The Anxious Me

Life Lately

2016-11-13T11:24:00.001-05:00

Aloha!

College has gotten so much better than it was the first few days that I blogged about it. I have friends that I regularly hang out with, fraternity parties and bars are a lot more fun and I've been having a blast. I think this blog will become more like an open journal that I write in once in a while.

Sailing- I've sailed in Chicago which was a huge checkmark on my bucket list and I loved every second of it! My godmothers came and visited me on the water too which was just the coolest thing ever. Sailing on the skyline was surreal and the water was the bluest thing I've ever seen (except for maybe Croatia's!) My friend Mary left Lake Michigan a present. She dropped her shoe in Lake Michigan and was sad because she'd never "sea" it again!

Chicago was also around the time I started my bout of being incredibly sick in college. I had an ear infection that I sailed through and my team was incredible for running me around to doctors to get medicine.

On the plus side we went to Millennium Park, got to stay in the Chicago Yacht Club which is a huge boat on Lake Michigan, and got to eat Lou Malnati's Deep Dish Pizza!
(The ongoing debate: Lou Malnati's or Giordano's for Deep Dish??)

We also sailed at OSU which was such a fun trip and I became friends with so many people on my team! Not much happened at this regatta...

We went to OSU's off campus house called "The Yacht Club"

We also had a home regatta this season which was another great team building event.

Health- I got extremely sick to the point where I got delirious. A member from my sailing team picked me up within 5 minutes and drove me to a hospital. A man asked me if I wanted a wheelchair and I said no, then the receptionist tried to get me into one and I refused again. I stayed there for two hours until I told the nurse I had class and should probably leave.. She looked at me and then just released me from the hospital.

I then ended up back in the hospital a week later for blood work and chest x-rays (pretty sure I flashed the radiologist because he pulled my smock over the sides more. It had an open back that wasn't attached and was falling on me- woops!)

I walked around campus with a blanket for a day and I could tell students were envious of me!

I ended up getting diagnosed with bronchitis. I was so weak that I couldn't walk up the stairs and felt like I was going to pass out every five seconds. Needless to say I still showed up to every class. My english teacher actually asked me to leave because of how bad I looked but I plowed through it and even went to geology afterwards. What I learned from this experience was to take my health more seriously and not wait so long to get checked out. I was being so stubborn about everything.

Luckily I went home for fall break and was able to recover for the last little bit of my 3 week sickness at home.

Halloween: I went as NyQuil one night while my friend went as DayQuil. I take pride in our original costumes!

"Vicks NyQuil - Powerful Relief"

"WARNING: Do NOT Consume with Alcohol"

Night 2: Captain America- I wore the shield as a backpack.

Photos:

We're the only two freshman girls on the sailing team which is so incredibly fun!

Mom sent a care package! Can't wait to see my family in Chicago over Thanksgiving!

also:

GO CUBS GO!

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I'm anxious about rushing for a sorority. I don't think I'm a sorority girl at all. But I'm still rushing so we'll see how it goes. Don't want to make assumptions before I try it.

Update #2

2016-08-30T20:52:00.001-04:00

I'm super busy with school right now and I already have a boatload of homework!! Hopefully I'll get into a good routine as the college hype dies down and I'll (finally) have a real blog post. I also hope that these updates are still cool for the time being. I'm super excited to post my room tour on here!!

So here's what I've been up too:

1. I went to a bar and a fraternity party. Honestly those things are kind of boring unless you drink so not quite sure how I feel about them yet..

2. I have had some terrible homesickness that's been so totally awful. I finally stopped crying for the past two days. I'll post about that too.

3. I'm going ice skating with some friends tonight so that should be fun!

4. I've officially signed up for my college sailing team today which is amazing!

5. Classes are interesting and I'm really excited to learn. I'm curious to know how much IB will help this year. I've already been super on top of my homework and have put all of my tests and quizzes and huge projects in my calendar so I'm getting organized. I never did that in high school but I'm liking it so far. Only visible drawback of IB right now is that I'm not getting college credit for any of the hard work I've done these past two years...

6. I wasn't expecting this but it's SO HOT where I go to school. It's also really humid so everytime I step outside I'm a sweating mop. Pretty image I know.

7. Being independent is hard but I'm getting used to it. Thank goodness it's not real life yet!

8. I've been journaling almost everyday, by the end of the semester I'll have a compilation of everything that happened since college started!

I'll blog again soon don't worry, now is just a super hectic time for me.

xoxo,

Anđela

Update

2016-08-25T08:21:00.001-04:00

Since I am currently in the process of moving into college, a new blog post will not appear until Monday, August 29th. See ya then!! :)

13 Random Things You Need for College

2016-08-23T14:31:00.001-04:00

Most of my friends have already left for college at this point, but I thought this would still be a fun post to write! I'm next in line as I (nervously) leave for school tomorrow!

click on the pictures to be redirected to the item.

1. Cute bedding is a MUST. This is your new room after all and you'll be living there more than the one at home now. So let's make this more comfortable and homey, starting with cute bedding.

2. Something not every college list suggests would be getting yourself an ethernet cable. These things are great if you are having trouble connecting to the schools Wi-Fi and need to finish up an assignment. Plug one side of the cable into the wall and the other in your laptop/computer. If you don't have an ethernet plug in your laptop/computer, buy a converter.

3. Alarm Clock. But low and behold, this is not just any ordinary alarm clock. No, this one shakes your pillow so hard that it's hard not to get up. I use this because of my hearing impairment, the charging dock is a nice bonus. Unfortunately the original is completely sold out, click on the picture to check out one that's similar.

4. Speakers! I was graciously gifted this by the girls I babysit as a graduation present. I am someone who loves to play music in my room while doing homework. While I'm not sure my roommate will be the same way - it's nice to be able to have that option and crank the music up on the weekends!

5. A big problem at a lot of Universities is theft. A way to combat this issue is by getting yourself a lockable trunk. These are great not only because they can be locked, but they're also just a great storage space to house things that you may not be using everyday.

6. Again with the whole comfort thing. Put this on top of your bed so that it becomes more comfortable. I couldn't find the original but the one linked will do.

7. Another great option. When you fall asleep right away at night, you'll thank me!

8. Something that is entirely overlooked would be a baseball cap. It's a fashion statement and super practical. I was gifted this by the girls I babysit to remember the yacht club I came from. I plan on sailing in college so this is just a nice reminder of where I learned to sail.

9. Tupperware! I like making my own food and while I will be eating at the dining hall pretty much everyday, I will have some food in my room as well. I would highly recommend going to Target and checking out the mugs, silverware, bowls, and plates. They will be useful!

10. I love yoga. I started a yoga club at my school and it's one of the most relaxing things for me. It's also a great way to work out. I'm bringing my yoga mat with me and using it to stay in shape when I don't feel like going to the gym.

11. "To get the tough stains out" (Sorry Mr. Clean!)

12. It's great to have plain cards that you can use for anything. This anchor is perfect and simple.

13. At my new school it rains like you're in England. Good boots are a necessity. I was gifted this from my Godmother/cousin Mara for my graduation. They're perfect and go with my school colors. Buy some socks and then you can wear them when the weather gets cold as well!

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I feel so super old. Someone remind me how I'm already leaving for college tomorrow??

Buttermilk Pancakes & Topping

2016-08-22T16:45:00.003-04:00

Have you licked the screen yet? :)

I was in the mood for baking breakfast foods so I decided to make buttermilk pancakes with a caramelized banana topping. The first thing we're going to make is the actual pancake.

You will need:

1 egg

1 cup of all- purpose flour

1 cup of buttermilk

2 tablespoon of vegetable oil

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1/4 teaspoon of salt

Butter

The first thing you will need to do is scramble the egg.

Next, place the rest of the ingredients in the bowl.

Whisk everything together so that it becomes a smooth mixture.

Put the pan on the stovetop on medium heat. Put a sliver of butter on the pan and place a ladle in the pancake mixture.

Start putting pancakes on the pan. You can add chocolate chips to the pancakes at this point if you would like to.

After waiting a minute or two, flip the pancake. (Hopefully yours will be more graceful than mine!)

The second batch of flips was definitely better!

Once you finish making all of the pancakes, begin making the banana topping.

You will need:

2 tablespoons of butter

2 bananas

2 spoonfuls of brown sugar

Grab a new pan, set the heat to medium, and melt the butter.

As the butter is melting, cut up both bananas into slices.

Plop them into the pan making sure each side is coated in butter.

Put two spoonfuls of brown sugar into the mixture.

Heat it up for as long as you'd like, stirring the mixture constantly. Once it's at the desired consistency (I like it thicker), take it off the heat. You can also add more butter or brown sugar if you would like a thinner consistency.

Place pancakes on a plate, top with the banana sauce, dust with powdered sugar.

Viola, enjoy!

Buttermilk Pancake Recipe

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So I didn't realize that I actually needed to pack my stuff for school. I had thought about it for a while but now that I'm leaving in two days it's hit me like a train that I need to start putting stuff together. That's pretty much all I've been doing today and it's so boring and exhausting! I'll show you what I'm bringing to college tomorrow. :)

Yesterday I finished this amazing book called The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Check it out.

Oluja

2016-08-19T16:37:00.002-04:00

The most proud I have ever been to call myself Croatian.

Oluja, or operation storm, was the last major military battle that ended the fight for Croatian Independence. The celebration of it's victory is celebrated in Knin every year on August 5th. This gathering celebrates that with patriotical music in the actual location of the last battle. The majority of music sung was from the iconic singer Thompson.

Thompson mostly sings about Croatia, freedom and God in a classic rock way.

I even sat on shoulders hoisting up a huge Croatian flag with Mara who was also sitting on shoulders. As we were up there I looked at the big screen and we were right there, front and center with our flag! I was on Croatian national television!! My aunt in Chicago even saw us. It was so cool!! I was thinking of taking a picture, but the moment only lasted 5 seconds and I wanted to enjoy it.

My photos on shoulders are very blurry..

