midnight mission.

Sounds like some fun, undercover spy-thing right? Well, it's not. It's a soup kitchen in the middle of downtown LA. My sorority went there this morning and did some community service. I was really excited to go because 1. I love my "sisters" and 2. I love helping others. So when we got there we got guided to the back kitchen and assigned our first task: open (what seemed to be a million) cans of sweet peas, drain them and pour them in a HUGE bucket (the plastic ones you put drinks in at parties.) So we did that for probably 2 hours. There were THAT many cans. Thank God I didn't like peas to begin with. I never want to eat another one in my life. Haha. It was really enjoyable though because we all got to bond while doing it. So after doing that for 2 hours and filling 4 buckets, getting pea juice everywhere and a few cuts...we were finally done. We got to rest for about 20 mins since we had been on our feet for so long so it was nice.

Then we got to serve the people that came in. It was a bit overwhelming after the first few people. I really started to feel so happy to be there and so blessed. People came young, old, handicap, homeless, professionally dressed people... all types of people came. It was amazing how thankful and kind they were. I really felt so blessed to be there. It was hard to see how many people are not as fortunate to live a life like I do. I realized how lucky I am to be attending UCLA, have a bed to sleep in, food in my refrigerator...just really blessed in life. I feel like God has given me so many opportunities to go to school and have a good life that some of these people never have had. It hurts to see these people be so thankful yet people that do have life's luxuries like a bed, roof over their heads, food in the fridge, not be thankful.

In all, I was really happy to be able to volunteer there today and I really hope to go again soon.

baking!

So I've been on this little baking/cooking thing for a few weeks now. First I made enchiladas from scratch (yes. scratch. meaning I made the sauce, cooked the chicken, etc.). Then I made lemon bars last week from scratch (yes. again) and brought them to work for my last day. Then I made some semi-homemade pizzas and garlic-cheese knots. And now I've made some chocolate chip pancakes (still yet to perfect though.) It's been pretty fun. I think I definitely have some sort of back up job in cooking/baking (if not, my husband will be a lucky man.) But yeah, this post is pretty short. I doubt anyone really reads this thing anyway. It's just a fun thing for me to do...an outlet of some sort. Well I took some pictures of my baking so...

The last, lonely lemon bar...

My ingredients for the pizza/knots (minus oregano, garlic powder, and salt)

Pre-oven..

Post-oven... YUM! The knots were good with some of the marinara sauce. Such an easy lunch!

negligence.

I've kind of neglected my blog for the past few months. Not that I haven't had anything to write about, trust me, I have. I guess I just didn't know how to put things into words. I worked the whole summer. It was a great opportunity for me to see if working in the career field of creative design in an office for 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week was something I wanted to do. I really did enjoy the internship. Not only have I walked away with so much more knowledge, but I've walked away with a few friends that I will definitely know for a long time. Plus, it was amazing being in the heart of Hollywood and frequenting all the local restaurants and hotspots including having poolside lunch at the Roosevelt (can't get anymore LA than that, right?) Aside from that I've spent my time hanging out with friends and just trying to enjoy my summer.

I've been in a weird part of my life, trying to figure out what I want in life, what I want to do, etc. All the unknowns scare the crap out of me, because as of right now, if someone asked me "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?" I wouldn't be able to answer because I honestly have no idea. I guess I'll just have to wait and trust in God...deep down I know everything is going to be alright.

I'm starting school in a few weeks. I'm moving into my apartment soon. I feel so grown up. It's weird. I'll have to be cooking my own meals, paying my bills (I guess I already do that since I signed up for everything), but it's just going to be a whole different dynamic living in an apartment instead of a dorm. I'm excited/scared/nervous/optimistic and determined to make this year a better year than last year...and it will be. I know it.

Well...thanks for letting me rant. Till next time.