Blessings

It's days like today that I realize once again just how much I'm blessed here at Providence. Surrounded by community, sunshine and the mountains. It's a wonderful thing, and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

In the past couple of weeks I've been to the top of the LA city hall, ice skating, concerts, picnics, City Hall sardines, trips to Denny's for drama practice, Biology field trips to the mountains, Late night Fro Yo trips, a Choir performance in Chapel, Open mic night, and just so the adults won't freak out, I have been studying and doing homework. Promise. 

Life is crazy. It is wonderful and beautiful and crazy. Every day is a new adventure. Everyday is a new chance to learn something new about yourself, the people around you, the city, the world. I've done so many things that I don't think I could experience anywhere else. Yes, I could go ice skating in Sioux Center, or go out for Fro Yo with friends. But it's not the same experience. 

And in that way I'm outstandingly blessed. Something as simple as a trip to Denny's,  a tug of war game, or running around, up, down, under city hall at midnight playing sardines builds community in a unique way. 

The blessings are in the little things. Look for them. Live them. 

Sardines at Pasadena City Hall

View from the top of LA City Hall.
The beautiful city of LA!

Sea Beggar Palooza Photo Booth

Slack Lining at the Fall Picnic

Tug of War. The girls won. As always. 

One of my favorite pictures from the BIO field trip

Bio field trip. Right after we had some of the most amazing apple cider I will ever have

Ice Skating in Culver city with a Disney star.



It Is Well With My Soul

Stem fest 2012

Yes, I've been busy. Five jobs is a lot to work in 3 days, so obviously this isn't going to be my first priority.

Yeah, that's right, five jobs. Don's food center, OCCS, Pizza Ranch Corporate, I clean for a lady who broke her hip, and I clean for another lady who has a cat. (Hate cats, shed like crazy) Oh, and during Tulip festival I work for my aunt. This weekend so many people have been asking me, "Oh, you work here too?" Yes, Yes I do. I work everywhere. Only problem with that however, not a whole lot of time to sleep.

As much as I hate taking off work, I did make sure to take off so I could see the Night Show, My Fair Lady. Both Kaytee and Ms. LeMahieu did an AMAZING job. I went two nights in a row!! Actually, everyone did a fantastic job, especially the guy who played Alfred P. Dolittle. He did a great job.

Alright, It's been about a week and a half since I've been to bed before midnight. However, I don't have to get up for school tomorrow morning!!! Hooray! Friday was the last day of school for the seniors, but I still need to go back and work on my art mosaic. I ran out of pieces again, so tomorrow I need to go in and make some more. blah. I was so close!! Can't wait until it's done, it looks really cool!

Rae and Me in our Dutch Costumes

Kaytee in the Ascot Chorus

Ms. LeMahieu as "Eliza Dolittle"

Working hard at Tulip festival

Walmart Run

Orange City can be super boring. Sioux Center on the other hand . . .

That's right, WALMART TRIP! I needed photos printed for Photography class, and a new (and bigger!!) memory card. Now I can hold an unreasonable amount of photos. :) While at Wally world I spotted this:

Gorrillapod Joby flexible tripod. It might also come in different colors. ISN'T THAT SWEET!? 20 bucks for the little point and shoot cameras, but I would need the ones strong enough to support a DSLR camera. Which, of course, Walmart doesn't have. Graduation/birthday/you love me so much gift?? 

I tried the little joystick machine game thingy on top of all the other fun stuff we did in Walmart. I came so super close, after 3 tries. I had one quarter left and my dear little sister dragged me out of the store before I got a chance to use it. :| Next time. Next time I will get that frog. Or elephant. Or something. I don't really care. :)

But, all this is besides the point. I promised to show you the other pictures I took that one rainy day. So, as promised, here they are:

The old rusted pickup that now runs. 

Our new tree! After all those storms took down the "Hammock" trees

Rose bud

48 Cupcakes Later

Friends, Family, followers of the blog, please listen closely. I am an idiot.

Yes. Really, I just called myself an idiot. You see, they are serious when they say don't grocery shop on an empty stomach. After work I decided to make cupcakes inside ice cream cones. So, I went and bought two different kinds of cupcake batter, frosting, and ice cream cones.

