seventeen

hhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiii
how are my 4 followers doing today??? its currently sunday and i have literally had a GREAT weekend!!! a surprising wave of cold has hit SA, and I can't decide if I like it or not... I love sweaters but I don't love shivering, hmmm. Last weekend was my BIRTHDAY!! 17 now... I can now not feel guilty about sneaking into R rated movies (which is 100% the most rebellious thing I have ever done ha). Overall it was a fun day and I am once again in awe of how caring the people around me really are - s/o to maddie and sophia for yall's artsy cards!! That night, me and sarah drove out to work at LLFC and I can't say I would have wanted to spend the weekend anywhere else. Everyone at camp is so fun n nice and its a place where you feel like you can really be yourself. We spent the weekend crewing (doing dishes, mopping floors, etc) and it gave me an idea of what my summer might be like if I get hired to work on crew :/ the work was pretty hard but 100% worth it because of the time in between working. We spent most of our breaks chilling in the staff lounge or going on a dangerous hike to circle bluff (we literally got lost and had to yell to find our friends), but I got to know some pretty cool people.

crewin'

VB made it to round 5!!!!!

I ordered a bunch of cute clothes online, and I have discovered the joy of wearing flannels. 

I talked at LUG this week about the Proverbs 31 women, and we are starting a series on woman in the bible - it should be good. We served hot chocolate this thursday!!!

cute mugs and cute friends

Then I proceeded to enjoy it so much I made myself some more at home. This weekend was one of the first time I really relaxed in a long time...I may or may not have spent more than half the day in pajama pants

This morning at church we talked about being in the mindset of being thankful, which I think is something really important to pursue

The past couple weeks I can literally feel myself learning things about struggle & community & love & friendship & family & jesus (and it rocks)

THE ONE DIRECTION ALBUM COMES OUT TOMORROW!!! very exciting, I really like Where Do Broken Hearts Go and Girl Almighty already

After church, we went to a restaurant downtown called OCHO

It has the coolest atmosphere ever and I got some yummy quesadillas

I def wanna go back, and I recommend everyone tries it!!!

me & KT (i love her she is so cute)

frans

xoxoxoxoxo bye 

ps read below if u r bored and wanna read my ghazal (its a poem where the last word of every couplet is the same & is supposed to be about pain and longing of love or religion)

The graveyard of somber stars in the night sky seemed so close,

and hung still like the tears on her cheek at our heart breaking close.

A lifeless skeleton, a piercing chill lives permanently inside my bones

and my emotions are soon numbed without anybody to hold close.

Under the sheets, our bodies bathed in the sweet morning light

until suddenly our fantasized dreams came to an abrupt close.

Drowning in a raging sea, my wrinkly flesh floats to the surface

with not a soul to hear my muffled cries for help anywhere remotely close.

Concealed behind the tall stone walls, we held hands in our secret garden

until flowers turned to weeds and the entrance was sealed to a close.

Lost in a dark maze of morose moments, my mind can’t help but scream

when at every turn I am haunted by how her hazel eyes used to open and close.

Feeding off my fear, the vicious hounds chase me through the foggy forest,

I made the mistake of letting the painful memory get way too close.

blacking out, figuratively and literally

hello friends!!

glad to be back

last week begun with 3 days of literally feeling like death . . . I was just sitting in strings at school and I fainted ;/ i dropped my cello and fell out of my chair and it was super embarrassing and when I woke up everyone was staring at me and I actually said "this is so awkward" 

turns out I had the flu ugh

when I got back to school, it was the end of the nine weeks (when teachers cram all the final tests in at once) so I had lots of catching up to do

one of the only things I liked catching up on was blackout poetry we did in creative writing :)

its something that I love doing and for some reason just makes so much sense to me

something about finding your own phrases from other peoples words with a completely different meaning is super special to me idk why

that friday, I went to the new bakery lorraine with ana & hannah and its so cute

the inside is very hipster and they have actual food I am eager to try (the kitchen was closed after 5) 

plus everyone loves their macaroons

on saturday, me and sarah experienced working at our first opening at the gallery!

it was so tiring wow

we worked for like 9 hrs and besides our awkward hovering, it was fun when there was a sale

we had to wear fancy dresses but we became friends w the other college girl who works there and it was an ok time 

next, I went to see my camp friend madeleine and it LOVED it!! she is so fun & we walked around and then went on the river boat on the river walk like typical tourists

tonight, I am seeing my camp friends from Corpus so that should be fun also!!

