Pictures are at http://www.teengravid.blogspot.com

It was so exciting my baby is 11 weeks and has clavicles! How cool???

I feel that Obama is simply liked because he is a people-person. This is not a bad trait to have in a president, but more traits are needed.

We've dug ourself into quite a hole in the last four years-- War in Iraq, high gas prices with no clear alternative, high grocery prices because of ethanol's rising popularity, high inflation, high unemployment, messy and disorganized health care with no clear alternative, and every other country in the world seems to hate us. Can Oama fix all that? No. Will he try? Ofcourse. But the fact of the matter is, he will not be able to 'change' America enough to get us out of this hole. He will try, it will not be enough, and instead of looking at the glass as half-full and seeing the good changes, America will doubtless say 'The liberal president failed. Liberal policies failed. Welfare failed. Give us more tax cuts and hegemony in Iraq' and we will be back to the policies that GOT US INTO THIS MESS.

Which is why I'm voting for McCain. I do not like McCain. Explain this to me: 80% of Americans are dissatisfied with the way Bush ran/ runs this country. McCain has promised to keep Bush's same policies, yet he has a 50% approval rating. Anyway, he'll be (pardon my French) an a-hole to other countries, give more tax cuts to the wealthy (who will invest the money in profitable oversees market instead of stimulating the economy at home and giving poor people jobs. Get this through your head, Mr President: Trickle-down economy DOESN'T WORK. Ten years of it preceeded The Great Depression, and after 8 years of it, our economy is worse than it's been in 2 or 3 decades!). After 4 yars of McCain, HOPEFULLY America will say, oh. Duh. We need a president who recognizes that other countries are soveirgn, isn't a d-bag, helps out the common people, and gives health care the overhaul it needs.

Then, in 4 years, I'd like to see Sebilious in DC, if not president (she should spend these next four years in DC under McCain, gaining experience in What Not To Do). Mrs Clinton should be a cabinet memeber-- Someone who comes up with policies and/ or advices the president and congress, but whom the public rarely sees or associated with these policies. Let's face it, she does have very good ideas, but everyone hates her and will do everything they can to impede her if she's in a well-known public office. Obama can be, like, public-relations agent to the president or something.

Not dissing on Obama. I think he's one man who genuinely wants to change America for the better, and will take the hits to make these changes. Okay, so he may not be well-versed in foreign policy, but I believe that he will appoint cabinet members to the best of his ability that will advise him and enable him to reach the goals he has set for America.

I would like to see Obama as president-- In 4 to 8 years. I think, in addition to all his good qualities, having the arbitrary quality of being black is good-- America preaches anti-racism, yet we've never had a black president. We need to calm down on talking the talk and start walking the walk. But if Obama wins this coming election, he will be associated with, and hated for, the hell that America will undoubtably go through (and hopefull work its way out of) in the next four years. I would hate to see him blamed for something that is so obviously not his fault, and be unable to hold any other office without being mud-slung over his presidency. America needs Obama. but he is useless to America if no one will vote for him because they hate him over how terrible the 2008-2012 presidency was.

PS Check out my less-serious, more fun blog: http://www.blogofbarbie.blogspot.com

Where would you go?

I've been interested in photojournalism for quite some time, and now I've recently gained the opportunity to travel to some amazing places!

This summer, I'll be visiting Louisiana, Florida, and the Carribean, to photograph the 'general wildlife'. In August, I'll be traveling with a church mission trip to southern Mexico to document some of the poverty and raise awareness of suffering in some rural parts of Mexico. In the spring of 2009, I will be traveling to Italy and possibly France (maybe even Greece!) for photographing architecture, and in the summer of 2009, California (purpose unkown as of yet) and Mexico again.

So my question is: Anyone here involved in photojournalism? Any tips to offer? Or, has anyone been to one of the above-mentioned places? Please share your experiences, I'd love to hear about them! =D

Try this to outsmart MySpace and get your referral link on your Myspace page--

1. Go to http://ManualTraffic.com?=506 and register for an account.

2. Enter your referral link into the traffic rotator.

3. The site will generate a new link for you. Paste this link onto your Myspace page, and it will automatically redirect to your referral link.

Good luck getting those referrals! :)

Hello, all! I love blenders! They are, in my opinion, a really usefull great invention. Just pop in a frozen banana, some frozen peaches, a yogurt, some of those sterile eggs that come in a box, a drop of vanilla, and some flavored protein posder, and you have a yummy delicious smoothie! I love it! Blenders are also excellent for making hummus. But hummus should under no circumstances be mixed with fruit smoothies. No good.

So, my stomach is ulcerated and bleeding. I have an autoimmune disorder, which means that occaisionally my immune sustem has the habit of going "Oh look! That looks like a bacteria! Let's kill it... oh wait, that was her stomach." One common kind of autoimmune disorder is Type 1 diabetes. Two others you may have heard of are juvenile arthritis and lupus. I have an extremely common type of autoimmune disorder called Celiac disease. Approximately 80% of caucasians have this disease. "What?" You're thinking. "I don't know anyone who has that. It can't be that common." Here's the deal: over 90% of people with Celiac disease are undiagnosed.

