Indigo Tea Company in Burnsville, MN.

Indigo Tea Company in Burnsville, MN.

I Learned to Call You My Family

I am going to write about life. Life is strongly to do with the people we meet. The people who we encounter on our journey and how they change us and how we learn from them. We learn not to make the mistake or we learn to smile about what was and move on with what now is, happily... I was just going through a few photo's. I noticed a few of my "Step Mother Irina". I remember the first times I talked with her she was quiet. I was shocked. When she first said she was from Ukraine I was astonished. What was Ukraine? It is a country by Russia. Since then I have learned a little Russian, about countries other than Russia and similar languages, I have learned culture, tried different foods, I know what it is to love a complete stranger and their family, turning them into your own family, and what it is to lose them, but never will I forget them. I think love is not about what we choose. Love happens and for no reasons at all. I learned to love Irina, Viktor, Olga, and Denys as family. I learned to accept them and to believe in the reality of immigration and how cool it is. I learned a bit of a language I never thought I would be interested in. I learned that it is not about replacing those who we have lost, it is about accepting them as they are and realizing nobody could ever replace them. I will never have another woman like Irina be a step mother figure to me. Nobody could ever be her, she has been in my life for five years. I find it is a hard realization she is going to be gone, I will not have her to show my progress in the Russian language, nor to speak in Russian to, to trot around the Russian store with, to enjoy sushi alongside, to call about life and directions. All I know are the things I have

learned from her. I wish she and my father could be married. I wish she could for real be my step mom, but sometimes what we want... It is not what we get. God's plan for us might not always be what we want him to do. Yet it might be a lesson and this was a lesson. I learned about a culture I never heard of, a language so beautiful and different, about a people and a style, of a country, I learned to love Irina, Denys, Olga and Viktor as they were, to accept them for being who they were. I tried different foods and enjoyed new events, discovered a world outside the world I knew. I do not regret meeting or losing Irina and her family. I wish them all the best and I am thankful to have met them. I hope their lives continue to make a difference like the one on my life. I hope many people around the world are able to learn about another culture, a language and a people. Learn to love them as their own and to accept them as they are. The world revolves around love and acceptance, around different cultures and different languages. They say a smile speaks all and I shared many smiles, many laughs with Irina and her family. I will always have them in my memory. A family I had, learned from, a family I learned to love. A blessing.

Another Minnesota Treat From Pardon My French!

Chocolate macaroon!

Anyone from Minnesota ever been to Golden Wok? This is called the Green Dragon.C:

Today driving to the MOA...

This was the most interesting driving on the way to MOA. Besides people exiting cars and walking along the high way to the mall while their driver stayed on the highway exit and waited another forty minutes to park...

Oh my goodness! They made it..

My latest piece of word-like drawn art in the shape of a human heart.

YEAH! Get your groove on music.:P

‎"My dear joyful friends, this Christmas please give some love, some time or even a smile to those who have little cheer or festivities around them this special time of year. Share what you can so less can go hungry, spread peace where ever you go and treat your fellow mankind with kindness and respect. There are too many who don't feel loved and we can all provide some friendship and support, it's not difficult the more we share the more we receive, not in monetary ways but in joy and gratitude. Peace, love and abundant blessings to you all." I thought this quote was charming!C: ♥

http://vimeo.com/23114063

The Father Figure and Friend I Looked Up To

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/startribune/obituary.aspx?n=warren-o-larson&pid=152401636
Warren was like a father to me. I would sometimes forget my garage door opener and be stuck outside of my house waiting for my father to come home for an hour to two hours. One day Warren noticed, this was before cell phones. Another day, my neighbor Nikki noticed me shivering, nose a bright red, cheeks rosy, teeth chattering. I would sit outside and sometimes I would make patterns in the snow on the large driveway we had at the time. My neighbor Warren one day told me I could come over to his house while I waited. I would learn from him to draw birds, and he would sometimes make hot cocoa or sandwiches which I loved. He was the father figure I always wanted my own dad to become. Warren was like my best friend at the time, because school was rough and life at home was uneasy. I will never forget how when my life was crumbling he was there as a friend and a teacher. He knew behind my eyes something hurt me. I would go to school every day without telling anyone what happened at home, and he was the only one who had an idea of what kind of hurt I dealt with. He showed our family neighborly love and kindness. Warren you will be unforgettable.

