Hi all! It's been many, many months since I last posted... Sorry about that! I honestly haven't exactly been up to anything interesting over the summer so there was nothing compelling me to make a post about my rather mundane life. But now I do have something to write about, so here it goes. 
As some of you probably already know, I'm now a freshman in college! Yup. If you think that sounds weird, think about how extraordinarily strange it feels for me. Seriously, how am I a college student? I still lowkey feel like I'm a freshman in high school... Definitely don't feel like a college student in the slightest. And yet here we are. 
Where am I going? Well, it's funny that you ask because it's a kind of complicated, long answer. The easy answer is I'm a freshman enrolled at University of Delaware.... but I'm actually writing this post from Spain so what's the deal with that? That's where the longer answer comes in. I actually got into this really unique and cool program called the World Scholars, where they send you abroad for your first semester. So the answer right now to where I'm going is Saint Louis University Madrid which is, shockingly, located in Madrid, Spain. 
So yeah, my first semester away from home is a lot more AWAY than I originally anticipated. BIG emphasis on away. Seriously, I was thinking that colleges in North Carolina were too far from home so I decided to go to Spain instead. That makes perfect sense. Anyway, as I am writing this post I believe I am still in the "honeymoon" stage of the whole process. See, I've only been here for a little over a week, which is short enough to feel like vacation or short term. I don't think it's really hit me yet that yes, I am here for a rather long time. Still, I'm really glad that I chose to participate in this program due to how truly unique it is and all the opportunities it provides me. 
The World Scholars Program is particularly unique because it's more than just a study abroad opportunity. It's a complete four year immersive commitment to teaching world stewardship and just an all around appreciation for other cultures and differences. In the first semester of freshman year, participants get to study abroad in one of four locations-- Madrid, Auckland, Rome or Athens. While abroad we're also required to take a Global Politics class to further educate us and expand our view past that of just our own home country. Though we don't study abroad our sophomore year, we are required to live in the International housing on campus, as well as take more courses and participate in other events to keep expanding our interaction and awareness of other cultures. Then junior year (jeez, that's really far away at the moment), we get to study abroad again, this time at a location of our own choosing that works best with whatever our chosen major is. And finally, senior year I believe we work with people from the Fulbright program / I'm not actually sure what goes on but it's something about Fulbright! Haha, that's so far away I'm not exactly thinking too hard about it. 
Back to me, because that's really what this blog is all about haha. So we arrived in Madrid about a little over a week ago now on Saturday Morning (August 31). It was a very long flight, which isn't usually an issue for me because I have this weird ability to fall asleep just about anywhere, especially moving things like planes, cars, trains and boats. This time not so much, I actually got sick on the plane which is not usual for me, so when we arrived in Madrid I was running on little sleep. Unfortunately since we arrived in the morning, we were encouraged to not sleep in effort to fight against the inevitable jet leg. It was actually a pretty packed day, too, so napping would've been pretty difficult anyway. We FINALLY got to find out our roommates-- due to something about Spain's privacy laws we weren't able to know who our roommates were until arrival, which was a point of anxiety and annoyance for all of us. Then we got about a hour to go up to our rooms and unpack and such before a required walk around Madrid to show us a bit of the campus and to a grocery store.
I have to say, starting off in a dorm in Spain has truly ruined American dorms for me. I might cry upon going back because these dorms are infinitely better. See, in Europe, the idea of communal bathrooms is gross, so we actually get our own little bathrooms in our rooms, complete with toilet, sink and shower. Being the germaphobe that I am, going back to America and having to use a communal bathroom is a definite nightmare. Not only that, but the dorms here are basically like staying in a hotel room, we even have little electronic keys AND once a week cleaners come in and clean for us, including giving us new sheets and towels. Ha, fun little difference-- in Spain they don't use fitted sheets. 

After the walk around the city and to the grocery store, we got lunch and got a smidgen of chill time before heading out again in groups. Each group did something different. In mine, we went to the metro and for those of us who forgot to order an unlimited metro pass ahead of time (*cough* me), we got some temporary metro cards. Then we took the metro to Puerta del Sol, which is where the first picture on this post was taken, though on a later date. There we wandered around searching for a phone store open enough for us to either get new SIM cards or new phones-- it took a few tries, though, eventually we found an Orange empty enough for our group to invade. I got a new SIM card so if you're trying to send anything to my old number I'm not ignoring you! I just am not getting any of those messages as I have a new Spanish phone number for the moment (I'll be switching back to my old number when I get back to the US.) If you want to contact me, I still have the same US phone number logged onto Whatsapp, which is actually the method most other countries use for texting as unlimited texting and calls is unusual outside of the US. So if you REALLY want to talk to me, get Whatsapp and text me, or you know, if you're someone who actually knows me well enough to really be contacting me frequently, you probably have enough information to be contacting me if you aren't already doing so. 
After going to the phone store, most groups went out for churros at Sin Gines or just back to the dorms because you know, we had just landed that day and were all exhausted. Not my group though! Instead, my group just went on a walking tour around basically the whole of Madrid and didn't get back until 8-- while all the other groups got back at like 5. It wasn't all that horrible because we got to see some really beautiful and cool places and monuments around Madrid. Like, it was actually a great experience because we got to see the city, but I was also just already exhausted and all that walking just added up. Seriously, that night my feet were throbbing so it hurt to actually just sit, and walking was beyond painful. (No, for those of you who know me and are saying it was probably the heels, I was not wearing heels. I actually wore some very practical sandals made for walking a lot.) When we got back to El Faro (the dorm), dinner had already started. It was actually pretty cute because the staff at El Faro threw a welcome BBQ for us Americans. 

