Family Frenetics

This week is spring break for my cousins on the east coast. They came out to ski and see my family for vacation. My Dad's sister and her two daughters are really close with us, I think it's probably because out of all of our cousins we're closest in age to them. We also travel a lot together.

Don't get me wrong, I love my family, but having people in town on top of the heaps of third quarter school work and start of lacrosse season can get stressful. My time management definitely started to rip at the seams, and my sleep schedule has completely deteriorated (well what was left of it in the first place).

It's always a love hate, in this case the angel on my shoulder is reminding me how much I love spending time with my relatives, but the devil overing over my other shoulder is dragging me by my hair to my bed. By the end of their stay I am ashamed to say it's never too hard to say goodbye. I know everyone goes through this with their own family, one way or another. Whether it's staying up at all hours to fit your nearest and dearest into your schedule, or dealing with your in-laws, family can be a pain in the buttocks, but we love them for it ;-).

The past few days have consisted of many family dinners and pool competitions at the Kimche residence. The night they got in to town we ordered in Thai food. It's actually is nice to sit down and catch up with everyone at the dinner table. With everyone gathered around the dinner table at home, no one is hesitant in embarrassing, making fun of, or laughing at a single person sitting down. It's something I sort of love about my family. We give each other a hard time to remind each other how much we love them, in a sort of way. Family dinners are always the best.

Saturday was the one day where I actually got to spend the whole day with my cousins and aunt (mostly due to the fact that my school and sports have not paused). Park City, being the tourist town that it is, consists of many attractive tourist things to do, like walk up and down Main Street... and that's exactly what we did. Starting our day at around noon, we hit Main Street first thing.

Photo Courtesy www.parkcityvacationrentals.com

After Main Street we decided to go back home to grab swimsuits, and then went hot tubbing at our cousins hotel. Following the hot tub we went to see a movie. Nothing too crazy, but it was fun to spend time with my cousins.

I know that family time is important, even if it's short and sweet, because they're the ones that truly stick around through thick and thin, so a weekend with some of my extended family is always an enjoyable thing in the long run. Even if I'm not getting my sleep.

Tick Tock on the Internal Clock

Everyone has an "internal clock" that keeps on ticking, and can be disturbed by time changes, location changes, and even weather changes. Yesterday was daylight savings. We moved an hour ahead for the spring. I personally like daylight savings because I really do enjoy the extra hours of daylight in the evenings. Although I do find some effect of disorientation having to adjust to the time change. Even though it may not be significant (only an hour ahead), waking up having lost an hour did sort of put me in a weird mood for the day. I am also a person that doesn't adjust well with time differences, I always have a hard time adjusting to the jet lag when traveling on the east coast. Daylight savings is just a miniature version of that in my own backyard.

Photo Courtesy amarillo.com

Not only has daylight savings had my internal clock feeling wonky (and I'm sure I'm not the only one), but the weather has been inconstant as well, to say the very least. Several weeks ago it felt closet to mid-April or May, the flowers even started to bloom and it was frankly feeling like the end-of-spring beginning-of-summer time. The very next week we had a massive storm and got snow in heaps. It was absolutely freezing for the preceding week. The past week felt like an average winter weather routine, although these previous couple days the weather has started to warm back up again. I know we all get so excited for a little gasp of spring air in our lungs, and then when the snow comes it's like being shoved back under the drowning waters of winter. The weather definitely effects my internal clock, I've been experiencing a good deal of central confusion and lack of focus in school when it's warmer outside, and then when it gets cold again it sends me into a depression-like state. I know I can't be the only one either. Even some of our teachers have been having some talks about the behavioral issues at school, and my science teacher, Ms. McKenna, told us her insight on how she thought it was because of the warmer weather and inconsistency in the weather might be effecting our "internal clocks" and that could very likely be playing into the bad behavior in school come this time of year.

