Wanderlust

Day 30 – a dream for the future

                My life goal, the one thing in life that I hope to achieve by the time I die, is to have gone to every country in the world at least once. There’s 196 of them, and I know it’s a lofty goal, but I’m confident in the direction of my dreams.

                Wanderlust: noun; an irresistible desire to travel to understand one's own existence.

I’ve got wanderlust to the max, and I can’t wait to go out and see the world. I say I’m a small town girl, since I’m from Ohio (let’s be honest, anyone form Ohio is considered a small town girl to anyone outside of Ohio), but I’m really not. The city I’m from isn’t all that small. So on one hand, I feel as though I’ve seen all there is to see in Ohio, but on the other hand…. I just blend in. I’m not noticed.

I know, traveling isn’t going to get me noticed. But it’s going to make me feel like I’m actually doing something worthwhile with my life, instead of sitting around on a computer all day. Maybe I can’t change the world, but I can change me. And changing me can indirectly change the world, right?

I want to have an exciting life. I don’t want to sit around while life goes on around me. I don’t want to exist, I want to live!

                “Why tell your grandkids you worked 9-5, five days a week for 40 years and quietly sat in traffic jams while people went to war, suffered disease and shot their own classmates? Tell them you refused to live in fear. Tell them you crossed the Amazon, saw the Lost Cities of Gold and met your soul mate in Casablanca. Travel to the ends of the earth. Go now and live adventures that will make your grandkids proud.”

Hopeful Me

Day 29 – hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days

For the summer, I currently have a Summer Bucket List, that I hope to complete.

This time next year, I hope to have passed junior year like I did sophomore year (Just got my report card yesterday, and it’s safe to say I’m very happy with myself!)

I hope to be applying to colleges, and have a job (Speaking of which, I have an interview tomorrow. Wish me luck!)

I hope to have made new friends and be happy with my life.

Junk

Day 28 – what’s in your handbag/purse

My purse! It’s full of junk, so be prepared.

Chapstick, my favorite brand!

 Makeup- eyeliner and mascara.

 Probably the best thing in my purse- Chipoltle gift card. Food of the gods.

 Hunger Games movie ticket! If you haven’t seen it, I advise you… go now! Actually, read the books first, THEN go see it!

 This is a nail from the Maundy Thursday service at my church, that’s supposed to remind of the sacrifice God made for us.

 Bobby pins, the few I have yet to lose.

 Apple Blossom Citrus lotion from Bath and Body Works, one of the most glorious stores in the world.

 My iPod, one of my most prized possestions.

 Gum!

 

 Rubber bands for my braces. Yuck. But on the bright side, not too long until my braces come off... June 14th!!

 Caribbean Escape hand sanitizer from B&BW. The hand sanitizer is like crack.

 Key chain!

 Favorite key chain ever!

 Earrings!

 Sunglasses. Except they’re almost broken, I use them so much. ):

 Hair ties. What girl doesn’t have a thousand of these in her purse?

 When I leave my house, I stuff food in my purse. Don’t judge me.

 Cute hairpins, slash bobby pins. Double amazingness.

 My wallet doesn’t fit in my purse, so I have to stick all my gift cards and money in my little pocket on the front.

Well, now that you’ve seen the inside of my purse, your life can go on.

Typical Day

Day 25 – your day, in great detail. Hello lovelies! My day’s pretty boring, but oh well.

6:45 My alarm goes off. I hit snooze.

7:00 I actually get up

7:20 Eat breakfast, pack lunch

7:35 Out the door, headed to school.

7:50 At school, hang out with friends and finish homework until the bell rings

8:08 Warning bell rings, head to first period

8:13 Last bell rings, first period starts- Peace and Justice (my religion class)

9:02 Peace and Justice ends, head to homeroom

9:16 Homeroom ends, time for Chemistry… ugh

9:16- 10:10 Suffer through the worst class in the world

10:13 On to Creative Writing… best class ever. Filled with funny people and fun stuff!

11:02 Bell rings and I go to my locker

11:05 on to Applied Rhetoric, aka English

12:08 Lunch! (:

12:38 lunch ends :( on to math, another terrible subject

12:41- 1:27 suffering, suffering, suffering

1:30 History class, which is pretty fun

1:45 usually by now my history teacher has made jokes that are so stupid they’re funny, tell us a story that has no relevance to what we’re learning, insult half the class, and still managed to have taught most of the lesson.

2:16 And now for Spanish, last class of the day

3:05 Final bell rings, I’m finally free!!