In Spain, as with a lot of Europe I believe, the mealtimes are a whole lot later than us simple, hungry Americans have them. Here's the eating schedule for my dorm-- which actually starts a bit early to try and work around peoples' classes. 

Monday-Friday 
Breakfast: 7-10 AM 
Lunch: 1-4 PM 
Dinner: 8-10 PM 

Weekends & Holidays 
Breakfast: 9-11 AM 
Lunch: 2-4 PM 
Dinner: 9-10:30 PM 

So basically when you have to get up around the same time for classes, days feel a whole lot longer when you gotta wait until 8 for dinner. Then again, days here do just seem a whole lot longer, because in Spain it's more common to stay up later. Honestly, I'm not sure how much sleep most Spaniards live off of, because people really do stay out pretty late around here. 
The eating habits are also very different here than they are back home in America. While us Americans tend to eat smaller meals and just snack all day long, Spaniards seem to have three big meals and then two planned snacks-- one around noonish and then another in like the four to five time zone depending on when they eat lunch. 
Honestly, the eating habits have been one of the hardest transitions for me (have been, haha, it's definitely not past tense). In an effort to really immerse myself into Spanish culture and also because the portions here are so huge, I've been trying to balance my diet by snacking less. This is a bit of an issue because it leads to me being absolutely ravenous at meal times and scurrying down to the dining hall as soon as the meal starts. I wonder if I'll ever be able to go to meals later than the earliest possible times. Back to the issue though, I just gobble down all the food way too fast-- which is surprising because I'm the slowest eater I've ever met, but I'm pretty freaking fast during the meals. Still slower than most people around me but it's fast for me haha. Waiting for meals is pretty painful on the stomach. In America I just sorta snacked whenever I wanted, and I'm really trying not to do that here. To encourage my less snacking policy (notice I don't say no snacking because I know that isn't gonna happen), I don't let myself buy snack foods, though, I have been to the grocery a lot recently to LOOK at snack foods. All I have in the food cabinet is a giant pack of Maria digestive biscuits, a smaller back of dark chocolate dipped digestive biscuits, ORANGES and two types of cereal. (And also all the Pan de Leche I steal from the dining hall, but we're not gonna acknowledge that). So basically the idea behind this is I don't want to eat too many cookies because the freshman fifteen is real and I am very, very afraid of it. So I will occasionally nibble on a Maria, but I never chow down on them. The chocolate dipped ones are for special occasions and I haven't really touched them yet, haha. So basically the main snack I go for is the oranges, but eating too many oranges can cause you to gain weight as I found out in the 8th Grade when I did a research paper on oranges, so I limit myself to one orange a day around 4:30-5 time. The cereal is another story to be told later, haha. 
It's actually pretty interesting that we all give Americans a hard time about giant portions, but from my experience so far and my past experience in Valencia, the Spanish actually have larger portions, they just eat less between. So there's a thought. 
Anyway, this post is getting a little long so I'm thinking that I'll split it up! Who knows when or if I'll actually finish it by writing more parts we'll see haha, but I'll try, or thinking about trying. With school catching up, I'm not sure how much actual free time I have! We'll see! 
So thanks for reading, and hopefully another post about my first week in Spain will pop up eventually if not soon. 
Adios, 
​Anji

It's the end! It's the end of everything. But of course, to be totally cliche, the end of everything is also the beginning of something. For those of you who don't live around here, and didn't read the title of the post, you may be asking yourselves "The end of what? It's not the end of 2018, we're only about half way through it..." And to that I'd reply- it's the end of the school year. Or we're past the end of the school year now. The seniors have officially graduated and the juniors (aka me) have officially become seniors. 
Scary thought, right? And how exactly did that scary thought become reality? And how did it become reality so soon? The answer to that is that I have no idea. While junior year felt like the slowest possible time ever, looking back it feels like a blur. (Isn't that how life always is, though?) The end of this year just feels like it sort of jumped out from behind a corner and surprised me. I can't believe this year is over, and I most certainly can't believe that I'm a senior. Even writing those words feels wrong. I. Am. A. Senior. That's wrong, that most definitely can't be right. Me? A Senior? Just the other day someone asked me how old I am, and you know how I answered? I said I'm 15. 15. You know how off that is? I haven't been 15 for two years. TWO YEARS. Where did those years go? HOW AM I a SENIOR? 
Excuse my (not) mild freaking out. I am just in total awe and disbelief by the fact that I'm a senior. This really is coming close to the end of my high school career. A year from now I'm probably going to be writing on this blog about how senior year really just flew by and I can't believe I'm off to college. A YEAR FROM NOW I'M GOING TO BE OFF TO COLLEGE. And more importantly to my freaking out brain, this year I have to make some big life choices such as which college I'm going to go to and what I might want to major in. How can I be making these choices when I literally still feel like I'm 15? 
And no, this is not a philosophical post answering that question and all the life questions you've been dying to have answered. I'm just splatting out words on a post because I haven't posted on this blog in a while, and also in a tribute to my senior (now college freshman) friends. 

