Update!

I have been so busy with school that I haven't had time to blog! Let me recap everything that has happened recently. 

1. I started trying to lose weight with my best friend. We both really want to and we decided that the best way to do it was together!

2. I went to lunch with my parents and had an amazing salad at one of my favorite places...McAllisters!! I got the pecanberry salad...I highly suggest it 

3. I started the paleo diet with my family this week! It's not as difficult as I expected it to be and I've already lost about 8 lbs. this week. While it takes quite a while to prepare each meal, they've all been delicious. Not a single meal has left me feeling bloated and I feel comfortably full after eating. In the past I had lost 15 pounds by just keeping track of calories using the app, My Fitness Pal. With the paleo diet, it says not to worry about counting calories, just watch portion control, and eat paleo approved things! So easy! 

This was my first paleo breakfast. It took about two hours but it was so good! It didn't really fill me up much though. It was almost like a little egg pizza! I can't remember everything off the top of my head but it had egg and lettuce in it and I topped it with salsa and chives. 

I didn't take pictures of every meal but just some of my favorites! This one here my dad made...I was surprised it turned out amazing with him cooking! (Shh don't tell him that) 

This was a cumin chicken lettuce wrap. After everything was cut up and seasoned it only took 6 minutes to make. So simple! I would love to eat this every day. I rinced pieces of Boston lettuce, added a slice of avocado (even though I hate it...my dad made me), and added in my chicken, peppers and onion. As Emeril would say, "Let's kick it up a notch!" and we topped it with a little like juice! (Whatching Emeril on tv when I was little used to be one of my favorite things) It was great. It was a little messy, but so worth it. 

4. I started job training for my first real job! Yay!! My two best friends and I decided we wanted real jobs and so we applied together! 

5. I started finals at school yesterday! I thought that day would never come with all those snow days! I took my US history final and got a 91% (woot woot!) 

6. I took my road test at the DMV! I was so nervous about parallel parking! I was also scared I would get a mean guy grading my test...he was a little grumpy, but oh well. The good news is that I passed!! I have my restricted now!! The first place I drove alone was to the bank for my dad. I started driving, smiling and excited, and then of all things...IT STARTED RAINING! The first time I ever drove in the rain was by myself. It was a little stressful but hey I got through it! 

7. Last night I went to my younger cousin's 8th grade graduation! I can't believe she's going to start high school next year! She graduated from the same gradeschool I went to so it was sad to see her leaving. I had a very small gradeschool so everyone was really close. I even got to see some of the people that graduated with me that I hadn't seen in almost a year! We planned to all go see the fault in our stars together next week! 

8. Finally were caught up to today! My mom and I drove up to the tanning bed, for her...she won't let me go. She told me to drive over to McAllisters to get some sweet teas. (Even though not paleo approved, but you can't pass up a Mcallisters sweet tea when it's right down the street) So I switch over to the drivers seat and go on my way. I get there, park pretty perfectly if I do say so myself (I have a major parking issue) I look over and realize that my mom never gave me the keys...great. I couldn't turn the car off to go get the tea! How could I drive without the key you might ask...we have one of those cars that just has the button to start. 

So I have to drive all the way back to the tanning bed and wait for her. I had to waste a lot of gas sitting outside because I couldn't turn it off!! Finally she gets in and gives me the keys. I dropped her off at Kroger and headed over to get the tea. On the bright side I had a free tea card! And I got my other card stamped to number 9! 

  

It took a long time but I was finally ruined with my sweet tea :) 

I'll leave you with this question...

Have you ever had their sweet tea? 

It's so great 

My Night In Pictures

My night all in pictures! 

My Dad picked me up from school and took me to McAllister's to get a sweet tea (yum!) then we met my brother, Ricky, over at the movie theater...

 Ricky complained about how expensive his popcorn and drink was.....

 While this may look like Ricky's arm....its actually my dad kicking butt in Galaga...his favorite arcade game. 

We had to chill in the arcade for about 35 minutes because sooommeeeooonneee (*cough* dad *cough*) decided to get there an hour early.

 I pretended to be cool and played the motorcycle racing game thing....needless to say i came in 5th...yay..?

 Ricky played pac man for what seemed like for-ev-er

 Left the arcade with one token left....one....how does that even happen?!

 The movie theater is renovating and guess what all these boxes are...NEW SEATS! (i was way too excited for these)

 Stole Ricky's popcorn while we watched previews and commercials

 Finally....GODZILLA! 