Whoa, back up! Ice cream cones?? Thank you Pinterest!! Yes, I'm aware that the inception cookies from pinterest where a major fail, but these worked. Oh they worked great. If you didn't over fill them . . .or under fill. There's one or two cupcakes that have a rather excessive amount of frosting on them, but you can't tell they're smaller anymore. :)

These are the cupcakes from Pinterest that started all of this

Last "Yearbook Food Thursday" tomorrow, so we are all bringing food. I will be bringing 48 cupcakes. What am I going to do with 48 freaking cupcakes?! Okay, just shy of 48. I had a couple. So did my sisters. So a little closer to 40.

So two hours and 48 cupcakes later, I'm exhausted and never making cupcakes again. Okay, maybe not never, but definitely not anytime soon.

However, while the kitchen is clean, and I found enough containers for them, I have problem. How in the world am I going to transport 48 cupcakes (which translates to two round containers and a paper plate full of cupcakes and ice cream cone cakes) to school tomorrow. This wouldn't be a problem if I was still home schooled, they'd already be there. Then again, probably wouldn't have a yearbook food Thursday to bring cupcakes to . . .or a yearbook for that matter.

But no worries. I have learned my lesson. And don't you ever let me make that many cupcakes in one night ever again.

These aren't the ones I made tonight . . .not going to take pictures of those!

Spring Rain

At last, bed time. Well, almost. What a day. I have a pounding headache that is out of this world. But that would be my own fault for not putting stuff away where it belongs. I was feeling rather stressed and tired when I got home from working at the grocery store and sat down on my bed. Being so tired from working so hard tonight I just flopped backwards. Good idea, really, I do it all the time. Not tonight, oh no. Tonight I hit my head on my camera.

Why did I even put that on my bed? Probably because as soon as I got home from OCCS I had about five minutes to myself before I had to go to Dons. Since it had freshly rained, I decided to take pictures because of the water droplets and sunlight and green and all that cool photography stuff. Of course instead of putting it back where it belongs, I put it on my bed. Partially because I was in a hurry, partially because it doesn't actually have a place to belong to . . or a name. It still needs a name, that is rather important.

I'll come up with a name later. For now, some more sweet pictures :)

This didn't turn out quite how I was picturing it in my head, but it worked. What I really need is another lens that is especially for close ups. (If anyone wants to chip in, its somewhere in the price range of over $500)

I love how you can still see the storm clouds in the background. Makes a great contrast with the bright springing green leaves. 

Mom's rose!! Can't wait until they bloom, but for now I'll settle with the water on the leaves. 

These where all taken about half an hour after that really weird pounding rain/hail. I feel bad for those soccer kids today . .glad I was inside!! Also glad I drove this morning. I was going to bike . . .but just didn't feel like it. And good thing to! For those who don't know why its a bad idea for me to bike in the rain . . .It's really not a pretty picture. There's this one car that is sometimes parked on the side of the street that has a dent in the back. I think that's from my bike, but not sure. 

But, changing the subject . . .I have more pictures from this little photo adventure that I'll share tomorrow. Now, I am going to relax and forget about all this random stressful junk I have to deal with over the course of the next couple of weeks. Blah. 

Balloons and Mondays

Today's a Monday. I dislike Mondays, just because they come and ruin what was a perfectly wonderful weekend. Back to school, back to work. So, due to this being the good old normal blah Monday day today, I'm giving you some balloons to brighten up the day. Look on the bright side . . .tomorrow's Tuesday. 

Okay, okay, I don't really truly hate Mondays. Hate is a strong word. I dislike some Mondays. Most are okay. It's best to always stay positive about things because 1) staying positive is good for you. 2) chances are you'll make someone else mad. 

Sometimes it's easier just not to care. Or rather, not let little things bother you. That annoying kid that sits infront of you, the kid that can't hit the volleyball over the net, (that'd be me. Sincere apologies to my PE classmates. I'm hopeless) That one annoying manage at work who you can't hit because A) that's rude, and B) He likes Doctor Who. Positive side of all that? Only two more weeks of school, I'm not running anymore, and I'm only working at don's for the summer. And he likes Doctor Who, so really, not gonna let it bother me. 

 "And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music"

~Friedrich Nietzsche

These balloons where in the Orange City graveyard. 

Last

If one word were to be used to sum up this beautiful Sunday it would be "last". Today was my last Bel Canto church performance, as well as my last piano recital. Such good times, and now it's over. I still have one more Bel Canto performance, and still get to take summer lessons, but regardless of that, I'm still really sad.