Here's a quick little word of remembrance (no, they're not dead... I'm just going to see them a whole lot less next year :( ) for my senior friends. 
Caitlin-- thanks for being my partner in crime this year. We did everything together, ranging from tackling defense on field hockey to producing a play and a musical to being the best statistician and statistician's assistant for the wrestling team. (Guess who was the assistant. Hint: It wasn't me.) You're one of my bestest friends, as proven by how well we've gotten to know each other-- we literally know each other's food orders. I'm not sure it gets any more personal than that. Love you so much, and can't wait for the shenanigans we're going to get up to in the months and years to come. 
Rayna-- thanks for being my Broadway buddy. We made some pretty great memories together going to some fantastic shows. I loved having you there to experience the magic of theater with me, despite the fact that people around us start to think we're crazy. Of course, going to Broadway with me isn't the only thing I love you for. I love you for making the field hockey and capes team fun for me this year. Nothing will be the same without your bright, smiling face. 
Ellie-- thanks for being one of my oldest friends. We're so close that we literally finish each other's sentences and thoughts. I can't believe you graduated this year. You're such a talented musician, and I'm so lucky to have you as a friend. You know I'm always down to play you (crush you?) in video games or just to hang out and have oddly deep talks or really random, light discussions about random occurrences. 
Waverly-- thanks for being my lacrosse and musical buddy. You helped me to endure hours upon hours of dry tech and tech, and you made me feel included in the lacrosse team, even though I'm just a statistician. It's a real shame we didn't become friends sooner, because I feel like we really bonded this year and since you're going to college down south next year... Well, it's likely that I'm not going to be seeing you all that much. :( Good luck, though, and I hope you have the best time next year. :) 

And... the Class of 2019 is about to be the top of the school. You hear that underclassman? You have my permission to start running and screaming now, because with my class in charge, I'm sure it's going to be a chaotic year. Of course, hopefully that also means that's it's going to be not just a fun year, but the best year of our entire lives. Look out senior year, because here we come! (and I'm still not so silently screaming about the fact that how are we seniors, what are we going to do, how is this end so near???)
Thanks for reading, 
​Anj

Yeah, so sorry, as usual I'm apologizing for not posting enough but this time I have a legit excuse! (which just so happens to be the same excuse I use every time so...) This excuse comes in the form of one, single, torturous word: School. And you can give me a break, right? It's the spring of my junior year so I have AP tests as well as the SAT coming up. That's a lot of stuff to be panicking over. (Which I am, I really, really am).
Another thing other than the mountains of homework that has been keeping me busy is ANC's spring musical-- Shrek. And here's an obviously placed ad for it, because I'm the student producer and gotta try and get as many people to come to the production as possible. Y'all should come to Shrek! It's the closing weekend this weekend-- last two shows! Tomorrow night at 8 PM and Saturday at 7 PM. If the hard work of the cast and crew doesn't instantly draw you to the show, the never ending hard work of the production's top of the line student producers (myself and Caitlin Irwin) should! (haha...) So with that extremely subtle yet totally convincing ad, I'll be seeing you all buying tickets from me at MPAC's box office... right? Hehe. 
No, but seriously, the cast and crew of Shrek have worked so hard these past few months, and I can attest to that! I've been at (most) of the practices and have had the joy of seeing this show come together. It's a great production, and I promise, it'll be worth the $15 for an adult and $12 for a kid that you gotta pay for it. (See what I did there?) It's a family friendly show that will be fun for everyone, ranging from on-the-death-bed old to just came out of the womb infants. Please, come see our show! (also my best friend is starring in it, no big deal or anything...) 
Anyway, that's what I've been up to, sorry I gotta keep it short because there's so much else do!
Thanks for reading, 
​Anj

Oh, also, P.S. another one of my best friends, Ellie Taylor, is having a piano recital at 7PM on Wednesday, May 16th. She's a wonderfully talented pianist and it's not a performance you're going to want to miss! If you're interested make sure you RSVP by May 2 so she knows how many people are coming :) (At the Settlement Music School in Willow Grove-- 318 Davisville Road) 

Contrary to popular belief, Charter Day is not, in fact, meant to be a cult holiday. For everyone outside of Bryn Athyn that follows this blog or anyone outside Bryn Athyn period, Charter Day may look a lot like a cult thing (as does most of Bryn Athyn to most outside viewers). I mean, I can see where people are coming from... A ton of people in robes and red sweaters marching down to a cathedral... Well, it's not mean to be cult-like, it's actually just meant to be a celebration of our school being granted a Charter. Hence the name Charter Day. 
Charter Day is basically the homecoming for our school, of course we couldn't actually call it homecoming because we're ANC. It always happens close to the midterm (after 6 weeks), though this year it was a little later, taking place on October 20th. 
The only proper way to kick off Charter Day is with the Charter Day Field Hockey Game under the lights. Yes, that is the only proper way. For anyone who didn't attend... Well, your does your Charter Day even count as a Charter Day? No, I'm not a biased opinion at all. 

