Habitat For Humanity

Last week I went with my friend to get fitted for a fashion show for charity. When I was there they invited me to join to cause they could use extra girls they said! I was super excited to join because ever since I was a little girl I have wanted to walk on stage and have all eyes on me but my problem is I am also very shy so I can't do anything like sing alone or dance or speak in front of people. So that dream went down the drain but doing this fashion show sounded really fun! It was like professional but not super strict or anything which was good for my first time walking.
We got fitted at this second hand store because the idea of the fashion show was for Habitat for Humanity and they wanted to show that recycling and second hand clothing is good and still stylish. Both my friend I got to find things around the store that fit us well and were cute. My friend, Jill, found a cute black dress that was from BCBG and then she accesorized it with jewelry and purple heels for some color pop.  I went for the more casual look and wore skinny jeans and I found a really cute black grey and coral cardigan which I wore with a black tank and then accented it with a big statement necklace that just had a it of coral to match the cardigan. I wore it with black pumps I have that are Steven madden. You have to wear heels no matter the outfit on stage. Especially  I had to because I am short compared to all of them. I am 5'7 myself and all the rest of them are like 5'9 at least. They all also have flawless skin and no acne which made me feel a little insecure because of my acne which isn't even that bad but compared to them it seemed that way. They are all extremely skinny too. Every single girl was pretty tiny and there hips and waist and bust is all so small. When it came to the skinny factor I was fine because I am a naturally small person and I always have been.
After the fitting the next day we had a run through of all the orders we walked in and practiced in our heels and with our music. When the girl was half way done in front of us you had to stand back left and stand and look sassy then when the person got back and stood next to you, you could walk. You walked down the runway and then to the right side of the stage and then to the left and then back and stood and waited for the next person to walk and you get off and you are done. We ran through this with the order to make sure we were all ready and knew what to do especially for Jill and I since it was our first time walking ever.
At the place this girl said that she couldn't come and do it anymore and she was younger which means she was shorter. They were struggling cause the dress they were trying to get the girls to wear it was too short on them because they were all so tall! This is where I came in handy because I am "short"! I was then put into the finally with a a dress which I was supper excited about! The dress I wore was part of the contest where companies made costumes and they had to be out of recycled material completely! My dress was more a computer company and I wore a dress that was black and sparkly and then covered in CD's! It sounds crazy I know but everyones was! The girl in front of me had a dress that was completely made out of coffee things and were all dyed. It was actually a beautiful dress and it won the contest! The person bethink be was a giant flower pot and had a flower head. One girl even  had giant wings that she had to walk with! It was so much fun and I had a super fun time and It was a really good experience! The lady even asked Jill and I to model again for explain senior pictures for a company that does them near by! I am super excited and I wish I could do the fashion show again! I can't wait for more fun experiences with my best friend!

Easter

Easter is wonderful time to see all your family and catch up on the time you have missed or barely seen them since Christmas. For my family we switch on and off of what side of the family my brother and I go to. This year I am at my moms side which is just an hour away from my house so its nice and I'm closer to this side but I am also the youngest on this side so all traditions and games have kind of went down hill. Growing up kind of sucks for that reason! 
It used to be that when we woke up in the morning we would get up and the Easter Bunny hid all the eggs in our house on our main floor and we would run around and find them all. We also got gifts in our baskets and we would get to run down the stairs and get all excited about it but growing up means you don't get to do that anymore.  I remember growing up how fun it would be and how you couldn't really sleep the night before cause of the excitement. I wish I still was that excited but it just isn't the same. Also when we used to go to my grandmas after and find the eggs and lots more candy and this year no eggs were hidden. I think part of it is because she just moved but also because we are all above the age of 15 year so there really isn't a point. Though I kind of wish we still did because I still think it would be a lot of fun. It was one of my favorite things to do on Easter. We luckily still brought all the egg dying stuff and a few of my older cousins did it with me for a little bit but about 15 minutes into it everyone had left me and I ended up painting the eggs all alone.
Though I shouldn't be complaining because that's not what Easter is about. I have a great family and we had good food on the table and enjoyed each others company which is all the mattered! I just wish  sometimes that holidays seemed as fun as they used to be when you were little that's all! I hope you all had a great Easter and are enjoying time with your family that you have.

