The American Dream!!!

Many people view the American dream differently. As seen on television, American’s are skinny and beautiful, they drive fancy cars, live in big fancy houses, and they are free to have whatever they want. The question is “Is this the real American Dream?" Of course, there are many American’s who want to live the so called American dream by having the perfect body, perfect car, perfect house, and perfect job but to others the American dream means so much more. Unlike other countries, American’s are FREE and that is the American dream. People in other countries want to live the American dream and not because some American’s have fancy cars and houses but because American’s have freedom. Unfortunately, Americans do not realize how lucky they are and they take for granted the freedom that they are given. Everyone is living the American dream but many do not realize it.

I am living my American Dream. I am free! I get to choose who my friends are, who I will marry, where I will go to college, what kind of car I want, what kind of house I will live in, what kind of career I want to pursue and no one can tell me I can not. In other countries, there are arranged marriages and many boundaries especially for woman. For example, in other countries woman are not allowed to pursue high education or careers. In America, I am free to achieve the highest level of education and I am free to pursue a career in whatever I am interested in. People may not see that as living the American “dream” but it is because I control my destiny not anyone else.

Growing up, every American child ponders the question “what do I want to be when I grow up?” If American’s were not living the American Dream by being free then as children we would not ask ourselves this question because it would not matter, simply because no matter what we wanted to be if we were not free we would not be able to chose our career. Freedom is the American Dream and Our Freedom is what defines America. When other countries think of America, they think of the freedom that we are given and many of them want the opportunity to have this freedom. The next time you think, I want to live the American Dream and be rich and happy, Remember you are living the American Dream because You Are FREE!!!

CHRISTMAS COOKIES!!

I come from a very huge family. My grandmother had ten children and three step children which means that I have a ton of cousins and second cousins who I am very close to. The  majority of my family lives right here in Cartersville, Georgia and the handful of others live in Michigan which is where all my aunts, uncles and my parents are from. I have about eighty family members who reside right here in Cartersville and we get together every weekend which is pretty awesome because I have a very close relationship with my aunts, uncles, cousins, and my cousins children and don’t be mistaken I am very close with my family in Michigan as well but I spend a lot more time with the ones right here in Cartersville. Anyway, my point is that I have a huge family and we find it important to stay close, share traditions, and make a ton of wonderful memories together.

Christmas is our biggest time of year! We spend almost every day of every weekend together celebrating the Christmas season. Everyone loves Christmas Cookies and there are still people out there who actually bake their Christmas cookies rather than buying them from the local grocery store or bakery. My family has a “Christmas Cookie Party” every year which my mom and grandmother started. We all get together and bake tons of cookies but our favorite is my great-grandmothers “cut-out cookies”. The adults are the ones who cut the cookies out and bake them and once they are all cooled off the kids get to decorate them. Decorating the cut-out cookies is the best part and the kids have a blast. They get to chose from almost every color of frosting and about thirty different sprinkles and candy pieces and they get to decorate tons of cookies however they want. Our Christmas Cookie Party is one of the best traditions we have and yes the kids do make a huge mess but the memories are amazing and we have a blast every year.

My grandmother passed away in October of 2009 and I can say that Christmas Cookie Parties have not been the same without her but this party is something all of the adults and children look forward to every year and I am so thankful that my grandmother started this tradition and that we can keep this tradition going. The Christmas Cookie Party has not only become a tradition but it gives new meaning to our Christmas Cookies because every time we eat one of the cookies that we decorated, we are reminded of the awesome time we had making those cookies. Traditions are special and they are wonderful memories that can be passed down generation after generation.

Meal Ingredients

I can honestly say that I have never really thought about the food that I was eating. I never questioned where it came from or if it was healthy or what it would do to my body, instead I just bought the food that I loved and enjoyed eating it.  Growing up I never had to worry about maintain a healthy body weight because I was very healthy, active and my body weight was wonderful. Unfortunately, after I had my daughter my metabolism slowed down and I didn’t have much time to maintain my healthy, active lifestyle so I got out of shape and gained a bit of weight. To other people I am still skinny and still very healthy but I can tell a difference because I do not feel the same. I use to be able to run for long distances and cheer a whole entire football or basketball game and I use to have a ton of energy but now I do not have much energy and I can only run for about two minutes before I need to use an inhaler.  To others I am no different but to me my world has changed because I am simply not as healthy as I use to be, even though others do not see that.  

My fiancé and I are working on getting our first house together with our daughter and I am really excited about beginning this new life and I want a healthy lifestyle to be included in this new life. I know that we will not eat everything that is good for us but if we start by taking small steps we can build to a very healthy nutritious lifestyle.

The other night I ate:

·         Roast: which came from Ingles meat department

o   I actually took time to look through the entire roast to see which one was the best which they all looked the same but I actually tried which is important to me.

·         Carrots: which came from the vegetable section at Ingles as well

·         Corn on the Cob: which came from the vegetable section at Ingles

·         Potatoes: which also came from the vegetable section at Ingles

·         Strawberries: which came from Sams

·         Pineapple: which also came from Sams

I cooked the roast, carrots, and potatoes in the oven and then cooked the corn on the stove.  For the first time ever, I did not add sugar to my corn on the cob and it still tasted great. For dessert, we ate strawberries and pineapple. Again I did not add sugar to my strawberries.

Even though I do not know where all of these ingredients originally came from, this meal was very important to me because when I went to the store I actually looked at the ingredients and I tried to make a healthy meal for my family. I tried to include a few different vegetables and I included fruits as dessert instead of a cake, ice cream or cookies. This meal was the first meal of many healthy meals to come for my family.