perspective

ya this doesn't inspire me. looks nice, but doesn't inspire me...

this inspires me to do something...to change the world...to be an inspiration to others...

some day...and one day!

thanks tricia!

~amy

TOMS

i have always dreamed of owning my own pair of TOMS. they are not just comfortable extremely comfortable and cute, i love the story behind them. i love that i get to buy a pair of shoes and enjoy them and love them, but i am also giving a pair of shoes to someone in another country. someone who doesn't have shoes, and runs around in the dirt with cuts all over their feet that could lead to a serious infection. when i watched this video   it brought joy to see those kids running down that dirty street, running faster  than ever at the end with their 'own' pair of TOMS. blake mycoskie is the inventor of TOMS. he was the man with the vision and he was the man who came up with the good idea. he was the man who's heart went out to these children with no shoes, with cuts all over their feet. he is the man that inspires me. what a great idea! what an eye opening job to have. blake has experienced so many of those moments with children in other countries that i would die to have. and still more of those moments to come. this is something i could see myself doing. my heart goes out to those kids, and i am go inspired by blake to notice something that i have that others don't and make a difference.
the best part about picking your own pair of TOMS is how many different patterns, colors, and styles  there are. i got a pair for christmas - let me rephrase that. my parents were going to but me a pair for christmas. i was a loud to pick them out because my mom had no clue which ones to get. i want to wear these on my wedding day. i was going to get these . but i decided on these because they are a lot easier to clean and they will go with everything! we are picking them up tomorrow and i can't wait to get them on!

yup, this picture inspires me!

yup, love this picture!

yup, that could be me someday! 

~amy

apolo anton ohno

i just finished apolo's book. i have been dyeing  to write this post. it took a little longer then i was hoping because of course, right when i was in the middle of reading it we started reading another book in english. but no worries - this post is here.
i first got to know apolo from the famous show dancing with the stars, which he was partnered with my favorite julianne hough, and won, then i watched him at the olympics 2010, and now i am addicted. seriously.
i get goose bumps thinking about how good the book is. it was the best book i have ever read!
apolo is so inspiring!! at the age of 14 all he wanted to do was hang out with his friends, go to parties, and just have fun. he didn't care about his talent in speed skating. he didn't care that people from utah were calling him and asking him to come train with the professionals. his dad forced him to go and after two tries he finally got on the plane with apolo and off they were to utah. a little while later his dad dropped apolo off at a cottage and told him to stay here until he decided what he wanted to do with his life: skate or not?? after a weekend of contemplating all of the pros and cons -  it was final, he was going to skate. he was going to go to work!

now i am not going to tell you the whole book and every detail, even though i probably could. i encourage you to get the book. if you are into sports or not it doesn't matter. apolo can inspire anyone. he mentioned that at the beginning of the book - if you are in academics, sports, or business and i added a 15 year old girl deciding what to do with her life - it applies to everyone. pick it up at target, you won't be disappointed.
but going back to the book. after apolo decided that this was what he was going to do with his life - he became committed and dedicated. he had a vision and he knew what he had to do to win.



it is pretty amazing that i was thinking about my motto for my life: live with no regrets, and applying that to my life daily, and then christmas morning came and i got a book about one of my favorite athletes living with zero regrets, so he says throughout the book.

