Fashion!

(Photos not mine)

One of the ways I'm a total girly-girl is my love for clothes.

I find it funny that when I was little, getting clothes was so boring. Toys were so much more exciting. I think once we get older, clothes, in a way, become some of the new "toys" we can play with. We can change up our style and have a lot of fun with the things we wear.

My style has changed a lot over the years... I went through my infamous "dork" period. That was my lowest point. Like, low as in stirrup pants and oversized cartoon shirts low. Pair that lovely ensemble with my frizzy hair, braces and acne and you had my typical look at the age of thirteen (hubba hubba).

Then I became aware of my wrongs and went in the opposite direction, trying to dress as trendy as possible to "fit in" with everyone else. My self-esteem was pretty low then, and I figured that people would accept me more if I dressed cooler. :P Sadly with some people this could've worked, but I probably wouldn't have made the right friends that way...

Now I'm a lot more comfortable with how people see me, and I don't really care as much if my clothes have the name of the store stamped on it. (Although I really like American Eagle... haha :)

Although on typical days I have my regular uniform of t-shirts, jeans and hoodies, here are some of the styles I'm really getting into.

Shoes

Ballet Flats: I think all girls should have a pair of these babies. :) They're so versatile! You could wear them with jeans and a t-shirt, or you could wear them with your church clothes. :) They're pretty comfortable, too.

Heels: I've just discovered heels. I don't really wear them too often because they kind of hurt my feet and I'm still walking in them like a newborn horse... but they're definitely fun to wear

when you want to feel all "classy" and stuff.

Boooooooootttttttssssss!!!! Who doesn't love boots? I love boots. Army guys love boots. Celebrities love boots. Puss In Boots loves boots...

I don't have a pair of these boots, but I love how flexible they can be. They mostly look good with jeans, but I've seen people pair them with dresses for a more cool, casual look.

Also, I'm proud to announce that boots and heels got married and have given birth to a baby girl. Her name is Fioni. Isn't she beautiful?

Fionis are so cool. I think if you put them up to your ear, you can hear the sound of their awesomeness.

They're so unique and vintage, I love it. I've seen so many fun outfits put together with these.

And you can't forget Converse, which go with pretty much anything, as far as I'm concerned. :)

Accessories

So I'm not really huge on accessories. I rarely ever wear them. Buuuut, I think they're fun, so I'll still do a quick little section about them.

Peacock Feather Accessories: These are sweeeeet. I totally want some of these.

Scarves are probably one of my most-worn accessories. They're one of those accessories that are actually stylish and practical: they're pretty, and they keep your neck warm. (Come to think of it... what could possess anyone to poke holes in their earlobes and hang things from them in the first place...?)

I love any kind of Flower Embellishment! They're just another one of those things that

make you happy to be a girl. They're pretty, timeless and feminine, and they're welcome on my shirts, my shoes, and in my hair. :)

And you gotta love Tights. I've always done the "boring" (or "classic," depending on how you look at it) black tights, but maybe someday if I'm feeling adventurous I'll pick up some of these...

Outfits

So in case you didn't notice from some of the things I've shown you thus far, I love just about anything Vintage.

This being one of the examples.

It's just so fun! I love how clothes from the 40's-70's are coming back with a modern twist. You can see this the most if you try shopping at American Eagle, Forever 21, and H&M.

I think every girl plays "favorites" with one article of clothing. Karissa loves shoes. I love Dresses. That may come as a shock to some people, since I'm always wearing jeans. :P Buut, if I had the choice, I think I'd definitely wear more dresses if I could solve the dilemma of dress length. Does anyone find it annoying that most dresses now are either so short they could serve as shirts, or so long you wind up tripping over them? They're either minis or maxis... I want an in-between...y. :P *annoyed sigh* Moving on.

Ask my sisters, and they will tell you how annoyed they are with how much I love lace. Some

people think lace is ugly. Some people think it makes you look like a doily.

I am not one of those people.

