Expect The Unexpected

    Growing up in my family, vacations were never exactly standard. To begin, my dad is a pilot and used to fly commercially. This occupation brought a certain chache when it came to traveling. He would often fly my family in our small private airplane. While that may sound extraordinarily glamorous, it's not as fancy as most probably imagine. However, growing up, this was just the norm for me.
    One difference between the airline and our small airplane is assurance. Usually, when a friend tells you they're going on vacation, they can tell you for sure where and when they are going. When a friend asks me where I'm going on vacation, very often my answer will be something like "well...we're thinking East coast. But we're not sure, we may end up going out West instead." When they ask when I'll be leaving for my trip, my answer will almost always be along the lines of "No idea...we might not even end up going if the weather changes." So as one may imagine, we've gone on our fair share of adventures in our small plane. Several times, a trip we've been planning for months gets completely ruined by the unreliability of the weather. Even more often, it just leads to unexpected adventures. So you could say that I've had to get used to "flying by the seat of my pants" when it comes to vacations.
     About a week ago, my grandma began talking about cruises and got a wistful look on her face. If it were up to her, she would spend her golden years traveling the world. However, my grandpa doesn't exactly have the same plans. That day, I saw ads for cheap last minute cruises. I looked into it, just for fun, and found several options that looked like they could maybe fit our busy schedule. Though I didn't think anything would come of it. However, as of Friday, we have airline tickets booked for Copenhagen, Denmark and cruise ship cabins booked to leave on Tuesday. If someone told me that was hasty or spontaneous I would say "why yes, it is" with a proud smile on my face.
    Friday morning, my expectation was to be in Boston this week visiting my sister. However, maybe it was due to the shift in the winds or fate or whatever you may want to say, now I am expecting to be in Northern Europe this week. Who even knows what will end up happening? All I know is that I'll enjoy the ride and have some great stories to tell when I get back.

When You Feel Sad...

     It's been an interesting few weeks since I last posted a blog entry. I had some of the best days of my life, and probably some of the worst as well. I've had a ton of fun, been incredibly happy, been incredibly stressed, felt extraordinarily confused. However, that description is probably pretty standard for life in general. Cycles of happiness and sadness. But, I've found the cure. Yes, it's revolutionary and something no one's ever thought of before, I am sure of it.
    So are you ready to hear my secret? Keep in mind, this is not a permanent fix for sadness, however it is a temporary solution. Okay, here it is...
Stop.
Being.
Sad.
Be.
Happy.
Instead.
That is all.
     When things seem so bad, and you just cannot stop thinking about whatever it is that's making you sad, STOP BEING SAD! Now, I know what you're thinking, that's much easier said than done. Well, luckily, I've come up with a few steps you can take in order to ward off these bad feelings that get you down.
1. Embrace the power of music. The right song can change your mood at the drop of a hat. That may be a cliche, but trust me, don't waste your time on angsty music that just makes you feel more sad. Use those songs that make you want to dance and sing to your heart's content.
2. Food. Another huge cliche, but seriously, you're sad, these are the moments for your version of comfort food. Whether that be ice cream, pickles, chocolate, just go for it.
3. Things that are self-fulfilling. Exercising, studying, learning a new skill, a big project. Anything that gives a feeling of accomplishment.
4. My biggest suggestion, and probably what is the most effective: Friends. Surround yourself with the people you love who will make you laugh and smile. It's moments like these when you realize how invaluable your friends and family really are.

On another note, I've had a lot of crazy stuff been going on in my life lately, and I wrote down subjects I wanted to talk about at one point or another, but never got to writing an entry on, so those will trickle in in the next few blogs.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Pancakes

