Get Your Freak on!

I have been reading up on LOVE, cause it’s a subject I’m just OH-SO passionate about… I’ve discovered some interesting benefits from loving others and of course I decided to share them with you!

LOVE CAN…

Reduces Stress: Love can be a very effective way of reducing stress levels. When in an intimate relationship, the adrenaline glands produce dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) hormone that acts as a stress buster. A passionate relationship relieves tension, reduces negative energy and produces a sense of well being. Furthermore, the support of someone who loves you can help you cope better when you are facing a stressor.
Promotes mental health: The calming effect of dehydroepiandrosterone over the mind and body raises the growth of nerves. It is also helpful in restoring the growth of nerves which results in an improved memory recall.
Anti Cancer effect: Married people have been found to have lower cancer rates than singles. A research conducted at the University of Iowa found that ovarian cancer patients who had a strong and satisfying relationship with their partners develop more white blood cells which are desirable in killing cancerous cells.
Reduces Pain: Love results in more activation in the part of the brain that keeps pain under control. A study of 127,000 adults confirmed that married people were less likely to complain of headaches and back pain. The happier the marriage, the greater the effect. The reduced stress level also leads to pain relief, especially if you suffer from things such as chronic headaches.
Better blood circulation: When talking to someone it finds attractive, your brain sends impulses to the heart making it pound faster than normal; this results in increased blood supply to the body, improved circulation and efficient working of all organs.
Live longer: Lack of love causes social isolation which increases the risk of early death by up to five times. A study confirmed that married people live longer because they feel loved and connected as oppose to the isolated ones. Since 1979, the National Longitudinal Mortality Study has been studying more than a million subjects and found that unmarried people are being outlived by the married ones. Another study found that married people have shorter average hospital stays and fewer doctor’s visits. Researchers believe that this is due to that fact that people in good relationships take better care of themselves. Also, marriage contributes to a decline in drug abuse and heavy drinking, especially among young adults.
Lowers blood pressure: According to a study in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine, happily married people had the best blood pressure as compared to singles or unhappily married people. Study also found that the singles with a strong social network also did well in the blood pressure study.
Reduced risk of heart diseases: Expressing your feelings of affection can reduce cholesterol levels. Human Communication Research found that people who expressed their feelings of affection for significant friends, relatives, and/or romantic partners had significantly lower cholesterol levels than those that didn’t. Lower cholesterol levels result in reduced chances of a heart attack and other cardiovascular diseases.
Faster healing: Researchers found that wounds heal faster in people who are in a loving relationship. According to the study, the blister wounds healed nearly twice as fast in couples who were happy and calm compared to those who appeared hostile or depressed. Researchers also found that people who are in love are less likely to get sick by the viruses of cold and flu.
Forever young: Dehydroepiandrosterone also acts as an “anti-aging” hormone, which produces feelings of youth and vitality. Adding to that, the increase blood flow to the skin due to the endorphins produced by the body when in love, helps keep it soft and smooth, and reduce the development of wrinkles.
Love is much more than just genes, chemicals and hormones. So if you are a person who is very much conscious about health and wellness, learn to love deeply and sincerely. If you want to live longer then learn to love harder!

SEX CAN….

1. SEX RELIEVES STRESS
A big health benefit of sex is lower blood pressure and overall stress reduction, according to researchers from Scotland who reported their findings in the journal Biological Psychology. They studied 24 women and 22 men who kept records of their sexual activity. Then the researchers subjected them to stressful situations — such as speaking in public and doing verbal arithmetic — and noted their blood pressure response to stress. Those who had intercourse had better responses to stress than those who engaged in other sexual behaviors or abstained.

2. SEX BOOSTS IMMUNITY
Good sexual health may mean better physical health. Having sex once or twice a week has been linked with higher levels of an antibody called immunoglobulin A or IgA, which can protect you from getting colds and other infections.

3. SEX BURNS CALORIES
Thirty minutes of sex burns 85 calories or more. It may not sound like much, but it adds up: 42 half-hour sessions will burn 3,570 calories, more than enough to lose a pound. Doubling up, you could drop that pound in 21 hour-long sessions.

4. SEX IMPROVES CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH
Having sex twice or more a week reduced the risk of fatal heart attack by half for the men, compared with those who had sex less than once a month.

5. SEX BOOSTS SELF-ESTEEM
Boosting self-esteem was one of 237 reasons people have sex, collected by University of Texas researchers and published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior.One of the reasons people say they have sex is to feel good about themselves and Great sex begins with self-esteem, and it raises it. If the sex is loving, connected, and what you want, it raises it… JUST MAKE SURE it is CONNECTED LOVING and WHAT YOU WANT!

