Random Thoughts

To those who didn't know me as a child/teen. I grew up on a 90 acre farm out in the middle of nowhere in Carroll County Maryland. Our nearest neighbors were miles away. If I wanted to play with one of the neighbor kids I got on my 4 wheeler and drove it to their house. Yes, I drove the 4 wheeler on the road. That's what you did in the country. Well at least that's what we did until a city cop moved into one the houses alone the main road. He was a complete city cop ass and would pull us over and threaten to put us and our parents in jail. During my years on the farm we had cows, pigs, goats and horses on the property. I am in NO way a city girl.

Anyway, after I married my husband we rented a small farm house in Manchester, MD until we found our current house. Current house sits on 1 acre at the end of a cul de sac in a sub division. I always thought it would be cool to live some place where you could call and have pizza delivered. Having grown up on a farm in the middle of no where. There was no such thing as pizza delivery. We've been living here in this our first house for almost 13 yrs. In the beginning I loved it here. Being close to town and just a hop, skip and a jump away from grocery shopping and Walmart. But as time has gone on I have grown to miss the country life. I miss the privacy, the quietness, but yet the sound of all the country critters. I loved growing up on a farm. Exploring the grounds. Playing in the creeks. Making 4 wheeler trails. I desperately want my daughters to experience country living. I want to be able to sit on my deck and see the beautiful colors of fall each year. Hell I might even start drinking coffee again just so I can sit on the deck and drink it with my husband while we chat during a sunset.

I know there will be an adjustment period once we move to TN. Just during the last couple months trying to gather information from different areas down there I can tell that the people are much more laid back. When you request information from someone you should not expect to get it in a timely matter. Their idea of getting right back to you is in 2-3 weeks not 2-3 days. This is perfect for my husband Dan who is a very laid back person. He will right in PERFECT there right from the get go. Me a very high strung person....I will need to learn to adjust. Maybe I will learn to be laid back also and stop freaking out about shit all the time.

Looks like we will be taking a trip to TN the first week of April. I am super SUPER excited about this for several reasons. First because my husbands job has him completely stressed out and he really REALLY needs a break. Second because we will get to spend some time together as a family. Third because we are planning on seeing a LOT of the country side while out there. We plan to drive through the east end stopping to check out different counties and then drive through to middle TN. We will be checking out a LOT of counties while on our trip. This means a ton of driving. I hope the dogs & girls are up for it. I plan to document the whole trip. Going to be looking for an inexpensive camcorder before we go. So stay tuned for updates, pics and video.

Online Dates

If you follow me on facebook you know I have an obsession with dates. They are like my personal form of crack. Medjool Dates are my all time favorite. Recently a friend suggested I order some dates online to save money. He suggested www.7hotdates.com
I checked out the website and their prices were AMAZING! 5lbs for $35. That was at least a $10 savings from buying them at the grocery store. However this particular date farmer does not have medjool dates available until August. So I had to try 4 other types of dates that I was unfamiliar with. For the price though I was willing to give them at least a one shot try.

I purchase the foursome deal. 5lbs for $35 which includes shipping. The four types of dates I received were Khadrawy, Kalawy, Deglet noor, and Zahidi. Here is my review on the four different types of dates.

Khadrawy- taste very much like a medjool date. They are smaller in size and slightly sweeter and gooeyier on the inside. Out of the four different dates these are by far my favorite.

Halawy- Another one that is similar to the medjool date only not as sweet. These are also smaller in size. Not as gooey as the Khadrawy date and not as sweet. These are my 2nd favorite of the four.

Zahidi- This date is NOTHING like a medjool date. It is much smaller then the medjool date also. Actually looks more like a nut. It has a much firmer texture and slightly nutty taste. I like this date and I will eat what's in my box but I would not purchase them again.

Deglet noor- These dates are VERY firm. Almost impossible to rip apart with your bare hands. I need to use a knife to cut them open to get the seed out. These dates are skinny and longer then the above three date varieties but still smaller then a medjool date. These dates are NOT sweet at all. They have a very distinguished taste that is hard to describe. My blend has a hard time blending these up in my smoothies. I will eat what I bought but never purchase these again.

I just checked the 7hotdates website and they currently only have Zahidi & Deglet noor dates available until August. I'll be forced to find another online date supplier or go back to purchasing medjool dates from my grocery store.

