Thursday of Thankfulness: Number 4

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Last night my parents picked me up directly after my last class of the day, and we traveled as far West as one can travel in Oregon, to my cousins and aunt and uncle in Lincoln City. Now, as I'm surrounded by wonderful family, stuffed with incredible food, on this terrific day of thanks, it is difficult to find a single thing that I am most thankful for today. I am thankful that I have a roof over my head, as I know that there are many people in this country who do not. I am thankful that I have food everyday, as I know that even more people don't have this luxury, either.
I think most of all, I am thankful for Thanksgiving day, itself. I am thankful for this day that includes both getting away and getting together, simultaneously. I am especially thankful for the traditions that we have. The turkey (though I'm not that fond of turkey), and sweet potatoes (with marshmallows on top), and mashed potatoes, and potato rolls (my mom's family's from Idaho, what can I say?), and oyster stuffing, and jello, and pumpkin pie are all wonderful traditions, but they are not the best of today's traditions. My favorite thing is waking up to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade with my sister (I like the Rockettes, she likes the bands). Then, at exactly noon every year (which typically coincides with reaching the Tacoma Dome on our way to my grandparents' house), my family listens to (and sing along to) Alice's Restaurant. These activities bring us together and remind us that no matter what happens, family is always there.
I'm so thankful for Thanksgiving. It provides me with a break in this, my first, very hectic semester. It also provides me with a chance to get together with my family (especially my cousins whom I very rarely get to see, since they moved away a few years ago).
So, today I am thankful for Thanksgiving.

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Thursday of Thankfulness: Number 3

Sorry I haven't posted all week. I am sick with a horrible cold (on top of my stupid stomach that refuses to play nicely). Anyone who's had a cold (which is everyone) understands, I'm sure, why I haven't been blogging. I'm super tired, my muscles hurt, and I can't even taste any of the food I've been eating. Still, despite this, I have something to be thankful for...
I am thankful for the internet. I know, I know. I grew up on the internet. I rely on it too much. But I also know (and oh boy do I ever know) that when there i no internet, I end up in awful places. See, last Thursday, my phone charger broke. And I didn't have a spare here at school. But my battery had died, which was why it was on the charger when I learned that the charger had broken. So, I was left phoneless for a couple days.
This put me in an awful position. How do I call home and explain that they cannot call my cell if they need to talk to me? This is where Google and all of its amazingness comes in handy. It turns out, my google account has the ability to make US phone calls for free (not that I've ever used this for prank calls or anything...). So, thanks to the internet, I was able to do just about everything my phone could do. Except text while I was in downtown Portland. Or give me the time while I was on my way to class. But everything else my phone could do, the internet could do as well.
I'm so thankful for the technology that I have been so blessed to grow up around. This technology has helped aided me in schoolwork, social interaction, and mindless entertainment. It also provides me with this blog, which is oh so much fun to create. I have no idea what I would do without the internet. Honestly. So, that is what I am thankful for: the internet.

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Thursday of Thankfulness: Number 2

Today, I am thankful for music.Be it instrumental or vocal, classical or pop, music is always there when I need it most. Creating music and listening to music are both actions of the soul, capable of altering a person's perception of the world for a lifetime.

Music is truly the love of my life. It is far more than a hobby or a past time, it is a way of living. It affects how I act, how I think, how I breath; music is in every part of my body and my soul at any given moment of any given day. And for me, there is no getting around it.

Music has been a part of my every day life since I was old enough to say the word "music." My dad, who is one of the best pianists I have ever met, instilled in me the idea that music is a gift we must share with the world. No matter what kind of day it is, we must sing or play our hearts out. At an early age I was taught the notes on the piano and how to match them in singing. I was taught to hold mallets and drum sticks; to beat rhythms on our many percussion instruments. I was taught to play chopsticks on the piano, the marimba, and the harp. I knew by the age of three what the difference was between a high note and a low note and began learning about everything found in between. In second grade, I began learning about the harp, which has been a passion of mine ever since. I also began to sing in choir when I was in fourth grade, and haven't missed an opportunity to sing since.
Music has been a constant throughout my life. It has been my form of expression as well as the way I have made the majority of my friends. When I have a bad day, music is what encourages me to keep on going. I now use practicing my harp as a reward for completing my homework assignments, a method which actually seems to work.
This week in particular has been a rather difficult week for me. Between writing and turning in major papers and studying for several tests, I have been a busy girl. And, between receiving a failing grade on a French test (I might have accidentally used the infinitive forms of verbs when they should have been conjugated in a particular tense...a huge mistake) and receiving no credit at all on my major history paper (which dropped my grade from an A to an F), it's also been a rather emotion-filled week. So, putting aside some homework assignments, I decided to hang out with my best friend, Pierre, my harp. I practiced past the point that my fingers were sore. I practiced past the point of pain and fatigue, until there was nothing else to feel but music. Then I stopped because I'd wasted too much time and needed to start working on my homework. After practicing, I felt rejuvenated. Yes, my fingers hurt, but my soul no longer hurt; I no longer felt pained about my grades and my performance in school. Music can alter the quality of life and I am tremendously grateful for the impact it has had on my life, especially during these difficult college times.