    We go to school for eight hours a day. Eight class periods of lectures, tests, quizzes, projects, basically cramming as much knowledge as your brain can take. Needless to say, I think the average high school student's mind is mildly fried by the end of a full day of school. This is why I think that everyone should have a lunch period. If I took eight classes straight through the day, I'm not sure what I would do. My lunch period is what I look forward to in my day. It's a time when I can shut off my mind for 49 minutes, sit with my friends, and let my brain ease off of overdrive.
    I'm going to preface the beginning of this story with the fact that I sit with three of my favorite people in the world during my lunch. They're the kind of friends I don't really have to worry about what I say when I'm around, because no matter how stupid it may be, we can all just laugh about it. Now, we may not have the most intellectual conversations in the world...but that doesn't meant that they're not the most entertaining in the world. We spent our entire lunch period today inserting the word "pancake" into movie titles, band names, etc. For example, Blink 182 becomes Blink 18pancake. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows becomes Harry Potter and the Deathly Pancakes. Sir Mix A Lot is Sir Mix A Pancake. I could go on and on.
    When I told my Mom about this lunch conversation, she gave me that "you're a stupid teenager" face. We've all gotten it from our parents at one point or another. But honestly, I don't care that those 49 minutes consisted of possibly the most pointless conversation of my life. During this time, I did not have a stressful thought about my upcoming physics test. I didn't dwell on the fact that I haven't started studying for AP tests yet. All I did, was think of great movie titles that we could drizzle in butter and syrup. Everyone needs to have a time in their day when they can kick back, let go of their worries, and simply discuss The Girl With The Pancake Tattoo.

Hopping Down The Bunny Trail

     Happy Easter to all! At the moment, I hope that you're scouring your house or backyard for hidden pastel eggs, or indulging in your basket full of chocolate, or sharing a wholesome brunch with people that you love. However, is it just me, or is Easter one of those holidays that I just forget about. There's nothing wrong with it, it's a perfectly lovely holiday. We get Friday off of school, I love treasure hunts, and I love brunch. So what is it that makes this holiday so forgettable to me?
     I've pondered the memorability of this holiday several times, and I've come to one conclusion. There are just too many darn things I don't understand about the holiday! Obviously, Easter is quite the religious holiday. Coming from a religiously neutral family doesn't really help me in understanding the technical aspects as to what happened on this day that made it so special. I know that it starts with Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), where you feast and party and sin until the sun goes down. Then on Ash Wednesday, Lent begins, where you give up something you regularly indulge in. Then there's Good Friday, which who even knows what's happening on that day? Then on Easter Sunday, Lent is over and an over sized bunny invades your home and leaves eggs. Excuse me for being confused.
     Now this brings me to my biggest confusion. The eggs. If it's an Easter Bunny that is leaving you these little treats...why the heck is he leaving you eggs? Am I the only one who's perplexed by this? Bunny's do not lay eggs. Where did they get these eggs? Were they stolen? Is the Easter bunny really a bandit, nabbing eggs from innocent birds' nests?
     Don't get me wrong, I really do like Mardi Gras, and Good Friday, and Easter, and all that jazz; they're very enjoyable holidays. It's just that every year it seems they just sneak up on me. I'm always counting down to holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, however Easter just seems to go right under my nose every year. In order to cure this lapse in memory, I think it's about time I do some reading up on the true significance of Easter. We've all heard the Christmas stories told and retold since before we can remember. We know the tale of the first Thanksgiving by heart. Now I think it's the Easter Bunny's turn, it's time to learn about his origins and culture.

You Can Pick Your Friends, But You Can't Pick Your Family

   Everyone who knows me knows that I'm pretty big on family. Being honest, my parents and sisters are some of my best friends. We're one of those families that eats dinner together every night, we tell each other about our days, spend weekends going to restaurants and movies together, etc. Usually when I tell friends about how much I love my family, they look upon it with envy. However, there is another element to family that they don't take into account. Extended family.
    It's Easter weekend, so naturally, a lot of my friends' families are getting together. So all day Thursday, all I heard was how much my friends love their cousins. They tell me that their cousins are some of their best friends, they love spending time with them, their aunts are like second mothers to them, they can't believe their extended family lives so far away. Unfortunately, my extended family isn't quite as close.
   I realize that every family - no exceptions - have that crazy uncle, or eccentric grandma, or something of the sort. Everyone has their family drama they have to deal with. However, my extended family happens to have a lot of that kind of drama. Luckily, my parents, sisters, and I try to stay out of it as much as we can. But regardless of what we may want to think, they are our family. They're our flesh and blood, however hard that may be to accept. Dealing with family drama is never fun or easy. For the most part, in my case, it's just embarrassing and extremely disappointing. However, at some point, I realized that I just have to accept that it is what it is. You can pick your friends, but you cannot pick your family, as hard as you may try.
    In times of family drama, I try to keep in mind how much I adore other aspects of my family. I shove thoughts of scandal and heartache out of my head, and replace it with good times we've had, and the better times that will come in the future. Sometimes it can be difficult not to roll your eyes at family dinners when your crazy aunt goes on a rant about subjects far passed everyone's comfort zone. But you just have to accept that everyone has their own brand of family crazy, and that is the rule, not the exception.

