Did you know?

As seen on my beauty blog, http://confidenceb.blogspot.com/

Did you know that elevating your feet for at least ten minutes a day can help reduce your risk of varicose veins?
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Standing, running, or anything that keeps you on your feet puts pressure on your legs and feet, and your brain recognizes this so it sends more blood to those areas to help support the weight. This can cause the blood to build up, and even when you sit or lie down flat to relieve your feet, your heart doesn't always recycle the built up blood because it's harder to pump through that area of your body.

This build up of blood is a cause of varicose veins.

While sitting and lying down flat helps by removing the pressure from your feet, you can do more for your toesies (and, in the long run, your legs) by elevating your feet at a 30-90 degree angle. Something at a slope. Lying flat only removes the pressure; a slant or slope will drain the excess blood from your feet and return it to the rest of your body. You can do this by putting a few pillows under your feet, or sit on the floor with your feet on the couch, or use an Inversion Table (Gaoogle it) or be creative! I recommend elevating your feet for at least 10 minutes a day (you can put pillows under your feet while you watch TV or do your homework or eat lunch) but any amount of time is beneficial. I usually sleep with my feet elevated by pillows, but I know lots of people aren't keen to sleeping with their feet higher than their heads. So just do what works for you!

This isn't a guarantee against varicose, and if you end up getting varicose, please don't sue me for false information. I've been told by medical professionals that it helps, just like diets low in saturated fat may reduce the risk of heart disease; and besides, how could it hurt?

In the end, I believe your feet, legs, heart, and mirror will thank you for it.

Hair cut!

Since my ends were fried from past colorings/bleaching, I decided to have them completely removed. I modeled my hairstyle after Kimberly Caldwell's. I received several compliments and comments that I look older and more mature; I almost feel my age now!

Here's the result:

My Assignment in China

As an update from my last entry, I have been assigned to a school in China. I will be teaching at the Zhongshan Bond Language Institute, located in Zhongshan City, Guangdong, PRC. It was my second preference, but I am very happy and extremely excited. Zhongshan is in the southern region of China, and is close to Hong Kong. It has tropical weather year-round, as it's near the equator.


Last weekend, my family threw a garage sale that benefited the cause: all of the proceeds will go to my tuition toward China. We made about $300! I will continue to have fundraisers until I leave. I'm also working two jobs: one at Forever 21 in the mall and one at Pizza Hut. I enjoy both.

Dad bought me a Chinese for Dummies book and there is a new young woman in my ward who is willing to teach me the basics of Mandarin--or there's always Google Translator. Either way, I have my work cut out for me this summer!

I'm Going to China!

I promise I will get to posting pictures of the wedding and my vacation to the West, but since I'm short on time I thought I would take it to update the family on my latest news: I've been accepted as a teacher for International Language Programs, and I will be spending this autumn in China as a teacher of the English language to children.

There is still paperwork for me to fill out and I need to send in my passport so that I can get my Chinese Visa (sweet!) but I have been officially accepted and I will fly out mid-August and return mid-December. There are 6 cities in China, with nine schools in total, and when I do my paperwork I will submit my preferences. So, at the moment, I do not know exactly where I will be going but I'll let you know when I am assigned to a school.

A quick review of what I will be doing as an ILP teacher: I will be assigned to a school with other college-age, LDS-standards, English-speaking teachers. Five days a week we will teach children between the ages of 4-14 English through immersion classes; this way, I will not need to speak Mandarin in order to teach. (Whew!)
Every evening and weekend the teachers are free to wander and travel and shop as they like. We get a week long vacation, usually to Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, the Terracotta Warriors, etc. The fee I pay covers flights there and back; Kung Fu classes, Mandarin classes, and cuisine classes; room and food for the entire semester. I will be living with at least one female teacher in a dorm outside the school. I will have access to the internet and Skype, so I'll do my best to keep in contact and post news and photos on the blog.

I'll keep you updated as things progress.

Until then, 再见! (Goodbye!)

New Post on Writing Site

New blog post on my website for all things related to my writing!

www.jilliansuzannnewell.webs.com

Please feel free to check it out, along with all the other cool information on the site.

Thanks!

Superheros aren't the only people to wear capes!

Yesterday, I came down with a nasty case of the flu. It's time like these that I realize how awesome my mom is and how much I take her for granted. My mom and I haven't always been great friends, though recently we've become closer (and more tolerant of each other). However, I am naturally an independent spirit, and it isn't until I truly can't provide for myself that I fully recognize how much I need other people--especially my mom.

My mom is like a shaman, a healer. She has studied natural healing methods and proved them, time and time again. Most families go to doctors and resort to pills, etc., when sickness arises, but she has healed us countless times with her natural remedies.

(Natural, as in using plants and herbs that God intended for healing us; not to be confused with black magic or sorcery. She owns natural teas and uses a lot of Homeopathic medicines and mixes herbs together...I've learned some of her methods but I would like to learn all of them before I move out.)

She is knowledgeable about what foods to eat and what not to eat when one is afflicted with a certain illness. Plus, my mom is Wonder Woman when it comes to the mental courage and the stomach strength to clean up after her children when sickness prevails over them. (I wouldn't want to scrub down the bathroom floor when someone missed the toilet even if it wasn't me who was sick, not to mention when I am the person getting sick all over the place.) Nothing is too gross for my mom: she cares enough for me, and the rest of her 7 children, to wordlessly clean up our messes, wash our soiled clothes, scrub appliances, make cup after cup of tea, and take care of our chores when we are unable to do so.

Now I understand why she's the Relief Society of our Ward. She's one of the most compassionate, helpful, selfless people I know.

Thank you for everything, Mom. I love you.

As posted on Facebook...

Contemplating my life as it is now, I've recognized that it's not what I want it to be. I'm not content with merely living, so as my first step to "spring clean" my life, I'm deleting my Facebook account. This will allow me much more time to achieve what's most important: my dreams. If I ever reopen my Facebook, it will be to announce the completion of OUR CARAMEL SEA, which is a few years overdo. So, au revoir, Facebookers!

P.S. If you'd like to check up on me, there are a few ways to do so:

1. Email! (I'm not giving it out here; refer to #2 to get my address.)

2. Call or text me at 801-897-0826.

3. Visit my beauty blog (for inquiries about model shoots, comment on a post or refer to #2) at http://confidenceb.blogspot.com/

4. Visit my writing website (I need to revamp it, but you can contact me through it and I'll post updates about my books and writing on the blog) at www.jilliansuzannnewell.webs.com

5. Visit my personal blog (which I haven't used for ages but might in the future, especially to post pictures as I would have on Facebook) at http://andchocolatetoo.blogspot.com/

6. Talk to me in person!

Thanks everyone for being my friends! Even though stalking you has set my life offtrack, I still love you. ;)

Talk to you later!