Passover Continued

Kadesh (Sanctification) is when you all fill your glasses with either wine or grape juice and then whoever there who spoke Hebrew would recite something and then once they were finished we could take the first sip of our drink. Urchatz (Washing the hands) and his little brother brought around a dish of water and he brings it around for you to dip your fingers in it and then drying them. Karpas (Green Vegetables) is used and you dip it into salt water and then eat it. The salt water was represented by the tears of the slaves. Yachats (Breaking the Matzah) is when they take this big looking cracker looking thing and they break it in half and then they put one half back from in between the two other Matzahs where it came from. The other half is used as a Afikoman which is a tradition to have someone hide it in the house and then later in the dinner it is a competition for the kids to go see who can find it first in the house and bring it back to the table so you can "officially" finish dinner. Maggid (Story recital) is when we went around the table and all took turns reading the stories out loud from the packet that was on my chair and everyone had one.
Matzah is then broken up and passed out after that to everyone at the table. If you don't know what one it is like, think of a very dry cracker with like no flavoring at all but they are made in a very special way.  Maror is when they pass horse radish out and you eat it on the Matzah, it is not a good taste at all but it isn't supposed to be because it is supposed to remind you of the horrible times that happened. After that they passed around this sweet sauce thing made of apples and nuts to put on your Matzah which made them taste much better. I cant find what it is called but at one point there is this thing where they say a whole bunch of small sayings and you stick your pinky finger in your glass every time they say it and put it on your napkin and you do it about ten times and you can not lick your finger at the end because it is disrespectful. Schulchan Orech then happens which is the rest of dinner which we ate things like Matzah ball soup which I thought was really good and green beans and some over weird traditional foods that were new to me but a lot of them were different but still good! Tzafan is when the kids go search for the Afikoman and who ever finds it gets a prize. At his house the winner got $20 and all the rest of us got $5 for trying still! Hallel (Songs) were sung in Hebrew and there family sung them while we just enjoyed listen to them! Nirtzah (conclusion) is the ending where you say your final prayers and then dinner is officially over.
All of this took about two hours or maybe a little more and we even did the shortened tradition at his house so I cant imagine what the long version is but I do know that we skipped some parts to make it shorter and less boring for us. Over all it was a great time and I learned a lot! Sorry If any of my terms are wrong  I used http://www.happypassover.net/passover-customs/index.html to help me reminder the terms and specifics that I didn't remember exactly. If you ever get a chance to learn about a new culture I would for sure do it cause it was a really good learning experience!

Passover

This past Tuesday I learned a lot about a new culture that I wasn't very familiar with. I was invited over by my boyfriends family to come and celebrate Passover with them! Going into it I thought that I was just going to have to sit around the table and make awkward conversation with them and maybe eat some new food I didn't know about and things like that and I excepted some Jewish traditions but not to the extreme it was! Not that it was bad in any way but it was just way more than I excepted it to be! There are so many traditional songs, stories, and foods to learn about. I celebrate Easter and I have never really experienced anything like this. Because just me going to a Seder once I will be referencing to a website which is linked at the end to help me explain things better that I may not know the correct term too or exactly what it means.
"The most important holiday in the calendar of the Jews is the one that marks the Passover. This day falls on the 15th day of 'Nisan' month and is celebrated with grandeur and a lavish display of food. Perhaps, the most important Passover tradition is the feast known as 'Seder'. The Seder is performed by Jews all over the world marking the end of bad times and celebrating their freedom from Egypt. A traditional feast consisting". When I first got there I saw that there was a giant packet on my chair that was about 40 pages and I was really confused. I think his dad could tell I was confused about it, so he explained to me that it was to help lead me through the dinner and it tells stories in there and we go around the table and read them out loud. There is a plate in the middle of the table which is the Seder plate and is a very important part of the dinner. It contains "Maror and Chazaret - two bitter herbs, Charoset - a grainy mixture of fruits and nuts, Karpas - A vegetable preparation other than bitter herbs, Zeroa - A roasted piece of lamb bone, Beitzah - A boiled egg. Along with all the five components, it is necessary to consume brackish water to remind them of the tears wasted and shed by the Jews during times of strife."


http://www.happypassover.net/passover-customs/index.html

Future

The end of high school is coming up fast and I still don't know what I want to do with my life. I have little ideas in my head and little plans I make but I know how much it can change it a heartbeat. Parents always when first talking to you ask you the question. What do you want to do with your life after school. Normally I make up some BS answer and try to talk about maybe following my dads footsteps and going into business. I never really put much thought into what I want to do with my life after school. Now I am going out to dinner on Tuesday night with my boyfriends parents for the first time and I realized I actually have to act like I know what I am talking about and have a plan. My parents are pretty laid back people. They know I push deadlines and can get off task but I get done what I need and they trust me, but I really want his parents to like me. My boyfriend and his whole family is extremely smart, which is super intimidating and which also means they have super high expectations. I am already back at talking to a adults and now adding to the pressure of needing to impress them too. So anyways I decided made I should  consider what I am going to say when I talk about school and what I want to do with my life and not just BS it like I normally do.
The one thing I have always been interested in is fashion and shopping. So off of that I was looking into jobs that had to do with that. Ever since then I found out what a buyer is. A buyer for a company is someone who picks out everything and decides where it comes from and what the price is and when it goes in the store and for how long and you have to keep updated fashion and make sure you know what people like and what they are looking for. I was super excited when I found out this is actually a thing and I am really interested in it. So after that the next time someone asked me what I want to do I told them I want to be a buyer for a clothing or department store. You should have seen there faces. 90% of the people I have told have said "you know it is different then just shopping right?"  and "you can't shop as a job". Almost everyone I have told has not been very positive about it and seems rather disappointed in me. I continue to get the same reaction every time I tell people so I am so torn on what to do.
I also have been thinking about going to ASU after high school and as well only got mostly negative feedback from people.  First off people hate that I would be going far away from Iowa. Also everyone says "you only want to go there to party" or "every girl who goes there is a whore" and "that's the top party school which is obviously why you would go there". And yes I do realize that it is known for partying people also don't look at the good sides of it. Like for me wanted to be a buyer it has a very, very good business school and the housing there, they place you with people of your major so that you can help and work together on things. They also have a very nice fitness center which is good because I am a bit health crazy sometimes, depending on the day but still. I also kind of want to live in Arizona for the rest of my life so I would like to go to college there and get used to things down there and hopefully find a job there too.
Overall I am overwhelmed because I don't know what to tell his parents when my future comes up. If I should truly tell them what I am considering and have them judge me or make up something like I always do so they will love me and don't even have to question the fact that I wanna have a job and fashion and I might attend a school that parties all the time. Either way I hope it goes well with them.

Summer

Ah, soon the school year will be over and I will only have one more year left  of high school which is such a relief but at the same time so stressful. So much planning to be done but for now I am not gonna worry about it because I am so excited for summer. School is getting to that stressful point where its a lot of breakdowns and late nights and overload of homework. Summer is much needed and I can not wait. This summer I am actually gonna have three jobs which is weird for me because I normally don't have a job at all or a very little job but because I am such a shopper i decided I probably should get a job.
My first job and most important to me is being a nanny. I did this last summer too, and it was really fun. I love kids in general and the two girls I babysit are great! My best friend Emily takes them in the morning and then I get them before lunch and until like 3. It is a great job. I only work 4 days a week and still get like $130 bucks a week. I love the girls so much and they are so fun. I get to take them to the country club that we both go too and its just so fun. I couldn't ask for a better job.
I also work at a tanning and spa place. I just recently started working there and honestly it was really weird for me cause I had never ever tanned before. It works out fine though because I am just the little receptionist girl at the front table who takes peoples names and sends them back. Its super easy and I usually just work once a week.
My last job is a new job that I am gonna start this summer. It is for a local baseball team in my town. I love dancing and so do my two close friends so tried out and made it on to the dance team for the games. We get to host and like play games with kids and we also get to interact with the crowd and dance on top of the dugouts. I am a little nervous for this but at the same time I am super excited! I love to dance so I am sure that it will be a good time.
These are just a few of my summer things that I am looking forward too, especially since I am getting paid. This means more shopping for me! Hope you all find a wonderful summer job so you can go shopping too!:)

