101 Reasons to Stop Drinking Soda (AND I can’t count)

Posted on January 31, 2012 by lovealwayshannah

Soda is the devil…. or so I’ve been trying to tell myself for FAR TOO LONG. I’ve ~~read~~ skimmed all the articles and not once have I found something that tells me what I want to hear… Soda makes you happy, makes you age in reverse and actually causes you to lose weight…. I’ve looked… those articles don’t exist…

Don’t they looks so cheerful and pleasant? Don’t believe them! (Photo Credit)

As I approach the ripe old age of 30… I’ve realized that it’s about time I stop hiding my head in the sand (there’s no soda to be found down there anyways) and break the habit.

Here’s a brief synopsis of an article I read today about some of the surprising reasons to give up soda…

We should note the “less surprising” reasons are that it’s basically chemicals, chemicals aren’t good for you, they use coke to clean up blood off the highway, that’s not good for you either, it makes you hungrier (and not for salads), it messes with your metabolism… and the list of not-surprising side-effects goes on and on… but I thought we’d focus on the “surprising” fun facts…

1. Soda fattens up your organs … and we’re not talking about that sweet pipe organ you had in church growing up… I quote “A recent Danish study revealed that drinking non-diet soda leads to dramatic increases in dangerous hard-to-detect fats. …including liver fat and skeletal fat.” WHAT the H-E – double hockey sticks is skeletal fat?!?!?!? I do not want to know… gross!

2. Soda contains flame retardants… no it does not make you flame retardant… that would be AWESOME… No instead, some sodas (including Mountain Dew) contain a substance that “can cause bromide poisoning symptoms like skin lesions and memory loss, as well as nerve disorders.” So not only will you not be flame retardant, you might get skin lesions, forget where you got them and get on everyone’s last nerve… oh not that kind of nerve disorder… but still…

3. Drinking soda makes you a lab rat… ummm…. nasty. I don’t like rats… at all. Not even Ratatouille… that movie made me squirm for a week. I don’t care that he liked to cook. Anyways, the article says that most Americans sodas are made from “…genetically engineered ingredients [that] have only been in our food chain since the 1990s…” Looks like “Hammer Pants” are not the only “awesome” thing brought to us by the 90s.

Photo Credit

This other article I read, indicates that it will take one of the following activities to burn off the calories from one 20oz bottle of Coke.

Washing dishes or grocery shopping for 76 minutes
Unicycling or cleaning gutters for 35 minutes
Jazzercising or chopping wood for 29 minutes
Shoveling or skiing for 25 minutes
Boxing or fast jump-roping for 15 minutes

As much as I love unicycling through the grocery aisle, jazzercizing while I chop wood or cleaning my gutters… I think I’ll skip it AND the soda.

Photo Credit

Who’s with me?

p.s. Yes, Mom, you were right. I know you know best. I never doubted you… honest.

Rejeitada

Posted on January 26, 2012 by lovealwayshannah

So if you’ve been tracking with me on this lil’ ol’ blog for any amount of time then you know I have a special list… a special list that I’m having a hard time keeping up with… Yes, that list…

Anyways, in my mad dash for the finish line (Yikes! I’m turning 30 in less than a month) I’ve been scrambling to meet some of my remaining goals… one in particular that I was excited about… take a language class… a Portuguese class to be exact.

You see I dedicated most of my college experience to studying Spanish. As a Latin American Studies major, I felt it important to learn a language of the area I had decided to dedicate so much of my studies to and I’m so glad that I did. I loved every minute of it (except that one minute in the middle of that one oral exam when I forgot stuff… yeah that minute stunk)

That being said, I realize that Spanish is not the only language spoken in Latin America and it has long been a desire of mine to also learn Portuguese. Somehow in my mind if I can speak Portuguese than I will also be able to inexplicably master the Samba and maybe even Capoeira (don’t laugh… it could happen) Unfortunately, my dreams were dashed earlier this week when I received a notice saying that my registration for beginners Portuguese was “Rejeitada”… that means Denied… I would have known that if I had made it into the class and I wouldn’t have had to bother my wonderful friend (Thanks Lety!).

Photo Credit

You see, there’s this great organization called the Global Language Network that was started by a few students at my Alma Mater (Go G-DUB!). It’s mission is to advance language learning by offering classes in common and less commonly taught languages, by making language learning affordable and effective, and by facilitating cross-cultural interaction and exchange. Let me tell you… THEY.ARE.AWESOME.

