Remember That One Time In Greece...

I received one of my best Christmas presents ever this past year.  In a manila envelope.  Enclosed in that envelope was a proposition of sorts.  Each of us, my siblings and I (the elder three of the Lopi* clan) were given three destination options.Which, after having picked one, we would then visit and explore with the leader of our clan (otherwise known as Dad).  This was a chance to visit someplace new without the occasional inconvenience caused by traveling with a larger family that contains little ones that find naps a necessity.  Plus, we also got to decide which activities we would enjoy while on our weekend adventure.  After mulling it over for a couple of days, we three made our decision.  Isaac was going to Scotland (where he promptly bought himself a kilt), Abi chose Ireland (the accents may have been of some influence) and I was off to Greece.

Crete was the specific destination that I decided upon.  And our fun filled adventure didn't even wait till we actually arrived to begin.  Being the creative pair that we are, we spent an hour and a half imagining up creative back-stories for our fellow passengers before getting on the plane.  Now that's good fun right there.

 Other adventures included searching for mini minotaurs in many Minoan ruins.

Go ahead. Say that five times fast.

He made me sit in the open-air Minoan class room.  I had just completed finals at the time.  Now you understand the face.

The food was amazing.  I love Greek food to begin with, but eating Greek food in Greece is even better.  We enjoyed traditional lamb dishes, gyros, and the occasional shot of raki in and around the bustling square of the town where we stayed.

We discovered more ruins including a tumbled down olive press which was connected to a monastery  and a church that contained age old paintings of Saint George and the dragon, and the disciples.

  And the beaches.  How I loved the beaches for so many reasons.

I loved them for the countless colors of blue and green that were mixed in the water.  I loved them for the sounds, the feeling of sand between my toes and sun on my shoulders (and the back of my knees the next day... Always reapply sunscreen, kids).

I loved the fact that, at this particular beach (Elafonisi) we were able to escape the crowds and find a stretch of beach that we could claim as our own for the afternoon.

All in all, Dad and I decided that God gets two thumbs up for this one.  He did good.  And I will always remember my trip to Greece and His amazing creation that I got to experience.

Romans 1:20

-- RML

*Lopi rhymes with octopi and is the official pluralization of Lopez.  A public service announcement.

Planning Great and Marvelous Plans

I find new things to be fun and inspiring, sort of like the color yellow..
Other new things aren't so fun and inspiring and like the color yellow, but a little tiny bit scary.  Today, however, I'm focusing on the good and inspiring new things.
My dear friend gave me a scrap journal a few weeks ago to fill throughout my last year at home.  It took all of my self-control to keep from filling it in the first week with things I already have.  I managed to confine myself to pasting all over only the first few pages as a "recap" of the important events of the past six months.

I'm excited to print new pictures, buy new tickets, visit new places and collect a new take-out menu here and there this year.  I anticipate the day years from now when I pull out this book, full to bursting, and thumb through wonderful memories.

But now is the time of great and marvelous plans.  And I quite enjoy great and marvelous plans.  I like thinking out all the details and the lists and the over-ambitious portions of the plans that I know will never happen but that's okay because they sure are exciting to dream about.

Currently, I'm busy planning my birthday party four months in advance.  Along with a senior appreciation dinner/dance that won't happen till March.  Christmas present ideas are whirling around in my brain.  College room decorations!  A trip to Australia with my friend once we've both graduated (a bit soon, I know).  But it's all about the planning for me, even if things don't always work out to every single detail.  The process is what I love.
Then, after the planning, there's the doing and after the doing there's the scrap journaling and after the scrap journaling there's the remembering.
And look.  We've come full circle, folks.

-- RML

Guess Who's Back!

