get to know me a bit.  Below I have listed 20 facts about me.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Enjoy!</p>
<p dir="ltr">1. I am part Italian.</p>
<p dir="ltr">2. I love to cook (especially Asian and Italian cuisine).</p>
<p dir="ltr">3. I have one tattoo.  A smallish cross on my back.</p>
<p dir="ltr">4. I love whiskey and rum.  </p>
<p dir="ltr">5. I can listen to almost all music, it just depends on my mood.  But I am mostly a country and hip hop kind of girl.  </p>
<p dir="ltr">6. I'm very much into photography as well as other mediums such as painting and drawing.</p>
<p dir="ltr">7.  I used to play piano and cello.</p>
<p dir="ltr">8.  I have pretty much never traveled.  I have only been as far North as Canada and as far South as Chicago. Keep in mind... I live in Michigan.</p>
<p dir="ltr">9. But I do have plans to change that and I hope to  travel and see the world before I settle down.</p>
<p dir="ltr">10.  Along with cooking, I love planning get togethers and hostessing.  I find celebration in every little thing.</p>
<p dir="ltr">11.  I'm secretly a fan of Kdramas....well I guess no longer a secret now..</p>
<p dir="ltr">12. I'm a hopeless romantic..</p>
<p dir="ltr">13.  I pretty much like cats and dogs equally.  (I have no pets as of now.)</p>
<p dir="ltr">14.  I love taking day roadtrips and not knowing where I'm going. I enjoy random adventures.</p>
<p dir="ltr">15. But I do also enjoy staying in, eating chinese and binge watching tv shows all day.</p>
<p dir="ltr">16. I love tea AND coffee.</p>
<p dir="ltr">17. I feel like I can always relate to Demi Lovato.</p>
<p dir="ltr">18. I am obsessed with the movie <i>Frozen</i>. I could watch it on repeat and sing every song to you.</p>
<p dir="ltr">19. White wine. Almost always. </p>
<p dir="ltr">20. I sleep with socks on and a window cracked open or a fan on low. </p>
<p dir="ltr">I feel like some of these facts are very random, but I just felt I should write whatever came to my mind. (Do you know how hard it was to come up with them?? After the third one, I was clueless).</p>
<p dir="ltr">This post was fun to type up and I hope you enjoy reading it!</p>
Monicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966246923804053714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1368257586952208658.post-87519103060695701672015-11-02T20:37:00.002-08:002015-11-02T20:37:59.653-08:00Back for the 100th time...Here I am...again. writing yet another "I'm back" post. <div>
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I know what you all must be thinking... I am the most inconsistent blogger...ever. </div>
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But! Let me tell you why I've started this again. For many reasons have influenced this. One of the major roles being that I have finally moved! After much back and forth, an opportunity came up that I knew I had to jump on. It was a sign I knew God had given me. It had lined up too perfectly to not take the chance.</div>
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The jist of what happened is that I had been looking for a place to move into and wasn't finding anything pretty immediate. Then my two highschool friends reached out to me asking if I could stay at their place for a couple months to help with rent while one of them left for a while.</div>
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It worked out perfectly. Not only do I have a temporary place, but I get to share it with a friend. </div>
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With this grand move, I feel a whole new sense for adventure and just a fresh start. I'm not only hoping to pick up my blogging again, but I've got my camera ready as well. </div>
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Im going to try and involve a lot more photography with my blog posts. </div>
Monicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966246923804053714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1368257586952208658.post-3234636105527847192015-02-15T21:38:00.001-08:002015-02-15T21:39:36.330-08:00Being an Intermediate Couponer<p dir="ltr">Okay, so something that a lot of people tease me about is how frugal I can be.  My friends like to call me "Mom"  because I have a special pocket in my purse for coupons and I have have an app that I am always whipping out when shopping.</p>
<p dir="ltr">So in today's post I'm going to tell you my "secrets"  to being an intermediate couponer.</p>
<p dir="ltr">First off, the special pocket. <i>Audience</i><i>: </i><i>Oooooo</i>. Now you all are probably wondering if this is some sort of Mary Poppins trick. Well no. I wish! But no...</p>
<p dir="ltr">Whenever I switch purses I always dedicate a pocket to all my coupons and discount cards. Anytime I pull something out of a magazine or trim off the ends of my receipts I tuck it right in that pocket.  Whether it's something I would or would not use.  <br>
You never know, you might be shopping with friends and they end up purchasing something from a place you don't go to. You could be the hero of the day! (And maybe score a free lunch).</p>
<p dir="ltr">I know my mom loves it when I pull out coupons when she is shopping. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Some pointers for couponing: <br>
*check your magazines for coupons<br>
*check ends and backs of your receipts for coupons and surveys that lead to coupons<br>
*clean out that special pocket of yours about once a month. You don't want to hang on to expired coupons<br>
*if possible, try to immediately stash your bounce backs and super cash after shopping trips that you can use next month.  I've worked in retail and I've seen so many ladies toss those right into their shopping bags and forget. <br>
*always sign up for reward programs. Starbucks always sends me free music and I earn points at Famous Footwear and Walgreens. <br>
*if you must, do only ONE credit card at your favorite store and only if you can pay off your account right after the transaction in store. This way there's no debt, you can build credit and save more money by using your card. (Yes, the card that the cashier always tries to convince you to get).  Just be careful with these and choose wisely. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Another form of couponing I partake in is the good ole smart phone.  I have just a couple apps that I use.  One is for Meijer, my grocery store.  I usually try to check weekly with their coupons.  If I see any coupons on products I use, I virtually clip it.  This way whenever I go grocery shopping I can just give them my mPerks code and whatever I have clipped they apply towards my purchase.  Usually I never end up getting what I have clipped, but always remember </p>
<p dir="ltr">Just because you have the coupon DOES NOT mean you have to buy it or shop at that shore. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Most coupons these days are aimed to make you spend more then you intend.  So only use them when necessary.  Coupons are like the devil in disguise. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Besides the grocery store app I also use this popular one called RetailMeNot.  Now this is the app I suggest out of all of them when it comes to retail.  This app is widely accepted at most if not all of the stores they have coupons for.  Other apps are not accepted and I believe that's because RetailMeNot now actually coordinates with the companies unlike any other service/ app.  So if you have one of these apps make sure it's this one specifically.  </p>
<p dir="ltr">I like to pull this app up on my phone for those days when I'm at the mall with my girls.  I can usually save us about fifty dollars on a nice shopping trip. Just got to be on top of things. </p>
