Crochet...

You know what? I really want to learn how to crochet. I could've taught myself this summer but summer is literally over...I start school next Thurs -- a week away! But when I was younger, my grandmother taught me to knit. I loved it but when I got older I really wanted to make cute little things like amigurumi but for some reason, even though they can be knitted, a lot of people only crochet amigurumi. Me with my poor knitting needles, we were being discriminated against. I think I was really determined to knit amigurumi so I never got around to maybe actually learning to crochet...Well that desire is back and I blame pinterest. Seeing all the adorable little crocheted things, I'm really feeling an urge to go to Michaels and buying a boat load of yarn and a crochet needle. 



creds to original creators~~i wish you were still on the internet

Look at all this cuteness!! I especially love the pink panda, winter penguin, hamburger, white bear, and little dragon, but they are all so cute. I really want to make them soon. Sadly though, many of these are from blogs that don't exist anymore so I can't even really credit them or get the patterns :( Maybe once I'm really good I can make my own patterns? Who knows, I have to learn how to crochet first!

Have you crocheted before? What are some of your creations or patterns?
ps. wondering where I've been? Wait for my next post! I'll explain :) (hint: lots and lots of colleges)

Awesome Pictures from "The Atlantic"

I came across some amazing pictures on the web from the magazine The Atlantic's website. They look out of this world but all of them were taken somewhere on this planet.

Here are some of my favorites:

"A streetcar in New Orleans traveling back towards The Quarter on St.Charles Ave. I held the camera against the window sill, making sure to divide the image equally between the inside and the outside." (© Don Chamblee)

"This image captures almost 6 hours of climbing parties on Rainier going for the summit under starry skies. Wind shifts during the night would cause bands of smoke from fires 100 miles away on MT Hood to pass over Rainier. This intermittent low-level haze caused the red glow seen in the sky and a Rainier that looks like it was almost painted on. Lights from Sunrise can be seen in the lower right of the frame." (© Chris Morin)

"Rare and endangered Australian Sea Lions (Neophoca cinerea) swim and play in the shallows of Hopkins Island, South Australia." (© Michael Patrick O'Neill) 

"Morning light breaking through the windows of the 'Temple of Transition' during the Burning Man event 2011." (© Lars Tiemann)

"This image was taken in wintertime in an arid area of the Canadian Rockies. Temperatures were below 30degrees Celsius, yet because there was no snow fall the surface of the lake was uncovered allowing me to see and capture the bubbles (gas release from the lake bed) that were trapped in the frozen waters." (© Emmanuel Coupe-Kalomiris)

"One morning while on the Big Island of Hawaii, I was exploring my surroundings to see if I could find something to photograph. I almost went back inside when something on this huge palm tree leaf caught my eye. I stayed around and it was this little gecko, startled by my presence he was hidden between the ridges of the leaf. He would pop his head up periodically to check his surroundings; as soon as he saw I was still there he would hide again. We played this game for a while until I got the shot." (© Lorenzo Menendez)

"Flight of an Eagle owl Photo by Mark Bridger A large adult eagle owl in flight." (© Mark Bridger)

"This photo was taken in the Upper Antelope Canyon near Page (AZ) and it shows the amazing effect of the sand thrown in the air and struck by the rays of the sun." (© Angiolo Manetti)

For all of the pictures, click this link

Weekend DIY

Some simple projects to do over the weekend in your spare time :)

Sparkly Flower Vase

this idea is from here

Simply fill a glass vase with water and toss in some sequins or glitter to make this surreal look. Add a pretty flower and you now have a sparkly flower vase

Pencil Eraser Triangle Stamp

this idea is from here

Trace a triangle shape or any shape onto an pencil eraser and then cut it out using a scalpel. Use an ink pad to blot the eraser stamp with color and stamp it onto a surface.

Pandas Rock

this idea is from here

Need: 2 large rocks and 2 smaller rocks.
Paint one of the larger rocks as the body of the panda. You can follow the picture above or use your own model. Then the next medium/big rock, paint as the face. Give it two small white eyes surrounded by black patches a pink nose. Next paint the 2 small rocks black for the ears of the panda. Glue all the rocks together  to create a rock panda :)

Bird Nest Necklace

this idea is from here

Find instructions for this pretty DIY by clicking the link above!

Seashell Koalas

this idea is from here

Find instructions for this cute DIY by clicking the link above!

Crochet Owl Pattern

click here for the pattern

Baked Marbles

this idea is from here

Find some glass marbles and then bake them in an oven at 350 degrees. Once the marble is thoroughly cracked, you can make pendants out of them by following the instructions connected to the link or keep them as simple trinkets. 

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles with some pumpkin~ a yummy fall treat :)
I love snickerdoodles, for some reason they possess me more than chocolate chip cookies do~ I could eat TONS of snickerdoodles :D

This fall recipe puts a twist on the old classic. Instead of a regular snickerdoodle, why not add 3/4 cup of pumpkin puree? Sounds good to me :) Take a look below:

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Some notes: because of the pumpkin puree addition, these snickerdoodles may be puffier and softer than classic snickerdoodles. Click here for the original recipe and a little blurb about "cookie confidence" :)

Bake in Oven: 15 min

Yields: 3 - 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

for the cookies...

• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 3/4 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

for the coating...

• 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground giner
• Dash of allspice

Directions:

1. Beat together butter and sugars with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until the mix is light and fluffy (should take 2 - 3 min) Then stir in the pumpkin puree, and beat in the egg and vanilla
2. In another medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Put the mixer on low speed and gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Make sure they are thoroughly mixed and blended together.
3. Cover and chill the dough for at least an hour
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
5. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or anything of the like. 
6. Mix together the ingredients for the coating in a small bowl. Scoop equally sized chilled dough balls and roll them into the coating mixture. 
7. Place each ball on the cookie sheet about 2 in apart
8. Dip the bottom of a flat drinking glass into water then in tho the sugar mixture to use to slightly flatten the dough balls and coat the top of each cookie with sugar.
9. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until the cookies are baked through
10. Let the cookies cool untouched for about 2 min then transfer to a wire rack. 

Of course you could have these cookies warm (my favorite kind of cookie) and eat them with a cold glass of milk, or if you liked them cooled down so that they're firmer, leave the cookies on the wire rack and then enjoy them :)

US Open Trip

Happy Friday everyone! I'm here to now document my epic Thursday with you...on a Friday :) Let me explain...
I've recently started preseason tennis practice with the girls and Thursday we took our first group trip to the US Open qualifying rounds! I was excited, I haven't been able to go as a freshman or sophomore, so now was my chance. Honestly, I was expecting something like a baseball game. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE baseball and watching it but when you're sitting in the stadium, everything is pretty slow. I thought the US Open would be like that: slow paced, big stadium, just sitting around waiting for some intense points... but boy was I wrong. The US Open was more like an amusement park. It seriously was built like one. The place was huge and surrounding a main center area were loads of tennis courts. Think of six flags. It has that main circle part near it entrance than pathways branch off from it entering into different rides and such. But instead of rides, we went to tennis courts to watch the matches. They. were. AWESOME !! Since it was qualifying rounds, it was free of charge and also there weren't really any of the big names playing ( Djokovic, Federer,  etc.). But all the players were still really good. (by the way, the food is really good too! just overpriced..)
The first court we went to (court 4, there's I think 17 in total) had a woman player from Taiwan (did you know Taiwan's abbreviation was TPE?? I did not know that) called Yung-jan Chan v. a player form Canada, Sharon ...something (I was rooting for Taiwan..cause well, she's asian. And she was REALLY good). Here are some pictures:

She won the match :) I learned a lot just by watching her. She would be so smart about where to place the ball. When the Canadian opponent moved up to the net, Chan just lobed it over her head so she couldn't touch it. She had such good control over the ball. I even got her autograph at the end! I was so excited. My friends and I even tried to get a picture with her but there were too many people wanting to do the same thing... oh well, an autograph is still awesome :)

We wandered around some more on the meandering paths, ate some lunch consisting of sandwiches, delicious waffle fries, and Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and somehow we ended up at a place where they were having interviews. Guess who was being interviewed?? ROGER FEDERER !!!! Gosh that was amazing. He was literally right. in. front. of. me. :o 

The one with half his face turned this way is Federer. Isn't it cool? I wonder if it's legal to post all these pictures on here...oh well :) That's why this US Open is so awesome. During its qualifying rounds anyone can come in free of charge, see amazing players play some matches and practice and it's just an awesome experience.
Next in one of the big courts, we saw the last few minutes of Bobby Reynolds', an American player, match. We really only caught the last few excited cheers since Reynolds won and then we saw him being interviewed by, I guess, some news reporter. 

the guy with the towel is Reynolds

You can actually see my coach in the above picture. She's the one on the right side with the white hat, dirty blonde hair and has her hand sticking out with her iphone trying to take a picture :)

the court. it's HUGE!

We got down where the crowd was too so we could get Reynolds autograph and I have to admit, I took some creeper shots of Reynold:

He's not even looking at my camera!
It's a picture with that boy on the right x)

He gave his towel away to some excited boys. Is it wrong to say that I was a tad jealous of them? Their first comment was, "Wow! His towel! Ew, it's all wet with his sweat../grin/" Bet they were thinking of selling it on ebay...
Our last couple of hours at the US Open was spent watching Andy Murray practice in the official court where the actual US Open takes place:

That's Andy Murray! I'm not sure what his rank is exactly but I know it's definitely in the top 20 or 10. He's VERY good. My favorite shots are the bottom two: him drinking water and him hitting an overhead :)
Well that was my epic Thursday adventure. I didn't get any pictures with my friends and me in them, I was too busy taking action shots x) If you get the chance, you should get yourself to the US Open qualifying matches. They're completely free! & the matches are awesome. Also the seats you get are REALLY GOOD. I sat right behind where Andy Murray was seating :D
Okay, well have a good weekend!!! Another week is done and it's now a week closer to school....