We saw it in 3D....it kept me on the edge of my seat...so suspenseful. I fell in love with the movie! It's the first Godzilla movie I've ever seen. I was a little hesitant to go see it, but i really recommend it. By far exceeded my expectations...i went from almost crying to shaking because i was scared for the main characters! It was so easy to get emotionally attached to all of them. (i love movies like that) Sitting there, i felt like i was going through all of the emotions that the characters were going through...it was actually a little stressful (haha)

 Aaron Taylor Johnson did a great job playing Ford in the movie

 My mom tried a new Chicken Enchilada recipe she found off of Pinterest..it was great! But it was so filling 

 Ended my night studying for a chemistry quiz over stoichiometry for tomorrow

And of course...i had to listen to my phillip phillips in order to study

side note: I almost cried when Phillip sang on the American Idol finale with Sam! Sam was my favorite on the show and if you haven't been able to tell yet...Phillip Phillips is my favorite singer. He walked onto the stage and i was sitting at home on the couch with my family and my face got all red and i almost cried! I get so excited each time i see him preform! He is just so amazing :) 

Have you seen Godzilla yet? 

Theology Class-Prayer

In my Theology class (this semester "The Paschal Mystery") a different student prepares prayer for that day. (I'm a sophomore at an all girls Catholic High School)

Prayer for class- 5/22/14

Theme: Dreams 

Proverbs 16:9 

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

What this passage means to me: 

To me this passage means to follow your dreams and to never give up. We always say that God has a plan for us. We always say that we follow the path that God has set up for us. But really that is not the case. We have a plan for our own lives. God just helps create the steps to get us there. We all have a dream in our lives; a big goal to accomplish. We all have one thing that we really, really want to do. This passage means that if we follow our hearts, follow our dreams, God will be there to guide us and help us through everything. God has a plan for each of us, but that plan is developed through what we really want deep in our hearts. We may have not discovered it yet, but God knows what will truly make us happy. Whether your dream is something big or something small, God will always be there every step of the way. He will be by our sides every day, guiding us until we reach the final stepping stone on the path to our dreams. 

How this passage relates to my life:

 This passage relates to my life because just like everyone else, I have a goal that I want to achieve. I have a dream. My dream is that I want to be a clinical pathologist. I know that this goal, this dream of mine will be hard to accomplish. I know that it will require hard work and time, but it is something that I truly want. I always knew that I wanted to go into a field of medicine or science. I just happened to stumble upon this career path the other day and I know it is something I most likely will want to do. God is guiding me along this path by putting so many amazing people in my life. He is opening up so many opportunities for me to achieve my dream. In my grade school, we had to do science fair. I loved every minute of it. Even writing the 25 page research paper, because it was about something I loved doing. I worked at a local University with different professors to help guide me through the process. With their guidance and support, I ended up winning second at state with my research. Ever since then I knew that I really wanted to do something in a lab when I got older.

Media: 

Discussion Question: 

(i had each student answer this question)

What is one dream that you have in your life? 

Some of the answers i received: 

• Start a family
• Go to a good college 
• Earn a scholarship to college
• Become a research scientist 
• Be successful 
• Watch my daughters be successful in their own lives (teacher) 

Closing Prayer:

You know my dreams, Lord, and I know it is a lot to ask to realize those dreams, but I ask that you hear my prayer of hope. I would like to think that my hopes and dreams are all part of your plans for me, but I trust that you always know better. I put my dreams in your hands to mold and fit to your will. I surrender my hopes to you. In your holy name, 

Amen.

Motivation Monday

Today's Motivation Monday: Music 

So one thing that can really get me through anything is music. And what better way to start a week than with brand new music from my favorite singer?? Phillip Phillips is the best. 

Behind the light came out today and I haven't stopped listening to it! I'm absolutely in love with the album. I knew I was going to love it the day Raging Fire was released. Instantly my favorite song. 

My reaction when the cd was being downloaded:

I wish someday I will be able to meet Phillip. He's my idol and by far my absolute favorite singer. I hope I get to achieve my dreams like he has!

And now two more pictures of Phillip because why not 

Questions for today...

Have you heard his new album?

What dreams do you want to achieve? 

DIY Wreath

First of all I would like to say I'm sorry I haven't had a blog post up since Tuesday but I've been super busy with school and I just haven't had the time to do it!

My very first DIY is making your own wreath. I made this one for a doctor's office (family friend) and she loved it! I made sure to pick out the colors to match the whole scheme of the office: blue green and purple. 

I started out by taking a trip to Michael's Craft Store to gather all the supplies I needed

 

They were having a sale and I had a 25% off coupon! How great is that? 

 

The products I used in this DIY were all very inexpensive and affordable. I'm pretty sure I got everything for a little over $20. So I used a craft smart high temperature mini glue gun, Surebonder mini glue sticks, and an Ashland Wreath Hanger. I also just used some random scissors I had laying around...i forgot to buy wire cutters so it took a little while to cut everything, just a little FYI. 

I also grabbed this smaller Ashland wreath to work on. 

I just picked out some flowers that I really liked, mostly Ashland and got started cutting! 