<p dir="ltr">So get out there and see how much you can save in the next month. Let me know what you guys do to save money and if any of my ideas worked for you. I'd love to hear feedback. </p>
Monicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966246923804053714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1368257586952208658.post-36626160150936984652015-01-19T16:45:00.002-08:002015-01-19T16:50:19.641-08:00Taking My Diet One Month At A TimeA few days ago I came across this photo on my facebook page that someone had posted. It was a picture of a girls abdomen all slimmed and toned with the words reading across it "Pick a food and I won't eat it for a month".<br />
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I started thinking to myself that this would actually be a great idea. Get my friends and family involved in my motivation for fitness.<br />
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So I clicked Share and posted it to my page with the following rules posted above the image.<br />
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1. I will give everyone until tomorrow, Wednesday at noon to list a food that I will give up for a month.<br />
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2. If its a food that I believe to be a necessity in my diet like chicken,, water, greens I won't consider it. I want things that are not nutritious or beneficial to my health.<br />
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3. I will only take one answer from each of you.<br />
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4. I will poll all the answers tomorrow after they are collected and draw three from the magical hat and post on facebook what three foods I am giving up for the month.<br />
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Once posted I slowly got some family and friends to comment a food item, even some who were just aquitances left a comment. It was nice to hear from these folks as well. Some friends didnt take it so seriously and posted things like water, lemon juice, kfc breading, and canned sponge cakes. I have no idea what they were thinking but I didn't put that nonsense into my magical hat.<br />
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Noon came the next day and I wrote all my choices down on individual pieces of paper and put them into a stand up paper bag. Then I drew out three pieces of paper reading<br />
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*bread<br />
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*pasta<br />
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*crackers and cheese<br />
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I know the crackers and cheese one would technically be two different foods but I basically am just reading it as no cheese and leaving the cracker part underneath bread.<br />
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After I chose these three foods I went grocery shopping. YAY! My fridge was pretty much empty so I did some stocking up on rice, spices, frozen veggies, eggs, fruits and salad stuff. So far all my meals have been pretty simple and very yummy. And in the past couple of days I'll admit I dont feel bloated anymore. I think I'm on a good start and can't wait to hopefully see some results from this.<br />
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I also decided that if worse comes to worse I would make gluten free bread with flour made from almonds or quinoa. yum yum. I even plan on making lettuce wraps. That means no tortilla, just veggies. I think this will be very beneficial and help with my carb intake. I cant take so many in if I'm not burning that much every day. Otherwise... Der you gain weight. Me and my pudginess... In fact I was looking at photos of me from my senior year and I am so envious. I used to be so skinny and I can't believe that I used to think I was fat then. Im crazy, but you all probably already knew that.<br />
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One last thing before I go, I also decided that if this is successful and I do see good results from this challenge I plan on trying it again every month or just continuing down this path of no pasta and bread. But possibly reintroducing cheese back into my diet and interchanging it for something else. I really suggest you guys give this a try and maybe make it more challenging by doing it with a friend. Besides possibly weight loss or living a healthier life style it could help you to discover new foods and recipes that you may find enjoying. Give it a shot and let me know how things go.<br />
<br />Monicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966246923804053714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1368257586952208658.post-69676440742141759442015-01-13T15:54:00.001-08:002015-01-13T15:54:55.929-08:00Microwaves...Helpful yet HarmfulSeveral weeks ago I decided to try something daring... Duhn duhn duhn I gave up my microwave. *gasp* 'Oh no she did not` Well yes I did. 'But how?!' It was actually quite simple. Let me tell you. I decided to do so when my boyfriend had made several comments to me about how bad using the microwave was. He even told me his story of how he lost some weight and just overall felt better after having give it up for a couple months. So then I decided to take some things into consideration and try it and give it up. Now, it does still sit on my counter as temptation only because my room mate wants to use it, but I did technically give it up. I started heating leftovers up in a frying pan or in the oven. I use my tea kettle to warm water up. By not using the microwave I now cant really resort to unhealthy tv dinners and other frozen assortments. It helps me to eat just a little bit healthier. But then I was asked what really made me believe this was a healthy choice? What convinced me to try this? Well my thoughts were that it is an electric device heating your food up... That is kind of wierd, but these questions provoked me to do a little research. What is it that makes a microwave so bad for your health? What benefits do you truly gain from not using this device? So I did a little investigating, and mind you I'm not turning this into a lengthy research article but after reading several websites and articles of my own I have learned several things. So lets start from the beginning, how does the microwave actually work?<br />
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A microwave, using electronic magnetic radiation, causes water molecules to vibrate at very high frequencies which in time turns into steam which then heats your food. I find it very odd the way this microwave works. Doesn't sound so normal and I'm not into the idea of this space technology helping me out so much. Articles also spoke of how it doesn't give the food radiation but that it is basically killing your food by destroying all the nutrients within. Tests were performed and in comparison to steaming your vegetables, found that you lose about 97 percent of nutrients versus 11 percent when steaming. Now just to be fair a microwave barely harms minerals, such as zinc and magnesium. But otherwise what is the point of microwaving that food? You barely get anything out of it. Also, consider what you heat your food in when it comes to the microwave? If not conscious about this you could be using certain plastics and papers that are releasing carcinogens into your food that is going into your body that you have just heated up in the microwave. Ouch.... Lastly, what affects does the microwave have on the outside. Now I know I said that there isn't radiation being absorbed into the food but there is radiation being emitted through the window. Studies are finding that its not enough to report microwaves "unsafe" but there have been enough studies showing that it can cause cancer agents and irregularity in the heart rate and heart rate variability.<br />
