Gummy Bear Popsicles

This is going to be a rather short post, but one that I thought I should share anyway. One of my favorite things about summer is popsicles. And, one of the things on my summer bucket list is to make popsicles (this doesn't count though because I made these a while ago and am just now posting about it). I decided a while ago that I would try and make gummy bear popsicles after having seen a picture of them on Pinterest. Gummy bear popsicles are not only super simple to make, but they look cool and actually taste good. Here's how to make them:
1. Take a popsicle mold and fill each compartment about 3/4 of the way with gummy bears
2. Fill the rest of each compartment with Sprite or 7-Up
3. Put the mold in the freezer
And in a few hours, you can enjoy some awesome gummy bear popsicles!

Memorial Day Weekend at the Camper

One of my favorite places to go for any weekend in the summer, especially holiday weekends, is my grandma's camper. My family has had campers down there since my mom was a child, so my siblings, cousins, and I spent a ton of time down there as kids. But the older we got, the less we went down because our summers were packed with sports, youth group activities, work, and everything else in between. This past weekend, five of the six of us were able to go down, which hasn't happened in at least 5 years. It would've been even better if all six of us had been able to go, but my grandma probably would've gone completely crazy (she was almost that way with just five of us).
It's so peaceful not having to deal with having internet and cell service and we got to do a lot of stuff we normally only get to do down there, like playing tennis at eight in the morning. I also got four things knocked off my summer bucket list - camping, playing with sparklers, mini golf (there's a course on the campgrounds), and s'mores. My family does s'mores a little differently though. Instead of using graham crackers and chocolate, we use fudge stripe cookies. It's much more convenient and I think it tastes better.
Aside from eating s'mores, we had a lot of fun and spent a lot of time laughing, and a little bit of time causing trouble. Overall, it was a great weekend and I'm so grateful I got to spend it with my siblings and cousin.

The Life of a Video Major

Being a Journalism and Media Production major has a lot of perks. One of those perks is that instead of doing calculus or biology homework, we get to make videos. Being in a rather creative major, we’re quite the interesting bunch, which makes our videos just that much better. And having friends in the major means that we all get to help with the filmmaking process for each other’s projects. One of my friends made an “MVNU Cribs” video, of which I was the star, but it also featured some of our other friends. And another one of my friends made a video depicting the love story between a girl and her giant stuffed teddy bear. I was in this video, but barely seen, as I was the one who got the job of propping up the bear whenever it was supposed to be standing or moving. But this was still a learning experience, as I discovered just how heavy huge stuffed animals can be.

My video probably took the longest to make out of my friend group’s projects. This is most likely due to the fact that after 4-5 hours of editing and having almost my entire video completed, there was a saving error and I had to completely re-edit the entire thing. Despite the frustration that caused, I’m still really happy with how my video turned out. For my project, I chose to make a music video to the Nsync song, Tearin’ Up My Heart. The first 17.5 seconds of the video is a shot-for-shot remake of the original, but then it develops into a story about a creepy guy and all his weird shenanigans. Thankfully, I have friends who were nice enough to help me out and act in it. It was really cool to watch my storyboard come to life during the filmmaking process. I’m really proud of how the video turned out and I had a lot of fun making it.

If you want to watch my video, here's the link
:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81fOT0zu5dM

One Year Down, Three To Go

I'm officially done with my freshman year of college! It's crazy to think that this past year has gone by so quickly, which only means the next three are going to go by even faster. Move-out day was two days ago and it was bittersweet. For my first couple days at MVNU, I thought about transferring probably a hundred times. I didn't know a single person on campus, and I normally have to wait a few days to feel accepted by a group before I can comfortably become my crazy, outgoing self. And all of my friends could verify that statement. But once I started making friends, I knew I was supposed to be there.
This past year was so much fun and I am so thankful for all the friends and memories I've made so far. I've probably definitely eaten way more Taco Bell in the past 8 months than I have in my entire life. I've gone on so many late-night spontaneous trips to random places, with random people. My friends helped me campaign for class council (which included us making two awesome campaign videos) and then helped me celebrate my triumphant victory (the only way we know how to celebrate-with Taco Bell). I got to serve on class council as the Freshman Events Director and plan some sweet events for my class, including one where I got to run a non-alcoholic bar. I've laughed more this past year than I ever have, at things that I'll remember for a really long time. I've had some of the most awkward experiences with some of the most awkward people. One of my friends and I were cast members for the spring Friday Night Live (they obviously only let the funniest people in). I've done some of the weirdest and most random stuff, from hiding in the strangest places to filling a pool full of bean bag filling.
I've stayed up countless times having deep discussions with my friends in the laundry room. I've had some of the strangest conversations that don't even make sense with people who understood exactly what I was trying to say. I've wasted so much time doing nothing, but I've done it with some of the coolest people. I've ran around in circles for half an hour being crazy with my friends. I've started traditions with my friends that we'll hopefully continue the next three years. I've eaten soooooo much junk food and fast food, I'm surprised I'm not overweight. I've climbed onto the roof with one of my friends and just stargazed and talked. I got to be a part of the campus radio station (which is also where I'll be working this summer), which has already had a huge impact on me after only having been a part of it this past semester. I've made so many friends who I've gotten extremely close to in such a short period of time, and I've really enjoyed watching our friendships grow and I can't wait to see what God does in those relationships during my next three years at MVNU.
While I am excited to have three months of not doing schoolwork, I'm going to miss all of my friends. A lot. Luckily, some of us all live within 15 minutes of each other, so we'll hopefully get to hang out this summer. And even more luckily, one of my best friends and I are working together at the campus radio station this summer a few days a week, which means we'll have about an hour and a half of bonding time in the car every day that we work.
I've had such an amazing first year at college and I am so thankful for all the friends and memories I've made so far, and I can't wait for the new ones I make in the next three years.

