My Christmas!

First of all, my finished Christmas cookies:

Mission accomplished!!

Christmas morning, we opened presents at home, then went to visit my mom. My mom has had Multiple Sclerosis since i was six years old, and she has lived in a nursing home for about two years (which is why I love with my aunt and uncle, 25 minutes away from my school). I knitted her a green scarf and we got her earrings and other things. It's hard for her to open presents because she can barely use her hands, much less her legs, but I still wrap stuff. She can do it- she just needs someone to challenge and believe in her.

That's my mommy! She's wearing her presents. We also got her a memory foam pillow, it's awesome. I love her.

I also love Paula Deen. Everyone who knows me knows this; when one of my best friends, Kasey, gave me this cookbook for Christmas, it just made my whole year. I'm reading it through like a chapter book (because I am compulsive and that is just how I work), and I am on page 245 of 455. Thanks, Kasey!!

And for now, that's all I've got. Volunteering at our church's Bible school for eight hours today tuckered me out. Goodnight!!

COOKIES!!

I love to bake.

I have baked more in the past 24 hours than I have in the past 2.4 months, and that's only a slight exaggeration.

Here's what's been going on in my kitchen:

Absolute craziness! But I love it. And, almost 20 dozen cookies later, I can sit back and enjoy my culinary prowess. (hahaha.)

Merry Christmas!

Gift Exchanging

I love Christmas. I love Christmas presents.

Yesterday, my friends and I exchanged gifts. Receiving presents is awesome, but I love giving- making or buying something that you know one of your friends or family members will love is the best. Watching them unwrap it and seeing the look on their face is priceless!!

I can't wait to have babies. But until then, my friends suffice.

Today is Christmas cookie baking day!!!!

Knitting

The past week of my life has been dominated by knitting. I have knitted during class, during church, during meals.. my knitting is currently sitting on my leg right next to me.

Why?

I learned to knit a little while ago and just started taking it a bit more seriously. For Christmas, I decided to make, rather than buy, a lot of my presents for friends and family. And knitting is something I already know how to do. Easy, right? Not always. For me, it's not difficult- just pretty time consuming.

But the end result is so worth the effort! Over time, I've learned to use wide needles rather than thin ones, because the project goes so much faster. Also, I use thick yarn (like the kind you would make things for babies with) because it is super soft and also helps the project go quickly.

Currently, I only know how to knit scarves. I have one down, one halfway done, and one to work on and finish by Christmas (which is in SEVEN DAYS!). Maybe I'll learn how to do something else over break.

Or maybe I'll do my homework.

... Or maybe I'll knit instead.

The Countdown Begins!

There are NINE full days until Christmas! I finally feel somewhat prepared. 98% of my gifts for my friends and family are bought, half are wrapped and under the tree.. I'm almost done with the first scarf I'm knitting, then there is a second one to make.. three blankets are made with two to go.. ingredients for cookies were bought today at the store..

Yep. I think I'm doing pretty well for myself!

Christmas is such an exciting time of year. I love it. But in Ohio, our winter doesn't really start until like, February. How backwards is that?! Actually, today I didn't even need to wear my coat. It was almost sixty degrees outside. It's like Christmastime in Texas or something.

Maybe that was hyperbolic. Oh well.

In other news, I went out to lunch today with my aunt and her friend Chrissi to this restaurant called Jojutlas. It is new and Mexican; Chrissi knows the owner. My church was having a fundraiser there, and we all like to try new things, so we went. It was amazing!! I got salsa and queso and shrimp tacos. I love Mexican food.

Today was also day five of Christmas shopping.. I got a $60 sweater for $18!! Good deals are fabulous, I could shop all day, every day.

Time to be productive! :]

Christmas Shopping and "Healthy Cuisine"

Boy, do I love the weekend. No school and no homework (even if there should be...), just friends and laziness. It's my kind of life.