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Now I did get a few opinions and viewpoints from family when discussing my decision, and they do make sense. Some people don't see the harm. My mom had pointed out that if I was getting rid of the microwave because of radiation purposes then I should just get rid of all other electronics. Well, not quite exactly. The microwave was just a step. It was just one less thing in my life that wasn't really beneficial to me. It was something that I could deal live without. I'm not concerned so much as ridding all harmful things out of my life right now. My grandma had also said that the only reason she uses hers is for microwave popcorn and heating up her coffee and her coffee doesn't exactly contain many nutrients that she's concerned about not getting. So for some folks using the microwave isn't that big of a deal for them. It's all dependent on how you view the issue and how you want to take action about it that matters.<br />
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Even before diving into this little bit of research I had already had a gut feeling microwaves weren't the greatest thing for you. Even from what I had known growing up. Not to stand close to the microwave and blah blah blah. Just the idea of how the microwave works just frightens me because it doesn't seem so normal. Now that I know some of this research it really helps me to say no to microwaving. But we will see how long it takes before these "facts" have slipped my mind and I cave into using the microwave again. I highly suggest going above and beyond my own words here right now that you have just read and commit to a little research on this topic as well. See whats out there that might change your mind about something that makes your life that much simpler.<br />
<br />Monicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966246923804053714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1368257586952208658.post-57424311099710051902014-03-14T08:47:00.000-07:002014-03-14T08:47:25.606-07:00Let's Try This Again Soooo, I'm starting a three day cleanse today! Technically I started it late last night when I was having cravings for a snack, but still. This cleanse that I am doing is solely apples and water for three days. I had heard of one of my mom's co-workers doing it and I had looked it up a bit online and it seemed fair and nice. I even read a bit that apparently cleanses work better than dieting because it will help keep the weight off since you are actually getting rid of the toxins and what not in your body. It's only for three days so I've decided to try it.<br />
This morning I'm on my second fuji apple. Yummmm but I'm still hungry! I can tell it's going to be a long weekend now, but it will all pay off in the end. I'm hoping this is very successful and if so I'm going to try and keep a healthier appetite around as well as trying to do this cleanse once a month or so. It's not expensive which is really helpful. <br />
I decided to go through with this cleanse, because of several reasons. A couple being from my boyfriend and others from myself. Personally, I'm tired of gaining weight and never following through with my promises to myself. I want to stay on top of being healthy and maintaining a good weight. I can't stand it that my jeans and pants once again do not fit. I know in my last article I had posted to accept yourself and I have. It's just that I want to change for other factors. Such as being able to wear my clothes and living a healthier lifestyle. The fact that I'm gaining weight and not even maintaining a steady weight is what's really getting to me. I had read somewhere before that you are beautiful the way you are it's just now you are choosing to become someone even better. That's what I'm doing right now. <br />
Goodness... even as I'm writing this I'm craving crazy things like ramen. I might just start having hallucinations of food next! Wouldn't that be just so funny... not. Anyways, another incidence was when my boyfriend and I were standing in the checkout at our local Meijer and he went to pick up the fitness magazine with a beautiful, toned woman on it. I asked him the most obvious question, why he had chosen that one out of all the others and he just simply said "She has a nice body". It was nothing directed at me or anything but it made me realize that I need to step up my game. I want him to look at me in the end and be amazed. I've gained weight since I've met him and that just doesn't seem all too fair. Even when we first started dating I was working out and taking vitamins. I was in a better spot at that time than I am now and I want to go back to those ways. <br />
So my first step back in that direction is going to be this cleanse. I'm working on a grocery list and recipes at the moment for when I get off the cleanse so I can keep myself on this road for some time. Even get my family to participate in the healthier lifestyle. I'm going to try and push myself as well to at least run twenty minutes a day at the gym and if I can't really take the cement walls and treadmills than I will bundle up and run at a park or something. I'm hoping in the end... I become an addict for this lifestyle. Monicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966246923804053714noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1368257586952208658.post-57974401428543912592014-03-07T18:38:00.000-08:002014-03-07T21:44:49.883-08:00Accept Yourself So, you may not know but I used to be big in photography. Entered contests, took several art classes and even started a camera club at my school along with my own "photography business". Over the years my drive and determination has fizzled out until I bought myself a camera and photoshop. Tonight I was editing photos from the past couple of months and just doing touch ups on the lighting and what not (they were just photos of the family from a gathering). Not really editing faces too much since they were shots of multiple people playing cards. I posted them on facebook and tagged my family in them. <br>
About thirty minutes later my mother logged onto her facebook and then complained about how she looked, as usual, in the pics I had just posted. I went through about five hundred shots and picked at least ten of her from the ones I had ended up editing. I was frustrated listening to her. Honestly, not just her but everyone. I pick my photos wisely and when I do pick them, I see beauty. I see no such things as flaws. My mom is beautiful no matter what. Every girl out there is beautiful. Even I need to remind myself that there is nothing wrong with me. Nothing drives me crazy like hearing people complain about their pictures and how ugly they look. I understand that there are some pictures where you were caught at a funny angle and whoops! your double chin is showing. But when I go through my photos and get rid of those couple of pics everything else is natural and that's you. To me, when I go through those pictures I'm not seeing the extra curves you mention, or the pimple on your face. To me, I see a human being, a person, a loved one, a beautiful person. Always a beautiful amazing person. <br>
