My Day in a Nutshell & an Announcement!

Hey guys! I hope you're all doing well!

I wish I had more motivation to write on my blog more often, however, I lead a pretty routine lifestyle during the school year. I wake up, I sluggishly drag myself downstairs to ponderously pour myself a nice big cup of coffee. Then, I walk back up stairs, slowly sit down on the couch, and clumsily wave my hand around the couch until it finds the remote to turn on the morning news. After I've gotten my daily "Weather on the 7's" forecast from Chief Meteorologist Larry Gebert, I can finally start plotting out what I should wear for the day. I ponder my options as I listen to Maggie O'Mara and Doug Petcash update me on all of the local Boise news (which usually consists of something about what makes Boise such a great place to live; the climate, the size, its nature, the city's "hipster vibe", BSU, tailgating, nice police officers, or the many "7's Heros" (a segment on the news)).

Seriously, though… it seems as if every-other week Boise makes some sort of "Top 10" list in regards to why it's a great place to live or what makes it unique.

That's the Boise news, for you! (Because Boise is such a SAFE place to LIVE, our news is mostly happy and cheery!) (Do you see what I did there? I just gave you a reason why Boise is amazing… and  I wasn't even trying to be funny!)

Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah! So after I watch the news, I get ready and do my makeup and all that fun stuff. And then, after that…wait for it… I GO TO SCHOOL! *GASP!*

I grudgingly trudge through the first two periods of classes, as I am mostly concerned about getting my blood circulating so that my writing doesn't look like a kindergartener's. After I've made it past the general sleepy phase, the rest of the day goes by fairly quickly. When the closing prayer ends, I head to my disheveled and clearly unorganized locker of which I grab a few binders to shove into my even more prominently rumpled backpack. Covey meets me at my locker, and walks me out to my EVEN MORE cluttered and disorderly car. We say goodbye, maybe say a couple of prayers, and head our separate ways.

I arrive home, let Cooper in, and whip up a quick snack. I then sit and procrastinate the many things I know I should be doing (Homework, the gym, and chores). I turn on the news, and watch my homies at News Channel 7 report the afternoon news, which, usually isn't much different from the morning broadcast.
After this, I take Coop on his much needed walk, and return home to finish homework, go to the gym, have dinner, and relax with my family.

So there you have it. My day in a nutshell.

So, I apologize for not writing on here as much. Well, I'm mostly apologizing to myself, because I want to write posts more often, I just never know what to write. In the summer, I usually have many more interesting events that I go to or take part in that give me so much to write about. I think that for now/during the school year, I'll probably end up falling back on some journal prompts to base my posts off of, because I definitely want to keep writing.

Thanks for reading, I'm sorry if this was a boring post! (not that anyone reads my blog anyways)

God Bless!


ANNOUNCEMENT
P.S.--I started faith blog. Go to: www.maddiesfaithjourney.blogspot.com and check it out! I wanted to start a separate blog that was solely faith/religion based, because I have so much to say in that particular section of my life that I thought it needed its own corner! Thanks!

A Bad Haircut and Smooth Teeth

If you still decided to read this despite the awkward title, thank you, let's be friends!

Two things I'm sharing with you today:
1. My dog's bad haircut
2. My smooth teeth

1.) Cooper got shaved. He looks likes a bobble head/baboon/orangoutang-thing. But I still think he's cute. Enjoy these pictures of him. That is all.

Before...

Before...

After… As you can see, Cooper was not too happy about his new 'do'

There's that smile!

I think he decided to make the best of it and pose of the camera… He knows he's adorable no matter what! 

Begging dad to love him… Dad was and is not a fan of Cooper's haircut. Cooper is still trying to win Dad's love back! 

2.) My teeth-- I found out a few months ago that I have a tooth enamel condition called "enamel hypoplasia" which is when the enamel doesn't develop properly, and it grows to be thin, with many pits/ridges/bumps, and sometimes tiny little 'holes' or 'dips' in the surface. This is caused be defective enamel matrix formation, and/or vitamin D deficiency. 

My teeth, being so pitted, bumpy, and uneven, trapped a lot of stain. My teeth were visibly yellowish in color. I tried whitening for a while, which helped a little bit. For the most part, though, after whitening, my teeth would look great, but at the end of the day, they'd look like they always looked; yellowy and ridged. My teeth caused a confidence issue for me, even though I regularly take proper care of them. 

 The dentist told me that despite the appearance of my enamel, I actually had pretty strong and healthy teeth. (Whew!) Though my teeth are healthy, we decided to make them look just as healthy as they really were. So, about three days ago, I got my top front 6 teeth smoothed over. I have never had or felt smooth teeth before, and lemme tell ya… it is AMAZING. All of you out there with naturally smooth teeth, be proud of your enamel's smoothness! I know that it isn't a common thing to have enamel hypoplasia (according to my dentist), but I never knew how much I'd love the feeling of smooth teeth. Such a confidence booster, and, as weird as it may seem, my teeth feel stronger and healthier, too! 