Our Charter Day Game was also our senior game. That basically means that we honor all our senior players by the Juniors making them posters, and then they walk up on the field, get flowers and we announce their life plans and whatnot. Anyway, you may be wondering, Anji, why did you creepily post a picture where you are in no way shape or formed involved? To that I reply, well, I wanted to show off my amazing best ever, never going to be topped senior poster. Caitlin is part of our conjugal defense line up, so of course I made her poster. Did I stay up till 1 doing it? Maybe, but it was worth it. (FYI she's  number 1 so that's why the i is a 1) 
(Also side note: why didn't I post a fockey picture we me in it? Well, because I don't have any fockey pics with me in them from Charter Day.) 

Scratch that, here's a picture of me from Charter Day! Yeah, that's me playing my game. Am I 20? Nope. That's me in the background, 22, looking like a dweeb. Hey, what else is new? 
Anyway, for those if you who didn't attend the annual Charter Day Field Hockey Game Under the Lights (*gasp* how could you?), we won! yeah 6-1! I'm proud of my team for that... It was almost a shut out too... Almost. 
Anyway to continue on to the Charter Day festivities, after the amazing game under the lights that you shouldn't miss, we go home and get to sleep in. Well, unless you're a senior, then you gotta go in early the next day... (Oh, dang, that's me next year, isn't it?) Anyway, most of the high school gets to sleep in the next day, and then we go into school in our Charter Day attire and have our march to the Cathedral. Also known to some (possibly) as the cult march. But, like I said before, that's a common mistake to make, despite how it may look, it's not actually a cult. I don't think... I'm technically a part of it so can I really be a proper judge of the cult factor? 

When you're just an awkward blob... 

Anyway here's what we do after our (not) cult march. We sit through a long, arduous chapel service... Oh, sorry I mean an enlightening hour long chapel service (or is it an hour and a half?), we all walk around to the back of the cathedral to sing (not) cult songs. Actually though, the Charter Day songs are really fun to sing. Then it's picture time! (as seen above). Seriously, if you get in front of the big, fancy cameras for Charter Day, there's a good chance of you getting added to all the ANC advertisements. My face got put on a billboard in the mall (along with other people) last year, it was weird. But seriously, I swear they enhanced my acne in that picture, which continually horrifies me because that's in the mall. 

Then, after taking about three-thousand, five bajillion pictures, I left the cathedral to go and get my nails and eyebrows done, and proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon half getting ready for the dance and half just lazing around. I always hate it when I have plans but nothing to do in-between because I don't want to start anything but then I'm bored, too. Seriously, I took FOREVER to get ready just because I had FOREVER. 

Alright and shoutout to Camille. She's basically just like an older sister to me and I love her so much. She came to stay with us over Charter Day weekend (yay <3), and took time out of her horrendously busy schedule to come home and help me figure out my hair situation. So thanks Camille, I love you. You're the absolute best. 
Anyway, spent a ton of time just getting ready for the dance/ lazing around. This included make-up, hair and scrubbing the shite out of my legs. 
Yeah, you weren't expecting that last bit, were you? Well, if any of you read my blog last year, I get horrible rashes all up and down my shins from my shin guards. Yes, I wear rash guards every single day, but it just can't be prevented apparently. Well, I spent a good half and hour using my sugar scrub (if interested, the recipe is on my blog) to scrub them down. And then I proceeded to use cover up, you know, to cover up those hideous rashes. Not many people contour their legs, eh? 
Then I got picked up by my date at 7. Yeah! I got asked to Charter Day! which is fantastic because a. I really didn't think I would be asked b. all my friends had plans so if I didn't get asked, I probably wouldn't go and I already bought a dress :(. anyway, I got asked so yay! (When people say "asked to Charter DaY" they mean the dance. Not just the day in general). 
It was fun. We got to Rachael's for pictures, despite my horrible directions, and then got to Bernie's for dinner. Then we went to the dance. Yeah, I'm not big fan of dancing, but like... I love dances, so it was worth it. 

Then on Saturday I did an open house and attended a movie night thing (it was on an outdoor projector, freezing but fun) and Sunday I had Cappies training (Ugh) and then Monday I got to sleep in. Yay. Charter Day weekend (there's a whole ton of other events, but I just didn't feel like writing about them, sorry. ) Anyway, thanks for reading! 
​Anj