i am going to share my favorite part of the book. about a year before the 2010 olympics in vancouver apolo hired a man named john schaeffer who moved in with him and trained with apolo every single day. everyday he was going to go to team training in the morning, and then a workout with jon, then back to rink for another session with the team, and then another work out with jon. apolo was put on a very specific scedule. this is what john told him about what his day was going to entail: "you are going to wake up between five thiry and six. then you will eat breakfast. you're going to have one egg, scrambled; half an apple with a little bit of honey; and an oatmeal mix i'm going to make that has coconut oil for fats, applesauce for medium-index cards, and some other stuff. i am going to make batches of this stuff and put it in the refrigerator; you're going to take a couple of spoonfuls of the mix. from seven to eleven you are at the rink. at nine thirty you will need to take out the snack i am going to pack you and eat it. the snack is most days going to be a hard boiled egg wrapped in romaine lettuce with a dab of chili sauce. that will give you a little sodium and a little sugar; the lettuce will give you a little bit of enzyme. at eleven thirty you will have the same egg snack. when you get home you will have two or three tablespoons of the mix. then we're going to do ninety minutes of work out her. that will take us to two thirty in the afternoon. you'll eat a couple more spoonfuls of the mix. get yourself back to the rink and along the way eat another egg snack. on the way take your vitamins and minerals. jump onto the ice and skate from three until five. at five eat another egg snack. then depending on the week, we are going to do weights or a a jump workout or run. you're going to do a lot of running on the treadmill. you'll eat dinner. your mostly going to eat salmon. not very much. the piece of salmon is going to be as big as if you quartered a lemon and put three peels together. i'll probably stir-fry a green vegetable of some sort, most likely in vegetable oil, maybe a little bit of butter if i think i need to pick up your fat. now computer and cell phones are off. at least two times per week between seven to eight you should be doing the sauna and have massage therapy to focus on the erector muscles in the back. after that one final egg snack and then go to sleep. we get up and do it all over again. timing is everything. if i want you to do a particular exercise at a particular time of the day, we have a five minute window; that’s when i want you in there. oh any maybe once a week, saturday or sunday night, we're going to have a big bowl of brown rice, pasta with some chicken, carrots, onions, celery, peppers and kale. it'll be great, you'll see."
apolo was leg pressing 20 pounds shy of a ton. that is 1,980 pounds. one thousand. nine hundred. eighty pounds. take a minute and read that sentence over again - i had to a few times. just the other day i was working out and leg pressing 90 pounds. it hit me right then and there how much he was actually leg pressing. that is a 1,890 difference. he was logging 850-900 miles on the treadmill.
jon typed up notes on mental preparation and hung it everywhere in the house. this is what the page said:

The power of positive thought and attitude
Thought = if you truly believe, it will happen!
Attitude = Positive attitude will allow you to
     Perform maximally both
     Physically and mentally


The power of negative thought and attitude
Negative thought = will destroy all dreams
Negative attitude = will restrict performance,
      Both physically and mentally


Mental conditioning is a key as your physical for success
You will block all negative thought!
You will replace all negative at once with positive thought and attitude
You will visualize success every night through the games
You will believe you can destroy any other skater in the world
Regardless of what you think of their skill!
Regardless of ice conditions!
Regardless of the feel of your skates!

Whether you believe something or not, you are right!

You are the best in the world. Do not let your mind destroy that reality.

It is what it is!

Mental will do one of two things: help you overcome of defeat you 

and this:

To accomplish your goal, you have to be willing to sacrifice beyond what others are willing to sacrifice; you have to be willing to train at levels others are not willing to train at; you have to be willing to accept accomplishing goals that others have never reached.


I just have to say WOW, and wow again. that is unbelievable, outrageous, and crazy. but his day to day living inspires me to be an athlete. he inspires me to be the best i can be. to live with zero regrets. to think beyond what i can do - but what i can and want to accomplish. apolo never doubted jon - no matter how hungry he was laying on his bed every night, or how tired he was - he knew he signed up for every single draining day, and he knew what he had to do for the olympics. he was loosing weight but keeping all of his muscle. every day of working out, eating just enough, and mentally preparing himself all paid off - he has won eight olympic medals in three olympic games, and who knows if he will be in russia in 2014. i hope so, so i can watch him perform with this book in mind.

i think is is amazing just how dedicated and committed apolo was. he has a love and passion for speed skating. he is so wise in everything he does and says. apolo is going to go far in life. i am going to go far in life because of him. i keep him in mind during my workouts, and i will keep him in mind during my soccer season. i want to be just like apolo.

i encourage you to pick up the book! you won't be disappointed, and won't be able to put it down. i can not wait to read it all over again!



(i read this moment in my book, after he won the final race in the olympics he held up number eight for the number of olympic medals he won.)

my blog posts just keep on getting longer and longer. this will probably take 3 days to read!!!! sorry!!!
~amy

my life. part two: my dreams

Everyone knows my love for dreams - and how I think they are so important to have. seriously, i dream everyday. i dream about the things i want to do in my life. i dream of making memories and experiencing those moments that i will remember for the rest of my life. this again, relates back to my future because the list i am about to share with you involves my future. i dream of doing things in my future. i dream a lot!
so here are the 100 things i want to do before i die. yes 100 seems a lot, but the way i dream it is easy to come up with.

