Wonderland

My oh my it has been a long time since I have last taken the time to write a little something. Life has gone completely crazy and flipped upside down. The idea that I am in college still hasn't fully sinked into my mind, and I have no idea why. I still feel like I am at an endless camp, but it includes going to class and learning a million different things. I want people to know that college can be scary, but if you surround yourself with the right people, and a lot of people you should be floating on a cloud of happiness. I know that can be hard to believe, and it is hard sometimes. Some days you will want to just cry from frustration, or from finding out that your plans aren't always what God had in store for you. You will in fact learn a lot about yourself. You learn how to stand up for yourself and speak your mind. (Sometimes speaking your mind may not be the best thing ;), just so you know.)

Well what I have I been up to? A lot is all I can say, but I will do my best to show you a little something. I promise not to make this a novel.
I came to college knowing a few people and that was so helpful because they introduced me to other people who introduced to me to others and so on. Friends are like my family, and family is a necessity which is why I am so thankful for the people I have met.

The beginning of the year was basically me meeting new people and finding friends that understand my awkward personality, and that can be tough. :) I had to learn to come out of my comfort zone and that resulted in some great experiences with friends that I feel like I have known my entire life.

I have had the wonderful opportunity of seeing friends from back home and that is definitely a necessity while at school. I miss all of my friends from home, but phone calls and endless texts makes up for it! :)

Now let me tell you how important it is to get involved. My week literally has something planned every night, and I love that because it keeps me going. For me personally I have to be able to have a time where I can just get out of my dorm room and spend time with people that I love to be around. 

My college experience has been so extremely wonderful. Stress can sometimes have a little damper on my plans, but I make it through. 

XOXO--Emerald

What is Love?

Well what is it? 

I guess you could say it is a song from the early 90s that will always keep your head bobbing. Or I could go into this deep meaning of how love is not just an emotion, but it is a verb. Or I could simply just say what it means to me. 

Love can be summed up in so many different ways. You can love another person; which is what most people consider love. You can love an object because it has such a special meaning to you. Love is everything.

I love my family. Every single one of them. My parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and even cousins. My family at home may be small, but outside of my home it is like an entirely different world. There are so many of them and I can even say I haven't met them all. I have a special relationship with each one of them and that's something I will never change. My parents are my best friends, and this may seem like a surprise coming from a teenagers mouth but I don't know what I am going to do without them when I start my own life. Okay enough of that mushiness. My entire family is so amazing and they bring laughter to my life. Who wouldn't love that.

Now onto my friends. I have a wide variety of friends. I have those friends I left behind when I moved in 6th grade. I have the friends I am going to leave behind when I go to college. And I have friends waiting for me at college. Friends that will come and go. I hope that I have built friendships that have made a difference. I know those I spend my time with have something special about them because I would never purposely hang around someone who doesn't make me happy. My friends are like my family. I have never really had a best friend because choosing just isn't fair. They all have special qualities, and each one of them is unique that I could never pick a favorite. There are definitely those I spend more time with, but that just means they can stand to be around my crazy self for long periods of time. My friends mean the world to me. They are my support and I love all of them. 

My next definition of love is loving the things around you. Now I don't mean idolizing these objects, I just mean that you are able to gain joy from this object. Here is an example. I love my art set because when I see it laying out it reminds me of something I love to do. I love looking at the colors and imagining what could be. I love my bed because it is always there to catch me. It holds the most amazing pillows that I sometimes cry into and it holds the blankets that I love to curl up in. I love the pictures I have hanging on the wall in my room. They are black and white, but I can remember the color because I took each one myself. They are very special to me because they hold memories of adventures. I love my mirror (don't think of this as a conceded thing) because it reflects everything. When I get ready in the morning I look at my face and I am reminded of what a miracle life is. I love my piano because it gives me an opportunity to reach for a person that is sometimes lost. A little girl dreading her next piano lesson, but always feeling accomplished once it was done. I love everything I own because some may be gifts and some are things my parents have given me over time. 

Love is the feeling you get when you find something wonderful. Love is watching your favorite television show or reading your favorite book. Love is when a mother looks at her new born child for the first time. Love is the way a groom looks at his bride the day of the wedding. Love is what causes smiles and laughter. Love is everything.

Love may come and go, but you have to remember love isn't summed up in one way. It has so many different meanings and I don't think it is possible to find every meaning. In fact I don't think we are meant to find those meanings I think they are meant to find us. Just remember love can do amazing things we just have to give it a chance.