The Friday Of All Fridays

Hello! As most of you hopefully know, it is once again the beautiful day of the week: Friday. However, I myself just realized. It was Friday a few minutes ago. Usually I wouldn't forget such an important fact, but I am currently in the midst of the amazing week that is spring break. And with that, I begin my list of thoughts.
1. I tend to jumble what day it is while on vacation.
2. I spend all winter telling myself that I don't care that I'm as pale as pale can be, but then when I gt tan, I begin to seriously question that mentality.
3. Pillow Pets are so much comfier than they're given credit for, I sleep on my Tigger pillow pet just about every night.
4. The restaurant Earl of Sandwich needs to be brought to the Midwest - I had their BBQ ham and pineapple Hawaiian sandwich tonight, and I'm salivating just at the thought of it.
5. Anything that has to do with natural disasters scares me way more than mythical thrills like goblins or ghouls - tornadoes, fires, earthquakes, etc.
6. Soft pretzels and ice cream make the best meals when at a theme park.
7. One of my very best friends who moved away and I haven't seen in over a year is going to be in the same city as me tomorrow, yet I'm still not going to get to see her due to extremely bad timing.
8. People with two different eye colors absolutely fascinate me, but I've only encountered two in my lifetime - the second encounter being today.
9. I saw my second shooting star a few days ago.
10. Life is butiful and I really wish I realized that more often.

Friday Facts

      Yes, I am aware that my posts have been few and far between lately. I'd like to say it's because I've been particularly busy, but in truth, I've just had too many thoughts. I have all of these different ideas for blog posts, and I can never choose which to expand on first. So in order to alleviate myself from this overload of thoughts, I've decided it would be a good idea to every Friday, make a list of at least twenty random things that are running through my mind. That way, it'll all just be out there, and hopefully you'll find it somewhat entertaining as well.

So here goes...

1. I think this is the first year I've really appreciated Spring weather.

2. www.rainymood.com is fantastic. I put it on as well as music for background noise, and the result is amazing.
3. I feel like I accomplish WAY more in a day when I wake up early than when I sleep in.
4. My life is slowly beginning to revolve around choices of the future, and that's scaring me.
5. I'm part of the .5% of my school who did NOT see The Hunger Games midnight premier, but I get to see it today, so I'm still excited!
6. I find rainy weather to be generally inspiring.
7. The song "Red Solo Cup" is everything that is wrong with our country.
8. The song "Call Me Maybe" is everything that is right with our country (not really, but it is catchy).
9. The new Footloose movie was good, but nothing in comparison to the original.
10. Shrek and The Parent Trap have some of the best movie soundtracks in all history.
11. Lately I've been plagued with nightmares every night.
12. I live for random acts of kindness.
13. I don't know if I've ever been as shocked at a piece of clothing until I saw a sweatshirt that featured a picture of a giraffe and next to it were the words: "Moo, I'm a goat."
14. On really clear nights, when I look up at the starts, I sometimes feel like I'm in a planetarium, and these are the only times I get the true sense that the Earth is round and spinning.
15. I've taken exponentially less pictures this year than I have any other.
16. I love having painted nails but I hate painting them.
17. This time last year, I was in Italy touring the Colosseum.
18. There are a select few songs that the instant I hear them, my whole body just becomes calm and happy. This list includes "Beyond The Sea" by Frank Sinatra, "Hallelujah" by Rufus Wainwright,  "Club 33 Music Loop Part 4", "Drops of Jupiter" by Train, among others.
19. Wearing a pearl necklace makes me feel instantly classier.
20. No matter how long my sister visits from college, it never seems like it's long enough.

Phew! That was a lot of thoughts, and man do I feel better. I hope that they may have spurred on a few thoughts of  your own.