Why Summer is Actually the Best.

 Summer provides once in a lifetime opportunities, like shark riding.
(Btw, this was me and my dad, circa 1997ish).

Usually when people refer to "the most wonderful time of the year," they are talking about Christmastime. While I am in complete agreement that Christmas is pretty wonderful, I would argue that it is not, in fact, the most wonderful. The following is a list of reasons which I would use to defend my position. (And it wouldn't be a list if it wasn't alphabetical).

Beaches.
Berry season.
Bright colors.
Butterflies.
Flip-flops.
Flowers.
Green grass.
Ice cream cones.
Lemonade.
Longer days.
Movies.
No school.
Painted toe nails.
Picnics.
Popsicles.
Running through sprinklers.
Sandals.
Sand volleyball.
Shorts.
Snow cones.
Sonic's Summer of Shakes!
Sundresses.
Sunshine.
Swimming.
Tank tops.
Vacations.
Water parks.
Weather that isn't cold.

Basically, happiness. Summer is just the happiest time of the year. And the most wonderful. And the best.

And if you're wondering why I think summer is the best, but back in September I called autumn my favorite season, it's because I go back and forth between the two. Usually by the end of summer/beginning of fall, fall is my favorite, but near the end of fall and all the way through spring I'm SO ready for summer. I'm not a liar, I promise.

Check out my lists for why I love fall and winter (mainly Christmas). There isn't one for spring, because spring is clearly the worst season and doesn't deserve a list (I have bad allergies, if you're wondering why I have a vendetta against spring).

Life Without School Is Kinda Boring.

I know that doesn't seem like a logical sentence and you must think I'm losing my mind, but it's true. I've been doing school the last, like, fifteen years of my life and NOW I'M DONE. Which was cool for all of about two hours and then it hit me that, um, I had nothing to do.

Like seriously, I have no life. I kinda had to put whatever inkling of a life I once previously had on the back burner about a year and a half ago when I decided to take the fast-paced approach to college, and didn't realize that that would have severe consequences once I no longer had to do school.

I. AM. SO. BORED.

Yeah, I'm working still. About 30 hours a week. But y'all? There's 168 hours in a week. And yes, I did google that number (twice, because I closed the tab and then promptly forgot what it said), because I'm now [almost] a college graduate and therefore I don't need math anymore. But that's not the point. The point is that there's 138 hours a week where I have nothing to do.

Okay, that's not true. Factor in like, 56 hours of sleep and like two to three hours for church on Sundays...oh! and two hours for my summer group on Tuesday nights...and that leaves me with....hold on...like 70ish (that's not the exact number but AGAIN I don't need math anymore) hours a week where I have nothing to do.

So...what have I been doing with all that free time you ask?

• Reading this AMAZING baking blog I found via Pinterest, and baking ALL of her recipes (Okay, only three. But I'm working on it.)
• Reading this makeup blog (also found via Pinterest) and being reminded how much I LOVE reading up on makeup/hair care/skin care tips, and constantly giving myself makeovers.
• Pinteresting. Meaning, doing every DIY I've ever pinned ever.
• Watching Gossip Girl on Netflix. Because I can't get away from the trashy teen dramas.
• Cleaning/reorganizing my room/bathroom because for some reason THEY JUST DON'T STAY CLEAN.
• Shopping at Goodwill, because it's close and I love new clothes and great deals.
• Spending 45 minutes at Wal-Mart trying to find where the heck they keep the glycerin and the castor oil (for a Pinterest hair mask I was making).

So basically, since finishing college, I have become a well-dressed, thrifty, organized, teen-soap-opera addicted Pinteresting machine monster with cookies. And blondies. Ooooh, can't forget the blondies. They're the best.

Like, no really. When I die, I really hope it's while I'm eating a blondie*. Best way to go, right there.

*I JUST realized that if you don't know what a blondie is, it might sound like I'm eating a female of the blonde hair variety. A blondie is basically a brownie without the cocoa. It looks more blonde than brown so it's called a blondie.

