Beach air cravingsss

Hi guys! Summer here, I've kind of neglected the blog temporarily, and while I'm not one to make up excuses, I have been chin deep in dog sitting and swim team. In fact I have made myself sick with a cold from stressing out so much, and the beach and a long black coffee from Starbucks sounds absolutely heavenly; as I write this I have Laid Back Beach Music playist playing on my Pandora radio as I drink Colombian coffee, watching some ones dogs while she is out of the country exploring the allurement of Ireland, day dreaming of white sand, blue water beaches and surfing. Last night I had a dream that I was adopted. what the heck hah?. Last Tuesday I went and saw Man of Steel with a guy I like, he made fun of me every time I jumped at a loud scene because I rarely go see movies, and he worked at a movie theatre in Canada before coming back to Virginia permanently before he leaves yet again for boot camp to become a US Marine in the next 9 months, and he was used to the loudness. There is only one week of swim to go until the summer break in august. Sometime during the first week of August I'm going to go get a massage at Massage Envy and relive some of the tension in my back. A week ago on Sunday my running partner and friend, Julie, and I went down to the back of Cate's house ( I am watching her dogs, as well as feed swans for here because she has lakefront property ) and caught a GINORMOUS catfish with a wimpy Walmart fishing rod, dog food, a net, and our rigourus determination. The catfish wouldn't even fit in our bucket! my dad came down and helped us by taking the handle off the Lowes bucket and put it through its mouth so we could take it home and make blackened Cajun catfish with asparagus, it was quite a meal and adventure. A little end note, Genna and I's blog is random little tidbits of our lives, and what we choose to write about is our decisions and if you don't like what you read, nobody is making you read it. Thanks!and to all our supporters, old and new,we love you and thank you for reading. ~ Summer xox

genna here

hey its genna here. its summer time, and yet ive got tons of school assignments to do. since i am taking a few advanced classes, my summer assignments are even harder and there is more to learn. i have to learn over 100 prefixes, suffixes, and stems. then i get a test on the first and second day of school on the vocabulary. i am not excited because theres more. i also have to read two books and write an essay for each, i purposely did not take honors for this class even though the teacher wanted me to. since ive had my surgery, i have not been able to do anything. i know it has only been two weeks but still, i like to be active! i want to go ride my horse and play soccer. speaking of soccer, a boy started talking to me and flirting with me but he isnt my religion but i think i might like him. he might meet my mom this saturday so that way i will be allowed to hang out with him alone. he respects what i believe in and what a relationship means to me and he wants the same type of relationship as me but he wanted to be more sexual than i do. i told him nothing would change my mind about what i want to do with a boy and he said it would be hard for him but he wants to get to know me more and then date me even if the relationship doesnt have as much sexual attention as he hoped for. he seems like a nice guy but i just feel all confused. when i talk to him, sometimes i feel like he doesnt actually care..but then sometimes he does. i feel all confused about him and boys in general. i wish a good catholic boy who is my type would come and lift me off my feet, i wish a boy would want me without feeling like he needs to fix me or without feeling like there needs to be alot of sexual attention in the relationship, i wish there was a guy who i could cuddle with and he wouldnt get a boner everytime he saw me. im not that attractive. i just want a good guy. a good guy that my mom and brothers and sisters approve of. their opinion means alot to me. i dont care how many boys flirt with me or check me out. they mean nothing unless one of them has good intentions. the boy im speaking to right now apparently has good intentions but im still scared of being used again. it hurts and im sure many people know that. but personally what hurts the most is when your dad leaves you when you are a baby and then comes back and then leaves, and it just goes back in forth. he is married for the third time now. but he doesnt care about me. he will compliment me if he sees me, like call me beautiful, but then he will guilt trip me about stuff. now sometimes its hard not to think of my dad everytime a boy calls me beautiful. i think to myself "do you really mean that? or are you just saying that so you can just string me along?" but all i end up saying is "awh youre sweet, thankyou". im telling you, life is rough and it just gets worse. sure it has its ups that are amazing but then the downs go all the way deep into the burning fires of hell and its hard. but you just have to get through it. you just have to keep on swimming.

Theres always going to be another mountain

Spent some time with my girl Genna, she's doing pretty well with post surgery PT and recovery so far, she went to mass two days later on Sunday, which is pretty impressive! Its always darkest before the dawn, so her dawn is coming soon. On fourth of July we spent the whole day together! we went and saw despicable me 2 in 3D and it was so funny! then we went to my neighborhood and went and tanned at the pool, adventuring in the deep woods by the creeks, and climbed huge hills, then back to my house for dinner and yummy pie and finally gorgeous fireworks by the lake. So she had a pretty amazing day before her surgery the next morning. Next week I believe my family and I are going to Virginia beach for the day and also I want to go canoeing with my running partner on the weekend. This weekend will be pretty chill for me. Quote " Behind the athlete you have become, the coaches who pushed have pushed you, friends who have supported you, the medals you have won, and the hours of practice, is the little girl who fell in love with swimming in the first place. Swim for her, not for anyone else." - unknown ~ Summer