XOXO--Emerald

I'm Growing Up

I have learned lately that things don't always go as we plan.We shouldn't have this intricate plan set before us because sooner or later it is going to crash and burn. I do this a lot. I am what you would call a planner. I like to know where I am going, what we will be doing when we get there, and exactly what the rest of my day looks like. But that is not how life works. We come up with ideas only to have them completely twisted and thrown out the window. One morning you will wake up and hope to be productive, but end up having something go chaotic and be forced to focus on something completely different.
Enough of my crazy mind spilling itself out and on to more interesting things.
Who knew the summer after graduating high school would be so stressful and boring at the same time. You get all pumped to spend endless hours with your friends and meet new people while visiting your college, but like I mentioned earlier plans always fail.
I got a job; like most teens do during the summer and that has basically taken up all of my time. I'm not complaining because it was a fairly easy job that didn't take much effort, but it did take my time. I found myself coming home and falling asleep and waking up when I normally fall asleep. But I need money so that's how it is going to be.
First of all I got a new computer. Which I love! I went to Six Flags with one of my best friends and ate way too much food. I got to spend time with my adorable cousins that I rarely ever see.

I would say life is pretty great right now:)

So here is my life recently in a few pictures enjoy :)

XOXO--Emerald

Sweet Summertime

Let me start off with this; I am a slacker when it comes to posting. If you could look into my brain you would see the endless ideas I have, but life just gets in the way. I don't want to sound like a negative Nancy, but nothing really sticks out to me. But I am going to stop being a diva and just write. That's why I did this in the first place. I wanted to show the few people who actually read this a side of me that very few people see.

Since it is June, and my last post was in May (sorry I'm lazy) I thought I would update my life a little bit. The big one is that I finally graduated high school! I put on the cap and gown, and walked across a stage putting an end to a big part of my life. I really don't think it will ever hit me that I won't see most of these people ever again. On the bright side I got to wear these amazing red heels that give me so much joy. Cheesy right?!

So I have been going through this phase of reading blogs on crazy healthy food, and becoming obsessed with making it. I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Lady Smart, and she had decided to make this pizza that had so many ingredients I had never heard of. But the crazy thing is that the pizza was considered healthy! The crust is butternut squash and the sauce is fresh pesto. Delicious! I had to tweak it a little bit and add some cheese, but it still was on the healthy side.

Another thing I have fallen in love with is the store Lush. Oh my goodness!! If you have never been to a Lush store you are missing out on a little piece of heaven. I could spend my entire life in there looking at their amazing creations. 

I ended up purchasing a shampoo and conditioner. They both smell amazing and I have already used my entire bottle of conditioner. 

The shampoo is called Rehab and it smells so lovely. It has Lavender, Rosemary, and Peppermint oil that gives your nose a little party.

The conditioner is a completely different type of scent, and let me tell you it is great! It is called American Cream and smells exactly like a strawberry milkshake! Now don't tell me that doesn't sound like heaven.

Another thing I have got to experience was my college orientation at the wonderful Baylor University Campus. I was able to meet new friends and catch up with old ones. I also attended a camp called Super Summer which is a leadership camp for my church. I was able to see so many friends, and that is always an amazing feeling. 

So I believe that is about it for my summer so far. I hope I didn't overwhelm anyone with the wide variety of things I talked about. But I just want to say a massive thank you to anyone who actually read this far and for that I will give you this photo of me in a tree! :)

P.S. I am actually going to try to post more than just once a month!

XOXO-- Emerald

A Change of Plans

I constantly think of ideas to write about, but then my OCD mind changes that into a terrible idea and it is then thrown out the window... Whoops

So I decided to stick to this idea and I plan to follow through with this post. Many people probably don't get this from me, but one day I want to be able to create a blog post that so many people read, it becomes something everyone talks about. Conceded right. Well that's what I want so get over it, but don't get mad just have a little empathy. Okay enough of me rambling on about random nonsense let's get down to business (and try not to start singing the song from Mulan because I know it is tempting).

As I have said before I am in high school, and with high school comes traditions and one of those traditions is prom. Now watching movies you would think prom is this amazing chance to hang out with friends and come together with your class and forget about everything, but the movies are wrong. Shocker. I went to prom as a junior and I can say that I had fun, but it definitely wasn't something to do again. I felt like someone who had too much makeup on, and shoes that were way too high. So, as a senior in high school and the rebel I am me and two of my friends did something a little different for prom. We went to Six Flags Fiesta Texas. Cool right.

We decided that being trapped inside of our school for an entire night was not how we wanted to spend our Saturday evening, so we packed our bags and drove all the way to San Antonio. By ourselves I might add.

That Friday night we arrived and checked into our hotel and had to do some things that I will not mention because it was not something law abiding citizens would do. Nothing terrible, get your mind out of the gutter. After that long process we got ready to go out on the town, or to the river walk, and we ate a classy meal and did stuff. Details, Emerald, details...

Ignore the crazy shadow across my eyes

That Saturday morning when everyone else in our small Texas town was getting ready for prom we put on our tank tops, strapped on our fanny packs (yes fanny packs), and loaded up to go to the best place on earth, or at least San Antonio in a teenagers mind, Fiesta Texas. BTW the water park opened that day so that's a bonus. We stayed at Fiesta Texas until an hour after it closed so you could say we had a little too much fun. And who knew that there would be fireworks that nights. We ate delicious funnel cake before we left and made our way back to our hotel. On a side note we ordered pizza and I am pretty positive the delivery man didn't speak english...

