Why?

I like to consider myself a closet poet (give or take), so here is one I wrote as a freshman based on the novel 1984 by George Orwell:

“I understand how;

I do not understand why” (Orwell 261).

Why is war peace?

Freedom slavery?

Ignorance strength?

In this world full of insanity,

Confusion,

The Government controls all.

The Government sees all.

The Government is all.

No one is safe.

Not even in one’s own labyrinth of a mind.

They will find you,

Along with your bad deeds.

But why?

Why do the ones who control the future

Control the past?

Why can the past disappear?

I try to keep sane by filling my mind

With the truth.

However, the truth does not exist.

I cannot keep up this act.

My mind is being penetrated.

By them.

I begin to believe the lies.

The false facts.

How can I not?

Fiction has become fact.

Why?

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Dream On

So like most white girls, I take ballet lessons. However, a couple of years ago, I took my ballet training to the next level by beginning pointe work. I was 13 and had recently switched studios. My old dance studio refused to put me en pointe, claiming that I “wasn’t ready.” Well, I was most certainly ready, and I had been for the longest time, but that’s another story. Anyway, I had made the executive decision that I would only be able to progress in my dancing if I moved out of my studio of six years and go to a new place where I could make a fresh start.

At my very first class in the new studio, the ballet instructor almost immediately put me in pointe shoes saying that I was “more than ready.” I was relieved to finally know that someone thought I was ready for this next step.

Pure Beauty

A week later, I came to a new class with company girls and donned my pointe shoes as I prepared for barre. I went up onto full-pointe, and it felt like the most natural thing in the world; I couldn’t belive what I had been missing out on for so many years.

As the class started warming up, I fit right in and picked up on all the new combonations. I was dancing like a pro before you could say “ballerina.”  Before long, I learned how to do one of the hardest maneuvers en pointe, a fouette turn. I requires the dancer to swing the leg from a front position to a la seconde as the standing leg jumps up onto the platform of the pointe shoe. The dancer continues to turn in the same fashion until she gets too dizzy to keep going.

One of many steps in a fouette

I’ve found my niche and refuse to give up on my dream of becoming a professional ballet dancer.

A Day for Love?

So last Friday was the infamous Valentine’s Day (well it’s infamous in my mind at least). While every Dunwoody girl went on dates to fancy restaurants with her “boyfriend”, I hijacked my parent’s date and made them go see Monuments Men with me (which was fantastic by the way).

In my humble opinion, I believe that Valentine’s Day is simply a dumb holiday in which boyfriends and husbands are nagged by their significant others to buy them things. I have never heard of another country in the world that celebrates Valentine’s Day quite like the way in which America does. This just goes to show that a majority of the population of America is materialistic and vain. I feel as though we’ve all forgotten that Valentine’s Day is simply a specific day on which we show our love for others. Instead, most believe it to be a time to buy elaborate and eccentric gifts. But That just shows that you have money and are willing to spend it on someone else (something I think we should do more often); that isn’t love. Love should be shown by a random act of kindness for someone, not even someone who you’re married to. I think we’ve forgotten that we can express love towards our dogs, Mother Nature, and the homeless man on the corner.

So next year on Valentine’s Day, don’t be just another person buying flowers and chocolate for that one significant other in your life, but show someone else that you love them too.

Oh The Places I’m Going

Recently, my grandmother surprised my whole family with a vacation to Alaska! My brother will be graduating in the spring, and he has always been talking about going on an adventure in Alaska. So, my grandma decided that we (my grandma, brother, mom, dad, uncle, and I) would all  go on a cruise this June for both my brother’s graduation and for my 16th birthday in May.

In my life, I’ve been on four cruises, and they all went to the Caribbean and to Mexico. This will be my fifth cruise as well as the farthest I’ve ever traveled up north. I’m beyond excited and have already googled anything and everything related to our trip! We’re traveling through Norwegian Cruise Line on the Pearl from the Jewel Class.

How majestic…

We’ll be gone for a total of seven days, and we’ll go to Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, and Victoria (in Canada)! Additionally, we’ve already booked our shore excursions, and the one I’m most excited about is riding in a helicopter over a glacier and into a base camp where tons of huksies and mushers live! We’ll get to meet all of the dogs and to learn how to mush. I’m definitely counting down the days!

White Pass Railway in Skagway, Alaska

Fuzz Therapy

More often than not, I find myself getting worked up and stressed out over really little things in my life. I know that everyone struggles with putting things into perspective sometimes, and when you think about it, everything in life boils down to two things: what’s important and what’s not.

In my opinion, being happy is one of the utmost important things in your life. Because if you’re happy, then those around you will feel your joy and are likely to absorb it and join you in your glee. Then we come across the problem of how to make ourselves happy.

So, like any typical white girl, I turn to small, furry critters to brighten my day. I have one medium-sized Husky mix named Lucky and a fairly plump, elderly Calico, Casey. These two friends of mine will brighten my darkest of days.

He’s a diva!

I think of these two furry animals as part of my family, and I know that they will comfort me no matter what mood I’m in (well, I can always depend on Lucky, but cats, I’ve found, are just not very personable creatures).

I think she thinks she’s a model

But I simply wanted to share with everyone what makes me happy when I feel like the world’s going to end. You see, the thing about pets is that they understand your feelings. Whenever I feel like I’m about to break down into a river of tears, Lucky will run up to me and swat his paw at me until I laugh.

Lucky loves to play in the snow!

So now ask yourself, what makes you happy?