I was lucky. I had one of the very worst cases of Celiac disease. In 5th grade, food started to make me sick, and even when I ate, I was unable to absorb nutrients. I went from 90 lbs to 60 lbs in about two months. Eventually, I was diagnosed with Celiac disease. This disease causes your immune system to attack your stomach, ulcerating it. Specifically, it attacks the part of your stomach that produces the acids neccesary for digesting gluten, a protein that is found in nearly all grains.

So in 5th grade I had to stop eating wheat-- This includes bread, pasta, pizza, cookies, most cereals, sandwhiches, soup, anything fried or breaded, peanut butter, gummi bears, the list goes on and on. After about 6 years, my stomach had repaired itself enough that I could eat wheat again, which I felt was truly a miracle. However, my immune system noticed that my stomach was back after I started eating wheat again, and those darn antibodies went on another killing spree. Now, after a few months of totally eradicating wheat from my diet, my ulcers are starting to go away.

Now, how does this affect you? As I said before, 80% of the Caucasion population has some form of Celiac disease (or gluten intolerence, as it is sometimes called). You think, wait, I can't have that. I'm overweight, and you said that your first symptom was losing 30 lbs.

Here's the deal: Your stomach can't absorb as many nutrients as it needs, so you may feel hungry constantly, even though you are eating continuously. Not only this, but with your stomach inflammed and ulcerated, you may feel tired constantly, and unable to exercise. Most cases of Celiac disease go undiagnosed because people feel that these symptoms are just a part of normal life. I met one woman who was not diagnosed until she was 40 years old, and only because she mentioned to her doctor that when she was a little girl, she used to crave eating dirt.

Seriously, try this: For two weeks, don't eat wheat (two weeks is the amount of time that it takes your stomach to heal, so you'll start feeling the wonderful affects). See if you have more energy. I guarantee that you'll lose at least 5 lbs in those 2 weeks. This is because not only are you cutting out the biggest source of calories, fast food, and junk food, but as the inflammation goes down and you are able to absorb all the nutrients you need from the food, you won't feel so hungry all the time.

It may seem hard to stop eating wheat, but it is well worth it! (And, the food tastes twice as good-- wheat is cheap, and is used as a filler in many products). Here are three delicious, healthy foods that you can use as breakfast, lunch and dinner, that have no wheat, are easy on your tummy, and are absolutely delicious!

Breakfast: 1 frozen banana; 1/2 can fruit (frozen or chilled); 1/2 cup yogurt*, milk*, or soy milk; 1/4 cup Break Away! or other type of sterile egg that comes in a boz; 2 tbsp protein powder, such as the kind made by Atkin's; 1 tsp vanilla. Blend until smooth. It's soo yummy!

Lunch: 1 can chickpeas, 5 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp paprika*. Blend until smooth. Remember not to eat hummus with a cracker! It's just as good with a spoon.

Dinner: Spread a 12 inch by 12 inch peaice of aluminum foil out. Cover with 1 tbsp olive oil. Place 1 tilapia or flounder filet in the center of the foil. Cover with 1 tbsp sliced or chopped onions*; as many chopped carrots as you want; 3 or 4 cherry tomatos*; 1 chopped zucchini; and 2 tbsp salad dressing* of your choice (just make sure it doesn't contain wheat). You can also sprinkle chopped almonds, sunflower seeds, raisins, dried cranberries, etc, on top. Cover with another peice of aluminum foil and roll the edges together tightly. Cook in the over, over a fire pit, or in a grill for about 20 minutes.

*Caveat: If you are really sick, and think that you do have a serious form of Celiac disease, you should avoid foods that may irritate any ulcerations. This may include dairy, live cultures (such as those found in yogurt), vineger, lemon juice, acidic fruits, tomatos, vinegarettes, and spices.

I really hope that this helps some of you! I know many, many women who wish they had known about Celiac disease sooner, so I hope that this helps some of you.  

When Mrs Leprechaun's children were young, they all lived in a house that had ahuge ditch in the backyard. This Ditch, owned by the city for rain-draining and flood prevention, was a breeding ground for mice and other rodents. As winter neared, these mice would egt cold and take shelter in mrs Leprechaun's house.

Luckily, Mrs Leprechaun had a very talented Great Dane, who could catch the mice. he didn't just catch them, he caught them in his paws, without even hurting them.

One day, Mrs Leprechaun's daughter's room started to smell really, really bad. It was obvious that there was something decomposing in it, and Mrs Leprechaun assumed that a mouse had died inside the walls and was causing the odor. She told her husband that he would just have to tear out the wall and find the decomposing mouse carion.

When it was time to go to bed, Mrs Leprechaun told her daughter (who was four years old) that she simply souldnt sleep in her room because it just smelled too awful. her daughter replied, "Oh, don't worry. That's just my pet puppy. He pooped."