The Call

Today I was called by a guy from my class he wondered if I had another person in our class's number and he knew I did not because if I did he would have gotten it before. We ended up talking about life for twenty minutes, I had him laughing and smiling, I could hear it over the phone. Then he had to go, then he called me back and that was that.C: It made my day the fact that he called. I hope I helped him feel special too. He is someone who I suppose made my day just a bit brighter than the bright it already was.

This video is about God.C:

ALSO

I want to suggest anyone who reads my blog check this out, http://www.facebook.com/WeStopHate

No Texts

I want to say there will be days when you have no new messages, no texts, no phone calls and you will feel alone in these days, feel as if nobody cares but you know what? You care! You care about yourself and by caring about yourself you have to bring yourself back up. There are ways.C: I promise. I wanted to cry today honestly, because of how alone it made me feel but you know what? It is Black Friday, and shopping takes energy, plus why wait for someone else to bring you up when you can do it yourself. I have some quotes I love today, "Keep your head up, keep your heart strong." I love this one because it describes how I need to think. Keeping my head up no matter how many texts I do not have, and keeping my heart strong no matter how many breaking times there are. I have to tape it back together so to speak and it is always possible.C:

Quotes I posted on my Facebook that I want to remember

Quotations

"Unbound your spirit. Don't let the opinions of others restrain you." -Dodinsky 'You did the best you could, the best you knew how at the time." "There are hundreds of languages of the world but a smile speaks them all." “Everything has it's beauty but not everyone sees it.” ― Andy Warhol.♥ "It's not who you are that holds you back. It is who you think you are not." A hundred year old was asked if they could change anything about their life what would they change. "Laugh more and worry less." "Don't cry over the past, it's gone. Don't stress about the future, it hasn't arrived. Live in the present and make it beautiful." "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." "Swap fear for curiosity. Get intrigued by the unknown." "I choose to live by choice, not by chance; to make changes, not excuses; to be motivated, not manipulated; to be useful, not used; to excel, not compete. I choose self esteem, not self pity..." "I'm only one voice in a million but you ain't taking that from me." "My future will not be defined by my past." "I have sat there and witnessed this injustice and I just sat there and let it happen. I didn't get involved in the process. I forgot to use my voice. I forgot to believe in myself. But now I know better. I know that one honest voice can be louder than a crowd." Legally Blonde 2.♥ "...She fears if she cries that first tear, the tears will not stop raining down. So stand in the rain. Stand your ground. Stand up when it's all crashing down. Stand through the pain." Stand In the Rain, Superchick. Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart Kahlil Gibran. If you assume that there's no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, that there are opportunities to change things, there's a chance you may contribute to making a better world. That's your choice. Noam Chomsky A person's true wealth is the good he or she does in the world. Mohammed Just because you make a mistake doesn’t mean you are a mistake. Georgette Mosbacher Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go. Mother Teresa One life is all we have and we live it as we believe in living it. But to sacrifice what you are and to live without belief, that is a fate more terrible than dying. Joan of Arc The unselfish effort to bring cheer to others will be the beginning of a happier life for ourselves. Helen Keller. And I will fear no evil, for my God is with me. And if my God is with me, whom then shall I fear? Whom then shall I fear? Verse from You Never Let Go by Matt Redman. We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do. Mother Teresa. The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it. Mother Teresa Be the change you want to see in the world. Be who you want to be remembered as. By trying, you may fail others. By not, you fail yourself.

