Brighter than the sun

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I feel like I've been bookmarking a lot of good links lately so I thought I'd share the love....

Every year I want to participate in Nanowrimo, but it's always in November which isn't the ideal month for writing a novel. (I always feel so busy.) However, I just found out that they also host Camp Nanowrimo which is in June and August. I'm planning on participating in June and maybe August as well. Anyone else down for writing a novel this next month?

 Nate and I have been contemplating a bathroom renovation. This is my favorite inspiration. Haha...ya right!

I really want to make this Caribbean Salad. Mmmmm.

Design Love Fest has been doing an awesome advice series for creative freelancers. My favorite so far has been #4: To go to school or not to go to school. 

I loved this graduation address by Neil Gaiman to the University of the Arts Class of 2012. So inspiring. Just listen to it while your working or doing the dishes or folding laundry or driving. I'll leave you with my favorite part (I tried to edit it down, but it was just so good!):

And remember that whatever discipline you are in, whether you are a musician or a photographer, a fine artist or a cartoonist, a writer, a dancer, a designer, whatever you do you have one thing that's unique. You have the ability to make art.

And for me, and for so many of the people I have known, that's been a lifesaver. The ultimate lifesaver. It gets you through good times and it gets you through the other ones.

Life is sometimes hard. Things go wrong, in life and in love and in business and in friendship and in health and in all the other ways that life can go wrong. And when things get tough, this is what you should do.

Make good art.

I'm serious. Husband runs off with a politician? Make good art. Leg crushed and then eaten by mutated boa constrictor? Make good art. IRS on your trail? Make good art. Cat exploded? Make good art. Somebody on the Internet thinks what you do is stupid or evil or it's all been done before? Make good art. Probably things will work out somehow, and eventually time will take the sting away, but that doesn't matter. Do what only you do best. Make good art.

I only wanna be with you

Well Nate is at it again. 

Back in August Nate switched positions at his company which means that he hasn't been creating videos like he used to. While he loves his new work, he has definitely missed the movie making. Luckily, he and his friend Jeff have teamed up to do some freelance videos. 

Their most recent video is for a company called Vox Marketing. Vox makes all kinds of swag and is pretty awesome (as I'm sure you'll see in the video).

When Nate started showing this video to me, I was shocked. Of course I know how talented he is, but I still find myself continually impressed by his creations. From scripting to drawing to the voice over--he just amazes me. (Although he never seems that impressed by himself so feel free to leave him some nice comments.)

Check out the video and then my post title should make a lot more sense. 

Sugar we're going down

A couple months ago Nate watched the documentary Sugar the Bitter Truth. He hadn't even made it all the way through before he announced that he was going to be doing a three-week sugar fast. I'm always down for eating healthier so I decided to join him.

The three weeks was completely arbitrary. We wanted it to be long enough to actually try it, but not so long that we gave up our goal because it felt too overwhelming. I was surprised that the three weeks came and went and I really didn't miss sugar all that much.

One thing I should add, we didn't give up fruits and vegetables. My personal benchmark for whether a diet is good or not is whether it allows you to eat fruits and vegetables. My feeling is that any diet that prohibits fruits and vegetables can't be that healthy or sustainable. I know some fruits and veggies are better than others, but completely restricting them just doesn't seem right to me.

The hardest part about this diet was all the research. I read a ton of articles and blogs to find ways to cut out the sugar and I thought I'd share some of the things I learned.

 

1. Allow for more time. The hardest part for me was the time it took. I had to really search to find good recipes. In order to not miss the sugar, I wanted to cook good meals. I was surprised that finding sugar-free lasagna noodles was easy compared to finding sugar-free tomato sauce. Also, I was making trip after trip to the market to buy more fresh produce. It is crazy how fast we have been going through it.

2. Set some rules. Make sure to create your own parameters that you feel good about. Like I said before, we kept eating fruit. We also allowed for bread baked with honey (as opposed to refined sugar). We didn't use any artificial sweeteners (Splenda, Stevia, etc.). I feel like the jury is still out on the harmful effects of artificial sweeteners and I didn't want to replace one bad habit with another. Nate has a friend who has been doing this for a while and his rule is that if he is in a bind, it must have less than 6g of sugar.

