Greenbrier Hotel

Me, my sister, my brother and my mom in front of the Greenbrier!

Just a couple days ago we got back from an awesome vacation at the Greenbrier hotel.  For those of you  who don't know what it is, the Greenbrier is a huge resort where there are a whole bunch of activities!  It's also really cool because this place is so fancy that it actually has a dress code!  It was really fun dressing up in all of are fancy clothes and doing fun things around the hotel.  We did so many awesome activities at the hotel, we played laser tag, we went swimming, we went to this awesome outdoor ice rink (we skated once when it was morning, and we skated once when it was dark.  It was so cool they had a whole bunch of Christmas lights outside at night while we were skating!  We had such a fun time but sadly we were only there for four days.  To be honest I would of liked to stay there for another whole week!!  We had such an awesome time I'm already looking forward to going back!

Thanks
Alyssa :)

Christmas!

Our Christmas Tree!

Christmas, my very favorite holiday ever, is in only nineteen days!  Hopefully it will snow when Christmas arrives!  Sadly outside it's all rainy, gray and muddy. :( Just a couple days ago we put up our Christmas tree, we all had a lot of fun putting up the ornaments and wrapping the lights around the tree.  We've actually had this same tree for fifteen years!!  Yeah, It's really old but it doesn't give us any problems and it surprisingly still looks very good!  Yesterday my little brother Ryan and I had an awesome time making gingerbread cookies and cutting them out into a whole bunch of different shapes, we had an awesome time and the cookies tasted amazing!!  Soon we will start to put up our gingerbread house, YAY!  Sorry for the super short post, but I have to get started on my school work!  Hope everyone has a great Christmas!

Gingerbread cookies!

P.S. What's your favorite holiday? And, how was your Thanksgiving? :)

Cooking :)

I remember when I was little, I didn't like cooking that much.  I thought it was boring combining a whole bunch of ingredients knowing exactly what it was going to turn out as.  But now, all of a sudden, I just can't stop thinking about all of the different kinds of recipes just waiting to be made!!  OK, I should clear some things up a bit first.  So remember when I said we were moving to Seattle?  Well, my dad's job didn't work out so he decided we would all be better off back in Ohio!  I still can't believe it! I thought I was saying goodbye to all of my friends for the last time!! ;(  I am actually really glad to be back home now, I was excited to be in Seattle, but I think my family and I have built up a strong relationship to all of our friends who live here.  We've also been missing our house, thankfully it wasn't sold in the time we were gone.  (about 1 month.)  But back on topic when we were in Seattle, I decided I would watch some of the cooking shows on Food Network.  I watched for quite a while and got really interested in the whole business of cooking.  I started making my own food practicing in the little kitchen that we got in our apartment.  I started off by making my own recipes, like some simple fruit salads, and some pecans toasted with some brown sugar (this is really good) and some dried cranberries on top.  But now, I've watched so many different shows and learned a whole bunch of cool techniques, I'm cooking full dinners for my family!  About a week ago I cooked some spicy chicken thighs with a peach/raspberry sauce and some chopped avocados and parsley for the topping.  And for the dessert I made my own peach puff pastry.  Which you can see in the picture above:)  I have another blog called http://kidzinthekitchen.blogspot.com/ which will have a bunch of recipes posted on it.  I'm thinking about maybe combining that blog to this blog here.  I currently have four blogs in total, and it's kind of hard to keep up with every one.  So if I do I'll be talking about cooking a lot!

P.S. Do you think I should combine my cooking blog with this one or not??  please tell me what you think! :)

Thanks
Alyssa :)

Artist's Eye

Hey everyone!  I am not an actual campaigner over at Rachael Harrie's Rach Writes blog but, I thought this would be a fun challenge anyway!  OK, here it is:

The bright sun shines down on the ripply water making it look like diamonds are just beneath the surface.  The orange/brown sand looks scorched from the burning, hot sun.  I see people sitting in hammocks enjoying the latest magazines, I see surfers, attempting to stay upright on their surfboards,  I can see the gulls crying out desperately for the food they can almost taste in their white throats, I can almost hear the sapphire waves crashing in a rhythmic pattern.  I can even almost see the palm trees swaying back and forth to the tacise breeze.  I look at the synbatec beach and smile.  It's breathtaking.  All of a sudden I start to smell something like wastopaneer.  I snap out of it and think... Fresh paint.  I stare at my work of art in front of me and sigh. 

Hope you liked it!  Here are the rules if you want to do this challenge as well:

 Write a blog post in 300 words or less, excluding the title. The post can be in any format, whether flash fiction, non-fiction, humorous blog musings, poem, etc. The blog post should show:

• that it’s morning, 

• that a man or a woman (or both) is at the beach

• that the MC (main character) is bored

• that something stinks behind where he/she is sitting

• that something surprising happens.

Just for fun, see if you can involve all five senses AND include these random words: "synbatec," "wastopaneer," and "tacise."   (NB. these words are completely made up and are not intended to have any meaning other than the one you give them).

