7 weeks. Thats how long its been since my last post where I decided I would try out being a vegetarian. If you would have asked me that night how hard I thought it would be I would have probably told you after that first month I would most likely begin to eat meat again. Fast forward those 7 weeks and I have a very different answer.
I absolutely love being a vegetarian...and its one of the easiest and most rewarding things I have ever done for myself. I never in a million years thought I would actually be a vegetarian although the first time I thought about it I was around 12 years old. At that time my reason for not becoming a vegetarian was the fact that I loved skyline chili too much. And lets face it I am a Cincinnati girl at heart so the thought of giving up skyline was just too much for me to handle. (I guess someone should have told me about all the wonderful vegetarian options they have there...hellooo black bean 3 ways...you are amazing.)
I honestly thought that being a vegetarian was going to be awful...I mean the thought of not having chicken ever again made me a little sad. B/c lets face it the only thing I ever ate was chicken (BORING!). So I figured that within those 30 days of me trying out being a vegetarian I would stare at my husband while he ate all these amazing things that I couldnt have. I was so worried about our anniversary dinner planned at Ruths Chris Steakhouse b/c how am I supposed to go there and not get a steak?? So I figured I would cheat from time to time...steal a bite of my husbands steak when he was not looking...but quite the opposite happened. While my husband ate his steak at Ruths Chris I honestly thought I was going to be sick. He says it was one of the best steaks he ever had in his life 9and you have to know I used to LOVE having steak every once and awhile) but the thought of putting it in my mouth made me want to throw up...the smell of it even really grossed me out. Weird I thought...well I guess this vegetarian thing is going to be easier than I thought!
I have not once craved meat in these past 7 weeks. I actually forgot I was only going to give this a trial run of 30 days b/c it was so easy! My body feels amazing...I have way more energy now and have actually lost some weight as well. My taste buds have been opened up to so many new flavors that I cant believe all I ever ate was boring chicken...I was really missing out. I have been keeping a food journal even before I decided to stop eating meat, so here is just a taste of some of the new items I have fallen in love with.
-BLACK BEANS...yummmmy. Beans in general are pretty good for you but my personal favorite are black beans. I like to substitute them for meat in any dish and I actually end up liking the dish better than I did with the meat! I recently discovered black bean burgers...AMAZING. My personal favorite being the black bean burgers at the Rusty Bucket restaurant...they make them fresh in house and they taste amazing. Plus black beans have around 15 grams of protein for 1 cup! (And I'm pretty sure we all learned the saying when we were younger...you know "beans, beans they're good for your heart" I wont say the last part but the point is we've been taught at a young age the health benefits of beans lol.)
-ALMONDS...One of my new favorite snacks! Almonds promote a healthy heart, aid in weight loss and are a good source of protein! I personally like the Blue Diamond Natural brand of Oven Roasted Almonds. They have different flavors but I personally like the Cinnamon Brown Sugar ones...and I am actually snacking on them at this moment! There are 6 grams of protein in 1 oz, high in fiber, low in sugar...and they taste great!
-STRING CHEESE...I can remember these being in my lunch box at school...who knew how healthy they can be for you? I absolutely love cheese which is pretty much the number one reason for not being vegan (and I dont think a vegan diet is as healthy as a vegetarian diet but thats for another day...haha) I personally like the weight watchers brand of string cheese which is only 50 calories, 2.5 grams of fat and 6 grams of protein. PLUS lets face it...its fun to eat! ;)
-MEATLESS MEAT...sounds weird right? Well since you already know that I was afraid of losing chicken forever...I found these chicken nuggets that were not made with any meat. My favorite brand is Quorn which makes their "meat" out of mycoprotein which is an edible fungi (such as mushrooms) Sounds gross huh? I thought so too...I absolutely hate mushrooms. The weird thing is these "chicken nuggets" tasted like chicken nuggets, looked like chicken nuggets, and even the texture was like that of chicken nuggets....BUT BETTER! Naturally low in fat and high in protein they are perfect!
-PEANUT BUTTER...my personal favorite is the Skippy All Natural Brand. Its made with no hydrogenated oils like regular peanut butter...and tastes even better! I like to put it on whole grain bread which is high in protein, or on celery. The only down side to peanut butter is that it is high in fat...although its "good" fat I still limit my intake of it.