Croatians love their flares. This can be problematic and we were in some tough spots at times. It's dangerous to be near the flares so whenever someone lit one there was always a huge circle around them.

There was also a fight that happened between two drunk guys arguing over who knows what. It was so scary! The security guards had to come and escort the guys out. In the meantime there was a huge circle around them. My cousins and I all grabbed hands to make sure we were all accounted for and then continued to have fun! Mara and I continued sitting on shoulders and waving the flag.

TRIPLETS

The end of the concert.

We grabbed crepes and cevapi or sausage because we were starving! The cevapi were amazing but I made a bit of a mess of myself and I lost a piece of meat. :( The crepes were not very good, I'm assuming it's because the mixture was in the sun all day, but the chocolate in it was great so I finished that part.

Heading out of the concert people were still singing and lighting flares.

Before the concert.. After the concert.. The stain is from my cevapi, told you I was messy!

This celebration made me feel so patriotic and proud of Croatia because of the amount of people who were waving their flags and screaming the lyrics to powerful songs. Without Oluja, I would not have a Croatia to go to every summer. I would not be able to point to a map and proudly say that this, this country right here, is Croatia.

'Till next year Croatia!

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I'm nervous about making friends in college :/

Also, how are my classes going to work?

Zadar

2016-08-18T16:32:00.003-04:00

Z is for Zadar!

Guess what? This was my view every single day for the time in between traveling and for the last three weeks of my vacation. Jealous? :)

It's probably no surprise to you that Zadar won Europe's Best Destination in 2016. Especially after looking at that amazing sunset above.

One of the things my friends and I did in between our trips around Croatia included going to the famous Orgulje or Organ in Zadar. This is such a cool organ because it uses the waves from the sea to operate. This is the only one in the world of it's kind. My friends, younger brother and I sat in silence as night kept falling upon us and we continued to listen to the beautiful sounds.

When night really fell we all got up, as if in a trance, and began to walk back. The next location we visited was Crkva Sv. Donat or St. Donat Church.

After that we bought ice cream and headed home. This is where the vacation ends with my friends. Thank you so much Sarah and Kyleen for coming with me to Croatia and seeing where I spend most of my summers. It was such a unique experience!

I spent the rest of my summer with my two goofballs, together we call ourselves the triplets!

I'm so unbelievably short next to them that I moved the original scene of the picture from the stairwell banister to me using the first step of the staircase!

The first thing we did was put together our mini catamaran and sail it into the high seas. The water was so unbelievably blue- I wanted to jump right in! I even got to skipper the boat once and it was such a freeing feeling! I was smiling from ear to ear and didn't want to give up my control!

Right now we are in the process of naming our boat. I want the boat to be called morski pas. Quite literally this means sea dog but in reality it means shark. Why Croatians decided to make a comparison between dogs and sharks is beyond me!

There's no other suggestions as of right now so hopefully if I call the boat that name enough times it'll eventually stick!

Mario, the triplet on the right of the photo, loves to sleep and can quite literally sleep anywhere. He decided the boat would be a great place to nap and laid on one of the pontoons in the middle of a really rough patch of waves. So there he is sleeping on a pontoon with the rest of us rolling our eyes unsurprised. All of a sudden he got a big of a spray from one of the waves and woke up with a huge start and almost fell into the sea! He totally deserved it!

Us triplets have a ton of fun together and have since we were babies crawling on top of each other! This was our first time (EVER!) being in Croatia together at the same time so it was great. Our nights together mainly consisted of going out to a club called Ledana and meeting Croatian soccer stars!

We met Marko Pjaca who plays for the club Juventus in Italy and the Croatian national team.

Is he not like SUPER attractive?? I mean look at him he has such a good looking lean body! After this picture I said "hvala" or thanks, gave him a huge smile and looked into those beautiful brown eyes. He then proceeded to give me a very cute and big smile in return. With teeth and eye contact and everything! AHHH!

He's definitely my Croatian soccer player crush. ;)

Dare I say it.. I shall. It was even cuter than the smile I got from the waiter in Dubrovnik!

Along with hanging out with my triplets I also spent some quality time with my Godmother and cousin Mara. It was great to talk to her about her time in college and her tips for me. One of the biggest ones was not waiting to get help. The moment you don't understand something talk to your professor. You may think you can figure it out later but it'll only get more confusing.

Along with life lessons we also had times where we let loose. She took me to a Maja Suput concert. She's a relatively new Croatian singer that I hadn't heard of before. Needless to say I've been listening to her ever since I got back from Croatia!

Mara also took me and my brothers and Grandmother out to lunch at a super fancy place called Bruschetta in Zadar.

The two of us split a squid risotto. I was so skeptical of this because fish is not my favorite food to reach for. In fact, I'll usually grab anything other than fish. Except for maybe green-beans! I tentatively tasted this and then slowly started dipping my fork in again. Maybe fish wasn't so bad, I actually liked it! When I finished my meal I glanced at other guests dishes and saw a couple eating oysters. It looked pretty and now that's the next thing I want to try! Maybe I'll even try clams and muscles. The seafood world seems endless!

But please don't serve me an eyeball.. I'm not quite ready for that yet!

After lunch we walked around and said bye to Mara for a bit. My brothers and I then took my grandmother out to get ice cream sundaes. I got a Hazelnut one with strawberry syrup. Can I just let the two photos do the talking? HEA-VEN-LY!

Hey that's my name spelled correctly and everything!

My mom kicked us out of our house and so we went back to our grandmothers house and chilled as my mom began the tedious process of packing up.

Even though our time in Zadar is gone, we have still have one last adventure left! Watch out Knin, Croatia - we are coming for you!

Oluja

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Currently reading: The Night Circus

I feel like everything I do is the "last time" before I move to college. Why must this be so weird??

Plitvice Lakes

2016-08-17T14:44:00.003-04:00

Home to one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Europe.

This was the last trip that I took with my guests this summer. Two weeks fill up fast and time really does fly when you're having fun! We woke up at 7:30am to make it for our 9am bus ride to Plitvice.

On a random note, we got to experience how small the world really is. We met a cute couple wearing Villanova shirts who were also headed to Plitvice. We introduced ourselves and explained that we lived in Philly - everyone started laughing, how often does something like this happen?

When we arrived at Plitvice we were given a student discount when we showed the ticket sellers our college IDs. This is definitely a great way to save money when traveling as a college student!

The first thing we did when we got through was head to a boat ride. We heard this would be the best way to explore the park and decided to follow that suggestion. On the way we stopped to take pictures of the mini little waterfalls.

When we arrived at the ferry line it was so long. It took us thirty minutes to finally get on a boat. We utilized that time to eat our lunch, which consisted of peanut butter and jelly.

This was a delicacy because Croatian supermarkets don't sell peanut butter. We brought a ginormous jar with us from America that we were all eating by the spoonful! My grandmother in Zadar started yelling at us because she wanted us to save the majority for her since she never gets to eat the stuff. It was so funny!

When we finally got on a ferry Sarah wasn't feeling well and the view was disappointing...

The only thing we saw was the water the boat was riding on. It was just a lake. What the heck?!

We decided to walk back where we came from and explore some caves.

The most exciting thing about the caves were the steps leading up to it. They alternated the height for each foot making it really fun to climb up. Otherwise it wasn't really all that spectacular. Honestly I think the Grand Canyon was a million times cooler. Plitvices caves really didn't have that much exploring to be done.

The best part was when Sarah and Kyleen were racing me to the exit and took a shortcut by climbing over some steep branches - I still was able to reach them before exiting the cave area even after taking the long route. The tourists must have thought we were crazy laughing girls as we ran through the park panting and out of breath!

We then walked to what was supposed to be the huge ordeal, the reason we came to this park at all, the veliki slap or big waterfall was the next thing we waited in line for.

Honestly, this "big waterfall" looked like a freshman in comparison to a senior when you look at Niagra Falls. We were definitely disappointed by the amount of water coming off the cliff. The cliff however was a reasonable size drop-off.

After taking pictures we decided to adventure the park without a trail.. At the time it seemed like a fantastic idea, we were going to be adventurous and figure it out ourselves! In reality, think of how stupid that sounds, seriously! So many freaking things could go wrong with that!

Obviously we got completely lost and actually ended up on a road at one point that was not connected to the park at all. We were hoping that seeing a road would be a rescue sign, like in those survivor shows or something. Yea, totally not the case.

We decided it would be best to just walk right back where we came from. We passed an overnight camp and joked about having to camp the night. (Although we shouldn't have because it was a little too close to what may have needed to happen!)

On our way up to finding our own path we caught this cool shot.

We got back to the bus stop and bought some water because we needed to stay hydrated. We were back on the bus by 5pm utterly exhausted by the amount of walking we did. We each had our own rows and the bus had wi-fi. It was a chill ride back.

Catch you later Plitvice! Next stop...

Zadar

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I've been reading an amazing book called Eat, Pray, Love. It's a really cool perspective on life. I'd read it if I were you. :)

I also added a new page called Shop. You can find it on the tabs bar. Click on the picture of whatever you're interested in and it takes you to the website! I'll keep updating it as I find new items.

Dubrovnik

2016-08-16T15:22:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Dubrovnik!

After spending two restful days beachside in Zadar, my friends and I were getting antsy and wanted to move again. Our next pin on the map was Dubrovnik, the water polo capital of the world.

We woke up at 8am to finish packing for our 10:30am bus fare, hopped on the bus and were super excited to be heading to a place so popularly known in Croatia. For the many times in my life that I've been to Croatia, I've never had the chance to experience Dubrovnik until now.

For the first hour on the bus we were all smiles, discussing the numerous adventures we would have in this new city.

Abruptly, we were forced to get off our bus and switch to a double decker bus in Skradin. Everything was still going fine, but the new bus had zero air conditioning and the bus was baking in the heat of the sun. On top of that I couldn't even use my phone to distract myself because there was no wi-fi. Thankfully, the bus was not very full so Sarah and I had our own rows and didn't feel each others body heat.

Stop after stop we eagerly looked out the window, hoping it would finally be the one for Dubrovnik. Seven agonizing hours later (two whole hours longer than it should have taken) we arrived and walked from the bus stop to our hostel.

