Graduation, it's almost here.

Seven days from now I will be a graduate of Williamsburg Academy, a feet not a ton of people have accomplished. 

This last week I have had the last of each of my phenomenal classes and said goodbye to many, many amazing individuals. During it,  I have been overwhelmed with a giant dose of nostalgia, girly giddiness, gratitude, and excitement. All of these different emotions, coupled with a serious lack of sleep I have had with the whole "finals" thing going on, has been a bit of an emotional roller-coaster (And when I say a "bit of" I mean a major one). 

I have been going through my house, taking pictures of everything from what I usually had for lunch to the chair I would typically sit in, to smiling all day long because I just couldn't handle the excitement that this new phase brings. 

Anywho, you get the picture. 

I do, however, want to mention a few of the many, many things I have discovered this last week of high school: 

1. Independence does not mean doing everything on your own. I recently come to realize how silly I have been in regards to getting stuff done; help is great! And your mom doing your laundry for you, that is the best thing ever! Why I didn't ask her to do it for me every once in a while long ago I will never know. (Also, Moms are amazing. More specifically, my mom is amazing and I am so happy that I have had the opportunity to be raised by her.)
2. Always ask your family to be there and support you.   For just about ever I have loved to be on my own and have really felt bad when people went out of their way to be at my events. Now, I am so, so grateful that they often ignored me and have been at a lot of them. They all may have sat through about every Suzuki violin piece about a 15 times but they still always showed up for mine in the line up. :)
3. I am a very nostalgic person. Who knew? I guess you could say that I have just embraced it (...and by embraced it I do mean I put I Will Remember You by Sarah McLachlan on my senior play list...don't judge.) 
4. Roll with the punches. Things don't always (and when I say "don't always" I mean hardly ever) turn out the way you thought, planned, and or wanted. Just go with it. Some things you just can't change and you need to adapt. 
5. I am ridiculously grateful for the time I have spent at Williamsburg Academy. I can honestly say it has been just about the hardest two years of my life but it has also been the most rewarding. I will forever be grateful for the education I have worked for and the lessons I have learned. I would go into it further but I have feeling nostalgia will require a post about it all on its own. 

Puddles: the best rat a girl could ever have.

When I was six my older sister Natalie brought home a rat to do a science experiment with (She was testing to see if music effected his intelligence but that is not the important part). The important information that you need to know is that from the moment that I set eyes on this rat I knew we were going to be the best of friends.




And I was right.




This rat became my constant companion, literally. I convinced my mother that Puddles (the name my sister had given it, I personally had wanted Prince Guinevere Washington the III) needed to stay in my room because he got scared at night and couldn’t handle being downstairs all by his lonesome self. I would play with him, watch TV with him, painting him different colors, chase my mom around the house with him, go to the grocery store with him (yes, that is right. I went to the grocery store with him. Well, I guess it was more that I snuck him under my shirt into the grocery store...but that only happened once because my mom got real mad when she found out from store manager while being asked to leave me and puddles at home next time). Oh yes, I have many fond memories of spending time with this rat.



However, there is one memory that I just can’t help but share.



One hot afternoon in summer I was playing with my neighbor's granddaughter at my house, we were playing Kim Possible (I was Kim (naturally) and she was evil green villain lad) but soon got bored with it. When my mom saw the bored look she immediately sent us back over to my friends house (because we had a tendency to do things that were a bit mischievous when we got bored...such as paint my bed with nail polish, call 911 to see what would happen and have fashion shows...on my kitchen counter). When we got to my friend’s Grandma’s house I politely asked my friend where I should put Puddles while we played. She decided that the best place to put him was in the toy chest by the back door. She also informed me that we should probably keep it a secret from Oma (that is what we called her grandma).




However, I really liked Oma and did not like the idea of keeping a secret from her.


Before I continue the story, there are a few things you need to know: 1.Oma is a very proper older woman that immigrated from Germany after WWII. 2. She had a lot of other old woman friends. On this particular day, they were all out in the backyard, wearing dresses that had way to many pastel colored flowers and shoes that were the loveliest shades of puke green and old lady tan available, having a lovely garden party.