6. SEX IMPROVES INTIMACY
Having sex and orgasms increases levels of the hormone oxytocin, the so-called love hormone, which helps us bond and build trust. They found that the more contact, the higher the oxytocin levels. “Oxytocin allows us to feel the urge to nurture and to bond,” Higher oxytocin has also been linked with a feeling of generosity. So if you’re feeling suddenly more generous toward your partner than usual, credit the love hormone.

7. SEX REDUCES PAIN
As the hormone oxytocin surges, endorphins increase, and pain declines. So if your headache, arthritis pain, or PMS symptoms seem to improve after sex, you can thank those higher oxytocin levels.

8. SEX REDUCES PROSTATE CANCER RISK
Frequent ejaculations, especially in 20-something men, may reduce the risk of prostate cancer later in life. It was found that men who had five or more ejaculations weekly while in their 20s reduced their risk of getting prostate cancer later by a third.

9. SEX STRENGTHENS PELVIC FLOOR MUSCLES
For women, doing a few pelvic floor muscle exercises known as Kegels during sex offers a couple of benefits. You will enjoy more pleasure, and you’ll also strengthen the area and help to minimize the risk of incontinence later in life.To do a basic Kegel exercise, tighten the muscles of your pelvic floor, as if you’re trying to stop the flow of urine. Count to three, then release. I think that this exercise really works!
10. SEX HELPS YOU SLEEP BETTER
The oxytocin released during orgasm also promotes sleep.And getting enough sleep has been linked with a host of other good things, such as maintaining a healthy weight and blood pressure. Something to think about, especially if you’ve been wondering why your guy can be active one minute and snoring the next…

So get to it….
–MUCH LOVE Ang

Being Vulnerable Expands your World.

While I am far from being an expert on this subject, I have come to some conclusions that I hope will be meaningful to those who want to choose vulnerability. After being hurt it’s especially hard to be vulnerable and open again but for me it’s the only way I can gain more out of my new relationships and the only way to mend/enhance the old ones.

1. Vulnerability is so much easier when you love yourself.

Think about it. When you don’t love all of you and are afraid to show people the less than stellar parts, the space between you and vulnerability is like the Grand Canyon. You will need all the courage you can get to make the leap across.

But when you love yourself, and I mean all of you, you don’t worry so much if someone else doesn’t. And when you’re less afraid of rejection, you step right into that place of openness.

2. Vulnerability takes practice.

You don’t just learn it once and then—ta-dah!—you’re easily open to everything and everyone. My experience at the high school was very profound but even now, many years later, I still have moments where I’m more guarded and less willing to share the real me.

Thank goodness life continues to give me opportunities to consciously choose openness. And most times, I do.

3. The rewards of vulnerability are immeasurable.

When I have chosen to be open, to show my authentic self, my students have met me there. And when they’ve met me there and formed that connection, there’s nothing they can’t accomplish.

With vulnerability, you experience true connection—true love for yourself—and you begin to attract people to you who are inspired by your openness.

While it’s not easy to be vulnerable, you’d be surprised how loving all of you and then sharing it with another can help you to connect with anyone. In my own life, I’m continuing to open up to my students.

I’ve been showing them a little more of the complexity that is me. They now know the ugly truth that I don’t do math. They know that whenever I need to half a recipe, my twelve-year-old nephew does the fractions for me.

Shameful? Perhaps. But you know what? I like that girl and in the end, so do my students.

There have been several events within the last couple weeks that have showed me that being vulnerable and honest about who I am will help me to gain longer lasting relationships. People also are starting to see me as the person I remembered and loved 2 years ago and it feels so good to show that side of me again. My confidence is soaring, my relationships are thriving and my ability to deal with stress is improving all because I have become open and honest about who I am, what I know and what I don’t know and what I want I want to say to others. Overall, I’m finally now believing that being open about everything to people in my life (my feelings, my passions, my interests, my faults) will only benefit me and push me to grow stronger, wiser and happier.

Being vulnerable in your relationships can truly work in your favor by strengthening your bonds and although sometimes this isn’t the case (being open can mean we are subject to hurt) I believe it’s worth a shot. Letting others into your “emotional life space” enables you the opportunity to experience an authentic, supportive, growth-enhancing relationship, you’ll never get this opportunity unless your willing to take the plunge and becoming genuine and open.

Much Love-Ang

Zealous and Coast :)

Me and My man just had our anniversary (yes, I am a lame and count the month anniversaries still !) and we decided to use our groupon deal that we bought for Zealous

We went ALL OUT!

We ordered 2 Appetizers:

1. Short Stack of Mango Pancakes with Hudson Valley Foie Gras, Sunnyside up Quail Egg on top
2.  Szechuan Blue Crab Cakes, Grilled Bok Choy, Soy Mango and Hoisin Glaze

Afterward we decided to order 2 Main courses and pick at each others

1. Wild Alaskan Halibut, Seasonal Wild Mushrooms, Ricotta Cavatelli, Braised Oxtail and Sweet Pea Puree
2. Korean Stle Fried Miller Farm Chicken, Sticky Rice Cakes and Fuji Apple- Pickled Daikon Salad.

