Merry Christmas and Happy New Year's!!!

Hey Everyone!!

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Frohe Weihnachten!

I hope your Christmas Day and even this past week were filled with peace, joy, and happiness!

If you think I got my days mixed up, don't worry, I didn't. I do realize it's a few days after Christmas (theoretically a year), but I also think it's worth saying it either way.

I didn't think it made sense to make a separate post just for wishing everyone the best. I probably should've, but oh well. This will be my Christmas and end-of-the-year post. I'll make this post into a mini New Years Tag to sum up 2015 because there's nothing else to write about. 

The Mini Tag!

1. One word to sum up 2015?

Eventful. Very eventful. Also stressful. But amazing too. One of my favorite years so far.

2. What was one thing you learned this year?

Throughout the many adventures I've had this year, I've learned a lot. As I said above it was very eventful, and new experiences mean more knowledge. I'd have to say there are two main things I've learned this year. One is more of a quote but they're both great. The first is that you should never take anything for granted. Anything can happen at any point and you'll never know until it does. Anyway, be thankful for what you have and embrace even the small things in your life. The second one is that old habits die hard. I truly believe habits can be broken, but it will never be easy.

3. Any New Year's Resolutions?

I don't like them that much. And if I ever do get asked if I have any and decide to take part in making some, I try to think of something on the spot. I think many people set unrealistic goals that aren't likely to happen. I feel like some people's are more wishes, rather than something they could easily change in their everyday life.

With that said, I don't have a New Year's Resolution, but I'm perfectly fine with that. There's nothing I feel the need to change in myself. 

Well here's to 2016! I love you all! I hope 2015 was great to you, and that 2016 will be an epic year for you!! 

Cupcake Fun, almost Christmas, and Star Wars!

Hey everyone! 

I hope you all are having a great time getting ready for the holidays and enjoying break if you're already on it!  

A few nights ago I felt like baking. So that’s what happened. Honestly, spending an evening baking and listening to your favorite album is awesome. I spent that night making cupcakes with my sister and jamming out to the Sounds Good Feels Good album, which I'm in love with right now.

They're all so beautiful *tears* 

I’m decently proud with how the final product turned out. It's not the best thing I've done, but it wasn't a complete fail. As you can probably tell, it looks a bit like spaghetti. This is where I get 100 times weirder, I know. 

We just used a cake mix for the base, then vanilla frosting made to look like pasta, the 'tomato sauce' is strawberry jam, the 'meatballs' are chocolate balls, and the 'Parmesan cheese' is grated white chocolate. There's no fancy recipe that I have; I was just extremely bored and wanted to have fun. I do wish that there was another option other than the jam though, because that just ruined it all for me. If any of you think of something 

you could substitute for the jam, let me know!

Like I said in my last post, I wanted to make a post dedicated to it being the end of 2015! Well. Mainly my life throughout 2015. But anyway, It won't be in this one, but It definitely will still be this year. *nooo, really!?*. One of my friends did an Autumn Tag a few months back, and I thought that was pretty cool. I had always looked at those kind of tags as being for YouTube videos, but she did a great job making it into part of her blog, so I might try doing the same. Are there even end-of-the-year-tags? If not, I'll find find a way to make my own, because I'm just that great. (Just Kidding. We all know I'm kidding. (about being that great. I'm very serious about the Tag part.)). So yeah, that will be by the end of this year.

This week, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released. Personally, I was never a big fan of Star Wars. It was just never a big deal to me. This year though, I became close friends with four or five Star Wars lovers, so even though I wouldn't pick it as my favorite film, I do enjoy watching it with friends. Honestly, I don't know why I just said all that. I think I had a good reason and was going to say something else about it, but I'm just so forgetful. Or maybe I just wanted to make it clear I knew it was released. If that's the case, then yes world, I do know. For all of you that did go out and see it, I hope you had a great time!

Well It's already very late. It's going on 1am, and considering I got woken up very early this morning from my dog barking at a neighbor ringing our doorbell, I'm tired. Very tired. I should get to bed.

