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Travel

Canyons and Arches

sophiashops

ITS SUMMER!!!

Which for my family means that our big summer trip is coming up! We are traveling from sunny California all the way to Tennessee, making several stops along the way. Our first stop is Canyonlands National Park and Arches National Park.

The canyon lands were gorgeous! We climbed up to the top and everywhere there were steep drops forming endless looking canyons that seemed to go on forever. Even though it was sunny a nice breeze kept us cool. The steep drops terrified me, but that didn’t keep me from looking over the edge to see how far up we were. When I knew we were going to canyonlands I expected dry, ugly desert, but once we arrived I was shocked with how beautiful everything really was. Part of the time I also felt like I was in the Disney movie “Cars”. After the day was almost over we headed back to Moab where our hotel was. Before calling it a night, we headed over to CanyonLands by Night and Day boat tours. It took us on the Colorado River through the canyon. Our tour guide was hilarious and made the tour very interesting. Using a laser pointer he showed us the cracks in the canyon that formed faces if you used your imagination just a little. Then once it got dark we were able to see so many stars! We even saw the Neowise comet and the International Space Station!

Canyonlands!!

The next day we visited Arches National Park. From the tour before we learned that there are over 1,000 arches, but only around 200 are named (these are rough estimates). So this became a sort of scavenger hunt for us looking all around for any arches we could find. We also visited Balancing Rock and some of the more well-known arches like “Spectacles Arches” “Keyhole Arch” and we were able to see “Delicate Arch” from a view point. The arches are all so beautiful. Huge rocks tower over you forming graceful yet fragile arches that took sooo many years to form. I must say all the arches were very photogenic making it easy to take good pictures of them.

Now we are headed out of Utah and into Colorado for some more adventures!

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Give Yourself Some Love!

sophiashops

So today I have decided to share all my best skin care tips that keep my face super smooth! Now I know y’all have all already heard this, but it really does help to not tough your face! I have gotten into a habit of not doing it so that now it comes naturally so it is possible!!!

  • Cold Water- So when you are in the shower the warm water opens up your pours so that when you step out of the shower all the dirt and other bad stuff can come into your skin, but by rinsing your face with cold water before you get out this closes your pours and really does make a difference!
  • Vitamin A- Vitamin A does wonders for your skin! I just take the tiny easy-to-swallow pill every morning and within a week I could tell the difference!
  • Cleanser- I always use a good cleanser and wash my face with that and it really helps keep my skin clean.
  • Ahava Hydration Cream Mask- No lie the best face mask EVER! Out of all the face masks I have ever had this is the best one! Wear it over night and your face will be soooo soft the next morning!

And that’s it! It’s short and sweet, so you don’t have to worry about a long list of skin care stuff! Hope y’all enjoy! 😉

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Decisions

sophiashops

Are you ever in a tough spot where you feel whatever you say will just make the situation worse? Like having to friends who are always clashing? Or a decision that has been made that you can’t be excited about for fear of hurting another person? Or wanting to comfort someone but being too scared of saying the wrong thing so you say nothing?

On these occasions I feel cornered, wanting to escape to a dream world where everything is easier. But escaping to a fantasy land will not help things get any better, which is something I continue to struggle with. What do should you do in these situations? I’m still trying to figure out the answer for that.

I enjoy sitting and thinking about the problem in front of me; calculating every option and deciding on the best one. But when placed in a “in the moment” decision I freeze unsure of what to say, my mind trying to stop time to give me time to contemplate the perfect answer. I guess I really need to work on quick decision making. Too bad that’s not exactly something you can easily practice. Thankfully since it is a quick moment that means if you do mess up, it can also be quickly forgiven! So y’all try not to sweat the small stuff!

Question for the Day:

What do you do in these moments?

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Bored?

sophiashops

Hey y’all! Through this whole quarantine I have been asking my friends for book suggestions, so I thought I would post my favorite books in case y’all are looking for something to read! 🙂

  1. Land of Stories
  2. On the Runway book series
  3. I am Number Four
  4. So This is Love (Cinderellas story)
  5. Tale as Old as Time (Beauty and the Beast)
  6. Part of Your World (Little Mermaid)
  7. A Whole New World (Aladdin)
  8. Straight On Till Morning (Peter Pan)
  9. Conceal Don’t Feel (Frozen)
  10. Once Upon a Dream (Sleeping Beauty)
  11. Pride and Prejudice
  12. Little Women
  13. Hunger Games
  14. The Sixty-Eight Rooms
  15. Anne of Green Gables
  16. Farmer Boy
  17. Harry Potter
  18. Sense and Sensibility
  19. Emma
  20. Persuasion

I have so many favorite books it’s hard to remember them! Hope y’all enjoy!

