Day 1: 15 Facts About Me

1. I'm half Hispanic, have taken 5 years of Spanish classes, and still refuse to speak a lick.

2. I'm addicted to the sun's rays.

3. I hate the word moist.

4. My sisters are my life.

5. If I had all the money in the world I would buy shoes and house decorations.

6. I'm very affectionate, I could cuddle all day.

7. My whole day is ruined if I don't get at least 9 hours of sleep.

8. All I want is a puppy.

9. I hate when people rub their socks or dry feet together.

10. My Grandma and Grandpa Castillo are my idols.

11. I could eat smoothies for every meal.

12. I love babies until they start to cry, then I don't know what to do with them.

13. I could shop at Victoria's Secret all day everyday.

14. My favorite part of my day is when I get to tell Ty everything I did, and he just listens.

15. I love doing laundry, but absolutely despise putting it away.

May Blog Challenge

My sister has been on my case about blogging for quite some time. It's hard living across the country from each other and staying 100% up-to-date in each other's lives. We've been seeing these 30 day challenges all over the blogging world and thought it would be something fun for both of us to do to up our blog postings.

· Day 01 - 15 facts about you

· Day 02 - A picture of you last year, and now, and how you’ve changed since then

· Day 03 - A favorite photo

· Day 04 - Something I crave

· Day 05 - Top 10 Pet Peeves

· Day 06 - Something I bought recently

· Day 07 - Something I want to buy

· Day 08 - A favorite song

· Day 09 - A favorite movie

· Day 10 - A favorite food and recipe

· Day 11 - A favorite book

· Day 12 - A favorite quote

· Day 13 - What did you do today?

· Day 14 - Your dream house…

· Day 15 - Next 3 items on your “Bucket List”

· Day 16 - A favorite YouTube video

· Day 17 - A habit you wish you DIDN’T have

· Day 18 - Put your iPod on shuffle and list the first 10 songs that come up

· Day 19 - A hobby of mine

· Day 20 - Your favorite Christmas tradition

· Day 21 - A travel story

· Day 22 - A photo of my family

· Day 23 - Share a favorite memory

· Day 24 - 5 Things you love about Summer

· Day 25 - A place I love

· Day 26 - A child I love

· Day 27 - A person I love

· Day 28 - A secret you want to get out

· Day 29 - Something you could never get tired of doing

· Day 30 - A photograph of yourself and three good things that have happened in the past 30 days

· Day 31 - Hopes, Dreams, and Plans for the next 365 days

and so my favorite season begins...

Me: I need a hobby this summer

MarGee: Words with friends can be your hobby

Me: That's not a hobby

MarGee: Well we play it enough it could be one

I knew i needed something enjoyable to keep me busy while the bf is gone for the next 4 1/2 months, a person can only work so much, but this convo was a sign that I was in dire need of something great. While I'm still in search of one substantial something that might actually better my life or fill a void better than words with friends, I'm hoping to bring blogging back into my life as one of hopefully many summer hobbies. As I wait for my summer work schedule to go into affect I find myself passing the seemingly endless amounts of extra time by staying at work longer, participating in multiple but not necessarily more beneficial daily trips to the gym, and a few extra long lunches with friends.

I definitely have summer activity ideas in mind but the key is putting them into affect. The warmer months can most definitely be spent working three days, Bear Lake Wednesday, pool for two days, and rounding off with a three hour block every week. Seven days of fun to be repeated until further notice. But today is not warm, tomorrow will not be warm, and Bear Lake will be a chill festival for many more days.

So, I have created Summer 2011 Life Aspirations. I started the list of few days ago but had to do a slight edit after...

Me: The cupcakes I made last week are still all in the fridge. I don't think anyone ate one.

Ty: Why didn't you make good ones?

Me: I don't know. I just really suck at baking.

Ty: You better get good at that soon.

Me: Why?

Ty: I just need you to.

It's time to buckle down and make a more public announcement of my physical, intellectual, and maybe silly endeavors. If I know other people are aware of my plan to better my daily life I can have my own group of cheerleaders to keep me on track to carry on.

Summer 2011 Life Aspirations:

Complete 2 Quilts

Meet & Maintain Goal Weight

Run DAILY

Host & Attend 5 Garden Tea Parties

Take Too Many Pictures

Attempt 2 New Recipes a Week

Visit Minneapolis, Chicago, Virginia, and Vegas

Blog weekly

Master the Baking Basics

I wish myself good luck and hope you all do the same.

You're welcome :)

the tans may fade but the memories will last forever...

Summer is amazing. End of story. Vacations, BBQs, sunbathing, outdoor jogs, block parties, what’s not to love about today and envy in 6 months? Summer 2010 has especially brought me great joy that I hope I never forget. Celia Thaxter, an American poet from the 1800s once wrote “There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart.” I’m undoubtedly grateful for everything that I’ve been able to do these past 2 months.

Summer has created so many opportunities for my family to be together. From family discussions or Sunday bbqs at grandma’s to dance revue time... A new generation of Castillo dancers, Kellee, Ali, and Makendie, performed in their first Tueller School of Dance revue in May. Also on the dance note, Michelle, Katie, and I had our Tuellerette Concert poster photo shoot with Todd and dragged little Taryn in on the fun. Dance has always been such a fun experience, enhanced by the fam. We even invited one of our dance family members to become a real family member last month as Joe’s wife.


A family tradition of an annual ‘gemini sister’ birthday trip started this year in New York City. Remarkable doesn’t even begin to describe the places we explored and the memories we’ll hold forever. A short two weeks later, the Cooleys found themselves in Utah for a few action-packed days.

This summer has also lead to fishing trips, Pocatello, nights with Phil Mickelson, tennis, adventures with Gabe, movie Sunday in Kansas, best friends, baby Makye…

At one point I turned 22…which I consider a very non-monumental age but nonetheless it happened. At 18 you’re an adult, 19 you could buy cigarettes if you wanted, 20 you’re not a teenager anymore, and 21 you can legally do everything you want in Vegas. I guess 22 is just another year to cross off the list. Maybe, and with any luck, one day maturity will come with the age.

Hopefully everyone else is having a marvelous summer as well. Take pleasure in the small things and remember all we have to be grateful for. Love you all!

:)

some days all you need is a lunch date with your best friend to make everything better.

ps. summer posts to come.