Filters

Now a days people don't put a single selfie up without editing it first. It is almost a little crazy how insane it is that people feel the need to edit it first before posting it or sending it to someone. I say this yet I am one of those people. I have an unreal of editing apps on my phone though I usually only use one of my two favorite ones which is Afterlight or the well know VSCOcam, but are we truly showing who we really are when we put photos up that are completely edited. Girls especially, you can't deny it that you have all spend a long time before posting a selfie trying to make it look the best it can. When you are social media though is this changing the way people look at us in real life.
Since now its no secret that people edit there photos, I barely even think about it when looking at instagram or twitter, but its when I see them in person that I notice what they actually look like. There is different kinds of people who edit photos. There are the extreme people who take it all the way and you can tell they edited out every imperfection and whitened there teeth to bright and there filter is super unnatural. As people get older then tend to get better at that but there is still a few people out there who are questionable if they realize how bad they are editing there photos. Then there is the next kind of people who just edit there picture with filters that look good and sometimes edit out a zit or two but overall it looks pretty natural. When you say natural with a filter it means it still looks like it could maybe be really but you know that they still edited to make it look better but its no shame because everyone does it. This is the most common thing people do because it honestly gets you the most likes and your picture looks the best it can. The last kind of people are the people who don't edit their photos at all. This seems good but and good for them but personally  I just don't think they look as quality. They photos usually have crappy lighting or just bad quality in general. There is also the people who take selfies in front of a window so there face is whited out a lot and write #nofilter but its no secret, we all know that trick so don't try that one anymore. When you see them in person though you know that they actually look like that in there photos to which is brave of them. When you see people in there photos compared to person it is a lot different. It makes me sad for our generation that we don't feel comfortable enough to post a picture of ourselves with out editing them first. I am one of those people and I wish I wasn't but I for sure am. I wish there was something we could do but I don't think it will ever change.
Anyways some tips I have for you is even if they cost money, get the good editing apps. Afterlight is only 99 cents and works really well.  On this app there are at least 50 filters under three different categories that you can choose from! It also has the usual setting like changing the brightness, clarity, exposure, contrast, etc. that most editing apps have. It also has this cool settings where you can add like fade and things like that to the picture to make it look like it is an old photo or tinted a certain way. My favorite part about this app though is frames. All the frames are meant so you can put it perfectly on Instagram. You can choose the frames shape and it can be white or black. My personal favorite though is VSCOcam and this one is free which is nice. When you  get it you have to sign up which is nice though because then it saves all your photos in there when you edit them unless you delete them out. This one does not have as many filters to put on but still a lot of filters that I like a lot. This app has probably the best exposure settings to make photos look the best when using it. It also comes with other settings like the other apps to and work just as well. Over all these easily stores the photos you edited and makes them look more professional.

Geocaching

If you are like me, you probably haven't heard of Geocaching. I didn't know what it was until just a few weeks ago. And if it weren't so cold I would do it more! But anyways. You can get the app on your phone. It is Just Geocaching, one word. You can get the free version to test it and make sure you like it before you actually buy it for sure! When you first make one you do have to sign up and so it can know where your current location is. Then it give you locations within about 3 miles away where there are things you can find! I think it is the coolest thing!
There are actually a lot more then you think and fun! Some are easier then others and some you really have to search for! At everyone there is a thing for you to sign your name so make sure you have a pencil with you in case the geocatch is small and doesn't have one with it! Sometimes there are even prizes in then so have something that you can switch if you wanna take sometime! There are literally everywhere you go! I have been to multiple states and checked and found them everywhere!
At first I got it and used it and then I was questioning if I was ever gonna use it at all because I didn't know when to cause we live in Iowa and the weather is so crappy! But since it has warmed up Here it has gotten more and more fun! I have used as a date idea which was extremely fun! We went to find things together and it was a cute little adventure date! Also we double dated once and raced to see who could find things first which made it even more competitive and adventurous. If you wanted you could see how many you could find in an hour or just race to find the same one. Also I plan to take the kids I nanny all summer to run around with them and have them find some. Because they are ranked to show you difficulty. Depending on the age of the kids you can decide which ones to find! You can also just do it with your friends if you are bored cause who wouldn't like to do that, especially if there is nothing else to do and you are just sitting at home, might as well go and explore the outdoors and have some fun while getting fresh air!
You can buy a version if you really love it too! Which gives you access to even more things to do with it. I don't have the version that is the paid version so I can't say much about it but everyone who has it, I have only heard positive things about it and no negative. If you didn't know this was a thing like me I would for sure check it out cause its something supper fun you can do whenever! I really enjoy  it and hope you do too! Here is there website for more info! http://www.geocaching.com

Happiness, I love you all.