Alright well I wont bore you with any more food although I could go on and on...I'm having fun tyring new food. I have always been a picky eater so I love now being willing to try so many different things. If anyone is interested in trying out being a vegetarian peta.org has so much information and feel free to ask me as well! I honestly recommend everyone give it a shot even if its just for those 30 days...You will feel like a brand new you and its awesome! If you have any tips for me or questions feel free to comment. I am always looking for new food to try out or new recipes!
Being that the title of my blog is "living in love" I have come to realize that its hard to show love to other people when you are not showing love to yourself. That includes taking care of your body and making sure you are putting things in it that are healthy and not hurtful to you. I keep track of my calories, carbs, fat and protein intake every day. It is not loving to your body to stuff yourself full of things that you know are not good for you, and its also not loving to deprive yourself of food (such as those 500 calorie diets I have seen...crazy! Obviously you lose weight you are starving yourself!) So I am standing up for myself and loving myself enough to take care of my body and I encourage you to do the same!! (SIDE NOTE: I am not saying if you are not a vegetarian you are not loving your body...I dont think being a vegetarian is for everyone. I am only talking about making sure you get the right amount of nutrition and are aware of what you are putting in your body.) Questions, comments, concerns?? Feel free to let me know!!
Living in love,
Brittany
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Goodbye Chicken
So for the past couple of years I have gone back and forth in my mind considering changing to a vegetarian diet. Within the past year I have significantly reduced my intake of meat and cut out red meat completely. The few times since making this change that I have actually eaten red meat or eaten more than one meal a day that had meat I noticed a huge change in my body. I noticed I would feel way more full and sluggish...and just plain gross. About a year ago I tried to completely cut meat out of my diet...and it went good for about a week. But being someone who is always on the go and does not cook very much I ran out of ideas of things to eat. I was so used to meat being the main part of my meal that I literally felt like I was starving myself. So I gave up and started eating meat again, just not near as much. However in the past year I have found a lot of meals that I love that are vegetarian...such as a veggie sub from subway, or a vegetarian burrito at chipotle...both are amazing! Lately I have for whatever reason been eating more meat, and even red meat and I just feel so tired and gross. So I think I am finally ready for a change. To be honest at this very moment the thought of meat grosses me out. I want to make this change b/c I just want to feel healthier. So tonight I made a "pledge" on goveg.com and that pledge is to go vegetarian for 30 days. So starting in the morning and for the next 30 days I will be a vegetarian. Depending on how these 30 days go and how I feel I might make it a permanent change in my life. I am excited about this and just hope I dont get lazy with looking for new things to eat and just go back to my norm of grilled chicken haha. So if you have any advice or comments on this subject I would love to hear! Or maybe some recipes or restaurants that offer some good vegetarian dishes would be really helpful! **Sidenote: we just made reservations for our anniversary at Ruth Chris Steakhouse...only one of the best steakhouses in the country...this might have been a bad time to decide to do this haha!! Anyways I would love to hear from some vegetarians on why they became a vegetarian and any changes they noticed with their body. Feel free to comment!!
~Brittany
~Brittany
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Love yourself
So I think its safe to say that I am REALLY bad about keeping this updated. But there has been something on my heart for the past few months, and everytime I would get on here and type it out I would just get lost in my own thoughts. This post is going to require me to get really personal which can be a bit scary to put yourself out there but this subject is so important to me that I feel like something needs to be said. So here I go again...who knows maybe this one will actually get posted :)
So if you know me...by now you know that I am moving to california in approx 2 months. I have been talking about this since 2005...so now that it is happening to say I am excited is an understatement. I am going to work my way into the entertainment industry and God has already opened some amazing doors for me that I am so thankful for. However there is something about the entertainment industry that I absolutely HATE. And that is the negative views they put on body image, specifically for women (although I know that it can be the same for men too.) This really hits home for me since body image has been a huge struggle for me since the time I was about 12. Only in the past few years have I really began to deal with these struggles and try to figure out why I have a negative body image. There are a few reasons why I might struggle with this, but the number one reason I came up with is: THE MEDIA. The past few months I have really began to do some research on body image and the media. Did you know if you just type in "body image" on google the first thing that comes up is "body image and the media"? Hmmm guess I am not the only one dealing with this.
