I Forgot To Eat!

Here's a very unattractive image of me going
 hardcore on a slice of pizza. Courtesy of me. 

I love food. I usually scoff at people who just don't eat very much or don't like eating breakfast. But last Thursday, I basically forgot to eat. I had woken up in a panic, knowing that I hit the snooze button on my alarm. By the time I was in the kitchen to get breakfast, my mom was pulling the car around. So on my way out I grabbed some coffee and some cold coconut pancakes my mom ate the night before. In the car I rushed to shove my shoes on and sipped my barely warm coffee. I jumped out of the car to catch the bus without even taking a single bite of the pancakes.

I was hungry and tired for the whole morning. Reaching lunch felt like crossing the finish line of a marathon. At lunch, I realized that my mom had been in a rush, too, and she ended up packing me two coconut pancakes, one piece of bacon, and some syrup. Now, normally two pancakes would have been fine, but these coconut pancakes were about the size of my palm and were made of coconut milk, coconut flour, and coconut sugar. Add on the fact that I hadn't eaten breakfast, and this lunch was like the mini potato chip bags which are about sixty-five percent air.

I went along with my day, not caring too much that I hadn't eaten a lot. When I got home I went up to the barn and immediately rode my horse, Kiss, then came back to the house to change into my workout clothes for Athletic Republic. In case you don't know, Athletic Republic is a athlete training center that has personal trainers who give you a different workout each time you come. Unlike I usually do, I didn't grab a snack while I was at the house, but jumped in the car and went straight there without eating. That day I was with a bunch of boys that I didn't know and I was put on the treadmill with one other kid.

The treadmill at athletic republic is crazy. It vertical treadmill that increases it's steepness by the amount the trainer sets it to. During my first few sprints, I was fine, running as I normally do. But then I started to feel cold, like I do at the end of cross-country races. I walked in circles during my breaks. Suddenly, the whole room was spinning and I felt vomit rising in my throat. The trainer said I could go to the bathroom if I felt dizzy, and I nodded and went. Right when I reached the bathroom, I sat down on the floor next to the toilet and put my head between my knees. The whole room was blacking out and my mouth watered. I sat there for at least ten minutes before getting up. I held onto the wall to steady myself and went back to the weight room. The trainer asked me if I was okay and I said I was fine but he handed me a strawberry yogurt and a spoon. I really did not want to eat the yogurt, as I never liked super sweet yogurts, but he said I had to. So I ate tiny bites and swallowed it.

After waiting about half of an hour and deciding that I wouldn't be able to get back on the treadmill that day, he set up an exercise where I would just have to stand up and pull my knee up. But when I stood up the room spun again, my skin went cold, and my vision blurred. I ended up having to call my mom to come pick me up, but not before everyone there watched me sit on the floor and hold my head between my knees. All because I didn't eat. I was so embarrassed. I went home and crawled in bed at six thirty with an almond butter sandwich and slept for two hours before waking up. Then I ate a quesadilla and watched Grey's Anatomy with my mom for a little while before falling right back to sleep.

Yesterday, before I went to athletic republic I hate half of a chicken quesadilla and a banana. It's a myth that you shouldn't eat before a workout. I definitely learned my lesson...(That school is poorly affecting my health!)

4 Ways To Be Cooler, By Someone Uncool

We all want to be cool. And no matter how much we try to not care what everybody else thinks, we still do. But what is cool, really? Cool in the dictionary, is described as fairly cold temperature or fashionably attractive. I am definitely not cool, but from my experience as a teenager and after learning about the basic steps to being cool, I think I may be able to help you become just a little cooler.

1. Be confident and be yourself (Blah Blah Blah)

Yeah, right. Because that's easy. This is such a dumb thing to tell someone who is trying to be cool. It's like, If I thought I was cool by myself I wouldn't be trying to find out how to be cool. The truth is being yourself, only works half the time. Of course your family loves when you're yourself. But will everyone else? The real trick is to find people that you can be yourself with, and have stuff in common with. If you find people that think your cool even if you aren't. (WARNING: This often isn't cool.)

Courtesy of hdwallnpics.com

2. Always look adorable, but not like you're trying

This one is just impossible. I don't understand why I try really hard to look good somedays and some people are able to just look amazing in sweatpants. Like, when did that become a thing. I must admit though, other days I just put on jeans and a hoodie. The other thing I don't understand is why we all dress up for school. I mean we don't want to be here anyway, why are we trying to look good for it? I wasted 20 mins this morning to just put on a tee shirt and a sweater. I say we all just stop with the super high expectations and make it easier on everyone. 

