Tell your family that you love them everyday,

give your best friend the biggest hug in the

world, & cherish every moment you share with

your lover, because you never know when it

will be your last time experiencing it.

And you raise your arms up to the

sky raised high, you make a Y,

there is no fear, there is no pain inside as the

sun still shines on these drying lines,

this is how you remember yourself, arms raised

to heaven, needing no help.

The wonderful thing about positive thinking is the wonderful life it creates for you.

Positive thinking is not just about becoming wealthy or achieving success - it will enrich your life, reduce stress, and bring you happiness. It is about feeling happy, prosperous, and contented with your life. When your mind is thinking positive, it literally becomes infused with harmonious energy, with this your general health, attitude, and creativity is greatly improved. With your life happy and calm it will become enjoyable.

Negative thinking leads to anger, stress and unhappiness. Bad thoughts and feelings mean negatives are present, causing you problems from sadness, relationship problems, to even health issues. Negative thoughts attract more negative into your life. Positive thinking is easily applied. The rule is to keep all negative thoughts out. When you start to think negative, stop yourself and take a deep breath and think a positive thought. Think of what you want the outcome to be, instead of the “what if’s…”

Positive thinking will attract positive situations into your life. When you start to think positive, you will discover a new energy and zest for life. Life will become joyous. Your relationships with loved ones will reach a better level of understanding. Interactions with others in your life will begin to improve. Positive thoughts will bring you a positive life!

Interesting..

In 1998, The Body Shop debuted its self-esteem campaign, featuring the generously proportioned doll named "Ruby." Her figure graced windows in The Body Shop windows in the UK that year, along with the slogan, "There are 3 billion women who don't look like supermodels and only 8 who do." She went on to appear in stores in Australia, Asia, and the United States. Ruby was a fun idea, but she carried a serious message. She was intended to challenge stereotypes of beauty and counter the pervasive influence of the cosmetics industry. In the United States, the toy company Mattel demanded that The Body Shop pull the images of Ruby from American shop windows. Then, in Hong Kong, posters of Ruby were banned on the Mass Transit Railway because authorities said she would offend passengers. Of course, the much more seriously offensive images of silicone-enhanced blondes in other ads were permitted to stay on the trains.

I have been waiting for July to come around. I hear the summer whispering the things to come. We have been waiting for the sun to show it's face. Thank you sweet winter, but now we're desperate to move on. Go beyond the worst we've known and build ourselves a brand new home. Maybe then we'll find the time we've lost. Set us free sweet summer day, we've been waiting much too long for you to come. Save me from the worst I've known and let me relive the days I've blown away. Time has changed so quickly. It's a shame we have lost so many things that we will never find again. But it doesn't matter anymore anyways.

"True beauty comes from within"

I posted this post-it on the bathroom mirror in one of the buildings at my college. It read, "True beauty comes from within! You are beautiful!" And then of course the website www.operationbeautiful.com which you simply must check out if you haven't yet. Such a good idea, and so inspirational! It certainly is changing many girls lives. I now carry post-its around with me, and plan to leave them in various places whenever I can. If I make one persons day with one of them, or if I make a few people smile - then it's totally worth it. I encourage you all to do the same!

You know you're best friends when she's sitting across the silent room and you hear her burst out laughing so you do too... just because you know exactly what she's laughing at

It is my responsibility as your best friend to make sure you go do exciting things, even when you don't want to. -- Gilmore Girls

Here we are, in the best years of our lives, with no way of knowing when the wheel will stop spinning cause we don't know where we're going. And here we are, on the best day of our lives, and it's a go, let's make it last. So cheers you all to that, cause this moment's never coming back.

Lovely Larabars

Larabars. Yay. I am in love. Small, but packed, very dense and pretty filling. So whats a Larabar you ask? It’s a delightful little snack bar usually made with dates, then additional ingredients to make a variety of flavors. Larabars are unprocessed, fairly raw, non GMO, gluten free, dairy free, soy free, vegan, kosher with no added sugar AND contains only 5 ingredients or less! So so yummy. I love stories like that of Larabar. Just a women with an idea who made her dream come true.

