Sorry!!!!!

Hi everybody! Sorry I haven't written anything in AGES! I'm on vacation and I barely have access to the internet. I don't have much to tell, just letting you know I haven't disappeared off the face of the Earth (yet). I have a ton of reading and writing to do (even though my hand hurts like crazy) so I'm going to leave you know. I hope everyone's summers (or winters, depending on where you are) are going great!!!!!

BAKING!!! WOOHOO!!!

Hey everybody! Last day of school!!!!!! I just got all three of my middle school years over with! I have to admit though, I loved being an eighth grader, and I really enjoyed my three years in middle school. So anyway, I've got an update for ya'll. I'm into baking now!!! WOOHOO! Well, at least for a while. Yesterday I watched a baking competition, and I thought it was AWESOME and I decided I want to bake more. Now, this also means I'm going to have to exercise a LOT more, because you can go take a leap if you think I'm going to bake healthy stuff. When I bake, I eat half the batter before it's baked, and eat the rest after it's cooked. Well, no. That's a bit of an exxageration. I save a bit for my family. ANYWAY (sorry for all the caps, I'm excited), tomorrow I am making Pavlova. Now, I am probably going to fail. Utterly. But like my technology teacher always says, "That's why there is always tomorrow." So yeah, I'm going to be baking/cooking a lot this summer.

To cancel the effects of all the unhealthy eating, I am going to karate camp this summer! And when in Europe, I am going to run and work out with my mom, because she wants to. I will be fine (I'm not just trying to convince myself here...Of course I'm not!).

Oh and I'm quitting karate next year.... I think I'm going to try my hand at dance. Not sure how that is going to go, though. We'll find out!

Thanks for reading!!!!

A Big, Fat, Jumble of Things (Capitalizing Makes it Look So Professional, I Think I Will do This More Often)

Hey everyone!!!!!!!!! (Gosh I hope people actually read this, otherwise I'm sort of making a fool of myself...) I'ts been a long time since I updated; I haven't had much to talk about. But now I do! Rejoice!

So I have always known that I like Star Trek. However, I had seen only one movie (one of the older ones). My dad showed it to me, because he is a big sci-fi lover, especially Star Trek. I've never been a HUGE sci-fi fan, but it's growing on me. Yesterday I watched one of the New Generation movies of Star Trek, and it is official. I love Star Trek. Now, please don't hate me and say that I only like Star Trek because Chris Pine was in it (along with Chris Hemsworth for the tiniest amount of time), because thats not true. I just really enjoyed that movie. I'm not saying I have been a fan before Star Trek became popular in this day and age, 'cause that's not true. But that doesn't mean I can't like it! So yeah. Does anyone know where I can find a Star Trek poster (of the New Generation) that is not completely shrouded in darkness? I really want to find one.

Has anyone who is (perhaps) reading this ever been to the Netherlands? I used to live there. I absolutely love it. I know that was random but yeah. I'm really really really looking forward to the summer!!!!!!!!! I love the summer 'cause I get to go to Europe and see my family and friends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just love going to the Nteherlands. While I'm there I think I will blog and upload some pictures of my beautiful home country. I'm also going to Maine again this year, where some friends of ours own a house on a lake. We go almost every summer, and this year will be no exception!

OK newparagraph. I do karate. Well, part of it. My dojo (karate school) is technically Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). We do kenpo (or kempo, not wuite sure), bow katas (forms with sticks), sparring (fighting), and grappling. So far I am only doing kenpo (excuse me if it's wrong) and bow katas. Grappling just makes me uncomfertable. But now I'm going to start sparring, too. However, my sensei only focuses on two of her students 90% of the time, and I don't know if I'll have a chance to actually do any sparring at all. She (my sensei) did this to one of my friends too. She (my friend) has been waiting for Sensei to work with her for two whole years. I think that even if Sensei doesn't train with me, I'm going to work on my sparring and kicking on my own. HOWEVER, I need to get a whole lot more flexible. I can't even touch my toes... Anyone have any strechting recommendations?


This is a really short post, sorry. I will be writing another post in the near future, most likely today. I have something I want to show.

THANKS!!!!!!!

(Please excuse any spelling mistakes!!!!!!!!!!)

OHMYFREAKINGOSH

Hey everybody!
I'm sort of freaking out here. Well, no, not sort of. I'm freaking out. I have my eighth grade dinner/dance (a way of saying prom) in a month and I actually have a date! I've never had a real date to a dance before. This is mostly because I don't dance... Oh well. Anyway, I need to look pretty, right? A.k.a. I need to get fit. Like, now. I actually wanted to go running today, but I'm not allowed to go running on my own :( (overprotective mom). So I'll have to wait untill I go to my friend's house.

I also need to find a dress. OHMYGOSH where do I buy a dress? I don't wear dresses! See, I'm really worried. I don't even know what I'm supposed to do as a date! Oh the perks of being a teenager (note the heavy sarcasm).