I know the key words here for today are "pretty," and "feminine," but what other words can you use to describe lace?

I also kinda have a thing for Skinny Jeans. But, hold on a sec... you have to be a little careful with them. Because there are skinny jeans, then there are SKINNY JEANS. I've seen people who look like they had their skinny jeans painted onto their bodies. So... just keep that in mind. ;) Skinny jeans are fun to pair with a lot of different things, from t-shirts to blouses.

You no longer need a boyfriend to give you his Varsity Jacket... Now you can just go out and just buy one of these little pretties. (Pay no attention to the girl on the left... I'm talking about the coat on the right but couldn't find a better picture. lol) They're cool, and they look pretty warm, too. It's definitely on my list of things to get before it gets too warm out.

And last but not least, the Peacoat Jacket. I've seen a rise in these recently, and I think they're pretty freakin' awesome. Especially this one. (Isn't it so... green?!?!)

So we come to an end on our little journey through the wonderful world of fashion.

A couple morals here:

1. Don't make the same mistake I did! Don't wear things just to feel "accepted" by other people.
2. From a Christian viewpoint, we want to try and honor God in everything we do. What we wear is no exception. Try to be respectful to God and others in the way you dress. Keep in mind, though, that doesn't mean we have to wear turtlenecks for the rest of our lives! There are plenty of cute things that are still modest and cover all the things that, well... don't need to be seen by the public. ;)

i's homeskeweled

nope, none a dat fancy book-lernin for me.

s'ok though, i knowed the alfabet, i's can reed, do rithmetick, and i's the goodest speller in dese here parts. not to brag or nuffin. :)

(Ouch. That sentence was actually painful to write. I think I winced every time I didn't capitalize...) :P

When I tell people I'm homeschooled I get one of a few different reactions.

"Wow, that's awesome! I wish I was homeschooled..." (Or if they're an adult, I get "That's great! I wish I could homeschool my kids...")

"Yikes, that sucks... I'm so sorry."

Or they just nod their head read slow, smile cautiously and say, "Oh, that's nice..." :P

I think homeschooling, like pretty much everything, has its stereotypes. When we don't know a lot about something, we're bound to either play guessing games on how it really is, or take another misinformed person's word on it.

... Or we watch a lot of TV.

For a while, I got really annoyed at how homeschoolers are portrayed on TV (Ok, I still do, sometimes...), But now I'm able to laugh about it more. It's ridiculous how ridiculous they make us look. :P

So for those who aren't sure, homeschoolers aren't like this

... Nor are we like this

(Although, in 2009 we scored 37 percent higher than public schoolers on standardized achievement tests... ;)

And for gosh sake, we're nothing like this

Basically, we're like public schoolers in a lot of ways. Why? Because mostly these things aren't a homeschooler/public schooler thing... they're a human being thing.

We're all different. There's a wide diversity of homeschoolers out there. Some of them are strict, public-school-at-home homeschoolers, others are un-schoolers, others are somewhere in-between.

We aren't all anti-social. Actually, some of the most talkative people I know are homeschooled. It's not a homeschool thing; it greatly depends on an individual's personality. Some people are introverts, some people are extroverts, and you're going to find that just about anywhere. So come up and say 'hi,' it's ok. I'm not going to bite, and I know you don't.

We have "cliques." Well... in a sense. I think that people just naturally have tendencies to hang out with other like-minded people, so you get groups. We have the "techies", the "brainiacs", the "athletes", the "girlie-girls"... but I think the only difference here, is that these "cliques" aren't exclusive. That I've seen and experienced, homeschoolers seem to be more apt to welcome people into their groups, and we're not restricted to that group... we can bounce around and talk to everyone. :) People also aren't reduced to a mere title, and can be themselves more.

We live everywhere. Sure, if you ever somehow got stranded in a barren dessert outside humanity, I'm sure there'd be a homeschool family there that could help you out. ;)

But we don't just live in the middle of nowhere. Ironically enough, I live right by a high school.