Courtesy of zlucaz.deviantart.com

3. Go to cool parties

As we see in movies, all the cool kids go to parties. At these so called parties, teens live it up and have the best nights of their lives. And we all learned from Footloose, that dancing and parties may have some consequences, but in the end us teens really do need to party. The first problem with parties is that you usually have to be invited to parties. Which normally doesn't happen if you are uncool, like me. I guess you could just walk in but isn't that kinda creepy. The second problem with parties, is that unless you are going to a birthday party, most parties are lame as expressed by Alessia Cara. Why would I waste my time on that when Netflix and a box of Oreos are waiting for me at home.

Courtesy of sabotagetimes.com

4.  Always be funny

Okay, this may be easy for some people. But, unless you're Robin Williams, this one is really difficult. It's not that our jokes might not be funny but most of the time everyone has a different sense of humor. You also cannot be funny all the time. If we were funny all the time we would end up cracking jokes at funerals. (This may not always be true if you are attending an Irish wake.)

Basic Conclusion: It is impossible to be cool by everyone's standards. So my advice to you, if you really want to be cool, stop trying so hard and find some friends who don't care if you are cool or not.

Addicted

It is scientifically proven that caffeine is a real addiction. According to Joseph Stromberg from Smithsonian Magazine, caffeine is a chemical drug that has effects when you try to quit. If you are a regular coffee drinker, you can have light headaches, muscle pain, and lack of alertness.

No, I'm not addicted to caffeine. But Doug is. Doug enjoys the leftover coffee in anyone's cup every morning. It started when my Mom started to give it to him after she was done with hers. It's the very traditional story. One taste and he was hooked. He is very aware of what a mug is now and will jump onto the coffee table to get to any coffee he can. 

Courtesy of my phone

Courtesy of my phone

" I'm just so worried about him lately. He's been distant and really jumpy. I just want to get him help. You know? It's not healthy and he's going to end up ruining his life this way. One day he's going to overdose, and I just don't want it to get to that point. I really love him and I just want to get him the help he needs." -Kendall

(Just kidding. That was fake, I wrote it myself.) If you didn't know, caffeine is poisonous to dogs. When I researched it the effects on dogs were awful, one was death. How is death a side effect? It said that coffee is almost as poisonous as chocolate. Not that my family has ever worried about chocolate. Ed has eaten either Kendall or my Halloween candy each year, many batches of brownies, and even a five pound bag of M&Ms. So I'm not worried. My great grandmother fed her dog eggs and coffee every morning for breakfast, and that dog lived for almost twenty years. 

I'm not worried, but I do have some concerns. I don't know any dogs who like coffee as much as Doug. My Mother's boxer drank beer but that was a one time thing. Doug drinks coffee everday. One day he could overdose on coffee and fall over and die. Well, that actually couldn't happen. What would happen if we went on vacation? Who would give Doug his coffee?

While it's scary to think about what could possibly happen to Doug. I could never afford dog rehab, and I can use his addiction to my advantage. If you show Doug that there is coffee in your cup, he follows you around the house barking and jumping until you give him some. Perhaps, I could use this to get Doug to do anything I want. Coffee lovers don't even come close to Doug. He would go to the end of the earth for coffee. 

*Do not attempt to take Douglas to a coffee shop.

It's a Love/Hate Relationship

I introduce to you the mom of Doug, the devil, and one of the funniest people I know. If you ask any one of my friends what they think about Kirsten's sister,  you could get a variety of answers. From "she hates me with a burning passion" to "Kendall and I are closer than anything".  This year she convinced my parents into getting her a puppy. Because Kendall is just the most responsible person in the world.

Courtesy of my phone

Kendall and I visiting Park City: Courtesy of Colleen Keblish

Here's a brief history of some of the ridiculous things Kendall has done to me:

When Kendall was around six years old and I was eight, we went to the neighbors house to pick peppers with our best friend Adam. Trying so hard to be cool, I said that I loved peppers. I then picked up what I thought was a bell pepper and took a nice big bite out of it. It was not a bell pepper. I screamed and rolled on the ground and covered my eye. Kendall and Adam laughed their heads off. I yelled at them to stop and Kendall told me I had anger management problems and as a red head constantly being told that I had anger problems, I threw the pepper at her. To my surprise, it hit Kendall directly in the eyeball. She cried and cried her whole way home, where she had to rinse her eye in the shower and I got in trouble for being so mean. 

