Homemade Christmas Presents

December 11, 2015August 17, 2021Leave a comment

With Christmas so close, there’s a lot of pressure nowadays to buy gifts for friends, family, and other loved ones. I love getting my friends fun, meaningful gifts, but as a busy teenager, I don’t have a lot of extra money to spare to buy gifts for everyone I love. So I’ve come up with 5 fun, homemade gifts that your loved ones are sure to appreciate. Check them out:

1. Origami Presents1_edited-1

Origami may seem really complicated, but it’s actually not! There are loads of great tutorials on YouTube, and you can learn how to make pretty much anything. I especially love this tutorial on how to make a tiny origami elephant. It’s cute, fun, and actually really soothing to make.

2. An Adventure Book
Last year, I made my mom an adventure book, full of pictures and little notes from all of the hiking adventures we’ve been on so far. All you need to do is find an empty journal book, get some pictures printed of your favorite adventures or memories with your loved one, and put it all together! Be sure to leave room for you to add more memories and adventures to the book together.

3. Minimalist Painting/Drawing

I’ll be the first to admit that I am not particularly gifted in the painting/drawing area. However, it can be really easy to give your loved one a super simple piece of art: if you know of a picture they have that they really like, try to paint or draw it yourself! You can always pull the picture up on your computer, put a piece of paper on your screen and lightly trace the picture. For this painting, I simply found a picture of my dog, traced the outline, and painted the outside in purple (my mom’s favorite color!). Be creative and don’t worry if it isn’t perfect: they’ll appreciate the effort and consideration anyways!

4. A Coupon Book

I’ve actually been making this gift for my parents since I was a little kid, and it hasn’t gotten old! For each month of the upcoming year, pick either a date or fun adventure you want to do with your loved one, or offer to do a chore or small favor for them throughout the month. Get creative!

5. A Story Book

This gift is super fun and thoughtful: simply write a short story about your loved one and make a little book for it! If you know your loved one has a specific goal or dream they want to accomplish, include that in the story – or just make it completely random and fun. The book itself is really easy to make, and you don’t have to worry about drawing anything if you’re not very good at it: simply print out a bunch of different pictures of your loved one, you and them together, or other things or people that are important to them, cut them and out, and include them in the book along with your handwritten story.

I hope you find these homemade gift ideas helpful and are able to try some on your own this year. Just remember: get creative, don’t worry about it being perfect, and most importantly, let your loved ones know they are loved. Have a very merry Christmas!

5 Tips for Going Vegan for a Week

December 5, 2015August 24, 20211 Comment

Deciding to go vegan, even for a week, can be quite the challenge, so I came up with 5 tips for how to make it happen:

AT Approach Trail Hike

December 2, 2015August 17, 20214 Comments

The weekend before Thanksgiving, my family decided to go on a impromptu camping trip along the 8-mile-long AT Approach Trail to the top of Springer Mountain, which is the southern terminus for the Appalachian Trail.
Before this trip, I had never actually gone on a proper camping trip, so I was really excited to have the experience and spend a weekend outdoors, exploring the trails of Georgia.

The hike turned out to be interesting. Which is code for: I thought I was going to die approximately 27 times. Let me explain:

The hike started off beautifully: the weather was cool but sunny and we were making good time on our hike.
About a mile from the top of Springer Mountain, we begin to hear gunshots coming from somewhere in the distance. I become convinced that some crazy redneck is trying to hunt us down. That’s probably not what was going on but regardless, the fear was real.
We get to the top of Springer and it’s awesome: there’s a plaque for the Appalachian Trail and everything. There’s also a piece of paper taped to a tree warning prospective campers that due to BEAR INCIDENTS, overnight camping on the mountain is discouraged. We’re too tired to hike anywhere else and there’s quite a few others staying at the summit so we still decide to camp there. I become convinced a bear is going to attack us in the middle of the night.
We set up camp and all is fine and dandy. It begins to get colder, so we pile on the layers. We have a fire and make s’mores and all that good stuff and end up going to sleep around 7 because apparently everyone in my family is 85-years-old. I wake up in the middle of the night and hear a sound outside my tent: obviously, I believe it is the crazy redneck from before trying to kill me. I lay awake in fear for about 30 minutes before falling asleep. The next time I wake up, I am convinced a bear is outside my tent, trying to get inside to eat me. Somehow, I fall asleep again. By the third time I wake up, I don’t even care if something is trying to attack me: I just don’t want to see it coming. So I zip my sleeping bag up all the way and go to sleep for good.
The next morning, I stick my head outside and it’s like a winter wonderland. Everything iced over throughout the night so everything is winter-y and peaceful and I feel like singing some Christmas carols. Until I notice how cold it is. We break down our campsite in about 10 minutes and realize our water is frozen so we can’t make breakfast. We eat some mixed nuts and hike on.
About a mile in, my hands get so cold they burn and I have a meltdown because I remember that movie Everest and I become genuinely convinced that my hands are going to have to be amputated. I am not as tough as I thought. My dad gives me his hand warmers like a true gentlemen and we carry on.
We stop once some of our water has melted to make some coffee and end up hiking the rest of the 8 miles back to Amicalola Falls on nothing but a protein bar and some mixed nuts. Once we reach the end of the trail, we go to the lodge to stuff our face with the only vegan food available: salad (which wasn’t even vegan because there were bacon bits mixed into the lettuce).

