Catching Up on a Snow Day

Sorry I haven't blogged in such a long time! High-school is a lot busier than I thought it would be. It felt that it was impossible to be creative when the cross country season was ending, getting braces :P, constant sickness, an endless array of tests, and homework. Lots and lots of homework. Though the busyness is a downside to a freshman in high-school, there are plenty of benefits.

For example; the privilege to drink coffee in class (yes!), being able to do photography projects in art appreciation class, and best of all, having ten people in my 9th grade class. Yes, you heard that right. Two boys and eight girls. The most amazing part about having a small class is that your classmates are more of a family then classmates. You hang out together, you talk about everything together, you have parties together, and you laugh together. It's amazing.

The cupcakes: Becca, Mac, Hannah, Kenzie, Paige, Toni, and Tara.

The studmuffins: Riley and Brandon.

I love you guys, you're the best.

Well anyways, With a blizzard coming to a close, resulting in a snow day (woot!). My hyper-creative instincts saw snow and two adorable girlies playing in it, so I rushed to action with camera in hand. This is the outcome. Enjoy! (:

 

XC Success

Just to let everyone know, I never could have been more wrong about joining XC. I absolutely LOVE it. I have never felt this strong and accomplished, and watching my 4k times drop lower than I ever thought they could. Not to mention my coach and teammates, they are the most supportive and hilarious group of people I have ever met. We literally arrive to the meets in a a long, straight line and walk dramatically just to intimidate the other teams.

The first meet at Marshall scared me to death. My running buddy and I were the only ones running for the jv 4k, and we were very shaken by the heat and the awaiting monstrous hill. In our anxiousness, we wrapped each other in a hug and prayed that we wouldn't black out, puke, or die during the race. I ended up getting 19th place with a time of 22:30. (: Not too bad.

My second meet, hosted by NLS, was the best yet. Feeling confident from my last meet, I crushed my goal of 21 min. and got a time of 19:37 and got in the top twenty! During the race, all I could think about was running to the best of my ability and having each stride I take praise Jesus. I picked up the pace, and sprinted my heart out the last 800 meters. After I heard my time i jumped with joy and then dragged my mom to the car so we could go out for tacos at Qdoba.

Thank you everyone for the encouragement and support! I wouldn't have done it without you! :)

Washington State Vacation

Here are a couple of pictures I took in Washington, about the time when my mom just got her camera and I was testing it out. Enjoy!

Caramel Frappuccino On a Budget

I can't be  the only one that craves the sweet, creamy coolness of a caramel Frappuccino on a hot Summer's day. But I think we all know the sacrifices one must make to get a small size of this loved drink. A small size of this smoothies is usually around four to five dollars! Yikes!

I knew I could make a similar tasting drink in my own kitchen, so I hunted on Google for ideas and recipes, and sure enough, Starbucks baristas spilled the info on how they make a caramel Frap. delicious. So here are the instructions so you can save your own four bucks.

Ingredients:

- A little less than 1/2 cup of  half and half or milk
- 1/2 cup of chilled, dark coffee
- 1 tablespoon of sugar
- 1 tablespoon of caramel
- 1 and 1/2 cups of ice
- Whipped cream and a swirl of caramel (for garnish)

Blend:

- Put the coffee, half and half or milk, sugar, and caramel in the blender and blend for about a min. so the sugar can disolve
- Add the ice. Blend

Viola:

- Pour into cup
- Add whipped cream and caramel and drink with straw. Yum!

I found out that all of the ingredients costed about the amount of one and a half Frappeccinos at Starbucks. So each med. sized Frap. I make costs under a dollar!

These are really delicious and taste almost like the ones they sell at coffee shops. And remember, you can always substitute the caramel for chocolate syrup and make a mocha, add pumpkin, caramel, and crushed pecans, and make a pumkin caramel Frap., or add choclate and peppermint and you have a peppermint mocha! The possibilities are endless!

Comment your ideas!

Less for Me, More for You, All for God

On the way home from grocery shopping with my dad, we talked about columnists who only write about their feelings and things that a normal reader wouldn't really care about.

