Wanderlust

When I logged into facebook this morning, the first thing that greeted me on my homepage was a buzzfeed article about traveling. Naturally, since I love travel articles, I read it. Under it and beside it other travel articles were being advertised, so I read those too. Now I have a case of strong wanderlust.

Wanderlust, if you didn't know, is a strong lust for wandering, for traveling, for exploring, for going on an adventure.

I came across these three videos on travel. I hope you enjoy them:

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

   This is a blog post that I post all my own views. I have no affiliation with Nintendo (though I wish I did) and the following views are all my own.

   The Legend of Zelda series has long been my favorite video game series. Ever since I was a little girl (around 4 or 5) I have been playing it and before that I would watch my daddy play it. It has gorgeous graphics, an engaging storyline, incredible game play, and epic music. It's just not a game about shooting or killing. In The Legend of Zelda, you're trying to save a princess, the Princess Zelda. You must battle ferocious foes and dungeon bosses using items obtained on your quest (usually from said dungeon). Not only that, but there are also puzzles you must figure out to continue through the game. In most of the Legend of Zelda's there are secrets (doors, dungeons, caves, etc) that you can find.

   The game is just over all amazing. My first Legend of Zelda was The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the past. Now Nintendo is remaking it... Sort of.
I think it'll probably be a different story line, considering what I have seen of the footage below. I think there'll be different bosses and new characters, plus new mini-quests.
In the footage below it says that you will be able to rent your equipment (bow, hammer, etc) and eventually buy it, so you have to decide what to use with how much money you have. It doesn't say you won't get any of your items in the dungeons, but that you will be able to use the items from the shop in the dungeons. This gives the game more of a free form, more of an open storyline and roleplaying feel.
   You most likely won't be able to skip a castle because of whatever treasure you need to collect (A key? A stone? A piece of the Triforce? A metal?) will be in that castle. You will, however, be able to choose how you advance through the story, meaning (at least what I got from the video) that you'll be able to choose your dungeon order.

I cannot wait until it comes out!

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds is coming out November 22nd. It will be avalible for the Nintendo 3DS.

                                                  Video shared with Creative Commons Attribution License.  

The Antagonists of Your Faery Tale

There are mean people in this life.
Villains.
Monsters.
Antagonists of your faery tale.

These people just seem like they cannot get enough of picking on people. They shatter dreams. They make people feel horrible about themselves. They are bullies and fiends.

Why are people like this? They remind me of those monsters in faery tales.
The Witch in Rapunzel.
She kept Rapunzel from being with her true love, the prince. She took Rapunzel's hair and even blinded the prince.

The Evil Queen/Step Mother of Snow White.
She married Snow White's father when the princess was young, then killed him. She was jealous of Snow White because of her beauty and oppressed her. She even tried to kill her several times!

The Stepmother and Stepsisters of Cinderella.
They changed Cinderella's name to Cinderella. They oppressed her, called her names, gave her meaningless chores to do (picking a bowl full of lentils out of the fireplace!?), and wouldn't let her go to the ball.

Though all these faery tales had their Villains, in all the Faery Tales, life got better. The girls got their princes. Their lives changed for the better. The Villains were punished.
If you have an antagonist in your life, the best thing to do is to stand up to them or get away from them. It can be very, very hard. You may want revenge.
Someday you will get revenge though. God will get vengeance for you.

So, don't let the Villains in your Faery Tale get to you. You are a Princess. You will get your happy ending. Don't give up!

Caramel Apples

Recently the State fair came to Oklahoma. We went and this year I couldn't have my favorite fair food: Caramel apples.

Since all caramel I have ever seen is made with corn syrup, I knew it was time to make my own. So that is what me and my mother did: We made caramel apples.
Our caramel didn't get hot enough so it came out very light, but still good, nonetheless.

Here is our recipe:

Caramel Apples

Ingredients:
2/3 cup unrefined cane sugar
1/2 cup honey
2 dashes of vanilla
4 tablespoons of butter
5-6 Apples

Equipment:
Small pot
Wooden or bamboo spoon
Popsicle sticks or bamboo skewers for the apples
Wax paper or parchment paper

1.Lay out wax paper. Put Popsicle stick or bamboo skewer in each apple.