The city is super hilly and our hostel was in the middle of a steep staircase. Imagine two 18 year old girls with heavy backpacks on walking the city, sweaty and disgusting from traveling... That was us times 10. I wonder what our hostess thought when she met us panting and shook our moist hands.

We arrived at the hostel, dumped our bags in the room, turned on the fan, took showers, connected to the wi-fi and then decided we were hungry.

We locked up our room and headed to the streets to find food.

We struck gold with this little gem of a restaurant called Bon Appetit and began to eat there for pretty much every breakfast, lunch and dinner for the four days in Dubrovnik. Once we found something we both liked we didn't really want to stray from it. It was also a prime location because it was only a few blocks away from our hostel and had an impeccable view of the water (and all of the expensive yachts.)

That first night I ordered this dish that consisted of chopped up and grilled chicken on top of lettuce and tomato in a burger bun with fries on the side. When I ordered it I was freaking out that I made the wrong choice and was worried that I'd end up hating the meal. It arrived about 15 minutes later and as soon as my eyes made contact with that plate my mouth was watering. This meal was love at first sight. I quickly snapped a picture and dove into the meal, finishing every last bite. Delish.

After dinner Sarah and I were pretty exhausted from our day of traveling so we retreated to the hostel and got ready for bed. We opened up the shutters and were in awe of the view from our own bedroom.

The hostel we stayed at in Dubrovnik was on Radnicka Ulica and unfortunately does not have a link. We booked through hostels.com which I would recommend. For four nights we paid $150. I loved this hostel because it was close to the Jadrolinija (Ferry) office and since we island hopped a bit that was convenient. I also loved the view and the gem of a restaurant we found in this area (Bon Appetit.) However, it was not centrally located to the city so the two days spent there were a bit of a pain. We also did not have air conditioning in the hostel so it was unbelievably hot and the fan was running non-stop. Having to share a bathroom with other guests was a tad bit difficult especially after having a private room in Zagreb.

Nevertheless we slept, woke up, and began our first day as tourists in Dubrovnik.

Day 1:

What would the day be like if we didn't go to our favorite restaurant in town? The meal I ordered most mornings consisted of two chocolate filled crepes with a chocolate drizzle on top. Ah-maz-ing. The meal also came with fresh squeezed orange juice and a coffee of my choice. First off, I don't like pulp but this orange juice tasted amazing, pulp and all. Second, my all time favorite coffee is called Bijela Kava. This would be comparable to a latte. Can I just say that there is something much better about getting one in Croatia than America. I personally think there's less sugar and it's less processed, making it a ton more delicious and satisfying to drink.

After a hearty and delicious breakfast, we were ready to tour the sites.

Dubrovnik has a fence where people attach locks sealing their love with there loved one.

Sarah and I spent a half hour just breathing in and taking in this view.

I love sailing.

Croatian flag waving proudly on the Dubrovnik Stone Walls.

Sarah and I walked the entirety of the stone wall of Dubrovnik in Stari Grad or Old City. It took the whole morning and we were exhausted by the end of it. Especially in the intense heat. Fun Fact- Game of Thrones was filmed here!

We took care to hydrate and utilized Dubrovnik's public water fountain at the entrance of the city. That water is as cold as ice and tastes amazing!

We saw people jumping off rocks down there into the sea. Definitely on my bucket list!

There were so many boat tours going on- from the yellow semi-submarine to the glass bottom boats.

Red tile roofs are the classiest and most esthetically pleasing.

After walking the wall and spending some time in the city, we decided to head back towards our hostel and find a beach to go swimming in. Being around all that water in the heat we were in was so tempting. We needed to cool off.

It was another hour walk to reach a public swimming area and I was thanking God when we finally saw the last sign directing us to the beach. This was our savior coming to rid us of this heat!

We went to a beach on Lapad, New City, but it was super packed with people and not clean at all! Sarah and I put our feet in but did not feel comfortable going in further. We walked around a beach bar in our bikinis to find a cleaner swimming area and were catcalled in Croatian by some guys. They kept asking for our names and calling us "ljepa" or beautiful. I gave one of the guys a huge stink eye to show that I wasn't going to take any of his sh*t. A few seconds of that were enough so we turned around, found places to sit, decided to rest for 45 minutes and enjoy the sun until we walked back to the hostel.

We showered, put on dresses and made a reappearance at our restaurant. This time we were served by an attractive tall, dark and handsome guy with a gorgeous smile. I was in a flirty mood so I kept smiling back at the guy as he practiced his english with us. A hair flip here, a smile there. All in good fun!

I don't even remember what I ate that day because I was so exhausted from the walking we did and was just shoving anything edible down my throat.. I'm sure the waiter thought that was super attractive!

Beat from the day, we retreated to our hostel and got ready for bed. Once in bed we checked the weather for the following day and began to stress.

It was supposed to rain.

We spent the next two hours trying to decide what to do so that our plans would not be ruined. We were coming up with ideas of going to museums, spas, anything. In the end, we decided to maintain our original idea of island hopping - rain or shine..

Day 2:

We got up bright and early and took the first ferry of the day to Lopud island at 9am. We ditched our restaurant and went to a Pekara or Bread Bakery and bought strudels for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch.

On the ferry ride over to the island I sat next to an older man who kept stealing sideways glances at me. A lady then went up to him and asked him for directions somewhere in english and he replied back in very broken english. I then decided to talk to the man in Croatian. I jokingly smiled, questioned him and said "Ti znas engleski?" You know english? to which he looked at me with a huge smile and responded in Croatian "I knew you looked Croatian!" I was so shocked that he said that but also flattered. We continued to talk (in Croatian) about my plans for school and he told me that he hated Psychology (a subject I love and will be studying...) and that he was so happy I knew Croatian. He went on to tell me that so many Croatian-Americans he meets don't know anything and it makes him sad. He was so excited to hear that we were going to Lopud Island because that was where he was from. He even gave us tips on good beaches.

I love having conversations in Croatian with people I don't know because it's a true test of how much I know. Hearing someone else say that I know Croatian well makes me exhale and feel better. I don't generally speak more than a few words of Croatian a day so it's satisfying to be able to talk and understand others.

After our boat docked on the island Sarah and I were surprised to see that there were no cars, but rather, golf carts! It felt like we landed on a really large resort country club!

We visited a flower garden on the island.

Such clear water.

The first sandy beach I remember being on in Croatia.

And then it happened... The weather forecast was right and a huge lightening storm prevailed. We ran out of the ocean and sprinted to put on our raincoats over our bikinis. Tourists were running around the island trying to find cover while we perched ourselves on a park bench under a tree that provided protection from the rain. We ate our lunch listening to the rain and chilling. If anything the storm helped to get rid of the heat.

We hopped on the next ferry out and left the island after a just a few hours.

As we left the sun started to shine again. Ugh, of course!

We decided to branch from our favorite restaurant and I ordered a pizza with mushrooms and ham. I ate the entire pizza. Every. Last. Bite. It was quite the show and I was very, very proud of myself especially considering that it was large.

We got back to the hostel, packed, showered and went to bed. It was time to rest up for our last day in Dubrovnik.

Day 3:

We woke up eager to see one last location, had our last breakfast at our usual restaurant and made our last trek to Stari Grad or Old City. Once there we hopped on a ferry to the UNESCO Heritage Site Lokrum.

We saw peacocks! Sarah kept taking photos of them and I called her the peacock girl. :)

The "Dead Lake"

It looked gross.. This photo doesn't show that at all! But in reality the water was an ugly green and it just looked dirty.

On the other hand this side of the island was impeccable. We were astonished to see open sea stretch for miles.

Bluest water I have ever seen.

We ate our lunch admiring this. It was such a relaxing day to walk around the island and just stop and go as we pleased.

This is the funniest sign ever! Usually it's just a no smoking cigarette, but this is a pipe!

After leaving Lokrum we went back to the bus stop..

But first we stopped at Konzum, a supermarket, to grab some quick food for dinner. This was the funniest ordeal. Sarah and I gawked at every food item and were so proud that we could go to a supermarket by ourselves and get dinner. Mind you it was nothing fancy (I got museli, milk, and dried apricots and Sarah got bananas, a whole loaf of french bread that I totally found hilarious, and dried apricots.)

Then we headed back on a bus to Zadar for another few days.

Later gator Dubrovnik! Next stop...

Plitvice Lakes

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I'M NOT READY TO MOVE INTO COLLEGE THIS CANNOT HAPPEN YET!!!

Zagreb

2016-08-15T14:03:00.000-04:00

I went to Croatia this summer and for the first two weeks I traveled the country with two of my bestest friends from High School. The first stop on our tour was Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. We spent two days in this city.

Crkva Sv. Marka

St. Marks Church

We woke up at the crack of dawn (7 am) to catch a bus to Zagreb the first day we arrived in Croatia. It was exhausting to say the least, but we made it to our first destination!

Crkva Sv. Marka, or Saint Marks Church, is a Roman Catholic Croatian church constructed in the 14th century during the Gothic Period. The roof is tiled with two coats of arms. The one on the right (and not featured in this photo) is the oldest coat of arms for the city of Zagreb.

It was so cool to see the church and just stand outside of it. Not many churches have roofs that are so artistically decorated like this one is. If you look at the photograph above, you can probably see what looks like little cubbies above the door of the church. There are figurines inside of Joseph, Mary and Jesus surrounded by the Twelve Apostles. My friends and I actually visited the church twice, once on the first day and once on the last.

On our way down from the Crkva Sv. Marka we saw the Kamenita Vrata, or Stone Gate, which was one of Zagreb's first defense systems for the city. We passed through a little chapel area honoring the the Mother Mary.

As we walked down we saw a really fun tie store with a huge checkered tie attached to the front door.

*Fun Fact* Croatians invented ties

Traveling further down we saw the Katedrala or Cathedral.

The Katedrala is the tallest building in Croatia. It was damaged during an earthquake in 1880. The damage done to it is still being repaired, but the Church itself is beautiful.