Back to the story, so after about an hour of the most epic game of ninja princess out there, I was feeling to guilty about hiding puddles from Oma to continue. So while my friend was in the bathroom, I went of to the toy chest and found Puddles under the Polly Pocket dream house. After contemplating the best possible way to approach her I decided to just go right up and spit it out (I've never been one that successfully sugar coats things unless it is regards to baking). So I put Puddles behind my back and walked right up to Oma.




At that current moment, all of the ladies were sitting about a round table sipping their spots of tea and eating their crumpets. Abiding by my nature, I walked right up to her and said, “Oma, I like you. So I need to tell you something.” At this point all of the ladies we were watching me and looking at one another with that “she-is-just-so-cute-that-I-can’t-help-but-want-to-pinch-her-cheeks” kind of look. That look didn't stay to long. It is then that I brought the rat around in their line of sight...what followed is a vision that I will never forget.





Oma gasped, at least two ladies fell back in their chairs with their pudgy short legs and puke green shoes straight up in the air, and all the other ladies were screaming.

It was chaos.

But that is not the end.

When I saw the ladies fall backwards I couldn't help but start giggling causing Puddles to startle and leap out of my hands onto the table. This was followed by half a dozen handbags being flung onto the table causing the tea and crumpets to go flying.



The rest of this story is not that entertaining. I ran around her back porch and caught Puddles. Parents were called. I was grounded from puddles for a week which, after informing my parents that we were ruining my life and crying for about twenty minuets, was extended to two weeks and puddles usually hung out at home after that (not because of my desire of-course, but more because everyone was ordered to pat me down before I walked out the door form then on).



Anywho, that was Puddles. The best darn rat my six-year-old-self could have ever asked for.

Thanksgiving: the Wixom way.

So Thanksgiving is kind of a big deal in the Wixom household...and by "kind of" I mean it is the most anticipated holiday and gets just as much attention (if not more) as Christmas. It's the Holiday about being thankful and giving back. I honestly don't remember a Thanksgiving where we didn't have at-least two guests around our table (usually I don't them...that's just how our family rolls. ;))

So here is what a typical Wixom Thanksgiving schedule looks like:

Tuesday before:

• Make Bread Baskets for Smith, Larsen, and Wixom (and by bread I mean bread, rolls, cookies, mazourkas, jam, something random, etc. Half is usually made by yours truly and my mother, the other is half is by Great Harvest...That is my favorite half.)

Wednesday:

• Deliver Bread Baskets. 
• Layne makes the biggest (and best tasting) batch of Cranberry Relish you have ever seen. 
• Natalie begins the turkey brining process for the best darn turkey you have ever had.
• Claire starts the rolls. 
• Mom makes the stuffing. 
• Bake the Pies (usually 6, including mum's sugarless apple, pumpkin, cherry, and whatever else we feel the need to experiment with that particular year.) . This always happen at night when the familia is home from work. 

The Big day, Thursday:

• 6:15- Wake up (unless you are my padre, who is up by 5.) . 
• 6:45- Head Out to the Race. 
• 7:20- Arrive at location and check in. This is also were you get to put on your new festive sweat (as pictured below.)
• 7:40- Do Jazzercise with the obnoxious warm-up lady...which my family very willingly participates. 
• 8:00-Begin chasing the gobbler 
• 8:15- The 1-milers are back by now. 
• 8:23- The 5k-ers begin getting back (with Robert in the lead.) 
• 8:45- Eat gross breakfast that the coordinators of "Catch the Gobbler" provide. 
• 9:00- Get awards (always Dad, sometimes others from our family.)
• 9:15- Raffle drawing!
• 9:45- Family usually has about 4 free turkeys by now with a few random gift certificates in-between. 
• 10:15- Begin the trek home. 
• 11:00- Begin food prep/shuffling through the shower (note that the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is ALWAYS playing in the kitchen)
• 2:00-Thanksgiving Devotional (often accompanied by Polly the Pilgrim.) 
• 2:30-Dinner
• 3:30- Lay around being stuffed (well, half of us (the smart ones) do this) 
• 3:45- Clear the table. 
• 4:00- Head out decided movie (which we arrive to a half hour early thanks to my father's strategic planning.)
• 7:00- Dessert with the Rosekelly's. This consists of all of the family gathering around while partaking of pie, Christina's Snicker-Salad, ice cream, and something random. The kido's (which there are a constant increasing number of) are usually running around making rather loud ruccus. It's a joy :). 
• 9:30- Rosekelly's slowly leave, kids are put to sleep, and the planning of tomorrow begins. 
• 10:00- this is where the after party consisting of Elf, left-overs, and obnoxious behavior usually comes in and lasts for multiple hours. 