Oh, one last thing. For all of you who don't know, Connor Franta is one of my favorite YouTubers. He's been working on a project for about a year now, and he’s finally finished it! The website is here. It's a lifestyle brand and I absolutely love it! Plus it's a beautiful website. So it's just all perfect. For all my coffee lovers out there, the coffee part will be coming in January, which is like a huge bonus right there. You guys should really check it out!! 

Okay, well that's it for now.  I'm so thankful to be able to have this blog, and share my life with you all! I thank you guys (and the WiFi of course) for that. I can't wait to write again! 

Where am I from? America

Where do I live? America

Age? 14

Christmas, Then 2016!!

Hey Everyone!!

I hope you all are having a great December so far!

I'm so sorry about not posting for well over a week. I've been so busy that there's just been no time to sit down and write. Well, there has occasionally been 10 minutes here and there, but I never used that time. I probably should've. Anyway, I think I'm going to stop posting on both Tuesday's and Friday's. I'll probably do it just Friday's from now on, or maybe just post whenever I can. It'll be at least once a week though - I promise -, possibly twice, just without specific days.

I can't believe we're already in the middle of December! Christmas is almost here! We're less than 20 days away from 2016, and that's unbelievable! Where did time go?! So many eventful things have happened to me this year, in addition to the people around me. It's amazing what a year can do. To be honest now I want to make a post by the end of this year about all the noteworthy things that have happened throughout 2015.

Although I do have to say it’s fun taking a trip down memory lane sometimes, especially with all the good things that happen each year, that’s enough of that deep end-of-the-year stuff (for now).

I may start watching Friends, mainly because one of my friends has been urging me to. Plus now I have to wait for a new episode for Pretty Little Liars, The Fosters, and The Walking Dead. Those are my three shows at the moment. All you TWD fans, can we just take a moment to acknowledge how dramatic the season finale was?! Even though it ended with a cliffhanger, I really enjoyed the episode and the amount of action in it. So I'm not that disappointed. 

Oh, look at these emoji pillows!! 

Aren't they awesome?!?!

Well that’ll be it for this post because I’m almost home; we’re driving back home from Chicago, we went malling, new word! Malling: V. Mall-ing. To go to a mall; to shop at a mall. *wow, so creative*. Now that we’ve all learned a new word, let’s get on with our lives, and do something maybe a little more productive instead of learning words that you’ll never use. I think. I get sidetracked so easily, sorry about that. Anyway, even though I barely have time to write these posts, I really do love it and look forward to being able to sit down and just do this. So until I write again, stay awesome and enjoy the last little bit of 2015!!

Questions you may ask:

Where do you live? America

Where are you from? America

Age? 14

Happy (late) Thanksgiving!!

Hey everyone!!

This has been another chaotic week. Well first of all, Happy Thanksgiving!! Yes, I know it was already a few days ago, and yes I realize this post is late. Well no this one is on time but I have skipped the last two posts. Wow, this week has flown by.

I'm falling asleep writing this, but I'll try my best to make it the best I can. We're driving home right now, back to our house in Illinois. Last Tuesday we left for my mom’s family in Ohio to make sure we were there on Thursday for Thanksgiving. Since that trip I've been up all day every day always busy doing something, plus barely been getting any sleep at night. Any chance I got to relax I cherished to the maximum.

We left Tuesday at 11 (Central Time) and got to my grandparent's house at around 10 (Eastern Time) so that ended up being a 10 hour trip. I didn't get WiFi until way later that night, and I didn't have anytime to write and upload anything that morning at my house before we left, so that's why I never did that post. Then on Wednesday a few of my cousins came over from 8am until 6pm, so that took up the majority of the day. After they left we ate dinner and finished cleaning up the house for the next day's gathering. Just as I thought I was going to be done for the night, it was announced that we were going to Kohls. That turned out to be a fun trip. I got some beautiful earrings and a dress! Thursday, Thanksgiving, we did some last minute food preparations and at 12 one of the family's came. The rest all got there and we had a blast. At around 6 I was already wanting to sleep, and by 10 I was thankful for everyone going home so that I could finally sit down.

