Working Hard or Hardly Working?!?

It has been quite a while since I have made a post and I had some free time before my institute class so I figured now would be a good time to write a post. When I say I have free time, it just means that I had some time that I didn't want to spend on homework and doing this seemed so much better!  It has been officially two weeks that I have been in school and oh boy it has been quite the adventure so far. I've had several tests and  a TON of homework. However, the amount of homework or the tests and how I feel about them doesn't change the excitement I feel being at school. It is incredibly different than home but I really enjoy it. I've been able to make friends through church and school. That was one of my biggest worries coming to a new place was not able to make any friends so I am glad that I was able to. I think I'll keep them :) In one of my classes I started a study group - we have almost 10 members!! We meet usually Thursday where we talk about the homework that was given to us that week. The homework is usually due every Friday which makes meeting on Thursday ideal because we can talk and discuss the assignment before the due date. Starting a study group has been a great achievement for me, not because I'm shy (which I'm not really) but because I am putting myself out there which is helping me meet new people and it's been so far so good :) This short post will have to suffice for now because I really do need to get back to my homework. I will post something real soon to show you what I've been up to lately.

“You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation.”- Brigham Young

Until Next Time :)

xxkels

50's Housewife?!? Maybe?

Coming up with a costume every year for Halloween is quite a task to undertake. A friend told me, "You have to reach into your imagination and pull out something SO unique that no one will forget."

My original idea was going to be a 50's housewife, hence the apron pictures. I had told my mom of this idea and she out of the goodness of her heart (she really only wanted to play with her new sewing machine) made me an apron. Yellow is one of my favorite colors and when I went to Walmart last week and saw the yellow checkered pattern was only a $1 a yard, I had to buy some.

My mom made the apron and she did a magnificent job, I  am in love with it. Not only could I of used it for my costume I would be able to use it later on when I am baking or what not. My apron being done pretty much cemented the idea for my 50's housewife costume.

However, this new perspective on Halloween costumes (the one I got from a friend) has me rethinking what I am going to be this year. I need something original - but what!? That is the real question. If I can't find something to be, I suppose I have a backup :)

I have a little over a month to decide. You might be asking me yourself why is it so important for me to have a costume. After all, its just Halloween. Well, I'll tell you! It's because I love Halloween. Halloween is one of my most favorite days of the year. I like all the fun that the 31st of October brings.

When witches go riding,
and black cats are seen,
the moon laughs and whispers,
‘tis near Halloween.
~Author Unknown

We shall see what I'll be for Halloween, I'll update you on that later :)

Until Next Time :)

xxkels

The Final Countdown

It's the final countdown - only three days until I move in, four days until I officially leave Moses Lake for Cheney, and seven days until the first day of school.
The plan for moving in is to do it on Saturday and come home that night. I should probably stay in Cheney on Saturday but I wanted to come home and attend church services one last time. After church is over, I'll be heading back to my new home.
Although I am quite excited for this next chapter in the story that is my life, I would be lying if I said I wasn't anxious. I'll be headed to a place where there won't be anyone I know and the thought of making new friends is slightly daunting. With encouraging words from my friends, I'm not as nervous as I once was. They have reassured me that it won't be hard for me to make friends - if I don't make friends I guess I know who I can blame, them. The bonus of it all is there is this thing called technology and I am able to use it to communicate with them. 

The one thing I need to focus on is getting all my crap together in boxes. I have most of what I need in a central location but like in the picture to the right, there is no real order to it all. And if you know me, I like order and having things in certain places. The next couple of days I will be focusing on that for the most part and I don't think it will take me long to do if I just buckle down and get it done. 
Like I said, I am so excited for this next chapter and I cannot wait for all that life has to bring to me in the coming months. 

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." - Robert F. Kennedy

Until Next Time :)

xxkels

A Day That Will Never Be Forgotten

It was back in seventh grade when I became aware of what happened on September 11th, 2001. The terrorist attacks that occurred on that day will be something I, along with the rest of the nation and world will never forget. 

The first class of the day was math so when I arrived to school I headed there oblivious to what was developing across the country. As I took my seat in the back of the class, a seat I was common to getting because alphabetical seating always put me there, I remember having a friend come up to me and asked me if I knew what happened in New York City and I replied that I had no idea. The room quickly became abuzz with what was going on on the east coast. Back in the day I use to ride the bus to school because I lived out in the country. The bus came to my house around six-thirty in the morning and while on the bus I would tend to fall back asleep or listen to music so even if the radio had played the news I wasn't aware of it.

