Springing into Spring!

Happy Spring Everybody!

Usually spring is one of the worst seasons. The snow hasn't all melted yet, it's kinda cold but also kinda warm, and everyone is waiting for summer. But this year, all the snow is gone, and has been gone for a while, it's practically warm everyday. It rained a couple of days ago and has been pretty gloomy which is good because of our lack of snow this year.

Spring came pretty quick this year and the school year has been going by extra fast. But I feel like it's starting to slow down a lot. Since I've realized how little we have of school less, all I've been wanting is summer to come faster  and thinking that we still have over a quarter of school left hurts my head.

As you may have noticed, I'm really excited for summer, a.k.a going to California. I'm not sure of all my set plans for spring break so far but I do know a couple of things. To start out, Easter is the first sunday of break so we will probably do an easter egg hunt (or not... I'm one of the youngest cousins so everyone might be over it by now). My friend, Hayden, is visiting her grandparents in Ojai, California so we've been planing a "play-date" together. Our itinerary is pretty full! We planned on meeting in Santa Monica, going to the pier then eating lunch on Third Street promenade. We also want to go to Las Angeles and visit the pink wall on Melrose Ave. After we will be on our way to Balboa Island, maybe go to the beach, have dinner, then finish the day off with a Balboa Bar. I also really want to visit my friend Lija (I talk briefly about her in my Craving California Pt. 2 post) but her spring break is a week before mine so it might be hard. Another fun thing I want to do is go to 1000 Steps beach in Laguna. My cousin posted a picture of her in one of the pools there and my brother and I were talking about how cool it looked. We told my dad about it and he knew exactly where we waned to go. That's about as far as I have planned, other than my volleyball tournament in L.A at the end of the week!

Someone taking pictures at the "pink wall"
Photo Courtesy of: GPVS

Photo Courtesy of: Fly.com

A Balboa Bar is basically just a square of ice cream, dipped into chocolate then dipped into a topping of your choice. My favorite is half rainbow sprinkles and   half crushed Oreos.

In the spirit of spring, I thought I should share with you some of the prettiest spring themed cupcake decorations you've probably ever seen! This isn't a recipe but more of decorating ideas.

I know, SO CUTE!
Photo Courtesy of: Taste of Home

Sorry for the randomness of this blogpost but stay tuned for more random posts! :))

1000 Steps Beach, Laguna California.
Photo Courtesy of: Orange County Register

My Volleyball Schedule.

So right after practice I was walking up the stairs at Club V brainstorming what I would write my next blog about. As I saw the big Club V logo upstairs, I thought to myself, why don't I write about my volleyball schedule. I've already told you all about some of my tournaments and games, tryouts, and the teams I've had so it's only normal to say what I do at/ after practice!

Photo Courtesy of: Club V Volleyball

I don't do a lot of super exciting and different things at practice so this is going to be very detailed.

2:25-The last bell rings at school and I go pick up my volleyball bag and sometimes my friend, Audrey's too because she's a lot slower than I am! ;)

2:30- Usually the time when either one of my or Audrey's parents picks us up, usually behind the school so we don't run into too much traffic and it's easer to get on the highway from there.

2:30- (about) 3:10- Wait in the car for a really long time driving through "the land of semi trucks" as we like to call it because there are SO many of them.

3:11-Waiting in a long line behind all the other girls who need to change. There are only two bathrooms and at least, AT LEAST, ten girls who need to get changed.

3:13- Still waiting....

3:14- Waiting, Waiting Waiting...

3:15- I'm usually in the bathroom right now changing for practice!

3:20- All of my team is on our court, warming up. Usually just serving and passing.

3:30- PRACTICE STARTS!!!

5:30- When practice is supposed to end...

5:45- When practice actually ends

5:50- My team waits in the workout room for Whitney, the coach, to start our workouts and re-hydrating.

5: 51- Doing the workouts!

6:15- Our workouts are only after-practice ones to we don't typically go for very long. Done by around this time.

6:16- Goes upstairs and I take off my knee pads and volleyball shoes and changes into sweats and jesus sandals :)

6:20- Finally leaving Club V!

After all that, I get home pretty late, shower, eat dinner, finish homework, then (my favorite part) going to sleep!

Repeat every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday! Actually, Mondays and Fridays are a different story. On Monday, we usually get there really earlier because of early release. This means I don't have to wait in line and I do a little homework before practice actually starts. Now friday is really different. Practice isn't really practice but more of a big scrimmage. All of the select teams play each other for a couple of hours. Before that starts, I like to go to position training. That is just getting reps on your specific position for about two hours. On Fridays I get home later than usual which is totally fine because it's FRIDAY!!! and all I really need to do is catch up on my Pretty Little Liars episodes.

Luck O' the Irish Brownie

HAPPY  ST.  PATRICK'S  DAY!!!!