Friday: 

• Left-Overs for Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner
• Black-Friday shopping
• The official opening of the Christmas season. Meaning we set out all of the Christmas decoration, blast Christmas music all day long, make caramel apple cider, and set up my father's Christmas tree (which a whole evening's affair). 

Side note. The first time we did the Catch the Gobbler race, in about 2001, we all hated it and thought it was the worst idea ever.
Now, we all love it and wouldn't dream of not doing it (minus Micah, she still thinks it's dumb.)

To the perks in life

So deciding to go with a different rout with my education, and working my booty off for it everyday, has some definite perks that I didn't think about before.

Such as getting to stay home with these two nephies (some may refer to them as nephews, but I believe nephies sounds much more endearing. Right?) when they are home sick and have a blast...I mean help them get better. *cough*

Sick day with K-dub...(yes, it may have been filled with Swiss Family Robinson and a trip to Cafe Rio, but...yeah, I really don't have an excuse. We just like to party. )

Ernie and I decided that reading Harry Potter all day was the way to go for his sick day. Nope, Halloween candy was involved at all...(except for those three times.)

You've got to love these two.
There is no denying it.

So to bring it full circle: Yay for the unexpected pleasantries life brings because though I wouldn't have known it if I went a different way, I really would have missed being able to spend so much with these little munchkins. They rock my world. 

The Happiest Place on Earth...besides Costco.

Back in early 2010(I was 15) my family (well, part of my family. The (then) single gals and the parents.) took a quick trip to Disneyland and basked in its magic and have a quick get away. We (by "we" I mean mainly me) adore Disneyland and the exquisite charm it has.
So here is the documentation of that wonderful trip.

It may have started pouring...and we
most definitely got drenched. 

Yes, Mickey proposed...for the second time.

You have got to love Disneyland...and family...but mainly Disneyland ;)

Oh gosh, I just love this place. 

This thing called applying for college.

 So I sort of lucked out. All of the colleges I wanted to apply for just had me do either a short, 200 word essay or a personal statements. (Woot, woot!) In-light of the idea that this blog will be turned into a book, I decided to share them so I have them to look back on when I'm old, crippled, and read everything else moderately interesting.

    

Describe a setback you have encountered in your life. Explain how you have handled the situation and what you have learned from it/also used for personal statements.

    In the eighth grade I recognized for the first time the kind of education I wanted, and needed.   Even more, I  realized that the education I was receiving did not measure up. Therefore, I decided to take my education into my own hands. I researched the options available to me, and decided that I would home-school myself. I found a mentor, attended two classes at a local private high school and used the rest of my time studying literature and history, and taking an online course. After that, I went back to the drawing board to figure out what I wanted to do for my following year of high school. I decided first on a performing arts school, because of its excellent reputation and outstanding orchestra program. But I soon found that I needed more , so I was once again back at the drawing board. After nine months of searching, I found a school that was perfect for me. It was academically challenging, offered personal mentoring, and included classical as well as leadership education. I learned a vital lesson--I must take charge of the crucial decisions in my life and then follow up with the necessary actions. 

Tell us anything else you want us to know about yourself that you haven't had the opportunity to describe elsewhere in the application.

I enjoy and love a great many things. But the thing that I enjoy above all else is traveling. I adore the feeling of entering a new country or city and getting to know it--learning a whole new culture and way of living; learning the differences and similarities of the human race. 

While traveling I have discovered that each city and country has its own spirit, a spirit that exudes a rich history and the personality of its citizens.  

One of the countries that I have had this particular connection with is England. From the moment I arrived in the beautiful country I fell in love with its history and culture.

 My dream is to one day travel to Antarctica. Some may say that this an unusual wish but I find it fascinating. Antarctica is the continent that we know the least about so I am so excited to one day visit and get to know the spirit of the land from an unbiased view. I am so thrilled by the idea of going there someday.