Why am I moving?

Everyone wants to know WHY I'm moving. No I have no family in TN. Other then a few people on fb I know no one in TN. We choose TN because my husband and I went there for our honeymoon 14 1/2 yrs ago and fell in love with it. We went back for our 10 yr anniversary with the girls and it still felt like home. We just absolutely love it there. When we started talking about relocating one of the first states we looked at was TN. TN is also the state that my husband has always wanted to live in ever since he was a boy.
We checked out several other states. KY pulled a close second as did NC and AL. NC and AL were eliminated simply because we have been seen the type of property we are looking for there in our price range. KY was eliminated due to their personal property tax. While TN has a personal property tax also, they do not however have a state income tax.

Honestly, I think I can be happy just about anywhere that has the property we are looking for and decent schools for the girls and shopping within an hours drive.

But the BIG question I know everyone wants to know is WHY? Why move when we have a nice house here in MD? Why move when I have already built a successful photography studio here? Why move when all our family is here? Why, why, why...

Let me answer. Dan and I want a fresh start some place else. We want to leave some demons behind us and move on, start over, a new beginning some place else. We have both lived our whole lives in MD and we want to know what the grass is like on the other side. I don't want to live my whole life living in this one state simply because I am afraid of change. I truly believe that in TN we will find a slower pace of life. We want that laid back lifestyle. We no longer want the hustle and bustle of life here in MD.
As for family. Eventually my parents will join us in TN. After we settle in and get ourselves together my parents will move also. Matter in fact they are also selling their house at the same time we are selling ours. However we expect their house to take longer to sell since it is 40 acres in Taneytown and will be listed for a much higher amount then our house. Real estate in those brackets tend to take a little longer to sell.
As for Dan's parents. We completely expect them to come visit and since Dan's brother lives in FL they can just stop by and see us on their way to FL.

As for my photography studio. I did it once I can do it again if I choose to. I honestly have no idea what I will get into out there. All I know is that I want to be available for daughters. I want to be home when they go to school and home when they get off school. I want to be able to do things together as a family on the weekends. Explore our new community and surroundings. I will always have my passion for photography. Maybe taking a step back from it as a profession will give me the chance to photograph my own children. Capturing their life's story and tell it the way I do for my clients.
Maybe I'll get into fitness more in TN. I just don't know. Beachbody is starting a P90X certification. Once certified you can teach P90X classes in gyms and fitness centers. I would LOVE to be able to do that. The training and certification is really expensive. You have to travel to CA for it. I don't know if that is something I will explore more or not.

I just don't have a clue where the road will lead me once I am in TN, but I know it will be amazing whatever it is.
I honestly truly believe that for us the grass will be greener on the other side. I know that once we are in TN we will create the best of everything for our family. So there you have it.

I hope you will continue to follow me through this journey.

confession

I must confess. I am not proud of my actions in the self checkout line at the grocery store this afternoon. Well scanning my items the bagging area became full and I had to bag some items. The automated voice kept telling me I needed to bag some items which I was doing. I just wanted her to STFU. Once I got some items cleared away from the bagging area she began to tell me to finalize my order and swipe my coupons if I was finished scanning items. Well I wasn't finished scanning items. I was STILL bagging items. Every 10 secs that stupid automated voice would say the same damn thing over and over again. It got to be really annoying. Now I usually have much more patience at the self checkout line but today I had none!
I started telling the automated machine I wasn't finished and she needed to shut the hell up. Finally I was scanning items again and the damn thing kept getting jacked up. At one point she told me I could no longer scan items until I received assistance from a cashier. WTF!!! REALLY the reason I was in the self checkout line was because I didn't want anyone's assistance.

Now I have not lost my cool like this since going vegan. Since dropping animal products I have had a much better attitude and outlook on life. But NOT today. I was really giving the automated bitch hell in the store. Thank god no one was around to hear me.

In my defense I am in a lot of pain. Serious neck pain that has given me a headache. I really just wanted to get the hell out of the store and come home. I think my piss poor attitude was brought on by not physically feeling 100%

So there you have it. My confession of cussing out the self checkout automated voice.