We aren't child prodigies. Although homeschoolers seem to be a little more focused on academics than public schoolers are, that doesn't mean we're all going to win a nobel prize. And on the flip side, we're not idiots, either; I can count to ten and tie my shoelaces just fine, thank you. ;) Truth is... we have our weak subjects, and our strong subjects. I do pretty well with English, Writing, Spelling and Grammar; I'm not too keen on Math, Science, and History. Everyone I know, homeschool or public school, is the same way.

Anyway... there's my little rant. :) Probably majority of you who read this are homeschooled anyway. But hey, you can probably relate!

God, make me a big kid!

My sister, Kyla, is a really good dancer. She takes lyrical and just started taking ballet, and she's advancing really quickly. One thing that amazes me is how incredibly flexible she is. She can do the splits, touch her toes to her head... once she actually kicked herself in the head!

But she wasn't always that flexible.

Weightlifters can lift insanely heavy weights and other objects. In the "World's Strongest Man," competitions they have men who can pull semi-trucks using their own strength.

But they weren't always that strong.

I'm beginning to realize that more.

"DUH, Really?!" You might say.

But no, really, I think it's hard for a lot of us to remember that we don't just grow overnight. The struggles we're trying to overcome won't just go away at once. We're not going to wake up and become the person God wants us to be. It's an ongoing, progressive thing.

I'm learning that if you pray for patience you're not going to automatically find yourself serenely sitting among screaming kids and barking dogs. If you pray for self-control, you're not going to instantly have no desire for that piece of chocolate cake sitting on the counter. God likes to help us build a resistance to the things that tempt us, much like stretching, or lifting weights. We can't put our feet behind our heads or pull any semi-trucks until we know how to trust God through the challenges He's put in our way; No matter how much you want to wimp out, give up and say things are "too hard."

Also, no matter how much you want to, don't do this: "Wow, they're so mature... I'm like, totally immature in my walk with God compared to them!" We've all done that one. Sometimes they're the same age as you, other times they're younger than you (that's when you start feeling like garbage. lol)! But God has you both at different places. They could be struggling with things you aren't struggling with, and vice versa. We all have problems, so comparing ourselves to others really won't get us anywhere! :P

While we're learning more about God and growing in our walk with Him, we may not even realize we're changing that much. It could be a little alteration in our thinking here, a little tweaking in our behavior there...

But then one day we'll look back on how we used to act, and realize how much we've changed. Maybe that's why God doesn't just *poof*! make us patient, loving, selfless and self-controled-- getting there is half the fun. ;)

Hang in there!

"Memory Monday": Sharks and Minnows

Hey, guys!

I thought I'd try something out: this is my first "theme day" on this blog! In "Memory Monday" I'll be posting about some of the fun, weird, embarrassing and just plain haunting memories I have tucked away in ma' noggin. :P I may not do it *consistantly* every week (depending on how it turns out...), but here we go.

I thought I'd start out with the first memory that came to my head. One that people still won't let me forget...

It is... the day I physically assaulted someone in a game of "Sharks and Minnows." O_o

Didn't know I had a violent streak? Well... you were wrong. And I show no remorse. He had it COMING.

Ok... it could've been, more or less, an accident. :P

At that point, I had never played a game of Sharks and Minnows in my life. Even worse, I'm the kind of person who won't understand how to do something unless you *show* me. Attempts at trying to explain it would be futile. I have to see how it works.

So I tried listening to the instructions, but heard mostly "blahblahblahMinnowsblahblahblahSharksblahblahblahOthersideblah." So with that, I blankly nodded and pretended to understand, then blindly ran into the fray.

For those of you who don't know, "Sharks and Minnows" is sort of a loose variation of tag. Players split up on two sides: One side is the Shark side, the other is the Minnow side. The shark side starts out with one person. Both sides run towards each other, the Shark's goal to tag people to create more sharks, the Minnows' goal to make it to the other side without being tagged. The last minnow standing wins, a new game is started, and the last person standing from the previous game becomes the new shark.

But see, I didn't really hear the last part. I figured that my friend Foster, the last minnow standing, still needed to be tagged, and it was him against all of us.

Good grief, was I wrong.

What I thought was the last round of the game (which was really the first round of the next game) was about to start. Tension floated with the pollen in the May air. Muscles tensed. Pure concentration chiseled itself into everyone's faces as they waited.... Waited....Waited.

And then... it STARTED!

Everyone started running for their lives for the other side. What are they doing?! I thought, He's in plain sight! Why isn't anyone tagging him?! I decided it was up to me. With determination rising, I confidently charged toward Foster, ready to tag him.

But let's just say that my aim wasn't very good.

I came to, and Foster was like O___O "What are you doing?!"

And I was like :O

And everyone else was like

Then I was like

So, yeah. Let's just say I haven't heard the end of it ever since. :P

Let's also say that Foster probably doesn't want to make me mad. >:)

New Years and Milestones

Soooo 2012 is practically a day away (I'm starting this post at 11:30... so by the time I finish, it *will* be a day away!). I really don't know what to think about it. I think right now my brain is scrambled with several different thoughts/feelings about the upcoming year:

1. Where the heck has the year GONE?! I'm still pondering over what happened to 2010, which vanished into thin air yesterday. It seems like only a few hours ago I was chatting with a really good friend of mine on Skype for three hours to see him into 2011... (good times). :)
2. I'm going to be OLD this year. Ok, maybe not *old*, but I'll be what society considers an "adult." Old enough to vote, old enough to date a 35 year old... (Just kidding, mom). But the whole idea of being an adult weirds me out. What happened to being 10? 10 was a good age...
3. I'm going to graduate this year! :O *brain freezes* Think happy thoughts.... think happy thoughts...
4. The world is going to end this year.

*Kaboooooom!* Heheh, it's kind of easy to want to freak out over all the "end of the world" predictions. I wonder what December 2oth of next year is going to be like, with everyone thinking they have one day to live. People are going to do some pretty crazy things. But... we don't know the day or the time, no matter how much we want to try and predict it. :P

So yeah.

There are a lot of things I'd like to accomplish this year, too.

• Fix our sewing machine and finally get some use out of it! (Maybe I should learn how to sew, while I'm at it...)
• Try cooking more
• Read my Bible more
• Graduate
• Meet more people
• Get my driver's license!!!
• Get a job
• Get a tattoo of a skull on my face (once again, kidding :)
• Continue working on ASL and get this whole "college" thing figured out...

Aside from the milestones for *me* that I mentioned, Kyla will be a teenager this upcoming year, Khloe will be a decade, and Kianna will turn one, just to mention a few of them. It's so freaky for me... I don't do well with change. I'm the kind of person who can get emotionally attached to a t-shirt. So when bigger things change... well, you can imagine.

There are some milestones going on over here already.

What am I talking about?

Oh, nothing... only the fact that my baby sister is a GENIUS!

She's sitting up already! She's 3 months old. O_o

We couldn't believe it! My sister is a freak of nature. :P

She's not sitting up all the time or anything, but if you sit her up, she can sit there for quite a while. :D

I don't think we have anything extra-special planned for New Year's Eve... just the usual staying-up-till-midnight-banging-pots-and-pans-drinking-apple-cider thing. :D It's still gonna be great!

Music is the shorthand of emotion.

(Title quote by Leo Tolstoy)

I love how music is like a camera-- it takes "snapshots" of your feelings. Time travel isn't possible (yet... that I know of... O_O), but when we listen to a song, it's probably the closest you can get to going back in time to different seasons, how you were feeling and what was happening when you listened to it before (probably one of the reasons why Taylor Swift is really popular... :)

In short, I love music. I love listening to it, I love playing it.