Here are the flavors:
- Cinnamon Roll
- Peanut Butter Cookie --> personal favorite ;)
- Peanut Butter & Jelly
- Cashew Cookie
- Key Lime Pie
- Coconut Cream Pie
- Cherry Pie
- Lemon Bar
- Ginger Snap
- Chocolate Coconut
- Banana Bread
- Pistachio
- Tropical Fruit Tart
- Pecan Pie
- Apple Pie

life is made up of years that meant nothing and the moments that meant everything.

FAQ part one on veganism

1) When did you become vegan?
- Well, I've been a vegetarian for over a year and decided it was time to try to eliminate ALL animal products from my diet. I was vegan for 21 days, and after those 21 days came to the conclusion that I do not need to label myself. I now say that I am 99% vegan. The 1% gives me wiggle room when I am traveling, or visiting with family and can't do anything about it. I am only 18, and I do not want myself to feel guilt if I slip up and eat a small piece of pizza or a small dish of ice cream.

2) What DO you eat?
- Being vegan doesn't mean you have to eat tofu and sprouts. A vegan diet includes all grains, beans, legumes, vegetables and fruits and the nearly infinite number of foods made by combining them. This site is great. It shows that when vegan, you really are not depriving yourself! There are also many vegan versions of familiar foods like vegan hot dogs, cheese, ice cream, mayonnaise and much more.

3) How do you get enough protein?
- Usually the first question I get asked when someone hears I don't eat meat is how do you get your protein?! They are always asking seriously, with concern, and though I want to laugh because I already knew they were going to ask, I try to answer seriously. My answer is always something like, "Actually humans don't really need as much protein as we think we do..." We have been taught since childhood that we need tons of protein to be healthy, and that the best form of protein is meat. Both of these assumptions are wrong. Humans actually need far less protein than we think, and it's simple to get it all from non-meat sources. Most Americans eat about double the amount of protein they need every day! A vegan eating a normal, healthy diet is actually consuming a more reasonable amount of protein than people who eat meat products. In fact, it's been found that consuming too much protein can lead to several harmful diseases. And, animal protein is actually harder for our body to digest than protein from plant sources. Plants provide excellent protein that is easy for our bodies to digest. So, vegans do eat plenty of protein.

4) Do you get enough calcium?
- Yes, and actually, calcium from plants is easier for our bodies to digest than calcium from animals. So, I actually get lots of calcium. Calcium from animals is not as digestible as calcium from plants, so you don't absorb as much calcium from milk and dairy as from vegetables, beans, grains, and fruits. Milk is pushed as being a great source of calcium because it has a lot of calcium in it, but if you body doesn't absorb it as well as non-animal calcium sources, what's the point? Actually, Have you ever stopped to wonder why HUMANS are drinking COW milk? It is very strange. All mammals drink the milk of their mothers until they are weaned. Unlike all other mammals though, humans continue to drink milk after weaning and into adulthood, and not just that, we drink the milk of another species! To state the obvious (but often overlooked fact) cow’s milk has evolved to help turn a small calf into a cow in less than a year. That’s why cow’s milk contains around four times as much calcium as human milk. Calves need a huge amount of calcium to promote the massive level of skeletal growth required over the first year of life. A human infant does not require such high levels of calcium; indeed the high mineral content of cow’s milk puts a strain on the human infant kidney which is why most governments strongly recommend that children do not drink normal ‘off the shelf’ milk in the first year. Why do you think so many people are lactose intolerant?? Our bodies produce an enzyme called lactase that helps break down the lactose in food. Most of us lose that enzyme after about 2-3 years of life-- when we are supposed to be done drinking milk! It's not natural for us to drink another animal's milk, but we drink gallons and gallons of it because we think it will give us great calcium and protein.

5) Won't the animals just die anyway? And if we don't eat the animals, won't they overrun the world?
- We don't just happen to kill and eat animals to save them from dying a natural death. We breed more than 9 billion farm animals in the U.S. each year because of the consumer demand for animal products. If we stop buying animal products, animal industries will have no incentive to keep breeding these animals.

6)Isn't being a vegan expensive?

- There is nothing inherently more expensive about a vegan diet. If a person wants to replicate his/her previous diet with animal analogous, then yes, it can be more expensive to buy veggie burgers, prepared seitan, Rice Dream Supreme, etc. But pasta, beans, potatoes, breads, fruits and vegetables are all generally less expensive than the animal products of similar nutritional value.