Lake Erie!!

Friday was even busier. All the women in the family went to Panera Bread, a tradition, for brunch. I got an amazing cinnamon roll with a frappe! We spent a decent amount of time there, and then we left for my grandparents house. We took 3 of my cousins with us and at the house one of the families was still there, and they have 3 boys, so that was fun. This time (this Thanksgiving) I was the oldest out of 15 grandchildren and that was awesome, but at the same time the adults expect you to be in charge. With 11 kids from the ages of 3 to 12 that can get a little out of control. Anyway, that morning there were 8 of us, including 3 boys from the ages of 5-10 and a toddler. All of us were upstairs bouncing off the walls having a great time. Around 2 hours later the family with the boys left and it was just us 5 girls so things calmed down quite a bit. We continued to mess around, do gymnastics and cheerleading, run around the yard, all that good stuff. That evening we went to bath and body works since it was black friday, then to Walmart, and then to my cousins house for them to get some things since they were sleeping over. We stayed up until around 3am laughing our heads off doing all kinds of stuff. By the way, 30 balloons with glow sticks inside of them at night looks really cool.

Saturday and Sunday things were a little more peaceful. Saturday wasn't too eventful, we just did fun stuff at home and I Skyped with my best friend while my cousins were over. That was fun and pretty loud. Sunday my aunt and uncle who we hadn't seen this trip around yet came to talk for a bit. Three of my cousins also came one last time to say goodbye. Towards the evening another family came to visit for a bit because even though we saw them on Thanksgiving there wasn't a lot of time to catch up with them. After they left, my grandma taught my sister and myself how to make homemade chocolate and that was awesome!

All that has brought us to today; Monday. I'm writing this today so that tomorrow I'll be able to have something posted for sure!

Well that's been my week, and by all means I'm not complaining at all; I had a great time and wouldn't trade this past week and the time spent with family for anything. Well for most things. Anyway, I hope you didn't get bored with this whole post being only about what I've done this past week. I tried not to write too much about it, but I pretty much failed that. I just realized it's already December. Wow! *randomness at its finest*. I'll try to make Friday's post a little more exciting for you all, but until then, have a great time peeps!!

Questions you may ask:

Where do you live? America

Where are you from? America

Age? 14

Winter Is Coming!!

Hey Everyone!! 


It's great that I'm back to my normal posting schedule of uploading on Tuesday's and Friday's! This past week was just chaotic and stressful; thankfully that's all over - most of it. 

Walmart!! Target is yet to come :)

Nothing has really happened this week, besides all the shopping we've done and being happy about seeing everything here again. I just got home from one of our many amazing, being back back home, shopping trips. I got this awesome pair of boots!! Theoretically they're Fall boots, and theoretically Fall is almost over, but I still love them.

Today we went to the high-school I'm going to be going to, to talk to the academic guidance counselor about classes. He seems like a pretty cool guy so far, so I'm very glad about that. After we got done talking to him, we started walking back to our car, but as soon as we left the building I ran into 3 of my old classmates from 4th grade. Well we didn't exactly run into them, it was more of a walking-past-each-other-awkwardly situation. I have no idea if they recognized me and knew who I was, but I'm guessing they were like 'wait I know that girl, who is she?!'. Anyway, if any of you three are reading this, hey! 

Starting school there after Thanksgiving will be so strange considering I once knew all the kids in 3rd and 4th grade, but I haven't had contact with more than a few of them since then. Aside with being friends with them on Facebook and following each other on Instagram there's really no contact, so we know each other exists but that's basically it. 

That's enough about school, which I'm dreading, so I'll talk about what I'm looking forward to. First off, it's supposed to snow here tonight! 6 inches minimum is expected. Which is totally fine with me. Since I still have jet-lag and I'm still getting unpacked, I'll probably be spending the day under cozy, soft, and fuzzy blankets *wishing that was right now*. It's already 32 degrees Fahrenheit right now, so its decently cold, but there's no snow so it's not worth it. Winter hasn't even officially started yet, and I'm already missing Autumn very, very much.

