New Hairdos for the New Year

A little background information: 1) My school year, in South Africa, begins in January, so as well as this time of year being the beginning of the whole year, it's also the beginning of the new school year for me.
                                                    2) I attend a private school, and as well as being required to wear a uniform, I'm also required to keep my hair pulled back and preferably up.

So, with these facts in mind, I've recently been looking for some new hairdos.  I have medium length, thick, very straight (and frequently slippery!) hair, so finding hairdos that work well can be difficult.  Below are pictures of my hair, as well as links to the tutorials I used online.

Fishtail braid:
http://www.runningonhappiness.com/2011/07/diy-fishtail-braid.html

Top Knot:
http://www.runningonhappiness.com/2011/09/how-to-top-knot.html
*Note: If your hair is still damp, this one may be a bit difficult.  If you have the time, dry your hair completely, or, if your like me and can't be bothered, attempt it anyways!

Partially Pulled Back variation (aka Half French Twist):
http://www.thesmallthingsblog.com/2011/08/half-french-twist.html

Braided Braid:
http://thebeautydepartment.com/2012/02/you-asked-for-it/

10 Ways to Have a Better Break

I am happy to say that I just finished a stressful quarter of college! Finals are over, I'm all registered for next quarter's classes, I can finally relax over a nice long winter break. But what should be done? Here are some things you can do to make your break refreshing, relaxing, and fun. (Plus, it's my personal "to do" list for this break).

1. Make a list!

Plan out all of the things you want to do or accomplish over break. This should include fun things like watching a season of your favorite TV show, but also not-so-fun stuff that get pushed to the "back burner" when you're busy. I don't think I cleaned my room once over fall quarter. It was so messy that until yesterday, I could barely even get in. It was bad.

2. Read a classic.

For me, there are very few things less refreshing than cuddling up with a good book! Classics especially seem to relax and sooth me. I know, I know, but you already have to do so much reading for school. Trust me, reading a book will be much more refreshing than spending hours on facebook. My classic of choice for this break is Emma by Jane Austen. Both the book and the author are some of my favorites. Jane Austen's writing just has this way of filling me with joy. I love it.

3. Do one thing you love.

In all seriousness, there is absolutely nothing more rejuvenating to one's mind and spirit than to do something one loves. Sometimes I even forget how much I love something until I pick it up again. On my list is to make my siblings' Christmas presents and to spend time playing the piano and singing. I really enjoy sewing, so I will be making many Christmas presents on my sewing machine this year. I'm so excited about my projects! And playing music makes me happy. (:

4. Spend time laughing hysterically. 

Okay, but really. Watch a bunch of funny youtube videos, hang out with a person who makes you laugh, or just make faces at yourself in the mirror until you crack yourself up. Laughter is the best medicine. Ever. It release chemicals into your body that relaxes you and improves you mood. You will never regret a long, full, tummy-hurting, tear-jerking episode of laughter. I promise.

5. Memorize your favorite Bible passage.

And if you already have, pick a new favorite. This break I am memorizing the second half of Romans 5.  I always feel so refreshed after meditating on God's word. Maybe memorize a verse on God's peace or joy.

6. Bake something.
Whether it's muffins, cake, brownies, or cookies, find a new recipe and try it! I very much enjoy baking. Mostly because when I bake something, I get to eat the batter or dough. Brownies is one of my favorite things to bake.

7. Bless someone.
Buy a stranger's coffee, bake cookies for your grumpy neighbor, or anonymously mail a struggling friend a $20 bill. I don't care how you choose to bless someone; just do it. You will be glad you did.






8. Do one thing outside of your comfort zone.
This could mean talking to someone you'd normally be too shy to, starting a new job, or playing guitar in front of your family. Find something that would make you uncomfortable and do it. What's the worse thing that could happen, right? Even if you aren't right away, you will eventually be glad you did.