Check it Out!

                                                                        

   Hey everyone go over to David Powers King's blog for an awesome book giveaway!! He has four cool books that you can win if you just follow four simple steps :)  Sorry everyone this is a super short post but just a quick heads up my birthday was on the 9th and I didn't post about it!!  But I had an awesome birthday exploring Seattle, and I got a delicious lemon cake! Yum! :D

Seattle

Hey everyone!  Sorry I haven't posted for a while.  My family and I have been taking an eight day trip out to Seattle,Washington.  We are actually going to be moving out to Seattle really soon.  I'm talking about a couple days soon.  We used to live in Ohio, but since we've already lived there for five years (the longest we've ever lived anywhere) we decided to move to someplace new.  The only problem is with moving now, is that I've made so many friends over these last five years in Ohio, so it's really hard to say goodbye.  ;(  Right now it's already our sixth day of driving out to Washington, we only have two days left until the long driving ends!! And then finally, it's SEATTLE!!  Now since all that's said, I have to tell you guys what I got for the figure skating Regionals competition.  I competed against eighteen girls in total including me, and I got sixth place.  I think my main problem was that I was going pretty slow, I sped up my jumps this time but my overall skating was yes, SLOW. But overall I had a really awesome time, and I think I did really good! Just thinking about it, I smile at the fact that I actually went and competed at Regionals!! :)


Thanks
Alyssa :)

Competition Video

Hey guys!  Sorry I haven't blogged for a while, my family and I (grandparent's and great aunt and uncle included) just took an awesome trip up to Makinac!  This was my first trip to Makinac and hopefully not my last since we are moving out to Seattle,Washington!  Anyway we had an awesome time hanging out with each other and just relaxing.  So to the point, I couldn't seem to post me in my actual competition, but here's me in practice about a week before it.  Ok hope you enjoy!

Thanks
Alyssa :)

Top 10 Worst Movies Blogfest!

OK!  Here are my top 10 LEAST favorite movies!  After I say every movie I will say a short  why I didn't like it.  Here they are:

1. Sweeney Todd (This movie was disgusting!)
2. RoboCop (Another disgusting movie, a lot of blood)
3. Kick Ass (a lot of swearing and blood.. Again! :S)
4. Igor (I thought this movie was really boring and had a really bad story line.)
5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid ( I didn't like this movie because, it was mainly about how bad and mean the main character was until he finally started being nice at the end.)
6.Alpha and Omega ( I really wanted to like this movie but it just wasn't good.  The graphics were really bad and the lines weren't funny!)
7.Alice In Wonderland (I'm talking about the newer version, the old one is pretty good, :)  but the newer version wasn't really like the old one, this movie was like a mixture of Alice and Wonderland and Alice and the Looking Glass.)
8. Hairspray (OK, I know a lot of people like this movie so sorry if you like it, but I thought the songs in this movie were WAAAAY to long, one of the songs felt like it went over fifteen minutes!)
9. West Side Story (Boring)
10. King Kong ( This movie had a lot of disturbing  scenes in it.)

OK!  Those are my top ten LEAST favorite movies!

Alyssa :)

Skating Competition

Some of you probably know how much I'm obsessed with figure skating.  I figure skate every day for a couple of hours, get back home, do some school and then do some off ice training.  So anyway, Saturday was the first figure skating competition of the season!  Jessica, my older sister and I competed in this event.  You can go check out her blog at http://writeskatedream-jmckendry.blogspot.com/.  It's really cool!  OK, back to the competition.  This was the first time I would be competing with my double jumps in it!  I was so nervous!  My grandparent's also came to watch so that made it even more scary! So, I was competing against five girls, including myself.  To get to the point I ended up getting third place out of five.  This was also the first time I had ever fallen in competition.. It actually wasn't as bad as I had pictured it, but mostly because a lot of my skating friends were cheering me on.   The next big competition that is coming up is Regionals.  Yeah, really big!  I've got three weeks to practice before it and I've got to admit that I'm already a little nervous!!

Alyssa :)

P.S.  I will post a video of me skating in my competition as soon as I can!  (It'll be today if I can get it on here!)

Halloween Night!

Hey everyone I'm actually not a campaigner over at Rachel Harrie's blog, but I decided I'd still do this challenge, I thought it looked really fun! :)  OK, so here are the rules: Write a short story/flash fiction story in 200 words or less, excluding the title. It can be in any format, including a poem. Begin the story with the words, “The door swung open” These four words will be included in the word count.

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional), use the same beginning words and end with the words: "the door swung shut." (also included in the word count)
For those who want an even greater challenge, make your story 200 words EXACTLY!

I have written exactly 200 words in mine!  Here it is!



