I was really touched by this story. I’ll admit I don’t watch American Idol or America’s Got Talent and I hate email forwards, but when my mom sent me this link I figured I’d watch. My mom has learned not to send me forwards unless they are the cream of the crop, so I trust her opinion.

I watched. I had to hold back tears. This woman Susan Boyle is incredibly talented. She chose a fitting song and one I happen to love–“I Dreamed A Dream” from Les Miserables. When I was a kids I would sing that in my room all the time with the soundtrack, but I was never as good as Susan Boyle.

Her voice and the song is not what almost brought me to tears, it was the story and the reaction of the audience. It is so common of us to prejudge each other. Susan Boyle does not look like a glamorous singer and it seems her appearance made people assume she couldn’t possibly sing. It’s a sad commentary, really. I think it’s great that she took a risk and showed […]

I know I’m behind, but I finally tried it. Believe it or not my parents got the Wii fit. It’s a lot of fun and a sneaky way to get kids who like video games active. There is so much more for me to try, and for the most part I spent my time skiing, which is odd because I don’t like downhill skiing in real life.

What was also cool about it is that you can track your weight and BMI (although I don’t know how they calculate this) and chart your goals for fitness. It seems like it would be a fun way to stay in shape.

I try not to be too preachy or political, but this topic seems to warrant that. I really think it is important to enable small, local, family farms to survive and thrive. I like to support them and could support them even more than I do.

There is a bill expected to be voted on this month that purports food safety, but really supports a handful of large agriculture corporations–organizations that as the recent peanut incident revealed don’t tend to care about our health and wellness. This bill pertains to livestock and supports the National Animal Identification System. Oddly, small farms have to register all their livestock, but the larger agribusinesses can register large groups for one price. The cost could put small farms out of business as they are expected to carry the brunt of the cost.

Even if you don’t care about small farms or the food you eat and where it comes from, you might be interested if you own any animals considered livestock–this includes owning one horse. You would have to get it registered with the government and they would insert a chip that can be read by […]

So I haven’t had any desserts and pretty much no sugars (unless they come naturally in fruit or theirs a little in some dressing or perhaps what is added to a loaf of bread) for almost four weeks now. I’m surprisingly not having as many cravings as I expected, and I have no problem turning down items that aren’t homemade. It’s homemade treats that bother me. My Stepmom makes these wonderful cookies with a sugar-butter frosting around Valentine’s Day and maybe one other time throughout the year. I passed on them, which was probably my most challenging pass so far, especially knowing I probably wouldn’t see them again for another year.

Oddly enough what I’m craving most is an homemade ice cream sandwich with chocolate chip cookies and Mortensen’s vanilla ice cream. I have no idea why. I’m not eve a fan of vanilla ice cream.

While I think going without dessert for the rest of my life is an unrealistic task, I really do think it would be positive to limit desserts. I’d like to see if one a week is possible.

This is my last week and […]

Just because our town classes aren’t running today doesn’t mean you have to skip out on Pilates. This is the kind of day this blog comes in handy. Check out some of our blogs from last year titled, “Exercise of the Week” and practice 10 of them. It probably wont take you the same amount of time a full class will, but you won’t be skipping the workout all together.

If you don’t typically have class on Mondays use today to practice Pilates a little more than you normally might and try 10 exercises of the week. Your body will be glad you did.