My taste in music has changed quite a bit throughout the years. I went from just listening to whatever my Mom listened to on the radio (at that time, 80's music, 80's music, and more 80's music...);To really girly, Disney-channel pop music; then I think it was R&B for a while; then Rock/Alternative. Now I pretty much like a little bit of everything. :) Here are ten of my favorites (in no particular order):

He is We

"Merrily we fall out of line

out of line

I'd fall anywhere with you

I'm by your side..."

~I Wouldn't Mind

They're sort of like if you put summer in a bomb and light it off in every one of their songs. Their songs are so much fun to listen to!

And not only are they fun to listen to, but their lyrics are pretty good. I'd say their most beautiful lyrics are a toss-up between the song quoted above, and their song "His Name."

But anyway, if you haven't heard them, you MUST. It's not a recommendation, it's an order. I know where you live.

Adele

"Right under my feet there's air made of bricks

Pulls me down, turns me weak for you

I find myself repeating like a broken tune

and I'm forever excusing your intentions..."

~Melt My Heart to Stone

I think practically everyone has heard of Adele. There are two different kinds of people: Those who want to strangle her until she no longer has the use of her vocal cords (*clears throat* You know who you are...), and those who think her music is freaking TIMELESS.

I'm of the latter. :)

Her voice definitely stands out among the many auto-tuned pop stars, and I'm glad she's as popular as she is.

Casting Crowns

"I am a flower quickly fading

Here today and gone tomorrow

A wave tossed in the ocean

A vapor in the wind

Still you here me when I'm calling

Lord, you catch me when I'm falling

And you've told me who I am

I am yours."

~Who Am I

These guys are hands-down my favorite Christian band. They're not your typical Christian band, either. Their lyrics are so real. Their songs deal with real problems we face as individuals and as a Church, and their lyrics are flawless. <3

Tenth Avenue North

"...this is not about what you've done

But what's been done for you

This is not about where you've been

But where your brokenness brings you to

This is not about what you feel

But what He felt to forgive you

And what He felt to make you loved..."

~You Are More

My *second* favorite Christian band. :) These guys are here to remind us how forgiving God really is. Sometimes when we make mistakes, we forget that God isn't like us, and we start to worry that He's going to give up on us because we keep making the same mistakes. Tenth Avenue North's songs sing out God's true love for us. :)

Coldplay

"Look at the stars, look how they shine for you

And all the things you do

Yeah, they were all yellow..."

~Yellow

These guys are legit. (Normally I hate it when people use that word, but Coldplay is deserving of the title). People get so funny about Coldplay because they change up their style sometimes; I think their style over the years has covered a lot of different sounds, each of them uniquely awesome with Chris Martin's distinctive voice. Sometimes their lyrics are literal, other times metaphoric, but they're all wonderfully written. (Also... don't you LOVE this picture? It's so cool!)

Taylor Swift

"This night is flawless, don't you let it go

I'm wonderstruck, dancing all the way home

I'll spend forever wondering if you knew

I was enchanted to meet you..."

~Enchanted

I was on Facebook's "Pieces of flair" page and ran across one that said, "In love? There's a Taylor Swift song for that." And it's true. Whether you dream of one day falling in love, or if you're actually *in* love, Taylor Swift has a song for just about everyone. She writes about the good, the bad, and the ugly of love, and I just love her! (Yup, I was going for how many times I can say the word "love" in one paragraph...) :P

Paramore

"This is how we dance when

When they try to take us down

This is what will be, oh glory..."

~Let the Flames Begin

On my iPod, Paramore is responsible for the songs I rock out to. :) Haley Williams has such a beautiful voice and an amazing (seemingly inhuman!) vocal range. Their music is full of energy and it just makes you want to jump on your bed, bang your head, dance like a dork, or all of the above. :P

Parachute

"She, she is the words that I can't find

How can the only thing that's killing me

Make me feel so alive?

And I couldn't speak

I couldn't breathe to save my life

All of my chances swim like sinking ships

This time, it's it

I'll drown or make her mine"

~She

Parachute is a recent discovery of mine, and once I heard most of their songs I had to buy their album. :D As you can see from the lyrics posted from the song "She" (one of my favs by them), their songs are so sweet. These guys know how to write music.