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Thursday of Thankfulness: Number 1

Since it’s November and November is the month of thankfulness, I have decided to share what I’m most thankful for, every Thursday of November. The first thing I am thankful for: my school.

My original reasons to attend the University of Portland were selfish. I started out looking only at schools on the East Coast because, simply put, I wanted to escape. I felt trapped in my hometown: trapped by the fog, trapped by its smallness, trapped by its set-in-stone values. I wanted to get away from my family, my friends, and everything previous in my life. I wanted to start over.

As my junior year of high school came to a close, my world was shaken in a way I couldn’t understand. I was suddenly forced to come to terms with the fact that life doesn’t last forever. As I came to terms with this fact, I was supported by my wonderful friends and family, the same people I had previously decided to cast aside. This made me appreciate them more and helped me to realize that I needed to be closer to them. So, I began looking for schools that were close enough to my home that I could go home if I ever needed to without being burdened by the expense of airfare, while still being far enough away that I would discover that new environment I so desperately desired. This is how I found the University of Portland. It took one look at the website to make it my second choice school (my first choice was Oberlin College in Ohio, though it was a reach). Then, when I came for a visit, I realized that not only was it the school for me, but it was home. The University of Portland provides the sense of community support that I needed. I felt honored to have been chosen to join this close community, though being accepted to the school was a long and extraordinarily stressful process. The campus was pretty but completely different from my hometown: there were crosses scattered about the campus, everyone owned bicycles, and the trees all had leaves! I quickly found myself exploring the campus with confidence and I still have that feeling today.

My second reason for choosing the University of Portland is less selfish. The University of Portland will help me serve my community. The University of Portland (students and staff) volunteers more hours each year than any other college of a similar size. There are so many opportunities to volunteer that it seems almost strange not to. I haven’t volunteered as much as I originally intended to because I simply have too many time commitments. Still, I have been serving the community as much as possible. Through the School of Education, I have been visiting a classroom for a minimum of three hours every week (as a requirement for my major in Elementary Education). To do this as a freshman is simply astonishing. I not only observe the teacher as he teaches, but I actually get to work with the students. I get help them when they need it by answering questions, providing feedback, and guiding them in their studies. I do not teach them, I help them, but simply to be able to do this is so incredible and I appreciate it immensely.

So, I am thankful for my school. I am thankful for the fact that it feels like home. I am thankful for the sense of community. I am thankful for the friends that I have made. I am thankful for the lessons I have learned in and out of the classroom. I am thankful for the opportunities the University of Portland has offered me. I am thankful that I was accepted into this school so I could learn the scholastic lessons taught to me in class and the life lessons taught to me through the school’s emphasis on community and service. I am thankful for the chance to be and proud that I am indeed a Pilot.

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Edible Jack O'Lantern

Happy Halloween everybody! In celebration of this wonderful holiday, I have created a non-traditional jack o'lantern. You see, us college folks aren't allowed to have the large knives required to carve a pumpkin. And we aren't allowed to light the candle inside the pumpkin. And we don't have a front porch to place them on. So, instead, I made this. It was fairly simple, quite delicious, and close to nutritious. So here's how it works:
First, toast a piece of bread. It doesn't necessarily have to be completely toasted (in fact, I personally prefer it that way), but it needs to be warm and fairly solid (you'll be cutting it into a pumpkin shape later...or now, if you find that easier...which you probably will).
Then, spread a very generous amount of Nutella on your piece of toast. Come on, it's Halloween, you're allowed to get a little out of control.

It'll end up looking like this (except not sideways...I have no idea why my photos sometimes turn sideways when they're being uploaded. I took this picture portrait style. There's no reason it should look like that, and it doesn't when I look at the actual file. hmmmm....maybe there's a phantom haunting my computer....Anyway,)
Next comes the fun part. Making the face. Take a banana and cut it in half length-ways. Then, cut out the curviest part of the banana and use this as the mouth. Cut out pieces to make missing teeth.

(Again, I have no idea why it appears vertically on here. The file itself is not like that. grrrrr...). Be sure to keep the stem of your banana. Now, place this on your piece of toast where you think the mouth should go. (If you haven't already cut your toast into a pumpkin-shape, make sure to keep some room so you can do this later).
Next comes the eyes. You can use whatever you want/have available for this part. I thought of using cheerios because I happen to have some, but ultimately decided on raspberries because I want to use them before they go bad. I loved how the raspberries turned out, though. It made my jack o'lantern look blood thirsty. To make eyes like mine, using raspberries, first clean your raspberry (you should only need one). Then, slice off the bottom tip. Then, slice the remaining piece in half so that you have two rings.