Did you know nearly 8 million people in the US suffer from an eating disorder? 90% of those people are women. 8 out of 10 women are not happy with their reflection and 50% of ten year old girls wish they were thinner. The current media ideal of thinness is achieved by less than 5% of females. Those are just a few statistics and I dont know about you but they make me absolutely sick. To know that 80% of women are not happy with their reflection in a mirror just makes me sad. It makes me sad b/c for a LONG time I was part of that 80%....and depending on the day I am still part of that 80%.
I know so many girls and women who feel this way. People that I look at and think "wow they are gorgeous" have told me how insecure they are about their looks. Its crazy! But the media feeds us lies. They tell us how we are supposed to look and that if you dont look that way then you just arent good enough. The funny thing is there is a funny little tool called airbrushing....and I would say most if not all the celebrity photos in magazines are airbrushed. I never realized how much these photos were airbrushed until I saw some pictures a few months ago:
I dunno about you but seeing these photos was a huge eye opener for me. Especially the one of Faith Hill. Not only did they airbrush and smooth her skin out but they literally took away parts of her body. Her back, waist, half of her arm...I mean no wonder 80% of women dont like the way they look in the mirror if these fake images are what the media is feeding us constantly. Anyone can look like these photos if they use photoshop. The ironic part is I bet these celebrities that everyone looks at and wants to look like have the same insecurities. If God wanted us all to look the same then we would! Its just that we always want what we dont have. The curvy girls want to be stick skinny, the stick skinny girls want to be curvy. Its an endless cycle. And its a cycle that I refuse to be apart of.
Going into the entertainment industry is a double edged sword for me. Like I said I am really excited and I know its where God is calling me to be. But can I handle this pressure? Can I handle the fact that I might walk into a casting office and they tell me I am great but would like me to lose 20 pounds before they consider casting me? As much as I would love to say that wouldnt bother me, it would absolutely devastate me. The thing is that is pretty much exactly how my negative body image started. I did a little bit of modeling when I was younger and I went to an audition and the judges there told me they thought I was great but wanted to know if I could lose ten pounds. So being a 12 year old girl who weighed 105 pounds and really didnt have an ounce of fat on my body you can imagine how hurtful that was. Before that the thought of losing weight never even crossed my mind. But that day will stay in my mind forever b/c it completely changed the way I looked at myself. Fast forward to today and I am a 24 year old woman who still struggles with body image problems. In these past 12 years I have been through a lot when it comes to this. (Some that I wont share on here but am more than happy to talk about if anyone wants to talk more in depth about this issue). I constantly compared myself to everyone else. But its been in these last couple of years (and mostly the past couple months) that I have truly learned to love myself and love my body. I will NEVER be perfect. And to be honest I dont want to be perfect b/c thats not real. It doesnt matter what the media says I should look like, or what anyone else thinks of me. What matters is that I can look at myself in the mirror and love myself for the way I am. I am not saying that I dont have days where I hate the way I look b/c Lord knows I do. But I have stopped putting pressure on myself to be a certain way. I have made a promise to myself that I wont compare myself to anyone. I will only compare myself to myself so that each and every day I can grow and strive to be better today than I was yesterday and better tomorrow than I was today. So if I walk into a casting office in LA and they tell me I am great but need to lose weight first, I hope to be able to politely say thank you for your time and walk out without thinking twice about it.
If I ever do get a career in acting I really hope to be a positive role model for girls out there. I would never want people to be looking at a "fake" picture of me in a magazine and feeling bad about themselves. I refuse to be apart of that negative aspect in the media. I want to encourage every girl out there whether they are 1 or 100 to love themselves. Dont try to find love in the wrong places to try and make yourself feel better. We cant allow anyone to truly love us until we have learned to love ourselves. I pray each day for those girls out there who are hurting b/c I know what it feels like. And if anyone reads this and wants specific prayer about this, or wants to talk or anything I'd love to be there for you. God has not allowed me to go through the things I have gone through just to keep it to myself, but He allowed me to go through it so that I can help others who struggle with the same thing. I refuse to be a bystander any longer.
