Summer Drinks Part 2

   This is a continuation of the fun summer drinks! I hope you can enjoy them with family and friends! Please note that serving sizes are not given with all of the recipes. All of the recipes found on this blog are from my family's recipe book.

Tropical Tea

Ingredients:

• ·         ½ cup sugar
• ·         1/3 cup instant tea
• ·         1 cup instant orange drink mix
• ·         1 6-ounce can frozen pineapple juice concentrate
• ·         8 cups water

Directions:

Combine sugar, instant tea and orange drink mix in pitcher; mix well. Add pineapple juice concentrate and water; mix well. Chill until serving time. Best if served over ice.

Serving Size: 8 servings

Gramma’s Lemonade

Ingredients:

• ·         1 cup of lemon juice
• ·         1 cup of sugar (or sugar substitute of your choice)
• ·         Water and ice to make 2 quarts

Directions:

Mix lemon juice and sugar (or sweetener) in a 2 quart pitcher. Add water and ice to make a total of 2 quarts. Mix well and enjoy.

Note: This recipe can be doubled or halved. Sugar or sweetener can be adjusted to your taste. Also if you want to make it extra special you can add lemon slices and/or fresh strawberries.

Summer Drinks Part 1

Summer time is coming around the corner. These next blogs will have some different recipes to try on a rainy day, use at a party, or just to use to eat! Here are some fun drinks to make this summer! All of these recipes are from my family cookbook. Note: Serving sizes are not given with every recipe.

Orange Julius

Ingredients:

• ·         6 oz. frozen orange juice
• ·         1 cup water
• ·         1 cup milk
• ·         ½ cup sugar
• ·         ½ tsp. vanilla
• ·         1 tray of ice cubes

Directions:

Put all ingredients in a blender, adding a few cubes at a time. Blend until desired consistency.

Nana Punch

Ingredients:

• ·         2 packages of Strawberry Kool-Aid
• ·         1 cup of sugar
• ·         2 quarts of water
• ·         1 can of frozen orange juice
• ·         1 quart of Ginger-Ale( or Sprite)
• ·         2 cups of pine apple juice

Directions:

Mix all ingredients, with the exception of the soda, in a bowl or the serving container of your choice. Add the soda right before serving.

Strawberry Swirl

Ingredients:

• ·         1 cup fresh strawberries
• ·         1 cup skim milk
• ·         1 cup strawberry yogurt
• ·         1 cup vanilla ice milk
• ·         ¼ cup of sugar

Directions:

Combine strawberries, milk, yogurt, ice milk and sugar in blender container. Blend until desired consistency. Pour into glasses. Serve immediately.

Serving  Size: 6 servings

Happiness is.

Happiness. One word. Happiness.

What is Happiness?

Happiness is an amazing sunrise; the perfect dress; a chocolate kiss; wearing a crown; blowing a bubble; writing in cursive letters; coloring for hours and losing track of time; an awesome burger; being a princess forever and always; the perfectly tied bow; smiling because you can; singing your favorite song to your showerhead; drinking a milkshake with someone special; dancing in the rain; reading on a rainy day; watching Harry Potter; gawking at a hotty; drawing a flower; writing a letter; sharing Razzles with your best friend; reliving your childhood; reminiscing; waking up to birds chirping; going to bed under the stars; getting lost in a huge place and not caring; laughing at something only you find funny; finding someone to share that laugh with; making a life; choosing your destiny; being alive; breathing deep; a kiss upon the eyes; a warm embrace; a smile that makes you tingle; a slice of Canadian-bacon/pineapple pizza; the crunch of leaves in the fall; the crisp smell of August; your favorite pair of jeans; doing something even though people say you can’t…and succeeding; making dreams; achieving your dreams; the soundtrack to your favorite movie; watching You’ve Got Mail for the n^th time; your dad telling you he is proud of you; the smell of your mom; your papa’s soothing voice; your nana’s potato salad; crying tears of joy; staying best friends forever; growing old together; living life to its fullest; having time for yourself; sitting on the docks; shining like the sun; singing in front of millions; touching someone’s life; growing up; never losing your youth; a brownie that warms you up; an ice cream cone with the little krunchies that chills you down; catching fireflies in the summer; walking barefoot in the sand; catching a snowflake on your tongue; rocking your sunglasses on a sunny day; an amazing sunset.