p.s. i submitted my crew app to work at camp this summer and it was terrifying

on monday -- 1989 CAME OUT!!! I love taylor swift she is the cutest human being I wish i could be her

my fav songs are style, how to get the girl and blank space 

I'm also obsessed with Alex & Sierra's album and Ben Howard's songs are GOOD

On Monday, I also turned an assignment for English...We recently read The Crucible which is about the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts during the Puritan Time Period

The assignment was to write a parody on "How To Spot A Witch" so I made my "How to Spot a Hopeless Romantic" because that is 100% me 

it was just fun to write because I got to work in some of fav couples (read below)

How to Spot a Hopeless Romantic

We all have that one friend who is in love with being in love. Sentimental dreamers, they spend their time rereading Nicholas’ Sparks books and living vicariously through Jim & Pam from the Office. Engagement videos make them giddy, roses are there favorite flower, and living in Paris is the ultimate goal. The smallest things make them coo a quiet “aaaawwwweeee” and their capacity for watching cheesy romcoms with little other cinematic value can only be described as superhuman. Fairy tales were their favorite stories as a kid, and they learned calligraphy just so could write old fashioned letters to people they care about. They are known to tear up at movies, as well as inspirational YouTube videos and particularly poignant TV commercials. A small part of them still believes in magic, and Disney movies make up a significant sliver of their soul. Fueled by grand gestures, first kisses and the belief everyone has a soul mate, the various unique details that characterize a hopeless romantic simply make them a dead give away as someone to watch out for. 

One of the main attributes of a hopeless romantic is that they widely believe in a concept called “destiny”, or that everything happens for a reason. Every person they hook up or make up or break up with is all in preparation for finding “the one”, and they don’t worry too much about big life decisions — for they know it will all work out in the end. For this “Coffee Check” test, have a person of the opposite gender purchase a cup of coffee, and proceed to the nearest bookstore. Have them skulk around the romance section, until the target inevitably wanders towards that area. Once the subject is identified, proceed to “accidentally” spill your beverage all over them, and carefully study their reaction. If their response is blunt anger or irritation, you might have ruined their day (but at least we know they AREN’T who we were looking for). Yet, if you and the subject end up locking eyes in what could be interpreted as passionate tension, and a slight giggle escapes them — we may have found the just idealist we were looking for. To be sure, pick up the book they were just looking at and claim you came to the store just to get it, bonus points if you mention something about how the buildup of the relationship between the two main characters has been coined by critics a “lighthearted emotional roller coaster that will leave you feeling gooey and happy, inside and out”. This test can also be performed at the movie theater or perhaps a small diner, anywhere where you two coming together is seemingly random, yet can be interpreted by the as a wild action of fate. Who knows? They may just ask to see you again right there on the spot.

For the “Internet Inspection” test, you are going to create a fake website in hopes leading your subjects into clicking (and clicking and clicking and clicking). Another main component of hopeless romantic is that they find most of their happiness and inspiration from others, and they spend lots of time online perusing links, videos, pictures and quotes seeking that tingling high they get from a sweet love story. Be sure to deck out the website with all things darling — this has to be a convincing trap. To help you out, I have included a list of possible additions: Spotify playlists starring Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran songs, whimsical quotes under the love hashtag on Pinterest, best couple moment montages of Derek and Meredith from Grey’s Anatomy, link to an Ebook of The Great Gatsby, wedding videos from Vimeo, anything Soul Pancake, a How-Many-Days-Until Valentine’s Day Countdown, and plenty of poetry. Once you have launched the website, all you have to do is sit back and wait for the more emotional readers to flock to it. Trace their IP address and BAM, one more dreamer identified and confirmed. 

WARNING!!! Hopeless romantics are very dangerous. There has been 17 cases reported in the past five years that upon seeing Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone walking the streets, they have spontaneously burst into flames. These dreamers are also known for becoming Bridezillas when their weddings don’t go how they always fantasized, and their outlook on life is seen through a pair of rose colored glasses, emitting a contagious, airborne disease with side effects including unrealistic expectations, uncontrollable heart palpitations, and strong hallucinations of Prince Charming. Be extremely careful not to let these caring crazies worm their way into your inner circle of friends, or worse — fall in love with you. 