We stayed for part of the mass, listening to a reading and the Gospel.

The deteriorated stone is on the left and the renovation on the right. The clock that stopped working is to the left and was never fixed.

After the Katedrala we kept walking until we hit Trg Bana Josipa Jelacica or Ban Josip Jelacic Square. While there my friend Kyleen and I had fun posing next to some Croatian beer bottles.. Don't worry Mom, we didn't drink any!

I also stopped to pose in front of Ban Josip Jelacic's statue.

While at the square we stopped and saw a Croatian Folklore performance.

A 3D map of the city of Zagreb.

We were feeling pretty exhausted from walking around so we went to our hostel (Swanky Mint) which I would 110% recommend and stay at again. We had our own private apartment with a kitchenette, bathroom, air conditioning and cable TV. It was also in a prime location by the Trg or Square, which is a central location that leads to all of Zagreb's coolest sites. For one night we booked the room for $150 and split it between the three of us.

Then we started feeling peckish...

When it came time to food, it was definitely a struggle to find places to eat. Both of my friends are vegetarians and Croatian cuisine typically includes meat. We were recommended by the Swanky Mint staff to a restaurant called Zrno Bio Bistro. The food is not authentically Croatian at all but I had a green vegetable soup of the day that reminded me of my late grandfather so it ended up being okay. I would also say that the food is more expensive than that of other restaurants. However, since most Croatian cuisines include meat, this restaurant is a great alternative.

We got up from our seats, returned to our hostel and decided to walk around again before it got too dark.

Zagreb Government Building.

I love how old it looks. We just don't have this in the United States.

We retreated to our hostel and went to bed. Woke up and got right back into action.

View of Zagreb from above.

As I've gotten older I have really started to enjoy going to museums and seeing different things. The museum we saw in Zagreb was so unique, emotional and personal. If in Zagreb (and a museum goer) I would recommend paying a visit to the Museum of Broken Relationships. The museum is entirely created from worldwide donors who want to share their story and a piece of their broken relationship.

That's all for Zagreb folks!

By 7:30pm we were back on a bus to Zadar to chill for a few days before our next destination..

Dubrovnik

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All of my friends are going to college. I mean, I am too but it just feels weird. I'm excited but I need to relax. I feel like everything is moving quickly, especially since I just returned from Croatia three days ago.

Outfit Guide: Croatia 2016

2016-07-04T17:30:00.003-04:00

This is a simple and easy outfit guide. I chose to put together a few looks that would work well during my time in Croatia. T-3 days until take-off!

Outfit #1: Our first stop on the trip is Zagreb. We will be there for two days. On the first day I picked out a dress that could be layered with a jean jacket. Jean jackets are a staple clothing item because they go with everything and can be worn in the spring, summer, and fall. I added a cross body bag with the outfit because while traveling you need to make sure to carry your essentials with you. Make sure the bag zips to prevent pick pocketing. Lastly, I paired sandals with the outfit. These white Guess sandals are super comfortable and I can walk around all day in them. Cute but comfy is the rule so that your feet don't deter you from seeing all of the sights. This outfit could make a transition from day to night if you changed up your makeup.

Outfit #2: For our second day in Zagreb I decided to pair a black t-shirt and jean shorts with either the same Guess sandals or a pair of cute sneakers. The cross body bag will be used again.

Outfit #3: During one of the days of the trip my friends and I will be going to Plitvice National Park. This day will probably be our most "American dress day" because we need to be able to walk around the park. However, in order to be a bit more European I decided to wear more neutral and solid colors, pairing a white top and black shorts. However, I am wearing nicer striped sneakers. I would definitely not recommend wearing athletic sneakers in Europe unless you are physically working out. Unfortunately, touring the National Park does not count. I will also be wearing a baseball hat, sunglasses, and my backpack. Locals will dress up a bit more than this. However, I believe that to be ridiculous because we are at a National Park and will be walking a ton. This is our "American day."

Outfit #4: Next stop will be Dubrovnik. I've paired an off-the-shoulder top with orange shorts and sandals. I will be wearing my cross body bag again. Zagreb and Dubrovnik outfits would be appropriate for the trip to Skradin as well.

Outfit #5: Another possible outfit would be a white ruffle sleeved t-shirt with pattern green shorts and sandals. Again with the cross body bag.

Outfit #6: Something I wanted to highlight was the importance of being able to mix and match just about every piece of clothing in your suitcase. Not only can I wear tops with different shorts and shoes I should also be able to take an outfit from day to night. By switching shorts for skirts I can take the off-the-shoulder shirt into a night time look and keep the sandals or add wedges.

Outfit #7: In a similar light with the mixing and matching, this simple t-shirt can be paired with a black skirt and paired with sneakers during the day, sandals for the day/night, and heels for the night. Shoes can also have an impact in making your look different.

Hopefully this blurb of a guide showed some decent outfit ideas for Croatia. I'm only bringing those three shoes above and a pair of flip flops. You really should not bring more 4. If skipping on wedges 3 should be enough. I didn't show my bathing suits but really any kind will work, just be sure to bring a cover up. I'm also bringing a small amount of makeup. During vacations I like getting more dressed up so I'll be wearing more product on my eyes and lips, it's also a great way to change up an outfit as well. When lounging around the house, the Plitvice Park look is completely appropriate.

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IB EXAMS ARE RELEASED IN TWO DAYS.

I LEAVE FOR CROATIA IN THREE.

HOLY MOLY.

Open Letter to my 13 Year Old Self

2016-06-15T19:34:00.002-04:00

Dear 13 year old Andela,

You got your braces off before moving (YES, finally!) and your smile is beautiful. Make sure to smile as much as possible, people notice. They compliment you on your smile, and you make others smile.

First off, I'm so proud of you! When mom and dad told you that we were moving to Philadelphia you were such a good sport about the whole thing. You surprised everyone in the family by being able to keep that huge thing a secret from everyone before it was finalized and we could tell family. Don't worry, you were a professional at keeping secrets as soon as High School started. You were so nervous when you had to muster up all your courage and blurt out to your best friends that you were moving... Again... You learned that it was okay to cry. When you stepped into your new purple room for the first time you ran out of the house and curled into a ball by yourself, bawling and cursing this idea of moving, not knowing who to turn too or where to go.

Eighth grade was hard for the first half of the year. You lived in a hotel and couldn't really invite friends over, which made things so much harder. You began to develop anxiety and didn't tell anyone about it, you were sad about moving and didn't know how to deal with it. You refused to call Philadelphia home, you still sometimes don't. You finally opened up to mom and dad and right away they created a plan to help you. You started journaling your emotions and you started forcing yourself to become more extroverted in order to make new friends - it worked! While you still have anxiety, you've learned how to deal with it and how to contain it so that it doesn't constantly impact your every move. You kept your head held high, smiled, and your confidence soared.

You joined the track team and found love with hurdling (it was short-lived and you quit sophomore year, sorry!) Then once you finally branched out you met some cool people. Stick with these people! These are some of your lifelong friends that have your back- you'll need them A LOT in high school. Trust me. Be open to them, they are more than willing to let you in. I know it's hard since you feel like they hardly know you, but they're great people, I promise.

So you went through one big change, but another one is still on the horizon. High School. Most important thing, stop saying that freshman are stupid while you are a freshman. Just because Anton said that doesn't mean it's true. He's older than you. He's supposed to say that.

Stop saying you're NEVER going to do things. You ended up doing a lot of those things you said you never were going to do in high school. You thought preppy people were all snobby- guess who started dressing preppy? You thought people who wore makeup to school were fake, you did that too! You wore tight dresses and obnoxiously high heels to Croatian events, you wore your hair in buns sometimes, you painted your nails once a week, you thought Instagram was stupid and then you became slightly obsessed with it, and you applied to a college that you had refused to consider before because of its name (you visited, really liked it, got in, and WILL BE ATTENDING!!!)

Lastly, you didn't want to associate yourself with hearing loss because you wanted people to see you for your personality. That doesn't mean it's not a part of your life - it always will be and it has been a great way for you to push and prove your self worth to yourself, but you learned that hearing loss was just a small part of you, and it most certainly will never define you.

The boy situation does get better! You ended up liking that boy you thought was a weirdo 9th and 10th grade. Nothing really came out of it, but you became more mature and learned how to vocalize your feelings to someone you like. You also had a fair share of boys who were interested in you but you didn't reciprocate those feelings with. Those led to some awkward and uncomfortable situations but you handled them well. You still find boys very confusing, but progress was made in high school. You went from being scared out of your mind of boys to being able to become friends with them by senior year. Definitely a huge step in the right direction.

Your innocent mind found out that kids have sex in high school. You freaked out inside. You kept your cool outside. Through all of this you learned not to judge others because of their decisions- remember it's THEIR DECISION and it doesn't have to agree with yours, so don't judge.

You pushed yourself academically. You ended up doing IB just like you planned in 8th grade. It was a struggle but you loved the curriculum. You did better Senior Year. You realized that making friends was more difficult since these people were already besties before the program. You didn't make it into the "cool crowd" and honestly you were more upset about it than you should have been. Lesson: If someone doesn't want to be friends with you that's their loss because you're a fun, exciting, freaking awesome, cool, and unique person. Those "IB parties" you hated because you were never invited, are so overrated and get old. You learned how to make your own fun, not to care what others thought of you, and always stayed happy, cheery, and tried to be nice to everybody.

You tried so many new things. You created this blog which has become your outlet and main form of expression. You joined the sailing team and found another stress reliever. You fell in love with the wind. You looked forward to sailing as it always lifted your mood and brought you back to your normal, happy, self. It kept you from going insane during the spring of your Junior Year. You started a Yoga club and ran the Soup Kitchen club. Your Friday nights were reserved for Croatian School. You went on trips with them and made some bad choices. You were scolded by your parents but you know better now. You babysat a lot and you learned that you love and are great with kids. You were asked to become a member of the National Honor Society and you were so proud of your accomplishments. You tried the swim team (failed horribly) and quit soccer.