Ladies, and gents! DON'T embrace your imperfections because guess what? They're not imperfections nor flaws. This is the way God made you and you are handsome and gorgeous that way. God didn't make a mistake when it came to you or anybody else on this Earth. You need to accept yourself. You shouldn't be picking yourself apart everyday. Allow yourself to have confidence, don't hold it back. Don't punish yourself and make yourself miserable. Just think of all the people that surround you and love you. They don't see anything wrong with you. They don't see the flaws. They love you for who you are and now you need to learn to love yourself for who you are. Sometimes I tell myself that if I have so many flaws then why do I have my friends, family and boyfriend? They're seeing differently from the way I have created for myself. That's my rant of the night. Please, everyone know that you are perfect the way you are. In fact, it would be so helpful if you could remind your loved ones and others around you on how wonderful, beautiful and amazing they are. Don't forget yourselves. :) Monicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966246923804053714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1368257586952208658.post-52369398331886315962013-11-29T18:14:00.002-08:002013-11-29T18:14:37.741-08:00Welcome to The Little Life Hey everybody! Long time no see... If you have been here before you will notice I have changed the title of my blog from Mocha's Midnight Diner to The Little Life. Since I am now twenty and half way through my sophomore year of college I figured a nice little change was needed. I'll still be blogging about random opinions, ideas and stories. I'm hoping to expand to giving advice and answer questions later on. We shall see what happens when we get to that point though.<br />
So anywho, to play some quick catch up, I am currently finishing my last two weeks of this semester at a community college. To be honest, college has not been so swell for me. It's been a struggle for me to balance education, work and a social life. Every semester I have attended full time, but next semester I'm taking things a bit slower and going to be only going part time. There are some advantages to this as well as disadvantages. Such as.... I no longer qualify for certain insurance policies and I am going to behind even further than most others. Some positives to this situation would be that it's going to allow me to work more and focus on just two classes rather than four, so I'll have a better income and hopefully I can do better in my classes. Other than that, I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. I changed my major once and I've almost changed it about another ten more times. I had considered not attending college this upcoming semester so I could figure out what career I want to pursue, but I decided why not at least continue working on the basic courses and getting those out of the way for now. My calling will come to me soon. Just might take longer than most others.<br />
Besides college, I work two jobs as a sales associate and busser/ server at a local restaurant. Hours have been alright now that it's winter but sometimes I can get a nice little pile up of hours over the week or weekend. Not always fun... I do love my jobs though, they can be stressful like any other job, but I work with some great people. Most who I have grown up with and others I just love so much I would consider them a second family. <br />
I guess lastly I should tell you guys that I just got myself a gym membership about two...three weeks ago? Due to Thanksgiving I have fallen behind a bit, but I've been doing pretty well there. My best friend also joined me so sometimes in the mornings we go workout together and that's great motivation to run longer and harder on the treadmills. I'm hoping to shape up a bit for the holidays and New Years especially! I would love to look decent in my dress I've been meaning to wear for the past two years. I just need to find a formal even that I can wear it to for the holidays. <br />
This post seems a little jumbled now that I'm reading over it, but I've come to the conclusion that really, I can't cover everything about me so I figured just giving you the basic background of whom you're reading about would get you all a nice jump start. If you continue to follow and read what I have to say I'm sure you will find out soooo much more about me. Until then though, everybody avoid food comas and be safe on these roads! <br />
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With much love,<br />
MonicaMonicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966246923804053714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1368257586952208658.post-45017428418801043562012-10-25T19:33:00.003-07:002012-10-25T19:33:54.155-07:00What's Your Ability? If I had a super power what would it be? That’s a question I’m actually asked often when getting to know others. it’s an ice breaker and a fun topic to discuss. I haven’t really thought about it much thought till now. I started watching the show Heroes. The one with Hayden Penetierre. A very good, plot-twisted show. But it has brought me back to that one question again. If I could have one, what would my super power be?<br />
Well, over the past couple of years I’ve been influenced by two major things. One of them being Asia. My dad and I share an interest for Kung Fu movies. I’ve always wanted to be a ninja, so full of stamina and energy. The mixture of free running, defense skills and being all secretive. My second thing is The Hunger Games. I was a pretty huge fan when I first started reading the books. the main character, Katniss, was a role model to me. So clever, and loving. What really got me though was her archery skills. How amazing would that be to have such precise aim and hit anything you set you eye on?<br />
After tossing these around in my head I’ve come up with being a ninja with advanced archery skills. In my mind why not get the best of both worlds? Why not aim for something that is quite possible to reach? Now when I’m asked I throw people for a looop. Most expect something like invisibility, telekenesis, or flying, but I feel this is more me. If I ever decide to, I can always try for something like this. One day I will have that super power. <br />
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If you could have any super power what would it be?Monicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966246923804053714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1368257586952208658.post-72033218739002400712012-10-23T18:09:00.001-07:002012-10-23T18:09:43.053-07:00College vs. High School (Gangnam Style) I never expected college to be so different from highschool. Especially when I'm only attending a community college. There's no drama and no cliques and no judgement! It's amazing. You can talk to anyone and easily make new friends. Even though suprisingly most people are quiet and shy at first.<br />
I've now made friends from Ghana and Yemen. I talk to someone new every day. Everything feels so comfortable here.<br />
One of the things that has gotten me right now is that no one has judged me on my interest of South Korea. Yes I know... South Korea of all things but I just stumbled upon it and became intrigued several years back. I can't help myself.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWufLsgFPd49Cu3YI_QDt9yGa8bkU7ztS87352tYnOghS7uPnk4YmfgyRCXpeIYME5BQptJ3Zcd-sAbp0mk0pDb8tsZYVycu0x2eKAqKtB2f0hR28jR1KeZhaBGZ38wGPizajUN30Tjl1a/s1600/Asian+Day+004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWufLsgFPd49Cu3YI_QDt9yGa8bkU7ztS87352tYnOghS7uPnk4YmfgyRCXpeIYME5BQptJ3Zcd-sAbp0mk0pDb8tsZYVycu0x2eKAqKtB2f0hR28jR1KeZhaBGZ38wGPizajUN30Tjl1a/s1600/Asian+Day+004.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My highschool buddies and<br />
I celebrating some Asian<br />
culture by cooking up some homemade<br />
