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That Ginger, Anna

That Ginger, Anna

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An Adventurer Adventuring for Adventure’s Sake

04 Wednesday Mar 2015

Posted by That Ginger, Anna in Personal and Fun, Uncategorized

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

adventure, adventurer, adventuring, army brat, blogging, bronx, curiosity, david rodigan, food, hawaii, italia, Italy, New York City, NYC, openmind, Reggae, shellys cabaret, the bronx, Travel, traveler, traveling, twentysomething, WODW, world religions, write or die wednesdays, writing

So, one great thing about being an Army brat is the opportunity to meet so many people that you otherwise wouln’t have the opportunity to get to know.

My dad was stationed at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii from 1997 to 2003 and I made several friends during that time. One of the girls I got to know was from Texas and we hung out for a few years when we both lived there. We lost touch, but 5 years later when my dad was stationed at Ft. Hood, she happened to see him at the PX and we were able to reconnect. Several years later when I moved to Texas I was able to hang out with her again and I would go down to her house once every other month or so to catch up. During this time I got to know her older sister a little better and a few summers ago I was invited to her birthday party (you guys may remember that I stayed with her for a week in Aversa last summer, during my Italia in 40 adventure). We all went to a waterpark and I got to meet all of my friend’s older sister’s friends. Over the next several months I went down there several times for other parties and got to know a few new people each time. One of the people I met was a fellow Masters student and blogger, Shelly! 

It just so happens that Shelly aka Shelly’s Cabaret and one of her friends hosts a weekly writing prompt called “Write or Die Wednesdays.” It is open to all bloggers so feel free to link up and contribute! 



Adventure!

#writeordiewednesday



I’ve meant to contribute for months now, but I always worry that I won’t have anything interesting to contribute. 

Today is the day! 

“This week’s prompt is the word ADVENTURE. What has been your greatest adventure? What is the most adventurous thing you have ever done? Have you ever been on an emotional adventure? The writing possibilities are endless!”

While I would have to say that my greatest adventure has been my move to New York, I live for adventure. I’ve always loved hiking and traveling. By the grace of God, I got to take a 40-day backpacking trip to Italy last summer and loved every minute of it-despite traveling alone-and would do it again in a second.

My dream job would be documentary filmmaker or a photo journalist for a travel magazine. I love learning about people and having new experiences whenever I can.

This move to New York has definitely been my biggest adventure because everything in my life is completely different than it’s ever been. While I grew up in an apartment in a culturally diverse area in Hawaii, I was with my family and had a security blanket in my parents and pets. Here in New York I am completely alone, so everyday is an adventure. I never used public transportation (outside of traveling) in my life before moving here, so even going to work and having to map out my route and be able to adapt to route changes and delays is crazy for me. One of the big reasons I chose to live in the Bronx was because I knew it would be a big adventure. I encounter new cultures, languages, and religions everyday. 

Just today I was riding to work and saw a man on his balcony participating in a prayer ritual. He was rubbing his upper body with what looked like an ashen cloth and putting his hands up behind his head. He repeated this process several times before I drove off. I live a couple of blocks from several masjids and I see bearded men walking to prayers every Friday working through their Misbaha as they go along. There are african hairbraiding shops, bodegas, and various ethnic restaurants on every corner.

One of my favorite things about myself is my sense of advendture. A week or two ago, the Write or Die Wednesday prompt asked, “Who are you when you are in your element?” While I have many answers to this question, I would definitely say I am an adventurer at heart and my lifegoal is to go on as many adventures as I can.

I have to admit, when I was younger I was much more adventurous! I was a SUPER tomboy until about 10th grade and I was a daredevil in elementary school. I loved going fishing, skateboarding, building forts, swimming in the ocean, hiking with my dad, driving my four-wheeler…I don’t really know where that fearlessness went, but now I do worry about hurting myself and embarassing myself, which I never cared about in my younger days. I know high school stripped a lot of my self confidence away, so I really stopped trying to live outside the box. I had a crazy year in 2012 and had several of my security blankets ripped away at work and school, so I have slowly been getting back to being true to myself and going on new adventures.