Those best friends you have, you told each other everything. You're traveling Europe with the friends you made when you first moved to Philadelphia this summer. Shocker how great you became with them after five years right? They probably know some parts of you better than you do.

You took your IB exams. You went home and could not believe that two years of hard work were over. You did it. You lived in Philadelphia for 5 full years. Now it's time to move again. This time to College.

Congratulations on Graduation! High School was a crazy time, you grew a lot. Now let's see where College takes us :)

xoxo Love,
17 year old Andela

Devon Horse Show

2016-06-09T22:24:00.001-04:00

My friend Sarah invited me to a horse show last Thursday and it was such a cool experience!

What I want to focus on in this blog post is to try and explain how a horse jumping show works. This was my first time attending one and it was so cool to go and see!

So what I've learned (through Sarah of course) is that the jumpers have to go through a course and follow specific numbers. The horses have to jump through the course and if they knock off a bar while doing so they get four points added to a fault. Points are only added per jump and not per bar. For this particular race they also only had eighty seconds to complete the course and each extra second adds a time fault point. If you fall off of your horse you are disqualified. This happened once and it was so dramatic throughout the arena. Everyone was gasping and then politely clapping for the poor guy.

I'm pretty sure this is the British dude that won the Grand Prix in a different race which is pretty amazing! My jaw dropped when Sarah said that, it was so cool! I'm trying to find the names of these people on the website but I can't find them anywhere unfortunately. If you're curious about the Devon Horse Show click the words.

This is such a cool picture! There ended being a tie between six horses. This happens when a horse finishes a course perfectly within the time limit. They had a battle off and whoever finishes the fastest without any faults wins. One of the things I love about horse jumping is how tense everyone is. I've only ever experienced those excited "ooos" and "aaaahh" moments at typical sporting events such as a baseball, hockey, or soccer games. This just helped me broaden my horizons and see what other sporting events there were and I really enjoyed the experience! The people were much more put together at this event than other sporting events and I really enjoyed the classy atmosphere.

The cutest little baby, I was frantically trying to take pictures of her she was super adorable :)

It's probably weird that I took pictures of some horse jumpers baby but some other people were doing it so I guess that somehow justifies it.

My relationship with Murphy (Sarah's dog) is great!

Everyone seemed to love Murphy and wanted to pet him, who can resist, he's so cute and he has a face that just begs to be petted.

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I have been working every single day and generally I'm exhausted when I come home. I have been a nanny for three girls and I drive them around everywhere and I take care of them from 8am - 5:30pm. When I come home I typically just watch Netflix and I just finished Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, am amazing TV show! I think I'm going to start watching Criminal Minds or How to Get Away with Murder next.

My grandparents are in town already for my High School Graduation, it's taking place next Tuesday and I'm very excited! I have such a great blog post already lined up for it. My cousin/Godmother will also be coming in tomorrow night so I'm excited to pick her up from the airport. I'm currently spending time with my grandparents. We are (sort of) watching the Stanley Cup Final and I'm sitting with them writing this blog post.

I think I may also write a post on "How to Babysit" as I think I've gotten pretty good at taking care of kids!

My Freaky Fudge

2016-06-01T20:44:00.001-04:00

By my previous quinoa post you probably thought I was a super healthy person (or not..) but today, as promised, I baked. My mom told me that the recipe had to be a no-oven-bake one so as not to get the house all heated up. I decided to made fudge and this is what it looked like in the end!

I'm going to take you through the process of making this bad boy, because this was not difficult!

First things first, how do you make it?

To prepare the fudge you need:

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1.5 cups sweetened condensed milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

First: Line a pan with waxed paper, as you can see this was difficult to do so in this photo it is sitting on top of the pan.

Next: Mix ALL of the ingredients together EXCEPT for the vanilla with the heat on low.

Then: Once the mixture reaches a smooth level comparable to the photo above, then take it off the heat and mix in your vanilla. I love vanilla so I always squirt in a little extra.

Finally: When the mixture is well blended put it on the wax paper pan. Immediately put in the fridge so that it can chill and harden.

I got this recipe from a book I used as a kid called Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Yummy Cookbook, it has some great recipe's that are simple yet tasty.

If all you want is a simple fudge than you can stop here. If you want it bedazzled the way I have it at the top keep on reading!

The first topping I added was Chocolate Buttercream Frosting. As you can tell this recipe is very unhealthy, it's okay to indulge once in a while!

To prepare the chocolate buttercream frosting you will need:

3 tablespoons of butter

1 cup of confectioner's sugar

3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder

4 tablespoons of milk

1/4 teaspoon of vanilla

First: Beat the butter. I could not find my mom's electric mixer and was disappointed to find that it was right in front of my bowl the entire time... Whatever, it was a great arm workout!

Next: Add everything else and mix well. If you are using a spatula and your hands this is fine. If you are using any electronic device add and mix slowly. This is what the end product should look like. I added a lot more milk to make it soupier and I already accounted for that in the ingredients list (it sounds gross but really I just wanted it more runny since fudge is very hard.) If you want it thicker only put in 2 tablespoons of milk or less.

Finally: Go grab your fudge from the fridge and pour the frosting on top. Before pouring frosting on top make sure that your fudge is stable/hard enough and looks like the picture below.

Now pour your frosting on top and spread it across the fudge.

Immediately after put the fudge back into the fridge.

I got this recipe from allrecipes.com and changed the measurements so that it only made 10 servings. I also added almost double the amount of milk.

The final topping I decided to put on would be the marshmallow mixture. This is very simple and took a grand total of about 10 seconds (okay maybe 5 minutes) and is extremely simple to make.

To prepare the marshmallow topping you will need:

A bit of butter

2 JUMBO marshmallows

First: Put the heat on simmer and mix it up. It helps to try and cut down the marshmallow so that it melts a bit easier. It should end up looking like this.

Finally: Go back to the fridge and grab your fudge again. Pour the marshmallow topping on top and spread it around a little. Do this quickly because marshmallows are sticky and will not move where you want them after a minute.

Put this back into the fridge to finish hardening and viola, a finished creation! Be sure to clean up your mess in the kitchen. Are you proud of me mom? :)

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I had my IB exit interview, handed in my high school laptop, lounged by the pool for three hours, did a 25 minute swimming workout, read, and watched some TV today. It's been pretty chill.

Memorial Day Weekend Re-cap

2016-05-31T21:58:00.002-04:00

Memorial Day weekend came and went. It was eventful, fun, and spent with friends. What more could I ask for?

On Friday I got a haircut... I got bangs! I was bored with my hair and I felt like trying something new. I'm done with high school and I needed something different. If I'm completely honest I loved it the first day, hated it the next two because my hair was just so frizzy, and then started loving it again once I figured out how to make the look work.

One word of advice, bangs take a lot of patience. Be prepared to commit to styling your hair everyday and if you're more of a get up and go person I would not recommend this style for you. Since it's summer and I have more time I figured it would be fun. I'm indifferent with the styling time but it does get a bit annoying sometimes. At least I like the way it looks so it's worth it!

I really wanted to announce this change via Instagram because we all know I'm obsessed with it, but I just didn't have a cool photo to post of this so I gave up. Eventually when I'm doing something "cool" I'll post a "cool" photo.

This is a photo of me trying on a shirt from American Eagle in the dressing room. I texted this to my mother. But here is the only photo I have where I looooove the way my bangs look.

PSA: bra straps and halter tops do not go Andela, geez!

On Saturday, unlike the majority of "Main Line Girls," I did not go to the shore this past weekend. I went to the pool (and still worked on my tan I might add.)

I look like Pippi Longstocking in all of these (as noted by my mother)

On Sunday, as promised, I went shopping with a friend and now I'm going to show you all of the items I have purchased to hopefully give people some summer inspiration. (Although I doubt I'm creative enough for that..)

Charlotte Russe - Off the shoulder tops are really in right now and I'm falling for the trend

Charlotte Russe - I love halter necklines and I look good in this dress.

Can I add that Charlotte Russe is such an amazing store and frankly, I'm upset that I've only just now shopped there in my 17 years of age. (This sentence sounds ridiculous because it is.) But to make my point this store has replaced Forever 21 in my book.

Ralph Lauren - I outgrew my blue polo shirt and I wear it a lot so I bought a new one.

American Eagle - Same halter top that I'm wearing in the first photo. Did I mention that I am obsessed with halter tops recently?

Gap - I'm bringing these shoes with me to Croatia this summer. I'm a preppy girl, these are nautical shoes, 'nuff said.

My current favorite stores are:

Gap

Urban Outfitters (not entirely my style but sometimes - also it's expensive which is a turnoff)

Target

Monday was my friend Addie's birthday so we went to Ruby's in Suburban Square and I proudly ordered a kiddie burger and fries with a coffee milkshake that I downed in about two seconds. Not to mention I ate the entire meal. Burgers. Fries. Milkshake. The entire shabang. And it was delicious.

Then we took one of Addie's dogs to the dog park and she played in the stream.

Afterwards my family decided to play tennis at my old middle school. I could not participate because I injured myself from shopping. This is the most ludicrous thing I have ever heard but alas it is the truth. I was at American Eagle Outfitters swapping a pair of jeans for a different size for my friend when I hit my ankle super hard. I winced in pain but, being the annoying high pain tolerant person I am, I suffered through it and tried not to make it a big deal. (Seriously, who injures themselves from shopping?) I went through the rest of that Sunday into the entirety of Monday in pain until it became very uncomfortable Monday night and my Mom pronounced my ankle as black, blue and swollen.

I still walked around my old middle school because 60 crunches later I didn't know what to do as my family was still playing tennis. I'm terrible at sitting still, I typically want to get up and do stuff. It was weird seeing the changes but oddly I barely remembered the place. I walked around kind of surprised at how much I had forgotten. I did only attend for one year so I guess it's not too much of a surprise.

Overall you could say my Memorial Day Weekend was a success!

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I finished Tina Fey's book Bossypants today and it was amazing. Like jaw dropped on the floor amazing. I may write a review (which you can probably already tell will be positive.) I read it outside by the pool and knocked a bucket list item off for the summer. I need to come up with a list of books to read also... Coming soon!