In His Love, Brittany
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Patience
LOVE. What exactly is that? We see "love" in many ways throughout the day...on tv, in acts of kindness, in relationships. But what exactly is love? The dictionary says love is this : 1."a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person." 2. "a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend." 3. "sexual passion or desire." But what these definitions are saying is that love is a feeling...and I disagree. Yes you can feel love towards someone...but most of the time those feelings come and go. I believe love goes way deeper than that. I believe you have to have love in you as a person, that it defines who you are. As a christian I feel that defining myself as someone "living in love" is very important. But I dont want to live on defining myself based off a feeling, b/c trust me....I am VERY emotional...and those emotions change from one moment to the next (haha the joys of being a woman...). So what does the bible say love is? Well I think one of the most important verses in the bible is 1 Corinithians 13: 4-7, which might be one of the most quoted bible verses. You hear it in just about every wedding (including my own!). "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seeks its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." On the surface this bible verse is pretty basic. But I think love is the number one most important thing in my life so I want to go deeper into that verse. So for these next few posts I am going to focus on this verse step by step and figure out exactly what it means.
"LOVE SUFFERS LONG"
Some translations say "love is patient". This means that God's love has patience with imperfect people. And guess who is imperfect? YOU AND ME!! There is not one of us who is perfect except for Jesus Christ. And what a relief that is! So many people have had bad experiences with christians and churches and the reason is b/c many "christians" dont act out of love. Most want to just judge others and tell people what they are doing wrong, and act as if they are too good. But that is not how God wants us to be. God is love....and if we do not have love for ourselves and others then we can not truly be serving God. God tells us to love our neighbors, and we can not do this unless we are patient. I can not truly live in love unless I am patient. Well it just so happens that I honestly do not like being patient....I want everything now! But God has taught me over and over that His timing is perfect and if I am not patient in that moment of waiting then I am going to miss out on what He is teaching me. First lets talk about being patient in the midst of trials and waiting periods.
I mentioned briefly in my last post about Gods plan in my life for me to move to Los Angeles. I can remember the exact moment when I realized that was what God wanted me to do. And let me tell you it came out of NO WHERE. I actually laughed at myself when the idea first came in my head. It was January 2005 and I had just turned 19 years old. I was a freshman in college and had my whole life planned out for myself. I had just gotten the first season of "The OC" on dvd and spent quite a few hours laying on the couch watching it. As I lay there watching it, a certain person really got my attention. The actors name is Adam Brody and he played the character of Seth. I thought he was such a great actor and was shocked that I couldnt think of anything else he had been in. So being the obsessive stalker that I am I decided to go online and find out everything about him. (Those of you that know me really well know that I get obsessed with things pretty easily hehe.) Anyways I found out that he had no prior acting experience, worked at blockbuster and loved movies so one day when he graduated high school he decided he wanted to move to LA to become and actor. Now to me this was so crazy....I didnt know people actually did that. I thought that people started when they were little on tv shows or whatever and just grew up and became actors. So I started looking at other actors to see how they started and found out a lot of them had little to no experience and did the exact same thing (Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Julia Roberts and Jim Carrey just to name a few). This first sparked my interest and I began to pray about it. At this point it was amazing the way God worked in my life. I had everything planned out and this was not at all in my plans. But I trusted God and as he began to open doors for me and show me that this was that plan He had for me all I could do was trust in Him that he would provide a way. So in my mind I would just move to LA after the summer of 2005 and pursue and acting career. WRONG. God began testing his patience in me. As most of you know its pretty expensive to live in LA....and I had no money. So I said okay I will quit school and work for a year and save money to move. So a year goes by, I do some plays to start building up my resume and I work to try and save money. So the end of Summer 2006 comes along and I meet this guy (who I might add was pretty much the most amazing guy I have ever met) and his name was Chris Hoover. So as Chris and I start talking I basically tell him in so many words "I am moving in a few months so lets not get attached but you know we can hang out and have fun together." I mean most guys arent looking to be tied down in a relationship so this was like a major plus for him a this point in his life haha. So a few months go by and the exact opposite happens....we fell in love. Which was awesome and it gave me an excuse not to move b/c to be honest I was scared out of my mind to move across the country. So lets skip a couple years down the road. I had pretty much given up any type of acting career and decided I would just go back to school and do something else. Chris and I got engaged on our two year anniversary in September of 2008 and all of a sudden it was like God hit me with a ton of bricks. My love for acting and that passion I had for it that I pushed down inside of me and tried to forget about came back in full force. I always knew from that day in January of 2005 that God was calling me to move to LA and pursue acting, but the timing just was not right and being someone who is not patient and wants everything NOW I assumed that maybe I was wrong in thinking that was Gods plan for my life. So like I said that passion came back in full force (not that it really ever left I just didnt want believe thats what God had for me) so I had to tell my future husband that that was what I felt like we were supposed to do. So skip another year and a half and that brings me to today January of 2010. 5 years since God first sparked my interest with acting, and about 7 months from our moving date in August. *sigh* TALK ABOUT PATIENCE. But I wouldnt trade these last 5 years for anything. Both Chris and I are two totally different people than we were when we first met. We are both so much closer to God and actively seeking His will in our lives. Chris (who was very much against move to LA at first) is now just as excited as I am. I wish I could type out every little detail about these past 5 years b/c God has amazed me over and over. (But for your sake of reading through all this I wont! haha) It truly has been a roller coaster of ups and downs and highs and lows. (And still is on a daily basis b/c that is life) But God has never left me and everything that has happened has happened in Gods perfect timing. I now have patience in my life b/c I know without a doubt that I am in Gods will and he is guiding me along the way. Just like James 1:2-4 says "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you my be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." Trials produce patience and as we know patience produces love. And living in love should be the number one thing we strive for b/c that is what the whole bible is based upon. The more God tests us, the more patience we get, the more love we have, the closer to God we become!