Being so young, twelve years old, I didn't quite understand what was happening but as the day went on and the details became clearer it was unmistakable what was going on and what had happened. While writing this blog a song from Alan Jackson came to mind. The title of the song is Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning and while listening to the song for the first time in years it has me reflecting on that day. Although I wasn't directly affected by the terrorist attacks that day, I was affected because I'm an American, and we all felt something that day. Traveling around the world is something I want to do one day but I always want to come back home. There is no place like the U.S. of A! 

"The attacks of September 11th were intended to break our spirit. Instead we have emerged stronger and more unified. We feel renewed devotion to the principles of political, economic, and religious freedom, the rule of law and respect for human life. We are more determined than ever to live our lives in freedom." -Rudolph Giuliani, former Mayor of NYC

I want to thank all the service men and women who have dedicated their lives to serving and protecting our country. You will NEVER know how truly grateful I am for your service. 

Until Next Time :)

xxkels 

I Dreamed A Dream

Whether it is a blessing or a curse is something I haven't decided yet. Since before I could remember most nights I tend to have extremely vivid dreams. When I wake if I remember to do so, I will write down the dream the best that I can remember it and usually I can remember a lot. Like I said, I haven't decided if it is a blessing or a curse because I've had pleasant dreams that make me never want to wake up and then I've had dreams where they were so bad I was awoken suddenly and became upset. 

Many kicks were gotten (get that?) when rereading the dreams I have put in my journal.  I tend to write down the more pleasant ones because I don't want to remember a dreadful dream, a good thing I believe. The terrific thing about writing down my dreams is I am actually able to visualize the dream again.

Just the other day I had a distressing dream and when I woke I was extremely upset. I thought about putting it in my journal but the dream was too disturbing. Although I still remember some of the dream the details have faded away and I am so grateful for that.

The inspiration for this blog entry came from a lovely nap I took this afternoon. I will not go into details about the dream I had because who knows if the subjects of my dream read this blog. All I will say about the dream was, it was quite vivid and I remember the dream almost in its entirety. When I woke from the nap I wrote down the dream in my journal. It will be a good read later on :)

“All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream.” Edgar Allen Poe

Until Next Time :) 

xxkels 

Becoming Angels

It has taken a while to write this post because I wasn't sure what I wanted to say or I suppose, how to say it. 

It has been two weeks since the tragic accident that took the lives of my Aunt Shannon and cousin Theresa. I haven't spoken about it because I needed some time to process what happened. 

I was not extremely close with my Aunt Shannon and cousin Theresa because we didn't live in the same area. However, we kept in contact with each other on Facebook. Those memories of us talking on facebook are ones I'll hold on to for forever. 

 Last fall (October 2011) I went with my father (my Aunts brother) and stepmom up to Winthrop, WA to stay in the Sun Mountain Lodge. It was the lodge that my Aunt had worked at, she was kind enough to get us a good deal at the lodge which was extremely generous. On our last day up there we (Aunt Shannon, cousins Theresa & Juan, Theresa's baby Christian, Sandy - stepmom, my dad, and I) went to dinner. The picture above is one of a couple pictures I took that night.

It makes me sad to think that the dinner was the last time that I would see my aunt and cousin and it would be the last picture that my dad was able to take with his sister. No matter how hard it has been on me it has been worse for aunts siblings, my grandma, and my cousins (my aunts children). There is nothing I can say that would make them feel any better but I hope they know that I love them and that I am always here for them. 

If this has taught me anything, it is that life can be cut short anytime and we need to learn to appreciate all that is around us. 

“Watch out for each other. Love everyone and forgive everyone, including yourself. Forgive your anger. Forgive your guilt. Your shame. Your sadness. Embrace and open up your love, your joy, your truth, and most especially your heart.”

Jim Henson 

Until Next Time 

xxkels

Something Old & Young At The Same Time.

 Look at the adorableness of the picture to the left. It is the last day of the photo of the day challenge and I need a picture of something old. 

I am going to take liberities again with the challenge. It's five in the morning and I was looking through some pictures on the home computer and came across this photo. 

It's something old, an old photo of myself. Look at me and that precious swoop on the top of my head. 

Like I said it is five in the morning and I just wanted to make sure I had finished the challenge successfully, I am going back to sleep. It's going to be a long day and I need to try and get some sleep. 

“Yes: I am a dreamer. For a dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.”  - Oscar Wilde

Until Next Time :) 

xxkels 

Get In My Belly!

