Here is a vlog about me donating my hair! Hope this helps someone out there! Below there are links to all of the organizations I mentioned!

Children With Hair Loss– Along with hair donations, you can shop at this website and the proceeds go towards providing children with wigs.

Locks of Love– this organization is through St. Jude!

Wigs for Kids– this is the most recent organization I donated to. My hair salon actually took care of all of the shipping for me (I go to Pure Envy Salon and Spa in Bloomington, if you’re interested).

Pantene Beautiful Lengths– they are no longer taking hair donations but, granted, I donate here when I was in fourth grade so it’s been a while.

My Vlog:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dLspv6_KPQMc8asflLR7Hb-yXU8xMAzB/view

As you might have known, I am a huge WWI, WWII, and Holocaust nerd. I really like learning about this point in history. Therefore, most of the movies that I’ve watched are, in fact, based around these time periods. I highly encourage you to watch all of these. And what better time when we’re all stuck inside anyway? A few of these movies I have watched over and over again because they are that good! I included some interviews with actors, trailers, pictures, and some behind the scenes footage from each movie so that you can get a little inside look at what each film is about.

1. Hacksaw Ridge– This is, by far, one of my favorite movies of all time solely because it is based off of a true story! It follows the life of, Christian, Desmond Doss, who enlists in WWII to be a medic but has a lot of judgement at hand purely because of his beliefs. I have watched this about a dozen times!

2. Midway– I have gotten all of my friends hooked on the story Midway tells. Also being a true story, this one came out just recently so the DVD is out, so of course I bought it. This is all about the battle of Midway to keep the Japanese from creating a Pacific empire.

3. The Book Thief– If you haven’t read the book, it is one of my favorites, as I mentioned in my Favorite Books post. This story is told about a German girl but in a perspective you never saw coming! I’d consider reading the book first so that you can get some of the references in the movie. I have never cried over a story more in my life!

4. 1917– This movie is hands down, my favorite movie. It is so unique in the fact that it was a “one-shot” movie, meaning it never pans away from the two main characters. This story takes place in WWI and follows the journey of two British soldiers on their way to deliver a message to stop an attack. I got all of my friends obsessed with this story as well.

I have always loved the water. Ever since I can remember, I have been swimming. My mom used to take me to open swimming times for toddlers at the high school pool and before I knew it, I was in swimming lessons from about when I was three to five years old. During this time, I really fell in love with swimming. It had always been an escape for me. One memory that really sticks out to me is when we were learning how to swim underwater in swim lessons. The instructor would throw diving rings into the shallow end and all of the swimmers would race to see who could get the most. I had gotten most of the rings and the lesson instructor decided that I needed more of a challenge. She then proceeded to throw pennies into the deep end of the pool, which was twelve feet, and that’s a little scary for a five year old. 

I knew that I wanted to swim competitively. Lucky for me, there was a club swim team that practiced at the same pool I had been swimming in forever. I joined the Olympia Country Swimmers (OCS) when I was six years old. I was the kind of kid that always liked to try new things but swimming had always been there. I stuck with OCS all throughout grade school and middle school. Unfortunately, as a high school swimmer, you can’t swim for any club teams. To be honest, that didn’t bother me as much because I was still able to do the thing I love. 

I also met a lot of my best friends through swimming, and a lot of them are still my friends today. Swimming has taught me how to follow my passions. One of my role models in swimming, at the Olympic level at least, is Katie Ledecky. She broke the 400 meter freestyle world record at the 2016 Olympics in Rio. Swimming is what got me interested in becoming a marine biologist and oceanographer. Well, that and Shark Week. I encourage you to follow what you’re passionate about and try new things. It is never too late!

I am the kind of person who likes to read… a lot. More specifically, I am obsessed with learning about World War II and the Holocaust. To be honest, that is essentially all I read about. Some may say I have a bit of a problem. Below is a list of my favorite books relating to World War II and the Holocaust. Each book has a short description about what it is about, period in time, etc. I included links to each book if you are at all interested in reading them as well. All of these books can be found at Barnes and Noble. I highly encourage you read all of these books because I enjoyed each and every single one of them!