This I Believe

               The other day I was having a conversation with my grandmother about my decision to major Performing Arts and U.S. History in college. She responded to my statement with a puzzled look and asked, “Why? Why would you do that?” My grandmother and I have always been close and this was not the response that I expected. I simply responded that those two things encompass what I love. I love acting. I love singing. I love learning. I love history. I love stories. It’s what I love. So, why was it so hard for her to understand that? Why is it that I can’t do what I love? If you go looking for the answer to this question, you won’t find it. This got me thinking about what it is that I believe; always do what you love. If you can wake up every day with a smile on your face, you’ve done what you love.

                I guess I haven’t always thought in this way, though.  I used to think that what made my parents happy was what would make me happy. For so long I lived life by pleasing others. I told my parents that I wanted to be a doctor, because that is what they wanted. I strived for good grades in school, not because I wanted them, but because my parents did. I morphed into this perfect child, not because it was the person I actually was, but it was the person my parents wanted me to be. Then, I found theatre.  Theatre is this wonderful place where exuding your freedom of speech is at its highest. In theatre you encompass a completely different being and lose yourself in an author’s words. The amount of lives to recreate and characteristics to express and stories to tell are never-ending. It allows you to be whoever you want to be. This is what I love. This is what I plan to do until the day I die.

               Do what you love. That is my philosophy. Make your own standards and do what you love to make yourself happy. When you live your life to please others, you are not living your life the way it is meant to be. Ultimately, you are the one who makes your decision. In this beautiful country we have been given the opportunity to choose. We are the ones to dictate what we do. We are the ones who decide our future, not anyone else. We are the ones who do what we love.

X-Men

                This past weekend was a four day weekend, a.k.a. time for Bailey to do whatever the heck she wants without worrying about school. So, naturally, I had a movie marathon. I love Harry Potter (the books and the movies), I love Disney movies, but I always have those kinds of marathons. As I was sitting in my first few minutes of free time on Thursday, I thought to myself, what is it that I want to watch? Then it hit me like a ton of bricks, BOOM! X-MEN! I saw the newest movie, X-Men: First Class, this summer and I had seen the end of the third movie, X-Men: Last Stand, but not all five of the movies. Sure enough, I went out and rented all five of the movies and started my marathon.

                I wanted to watch the movies in the order in which they take place. So, I started with my personal favorite, X-Men: First Class. This is the newest of the movie and was very good. It goes in detail how some of the main characters come together and explains why some of the relationships within the movies are the way that they are. Like the first movie I watched, X-Men Origins: Wolverine told the story of how Wolverine became Wolverine. I was very impressed with both of these movies and liked that they shared a similar feel of filling in the blanks. Although they were both great, already there were inconsistencies. In X-Men: First Class, Charles Xavier ends the movie in a wheel chair while he is still young and in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, he is up and walking around, old, and bald, at the end of the movie, which has taken place after the first movie. It would have been fine if he would have been in his wheel chair in the Wolverine movie, or if he wouldn’t have been in one at the end of X-Men: First Class. I truly dislike inconsistencies, especially when the movies are made after each other, making it easy to follow the storylines. After I was done, it was time for the start of the three original movies. The three movies were really good all had easy to follow storylines. Once again, there were inconsistencies. The major inconsistency that I noticed in the movies was how Wolverine came to be who he was. The original movies made it seem like he was just a random guy picked up and experimented on, but the X-men Origins: Wolverine showed otherwise. All in all I found these movies to be great and if you can, you should try to watch all five in their entirety.

               

Diary of a Fat Girl: A Novel in the Making (Continued)

Entry Two

It’s about 7:30 a.m. If I was at home, I would still be sleeping. They get us up so early here. I’m waiting for my roommate to wake up so we can go to breakfast. She’s a weird one, my roommate. She doesn’t talk much. I know she came here before me. Her name is Anna, I think. She’s really pretty. She has blonde hair, bright blue eyes, but I have noticed something about her eyes. There isn’t any life in them, like someone took it away from her.

            Every time I look at the clock, I think so much time has past, but it hasn’t. Anna is still sleeping. It’s not like I am in a hurry though, I mean I wish I didn’t have to eat. Anna always has these night terrors. She talks in her sleep too. She always talks about someone named Luke; tells him to stop, and then she starts to cry.

            This whole journal thing is kind of growing on me. I mean I can talk to someone without speaking. I don’t know. The rock of a roommate is awake! Breakfast….woo hoo.

