I'm super neutral on the topic..not.

You may not be aware of this. But the blogosphere is at war.

Yes, that's right. There's a war going on. So bunker down and get ready, because anything could happen at this point. It's dangerous out there, guys.

It all started with a tweet.

The battle then made its way to Instagram, and let me just tell you, it was beautiful. Only in the blogger world will you find people so passionate about a battle between pancakes and waffles. xD If you want to see the Instagram battle, you can see it here.

So then, the brilliant Rachel decided to make an official Team Pancake vs. Team Waffle Tag. Naturally, I had to take part!!

HOW CAN YOU LOOK AT THESE PHOTOS AND NOT BE ON TEAM WAFFLE??

To be clear, I'm obviously on Team Waffle. Don't get me wrong, pancakes are great. But WAFFLES!!!! In my opinion, they're easier to make than pancakes because with pancakes you have to worry about flipping them and making sure that they don't burn. With waffles, you just pour the mixture into the waffle maker and let it do its job. (Also I have a Mickey Mouse waffle maker which is kind of the best thing in the world.) There's also the issue of toppings. With waffles, you can put whipped cream or butter in all of the little boxes and it's perfect. Whipped cream or butter slip off of pancakes! Then you're just slightly depressed at your melted toppings all alone. It's a losing battle.

Anyways, on with the tag!!!

Rules:

1. Thank/link the person who tagged you. (b/c it's always great to be polite)
2. Answer the questions.
3. Tag 5 people. (b/c we want to spread the happiness!)
4. Include your favorite waffle/pancake recipe! (optional!)

Well, Rachel, thank you so much for tagging me! Rachel's super awesome, as is her blog. (Although she IS on Team Pancake. Sigh.)

Here are the questions!

1. Describe your ideal pancake/waffle in three words.
2. If you could eat pancakes/waffles with anyone in the world, living or dead, fictional or real, who would you want to eat with?
3. Top three condiments to put on your pancakes/waffles?
4. Describe why you think why pancakes/waffles are better than the other option.
5. If you could make your pancakes/waffles into any shape or size, how would you make them?

1. // Describe your ideal waffle in three words.

Light, chocolate-y, crispy

2. // If you could eat waffles with anyone in the world, living or dead, fictional or real, who would you want to eat with?

THERE ARE SO MANY OPTIONS HERE!!! Um. Personally I think it'd be pretty awesome to eat waffles with Julie Andrews. Not going to lie. I bet she's on #TeamWaffle.

3. // Top three condiments to put on your waffles?

WHIPPED CREAM, Chocolate chips (inside the waffle and sprinkled on top of the whipped cream), and butter.

4. // Describe why you think waffles are better than the other option.

As I explained above, waffles are easier to make. You can get them perfectly crispy so that they aren't mushy but they aren't overcooked either. My OCD self loves all of the little squares that can be filled with whipped cream or syrup or whatever you want. You can put awesome stuff in the batter like cinnamon or chocolate chips and it's wonderful.

5. // If you could make your waffles into any shape or size, how would you make them?

Hmm. Well, as you can see above, my waffle maker makes lovely large round waffles that split into four pieces, which I personally love. So then you can eat them a quarter at a time and it's all very neat and orderly. I'd be interested to see the world's biggest waffle. That would be pretty awesome.

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I would like to tag Hannah, Elizabeth, Elissa, Abby, and Autumn. And YOU!! I want to hear more opinions!!

As for a favorite recipe, I really don't know. I'm not too picky. Just give me some waffles!!!