So I encourage each of you (and myself b/c Lord knows I still need to learn patience at times) to strive for patience in your life. Whether it be patience at work (trust me I deal with people all day and I know how hard it can be to have patience!), or with your family, or with God. Just know that God has a plan for you and in His timing He will show you what it is. Patience is just one step closer to living a life of love for yourself and others. God has patience with us as imperfect people and we should have patience with ourselves, and with everyone we come in contact with. I found this quote awhile back and I think it is so true: "Love is willing to wait and keeps on being friendly to those who arent friendly back." I will leave you with a few other bible verses to check out on patience. Feel free to leave any comments or questions on here. I am open minded and would love to know what God has been doing in your life regarding these things!
1 Peter 2: 20-21
Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8
Philippians 4: 6-7
Luke 8:15
Love,
Brittany
"LOVE SUFFERS LONG"
Some translations say "love is patient". This means that God's love has patience with imperfect people. And guess who is imperfect? YOU AND ME!! There is not one of us who is perfect except for Jesus Christ. And what a relief that is! So many people have had bad experiences with christians and churches and the reason is b/c many "christians" dont act out of love. Most want to just judge others and tell people what they are doing wrong, and act as if they are too good. But that is not how God wants us to be. God is love....and if we do not have love for ourselves and others then we can not truly be serving God. God tells us to love our neighbors, and we can not do this unless we are patient. I can not truly live in love unless I am patient. Well it just so happens that I honestly do not like being patient....I want everything now! But God has taught me over and over that His timing is perfect and if I am not patient in that moment of waiting then I am going to miss out on what He is teaching me. First lets talk about being patient in the midst of trials and waiting periods.
I mentioned briefly in my last post about Gods plan in my life for me to move to Los Angeles. I can remember the exact moment when I realized that was what God wanted me to do. And let me tell you it came out of NO WHERE. I actually laughed at myself when the idea first came in my head. It was January 2005 and I had just turned 19 years old. I was a freshman in college and had my whole life planned out for myself. I had just gotten the first season of "The OC" on dvd and spent quite a few hours laying on the couch watching it. As I lay there watching it, a certain person really got my attention. The actors name is Adam Brody and he played the character of Seth. I thought he was such a great actor and was shocked that I couldnt think of anything else he had been in. So being the obsessive stalker that I am I decided to go online and find out everything about him. (Those of you that know me really well know that I get obsessed with things pretty easily hehe.) Anyways I found out that he had no prior acting experience, worked at blockbuster and loved movies so one day when he graduated high school he decided he wanted to move to LA to become and actor. Now to me this was so crazy....I didnt know people actually did that. I thought that people started when they were little on tv shows or whatever and just grew up and became actors. So I started looking at other actors to see how they started and found out a lot of them had little to no experience and did the exact same thing (Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Julia Roberts and Jim Carrey just to name a few). This first sparked my interest and I began to pray about it. At this point it was amazing the way God worked in my life. I had everything planned out and this was not at all in my plans. But I trusted God and as he began to open doors for me and show me that this was that plan He had for me all I could do was trust in Him that he would provide a way. So in my mind I would just move to LA after the summer of 2005 and pursue and acting career. WRONG. God began testing his patience in me. As most of you know its pretty expensive to live in LA....and I had no money. So I said okay I will quit school and work for a year and save money to move. So a year goes by, I do some plays to start building up my resume and I work to try and save money. So the end of Summer 2006 comes along and I meet this guy (who I might add was pretty much the most amazing guy I have ever met) and his name was Chris Hoover. So as Chris and I start talking I basically tell him in so many words "I am moving in a few months so lets not get attached but you know we can hang out and have fun together." I mean most guys arent looking to be tied down in a relationship so this was like a major plus for him a this point in his life haha. So a few months go by and the exact opposite happens....we fell in love. Which was awesome and it gave me an excuse not to move b/c to be honest I was scared out of my mind to move across