On Tuesday, we had a strings concert! It went well and me, Maddie and Nicole have decided we wanna join cello choir :) 

All in all, this week was super crazy bc we had so much stuff due

I wasted lots of time watching a bunch of Jimmy Fallon videos though

Box of Lies is my favorite game!!!!

click the vid on my insta :)

wilen

Halloween was last night!! I stayed home and passed out candy with a few of my friends. My neighborhood is always super busy and we ran out of candy

We just kinda hung out and ate pizza and said "awwwww" about all the cute kids who came by trick or treating (I dressed up as a Grey's Anatomy Intern) 

have a good week!!!

wowie wow

wowie wow so much has happened in the past what like, 8 weeks????
its been a series of ridiculously fun adventures, and the year is only beginning!!! I have A LOT of stuff going on, and honestly this has been some of the hardest weeks of my entire life. I am going through something kind of hard right now, but I have already learned a lot of valuable lessons. Main one is community is such an important thing!!! I would not be okay right now if it weren't for my family, teachers and sweet friends :) thank you so much!

llleeeeeetttttssss see I guess I'll attempt to summarize my life in a series of photos, so keep scrollin

we started LUG & I love it!!! The freshmen are really cute and I just wanna be friends with all of them! a BUNCH of them came and doing my first lesson was a little challenging but rewarding & fun. . . I've also spent this year discovering I'm really introverted (and that thats ok ;) )

next up was THE ONE DIRECTION CONCERT

I'm not sure I would call myself a "dedicated" fan, but it was an awesome night!!! Every single member is so cute and they put on a really good show. I loved dancing and watching them interact on stage. Our seats were so close!!! It was all we could talk about for like the next week. . . Oh, and Fireproof is a JAM

Starting this year, I started working for my Dad's art gallery -- its kind of boring but its a pretty chill job and I get money so. This is me pretending to "work" on the gallery Facebook and also pictured is this college girl named Nicole who is cute n fun and tells me what to do

Other friday nights were spent getting Maddie a flower pinata for her birthday, letting Hannah + Maddie put makeup on me (first time wearing eyeliner lol), making dinosaur chicken nuggets, working on my work crew application, and catching up on Dance Moms/Parks and Rec/New Girl/Scandal

me & sarah having a gr8 time at school!!! It really isn't that bad and I really like most of my teachers. Ms. Perez is super funny and cute (& I think she likes us), Wilen is so awkward I love it and J Rod gets so excited about science its adorable

Creative Writing is my fav class bc Ms. Chupp is literally my favorite teacher and you just get to have fun and be weird and write stories and take a break from life for a little 

This is my 100 word story -- read if you are interested or care about love (yes its exactly 100 words)

 Messages in Magnets

He used to write “my brain is under construction,” yet this time he wrote “let’s get married” in the white, square alphabet letters that clung to our mint-colored fridge. Magnets were kinda our thing, along with late-night hammocking, 1000 piece puzzles and retro diners. As my heart cartwheeled, my eyes scanned the pinned polaroids depicting the insanely-happy-yet-amusingly-awkward moments of our relationship. Something about his fiery passion and contagious joy overflowed my lonely, broken soul and I decided I liked feeling full. I used to write “I tripped up the stairs,” yet this time I wrote “let’s spend our lives together.” 

PSAT on Wednesday!!! Good thing I've been preparing all summer!!! Good thing I have an SAT tutor!!! Good thing I have taken a practice test!!! 

I have done nothing and everyone's really starting to talk about college and I really need to deal with it but I have no clue where I wanna go or what I wanna do with my life :) 

Class ranks also came out and everyone freaked out and I hated it. I started this thing where I am not telling anyone my grades bc I think comparing yourself is dumb but it takes so much self-control

fall is here!! this is me and my friends roaming in the pumpkin patch at church oops. We have spent a lot of time trying to do outdoor activities bc its SO pretty!! I love going to church and I've also started going to a thing called KURIOS at lunch where they get a speaker to come and talk to us, and it really brightens my week

picnicking take 754236573!!! picnics are always fun and we went to the basin and sat in the shade and I enjoyed a grilled cheese with tomato. Nicole was there too and we took pics and I made a GoPro video (I hadn't made one in forever and I forgot how much I like making them). Over all, 'twas a good time

this week was homecoming week!!! howdy night was fun because I only got a little bit of pie on me (softball does a pie throw to raise money) and I actually participated in all the dress up days. I discovered I like wearing pigtails (experimented during western day) and shout out to geli for getting me a mum you are sweet :)

I also actually went to a football game, which is not typical of me bc that requires socializing, and it was fun in a way

it wasn't as bad as I remember and it was cool to see the cheerios on the field!!!