My family, especially my mom, is really in to keeping traditions but we don't having any fun ones for this holiday.
I'm not a big fan of St. Patricks Day but I do love brownies. St. Patricks Day isn't my favorite because (one) I don't understand why we celebrate it, (two) I don't have a lot of green, I wore an army green colored jacket today and I was barely green... (three) I don't like to be pinched, and (four) I also don't like corned beef and cabbage.
This specific recipe reminds me of the mint brownies from kneaders and that reminds me going to lunch with my friends which reminds me having fun, and these brownies now remind me of St. Patricks day so I guess I do like St. Patricks Day!

if looking at this doesn't make your mouth water, something is wrong with your taste buds!
Photo Courtesy of: Your Homebased Mom

Luck O' the Irish Brownie Recipe

Ingredients

• 4 (1 ounce) squaresunsweetened chocolate
  1 cup margarine, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
  2 tablespoons milk, or as needed
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons peppermint extract
  • 6 drops green food coloring
  • 1 1/3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
  • 6 tablespoons butter
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. Melt the unsweetened chocolate in a cup or small bowl in the microwave. Stir at 15 second intervals until chocolate is smooth. Allow to cool slightly. Transfer to a large bowl, and stir in the margarine and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Stir in the flour just until blended. Pour the batter into the prepared dish and spread evenly.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until the surface appears dry and the sides are beginning to pull away from the edges of the pan, 20 to 25 minutes. The brownies may look more like cake and may jiggle slightly in the center- this is normal. Remove from the oven and cool in the pan set over a wire rack.
4. To make the middle layer, beat 1/2 cup of butter with confectioners' sugar in a large bowl using an electric mixer. Add milk as needed to get a spreadable consistency. Stir in the peppermint extract and green food coloring. Spread this over the cooled pan of brownies. Refrigerate for 30 minutes
5. In a microwave-safe bowl, microwave chocolate chips with the butter until melted. Stir every 20 seconds until chocolate is smooth. Stir in vanilla and then pour over the chilled brownies and quickly spread to cover the surface. Cool again until firm, about 10 minutes, then cut into squares and serve.

The actual recipe.

If you need a St. Patricks Day dinner recipe: I think this is the actual recipe my family uses to make corned beef and cabbage.

Craving California Pt.3 Coronado

Coronado Island, or just Coronado because technically it's not an island, is an "island" or peninsula off of San Diego. On one side of the island, you can see the skyline of San Diego and on the other an endless ocean.

Instead of sharing with you what I usually do in Coronado, I thought I would say what you can do if you decide to go. Here are 10 things you can do-

1. Go with your friends. Any vacation is always better when your not alone. You may not be alone in the first place but somethings are more fun doing with your friends then your parents.

2. Celebrate. Chose any occasion to celebrate and throw a party. Last summer was both my grandparents 70th birthday and we made a week of it, we eat dinners, got matching t-shirts, went to the beach, etc. We've also celebrated Matt (my brother) and Hailey's (my sister) sweet sixteen on the island along with many 4th of Julys.

3. Rent or buy a house. Although staying in the world famous Hotel Del on the beach may be fun, staying in a house gives you much more freedom. We've staying in hotels and in houses on Coronado and I prefer the house by a lot. (and anyways, the Hotel Del is haunted!) My grandparents own another house in Coronado. It's super cute with a bright red door and a bright red Volkswagen Beetle or "bug" always parked outside. We barley drive it, it's mostly just for show. :)

4. If you're not a big beach person, no problem, there's a ton of other things to do. You can cruise around the island on your bike. Go near the bay and under the bridge, looking onto the San Diego skyline or bike on the boarder of the Navy Base.

5. If you like golf or tennis, there are courts and courses too.

6. Dinner (a little self explanatory). My personal favorites are, Peohe's, Miquels, and the Brigantine.

7. Concert in the park. My family has been going to these for about 12 years. They're every sunday and good place to dance with your grandparents!

8. Go to Point Loma. This one isn't technically in Coronodo either but it's close enough. I'm not even sure what it is or fun things you do there but I do know that it has a really cool lighthouse/ museum and you get a pretty lookout onto Coronado.

9. I've only done this once but it is probably one of my of my favorite, most recent memories. After dinner one night, my family went to the beach, there were about three fire pits and a ton of chocolate, marshmallows and gram crackers. We spent the rest of the night roasting marshmallows and eating s'mores. (This was not a spur of the moment decision, we had this planned weeks in advance.)

10. And obviously... GO TO THE BEACH! If you're bored, soak up some sun, build a dip castle or play in the waves.


If you ever find yourself in the area, check this site out to see more fun things to do in California!

At the beach in front of The Hotel Del Coronado.

Cousins and grandparents and brothers and s'mores!

Me and my siblings on the Naval Base side of Coronado.

Me and my mama on the beach.

The house and us ten years ago.

Craving California pt. 2

Photo Courtesy of: Island Seashell

As I mentioned before my grandparents live on Balboa Island. They've lived there my whole life so it's like a permanent vacation home for me and my family. I've been going to visit them every summer, Thanksgiving, and spring break. These grandparents are my dads parents. I call them Grandma and Papa Beach because they live at the beach! I'm one of the youngest on this side of the family so I didn't make up the names but my oldest cousin did. The names works because they live right on the water.