I also really want to bake something tomorrow.. That will also be coming soon!

I (kind of) Failed

2016-05-25T22:39:00.005-04:00

I made quinoa with sunny side up eggs. In theory this should have been a super healthy breakfast that tasted good. It was a super healthy breakfast.. But it did not taste (or even look) amazing.

I used a third of a cup of quinoa, two thirds of a cup of water, and an egg.

First I boiled the quinoa for about three minutes. Then let it simmer with the cover on until little white spirals came out of it and all of the water was pretty much boiled away. Final Version is on top.

(Kind of looks like soup broth..)

Then I made the sunny side up egg. I sprayed some cooking spray before I put the egg on the pan (although I didn't spray enough and the egg was still slightly stuck) and I let it cook for about five minutes and then stuck my creation, which fell apart, on top of the quinoa.

If I redid this recipe I would have made less quinoa. I barely tasted any egg and quinoa is in my opinion, one of the most bland foods I have ever tasted. It's really good for you so I want to try cooking with it again but I need to try and find a way to make it taste better. I think this would be really good with fruit on top or if you made a slight amount of quinoa and put it in an acai bowl that would be interesting.

This recipe was not a total fail, it was just not as appetizing as I would have hoped. It only tasted good when I had egg and a bit of quinoa on my fork.

My recommendation, either make this recipe with three eggs or lower the amount of quinoa to three tablespoons with 6 tablespoons of water. I think this recipe would work a lot better with a light coating of the grain on top of an over easy egg rather than a bowl of it below a single over easy egg.

What fun is there if you don't experiment?

My life will be getting more exciting as the week ends so more fun blog posts coming soon don't worry!

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I went shopping today as well. I got a cute dress, shoes, and top. I'm going shopping again Sunday so I'll show you what I got for summer later! Then I have to go shopping for college in June.. So exciting!

I just finished babysitting tonight so I'm pretty tired but I had so much fun playing with my girls :)

9 Things to do this Summer

2016-05-24T21:01:00.001-04:00

I'm a firm believer that experiences are the best things in life because they create memories. Memories and experiences help to shape who we are. So use the time off to have some fun!

This is just a basic summer to do that you should consider putting on your bucket list!

1. Have a picnic

There's nothing more summery than hanging out with your friends outside and eating food together. Ask each person bring something different and make sure you spread blankets on the ground. I love picnics because no matter how many people are there you can still have fun. Don't forget to bring speakers (and bug spray!) so you can play music during the day and into the night.

2. Swim at night

This is definitely something that is on my bucket list. I've wanted to do this in Croatia for as long as I can remember and this summer, I'm going to make it happen. You don't have to do anything crazy, but taking a swim in the middle of the night is adventurous and fun. Just make sure you stay safe!

3. Take pictures

Of everything, all the time. Record your memories. You'll want to :)
Even if it means traveling to your local city or town and pretending to be a tourist. Do it, make some mems.

4. Read in an outdoor location

This can be pretty much anywhere, but it's nice to read with a view. Be it the forest or the sea, crack open your book in the fresh air.

5. Make s'mores

You could even do this after your picnic if you wanted to! I love making s'mores and summer just wouldn't be the same without them. There's just something about making a fire, staying warm, and spending time with people you like.

6. Play badminton, volleyball, soccer, etc.

The point is really to just be active. Friendly competition can't hurt anybody (plus I'm a beast as badminton so you probably wouldn't want to play me anyway ;))

7. Go to a park and play games

I'm talking play marco polo, and the game where the wood-chips are lava and you can't step on them when the person who's "it" yells "freeze." I also want to go on the swings and swing as high as I possibly can and jump off of it. Let's just say the idea of going to college is making me nostalgic.

8. Look at the view

I'm the type of person who is very focused and doesn't really appreciate my surroundings until I have free time and am on vacation. One of my favorite parts about summer (besides the weather) is the sunset. That is a work of art.

9. Have a movie marathon

Whatever it is, make sure you have popcorn!

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I've done a lot of college stuff today and I had sailing so I'm really tired. May watch a movie tonight.. That sounds pretty good actually!

All of these photos are from Google Images

100 to 0

2016-05-23T21:17:00.000-04:00

I've had some writer's block recently. I have had no clue what to write about. My life has been super boring recently. A friend told me to write about it, so here it is!

I made some monster sized cookies yesterday- also finally used snapchat to document it! It was pretty great :)

I finished school and IB exams last Monday, needless to say I was expecting to jump into my summer vacation right away. What I didn't take into account was how fatigued I would be from everything that happened. I finished High School. All of the stress that accumulated sort of died when I finished my last exam and so I've spent the past week in solitude just kind of taking time for myself. I've been tying loose ends and relaxing.

It's not like I've been doing nothing, it's just been kind of boring. I bought a laptop for college, took my foreign language and math placement tests, finished some last minute scholarship applications, wrote my final IB reflection essay, am working towards finishing miscellaneous and a seemingly never ending college to do list. (I will probably post portions of that essay at some point, but I want to have some more time to reflect on my experience before I post it online.)

I've just been thinking about how everything is ending. I have two weeks of sailing left and while I'm sad to be leaving the place that taught me everything I know, I'm excited to move on and sail with new people in other places.

I had my senior prom last weekend at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia and I went with a guy I actually met from sailing. I had a ton of fun! My favorite part of the event was the Brain exhibit that we got to see. (I'm a Psychology major so it was heaven!)

After Prom I went to the beach with my friends. We got to the hotel but weren't allowed to check in because none of us are legally 21 years old. We ended up driving another hour to stay last minute at one of my friends family friends houses. It was an interesting night to say the least! I went to bed at 5am after going into their hot-tub in the middle of the night. Then I had to get up at 9am because my dad picked me up early - I had my final two IB exams that Monday in Psychology.

My life has been pretty tame since.

My cousin actually gave me an idea for a blog post that she wants to see on "Ideas to do this summer" so I'll post that sometime this week as well.

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I just want to make sure I stay busy this summer. I want to make sure that I make good use of the time that I have off. I want to make sure I have fun!

University Selection and IB Exams

2016-05-02T15:34:00.001-04:00

So Excited :)

I picked where I'm going to school! I'm not going to post where I'm going on my blog because this is viewable to the public and I do need to be a slightly careful about what I post online. It probably will come out eventually, but not yet. Private information on the internet is no good! My school colors have stayed the same though. I'm still repping red, white, and black and I couldn't be more excited! I'm also going to be on the sailing club team- a requirement when I was deciding between schools.

As I was searching things about college I found some online resources that I thought would be useful for others. This article is great for finding school supplies (which I'm buying at the end of this month since I'm away the majority of the summer) and some YouTube videos on how to prepare for college and the transition from High School to College. The one that I linked also helps Juniors and rising Seniors learn about the application process and what kind of colleges to apply too. Try also YouTube searching the name of your school to get more specific videos, someone will have uploaded something!
(Beware of the article and videos I linked as they are more geared towards females but guys can still use them.)

I will have more posts as I begin getting ready for college, orientation, and everything I do surrounding it. I will make a list myself of everything I actually end up buying and loading into my car and share it with my blog in case others want to get an idea. I will also be documenting what my college experience is like when I actually arrive. I definitely want to get back into blogging again- I love looking back at what I've written and I hate seeing gaps where I don't have anything.

The next topic I wanted to address was IB exams. I just had my English Paper 1 and it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Besides the fact that I wrote the wrong question number and almost handed my paper in, realized it, and then quickly changed it. Goodness, I would not have gotten any credit at all if I had kept that mistake!

What I really wanted to talk about was that I had a MAJOR panic attack yesterday, like the worst one since sophomore year when I began seriously having them.

I had just finished sailing yesterday and then it dawned on me that the exams I was preparing for these past two years were actually here. I was expected to sit down and take them these next three weeks. I was crying like I never have before, I kid you not, I was crying from 3:00pm-5:00pm (2 HOURS and the first hour I was in the car driving home!!!) and I was freaking out about not getting my IB Diploma. I was a mess. But I ate some food, relaxed, reviewed, went to bed, got up the next morning and took my exam. I also realized that these exams don't matter that much for me, at this point I'm taking them for personal gain. I would love to do well and I'm definitely going to give it my all, but I don't want to be let down if I don't do well. Honestly, I'm thankful I don't have a conditional offer into college where my admission depends on these scores. I could not deal with the added stress of that.

This post was definitely more personal and not as content based as my last one- but not every post will be super thoughtful. Sometimes you need to vent (reasonably) and just know that someone, somewhere, is listening :)

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Right now I'm feeling pretty good. I have one English exam left tomorrow and then I don't have an exam until Friday. My most stressful ones coming up would be the entirety of Spanish and the History Paper 3 (based on the entirety of Junior year material that I've kind of forgotten..)

Wish me luck- and good luck to others taking IB exams. We've got this!

Addiction: Social Media

2016-03-14T15:31:00.001-04:00

More Specifically: Instagram Likes

One of my posts.

I wrote this in January and was not really sure I wanted to share it. But, I think it's important to discuss the issue so here goes:

One of the things I mentioned in my New Years resolutions was that I wanted to be more open on my blog and write more posts with content that makes my readers think. I'm still going to post about my life because I like sharing what I do everyday on my blog but I also want more content on it, I want people to think about what they've read and walk away knowing that they did not waste five minutes that they could have spent doing something else.

In the midst of a huge snowstorm in January I was pretty much locked up in my house. I spent a few hours studying and then when I finally went outside to play in the snow I thought about the great photo opportunity I was presented with. The landscape was beautiful and I was having fun. I asked my younger brother to make snow angels with me in exchange for wrestling around in the snow.

When it came time to take the photo I was so wrapped up about having the photo exactly the way I wanted it to be. I was being very annoying and kept asking for photo retakes in order to take the perfect shot. Instagram perfect that is. My mom had to climb to the balcony (it was covered in snow..) just to take the picture above. How far are people willing to go for the "perfect shot?" What does "Instagram perfect" even mean? For me, it means making it work with my esthetic. I would post specific pictures that I'd hope would get a certain amount of likes as well (but I still posted pictures that stayed true to myself.)

