Fall Friday

Happy Friday!! The fall leaves are appearing gradually :)

"Anything's possible if you've got enough nerve" -J.K. Rowling. Today was a good day, I'm currently reading the Harry Potter series. 

I saw this poster and fell in love with it. I do wish that I had gone to the history museum in London when I had the chance. Apparently they have 200 year old butterflies on display. 

"A flower does not think of competing to the flower next to it, it just blooms."

My desk

 Here's a  look at my desk and how I've organized it!

The cat print on the left was made by my sister. That's our one year old cat named Mojo. 

Here's closer look at the lights. I really like them. 

 Just a bit of self-motivation, really. Also, I love butterfly magnets. I've got a picture of my dad and me at the beach when I was younger. I also have a fall leaf that I picked up today on my morning jog.

My favorite journal… I love pink and bicycles very very much. 

  

Me, sporting my F21 polka dot pants. Sorry for the grainy picture, I used one of those timer cameras. 

This lipstick is NYX's Matte Rouge a levers in the shade MLS02 Shocking Pink Rose Intense. This stuff stays on for two days! I put chapstick on first so it can rub off later. 

My Views of Serengetee and How it Shapes the World

Here are two shirts that I care very much about, and below is why they matter so much to me. 

         A guaranteed price of humanity is the unfolding and opening of stages in one's life. I'm seventeen. I'm in the decision making stage when red lights and green lights all blur into yellow lights. I tell myself to stop and slow down. My decisions at this age unfortunately, and sometimes fortunately mold the general frame of who I will be forever. Will I be "that" doctor with "that" money? Will I be "that" teacher with "that" money? But I think it would be immoral to base my decisions off of wealth.

         A book I'm reading called The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde points out that time brings ruin on beautiful and wonderful things. Oscar Wilde mentions a lot of things that are lost to the world, but somehow leave their legend or imprint. He questions:

"Where had they passed to? Where was the great crocus-colored robe, on which the gods fought against the giants, that had been worked by brown girls for the pleasure of athena? Where, the huge velarium that Nero had stretched across the Colosseum at Rome, that Titan sail of purple on which was represented the starry sky and Apollo during a chariot drawn by white gilt reined steeds? He longed to see the curious table- napkins wrought for the Priest of the Sun, on which were displayed all the dainties and viands that could be wanted for a feast; the mortuary cloth of King Chilperic, with its three hundred golden bees…"(141)

        Oscar Wilde's lesson here is that materials dissolve. This makes me think about all of the things surrounding me. The knobs on my dresser, the empty soda can in the trash, and the light bulbs on the ceiling will never be greater than their material's simple purpose. Not every shoe is Cinderella's glass slipper. Simply, it is the people who possess materials that bring intimate objects to life.

       When I think of what's  happening around the world, I picture many things. I picture Farzana Parveen, three months pregnant on the ground in Pakistan; bricks smashing against her skull for refusing to marry her cousin. They call this an "Honor Killing" because her family believes she brought them shame. I picture militants in Iraq battling to control their only resources of water. I picture the number 887 and can't imagine it as the death toll for Ebola in Abula, Nigeria.

       For everything happening in the world, I picture the weight of tears streaming down cheeks, the pulse when a heart drops and cannot believe, cannot comprehend what the ears have heard.

       For those who could not control their goals, their next step, their next meal, I reach out to their family, friends, and strangers. When it comes to a decision, instead of slowing down, a yellow light burns green and I reach out to Serengetee. They are a company that makes it possible to reach others when I cannot. The materials of Serengetee will sometime disintegrate out of existence. But their impacts move past the stitchings of their cloth. Every pocket goes towards helping a life. I am a part of something that is larger than myself. A shirt's impact is worn by more than just the person who bought it. Because of Serengetee, I am giving intimate objects life.

http://www.serengetee.com

The lives I'm helping right now: 

http://www.serengetee.com/america/ and http://www.serengetee.com/tampico/

Last Day of Camp

Today was the last day of summer camp! 6 weeks and 174 hours logged. I thought these days would never come to an end. The struggle with 7-14 year olds in arts and crafts was real. The cafeteria was a daily hoopla to clean, and the endless afternoons were filled with Uno and Speed. I've been at this summer camp since I was a camper going into 6th grade. I went through 3 years as a camper, 1 year a junior counselor, and 3 years volunteer. Next year I'll be 18 and hopefully getting that cash flow! Anyways, it's not necessarily about the money. I really appreciate spending time with the campers and my friends. From left to right, here's Andrew, Tye, Heaven, Dylan, myself, and Andre. 