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FOOD

sophiashops


Every time we move we always have a checklist of sorts of what we need to find in our new home. 1) A house. 2) a school for me and my sister. 3) a church. But there is another necessary item that must be found. Food. So here is my list of the best places to eat all around the U.S!

Gulfport, Mississippi: Tony’s brick oven pizzeria- has great pizza and they let the kids play with some raw pizza dough while you wait for the food. I went there when I was really little so that’s what stood out to me.

Florida: Gainsville– Big Lou’s New York Style Pizza (can you tell we really like pizza?) only get a slice cause their slice of pizza is HUGE; Harry’s- great fish tacos and other seafood.

Pensacola– Sonny’s BBQ- chain restaurant in the south but amazing ribs and sweet tea; Wild Honey- delicious frozen yogurt with lots of toppings to choose from; The Flying Biscut- great breakfast food, I recommend the grits.

Jacksonville: The Metro Diner- you have to try the stuffed french toast!

Kansas: Homer’s Drive in- really yummy chocolate malts and hamburgers; Glace- amazing ice cream!; Empanada Madness- really good coke and arapes; Stone Canyon Pizza- more delicious pizza.

California– Waypoint Cafe- delicious breakfast, and is located near an airport which makes it also a cool place to eat; Fat Sal’s- all those gigantic burgers and milkshakes that you see on social media are created here and is super delicious! Pizza Man Dan’s- yummy thin crust pizza; Mika Sushi- love their tempura shrimp, soup, and

lifestyle

Starting Over

sophiashops


Moving is a blessing and a curse.

I’ll focus on the blessing part of it for now, though. Moving allows me a chance to start over. Where some people in books or TV shows choose to take on a new identity, I go the easier route and move to an entire different place where no one knows me. If I didn’t like how I was viewed in the last place I lived I could easily change it and no one at my new school would know any different nor judge me for who I was the year before. On the other hand sometimes things change without me even trying; like at one school I was completely invisible. My parents and I joked I could rob the snack shack and get away with it. However since I changed schools in the middle of the year, this granted me much more attention than I was used to, but it was a little fun to be noticed though I would never admit that to my classmates who thoroughly enjoyed playfully teasing me.

Over the years of changing schools I have been viewed so many different ways. In third grade I was a definite bookworm, in sixth I was the sweet innocent girl, and currently I am the “smart person” (even though I truly am not that brilliant). At my next school (which will also be my last time changing schools) I hope to act kinder. Sometimes my shyness makes me come off as snobby, so hopefully I can change that. Being a veiwed differently at each school is not like being a fake person, being different around different people. I guess at each place I am viewed differently since the people in my new school are different than the ones at my old school.

Do you ever wish you could start over in a new place with different people?

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Little Treasures

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Take Joy in the Little Things

Kurt Vonnegut

When I was little I heard about the words “Prized Possession”. I tried to think of it in a way of what thing in my room would I save if the house caught on fire. Since I was little the answer was my stuffed animals. Now that I’m older the term prized possession has expanded. Does it mean the more expensive thing like my phone or computer? Or something more sentimental like my memory box?

Before each move my family will get rid of lots of things we don’t use any more so there is very rarely clutter in our house. So while I am still not sure what my “prized possession” would be, I have taken to collecting other more delicate things. I collect memories and words. The memory of past friendships and loved ones. I save sweet texts from friends; screenshot them so I can look back on them when I feel down. I collect sincere compliments from my family, favorite teachers, and people I looks up too. I treasure these small moments in my life.

What moments do you treasure?

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Optimistic

sophiashops

A couple days ago in class my Language Arts teacher told us all to write a short letter to our past selves (The beginning of the school year self). When started writing I immediately began to “tell my past self” about all the things that would happen because of the virus and also all the things I would miss out on. I didn’t want to lie. But after listening to some other happier letters I realized something. Lots of good things had also happened in my school year that I had chosen to overlook because of my current situation. Was that fair? When I grow up it is true that looking back on this school year I will probably not remember the fun sleepovers I had or the great time I had volunteering for my school, but does that mean that for the time being I should over look all of that?

After moving so many times I have learned to enjoy the small moments of joy. The little things like ice cream and candy at the same time or a fun time with friends. I don’t want to loose track of those small joyous moments.

How have you been looking at the current situation lately?