Once I actually post the photo I step away from Instagram, I actually turned off my social media notifications so that it could help me get less obsessed over how many likes I was getting. I would refuse to go back onto the social media platform for about a few hours and then check.

If I was not within a certain range of likes I would start to freak out about what was wrong with my picture, what did people not like about it, did I post it to soon or too late, should I not have posted this picture at all?

The reality of it is, I was overthinking it and becoming a bit obsessive about it. I was addicted. I did not realize it at first but when I was finally able to step back from it I acknowledged how stupid it all was. Why did I have this need for likes on social media? What did getting a like mean in the long run?

I don't know if people who read my blog know this but I love psychology, naturally I decided to use that love and look up my problem to see if I could piece together an answer.

Basic Conclusion: Humans have a desire to be liked by others. When someone gives us a like we feel good and have a rush of euphoria. The problem with this and social media is that we barely know some of the people liking our pictures. They see the photo for a second and don't remember it later. They aren't thinking about the impact of their one click on the screen. Why should they? And why should one click have such a big impact on our happiness and give us unnecessary anxiety?

Unfortunately I don't really have a solution to the problem. The whole point of social media is to share what you're doing and get social acceptance for doing it- there really isn't any way around that. I think the most important thing to do is accept it and not worry about topping your last Instagram photo. Where is that really going to get you in life? I don't think people should be posting photos of certain things just because that's what their followers like the most. Post it because it accurately represents who you are. Likes don't matter. I'll continue to turn off social media notifications and not look at Instagram right away. I should post the photo to share my life regardless of whether or not people like it, because I do.

I love showing the fun things I'm doing in life. My dad just recently took me to a Flyer's Game, it was so fun! I love hockey and it was such a last minute amazing surprise.

I also share other things I love such as skiing and sailing.

I wish there was an outlet that could show the cool things people do without needing the approval of others liking it. I guess it's good to learn not to let things bother you as much.

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I just want to know where I'm attending College. :/

But I'm going skiing in Colorado with my dad and cousin/godmother Friday and I'm looking forward to doing something fun!

Senioritis Epidemic

2016-03-08T16:50:00.001-05:00

¡ATTENTION!
The senioritis epidemic has arrived, keep your kids at home, dangers exist at school!

So I have had a slight case of senioritis recently. I haven't been skipping school or anything, but I just don't have the motivation to do schoolwork and with the nice weather we've been getting it's difficult to get anything done.

I do eventually get all my work done (I still need to graduate...), but I don't even start my homework until at least 8 or 9.

Here is an example of my day after school, this obviously doesn't include homework:

Cleaning my room?

Ahh that's better.

Now that that's done let's go for a walk since it's so nice out!

And listen to music while we're at it.

Now let's paint my nails to match the bright day.

And then let's finish this by blogging so as to prolong doing my work even more than I already have been. I'll also be babysitting in two hours, another great way to procrastinate!

Products:

Nike 5.0 (Mine are the 2013 version but they no longer sell them.)

iPod (touch, nano, and shuffle are all great at playing music)

Korres Nail Polish in #45 (Coral)

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I'm anxious about hearing back from my last two schools that I applied too. It's nerve wracking and I can't wait to finally, officially, know where I will be spending the next four years of my life.

I'm also anxious about my senior Prom. There is so much stress surrounding the event itself, the date, what to do before and after Prom.. The list goes on and on.

My biggest dilemma includes the date (which I will get worked out I'm sure) and finding an activity afterwards. I also just recently found out that, depending on my exam results, my Psychology scores could place me out of TWO introductory classes in college. That would be such a huge help! But my exam is the Monday after Prom so I feel limited in what I can do after that because I want to do as well as possible on my exam. I also have sailing the Sunday following Prom and I will be missing the weekend after for Canada festival so I'd like the do that as well.

Ugh, that feels so good to vent.

BR: Go Set a Watchman

2016-02-16T16:40:00.000-05:00

BR (Book Review)

One of the gifts I received this year for Christmas was the sequel to "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, it's called "Go Set a Watchman"

Image taken from CNBC

I read Mockingbird about two years ago and it left such a large impact on me. I thought the book was beautifully written and I thought the ideas in it were mature. Sophomore year really introduced me to intense literature because I was finally reading novels that included more grown-up ideas. (I really enjoyed "Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger - that book changed me because I was finally exposed to struggle that I could relate to my own life.)

I was so excited to be gifted Watchman because it had been a while since I had last read Mockingbird and I was eager to read about the characters again. I thought now was a good time to read the sequel because I've grown and changed the most between sophomore and senior year. Jean Louise "Scout" also changed a lot in the novel as she is now an adult and is struggling to see her world from a new perspective. I can relate to this a lot because I'll be leaving for college in 6 months, coming back to Philly, and trying to make sense of the things that have changed while I was away.

This novel still follows Scout, who prefers to be called Jean Louise now, through her adult life. The beginning starts with her coming back to Maycomb from New York to visit Atticus (her father) who has aged quite a bit. She has become more open minded and has grown a lot. The reader will begin to root for Jean Louise as she explores a romantic relationship at home and tries to grasp the change Maycomb has seen since the last time she's been there. I think that's the part of the novel I love the most, her trying to grasp the new things. There's such a large age gap between the first and second novels that the reader still needs to know what changed as well.

Jean Louise struggles with the idea of creating her own voice. In the first novel Jean Louise idolizes her father, in the second she is trying to figure out what her voice is. The novel deals with the same difficult topic as the first novel - racism, and it ultimately causes the conflict between Jean Louise and her father.

This is perfect story for those who are about to embark on a new journey in their lives. It's sort of a coming of age story for people who a bit older. I'd recommend 11th graders and older to read this novel just because I don't think that I would have been able to relate as much to Jean Louise as I am able to now. I think Mockingbird was still a very new and exciting concept for me in 10th grade. The amount that I grew between Sophomore to Junior to Senior year was tremendous in every way. I think I understand the characters in a way I wouldn't have been able to before I grew a bit more physically and intellectually.

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I was so exhausted and cranky when I came home today. It's been raining a lot and I was feeling poopy to be completely honest. I couldn't start my homework so I decided to blog instead. It relaxed me at once and now I remember why I started one in the first place. I love just writing something down, it's relaxing and helps me calm down. Even if no one reads this I still feel good. Clicking the "publish" button is very satisfying.

Recently I have been reading every night before bed. Right now I'm re-reading "The Call of the Wild" by Jack London. I read it seventh grade and loved it! When I finish I'll blog that as well.

I've also been listening to some music on repeat. Mostly Love Yourself by Justin Beiber and Am I Wrong by Nico & Vinz. I never really liked Justin Beiber but his sound is so much better now and I'm surprisingly enjoying it! I guess you could say I have Bieber fever... ;)

Senior Prom Ideas

2016-02-15T18:09:00.000-05:00

Hello Everyone! One of my most read posts recently has been my Junior Prom Ideas. Since I am a senior now and prom is in a few months I thought I'd post one for Senior Prom.

Unlike Junior Prom which differed a lot from Chicago, Senior Prom seems to remain relatively similar to the prom I envisioned as a kid.

Here are my outfit ideas:

Dress 1:

Blue is such a classic color for prom. Cutouts are also really in right now so it gives it a bit more of a modern twist. I also love the rhinestones on it as they are not overdone. The person who wears this dress is sure to be a showstopper. Here is where the dress is from.

Satin shoes are gorgeous for prom- they elevate a look completely and make it ten times classier. There's just something so sleek about them. I like how this shoe is blue and it sticks with the theme of the dress with a little sparkle at the top. Here is where the shoes are from.

My one word of advice on shoes is to try to stay away from super strappy shoes or shoes that have a bunch of laces as it takes away from the dress and makes the look less elegant. Also, as much as high heels look super cute, Prom is not the time to wear 5 inch heels, I would stick to 4 inches or less since you should be able to dance and walk around the entire night. Wearing super high heels can end up ruining your night, or keep you sitting at the table.

Dress 2:

This dress is so elegant and is the prom dress I envisioned when I was a little girl. I love the pink color as it's perfect for spring and the flow-y skirt makes it very easy to dance in. The silver sparkly sash and the tie up back give it a little something extra and elevates the otherwise very simple dress. The person who wears this dress is girly and classic. Here is where I found the dress.

With this dress I decided to pair a silver glitter sandal that ties with the sash nicely. Here is where I found them.

Dress 3:

I think white is a gorgeous color for prom. While some people may see it as very bridal, I see it as the new black. I like the pattern on the dress that you can see if you zoom in. The back is also a little revealing and the slit gives just a hint of sexiness. The only issue with this dress is finding a time to re-wear it. Weddings are obviously not an option- you can't outshine the bride! Your best best for a white dress would be to alter it after prom and make it shorter, something I think would still look cute with this one. The girl who wears this dress is modern and classy. Here is where I found the dress.

Since white can go with pretty much any color, why not try a little burst of purple? These Caparros are to die for and also made of satin (surprise, surprise!) I think shoes are a great way to give a bold statement and can make the outfit more colorful. I think these shoes are also easy to re-wear since they're so cute! Here is where I found the shoes.

Dress 4:

This is one of the first dresses I saw when I started my search. I love the beaded top as it's not overdone, and the back is so classy. I think the slit adds a bit of edge and the small keyhole in the front adds a little more sweetness. I think this dress is great for someone who is edgy, sweet, or a bit of both. Here is where I found the dress.

This is one of the few types of dresses that I think can get away with a bit of a lace up shoe. I'd stay away from a full on laced up shoe but I think the tie up in the front actually enhances the look and makes it more unique and slightly edgy but still sweet- just like the dress! Here is where I found the shoes.

Dress 5:

I really like this dress because it reminds me of a pinker Ariel. I love the mermaid style, the lace up back that shows a huge bow, and the lace at the top with the tulle. Definitely a show stopper. The girl who wears this dress is a princess. Here is where I found the dress.