Friendships

I've learned so much about friendships this past year. Some friendship will change and grow along side of you. Others will not.
Sometimes when you change yourself so much you realize you have nothing in common with certain friends anymore. There is no dislike or anger towards that person. You just find yourself wanting to do other things besides hang out with them. Maybe you choose to exercise instead of shopping with them. You might find yourself avoiding that person because they have habits that you don't like. For example, if your trying to live a healthier life you might not want to be around someone who smokes cigarettes. Maybe your trying to quit smoking and being around that person provides temptation that you can't handle, or maybe your trying to lose weight and that person likes to go out to eat and you would rather eat at home. Maybe that person likes to shop a lot and you just don't have the money to shop and window shopping is depressing. Whatever the case maybe. Sometimes we change and we out grow friendships. It's part of life.

Sometimes your best friends are the ones you see the least. Sometimes the greatest friends are the ones you've never met in person.

True friendship isn't about how many times you get together and have lunch. It's about how often someone is there to offer support to you. I have some amazing friends online. These people have taught me what true friendship is. Maybe one day I'll be able to apply some of these to in person friendships. One of the things I am most excited about with moving is the opportunity to make new friends. Friends that do not know the old me. They will only ever know the new healthy fitness freak me. It would be great to have a in person friend who is as in to exercise as I am. Someone who wants to workout with me. We could push each other to go a little harder. Maybe I'll find that in TN. But even if I don't, I know I always have my online friends. Many of which are into fitness also.

Benefits of Super Green Powder

A little bit more info that I found and thought I would share.


There are many benefits to making super green supplements part of your daily diet. One benefit is the intake of chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is what makes plants green. Chlorophyll is to plants what blood is to humans. Studies have shown that chlorophyll stimulates the growth of new skin cells and repairs damaged cells. Other studies have shown that chlorophyll can neutralize toxins found in the body.
Not only has chlorophyll been shown to stimulate the growth of new cells, it has even been shown to reverse damage that has already been done. Ailments such as ulcers, bleeding gums, liver problems, and eczema can be reversed with a daily intake of chlorophyll.
Another benefit is the disease fighting properties these supplements contain. Many of the nutrients, vitamins and antioxidants found in super green supplements are proven to help reduce the risk of, and even prevent, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and arthritis.
What about detoxification? So much of what is eaten today in the fast food setting as well as processed foods purchased at the grocery store contains toxins. Toxins are in foods, in the air, in the materials around us, and in our cleaning products. Super green supplements help bring a natural balance to the body while getting the toxins out.
Your energy level can see an increase too. Many people rely on daily caffeine jolts to revive an exhausted body and mind. Coffee and caffeinated drinks are staples in many workplaces, college campuses and even high schools. Super green supplements increase stamina, energy level, and endurance.
Calcium and protein intake can be aided since one teaspoon of super green powder can give you more calcium than milk and more protein than a several large steaks. Calcium helps keep bones strong and prevents osteoporoses and arthritis. Protein helps rebuild muscles and increases energy levels.
Finally, mental clarity, awareness, and memory are all affected by the foods we eat. That’s why meetings after lunch are not always the best idea. Stress and overloaded schedules also add to a lack of mental sharpness. Super green supplements can help increase your concentration and memory.
To provide an exhaustive list of the benefits of super green supplements would be too tedious. Each of the seven cereal grasses has a long list of positive health effects on the human body. In a quality super green supplement, the additional ingredients (fruit and vegetable extracts for example) also have their own health benefits.
To help in understanding the usefulness of super green supplements, here is a list of the most notable health benefits associated with quality super green supplements.
Improves brain function
Improves physical endurance
Reduces cholesterol levels
Reduces atherosclerotic plaque
Reduces arthritis symptoms
Rids body of various toxins
Strengthens immune system
Suppresses tumor development
One of the major functions performed by super green supplements is their ridding the body of toxins that contribute to free radicals in the body. Free radicals are thought to be responsible for a wide variety of health issues ranging from advanced aging to immune system deficiencies and various cancers.
While super green supplements have not been confirmed as sure fire ways to prevent or treat cancer, there is an abundance of evidence that they reduce the likelihood of cancer and its effects on the body.
Another important benefit of super green supplements is how they contribute to changing your body’s acid to alkaline ratio. Many of the foods in a normal person’s diet contain processed foods, such as hot dogs and a litany of fast foods. This sort of diet contributes to an unhealthy pH in your body. Your body should be more alkaline in order to improve your immune system and super green supplements help to change your body’s pH to a more alkaline state.

