My new calling in life: Philanthropy

I think I would make a great philanthropist.
I am a research assistant for Professor Callister at BYU. There is a group of us (2 professors, 1 librarian, 2 grad students and one undergrad student) who are working on a project about non-profit organizations.

I spend ten hours a week researching articles about, from and to non-profits. I read them, take notes then report back. Another aspect is that I research actual non-profits and see what they are doing to fundraise specifically using social media. I have such a vast array of ideas, thoughts and suggestions that I feel like I could start my own non-profit one of these days...

Today, I spent some time on twitter (@chelsie_akers) looking up some organizations. Two really stood out to me: Charity:Water and Room to Read.

Charity:Water

charity: water funds a range of water technologies. These solutions include hand-dug wells, drilled wells, rehabilitations, spring protections, rainwater catchments and BioSand filters. In 2011, we expanded our work to Bolivia and Guatemala. 

 

Photo from Here

Every day, Charity: Water posts a photo of the day. Their photos are heart warming and moving.
There fundraising is impressive because 100% of what you give goes to fund the water projects.
Even if you make a credit card donation and the CC company takes a % they will use their private funding to pay that % so it truly is 100%.

Room to Read

Room to Read seeks to transform the lives of millions of children in developing countries by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education. Working in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations and governments, we develop literacy skills and a habit of reading among primary school children, and support girls to complete secondary school with the relevant life skills to succeed in school and beyond. 

Photo from Here

On a recent trip to Vietnam, a reporter joined up with people who were receiving help from Room to Read. The inspiring and heart wrenching story really painted a picture of what the world is really like. It made me hope that I will never again take advantage of my education. The story is of a girl who has to raise her siblings because her mother died of cancer and her dad has to be out in the city working to pay off the medical bills. He told the reporter “I tell my children that we don’t own land that I can leave them when they grow up,” he added. “So the only thing I can give them is an education” (The full story can be read here).

So, If I could just be rich and become a professional philanthropist, I could not only be moved by my research but I could then click on the "DONATE NOW" buttons and give to such wonderful causes. And as such an important member of philanthropy, I would be able to join these organizations around the world as they make a difference, with a little of my help (with my imaginary riches).

As it is, I am poor as can be and can't even afford the $20 it would take to give one person clean water for a life time... But one day, after I find me a sugar daddy, our money will go towards clean water for lots of people!

I've Never Leapt

As cliche as this is going to sound, I am going to say it anyway... Today, I watched Julie & Julia and was inspired to write a blog post. It isn't about my desire to start cooking French food (although inevitably that is true) or the aspiration to write more often on this blog so I can be famous one day too (which is not the case, sorry), instead it is about one line in that Julia Childs said that really caught me off guard.

 

" Every morning when the alarm goes off at 6:30 am, I leap out of bed. By 7:30 I’m in class in my apron peeling potatoes. Then we cook stock, bone fish, dress pidgins, make pastries with so much butter it almost stops your heart just to look at it." 

So what does it mean that I woke up at 12:30pm today?

The only conclusion I could come to, is the fact that I don't have any passion. None at all. I have never once leapt out of bed at 6:30 in the morning. Even when I was serving a mission for my church and I was required to wake up at 6:30, I not once leapt up. It was more like a slow droop to the ground where I then proceeded to say a prayer which was intermittently disturbed by a few more minutes of sleep.

Besides the 18 months I was required to wake up at such an ungodly hour, I have only woken that early for really good reasons: an early college class (lets face it, I was late every time and ended up with a B because of it...), an exercise class (the only reason I was faithful was because a friend was doing it with me and I couldn't let her down) and black Friday (no explanation needed. Oh, except it was probably earlier than 6:30).

I really can not think of anything that I love enough to get me out of bed at 6:30?
Maybe, when I figure it out, I will be a grown up!? Let's just hope I can figure it out before I graduate... I guess if I don't there is always a PHD to be had...

What would make you leap out of bed every morning?

Whoot Whoot for new Boots!

This post is in conjunction with Archives of our Lives

My entire life has been me living in hot places. Until now... I moved to Utah and committed two winters of my life to the snow. Or rather two years of my life to a masters program at the good ol' Brigham Young University. The move has been great and has given me many new experiences, the most exciting so far has been fall (the season).