So awesome in fact that the demand far outweighs the supply (I learned about that in my Econ classes… yeah education!) and they don’t have room for me this semester. I really shouldn’t even be telling you about them, because it’s just going to make it that much harder for me to get in… but I can’t help myself. They’re pretty cool.

Anyways, I’m not giving up. I will try again in the Summer and before you know it I will be doing this. ( or maybe I’ll learn German so I can sing about the Samba like these guys)

Any languages you’ve been wanting to learn? Any you have already learned and want to teach me?

What I learned in 2011 (or “What?!?!” You didn’t already know that??)

Posted on January 24, 2012 by lovealwayshannah

I learned that I like stripes. I like them a lot. Just ask my closet.

I learned that it’s ok to ask for other people’s opinions. You don’t have to take them, but you might just get a better idea than what you originally had. That’s one of the wonderful advantages of having friends.

I learned that just because you don’t face something doesn’t mean it has magically disappeared.

I learned that often times when you face something, it’s not as big as you originally thought.

I learned that courage is sometimes just the small decision to try again.

I learned that confidence is important. It doesn’t mean you don’t have your doubts, it just means you don’t give them the final say.

I learned that ROKU rocks your socks off… literally.

I learned that a handsome con man can be rehabilitated to help the FBI solve a number of “White Collar” crimes and if they film said con man… I will be stuck to the TV watching his every move…

I learned that in Hawaii they don’t say fifty, they say Five – Oh … and I will watch that too.

I learned that if you spray paint yourself orange and stumble around the streets of Italy, I’ll probably watch that too.

I learned I watch too much TV.

I learned that I think it’s funny when people say something is “cray cray” but I would never say that myself

I learned from Justin Beiber to “Never Say Never”

I learned that when I make lists, they go downhill very fast.

I learned a lot of others things that I can’t think of right now.

The End.

p.s. What I’ve learned so far in 2012… when you google “2011 NYE Glasses” you inexplicably get a lot of Bill Nye the Science Guy hits… strange.

p.p.s. I learned that NYE (New Year’s Eve) is also his last name… AH! Now I get it.

Start Close In

Posted on January 19, 2012 by lovealwayshannah

My wonderful friend Ella over at Cheddar & Grits shared this poem with me this week and it really spoke to me… so much so that I thought I’d share with you… Enjoy!

START CLOSE IN

Start close in,
don’t take the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step you don’t want to take.

Start with
the ground
you know,
the pale ground
beneath your feet,
your own
way of starting
the conversation.

Start with your own
question,
give up on other
people’s questions,
don’t let them
smother something
simple.

To find
another’s voice
follow
your own voice,
wait until
that voice
becomes a
private ear
listening
to another.

Start right now
take a small step
you can call your own
don’t follow
someone else’s
heroics, be humble
and focused,
start close in,
don’t mistake
that other
for your own.

Start close in,
don’t take the second step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step you don’t want to take.

~ David Whyte ~

(River Flow)

The Sun is Out

Posted on January 17, 2012 by lovealwayshannah

When I woke this morning the sky was overcast. The gray clouds loomed and dumped an icy rain….. I was not thrilled. Nothing like rain on your first day back to work after vacation.

I dutifully pulled out my rainboots (thanks Mom!) and found my umbrella at the bottom of the closet…all the while muttering under my breath about people living in California and life not being fair…

When the skies turn gray, it’s easy to feel like weight of the world is on your shoulders…. The to do list looms and hope of a brighter day soon gets lost as you slosh through the puddles of disappointment. Why today? Why me?

The office greeted me with its usual piles of paperwork, the regular chatter and bustle. I sat down at my desk, bent my head and succumbed to the pull of the cubicle….Its pull is strong.

Hours passed and time changed. My mood did not. Still weighed down by the clouds I thought loomed. I finally pulled myself away from my desk for a moment and happened to walk past the window.

Much to my surprise the sky formerly cluttered by clouds was bursting with sunlight. The sky was a bright blue and I could feel the warmth of the sun even through the glass window pane. Could this possibly be the same day? How could just a few short hours bring such a radical change in the atmosphere? Where had the storm clouds, which had previously promised to take up permanent residence, gone?