Macro Green WHAT????

Per the recommendation of my vegan mentor Brian Revere I started using Macro Greens today. Don't worry if you don't know what it is. I didn't either. Macro Green's is made by MacroLife Naturals. It is a nutrient rich super-food. What does it do for you and why did I listen to Brian you may ask? Well here is why:

Macro Greens® is a non-allergenic nutrient-rich super food supplement that optimizes pH for stimulant-free health and surpasses the nutrition of five servings of fruits and vegetables without the calories or carbohydrates.

The benefits of using Macro Greens® daily include increased energy, weight loss, increased mental clarity, balanced blood sugar, strengthened immune system and improved digestion.

I figured what the hell. If Brian suggested it I'd try it for 30 days. According to him in a couple days I notice a difference and look forward to drinking this nasty tasting stuff.

Today I just drank it with 10oz's of plain tap water. I took one "taste" of it and quickly realized the only way I was getting it down was to hold my nose and guzzle. So I did!

Tomorrow I think I will try it with almond milk. I've read it is better that way. Also read that you can make a smoothie with it by mixing in fruits with the almond milk and putting in blender.
I also read it is good in fresh apple juice. I might try this also since I have apples and a juicer.

But stay tuned to see if I actually start to notice any benefits to this green super-food.

My children

Carly my oldest, MaKenna the youngest, Lady Dog & Roscoe boy


I'm going to get on a soap box here.

I absolutely love my dogs. I love them like I love my daughters. Both Lady & Roscoe are rescue dogs from the cell dog program. I highly recommend the cell dog program if you are looking to adopt a dog. Please save a dog's life and adopt, do not shop for a dog. Rescue's and shelters are over flowing with dogs that need homes.

But please if your going to have a pet treat them with love and respect. Do unto them as you would your children or as you would want done to you. Do not tie your dog up outside and leave them for hours on end. Do not put them in the back yard and leave them there. If your going to have a pet, do so because you want to enjoy their company and have them as a part of your life. Let them share the comforts of the inside of your home. If you do not want to share the inside comforts of your home do NOT become a pet owner. Dogs are domestic animals. They are not wild animals meant to live outside in the heat and cold.

If you need help with bringing your outside pet inside please contact me and I will help you find a trainer to work with.

Before & After

For those that haven't seen them. Here are my Power 90 & P90X before and after pics. I do plan on posting a current before & after pic from Les Mills Pump when I finish.

People surprise me

Since starting my health & fitness journey in May 2010 I have been surprised over and over again by how some people react to the things I am doing in my life. Initially in my journey I had people telling me I didn't need to lose any more weight after I had just lost 20 lbs. People discouraging me from trying to lose more weight and meet my goal of 50lbs. This completely surprised me that people would actually try to talk me out of weight loss. WTF???
But I tightened my circle and moved on. Met my goals. Made new goals and kept moving forward.

But I must admit that when I decided to go vegan I was VERY surprised when people tried to talk me out of that also. Seriously who the hell are they to tell me what I should and should eat? And how in the hell is it effecting them that I don't eat animal product anymore. Come on people, worry about what's on YOUR plate not mine. I have decided though that when people say to me "OH your vegan, make sure you eat enough protein!" I am going to reply with "Oh your omnivore, make sure you eat enough fruit & veggies!"

By now I should NOT be surprised at the things people say. I should not be surprised when people think what I am doing in my life dramatically effects their life.

So WHY is it that I was once again surprised when people felt my family's decision to move was something that maybe I should have discussed with them first? REALLY???? This is when I want to say "I know this is a hard concept to grasp but my family is doing what we believe is in OUR best interest. We are not thinking about YOU!"

I currently can not discuss to much about our decision to move, but as soon as I can. I will blog about this like crazy. In the meantime please bare with me and know that this decision is one that has been in the planning process for TWO years. We did not make this decision over night. I am just now leaking more details and maybe I shouldn't have until.

I do not want to end this blog post on a negative so let's talk about something positive. JUICING!!! If you haven't tried making your own fresh juice I suggest you buy a cheap $30 juicer from Wal-Mart and give it a try. You will never buy store OJ again. To start with juicing try a simple recipe such as 1 orange and enough carrots to fill the cup to 10oz. When your ready try some green juices which contain fruits and spinach or kale.