Eating disorders and nutrition

When people say they are on some fad diet, restricting fats/carbs/proteins or even calories in a dangerous and unnecessary way, it drives me nuts. Most times all that needs to happen is to simply change what it is that you are eating. And then there is the scary category of eating disorders, anorexia and bulimia. When I started off with swimming I had athletes anorexia, and I just couldn't adjust to the calorie requirements and I continuously felt fatigued, agitated, and I just couldn't work at the level required for the days needs. Anorexia is something that many people struggle with, eating very, very, little food throughout each and every day. What they think is that this way they will loose weight and fat, look like that ' gorgeous skinny model' on the magazine, when in reality your body stores every bit of food its being deprived of instead as being used for energy and lean muscle building, in addition to yellowing of the skin, facial hair growth on girls, yellowing of eyes and teeth, lowered brain functioning, and heart problems as well as many other things. That is why girls who are over weight do not loose weight efficiently, and sometimes even gain more weight as a result from binge eating, or bulimia. Bulimia is just as bad as anorexia, but can cause stomach bleeding as well as throat problems. Just because some one is skinny, does not define them as healthy, now don't take that the wrong way, there are lots of skinny people with naturally fast metabolisms, who are healthy and fit. You should, instead of counting calories, count the nutrition and healthy fats such as polyunsaturated and monounsaturated ( omega-3 fats, usually the highest amounts are found in fish, nuts, peanut butter, and some plant bases, and are super heart and brain healthy + help to loose weight ). Eat as much as you want as long as it is healthy, and eat the rest in moderation. When paired with fitness, that is the true key to health and fitness. Before you do a calorie or macro nutrient restricting ( carbs, fats, and proteins ) diet plan PLEASE do your research and make sure the amount you restrict is coinciding with your weight, height, age, gender, and your daily activities. Eat for the body you want, not for the body you have. Eat for your goals. notice the last two sentences start with eat!!! Food is a source of energy, a power house of nutrition, when the right choices are made. Be that healthy fit girl. Be you! you're beautiful inside in out. ~ Summer xo

genna

everyday i wake up thinking to myself, today i am going to be more outgoing than usual, i am going to be adventurous, i am going to show my crazy, fun, and silly side to the world..i turn on my music, take a shower, get ready for the day. but once im finally good  to go, i never go anywhere that i havent been to. i am a girl of shopping and never letting a moment of the day go by without making it a remembered moment. but the thing is, ive been to the same stores over and over again. its time for me to explore new stores and see how well their clothes fit me and how i like their style. the reason im saying this is because its good to go out of your comfort zone. go to new places, do new things. be adventurous! dont take life for granted because you only get one shot at it. life is a beautiful thing and its your decision on how to spend every second of every minute of every moment of every day. be free! what ever you do, dont regret it. everything in life is just a stepping stone to make you into a better you. by the end of the day, you should be smiling because you had so much fun or did what you wanted to do. i am having surgery on my knee this coming friday, july 5th. i will be on bed rest for at least a month. the recovery takes 4 to 6 months. but it  makes me have to relearn how to walk and use my entire leg. im spending all my time having fun and facing my fears, even though i dont have many. i spent a week in north carolina on the lake knee boarding and trying new tricks. then i went straight to work camp. its the best experience i have ever had. it opened my eyes to see the world in a whole new way. that lasted a week. now i am at my brothers house with his family, helping them as much as i  can and seeing friends up here. im going back home tonight to get my room all nice and neat because ill be in there for quite a while. i might even go to virginia beach, even though i dont really love the beach. i mean its just a beach and im going to hawaii next year. i am even taking algebra 2 at the age 15, turning  16 this september, just so ill be two years ahead of my math level in sophomore year in highschool. i like to be an over achiever in somethings, and not in others. thats just me. i have my strengths and weaknesses just like everyone else in the world. and im proud of it. im proud of what i was given. 

genna <3 

Genna here! I have realized today that no matter how many people say they love you, only half of them actually mean it. So don't get too comfy with people who say they want to be a part of your life after 16 years of ignoring and abandoning you. They just want to look good in front of the public. Yesterday was a rough day for me. What I just said happened to me once again but I'm not letting this person in. My friends say I don't know how it feels to be broken up with, but I know how it feels to be rejected all your life. I know how it feels to think that everything is your fault so you constantly say sorry. I turned into as crowd please, but no more. I realized with help that its okay to be me. Its okay to eat and enjoy life. Its okay to not say sorry when you didnt Do anything wrong. Its okay to be free.

Genna

update on Genna: she should be coming home today! I'm so excited to finally have her back and posting like normal, as I have run out of inspiration. Yesterday I went to count laps at a swim-athon for summer league, an old friend was there and music was playing and even though it drove me crazy with every one asking me questions, I enjoyed myself. Alex and I went to the dock while it was pouring rain, but it was great to finally see him again after him being gone for a year. My swim coach and I are going to talk about me being a senior swimmer today! or very soon, I'm extremely THRILLED that my hard work is soon to be paying off, I just have to heal fully from surgery. Genna and I will be headed to the gym as soon as we figure out a date, no more loneliness at the gym for me aha. The past few weeks seem to have flown by pretty quick, time needs to slow down. In two months exactly I will be 16. I have been having a lot of girls lately asking  me for fitness tips and how to be a more healthy being, they used to ask me "why are you doing it?" and now they ask me " how did you do it?!" so I think my next post will be a about general fitness, nutrition, and eating disorders. Quote " Because at first they will ask you WHY you're doing it, but then they will ask you HOW you did it." - Unknown. have a great day everyone, ~ Summer