After the game, I watched the band routine and then we went to Jim's ;)

Yesterday, we played on the swings and talked about Jesus on the playground, as well as getting a slush at sonic and having a dance party in Sarah's room

We also went to subzero and saw the movie,  Alexander the Terrible Horrible No Good Day which was adorable with the happy message of RADIATE POSITIVITY!!

If you are still reading you rock, and have a good week everyone!!

picnic from Ellie Mix on Vimeo.

thx 4 the mmrs

t minus 13 hours & 52 minutes until the beginning of junior year :)(: #yay #excited 

tbh im kinda freaking out a little bc its the so-called "hard year". . . what does that even mean?!? school can't be that hard can it??? one the other hand , i finished my summer assignment and I'm soOoOoOoO bored so maybe this is a good thing? i'm a tad excited & i have friends in my classes & meeting new teachers is gr8

creative writing will be really fun w ms chupp ahhh! and strings will be chill n cool bc all the good people tested up to the higher orchestra lol oops not me

AP english is gonna be rough but huck finn was actually a good book -- i thought jim & huck & tom were cute friends and their simple , daring adventures had a certain sense of wonder wrapped up in them  

anyways , the end of summer has been AWESOME (wink to jemma if she ever reads this) 

i saw two movies , what if and the giver

what if was supa cute and it had daniel radcliffe in it , along with zoe kazan (she's so cute and i secretly wish i wore glasses and looked like her)

the romance was cute n fun , and I'm glad we drove all the way to the embassy to see it

i also really liked the giver , but idk if its just me bc i have a weird obsession w books about future utopias (its so interesting to think about what the world could be like, and then find joy in knowing its not) 

they added a little more romance than in the book , and they conveyed the whole "everyone is equal" and "everything is drab & controlled" really well using black and white for the beginning of the movie

also, theres a part where the giver is giving the main character jonah happy memories of the past world and some of them are hit youtube videos from current day - which kinda resonated with me

what if

the giver w tswiz (LISTEN TO SHAKE IT OFF RN)

one day me and my friends decided to go on a typical sonic trip, but added a twist - - order the weirdest slushies we could think of and try them all

some of the combos included peach ring w banana taffy, blue coconut and orange, miami sunrise + nerds, & green apple and cotton candy

surprisingly , i thought most of them were actually pretty good and miami sunrise is my new fav

summer shenanigans

a few weeks ago , me and my friend sarah got together and starting setting up LUG, a bible study that junior girls put on for freshman girls each week

i think we picked some really great leaders , and I'm extremely excited to get to know the little freshman!!! i was involved in LUG freshman year and some of the girls i meet where people i looked up to , so it's really exciting that i could potentially get to be that person for someone else 

its kinda scary to think about that I will be the one teaching, instead of always being taught like before , but it will be a fun challenge that i think will help us all grow in our faith

fishie faces

speaking of older and younger girl friendships , this week i had to say goodbye to emily & amy bc they are going to COLLEGE!!!!! its so weird to think that we meet when they were my current age. . . i wish them both good luck at college station and i look forward to visiting them!!

im so glad we are friends

next on the summer sched was FISH CAMP!!! this year I was a part of a program called link crew , where the upperclassmen guide freshman around on orientation day to help them get used to the high school and what its gonna be like

i thought it was SO fun, my freshmen were all very different but very cute and it was fun getting to know them and answering their questions about life as a ninth grader

i also had a rlly cool partner and we spent the day taking go pro selfies, blowing bubbles, eating pizza, and playing catch phrase

@ one point one of them got lost and they wrote on the board which was against the rules but otherwise i think the day went smoothly and hopefully didn't suck for freshman too horribly 

i also got to see all my old teachers which was so great & spend more time getting to know other teachers/students i otherwise would not have talked to 

bubble blowin contest

LAST NIGHT WAS THE BEST THING EVER!!!! we took at road trip to austin to see one republic and wow they are so good!!! i was super interested in the cello player, and all of their songs ROCK

opening for them was christina perry (jar of hearts girlie) and a cute british boy named jamie scott

the venue was outdoors which was a little hot & sweaty, but still worth it

the food was super overpriced but they had food trucks from all over and i got a rlly cute tshirt

we slept over at my lake house (where we had a good time being silly) and left austin bright & early this morning bc my friend abi had to be at work

polaroid selfies are not recommended

my clique

welp, wish me luck @ school tomorrow and thanks for the memories summer!!!! 