Today is a day to be Thankful

Why not make every day a day to be thankful for what you have in life? Every single day is a gift, a great gift from above. We should be thankful and I find myself willing to change how I live. For every morning to think about all I am thankful for and every night to do the same regarding what in the day I had I am thankful for.C: Today I am thankful to have a great grandma, a grandma, a grandpa, a mother with a kind boyfriend, a cousin who has a nice girlfriend, an aunt and an uncle with an adorable puppy named Remmy. As well as my mother and aunts growing up friend Dan who joined us in celebration of Thanksgiving. I was thankful to have such great chefs in the family, my grandma, aunt and mother. I am glad to have music in an iPod I can listen to and to have such a creative mind. I am thankful for the friends whom wished me a Happy Thanksgiving.C:

Gotta say that even if you are nervous about something or bugged, note that the world is your canvas or your dance floor and you can dance, draw and create. Add to the world in a beautiful way as long as you let no one change the pattern you are creating by being uniquely you.

Sending All Viewers A Smile!

"1. Resist the urge to judge or assume.

It’s hard to offer someone compassion when you assume you have them pegged. He’s a jerk. She’s a malcontent. He’s an–insert other choice noun. Even if it seems unlikely someone will wake up one day and act differently we have to remember it is possible.

When you think negative thoughts, it comes out in your body language. Someone prone to negativity may feel all too tempted to mirror that. Try coming at them with the positive mindset you wish they had. Expect the best in them. You never know when you might be pleasantly surprised.

2. Dig deeper, but stay out of the hole.

It’s always easier to offer someone compassion if you try to understand where they’re coming from. But that can’t completely justify bad behavior. If you show negative people you support their choice to behave badly, you give them no real incentive to make a change (which they may actually want deep down).

It may help to repeat this in your head when you deal with them: “I understand your pain. But I’m most helpful if I don’t feed into it.” This might help you approach them with both kindness and firmness so they don’t bring you down with them.

3. Maintain a positive boundary.

Some people might tell you to visualize a bright white light around you to maintain a positive space when other people enter it with negativity. This doesn’t actually work for me because I respond better to ideas in words than visualizations. So I tell myself this, “I can only control the positive space I create around myself.”

Then when I interact with this person, I try to do two things, in this order of importance:

• Protect the positive space around me. When their negativity is too strong to protect it, I need to walk away.
• Help them feel more positive, not act more positive–which is more likely to create the desired result.

4. Disarm their negativity, even if just for now.

This goes back to the ideas I mentioned above. I know my depressed friend will rant about life’s injustices as long as I let her. Part of me feels tempted to play amateur psychiatrist–get her talking, and then try to help her reframe situations into a more positive light.

Then I remind myself I can’t change her whole way of being in one phone call. She has to want that. I also can’t listen for hours on end, as I’ve done in the past. But I can listen compassionately for a short while and then help her focus on something positive right now, in this moment. I can ask about her upcoming birthday. I can remind her it’s a beautiful day for a walk. Don’t try to solve or fix them. Just aim to help them now.

5. Temper your emotional response.

Negative people often gravitate toward others who react strongly–people who easily offer compassionate or get outraged, or offended. I suspect this gives them a little light in the darkness of their inner world–a sense that they’re not floating alone in their own anger or sadness.

People remember and learn from what you do more than what you say. If you feed into the situation with emotions, you’ll teach them they can depend on you for a reaction. It’s tough not to react because we’re human, but it’s worth practicing.

Once you’ve offered a compassionate ear for as long as you can, respond as calmly as possible with a simple line of fact. If you’re dealing with a rude or angry person, you may want to change the subject to something unrelated: “Dancing with the Stars is on tonight. Planning to watch it?”

6. Question what you’re getting out of it.

Like I mentioned above, we often get something out of relationships with negative people. Get real honest with yourself: have you fallen into a caretaker role because it makes you feel needed? Have you maintained the relationship so you can gossip about this person in a holier-than-thou way with others? Do you have some sort of stake in keeping the things the way they are?