I started to just go a little glue crazy and just kept gluing the flowers on the wreath. It was difficult to just lay them out and then glue...so I just went at it! 

I had enough flowers to go all the way around, but I liked the look of it stopping about half way. Once I got all of those annoying glue strings off, I grabbed my wreath hanger and headed down the hall to the door. I decided to put it on the waiting room door, just to spice it up a bit. Fingers crossed that the patients like it too! 

This was a ton of fun to work on, I'm thinking about maybe doing one for my house too! I definitely recommend you try it out :) 

Tasty Tuesday

Kickin off my first Tasty Tuesday....Panda style.

So today was pretty great. It was filled with some pretty excited things if I do say so myself. Not only did we have a half day at school, we did a pretty fun lab during chem and I ended up getting a 100 on a reeaallyy hard algebra 2 test. I also got accepted into Mu Alpha Theta! I'm not really sure how to explain it but I guess I'll just say it's a math club...yes I'm a teenager that likes math! 

For the amazing half day to begin, my grandma picked me up and we went to lunch together at Chick Fil A and we had a pretty great time together. 

When my mom got home from work we went and I got my nails done...even though I had to wait an hour it was worth it!

Leaving the nail salon I come to my main topic of the day...Panda Express!!! 

I'm a sucker for some good Chinese food and panda is definitely the place to go! One of my personal faves. (I once went there three times in one week..shhh) 

I love walking in to see this long line of pure deliciousness sitting before me. But in all seriousness it's so good. If you haven't been there before GET OFF YOUR BOOTY AND GO GET SOME PANDA!!! 

My absolute favorite is the panda bowl with fried rice and orange chicken...oh and I can't forget my lovely cream cheese rangoons!! yum! But be careful...the bowl may look small but there's a ton in there. Try to control how much of it you eat...unlike me! 

I love reading my fortunes at every Chinese restaurant I go to! (Side note: did you know that fortune cookies were invented in California? I did a project on it in 3rd grade...just sayin) 

So normally the fortunes are just cheesy and never come true..UNTIL TODAY! 

So I'm sittin there takin my sweet time opening my fortune and once I finish reading it...what do ya know I get a text from my boyfriend. So I opened the text

and it was a smiley face! Like what! Smiley face....cheerful letter or message! Coincidence?! I think not! (*cough* probably *cough*) 

So I leave you with this today: 

Panda Express is da bomb.com 

What's your favorite Chinese restaurant in your city? 

Motivation Monday

Since Mondays aren't that great and I never have energy on Mondays...i decided to do motivation Mondays! That way each morning I have the motivation to get stuff done and reward myself by getting to blog about it. (Woo!)

Today's Motivation Monday: Meditation 

Today in my theology class, bright and early, after taking some notes about grief and the stages of grief, the class took a short field trip down the hall to the chapel. In the chapel we meditated by listening to relaxing music.

We began by going down our bodies, flexing each muscle, then releasing until we made it to our feet. We had our eyes closed while reflecting on the highs and lows of our lives.

 

We made a timeline of our "Loss History". While talking about grief doesn't seem like it would be very motivating, it surprisingly was. The sun was shining through the big windows of the chapel, warming my face. The beautiful music dancing through the air, the sounds of the birds greeting the morning. It was relaxing to just sit there and think about my life. I thought about things ranging from the death of a pet to the birth of a brand new friendship. 

"Whatever results you’re getting, be they rich or poor, good or bad, positive or negative, always remember that your outer world is simply a reflection of your inner world.  If things aren’t going well in your outer life, it’s because things aren’t going well in your inner life.  It’s that simple." -T. Harv Eker 

I found this quote today and it reminded me of my morning experience in the chapel. Reflecting on the different high points and low points of my life helped me to realize why I am the person I am today.

I'll leave you with this to think about: 

What are the high points of your life? 

What keeps you motivated? 

Mother's Day

Hi there :) so this is my very first blog post and I'm so excited that chelcey got me to start blogging! Today has been a loooong day. It's 10:30 and I'm just starting my homework...but it's whatever. I spent all day with my wonderful mother today :) we kicked the day off by gardening (her newly found hobby) got a big ol tomato plant in the ground, some marigolds and my favorite...sunflowers!! We also spent some time putting some zinnias around the mailbox

 Aren't they pretty?? I took this picture when we bought them at lowes and I'm kinda in love with it. After getting covered in dirt we ran over to the nursery and picked out a few hanging flowers for the grandmas for Mother's Day. Stopped by McAllisters and grabbed some sweet tea on the way to my grandma's house. We met my family for dinner at Masa which was amazing...I highly recommend it. Ended my night by hanging out at Sean and Chelcey's apartment talking about blogs and YouTube. I think I'm gonna like it here :) Happy Mother's Day