Yum Yum Yum

Par-tay

Don't tell me about your crazy friday night plans. About how you're going to a party, or going to a game, or spending the night with a friend, or having a movie marathon... I don't want to hear about it. Been there, done that. Double yawn. Tonight, I went wild. Crazy. Off-the-charts insane.

My parents went out to dinner and left me and my three year old sister at home.

One word: Party

You haven't seen crazy till you let a pair of girls - both, some would argue, at ages that lend themselves to slight mental imbalance- loose in an empty house. The possibilities are endless, I tell you.

First thing we did was eat dinner. Lots and lots of dinner. Sisters don't make sisters eat all their broccoli, either, so I think she mostly ate pretzels. Lily's idea of a great night. Next we just ran around the house and made as much noise as possible. This requires top-notch agility, the ability to cut very close corners, a fabulous vertical leap, and a hard head for those times when the previously mentioned qualities fail you and you end up running into a wall. Or the couch. Or down the stairs... twice. (Don't worry, I caught her before she actually fell... both times.)

Once our throats were appropriately swollen from yelling, we went into "her" playroom.

Which I secretly love.

And might secretly refer to sometimes as "our" playroom.

And might secretly use without her knowing.

At any rate, she was highly impressed with my sliding (hey, those plastic jungle gym things are fun). We spent a half hour or so whizzing into an enormous pile of beanbags.

After that, I got down one of those... okay, I don't know the name of the game; it's one of those where you have the fan that looks like an elephant and it blows these little butterflies out of its trunk? You're supposed to catch them while they blow out gently and all that. Well we just took the trunk off. And blasted the butterflies everywhere. That was fun. And much quieter than our previous activities, believe it or not.

I think we watched some Backyardigans after that. I tried to convince her to watch What Not to Wear, and she just didn't go for it. After that she took a bubble bath, put on PJs, at some more pretzels, tricycle-d through the house, jammed to some KT Tunstall, read a book, and I tucked her in.

Sort of.

I can hear her jumping rather joyfully on the bed right now.

Do you think it was the british music or the pretzels?

Lessons Learned

I have learned lately that a blog post a day is not realistic. I don't want to declare myself a non-daily blog, though, because then I'm afraid I'll just get lazy and give it up eventually... SO, I've decided that daily is the goal, but I don't have to keep titling blog posts:

"Sorry I Missed a Post"
"Oops"
"Guess I Missed Another One, Huh?"

And so forth.

The picture above displays one of my all-time favorite parts of the day. My shower. I have the best shower in the house - great water pressure, all rock so it doesn't get gross and dirty, tall door so that it stays steamy. It may not be the biggest, but it is certainly the best! I love showers because they're like a very short vacation from the day. You get to wash off all the "grime" from the day so far. Oily hair, basketball sweat, sticky babysitter arms. You also get to take a breather from the stress and busyness for a moment. It's just you, water, and a loofah.

I have a strict shower system, too:

1. Thoroughly rinse
2. Lather in lots of shampoo
3. Squirt bodywash onto loofah and rub away
4. Rinse shampoo and bodywash
5. Apply teensy amount of conditioner to hair
6. Rinse it outta there
7. Shave if you must
8. Stand for a minute and enjoy the water and steam and quiet

Thus is my routine. I quite enjoy it.

Under the Weather

http://www.playlist.com/searchbeta/tracks#under%20the%20weather%20kt%20tunstall

I highly recommend you follow the link for a very relaxing song. :)

Sorry for the less-than-daily posts lately, but I've been feeling gross. Both of my sisters have the flu, though I'm pretty sure my problem is the tetanus shot I got a few days ago. Ouch.

Happy things. Happy things! I was going to write more about my happy things. Okay, so, here's two more happy things of mine:

1. Sun in the morning. Our back window directly faces the sunrise, so whenever possible I open my bedroom door first thing in the morning and squeeze my eyes shut and just sit in the best spot of sun that I can find. It's more golden than regular sunlight, and it's warmer. And better. I love it.