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So tell me- are you #TeamPancake or #Team Waffle?? Let me know in the comments below! (I promise to still love you if you're on Team Pancake.)

i'm not ready

everything is ending
and i'm not quite ready
not ready to say goodbye
not ready for people to leave
everything ends all at once
and i'm just not ready
not ready to say goodbye to classes full of laughter
study hall starbucks runs
inside jokes
when something becomes such an integral part of your life
how can you say goodbye?
i'm glad that it all happened
i wouldn't trade it for the world
i just wish it wasn't temporary
that it could last forever
maybe one day i'll be ready
or at least it will be a little easier
but that day is not today

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I promise that I'm not a complete emotional mess or anything, haha. Just a bit of ramblings as I put together nine different graduation gifts and try to ignore the fact that graduation is on Saturday. ♥

Weekly Wrap-Up

Hello lovely people! How are you all doing? This past week has been a crazy blur, and to be honest I don't remember a lot of it. It's been a mess of getting as much done as possible. BUT I'm getting close to the end of everything, so I'm very happy about that. Right now, summer sounds fabulous.

Isn't it weird that it's basically summer? I feel like it was just Christmas, and then I blinked and now it's summer. It's just crazy!

I feel like I've been slacking a bit in the blog department, but oh my goodness there have been so many awesome posts lately! I mentioned a couple of them in the Loving section of this post, but also shoutout to Abbie for basically just being Pinterest. So if you haven't already then you need to check out her blog!

Made Me Smile:

I'm officially done with Anatomy and American Literature! Gah I'm so happy.

I've finished the first third of my novel, and all of the outlining! I really want to finish writing the first draft this summer. 

My pointe shoes FINALLY came in after two months of backorder! I'm so happy they're finally here!

One last co-op day with my favorite people. <3

I seriously have the sweetest dance teacher on the planet. It was our last class of the year, and she brought cupcakes, and then we did our own version of Dancing With The Stars. xD It was fabulous!

Ugh:

Speaking of Anatomy, the class I took offered an Honors option, but in order to earn Honors credit you had to complete this GIGANTIC human body coloring book. I never want to color another artery again. 

So. Much. History. And. Geometry. I might possibly die. 

All of my friends are graduating in exactly a week and I'm probably going to be sobbing haha. 

My Instagram updated automatically? And I really didn't want the update so I'm not too thrilled with that. 

Loving:

Finally having some free time! It's sad when I'm actually excited to have a chance to clean my room. 

We currently have birthday cake in my house and it's wonderful.

Hannah's post on "beauty" and self-image. Seriously one of the best things that I've read recently. If you haven't read it yet, then forget about this post and go read it!!!! 

Olivia's summer bucket list post. It's absolutely fabulous and you should definitely check it out as wel

Warm weather and pulling out summer clothes.

Pinning:

Can I have this outfit please?

Literally my life.

This is so cute for summer!

I need this shirt. Please.

IT'S COOKIE DOUGH PIE. AHHHH.

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How was YOUR week?

Five Easy Ways To Destress!

Let's be real guys. Life is stressful. Especially this time of year- finals, graduations, events popping up left and right. It's total insanity. So stress is particularly rampant this time of year. I figured, hey- let's come up with some ways to get RID of that stress!!!

1. Listen to Ed Sheeran!

Hey, it doesn't have to be Ed Sheeran. (Although I always suggest Ed Sheeran because his music is literal perfection.) But just play some relaxing music- it's a surefire way to destress!

2. Read your favorite book

There's something about the familiarity of a favorite book that always calms me down. I love to read Jane Eyre, so sometimes if I'm really tired or stressed I'll pull out one of my many copies and re-read some of my favorite passages. It always helps to get out of my head for a little while.

3. Write it down!

When you're super stressed, sometimes, journaling can do wonders. Just writing down what it is that's causing you stress can oftentimes help to work it out. Also, just getting those stresses out of your head can help a ton, especially if you're trying to sleep. Sometimes you just need to get it all out!

4. Chat with a friend

Speaking of getting it all out, sometimes talking with a friend is the best medicine. Just talking and laughing with someone you're close to is a great way to destress. Just make sure you don't talk to someone who's going to stress you out more!!!