1. watch the summer and winter Olympics live
2. stay in Donald Trump's hotel
3. marry and have kids
4. fly/go in a hot air balloon
5. travel all 50 states
6. go on the amazing race
7. ride an elephant
8. meet apolo ohno and watch him work out
9. learn how to surf
10. run a marathon
11. buy shoes for everyone in an african village
12. get a 6 pack
13. go skydiving
14. personally help feed a village in another country
15. meet the cast of step up 3d and rehearse a dance with them from the movie
16. see the northern lights
17. go to a different country to play soccer - probably italy
18. order everything on an italian menu -in italy- and eat it all
19. hand the flag to the winner of the 200m or 400m in track or the 1000 or 500 in speed skating, in the olympics
20. train with an olympic athlete
21. meet lindsay vonn and go skiing with her
22. watch the final game in the world cup
23. babysit for the joneses and duggers
24. meet the chapman family and go on a bounty with them
25. swim in the red sea
26. go scuba diving to the bottom of the ocean
27. pull a fire alarm - when needed
28. adopt a little boy from africa
29. shoot a gun (but not at someone)
30. buy a house, gut it, and rebuild it so it's perfectly me
31. learn how to break dance
32. meet christine st.claire and kaylyn kyle and have a soccer lesson with them
33. learn how to drive stick shift
34. publish a book
35. dig a well
36. go skiing in salt lake city
37. take a carriage ride through central park
38. go to new york on new years eve and watch the ball drop
39. eat in the CN tower's rotating restaurant
40. go in a submarine
41. meet sarah richardson and design a house with her (sarah's house)
42. swim with dolphins and sea turtles
43. sleep in the castle in disney world
44. ride a horse on the beach
45. live with a fmaily in thailand and experience their day
46. visit dubai and stay on the palm tree resort
47. go to sight and sound
48. buy a pair of ugg boots
49. lead someone to christ
50. help out the design team on extreme makeover home edition
51. get braids and beads throughout my hair
52. stand on the great wall
53. go to egypt and see tut's tomb
54. take up ballroom dancing
55. go fishing and actually catch something
56. buy something from gucci
57. go bobsledding
58. buy and give christmas presants to kids with cancer in st. jude hospital
59. meet the cast from design inc.
60. visit spain, italy, paris, hawaii, san deigo, australia and england
61. meet allyson felix
62. go on dancing with the stars and be partners with derek hough
63. meet julianne hough
64. have the career of my dreams
65. get a motorcycle license
66. have a set of multiples
67. go to sight and sound
68. go on the behemoth
69. be on oprah
70. help buddy on cake boss make a cake
71. ride a vespa in italy
72. meet someone who doesn't like cookie dough ice cream
73. make krispy kreme doughnuts 
74. learn numero uno off by heart 
75. design my own running shoe 
76. learn how to snowboard 
77. grow my hair really long and then cut it and give it to someone with cancer 
78. pet a tiger 
79. get 100% on a math test 
80. meet heather moyse 
81. meet  regan lauscher
82. meet jon montgomery
83. be in a commercial
84. perform CPR
85. meet micheal phelps
86. meet usain bolt
87. solve a mystery
88. keep my room clean for a month straight
89. work out with john schaeffer
90. meet blake mycoskie
91. get my picture on the jones soda bottle
92. wear TOMS at my wedding
93. learn how to golf
94. meet annika and play a golf game with her
95. invent my own running shoe
96. find a cure for cancer
97. travel every province
98. go to every olympic stadium
99. bungee jump
100. buy a wedding dress from kleinfield

There you go 100 things i want to do before i die. some of them are funny, and i know will probably never happen, but you probably learned that i dream big  - and i mean big. i don't like to put limits over myself. my motto is to live with no regrets - zero. i want to live my life daily fulfilling my dreams and living my life to the fullest. i don't care if i have something going on every day and am super busy because life is supposed to be busy and lived out. i can not wait until the future. i can not wait to wake up to a new day everyday to see what the day is going to bring.
i have so many dreams  - i dream bigger than ever - and i live my life with no regrets - i have no limits - welcome to amy bennett's life!

