On Bucket Lists.

     I think a bucket list is one of the best inventions ever! Not only does it guarantee lots of adventures throughout your life time, you can look back on it and reflect on the adventures you've already had! My only problem has been making a bucket list that lasts more than a few weeks. I might feel really inspired and jot down 10 to 15 things on a scrap of paper and claim it's my new bucket list, but I have no idea what to do with that piece of paper, so I end up losing it and then I'm left bucket-list-less.
     Well the past few days I decided to end that cycle! I spent hours looking for old bucket lists in wallets, old notebooks, journals, etc, and compiled everything onto my computer. That's one of the beauties of modern technology, I can save all the papers and lists I want into one little hard drive!
     Side note: fun fact about Lindsey. I'm obsessed with lists. I love them to death. I make a list for everything. Shopping lists, bucket lists, lists of other lists I need to make, to do lists, to don't lists, and every other kind of list you can think of.
     So anyways... I've come up with my bucket list so far. It surprised me how many things I could think of that I want to do.   

 Run a marathon

   Pet a zebra

   Shake the prophet’s hand

    Get married in the temple

    Visit Africa on a service trip

    Move to Europe solo for 6 months with just a back pack

    Foster parent dogs

    Kiss a complete stranger
    Ride a hot air balloon

   Play hide and seek in IKEA

    Take a train ride that lasts over 24 hours

    Have a pen pal I’ve never met

   Own a nice camera

   Drive a corvette

   Attend a real masquerade

   Go a week without any electronics

   Meet Lady Gaga

   Climb to the base of Everest

   Donate blood

   Donate hair to locks of love

   Live by the beach

   Learn to drive manual

   Play messy twister

   Visit Antarctica

   Walk on the great wall of China

   Play a part in a movie or TV show

   Take a yoga/meditation retreat in India

   Run the Color Run

   Run the Warrior Run

   Serve a full time mission

   See a Broadway show in NY

   Visit all 50 US states

   Go shooting, try different kinds of guns

   Attend the Olympics

   Go to drive in movie on a date

   Visit the walk of fame

   Watch the running of the bulls in Spain

   Snorkel in Hawaii (Done, February, 2013)

   Go apple picking

   Get a real henna tattoo

   Go to the top of the Eiffel tower (Done, June, 2005)

   Go bridge jumping

   Hold a tarantula

   Hold a giant python

   Ride an elephant

   Take a trapeze class

   Go to a soccer game in full body paint

   Do a cart wheel

   Shop at the Mall of America (Done, most of my childhood I grew up in MN)

   Go to a music festival dressed as a dirty hippie

   Spend Halloween in Salem

   Go para-sailing

   Buy something at the Tiffany store

   Have a picnic by a river and feed the ducks

   Visit the Globe Theatre (Done, June 2005)

   See the Mona Lisa (Done, June, 2005)

   Write on the Bucket List wall in New Orleans

   Participate in a big food fight

   Fly on any European airline

   Have temple-work road trip in Utah

   Buy (and wear) a claddagh ring

   Own a pair of louboutins

   Get a picture with every princess at Disneyworld/land

   Swim with a wild shark (Done, Feb, 2013)

   Go one month eating only fruits and veggies

   Be in the audience for the Ellen show

   Go to Carlos bakery and have a cannoli

   Do a Chinese fire drill

          So there you have my bucket list so far! I'm sure I'll add to it throughout my life, as well as check things off! My advice to anyone making their own bucket list: dream big! Don't be afraid to write down something you think might never happen, because if you want it enough and it's worth it, you'll make it happen. Also, put a variety of big and little adventures on your list. As you can see my adventures range from going to Africa to doing something as simple as a cartwheel (which I've still never done!). That way you can always be progressing on your list. You don't have to wait until you can take 6 months off of work or school to back pack around Europe, you can say to your friends "hey, messy twister is on my bucket list, come over tonight!" 

         So enjoy your bucket list experience, dream big, and follow through! If you've already done something really awesome, put it down on your bucket list and check it off! It will remind you of the adventure and how it might have been a once in a lifetime chance!

         Thanks for reading! Come back soon for more awesomeness!

         PS: for anyone who watches the Bachelorette.... I just watched the first part of the finale on Hulu. I'm really glad Brooks left, I didn't like him at all. Team Drew right now, even though Chris seems like a sweetheart as well! Sorry, had to get that off my chest!!

          Don't be afraid to email me any questions at sistersparhawk@hotmail.com or comment below!

On Healthy Eating.