It's crazy how when you have school work to do, there are a million other things you'd rather be doing, but when you don't have school...there's NOTHING to do. That saying that "you don't know what you've got until it's gone" really rings true for me right now. (In a kind of pathetic way.)

But anyway, does anyone else have any other ideas of ways I can keep myself busy? Oh, and PLEASE don't say "working out." Because seriously, I'm not THAT bored.

P.S. Oh yeah, I finished college last week. I just realized y'all didn't know that before I wrote this post. Oops.

I Hereby Declare the Summer of Awesome Fun Begun.

Yesterday was the beginning of summer, according to the ninety degree weather and the surplus of fun that came with it.

Not only was yesterday the end of the stressful last couple of weeks I've had (with finals and helping my mom with her play), it was also the day of the Color Me Rad 5K. Which, if you haven't heard of it before, is awesome and fun and you should sign up to do one.

Basically, it's a 5K (that is untimed so there are no winners or losers and therefore no pressure to run) where you start out looking quite angelic (or albino, whichever) in your clean white clothes, and then 3.1 miles later you come out looking like a rainbow exploded on you. Which is basically what happens; every kilometer or so, you are coated with color. The entry fee is a bit pricey, BUT they donate a portion of the proceeds to charity and you get cool sunglasses and T-shirts and a cargo ship of fun (boatload seems too small a metaphor).

ANYWAY. Don't just take my word for it. See for yourself.

You also get cool tattoos. And you can put them anywhere you please. Including, ahem, 

"over your heart...." 

  Before: Looking fresh in our clean white shirts. Please excuse the innappropriate tattoos.

 After: Rocking the hippie look in our psychedelic tye-dye. Far out.

  Our backs. Mary didn't want you to see mine, apparently.

 Love these girls. Also, in case you can't tell, I have this awesome blue Robert-Downey-Jr-esque 

facial hair thing going on.

We make super cute rainbows, IMHO.

So, as you can see, that was a whole lot of fun. Minus the whole ninety degree weather thing. But one large Sonic cherry limeade later and that was quickly resolved.

Which brings me to another point. Have you heard about Sonic's new milkshake flavors this summer? My summer goal is to try them ALL.*

*Minus the ones with peanut butter, coconut, or bacon in them, because I do not like peanut butter or coconut, and bacon just straight up doesn't belong in a milkshake.

BUT I am greatly looking forward to trying their cheesecake flavors, their cream pie flavors, and their chocolate-covered banana/strawberry flavors. GREATLY. 

I'm also excited to make this summer the best summer of all the summers that ever were. Even better than the summer of '69, which according to that one song was apparently pretty great. But it will be nothing in comparison to the summer of '13.

Yesterday was a great way to kickoff the summer, and in a week and a half, I'll be officially DONE with college, which will be another great continuation of the greatest summer ever.

After that, I don't know what this summer holds in store for me. But whatever it is, it will be stupdendous.

How are you celebrating the Summer of Awesome Fun?

Almost a Good Samaritan.

The other day I was driving home and pulled into my neighborhood. And on the sidewalk was sitting a crate.

The crate had a sign on it. It had a picture of something, but I couldn't tell what. The only word I could make out was "FOUND."

I kept driving, but thought it was weird that someone would set out a crate with a found sign on it rather than just, you know, doing what most people do and taping the posters up on light poles and whatnot.

And then, as I'm about to pull into my driveway, the thought occurs to me: Ohmygosh what if there's a puppy trapped inside that crate!

Keep in mind that I live in Texas and it's like at least 100 degrees here. Texas heat + puppy - water = dead puppy.

So I pulled into my driveway, ran upstairs and quickly changed into some clothes that wouldn't cause me to melt into a puddle. Then, I went for a little stroll. You know, in the scorching, furnace-like, Texas summer heat. All the way to the entrance of our neighborhood (it's about, like, half a mile, total, going there and back to my house. Maybe less. I don't know. But it felt SUPER LONG.)

I was going to be the super hero. Save the poor dehydrated puppy in that crate. Take it home and give it water and if it was a chihuahua, name it Jorge (pronounced "hor-hay", not "George". Chihuahuas are Mexican and therefore deserve the Spanish pronunciation of the name).