The door swung open.  It was Halloween night, lined up at my door were pirates, fairies, and vampires.  I handed out candy to all of the creatures.  They thanked me and walked off.  Gorillas, clowns and skeletons  came up to my door saying "Trick or Treat" thinking of the candy they'd be rewarded with.  I handed them the last of my candy in the bowl and went back inside to refill.  Right as I was about to put heaps and mounds of more candy into the big bowl,  the lights started to flicker, the water turned on, the tea kettle started, and  the toilet flushed.  I quickly grabbed as many pieces of candy as I could and ran to the door alarmed at what had just happened.  Before I could get to the open door, something touched me on the shoulder.  I turned around, fear in my eyes.  All I saw was a small glimpse of fangs and dark red eyes.  I screamed and kicked as hard as I could.  I screamed again, louder. Then in the corner of my eye I saw a giant black leg lasso a sticky web at the open door.  The door swung shut.

September Already!

Wow!  I can't believe it's already September!  This year has been going by so fast!  But the good thing is my family and I have done so much awesome stuff this year!  We've gone to my great grandpa's cottage for memorial day (we're actually going to his cottage tomorrow for his 90 birthday which I am super excited about!) We also went on a week long trip to Philadelphia which was probably one of the best vacations I've ever been on!  We also went to it's art museum, we swam in the pool at the Rittenhouse, we went to some delicious restaurants, and we saw the Broadway show called Miss Saigon.  We have the CD to all the music that was in Miss Saigon but  Jessica, Ryan and I had never actually seen Miss Saigon in the theater!    It was so cool!  Well I'm tired and should probably pack now for the cottage! :)

Thanks
Alyssa :)

Awards!

Thanks so much Jessica McKendry for giving me the Versatile Blogger award and the Irresistibly Sweet blog award! Thanks so much Jess!  Go visit her awesome blog over at http://writeskatedream-jmckendry.blogspot.com/!

Seven random facts about me!

1. I am a quarter Japanese.
2. I love figure skating, it's literally my life, I practice every day and will be going to Regionals this year!
3. I have an obsession with having everything neat, clean and organized.
4. I collect Indian Gods, my favorite is Ganesha!
5. My favorite ice cream is green tea ice cream.
6. I love coffee! <3
7. I love reading, I seriously have 40 books checked out from the library!

OK!  Here are the five people I will give these awards to!! :)

http://davidpowersking.blogspot.com/
http://teralynpilgrim.blogspot.com/
http://caspermom.blogspot.com/
http://adventuresthatscore.blogspot.com/
http://imagine-today1.blogspot.com/

Please check out all these awesome blogs!! :D

Thanks
Alyssa :)

Favorite Summer Reads Blogfest!

I recently finished a really, really good book called the Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.
The Secret Life of Bees is probably one of my favorite books that I've ever read! Set in South Carolina, 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells a story about a fourteen year old girl named Lily Owens, whose life is shaped around the old memory of the day her mother was killed.  Lily lives with her abusive father and their African American Godmother, Rosaleen, who is always trying to take care of Lily and defend her from T.Ray (Lily's dad.)
One day when Rosaleen goes out to cast her vote, taking Lily with her, Rosaleen insults the three most racist men in town.  Lily is frightened by the men so much that she escapes to Tiburon, South Carolina with Rosaleen.  Lily believes that this place hold the secrets to her mother's past.  Taken in my a warmhearted and loving trio of black beekeeping sisters, Lily is introduced to their magical world of bees and honey and the black Madonna.  This book is a MUST READ!  I would definitely recommend it!  This is one of my favorite summer reads, because it shows an immense image of female power.  Sue Monk Kidd uses a whole lot of very descriptive language as well in The Secret Life of Bees.  I personally love descriptive language!  This was such a great summer reading book, definitely one of my favorites!

Thanks,
Alyssa :)

Awesome Blog!

  Hey everyone!  I just found a drawing or a chance to win a choice of 3 different awesome books at  http://davidpowersking.blogspot.com!  If you want to know what they are, please go check them out at his blog!!!

Sorry for the short post!

Thanks
Alyssa :)

I'm Excited!

Lately I have been writing my historical fiction novel more and more consistently.  It used to be just one day in a week, and then maybe even one day in two weeks!  But now I'm getting really excited and getting a lot of good ideas for my novel!  And now, I'm finally writing it close to every day!  I'm currently on chapter seven, and thinking I should have about 30 or 40 chapters.  I've got a long way to go but I'm one who likes a challenge. :)  Okay I got to go write some more now!

Thanks
Alyssa :)

Grandparents!