5. Chocolate

When all else fails, go eat some chocolate. I know, it's not exactly the most healthy thing for me to be endorsing. But y'know, sometimes when you're having a rough day, chocolate is just the best option.

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How do YOU destress????

Prom!!!

One of my most-requested posts lately has been...Prom! I really hope that this post doesn't completely bore y'all, I kind of just started to ramble. But, here we have it, the long awaited prom post!

Before I start, let me just clear something up really quickly- I'm not a senior, this wasn't my senior prom. Where I live, there are a ton of homeschoolers, and so all of the co-ops join up and do a homeschool prom, which is available for anyone in high school. I'm actually only a sophomore. (Have I ever told y'all that before? I don't think I have. Do I seem like a sophomore?) Haha, anyways, thought I'd throw that disclaimer out there.

I guess the beginning of prom would be when a bunch of friends and I went to go get our nails done! I'd never gotten a manicure before, and I really loved it. It's been three weeks since I went, and I still have them! (Well, minus one, but it just fell off this morning.) They've grown out a lot, but I still love them. I'll warn you though, it leaves your nails absolutely dead once it comes off. My nail is super roughed up and short now. Mine tend to grow really fast though, so it shouldn't be too big of a deal. I still totally recommend it!

Next up was the process of deciding hair and makeup. I spent so much time on Pinterest, oh my gosh. I apologize to all of my followers, I totally spammed you all haha. I ended up deciding on a makeup look using my Naked 3 palette- I love that thing so much oh my word. And then I found a hair idea on Pinterest that I based my hair off of. Not going to lie, this isn't exactly how my hair turned out, but I'm still happy with the end look.

This is how my hair turned out when I tried it the day before prom. (Yes I practiced. I'm an easily stressed person, okay?) You'll get to see the day-of hair in a minute. ; )

I also had to pick out jewelry. The hair clip is one that I borrowed from my mom, and the earrings were from my grandma. : )

So now, the actual day of prom. That morning I had a dance rehearsal from 9-11:30, so I had to get up and go to that. Once I got home, I showered and ate lunch, but before I knew it, it was time for hair and makeup! I started off with hair, because, let's face it, hair's a lot less stressful. Makeup always stresses me out. So I did my hair, and then started the process of freaking out while doing my makeup. I love doing eyeshadow, but I never seem to put enough on because I'm typically really light with my makeup. Naturally, you need more for prom, so for the past two years it's basically been me sitting there trying to do my eyes while my mom keeps telling me that I need more eyeshadow. It's honestly hilarious.

Once I was basically ready, I threw a bunch of my stuff in a big bag, grabbed my dress and my shoes, and got in the car to go to a friend's house. About seven of my friends and I had agreed to all meet up at a friend's house to finish getting ready, get dressed, and take a million photos. It was so much fun, it was absolutely hilarious. We were all super hyped up and screaming half of the time. It's a miracle that A: No one lost their hearing, B: None of the moms went crazy and shot us, and C: I didn't lose my voice. Pretty sure our director would have killed us if we'd all lost our voices, haha.

I figured y'all would want to see some photos of the finished look. I have about a million, but I'm only including a couple because most of them include my friends and they might not want to end up plastered all over my blog haha. I'll tell you right now though, they were all absolutely stunning. I have such gorgeous friends!

So anyways, we finished getting ready, binge ate a ton of candy, and took more photos than our memory cards knew what to do with. Then it was time to head to prom! Two of the girls had dates, so they were picked up, but the rest of us single ladies all headed to prom in style- in a limo! One girl's dad arranged it, and it was honestly the most fun thing ever. We were blasting music and just being generally hyper. There was a bottle of sparkling cider, so we drank that and took a lot of photos that honestly look like we had wine. Pretty sure some people would freak out if they saw those, but it was only cider, I swear!

Once we arrived at the prom venue, we took even more photos (what can I say- it's what we do!), and then headed inside. The theme was Shanghi, which wasn't exactly my top choice, but it wasn't horrible. They decorated pretty nicely.