So, I got there, looked in the crate...and it was empty.

Well, it wasn't empty...there were rocks inside. You know, so the crate wouldn't blow away. You know, because there's so much wind in Texas in the summer. (I wish...)

And in all honesty, as relieved as I am that there wasn't a puppy in there...I was also kind of disappointed. I wanted to bring home a puppy. (Plus it was SO not worth the walk).

So I trudged back another half mile (or whatever) in the scorching heat and then went swimming in my imaginary pool to cool off. Since, you know, this story is full of things that I wish had happened but didn't. 

So that's my I-almost-saved-the-day-but-didn't-because-I-underestimated-the-goodness-of-mankind story. I have a couple of those, now.

I have an active/slightly wild imagination.

But it's okay. My mom still thinks I'm great and that means I must be doing something right.

...right?

What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger...

 ...or just really tired.

We slightly changed the words to Kelly Clarkson's song to fit HEART. But that's as far as we got, because we fell asleep after that. :)

Anyway...THIS is the post you have been waiting for!

Honestly, I have dreaded writing this post. Why? Because it was three weeks of constant activity...it wouldn't be a post, it'd be a book.

And honestly, I DON'T want to write all of that. So instead, I'm going to give a brief summary of what we did, why we did it, and I WAS going to show you a couple videos, but I'm giving up on that. I will post them in the future if I am able to. So please enjoy this picture-less, video-less, very, very summarized summary of HEART!

What is HEART?

HEART stands for "Hearts Eager and Ready for Training". It was the summer training program that my church's youth group offered to the girls this summer. The guys had one too, called SWEAT (Student Work Experience and Training). We love acrostics at my church.

The program was open to all students 6th-12th grade. Students had the option of going three weeks, two weeks, or one week. The girls renovated a lifeless house; the guys transformed a barren property. The first week we had 9 girls. We added 8 more the second week and 10 the third week for a grand total of 27 girls.

We had guest speakers throughout the weeks to come talk to us about things such as finances, relationships, dating, cooking, and first aid.

The point of the program was to teach young men and women a good work ethic, diligence, perseverance, and teamwork as well as important life skills, all while learning to live together and provide for each other.

We cooked meals together, cleaned together, tiled floors together, painted together, scraped floors together, ate together, laughed together, learned together, and most of all, we grew closer to God together.

There was a lot of togetherness.

What did we do?

• First, we ripped out the carpet. It was GROSS. Awful. And we couldn't move our bags in until that happened. That's how bad it was.
• We then spent the next three days scraping the brown moss of terror.
• We painted all the walls and ceilings. The people who had previously lived there were smokers and the poor dry wall was suffering from that.
• We cleaned. Because all the surfaces in the house were as gross as the carpet.
• We laid vinyl tile in the laundry room, dining room, and kitchen.
• We meal planned, grocery shopped, and cooked.
• We did dishes.
• We spackled with hot pink spackle that turns white when it dries. Awesome.
• We caulked.
• We did minor landscaping.
• We wrote songs.
• We saw the boys once a week (!).
• We made necklaces, hair flowers, trivets, soaps, bath fizzies, and other things that I don't remember.
• We worshiped Jesus.
• We learned, grew, and endured.
• We made new friends.

And, last but not least,

• We had fun!

Believe it or not, yes, we had fun.

What is "the brown moss of terror?" 

Well, underneath the carpet in the kitchen, dining room and laundry room, was this wonderful little brown carpet pad that was glued to the floor underneath. Literally. It would not come up. And it needed to. We spent three days scraping it. And it looked kind of mossy, so it was dubbed the brown moss of terror.

Songwriting? That sounds fun!

Yes, yes it does. One Friday the boys came over and had written us a song to the tune of "What Makes You Beautiful" by One Direction. So we wrote them a song to the tune of "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen and sang it for them the following week. Unfortunately, I don't have a video of that.

