Four Corners

"Growing up is losing some illusions, in order to acquire others." - Virginia Woolf

Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, Moab, Utah, USA.

I've decided to dig out some old pictures back from August 2011 and sneak them into some of my upcoming and current posts. I realized I never did blog about my trip to the western half of America which is quite tragic seeing as it was absolutely beautiful there. I went to six national parks, each just as gorgeous as the last. And I also went to Las Vegas. (Pictures of Las Vegas were already posted.) This post only has a few of the pictures from the various national parks I visited, but I'm positive there will be more uploaded in the future. All of the text in blue will be about my trip while all of the text in gray will be an update on my life.

The Delicate Arch was one of my favorite spots that we visited. We gathered around the arch waiting for the sunset, only to realize that we wouldn't be able to see it after all, resulting in our mad dash to a spot where we could see it. I got a picture under the arch, and I'm so tiny that it's hilarious. And what I loved the most about all of the places we visited were definitely the colors. There were all of these reds, browns, and other warm hues that contrasted so nicely against the bright blue sky.

Anyhow, in an attempt to blog about my life, I guess some things have happened since I last wrote on here. As of this past Wednesday, I am officially going to junior prom. I'm not actually sure I want to go, to be completely honest here, but there's nothing I can really do about it anymore. A lot of drama, heartbreak, and excitement has gone on these past few weeks because of junior prom, and I'm glad to say that it's finally all over.

Grand Canyon National Park, Tusayan, Arizona, USA.

Grand Canyon, the most famous out of the national parks I visited, was the biggest letdown. It was the only day of our trip that got rained on, but it also wasn't as spectacular as everyone seemed to make it. I feel like people have praised it so much that this image of something absolutely breathtaking developed in my mind, only to feel disappointment when I actually got there. The other national parks, however, were all pleasantly surprising, and I fell in love particularly with Bryce Canyon National Park.

Okay, I guess I'm done with the prom talk for awhile now. Thursday after school, I ran to French club after a chemistry lab with my friend. And then we, along with two other friends, embarked on a scavenger hunt throughout the school. It was so crazy and so much fun at the same time, I just wish we had come in first. Hahaha. We did get king-sized Hershey bars for coming in second, however, so I guess it wasn't too bad in the end.

Bryce Canyon National Park, Bryce, Utah, USA.

We visited Bryce second on our trip. None of my family had expected to see so much amazing scenery or to have so many difficult yet enjoyable hiking trips that all of us adored Bryce by the end of our stay there. Every little trail brought a new perspective of the rocks to life, and I felt as if my camera couldn't even capture all of the beauty it offered.

And today happened to be science fair! I do science fair every year, and this year had to be the worst preparation-wise. I literally made my slides last night. I got to my room which was in the ecology field and went 3rd because I needed to get to talent search (basically an interview juniors in high school can take to hopefully get letters of recommendations to colleges). The two people who went before me both went over the time limit, while I didn't even make it to 8 minutes. After every person, the judges would spent 5-10 minutes questioning them and another 5 minutes tallying up scores. So by the time I finished, one hour had passed already. The good news is that they barely questioned my experiment, and overlooked my poor sample size. (Haha.) I then got to the waiting room to see a bunch of my friends standing there. And so I signed my name up for talent search. I ended up waiting over an hour to get called up to get my interview (and it was actually snowing so heavily in that hour). I finally got there and spent roughly 5 minutes doing my interview which wasn't horrible, but I'm not sure how well it went, and then I got to go home. I had some pho for the very first time, and I'm not exactly sure why I've waited so long to have it. It's amazing. After I got home from eating and shopping at around 3PM, I found out that I got a first at science fair today and will be going to states again. :)


(I'm really sorry for that huge block of text.) And now I think I'll go do some homework along with possibly baking cupcakes if I'm up for the challenge.


Hopefully all of you have an amazing remainder of the weekend!


Love, Amber

Skinny Love

"I want to tear myself from this place, from this reality, rise up like a cloud and float away, melt this into humid summer night and dissolve somewhere far, over the hills. But I am here, my legs blocks of concrete, my lungs empty of air, my throat burning. There will be no floating away." - Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner

Isn't it funny how I said I'd blog more frequently...

So Valentine's Day just passed! Hopefully everyone had a lovely day! (Judging by everyone's post, everyone had a much more enjoyable time than I did.) My day was nothing special, really. I passed out my Valentine's Day gifts to all of my friends, and that was that.

Other than that, junior prom is being a huge, huge pain. I've never felt so confused and unsure in my entire life.

Last night, I went over to my friend's house to help another friend ask someone to prom. It was actually adorable as "Lights" by Ellie Goulding blasted in the background. We then spent the rest of the night talking, despite our many attempts to try to do something fun. The whole thing left me in a state of uneasiness. The only thing I think about when I hear the word "prom" now is "drama." (Or "prom-a" as my friend likes to so hilariously call it.)

But enough about that. I recently signed up for my driver's license test and am so nervous already. I can't even begin to imagine the possibilities when I have that official document of freedom in my wallet...Heh. Hahaha, just kidding. I'll probably only use it really to get to/from school and to give people rides. ...That's really all my life is about these days--school and after school activities. Is that sad?

In other news, I got this Tumblr ask the other day asking me about the U.S. school system. And another one about study tips/back-to-school essentials, so I plan on pairing the two and making a post soon!

But yes, if you have a Tumblr, Twitter, Formspring, or Flickr, we should talk. :)
(Click on each of the words for my accounts!)

But I should go get some homework done now. Happy (early) Presidents' Day! Enjoy your long weekend. :)

Chasing Cars

"I believe in colors. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day, and I believe in miracles." - Audrey Hepburn

It's seriously been a little while since I last blogged. I've been meaning to come on more frequently, but the amount of work I get in school takes away every last bit of free time that I have. But since winter track officially ended last night, I had time today to come home and take a few pictures. Many of my personal favorites from the random snapshots I took are not in this post, giving me a good reason to blog maybe during the week or on more of a weekly basis.

I'd like to say that a lot has gone on since last time, but honestly, nothing really has. I'm still slowly being killed by the work load junior year brings. I've honestly never been so stressed out in my entire life before. It's gotten to the point where four hours of sleep on a school night feels beyond refreshing when I wake up in the morning. And where the spearmint flavor of 5 gum has gotten to be my best friend in keeping me awake during school.

Other than that, since I am a junior in high school, we have junior prom coming up extremely soon. Ticket sales actually start on Monday meaning the next two weeks should be fairly...interesting. Everyone's going to be asking everyone while I just sit there and watch from the corner /foreveralone. Nah, jokes. But still, all of the girls are stressing out about it, whilst all the boys seem so calm. I would say how envious I am of the boys to be able to ask whatever girl they want to, but it turns out we also have a Sadie Hawkins dance (girl-ask-guy) this Thursday for the entire school. And I realized that maybe guys don't have it so easy after all...

On a different note, I think I'm about to sign up for my license test. Is it bad that I'm already nervous?

Also just bought this book (along with a few other things that will not be posted because of a laziness inside of me). But I've heard so many good things about it that I'm excited to read it! I had first picked up the copy with the motion picture as the cover, then decided I don't like movies to begin with and searched for the normal-cover copy.

But I should go now. I think I need to sign up for the SATs, too. Excellent.
However, I hope all of you have an amazing weekend! And Happy (early) Valentine's Day!! ♥