Yesterday my grandparent's came over and we have been having sooo much fun!!  First, late at night when they came, we cuddled up together and watched an episode of Star Trek.  We were all laughing at how bad the graphics were compared to today, but how good it would of seemed back in the 60's. :) and then today we got up to play a couple hours of the Wii!  My grandparents love the Wii.  They play it every day, getting hours and hours of exercise!  Oh, you probably have noticed  the background change to Life is Good.  I was getting tired of the plain old, cream colored pattern so I decided to make it more colorful!  Hope you like it!  Have a great weekend everyone! :)


Thanks
Alyssa

Writing my Novel

             I started my historical fiction novel just about a month ago, (it's also kind of a mystery as well) and I'm only on chapter seven!  I really don't know if this is a good or bad thing, but who cares?  This is only my first draft!  My story is about two girls named Melody and Cameron.  Melody and Cameron are best friends and they live right down the street from one another.  One day Cameron's mom, (Mrs. Ramada) applies for a business job all the way down in Mexico!  Mrs. Ramada says it would be okay if Melody and her mom would like do come down to Mexico with them.  They gladly accept.  This story is about how the two girls Melody and Cameron go back in time to the ancient city of Tenochtitlan and help save the past. And also help all of the people they have grown fond of that live in the city.  It may sound a little confusing, but who's story doesn't  when you're just starting it! :)

Thanks,

Alyssa :)

P.S.  Have you started working on a novel, or already published one? If so what is is about?  Feel free to share.

Back to Blogging!

Sorry everyone!  I haven't posted for a long time!  I'll be getting back into the blogger world  tomorrow!

Little Big Planet!

Have you ever heard of the video game Little Big Planet??  Well I hadn't until a couple months ago.  This is probably one of the cutest video games ever!  It's also my favorite. Here I'll give you a little summary.  In LBP (Little Big Planet) you are being these little sock puppets.  O.K doesn't sound that interesting right?  Just hang in there though, that's exactly what I though too, so don't worry!  In LBP there can be up to four players in this game and it is really cool because you can go all around the world to do special missions.  For example we had to go to Japan, Mexico, Russia Alaska, Africa and more!  There are also bonus levels, levels created by other people who play the game (Ya you can play this game online with others if you want to too.)  And then you can create your own levels as well!  I know a whole bunch of stuff right?  Oh ya, and if and when you finish Little Big Planet1, Little Big Planet 2 will be waiting for ya. Then after 2, Little Big Planet 3 will be on its way!  Almost every single morning my sister, little brother and I wake up really early in the morning and start playing it.  What a fun way to start the day huh?  Maybe not the smartest way but definitely the coolest way!

Thanks

Alyssa

Vacation!

I am so sorry I haven't written anything for a couple of weeks, I have just been soo busy! But because we have been so busy my dad is deciding to take us all on a vacation!  YAY!  Now we're not going to some place super special like, to the pyramids of Egypt, or the Eiffel Tower in France or even the sandy shores of Hawaii.  We are actually going to a big swim park.  I know probably not what you expected right?  But I am super excited, we haven't been on vacation for such a long time!  So a swim park would be something great to go to right now!  I also have been craving going swimming for a long time now for some reason, I guess its my wish come true!!!  We are going to be leaving in a week or so and going to be staying there for about a week as well.  I am so excited!  Oh, ya and I also have to tell you, yesterday I took two ice skating tests and I passed both of them!  If you're curious, (which you probably aren't unless your a figure skater) I took Pre Juvenile moves in the field and I took my Preliminary freestyle test.  So today I will be learning my new Juvenile moves!!  My mom keeps joking around and saying "Ugh, your soo Juvenile". Hahah.  Well gotta go now!  Gotta go buy a new swimsuit :D

Thanks
Alyssa

Les Miserables

OMG!  Sunday was like the best day ever!!!  It started out with us all going to the Broadway show called Les Miserables, it was really, really good!  The singing and acting was great.  It was too bad though because my little brother Ryan had a bad cold and was coughing a whole lot near the end.  Then after the show was over, my dad randomly decided to take us all out to this really cool tropical restaurant where I got this AMAZING chicken tortilla soup.  It had all of these vegetables like avocado, parsley, carrots, and more!  First time I ever tried it and it was just sooo good.  It's always good to try something new like my parents say.  I guess it's good I took their advice!  Then even another surprise blew our way.  We went out for ice cream in this really cute new shop.  We got a spicy chocolate ice cream mixed with a really good black coffee ice cream.  Yum Yum Yum!  Then after that our bellies were full.  So we went home to watch movies and play video games!  You have to admit that that, was a pretty fun day!

Thanks
Alyssa

The Real ACT!!

I'm twelve years old and tomorrow morning I am taking a real 5 hour ACT!!  Now, I've been practicing a lot but I'm still really nervous.  On the practice ACT test in the grammer section I got an 18,  In the Math I got a 15 :( in literature I got a 17 and in science I got a 21!  The best I've ever done.  It's good though because my dad is taking us out to Einstein Bagel Bros before we take the test.  I never eat food in the morning or I get really sick.  But in the morning you actually think better because you are energized.  So I am definitely eating.  After the 5 hour test he is taking us out to a sushi restaurant.  MY FAVORITE!!  So I'm pretty happy about that.  I really can't believe it, tomorrow is the big day, so please wish me luck and wish me good scores!!

Thanks
Alyssa

Stars on Ice!

