Bottled Ponderings: A Year in Review

Hi, friends!

It's the girl child making a grand return after my disappearance back in November. I had every intention of continuing to write for my mom, but load of school work was dropped on me without notice and I was too swamped to write. Luckily enough, Mom was freed from her duties just in time to pick up where I left off.

I'm on Christmas break currently, it's been wonderful. I've read a number of books, listened to far too much music, gone on plenty of walks, and had the most relaxing time. I figured I would take this opportunity to hop on here to say hello, reflect on the past year, and to release some of the creative energy I currently possess. Also, my mom mentioned the idea of dedicating a section of her blog to me so expect my frequent return. She had the idea of me doing a weekly reflection or post but I think I'll try to do every other week or monthly. I could very well start my own blog, I'm sure I will do so some day. But for now you can find me right here.

2019 was a hectic ride from the start. I'll split it into two posts for the sake of time and ease. I'm opting to only show the highlights because while I believe honesty is good, I am a generally private person. I also have a tendency to be very over-dramatic when describing mishaps and the sort (and just in general), and I don't want you all thinking I'm living some tragedy, because I certainly am not. But don't be fooled, life is far from perfect. Anyways, here are the first six months!

January was fairly calm considering how busy the rest of the year was. I spent New Years Day with some friends and the next three days some other friends came in from out of town. Then a new semester in which I took P.E. instead of Photography. You can bet that I was that student who absentmindedly participates in the activities while reading or studying. Also that month, I helped my aunts and mom put together my cousins bridal shower, watched Stranger Things for the first time (and it was riveting). I attended the March for Life in Washington, DC with some of my closest friends, and it was absolutely incredible. Standing up for something you believe in and are passionate about with a group of people you love and who share the same beliefs and passions is wonderful, and I will forever treasure that weekend. Lots of time spent with those friends this year and let me tell you I don't think I have ever laughed so much with a group of people as I do with them.

February was a wild one. I stepped far out of my comfort zone by joining my school's ultimate frisbee team and fell completely in love with the sport. Sophomore school retreat also happened this month, a load of school work and spent plenty of time with family and friends. It seems like an easy month as my list is short, but February is a short month and a month in which school always seems to pick up, keeping me very busy indeed.

March was a very lovely month. My cousin got married, the first on my dad"s side. I helped set up and tear down for her wedding, put together the bouquets for the bridesmaids (hire me!) and had an overall wonderful day. I have so many pictures and videos from that day that I frequently look back on; it was a very memorable and happy, happy day. Frisbee picked up in March, as we had our first few games and a tournament. I tend to be very anxious in sports as I'm a part of the center of attention, so I had a rough start with frisbee games and tournaments, but things began to ease up as games continued. I volunteered a lot in March, helped my dad coach my brothers' track team, and had a very laid back spring break.

April was my favorite month of the year. After a two-day frisbee tournament (in which both days I was there for over five hours) I became wildly passionate about the sport. Playing with passion brought out more athleticism than I knew I had. I became less anxious and hesitant while playing, making everything a dozen times more fun. Thus, April was a joy as frisbee season was at it's busiest. I had a huge Biology presentation that I nailed and am very proud of myself for, even to this day. Presentations are not my specialty but with this one the goal was to teach a lesson (on the Tundra, I believe) and with my hopes to become a biology teacher, I fully embraced this one and finished feeling more hopeful than ever about my dreams. I also saw Avengers: Endgame on opening night and goodness I cried. I've never cried over a movie as you don't get to know the characters as well as you would in a book or a TV show where you spend hours with them, but oh man Endgame got me. I've been an avid fan of the Marvel movies since early 2016 and as someone who tends to have a hard time with endings, Endgame really got me, but I loved it.

In May I got new glasses, which meant I could finally see, praise the Lord! I get new glasses about every year, sometimes more frequently. My vision is horrendous but I get tired of glasses frames very quickly so it all works out. I went for a completely new shape than before and I'm very pleased with them even after all these months. Frisbee ended but we had a few laid back sessions after school that only two of my freshmen (now sophomore) friends attended with me. It was a good time. This month was spent on end-of- year projects and preparing for exams which ended the month with my history exam. That exam makes me laugh whenever I remember it; my teacher was not the type to reveal much info about the exams before hand. Our midterm had been essays, everyone was miserably stressed over the idea of having to do another essay. Multiple people walked into the exam room in tears, and a few more broke down when our teacher pulled out thick stacks of papers with lines on the front. Upon receiving the exam and turning the page, we discovered that it was not essays (!!!) instead there were five short answer questions and the rest was multiple choice, the majority of which were from previous tests. We laughed for a good while as we began our exam. I can imagine my teacher enjoyed fooling us.

June began with the rest of my exams, and for my Spanish exam we met with all of the other world language classes for World Language Jeopardy. We played in groups, and I joined a group with two of my really good friends and some of their friends who were in varying language classes. We ended up taking first place and thus winning t-shirts, and it was the best way to end the school year. I started working in June, helping teach t-ball lessons. I did plenty of hiking, shopping, playing ukulele, art, writing, and visiting with friends. June seemed achingly slow, although it was nice after a busy spring.

This brings us to the end of the first half of the year! It picked up rapidly in July, so be on the lookout for a second part. Here's some photos in a random order, because I can't arrange them correctly. We love technology. Have a splendid rest of your day :)