Korean cuisine. So yummy! </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In my english class we are supposed to write about a relationship we have in our livves and so I chose South Korea and how it is involved everyday in my life and how over all it has changed my life as well. Well, I didn't realize we would be sharing our topics with the entire class. So one day we went around the room and told everyone what we were writing about. At first I cringed when the words first slipped out of my mouth. Then the teacher stopped and became interested. Not many people choose a country or even a culture to write about. She aske dme more questions and every day since then she asks me more and more. At this point I was happy thtat she was interested in my choice of topic but I was stilll wary of what my fellow classmates thought of me.... Until today.<br />
today we passed around a paper with our topic at the top. Everyone had to write something about it that could help the person with their thesis. I was worried about what I would get back but then I saw the first several comments. Others thought my relationship was so cool and some have even made friends with South Koreans as well as finding the art and music fascinating. It made me so estatic. When people first find out about my passion they skip right to judgement. Even my own "friends" would tease me about it and think I was weird. It hurts when the people you thought cared about you....look down on you and make fun of you.<br />
Now I feel great about myself and I feel pushed even more from my teacher and classmates to study abroad and travel over seas. <br />
What are you guys judge for? Open up and comment below. :) I'd like to hear.Monicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966246923804053714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1368257586952208658.post-33972161363812516862012-10-17T11:14:00.003-07:002012-10-17T11:14:34.483-07:00The Great Break Up Everybody has been a part of a social network at some point. Whether is was Myspace, Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook. The facebook that has become so popular that they make halloween costumes out of it now. Well I have joined several of those sites but never became attached as much as I had with facebook. It started off with some photos, couple status updates every so often and that was that.<br />
Then my junior and senior years rolled around and I had become a part of multiple clubs and other activities and I was constantly on facebook. I had good reason. So I thought. I needed to update others and gather information and create events so my friends knew what was up next weekend. It started to become my excuse. "I need facebook to keep in touch with people". With this excuse I was always on facebook... every night. If I was doing my homework I would leave it up so I could let people know I was online and looking for a conversation. I became a little obssesed with the social network, but it didn't pull me away from my education too much. I still graduated, earned an honors cord and received a fairly nice scholarship from my 80 hours of community service that year. I was proud of myself. <br />
Now I'm a quarter of the way through my freshman year in college and the relationship I had with facebook became even worse. I had no more reasons to be on facebook everyday. I was no longer a part of clubs and groups. I did however end up deleting about 200 people who were my "friends" when in reality I've never spoken a word to them. Yet, I always was worried about my profile picture and my cover photo had to match. I needed to find something everyday to update my status. I still left the page open while I did homework in hopes that someone would start chatting with me. When I did my homework, which was always online, I would frequently get stuck and imediately I would switch to my facebook tab to "give myself a break". I thought I would "clear my mind" by reading some statuses and chatting with a friend. I found out the hard way that none of that helped me what so ever. <br />
Last night I got home from an evening of hanging out with my best friend. We decided to wait on our homework which is usually due at midnight. So we got on skype afterwards and started working on the assignments when I realized the one and only assignment for the semester was due two hours ago... I was late and could no longer turn it in for credit. I felt like I screwed everything up. I mean, I'm still easily going to pass my classes this semester but I needed something even higher to hold onto my grant money this year. It hit me then that I spend to much with my social life and worrying about what's up with everyone else that I haven't been focusing on myself. I worked on some other homework and couldn't get the thought that I screwed up by making a very silly mistake. I know I'm smart. It's somewhere in there. I used to be a straight A student and now I average between C's and B's. I felt so much stress collect on me in those several hours that it drove me to change. So I took my first step last night.... I ended my relationship with Facebook. I went through my settings, found the deactivate button and ended it. Now I may have put that I will be back so at any point I can set it back up and get all my pictures and what not back, but I knowing that it's a whole process to get it back up I just don't even want to bother with it. Plus I feel so free to do what I want now. I feel like I have all this time in my day just sitting here. It's what I've always wanted! Time! I sat in my bed last night really thinking and I thought I can finally start reading books again, and blogging, and making youtube videos and finish writing my story! I was so estatic that this morning I finished some more homework and immediately started some outdoor chores without hesitation and now I still have all this time so it feels. It honestly feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I now just have my phone, skype and letters in the mail box to stay in touch with friends. Which I am honestly fine with. Everybody who was truly that important to me are already added on my skype and most of them are away at college right now so I get letters from them in the mail. <br />
<br />
Take my story and think about how you're life has been. Do you wish you had more time for other things in life? Try avoiding social networking sites for a day or two and you will begin to realize how much of your life has involved these things. You will feel like you have accomplished so much more in that one day than you have done so in a week. Comment below with your thoughts and let me know if you have tried this and if it worked for you. Monicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966246923804053714noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1368257586952208658.post-59122420472040985242012-01-03T13:13:00.000-08:002012-01-03T13:19:06.614-08:00You Know You're A Teenager When This Happens.<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> 24 hours before school gets back in from the Holiday Break... I still had to finish playing a couple matches of MW3, skype my friend, and then maybe squeeze in some time for homework. I quickly pulled out my calculus packet and had just turned to the back page with an accomplished feeling when my eyes were drawn to the bottom of the page to see a GIANT,<strong> BOLD, </strong>message from our teacher reminding us to do our other calc homework that had been assigned over the break as well... I was devestated, but I hadn't quite given up just yet. I whipped out the yellow sheet and began by finding my derivatives. I flew through the sheet and before I knew it I had completed all my math homework. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gdMzVIGbSMo/TwNps0z_MJI/AAAAAAAAADs/dJnveO_jE3U/s1600/Color+Photography+Part+2+186.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" rea="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gdMzVIGbSMo/TwNps0z_MJI/AAAAAAAAADs/dJnveO_jE3U/s200/Color+Photography+Part+2+186.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My completed Drawing that I<br />
