Little Bee and Hot Topic
Hey everyone! It’s ALMOST Friday!!! Who’s excited? I sure am! My plans this weekend? Other than running 13 miles (PDR!) and getting plenty of school work done (ugh…) I am doing… NOTHING! I am going to attempt to relax, maybe take a nap! Haha I’m pumped.
But before we get to the weekend, I have a couple things to share. First of all, I’ve recently decided to make a point of reading for pleasure more. I really LOVE to read fiction novels and miss it during the school year. My classes this semester happen to have less reading than most semesters, so I’ve started to read other books during my commute to and from school.
One book that I just finished is called Little Bee by Chris Cleave.
I have to say straight off that I didn’t love this book. I started it about a month ago and kept putting it down because I’d get bored with it. Although it picked up as the book went along, it was really hard to get into in the first place.
The book is told from the point of view of Little Bee, who is a Nigerian girl who escaped her country and headed to England. She left Nigeria after having witnessed her village being torn apart and people killed by an oil company. Before she left she ran into a woman and her husband, who were on vacation, on a beach. She then managed to find them in England, after spending two years in a detention center.
The novel spoke a lot to finding your own strength, being true to yourself, and doing what makes you happy. Although it also showed that people need to be selfish and look after themselves, it also showed the amazing connection that can occur between strangers and what people would do to help others.
The overall message of the book was enjoyable and many parts got me thinking, for example, someone points out that yes, they might be able to help Little Bee, but there are thousands of “Little Bees” out there and you can’t help all of them. If you’ve got the time and patience to get into the book, I do recommend reading it. However, if you need something more gripping to keep your interest, then this book might not be for you.
I also read an article recently that sparked some interest and a conversation between a friend of mine and I, which was about childhood obesity. Since becoming more interested in nutrition and fitness, childhood obesity has become something that is very important to me. I don’t really know how to improve things or make a difference right now, but I feel like somehow it may become part of my future because I really do feel passionate about the issue.
The article, which was on CNN, was called Obese Children Outgrowing Kids’ Clothes and Furniture by Madison Park.
One thing that I found interesting in the article is they discuss that larger children are given special desks and chairs that are being made to look like all the other chairs (or they replace all the desks and chairs) in a classroom to make them feel less ostracized: “At all age,s kids don’t’ want to feel different.”
Now, I completely understand not wanting to make children feel bad about themselves for being different. I do, however, have a problem with people masking the issue of obesity with just buying larger chairs. I don’t believe that children should believe that it’s okay to be obese. I realize that this is a controversial statement, but let me explain myself.
I think it’s incredibly important to boost self esteem and not make kids worry about their weight or how they look, that can lead to very unhealthy mental and physical issues as they get older. I was a camp counselor at an all-girls camp and am all about making children feel good about themselves and believe that they are capable of being and doing whatever they want.
However, I also think it’s important to emphasize health. By covering up the issue of childhood obesity with buying larger furniture, schools are spending money in the wrong place. They should be putting their resources towards healthier foods, more recreational activities, and teaching about healthy lifestyles. The article states that “In the past five years, the biggest seats have been selling better than the standard sizes… These items also cost more.”
I’m not saying that we should point out the differences in obese children and make them feel bad about themselves, I’m saying that we need to find better ways to help them onto a better path for health, otherwise they will always have lower self-esteem as well as many health issues throughout their lives. The key is not to mask the symptoms, but fix the issue at hand.
Whew! I ended up going on about that much longer than I had planned! Sorry for the serious post, but it was something that really got me fired up when I read it! And I don’t live in La La Land, I realize that changing school programs and food is a huge hurtle, but these are just my thoughts!
Have you ever read Little Bee, what did you think?
What are your thoughts on the changing chair sizes, or childhood obesity? Feel free to disagree, I posted this for discussion!
What I Ate Tuesday–Errand Day!
Hey Everyone!!! It’s Wednesday, and you know what that means:
What I Ate Wednesday!
If you are new to WIAW, head over to Peas and Crayons to check it out! It’s a great way to find new recipes, meal ideas and blogs to follow!