Summer 2014 Bucket List

Move-out day (which I'll post all about later) was two days ago, which means summer break has officially started! The only things that I really have planned for the summer are 1) Working a few days a week at the on-campus radio station, 2) Driving to Nashville in August to see One Direction (go ahead and judge me), and 3) Taking as many trips to Kings Island as I can. So I decided to go ahead and make a summer bucket list of everything I want to try and do before I go back to school in the fall. Hopefully, I'll be able to finish most of, if not the entire list. Some of the things on the list are really cliché, but I tried to make some a little more creative. One of my personal favorites is number eight. I'll be sure to post updates on what I get accomplished.
1.Camping
2.Make a summer playlist/CD
3.Drive-in movie
4.Tie messages to balloons and let them go
5.Make a memory box/time capsule
6.Finish an entire coloring book
7.Water Balloon fight
8.Smash a watermelon
9.Go to the zoo
10.Play with sparklers
11.Burn dandelions
12.Build a blanket fort
13.All day movie marathon
14.Go to a concert
15.Catch fireflies
16.Bowling
17.Ice skating
18.Tie-dye something
19.Road trip
20.Leave a note in a library book
21.Play murder in the dark
22.Picnic
23.Make ice cream
24.Make popsicles
25.Glowing bubbles
26.Start a journal
27.Have a party at the camper
28.Read TFIOS
29.Read Looking For Alaska
30.Eyebombing
31.Make a 1000-square hopscotch
32.Write a letter to my future self
33.S’mores
34.Water gun fight
35.Stargaze
36.Make jolly rancher suckers
37.Roller Skating
38.Play in the rain
39.Homemade pizza
40.Water park
41.Shoot a gun
42.Watch a sunrise
43.Buy ice cream from an ice cream truck
44.Throw darts at paint-filled balloons
45.Glow stick swimming
46.Slip n’ slide
47.Geocaching
48.Mini golf
49.Ride Banshee 25 times (3 so far)
50.Ride Diamondback 100 times (6 so far)

College Shenanigans

I often pride myself on being an odd person who does really weird and random things. Two weeks ago, one of my friends and I did something really strange. She had a beanbag chair that had been ripped for quite some time and the little bean bag filling bead things had slowly started spilling out on to her floor. We decided that we were going to put the filling in pillow cases to be used to remake the pillow fight scene in Hard Knock Life from Annie for my friends video project. So we decided to try and pour the filling directly from the chair into a pillow case. This failed miserably, as 3/4 of the filling missed the pillow case and landed on the floor. Being the mature college students we are, we then rashly decided to pour all of the filling onto the floor in a giant pile and play in it. Did I mention how mature we are? Anyway, her roommate was PISSED when she discovered the mess on the floor, but we were able to convince her to let us keep all of it under the condition that we got something to put all of it in so it wasn't just all over the floor. So off to Walmart went and then returned with a blow up kiddie pool. After two hours of four of us scooping all the filling up, the pool was filled. And it was fantastic. It's probably one of the most relaxing things ever just laying in the pool or sitting near it playing with the filling. Now, you're probably thinking that we're a little insane, which was also the reaction of pretty much anyone that saw the pool - until we convinced them to lay in it. At least 30 of our friends have taken turns in the pool of Styrofoam and everyone agrees that it's one of the best things ever. The only downside is that whenever you're done, you'll find the little Styrofoam beads everywhere. Like, literally EVERYWHERE. If you walk anywhere throughout our dorm, there's a good chance you'll see a couple of them laying in the most random places (I cannot tell you how many of them I have found in the showers). Some of them have even made their way outside. We don't really know what we're going to do with the pool next week when we move out, but we really want to try and keep it if we can figure out a way to transport it. But even if we have to get rid of it, it will still be a great memory to have.

People weren't really surprised when they discovered that we poured beanbag filling into pool though, because we tend to do some weird stuff. A few weeks ago, it started pouring down rain when we were in class. Since I had neglected to bring an umbrella to class, I had to improvise. So I walked out in the hallway and found a large, empty box for a desk chair. I then cut a hole in the box for my face and proceeded to wear the box all they way form the building where our class was back to the dorms. Plus we're all video majors, so we tend to do some pretty strange stuff for the sake of our video projects. Or for random videos we make for fun. Even though some people think we're a little crazy, I'm happy that I get to be weird, and that I have friends who are willing to be just as weird as I am with me.