had worked so hard on.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"> Next up was my Studio Art homework, which entailed me taking about 200 photos of a colored composition set up that I created, and drawing a person posing. I found my drawing which I had started a couple weeks ago and began shading. I had the munchies at the time so instead of using my fingers to blend the shades, I made myself my own tortlin. I became one happy girl because now I could eat my corn chips and shade all at the same time without getting my hands all dirty. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
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<tr><td style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;"><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qnhGo9zAkRQ/TwNiob82eoI/AAAAAAAAADY/fvXOy-wVkSc/s1600/Color+Photography+Part+2+187.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" rea="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qnhGo9zAkRQ/TwNiob82eoI/AAAAAAAAADY/fvXOy-wVkSc/s200/Color+Photography+Part+2+187.JPG" width="200" /></a></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; text-align: center;">My homemade Tortlin</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">After I had finished with that I decided I deserved a well earned break then, so I skyped my friend, updated my youtube account and surfed the web. By then it was 4pm so I started making dinner. (When I cook... I'm very slow and precise.) So We sat down at about 6:30 and had egg drop soup, doejang pork and we drank fizzy grape juice out of wine glasses. It was a very delicious dinner. So at that point I felt I deserved another break from working so hard in the kitchen. I went back downstairs and played some Team Deathmatch with my friends. After a couple of matches once again I helped out with some laundry and then went to my room and skyped with some friends. We goofed off until about 2am, when I had finally become motivated to do the rest of my homework before it would be due in about 6 more hours. I took about 190 photos in one hour of 8 different compositions I had set up based on colors. It was about 4am by the end of the photo session and I had cleaned up everything and went to bed. Within a couple of hours I woke up to my alarm clock going off at 6:45am... I was supposed to be up an hour and fifteen minutes ago! I figured it was wierd that no one had come and woken me so I quickly checked my school's website to see what the status was, and it turns out our little blizzard over night had cancelled school. So here I am 10 hours later, writing about this lovely coincidence that took place for me for the beginning of the New Year.</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YQZPpFuh6rI/TwNuNJwWzSI/AAAAAAAAAEA/De3G62rjVAk/s1600/Egg+Drop+Soup+%2526+Doejang+Pork+014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" rea="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YQZPpFuh6rI/TwNuNJwWzSI/AAAAAAAAAEA/De3G62rjVAk/s200/Egg+Drop+Soup+%2526+Doejang+Pork+014.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Griddled Doejang Pork</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nXDamDcdFFw/TwNuK5bPA0I/AAAAAAAAAD4/KGdOwVNZuRQ/s1600/Egg+Drop+Soup+%2526+Doejang+Pork+003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" rea="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nXDamDcdFFw/TwNuK5bPA0I/AAAAAAAAAD4/KGdOwVNZuRQ/s200/Egg+Drop+Soup+%2526+Doejang+Pork+003.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Egg Drop Soup</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Monicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966246923804053714noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1368257586952208658.post-39490470025428945172011-07-25T12:30:00.000-07:002011-07-25T12:30:05.675-07:00Scholarships and contestsHey everybody! This is short, sweet and simple. Please help me get to college by voting for my picture. I really could use the money. :) Join too, and comment you link below and I will vote for you as well! Thanks so much!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://on.ae.com/n7zJSw">http://on.ae.com/n7zJSw</a>Monicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966246923804053714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1368257586952208658.post-51983005803758229052011-06-14T21:04:00.000-07:002011-06-14T21:11:38.350-07:00It Doesn't Hit You Until Now This post today is about the feelings others and myself have been experiencing lately. Over the past month I've had to say goodbye to many senior friends and just last week I said farewell to an exchange student who just got on her plane this morning. Along with my goodbyes to my friends, there has also been a community farewell to a local 16 year old girl who was murdered two weeks ago and her body was just found this afternoon. <br />
<br />
Last Sunday I went over to my exchange student's house. She is from Japan and we have hung out for several of our school dances and halloween as well as hanging out at school. We had known each other just enough to develop a good friendship with each other. It may seem cheesy to some of you, but for her graduation gift I gave her a rock that I had painted as a cute little dinosaur. It was perfect, a rock from America as well as being hand crafted personally by her new friend that she had made while visiting here. My mom had driven me to the party, so she didn't want to wait around all day for me to say my goodbyes, so after we talked about our futures and school back in her country we wrapped up our conversations, exchanging skype ID's and holding onto each other forever it seemed. It was kind of awkward, because over in Asia they don't show affection publicly that well, and having them hug us now was different. (Sorry, I say them now because there are two Japanese exchange students but the other one is staying for awhile.) Anyways, after hugging and saying bye, the students told me they wanted to walk me out to the car. Right as my put out hand on the handles of the car, the one who is about to leave in a couple of days, starts to cry. We hugged a whole bunch more and I never shed a tear once... I feel horrible, but the whole idea that the one was leaving in two days, never hit me. Not until now... Now I'm getting all emotional and I just want to cry, knowing that I will never her again, unless I am lucky enough to get to over there or she comes back here for college. I wish we could have hung out more and that she isn't bombarded with so much work she can't skype me often. I wish her the best in her future, and I promise one day we will see each other. <br />
<br />
