An Eventful Month

This past month has been really eventful!  With the school year coming to an end and regionals coming up, there's just been a lot going on!  Here's what I've been up to lately!

One of the biggest things happening was my upcoming race at regionals.  Either late in April or really early in May I was told that I'd be racing in a double, and from that moment on, I was in that boat nearly every day at practice. 

There were, however, some days where the weather was so bad that practice had to be cancelled.  This cut our much-needed practice time and kept adding to the pressure! 

On May 12th, however, my Mami, sister, and I set out for Lake Lanier, Georgia, the location of the regatta.  There we stayed the night and the next morning I raced in time trials.  

The race was really hard and my boat didn't place well, but I did give it 100%!   

And though it wasn't part of my training for regionals, on May 3rd I hopped on my erg (aka: rowing machine) and rowed a marathon!  It was super tough, and I was exhausted by the time I was done, but it was worth it!  The main reason that I decided to complete this challenge in the first place was mostly because there was a pin as an award!  It arrived just after we returned home from the regatta!

A few days later Mami and my little sister went on a trip to the Crater of Diamonds in Arkansas.  I decided to stay behind and worked on preparing a Mother's Day Celebration for Mami since we hadn't been able to celebrate before.  

It had a Teddy Bear Picnic theme where I made a ton of treats, and it was ultimately a success!  Mami loved it and that's what matters!

While they were away, we had a visitor in our backyard.  Winter the white squirrel came around.  He (or maybe she) comes over all the time, but I'm rarely ever able to take a picture.  This time, however, he/she was foraging for food in our lawn and the camera was nearby, so I managed to take some photos!

Adorable!  Don't you think?

The following day I took my final exam for economics.  It was my last school assignment and as soon as I finished it, I had graduated from high school! 

I finished a year early, and so now I have a whole gap year to concentrate on rowing and enjoy myself!  

A few days later, after the graduation brunch of a friend of mine, my Mami and I took my graduation pictures! 

With that done and my diploma in hand, I had officially graduated from high school!   

All the hard work was worth it to finally graduate!  The next time that I'm in a classroom, it'll be college!

And since Mami already had the camera out, I asked her to take a few pictures of my "ghetto garden."  

When my family moved into our new house, I was thrilled that I would be able to grow my own plants!

One day when I was eating an apple, I took a look at the seeds and remembered that I was now able to plant them.  I immediately set to work getting them ready to sprout, and with a little work, they successfully did!  I then took them outside to plant in soil, and that's how I started my ghetto garden.  This was all in April, and since then I've added a lot of plants to my little garden!  

We weren't quite ready to start a garden just yet, so I had to get crafty.  I've been repurposing old containers to serve as pots and placed them in an area where they'll be out of the way until I can put them in a more permanent area!  That's why I refer to it as my "ghetto garden."'

And as I mentioned, I've been adding to it!  The next plant that I got to work on was garlic, which started growing surprisingly really fast!  It'll be a while until it grows a new bulb, but I think that it's going well!  Then there's my potatoes, bell peppers, onions, a kiwi, and carrots!  They're all doing well right now; including the kiwi!  The kiwi is still pretty small and I'm hoping that it grows big and strong!

And last but not least, just the other day was my little sister's birthday, and so my Mami and I threw her a Jungle Cruise themed birthday party!  

There's been a lot going on lately, and there's still a lot more planned for this summer!  And honestly, I can't wait to see what comes next!