The weather and time change are just enough to have me feeling like I'm in an episode of the Twilight Zone. I'm sure that I'll get back into a steady routine within the next week or so, but I really do dislike the sense of disorientation and confusion that a disruption to my internal clock brings. I don't know, maybe I'm just extra sensitive when it comes to a stable routine. I can understand that maybe you haven't been effected at all by these wacky changes in time and weather, but long-story-short, know you're not the only one if that's the case. ;-)

Song of the Week: Pull Me Down

Windows to the Soul

If eyes are considered to be "the window to the soul", than I guess they must be pretty intriguing. I, for one, know that eyes are one of the first things I notice about someone. If someone has striking eyes I'll most likely find them more attractive and compelling to talk to.

Eyes come in different a variety of spectrums, as we all know. Brown eyes are a dominant trait, blue and green eyes are a recessive trait. This means that brown overrules blue in a genetic showdown. To explain a little further, everyone has two alleles (genetic symbols for a dominant or recessive trait), one from each parent. So lets say that we use an E to represent our eye color, if one were to have two big E's (EE), it means the they have brown eyes because brown is the dominant trait, and if someone were to have two little E's (ee), it would mean they had blue/green eyes, since blue/green eyes are recessive. If someone were to have a big E and a little E (Ee), it would mean they have brown eyes, because the big E dominates the little E, meaning brown overrules the blue/green because brown is the dominant trait. Lets say that your dad was "EE", and your mom was "ee", you would positively have brown eyes because your dad has two big E's. Now if your dad were to have "Ee", and your mom still had "ee", you could have a chance of receiving blue/green eyes. If both of your parents had "ee", you would definitely have blue/green eyes. It is possible that two brown eyed parents can have blue/green eyed kids, because if both parents have "Ee", it means they both have brown eyes because of the big E, but if their kids receive the little E from both sides they would have blue or green eyes. It is possible for two brown eyed parents to have blue/green eyed children, but it is impossible for two blue or green eyed parents to have a brown eyed kids.

Photo Courtesy harvard-wm.org

So if the Genetics 101 didn't bore to death I'll go on, now that we know the "why's" behind what color eye you have.

Eyes are dead center the middle of your head (horizontally) and perfectly balanced with two symmetrically on both sides (vertically), no wonder they're the first thing you notice when talking to someone. Once you find someones gaze it's always a special feeling when your eyeballs seal in eye contact. Sight is such a major part to humanity. I, for one, would definitely choose being deaf and able to see over blind and able to hear. By making that contact from eye to eye it connects something that is so fragile yet important to everyone, their sight. I crave eye contact in a conversation, and if I'm talking to someone who is uncomfortable making eye contact, it makes it uncomfortable for me to converse to them.

Photo Courtesy zeiss.co.uk

When I lock eyes with another person I love the unspoken bond I immediately feel with them. Somehow I sense that I can read deeper into them and somehow touch their unspoken feelings and emotion.

Eyes are truly fascinating and are definitely more than a ball of tough, slimy tissue. They're the windows to the soul.

Vegas Baby

As you may have yet to figure out, I do play lacrosse for Park City High School. Last weekend the girls Varsity and Junior Varsity went to a tournament in Las Vegas called Best of the West.

We left on Thursday afternoon (meaning school on Friday was bust *fist bump*). I spent the seven hour drive with my mother... The car ride actually wasn't as bad as I was mentally preparing myself for. On the way there we took a quick pit-stop at Café Rio with a few of the other girls on my team.

We pulled in to the Hampton Inn at approximately 10:00 PM. Arriving at the hotel is always a process. Finding out who you're rooming with and getting situated is can be substantially draining. Once everyone threw their suitcases in their room, that was all that was the only trace left of them there. Everyone was scattered through all of the second floor, gushing through the halls and jumping from room to room socializing. Eventually the social hour(s) started to die out and I found myself in bed watching the Titanic with my two other roommates. Leonardo DiCaprio is exceedingly attractive, to say the least.

