Friday, May 31, 2013

Just got some awesome recipes!

Have you ever had a green smoothie?



They are actually not as gross or scary as they sound. They taste just like a regular delicious smoothie but there are a ton of extra nutrients to make you happy and healthy in them!



Today I bought Simple Green Smoothies Recipe Card Kit. There are 39 recipes and they all look so yummy. Today is the last day of their sale and you can get it for $5!!!

If you are still skeptical about this whole why on earth is my smoothie green thing you can check out their Green Smoothie Crash Course E-book which is free to download and gives you a ton of great info about what these smoothies do for you.

I think these girls are doing a great thing and its always nice to have healthy yummy recipes so you should go over and check them out

shine forth
-dyl

Thursday, May 30, 2013

I'm a winner!

I got a message on Etsy today saying I was the winner of flockaccessories monthly giveaway. 

How did I win? I just hearted their shop on etsy!!! And this is the necklace I won. They are putting it in the mail today. I'm so excited. Its so very lovely. 



You should check out their shop. Here are my favorite things that they have

                      
                      leather suspenders 
copper hair tube 

Inspiration List - Tall boy

All through out high school this person seemed to be there for me whenever I was having some sort of crisis.

...which happened more often than you would expect

My freshman year me and my best friend sat next to each other in math class. Which is like every girls dream. Having a class with your best friend and getting to sit with them everyday. Right? Wrong.

We fought like no other. It was miserable.
Luckily I'm good at math so it didn't effect my grades. But my god we were horrible.

I have this small problem called I cry. I have no idea how to express my negative feelings in any way other than just crying. Which I mean is better than being someone who is violent or something, but when you get in fights with your best friend at school all the time - you turn into "that girl" who cries all the time.

One day I lost it. She(best friend) had told me that we were going to hang out on Friday and it was now Friday so I asked if she was coming over after school and she said no cause she had other plans.
And I was like well we had plans. And no lie she said "that was just if nobody else asked me to hang out."

Like for real. Not so nice to do.

I asked if I could hang out with them. And she said nobody really liked hanging out with me anymore because I was like a little immature 7th grader still (I remember this whole conversation pretty much word for word.)  Her reason for saying that was because I wouldn't go sneak out of the house with them and go get drunk...

Anyways.
I lost it. I started bawling and the teacher noticed and told me I could go outside to calm down. It was at the beginning of class when this happened. So there was a long time for me to sit out there. And I had no intention of calming down.
After probably 15 minutes of sitting out there someone came out and sat with me. He talked to me until I wasn't crying anymore. And I think that was the first time he came to my rescue.

Right after math we had P.E. together. Me, best friend, and the one this is about.
So fights would usually cary over into P.E or we would just start a fight in P.E but whenever it happened - he was there for me. Through all my ridiculous sobbing.

And it wasnt always just crying cause of her. There was crying because of breakups (more on that later).

He hadn't been my friend for like years and this was something he was obligated to do. I had only met him that year. And out of the kindness of his heart he was there for me to vent to, to cry to, and he was there to calm me down.

Through the rest of high school he was there for me whenever I needed it. And I think to this day if I ever needed him he would be there for me.

So.
Daniel Weser.
This ones for you.

Thank you for helping me become who I am today. Thank you for putting up with my crying about basically the same all the time. Thank you for making me see that I deserved to be treated better than people were treating me. Because of you I am a stronger person and have more respect for myself.

lots of love
-dyl

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Ideas for next tattoo

I really want to get something having to do with light  a few verses from the bible I'm considering are :


I feel like all I want are word tattoos and I feel like it shouldn't be like that. I want to have at least one tattoo that is a piece of art on me. And I really love this tattoo

And maybe instead of having the ship in the middle I can get a candle or light of some sort. I'm thinking something like this 



I think I want to get it done on my twentieth birthday (: Super excited!

Let your light shine
-dyl 

Monday, May 27, 2013

Etsy shop giveaway!


I need more people to go look at my shop so I thought this would be a great way to do so. 

If you don't know - I am selling my jewelry to pay for my missions trip to the Dominican Republic this summer. And I need to make a LOT more money. You can read more about my trip to the D.R here






Favorite my shop on Etsy and follow me on here (must do both to win). If you dont know how to follow me on here all you have to do is look on the left hand side of the blog and scroll down. You will see a button that says join this site and just click on that! Once you have done that come back here and leave a comment letting me know you have done so. Also leave an email address so I can contact you letting you know you have won.

The giveaway will end on June 2nd and I will choose a winner that evening. You can enter until Noon on June 2nd.

BONUS ENTRIES: If you make a purchase from me you will receive two extra entries!




xoxo
dyl

Saturday, May 25, 2013

The yummiest oatmeal that ever existed. Ever.