Saturday morning, I volunteered and popped popcorn at our school's speech tournament, then my uncle met me for Christmas shopping. We shopped for a few hours for my aunt, and it was fun! Crowds at the mall aren't my thing, but I love Christmastime. When I came home this morning, the three of us left and went Christmas shopping again!

I love getting presents, but now that I'm older, I understand more how it's the "season of giving". Of course, it's about Jesus first and foremost- but I love seeing my friends and family open their presents!! And  I decided to get creative with how I wrapped my presents this year. Instead of wrapping paper, I'm using newspaper and really cute ribbon. I just finished wrapping and they turned out so nice!

And now, an abrupt change of subject..

Healthy food. I'm not about that at all. I love fresh fruits and some fresh vegetables, but I can't survive on that. I love meat. I love dairy. I love the MacDonald's. And I am not ashamed.

However, I love to try new things. And there just so happens to be a "healthy cuisine" restaurant that I've always wanted to go to, and one of my friends said it was good (but she's one of those Whole Foods people), so two of my friends and I tried it last night. For the most part, it was good! Really expensive, in my opinion.. my friend got a side salad and a milkshake and it was $10.00. I got a personal pizza, which is made with whole wheat crust, and it had garlic, shrimp, spinach, mozzarella cheese, and mushrooms on it. Yum.

Weird whole grain/oatmeal/bird food vegan stuff still grosses me out, though. One step at a time!!

TGIF

I've been becoming a lot more interested in makeup and fashion lately, or at least I've been trying to. So I've been doing some "research" and attempting to find ways to improve things and learn more. Before last night, my makeup situation was a disaster! Every makeup product that I have owned for the past five years (that would be since 7th grade) was tossed into a drawer in my dresser. That poor drawer..

While watching YouTube videos, I discovered something: you're supposed to clean your brushes! This was news to me. I've been using brushes that have never been cleaned and have been collecting filth for the past half decade. I was appalled. I had to take measures into my own hands.

According to this video, you wet a paper towel with olive oil and rub the end of a makeup brush on it until there is no longer residue coming off. Then, you wash the bristles with dish soap and let them dry flat overnight. Sounded easy enough! I did it, and this morning I was quite satisfied with the results.

Oh, and I scrubbed that drawer until it was spotless, threw out all the makeup I don't use (which has most likely just been rolling around since 2009), and organized the drawer, making sure to line it with something this time. This whole cleaning mood inspired me to even go through all of my nail polish and mani/pedi supplies, which is most definitely another story for another time!

Happy Friday :]

Back on the Bandwagon!

Okay, so maybe my last entry was in April. And maybe it's December at this point.. but better late than never, right? I am officially jumping back on this blogging bandwagon and will make it a point to write here every day.

My eighteenth birthday was last Friday- I am officially an adult! This whole senior year thing is going by incredibly fast. We ordered our announcements, got fitted for caps and gowns, I registered to vote, am planning my graduation party, all that fun stuff. It's crazy sometimes. High school really does fly by. But I only have three classes, and I get out of school at 11:00 every day, which is amazingly nice.

I'm going to Kent State University next year! Nursing major. I'm super excited to finally be able to accomplish all of my "dreams" that I've had for years of becoming a midwife and opening my own birthing center eventually. I've already been accepted into both the university and its honors college, so I'm ahead of the game in some aspects. Now I'm just trying to fill out about a million scholarship applications so I graduate with very little debt! Thinking ahead.

I got my first tattoo on my birthday! I am absolutely in love with it; don't worry, I thought about the following things:

- how I will look in my wedding dress

- how my grandchildren will feel about it

- how it will look when I'm 75

- how I could cover it in a professional setting

- if its meaning is something that I will still love in 50 years

It meets all the criteria! It is beautiful and perfect and there will be no regrets whatsoever. And, contrary to popular myth, it did not hurt that badly. really, it didn't. and I don't take pain too well. 100% worth it.

Matthew 28:20 is obviously my favorite Bible verse. I'm excited to show it off at church tonight!!