International Princess Project

I know... its been a while. I have to say, I really thought I would be better about blogging then I have been. Hopefully this is the beginning of a second attempt! I wanted to take a minute to share a little bit about International Princess Project (IPP)... the organization I have been volunteering at pretty regularly since March. IPP is a small non-profit that started a few years ago to help women and girls in India who have been forced into a life of prostitution. We work in conjunction with two well known organizations in India (Bombay Teen Challenge in Mumbai, and Harvest India in a smaller rural town). These organizations do the work of getting the girls out of the red light districts and then working with them to restore their lives in various ways. Here is a little bit about what is going on...

In India, millions of women and girls work as prostitutes. Many have been trafficked, kidnapped, lured with promises of jobs, or sold by their own families into sexual slavery. Some as young as six years old have become sex workers (the actual term used in India) due to poverty or lack of opportunities. Within the huge, cosmopolitan city of Mumbai, lies the largest red-light district in the world, which is home to a myriad of injustice, abuse, and horrors.

One million children are trafficked into the sex trade each year, taken from their families and forced to work as prostitutes. In Mumbai alone, ninety cases of HIV are reported every hour. Once in the sex trade, women and girls may be forced to have intercourse with up to twenty clients per day.

International Princess Project has worked with these two Indian organizations to set up a sewing center at each location. While living in a safe, holistic recovery home, the women learn to sew PUNJAMMIES™... pajama pants made from beautiful Indian fabrics. PUNJAMMIES™ help the women support themselves with skill and dignity, heal in body and spirit, and live lives of freedom.

I am posting this on my blog for a couple reasons... 1. just to inform you about what is going on on the other side of the world, and 2. because you can help do something about it by buying a pair of PJ's for yourself or someone else. By purchasing the PJ's these women have made, you help empower them to restore their lives.

I truly believe that if everyone takes a small piece of responsibility in the fight against human trafficking and forced prostitution, we can overcome the dark reality these women have lived and prevent others from experiencing the same.

Okay guys, there's my plug for IPP... won't do it again, at least for a while. You can check out our website if you like and buy PJ's there... also, just fyi, if you ever want to host a PUNJAMMIE Party at your home, let me know and I would be more than happy to give you info. Here's our site: www.punjammies.com. Every sale contributes to restoring hope and dignity to another life.

Love, Linds

Gardening.

I hope that I have a green thumb, because I think I really like gardening. I have always wanted to garden, but up until our recent move, we haven't had a yard.

This past weekend was great... my parents and my grandmother, Zoe, came down for a visit. I hadn't seen Zoe since our wedding 2 and a half years ago, so that was wonderful in and of itself. To top it off, both my mom and grandma like to work... on little projects I mean. I kid you not, the last two times my mom has visited me, we painted the inside of my house, then we made the garage into a small workout studio. My dad jokes that next time she'll be re-roofing the house.

Anyway, back to the weekend... shortly after they arrived, we went to Home Depot and picked out a bunch of flowers to plant in our front yard. By myself, I would have been there for hours, but I let my grandma make most of the decisions and we were out of there pretty quick.

It truely brought me so much joy working side by side with my family on such a beautiful, warm day. The best part was that Zoe had taken her shoes off and was walking around in the dirt in her socks with soil caked to the seat of her pants. As she placed each plant where it should go, she gave me all kinds of instructions (in her southern accent) for taking care of my new garden. I will admit, I am a little overwhelmed by this responsibility... I really hope that I can keep these things alive! All I can seem to remember her saying is, "Talk to them, Lindsay... tell them to look pretty and to grow." So if nothing else, I will be talking to my little flowers... and watering them, of course... and hopefully, I will do my grandmother proud.

26.2

So Jeff and I just registered for the San Francisco Marathon! Our first marathon together... my second, and Jeff's first. We made the decision pretty hastily... figuring its not going to get any easier. Why the heck not, right?! Besides, my uncle and aunt have a house in the city, so we will be able to stay with them rather than pay for a hotel. Its something like 16 weeks away, which is a pretty typical amount of time to train for one of these things. We will do our long runs on the weekends, working up to probably 20 miles a few weeks before the big race. So thats all... perhaps I will post in a few weeks about our progress. I think it will be a fun race... once we finish it.

i heart camping.

I love camping. I love being out in nature, the smell of the trees, the fresh air, eating handfuls of trail mix, cooking over a tiny stove, making s'mores, stargazing, and getting warm in my sleeping bag after a full day. I love that I have no idea what I look like, and that I don't care. Life is so simple when you are camping.