7)Isn't it hard to become vegan?
- It can be, especially if you hold yourself to too high a standard. But the important thing is to make changes you feel comfortable with, at your own pace. While reducing your consumption of animal products completely may be ideal, any reduction is a step in the right direction. The vegan lifestyle is an ongoing progression. Everyone should go at their own pace and remember that all steps towards veganism are positive.

They were in love
You could tell just
by the way they
looked at each other
like they had the most
wonderful secret in the
world between them

Perfection is defined when your heart beats next to mine, and time stands still for us. My hand in your hair, and yours on my chest. Moments with you are my life’s best. We crossed paths for a reason, the planets aligned in that particular season. It’s clear to me that we'll eventually be inseparable.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

I keep thinking of how much I love talking to you, how good you look when you smile, how much I love your laugh. I daydream about you off and on, replaying pieces of our conversation, laughing at funny things that you said or did. I've memorized your face and the way that you look at me. I catch myself smiling again at what I imagine.

I believe in memories. They look so pretty when I sleep and when I wake up, you look so pretty sleeping next to me but there is not enough time and there is no song I could sing and there is no combination of words I could say but I will still tell you one thing, we’re better together.

He stared up at the stars: and it seemed to him then that they were dancers, stately and graceful, performing a dance almost infinite in its complexity. He imagined he could see the very faces of the stars; pale, they were, and smiling gently, as if they had spent so much time above the world, watching the scrambling and the joy and the pain of the people below them, that they could not help being amused every time another little human believed itself the center of its world, as each of us does.

When you’re struggling with something, look at all the people around you and realize that every single person you see is struggling with something, and to them it’s just as hard as what you’re going through

Inspirational Video of the Month..

This sweet little girl lost her battle with cancer early this morning. My thoughts and prayers go out to the family. This little girl had a purpose while she was on this earth- and that was to bring people closer to one another, and closer to god. She did just that. RIP Layla Grace Marsh.


Revelation 21: 4 - "He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever."

People ask me if I believe in forever, and I can't help but sit back and laugh. With the way my life is going sweetie, I barely believe in tomorrow.

I feel that girls concentrate way too much on the number the scale reads, instead of how they FEEL. The scale is just a number. To me - I judge my body on how my clothes fit, and how I feel about myself. It truly is about whats on the inside. Someone could be a perfect healthy weight and still be not happy. Weight doesn't matter. Beauty really does come from the inside and you must believe that you are beautiful. The most beautiful thing about a woman is her confidence. Even if you aren't confident - fake it. Because sooner or later, you'll find you aren't faking it, and that it's coming naturally. The truth is, we are all beautiful! And we all are enough, JUST the way we are :)

My path to veganism..

I have been vegan for a week now and and I'm already feeling amazing! It seems hard to believe but I feel better mentally, physically and emotionally. I've done so much research, read so many books and really looked into the issues and have officially decided that this is the way I am choosing to live my life.

I’ve always loved animals, so I was horrified when I became old enough to understand that the Babe I loved from the movie was the very same Babe I was consuming when I ate a ham sandwich or when I ate ham at Christmas dinner. So, I tried to become a vegetarian but it lasted about a month or so. I was young and didn't fully understand the issues eating meat actually cause, I just knew I loved animals and felt extremely disgusted consuming them. Again, in junior high I felt just not right about continuing eating meat. I discovered PETA, and saw horrific pictures but it still wasn't enough to convert me to vegetarianism for life. The influence of my surroundings (family, friends) and questions/statements like, "Where are you going to get your protein?", "You need meat to grow big and strong." etc. steered me away once again.

But my love of animals remained, and once I learned about factory farming and discovered that my hamburgers and chicken nuggets did not come from Old McDonald’s Family Farm, but rather his torture chamber, I couldn’t fathom contributing another dollar to support such horrific practices. I also looked at my cat and thought, "If I wouldn't eat my cat, who I love so much, then why should I be eating any other animal? What makes it okay to eat a baby cow yet be arrested for animal cruelty in situations with other animals?" It all just clicked..

