Tis the Season

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Can you believe it?  It's almost Christmas!  I'm almost sad because the time is passing too fast!  Here's some things I did at the beginning of the month to get things started.  I didn't really have much time because of school, running, and the speed of life, but I forced myself to take time away and do some seasonal preparations!

One night I wrapped cut outs of an empty cereal box (because the cardboard is thin) in my two new Peanuts wrapping paper to make bookmarks.

I went to school all Peanut-ed out!  My shirt matched my Tervis, and I also wore a Christmas ribbon, Santa earrings, and Christmas socks.

The first time I tried eggnog, I thought it was nasty.  Way too thick.  However, last year I tried the kind from one of my favorite "fancy" brands, Bolthouse Farms, and it is lighter, healthier, and tastier!  Mixed with a couple extra things, it makes amazing milkshakes, too!

After I finally finished decorating my tree after several days of adding ornaments here and there, I sat down on my bed to just take in the view.

The seasonal scents and such that are available during the holidays excite me.

Here is all my pepperminty things with a couple of mom's ornaments from the kitchen.  The little raccoon on the lotion is a different addition.  I like it!

Yummy gingerbread!  I think this scent is my favorite.  I really think that they should come out with a gingerbread lotion!  I would for sure buy it over any of the others.

Snowmen and winter candy apples
Aren't those nail files cute?

This is one of the classic Christmas scents, but it has lasted a long time!  Very popular.  I like the designs with the skis.

MARSHMALLOWS!
Love them(:
The pictures are precious, too.  More that I will keep to add to my collage of course.

New month, new calendar page!
"Jesus said, 'I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.  Do you believe this?'"  John 11:25-26

BEST candle scent I've ever had!  Pumpkin Pecan Waffles.
Tree decorating really puts you in the spirit, but it can also be frustrating!  These hooks are so difficult to separate!

Yay for holiday Build-a-Bears!  (and a few other stuffed animals, too)

Christmas decorating is half the fun.  It really gets me going for the whole season!

December also means the time for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.  The youth group at church started a couple years ago selling mugs, coffee, hot chocolate, cappuccino, and apple cider on Sunday mornings in between services and Sunday Schools to raise money that 100% goes to the offering.  We get donations of the drinks and mixes and cups, which is so kind and helpful.  It's also fun and spirit-filling for us who get to give it out, too!

Yay for the JOY cups!  I had a free medium drink coupon for my birthday from Dunkin Donuts, and it expired on this day, November 30th, but I was not about to let it go to waste!  After church I drove into town and picked up my cup of cheer.

Here's some more things I love to see come out of the cabinet-holiday dishes!

These aren't really holiday I guess, but Target is very holiday, and that is where I got these new snacks!

 

What are some of your favorite things to get you into the Christmas spirit?

2+1/2 Weeks and Counting

After the break for Good Friday, we had 2 and a half weeks left.  It doesn't seem like long, but there was way too much to do in that little bit of time.  We made it though!

Saturday, May 3rd was our IMAC conference track meet that we hosted at school.  It was a nice sunny day, but not too warm, and pretty windy.  I got some sun, but since the temps were only in the 60s and there was wind, I never really broke a sweat.  The races this season always start out with the 4x800, and I was a part of it sometimes.  I'm not a very good short-distance runner, but I'm trying to get there.  For this meet, we had two regulars from this event then Haylea and me as well.  I did get my best time in this event so far, so that was an improvement.  I love this picture of us as conference champs!  On the right is Emily, one of the best 800 runners in the state, then Haylea who is going to King University in the fall to run cross country and track, then me, and Cherie who has one more year with Emily and me in high school.  Later in the afternoon, I also claimed wins and conference records in the 1600 and 3200.  It was a beautiful day!  This meet was actually done before dinner time, so we had time to relax, eat, and get home at a normal time!

Monday morning was my first AP test for this year in Psychology.  An awesome thing my school does when a student has an AP test is excusing them from any other classes for the day.  So if you have an afternoon test, you can just walk in around lunch time, or if you have a morning test, you can just leave when you're done!  AP Psychology was the afternoon test on this day, so I slept in a little then went on my run for the day.  Then I came home and ate lunch/breakfast before leaving for school.  The test seemed easier than I expected, which is always a good thing to see on test day!

I am a part of a social club at my school called Sub Debs, and each year we have a "hell week" for the new pledges, freshmen.  This year they had to dress up like grandma's for the week-no make up or showers either.  (If you play a sport, you can rinse).  Each day, the girls have 2 people that they have to bring a small gift of their choosing.  The first day, I got a gift from one of my since-preschool best friend's little sister, Gracey, who is a sweetheart.  I asked her the day before for a Luna Smores protein bar and her favorite Bible verse, which you can see is Proverbs 17:17.

Day 2 of hell week was from another girl I have known a long time through basketball and cross country and track with her and her brother, Quintin.  Abby is also super sweet and cheery, so I was excited to have her on my call list!  I asked her for some fresh pineapple and a Bible verse, and she also included a little note with it.  Her verse was Ephesians 4:32.

Wednesday's gift was a box of Honey Nut Cheerios!  Each day, I wanted a gift that I knew I would have bought sometime anyways, so I would just save myself a few bucks.  I love my cereal.

Since I am only a sophomore, my gift-receiving only went through Thursday, but Molly, who I go to church with, brought me 2 of my favorite drinks:  Yumberry Pomegranate Life Water. 