~amy

my life. part one: my future

the future is scary. it's a fear we call the unknown. it seems so far away but we don't imagine it actually being so close - even though it is. have you ever heard of the saying that you hear from movies or on tv or maybe even in books and magazines: 'the future is now' ?? i believe that saying 100% true. every decision i make affects my future, good or bad. my future is now and it starts now because i plan my future. i know what i want my future to entail. i know what i want to do with my life. my future is now. i make decisions that will affect my future in a positive way. i have been waiting to do this post for a while. i want to share my future. my plans, dreams and goals. i am a planner (you probably know that).

i have always dreamed of getting married - middle aged, but still having a career. i want to have a career for as long as possible and then settle down to have kids. i am not even going to talk about the dream man. because isn't it obvious??? tall, handsome, athletic?? as long as he is the match for me i'm happy. i don't make lists of the expectations i want in my future boyfriend/husband. i am not marrying myself so why try to find someone that has the certain things that i want. although!!! i do dream of roaming the streets of either australia, new zealand, or possibly even italy. i love a man with an accent.
moving on to the career. :)

an athlete
this, right now, is my number one career to have. i dream of spending long days in the gym. working out everyday because i want to achieve my goals and be the best athlete i can be. some may find working out draining and boring. not me. i think it is fun and most rewarding. i want to be a professional soccer player, but that's just in the summer. i look up to heather moyse. she plays rugby in the summer and bobsleds in the winter. both sports she excels in. sports is my life. they are fun and exciting, and nothing is ever a repeat. i would love to travel far away for tournament and nationals etc. an athlete suites me. it is like my other half. i would love to be a part of a team and work as a team to get to the top.
i would love to do that.

a cop
what a thriller that would be. to be a cop and literally chase and yell at people. - i'm in. it would be fun and exciting, and never a dull moment. i would love to talk some sense into people who are going down the wrong road. although, it is a dangerous job, i don't think about that part that much. i think of how fun it would be to represent the law and hunt people down. and i would love to drive a cop car, they are pretty cool. also, it wouldn't that hard of a job to get into because i am a girl, they are always looking for women for a job like this. of course the schooling would be hard, but i could apply and get in easily, if i am good enough.
i would love to do that.

a nurse/NICU
yes, this job is popular. it seems like a lot of people are wanting to become a nurse now a days. i couldn't handle being in labor and delivery, and i diffidently couldn't handle surgeries. if i was dead set on being a nurse then it would be in the NICU, to take care of babies who are pre-mature. it would be an interesting job to have. i think you could make a lot of relationships, and see a lot of hurdles passed within the families that you are seeing everyday. it would just be fun. the worst part is the sadness which i don't know if i could handle, and how small the babies are. we will see. if not that, being a nurse for kids with cancer would be nice. they have the best perspective so who wouldn't want to hang out with them all day. i'm in!
i would love to do that.

interior designer
just like sarah richardson. being a designer and designing different rooms would be fun. sometimes challenging, but fun. i watch the show often and am just learning from her. maybe i can take over her job in toronto! sounds good to me! and the best part is that my house will be beautiful! :)
i would love to do that.

kanesiologist
if you can't pronounce this word, then that's ok. i didn't get it at first either. if i couldn't play sports as i get older, then i would love to do at least something with sports. work with sports medicine could be fun. i would love to meet a lot of athletes and be able to 'fix them up'. something to consider, and i could put my designing skills to the test to create an office and work out room.
i would love to do that.

trainer
i don't exactly know what to call a person who trains athletes and works out with them and stuff, but that would be 'sick'. i would love to train an olympic athlete. be inspired by them, but push them past their limits so that they can compete in the games. it would be fun, and i could be in a place i love: the gym. i think it would seriously be awesome to train an athlete that good, who won't give up and knows what he needs to do. i would feel like jillian from the biggest loser, but training with someone who is a lot more fit and can work a lot harder. i would like to be their teacher, and they can be my pupil.
i would love to do that.