This weekend Jeff and I went with some friends to Santa Cruz Island... one of the Channel Islands off the coast of Ventura. We left early on Friday morning to catch our 9am ferry across and got back Sunday afternoon. We couldn't have asked for a better weekend to camp. The weather was amazing! We did some day hikes, the biggest one being about 11 miles on Saturday where we hiked across the island to a secluded little beach. For the majority of our hike, it felt like we had the entire island to ourselves. The hills were green, the flowers were blooming, and we even saw some whales off the coast.

My favorite part of the weekend was getting up early on Saturday morning to watch the sunrise over the mountains with Jeff. We hiked up a small hill to a cliff overlooking the ocean and watched as the sun changed the colors of the sky, lit up the hills, and warmed our faces. To be there in God's amazing creation with my best friend made me feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

It was a good weekend... but I won't lie, it was nice coming home to a warm shower, a flushing toilet, and a soft bed too!

CrossFit + Me = Sore for days

When I first heard about CrossFit a couple years ago I wanted to do it... but it never really seemed to work out... location wise, time wise, money wise. Once we moved to Costa Mesa I was determined to try it, so I did a little research on CrossFit gyms in our area and found a "garage gym" about a mile from our new house... perfect! For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, CrossFit is "a strength and conditioning system built on constantly varied, if not randomized movements at high intensity." Pretty much you lift super heavy weights, squat, lunge, push and pull as fast and as hard as you can until you feel like dying... or at least throwing up. Okay, its not that bad... but it can be pretty intense.

My first workout was the typical one for first-timers, called the "baseline workout". I was instructed to row 500 meters, do 40 squats, 30 sit ups, 20 push ups, and 10 pull ups as fast as I could... "Okay, good, got it.... Wait a minute, did you say pull ups? uh... I can't do pull ups... not one... definitely not 10!" "No problem," says Alec, who runs the gym out of his garage. "You can use this box to jump up to the bar each time." "Awesome" I say, somewhat sarcastically. "Great! Lets do it!" he says. So I start my first workout, all the while being cheered on by Alec and the others, who were once in my shoes. To my surprise, I did fine... even the pull-ups, which were a little embarrassing. Not as bad as I thought it would be. I felt good actually... tired, yet energized... I can do this!

Since then, I have gone to CrossFit about 6 more times... each time is a little different, and quite a bit harder than my baseline workout. I have experienced soreness beyond what I have felt in a long time...the kind where sitting on the toilet is painful... but I love it. I love that every time I go, I am welcomed by friendly faces; people who are suffering through these crazy workouts together and at the same time cheering one another on. I love that it kicks my butt and pushes me beyond what I think I can do.

Who knows, one of these days I might actually be able to do a pull-up...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQXtMz5hZE0&feature=channel

change.

The thought of change thrills me... everything seems new and exciting and hopeful. I have always liked the idea of a fresh start...

The reality is that change is kind of challenging for me... sort of a wake up call.

Jeff and I moved from Encinitas to Costa Mesa about 2 months ago. Our first couple of weeks here were easy... filled with hanging pictures on the walls, exploring new restaurants and frozen yogurt spots, running unexplored routes, and spending time with different friends. For me, week three got a little tougher. I began to feel that un-welcomed pressure to find a job... and not just any job, but one that I was going to love... that gave me a sense of purpose. After much searching and even more sitting around in self-pity, I felt stuck... not where I had envisioned myself 3 short weeks ago. Thanks to my loving, well-intentioned husband, who believes in me more than I believe in myself... and who told me to get off my butt and just do something, I applied for some random jobs (oh Craigslist). To my complete surprise, I heard back from a few of the places within a couple of days.

Now, several weeks later I am getting pretty comfortable as a physical therapy aide... part time. I still keep up with the personal training one day a week down in Encinitas, as well as help out here and there at International Princess Project... an awesome non-profit that I stumbled upon, that empowers women in India who have been brought out of prostitution, by teaching them sewing skills. They make PJ pants ("Punjammies") and ship them to the US where we sell them and spread the word about the tragedy of the sex trade in India. I love it.

I am realizing more and more that life really is what you make of it... what I make of it. I thought physical therapy might be "it" for me, but yet again I am finding my life's career by process of elimination. Its okay though, and I'm learning. And all in all, the change has been good for me. I want more out of life. I want to enjoy the process of getting to that place where I think I should be... to stop and smell the flowers, ya know.