Questioning yourself helps you change the way you respond–which is really all you can control. You can’t make someone think, feel, or act differently. You can be as kind as possible or as combative as possible, and still not change reality for someone else. All you can control is whatyou think and do–and then do your best to help them without hurting yourself.

7. Remember the numbers.

Research shows that people with negative attitudes have significantly higher rates of stress and disease. Someone’s mental state plays a huge role in their physical health. If someone’s making life difficult for people around them, you can be sure they’re doing worse for themselves.

What a sad reality. That someone has so much pain inside them they have to act out just to feel some sense of relief–even if that relief comes from getting a rise out of people. When you remember how much a difficult person is suffering, it’s easier to stay focused on minimizing negativity, as opposed to defending yourself.

8. Don’t take it personally–but know sometimes it is personal.

Conventional wisdom suggests that you should never take things personally when you deal with a negative person. I think it’s a little more complicated than that. You can’t write off everything someone says about you just because the person is insensitive or tactless. Even an abrasive person may have a valid point. Try to weigh their comments with a willingness to learn.

Accept that you don’t deserve the excessive emotions in someone’s tone, but weigh their ideas with a willingness to learn. Some of the most useful lessons I’ve learned came from people I wished weren’t right.

9. Act instead of just reacting.

Oftentimes we wait until someone gets angry or depressed before we try to buoy their spirits. If you know someone who seems to deal with difficult thoughts or feelings often (as demonstrated in their behavior) don’t wait for a situation to help them create positive feelings.

Give them a compliment for something they did well. Remind them of a moment when they were happy–as in “Remember when you scored that touchdown during the company picnic? That was awesome!” You’re more apt to want to boost them up when they haven’t brought you down. This may help mitigate that later, and also give them a little relief from their pain.

10. Maintain the right relationship based on reality as it is.

With my friend, I’m always wishing she could be more positive. I consistently put myself in situations where I feel bad because I want to help, because I want her to be happy. I’ve recently realized the best I can do is accept her as she is, let her know I believe in her ability to be happy, and then give her space to make the choice.

That means gently bringing our conversation to a close after I’ve made an effort to help. Or cutting short a night out if I’ve done all I can and it’s draining me. Hopefully she’ll want to change some day. Until then, all I can do is love her, while loving myself enough to take care of my needs. Which often means putting them first.

–

I’ve learned you can’t always saved the world. But you can make the world a better place by working on yourself–by becoming self-aware, tapping into your compassion, and protecting your positive space. You may even help negative people by fostering a sense of peace within yourself that their negativity can’t pierce."

C:

Fun day.C: I am glad to have hungout with Sophie and laughed for a long time about boys, worked on Bio. She even bought me a fruit cup, so I threw everything she needed thrown away for her. I am glad to have a good friend like her in times where life can be quite frustrating or letting you down, she is there for you to laugh and someone who does kind things. Then met up with Mitch from Bio, we studied together and planned for more study time together. Later, ran into Andrey and we chatted about life. The exciting part was being tagged in a post by Jeff. Everyone in my day was amazing and made it better in some way. Thankyou Sophie, Mitch, Jeff, and Andrey. You are all friends for me, and I want to be there for you. I hope that I can have you all in life for a long time.C:

The Simple Things

Today was alright. I find it true that if you truly are close to someone, or feel close to someone you find reasons to easily forgive them out of the kindness of your heart. I had a lovely conversation with Andrey, he is becoming a best friend to me in all honesty. Some days he says things which bug me, but it has only happened three times. I invite him out with me if I am off somewhere as well. He will always be a friend I hope, I am in this friendship for life. For some reason with how comfortable I feel around him, I would like to be his friend. Even through hardship, he will learn what a real friend is. I want to thank God too, for bringing Andrey into my life. For bringing the friend who introduced us formally too, Sophie whom is a bright young woman with a future as an accomplished young woman. I am glad she asked me to hangout today even though I could not, it was a kind gesture. I also am happy to have Jeff as a friend, he is so nice and always wanting to hangout which is sweet and how one should act to a friend. Though I am unsure his motives, I think he is rather cute and I would like to get to know him better. I also am thankful for a new friend, Chris whom is a great advice giving man whom helps me with problems and is easy to chat with. Another friend I am happy to have is Michael. He is truly a great charismatic guy whom has a beautiful future and whom is a great friend. So all in all, I would like to ask those who read this blog to please pray for Sophie, Amanda, Andrey, Chris, Jeff and Michael. Whom I am glad to have in my life today.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23.C:

For some reason I love seeing people solve an argument. It inspires me to be able to solve more arguments in my own life and to be more honest and willing to listen to others opinions too. To be more open. In my own opinion the best thing about an argument is working it out, solving it.C:

"No matter what you walk through, he will always love you, just the way you are." In regards to God's love.C:

"Do not take for granted the people closest to your heart... Celebrate them in the now."

LOVE LOVE LOVE this song.C:

This movie makes me cry thinking of how I have lost a few friends as well, in the end. I hope some people out there see this who have friends or family who binge drink so that it inspires them to help those people or even if they themselves see this movie if they have binge drinking problems.

Love this quote.

"Have the courage to live, anyone can die."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzgzim5m7oU&list=PLC0286EAE0B52519E&index=34

10. It’s okay to be an introvert. It’s okay to be yourself.

9. There might be that one person who you just can’t get over and that’s alright. “Life is too short to worry about the past.”

8. Keep your faith close to you because He will lead you in the right direction.

7. Be positive and strive for optimism.

6. Even when you reach your goals, don’t forget about where you once were.

5. Words are powerful.

4. Do what you love…whether it be music, art, science…

3. There’s no reason to let a disability or limitation stop you from doing what you want to do.

2. Be grateful for what you have.

1. Never stop dreaming.

Pizza made in an old fashioned wood oven is YUM.:D

Love this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZFeIeRC7e4

My Day.

It is easy to remind yourself you are loved each and every day. You love yourself, you love God and God loves you. Each and every day it should be a reminder, a reminder of who you are as a person, living for God and helping Gods children. I want to say today has been a bit of a down day for me, I enjoyed some yoga and health food yet I still am feeling a bit down.. Sometimes we cannot help but feel down and we need to find reasons to keep our smile on and find our laughter. I am about to start on some wonderful work for school and enjoy some celery. Yep, healthy-healthy.:D Yet it makes me happier eating healthy and exersizing. Living life for GOD. Being there for new friends and old friends. I try my best to help everyone find their smiles too. It is no easy task, yet I know that the only way is to try. This weekend will be a bit busy for me, and I am happy. For one, Friday Irina and I are going to the Russian Store, then Saturday I will help in a nursery for a few hours, then off to the Horse Expo. Sunday will be a new day and church with the family, visit great grandma and out to Shmick and Shneiders. I hope I spelled that right, for my great grandmas birthday. Later, church.(: Busy, busy bee. I am a busy bee who loves myself for who I am, at least I try every day to love myself, God is my savior and my one and only helper. God helps me the most out of all. Gods always with me.(:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RekK7EKGYOc

In The Morning

This morning I woke up and wanted to go for a jog. My joy in life is depriving myself of stress, so I jogged for twenty minutes and then saw my favorite thing! I love to swing. So I ran down the large grassy hill and was swinging for a good five minutes before jogging the rest of the way home. Before my jog, I had a nice bowl of oatmeal and a glass of skim milk. So my morning started out healthy. A nice morning. Yet, I could not find Joyce Meyer on television.): Yet I did find a beautiful Christian song while running. This is God. A lovely tune for my ears. Now, I sit, I just finished off a small box of blackberries and a cup of water, then a cup of Good Earth Green Tea.(: Now I am watching Matlock and contemplating if I should go for another jog and swing after some workouts and yoga.(: