onlyyy during finals

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGjHK5X8mzE&feature=player_embedded

i watched this twice, and i am crying HYSTERICALLY.
trust me, it's worth a study break. WOW, stress reliever.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

my baby

just in time for finals. :D

today i:

- woke up at 9 am, which is way off my usual routine, and felt oh-so good.

- breakfasted on a homemade banana muffin topped off with Nutella hazelnut spread

- did a refreshing Pilates workout my the basement

- straightened my hair... also an odd thing for me (dad hates my hair straight. he thinks it makes me look older, which makes him feel older. i'm not getting that connection?)

- played with my little sister "hey!! left foot? what do you do? oh... i guess he not gonna answer." (i love my girly!)

- took an AP Bio test (neurons, sodium and potassium ions, somatic motor nervous system, non-ciliated ependymal cells), and completed a lab

- laughed at this picture aboo drew on her dry-erase board:

it says "bays antill crismes" (days until christmas). i love her enthusiasm annnnd her spelling.

- texted good friends about random things

- cleaned my room, freshened my desk

- checked up on blogs, liked things on etsy, subscribed to Elise Blaha :: enJOY it, which apparently i had somehow gotten unsubscribed from in the past year. (great blog, check her out!)

- made yummy French bread pizza for all of my younger siblings while my parents went out.

- babysat for a family in my church ("where's my llama book? i neeeed my llama book to go to sleeeep!" and "ok, i'm going to make popsicles in bed, in my microwave.")


all instead of prepping for finals. they're inevitable, but somehow i continue finding more wonderful reasons for putting of my study time. THURSDAY, DIE.

never grow up

long post alert.

last week, i was babysitting for some little girls (ages 2, 4, and 6), and it brought back the best kind of memories.

= the way the two older girls interacted...

= the way the older one tried to "take care" of the younger one in a motherly way...

= the way the middle girl listened to the older one with huge eyes...

= the way that they all said goodnight to each other, and i knew that forgetting to say "i love you" would have been the thing to make them cry themselves to sleep that night...

= the way they danced around while they sang 3 different songs, with each of the older girls "leading" a song (even if they didn't know the words)...

= the way they all stared at me during dinner and tried to sound old and mature...

... it was all a little surreal. because last time i checked I was the one trying to take care of my younger siblings, and they were looking up at me with huge eyes... I was the one who cried if my mom didn't sing that one certain special song, actually convinced that i couldn't go to sleep if she didn't... I was the one staring with awestruck eyes at the idolized older girl babysitting me...

at one point, all of the girls were playing hide-and-go seek, and the izzy, the youngest one, was the one "hiding." we're all waiting for her to call out "ready!" when all of a sudden she bursts around the corner on her wobbly, fat 2-year-old legs and yells "YOU FOUND ME!!"

the oldest one looked at me with a wise, big girl look. she explained to me that izzy didn't understand the game, really, but that "we should just pretend that she does." she looked up at me hoping for some kind of mutual, big girl understanding between just the two of us.

that is just the kind of thing i did with my babysitters... it felt beyond weird to have the roles reversed. what on EARTH happened?

later on in the evening, all the girls were dancing in that cute little way girls do... jumping back n' forth from one foot to another really fast, sliding across the floor in their sock-ed feet, looking down at their legs. from their expressions, they thought it was really cool, that they were really good dancers.

of course i danced with them, and i felt TALL.

i felt like i was their age.

i felt like i should be their height.

i don't know how to describe it, but i was definitely having "a moment."

you know how different things trigger memories and feelings of nostalgia in different people? i can't even describe how, but it suddenly hit me how OLD i was. after they went to bed i sat down on the couch, just remembering (and maaaaybe crying a little?).

where did my life go? where did my childhood go?

life just keeps accelerating, time passes by faster and faster.

my guess is, it'll only swirl past more quickly as we get older.

i am reminded of how fleeting life is, how little time we have on this earth.

it's so easy to forget, but i want to start living by a more eternal perspective...

thankful [2011]

today i'm thankful for...

* family
parents who always want the best for me, and the most amazingly crazy siblings in the world.

* friends
honestly, i am convinced i have the best friends in the world, who point me to God constantly.

* health
so thankful that almost all the signs of mono have left my body.

* warm houses
hahaha, imagine if we had to sleep outside?!

* my puppy
can't believe i'm saying this, but a cuddly dog just makes life better. it's true!

* sunshine
iiii could not live without it...

* music
 what is it about music that warms you up, or energizes you, or provides the perfect background for midnight studying?

* the season of life i'm in right now
i'm trying to really relax and focus on how blessed i am in this current season of life. i'm living at home with my family right now, and just trying to really slow down and enjoy them.

* the excitement of what's to come
at the same time, realllly starting to get excited for what's coming next as i start college and embrace all the new and unknown.

* the Bible
God's word is sooo refreshing, how it reaches out and speaks to me. every. time. so amazing!

* my Savior
the fact that he came down to earth and gave himself up for me, so i could enjoy him forever continues to grow more precious to me every year. he is my friend, my comforter, he loves me, he died for me, shedding his blood on the cross to save me.

cross country

WOW.

it has been a good four years.

soooo much fun and sweat,

many ouchy blisters and bloody knees,

glaring sun and freezing snow,

thiiiiick slippery mud (georgetown prep and last year's championship),

stacey glasses and waka-waka dances,

prayer and sharing bible verses,

victories and defeats,

AND - most importantly - laughter.

my life as a varsity cross country runner is now over.

on wednesday was the PVAC championship.

i wasn't there. i had too bad of a cough.

my loving mommy wouldn't let me go. weep :'(

my girlies didn't get first place, but i know everyone ran their little hearts out.

i LOVE this team.

WAKA WAKA!!!! :D

ohhh the early years. :)

sooo attractive... hahaha.

last year:

this year:

i loveee this team, and it's been so much fun.

the end of the year party is tonight... and i am at a loss for words.

it has been awesome! but i'm so sad to be finished!!

:) :)

senior class picnic

today we had our senior class picnic to plan some graduation details for this coming spring.

really weird to think about graduating and leaving high school in just 7 months or so.

we took a lot of pictures... some of them are blurry since certain people (ahem!) don't know how to focus a camera. but that's ok, we still love them. :)

and i had to model the faaaaattie penguin outfits...