Greek Yogurt + Strawberries + Brown Sugar = YUM + a crazy morning

I ate this on the day of the school barbecue. Let's just say I was VERY hyper during homeroom. And my friend had a VERY hard time trying to keep me from dancing around the room. She sighed when I told her I'd had a whole packet of brown sugar with my yogurt that morning. Oh well, I crashed pretty soon after.

Anyway, I love Greek yogurt. It's so creamy and tangy. I love the first scoop out of a fresh container. The first time I tried it I was nervous because I'd been excited about trying something I'd heard about for a long time before, and that hadn't ended too well. That something was buttermilk. I thought it'd taste like butterscotch pudding. Don't ask me why...I suppose I just saw the word "butter" and thought they were the same thing. I WAS SOOO WRONG. I took a big gulp of the stuff. It's an acquired taste. I don't think I managed to choke it down. And I'm not too sure what my mum did with the rest of the carton. Darn. If that had happened this year I would've been able to try out so many recipes! Oh well, I've found substitutes for buttermilk. :) I'm going to try out so many new things this summer!

Wait a minute, how did we come to this? Oh yes. The first scoop of Greek yogurt. It was cool, creamy, delicious. I thought it was ice cream! So yummy. I was hooked.

Then one day as I was browsing Tastespotting, I saw Greek yogurt with strawberries and brown sugar and I thought YESSSSS a new variation to try! I always put honey in my yogurt but I'd gotten a tiny bit sick of it after having it for breakfast for 3 months straight.

Those are socials notes in the background. I am so glad exams are over! 

This was a yummy way to start my day (whoaa that rhymed...), but I think I still prefer the honey variation. The honey just enhances the creamy texture, which I LOVE. The brown sugar gave it a slight crunch factor and was pretty before I mixed it all up, but definitely not as sweet. I'm not sure why though, since I think there was more brown sugar than the amount of honey I usually add...maybe because honey tends to clump up in extreme sweet spots? YUMMMM. Okay. I think maybe I should start having this for dinner as well.

Summer Blues

Yesterday was the last day of school. I can't even believe it. It doesn't seem like the end at all. I didn't even realize that Thursday was the last Day 2 of Grade 11, nor did I realize that yesterday was the last Day 1. I didn't realize that yesterday I had my last Biology and Chemistry classes ever. (two of my favourite courses...NOOO :'(.....) No wonder most of my teachers looked at us kind of sadly. Or maybe that was just my imagination. This year, it was weird. No one except the grads really said much about school ending.

And this is not even funny...I'm freakin' SAD because school ended yesterday. Yes, I don't want to take finals exams, but that's not the biggest thing. I think it's that this year felt so quick and so slow at the same time. I feel like I wasted a lot of time, like I never really got into the flow of things before it all ended.
I'm sad because a lot of my friends are graduating this year. I won't see them in the halls come September, I won't be able to ask them about things, I won't be able to reminisce about the past with them.
I'm sad because I liked my classes this year. I'm sad because I'll have to forget my timetable and relearn a new one. I'm sad because I finally figured out everything, but during the summer I'll be sure to forget. I'm sad because I didn't get to say or do a ton of things that I should have done. I'm sad because we finally found out how to talk, but one of us will forget by September.
I'm sad thinking about yearbooks. I'm sad thinking about the year-end BBQ. I'm sad thinking about how I'll miss yet another awards assembly (whatever, I'd rather help rip 600 hot dogs out of their individually wrapped plastic packages anyway...which is A LOT of unnecessary waste, if you ask me.)
I'm sad that I won't be able to see my friends for five of my precious summer weeks. I'm sad that I won't be able to go sailing or to the beach or go camping or just go to the movies with them.
I'm sad thinking about Grade 12. I don't want high school to end. Next year, this time of year, we'll all be saying goodbye, some forever, and we'll all go our own ways. We may not see each other again for months or years, or ever. That's terrifying. I'm sad that next year, starting from Term 1, everyone will be so busy with university applications (SCARY) that we won't have time for each other (or that's what I'm afraid of anyway). I'm sad that next Term 2, we'll be working like crazy to keep our grades up. And then it'll be over too soon. I saw what happened to the grads this year. First two terms, they were too busy to notice much. Then it was term 3...they never knew what hit them. It was like, WHOOSH and then ZOMG it's June and now it's all over. Oh man. It's gonna hurt.

