things I wanted to say in 2014

As I prepared to write my #turn2015 post, I couldn't help but notice all the posts I had started and never finished late last year. Writers block had hit and hit hard. My inspiration was aloof and I was struggling to write my thoughts coherently and expressively. 

I thought it would be fun to do a conglomerate post of all those things I had started to say in a way that made sense. I still think these thoughts hold some merit to them and should be shared. I don't want these words to be lost in the shuffle.

Harnessed talents and passions // 8.23.14

This past week I have been thinking a lot about the paths we as people take through life and the people who guide us there.

On Wednesday as I sat in and presented on the preliminary research my team and I had done on Big Data, I found myself soul searching how I got there. You see, I realized all the way back in high school (it feels that long ago) I had people truly seeing me and the talents I possessed. They chose to harness those features and guide, partially unknowingly, me to the place I am today. Without those individuals, I truly wonder if I would have chosen this major and felt the ability to take on this research project.

I was reminded of the things that shape you. In the thick of it, I didn't see the impact. But as I looked back through those early years, I saw some of the building blocks that established a portion of my foundation. With wider eyes, it's an adventure to look back.

So this post will serve as a small thank you note to those people who saw me in those early years and sparked the chain reaction that has followed. 

DeAnna: Before I even entered high school, you had me scooped up and placed into a role I had no previous desire/knowledge of. You had heard of my outgoing personality and simply by word of mouth gave me a leadership position that would alter my high school experience, and in turn, my life. You gave me opportunities that stretched me in ways I didn't even know needed to be stretched. You saw my capabilities for leading and speaking and you sent me off places to practice and mold them. 

Because of you, I have hands on experience of being a leader. You gave me a space to mess up and try again, that included an ever changing "high school emotional" environment where working together was possible (and expected). I learned the pluses and deltas of the reactions of someone in a leadership role. Now, as a "real" adult I can be confident in areas many of my peers unfortunately are not. The experiences you aided have given me the ability to stand in front of a group of peers and feel invested and capable of most any task. 

For that, I thank you. You truly took the time to see my abilities and engage them. How special it is to have an experience like that. 

Dr. Baker: You showed me what exactly it means to be a good leader, one that leads by working along side their employees. You studied my personality and my blossoming leadership style. I knew I was a take charge kind of girl, but you showed me how to make that beneficial for all who are involved. You didn't belittle my thoughts and input because of my age, but rather encouraged it. 

Because of you, I make a conscious effort to be present for every presentation I am witness to. I am aware that body language is key to responsiveness and because of this I am a better presenter and audience member.  

Thank you for taking the time to respond and engage, you helped teach me to not be afraid to interact with my superiors and instead seek opportunities to listen and learn from them. For all of this, I thank you.

Navid: You were my support system and biggest cheerleader most times as I ran myself ragged through that school. You simply cared. I was blessed with a wonderful caring family, but you were a most happy addition to my team of supporters.

And like any good supporter, you stretched me. At the age of seventeen, you had me standing in front of a crowd of more than a thousand conducting a graduation. I never reviewed the tape because I know I'd cringe, but the confidence I gained speaking in front of those people has come into play time and time again. 

For the day in and day out and the extra time you put in, I thank you. You saw me and helped me find who exactly I wanted to be.

Thoughts from a fourth year // 9.5.14
The beginning of my fourth Fall quarter is upon me, which means this is probably the last back to school post before my final graduation post is written (Um. yeah. That was weird to write.) So, I though it would be fun to write an honest to goodness post of what I wish I could have told my baby freshman self.

- You are gonna want to blend in and fade to back. When you walk into big lecture halls, you're going to pretend no one can see you. Because if they can't see you, you can't see them, right? 

Nope, girl. That ain't gonna work. Getting lost in a crowd, for one, isn't truly in your nature and two, denying reality isn't good for anyone's psyche. You're there. In a sea of faces who are all in the same boat as you. Find some souls you can connect to, learn to once again attach yourself with an activity and it's people. One day you're going to thank your mom for repeatedly saying "find someone to carpool with" and "get involved."