Last week, my WIAW was all about what I ate on long run day! This week, it’s my eats from Tuesday, which is a day that I only have one class, and thus dedicate mostly to errands!
For breakfast, I got up early enough to make myself some egg-white oats! These always hold me over for about 4 hours and since I didn’t know when I’d have a chance to eat my snack, I thought they’d be the best option! I’ve also started adding 1/2 cup of canned pumpkin or butternut squash when I cook the oats, just as a way to get in a bit of veggies with my breakfast.
And yes, this is a recycled picture… My mornings always end up being hectic and I forgot to take a picture! Plus it was so good I just had to dig in…
After breakfast I headed to class, and then after class I went on a field trip! This semester I’m a part of the environmental clinic, which is where students do REAL legal work for REAL clients (for free…). I went with my professor and my partner who is working on the same case out to the suburbs to check out a facility that we’re dealing with (I felt like Erin Brokovich).
On the bus home, I snacked on an apple and a Pure bar.
Once home, I quickly changed and headed to the gym, realizing I had JUST enough time to get in my 6 mile tempo run before my doctor’s appointment! It ended up being a not so great run… I’m not sure if my snack just had too much fiber, or if my stomach was just off yesterday, but let’s just say I had to run to the restroom (TMI?) halfway through and just wasn’t feeling well.
Once I got home I showered and used my NEW MAGIC BULLET to make a quick smoothie to take with me on my way to the doctor! Into the blender went 1/3 block of frozen spinach (I was out of fresh), 1/3 cup canned pumpkin, 1 scoop vanilla protein powder, some cinnamon and 1 packet of stevia.
Thank you to my friend, Hadley, for my awesome tumbler!
My appointment just happened to by the REI store, and guess what? I had a gift card from Christmas! I’ve been wanting to get a CamelBak pack for running, and my long run with very little water last week really got me going on researching it. I ended up texting my cousin, Allie, who has one and asking her opinion.
In the end, I went with the 2012 Aurora, which holds 70 oz and is designed for women with smaller torsos. I tried on several and looked a bit ridiculous, but it was a big purchase! I also bought a couple types of energy beans to try out too! I think since they are more like candy, I can use them as motivation… Ha.
By the time I got home, I realized I hadn’t had a real lunch and I was STARVING! It was 4:45. I was okay with having dinner at 4:45.
I decided to use the miracle noodles I had got a few weeks ago, and make an Indian flavored dish! I sautéed some chopped summer squash, mushrooms and kale mixed with curry and tumeric and then also made a sauce for the noodles with 2 tsp Dijon mustard, flax milk, curry and tumeric. I also added in some chopped up chicken meatballs. It turned out fantastic!
Although not exactly authentic Indian, I thought it was pretty good!
My dinner wasn’t quite as filling as I’d hoped (I was a hungry beast today!) So I also had a container of Chobani Blood Orange Greek Yogurt, with a few mini soy-free chocolate chips from Enjoy Life Foods.
And you are correct in realizing I said soy-free, but not sugar free… oops.
Since I had dinner so early, I was getting hungry a bit later. I tried to curb it with a handful of nuts, but I was just plain hungry! So I made up another pumpkin protein muffin from STUFT Mama! So good. On the side was “chocolate sauce” which I made with 1 T protein powder, 1 T PB2, 1 packet stevia and 1/2 T cocoa powder, all mixed with water and a bit of flax milk.
There also may have been a few more chocolate chips and some almond butter involved in the evening… But I’m not telling if you aren’t. Haha.
What do you use to hydrate during longer runs? I’ve tried carrying a water bottle and it drives me crazy after about… 10 seconds.
Do you ever try and make ethic-style dishes? If you have a great recipe, link up!
One Track Mind
I have a riddle (not really) for you all:
What is something that everyone needs, every single day to function properly?
Hint: other than food and water.
What’s your immediate first thought? Something like happiness, or exercise? Friendship?
Nope. We’re going much more primal than that.
SLEEP.
I have been super cranky this weekend. At first I blamed in on my 12 mile run, saying I was just exhausted. But you know what? It wasn’t that. I started thinking about it, and I’ve been getting less and less sleep over the past couple of weeks and it’s really starting to hit me. I was pretty cranky this weekend (sorry to my brothers…) and it was purely because I was so tired, but so busy and didn’t have a chance to relax (or nap).