The next morning the team had to be downstairs no later than 8:00 AM for a luxurious complimentary breakfast consisting of stale bagels, over-ripe fruit, and some eggs that resembled something closer to rubber than breakfast food. By 8:45 AM we were driving to the fields for a 9:00 AM practice. Getting to the fields was a little bit of a struggle due to a wrong right hand turn (go mom). The fields were super nice. You could still smell the fresh new paint on the turf. The sky was drowning in blue and not a cloud interrupted the atmosphere. It was decently warm, but nothing exotic. A cool breeze kept us from getting too hot. Our practice went well and our coaches were happy to go over a few things before any of our actual games.

Me: Captured by Julie Shipman

After our practice ended we all went back to the hotel to rest before our first game at 6:00 PM.

Playing under the lights was my favorite part of the whole tournament. I don't know what it is but something about playing on a lit field in the dark of night pumps me up. It's like the lights fuel my fury ;-). Ok maybe not to that extent, but I love the lights. We won our first game 15-3. Needless to say our team jelled. Our first time playing with each other felt like our one-hundredth.

The next several games went quite similarly. Scores like 16-4, 12-3, and 11-5 almost had me feeling sorry.

Play off day was better. We were playing better teams that were seeded. Our first game was against Juan Diego. It got a little rough and I honestly found myself on the ground half the time. We won.

Next game: Herriman. We won. Advancing us to the championship game against Brighton. The game was close. We were tied 7-7 at the whistle. We ended up winning off of a penalty shot in sudden death overtime.

I can confidently say that Park City is the Best of the West.

Photo/Bracket Courtesy bestofthewestlacrosse

Morning My Sleep

I think we all know mornings can be rough. When it comes to waking up before dawn to go to school, it's not fun for anyone.

Usually my weekday mornings are on a pretty tight routine, starting with the shrill of my alarm at 6:17. After allowing myself to hit the snooze precisely twice, I end up rolling out of bed at 6:37. Trudging to my closet, I try my hardest to avoid the mirror, because at this point it's never a pleasant sight. Picking out an outfit is always a process. After praying that I'm awake and aware enough to decently match my shirt to my pants and shoes, I make my way downstairs to grab a quick apple or banana to eat.

Post breakfast, I usually go back upstairs to finish getting ready. Double checking my outfit is a must, because there are always those days where I just wasn't conscious enough to dress myself properly before getting something in my stomach. After the occasional outfit change, I'll brush my teeth, wash my face, and throw on a little mascara. I truly believe that mascara is an art, and it probably takes me longer than it should to paint my eyelashes, but it is the way it is. The clock reading 7:00 am, I'll start to re-pack my back pack. Once I'm feeling confident I haven't forgotten anything, I do one last mirror check for good luck ;), and then meet my waiting mother downstairs to leave.

Photo Courtesy prweb.com

I know for a fact that my morning routine is different than yours is, in one way or another. I also know that we probably share that same lagging tiredness when getting up for school. Everyone has their mornings. Sometimes if I shower in the morning that can help to wake me up for the rest of the day, but for the most part I don't usually shower right after I wake up because I hate having to walk to school with wet hair if my locks don't dry in time. If you share the same struggle (or like-wise) than a quick shot of orange juice can often seem to waken me up a little as well. One trick that I use is setting up my alarm across the room. By forcing myself to get up and walk over to hit the snooze button it gets me up right away and prevents the repetitive quantitive-snooze-hitting procrastination that tends to happen with the alarm an arms length away.

Morning grogginess should be shot down by it's source, which is lack of sleep in the first place. These days sometimes it's hard to give myself enough time to sleep, as previously discussed in my, Super Sleep Deprived post. I think that this is an aspect of time management that takes practice to perfect and time for someone to learn how to plan ahead in order to get everything on their to-do list checked off in time to get enough sleep at night. This being said, the more sleep you get and the more consistent you are with your sleep schedule the less you will be mourning (of your sleep) the next morning.

Song of the Week: Drop the Game