sports nurse
another career that i am interested in, but don't know what they are called exactly. again, if i could not play sports myself, i would love to be a nurse for a sports team, and travel around with them. it would be fun to practically be apart of their team. i could watch every game, every practice, and have a relationship with each and every one of the players. and when one of them gets hurt they can come to me and i can make them all better! (i sound like a parent! :P) but it's true. the only bummer would be i wish i could be playing with them. and the only question is what team would i be a nurse for and what sport. hockey? soccer? rugby? wrestling?? (not a team sport, but still possible). and as they are healing i would like to work with them to get whatever they hurt working again, and to continue to get stronger to get back to practice.
i would love to do that.

a mommy
everyone knew this one was coming! of course, when my career is over and ready to start a family, i would want to be a stay at home mom, with a lot of kids. anywhere from 4-8. the greatest joy in the world (moms would say). after kids of my own i would love to adopt a little boy from africa. possibly even two. i like how the v. family thought when it came to adopting again, "we should adopt again so that our first child doesn't feel left out, especially because of his skin color, and they can always have a close bond, because they can relate to eachother, and they know what it is like to be adopted. and they can share stories of what it was like in their first home where they were born." it would be neat, i think, and a great learning experience. and like many of you know, here comes the list of names that i like. this could get long so i am saying sorry ahead of time. and yes, some do have middle names already! :)
leah hope, alexis faith, kaylyn macKenzie, hannah joy/madison, adyson grace, aaden jonathan, luke william, collin joel, lyla/leila, roxy, riley(for a girl), eliot mekenna, britton, sophie, joelle, shae, natallie, julien(for a boy), autumn, teighan, kallie, thalia, peyton, jayden(boy or girl), koan, declan, annika, domonic, j.c., layla, hudson, haiden, and finally ashton.
not to many boy names, but what can i say girl names are easier to think of.
again if i adopt, he would have a cool african name.
i would love to do that.

SO, lots of possibilities in the career life. who knows what i will be and who i will become. i also imagine myself traveling to many places. to have my dream home. in short form: live out my dreams!

I dream of my future often. sometimes i just feel like growing up right now just to see who and what i will become. but i will be patient. i am only 15 (yes 15 now, my birthday was yesterday!). There is lots of time fr my future to unfold right in front of me. right now we will just take it one day at a time.

by the way, sorry some of the letters are black...don't know what happened there. and i have no clue how to fix it!

*stay tuned for my life. part two - coming soon!

~amy

the v. family part 2 plus more

i never thought i would be talking about this topic again until anothr post that i had in mind...but...as i was reading the blog that i mentioned in another post that i check literally everyday for new posts to fall in love with and be inspired by, and then just tonight i went to this gathering thing where this lady has been doing project over sees but we will get to that later.
so back to the v. family. the last two posts they posted on their blog is absolutly and completly, in every way shape and form - breathtaking. i say that about a lot of things because it's a good adjective but i really mean it. she shared the journey from the start to how they got their new son and she also talked about the first adoption that took place. oh my heart! inspired. amazed. relieved. did i say inspired? when you read a blog post you don't think of all the details that take place. you don't see what happend in their house for the 2.5 years they waited for the new little guy to come home. no listening in on the phone calls, no reading the emails, and no joining their family conversations at the dinner table. i read the blog and went by that. so hearing the actual details 'the journey' that they went on is breathtaking. it is so real. so the past two posts were detailed just how i like them and i read them very closly to catch every detail. i just have to say wow. the family (particularly the mom) has a love for orphans and felt a calling to adopt - to do something to reach out to the children around the world. they were absolutly blessed when they got to adopt two little blessings from two different amazing places around the world - one of them expenses paid (which i just learned tonight). praying to God, one phone call, and a lot of waiting all came down to this: blessed.

for the plus more part: a friend from my church emailed me and told me about this ladies thing going on at the church called La Tienda (which means store so i learned) when i read this:

In a nutshell, La Tienda is an art co-op located in a missionary village in Domincan Republic. It is a place where Haitian women, who have escaped Haiti to make a new life in the DR, can go to learn various crafting skills and earn a small wage in order to provide for their children. Often these women have to turn to other means of making money, like prostitution, in order to provide for their families since they are hated by the Dominican people. La Tienda gives them the opportunity to make money in a dignified manner and exposes the women to the saving gospel of Jesus Christ.

