Aaaaand now it's July...

Well, yup. Time literally slipped right out of my fingers and ran away like a little hijacker. Indeed my apology could be forever long and I will not go through the time and effort to bore my fellow readers (if there really are any...) Despite my latest neglect towards this poor and lonely blog, I have had a few adventures that may or may not be eligible for reading, but read on my friends.  I don't think I can hit every detail of the past month, but I will give you some dirt on what the early summer brought...

First off, my friends and I (my best friends might I add...) created a giant bucket list of things needed to be accomplished this summer. Things like rollerblading, tubing down the river, making our own ice cream, camping, skiing on my lake... etc. And so far... we've hardly made a dent. I mean yeah we've checked off a few things here and there but I think the idea was more exhilarating than actually accomplishing all our 'tasks'. But hey, how easy is it to get five extremely busy girls all together to do 50+ things in 90 days? The mission seems nearly impossible. But the summer is far from ending. 

One of the items on the bucket list is to skinny dip in my lake. Check. Done. Completed. It was absolutely supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. The frogs were singing their songs (actually more like screaming their songs, they were so loud.) the moon was shinning at it's fullest, the lake was calm and like glass. Basically, it was a perfect night. The four of us ran down in our towels, hopped on in (well I make that sound a lot easier than it was... I stood at the end of the dock waiting, being the chicken I am of dark, green, smelly water... but finally ventured into the water) felt freer than a bird and climbed back out. It. Was. Electrifying. Exhilarating. Refreshing. All totally worth it. Mind I say this was at 1 a.m. after making a run to the Kwik Trip in town at 12 a.m. to get Cheez-Its, Fruit Loops, Triscuits and cheese, Lunchables and some Butterfingers... (healthy... reaaaaal healthy... I know). All in all, even with the creepy drunk guy that was attempting to hit on us on our way in the gas stations, the night was absolute perfection. 

Today I went fishing for the first time in a long time. I went to my friend's cabin and we both got sicker than dogs and I went home early... blah blah blah. Anyways, I woke up feeling mighty fine but all of my other friends are either sick or gone on a trip. So I brought out the redneck in me and went fishing with a friend. I was gleeful and happy just to be on an adventure after I had been quarantined for 3 days in the basement with nothing but Friends, water, saltines and ibuprofen and of course my great mama who took care of me. We didn't catch a fish, but we did catch a clam. Despite the fact that it seems strange and fake, I am almost 100% that thing actually grabbed our hook. I mean what other way could a clam (a big one by all means) get caught on our hook?! It was pretty cool, probably because that was the only excitement we had experienced all day... Then we saw a huge and I mean huge fish swim right by our feet. So we decided just to pretend that we actually caught that fish but agreed to be nice and let him go.... ha ha. 

I call myself 'fisherwoman'

I have been pretty careless and stupid about taking photos... Which I am now realizing as I look through my ''June '12'' album and am finding nothing exciting and worth mentioning in this post... 

Oh right. For those who don't know, I am a nanny this summer. My job is exceptionally exciting and makes my summer even more of an adventure. :) 

My latest want/need: an iPhone. Oh my good golly do I want one of those bad boys. Or at the least; a smartphone. That way people won't judge me as much when I whip out a small phone to take a photo of my food.. My giant DSLR can sometimes be a hassle when going on adventures that need minimal luggage... Either way I am blessed to have both a phone and an amazing camera, it would just be fantastic to have them combined. ;)

I once again will apologize for how late this sucker is, but then again... I am only sixteen... :)

Happy day, friends. Enjoy every moment :)

Summer is FINALLY here

Well, sophomore year has ended. As excited I am, I am also a wee bit sad. I mean next year I will be a junior. I honestly don't want high school to end. It has flown by and I don't want to grow up. It's weird to think that I will have to start thinking about colleges this year (COLLEGES!). So so so so so so scary.
But until then, it is SUMMMAAA!
On the last day of school about 10 of us girls went to my friend's house for a girls night/end of the year party. So much fun!