9. Write something.
It could be a blog post, journal entry, poem, song, short story, or obituary. Writing helps me to organize and revive my thoughts. This can be refreshing after months of learning, planning, cramming, and lack of sleep.

10. Watch a chick-flick.
One of my favorites is Penelope. But then again, I am a chick-flick fan and watch them all the time. 

He knows best

     I had my wisdom teeth out yesterday.  Before I went in for surgery, people kept telling me that I would be syringing the blood out of my mouth and that it was so painful and that I’d be totally out of it for a week.  While none of those are true, I am in pain.  I can’t smile and at this point (a day after surgery) I can only eat pureed foods - applesauce, smoothies, jello, mashed potatoes.  And I feel like a chipmunk because my jaw is swollen. :p 

     BUT: If I hadn’t had the teeth taken out, I would have had to have extensive orthodontic care in the future, I would have had a much higher chance of tooth decay and gum infection, and my mouth would have been very cramped.  Considering the minimal pain that I’m in today and will be in for the next couple of days, I would much rather have had them out now then going through all those problems in the future.  

     I wrote in my journal yesterday about a tie between that and God.  Sometimes, what God’s putting us through now hurts.  Maybe it even really hurts.  But it would be minimal to the pain we would experience in the future if we didn’t have to face it now.  God know’s what’s best for us and we need to trust Him and continue praising Him even through the bad times.

The Taste of Words

     "Milo nibbled carefully at the letter and discovered that it was quite sweet and delicious--just the way you'd expect and A to taste.  'I knew you'd like it,' laughed the letter man, popping two G's and an R into his mouth and letting the juice drip down his chin. 'A's one of our most popular letters.  All of them aren't that good,' he confided in a low tone. 'Take the Z, for instance--very dry and sawdusty.  And the X?  Tastes like a trunkful of stale air.   That's why people hardly ever use them.  But most of the others are quite tasty.  Try some more.' He gave Milo an I, which was icy and refreshing, and Tock a crisp, crunchy C."

     Words we use have their own taste, too.  Think of negative words: never, hate, can't, won't, worthless, preppy, etc.  Would you want to eat those words?  Wouldn't it be much nicer to use (and eat) positive words such as love, please, thank you, encouragement, and beautiful?  Let's think about what we're saying...

     Proverbs 12:18: "The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing."

The Good Days

     The last few months, I've been really good about reading my Bible almost every day.  I'm not saying this to receive a standing ovation or lots of pats on the back, but to share something I've learned.  The days I read the the good book are the good days.  When I don't read it, I generally have a "not-so-great" or "iffy" day.  People have been telling me my entire life that this is true, but for some reason (maybe I thought it would take too much time or be too boring) it just never caught on.  

    Recently: I didn't read my Bible either last Saturday or Sunday (bad bad bad idea) and I got really annoyed with one of my best friends that Saturday, shouted at and gave him the cold shoulder on Sunday, and had to suffer through two days of not-so-greatness, plus explanations and stuff on Monday.  I almost always get along with him otherwise; there were other reasons why I was irritated with him, but I should have been able to control my temper and I couldn't.  I think a big part of that was because I didn't start off my day the right way.  
     I think another reason why people don't read their Bible everyday is because they don't know what to read.  At the moment, I'm reading one chapter of the New Testament and two chapters of the Old Testament every morning before I get dressed for school, and skipping those parts of the Bible that I know I'll hit a sticking point on because I've read them so many times or they're hard to understand: Leviticus, Romans, the Gospels, Psalms, etc.  NOT that they aren't good to read, it's just my goal to read the rest of the Bible, and if I don't skip those I'm more likely to not get through it all.  Joshua and Nehemiah and Esther were fascinating stories.  Whoever said the Bible didn't hold adventure.  
     I encourage everyone to read the Bible regularly.  God speaks to us through His word (real life example: I was baptized on Sunday, and a leader in the church shared 1 Timothy 4:12 with me.  Guess what I was reading that day?  Yup, 1 Timothy 4) and digging into His word means we're digging deeper into Him.  Even if it takes 30 minutes a day (it only takes me 15 minutes) those are 30 minutes which are well spent.  So decide what you'll read and start digging!