I started Geocaching a few months ago and that has also inspired several recent adventures. It’s a global scavenger hunt of sorts and it is a great way to explore new areas!

Another adventure I’ve started since moving to New York is my job. I am a companion to an elderly woman with memory problems, so that is a challenging aspect of my life that requires adaptation on a daily basis. It’s such an interesting and rewarding job and I’ve been able to meet dozens of people that have really helped shape me as an individual these past few months.

I’m very adventurous in other ways too. I like learning new languages, watching foreign films, trying new foods, and listening to new types of music. I think trying new foods and branching out to different genres of music is one of the easiest ways to be adventurous in your daily life. 

I would highly suggest trying out Tunein and listeing to radio shows from around the world.

One of the best memories I have from a time when I decided to be adventurous was in 2009 on my way to Italy. I was flying from London to Milan and sat next to an older British guy, wearing a bright purple sweater over a red and white plaid button up. We struck up a conversation and he asked me to guess his profession. I guessed that he was a dentist or lawyer and it turns out he was a Reggae DJ. We talked the entire flight and I didn’t think much of it until I got home and Googled him. It turns out that it was none other than David “Ram Jam” Rodigan from BBC1! 3 years later I tuned into the BBC because I heard an advertisement for a Reggae program and he was the DJ! He’s worked with Bob Marley in the past and many other famous Reggae and Ska artists! 

I think a few of the keys to being adventurous are confidence, faith, and openmindedness. You have to be confident that trying new things will lead to fun memories and good experiences and you can’t close yourself off to things that are outside of your comfort zone. I think leaving my comfort zone is the the biggest difficulty for me. Once I make up my mind to leave the house and actually go out on an adventure, I’m never disappointed. Another big part of being adventurous is being able to find the fun in unexpected circumstances. This is a hard one for me too because I am not the most spontaneous person. I like spontaneity and I can roll with it if I am in that mindset, but I do get frustrated when things don’t go according to plan. 

Anyone can have adventures-big or small-with a little confidence!

What’s the best adventure you’ve ever been on?


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My OSCARS Picks

22 Sunday Feb 2015

Posted by That Ginger, Anna in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

ABC, film, movie, movies, my oscar picks, my picks, oscars, oscars 2015, predictions

The OSCARS website wouldn’t let me tweet my ballot without Facebook, so I am posting my ballot here! These are my picks for the OSCARS…not who I want to win, but who I think will win!

Also known as Anna’s epic failure because she only saw 3 of the nominees…

Some commentary: Iñárritu is so hot, I hate Sean Penn-joking or not he’s so annoying, Meryl and JLo win my outfit picks, Arquette’s and the best writer speech were great, I need to make it a point to watch more nominees next year (it’s so expensive to go to the movies here), of course Boyhood and American Sniper were snubbed (Texas still rules), watching this on the east coast is insane-it’s 12:15!

✔️Best Picture: Birdman (I’d pick Boyhood)

✔️Actor (leading): Eddie Redmayne (I’d pick Carell)

✔️Actress (leading): Julianne Moore (I’d pick Witherspoon)

❌ Actor (supporting): Edward Norton (I’d pick Ruffalo)

❌Actress (supporting): Laura Dern

❌Animated: The Tale of Princess Kaguya

❌Cinematography: Birdman

⭕️Costume: Maleficent (I’d pick The Grand Budapest Hotel)

✔️Directing: Birdman (I’d pick Boyhood)

❌Documentary (feature): Salt of the Earth (I’d pick Finding Vivian Maier)

❌Documentary Short: White Earth

❌Editing: The Grand Budapest Hotel (I’d pick American Sniper)

❌Foreign Language: Leviathan

❌ Makeup/Hair: Foxcatcher

✔️Music (score): The Grand Budapest Hotel

✔️Music (song): Glory (I’d pick I’m Not Gonna Miss You)

✔️Production: The Grand Budapest Hotel

❌Short Film (animated): Me and My Moulton

❌Short Film (live): Butter Lamp

⭕️Sound Editing: Birdman (I’d pick American Sniper)

❌Sound Mixing: Birdman (I’d pick American Sniper)

✔️Visual Effects: Interstellar

❌Writing (adapted): The Theory of Everything

❌Writing (original): Boyhood

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Ash Wednesday!

