Summer Sailing Ended *sigh*

Hey hey so I've been meaning to post this but never had the time to move these pictures from my phone to here.  

Over the summer, I sailed pretty much every other day.  From nine in the morning till four o'clock in the afternoon.  It may seem like a really long time but it's not really because there's a lunch break in between and it takes time to rig and de-rig all the boats before and after we can actually get out on the lake.  When I first started at the beginning of the summer, I was clueless.  Like I literally knew nothing about boats.  I knew they had sails but that's about it. I've lived by the lake almost my entire life and yet I had never seen (or really looked at) a boat before this.  When I got there, I realized that a fifteen year old like myself isn't going to fit in with the rest of the eight to twelve year olds in the beginner's sailing class.  Despite the age difference, I managed to make a few sort-of-friends, and lots of wow-you're-so-cute-type-of-friends.  I learned a LOT in those first few weeks, apparently enough to let me be halfway in the Intermediate group for some days.

I experienced many firsts within those few months of sailing such as actually sailing (HA), being in a sailing race, getting dunked by the instructors, capsizing my boat, capsizing my boat on purpose (there's a difference), learning how to tie incredibly strong knots, and more!  But I don't want to bore all you non-sailing people with things that I did each do so just enjoy some more pictures.

Most of the pictures here are from a sailing regatta where I got to spectate from a gorgeous yacht.  The waves were pretty rough and a bunch of people capsized, but overall it was a good race.

Also look at all these bubbles gah!

Of course, I managed to get many many many beautiful shots from the docks of the boats.

So many boats wow.

Anyways, that was one part of my summer (summed up in one blog post).  I would encourage anyone and everyone to start sailing if you live near open water... I had so so much fun and would recommend it to people of all ages.  

One last thing: I'm not sure how often I'll be able to blog because school keeps me busy and also I have swim practice everyday.  Hopefully things will settle down soon so that I can get back into a rhythm of some sort.

Currently Listening To: All About The Bass by Meghan Trainor

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Summer 2014 Bucket List

Every six months or so I make a bucket list.  Usually it's when summer or winter is about to start since those are the major seasons of the year.  This summer, I planned to do so many different things; my schedule was jam packed!

Here's what I have brainstormed since the beginning and I got to almost all of these!

• learn to play the ukulele - done, although I'm sure I will continue playing for the rest of my life because it's such a fun instrument to take places and just whip out a song haha
• perfect my handstand (being able to balance, and possibly walk on my hands) - halfway done because I can almost balance but I'm still building up my arm strength...
• perfect my bridge as well (eventually to be able to do a smooth back walk-over or some kind of flip) - nope, not even close haha but I'll save it for winter or next summer.
• eat an entire watermelon with a spoon with a friend or two - nope but next summer, it will happen for sure
• get buried completely in sand at the beach (not the head of course) - nope, I never got the courage to get that dirty because that's a lot of effort ugh
• spend a day at the beach building an epic sand-castle - done, and it was pretty epic

• have a paint slip 'n slide - no because the more I thought about this, the more I realized how hard it would be to set up
• chill outside whilst taking pictures of clouds for the whole day with friends - I'm planning to incorporate this into a picnic I will be having soon with my friends, so almost done.
• take a picture on a roller coaster at sunset - this one was fun and terrifying at the same time!

• have picnics in the park with friends - see the one about taking pictures of clouds... (not yet)
• eat a cool-looking popsicle from an ice cream truck - I've never had one of these so I thought I should finally try it, and yes, it was delicious! I had two total, but on separate days.
  
  
• cover my entire driveway with chalk - unfortunately I did not think to take a picture, but I can assure you, it was pretty amazing

I'm sure I've done other things that are worthy of being on my bucket list of completed things, but I just can't think of them right now haha

I encourage you all to make a bucket list because it really helps to keep your life on track and your mind set straight.  For me, it served as something to do whenever I'm bored... I can just take a peek at this list and get started on one.  Some of mine are more detailed then others and need more preparation, but some can easily be done in a day.  Don't feel pressured to finish them all, because then it becomes stressful and that's not the point at all.

Currently listening to: I'm Yours by Jason Mraz

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My Love for Bath and Body Works

For as long as I can remember, I have always wandered into the Bath and Body Works shop whenever I'm at the mall.  The sweet scents have attracted me, even when I was younger and shopping with my mom.  If you can resist their heavenly aromas, then hands down to you for being strong, but I sadly cannot.  I walked in there prepared to ONLY sniff the candles and try on a few fragrances, but I ended up staying there for longer than I'd like to reveal.  My friend bought the Eucalyptus Spearmint lotion and hand-sanitizer.  The fragrance's candle tempted me but it's price tag pushed me away.  I'll just wait till it goes on sale (which hopefully will be soon).  Thankfully I only bought one thing... the normally more-than-$25 Be Enchanted perfume which was marked down for only $7 (SCORE!!!).  I have literally been waiting for this for my entire life so thank god it has finally happened.  