     I'm a vegetarian. I'll go ahead and get this little gem out of the way. It's been a very recent change in my diet. It's only been a few weeks since I've eaten meat, but already I've enjoyed some of the numerous health benefits of going veg! Now when most of my friends or acquaintances find out I've become a vegetarian it's always the same reaction: *eye roll* well at least you're not a vegan. Excuse me? Even people I barely know have the audacity to say this to me! (I most said that because I love the word audacity!) In my head, my reaction is: *eye roll* well at least I've already lost weight and feel so much more healthy now. But of course I'm much too nice to say this out loud :) Now I'm not here to preach about how everyone hates vegetarians and we all need to gather together and hold hands and weave daisies into our hair and smoke peyote together. Just no. All I have to say on the matter is if I don't care that you eat meat, why should you care that I don't?
     But why not share a few of the wonderful things I've experienced since starting this new hippie lifestyle? :) First of all, I've lose weight! Without even trying! Honestly, need I say more??? After doing my research, I've found so many delicious vegetarian recipes I didn't even know existed! I'm totally into hippie super foods like kale, quinoa, and chia seeds (no joke, I eat the seeds that come in the pack from the infomercials "ch-ch-ch-chia!). I live for spinach and berry smoothies! And one last benefit (and yes, I am aware that you will all roll your eyes and sigh when you read this, and that's ok with me) I feel better morally and ethically! Don't get me wrong, I'm not a PETA freak, but not eating dead animals makes me feel just a little bit better about myself! After a long discussion on this subject with my mom I think she put this feeling into words better than I could: There was nothing casual about dying to this animal (she was eating a burger as she said this), infact, it probably would have preferred living. So I don't see why I should take eating it so casually. You should have to be really hungry and actually need the food to take life away from something.
     Well said mother, well said.
     Since everyone does vegetarianism a little differently I guess I'll clarify my definition for y'all. I don't eat any meat, I do eat dairy products in moderation, and eggs very rarely. As far as non food products go, I don't own any leather or fur anyways, so that wasn't really much of a change, not really my style anyways. I do work at a restaurant, so I'm preparing and cooking meat all day long, which has probably been the hardest part of this transition. It's so easy for me to get really good meat for really cheap, which I used to do all the time, but now I have to resist! Honestly, the hardest part has been while I am cooking an entire flat top of bacon at once. Let's face it. Bacon is delicious. If I go back to eating meat, it will be the first meat that I have. But I will resist!
   
     Now that I have bored you with my non stop jabber about being a vegetarian I'll go ahead and give you some stuff to read that I didn't write!
     One of my FAVORITE super foods: quinoa. It's a tiny grain that you cook in water until it gets fluffy. Cooking quinoa is one of my all time favorite smells, it's warm and nutty and delicious. Here is a great article containing the health benefits, cooking tips, history, and all that jazz on quinoa.
    Another superfood that I'm in love with is the wonderful chia seed! I know, it's bizarre and weird. But it's just so healthy you can't ignore it! Health benefits of chia seeds and benefits plus a good recipe can be found in those links!

     I hope you enjoyed this post! Any questions can be sent to my email sistersparhawk@hotmail.com or placed in a comment below! Thanks for reading and come back soon for more!

On being a Mormon.