 Meet Herky

 summer 12! 

 finally here!!

stargazing! 

cloudy but beautiful

This weekend flew by. Friday night began with an easy day at track, a yummy pasta bar at the golf course, and a cozy slumber 'party' with my gals. Before the 'cozy' part on friday, I must mention a small detail.
My friend Abby lives on top of this giant hill, that overlooks the beautiful country just outside town. It is nearly impossible to ding-dong ditch her house (that's the new thing to do nowadays...) due to the steep, curvy driveway. But, as the four of us were in the basement, the doorbell rang. We sprinted and screamed up the stairs, running outside trying to catch the culprits. We waited outside, searching the darkness for any clues, while the wind wiped our hair and strained our hearing. We figured we should be brave and run down the driveway (keep in mind we are barefoot, and in our pj's) and found our friend's car waiting. On the count of three, we charged at the car screaming and jumped on it in hopes of scaring the boys who got us, but no one was in the car. All of a sudden, four black figures came storming down the hill, shouting, and we screamed. Nice job boys.
Saturday was a pretty uneventful day, consisting of baking cupcakes, sitting in parked cars talking, swinging as if we were still quite young, and watching Paranormal Activity. Despite the fact that scary moveis are not my favorite.... Paranormal Activity was indeed thrilling and not all that scary. My friends and I cooked a simple italian dinner and enjoyed each other's company on a cool Saturday night.

And today I enjoyed a nice win for the Twins at Target Field. In the first few innings, the sun was shining, Twins were in the lead, and my ice cream cone with sprinkles was delicious. The last few innings, the temperature dropped a wee bit, but the Twins still won.
The sun didn't seem to mind being hidden almost the entire weekend, but all in all the days were quite beautiful despite the sun to show off Earth's colors.

Life is good. Smile about it.

:)

Let's cherish these moments

Have you ever had that one song on repeat, the song that brings out so many emotions. The song you first sing to, ignoring the words, singing from memorization. The song comes on a few more times, you hear that one part that makes you stop singing and really listen. You let the song finish in silence. The song comes on again, you stop everything, search the lyrics, read them, carefully. The next emotion hits you. You get nervous, realizing how much the song hits home, how much it resembles your life at that very moment. The song comes on again. A tear falls down your cheek, and you're confused. It's just a song, isn't it? How can a few notes and a few words actually pull that much emotion from you? You turn the song up. You're sitting still, unable to control the tears. You wish things were different in your life. You say if only I could change this my life would be better. You try to work up the courage to turn the song off. It seems impossible. Then the next emotion hits you. You appreciate the song. You appreciate the tears. You appreciate your life. The song continues to play on repeat. You notice the musicality, you notice the harmonies. You start to mumble the words again. Then all of a sudden you are yelling the words, not caring who can hear you. You start to laugh. You smile.

Let's try and cherish the precious moments in life. Not everything can be perfect. Not everything is going to be right. We just have to follow our hearts, and note that everything along the way has a purpose.

the song I was listening to: Fix You (cover by Boyce Avenue)

Happy Easter!

This Easter weekend was just exquisite. Consisting of bike rides, lounging around, eating egg bake two days in a row, smiling, night time walks, glorious weather (minus early Saturday morning), giggling, and spending time with the fam. I was set aback when I realized how incredible my family is. Life is good.

To continue on with the one thing I am thankful for each day... Here I go.
I am thankful for my truly outstanding/generous/beautiful/witty/tremendously loving family of mine. 


Funny thing: I talked my grandparents into getting an iPad. My grandpa was really getting the hang of my mom's, and decided he needed one as well. It was ridiculous seeing him play with the google earth app, zooming in and out and figuring out tricks on working it. So adorable.

cuttin up some strawberries 

 pure delicious-ness 

grammy's egg bake. YUM 

crepes! 

 beautiful

 cousins!

 brunch with the Thompson's

 I think I had 97% of the strawberries

 she's basically a pro now

 love this girl

Easter Sunday bike ride/roller blade

Goodbye March...

I can't believe how quickly March slipped right thought my fingers! Gee wiz.

Well, being that this is about a month late, I am going to have to retrace my steps just a wee bit. This shall be fun :)

February ended with our gymnastics 'undefeated' team being, well, defeated in State. They ended up taking 2nd which is still PHENOMENAL! I am a proud little cheerleader at the least! What was depressing about that day, was that the signs my friends and I created had to be thrown out. Boo. But luckily I put my thinker cap on before I left my house and grabbed a few bottles of paint to paint our faces. On the bus ride up to the meet, our little cheer team painted 'GO ABBYY!!' on our faces. It was perfection if I do say so myself.