the country. So lets skip a couple years down the road. I had pretty much given up any type of acting career and decided I would just go back to school and do something else. Chris and I got engaged on our two year anniversary in September of 2008 and all of a sudden it was like God hit me with a ton of bricks. My love for acting and that passion I had for it that I pushed down inside of me and tried to forget about came back in full force. I always knew from that day in January of 2005 that God was calling me to move to LA and pursue acting, but the timing just was not right and being someone who is not patient and wants everything NOW I assumed that maybe I was wrong in thinking that was Gods plan for my life. So like I said that passion came back in full force (not that it really ever left I just didnt want believe thats what God had for me) so I had to tell my future husband that that was what I felt like we were supposed to do. So skip another year and a half and that brings me to today January of 2010. 5 years since God first sparked my interest with acting, and about 7 months from our moving date in August. *sigh* TALK ABOUT PATIENCE. But I wouldnt trade these last 5 years for anything. Both Chris and I are two totally different people than we were when we first met. We are both so much closer to God and actively seeking His will in our lives. Chris (who was very much against move to LA at first) is now just as excited as I am. I wish I could type out every little detail about these past 5 years b/c God has amazed me over and over. (But for your sake of reading through all this I wont! haha) It truly has been a roller coaster of ups and downs and highs and lows. (And still is on a daily basis b/c that is life) But God has never left me and everything that has happened has happened in Gods perfect timing. I now have patience in my life b/c I know without a doubt that I am in Gods will and he is guiding me along the way. Just like James 1:2-4 says "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you my be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." Trials produce patience and as we know patience produces love. And living in love should be the number one thing we strive for b/c that is what the whole bible is based upon. The more God tests us, the more patience we get, the more love we have, the closer to God we become!
So I encourage each of you (and myself b/c Lord knows I still need to learn patience at times) to strive for patience in your life. Whether it be patience at work (trust me I deal with people all day and I know how hard it can be to have patience!), or with your family, or with God. Just know that God has a plan for you and in His timing He will show you what it is. Patience is just one step closer to living a life of love for yourself and others. God has patience with us as imperfect people and we should have patience with ourselves, and with everyone we come in contact with. I found this quote awhile back and I think it is so true: "Love is willing to wait and keeps on being friendly to those who arent friendly back." I will leave you with a few other bible verses to check out on patience. Feel free to leave any comments or questions on here. I am open minded and would love to know what God has been doing in your life regarding these things!
1 Peter 2: 20-21
Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8
Philippians 4: 6-7
Luke 8:15
Love,
Brittany
Thursday, January 7, 2010
First Post
I have been thinking about starting a blog for some time now. Not even necessarily for other people to hear what I have to say (although if you want to listen Id be glad to talk haha)...but mostly for myself to hear what I have to say. I wanted a place to write out my thoughts, goals, dreams etc. Sometimes I feel like life happens so quickly I dont get a time to sit down and process everything that happens. So this is my place to do that. When it came time for me to name my blog I had to really stop and think about it. I mean I couldnt have something lame or boring it was a big decision haha. So I came up with "living in love", b/c for me that is my number one goal in life. Whatever I do I want to do it out of love. I think love is an amazing thing and it is something I base my entire life on. Sometimes it is a bit more difficult to show love than other times (I mean I am human...and I do get annoyed with people from time to time haha) , but it is something I always strive for. I have a lot of special people in my life that show me love and that I love in return....my wonderful husband, my family, my friends. But the most important love I have in my life is God. What is amazing about God is the love He has for me. When I say I love God with all my heart I know that I get that love in return. I know that there is someone watching over me every day leading and guiding me to where I am supposed to be, who has my dreams and aspirations at heart. I know that I am not alone in this world and it is such an amazing feeling to not have to worry about the future. B/c of Gods love for me I can show love to other people in different ways, and that is my goal for each and every day.