Even though I am having a great time up here, my bliss was quickly shattered last Tuesday. What, you might ask could shatter the bliss that one finds in Utah? Freaking rain! I hate rain. The rain here is so dainty and cute but still, it makes you wet. Being the Arizonan that I am, I had no idea how to prepare myself for walking around in the rain. When I got to school, parked, walked to the library and got to my research meeting I was soaked! What the crap? How was I the only one wet up to my knees? How had everyone else forged through the same rain and not got a drop on them? That, my friends is a question that I may never know the answer to. However, my solution was to come home and promptly order me some boots.

I had given the thought to boots knowing that snow is in my near future so I had some styles in mind that I liked. Unfortunatly, those tastes lead me in the direction of Nordstrom... I did however find a few that were marked down! Of all the cute marked down boots to choose from, I had to make a decision and it was made due to one word WATERPROOF.






Yes, I bought the Sorel 'Tivoli High' Waterproof Boot. 
Original Price: $139.95
Sale Price: $99

 


Not the best steal of my life but if I'm gonna fork out food money for the next two months on a pair of boots, at least I saved 40 bucks. And they're cute! 

Yummy yummy salsa

Last week, I made salsa and it was GOOD! 

I am going to give you the recipe that I concocted because one it isn't a secret and two even if it were, the readership of this blog is quite small...

This was the second time I experimented with this mixture of goodness. The first time I made a lot. The recipe yeilded about 12+ cups. 

This time, I made only half the amount. (And I regreted it the rest of the week...)

Salsa was always so scary to me. It was a road I was afraid to go down because what if it were bad!?

My mom has a secret recipe that has always been good and I didn't want to just make it the same. I wanted my own twist on it. So, I got here recipe and then went to the internet and searched other recipes. I ended up using mostly my moms recipe and then tweeking it a little with some suggestions from other recipes.


It was super easy. These are the ingredients I needed:

5 lbs of Roma tomatoes

12 tomatillos
1/2 red onion
1/2 yellow onion
juice from two limes
2 large bunches of cilantro
4 whole jalapenos

1 can of El Pato Sauce 

(The yellow kind not the green kind) 

Salt to taste

I went to the Superstition Ranch Market in Arizona and here in Utah, I went to the Sunflower Market and piled all the fresh produce into my cart. Then, I waited in line, checked out, paid, placed my ingredients into reusable cloth bags and headed home.

Thanks to my mama, I have a multi-use Ninja blender that works great for such a project

After I cleaned all the ingredients, I cut everything into 4ths so they could fit into the blender/food processor. I had to do multiple turns in the blender to make such a big batch. As each ingredient got chopped up, I placed it into a large bowl. Once everything was in the bowl, I mixed it up thoroughly then tasted it on a chip to make sure the salt was good.

Vooalah, best salsa ever!

Dream Dream Dream oh Dreeeaaam

When I was 14, my family went to Washington state.
The thing I remember most about that trip was our visit to Mt. St. Helen.
It is a popular tourist site and with construction and fog, we ended up waiting a long time to get to the visitors center. As we waited and slowly inched our car up the mountain, there were road bikers climbing up the mountain and whizzing down the mountain on each side of us. (Come to find out, it was the annual "Tour de Blast". ) As I watched those bikers, I wanted so badly to become a biker and do that one day.

Adam, Michael, Me & Hannah

That day, I felt my heart pulled in a way I wasn't used to. I had a dream! I had a passion! I could do this! But wait, I was a 14 year old chubby girl with little to no self esteem, so I put that dream and passion to the recess of my mind. I forgot about that for years on end. Then about 3 years ago when I joined a gym I saw that they offered spinning classes. So I went to a few. Unfortunately, since the classes at they gym were just come and go the instructor didn't go over how to adjust the bike or anything, so I just went with the flow. Well, needless to say after spinning for hours with a bike in the wrong position, I couldn't walk straight for a week! This frustrated me and I gave up {wow, I don't fight very hard for my dreams!}. I figured It was because I was out of shape (hello low self-esteem) and went back to just doing my own thing at the gym.

Thanks to grad school and having to think about a thesis, I have been trying to focus on what makes me happy, what I am passionate about and what are my dreams. I had given up on so many of them that I felt like I didn't even have any. One dream that fought its way out from the back of my mind was biking.

