study break

I love studying when no one is home. Usually, especially if mom is home, study breaks mean I have to do something else. like chores. When I am home alone, study breaks mean running around the house, dancing to loud music, and random baking. This time I was really in the mood for biscuits, (they are my second love, after avocados) but I also wanted something sweet. So I added sugar to my biscuit recipe and voila! It was fun trying to make them as quickly as possible and trying to distract myself while waiting for the eternal 15 minutes to pass to eat them. I barely measured anything, hoping and wishing that my rushed eyed measurements turned out well. Well I was not disappointed my dear friends. These slightly sweet biscuits were delicious. I've noticed that when ever I'm in the mood to bake something, I always make biscuits, maybe I should branch out...or not.

 

These pictures of Alexander are just because...

 

20

Well...I turned twenty... I suppose that deserves some sort of acknowledgement on here. Especially since I tend to post a lot on "growing up".
It's kind of exciting. I feel like my life is REALLY going to start now. I know that technically I won't be doing anything different, but I feel really a part of the adult world. Before, I was a teen in college. Now, I'm in my early twenties in college. Doesn't that sound completely different? To me it does. I don't know what God has in store for my life, but I can feel myself heading towards it.

My friends did an excellent job with gifts this year. I almost cried at every one. Two of them gave me tea. But not just any tea. my Absolute favorites. And you would think, that's no big deal, well I didn't tell you they ACCIDENTLY chose my favorite teas. I think that's birthday Karma*. My dear sister Leslie (yes, I just called you dear >:) Leslie ) made me a chocolate cake from SCRATCH. With whole wheat, drowned in chocolate. It was fantastic. However, the top food gift that I received, ( can you tell I have a thing for food? People give it to me as presents) was a batch of All Natural, somewhat Organic, made from SCRATCH, Oatmeal Crème pies. Oh man, those took the prize. They were incredible. That girl, Taylor, is Amazing. Thank you Taylor.

              

 

 

Other incredible gifts were

Les Miserable DVD, which I opened after right after seeing it for the first time. Emotional much? Goodness, that movie is emotionally exhausting. I love it.  

A watch, I had no idea how incomplete my life was without one.

AND PETER PAN! well not the actual boy, I still have yet to find him, It was an annotated version  of the book, with a bunch of extra's like J.M. Barrie's life story, original notes and drawings, original screen play(I know right!?), and other cool stuff. Perfect for a nerdy girl who is a tiny bit obsessed about the boy who never grows up.

 

Thanks to everyone who made this entire weekend oh so fun. I'm truly blessed.



 

*p.s. I don't really believe in Karma, it was just really cool .

 

Taste the Rainbow...

...the REAL one.

You don't have to eat organic to be healthy, just eat colorful! One of my favorite things to eat is salad. Not just because it's "healthy" but because there is so much you can do with them. Lettuce is just a canvas for the artwork that is salad. and of course, avocados are one of the BEST things to put in a salad. Also, surprisingly mixing fruits and veggies in the same salad is really good too. And tacos? Well to me they're just like a salad wrapped up in a tortilla. Yum.

alright, skittles taste good too. ;)

Dominicana

I've noticed that I don't put much about being a Dominican on here, but can you blame me? No one blogs about being 1/3 native american or being 1/5 irish. It's a part of who we are, its natural, it's not something we think about on a continual basis. It does come up however, especially when I am holding a strawberry-blonde, blue-eyed baby that is supposedly my nephew.

I found this blog of a girl born in the states but moved to Italy, and reading what she posts on the cross cultural differences is great. I recently read this one, and I love the way she puts it. About women serving men when it comes to cooking and other kitcheny things. I've seen it my whole life in my family and sometimes it makes me want to marry a southerner so that he WILL go get the bread himself occasionally. But when I think about it, she's right. I want to serve. That's the way the women in our culture show their love. And she's right in the post how the men would be lost without them. Ha.  Now I'm not saying my dad is a total pushover or helpless, he does lay down the law, but he would really suffer without her. Aside from losing the love of his life, I don't think he could really survive on Tostitos and salsa regardless of what he says.

