A Bit of Cheer

Here's some of my favorite things I've found to do for the Christmas season to brighten the mood.

 If you like to do your nails.

 These are chocolate covered Oreo's. I must try to do these.

A German tradition. On Christmas Eve, you lay out the pickle ornament in front of the tree with the milk and cookies for Santa. Then, Santa hides the pickle ornament. In the morning, the first person to find the pickle ornament receives an extra present from Santa.

Time To Be Thankful

Hello! I know, it's been a while since I last posted, but I'm an incredibly busy girl. Finals start this week and I am so nervous. But I feel like since it is the season, I will talk about thankfulness.

Being thankful can mean so many things. You can be thankful for your life, your friends, your family, the material possessions, and so many other things. With the recent tragedy in Connecticut involving the death of 20 elementary school children everyone has decided to be thankful. You shouldn't just be thankful when what you have is at risk, but you should be every day of your life.

What if tomorrow, all you had was what you thanked God for today?

Some Good Reads

I may be a 16 year old girl, but I LOVE books. Seriously, why can't I just live in one? I thought I would share some of my favorite authors and books for your interest.

So my first pick is John Green.
Right off the bat, he lives in Indianapolis so that makes his amazing because I could completely stalk him and be a fangirl, but that would be really creepy. But his books are AMAZING! I've read a lot of them, my all time favorite from his works is The Fault In Our Stars. I absolutely cherish that book, I've read it more than once, it's that good. I've done numerous English projects over it... :) I mean this book takes you through every emotion possible, and it is so easy to relate to. Ah that book, I just can't simply explain it, so go buy a copy and read it, or go to the library. Whatever floats your boat.
But the other books I've read by John Green are Paper Towns and Looking For Alaska. Both of which I highly recommend. I have yet to read An Abundance of Katherines or Will Grayson Will Grayson.

Some series I recommend for the avid reader, most of you probably have read these but I will suggest them anyway.
The Hunger Games Series By: Suzanne Collins (3 books)
The Harry Potter Series By: JK Rowling (7 Books)
The Uglies Series By: Scott Westerfield (4 books)
The Delirium Series By: Lauren Oliver (3 books, the third one comes out in February 2013 I think)
and...
The Beautiful Creatures Series By: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (4 books)

Gosh, they're are so many good books out there, and it makes it so hard to believe that people don't like to read.

My last suggestions for a good book, they make good presents ya know, are by Stephen King.
I've only read 1 completely and that was The Shining. It scared me, but that's the point. I've seen most of the movies and I have most of the books, I just haven't read them yet. But I bring him up because I am currently reading one of his books Under The Dome. I have 320 pages left (I'm on page 752) and I have loved every page of it. It really makes you think. I just need to find the time to finish it.

Got any book suggestions?


Go read!

Urban Outfitters

So I know I haven't bloggd in forever, I promise I will but I am uber busy this week. But I just want to share this link because I want to win a $2,500 gift card to urban outfitters because I love them. So join Spotify because it is way better than Pandora. http://spotify.extole.com/a/clk/2kTQ2H

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gobble Gobble Gobble. It's turkey day!

So I've had a wonderful holiday, now browsing through Black Friday ads. I love black Friday, I really do. I'm one of those people that wait outside the store at 4 in the morning, don't judge. Anyways back to Thanksgiving. What are you thankful for? Because I'm thankful for the bad things that happen in life. This is because the bad things make the good things even better and you appreciate them more. And I wanted to share a wonderful recipe with you all. It was my grandma's and now it's mine.

This recipe makes 2 pies, and you don't have to bake anything!

8 oz. cream cheese
2 C. powdered sugar
2/3 C creamy peanut butter
9 oz. Cool Whip
1/3 C milk
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
2 graham cracker 9'' crusts

Soften the cream cheese. Then add sugar, peanut butter, Cool Whip, milk, cream cheese, and juice to a large bowl. Mix until it is well blended. *You will see a few small bumps, do not worry, it is fine. Divide into two. Pour into pie crusts. Let chill in the fridge for 3-4 hours, or until you need to serve it.

And that is it ladies and gentleman. I usually make it the day before I need it so it's cold. It is really rich so you don't need a giant piece. If you have any home recipes you would like to share please do so, I love cooking new things.

Happy Thanksgiving to all, and let the season of awkward family dinners, gifts you don't want, and the clueless-ness of buying things for people you see twice a year begin!

Skinny vs. Skeleton

Happy Sunday! Turkey Day is almost here my friends, and that means getting to cook and eat delicious food.

Ok, just a random thing again. Where does this idea of being a stick become the new ideal image of women. They look dead! DEAD! I mean like not to be offensive but like the pictures you see from the Holocaust at concentration camps. It isn't pretty when you can see all their bones. I mean, I'm on the heavier side, but I don't look like a corpse. Like it's sickening. I get if you have an eating disorder, but if you enjoy being that small, you know you are, just no. Go eat a steak, some potatoes, and have a few glasses of soda and a bag of chips. Or like when you have those friends that eat tons of food, yet they weigh like 100 pounds, and they're all like I'm fat. No. What does that make me then? And now I guess clothes with skeletons on them are trending. Like the Halloween costumes, but as actual fashion... it isn't right.

those are leather pants ladies and gents...

well just think about the subject, I'm going to bed. Goodnight.



