Behind the Lens: White Lake 2012

Lake Bound..

It's Thursday and we're headed to the lake, White Lake that is. A place that my family has been vacationing at since I was a little girl (that goes for all of my family!). We absolutely love it and I've kept the tradition going with Laekyn ever since she was born as well. We'll be returning back home Sunday but while we're there we plan to take advantage of the vacation fully. We know people who post consistently while on vacation and I think to myself, is that really a vacation? To us, it's not. A vacation is "an extended period of recreation, esp. one spent away from home while traveling" but technically if you do all the things you do while at home just somewhere else, you're on a vacation from your home but not from your mind and usual interactions and actions.. right? We want a true vacation away from the hustle and bustle of life, overloaded mind and daily work/chores to just enjoy the time spent together, so we've decided to not be on Facebook much (if even at all). So.. if you don't see much from us in the next few days - that's why.

Have a great weekend, y'all!

Pro-ana

As I type this, I'm watching a segment on Dr. Oz about "Pro-ana" which I hadn't heard of until today's show. Actually, today's show is a re-run so his site has the information from the segment on the website which you can find here. I literally have tears in my eyes watching these women and how they are living their life. If you haven't heard of it either, Pro-ana refers to the promotion of the eating disorder anorexia nervosa. As you know from my prior posts I was on a weight loss journey using Weight Watchers the later part of 2011 and My Fitness Pal this year however, my outlook on weight is entirely different from these women and partially it's not even their fault.

To me, a healthy woman has curves, weight on her and she looks healthy. To these women, they are nothing but skin and bones but still see themselves as being fat. It absolutely breaks my heart!

I am writing this post because I know I have prayer warriors out there and these women need prayer!! There are many sites out there for Pro-ana and where these women go for "thinspiration". I've posted a few links to some of them below that I found by searching Pro ana on Google. It will make you sick on your stomach to think how these women live and see themselves, at least it does me. Please join me in praying for these women and that their eyes will be opened before their life comes to an end.

http://thinspirationproana.com/
http://www.prettythin.com/proana.htm
http://proanalifestyle.blogspot.com/2007/07/70-reasons-not-to-eat.html

I am ALL FOR someone who wants to be healthy and lose weight but there is a right way and a wrong way. Our lives are so precious and often times we overlook that reality because of the media (magazines, television, websites, etc.) and the way we get wrapped up on appearances and how skeletal thin is promoted as what is sexy and most attractive but the truth is we ALL are attractive no matter what size we are. Each of us has something that no one else has, we are individuals and that shoudln't be robbed of us because of a nasty eating disorder. I am a woman and I will be the first to say I have not always been happy with my appearance (a lot of that was affected by media and the comparison of myself to celebrities) but unlike these woman on the pro-ana sites, I overcame that feeling by making a healthy lifestyle change. Enough rambling from me, these women need prayer! -Hollie

Concerts

We're so excited that our concerts of the summer finally kicked off last weekend! We went and saw Lady Antebellum, Thompson Square and Darius Rucker in Charlotte and boy was that an awesome concert! Darius even sang some Hootie, too. Last Sunday we went to hear Taylor and Chad at an outdoor concert put on by a Church in town. I had seen Taylor and Chad for the first time at the beginning of this year and really enjoyed their music. If you haven't heard of them, check their website out by clicking here. In a couple of weeks we're going to see Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw and Jake Owen and I must say, that is the one I'm looking forward to the most. It's going to be the concert of the summer!

Last weekend, I didn't take my camera (shocking, I know!) because I really just wanted to have a night away from the ordinary and just dance and listen to music. I have to say, it would be nice to have pictures from that night but the memories and relaxation that came from that concert go undescribable. I haven't yet decided if I'm going to do the same for the Brothers of the Sun tour or not. Guess we'll see. When it gets closer to others, I'll post about those as well but that's it for now! :) -Hollie

For the Fourth!

I've been on Pinterest for awhile but haven't ever posted about it. With the holiday coming up I thought I'd share some of the things I've pinned onto my 'For the 4th' board. There are some really cute ideas that I most definitely want to take a stab at. I'll update these as I pin more, too! :)

Aren't all of those cute! Great ideas and some look so yummy. You can see more boards and pins of mine by clicking here and if you aren't already a Pinterest user, I highly suggest you start pinning!

Careful though, it's addiciting.. don't say I didn't warn you. :) -Hollie

The Lucky One

The weekend before last, Laekyn was spending the evening at her dad's and we took full advantage of the time together. We went to dinner and then to a movie. It was quite funny because we had planned on doing the 7 o'clock movie but we just couldn't decide what we wanted for dinner. By the time we decided, we had missed the 7 o'clock movie so we had no other choice but to see the later one.

So we went to Chili's for dinner (which I'm not a huge fan of but it was different since we don't ever go there) and then made a stop by the dollar store for some movie snacks ('cause we all know it's cheaper than buying them at the theater) and then went to see the movie. I am a HUGE Nicholas Sparks fan so it's no surprise that I absolutely love all movies he has made thus far. This one, was no different. If you haven't seen it, we highly recommend it! Such a sweet movie.

You can visit the movie's website here, go check it out! -Hollie

Behind the Lens: 5K on the Runway