Check out this QR Code

The following is a QR code block for one of my favorite whole food blogs. When entering Erin Alderson’s webpage you are greeted with various recipes, cooking tips, and bulk bin basics. Her site is very functional and interactive with great photographic images. This site is definitely a must see for any healthy vegan food fanatics out there.

My favorite recipe of hers are her Tacos, you simply can’t go wrong there. Also, if you visit my blog often, you know I love pancakes and Erin’s Brown Butter and Pecan Pancakes are to die for.

GoAnimate!

Surprisingly I never heard of GoAnimate before. I do like this program. It’s very easy to use and amusing. All I needed was to register an account with my email. However I do think there are limitations to the free version. My assignment did say to recreate a scene from a movie that is 1:00 and 2:00 minutes long, but I could only make a 30 second video as a free user. I don’t believe I will ever pay for this service, but I did enjoy this assignment.

I decided to recreate a scene from Naruto, an ongoing Japanese Manga Series. While perusing through the different themes offered, I decided to pick scenes and characters that would be similar or nearly identical to the original. What I found most frustrating was recreating a laughing scene. Those voice overs were all so robot-like! This is my first time creating something of this nature so I apologize in advance that this video might not be up to par. Any tips you have would be much appreciated!

My finished product (Naruto Training) vs. What’s it supposed to look like (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hicA-R9Atjg)

 

Spin Away!

Image taken from: http://breastcancerbydrruddy.com

Over this past summer, I took my very first spinning class! To tell you the truth, I never felt more exhausted in my life. Before that class I was exercising moderately and as a result, I was unprepared for the dramatic cardio change. However, when I began to grow accustomed to the work out I found spinning to be very enjoyable. I also had shin splints (pain in the shins – the front lower legs), so this exercise became a great alternative to running.

Did you know that a spinning workout of 45 minutes may allow you to burn around 500 calories? The amount of calories you burn will depend on the intensity of the workout. I usually try to get at least 45 minutes on the machine.

Below are some benefits of spinning:

1. Increase cardio endurance
2. Improve cardiovascular health
3. Builds muscle
4. Low Impact

 To help you get started, try this spin routine:

1. Warm-up (4 mins)
2. Add resistance and stand. Lean forward 20 seconds and back for 20 seconds (6 mins)
3. Add resistance and pick up speed. Go faster at each 0, 15, 30 second marks and then recover at the 45 second mark. Repeat (4 mins)
4. Speed intervals – 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off (5 mins)
5. Seated hill climb (3:30 mins)
6. Add resistance, standing sprints 15 seconds up, 15 seconds down (4:20 mins)
7. Moderate resistance, seated, fast speed (4 mins)
8. Add resistance, stand, moderately fast (3 mins)
9. Heavy resistance, stand (4:30 mins)
10. Lower resistance and sprint to the end (2 mins)

-cool down-

Now I encourage you all to try this workout and burn burn burn those calories away!

Creative Commons

The following is a free creative commons photo that I got from Flicker.com. The photograph, found via the link was posted by CasparGirl who at one point posted a wide array of exotic fruit images. As someone whose taste buds came from Asia, I adore these fruits. I miss it quite often since they are not readily available in the United States. This photograph fits perfectly with the overall theme of my blog. It provides an example of further healthy fruits options you may have not tried before. There is definitely more to the world of fruits than bananas, strawberries, grapes, peaches, plums, blueberries, etc. Some of the fruits in the picture are horned melons, dragon fruits, mangos, kiwis, grapes, and pomegranates. In fact, one of my all-time favorite fruit is a (Caribbean) papaya. To put it in perspective, the papaya is about the size of a football and I can easily devour half in one sitting!  I particularly love this image because it reminds me of home.

At first, I was doubtful about using creative commons material. I thought that it would hinder the quality of my posts because I would not be able to find exactly what I was searching for. However, to my amazement, I actually found a lot of the free online material! I am able to use this picture in my blog because it fits the requirements for a creative common license (Purpose: Comment, Nature: Important to favored educational objectives). Overall, I am excited I was able to learn something new.