Be Enchanted is my all time favorite scent from anything I have ever tried.  Anywhere.  Seriously, I feel like I could bathe in it forever.  I quote from the back of this scent, "Be Enchanted, a fresh, sparkling blend of iced pomegranate and sugared petals inspired by all that glitters."  Oh my goodness that sounds just lovely.  Usually I tend to lean toward citrus smells, but this one caught the attention of my nose a few years ago and I have been using it ever since.  I own the perfume, the body spray, two of the body shower gels (one of which is almost empty agh!), and the lotion.

 

Now here's the thing about lotions.  I don't like them.  I honestly cannot figure out why... maybe it's the texture, or the thought that I will have to reapply it everyday if I want my skin to stay soft.  I guess I sort of have a phobia of lotion haha.  Also the same thing goes for lip gloss.  Whenever I have tried using lip gloss or any other lip product for that matter, my lips have always gotten super dry if I wasn't constantly reapplying everyday.  So I usually stick to using little to nothing on my lips and they somehow stay magically soft and hydrated, so that's that.

Anyways back to Bath and Body Works, I wanted to express my excitement for a few new candles that I think were released a few days ago.  I am dying to get my hands on these!

• Watermelon Lemonade - Quench your thirst for long summer days with a cool refresher of watermelon ice, sparkling water and freshly squeezed lemons (adjsflklsfjgh so excited!).

• Peach Cilantro Twist - Capture all of the fun of a backyard bash with the fresh and fruity blend of early summer peach, fresh garden cilantro and a hint of juicy mango.
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• Sparkling Berry Fizz - Add some sparkle to a summer afternoon with the blend of sweet elderberry, tart black currants and bubbly spring water.

You can find the rest on their website but those are the titles that caught my eye.

I also happened to peek at their new candle line-up (is that what it's called?) for fall and I have to say, it looks pretty amazing so far.  Spiced Pumpkin Cider (because pumpkin smells delicious and is perfect for fall), Apple Orchard (it's a classic), Pumpkin Orchard (delicious plus classic haha), and last but not least, (the mysterious, I-wonder-what-this-smells-like) Sweater Weather.

Fall is a wonderful season and I cannot wait for my room to smell like it.  I wouldn't even mind going back to school just for it to come sooner!

Currently Listening To: Buffalo Solider by Bob Marley

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Parish Picnic

A few days ago, my family made me go to our parish's annual picnic.  I went, expecting it to be horribly boring but it turned out alright.

One of the first things I noticed when I got there was the cotton candy machine.  This was their first year renting it and I have to say, it was definitely a good addition.

I probably ate fifty pounds of cotton candy, but it was worth it ;)

My friend brought her dog as she always does and I played with him more than half the time, when I wasn't eating of course.  Unfortunately I did not think to take any pictures of the food they had, but let's just say it was DELISH!  I had a grilled hamburger, corn on the cob, a variety of fruit salads, pasta salads, and potato salads.

Towards the end when I started to get bored, I decided to draw a picture of Disney's Rapunzel in chalk to entertain the kids there.

While my parents took forever to say their goodbyes, I went to our car and blasted some music heh heh heh. While admiring my nails because I thought they looked really nice.

Yup so that's pretty much it.  This was a short one, but after all, it was a short picnic... :D

Currently Listening To: Summer Breeze by Seals and Croft

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Haul!

I recently went shopping to a bunch of stores so I though I'd show what I got!  My dear friend Clarice and I went to bath and body works first.  She purchased the Stress Relief Eucalyptus Spearmint Body Cream.  I was going to buy it, but then I realized that I don't really ever use lotion (which is probably not a good thing) so I was happy to see that they also had it in candle form (which I most definitely will use!)  But I didn't feel like paying over $20 for a three wick candle and they didn't have any smaller ones so I'm just going to have to wait for it to go on sale *sigh*.  Don't worry, I ended up buying something in the end...

Be Enchanted has been my scent for a few years now and I've always wanted to buy the more condensed perfume rather than the body spray but it was $30 ugh.  But today it was on sale for only 7 dollars, so I'd say that's quite a bargain!

Next we stopped in Tillys.

I bought this cute burgundy bat-wing shirt that covers the bum for $15 because I'm always looking for shirts that I can wear with leggings. 