The day started off with helping some fellow arts and craft campers build in block city. I built a house out of foam blocks featuring a triangle roof with Sarah and Emily. Sarah is awesome, I taught her to knit and we laugh about stuff in arts and crafts. We were playing category in class yesterday and the category was songs, so I made up song titles like: Octopus on the Ceiling, Cheese on my Feet, and Bellybutton on Fire. She thought that was hilarious. Emily is quite a character. She's bossy and wears the cutest dresses that look like Lily Pulitzer. She has curly shoulder length hair and glasses; and she gets along well with the crazy boys in class.  She's painted and designed a few houses with paint and sparkles; along with a USA hat. Along with them, I'm gonna' miss a little asian girl named Lila. She made me a rubber bracelet made with pink and blue cotton candy colors. She's a really cute character. She always encouraged peers when they felt like giving up with knitting; but she sometimes got too carried away with talking about Jesus. Besides that, she tried to tell me that she talks to spirits underground. Is Lila a ghost whisperer? I don't know. 

These are the water balloons that a bunch of kids helped me fill up. It ended up raining and I let a few kids throw them around 5 o'clock when most of the other kids were gone. After that, I watched dodgeball and ended up playing. I swear, I was in fear every time I bent over for a dodgeball. My underwear was up way too high and my shirt too short. Playing dodgeball with the kids, David, Patrick, and Jonathan reminded me of old times when I was a camper. David was called Yoda and he was the best. I haven't improved at throwing in the recent years, but I still find a way to have fun. 

Alright, so the guy in the green is Tye. No, his last name isn't Dye. The guy in red is Andrew. Andre took my phone and pretended to take a picture of us but really aimed it at these guys. Tye knew, and Andrew looks…confused? Tye is really chill and he'll be a freshman this year in film at DA. Andrew goes to Darnell Cookman, I think. Something really funny about Andrew is that he got a job selling knives. That may sound weird, and it is weird, but it's hilarious. Also, Andrew's little brother named David is in my camp. David is one of the strangest in arts and craft. He either wants to sleep, has no motivation, or sticks his hands in the yarn and bead boxes. I can't even explain how weird David is, but you'd have to meet the kid to really understand.

There's a lot more about camp that I love, and I lot that I haven't mentioned. But here's to a wonderful last day of camp, and I hope the following years are just as great, if not better.

Senior Pictures & day out with mom

Today I went to get my senior portraits done with my mom. They only let me use one outfit and I had three, so we went around taking pictures in the other two outfits.

I ended up almost crying several times during the day. I don't tell my mom how much I love and appreciate her enough. She's so amazing and puts up with so much from me. I feel so selfish sometimes, and I often forget about her wants and needs. I wish I had a picture with my mom from today, but I don't and that makes me really sad.

Osceola Shooting Range

Friday. June 6th, 2014

This morning I told myself I want to live by Casey Nesistat's words and make it count. This summer will be amazing. 
I ended up going to Osceola Shooting range with my Dad and sister.

My dad called it a road trip even though it was about an hour drive. I re-read the Fault In Our Stars in the backseat.

I saw this beauty on the way into the range. I love it so much. I love how it says Moose Lodge and the words are crooked, and I love the yellow and blue colors. I especially love how there was a Bingo poster next to it. There was another poster that my Dad laughed at but I can't remember what it said.

Zoe and I shot three types of guns today: 22 pistol, rifle, and something else that was super loud. I felt bad that Zoe and I were shooting most of it, and my Dad didn't shoot as much, but he comes out here with Granddad every now and then.

One of the most beautiful things about this shooting range is the dragonflies. They're everywhere. The blue ones were friendly. The green ones were really hyper and wouldn't sit still to let me take their picture.

On the way out of the range, the car was really hot, and a dragonfly flew inside our car and got stuck close to the dashboard. I think it got burnt and died. I felt to bad for it. It was a green one and watching that happen was awful.

After that, we got McDonalds and I ate a cheeseburger. Then I had  fries and ate them out of a small sized paper bag like a cow. Basically, I hadn't washed my hands and didn't want to use them to eat. 

Then we went to our mom's school to help clean up her room. It's quite a mess. 