Although I enjoyed my main course (korean chicken) i really enjoyed my mango pancakes more. This is probably because I simply love having breakfast for dinner!

Over the weekend we decided to stay local and grab a couple of sub sandwiches from Jersey Mikes (a Sub chain they opened up around my area).

I'm pretty giddy about this sandwich!

I love the fact that we both enjoy a good meal out but also try to stick to healthier options to stay in shape for our own reasons (mine is to be fit for basketball season in march and his is for the same as well as the fact that he is going to be a PT so he wants to be a good example for clients). It is important for me to be with someone who has a passion for food and fitness like me so that we can motivate each other! He definetly has done that! I even ran 13 miles over the course of the last 72 hours (3 days!) 7 miles on Friday and 6 yesterday! I can’t believe my body is back up to par with my running ability. I’m looking forward to pushing myself harder this coming week so I am capable to go even farther. My run on Friday was really easy because I was distracted with Ferris Behuler’s Day Off and The Breakfast Club. Both were on TV and made my run nearly effortless. I love getting lost in the rhythm of my run by watching something on TV or listening to some Rihanna (best artist to listen to during a long run because all of her music tends to be very up beat).

Last night I coached my girls high school team and they ended up pulling  the W (win!). I was very proud of their efforts but it still seems like we have a lot of fundamentals to still cover in practice. One thing is for sure, I LOVE coaching! My dad always coached me growing up and now that I coach a team I can see why he loved it so much! After my  6 mile run, coaching, playing (in my own game) and watching my man’s game we headed out for a HUGE Feast. Considering it was a Sunday, we knew that not many places were going to be open past 10 but we found that Coast Sushi on Damen avenue in Chicago is open until 11 so we headed over there for a late dinner:

YES we ordered FIVE rolls (sushi left overs for lunch are great)! We ordered our favorite, Dragon followed by Spider, Po’ boy, California, and a basic Unagi (eel roll). I really have expanded my horizons and eat, eel, salmon, shrimp, white fish, and crab now. I feel safest with those types of rolls I am not ready to try the authetic pieces with the fish and rice still, maybe he will convince me someday.

I just finished up at class and did most of my assignments for the week. I’m planning heading out tonight with my girlfriends from Loyola to the Keg a bar in Evanston.

Hope you all have a wonderful monday and enjoy the Bachelor tonight (if you are a loser like me and get addicted to reality TV!)

Much love Ang

Dealing with Pain: Ideas to help you Rebuild your Strength!

Like everyone, I’ve been hurt–in both profound and trivial ways. I’ve dealt with it using the following ideas and I’m proud to say I have gone through each step and am finally at step 10 (sharing that joy with others in my life like, both family, friends and my special someone).

1. Define your pain.

It’s not always easy to identify and understand what’s hurting you. Some people even stay in abusive relationships because it’s safer than acknowledging their many layers of pain: the low self-esteem that convinces them they deserve abuse; the shame over being treated with such cruelty; the feeling of desperation that convinces them there’s no real way out.

The first step toward finding happiness after having been hurt is to understand why you were hurt; to get to the root of everything that makes the memories hard.

2. Express that pain.

There’s no guarantee you’ll be able to communicate how you feel to the person who hurt you; and if you can, there’s no guarantee they’ll respond how you want them to. Say what you need to say anyway. Write in your journal. Write a letter and burn it. Get it all out.

This will help you understand why you’re hurting–and what you’ll do in the future to avoid similar pain–so you can feel empowered instead of victimized. Research has actually proven that people who focus on lessons learned while journaling find the experience more helpful than people who don’t (focus on lessons).

3. Try to stay in the present.

Reliving the past can be addictive. It gives you the opportunity to do it again and respond differently. To fight back instead of submitting; to speak your mind instead of silencing yourself. It also allows you to possibly understand better. What happened? Where did you go wrong? What should you have done?

In other words, it allows you to torture yourself. Regardless of what you should have done, you can’t do it now. If you have post-traumatic stress disorder, you may need professional help to avoid revisiting the incident. If you don’t, you need sustained effort. Fight the urge to relive the pain. You can’t go back and find happiness there. You can only experience that now.

4. Stop telling the story.

It may seem like another way to understand what happened; or maybe it feels helpful to hear someone say you didn’t do anything wrong and you don’t deserve to hurt. In all reality this just keeps you stuck right where you are: living your life around a memory and giving it power to control you.

No amount of reassurance will change what happened. You can’t find happiness by holding onto a painful story, trying to place in new, brighter light. You can only find happiness when you let it go, and make room for something better. You don’t need another person’s permission to let go and feel OK.