Here’s To Food

So I (and every other white girl on the planet) love food. But I’m one of those weird people who loves to eat healthy foods. For some odd reason I have yet to justify, consuming something that has significant health benefits makes me happy (again, I have no idea why this is). On the other hand, an occasional slice of cake or piece of pie is also very satisfying because every now and again, we all crave a little sugar.

When my sugar cravings hit me, I tend to pig out on like Bran Flakes or trail mix simply because I refuse to allow my mother to buy unhealthy foods when she’s goes to the store. But for the majority, the health foods I stock my cabinet with don’t keep my cravings clam. Instead, I find myself wanting to eat even more! This is when I turn to the Hungry Girl. It’s this blog about a woman who loves to eat food (like me and the rest of America) but doesn’t like to pack on the calories (also like me and every other country besides America).

The other day, my mom bought one of the cookbooks that the “Hungry Girl” lady wrote. I was flipping through it and found some awesome ideas about how to make really fattening desserts fairly healthy (TBH: I’m a closet chef). So, I decided to share two of my favorite snacks that were inspired by this cookbook.

One of my favorite snacks is a blueberry parfait. You can eat it as a small snack after school or even as a dessert! All you need is a regular-size drinking glass, a small bowl, a spoon, 1 packet of Splenda, about 1.5 cups of blueberries, plain Greek yogurt (I use either the Kroger brand or Chobani, but it doesn’t matter), and your favorite granola (if you can, buy the fat-free kind). Simply add 3 layers of each ingredient: first yogurt, then blueberries, then granola!

YUM!

Another food that works perfectly as a heavy snack or a breakfast item is blueberry-ricotta toast. With this one, you’ll need a knife, a plate (duh), a toaster, any sort of sliced bread, fat-free or low-fat ricotta cheese, 1 cup of blueberries, and cinnamon. You simply spread the ricotta on the bread, stick blueberries to it, and sprinkle cinnamon on top! Then, put into the toaster and viola!

My favorite thing to eat for                                breakfast!

So there you have it, my favorite healthy foods that are easy to make! But please, don’t kill yourself trying to pull hot toast out of the toaster. That’s just dumb.

A Saturday Downtown

Last Saturday, one of my best friends, Kyra, invited me to go shopping in Buckhead (only the finest for us Dunwoody gals). We decided to invite two more friends to join us on our little venture down a road less travelled by, well, actually, the road most travelled by. I texted our friend, Kayleigh, and she immediately agreed to join us. Kyra, on the other hand, contacted one of her best friends, Paola. Despite the fact that Kayleigh and I had never met Paola, we all meshed the second we crammed inside of Kyra’s mom’s BMW. We headed down Lenox Road towards one of my most favorite malls.

You could say I love to shop.

We headed straight towards Bloomingdale’s the very second we entered the epitome of corruption in America (doesn’t keep me from finding the best deal!). However, the clothes (and sales associates) were simply not fetch enough for our taste; so, we left almost immediately. Next, we strutted down the store-front walk towards C. Wonder (only like the savviest store like ever). Sadly, I refuse to pay the outrageous prices for the cheap merchandise that claim to be “of exceptional quality”. So I typically leave every store empty-handed. We then continued our pursuit to find the most hipster clothes for the best deal, but we single-handedly found ourselves in  the most expensive store for those on the “teen scene”, Vineyard Vines. I took a look on the price tag of the closest t-shirt, and I almost died. The $40.00 seemed to jump off of the tag and whack me in the face. It was just too outrageous for me to linger any longer in the store. We then decided to answer the calls of our ferocious stomachs by heading to the food court.

Once there, we stopped at a brand new yogurt and smoothie store, Delights. Kyra ordered this extremely strange concoction entitled “Bubble Tea.” What makes it “bubbly” are these tapioca balls found at the bottom of the drink. Yet Kyra insisted that it was such a yummy drink. So I reluctantly tried just a bit. However this small taste almost made me barf all over the entire mall. These tapioca balls, I must admit, are the strangest things I’ve ever put into my mouth. Never again.

Like what?

Ew. That’s all I have to say.

Despite my horrid experience with the so-called “bubble tea”, I continued to feel adventurous by trying sushi for the first time. Wow. Who woulda thunk one could make two terrible decisions within 10 minutes of each other. We soon decided it would be best to leave the food court and go to Urban Outfitters before I decided to try spicy salami wrapped in artichoke leaves.

Our little posse gazed at the extremely hipster clothes of Urban Outfitters for a rough 30 minutes before making our purchases and exiting the store. We got back in touch with Kyra’s mom and headed over to Westside Provisions, an outdoor mall very similar to Atlantic Station.

Rustic, isn’t it?

(I think I’m a shopoholic)

We found a little ping-pong table just outside Jack Spade. Kayleigh and I played a couple of rounds while Paola watched and Kyra video tapped (for her future vlog of course). After meandering in and out of picturesque shops, we traveled across the bridge that connects one part of Westside Provisions to the other. We headed over to the Jonathon Adler store (only my favorite designer ever) and I WAS FINALLY ABLE TO FIND A PHONE CASE TO FIT AN iPHONE 3G. I CRIED.

After my amazing find in the Jonathon Adler store, we went over to Anthropologie just across the street to admire the beautiful, yet extremely over-priced, clothes (I mean, I saw a candle that was no bigger than my thumb but was about $20. Ridiculous).

We finally concluded our trip in the local ice cream shop, Jeni’s. Honestly, they have the BEST ice cream ever! I got one scoop of brambleberry crunch on top of, wait for it, loveless biscuits + peach jam (and yes, I said biscuits). There were actual pieces of biscuits in the ice cream!! It was an amazing finish to an amazing day!

Here are just SOME of the exceptional flavors at Jeni’s!