Yeah, so basically I try to post at least once a month on this blog. This month I had literally no idea what to do, no new recipes and nothing particularly interesting happened in my life, so here's just a random talk about what's going on. I actually have a good excuse as to why I haven't been posting a lot recently (aside from the fact that I'm extremely lazy-- also don't I always have a "good" excuse? Because yeah I'm pretty sure I do.) Basically I've started my Junior Year in high school this year and, well. It's busy. Junior year is probably the most important year for colleges, and I've decided to take all honors (why???), so yeah, I'm going to be very busy this year aka probably not going to be posting very often. 
Seriously, I have a book review back up on my book blog (AnjiBooks). I think I have like four or five reviews I have to catch up on, which is a pain. And there's always more books piling up, too. On the brighter side, if you're looking for a good book, check out my book blog. Yeah, and if you say you don't read, I say lies. Everyone is a reader, some just haven't found the right book yet, so just go out and find the right book. 
Even with all the stuff I've been busy with, I try to find a little time to read almost every day. Now, on to what I have been up to. Well, as I said earlier I started high school. And all honors. Which means the majority of my time has been spent doing. *sigh* homework. So, so much homework. I feel like I've been buried under a mountain of it, and I've only been in school a month! Crossing my fingers that I'll be able to survive the year. At the moment I'm stressing over the number of tests I have in this upcoming week, which is a lot. And then I had a few tests last week, too. Basically Junior year is keeping me pretty busy. 
There are probably a lot of you out there reading this and laughing like "Oh yeah, I have a real job. You know nothing of work" or you're in college and I know nothing of being tired. Maybe that's true, but so far this is a very tiring time in my life so I have nothing to compare to. Sorry if I'm offending you by all my complaints of being busy and tired, but for what I've done in my life, this is a busy and tiring time. 
On top of my honors courses (and their tons of homework), I'm also doing field hockey again. While last year I made varsity and started a couple games, this year I'm actually starting varsity. I've been starting as right back (which, for those of you who don't know, is defense.) I, along with everyone else on the team, was very nervous for this year. We lost four of our starters last year to college and we also lost our goalie, so I was very worried about the team this year. Now, a month in, I can't be cocky about anything, but I do feel happy with where the team is at the moment. We're obviously a different team from where we were last year, but I'd say we're not horrible. Sorry, I don't want to say anything too confidant because karma. And I don't want to jinx anything, also don't want to be an idiot and say something incredibly cocky and then lose. 

We've been playing pretty well this season, winning our last three games all ___- 0. I'm just very nervous for our upcoming game for this Tuesday. On Tuesday we play Shipley, which is a team that is in our league, and they're also pretty good. The two teams in our league that I'm most nervous about playing are Shipley and Westtown. We haven't played Westtown yet, and I'm not sure when we will, but Shipley is this Tuesday. And I'm nervous for the game. Very, very nervous. Especially considering the game is on Shipley's turf, while we're used to playing on grass. And the defense actually hasn't had much to do in the last three games-- they've all been offensive. Well... Crossing my fingers for that game. 
As you may have noticed, all my pictures are of field hockey because that's only time I actually really ever get any pictures of me. The rest of the time I'm really just doing homework. 
Not to mention I'm about to start working on the play (and in the spring, the musical) as a student producer, which is a time commitment. Which means I'm going to be even more busy-- hopefully I'll be able to work out my routine to be able to balance everything (school, field hockey and play). Well, I guess I'll have to. 

Oh! I'm writing this late at night while drinking my homemade water kefir. So I can tell you all about that, because that's a subject I'm very excited about. Over the summer my family has taken to brewing kombucha. Kombucha is a very healthy fermented drink that is really good for helping you digest and for your gut bacteria. It gets fizzy, too, and really I find it to be really delicious (it's an acquired taste, though.) All summer I'd call the kombucha "kefir" because, well, they're both brewed drinks that start with "K" very easy to get mixed up. So near the end of the summer, I decided I'd start brewing kefir so I couldn't get mixed up. 
After a while of arguing as to why I should be allowed to get kefir, my dad finally let me buy the ingredients to start brewing water kefir. I've been brewing it for about a month now, and have been having a lot of fun playing with the flavors and what not. I've been sharing my water kefir with my friends since it brews very quickly and I get about 1/2 a gallon every other day, and gotten good reviews. It's quite good, in my opinion. My favorite flavors so far have been lemon and lime, but I'm still testing flavors. I just finished making a berry batch, so we'll see how that one turns out! 
For those of you who don't know, kefir is also a brewed drink, like kombucha. The flavor is very different though, and as is the brewing process. The brewing process of kefir is a whole lot shorter than kombucha (kefir 1-2 days kombucha 1-4 weeks, depending on how brewed you like it). I've been asked the difference multiple times of the health benefits of both and the main health benefit difference is that kombucha is more of a help to your digestion while kefir is just a really good probiotic. 
One more thing to update you all on is that over the summer I got my driver's permit. I didn't immediately get it on my birthday, but waited a couple months because I had to get a physical. Funnily enough I'm writing this exactly three months to the day of when I got my permit. Which means I'm at the halfway point. Exactly three months from now I theoretically could get my license. I say theoretically because I highly doubt I will have my license in three months. For one it'll be two days before Christmas and two my dad hasn't set up a date yet for it, so... I have a feeling we're going to have to wait a little longer. 
Let the record show that I don't actually care that much to get my license. I think that's a really older sibling/extrovert thing to be excited for. Being the youngest, it was never that hard for me to get a ride somewhere if I needed to go plus I'm an introvert. I probably shouldn't admit this because then you'll all know how much of a dweeb I really am (if you hadn't already guessed), but I don't actually leave the house that often so really, I don't actually need my license. That's why I wasn't all that excited to get my permit, which is why I didn't immediately get mine on the day of my 16th birthday. 
I have, however, been noticing recently how useful it would be to have my license. For one, my sister's off at college, so that's one less option for a ride, and two, my dad isn't always around. And I hate constantly having to ask people to rides or, *gasp* walking. For instance, my dad goes out of town a lot for work, and that wasn't really an issue when my sister and I were left home because Zia could drive us wherever we needed to go. But now when my dad is out of town I'm basically stuck at home or have to ask someone for a ride. Like this weekend my dad is out, and I had to get to an AKM event (it's a sorority at my school). I had to get a ride from a friend, and it was kind of a pain because I went through this whole worry period that she'd forgotten to pick me up and that I was also pestering her. And also this Monday would be the perfect time to host a team dinner, but we couldn't  because my dad is out of town and I don't have the ingredients-- so I need to go grocery shopping. Basically no team dinner, and it's also going to be difficult to bake anything really seeing as my usual heaps of ingredients is running a little dry. 
My point is, while I was never really excited about getting my license, I've been starting to see how useful would be. Then my dad wouldn't have to worry about picking me up from practice when the time and place change and then I don't have to worry about asking for rides or worrying about rides. So, probably, six months from now, I'll have my license and not be worried about these sorts of things. Of course, that doesn't mean I'll be going out more because a. driving makes me nervous and b. I'm still a dweeb who's an introvert and stays at home at almost all times. 
Anyway, thanks for reading, I'll see y'all next time! 
​-Anji

