Personal Archives | Strength and Sunshine

Why You Need To Be Taking More Photos

March 23, 2017 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 30 Comments

This post was sponsored by Blurb. All content is my own.

Pictures are a way to tell our stories, capture memories, and give us inspiration. There are many reasons why you need to be taking more photos, of anything and everything, no photograph is ever wasted.

I love photography; I’ve always loved photography. I’ve told you numerous times on this blog that before I became consumed with food photography, I used to be all about nature and architecture photography. Four years of photography classes in high school and spending my weekends finding random locations in New Jersey to take new shots. Then college and turning this blog into a business happened. My photography hobby fell to the wayside and the only photos I did (and do) take are for my recipes. To say that I’ve missed just taking out my camera and driving around to find a new location to just shoot and get creative is an understatment. I’ve made a promise to myself that for 2017 (when the weather gets warmer) I plan on going on my old photo adventures once again to rekindle my long lost hobby.Read More

7 Gems Of Gluten-Free Wisdom

November 3, 2015 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 64 Comments

7 years! Wow! That seems like such a long time now. Some days it seems like I’ve been gluten-free my entire life, but others it doesn’t, and I can feel the divide. On November 3rd, 2008, I committed to a life long lifestyle change and diet of gluten-free due to my discovery and diagnoses of Celiac Disease. Looking back, I can recall all the moments in my life where there were huge glaring red flags, indicating there was a problem. Then it all came to a head, the summer before I entered 8th grade, sick, so sick. I couldn’t stomach anything and was down to some meager amounts of rice chex and iceburg lettuce. I missed so many days of school the beginning of that year. Sick, on the couch or in bed. It was pure horror to the girl who rarely got sick who was one of the most adventurous eaters her entire life.

When I learned that the only course of action to take would be to remake my entire lifestyle and diet (for the first time ever), I actually jumped and ran with it. I was so sick of feeling so sick! Going gluten-free was the key to my survival and I would finally be able to heal my insides and eat again! I wasn’t scared, I wasn’t sad, and I wasn’t angry. I gladly accepted my new gluten-free/celiac life. The first “gluten-free” dinner I had (I remember so vividly) was DeBoles brown rice penne with broth, eaten in a bowl while on the computer. Yes, we got fancy in my house (but I was still so sick at that point). Of course things kept moving from there and with a Thanksgiving holiday coming up, I needed to do some research. That’s when I got into reading food blogs, found Gluten-Free Girl and The Chef blog, which lead me to the inspiration for my first ever homemade gluten-free recipe, my gluten-free vegan stuffing for Thanksgiving (which is not a tradition within the family to make)! That success started my love for cooking and experimenting in the kitchen and eventually, the birth of this blog. A place to share my recipes and celiac life with others like me.

Well that’s the shortest rundown for you, but you can read all my specific gluten-free lifestyle posts here. Today, I’m going to share 7 gems of wisdom as a 7 year celiac.Read More

Last Minute College Stock-Up

August 27, 2015 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine

I can remember the Friday before I left for my first year of college so vividly. The kitchen and both living rooms were like an obstacle course. The only way to navigate from room to room was by taking precarious and cautious steps, trying to find a bit of foot space between the boxes and crates. Packing is not fun, especially when you aren’t even sure what you need for a whole year away from home. It’s the little things that you wouldn’t think to be important that end up forgotten and quickly grabbed last minute.

That Friday was the last day before we would leave at 4am the next morning. The truck had to be packed and ready to go before we went off to bed. Doing as much checklist checking as we could, organizing, and rearranging to make everything as consolidated as possible was one task we had to do together even though we wanted to spend that last day doing nothing.

We made one final list of the few items that had been forgotten to that point and knew a trip to the store was a must. It was pouring rain that Friday, but we hopped in the car and set out for those last minute essentials. One last trip to Walmart and the packing could be done and the truck could be loaded up.Read More

The Need For Creative Passions

June 3, 2015 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 74 Comments

We all have those leisure activities that we look forward to doing whenever we have a spare minute. These activities can vary greatly from person to person and may even seem like a chore to some, but the most effortless pleasure to others. The types of activities I’m talking about, are the ones where we are able to actually create. The things that allow our minds to release their creativity in the form of manual physical work that leaves us with something to show. Painting, drawing, needle-work, writing, wood-working, gardening, cooking, the list goes on. Sometimes we don’t even realize which creative work brings us the most joy, but it’s an essential outlet in life that we all do develop.

A lot of these creative hobbies start out of curiosity, then we keep the ones we find pleasure, joy, and stress-relief in, and sometimes we even take them to the next level and make a living out of them. Even if these hobbies stay just that, as hobbies (or passions), it’s so important that we have and nurture them throughout our lives. They become a constructive outlet to let all our inner beauty, thoughts, dreams, and creativity take form outside of our own heads, so they can become our unique gifts to the world.

I’ve always known what mine is and it’s only become even more solidified in my mind these past few weeks. What is it? I’m sure you can guess. COOKING! The ultimate form of beauty, creativity, and manual work. How did I know and continue to nurture this passion of mine?Read More

19 Wisdoms Of Life

June 2, 2015 by Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine 66 Comments

Everyone does these, “insert age” lessons or things learned posts around their birthday. So even though, kinda “cheesy” and commonplace in my mind, I still always enjoy reading them. As I’ll be turning 19 this coming Saturday, I sat down over the weekend and wrote out 19 little pieces of life wisdom I feel to be true. There’s a lot of wisdoms I could give you, even at the ripe young age of almost-19. Some of us learn a lot and very quickly due to how we grew-up. Some of us learn a bit later in life. Nonetheless, we will always be learning and evolving and the more we know at a young age, the more we can learn down the road. As I mention in #14, life = change. You will always be changing because of the learning, experiences, and growing that takes place. With each year you add on to your life, always take a moment to reflect back on those changes and realize just how crazy, difficult, and beautiful life is and can be.