And there you have it folks. Even though camping at the end of November probably wasn’t the best idea, I still had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed my weekend with my family. I can’t wait to go on another camping trip with them and share all of the adventures with you.

Sweater Collection

November 23, 2015August 17, 2021Leave a comment

Thanksgiving is fast approaching which means Christmas isn’t soon after – I love this time of year for a bunch of different reasons (getting together with family, enjoying fires and holiday movies, consuming unholy amounts of cookies, etc.), and one reason I love it so much is I get to break out my sweater collection.
Sweaters are basically the perfect piece of clothing. They’re warm, cozy, fashionable, and easy to style, and I’ve gathered a pretty fun collection of sweaters over the years: check them out!

realsweater1 The One From Goodwill

I recently rediscovered this sweater after picking it up at a local Goodwill last year and I’ve been wearing it nonstop! This sweater always keeps me warm and is really versatile – I love pairing it with a pair of dark skinny jeans and some ankle boots.

The Hand-Me-Down

To be honest, I actually stole this sweater out of my dad’s closet. He hadn’t worn it in years and I loved the dark cranberry color. The sweater was a bit too broad in the shoulders so I ended up cutting the collar – now I can easily pair this sweater with a fun tank top (like this daisy halter-top one!).

The One From Middle School

This is the only sweater in my collection that wasn’t bought at a thrift shop or vintage store (or stolen from a family-member): I got it at Forever 21 way back in middle school! I love the color of this sweater – it looks great with both simple accessories or other colorful pieces. In the summer, I like to pair this sweater with some loose black-and-white shorts for a relaxed, fun look.

The Crazy 80’s Sweater

I love this sweater. So much. I spotted it at a fun vintage shop near downtown Atlanta and knew I had to buy it. Admittedly, the sweater is a bit short on me, but I love it anyways. This is another sweater I love to wear year-round: either in the winter with some dark jeans and sneakers, or with light bottoms in the summer!

The One I Always Get Compliments On

I picked this sweater up a couple of years ago at another local Goodwill for an ugly sweater party at my school. This sweater is an extra large so it’s definitely pretty roomy on me, and the pattern and colors scream 90’s, but strangely enough, this is probably the piece of clothing I get the most compliments on! I do love this sweater, despite the unlikely colors and extra-large-fit. It’s super comfy and looks fun and casual with some dark jeans and sneakers.

And there you have it! I’m not usually one to post about fashion, because I always go for comfort over style, but I am pretty proud of my little collection of sweaters. They’re fun, versatile, and still downright comfy.

Fall Day Photos + Playlist

November 14, 2015August 24, 2021Leave a comment

Fall is finally here! To celebrate the changing of the seasons, my friends, Shannon, Hannah, and I spent a day enjoying some of our favorite fall activities, and embarking on some unplanned adventures.

We started off the day with a quick stop at Trader Joe’s for some snacks (most of which were gone before we got to our first activity) and lunches for a picnic later in the day.
Sidenote: the Cub Scouts that set up camp outside the Trader Joe’s were masters of marketing and I have learned that I will hand over my money to any cute 5-year-old that asks me to buy their popcorn.