I feel like for this particular dress, lavender sandal heels are a must. I absolutely love the color of these heels, I think it goes very well with the color of the dress and the added sparkle looks fabulous. These are also satin. Here is where I found the shoes.

Dress 6:

When I saw this dress I fell in love. When I merge classy and the Great Gatsby this is what I envision in my mind. The dress is made of satin and the diamond in the front gives it the perfect '80s vibe. This is the perfect classy, modestly sexy, and edgy dress with just enough of a train, a little scoop in the front and back, and a slinky fit. Someone who isn't afraid to wear a red lipstick should wear this dress. Here is where I found the dress.

In order to keep this dress as classy as possible I decided to pair some simple satin shoes with it. Here is where I found the shoes.

I'll show you my prom dress in May :)

None of the photos are mine

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I've been so anxious that I've been clenching my teeth at night a few weeks ago and it hurt so bad. I was taking 4 advils a day. As of now it feels a lot better and the dentist told me all should be fine.

I have three IA's left to do. I've been super stressed trying to get them all done. Still don't feel like a second semester senior at all. Next month should be pretty relaxing and then in April I'll get another wave as I start preparing for my exams in May.

I've finally heard back from all of the schools I applied too. I was accepted to 4 schools and deferred from 2 (one of those was my top choice) so I need to wait a little bit longer to see what ends up happening. I did get into my second choice school, putting me in a really great position.

The wait is so hard. I can't wait for March. :(

2016

2016-01-03T14:11:00.000-05:00

¡Welcome!

I'm typically not overly sentimental on my blog, but today I'm going to be a bit fun and deep. First we'll hit the fun stuff where I talk about what I did on New Years, and then we'll hit the deep stuff and my resolutions for the year. Typically I just write it in my journal but today I felt like typing it.

One of my best friends, Kyleen, and I went ice skating for the New Year.

It was so fun! We talked about all of the plans we had for the New Year and how we could feel 2016 being an amazing year.

Traditional pose

Honestly, there really isn't much more too it. Only I realized how much I love ice skating, I've always loved ice skating. My dad and I used to go once a year, just the two of us, to a rink and ice skate when I was a little and still lived in Chicago. Ice Skating is HUGE in Chicago, hence the Blackhawks hat! Kyleen and I went to the Rothman Ice Rink by City Hall in Philadelphia which was gorgeous. The lights above were lit up and being in the city was beautiful. I will definitely be doing more ice skating in the future! We left at 11:00pm and raced back to my house, put on comfy pajamas, grabbed bags and bags of food and turned on the TV three minutes before the ball was about the drop in NYC and celebrated the New Year (not going to bed until 3am.)

Happy New Year Everyone! I hope 2016 treats you well!

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Resolutions:
I don't know if this is in any particular order but I like all of them

1. Journal and Read

I forgot how much I love to journal and write things down. It's so satisfying to put a pen to paper and write what you're feeling. I typically don't share everything that I'm feeling on my blog but I want to be more open. I'm very closed off about my feelings and I don't share them with many people. I think that's wrong, I think we have feelings so that we can share them. I want to seem more like a person who has multiple layers (like an onion haha) and I want that to transfer to my blog. Therefore I want to share more personal stuff throughout it, not just in the anxieties section. I also want to write down my dreams in my journal. I feel like dreams are cool and I dream a lot.

I also feel like I get so wrapped up in my life online that I forget to put the computer and phone away. Social Media is a huge part of my life and I want to start doing other things with my time (my blog is going nowhere trust me, this is therapeutic for me!) but I want to read. I love being in a different world when I read. I love turning the pages and living out of my life for a bit, enveloping myself in a story.

2. Be Healthy

I'm not going on a diet. I'm not trying to lose weight. I want to just be mindful of my body and treat it like a princess. I want to drink more water and make more smoothies. I want to stay active and feel good.

3. Stay Calm - Let it Go

This blog is titled "The Anxious Me" so it's probably pretty clear that I have anxiety. Candles, journaling, being healthy, sailing, skiing, traveling, ice skating, and art are all great for this. I guess I just want to find ways to make myself comfortable. I tend to get anxious frequently and while I try not to show it, it really affects my life sometimes. I get so worked up over stuff and I need to just let it go. It's not worth it, it really isn't.

At the turn of the year I learned that there is always a reason some things don't work out the way you want them too. While it doesn't seem comforting at the time and it definitely takes time to realize it, it's nice to know that later you'll be happy things didn't work out because something much better is coming. Think of the unhappy moment like a tiny piece of coal. In the moment you're so excited because it has the potential to become a diamond, yet it isn't so you're upset. In time you'll be glad you didn't settle for the piece of coal because later you've struck a huge diamond that means everything. You won't even be thinking of that unhappy moment anymore. I think letting go is something I've had a hard time doing my entire life but I'm finally starting to understand the importance of it.

4. Be Spontaneous - Embrace Change

I love deciding last minute to do things. It makes life exciting and fun. Sometimes spontaneous moments are so much better than the ones you've planned for months. With being spontaneous I want to embrace change this year. This year is full of change for me. I'm going to be graduating high school, becoming more independent, and living on my own. I've always had a difficult time embracing change. It's hard. But the one thing I do know is that no matter what my family and the people I care about are only a phone call away and will drop everything if I'm in danger. That's comforting. It reminds me that change is only bad if you feel alone, and you should never feel alone.

5. Travel

I'm not talking about far and wide and very expensive trips. I'm talking about traveling locally. I drive now, I'm becoming a young adult, and I have the power to travel locally with the train and buses as well. Before I leave Pennsylvania and Philadelphia I want to see the city and areas just outside the suburbs. I want to do these things with my friends, sort of as a last hurrah.

6. Take and Print Pictures

I love taking pictures. I think it's a cool way to express yourself and express others. To catch someone laughing -really truly laughing- or to catch someone who's going through a tough time. I think you can do so much with photography. You can catch a landscape that brings back so many memories. A picture is worth a thousand words, so it should be a good one.

With that being said, I also want to print these pictures. Many of my friends have Fujifilm cameras. It was so cool to physically hold the picture in my hands and for some reason it just meant a lot more. I found a Fujifilm printer but that's also kind of expensive. Instead I also found this website called HuggleUp where you can print whatever photos you want into polaroid form. I think having a physical copy means so much more and I'm going to use these to decorate my dorm room so that I can see all of the people I care about whenever I want to.

7. Art

Taking pictures is a form of art and relaxes me. But I also love painting and drawing. I want to take up art again because I remember being so stressed out even back in middle school and I'd always look forward to art class as a way to focus my time and energy on creating something. Getting in that zone is just so relaxing and makes the stressful task seem less stressful later. I want to draw and paint more often. I want to use my photos and create more scrapbooks and photo albums with them. I finish my classes at the end of the April and my exams by May 16th. I don't gradate until June 14th so I have a month of me being at home preparing for college and my Europe Trip with two of my bestest friends. I'm going to use some of that time to sail and some of that time to print pictures, complete scrapbooks, photo albums, and draw.

8. Dress Up

Not the dress up when you were little and would clip- clap your moms heels all over the place. I just want to find times to actually put make-up on my face. I'm not going to get up earlier than I have to for school, I already get up at 6:30am and am out the door by 7 in order to make it for my 7:30am class. So make-up for school is not going to happen. I guess this goes with being spontaneous, traveling, and going out more. I want to put more effort towards myself.

9. Breathe

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School starts tomorrow. I finished my school work yesterday. I think I'm ready for the last 3-4 months of High School. I think I'm ready to try to new things.

I'm just worried I won't finish everything, that I'll fail and not get my IB diploma. I'm worried about my extended essay. I'm scared.

Breckenridge: Day 7

2015-12-30T19:09:00.003-05:00

"Maybe it's your time to lift off and fly"

Today was mostly about the packing and getting ready to leave. I woke up at 4 am because I was so sick and nasal-y. I was just not feeling well. I got up and tiptoed around the condo and went to the bathroom to blow my nose. Then I climbed into my parents bed because even though I'm almost an adult that is still the best thing to do when you're sick.

We then left the condo at around 12:30, said goodbye to my brother and his friend who are staying for an extra week, and headed to the Dillon Dam Brewery where I ordered the Vienna Beer Cheese Soup.

The place was so crowded with people and I was starving so I took a nice picture of the place.

The soup was surprisingly good. I was not quite sure if it would be too cheesy or too meaty or too vegetable-y but it was none of the above. I really enjoyed it and finished the entire bowl off. It had really subtle flavors that worked very well with each other. After eating we headed to the airport.

On the way to the airport I listened to one of my favorite podcasts called Serial. I finished the first season and am now on the second. I am so hooked on this! Anyone who enjoys true stories that are also sort of mysterious and CSI-ish would absolutely love this! I'm on the third episode of the second season and it's getting pretty intense. The first season was about the murder of Kai Min Lee and tried to solve the question of whether or not the convicted murderer, Adnan Seyed, was actually the person who committed the crime. The second season is about Bowe Bergdahl and discusses why he deserted his post in Afghanistan and whether or not he should be charged.

I love how the stories are real, it really makes it more interesting.

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Ugh. I hate the end of vacations, they always put me in a sour mood. Now I really need to begin writing my extended essay and get all of my school stuff done and begin preparing for midterm exams.

On the bright side- I'm going to Los Angeles in 4 weeks and I need to go shopping so I'm super excited for that!

When I get back to Philly I also have New Years to look forward too. I can't believe it's going to be 2016. All I can think of is how great this year will be! 2016 will be a year full of endings and new beginnings. I'll be submitting my Extended Essay, all of my Internal Assessments, I'll finish the International Baccalaureate Program (amazed at how easily I was just able to spell Baccalaureate..), I'm going to graduate, I'll be going to Croatia, and I'll be beginning University at who knows where yet.. But guess what? I'll know where I'm attending this year too. Tomorrow I'll talk more about what I did in 2015 and then New Years day I'll discuss my plans for the year.

For now, goodbye Colorado, you've treated me well :)