August 30th - Love

What do I love? I love many a things but tonight I was inspired to write a post about the deliciousness that is frozen yogurt. I love going to Blue Palm Frozen Yogurt, our local froyo establishment. I was invited to go to Blue Palm tonight with some friends which I gladly accepted :) I forgot to take a photo of what I had but luckily had one in my Random photos on Facebook. I actually don't eat the frozen yogurt because I am slightly lactose intolerant but instead eat the sorbet. Tonight's sorbet was Pomegranate Raspberry, it tasted amazing! A lot of people would say one of the best things about going to get frozen yogurt would be the toppings and I would definitely have to agree with them. There are so many choices to top your frozen yogurt/sorbet but the last few times I've gone I usually only get sprinkles because you can't go with wrong with sprinkles. In the photo to the right I was a little more adventurous by getting cheesecake bites, nerds, & gummy bears. One of the things I love about getting the sorbet vs. the frozen yogurt would be the price. The weight of sorbet is about half that of frozen yogurt so whenever I get some its usually really cheap which is always a plus! 

There is always a variety of flavors and toppings which makes going to Blue Palm always a treat :)

“All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt.” - Charles M. Schulz

Until Next Time :)

xxkels

How do I live without you, I want to know!

The one thing I couldn't live without would have to be music. Music is a daily part of my life and I honestly don't know what I would do without it. I imagine my life would be extremely boring and quite dull. My taste in music is quite eclectic but I would definitely say that it veers towards one genre which would be alternative rock/pop rock. Bands like Matchbox Twenty, Fun., or We The Kings. 

Speaking of We The Kings, approximately a month ago I saw them at Warped Tour! I've talked briefly about warped tour on here but I'll go into a little more detail, it was one of the coolest experiences of my life. 

We left ridiculously early (5:00am) on August 4th for Auburn (where Warped Tour was held) and made really good time getting over there. We stopped at Walmart so I could buy a camera and we could get some sunscreen. After we were done we headed to the White River Amphitheater to get in line! Luckily enough I got presale tickets which meant I was able to get a "Jump the line" pass. It just meant we were in a different line then general admission. When we got to the amphitheater around 8:30, there was already A LOT of people there. However, the line we were in was relatively short. There was maybe a 100/150 people in front of us and when you think about it, that's a pretty good spot to be. 

The gates opened around 10:30 and it was like all hell broke loose. Everybody just kinda bum rushed the gates. We hurried to the Vans tent to them a secret phrase (Emerald City) and if we were among the first 200 people to get there then we would get some Vans gear (vans apron/bandanna). Well, my mom and I were among the first 200!

We the Kings was to play at 11:40 and luckily they were playing right next to the Vans tent. So, after we got the gear we rushed over to the stage and luck be have it we were the FIRST at the stage for we the kings. I've been saying that we were lucky a lot and by the end of the day it sure seemed luck was on our side :)   My mom and I were center stage at the We the Kings concert and we rocked out! It was so awesome! After they played their set we went and bought some shirts and because we bought merch we were eligible to MEET THE BAND!!! The time for the meet up was 1:45 and we were able to get in line at 1:30 so we moseyed our way over when it was time and some lady asked if we were there to meet the band and we said, "Yes!" and she replied, "Alright, you'll be first in line." I was completely shocked! This day was just going so much better then I thought it was going to be. We met the band and it was so flippin awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <---- can you feel my excitement :)  

Charles Trippy (the one holding the camera) has a YouTube channel called CTFxC which I watch almost every day. I made a shirt for him & one for me (for him to sign) that said CTFxC but the font was in wingding. When I showed him the shirt and told him what it meant he pulled out his camera and started vlogging! My mom took a picture of him doing and I am so glad that she did because now I have something to remember the moment. Oh wait ;), I was in the vlog. Check it out here! I'm about halfway through the vlog. 

Went off on a little tangent but the bottom line is that I couldn't live without music.

“Without music, life would be a mistake.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

This was the first quote I found and immediately liked it so I decided to use it! 

Until next time :)

xxkels 

Haha. LOL. Hehe. ROFL.

It is nearly a new day and I almost forgot to blog today's photo! I wouldn't want to miss anymore days. I have a little over half an hour left, I'll make it :) I received my inspiration for today's photo from Pinterest. I was browsing like I do everyday and looked at my Cute.Win.Fail. Picture board and came across the gem to the left.

I orginally found the photo on this website. A friend showed me the site earlier this year and like the site says you can waste so much time. Pooh and Piglet with the theme of Jackass just cracked me up the first time I saw it.

It doesn't take a lot for me to laugh or smile :) I know I can come off stern sometimes but I do like to have fun!    

                                                

This will be another short & simple blog entry :) 

 I made it, it's 11:35pm! Now for the quote of the day!!

"There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor." -Charles Dickens             

Until Next Time :)        
                                     

xxkels