Well hullo again, internet world!  How I've missed you!  And my productive self.  And my scheduled days... my early-to-bed nights.  My healthy eating habits?  ...Maybe.
Summer has been fantastic.  It always amazes me how I plan on being lazy and doing nothing all summer and then my schedule fills up and I find myself  dashing around doing everything that could possibly be done.
Okay. Maybe not everything.
But there were trips and travels: to Greece and the States.  There were many pool visits and shopping trips with friends.  Summer walks and mornings at the gym; camp outs and giant games of hide-and-seek tag.  S'mores and lemonade, American food and Cretan cuisine, ice cream and popcorn.  Another trip to the gym. ;)
Like I said, this summer was a good summer.
(Flashbacks and pictures to come.)
And now I sit here, realizing how fast time has flown.
Last week I began my last year of highschool.  A year that promises to be full of both "lasts" and "firsts".  My last year of classes at home and with my online school.  My very first college and scholarship applications!  My last year of sharing a room with my dear sister.  My first ever year of participating in PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel) bible studies.
I am extremely excited for what this year will bring.

And hopefully I will be motivated enough to keep my little space of internet up to date on senior life.

Ciao for now.

RML

Once Upon Two Summers Ago...

Rediscovered journals hold the most wonderful memories...

July 10^th, 2011

Dear diary,

I did not pack enough socks. Only three days of camp completed and I am down to my last pair. Rain has been falling sporadically since we arrived. Our hike inside the gorge yesterday was quite enjoyable, once you got over the fact that your feet were going to be soaked no matter how hard you tried to dodge the puddles and waterfalls. And today we completed a high ropes course before being driven under cover by the usual mid-afternoon thunder storm which, although it has become the norm, is quite fascinating to experience.

So far there have been no major injuries. During the gorge hike there were little slips and stumbles that resulted in nothing worse than a bruised and wet backside, one of the boys cut himself the other afternoon while carving his bear claws, and our big metal pot has burned several people with its one misleadingly cool handle, but, thankfully, nothing extreme or life-threatening has occurred.

Tomorrow we plan on hiking the Kramer. A monstrous mountain of doom that looms over our campsite, constantly reminding us of the challenges we will face while attempting to reach the peak. I just hope that by then my thick socks will have dried out ...

July 12^th, 2011

Dear Diary,

I will attempt to jot this entry down as quickly as I can before the bus appears. It is currently 6:45 am and my fellow Venturers and myself have showered, cooked and eaten breakfast, and finished cleaning up our dirty dishes (including the extremely messy bacon and foil incident). Now we are simply waiting for our bus to arrive and carry us off on our next adventure; passing the time by applying last minute layers of sunscreen and bugspray, sprinting back up to our campsite for a forgotten notebook, and playing a few games of ladder ball with some Scouts. The sky is looking deceptively clear and bright blue today, though I am quite positive the pleasant weather will not last.

Yesterday, our hike was not interupted by any rain at all, which was a relief. The trail would have been a jumble of mud and slippery rocks had it stormed during or even before we began the trek. Unfortunately, we did not reach the summit. We were running low on water by the time we arrived at the rest-stop about 300 meters of steep climbing and no shade from the peak. Upon reviewing our situation, the amount of water versus the distance to be covered, along with the number of people who were completely out of water, we took a vote and unanimously decided to return to camp, despite our disappointment at not being able to complete the hike.

(Later...)

Our tent leaks. I am attempting to write by the light of my flashlight so as to not bother the other girls and have been interupted multiple times by ice-cold drops of water splashing onto my exposed foot. The tent shouldn't leak … it is supposedly waterproof. It could possibly have something to do with not being able to secure all of our guy-ropes due to the mysterious disappearance of a set of tent stakes. I'm quite sure that that is our problem. Tomorrow I'll ask one of the guys to help by securing them in some other, more creative fashion.

July 12^th, 2011

Dear Diary,

It rained harder this morning than it has all week. Our tents were flooded when we returned from our white-water-rafting outing. Now towels, stray pieces of clothing, and blankets hang inside our dining fly, drying ever so slowly and obstructing any sort of free movement during dinner preparations. I am now completely sockless, having to pick my way across the un-even ground of our campsite in order to add my last, lonely, dripping sock to the number of wet victims air-drying under the tent before stowing myself, along with my bare and vulnerable feet, in a safe corner to await the first dry or at least semi-dry pair of socks available.