Last night I got a big big surprise.  A few months ago I wanted to see Disney on Ice, but apparently we didn't have the time.  So I guess about a month ago my mom bought the tickets for Stars on Ice without me even knowing,  because it was supposed to be a surprise.  But my sister, Jessica, and my mom kept telling me that we had big plans on Sunday.  I kept guessing anxiously.  "Movie theater? Art museum? Science museum? History museum? WHAT IS IT??"  But they still didn't tell me.  Then finally Sunday was here.  My main guess was probably the art museum because every time I asked if we were going to the art museum my mom and dad smiled really big.  We started driving off to the "art museum" while I sat in the back tired and a little bored.  I mean don't get me wrong I love the art museum but it just wasn't an art museum day I guess...Just like my dad was reading my mind he says"If you don't like it money back guaranteed"(like my dad always said)   I let out a small laugh .  Anyway we pulled up into this big professional sports arena.  "Wait" I said eying everyone carefully "Why are we here?"   A smile broke out on everyone's faces except my little brother, Ryan, who still didn't know where we even were.  Ah ha!  We are going to a hockey game I thought to myself.  We went over to give our tickets to the ticket takers or whatever you call them.  We then got onto an elevator and I asked Jessica,"We are going to a hockey game right?".  "Well" she replied, "you'll have to see when you go and look at the court." Court, I thought?  Are we seeing basketball?  By this point I was totally confused and waited until the elevator doors opened.  We got into the arena and I thought it was a hockey game again, until I realized all of the Stars on Ice pages all sitting neatly in the seats we were about to take.  "MOOOOMMM!!!"  I said aloud happily.  "Stars on Ice?"  she nodded happily.  "I've always wanted to see this!!"  She smiled and nodded towards the ice.  The lights were turning off and some of the best skaters stepped out.  Evan Lysacek, ( he won the men's Olympic Gold.)  Sasha Cohen, (everyone knows who she is) Kurt Browning, Micheal Weiss, Todd Eldridge and many more!!  The show was fascinating.  Especially when they did their triple jumps and even a couple of them did a back flip!  I mean how cool is that!  When the show was over I thanked my mom and dad so many times for taking us there!   "Dad I definitely don't want my money back"  I told him smiling.

Thanks
Alyssa

Spring Break List!

Oh my Gosh, I have just realized today that I haven't blogged for a while, and I am so sorry about that!  But this Spring Break has been totally crazy!  We have gone out to the library, we have made arts and crafts, which my dad absolutely abhors!  But it was really cool because my brother Ryan picked out two things, a 3D puzzle penguin, because thats his favorite animal, and also a big army tank.  Typical.  I got two things as well, I got a really cool coloring book ( it says "Great for all ages" this isn't for toddlers don't worry.)  I also got an object that you could paint and then put in your garden.  And Jessica since she is in love with painting as well, she got a huge canvas.  And lets see.. we also went out to lunch and my sister, my brother and I had been playing the video game Little Big Planet for hours!  I know its not very good for you, but come on it was Spring Break!  RELAX!  Anyway I had a great time!  Please comment about your favorite thing you did over Spring Break!




Thanks
Alyssa

Last Competition

Sunday, March 20th was the last ice skating competition of the season.  This time I had to do an axel in it, which actually is consistent now!  I am very happy about that!  Well, anyway there were 8 people in total and apparently I was going 5th.  I was skating to the same Disney song I have been skating to for this whole year and I have been wearing a sparkly purple and pink dress that I love!  Anyway we got to the rink about an hour early.  (My sister was competing here too, we were actually competing against each other which is pretty normal.)  So we started stretching.   Bending, touching our toes (or skates), doing up and down hops and more. Just as the first girl in our group got on the ice I could tell she was really nervous.  Overall she skated a pretty good program though.  My sister Jessica was second I wished her luck by saying "May the Force be with You" because she is so obsessed with Star Wars.  I am actually too =).  Jessica landed both of her axels in her program which my mom (our coach) and I were very happy about.  The two other girls went and then it was my turn.  I slowly stepped out onto the ice but made sure I was smiling because, cameramen were taking videos so parents or coaches could buy them to inspect or just enjoy how their kid or student did.  I skated over to my spot and my music started.  I had an axel practically at the very beginning of my program which I landed with a happy smile.  I went through the whole program pretty nicely until I did my combination axel which means I had to do an axel and right after that do another jump.  I landed the axel pretty good but the second jump totally took me off balance.  I didn't fall but I stumbled... A lot.  But I got right back into the program and did my ending sit-spin into a scratch spin.  I got off the ice smiling a little embarrassed with what just happened, but at least I had fun you know?  We eagerly waited for the scores.  I ended up taking 3rd  which I was very happy about.  Even if I hadn't taken 3rd I was very happy about the way I skated and that's all that matters.