1. The Diary of Anne Frank: This book is the exact excerpt of the diary of a Jewish girl during World War II. It follows her beliefs, struggles, and experiences while her and her family were in hiding.
2. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: The book is in the perspective of a young German boy. He is the son of a Nazi soldier. The boy, Bruno, and his family move from Berlin to a new house near “Out with”.
3. Between Shades of Gray: This book is based on the stories the author, Ruta Sepetys, heard in Lithuania. It follows the story of a young girl living through the genocide of Baltic people during the same time as the WWII Holocaust.
4. Night: This short story is a memoir of author, Elie Weisel’s real life experiences living through WWII concentration camps.
5. The Book Thief: This is, without a doubt, one of my favorite books ever. It follows the life of a foster girl, Liesel Meminger. She lives in Germany during WWII but is not Jewish. This book takes a perspective I never saw coming!

I currently go to a church in Danvers called Danvers Baptist Church. I’ve been attending this church a little under a year but I have been involved in their youth group since sixth grade, thanks to my friend Holly who was the first person to invite me to join the group. Danvers Baptist Church’s teen group has given me so many opportunities to grow spiritually, especially through the annual teen camps that I have been a part of since eighth grade. 

My first year of teen camp, we went on a “super camp’, which is where our pastors take us teens on a trip, sponsored through the church. Pastor decided that it would be fun to not disclose the location of our camp until a few nights before we leave. We ended up going to Gatlinburg, Tennessee! This was a great experience and provided me with the opportunity to meet new people and grow closer to my friend. We went site seeing in the mountains, shopped along the main stretch in Gatlinburg, went to the Dollywood amusement park, and saw the Dixie Stampede dinner show. We had nightly services in our massive log cabin in the mountains and I learned a lot about what it is like to be a Christian. These experiences really spoke to me because I haven’t grown up in a necessarily Christian household.

Last year was my second year of teen church camp. My experiences varied last year from my eighth grade church camp trip. In a good way of course. My teen group attended Camp CoBeAc in Prudenville, Michigan. This camp is unlike any other experience I’ve had. There were four of us girls so we ended up sharing a cabin with another church’s group. These girls were so nice and we’ve been keeping in touch ever since. It was at this camp where I got reassurance of my salvation. If you are unaware of what salvation is, salvation is the accepting of Jesus Christ in your life. You accept that Jesus died for your sins and saved you. Since my experiences at this camp, I have been able to grow a closer relationship with God and I am very grateful.

Both Super Camp and Camp CoBeAc have definitely helped shape me, not only as a person, but as a Christian. I am very grateful for all of the amazing experiences I have had the opportunity to partake in. I encourage you, if you attend a youth group, or are at all thinking about it, to definitely take part because you will meet new people and grow a closer relationship with God that you will not forget!

One of my favorite things to do is travel. Granted, I am still in high school so I can’t necessarily travel by free will so the extent of my travels are family vacations. That being said, my family and I have been to some pretty cool places that I would like to share with you!

I have many favorite vacation spots, one of them being Disney World. I feel like Disney World is stereotyped for little kids but I personally love Disney World because there is just so much stuff to do. In my travels to Disney World, I have done most of the trip planning for my mom so I have a little experience booking reservations, getting fast passes, and booking flights. I used Disney Food Blog to help me throughout all of these processes and I totally recommend you visit this blog if you are even thinking about visiting Disney World. Disney Food Blog has lists of snacks to get, rides to ride, festivals to visit, and so much more that really helped me plan for my family’s trip. I really enjoy Disney World because it gives you a chance to meet new people, gain new experiences, and so much more! Most of the people we talked to happened to be in line with us waiting for rides. Even though Disney World can be chaotic, this is my top favorite place to visit.

My second place I love to visit is Orange Beach, Alabama. Orange Beach is what I’d consider the stereotypical beach vacation spot. In case you have no idea where I’m talking about, Orange Beach is located in southern Alabama on the Gulf of Mexico. There are so many options for every kind of traveler out there. Me personally, I am the adventuring kind of traveler so I went parasailing. On the other hand, my mom and brother are not as willing to venture out as I am so they stayed on the beach. In Orange Beach, there is something to do for everybody.

Last year, the music program at my school took a trip to Nashville. This was probably one of my favorite trips because I got to spend it with a bunch of my friends! We went site seeing and even recorded music in Elvis Presley’s old studio. We visited the Grand Ole Opry and even saw a show! If you ever visit Nashville, The Grand Ole Opry is a must see! It was such a different experience than what I am used to and I wouldn’t change it for the world! Nashville is also very busy, especially downtown, but it was overall very enjoyable.

I love traveling, and if you’re reading this blog, you probably do too. Since I chose to make a lifestyle blog, I will cover so many things I enjoy and am passionate about. I hope this gave you an idea on the places you should visit!