 

A Motivational Meme

I am constantly searching for ways to motivate myself to exercise. What better place to look than on the Internet? Sometimes when I peruse through websites, I will bump into FitSpo (short for fitness inspiration). Tumblr and Instagram are sites filled with these messages about exercise life. FitSpo has a way of inspiring me to live a healthier lifestyle. At times it even makes me feel envious and as a result train harder. I am even contemplating creating a dream board of these images to remind me that I can do whatever I set my mind to.

One such fitspo meme by ironwilled has recently sparked my desire to continue on the fitness path. Take a look:

(Source: ironwilled)

This meme was from Disney’s 1994 animated film, The Lion King. It portrays the scene where Simba enunciates his desires to become King in the song “I just can’t wait to be King.” The author of this meme created it about a month ago so it’s generally new – with only 5060 views. This image offers light humor and fits well with the general theme and message of my blog. In fact, the hash tags offered with this meme conveys the message perfectly: “#powerlifting #bodybuilding #lean #crossfit #athlete #lol #gym #fitfluential #fitstagram #gymgang #sports #traindirty #fitfluential #fitfam #motivation #fit #running #training #determination #weightlifting #beastmode #instalike #instamood #ig_fitness_freaks #inspiration #grind #gymmotivation #motivation #health.”

 

 

Help me Spread the Word!

Hello my Fully Balanced followers! How are you guys this lovely Friday? First and foremost, I want to thank you guys for all your encouragement and support! You’re feedback has been most helpful as I started this blog. So far I must say it has been a great two months on this site and I definitely wish to continue forward with this project. As of now I am looking to expand my fanbase and I would truly appreciate your help with this matter.

In this week’s reading I learned that sharing through social networking sites is a great way to increase online exposure. Therefore, if it is not too much trouble I would be extremely grateful if you can share my blog or even certain posts that you like through any social media sites that you use (Facebook, Twitter, Pininterest, Instragram). I also created a bit.ly shorthand for you to include: http://bit.ly/1do0h8B! Feel free to use #fullybalanced on your twitter account!

Again, I want to thank you guys so much. I know it is difficult to gain followers but with your help I think it is all possible! I would really appreciate the support and would gladly return the favor.

 

Scrumptious Mouthwatering Oatmeal Pancakes!

Hey guys! I just had the most amazing breakfast ever this morning. OATMEAL PANCAKES! I must say, they were pretty awesome! I got this recipe online. The key to this recipe is to plan and mix up the ingredients the night before. Doing so would be create a win-win situation! You would have nice soft pancakes while shaving off the time you spend in the kitchen in the morning. I promise they’re good!

Let’s get started…

What you need:

Version 1

• 2 cups quick oatmeal
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour (or all purpose flour)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups buttermilk (or Smart Balance Light Butter) 

Version 1

Or try a more healthy version:

 Version 2

• 3/4 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour (or wheat flour)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup soy milk
• 3 tablespoons Smart Balance Light butter

Version 2

Directions:

Be sure to prepare the batter the night before you want to make these! In a large bowl mix the oatmeal, flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, honey, eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk and mix until the batter is well-combined (version 1) or mix together the quick-cooking oats, all purpose flour, baking soda, sugar, egg, soy milk, and butter (version 2). Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

-Sleep-

Re stir the batter. Heat the skillet on the stove-top over medium-low to medium heat (Note: you may spray the pan with cooking spray). The size of your pancakes should be about ¼ round of batter. Let them cook for 2-3 minutes. Next, slide a spatula underneath and flip the pancakes. Cook for another minute or so until they are cooked through. Finished!