--ellie

getting sunburnt one day at a time

HEY FRIENDS IM BACK!!!
wow its been a great couple of weeks , i have done so many fun things!!! my trips were both so awesome, and i also had some fun adventures in between! look below for some pics documenting these glorious summer days (can they never end???)

first came one of my bff geli's surprise party the night before I left for Seattle!!! idk if she was really surprised but we had a fun dinner and took lots of cute pics . . . afterwards we went to starbucks to play cards lol good times

next i stayed on bainbridge island for a week!!! it was super super pretty and the weather is no joke perfect . it was right across from seattle and we had a view of the ocean and the skyline . bainbridge is a cute little upscale town w a diner & a pizza place & an art museum & a harbor . we spent lots of time trying to be adventurous and pretty much failed at hiking and kayaking :) the trip included a bajillion ferry rides , one of which took us over to vashon island to visit my grandma/where my mom grew up . we also went in to seattle a couple times where we shopped and went to a sounders soccer game which was really exciting . i liked to pretend i was on greys anatomy while i was there aka my fav show ever (christina is my idol). finally , the last day we stayed with my cousins who are literally THE BEST i love them

just hanging around

r u gruene w envy?!

have you noticed I like taking go pro selfies?!?!? (also can u tell i have a huge variety of friends? :) ) anyways, one day we set up three slip n slides in sarah's backyard and it was actually so fun (i wish i was a kid again). we also did a little swimming and geli lost what are the odds and got dragged into the pool in her clothes in front of some senior boys and i haven't laughed that hard in a long time. that night, we watched "we are the millers" which is hilarious!!! but don't do drugs ya feel

another day we went hammocking bc it was only like 85 degrees (thats huge for tx in the summer where its 95+ everyday). we ate pretzels and listened to music and felt awkward when cars passed us but its ok :) i rlly wanna buy an eno but i don't have $/a place to hang it in my yard . maybe someday???

later we decided to be adventurous and take a day trip to gruene . it was actually fun and gruene is only like 45 mins away . naturally , we stocked up on icees and candy for the "road trip". when we arrived the wait was super long at the gristmill so we shopped around for a while . they had some super cute tees & the town is super small and filled with boutiques . the wait was soon over and we soon went back to the restaurant to eat lunch . the waiter was so nice aw and i had a really good tortilla soup , only downside was we were outside and it was blistering hot . after about 2-3 hrs in gruene the heat got the better of us and we decided to head home ( i rlly have no idea why i typed that paragraph no one cares what i ate for lunch. . . .whatever this blog is mostly for me to remember my life so srry)

stan goes to the beach go follow @adventureswstan on insta

finally , we took our trip to seaside, florida and it was a BLAST!!! the road trip was ROUGH (13 hours not counting the stops but red box helped us survive). we stopped at some super yummy cafes to eat along the way (tried beignets and they taste like heaven), and split the driving up into two days . once we finally arrived , we went down to the beach and it is literally PERFECT . white sand, clear blue water the whole package . i finally sea(side) what all the fuss is about (am i funny yet?) we stayed in a house and had a party bc the kids slept downstairs . . . we did lots of puzzles and played apples to apples while listening to 5SOS . besides the typical beach fun (making ourselves sand mermaids , stand up paddle boarding , and jumping the waves , seeing dolphins) we also visited the towns of seaside and rosemary beach . they are pretty fancy and everyone rides bikes around its so cool . seaside had a block lined with food trucks and frost bites was everything they said it would be (#yummy). def bought some solid tshirts . thanks jemma for taking me!!!! ps i also had a lot of fun taking go pro videos on the trip and if u wanna watch the one i made for seaside or gruene just look on my vimeo ;)

going to get ice cream, cya l8r