Growing Pains

So, it's been a while.
It's been way too long. I'm just not a very good blogger.

There, I said it. I do not blog well. I do not enjoy writing. Writing words on paper is the bane of my existence. But I also have thoughts I need to share and I don't always have people to share them with.

So here goes.

It's been a rough year.

Once again, my life has been uprooted. I quit going to Samford, went home for a while, went to Vidcon, and moved to Mississippi. I'm at a new school with new people. I have never felt so alone in a place so big. So this is how I handled it:

I changed majors. I got a job. I tried talking in class. I began initiating conversations.

Huge steps for me, really. I'm stressed all the time, but I'm actually making an effort to take control of my life. I still don't really have anyone to hang out with outside of school, but I'm working on it. I thought I was making progress with someone but Christmas break really set that back. So I'm taking advantage of this period of aloneness by facing my feelings of loneliness head-on. Whenever I feel like I'm wallowing in my own negative feelings, I think of something that needs to be done or something I've been wanting to do and I make myself do it. So far, I've cleaned out my closet, learned some new makeup tricks, read a few books while taking bubble baths, and even walked around the mall a time or two just to make myself be around other people. I think it's really doing me some good.

Loneliness happens, but I'm learning that I can do something to ease the sadness that accompanies it. I think it's really helping me get through all of these growing pains.

Hopefully I'll be back soon.

I'm really bad at this.

So, yeah.
Hi.

I forget I have one of these.

It's not that I don't want you guys to know what's going on in my life. I really do. I just have so much going on that I just forget to write it down. I'm too busy just going and doing.

This semester will be different.

I'm about to start my sophomore year of college. Actually, it started two weeks ago, but classes don't start until the 27th, so I'm sort of in college limbo. I moved into my dorm on the 2nd, and I've been working with the football team every day since then. "Busy" does not even begin to describe how life has been for the last 2 weeks.

This semester, I'll be taking 17 hours and working with the football team for at least 20 hours a week. I'll be traveling with the team 6 out of 11 weekends this semester, so I'll be spending any "free time" I get catching up on classes.

This is going to be quite a year.

The Many Faces of Vlogging

My video camera has this interesting function where it takes pictures of my face while I'm vlogging. It pretty much captures the most awkward face I could make without trying to look weird.

As if I didn't already hate watching myself talk.
I'll probably regret this.

Oh, geez.

I'm not dead, I promise.

Hi.
Sorry, it's been a while. Basically I had planned to blog about a LOT of stuff last year, and that just didn't happen. However, this is a new year. I'm not going to kid myself and say, "Oh, I won't be as busy this year. I'll blog EVERY day!" I'm going to be just as busy, if not busier. My fantastic friend Amanda will be reminding me to update my blog whenever she does. I can't promise that everything will be insightful and creative and captivating, but I'll at least keep it updated.

Since my last post, I have:
Moved to Birmingham, AL
Started college as an Athletic Training major
Made new friends
Gone on adventures in Birmingham
Watched my volleyball team win our conference championship
Gone to New Orleans with my family
Visited my cousins in Hattiesburg, MS
Received my IB Certificate

It doesn't seem like a whole lot since June, but it has definitely been an interesting six months. I've been doing a lot more reading, so I'll try to return to my monthly book list. I'm also still playing Pokemon, so I may keep that up, or maybe not. Any ideas for what I should track this year?

Baking Like an Amanda

I move to college in roughly 36 hours.

Since my sister won't be going with me to move, I decided that we'd make cupcakes together. My friend Amanda recently made a video about making rainbow cupcakes, so I figured we'd give it a try.

 I had never actually made cupcakes before. I prefer making brownies, but it was fairly simple. Butter, sugar, flour, eggs, baking powder, and vanilla extract blended together.

So we threw everything into the mixer and came out with some pretty good looking batter. It was a bit thick, but still good.

We divided this into 6 parts and colored it. I failed to take a picture of this step because when I got to the green bowl, the bottle of food dye was clogged. My sister tried to unclog it despite the fact that I asked her not to and she ended up flinging green dye all over herself, her clothes, my clothes, and me. There was an argument, she got mad at me, quit, and I continued the project by myself. The picture was forgotten.

Moving on! This is what it looked like when I filled the cups. I sort of overfilled them because I misjudged the first few layers. Like I said, I'm more of a brownie person. My sister's the cupcake queen, and she abandoned me.

I expected them to be monstrosities, but after cooking for 20 minutes they looked pretty good. They reminded me of rainbow sherbet.

I also made the frosting by Amanda's instructions. If you've never made your own frosting, it's basically just a lot of sugar and a lot of butter. Easy stuff.

It turned out pretty well, if I say so myself. Not as good as an Amanda's, but certainly not as terrible as a Dan's.


Here's the video if you want to do it yourself:

Welcome to Camp Tiffers

Oh right, I have a blog I'm supposed to be keeping up with.

Long time, no see, huh? Sorry boys and girls, but I've had to put my big girl pants on this summer and earn some money.

I work at a small Christian camp facility where churches and groups host their own camp programs. It's conveniently located within 20 minutes of the beach, and it's right on the bay. My job includes lifeguarding at the pool, the water slide, and the water slide, as well as working at the challenge course and the snack shack, and cleaning every dorm, conference room, and bathroom (basically, everything) after each group leaves.

I apologize for my lack of internet presence, but honestly, after working full-time in the Alabama summer heat and humidity, I need my sleep. Since we've reached the halfway point of the summer, I'll try harder to keep you all updated more frequently.

Moments of Nostalgia

Right now is one of those times. One of those bittersweet moments when you're sitting in a place you know you'll never return to. Even if you you did come back, it wouldn't be the same. I'm at a friends graduation, at a small Christian private school that I never actually attended myself. My little sister went to school here for a year, and many of my friends either graduated from this school or attended at some point. So although I've never called it mine, it still holds a special place in my heart. I know I'll probably never return, and if I ever do, I won't find the familiar faces I expect. I've had moments like this quite a bit lately, and I'm sad. Maybe I'm not as ready to move on as I thought.

My goals for the year (so far):
- Read more books.
- Keep track of the books I read.
- Make new friends.
- Make a scrapbook.
- Learn a seemingly useless but entertaining skill (boomerang, perhaps?)
- Write and produce a song.
- Learn to say "please", "thank you", and "you're welcome" in 7 new languages.

Pokemon caught: 54
Last caught: Machoke