And now for the pictures… Brace yourselves, the following images are graphic (don't worry… it's just teeth! You might be a little bit grossed out though!)

Before… I took this with an iPhone, so it's not very clear...

The top two are AFTER my treatment, the bottom two photos are BEFORE.

After!

Top photo--before, bottom photo--after. 

Run or Release?

Recently, I've been faced with a very tough decision.

I must decide wether or not I want to run track for the Spring of 2016 for Bishop Kelly High School.

This is such a tough decision for me for many reasons, but mainly because:

1. Track Meets and Track Workouts STRESS. ME. OUT. (to the max)--Often times, during or towards the ends of races, I get so anxious that my throat suddenly feels as if it is closing up, making it difficult for me to breath in a steady and normal way. This whole breathing thing freaks me out even more, causing me to become light-headed. I have no idea why I get so anxious. I don't necessarily care about the people who are watching me in the stands. In fact, they are the least of my worries considering that there are not many crowd members paying much attention to the long-distance races. I think that the idea of having to meet a certain time really makes me nervous. There is a clock that shows your time for each lap that you pass, sand I am constantly trying to calculate how much time I have left and if I am falling behind, my competitive mindset immediately goes down the drain. Once this happens, I start that weird breathing thing. Once the breathing issue starts up, I start getting nervous and scared and I think that I'm going to pass out. This whole process makes me feel like I am not going to be able to finish the race, or at least finish it without passing out first. For these reasons, racing in track is not what I would call enjoyable.
2. I want a new experience--my parents don't seem to believe me, but I really want to get involved with some sort of community service and/or get a part-time job. It scares me to think of going into college without any job experience (other than babysitting…but babysitting isn't a steady job, and is way different that working for an actual company or business). On top of that, I need to make my own money. I can't just keep using my parents' money forever, can I? 
3. I LOVE running with my team mates… they are my family--This is what makes this hard for me. I love running with my friends. They are so much fun. However, things have gotten really competitive and now, many of times, the girls on the long distance track team have to run with the guys… Let me just give you a little explanation on how hard that is: Guys mile times are usually around 5:00 minutes or below in high school. Girl's mile times are around 6:10-5:45. These are the racing times. Guys run and practice much faster than girls. By training so much with the guys, even on easy runs (which, with the guys, are NOT easy--I can't even hold a conversation--which is a criteria for my coach's definition of an easy run) I feel that I get more and more exhausted, and my overall performance rate and enjoyment of the sport decreases.
4. Disappointing people--If I did not do track, I know that I'd highly disappoint my parents and my coach. Being a 2-year variety track athlete for my high school is definitely something that I am proud of. For this reason, it is really difficult for me to decide what to do. I don't think that the idea of me being on varsity should determine wether or not I do a sport. I understand that I should use my talent to the best of my ability, but what if I don't enjoy the sport? The confusing thing is, I love cross country. Everything about it is enjoyable. I am excited for the races, the practices, the camps, and the team meals. I don't feel the same way about track. 

So, what do you think I should do, and why? I'm in such a pickle! 

Junior year is definitely as stressful as it was made out to be, and I don't want my grades to slip. I just want to be the best I can be and give myself the best experiences. I know that doing a sport is important, which is why I plan to do cross country for my fourth year in a row this coming fall. However, is quitting a sport a bad thing if you're on varsity if you really don't enjoy it? (Or, if you used to  enjoy it, but have gotten so nervous about it that you can't appreciate the fun in it anymore)

New Year's Intentions

It took me quite a while to come it with a list of things that I want to focus on in 2016.

As you might have noticed from the title, I am calling each item on this list an "intention" instead of a "resolution".

Definitions:

Resolution-noun

1. a firm decision to do or not to do something.
2. the act of finding an answer or solution to a conflict, problem, etc.: the act of resolving something

Intention-noun

1.  The thing that you plan to do or achieve: an aim or purpose

*Note: I got these definitions from www.merriam-webster.com

You see, I like the idea of having a list of New Years' intentions rather than resolutions because of the following reasons:

1. An intention is a plan to achieve something. It is a goal, a goal with a purpose.
2. A resolution is too cut-and-dry for me. I am not looking for a solution or an answer or a permanent change to my life by making a list of resolutions. 
3. By making a list of resolutions, I feel that I am making rules for myself that I must follow, however, I need some wiggle room. I know that I will not be able to always follow my resolution plan as I want to.
4. I feel that my "resolutions" (or…in this case, my "intentions") would be difficult to just start doing all at once. I need to ease into them. I feel that slowly getting used to making habits out of things is better than jumping in right away. 
5. To go along with #4, I think that I would more likely to quit or give up on my "resolutions" if I automatically start doing them. Adding each habit/intention into my day-to-day life, little by little, will help me feel more accustomed to them, therefore making my goals more natural with every little step. 