(Later …)

The rain has stopped and we have successfully built a warm, crackling fire. Chocolate, and graham crackers are passed around as marshmallows roast cheerfully (or burst into flames suddenly to loud cries of dismay). Animated conversations continue, laughing faces are lit by the dancing fire, and the past few days adventures are recounted in the most spirited fashion. The rain did not ruin anyones experience. As Ms. JoAnn said, “As long as there is good food and friendly people, any camp-out is a success, no matter the weather.” Our week is slowly coming to an end, but for right now I am happy to be here with my friends, enjoying our new and exciting adventures together.

And my socks are dry.

December Report Card

 

I think we all know how well the "December Resolutions" segment went....

Starting that project around the holidays was probably my worst idea since ... ever.

Well.  Let's see those grades ... *Cringe*

Stay organized. | A  This actually went surprisingly well.  I bought a new calendar (which always helps me stay organized for the first few weeks while it is fresh and new.)  My room did fall into disarray a few times but a after a couple minutes of putting everything in it's place it quickly got back to looking acceptable.  Pictures were put into their proper folders and then copied on to the hard-drive.  So, as far as this resolution goes, I didn't do half bad..

Pass midterms. | To be decided... This is rather funny because midterms aren't until next week ... in January.  Not December.  You'd think that after three years of doing this highschool thing, I'd have the hang of it by now..

Unexpected Christmas gifts. | F  And I had so many good ideas for little gifts too ... But, sadly, because of all the flu that was going around (everyone in my family was stuck in bed with it at least once during break) I never got around to actually giving anything away.  Oh well.  There will just have to be some "random-gift-just-because-I-like-you" giving throughout the next couple of months.  Can't let those good ideas go to waste..

Cut back Facebook usage. | B+  I did a little experiment at the beginning of the month.  It consisted of: going to bed at 10:30, waking up at 6 (am) and wearing no make-up.  I told myself that I had to make it through one week and see how things went.  Turns out, just going to bed at 10:30 forced me to cut back on my facebook usage because of classes and homework that had to be done in the evening.  And then, after Christmas, there was too much free reading and hanging out with friends to be done to waste time on facebook all day. 

Photo-a-day challenge. | F  Yeah..I don't think I even need to try and explain that one.. 



Final Grade | C- 

Belle disapproves..



 Even though this whole resolutions thing has gotten off to a pretty rough start, I will persist!  And hopefully things will get better.

Crossing my fingers...

Meet Miss 'Caiah Catch-Up

Well it looks like we all know what sort of grade I'll be getting on my "Photo-a-day" section of my December report card...

So, as a sort of apology ... I present you with this:

 

I call it: "Let's see how many photo-a-day requirements I can meet in one picture".

Have I mentioned how much I enjoy Christmas, and family, and large meals, and decorations, and having an exuse to keep a real tree in the corner of our living room?

This time of year never gets old.

Joyous

One thing that makes me jump for joy is sunshine and blue skies in the winter.

Here in Germany, the winter months are sadly sun-deprived.  Which is not good for me.  Since I am part solar-panel (true story).

Sunshine and snow are like oreos and milk. 

They're amazing by themselves, but so much more enjoyable together.

You must embrace the German winter sun while you can.  Because it won't be here for long...

Red

Advent gifts week #1!

It's Christmas time, you guys!!

Favorite Holiday Film

My favorite holiday movie by far is White Christmas.  Typical, I know. Sorry.

I've watched this movie every year around Christmas time for as long as I can remember.

It's one of the most nostalgic movies I know.

On my eighth birthday, my dad took me to see White Christmas at an old theater on Winner Road in Independence, MO.  Complete with one red-curtained screen, red velvet seats and the yummiest popcorn in the history of the universe.  We were almost the only ones there, I got to pick our seats, we ate tons of popcorn and candy, and then, to finish out our wonderful evening: it was snowing as we left the theater.

Good memories.

 

(Yay for VistaVision!)

-- RM

My View Today

It's that time again...Christmas markets.  I love everything about them. The sights, the smells, the people, the music.  Everything.

It's wonderful.