Table Setting

Y'all know that I live in the South, and generally I'm in a pretty conservative environment. I mean, let's be real. I'm in the South. I'm homeschooled. I'm a Christian. And it's great, it's been a great way to grow up. But sometimes, I'm not going to lie- people take it a bit overboard. 

As you can see above, there are some lovely fortune cookies. So, naturally, my friends and I were all like, "Oh, cool! Let's open them and see what our fortunes are!" Here's mine- 

Yep. A Bible verse. Every single fortune cookie had a Bible verse inside. XD We were all absolutely cracking up. My friend's cookie 'fortune' was "Without God, it is utterly impossible. But with God everything is possible." And she goes, "Hey, does this mean it's possible for me to get a date?!" 

So, welcome to homeschool prom. 

Our prom serves food, so we ate dinner, and then it was time for the fun- dancing! I don't remember a lot of it, it's all a giant happy blur. We danced for hours, it was great. They played the typical dances like Cupid Shuffle, Cha-Cha Slide, Footloose, etc, and then they played popular music as well, and everyone just jammed out. My group made a bunch of giant dance circles, and guys would run in the middle and do tons of tricks, backflips, etc. The energy was so high, and it was just all so much fun. 

In between dances, there was a photobooth, so my friends and I would run in there and take tons of photos. I'm planning to hang those strips up on my wall- I'm keeping them forever. 

Then it was more dancing, more craziness. The music blared, and we were all exhausted but it was so much fun. At one point there was a conga line, and every year there's a contest to see which of the guys has the craziest socks (it's a tradition, don't ask xD ), so we did those. There was cake, and laughter, and so many fun memories. 

The night wound down around ten-thirty, and one of my friends and I headed back to my house. We crashed in the living room, eating way too many nachos and watching Anastasia, because we are mature teenagers who know how to rock a prom afterparty. 

- - - - -

So, in a nutshell, that was prom! It was such a blast, and if you're on the fence as to whether to go to prom in the future, GO. Get a group together and have a ball. 

- - - - -

Lately I've been having the absolute worst case of writer's block ever. I just can't seem to come up with good topics to blog about! SO, I'm turning to you all. Is there any type of post you'd be interested in? I've also considered doing a Q&A, although I'm not quite cool enough to do a video like Abbie, Olivia, and Rachel did ; ) (I'm so awkward on camera, guys. It's bad.) But I've thought of doing a Q&A blog post, would anyone be interested in that? Let me know in the comments!

The Best of Broadway Playlist

(Not my image)

If y'all know anything about me, it's this. I love theatre. I love it so, so much. And one of the (many) reasons that I love it is because of the amazing music. Broadway soundtracks are seriously the best, guys. But I know that if you haven't really listened to any soundtracks before, it could be kind of overwhelming. There are so many- where do you begin?

That's what I'm here for! 

I've decided to compile a playlist for you all of some of the best Broadway songs, from tons of different shows. I've thrown in some that are very popular fan-favorites, along with some lots of people haven't ever heard of. Every show is different, they all have a different sound. If you're not a huge fan of one song, I can almost guarantee that there will be another on the list that you'll love! So please, sit down, put on some headphones, and enjoy!

P.S. I know this is super long- sorry. The sad thing is, this is the trimmed down version, too. But hey- if you ever want more songs, you can always hit me up! ; )

Burn-Hamilton

Maybe- Next to Normal

Dyin' Ain't So Bad- Bonnie and Clyde

First Date Last Night- Dogfight

Santa Fe- Newsies

Non-Stop- Hamilton

Defying Gravity- Wicked

My Shot- Hamilton
Popular- Wicked

Seasons of Love- Rent

Goodbye Until Tomorrow/I Could Never Rescue You- The Last Five Years

He Lives In You- Lion King

Happy/Sad- The Addams Family

Some Things Are Meant To Be- Little Women
You Love Who You Love- Bonnie and Clyde