"This morning I woke up refreshed and rejuvenated as I saw the glorious sun rising above the earth... but when I saw my precious, little boy sleeping, my mind wandered to flowers and meadows..."

All I could do was laugh when my dad said this, but a couple seconds later my mind snapped, and I wondered if my writing is anything like that. Looking at my previous blog posts, I found a common theme throughout the publishing's. Me.

Sometimes its OK to talk about whats going on in your life, to state your opinion, or show off your work, but if that all you're going to do, your readers are going to be snoring. So, with that said, I have officially decided to spruce up my blogging routine and add in more advice and ideas, and maybe a little of my walk with Jesus. I want to show you what I'm doing and show you how too. I'm going to let you peek into my more creative side and show you my ongoing factory of ideas. And maybe also how my devotions are like.

This Summer I am going to be very creative so watch out for a sudden avalanche of blog posts. (; And yes, I promise to stop talking about myself and my daily life and blog with you, my readers and Jesus, in mind.

Comments? Questions? Ideas? Comment below!

Designing the Interior

Shaggy area rug. Check. Matching nightstand and headboard. Check. Teal lamp. Check.

"Oh. My. Gosh. It's PERRFECT!!!!!"

-My enthusiastic words after we received my nightstand and headboard.
I have been waited for the matching furniture couple for a whole week now and I was ever sooo excited when it came. If you look closely, the color of the wood has a unique creamy wood texture, but sheen with a satiny finish. It reminded my of the sand at the beach in Oregon, a creamy beige color, but the sand was so fine that it made a squeeky noise when you walked across it a 'certain' way.

My mom and I struggled with the darkness of the room because of the dark brown wood panels. We added a creamy beige and tealish blue to our color palette too add that warm, brighter feeling, and it worked! Everything turned out just the way I wanted it to! Thank you mom, for purchasing my much 'needed' stuff! :)

Sweet Summer Days

This picture gives away everything about Alysia's carnivorous symptoms. :)

Tj's lemonade stand. Classic cute!

Lake day! This Summer's stops at the lake are going to be VERY frequent because of the warmer waters and weather. (All thanks the the warm weather starting in January).

XC Doubts...

After returning home after the exciting traveling and 'bonding' experience, my adventurous and excitement-seeking high wore of and I was hit full in the face by the stone of decisions. This has been something that has been boring through my brain for about a year now as I faced this one question.

Should I join cross country?

The urge to hide from large audiences, competitions, and crowds has probed me my whole life all thanks to my shyness. Track meets, concerts, or anything that puts any particular spotlight on me scares me to death. This phobia has worn of little by little as I've gotten older, but I was extremely shy when I was in elementary school.

Especially in fourth grade.*_____*

The first year I joined my school, my music teacher forced me against my will to sing *gasp* a solo. I went through weeks of coaxing and persuading from my elementary music teacher to sing. LOUDLY. I also survived gallons of tears, butterfly farms in my stomach, and near attempts of fainting.

If I can't survive 20 seconds on a stage, can I run a 5k with my family, teachers, and friends counting on me?

I just hope that I'll tell the difference from running because I'm too scared to fail, or running to be healthy, have fun, beat my goals and being stronger with each stride I take. And most importantly, not running for the people around me, running for the ONE thing that really matters. JESUS.

Right now I'm just going to train my hardest, and try it out. If I absolutely hate it, my mother said I could pull out. But I actually really want to do something different for a change and face this little habit straight in the eyes. 

If all else fails, what I really need is prayers and encouragement for endurance and strength. Thank you! :D

Last Day!

A long month of driving and traveling takes a toll on you, hence the photo. Notice how Alysia is hogging a large portion  of the mattress and how 'spongebob squarepants' is cuddling me off the bed. That's my whole vacation for ya.

Though our vacation was simply amazing, we survived cramped conditions and weather mood swings (yes, we actually camped and started a fire in the rain). Of course, we deserved a stay at an awesome hotel. So, to close our Summer adventure, we spent the night a CanadaInn in North Dakota. Equipped with a water-park and a spacious hotel room, our whole family had tons of fun.