When Kendall was seven years old and I was nine, I stole something from her room. I can't remember exactly what it was but I it was probably some sort of toy. I was soon caught by seven year old Kendall, who then screamed and cried saying that I had to give it back. And as a nine year old girl, I refused to give it back. Instead of logically, telling on me she threatened to pee on my floor. Thinking that Kendall was bluffing I folded my arms and refused again. But she wasn't bluffing. She squatted down and peed right there on my bedroom floor. I stood speechless. And then without even asking for her possession back she left the room and said "next time it will be poo". 

When I was twelve and Kendall was ten, we sat doing homework in the kitchen. We got in an argument and I began to give her the silent treatment. A few minutes later, she asked me how to spell February. And as an annoyed older sister, I obviously continued to give her the silent treatment. She whined and screamed for me to tell her. Then she picked up an orange from the counter top and threw it at me. 

A couple months after the "orange incident" we went outside to practice lacrosse together. As a very unorganized family we had lost every last lacrosse ball. But instead of giving up and going inside, we tried to find something to use instead like a tennis ball. Kendall called it improvising. First, while I was actually looking for a ball she picked a light-bulb sized rock in her stick and threw it at me. Luckily, she missed and I scolded her. But as usual, it didn't get through to her. I told her I didn't want to play anymore so she picked up another orange, this time rotten from the back of our pick up truck, and threw it at me. 

Recently, we were playing legos. I know, right a fourteen year-old playing legos, but it does happen. Not really caring very much I didn't jump to pick pieces out of the lego box. Unlike Kendall and her friend. When I did sit down to play, I picked up a bunch of random legos put them together in the shape of a square and told them that I had made my house already. Then laughing they took a lego plane and crashed it into my house. I have to admit it was pretty funny, so I was laughing, too. But Kendall kept bragging about all the pieces she was finding. So jokingly, I tried to grab her stuff. But she fought me back and dug a lego into my wrist. When I told her she cut me and that I was bleeding, she said "good". She then said that I "sucked at playing legos and that I was annoying" I then called her a mean word and left the room. Listening in on her and her friend's conversation, she said that I started it. Great, because I totally wrecked my own lego house.

Usually, Kendall and I get along really well. We have nicknames for each other, chill out together, and she admits that she'll miss me when I go off to college. But based on this information, would you let Kendall own a dog. Neither would I. And I wonder why Doug is so weird. 

Park City Is Not Vail

Courtesy of Travel Agent Central

“Did you go skiing yesterday?” was a question I was asked way too many times this weekend. No, I didn’t go skiing on Saturday, mainly because my boots weren’t in yet, but I wasn’t planning on skiing anyway. No matter how many times my mother tried to convince me that it was tradition to ski on the first day, I still was not going to ski. Don’t get me wrong, like most PC locals I love to ski and I’m on the Park City United Team. But I knew that skiing on opening day wasn’t going to get me anywhere. 

So on Saturday, I went on a trail ride, watched some tv, ate a pre-thanksgiving dinner with the neighbors, and saw the final Hunger Games movie (which was a pretty great conclusion to the series by the way). But I did no skiing whatsoever. And that worked pretty well for me. As the whole town was together skiing on six runs. 

I’m excited to be skiing this season at the new One, Park City. But I’m also a bit worried about Vail taking over. When Vail first bought Park City I didn’t think too much about it. I didn’t think Vail would really change anything. Recently, though, I’ve been hearing about all the changes that Vail is making. As my Mother works for Park City, I have been told over and over again that Vail’s upgrades will be great for Park City. She said this before she was handed a bright red jacket with an ugly letter “i” on the back, and told that she was a volunteer rather than an employee, and couldn’t go ski on employee day. One of my best friends wasn’t hired by Vail because they don’t want as many young employees as before, even though they are extremely low on employees. The high school student that camped out from Thursday night to get first chair was kicked out, because they didn’t want the tent making the place look bad.

If I had one thing to say to Vail, it would be that Park City is not Vail. They are taking the family feel out of Park City. They keep trying to turn Park City into something that it’s not. And in the process making the locals of Park City angry. Sadly, they are forgetting that while Park City is a tourist town it is also for the locals. Park City needs to stay Park City, and while bringing us all together may make a lot of money, I see it as a mistake that it is going to be very problematic.