5. Forgive yourself.

Maybe you didn’t do anything wrong, but you blame yourself. Or maybe you played a role in creating your current situation. Regardless of what happened, you need to realize what you did is not who you are. And even if you feel immense regret, you deserve to start today without carrying that weight. You deserve a break.

You can either punish yourself and submit to misery, or forgive yourself and create the possibility of happiness. It comes down to whether you decide to dwell or move on. Which do you choose: anger with yourself and prolonged pain, or forgiveness and the potential for peace?

6. Stop playing the blame/victim game.

Maybe you were a victim. Maybe someone did horrible things to you, or you fell into an unfortunate set of circumstances through no fault of your own. It still doesn’t serve you to sit around feeling bad for yourself, blaming other people. In fact, it only holds you back. You can’t feel good if you use this moment to feel bad about another person’s actions.

The only way to experience happiness is to take responsibility for creating it, whether other people made it easy for you or not. You’re not responsible for what happened to you in the past but you’re responsible for your attitude now. Why let someone who hurt you in the past have power over your present?

7. Don’t let the pain become your identity.

If everything you do, and all your relationships center around something that hurt you, it will be harder to move on. You may even come to appreciate what that identity gives you: attention, the illusion of understanding, or the warmth of compassion, for example.

You have to consider the possibility there’s a greater sense of happiness in completely releasing your story. That you’d feel better than you can even imagine if you’d stop letting your pain define you. You can have a sad story in your past without building your present around it.

8. Reconnect with who you were before the pain.

It’s not easy to release a pain identity, particularly if you’ve carried it around for a long time. It may help to remember who you were before that experience–or to consider who you might have become if it hadn’t happened. You can still be that person. That person who doesn’t feel bitter or angry so frequently.

If you want to feel and be peaceful and happy, start by identifying what that looks like. What you think about, what you feel, what you do, how you interact with people. Odds are this process will remind you both how you want to be and how you don’t want to be. This picture was me in one of the happiest times of my life and truly feel like I even had a physical glow about me because I was in a genuinely happy state. I keep this picture to remind me that I have the capability of surpassing the expectations I have of myself each and every day

9. Focus on things that bring you joy in the moment.

You don’t have to focus on completely letting go of your pain forever–you just have to make room for joy right now. Start simple. What’s something you can enjoy in this moment, regardless of what pain you’ve experienced? Would sitting in the sun bring you joy? Would calling your sister bring you joy?

Don’t think about the totality of the rest of your days. That’s a massive burden to carry–haven’t you hurt enough? Just focus on now, and allow yourself a little peace. You’ll be surprised how easily “nows” can add up when you focus on them as they come.

10. Share that joy with other people.

People often isolate themselves when they’re hurting because it feels safer than showing people their vulnerability. What they fail to realize is they don’t have to feel vulnerable all the time. You can choose certain people for support, and then allow yourself time with others without involving your painful story.

You can share a meal, a movie, a moment and give yourself a break from your anger or sadness. You don’t have to carry it through every moment of your day. Don’t worry–if you feel you need to remember it, you’ll still be able to recall it later. But as you allow yourself pockets of peace, shared with people you love, you may find you need that story a lot less.

Maxie is one of those people that I have been sharing my joy with lately she understands me and has a passion to enjoy life and have a good time

I hope that these steps will be ones that you take to overcoming pain and be the fun loving person you know you are capable of being!

Much love- Ang

All Over Chicago!

I just finished organizing my binder for my final semester in college! In the fall I will be doing student teaching and then it is off to the REAL WORLD! I feel like these past 2 years I have really grown as a person because of the many unexpected experiences that I’ve had to undergo. Although I have been challenged with many things I NEVER expected to occur in my life I’m proud to say that it has given me an completely different outlook on what is truly important in life. Here is a list of what I believe I have taken away from the experiences I have undergone within the last year:

1. Honesty is always the best policy:  When someone is dishonest and sneaky its hard to ever gain trust from those you have deceived. I’m still battling with my trust issues in my relationships because I have been very let down by others in the past. It’s disappointing that those that are the closest to you can lie to your face day after day but maybe they feel like I hiding the truth is the best policy to save the ones they love from pain. However, the reality is that although hiding the truth may temporarily save the ones you love from anguish and pain it ends up becoming a much worse unrepairable pain as time passes and the truth is unfolded. BOTTOM LINE: Telling the truth about our mistakes and decisions, however horrible they may be, should happen as soon as possible in order to have a good chance of  truly repairing a relationship.
2. I have learned that holding on to anger only creates more anger. We have to believe that the ones who have loved us in our pasts never meant to hurt us and if they did it wasn’t out of malice or anger it was out of the bitter feelings and insecure issues they may have had about themselves. When you give yourself completely to someone and are in turn hurt by their neglect, abandonment (in time of need) and unwillingness to love you  (at the time you need it most), the source of the problem doesn’t stem from you, it stems from the issues the other person has about themselves, their insecurities and their lack of self-worth.
3. I have learned that loving someone again not only is possible  but it can even be better than before. Looking back I’m not sure that love was what I had with anyone in the past. There was no doubt feelings of love for a person but I believe that true love endures all things and it does triumphs over all obstacles. If one person is not willing to work to overcome unfortunate circumstances, obstacles or horrible events I believe they do not truly love you.  I’m happy that I have realized that only person I want in my life is someone who will be there for me during hard times. So far my special someone has been there for me during both personal and families issues.
4. I have learned that the Lord brings people into your life for  reason and at a certain time specifically. I truly believe with all my heart and soul that my  *Special Someone* has been brought into my life to make me feel more “whole” during these difficult family times. He makes me laugh, smile and simply enjoy the little things in life. I also believe I can learn a lot from him in the sense of how to be a “good” person because I believe he truly is one of the “better fish in the sea”. Who knows how long he will be maybe a month or 20 years but for now he’s supposed to be.
5. I hope I continue learning from him each day as I already have, he has taught me that to be me is all I need to be. So I have learned that being true to myself is all I need and he supports what I love to do like blogging, baking cooking, and learning about history (dorky I know). He accepts those things about me and even pushes me to do them more which is a change of peace for me because my ex would make fun of my blog (hurtful).  It feels amazing to just be me again  with someone and that he brings out the characteristics and personality that I used to love so much in myself that I feared I had lost in my last relationship. Like some of the readers that have been following my blog for a year now know, I started my last relationship loving my characteristics and personality. For example, I would easily befriend other woman instantly and I was a very personable lady when I was out with all types of people and I prided myself in my ability to be outgoing, genuine and never jealous. But after dealing with the the feeling of being cheated on, my insecurities constantly took over my personality and I lost the desire to focus on anything but catching my ex cheating (which was not fair to him or to me.) I’ll always have a special place in my heart for him but it’s true we brought out bad qualities in each other at times. I’m at the point with my special someone where I’m the secure woman I used to be because I’m just being me again. He recently told me that he wasn’t even planning on being serious after his last relationship (which was a long one too!). But as he said, you can’t plan for someone to come knocking on your door and you shouldn’t push them away if they do, you really can only welcome it. I admire that he has the courage to love again like I do. It takes a very strong person to step into a relationship after being hurt or breaking up. I guess we’re both stronger than ever now

Last night we decided to head to Primetime on the southside of Chicago (95th) after his basketball game with a few friends and ordered a couple of appetizers.

The night before we just layed low ordered noodles and company and watched Indiana Jones and the temple of doom. I love Indiana Jones movies! I know they can be sort of cheesy at times but it reminds me of my childhood a ton.

The night before we enjoyed Sushi YET AGAIN! He surprised me by taking me downtown to Sushi Taiyo

the “mystery man” Ocean’s Bounty: lobster, salmon, smoked salmon, avocado, shrimp, tempura crunch, cilantro and spicy mayo rolled with seaweed on the outside

and

Dragon Roll: bbq eel and tempura crunch covered with fresh avocado

Afterward we ended up heading out to a place called ACE where I met a few of his close guy friends from college (flattered he wants me to meet everyone!) and then we went out with a few of my best guy friends (and a few of the guys he knows from the Greek league actually ended up being out at the same spot) at “The Apartment” in Lincoln Park.

Me and my best friend Mat’s girlfriend, Emmy! (excuse the no makeup picture, I didn’t know we would be heading out or I would have dressed up a bit more, like I said he surprised me).

Overall this weekend was tons of fun and I really was ALL Over Chicago! Time to head back to school tomorrow. Class from 8:30-11:30! Better set my alarm clock for the first time in about a month nuts.

Hope you all have a wonderful Monday night!

Much love! and remember:

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18)

The above verse from John says that perfect love will cast out all fear. If these men truly loved their wives, they would not be physically or verbally abusing and violating them in the ways they have been. These kind of men are an abomination to the Lord – and what they call love, God calls pure evil.

A talk with my Grandpa

Hey everyone!

I decided to get in an Ab workout last night with some arm toning before heading to my Special Someone’s game in the city. He had a late one at 9:30 and they ended up blowing out the other team. I sometimes forget how much I love basketball. It is one of the few things I can do where my mind truly doesn’t wander to anything stressful. After playing in my game this past Sunday I realized after the game that all the family problems and issues I had been having in the past seem to be nonexistent when I’m on the court. I guess this means I should be playing a lot more basketball as part of my workouts right? Well, my special someone agreed to play with me whenever I want and since he works at a personal training facility he has really been helping me out a tone with new moves and workouts to incorporate into my routine. He even suggested I take his advice and cool it on the running for a bit. I told him that running is like an escape for me but as I said those words I realized that my mind wanders a lot more when running that it does when I play basketball. I’m going to be hooping a lot more lately even if it means at the gym with the boys, I’ll only get better I really miss running outside at my parent’s condo in Greece. I wish the weather was better here in Chicago!

and I miss my tan…

Today, I did decide to get a quick 3.5 mile run in and did weights afterward, followed by stretching. My grandfather decided to stop by shortly after and we had a little discussion about our religious beliefs since I wanted to learn a bit more about our beliefs.