Entry Three

            Everyone thinks hospital food is terrible, they have never eaten here. At 3 East I swear the cook is a culinary genius! I know what you’re thinking, “Wait she doesn’t like to eat…” you’re right. I don’t like to eat, but I love the way food tastes, and the different flavors. Before I came here, my favorite thing on holidays was my grandma’s ‘Snicker Salad’! I haven’t had it for two years. That’s when I stopped eating.

            I have my personal therapy today. My therapist is trying to figure out what made me, well you know. I haven’t told him… I don’t know if I will. There is a reason I did; it just wasn’t because I wanted to. The kind of person I am now, no one wants to be. I don’t want to be me.

Entry Four

My therapist is a guy. He’s kind of older, maybe 50. I told him. I told him why I did it, why I made myself who I am now. Max Walter. That’s the reason. You see, Max is a guy from school. He is tall, plays baseball, football, and runs track. He isn’t bad looking and he has a great personality. Now I didn’t used to be very skinny, I was actually quite plump. One of Max’s friends told me that Max thought I was fat and felt sorry for me…and that was the only reason he talked to me. I really liked him and wanted him to like me. So my solution was to stop eating. I thought, maybe if I was skinny he would think that I was pretty and like me for me instead of feeling sorry for me. I lost a ton of weight over the summer before eighth grade. He started talking to me when I came back to school and so did a lot of other guys. I thought ‘Hey this is working.’ Everyone thought the weight loss was from training, but it wasn’t.

I didn’t want to keep rejecting meals, and working out extra, but I had to. It was the only way people noticed me. Everyone likes to be noticed, no matter what they say. It gives you the feeling of accomplishment. So everyday casually in 4^th hour, I would sneak away to the bathroom holding in my pocket 2 mints, a piece of gum, and an empty bottle. I would ask the teacher if I could go fill up the bottle with some water.

Diary of A Fat Girl: A Novel in the Making

Entry One

            Stupid journal. I don’t know how this is supposed to help? I might as well just do it because if I don’t…I’ll never get out of here. I’ll start with the basics. They call us the “3 East Kids’. I have been here for almost a month at Mercy West. They say the only way you get here is by hitting rock bottom. Well, I can tell you one thing, some of these kids are past “rock bottom”. My name is Sara Lawrence, well that is what the hospital bracelet says, but lately I don’t really know who I am. I don’t know how much longer I will be here, but right now 3 East is almost better than home.

            3 East, at Mercy West, is the best Adolescent Psychiatric unit in the state of Connecticut. Basically it is the best place for teenage psychos. Here at Mercy West only 20 teens are allowed on the 3 East floor. I was number 15. It seems like everyday one kid goes and another one is admitted. Mostly though, we all live the same routine.

            We are required to go to all three meals, group discussion, our personal therapy sessions, and the activity of the day. My past month has been filled with a lot of thinking and a lot of reading. I get to have a home visit every two weeks, but when I’m at home I might as well be back at 3 East. Sometimes home isn’t so sweet.

            At home everyone is different. I don’t get treated the same, and everyone is just weird. It’s like I am literally the elephant in the room. I can’t imagine the amount of talk there is about Dad. Oh well, he deserves it.

            You see, Dad is a teacher at school, and he is also the football coach. I have an older brother, and two older sisters. All graduated and all very athletic. That leaves me, the baby to follow in their deep footsteps. I have been running to and from sports, and playing them for as long as I can remember. It makes my dad happy and he noticed me, but then, I got good. Doing what I loved wasn’t a hobby anymore…it became work. My hobby became something I dreaded.

            Before all of the sports started, I used to sing. I have a good voice too! Could’ve gone somewhere with it, but when you have a “job” the things you love to do get pushed aside. Everything…gone. People expect more out of you. They treat you differently. No one likes it, but the truth hurts.

            So, I guess you’re wondering why I’m in here. Cooped up like a chicken, in the loony bin. Well, I’m not supposed to tell anyone, but I am supposed to vent to this stupid journal so I will. I starved myself, and on top of that I made myself throw up what little I had in me. My rock bottom? Threatening to down a bottle of weight loss pills if I couldn’t go to a movie with my friends. Scary part? I was going to do it. I didn’t care…I would have been skinny.

            Sometimes I wish I would have gone through with it. I wish for a lot of things though. My wishes never seem to come true.