After grabbing our food, we began the drive up to our first stop: R&A Orchards.
The drive was… interesting. There was a lot of traffic so we ended up taking backroads to get to the orchard, which meant driving on gravel roads, stopping to pet horses and then being afraid of their owners coming out and yelling at us. Luckily, we had some awesome tunes to keep us occupied: check out this collection of our favorite fall songs!

Mountain Sound – Of Monsters and Men
Hunger of the Pine – alt-J
Step Out – Jose Gonzalez
Sweater Weather – The Neighbourhood
From Eden – Hozier
She Changes the Weather – Swim Deep
Shell Suite – Chad Valley
Transatlanticism – Death Cab for Cutie
Inevitable – Anberlin
Big Jet Plane – Angus and Julia Stone
Bigmouth Strikes Again – The Smiths
Pools – Glass Animals
40 Day Dream – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
Temple – Kings of Leon
Love Will Tear Us Apart – Joy Division
Literally anything from The Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack

At R&A Orchards we picked up some fried pies and apple ciders. We were planning on going to another orchard to pick our own apples, but traffic was so bad that we gave up (at one point it was so slow that Hannah was able to jump out of the car, run across the street, buy 2 apple pies and make it back to the car before we even moved 30 feet).

To avoid the traffic, we ended up taking a detour to Buck’s Corn Maze. The maze was really fun and gave us serious flashbacks to The Shining. We also came up with a game where you imagine movies taking place in a corn maze. For instance, imagine Jaws. But in a corn maze. Riveting stuff.
After escaping the maze, we had a lovely picnic and then made the short drive over to Dahlonega for a festival. We bought cliche friendship bracelets and wandered around the town and people-watched and it was a lovely way to end a day spent with some of my favorite people. Check out some pictures from our fall day below!

The Stanley Kubrick Cooking Show

October 30, 2015August 24, 2021Leave a comment

Happy Halloween everyone! In celebration, I am pleased to share The Stanley Kubrick Cooking Show with you all. To be honest, this video was quite a challenge to film: The Shining is such a remarkable film that I wanted to accurately capture the horror of the story and Kubrick’s iconic style. Hopefully I succeeded to some extent!

Again, my friends (and frequent collaborators) Shannon and Hannah deserve a huge thank you. They were immensely helpful and talented both in front of and behind the camera.

I hope you all enjoy this video and have a wonderfully spooky Halloween!

A Weekend of Climbing Canyons

October 7, 2015August 24, 20213 Comments

This past weekend my mom and I completed the Georgia Canyon Climbers Club Challenge (whew, that’s a mouthful!). The challenge was to climb each of Georgia’s 4 canyons (Tallulah Gorge, Amicalola Falls, Providence Canyon, and Cloudland Canyon), and my mom and I ended up finishing the challenge in just over 48 hours! This was the perfect way to get out for the weekend and explore parts of Georgia that I didn’t even know existed.
Check out my video and pictures to get a taste of what we experienced over the weekend:

Tallulah Gorge

Amicalola Falls

Providence Canyon

Cloudland Canyon

Photo Diary: Black Elk Peak (Formerly, Harney Peak)

October 7, 2015January 26, 20221 Comment

A couple weeks ago my family traveled to Colorado and South Dakota for a family hiking vacation. The first mountain we decided to tackle was Black Elk Peak (formerly known as Harney Peak) in South Dakota. Black Elk Peak is a beautiful mountain located in the Black Hills of South Dakota that shares a fascinating history with local Native American tribes and is still considered sacred Native American ground today.
The hike itself was between 7.5-8 miles and was no walk in the park, although it was insanely beautiful. It was interesting experiencing the terrain and landscape of the Black Hills in comparison to the forests and mountains my family typically hikes here on the east coast. If you ever find yourself in South Dakota, I would highly recommend hiking Black Elk Peak; the history of the peak and the surrounding areas is fascinating, and the views are spectacular. It’s also fun to spot the local wildlife: we even saw a lone buffalo in an area near the peak!

The Wes Anderson Cooking Show

October 7, 2015August 24, 2021Leave a comment

I’m incredibly excited to share The Wes Anderson Cooking Show with you all! I am a huge fan of Anderson’s iconic, quirky style and it was so much fun to recreate. I couldn’t have imagined a better way to launch the Food on Film series.

My friends Shannon and Hannah deserve a huge thank you, they were so helpful in making this video and I couldn’t have done it without them. I hope you all enjoy this video, stay tuned for more!
Lizzie