Does anybody have any ideas? What do I do?

Lethargic-ness (Is that a word???)

Hey everybody. Remember when I told you that I ate meatballs? (From IKEA!!!) Well, the next day I had to eat steak. Involuntarily. We went to have dinner at a friend's house, and my (genius) mother decided not to tell the host that I'm vegetarian. Or pescatarian. Whatever. So anyway, we get there, and it turns out we're eating steak with Orzo. Or Orso. I don't know how to spell it. And salad. So I just ate a lot of salad and orzo and a tiny piece of steak, because I felt like it would be offensive if I didn't eat any steak. (The host's husband had been smoking the meat, and it had taken him 5 hours. I felt bad not eating it. And I didn't want to tell the host that I was a veggie, because then she would get all flustered and make me something else, and I didn't want her to have to do that.)

So that was three days in a row of eating meat at some point in the day. And gosh was I tired on Monday! I can now confirm that not eating meat gives you more energy. I had gone to sleep pretty early on those three days, and I was still exhausted, and extremely lazy. I almost fell asleep in my cooking class! And that class is actually pretty interesting. I felt extremely lethargic, and so I'm not eating meat once again. My mom says I was probably tired because of lack of sleep, but I don't think so.

I'm going to Colorado today!!! I'm so excited. I haven't seen snow in 6 years! I seriously can't wait. But our flight is at the end of the day, so I have to wait for a really long time. We're going to go skiing. Has anyone ever gone cross-country skiing? I'm going to do it with my dad, cause I've never done it before. My brother recently broke his arm, so he definitely won't be skiing. This is the first time he is going to remember seeing snow. He can't wait  to make a snow man!

(Sorry for spelling mistakes!!!)

CHOCOLATE CAKE!

Well, as you can infer from the title of this entry, I wasn't very healthy today. I made chocolate cake. Devils Food Cake to be exact. It's so DELICIOUS! I had a ton of fun making it too. (I'll include a picture and recipe.) I think I will try to make a healthier version of this, and share it with people. The cake consists of two cake layers, sandwhiched together with delicious (and sugary) icing. I actualy messed up on the icing the first time. I used normal sugar rather than powdered/confectioners sugar, and it cam out all grainy and weird. But I did it right the second time! I'm not going to put on too much icing, 'cause that will just be way too sweet. I'm looking forward to eating it tonight at a small party we're going to!
 This cake has been described as sinfully chocolately, so if you don't like chocolate very much, don't make this!

This is how (part of) my cake turned out. The rest was eaten and enjoyed!

(I'm adding the recipe on another post, I got it from a newspaper, and I can't find it online.)

So today we went to my friend's house to discuss something VERY important, and I made the cake for that occasion. It was a Wine and Cheese dinner. I wasn't quite sure what that was, but it was really good. We had bread with Brie cheese, and grapes, and SWEDISH MEATBALLS from IKEA!!!!!!!!!!!!! I indulged in meat today... But I don't feel bad about it, because I get to have Swedish meatballs from IKEA only every two years, and I wasn't going to pass on such a delectable opportunity. So I did have meat today. And it was yummy. So that's ok. (For those who haven't had Swedish meatballs from IKEA, you better haul a** over there!)

Nope, I'm STAYING!

Hey guys! So I read an aticle today that, I think, helped me with my journey. It sort of gave me the deterination I needed to keep going. I think. Oh well. It was an article written by a VEGAN (I could never be a vegan) scientist. It said that eating colorful fruits and vegetables (spinach, blueberries) could reduce your risk of getting Alzheimer's! Which is exciting to me. Which got me to thinking, it would suck to have such a terrible disease named after you! Imagine. You walk by a person and they go: "Ugh. I HATE Alzheimer's!" And you're just there, like, "Well, I'm sorry!!!" It woud be awkward, wouldn't it be? I feel sorry for whoever has diseases named after them. Though it is a scientific discovery, so I guess it's also rewarding... Well, anyway. The point of that rant was to tell you that I have a renewed determination and will (hopefully) stay vegetarian.

I've been doing karate, and I love doing it. I actually practice almost every day, which I've never done for anything! (Like, anything. EVER.) I really want to do some other exercise, too. HOWEVER, it's Daylight Saving Time, which means I wake up to darknss. I cannot, simply cannot, wake myself up before light! It's horrible. And I defiitely can't make myself work out in the dark of the morning, and I'm way too busy in the afternoon. And I'm worried about this summer, too. Over the summer I usually eat a TON, because we go out, and my grandmas cook delicous food for me, and I NEVER exercise in the summer. I need to establish some healthy habits! I'm hoping to start running. I'll have to think of a way to do that though. Does anybody have an suggestions (for summer or otherwise)?

(SORRY FOR ANY SPELLING MISTAKES!!!)