Flying Horse Farms

A few weeks ago I had the volunteering opportunity of a lifetime. I volunteered at Flying Horse Farms in Mt. Gilead, OH. FHF is a camp that allows children with terminal illnesses to go for a week or a weekend and be a kids. They do not have to worry about doctor visits, hospital stays, and everything else that revolves around them being sick. When I first arrived, I did not know what to expect. I am not very outgoing so I knew that in order to meet knew people and have a good time I would have to instantly be able to stick my hand out and say "Hi, I'm Amanda, nice to meet you." Luckily, it was very easy and now I stay in contact with many of the people I stayed with. The week I volunteered was Hematology/Oncology week and the kids were amazing (amazing doesn't even describe what they were, they were indescribable). It is incredible to see all the volunteers and everyone that participates in these camps. I was worried I would be the odd one out, the last time I camped I was ten! However, this camp is different, it is exactly how they describe it Magical Transforming Fun. Every moment, from the camp fires, to the wish sticks, to the Camp dance, to the Luau. All of it is amazing!!! Every time someone asks me how camp was, I get a huge grin on my face and cannot stop talking about it. I love Flying Horse Farms and encourage you to check it, donate, or volunteer! It is an amazing time.

Baby Shower Cake

For my cousin's baby shower, I decided to make the cake at home. We aren't sure what the baby is going to be so I decided to use both pink and blue colors. I got the idea for the cake from Charm City Cake's Cake Tattoos. You can purchase them at any Michael's and they are simply pieces of icing that have print on them. So I baked two cakes an 8in and 6in round cake. For the 8in I had to stack two cakes together so I placed a Nutella butter cream in the middle. Once Stacked I iced both cakes with homemade butter cream icing. Then I placed the cake tattoos on and added some more butter cream decorations. I think it turned out great! And it was delicious.

Bridal/Baby Shower Pro

I can now say that I am officially a baby shower and bridal shower pro. I along with my mom threw two (one bridal and one baby shower, not for the same person) within three weeks of each other, and they were successful. I helped make the decorations for each and think of the games as well. In the pictures you can see that I made the hanging pom poms out of tissue paper and I also helped make the cake. For the Bridal shower we played How well does the Bride know the Groom, and Bridal Scattegories. For the Baby shower we took the Mother and Father -to-be names and had guests come up with Baby names, we also have our guests eat baby food and guess what they were.

Ohio State Fair 2011

This was the first time I have ever and I mean ever been to the Ohio State Fair and I can say, it wasn't that bad. We decided to go after church and was going to wait until it was later in the day, but since we knew the temperature wasn't going to change much we headed out during the early afternoon. The weather was hot but nothing that was excruciating and there were plenty of places to stay cool. Since I had never been to the fair, I did not know what to expect and I can say after spending six hours there we still did not see everything the fair has to offer. Some of the cool parts I liked that my niece and my nephews did too was the obviously the animals as well as the Park section. This is where they had all the great things about Ohio's parks on display and during this summer I have really begun to enjoy some of what Ohio's State parks have to offer. We got to see beavers, owls, skunks, groundhogs, and a bobcat up close (closer than the zoo) and it was really cool to see kids react. We also rode a ton of rides, well the kids did at least, and it was cool because they did not need an adult to ride with them this year. I got to see some of the vendors there and see my first roller girl game/derby (don't know the official game). It is definitely worth going back to again that is for sure.

There's an Opportune Time.....

There's an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
When I began to really put my faith into action this was the first Bible verse I fell in love with. Actually not this single bible verse but Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 and it has become more and more prevalent in my life recently. Ask yourself this: In the past month has there been an event or a thing you wanted to do, thought about doing, or was going to do and it got cancelled or something came up and you couldn't go? Did you think to yourself there was a reason I wasn't meant to go?

This happens to me all the time and when I cannot do something or when I don't have the money to do something someone has invited me to do, I think there is a reason and I am not meant to do it. This also happened to me this past weekend. My person was coming down from Cleveland to see me for the weekend. I was going to surprise her by driving her to South Bend, IN to visit another friend of ours that we have not seen in over a year. Unfortunately timing did not work out and we cancelled the trip. However in doing so I was able to help another friend out who had come up from KY and needed a place to crash.

See there is a reason for everything! :)

There's an opportune time to do things,
a right time for everything on earth:
A right time for birth and another for death,
a right time to plant and another to reap,
a right time to kill and another to heal,
a right time to destroy and another to construct,
a right time to cry and another to laugh,
a right time to lament and another to cheer,
a right time to make love and another to abstain,
a right time to embrace and another to part,
a right time to search and another to count your losses,
a right time to hold on and another to let go,
a right time to rip out and another to mend,
a right time to shut up and another to speak up,
a right time to love and another to hate,
a right time to wage war and another to make peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 The Message

Welcome to July...

July has gone by way to fast for me. My favorite holiday has come and gone as well as my 24th birthday (yikes!). The fourth was filled with amazing family time and it will definitely be one worth cherishing. Went to 3 firework shows (found one we will be going back to next year) and had a family picnic everyday. My roommate from college also came for a visit so that was a bonus as well.
My birthday was a same old same old. One thing that I have never realized was how many friends and family I have, at least until I got onto Facebook and saw all the wishes. Now I know what you are thinking, I do the same thing. When I see it's someone's birthday I wish them a happy one, but recently I have stopped. If it's someone that I truly care about and they have made an impact on my life I will comments them a wish. If it is an acquaintance or an old high school friend that I haven't talked to in a while (let alone talked to in high school) I decide not to (don't know my exact reasoning on this). However when I turned my Facebook on at the end of the day and saw who all commented and knew that everyone one of them and I had talked at least once in the past year, that made me feel great.
This past weekend was a great one too! I spent it with my person and it was fantastic that we were able to be together. I was going to surprise her by taking her to see another good friend of ours and unfortunately plans fell through but in the end we were happy the surprise didn't work out because we were less stressed and it didn't matter what we did. We spent it with other great friends and had some amazing laughs.
This coming weekend I am heading to one of my favorite US cities (on my top 10) to see 2 friends I met in college, Louisville, KY.

Where has the time gone?

Every now and then I sit and think about things that I can be doing and right now it is not often that I get to sit and think. Where has my time been going these past few months? Unfortunately school and work. I am disappointed that my blogging has been put on the back burner and I am the only one to blame for that. I know I said I was going to try my best, but homework comes up and things I have to get done for work pile up and I am in a 6 foot hole with no help to get out. I am doing my best to time manage and I think getting back into my summer reading list and my scrapbooking has really helped that. I set a goal of "if I get this piece of homework done then I can go work on a couple of pages." So far so good. I also have really filled my time being with friends and family. This summer (from June 1- September 1) I only have two weekends open, this is not a bad thing it is a really good thing. They are filled with family events and trips that I am planning on taking. One event that is coming up in August has me really excited, I am going to be a camp counselor for a Hole in the Wall Camp which are camps that help children with special needs, in this case the camp I am volunteering for works with kids with terminal illnesses. I am so excited and thrilled to be taking on this new experience.