Now, place these on your jack o'lantern where you think the eyes should go.
For the nose, I used an oddly-shaped banana chip. But you can use whatever nose-shaped food you have lying around. Place this where you think the nose should go.
Next, cut the toast into a pumpkin shape, being careful not to cut the mouth or eyes. (if you haven't done so already).
Finally, use the step of your banana from earlier and place it at the top, so that it acts as the "pumpkin stem".
And, voila: an edible jack o'lantern.

Feel free to eat the scraps as you go (that way you are able to have all the nutrition and deliciousness of a full banana....plus, you paid for this food, why would you want to waste any of it?). And be sure to eat, enjoy, and clean up the mess. Because if you used two plates like I did, there's definitely going to be a mess. And messes like this could be the scariest part of your Halloween.

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Halloween Cereal

In honor of tomorrow's holiday, I thought I would share my favorite Halloween-related meal: breakfast. Specifically, I thought I should tell you about my favorite Halloween cereal. Every year, General Mills comes out with a line of Monster Cereals, including Count Chocula, Fraken Berry, and Boo Berry (apparently they used to have others as well, but these were discontinued before I was born). Of these, my absolute favorite is Boo Berry. Now, this is odd to me because I typically cannot stand blueberries. But for this, my taste buds make an exception.
Boo Berry Cereal is similar to Lucky Charms in that it is corn cereal with marshmallows. However, unlike Lucky Charms, the cereal doesn't taste like cardboard (though I personally don't mind the cereal-part of Lucky Charms, most people I know can't stand it). Instead, the corn cereal is blueberry flavored (thus the name "Boo Berry").
Boo Berry Cereal is, perhaps, one of my favorite things about Halloween. So, when I saw it was on sale when I was grocery shopping yesterday, I went for it. Don't worry, everything else I got was healthy, so this purchase was totally ok (alright, fine, I did buy a couple bags of candy...and white chocolate covered pretzels...and Cow Pal's cheese and bread sticks...so maybe I didn't buy only healthy things...but I did buy healthy food too, I swear!).
Actually, Boo Berry Cereal is surprisingly not all that bad for you. Comparing it to my other cereal purchase yesterday (Raisin Bran), it has fewer calories, less fat, and about the same or slightly more of nearly every vitamin and mineral on the box (with the exception of iron, since Raisin Bran boasts an impossible to beat 60% of your daily amount of iron). It's still not necessarily good for you, but it's not as unhealthy as you might assume, especially when comparing it to what you would assume to be "healthy" cereal.
Still, the reason I like Boo Berry cereal so much is not it's healthiness or unhealthiness. I like its silliness. The marshmallows and blueberry-flavored cereal are all in the shape of ghosts (with a very strange resemblance of the Pac Man ghosts). And they taste good, which is always a good benefit for food to have.

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Sometimes I Wanna Be Like Martha Stuart Without the Jail Time

My family (or at least the extended part of my mother's side) gets together about once a month to celebrate birthdays and catch up on everything from political gossip to our actual lives. This month happens to be the month of both my mom and grandma's birthdays, so on Saturday we celebrated that by getting together at my house. Which meant several things. It meant I could see my grandparents and aunts and other assorted family-friends-almost-relatives. It also meant that our house needed to be prepared for everyone to visit. This is where the girl who has nothing better to do (aka me) comes in.

Though cleaning and shopping for food are quite boring, I did create two wonderful things. The first: this bouquet of flowers:

This started with a couple sunflowers from the store, but turned into oh so much more. I added more sunflowers from the garden (which I planted back in June and was quite excited to see still in bloom when I returned from break), as well as geraniums (I think?), a branch of Japanese maple leaves (which were becoming, but still had a hint of green left in them), some hydrangea leaves (which were closer to an orangy red with a green undertone), and several pieces of red barberry bush (I think?) around the outside. I'm quite proud of this floral arrangement, especially since it is mostly composed of flowers I cared for.

The other thing I'm quite proud of is the cake. I used a Betty Crocker brand French Vanilla cake mix and Pillsbury Whipped Vanilla frosting, but I'm mostly proud of the design. I learned over the summer how to do lattice work on a cake as well as cool borders (though I couldn't do a very cool border because the tube I was using to pipe the frosting was not cooperating). This simply takes the proper tools and a steady hand, which I've been working on. I also learned a couple weeks ago how to decorate the sides of a cake (which has been bothering me for years because it looks so cool but I never could figure out how to do it properly). Apparently, all you do is wash your hands very well and dry them completely; then take about 2/3 of a handful of sprinkles, chopped nuts, or whatever and gently pat it against the sides of the cake. It's important to have some waxed paper beneath the cake to catch whatever falls off the cake. Using a cake pedestal helps as well. I found quite a few videos on youtube on how to do this actually rather simple technique. After the wonderful candles supplied by my aunt, this is what the cake looked like:

When I was finished with both of these (and in a clean-ish house), I felt Martha Stuart-esque, which is quite an awesome feeling. She and Bree Hodge are my power women with all her clever creations (though I do not condone either one's poor personal judgement...hem hem...prison...hem hem...alcoholism...hem hem).

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