The movie "Meet your Meat" really opened my eyes, as well as the book Skinny Bitch. So, at seventeen, I became a vegetarian for good, finally...After my half a year mark of being a vegetarian, I started to look into veganism. I stopped eating eggs, and stopped drinking milk when I became a vegetarian. The only thing was, I was in love with cheese.. I thought.. "how can I live without cheese?" Macaroni and Cheese, Pizza, I just couldn't give it up. Until, I really sat down and thought about it. I could live without cheese, there were so many alternatives and substitutes and the way the cows were treated in order for me to eat that piece of pizza just weren't worth it to me. I told myself that after being a vegetarian for one year, I was going to try to be a vegan for a month with the PCRM Vegan Kickstart Program. After one week, I am committing for life. I am passionate about the pathway I have chosen and truly now feel like I am living a kind life.

FAQ's post to follow sometime soon!

If you love someone, if you truly love someone, you will put aside foolish pride and fear, and love them without regret, without worry, because you know that without them there is no reason for caring.

life is all about risks and it requires you to jump.
don't be a person who has to look back and wonder what
they would have or what they could have had.

I think a lot of people look at me and say that I'm weird. But what I've noticed - and this used to worry me a lot when I was little - is that I don't know one normal person. I've never met one, actually. We all have our special, odd little things, and we should be proud of that.

The Price of Beauty

Jessica Simpson was on Oprah yesterday and talked about everything from the mom jeans(which by the way were a size 4), John Mayer, her weight and her new show. While talking about her show, The Price of Beauty which will be on VH1 March 15th, Jessica really acted like she learned a lot from traveling the world & viewing how other cultures portray beauty.

In one clip, Simpson and her best friends Ken Paves and CaCee Cobb travel to Paris to meet former model Isabelle Caro, who suffers from a very severe case of anorexia. Caro made headlines when, at 62 pounds,she posed nude for this anti-anorexia billboard.

Caro said that a designer told her she needed to lose ten pounds if she wanted to model. A few years ago she was in a coma and was expected to die, but now she's started eating little by little. Caro is now trying to pass a law in Parliament saying that you can't model if you're too skinny. One of my dreams is to see models as real size women, not unhealthy and rail thin. I would love for this law to pass. Jessica, who was brought to tears by her story, told Caro "To us, what you're doing right now makes you one of the most beautiful people that we have ever seen."

--> Watch this..

We’re all lost, we’re all found. We’re all the same, just one heart beats in us. We’re different names, just one heart.

I was recently inspired by the show The Buried Life on MTV to make a list of my own of the things I wanted to before I die. In just a matter of minutes, I found myself with many things on my list. Every time I think of something new I add to it, and I'm going to continue to do so. It was really inspiring to see the things I wanted to do in my life all typed out and in front of me. I encourage you all to do the same! :)

Frankenstein-like plants

We love foods that come in packages that plainly state what they aren't these days. No preservatives, non-GMO, no sugar added, MSG-free, no artificial flavors or colors, etc. It is kind of sad that we live in a world where what's NOT in it is often as important as what IS. Unfortunately, when we visit the produce aisle, fancy packaging with clear labeling is lacking. Most organic produce is either in a section on its own or marked with signage as "organic". But if you are looking to avoid genetically modified produce, good luck. Neither signage or labeling is going to be there to promote these suspect fruits and veggies.

Did you know that the numbers on produce stickers aren’t just pricing codes? That’s what I always assumed they were until I found out that they also indicate how the produce was grown. You can tell, just by looking at the number, if the produce is organically grown, conventionally grown or genetically modified. This is helpful information.

A sticker that has four digits on it means that the food was grown conventionally. That means that it was most likely grown on a huge farm, and was probably treated with chemical pesticides and fertilizers.

A sticker that has five digits and begins with the number 8 means that the produce has been genetically modified. It may have also been grown using chemical products. The use of genetically modified crops is relatively new. Not all of the effects (helpful and harmful) of genetically modified produce are understood yet.

A sticker that has five digits and begins with the number 9 means that the produce is organic.

So, we hate 8's but love 9's! The scary thing about Genetically Modified Foods is that we don't know the heath risks, or the environmental risks..yet.

Helpful information when you’re at the store, isn’t it? If you were to see the pear in the picture above at the store, you'd be able to tell that it was organic, not genetically modified. Good stuff to know.