The minute we entered the hotel room, we jumped into our bathing-suits and head for the waterpark ASAP. My mom and I listed a whole book of reasons why we loved this water play-ground.
-The water wasn't freakishly cold
-The variety. This waterpark included a pool, hot tub, water jungle, lazy river, and a descending slide that we called the 'toilet slide'
-The reasonable price of the food and accessibility of the waterpark

Once Alysia and I came down the 'toilet slide' for the millionth time, I spotted an adolescent boy giving me the 'I want you' look. Nasty kid. My inner hard-to-get woman lashed out (facially), and I gave him the 'you look at me again, you die' look. Haha! I've always wanted to do that!

Treasures in Grandma's Backyard

When my dad, Alysia and I came back from the Oregon Coast (which i will blog about eventually), my mom surprised me with a Nikon Coolpix camera! She said that the camera was hers, but that I can use it as long as I'm careful {squeal of joy}.

This is definitely a prayer answered. I would have never thought that I would ever be able to touch a camera like this. After reading the manual, playing around with the settings, and finding out what all the buttons did, I hit my grandma's backyard to practice.

Naughty at Badlands

Our Summer adventure began with a great start! Even though our approximate 10 hour drive through South Dakota was quite boring, the excitement of the rugged Badlands gave us a sample of how much fun we are going to have.

Even though Badlands was simply AMAZING, I think our family majorly disturbed the other tourists, because we were literally BAD at Badlands. I would rather not get into details. Considering that my dad yelled at the top of his lungs on top of a rock, "Hey! This is what my garden looks like!!"

We had fun anyway.

On an Inspiration Craze

Yesterday the full blast of confusion hit me when I realized that I had NO goals, NO homework, NO deadlines, and NO exceptions since school is over. So I got to work, scribbling goals in my journal related to running, writing, and etc. After I set down my notebook, I felt something watching me, pulling me like an overactive magnet. Glancing over, I noticed the stack of brand new Professional Photography magazines my mom bought me sitting in the corner of my room, luring me, urging me to take a look at them. So I did.

At that point in time, my hopes were almost drained dry about being a photographer when I grow up. The annoying inner-critique of mine kept on bothering me.

You don't even have a real camera yet... 

You're too shy to be taking pictures of other people...

Let alone, you're too shy to start your own photography business...

Businesses are boring anyway...

Scrambling to the magazines, I flipped open to a random page, finding an article talking about four different photographers and how they made their photography business great. I read through the article, soaking up the information like a dried up sponge being chucked into an ocean. One of the photographers that the article discussed was about a young, twenty-year-old, Canadian girl named Jamie Delaine. She definitely sparked my interest in the article because they described her to be...
A coffee lover, check...
In love with fashion and design, check...
Organized, check...
A photographer, check...
A runner, check...
Loves to write and blog, blog, and blog, check...
Obsessed with traveling, check...
And last but not least... a Christian! CHECK!!!!

Sound familiar anyone?

Well anyway, I checked out her blog, and I fell in love instantly. She taught me that Photography isn't just taking pictures, its showing your love, your faith and your personality. It's about being bright, colorful, and fun. It's a LOT of blogging, and showing love and caring for your customers. And most of all, it doesn't matter what age you are. She became a photographer when she was sixteen.

Thank you, Jamie Delaine, for injecting an extreme amount of hope, dreams and inspiration into me, to fuel me, so I could land on my planet of success.

Memorial Day Weekend

Last Friday evoked a whole new set of excitement and joy when I found out that my two aunts and cousin from Chicago spontaneously decided to come to our house! (Whoa, long sentence there...) Well anyway, We spent the weekend shopping, eating, sleeping and giving Daniel (the two year old cousin) a bath. But on Monday we had a blast at the Mall Of America while we had fun at Nickelodeon Universe.