     First of all, my opinions expressed here are not any kind of official anything! To find some great information on Mormon beliefs visit either of these links: mormon.org or lds.org.
     And now, my story. I was born into the LDS church, both of my parents are members. My maternal grandpa and my paternal grandma are members, pretty much everyone else in my family has fallen away from the church. I was raised in places where the Mormon church isn't particularly popular, not many people knew what it was, and not all of my friends were LDS when I was growing up. But in 7th grade I moved to one of the Mormon capitals of the world. I discovered for the first time that there are actually a lot of us! What?!?! Soon enough pretty much all my friends were Mormons, which was only the coolest thing ever when I was 13 years old! I ended up attending a church owned school, which was one of the most fun experiences of my life, and now here I am, preparing to embark on a church mission.
     When I was eight years old, I was baptized into my church. Many religions share the practice of baptizing children, many baptizing infants. The Mormon church believes that children under the age of eight are still innocent, young enough not to know major rights from major wrongs. When a child reaches the age of eight, this is called the age of accountability. This is when a child is old enough to be accountable for the mistakes they make. Well, on my eighth birthday, I was baptized into the LDS church and the following day I was confirmed a member. To be entirely honest I don't remember all that much about the day I was baptized, but I can sure remember the feelings. It was the most clean feeling I had ever felt. I felt and knew that all my sins were being washed away.
     After high school, deciding to attend a church college was one of the more conflicted decisions I've had to make. I knew that all the BYUs are great places to get a good education, as well as a place to meet A LOT of other Mormons. But it was just so expected. Like I said, I like adventure. Every Mormon is expected to attend BYU, go on a mission if they're a guy, get married their sophomore year, start having kids their senior year, graduate, and go on living perfect little lives. It all seemed perfectly boring to me. I dreamt of moving off to some far away university, only coming home for Christmas, and having great adventures living in a whole different culture. But I am here to tell you, that choosing to attend BYU-Idaho was one of the best decisions of my life. I can also thank all the colleges I applied to for making it my only choice, but that's completely beside the point. Attending a church school is hard is some ways, strict dress codes, curfew, and all the boys are either premies (pre-missionaries) or looking for a wife. But in some ways, attending a church school was so fun! I lived in a house with 4 other girls, and I could not have asked for better roommates! I never had to worry about going to a party and worrying about avoiding alcohol or drugs, I never had to worry about walking in on my roommates with boys (awkward!), and best of all, my religion was incorporated into all my classes! All of my professors were Mormons, we started every class with a prayer and often a scripture (even math class!), and every Tuesday we had a school wide devotional. There weren't any classes scheduled for one hour on Tuesday so everyone could attend a big meeting where a staff member or an authority in the church would come and talk to us. I guess my whole point to this paragraph is that BYU-Idaho was one of the best decisions I've made and I hope to go back someday!
     Another big part of Mormon life is missions. Missions missions missions. Basically all men are expected to go, and women can choose to go if they want to. Boys can leave when are 18 years old, they serve for 2 years. Girls are able to serve at 19 years old, we go for 18 months. Whenever I tell people who aren't Mormon that I'm going on a mission, the most common question I get is "what's the point of a mission?" Well, the point is proselyting. Go look it up in the dictionary. Just kidding, I'll do it for you: a proselyte is a person who has changed from one opinion, religious belief, sect, or the like, to another; convert. So proselyting is changing other's opinions, religious beliefs etc. Reading over that, it sounds really bad. We don't go out to preach and tell everyone they are going to hell. I promise. In my own words, I am going out to serve because I love my religion. It has made me who I am today. I love it so much and know the power that it has, I want to share it with everyone that I can. I can't even imagine missing out on the opportunities the church has given me, so I want to bring those blessing and opportunities to others!

     I'm not entirely sure what the point of this post was. I just want everyone to get to know me I guess! Being Mormon is such a big part of my life, and hopefully this blog will help me share that with the world. On another note, I have plenty of friends that aren't Mormon, and I totally respect all beliefs. I'm not one to shove my beliefs down your throat, because I don't want you to shove your beliefs down mine! I would love to invite you all to learn about the Mormon church, but if you don't want to, then don't! We can still be friends, promise.

     Thanks for reading and come back soon! If you have any questions for me about my religion just email me at sistersparhawk@hotmail.com I also have a profile on mormon.org.
     As a lead up to my next post: sometimes when I'm bored with life I like to try random things, and my latest adventure has been trying out vegetarianism! If you have any questions about that email me and I'll try to answer them in my next post!

So, why start a blog anyway?

     At first I thought "no way, everyone and their dog has a blog, I don't need to become one of those girls." But alas, here I am. Writing my very first blog post. I guess the reason I wanted to start a blog was to document all the fun, all the adventure, and sometimes all the trials I have in life. A little bit about myself: My name is Lindsey, I'm a Mormon, I'm a future missionary, and I love adventure.
     I was called as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to the Arizona Mesa mission. I leave in September. I'll be writing plenty about how I'm preparing for this big adventure on this blog.
     I attended one semester at BYU-Idaho last year, then came home to do mission prep. Even though I only lived there for 4 months, I fell in love with Rexburg and would gladly go back!
     I am a health fanatic. I love to exercise (I am majoring in Exercise Physiology) and learn about nutrition. Though you can often find me chowing down on a whole batch of chocolate chip cookies or a big bowl of ice cream, I really do love nutrition and finding the best healthy recipes. I can assure you I will post plenty of recipes on this blog, healthy and otherwise.

     Well, I hope this has been a satisfactory first-post. Feel free to follow me on Pinterest (just search Lindsey Sparhawk) where I pin obsessively. You can also follow me on Twitter (@LindseySparhawk) as well, although I don't tweet all that often.

     Thanks for reading, and come back for posts that will inspire you, make you laugh, make you think, and maybe change your mind completely. :)