I do, however, have a video of this song that Meredith and I wrote while painting the bathroom...which I was going to post, but now I'm not. So...sorry! haha

We also had a High School Musical dance party. It was epic. I know you're jealous.

What does the house look like now?

Awesome.

Amazing.

Beautiful.

It's practically a castle.

Well, compared to what it DID look like, at least. :)


So, now you know how I spent the last three weeks of my June (after my senior trip). Exciting right? It was a great time, and a great experience, but I'm glad to be home and back at work. About to start college. Oh, I'm a sophomore now, as of yesterday. Cool right? I'm probably the only freshman at UTA who's actually a sophomore. Hehe. I cheated the system.

My Week With Shamu.

Okay, so in actuality I only really spent about 30 minutes out of the whole week with Shamu. But it was a better title than "My San Antonio Trip," which was the other option. I'm not good with titles.

Anyway! I will now recount the events of my senior trip to the best of my ability. Don't worry, there's pictures, for those of you who hate reading.

We left the morning of Saturday, June 2nd to begin our epic adventure of initiation into adulthood in none other than the very city that marked the turning point of the war for our beloved state of Texas' independence! Others who journeyed here before us include Samuel Houston, William Travis, and Jim Bowie. In fact, I probably set foot upon the exact place where Davy Crockett's lifeless body laid...cool, right?

(Please excuse the history lesson. My mom's an American history teacher. Though I may or may not have had to turn to google to check the accuracy on a few of those facts...shh. Don't tell.)

Anyway, my faithful companions on this adventure were my good friends Meagan, Ellen, Christopher, Luke, and Stephen! Now, take a break from reading, and enjoy these pictures:

 

Ready for a week of epic awesomeness.

Remembering the Alamo...or, trying to remember, at least.

 This was Luke's idea. I think he was the only one who knew what we were doing. 

Something about a line...?

Okay, so that was day one! Well, and the second half of day two...we went to the Alamo at the end of the second day after we got back from Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels. But I don't actually have any pictures of Schlitterbahn cuz, you know, it's a water park, and iPhones don't take very high quality pictures in water.

Actually, I didn't take any of these pictures...so you can blame the friends I stole these pictures from for not taking pictures at Schlitterbahn. Which is a German word, pronounced Sh-litter-bon. In case you read that, and thought I was crazy.

Anyway, day three, and my personal favorite day (:D) was dolphin day! Also known as Sea World day. If you don't know, my favorite animal is a dolphin. Shamu was cool too, but he is also capable of eating people. Dolphins just want to play with people. They're pacifists. And much less risky.

Also, there are about five killer whales at Sea World, and they are ALL named Shamu. Even the baby is "Baby Shamu". Such a scam. I hope the kids never find out. Because when I found out, it was like my whole childhood was a lie and I could never trust Shamu again.

Dolphins don't lie to little kids.

Anyway, picture time!

 

Waiting for scam artist Shamu(s) to come out.

 

So Shamu can pose. Big deal. Dolphins can do flips. BACKflips. That actually

requires talent. 

 

I look a lot happier in this picture. Probably cuz we were waiting for the DOLPHIN

show. 

 

Reason #52 why dolphins are better than Shamu: That mouth is open for a fish.

NOT a human being.  

I fell asleep in the car on my new pillow.

 And there's the pillow. It was too perfect that the dolphin one was purple.

Okay, I think I'm done ragging on Shamu now. 

Tuesday we didn't do much. We were going to a fancy steakhouse for dinner that night, so we didn't want to do anything that would make us look all gross for that. Sooo...we went bowling! And then the BOYS made us go SHOPPING for like TWO HOURS. First time ever I have been stuck in a mall sitting on a random couch in the middle of the building waiting for a boy to finish shopping. And hopefully the last time; it wasn't too fun.

They had to buy a sweater vest for Christopher, but it was some big secret so the girls had to go away. And it took them FOREVER to find one.

So then we got back to the hotel and had like 45 minutes to get ready for dinner. And then we went to Chamagaucha steakhouse which was AMAZING. I've never eaten so much meat in my life. It's one of those places where they just keep bringing out more and more and more and more meat until you're about to die from fullness and then they still bring more.