2. In a small pot, mix butter, sugar, honey together and simmer. Once it starts to bubble around the edges, start to stir constantly. Stir for two minutes. Take off heat and add vanilla and be careful not to burn yourself!

3. To coat the apples, hold apple over pot and use the spoon to coat apple with caramel. Lay coated apple on wax paper to harden.

Summer's End Photos

Summer is ending.
Soon Autumn will be here. The leaves will fall from the trees. The last of the crops will be ready for harvest. Herbs will be gathered and dried.

Right now, The Kingdom of Dragonia (my micronation) is bursting forth in blooms. The Russian sage is beautiful with it's purple flowers.

Russian Sage

The Spearmint is in bloom as well. The white flowers are so beautiful next to the purple.

Spearmint

And of course the "dwarf catnip." It sure is tall to be a dwarf, but the purple flowers are gorgeous.

"Dwarf" Catnip

Then there is the sage. It's cooking sage and I cannot remember what type.

Sage

Then there are the roses, pink and white, and the crepe myrtles, lavender and red/pink.

Pink Roses

White Roses

Lavender Crepe Myrtle

Pink/Red Crepe Myrtle

There are other plants as well. One produces yellow flowers and the other produces purple.

Yellow Flowers

Purple Flowers

Of course, then there is the all important gourd crop. The gourds are important for the Dragonian sport, Gourd Ball!

The garden is starting to die, but here are a few pictures of it as well.

Potato Patch

Zucchini

Tomatoes (which are not producing)

Horseradish

Corn Field

Also of note are the ducks and the chickens~

The ducks and geese!

The Chickens

Unschooling Forever

Have you every heard of the term unschooling?
No, it doesn't mean to unschool yourself by taking knowledge away. It doesn't mean to dumb yourself down. It doesn't mean anything like that.
Unschooling is to give yourself (or your children) as much freedom to learn as you are comfortable with. It doesn't need textbooks (unless that is what you really wish to use) or problems, but instead it learns from everyday life.

Now that I have graduated, I'm out of school. I, however, am not done learning. No, I'm not going to college (at least not at this time). Instead, I'm choosing to unschool myself. Now that I have total control, I'm choosing to learn things such as computer science and programming, herbalism, jewelry making, and homemaking skills. I chose not to go to college for quite a few reasons.

1. The idea of a traditional college terrified me.
2. I really didn't want to spend that much money on something that would possibly never get used or that I couldn't get a job with.
3. Online college doesn't seem to be what I want right now.
4. I'll be getting married next year.
5. I don't know what I want to do with my life. Why get a degree when I don't know what I would do with it?

So, I choose to unschool myself forever. Some day my unschool curriculum (if you can call it that) may include college, but not at the moment.

I Refuse Normalcy

Being 18 and a senior in highschool, I just graduated. I can tell you though... I already miss school. Knowing that I'll have to get a job now and become a bit more normal... it's not what I want. The job part is okay, I just do not want to be normal. Ever. Normalcy is boring. Normalcy is what the kids at youth group who were laughing at me for wearing my elf ears and Victorian dress have. They are scared to be different, scared to be daring. I won't let that happen to me.

I won't let myself become normal. 
I refuse to. 
I will continue living this faerie tale. I am a princess. I live in a beautiful home which is my palace, with the king and queen, my parents, and my brother, the prince of the land. I have a wonderful, amazing, unique, handsome boyfriend who is my prince charming.

If you are scared to not be "normal", I suggest you give it a try first. Go do something you would like to try or something you love, something that you think others might laugh at you for. Ballet, drawing, writing, baking, whatever. Find what makes you unique and don't be afraid to flaunt it. Whatever you do, refuse to be "normal." We have too many normal people on earth. Be unique. You have amazing, inspiring ideas that are all your own. Do something with them. That is a challenge. I, Princess of Dragonia, challenge you to be different, to use your ideas to help yourself be unique and to help show the world that being one-size-fits-all will not work for you.

So... What are you waiting for? Get started!