Anyways I'm not writing this to talk about how I want to be a kitchen maid my whole life. Just that I really love my family and culture and I hope to keep that regardless of who I do or don't marry, regardless of where I live and who's around me. It's true that most of my spirit is southern. I grew up in the the South, but I cant deny the Dominican part of me. It's in my blood... and I like it that way.

p.s. If you didn't read the post, read it, she explains the whole serving thing waaaaaaay better.

The other day.

Tuesday was a beautiful day. It was one of the first warm days in awhile. (Now we're back to dreary rain :P) I went on a walk, soaked up some vitamin D and even went barefoot for awhile, taking it all in. Then I made a smoothie with just a banana, strawberries, and pineapple. The pineapple and banana were SO ripe, I didn't need any sugar and it was still really sweet. Yum. Hope your sunny day was justas grand. If you have any ripe fruit around on the verge of becoming unpleasant, make a smoothie. Or do as my mom does. Her motto is "when life leaves you with ripe bananas, make banana bread."

decades

Yesterday, one of my close friends turned 20. We've known each other 8ish years and honestly, I can't remember most of it. Not because of her, but because In have a terrible memory. Ask my sister. I do remember having good talks and good times. We've gotten closer as we've gotten older. Our conversations changed from what Disney movie just came out to what we're gonna do with our lives. It really struck me that we've grown up. Or are in the process of it anyways.

 I'm turning 20 in about two weeks. I've been on this earth two decades and yet I feel so young. I feel like I'm not ready to be a big girl. To stop procrastinating, to start taking the initiative, to stop leaving my room a mess, to stop borrowing money from my sister, to stop watching tv all day, to possibly becoming a wife soon, to possibly becoming a mother eventually, to possibly move countries and teach children in poor areas. And the list goes on and on. A list of responsibilities and choices I dont feel ready to make. But I've always hated the phrase "I feel like.." because our feelings are so fickle. So let me use my mind instead. I know I'm not completely ready to live like an adult, but I KNOW that God will guide me. So while my heart and mind may not be ready, my God is and I can CONFIDENTLY shed my teenager skin and become the young woman He wants me to be. I've just got two weeks to let that sink in.

Wish me luck, or better yet, Pray for me.

Happy Birthday Sydney. Hope the next twenty years of your life are blessed beyond your imagination. I'll be praying for you too. Love you. 

Outings...Outside.

Something that I have always known is fun, but almost never done, is go out with friends OUTSIDE.

 

Serenbe is one of those great places where there is a lot to see without necessarily spending money. And if you get tired of window shopping, you can get lost on a four hour hike on an endless trail! (Yes, that actually happened to me) That's always fun. Right..?

Regardless of how LONG you go, the trails at Serenbe are BEAUTIFUL whether you go in the spring, summer, or fall. Though I think fall is my favorite.

 

 

 

 

Ever heard of Geocaching? I hadn't until recently. Even spell checker recognizes it. Apparently it's extremely popular and you can find it all over. It's like an ongoing worldwide scavenger hunt. A couple days ago I went with some friends. We were all broke but really wanted to do something. The lovely Alyssa suggested walking around the lake in PTC. Then I remembered hearing about geo caching, and found the app on my phone. Next thing we know, we are trampling all over a hill among the trees and thorns looking for a "coffee can sized container." We never did find that coffee can. We did find the next one, a little camo covered pill bottle (seriously, a camo pill bottle? some people). We did mange to find that one, after passing it about five times. :D It had a list inside with all the names of the people who had found it. pretty cool. It has become my new addiction. While I don't usually have time to go looking for them, I sometimes stop and see if there are any around. Surprisingly there everywhere! So if you are ever bored, grab your smart phone, gps, or you can even print off the directions at home, and go find a random container with random stuff in it. what could possibly go wrong?  

 

 

 

 

I like a somewhat wise person said "a dead end sign really just means 'awesome forest ahead'" Go check out that forest. you might find something good you weren't expecting.