I hope that list made sense.

Now, I should probably tell you what my intentions are, sense I just made a whole list of reasons why I chose to make my "resolutions" into "intentions" in the first place…

Maddie's New Year's Intentions:

1. Give more of myself to the community- I intend to spend more time doing community service. Not just for school requirements, but because I know that whenever I do volunteer for those in need, I always walk away feeling so much better about myself. My goal is to serve my community at least once a month. I intend to achieve this goal, however, if I miss a month or two, I intend to make up the time that I missed in my free time, especially in the summer months.
2. Make homemade dinner for my family at least 3 nights/week- I know that this goal will not always be possible, especially when track season starts up. With school athletics, my life is instantly made so much busier. It creates a constant cycle of eat, sleep, school, sports, homework, sleep, repeat. There is almost no down-time. However, I believe that, if I keep this intention in mind, I figure out ways (crockpot meals, anyone?) of which my family and I can still enjoy nice home-cooked meals without much hassle.
3. Walk Cooper at least once/day, and on the weekends, walk him twice/day-I used to walk Cooper twice a day; once before school, and once after school. Recently, though, I haven't been walking him in the mornings because I: 1.) Take more time getting ready 2.)Use that time to get more sleep and 3.)Try to arrive at school earlier so I can go in and get extra help (or sit in the parking lot of my school and listen to my all-time favorite radio station, Mix106 with Mike and Kate in the morning) I don't have a good excuse to not walk Cooper twice a day on the weekends, though. This will be a good goal for me to aim for, as it won't just benefit me, but it'll benefit Cooper, too!
4. Exercise at least three days/week- This is going to be a tough goal for me, because I have really been slacking in the exercise department lately. I get so tired from school, however, if I keep with my intention #5 and #9, this will create more time for me to do productive things like exercise! (See how my intentions all tie together?)
5. Stop procrastinating chores/homework-I'm really bad at this one. I get in a bad habit of coming home from school, having a snack, walking my dog, and then plopping down on the couch and turning on the news. I convince myself that "I need to be informed about what's going on in my local environment and community", however, it is not an excuse to wait to do homework until 9:00 p.m. Who says I can't listen to the news while doing math homework? Besides, I prefer doing homework with some sort of background noise anyways, so this is something that I can do to use my time more efficiently.
6. Learn to say "no" to hanging out with friends if I have not finished my homework/studies-I find myself worrying about my friends/family thinking that, if I say "no" to hanging out with them one day on a weekend, that they will then think that I don't want to spend time with them, therefore I will not get asked to meet up again in the future. I think that this is kind of ridiculous of me to think of, and I just need to relax and know that it is OK for me to put my education first before hanging out with friends. 
7. Become a better baker- I can use my free time to practice what I really love to do instead of moping around looking up "ideas of things to do when I'm bored" on Pinterest. (I know… I'm embarrassed that I've resorted to Pinterest for ideas of things to do when I'm bored. Ugh) I know that my family doesn't mind if I bake, however, we never eat the treats ourselves. I know many people who would, without a second thought, take the treats if I offered them, though, so why not practice my baking?
8. Take better care of myself (goes along with #4)-I think that this intention/goal goes along with all of my intentions on this list. I need to learn how to respect myself more and, while keeping up with school work and studies, I need to know that it is OK to take a little time to myself every once-in-a-while to relax and reflect. 
9. Try to get to bed as early as possible on school nights--no staying up an extra 1 to 2 hours just to "relax" and watch TV-I am SO guilty of this. I do my homework and then all I want to do is kick back and relax and watch the news… I don't know why, but I love watching the news lately, (which, I guess isn't necessarily a bad thing) but again, this goes with #5… I can double up on my homework while listening to the news. Hopefully this helps me get more sleep, which will help me focus more in school and will further enable me to complete more homework in school. 
10. Learn to relax and enjoy the little moments of life-I think that on the weekends especially I feel like I'm always on a "go-go-go" mindset. The weekend is the time where I do all of my chores. I end up trying to do so much that I over-do it and I never end up completing everything that I start up. I can help fix this and give myself some extra free time by maybe doing one little chore each week night in order to save myself from overloading on the weekends. (That is, if I can make habits of the other intentions)
11. Stop apologizing so much- I apologize for EVERYTHING. It's ridiculous! People are always telling me things like, "stop apologizing!", or, "Maddie, why are you saying sorry? You didn't even do anything!" or, "Maddie it's no big deal, stop saying you're sorry because there's nothing to be sorry about,". I constantly am wanting to make people happy. I hate disappointing people, and when I do the slightest thing "wrong" (a lot of times I apologize for things that people don't even notice) I feel the need to apologize for it. It's something that has become so natural to me, and I don't really know how to stop it. For these reasons, I made this an intention because it is a goal, and it will take little baby steps to reach. 
12. Boost my self-confidence- This goes along with #11. I'm not a very confident person in general. I am very self-conscious about how I look, what I say, and how I act around people. I don't give myself enough credit, and I tend to just focus on what I think that everyone else wants to see me as, instead of what I think of myself as a person. I can work towards this by taking a little extra time to take care of myself and maybe every once-in-a-while I can treat myself to a new makeup item or a new pair of shoes with my own money. I tend to use my money/savings on others, rarely on myself, so I think that doing something nice for myself every now and then will help me feel like I have done well and am deserving of something nice. (I am not advocating that money buys happiness, just FYI)
13. Talk with family members more often-I am bad about checking in on my family members and relatives, especially the ones that live out of state. It'll be a good goal for me to try to call each of them maybe once a month or so, just to show that I care and to see how they are doing. The last thing I want is to have something bad happen to one of them (or myself) and to not have remembered the last thing I said to them due to my lack of keeping in touch. 
14. Journal/blog more often-This year, I intend to journal/blog more often. I always have ideas of what to write about, I just never sit down and take the time to record my ideas or thoughts. I want to have something to look back on and reflect on when I am older. I want to have an outlet for when I have kids, especially as teenagers, that I can resort to when I need a little bit more of an understanding about how my child is feeling. I feel that every person has a different experience as a teenager, and for that reason, it can be hard to relate to their kids. However, if I make a better habit of opening up on my true feelings--even if it offends some people--I can really make my story and my journey more useful in the long run.
15. Take pictures-I want to take more "candid" pictures. Posed pictures are great, however, recently I realized that I don't have many "in the moment" photographs. The pictures that are taken randomly truly capture the essence and mood of a memory. They don't have posed smiles, they show real and true emotion and feeling. I think that it is important, when able, to capture these moments. Pictures provide a "time machine" (if you will) that can take you back to a certain time in your life, and I think that that is very powerful.

