Time Tested Beauty Tips by Sam Levenson

For attractive lips,
Speak words of kindness.

For lovely eyes,
Seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure,
Share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair,
Let a child run his or her 
fingers through it once a day.

For poise,
Walk with the knowledge
you'll never walk alone.

People, even more than things,
have to be restored, renewed, 
revived, reclaimed, and redeemed;
Never throw out anybody.

Remember,
If you ever need a helping hand,
you'll find one at the end of your arm.

As you grow older,
you will discover
that you have two hands,
one for helping yourself,
the other for helping others.

The beauty of a woman
is not in the clothes she wears,
The figure that she carries,
or the way she combs her hair.

The beauty of a woman
must be seen from in her eyes,
because that is the doorway to her heart,
the place where love resides.

The beauty of a woman
is not in a facial mole, 
but true beauty in a woman 
is reflected in her soul.

It is the caring that she lovingly gives,
the passion that she shows,
And the beauty of a woman
with passing years-only grows!

Buddah

"Happiness comes when your work and words are of benefit to yourself and others."

Focus

I'm really struggling with it.

Lately, I can sit and work on something for hours and still get nothing done. It's quite frustrating.

New resolution.. work on my efficiency.

I have trouble focusing at home or sitting in a house. Coffee shops help to isolate me and my work so I have fewer distractions but that's just pathetic. I should be able to sit in my room and just focus on my work and get it done.

I guess I just need to tell myself to buckle down and get to it.

Summer is killing me.. all this idleness is a hard habit to break after a month and a half.
Free time sabotages all of my efforts. When I don't have much to do, its hard to get even a few things done but when I have a ton of things to do, it's much easier to get it all done.. That makes no sense to me. How do I simple accomplish a moderate amount of work? Haha.

I will be glad when I get home and can get out of vacation mode. I've been in vacation mode since the middle of May so even though I'm having a good time on this trip, it's more of the same that I do at home. When I get home, there will hopefully be work to attend and other things that I can accomplish for my life.

I'm ready for the Fall semester to start.

Respect, Goals, and other randomness

So, I've been reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. So far, I'm really into it. First off, it's a great story, second, and because, it makes me think about things that I don't normally think about because I am not really concerned with them on a daily basis. I'm honestly not concerned with them even as I'm thinking about these things, such as the impact of big business and government interference on economy and the ideals and morals that these things indicate. I enjoy pondering this stuff though when time is permitting.

The philosophy of Ayn Rand that she explains a little through the book has prompted me to think about the respect we give one another. One thing that also has seemed to be hard for me to wrap my mind around is the ability to respect people who neglect to take care of or have any concern for their own health and well-being. I try to understand that I am extremely passionate about health as some people are passionate about sports or pop culture or scrapbooking, but I do not see how people cannot make their own body a priority in their life. Well-being... isn't it the goal of life? To be well in order to live life well? My sister has suffered from migraines her entire life and she has decided that maybe making a few healthier choices in lifestyle are worth having more days feeling well so that her experience of life is not hindered by her sickness.

Where these thoughts led me was in the direction of respect. I have a hard time respecting someone who doesn't desire to live well. Which also led me to the thought that the desire to live well stems from having goals. The goal of our lives is to live it. Let's live it well. If we don't have goals, aspirations, standards or values for our life, where does that get us. Passion sort of sums those things up for me. These things come from passion. Passion for achieving something that will give us the sense of accomplishment, of achieving something worthwhile, of a fulfilled livelihood.

Reading this book has really reaffirmed some of the desires I have for my life by the courageous, strong, dedicated characters.

I want to be a great, dependable, honest doctor some day. I want to help others to achieve another level of well-being.
I want to be true to my word and I want to be self-reliant.
I want to be educated and cultured.
I want to love as much as I possibly can.

A healthy lifestyle is crucial for me to reach these goals. My health is not the goal of my life, but it is something of great importance to the fulfillment of my goals and desires and values.
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Each year I learn more about myself and I change. For once I feel like I am owning my age and I'm beginning to embrace the circumstances in my life all the more. I can see my development.

Mostly, I am happier.

Live well.

What do you do?

When you're in a rut?

I have found myself in a very somber mood lately. I will be missing a couple people that will be out of the country in the next month or two and I'm trying to push myself forward without being too sad about it.

Whenever I need a pick me up, I always like to take out the recycling. I know.. that's weird, but it has always helped to lighten my mood. I'm helping the Earth, doing something productive, and clearing some unnecessary garbage out of my house. It's always pleasing.

I think it's important to have something that can always cheer your up a little. It doesn't matter how simple. Simple is better actually because if you're like me, most motivation leaves when you're feeling blue.
Making food (cookies) helps also. : ] But give them away so you don't end up gorging yourself on them and feeling worse than before.

