Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes…

I think this is my first blog post for 2010, so here goes…

This year has already shown to be an aching year. One of my resolutions was to lose 25 pounds by my 21st birthday on February 28. Starting last Monday (1/11/2010) my friend, Carloe, and I started P90X – an intense workout program that really gets your muscles working…and dying :/  However, so far I have lost 6 pounds and my whole body is aching, but it feels great.

I’m also starting to watch what I eat and how much I eat as well. I use the Weight Watchers Point System and it has really helped. Our refrigerator at home is filled with healthy snacks and food. In addition to that, my church has started a support group on Saturdays to help get people who want to lose weight a group that will encourage them, give tips and tricks, and just be there to listen to their difficulties and struggles. I encourage anyone who is struggling or just needs that extra push of motivation to join us on Saturday mornings at 10:30 am at the Castro Valley Church of the Nazarene.

School starts next week and I’m actually looking forward to my classes. I’m looking at Interior Design and Architecture and seeing where that will take me. Because all my classes are now evening classes I have moved my schedule to the mornings which will really make me start getting my work done and getting to bed early. We’ll see how that goes.

I think that’s about it for now, but if you’re looking for another great blog of mine, head over to Project Zazzle and watch the Zazzle competition that started today. It continues for 12 weeks and needs people to vote on all the great designs. You can either subscribe to our blog posts or follow us at @projectzazzle to keep up to date on the competition and the latest challenges.

My 2010 New Year’s Resolutions

Every year I make a New Year’s resolution or two to try and keep during the New Year. I usually start off great and about right after school i sort of lose steam. My goal is to try and keep those resolutions all year round. So this year, I have 4 resolutions, i think, unless I think of more.

1. Don’t Procrastinate
2.  Stay Organized
3. Manage my finances
4. Lose 25 pounds by my 21st birthday

What are your resolutions? Do you have any tips for keeping my resolutions or making them successful?

NBC’s The Sing-Off: The Ultimate A Cappella Competition

My Early Christmas Present

Every year I wait and wait and wait until just about the beginning of November when my mom surprises me with an early Christmas present. Since I was born, my parents have given me this every year – each time a different one, but seamlessly blending in to all the other ones that I had received in years past. What is it you may ask?

An ornament.

A Crayola ornament for each year.

We have made it a tradition each year to find a Crayola ornament that’s part of an ongoing collection that started the year that I was born. What’s significant about these ornaments, to me, is that my parents got me these ornaments when i turned one – not really knowing my true personality. If you know me, these ornaments speak to my creative and colorful personality and imagination.

This year, my mother stopped me one day after I came home from my classes and told me she had bad news. My heart instantly sank and thought someone in my family had passed away. I asked what happened and she responded that they had stopped my Crayola ornament collection. My heart did sink! This would have been my 20th ornament and I thought that this had to be a mistake. She said that Hallmark hadn’t received any of those ornaments and that the collection had ended. My mom said that it might be time to stop the ornaments; I refused to let it end. I even thought about making my own!

Days later, my mom shows up with a bag in her hand and tells me she has a surprise. Seeing that the bag was from Hallmark, I was ecstatic! I opened the bag and pulled out what was my 20th Crayola ornament!

Announcing the Grand Prize Winner!

I have finally selected the grand prize winner of the 2009 Living Nativity Design Contest!

The winner will be given a spotlight on my Year Round Holidays blog, a picture of their product (hopefully which will be in the Foto Friday post of the Zazzle blog), and 2 packs of their tags purchased!

And the winner is…

(and it was a very difficult choice to make)…

BluePlanet!

Congratulations on a beautiful design!

A Bear in Our Bath

This is my latest entry for Brickfish’s “Photo Crashers” Campaign.

This picture was taken during our NorCal Senior High Camp at Lake Shasta. Because we bathe in the lake we thought it would be fun to get a group together. We decided to wash in stages and took pictures before we jumped into the lake to wash off. We had no idea that the guy behind us (the camp liked to call him “The Bear” or “Grizzly Adams”) was there.

Please vote for my entry here: A Bear in Our Bath

Please tell others to vote for me…I could get a scholarship for $400!! Remember you can also vote every day!

Thanks!

Announcing the Winner of the Breath of Christmas!

We have finally selected the winner of the Breath of Christmas Design Contest. After lots of debating on how we would promote for our event we thought it would be best to use postcards and give them out when our choir goes out caroling.
So…

The winner of the Breath of Christmas Design contest is….

VampOut

Here is her beautiful design!

Thank you to everyone who submitted designs! It was great to see all the unique designs! Look for a possible Breath of Christmas 2 Contest next year!

We will be purchasing 260 postcards to pass out to the congregation as well as the people we carol to.

The Votes Are In!

To begin with, thank you to all who submitted their designs! They are all beautiful and unique in their own way.

Secondly, thank you to everyone who voted and spread the word along about voting for their designs.

So….without further ado…

DRUM ROLL PLEASE….

The winner of the Living Nativity 2009 People’s Choice Award, with 9 unique votes (18% of the total), is….

VampOut

Their design will be featured in my holiday blog: Year Round Holidays with an interview discussing the designer and where they got there inspiration from.

Congratulations once again to VampOut for creating a well received design!!

The Last Few Days to Submit Your Entry!

Remember our Breath of Christmas Design Contest post a while back? Click here to see the original post.

Well…

THERE’S ONLY 2 DAYS LEFT TO SUBMIT YOUR DESIGN!!!! The deadline is October 31, 2009 at 11:59 pm and the winner will be chosen on November 14 as well as purchased on that day.

Perception

Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:  The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes:  A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:  A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes:  The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour:  He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities. The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made….. How many other things are we missing?

May you take the time from this day forward to experience the beauty of the sights and sounds that surround you.