Consider Yourself- Oliver

A Million Miles Away- Aladdin

Tell Me On A Sunday- Tell Me On A Sunday

Proud of Your Boy- Aladdin

With You- Ghost

For Good- Wicked

Finale- Les Miserables

Who Lives Who Dies Who Tells Your Story- Hamilton

Sixteen Going on Seventeen- The Sound of Music

Ten Minutes Ago- Cinderella
Safer- First Date

I Dreamed a Dream- Les Miserables

There Are Worse Things I Could Do- Grease

Seventeen- Heathers

Someone Like You- Jekyll and Hyde

Forget About The Boy- Thoroughly Modern Millie

Who I'd Be- Shrek

You Can't Stop The Beat- Hairspray

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

So what did YOU think? Do YOU like Broadway? What was YOUR favorite song on this playlist? Do YOU have a favorite show? Are there any songs that I missed? Let me know in the comments! Let's chat!

Farewell, April, Hello May!

I'm baaaaaaaack!

As I'm writing this, I'm sprawled on my living room floor. My hair is in messy braids, I'm not wearing any makeup. I'm utterly exhausted, and to be honest I could probably fall asleep at any moment.

But I am so, so happy.

April has been a rollercoaster. I've had some of the absolute best memories, and some pretty awful ones as well. My schedule has been completely screwed up, for multiple reasons, both good and bad. Everything has been a strange mix of good and bad.

The month had a bit of a rough start, I'm not going to lie. School has been rough. Drama is constant. We lost a family member. My sisters were sick.

But there has been so much joy in this month, joy in the chaos. 13 hour rehearsals that were exhausting, but full of so much laughter. Prom, which was just the absolute best night (I haven't forgotten about photos, I promise!). And I spent the last week in a tech week for our spring musical. Oh my goodness. It was such an absolutely incredible week. I'm so sad that it's over. It was the last show that I'll get to do with a large group of my friends that are seniors, so it's super bittersweet. The show went so well though, I'm thrilled. So many inside jokes were created, so many memories that I know we'll never forget, so many bonds strengthened. We had some really rough times, some awful health scares. But by the grace of God we made it through, and I couldn't be prouder of the cast. So blessed that I got to be a part of it. 

I really can't believe that it's already May. This time of year, most people are like, "Yes! School's almost over! I can't wait for summer!" But honestly? I'm a little sad to see this year come to a close. Like I said, a lot of people I care about are graduating, and I can't even imagine what the next year is going to look like without them. The classes that I've gotten to take this year are really awesome, and I'm not looking forward to them ending. It's just a lot of bittersweetness at this point. 

Plus, it's another year closer to my own graduation, which is really scary to think about. I'm not ready to worry about college and planning the rest of my life yet. It's just all so weird, hard to wrap my mind around it haha. 

I feel like I'm getting way too serious here, sorry about that. My May posts are always like this, aren't they? I think I need to be a bit more positive. 

I didn't do too well on my resolutions this month, but I've decided that I'm not going to beat myself up over it this time. Hannah gave me some really good advice on my last post- "Crazy weeks are the ones that we remember the most but yet stress us out the most as well. Don't stress not blogging, because sometimes we need to live and then write about it with time and retrospect. " I've been keeping that in mind ever since, so thanks for that, Hannah!

Putting that aside, I do want to make some resolutions for this upcoming month. I'm getting back into a regular schedule, so I should be able to stay on top of things a bit better now. 

May Resolutions:

-Post 9 times

-Reach 50 followers

-Read 3 new books for fun

-Drink more water

-Get back into journaling

-Come up with some creative graduation gifts for friends

-Post about prom!

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I feel like I've been super disconnected from the blogging world lately, so fill me in- what have I missed? How are you all doing? What's new? I WANT TO KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!! Tell me all about YOU in the comments! How do YOU feel about May?