Isn’t it like that sometimes in life? We can so easily become weighed down by the clouds of our circumstances… losing sight of hope. Whatever you are going through can seem never-ending and every report tells you that it’s never going to change. The clouds have come to stay.

As I saw the sunshine stream through the window this afternoon, the thought occurred to me…. this is what Jesus does for us.

All we may see are clouds… lots of them. We don’t see what’s happening behind the scenes. We bury our heads in the day-to-day business of life… rarely taking a break to lift our heads from our “desks”.

I’m writing this to encourage you… take a break…. look out the window. Jesus is working behind the scenes on your behalf. His promises hold true even in the midst of trying situations. The darkness may last for a season. The storm may come, but it will not stay. You are not alone. The sunshine will come. What a glorious day that will be.

Procrastination = to defer action; delay

Posted on January 10, 2012 by lovealwayshannah

Hi! My name is Hannah and I like to procrastinate. It’s never something I mean to do. I like to make plans. I write lists. Then something catches my eye. It glitters/sparkles/flutters/flies/ and before I know it my attention is lost, time has passed and I’m stuck looking at a list that has grown longer rather than shorter…

All that to say… there is a particularly loooooooonnnnngggg list that I wrote for myself at the beginning of last year. You can read more about it here... You see, my time on this earth as a 29-year-old is swiftly drawing to a close… and while I’m tempted to hold on to that age for a bit longer, I have decided to age gracefully…. (gracefully = kicking and screaming, with some crying fits… right?)

I can’t put it off any longer…without further ado, here is the current status on my Thirty before 30 list… sigh*

Go to a Broadway show (I’m going this weekend… woohooo!!!)
Start playing the piano again (I played chopsticks over Christmas… does that count?)
Pay off my Credit Card (This is an ongoing process… but it’s in the works)
~~Travel to Cali~~ (remember how I said I write things on a list that I’ve already done… read about it here, here & here)
Vacation somewhere warm (I’m going in May!!!!!!!!)
Take a language class
Write a Children’s Book
Learn how to use Photoshop
Blog at least 3x week (soooooooooooo….about that)
Take Voice Lessons
~~Start my own business~~
Take a Dance Class
~~Take a Road Trip~~
Lose weight (I’m going to take my shoes off in February and hope for the best)
~~Grow my hair out (I already started this one)~~
~~Do my part to fight Human Trafficking~~
~~Go to a Hillsong Event~~
~~Create a savings plan to buy my own home someday~~
Bike to work
Find my favorite mascara (I’ve almost decided…)
~~Go to a Women’s Conference~~
~~Learn how to apply fake eye lashes~~
Organize Photos (I threw them in a box AND done)
Find the perfect gift for my Dad
Learn how to cook (I did learn how to bake my Mom’s bread… so basically I’ve completed this…right?)
Read 10 books (I’ve started 20… does that count)
Be a more generous person (This is an ongoing goal)
Stop drinking Soda (I’m working on it….as I drink my diet coke at my desk… I will stop by next month…promise!)
~~Go Sailing~~
~~Clean out my Blog Reader~~

As you can see, I still have a ways to go. I’ll be posting over the next few weeks about the ones I have accomplished thus far, but other than that if you’re looking for me, I will be….

Reading books on a sailboat somewhere in the tropics, while sipping iced tea (NOT soda!) and practicing my new dance moves (preferably samba). I’ll be conversing in conversational Portuguese with my new language/voice/dance instructor and cooking a superb gourmet meal. In my free time, I’ll be learning that incredible Broadway number I heard during the recent show I caught, on my shipboard piano, as well as making the final edits on my children’s book and designing the cover art on Photoshop. Through my perfectly manicured eyelashes (where did she get that mascara?!?) I’ll be reviewing my selection online for the perfect Father’s day gift, bike and photo organization system, none of which will be paid for on my credit card.

Sound like a plan? Yes. Great.

Where are the donuts? I thought they had donuts at these meetings…

Sparkles&Sunglasses

Posted on January 4, 2012 by lovealwayshannah

It’s a gray and cold Wednesday. Did I mention it is cold? Very cold? Christmas is over and all the tinsel and confetti from New Year’s Eve parties have been cleaned up. I find myself in need of some inspiration. Something pretty to remind me that the sunshine still exists somewhere and that sparkles make everything better. Enjoy!