6 Easy Ways to SLEEP More

I don't know about you, but I like my beauty sleep, ladies. Since I'm starting school on the 24th, I've been trying to think of ways to cut my getting-ready time down so I can sleep in as long as possible. Most of you have probably already started school (and are loving having to wake up early again, I'm sure!) so I thought I would share with you what I have come up with.



1. Time yourself.
Use a couple mornings to time yourself to figure out how long it takes you to get ready. You might find that you are allowing yourself way more time than you need. If that is the case, take the time your using on facebook or texting your friends to SLEEP instead.

2. Take showers at night.
I used to take showers every single morning and this was definitely cutting in on my sleep time (not mention, not very nice to my hair). Now I take one every other night. I find that taking a shower before bed also helps me to relax.

3. Pre-perpare your breakfast.
I can't even tell you how long it takes me to decide what to have for breakfast some mornings. Our family doesn't buy cereal often so that's not even a quick option for me. By taking a Saturday afternoon to make up and freeze a bunch of waffles to warm up when I need them, I cut down a lot of breakfast time in the morning.

4. Plan your outfits.
Okay, lets be honest, most girls take way too long to decide what to wear. But if you plan ahead, it can save a lot of time and headache on a hurried school morning.

5. Find cute and easy hairstyles.
Curling or straightening your hair every morning takes a lot of time, hassle, and can be very damaging to your hair. Youtube has tons of video hair tutorials for every texture and length, making it easy to find ways to style your particular hair type. I have a couple go-to styles that work really well for my hair texture. And when I want to change it up, I either french braid or roll my hair up in socks like rollars before going to bed to get a wavy or curly texture.

6. Take care of your skin.
Yeah, this is a weird one; how can taking care of your skin help you get more sleep? Bear with me ladies, it will make sense in a minute. So, am I completely weird in that the way I feel about my looks depends on how my skin looks? I have an acne problem most of the time and whenever I get a new breakout, my looks-esteem drops quite a bit. Yes, I know, beauty is not skin deep. But that fact doesn't change that we want to look our best, does it? I have tried so many different products to clear up my face. The problem is, whenever something worked to get rid of the acne, it made my skin dry and dead looking. This week I decided that putting all those chemicals on my face could not be good for me at all. Thus began my search for the perfect natural skin-clearer. I'm getting pretty close to finding it (thanks to pinterest). There will be a post about it once I do find it.
Anyways...that long skin story did have a point. That point is that when my skin looks good, I feel good about my looks and don't feel like I have to make up for my not good skin by wearing more makeup, making sure my hair is extra perfect, or spending more time on my clothes. Thus, I spend less time getting ready in the morning! (Whew, glad I finally got my point accross!)

I hope these ideas will help you sleep in later! Let me know if you've tried any of these things and how it worked for you. Or if you have other ideas for cutting down your getting-ready time.

You scream, I scream, we all scream for Ice Cream

     I <3 good ice cream.  It's probably something I've inherited or learned from my mom - in the states, we used to have a minimum of 5 ice cream flavors in our freezer at a time, normally being closer to 10.  Ben & Jerry's and Cold Stone Creamery were two of my favorite Ice Cream shops, and when we moved to South Africa we were surprised to find that the amount of flavors available was small compared to what we were used to.  A solution had to be discovered!  So I pulled out our ice cream maker.  
     Ice cream, sorbets, gelato, frozen yogurt.... they're all actually very easy to make.  Recipes can be found all over the web, and the result is yummmmmmy.  My favorite homemade flavors so far have been Berry Cheescake, Mint Chocolate Chip, Raspberry Sorbet, Rocky Road, and Lemon Sorbet. Other flavors I've made that have been well liked include Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Snickerdoodle, Tropical Sorbet, and Butter Pecan.  
     Today I want to share a couple basic recipes with you - raspberry sorbet and butter pecan.  