2. The "Katie Parker Production" series by Jenny B. Jones.

You must read this series. Must. If you're a girl between 12-103, read these books.

I hadn't ever spewed a beverage because I was laughing so hard while reading a book before, but I did while reading these. They are hilarious. Beyond funny. And they have a great message to boot. I've read them all at least five times, and they're all falling apart now. My Mom loves them. My younger sister loves them. And I most definitely love them. They're not one of these deep, make-you-think series. They're just for fun. Sometimes that's the best kind, you know? Love them. Love them.

Oops. Well. Guess I missed another post, huh?

The picture today is a low quality - but comfortable - depiction of one of the best things on earth.

Sweats.

I have a pair of bright blue sweatpants, UT flannel pants, and some blue-and-grey shorts to choose from for bottoms. As for tops, I have tank tops, old tees that have seen way too many washings, and plenty of sweatshirts.

As soon as I get home from school, I go up and change into my sweats. Seriously. And the best part is that they aren't supposed to match, so there's absolutely no thought involved. Just tank, shirt, pants, pile hair on top of head (as much as possible, that is, when you have short hair). It's one of my happy things. Especially on a Friday.

So I'm thinking I'm going to do a couple of posts just on happy things. Like sweats. I like how little bitty things can bring a big 'ol smile to your face, just because. Happy things. Yes.

Twentieth of January

Water Makes Me Feel Healthy

There's nothing that makes you feel as healthy as a cold glass of water, in my opinion.

Especially when you're the last not-sick kid in the family.

Both of my sisters are running fevers, and one has a nasty cough, headache, sinus yuckiness, and the aches.

Yikes!

I've been drinking water, washing my hands, and taking vitamins all day. I don't have time to get sick!

And since quarantining myself is not an option, I'm just going to get as much fluids and sleep as possible. Speaking of which...

I should go to bed!!!

Happy MLK Day

Unfortunately, I seem to have misplaced my memory card...

Actually, I'm quite certain that I had some, er, help in misplacing it... at any rate, sorry for the lack of photo-age. I decided after my post a couple of days ago (Spaghetti, Nerf Guns, and Justin Bieber) that photos just really finish - complete - the whole look of a post, and so I'm not a fan of missing memo cards.

Now. For the real post.

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. I found a quotation from him earlier and loved it:

"I have decided to stick with love... hate is too great a burden to bear!"

Very true.

My school has decided that rather than honor the inspiring man by taking a day off, we should celebrate by working hard to reach our full potential like MLK, Jr. most certainly did himself.

I can't argue with the logic. But I couldn't help but think on my way to basketball practice this morning that normal teenagers were at home in bed, sleeping their heads off.

The good news is that tomorrow is a home-day for me, and basketball has been cancelled. Yippee! So far my wild plans consist of sleeping in and eating coffee cake while I do my math homework. Wow.

Sounds ridiculously delicious. In fact, I think I'll go to bed now.

Sleepy

Spaghetti, Nerf Guns, and Justin Bieber

Right now, I'm at one of my teachers' houses babysitting her kiddos. They've been asleep for about half an hour now, but they gave me plenty to write about!

Upon entering the house, I found G, a very mature young lady, making spaghetti for dinner. We chatted for a little while, and it didn't take her long to inform me that she loved cooking and reading and being with her friends.

A few minutes later her brother entered the room.

"I'm R. I love nerf guns."

The youngest, S, was hot on his heels. She grinned widely, held up a well-worn magazine, and announced,

"I'm S and I love Justin Bieber."

I had to laugh, but it got me thinking. When I meet people, I generally don't say,

"Hi, I'm Ryley, and I love _______."

Generally, though, people will learn by the end of a conversation that I root for the longhorns, like good books, and can't wait for spring break.

If I don't introduce myself as Ryley-who-loves-Jesus... do people know that by the end of our conversation?

They should!

24 - 10

Tonight, my basketball team had its first junior high game scheduled. This means that us sophomore ladies get to sit on the end of the bench and watch everyone else play.