That's it for tonight peeps. Eat an orange and keep smiling;)

Fitness journey

So far I've talk a lot about my vegan lifestyle and I haven't mentioned much about exercise. Don't you worry though. I exercise 6 days a week! Matter in fact my health and fitness journey started with exercise alone. Back in May 2010 my husband Dan and I start Power 90. A workout program put out by Beachbody. It is the program you do if you aren't ready for P90X, LOL. Which at that time we were NOT ready for P90X and had we started our fitness journey with such a extreme workout program we probably would not have stuck with it. Power 90 was a great starting program. I lost 30 lbs in 90 days with the program. But my goal was to lose 50 lbs. So after I completed Power 90 I moved on to P90X. After 90 days of extreme boot camp style workouts I had lost 22 lbs. I was in the best shape of my life.

Not only had I hit my goal weight but I was a size 6! Seriously I hadn't been a size 6 since high school. I knew I had found one key to weight loss success. Exercise programs that contain cardio AND WEIGHT TRAINING!

After finishing P90X I started a hybrid of Insanity and P90X. 13 days into my hybrid I fell and broke my right foot. Not even gonna lie....I was freaking the hell out at first. I was scared to death that I would gain all my weight back while my foot healed. But the day after I broke my foot I woke up and realized that only my foot was broken. Not my whole body. I could modify P90X and still be able to workout during my healing process. I had to put Insanity off since that is pure cardio with crazy jump training. But for 6 weeks I modified and pushed myself 6 days a week and continued on with the P90X schedule. When I went back to see my Dr at 6 weeks he was absolutely amazed at how quickly I had healed. He thought for sure I would be in my boot until week 8 and said I would not be able to put pressure on my foot until week 10. He was WRONG! Not only was I out of my boot by week 6 but I was able to apply pressure on my foot also. Nothing was going to stop me on my fitness journey. Not even a broken foot;)
I finished round 2 of P90X and then started TurboFire. One month after starting TurboFire I decided I wanted more weight training and started doing Chalean Extreme along with TurboFire. By the end of TurboFire I was down to 18% body fat. In case your not sure, 18% body fat is REALLY good for a woman. Average is 20-22%
I finished 2011 with Insanity and round 3 of P90X.

Currently I am doing Beachbody's Les Mills Pump. I'm in complete love with this fitness program. I am only starting week 4 now and already I see changes. I have a hard time actually taking my scheduled rest days with this program because I love it so much. If you love Les Mills Body Pump you will LOVE LOVE LOVE Beachbody Les Mills Pump. If you want information on any beachbody program I have mentioned please ask. I became a beachbody coach January 2011 and have been helping people with their fitness journey's ever since.
You can also check out my beachbody website at
www.beachbodycoach.com/charitynr

Now that I have everyone caught up on my fitness journey we can just continue forward.
My current fitness goals are to lose 8 lbs that I gained over the fall. Then I would like to lost an additional 10 lbs. Not looking to get ripped. Just a little leaner.

What do I eat?

Lots of people ask me what I eat now that I am vegan. Some days I'm feeling a little frisky so I give a smart ass answer like fruits, veggies & grains. But I know what they are really asking is how do I prepare the fruits, veggies & grains. First let me confess, I am a LAZY cook. It has to be super easy & quick. Nothing complicated or I just don't want to do it. Preferably 10 ingredients or less because again I am LAZY. I don't really enjoy cooking. So if your looking for some amazing vegan recipes you will be sad because I have none. BUT I have a friend who is an amazing vegan cook. You can visit her blog at https://unlikelyveganfamily.wordpress.com/
I start every day pretty much the same way. Oatmeal with chia seeds, banana, 2 dates and some cinnamon. Glass of unsweetened original almond milk. I eat roughly every two-three hours. Many of my snacks are green smoothies or juices. Smoothies are yummy and it is a great way for me to get in spinach and avocado every day. Green juice is great because I am able to consume juices from produce that I normally would not eat alone. For example kale, lemons, grapefruits, parsley and celery. I have a great green juice recipe that taste good and gets lots of micro nutrients from the produce used.
I make homemade soups for lunch a lot or quinoa with red peppers and black beans. Actually I eat a lot of beans because I like them and they are filling. Hummus is great as a sandwich spread. I don't really consume a lot of bread. But I do like the sprouted grain English muffins by Ezekiel. Let's see what else do I eat a lot of? Salads, baked sweet potato's. Occasionally tempeh (not a huge fan)

Seriously people I do not get fancy with my meals at all. Let's remember this IS only day 18 of being a vegan. I am sure as this journey continues I will learn to cook more stuff and get fancier.