The next Tuesday, I had another AP test in Government and Politics.  This test was in the morning, so I got to leave when I finished.  One of my best friends, Katlyn, and I decided to go ahead and do our speed workout before lunch so we could get done and get home.  It was the hottest, most humid day we had so far in the year, and I could tell!  I got sunburt, too, even only being out there around and hour and a half.  It was a combination in 4 sets of 600s, 400s, and 200s.  The elementary schools also had some of their "top athletes" there competing against each other in their first annual elite fitness day, where they did all kinds of running events.  Katlyn and I got to see many people we know, including parents and kids, even Katlyn's little sister and our beloved cross country coach who has a daughter who was also out there running.  That being said, we had lots of spectators for our workouts.  Katlyn would be racing different events than I would be, so we did our own workouts, but were still there to encourage each other, and got to talk to Coach Farmer in between reps, which helped us feel better going through it.  He was a pleasant surprise!  By the end of that workout, I was exhausted!  After that I went home to grab some lunch, then cleaned up and got ready to go to Regency to have dinner with my grandmother, this beautiful lady in orange.

I have so many great memories with this woman.  She is such a strong lady who has been through so much.  I never got to meet her husband because he died before my mom even got to meet him, and she has been through 3 rounds of cancer.  It has made her much weaker and slower day by day, but I still think she is precious.  I enjoy getting to visit her and see her smile and be so glad to see me.  All her friends there enjoy my company, too.  She always says their food is really bad, but I don't think all of it is!  Hopefully me being there eating it will help her think it isn't so bad.  They provide great care at Regency.  This picture actually came from a visit the week before this, when I went to the annual mother-daughter banquet.

Sweet and simple, we as children of God are called to "live a life of love."

Finding new, yummy, healthy additions to my meals always interests me.  Bolthouse Farms is a great brand I've gotten a lot from over the past year, and anything with honey draws my attention, so I got this yogurt honey mustard dressing to have with my grilled chicken salads!

World Vision, where I sponsor a young girl in Ecuador, did a twitter hashtag #WorldVisionSponsor to get "selfies" of sponsors holding pictures of their children to share on their website on Facebook page.  This is the picture I tweeted holding pictures of Alicia and her family.

I just think my dog is so cute, even though he gets absolutely disgusting rolling in the dirt at home.  However, he does clean up nice after a bath.

A Typical Day of my Christmas Break

These are the days that I think of as a stereotypical Christmas Break day for me.  Sleeping in, exercise, a nice breakfast, computer time, playing Wii, reading, and dinner.

Yesterday was just that!  Except we went to Walmart, too.



After I did a morning workout, I got to try out one of my new Christmas presents, a griddle!  I'd been asking for one for a while, so that I could have friends over and make us a bunch of pancakes and maybe even eggs.  These were some more pumpkin ones.  I had one lonely Kashi waffle left in the freezer, so I also added the toppings to it and ate it, too.  Pumpkin, pumpkin butter, spices, honey, and sugar free syrup are just the right toppings.

I found this at Walmart, and it is so tasty!  Just the right balance of eggnog and vanilla to make it not-too-strong, but right to my taste.  Healthier, too!

I got the Just Dance for Christmas and bought the Zumba the previous day at Target.  I love these dancing games, because I enjoy having fun while exercising, so dancing is the fun.  This is how I pass extra afternoon time I have before dinner on breaks from school. 

I put my new eggnog drink to good use after dinner!  I made my own vanilla eggnog protein shake using the eggnog of course, vanilla extract, protein powder, vanilla almond milk, vanilla bean frozen yogurt, and boston cream pie yogurt, adding in some cinnamon and nutmeg.  Delish!

This is the next book I have started reading after I finished Jantsen's Gift by Pam Cope. This is the book I bought and got autographed at the concert a little over a month ago.  A fairly different story, it is still hitting me hard!  I love reading about true life stories.  Jeremy came from a background that you would not expect.  His faith in God is so amazing and admirable, and the way he trusts God through struggles and the unknown is so inspiring.  He really has put to use the gifts that God blessed him with.  His love for others and his wife is also something to take note of.  This is the kind of man I want for my husband.  Jeremy is a fantastic role model for all men out there!  Hearing his story and knowledge of God really hits my heart, and I believe it will yours, too.

Cocoa Coffee Almond Butter Banana Protein Smoothie

Here is another recepie I made with the Bolthouse Farms drink.  Some of my favorite treats are also in this shake!  I took it for breakfast to school earlier in the week.

 

These are the ingreedients I blended up:

cocoa powder

almond butter

vanilla protein powder

Bolthouse Farms mocha cappuccino

a little each of whole and unsweet vanilla almond milk

a banana

Stonyfield dark chocolate frozen yogurt

Stonyfield chocolate under vanilla yogurt

<<<The finished product on my desk in first block Physical Science!

Dark Chocolate Coffee Pancakes

Here is the first thing I made with the Bolthouse Farms drinks. These delicious pancakes are made with Bolthouse Mocha Cappuccino, coffee, chopped dark chocolate chips, cocoa powder, and whole grain batter. Tastes great with honey and sugar free syrup and a cup of coffee!

Bolthouse Farms Drinks

Sunday at Ingles I found some tasty looking new drinks I wanted to try. They are so healthy and come in bookoos of flavors!  I chose these two to go in smoothies, shakes, and mixes. I'll post some ideas when I make them!