Do you fast?

Happy Ash Wednesday!

Can I just start by saying fasting sucks?

Ok, now that I got that out of my system, I'll talk about how GOOD fasting is for you.

In the Catholic church, we have the season of Lent. This is a time where we reflect on the sacrifices of Christ during the 40 days and 40 nights that he went without food in the desert and was tempted by the devil. So, during Lent, we fast for 40 days and 40 nights, starting with Ash Wednesday where we are reminded "that thou art dust, and to dust thou shalt return." Gen 3:19.

{my camera broke, so you'll have to bear with my crappy phone pictures. :) }

When I was younger, I was confused by the way we fast. I thought that fasting was to not eat. I also knew that you couldn't survive more than a week without eating. I knew I was going to die from Lent. Ok not really, but it was confusing! But then I was given a chart and was told to pick something everyday that was hard for me to give up.

Huh?

How is that like what Jesus did for us? When he was tempted in the desert, Satan changed rocks into bread and Jesus refused it. I guess that's kind of how I think about it. If I have the ability to still do the things that I choose to give up, and I refuse them, then I am being like Christ. The devil can't tempt me! This season is all about being more like Him, and making large sacrifices to show that you understand what He did for you.

So this year, I'm giving up laziness. Laziness in EVERYTHING. Because I'm pretty dang lazy. If I could, I would lay on my couch all day. If you've ever been on my couch, you'd know why.

Anyways, starting today I'm going to give up being lazy. I'm giving up procrastination. I'm giving up fast food (you ALL know it's lazy to go to fast food places, don't hate!). I'm giving up NOT working out. I'm giving up laziness!

I'm really excited about this. And blogging about it is going to hold me way more accountable. I know that through Him I can change my life and learn through His sacrifices.

Do you fast? Give me proof of it by your works.
If you see a poor man, take pity on him.
If you see a friend being honored, do not envy him.

Do not let only your mouth fast,
but also the eye and the ear and the feet and the hands
and all the members of our bodies.

Let the hands fast, by being free of avarice.
Let the feet fast, by ceasing to run after sin.
Let the eyes fast, by disciplining them not to glare at that which is
sinful.

Let the ear fast, by not listening to evil talk and gossip.
Let the mouth fast from foul words and unjust criticism.

For what good is it if we abstain from birds and fishes, but bite and
devour our brothers.

May He who came to the world save sinners, strengthen us to complete the fast with humility! Have mercy on us and save us.

St. John Chrysostom

It is a thing that can hardly exist in the practical North.

Happy Fat Tuesday everyone!

Oh how I love the South, and how I wished I lived in New Orleans. My love for New Orleans grows the more and more I learn about it. It all started in Disneyland...

via Jeff Keller

When I was a weee child, Haunted Mansion (which is in New Orleans Square) was my absolute favorite ride. When we went back my senior year in high school, I fell in love with the architecture of this little part of Disney.

When Jake and I went to Disneyland together for Halloween in 2009, we had a few small miracles happen. Not only did we think it was the cutest thing ever that our room number at our hotel was 319 (our anniversary), we decided one night that we wanted to eat at Disneyland's one nice restaurant, The Blue Bayou. We trudged our tired feet over there around 4 o'clock to make reservations and...they were booked! We were so sad. Then a nice lady came up to us, apologized for eavesdropping, and told us that her date cancelled on her, and she believed that someone should be able to enjoy her reservations even if she couldn't.

Miracles happen!

This was our first taste of New Orleans food! And it was delish. I ended up adding gumbo permanently to my recipe box.

After that, Jake and I sat outside and watched the rest of Fantasmic. Following the show, real live jazz bands began playing around the Square. Oh my goodness, I was in love. New Orleans Jazz is everything that I love about life. It's vibrant and playful and silly and can be soothing. I wish I could play an instrument that could be in a Jazz band!

Not long after that, my second favorite Disney princess movie of all time came out.

via Disney

Jazz, Jazz, Jazz!

