Pictures of Ohio and Random Things

I spent July 9th-13th visiting my pen pal, Amy, whom I had never met before, at her house in Ohio. We had a fantastic time playing games, drinking tea, eating amazing homemade pumpkin pie (and cookies. lots of cookies), watching movies, and talking about various interesting subjects. It was a very fun and new experience, made even more so by the fact that this was my first time flying alone. I ran into no snags at all until I went through security in the Cleveland airport on my way home. They hand-searched my carry-on and found a pocketknife that I had totally forgotten was in there, and gave me several options as to what to do with it; in the end, I told them to just toss it. But what I found amazing at best and scary at worst was that they did not catch a pocketknife in a carry-on in the Baltimore airport...?

I took over 100 pictures and thought I would post a few of them for your enjoyment. :) All of these were taken at the Kingwood Center, a mansion with extensive outdoor gardens, greenhouses, and wandering peacocks.

The mansion

A fire hydrant that amused me...

One of two peacocks we saw

I wonder what the occasion for naming this one was...?

A wreath made out of cacti -cool or what?

I love these titles...

Inside the mansion

A late-evening snack on the my last night. Amy got kiwis especially for me, since she knows they're my favorite fruit. It made me very happy. :)

Amy's Venus Flytrap, otherwise known as Maggie.

A sunset outside the Fabers' house.

My favorite chair at the Fabers' house. :)

A picture Lindsey took while we were hiking at a forest park in Virginia:

A picture I took of one of my fellow Ravelians, at our dress rehearsal for "Beatlemania":

My collection of unusual erasers. There are over thirty of them and they include flowers, stars, rainbows, golden retrievers, parrots, penguins, carrots, purple pointe shoes, elephants, turtles, bears, tigers, butterflies...etc. Six of them are from Japan. (No, I am not normal.)

Photo Survey

This is a fun survey that I first did several years ago. For each category, answer with a picture found on Google Images. Enjoy!

1. Where You Live

2. Favorite color

3. Where are you going on vacation next?

4. What shoes do you wear the most?

5. Favorite TV show?

6. Where do you go to school?

7. Favorite Movie (this is only one of them - I have many)

8. Where do you shop the most? (I don't think I shop one place any more than another, so here's one of them)

9. What kind of cell phone do you have?

10. Favorite food? (I have too many.)

11. Favorite drink? (among others)

12. What type of pets do you have?

13. Favorite restaurant

14. Favorite band/group/singer (I have too many. Here's one of them.)

15. Something that can always be found in your purse/bag?

16. Favorite actors (ok, so I have a lot...)

17. Favorite actress

Life and All Its Intricacies

I began to compile my bucket list (a list of goals to accomplish before one kicks the bucket) a little over a year ago. I now have a folder in my room entitled "The Bucket Files", which currently holds my bucket list, results of a career test I took, my checklist for what I want my future husband to be like, college paraphenalia, and other future-related items. In addition to the Bucket Files, I also have a list of all the countries I want to visit, a list of future ambitions (potential career paths which are not found on my bucket list), and various other lists lying around my house in several of my many notebooks.

My problem is that I just want to do too much. I am way too ambitious for myself; every time I write a to-do list, thinking "Hey, this will be easy to finish!", I usually find that it takes me most of the day just to check off one of the items. Am I slow? Probably, and I often underestimate the amount of time needed to complete certain tasks. Take yesterday, for example. I had compiled myself a nice to-do list of things related both to school stuff I needed to take care of, and to extracurricular activities. I thought, sure, I can read two chapters of history, write a paragraph on Pericles' funeral oration, catch up on some math, write a letter, start my art homework, and write two emails in roughly ten hours - no problem! Ha. As it turned out, I managed to read one chapter of history and start on the Pericles paragraph, and due to family events (like dinner...) and an errand, that was it. You think that's bad? Wait till you see the plans I have for my life.