Clarice and her other friend are going to the Lady Gaga concert at Summerfest tomorrow (LUCKY DUCKS!) so we stopped in Charlotte Russe to look for an outfit.  She ended up getting black and pink feather printed converse, a pair of pink shorts, and a black shirt with different shades of pink on it.  The colors matched PERFECTLY and we figured she could wear her leather jacket if she could cold and it would still match!  I didn't find anything to my liking there, but that's alright.

Next we went to h&m where I found a gorgeous dress that was unfortunately $50 *tear* so I could not buy that.  I'm currently ordering some things from h&m because there's a 75% off sale.  This is going to sound weird but I got a bunch of underwear because I've been in need of some new ones and these were quite cheap.  I also got blue patterned leggings that were super cute for $7, a pack of 27 bobby pins for $1, and sunglasses for $4.

We decided to pop into Teavana...

and I ended up getting almost $20 worth of tea.  But it smells like heaven so I'm happy!

We also checked out the new Yankee Candle shop and I bought two candles for $10.

They smell like summer mmhm.

Clarice's mom had a 50% off coupon when you spend $100 at Boston Store, so she came and Clar got a few things...

And I got these adorable loose fit elephant printed pants that cinch at the ankle.  They were orignially $40 but there was some kind of deal going on and something else so that they came out to be $16 whcih is quite a bargain!  I saw a super cute peasant dress that fitted perfectly but the price tag was nauseating ($150!!!) so I put that back right away.

Lastly we went to T.J. Maxx.  I only saw a pair of sport leggings that I liked but they were $30 (yikes) so I passed on that.  Clarice got these adorable shorts that we both wanted, but I already have one that is similar so I just let her take it.

Overall I really like everything I got and I'm even burning one of the candles I bought as I'm wring this!  I'm going to my church's picnic with my family on Sunday so I'll post about that later on.

Currently Listening To: We Made A Pact by Hey Rosetta

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Congrats to the Bride and Groom

I went to a wedding (reception) today!!!

I expected it to be really boring but it turned out to be loads of fun!  I felt like dressing up and getting all fancy because that's what they always do in the movies, so I thought I'd give it a go.

First thing I did was paint my nails using Essie's sittin' pretty, a pastel purplish color that I picked up just yesterday.  It caught my eye while I was shopping and I just had to have it because it looked perfect for summer!

(they were kind of sloppy but I felt like taking pictures, so I did anyways)

Next I curled my hair using the Hot Shot Tools 3/4" Titanium Curling Iron.  Even though my hair is quite curly already and my sister swears that it looks exactly the same whether I curl it or not, I decided to anyways.  I wanted no frizz and curls going in the same direction for a cleaner look.

As you can see, my parents got themselves some wine, which I took quite a few sips from (shh).

The first thing that caught my eye were the little party bags on the tables filled with M&M's and bubbles.  I think I consumed at least a pound of M&M's by going around and snagging them from other tables (oops haha)!  I also liked annoying my family by blowing bubbles in their faces... just kidding ;)

My sister forced me to go on the swings but I had fun so it's all good :)

(I also had barely any makeup on as you can see)

So today was loads of fun and I got to meet a bunch of family that I hadn't even known I was related to!  Tomorrow I'm going sailing (as I do every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) so I have to be up bright and early at the crack of dawn.  Ugh it's like school all over again ahaha

Currently Listening To: Five Years Time by Noah and the Whale

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A Lovely Day at the Beach

As usual, my mom forced my sister and I to go on a bike ride once again, so we decided the beach would be perfect.  It was supposed to rain for an hour at 11 so we went at noon (which it didn't... it also was supposed to rain a lot after 3 but that has yet to happen as well).  I almost forgot to take pictures so there are only a few.

Since the sun was beating down on us relentlessly, we slathered on sunscreen right away.  We biked down by the lake and took a quiet path shadowed by trees.  Once we found a good spot, we hauled our stuff down to the beach.  I immediately put on more sunscreen (since I really did not want to burn) and sunbathed!  I read a book but it wasn't too interesting so I won't mention it here.  

After a while I heard some honking and looked around to find geese swimming in the lake.

The baby geese looked so so cute but I didn't want to get too close so I tried to take pictures while they waddled around in the water nearby on their adorable webbed feet.

My brother was (at the time of this pic) out on a sailboat.  As you can see, the lake is currently spotted with boats and I thought it looked too lovely to not take a pic of it!

So that was my simple day at the beach.  It was very relaxing and I feel super good now that I've been in the sand and water and taken a shower because who likes to sleep with bits of sand on their body?!  Also, sorry I haven't posted in quite a while... I've been very busy this weekend but everything is slowing down now so I will be posting regularly (hopefully) from now on.

Currently Listening To: Smile by Lily Allen

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