So, needless to say, I have a lot to work on this year. As I explained before, I don't expect myself to accomplish these goals all at once. I don't even expect myself to be perfect at striving for all of this goals after 2016 is over. All I want to do is to work to be a better person, in all different categories of my life. I've realized that life is going by very fast. Yes, I am only 17, but I am already looking at colleges. It's CRAZY. I can still remember my first day of first grade (no joke--I sat in the front row, and all I could think about was how much older I felt just from making the transition from kindergarten of going from sitting at tables to getting my very own desk), and this made me think of how I have limited time to become the person I really strive to be. 

There will always be a way to improve myself, no matter what, but I am hopeful that this year, I can get a good start on becoming a better me. 

The True Meaning of Christmas (and a quick update)

I know that I haven't written a post on here in what seems to be a million years, and, well, I don't exactly have a great excuse. I could tell you that I was abducted by aliens and spent almost 6 months devising an escape plan and that I just now got home. I could also tell you that I was kidnapped or that I   was in some sort of cool undercover murder mystery case of which I had to help out with, impairing me from writing on my blog for such a long time. Or, I could just tell you the truth and say that I simply have been so busy with school, cross country, and friends that I've just been very neglecting of my blog and almost forgot about it as a whole. Yeah... maybe being abducted by aliens isn't such a lame-sounding excuse now that I think of it.

Anyways, I'm glad to be back!

I will tell you, though, that I am not going to update you on every little aspect of my life since June in one single post, because, if I did, I don't think that I would have anything to write about for my future posts next month or even next year due to the fact that I would still be writing this very post... and then, when I finally would finish this post, the only thing I'd have to post about is how I spent months of my life writing a post about even more months of my life... and, we wouldn't want that now, would we?
(Psssst! The answer is no...no we would not)

My cross country season flew by extremely fast. This year was alright, although I didn't achieve the times or goals that I necessarily wanted to. However, I'm actually going to do winter training this year, so, hopefully track season will be successful!

I hate to be such a disappointment, but, honestly, lately I've just been focusing on school so I don't have a ton to talk about, but, I'll try my best to enlighten you with my amazingly interesting (not) teenage life.

Well, to start off, as far as school goes, the main thoughts that run through my head all day go something like this:

• I'm. So. Tired.
• Why
• Oh great! I'll add that assignment to my never-ending list of stuff that's due this week. Hopefully I'll remember to do it.
• Dear Brain, stop thinking about what treats your going to make for Christmas Break, and start focusing!
• Hmmm... weird that when I open a pack of gum everyone, including those that I've never talked to before, are suddenly my best friend...
• So...If I have 4 oranges and 5 apples, and I give 2 pennies to my friend and one of the apples to my dad, I'll be left with 4 avocados?
• When does this class end again?