Owl City

"Tell me again was it love at first sight

When I walked by and you caught my eye

Didn't you know love could shine this bright?

Well, smile because you're the deer in the headlights."

~Deer in the Headlights

I normally hate this genre of music. I'm not a fan of anything that sounds electronic-- but Adam Young here is my only exception. :D I just love this guy! Sometimes his songs are kind of random. O_o But most of his lyrics are fun, witty and occasionally just make you want to go "Awww..."

They're pretty catchy too, especially "Umbrella Beach," "Deer in the Headlights," "Hot Air Balloon," and "Galaxies."

He's also a Christian, and writes some pretty awesome Christian songs, as well. Check out "Galaxies," "Tidal Wave," and "Meteor Shower."

Ingrid Michaelson

"If you are falling, then I will catch you

You need a light, I'll find a match

'Cause I love the way you say good morning

And you take me the way I am."

~The Way I am

Last and certainly not least is Ingrid Michaelson. I've loved her song "The Way I am" since I heard it like, 2 years ago, but I've recently looked up more of her songs and just love them! Her voice is unique, old-fashioned and sometimes haunting; Her lyrics are cute, fun and clever. She's just awesome!

So now you know. Those are my all-time favorite bands/artists. :)

You mess with them, you mess with me. hahahaha

But seriously. :P

Honorable mentions:

Nevershoutnever, A Rocket to the Moon, Mayday Parade, Third Day, The Script, Sara Bareilles, OneRepublic, Kina Grannis, Hey Monday, Hellogoodbye, Colbie Caillat, and random songs on the radio

My "Little Problem"...

I'm proud to say that I've never really been one to waste money. I'm pretty practical when it comes to money, and when I have to spend it, I really think it through before I actually buy things (with the occasional exception of buying a useless trinket or two...).

That said, my frivolity is expressed in a different way:

I am a time waster.

A shameful, shameful time waster.

I spend it like I have time to burn; And... most of the time I don't. I pretty much hand it away.

I hand it to the TV

Oh, yes. We have Netflix, so they have full seasons of "The Office," "Dr. Who," and "Myth Busters." Not to mention all those movies... movies upon movies, upon movies, upon movies... Needless to say, I'm hooked on Netflix.

I shell it out to the computer

This is probably the worst for me, because if Netflix fails, I could watch TV AND be on the computer, thanks to Youtube and Hulu. :P

Then there's always the infamous Facebook... don't even get me started.

Surprisingly, though, I don't spend humongous amounts of time on Facebook at once. Instead, I have the habit of popping on really quick, responding to whatever messages/notifications I may have, then popping off. Sounds good, right? The only flaw with this, is that now I get this compulsive urge to stop whatever I'm doing and "pop" onto Facebook "real quick..." So I "pop" several times throughout the day. Ugh.

...and the biggest waste of internet time is in the form of things like this:

Oh, hilarious, time-wasting internet memes... How I love you.

I wish I knew how to quit you. <3

...And when I'm not wasting time on screens, I'm off whittling away time staring thoughtfully into the abyss

Buuut, while I may look like this guy to concerned onlookers, the inside of my brain is filled with perplexing questions and BRILLIANT epiphanies... and sometimes stuff like this

So... I guess my only argument on this time-waster is that I'm at least using my brain...

So, while other people may struggle with breaking their piggy banks over a pair of Giorgio Armani sunglasses or a shiny pair of Jimmy Choos, I loaf on the couch and waste the one thing you can't really earn more of. Kinda sucks when you put it that way. :P

I'm trying to get better. I understand that God blessed us all with time on this earth, and it's better spent doing the things He wants us to. There are soooo many things I'd rather be doing with my time, other than knowing the latest meme jokes or what happened on the newest episode of "The Office," so I'm going to try and spend my time wisely.

Ironically though, it took me about an hour to write this.