Learning To Cook

For the last couple of years, I have gotten REALLY into cooking! I have my own recipe book I keep filled with some of my favorite recipes.

If you are someone who thinks cooking is a waste of time or you think you're not any good at cooking. All you need is some practice and the right recipe.

Who doesn't want to be able to cool their favorite meal when they feel like it?

Here I will share with you guys some of my favorite ways to get recipes, and the best way to go about trying them.

sallysbakingaddiction.com Is an amazing link to a blog that is built off of sugar and hard work. This blog contains both sweet and savory recipes and when I first started baking/ cooking on my own this was my number one resource. The reason I love this blog is because it gives you detailed instructions on whatever you are baking and or cooking.

Another good way to get recipes as simple as it sounds, are to go to YouTube. One of my go to channels is a subset of BuzzFeed. The Tasty YouTube channel has LOADS of easy recipes that ANYONE can follow.

Not only does Tasty provide a video walk through, they give you a written out recipe you can use and print out for future.

have fun browsing recipes and I wish you all patience with new recipes.
Remember if you give up you'll never learn those recipes!
Olivia

Late-Night Thoughts

Good whatever-time-of-day-you're-reading-this! How are you today?

I come come to write fully equip with a stress lined rant, so time to get comfy :)

Okay first of we have the endless night packed with studying, and trying oh so very hard to not frustrate the people around and in our lives, and your sleep deprived body tries to communicate on some level of human interaction you could potentially deem as "nice", also known as finals.

They suck. There is no way around that fact. You could have a 4.00 GPA or a 2.00 GPA, and all the while they would still be stressful. It is the unnatural act of cutting your sleep down by a handful on hours up to a few weeks in advance, so you can have more time to study everything you have learned since school has started.

Of course there are the educational benefits, but that's beside the point when you feel the need to pull an all-nighter to try and shove every little tid-bit of information you think you can hold in your brain.

Okay... enough on that now on to: DRAMA! *DUN DUN DUNNNN*

By no means is this section based off of anything in my life, but seriously why does drama always seem to come up just when you feel like you have a little too much of everything on your plate?

Is that some twisted Murphy's Law I neglected to recognize?

Seriously though, I think that people should just consider having a pause button for any and or all friendships. I don't mean that in the way it sounds, but as in if there was a button where you could just put all problems aside for like a few days, just so something could be done without any other distraction, and you could return to the problem again later.

Another serious benefit to the pause button would be it would give people time to think and actually decide what they think is important to be said, versus just say stuff just out of the heat of the moment.

And I can say with full certainty that I think this idea could of saved some of my older friendships that sorta fizzled out over pent up feelings and aggressive reactions.

\My next topic is: PLEASE TRY TO SAY THINGS TO PEOPLE THAT YOU KNOW WILL RAISE THEM UP NOT DOWN!!!

This one comes out of kind of a sensitive place, because I have been told that I used to or still do (I don't really know) have people come to my blog to read what I have to say only to laugh at it and go off and tease it. That hurts. I realize I'm putting myself on display by trying out my feelings, but seriously if you're going to go off and tease me, PLEASE be classy enough to make sure it doesn't get back to me.

I seriously do not care if people want to go around and bash what I have to say, but please be kind to my face, that's all I ask.

That was sorta off kilter from what I wanted to say, but the point is still valid.

What I wanted to say was, if you have people in your life, regardless if you like them or not, I belive you should still be kind and have positive things to say.

I know it is supper hard to make something nice up to say sometimes, but it seriously helps to compliment someone, or share a (happier) thought, or something. On a selfish level it will make you feel better if you're kinder to others and share positive things.


I feel like this is a good stopping point for tonight. Just fyi I do not even come close to being perfect when it comes to any of these things, but they're some of my personal goals, and I would like to become a more positive and  less stressed person.



Anyways, I hope for better days to come,
xoxo
Olivia




* Just roll with it and pretend to hear the dramatic noise in your head.

Monumental moments #1

Recently a friend of mine and myself have decided to start a (two person) writing group, so we can further our knowledge of writing and slowly become more comfortable with sharing our writing. (if you're interesting in joining our writing efforts, shoot me an email at oliviavanark@gmail.com.)

I mean personally, it's not that big of a problem for me, considering I shamelessly shove this blog down the throats of everyone I meet. I mean the mouth is basically free advertisement... AMIRITE?

Anyways, on to my first monumental moment of my life (AKA our first writing for the group):

The Impact of Writing in My Life:

You know the feeling of being around family, the one that makes you feel safe and like you belong? That is the feeling I get from writing.

It almost gives me a natural high from simply knowing that I am capable of  sharing my thoughts and emotions through a set of only 26 letters, that only get moved around to mean different things.

I am constantly thankful for the fact I am able to lay out my thoughts and ideas, but I suppose that can be attributed to the fact it am very, Very, VERY extroverted. So I suppose it is helpful I can successfully communicate what is going on in my chaotic mess of a mind.

The difference between writing and not writing for me is the difference between whether or not I will be able to communicate properly with people. Writing allows for all thoughts to be recorded and then rearranged into a logic order (unlike how they come to me in my head...).

Writing has slowly built up my confidence in what I am capable of producing with my own mind. I have seen the result of this in many different ways, such as: My work in color guard has become more expressive, I have become okay with people looking at me as I put myself on display and I have become okay with criticism. I honestly credit so much of that to my writing and how I have become okay with exposing what I have created.

 It seriously puts you on the spot of proving you either know what you're doing or not. I find that simply exhilarating, (and of course nerve racking, or terrifying if I don't know what I'm doing.)


That's all for now... Hope you're have a fabulous day,

Olivia
xoxo

Pet Peeves

I know I may of failed my deadline for my next post by just a little itty bitty bit, but better late than never I suppose. I thought I would write something a little more lighthearted for once, because my mood 1000% of the time will dictate on the mood of my writing, and ya know what? I'm feeling pretty happy. With that let's get to it: my pet peeves.

Lets kick of this list with something that annoys most:

inconsiderate people. I can say with full certainly that I'm not always the kindest and most thoughtful person; but I will never be found talking to someone full volume in a quite room, listening to my music so loud that its offensive to other people, or being rude to a waiter/waitress.

Short jokes.

When people insist on being correct, regardless of what the topic is. A good example of this is when people try to argue against someones opinion. Let me just set the record straight, I could careless if you think other wise but DO NOT tell someone their opinion is wrong if it simply doesn't match up with yours. You can always disagree but to shut down an opinion, its just silly and useless.

On a happier note let's touch on some things I enjoy about people:

When people hold the door open. Good job.
When people greet me with my name. Good job.
When people make eye contact or smile with me. Good job.
When people are empathetic of this that or anything else. Good job.
When people respect my and what I enjoy to do with my time. Good job.

I could literally keep that list going for days if I wanted to, but for the sake of the length of this post, I will limit it to what I have.

Comment what some of your pet peeves are in the comments! Don't forget to subscribe!

As always, have a beautiful day!
Olivia