Mrs Leprechaun was wary, because her Great Dane was a huge dog, and she thought that if he had have pooped in the room, she would have noticed. Slowly she asked, "What puppy?"  

Her daughter withdrew a shoebox from under her bed. Inside the shoe box was a decomposing mole, all bloated and swelling. Its eyes were were puckered up and its mouth was pulled into a buck-toothed grin. As Mrs Leprechaun stared at the dead mole in horror, he daughter began petting it, saying "Good puppy. See? He loves me."

This was only first in a long line of Dead Pets for Mrs Leprecahun's daughter. Throughout the year, she brought home squished snakes, which she would pet obsessively, claiming they loved her. Mrs Leprechaun decided that since dead pets were the only pets that allowed her daughter to stroke them, that is why her daughter thought they loved her. In fact, come to think of it, maybe the pets only became dead pets after her daughter adopted them.

The last straw was when her daughter brought home a 'kittycat' (a dead possum that was actually only playing dead, and then woke up in the dining room and knocked over a china vase). Then Mrs Leprechaun forbade her daughter from going outside, and she stopped having dead pets.

I went to this amazing presentation on Tuesday night, presented by the Axia University of Pheonix and Monster.com. It was primarily aboyut networking and entreprenuership, and it was amazing!

To some up some of the points made:

Face-to-face networking is the most effective, and consists of:

~Doing a great job of meeting people.

~Making a sincere effort to get to know them.

~Finding common interests.

~Looking for ways to be helpful to them.

~Stay in touch.

And the most common mistake made: Most people walk right up to a person, intriduce themselves, hand off a business card, collect a business card, and move onto someone else. This is WRONG.

One speaker at the program was Luke Johnson, who has appeared on The Ellen Degeneres Show, The Today Show, CNN, and The Racheal Ray Show. He was an independant movie guy, but was having a heard time getting any attention in Hollywood. Then he came up with The Luke Johnson Phone Expirement, and now has contracts in Hollywood after all the attention it recieved through social networking. Check it out at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkXH7hBbDI0

Luke Johnson's main point was that you need a creative and UNIQUE way of getting attention to yourself when you network. So, don't copy him, but come up with an equally brilliant idea, and see if you wind up on TV. =P

I hope some of these tips were beneficial to you-- They were really helpful to me! Good luck!

We've all heard the saying that  a picture

is worth a thousand words, right? So shouldn't

a picture be able to tell a thousand-word 

(or smaller) story? 

Rules: I will post a peice of prose or poetry

that is less than 1000 words. If you have created,

or would like to create a peice of art which 

represents it, send me a message with the URL

of the location of the picture. Once I have 5

entries, I will post the 5 pictures, and polls will

be open for one week to decide the winner. The

winner's picture will be featured on my blog next

to the poem/ prose. The picture can be a photogrpah

you've taken, a photograph of something you've

made, or a drawing, painting, oil pastel, etc.

Sound easy? Alright, here's the first peice 

of material: 

What is a double petunia? A petunia is a flower

like a begonia. A begonia is a meat like a 

sausage. A sausage and battery is a crime. 

Monkeys crime trees. Tree's a crowd. A crow crowd

and made a noise. A noise is on your face between

your eyes. Eye is the opposite of nay. A colt

nays. If you go to sleep with a colt, you'll

wake up in the morning with a case of double

petunia. 

Artists, start clicking, sculpting, painting, and

sketching! =)

Here's the rules: I post the descr i ption 

of a totally random item that can be purchased

off the internet. You guess the price. The

person who guesses closest to the correct 

price after 48 hours gets 10 views, plus 5

views for every person who enters the contest.

Ex: If one person enters, they get 10 views.

If 6 people enter, the winner gets 40 views.

Here's the first item: 

Gaiam Recycled Yoga Mat Bag  

Carry your yoga mat to and from class in eco-chic style. Made 

entirely from recycled plastic bottles, this breathable mesh yoga

mat bag from Gaiam is light and cushy and accommodates most 

standard-sized exercise mats, with a little extra room for your 

cell phone and a few other personal belongings. The bag features 

a full-length zipper for easy packing and unpacking and an adjustable 

shoulder strap for comfortable carrying.

Contest Closed: Tony is the winner. His guess of 19.99 was closest 

to its true price-- 19.98. Please congratulate him! And feel free

to check out this totally random item at http://whatstuff.shopinblog.com/-p3432628-Gaiam-Recycled-Yoga-Mat-Bag.html

Kudos, Tony! =)

My boyfriend and I are moving in about 3 

months and I am really excited!!! The scary part

is... We're going to have to move without ever

getting a chance to go down and see our new

hometown! We don't have jobs lined up, we don't 

have apartments picked out, we don't even know of

a hotel to stay in our first night we're there!

I'm trying to save a couple thousand dollars

(right now I'm at $1000) for a safety net.

I'm also looking at maps of the city to pick

out a good part of town to live in.

What would you do if you were moving in three 

months to a city you'd never been to be before?!?

How would you prepare? What would you do first thing

when you get there???

I'm looking forward to your advice!