So that's my average school day! But, just to clarify, I do really enjoy being at school and I know that I am very fortunate to be able to go to the school that I do and learn at the level of education that I am learning. School has definitely been very stressful, though. It's junior year, which means next year is the time to start applying to colleges... which basically leads to my future... so, basically junior year (in my mind, at least) determines my future. It's really crazy to think that I'm a junior in high school right now, and I'm only a little less than two years away from going off to college. I remember my first day of first grade really clearly. I know that sounds crazy, but I swear I remember it. I remember how it was the first time that I ever had sat at my own desk. I sat right in front of the room, and I looked around the room, noticing how much different it was from kindergarten. I seriously felt like such a big kid. The one thought that I remember so clearly is, I thought to myself, "Wow... I'm already in first grade? Time is going to fly by so fast... before I know it, I'll be in 6th grade!" (6th grade was "cool" to me because my elementary went from K-6, and the 6th graders seemed so big and so cool) 

Here I am, about to start studying for my finals which are about a week and a half away. Crazy.

On another note, it's almost Christmas time! I'm SO excited to celebrate with my friends and family. This past year has been really crazy and the period between my sophomore year and junior year has really changed my life. I've become really close with my group of friends (we aren't a "group" don't worry-- we aren't exclusive! I just call it a group because its a general bunch of people) and they are some of the most amazing people someone could ever get to know.

Before I met these people, I really was not close with God. I mean, I thought about God sometimes, and I prayed almost every night before I went to bed, but I never really knew what a true connection with God felt like. When I would pray, it would pretty much go like this:
Lear Lord, if you are even there... I mean, I think you're real... but, I'm not quite sure. But, if you are there, and if you are listening, I just wanted to say thank you for all that you have given me. I'd like to pray for my friends and family everywhere. Thank you for this life and giving me food and a good home. Amen.
Like... no, Maddie... just, no, that's not exactly how it works.

I wasn't close to God. I had no idea how close someone could actually be to God until I met my friends that I have now. These amazing human beings took me under their wing and showed me just how important God is. I'm baptized Catholic but I didn't have much church experience before I became friends with these guys. Katie and Brian invited me to youth group at one of our local churches, and ever since that first youth group I attended, I was hooked. The Youth Minister at my church is the best one I could ever have asked for. He is one of the kindest people you could meet. His name is Sean, and he's just like one of the kids. He's hilarious, and has a great sense of humor, but he uses it in the most amazing way: to bring kids closer to God. He talks about God in the best ways, and he makes it fun for kids and teens my age to want to grow closer to God.

So, this Christmas season, I guess I would say that I'm extra excited for Christmas. Every year that I celebrate Christmas, I've always known that it was Jesus' birthday, but that's about it. I tried to always keep that in mind, but, once the present-unwrapping came around, the gifts were all I could think about. I know that sounds bad, but at the time, I really didn't know how to incorporate Jesus into it. This year... though I'm definitely not an expert at it, I feel better about my knowledge of what the true meaning of Christmas is. This year, while the presents are exciting, I have been looking forward to waking up in the morning and getting ready and going to Christmas Mass with my family. I'm looking forward to reading Christmas stories and Bible verses and celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. He is the reason that I am here. He has saved not only me, but so many others, and this year, I am thankful that I have grown over this past year to understand how important he is.

I have so much more growing in my faith to do, but I feel like I'm at least starting to understand how important faith is, and how important this holiday is. I am by no means an expert in theology or anything like that, I honestly just know the basics right now about Christmas. However, I'm excited to continue to grow in my faith.

This Christmas season, I encourage everyone to try to please take a little extra time to take a break from focusing on the presents and the holiday chaos and focus on the true reason for this holiday season.
I understand how easy it is to get sidetracked, and to lose the true meaning of this season. I 100% admit that I am guilty to this, too. I'm going to sound like a hypocrite for writing this because I too have been so caught up in when and where and how to get presents for people and making my own Christmas list, that I haven't taken time to reflect on the most important part.

I want to make it clear that presents are not bad... I might've come off that way, but they aren't! Just try to remind yourself and those around you about the true meaning of Christmas.
Not only is Christmas about celebrating the Birth of Jesus, but, it's about acting like him, too. This Christmas season, spread love to all of those around you. Do something nice for others, especially someone that you don't know. Try to help those in need, if you are able to. It breaks my heart thinking about all the homeless kids that wont be able to celebrate Christmas to the fullest this year, and their families that wish they could, but they just don't have the resources to do so right now. (Yes, everyone can celebrate Christmas-- anywhere. The presents are a necessity) I know that I'm kind of contradicting myself saying that presents are necessary to celebrate Christmas, but, giving gifts this time of year to those in need is an act of love. Love is something that is very important this season, and it shows people that you care. It gives them hope. It is an act of Christ, and my goal, personally, is to share Jesus' love with everyone.