For my friend's sixteenth birthday, she took three of us out to dinner at one of those Japanese restaurants where they make the food right in front of you. (Look at my weak attempts to remember the name of the place...) It was delicious and wildly entertaining! We dressed up in heels and dresses.



WOO no more brace faces!



To get to the restaurant, we had to walk through an area where other little restaurants were located. By looks of the direction we were headed, I thought we were going to a 'deli' shop with bright cheery colors. I was nervous as I strutted towards the door in my red high heels 'I think we're a bit over dressed you guys...'. My friends laughed as they walked towards the door we were actually headed to. 'Oh thank goodness. I was began to question why I bought heels for this.'





All in all, the night was fantastic! We were served some gratifying soup and salad. Then were given the choice of shrimp, steak, chicken and lobster. We all got different a different and each one was exquisite. It was exciting and made you really hungry to watch your food being cooked nearly a foot away from your face. I would definitely go back again!

The beginning of March seemed to fly by. The 70 degree weather really made things go by much much faster. In a matter of days the grass turned green, buds began to pop up on trees and the sun now doesn't set until 7:30 which I am delighted by. Soon enough school was released for our weeklong spring break. By the way the weather was going (80s..), I was content to be staying home in Northfield. I spent most of my days cleaning the house, running outside, catching some rays and going on bike rides some 4 or 5 times a day.

On my first official day off, Monday, my mom and Neil took me on a little adventure in Wisconsin. It was PERFECTION to say the least. We started the day with a hike in a pretty secluded park that leads to a glorious waterfall. (Again, I wish I could remember the names of the places I go...) We then made our way to Hudson to wander the city and enjoy some mexican and scrumptious ice cream.











enjoyed a little picnic by the waterfall :)



mmmmh my VERY spicy shrimp and noodles

Our next stop was recumbent biking on a beautiful trail. It was weird to get started but so great once I got going!



THEN we went down to the river and learned how to sea kayak in the kayaks Neil built! It was pretty similar to kayaking, except for the fact you are much much closer to the water, and the boat is much much longer and much much tippier... So fun!





Of course I had to try some archery, and now expect my friends call me Katniss from the Hunger Games... :)





my beautiful mama!



And to top it all off, we had salmon and a bonfire! So wonderful and so incredibly thankful of the amazing day I had!





I like trees...



Thursday night was the Hunger Games premier, and of course I had to attend the midnight showing. It was so so so good. Despite the fact that they skimmed over a few of my favorite parts (Katniss and Peeta in the cave in the arena...) and a few parts weren't even shown, it still followed the book quite well. The animations were a bit unrealistic, but I still enjoyed it. Nearly peed my pants when the mutation mutt jumped at the screen.... I am definitely a book lover more than a movie lover!





We had to sneak in all our treats...

The next day, I was bored and had a little photo shoot with a friend and must I say that I forgot how incredible photos turn out without the sun shining down. Cloudy days are the way to go! We enjoyed a picnic along the river, waiting for the rain to fall.We expected to go puddle jumping after our picnic, but were disappointed when rain wasn't even an option that day.



















I tried 'hot yoga' one night and I literally FELL IN LOVE. The heat, the sweat, the stretching, the muscles being worked in such heat was absolutely fabulous. I thought I was going to faint when I first entered the dreadful 104 degree room, but as a matter of fact your body gets used to it! Until you start sweating from sweat glands you didn't even knew existed (aka on your shins, ankles, shoulder blades...). But, it felt SO GOOD. The point of hot yoga is to release all those 'bad' toxins from your body. It seemed to work pretty well for me! I got home feeling much happier, cleansed, and lighter (not in weight, but in my step). I loved it so much, I went again yesterday! So so so so great. We were reminded to think of one thing we were thankful for. I thought I should appreciate the sun and this glorious weather we have been having and how cheerful and bright everyone is when they catch a few rays. Think about what you are thankful for! I am thought I should write one thing down each day in a notebook. Anything from people, struggles I had that day that made me even stronger, to the simple things in life, like having milk in the fridge for breakfast :) Let's begin to cherish the precious moments and appreciate the simple ones.

To say the least, my break was pretty low key and relaxing, but somehow quite lovely being at home. I apologize for this being so incredibly late AND long! This post probably should have been about 10 different ones.... oh well :) Feel free to leave comments!

Happy Thursday!