 

Bowling!

 

In the elevator in our pretty dresses :)

 

At the restaurant.

 

 We told them we were celebrating our senior trip, and they brought us a free

slice of cheesecake! It was gone in 30 seconds. So good.

 Us in front of the restaurant. Christopher is wearing the vest that took two hours

to find. I hope it was worth it.

Day four was Fiesta Texas day! I LOVE theme parks and roller coasters, so that was fun. It was really hot, though. I was so dehydrated by the end of the day...I think I walked around for about 20 minutes (or it felt like it) looking for a water fountain...only to find out there was one like five feet away from where I started searching. We left by mid-afternoon, and just hung out at the hotel the rest of the day. Then, that night, we went to the Chart House Restaurant in The Tower of the Americas for dessert. It's a really fancy restaurant in downtown San Antonio that overlooks the city and actually revolves so you can see the whole city and not just a quarter of it. I tried creme brulee for the first time and I will definitely be getting that again. It was so good.

 Waiting in line for a ride I don't remember the name of. But whatever it was, it

 gave me whiplash and a headache.

On "The Scream"! About to shoot up 5000 feet into the air! Or whatever a 

more realistic height is. I'm not good with numbers. 

 At the Chart House. Isn't that view amazing?

Our last day, we left in the morning and then spent part of the day at Schlitterbahn again before heading back home. It was sad that it was over. Because it was fun. And who likes it when fun ends? 

  The only Schlitterbahn picture we have.

All in all, it was a really fun trip. I especially appreciated it because I didn't get to go on my school's senior trip and I had been pretty bummed about that. Then I found out the possibility of a smaller senior trip with these great friends of mine and I was super excited! So glad it worked out, and that we got to do everything we wanted. :)

Oh, and in case you were wondering or concerned...we did have parents with us. Mine and Christopher's were there, but they didn't go anywhere with us. They were just there in the same hotel/city with us, you know, in case of an emergency. It was fun!

So yeah, great time with some great people! And then I came home, had about three days to re-coop, and then I had to pack all over again for the three week summer training program I went to next! I will have a post about that up...later. As in, like early next week later. Like Monday or Tuesday. More likely Tuesday, because I'm a procrastinator. But we shall see.

Did you go anywhere this summer?  

Oh, Hey. I Have a Blog.

Yeah. So in case you haven't noticed I haven't been around lately...

I have a good excuse, I promise. But before I start explaining, I have an announcement/a favor to ask.

Okay, well I don't really have that many readers at the moment BUT I'm really looking to start expanding my blog. You know, do this more as a regular thing and not just sporadically. 'm also hoping to make more friends here in the blogosphere so I will be looking for blogs similar to mine in order to help do that. But it will also help if others spread the word! If you happen to know someone looking for a blog about life by an 18 year old girl possibly by the name of Kayla...you might as well just give them my URL. :)

But in all seriousness, if you think your readers might enjoy me too, I would greatly appreciate it if you would tell them about me. I'm really hoping to meet some new people and also find some good blogs that I enjoy reading. And I promise I will get a lot better about commenting...I haven't been doing much of that lately, but I should have more time now to do that. :)

Oh, and if you do tell someone about me, please let me know so I can return the favor!

Okay...back to why I've been MIA for so long.

The Month of June...

As I mentioned earlier, I went to San Antonio the first week of June for a senior trip with 5 of my closest friends. It was a blast. I will try to dedicate a post to that later.

Then...I came back, unpacked, washed all my clothes, and repacked...for a three week summer training program with some girls from my youth group. That was intense, but awesome. I will also try to post more about this at a later time.

But basically, that is why I have not been here. In that three weeks I did not have access to any sort of technology. Told you I had a good excuse! I was suffering for Jesus (kind of).

So What About July?

Umm....yeah.

Let's just pretend it's July 1st and I blogged as soon as I got home.

I have no excuse for the last two weeks.

What Else Is New?

