Going Soy

So I have been denying this problem for awhile.

I am lactose-intolerant.

When I have milk products it destroys my insides and makes me feel not so hot.

But how do you live without milk? It is everywhere!

I love my cheese and my cereal and yogurt and ice cream.

But the time has come where I just can't handle what it does to my body.

I am going soy.

I have not been a huge fan of soy milk but Kyle and I are doing a taste test tonight to find out what we (mainly I) like.

Oh, I also got soy yogurt. It was SOOOO good. Happy day! I cannot remember the last time I had yogurt with no worries.

I have had soy/rice/coconut milk ice cream quite a bit and have always loved it. Seriously peoples. It is REALLY good.

I have no idea what to do with cheese products. I hate soy cheese. It just doesn't melt correctly and tastes like rubber.

My solution is taking a lactaid pill. I just need to find them amidst our boxes.

Is anyone else lactose intolerant? How do you handle it? What are your favorite products?

Forgiveness, Gratitude, and a Whole Lot of Learning

A meetinghouse in Rome, Italy where I truly learned about the gospel and it's necessity in my life.

Recently I had the experience where I needed to forgive someone.

I tend to get hurt very easily. I try my hardest and sometimes it isn't enough for the people around me. Sometimes....they make it known a little too bluntly.

So my feather's get ruffled and all I can think about it how I was "wronged."

I love venting but my husband made it known to me that I tend to vent a little too much, to too many people, and I bring down the names of those around me so I feel justified.

I recognize my weakness and am working on it.

It is hard sometimes when someone hurts our feelings. I go back to all silly girl bullying in middle school and I get that pit in my stomach feeling where all of a sudden no one likes you and you don't know what you did wrong.

So we went to sacrament today and I decided that I needed to practice what I have taught in lessons, talks, and life. Forgiveness.

A lot of it is directed at us needing forgiveness, but what always sticks out to me when I study the doctrine is the need to forgive others.

Probably because it is something that is a bit of a struggle for me.

Well I knew I needed to forgive this person. I knew that me incessantly talking about it would not help one bit. So (besides the need of context in this post) I am done.

I believe in an active partaking of the sacrament. Sometimes I think about the day I was baptized and try to revive that pure feeling within, sometimes I think about the beauty of the atonement and the Savior, sometimes I truly seek forgiveness for my shortcomings. Today I sought to learn to forgive others.

It is not an easy thing, but I think in remembering the mercy of the Lord in forgiving us. We need to remember to be equally forgiving. We need to not only recognize our weaknesses, but the weaknesses of those around us as well. Especially those that hurt us.

Now we hope that they will strengthen those weakness as we are all told to do, but we do not know their time line. We do not know the struggles of their heart. So we have to think of how much the Savior loves and cares for them and how He wants us to love them just as much.

So I am grateful for the lessons I get to learn from the gospel. I am grateful for the experiences Heavenly Father gives me. They hurt, sometimes more than I can seem to bear, but if we take them with the perspective of Heavenly Father trying to teach us, mold us into something far more beautiful than we could have ever imagined, we will become what He sees in us.

That is the beauty of the gospel. It is what keeps me learning, growing stronger and as a result, happier.

Make Up--Made Under

I am feeling a bit bleh about makeup lately.

My makeup routine involves moisturizer, mascara, and blush. I put on chap stick through the day.

I am not really feeling it anymore. But I don't want to have a huge production either.

My philosophy on makeup has been to be as natural as possible. I learned how to apply makeup solely by myself and sometimes from tips receive by those who were selling the makeup.

My mother taught me this: Don't buy cheap makeup. You want quality products on your face.

So I buy my nice mascaras (changes every month from smashbox, tarte, estee lauder, diorshow, bobbi brown, the list goes on...), I have had the same blush for about 2 years now (Benefit Dallas Cowgirl or something like that), I have some nice eyeshadows which are FAR too old according to all makeup expiration facts (I don't wear eyeshadow often so they last a LONG time).

So here is my problem. I feel wierd when I wear eyeliner. I put it on for REALLY special occasions, a fancy dinner, church, wedding, etc. But I don't necessarily feel comfortable putting it on. I feel like it is too heavy and never looks right.

Also, by the end of the day I feel like my makeup is completely gone. My blush wears off quickly and my mascara might smudge.

I feel like I need someone to teach me how to do makeup. How to apply eyeliner. What colors look good. What's a quick routine that looks GREAT!

Does anyone else have this problem? Or solutions?

Does anyone want to take me in and tutor me on makeup basics and tricks.

I am feeling crazy lost right now in this department and I am SO over it.
See? I need help. Maybe in more ways than makeup....

Flash Back!

Can you find Gina in all the pictures? Some should be easy because I am the only one in them...

For some reason I love looking at people's childhood photos. How they morphed into who they are ya know...

Did you enjoy my brother's mullets? That was in like 1996, I have no idea why they kept the mullet alive for so long. 

Did you check out my uber-akward phase? I used to bleach my hair, had braces, and was in general a really awkward child.

I personally love the one of me in my pink frilly bikini. I mean seriously....check out the gut!

Anywho...