I had made the goal to be active for three hours a week this semester, so I picked up a schedule of the physical activity classes offered at school. Every hour of the day they were offering spinning classes! Without hesitation, I signed up. I am absolutely loving it. I have only done it three days, but I feel that I am getting more used to it and able to go further and harder each time. Today, I went 28 miles in one hour. The beginning and end are still pretty simple but the middle our instructor works us pretty hard. Eventually we will be doing harder stuff for longer, he is just breaking us into how stuff works.

This is just a start, but maybe one day I can go back to Washington and do the Tour de Blast. It'll take a lot of work so I better be over all this giving up crap! 

 From their website: here

Tour de Blast is the essential event for road bikers, attracting crowds in excess of 1,000 each year. The 82-mile route from Toutle to Johnston Ridge takes riders into the very heart of the blast zone. If you can’t make the annual June event, you can still enjoy the experience and the views by following the ride route from Toutle to Johnston Ridge Observatory. Total elevation gain is 6,240 feet.

 

Beginner Level:

53K (33-mile) round-trip fun ride to the Hoffstadt Bluffs Rest Area/Viewpoint. Approximately only a 900' elevation gain.

Intermediate Level:

87K (54-mile) round trip to Elk Rock.

Advanced Level:

132K (82-mile) round trip to Johnston Ridge viewpoint.

RIDE PROFILE:
Mile 0: 500 ft. (Toutle - Starting Line)
Mile 11: 1,000 feet (Sediment Dam)
Mile 16: 1,400 feet (Hoffstadt Bluffs - Pit Stop)
Mile 24: 3,000 feet
Mile 27: 3,800 feet (Elk Rock - Pit Stop)
Mile 34: 3,159 feet (Coldwater Ridge - Closed)
Mile 41: 4,314 feet (Johnston Ridge - Pit Stop) 

I know it's a bit too hot, but...

In conjunction with:

Last week, I spent 5 amazing days in Alberta with my bestie, from Archives of Our Lives, Camille. 

I had an amazing time. We spent it one part relaxing and the other part shopping.

I am going to tell you about not one, but TWO amazing steals that I got while traversing across the American continent.

As seen in the photo below, I am trying to sport a peach scarf. This scarf is adorable and it only cost me... (drum roll please)... $4.99. 

(That was canadian dollars, but I hear that the exchange rate is pretty close...)

What do you think? 

I haven't ever really worn a scarf before...

Steal #2:

This my friends was a real steal. Literally, I stole it from Camille. 

FREE

Notice the sleeves. They go down so far on my hands.

Camille's arms are twice as long as mine. These self same sleeves were between her elbow and 3/4 length! Since it was a nuisance for her, it became a steal for me...

I hope you stole something this week too!

Puffy-Red-Eyes

Today, I woke up like any other day (besides the fact that for some unknown reason, I woke up at 7:15 am, way before my alarm went off). I got in my car and headed to Helga's house because we were going to a Zumba class together! Since I live in Orem, it took about 15 minutes to get there and I was listening to Glen Beck. (I try to keep up a little on things going on in the real world, even though I know they are biased on talk radio.) Today every host did a show in remembrance of 9.11.01.

In most cases I am not a very emotional person. Today though, every time I got in my car, I cried. I cried because I remembered where I was that day. I cried because I remembered how I felt that day. I cried as I heard people re-telling how their day was in New York and at the Pentagon. I cried as a 12 year-old talked about her father, a first responder, whom she doesn't remember because she was only 2 when he died. I cried out of guilt for the ten years I have taken advantage of the freedom, shelter and safety that I feel.

You'd think I'd change the radio Station, but I just couldn't. I sat in the Orem City Library parking lot until a commercial, soaked up my tears and went to study. As I read chapter 4 in the communication theory and research book, I started crying again. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LIBRARY!!!  How embarrassing... Reading about qualitative research and homelessness, I also felt those same pangs of sadness. I worked at a homeless men's shelter for a year. As the author shared his notes, I remembered each of the times I was in the self-same position and felt every emotion like it was happening again.

These two experiences today have reminded me of a lot: That I DO pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and that I need to do more to show that allegiance and my appreciation for those who are more consistent at it.