It's over. I've officially survived my first year of high school. Freshman year has ended, sophomore year here I come. As usual, I'm going to start this post off by apologizing for not posting in forever. Also as usual, I have some not so great excuses for it. Exam week, for one. This had to have been the most stressful exam week I've experienced so far in this year. Given, I actually haven't experienced that many exam weeks so saying that doesn't really do much. 
Anyway, today (I'm writing this on June 11) was my last day as a freshman, which is extremely weird. This year felt all together way too short and way too long at the same time. I have been feeling extremely ready for a break, but I have really not been looking forward to school ending. I've really fallen into the hang of how things go in freshman year. I'm not overly fond of change, and moving into a new year seems like a pretty big change to me. 
(Writing this part on June 17) But first I have to get through the summer, which shouldn't be overly hard. While I don't have that many plans at the moment, I have a feeling my summer will soon be full of small things like hanging out with friends and baking. I've been baking a lot lately. Some baking goals I've set for the summer are to work on cheesecakes so far, I've made a baked American Vanilla Blueberry Cheesecake. From what I've heard, it's pretty good. Aside from cheesecakes, I also want to work on bread and pastries. To see a lot more pictures than I post online about my baking, a good place to check would be my snapchat, which is anjicooper. 
So far, the most exciting thing to have happened to me this summer is Camille Green (as seen in the photo above) has moved in with us for two weeks. Sure, the first week is up :(, but we still have another one! It's really nice having her around. 
Um... What else to I have to say? Oh yeah, I haven't written anything much for a long while. Let's talk about the Cappies Gala that happened an age ago. The pictures from that are below. They're the ones where I'm wearing that blue floor length dress with all the sparkles at the top. That was fun, getting dressed up for it. What's exciting is that our critic's team got nominated as best team. Sure, we lost, but hey, we got nominated! And also, our lead critic, Eden Halterman, won best 12th grade critic. That's impressive. I'm very proud of her and I can see why she got it- she's an amazing writer. 
And then there was also awards night. That happens on the evening of basically the last day of school. Exciting news for that is I won three departmental awards! History, Science and English. It's rather amusing actually because when you win an award you get a little present with it. What's amusing about that? Miss Hodge (English teacher) gave me a book with the complete set of all of Jane Austen's books. I almost clearly remember mentioning I didn't like the Jane Austen books in her class. I have a feeling she's trying to tell me something. I'm actually really excited to read the book Mrs.Klip (History) gave me. It's a historical fiction novel about Alexander the Great. He's my favorite ancient history person, and I said that a lot in class, so yeah. I'm looking forward to reading it. I actually did already read a historical fiction novel about Alexander, which is what made me interested in him (Review here). 
Anyway, sorry for the brief post but that's my life update. I don't actually do much with my life. Shocker. Okay. Yeah. Bye. 
Thanks for Reading. 
​Anj. 