2010 is a big year for my husband and I. The end of August we will be moving to Los Angeles so that I can pursue my acting career SIDENOTE: What an amazing husband I have to move across the country for me to chase my dreams. He even told me the other day that its not just my dream anymore its his dream too! I am a lucky woman :) Anyway... whats funny about this move is that fact that I never thought I would be doing something like this. I had my whole life planned out for myself and that was not on my list of things to do. But what I have learned over the past 5 years is that I am not alone on this journey of life. I have an amazing tour guide up above to point me in the right direction. Everything I had planned for my life right out of high school has not worked out. Literally not one single thing. God took me on a complete different path and I am so thankful now I finally allowed God to take control. It has been a long journey where I have had to go through some really tough moments, but also filled with many many great moments. God has tested me and guided me to where I am now and throughout it all I have grown as a person and through my relationship with God. I have come to a place where I pray about every situtation in my life and I just trust that God will guide me to make the right decision. I now finally feel that I am ready to move to that next step and make that move to California and I can not tell you how excited I am! I have been waiting to do this for 5 years! (Talk about God teaching me patience...wow its been hard haha)
So for this start of 2010 I want to focus on each day. I want to make sure that I show love to each and every person I see and meet. I want to live each day to the fullest and not take things for granted. I guess you could say that is my "New Years resolution"( although I dont really like those b/c I usually pick something stupid and then break it haha). I know where God is taking me, although I dont know what the future holds. But one thing for sure I want to live my life for God and live a life of love. And I know that if I just keep God first everything else will fall into place (with a few ups and downs in between of course!) Everything happens for a reason which is why I know one of the big reasons I didnt move 5 years ago was b/c God wanted Chris and I to take this journey together and I know He has big plans for Chris too. I am just happy to be at a place in my life where I can honestly say with all my heart "If you lead me Lord I will follow, where you lead me Lord I will go." But for now God is leading me into the kitchen to make some dinner b/c I am hungry haha ;) I'll leave you with my favorite bible verse that I try to remind myself of every day. Matthew 6:33 "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all other things will be added unto you."
Live*Laugh*Love
Brittany
2010 is a big year for my husband and I. The end of August we will be moving to Los Angeles so that I can pursue my acting career SIDENOTE: What an amazing husband I have to move across the country for me to chase my dreams. He even told me the other day that its not just my dream anymore its his dream too! I am a lucky woman :) Anyway... whats funny about this move is that fact that I never thought I would be doing something like this. I had my whole life planned out for myself and that was not on my list of things to do. But what I have learned over the past 5 years is that I am not alone on this journey of life. I have an amazing tour guide up above to point me in the right direction. Everything I had planned for my life right out of high school has not worked out. Literally not one single thing. God took me on a complete different path and I am so thankful now I finally allowed God to take control. It has been a long journey where I have had to go through some really tough moments, but also filled with many many great moments. God has tested me and guided me to where I am now and throughout it all I have grown as a person and through my relationship with God. I have come to a place where I pray about every situtation in my life and I just trust that God will guide me to make the right decision. I now finally feel that I am ready to move to that next step and make that move to California and I can not tell you how excited I am! I have been waiting to do this for 5 years! (Talk about God teaching me patience...wow its been hard haha)
So for this start of 2010 I want to focus on each day. I want to make sure that I show love to each and every person I see and meet. I want to live each day to the fullest and not take things for granted. I guess you could say that is my "New Years resolution"( although I dont really like those b/c I usually pick something stupid and then break it haha). I know where God is taking me, although I dont know what the future holds. But one thing for sure I want to live my life for God and live a life of love. And I know that if I just keep God first everything else will fall into place (with a few ups and downs in between of course!) Everything happens for a reason which is why I know one of the big reasons I didnt move 5 years ago was b/c God wanted Chris and I to take this journey together and I know He has big plans for Chris too. I am just happy to be at a place in my life where I can honestly say with all my heart "If you lead me Lord I will follow, where you lead me Lord I will go." But for now God is leading me into the kitchen to make some dinner b/c I am hungry haha ;) I'll leave you with my favorite bible verse that I try to remind myself of every day. Matthew 6:33 "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all other things will be added unto you."
Live*Laugh*Love
Brittany
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