- Professors are weird. The sooner you accept it, the sooner you'll be able to laugh at their idiocies and roll with the punches. Also, you will never understand why snow pants in Southern California are regular attire for some. 

- You'll hate your Psych 105 and Geology 101 classes. You'll butt heads with the professors (see point two) and you'll be thankful to have a sweet red head in both. But here's the good thing, you'll learn more in these classes than in all other classes you will take. Not on the subject matter necessarily, but you'll learn some REAL good stuff. 

- Change your major. It won't be admitting failure, but instead making the best adult decision in your life thus far. I promise, the weight will be lifted as soon as you drop the form off. Communications is where you need to be.

- You'll spend more time in a basement newspaper office than you ever thought possible, you'll miss a lot of sun sets and you'll emerge just a few hours before it rises again. But, its okay. 

-Make sure to bring your glasses and your contact case for your long night in said basement. Also, it might help to have makeup remover wipes in the car. Don't be like me and forget those things.

- Don't try to put your contacts in on Friday mornings, you're tired eyes will be very vocal about the pain you put them through with all nighters. Go with the glasses.

- Half way through when you feel like quitting school, know its always darkest before the dawn and thank your mom because she speaks truth. You CAN do it. 

- Getting preferred commuter parking will be of utmost appreciation. Because, in college, parking is no joke.

- Stop and do silly things to break up the monotony, like pulling over and taking pictures of road side sunflowers. They're beautiful and it will do your soul good to recognize their beauty. 

- You're gonna go on a few dates that will seem promising. One will be an author and there will be GREAT backstory to the date taking place, but he'll disappear randomly and you never buy or read his book because of it. The other will be associated with your dad's profession and he'll seem nice, but he'll disappear too after a few less than truthful statements. 

I'm gonna tell it to you straight, girl, your ego will take a bit of bruising from these encounters. The whole disappearing-without-explanation thing will bug you, but you'll get over it. Also, the stories they provided will in turn provide you and your friends some good laughs. In the end, its worth it. 

- Use your free gym membership. Don't do what I did and go three years without ever stepping foot in there. I'm serious. 

- Do some ditching. It won't kill you. Read what you can, and study the notes for the rest. And always remember, when all else fails, c's get degrees.

-You won't always get Tuesday/Thursday classes. Accept it, live it, and look for the good in Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes. Hint: shorter class times is part of that good. 

But here is what I really want you to know and focus on, you are meant for such a time as this.

For this school. For this region. For these people. For this economy.

For these days.

My thoughts on your thoughts // 10.2.14

I am an advocate for social media and the benefits it can bring. The ability to communicate your life's story is an interesting and fascinating ability that can be used for so many great things. Our history will be forever marked and written without ever needing a historian or fame to induce such recognition.

But, let me tell you, lately its been on my heart how crucial it is to use these tools with strong judgement and self control. Big data aside and the information being collected, the words we write and the pictures we post will mar our names and our children will have our reputations in hand for the rest of time. 

Now, I'm not here on a soapbox declaring that we leave a legacy or a withstanding representation of our lives, but I am asking that we question the validity of our "need" to post. 

Our thoughts are our thoughts, that not everyone needs to know twenty-four hours a day. They are ours to harness. Those who are known for greatness with their words learned to hold their tongue much of the time. We all have learning to do and self control to capture, but we have to make the conscious effort to do so. 

The unbirthday campaign: recap // 10.28.14

It's funny that I entitled this post "the unbirthday campaign: recap," because if you don't follow me on Instagram you've probably never heard of it. Although, I did allude to it in my annual birthday post.

Back story: For months I'd been trying to figure out what I wanted to do for my twenty first birthday. Its typically a birthday fraught with an all about me, I've earned this sort of attitude. Which I personally don't think that's what birthdays are about even in the slightest sense, so I wanted to do something different than what was expected of me. 