As an Orthodox Christian we believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit being one entity or “three persons in one substance”. My question to my grandfather was what the “Holy Spirit” actually is. I understand what the “persons” God and Jesus within the trinity but I was not sure what the Holy Spirit embodied. I have taken courses on Christianity before, several actually because it truly fascinates me but this was still a difficult concept and I wanted my grandfathers input.

He began, The Holy Spirit is your faith and belief in the Lord and Jesus. My grandfather continued to tell me that when Jesus was baptized a dove came down to him at the Jordan river and this was seen in the Orthodox religion as the Holy Epiphany (that proved and certified the existence of god through the Holy spirit). He continued to explain that the Holy Spirit is also present in the sacraments that orthodox christian practice such as the Chrismation.

 

Chrismation is practiced by anointing the new Christian with chrism, which is holy oil (greek: myron). The myron is a “mixture of forty sweet-smelling substances and pure olive oil” . The Christian is anointed with this oil in the sign of the Cross on his forehead, eyes, nostrils, mouth, ears, chest, hands and feet. Each time, the priest administering the sacrament says, “The Seal of the Gift of the Holy Spirit.”

The sacrament of chrismation is an extension of the day of Pentecost, on which the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Apostles. It is by Chrismation that a person becomes a layperson—a member of the laos, the people of God and as he explained this more I proposed that the Holy Spirit is thus the, “true guidance for Orthodox Christians”. He agreed. In a sense, the Holy Spirit gives Orthodox Christians guidance in the way they should life their life (purely, correctly, honestly, lovingly and truthfully). Therefore, I concluded that when someone who is an Orthodox Christian is living their life against the way the lord intended the trinity is not fully working together. A true Orthodox Christian thus needs the Father, the son AND the holy spirit (all three!). Without the faith and belief in the lord and his guidance to do all that good and right (holy spirit) we cannot live as the true Orthodox Christians we are meant to be.

This means that believing in God’s good will and Jesus’ love for humanity is not enough; The “ball” is in our court too. We have the responsibility to live up to the beliefs and morals that Jesus had intended us to have after we are chrismated and baptized.   After we are Chrismated and baptized we are given guidance by the church through their belief system and through the bible. Therefore, we cannot simple believe in God and Jesus we need the Holy Spirit (guidance through the church and bible) to practice the ways of being a good person. YOU MUST PRACTICE WHAT YOUR PREACH TO SEE THE TRINITY AT WORK IN YOUR LIFE!

Ok, enough of my rambling but I really wanted to learn more about this. It really opened my eyes to the fact that believing in God and Jesus alone does not complete the trinity but in order to complete the trinity we need to keep having faith and act according to the ways Jesus intended us to (in order for the divine trinity to truly function within our lives).

I believe this means that I need to work much harder at doing what I know I should do as a good Christian because I want nothing more than to have the trinity fully working in my life right now. As I said I am recently having huge family problems right now and although I pray for this to end I think that I too need to take action and give love, help, respect (to parents), affection, hope and advice to the ones in my family that need it. I firmly believe that I need to forgive and be truthful to those who have hurt me if I want to see the divine trinity fully working in my life again. It seems simple enough, now I just need to do the right things (be respectful, loving, caring, considerate, compassionate, genuine)  to see my family life starting to heal.

Tonight I’ll be hanging with my special someone again movie night at his house perhaps. Any suggestions of good movies to watch that are on demand or at red box?
Lastly, I forgot to post the pictures from NEW YEARS! Here you are:

Much LOVE ANG

Choose Love

Love is for better or worse. And when you choose not to love, you’ve given up and given in.

It’s a decision you will regret.

Take it from a widow that wishes every day that she had her husband at home to leave the toilet seat up, or scatter Popsicle sticks and papers all around the couch, or smoke stinky cigars in the house, or forget to pay the bills or pick up the kids. All those imperfections about your mate are what you will miss the most when they are gone.

Choosing to love isn’t always easy, but it is worth the effort.  Here are some ways you can choose to love on a daily basis:

1.Let go of the little things. If you are truly honest, you’ll realize most of them are little things.

2. Give more than you take in your relationship.

3. Love without strings attached.

4. Communicate, communicate, communicate!

5. Look at the world through your mate’s eyes. Seeing things from their perspective helps you better understand their actions and motivations.

