Monday, August 22, 2011

Cake, anyone?!?


I thought it would be easier to get rid of all these cakes. ;) One down, five to go. Comment if you're interested! 

Types of Cakes: 

Ice Cream Cake
Chocolate Zuchinni Cake (with chocolate glaze)
Gingerbread Cake (with vanilla glaze) 
Spice Cake (with vanilla glaze)
Pumpkin Molasses Cake (with lemon glaze/icing) 
Angel Food Cake (vanilla and chocolate glaze)


Another Thing: 
I'm really looking forward to my expedition in October. I'm going to be camping for two nights up in the mountains of somewhere. Myself and whoever comes with me will be hiking up waterfalls (the largest one in eastern US actually...). I want to know what you all think of backpacking. I'm doing my research, but I've heard mixed accounts of how fun it is. So, let me know in a comment! And tell me about what you want to hear about in my future posts. 

Ciao for now...

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Running and Cake

Those two words sum up my life. 

I'm kidding, don't worry. But I wanted to update you on my running and ask for some help with my cakes. Taste testing help. Now, you're obviously hooked. :) Boring part first: running. I'm entering a race in the end of September. It's 3.1 miles and I'm starting to train now. I've clocked a path in my neighborhood with the same distance and I can run it in about 25 minutes. My goal time for this first race is 22 minutes. I obviously have some work to do. 
 
I'm looking for some taste testers from my town to eat and comment on a free (!!!!) and probably totally delicious cake. So if you are interested, here are the requirements: 

You must:
-Live in my town (you know who you are...) 
-Like cake.
-Agree not to sue me if you somehow get sick after eating my cake.
-Comment if you're interested. 
-Give me your firstborn child in exchange for a free cake. 

Types of Cakes:
Ice Cream Cake
Chocolate Zuchinni Cake (with chocolate glaze)
Gingerbread Cake (with vanilla glaze) 
Spice Cake (with vanilla glaze)
Pumpkin Molasses Cake (with lemon glaze/icing) 
Angel Food Cake (vanilla and chocolate glaze)

NOTE: When you comment, please specify what cake you'd like to try. Don't be shy, all of these cakes have to be tested before I go into business. 

Hasta la vez próxima, mis amigos! (Until next time, my friends!)

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Slight Change of Plans

Hello all my readers, my apologies for not posting sooner, but I've been doing some thinking, planning, time management, etc, etc and I think I'm going to alter the events. I'm going to be doing my own challenge, which will be the same as the Congressional Award Challenge, BUT it WILL NOT be part of the Congressional Award. The reason behind my madness? In order to be eligible for a Congressional Award I need to complete so many hours (see last post for details) of Voluntary Public Service, Personal Development, Physical Training, and Expedition. I had all my details planned out, but then I realized: there are only seven days in a week, on top of school, sports, and religious activities there was no way I could add so many hours of stuff!!  Most of my religious activities could be counted as Voluntary Public Service and Personal Development, but the Congressional award does not recognize religious activities as a part of any category of the award. :( So in short, I had two options: drop church stuff or drop official Congressional Award. I chose the latter. So, my friends, here are my updated goals. Starting September 1st,   my plan is to post between 3-5 days per week with pictures and updates. But without further ado:

Voluntary Public Service: Theater Classes for homeschooling group, Choir for Church, and being co-coordinator for a local pro-life teen group.

Personal Development: Teaching piano lessons and (possibly) starting to sell homemade (by me) cakes

Physical Training: Training for local 5k (3.1mi) races and playing on a local recreational basketball team

Expedition: Camping trip to the mountains, including hiking the tallest waterfall in eastern USA!! (I'm really excited for this one!!!)

One last note:
I've added links to the website list. Each link corresponds with a different activity. Check them out!

Until Next Time....

Thursday, August 11, 2011

In the beginning...

... I decided to start a blog, again. Those who know me know that the last few attempts by me to start a blog failed within a few months. Hopefully, I can keep this one going. :)  The reason for starting this blog is not only to motivate me to complete my goals, but to encourage everyone and anyone else out there to not be afraid to aim high. Sky's the limit, right?

I'm a homeschooled Junior in high school and I'm trying to complete the requirements for a silver medal for the Congressional Award in a year:  9/1/11 to 9/1/12. My reason for sacrificing 472 hours of my time for volunteer service, personal development, physical training, and expeditions? It looks great on a college application and I love a challenge. :)

Now, onto the stuff that actually matters. In order to receive the silver medal, I have to complete 200 hours of voluntary public service (4hrs/wk), 100 hours of personal development (2hrs/week), 100 hours of physical training (2hrs/wk), and a 3-day, 2-night expedition. These are my personal goals:

Voluntary Public Service: volunteer at the American Red Cross
Personal Development: organize and run a Theater Club for my local homeschooling group AND/OR learning photography, haven't quite decided yet. :/
Physical Training: train for and compete in 5k runs and bike races.
Expedition: Travel up to the mountains for a long weekend of camping and hiking.

This blog is a documentation of the completion of these goals. I'm planning on posting pictures, describing events, sharing my experiences, etc... so, enjoy!

PS: I'll officially start completing the Congressional Award on September 1st, but before I start I have to find validators for each of my activities. But I'll be posting before then about stuff that I'm doing to prepare.