Well Hullo December..

I can not believe it's already December!  Where has my year gone?!  It's right about now that things start to get crazy in our house.  What with basketball season, birthdays, Christmas, online classes, and midterms...I'm just hoping to survive.

I take that back.

I'm hoping to survive and even enjoy my December.

• Stay organized.  This includes room, calendar, school work, pictures, everything. (...We'll see how well that works out..)
• Pass midterms (hopefully with flying colors..)
• Bless at least five different people with unexpected gifts this Christmas season.  Spread the holiday cheer!! :D 
• Cut back dramatically on Facebook usage.  A couple of days ago I ran across this ad on my blog's facebook page.. 

And I realized how much more time I had spent on the internet instead of with my family over my Thanksgiving week off.  A lesson learned and Christmas will be different.



• Then finally, a December photo challenge...



 

What are your December resolutions?

 

-RM

Squash That Little Voice. Squash It Now.

Perfection.

It's something I and many other people like me struggle to reach daily.  It's a picture of something beautiful and complete and creative and flawless.  It's something I want to be.

Perfection also just so happens to be something that is not possible for me to become.

That's why it's a struggle.

I want every blog post of mine to "wow" people.  I want all of my school-work to be done well (preferably without tons of effort on my part).  I want the Christmas presents that I've planned for family and friends to be exactly what they wanted.  I want friendships to be deeper than they are currently.  I want my relationship with God to be this amazing cohesiveness where I know His plan for my life at all times.  I want to be able to bless people with my creativity.  I want my clothing line to be a booming success.  I want to know exactly what to say and when to say it in every situation.

In other words...

I want disappointment.

None of those things are going to happen right away.  Some might not even happen at all.  The only thing I cause by wanting perfection is frustration with myself.  For not being perfect.

I end up feeling like I've failed something before I've even tried.  My blog ends up being without a new post for over two weeks because I can't think of something entertaining to write.  But then I realized... this blog is not about writing what other people want to read. It's a place for me to write stories about my life, my thoughts and feelings.  The fact that those might just entertain/intrigue other people is a bonus.  I love my readers, don't get me wrong.  But I want them to love me for writing about things that I love (...that sounded a bit Disney...sorry..).

I live with that voice in my head telling me that I should write like this, talk like this, act like this and I know other people hear and deal with it too.

So, my challenge for both myself and my fellow perfectionists out there is...

Squash that little voice.  Squash it now.  Before it becomes a big voice.

Stop trying to be someone else's perfect.

"Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly."
-- G. K. Chesterton

 

“Writer's block — so what? Write something bad. Just throw it in the trash can when you're done, you're always improving. That kind of writing is like doing a bunch of push-ups. Every individual push-up is not the important thing. On Tuesday you're going to think, "Is it really important that I do it today?" No, but the collective impact is. If you write every day, you will improve.”

-- N. D. Wilson

 
“Do not resent your place in the story. Do not imagine yourself elsewhere. Do not close your eyes and picture a world without thorns, without shadows, without hawks. Change this world. Use your body like a tool meant to be used up, discarded, and replaced. Better every life you touch. We will reach the final chapter. When we have eyes that can stare into the sun, eyes that only squint for the Shenikah, then we will see laughing children pulling cobras by their tails, and hawks and rabbits playing tag.”
― N.D. Wilson

 

 

 

Inspiration

George the Pumpkin's Tragic End

A couple weeks ago, my mom bought me a pumpkin at the grocery store.  It was one of those moments where she really didn't see a need to buy a pumpkin... but I was bouncing up and down and saying excitedly that we could name it George and pleasepleaseplease could we buy George, take him home and give him a theme song??

My cuteness won her over eventually.

That or I was embarrassing her...

I did end up singing "George, George, George is a pumpkin!  WATCH OUT FOR THAT GOURD!" till the end of our shopping trip..

Yeah. I'm pretty sure it was the cuteness....

Anyway, yesterday I decided that it was time for George to make a nice exit.  He had graced the center of our table long enough...It was time to disembowel him and eat his innards. (ha.)