So... I hope you like challenges, because I'm going to leave you with a few challenges to think about. I Hope that you will take on at least a couple of these, and take them to heart. I am going attempt to do these exact same challenges. Together, I know that if we at least try to keep the following list in mind, we can change the world more than you know. These actions below will show a great example to all of those around you, and hopefully influence others to do the same. I think this world could use a little more love and hope, especially with all of the violence going on. Lets make a change. Are you in?

Here are our challenges:

• Challenge #1: To talk more about faith, God, and Christ. Talk more about the real reason for the upcoming holiday with your friends and family. Try to keep this a constant idea throughout the whole time of year... it could bring people closer together, and it's important to know why we celebrate Christmas in the first place. 
• Challenge #2: Give back. This can be as easy as delivering Christmas treats to a neighbor you've never met before, or volunteering at a local shelter or food bank. You can donate gifts to families in need this season, who can't afford to get their children gifts this season. There are many opportunities to make someone's holiday this year a little bit brighter, and it gives people hope and the feeling that they are loved. 
• Challenge #3: Express your appreciation. Send hand-written notes/cards to family and friends who you aren't able to be with this season. Show how much you appreciate them. It'll mean more than you think.
• Challenge #4: Kiss and make up! If there is a grudge or coldness between you and a friend or family member, this is a good time to make things good again. This is a terrible thing to imagine, but, imagine if that person was to die today. What do you wish you could've said? It's not worth being stubborn and holding a grudge over a fight. Even if the person offended you or hurt  you, and you feel as if you shouldn't be the one to make amends, it is the right thing to do. God forgives everyone, and though it can be really hard sometimes, forgiving people and moving on is taking the high-road, and it will leave a good example for others to do the same. 
• Challenge #5: Cherish the time you have with friends and family. Have fun and be thankful for the time that you can spend with the ones you love this season
• Challenge #6: Enjoy the holiday! Have fun! 

God bless you all, and have a great season. I hope it is filled with an abundance of love and peace!

Now if you'll excuse me... I'm going to go make some tea and turn on some Christmas tunes and get into the holiday spirit! 

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I am thankful for you, my friends, family, pets, clothes, my own room and bed, food, music, my car, my education, hot chocolate, fuzzy socks, books, and the Charlie Brown Christmas movie. 

See ya!

Montana Trip

Hello! It's been a pretty crazy rest-of-the-school-year for me, and not much to right about except sitting and studying for finals, but I'm back!

Recently, especially now since school is out, I've been trying to make the perfect chocolate cake. Not too chocolatey or rich, but not bland or blah either. It's been a rough process, that's for sure! I'm trying to find the best chocolate cake ever because I am in a baking competition with our good family-friend, Matt Kuzio. We have three rounds to our competition: 1st round- chocolate pie, 2nd round- chocolate cake, 3rd round-chocolate chip cookie. Though there can be separate winners for each round, it's not based off of how many rounds each competitor wins, rather, it is based off of the cumulative scores of the contestants at the end of the bake off itself.

Another cool thing that I've been up to was I just got back from Montana for my cousin, Chris', high school graduation. Surprisingly, my dad and everyone on his side of the family used to live in Montana for years and my dad even went to college there, but I've never been there before, and neither has Tracy. We took this opportunity to head out a couple of days early so that we could kind of take out time and go through some towns in Montana that my dad really wanted us to see.

My favorite town that we visited was probably Missoula (or Livingston... both are great) due to its cleanliness, sense of community, location, and not to mention all of the cool little shops! Missoula was actually our first stop, we left Boise then once we got to Missoula we walked around a bit, ate dinner, and pretty much went to bed after that. We woke up the next morning bright and early, had some breakfast, and then toured the University of Montana campus! I love love loved the campus! It was gorgeous, spacious, and, although known to be a big party school, it felt like it was located in a neighborhood that reminded me so much of my own.

After leaving Missoula, we took the long way to Livingston, because I wanted to see the campus of Carroll College in Helena. The campus was pretty, but I felt that it didn't give me a super homey-feel, which I feel is important when choosing a college... you gotta feel comfortable, right?

After Helena, we stopped through Boseman... or was it Billings? Either way, we stopped to get lunch with my Aunt Mary and Uncle Ron while we awaited Aunt Nancy's plane arrival. We headed down to Livingston once her plane landed and got settled in our super-cool, super-old hotel--The Murray-- right in the heart of downtown Livingston, Montana.