One more little exciting thing - next week I'm most likely going to Ohio for Thanksgiving!! I can't wait for that. We have family there, and is been well over 2 years since we saw them. I'm thinking about how much I've changed since then, and wow, it's a lot *cringing*. The trips there are usually around 8 hours, but completely worth the time; there are always great opportunities for taking pictures (don't worry, there are other reasons too).

Anyway, that'll be all for this post because it's 7pm here but feels way later, which makes sense since its 2am in Germany. 

So yeah, I can't wait until I can write to you guys again! Stay awesome :)

Questions you may ask:

Where do you live? America

Where are you from? America

Age? 14

Road Trips & Finally In America!!

Before you start reading, I'd like to explain a little about how this week was. On Friday we drove to Berlin for our flight on Monday, and I wrote last Friday's blog post on the car driving there, but never got to post it. I was planning to on Saturday, but we were just so busy I decided to post both Friday's, and this Tuesday's posts in one blog post. So they're both included in this post! :) I just got WiFi today, which is why it's being uploaded so late.

Friday Nov. 13, 2015

Hey everyone!!

So I'm in the car driving now. I just realized this might not be uploaded till tomorrow morning (or later), because I don't have my laptop with me. My mom is bringing it tomorrow morning. Oh wait. We're on our way driving to Berlin. I forgot to add that. Our flight is on the16, but we decided to go a few days earlier to be able to go around Berlin again and see the stuff we didn't get to see the other times we've been there. *stuck in traffic now while Rude by Magic! is playing*. But anyway, my mom is coming tomorrow because we still needed to get boxes into our attic, but our (awesome) neighbor could only drive today. Aw okay the song is over. Now the radio dude is talking about weather and roads and detours, in German of course, which I can (proudly) understand. Well yeah that's what's going on now.

We left a little later than we wanted to because after we were all packed (2 suitcases each; 8 in total) we realized that only 1 suitcase per person was allowed and 100 bucks for everyone after that. What kind of bag limit is that?!?

Aside from all the stress with massively decreasing the amount of stuff we're bringing with and everything else, yesterday was a great day! First we went to the schools we went to this year to say bye to the peeps, then my sister and I went to another city for around 2 hours. (This traffic on the highway is so bad, it could easily be compared to rush hour in Chicago ( it's already been 20 mins)). Anyway, we went to the city to say goodbye and to buy a few more things to bring with. Totally worth it. We came home at around 3pm and at 5ish one of my best friends from 1st grade and her family came over! We took the trampoline apart and ordered pizza. Spaghetti pizza is actually pretty cool - at that one specific pizzeria at least. So yesterday was a blast.

// the way to school //

*That picture was taken on the trail in the forest you have to go through to get to the schools.*

Yay! The traffic cleared up, and we're driving at a decent speed again!

This was one of the easiest moves, because we already have our house in America so we don't have to worry about hotels and where we’d stay, and here we have a place to store everything.

We just stopped at Burger King to eat dinner real quick. *real fancy, huh?* I got my typical order of a grilled chicken sandwich with fries and a Diet Coke. Although it was salty and greasy, it tasted great. Probably because I'd barely eaten at all that day with all the packing going on. Either way there are no regrets with having fast food this time.

*2 hours latah* (spongebob voice…)

We're finally at the hotel and everything is upstairs. It's around 2 am. The drive should've taken around 3 hours, but ended up being 5 with first the horrible traffic, then the pouring rain, and of course we had to get lost, because what's a trip without that?!? Anyway that will be it for this post because it’s around 1 in the morning and I really need sleep.  

Tuesday Nov. 17, 2015

Hola amigos! 

America - home - here we come!! I'm on the plane! We're about 1 ½ hours into the 9 hour flight. I tried sleeping but it's too light; the sun is shining through the window. The flight attendants just handed out crackers with cream cheese and drinks. The crackers plain were pretty good. Now I'm watching Hot Pursuit, and since it's a comedy, ~of course~ it's awesome! And definitely hilarious.