Lately I have been trying to eat clean. Or well - cleaner.

What exactly does eating clean mean? Well

When someone makes the choice to eat "clean" they are choosing to eliminate all processed foods and extra additives from their diet.  Basically, you are choosing to eat whole, unrefined foods.  

You basically add a ton of fruits and veggies to your diet. 
Ive also found that people who eat clean tend to use a lot of 

Coconut flour
Oats and oat flour
Coconut oil
Quinoa 
Almond milk
Greek yogurt 
Nuts
Dates
Bananas (they are in like everything!!!)

Its almost like being kinda vegan and kinda gluten free. But you still eat lean meats. 

By no means am I a clean eating queen. There are a lot of people I follow on instagram who are total queens of this and they are awesome. 


The first person I started to follow was this girl. Her name is Brianna and she lives in AZ too. And she has really cute dogs and really cute clothes (: 
Following her is what ultimately got me interested in eating clean(er).

The reason I am doing this is for me to be healthier and happier. I absolutely have more energy now that I've started eating this way and that is a very happy thing.

I still eat pasta and eat bread. I still love desserts. But now I am much more mindful of what I'm eating. 

I think about things before I eat them now. I used to be able to go out to dinner and get something that really isnt all that healthy and I would want to eat dessert from there right after. 
And now I have no desire to do that. It actually makes me feel guilty when I do. 

My favorite thing to eat right now are these amazing apple pie overnight oats. And OMG they are so good. I made overnight oats a few times and they were so weird. But I knew they were healthy and a good meal to start the day with so I decided to give it one more try. And thank God I did cause I found the most perfect overnight oats ever. 


Oats:
1 container of Apple Chobani Greek yogurt
1/3 cup of old fashion oats
1/3 cup of vanilla almond milk 
3 pinches of chia seeds

Topping:  (I make mine more than one serving at a time)
1/3 cup of agave nectar 
1/2 a large apple
cinnamon - I add it until you can tell that its starting to mix in with the agave nectar and beginning to coat the apples evenly 


Mix all the ingredients for the oats in a jar or cup you have a lid for and let them sit overnight (at least 6 hours)

In the morning microwave the oats for 1 minute and then add the apple pie topping and microwave for an additional 20-30 seconds 

Friday, May 24, 2013

Inspiration List - love is not determined by the one being loved but rather by the one choosing to love.

Freshman year of high school is a year where a lot changes. Everyone changes. Me included.

My friends most definitely included. But they changed in a way that didn't appeal to me. They started doing things that my morals and values didn't line up with.

That year I had to accept the fact that they weren't the people who I used to be friends with and I needed to cut my ties. However, it took me basically the whole school year of being rejected, pushed away, and emotionally abused for me to finally decide that I was better off without them.

Why did it take me so long? Well because my best friend was doing stupid things that were going to get her in trouble. And I was the only one who would look out for her. I cared too much and put up with a lot of pain to make sure that if she needed someone that I would be there for her.

Well that year I had a friend that I had been pushing away. I didn't realize it so much at the time that she was really only looking out for me cause nobody else would. I actually didn't realize it at all.

I just would get mad at her for sticking her nose in my business. She would always tell me what to do like she was my "guidance counselor" or something (I think we would call you that ). And I would just tell her I could handle things on my own.

Not until a few years ago did I realize she was doing the exact same thing I was. She was looking out for a friend in need, when nobody else was looking out for them.

I know how little appreciation I got from trying to look out for my friend. And I am so sorry that I didn't appreciate you more at the time. You were one of the only true friends I had at the time.

Paige Jost.
You are an angel.

Thank you for helping me become who I am today. You were the only one there for me when I had been abandoned by all my friends. And you were still there for me even when I didn't want you to be- but more importantly when I needed you to be. You were the only one who was there to make sure I was going down the right path.
Thank you for having a heart too big and a need for reciprocal feelings too small.

All my love,
dyl

Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispies!!!!

I love to cook. But I am not the biggest fan of making meals. I'm not sure why, but I much prefer to make things like desserts and snacks or side dishes. Mainly desserts.

And today I made these heavenly bunches of goodness


They are healthy and will keep you happy and full of energy (: A great snack and they taste so so so good.



Mix the nut butters and agave nectar in a small bowl and microwave for 20 seconds to melt.

Add in the coconut oil, vanilla, and salt and mix all together.

Put rice puffs in a larger bowl and add the ingredients you already mixed together. Stir until well mixed.

On a cookie sheet form balls and then refrigerate for 10-15 minutes. Enjoy!!




Adapted from this recipe 

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Bullseye went to work!

Bulls has been having some tummy issues so I brought her to the vet at work yesterday. She's totally ok. Has some bacteria that is out of balance in her system but she's on some antibiotics now so she's totally good! (:

After the vet I couldn't drive her all the way back to tempe cause I had to work so she got to come play with the other pups!!!