For the piano recital I played a duet with Tina and a solo. Our duet . . .well, it worked. It was a cool duet, and we played it quite well considering the few times we actually practiced it. For my solo I played a Sonatina by Kuhlau. I love sonatinas, but someone (*Tina*) thinks they are boring. WRONG! The only boring part of a sonatina is the name. Everything else is fun. :)

The Beethoven bust I received for playing in the Soo Mar festival for 3 high school years. 

A few hours after the recital we headed to Ireton for the very last Bel Canto church performance. I love singing with those girls. On top of that, not to brag or anything, but we sound amazing. Okay, maybe bragging a little bit. We finished our last song and it just hit me, this is the last time I get to do this. As much as I hate early mornings (which is very much) I'm going to miss coming to school and singing for an hour. We have one more performance at the Spring concert this Friday, so it's not quite over, but really close!

Bel Canto singing in Lebanon CRC

Thank you Ms. LeMahieu! 

On a side note, two more weeks of school for us seniors. Getting closer to summer, and for the first time I'm not sure I'm ready yet. When I say the school year flew by, it really did. Still feels like just a few weeks ago when I walked into School and thought "How am I going to survive a whole year?!"

Dandelions

Lately I have been obsessed with taking pictures of dandelions. Okay, maybe obsessed is to strong of a word, but it works. Ever since I read the hunger games, I don't just view dandelions as a pretty weed, but a symbol of hope. (yeah, yeah, yeah, cliche, I know) On top of that, dandelions are everywhere, are really easy to photograph. :) The bright yellow color pops out of every picture, and if you can get close enough the detail of the seeds can also make a really sweet picture.

Tornado Twenty Twelve

Wow. What a day. I feel like I've been running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. Three minutes before the weekend truly starts and the siren goes off. When it started I was really confused, we already had a drill today . . .two in one day? Little drastic for such a beautiful day out. Five minutes before hand we were filming our Comm II movie and it was so sunny out. But, 45 minutes later still at school in a hot cramped hallway.

Work at OCCS was a different story. They are currently replacing the roof about the office and entry way, back by the locker rooms. The guys had about 1/2 hour left of work on it, with only the drain left to finish. Beautiful timing, huh? Flooded hallway, what a mess!! I worked for as long as I could before having to take off and go work at Don's.

Due to me not having my camera and teachers locking us in the school, I sadly did not get pictures of "Tornado 2012" Oh well. Safer I suppose. If the tornado had come even five minutes later there would be over 300 students on the roads, track kids going to Storm Lake, (or was it Spirit Lake? I don't care), soccer practice, and I'd be biking to work. BIKING. God works in wondrous ways. Thanking Him!!

So, tonight, I share with you Facebook photos of the storm. In such a little amount of time it went from being beautifully sunny to a dust cloud black out. Scary!

Up-close

These three photos where for an assignment in school. We had to take extreme close-ups of texture. 

I love my photography class at Unity. We have gone to Alton, Orange City, and an abandoned farm in Sioux Center to take pictures. We've done texture, still life, and advertisements. It's kind of sad that schools almost over. 

10 more days until I'm done with High school. For good. Unless of course I manage to fail my Health exam . . . .but don't get me started on that. To be honest, as much as I love summer and not going to school, I'm going to miss it. (except for PE, not going to miss that). There are a few classes I'll miss, like Art, and yearbook, and Comm II. But it's the students and teachers that I will miss the most. 

You are my Sunshine

Wow, day two and I still have motivation. Go me. Betcha didn't see that one coming! Tonight I really wanted to post photos of lightning. However, I don't actually have pictures of lightning. I guess I've just never had the desire to go outside in a huge thunder storm when it's dark, humid, and possible hailing. I'm rather protective of my camera so getting it wet isn't exactly my favorite thing to do. One of these days however, I will get a really sweet picture of lighting, hopefully.

Since I can't do lightning, I decided to do sunshine. I have lots of those photos! Sunsets, sunrises, no two are alike. Ever sunset photo is different, so I never get tired of taking pictures of sunsets. Sunrise on the other hand . . . .require getting up early. For those of you who know me, that doesn't happen very often. Unless it's for a very good reason. The only sunrise I've actually taken pictures of was as a "Sleepover" where we staid up all night, and then walked to the bakery at about 6 in the morning. Okay, okay, I'll shut up now and show you the pictures.

Sunrise in the Park
(really, really early!)

Spider Web

Corn Field Sunset