Well, I had orientation at the University of Texas at Arlington this past Monday and Tuesday. I am now completely registered for classes! I start August 23rd. So that's a new exciting stage of life. :)

That's really the only new thing in my life...I'm boring.

So anyway, all this to say I'm back and better than ever! Keep checking back for those posts about San Antonio and summer training!

Bittersweet Goodbyes.

Saying goodbye sucks.

And I am truly horrible at it. I never know what to say, so I'm always just like "bye!" Then, after it's too late, I realize how much I'm going to miss the person and feel terrible because the last thing I said to them was "bye."

Seriously? "Bye?" That's the best I can come up with? Yeah, I sure care a lot...I care sooooo much that I gave you a whole syllable! Aren't you special.

Today was full of goodbyes. Actually, this whole month has been full of goodbyes. Most of them bittersweet. But the bad thing about bittersweet, is that you're too focused on the bitter to think about the sweet.

Have you ever taken a bite of bittersweet chocolate? It's extremely disappointing. Chocolate is a wonderful, rich treat that few people dislike. I, personally, am a huge chocoholic. One time, I found a huge bar of chocolate in my pantry. I gasped in excitement. I unwrapped it, anxiously awaiting taking my first bite. Then I took my bite. And I immediately spit it out.

It was bittersweet chocolate. I was expecting to taste the same sort of heavenly goodness that chocolate normally has. But instead, I got something bland and quite flavorless. I have not eaten bittersweet chocolate since. (Unless you count dark chocolate, in which case, yes, I have.)

That's how goodbyes are for me. Usually when I have to say goodbye, it's because people are going on to bigger and better things. For example, graduation was last week. And for the most part, it was a happy event. But at the same time, it was the closest I've ever been to crying at a graduation. Even though I only had two friends in the graduating class, this was the closest I've ever been to a senior class. I realized how much I was going to miss going to school next year with those two friends. I realized I was going to have to say goodbye.

Today, I had to say goodbye to a lot of people. Well, two, to be exact. But there would have been a lot more, had I seen them. Almost every guy in my youth group is leaving town in the morning to go to a summer training program at a ranch at some undisclosed location. Well, I don't think the location is actually undisclosed...but I don't know where it is and it sounds cooler to say that. Anyway, they're going to be gone for three weeks. I will not see any of them for THREE WEEKS. That's like an eternity, people.

Ok, so three weeks doesn't feel like an eternity when it's three weeks until school starts. It flies by. But it feels like an eternity when it's three weeks until Christmas, three weeks until your birthday, or three weeks without seeing a good 50% of your friends.

I only saw two of my friends today. Therefore I only got to say goodbye to two of them. But honestly, I can't handle another goodbye. I hate saying goodbye. I just don't think I could do it three times in one day.

It's bittersweet because I know they're going to have a great time and ultimately it's going to have a lasting impact on their lives. It's going to help shape them and help them grow spiritually, mentally, and physically. It's going to test them. It's going to challenge them. They're going to learn so much.

But it's hard to focus on that when some of my best friends are leaving me. For three weeks. And the worst part is, all I said was "bye."

I had so many things planned out that I could have said. But I couldn't do it. It's like the growing excitement of eating a chocolate bar, only to take your first bite and discover that it has no flavor. I had expectations of giving these "flavorful" goodbyes. Then I said them, and they were bland and boring.

I'm writing this in case any of my friends who are leaving in the morning decide to stop by before they go. I doubt they will, but just in case, I wanted to say goodbye. The right way. I can say way more through writing than I have ever been able to say in words. This is just easier.

I hope you guys have a fantastic time at SWEAT. I know y'all will learn and grow so much during your time there. It probably won't seem like it now, but you won't regret it. It will definitely not be the same around here without the guys. :-) I think I speak for all of us staying at home when I say that you will for sure be missed. But, we'll see you all in three weeks. And I can't speak for everyone on this point, but I personally want to hear every detail of the trip when you guys get back. And by every detail...I mean every detail. You know, except the secret guy stuff that I wouldn't understand. That you can keep to yourself. ;-)

Have a fantastic three weeks, boys.