Now, you might be thinking, well why don’t you just go to bed earlier or sleep in a bit?
That’s not the problem. I am IN my bed with the lights out and no distractions for 8 hours every night. I fall asleep just fine. But 2 hours later, I’m awake! Back to sleep. 2 more hours later, I’m awake! Can’t fall back asleep… Listen to some music, eventually fall back asleep. 2 hours later, you guessed it: AWAKE!
It’s getting ridiculous.
I’ve actually never been someone to sleep through the night. I almost always wake up once or twice, but I go back to sleep just fine. Currently, I’m up half the night, and usually by 4 or 5am, that’s it. I’m awake.
Now, I realize that this isn’t the most thrilling blog post topic ever – but I’m currently sitting at school at 3pm waiting around for my 4pm class and all I’ve wanted to do since I got up this morning was take a nap. Sadly, that’s not an option when you have class all day and can’t go home. Thus, all I can think about is sleep. So bear with me.
Since I have sleep on my mind, I decided to look up a few articles about sleep and share them with you. I actually did this a few weeks back with some Huffington Post articles, so clearly my sleeping pattern has been off for a while… ha. Here’s an article from a Harvard Health Journal that I found:
The Harvard Women’s Health Watch suggests six reasons to get enough sleep:
- Learning and memory: Sleep helps the brain commit new information to memory through a process called memory consolidation. In studies, people who’d slept after learning a task did better on tests later.
- Metabolism and weight: Chronic sleep deprivation may cause weight gain by affecting the way our bodies process and store carbohydrates, and by altering levels of hormones that affect our appetite.
- Safety: Sleep debt contributes to a greater tendency to fall asleep during the daytime. These lapses may cause falls and mistakes such as medical errors, air traffic mishaps, and road accidents.
- Mood: Sleep loss may result in irritability, impatience, inability to concentrate, and moodiness. Too little sleep can also leave you too tired to do the things you like to do. **Um, yea, definite side effect**
- Cardiovascular health: Serious sleep disorders have been linked to hypertension, increased stress hormone levels, and irregular heartbeat.
- Disease: Sleep deprivation alters immune function, including the activity of the body’s killer cells. Keeping up with sleep may also help fight cancer.
(source)
One thing I thought was interesting about this list was the metabolism and weight. I’ve been sticking to weighing myself only once a week (okay, really twice) and I’ve found that despite all the exercise and healthy eating that I follow (don’t worry, I have slip ups too!) I haven’t lost any of the weight I gained over break (about 3lbs) from eating unhealthy foods and lots of sugar… I’m wondering if stress and lack of sleep is contributing to this! It is DEFNITELY contributing to my mood! And I know it’s affecting my school work as well, I’m just not focusing on anything I’m reading, and it’s been so hard to pay attention in class today!
I also took this snippet from
“It’s not just the number of hours in bed that is important—it’s the quality of those hours of sleep. If you’re giving yourself plenty of time for sleep, but you’re still having trouble waking up in the morning or staying alert all day, you may not be spending enough time in the different stages of sleep—especially deep sleep and REM sleep. By understanding how the sleep cycles work and the factors that can lead to those cycles being disrupted, you’ll be able to start getting both the quantity and the quality of sleep you need.” (source).
Clearly just being in my bed for 8 hours is not enough! I need my REM sleep!
I did see my doctor this weekend and he thinks some of my digestion issues and the supplements he has me on could be part of the issue, so he gave me something to see if it helps at all. I sure hope it does because I can’t take much more of this! Haha I was seriously considering just skipping school tomorrow (only one class in the morning) before my meeting for some extra zzz’s, but now that I read it’s not just about hours, I realize that probably won’t help! Ugh, guess I’ll be at Business Organizations tomorrow morning… (actually TODAY since I wrote this yesterday).
On a completely unrelated note, has anyone heard of the mascot Blue from Butler University in Indiana? He’s a bulldog and so cute (currently it’s Blue II). My friend went to a different school in Indiana and I’m not sure how, but he got me hooked on Blue2. I actually follow him on twitter.