After we got settled, we went over to Chris' house to chat and say hello to everyone before going to bed.

First Full Day- Saturday-Livingston, Mt:

The first day was basically a laid back kind of day. We woke up, got lattes at our hotel's awesome breakfast café, and headed downtown to explore. Little did I know, there was a car show downtown occurring, which was pretty cool! While we looked a the cars, we wove in and out of shops on the sides of the same street as well. The shops were really quant and cute, and I could've spent all day looking in them!

Around noon, we walked to Chris' house. (Yes, walked... you can walk everywhere in Livingston!) We met the family and had a fun barbecue and sort of just chilled out and caught up with each other.

Day 2- Sunday-Graduation:

On Sunday, the day of the graduation, Aunt Mary and Aunt Nancy, as well as Uncle Ron, wanted to go up to Chico Hot Springs which was apparently 22 miles away from Livingston. I went with them, as I wanted to see more of Montana and it's scenic mountains. Well... I definitely got to see more of Montana! We ended up passing the sign for Chico by a long shot, and drove all the way to Gardiner, Montana, which is a little touristy town right before the entrance to Yellowstone National Park. It was cool, though. We walked around a little bit and I could tell that it brought back memories for my Aunts and Uncle. We even saw an elk right across the street from us, just roaming freely like it was no big deal to be walking right downtown!

We made it to the graduation on time, and I loved it! We are all so proud of Christopher, he's such a great person and I am so lucky to have him as a cousin. It was really fun to watch him walk up on stage and get his high school diploma!

After the graduation, it was more food and family time...

and everyone that was there knows what happened then.

On our way back, we  drove through Yellowstone, so, I got some pictures from there, too.

I'm really glad that I got the opportunity to see as much of Montana as I did in so little time because it truly is gorgeous!

"I had a ball at the testicle festival!"

Chris and Aunt Nancy

Rudy. 

Car show.

Road-trippers.

Chris and I.

Aunt Mary, Uncle Ron, Christopher

Chris and his dog, Rudy.

Ladder golf. 

Rudy... again. 

Entrance to Yellowstone! Except, it was under construction, so... technically, it's not the entrance to Yellowstone... for right now.

The elk we saw in downtown, Gardiner!

The graduate and his proud parents!

Lower Falls, Grand Canyon of Yellowstone National Park

Lower Falls

Buffalo

Inside of the Old Faithful Lodge! Amazing! You'll never see anything quite like it!

After taking one glance at my final report-card grades for first semester, I  have decided to close the door on it, and to never, ever, ever see it again.

While this semester has been full of stressful things from moving, a new puppy, cross country, boat-loads of homework (that, I thought I wouldn't get until junior year), procrastination, and the awful confusion between the difference of math and the Chinese language,  I have made it to semester number two of my sophomore year of high school.

After a nice long winter break, I feel rejuvenated, and ready to kick butt this semester in school.

My good friend, Emma, that I made just this year, is switching schools.
Part of me is sad, because, well, Emma and Katie are pretty much the only two people I feel completely comfortable around at school, and now she's leaving, which flat out sucks.
The other part of me is okay because I know that we will keep in touch, though maybe not hanging out as much, we will still remain good friends, and I will be looking at school as just a place to try my best to get good grades, and that is it. It's kind of sad, I guess, that I don't see it much as a social thing anymore, but more of a serious work-place for my future... (I guess in some ways it's good...)

Honestly, the only things I'm looking forward to are summer, track season, and shopping.
So yeah.

A White Christmas

For the past week, I've been tracking the weather for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. There was no sign of snow until today, the following Saturday after Christmas. Then... all of a sudden, almost like a miracle, a light snow appeared on Christmas Eve, making a white Christmas to be possible the next day. I have not had very many white Christmases, but when I think of Christmas, one of the things I think of is snow. I guess I was lucky this Christmas, because I got to wake up to a fresh blanket of snow and frosted tree branches outside my window, greeting me with a good-morning and starting my Christmas Day off great. 

Every year, I try not to forget the real reason of Christmas. This year, about a week before Christmas, I was walking Cooper when I cam across a house with a sign. At first I couldn't tell what it said, but as a drew closer, I could finally read the sign. It read: Jesus is the reason for the season.

This made me smile because I knew that these people's hearts were in the right place. Sure, giving and receiving gifts is a great time to be thankful for what we have received and be kind and give to others, but what about the real reason behind this all? This year I felt especially obligated to go to mass, because of that sign. I needed to acknowledge that I knew what the reason for Christmas was. For weeks all I've heard is friends talking about what they want for Christmas, and I finally got over that once I saw that sign. So, thank you to the people who put that sign up... cheers to you! 