This movie just increased my desire to be a part of New Orleans culture. If only!

And today, my friends in New Orleans are celebrating Fat Tuesday with Mardi Gras! I wish I could be there. Not to get beads, but to see the tradition! Also, because while I'm there I'm getting married here:

It looks like the Disneyland castle. Except prettier. And a church. And beautiful! No big deal.

Anyways...

In honor of Mardi Gras, since I cannot really be there as much as I'd love to be, I'll settle for this.

via

Srsly, my favorite restaurant of all time. It's delicious, nutritious, and New Orleans style! I only said nutritious because it rhymed. Don't hate. Srsly again, if you haven't had this place yet, go tonight. Celebrate Mardi Gras (even if you're not Catholic!). Be adventurous. Eat the Mardi Gras Chicken. That's what I'll be eating.

Mmm!

For the soul of it is romantic, not the funny and the grotesque. Take away the romantic mysteries, the kings and knights and big-sounding titles, Mardi Gras would die, down there in the South.

*Quote from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain.

It's night before it's afternoon.

I really shouldn't be up this late. And if I am up this late, it should be because I'm practicing piano, doing theory homework, or playing android Word Friends Scrabble with Katie.

But there is a man in my life. This man keeps me up all hours of the night, tempting me with his sweet music, cute face, and silly jokes. He is the reason I refuse to go to sleep. I can't imagine my nights without him.

via NBC

Oh Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy.

I love when you reflect as Bieber, and I love when you're bothered as Edward. I love when you beat people at beer pong, and I love when you sing all 5 octaves on the piano. And I secretly love that you're the reason I'm not sleeping.

I'm a Jimmy Fallon fangirl.

Are you?

How did it get so late so soon?

*Quotes from Dr. Seuss.

No one has ever become poor by giving.

One of my friends from high school has the cutest blog ever about how she believes in unicorns and has the cutest outfits in the world, and she's so sweet in doing giveaways for her followers!

You can find her here!

She is definitely an inspiration, but I don't have the hookups to do giveaways from Shabby Apple, as much as I'd love to!

BUT!

Ashley doing this made me start thinking about how I give to my friends. I didn't even realize it, but yesterday I did a big favor for one of my friends in the blogging world! The reason I say "in the blogging world" is because it wasn't like I donated a kidney to her or gave her my blood after she got in a car accident (which didn't happen!).  Yesterday, I spent the night making a blog layout for my best friend Katie! She's going to blog about it later so I won't spoil that by talking too much about it, wait for her post to go and see it and then tell her how cute it looks.

Giving is more than the physical presence of something that you can look at or hold. Giving is about so much more sometimes. It's about opening your heart to someone even if it's scary. I had an amazing talk with someone the other night. She really made me open my heart and think differently about some things. She really gave me her heart and let me hold it -- that's something only brave people can do.
So give a little something to someone today.

In the giving spirit, if anyone else wants a blog template, I'd be happy to make one! I made mine as well as Katie's. It was so fun and I really enjoyed learning about how to make them. I'm not amazing, but it's pretty good for an amateur, if I do say so myself. :)

*Quote by Anne Frank, the Diary of a Young Girl.

"You have got to keep autistic children engaged with the world.

You cannot let them tune out."

- Temple Grandin

Today was a superficial day. I woke up, showered, did my hair and makeup, thought about how cute I looked in my cowboy boots, then began to take pictures of my apartment for this blog post.

About half way through taking pictures I realized I had to go turn in my time sheets to work. This is where my post begins; where my thought process began and how I decided that today needed to be more than superficial.

When I was 13, my mom gave birth to a beautiful baby boy named Colton Xander Lobaugh. I had an instant connection with him, he was the only of my siblings that I had been there at his birth. I can't explain it, but I knew that there was something special about him, and that there was a reason that God had given me so much love toward someone I didn't even know yet.

