What's with the name?

...so you may ask.

First and foremost, HI! Welcome to my blog...(hi, mom). :) Thanks to a conversation with my dad the other day, I decided to start this blog. Well, I have been following a few of my friends' blogs recently as well, and realized it's a great way to keep family and friends updated. There's just too much to say sometimes and it's hard to properly update everyone when you feel like what you have to say takes an hour! Don't get me wrong, I believe strongly still in communication via voice...whether through skype or telephone! Our generation has started this link into a very impersonal world, and some of us must keep the old traditions afloat. Think about it...how great does it feel to get a letter or invitation from a friend in the mailbox rather than that 10th reminder for that magazine subscription renewal you never wanted?

All that being said, I still feel like blogging is a great way to possibly connect to others even if it's those you speak to on a daily basis. Each person connects to another in a different way. My mom and I can speak for hours together about our new discoveries in our natural health studies. My dad and I can do the same with our love for photography. But he may not realize how passionate I am about taking that stupid chlorophyll, and she may not know how interested I am in possibly taking a class in photography. :) I want to share these interests with both of them, but maybe the conversation doesn't roll that way.

I think it's an appropriate time to share my inspiration, troubles, thoughts, frustrations, pictures, loves, music playlists....god knows what else! That too...thoughts on god. Transitions are happening slowly but surely right now. This "open journal" dare I say will hopefully be a vessel to communicate with others who might be going through similar circumstances. I will try my best to write with honesty, even if it may not put me in the best light. But as someone once said,

"The truth will set you free."

A-men to that!

Well THAT was a tangent! Anyways, the reason for the title. Growing up, my dad always called me Kristina Nina. It was his way of connecting me to my dancer persona, I suppose? Like an alter-ego or something. I danced around the house a lot, as I'm sure many young dancers do and I'm pretty sure that's where the name started and eventually stuck. When I moved away from home, he still referred to me as Kristina Nina, and eventually, just Nina. It was like a comfort thing to me. "Remember who you are and why you dance," it seemed to say to me. Now I feel like the name reestablishes who I am to myself...where I came from...what I love...what my passions are.

Naturally...well, I guess I chose that for a number of reasons. First, I'm obviously passionate about natural health. Being someone with vitiligo, I quickly got thrown into this world examining all possible causes of the skin pigmentation disorder. It happened by accident really, but I found what I'd like to do with my life after I stop dancing. So, I'm studying nutrition and health right now. Next course will be anatomy and physiology (awesome!). Then herbology. It's this whole other world of amazingness! I'm obsessed...seriously though. Isn't it amazing that we can change our entire body and even genetics by what we eat? Or break a fever by taking garlic instead of Advil? Or take colloidial silver instead of antibiotics?! Or take an amino acid instead of Prozac? And ALL withOUT side effects!! That's just the tip of the iceberg...I'm sure I'll have more to say on that later.

My other reason is, as I said before, I like to be as honest as possible while writing. I love to write with the stream of conciousness. I think it's more interesting. More frank. Maybe a bit longer, because each thought pretty much goes down on paper. But it's more genuine, I think...more

ahhhh....NATURAL.

Cheers to that.