Well, Blue has a little brother now: Trip.
(source)
Is he not adorable?!!?!? He also has a twitter account. Feel free to follow him for constant adorable pictures. I highly recommend it.
And I guess it’s not completely unrelated, since he and his big bro get a lot of sleep: picture. <— I highly recommend looking through their flickr account!
Am I the only one who doesn’t ever sleep the whole night through? And we’re talking, WIDE awake several times a night.
Anyone you follow on twitter (other than other bloggers) do you love and recommend to other people?
Little Brother in the Big City
I’ve mentioned it a couple times in the past few days, but this weekend my little brother was here to visit!!! I didn’t see too much of him, but I was glad he got to come and enjoy the city! Plus, it was really a “boys weekend” since my older brother invited him up to see a Bulls game.
He got here on Friday afternoon and went exploring downtown. OF COURSE they had to check out The Bean. Very iconic Chicago.
I do not understand my brothers. Do you see what he is wearing?? I mean yes, Friday happened to be a high of about 46, but he’s wearing a SWEATSHIRT. And you know what? That’s what he wore as a jacket almost the whole time! My older brother is the same, he’ll wear a t-shirt and the shell of a winter jacket (not the fleece lining part) and pretend he’s totally fine. I know, however, that they were freezing because anytime we walked somewhere, the two of them were powerwalking way ahead. I’ll take my giant Northface coat, thank you very much.
Mason stayed in my brother and sister-in-law’s second bedroom, and guess what? He had a roomie who apparently woke him up in the mornings!
Now that’s my kind of alarm clock!
I’m sure Molly was very upset last night when she had to sleep in the room all alone… I bet she enjoyed having Mason as her roommate for the weekend. She enjoys attention… shocker.
We went out to dinner both nights he was here, but I didn’t really think to take a picture either time! The first night we went to an Italian restaurant in our neighborhood. My brother and sister-in-law love their pizza, however, I wasn’t a fan since they were very unaccommodating if you couldn’t eat gluten. I ordered a salad and it was your classic bar salad: iceburg lettuce, a few raw veggies and that was that. Needless to say I had a snack when I got home…
On Saturday I joined them to take Molly on a walk down to the beach. It was pretty windy and chilly, but we had a good time and enjoyed watching her dig. I just don’t get it, she will pick a random spot, dig like crazy, and then stick her face in the hole. So random…
After that, Mason and Harrison headed off to the Bulls game, and then my sister-in-law met up with Cate to see The Vow.
Now, I know several other bloggers didn’t think it was all that great, or that it was too cheesy, but we LOVED it! I thought it had a great plot and the actors really played their rolls well. I got very emotionally involved! Although I did find it hilarious that they used every possible opportunity to show Channing Tatum without his shirt on… Yes, I often take out the trash shirtless too.
The movie theater was right next to a Barnes and Noble (there are few real bookstores in the city anymore…) so we popped in so I could grab a book I’ve been wanting to read!
I heard that it’s great if you liked the Hunger Games (which I loved!). The bookstore confirmed this by placing it in an area called: “If you liked the Hunger Games…”. Thanks B&N.
For dinner, we met up with my brothers again, who were a little disappointed about the Bulls’ loss… at a Mexican restaurant called Caesar’s, also in our neighborhood.
We had a good time at dinner, and then I headed home. I got to see him one last time Sunday morning when I went over to my brother and sister-in-law’s apartment to hang out before his flight. I also went over there because my brother printed out a Bed Bath & Beyond coupon for me… Why? So I could get a discount on THIS:
So much excitement to come…
Do you have any siblings? Do you like to hang out with them?
Any great things to make in a magic bullet? I’m so pumped and looking for new recipes!
Things I’m Loving…
Good morning everyone! I hope you’re all having a great Sunday! I’ve had a pretty busy weekend with my little brother here in town, and tons of work to do today to catch up, so I thought I’d leave you with some of my favorites from my Pinterest page, and a few other places.
I hope you all are having a fun and relaxing weekend, and feel free to link to your pages or say what you are loving right now!
