A tribute to my mother

My First Birthday Party, June 1992

When I was 10 years old, I decided I was going to be a singer, and a soccer player. My mom highly encouraged both of my passions by videotaping me every time I sang (I had full blown music videos that were recorded in our living room, and no, you can't see them). She put me in a soccer team in Everett, MA with my fifth grade best friend, and allowed my dreams to soar. Also, in spite of our financial struggles, she signed me up for piano lessons and let me start learning to play guitar when my interest in piano dwindled. She always cultivated by creativity.

Christmas in Virgina, December 25, 2009

I remember an instance, back when we still lived in Brazil, when my elementary school teacher complained to my parents that I was too creative. Apparently, I used to come into school and tell the other kids the most extraordinary stories about my life. I made up vacations, family members, pets, and every kind of adventure you can imagine. Today, I'm still not sure why my teachers saw that as a problem worth reporting to my parents, but I do know that they never restrained my imagination. My mom believed I could be anything I set my mind to. If I wanted to be a famous soccer player, she thought I could make it happen. If I decided that I wanted to become the president, or a world-renowned writer, lawyer, or doctor, she was never one to hold me back.

High School Graduation, May 2009

My teachers didn't understand the importance of a mother that believes in their child to an irrational point. I'm so grateful that she did, even though I never became a soccer player or a pop star, she taught me that I could do anything as long as I believed I could. She was there to cheer me on at every important occasion, from when I graduated from preschool to when I was baptized to my wedding day. I know she'll be there at every crossroad in my life because she's a mom... and that's what mom's do. So today, in a very uncharacteristic move for a personal blog, I'm going to make my mom the center of my post.

Thanksgiving potluck at Lynnfield Chapel, November 2009

Wedding Day, Salt Lake City, Utah (June 11, 2011)

Mom, I just wanted to say THANK YOU. Thank you for always being on my side (even when we were all pretty sure I was wrong). Thank you for instantly and unconditionally loving any friend or boyfriend I brought home. Thank you for your daily calls asking me if I've eaten, if I'm wearing a coat, if I'm getting enough sleep. Thank you for spending countless hours helping me choose a prom dress, and for paying for it without complaining that it cost well over $300 during times when we didn't know where the next paycheck was going to come from. Thank you for for making sure Dad and I got along, and for not letting him kill me when I did really stupid things. Thank you for apologizing to him on my behalf when I was too stubborn to admit I was sorry. Thank you for taking pictures of everything! I was rude and impatient, but you documented everything that I probably would have forgotten to document, and then regretted it. Thank you for being a witness to my life. Thank you for mailing me Brazilian food whenever I craved it in college. Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me your stories. Thank you for trusting me as an adult, but allowing me to forever live as a child in your eyes. Thank you for sacrificing your money, your comfort, your vanity, your time, your pride, and your unfulfilled personal dreams on my behalf. And thank you for being willing to do it again for Naomi (my 1.5 year old sister).

Brazil, November 2011

The world we live in undervalues the importance of moms. It doesn't realize that most of the world's troubles can be overcome by good moms. Moms aren't told enough how much they're loved and needed. We live to glamorize and glorify the life outside of family. We boast of degrees and social recognition, and forget that without the dedicated and hardworking mothers of the world, society would be in irrevocable chaos. I hope women everywhere will value education and contribute to the aggrandizement of their communities. I also hope they will be able to recognize that nobody does more for society than their dedicated mothers, the superheroes who change the world from the crib.

Thank you, mom, for everything you have done, and continuously do for me (and thank you to all moms who do the same). I love you. Happy Mother's Day.

6 Days Without Hot Water

For the past 6 days, our apartment has been without any hot water. We were able to shower last Friday afternoon with warm water, but by the time Saturday came around, I had to settle for quick showers under cold water.

At first I figured the water was cold because a lot of the other tenants in the apartment complex had decided to shower at the same time as me. Water temperature infrequency  is not uncommon for me, having grown up in the Boston area. In fact, I remember when I was 12 years old, we lived in a house where you couldn't flush the toilet, brush your teeth, wash your hands, or do the dishes at the same time that somebody was taking a shower (doing so would have resulted in the scalding of a poor, unsuspecting showering victim). However, when our apartment managers came around on Sunday to apologize for the lack of hot water, and to ensure that they were doing all that they could to fix the problem as soon as possible, it became clear that my theory was incorrect.

It is now Wednesday, and we are fast approaching a whole week without hot water. At this point, I'm especially grateful that we decided to use paper cups and plates, so we don't even have to tackle the issue of washing dishes. However, by the time Monday came around I was especially sick of running around taking semi-quick showers at other people's apartments (Thanks, Dana and Luiggi!), and seeing as not showering was not much of an option considering I'm continuing my Insanity workout challenge Chris thankfully surprised me with a solution (which was most needed since my hair was beginning to get so oily that it was becoming a single hair-strand-like entity).

I've been coming home after my workout for the past two days to find several pots and pans full of boiling water over the oven and our bathtub filled to the middle with freshly boiled water (Now, don't worry, it wasn't scalding hot by the time I got in). The most astonishing thing was that Chris was creative enough to create a makeshift bathtub plug from the end of a yogurt container (up until this point we had never been able to use the bathtub because the plug didn't work).