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Cooper got a new rope for Christmas (along with a squeak toy and a ball... all of which he has not stopped playing with)

Finals Week

I say this every year, but my brain has never felt more like mush. My mind is swirling with vocabulary, formulas, conjugations, maps, and math problems. My eyes are throbbing from this headache that I've gotten from being so tired. (which means I should probably be in bed... but, oh well)

It is finally finals week, and it couldn't have come soon enough. Last week went by really slowly... like it felt like time had slowed down and was 10x slower that it actually is. Now, though, since it is finals week, time is going by a little bit more swiftly. I've been nonstop studying for finals, with the thought of winter break in the back of my mind. I just keep telling myself that once I get through this, I get to have almost 3 weeks of no homework... 3 weeks on not even thinking about school.

I've been daydreaming about what treats I'm making for Christmas this year.
The idea of baking peppermint bark cupcakes and red velvet crinkle cookies is making me even more anxious. Baking is something that makes me feel relaxed and happy and in the holiday spirit. Because of finals, "getting into the spirit" isn't much of an option yet.

My friend Katie and I already have an idea to go to yoga one morning of Christmas break to relieve all of our stress that has built up. Sounds good to me!

As I type this, I'm looking at my poor dog, Cooper, who, earlier, was dressed up as a snowman for our Christmas picture. I've been wanting to do a really cute Christmas photo, and on Pinterest I saw some sweet puppy pictures of dogs and wanted to replicate one. I bought Cooper a snowman costume and went for it! I still have to wait for the right lighting but I think it'll turn out great.

The First Snow of the Season

 World history class yesterday in 5th period, 1:00 p.m. :

Me: (Sitting towards the front of the room) "Mr.Crump, do you think there will be a snow day tomorrow?" (as I look out the window at the snow)

Mr. Crump: "Noooooooo. Definitely not." (shakes head)

Me: "Why not? My weather app says it's going to snow all night…"

Mr.Crump: "There's never been a snow day on the first day of snow since I've been teaching. It just doesn't happen."

Me: "Well there's a first for everything…"

Mr.Crump: "That's right, but it's not going to be tomorrow. Hate to break it to you."

Well what'd you know… it just happens to be a snow day today. 

So today, on this lovely snow day, I've been at home by myself with the dogs. I've been some-what productive, I guess. I walked the dogs a couple of times, and Cooper absolutely loves the snow. He's never been around snow before, and on the two walks that we've gone on today, he's been doing nothing other than sticking his face deep in the snow, laying in the snow, and, of course, eating the snow. I walked to the store earlier today and made a bunch of holiday treats because when I have nothing else to do, I make food. I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (for the third time in the past month and a half), peppermint-chocolate "moose-munch", and cinnamon-sugar pretzels drizzled with white chocolate. It's been a pretty good day to say the least. 

I am also here to give a quick update on my life this past month. In case you don't know, I've spent the last month moving in to my new house, which has been going pretty smoothly. I don't really have any pictures of boxes though, so, here are some other pictures of everything I've done besides moving in.

Cross country ended about 3 weeks ago.

I got to visit my friend, Sarah, in Seattle! She moved away at the beginning of summer and I haven't seen her much since! It was so much fun!

We went shopping at Nordstroms and walked around downtown Seattle.

A family-friend told me that I had to go to Trophy cupcakes in one of the local malls. They said it was the best cupcake they'd ever had. Though Georgetown Cupcake is still my favorite, Trophy Cupcake was a pretty close 2nd.

I watch a lot of baking shows and dessert shows and cooking shows because, again, I am a foodie. I love sweets, and I love to learn how to make them. On a TV show called Unique Sweets, they featured a pie shop in Seattle called High 5 Pie. This pie shop was probably about a 5 minute walk from my brother's campus at SU, so we stopped by. (By the way, the thing I am holding is a pie pop… a rather genius invention)

Awww Ryan! (he's all into wearing beanies now)

Sarah and I high-fiving for pie! (get it?!)

This was my last race of the season, districts. The JV girls, JV boys, Varsity girls, and Varsity boys all placed 1st in our district! Woohoo! 

I started to take Cooper up to Camel's Back, our local park, and we hiked all the way to the top of the hill. The view made every step worth it. 

I had my friends over to do an Ouija board a couple of weeks ago… it went well. (I can't speak of what happened during the Ouija board session, but lets just say it definitely works.)

Oh, and we had an ice cream sundae bar… it was delicious. 

I tried to make Cooper pose for me but of course he thought I was playing around so, naturally, he started chewing on my hand. No biggie. 

Cooper and I started taking dancing lessons… they are going pretty well. We can swing dance pretty well, and we are currently working on the tango. 

We're best buddies. 

Cooper's first sight of snow! He won't stop looking out the window and staring at it!