I'm leaving for the beach on Friday morning to spend a week with the whole family. It will be interesting but I'm very optimistic about it. I'm glad my family has finally excepted my vegan lifestyle and I won't have to fight against persuasions to eat in a way I don't feel comfortable with. It's quite exhausting to do that and it will be nice not to have to explain myself for an entire week since my family has given up trying to convert me back to an omnivore. It's a huge weight off my shoulders.

So, vacation for me of course is going to include lots of yummy food. I had a TON of recipes planned out to make but then I realized I'll be eating snacks mainly for lunch (because that's what you do at the beach) and I don't want to spend the whole week in the kitchen. However, I am making some muffins on Thursday night before I leave, as well as some artichoke dip.

During the week I have only a couple recipes picked out to make since I'm planning on eating really light during the day (fruit and nuts, veggies and hummus, etc). Enchiladas of course because I haven't had them in a while and I really would love for my mom to try them. Then I'm going to make a Tempeh Muffaletta that is really yummy. It's a sandwich filler so I can have that for lunch or dinner. My dad will probably make some veggies for me that are vegan or I could possible be in charge of that for the side dishes for dinner. It's going to be a great week, I can tell. And definitely interesting having the whole fam together.

This week has also been full of job hunting. I have an interview today, so hopefully when I get back home from the beach I'll have a job so I can make money and be a little more mentally occupied. I'm hoping to land two jobs for the rest of the summer and then somehow work all of that and school together. I'm going to be really busy this fall and I'm looking forward to it. My classes shouldn't be too taxing because I have a couple math oriented classes. I'm looking forward to my biochemistry class of course as well.

I'm hoping to pull in a lot of money in the next couple months because I now have a car payment, and some other things on my list to pay for (an extra online class in the fall) and I would love to save up my money to buy the one thing that I want most.. The Norwalk Juicer. But I may be getting my windows tinted and some side molding put on my car before that happens. We'll see though. Those are just extra expenses for an expense and I would definitely enjoy my juicer a lot more than I would enjoy side molding. : ]

Until next time, keep smiling, even when you don't feel like it.

Beauty

Where have I been?

Honestly, by the pool. HA!

I have spent most of my summer thus far next to the pool with some of the wonderful people in my life.

I'm feeling very blessed lately. I am really loving my life at the moment. There are definitely places that I want to improve on but, I'm truly happy. 

So, a brief on some food that I've enjoyed the past few weeks..

I have found a favorite place to eat out with friends.. Chipotle.. yummy yummy veggie burrito!!! It's the size of my head and I can easily pack it away.. mmmm. : ] Special thanks to my beautiful co-coach who took me to Baja Fresh for the first time so I could learn to feed my spicy food addiction. 

Ninja has also introduced me to this delightful Japanese restaurant where I discovered my deep love of Japanese curry.. I must find a way to make it myself. I also am so glad to be eating seaweed salad on a more regular basis, getting those good greens plus the necessary iodine that I miss because iodized salt freaks me out. : ]

Been back to Nama a couple of times also and each time my wonderful server had the chef make me a special vegan roll. Both times, utterly delicious!! The last roll I had was so incredibly artistic. The roll was placed around an orange that had been carved and filled with yummies. I wish I had my phone with me at the time so I could've taken a picture. It was gorgeous. 

Other that that? I've honestly been snacking between trips to the pool on hummus, guac, and salsa. Every now and then I'll cook up some veggies in my roommates favorite dish, Spicy Almond Stir Fry. It's super delish and I will be making it again this week since I just bought all the ingredients from the farmers' market yesterday. It will probably be the best stir fry yet because of the fresh ingredients. 

Earlier this week I also threw together a pasta dish that is yummy and sooo easy. 

Pasta, head of cabbage, 2 stalks of celery, 2 onions, 2 garlic cloves, 1/4 cup of soy sauce and 5 tbsp of marinara sauce.

Saute onions, garlic, and celery in a little olive oil. Add cabbage, soy sauce, marinara and let cook on low heat a bit. Add cooked pasta and mix. Easy mode. Cheap. Healthy. Makes a TON of pasta. And is even good cold right out of the fridge. : ]

Tomorrow I think I'm going to make this awesome quinoa and black bean dish my daddy made a week or so ago for me. My daddy has been so great about making new dishes that are vegan friendly for me. I don't think anyone can know how grateful I am for that. 

Now to look into next week.. : ] It's going to be great. 

New hair. Bleach and it's all coming off.  <3

New car. 2008 Black Acura TSX

Best friend is coming home. 

And hopefully a new job at Teavana. 

Been going to the Rush with Ninja lately. We went twice this week. We go late at night and I really enjoy that. I'm not worried about having to be done at a certain time and I actually have a lot of energy around 10pm. Ran 4 miles Tuesday, and 5 miles on Thursday. I don't know if Ninja inspires me or what but I like it. I'm going to hopefully go again tomorrow night after I've rested my legs some. Dad said he plans to run 7 miles on Sunday so I have to catch up to that soon. 

Anywho, I have physics that I'm putting off in order to write this blog. I can procrastinate no longer.

Until next time...smile more than necessary and love as much as possible.