Also I got an account where I post recipes on-- you can see it/ follow me here 
https://sortedfood.com/profile/227655

So, Sadies was last week! Out of my two dance experience, this was probably my favorite dance. Even though the physical dance wasn't actually that great, the group was a lot of fun. I was friends with basically everyone in my group, which made it more enjoyable in all. We met for pictures at Camryn's house around 6:30, even though I lie down the street from her, I still wasn't the first one there, which was a little weird. Actually, not really but whatever. Before Sadies, I was at a wrestling match, but more on that later.
For dinner, our (rather large) group went to Bertucci's. That was fun, except it was a long table to I only really ended up talking to Weston, Serena, Will and Rachael. So, after dinner was where things got a little weird. Someone (I'm fairly sure it was you, Camryn Alix Buss) decided the desserts were too expensive and got the brilliant idea to go buy ice cream at Weis Supermarket. Sure, it was right across the road, but it was freezing literally, it was freezing, and walking over in dresses was so freaking cold. Everyone at Weis probably thought we were really weird, walking around fancily dressed in a grocery store. I ended up being the only one who got ice cream (ugh), because everyone else refused to get ice cream with me. (Thanks, guys) other people actually just ended up getting candy. 
We arrived at the dance around nine, which gave us plenty of time (since it ended at eleven.) There was a photo booth, which was fun (sorry, I'm saying fun to much, should I switch to the word 'enjoyable?'). And there was actually a slow dance, which was a bit awkward at first, but after a bit, it was enjoyable (see? See what I did there?) 
Anyway, after the dance, I went over to Camryn's for an overnight. We sat in the hot tub for a while, and let me tell you, it feels amazing to be in a hot tub when it's way below freezing outside. 

The day after Sadies was Valentine's Day! And sticking to yearly tradition, I remain single and alone. Scratch the alone. On Valentine's Day, I, first of all,  made these little red velvet heart cakes, filled with fresh whipped cream and topped with cream cheese icing. Yum. I heard they were good. And then, I hung out with Ellie. 

Now let's flash back to before Sadies. Before I was getting ready for the Sadies Hawkins Dance, I was at the Field House bright and early at nine thirty in the morning to take wrestling statistics. If you were unaware, Serena and I were doing statistics for the wrestling team. This year, ANC did really well. We won Champs :) and today they're going to States. 

Now, way back before Sadies, let's look at the week before. Ursula challenged me to a fitbit challenge (Work Week Hustle) and for some highly stupid reason, I accepted. For those of you that are unaware. I, Anji Mei Cooper, am a highly competitive human being. Even for things I don't like. For instance, exercise. All week long, Ursula and I were just walking around the school and staring each other down. The treadmill was definitely my best friend last week. I went on like three runs a night an minimum an hour long walk. On one day, I even got up to thirty-five thousand steps one day. It was a very close competition, but I pulled ahead in the end with 140,174 steps and Ursula was quite close on my heels with 137,737 steps. :)
So anyway, thanks for reading, sorry for the short post, but I should really get started on homework! 
​-Anj

So it's been a while since a life update. A long while. Why? Um. My usual excuse- I've been rather busy. With school work piling on top of school work as well as the deadline for the completed rough draft of my novel, I've hardly had any free time. On the bright side though, GUYS I'M FINISHED THE ROUGH DRAFT OF MY NOVEL.
​The deadline was yesterday- the 31st of January and I finished writing it on Friday, arguably Saturday because it was like one in the morning, but I'm going to say Friday. I spent all Saturday morning putting it together- arranging the chapters how I wanted them and stuff like that. I know it's only a rough draft, but I find the prospect of even being this close to finishing my own book very exciting. See, I have finished other books, but all of them had been fan fiction, so it doesn't exactly count (not that there's anything wrong with fan fiction) for the last two years, I've been trying works of my own. My biggest issue with my own stories is self doubt, what if no one likes it? blah, blah, blah. Yeah, everyone says write for yourself, but really, if you only write for yourself, what's the point?
My self doubt causes me to get 200-300 pages into my stories, before deleting the entire story and starting again. If you don't believe me, ask Ursula, she would know. My second biggest issue with my own stories is that I have so many ideas in my head, I stop halfway through one story to start another one. Yeah, it's an issue. 
Anyway, I finally actually finished one of my stories. Sure, it's only a rough draft, but I'm still super proud of myself. I know there are a bunch of grammatical mistakes and spelling errors, but I'm excited to be revising my own book. See, it's getting printed into an actual book form and I'm going to be editing it from there. I'm not too happy about the cover look, but I can work on that later. Anyway, that's the update on my writing hobby! On to other things. 
As many of you probably know, it snowed recently. Snowed a lot. Now it's all gross and muddy but let's not think about that. Back to the snowing, you probably are not wondering, hey, what was Anji doing during that snowstorm? But I'm going to tell you what I was doing anyway, because I'm bored and have nothing to do (slash am procrastinating) On that wondrous three day weekend, I watched the entire X-Men franchise. Little known (not really) fact about me, I'm obsessed with comic book characters, and it was only a matter of time before I binge wanted the X-Men movies. It was wonderful and I highly recommend y'all watch the series. For the most part, the movies are quite good and I'm very excited for Apocalypse to come out. Extra excited because SOPHIE TURNER is debuting as young Jean Grey and we'll get to see more Scott Summers (which is also quite exiting) and Scott may probably meet Alex Summers. YESS THIS IS SO EXCITING. Also, Batman v. Superman, Captain America Civil War, Suicide Squad and Dr. Strange come out this year. It's very exciting. I'm very excited. Haha, can you tell I'm excited? 
Anyway, aside from being a lazy butt and watching movies in the evenings, I also baked a batch of red velvet cupcakes for Sadies (more on that later) and went to see The 5th Wave. If you're interested, my review is here. I'm trying to think of what else I did, but I'm kinda forgetting, so moving on. 
Sadies. Yeah. That's coming up soon. For all y'all who were unaware, Sadies is our school's winter dance. It's switched, though, so the girls ask the guys. I decided to ask this guy named Will, and this is how I did it. 