I would've thought I'd be shooting fireworks out my ears with school over already, but somehow they've been extinguished before they could light.
I think one part of it is that I've been waitingandwaitingandwaiting for summer since September...and then now that it's finally here it's like I've built up all this excitement for it, like what I'm going to do and how I'm going to do it and ohhh I have SOOOO much time now it's gonna be great. And then I got accepted into this program to go to Quebec for half the summer, so now I realize there's actually not that much time. So now I guess...I guess I feel a bit like I'm missing out on summer with my friends. Although, don't get me wrong, I AM FREAKING EXCITED FOR QUEBEC. It's my first time travelling alone, budgeting my own food, doing my own laundry, keeping everything organized...basically, it's my first time being away from home for more than two weeks. And back then, it was a homestay. This time it's in university dorms! Oh man, this is going to rock.
But... I MAY not be able to post anything while I'm there since I have to do everything in French, and I may not have a laptop there...which is going to SUCK. I am not happy with my current internet arrangements while in Quebec, which is basically 'no internet'. I can't live without it. Geez, I've never gone five weeks without talking to my friends, even if it's just chatting online for 5 minutes. I cannot. Nope. Not possible. So I'm going to get internet no matter what. Yes. I will. I am determined. And I am hardly ever like this so you can bet your bottom dollar that I am GOING TO GET INTERNET. Just watch me.

Anyway, I hope this sad feeling goes away soon because it's threatening to suffocate me. Maybe I should go and throw myself into my studies and I'll forget everything. Hopefully.

Um. My Spring Break in a Nutshell.

Oh man. I pause in my endless shuffling of papers. This overwhelming feeling of nostalgia...I know it well. It washes over me in waves both painful and calming. Bittersweet.
I'm going through my stacks of past proud projects and thick, bent binders; they go back to Grade 1 and span seven years' worth of work. Some of these things, I've forgotten completely. Others, I recognize with just one glance. And then there are some that need time to conjure up old memories, such as this small, blue certificate with the words 'CONGRATULATIONS Scribbles for 50 nights of reading: Dec 14, 1999' written in curly writing on it. It's from Grade 1, my very first certificate for reading 50 nights in a row. There was some sort of ongoing contest in the Grade 1 classes at my school, I think, and I was so happy to have finally achieved this trophy. I think back to those nights I spent reading word by word with my Dad beside me, saying the unfamiliar words aloud, slowly picking up on the pronunciations and spellings and meanings. I remember how, after a while, I got annoyed with my Dad's accent and told him I'd read it all by myself. Maybe I shouldn't have, but he read way too slow for my liking.
I keep flipping through the piles of papers, looking for things I can maybe throw out. Mum's in her throw-everything-away-so-there's-room-for-new-stuff mode and if I don't get rid of some of my things she's going to go nuts. She gets like this about once every couple months, and especially right before summer...she just bulldozes through the house and shakes out EVERYTHING. She even gets to the stuff I hide away, so there's no point in trying to smuggle some long-lost treasure out of her grasp. She'll find it, and if she thinks we don't need it (and especially if I'm not there to wrest it out of her hand) she'll just dump it in the dreaded white plastic bag. Sometimes I even have to rummage through the garbage to find stuff...but usually these bags of garbage are dry, and only contain my own things, so they're not dirty at all. So she goes and puts the kitchen garbage on top of my stuff, so I won't be able to rummage. Those days are really sad.

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This is just something I wrote during Spring Break, when we went to our Gran's place and had to throw out a bunch of stuff because the mice had got into the house. YUCK. We disinfected and vaccuumed and wiped down everything though, so don't worry, it's all clean now. Thank goodness that's over.

Anyway, I just felt like I had to write about that feeling you get when you look at the things that were special to you when you were small, but have forgotten over the years. I hadn't looked at those things for almost a decade (BOY does time fly fast!!), and was overwhelmed by everything that came back to me as soon as I saw them. It was like my mind went "click!" and an onrush of memories came crashing down on my head. You should try it sometime...I think it was a little fun and a little sad, but definitely a pretty good way to spend a rainy day.