Over the weekend I went to Nashville Tennessee and Honestly I couldn't have asked for anything more. We got 4th place which is amazing for nationals and I am so extremely excited. We have worked so hard all year for this and each and every person on the team deserved it. We were all so proud. We also all sent in letters and our director would most outstanding director. It was so great and we had some much and we are such a close family, I don't know what I'm gonna do without them. 
This season we have had a lot of ups and downs. There has been fights and anger and we all don't always get along the best. But then I realized how close we actually are! We may fight sometimes but we are a family. I love all the people in our showchoir. We had a practice where we took the time to sit down and just talk before nationals. We sat in a big circle and honestly I hadn't cried that much in a long time. Almost everyone was crying, even the boys, yes even the boys. I am not one to say much  so I didn't say anything out loud but a lot of people did. We had worked so hard all year to try to be the best we could be and when we failed we would get back up and try again. But how we really felt came out when people talked and how much we cared more than jus to win. We had shared to us how much the show meant to us and others. Because our show was Military themed, it was a tribute to all soldiers and anyone who fought for our country. So many people were touched by our show it was unreal. People loved what we were doing and understand that it was more than just winning. We were a family and we did it together and not for any reason but the goodness of our hearts.
Another thing that came up a lot in our circle was a lot to do with our director. Mr. Ziegler is honestly the best. A lot of people brought up the fact of how good he is compared to other coaches and its so true. I have never had such a good and understanding teacher.  A lot of my other coaches or teachers weren't as, as flexible as I assumed they would be so I was super concerned. Before the showchoir season started  he sat down with every single person and had an individual talked with them about any questions and concerns. When I started talking to Mr. Ziegler he was completely understanding about all my activities and made sure that everything will work out even with my busy schedule, which took a lot of stress off my shoulders. He is so extremely understand and if you ever have any problems you can go to him and you know he will always be there and be as realistic and understanding as possible. I know most of the people in showchoir, including myself all feel this way. He won best director at nationals he deserves it 500% he is the best and I can't imagine how I would be different without the experience of Happiness this year. The people were great and I had an amazing year. It will be so hard to let the seniors go this year, there will be many tears. 

Here are just some things that people have said that make you just realize what we are like. These are just a few of the things that people wrote on our happiness Facebook page but there were even more said out loud. 

"Words cannot express my thoughts and feelings about the last 4 days with all of you. Every time I try to express them I cry. You are all a true inspiration and an amazing bunch of kids. I love you all. You worked SO hard to get here and although results weren't always what you would have hoped, there couldn't have been a better outcome in Nashville. To all the parents behind the scenes, you are too special for words. Thank you for being so awesome to our kids. And Storm, I am so blessed to have known you for as long as I have. You are an absolute gift from God. Oh my, going out will be rough!! See you back in CR." -Chea R.

"You are all rad." -Jordan L.

"I just want to say that I am still in awe of last night, and I love you each of you so incredibly much♥ Each and every one of you is such an important part of our show! Without any of you, our show just wouldn't feel the same to me. Thank you for making my last year of show choir the best one I've ever had. Time to go out with a bang!" -Melissa F.

 "can't even explain to you how happy I was all day yesterday, last night, and it carried over into today! I have so much fun performing with you all and finals round last night was amazing. I've only had a couple of performances in my life where you get a feeling that the whole group is truly unified. THANK YOU HAPPINESS!" -Emily P.

"Okay so we got 6th yesterday, WHATEVER. You guys brought me to tears, definitely our best shows yet. All of our hard work really is noticeable. And on top of that I just wanna say thank you so much to all of you for being so kind and making this whole sprained foot/crutches thing a little bit more bearable. I wouldn't trade this team for the world, and I can't wait to be back on stage with you guys next weekend!" -Abby H.

Farrell's

I am starting Farrell's next week and I am honestly so super excited! I am already and really good shape but I just want to make sure that I am even more toned and look super great all summer! I also have a lot of friends in it too so I will be super motivated and we will help each other out to stay with the program! I am actually a little scared too cause I have never done such an intense work out program before besides doing swimming!
You first have to do testing before your sessions even start! This is to see where you are at so they can see your improvement over the course of the program and documenting it. They have a half point check and a end celebration too to show how much progress was made! They seem very supportive and super nice. You each get assigned a personal trainer and they make sure to keep you updating with things to do and how to stay healthy and if you have any questions you can always go to them! My goal is not to lose any weight but to gain muscle because I am so small and wimpy right now. I want to be able to see like being toned. It will make wearing bikinis in the summer even better!
They want you to go 6 days a week though so it is a a big commitment!
My first Class is tomorrow and I am very nervous! It is kick boxing class which is more of a high intense kind of workout. While on other days you do bands, this is more up and ready to go kind of thing. Anyways this is all I know for now so I don't want to give out false information but maybe Ill write a blog at a later date to update you on more info and progress! Everyone I have talked to would definitely recommend it though and says its a fun good work out!