6. Pay attention to your mate. Look at them and focus on what they are saying or doing.

7. Before you blame, examine yourself first.

8. Let it be okay that you don’t see eye-to-eye on everything. Sometimes you just have to agree to disagree.

9. Accept and celebrate your mates differences and uniqueness. Face it—you can’t change them, but you can change your attitude about their quirks.

10. Validate your mate’s feelings. Don’t try to “fix” their perspective or contradict them. Accept their feelings without judgment or correction.

11. Hold hands.

12. Work as a team. You are life mates, not room mates.

13. Be flexible with your mate. While consensus is always the goal, sometimes we have to bend to the other’s wishes.

14. Share your vulnerabilities and fears with your mate. A load carried by two is easier than one carried alone.

15. Be faithful to your mate, both emotionally and physically.

16. Don’t hide things from your mate. Trust is fragile—handle with care.

17. Send love notes—a card, text, voice mail, or message on a sticky note or the bathroom mirror will do.

18. Laugh.  A lot.

19. Speak respectfully of your mate. They like to hear you talk about them favorably in front of others, but it means even more when you talk glowingly about them when they aren’t around.

20. Encourage your mate to be the best person they can be. Support their hobbies, learning interests, and passions. Be their biggest fan.

21. Apologize. And mean it.

22. Forgive. And mean it.

23. Develop couple rituals that are known only to you. 

24. Work on goals and dreams together. Planning is half the joy.

25. Public displays of affection!

26. Say “yes” more often than “no.”

27. Appreciate the inner beauty of your mate.

28. Accept and love your mate’s family and friends.

29. Schedule time alone together, even if it’s just a walk around the block or drive in the country.

30. Love yourself. You can’t decide to love another until you can decide to love yourself

Loving another person isn’t easy, and it can’t be based on feelings or emotions that fluctuate like the weather. Choose actions that show your love, and make the decision to do it every day.

Arm Toning on Track for January!

My New Years Resolution was to tone up my arms significantly by the end of January and so far this is how far I have come since the first day of January:

Yea, that is probably the worst smile ever but hey, I was flexing!  I definitely have a long way to go but I can do a significantly greater amount of push ups than I ever could before (which is a personal goal of mine as well). I just really want to be strong to kick some ass by the time Greek basketball tournaments roll around in march! By the end of the month I’m hoping to do 25 real push ups without struggling!

Today me and my special man went to Noodles and Company for lunch and ordered…

Our all veggie version of The Med is extra generous on mushrooms, spinach, red bell pepper, cucumber, red onion, our zippy Med dressing, cilantro and feta on flat bread

My man had to go back to work shortly after but I had some errands to run anyway. I decided to head to jewel and do the grocery shop for my mom and family. My mom loves when I cook for the family so I decided to make a healthy salad large enough for the entire family!

Strawberry and Pomegranate Honey Balsamic Salad:

• Spinach (many many handfuls!)
•  Pomegranate seeds ( 1/2 cup),
• 6 large strawberries cut up
• half of a yellow pepper
•  half of a red pepper
• Fat free feta cheese (as much as you like, since I’m GREEK we load it on!)
• Honey Balsamic Dressing (Alessi Brand)
  

  DELICIOUS!

I just finished watching the Bachelor with my sister and I must say this season is probably the worst one I have seen so far. a majority of  the women are very dramatic, psychotic or fake. There are only a couple of women I actually think are genuinely. What’s worse it that Ben F. (the bachelor) is giving roses to the fake, slutty or dramatic women and being very shallow by cutting women who I would deem the “less attractive” of the bunch. He hasn’t even got to know them well enough to make a decision like that. Therefore, it’s pretty obvious that he’s shallow and is only going for looks. I would probably leave if I was one of the woman of the show for the simple fact that I would NOT want to date a guy who is going for the women with boob jobs, that are fake, catty, dramatic and insincere.

Enough of my rambling about that addicting crappy reality show…Tomorrow I’m going to my *special someone’s* basketball game which will be a ton of fun since he plays in a Greek league in Chicago (a league I grew up playing in and a part of my life that is very important to me). I’m very happy to say that this man truly makes me very happy because he makes me laugh all the time!! His sarcastic humor is simply my favorite. I “dish it out” to him every now and then but he knows I’m a sensitive one and “can’t take it” back to hard so he sort of walks on egg shells with me right now. I know that will start changing once we become even closer but I love when guys are sarcastic to me sort of a turn on . Not to mention he does have swag,  tattoos (my preference for whatever reason), height (6’1) and intelligence (works full-time and is going to school).

It feels so good to feel very trusting of someone, unlike the last relationship I was in. I was very insecure thinking that my ex was cheating on my with his ex for many months and for multiple reasons  that I know would be justifiable to almost any woman. I’m so happy that I don’t have to deal with those thoughts anymore and we can just go out, eat, drink and be merry with one another!