Thanks
Alyssa

The Falconers Knot

Today I finished a book called the Falconers Knot by Mary Hoffman.  I absolutely LOVED this book!  This is a book about murder and romance in Medieval Italy.  This book is literally spine tingling!!  This is a book about a boy named Silvano da Montacuto who has a very good life.  Adored and loved deeply by his noble parents, Silvano one day is accused of murder he did not commit.  He is kept safely in a Franciscan friary, where he waits anxiously for his name to be cleared.  Chiara is a  girl about the same age as Silvano, sent to the convent against her will, she loses all hope of a happy future.  Soon however she meets the exiled Silvano, who is struggling with the same fate.  The two find comfort and companionship in a home they never expected, until murder threatens to rip it all apart again.  With Silvano suspected once again, they set out to find the real killer before the crimes destroy everything around them.  This book was so good I am dying to read the Stravaganza series also by Mary Hoffman called the City of Masks, the City of Stars, and lastly the City of Flowers.  Read this book if you are interested in the history of  medieval Italy, and like spine thrilling books!!!

Thanks
Alyssa

Molasses Cookies

Last night I decided to make something good.  Something really good.  I decided to make molasses cookies.  I took out a really old Disney cookbook and opened it up and found the right recipe.   Wendy's (From Peter Pan) molasses cookies.  I got out the ingredients.  1/2 cup sugar, 3 cups flour,  1 egg, 1 stick of butter, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 tsp.cinnamon,  1/2 tsp.salt, and 1 cup Molasses!  Here I'll tell you how to make them.  First you put the butter into a large mixing bowl.  Cream the butter until it is soft an fluffy.  Add the sugar and the molasses.  Then break the egg into the bowl and mix throughly.  Then in a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Add this bowl a little at a time to the first mixture, and mix well.  Then place the dough on a lightly floured surface.  Roll it with a rolling pin until it's about 1/8 inch thick.  Put the cookies on a greased cookie sheet after being rolled out, but don't place them to close together.  Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes.  Don't be afraid to comment and say how you liked them or ask any questions about them.

Thanks,
Alyssa

Skating, Skating, SKATING!

Yeah, I know I have a whole bunch of posts on ice skating but I really want to share about this last week's competition.  This competition was at a huge ice rink.  We have only skated at this rink once before, which makes it even more scary!!  This competition was held on Saturday and Sunday.  I was competing on both days.  The first day I did my competitive program which was the music from Disney's Epcot parade.  And not to brag I took first out if seven, which I'm very happy about!!  But on Sunday I didn't do so well.  I was competing in an artistic program, which means you really have to express your emotions out on the ice.   You also should probably have some kind of prop (which I didn't have.)  I was skating to the music"Almost There" from The Princess and the Frog.  I didn't really know what prop I could use for that.  If you've watched the movie, my mom and I thought maybe a broom would be cute to hold since she's trying to clean everything up.  But then we looked into the rulebook and it said something like "If you bring a prop to skate with,  you'll have to be holding it the whole time."  No, I wasn't going to go around skating with a broom for the whole program!!  Anyway I ended up placing eighth out of ninth.  Hey, well it least wasn't last.  But this was mostly because my costume wasn't very decorative like practically everyone else's, I didn't have a prop, which makes it way LESS interesting, but mostly because I wasn't really being expressive that much when I was skating.  But you know, the place shouldn't really matter, it matters if you had fun or not, and I did!!  It was a great new experience, and I would love to try it again sometime!

Thanks,
Alyssa

Sister Act competition

On the 26th of February our synchronized skating team has another competition.  We will be competing at 11:49.. Exactly.  Like, right on the dot!  Just like we did at the Q we are still performing to a song from Sister Act.  But instead of being able to mess up like in the Q, our program has to be skated perfectly.  Steps, footwork and just the overall skating including neatness and speed.  We have to arrive at least at 10:15 so we are absolutely positive we will not be late.  Everyone on the team is sooo excited for this competition.  Especially because, this is the first competition of the year!!  My grandparents are going to be coming over to watch us skate but sadly my dad won't be able to come because he just had to have knee surgery today =(.  I hope we all have a great time and at least get a pretty good score!!!!!  Wish us luck ;D

Thanks
Alyssa

Scumble

Today I finished a book called Scumble.  If you have ever read the book Savvy, Scumble is its companion.  I give this book a five star rating it was filled with action, fun, hope and a little romance thrown in.  I would recommend this book to everyone, THIS. IS. A. MUST. READ!! Scumble is written by Ingrid Law.  Ingrid Law was born in New York, and is the mother of a teenage daughter.  She currently lives in Colorado where she writes full time.  Scumble is a book about a boy named Ledger Kale.  In Ledger's family when someone turns thirteen, something very unusual and very strange happens....  You acquire a strange power/or ability.  Every person in Ledger's family has a different savvy.  Example:  His cousin Rocket has the ability to send electricity to anything, his other cousin Sampson knows how to turn invisible, Mississippi (Mibs) knows how to read peoples' thoughts and Ledger's, well you'll just have to read the book!

Thanks
Alyssa

The Q!