In one of many discussions about my birthday with my mom, she sparked an idea about doing twenty-one things for others, for my birthday. After a lot of thought, brainstorming, and planning-- the unbirthday campaign was born.

I was going to spend my actual birthday running around doing crazy fun/gift giving things with my good friend Kelly all over town. I had a list that was complied of twenty one random things that normally wouldn't be done on a typical day, rather than someone's birthday!

the unbirthday campaign list-
Krystal Elementary- cupcakes to share
Neighbor’s house- cookie drop
Mailbox- Mailmen should get cookies
Instagram- birthday giveaway
Mail Box- encouragement card
Redbox- surprise code
Target- dollar bills hide and seek
Target- random gift card(s) drop
Starbucks- free coffee surprise
Church office- coffee all around
NAPA- random gift card drop
Krystal Elementary- labor day lunch and flowers for mom
Aunt Carol’s house- flowers + sweets
Lunch- gift card for the waiter
Parking Kiosk- free parking surprise
Soda Machine- have a coke on me
Communications office- cookie drop
Afternoon pick me up- surprise snacks for sister
Newsroom- let them eat cookies
*some activities count as multiple

I'm not gonna lie to ya, this was quite the feat to prepare.  I was my typical crazy busy self who tried to get all of the prep work done the night before which included trying to bake cookies with no flour, (see: I took a trip to the store at 9:30 pm to round up missing baking supplies.) It was hectic and messy-- and to be honest, all a bit overwhelming. I thought seriously about jumping ship around 11:30 the night before.

But after some sleep and a refreshed commitment to "just have fun" and an understanding that it all wouldn't be "perfect" or how I planned, I was stoked to knock this list out. And can I just say, it was THE most fun i've had in a really long time? Because it totally was.

I would seriously encourage you, if you're looking for a birthday activity or wanting to do something out of your comfort zone, to do something like this. There is no greater excitement or happiness than bringing joy to others. And that isn't meant to sound corny, I believe it to be the honest to goodness truth.

People will ask you with puzzled looks what it is exactly that you're doing and many of them are gonna get all bug eyed when you tell them. But it's worth every strange look and caught off guard smile.

The 411 on 41 // 11.19.14
So do y'all remember awhile back, when I talked about doing something crazy for No.41?

Well to recap:

No.41, based in Rwanda, saw a need and sought a way to change it. Women needed jobs and children's bellies needed food. So two crazy dreamers on a hope and a lot of prayer, created a system that gave women the ability to earn a sustainable income by making hand crafted bags as well as a way to give back to the community by feeding local school children with the proceeds. Every year in April, No.41 does a special campaign, I wanted to get involved and fill some bellies; and came up with a scheme to fill those bellies on my poor college student budget. Enter-- she felt lovely. Read; head bands I made/sold to anyone and everyone who would buy them and then sent those funds off to No.41. We (and I say we because it took a village to get there) raised enough to feed 1,000 meals. It was uh-mazing. 

Fast forward 6 months:

After the she felt lovely 4/1 day extravaganza, Tara, founder of No.41, contacted me and asked me if I would be interested in joining No.41 and becoming a campus rep. My initial reaction was "Um. No way. Me? Someone needs to pinch me."

I have to tell you, this organization has been an inspiration to my soul and the opportunity to be an advocate for it is just awesome to say the least. So, of course, I emailed back YES and I have been on a crazy planning/scheming/listing action to get some intense word of mouth out there about No.41 since then.

Most of these posts were meant to be expanded on, but were left untouched and unfinished because of busyness and writer's confusion. If you made it to this paragraph- you, my friend, are a straight up champ. Those were a lot of thoughts to get through. 