3. Plan ahead. There will come a time when you feel like you don't have options and you'll need to grab something fast so plan for this. For some reason, almonds have become our go-to for this. I can't believe how satisfying they are. We are kinda addicted now.

4. Sugar is everywhere. Be prepared to be shocked by how much sugar there is in everything. Basically if it has a label, it has sugar.

5. Use your common sense. I was surprised that a lot of bad things don't contain sugar. (Reddi-wip doesn't have sugar!) I didn't let myself go crazy with these items just because they didn't have sugar.

6. Don't try to do too many restrictions at the same time. We didn't restrict calories at all. We could eat whenever we wanted and however much we wanted.

7. Let your friends know. It was also difficult in social situations. However, I feel like it's a lot more acceptable lately to say, "I'm just not eating sugar right now." People get it. In fact, we found out a lot of friends have a similar diet.

8. Mindless sugar eating is ridiculous. You will also be surprised how often you were eating sugar. It's everywhere. I couldn't believe how much sugar I had been eating mindlessly. That is the easy stuff to cut out and makes you feel a lot better about yourself.

9. Don't expect the results of refined sugar. I couldn't have done this if I had given up fruit as well. It saved me every afternoon. I read somewhere that when you have a sugar craving, eat fruit and then wait 20 minutes. I guess that refined sugar gives you an immediate sugar rush, but natural sugar takes longer. It takes patience, but it honestly worked every time I ate a piece of fruit.

10. I've got nothing. I don't have a #10. I just feel like lists of 10 are cooler than lists of 9.

I thought this was going to be impossible, but I ended up enjoying it. I honestly don't think I have ever eaten this well or felt this healthy in my entire life. (I feel like I'm on one of those infomercials, "Not eating sugar cured all my health problems!") The benefits definitely outweigh the time and commitment. And, after doing it for a little while, it has become easy and natural.

And yes, we do now enjoy our treats. However, I am more conscious of it. I don't eat as large of a portion or as often. We try to make treats that have fruit or other naturally sweetened ingredients.

At least I was doing great until Surf and Slurp opened up for summer. Now we'll see how well things go...

I left my heart in San Francisco

Nate and I spent last week playing tourists in San Francisco (we even rode the double-decker bus). We had been meaning to visit since my sister and brother-in-law moved there a couple years ago. It was a complete whirlwind, but we had a blast. I even got to meet up with my high school friend Jackie who I hadn't seen in years.

 

 And we traveled all the way to San Fran to see Utah's Delicate Arch.

This is an ad campaign in the Montgomery Street Station of the BART. Nate had seen this video and  wanted to check it out. It's definitely worth stopping by. 

Now we are home. It was a wonderful vacation and we were sad to see it end. It's always so hard to leave my family at the end of a trip. So far I've been unsuccessful at convincing them to move to Provo, but I'm working on it. And you should never underestimate my powers of persuasion.

She will be loved

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When I was reading The Help, I about fell off my chair when I read the part where Aibileen tells Mae Mobley, "You is kind. You is smart. You is important." When I was growing up, my mom repeated a similar list to me each day (only with better grammar). My mom always said to me, "You are good, smart, and pretty."

It's so amazing (and scary) that young children will believe basically anything you tell them. I'm glad I had a mother who took the time to tell me I was good and smart and pretty.

She also told me on a daily basis that she was the luckiest person in the world because she was my mom. She had me convinced that making me breakfast, doing my laundry, and picking up my toys was the best job in the world.

When I started having friends my own age who became mothers, I was absolutely shocked to hear how much they complained about being moms. I honestly don't think I had any idea that my mom might have not loved every single moment of being a mom. That sounds completely silly now that I think about it, but I also think it's amazing that my mom was able to make me feel that I was so important. There is something about knowing that someone in the world is willing to do (and does) anything for you.That is a feeling that I hope to pass on to my own children someday. (I might just have to save my complaints for when they are not within hearing.)

I hope you all have a fabulous Mother's day. I love you, mom!