05 Wednesday Mar 2014

Tags

40 days, ash wednesday, catholic, catholic woman, catholicism, fast, lent, lenten season, religion, spirituality

20140305-074304.jpg

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Posted by That Ginger, Anna | Filed under Uncategorized

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A Recipe A Week: Week 4

23 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by That Ginger, Anna in Uncategorized

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Tags

a recipe a week, asian, cooking, healthy, recipe, salad

I missed a couple of weeks because I had visitors, started back to school, and lost track of time, but I’ll make up the extra two recipes at some point this year!

This weeks recipe is for Asian Coleslaw!

You will need:

  • *1 can of chicken (for the vegetarian version, this is unnecessary)
  • 1/2 cup of sliced almonds
  • 8 teaspoons of sesame seeds
  • 7 tablespoons of rice vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons of sesame seed oil
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 bag of coleslaw mix (shredded, raw cabbage and carrots+coleslaw dressing)
  • 1 can of crunchy rice noodles
  • green onion
  • 1 packet of truvia/stevia sweetener

In a pan, over medium heat, toast the almonds and sesame seeds thoroughly. In a small bowl combine the vinegar, oil, salt, pepper, and sweetener, mixing together thoroughly. In a large bowl combine the chicken, bag of coleslaw mix, almonds, sesame seeds and rice noodles, mixing thoroughly. Stir in the vinegar dressing and enjoy. For a vegetarian salad do not add chicken and for a vegan salad, find vegan friendly sweetener and rice noodles at your local organic grocer!

 

 

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My 2014 Weight Loss Challenge!

05 Sunday Jan 2014

Posted by That Ginger, Anna in Personal and Fun, Uncategorized

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

carolinafitness, fitbit, fitness, goals, health, New Year, newfoundfitness, newyear, resolution, resolutions, sprint to may challenge, sprinttomaychallenge, weight, weightloss

Hello all! I am joining a weight loss challenge to help me accomplish my resolution to lose 20 pounds this year! Carolinafitness has created this challenge in order to help bloggers hold each other accountable for their weight loss goals and resolutions, and I couldn’t think of a better way to keep my head in the game, so to speak. Below is my bio and weight loss goal for the challenge! If you want to join, comment on the post I linked above and then post your own bio and goal on your blog, before the 15th of this month!

My bio and goals:

Hi! I’m Anna, I’m 25, and I’m currently a PhD student studying European History. I grew up as an Army brat in Ft. Benning, Georgia, Mililani, Hawaii, and then Tulsa, Oklahoma, but I now reside in Dallas, Texas. I was a super tomboy as a kid and very active until my senior year of high school, when I began concurrently attending college. As my academic responsibilities increased over the years, my urge and ability to be active has decreased. During the summer I am really responsible about my eating habits and activity level, but during the school year, while I maintain healthy eating habits, I always find excuses not to work out. Also, admittedly, I am an emotional eater and whenever I am lonely, sad, or angry I usually go to food for comfort. My favorite outdoor activities include hiking, geocaching, swimming, running, and snorkeling (when I’m in a location that allows it)! While I don’t mind going to the gym, I am a sucker for cardio activities and really do not enjoy lifting weights (something I am trying to change). My other hobbies include cooking, drinking wine, watching movies, blogging, and listening to music. I am 5′ 5″ and my goal weight is 125-130 lbs. I reach my goal every summer, but throughout the academic year I always gain back the weight I’ve lost. So, my goal for 2014 is to reach 125 lbs as quickly as possible AND maintain it for as long as possible! In order to reach and maintain my goal I will be using this challenge to hold myself accountable and the Fitbit One to monitor my activity levels and encourage me to be more active. I will also try very hard to keep a food journal on the Fitbit site, so make sure to follow me (click the hyperlink above)!

Thanks for reading and  I will be sure to update my progress as often as I can!

Do you have a weight loss goal for 2014? What are some tips you would give people to lose weight and keep it off? What is the biggest challenge for you when trying to lose weight?

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