On the other hand there is the missing body of a local girl. She goes to my rival highschool and is a year younger than me. She went missing June 2nd and some thought she had just run away again. Well, as I sit here typing this all up I'm also watching the news and watching the breaking news reports which continue to have more and more information. The story is, is that she was supposed to go to a grocery store and meet her friend there. He was a year older than her. Supposedly he came out to the police two weeks later, admitting to murdering her and telling police where he had buried her. Her body is being excavated as I speak and has been located across from our public library. He was a family friend! Someone she had trusted! In this town, I grew up with my family never really having to worry about such things. It has been a decent town and through out the past year, the freaks are just slowly coming out more and more. When I first heard about her missing, I just thought of it as "Oh, it sounds like she was angry at her parents and ran away." Now hearing the news, it's heartbreaking, cruel, disturbing, repulsive and makes me want to shove the guy to the ground and kick in him the stomach over and over again. I know it wouldn't solve anything and I know I have never even met the girl, but to think that she lived right in the area, I'm positive I have probably seen her before and to think that it just happened like that hurts. I'm terrified now on who to trust and to even just walk the streets of my town. Chaos is growing and I feel and people are resorting to murdering and harming others. Why did God let the world come to this? I understand that it's our punishment for what Adam and Eve did, but why do WE all have to suffer the consequences? Why do the punishments have to be so cruel, harsh and devastating? I can't stand all this war, hatred, bloodshed, rape and suicide to solve problems. <br />
<br />
I just want you all tonight to keep the one girls family in your prayers. I want you all to keep in mind, violence doesn't solve anything. You nor anybody else deserves to end your life in such a way. Think twice before your actions and don't let what other people say about you get to you. They are just their stupid opinions and you who you are. God made you that way and you are special and loved. Be the individual that you are.Monicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966246923804053714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1368257586952208658.post-81187775848424123602010-12-18T20:10:00.000-08:002010-12-18T20:11:59.862-08:00Start Your Day Off Right So it is now a new trimester of school for me and I am taking some new classes. Like.... NUTRITIONAL SCIENCE! I am soooo so so so glad that I took this class. It's only been two weeks, but I have learned the real reasons and facts on why breakfast is so important already. I've written an essay, looked up lot's of studies and discussed with others about things that they found. It is so very interesting and I think you may want to know some of this. So, let me get started now. <br />
<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIqxTLfom0UU0hiJUVhNFes31DBGc85FVfu_36MXsL515Xi_AZgX4LWs64zExcXkwRnwd0JA_XUjMNmIlotnVpAQcsfn1yWqFNfJZmYw0OaO3deOzVnY97eDmfhhxcrQ2Kxnppxz4VXO3y/s1600/pb+toast.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIqxTLfom0UU0hiJUVhNFes31DBGc85FVfu_36MXsL515Xi_AZgX4LWs64zExcXkwRnwd0JA_XUjMNmIlotnVpAQcsfn1yWqFNfJZmYw0OaO3deOzVnY97eDmfhhxcrQ2Kxnppxz4VXO3y/s1600/pb+toast.bmp" /></a> We found that eating a healthy breakfast daily can help you out with school and work. It helps with simple problems, and with memory/ recall. When surfing the web we also found that improves a child's attendence, and behaviour. They are less likely to be misbehaving, depressed, or have anxiety and hyperactivity. Lastly, and I'm sure you have all heard this. Eating breakfast helps with weight. One way a good dieter keeps that lost wieght off them. They start the day with a healthy breakfast. It's been proven! Just go look it up. If you decide not to eat a healthy breakfast and have something real sugary you are going to raise your blood sugar really high, (this will cause hyperactivity and such) and then your blood sugar will come straight down below the level. ( this is how you end up becoming fatigued and so tired by the middle of the day.) Because now your blood sugar is so low your body starts craving sugary foods again to put you back up again. But once you eat junk food again that day, your blood sugar just repeats the same thing. WAY above and then WAY below. If you eat a healthy breakfast you blood sugar will stay level at the level it should be at. If you start your day off right, you won't crave so much bad food. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgISdOIx-S765R1wmrzw80L0s5e4y-uo3dSvYN_dudCFaoCj23IoUjyoLb6_UQG2OC0HKASFcFTKV41l6CMNZWgGVp8o-GwGFmHBTa2zGTMeIm9q5mJNQ1C8Jr9Wc6JBsypyk8UXRk1JNOX/s1600/milk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgISdOIx-S765R1wmrzw80L0s5e4y-uo3dSvYN_dudCFaoCj23IoUjyoLb6_UQG2OC0HKASFcFTKV41l6CMNZWgGVp8o-GwGFmHBTa2zGTMeIm9q5mJNQ1C8Jr9Wc6JBsypyk8UXRk1JNOX/s200/milk.jpg" width="152" /></a> Now you have some info on what a healthy breakfast can do for you, but now you are probably wondering what is considered a healthy breakfast? Well, you are supposed to have a lean protein and a complex carb. My favorite example is whole wheat toast and peanut butter. YUM! There is also oatmeal with fresh berries. With a protein you are getting that little bit of tryptophan that will help relax your brain and with a carbohydrate you are boosting your energy supply and "breaking" the "fast". Funny huh? Try to avoid bacon and sausage. Along with orange juice, fatty milk, sugary cereals, poptarts, potatoes and I think you can figure the rest out. Orange juice just has a TON of sugar and milk has a ton of fat. If you want milk go for 2%, 1% or even skim. Everybody thinks it just has water added to it, but all they do is pull out all of that fat that you don't need, but they leave in all the good vitamins and minerals. You may not be a fanof skim and such right now, but once you start drinking it more and more, by a month you won't even remember what the other milk tastes like. Switching milks has been my first step to eating a healthier breakfast every day. With all this information in mind I hope to make better choices and improve my eating habits. </div>Monicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966246923804053714noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1368257586952208658.post-18274400996156947342010-11-29T17:24:00.000-08:002010-11-29T17:24:17.295-08:00Are Teachers to Blame? So... Do you ever feel like you are doing poorly in a class because of a teacher? I have finally found that to be true with my math teacher.<br />
First off, I LOVE math. It's difficult at times but I still like it. I always have recieved A's in my math classes and I'm ahead of the class all the time. Well, it's my junior year and I'm taking 12th grade math. It's really not that hard. It's slightly like a review of what we did the year before except going into further detail and attempting everything without a calculator.<br />
But in the beginning of the year I had a rough start. I was trying to remember everything from 6 months ago and I ended up trying to keep up with everyone. I had two teachers for my first trimester. The main teacher and a student teacher. The student was the one always walking around and helping and she "helped" me towards the beginning. She showed me how to do everything and when I got my homework and test all back... well.. my teacher said I was doing something completely different. I was so mad! So I ended up coming in the mornings trying to get some help but that did no good. And when I was in class she would have to come over three times atleast and try explaining the same thing over. To this day I still don't understand her way of teaching. Apparently there are some people out there who do, but everybody is different. Now I rely on google more than fifty percent of the time to teach me math. What a waste of my moms tax money... lemme tell ya. <br />
I think everybody is different in their teaching and learning ways. But it is the teachers job to make sure that they know how to teach in all the different ways and learn and adapt to a kids learning ways to all their students succeed. I've been told a couple of times that as the student I am not supposed to blame the teacher and I should change my ways of learning. <br />