Sooo I googled.  And decided I would toast and sugar some pumpkin seeds.  The recipe turned out delicious, even though I kindof changed some things ;)

 

Ingredients

• One medium sized pumpkin
• Salt
• Olive oil
• Vanilla (optional)
• Cinnamon and sugar (optional)

Preparation

1 Cut open the pumpkin by cutting a circle around the stem end, and pulling off the top. Use a strong metal spoon to scrape the insides of the pumpkin and scoop out the seeds and strings. Place the mass of pumpkin seeds in a colander and run under water to rinse and separate the seeds from the everything else.

2 Measure the pumpkin seeds in a cup measure. Place the seeds in a medium saucepan. Add 2 cups of water and 1 tablespoon of salt to the pan for every half cup of pumpkin seeds. Add more salt if you would like your seeds to be saltier. Bring the salted water and pumpkin seeds to a boil. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and drain.

3 Preheat the oven to 400°F. Coat the bottom of a roasting pan with olive oil, about a tablespoon. Spread the seeds out over the roasting pan in a single layer. Bake on the top rack until the seeds begin to brown, 5-20 minutes, depending on the size of the seeds. Small pumpkin seeds may toast in around 5 minutes or so, large pumpkin seeds may take up to 20 minutes. Keep an eye on the pumpkin seeds so they don't get over toasted. When nicely browned, remove the pan from the oven and let cool on a rack. *If you want your pumpkin seeds with vanilla and cinnamon and sugar, all you have to do is pour a little bit of vanilla and sugar mixture into the pan and mix it all up.  Then pop it back in the oven till their nice and crispy.*  Make sure you let the pumpkin seeds cool all the way down before eating!

 

-- RM

Currently...

Currently, I am re-reading Peter Pan.  One of my very favorites when I was younger.

I just rediscovered it thanks to a lovely friend of mine (Emilyann over at the nine tenths) who wrote a song based off of the book.

I can't stop replaying it and singing it and humming it and ohgoodness, she's amazing.

Rememberings

October has always had a unique smell.

The smell of holidays fast approaching, crisp autumn breezes rushing through me as I stomp on crunchy fallen leaves, recipes that have been put away till winter time making their annual appearance. 

These smells bring both anticipation..

And memories.

I remember raking leaves with my siblings in my grandma's front lawn all afternoon.  And then, because we had so much fun, the next day we'd rake her neighbor's lawn too.
I remember dressing up as some creature from a greek myth (Medusa or a centaur or a muse) and collecting enough candy to last me at least six months.

I remember gathering with family to watch the Chiefs play after church and eat chili.  October was always the month of chili.

Now I listen as my dad tosses the football around with my brothers.  One high-pitched laughing voice warning two deep throated giants about his "really long toss" that they'd better catch!

Now I watch and take pictures as the children I teach build leaf piles to jump in.  I may even join them.

“If growing up means it would be beneath my dignity to climb a tree, I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up! Not me!”
― J.M. Barrie

 

Now I sit.  Enjoying life for this brief moment.  Amazed at how quickly time has flown.  Frightened by the same thing.  But content to just be for as long as I can.

 

 

“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”

― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

Katy's Senior Shoot

 I had my very first official, not of a family member and not as an experiment, but a real photography session this past weekend.

I might have maybe enjoyed myself just a little bit...

We skipped all over, exploring Lupburg and its many camera-ready spots.  Hallelujah for living in Europe.  It is so very easy to find photogenic areas here.  Castles, tumble-down buildings, fields, forests, character-filled junkyards.  Germany's got it all.  And within walking distance, too!

When Katy asked me to do her senior pictures, I stood there, thought about it, checked my calender and then coolly replied, "Yes. I suppose. I wouldn't mind taking your senior photos."

Oooor...you know.  Jumped up and down, giggled, hugged her and said, "YESYESYES!! PLEASE! I'D LOVE TO!" 

Because I'm just that professional.

I thought I'd share (some of) the fruits of our extremely business-like afternoon.

 

(We interrupt this broadcast for a special announcement:  I just love candid photos.)





 

--RM