It reminded me of a scene off of Eat, Pray, Love. If you've seen the movie or read the book, you'll know the one I'm talking about: Elizabeth finds herself in an Italian villa with no plumbing and a bathtub filled only about a quarter of the way by the maid with recently boiled water for her bath. When she quizzically looks up at the maid, the maid explains with irritation and broken English: "Everything important gets cleaned!" And then she walks away shaking her head, complaining in Italian. I love that scene, and I could totally relate with poor Elizabeth, even though it was a very creative solution to our problem.

Six days into this hot water depraved week, I'm delightfully surprised about our ability to come up with creative solutions to problems; and I've actually enjoyed the excuse to indulge in much needed bubble baths. Still, I'm looking forward to the day our hot water will be turned back on...

European Nostalgia

Chris & Jessica, Rexburg, Idaho (May 8, 2012)

After running home from work to get my clothes so I can head over to Dana's house for Day Two of Week Two of Insanity, I discover Chris' plans to sabotage my workout. As I'm running out the door, he tells me he has a surprise for me....in the freezer. I open it up to find Heaven's gift to women, Magnum Bars. Really, if you haven't tried them out yet, you need to because you are missing out. We discovered these delicious Belgian chocolate covered ice cream bars on our trip to Europe almost two years ago and our lives were changed. So how could I resist? Yes, I came home after another intense insanity work out feeling accomplished...and extremely ready to indulge my effort away.

It'd be hardly true to say I felt guilty. Let's be sincere. Whoever said "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" was seriously deranged. Everyone needs to cheat on their diet once in a while. My theory is that people who are too fat prove that too much of a good thing can definitely be a bad thing...but every time I see a girl that I feel is way too skinny, I'm overwhelmed by an unnatural urge to force feed her a cheeseburger.  Haha, so here we are, us people who fit somewhere in between too fat and too skinny, doing Insanity and enjoying a quality Magnum bar once in a while (or whatever else is your weakness).

Salzburg, Austria

Opa! Rexburg Grill, Rexburg, Idaho

And while we're on the subject of food, which so happens to be one of my favorites, I must comment on the the nostalgic trip the new Greek restaurant in Rexburg, Opa, sent me on (yes, Ruby, a Greek restaurant in Rexburg, eat your heart out). Chris and I decided to try the platter gyros and pastitsio, and I don't know if I just happened to pick the greatest thing in the menu, but I was EXTREMELY delighted. It seems that I'm on an European kick, because all of my meals have sent me back to Europe this week. I don't think I can count how much lamb dishes I ate while we were on our European tour, but Kebab was my personal favorite, as you will be able to tell in the very non-flattering picture of me which will follow this description. Yep, I'm wiping my face off because it's difficult not to stuff your face into that tiny, perfectly seasoned, piece of lamb heaven. My life truly is a constant battle between my love of food, and not wanting to be fat...

Wittenburg, Germany

So now that I'm full of Greek food and Magnum bars, I've decided I need to return to Europe. I tried to convince Chris that we should treat ourselves to Italy as a graduating present (I figured that's what American people do: extravagantly celebrate minimal events), but so far, he hasn't budged. I keep forgetting my second greatest constant battle between my desire for expensive things and not wanting to be poor...But I'm not ruling it out yet.

Insanity Challenge: Week 2

Two good friends of mine and I began doing Insanity last Monday (April 30th) and I feel the need to track my progress, since the results have already shocked me. I assume most people have heard of Insanity, however, if you haven't, you need to understand that choosing to begin this 60-day program is totally not the kind of thing that I would do. Let me just begin by saying that I weighed 150 lbs last Monday and I dropped down to 146 in a week. What can cause this other than miraculous divine intervention? An absolutely mind-boggling 60-day cardio-intensive DVD fitness program, led by the crazy Shaun T (who is also THE MAN, I must add). That's what.

I've been wanting to get fit for a while, but I'm really not that active, so it's been a challenge. The truth is that the importance of academic success has been drilled into me, which means it usually will take precedence over hitting the gym, or playing soccer, or even dancing (things I really enjoy). So I decided to begin Insanity, since my friend owned the DVD's... and what committed me even more to doing it was that I decided to tell everyone that I would...haha, which ended up working out since I have Dana and Ingrid to hold me to my daily workouts. Seriously, though, this workout is madness. Each DVD is only about 30-40 minutes long, but I'm dripping sweat by the end of the warm up. In fact, I started seeing shiny white lights during the first day....which happened to be a fitness test. I have been the most sore of my life during the past week.

You know, whoever you are, reader of this blog, I was planning on going along with this whole
Insanity workout fever for the 60-days just for the sake of my friends. I watched those DVDs skeptically, assuming that every fit person on the program had already looked that good when they began...and that this dumb DVD routine wasn't the driving factor behind their fitness. I cynically assumed that at the end of these 60 days, I probably wouldn't feel or look all that different, in spite of the differing opinions of my two workout buddies. So, you have to believe me when I say that stepping onto my scale this afternoon SHOCKED me....Four pounds in a week? That's the definition of insanity...So here's my first update...Expect many more triumphs and complaints.