Currently, my bucket list is composed of the following:

• Become fluent in three languages. (Yes, English counts as one of them.)
• Learn to play the violin.
• Step foot in every country of the world. (Totally crazy, I know, but notice I need only step foot in every country - not necessarily spend any time there.)
• Spend 1 week in every continent.
• Travel into space. (As an ignorant passenger, not an astronaut.)
• Hug an orphan.
• Go skydiving. (If you want to come with us, let Lindsey or I know.)
• Go bungee jumping. (Whose idea was this...?)
• Sing in front of 1,000 people.
• Publish a novel.
• Travel to all 50 states. (Lindsey and I are planning an epic road trip in the summer of 2012. Again, let us know if you want to meet us at Disneyland.)
• Be able to do 32 fouettes flawlessly on pointe. (Darn, I forgot about this one...)
• Watch at least one Olympic event live.

And, of course, I'll probably keep adding things to the list. Notice that none of this has even begun to touch on marriage, family, or career. I did mention I was crazy, right?

So, for the most part, those are just my fun ambitions in life. But the other day I got thinking about what I want to remembered for. It didn't take too long for the light bulb to go on. I am such an optimistic idealist, and therefore pessimists totally escape my understanding. I love life and I believe that God has given me the ability to see beauty in the world, even in the midst of apparent hopelessness. So I thought, if even one person could tell me that I opened their eyes and helped them see the possibilities of life and all the beauty that's to be found in the world if we only look around - I think I would be satisfied.

Lastly, partly inspired by the devotional "Pure" by Rebecca St. James, I wrote my life mission statement in February: "With everything I am, for every day from now on, I want to use everything I have to glorify everything He is."

I don't want to look back at my life and regret not doing enough. And then again, is it even possible to do too much in your life? Is it possible to have too much fun or to love on other people too much? I don't think so. Nor do I intend to live like it is.

Four Lessons Learned About Happiness from Being Cinderella

1. Successfully improving at something is far more satisfying than already being great at it. For the first couple of months of rehearsals, I had to really work on being softer and more gentle when I danced. According to my dance teacher, I looked too strong to come across as a vulnerable character like Cinderella. It's funny, because I had thought that acting the character would be easy for me, but it took me a long time to really get into it. But in retrospect, I'm glad that I didn't have everything down and perfect right from the start. It was much more fulfilling to be told that I was finally softening up and starting to feel the part.

2. Invest in the people you're with. Building them up will build you up. This year, I got to partner a great, perpetually cheerful guy, and I got to spend a lot of time with all my crazy, amazing friends at dance. The whole production wouldn't have been half as much fun if it hadn't been for the people I was with. We all laughed together and encouraged each other about our various dances, which really helped to ease any tension there might have been and to make the environment more pleasant. While we're all here because of our common interest in dance, if we had only focused on dance and ignored each other, we would have missed out on the whole point.

3. Do what you love and love what you do. Do the things you enjoy and the things which make you find fun and meaning in life. And if you find yourself doing something you do not like, find something to like about it. There's always a bright spot, even if it takes a while to find it. As Night at the Museum 2 would have it, the key to happiness is doing what you love, with the people you love.

4. Smiling makes everything easier. And a lot less awkward. And a whole lot more fun.

One of My Favorite Places in the World

In March, my parents went up to New York to pack up my grandparents' house after they both moved into nursing homes. I stayed at the home of one of my closest friends for the week, which was a very fun experience. I, being a homeschooler, did school while my friend went to high school, and I kept her company in the evenings while she did homework. Her mom (who fed me very well) and I talked about various things throughout the day. I loved being at their bright, cheerful, eclectic house, which I tell them how much I like every time I go over. Here are a few pictures so you can get a feel for it.

The living room, with a few of its decorations (above and below).

A display in the basement. My friend's mom painted the picture. Check out her website, www.katerinasdesigns.com.

My friend loves cats, hence the awesome painting of tiger eyes in her room.

Again, the living room.