It is Saturday. Glorious Saturday. The Harry Potter Exhibit is in Seattle and Kyle and I are planning on going.

Jealous?

I'm pretty stoked. 

Would it be too much to dress as Hermione? Yes? Darn.

Olfactory

I have always had a keen sense of smell. It can be a bit annoying at times, especially if someone decides to put on a little too much perfume or cologne.

Yuk.

But mostly I like my ability to pick out smells because they instantly connect me with memories.

My favorite smell?
My good friend Lyndall and myself (Gidget) being pink princesses for X-treme week!

I almost killed a frog this night trying to kiss it and spell out "x-treme" with my body...it lopped (limped/hopped) away...

Camp

I can pick out this smell in an instant. It is usually around a Ponderosa Pine.

It immediately puts me into a bolder, more crazed sense of mind. I love it. Camp means to the world to me (as anyone who is close to me knows). It is the place where I really grew up, where I learned the most valuable lessons about friendship, love, and making good choices. Heck, it's where I met my husband. Can't get better than that.

I love the smell of camp.

There are other smells that come and go.

The smell of my mother

my grandmother

my husband

my husband's home

my high school

my elementary school

It's odd really. Why are smells so distinct in our minds?

Why can they evoke so many specific memories?

I think the sense of smell is seriously underrated. Everyone boasts of sight and sound. Yes, they are important. But I would say smell is up there, mostly associated with food or flowers.

I once knew a person with no sense of smell. I was so curious about this fact. She was an excellent cook but made it to her husband's taste. She wore perfume her husband picked out. It was very strange to me.

Sometimes I think about not being able to smell. I cannot possibly fathom it.

Is smelling like this for anyone else or am I just being a freak who is fascinated by her nose's ability....

Is this for real?

Life has been dreamy lately.

Dreamy in the sense that all the stuff you desperately imagine happening, dream, and hope about are actually reality.

Lo and behold. I have made friends.

I feel like a dork but in all honestly I love having people I feel like I can call, who are on the same page in life that I am, and who aren't a bajillion miles away.

I have many wonderful friends who have kept me sane and giggly for the past couple of years. But as Kyle and I entered into marriage domain....things got a little stickier.

How do you develop friends when you are trying to figure out marriage.... Sometimes it can feel like you are courting a couple to see if the dynamics will work. We had some successes, some losses.

We moved into a new ward hopeful for an abundance of couples our age.

Now I don't want to sound crazy for being twenty-two years old and crying about not having any friends to my poor husband and wishing that I just had someone I could call....but I might just be a little crazy.

Either way last weekend I found myself completely enveloped in the joy that comes when connecting with new people in that "goodness. we totally get each other and I love this" sort of way.

Conversations usually have key phrases such as, "I KNOW!" "REALLY?!" and laughing.

You see when people are saying, "I know" to each other they have realized a level of agreement. They see eye to eye. That is a good thing. "Really," implies the wonder of hearing new and exciting things from someone new and wanting to hear more.

Laughing is self-explanatory.

Last weekend was wonderful. We went out to dinner with some great friends, sat next to Felix Hernandez who plays for the Mariners without knowing it (He was out to Red Robin with his family, how sweet). The next day we embarked on the journey that is Turkey Bowl. It's a flag football tournament that our church in the Seattle area holds at Husky Stadium. It's kinda big thing. It was the first year I really enjoyed it. (I have never actually played, just watched)

I enjoyed it because of the company.

Also the fact that I didn't gorge on 4 hot dogs like past years. That definitely mad things better.

Oh and my husband's team placed fourth. Which was pretty sweet.

Oh Dear...

I am afraid I have lost a bit of what I call oomph.

I would like to say that my life has been so completely busy that I haven't had time to write....but most of the time I just surf the web and stalk all you fine folks.

What is up with that by the way?

Seriously? When did we get so obsessed with other peoples' lives.

As I have stated before. There is a serious need to find happiness in one's own life. To see all the great blessings and stop complaining.

Kyle and I have decided to eliminate some things in our life lately. It came to us separately and we realized the necessity of it actually happening.

I was in the temple. Thinking about what I was missing. I felt like I wasn't progressing in the way I wanted. Then I had the thought as clear as day, "Gina, you aren't doing everything I have asked." I realized that I had continued to ignore an impression that had come to me for a couple of weeks. In institute classes, in church meetings, in scripture study, prayer, or just relaxing. I needed to drastically alter my media intake.

Right after conference was a big eye opener and I tried to keep the commandment I had learned. But I slipped and fell backwards.

It's for real this time, especially since I have the support from my husband.

I bet you are wondering what it is?

Media intake.

I just can't stand what is on tv anymore. It's far too much and I kept letting certain shows slide because I liked them. Nope. Not anymore. If I don't feel comfortable watching it around a small child it's not for me.

There is just so much negative imagery.

Things are much better.

In fact Kyle and I went to see Megamind for a date this friday. HILARIOUS! It was so good and I didn't have to think twice about, "should I be watching this....?"

My spirit is full and my heart is happy.

I suggest you try to eliminate those negative influences as well. Feel the difference.