Me, my siblings, and Grandma and Papa Beach

My Papa is a fisherman. Every so often he will go out on the boat and go fishing. He used to take all the kids with him sometimes too. When My sister was about 8, he took her, my cousin, Drew, and my dad deep sea fishing in Alaska. They saw tons of whales and even watched them bubble feed. He's also taken my brother, dad and Drew fishing in Panama a couple of times. (My other cousin, Scott, who's Matts age, never wanted to go to Panama with them because he was afraid of leaving his home country!) I've only been fishing a couple of times (mostly because I prefer not to be on a rocking boat waiting for a fish for a long period of time. And I don't necessarily enjoy the smell of fish...) When I did go with my Papa, I remember having to gut the smaller fish. Gutting a fish is basically just cleaning it and you have to scrape off all the scales. EW.
Whenever he would come home from the long fishing trips, you can always expect at least a of week of fish for dinner and I am not a fan of fish. Like at all. I'm kinda weird in regards to my taste in fish. Most people don't mind it cooked but can't stand it raw, I'm the opposite. I love sushi and sashimi, especially when it's freshly caught.

A couple of pictures from Balboa/ Newport:

The view from outside the shopping mall.

Me and Hailey, my sister, taking a picture next to the Balboa mural

One of my friends who moved to Encinitas
but always comes to visit me in Newport.

Under the pier

Another picture of the sunset.

From the ferris wheel!

A pit stop at the candy store before going to the beach.

A "world famous" hippo cookie from Dads Donut Shop.

and another one...

Looking out on to the pavilion from in front of my grandparents house.
It's a sunset... shocker?

My cousin, Colleen, and I on the ferris wheel on Balboa Peninsula after the beach.

and another.

When our Papa took us fishing.

Hailey, Elise and I selling lemonade on the board walk on Balboa.

Craving California

Lately I've been wanting summer to come back more than anything now. Probably because this winter is pretty lame. I mean, where's the snow?! I've been reminiscing about one of my favorite trips I've taken. A couple years ago was my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary so we all took a trip to celebrate. These grandparents (my dads parents) live in Newport Beach, California on Balboa Island. Balboa Island is one of the places the Catalina Flyer leaves from. The boat ride is about 80 minutes but so is waiting in line to board the ship and to leave the ship and stops on Catalina Island.

The Catalina Flyer leaving from Newport
Photo Courtesy of: Explore California Pass

Once we got there, we were staying in these cute condos on the Avalon side of the island. Each family got golf carts to get around the island because the walk from our condo to the main part of the city was pretty far. I think the reason I liked going to Catalina o much was because of everything that we did (and that I got to do it all with my cousins, of course!). On our first day, we went down into summaries and took a ride to see all the fish and sea creatures off the island. We also went kayaking and zip lining. My grandma was really looking forward to zip lining through the tress but chickened out before getting on the first part which, in my opinion was definitely the scariest part. We also all went in the water balls a.k.a "human hamster ball". And to top the whole trip off, we ended with a great hike to the best view you can get from Catalina then a dinner to celebrate my grandparents wedding anniversary.

Photo Courtesy of: Trip Advisor

This was my second time staying on Catalina. When I was really little, probably five or so, my grandparents (the same ones) took my cousin, Mckenna and I on trip here. One, and the only, random things I remember about that trip was walking into one of the shops and my grandpa telling us we could pick out any souvenir we wanted. We both ended up by getting one of those plush animal purses you can buy anywhere.

Stay tuned for more about my California experiences and trips!

Park City

Park City, Utah, the home of the Sundance Film Festival, the greatest snow on earth, and me! Not to mention but, a couple of years ago it was featured in Outdoor Magazine for being the best town ever. 

These are all photos taken in Park City, near or on Main Street.
Photo Courtesy of: Outdoor Magazine

According to them, we live in the best town ever so you would think it wouldn't be that hard to find something to do. 


On saturday, my friend, Taylor, walked over to my house then a little later we went to pick up our other friend, Blaire, at her house. Blaire lives in Silver Creek and if you know any thing about Silver Creek, they just put in a new restaurant called Jaffles. On our way back, my mom took us try them because she had heard that they were good too. We each got one but shared them all. I didn't like them.

Photo Courtesy of: Adobe Park City

Sooo that was one thing we did for the day, but what else? We wrote on pieces of paper stuff we wanted to do for the night but that didn't work out so we decided to take the bus all around Park City! My house isn't close to a bus stop so we had my mom drive us to the nearest one at in front of my neighborhood. We didn't know when it was going to come or where it was going because none of us really ride the bus that much. It ended up by taking us to Redstone and we did nothing. Just walked to the next bus stop across from Walmart. We chased down the bus and the same thing, we didn't know where it was going. From there we went practically to Salt Lake then up to Main Street. It's winter so there are a lot of tourists in town but we were a little late for Sundance (because that was about 1 month ago) and we got to meet people from all around the world, literally.
On Main Street, we walked up and down and tried to get dinner somewhere but the waits were going to be too long. By the end of the night we were freezing because of the snow storm and very tired. We took the bus home but I think it was the wrong bus because we got lost... my mom picked us up somewhere, it was dark so I couldn't really see where we were. Thats where sending your pin to your parents comes in handy!

Main Street, Park City, Utah
Photo Courtesy of: New York Times