I am thankful for this corner of the internet to jot thoughts down and depict the peaks and valleys my writing takes. Its been a good 4 1/2 years and I pray for more. 

the tacos of a new kind

So I posted on instagram the other night of my experiment with Cauliflower tacos- and a few of you wanted the recipe. So, here we are!

In short, these tacos were scrumptious. At first my family was pretty skeptical and possibly a little worried for my sanity, but they tried them and actually LIKED them enough to say they are a definite dish to remake down the road. Score! 

If you are looking for a meatless/healthier option for you and your family, I would most certainly give these a shot. They are a stretch out of most of our comfort zones, but so very worth the stretch.

First I must confess, I am the type of cook that looks at recipes and 99.9% of the time I tweak them in some fashion or another. I based my tacos off of Blissful Basil's recipe. I didn't have time to make the cabbage slaw or avocado cream sauce (which would make them even yummier), but I was in a bit of a time crunch. And I think they ended up being a little healthier with out the extra fixings. 

All of the prep directions can be found there in the link and you can find how I modified the recipe below.  

So here's what I did:

I used only half of the head of cauliflower (yields about 10 tacos). I chopped the cauliflower into medium bite size pieces. 3-4 pieces filled the tortillas pretty well.

I was out of cilantro at the time so I had to omit it for this go around (we love cilantro, so it will definitely be there for the next time). I used only one teaspoon of Chili Powder, instead of the two it called for to make the dish accessible for those with more sensitive tongues and I bumped up the Garlic powder from 1/4 teaspoon to 1/2 teaspoon (I really dig garlic). I also omitted the cayenne pepper again to avoid the dish being considered "too spicy." The recipe also has tumeric listed as an optional spice, I didn't use that either. It's all up to your preference. 

Also, I used regular flour and regular milk along with regular rolled oats. Of course the Almond milk, gluten-free rolled oats, and brown rice flour would have been good to use as well, but I try to use what I already have on hand. Further into my #turn2015, I would like to start implementing better choices so its probable that I'll slowly start picking these ingredients up. The tacos are still pretty healthy without the more refined ingredients, so by all means don't be afraid to try it with what you have in your pantry. 

Like I mentioned before I didn't make the slaw or avocado sauce, I ended up serving the tacos with raw sliced purple cabbage and green onions (to get the green color the dish was missing sans sauce) with a bit of sour cream sauce (sour cream, a little lime juice, cumin, garlic, salt, and pepper-all eyeballed) on top of a warm corn tortilla.

I also tried the taco in a fried corn tortilla just to see what the consistency would yield and really liked them, it also added a bit more crunch to the taco. Of course this will also add more calories to the dish, but its up to you how you decide to serve them. 

All in all, the tacos were a really good meatless dish- flavorful, crunchy, healthy, and something to break up the monotony of your dishes already in rotation. I loved them and I hope you do too!

I hope this all makes sense in combination with Blissful Basil's recipe. Please let me know if you have any questions.

I would love to see your final products- Happy cooking!  

turn: 2015

I love the first week of the year. The holidays are officially done, the decor is packed away, the red cups are gone, there's a calmness mixed with heightened anticipation and the calendar demands progress and change. It such introspective cherished time for me.

The week before the new year I spent some time looking through instagram and the photos I posted over the past year. Since i'm a huge gram-er (is that a thing?) it was easy to see 2014 in the form of a picture time line. I swear, January of 2014 seems so long ago, anyone else feel me?

This past year has been chalk full of goodness. There was lots of travel to and fro for weddings and family vacations. A lot of hours spent in traffic because of crazy roadway catastrophes (who could forget about the great carrot spill and bridge burning?) The time spent as an editor of the school newspaper deep in the belly of University Hall or the ridiculously long, exhausting hours of my time spent as a research assistant over the summer (rewarding and eye opening, but golly, was that some serious work.) 