Anyways, I think this post was mostly just a venting thing right before I took my exams. I hope you have some input, opinions or stories to add. Monicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966246923804053714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1368257586952208658.post-30877661876042159842010-11-24T17:01:00.000-08:002010-11-24T17:01:03.220-08:00One Way to Stop Wasting Food Today I was watching my 3 year old sister. For lunch she asked for a banana and only ate half, claiming that the other part was too mushy for her. So I suggested I make her a smoothy. ( The little girl LOVES smoothies) So I took her half a banana and used it with some other ingredients and created a very yummmmmy drink. <br />
I used to do this during the summers when I babysat her. She would eat bananas, strawberries and yogurts for breakfast and lunch. She normally never finished everything so I would save the left over breakfast items for lunch time and what ever was left by lunch time would be thrown into the blender with some milk and such and then nothing would go to waste. My mother loves the idea and I now use it all the time. <br />
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Here's my favorite recipe:<br />
<ul><li>Partially frozen yogurt cup with fruit at the bottom</li>
<li>1/2 banana</li>
<li>2 tablespoons honey</li>
<li>Some milk</li>
<li>And malt mix until desired thickness</li>
</ul>Monicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966246923804053714noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1368257586952208658.post-39382746127085145612010-11-16T20:45:00.000-08:002010-11-16T20:47:20.951-08:00Skin Care Girls! AND Guys!!! Listen up! I find these tricks to be perfect. And just because your a guy, there is no crime on washing your face with products or using these ideas. (No one says face care is just for girls.) I've been telling these secrets to my best guy friend and he loves it! He claims they work and I'm sure they will work for you. Here are the links that I got most of the ideas from.<br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bjOB4zS0uE&feature=more_related">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bjOB4zS0uE&feature=more_related</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGt3DBDHLy4&feature=channel">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGt3DBDHLy4&feature=channel</a><br />
(I have all the ingredients for this, but I just need the tray... IIf you try it, let us know your opinion about it!)<br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/MichellePhan#p/u/118/V61IJIE7sH4">http://www.youtube.com/user/MichellePhan#p/u/118/V61IJIE7sH4</a><br />
This one I love! It makes my skin feel super soft afterwards, and I put BioOil on afterwards or facial/acne lotion. I was also lucky that I had two old electronic toothbrushes that I never used, so now I put one to lot's of good use.<br />
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Now for my own tip. Sometimes when I breakout, I like to clean my face before bed, then add a dab of toothpaste on the the breakout area. (zits) The toothpaste helps dry it out...which is a good thing. and Remember!! Don't play so much with your face, trust me, it makes things usually worse. ;) <br />
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Enjoy the tips!Monicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966246923804053714noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1368257586952208658.post-906396330598775342010-11-16T20:31:00.000-08:002010-11-16T20:31:53.153-08:00Cutting Your Own Hair (Layers/ Bangs) Okay, so last weekend I was in much need for a haircut/ trim. I feel bad when my mom always spends so much just the lady can "cut" my hair. I was starting to think it was getting a lil' ridiculous, so I decided why can't I do it myself??? I went to google and here are the videos I found!<br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-GAilMmCqQ">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-GAilMmCqQ</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ITbIkbk5rM&feature=channel">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ITbIkbk5rM&feature=channel</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmypBjw4VmA&feature=channel">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmypBjw4VmA&feature=channel</a><br />
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I combined these three techniques to do my hair and everything worked out great. I first started with the ponytail cut and that helped mostly with my layers, so then I went on to the third video and just worked on my bottom layer. After those two steps I was on the second video and I did my bangs. I also have a small forhead like hers so the tip on starting in the middle was great! Now I just need those fancy scissors she has.Monicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966246923804053714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1368257586952208658.post-39742692022878941112010-11-16T20:19:00.000-08:002010-11-16T20:19:33.162-08:00FrugalAre you frugal??? <br />
I find the word "frugal" so funny sounding, but it means so much to me. Currently I have no job.... yes I know, it's sad that I'm a junior with no job. But that's only because my family doesn't have the time to drive me around and I don't have the time between homework and clubs. So with all this going on I am usually pretty broke except for the occasional birthday/ Christmas money I get during the year. <br />
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This fall I have been doing a lot of research for home made things and I've become A LOT more resourceful. Just this weekend my mom was saying how frugal I am. I now only buy from consignment shops, make homemade remedies, and come up with craft ideas for decor in my room. There is so much you can do to save yourself money!!! It may be a lil' more time consuming, but trust me, it's all worth it.<br />
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I'm going to post several things with videos I have found and it will be things that I HAVE tried and they work for me. You guys and gals can experiment with them and join me on my frugal search. If you have any of your own money saving ideas just jump in and let everyone know! Can't wait to hear your ideas!Monicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966246923804053714noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1368257586952208658.post-38959538302259423792010-11-05T17:22:00.000-07:002010-11-05T17:56:56.723-07:00My First Blog!<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Hey everyone!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> It's me Mocha! This is my first blog except for my photography one which is just a gallery of my pictures. My real name isn't Mocha and I know there isn't an actual picture of me, but that is because I have decided to stay anonymous for awhile until I get some juices flowing and am prepared for the blogging extremes. I do ask though, if you know me to please not post my real name on here. Thanks so much! :)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> Anyways, I have decided to start blogging because I want to interact with other teens and people around the world. Exchanging advice, tips and experiences about high school and being a normal teen. I hope to see this blog grow from just outside of my community of friends and family and wish to see many people benefit from it as well. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Here it goes! Wish me luck! </span>Monicahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10966246923804053714noreply@blogger.com1