We skated at the Q on February 12th.  As I said in an earlier post we were skating to the song "I will Follow Him" from Sister Act.  We had to perform in front of at least 5,000 people.  My stomach was aching and my arms and legs were shaking just thinking about it.  Early that morning we practiced our routine a couple of times a few hours before the Q performance.  Sadly one of our team members couldn't make it because she was sick :(.  So now we only had eight people on our team.  (Like nine wasn't already like the smallest team you could get!)  Anyway we had to practice without her, and we finally found a way for the program to still look good even though she wasn't there.  We got to the Q a little early but it gave us all enough time to compose ourselves.(Getting there early didn't really help just to tell ya.)  Anyway about 20 minutes before the performance we were all busying ourselves getting our skates + nun costumes on.  Finally when we were all ready, we headed out to the clear, slippery ice.  As soon as we got on I felt like I was going to fall over.  My legs practically just gave out.  I WAS SO NERVOUS!  We all got into our starting positions and waited for our music to start.  As soon as it started I felt like this was just another practice session.  Everyone in the team  was smiling.  Some of us couldn't resist the urge to look up at ourselves on the jumbo tron.  I was one of them who did.  I would say we had a great time.  It was all good except for the fact that we ended just a little early, but other than that it was one of the best performances we had ever done!!

Thanks
Alyssa

Skating at a Hockey Game!

Tomorrow is the big day everyone!  Tomorrow is the day our whole synchronized skating team skates in the intermission of a hockey game!!  This is really big for our synchro team.  Even though this is just for fun, our team wants to make this performance looks as good as possible.  The show starts sometime around six O'clock, my team is skating to the song Sister Act (from the movie Sister Act.)  I'm soooo excited and can't wait for Saturday!  (I'm also very excited because we are going to be on the jumbo tron screen!)   Lets hope our team does the best we can do. =)


Thanks,
Alyssa

Tongue Twisters!!!

Three very hard tongue twisters!!  Try saying them 3 times fast!!

1.Sally Sells Seashells by the Seashore

2.Red Leather, Yellow Leather, Red Letter, Yellow Letter

3.A Box of Biscuits, a Box of Mixed Biscuits, and a Biscuit Mixer

CAUTION!  #3 is the hardest!!!

A Promise Of Change

A couple of days ago I finished a book called "A Promise of Change" by David Mendall.  This was a biography about Barak Obama's early life into his presidential life.  I thought this book had very interesting facts about Obama that I never knew and would definitely be good to know.  I would rate this book a three star, which means I liked it.  I don't think this book was very well written that's all.  I mean he had great stuff in there that all of us should most definitely know but it was just kind of a slow book.  This is all in my opinion so no offense to the people who loved this book!!  But I would recommend this book for people who know little about Barak's early life and friends and how he started helping the world be a better place.  Barak Obama started out just by helping out his community.  (He was the head of some community club.)  Some people heard of Barak's great ability to help people in a very meaningful way.  Many liked to hear this so people started listening to his community speeches and they liked what they heard.  Obama had a difficult childhood his dad left his mom and him at a very early age.  In high school Barak was in the "Cool" group and he was at times going out to parties and other fun things.  After he joined the community he looked back on his early life and said something like, "If I hadn't joined this community in the first place I probably still would've been some kid in the "cool" group."  So overall this book was good,  just slow at some parts.

 (Don't worry I will post my ice skating competition on YouTube and I will tell you the link!!!!)

Thanks
Alyssa

Competition Results

Yesterday was the day of Jessica and my skating competition.  We were more excited than nervous this time.  When our parents drove us to the rink I took a deep breath and headed indoors.  When we got to the front desk a woman said I would go second and Jessica would go last.  (Jessica had always wanted to go last for some reason.)  But I was really scared I kept saying "Am I really going second?  Mom am I seriously going SECOND!?"  "Yes, yes you are." she said over and over a little annoyed from me saying that a million times.  "This competition is going to be a very special competition girls, so I brought you girls these."  Jessica and I smiled big until my mom took the surprise out from behind her back.  "Oranges?"  I asked.  "Yes oranges" she said happily.  Then our mom told us the story of her competing and an orange.  "The one time I competed, my coach brought me a couple of slices of oranges."  She said "oranges are probably the best things you should eat right before a competition.  I was annoyed by this because I thought this was complete nonsense" she told us.  "But after I ate those orange slices and was finished with my competition I got first place!".  So Jessica and I pulled an orange slice out of our moms hand and took a big bite.  Soon we got on the slippery ice to practice and warm up.  When warm up was over I was the second one out like I said.  It was a success. (I just was a little slow, your nerves can really mess with you out there!)  Then Jessica did an amazing job it was the best I've ever seen her do!  And guess what Jessica took first and I took second.  So heres a tip to all skaters................ Eat those Oranges it really helps!
Coming soon... me at competition on YouTube (I'll tell you the link later.)
Thanks
Alyssa

Another Upcoming Competition!

Well, like usual I have another ice skating competition coming up on the 23 of January.  I'm skating to the song "Reflections of the Earth".  (It is a Disney song.)  I'm wearing a purple dress with pink under it.  I can only skate on the ice for 1:30 minimum and 1:40 max.  My song is exactly 1:38.  I am going to be competing at an ice rink that I have never competed at yet, so I'm pretty nervous.  But luckily my grandparents are coming to see me skate so that makes me less nervous for some reason.  I know sometimes when your relatives  are watching you, you usually get more nervous but not me.  Just another thing you might want to know I am competing against 6 girls and actually my sister is competing in the same one against me (sad).  It's hard when I'm competing against my sister because I also want her to win too!  Oh, and to make it even worse I'm also competing against one of my friends!!  I'm nervous but I hope we all do well.  Wish me luck!