Tomorrow morning I’m planning on a going for a long run (4-7 miles depending on how my legs feel). I also want to get a few things organized for school which starts next week and maybe if I can sneak in a massage, which I’ve been dying to get since my last one in August!

Do you watch the Bachelor? Are you as anger as me about how poor this season is so far?

Do you have any “workout resolutions”  like I did coming into the new year? If so what were your resolutions?

What motivates you to continue your fitness goals/resolutions? What motivates me is seeing my body change for the better!

What’s your favorite sweet salad recipe?

Hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday tomorrow!

Much love- Ang

Niu Sushi (Japanese Fusion Lounge) and Bob Chinn’s Crab House

Last Thursday I decided to suggest to my Special Someone that we try a new  Japanese sushi lounge called Niu Sushi. I invited one of my best girlfriend Maxie, who you may remember from my Vegas trip back in July,

Maxie and I

Maxie invited her man too! YAY for double dates

Niu Sushi Japanese fusion lounge is located downtown on East Illinois Street in Chicago and since we were downtown, dressed to impress and sipping on some fabulous drinks we decided to truly go “ALL OUT”. A picture is worth a thousand words…

Dragon, Sexy Mexican, Rock 'N Roll, and the California

The Dragon: Shrimp tempura, Alaskan shredded crab, cream cheese, topped with eel and avocado

Sexy Mexican: Shrimp Spicy Alaskan shredded crab, jalapeno, topped with avocado

Rock ‘N Roll: Alaskan Shredded crab, shrimp, octopus, avocado, spicy mayo and crispy tempura coating, topped with eel sauce.

California: Alaskan shredded crab, avocado, cucumber

The Dragon and the Rock ‘N Roll were my two favorites! Although all of the rolls were outstanding! I really think this is my favorite sushi place yet!

Thursday night was absolutely fabulous but my special someone remembered how I had mentioned I had never tried lobster before so last night (Saturday, January 7th) marks the day I tried lobster for the first time at Bob Chinns Crab house in Wheeling. I must tell you, it is so nice to have someone with me who really listens to what I have to say, I dont even remember mentioning that I had never tried lobster at dinner on thursday but my man surprised me with a call in the morning tell me he’s taking me to try lobster at a fun place in wheeling! of course since I’m a planner I asked him where he wanted to go and he said Joes Seafood Prime Steak and Stone Crab however they were all booked up until 10:30 so we head to Bob Chinn’s Crab House which was delicious!

Apparently there are two things everyone raves about when heading to Bob Chinn’s besides the sea food:

1) The Garlic rolls (which of course I had to try!)

and the MAI TAIS:

I split my Mai Tai with my man and we ordered two appetizers shortly after. My man recommended we order appetizers that I know I will enjoy for sure (just in case I don’t enjoy the lobster, since I have never had it before). Therefore, we decided to go with Salt and Pepper Shrimps…

and Crab Cake Nuggets…

The Crab Cake Nuggets had a crunchy outside texture with a crispy breading and were really creamy inside I can’t even describe how delicious these were. The shrimps were a tad bit greasy for my liking but I wasn’t expecting them to be anything like cold shrimp cocktail type shrimps that I buy from Jewel..

Greasiness = Goodness sometimes don’t you think? Also the shrimps were laying over an entire bed of garlic which my man had accidental tasted with his fork (a generous portion), I’ve never seen him make such a grossed out face, it was pretty funny and cute

For the main course I went with the 8 oz. Lobster Tail:

…and he went with the swordfish (partially because I told him I would eat the swordfish in case I didn’t enjoy the lobster, what a gentleman )

Close up!

Overall, I ate almost the entire piece of lobster tail but decided to not be such a fatty and gave some to him too. He also gave me a generous piece of the swordfish to try and it was was so tender I didn’t even need to use a knife! I would definitely head back to Bob Chinn’s in the near future! There is still so much I need to try!

Have you ever tried Bob Chinn’s Crab House?

What is your favorite seafood dish?

Time for me to head to my first basketball game of the new year! I’ve also been following my “New Year Work Out/Resolution Plan” fairly well but I’ve been slacking a bit with all this eating out, time to take my workouts and healthy eating a bit more serious, which means more home-cooked meals by chef Angie! Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday!

Much love!

-Ang

I love my mom.

Yes I am still alive! I know I have not had a chance to blog in a couple days but I have been busy busy busy! I have been sticking to my workout routine that I created for my workout new years resolution although I started a day late (not on sunday, instead I started on Monday). Tomorrow I am planning to set aside a couple hours to get some important thoughts I have been having out and write down exactly how I’m feeling right now. I’m very thankful for a lot in my life at this point although I am going through some times of trouble. I have a wonderful mother who I respect and love. She deserves more than anyone could ever give her and so My next post I think it’s time to give an in-depth shout out to my mom and explain why she is so important to me. There are so many things she has done for me and now its time for my to let her know how much I love her.

 

Love you MAMA!