Most people consider this boring.

Au contrair, my friend. (Au contare? Au contrar? Au contriar? Whatever.)

Sarah, Johnna, Mel and I deserve our own show on ESPN. We observe every play with eagle eye. Our lungs should be bronzed. And our advice? Impeccable. We are the Queens of Commentary.

We sat faithfully at the end of our bench and cheered on our middle school ladies. We got bandaids for Haley, who always has something bleeding. We fetched waters. We did the wave (but never all at the same time). We shouted out helpful advice such as,

"Put your hands up, Caroline!"
"Put my haaands up, they playing my song-"
"No, Sarah. Not Miley. Caroline."

We shrieked and mourned over the many hideous calls made by the refs, fought over the best viewing seat, cheered so loudly our coach told us to be quiet, and faithfully screamed every play that was called to be sure that no one on the floor misunderstood:

Coach: Run swing!
Us: SWING RUN SWING RUN SWING SWING IT SWING IT SWING SWING RUN SWING RUN SWING!"

And like every good benchwarmer, we told each girl as she came out of the game all the good suff she'd done.

"Hey, do you remember that amazing steal you had?! The one where you left everybody in the dust and got that awesome layup?! You should do that every time, okay? You rock!"

All I know is, we won the game. And we discovered halfway into the third quarter that fans were taking pictures of us. I have a feeling that those photos will come back to haunt us someday.

Oops.

Well then.

Rain, Rain...

(Utterly fashionable, I know.)

Happy Feet

I like looking at all the status updates and news feeds on facebook when I don't have anything to write about. It's a good source of inspiration. Check out what's going on in my little corner of cyberspace right now:

*Several friends are playing Fishville... one just adopted a lonely blue guppy fish
*Girl: "Why do you build me up, buttercup baby just to let me down"
*Girl: "I just saw diet water?!"
*Girl: "Pants on the ground. Pants on the ground. Lookin like a fool wit yo pants on the ground. HAHAHAHA"
*Girl quoting poetry
*I have been tagged in a "status cloud"
*Brother to Sister: "You are the most EVIL human I have ever encountered. Make me ramen."
*Boy pondering science
*Boy:"Pants on the ground, pants on the ground.." (Okay, now I'm starting to feel like I'm missing something... what's going on here? TWO people with pants on the ground?)
*Friend sends friend a link to some youtube video of a new band
*Girl adds a new bumper sticker to her wall
*Girl tagged in a photo album of old high school pictures
*Boy: "Almost no homework left, late start tomorrow"
*Boy quoting song lyrics
*Wife rejoices that her husband is back in town from a business trip
*3 people joined the group, "Texas is the best country in America"
*Girl is "going to fail her science test tomorrow"
*Girl: "SKIBOSKI! Pants on the ground, pants on the ground..." After further investigation, I discover that this has to do with an American Idol audition that I've yet to see.
*Girl is tagged in a picture-a-day-for-a-year album
*Girl: "I just ate the best dinner of my entire life!!! Thanks Nana!"
*Girl found a lost white kitty on her virtual farm in Farmville... oh, brother
*Girl posts link to purchase tee shirts to support Haiti after terrible earthquake. Praying for them!!!
*Girl to Friend: "Sorry, facebook chat shut down! Thanks for answering my questions!"
*Girl becomes fan of MoJo JoJo
*Boy becomes fan of, "'That girl has such a pretty voice!' 'Mom, that's Justin Bieber.'"
*Girl: "I'm on fire for God. Look out, school, here comes a crazy Christian!"

So you see? This post could have been on the pros and cons of raising livestock by virtual means, popular song lyrics, America's obsession with being skinny, America's obsession with American Idol, how to make your brother very angry and/or how to smooth things over when you do, the affects of science on middle school boys, the importance of thinking about what you post as your status because it will inevitably end up in a cloud, up-and-coming bands, the importance of deleting bad photos from your friends cameras or else they'll come back to haunt you someday, good study habits (maybe, get off facebook?), using facebook to the glory of God, supporting good causes through facebook, the role of pants in day-to-day life, and, finally...

The importance of GEOGRAPHY! I don't know how many of you caught it, but last I heard... Texas is a state, not a country.

So next time you need an interesting conversation topic, I highly recommend facebook.

Frosty Days

Frosty days in Texas - I love them!

Normally we get "cool" days or gross cold, with rain and mud. But every now and then we get a bonafide, beautiful winter day! For the past few days the sun has been shining, and everything has a nice sheen to it, covered in little bits of ice. So far I've thouroughly enjoyed it, except for one thing...

I've been sporting the "freeze-your-butt-off" look a la my school uniform.

See, you can wear khaki pants, but I can't find any long enough. So I'm stuck with skirts, leggings (if they're long enough... some of my teachers don't believe that I'm wearing full-length ones even when I am), and a 3/4 sleeve button down shirt. You also have the option of a navy sweater, but I didn't get one at the beginning of the school year (it was ninety degrees then!).

I have learned some good lessons in foresight, to say the least.

As soon as I got home I changed into sweats, grabbed a magazine, a book, my camera, my cell phone, put on socks and made some tea. Then I hauled everything into my parents' room - because they have the biggest and softest bed, duh - and fell asleep, warm at last. When I rolled over half an hour later, I mumbled that I was hungry for chicken. Or noodles. Turns out, we were having both.

Can life get any better?

Well... maybe if I had the school approved sweater...

But other than that, no.

I like my life.

I've Officially Missed My First Post!

Sorry about the missing my first post! I'd hoped to make it at least one month without missing a day... oh well.

Yesterday in Spanish class we were watching a slideshow my teacher put together on transporte escolar... school transportation in other countries. She first showed some pictures from a school bus in Japan. It was spacious and high-tech; computers were at every comfortable seat. The next slide was from a small republic in Venezuela. The photo was of a buggy attached to the back of a bicycle with too many small, dirty children stuffed inside.

Then our teacher instructed us to write some comparisons of the two in Spanish. I put my head down and began to write when I noticed that another girl in the class - the type who speaks her mind, no matter what - hadn't taken her wide eyes off of the photos. She looked around at everyone writing, then burst,

"That's TERRIBLE!"

Everyone looked up, startled. Our teacher seemed surprised, too. I turned and glanced at the girl and saw that she had actual tears in her eyes.

She didn't finish the asignment on time. The girl had summed up everyone's comparisons in two single, fervent words. Honestly, I think she got it better than anyone else in the room, and our teacher made eye contact with her and nodded.

We take a whole lot for granted, don't we? Thanks for reminding our spanish class, H.

Late night - watching my Longhorns! I'm horribly disappointed that we didn't get our championship, but I am so proud that we went out with class. Colt McCoy and Jordan Shipley are amazing representatives of Jesus Christ, even in the face of utter defeat.

And hey, Bama fans?

No way would you have beaten us with Colt McCoy. Congrats on the upset. ;)

People, Cont'd

"So God created people in his own image; God patterned them after himself..."
Genesis 1:27, NLT

I think that verse summarizes what I wanted to say a couple of days ago when I wrote about people. My post was brief, and I found myself struggling for words to explain what I was thinking. My point is this:

I love people because they all reflect a facet of God that I would never experience otherwise. There are roughly six billion (6,000,000,000) people on this earth right now, all representing the same God - whether or not they choose to admit it.

God prizes people. He created them above all else. He treasures them. He loves us. He understands us.

I don't think it's coincidential, then, that God says over and over in the Bible to love each other. Because we're all people, and we all display sides of God. I'm convinced that's something special, something I should take more time to act on. It's a matter of opening my eyes and looking for opportunities to cherish people like God does.

Good Things, Small Packages

Today I went to Target with my mom. Both of us were craving something sweet, so while she browsed for our groceries, I went on The Epic Hunt for Dessert. I stealthily slinked through the snacks, dashed across the candy aisles, and crept through the endless supply of chewing gum. I was prowling the freezer section when BAM!