I'll miss you Tia Sarah, Tia Alicia, and Daniel! I love you! (;

Me and Alysia on the funnest ride ever!

T.j. rocking out with some music on our way to MOA.

Switch it Up!

I have been given an extreme overdose of inspiration. Which explains the new template and theme color design. Since Summer is finally here, I decided to switch up the design a little bit to make it appear fresher. I don't want an ugly template scaring me away from blogging. Besides, I want a beautiful setting to blab about my Summer adventures!

I hope you guys have an AMAZING Summer as well! It's time to party! c:

My Mini Foot Locker

Reebok = I absolutely loved the design as well as the colors. These shoes provided comfort, lightness, flexibility, and let me rely more on my toes and mid-foot to run. These shoes are also totally versatile. Thank you Tia Sarah for buying them for me! Love ya! ( :

Asics = I totally adored how these shoes had the perfect balance of firmness and gushyness. They were a blessing during track season. The only thing I didn't like was the heavyness, and lack of flexiblility.

One Thing You Can't Do In Heaven

 

If I would've said that we are reading this book in Bible class, anyone's regular response would've been, "Ughhhhh...boring," but this is not the case. Even though we read this book out loud in class, almost half of us read ahead. Its main topic point is witnessing, and based on how many other people you can bring with you to heaven. The writers job is to pretty much talk to others about Jesus and it is very inspiring to hear all the different experiences and methods he has and uses.

A lot of Christian writers tend to talk a lot about how spiritually broken our society is our how everything should be like, but never how to try and fix it. They always say what should come after the equals sign, but they never tell you the equation. I love how this writer doesn't do that at all. He attacks a topic most people don't like to talk about without making you feel guilty. He also gives you methods and tips about how your witnessing should be like.

In conclusion, I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants the kingdom of heaven to be completely full with more people, and has always been told to witness, not how to.

Como Zoo and FMSC

My FAVORITE monkeys at the zoo. (:

Friday was another 8th grade memory added to the scrapbook of AWESOME. We started out the day at Como Zoo, all of us felt like a kid again as we laughed at the mentally confused monkeys and stared with child-like amazement at the giraffes. All of us were separated into three groups, one boy group and two girl clans. I was paired up with my friends Toni, Katherine, Kenzie, and Catelyn and Toni's mom

Once we literally saw EVERYTHING, we pulled out the volleyball and played in the grass. While we were playing, we were totally weirded out by a group of awkward teens that simultaneously broke out in song, singing Baby, by Justin Bieber. *_____*

After that experience, we made our way to Feed My Starving Children, where all of us were put into small groups to package and seal packs of rice, soy, chicken powder, and dried veggies. The bus ride home was absolutely hilarious. We were dared to do crazy things from licking each others backs to drinking each others spit :P  ewww. No worries, I did not participate in these games.

Push On!

Track, track, track is the only thing thing that's been going on this week... but the track meet on Monday was awesome! My dad was there to give me tips and to cheer me on, but the meet on Tuesday was very much different. The only event I got to participate in was long jump before the fierce, white fingers of lightning crawled against the the dark sky. In no time we were hustled into the bus before the sky started gushing out rain.

These couple months have been really stressful. Track and ton of homework are the only things that are coursing through the veins of everyday life. And when I do have extra time, all I want to do is sleep. But I must stay strong! I have to push on and climb this steep mountain called, the-last-month-of-school, because on top of that mountain summer awaits me with its sunny horizons and relaxing and fun vacations. :D

Favorite Things!

Aeropostale Jackets are always warm and insulated, which really helps when you live in a naturally cooler place = MN. 

Smashbook = a journal with awesome scrapbook paper where you are free to stuff whatever thoughts and mementos you have.

A Sharpie marker's ink is always bold and captivating, so it makes doodling triple as much fun. My best friend and I have a whole pool of them during class, so we pretty much doodle the entire period. :D

Nike+ is another piece of Nike's puzzle of AWESOME. You download the app to your Ipod and when you run, it counts how many miles you ran, your runs time, and your pace. You can also challenge yourself through your records. :)