Day in my Life..

hi everyone, I haven't been posting much...I realized how hard it is to commit to posting often. But today I went to 2 college tours since the hectic admissions year is slowly coming my way.
We didn't take much pictures but the campuses were amazing. The college I went to were Haverford and Swarthmore, both in Pennsylvania and close to us somewhat :) I REALLY liked these colleges.. Sure I've visited Princeton, Harvard, Yale, etcetc. those Ivies, and it would be great if I got accepted, but these colleges seemed more to fit ME. I could actually imagine myself taking classes there, walking on the sidewalks, studying there. We even got to see the Swarthmore dorms and they weren't that bad. The only problem is the lack of AC :P I already experienced that in my 3 wk camp earlier this summer and it's only bearable if you have a good fan that's on most of the time and the window open. Everything else was really nice though, I wish I had pictures to show you! I think I'm really leaning towards Swarthmore, they had this awesome space called the amphitheater and it was AWESOME. It was all grassy, looked all greek and really cool. It had lots of trees too. I'm pretty sure there was one in a korean drama I watched a long time ago...maybe Boys Over Flowers? But again, it has one con that will drive me crazy. MOSQUITOES Dx WORST BUG ON EARTH. They love my blood too much, literally when the campus guide warned us about the mosquitoes I looked down at my leg and there were two already sucking my blood. Dx awful awful awful. But the rest of the campus is really nice, beautiful. It's so green and everything with lots of trees, I think that's what I like about the east coast so much compared to the west. Sure palm trees are awesome but you really get the feeling of being free in the outdoors here, you know? I live on the east coast by the way if you haven't already guessed :)
Haverford was nice as well, from the little glimpses of the campus we got. We didn't get to go on a campus tour but the information session made me like the college. I think I'll probably apply to Swarthmore as well as to Haverford. Besides they have this whole consortium thing where they and Bryn Mawr College sort of have this partnership where you can go to any one of their campuses to take classes, socialize, and even eat. It's pretty cool and they're only about 1/2 an hour away from each other.

After we got home though, I got myself some POPS cereal and zoomed upstairs to my room where I read for 3 hrs a book that I have been just addicted to. It's called Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen. I think it's pretty old, this is actually my 2nd time reading it, but I didn't remember it at all until one part where I was like, wait...this sounds familiar. I would definitely recommend it :) It's a really touching story about family but you also start to feel for the characters and connecting with them. The people in the book are awesome. *SPOILER ALERT* but I would love to marry the guy who is the sister's husband in there..he's so awesome x) But you wouldn't understand what I just read if you haven't read the book, so go read it!

Here are some fall pictures in preparation for school and the wonderful season. I think suddenly, strangely, unexpectedly Fall has become my favorite season. As well as winter. Maybe its just the holidays. Anyways, here you go!

perfect for halloween~ i love candy corn

pumpkin snickerdoodles <3 I'll probably post a recipe of this later

caramel apples! P:

aww..

i am so making this b/c its so awesome. HP ! <3

socks! My fall thing <3

when Starbucks comes out with Pumpkin Spice Coffee, that's when my Fall truly starts :)

pumpkin monkey bread :) Maybe I'll post the recipe later

really, I just love the colors of Fall! So bright and cheery and warm~ Plus I think its the food that makes me like Fall so much too~ pumpkin pie and my god Thanksgiving is the best!! xD
Have a good first day of school everyone and a wonderful first day of Fall! (Sept 20 i think? possibly :)

Meet my new Big Brother, Benjamin

Yesterday was a food shopping day with my mom. I always call an event, if it's with only me and my mom, mother~duaghter bonding time ^ ^ and the added bonus was the food :D &&&! My mom got me a big stuffed teddy (i think they call him "Costco Bear", oh yeah, we went to Costco and Wegmans) that I've been wanting since last year! Here's our little excursion:

free samples :) nacho chips w/ salsa. pretty yummy

sharpies!!!! YES

Wegmans has these new things called baby cakes? $6, they look pretty cute :)

i like this baby cake

wegmans fruit P: I want watermelon~~ my favorite fruit<3

bread we were going to get...but alas...it look so yummy

BENJAMIN! my new big brother :) He's helping us carry kettle corn, yum <3

Isn't he huge!! I put on his seatbelt for him, but he can hardly fit in the car!

home sweet home <3 I didn't think he was that big... and so heavy!
yup that's me, literally still in my bed clothes and everything :P ignore my face

big brother Benjamin sitting in the chair...he's going to have to lose some pounds!
I'll put him on my exercising regime :)

"hello! my name is benjamin! i think you'll be seeing more of me!"

bye everyone! Have a g'day! ^o^

Fall Hard for Keds: green!

um wow. So I am literally shocked right now and because of that I've spent literally all morning on the internet...on polyvore. I got added to their top sets!! It's so amazing, I was not expecting that xD It's nice to know that I'm doing well though~ I look back on my past sets from when I first joined (only 12 days ago!!) and they're so different to what I do now. Here's the set that got posted to Polyvore's top sets:

Fall Hard for Keds: green! by cicijolee featuring keds shoes

It was initially for one of their contests....maybe I'll win now?? That would be amazing, but I won't get my hopes up. It's enough for me to be even on top sets....just wow. Well what do you think? Is it really that good? Personally, I just love the sweater and the backpack~ and the sneakers are just awesome. Tell me what you think!