I'm currently in bed with Punkin, my cat, and we're both so incredibly tired. Goodnight. 

One Spark

Today I went to the 2014 Onespark event in Jacksonville, Florida. This is the second year of Onespark, and over 130,000 people went over a 5 day period. Soon, in September, Onespark will be happening in Berlin. So what is it? Basically, a bunch of artists, and creative people with ideas show their work. People get to vote for free who they want to fund. Because of onespark, many murals and paintings have showed up around my city. Here's my Sunday of adventure:

Chamberlin's book mine, and amazing art inside of MOCA by Shaun Thruston. Link: https://www.facebook.com/ShaunThurstonArtwork

That's me with a giant goldfish!

This was a really cool webbing thing but the green geometric frame was broken…

Two art pieces byJeff Whipple. Here's his page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jeff-Whipple/28519792526

Here's a huge Jenga!

Really cool band my sister and I took a picture with: the Sunspots. Here's their page: https://www.facebook.com/sunspotsmusicpage

Overall, I really love how Jacksonville supports artistic people and creative ideas. I can't wait to see more murals that show up around the city. 

Day 10 and Day 11- Dublin

Arrrg I'm writing these pretty late.

Day 10:
We went to McDonalds to eat breakfast with Karen, Kevin, Miriam, and Aiden.
I had orange juice and two and 1/2 hash browns.
We went to the gas station to fill up our rental car.
They were running late, so we didn't get to say goodbye to Miriam or Aiden.

We drove to our new place in Dublin, and yeah… The lady who's renting it to us is super sweet and I love the blue girly room I'm staying in. Plus, she said we can take a book to read
if we want.

Mom and I went to Penny's. Oh goodness.
I got 3 oxfords, 1 sparkly ballet shoe, two velvet skater skirts, 6 scrunchy hair ties, 2 earrings, 2 sunglasses, and 1 bag of Haribo Gummies. Total: 70 Euro.

Day 11:
Mom and I walked through Phoenix Park- which is legit the longest park in Europe. We walked for miles, I was getting tired… We saw nice climbing trees, dogs, runners, and a small bush maze.

Then we finally hopped on a green tour bus. The dude that sold us our ticket never actually gave us the ticket so we had to hop off and walk around to find him and ask for it.

We ended up going to Penny's later at night. For 8 Euros I got: a 1 Euro green skater skirt, a black cami for 4 Euros, and an orange cute purse for 5 Euro.

We then went out to eat at the Hole in the Wall- a pub within walking distance of our house. We all three got the roast beef with mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, carrots, and stuffing. It was so good.

When I got home I got to page 160-ish in my book I'm reading.

Day 9- King John's Castle and goodbyes

January 3rd,

Today was so perfect.

Zoe and I had crisps with cups of noodles for lunch.

Then Mom, Zoe, and I drove to King John's Castle in Limerick. I was surprised at how well kept it still was. We got to climb up all the towers, and see a lot of history stuff.

Here are some pics from the top of the towers.

We also went in a church where one of the king's was hung from the ceiling by his ankles-after being dug up from his grave….How weird...

When we got back I had a bowl of Aunt Karen's delicious chili. Then we went to the Russell Gallery, where we met up with lots of people. Mary got to see some of Zoe's great art on mom's phone, and Mary sorta convinced Zoe to make more art to sell here in the gallery. Some of the things for sale are ridiculously 500 Euros! We had hot chocolate, and then I went upstairs where I played darts and I saw the cutest most adorable cat I've ever seen. I can't get over this. Her name is Luna. She's 8 months old. She looks like she's Siamese and Persian. She's so cute!!

After hot chocolate at the gallery, and tasting my first wine ever called Porsecco(smelled nice, tasted gross), we went back to Karen's house. We played Don't Panic with the Malonie's, ooh and Zoe pulled out Miriam's tooth that had been wiggling all week!

We said our goodbyes to the village girls, and I honestly can't wait to see them again. It was so fun being with them. Mom is planning a trip to Dubai before Karen and Kevin move from there to live in Ireland all year. Also, Zoe plans to go back to Ireland in summer of 2015. Hopefully I can raise enough money to go too! 

Day 8- Cliffs of Moher

Today I went to the Cliffs of Moher! The views were spectacular and beautiful! My mom and sister each got  a ring from the giftshop but I got wool socks. :)