OOH and by the way, Breaking Dawn Part 2, AMAZING! And Kristim Stewart, she looks like a skeleton tooo! And I'm so happy Channing Tatum was voted sexiest man of the year, GAH I love that guy.

Busy Weekend

Okay, so this weekend I went to the Indiana District Youth Gathering with my church, there were only 8 of us that went but it was really fun, but at the same time less than it was made out to be.
So here is how my weekend was spent with sudden realizations of my life:

Friday Night:

1. We got to the hotel and made our sleeping arrangements, I always end up with the person that takes up the whole bed because I'm too nice.
2.  Met some cool people, and found old friends from other trips.
3. Walked to a gas station around 10 for some food since I did not have dinner. The hotel was in a sketchy part of town. But there were 8 high school kids, 4 of whom were boys.
4. Never did get dinner but was surprisingly not hungry.
5. Hung out around a gas fire pit and discussing the deep morals and controversies of life.I figured out how to clap fire in your hand and not burn. It was pretty funny because the first time I did this the fire went out for a second then came back, it kind of scared me. I felt like I should be a fire-bender.
6. Marriott Hotels have amazing smelling shampoo and conditioner. I might have taken some.

We are all God's children,  but Jesus is his one and only son. This is only because of blood relation. Were adopted.

Saturday:

1. Walking to breakfast, didn't die crossing the road, or kidnapped. Just so you know Burger King's breakfast sucks butt. And so does their service.
2. Went back to the hotel and went to different guest speakers about like how in God's eyes your beautiful and it's what is on the inside that counts and all that crap. I believe it but I mean, that's God's eyes, not the guys I'm friends with. I've decided I'm forever in the friend zone. Also about how to incorporate your Christian life into your social life, oh, just got accomplished.
3. I had Qdoba for the first time in my life, not bad. 
4. Went to some more guest speakers, we had to.
5. My church is pretty cool so we skipped the night time activities and went to dinner at Penn Station/ Taco Bell. Then we went and saw Skyfall. I must say for the first Bond movie I've seen, I really liked it. And Daniel Craig, whoof. He may be kind of a lot older than me but I can see why he always gets the girl. He is pretty attractive and in shape for a 44 year old man, his accent is pretty awesome too.
6. We got out of the movie at about midnight and back to the hotel at like 12:30 so I was tired but couldn't fall asleep so I played Flow for like 2 hours. I highly suggest this game.

Also what I learned over the whole group sessions is about forgiveness. It isn't just moving on and forgeting but generally accepting what the person did and being okay with it because they made a mistake and you have made mistakes too so you shouldn't hold anything against that person because of what they did to you. You don't have to be best buds or even friends with them, but just forgiving them releases built up emotion in your soul.

Sunday Morn:

1. We got awesome shirts. Picture below.
2. McDonald's has much better breakfast. Caramel Frappe's tend to be delicious.
3. We had a wonderful church service with over 500 fellow high school Lutherans like me. That's powerful stuff right there.
4. We went home.

And just like random, I've been told I complain a lot, I've recessed my life choices and realized I do complain a lot. So I'm going to try to complain less, I shouldn't complain, first world problems. Oh ya funny video, link below. 

Onto some serious stuff though guys. What you say can really hurt people. Ya you may be joking and the other person may know you're joking but sometimes it just really hurts. You don't know what that person is going trough. Okay so it's about me so I'm going to write it how it is. People always take advantage of me and treat me like I'm 5. I'm 16. Treat me like and adult let alone a young adult. You know how many people tell me things, and they're "just kidding"? Well a whole freaking lot of em. And it really does bother me. You're supposed to be my friends right? Well why would you say things like that. I know you're kidding but it bothers me because everyone does it, and I'm so tired of it. Because sometimes "just kidding" goes too far and it ends up hurting. In the end there is always a little bit of truth behind the kidding.

Oh, and don't judge people. I judge people a lot. And I've recently had an epiphany. Don't. You don't know what that person is going through unless you really know them, I just assume things like most people but deep down you don't know them till you talk to them personally. You need to see past their mask they wear for everyone. It's horrible having to fake your smile for so long that if you're not smiling people are over concerned. People need to express their feelings, I don't because I don't trust a lot of people, but I should. We all have one, some may be more elaborate than others but we all have that mask. 

And, I came up with a quote, it has a little bit of language: "The best thing about shit is that you can wipe it away and flush it down the drain." - Reagen John

One last tip for guys, when texting a female friend, if you're done talking at least tell them bye. That's the kind of stuff that pisses us off. Always so bye. You never know when it might be your last. 

SO.. My cool shirt:

and first world problems video, it's hilarious:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN2WzQzxuoA

Goodnight, if you like my blog please share it with others, and I'll take recommendations of topics if you have any.