3:30 and I’m home. Change out of my uniform, get a snack

4:00 pull out my laptop, usually write some

6:00 Dinner!

7:00 Homework. Yuck. Typically study Chemistry, and usually have some Spanish and History homework as well

8:15 take a break, eat a snack, then back to studying

9:00 usually done by now. I’ll read some, or get on the computer and do absolutely nothing productive on the computer

10:30 bed time! Good night (:

Giant M&M Cookies

Day 21 – a recipe

This recipe is from How Sweet It.com

giant rainbow cookies.

This is how you make gooey, chewy, massive rainbow cookies that make everyone in life love your guts.

Lookie here! You don’t even need a mixer. You just mix all the goods with a whisk. Don’t have a whisk? Spoons work too

Add some super cute rainbow candies… aka mini m&m’s. You could add regular m&m’s. Really… whatever floats your boat.

This is the weird part. Roll your dough into a ball then rip it apart evenly with Hulk Hogan strength.

Bake cookies like this. Laugh because they look funny. Cry because you are ridiculous.

Not even joking. Really bake your cookies like this. It’s the SECRET.

While your cookies are baking, admire the adorable slash colorful slash overflowing bowl of mini m&m’s that you opened two bags of m&m’s for just so you could show all of your invisible internet friends what an m&m bathtub looks like.

After your cookies bake and cool and you inevitably burn the skin off the roof of your mouth because you’re really a child with no patience, flip it over and look at how pretty it’s cookie butt is. Colorful cookie butt.

Stack up some giant rainbow cookies and set them by your overflowing m&m bathtub bowl. Pour a mason jar full of milk so you can photograph your cookies for your invisible internet friends, even though you hate milk and don’t even like to dip cookies in it.

Giant Rainbow Cookies

makes 18 large or 36 small cookies

2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) of salted butter, melted and cooled

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup mini m&m’s (or something else that you love)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Mix the flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, mix the butter and sugars until they are combined (and look like the first picture above). Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and stir until mixed. Gradually add flour and mix until a dough forms – it will look crumbly at first, but it will come together. I even used my hands to help at one point. Fold in the m&m’s.

Divide the dough how you choose (1/4 cup portions for 18 large cookies or 2 tablespoon portions for 36 smaller cookies). Shape each portion into a ball with your hands then pull each ball into two equal pieces. Turn each half so that the rough side of the half (what used to be the inside of the ball) faces upwards and

then squish both halves together. Place the dough rough-side up on a baking sheets. If you’re doing large cookies, I’d leave about 2 inches in between each.

Bake for 12-15 minutes (large cookies) or 8-12 minutes (small cookies) or until the edges are slightly brown. The centers should be
soft and puffy. Do not over bake. Let cool completely then dig in!

Note: to melt the butter I simply microwaved it, and to let it cool I allowed it to sit for about 10 minutes.

Finally, take one single bite of your cookie since you are the epitome of self control, then neatly pack them up to share with others. Do not eat any more cookies, ever, because you are always satisfied with one bite of dessert.

Look at These Photographs

Day 20 – a hobby of yours

I love photography. My dad’s a photographer and has had pictures published in magazines and I’ve learned a lot from him.

Talented

Hey bloggers, sorry I haven’t posted in a while! I’ve been super busy with school and drama and everything

Day 19 – a talent of yours

Hmm. I’m not really sure. I asked some of my friends, and here’s what they said:

· Photography

· Editing stories

· Writing

· Making on costumes for the school play

· Baking

I don’t really have any special talent, nothing weird I can do with my face or anything. I’m just boring old me.

The Bean!

Day 17 – an art piece (drawing, sculpture, painting, etc.)

I love the Bean in Chicago. I absolutely love it. It’s so cool, the way it’s like a giant mirror, reflecting everything around it.

I'm honestly in love with Chicago. I want to go to college there, and I love everything about it.

Drowning

Day 16 – a song that makes you cry (or nearly)

A song that makes me cry has to be Storm by Lifehouse. It’s about how God didn’t take us this far to just abandon us, and even when it doesn’t seem like it, He’s always with us, He’s always watching over us.

“And I will walk on water

And you will catch me if I fall

And I will get lost into your eyes

I know everything will be alright

I know you didn't bring me out here to drown

I know everything is alright

So why am I ten feet under and upside down

Barely surviving has become my purpose

Because I'm so used to living underneath the surface

If I could just see you

Everything would be all right

If I'd see you

This darkness would turn to light”

I’ve listened to this song many times, the volume all the way up, tuning out the world, trying to believe that God is still me. And he still is, I know it.

Love, Nell