She had so much fun (: and she looks so cute in there with her friends!


After work I took her back to my parents place and let her see Mack. He was so happy to see his sister again. And he thought he was going to get to go on an adventure and was really disappointed that he 

Kisses :D



Inspiration List - Two for one

I think the most important thing you two did for me was keep me a kid for as long as possible.

We actually would go out and do stuff when we hung out. We would go to the park and do sports or build forts or go explore the world.

A: When you moved I didn't know what I was going to do without you. I had a few best friends but you and I had so much fun together. We were such dorks and nobody understood us and it was wonderful

B: God we fought so much but I also loved you a lot. Our fights were so dumb but at the time they seemed so important. I think I actually have some of the fight notes you wrote me. Haha

A lot of the crazy days of my teenie bopper days happened with you two. Crazy stuff is gonna go down in middle school, but I'm glad it went down with the two of you

So.
Brianna and Ashley Olson.
Thank you for helping make me who I am today. And thank you for keeping my childhood alive.

Hope all is well

Love,
dyl

Monday, May 20, 2013

It doesn't get any better than this


How I came up with my shop/blog name

In my 3-D art class at ASU we had to do a project that was some how incorporated with our major.
Totally unfair assignment - everyone else in the class was an art major....

Anyways I made this wave by sawing colored pencils in to little pieces and I incorporated it into psychology by researching the psychology of colors and carefully chose which colors I wanted the wave to have in it. 

I found this website that showed different groups of colors based on personality type. And the one that I was most drawn to, and ultimately used in my project was one called Dreamlight. 


When presenting the project I got way into explaining all the colors that went into the wave. And even though it doesn't look like much, I put a lot of thought into this little guy.  I ended up giving it to my dad cause I call him Big Wave, and it was all cute and stuff.


Dream on,
dyl

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Help the hurting

I was going to post something different...
But some things came up that caused a change of heart.


If you know someone who has been a little down lately, or someone who has been going through some rough times, please take the time to let them know that they matter.

I can say from experience that it is very easy to tell yourself that you aren't important to anyone. And it is a very very sad feeling.

I can also say from experience that it will never be true. You (and everyone) will always be important to someone. But in moments where you feel insignificant, theres only one way to get back to feeling like you matter. And thats someone telling you that you are important to them.

It doesn't have to be a big elaborate speech that you give them. A simple "hey, you have been on my mind and I just wanted to let you know that you are important to me and i care about you" will suffice.

And people who arent going through rough times will appreciate hearing they are important as well.
I dont think any one gets told that they are important nearly as much as they should.

So pretty please, find someone, at least one person, and tell them they matter.
You will probably make their day. And you could possibly even make their week. And depending on where they are in their lives you could even give them enough hope to not give up.

Remember that you are always important

never stop shining,
dyl

Saturday, May 18, 2013

La La Lyrics





Brett Dennen "Darlin' Do Not Fear"

The confidence is full with your faith etched in stone
And I let clean comfort you from the wild unknown
So bury your burning hatred like a hatchet in snow
Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know

If you have a broken heart or a battered soul
Find something to hold on to or to let go
To help you through the hard nights like a flask filled with hope
Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know

'Cause it won't last - your worries will pass
All your troubles they don't stand a chance
And it always hurts the worst when it's the ones we love the most
Darlin' do not fear what you don't really know


Every time I hear this song I want to look at the lyrics. They are really inspirational and the song sounds really happy even though there is a sad undertone. It reminds me of a drinking a cup of hot tea with a friend on a rainy day. 



Also we should take time to appreciate all the cute red heads in the world (:

Inspiration List - The start

I think this one is going to surprise a lot of people. It will probably surprise the person its about.

I have no idea what order I want to do this list in, but the day I decided I was going to do it I knew this person needed to be first.

I have a lot of really good memories with this person. I have never really been the kind of person that stays up talking to someone on the phone till the wee hours of the morning. But with this kid I did.
We talked everyday and we talked for so long too. I cant say I remember a single thing we ever talked about, but I know at the time it was important stuff.

Hes not some boy that I dated forever and was head over heels in love with. (We did "date" but only over a winter break and didn't see each other at all). But thats not why he's on the list.

From 8th grade to freshman year I went through a HUGE change. I realized that I hadn't been treating the people I cared about very kindly and that I needed to change that. And I honestly don't think I would be the person I am today if it wasn't for this person.

So.
Christian Dale.
You are the first one on my list of people who have made me who I am today. And what exactly did you do to cause such a huge change in my life?

You asked me to come to church with you.

I credit my church almost entirely for making me who I am today. Don't get me wrong, my family has played a huge part in it. But with out going to church I would never have been receptive to the support and love my family has given me.