So there ya have it. My lazy eating habits. Not very exciting right? LOL

Why Vegan!?!

Today I am going to focus my post on why I decided to go the vegan lifestyle route. It's still a new lifestyle for me. I believe today is day 17. I have been playing around with so many different diet's in the past year. Now when I say diet I mean as in what I eat, not being on a diet. I don't actually believe anyone should be on diet. That is a temporary fix. You want something permanent then you need to be willing to make a diet change for good.
Back in the spring of 2011 I hit a plateau with my weight loss. Lots of people were telling me "Your not getting enough protein" and "Your eating to many carbs". I tried supplementing my diet with protein poweders, protein bars, protein puddings. I ate chicken until I thought I was going to grow wings and start clucking. I had almost stopped eating fruit all together because I was told the natural sugar in it was contributing to my weight gain. That's right folks. Weight GAIN. I was eating all this protein and I started to gain weight. Then I cut out a lot of my fruits and still kept gaining weight. Not only was I gaining weight, but my mental health was in the one of the darkest places it has been in a very long time. I was tired all the time. Felt like shit! Was in a bad mood pretty much every day and just over all pissed off at the world.

A friend of mine had decided to do this 30 day vegan challenge. He decided pretty early into the challenge that vegan was the way to go for him. Ever since he made that decision he has been dropping hints that I should try it also. He kept saying "You don't need all that protein". I kept ignoring him.

Then the week after Christmas I watched the movies Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead; Food Matters; Forks over Knives. After watching those 3 movies I decided why not give it a try for 7 days. See if I could actually give up animal products.

By the 2nd day I was already feeling the results of giving up animal products. I had this amazing energy. 3rd and 4th day I actually woke up before the alarm with an amazing amount of energy and feeling happy, ready for the day. BTW- I never wake up before the alarm. I am not a morning person at all and usually wake up very grouchy. The amazing amount of energy was not the only thing I noticed though. What really amazed me was how I felt mentally. It was like someone flipped a switch in my brain. I went from being sad, depressed and angry to happy, positive and patient. I had this mental clarity that I hadn't had in so long I almost forgot what it felt like. By day 4 I knew I would be continuing on the vegan path. If for no other reason then because I like being happy and having a positive outlook on life. I do truly believe that something in animal products makes me depressed and angry. There is no other answer. The only thing that changed was I went vegan and became happy. Go figure! The health benefits are just an additional plus for me.

I am the only one in my family that is vegan. My husband and daughters still eat animal products. I would love for them to make the switch also, but they have to make that decision for themselves. However I do not buy any junk food anymore. What is currently in the cabinet has been there since I made the switch. Now that our kitchen is stocked full of fruits my family on their own is choosing to eat fruit as a snack instead of the junk food. Eventually I will just toss it out as they continue to forget about it.

So there you have it. My reason for going vegan. Mental happiness.

Welcome!

First official personal blog post. I have no idea how many people are actually going to want to read this, but it is better then using fb as my personal diary. First things first...if you are offended by offensive language you probably do not want to subscribe to this blog. I'll do my best to keep my 4 letter words under control, but for heaven's sake this is ME we're talking about.

Speaking of me, I guess I should intro myself for those who don't really know me.

My name is Charity Reed and I am a wife, mother of 2 daughers, mother of 2 dog's, certified professional photographer, owner of Times of Life Photography, Beachbody coach and fitness freak. Above you will see our most recent family portrait.

The purpose of my personal blog is to let people in on my life as a fitness freak, a new vegan, and my relocation as it happens. I hope this will be a great way for me to keep people up to date on all that is going on in my life. If you have questions or comments. Or you want me to discuss something specific just ask:)

As I mentioned before I am a new vegan. Just started my journey on January 2nd, 2012. I am still learning as I go. But I can tell you, I feel AMAZING since making the change. I'll get into more detail of that as the blog continues. But for now welcome to my personal online diary titled Faith, Hope & Charity.