Decent airplane food!!

I hope I'll make it through the movie, but I got 3 hours of sleep at the most last night. So I apologize for any grammatical errors - I'm focused on sleep. And only sleep. Well and the movie. And writing this. But mainly sleep.

I finished the movie!! I was planning on going to see it with a few friends when it first came out, but I got sick that weekend and never made it, but I finally finished it 7 or so months later!

Well after the movie I fell asleep for about an hour. I never sleep on planes, and I love getting the window seats because it's all so fascinating!! With all the vacations in the past 2 years when we first moved to the UAE, I've been on exactly 17 planes and not once have I slept during the flights. So this is a first; in two years at least. We're about to land in NY! Then we have an hour and a half layover and we're off to O’hare. I'm actually going to stop writing now to get ready to get off this plane.

Now I can write again! I just noticed how this post is different from the others because here I was writing as everything was happening compared to the others where I write after what I was writing about happened.

Anyway, we're on the highway right now to go to our house. We just left Chicago after spending the night there by my grandpa's. We took a taxi there after going through baggage claim and going on the airport WiFi for 30 minutes. The flights and everything worked out perfectly. There was just enough time in New York to get our baggage, drop it off for the next plane, and get to out terminal gate with 10 minutes to spare before boarding started. The only thing that could be better right now is if our jet-lag could be gone. 

We're almost home now, so this will be it, and I'll post this as soon as I get WiFi! I hope you all are having a great week yourselves!!

Questions you may ask:

Where do you live? Germany 

Where are you from? America

Age? 14

Last Week In Germany And Fun With Friends!!

Heyya!!

 Look at the sky!!

I'm on my trampoline right now, and it's awesome! So peaceful and cozy. It's just past sunseat nd so it's dark, but not too dark to the point where someone could creep up on you. I love this yard too, like its huge with just the right amount of trees. Plus I'm in a huge hoodie and I have this perfect lemonade drink I found. So everything is literally perfect. At least in this moment.

I finished Hopeless, and I was pretty pleased with the creativity the author had and how everything fit together. I'm thinking about reading the Harry Potter series during this trip, or at least as much as I can get through. I started reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in 5th grade, but never continued on. It’s about time now, mainly because almost everyone else my age has read it, and they look at me like I'm crazy when they hear I've watched every single movie about 10 times, but that I haven't read the books. So yeah I plan on doing that during the trip.

Best drink everrrr

It's Tuesday now - everything I've already written (well in this specific post) I did yesterday because I had time, and I'm trying not to waste any time this week. I just got back from shopping for everything to take back. You could call it last minute shopping, although I'm probably going to go very last minute shopping on Thursday, though I doubt then it'll be or candy or food, because we've stocked up on that, and got way way too much (so hey mom and dad if you're reading this, don't worry I'll somehow figure out a way to make it fit!) but for real its enough to hold me over for about a year.  There's only 3 days left till we're out of this apartment, and actually only 2 full days since it's already 9 pm. I've started packing *finally, Lika, finally* and I'm starting to run out of time to do everything. 
 
We're saying our goodbyes to at least 3 of our good family friends this week. Still 2 families to go. On Sunday a family came over and it was probably the most fun I've had with kids my age other than my sister since we've moved here. It was literally so much fun after the awkwardness of not having seen each other in a year was over. Tomorrow we're going out to eat with some friends, and on Thursday - our last day here - my friend, that I've known since 1st grade, and her family are coming over. I'm very, very, very excited for that.


Oh and I found this picture on Facebook like 10 minutes ago and it's literally 100% legit. For studying, but in this case I was switching 'studying' and 'study' with 'packing' and 'pack'.

Well yeah that's all for this Tuesday's post because I still have a lot to get done tonight, but I hope y'all are having a great week!! :)

Questions you may ask:

Where do you live? Germany
Where are you from? America
Age? 14