I cannot tell you how much it has changed my life going to MMCC and Chritian, you are the one who brought me there.

So thank you for asking me to go with you. And thank you for being the person who started the transformation. Without you, I wouldn't be who I am today

Love,
dyl

Friday, May 17, 2013

Inspiration list

A couple weeks ago I realized that I'm kinda in the middle of life right now.I graduated high school two years ago, and I will be graduating from college in two years. Also I will be turning 20 in a few months (ew gross why am i old?)

Anyways I thought that a lot has happened in my life and there are a lot of people who have helped me to get where I am. And that those people might not entirely realize just how much they have done in my life.

So I decided that I am going to thank everyone who has been an inspiration to me or who has helped make me who I am today.There are going to be so many people on this list its going to be insane. And chances are I am totally going to forget people along the way.

I am not going to do everybody all at once. Probably one at a time. But I'm gonna do my best. And thats what matters! I think I'm going to start at like 8th grade/freshman year and work my way up from there. So I've got a few years to go.

This should be fun.

I will be labeling each post under inspiration list and will make a page especially for y'all to see who has made the list


Last night/This morning

Yesterday I had a little date with my friend Abbey. I will be living with Abbey next year when she gets back from her semester at sea!
We went to SMoCA and on thursdays its free, so if you are looking for something to do the art museum is always a fun choice in my book (:

There was this cool little concrete observatory type room thing that you can supposedly see the sunset in (there is a giant hole in the top of it for you to look through). We didn't get to see the sunset but it was a nifty little place to hangout.

We proceeded to lay in the grass and take pictures of ourselves for a good hour/hour and a half. Why? Because we are teenage girls and because we can!


I couldnt get a good angle ):
 I made friends with a knitted pole 


      Us being us 


This morning I went to yoga. Theres a place called Spirit of Yoga right down the street from me. Sometimes they have students teach the class and if you go to one of those classes you don't have to pay for it. All you have to do is fill out a little paper saying what you liked about the class. Which is a great deal! 

I hadn't gone to yoga in so long and it was so so so wonderfully relaxing. I am an avid believer in yoga (unless its hot yoga then I believe yoga is the devil). And for any of you who need to get active or get relaxed you should go to one of the free classes. Yoga is good for the soul

shine on
-dyl



The Dominican

I just made an Etsy shop a week or two ago and I am selling jewelry that I have made to help me pay for my trip to the Dominican Republic this year.

This will be my third year going on the trip, and the first time I will be going without my family (other members of my church are going- just not my family).

The first year we went I absolutely fell in love with the entire community of Sierra Prieta. But more specifically I fell in love with these munchkins. The one on the left is Yomi (shes the oldest) and the one with the glasses on - her name is Yojeidi. I instantly connected with them, and each day when we would open the gates to let the children in they would come find me first thing.




When it was time to leave Yomi wrote me a letter and gave me a gift all wrapped up in a lovely piece of floral print paper. She told me that she was glad that I became her friend and thanked me for spending time with her. She also gave me a spongebob keychain.

These kids don't really have possessions or toys, but one of the few things she did have she wanted to give to me as a gift. I felt honored to have found a place in her heart and when it was time to go back to the US I really didst want to go.


When we got home we decided we wanted to get a sponsor child. We went on a few home trips with people from our church to visit their sponsor children and it was awesome seeing the connection that there was between the sponsors and their child.


When we went back last year we got to meet our little girl Jonedi. She is the one with the white beads in her hair. Shes so stinkin cute. At first she was pretty shy around us but after a few days she would run right up to us and hold our hand and just walk around with us!




Here is more of Yomi and her family. Last year she took me to meet her mom. And her mother told me that she was thankful for my friendship with her daughter and that Yomi loved me very much, and because of that she loved me.



Yomi is an amazing girl. I think she is going to go very far. She is very invested in her schooling and she is very smart. She wants to go to college and I believe that she absolutely will be able to. She has the presence of a natural born leader and I hope and pray that she will become everything she desires to be. 


And did I mention that Yojeidi is probably the cutest little girl in the village. GAH! I can't get over how cute she is. Lets all just take a second to appreciate her 








So I kinda love the Dominican alot. It might be in my top 3 favorite places in the world. And I cant wait to go back. But I need everyones help. So take a look at my Etsy shop and buy something. If you don't do it for me do it for one of these little munchkins! 

Blessed be,
dyl 


Thursday, May 16, 2013

Yay! Blog!

So I decided I would start a blog. I don't think my life is really all that interesting, but I would like to be able to go back and remember what I did and thought this would be a great way to do so.

It takes a lot longer than you might think to start up a blog... It took way longer than I thought it would take me and yet the blog looks so simple?

Heres to the first post

shine brite
- dyl