P.S. I'll tell you what place I get for another blog post. :D

Thanks
Alyssa

Biography Love

I love biographies and for the past couple days I really wanted to read a biography. So a few days ago I picked out some library books and started reading.  I read six biographies that day.  One was about Mozart, one about Jim Henson, Amelia Earhart,  Harry Houdini, Neil Armstrong and Elvis Presley. My favorite one was about Mozart.  Most likely because I play the piano.  I liked this book because it told all about his life in great detail.  It even talked about his early early childhood days.  Mozart had a sister named Nannerl  who was four years older than he. He also had a loving mother and father.  But when his mother died his father blamed Mozart for the death, and their friendship was never the same.  This book was sad at some parts happy at others.  This was an amazing book with so many facts and details about Mozart's life.  Mozart is loved for the beautiful music he played and wrote. In total Mozart wrote 973 songs in his lifetime.  He truly was a piano prodigy!

Thanks
Alyssa

Rescuing Seneca Crane

Today I finished a book called Rescuing Seneca Crane.  This was a book about a fifteen year old pianist named Seneca Crane.  This book is a mystery.  Seneca gets kidnapped in this book after her piano performance in Scotland.  Seneca is positive that her piano teacher is behind the kidnapping. Two friends of Seneca's Kari and Lucas (who is a girl) have to use their smarts to rescue Seneca Crane.  I give this a five star book, because throughout it there was so much action and so much fun.  I recommend this book to anyone who likes mysteries!




Alyssa
Thanks!

I'm in the Newspaper!

Last month a cameraman came to our ice rink and took pictures of Jessica and I and a few other kids.  We were so excited!  He took a selection of pictures and said to us that he would take his favorite one and put it in the newspaper!  Jessica and I were so happy.  I was a little disappointed that it took so long to get to our house but finally yesterday it came!  We made the second page which I think is pretty cool.  My mom cut out the article which is now hanging on our refrigerator where we put up all of our special things.  I hadn't had many chances to be in the newspaper so when I finally was again I was really glad. =)

Thanks

Alyssa

B Spot restaurant

Last weekend my dad took all of us out to a famous burger restaurant called the B Spot.  I thought it was really good.  I love spicy things so I ordered a burger called Red Hot.  It had a really hot Asian sauce called Sriracha.  Anyway when we all were finished, my dad wanted to get us something extra special.  He ordered two shakes for us all to share.  The first one was a normal chocolate shake, but the second shake surprisingly  was........  Apple, vanilla ice cream and bacon.  Bacon??!!!  "Ewww"  I said quietly trying to be polite.  "Apple, vanilla ice cream bacon? What kind of place is this?".  We waited, and waited, until what seemed like hours until two shakes were placed on our table.  Jessica, Ryan my mom and I all started drinking the chocolate one first because we were to nervous too try the other one.  After a few minutes of drinking the chocolate one we took a glance over at my dad who seemed to be engulfed by the apple ice cream bacon shake.  Jessica and I cautiously put our straws  into the shake and took a long gulp.  My eyes grew wide with delight.  "How can this taste so good?" my mom asked after taking her first try.  We had no idea.  But that didn't matter.  What mattered was that we all loved it and were having a great time!

Thanks,
Alyssa

Random facts about Yeast

One of my New Year's resolutions was to write one report or make one poster a month on any random topic.  That random topic that I chose was yeast.  I've always been fascinated by what yeast actually does.  Here I'll give you a couple of facts.  Yeast is a single celled fungus that is 50% protein and has a rich source of vitamin B (mainly niacin and folic acid.)Yeast is always floating around the air but way too small for the human eye to see.  Yeasts favorite food on the menu is usually starches or stuff with a lot of sugar.  For example yeast love fruit.  When they eat the sugar in the fruit they actually release carbon dioxide.  Thats what makes champagne fizzy and thats what makes bread rise because there is so much carbon dioxide gas in it.  The word yeast comes from an old Indo-European word meaning bubble or foam.  This is my favorite but most strange fact of them all.  Who actually discovered that yeast makes bread rise?  Well about 6000 years ago an unknown Egyptian baker took a tip from wine makers and tried using his feet instead of his hands to do the kneading of the bread.  Surprisingly that worked very well for him.  Heres how. After the baker took the bread out of the oven he realized the bread was fluffy and chewy not crispy and crunchy.  The accidental byproduct of using his feet was that the bread dough got a good dose of yeast that grows naturally between people's toes.  Gross right??  But the practice quickly spread to other bakers because they liked the chewy taste.  Luckily they don't do that kind of stuff now. I hope.....

Thanks
Alyssa