I just had to go and i emailed my friend (the daughter of the mom who is made the blog) and invited her to come. i told her to invite her mom, but of course last minute plans are not the best for moms with six kids. anyways, it was so interesting and inspiring like my friend told me it would be. it is heart breaking that women around the world have to turn to prostitution for money to provide for their children. the forty minute long conversation made my love for orphans even stronger. it was neat to hear how this lady had a calling and went overseas and took place in working with woman like this. what an amazing opportunity to do something like that - and to see the world that way. we bought some of the stuff (which was very well priced :P) we bought a necklace made out of magazines, some earrings, and some cards. the cards were my favorite part. two of them are homemade and says on the back "original art piece from a child living in poverty". how cool is that and so very cute. i also got some cards with cute pictures of kids on them which i absolutly love. i am going to frame them and put them in my room - (a good reminder of my new love). i will have to take some pictures of them and try and put them on the blog soon!

 

so thats my new love and thats where ny heart is. my dream is to adopt a little boy from africa. with people helping all around me i feel inspired to do my part (not saying i have to to adopt), but because i want to. i  want that love that the v. family has. i want to have that kind of family, full of compasison and love for orphans around the world. i want to have that reality check when i go overseas to pick my little man up. maybe my life won't turn out exactly like the v. families, maybe i will just dream from afar...who knows. but i know that i have a new love and new dream.

 

thank you v. family once again, and La Tienda for inspiring me and teaching me. i am going far.....someday!

~amy

homeless to harvard

at youth on thursday night we watched a video, of a girl in her middle aged 20's share her story about her life, never guessing that she would be on a stage sharing her life to 5,000 people.

her name is liz murray and i was inspired that thursday night. her life story is breathtaking..it is amazing.
as a young girl her parents were addicted to drugs. the family was on welfare and any welfare money that came in would be towards buying drugs for that addiction. the parents would sell the tv for $5 to a neighbor, or the thanksgiving turkey just to fufill their want. they had two girls...who literally had nothing. liz remembered going 3 days without food, and splitting a bottle of toothpaste with her sister and they would suck on ice cubes just to feel like they were eating something. they would see their parent high, they would see the pain they were going through. people ask her today if she was mad at her parents...(this part really touched me). she said part of me wanted to be mad at them. but when i went to my mom and said that i was hungry i haven't eaten today, she would look at her mom and say that her mom hasen't eaten for days on end. and she would go to her dad and say that she needed a new winter coat, it is cold outside, but then she would look down at his shoes and notice that they were duck taped together. she felt bad for them, that they were so addicted her parents couldn't give her what her and her sister needed or even wanted.
her dad was diagnosed and her mom was now in the hospital. she would visit her mom and one time she said that she was washing her hair and clumps of hair would come out. her mom eventually died.
so liz was homeless. no where to go. instead of being depressed and becoming someone like her parents were she rose to the occasion and told herself that she was going to go to highschool. she was 15 and living on the street. she was on her own. liz had to apply to a highschool by herself. after a while she got into a high school and worked her butt off. she finished high school in two years when it would normally take her four. she went to morning classes, afternoon classes, and night classes. she knew she had a calling. liz knew she had to be someone better. so she finished high school still homeless and no one knew and with straight a's. i forget exactly how and why she wanted to apply for harvard but she did, and got in with a scholarship from the new york times because she entered a contest explaining any obstacles she has been through. now she is in harvard university, on of the best schools to go to, and finishing up  there this year. she is becoming a chiropractor or something...i forget what she said.
but isn't that amazing that she was literally homeless and followed her calling, put her butt in gear, worked extremly hard and now is graduating from one of the best of the best schools. i find it inspiring. liz went through so much but she still pushed herself because she knew that her life was worth something more. it is also amazing that the situation with her parents helped her be a better person instead of someone struggling with depression and sorrow. this story encourages me to do a lot. it helps me....wait for it....want to do my homework (yes i did just say that) and get my priorities and things that need to be done - DONE. it was a good timing for my youth group to show it...right before exams eh?! it also inspires me to keep going with my life, no matter the situations i am going to go through..i am worth something and my life is worth so much more than any storm i might go through. i want to empower myself to do better and be better just like liz murray did in the video. liz is going to go far in her life because she has been through so much. she understands life itself and knows how to overcome problems in her life. so here i go - out to the world to overcome my problems. to put myself to work because my life deserves so much more. here i go to go study for a test with this in mind.

~amy