Raspberry Sorbet

Soo yummy - but, then, I <3 sorbets.  I find them very refreshing.  If you want to be daring and edit this, just replace the fresh raspberries with other fruits, adjusting sugar quantity if necessary.  Or you can just google the kind of sorbet you want.  


1 1⁄2 cups sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/4 lb. fresh raspberries (about 5 cups)

2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1. In a 2-quart saucepan, bring 2 cups water and sugar to a boil, stirring to dissolve. Reduce heat to low and simmer, without stirring, to make a syrup, for 5 minutes.

2. Pour the syrup into a medium bowl, stir in vanilla extract, and transfer to the freezer to let chill for 15 minutes.  At the same time, put your sorbet-tub-to-be into the freezer to chill so that it won't melt the sorbet when it is poured in.

3. Purée 1 lb. of the raspberries (about 4 cups) with the syrup in a blender or food processor until smooth. Scrape the purée through a fine sieve into a bowl; discard the seeds. Stir lemon juice into the raspberry purée and pour it into a 2-quart ice cream maker. Freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions until almost set but still a little slushy, about 25 minutes.  (Alternatively, pour the sorbet mixture into your chilled tub and stick in the freezer.  Stir every 15 minutes until firm (a couple of hours), making sure to scrape the edges.)

Butter Pecan Ice Cream

I'm using this recipe, and not the Cheesecake or Rocky Road recipes because it is based off of a simple vanilla custard, which is something that needs to be understood very well before tackling harder recipes.  Most ice creams have custard bases, and things like Mint Choc Chip or Rocky Road or Choc Chip Cookie Dough just have extra things added.  The butter pecans are yummy, so be sure to hide them out of sight (out of mind) if you want to have any left over for the ice cream :)

1/3 cup chopped pecans

1 tablespoon butter

1 cup light brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a small skillet over medium heat, saute pecans in butter, salt, and 1 Tbsp sugar until lightly browned, stirring frequently.  Note: they burn easily.  Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, beat eggs.  Set aside. 

3. In a medium saucepan , combine sugar and half and half and heat until the milk is steaming, without allowing it to boil.  

4. Slowly add the half and half to the beaten eggs, whisking constantly to avoid cooking the eggs.  Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook until it reaches 175°F, or until it coats the back of a wooden spoon, being careful to not allow it to overheat.  

5. Remove from heat and strain through a sieve into cream (this removes any eggs that might have cooked and any burnt milk).  Add vanilla.  Chill for several hours or overnight.    

6. Put your ice-cream-tub-to-be into the freezer to chill.  Freeze ice cream mixture according to ice cream maker manufacturer's directions.  Before transferring to your chilled tub, stir in pecans.  (Alternatively, pour the ice cream mixture into your chilled tub and stick in the freezer.  Stir every 30 minutes until firm (a couple of hours), making sure to scrape the edges)

     

     Those are the recipes!  At the bottom is a bibliography - gotta give credit where credit is due!  A couple things I've discovered (by error and error): having that wanna-be-tub in the freezer makes a huge difference when using an ice cream maker, so the ice cream doesn't melt the instant it hits the tub; the sugar-salt-vanilla-stuff content of the ice cream effects how well something freezes and if it's hard or soft (so don't change it too much, especially if you're cutting back on something); and having an ice cream maker is totally worth it.  Of course, that's coming from an ice cream <3er.  I think the consistency of the ice cream is nicer that way.

     Another thing about living in South Africa - since I'm an expat (foreigner), I can't get a job.  God has provided though, through this <3 of ice cream.  I'll be selling my homemade, all-natural ice cream at a local market and through a co-op.  God constantly reminds me that He will provide for all my needs, and that His plan is the best. 

Bibliography: 

www.thekitchengeneration.com

www.davidlebovitz.com

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/butter-pecan-ice-cream/  

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Raspberry-Sorbet