That next morning we went to the mercado and shopped for hispanic souvenirs, ate some overpriced tacos, and went shopping at a lovely mall. I will post about my new purchases soon because they are amazing.

So all in all I am pretty happy with our weekend of not going to prom. Things like that tend to distract us, and focus our attention on outward appearances. I'm not saying prom is a bad thing it just wasn't for me. Well that's all I have to say. I know this was long, but I couldn't think of anything better to do with my Monday evening.

XOXO--Emerald

Keeping Up

The past few weeks have been very, what's the word, emotional. I go through my days wishing for the next to come. My views change and everything becomes a jumbled mess inside of my head. I have this vision of becoming the modern woman of the 21st century when in fact I am the complete opposite. I decide to travel places that are relatively far in only a weeks notice. I impulsively start growing my own food, and to top it all off I have given up on technology because my email has disappeared. I've given up on the tech savvy life. I'm going to continue using a computer but who knows this may turn on me as well. I am simply going to lounge around in my comfortable clothing, and hope to work through life.

Enough with this boring news that has put me into a mood that I can barely express. Let's talk about my adventures, because this is what I live for. I left off with the trip to Uganda. I gave a deep compelling testimony and I continue to live by that. I earned my days to relax and so after my spring break I spent most of my time sitting in my home trying to regain my thoughts. The weather was fairly well with the occasional spring days, but a few days of tragic cold weather came through.

While I was attempting to think through my life I was faced with the task of my dance teams yearly Spring Show where we simply learn endless dance routines and perform them to a public audience. This was my last year so there was some tears, but mostly happiness to know that I had finally came to the end of endless practices. I love dancing, but my life can only handle so much movement and stress.

Around the middle of April I went with one of my friends to Austin, Texas. We went to a concert that I must say was very unique. This was a concert for my friends birthday so the artist was someone she loves, but I barely know. We visited the University of Texas, and spent most of our time downtown.

I am going to stop because I can feel myself running out of things to say, but I know I will soon have more adventures in the time to come.

XOXO--Emerald

Catch Up

So let's take a look on what I have fallen behind on. My life as a high school senior is not one to take the record books, but what I have experienced out of school is something to take the gold medal. I go through the everyday struggle of self esteem and wondering if I am making the right choice to say what is on my mind, or should I just stop and take a few moments to gather myself and my emotions. That is exactly what I did this spring break. While many high school seniors went off to the beach or an amusement park or just simply stayed in bed; I flew 18 hours across an ocean and two continents to Uganda, Africa.

Why did I do this? The answer is simple in fact. I had been planning this trip for many months, and this is one of the main reasons I have been holding off on this blog. I wanted to wait and start up again with something amazing. An experience that I can barely describe with just words. My emotions are what describes this experience. I was able to see so many new things and take part in so many new opportunities. While every other teenager in this world was off doing the most secular thing they could think of I spent my time sharing with those of Uganda a message that has changed my life. Now I know I mentioned in my first post that I was not going to fill this blog with attempts to talk to you about God, but this is a must. That is what my whole trip was about. Not an opportunity to explore, but an opportunity to share. I turned my life over to God for that short week and he did work. He spoke through me and a light was shining. I became completely in love with the people of Uganda and I learned a few things while I was there.

As a teenage girl we are surrounded by so many things. Pressures to be what our society sees as perfect, but in fact simplicity is true beauty. I learned that joy should not come from our earthly treasures, but those that God holds for us. We went a night without water and a short time without electricity and I found myself content with the situation. I didn't worry about what people thought of me and saw a dirty face and dark room as beautiful. I was asked by one of the girls on the trip how I handled what I saw while we were there. I answered with this. I know these people have an idea of what America is, but we have to think of all the distractions that would come along with a life here in America. These people have lived such a simple life and they have only known what life is there in the slums, if they were put in a new situation and new lifestyle their beliefs and ideas on how to live would be completely corrupted. This life that has so little is somewhat of a blessing for these people because they are not distracted by what the world has to say.

Of course a life with food and water is seen as important, but in their eyes a life with love is what keeps them going. The people we worked with sacrificed everything to be with us. They gave up time to be with their families and we find it so hard to love ours. They pays fees for their children to have the smallest education, but everyday we complain about waking up for school. I knew this would be hard to adjust to the real world, but that is the point. I am going to work to blend in the humility I received while in Uganda into my everyday life. I am not planning on being this perfect person because that is not what this experience was supposed to do to me. I am going to simply see things through different eyes. Eyes that don't take things for granted and eyes that see the simple things in life as a blessing and work to not wrap myself up in what this world sees as important.

I will never forget the sights and smells and people and the love Uganda had to offer, but I will try my best to be a changed person in order to benefit my life and those around me.

XOXO--Emerald