Screencasting

This was my first time creating a screencast video review. I thought the whole process behind it was fairly simple. However like any software I download from the internet, I was hesitant because I worry about viruses and Trojans. Despite my worry, I couldn’t find an alternative solution so I downloaded Jing and began to record my video. What I found difficult about this project was timing. The issue with the site that I chose was that the hyperlinks were taking me forever to download. My solution for this problem was to click the link 3-4 seconds before I wanted to go on that page. It was a bit of a hassle, because it took me a few tries to record and get it right. I ended up rerecording my video for about 20 minutes, but I worked around it as best as I can. Although I wished there wasn’t so much lag in this video, I am still happy with my results. After I made my video, I embedded it onto my WordPress blog. All I did was copy the link from Dropbox and pasted it on here!

I’m not sure when I will ever have the need to create a screencast video. I think a screen capture will be of more use to me. I know for my internship when I had to make a PowerPoint to teach someone how to use a program or fix an issue, the screenshot became an invaluable tool. Screencast would definitely be of use in an online class. I think it’s great to use for recording PowerPoint presentations. I personally believe screencast is great for creating tutorials; sometimes words are not enough. Using a visual accompanied with writings can be an effective method for teaching someone how to use a program or even how to solve a math problem!

On the whole, this assignment was interesting. I do hope to be able to use this program in the future.

Checkout my screencast! 

Audio Track

The last time I ever created an audio track was for my marketing class in High School. For that particular assignment I had to create a commercial and even then I remembered I was frustrated and confused. It took a lot of effort but I managed to finish my commercial. I had hope I would be able to naturally recall what I learned four years ago and transfer it into this project.

My first step was to figure out what software to use. Unfortunately, I was quickly aware that I did not remember a single thing from my marketing assignment. I am completely and utterly out of my element. What do I do when I need answers? I go straight to Google! That search led me to “Free Audio Editor.” I proceeded to download the file with caution and find some YouTube videos I could convert to MP3. The songs that I chose was “2NE1 – I Don’t Care (Instrumental)” and “Park Bom – Don’t Cry (Instrumental).” From there, it was time to figure out how Free Audio Editor actually works. I began playing around and tried to overlap the music. The most challenging part was figuring out where to cut/paste the music in order to make the smoothest transition. That took a bit of trial and error but I eventually completed the task!  Next, I added my introduction and I assumed I was all set. However to my disappoint when I played the audio track, I realized the background music was too loud. This was the part where I face palmed and realized the magical tool that is the fade in/fade out effect. I used this tool in the middle and end of my audio track. Within a few more tries, my audio file was complete and I was ready to export it onto my blog.

I recalled the Professor provided the class with a useful tip to use Dropbox. I created an account, upload the file, and copied the link. It’s a great application to use and I certainly see that I can also use it outside of class!

Overall, this assignment was definitely more difficult than Pixlr. I don’t see myself creating an Audio Track in the future or my professional career, but it was a great learning experience.

Creating the Header

Creating the header wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I had previous photo editing skills so transitioning that onto Pixlr was fairly easy. I wanted my header to be able to summarize what I wish to write about. Therefore the images I used were of cooking and fitness; both of the images I obtained were from zazzle.com. I made a collage out of the images and spent most of my time playing around with the design and effects. Did I want to use a border? Should I blur some images? Do I want to include texts? Ultimately, I decided to include words that I believe are important for an individual to be fully balanced. Health, body, mind, and soul is a mantra I like reciting. After saving the image as a jpeg, I proceeded to upload it onto my WordPress dashboard.

I would say I am not at all 100% satisfied with the header. As time goes on, I might consider changing it. The reason is because it seems too simple. But then again I may just have too high of an expectation. What I do know is that I must start looking into Photoshop. I need an image manipulation program in my life. If my classes don’t require them, my organizations and Fraternity that I am apart of certainly do. Every so often I am required to make a flyer or a banner or edit photos. It takes me longer trying to manipulate certain pictures so that they are aligned correctly. Learning how to use Photoshop would just be a more effective and efficient tool that I can surely incorporate in my everyday life. However for now, I will just have to live with using Pixlr as my go-to photo editing program. Pixlr has been of great use to me over the years, and I am excited to have the opportunity to re-familiarize myself with it for this project.