When Colton was a year old, he got his vaccinations. And when I say he got them, I mean he got all of them. 7 in one day. Can you imagine the shock to his immune system? A day later my baby brother was sick... and that wasn't all. He was different.

At the age of 2 my baby brother was diagnosed with Autism.

{Colton Xander, plugging his ears, a common Autism trait}

When I was looking into majors at ASU, I came across the major "music therapy." In my head I said, "oh that's nice," and thought nothing of it. A week later I was at my grandma's house and she handed me an article because it reminded her of Colton. I wish I had that article today, because it was a major turning point in my life. It was the most beautiful article about an Autistic boy and his music therapist. That's when I knew exactly what I was meant to do.

{cutest picture ever}

So until I'm able to make a difference through music, I decided that I wanted to do as much as I could for the Autism community. I currently have the greatest job in the world -- I'm a habilitator for H.O.P.E. Group, LLC. I basically get to go to a child's house and teach them basic skills that are difficult for them to learn themselves.

IT. IS. BEAUTIFUL.

So in researching for this blog (by researching I mean, looking for a good quote to be my post title), I came across a quote that I really don't agree with.

This is what we know, when you tell us of your fondest hopes and dreams for us: that your greatest wish is that one day we will cease to be, and strangers you can love will move in behind our faces.

- Jim Sinclair

This really made me sad. It's as if to say that anyone who is trying to help someone with Autism doesn't want that person to exist.

This simply just isn't true.

I love my baby brother more than anything in this world. He has taught me so much. He has shown me so much. He has given me a world that I would not have seen without him. I wouldn't trade him for anybody else's typical brother in the whole wide world.

But,

I would never sit around watching my brother suffer. I would never sit back and let him not understand. I would never let him not be understood. My dreams are that I can make a better world for those who suffer, not exterminate them. My hopes are that one day my brother will no longer be degraded because of his disability. My greatest wish is that those with Autism live to humble people, and to show them compassion.

I have learned so much from my brother, and he doesn't even know the extent. So I will continue to hope for a cure and dream of a day when my brother no longer has to suffer, and no longer has to be trapped in his mind.

If you don't know anything about Autism, learn about it. Watch movies like Rain Man, Adam, Temple Grandin. Read articles. Get involved. It'll give you a view into the lives of these wonderful souls who have captured my heart.

Be brave, baby brother.

STAY TUNED.

I never talk during music

-- at least, during good music.

I was definitely musical girl today, as I am most days. But I thought that today, since I had a wonderfulslowrelaxing day, I would show you (instead of having you blindly trust me!) how musical I am! Not to say I am good by any means (heaven forbid!), but just how much I enjoy singing and playing.

Stuck Like Glue from Brittany Lewis on Vimeo.

I have been singing since I could talk, and I've been playing guitar since I was 13. I love it! And it's absolutely perfect for the job I want to go into -- music therapy. What could be better than playing music all day to help people feel better?

Oh yeah, nothing.

As for the rest of my day, I had ear-training (bleck!) this morning, then voice lessons where I learned an awesome jazz song called Summertime by George Gershwin and got my British on with a song called The sun whose rays by Gilbert and Sullivan, then I came home and curled up in a blanket and read The Picture of Dorian Gray.

I know what you're thinking -- "BRITTANY! It was darn-tootin hot outside today! How could you curl up in a blanket?!>@(#!"

Riddle me this: It was hot outside, but freezing cold in my apartment. Like, 65 degrees. Fahrenheit. Without the air conditioning running. Conundrum!

After that, I paid some bills (double bleck!), then went to Buffalo with my Jake. Afterwards, though we really wanted Yodipity, we settled for yogurtini. Luckily they had my favorite flavor with my favorite topping, so I didn't cry too much.

The rest of my night will consist of an abundance of music theory homework that has piled up from me having a horrible migraine for over a week (triple bleck!). I'm pretty sure that the definition for migraine is music theory. Look it up.

What did you all do on this random Tuesday? :)

If one hears bad music, it is one's duty to drown it out in conversation.

*All quotes from Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.