A most glorious sight met my eyes.

The perfect - PERFECT - dessert.

Did you know, dear reader, that Häagen-Dazs makes single-serving ice cream cups? A single serving of creamy, frosty, delicious cuteness in a tiny little carton! Not only that, but it comes with a teensy plastic spoon, the kind that you get ice cream samples on at Baskin Robbins, Marble Slab, etc.

Let me tell you, the stealthiness stopped there. I grabbed the little container of joy and went tearing through the store. I found my Mom a couple of aisles over looking at granola bars.

"MOM! MOM! MOM!"

I reached her, eyes shining, and shoved the ice cream into her hands breathlessly.

"LOOKATITMOMIT'SSOCUTEISN'TITCUTEI'MGONNAEATIT!"

Her response went something like, "Yum."

Needless to say, I broke out the plastic spoon on the car ride home and enjoyed 10 minutes of pure, strawberry bliss.

Good things come in small packages?

I think yes.

People

"Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
John 13:34-35

I've been reading about loving other people a lot lately, in the Bible and other books. It's something I need to work on. Think about it:

God treasures people above all else. He gave up his only son, for people.

People are pretty special. I should go out of my way to value them like God values them. Made myself a little reminder to keep in my bag... thus the paint on the fingers in the photo.

More on this later!

P.S.
My younger sister took the photo for my post today! Turned out pretty good, huh? She's great.

Forty-Two

I counted all of the UT paraphernalia I saw today in church and during a quick trip to HEB in honor of the upcoming championship. The total was 42 in a span of 2 hours, including my own tee shirt. I didn't get to count while I was driving to and from lunch after church; since I've only been behind the wheel for a short time, you definitely want my eyes on the road!

Headed to bed now... tomorrow my basketball practices start back up, which means I'll be rising at the bright and cheery hour of 5:40 am. Oh, winter break, why must you leave me?

Food For Thought

Interesting what you notice when you keep your eyes and ears open. I was in a bookstore today and wandered back to the fashion/arts/photography section. There was a teenage girl sprawled in the corner; frizzy blond hair yanked back into a ponytail, corduroy jacket thrown haphazardly on over paint-stained jeans. She was bent over a book on cartooning, completely engrossed, when she suddenly gasped and said:

"Ohhh! That makes sense!"

She whispered the last part excitedly. Never even realized she'd said it out loud. She traced the pattern with her finger over and over till she could do it with her eyes closed. Her phone beeped at least a dozen times before she heard it, jumped up hurriedly, scribbled down the name of the book and rushed out of the store. I doubt she saw me at all; she certainly didn't notice that I was taking notes on her. :) People watcher.

I've never seen anyone get that excited over japanese cartoons. But for whatever reason, it fascinated me. You can find out so much about people by just, paying attention to them. Even perfect strangers.

P.S.
My photos probably won't ever have much to do with my posts.

P.P.S.
This had NOTHING to do with my post, so I didn't mention it above, but how about those gators last night? Thank you, Tim Tebow, for being such an awesome role model and all-around great guy!

Happy New Year!

Twenty-ten begins... 2009 had its ups and downs, but a new year marks a fresh start. It's like a clean, white page; on January 1st we poise our pens and prepare to begin writing! I can't wait to see what the year holds!

Many people begin their story with grand resolutions. They want to eat healthy, exercise, organize their belongings, make more money, break bad habits, etc. All these things are fine and good, but research shows that most individuals leave off and forget about their resolutions within only a few months. That's because life doesn't go according to plans. It is unpredictable and sometimes a bit messy. It goes on. That's why this New Year's Eve, rather than setting big, huge, life-altering goals, I decided that I want to aim for 1 Timothy 6:6.

"Godliness with contentment is great gain."

I want to grow closer to and become more like my creator, and be satisfied with the beautiful life He has blessed me with! Happy 2010!