So I made cupcakes because, well, I'd be more likely to get a yes if I gave the boy cupcakes. I decided to make my usual- ultra moist red velvet cupcakes with whipped cream cheese frosting. Whipped cream cheese frosting is just as good and sweet as regular cream cheese frosting but more light and fluffy. I heard they were delicious. Anyway, back to how I asked. 

Tada. Anyway, I added my number to the card and just expected him to text me yes or no. Haha, yeah that didn't happy. Um. it was a bit of an awkward exchange. If you hadn't figured out, I'm a very awkward person, I mean, obviously, because I'm blogging right now, but whatever. And by bit of an awkward exchange, I mean a very, supremely large awkward exchange. I would account that mainly on me, because come one, Awkward is basically 90% of the part of my brain that I use. In my free time I write on my blog, read books and talk to my cats. If I did not already establish it, I am probably the most awkward human being on this planet we call Earth. 
​

This past Thursday was my mom's 60th birthday. Kinda. I mean, the birthday is kind like the time you've lived on Earth so I'm not sure if it really counts, but I'm going to count it so... Yeah. Happy Birthday, mom! And I just realized I put her age online. Aren't you not supposed to post that past like twenty five or something? Whoops. Sorry, mom. Anyway, for my mom's birthday, I took a break from my writing and made chocolate cupcakes with fudge buttercream icing. : )

So... I should probably go now. Thanks for reading my life update (if anyone's still reading this far down. FYI those are no fry yeast doughnuts. They were very fun to make and quite delicious- texturized just like a regular fried donut. If you don't want to miss a any of of my confections, feel free to follow any of my Social Medias, I usually post a picture on instagram.com/anjimcooper (my 2nd Instagram), my Facebook  (see About/Contact) and on my Snap Chat (which is anjicooper) 
Thanks for reading!
​-Anj

This has certainly been an interesting year, full of some surprising events as well as fun experiences. Honestly, it doesn't really feel like the year is ending because for me, how I see years is the school year. A new year starts when a new school year starts. So my new year will be more like when a start Sophomore year (I'm going to be a Sophomore? That's not scary at all....) 
Anyway, as of the fact that I didn't set any goals at the end of 2014, at least not any memorable goals, I can't make a blog post about how accomplished I am because I met my goals. Huh. That makes me think I should set some goals for 2016. Ah, that's so weird. I can't believe it's 2016 already! I can still clearly remember it being 2011. Before we all thought the world was going to end. 
Anyway... What should I do for my goals this year? Let's see. 
Goal Number 1. I want to finish my novel this year- at least the first draft- and start editing it. 
Goal Number 2. I want to be able to keep up my good grades and stay focused on my school work and education 
Goal Number 3. Umm... Work on getting better at writing 
Goal Number 4. UPDATE MY BLOGS MORE. I feel like I'm always starting every blog post off with "Sorry for not posting in so long." Yes, I'm busy, but I really need to actually start setting aside time for my blogs. I mean, I completely ditched one blog I started in 2013, which I feel rather guilty about but whatever. 
Gal Number 5.  Try new things while cooking and baking. 
Anyway, there's five goals for the new year. Maybe I'll try to make some more later. Who knows. 

2015 has certainly been an event filled year. I mean, here's a SHORT list of things I've done this year. 
1. 8th Grade Play 
2. SPRING BREAK IN ST. KITTS (That was amazing) 
3. Started getting interested in Soap and Candle making when I made soap and candles for mother's day
4. Got the academic award (which was awesome because I've wanted that for as long as I can remember)  
5. . I graduated elementary school 
6. went tubing in North Carolina (always love that) 
7. took a family trip to the beach
8. STARTED HIGH SCHOOL
9. ...
Wow, either this year was way too short or I was really lazy. Probably a mixture of both. 
Oh! Here's a new resolution
Goal no. 5. Read more. 
Let's see, I read over one hundred books this year. I want to try and read more next year :) You can never read too many books. (Seriously, if you want a good book to read, check out my review website- anjibooks.weebly.com) 

This is the year my mom died, which, still, has yet to hit me. Which is weird. When I envisioned my mom dying I definitely thought I'd be a lot more sad about it. But I guess I still really haven't fully realized it yet. My theory behind this is that since I didn't hang out with my mom a lot, I haven't especially noticed she's gone. 

St. Kitts was an especially fun vacation- I forget whether or not I ever made post on it, but that was probably my most favorite vacation of all time. It was a spectacular amount of fun and I tried things that were way out of my comfort zone that include zip lining (I have a horrid fear of heights) and scuba diving (I wouldn't mind doing that again.) 

Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to read my blog this year and I'll see you in 2016 <3