There was the high school and college graduations that I proudly cheered on and the prom extravaganza that I had the opportunity to capture. There was a night I was surprised with a smashed birthday cake and birthday candles that did not reflect my age along with the serenade of the  "happy Saturday" song sung to the tune of happy birthday during finals week- just because. The absolute joy of the Ice Cream truck adventure with my sweet HJ in the heat of the summer- money could never buy the happiness those redish-purpleish-blueish tinged memories from that day gave me. 

There was also that crazy couple of weeks where I began She Felt Lovely, partnered with No.41 and with the help of family, friends, and some of those around the country we fed 1,000 meals to students in Rwanda (um. still can't believe that happened.) And then No.41 floored me and asked me to be one of their Campus Reps. Straight up crazy-goodness.

This past year also marked my twenty-first year on this earth and I took the opportunity to spend my day running around like a mad woman doing crazy, fun, encouraging things for others- seriously, some of the most fun I've ever had. I enjoyed a night under the stars with sweet, sweet friends celebrating life with bubbly and kerosene lamps to round out the birthday celebrations. It was such a good, inspiring, life giving, love filled time.

There was those times when I went on a few dates; one with an author, and another with one whom had some serious life plans- each gave me some seriously good stories to tell and a few perspectives to learn from (word to the wise- if he can't keep his name straight, he's probably a murderer.) I haven't told either story on here, but it would be worth getting them down in writing. Anyone for that? Just let me know...

Kelly and I spent a night of this past year acting our age and enjoyed a concert that practically made us deaf- we were begging for Ibuprofen and hearing aids by the end. All in all though, the happy birthday serenade for Kelly and the compliment I got from the doorman made the hearing loss worth it.

And probably my most favorite moment of 2014 was that day in July when I found out my sweet, sweet friend was expecting and chose to honor me by calling me an aunt. What amazing joy it was see that baby grow, to watch my friend blossom and shine in the fullness of motherhood and the love it spurs on. I was in awe of that little one and the women who carried him. 

But along with the great goodness and joy this year brought, it has forever been scared with broken grief as well. For on a dreary day in November, my sweet nephew left this earthly dwelling place. It is a birthday I wished to have celebrated in April of 2015, and my soul will perhaps perpetually wait for that April, but it is with a broken heart I cherish that sweet boy and the little infinity I got to share with him. I am still in awe of the woman whom carried him all the days of his life, she is an amazing example of strength in weakness. 

As I bid 2014 ado and begin 2015, I can't help but look back upon all that happened. The joy and the sorrow. The good and the bad. I enter this new year ever so broken and so blessed. 

I don't want these events to be forgotten, I want them to shape me and guide me as I enter this new season. 

This past week the word "turn" has been pressing on my heart. I started thinking of what the word "turn" means. And because i'm a word girl, I went straight to the dictionary. 

Turn: change in nature, state, or color: become.

         synonyms: become, develop into. 

I love that reference- to change is to become. To turn away, to throw off what hinders- so you can develop into and become the better. I want my vision for this coming year to be about being intentional at all things and all times, which includes pruning the parts and turning from those that create road blocks and barriers. In all of it; the physical, the emotional, the spiritual.

I'm getting back into the word, digging real deep into it. I'm going to actually use the free gym membership I've had for four years along with looking for ways to do good to for my body. And I'm going to scale and cut back the use of the excuse of "busyness" and focus on the life giving, inspiring things and do them with intentional participation.

I want to be so intentional and consciously turning from the hindrances that I have a heart that is so full of love and grace it is considered to be wild. I want to ring freedom bells and do things that are simple but significant. I want to be gentle and gracious and ultimately do holy, radical things.

I pray the Lord goes before and clears a path for me. I pray I have a heart that seeks to not strive for my own good, but the good of the kingdom. I pray I have eyes to see and a heart to turn, to bestow grace, and to love.

At the end of this year, I want to be wrung out. All the good used up, with nothing held back so to be filled up once again for 2016.

So i'm running into this year with my fists in the air, raising my banner, and daring to TURN and become more.